Immortal for a Moment: Small Answers to Big Questions About Life, Love and Letting Go

by Natasha Badhwar

A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 11, 2018

About the author

Natasha Badhwar was born in Ranchi, grew up in Kolkata and refused to accept Delhi as home for the next three decades. She began her career in broadcast journalism with New Delhi Television (NDTV) as the first female videographer in news television in India. She quit thirteen years later as vice president, training and development. She now works as an independent film-maker, media trainer and columnist. Natasha writes the popular column ‘My Daughters’ Mum’ in Mint Lounge. She lives in New Delhi with her husband and three daughters.

Reviews

[Archana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book wanting to explore Natasha Badhwar’s writing style. The book reads like a warm hug. It is a collection of essays that are deeply personal - written with such honesty and authenticity that it inspires me to write better. I particularly resonated with the essay on “Why I hate writing” and loved “My body is a photographer”. There are parts of the book I could not relate to, however, it’s been a delight to understand a perspective. My review: 3.5

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read both of her books "My daughter's mum" As well as this one. Beautiful heart felt stories from her own life experiences. She doesn't shy away from her short comings which makes the reading even more interesting. I specially liked the chapter where she says she had to leave her camera to take care of her babies and she couldn't make her self believe that she could get back to it again.

[Pooja Bedwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book after reading Natasha Badhwar column in Mint Lounge. I loved the way she and her husband found a way back to each other despite all the differences. Her column touched me, and I decided to read the book, once it got released. I kept my words, and here I am with my post-book reading review.

The book is divided into short essays, which highlight the day-to-day moments of the author's life with her family and how she found answers to the big questions of life in those moments. She covers her idea of marriage, death, love, family, children, religion, faith, and much more in these essays.

I like how she has shared her private life with her audience. One can relate to so many chapters, and instances shared in the book. However, in the end, my verdict is that I believe, these are the stories and observation of the author's life. To find an answer to these questions, we only have to carve our immortal moments and take some cues from it!

[Priyanka · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Stories trick us. A story that starts off looking like it's my story turns out later to be everyone else's story.".
This is the universal truth, yet there are only very few writers who can make you feel connected to the story as if it is your own story. Natasha Badhwar's writing is immensely personal and yet it connects to me in a strange way. Her writing always had a therapeutic effect on me and it makes me look back at my own life with a discerning eye. Whenever I start reading her, I start off by nodding, smiling, chuckling, laughing, choking back my tears and finally end up crying bucket-loads. To take the reader through such a plethora of emotions is a rare gift in a writer and the simplicity with which Natasha does this is truly awe inspiring. I am a huge fan of poetic prose and this book is full of quotable short and sweet poetry in prose.

This book was one of the last books I read in 2018 and in fact I finished this one on New Year's eve. I can see myself picking this up again this year and reading whenever I go to a self reflective mode.

[Hina Jadhav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first Natasha Badhwar, actually I heard a lot about My Daughter’s Mum but never got a chance read it. So when I received Immortal for a moment, I was pretty much excited to sit down with it.
And seriously when I started reading it, I couldn’t leave it.Natasha has done a fine job in serving all the emotions on a plate. Everything about this book turned out to be so relatable, while reading every time I was thinking ok !!its me in the book.
I totally loved reading it, thank you again Simon and Schuster for sending me this, it was a treat.
I am looking forward to read more from the author.

[Nidhi Pant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this book up with a lot of excitement, having read the brief however the book was nothing that it promised. A complete disaster of a book, and not for people who like to read good books. It did not meet expectations in terms of the writing, the book was revolving around short stories of her kids, and very loosely put together short stories Which were barely around love, life or letting go. There were very few pets which were relatable or even worth reading, didn’t feel anyone without kids could relate to. Finished the book, just because I had started reading it. Did not impress me at all, and to me Natasha should stick to writing columns in newspapers rather than novels. Wasted my time reading this one, this book is a 1.5 for me.

[Manju · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful prose felt like poem

Excellent and most enjoyable read. It is so real and easy to relate to. Natasha has such simple approach to life’s complex and bigger issues. As a reader, I was totally immersed in the content and continuously felt that various situations were my experience too but I was not wise enough to approach and manage them the way Natasha suggests to do. Felt like travelling with the book, even went to Bir Billing. Thank you Natasha. Will wait for your next creation.

[Sucheta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Natasha is my personal Salinger and Erik Erikson and guardian angel wrapped in one. I have read her columns since I was 22 years old, and her words have been supporting me through the search for identity, kinship, belonging, and now I find that they're carrying me forward to the next stage of my life, and helping me integrate my experiences. A star rating cannot to justice to how much her writing means to me.

[Aparna Salvi Salvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely these are small answers to the big questions of life. Be it parenting or carrier or relationship or travel. The author has shared her personal experiences without being preachy and predictable. I wept, smiled and hugged the book at the end for it gave solace of another world.

Read the detailed review here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/10385...

[Sweta Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I resonated with so much in this book and indeed found answers. Sometimes of which I had been looking for, for ages. It calmed me down this book and made me smile and for those prone to tears it will make you cry too. This much from such a small wonderous book.
My take home message: push yourself, let things go, laugh and cry. All with fierce abandon

[Disha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved a blog by the author and ordered all her three books from Amazon. But all of them turned to be random ramblings about her life, without a structure, without thinking what is in it for the reader. I don't abandon books. But this one and the other two by the same author, I felt I could use that time much better in my life.

[Suman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has the usual comforting style of Natasha. But I thought there were a lot of bits that were abstract - just short sentences that make no real sense. A couple of chapters were repeated from her previous book. Overall a good one and gives what's expected.

[Ashutosh SHUKLA · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about life, someone's which I am not sure I care too much about. Small answers to big questions...I am not sure if it is that...Felt a bit of fan following love in the book ratings, read it if you love the author's columns...Pass on if you don't.

[Vidya Ramakrishna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice and inspiring read with many good examples and anecdotes to ponder over.

[Kedarnath Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every bit of it. So much so that I started watching her talks on youtube, heard one of her podcasts (The Seen and the Unseen with Amit Varma) and tagged her with a big Thank You on facebook.

[Adithya I · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A story that starts off looking like it's my story turns out later to be everyone else's story" - Natasha Badhwar