Bla Bla

Book authored by the creators of www.unrealtimes.com is a satirical parody covering the elections of 2014. With these elections; as witnessed by all, any small talk on politics would become extremely polarized. In such scenarios I have often wondered how not many of us realized that; public has been made fool is all this propaganda politics by all forces involved. In a very subtle manner this very message is conveyed on platter of laughter through this book. Through the beginning I was having massive bouts of laughter. Had to control my laughter while reading the book on my commute from and to office. It did remain funny to the end but the underneath facts of it was sinking in for me; making me sad on the horrible political scenario we have. The most gloomy realization was that authors really didn't have to exaggerate much as most of it was an extrapolation of reality. Be it dynastic politics or political maneuvers. Many wrote in the reviews for this book as 'anyone wh...

It is always difficult to come home late from office. When I reached home today, it was nice to see my husband not watching news.  As he was not occupied with any of the electronic gadgets, we did something rare! We talked!  Interestingly I married him essentially because I felt we could easily have good conversation. But then I had not taken into account all the news channels available, twitter, news apps on the mobile phone and Facebook sometimes.  Anyhow, as we were having some random conversation, husband's eyes wandered to the clock on the wall. And he exclaimed "In 'your' talks I almost missed my serial". I was suddenly jerked to a past memory of my mother scolding for making her miss her TV serial because of some petty gossips. SIGH!  So I curiously waited while he switched channels to find 'his' serial. Well the female lead was pretty hot. Story looked as funny as it could be of any prime time serial on Indian Television. The male ...

The Feast of Roses  (Taj Mahal Trilogy #2) "The love story of Emperor Jahangir and Mehrunnisa, begun in the critically praised debut novel The Twentieth Wife, continues in Indu Sundaresan's The Feast of Roses. This lush new novel tells the story behind one of the great tributes to romantic love and one of the seven wonders of the world -- the Taj Mahal." My Review: With the first book, which was essentially about the love blooming between Jahangir and Mehrunissa; I saw the glimpses of what Begum Nur Jahan was more famous for. A lady with an opinion and not scared to express them. Her character was beautifully sketched in the first book; as a girl who was never a calm or subdued as females of that era are thought of to be. She was outspoken even in from of her Abba (Father) and had a very relate-able relationship with her elder brother Abul Hasan. I was apprehensive of the second book. Thinking will the author take the same approach as most of the historical re...

This morning at office, sitting with colleagues over breakfast we were discussing summers. And a couple of us from North India started reminiscing how the summers are really harsh in northern India especially in the states of UP and Rajasthan. I started telling about how it gets difficult for people in independent houses with roof exposed to scorning sun the whole day and in the evening when sun gets milder we used to sprinkle water on the roof, to make it bearable for the night. When one of my colleague said how it was better when one had a room underground. Just as this conversation was going on, I get a flash; of a dream probably which I must have seen many times. At first it didn't even feel like it was a dream. The picture I was getting was of house and felt like it was one I lived in for years. I remember every detail of it. This house too had a underground room - something which triggered this memory. This underground room's entrance though was an illusion. Hard for o...

December 2014. My parents first time took long leaves and came to visit me and their son-in-law in Pune. One morning while chatting; Dad expressed his desire to go to Andamans as he wanted to try scuba diving, To which Ateek (the afore mentioned son-in-law) said that why does he need to go so far when there is a place in Maharashtra that offers scuba experience. Dad was surprised and excited at the same time and we all jumped to plan an impromptu trip to Malvan. After a few calls, we realized that the impromptu thing was a bad idea during Christmas/New year holiday. We kept the idea on to-do list for when Mom Dad would next visit us. And it happened after exactly one year. December 2015. We asked Mom and Dad to plan year end holidays with us and we got the Malvan bookings done. This was so much more important for me and Ateek as we had not had a single holiday this year. For Ateek especially it had been a super busy year - work wise. Although I set to find an accommodation a month ...