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Readers and Reviews
Aalolika, as it has been
read, felt and remembered.
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Published Reviews
"But the most enduring figures in the book are not landscapes or abstractions. They are Amma, Nani, and Ma—the women who shaped Akanksha's inner world. Through them, divinity appears in kitchens, courtyards, stories, lullabies, and arguments.
Gods are not distant metaphysical entities; they are companions in everyday life-spoken to, teased, negotiated with, and sometimes even scolded."
Writer, A Lotus in The Mud
"The design element of the book is beautiful. The text flows in aesthetically earth color pages and the photographs which accompany the stories are wonderfully shot. They take us back to village life and happy, simple times. The coffee table lustrous design format makes it a great light reading and also a good book for gifting."
Senior Journalist
" I loved this format. The reading took me into a different space where I reflected upon what was written. The pictures made me realise the importance of travelling in knowing how to connect with Bharat."
Sanjeev Nayyar
Editor, eSamskriti
I carried the book with me everywhere from the day I received it, and even on my trip where I wanted to just relax. And relaxing I did with this beautifully written book—in cafes, at home, in the valleys, on the mountains next to a river…
Yashas KS
Bharatanatyam dancer & teacher
Director, Kalaasriya
My heart is full. I took my own sweet time finishing this book. But have I really read it? Understood it? Comprehended it? Probably yes, but I will definitely go back to it again and again, just to read a story or look at a picture.
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Dr. Chinmay Pandya
Pro Vice-Chancellor
Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya (DSVV), Haridwar
There is a rare grace and effortless flow in Akanksha's narration that keeps the reader immersed throughout. Her choice of words is both elegant and evocative—simple yet profound, carrying emotions with remarkable subtlety.
Reflections from readers, writers and practitioners.
Prof. Anjan Chakraverty
Art historian · Miniature painting scholar
Artist & archivist
Aalolika, the title is highly deceptive. The stories are compiled with such immaculate discretion and intuitive probing that they are not meant to serve as soothing lullabies that send one to sleep. These stories and the accompanying refrains, culled from an extended source of traditional wisdom, are meant to keep the readers ever awake, helping them come out of slumber.
Kaadambari Singh
Senior Advocate
What makes Aalolika special is how it packages India’s scriptural depth into bedtime-story intimacy, each tale hiding a realization that compels you to read it once more. It reconnects us to our spiritual heritage not through lectures, but through narrative.
Vipul Kochar
National Convenor
INDICA
Written in everyday language that most people can relate to, it presented stories that I could imagine myself listening to, wonder in my eyes, my mind visualizing the conversations between gods. It is a must-read for the child inside you.
Bharat Kapur
Founder & Editor
First City Magazine
Masterful storytelling - words, scripture, reflections, images, quotes, insight - the finest of Hindu thought woven into an exquisite tapestry for the mind, the heart - a deepening of our understanding of our essential heritage. A lullaby for the gods!
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Saiswaroopa Iyer
Author · Program Lead,
Centre for Writing and Publishing, INDICA
Aalolika by Akanksha Damini Joshi is the Madalasa Gitam of 21st Century. It is more than an anthology of delightful poems. It gently urges the reader towards intimacy with the Shakti that created us. It playfully elevates us while bringing Gods into witty conversations, games, adventures and so on.
Aparna Krishnan
Community worker · Paalaguttapalle, Andhra Pradesh
Aalolika is magic. Interweaving of stories, of silences, and of pictures that anchor both in the soil of this land, from Kutch to Kashi. From the esoteric to the local. Making a tapestry as colourful as this land itself.
Voices from Readers
Adheer Som
Logic trainer · Columnist Author of Gumnami Baba: A Case History
70 sec
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Aalolika, the name itself, is translated as the first lullaby. If you wish to be lulled into a sense of comfort, childlike comfort, about how spirituality is wondrous and amazing, which it is certainly, but it is also deep. It is also dark. It has areas you might not feel comfortable visiting, but that's the whole point of Aalolika: to give you a cushion of sorts, I suppose, of the story and then an insight into it, but only if you wish to take that insight. It's not meant for everybody so I guess everyone will take away different things from each story, from each sutra.
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The whole book is like a slice of civilization, a slice of the culture itself. It's a composition of prose, poetry, philosophy, thought, and real situations. Literally every aspect of life comes together to offer you a meditative experience from which, like any meditation, entering is easy but coming out of it requires a lot of effort. It's difficult to call this just a book. You actually experience the flow of a river.
Shivakumar G V
Director
INDICA Kautilya Centre
85 sec
Sunita Gupta
Reader, New Delhi
48 sec
Your introduction of the Trinity trying to enter the circle of female energy filled with joy had me hooked: the structure of the mandalas, the stories, the incantations of the gurus, and the central inner awakening. This is exactly how the Chaunsath Yogini temples are structured.
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Adheer Som
Logic trainer · Columnist
Author of Gumnami Baba: A Case History
70 sec
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"To call Aalolika just a book is a disservice to the author, to the content - given that the content is divinely inspired - and the author will agree with me, that it is not she who has written it, it has written itself through her."
FROM THE BOOK, INTO PRACTICE
stories . sutras . silence
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The inquiry that begins on the page continues through practice and direct experience.
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Aalolika Meditation Retreats
in everyday life
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