Urban shots - Bright lights - [Book review]

This time, i got a chance to read another short story collection edited by Paritosh Uttam titled 'Urban shots - Bright Lights'. 
Earlier, i read 'Wise and Otherwise' by Sudha murthy which is one of the best short story books that i read so far. You can find review here. 



Book details :
Name:  Urban Shots - Bright Lights
Price: Rs. 199/-
Publisher: GreyOak in association with Westland


It is a roller coaster ride of emotions when i go through this book as there are different stories with different story lines edited to  the perfection by Paritosh. Some stories make you feel the pain of characters, some are funny and light reads , some are emotional and we can relate to them easily, whereas some will make you think about the characters even after few days. There are also a few stories which are not that great. All stories are just 4 or 5 pages and so it is very easy to read. People who are not book lovers may also enjoy this book. 


Book starts with a story 'Amul'. Author 'Aravind chandrasekhar' takes you to the heart of an innocent child who is ill and how she perceives harsh realities around her life. It is interesting to read how she correlates maths principles to happenings in her life.
'Across the seas' is another heart touching story about a mother waiting eagerly for her son working in another country to come home and how happy she feels reading the letter from him. We can relate this to many people that we see around us, as author 'Ahmed Faiyaz' has written it in a very realistic way. Iam really impressed with the writing style of Ahmed after reading his other stories also like Mr Perierra, It's all good and Jet set Go!
'Maami menace' is very hilarious and a joyful read. 'Father of my Son' and 'Good morning Nikhil' doesn't have a story line exactly but every family can relate to those easily as they capture a simple happy family moments. My favourite story is 'The rain coat' by 'Rashmi Sahi'. Many parents try hard to get the best things for their children but children may not realize the value of small sacrifices made by their parents. In this story, 'Roma' could understand her mother's sacrifice at last. 
P.K Koshy's daily routine seems to be a unique story. It makes you involved in the character and make you think like a retired government employee and see his office and neighborhood through his eyes. It also shows how artificially an employer gives a send off to their employee after working with dedication for whole life when we read his reaction about the gift that he receives from his ex-colleagues.
The weeping girl is just awesome! climax is very funny indeed. 
I mentioned only a few stories that i liked out of 29 stories in this book.
My Rating : 3 out of 5 
Do read when you get time and let me know what you felt :)
Book is on a discount in flipkart.com. Try it if you are interested.


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


Until next time,

Travelling by auto in Hyderabad - Not an easy task

To all those who travel by autos in Hyderabad.. do you have a hassle free travel always? I have a few good and many not so good experiences.
I have patience of a saint.. not kidding :) true! i wont get angry often and even if i get, i wont lose control of myself and shout/ scold in the peak of my voice. I try to control and talk about the issue with logic. But, when it comes to auto wallahs i just lose my patience and get angry. See below some of the reasons..

1. Auto fares: First thing that irritates me is autos not having meters. In few areas of Hyderabad, autos will not have meters which show fare and distance. Even if some autos have, 80% of them are tampered as per ndtv survey!
Auto wallahs who doesn't have meters for their autos will demand a hell lot of amount(which is at least Rs.50+ genuine meter fare) and our skill of bargaining helps to some extent. If you speak perfect hyderabadi language with confidence,there are more chances of reducing the fare.


Got this info from andhraspider.com which might be useful to know auto fares:
Minimum Fare for Autos in Hyderabad: Rs14 for first 1.5Km
Fare per km: Rs8perKm
Waiting Charges: Rs15/hour – minimum 1minute is taken
No extra charge for luggage
Formula for calculating cost of your journey (for more than 15kms): Rs. [14 + (Total Distance-1.5)*8] 


2. Language: Some auto drivers here just try to scare you by speaking in urdu/ hindi, especially if you are a Telugu person. So, usually people who come from different places of Andhra feel un-comfortable to bargain in Hindi. This is what they want! I have come across some auto drivers who are reckless, drive very fast, doesn't talk with respect etc., So, any day, if i come across an auto driver who speaks to passengers with respect, i just give him extra money without bargaining much. Because, it is very difficult to find these kind of people.


3. Safety:  Just observe traffic signals.. autos being small, move between vehicles easily. If you are a newbie driver, then first thing you should be careful about in cities are auto drivers. Autos go zig zag in the gaps between vehicles so easily like bikes do. Forget about safety if you are travelling in share autos. They can fit any number of people in auto and driver will be fine with very less space for him to sit/ even stand. 


Sometimes, i feel taxis are better when compared to autos except for the fact that they are not very economical. It will cost around Rs.100 by auto from our place to Secunderabad railway station and auto drivers will demand at least Rs.150. If we book a cab, it will cost Rs.250, but driver will be waiting at your door step 10 mins before the expected time to leave. Since distance is constant and time to reach station will be within one hour, there will not be any change in cab fare. There will be enough space for luggage and 4 persons can travel comfortably in cab with AC.
What you say?


Until next time,

Image courtesy: http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/

A day @ papyrus port resort, Hyderabad

Entrance of resort

Free birds

Resto-Bar

      We went for an office outing to this resort named 'Papyrus port' which is located in Thimmapur, near Shamshabad, Hyderabad on Bangalore highway. The theme of the resort being Egypt, it looks cool as seen in photos. This is a very small resort when compared to many other good resorts in Hyderabad like Leonia, Golkonda, Pragathi , Lahari resorts etc., We cannot find much greenery inside unlike other resorts and it is not well maintained. Actually, after reading many reviews about the resort online, i knew it is not worth a visit, but wanted to check what is not good there :p. 
Food was good on that day and swimming pool was also nice where dinner was arranged. Staff doesn't look professional and the tables, table cloth and plates on which food was served were not looking that good either. There is a place constructed for boating which is empty. So, no option of boating too.. There is a room for indoor games  and a conference hall. There are 26 rooms to provide accommodation. I give a rating of 2/5 to this resort. Check the photos below :)

isn't it nice?

Lovely!

near entrance

Pyramid construction

Mummy model

Until next time,

My first steps of dance

Remembering today my childhood dance school days..  
My parents made me join a dance class at very young age when i didn't even know what dance is. my father has inclination towards literature and telugu poetry.He wrote some poems and short stories in his childhood which were published in magazines. My mother didn't learn any art form but she is a good listener of classical music and used to enjoy classical dance. They both decided to make my sister and myself artists so that we impart our values, culture and Indian arts to our next generation.


       For me, dance has become a part of my childhood. It was a daily routine to go to school in the mornings and go to dance class in the evenings. Our dance class was just a Walk able distance from home. So it was not a problem at all to attend classes daily. Without realizing any importance of dance, few years passed and even i gave arangatram. My parents used to feel proud whenever i performed well on stage or get some prize and that was enough for me. i didn't have any big dreams about my dancing career at that time. But, as i grew up i could understand the importance of it and how it changed my lifestyle, my attitude etc.,


Here below are some advantages that i found by learning dance 


1. Children who participate in extra curricular activities behave mature and they are able to handle pressure situations better than others. They will be more expressive or communicative.
2. Arts improve concentration. When we take dance for example, we need to concentrate on rhythm of music played, on lyrics of song and expression. In case of music, we need to concentrate on shruthi, raga and laya.
3. Arts give discipline in life. Children who learn them will manage time better and utilize time in a better way instead of wasting time watching unnecessary things in TV.
4. Arts will improve innovation and creativity. My dance teacher never restricted me saying we should perform a song only in one particular way with particular steps. She used to help me in understanding the meaning of the song and explain steps based on rhythm and encourage to use my creativity to develop it further.

What is your take on this? 


Image courtesy: Google

Shimla camp - childhood memories

I will be performing classical dance tomorrow after a break of around 4 years. Iam very excited about it and you know.. my brain is getting flooded with childhood memories of my dance performances, different places we visited for  performances, different people we met etc.,


There was one children camp conducted by Junior red cross in Taradevi, Shimla. We were around 10 pupil selected from our school for the camp. This was the first trip for me outside Andhra pradesh, so i was very excited. I could say we learnt a lot from the camp. There were sessions conducted on health care, first aid techniques, preparing for disasters, voluntary service etc., Competitions were conducted on different areas like dance, music, painting, dairy reading etc.,(i received first prize in dance and second in dairy reading). Motto of JRC being HELP, SERVICE and FRIENDSHIP, all sessions or contests or activities were aligned to encourage humanity and voluntary service in children. 


They organized trekking to Tara devi temple from our accommodation which is nearer to 'Tara devi' station. It might be around 4 to 5 kms distance and it was raining heavily from morning. Nothing could dampen our excitement and it was fun to see all students wearing rain coats, carrying umbrellas walking on very narrow muddy roads in the forest. Since the road was also slippery, it was not an easy job. After reaching the hill, it was just fantastic scenery you could ever imagine with clouds below your feet. The view of Taradevi temple and landscape from hillock gives breathtaking experience. This temple is dedicated to goddess Tara devi one of the ten personifications of Parvathi, wife of Lord Shiva. The next day, we went to Shimla town and have done some shopping in 'The Mall'. Green apples were dead cheap and very delicious. Train journey from Kalka to Shimla was unforgettable as train crawls through many tunnels and around valleys. We can view Himachal pradesh apple juice factory on the way. 


Trip was for around 10 days and we missed our train while returning to Kalka from Shimla. Since there were no trains to Kalka from Taradevi station, we decided to walk through the tunnel between 'Taradevi' station and Shimla railway station to catch the next train to Kalka. It was a bit scary, but  fantastic experience to walk through rails in the darkness. 


This trip is very much close to my heart and closest encounter with the beauty of nature. Iam indebted to 'Radhamani' teacher who selected me for this trip and organized the trip very well and made it memorable in our lives.

Image courtesy: Google

Shop Shop till you drop !

         Last week when I was travelling from begumpet to Hitec city in Hyderabad, I was surprised to see that each and every shop has some percentage of discount/ clearance sale/ year end sale or whatever you name it mentioned. This might be a shopping season of the year as i see same kind of discounts every year between December and mid of February. If I say, it’s honeymoon period for shopaholics in Hyderabad, its not an exaggeration. If you don’t believe, just have a look at the list below.. ooo.. a long list!

Apparel sale

Pantaloons

Lifestyle

Central shopping mall

Kashish

Spykar

Brand factory

Coupon

Kalaniketan

Biba

Globus

Levis

Reliance trends and so on..

Others

Centro

Mochi

Reebok

@home

Reliance footprint etc.,

          Thinking.. if I explore and shop in all these, I might end up with longest monthly credit card statement of the year and zero credit.. I may not go for it yet as iam not a shopaholic and don’t have much patience for shopping. But, whoever is interested in shopping, enjoy the shopping spree J

Image courtesy : Google images

Until next time..

A plea - Contribute to Vaidehi ashram, Hyderabad

I frequently read blogs of Siri for cooking tips and interesting recipes. But this post in her blog moved me. This is about a fund drive organized by her to contribute to destitute girls in Vaidehi ashram which is in Saidabad, Hyderabad. Ashram works for adolescent girl child empowerment by providing education and vocational training for self reliance.


Some details about Vaidehi Ashram:
Ashram established in 1993, is home of 120 destitute girl children. The Ashram has two caretakers who bestow the children with motherly care. The girls are imparted education in Saraswathi Sishu Mandir High School, which has an exceptional academic record. 
Address:
Vaidehi Ashram 
17-1-473/v/3&4,
krishna nagar ,
Saidabad,
Hyderabad-500059.
Ph.no:(040)24075544
see more details :www.sewabharathi.org


This is how the Fund drive works..
1. Click on 'Chip In' button and contribute fund using paypal/ credit card. You can donate any amount. Each $10 donation will give you one raffle ticket towards a raffle prize of your choice. 1 raffle ticket = Rs.500
2. Check the list of 40+Raffle prizes to decide on which raffle prize you like.
3. Once the donation process is completed, please forward your payment confirmation message to info(dot)siri(at)gmail.com, clearly specifying which raffle prize(s) you are interested in.


Isn't the process easy?? Please contribute if you want to help the needy.

The event will close on 25th February and winners will be announced on 27th February via a random drawing by the Ashram kids. :-) 

Until next time..

A calendar too crowded - [Book review]

Book Name: A calendar Too crowded
Author : Sagarika chakraborthy
Publisher : Niyogi Books
Price : Rs.295
 I got introduced to this book through book review program by blogadda.com. If not this case, i would not have tried reading this book, considering it as a serious read from the book synopsis on the cover. Basically, iam not interested in books with serious note and love light reads like Chetan Bhagath's. But, from the day i completed reading introduction and first story, i felt like its worth reading. 


What this is about?                
         A calendar too crowded is a collection of heart touching and realistic short stories and poems on empowerment of women. The background theme of the book is to remind us international days dedicated to women and compare with the realistic world about how these days are forgotten immediately after celebration. It tells us that there is more to do for the welfare of women than celebrating some days dedicated on their name. Characters in this book are nameless, to signify that we can relate woman in each story to someone who is around us or even to us. 
                
Few words about the author and her writing style
         Sagarika, a law graduate have published and presented papers at international conferences on diverse subjects like corporate governance principles, monetary economics, religion etc., She is excellent in story telling with humorous, satirical and realistic touch. Even though it's a fiction work, each story moves you and makes you think about the concerned issue at least for some time. Personally, i felt writing style is good and interesting. 


Some of the best stories that i liked:
The gift called 'Life' - Excellent narration. Every woman can relate to each and everything mentioned in this story. Somewhere in life she might have faced any of those situations mentioned
Finding an Ideal mother to my unborn child - A good lesson for all those mothers who pamper their son from childhood  without letting him know their own problems, sacrifice their time, ideals and life for them and expect the same from their daughter in law. It emphasizes on imbibing good values in children and making them ready to understand and solve problems in life instead of taking all burden away from them.
Witch without a broomstick - This is about a story of a young window and the way Indian society treats her. 
Behind those whispers - It's such a nicely written poem which iam sure every Indian woman can relate to.
Selling a Body to gain a mind - Story is about a prostitute who doesn't want her child to be like her. Amazing spirit and positive attitude of the characters leave us spell bound. I appreciate the way characters are molded and the internal message they give to us. 
Naked - its a very realistic story about the way society reacts to a situation.
Knowledge beyond the printed letters - It's about an ideal house wife cum social welfare activist. This doesn't seem to be practical but we might see those kind of women rarely in our day to day life.
Living by double edged sword - this is about dowry law (IPC section 498A) and to show how it is being misused most of the times.


Even though it is very tough for me to chose best out of many good short stories, i tried to share some above. I liked the way author has explained or touched upon an issue in a very simple way and with subtle manner. I surely recommend this book to everyone, especially women. 
You can buy this book from here:

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

Until next time..

Too busy to care for the society??

              There are many things in our life, which move us and seek our help, but we still ignore them due to our busy routine schedules. Sometimes, its not because we are busy, its because we don't give much preference to it or just that we don't care. 


              Today, found about a contest 'Too busy to care' by Jaagore in collaboration with blogadda.com. You too can participate in the contest, follow the below link:
http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/03/02/too-busy-to-care-tbtc-syndrome-tata-jaago-re
Iam too busy to care, but want to do something. Jaago Re and BlogAdda.com are helping me do my bit for the society.
Sharing my experiences -


               First thing that comes to my mind is removal of dead animals on roads. Many a times i have seen dead animals on Old bombay road (Knowledge park right from Gachibowli road) on the way to office. Everyone will be busy to go to office, so, no one does anything to move dead animal off the road. Many times, i wanted to call any animal welfare organization to remove them off the road, but i couldn't as i don't have number handy and i don't have time to Google for it. It seems bad and inhuman when vehicles go fast over dead animals and the rotten smell pollutes the air. 


Here are contact numbers for Hyderabad (got from google):
Blue cross for animal welfare: (0)40-244355 / 238071

GHMC (Great hyderabad  municipal corporation) : 9440448158

If we save these numbers and keep them handy, it will be useful.

           Second thing that comes to my mind is wastage of food in marriages. We, Indians celebrate functions/ marriages with at least 10 varieties in lunch/ dinner to show our affluence and prestige in society. When our estimates go wrong, many items are left out and they are thrown to dust bin. I always think,  it will be nice, if we can distribute these left overs to some one who are hungry. There are many non profit organizations set up these days to help hotels/ marriage parties to distribute these left overs to slums and orphanages. They will check that food is not spoiled before picking up.

Here are the contact details of an organization called RHEED - Rural health employment education development which does this in Hyderabad

I believe in this - whatever good we do as an individual will help the society, however small it is. 

Until next time..

Prajwala Foundation

This time, it is a serious issue that moved me after watching the below video in you tube. This lecture given by sunitha Krishnan is doing rounds in face book and emails from long time. This lecture makes us realize how lucky we are, to be born and brought up in a very good environment with all amenities and with various options in life to chose from. Please watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeOumyTMCI8 


          Dr. Sunitha Krishnan is a mental health professional, she has done extensive research and is essentially a field practitioner. She has been instrumental in rescuing hundreds of children from severely abusive conditions and restoring childhood to them. She co-founded 'Prajwala Foundation' with Bro Jose Vetticatil. 


Activity: Prajwala is an non-governmental organization in Hyderabad, India, opposed to forced prostitution and sex trafficking.Today, Prajwala runs over 17 transition centres in different areas of Andhra Pradesh for the sex workers’ children. Over 5,000 children have benefited from the second generation prevention programme. The organisation, so far, has rescued more than 2,500 victims with the help of the information provided by its partners and through police intervention. The organisation has 80 members in India and 25 members abroad.
Support: Sex-slavery, prostitution, rehabilitation, girl-child
Note: Financial support, volunteers
This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple steps. Visit http://www.blogadda.com/bsr/ and support the NGO's.


Here is their official website http://www.prajwalaindia.com/ 
We can contribute financially or volunteer ourselves for help. Please support the good cause, if you are interested.

Address:
Prajwala 20-4-34, III Floor, Behind Charminar Bus Stand Charminar,    Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh, INDIA Zip/Pin: -500 002 Ph: +91 40 24510290 Fax: +91 40 24410813 

Until next time..

Weekend gateways from Hyderabad

It's holiday season!! at least, it is for people like me who are working for US clients. Many of our clients will be on vacation from December last week to Jan first week and so we get time to plan long vacations. Iam thinking about how different we can spend this weekend, welcoming new year. 


This time, Dec 31st and Jan 1st are on weekend days, so there will be crowd in every party in city and in malls. What can be a peaceful, but a rejuvenating place away from city buzz? Browsed a lot on net about weekend gateways from Hyderabad. Following are a few good options within 300km range:
1. Srisailam
2. Nagarjuna sagar
3. Ananthagiri - Vikarabad
4. Wargal saraswathi temple
5. Basara
6. Yadagiri gutta 
7. Bidar 
8. Warangal
9. Kurnool
10. Mantralayam


Srisailam is located in Nallamalai hills in Kurnool district on the banks of river Krishna. Besides the Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy Temple, clusters of minor shrines and Wildlife Sanctuary, there is the 512 m long Srisailam Dam on the River Krishna, which offers views of the Ghats, cliffs and forests. 


Nagarjuna sagar is around 150 kms from hyderabad. Nagarjuna sagar dam, Ethipothala waterfalls, Museum with Budhist excavations on Nagarjuna konda are some of the tourist attractions here.


Ananthagiri hills near Vikarabad is nice peaceful place away from city buzz. Lord Anantha padmanabha temple, Vikarabad forest, trekking in Ananthagiri hills are main tourist attractions.


Wargal saraswathi temple is located on a hill top in medak district on karimnagar highway. There is an idol about 10 feet high in front of the temple, which is a magnificent piece of art. The temple architecture is very good. 


Basara gnana saraswathi temple is located on banks of river Godavari about 205 kms. from hyderabad. This is famous place to do 'Akshara abhyasam' for children before commencing formal school education. Lord Shiva temple near Godavari bank is also a beautiful place.


Just 60kms from Hyderabad is holy shrine of Lakshmi narasimha swamy temple in yadagirigutta. Surendrapuri and Bhongiri fort are also good places to visit.


Bidar is a historic place in north-eastern part of Karnataka. It is a popular tourist destination for monuments and temples built in Bahmani era. Bidar fort and tombs of Bahmanis are popular tourist attractions. Black bug jungle resort is an excellent lakeside resort in the forest.


Warngal has many excellent places to visit. Ramappa temple, Ramappa lake, Thousand pillars temple, pakala lake, Bhadrakali temple , Warangal fort and Eturu nagaram sancturay are only a few to name.


Kurnool is a beautiful city on the banks of Thungabhadra river. Kondareddy buruju (kurnool fort), Belum caves, Ahobilam, sangameswaram, Alampur and Mahanandi are some of the important places to visit around Kurnool.


Raghavendraswamy temple ,Lakshmi venkateswara temple in Mutt complex and Panchamukha temple in Raichur are some of the tourist places in Mantralayam. Navabrindavan, an island in between two branches of River Tungabhadra, between the districts of Koppal and Bellary, is at a distance of 175 km from Mantralayam.


So, What's your plan for new year??

Until next time..

Book reading as a hobby

            My hobby of reading books started while I was waiting for my entrance test results to join engineering program. There was one novel 'The Hound of Baskervilles' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which impressed me a lot in my school days. So, I collected all short stories and novels by him and started reading them. The stories about Sherlock Holmes' cases were so good that I completed the entire collection in 2 months (Believe me!! there are 1200 short stories and 4 novels of Sherlock holmes). Then, I started reading the works of Agatha Christie, Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Paulo Coelho, etc. I have also read works of Indian authors such as Jhumpa Lahari, Chetan Bhagat, and Shoba dey. 

           In the early days, I used to keep a note of words that I couldn't understand, search them in dictionary and try to frame a sentence with those new words. In this way, I learnt many new words and improved my vocabulary. I had to give a break to my hobby after I joined college  as I couldn't spare much time for reading. I could take up my hobby again after I moved to a new job in Chennai. I took up membership in a library and read different kind of books.

I feel, everyone can improve their communication skills by just starting with a hobby like reading books and then try to develop other areas like speaking, grammar, and writing.

Revolution 2020 - [Book review]

This post may contain affiliate links, clicking on those links may earn some commission to us without any additional cost to you.          

    I recently read a book 'Revolution 2020' by Chetan Bhagat.I started loving Chetan Bhagat's books from the day i read his book 'One night at call centre'.Then, read  all his books - 'Five point someone', 'The 3 mistakes of my life' and '2 states'.Especially, i was impressed with his writing style in simple English.'One night at call centre' has a good message to follow one's own dreams and work hard for it.'Five point someone' and 'The 3 mistakes of my life' are easy going and interesting. My favorite has been '2 states' which shows the attempts of a couple from 2 states (Punjab and Tamil nadu) to convince their parents for their marriage.

             I would say 'Revolution 2020' is more matured concept-wise when compared to other books. 'corrupted education system' and Love triangle form main backdrop of story. Raghav, Gopal and Arti are friends struggling for success and love in Varanasi. Gopal  is relatively poor among friends and couldn't get a good rank enough in entrance test to enter IITs to do engineering. He feels money can give happiness in his life. He loves Arti very much. Raghav is a kind of guy who wants to fight against corruption, any wrong doing in the society and want to bring in revolution in the youth. Arti loves Raghav and Gopal is in deep love with Arti, though she considers him as only her best friend. 


             Unlike other stories of Chetan's , we feel this has more melodrama and emotions. One weak point i feel is author couldn't explain Revolution 2020 clearly. So, i didn't feel the title is apt. Another weak point is, the story seems to be predictable in the last few chapters. One plus point is the way author explained  education system, how students pressurise themselves to get an engineering seat in IITs, how private engineering colleges gain advantage due to this, how easy it is to start and maintain an engineering college in illegal ways with the support of power and money. Another thing i like is, Chetan wont project or judge his characters as heroes or villains. He tries to depict a common man, and it is for us to decide what is right and what is wrong. 


Overall, this is good read for time pass. I feel, '2 states' is the best novel of Chetan Bhagat till date.



 
Until next time..

Wise and otherwise - [Book review]

                   I love reading books a lot. Real life stories or experiences of people interest me. Recently i borrowed a book from library named 'Wise and Otherwise' written by 'Sudha Murthy'. Yeah.. Sudha Murthy is wife of Infosys founder Mr. Narayan Murthy. Heard a lot about her social work earlier and once even read a forwarded mail about her speech. It was inspiring. She is known for her Philanthropic work through Infosys foundation. She was the first woman engineer to be selected in Tata motors. She initiated a move to provide library and computer facilities to all government schools in Karnataka.

                 The book 'Wise and Otherwise' contains many short stories which are of maximum 6 pages each. Actually, they are not stories, but real life experiences of Sudha Murthy when she visited different places and met different people in her life. Mostly, all stories are around emphasizing the importance of moral values and about people's behavior in different circumstances. For novel readers, it may not sound like a very interesting book, but for people who like reading non-fiction, close to reality stories, this will be the best option. I feel, title is also apt and funny. 

So, if you get time, don't miss reading it! 

You can buy this book from here:

Until next time..

'The Namesake' - Life of Indian immigrants in US - [Book review]

 This post may contain affiliate links, clicking on those links may earn some commission to us without any additional cost to you.

'The Namesake' is an excellent novel written by 'Jhumpa Lahiri', who is a well known author and Pulitzer award winner. Her style of writing is different and she excels in explaining characters and their emotions in different layers and different perspectives. The first book written by her 'Interpreter of Maladies' is also a nice read. It is a collection of short stories.

Book Details:

Title: The Namesake

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri

Genre: Literary Fiction

Publisher: Mariner Books Classics

Print length: 336 pages

Purchase Link: 

Amazon

My Review:

       The story of Namesake is basically about a couple from Calcutta who settle in U.S, their experiences, their attempts to retain the roots of Indian culture and also to adapt US culture for the sake of their children. It also explains the conflicts that arise between Indian parents and their children grown up in U.S.

       Ashok and Ashima are basically from a joint family background and so it is difficult for them to adapt to US culture. In India, they were always surrounded by people; they used to celebrate festivals together with all family members. They used to live with elder family members, respect them, and take their advice in everything they do. Their marriage also happened only after the consent of their families. It was not their choice to marry one another. So, we could understand that family and Bengali culture have become integral parts of their lives. So, they try to create a small Bengali world in US. They celebrate festivals and poojas together with Bengali families.

       Ashima misses her family much when she is pregnant. As a young woman who didn’t move outside Calcutta in her life until her marriage, it is very difficult for her to cope up with things like taking care of a baby by herself. At one point, after her delivery, she tells Ashoke “I don’t want to raise Gogol alone in this country. It’s not right”. Somehow, she manages to bring up their children in US. Still, she tries to make their children know Indian culture and participate in Pujas etc., She carefully collects his father’s paintings sent through post and make Gogol play with them. She wants her children to know about their family in India. She doesn’t like when Sonia wants to cut her hair till jaws.

         As story moves forward Ashoke and Ashima change themselves to a large extent for their children. They celebrate Christmas only to make their children happy even though they are not Christians. They celebrate Thanks giving day too. Whenever they throw Gogol’s birthday parties, they invite his American school friends and serve them western food. When Gogol brings Maxine and her family to home, Ashima welcomes them and makes them feel comfortable even though she doesn’t like Gogol’s relationship with Maxine.

         Gogol and Sonia, as they were brought up in US, don’t feel a homely bond to India as their parents do. Gogol wants to be an American. Both of them don’t like to be in Bengali parties, get together with Bengali families and they don’t look forward to long trips to India. But, after his father’s death, Gogol understands the guilt that their parents carried inside, at being able to do nothing when their parents had died in India. He even appreciates his father’s courage to come to US and settle.

        Ashoke and Ashima gave more freedom to their children, because of which Gogol and Sonia don’t face much conflict. They were allowed to pursue the career in whatever way they wanted. Usually this may not be the case for many couples who move from India and settle in US. They won’t give much freedom to their children and force them to follow Indian culture, which brings constant conflicts between children and parents.

          I feel, it requires more confidence and courage to settle somewhere else which is not the country where we are born/ grew up. Adapting the culture of other country is most important of everything. We should have an open mind to understand foreign culture and accept things. Naturally, our behavior will get influenced by the religion and the society we were born/ grown up. So, it is not easy to retain roots and still accept a new culture. 

Another point is to get away with the insecure feeling that we are immigrant. Sometimes, local residents of country may look down to you, or tease or doesn’t help much. Couples who leave for other countries for professional reasons are fine until they get children. When it comes to children, they want to make them understand and respect their own culture, so few people will think of leaving their children with their grandparents in home town for basic studies to expose them to their country environment. They cannot accept their children to completely become a foreigner adapted to the new culture, forgetting their religion and culture.

Until next time..