Ritika Ruminates

My Best Reads of 2024 2024’s Top Reads: Stories That Captivated Me As of 22 December 2024, I have completed around 35 books, out of which I really liked some novels, plays, and a poetry collection. I am careful (or miserly?) about giving ratings, which can change with time. In this blog post, I am sharing my 4 out of 5 star ⭐ reads this year. Jumping straight to the list of books (in random order) which you can use as book recommendation and add to your TBR list, here we go: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom:- This book tells the story of a talented musician, Frankie Presto, who changes lives by playing his guitar. Each time his playing impacts a life, a guitar string turns blue. Follow the life of this music prodigy, narrated by the personified figure of Music/Talent, as he changes lives with his strings. I picked up this book without many expectations (other than the author's name) during a reading slump, and the writing style and story kept me engrossed. Knife: ...

Recently, due to harassment over alimony, a Bangalore techie named Atul Subhash committed suicide. This has led to backlash over the internet against his wife and sparked debates about alimony laws in India and the need for gender-neutral reforms. What Atul went through is surely horrible. If the statements about the judges and his wife are to be believed, asking him why he isn't dead yet is just plain apathy. No innocent should go through all this.  However, scrapping alimony altogether isn't a practical solution. This will inhibit justice and the ability to walk out of an unhappy/abusive marriage for a lot of people, mostly women. The system of alimony was incorporated into laws as a gender-neutral law that can help both men and women in marriage, whoever doesn't earn or does not earn sufficiently to sustain.  In India, women are paid less than their counterparts. In most cases, women do not earn or earn quite less than their husbands. During marriage prospects, a lot of ...