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The Chicken Soup For the Soul series has regaled many book lovers ever since it was launched in 1993 with Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit. As an avid reader of these pop psychology books, one remembers wishing that there was something similar that kept in mind Indian sensibilities and context. Well told and short enough for the reader to finish the anecdote at one go, these stories are ideal for the time-strapped lives we lead nowadays. The brief stories were meant to comfort the readers emotionally in the same therapeutic way as chicken soup does if one is down and out. The three books under review are a part of the series for Indian readers. They fit into the usual format of a Chicken Soup book. There is no verbiage and not too many details. Telling it in an elemental, simple way is the rule. Chicken Soup For The Indian Couple's Soul explores many shades of love be it in life, after death and in the midst of trials and tribulations, sickness and death. Be it the first flush of youth, marital love that makes the world go round, uniting in the face of parental (and societal opposition) or defying debility and even death. The book is divided in eight sections featuring various oddities of love.You can choose from Made in Heaven, The Family, On Love and Support, A Matter of Perspective, In Sickness and in Health, Overcoming Obstacles, Coping With Death and The Fire Never Dies, all self-explanatory categories. The stories range from college romances, to discovering soul mates, to newly married exciting love and struggles with adjustment. Also dealt with are bitter relationships, family bonding and nurturing kids together, coping with death scenarios and old age support and nostalgia. Struggling to keep romance alive in day to day lives by middle aged couples. There is a story on every type and every stage of love and any person can relate to it. Particularly engaging are Daughter of the Earth and Pieta. The writing style mostly is personal narrative with exceptions to some stories told in the third person narration. The last chronicle of the book Endurance is an attempt at a novel style of writing. Some stories strike a chord some fail to do so. The book captures the shades of the emotion that reigns across barriers of class, caste, region and even age. What seems to make a perfect couple and make a relationship tick is often more than that meets the eye and our stereotypical views and ways of looking at things is challenged. Our assumptions about love and loving are overturned. The quality of writing is uneven but some of the anecdotes do reach straight to the heart. Chicken Soup For The Indian Soul: A Book Of Miracles is for all those who believe in feel-good stories and inspirational narratives. Even for those who are too cynical to believe in god, a supreme power that watches over human beings and phenomena that defies rationality or logical thinking can be converted if they read this one. Even the sceptical can be convinced that miracles can and do happen. The collection of 101 stories that describe how there is a supreme power that guides our actions and is with us all the time. Your guardian angel need not be up above but even people in day to day life can double up as angels and lifesavers. From the 12 sections, stories that move and leave one introspecting are in the sections The Healing Power of Prayer, Divine appointment, Everyday Miracles, Signs from Above and The Magic of Faith Love from beyond, His saving grace, Answered prayers. Chicken Soup For The Indian Soul: Teens Talk Growing Up It's tough being a teenager and tougher being a teen in India where you are expected to conform to a myriad expectations of you — be it in academics, socialising or in personal conduct. Add to this the hormonal spikes and the feeling of being in the nowhere zone, neither an adult nor a child. The book is divided into seven sections, so the reader can take a pick. Like every book in the series, the structuring makes it easy to read stories selectively. Facing Challenges, Family Ties, Going Beyond Prejudice, In a Lighter Vein. Life as a Teacher, Of Dreams and Passions and Teens Today. The stories talk of the angst and the pressures of being a teenager and the tightrope walk between individual identity and the desire to conform to the peer group. No Facebook, for instance is relevant in today's scenario when a majority of teens are hooked to social media. This also makes one feel the collection is rather archaic and does not confront issues that often plague the young such as refusal of parents and guardians to discuss sexuality. Repressive attitudes that have not kept pace with the changing world and increasing information overload and it can be traumatic for teenagers. It would have been benificial if the editors had dealt with current concerns. The literary merit of a few stories in the books reviewed might be questionable but because there is something for every one, the books instructs and delight both. The desi tadka spices up the chicken soup and makes it possible for Indian readers to identify with what was initially only targeted at the American soul. Once called "the publishing phenomenon of the decade", by Time magazine, Jack Canfield is the originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. The series has over 225 books in print with a total sales of over 500 million copies worldwide in 47 languages. Canfield is also America's top motivational speaker and success coach. He motivates entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, managers, sales professionals, corporate employees, and educators to give peak performances. Is it not about time we launched our own homespun Jack Canfield?
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