We Are The Champions | Book Review

The books – fall in “Art” category across various directory sites.

Mostly in “entertainment” subcategory.

While, some books provides much more than “entertainment”, writing something concrete about the stuff worth noticing, is definitely an “art”!

And, when I come across books that are inspirational and motivation, touching the life-journey of one or more people, elaborate their struggle against all odds, their will and determination to do greater goods, reaffirms this categorization.

Such books are capable of inspiring generations.

Rashmi Bansal is an Indian author, who is known for writing inspirational books.

Recently, we came across her book We Are The Champions with the tagline Inspiring Stories of Children Across India who are Champions of Change.

To give the due credits, we must mention that the book is co-authored by Devendra Tak.

Before we start talking about this book, here are quick links to some of the other books by Rashmi, we got a chance to read and share our views for.

• God’s Own Kitchen: The inspiring story of Akshaya Patra
• A Magnificent Obsession | The Story Of A Muruganantham

Cover Page:

Let us take a look at the cover page of this book.

As you can see, the white background gives the book a clean and rich look. The way the letters of the title are formed with the photos of kids, is simply amazing.

Definitely, an eye-catcher cover page.

The Book And Our Views For It:

Usually we talk about a book in two distinguished segments, dedicated to a bird’s eye view of the plot, and our views for the same, respectively.

The structure of this book is different. It is a collection of real stories each dedicated to one of the remarkable young kids from Bharat (that is India).

Talking about of each of them will lead to spoilers and it will definitely affect your reading experience. So, let us just have a top view of the overall content.

It is worth to note that all these kids, regardless of their age, social surrounding and gender, stood against odds and ignited, initiated to contributed to a change that is much needed in our society.

The content of the book is distributed into three segments:

• LADENGE
• BADHENGE
• PADHENGE

Usually, in our life we study in the first phase (PADHENGE), when we are growing up. We then accumulate knowledge and keep sharpening our skills to continuously be the better version of ourselves (BADHENGE). And, when the circumstances are odd, we fight them with our skills, intelligence and knowledge to progress in our lives (LADENGE). And, over the course, we keep doing greater good for the society (if we are implanted with such ethical mindset.

The sequence is mostly fine for majority of us, who can be considered as privileged ones.

If you think, you are not privileged; well, look at the people living in the remote areas. Sometimes, the kids need to cross rope-bridge on the river or walk for kilometers to attend a school. Read the stories of M C Mary Kom and you will find that, if your parents are dropping you at the school, or a school bus picks your from the nearest stop to your home, it is indeed a privilege.

The mid-day-meal scheme and its success proves, that for some, even getting a plate-full is a challenge in itself.

And, that is not “it”.

Some are living in socially oppressive environment.

The things are beyond child-labour. For girls, it is even tougher.

Think of those who experienced child trafficking and other such traumatic experiences.

And, if they fight against it and makes a mark, they must not only be appreciated but also praised.

More often, such people develop empathy and dedicate their lives to the greater goods.

This book explores story of such children, here they are.

• JHULIMA MALLICK
• ANOYARA KHATUN
• Manab Ray
• MOHAMMAD HASNAIN LONE
• Aamna Fatima
• ANJU VERMA
• KALAVATHI V.A.
• SUJANTI KUMARI
• RUMI KUMARI
• SARASWATI KUMARI DHANUK
• SUBHDEEP KAUR
• SALMAN
• SONI

The name of the chapters are also interesting, giving you the summarized essence of the story.

The authors duo – have clearly mentioned their objective behind writing this story as:

When you read the true accounts of these 15 children from across 10 states of India, you will discover what a privilege it has been to have met them.

They further elaborate:

The children featured here are struggling against the highest odds to create positive change for themselves and – more importantly – for others.

And, when you read this book, you are presented with some realistic one-liners like:

It is easy to create laws but very hard to implement them.

In terms of the tough situations of one of the child, the author mentioned:

Anoyara’s village was no stranger to cyclones, which tore apart lives and families. “But for me, bigger than cyclone, was the death of my father… it changed everything.“

See, facing cyclone was a kind of routine for them!

So you can understand the challenges they had to overcome.

Each of these children has his/her own challenges and I am deliberately skipping their mention.

I would rather urge you to read these inspirational real stories.

The book has some proofreading errors, but you can just ignore them, as they don’t affect much to your reading experience.

For example:

became smarter at hiding it. ut they didn’t realise

While, it would be tough for the urban kids to relate to these stories, they are actually thus important for them to read and understand how privileged they are. And, what we lack as a society. As, they are the future, and having empathy towards fellow humans, they may go ahead and contribute to make the society a better place.

It is worth to note that the Bushfire Logo design by Surbhi Jain and the Official photographer is Raghav Chowla. The photos taken by him and the authors are embedded in the book at various places. When reading the stories and seeing the pictures of the wonder-kid being talked about in the respective story, it is an interesting and authentic reading experience. The contribution of – Save The Children – foundation is also worth praised for.
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Summary:

A book worth reading. Inspirational. Not an easy read, but has to be read.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 8 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - We Are The Champions by Rashmi Bansal, Devendra Tak - Paperback - Amazon IN
• Buy - We Are The Champions by Rashmi Bansal, Devendra Tak - Kindle EBook - Amazon IN
• Buy - We Are The Champions by Rashmi Bansal, Devendra Tak - Audiobook - Amazon IN
• Buy - We Are The Champions by Rashmi Bansal, Devendra Tak - Kindle EBook - Amazon US

Over To You:

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