Ramayana: The Game of Life - Stolen Life

Title: Ramayana: The Game of Life - 

          Stolen Hope

Author: Shubha Vilas

Publisher: Jaico Publishers

ISBN: 978-8184958249

Number of Pages: 312

Price: 299 [INR]

Genre: Mythology

The Blurb:

       In the evil labyrinths of Dandakaranya forest, human values are put to test. Rama’s righteousness, Lakshmana’s loyalty and Sita’s endurance reflect our own sense of values and judgment in difficult times. The story unfolds the facets of human life – the conflict and the trickery, the praise and the slander and, above all, the hope and the despair in the eventful forest life of the Exiled Royals.

       Stolen Hope is about extreme deception and extreme love. It is about arrogant power and deep devotion. With every twist and turn, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana find themselves robbed of whatever and whoever they value most. 

      Exploring the dynamics of human relations – between father and son, husband and wife, teacher and disciple – and the complex game of power and greed, Stolen Hope mirrors our own dilemmas in the modern world and teaches us how we must overcome them. 

      Seek courage when everything, including hope, is stolen.

My Review:

      This is my favourite book series and therefore I have already read previous parts of it, thanks to BlogAdda's review program. These books are an absolute delight to read. However, for anyone living in India and or for anyone having a vague idea about Ramayana, it isn't hard to put the pieces together and enjoy the book. The book is beautifully written and depicts the days when Rama leaves for exile with his wife and brother. 

        The attention paid to detailing is what attracts me to the series. The book starts with the story of Danda, who lusts after Sukracharya's daughter. Cursed by the acharya, his kingdom becomes Dandakaranya and this where the story starts in this book. After this it just gets more and more interesting with many such little stories woven together.

The book is an enriching and gripping read which captures the heart of the reader. The story teaches you the lessons of life which are perfect for self-help. The little anecdotes are perfectly depicted by the author in a very interesting manner, which keeps the reader hooked to the book. These have been my favorites right from book one and still continue to be so. The book holds charm for its lucid writing, wonderfully detailed characters and superb pace of the story. The author lives up to the expectations of the readers who had already read and liked the previous two parts and waited patiently for the third one. Now that I am done reading the third one, I can't wait to get started with the fourth one!

All in all, it was an absolute delight to read this book. First book I read in 2016 and it sure was a great start. Highly recommended for anyone who loves to read mythology.

PS: This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

My Rating:

Until the next post,

Keep Reading :)

Love,

Swathi :)

The Bestseller She Wrote - Book Review

Title: The Bestseller She Wrote 

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Publisher: Westland

ISBN: 978-9385152382

Number of Pages: 392

Price: 295[INR]

Genre: Romance

The Blurb:

He was a bestseller… She wanted him to make her one.

Paperback king, Aditya Kapoor’s life is straight out of a modern man’s fantasy. His literary stardom is perfectly balanced by a loving wife and a spectacular career. With everything he touches turning to gold, Aditya is on a winning streak.

Shreya Kaushik is a student with a heart full of ambition. Young, beautiful, and reckless, Shreya speaks her mind and obsessively chases after what she wants. And what she wants is to be a bestselling author.

What happens when their worlds collide? Is it possible to love two people at the same time? Can real ambition come in the way of blind passion? Can trust once broken, be regained?

Master storyteller Ravi Subramanian, delves into the glitzy world of bestsellers and uncovers a risky dalliance between a superstar novelist and his alluring protégé.

The Bestseller She Wrote is a combustible cocktail of love, betrayal and redemption.

My Review:

Characters:

       Meet Aditya Kapoor, author of many bestsellers. His life looks like a dream to many. With a job he loves, a wife who loves and supports him endlessly and his books continuously hitting the bestsellers list, there is nothing that he doesn't have. 

       Meet Shreya Kaushik, an aspiring author who wants to write a bestseller. She is beautiful and cheerful. She speaks her mind or so it seems in the beginning. Shreya is a go getter and she knows how to turn any situation in her favor.

Plot:

       Aditya's life is perfect until that fateful day when he visits to his college as a guest. What started as a hate relationship between Aditya and Shreya, soon turns into that of a fan following. Shreya is smitten by Aditya's writing and his charms. Aditya who loves attention, is floored by this development and he isn't the one to let go of a golden opportunity like this. Soon starts the clandestine romance of Aditya and Shreya, which poor Maya has no idea about. Aditya seems guilty about his deeds but he is in no control of his life anymore. He thinks Shreya is in love with him and does so much for her only to find out much later that she was just using him to get her book published!

       

Things I Disliked:

      

• There really wasn't much I liked in this book. Coming from a renowned author like Ravi Subramanian, I expected a much more polished story. I was hugely disappointed.
• The story line is pretty normal. There was nothing that kept me interested in finishing the book.
• Aditya Kapoor seemed much like an alter ego of some famous author. It was really annoying to read the way he carried himself.
• The story is pretty much predictable. 

Verdict:

       I would definitely not suggest it. It was a huge let down for me. It could have been much much better than this.

PS: I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

My Rating:

Until the next post,

Keep Reading :)

Love,

Swathi :)

Real Togetherness

       Few months back, when I was home, my brother often used to complain that I use my phone too much and don't give him enough time. I never paid much attention to it. I was having fun chatting with friends, reading what people are up to on Facebook, reading books on my e-reader and blogging about things that caught my fancy. That was my life style until recently before hostel life changed it all.

       Having never stayed out of home, hostel life was altogether a different experience for me. I was nervous and excited about living away from home with friends. I had heard many tales about hostel life from my friends which made me want to experience it once for myself. Excited, I set out for this new journey but as soon as I moved in to hostel, I realized there was no network in that place. Thus began a new life, without any network. At times, I felt like I was living in a jungle, without any contact with the real world. 

       As the initial shock of having to live in that place for nearly a year wore off, I began to wonder what people do actually in spare time! That is, when they don't have their nose glued to their smart phones. What did people do before smart phones took over our lives? 

       The answer came pretty soon. They set out to meet in real instead of chatting over text messages. And that is exactly what I did. I planned on making the most of my free time and the first thing on the list was to meet my Blogger friend Nibha who has been my friend for more than a year now. We wanted to do this real soon but things weren't in our favor as we lived miles apart. Moving to Bangalore presented this opportunity as she too was posted there, though temporarily. We decided to meet up for real finally after all the Whatsapping and Facebooking for one year. It was the first time I was meeting a friend after I don't know how long! And what an awesome day it was! We roamed around talking over anything and everything. There was so much to share! We didn't understand how and when time flew and soon it was time to say goodbye. Those smiles, those laughter which brought tears to our eyes, that feel of 'hi-fi'ing each other when we agreed on something and the joy of hanging out with a friend, nothing can match the happiness it brings. Whatsapp smileys and phone calls can never replace the joy of 'Real Togetherness'

        So, when was the last time you met someone in real? What are your thoughts about Real Togetherness?

PS: This post has been written for http://www.kissanpur.com/.

Until the next post,

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Swathi :)

Letters and Friendships!

       There I was a time when I dreamt of having pen pals. It was back when I was in high school I guess. I used to see 'Pen Pals' column with so much longing every week in my favorite news paper 'Navaneet News House'. I used to imagine how life would be if I had a pen friend to whom I can write about things going on in my life. Almost every week I used to plead mom about writing to one and she would say "No! You can't write to anyone just like that without knowing them! What if the other person is not good?" No amount of pleading got me past this argument and I finally gave up. I just checked the names each week and imagined them as my pen pals.

Fast forward to July 2015...

       It was just like any other normal day and then, our B-A-R God mother Shailaja came up with the concept of Snail Mail Challenge. All B-A-R mates were excited about the prospect of writing letters to fellow bloggers. No one would know who we will be writing to whom. Shailaja managed everything with the flick of her wand and soon everyone had a name - the one we would write to.

       My dream of writing a letter was finally coming true!! Yay.. And the blogger I was assigned was Tulika Singh who blogs at Obsessive Mom. I had read Tulika's post during A to Z last year and few more random posts but personally, I didn't know her much. I was nervous. What would I write? Will she like my letter? I knew she would be expecting it soon though she didn't know who was writing it. I stalked her blog for few days and found out a little more about her. It was fun reading her posts. After procrastinating for weeks, I finally got to writing. I just wrote the first thing that came to mind and within minutes, the letter was done. See, wasn't it easy? So, that is the story of the first letter I wrote :)

       Can it get more exciting? Actually, it can. Why? Because I was supposed to receive a letter too. And I had no idea from whom. As days passed, my excitement just kept increasing. The letter took a little longer than usual. Everyone had received their letters and were celebrating the fact but I still didn't know who would be writing to me!

      It was a busy Monday. I was tired from running in circles to get some documents prepared. It was just noon and I was already tired and waiting for the day to end. That is when a little surprise arrived at my doorstep. It was a letter. Yes, finally the letter had come! And that too all the way from Canada!! Elly Stornebrink who blogs at Xpress Your Essence had written this letter to me. My happiness knew no bounds. I wanted to tear it open and read it fast but I did no such thing. It was the first ever letter I received and I wanted to treasure it for a long long time. Showing utmost patience and ignoring my mom's comments about me being patient for once in a while, I opened the letter and read it. And read it again :D I read it 3 - 4 times before my excitement finally subsided back to normal level.

My Precious Letter :)

       So, that was the story of the first hand written letter I sent and received. Ah, the joy of writing to someone and receiving the letters. It was really an awesome experience. One thing is for sure - nothing beats the joy of receiving a hand written letter from people you love. In this electronic era, receiving a simple hand written letter can bring so much happiness and make you feel special. So how about writing a letter this weekend to someone special and surprise them? Do share your experience about hand written letters in the comments below :)

Until the next post,

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Swathi :)

Cricket Mania!

       Classes are always hard to attend for die-hard cricket fans, especially when an interesting match is going on. Especially in a country like India,where cricket is considered as a religion which everyone follows sincerely, these days can as well be announced as National Holidays! Because, no one (well at least majority of them) will be interested in whatever they do. Most of their time is spent cursing the work they are doing and the person who gave them the work. And the rest of the time is spent sneaking a look into their mobile phones, trying to find out what the current score is and groaning out loud when they miss an important six or catch or something alike!

       Students aren't different either. I still remember my PU days when boys used to squirm in their seats, unable to hold back the curiosity of what might have happened on the field. Each class was of 1 hour duration and as soon as the lecturer stepped out of the class at the end of the hour, they would run out too; to the library. Now, don't think they went there to read books or anything! These were the students who visited library only on days there was a cricket match. Reason? Well, the librarian would be watching the match on the PC and he wouldn't send them away if they went to get a glimpse and catch up with the score.

       And some of them boldly went ahead and took another step further. We had a rule in college that no student should enter the class after the lecturer. In case the lecturer has started the class, they should sit in the library for an hour instead of walking in and disturbing the class. This proved as a golden opportunity for cricket lovers. They used to wait, standing outside, behind the pillars till the lecturer was inside the class. Once they were sure that class has begun, they would come knocking, promptly to be sent to the library. No prizes for guessing the outcome. The library would turn into a mini stadium with die hard cricket fans cheering for their favorite teams! Smart, weren't they?

       Of course, they used to bring mobile phones to college. No amount of banning and seizing of phones stopped them. They just found a new, stealthy way to do it. But sadly, that never was enough to watch cricket, thanks to the slow internet and buffering problems. That is how library turned out as their favorite joint for watching cricket. Gradually, the lecturers found out the truth and the librarian was given strict orders not to let students in to watch cricket matches. But that won't be a problem for our juniors now, all thanks to UC browser. With UC Cricket, one can Surf it All and Surf it Fast! No need to wait for the buffering to complete and end up missing exciting actions. You get ball by ball updates, ensuring you stay updated. So, just install the UC browser app and forget about finding excuses to hide in the library. 

PS: This post is written for http://www.ucweb.com/.

Until the next post,

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Swathi :)

Her Fairy Tale

        She stood by the door waiting for her kid to return from school. 

       The bundle of joy came right at that moment, bursting with a happy news from school that she had to share with her amma.

       It was such a contented life - sending her daughter to school which was her dream ever since she was denied that chance 16 years back.

       "Back to earth!! I haven't employed you for day dreaming. Finish the work fast" The harsh voice of her employer put an end to her fairy tale. 

       "Amma will work hard to make life better for you" she said to her unborn baby as she carried the another load of jellies to the construction site.

PS: This post is written for Blog-A-Rhythm's Wordy Wednesday prompt.

Until the next post,

Keep Smiling :)

Love,
Swathi :)

Quilling Craze

       Recently, I have caught on the quilling craze. Though I had bought the quilling kit long back, it is only now that I am really paying it any attention. The inspiration, as always, is just one thing - study holidays! Though it is holidays for everyone else, the study prefix won't stop following me! As I sit to read for the entrance exam, creativity seems to be flowing in excess. Here are few experiments that I made recently.

       So that is how I am passing time during the so called holidays. More to follow soon ;)

Until the next post,

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Swathi :)