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BOOK REVIEW- WHY WE LOVE, THE WAY WE DO

When a woman starts penning the exact thoughts going in your mind, she has to be either Carrie Bradshaw or Preeti Shenoy. Why we love the way we do By Preeti Shenoy Publisher-Westland Ltd 259 pages Category (Non Fiction) I was at the Delhi railway station, wanting to get a book by Ravinder Singh with a pure intention to judge his writing skills as I am not a big fan of the author but the guy at the bookshop tossed this book and said-“you will like this one madam” Maybe he thought to himself ‘here comes another feminist, with a long kurta, dangling earrings and kohl eyes covered behind glasses, looking for a book that talks about women’ I quickly looked at the cover read the reviews...

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MOTHER’S DAY

It is Mother’s day again, that hot Sunday in the month of may when the malls would be cashing out on emotions, social media would be oozing out with love for mothers. While I am not against celebrating Mother’s day, I just want people to know that it is a celebration of motherhood and not just mothers. Motherhood is not restricted to women who has given you birth. Motherhood remains the most natural institution in women and some men too, fatherhood is rather an inventive institution.  Men are not born fathers but women are born mothers, even in their young years of girlhood they develop a maternal feeling for their younger siblings. Few of the most prominent motherly figures in religion...

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BOOK REVIEW-CAPTAIN AMARINDER SINGH: PEOPLE’S MAHARAJA – AN AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY

I found Captain Amarinder Singh in his orange turban and black sherwani, standing tall on the cover page looking at me from my bedside table and asking me-“why have you kept me here from last one week? Either read me or put me back on the shelf” I wanted to give you my undisturbed attention Captain Saab, so I have fixed the weekend date with your book. People’s Maharaja- an autobiography of Captain Amarinder Singh. By Khushwant Singh Publisher-Hay House 381 pages He must be a brave man to have someone write his biography and not Hagiography just before the elections. The book presents 70 years of the protagonist’s life in some 380 pages over 49 chapters that are short and precise. This is surely a...

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SOULMATE

As part of the writing workshop, all of us were asked to pick a random phrase from any book and write a story on it. Here’s my story Soulmate Keeping the direct sunlight from her kitchen, she pulled the binds and stirred the halwa on stove rigorously. “Suresh…Can you please open the door, I think Anjali is here”..She said in a loud voice. Suresh walked with towards the door clumsily holding his stick in one hand, he peeped through the eye hole in the door and with a smile on his face, he unlocked the door to welcome Anjali. “Please come beta, we have been waiting for you” said Suresh and offered her a seat in their living room. Anjali was looking beautiful in her pastel blue...

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COLOR ME RED

I am the color red, I saw you today when you were thinking about your favorite wine, looking at me as a plastic cup in a cafe.I know how you fall in love with me every time I look at you. You live a little more looking at me. I saw you yet again on the traffic lights with fiery eyes full of warning. I met you minutes later with your long due touch up the “rosy Sunday” shade of your lipstick, I was amazed to see how confident you feel even with the dark side of mine. I was in the flare of your gypsy skirt giving you the Scarlett glow on your face while you were thinking “the hem of my skirt...

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MAHARAJA IN DENIMS (BOOK REVIEW)

When you need a fiction for your summer evenings with Merlot, you pick up Maharaja in Denims by Khushwant Singh. So once again I went the Flipkart way and ordered Maharaja in Denims by Khushwant Singh. It took me 3 days and few glasses of wine to read the book. Maharaja in Denims is fiction written keeping in my mind the fancy-schmancy ‘Chandigarh life’, which is unique and you cannot compare it to any other city in India.In the background, there is a story about Maharaja Ranjit Singh as well. When I was doing my graduation in Melbourne, I was often asked a few question about Punjab from fellow Gujarati and Maharashtrian friends. “Is Makki ki roti your staple diet? Do you all know...

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SITA (BOOK REVIEW)

Stories of Indian Mythology have always been intrigued my interests. Their magic, mysticism, and their morals, unfold a layer of human psychology and history. Stories are written to seduce human mind with the rights and wrongs. Stories about curses and boons. My recent read was Sita- an illustrative retelling of Ramayana by Devdutt Pattanaik, I like the way Pattanaik gives a very unbiased version of Ramayana in this. I am more of a  believer in Karma than dharma so for me this book was about getting to know Ram and Sita and while reading I felt that hero of the story was actually Hanuman!!. So I finished the book in about 8 days, the book was very gripping till the end and left a lasting impact...

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TO, MY FATHER

Club 65, if I could make an association where everybody who is young at heart could do things of their choice without any social barriers. It would be Club 65 and I would make my father the President of that. He belongs to my generation and generations to come…I asked him the other day, “I want to go to someplace with you, just you and me.”  Chandigarh Clubbing chale, he said with immense enthusiasm. He is the only man I know who talks about his dreams, his daydreams… I am so much like him in that manner. Or maybe I haven’t taken after him and not my mother. Over-emotional, extremely sensitive and not so quick to forgive but I have something...

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FACEBOOK WALE FRIENDS

The way Social media or facebook has changed our generation is unimaginable but what surprises me is how Indian culture ka tadka affects facebook. “Usne meri photo Like nahi ki, She is always jealous of me.” talks a 30 yr old to her friend because a kitty member ignored her latest picture! The “Like” button is the new ego masseuse So facebook is the new “flatter me” platform where you like every photo your bosses wife posts, to be acknowledged. Not just that you leave a comment “very nice” “lovely”, “beautiful”(the most common ones) to be in her good (face) books We have 90 mutual friends but we are not friends, taking the cold war to a different level altogether. Two women who would...

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RADHA- THE UNTOLD STORY

Krishna has always been my favorite god and there was always a veiled jealousy for Radha his consort. I call it love and the world can call me preposterous. It is impossible to think of Krishna without thinking of Radha yet some of the biggest Krishna temples in India do not enshrine the image of Radha. Even the most sacred book of Krishna, the Bhagavat Puran, does not mention Radha. Just very recently, I started reading about the goddess I envied and what an immense devotee I have become of the milkmaid whose reflection I can see in every woman known and unknown. They say when Radha Krishan met the once after Krishan left Vrindavan no words were said. No hands stretched to meet...

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