Survival by Anuj Tikku | Book Reviews

The perk of being a book reviewer includes exposure to the books of various genre. Recently we came across a few books which fall in how-to and inspirational zone. Some of them are:

• Stepping Stones: Taking Towards the Goal by Lubhna Dongre
• Make the Best of Your Life: Letters to Bahujan Youth by Prabhu Guptara
• The radically changing nature of Work, Workers & Workplaces by Parthajeet Sarma
• Stuck in the Middle?: Let’s break the middle class dilemma! by Praveen Tiwari
• Infin-Eight by Prajeet Budhale | Book Reviews
• Finding The Magic in You by Shivam | Book Reviews

Adding to the list we came to know about Survival, a book by Anuj Tikku. Anuj runs a popular blog named http://tikkustravelthon.in/.

Let us take a look at the book cover:

The cover page, as you can see, is very attractive and filled with cheerful colors. It definitely makes a positive impression.

Usually, when we review a book, we talk about the book plot (spoiler free bird’s eye view only) and our views for various elements of the same, separately. However, the books in how-to / motivation read categories are exceptions to that.

When Anuj approached us for reviewing this book and provide the same, we’ve decided to read it without many expectations. And the book turned out to be a good choice.

The book introduces us to various segments of Anuj’s life. It is actually his survival journey. The book tells us how he has lost his father at an early age which leads him to trauma. And, how he understood the importance of life. Actually, when you are living through the good times, you will see you are accompanied by a lot of people. But, when you are going through the testing times, you will see the crowd shrunk to the people you can count with your fingers! And, whether we like it or not, this is the bitter reality of life.

During such testing times, you come to know about the people for whom you matter, not your wealth or stature. The author rightly mentions that:

Only trust and confide in people who want nothing from you expect to see you back on your feet.

The book is actually a collection of articles which seems have been written at various stages of his life. Consider it as a diary or a set of blog posts. In fact, some of the articles remind you of the significant happenings of the time through various references, and thus you can find out when it was written. The author could have mentioned the date when the original article was written, to make the reader connect with the specific segment of the book more effectively.

Of course, not everything in the book is what you will agree with. But, the things are different on case-to-case bases. We tend to see the things from a different perspective based on the situation and emotional stages we are in, at a specific time. So, you should consider applying your own logical assessment when you work on a good life lesson at any point.

I like the way the author concludes his assessment on the actions one could take to overcome the trauma.

The first step to overcome trauma is to take responsibility for what has already around and accept that it was because of you and no one else.
…
Taking responsibility is not the same as blaming yourself. It is just pure acceptance. Once you have accepted what has happened, it makes it easier to move on in life.

I’d seen it more often than not, that, people are finding excuses to not to take the responsibility. It is rightly said that failure is orphan. If there is a success, people will stand in line to take credit, but for a failure, there will be no one! And unless and until we take the responsibility, we cannot find a solution to get out of the same.

The author also includes quotes from various legends at various places in the book:

Someone asked him, “What is worse than losing everything that one has?”
Vivekananda replied, “Losing the hope that all has been lost can be won back one day.”

Reading the book is like watching an inspirational TED Talk. It gives you some gems of writing which are heavily weaved with personal experiences. Here is what the author tells about pain in a chapter of the book:

The only way to overcome pain is to identify it first, get to the source, and then let go.
…
The only way to overcome pain is to imagine that nothing in this world belongs to you.

The author gets philosophical at places and gives us some nice quotes:

Realise your own power and potential.
— — — —
There are no right or wrong ways of living.
— — — —
The only advice that is right is the advice that works for you.
— — — —
… with every challenge comes an opportunity to transform for the better.
— — — —
It is easy to deceive the world, but not yourself. Only you would know whether you are a devil or a saint at a given moment.

Those who are passionate to do something or achieve something will actually put in their efforts, and those who are not will keep complaining. The author’s way of telling to find positive from the negative things is quite effective. Here is an example:

Suffering is important in life as it actually builds character if one wants to grow in life and become stronger. Suffering is a great teacher and also a leveller.

Some of the things the author came up with are rather unconventional. For example, there is an entire chapter dedicated to conversation about The Goalless path. Now, almost all the motivational talks we’ve heard or read explores the importance of having “Goal” in the life, before everything else. The author puts in his point effectively and I will suggest you to read such chapters to understand the context. “Why surrender is better than struggle” is another such chapter.

Some word/phrases are represented wrongly in the book. For example Yuga is mis-spelled as yoga. Here is the context:

Kumbhakarna, on the other hand, retorts that the meaning of truth has changed from yoga to yoga and people interpret truth in their own way through the prism of their perspectives.

Same way, the author represents the word Smasara as a “point of no return”? Actually, Samsara is the cycle of life. Possibly, he wants to tell about Nirvana.

The book is not meant for light reading. It presents something which requires your attention. Some of the truths are hard-hitting yet realistic. If you love reading such books, then this one is a good choice. Though I got the book from the book, I found it quite costly on shopping sites like Amazon. But, often some promotional offers are running (especially for the Kindle version of the book), when you can go ahead and purchase the same.

Summary:

A pricey book which explores a set of articles exploring the way(s) through which one can remain motivated and inspired during the thicks and thins of the life. It is not for the light reading and thus has a target set of readers who will like it.

7 out of 10

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy Book From Amazon India – Hardcover
• Buy Book From Amazon India – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon India – Kindle EBook
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Hardcover
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Paperback
• Buy Book From Amazon US – Kindle Ebook

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