Triad of desires.

My daughter is appearing for her tenth class board exams this year.And like all parents,I am on tenterhooks.And yet,what confounds me, is, what is she going to do next.She has made it clear, that she wants to go for an international curriculum for her next class.And preparations for searching that , began in right earnest.She applied.She appeared for a test.And luckily for her,she got through.Next is the financial juggernaut ! This international curriculum costs a bomb ! And I have never prepared for it, by means of insurance ! How I wish ,I had insured earlier.This insurance would have cushioned the shock or rather expensive shocks I keep getting by looking at how much I will end up paying for her studies after this class ! And expenses will just spiral, as she wants to go abroad for further studies after that ! Since there is no #SecondChance ,I better buy insurance policy for her to finance her graduation & post graduation & beyond ! And I would buy Max Life Insurance from my cousin , an agent .Killing two birds with one stone ! MaxLife Insurance plans will keep both me & my extended family happy !



I had a life long wish to visit Kashmir .I completed it in the year gone by ! Kashmir is truly blessed .It is simply breathtaking !  One can see & experience beauty everywhere .I have one more travel plan.I want to take a selfie in Bhedaghat,Jabalpur in the midst of the lake on a boat surrounded by marble on all the sides ! Builders & other anti environmentalists may start craving out all marble for their ugly buildings soon.Hence,I have to act fast & travel to Jabalpur as soon as I can as builders do not give any chance .So there is no question of   #Second Chance.I am planning to do this immediately after my board exams oops, my child's exams get over by middle of March ,this year !


 Bhedaghat ,Jabalpur.

I love icecreams.I want to spend one day eating ice creams,frozen yoghurt,kulfi falooda etc ! This would include sundaes,gelato & the like.etc,And I would like to record this activity of mine through video ! And I better do it after my Jabalpur trip as I want to travel light ! There is no #SecondChance .As  advancing age & heath concerns go hand in hand  ,I must devour   ice creams soon !

All such yummy food will show on me, is a foregone conclusion.Moreover Jabalapur selfie must be watchable with a slimmer me. Ice cream gorging video can feature me in any form.Because ,all will have eyes for the ice creams & not me !

And the icing on the cake would be   MaxLife Insurance sponsoring my Jabalapur Trip as  also my ice cream binging for buying MaxLife Insurance ! 


“This post is a part of the #SecondChance activity at BlogAdda in association with MaxLife Insurance”.

Chowkpurana

Cover Reveal : Kaleidoscope by Rachna Gupta

Cover Reveal

Kaleidoscope

“Every beating heart will confess that once, 
at least 'once in their lifetime they were in love.”
by 

Rachna Gupta 

Blurb 

The collection of poems in this book talks about an emotion so strong that it has the potential to create and destroy! Love in all its capacity has that aura around it; it  needs to be felt and when it resides in your soul you find it giving rise to feelings never experienced before. There is passion and tenderness when being together, estrangement and pain when two souls are apart and then there is joy and relief when bound together again. The 37 poems in this book talk about this amazing feeling called love!

About Rachna Gupta

Rachna is an educationist, content writer, book reviewer and blogger. Being a thinker, her mind is always brimming with ideas that are transformed into poems, prose, quotations and stories. She chooses to use writing to speak about things that matter to her. Her poems are made up of simple yet meaningful words. When she is not writing, working with an NGO or busy with her chores, she is lost in the imaginary world created by other authors! Her first book of poems and prose titled Myriad Hues, was published in March 2014. You can find out more about her from her website - www.rachnagupta.in 
You can also connect with her on Twitter - @GuptaRach

Are you ready 

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Alpana

Cover Reveal : She loves me He loves me not.

Cover Reveal

She Loves Him, He Loves Her Not

Stripped of her illusions, Zoella creates her own twist in the fairy tale, beating him at his own game.

by 

Zeenat Mahal 

Blurb 

Zoella’s been in love with Fardeen, her best friend’s gorgeous older brother, since she was ten, but he’s always seen her as a ‘good girl’—not his type—and he can barely remember her name. Besides, he’s engaged to a gorgeous leggy socialite, someone from the same rarefied social strata as the imposing Malik family.

Zoella has no chance with him.

Until a brutal accident leaves Fardeen scarred and disfigured, that is. Suddenly bereft of a fiancee, Fardeen is bitterly caustic, a shell of the man he used to be, a beast that has broken out of the fairy tale world he once lived in. And a twist of fate lands him his very own princess—Zoella.

The beast, however, is a far cry from the Fardeen of her dreams. Stripped of her illusions, Zoella creates her own twist in the fairy tale, beating him at his own game.

About Zeenat Mahal 

Zeenat Mahal (@zeenat4indireads) is an avid reader and has been writing for as long as she can remember. She has an MPhil in English literature from Government College Lahore and holds a MFA in creative writing from Kingston University, London. She won a BBC short story competition in 2001 and has been a regular contributor to newspapers. Zeenat has eclectic tastes and an insatiable desire to learn. Her romances are a heady mix of the traditional and the contemporary, old world values face the challenges of a shrinking globe that impinge upon and help shape South Asian sensibilities.

‘Haveli’ is Zeenat’s first published novella. Currently she is working on a literary novel with elements of magical realism, while continuing to write romances. She can be contacted on her FB page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zeenat-Mahal.

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Raangoli

Book Review : The Aryavarta Chronicles : Kurukshetra

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

 The Aryavarta Chronicles : Kurukshetra is the third book of the Aryavarta Chronicles.The author is Krishna Udayashankar,alumni of the National Law School of India-Bangalore.She did her Ph.D from Nanyang Business School,Singapore.At present ,she is a lecturer in Nanyang Business School.Her first book of the Aryavarta Chronicles : Govinda as also her second book in the series,Kaurava have been critically acclaimed.Krishna has penned a poetry collection titled ,Objects of Affection " as also edited "Body Boundaries : The Etiquette Anthology of Women's Writings " .

 The cover of the book shows a weapon which is a fusion of two axes & two spears .There are five sharp blades in  the weapon.The arm of the weapon can be seen but just a little.The weapon looks menacing.The Sun seems to be peeking from behind one of the sharp blades of the weapon.THe sky is all dark & overcast.There is an eagle flying in the sky.There is  carcass of an Elephant and perhaps a horse near the weapon.A soldier's armour can be seen lying on the right of the weapon.On the back cover,the sky is dark .There is a vulture & some arrows which have pierced an elephant .This dark & grim cover sets the tone of the tale .

 This is the tale of the Kurukshetra battle between the Kauravas & Pandavas.Both the parties are assembling their friends & their armies so that the opposite party can be coerced to negotiate.Yet on its own ,neither the Kauravas nor the Pandavas want to be seen as weak.Govinda tries very hard to prevent the parties from going to war.Yet ,eventually,they go to war. All knew that it will destroy much.Yet no one imagined it would end the way it ended.The Kauravas have many mighty men in their midst namely Bhishma,Drona,Vasusena,Asvattama,& others.Even the Pandavas have many warriors in their midst namely Shikhandin,Arjuna,Bhim,Abhimanyu,etc.Bhishma is killed first .And then there are no rules of warfare left.All rules get broken one after the other .And many warriors get killed due to deception & cunningness.Not by valour.

 The fact, that they all are fighting their own brothers,fathers,uncles,teachers etc confounds all.Some want to fight as they have scores to settle for supposed insults.Others join in to show solidarity & still others join reluctantly.And yet, some will not raise arms & fight some in the enemy camp because they owe their lives,their very existence to that someone in the enemy camp.The battle is therefore much more in the minds of all than in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.Hence Arjuna 's dilemma is not just his.It is something which plagues so many.And yet, must they kill each other ? Is there no other way out ? Why is the battle being fought ? Is it, because there was an attempt to disrobe Draupadi ? And still ,who allowed it to take place ? Are they innocent ? Why are others ,the common people ,soldiers being pushed into the war ? Is it, their fault, that their rulers,kings,etal felt that they must wage this battle for setting some wrongs right.What have they done to deserve being maimed and killed in battle ? It is not their battle .And they are being butchered .Will their rulers,be accountable for killing their own people .A ruler's duty is to protect his subjects & in the name of dharma ,he is pushing his subjects into the battlefield.

Govinda keeps emphasizing on humanity as also kindness.Why & what for ?
 Govinda is staring into the future rather than the past or the present.What is his role ? Is he innocent or scheming ?Is the battle of Kurukshetra ,a part of his grand agenda ?

 The battle ends & how .All are punished.There are no victors.All are vanquished.And who is the biggest loser ? Perhaps the victor .Draupadi has supposedly been avenged.She must be pleased & yet is she ? The tale once again reinforces that peace is always just & wars are  always unjust.

 The author has explained the dilemmas of all characters superbly so much so that the reader becomes one with the character.The tale though a known one is narrated in an engrossing manner.One wants  to read further & further .She reveals a lot about the epic which flabbergasts the reader like it is stated that even few women were on the battlefield.The fight,the scenes & the weapons are all finely detailed in the narrative.This makes it very interesting. The book is in three parts followed by the end.Some chapters are short & some are long.There is a map as also a family tree of the Kurus .There is a list of the characters with short notes as well.Doubtless,Krishna has done painstaking research to come up with the Aryavarta Chronicles & that is also stated towards the end of the book. It is published by Hachette India.

 A must read for every one who wants to get a fresh perspective on the battle in the epic tale.

Muggu

Book Review : Ri :The Homeland of Uncertainty

Ri -Homeland of Uncertainty is a movie in Khasi which has been adapted in the form of a book by Paulami Duttagupta.

This is the story of what Meghalaya went through from 2000 to 2004.Shillong ,the present capital of Meghalaya has got a cosmopolitan nature with its music festivals,fashion streets ,delicious cuisine etc.All that was changing thanks to terror.This is a fictional account of the pain & horror of the phase that lasted for some time.

This is the story of Kyndiah,the police chief who is trying hard of rid the Shillong public of the fear of terror.He has to answer journalists like Janet who feel that police is trampling on human rights in the name of fighting terror.It is also the tale of many who are drawn into the cesspool of terror who take up guns & kill .Maybe not kill & yet assist in killing thereby  spreading the atmosphere of fear.Why does  Manbha feel any regret when he hears that a trader has been killed ? And yet,he feels that his land should be freed from outsiders.Manbha feels that he is a freedom fighter & not a terrorist.Is he right when he says he has not killed anyone himself.Even aiding a terrorist is the same or maybe it is not.Manbha finds that all this is getting too heavy on his conscience.Yet,will he surrender ? Will the police accept his surrender & forget what he did earlier ? Maybe the police will kill him in encounter & claim to have busted a terror racket.Manbha is lost.He feels guilty & yet he cannot come back to his family .This the story of so many like Manbha who take up arms after being brainwashed by separatist groups.Is Kyndiah a police officer who fakes encounters ? Why does he throw himself in the line of fire before his men ? Who is Emika & how does she speak so authoritatively ?Who wins ? Terror or peace ? And how ?

The author has depicted the dilemma of the innocents who have taken up arms & joined terrorism.This dilemma makes the reading very engrossing.There is never a  dull moment in the book.The helplessness of innocents who  join ,& cannot turn back.;They are lonely.They have no life.And they have to dance as per the instructions of the commanders.The author has managed to sneak in some wry humour in the angst ridden tale.And special kudos for drawing attention to the terror scene in the North east of our country !

Ri - Homeland of Uncertainity

by 

Paulami Duttagupta 

The Blurb

Ri- Homeland of Uncertainty is adapted from the National Award Winning Khasi film by the same name.

Trapped in the limbo between ideology and conscience, Manbha finds him himself part of a terror outfit. An unexpected opportunity, anger, squalor and disillusionment - followed by and armed combat and injury lead to the soul- searching that form the substance of this moving tale.

Buy @

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in | Flipkart | Infibeam | SapnaOnline 

Watch It 

Meet the Author

Born in Shillong, many moons ago, with schooling at Loreto Convent, and an English Honors from St. Edmunds College, Paulami Duttagupta started her career with All India Radio Shillong. She had written and also given her voice to a few shows there. Later she came down to Kolkata and got a post graduate degree in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University. She had also taken up a fancy to learning Spanish, but today confesses that she has forgotten most of it.
She has written for ‘The Times of India’ in the ‘Guwahati-Shillong plus Edition’ and also ‘The Shillong Times’. Television had always attracted her and was connected to the Bangla TV industry for about 6 years. She was associated with ETV- Bangla, Akash Bangla and Sony Aath in this period.
Having left her day job in 2012, Paulami took up full time writing. Her first novel, “Pinjar” released in early 2012.
Her second novel “Unplanned Destinty” released in 2014. She is also the screenplay writer of the national award winning Khasi film – “Ri Homeland of Uncertainty”.

“Ri” has been adapted into a novel and was released on September 14,2014

She is currently working on her next project as movie script writer.

Apart from writing full length novels, she has written several short stories and articles. She has also contributed to the “Minds@work Anthology” and the “Family Matters International Anthology” in 2013.

Recently she has contributed to the “Learning and Creativity Anthology” , “Her Story Anthology”, and “Celebrating India – Love across Borders Anthology”.

When she is not writing or watching movies, Paulami is either reading biographies or classic pieces of literature. Cricket, food, cinema, books and music are an integral part of her life. 

You can stalk Paulami Duttagupta  @

                          

           

       

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Some extra Info on the book 
This book is an adaptation from a movie. Why? The author will answer that in one of our blogs which we will post soon. Stay tuned !!!

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