Once Again

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 27; the 27th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'Once Again'.

Ek baar phir is dil ne kisi dil se pyaar kiya

Ek baar phir isne apne khuda se shart lagayi,

Ki iss baar aey , khuda

mEre dil ko na dhuka

Mujhe pyaar se hai pyaar

Uss shabd se na bada meri nafrat

Meri mohabbat ka kar thoda izzat

Ussey meri muhabbat ka ho jaane do yakeen

(Once again this heart fell in love

 Once again, it ran a stake with the lord

 That this time around, lord

 Don’t hurt my heart

 I’m in love with the idea of love

 Don’t increase my hatred towards that word

 Do respect my Love

 And let him realize that my love is true )

She sat nibbling on the end of her pen, when he walked towards her. She looked up, and closed her diary, and sipped on the coffee,  which he had bought her. She smiled and looked at him. He smiled back.

“Chale”,(shall we), he smiled , as he crushed his cup, and aimed it at the nearby bin, it missed and it fell.

“mmmm”  she left her coffee unfinished, and sat behind him, on his bike.

The Devotion of Suspect X

When you are presented with an opportunity to read something that has apparently been a “best-seller”, having sold over 2 million copies, you would obviously not let go of that, right?

Title: The Devotion of Suspect X

Author: Keigo Higashino.

                                               

About The Author: Keigo Higashino was born in Osaka. He started writing novels while still working as an Engineer and won the Edogawa Rampo Prize for writing at age 27. The Devotion of Suspect X has sold over 2 million copies in Japan and has been made into a cult film.

Do I like this book: Hell yes! Having read snippets about the book, we realize that the story revolves around a single mother (Yasuko), and her Daughter (Misato), and how their world turns upside down, when her ex-husband (Togashi) returns after 5 years. The novel starts of, with a murder being committed, and that takes up 2 chapters of the book, and you are left with wondering, what comprises the remaining chapters. However, the author has interwoven his story with such brilliance, that you would not feel like letting go of the book without a complete understanding of the story.

The Land of the Wilted Rose

Mental Note to Self : Never (NEVER) READ a book, you accidently clicked on to REVIEW.

About the Author : Anand Ranganathan read Chemistry at St. Stephen’s, Delhi, and thereafter went to Cambridge for his BA in Natural Sciences. He stayed on at Cambridge for his PhD and post-doctoral studies. After returning to India, he joined the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology at Delhi, where at present he is researching tuberculosis and dengue, among other things. The Land of the Wilted Rose is his debut novel.

My Rant on this book : Honestly, i was putting of reviewing this book, until I got a reminder from BLOGADDA about the same. I could review it in THREE WORDS … “WHAT A MISTAKE”

Are we still reading for more??? Alright here goes : SO I was a little apprehensive as to how to review this Book, especially as I was having a tough time reading the same. So then I force myself to start , and turn the pages(read), and well the only thing that kept running in my head was , the authors reason of wanting to come up with this novel. We all are accustomed to Gandhi, and having a “White Mahatma” did not clearly make any sense to me.

The Prank

“Rayan , trust me its gonna be funnnn”.. she said ..her eyes widening ….

She loved doing crazy things, and playing pranks on strangers was one of them.

“But Gianna, are you sure? you sure no one ….”

“Stop being a wuss, Rayan, I’m sure……All you have to do is wait for my signal, and then we say , hey you are on candid camera of sorts, trust me it will be fun”.

“hmmmmm, are you…”

“YESSSSSSSS, I am, let’s get started, we need a perfect person or victim” she smiled and rubbed her hands together.”

 “Alright”

No sooner did she set across, than he switched on the record button, Better have it set than hear her nag later, he thought.

A Calendar Too Crowded

“A Calendar Too Crowded” tells stories of women we know, and have heard of. These are stories that continue to happen in various households around the globe, irrespective of the special “days” allotted to check them. It deals with the need for emancipation(and we are still talking about it even today?) of the fairer sex in an unfair society. It reveals the ugly(common) truth carefully camouflaged by a hypocritical society of so-called 'equals'.

The book is divided into segments based on the calender months, carefully listing out the special days heralding woman rights in each month, before proceeding to narrate heart wrenching tales from rural and urban India.

Given the sensitive theme, the reading sometimes tends to be heavy. considering this is the author’s first work, her ability to get under the skin of so many varied women – an “escort”, a rape/domestic violence victim, a hot-shot professional – alike,and by steering an entire book without disclosing a single name,  is commendable.

Arranged Marriage

“I am really nervous Ma, I don’t know what all should I be asking, or talking …”

Her Mother stifled a giggle, hugged her daughter, and said “Zahera, any man will be lucky to have you, just be yourself alright?”

Zahera was 25, single, and independent. Did she want to marry??? No and yes!! NO, because, she believed that one day she would run into her prince charming, and then Love would blossom, she craved for a Love marriage rather than an arranged.

He was sitting dressed casually in a striped shirt and blue denim jeans, equally tensed, but was good at hiding that fact. He hadn’t seen her picture earlier, however he did catch a glance of the photo frames, and was smitten by her, if that was her, he thought to himself.

The Perfect Surprise

Rishabh never felt this way, never in all of his ,10 years of married life, he never felt this ‘alive’, yes that was the word... She was captivating, the way she smiled, spoke, her animated gestures, the way her face changed into a million expressions, with every word she spoke … He would understand every word, even if he was deaf.Her animated expressions and  her voice, reminded him of the female leads in disney flicks.

He had  to let her know that he was in Love with her? He knew he had to; he had to let her know, of how he felt …. Today was it…

“Naina”… he called out, thus putting an abrupt stop to their conversation.

“Yes Rishabh”, she looked imploringly in his eyes…and a tiny hint of a smile made its way to her lips.