Book Review: 'Chained' by Mehek Bassi

Tagline: Can you escape fate?

Synopsis:

Love: One of the strongest emotions

Money: One of the deadliest powers

Fame: One of the most poisonous drugs

When fame overpowers trust, when money rules the relationships, will the true love survive?

Will Arjun be able to drag himself out of the pool of guilt, for killing his wife, Shiya?

When the superstar Rehan, is dragged from riches to rags, will he be able to live the life of a common man, again?

Is patience, always worth it?

For how long can you wait to re-unite with your lover?

What if the wait is as long as three decades?

Will they be able to change their fate, or they’ll forever remain ‘Chained’?

Story:

The novel starts with the sad and depressing condition of one of the protagonists, Arjun, and then it moves quickly into flashback. The story revolves around Shiya, a super-talented singer, and her usual college life, her friends, family, and soon-to-be boyfriend Arjun. As the narrative progresses, the reader encounters some shocking revelations based around her family life, due to which, in addition with her ever-increasing singer fan base compel her to reside in Bombay and work with superstar Rehan.

As Shiya's fame grows, she and Arjun start having some tough time together due to various insecurities. Other characters like Rehan's gossip reporter gf Tanya, Shiya's sister Mansha, their father Shekhar and her past, famous poet Razia also play important role in taking the story forward. 

Will Arjun and Shiya ever remain united? What's the mysterious past of Razia? Who is the murderer among them? Do the protagonists remain Chained to their fate?! To know answers to such questions, grab and read the book.

Review Analysis:

The book is just an average run-of-the-mill story. Laced with superficial narrative, confusing emotional scenes and naive storytelling, it never offers a feel of a quality read. The dialogues in any particular scene unfold in quite a melodramatic and capricious manner; never settling fully into poise, thus lacking finesse. It could have better been packed and published as a novella in order to offer a good quality read.

Likes:

Simple language; good editing.

Dislikes:

Superficial narrative; naive storytelling.
Mediocre plot setting

Melodramatic and capricious dialogue writing

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Review Copy Source: Author

About the Author:

Mehek Bassi, born and raised in facility of a small town Ludhiana, Punjab, is a fiction writer and day-dreamer! She is currently pursuing computer engineering from a college in her hometown and started blogging in April, 2012. Her debut novel ‘Chained’, which is a fictional love-story, was published in April 2013. Besides ‘Chained’, her short stories have won the heart of many readers. She manages a page on facebook (link below) where she uploads her short stories. Her website and her blog (links below) contain her entire literary work from the beginning till the present day. Besides a writer, she’s a daring Punjabi, who is always ready to take risks!Author of ‘Chained: Can you escape fate’?

पुस्तक समीक्षा: दुष्यंत कुमार की 'साये में धूप'

'साये में धूप' दुष्यंत कुमार की ग़ज़लों का एक क्रांतिकारी संग्रह है जिसमें राजनीतिक आक्रोश व सामाजिक विषमतायें प्रमुख हैं| इस संग्रह से उन्होंने हिंदी ग़ज़लों का एक नया आयाम स्थापित किया है| 

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

To Win is dream come true

My tentative winning speech for BlogAdda blog award:

Thank you so much, BlogAdda, for selecting me for their Blog Award. The reason I got to blogging was to showcase my poetry on a global platform. How much happy I am I just can't describe in prose, so I have written a poem for this moment:


My blog is my personic* diary ................................................. *personic = personal + public

An organization of random thoughts

A medium of convection of ideas

Contests, book reviews, as well lots

Satisfaction is what keeps me alive

Happiness be the meaning of my life
Dreams perfected into blog stories

Winning moments created new memories

Started blogging to vent out my thoughts
In the process great milestones I crossed 
Blogadda contests gave it a new testing
Book reviewing always been interesting

Into blog posts, my life I got to brew

From the nature, inspiration itself drew

Thanks BlogAdda for this blog award

To win with you is a dream come true

My secret desire to be receiving this blog award is from the hands of the esteemed multi-blogger and the founder of grand project Kavita Kosh, Mr. Lalit Kumar, who has literally revolutionized the online hindi poetry scenario through Kavita Kosh, and hindi blogging through Dashamlav.

I would really, really like to get my first congratulatory hug either from my favourite Amrita Rao of Bollywood, or the great sporting icon Saina Nehwal of Badminton, or Dipika Pallikal of Squash ;)

In my moments of over-exultation on winning this coveted award, I would like to do a complete make-over of my blog, maybe get it a professional transformation and convert it to my personal domain.

And as is my habit over getting any recognition, I would celebrate with my friends by throwing a beer party. All my BlogAdda friends are also surely welcome ;)

Speech Ending Note: Although winning is the epitome of success, may my best be yet to come! :)

P.S. -- This would be My Winning Speech on being rewarded the BlogAdda Blog Award!

Book Review: 'A Maverick Heart' by Ravindra Shukla

Tagline: Between love and life

About the author:

Ravindra Shukla is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He has been working in emerging technology and business analytics in IT software technology. His professional experience includes working with consulting firms – PWC and IBM in USA for 15+ years. He is a member of the Film Writers Association, Mumbai. His interest includes – writing fiction, literature and movie scripts apart from sports, movie and travelling across the globe.

Author can be contacted at ravindra.shukla@gmail.com or www.ravindrashukla.com

Synopsis:

Resonance - We often use the term, “frequency matching” in our daily life to define compatibility. Our frequency does not match, we do not get along? We are not in sync? We are not on the same page etc? 

When people of similar frequencies (wavelengths or within the same range) come together – output is not a simple sum of individual work, but exponential. In science we term this phenomenon as resonance. Output at this stage is beyond any logical limit. 

Three young kids, with different family backgrounds and outlook meet during their graduation days at IIT-Bombay campus and become close friends. Although, individually they are in sync, but the same is not true for their interaction with the world. 

How will their relation withstand the conflict of family and society pressure? 

How do their character shape out, as they traverse from an educational environment through the corporate world to the realm of the social-political world? 

Inspired by the real events across the globe from the last decade, Ravindra Shukla brings you the characters based story – struggle and triumphs of a young generation and their relevance in the current socio-eco-political era.

Story:

A Maverick Heart is the story of three friends - Rahul, Richita and Neerav whose friendship journey starts at IIT Bombay around the year 1996. The former and the latter are best friends and sports pals too. Rahul and Richita come into interaction with each other during inter-IIT sports, and the natural frequency matching brings them closer during their exposure to certain social issues. Romance ensues between the two, while girl's parents start looking out for a suitable 'settled' boy for her. Amidst all this, Rahul starts prioritizing the social work at the expense of his project work thus having deadly repercussions.

Richita's parents, meanwhile, fix her marriage with an NRI, despite her adamant disinterest. With time, their marriage proves to be more of an arrangement, and not of compatibility. Add in the Wall Street boom of 2000s and the recession afterwords, the marriage is rocking due to pure capitalist attitude of the husband. Neerav, on the other hand, completes his MS, opens a start-up and later starts working on a prospective internet entertainment platform, while also bringing Richita on board post their chance meeting after several years.

Back in India, Rahul never enters corporate world and rather channels his whole energy into constructing a social youth platform in Delhi and Lucknow; besides taking up part-time academic research work. With RTI act coming into picture in the early 2000s, his socio-political movements result in drastic circumstances, which propels him to take the fight with the corrupt govt. head-on.

How each of the three protagonists lead and excel in their respective lives forms the main volume of the story. Is Rahul's pain of loss of love behind his aggressive attitude towards life? How can/will Richita help him despite no contact for several years between them? Does she even want to go back and face Rahul after what she did to him?! What is Neerav's role in the whole story? What happens in Rahul's life which causes the whole world to realise his potential, and Richita to come out of the hiding to help him at last?!!

Will the maverick heart survive between the throes of love and life?!!

To know how three lives get entangled together despite being so far and uninformed of each other, pick up and read the book now. :)

Review Analysis:

The story develops from college life to romance to capitalist corporate world to social issues, in the mix. The best thing about the first quarter of the story is the beautiful romance between the love-birds, the solar eclipse episode being the most enchanting. The second and third quarters slightly go overboard with corporate and capitalist philosophy discussions, which at times, seems over-stretched and boring, but succeeds in conveying its proper meaning. The last 100 pages offer some unexpected turns and the book closes on a heart-warming note.

On the other hand, the editorial aspects of the book are poor. Question marks appear frequently despite the sentences not carrying any interrogative approach. Though dialogue writing is good, but most of the times the reader doesn't even get the idea who is speaking what due to lack of brief expressive phrases acting as follow-up to the dialogues. Apart from this, frequent switching of narration between first and third person greatly hampers the smooth flow of the story.

It's not a simple breezy read, be ready for some heavy philosophy at regular intervals. Moreover, there is a glaring contradiction with the character of Yeren - at one point, she brings out Field Medal talk in her introductory discussion with Neerav, while at medal's proper time in the story, she is depicted as totally unaware about it.

Buy it from here --> 

Likes:

Nice inter-weaving of romance, corporate life and social issues in the story.

Story feels realistic as the base is formed around several real life events during the timeline followed.

Creative description of respective lives of all three protagonists makes the characters more appealing and relatable.

Some beautiful quotes (there are many) intensify the reading experience -

'Beauty lies in one's heart and sex lies in one's mind. It all depends on where your belief lies'

' It is not necessary for the result to be in your favour even if you are right'

Dislikes:

Poor editing, over-stretched discussions

Novel's length could have been reduced by 50 or so pages to make it a taut and gripping read.

My Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Review Copy Source: Readers Cosmos

Book Review: 'Neil Must Die' by Kaberi Chatterjee

Here are the links to my original review of this novel for the review site The Vault of Books -->

http://vaultofbooks.com/bplus/review-neil-must-die

or

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/682298664

My Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

Book Review: 'The Snowman' by Jo Nesbo

Here are the links to my original review of this novel for the review site The Vault of Books -->

http://vaultofbooks.com/a/review-the-snowman

or

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/647866845

My rating --> 4.25 stars out of 5

The licence to immunity

Everyday our body is attacked by bacteria, viruses, dust, weather changes, infections and a million more hostile environmental factors. Since the immune system in children is still developing, they have lower immunity than adults and hence are more vulnerable to falling ill as compared to adults.

Kids form our world, define our future. They are a reflection of our nation's health and progress. It's our duty to ensure that our children have a healthy environment that helps them develop a strong foundation and a body that is built on a strong immune system.

The need of today is to build a stronger, healthier, and a more immune India. Following are some points I'd surely like to highlight for this cause:

1. The first and foremost thing in order to build natural immunity in children is by giving him a proper balanced diet everyday.

The breakfast should include whole grains, the best example being porridge (daliya) taken with milk. Lunch should have vegetables along with chapati/roti. In the evenings, indulge them in eating fresh seasonal fruits; while dinner has to have dal/pulses along with roti/rice and salad. 

Moreover, children should consume a whole lot of water between meals, or whenever they feel thirsty.

And most importantly, before sleeping they should be given a spoon full of Dabur Chyawanprash with lukewarm milk. Dabur Chyawanprash helps building the essential immunity inside children, while milk helps in digestion of the food when the body is asleep.

In other words, have a diet that includes fresh vegetables and fruits rich in anti-oxidants to keep your immune system strong as well as drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water to flush out toxins from your system.. Lots of fat food or junk food should be avoided in case of kids. 

2. Second thing is maintaining hygiene in daily lives of children. Kids are hyper-energetic. They will interact, play, share, fight with other children in natural environments. That all is totally ok, let them do all this uninterrupted so that their body shall build natural defense mechanisms against foreign particles (germs). This will reduce stress from their minds as well as instill strong qualities thus building their character in long term.

But necessary care should be taken for their safety from disease causing germs. Make them take bath with a good anti-bacterial soap in the morning; and building a habit of washing hands after using toilet, or coming from play, and before taking any type of food will make up for their hygiene care and prevent them from falling ill.

3. Proper breast-feeding of an infant transfers immunity-enhancing antibodies into the baby, thus guarding him/her against various early age infections and diseases.

4. A child needs much more sleep time than regular adults. Let them sleep till they want to, because sleep deprivation in any case will result in destruction of natural killer cells in the body, thus lessening their immunity build-up. Try to get them adequate sleep (6 to 10 hours every night); sleep has been linked to balanced hormone levels.

5. Exercising one's body moderately never has its demerits. Instead it results in the necessary sweating (thus secreting toxins out of the body), thus making children stronger, healthier and more immune. Moderate exercise can support the immune system by increasing blood circulation and oxygenating the body.

6. Ayurveda recommends a number of herbs to boost immunity. Chyawanprash, a time-tested, age-old formulation has a number of herbs like Amla, known to be one of the best antioxidants, Giloy (Guduchi) known to have immuno modulatory properties, and has more than 40 other natural ingredients, to boost immunity.

7. Last but not the least, give children their own breathing space at home or outdoors. Do not always instruct them according to your own comfort level. Let children do what they want/need to do, as long as it's safe. Regularly asking them to do or not to do certain things/tasks will result in unnecessary over-stress in them, which is not at all healthy. Instead, let them explore the world in their own 'happy' way.

Now the above points were indicative of boosting natural immunity with kids. And one of the most important point that carries a grand weightage is to include Dabur Chyawanprash in the kids' diet daily because of its following properties:

(a) Dabur Chyawanprash has a number of herbs like – Amla known to be one of the best antioxidants, Giloy (Guduchi) known to have immuno-modulatory properties and has many other natural ingredients which helps to boost immunity. Also, its consumption increases NK cells (Natural Killer Cells) which are an essential part of our body’s immune system and fights germs, bacteria and infections by 3 times hence increasing our immunity by 3 times. Thus, Dabur Chyawanprash helps us in fighting against germs, viruses and helps protect against infections, making us free to take on the outdoors, unhygienic surroundings, weather changes, pollution etc.! 

(b) Chyawanprash contains various Ayurvedic ingredients that help in boosting immunity, protect against infections, and provides nutrition and energy. As a formulation it is documented for improvement in memory, intelligence and growth promotion, so it is very popular as a health tonic for kids. It may be consumed by children from 3 years of age onward.

(c) Dabur Chyawanprash can be consumed in summers also. Germs causing infections know no season, and can strike you any time of the year. Daily intake of Dabur Chyawanprash strengthens your immune system & protects you all the year long. It is a myth that it can be used only during winter seasons.

(d) Dabur Chyawanprash is suitable for all age groups, starting from 3 years age onwards. 

(e) Chyawanprash is being used since ages in almost every Indian household. No specific safety concern has been reported till date. 

(f) Dabur Chyawanprash is the largest selling Chyawanprash brand in the country. It is available in over 15 lakh retail outlets in India. So you can easily get it in your nearest retail outlet and help booster your kids' immunity mechanism.

(g) Keeping in view children's cravings for different flavours, Dabur Chyawanprash is now also available in 3 different flavours: Mixed friut, Orange & Mango, to pamper the tastebuds of young India.

Conclusion: Dabur Chyawanprash has anti-oxidant properties & strengthens our body's internal defense mechanism, the immune system, thereby protecting us from everyday infections, cough, cold & stress etc. At a time when flu and viruses are everywhere, our immunity system provides the best prevention from these deadly diseases. And Dabur Chyawanprash proves to be the best bet in this case undoubtedly.

Dabur Chyawanprash, The Health Giver

• Derived from 2,500-year-old Ayurvedic formula
• Totally chemical-free, natural and safe
• Powerful combination of herbs and plant extracts in a base of Amla fruit pulp
• Refined by Dabur to provide traditional goodness with best quality
• Reinforces the immune system & helps fight disease
• Trusted health provider of a majority of Indian households

Note: Dabur Chyawanprash is clinically tested to boost immunity.

P.S. -- This post is for an IndiBlogger contest An Immune India in addition with Dabur Chyawanprash.

Smart Suraksha: Tips for Being Safe

When it comes to your safety, there is no other option but to be Smart! When we are caught in an unwanted situation, there’s nothing that strikes us owing to the fear created and we end up landing ourselves into more trouble instead of getting out of the situation safely. It is always better to keep some tips ready in your head so that you, even as an impulse reaction, do the right thing and end up safe. Smart Suraksha App is one such application for Android phones which at the touch of a single button sends your message of help to five pre-chosen contacts on your phone. Another great feature of this app being that along with your message, it also fetches and sends your location to the chosen contacts even if the GPS setting on your phone is switched off. This ensures that at all times you are reachable to your close ones and that your safety is ensured.

1. Install and trial run Smart Suraksha App so as to ensure no-panick mode when confronted with any security challenge in reality.

2. Practice calling our for HELP loudly so as to give yourself an extra confidence of using the same when faced with a situation demanding the same. 

3. Never hesitate to run while calling out for help whenever you see yourself in a tricky situation concerning your safety.

4. Always keep an extra phone battery and pepper spray with you, just in case.

5. If possible, try to keep extra company of friend(s) with you during the darker hours of the day/night, just to be safe than sorry.

6. Learn little bit of martial arts for your own protection, and use them if and when need arises.

7. Save the women helpline numbers of police as well as NGOs into your phone. Better to have such a backup to fall upon, if nothing else works

8. Always keep atleast someone in your friend circle informed about your whereabouts, by messaging or calling them (in rotation) regarding your location/situation at hand.

9. Whenever you sense weirdness about your safety, try to come to a nearyby crowded place, and start talking loudly (faking a phone call, or just shouting to noone in particular) so as to attract attention towards you, thereby discouraging the predator.

10. Make a note of these and more preventive tricks into your phone or diary, and revise them atleast once a day, so that your mind remains conscious always how to come out of any uncomfortable situation asap.

Hope my safety tips help you in some way or the other, rather I hope you never get to use them, such should be the environment in every city/village of our country. But just in case, precaution is always better than cure. So prepare yourself in advance and just remember - you are your first saviour, ma'm!

P.S. -- I am sharing my Smart Suraksha Tips at BlogAdda.com in association with Smart Suraksha App.

Delhi: I suggest

Voicing issues doesn’t solve them! 

There is a plan to be made. There is a process that needs to be followed. There is an action that needs to be taken.

Everybody is so willing and ready to criticize or complain about everything. On the other hand, there are very few people who want to actually take a problem in their hands and try to solve it. We are not suggesting you take it in your hand and solve it, but only saying that along with the issues, you need to voice your valuable solutions as well. There are enough who talk about the issues and stop, we encourage you to think of solutions too!

I've seen the problems around me and discussed the issues in my Delhi Manifesto that I think need to be addressed and improved at the earliest. Pondering over those issues, I am hereby trying to provide the respective solutions for the same.

1. Transparency in Governance can be brought out by reducing red-tapism in bureaucracy, and by instilling a sense of real public service in the minds of public servants.

2. It's high time that the heavily demanded JanLokPal bill be passed in the capital Vidhan Sabha (as well as the Indian Parliament). This will ensure minimization of corruption and crime in politics.

3. One of the most concerning agenda of my manifesto is to make our Delhi totally safe for women, where one could roam free of fear any time of the day. First and foremost, Moral education in academic institutions as well as in residential societies and slum areas needs to be propagated for public to accept females as an equal and independent entity. Secondly, police attitude towards even minor eve-teasing cases needs to be bettered. System should support the reporting of policemen/women's misconduct while dealing in such cases. It is high time every individual learns to respect oneself and the other gender equally.

4. Electricity should be regularized by bringing public and private partnership, so as to ensure the control of power generation in State hands, while maintenance and distribution to be governed by private sector. This will bring in harmonizing the power shortage of the capital city equally for residential and industrial purposes.

5. Even when it ain't the raining season, most of Delhi roads can be found littered with garbage, or full of potholes. Now this is a question of public conscience as well as govt. responsibility. One needs to properly put his/her litter in the garbage bins (number should be increased). People should keep any waste product with them after usage and properly dump them only when they come across dustbins. Govt., on the other hand, has to make sure of the better construction using A-quality road materials, and periodical repairing of the same, so as to avoid the inconvenience of potholes even in the autumn.

6. Traffic sense - how many of us have really got it? The main cause of accidents are either we ourselves when we are not following traffic rules, or the others doing the same. Public awareness through regular programmes need to be build up, thus inculcating traffic sense into them, and it is the need of the hour. The govt. has to make aam janta understand that driving comes with responsibility, not just fun.

7. Beggars on the streets (mostly at traffic signals) of our capital city have always been a source of nuisance for everyone. Beggar management schemes need to be channeled out so as to provide them with proper living and work to sustain themselves.

8. Delhi Metro has put itself up as the best managed transportation system. But the rest of Road transportation still needs a huge infrastructural boost. It is good, but it can be much better. The input suggestions of public could play a very important role in improving the same.

9. Crime will automatically be challenged if education is made compulsory to all. People from other states pouring into the city should be monitored and provided basic support to start up their livelihood so that they don't turn to crime to meet their ends.

These are just a few of my suggestions towards my Delhi Manifesto presented earlier in a blogpost. There is so much to do and can be done if we just maintain a positive attitude towards our own responsibilities and duties, in addition to the government's.

P.S. -- This is My Delhi Manifesto in association with BlogAdda.com

I wish She had Smart Suraksha with her

As soon as I heard about this contest from BlogAdda, the first image in my mind was of the Damini case last Dec. in Delhi. The girl was brutally tortured, raped, and left to die. But the first thing her captors did was to throw off her mobile phone, so that she won't be able to contact or alert any of her contacts about the pre-assumed danger she was going to fall in. How I wish that time she would have a suitable mobile phone app which at a touch of single button could send a SOS message to her contacts! She could have been saved the cruel ordeal...

Trouble doesn’t announce its arrival! Anyone can be attacked by anything like adverse situations or the wrong people at anytime, even in broad daylight. If a girl is cornered in a deserted area, her screams for help may go unnoticed. The Smart Suraksha App is an Android Application that aims at making the women feel safe. This App, at the press of a single button, sends your message of help to five pre-chosen contacts from your contact list. An additional feature of this app is that along with your message for help, it also sends across your location even if the GPS on your cellphone is switched off. Thus, the women can be reassured that there is help available at all times.

We hear disheartening incidents almost on a daily basis. In such times, it is important that we have applications like these so that everyone gets aware of the safety of their loved ones. It is our duty as fellow citizens to try and help instead of letting the scenario get worse. 

Therefore, I appeal to all my female friends to get more know-how of this app, and my male friends to ask their female acquaintances making them aware about the same. I sincerely hope that my post will be of immense help to all the womenfolk because if they are ever caught in a similar situation, they will sure be in a better position to handle it.

P.S. -- I am participating in the Seeking Smart Suraksha contest at BlogAdda.com in association with Smart Suraksha App.