Book review: Love is a Vodka

Author – Amit Shankar

Publisher – Vitasta

Pages -203

Price – Rs. 195 (you can also grab it from Flipkart.com)

That's my copy

Sneak preview from the cover -

Being a love child, Moon is anything but a conventional teen. With a leading TV news anchor as her mother, an aspiring entrepreneur as her boyfriend, the word LOVE baffles her. The whole idea of having one partner and love being eternal intrigues her. Life turns upside down when she falls for her mother’s boyfriend. Destiny further complicates things by blessing her with a mega modelling assignment and turning her famous overnight. A war between her head and heart exposes her to various hues of love. Will she decipher the true meaning of love?

My review –

When Blogadda sent me this book as part of their review programme, I was kind of doubtful whether I would be able to finish the book on time, since we had a hectic schedule planned for the weekend. But a rainy Sunday afternoon with hot Cappucino ensured I finished the book in flat 4 hours! Somewhere inside, we galz like the mushy fiction and this book does full justice to that – perfect for the “me” time on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

After flipping through the few pages, the surprised me was forced a detour back to the cover. I wanted to ensure if the author’s name I had read on the book was indeed a male one. Coz with every flipped page, I felt in conversation with a 19 year old gal. I am still amazed how he managed to do it, but a big hand to him for such a perfect portrayal of the girlie emotions - Right from that first attention seeking glance to the fun of being approached, the irritation of being approached too much to the fun of being pampered like a princess. You can almost visualize frame by frame as you read on.

Moon, the protagonist is a true epitome of teenage – where impulse comes faster than presence of mind and the heart manipulates mind to serve its own selfish interests. While on one hand one can’t help but admire the protagonist for her bindaas and bold nature, a lot of sympathy flows too, for the loneliness amidst the camera flashes, the insecurity amidst a comfortable life, dilemma between true love or the lack of it. The girl who is bold enough to make the daring moves in her relationships is also a total softie inside who keeps pushing herself to keep the relationship going until there is no pulse left. She doesn’t hesitate on getting her hands on her mom’s boyfriend, but at the same time values commitment and her own set of rules in love. She knows how to fall, get up, wipe off that pain and move on, something she has inherited from her super successful single mother. There are moments of Dilemma, between the ethical and unethical and every time self induced logic comes to her rescue, albeit with time, the heart casts a spell on logic and its role reduced to merely justifying the impulsive ways of the heart. But that’s adolescence and we all have turned things around to suit ourself sometime in life, haven’t we?

However, while the taking you through the roller coaster of adrenaline, oestrogen and lot of emotional and impulsive moments, the author doesn’t get swayed in the fancies and remembers well in time to convey the right message to readers. The mood swings of Moon along with the apt narration (with sufficient dozes of the “F” word) keep the reader well connected with his/her own teenage years and that’s where the author scores brownie points. Although predictable at some points, it is a fun read, just like “one time watch” movies. Short and sweet.

The author –With writing that’s thought provoking, the author Amit Shankar already has two books to his credit – Flight of the Hilsa and Chapter 11.  Recently discovered that he also blogs here.

This review is a part of the biggest <a href="http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program </a> for <a href="http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers.</a> Participate now to get free books!




How I learnt the value of honesty & compassion…

Childhood is that Golden stage when our characters are formed. Like clay are delicate the minds of the little ones. How you shape them is what you get out of them. So a good deal of responsibility lies on parents to teach them how to do right.

Having born and brought up in a typical middle class family, I was blessed to have parents who introduced me to various hues of life, yet kept me grounded in an excellent manner.  In the limited means they taught me to live unlimited moments of happiness.

Youngest of the herd, I was a typical pampered, naughty kid. If there was one thing that could scare me, it was my mother’s angry eyes, coz that meant a hamper full of troubles – she wouldn’t talk to me, make me confess my mistake and find my own way out. No matter how much I hated it back then, it has helped me in the long way. Today when mom is no more, I still know what she would have thought it right and what wrong…

Mom was a regular with morning walks, and I would often accompany her to the nearby park. Her passion for gardening was as strong as my passion now for blogging. She would tell me about the various plants and flowers that we saw and many others that she had seen over the years.

I still remember the festival of Diwali when I was eight. The preparations for the Puja were on, when mom asked me to get flowers from our garden for the Puja. Like mom, I was in love with my garden. It was my mom’s labour of love and my pride as I would often bring my friends and show them the beautiful flowers mom had grown. I used to strictly follow mom’s instructions of not plucking flowers. We had recently been blessed with roses with fragrance that was so divine. So that evening when mom asked me to pluck the roses for the Puja, I got kind of sentimental, since I didn’t want to let go of my garden’s beauty. So, I had a plan in my mind. Two houses away lived Sneha, gal who I was at loggerheads with, since she would always dominate the gang in all the games we played. She was a Bi..g child and had hit me too on few occasions. So the tiny but clever me decided to even it out with her.

Sneha’s family was busy inside with the Puja preparations. Their garden, a tad smaller than us, boasted of some amazing cactus plants. But there was just one rose which Sneha was very proud of. So instead of plucking the rose from my garden, I tiptoed into their garden and plucked the only rose - a revenge well taken.

Like a warrior back from a war won, I handed over the flower to mom. However, she was quick to realize it wasn’t from our garden since the characteristic dark maroon color and the strong fragrance of our flowers was missing. The more I tried to lie, the more I got caught in my own web. In tears, I finally confessed my crime.

“An eye for an eye, just makes the world blind beta”, was all she said. As I told her about my issues with Sneha, mom said “would you like it if someone stole flowers from our garden, especially when we have just one left? Love, my dear wins wars that best of weapons can’t”. So, mom asked me to quickly pluck some flowers, go to Sneha’s house & give it to her mom. My face was red with fear. Here was I dancing around with my revenge taken and here was mom ready to make me feel embarrassed in front of my enemy. But an order was an order. So, with a sheepish look, I went to Sneha’s house with the flowers and rang the bell in hesitation.

As Sneha’s mom opened the door, I offered the flowers “Here are some flowers aunty, u wil need them for the Puja”, I said. “Oh thanks Beta, by the way we too just had a rose in our….”, her eyes went to the rose plant in her garden & were left wide open at the sight of the missing flower.

Now here was my moment of truth. “I am sorry aunty, I plucked the only rose from your garden. Sneha had been troubling me for a while and I found this an easy way to get back at her. But my mom has made me realize my mistake Aunty. Compassion is the best key to win over your enemies, not revenge. Please don’t say it to Sneha. I will be embarrassed.”…I was running out of breath with nervousness and my face turned red when Sneha appeared from behind her mother.

But all mothers are made of 100% love and compassion, so Sneha’s mom, instead of scolding me, took me inside and listened to my issues. She then made her daughter apologize to me & told her “see how her mom has taught her the right message. Learn to own up your mistakes like her. ” Sneha too was feeling guilty by now. “Friends” she said and offered me her hand. I smiled and we became being the best of friends.

That day, by doing what is right I learnt one of the biggest lessons of my life…honesty pays in the long run and compassion is the best weapon to win over your enemies. Thanks mom, for teaching me to do what is right…

I am sharing my Do RIght Stories at BlogAdda.com in association with Tata Capital.

Fukrey is total entertainment Re…

(A super delayed post…but didn’t want to miss this one as I loved the movie)

What do I say about the movie…

An unusual title, an unknown cast,

But when I saw the movie, I was left aghast!

Yep, that’s Fukey for u…2.5 hrs of total fun! A movie that emerged with no big expectations yet made its presence felt amidst the heavyweights.

The story of 4 Fukras has many laugh till u drop moments. A story which could have easily fallen pray to the drag bug has been well managed by the Director Mrigdeep Singh Lamba.

Dreams drive the whole story, beginning with the dreams of the 4 Fukras to make it big, their sprint on the wrong highway to achieve their dreams, a nightmare by the name Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadha) & finally, like all good Hindi movies, the happy ending with the dreams coming true….so, its all about dreams.

All the Fukras are in a race to follow their dreams – Hunny (Pulkit Samrat) & Choocha (Varun Sharma) with their dream of going to a cool college with hot galz; Lali (Manjot Singh) with his dream of joining his childhood crush in her college & Zafar (Ali Fazal) with his dream to make his mark in the industry. Choocha with his gifted dreams is Hunny’s golden Hen. Hunny decodes the dreams to come up with lottery number & the result is 100% money assured with the lottery ticket seller banging his head in frustration. Just that their 100% result doesn’t get replicated in their school results & they both lookout for easy and assured way to land up in the college of their dreams.

In comes Panditji (Pankaj Tripathi), the ordinary college gatekeeper with his extraordinary links and operations. Panditji assures them admission provided they arrange for the moolah…but Fukras are Fukras, so he guides them to Bholi Punjaban, the lady don who decides to fund their lottery deal. A heavy meal, lullaby on guitar, perfect seva by his friends, everything was set for Choocha to see that golden dream that was to change their life forever. The dream does change their life, but in the reverse gear…as Choocha is unable to sleep that night in excitement & cooks up a false dream that bombs at the lottery counter.

What follows then is a comical account of how the Fukras try to save themselves the wrath of Bholi Punjaban…a rave party, police, lot of run around and some funny stupid moments that keep the audience well entertained.

Choocha with his funny look & dumb personality brings about maximum punches that leave u laughing out loud.

After a small cameo in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Manjot Singh has finally got his break and has done a good job as the typical Delhi guy desperate to shed his correspondence B Com image and hob nob within the cool campus crowd!

Richa Chadha although has done full justice to the character of Bholi Punjaban, but I was left wondering if she likes the word “versatility”. The big mouth desi woman is a job she does well in every second movie she signs up. However, if u want to stay here for long, u need to evolve my dear…

“Get inside the role”….seems Ali Fazal took these words too seriously in his role as the shy Zafar, coz after a while the other actors take all the attention as well as the meaty dialogues. Seems u didn’t get Biryani for the Director, Ali.

In her small role, Priya Anand leaves u impressed with her perfect portrayal of the Delhi girl next door.

Ram Sampat has struck the right chords with the title track & the song Ambarsariya (sung by his wife Sona Mohapatra).

A nice one time watch, u will love Fukrey, especially if u are a Delhiite. Shot entirely Delhi, it has the local flavor that a Dilliwala can relate to – so when a smackie thief steals the cylinder from Lali’s bike while he is striking deal with Babaji in Gurudwara, a dillliwala can understand and smile.

And now for my favorite scene from the movie –

Hunny & Choocha in their desperate attempts to make some money to escape the punishment of Bholi Punjaban, decide to perform at a local Jagran. Hunny plays Durga mata ka Sher while Choocha happily dons a peacock’s costume. The Lion makes a grand entry at the right time in the Jagran & impresses the crowd. But the peacock is attacked by local street dogs & leaves the audience waiting, even as the Jagran singer repeatedly highlights the word “mor” (Peacock) in the song to call the peacock. I was just holding my stomach and laughing!

3/5 from me...

Kullu to Rohtang on a 100cc bike!

The best is yet to come, I say always. But so far this has been the most memorable & adventurous drive of my life.

We had been married for 4 months & were out on a family holiday to Kullu. While the family was busy chitchatting with our host’s family, we sneaked out on the pretext of seeing Manali & be back by evening.

They didn’t know, we had other plans…adventure buffs, we wanted to drive to Rohtang Pass, if not Ladakh!

But, there was just one challenge…

We were on an old 100cc bike!

Passion holds no bounds & both of us were burning with passion to reach Rohtang on that old bike itself. We asked a cabbie if the bike would manage the drive. He gave one look and said “Oh Yes”!

A few kilometres down the route, we seriously doubted the authenticity of the cabbie as our bike wouldn't just go. Falling down & getting up again, like brave soldiers, we too didn’t give up.

The hostile terrain was complemented by the fragrance of romance in the air. With no other vehicle around during most of the trip, I managed to keep Mr. Hubby alert by singing “Tere Mere Sapne” from the movie Guide. And he soon joined me. Everytime we fell down, it hurt, but the feeling of having someone to hold your hand and motivate you to get up overcame the pain of the scratches.

As we neared Rohtang, we spotted a bus going towards Ladakh. Seated next to a window was a woman in her traditional attire. She uttered something as she looked at us. Unable to comprehend her, I could just give her a helpless smile. In an unknown place, on an unfriendly terrain, here was an unknown lady giving me a warm smile & I reciprocated wholeheartedly.

A few kilometers before Rohtang, I saw some people paragliding. But despite my repeated pleas, Mr. Hubby kept his presence of mind intact & reminded me of the riskiness of the trip. Already on a super duper machine, we had to reach Rohtang & be back before sunset, as our family was in the notion we were in Manali.

Honestly, the vroom of the machine & rush of adrenaline made me feel like a teenager who was eloping with her boyfriend. Only difference, we were in our 20s & Mr. Hubby was the BF!

By 3, we reached Rohtang. Have been on many trips before, but this one felt like a great accomplishment. 30 minutes of some clicks in the snow cover, quick bite & we were on our way back.

Though we did reach after sunset & finally had to spill the beans to family, this trip is something Mr. Hubby & I can never forget. The mean machine & the rush of adrenaline!

This post is written for the Ultimate driving experience in association with Blogadda

A chance to win a trip to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MichelinIndia/app_478302922255960" title="Michelin Pilot Experience" 

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I saw I learnt

I love sharing experiences,

So Blogadda.com gives me another chance

To share what I saw & learnt

This is a serious post, no fun/romance

News bulletin on the TV it was

The famous Delhi chill was the cause

Homeless people succumbed & chilled

With great pain my heart was filled.

I declared I will try to bring some change

Mr. Hubby in front of TV gave me a look so strange

But I was determined in my mind

Some way out I had to find

The scene near my home made my heart beat

A young girl slept wrapped in a torn bedsheet

While we slept enjoying the heater’s heat

She lay in the cold at the corner of the street

God loves all why should the innocent be killed

They too have dreams and aspirations to be fulfilled

I wondered how could I do my bit of the share

Hubby quickly said I could begin by simple share

Ma and I rushed to market next noon

Bought a nice blanket I waited for the moon

What if she changes her place? I frowned

Ma smiled, “Don’t worry she must be around”

We found her asleep at her usual spot

I tiptoed towards her fearing not to get caught

As I neared her, I saw her innocent face

Braving the struggles of life with a grace

“God bless u” I whispered as put the blanket on her lean frame

Then quickly hid in the car like in a hide n seek game

As she felt cosy the warmth I could feel

God had heard my humble appeal

Life teaches us new things each day

Its upon us to try and make our way

Its easy to sit in our homes crib and cry

But you gotta give your ideas wings to fly

The sweetness of the fruit of simple care

I tasted by doing that small share

Begin the  change you want, the rest follows

I saw & learnt

This post is written for the "I saw I learnt" contest by Blogadda

I am sharing what '<strong>I Saw and I Learnt</strong>' at <a title="The Best Community of Indian Bloggers" href="http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">BlogAdda.com</a> in association 
with <a title="Do Right! " href="http://www.doright.in" target="_blank">DoRight.in</a>.

Bhag Milkha Bhaag, Box office pe lagaa de Aag

I had been eagerly waiting for this one. There’s something about biopics that give you a kick, hard enough to bring some action in our otherwise mundane lives. Years ago, I saw I saw Chak De while preparing for CAT exam. Then came Paan Singh Tomar which left Mr. Hubby & me with a village dialect only the 2 of us could converse in! So, I was waiting with bated breath as to what Bhag Milkha Bhag would do to us. And it surely did. What? Well, you gotta read my take on the movie first.

Bhag Milkha Bhag is a sincere effort by the director to serve simple story of The heroic flying Sikh to the masala hungry audience. While on most occasions he has managed to weave emotions with rush of adrenaline moments, there are sequences which should have come under the scissor of the editor. Keep it short and sweet. But a Director who has doled out masterpiece like Rang De Basanti surely knows his act right. So just when you feel the movie is getting slow, the wisely chosen starcast pull it off with finesse. While Farhan  Khan’s performance speaks for itself, watch out for power packed performance by Art Malik, Master Japtej Singh (who plays the young Milkha), Divya Dutta(plays Milkha’s sister) & Pavan Malhotra (who plays Milkha’s coach).

As the movie began with the 1960 Olympics and quickly got layered in flashbacks, I was hoping the Director would return with the sequence in the later half. But rather than sulking about the lost glory, the movie takes an optimistic turn and showcases the struggle of a man who lost everything yet had the grit to take on any challenge. Be it the challenge to survive in the 1947 rights, the challenge to outdo the reigning athletics champion or overcoming the inertia of the past to travel to Pakistan for friendly sports series.

While Mikha’s stint during the Army training leave you laughing, the brother sister moments are performed flawless enough to moist your eyes. The director making a guest appearance as captain of the aircraft reminded me of Subhash Ghai movies where he too used to appear 2-3 min guest appearances.

It in only after the interval that you start looking for something to keep you hooked on. But that’s how biopics are – not for the masses but the classes.

Sonam Kapoor plays the girl next door to the best of her bandwidth, which sadly is cut short to make way for the Australian girl Stella (Rebecca Breeds).  The first song with Sonam-Farhan feels like a gush of fresh air however, from then onwards, their chemistry gets boring and you can’t help but wait helplessly for the next frame to save the movie.

I was super excited to see Meesha Shafi (of Coke Studio Pakistan fame) in a Bollywood movie. Alas, before I could understand what she was there to do, she was gone! We need some more dialogues next time Meesha!

Art Malik was a surprise package. Despite being a Pakistani British actor, he has done full justice to the role. One can make out that he is enjoying every scene to the fullest – the recipe for a perfect act!

Some scenes like the scene where Milkha wins a race despite being badly injured are signature Bollywood style. You know for sure they are there just to give our hero, some steroid dozes of super heroism!  But when Prasoon Joshi has to tell a biography Bollywood style, you can expect melodrama here and there!

I loved the songs "Zinda", "Havan" and "Mera Yaar"(yet another masterpiece by Arif Lohar)

All in all a good movie sans the occasional drags. Don’t draw comparisons with serious cinema like Paan Singh tomar or you will be disappointed as this is Bollywood genre altogether. Go for it and get inspired by the real hero himself with his real stunts and real struggles!

As for the effect of the movie on Mr. Hubby & I, we took 4 full rounds around Lodi Garden (with some sprint as well!). That was some effect indeed!

And now for my favorite part from the movie –

No hero waale dialogues, the never say die Milkha Singh doesn’t know how to say no and accept defeat. And so when his coach challenges him to defeat the reigning champion, Milkha without a moment of hesitation or doubt, says “Aahoji!” (Punjabi for “yes”). The confidence in his voice yet the simplicity in his words make it a perfect scene (you will have to see the movie to understand the spirit)

3.5/5 from me.

Survival of the fittest (doggie)

A funny sight today reminded me of the lesson about Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection I learnt in school. While corporate life is the best way to explain the survival of the fittest theory, there are many a lessons to learn outside the board room!

Saw this cute doggie outside office this afternoon. While the hot n humid weather is driving Dilliwallas crazy, this doggie decided to take things in his stride. He broke a pot and as the soil scattered around, he made himelf comfortable on the bed of soil! My camera couldn’t resist clicking this one!

Any suitable caption that comes to your mind?