Chankaya Chant’s – A Book Review

Posted on by Rashmi

                                                                                    

Title:           Chankaya’s Chant
Author:       Ashwin Sanghi
Price:          INR 190/-
Publication: Hachette India
 
Story is set between 2 era, one is present world and other in 340 BC around 2300 years back in the times of Chandragupta and his guru Chankaya.Chapter 1 talk about Chankaya and chapter 2 talk about his modern version of chankaya “Gangasagar” and same trend continues throughout the book. Its like similar situation or their similar way of handling situation is describen in alternating chapters. Much like we saw in movie ” Rang de Basanti” where the story revolves between freedom fighters and modern version of youngster fighting for present problems of India.
 
Gangasagar Misra’s father died when he was quite young and for the sake of his family he started working with wily businessman – Agarwalji. He learnt rule of business, politics from his employer. To serve the country and to save our nation form politicians gangasagar jumps first into state politics and then into center politics.
 
Later he met with oxford graduated girl Chandini gupta who become her protege and like a kingmaker gangasagar helped her in becoming primeminister of India. Story revolved around tacts and techniques through which he manipulate situation and people around him to achieve bigger goal of Unified India
 
 
Ancient story deals with Chankaya who also lost his father early in life and partly to take revenge from his enemies and partly for unified Bharat …..helped Chandragupta in becoming ruler of Bharat.
 
End is revealed in prologue itself but its the path taken which keep you hookd to book.
 
My Verdict  : I neverpreferred reading historic genre…this is my first ever book politics/history based book and I m happy to say that i m not disappointed. The best thing i like abt books is author has done lot of ground work. Its extremely well reserached book.Twisting the facts, gossip, blackmail and removing of obstacles are all part and parcel of dirty politics and are very well depicted here.  Book shows the politics is not only about pulling each other’s hair  but involve much more  and requires understanding of  a lot of varied fields.  Present date story gives hintes about present day  happenings  around us  and gets the reader wear thie r thinking caps. Overall interesting  book. Story moves very fast and at no point you feel bored. Author has proven the point that basic of politics remain same though era has changed . Lot of information is still basis of ruling the country/state .  Stage is changed , characters are different ……tactics and stratergies nevertheles remain same in every era..
 
Author has interweeved past and present in perfect way and never let you feel confused between two different stories.
 
 
My rating 4/5
 

This review is part of <a href=”Book Reviews Program at  BlogAdda.com“>Blogadda book review programme. To get review copy of book you just need to show your interst by mentioning your user id in book promotion post. Do let me know your views in case get your hands on this amazing book.

 

 

First Day at School !!!

Posted on by Rashmi

Angel started school on 28th June… I have started preparing her for school six month back. This include reading lot of books about school environment like Eric Hill’s “Spot goes to school”  and from srishti publications ‘ bubbles goes to school”. Also we use to talk a lot about school like you will have teacher there and there will be frens in school and you will find a lot of toys etc.

So from day1 she was super excited abt this whole thing of school. And use to pretend daily that she is going to school and pack her books/comb/any other stuff in her range in bag . She also use to pretend like she is student and I m her teacher so we have spent numerous hours playing teacher teacher :-) . I have created imaginary world of very good school , with lot of toys, loving teachers and frens in her mind.

And finally d-day came when we actually took her to school. I was frightened to see lot of crying kids. Some were in shocked state and some were crying inconsolably. Parents were looking miserable, trying hard to decide whether to send their kid inside or go back. We all know going back is never an option. We have to face this.

Angel seems ok and spent her time looking around and playing with toys and her school bag. Once we done with all the basic formalities, one gorgeous lady came and with broad smile offer her hand to angel for hello. Angel as usual with her cherry smile said hello and hold the lady’s hand. Then she asked angel “Will you come with me dear”. Angel quickly hold her hand and went inside the classroom. She even didn’t look back at us and no bye bye even.

Do I need to say I felt so relaxed..happy to core of my heart.  It was like I was relieved of very big tension. Handing over you lil one to someone else is quite tough but when you know she is safe and happy…there is no limit of joy.

From last 3 days she is going to school with us. She goes only for 1.5 hr initially and from next week it will be 3hrs. She talk a lot  abt school after coming back. School is very colourful and have everything under the roof to keep a kid busy. All staff including maids seems so cheerful.

Hopefully she continues to enjoy school always :-)

 

All & Nothing – Book Review

Posted on by Rashmi
Title:        All & Nothing
Author:   Rasksha Bharadia
Price:       Rs. 95/- (Available @ Rs. 76 @ Flipkart
Publisher: Rupa & Co.
 
                                                                            

First of all, I loved the cover of book..somehow it raised curiosity to read the book asap when I got it through courier. ITs gripping story revolving around 5 friends. All of them have some or other major problems in lives but they wear mask and doesn’t show their problem to world, not even to their close frens. In other word we can say they have all in worldly matters but hollow exist in their inner self.

Tina , main protagonist is a talented photographer and deeply in love with successful careerist Aditya. Tina loves Aditya more than her life but didn’t get love from Aditya  in return as he can’t fully forget his past. Depressed tina started drinking heavily and also started maintaining distance from her close frens. To outside world,she was just busy with kids and family work but  inside she was depressed and struggling with her inner thoughts.

Upasana  ( tina’s cousin ) is victim of domestic violence. She is tolerating every thing in the name of family honour. She is always covered with glasses and full sleeves to hide her bruises.

Kriya , a successful fashion designer but couldn’t create any design on her own. She is pretending other designs to be her own and this guilt stay with her always.

Manas, tina’s colleague at Sanghavi’s, was in livin relationship with Gayatri but she left him coz manas was not ready for commitment.

Poorvi met Tine during  Kathak classes. Poorvi is from business class family and though feminist from inside she cant say much in front of her father and brother. She is blessed with two beautiful girls but her sister in law’s son always make her jealous and she craved for her own son.

Different lives and different set of problems but there is one thing which connect all of above and that Tina. They all are part of Tina’s life in some or other way. One fine day they got letter from Tina asking them all to come to her farm-house at Mahabaleshwar .

Why she is calling everybody at her farmhouse and when she herself is not there. Prashant ( Aditya’s uncle) know where is Tina but will he share her details with everybody.

Will these 5 frens ever be able to come out of their guilt/problems and lead normal life.

Go and read the book to get all the answer. I am sure it will be worth of your time.

My take on Book

Very well written, excellent narration of story. Simple plot , I wont say author has something new to offer in terms of story but  narration and characterization make it brilliant read. Author has let us travel in detail of 5 frens live and as they spill their secret you will find yourself or someone you know in bits and pieces. It’s so close to reality that you feel to complete book in one sitting. Very good first attempt at fiction from Raksha and I am looking forward to reading more of her books in near future. I love the part where tina’s struggling with her thoughts in mahabelashwar and poem she wrote :

Free at last                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Just when I thought I was doomed                                                                                                                                                                                   To                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Love                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Desire                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Crave                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          And Wait                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Knowing that it will never be returned                                                                                                                                                                   Just when I thought that perhaps I shd pray                                                                                                                                                          for all of it to be over                                                                                                                                                                                                            Breath  Feelings                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Just when  I thought its over

It poured, peacock danced  and I smell of Earth 

My rating : 3.5/5                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

This review is part of Blogadda’s book review program. Thanks blogadda for sending me choosing me for sending the review copy. This is my first review copy :-)

Grand Finale !! – Post 31

Posted on by Rashmi

Finally this day has come when I can write Post 31 :-) Isnt it feel gr8 to complete something..to reach at final stage. I m feeling somebody shd give me trophy to complete this task :-) Would like to this last post as opportunity to say a big thank you and well done to all fellow bloggers who are with me in NaBloPoMo.

Ten things about my NaBloPoMo experience

1) I love writing and connecting to my frens…Doesnt matter if i don’t have to write anything…even rat at my house can inspire me to write a post  and few loyal fren still commented on that post too :-)

2) Whenever I talk to somebody..and angel’s discussion comes..I can go on and on..like she do this..today she speak this..I m trying to teach her this and that..etc etc..and same is for my blogpost..The easiest thing for me to write is abt angel as that gives me inner happiness :-)

3) Of all the post the most precious one for me is my letter to angel

4) One thing which I missed most during whole blog marathon is commenting. Due to pressure of writing every single day..didnt get much time for commenting..even response to my last post are pending :-(

5) During this month I thanked wordpress lot of time for having scheduling feature :-) It was saviour for me most of the time.

6) I got realisation that its possible to write 3 post in single day..Obviously one for same day and next two for scheduling :-)

7) When started I thought I may have to do lot of tags, book review or award post. But strangely I did only one tag post, one award post and two book reviews

8) I completed my 100th post this month due to NaBloPoMo and I am already looking forward to completing next century very soon :-)

9) Another post which is close to my heart is BSR initiative  for Helping a child. I will be extremely happy even only if one person get inspired to donate for NGO after getting information from my post

10) Finally..off to short break..I would say much deserved break now…Till then have a happy fun-filled time ahead to all of you :-)

Driving woes – Post 29

Posted on by Rashmi

In this time when every second women knows driving..I m the only loony left who still get goosebumps at the sight of taking out car on road :-( …It’s not that I have phobia or something but I kinda of never get along with driving any vehicle.be it scooty, bike or car. I drove cycle long back when I was 12-13 yr old that too for short period on my way to tuitions.. After that whenever I ventured into task to learning vehicle…I always get something more exciting or thing which sends me far off from my house..Like way back in 2004..I brought one old maruti 800 just to learn driving and within 10 days I got the job in Hyderabad and I have to leave driving classes in between. Next time I started learning after coming back from Hyderabad and then i got engaged and in middle of all those butterflies swinging in my stomach, late night calls, planning for future life with HD..kept me busy and I lost interest in learning.

At that time thought was I will learn after marriage. Strange but I never tried learning after marriage. First year went by in blink of eye and second year I got pregnant and after that angel and rest is history as they say :-)

There are a couple of other factors too which contributed to my non driving skills like e

every time I start taking driving classes something really good happen in my life

I m extremely bad in remembering ways..I can just remember one straight route from my office to home. If at any time I have to choose different route..its 100% sure that I will lost somewhere in middle :-)

I always got chauffeur driven car from office so my basic necessity of commutation was solved by office people only and at home I have permanent driver ..ofcourse I am talking abt HD only

But enough is enough and now I m determined to learn driving in next…mmhh…..still thinking how much time I shd give myself ………………..ok i think 2 months shd be enough :-)

 

 

BSR – Help a Child – Post 28

Posted on by Rashmi

Blogadda has started a wonderful initiative to spread the voice about NGOs who work for different platforms like child education, women and child upliftment, providing toys to rural children, physically challenged people and lots more to choose from long list of NGO. I want to write about all of them as in some or other way each one them is helping our society. As of now I have chosen ” Help a chile to study’ as educated children can build a strong nation and I personally contribute to it by helping my maid’s kid to study.

Here is what NGO want to convey to all of you.

Activity: 

Help A Child to Study sponsors the higher education of meritorious underprivileged students, supporting them to achieve dreams of a better future. We sponsor all formal courses above 10th, including 11th and 12th, diploma courses, degree courses, B.E., M.B.B.S. and Postgrad. Through education our students are able to escape the cycle of poverty through their own talents.
Details: 

We are very proud of our students – who are the children of labourers, small scale farmers, weavers and other families with low incomes. These students have enormous potential to succeed and only need financial support to do so. We are thrilled that today some of our graduates are placed with large companies such as Mahindra Tech, L&T, and TATA Consultancy Services.
Support: 

Education, higher education, sponsorship of students.
Note: 

We are looking for financial donations to support the higher education of our students, most of whom live in rural areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

I am exercising my social responsibility of being a blogger by taking part in this initiative..You can do the same in 3 simple steps.

3 simple steps to make a difference. Read. Blog. Share.

  • Readabout the NGO and its cause.
  • Blogabout the NGO by simply copy-pasting its details and creating a post. Add your own insights too.
  • Share it with the blogosphere and spread the word.

How to keep a toddler busy !!! – Post 27

Posted on by Rashmi

Weekend is about to start and I m already looking forward to spending time at home..Its too hot these days that I don’t feel like going out. And it’s not easy to spend whole weekend at home with super excited toddler who recently got to know that you can buy a lot of things from market :-) Here si the list with which I m planning to keep her busy coming weekend..

1) Water Play : Angel loves playing with water and so does most of the kids. Giver her two glass , one empty and other semi filled and she can spend hours in rotation of water from one glass to other. Meanwhile when water wil be spread on floor you need to replace it with fresh water. This activity really creates a lot of mess but joy on kids face make you forget all the post cleaning involved.

2) Playdoh : The best and easie peasie play for kid. Give them some shape maker and lots of play doh and  you will be amazed to see their creativity :-) thought angel has not reached that level of making something on her own but she love playing with doh and try to make something out of her shape maker like butterfly…One she made something everybody has to praise and do clapping for her otherwise she wont let you go :-)

3) Books :  A picture is worth of thousand words..and same is true with picture books. At the age of 2 when toddler cannot read on its own but their mind is capable of making own story just by looking at picture. Also it shows them the world. It’s practically not possible to take them to everywhere so with picture books you can show them the world :-) It opens their mind and they get a lot of options to choose like they may like dinasour want to spend time exploring universe or lots of care trucks and other vehicles.

4) Role Play : Toddlers are great immitator. They like to do what we do in our daily lives and repeat what we say in their own ways. You can be patient and he may become Doctor. They look ultra cute while checking you up with their lil instruments ( Doctor play set). Pretending somebody else also enhances communication skills and critical thinking in young minds.

5) Coloring : Colour fascinates kids of all ages . I m not big fan of colouring books as they kills childs creativity and they just tend to copy the exact color from the book. I buy white sheets and let her scribble or I try to make fruits , vegetables and let her fill colors of her choice…so we end up filling blue color in tomato and green color in potato…but its ok for me as long as she is enjoying :-)

6) Blocks : This is must for developing fine gross motor skills. Angel loves to play with her set of block. As of now she can make very simple one which include putting one block on other with reduce size. I m planning to introduce most complex one in coming months.

Thats it for today…..I may come with part 2 of the post tomorrow :-) BTW whats ur fav activity with kid at home..I m always looking for more ideas  so do share your inputs and I will edit and add to my list !!!

Rat Tales – Post 26

Posted on by Rashmi

There is rat in our house from last two days and I hate rat…That tiny creature creates enough fear in me that I never dare to go near it. I set up the food cage to trap the rat and get rid of it.  While I was putting chapati byte inside the trap..angel started her series of question…

Mumma Is this rat bed..I nodded my head..then she again said.,,mumma is it rat;s bed….are you putting food for rat..Mumma one byte will not be enough for rat.

then she repeated 10 times..Is it rat’s bed…

I silently said yes everytime..yes its rat’s bed..the she said..Mumma will rat come her in night and sleep here. Why dont we put biscuit inside. then she actually brought her biscuit and pu near the cage.

Next morning the moment she got up…she ran toward cage and checked for rat…Unfortunately there was no rat and she said..mumma did rat came yesterday..He didnt have food :-)

I m going to try to catch rat again today night..let see. will give you update tomm :-)

Good night frens !!!