Festival celebrations with kids

Festive time just ended.. How did you celebrate? 
October is the month of festivals. Isn't it? :)
This year, it started with Dasara, Bakrid and ended with Diwali. 

How can we involve our kids in festivities? I have a few tips..

1. Story connect:
Which kid doesn't like stories? My 3 year old is always eager to listen to new stories. Explaining stories behind each festival make children understand the spirit of festival. We can make kids colour pictures / charts explaining below stories. Older kids can draw pictures on their own.

Every Indian festival is associated with a mythological story. Dasara emphasizes on victory of good over evil. As per Hindu mythology, Rama killed Ravana on VijayaDasami. There is also another story of Goddess Durga who is formed by the pure energy formed by the trinity (Lord Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma), who killed the dangerous demon Mahishasura. 

pic credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peddhapati/

Bakrid emphasizes on sacrifice. When God ordered Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismail, he dutifully obliged to slaughter his beloved son. Then, a goat appeared instead of his son ready for sacrifice. Thus Muslims celebrate Bakrid to mark the spirit of sacrifice.

Diwali is celebrated as the day Ram returned to Ayodhya with Sita. People celebrate it as festival of lights which symbolizes removal of darkness/ ignorance by knowledge or light. This is also the day when Satyabhama, Krishna's beloved wife defeated demon 'Narakasura'. Usually, everyone will offer pooja to Goddess Lakshmi in the evening of Diwali.

2. Activities for Kids :
Involving kids in different festive activities starting from shopping, selecting diyas, discussing and preparing festival specific dishes, preparing rangolis, decorating home etc., are a very good way to make a fun environment for them.  

Many kids enjoy preparing rangolis made of flowers, pulses, colours, diyas etc., Parental guidance is required while arranging/ lighting diyas. It would be easy to teach colours, patterns and shapes to kids by involving them in preparing rangolis. 

3. DIY crafts:
I prefer simple DIY crafts to teach to my 3 year old. Like this pinterest board from my co-blogger Shruthi on simple and creative crafts. My young kid will be able to do simple greeting cards with rockets, colourful diyas, candles etc., He loves preparing them with my co-operation and showing them proudly to his friends :)
Below wonderful DIY cards are from Shruthi's blog.

4. Festival Specials:
Each festival will have its own way of celebrating it. 
For ex: who can forget crackers on Diwali? Even though we prefer spending less on crackers which will pollute our environment, this custom cannot be completely avoided. We enjoyed bursting crackers from childhood and want our children to experience the same right? This activity is best for parents to spend time with children together, teach them how to burst crackers safely. But, we should also teach them not to spend more money on crackers and pollute environment around us.

pic credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/soham_pablo/

Another important tradition for Diwali is to clean houses, decorate with diyas and invite goddess Lakshmi with puja in the evening. 

There is a tradition to burst Ravana's statue on Dasara in North India to signify that Good wins over evil always. So, these kind of traditions are to be taught to children with their importance.

What do you think are the other ways to involve kids during festival season? Let me know your thoughts in comments :)

I hope you liked this Diwali Dhamaka blog hop. I loved each and every post in the blog hop listed below, do try to read them and share :)

Until next time,

Come join a set of fabulous bloggers sharing their Diwali moments , easy Crafts, DIY ideas, Recipes and book recommendations with you .

Starting from today till Diwali and beyond, each one of us will be writing a post related to Diwali.

Participating blogs

Artsy Craftsy mom . Reading Rabbits Library . Food and fads . Cherish Dream Live . My little Moppet . On-board the Mommyship . Roohi's Collection . Colours Dekor . Bumps n Baby  . Hello Mommyhood . A spoonfull of ideas . CraftIsland .  The Keybunch . ParentingMantras . Whats Cooking Mom . Orange kitchens . Quilts & Quills . Fun Activities for Children . Something’s cooking . Obsessivemom . The Design Enthusiast . Fantastic Feathers . Little aadi ali

So sit back, relax and check out all the fabulous Diwali Dhamaka posts from the participating blogs in the linky.

An InLinkz Link-up

Link in your Diwali posts here

An InLinkz Link-up

Improve immunity with Dabur Chyawanprash!

These days, we see more pollution everywhere. Many buildings and apartments are cropping up. Fresh fields and trees are vanishing slowly. Fortunately, Both Andhra and Telangana CMs mention greening as one focus area in their agenda for development. But, we have to see how much time it takes to implement those greening ideas in our cities.

You might be wondering why I am suddenly talking about pollution and de-forestation here. All parents of young children in this generation might be thinking about these topics. Our children doesn't have a healthy, pollution-free environment as we had in our childhood. They are more susceptible to cold, cough and fever. We as kids, used to eat all types of fruits, juices, ice creams and chocolates. But, our kids easily catch cold by drinking outside water or some local ice cream or juice. I feel bad keeping my kid away from citrus fruits and sweets waiting for cold/ cough to completely reduce. Else, he gets throat infection very often. We cannot change the environment around us except for growing more trees around our house and keeping surroundings clean. We cannot protect our kids from auto mobile pollution in cities. So, what is the solution?

When I asked my doctor, he said, your child will improve immunity with good and nutritious food and slowly overcome the health problems of frequent cold, cough, throat infection and fever. There is a contradiction in this statement. Fruits are known to improve immunity, but we cannot give all types of fruits to them when child has frequent cold and cough as some aggravate cold too(like water melon, mausambi, orange, grapes, custard apple etc.,). Doctor suggested me to give only pappaya, suppota, mango when child has cold). When I was researching on other food items which improve immunity, my uncle suggested me to use Dabur Chyawanprash. Oh! how come I forgot this Ayurvedic medicine which is tasty? Now I remember that my father used to give 1 spoon of Chyawanprash daily to me and my sister. Thanks to my uncle for reminding this.. It helped my kid to improve immunity to greater extent and he doesn't get sick often now!

Chyawanprash has herbs like amla, Giloy(guduchi) and more than 40 other natural ingredients. It strengthens body's natural defence mechanism by stimulating natural killer cells. Natural killer cells increase immunity by fighting with infections and virus in the body. 

A healthy child makes a happy home. What do you say? If child is healthy, it brings peace and happiness to the parents as this is the primary concern for them.I hope you too would try the same for your children if they fall sick often. :) Let me know if there are any other products like these which improve immunity naturally. 

Until next time,

Danger zone in the beach

Linking this to the Fiction Challenge ‘From 15 to 50′ hosted by Shailaja V of The moving Quill

It was a wonderful evening for Srija on the beach

Waves coming off one after the other, kissing her feet and going away

She didn't realize that she was in a danger zone

Until her happiness went away by a 6 foot high tsunami like wave.

Word Prompt: Happiness

Phrase Prompt: On the beach

Word count: 46

Until next time,

#flash fiction #from 15 to 50

Fraudster by RV Raman - [Book Review]

Book Details:
Title: Fraudster
Author : RV Raman
Publisher: Hachette
Genre: Crime thriller
No. of pages: 272
Source : A free copy for review from writersmelon.com

Plot: 
This is a corporate thriller with banking and audit backdrop. A commission is enquiring about a fraud in banking sector where loans were disbursed by banks to some companies taking few properties as collateral which were too much overvalued than actual price. The properties were shown as 4 to 5 times more value than original to get the loans from the bank. Due to the negligence of bank senior and junior management, these kind of loans pushed these banks to bankruptcy. 

Story starts with the murder of a young banking professional Shruthi who deposes to the commission on the fraud. This murder is followed by a series of murders of Mr.Visht and Mr. Subbu who were also somewhat related to the enquiry commission appointed for the investigation of fraud. Inspector Ranade connects all the dots and tries to the find the actual culprit for all these murders. Varsha, Kunal, Manish and Ashwin are some other characters who help him in the investigation. 

My Take:
Author is successful in keeping reader in suspense till the end. All clues are open to the reader allowing him to guess the fraudster, but it is not easy. Characterization of Varsha, Kunal and Ranade  is good. Smallest details about banking jargon and hacking of blackberry and mail servers are explained well. Still, I felt, there is not much clarity in the story. At some places, it becomes confusing. We wonder if it is practically possible to plan fraud of such kind which involves multiple small companies who take loans from banks by overvaluing their assets even with political support. 

Overall rating: 3/5
I would recommend this to anyone who loves fiction and crime thrillers. Story is fast paced, well explained and climax is good. But, this book didn't attract me like any Sidney Sheldon novel. 

You can purchase book from flipkart at discounted price here (Rs.175/-).

Until next time,

Collegedunia.com - database of Indian colleges - Website Review

Stumbled upon this site Collegedunia.com recently and found it very useful to every student in India who wants to get information on admission process, fee, eligibility, facilities in the college, college rating etc., before selecting a suitable college to apply for admission for graduation/ Post graduation in any specific stream. We see very scattered information in internet and there is no consolidated data about all colleges in India at a single place until the launch of this website.

Collegedunia.com is an on-line portal owned by 3.14 Digital in New Delhi which lists 15000 colleges from different streams like Management, Engineering, medicine, commerce, arts, science and law. A simple search for a specific stream will list all colleges with information like different courses offered (full time/ part time/ distance/ on campus), contact details, address, website, photos, rating of the college, placement history and amenities.

 I was amazed to see the details about each college listed in the site!

Features of the website:

1. Search bar

User can search by college name, university, exam results etc.,

2   2.  Filtering of search results

Filtering can be done to a detail level by stream/ field of study, type of course (Part time/ Full time/ distance/ on campus), location etc.,

3    3. Detailed information on each college listed

Students can get detailed information on each college and courses offered by them.

4    4. Extra non-academic information

Non-academic information like facilities in the college (labs, library, auditorium etc.,), placement history and alumni details are useful for students to choose right college.

5. Latest updates on colleges

There is a separate section in website to cover latest admission notifications from different colleges. Exam results are also notified in this section.

Conclusion:

This website gives detail level information about each college listed.  Huge database of content collected and shown in the website is very useful for students. It would be easy to compare different colleges with the rating that site provides.  This website has a dedicated team to add high quality content periodically on cut offs, placements, admission, festivals and minute details like course intake fee and reservations. Though it basically caters to the needs of students, it is also beneficial for parents to compare colleges based on rating, fee and cut offs.

My Overall rating: 4/5

 Until next time,

Ri Homeland of Uncertainty - [Book Review]

Book Details:
Title: Ri Homeland of Uncertainty
Author: Paulami Duttagupta
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publishers: Fablery Publications

Story: This is a completely different book from all the books I have read so far. Book is the adaptation of national award winning Khasi film. 
Story is about a terrorist Manbha, who calls himself as a freedom fighter. His goal is to free Meghalaya from India as a separate state so that people in their state get basic necessities like water, food, good education and jobs. He is very deeply disappointed by the step motherly treatment of Indian government to the people from their state. He leads a strategic terror outfit with the aid of his boss 'Steve' in Bangladesh which aims to kill police and CRPF to bring terror in Shillong. 

He gets betrayed by a team member who is also a police informer 'George', loses his other team members in firing and escapes alone to hide in a journalist's house 'Emika'. Main part of the story is about the conversations between Emika and Manbha, how Manbha's ideologies and thoughts change after Emika let him understand the essence of humanity. I don't want to reveal the climax, but story ends in an unexpected way. Story gives a moral that guns will not solve problems. They bring more terror and uncertainty in society. Terror can never bring peace.

What i liked?
 I surely liked the message. Story is small, but brings the message straight forward  into our heart. Characterization is good. S P Kyndiah's character, his commitment and his feeling when he loses his loyal colleagues in firing operation is depicted very well. Emika, who is a journalist wins our heart for her bravery by handling the situation well when she knows that a terrorist is hiding in his home.  Manbha's character is the best as it shows varied emotions throughout. Even though he is a terrorist, he is a man with heart and he doesn't want to kill innocent people. Writing style is good and flow is smooth between different incidents in different places.

What I didn't like?
There is no specific point that i disliked. Basically, this story covers a serious concept and book handled this well. Might get boring for a normal book reader who enjoys fiction, twists and turns in the story. This is very realistic and straight to the point.

My rating:
4/5

Overall: A serious book with a message. You can purchase book at Rs 150 here. 

Until next time,

Growing saplings #Flash Fiction

7 year old Pragya daily waters the seeds

Planted in beautiful pots three in a row

To capture different stages of growing saplings for a school project

Excited she is!  One day, when she zoomed in her camera lens

Alas, found the washed out saplings due to previous day’s rain.

Linking this to the Fiction Challenge ‘From 15 to 50′ hosted here.

Phrase prompt: Three in a row

Word count: 50

Until next time,

Image courtesy: http://shailajav.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/from-15-to-50-fiction-link-up-september-2014/

Book bucket challenge - My top 10 favourite books

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This book bucket challenge is doing rounds on Facebook for a long time and I can't be away from this challenge being a book worm. What say?

Here goes the challenge:
Write the list of top 10 favorite books you read.
Post on the internet with hashtag #BookBucketChallenge and ask/ tag/ challenge your friends.


Pin it for later!

My top 10 favorite books:

1. Davinci Code by Dan Brown:

A fantastic read! I loved reading the puzzles, mysteries, myths, legends and a compelling storyline. My thirst for a thriller with a mix of history is satisfied. Became Dan Brown's fan from then and loved his other books like "Angels and demons" and "Digital Fortress". Read my review here and purchase from flipkart here. 





2. Angel of the dark by Sidney Sheldon

Another on the edge thriller which I couldn't keep away until I finished it. There are millions of fans to Sidney Sheldon and we all know each of his books is a gem. The writing style,  gripping narration, and character building are best in his novels. Read so many books later from the same author and it is really very difficult to choose the best one from his novels. Read my review here and purchase a book from Flipkart here. 




3. The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

I love to read history, especially to know about the customs and traditions followed in those times. This book describes the Mughal period at a very detailed level and also about the role of women in those times. The narration is very good. Read other novels too which are part of the Taj trilogy and loved them all. Read my review here and purchase a book from Flipkart here.




4. Wise and Otherwise by Sudha Murthy

Real-life stories and experiences of people interest me a lot. This is one of the books which gives a message at the end of each story. Each story emphasizes on the importance of moral values and how people's behavior changes with circumstances. Other books of Sudha Murthy like Dollar Bahu and Mahaswetha are worthy to read. Read my review here and purchase a book from Flipkart here.





5. The Seventh Secret by Irving Wallace

I don't have any words to explain how much I loved this book. This is about the story of Hitler in his last days, his strategies to escape enemy, a secret about the bunker he stayed at the end of his life, etc.,I like Irving Wallace's other novels too like 'The Fan club', 'The Second Woman' etc., His novels show that he does a lot of research on each topic that he writes. Read my review here and purchase a book from Flipkart here.




6. The complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes from childhood. I liked the climax of each short story and the way deductions are explained which are very easy to understand and apply in our day to day lives. After reading these detective stories, you will feel like you can deduct something from every small observation that we overlook. Read my review here and purchase a book from Flipkart here. 




7. The Best Laid Plans by Sidney Sheldon

Another entry from Sidney Sheldon novels. There are many good novels from this author which are a pure delight to read. It is difficult to choose one or 2 best novels out of many on the edge thrillers with gripping storylines. This is a story of love and betrayal with the power of politics. A gripping narration with lots of twists and turns. Purchase book from Flipkart here. 




8. Doctors by Erich Segal

Erich Segal's characters are very realistic and after reading the novel you cannot easily forget them. This novel gives so much information on the doctor's day to day lives, their challenges with a fantastic story in the backdrop. I loved each and every character in this book. This is one of the high volume books that I read (600+ pages) and completed quick. Other novels from the author like 'The Love story' and 'Man Woman and Child' are also fantastic reads. Purchase book from Flipkart here. 






9. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Another book from my favorite author. I like mystery, mythology, and history. This is the perfect combination you get from this book. You can understand about religion, historic places, events, and more about Rome and the Pope. The story is engaging throughout and book is a page-turner for sure. The argument between religion and science is also dealt with well in this book. Purchase book from Flipkart here.





10. A calendar too crowded by Sagarika Chakraborthy

This is a collection of short stories, mostly woman-oriented. All are heart touching and realistic. Each story explains the plights of women from different perspectives. Stories cover the most common problems of women like dowry deaths, female foeticide, gender discrimination, etc., the Writing style is simple, yet interesting. Read my review here and purchase a book from Flipkart here. 




So, how did you like my list of books.. Please let me know if you too love them :)

Until next time,

Image courtesy: All book images from goodreads.com

Thank you Teacher

India celebrates Teacher's day on September 5th, which is the birth date of a great teacher and second president of our country 'Dr. Sarvepalli RadhaKrishnan'. As a student, we used to participate in different activities and perform before our teacher in schools on that day to entertain them and to let them relax and enjoy in a happy mood. Our Principal used to recognize best teachers by awards and prizes. It used to be a fun event organized by students.

Teachers play a very important role in our lives. They mould us to be a great human beings. As per Indian mythology, we give great respect to them only to be next to our parents. On this day, I remember many wonderful teachers who impacted my life and want to tell them a big thank you.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. - Albert Einstein

My first teacher/ Guru is my dance teacher 'A Parvathi Ramachandran'. She is an excellent teacher guiding her students to be more creative on their own. Instead of giving traditional education, she encouraged us to experiment and set our own dancing style without imitating any one else's. What more can a student expect from a teacher?

Another teacher who i considered as inspiration was 'Mrs. Radhamani', she was my Telugu teacher in school. Her teaching style is excellent, whatever she teaches, it sticks to your heart and she knows how to impress us :) Being an introvert in school, I was hesitant in participating in debates/ elocution / any public facing performances. With her support, I gave a speech before whole school and earned accolades. She encouraged me to participate in Junior red cross camp to Shimla which made me self reliant and confident. 

There are many teachers from our college who encouraged students to think innovative or to think beyond our books. There are many teachers who made me realize that bookish knowledge alone is not enough in this world and learning is a continuous process. There are many mentors in my professional life who guided in my successful career. 

Even though I couldn't name each and everyone here, I am indebted for their guidance and suggestions and would like to say my heart-felt Thanks.

Thank you teacher. I wish you a very happy Teacher's day :)

Until next time,

Image courtesy: www.glavo.net

Private India - [Book review]

Book details:
Title: Private India
Author: Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson
Publisher: Random house
No. of pages: 480
Genre: Crime thriller

My Expectation: I like murder mysteries, had been an ardent fan of Sherlock Holmes from childhood :) I also like Ashwin Sanghi's novels, which are thrillers with a mix of mythology. Haven't read any novels of James Petterson, but knew that he is an expert in thrillers. After reading the blurb at the backside of the book, i was expecting an on the edge thriller.

Story: A series of murders come into light in Mumbai and a private detective agency 'Private India' with intelligent staff takes up the case. All victims are women and murderer leaves clues by placing some objects near the victim. It is very clear that murderer enjoys the art of killing. He takes care by not leaving any prints/ clues to trace him back although he leaves a strand of hair at every victim. Can 'Private India' team tackle the problem and stop the murders at right time? This forms the remaining story.

My Take:
Guys.. what is new in this story? we have heard of many stories of pschyo killers with series of murders and detectives finding clues to atlast find him to stop in the last murder. Sometimes, eventhough story is not interesting, the way it is written might impress to read you the book. I see a lot of confusion in the book, with many characters being simply added as masala mix. A connection to the murders with ISI, Indian mujahuddin, Nimboo baba, match fixing and drug dealer Munna, an Attorney General etc. doesn't seem very relavant.

Yes, story becomes interesting in the middle, but i lost interest at the end and i was waiting for the story to end soon. There are many things which i felt were unnecessary and illogical.

1. How Indian government can give a case like this (series of murders) to a private agency even though the agency is very famous and capable. Since Private India cannot deduce much until 6th murder and cannot stop the massacre till 8th one, at least Government would have included CBI logically. What say?
2. I don't understand the importance of a few characters like Munna and Nimboo baba. Good to read about some realistic characters, but how good it is when they are not directly relevant to the story or doesn't contribute much.
3. Epilogue and last few pages are very boring.
4. Too many cooks spoiled the broth. You heard the saying right? It is a disappointment for Ashwin Sanghi's fans, as they expect some mythology touch and something new to learn. Readers of James Patterson might feel better as it is a thriller, but the plot might not impress them.

My Rating: 3/5
I wouldn't recommend this to die hard thriller fans. Good for a time pass read in a train / bus journey. Forgot to tell you! the big font is a savior for eyes. No stress in reading 450+ pages, hope other publishers also concentrate on font too along with story line.

In case, you want to purchase book from flipkart at Rs.193, here is the link.

Until next time,

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!