~~ Old Post: Year 2014: Books that I read in 2013 ~~

Originally posted on 21 January 2014

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Starting (FINALLY) with posting the list of books that I read in 2013 along with ratings for each of them(yes, it’s definitely not a coincidence that this post comes out on the same day as the book challenge post by the legendary fellow blogger)…I had set a goal of completing at least 3-4 books per month for 2013, but I am quite happy(proud is what I want to say ) to find that I managed to complete reading 65 books this year…. 44 in English & the rest in Kannada…

 

I also tried out a couple of new things by changing my reading habits -

 

–> I have never tried many books by Indian authors till now (till 2013 that is). 2013 was a visible exception with me reading 20 English books (by Indian authors) & 21 Kannada books! Almost 63% of my total reading this year!

 

–> I always wanted to read Enid Blyton’s Famous five series (I know it’s not meant for the age group I am in) as a kid, but somehow couldn’t…I finally got to read a few of it this year!

 

–> I have never been really inclined towards reading “Romance” genre! But again, this year was an exception with most of my books being chosen from that section!

 

So here you go…

 

P.S:- Books are not listed in the order they were read, but are grouped by the author!

 

P.P.S:- Books that I particularly liked and would recommend are in bold 

 

Book	Author	Rating
Puppet on a Chain	Alistair MacLean	2/5
The Immortals of Meluha	Amish Tripathi	3/5
The Secret of the Nagas	Amish Tripathi	3/5
The Rozabel line	Ashwin Sanghi	3/5
Krishna key	Ashwin Sanghi	3/5
The Book of Tomorrow	Cecelia Ahern	3/5
One hundred names	Cecelia Ahern	3/5
Eat, Pray and Love	Elizabeth Gilbert	3/5
Five on a Treasure Island	Enid Blyton	3/5
Five Go Adventuring Again	Enid Blyton	3/5
Five Run Away Together	Enid Blyton	3/5
Doctors	Erich Segal	4/5
CLASS	Erich Segal	4/5
The day of the Jackal	Frederick Forsyth	4/5
Big bad wolf	James Patterson	4/5
A prisoner of birth	Jeffrey Archer	4/5
And thereby hangs a tale	Jeffrey Archer	4/5
Calico Joe	John Grisham	3/5
The Help	Kathryn Stockhett	5/5
One shot	Lee Child	4/5
Moonlight becomes you	Mary Higgins Clark	3/5
Size 14 is not Fat either	Meg Cabot	3/5
The guardian	Nicholas Sparks	3/5
The Wedding	Nicholas Sparks	4/5
The Promise	Nikita Singh	3/5
34 bubblegums and candies	Preeti shenoy	2/5
Life is what we make it	Preeti shenoy	4/5
The secret wish list	Preeti shenoy	2/5
MR Sampath	R K Narayan	4/5
Love stories that touched my heart	Ravinder singh	2/5
First Love	Sachin Garg	1/5
Never let me go	Sachin Garg	2/5
Come on Inner Peace, I don’t have all day	Sachin Garg	1/5
I’m not 24, I am nineteen	Sachin Garg	1/5
DILBERT AND THE WAY OF THE WEASEL	Scott adams	5/5
Shopaholic and Sister	Sophie Kinsella	3/5
Confessions of a Shopaholic	Sophie Kinsella	3/5
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo	Stieg Larsson	5/5
Wise and Otherwise	Sudha Murthy	3/5
Mahashweta	Sudha Murthy	4/5
How I Taught My Grand Mother to Read and Other Stories	Sudha Murthy	3/5
Dollar bahu	Sudha Murthy	3/5
House of Cards	Sudha Murthy	3/5
SIX SUSPECTS	Vikas Swarup	3/5

~~ Old Post: Year 2013: The year that was ~~

Originally written on 07 January 2013.

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Year 2012 has been, by far, the most challenging of all the years in my life, both personally and professionally! I have always believed that every single thing or event in life happens for a reason and it always happens for our own good! This past year did justice to my belief & I have emerged out stronger, happier, peaceful & contented than I was ever before!  

 

I have just jotted down few important personal and professional events of each month which I would want to reminisce in future!

 

P.S (or can be considered a warning):- This may be not an interesting read as I haven’t detailed out any events! So please read at your own risk

 January 2012 – Dear God, Can’t this ML (maternity leave) go on forever!! (Of course with no LOP clause)

February 2012 – Dear God, thank you for ending the long separation (well, I should admit, those were the best few months I had spent with my parents) from my hubby!!  Thank you for bringing me to this world, well, you know my age,  years back and for letting me experience it as a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mother & I hope you do have plans to let me experience it as a granny too

March 2012  – Dear God, thank you for giving me the courage to be able to cancel my ML-LOP! (Believe me, handing over baby’s responsibility, even if its only from 9am-6pm, and getting back to work is the hardest thing a mom can ever think of & do) .

April 2012       - Dear God, thank you for giving me the opportunity to spend some more time with my baby (search for projects)

May 2012      - Dear God, thank you for the opportunity, it was way too difficult to do it & undergo the repercussions, but I had to do it and I had to let it go. However, at the end of it and during the process, I realized few important things & people in my life! Thank you for the revelation! I also understand now, why I was supposed to be in search all this while, thank you! Everything definitely happens for a reason!!

June 2012     – Dear God, thank you for blessing me with a healthy, beautiful baby and thank you for giving me the opportunity to celebrate it with the entire family!!

July 2012     - Dear God, thank you for this ray of hope through a sweet bro!!!

Many provided moral support at the time of my need, but Dani, a fellow blogger who is also a great friend and brother, stood along with tremendous support...I will be ever be grateful to you for being a pillar of support when I needed it the most... 

August 2012   – Dear God, thank you for this wonderful opportunity & I hope to make the best use of it!! (Major shift in my career path)

September 2012- Dear God, new place, new faces, new challenges, newer responsibilities, feels fresh, feels good! Thank you!!

October 2012 - Dear God, I now understand, the best is yet to come!!  

November 2012 – Dear God, and it has come! Thank you!!

December 2012 - Dear God, I had read somewhere that everything, everyone can change in the blink of an eye, but that God never blinks! Its sooo true!! Thanks to you, that today I believe, any situation, however good or bad, it will change, and it too will pass!!!!!

Well, if you are still reading, let me take this chance to wish you a very very happy new year!!! (I know am a week late, but better late than never is a phrase I have always believed in!!!)

~~ Old post: Year 2013: Just like that ~~

So, am trying hard to sync all my old posts here in this space (I wish I could do it in some order, but I just want to do it one way or the other).. This was originally written on 11 October 2013 in my other blog space!
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As I was going through a fellow blogger's 1000th post & the colorful stats, I felt it’s high time I revisit my blog & post or at least rant about a few things happening in my life(may be someone else’s too) to get my stats look better than what it is right now!!  So this is the result of the momentary inspiration drawn by reading that 1000th post & I do want to warn you that this post will probably be a random collation of my thoughts in the order they pop up

• I am in utter state of confusion w.r.to the choices I need to make to purchase a mobile phone. I have googled endlessly for comparisons, reviews, asked for a recommendation with each and every person I can reach out to. The only thing I have not done yet is go to an actual store as I really don’t like coming out of a store empty handed! This has been going on for a month now & I still am clueless!! I need a mobile phone for a very basic purpose… to be able to reach to my near and dear ones from anywhere anytime!! Well, that’s why we buy a mobile phone in the first place right?  But then, when I login to any website, the following is what usually happens  – Why not go for a better processor,  Why not go for a better memory options, Why not go for a cool look, Why not go for a good camera , Why not go for a phone with a front camera (good MP one), Why not have a better bigger display , Why not opt for a better battery life … this goes on and on until I forget the basic thing a mobile phone is required for & just get sooooo confused to the point where I just look longingly at my current mobile phone and think, I guess, I don’t really need a replacement!! Sigh!!  Well, this is not the case just with the mobile phone purchase, it happens to me whenever I shop for anything which seems to have a lot of options to choose from (nowadays, every single thing that can be purchased has such a wide range of options, I have literally reduced shopping for new things and have learnt to be happy with what I have!!!!)  I end up frustrated of all the research & options and buy something for the heck of it just to lose my sleep later by again looking for good reviews & recommendations of the item that I have just bought! Complicated I know!!                                      

 

•  Speaking of losing sleep; SLEEP LIKE A BABY – is the most illogical phrase I have ever read! I really don’t know who came up with this & I want to search for him (I have my own reasons that it is a HIM, no offense to any HIM’s reading this though) & demand for the REAL meaning of this phrase. It just seems so absurd to me, as I haven’t seen my baby girl SLEEP LIKE A BABY yet!!  Is it coined just to simply mock the first time mom’s by misleading them to assume that their babies will SLEEP LIKE A BABY(whatever that means)… For me – this phrase translates to SLEEP LIKE A BABY for 15 mins in 2 hour intervals.. You rock your baby to sleep by trying every possible method/drama taught by your elders for 1 hour 45 minutes, the baby finally sleeps at 106^th minute, you hold the baby for some time to ensure no disturbance can make her wake up, then carefully place the baby safely by your side, look at the clock, roll your eyes, look at the baby, feel happy that your effort to put her to sleep didn’t go waste & then close your eyes to get some sleep(believe me, this takes 15 minutes) and then the next thing you get to hear is ‘waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ and all you can possibly do is to hope against hope, that the baby is crying in your dream!! Well, guess what, it never is a dream after all!! I am not complaining & I cherish and enjoy every minutest moment that I get to spend with my baby girl. This 2 hour drama usually happens only during the first few months until the baby starts solid food & gradually the intervals increases to 4 hours or so!! Anyways, every time I read this phrase on buses of one of the prominent transport services, I just can’t help rolling my eyes & recall all those sleepless nights!

 

• Speaking of transport services – I am travelling a LOT these days – before you all go green with envy, I would like to clarify that this statement of mine holds good only if sitting in a bus(of the same transport service) for 2 hours to and 2 hours from office can be considered in the travelling category!! I try to catch up on my sleep, but unless I am dog tired (which I rarely am), I just can’t doze off!  Most of you who know me in person or know me from this blog space may know that I love reading!! I have been lazy on that front since my marriage but did manage to read a few till I got busy as a full time working mom! There was no question of spending even a minute doing something else when you can use it to get some sleep/rest!! Now, with things settling in a routine, I use this travel time to read!! I read like I have exams tomorrow & to make up for all the time that has been spent in taking rest and I can’t believe I have read almost 60 books in this year already!  I know it’s nothing compared to the stats that most have & even my own stats few years back!!  But it’s a good start and this is one of the few things I am very happy about in this year!

 

• Speaking of reading – I travel in local AC buses these days & my bus route covers a couple of colleges! So you can imagine the crowd that I am exposed to.  I try as much as possible not to overhear any conversations and just concentrate on the book in my hand, but this goes in vain as at least a few in the crowd manage to grab my attention & mostly it’s because I don’t understand the slangs/jargons being used & I get drawn to those new words.. I also overheard few Indian authors being discussed, praised & based on these recommendations; I went ahead and ordered the whole collection of these authors!! Those novels were not that bad, but since they were supposed to be read in a certain flow, I chose to read them one after the other not to lose the flow… By the time I reached the last one, I just wanted to take a break and not read anything for a while!! The language was pretty good but with no offense to any budding writers, the story line was just repetitive – everyone around seems to want to follow the same style of writing a love story with a disastrous end & claim that they too had a love story.  Most of the events described in these real life stories are quite hard to believe and sometimes too good to be happening in real life or may be it’s just the granny aged me who has rolled over to the next generation of the generation gaps!!    

 

Well, I still do have a lot to write, but I don’t want my longggggg “come back” post to drive away a few who care to comment.. Happy Dasara & a very happy long weekend to you all (Waking up on a Monday morning to the fact that you can choose to sleep for some more time is a feeling that cannot be described in mere words!!) 

~~ Meme: Life According to Movies ~~

-- Originally written on 31 July 2015

 

An interesting meme that I couldn’t stop from trying -

 

Life according to English Movies -

1. Describe Yourself:  Little Miss Sunshine
2. How do you feel?  If only
3. Describe where you currently live:  The Lake House
4. If you could go anywhere, where would you go:  The Bridges of Madison County
5. Your favorite form of transportation: Happy feet
6. What’s the weather like:  Gone with the wind
7. Favorite time of day: Before Sunrise
8. What is life to you?  De Ja Vu
9. Your fear:  The Monster House 
10. What is the best advice you have to give?  Just go with it
11. Thought for the Day:  Pay it forward
12. Your soul’s present condition:  The Pursuit Of  Happyness

Life according to Hindi Movies -

1. Describe Yourself:   Dil toh bacchha hai ji
2. How do you feel?   Hey Ram!
3. Describe where you currently live:    Chak De India!!
4. If you could go anywhere, where would you go:  Chennai Express
5. Your favorite form of transportation:    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag 
6. What’s the weather like:   Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
7. Favorite time of day:  Morning Raga
8. What is life to you?   Talaash
9. Your fear:   Bhoot
10. What is the best advice you have to give? Zindagi na milegi dobara 
11. Thought for the Day:   OM Shanthi OM
12. Your soul’s present condition:   Dil Chahtha hai

P.S:- No tagging! Feel free to pick the meme and pass on

P.P.S:- I have referred to only those movies that I have watched!

~~Book Review: Life after Life ~~

--Originally written on 21 Aug 2015

 

So, I completed reading “Life after Life” by Kate Atkinson recently! I had ordered this book online,  without giving it much thought,   never having heard of the author, nor having read any reviews…..Going by its name, I had expected a gripping “after life” story or theoretically inclined prose on various experiences of people claiming re-birth etc., etc., but well, it was anything, but not that!!! 

 

I started reading this towards the end of May and after going through a couple of pages, with nothing mysterious happening, and the realization creeping in that it definitely was not an interesting mix of people recounting their re-births – I took a break from the book…Though I never stop reading a book, however boring it might turn out to be (exception of course being Mein Kampf), I had to keep this book aside…!  And well, meanwhile, I couldn’t just pick another book to read, since I had already started this one – Yeah, I am like that, eka-book-vratha, if you get what I mean!!  Then one fine day, late July, I finally dared to pick it up again!  And this time, to my surprise, I didn’t, to be honest, I couldn’t keep it aside at all!  Though the initial few pages were a bit ordinary, the book managed to impress me beyond my imagination!

 

I am not sure how many of you have watched 12B in Tamil. It was a movie about how the course of a guy’s life is decided when he, at a point makes it right in time to catch 12B or due to momentary ignorance, misses 12B (12B is a bus, btw)… To draw an analogy, in 12B, the catching/missing of the bus is that one turning point to showcase that, a decision taken at such points, mostly changes the course that life takes!

 

Life after Life, explores such various turning points in the life of Ursula (the main character), and each such different set of decisions, at different turning points leads to a different set of events happening in her life (also impacting everyone else involved) and ending in her death, eventually, every time! She dies at birth, she dies a small baby, she dies a young child, she dies an adolescent, she dies an unwed to-be mother, she dies single, she dies an abused wife, she dies in the London Blitz and on and on, and oh, she dies an old woman too!

 

As we read, there are many instances, where there is this sense of De Ja Vu of going through these experiences already… Most of the times, I just wanted to go back and re-read what had happened, when she(or even someone else) had taken a different decision at that particular turning point!  It’s confusing at times, but brilliantly written, with no loose ends, ending every time with Ursula’s death!

 

Someday, when I am totally free, I would probably sit and jot down each turning point and the set of decisions at each of those points 

 

Well, to put it in simple layman terms, Imagine a tree which has many main branches, and each main branches then have their own set of tinier branches, and then these second set of branches, have their own set of few more teeny-weeny branches and so on.. Right?!!? And now imagine an ant, trying to traverse through the tree starting from the root, has to dig its way through up from the root, encounters the first main branch, it can either take it to traverse to second set of branches or just ignore it and move forward on the main trunk to the next main branch and so on… get a picture? This book takes every single such branch of Ursula’s life & explores it till the end .i.e., until she dies!

 

Apart from the way the structure of the novel is woven, where we are taken through a course of her life till her death & again sent back to the same decision point with a different decision, leading through another course of her life, the novel also showcases , how certain events happening in her life are interlaced with London Blitz, Hitler times, Second world war etc….. 

 

All in All – I would recommend it to anyone, who has all the patience (it’s a huge book) to go through it and sometimes, even go back and forth, just to make coherent sense of absolute brilliant incoherence :)

~~ Book Review: The Winds of Hastinapur ~~

I guess I will be ever grateful to the book reading challenge that I had taken up last year!  I had expected that the challenge will finally help me, build some interest in the non-fiction genre, which sadly didn’t happen, but of many things, it got me addicted to the mythological genre like never before!

 

Mahabharata, the greatest and the longest epic in the world which has been translated and probably re-told many number of times had always been my personal favorite – I had read R.K. Narayan’s “The Mahabharata” and “The Ramayana” long back and I can vouch that those are the best to start with, that is, if you have never read these epics till now!!

 

This book reading challenge thus introduced me to a book which painted this great Epic in Bhīma’s POV, subsequently leading me into an unquenchable quest of reading this epic through different point of views!  I have almost all of the POV’s stacked in my bookshelf at home by now (or so I want to think)!

 

So, when one fine-otherwise-boring Friday, a fellow blogger asked if I would like to be an early reader of Sharath Kommaraju’s upcoming 2^nd book of the Mahabharata series – I couldn’t believe it! Needless to say, I gladly accepted!  

 

I began by reading the 1^st book in the series and so this is the review of the same – The Winds of Hastinapur!

 

This book, to be precise, is about the 2 wives of King Shantanu, who, of course, is the king of Hastinapur! As most of you might already know, Ganga is his first wife and Satyavati, his second!  Most of the renderings of the epic does portray Ganga as the queen bearing & letting go of her 7 sons, before she gives birth to Bheeshma (Devavratha) and then leaves, but then that is all or may be some more!  This book, however, dedicates almost half of its chapters to showcase Ganga’s life as never before! It makes you wonder, how a theft of a holy cow somewhere someplace and a resulting curse from a sage’s wife, results in a major upheaval in Ganga’s life, who is blissfully unaware about any part of it! She, Ganga, the future lady of the River, is chosen to liberate the 8 Elements(Vasus) from the curse, entrusted the responsibility of bearing 8 sons (Vasus), of whom she has to give up 7, and leave her 8^th one to suffer, where in reality, all she craves for is to grow up as soon as possible, be with her mother, the present lady of the river, take over in future someday, and then bear a girl child who would grow up to be the next lady of the river to carry the legacy forward!

 

I immensely liked the portrayal of Ganga as a woman at the core, wondering about her destiny on why she was chosen of all to be a part of this, when she was nowhere involved in the theft, even remotely! The turmoil’s of Ganga as a confused & angry mother, who has to overcome her maternal instincts to prioritize her duty of relieving the curse for the Vasus is worth reading! Apart from these, what intrigued me mostly was the different yet refreshing concept of the balance of life and nature, which is described in an unusual way, indicating that a loss is always accompanied with gain, but, may be just somewhere and someplace else!  As I was reading through these phrases or sections, it somehow gave an “Avatar” movie effect, with strange possibilities to be comprehended!  I must say, Sharath did a great job here with his imagination & yet managed not to change the underlying actual epic that Mahabharata is!

 

The other half of the book, is focused on Kali (Satyavati), who is an ordinary fisherman’s daughter, rebuked for her awkwardly manners with an everlasting fish-odor that lingers on her & how she, emerges out of this awkwardness and grows up to be a maiden, pursued by all and ends up being the queen of Hastinapur!  I particularly liked the part where she feels bad for depriving Bheeshma of something, in her quest of the greater good for her tribe, but then immediately recovers and pursues her aim! I also liked the way in which she broods later, that maybe, things would have been different, if she had actually married Bheeshma instead of Shantanu!  Though the first half was more magical and imaginations galore, the second half was very down to earth!  As I kept reading Satyavati’s tumults of able to bear 2 sons for the kingdom, yet, being dependent on Bheeshma to even win brides for them, her anguish at not feeling anything for her son’s deaths, her search for her long lost son who she had to let go of in the past, as she hadn’t a marital status yet – Oh, I just didn’t want the book to end, but end it did, abruptly, angering me for a while as I was expecting it to continue forever!

 

So, in all, a very interesting read – provided you are not the kind who would want to read the sequel immediately :)

 

Is it too late to reveal that this also was my first successful attempt at reading an online version of a book! To be frank, other than the experience I missed of holding the book in my hands while reading it, I had no other complaints! Once I have the actual book in my hands – I am definitely reading this one again! :)

~~Mommy Memoirs # 1~~

On one of those fine innocent evenings -

She – Amma?

Me – Ummmm?

She – Why do we need fingernails?

Me (stumped)  – Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……

She (insistent) – Ammmmmmmaaaaaa, Why?

Me (recovering & strategizing) – Why do you think we have fingernails? 

She (with an inquisitive look) – To peel Oranges?

Me (amused) – Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……Interesting… Chalo, let’s ask Aanu

Aanu (excited that his kid came up with such an intelligent (?) question for him) explained to her about the theory of human evolution, the monkeys and the apes,  why those apes & monkeys  needed nails and how we humans got them as a natural course of evolution etc. etc. …. This theory session went on for a while with she nodding her head in complete understanding & me, well, just rolling my eyes

 

Me (still rolling my eyes & partly recovering from the theory session) – So, did you understand why we have fingernails??

 

She (this time with definite clarity) – To peel Oranges!

Me  – Okay, let’s ask your Maama 

Maama (amused) – Why Nails? Hmmm….Very simple! To scratch when it itches, Babba!

She (thinking) -Hmmmmmmm!!

Me  – So, what do you think?

She (victorious) –  We need nails to scratch when it itches and to peel Oranges!!! 

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*She – My daughter

*Aanu – Father in Konkani

*Maama – Uncle in Konkani (in this case my brother)

*Babba – Small baby in Konkani

*Konkani – My Mother Tongue

~~Meme: Would you rather~~

Originally written on July 01 2015 :)

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Hopefully a fun meme on a not-so-fun day!

 1.   Would you rather go into the past and meet your ancestors or go into the future and meet your great-great grandchildren? I would love to go to the past and see for real how everything & everyone was, way way way back then! 

 2.   Would you rather have more time or more money? More time! Ah, I have so many dreams yet to turn true!

3. Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button on your life? Neither! I don’t have regrets about life so far, so rewind doesn’t make sense to me! And I definitely do not want to pause my life today (BTW is there a fast forward button to next November/July )  

 4.   Would you rather be able to talk with the animals or speak all foreign languages? I would rather want to be able to “communicate” with someone rather than “talk to” someone!

5.  Would you rather win the lottery or live twice as long? I would rather prefer “living happily”  till it’s time!!

6.  Would you feel worse if no one showed up to your wedding or to your funeral? Honestly, I didn’t even know 60% of people who attended my wedding! And is there a way I would know for sure as to who will attend my funeral? And more importantly, would I even feel happiness/sadness after death? Oh, But yes, when I am alive right now, if someone promises to show up for something and then doesn’t, I definitely do feel bad!

7. Would you rather be without internet for a week, or without your phone? I would prefer no internet & no mobile phone for a week – provided I have access to a landline for emergencies!

  8.  Would you rather meet George Washington, or the current President? None

  9.  Would you rather lose your vision or your hearing? Neither!

 10. Would you rather work more hours per day, but fewer days or work fewer hours per day, but more days? I would prefer WFH options (for 1 or 2 days a week) for practical reasons (time wasted in traffic/travel)

 11. Would you rather listen to music from the 70’s or music from today? Depends on my mood!

12. Would you rather become someone else or just stay you? Be Myself!

13. Would you rather be Batman or Spiderman? Be Myself!

14. Would you rather be stuck on a broken ski lift or in a broken elevator? Neither!!

15.  For your birthday, would you rather receive cash or gifts? Heartfelt wishes, lots of gifts and maybe a career leap :) 

Feel free to pick the meme & pass on  :)

~~MEME: 55 questions on books~~

Originally posted on April 01 2015 - Syncing it up here today :) Favourite childhood book

Scarlet Pimpernel/A Tale of Two Cities

What are you reading right now

Inferno by Dan Brown

What books do you have on request at the library

None – I prefer to buy books

Bad Book Habit

Completing any and every book that I choose to read irrespective of the content being interesting (only exception being Mein Kampf & The Monk who sold his Ferrari)

What do you currently have checked out at the library

Nothing – I prefer to buy books

Do you have an e-reader

No – I prefer actual books to online reading

Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

1 book at a time

Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

Yes, a lot!

Least favourite book you read this year (so far?)

None so far in this year! Midnight’s children & Adultery – So far!

Favourite book you’ve read this year

Again of the ones I have completed reading this year (which is not many), none so far!

How often do you read out of your comfort zone

Quite Rare

What is your reading comfort zone

Thriller/Mystery, Melodrama, Science Fiction, Humor, Romance in that order!

Can you read on the bus

Yes, that’s the only time I get these days to read

Favourite place to read

On my bed or Near a window

What is your policy on book lending

I don’t lend books!

Do you ever dog-ear books?

No

Do you ever write in the margins of your books?

Text books, Yes! Novels – No!

Not even with text books?

Text books, Yes! Novels – No!

What is your favourite language to read in?

English &  Kannada!

What makes you love a book?

Content!

What will inspire you to recommend a book?

Content!

Favourite genre?

Thriller/Mystery

Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)

Non-Fiction

Favourite biography?

Prison Diaries by Jeffrey Archer

Have you ever read a self-help book?

Normally I don’t, I did read one last year for non-fiction category of book reading challenge!

Favourite cookbook?

Jaya V Shenoy – Konkani Cuisine

Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?

Oh my, none yet in this year! (I believe this meme is supposed to be taken up towards the end of ayear)

Favourite reading snack?

Anything Fried/popcorn/a big cup of coffee

Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience

Midnight’s Children

How often do you agree with critics about a book?

Not much!

How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

Thanks to few such books, I get inspired to blog more!

If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?

Have never thought about it

Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?

Midnight’s Children

Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?

Mein Kampf – Yet to complete reading this one!

Favourite poet?

Never been there!

How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?

None currently

How often have you returned a book to the library unread?

Never !

Favourite fictional character?

Scarlett – Gone With The Wind

Favourite fictional villain?

Can’t think of one!

Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation

John Grisham/Jeffrey Archer/Classics

The longest I’ve gone without reading

is in the year that I got married

Name a book that you could/would not finish

Mein Kampf & The Monk who sold his Ferrari

What distracts you easily when you’re reading?

Motherhood

Favorite film adaptation of a novel?

Gone with the wind/A Beautiful Mind/P.S.I love you/Mist/The Help

Most disappointing film adaptation?

The Bridges of Madison County (Somehow I didn’t feel the same as I did when I read the novel)

The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?

~4k

How often do you skim a book before reading it?

Sometimes – only before buying!

What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?

My daughter!

Do you like to keep your books organised?

Yes!

Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?

Keep Them!

Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?

Poetry/Mein Kampf

Name a book that made you angry

We the living

A book you didn’t expect to like but did?

Life is what you make it

A book that you expected to like but didn’t?

Love in the time of Cholera

Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?

Any book from my favorite genre!

Phew !

~~Let Go~~

Let go – One of the most difficult things to do! Have you ever tried? Like, in the true sense & without shedding even one tear of sorrow? Have you been able to? If yes, please tell me how…  

It’s been years now! It was a mistake committed due to a foolish girly impulse – well, I guess you could call it a mistake if it was done just once – but what would you call something which is repeated repeatedly over the years, with absolute still-water clarity, that you would end up in a situation where you would someday have to just let it go, never utilized!!

Believe me, whoever said that one would be stronger once one can let go, probably never had to let go of anything ever! But well, in a way, that quote does seem right, you see, it doesn't take much to hang on to someone/something, but it takes tremendous amount of strength, will power & effort to just let go!!  

In the past few years, every once in a while, I would retrospect on why things did not work out the way it should have? What went wrong? How could I go back in time and correct things, so I didn't have to go through this? So many unanswered questions!!  There were days, when the nagging guilt crept in silently from nowhere – and I just couldn't eat even a morsel of my once favorite ghee laden meal. Then, there were those shopping days, when even if every cell in me just wanted to just go grab those polka dotted tops, beautifully printed kurtas & embroidered anarkali suits, I would just end up window shopping; Courtesy: Guilt trip again !!! I couldn't do anything because I was to choose either to live with the guilt & stay faithful to the mistake(s) or acknowledge the reality & move on!

Let go & move on, how I dislike these words!

Agreed that there were multiple chances for things to improve! There were many a things that I had tried too, but in vain or wait, probably, I just didn't have that perseverance to stick through it! I really don’t know!

On the other side, I very well knew that there would be positive outcomes of letting go!! First of all, all the clutter that had been around for years mocking at me for salvation would be gone! I would have enough space for myself and a clear conscience for the ones that might want to share that space in future! I would feel a lot better when I eat anything I want and buy things that I want – No one back home to mock at me & induce me to go on a free guilt trip all over again!  And, best of all, I knew, that though I couldn't make it work, there would be someone who would be able to and succeed in staying happily ever after (if only, for some time)!!

So, this Monday, on Feb 9th 2015, after having waited for these many years with hope, accumulating memories, secretly wishing for things to change, trying every possible way, coaxing mom for more space (believe me, my mom was the most affected of all) – I finally made up my mind to clear the mess & bring some kind of closure to everyone involved!

I LET GO.  Yes, I did! It was unbearably painful, terribly heartbreaking & of course, involved tears!  But then I had to do it!

Adieu, my super-cute, super-beautiful & brand new my-size-minus-one-or-minus-two clothes!!! You will be genuinely missed – I wish you well & with all my heart, hope you find someone who loves you the way you deserve!

Background: It’s not news that I am trying to lose weight if you have read my previous post! I was holding on to so many clothes that I used to fit in a few years back! I have also gone on shopping sprees when my weighing scales showed about a kg dip just to realize in a month that I have put on 2 more and won’t fit in those new clothes anymore..  I had filled my closet with so many never-to-be-used-in-near-or-far-god-only-knows-future clothes and on top of that, I kept pestering my mom that I needed more space. Finally my mom couldn't take it anymore and issued a final ultimatum that either I have to let go of those clothes or grow thin faster to fit in those, and then, rest of the story, well you know!!!

~~Of New Year Resolutions~~

Originally written on 22nd January 2015 -- Syncing up here today...

 

So, on 22nd Jan, as I was going through my resolution lists over the past few years, I noticed the trend of top 3 (obviously, signifying priority) resolutions, being carried over to the next year, EVERY TIME! I seem to have done justice to almost every other resolution that I have had on my list except those appropriately prioritized top 3… After a lot of thought provoking thinking :P & a small prayer, I made up mind that it’s going to be only these 3 resolutions on my list this year!

 

Lose weight – Though it’s probably time to accept the fat, oops, fact that this one’s to stay for years to come – I don’t want to give up now, particularly, after I noticed that part of the problem is aiming for an almost impossible target! This time, I am planning to set a realistic goal and be the slow and steady, but disciplined tortoise to achieve a practical goal! Let’s see how it goes!

 

Learn to drive a 2 wheeler – I prepared myself (mentally) for months in 2014 and finally mustered the courage one fine night (well, now when I think about it, I guess daylight wouldn’t have made any difference, except to have added more humiliation  ) to let my brother teach me how to drive a 2 –wheeler – all that months of preparation just to end up in a clinic for a tetanus shot (and thankfully, no stitches) after may be, say, just 5-6 minutes! All I remember is settling comfortably on the seat and holding the scooty’s handle. A whooshing sound effect later (topped by my brother shouting “Let go, Let go” which probably my over-confident-mind interpreted as “Let’s go, Let’s go” ), I found myself standing in a ditch (clean one btw) holding a rusty barbed wire fencing with my scooty kissing the wall…. And my brother? While I was there grinning stupidly with my bleeding hand, he was busy saving his honor explaining the mini crowd which had gathered, that he was not the reason for all the commotion & he MOST DEFINITELY was not the one driving  ... Brothers, I tell you

After this fiasco, I have a new found respect for every one out there who drives a 2 wheeler!

 

My brother offered to teach me during his next visit home – But then, thankfully, he got engaged during his next visit & busy that he was, probably forgot all about it & I, on the other hand, was more than happy not to remind him of his assurance!

 

So, this time, to save myself from more embarrassment I am planning to enroll myself for driving classes in the next quarter (the later I start, that better for everyone-else-on-the-road )!

 

Re-learn (whatever that means) a 4 wheeler – Technically speaking, I actually (should) know how to drive a car, well; they don’t give you a license without you passing the driving test right? And maybe I do know how to, as I have successfully managed to drive within my office campus in US and the car didn’t end up being totalled! But, after coming back, I have never been confident enough, to even try driving. And well, call it being scared, apprehensive, anxious or may be excessively responsible, I do not want to try without going through another round of KT (or the Reverse KT)! I am planning to enroll myself for some refresher courses soon!! Do wish a great deal of luck for the instructor & for-everyone-else-on-the-road.

 

I will also post a Quarterly progress report on each of these resolutions, I know, I know, you might not be interested, but I need to do this to ensure I have that strong commitment to stick to the plan!

 

Let’s hope 2015 is going to be MY year to achieve these ever-elusive top 3 resolutions