From then to now- review of Those were the days

Finished reading the last page of the book ‘Those were the days’ a while ago. Before I give my views about the book, let us introduce ourselves with the author of the book.

About the author:

N.S. Ravi holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Delhi and has had a distinguished and chequered career in senior positions in public and private sector enterprises dealing in jewellery, infrastructure, and textiles and apparel in Europe, Africa and India. He speaks Tamil, Hindi, English and French.

Ravi is married and has two children.

Those were the days is his debut non-fiction work. He can be reached at nuranisravi@yahoo.co.uk.

The book:

When a book is introduced, the first thing we come to know about it, is the title. The book that we are looking into, contains the history of many things that are a part of our day-to-day life. The content under each and every topic focuses mainly on the topic’s past and the author’s experience with the same. So, going by every aspect, I feel the author has chosen the most suitable title for the book.

When we hold a book for the first time, the first glimpse we have, is of the cover. The front cover of the book contains color patches of saffron and green on the top, with a giant Ashok-chakra in the centre. Apart from this, the cover contains footprints in different colors leading towards the top of the book. The cover, overall, symbolizes one’s journey from the India of the past to India of the present, which continues towards the future. Even in the book, we find every topic begins with its origin, or how it was back in the 60’s, continues with its evolution and re-construction along with time, and ends with its current scenario. I would like to salute the person who has designed it! The back cover has nothing much except a large pair of footprints and the synopsis.

Time to look into the main content of the book.

The book covers the experience of a retired person with what life has offered to him till date, with its every aspect in the form of a separate chapter, where he is narrating everything to his children.

The book covers thirty chapters, each telling about an article or a group of articles that is/are a part of our daily lives. When I began any new chapter, it took me to a long lost era- the era when I was not even born! Along with the author, or any lay man of that time, I found myself amidst things what we call today as antiques. Then, as I kept reading, I kept witnessing changes. A time came when I came across things that I actually had got a chance to use/ experience once upon a time, such as postcards, inland letters, telephones, cassette players, medium-wave radio airings, Doordarshan, etc. As the chapter ended, I found myself back to the present era.

I loved the way the chapters are arranged, They begin with different types of means of transport ranging from flights to bicycles. Then we come across means of communication ranging from post and courier to mobiles and e-mails. The next three topics cover things surrounding students such as schools, tutorial classes, and even articles like pens and pencils. Then we have articles related to media and entertainment such as radio, TV, music, etc. They are followed by electronic gadgets ranging from calculators to air-conditioners. The next chapters- that focus on games- do not fail to include galli games along with football and cricket. They are followed by many other chapters depicting many random aspects of life. The last chapter, ‘My India’ proves a perfect ending to the masterpiece.

The language used is simple and can be understood by anybody who knows to read and write English. I also loved the sentence arrangement. The slight grammar errors that appear in one or two places, which are seen in almost any book, are very much ignorable.

Overall, I never knew the first non-fiction book that I had got to review would be so very entertaining. I would call it a must-read for anybody, even the ones who are not much into non-fictions. I am very sure you are gonna enjoy this one.

I would rate the book 4.8 on 5.

At last, a big ‘Thank You’ to the writer for this awesome book! I eagerly am waiting for your next masterpiece.

To view the interview of Mr. Ravi, please click here.