Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 December 2016

Book Review: Colorful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0

Book: Colorful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0
Author: Mohit Goyal
Publisher: Srishti Publishers
Genre: Fiction| Travel
Pages: 200
Price: 175 INR

Blurb:

Would you give up your high-paying job and comfortable personal life to drive ten thousand kilometers across India? Just for fun!

Three twenty-somethings dare to do just that! While the two guys take turns to drive, the girl gives voice-over as they record their entire journey on a handycam.

Ab, Sasha and Unnati are ordinary youngsters, rendered special by the feat they accomplish. As they recount their adventures, I crave to live their journey all the more. They look at each other with a glint in their eyes, as if refurbishing those memories, as they narrate their spooky time at Bhangarh Fort, strange escapades at Wagah Border and Sundarbans, car breakdowns, wild animals, near-death experiences and highway robbers! It's nothing less than crazy.

Colorful Notions is a journey of three young hearts on the Indian terrain and into the inner recesses of their souls, giving a new perspective to relationships, love and life. 

My Rating

Plot: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Character Sketch: 4/5

My Review

"Colorful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0" is an adventurous journey of Abhay, Sashank and Unnati as they take a crazy road trip to travel 25 iconic places in the country over a period of 3 months.

Abhay (AB), the narrator of the story dreams of making a documentary movie on the crazy road adventure. He resigned his job in an advertising agency to fulfill his dream. His best friend, Sashank (Sasha) took a 3 month sabbatical from his family business for the road adventure. The thing that attracted him most to the road adventure is his love for food. Sashank's girlfriend, Unnati (Unns) is an assistant RJ who said yes to the adventure because Abhay told her to give voice-over as they will record their journey.

As I love travelling, I was thrilled to travel along with these three characters to the beautiful destinations. They started their journey from Delhi to the Jim Corbett Park, then they moved to Haridwar and then they traveled to Leh & Ladakh. 

The ambiance and beauty of some destinations were so beautifully written that I felt I could see those places. However, if you read this book as a travelogue to experience the 25 places they traveled, you might be disappointed as the author has not described all the places in detail. Visiting Alwar's Bhangarh Fort at night, Sasha proposing Unnati in Kanyakumari, the adventure in Sunderbans and meeting the Lama at Bodh Gaya are my favorite sections of the book. 

Travelling is a great teacher. It changes our perspective and makes us better human beings. Here is a beautiful quote from the book on travelling:

"Travelling teaches you to live in the present, in the moment. You only think about the place you are currently at and the meal you will eat next."

It was enriching to see how the three characters evolve to become better human beings at the end of the trip. When they started their journey, all of them were somewhat confused and they were battling their inner demons. The way they conquered their demons and understood the purpose of their life in those three months was beautifully projected by the author. It was heartening to see that they were rewarded for their crazy road trip as a famous producer agreed to sponsor their documentary.

Overall, this book was a great reading experience. The narration is fast paced and once you start reading, you won't feel like taking a break. Gripping and captivating, the book will tempt you to go on a crazy trip with your friends soon. 

I will go with 4 stars. Highly recommended to the dreamers and the travel enthusiasts. 




I received a free copy from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.' 




Indian Bloggers

Friday, 22 April 2016

Book Review: Bucket List of a Traveloholic

Book: Bucket List of a Traveloholic
Author: Sarika Pandit
Publisher: Fingerprint Publishing
Pages: 242
Price: 250 INR
Genre: Non Fiction/Travel

Blurb: While her B-School batch mates are busy scrambling for top jobs and grades, a restless Sarika dreams of putting on her running shoes and having all the pages of her passport stamped by the age of thirty.

What follows is a frenzied quest of not just collecting stamps but ticking off items off her ever-expanding bucket list: From learning the local language in Spain to an alcohol trail through Greece; from a tryst with Shakespeare and Jane Austen in the United Kingdom to an encounter with the Vampire in Romania; from straddling the border between two countries in the Middle East to a road trip through Morocco to the Sahara; each experience bringing her just a little closer to reaching that final destination on her passport.

My Rating: 4/5

My Review:

Now, this book is a must read for every traveloholic. The various travelogues shared by the author in this book takes the reader to some very interesting places all over the world. Each travel account in this book offers something new and exciting. The enlightening and bittersweet experiences that the author had gathered while travelling reaches to the readers effortlessly.

"Bucket List of a Traveloholic" consists of 15 travel accounts of the author. The author makes a resolution that within the age of thirty, she wants to visit at least 10 countries and she achieves much more than that. Her first foreign tour was in Spain, where she went to learn Spanish. Once she tastes the liberating feeling of travel, there is no looking back for her.

She cruises the Nile, goes on a literary trail of her favorite authors (Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen) in the United Kingdom, becomes a chocoholic at Brussels, goes on an alcohol trail in Greece, rediscovers art in the Czech Republic and so much more. 

The best thing about this book is that you will be able to experience what the author has seen or felt at that time through her amazing narration. There are also pictures accompanied with every travel account. 

You also get to peek into the author's mindset while leafing through the pages. You can understand her restless and wandering spirit that refuses to stay stuck in one place. At one point of time, she feels frustrated with her job and wonders what she should do. As she gazes at the Sahara desert in one vacation, she makes up her mind to quit her job and listen to her heart's calling.

She also fulfills her wish of exploring a new country alone. She travels with a stranger in Finland and at the end of the day, gains a wonderful friend. All her travel accounts are so full of life and positivity that you would wish that the book never ends. 

And once the book ends, you will crave for an adventurous vacation to some far away place. This book is for anyone who loves travelling. 

Buy the book here: