Kurukshetra by Krishna Udayasankar - [Book Review]

Book details:
Title - The Aryavartha Chronicles book 3 - Kurukshetra
Author - Krishna Udayasankar
Genre - fiction, mythology
No. Of pages - 436
Publishers - Hachette India
Source: A free review copy from blogadda book review program

My first thoughts: I love reading mythology. I already knew every small story of the epic Mahabharatha. Heard those from my father in childhood. So, iam not reading this book to know story. Kurukshetra war is the result of many politics, it is very interesting to know how people from same lineage fought for power, how alliances formed, what strategies are used, how betrayals happened and at last, how dharma won.

Author's first note clearly says he is not retelling the epic but telling the story imagining every character as human with emotions. I liked this perspective. When we consider Sri krishna as God and read the story we believe everything he has done is right and good for the society. But, if we imagine him as a human being, we understand the reasoning behind each decision he took and his emotions. So, this epic can be read in a complete different perspective.

I felt, font size is very small and hard on eyes. Even for an avid reader like me completing 436 page book with this font is intimidating. :-)

Even though each character's name is explained just before the starting of the story, it was really confusing for me to follow for sometime. I got comfortable after reading a few pages. Matching the names that we now and the name they gave in the book is slightly time taking. I am reading part 3 book of chronicle directly without reading earlier parts, so it was difficult for me to understand terminology like 'Firewrights'. 

Plot: This starts from Krishna (Govinda Shauri, as mentioned in book) going to Kaurava court as mediator to negotiate on necessity of war. Since war became imminent, it becomes interesting how Kaurava and pandavas form alliances with other kings and make strategies for the war.

What I liked?
The episode of Shikandi, his feelings of hatred on his own father, his revenge to Bhishma explained well. I don't know much about Uttara, Abhimanyu's wife until I read this book. She is shown as independent woman who thinks she is equally good as her husband. The final fight between Bhim and Suyodhana also explained well.

I liked the book because it is not a retelling of the epic and it is interesting to imagine all Mahabharata characters as mortals. Author's knowledge, research and her interpretation should be appreciated for sure. 

What I didn't like?
Font size is a put down. Names of characters are slightly confusing. I felt, it would have been easy if I read earlier parts of this chronicle, before reading this one. I didn't feel it very easy to understand. 

One more thing, book might be boring for a few, as main focus is on war and planning for it. So, description of war, weapons, strategies, revenge and violence might not be a good time pass read. Pick the book only if you want to know more about Kurukshetra imagining every character as mortal. 

My overall rating: 3/5

Until next time,

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

Teaching good manners to kids

Teaching good manners to kids is not an easy task. We have to show them examples and make them understand - what is right and what is wrong. As we all know, we cannot be right always it's a bit difficult right? Sometimes, we can be right, but majority might follow the wrong path. Then, comes the dilemma for the kid, which one to follow. 

India has many paradoxes. We make it a point to clean our homes for every festival but, don't care on spreading litter outside our houses. We teach our kids not to spread litter but we ourselves throw things on the road from car. 

There are many historic places in Hyderabad which are stained with pan marks. Throwing litter and spitting everywhere has become common. Actually, if we see, problem is not with the government or policies, but, with the people and society. If we care for our country, our environment, we don't spread litter and teach the same to kids by example. right?

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My 3 year old and me are coming up in lift in our apartments and he asked me about the red design on lift walls.
What can I say? It's a design made by someone spitting pan on the wall :-o
I told the same and told it's not good to spit on the wall. But, if he sees many people spitting in public, how does he get my words into his brain? By the way, it's very common in Hyderabad to spit on roads.

***************************************************************
Whenever I pick my kid from his school back to home, I ask him to go for loo and start :-). 
You guessed it right :-), I don't want him to pee on road on the way.
One day, he didn't go for loo before starting and he pestered me to stop the car in the middle. When I told him ok, he got down and said 'gandhaa' (dirty in hindi) and told he wont pee on the roadside. Thank God! Whatever may be the reason, Iam happy that he decided not to pee on the road :-)

****************************************************************
My kid loves travelling by train. We usually pack our dinner for evening and night travels. Whenever  there is some garbage left after our dinner, I tell him to throw in the dust bin provided in the train and not outside. But, Is it always possible? Most of the trains have dust bins in AC coaches, Iam not very sure of non-AC coaches.

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Now, our PM has come up with a campaign on Swacha Bharath and he included celebrities too. Inclusion of celebrities should surely improve the impact. Let's see. Let's change for good. Let us hope that our next generation doesn't feel bad while teaching good manners. 

This post is inspired by this video from http://greatindian.timesofindia.com/... 
The Great Indian Litterbug in a humorous way :)





Until next time,

When she smiled by Ritoban Chakrabarty - [Book Review]

Hello everyone! My first book review of the year 2015 :) This is a teenage love story in the backdrop of beautiful Shivalik hills of Shimla.

Book Details:
Title - When she smiled
Author - Ritoban Chakrabarthy
Genre - Teenage love, fiction
No. of pages - 212
Source - A free special review copy from author

 Plot (Spoiler alert!): 
This is the story of a 15year old boy Mrityunjoy - his school days, his first love, love failure and how he has come out of the heartbreak etc., Not a very long story with twists and turns. Mrityunjoy joins back his old school DAV after leaving Sainik school due to injuries and wanted to start a fresh year by meeting his old friends. He meets a beautiful girl in his class whose name is Akanksha and completely bitten by her gorgeous looks on first sight itself. He continues friendship and meets her in Physics tuition class. They become close very soon, start sharing their family details and have fun time walking down to home from their tution. Everyone in the class envy Mrityunjoy for winning her love but their love breaks due to some small misunderstandings. When Akanksha starts friendship with Neeraj and enjoys his company in dance classes, Mrityunjoy cannot accept the situation and still hopes to be with her. Atlast, how he comes out of depression and takes a decision to leave his first love and moves to some other town concentrating on his career forms the climax. 

What I liked?
I have been to Shimla in childhood and knew Ritz , mall road , kalika temple and scenic beauty of that place. It's refreshing to feel the scenic beauty and first snow in Shimla from the book, it's written very well. Flow of the story is good, though sometimes it's a bit slow. Characterization is good. Especially, Mrityunjoy's parents - how they fight for silly reasons, how they don't appreciate each other's talents and how Mrityunjoy's father doesn't show any emotions and prefers only education and doesn't allows kids to participate in annual events. They are all realistic for that generation. I feel, this generation parents are not like this. 

First love, first feelings, Mrityunjoy's excitement to talk to Akanksha, his prepaeration for the walks from dressing style to talking manners - everything is very good to read and it might remind you your teenage days. 

What I didn't like?
Basically, this novel is not a strong story based but an emotional one. There are no twists and turns in the story. I didn't like the reasoning behind their breakup and explanation that Akansha gave in the climax. I felt, their relationship or friendship is not that weak to fail for some rumours and silly misunderstandings. There are one or two grammar mistakes, editing might have been better. Being a woman, I couldn't actually understand the heart break men go through from love failure that is explained in this book :) 

Tidbits:

1. Liked this line from the book:
"Time heals all wounds. The scars remain but you can always live with them."

2. It reminded me the softy cone ice cream in Ritz road.. I love it sooo much :-)

3. Loved those rhyming poems Mrityunjoy writes.

4. Good for a time pass read during travels, not recommended for readers who love thrill and stories with twists and turns.

My rating; 3/5

Until next time,

Use Your AND - No compromise :-)

We all know, women are playing many roles - cooking, taking care of kids, working in office/ running business these days. It's fortunate that society is also changing accordingly to support working women. Men of these days are helping their spouses in household chores, discussing expenditures and budget with them and contributing in taking care of kids, which is a welcome change. Family members - both parents and in laws are stepping forward to help them to take care of their kids and encouraging them. Without this support and change in society's ideology, we cannot see more successful women high in corporate ladders. Still, we also know that this kind of fortunate women are very less. I strongly believe, even though married women have a strong ambition and right skills, they cannot always succeed without family's support. Here is a story of Asha and her journey from 'OR' to 'AND'.

Asha is very bright kid from childhood, topped always in class. She always wished to become a pilot. Her parents encouraged her even though relatives dismissed her ambitions saying it's very difficult to find a right guy in arranged marriage market if Asha chooses that job. After her graduation, she studied hard, cracked the AFCAT(Air force common admission test). She got selected in women special entry scheme and very happy. 

She got married to her colleague in IAF, everything is well until she delivered a baby boy. After her maternity leave, she is in a confused state, whether to appoint a care taker for her kid and continue her job OR to resign. Her parents and in laws came forward to help her in taking care of the kid for sometime. She could continue her career with the help of supporting husband and family.  She chose her career but that doesn't mean she ignored her kid. She spent more time with kid at home in her day offs. 

As per a research that i read on Internet, working women get attached to kids more emotionally than a stay at home mom. I am not sure if it is true. But, this might be because of the guilt that many working women have to leave their kid and go to office. They want to spend each and every minute in the evenings after returning home to compensate on what they miss for whole day.

We need to take critical decisions sometimes - this OR that. That decision might change our life forever. It's not always impossible to take care of family AND also follow your heart.  What do you say?

Until next time,

“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“. Written for the following theme:
 Journey from ‘OR’ to ‘AND’
A story of how a woman took charge of life and made a choice, not a compromise. She followed her heart.

#UseYourAnd

Mansi AND her story

Mansi is born in a middle class family. Mansi's father ensured that she completed her academics in best schools and colleges. She also proved her mettle by topping in academics every year and making her father proud.

She is jack of all trades. A true enthusiast  of every art. She learnt dance from childhood, learnt singing, enjoyed paintings, participated in skits for youth festivals in college. She wants to try everything new and is not afraid of failure. She is very optimistic in life and learns from mistakes. She loves travelling and travelled to a lot of places alone and also enjoyed planning tours with family. 

For Mansi, life is meant to be enjoyed. After her marriage, being a wife, working woman and mother she never left her hobbies. She is crazy about travelling and reading books. So, she also started maintaining a blog to share her travelogues and give opinion on the books that she read. People would envy her asking how she could manage time for her hobbies like singing, dancing; painting and reading. But her reply is always same -

Life is meant to be enjoyed.
We can add more ANDs to our life with supporting family and our own enthusiasm.
Life is short and there many things yet to be explored.
There is no limit for creativity in this world.

So, that's the story of Mansi. She can't be restricted by one label. She added many ANDs to her life and she loves wearing all those different hats :) A jack of all trades and master of none! I hope you would have come across many such women in your lives. Please do share in comments  :-)

PS: By the way, this story is not completely fiction. I would be boasting myself if i say, Mansi very much resonates with my interests :)

Until next time,

“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.
#UseyYourAND
Written for the initiative by Gillette Venus for the theme #Things that define me.

Christmas - Childhood memories

I have many childhood memories associated with Christmas. Did you study in any Christian missionary school? I did. Whoever has studied in a missionary school can relate well to this post. Christmas reminds me of the following:

1. Christmas Carols:
The word Carol means 'dance to something'. Our music teacher used to teach these songs from November itself. We have a tradition to sing a song after our daily morning prayer in the school. We used to sing these carols during morning prayer and even in the church behind our school.

2. Christmas tree and star:
As per the tradition, Christians bring decorated Spruce/pine/fir tree to home to celebrate Christmas. They decorate it with edibles like apples, nuts or candy canes and with specific ornaments like balls and illuminate it with candles. 
As per the history, Christmas star is placed outside households to commemorate star of Bethlehem which revealed the birth of Jesus.

On the way from our home to school, we used to count number of stars decorated outside the houses and used to discuss which one is good. There used to be a Christmas tree decorated in school too. We have an arts and crafts class which targets on preparing crafts from waste. Our arts and crafts teacher used to teach on preparing simple crafts to decorate Christmas tree.

3. Santa Claus:
Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Bishop has a habit to gift to children. In US, People called him Santa clause. So, this tradition of gifting started from there.

Now, comes the favourite part of Christmas :) Our head mistress or any other senior teacher used to come as Santa Clause before Christmas with 'jingle bells' playing in the background and used to distribute chocolates in the morning prayer. 

4. Chrisma Chrischild game: 
It's also known as Secret Santa. It shows children the importance of kindness or giving. Teacher used to distribute one chit to each student on which some other student's name would be written. We will become Secret Santa / Chrismom for the student on our chit and he/she will become our Chris child. There used to be a Christmas tree or gift stand kept outside the corridor of the school, where Secret Santa should can place their gift to Chris child without revealing their identity. It's a fun experience to play this game altogether :) Sometimes, our Secret Santa can also assign some simple tasks to chris child in return to the gift like singing a multi lingual song in each class, reading weather reports, coming to school dressed in ethnic wear etc., So, December month used to be funny throughout :)

I had fun time with this game both in school days and also after I joined office. 

So, these were few things that i remember from my childhood days about Christmas. 
There is a blog hop #ChristmasBonanza happening in this month with around 20+ blogger publishing a blog post per day throughout the month. So, enjoy the posts :)

Until next time,

Image courtesy: www.freeimages.com

Come join a set of fabulous bloggers sharing their Christmas moments - Easy Holiday Crafts, DIY ideas, Recipes , Decor ideas and book recommendations with you .

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

Participating blogs

ArtsyCraftsyMom - munniofalltrades - hfareensspace - roohiscollections - hellomommyhood - attachedmoms - totschooltotallyawesome - Themomviews - bumpsnbaby.com -

rugsoflife - oneandahalfminutes - shishuworld - ruskandtea - aspoonfullofideas - orangekitchens - obsessivemom - rachnaparmar - parentingmantras -

onboardthemommyship - kwikdekoblog - thekeybunch - momzspace - whatscookingmom - coloursdekor - happypeopleevents





So sit back, relax and check out all the fabulous Christmas Bonanza posts from our participating blogs in the linky. Support us by sharing our posts using the hash tag #ChristmasBonanza





This Linky is for participating blogs only, but We would love to see your Christmas Crafts too. Come and link up your Christmas post at ArtsyCraftsyMom.com

An InLinkz Link-up

Best books I read in 2014

New year is coming! Count down started :-)
It's time to remember good and bad things happened. Enjoy and reminisce good memories and learn from mistakes. Right? 

Since mine is a book blog, I want to list my best reads of 2014.
Even though I didn't get time to review many books in my blog, I have got chance to read a variety of books this year.  Read the famous Shiva Trilogy books by Amish Tripathy this year, which was pending from long time in my wish list. FYI, Shiva trilogy has 3 books in the series - The immortals of Meluha, The secret of Nagas and The oath of Vayuputras.
Got a chance to complete 2 books in Taj trilogy written by Indu Sundaresan - The Twentieth Wife and The feast of Roses. Both have been a fantastic read. I have also read some light hearted practical stories this year like Lucifier's Lungi, Ri, The Little hearts etc.,

So, here goes the best books that I have read this year:

1. The Twentieth Wife
This book is first in the series of Taj Trilogy. If you want to know more about each and every detail of Mughal empire, traditions in their time and importance of women, this is for you. I enjoyed reading this as I love history. Here is my review. 

2. The Secret of Nagas
This is the second book in Shiva trilogy series. All three books are fine, but this book in trilogy is better. I liked the way Amish Tripathy created the characters of this mythological fantasy novel. It's interesting to know and relate things related to our ancient India like Saraswati river, preparation of amrutham which gives immortality etc., Even though there are many myths in this fantasy novel, I liked the research behind the story and gained some knowledge on ancient India. 

3. Lucifier's Lungi
Whle the books above are on serious note, this book is a light hearted read. A very short book which I enjoyed it every bit. This book talks about the protagonist of novel being modern and not believing in any myths and legends, travelling to a small village. His mind set completely changes after his funny experience in the village. Here is my review. 

4. Ramayana - The Game of life : Rise of Sun Prince
This first book of Ramayana in the series of books by Shubha Vilas covers Ramayana from the birth of Lord Rama till his marriage. Book has extra information on importance of each incidence in Ramayana and characters are explained in very detail. Overall, it's enjoyable and knowledgeable read. Here is my review. 

5. God is a gamer
This is one of my favourite genre. It's a thriller and I learnt many new things about gaming industry and term 'bit coin'. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this and cannot put the book aside until I finished it. Here is my review. 

I wish, I read more interesting and variety of books in the coming year and review them in my blog. 

Until next time,

Image courtesy: goodreads.com

God is a gamer by Ravi Subramanian - [Book Review]

Book Details:

Title: God is a gamer
Author: Ravi Subramanian
Publishers: Penguin books
Genre: Fiction
No. of pages: 310

This book is an engaging thriller. Author introduces us to many threads like murder of Senator in US - Gillian Tan, ATM heists in New York, transfer of huge amounts of money of NYIB bank customers to anonymous accounts, cases of explosion of Dell laptops across the world etc., All are connected to a single reason, which is being investigated by Agent Scott in US. This novel also explains the virtual currency 'bit coins' and introduces us to the gaming industry. 

Story:
Story starts with the murder of US senator Gillian Tan. Then, it moves to India. An online fraud which results in transfer of funds of NYIB bank customers takes place and retail banking head Swami, Malavika and Matt enter the story. While this investigation is going on, Malavika is murdered and her affair with finance minister and her influence on some major bank transactions to fraud companies come into light. Since Swamy finds out all these, he will also be murdered. Aditya, head of number one gaming company Indiscape is close friend to Sundeep, head of an outsourcing company eTIOS and Swamy.  Aditya unexpectedly invites his son Varun to his life after many years and Varun takes over the responsibility of Indiscape and proves his ability. Varun loves Tanya who is Malavika's daughter. Due to ATM hiests in New york, eTIOS face a huge loss as it is an outsourcing company for several banks. FBI in New york also receives a case about investigating the explosion of DELL laptops in different parts of the world and transfer of bitcoins to an anonymous account. Thus story takes many twists and turns. How the author connects all these dots and who is behind all these murders form the climax.

What I liked?
This is the first book I am reading from this author 'Ravi Subramanian' and I have become a fan of him. Will surely read his other book 'The Bankster' soon. Book is very engaging till the end. Couldn't put it aside for a minute. Even though many threads are running simultaneously, we don't feel lost or confused. Author is successful in making the reader enjoy the flow without much confusion. Writing style is easy to understand and interesting. I am happy to learn some new concepts like bit coins and understand the details of gaming industry. It is interesting to know how a collaboration between a gaming company and Facebook yields better results than a direct gaming web site. 

What I didn't like?
There is a good explanation on bit coins, their history and usage, but not much details are given on bit coin mining. How is it created, converted from cash to virtual currency? At one point in the story, many dell laptops across the world get burnt in sleep mode and their bitcoins will be transferred to an anonymous bit coin wallet. This doesn't seem very convincing. I didn't see any other negative points..

Overall:
A very good read and engaging thriller. I would rate it 4.5/5.
Buy it in flipkart from here. 

Until next time,

`

Eliminate classroom hunger with Akshaya patra foundation

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Raghav never misses his school. He is from a poor family, father is working in a factory and mother is a house wife. Going to school without breakfast is very common for him as his family can afford only lunch and simple dinner with meagre income that they earn. That day, he is very tired. He is feeling weak to stand in the hot Sun for morning prayer in the school.
He wishes that someone in his school celebrates his/ her birthday daily as he gets a chocolate which will eliminate his hunger and allow him to concentrate on classes.

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Satheesh was a child labourer before an NGO found him and joined him to a primary school. He has big dreams of becoming an employee of a good company and earn his living after his studies.  His only aim is to earn something to eat for his family daily. He sells flowers in the evening in beach after school. The mid day meals provided by government in schools is the only option for him to satisfy his hunger.

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We see many lads and girls like Raghav and Satheesh in our daily lives who go to school and study in spite of hunger and many other challenges. Earning a plate of food is not easy for them.



Hunger in children can make them go towards good or bad options. They can either go to school, have good education and lead happy lives in future or can become a pawn of some street rowdies or do any illegal things to satisfy their hunger. Children are like uncut diamonds. They can be moulded as great human beings by providing them with good education. 

Blog adda is sponsoring meals for an Akshaya patra beneficiary for entire year for a blog post that spreads awareness on eliminating class room hunger. I am happy to participate in 'Blog to feed a child' initiative. :)

• I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

Until next time,

Image courtesy: www.fungems.com 

Planning for a new home with PORCELANOSA

Are you planning your new home? Not an easy task right? Selecting tiles, wardrobes, ceilings, bathroom fittings, wall tiles.. what not? It's a big list and it needs more research for a person like me who has zero knowledge on these items.

Stumbled upon this site http://www.24kliving.com/ through a blogger contest.
#24kLiving is a luxury brand from world renowned manufacturer of kitchen and bath products 'Porcelanosa'. Porcelanosa is venturing into Asia for the first time with Kolte - Patil Developers Ltd. Porcelanosa group is spread across 100 countries with their expertise for around 40 years in manufacturing kitchen and bath products.

Now, coming to the contest run by Indiblogger and Porcelanosa i have to pick few items to build my dream home :) Let's see..

1. Floor tiles: This is the most important thing to give great look to our home. Cermaic flooring is trending these days and I love flooring which is safe for children who run and play whole day. This also gives decent look. I would select 'Anti slip flooring'. How is it? There are also other types like natural wood, natural stone, porcelaine tiles, laminate flooring and linkfloor.





2. Kitchen furniture: I dont like spending more time in kitchen. I would prefer cooking quick. But, a good looking kitchen with bright lighting and furniture improves mood to cook better. Isn't it?








3. Wall tiles : Never knew about wall tiles, thought of wall colours though :) See this metallic wall tiles, looks wonderful. Isn't it? Shine of metal always has some power of attraction.

Ceramic tiles anyway are preferred as they are easy to clean and highly resistant.

Site has different tiles like natural stone and mosaics.





4. Bathroom accessories: A beautiful bath tub, showers, sanitary ware, basins and taps. Each and every accessory need to be selected with care. This site has a collection of different types of shower settings with shower trays, columns etc., All designs are contemporary and innovative.

5. Rain showers:
Site has different beautiful designs of rain showers. Some showers has light settings to make it look cool.

I love this rain shower :)




5. Bathroom taps:
I am amazed to see these contemporary designs of bathroom taps. Designs are unique and show that this is luxury brand. Few taps have light settings to make it glow. A few has temperature control, Aren't they looking practical and innovative? Have a look at some..











6. Wardrobes and dressing rooms:
It is important that it occupies more clothes in less space while selecting a good wardrobe. Porcelanosa offers different styles that can fit into any room with different finishes like matte, stained wood etc., One of them below:



I hope, you liked these photos and it helps in planning for new home :)

Until next time,


PS: All images are from http://www.porcelanosa.com/gb/index.php

#24KLiving

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