Ginger Chai

Free books for bloggers

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:11:05 +0000

If you are a blogger and a book lover, what better joy can be if someone provides you with a complimentary copy of books and expect you to read and review them in your blog? Now the joy is just a few clicks away through www.Booksneeze.com Yes, the website offers books for free to bloggers! The categories of book mentioned in the site are: Fiction, family & entertainment, business & culture, General interests & lifestyle, practical living, gift books, young adult and Christian books. All you need is to create a profile in their website and once approved, you can choose your books from the list available. I did try it out and yes, I received a free book. Don’t expect a wide range of books. Most times, you will only see a couple of books available. If the books listed are not of your choice, do visit the site again now and then, for any new additions. Don’t expect popular books that are making waves, most books here are relatively unknown but then you do find some good picks. (It’s free anyways, so there is nothing much to complain about!) You are expected to write a review of the book in your blog [...]

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

Pramathesh Borkotoky — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:02:47 +0000

Sometimes, some things happen to your life when need it the most. The same thing happened to me. I was overworked, and things were not working perfectly for me and more I thought about it, the more it became worse. So, I took a break and read a few books. One of them was ‘The Secret’ gifted by a friend of mine. I was very skeptical reading it as I don’t read much of motivational books. But, yesterday I read it and liked it to a certain extent. I liked the book because I wanted to like it.

A musical rendezvous with Manikanth Kadri

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:30:01 +0000

Meet Manikanth Kadri, son of Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath – His father created magic in saxaphone while he is an upcomming music director who has to his credit many films in Telugu and Kannada. Lakshmi Rajan finds the rhythm with the young, dynamic music director from South for an exclusice musical interview for GingerChai 1. How did your music journey start? Though I grew up in musical environment in Mangalore, I didn’t have a serious thought about getting into music at all. I shifted to Chennai for my higher studies. Only after this, I kind of realized what I was missing being a son of such a legendry musician. Chennai is a place for aspiring and professional musicians. This atmosphere changed my views and my friend Prince of Arcot Asif Ali who later became my mentor taught me the nuances of electronic music production. I did a fusion album with my father Padmashri Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, titled “Dream Journey” This was very well received by people and the actual musical journey started. 2. What kind of music you personally enjoy listening to? I like to listen to all kinds of music. I try to learn from all genres of music. 3. What kind of music you personally enjoy composing? I guess I [...]

Papa – A 55F

Mani Padma — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:37:20 +0000

The thief tried to escape, but the guard was stronger. The guard overpowered and threw him to the ground. The packet dropped open, spilling out- A baby’s dress, doll, rattle and baby food. He froze… remembering his own baby. Silently he let the man go. They shared an inexplicable bond. The bond of parenthood. This 55 fiction format story is written by Mani Padma. For more about 55 fiction click here This 55 fiction format story is written by Mani Padma. For more about 55 fiction click here

Atithi tum kab jaoge – review

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:59:03 +0000

What is positive about the movie? The pairing of Ajay Devgan and Konkana Sen. Unfortunately the good thing ends here. Ajay Devgan, Konkana Sen and their son makes a happy, nuclear family living in Mumbai. They have no guests visiting them and his son has no idea about Athithi (guest) in their life. So they wish they too have a guest visiting them. And the day comes one day in the form of Chacha Lambodar from Gorakhpur, enacted by Paresh Rawal. The Athithi become a nightmare soon with his habit of gargling before sun rise, farting around (and Konkana sen emptying cans of room freshners) his “simple” diet of dal, chawal, 2-3 vegetables and sweet, his strictness with the housemaid and the couple end up wondering when will the guest leave and with no signs of him leaving. The story is very predictable and the comedy plain boring. In fact, mid way of the movie I started wondering when will the movie end. Couple of people even walked out half way through. I was left wondering how the Hollywood production house Warner brothers ever approved this script. Did they just simply pump [...]

Buried Alive By Roy Hallums

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:17:46 +0000

Buried alive is a true story of kidnapping, captivity, and a dramatic rescue that spanned 311 days. Post occupation, Iraq is one of the most violent and dangerous zone and world has been terrorized with the videos of brutal beheading of hostages. Buried Alive gives you a chilling true account of the author Roy Hallums, an ex-US naval commander, who was abducted and held hostage for 311 days. After retiring from navy, Roy Hallums, father of two children took up a job in Saudi Arabia as a food supply contractor. He hid his family the fact that he has been posted in Iraq not wanting them to fear for his life in the volatile unsafe region of the world. But the worst happens one day when armed men stormed into his office and kidnaps him. What follows is long period of beatings, uncertainty under horrible living conditions and almost buried alive in a four feet high dark cellar. All through the ordeal he was blindfolded in a mask, tied up, brutally beat at the whims and fancy of the kidnappers and barely fed to the point of survival. The gritty survivor story is told very vividly and fast paced. The narrative is very [...]

A movie date

Mani Padma — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:48:11 +0000

They met in a chat-room. He seemed a decent fellow unlike those creeps…. One day he asked her out for a movie. She declined . But he was sweetly persistent, so she relented. “Thanks for coming. its difficult to watch movie alone with my three kids,”, handing the youngest kid to his shocked date. This 55 fiction format story is written by Mani Padma. For more about 55 fiction click here

GingerChai – News letter March 1, 2010

Lakshmi Rajan — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:13:58 +0000

Dear Readers, Holi greetings. It is the day when we allow ourselves to be splashed in myriad of colors and become an united colors of humanity. Wish you, your family and friends a colorful, prosperous, vibrant days ahead! At GingerChai, we too decided to have a vibrant, colorful cup for you, me and we. I am talking about our new template. We understand the need to continuously improvise and give a rich experience to our readers and the new look is part of the process. We are experimenting and developing a better look and feel to the website to make your cup of chai a better sip! The previous template has its own drawbacks though I personally liked it. This template opens up a new set of usability and life to articles in the archive and I believe it is rich and visually appealing. There might be some drawbacks in this too and we are working on it. I assure you at GingerChai, we shall constantly keep updating ourselves to give you a wonderful browsing and reading experience. I hope you like this new template, do give us your feedback. As you know we have launched Cafe GingerChai and we also announced FINISH [...]

Karthik calling Karthik – review

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:07:00 +0000

Karthik calling Karthik is a psychological thriller, a genre we rarely come across in mainstream Bollywood movies. Karthik (Farhan Akthar) is a shy, timid, loner, introvert person with a low esteem and confidence. He lives a seemingly boring life has no friends and works in a construction company. He loves his colleague Shonali Mukherjiee (Deepika Padukone) but dares not to convey his feelings to her. In fact, for her he is inexistent. At office everyone uses him to his advantage and he is treated as a doormat. One night, he receives a mysterious call. The voice on the other end introduces himself as Karthik and as Karthik himself. From then on, the voice takes charge of his life with calls at early morning 5’o clock. What happens in his life due to the mysterious call? Who is the caller ? Who is the other Karthik? Who is that voice? Is there any other Karthik at all? What happens at the end is what the movie story all about. The story line is a refreshingly different genre from our regular slapstick comedies and actions Bollywood regularly dishes out. So, a big hug to debutant director-writer Vijay Lalwani for attempting it. The first half is racy and enjoyable. Enter [...]

As far as I knew cancer meant death but…

Mani Padma — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:46:43 +0000

My name is Komal (name changed). I am an NO (nursing orderly) working in a government dispensary under Delhi Govt. I stay in the Government quarters and have been on my job since 14 years. My husband works as a driver on a contract basis and I have three children. Other than occasional irritation due to migraine and some minor gynecological problem I was physically fit. So when they held a gynecological health camp here in our Dispensary I decided to get myself checked just out of curiosity , which showed a high grade infection in a pap smear. I was advised by my friends to get a recheck in Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, the referral hospital of our dispensary and again it showed a high grade infection. But as it was not resolving even after treatment, I again went for a pap smear. This time I was diagnosed with early cancer. I was shocked. Never in my life had I expected that I will be diagnosed with cancer – carcinoma in situ of cervix (mouth of the uterus or womb). I was shocked and very frightened . The first thoughts were of my children… What was going to be of [...]