With Ardor And Meraki!

Dear Indians, It's the time of the year when I will be *in demand* again. So I considered talking to you all. I see you all everyday, from the clogged drain, as you are busy in your daily chores. I also see you from the garbage dump and from the terraces of a few houses. I'm the tricolour. I'm hoisted everywhere. If offices and governmental venues are ignored, I can be seen on the visor of bikes, hood of Cars, on terraces, on the entrance of houses and in the hands of everyone who is painted in patriotism. But this happens only on two days. After dusk, I'm back in my place. In municipal garbage dump, in clogged drains, on roadside ditches. I can be found everywhere. Patriots tread on me and I go unnoticed most of the times. There are some who have the courtesy to pick me up from road and keep me in the acute corner, so that nobody treads on me again. But alas, there are a few like that.  Others are ignorant. This goes on and on till my day arrives. I ...

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.                                               John Updike A lot has been said and written about the beauty of rain, how it instills freshness in us and bestows peace to our stress stricken minds. One of the first rhymes that we learnt in kindergarten was : Rain, rain, go away.  Come again some other day.  Little  Johny wants to play! No many how many times we wanted the rain to go away, the joy of rain was experienced to the fullest only in the yester years. With little palms, tiny legs, small feet, and oversized uniform, we jumped in puddles, dancing in the cool droplets from the sky, much to the annoyance of our parents and teachers.  Rain was always welcomed with open arms and embraced like an old friend. The various boats we ...

There's hardly a day when the news doesn't carry the news of a demise, loss, or departure of a fellow homo sapien. It's just a news for us because it rarely concerns us. But someday,as each day passes, as we travel through the path of life, and we hear about loss of a closed one,  we pause to mourn. We are aghast. How can someone we know just disappear into nothingness? People whom we know aren't suppose to leave, right? But they do. They say, ''every end is beautiful. Every end marks a new beginning.'' Is it? No. Abrupt endings aren't beautiful. Abrupt endings can't pave way for new beginning. Only if we live, smile and make others smile each moment, we can make abrupt endings beautiful too. When people depart. They carry several pieces of souls with them. Souls of parents, family members, friends, classmates..  The list is endless. And when such incident occurs, we realise life's too uncertain. Life's too small. A...

Ephesians 5:31 of the Holy Bible says,“ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Little had one known this would come true in the worst possible way. Little had one known that's exactly how people will turn out to be. Selfish. Insensitive. Heartless. We all are silent witnesses to the massive rise in the number of old age homes in the country. We don't fail to discuss in hushed tones about someone who left his mother to wither away in an enshrouded old age home, or worse, someone who keeps his parents with him and never fails to torment them in the last few days of their life. We are silent spectators to the ordeals faced by old aged people in our own family. Where have we come to?  The plight of these old ages people is heart wrenching. Why do parents become a burden after a point of time? The will to stay ''alone'' With the advent of western culture, men and women of...

Having read The Prince of Patliputra, I was keen to read the next part. And I was extremely overjoyed when the author dropped a mail about his second book, sending me the pre release copy. My happiness had no bounds. The second book of the Ashoka trilogy ''The Storm from Taxila'', is as pleasing as the first one had been. The book starts with Arya Chanakya narrating the course of events to the point where the previous book ended. The Storm From Taxila covers the journey of Ashoka from Vidishanagri to Patliputra and alongside it also depicts Maharaja Sushem's journey to Patliputra for ascending the throne. The first book dealt only with the journeys of the two samrats -Ashoka and Chandragupta. But the second one also revolves around the perspective of other characters like Hardeo and Radhagupta. The second part ends on a cliffhanger keeping your heart racing nineteen to a dozen. Some instances in the book are heart wrenching and they have been narrated p...

Book Review - The Prince of Patliputra Pages - 382 Reading time - 2 days (Once you start, you just can't stop! ) The book is authored by Shreyas Bhave,whose first book proves he is a rising star in the literary horizon.Writing a historical fiction isn't a layman's task.It requires deep knowledge, well researched facts and the ability to weave magic of words so keep the readers enthralled. The author has done the work quite well. The book never makes you feel at dullsville .Each line in the book is well measured and deeply embedded with the historical roots of India. Why should you read the book?  There is actually no reason you shouldn't. The book is a must read. After Freedom at midnight, this is the only book that actually kept me gripped. Samrat Chandragupta and Samrat Ashoka are two names which never fails to fascinate the ardent folloWers of Indian history,including me. This book ''The Prince of Pataliputra'' deals with both the great ...

The fifteenth Edition It becomes increasingly easy, as you get older, to drown in nostalgia. ~Ted Koppel The 15th edition of ''Expressions'' is out.  It suddenly makes me Conscious about how old I have become.   The first edition of Expressions was published in 2002-03 when I was a first grader.  The cover page unleashes the feeling of nostalgia which generally remains hidden behind the cloak of maturity.  The Older Editions I remember how Hira bhaiya would enter our classroom with two bundle of new magazines and a whisper of ''Magazine aa gaya'' would ensue in the classroom.   Sometimes the class monitors would be called in the office which would provide us a moment for gossiping.   The magazine would be distributed in a scurry by the same monitors, with the teacher in the classroom repeatedly saying, ''Keep your magazines inside your school bags.  You will have plenty of time to read it later.'' 🙈 Brats as we were...

He stepped down and rose again! Mahendra Singh Dhoni relinquished his captaincy on Wednesday, 5th January, ending the magnificent era of Indian cricket under him. It marks the end of a memorable journey of grit and leadership. As the news headlines displayed " MS Dhoni steps down from captaincy", several hearts broke at the same time, including mine. When Mahi's Twitter account began displaying " Member - Team India ", from " Captain ", many hearts sobbed, including mine. Mahi had been the synonym for captaincy in the lives of Indian fans, especially for his Ranchi fans. But as the saying goes, the true Genius is knowing when to stop. Our Mahi is one. A true leader knows when it's the right time to pass the baton. Captaincy was a title, MS conveyed emotions. He has nurtured cricket. He has supported his juniors. While I riffled the new feed, I experienced a wave of emotions, people had for Mahi, respect, love and...

Book Review - Better to wink at life  Pages - 106 The book is authored by Mr Kamran Ahmad , the Chief Instructor at the prestigious Civil  Services Academy, Lahore. Undoubtedly he is a maestro in tuning satires. Admit it, satire, wit and sarcasm aren't everybody's cup of tea . Because those who laugh last think slowest. Why should you read the book? If you love immersing in the deep sea of satire, if cracking your wit on humorous spoofs is the fiery  passion in your life this book will be the soul food for you. Embedded with small incidents that are a daily part of our lives, Mr Kamran has left no stone unturned to make us laugh! This book is a feast! Why this book isn't for you? As a beautiful painting Is equivalent to a colour splattered canvas to the feather heads, similarly, if wit and satire float above your cerebrum, you will not understand the book! But if you want to test your abilities in the field of wit and satire, jump in, Tiger! My Say on the...

Book Review - Who moved my cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson Reading time - F ifty minutes to one hour When life changes to be harder, change yourself to be stronger.  If you are someone who struggles to adapt to frequent changes in life or workplace, this book will oil up your senses and bless you with a mind boggling experience. After being ignored by me for ages for being so skinny, this ninety five pages of blessing finally caught my eye this new year. And I'm glad it did. It changed my attitude towards changes that are a gruesome yet inevitable part of life. I detested the slightest of changes, but now I laugh at them, and adapting to them has become a cakewalk! Predominantly this book is about changes!  Changes are the only constant in this world. From winners to losers, from weather to temperature, from syllabus to exam pattern, from lecturers to bosses, from friends to strangers, from lovers to acquaintance, we have seen weird, cranky changes in our li...