Title: F?@k Knows: Dead or Alive
Author: Shailendra Singh
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 226
Price: 295
F?@k Knows: Dead or Alive by Mumbai-based Shailendra Singh is a self-help book, a sequel to his 2013 bestseller F?@k Knows. It is well-written, gives some awesome advice, tested and tried by the writer himself. The author has shared own life experiences beautifully. It will make you think and live your life practically, seriously or the way you want to live it.
The book is based on real life lessons, the ones we keep getting from our elders as a blessings and teachings since childhood. One such lesson is ‘go with the flow’. No matter what the situation is, keep going, as when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Singh helps us understand beautifully to behave like water. The Manoj Kumar-starrer Shor had a song ‘Paani re paani Tera rang Kaisa’. As the title suggests, the book has used “F-word” excessively. Singh advises readers to become like water. When life throws you a curveball, during those hard times, don’t try to play around. Take a deep breath and get back to your work. If you want to live real-life, eat good, travel the world, you will have to work very, very hard, as nothing comes for free!
He learnt it the hard way. How he left his passion of becoming a cricketer and joined brother’s business and worked day in and day out, used creativity and new ideas, bagged projects and earned a lot of money, but was divorced when his brother landed in jail. How his mother, ‘mother of the mothers’, who taught him to fight own battle, deserted him. He worked with his elder brother for decades, but was always looked down upon. He would pocket most of Shailendra’s income.
Another great thing is writing a journal or maintaining a personal diary. The author tells readers to make a “F?@k It List” to remind yourself of the goals you want to achieve. In the 2011 release of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Hrithik and company enjoyed and fell in love with their lives in Spain. Singh, too, wanted to live like an Army man, so he joined an academy in Dehradun, where civilians can train hard and become a martinet. That too when he was down, but not out.
The chapters are short; language is simple. Each chapter has a F?@ktionary at the end, in which he defines the real meaning and the meaning he derives. It adds to the interest of the reader, making the book captivating, showing his wit in the use of the language.
His baldness finds a mention. How a man feels when he goes bald? What one needs to do to regrow hair, it maybe a lengthy, but a rewarding procedure. The author is lucky to have a wife who through thick and thin stood by him and helped him realise dreams. Sex is discussed liberally. It’s fucking awesome to say F?@k Knows: Dead or Alive deserves a read.
