Rajesh Rajgor's Book Review of 'I Don't Want To Meet Lord Krishna!' by Yashaswini K

When Radha Srinivasan, a crime reporter, is chosen to interview Lord Krishna, little did she know that the most fascinating interview of her life would turn into a nightmare. Once the interview gets published, she gets embroiled into one crime case after another. Many people do not believe the interview, but some who do believe, want to meet the Lord. Every now and then Radha finds herself thrust into an adventure fraught with perils. Things go to such an extent that her resistance is frequently tested. Can she over-power the incidents and come out triumphant? What exactly happened that she decides not to meet her favorite God. The incidents that lead to her decision involve the entire story of the novel – I don’t want to meet Lord Krishna!

First and foremost, I really liked the plot that has the mix of fantasy as well as crime. The thought of interviewing Lord Krishna by a crime reporter is exciting. Out of the 24 chapters, the first 12 chapters are really well-sketched out and lives upto my expectations and gives a direction to the book. Be it the pertinent questions of how society interprets religion, the varna system, the first crime incident, although involving Kashmir and the human Karma are very well presented. These chapter are successful in bridging the first interview that Radha publishes to the incident she faces.

However, I would have enjoyed the story further if all the incidents beyond Chapter 12, were inter-related too. Showing Radha face several criminal cases, one after the another and most of the time they are more societal in nature, than having direct relevance to Krishna, is overly ambitious to a character who is a criminal reporter. Writer Yashaswini K, throws in every possible crime scene that you would have read, heard or seen. From Kidnapping to rape and murder – everything finds a way in Radha’s life.

The idea of Krishna and his teachings as a central theme could have made for a more authentic storyline, had Radha used it for solving any one strong criminal case. Instead, the writer makes Radha solve different cases with very little or No connection to Krishna’s teachings established in the first couple of chapters.

Although, I wasn’t sure where the book was headed until the very last few pages, I will give writer Yashaswini K credit for constructing independent stories on the lines of Sherlock Homes. She builds up a strong cast of secondary characters who are all well-fleshed out and have their own plot threads. Apart from the central character Radha, her brother Karthik and Karthik’s friend Keshav are pick of the lot. Even Lord Krishna, emerges as the best thing throughout the length of the book. In fact, some of Krishna’s character traits like being smart and mischievous are also seen in Radha’s behavior. Hence, by the time, Radha says ‘I Don’t Want to Meet Lord Krishna’ you sense that this is just a temporary anguish, there is more than what meets the eye.

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Rajesh Rajgor's Book Review of Life's Amazing Secrets - Gaur Gopal Das

When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life.” This tale has been widely circulated over the internet and is hugely popular in context to human happiness!

If I were to sum up the essence of Gaur Gopal Das’s debut book, Life’s Amazing Secret, it is nothing but to be happy in any situation. One of the most popular monks and life coach, Gaur Gopal Das- also known as Gopal Prabhu, shares his precious insights, broadly on four wheels on which human happiness resides. These are precisely on our Personal life, Relationships, Work life, and Social Contributions. Did he succeed in helping us find the key to happiness? Let’s find out.

What appealed to me the most is Prabhu’s narration, done through his conversation with his wealthy young friend Harry, while navigating their way through Mumbai’s horrendous traffic. It subtly points at the fact that wealth alone cannot make one Happy. While doing so the writer not only tells us the importance of life as a journey but also helps us understand the fact that happiness is not solely depended on external environment. During the course of the conversation he touches upon all the possible concepts associated with ultimate human happiness. These range from gratitude, worries, spiritual practice, relationships, amalgamation of spirituality and integrity at work, competition, selfless sacrifice, etc. 

Gopal Prabhu skillfully establishes that happiness is knowing ourselves and our expectations well. He weaves in short chapters that are packed with captivating stories, humor and sound advice. They are aimed at helping readers identify and get rid of their self-sabotaging thoughts and habits that prohibit them from achieving the success that they want. One such chapter is Das propagating readers to view life on the spectrum with an ice cream on one end and a candle on the other. The philosophy of an ice cream is to enjoy life before it melts and that of the candle is to give light to others before it melts. Hence in order to be happy throughout our existence, we should shift our attitude from being an ice cream to a candle. Which simply means starting from being selfish to becoming selfless.

However, this can be achieved by individuals who know their purpose, which can be discovered with four traits explained in the Japanese model ‘ikigai’ reason to live. So, if you haven’t figured out your purpose yet answer a few questions – What do you love? What are you good at? What can you get paid for? and What does the world need? Honest answers to these will definitely lead you towards a balanced and purposeful life.

Perhaps the book also helps you re-define success or identify what success means to you. After reading this book, you will have a better understanding of why you act the way you do and how to accept the things that you cannot change. Examples like the founders of WhatsApp did not get jobs at Twitter and Facebook when they applied and later the app was bought by facebook, drives the point that, what we may see as a failure for us currently, shall turn to be the best thing to have happened to us! Gaur Gopal Das also attributes how he could not control the virality of ‘his out of context’ video that was circulated on whatsapp which later made him the internet sensation that he is today. This was possible only because he saw both good and bad side of the video but chose to focus on good and neglect the bad! Only if all of us could do that, each one of us would perennially be happy.