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Thursday, January 25, 2018

~~ [Mini Book Review]: 11 Hours by Daniel Paul Singh ~~

So, a quick mini review on the novel - "11 hours" by Daniel Paul Singh! 

For a first time author, it is rather quite a very good attempt. Reading the book has definitely been a nail-biting experience. Its an absolute page turner and I couldn't put it down and had to complete the read in one sitting.

There's a perfect mix of romance, friendship, suspense, science woven in the story. I was always at the edge of the seat trying to guess what happens next and well, the best thing - I couldn't guess what happened next which in itself kept me hooked to the book till the last page :)

I particularly loved the following in the book apart from the story itself.

1) Toggling of the chapters between the flashbacks and the present
2) Inclusion of actual places from Chennai to make it more realistic for the reader
3) Realistic Conversations
4) Tying all the loose ends (pan card from the security etc)
5) Keeps you guessing

Kudos to the author on his debut novel!! Would love to read more of his works!

~~ The end of an era ~~

Originally written on Oct 6th 2017.
.............................................................................

No, am not leaving the organization yet! But a dear friend is. Honestly, I always thought that I would be the first one to leave from the known set of friends that I have here in the organization and I definitely have the strongest reason to take that step every year  :P, but from past few months, everyone in that set has been leaving one at a time and well, I am still here 🙂  It couldn’t get any better with Dani, a younger brother more than a dear friend leaving. His last working day is today. Like he says in his goodbye post, though I knew about this all along, I cannot believe this day has finally come!
Dani – You know that I didn’t even want to write a dedication post, not because there’s nothing to dedicate, but I didn’t want to mark an end of something that I know will continue. But here I am attempting to “write” one only because “writing” exactly was the reason we both got to know each other. You found a sister in me that you never had and I found another cool brother for life, all thanks to this platform 🙂 Now, when the day of me leaving the organization comes, if it does someday, who will write a dedication post for me? I could always count on you to write one 😛 Now I don’t even know 🙁
Dani – You have always been the top comment-er on my blog till date, the first one to like all my FB posts however silly they might be, the first person to critique my written work always, the first person who I ping if I need to vent or just ask some random silly technical question, the only person who is always urging me to get out of my comfort zone to do what I want to do for a living, that one person out of family circle who I am comfortable being myself knowing I wouldn’t be judged, a person who has been a positive influence in many ways.  They say that you get to know the colors of a true friend when adversity hits you and I believe, you are one of the very few people who had that opportunity to see me change due to adversity by leaps and bounds over the past few years, and yet you stayed a friend, knowing when not to prod and knowing when to speak.  I know you dont like it when I thank you for it, but I still would like to thank you for being there.  THANK YOU LOADS 🙂
The cooking contests that we took part in long long back (gosh the fights for comments, you remember?), those 55 55F’s, the treasure hunt for Avi’s birthday, the OLTA contest rules that we formulated which blew people’s minds, those posts and stories that we reviewed of each other, the amazing puzzles that you wrote for events, the styling of wedding invites, you visiting us with Christy last year, the UNO games, your “yaaru-da-engakkava-thondaravu-panradhu-thookiduvom-ka” are few of the best memories and will remain so 🙂
I know, things will not be the same.  I know, it is an end of an era 🙁  But, I am glad that it is also a beginning of a lot many new experiences for you & Christy, especially as this move is going to help you achieve your much desired dream of becoming the best selling author. My best wishes and blessings are always with you and Christy 🙂
Though I know we will be in touch, your a-ping-away presence will be dearly missed here.
*tears-in-my-eyes*  *lumps-in-my-throat*
But I'll still manage a smile, because, you dear bro, deserve the best and so, just go out there and conquer the world!

~~ Forgotten Memories ~~

Hola! Its been ages since I blogged. I keep reading these awesome posts from so many people in my organization's blogosphere and I get all inspired to pen down something, anything and open notepad/word doc and then a sudden dull helplessness envelops and threatens my core existence here in this space in the name of writer’s block!
Its sometimes annoying that not even a single thought crosses my mind when my being just wants to type away to glory. The very same busy mind that was, a moment ago, abuzz with million thoughts worth chronicling, is blank in a split second when I manage to open the notepad/word doc to jot them down. I almost was about to resort to Google God and research on “How to avoid writer’s block” but then decided against it and continued staring at the blank document and the blinking cursor for the nth time in the 23 days and a lot many hours of the 24th day that have gone by, in this month. I am not sure which is making me suffer more, the writer’s block or the equivalently persistent common cold turned dry cough that doesn’t seem to go away even after 2 rounds of antibiotics!
Hell bent on writing something today, after being doubly inspired by one of the blogging legend I know from my organization's blogosphere, I was focusing intently, when suddenly, the floodbank made way and a series of memories overwhelmed me. Memories are so powerful, aren’t they? They have this ability to make you feel safe, warm and all happy from within and at times, have this absolute power to shake your beliefs and question you about yourself. I always keep going back to my safest happiest memories and at times to the worst ones too. I relive them and jump from “How blessed I am” moments to “Just be grateful” moments to “Why God, Why me??” moments! I guess, its not something unique and happens with everyone. Its surreal that those few good basketful of memories still manage to bring a smile on your face on an otherwise uneventful day and the very few worst ones still manage to rattle you a bit, though the events have long gone by. Its also magical that a particular place, a song, a book, a color, a phrase, a thing, a movie, a perfume, a snack,  a portrait, a painting or even a small ticket stub is enough for us to sift through those loads of memories to pick and relive the one that we associate it with! Mysterious, isn’t it!!?
Well, I am not going to write about those whole load of memories that suddenly made its presence felt, but about a revelation that shook me for a while, few weeks back.
I am quite a memory person – I have always believed that every significant and insignificant happening in my life is safely tucked somewhere in my memory bank for me to access whenever I want. You must be aware of the forward that makes rounds about the red dot aka bindi on a woman’s forehead being used by her to record every single detail for future arguments, well, that is pretty much true in my case, as I can remember many minute details about an event or a happening, however, I seldom get to use them, and on rare occasions that I do get an opportunity, I just don’t seem to remember these important memories and always end up remembering it after the moment has passed and feel helpless about the fact that such a good memory was wasted and never used for the purpose it was stored for! Phew, I know, I am complicated.
Anyways, coming back to the point, recently, I had a revelation that we can forget a few cherished memories too, even when we are still very young *ahem* *cough* *cough* *I-am-young* *cough* *antibiotics-do-your-job-please*
In a recent conversation with my younger brother, I mentioned about having bought a scrabble word game and I went on to explain about the rules assuming he had not played the game. He was amused at first and then after listening to all that I had to say, he gently (*ahem*) reminded me about how, years back, we had created one of our own, as we considered it was damn too costly to buy one, and how we had played non-stop with it, and more importantly, how he had won multiple times :mrgreen: I rolled my eyes 🙄 laughed out loud 😆 and told him not to fabricate a story of him winning in a game, with ME, that too, in a game involving English words (not that I am great at it, but well, that’s how we siblings fight, right?)!! He kept insisting that we did play scrabble and I definitely had created the game from scratch at home *whatsapp-forefinger-on-the-chin-smiley*
Just to prove that he was wrong (again a sibling thingy), I asked mom, face-palming myself big time, when she affirmed about we having played such a game, created by me after we had played with a real one in a relative’s place and how we, the sis-bro duo were addicted to the game 😯 I was super flabbergasted! She went on to explain, how I had created these small cute cut outs from white chart paper and had written on each of them, the alphabets with their points and apparently, we also had maintained a record of points every time we played, which later my brother claimed, that the notebook with the points still existed somewhere in the attic of our house and can definitely be found if the attic is thoroughly searched. He was plain furious when my mom pitched in to let him know that the attic was cleaned long back and all old stuff donated/discarded.  I was not going to let the chance go by and kept teasing him about the imaginary notebook which holds the record of he winning against me :mrgreen:
We laughed it off later where he reminded me that it was not the only one thing where he had won and the conversation went on to other memories of our childhood. Seriously, why did childhood end, such carefree days!
After the conversation ended, my mind raced back to the fact that a slice of my life has not been considered worthy enough by whichever force decided what remained in my memory and what gets replaced with new fresh memories.
Even as I type this, try as I might, that particular memory which involved a lot of effort in me creating those tiny cut outs and the board, just evades me. I just cannot remember creating the game from scratch and playing scrabble with my brother at all., though I remember a lot other games that we both have played, fought about, yet played!
A typical eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind moment.
Time to worry? Am I just getting old too fast than I normally should? *clears – throat* *affirms-I-am-young* *still -worries* *and-continues-to-worry* *cough*
Well,  be nice and say, nooooooooooooooooooo, don’t worry, you are not getting old!! Will you?