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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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E[x]ploring Odia Literature Through 'Punyatoya'

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Odia is my mother tongue but I had never really focussed on Odia novels, given that I love reading. Of late I realised that I should explore the culture and language of my native land, and see for myself whether it suits my reading sensibilities. I read “Jagyaseni” by Pratibha Ray a few years back, over a span of several months. It is a retelling of Mahabharata from Draupadi’s perspective, which brings about her inner turmoils, confusions, decisions, desires and dreams, really well. It was the first Odia novel I ever read. Three days back, I completed reading my second novel in Odia, coincidentally it is by the same author. “Punyatoya” - literally it means the river, or ‘as pure as the river’. It is also the name of a revered river in Indian mythology.
The book has been translated into Hindi with the same title, with the tagline “the story of a village girl Meghi”. Other translated versions are in Marathi and Malayalam.
The story follows a young girl named Barsha, dearly called Meghi at…
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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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The Hyderabad Playlist : Visit to Shilparamam

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Hyderabad. I never had the slightest inkling that I would spend that the second half of 2017 in Hyderabad. Till June, 2017. I left the job I had been doing for the last two years after graduation and moved to this city with a friend to study for competitive exams. I had taken the plunge without the guarantee of landing on safe grounds. Risk it was, yes, but it gave me an experience of a lifetime.

I had never studied so much and also enjoyed the lectures in equal measures in my entire life. The feeling of going back to being a student was so good. I loved being a student, abiding by the routine of classes, study hours, making notes and being a part of the classroom that had students from every part of the country, of different age groups. I was not really social. But I liked it. A change from two years of monotonous repeated work in the cubicle was most welcome.



We decided to take a bit of break on a certain Sunday and visit Shilparamam- the traditional handicraft village situated in H…
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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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Empress Ki : A story of an epic scale

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Empress Ki is the most elaborate, gripping, and thrilling series I have watched this year. And at 51 episodes, it is the longest Korean drama series I have ever watched. Even though the number seems daunting and too much, it’s worth it all. If you like period dramas, you won’t want to give this one a miss.

It was in 2016 that I first read about Empress Ki, the historical drama that had garnered much praise and accolades from the audience and critics alike. Most Korean dramas are just 16 or 20 episodes long. So 51 seemed never-ending to me then. It wasn’t until 2017 that I decided to at least try the first episode. And I was hooked. But owing to the various circumstances I didn’t continue watching it. It was just last month that I remembered this epic story and watched it to completion within just a few days. Believe it or not, midway through it, I was almost literally pulling my hair out, in anticipation of what would happen next.

I would have given this magnum opus 10/10 had it stopp…
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