Books, Life n More

Zero Percentile–2.0, Missed IIT kissed Gurgaon

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:42:00 PST

Sorry for going missing from this space. Been tied up with hundred & ten things which I will share in the coming week. Please bear with me for some time and in the meanwhile here is a book review :-)

Title: Zero Percentile–2.0, Missed IIT kissed Gurgaon

Author: Neeraj Chhibba

Price: 140/- (Available for Rs. 105/- @ Flipkart)

Publisher: Rupa & Co.

A sequel to Zero Percentile Missed IIT Kissed Russia, this book is the story of Motu, Pankaj, Priya, Arjun & Nitin each fighting a battle within.

Motu is trying to save his company from an eminent hostile takeover. For him this company is his bread, butter, heart & soul and he leave no stone unturned to save it. But what is disturbing him is the fact that it might be Pankaj who is behind the takeover.

Priya works with Motu but is in love with Pankaj. She is torn between her two best friends, whom will she chose.

Arjun is a single father bringing up a special child. His wife had left them when she realised that she had given birth to a daughter who was not perfect.

Nitin is fighting the battle of AIDS and the stigma associated with it.

Pankaj is a changed man, betrayal by people whom he had trusted the most makes him a ruthless man. For him it is money which matters the most.

These 5 parallel but interconnected stories form Zero Percentile 2.0, partly written in flashback the book takes us through the lives of the each character and how they build up a software firm merely on the basis of their talent, hard work & perseverance and how few mistakes unravels the finely built partnership. How they build back the burnt bridges forms the crux of the book.

My Verdict

This book is a sequel to Zero Percentile and takes forward the story of Pankaj, Motu & Priya. The first book had the advantage of a new setting, Russia and this book shows us the time when software industry had just begin to thrive and there were success stories all around. This itself is a novelty according to me and sets the book apart.

The book begins slowly and makes you wonder about the lingering past which is discussed continuously but not revealed until later. As soon as the past begins to unravel the book catches a pace and becomes a fast paced roller coaster ride.

The grudge that I have with this book is that it tries to pack in too many issues. Fighting the stigma against AIDS, issues faced by parents (single parents) while seeking admission for a special child in a school, the 26/11 saga, it has all and mind you these are just side stories and have been dealt with very quickly which makes you feel that they have been wrapped up too quickly and given easy solutions.

But all that doesn’t take the fact away from the book that it is immensely readable and the plot keeps you glued in about what will happen next.

A fast paced book about ambitions, friendship, love & life that is how I will sum up this book. Go grab a copy and am sure you will finish it one sitting.

My Rating 3/5

My review of Zero Percentile, Missed IIT Kissed Russia.

Up Next

Book Review of Vivek & I

Gujarati Kitchen - A Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:49:00 PST

Title: Gujarati Kitchen

Author: Bhanu Hajratwala

Price: INR/- 395

Publication: Westland - Cookery

I saw the title of the book & started dreaming.

I had the book in my hands and I started drooling over the pictures.

I read the book and felt like trying each & every recipe.

I tried few and fell in love with them.

If you have been following my blog regularly you will know that I have a very strong Gujarat connection. Have spent some 8-9 years there and albeit slowly but steadily have fallen in love with their cuisine. To be honest I started with being wary of the fact that all that they cook is sweet and then I went on to the phase of hating the food that was supplied by my dubbawala. It was much later that I really started enjoying their food. If you really need to know the taste of Gujarati food you either need to eat at somebody’s home or you need to visit those Gujarati Thali joints. Such is my love for Gujju food that I have searched a Thali joint here as well and keep having my fill of the taste and that is the very reason that when I saw this book up for grabs at Blogadda I decided to nominate myself and boy did I regret? Nah!!!

The book begins with a introduction from the author and states her culinary journey. Having spent her life abroad she struggles to bring up Indian recipes with limited ingredients. How she crosses the hurdles, learns new dishes, experiments, teaches people around her forms the crux of the introduction and trust me it makes for a good read.

What follows next is a delight for people who love to cook or people who wish to learn cooking. The book is divided into sections like, Starters, Main Dishes, Breads, Pickles etc. and goes on detailing on each recipes. The only thing that shocked me was a Non Veg section in the book, I mean Gujarat food & Non veg are not surely not synonymous but when you read the Introduction you will realise where it comes from.

Let me state in bullet points as to what makes this book a great help

The author has taken special care in describing the basics like measurements, translation of names of spices in English/ Hindi. This would be of great help for people who are starting to learn cooking.
Each & every recipe has been described in fine details, in fact in some cases where folding is required the author has taken pains to illustrate it with diagrams.
The pictures with the book are damn good. what makes the pictures work is the fact that though have been taken nicely and the food presented beautifully but still there is something in the presentation of the food that isn’t too polished and makes it look believable. Mind you that makes a huge difference to me because I get assured that even I can make it :)

This review wouldn’t have been honest & complete if I had not tried one of the recipes, thus I decided to cook Methi Thepla. This is one dish that we all love at home and I have been making with hit & trial so when I had an authentic recipe in my hand I decided to try it. And here is the result. (I made Thepla in the laccha paratha fashion ;))

I served it with Tomato chutney and Shreekhand the latter of course was not made at home but the book carries it’s recipe also and I am gonna try it soon. The Thepla's were a hit and everyone over ate.

Thank you Blogadda for such a delicious book.

My Rating 5/5

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Some News & Lots of Challenges ;-)

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:17:00 PST

Happy New Year dear friends :)

Firstly my apologies for disappearing from the blogosphere (I was away for a valid reason but more on that later) and secondly thanks for the lovely feedback on my interview at Blogadda. Each comment there and in the post here is precious for me and I will be replying to each one of them soon.

The reason of my absence was the sickness of L’lle one. He was suffering from throat infection because of which he had high fever, which also resulted in him not eating anything (he is teething also) and which resulted in a severe case of constipation. In few words last few days have been hell, with him having restless nights, not eating anything & having trouble over something as simple as potty. I mean he is a nanhi si jaan and the amount of pain he had gone through gives me Goosebumps. Thankfully now he is on the road of recovery. Here I must say that all said and done I have given birth to a smart L’lle fellow. This isn’t coming from the mouth of a proud mother; let me tell you why I am saying what I am saying.

He has never given us any problem in taking medicines but when he is sick he just refuses to take them. So we go to lengths like holding his arms, legs etc. to give him medicine. But the smart fellow outdid us this time. As soon as we would go near him with a spoon he would start shaking his head from left to right (as if saying no-no) which literally meant that even if we managed to hold onto the rest of his body it would still be difficult to give him medicine and even if we managed, some of it would still spill over. As my hubby said to him, “where do you learn all these tricks from?” I seriously wonder where do kids get these ideas from. Seriously! Thankfully those days are over and I wish he never falls sick again because it tears our heart to see the bundle of energy down.

Besides this, life has been hectic. We are moving out to another rented apartment next week, the move would mean my travelling time will increase but the area we are moving-in is good. Another piece of god news is that hubby’s office is moving to a nearby area which would reduce his commuting time from 2.5 hours to 45 mins. Isn’t that amazing? The whole movement reminds me that I need to come up with Part 3 of my House Hunt series; I have loads of masala to share.

In fact there are many more posts that are brewing in my mind wish I had more time but lack of it is not deterring me from opening a new blog. Yes, very soon I am coming up with a new blog on Cooking. I have always been fond of the same, even had a group blog for it but now have decided to foray in it all alone. The blog has been made, Title given but it needs finishing touches. So may be in a fortnight will share the link here.

That brings me to another love of mine i.e. books. In 2011 I had taken 2 challenges and managed to complete 1 successfully.

The first one was S Krishna’s 2011 South Asian Challenge. Under that challenge I managed reading 32 books and accordingly I can crown myself to be a South Asian Guru ;-), the list of books that I had read can be found here.

This year again I am taking up the challenge again and this is my sign up for that.

Besides that I took the Good reads challenge wherein I had committed to read 50 books but as per their widget I have read only 17 books which is impossible. So I need to go check that and unfortunately I am not getting time to do so at home. One day! And yes I am taking up the Goodreads challenge for 2012 and have committed to read 50 Books!!! Yes that many!!! Wish me luck :)

Besides that I am committing myself to the challenge put up by The Book Vixen and the goal is very simple, I need to outdo myself in the number of books that I had read in 2011. So good luck to me on that.

And to top it all, I pledge that I will review if not more, then at least one book per week. Which simply translates to 48 reviews and if I can review more than that then I will treat myself to a chocolate fantasy at CCD ;-)

I am calling this challenge a “Let’s Review More n More books” Challenge!!! Game for it? If you are then feel free to pick this badge and flaunt it on your blog

Up for the challenge?

Updated on 9th Jan '12

After reading Reema's post I have decided to add 1 more challenge here with a hope that it will overlap with the above challenges and would be an easy go ;)

Off The Shelf Challenge where we are supposed to read those unread books that have been lying neglected in our bookshelf for God Knows how long. You can read the details of the same here. The level that I have chosen is Tempted (5 books to read

The Girl in the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:06:00 PST

Title: The Girl in the Garden

Author: Kamala Nair

Price: INR 495/- (Available for 371/- at Flipkart)

Publisher: Hachette Book Group

Rakhee lives with her fiance in Minnesota but one fine day when he wakes up all he can find is a letter from her. A letter which makes him come face to face with the past of his fiance. In her letter Rakhee narrates to him the story of her life. A story which she feels can make or break her relationship with her fiance. The book unfolds as he reads the letter.

Her mother had left her & her father when she was 10 year old. She remembers her first & only trip to India; a trip that would change their lives forever. In India she meets her mother’s relatives. She freaks out with her three cousins and comes face to face with things which had been hidden from her. Secrets like why her mother had fled from everything she had loved & the fact that her mother could have a guy (who is not her father) in her life shocks Rakhee to the core. And then she finds respite in the mysterious & beautiful garden behind their house a place that is out of bounds for everyone.

The walled up garden behind their house holds a big secret, a secret which shatters Rakhee’s life & her beliefs.

What is the secret & what is behind the wall is best read.

My Verdict

I wish I could have elaborated more on story but trust me it is very difficult. Not that there is no story but the fact is that there is so much that if I let out anything the book will lose its fun. That is why I want you to discover the book by reading it yourself.

Beautifully written this book is a treat to read. The way each layer peels off and the secret is revealed is lovely. In fact I guessed the direction of the book or rather the secret but the way it was narrated, it was charming. The characters are developed well; there is enough suspense to keep you glued in.

The secret though is a little unbelievable but then the there is a magic in the book which makes it like a fable, a fable which you want to believe in despite the fact that you know that it cannot happen in real life. Another thing that stands out is the description of India, it will surely remind you of our own summer vacations & dilemmas we face as kids when thrown in a completely new environment.

Difficult to believe that this is a debut book of the author, she surely has a way with words.

My rating 4/5

Before I forget!!! The thing that made me pick this book above others was the beautiful cover. The textrue of the paper used in cover & the imprint on the cover makes it beautiful.

Reviews to coming up next

The House of Silk
Mumbai Roller Coaster
Zero Percentile 2.0: Missed IIT Kissed Gurgaon
Vivek & I

Interviewed!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:01:00 PST

Announcement time!!!

It takes me immense pleasure to share with you the fact that I was interviewed by Blogadda and the same is now live on their. If you are interested ~~to get bored~~ to know a little about me, hop on there.

Pssst!!! Wish you all a Very Happy New Year!!!

Some Senseless Conversation Over Somebody's B'day!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:24:00 PST

Yesterday Airtel network was down for the full day and getting a call through was a nightmare and despite all odds the following conversation managed to happen between me n hubby

My phone rings

Me: Hello!
Him: You are not baking any cake today?
Me: I want to but the one I had baked for me B’day is still there so let’s finish that first.
Him: I cannot believe that you are not doing anything special today.
Me: I want to, maybe I will get a pastry and we can cut it to celebrate his birthday.
Him: Whatever!

We talk over some inane stuff and disconnect the call.

Sometime later again my phone rings

Me: Hello!
Him: What are the plans for evening?
Me: No plans, you tell. I will cook something special for him.
Him: Let’s go out.
Me (with a grin): Where?
Him: Let’s go for a show of qawwali?
Me: What!!!
Him (with a snicker): There is a show of qawwali at Kurla lets go there.
Me: Baah!!

And I disconnected the call.

Kurla is one of those seedy locations famous for playing all C-Garde, D-Grade movies, all seedy things like a chor bazar etc can be found there. A portion of the locality is such that it is a total no go for me.

2 mins later I call him back.

Him: Hello!
Me: I know where we will go in the evening?

Him: Where?
Me: We will go to his Panvel farmhouse; he is celebrating his birthday there.
Him (with a snicker): They need a maid to clean the farmhouse?
Me: Baah!! Not me, they need a male cleaner that’s why I am taking you.
Him: hehehe…how will you gain entry?
Me: I will get it anyhow.
Him: Gain access by showing L’lle one, say “baccha hai bhaiya jaane do”.
Me: Ya!!! I will say, se he is your biggest fan and then we will play “Dhinka Chikka” and L’lle one will do the rest by dancing on the tunes.
Him: And what will L’lle one say when he sees Salman Khan?
Me: He will say Daddy!!!
Him: Huh!!!
Me (with giggles): He will say “Daddy where have you been????”
Him: Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya!
Me: Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya!

If you haven’t guessed the reason behind the conversation till now, let me throw all the light on it. I was Salman Khan’s birthday yesterday and my hubby was trying to tease me on it ;)

Belated Birthday wishes to the handsomest man on this earth!!!

Cake Time!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:25:00 PST

It's that time of the year when you eat, breath & dream of cakes. So, I thought no time better than today to recap the cakes that we baked & ordered this year. Ya! Ya! I am evil that ways, I love to tempt all you guys, I mean why should I be the only one to drool over things which are out of bounds ;)

My First Vegan Cake

Ah!!! L'lle One ki B'day Cake

I ate a lot of them thanks to Cafe Coffee Day

This was made by me for Hubby's B'day, looks childish no?

This I made for my Parents Anniversary

The images that follow are of the cakes which I wish I could make

Sigh!!!! I wish I could do the icing a little more professionally but practise makes one perfect so am on it :)

And the cake that is being planned to be baked today is Date & Walnut Cake without Walnut because we don't have walnut ;) recipe courtesy Divya's blog

So on this note Wish you a Merry Christmas to all you guys!!!!

When Will We Learn To Value Our Life?

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:25:00 PST

The week that went by was pretty hectic and that’s the very reason that I have not been able to reply to your comments in my last post. As I had share with you, my Mom was visiting us and then there was the omnipresent house search, yes we are back in the market looking for a rented flat. Wish us luck!!

The other thing which dominated my thoughts in the past week was something sad. Let me tell you about it.

As you know I travel by local trains and we are a group of people who work for the same company (but different departments) and travel together. Some of these people are old timers and have been travelling on this route for years, through them I had come to know of a lady named Shruti who used to come in our train to sell some lovely junk jewellery. She was a soft spoken; hardly 23-24 years, had two kids the youngest one must be 2 now. The best thing about the lady was as much you might haggle with her, she never lost her control and would always speak sweetly; she would even get stuff specially requested by us. I myself have taken 4-5 pearl bangles from her, in fact whatever stuff I have bought in train was taken through her only.

So, last Saturday when I was standing at the station waiting for the train a friend of mine walked towards me and said, “Did you hear about Shruti?” when I replied in negative she narrated a story which gives me goose bumps even as I write it down here.

Last to last Tuesday this lady was selling some stuff in the train when her station drew in; though she wanted to get down; a customer was haggling with her over 10 Re and by the time the issue was resolved the train had started moving, unfortunately she still decided to get down. These people are seasoned traveller and are expert in getting in & out of moving trains but apparently it wasn’t her lucky day. As she got down her foot got entangled in her saree and she lost balance and fell down. All her material fell off from her hands and waist down she went under the train. She tried her level best to hold onto something or to gather some balance but if you have seen a moving train then you surely know how next to impossible it is. Her sister-in-law who had gotten down the same train saw all this happening and rushed to help her once the train was gone.

If I go into gory details then it goes like this, she was cut from waist and was alive when rescued. Hospitalised for around 1 day she passed away after requesting her brother to look after her kids. Apparently her husband hadn’t been very good to her while she was alive and she didn’t trust him enough to expect him to take good care of her kids. Last heard the husband was in a state of shock.

So was I.

She was hardly 23-24 for God sake. What a waste of life and for what? The mere thought that she has two little kids makes me sad & angry. Angry because she could have been living today had she not decided to get off a moving train. I am sure she decided to get down because it would have made some business sense to her, she would have earned more money but on hindsight she would have earned more had she been alive. Daily I see so many people rushing to catch train, they run across the highway without seeing left or right with just one thought in mind; I need to catch this local to reach early. To put it lightly, sab jaan hatheli pe rakh ke bhaagte hain.

I wonder do they ever think that if unfortunately their calculations go wrong they might not even reach. You can always get another train, true it might be after 15 mins but at least you will reach home alive. I wonder why can’t people understand this basic fact.

This reminds me of another accident which happened in the same week when four youths were killed in an accident when their car had hit a tree & then crashed into a concrete barrier.Needless to say they were driving at a high speed, were drunk & were involved in racing. How many times do we read about drunk & drive accidents? How many times are we told not to indulge in same? And still we read about one such incident almost daily (I know I have quoted a very small figure).

Why do we do not value our life?

Who do we always take it for granted?

Do people even think of what they leave behind when they take a snap decision?

I agree we all have our destinies written before we even come but why do we indulge in actions which are in our control & can be avoided.

I repeat my question, why don’t we value our life?

Do you have any answers?

Sadly I don’t.

All I can think of the babies of the lady who is no more & parents of the young guys. Imagine what they must be going through.....

This, That & All That!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:06:00 PST

Last week when I was going through my blog I realised that I have either been posting my house hunt woes or a book review so I thought it’s time to add some personal updates! Some tales from my life

Weight Loss Tales

Not that there has been any ~~considerable~~ weight loss but since it is my blog I will give whatever headings I want to. With that in place let me begin.

That day I was standing at the platform waiting for the train to come when my friend approached me

F: Hey! You haven’t lost much weight even after joining the gym na?

Me: Err! I had joined the gym but was regular for only 15 days, took a 2 month break but from today only I resumed gyming.

Ya! Despite all my weight loss drama I wasn’t regular at the gym but I had house hunt worry on my head :P

F: That’s what! J says you have lost weight.

Me: Errr! Few more people have said that but I honestly I don’t know.

F to J: See she hasn’t being going to the gym

J: But she has lost weight!

Needless to say I was on cloud nine and if you are wondering about the lack of enthusiasm that F had towards my losing weight, well, let me elaborate on that. Some 9 months back F had delivered a baby and we both are in the same boat as far as losing weight is concerned, while I have joined gym she hasn’t. So the mere mention that I have lost weight but she hasn’t surely had sent shivers down her back hehehe…

It is as simple as this “I might or might not lose weight but somebody else who is in the same boat SHOULD NOT lose weight.”

In fact when I resumed gym I was looking out for people who were there when I had joined in October and when I saw them I was happy-happy-happy. Wondering why? Well none of them have lost any weight ;) so basically we are still on the same page :D

BTW Do you do the peeking tom thing in gym? Nah! You dirty minds I don’t mean what you are thinking, I am talking about peeking onto the neighbouring Tread Mill to check out the speed at which your neighbour is running. I do it a lot!! Though I have never been competitive in other fields of my life but workout is something where I want to excel, Ya! I am strange that ways.

Oh! I digress. So I peek into my neighbour’s tread mill and if I find him/ her doing better than me than I conclude “they have been doing this for so many months, I have joined just now.” But if I see myself doing better, needless to say I feel proud of myself & pat my back ;)

Life in General

So, we have come to terms with the fact that Dev Anand is no more but when I read about no body from his fraternity attending his funeral, I was sad, he had a very dull send off, so very unlike his personality. I wonder how he must have felt in his last moments, facing death not at home but in some alien country.

Another thing that irked me was how Dilip Kumar’s birthday was celebrated. Guess it is life which is celebrated & death makes people forget you.

Updates from L’lle One

Few weeks back we took L’lle for his 1st Birthday party and man did he freak out? He had his first lollipop there and it was all over him. In fact soon as he started sucking-in the thing I was amazed with the fact that how some things come so naturally to kids. Nobody told him but he knew that pop it goes in. Here is a picture that I managed to click of him

Lollipop!

Besides this the brat has added many new words in his ever increasing vocabulary. He very clearly says mumma office gayi, dubba, ele (for elephant), eep (for sheep), karta hai, aaub naiga (he is taking his name and saying I will take bath) and did I tell you the Kolaveri tale from our household???

Well the thing is we only have to sing first few words of the song & he goes pa-pa-pa-pa :D

Another thing that he has started recently is throwing things out of the balcony. When few of his toys went missing we thought they must be somewhere under the bed or table but one day his sipper went missing. We were perplexed and the mystery was solved when we went downstairs for a walk and found the nipple of the sipper. The only saving grace in here is that before he goes to throw anything out he mutters “gayi” and runs off towards the balcony thus it is entirely on us to understand his warning & to save the thing :D sigh! The latest victim of gayi was his small glass!!!

He is really turning out to be very naughty. What is that saying?? Haan! Whatever you do in this life, you get it back here & now and aren’t I true example of it?

What he did this Saturday is a gem. He has this habit of coming in the kitchen, standing on his toes & exploring the slab. He takes whatever comes in his hands and goes out (which is so dangerous, I cannot even keep a knife on the edge of the slab). So on this particular day my MIL was in the kitchen when he came, to ward him off she gave a spatula & continued with her work. This l’lle devil of mine took the spatula and followed me inside the bathroom where I was mixing water for his bath. So this guy comes and to my utter horror puts the spatula in the commode and goes splash-2. I still cringe when I remember the incident.

Some Happy News

My Mom is in town. Yay!!! Will get to eat some of her delicious stuff, unfortunately she is in only for 4 days :( but as is said something is better than nothing ;)

BTW How was your weekend? Mine was spent with my parents, I baked a cake for their anniversary an even did some icing, pictures of that will come later :)

Now I will leave you with some of the images of L’lle One!! Have fun like him :D

I call it Baoon!

Can you sleep like this? Bolo Bolo Tell Tell!

My Mumma's Wallet!!

Taaaa!!

Up Next: Book Review

Mumbai Rollercoaster – Rajorshi Chakraborti
The House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz

Next Week:

House Hunt Woes, Part 3

Chicklit & Mush Time!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:09:00 PST

Title: My Bollywood Wedding

Author: Rekha Waheed

Price: INR. 295/-

Publisher: Hachette India, A Little Black Dress Book

Maya Malik like any other girl wants a dream life, a loving partner -her perfect man. Fortunately for her, she finds it in Jhanghir Khan. Having proposed to him in front of thousands of people she is living her dream and things get only better with them deciding to tie the knot. Now is the time for her to realise another of her dream i.e. of having a Bollywood style big glamorous wedding.

But can life be as simple & straight forward? She has many things to fight for. To begin with Jhanghir’s father disowns him because he isn’t happy with this alliance. Then she has to deal with Jhanghir’s crooked Sister-In-Law who leaves no opportunity to insult Maya. To add to her woes there are interfering aunties who know nothing but how to complaint.

With her fiance out of city struggling to make a life without his father’s support, Maya starts having her doubts about the whole thing. Is it worth the effort that she is putting? And then there is the worrying matter of Jhanghir’s ex-fiance who is there with him in New York and to make matters more complex enters Zain, Jhanghir’s cousin. He makes Maya’s heart flutter.

Will Maya’s relationship survive all the odds?

Is Jhanghir the perfect man for her?

Will she get her dream Bollywood wedding?

Read the book to know more.

My Verdict

Set in London this is the story of a Bangladeshi girl and is a true blue chick lit. it has love, betrayal, scheming ladies, shopping, girly talk and all the required ingredients. What makes this book a worthy read is that it is a roller coaster ride which doesn’t give you time to think, you just want to know what will happen next. A very unputdownable book with enough surprises, twists n turns & many chuckles under its belt.

So, if you are chick lit fan and want to brighten your mood with some mush & love this one’s surely for you.

My Rating: 3/5

*******************************

Title: Saris & the City

Author: Rekha Waheed

Price: INR. 295/-

Publisher: Hachette India, A Little Black Dress Book

Yasmin Yusuf has it all planned. A cushy job as analyst, marriage the guy of her dreams; Samuel and happiness ever after. But do things ever go as per plan?

Dead sure that Sam will be proposing to her on this special date, she leaves no stone unturned to be dressed for the occasion and announces the engagement in front of her colleagues (read a dishy boss). But it turns out that the excitement & secrecy in Sam’s voice wasn’t for she what was expecting. In fact her much anticipated this-is-the-day-I-will-get-engaged-dinner-date turns out to be break up date.

While she was nursing her broken heart she gets other devastating news, she was laid off for a small error. Fortunately her boss Zachary Khan moves her into another sister concern and thus begins a new life for Yasmin. New job with some challenges like saving a sinking lingerie firm, fighting heartache & the flutter of her heart which happens whenever she sees Zachary Khan, life is suddenly exciting for Yasmin.

Will she realise her love for her ex-boss, will she manage to fight the ghost of her past love & most importantly will she manage to save her company & prove her mettle in the corporate world?

Read the book to know more!

My Verdict

A spicy chick lit set in a corporate world this is a book with which you can relate. A racy page turner best for a rainy day or as an in flight read. The best part of the book was the balance between mush, intelligence & chick lit stuff. So go pick it up if you need some cheering up :-)

My Rating: 3/5

The Day When I spoke to Dev Anand...

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:33:00 PST

I had talked about speaking to him here and I was always planning to recount the account one of these days but had never imagined that it will be his death which will bring to story here. Sigh! Let me begin with the post.

Thanks Blogadda for picking it up as their Tangy Tuesday Pick

I think it was 2 months back that I had received that mail. We had laughed at it. The subject of the mail said “Contact No.” and the mail said “Film Actors/Actresses in Bollywood address” and instead of addresses it had the mobile/ LL Nos. of some prominent and some not so prominent Indian Actors & Actresses.

Three of us had received this mail of which one is totally not into movies but I & the other one are movie fanatics. In fact we have another common factor between us, we both are die hard Salman Khan fans but that is another story.

We decided to humour the sender of the mail and needless to say the first number that was fished out was that of Salman Khan and dialled. I must confess that despite the fact that we were giggling & not believing the mail I had butterflies in my stomach as I dialled the number. What I was expecting was that the number would be wrong but when I heard “the number you are dialling doesn’t have the facility to receive calls” I was surprised for a second and then the realisation hit us. This could really be his number and he has such a facility activated because he didn’t want fans to disturb him.

So with a little more trust in the list we started randomly dialling numbers when my friend hit a jack pot. She had dialled Anupam Kher’s number and he had taken the call. She had some random & funny conversation (which I am not narrating here because the post is not about him) with him & disconnected the call. My attempts however were not that successful, the only number that I had got through was the land line of Javed Akhtar where I was put on hold by his secretary and for full 5 mins I was privy to a conversation which she was having either with him or Shabana Azmi about some plans of their to go to Delhi.

After that call I scouted through the list and saw Dev Anand’s number and with baited breath dialled it and here’s what happened

Tring-Tring-Tring-Tring and the call gets picked up

Me: Hello!

The person on the other side: Hello! (Mind you it was said stylishly)

I had recognised the voice & thus with millions of butterflies in my tummy I said

Me: Can I speak to Dev Anand?

Him: Speaking.

Me: Is this really Dev Anand as in Dev Anand?
Him: Yes!!

And I disconnected the call.

Yes, you have read it right; I disconnected the call, because I was scared, excited, bewildered & too shocked to say anything. I was sure it was him because you cannot not identify the stylish way in which Dev Anand usually spoke.

Anyways, I excitedly shared the news with a colleague who is also a big Dev Anand fan & she was sad that I had disconnected the call without talking to him properly. So an hour later I gathered my wits & decided to call him again. This time I was prepared, I played down the conversation that I planned to have with him twice or thrice in my mind and then dialled his number, this time from my mobile and he took the call.

Me: Hello!

DA: Hello!
Me: Can I talk to Mr. Dev Anand (I said this despite the fact that I knew it was him because I wanted to sound formal).
DA: Speaking!! (with his stylish accent)
Me: Is it really Dev Anand?
DA: Ya it is

I could hear the amusement in his voice and by this time I had forgotten all that I had rehearsed.
Me: Sir, I am a big fan yours, have watched all your movies. I got your number from somewhere so I thought that I should speak to you.
DA: Thank you & God Bless you.

And with that he disconnected the call and my sigh was audible across the floor. He spoke in such a dignified gentlemanly manner that I fell in love with him all over again. I am sure none of the present gen stars would or can even come close to what he was when he was alive or when he is no more.

Well, that was the conversation that I had with Dev Anand and will cherish till the day I am alive. I had never thought that a day would come that he would die but yesterday when Vimmuuu broke the news to me through an SMS I was shattered for some time but then I started remembering the way Dev Saheb had lived. If you have been following this blog from long then you will know how big a fan I am of Dev Anand. In fact I have written about him here n here.

What I remember most about him is his hair style, his walking style, his drop dead good lucks & his charm. I have a separate folder in my mobile which has just his songs and of all the gems he has produced my favourite is “Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya”…what a song what words. I will not even start with which movie of his I liked the most because the list would be never ending but yes I would surely add that Hare Rama Hare Krishna was one movie which affected me with its inherent sadness.

Today when he is not there what I remember most about him is; his charm, never ending energy, flair & the charisma. Pick up any newspaper today and what you will see is not mourning but celebration of his life. That is probably how he wanted it. To be remembered for what he has done in life and not be thought of as oh! He is no more there.

I would quote from Mumbai Mirror, “he did not want his fans to remember him as a frail old man, dead & cold, But as the hero who always had a song for his love and a passion for his adventure”.

Sir, I will always remember you as someone who gave us songs for life. Your charisma lies in the very simple fact that we are not crying when you are not there but we are smiling by remembering what all you have given to generations. You will forever live with us with your melodies & movies.

Cheers! To my hero! Cheers to an evergreen Life, Cheers to Dev, Dev Anand!!!

The Litigators

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:58:00 PST

Title: The Litigators

Author: John Grisham

Price: INR 350/- (Available for INR. 245/- @ Flipkart)

Publisher: Hachette India

Finley & Figg, a small time downtown law firm in Chicago specialises in injury claims, quick divorces & were famously known as Ambulance Chasers. It had two partners, Oscar Finely & Wally Figg, neither of them had ever done any serious legal work but were surviving on small time cases.

Oscar has been forever dreaming of a retirement & divorce. Previously a beat cop he had become a lawyer by fluke & by the mere charm of his profession gotten married to a lady who only knew how to blow his money.

In & out of rehab Wally is forever fighting alcoholism was waiting for that one elusive case which could change his life. A believer in advertising, you could see his advertising skills on park benches, city transit buses, cabs etc.

An unlikely pair!

To quote from the book, “how the two men came to be partners in a converted house on Preston Avenue was another story. How they survived without choking each other was a daily mystery.”

And then there is David Zinc, a Harvard Law School Graduate, working for one of the most prominent & reputed Legal Firm in Chicago, earning 500 bucks per hour, working day in day out with no personal life and then he cracks up. He realises he has had enough, quits his job, gets drunk & lands in the office of Finely & Figg all in a day. Sounds crazy? Well it gets crazier when David decides to join Finely & Figg for a measly pay and long before he could understand where he is he gets into a soup along with his partners.

Wally feels he has in his hands a case of a life time and decides to take on one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the States and then begins the fun. They dream of a million dollar settlement and start building dream houses on the same basis. But things are never how they look especially when you are up against seasoned lawyers & big corporate firms. To complicate things none of the three lawyers at Finley & Figg had ever faced a real court and they come face to face with Nadine Karros a litigation partner who was yet to lose a jury trial in her 10 year old career.

What happens next or rather how the novel unfolds is best read.

My Verdict

I had given up on John Grisham and then Ford County Stories came, I had loved that book. Then came, Theodre Boone which again I had loved but when The Litigators came to me from Hachette it was kept in the cupboard only to be taken out when a colleague asked for it. In fact if I have to quote her “you have The Litigators with you & you haven’t read it?”

She read the book, gave it back to me with a ho-hum review. According to her when compared to Grisham’s past work, this was no patch. So, I began this book with mixed feelings and I am glad about that. Because….

I loved the book.

I loved the pace of the book.
I loved the way David chucked everything to chase his dreams. He chucks what people dream of because he wanted a better life. Now, how many of us would really love to do that.
I loved the sometimes subtle & sometimes not so subtle humour of the book.
I loved the way the master story teller of legal thrillers takes this book forward. We all know what will happen with the case but still we turn to the next page to see how it will happen.
I loved the way the plot turns. You know that the novel will culminate into something exciting towards end & the author doesn’t disappoint you.

Yes if I compare this book to “The Partner” or “The Firm” or “The Client” or “The Runaway Jury” this is no patch but if I see it as a standalone book then it doesn’t disappoint you. It is fast paced, interesting & highly readable.

Go for it.

My Rating – 4/5

Up next – Book Reviews of “My Bollywood Wedding”, “Saris & the City” & “ A Girl in the Garden”.

House Search Chronicle Part II - The Dream Home & The Bigger Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:43:00 PST

Continued from here.. *Long but hopefully interesting post alert*

Once we returned from the brokers/ builder’s place we were sad, frustrated & in a way depressed as well. In fact if you ask me I almost gave up the search. It was my hubby who continued with the search. Few more weeks went by we found some good houses but had to forgo them either due to budget constraints or the old B Vs W issue or due to the locality of the house.

And then this Saturday happened. I was putting L’lle one to sleep when hubby rushed to me and said get ready we are going to this builder’s office. The builder in question was the one whose house we had liked but was a little over budget & I was not keen on the locality which though was an upcoming posh area but quite forlorn. So quite reluctantly I got ready and then L’lle one woke up, he was diapered, readied, packed & off we went. While we were on our way a broker who had been pestering me for quite some time called us and we decided to meet him as well.

We reached to the builders place and fortunately the flats were sold out. Disappointed hubby & happy me with the naughty L’lle one tottered out and decided to meet the broker who quite surprisingly turned out to be a decent guy. He heard us patiently, showed some good projects in our budget and then started talking about a resale flat in an area which was a dream location for us. After having seen many resale flats my hubby wasn’t keen on it but I was of the feeling that there is no harm in having a look. So off we went.

The broker’s guy, let’s call him “A” accompanied us and started praising the building. It is G+4, very good condition, on main road, well maintained etc. what struck me in his monologue was “G+4”. Usually such buildings do not have elevators & thus I asked him my doubt. Unfortunately he informed us that the building currently has no lift but the plan to have it is in place. I & hubby looked at each other, we decided that though we are not interested in a without Lift building but as we were already half way through we might as well have a look.

We reached the building, realised that it was from a renowned builder & seemed to be in a good condition. As we reached the Wing where the flat was situated a surprise welcomed us, the building had a lift. Fortunately there were many more surprises in store for us and if I have to sum it up, the house was in a very good condition, the owners seemed decent & the reason for selling the house was the uncle had retired and was wanting to move to his hometown. We saw the house, l’lle one explored it, quotes were exchanged & we told them that we will get back by next day. The only black spot in the whole conversation was when the owner told us that there was a slight difficulty in getting a home loan for the building because the society was yet to be formed. The broker however committed to us that he will get us the loan as they themselves were home loan agents. We left the place in high spirits with a promise to get back the next day.

Next day was Sunday, we decided to meet the uncle at the brokers place, we quoted a price, and he asked for time to rethink & decided to get back to us by Monday morning, in the meanwhile even the broker promised to get us the loan from HDFC bank. In-laws saw the house & loved it. Everything seemed to be falling in place. Monday morning came & uncle agreed to our price, we were ecstatic & decided to pay the token money in the evening. What happened next is best put in bullet points

As there were some doubts about home loan I decided to check in the SBI branch that we have in our office. I met the Branch Manager & told her about the whole thing and as soon as I uttered the name of the project she said, “We don’t fund that project because the tripartite agreement of the land is not in place.” I said you mean society is not formed? She said no, society formation is a small thing, the Title of the land is not clear. When I asked her should we invest in such a property she just said that the location is strategic, building is good but if the place has been occupied for last 6 years and still the agreement is not in place something is fishy & it is better to stay out.
My spirits were dampened & I called up the broker asking him about the agreement. “A” said no, ma’am what are you saying the agreement is in place. I had my doubts so I decided to call up the builder’s office. To my horror, they confirmed that the agreement indeed was not in place and they had no timeline as to by when it would be in place.
I called my hubby and updated him and he confronted the broker. He was still super confident and said builder didn’t know. (!!!!!!)
In the evening I went to the broker’s office where my FIL was waiting. We were informed that even HDFC Bank would not give us loan and only NBFC’s will fund us. We decided to discuss the issue at home before committing for such a project. The owner agreed to give us the property papers without the token money.
Next day I showed them to a lawyer who said that though everything seems to be in place there were certain documents which were missing. I asked the broker to get me those & he very willingly got them.
Next day my hubby went to the registrar office of that area to show the papers to a lawyer. He was informed that though everything was in place but there was this issue between the owners & the builders and unless that is clear no bank would give you a loan. He also said that once this thing gets cleared the property price would escalate. So the onus was on us that whether we take the calculated risk or not.
While my hubby was meeting the lawyer I was constantly on phone in conversation with various banks & NBFC’s and the common replies that I got were

We don’t fund that building as Title is not clear.
We don’t fund any building in that area as there is a major issue to village property.
That is a totally illegal area ma’am.
The NBFC’s which we were baking on point blank refused to fund us.

All this was duly informed to hubby who decided to pay visit to the broker who very conveniently told him, sir you will need to take a risk otherwise with this attitude you can never buy a house in Mumbai. Needless to say we were appalled by his attitude. He also refused to believe that Gruh Finance (from where he had promised us to get the loan) could tell me on phone point blank that they do not fund the area on principle. Hubby gave him back the house papers & told him that we will decide by next day & tell him.

We thought over, the house was good, location was perfect (my office was just 15 mins away & even hubby’s travelling time was not increasing), it was on main road, for the price we were to pay we were getting fully done up ready to move house, the kitchen was fully done up as well. Everything thing was good or rather too good to be true?

BUT

No bank was ready to give a loan; we could have surely gone to a co-operative bank but was the tension worth it? Was it worth it to put in our hard earned money in a property that was not clear? We also knew that the real problem would come if we wanted to sell the flat because of the issues prices won’t increase but as is we were going there to stay and had no intentions of selling it the issue was actually a non-issue but was it worth the tension?

After much deliberation we finally we decided against buying the property but I when I went back to give the broker whatever copies of the property papers we had I gave him an earful on

They were selling a property but didn’t even know if there was lift in & then they were boasting of having sold another flat in the same complex?
They were not even aware if the agreement was in place?
They gave us false promises about home loan approvals.
Their interest clearly was towards the interest of the seller not the buyer.

Not that it affected the broker but I felt better after giving him an earful. I mean aren't they a useless bunch? Ever ready to talk about their fee, their money but least bothered about a family which is about to put in all their hard earned money & savings on the basis of trust that we put on them. Later I contacted another broker (through a reference) and he informed me that the building in question has a Conditional OC. I mean WTH my broker didn't even know that? Do they have no shame or rather conscience??

Is this the Reality of Real Estate? Suck out as much possible from a normal middle class just because they are out in the market?

We are till date glad that we decided against buying that property because I strongly feel that it is better to regret not buying that property rather than regretting after buying it.

Thus, we are back to square one, the search is still on, we have burned our hands, we are totally anti brokers & also a little dispirited.

But on the up side, we were saved, am happy that we were cautious. Luckily our stay in the present house has been extended so we have some more time in our hands. So as of now life continues without a house & with just a wish that things turn out better next time. Here I must add that the whole week when we were going to & fro with the decision I really felt is all this worth it? There was so much tension & a process of buying a dream can so very easily become a nightmare!!! All because of human greed!!!

Though this isn’t the concluding part of this series, (it can only conclude after we have found a home) but I needed a feedback before writing the next post in this series. Do you think it would be helpful if I talk about what all to look at before buying a house (at least in Navi Mumbai) and would you be interested to read another broker experience here?

The Reverse Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:14:00 PST

Title: The Reverse Journey
Author: Vivek Kumar Singh

Price: Rs. 95/-

Publisher: Frog Books

The reverse journey is a semi-autobiographical of a young man who is living a dream life. He works his way through college, lands a decent job and takes the obvious step forward by changing jobs. As monotony starts setting in he decides to do what his friends have been doing, i.e. of moving to U.S.A. and then he decides to leave it all to come back to India. His friends discourage his move & so do his parents but he has made his mind and thus begins his reverse journey.

Written in flashback the book takes us through various phases of Vivek’ s life. His college days, new job, movement to US et al. The theme of the book is something which makes the book stand apart. The mere fact that we are reading the story of a guy who has been there & done that and feels disillusioned with the so called glamorous western life is something novel.

My issue with the book was that often it goes into an essay mode. There are passages where he compares Indian Culture with western culture or the airlines etc which becomes boring for me after a point of time. If you see it from another angle the book is something more than a simple story telling. So, though what the author is saying here is true but I didn’t like the preachy or essay kind of tone. Or maybe I could not relate to the angst/ emotions which he felt because I have never left my country & have never gone through that kind of emotions.

To sum it up I would say that it is a thought provoking book about brain drain that is happening in India and the disillusion that many youngsters face post moving out of India. The author puts up a much defined view in front of us, that it is not really rosy out there & though you might live a comfortable life there it can never be your home.

I am sure that people who have settled abroad or have come back will surely relate to the book & emotions. For rest of us I would say if you like the theme of the book this one is for you. As far as I am concerned it is an average book & a bit too slow for my taste.

Rating – 2.5/5

Project - Buying Home In Mumbai - Part 1 (How dreams shatter)

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:24:00 PST

Thank you Blogadda for Picking this Post for Tangy Tuesday, this is one post which surely needs a greater audience

2 Months back when our landlord gave us a notice to vacate the house we decided to take the plunge, i.e. of buying a house. People around us had been expecting us to buy a house long back, err like they were expecting us to have baby immediately after we got married; the great saga of Indian social expectations you see. But I digress, so people around us expected us to buy a house & according to them God only knew why we weren’t taking the plunge. We both were supposedly earning well, supposedly working for good companies and buying for us should have been our first priority i.e. according to them. What they never thought off was a) “affordability” b) they weren’t in our shoes.

I had always felt that I will not compromise in buying my first house, I was clear that it will be a 2 BHK, my hubby however thought differently. He felt, we should buy what we can afford, even if it is a 1 BHK, I was ready to wait, he was not ready to spend much and thus we were stuck. But that was 2 years back, we were actually not earning well to buy a house in Mumbai so we backtracked, or rather we never did really look properly. Cut to present, we decided that it was now or never and thus began the great search and the experiences that we are undergoing can give any one a nightmare.

In my dreamy world, buying a house is a beautiful process, you see some, you fight over others, you run across but at the end you achieve something which is worth your sweat. But as I said that was my dream, the ~~realty~~ reality of Mumbai real estate is not a rosy world at all and this I decided to write a chronicle of the House Search in my blog. Please do follow this series because it can be an eye opener & eye popper as well.

Image Courtesy: Google Images

First let’s place the ground rules of buying a house in Navi Mumbai

If you want to buy a decent house in your budget you should think of moving away from the city.
You will have to change your budget because you will never get anything within it.
It is very difficult to avoid a broker and once you get convinced by him you should be prepared to be fooled.
Did you know that here in Mumbai if you rent a flat through broker he comes to take the brokerage every year? Don’t be shocked, when your agreement expires he will come back after 11 months and ask for fresh brokerage & if you refuse you will be asked to vacate and no, the owners don’t interfere here. I have met many tenants who don’t even know how their landlord looks like.
If you want something in your budget you will have to shell out Black money. Wondering what’s that? Will talk about it in detail later.
If you feel that once you start earning more the prices will be more within your reach then you are dreaming. The prices here are skyrocketing for reasons best known to God knows whom. The situation is like a mirage. You need to take the plunge if you can afford it.
You pay anywhere between 60-80 lakhs for a decent house of 1000+ sq. ft. but when you actually see the house it is too small.
Anything that is near the station will be exorbitantly priced. They go by the saying, “you can’t have the cake & eat it also”.
Gym’s, clubhouses, park etc are provided by everyone but it is only the good builders who provide anything worthy otherwise we have also seen a small room which was supposed to be a gym.
Jo Dikhta hai who kabhi hota nahin hai, aur jo hota hai who to kabhi batatein hi nahin hai!!!

Let me begin with my experience

While scouting through various sites I saw a house for resale which was within our budget, ready to move, near the local station, not very old & if I sum it up in few words “too good to be true” but that was the beginning of our search I was still the girl with rosy glasses. My hubby was a bit reluctant to check out the house but I insisted because I had spoken to the lady who owned the house and she had managed to impress me. I was convinced because she had honestly told me, “I am selling this house for a little more than the market rate because I have done so much in it”, I felt there is no harm in checking out.

My husband tells me that when he went there and asked, how soon can you vacate the house & why are you selling a house in such a condition, he was told that they can vacate it as soon as tomorrow & they wanted to resell it because they wanted a bigger house. My ever wary husband checked out the house and saw that there was MAJOR leakage in the kitchen, major as in water was flowing freely down the wall. Till date I wonder how can someone think of fooling others and that too when the flaw was so openly visible.

Few days later we decided to scout a place building by building hoping that we might find something good. We decided to check out a ready building, the guy who was showing around told us that just 2-3 flats are remaining, we were impressed. The building was fulfilling our very important condition of being ready to move. The layout of the flat was decent and the construction was good but then when we asked him why the building is empty if it is sold out & ready to move? To which we got the reply that the OC is not there, on being asked when will it come, he said anytime, either 2 months or 4 months. Obviously we said Tata bye-bye to the guy and more dream went poof!!

Same day we decided to visit some builders, in fact a guy had been in touch with me over the week and he had categorically told me that he was a builder, so we decided to pay visit to him. To say that his office was plush would be an understatement & it was in this very office I came face to face with the concept of BLACK MONEY. The bugger was a mere broker & he presented to us the plans of many under construction buildings and following conversation happened between us

Broker: Ma’am payment will be 60-40

Us: What’s that?

Broker: 60% white money & 40% black.
Us: What are you saying? We are salaried class people & we have only white money.

Broker: You give us cash that you have, that will lower down the rate; in fact it is beneficial for you also because the agreement value will be less so the stamp duty registration will also be less.

Us: But this is not done.

Broker: But this is how it is

Us: You mean to say that a normal middle class working family cannot buy a house.

Broker: We aren’t saying that.

Us: But you are encouraging that only.

Broker: Ma’am it is the government policies which are forcing us to do that.

Needless to say we came out muttering hazaar gaali’s, the thief’s are just minting money and they try to sound as if they are being forced to take black money. In fact after that we visited another builder whose project we had liked, he clearly told us that of the 4 projects he had, only one was full white & the cost of that project was 20% higher than any other project. What was infuriating was the bugger’s attitude. And to add to it when we were asked if can get our own grills fixed on the balcony (that was before he told us about the black component) he said, no ma’am we won’t allow that. On being asked why & what about the safety of kids he said it will spoil the beauty of the house & as far as kids are concerned we have given a grill door. When I asked him you mean we should lock the child inside he just shrugged it off.

My husband later told me that I was very angry there & he even says that the kind of fury that was visible on my face was something he had also felt when he had for the first time heard the concept of black.

Let me break up the concept to you.

Say you are buying a flat of 55 Lakhs (that’s the minimum for which you will get a decent flat) and you have to go for the deal of 60-40.

40% of 50L is 22 Lakhs.

Now for remaining 33 Lakhs you take a home loan of which you will only get 80% i.e. you have to fund that 20% yourself which translates to 6.6 lakhs.

So effectively you have to arrange 22.66 lakhs which turns out to be 52%of the deal.

Tell me which salaried class will have that kind of money?

And isn’t it infuriating?

Don’t you feel like slapping the people who make such statements?

I almost did.

I regret not actually slapping the guy.

I feel helpless to see that all this is happening openly.

And honestly at that time I felt, we cannot buy a house here.

And I was depressed for quite some time.

P.S. Please share your experience as well.

In part 2 – our first experience with a big builder & finally finding the dream house but is it really what it looks like? The logic & working behind the black component.

The Wedding Wallah

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:18:00 PST

Title: The Wedding Wallah

Author: Farahad Zama

Price: 295/- (Available at Flipkart @ Rs. 251/- )

Publisher: Hachette India

This is the 3rd book in the series, the 1st one being “The Marriage bureau for rich people”, followed by “The Many Conditions of Love”. I have reviewed both the books loved the 1st one & found the 2nd one to be just another book. You can read the reviews here & here.

This book picks where the last one had ended. Mr. Ali’s business is thriving; Aruna has settled down in Family life & has been accepted by everyone. Pari, Mr. Ali’s relative & a widow has settled down in her new job at a call center and is in the process of adopting Vasu, the orphan of Rehman’s friends. Everything seemed to be settling down into a smooth routine for all of them but changes were lurking around the corner.

Pari is in doldrums about accepting a marriage proposal which has come to her from a very affluent family. When she makes up her mind to reject the proposal she loses her job & security which makes her rethink about her decision but then she also realises that what she feels for Rehman is something more than friendship. What will she do?

Dilawar from whose family the propsal has come for Pari is against the marriage because he has a secret which could spoil the girls future but alas! He doesn’t have the guts to come out in open. What will he do? Will he give in to his mothers' emotional blackmailing?

Rehman is still trying to recover from his failed affair but has a soft spot for Pari. Unfortunately for him & Pari he is far from realising that this might be love.

Aruna is on cloud nine when her father in law entrusts her by handing over the responsibilities of their land business. Her first job assignment takes her to the interiors of Kerala. She & her husband were enjoying the solitude & peace of the jungle when tragedy strikes them. Naxalite attack their guest house & take them into captivity. To their immense horror they find Rehman & Dilawar (he is Rehman’s childhood friend) have also been kidnapped by the same group.

Will the group be ever freed?

Do they stand a chance against the Naxalite’s?

Will the danger to his life make Rehman realise his love for Pari?

Will the imminent death make Dilawar realise that life is too short to keep secrets?

Read the book to know more.

My View

This book packs a punch!

My complaint with the last one was that it was a run of the mill book about relationships & love. I had prayed that the author gives us something more in the next part and am glad to say that his latest offering is anything but run of the mill.

The author has very smartly woven the naxalite issue with the story and brought in a novelty in the whole plot. In fact if we see there are many issues which he has spoken about in this book. Widow Remarriage, adoption, Naxals, Gay relationships, farmer suicide to name few.

I have always loved the expertise with which the author describes the small town life; it somehow makes you crave for good old days when everything was done in slowly and with a practised ease. The book is a page turner and the author keeps you glued with enough suspense.

I loved the book for the simple reason that it is readable, entertaining & yet a little different. Go for it is my final word on it :) and yes now I am waiting for the next installment because I so much want to see Rehman & Pari's romance to bloom & would love to read how the orthodox yet adorable & cute Mrs. Ali will react to it.

My Rating 4/5

Snippets from my life

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:08:00 PDT

Last few weeks have been quite hectic, had a 5 day break during Diwali which went poof in no time. The better part of the break went into spending quality time with L’lle one & whatever time was left it went into house searching. Last fortnight also saw me falling sick twice, once with Viral & then UTI which again gave me a very high fever.

The latter also forced me into getting a blood test done. So I went to the lab and the attendant was getting ready to take the blood sample when I said, “I think I have fever”. He touched my wrist and said no ma’am, you don’t. When I made a sad face he said,” are you feeling feverish?”

When I gave nod to that he said, “let me check”, before I could even refuse he went in & brought the thermometer. Though I was in a hurry to give my sample I decided to humour him because of the sweetness & consideration he had shown. So I popped in the thermometer. After about a second the he asks me “Ma’am have you put the thermometer under your tongue?”

Though I wanted to laugh out loud at that question but I couldn’t (I mean with that thing in my mouth I obviously couldn’t laugh na?) so with hand signs I asked him, “do you think I am a kid?” the poor fellow gave an embarrassed laugh & bit his tongue to accept his mistake.

After we were done with the temperature taking he started drawing out the blood sample but failed to find the nerves; finally when he found it he asked me to hold my hand tight & then added “ma’am it will pain a little.” I told him I am ok with it, and then when the needle was inserted instead of flowing out freely the blood started trickling out veeery slowly and this guy was worried. As far as I was concerned it was just a prick and everything was going ok & thus I turned my face, wiped the sweat as it was hot. But as I was wiping away I made a sniff kind of sound and this attendant was on full alert. Poor fellow thought I was crying with pain and started fussing on me, in fact as I was leaving he gave me a list of advices, the point might swell, it might pain etc. it took me some time to make him realise that I am not kid :D but yes I can easily say the guy was sweet.

As far as Diwali is concerned it went of well, I made my first decent rangoli, here is the picture.

We dressed the L’lle one in kurta payjama & I must day he looked dashing *nazar na lage*, here is a pic of him & my hubby.

hehehe! See how conveniently maine hubby ka mooh kala kar diya ;)

As we are talking about L’lle one I must tell you what happened yesterday. I & he were playing post my return from office, I was lying down & this devil was sitting near my head. He loves to play with my bindi and he was onto taking it off my forehead, I was making faces at him & he was giggling and then suddenly I felt something was wrong so I got up. Can you imagine what had happened?? The little devil had done his susu (pissed) sitting on the bed & the position that he was sitting in meant that everything went into my head. My hair was totally wet & the bugger was even unaware of what he had done. Humph! All our potty training has gone hay wire these days as this devil has stopped telling when he feels the need to piss. You old time Mothers, please tell me that the rebellious nature is a phase that all kids go through and this will not go on forever.

To add insult to my injury my dear brother says, “not to worry your hair has been shampooed & conditioned naturally. No, I should say it has only been shampooed; the day he does potty they will be conditioned as well.”

Huh! Not even in his dreams!!!

Besides that the L’lle one has started saying, “star, above, Nahin, gayi, dahi (that btw is something without which he doesn’t finish his meals).” So life is fun on that front.

As far as house hunting is concerned, I am a totally frustrated soul and I need a fullpost to share my experience & horrors. A post coming up on that, soon...

There are many book reviews that are pending from my end. Very soon you can expect me to review

The Wedding Wallah by Farahad Zama
Bollywood Wedding & Sari & the City by Rekha Waheed
Custody By Manju Kapur
Revolution 2020 By Chetan Bhagat
The Reverse Journey by Vivek Kumar Singh
The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair
The Best of Me by Nicholas Spark

Here I must thank Hachette India for sending me some lovely books. And here have a look of the books that have been sent by them, phew!!! I need to read & review them soon.

So how have you guys been? I know you all have been on a posting overdrive & my bestest friend here has returned. So Vimmuuu, though we do not agree with eachother but it is good to know that you are back & around, hoping to revive the rivalry again. Missed fighting with you bugger!!!

A Waiting Wave

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:35:00 PDT

A Waiting Wave

Author: Kulpreet Yadav

Price: INR 125/-

Published: 2011

Publisher: Cedar Books

This is the story of a contemporary couple Harry & Kareena, who meet in office develop a liking for each other but are shy of saying it. There is the necessary mush, jealousy & a third person; before the act of confession happens and the story moves ahead. They get married in a jiffy with a hope that their world will become rosier but that is not to be.

A little professional jealousy and their dreams & life begin unravelling. It is in such a state that Harry leaves for his father’s place at Port Blair to gather the pieces of his life and to give some semblance to his thought process. He leaves with a hope that he will manage to revive the love he had felt for his wife. And then the Tsunami strikes. He gets washed off to an island full of dangerous tribal’s and thus begins a journey of survival and it is during such times he realises his mistakes. He is ready to restart his life with his wife but will life give him another chance? Will he come out of the dangerous situations?

As soon as he goes missing, his wife rushes to Port Blair to search for him. Will the lovers reunite? Will love win over all the circumstances? Will life give them another chance?

Read the book to know more.

My Verdict

A contemporary love story with usual ingredients is the best way to describe this book. The writing is lucid and tsunami gives the book a twist. In fact the author spends some time in describing the tribes & a little bit of history of Port Blair which makes for an interesting read.

The book is a racy read with enough twists & turns to keep you engaged.

But my problem with the book is with the characterisation. As a reader I should feel the pain & happiness of the protagonists but I didn’t. I felt as if a little more time should have been spent in setting up the characters to make us feel for them. Besides that it is the climax which lets the book down. I was ok with the hide & seek that happens between Harry & Kareena before the impending reunion but the way the author has turned the end would put Bollywood movies to a shame.

Overall it is an average book which starts off well and has something new to offer in the form of setting but loses steam towards the end.

Worth a quick read.

Rating: 2.75/5

All In A Day's Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:25:00 PDT

Remember my friend from this post? Well, her 7 year old son has an inquisitive mind and has no dearth of questions to ask. From simple ones to embarrassing ones, he has a stock of a truck load of questions. Here is a conversation that she narrated to us

Son: Who made Ganeshji?

Mom: His Mom & Dad.

Son: Who made his Mom & Dad?

Mom: His Mom & Dad

Son: And how did they make him?

Mom: I don’t know I wasn’t there na?

After some time…

Son: Who made you?

Mom: My Mom & Dad.

Son: How did they make you?

Mom: How will I know, I wasn’t there na?

After some time…

Son: Who made me?

You know where this smart guy is going no?

Mom: Your mom & dad.

Son: Means, you & dad?

Mom: Yes! (knowing where this is going & hopes that earth opens up to eat her)

Son: So, how did you make me? You were there na so you will know for sure.

Mom: Errrr!!!!! We did loads of efforts (mehnat!!!)

As my friend was narrating this we guffawed and added, yes loads of mehnat during night bole to laborious night shifts!!! :D

Mom: And we went to a doctor who worked with us & after sometime told us that you are ready & thus we got you home.

And with that she heaved a sigh of relief that she had managed to answer him satisfactorily. But she says that since the day his son has seen the delivery incidents in 3 Idiots & Robot he has been asking too many questions. I know it is fair to say that kids will ask questions & it is also a funny incident in a way but isn’t the background that he was asking these questions because he saw something in a movie, worrying? I remember my Mom used to censor whatever movies we saw, I hope that the parents of present generation also start showing some control over what kids watch. I know these days’ even TV shows too much but am sure there are ways to discipline.

Anyway, another incident of the same kiddo

Son: Mom what is Platinum?

Mom: It is a precious metal which more valuable than Gold.

My friend’s husband who overheard the conversation

Father: Son, when you are old enough buy something in platinum for your wife.

Mom: No! First you will have buy something for me.

Son: Don’t worry Mom; I will buy for both of you.

Mom: No beta. You buy for your wife for sure but first you will have to buy for me.

Son: Oho!!! If you haggle like this I won’t buy for either of you.

All my friend could do was laugh out loud & all we could do was to conclude that this guy would is a smarty.

Thankfully my son is still far from asking these many question but the L’lle smarty pants has learned one word along with the fact that where it has to be used and unfortunately the blessed word is NO!!!

Ask him will you Have food? And the bugger imitating my style will shake his head and waggle his finger and say No!

Post the bath he would be sitting inside the bucket submerged in water & I will ask him “chalo your bath is done, shall we move out?" and the bugger turns inside the bucket shows me his back and says nahin!!!

He is in my arms and my MIL will ask him, will you to come to Dadi? And he says nahin!!!

The best is…

He knows I have asked him not to touch the garbage can, he will go near it, waggle is finger, shake his head & say no! no! and would still touch it.

Kids these days I tell you!

How have you guys been? My last one week has been pretty hectic on account of

• A three day meeting at office.

• Our landlord has asked us to vacate the house we were staying in and has given us just a month to do so. Though we are contesting the time but yes I have been having sleepless nights bole to I am unable to sleep for initial few minutes before snores take me away :D but yes now we are looking to buy a space of our own but Mumbai real estate is a scary!!!! In fact let me not start on that. It is a different blog post all together.

• Read Revolution 2020, an average read, dunno if I will review it or not.

That’s it from me will be back to commenting very soon :)

Up next: Book Review of “A Waiting Wave”

Senseless Saturday - AFteR SuCH A LoNg TiMe

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 04:06:00 PDT

Yes I am here with a Senseless Saturday post. After a long time I found pictures which deserve to be shared here. Few days back while I was browsing through a store I came across some show pieces which were priced in the range of 500 INR - 1000 INR. With such a price range you expect something beautiful but what we saw would come no where near beautiful and to top it all the only word to describe them would be UGLY.

Here see the snap and judge yourself.

Would you be willing to loosen your purse string for something like this? Isn't this scary?? :D and please please check out the eye lashes!!! What a beauty!!!! :D :D :D

Another pic

See what somebody did the the hair piece of the one behind :D

This was another piece which got my attention for the reason explained below

I love Ganeshji's murti in any form but this modern piece? I mean what??? See he has briefcase, mobile & umbrella in his hands. You can not miss his colorful hat also. Helllo! Can we not leave somethings untouched??? Why do we have to add a touch modernity in any thing & everything?? Why?

Cricket Till I Die

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:11:00 PDT

Title: Cricket Till I Die

Author: Upneet Grover

Price: INR 150/-

Publication: Cedar Books

Vineet is our quintessential boy, working for an imminent IT firm and loving the job. He keeps doing the routine job with a hope that one day he will crack through an MBA institute and move out for a better prospect. His dream comes true and he chucks everything to pursue the degree which he felt would give him freedom.

He moves back to his hometown Delhi to pursue his MBA degree but fate had decided something else for him. A chance encounter with a local cricket team made him live the dream which he was scared to follow.

After few hiccups he has a dream run and is in the process of being selected for the Delhi T 20 teams but that means chucking the MBA degree.

What will Vineet Do?

Will he achieve his ultimate dream of wearing the national jersey?

Will he live the dream?

Or will he get close to touching it & then forgetting it forever?

Read the book to know more.

My Verdict

The book is a racy read and starts off well. I could easily relate to the feelings & attitude of Vineet towards his workplace. But the easy way with which Vineet starts achieving everything was kind of unbelievable for me and that was the part which didn’t work for me. My other grouch with the book is the bollywoodish flavour.

However as far as readability, plot, pace etc. are concerned the book is bang on. You will relate to the characters, you will feel happy when the protagonist goes through the highs & lows in his career, love et al.

All in all a one sit light read. I wish the author had spent some more time developing the plot instead of taking the convenient route of being bollywoodish.

My Rating 2.75/5

It is Total Filmy Boss!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:25:00 PDT

We Indians are passionate about movies and anything to do with it. We love our film stars and can even talk about them over tea & coffee. We gossip about the stars as if they are our neighbours. Our oldies keep talking about the fact “why isn’t Karan Johar married, why isn’t Salman Khan marrying etc. etc.”

We eat, live & breathe Bollywood. There are girls who dream about their partners & model them on certain heroes/ heroines but have you ever seen Real life imitating real life? Have you seen life taking the cinematic liberties that a movie takes? Sometimes yes! I mean when too many coincidences happen to us we do say “ah it is happening as it happens in a movie” but hardly do you see the fight sequences, guy chasing girls etc.in real life, do we? But things changed for me this Friday, I saw something which was straight out of the movies and hilarious to the core. Let me narrate it to you.

It was 6:02 pm and I & two of my friends were walking down towards the railway station. Since the Navratri’s are going on we were dressed in sarees and were also checking out the saree’s of other girls. While we were walking we crossed a couple and my attention drew towards them because of the words uttered by the boy. He had said “you are not the chosen one.” Now this is a statement which draws your attention for sure, so I turned towards them, the girl was on the healthier side and was wearing a saree with straight pallu and the guy was half her size.

Post the checking out we kept walking ahead and reached the platform and saw a train drawing in (we weren’t supposed to catch this train). We kept walking slowly and some 2 minutes after the train had halted we heard a commotion behind us. When we turned around we saw “that” girl running towards the train with all her might.

Thap! Thap! Thap! She goes and stops suddenly only to turn around & say “jaldi a na” to the boy.

She ran past us and was in front of the train. Just to tell you, the last compartment of the local train is a ladies compartment with three doors and we were expecting her to board the same but were surprised when she ignored the first door. Our surprise slowly turned to amazement when she didn’t get into even the 2nd or 3rd doors. Finally she boarded the general compartment & the train gave its whistle and started crawling out.

The guy however didn’t show her kind of enthusiasm in catching the train & thus was walking as if the train will stop for him. In fact he was scrolling through his mobile when the trains horn blew and when he turned to get into the compartment he realised he was standing in front of the ladies compartment and that got him into action & thus he started running towards the general compartment when the unthinkable happened.

We saw his friend, the girl, hanging out of the compartment offering her hand to the bugger, truly filmy ishtyle. All we could remember was “dil waali dulha le jaayegi” :D and we all burst out laughing. I mean this was a role reversal which we rarely get to see and it was one hell of a scene. We regretted the fact that we didn’t shoot the whole video. But yes, Jab We Met, DDLJ et al were remembered

The best part was post the incident where I & my friends enacted the whole incident and cracked up whenever we remembered the lady offering her hand. I mean totally filmy boss!!! What all travelling in local trains show us, I tell you!

So how has navratri been with you guys? I have been following the colour code every day and have been wearing sarees to work for past 5 days and if you know me you will know it is no mean feat. I mean with a baby at home who is busy plucking out the pleats as I tuck them in & the most dangerously standing on the paloo with all signs of doing susu on it…I have survived well. A nice little pat on my back for that :-)

So which demon are you killing within this Dussehra?

And yes please share any similar filmy incident that you have encountered closely.

And last but not the least, how was the weekend? Mine was kind of ok. Nothing like last week’s adventure but good nonetheless.

A trip to Borivalli National Park.....

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:21:00 PDT

Did I tell you guys that I spoke to Dev Anand?

No?

What are you saying?

Hmmm!!

Will share that story soon.

This Sunday we had gone to Sanjay Gandhi National Park with the hopes of showing the L'lle one some animals. You know he can now tell you how a wolf speaks or a lion speaks & he says cow & cat. So we thought lets take him for some live action but alas! the only animals which we really saw in plenty were Monkey. We did see a lion but with him being in a cage & with us being inside a caged bus the chances of the l'lle one seeing the Lion were bleak. This is the only picture that we could manage

Find The Lion & Be Happy :)

No Dearth of Monkey's though

The L'lle one however had fun because there was a park for kids and there were slides. He just freaked out on them and didn't want to leave. The expressions of fun & frolic on his face made us forget our irritation that these buggers were duping us in the name of a Lion Safari. I mean how do you think will people see animals when every one is caged? The best part was the statement of the conductor in the safari when he couldn't find the Lion, "Ma'am when we came in the last trip the Lion was here only. I dunno where it has gone now". I mean what??? grrrr!!!

Anyways lets not ponder on that and here is a pic of the L'lle one on the slide....

Won't leave this Slide lest they take me home

Then there were Kanheri Caves, the only good thing of the whole trip. BTW this was the place where L'lle One decided that he wanted to walk and do nothing else. It was pain keeping him in our Godi as he wouldn't lets us carry him. He walked, walked & crawled as if there is no tomorrow and boy did he have fun?

Catch me if you can..

And then there was this huge Buddha statue and the L'lle one decided to explore it...

What's in here?

Now I have a better view...

Post all this we had lunch which we were thankfully carrying otherwise there was no facility of buying food. The only eatables that were readily available were Kakdi, Guava & some wild fruits. The trip ended with a train trip inside the park was again "naam bade aur darshan chote" but during the train ride we did see some Deers!!! I guess the place would be more fun if we go for a nature trail or for a trek but if we are going with the expectations of seeing animals then this will be a big dampner.

Post the trip we went to my BFF's place wishing that the L'lle devil will sleep but at her place as well he was a bundle of energy and wanted to do nothing but walk walk & walk. Phew!!! It was a tiring but a fruitful Sudnay.

Did I tell you that this devil has started biting? He bites me real hard and when I scold him says "kaata kaata". Grrrr!!!!

How was your weekend? You know I feel terrible for not replying to the comments but then One day I will reply to all of them in one go. In fact next 15 days are gonna be very hectic for me. Navratri starts tommorrow, I also have to attend a training besides doing my daily work & then there is gym!!! Wish me luck friends.

Coming up next

Reviews of Cricket Till I Die, A Waiting Wave, (In)Eligible Bachelors, My Bollywood Wedding, The Girl in the Garden...(phew!!!)

Murder In The Ashram

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:07:00 PDT

Book:        Murder In The Ashram
Price:        INR 299/- (Available for Rs. 194 @ Flipkart )
Author:     Kathleen McCaul
Publisher: Hachette India

Ruby Jones, a freelance journalist and a British National had come to India with stars in her eyes and hope in her heart, the hope of making big in the city. What she had not expected was failure, loneliness and above all the death of her confidant & only friend in Delhi, Stephen Newby and that too in mysterious circumstances.

Ruby sets on to unravel the mystery behind Stephen’s death. What begins as a quest to get justice for his friend turns to a drive for breaking the news to the world & in the process to come in the eyes of big news moghuls. And thus begins a journey which takes Ruby to lanes & by lanes of Delhi.

My Verdict

Set in Delhi, the book is quite predictable at places and shows us how foreigners see India. We are taken to a Yoga centre with a threat of drug controversy just lurking behind. The book delves into multiple plots ranging from gay issues, an old illicit affair, foreigners coming to India for spiritual purposes and getting sucked into drugs et al. The mystery around which the book is woven is very predictable and I could guess it much before it came it out. Even the mystery behind the murder was quite lame and kind of an anti-climax.

All and all an average book which has nothing new to offer per se; giving a lopsided view of India. The author could have surely done better and tried to break through the stereotype that has been created around India or may be this is what sells abroad. All in all a decent murder mystery most suitable for a train read.

My Rating 2.5/5

Of Wit, Spam & Seeing the world through the Butt!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Smita) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:19:00 PDT

*Beep* Beep*, SMS Alert.

~~~~

Never laugh at your wife’s choices,

You are one of them!!

~~~~

I read, laugh out loud and forward it to hubby.

½ an hour later….

*Beep* Beep*, SMS Alert. A message from hubby which reads,

~~~~

Females keep on saying, “ALL MEN ARE THE SAME”

I say,

"If all men are the same, why do you women take so long to choose one?"

Hai koi jawaab?

~~~~

I immediately click on the reply button & type furiously

“Because choosing best out of the worst is all the more difficult” ;)

And I have the last word in this battle of wit :D :D :D :D

And BTW Dear Anonymous, I would pay heed to all the “unlock iphone 4 how to unlock iphone 4 unlock iphone 4 unlock iphone 4 how to unlock iphone 4” spam that you leave on my blog BUT PLEASE GET ME AN I PHONE 4 PLEASE AND IF YOU CANNOT DO THAT STOP SPAMMING MY BLOG!!! Phew!!!

And here I leave you with this snap :D

This is the way I see the world!!!

Please don't ask me what he is doing but yes he does this daily and stands like this for at least 5 mins. What I will give to have this kind of flexibility but that's a different topic altogether. And yes ladies I DO NOT want to know what is said when a kid stands like this, I have already been told numerous times by numerous people :P

And yay!!! I have started going to the gym and each and every muscle of my body is screaming but it feels good to be back in the groove.

And before I forget, have you heard the chammak challo song? Is it only me or even you feel that it is an ugly song to listen to? Why is it being promoted as the next big song? It is horrible I say!!!