Thursday 14 January 2016

Broken Love.

There in that moment 


I could see it 

In your unfaithful eyes.

All those small talks

And long goodbyes.

An absurd reality 

Of your being

In my life. 

I stood there

Somewhere 

On that long lonely asphalt.

Shattered. 

What am I? 

Who have I become?

I have been trying to ask this 

From quite some time. 

But my consciences 

Never replied. 

I smile,

I admire

The moments

We have spent 

Together. 

I won't feel 

The love again.

But somewhere 

I would feel you.


Picture Credits: Solo.show

Saturday 11 July 2015

She Found Herself.

Donning four layers of woolen, she climbed the stairs with her short footsteps. Rubbing her little hands together, she looked for her dad on terrace.

"Dad" she called and a man in his mid thirties turned towards her. "What are you doing here? I was searching for you." Walking towards him, she looked up in his blatant eyes. He lifted the little girl in his arms and kissed her rosy cheeks.

"Did you see the pink pencil which I bought yesterday?" She asked and he shook his head, no. "But what are you doing here?" She asked the same question again.

"I was talking to universe." he said and then paused. He looked into her bemused eyes.

"But why?" her eyebrows came closer to each other and the skin of her forehead crinkled a bit in confusion.

"Because universe knows everything." He whispered it in her ears and her young heart believed the words.

"But where is universe?" She looked up at the sky where her dad was staring when she climbed the stairs.

"There." He said and she followed his point.

"That is a star." she said and her dad smiled. She looked again at the twinkling star and then up at her dad. "Want to eat Ice Cream?" he broke the silence and whittled the words she was about to say. She held his index finger with her little fingers and nodded.

***
She sneaked out of her room in the middle of the night and sat down at one corner of her balcony.
She wanted to go up on the terrace but was afraid of ghosts.
She looked up at the star and started telling her the things she did that day. There was calmness in the star which was teaching her sundry things she was unaware of.

Two months had passed by and she never felt alone. There was her universe with her with whom she could share her feelings and blabber everything she wanted to do. 

She tip toed out of her room and looked up at the sky. There was no star today but haziness of clouds. She felt deserted. Her four-year old heart broke into several pieces. She ran back to her room and sat at the corner of her bed. 

As tears ruffled down her cheeks, she looked at the darkness of the room and saw something twinkling just like a star. She was happy for she knew what it was. She spent an hour talking to her universe. 

"Alice" her dad called her name entering the room and lit the lights.  "You forgot to drink your milk today." He said while she stared at the mirror in her room with amazement.

She ran towards him and drank the glass full of milk.

"In The Haziness Of Clouds,
She Found Her Universe.
She Found Herself."

The star was nothing but the stone studded in her "A" letter pendant.

"There was universe in her name."


Saturday 4 July 2015

21 Ways Of Being Happy: Book Review

Full Name: 21 Ways Of Being Happy
Author: Shama Patel
Published by: Grapevine India Pvt. Ltd.
P-ISBN: 978-9381841204
No. of Pages: 234
Category: Non Fiction

"An Answer To Everyone's Bemused Heart." 
- Anubhav Tyagi


★★★  5/5


The Blurb:

Happiness is a state of mind. 

Yes, it is. It is not a condition or situation that is presented to some and kept away from others. It is in our own hands to overcome guilt, self pity, regret and anxiety to lead a fulfilling, happy life. Shama Patel, a professional psychologist, enlists the ways and tricks to stay happy, forever.

21 Ways of Being Happy is written with the aim of bringing you closer to yourself. It is a book that will help you charter the course of your life, your own way.


The Author: 

Shama Patel holds a Post-Graduate degree in Marriage and Family Counselling. As a psychologist, she has worked with mature adults, confused teenagers, couples, senior citizens, alcohol and drug addicts, survivors of abuse and human trafficking and has been associated with various NGOs working for underprivileged children.

Correctly fitting in the term 'Jack of all trades', she is often found glued to books or locked inside her art den, bringing black and white images to life through sketching. When she is not being a psychologist, Shama spends her time listening to music, practicing yoga, appreciating nature and meeting people over masala chai.

Shama Patel


The Cover:                ★★★☆  4/5

The positive vibes from the cover will make you fall for this book. A girl stretching a Cheshire Cat grin on her face and sitting on a swing hanging freely from a cloud. The cover is beautifully designed by Chandani Dua.



The Verdict:

There is always this question in our mind. And we never feel satisfied with what we have and we fancy lives of others. The book doesn't connect you with any fictional character but it will connect you to your higher self.

After completing this book, you will meet a new you. You will have an array of questions in your mind but the most amazing thing is that you will have answers to them as well.

Shama shares her personal life experience and her patient's experience in this beautiful book. And that makes it very easy to relate.

This book will help you understand your importance, stay happy with what you have, enjoy the company you are in, find a happy place for yourself in this society and stop cursing yourself. Author has used very lucid language to connect with the readers.

This book should be prescribed to every pretty soul who visits Stress and Anxiety Rehabilitation Center.


For people who enjoy reading, this will be one of the best books in your bookshelf. You should read this. 
For people who don't read, you must read this.

You Can Buy The Book From:       amazon.in | flipkart 

Friday 3 July 2015

The Stranger - Chapter 1

22 July, 2013

NEW DELHI

It is pouring heavily from the sky and streets are still hustling. The unwanted noise of horns and klaxons is resonating in the environment while my stereo in the car is playing trance music. I am returning back to my flat after this tiresome party of Prashast. I wish Ahana was there with me in the party but she told me that she had a meeting with her client at Raddison.

The flashlight of my iPhone is blinking and the screen is awakened by Ahana’s call.

“Hey! How was your meeting?” I ask

“It was good and It got over before the expected time so I went for some shopping.” she replies

“great”

“Can you pick me up from Shambhavi’s place?” she asks

“I thought you have reached our flat.” I say

“I went for a shopping with Shambhavi and then she asked me to join her at dinner. So -” she says with her innocent voice.

“You said we would go for a dinner tonight.” I frown while she convinces me why she couldn’t say no to Shambhavi. She is Ahana’s best of friends and has been so since four years. Albeit Shambhavi is two years younger than Ahana but still there is a great knot of understanding between both the girls.

“I will be there in a jiffy.”

“Thank you” She disconnects the call and I accelerate the car. I roll the volume button and increase the volume of stereo system. I am in love with trance music. Perhaps the whole world is.
I park my car besides the busy roads of Connaught Palace and enter the Oxford Bookstore. A man comes up to me and asks how he can help me.

“I want romantic fiction.” I say and the man wearing a regular white shirt and grey trouser looks through the corner of his eyes and points towards the stack of the books. I pick THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and head towards the cash counter.

“399/- Rupees sir” the girl sitting at the cash counter hand overs TFIOS kept in a paper bag. I pay the amount and run back to the car.

The falling diamond shaped drops are nurturing my not-so-new black Skoda Laura. Wipers are wiping the unwanted water while drops are mosaicked on the glass in no time. I hasten the speed of my car by pressing the first pedal from the right and drive on the asphalt roads of Delhi.

I screech the break and car lurches to a halt. The darkness of night and headlights of vehicles are irking in my eyes. A person hardly 5’10’’ is lying over with his stomach touching the layer of the road. Right profile of his face is only visible as the left one is kissing the asphalted aggregates.
There are people, people walking on the pavements, traveling in cars, gossiping over the wine shop, shopping clothes but there is no one – no one who can assist this person who is lying half dead on the way. No one has seen him, the blood bleeding from his nostrils and head. Or maybe they have but they ignored it.

The problem of this country is not corruption but selfishness is. Corruption is just a side effect of selfishness where people pay bribes for their own advantage or to save their time. No one cares about who is dying and who is alive and then there are people especially women who always want to know each and every thing about others, being it the car they have got in the dowry or a girl dating some boy.

I hold him up and he is bleeding heavily. His forehead is scarlet and half of his left cheek is masked with blood. I take him to my car, open his black jacket off and place it under his head. I run back to the driver seat and drive horrifically fast. 

I have been honking in front of Shambhavi’s flat for last few minutes. Ahana egresses Shambhavi’s flat and takes her front passenger seat. She bid Shambhavi a good bye and gives me an intense look with her reddened nose.

“You are so rude. Couldn’t you just say a bye to Shambhavi” She says, angry while I try to put the car in first gear.

“We are going to hospital.” I raise my eyebrow.

“Why?

Wait, what’s that on your hand? Is that blood?” She asks and I point her to look at the back seat where the half dead man was lying.

“Who is he now? What on earth is happening here?” she frowns and I tell her how I found this half dead man lying on the busy road where no one came up to assist or help him.

“Are you mad? What if this guy is a terrorist or a murderer?” She shouts
“He is an engineer” I pass her the identity card which I found few minutes back while I was removing his jacket.

“But sixty percent of engineers are also terrorist” she exasperates

“Oh!
Shut up!” I shout

Ahana reads each and every information about him from identity card. “ARMAN SHARMA” she whispers and turns over to me and asks if I have tried to call on his father’s number pointing at the ten digit mobile phone number written on the card and I shake my head no. She starts dialling his father’s number but it says that the number is out of reach.

Five minutes later we find ourselves in front of City hospital. Ahana runs inside the hospital and comes up with a stretcher. Two compounders take him inside while we follow them. Receptionist hands overs a form to me but Ahana snatches it.  “I will fill this form, you go inside.” Ahana is worried about him too. Dialling his father’s number repeatedly and filling the hospital formalities is a sign which she can never hide.

Wednesday 1 July 2015

Of College Life and Friendship

No, it isn't at all like you see in movies and sitcoms. No one sings a song when you fall in love or when you see any hot girl around. Bubbles don't blow in the aura and notes don't fly when you colloid with your teacher crush. College life isn't beautiful as it seems to be.

When you enter a college, you feel like a grown up brat. But few things change in your life and this college life teaches you so many important lessons in your life.
I have done so many things in my college life. Crazy things, silly things, intellectual things and what not things.
When you enter gates of your University or college, you are afraid of the change, nervous of being faintly aloof, and excited for entering the freshman year of your college life.

College life seems perfect in freshman year, boring in sophomore, terrible in third and unbearable in your final. The reason?
No, we don't get bored of the same infrastructure, we still admire the places we used to love in our freshman year. And believe me, hostel life is amazing, there is no point in hating it. Then what makes you hate your college?
The People... 

 "School friends are for life"

I've read it somewhere on the internet and I completely accept these words. Yes, school friends are for life, unlike college friends who are ephemeral in your life.
In your freshman year, you will make tens of friends, hundreds of acquaintances and the few good and best friends. You will completely devour yourself in their company. You'll enjoy your college life, laugh your asses off with them, bunk classes with them, watch movies with them.
And some day, they will leave you, they will fight with you and not for you. The picturesque friendship will be adulterated with a blot of misunderstanding.
You'll see them fly away in front of your eyes, but you'll not be able to find out the reason.

You'll start limiting your conversations, skipping classes, and sitting alone in a cafeteria and eating burgers. In a handful of classmates, acquaintances and other people, you will feel lonely. You'll curse yourself. You will believe that you are worst at keeping friendships and relationships.

But then.

Why are you still friends with your school friends? 

Maybe because you have grown up together and know one another inside out. There is no room for misunderstanding.
You are friends with someone because they match your mental status and sense of humor.

Why do you lose your friends or best friends? 


Misunderstandings. 


But why there is a void for misunderstandings between two people who know almost everything about each other. The problem with friendship is not believing your friend but believing the world. You'll never get it from where do all those rumors arise.

Misunderstanding is an anomaly in any relationship, and its roots grow quickly, It is never a one face concept, It has many masked faces. You don't believe your friend has spread a rumor about you, you go and ask some random friend about it, and he tells you few more things you never heard of. You tell that random friend you have lost faith in love and friendship. And he agrees with you, gossips with you and what not.

You stop talking to your best friend, or you just keep your conversation simple and not jovial.

Few more people notice the turn of your friendship and they come to ask you a million things, gossip few more things and tell you many other things you never heard of again. You feel deserted, devastated and alone.

And You Block Your Friend On Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Unfollow him on Twitter.

Well!
Does this make any change?
Does this even make you think positive?
Does this even help you to stop thinking about your friend?

No...

Whenever you are on a verge of breaking any relationship/friendship, find the person (Friend), Ask him/her about everything because he is the only one who can tell you everything correctly and not this society or your other friends. Society and other friends will always try to deride your friendship. And when you talk to your friend, you'll get to know that  the 90% of the things were nothing but rumors and rest 10% things are so silly and stupid to break your friendship for. 

Do not even try to run away from the friendship.
This world is round.
Your paths will cross someday and you will meet them again.
And after all these years, you will realize how stupid you have been .

"SMILE AND FEEL THE ESSENCE OF FRIENDSHIP"

Sunday 28 June 2015

The Night We Said Yes: Interviewing Lauren Gibaldi

Hey folks!
First of all sorry for being too lazy to post another chapter of "The Stranger". But I will post it within a week. 
So here, I am introducing a whole new section to this blog, "AUTHOR INTERVIEW" and I am really very excited about it. The inaugural post on this section is an interview with "LAUREN GIBALDI" - she is an author of "the night we said yes".  

LAUREN GIBALDI




"And since he left, I've simply been living in a cocoon, afraid to put myself out there again. Afraid to be let down again.
I miss that feeling of being alive. "



(A) What inspires you to write young adult books?

(L) I think the teen years are so important and unique. It's a time when you're figuring out who you are, and deciding who you want to become. Experiences are different, but the feelings are universal.

(A) What is "The Night We Said Yes"  all about? Do you think people will enjoy reading it and relate it with their lives.

(L) My book is about four friends who say yes to every idea they have for one night, and in the process, two characters (Matt and Ella) fall for one another. Then, a year later, they re-create the night to see if second chances are possible. I hope people enjoy reading it!

(A) I always wanted to know about this NaNoWriMo thing. Now that I know almost a lot about it, I have a question that pops up in my mind every time I hear about this Challenge. Is it really possible to write a story in such a small period of time? Since your book has come out victoriously, please share the benefits and drawbacks of this challenge. 

(L) It's definitely possible! TNWSY was finished in 28 days. It was not GOOD in 28 days--it took me several months to edit it enough to find an agent. But it was done, and I think that's the benefit of NaNoWriMo. It forces you to finish.

(A) Do you make a whole plot before writing a fiction or you just make few things in your mind and go with the flow?

(L) A bit of both. I have a lose outline, because I like knowing where the story is going, but I make up a lot on the spot.

(A) Let's talk about you. I have read it on your website that you have been a circus aerialist. Please tell us more about your journey from being a Circus Aerialist to an Author.

(L) I was an aerialist while in college, and it was amazing. After college, I became a teacher, then a copywriter, and eventually a librarian (where I am now). I write when i'm not working. 
(A) What is the best part that you love in your book? 

(L) I love the friendships in my book, specifically that of Meg and Ella. 
(A) Last but not the least, What's your advice to the budding YA bloggers and authors? 

(L) Just keep writing!


Tuesday 23 June 2015

Book Review: Never Kiss Your Bestfriend. :)

 Full Name: Never Kiss Your Bestfriend
Author: Sumrit Shahi
Published by: Rupa Publications India
P-ISBN: 978-8129134851
No. of Pages: 206
Category: Fiction

"Witty, funny and straight from the heart.
Sumrit does it again." 
- Durjoy Datta

★★★☆  4/5
 
The Blurb:
Go lingerie - shopping with him. Pass out drunk with her on the same bed. Cry on his shoulder when you break up. Bore her with football talk at 3 a.m. Ask him for advice on how to keep your boyfriend 'happy'. Watch a cheesy movie with her and cry freely. Ask him to rate your butt. Dance with her in your boxers. But never, ever kiss your best friend. In this sequel to the bestselling Just Friends, find out what happens when headstrong and impulsive Tanie Brar meets her equally crazy best friend Sumer Singh Dhillon after five long years of separation. Heart-warming and poignant, Never Kiss Your Best Friend redefines the rules of friendship with its story of a boy and a girl who are soulmates in every sense.

The Author: 
Sumrit Shahi is an Indian novelist, scriptwriter and freelance journalist. He has two youth-based shows which airs on Channel V India, one is Sadda Haq - My Life, My Choice which won the Youth show (fiction) category at Zee Gold Awards and Indian Telly Awards in 2014 and the other is Million Dollar Girl - From Banaras to Paris and also Ek Veer Ki Ardaas...Veera on Star Plus to his credit. He is the author of three novels, Just Friends, A lot like love...a li'l like chocolate and Never Kiss Your Best Friend. He wrote his first novel Just Friends at the age of 17.

The Cover:                ★★★☆  3/5

With a beautiful Sea Green Background, you will see many little hearts flying like butterflies everywhere. A heart is held by two best friends and "Never Kiss Your Best Friend" is inscribed on it.

The Plot:                     ★★★☆  4/5
The author of the book will make you fall in love with friendship all over again. It took 4 long years for all the readers of JUST FRIENDS who wanted to know more about stories of both Aryan Dhillon and Tanie Brar to unravel the story.
The book is relatable. There is no one on this earth who doesn't lose friends or best friends. And again there is no one who doesn't love their best friends. The plot of the book is very attractive, unconventional, original and fresh.
The story, very witty and chucklesome. 
It is a journey of Tanie Brar who lost her best friend five years back and how she fell in love with Sumer Singh Dhillon and vice versa. From Clubs to booze and from infatuation to love, there is everything in this book.
The equation is not yet solved, the book will only help you to know more about it.
After all the question is still alive "Can a boy and a girl just be friends?"

The Verdict:
Sumrit has used very fine and easy English to connect with readers. A perfect piece for all the teenagers to understand the relationship between a boy and a girl. At few points, the story was predictable. 
The book has come out victoriously. 

You Can Buy The Book From      amazon.in | flipkart | Paytm