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Cherished
Grishma, accompanied by her father and four month old baby, boards the train to Delhi to join her husband Praveen. She decides to give him an unexpected visit. Little does she know that her journey will end in havoc to her life. 19 years later, Grishma's daughter Jyothi, longing for her father's love and support, determines to search for him, despite her mother's strong protests. Will Praveen accept her as his daughter?
This is the story of Jyothi's pursuit of parental love, which she considers as her legitimate right.
This is the story of Jyothi's pursuit of parental love, which she considers as her legitimate right.
146 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2013
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Lakshmi Menon
27 books28 followersI have been writing since my teenage days. So far I have published 4 novels - The Second Choice, Cherished,Before the Sunset and Vanished Girl. I have also contributed to 3 anthologies.
Apart from writing and reading, I also enjoy travel and explore new places, as and when time permits. I also enjoy writing about some of those travels as blog posts and travel guides.
Presently, I am busy with writing a children's book and a travel book.
I love meeting other writers and getting connected.
I have also written a novel in Malayalam - Veendum yaatra, which was published as a serial novel years ago in a popular magazine, and I have recently got it published as a book.
Apart from writing and reading, I also enjoy travel and explore new places, as and when time permits. I also enjoy writing about some of those travels as blog posts and travel guides.
Presently, I am busy with writing a children's book and a travel book.
I love meeting other writers and getting connected.
I have also written a novel in Malayalam - Veendum yaatra, which was published as a serial novel years ago in a popular magazine, and I have recently got it published as a book.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 26, 2013
Cherished - A Captivating Story
Good human relationship is a blessing of life, that every one craves for, but not everyone is lucky to get at all times.
Children growing up under the loving care of both the parents are the beneficiaries of such good human relationship, but they take such human relationship for granted during their growing up years. Since it is readily available to them, the children do not realise the value of the same. Many times, they do not know how to handle the situations in their life after they grow up, and meet people who are not friendly or cooperate or affectionate as their parents.
If the parents are indulgent, they just ignore certain boisterous behavior of their children, but if they are interested in inculcating good character in the minds of their children, they do not hesitate to admonish their children, whenever they cross the limits of good behavior. Such children turn out to become good citizens with good character and tolerance towards others, even though they may exhibit hotheadedness from time to time.
But in spite of such admonitions from the parents, some children turn out to be nasty, unfriendly and adamant persons, as a character of this novel exhibits.
But what about those children who have grown up with a single parent only from birth, like the 19 year old Jyothi of this novel?
She had never seen her father all these years. She had grown up only with a certain kind of relationship shown towards her by her mother. Her mother had not shown affection towards her, had been impatient in handling her questions and had been telling her that her father had deserted them immediately after her birth, with the result that she could only form a distorted impression about her father.
Due to this background, they had to live in her mother's house with her grand parents and her uncle, aunt and their children. Though she had the affection shown to her by her grand parents, many times her cousins had shown by their attitude towards her that she is an unwanted member to their family.
Society consists of all sorts of people - good, kind hearted people and some not so good people. Many teenagers like Jyothi may not be mature enough to figure out the truth by themselves, when they get distorted information about other people, with the result that they get confused.
She compares her situation with that of her friends, who are blessed with the love and affection of both their parents. As she had never enjoyed the benefit of the love and affection of her father, she has deep craving to find out where is her father, whether she could find out about him - whether he is a good man or not as often presented to her by her mother - and get the chance of living with him as his daughter and so on.
Since there are good, kind hearted people in the world even in these dog-eat-dog competitive days, she gets valuable advice on not only how to judge other persons but also on how to know the whereabouts of her father.
How she goes about finding him and carries on from there is the theme of this interesting novel.
Human relationship is a very delicate subject. It needs careful handling.
The author, Ms. Lakshmi Menon, has an excellent grasp of the subject of human relationship and an understanding about how people could behave on certain kinds of emotions. It was evident in her first novel, "The Second Choice", where she had so carefully and eloquently sketched the various characters and their emotions. She continues to present her expertise in this novel also.
She puts such knowledge to good use in creating her characters of this novel and the emotions they exhibit at various situations - such as when Jyothi cries in frustration whenever she gets cold shouldered by her cousins or when she gets harangued by her mother, whenever she asks her about her father. Our eyes get moist at such occasions in sympathy with Jyothi.
In the same way, when Jyothi succeeds in finding about her father's whereabouts and the circumstances leading to his separation from her mother, her happiness knows no bounds and the author transfers the magic of her happiness to our hearts also, so we also celebrate it whole heartedly.
The novel is quite fast paced and an easy read. We quickly get attached to the protagonist of the novel, Jyothi in her endeavors of finding about her father and want her to succeed.
It is a credit to the author that she creates such an earnestness in our minds at the very beginning. That is the true test for the success of this novel. The readers will enjoy reading the novel.
Good human relationship is a blessing of life, that every one craves for, but not everyone is lucky to get at all times.
Children growing up under the loving care of both the parents are the beneficiaries of such good human relationship, but they take such human relationship for granted during their growing up years. Since it is readily available to them, the children do not realise the value of the same. Many times, they do not know how to handle the situations in their life after they grow up, and meet people who are not friendly or cooperate or affectionate as their parents.
If the parents are indulgent, they just ignore certain boisterous behavior of their children, but if they are interested in inculcating good character in the minds of their children, they do not hesitate to admonish their children, whenever they cross the limits of good behavior. Such children turn out to become good citizens with good character and tolerance towards others, even though they may exhibit hotheadedness from time to time.
But in spite of such admonitions from the parents, some children turn out to be nasty, unfriendly and adamant persons, as a character of this novel exhibits.
But what about those children who have grown up with a single parent only from birth, like the 19 year old Jyothi of this novel?
She had never seen her father all these years. She had grown up only with a certain kind of relationship shown towards her by her mother. Her mother had not shown affection towards her, had been impatient in handling her questions and had been telling her that her father had deserted them immediately after her birth, with the result that she could only form a distorted impression about her father.
Due to this background, they had to live in her mother's house with her grand parents and her uncle, aunt and their children. Though she had the affection shown to her by her grand parents, many times her cousins had shown by their attitude towards her that she is an unwanted member to their family.
Society consists of all sorts of people - good, kind hearted people and some not so good people. Many teenagers like Jyothi may not be mature enough to figure out the truth by themselves, when they get distorted information about other people, with the result that they get confused.
She compares her situation with that of her friends, who are blessed with the love and affection of both their parents. As she had never enjoyed the benefit of the love and affection of her father, she has deep craving to find out where is her father, whether she could find out about him - whether he is a good man or not as often presented to her by her mother - and get the chance of living with him as his daughter and so on.
Since there are good, kind hearted people in the world even in these dog-eat-dog competitive days, she gets valuable advice on not only how to judge other persons but also on how to know the whereabouts of her father.
How she goes about finding him and carries on from there is the theme of this interesting novel.
Human relationship is a very delicate subject. It needs careful handling.
The author, Ms. Lakshmi Menon, has an excellent grasp of the subject of human relationship and an understanding about how people could behave on certain kinds of emotions. It was evident in her first novel, "The Second Choice", where she had so carefully and eloquently sketched the various characters and their emotions. She continues to present her expertise in this novel also.
She puts such knowledge to good use in creating her characters of this novel and the emotions they exhibit at various situations - such as when Jyothi cries in frustration whenever she gets cold shouldered by her cousins or when she gets harangued by her mother, whenever she asks her about her father. Our eyes get moist at such occasions in sympathy with Jyothi.
In the same way, when Jyothi succeeds in finding about her father's whereabouts and the circumstances leading to his separation from her mother, her happiness knows no bounds and the author transfers the magic of her happiness to our hearts also, so we also celebrate it whole heartedly.
The novel is quite fast paced and an easy read. We quickly get attached to the protagonist of the novel, Jyothi in her endeavors of finding about her father and want her to succeed.
It is a credit to the author that she creates such an earnestness in our minds at the very beginning. That is the true test for the success of this novel. The readers will enjoy reading the novel.
February 17, 2017
When Grishma, with her four month old daughter Jyothi, arrives back at her home at Delhi to surprise her husband Praveen, she is the one who is left shocked and surprise. Grishma then goes on to raise her daughter alone after what she deemed as her husband’s betrayal. But a nineteen year old Jyothi wants to know her dad and while moving into a new college she takes the initiative to contact her father. This starts a whole new journey for all three parties involved – Grishma, Jyothi and Praveen.
‘Cherished’ is essentially an emotional story about different relationships and their dynamics. What Grishma deemed as betrayal was merely a misunderstanding and her lack of interest in communication with Praveen, gave Jyothi a completely different life from what could have been. Jyothi on the other hand picks up that line of communication with her father to begin a new chapter in her life. While as a third party watching this story unfold, I had an advantage of seeing the whole picture. But the people involved in the story are very much like us – often blaming others and unable to see the whole picture. The fact is that though we all know that communicating with people and trust make the base of any relationship, we often forget to implement it in our lives and that is what happens in this story too. I loved the way the author built up and portrayed her characters. It is like you can see each character through the other’s eyes and then you see the whole picture. The pace is set perfectly in order to spread over the characters building, emotions and situations equally. The plot sounds simple enough but deals a heavy hand of a myriad of emotions.
Overall, it is a fast read that will take only a couple of hours and good for a lazy afternoon!
http://www.b00kr3vi3ws.in/2013/11/Che...
‘Cherished’ is essentially an emotional story about different relationships and their dynamics. What Grishma deemed as betrayal was merely a misunderstanding and her lack of interest in communication with Praveen, gave Jyothi a completely different life from what could have been. Jyothi on the other hand picks up that line of communication with her father to begin a new chapter in her life. While as a third party watching this story unfold, I had an advantage of seeing the whole picture. But the people involved in the story are very much like us – often blaming others and unable to see the whole picture. The fact is that though we all know that communicating with people and trust make the base of any relationship, we often forget to implement it in our lives and that is what happens in this story too. I loved the way the author built up and portrayed her characters. It is like you can see each character through the other’s eyes and then you see the whole picture. The pace is set perfectly in order to spread over the characters building, emotions and situations equally. The plot sounds simple enough but deals a heavy hand of a myriad of emotions.
Overall, it is a fast read that will take only a couple of hours and good for a lazy afternoon!
http://www.b00kr3vi3ws.in/2013/11/Che...
February 20, 2016
The book mirrors a grave reality that persists in the society these days. Both girls and boys end up their marital relations for silly misunderstanding, without thinking about the children who are sandwiched between.
Highlights
The writing style of authoress is really good. The topic is handled with the responsibility it deserves and depicted without even a tinge of exaggeration. The unending craving of Jyothi to find her father and feel his love, touches the hardest hearts. To live without an idea about how one's father looks like or how a father's love feels like is heartbreaking. That too when he is alive.
The flashback where the readers get to know how Greeshma and Praveen separated is explained authentically. Jyoti's teenage character and hatred for her mother reminds us of many daughters who are belligerent towards their mother and finds fault with them.
Great care is given in character build up. Each and every characters seem to live before us. The books speaks out loudly about years of experience authoress, as a writer.
Book cover, and title is in sink with the story. The book is well edited and proofread.
Drawbacks
The present and past could have been distinguished properly as three parts. Since the past is explained in detail a clear differentiation would have been icing on the cake.
One Liner
The book tell s us how petty egos and immaturity makes us do deeds which are irrevertible.
Highlights
The writing style of authoress is really good. The topic is handled with the responsibility it deserves and depicted without even a tinge of exaggeration. The unending craving of Jyothi to find her father and feel his love, touches the hardest hearts. To live without an idea about how one's father looks like or how a father's love feels like is heartbreaking. That too when he is alive.
The flashback where the readers get to know how Greeshma and Praveen separated is explained authentically. Jyoti's teenage character and hatred for her mother reminds us of many daughters who are belligerent towards their mother and finds fault with them.
Great care is given in character build up. Each and every characters seem to live before us. The books speaks out loudly about years of experience authoress, as a writer.
Book cover, and title is in sink with the story. The book is well edited and proofread.
Drawbacks
The present and past could have been distinguished properly as three parts. Since the past is explained in detail a clear differentiation would have been icing on the cake.
One Liner
The book tell s us how petty egos and immaturity makes us do deeds which are irrevertible.
October 6, 2013
"Cherished" gives you a beautiful insight into a teenager's mind and how she fulfills her basic need of receiving her father's love. As a teenager,it brought me both satisfaction and lots of joy for embarking this emotional yet a worthy journey with Jyothi. The book will definitely make you think the next time you take a quick, but an important decision of your life!
Going by the name, this book will with no doubt stay cherished in my mind!!
Going by the name, this book will with no doubt stay cherished in my mind!!
March 26, 2014
This book was an eye opener for me.Even the smallest of the misunderstandings may end up in great misery and the author has made a successful effort in making the readers realise the importance of every relation of our everyday life. Trust and patience can bring wonders in ones life..A must read book!!!
June 20, 2014
The fact I liked in the book is the way the author narrated the relation between daughter and dad. Very small misunderstanding made 3 people to suffer for years .The story gave us a message that if we want to patch up anything or want to tell something to others,just go and tell it otherwise we need to pay a lot for it.
December 12, 2013
"A touching story of a daughter, who missed her father's love in her growing up years. Though her mother has tried her best to give her whatever she could, the daughter hated her for denying her father's love. I felt that the story was quite believable and a good page turner."
September 1, 2013
Yes, I love my own book, and hope you too will love this heart touching story of a young girl.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews