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Showing posts from April, 2014

Lost Love

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A 55 fiction by Namrata-

Ria held the photograph tightly to her chest and cried. She cried for her. She cried for him. She cried for them. “If you are a dream, I never want to wake up” he would say, making her blush. But today those words of his are hurting her the most, for he didn’t wake up...

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They say the lesser the words one uses to express oneself, the deeper and richer are his/ her thoughts. But conveying a thought, an emotion, or even an element of shock in just 55 words was never my cup of tea. I learn a tip or two from Privy Trifles, aka Namrata, whose words, I'm so glad to have as a guest post.

“It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Well, that's my ambition too...
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Book Review: 'Love, That Shit!' by Chandru Bhojwani

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‘Love, That Shit!’ by Chandru Bhojwani is published by Om Books International (2013), and is priced Rs.165 for paperback and Rs.157 for the kindle version in Amazon.in. It is a non-fiction of the self help genre. I received the ebook from the author for the reviewing purpose.

The themes in the book basically revolve round love, relationships and all the baggage that comes with it, especially in India. Inspiring at times and hilarious in between, it deals with the emotional and mental dilemmas of individuals in or out of a relationship. It gives ideas to tackle problems, for people with different perspectives. If not that, then it provides an outsider’s point of view giving a funny angle to the mess, in the least.

“Holding on to what’s not meant to be in your life will only corrode you from the inside out and eventually you won’t be able to blame anyone except the person in the mirror.”“It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.”
I enjoyed reading every chapter of the book. The narration …
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When I Look At The Stars...

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I love Do Min Joon’s library. It’s a huge, gigantic one, containing books from Josheon era to modern times; handwritten ones to printed and published ones. I wish I had so much of time as he has, to read on variety of subjects, learn and master numerous skills, and live under multiple identities. The prospect is so fanciful.
I had liked this male protagonist in earlier dramas too. He’s of the very popular Dream High fame, and The Moon That Embraces The Sun fame. His portrayal of Sam Dong- a rustic unpolished boy rising to fame through his singing talents, in an academy and surviving through the tragedy of becoming deaf gradually- had tugged at my heartstrings. It remains one of my favorite characterizations till date. He’s a gifted and a very convincing actor.
I liked the character of Chang Seung too. Her favorite ‘chicken and beer’ has become a favorite of South Korea. Her antics are sometimes comical and crazy, and sometimes touching and sentimental. It was hilarious whenever she talk…
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You Who Came From The Stars

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A spaceship from another planet lands on earth, in the Josheon era. The people i.e. the aliens explore their place of landing- the nature, the plants, the animals and the humankind inhabiting it. They take samples of minerals, medicinal saplings, and observe the way of life of the humans. They return after satiating their curiosities about earth, the planet that looks so beautiful from space, from their sky. But by a twist of fate, and entangling of destinies, one of them is left behind while saving a young widow from death.
He lives on earth, adapting to its climate, food, and people and learning the native language. He knows he is not abandoned, and that he has to wait for a long time to return to his home. He is a fast learner, and has superhuman abilities, as per the earthlings’ standards. So meanwhile, he reads a lot of books and learns a lot many skills- those required for survival and some as a hobby. He can teleport within a particular distance, can stop time for about a minute…
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Why read 'Divergent'..

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I had read ‘Divergent’ by Veronika Roth in 2011. It was my first time ever, reading a futuristic dystopian novel. And I had loved it, quite unexpectedly. I had loved the characters Tris and Four, or Beatrice and Tobias. Four still remains one of my favorite characters in modern day novels. While the country was still swooning over Edward and Jacob, I had discovered Four, and was proud of it. I recommended the book to all my friends interested in reading, and they too shared the same love and starry eyes for Divergent.

When one year later I got to know that it was to be adapted to a movie, my joy knew no bounds. I was just so excited. Well, actually, we were just so excited.

Veronika Roth was just 23 when the first book in the trilogy was published. And it became such a phenomenal success. The other two books in the series have also been published- ‘Insurgent’ and ‘Allegiant’. Though I am yet to read these books, they are also equally successful, given the rave reviews and best seller …
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First Impressions

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First impression is never the last.
The first deduction and inference is never the actual conclusion. With time everything changes- perspectives, viewpoints, our judgements about a person or a situation, our assumptions and our suppositions. Things, after all, may not be what they seem.
The grey characters overwhelm our minds- not the good or the bad ones, mind, but they who seem something at the beginning but after layers and layers of deconstruction become quite different beings. Like those characters having both dark and light shades, we are surrounded by people who seem ambiguous.


#Studying People, Understanding Minds, Solving thoughts
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The Hyderabad Playlist – A song story

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It is human nature to dwell in the past, worry about the future and forget all about the present. I still miss the days spent in Hyderabad. I miss the study schedules, eating out, street shopping, and the city tours. I miss the roads, the townships and the metros. But I clearly remember that I just wanted the days to pass quickly so that I could return home, while I was there. And today I miss the view from the terrace of the ladies hostel we stayed in, the floral decorations with chalk, colors and flowers, the flower market, the abundance of curd during lunch hours, the constant ‘amma’ recitals by our wardens and so much more.


One of the highlights of the hostel life in Hyderabad at Sri Kamali was queuing up for tea, puri and dosa during breakfast time, and then hurrying to secure a chair the very next moment. And conversations and complaints flowed unhindered during these hours in many languages at once- the most prominent ones being Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and English.…
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Lohagard Trek

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Long time no see.

I needed motivation to write, and finally I got one. My typing has become slow and words don’t flow as they used to. They feel like some guest long left unattended. 


Days in Mumbai are different, very different than those in Dehradun. It doesn’t rain here, it pours, quite literally. The rush is unimaginable. And the lack of space, whether it is in the double sharing rooms that we stay in or the houses that we see around, is shocking. It was a huge shift of lifestyle. From Dehradun where the terrace had views of the beautiful mountains and horizons, to Mumbai where terraces don’t even exist, neither do horizons. Well, I have heard how romantic monsoon here is, and how the city grows on you with time. And I seriously hope they are true. I want to like this place, since I have to spend a long time here. Slowly and steadily, I am hopeful, that this city would open up to me.


The friends get together planned in Pune finally happened, and the biggest joy is that I could attend…
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A Gathering Of Friends By Ruskin Bond

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a gathering of friends is a collection of 21 short stories.
The twenty-one stories in the book are the greatest pieces of fiction written by Ruskin Bond. Chosen by the author himself, from a body of work built over fifty years (starting with his award winning first novel, ‘The Room on the Roof’, and ending with ‘Tales of Fosterganj’), this collection includes well-known masterpieces like ‘The Night Train at Deoli’, ‘The Woman on Platform 8’, ‘Rusty Plays Holi’, ‘Angry River’, ‘The Blue Umbrella’, ‘The Eyes Have It’, ‘Most Beautiful’, ‘Panther’s Moon’, as well as newer stories like ‘An Evening at the Savoy with H.H’ and ‘Dinner with Foster’. Taken together, the stories in A Gathering of Friends show why Ruskin Bond has long been regarded as one of the pillars of Indian Literature.
Timeless tales
Ruskin Bond's stories have the essence of the hills, the trains through the deodars, uninhibited exploration of childhood and other vagaries of life. They have such a universal appeal. They a…
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Fortune Telling

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Man has always been fascinated by the prospect of getting to know the future- the unknown. Since time immemorial people have had faith on different types of fortune-telling methods, to see what destiny has in its hold for them. In today’s world people are crazy for reading their every morning newsletter of daily horoscopes in their inbox, or for browsing the newspaper for the day’s zodiac forecast. And many of them consult one or the other fortune teller, to get a glimpse of their fate out of curiosity or to take some decisions.

Fortune telling essentially means predicting the future through various means that involves thorough observation of a phenomenon or entity, psychic analysis and interpretation, done mostly for gaining something in return. Fortune tellers prophesize the person’s future love life, work prospects, success, money, fame and even death through various techniques.
One of the very common methods of fortune telling all around the world is dream interpretation or oneir…
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A Thousand Paper Cranes

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“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship
I always find myself dwelling in the past. Always. May be because the past is safe- it’s already set in stone never to be changed- there’s no unpredictability attached to it. I miss the city I left behind. Day in and day out. It’s never out of my thoughts. And in such a mood, I picked up a novel called ‘The Nine-Chambered Heart’ and journeyed with the central character to the city with the river, the city without a river, the town in the east of the country, the mountain and the sea beach. It’s in this book that I learnt the belief about ‘A thousand paper cranes’ in Origami.

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. It is a traditional art form about 1000 years old. It is a creative folk art that has spread worldwide for its simplicity. It needs no cutting, gluing …
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Manisha Samal Talks About Her First Love: Painting

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1. How did you start out: was painting a childhood hobby?
 Please tell us about you First exhibition or first buyer experience?
It was a childhood hobby. I didn't experiment with acrylic paints or oil colors in childhood though. But I always had a kind of weakness for colors. And as it happens with everyone, I also started with trial and error with those sunset paintings, landscapes and sceneries using water color. I used to watch the sun setting in the horizon from my terrace from a very early age. I didn't know why I felt so good about it. Each time I saw it, I wanted to paint it on paper.

I can sit in silence, almost in mute for hours and watch the sun setting down behind the hills. I was enchanted with the colors- orange, pink, red, magenta, creamy white, purple and so many other hues in sky.
Me: Wow... A nature lover.. sure.. Manisha: Hmm My 1st exhibition was Dristee in 2015. It exhibited around 45 paintings of mine. Me:  wow.  Such a feat for first timer... Manisha: There are …
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