Tuesday 18 November 2014

Review of "Bombay Mumbai - Life is Life, I am because of you" by Amin Sheikh


Name of the Book – Bombay Mumbai – Life if Life, I am because of you

Author – Amin Sheikh

Genre – Autobiography

Price – Rs: 300

A few months ago I did not know anything about Amin Sheikh. It was during a discussion with one of my clients that the name popped up! She knew that I had published my book and that I was interested in meeting and interacting with others like myself; the fact that I am working with an NGO and wanted to make a difference to the world, was another reason she asked me to connect with him on Facebook! Well, it wasn’t easy, as mentioned in my last post; I am just not comfortable with adding unknown people or sending them friend requests. And so I did not add him for some time, but took that time to research about him. I read his interviews, an excerpt from his book, understood his plans of building a library café called “Bombay to Barcelona” in order to help homeless children and others like him who have turned into skilled professionals and that is when I decided to add him as a friend and help him spread the word. Reading and reviewing his book to give you a glimpse into his life is one of my attempts of making sure that he gets closer to his dream!

What I liked about the book

This is one book that did not take me long to read as the language was simple and the emotions real and heart-wrenching! The book covers about 25 years in the life of the author, right from the time he ran away from home till the time he began his own travel agency known as Sheha travels. The main thing I liked about the book is the fact that the author, Amin has given equal importance to all the people who made a difference to his life. He talks about each of them with so much respect and love that it is amazing that he can be so positive given the circumstances he grew up in! Yes, the positivity in this book outshines all the negative experiences he has been through and spoken about. In his autobiography. Amin his shared his experiences which range from getting bullied, eating leftovers from the dustbin to begging on the streets. These narrations may make you cry, but Amin talks about them as learning experiences; moments that made him strong and increased his belief that things will turn out better! A young boy who ran away from home at the age of 5 and went through so much till the angels from Snehasadan found him and gave him a better life! Amin Sheikh has come a long way. May all his dreams come true.

My Personal Views -

As I read the book, I sometimes felt guilty of having so much and giving back so little. The harsh truth that there are people, especially children living on the streets, eating out of dustbins and being raped and sodomized brought me back to reality. It’s not that I did not know about these things, it’s just that like many of us, I kept telling myself that one day I would do something for them. After reading this book I have realized that the “one day” will not come to me or any of us. Time is the one thing that does not wait, it flows like a river; the time to make a change is now. All of you who are reading this post can make a difference by buying his book, the proceeds of which will help him build his library in order to help the street children and the environment too!

I would like to end the review with lines from his book -

"This is just the beginning,
I came a long way and
I still have a long way to go.
Remember smile without reason,
Why? Because life is beautiful!
See you all around my dreams."


You can read more about him from his website –


Facebook Pages -


E- Book - 


The book is also available in Kitab Khana - http://www.kitabkhana.in/


If you want me to review your book, mail me at myriadhues14@gmail.com

Twitter - @GuptaRach

2 comments:

  1. An interesting review Rachna and love how you pointed out at struggles of Amin who sure is a soul who gave so much to the city..reading harsh realities of Mumbai. It's a tough city for so many. For sure, would love to grab the book:)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Vishal. You should.. Its nice to see how young people like Amin want to help others make a better life!

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