KETTI

Author:VIKRAM KARVE      Blog :Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve    Date: 5/28/2011 2:58:00 PM

KETTIShort Fiction - A Travel TaleByVIKRAM KARVEFrom my Creative Writing Archives: Short Fiction - A Simple Love Story I wrote sometime in the 1990s ...Winter.Early morning.Chill in the air.I stand alone on the metre gauge side of the lonely island platform of Mettupalaiyam Railway Station and stare at the peaks of the Blue Mountains (the Nilgiris) silhouetted in a veil of mist in the distance.Nothing much has changed here since the last time I came here on my way to Ooty.It wa(...)

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The Kabab Maker and the Consultant

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 6/3/2011 8:29:00 AM

First thing, I loved the cover. 12 short stories, each one dealing with different aspect of human character and belief across social and cultural context.These slice of life stories carry a realistic flavour, one can almost imagine that one must have met the protagonists somewhere in the past.The kabab maker and the consultant have their workplace adjacent to each other. While the consultant envies the steady flow of customers in the kabab maker’s shop the kabab maker aspires to be (...)

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Office Shocks

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 6/2/2011 8:19:00 AM

It is Aniket’s first day at work. Fresh out of B school he has a certain image of corporate life. However, he faces shock after shock as he goes through his first day of work that goes beyond HR- proposed office timings.In his first day at work he has almost seen it all- including a colleague who received a pink slip, a long lost friend who is a colleague now but there is more to her than seems to the eye, people who invite him for drinks and on his refusal, “punish” him with an ass(...)

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Author Speak

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 6/2/2011 4:01:00 AM

Meet Ashwin Sanghi here in a discussion on what the readers of today are looking for

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Ashoka the Great

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 5/31/2011 10:30:00 AM

It is ironical that a book that I have a book in my hands that has 1000 plus pages of pure reading pleasure but I haven’t been able to read it fully as yet. But I do want to review it inspite of not being able to read it fully because otherwise it will take me a year to do the review. So in effect- it makes for a leisure trip of reading. And do not forget- the book weighs 2 kg and is available in hard bound.Ashoka the Wild Prince is the obvious King in waiting – the rightful claiman(...)

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The Postmaster- Selected Stories

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 5/29/2011 3:49:00 AM

To mark the 150th anniversary of Rabindrananth Tagore (1861-1941), Penguin India has presented a special selection of works by and on the Nobel laureate, poet, writer and philosopher. From novels, poetry, essays and short stories to biographies The Penguin Tagore Bookshelf covers the entire range of works of and on Tagore. The Postmaster is a collection of 29 shorts stories and some letters written by Tagore- translated beautifully by William Radice.The stories capture the life of W(...)

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Burnt Toast

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 6/1/2011 5:53:00 AM

No I didn't burn my toast. In fact toast has been banned for quite a few days in my home- because it has too many carbs and is processed food- So I am really sticking to making rotis rather than sandwiches though I would love to have a yummy chicken cheese sandwich right away.Well, this burnt toast is about Sandy's debut book (which has a very nice cover design).Moulshree Dutta has been groomed all her life to become a financial whiz. She is an IIM grad today and is going to start h(...)

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Nothing to Declare

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 5/31/2011 10:55:00 AM

Based in Nepal, these 16 short stories mirror the life of Nepali youth. Ever changing yet never changing.Initiations is a simple story of a young boy’s initiation into the adult world- he is expected to mock escape after the ceremony and his uncles are supposed to bring him back. The thrill of the chase prompts him to do something that no one has done before.In Arranged Marriage, a young modern boy debates with himself and finds himself getting attracted to the proposition of an arr(...)

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The Lotus Queen

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 5/31/2011 10:07:00 AM

The Lotus Queen is the story of queen Padmini of Chittor written in a very lucid style. A slim book of 8 chapters, it flits between present and flashback, thereby bringing out the sharp contrast in the life of the queen in jus a space of a year.Padmini comes to Chittor as the bride of Rawal Rattan Singh – the newly crowned ruler of Chittor. Within a span of 8 months, The Sultan of Delhi, sets his heart on Queen Padmini. His terms are simple just one look at the rare jewel of Chittor(...)

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A Grain of Sand- Chokher Bali

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 5/31/2011 9:22:00 AM

Set in the onset of the 20th century, Chokher Bali has all the ingredients of a modern tele serial. Emotions, lots of sadness, ill fate, conservative joint family, a quintessential side kick for the main hero, and the extra marital affair. This in a nutshell is chokher bali- meaning a grain of sand that gets into your eye and causes a reflex action.Choker Bali is the name Binodini and Asha gave to each other as per the convention of naming their closest friends with their own privat(...)

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I Want to Live- The Story of Madhubala

Author:Itchingtowrite      Blog :Mamma of Twins    Date: 5/28/2011 3:37:00 AM

I Want to Live- The Story of Madhubala http://img1.fkcdn.com/img/817/9789380480817.jpgBorn on Valentine’s Day in 1933, the Venus of the Indian screen who captured the hearts of millions had a congenital heart problem ironically. The woman who had it all, or rather could have it all, was left with nothing towards the end of her short life. She died at the age of 36, failed by her heart, heartbroken, disappointed by the person she gave her heart to.Madhubala started her career at the (...)

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The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra

Author:Anuradha Goyal      Blog :Anuradha Goyal    Date: 5/31/2011 10:06:00 AM

A story set in 1980s, probably written in 1990s sometime takes you through the journey of a young student in Banaras as he comes in touch with people from the western world and also deals with his fellow Indian students and their politics. It could have been a good picture of India’s changing mind space from being extremely regional to getting global, but the book fails to do that, even at a personal journey level. The protagonist is a silent, inactive boy who is just driven by o(...)

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Do you like reading?

Author:Aishwarya      Blog :Kaleidoglide    Date: 5/30/2011 5:48:00 AM

Skimming through this once more and this struck me as being rather quotable."A woman at one of mother's parties once said to me, "Do you like reading?" which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping, or eating bread - absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation. And we all sat waiting for her to say that she had so little time for reading, before ruling her right out for ever and ever." - Rachel Fer(...)

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The Book Predators

Author:Manasi      Blog :Hello Mommyhood !    Date: 5/25/2011 8:02:00 AM

We've all met them. The Book Predators who borrow your books and never return them. I was introduced to them fairly early in life, probably because the collective love for books that ran in my family had ensured that I had a massive collection of wonderful books from a very young age. At first I had no problem lending my books to people I knew. I'd derived several hours of pure joy thanks to a particularly wonderful book that I had chanced upon at a friend or relative's house and th(...)

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Kindled fire burns my paper backs

Author:D S      Blog :    Date: 6/1/2011 2:05:53 PM

A little warning – this piece is going to read more like a diary entry than a review. The high point of my recent past was, buying my new Kindle. I’m excited! The best thing is, it took far fewer adjustments to switch from paper books than I thought it would take. And then, there [...]

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Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Author:Aathira      Blog :Vector Gaming    Date: 5/31/2011 7:52:00 AM

Been at it for a very long time… didn't find it too fascinating in between… then it again became very gripping… and finally ending on a demure note for me. Shantaram was a book recommended to me by many, and I was also warned that I should set myself to read the first few chapters before deciding on its fate. I was already aware of the plot, as it was the centre of many heated discussions when it was first published, but the depth to which each act was played out, made it a gre(...)

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ebooks sales now more than printed book on amazon

Author:Maya      Blog :A day in the life of India    Date: 6/1/2011 7:15:00 AM

Amazon reported that ebooks sales has increased in comparison to printed books for the first time. For every 100 printed book 105 ebooks were sold on amazon.. Personally i prefer a printed book, i m not sure if i would be switching to ebooks anytime soon, printed books are more handy for me for the time being, also it looks good on the shelf. I think printed books will have a lead for a very

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The 1-2-3 of buying a car in America

Author:Serendipity      Blog :All that Jazz    Date: 6/2/2011 10:53:00 PM

There are a few things in America that are very painful. Paying for medical emergencies, renting an apartment, breaking your leg and on the same lines - buying a car. A naive first timer can easily get duped into thinking they just bought the best deal ever and walk out with that all knowing smirk on their face, but little do they know. As a first timer myself, my saving grace is a few friends who've lived here since a long time and who have taken it upon themselves to make sure no (...)

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The one year gyaan

Author:Serendipity      Blog :All that Jazz    Date: 5/27/2011 9:59:00 PM

It's been almost a year since I moved here - and its been a whirlwind of new experiences, people, emotions, chaos and what not. As I look back at the year that went past - here are the few things I learnt the hard way or otherwise...I do not like Accounting.Accounting does not like me.I LEARNT HOW TO COOK!I failed the damn driving test. stupid rules. This DOES NOT mean I dont know how to drive, it just means Im generating more revenue for cash strapped US. (gah)I am GREAT cook (if (...)

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The English Teacher

Author:The Rain Crab      Blog :Rumbles and Tumbles are Part of the Game    Date: 5/14/2013 6:11:00 PM

Something worth sharing…"Wife, child, brothers, parents, friends... We come together only to go apart again. It is one continuous movement. They move away from us as we move away from them. The law of life cannot be avoided. The law comes into operation the moment we detach ourselves from our mother's womb. All struggle and misery in life is due to our attempt to arrest this law or get away from it or in allowing ourselves to be hurt by it. The fact must be recognized. A profound un(...)

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WRTH Summer shedules file now available for free download

Author:Alokesh Gupta      Blog :R A D I O A C T I V I T Y    Date: 5/14/2013 5:10:00 PM

The WRTH editorial team are pleased to announce that the Summer (A) Season broadcast schedules file is now available to download for free from http://www.wrth.com just follow the link on the front page (updates). Included in this file are: Broadcast schedules for international and clandestine/target broadcasters, international broadcasts in DRM, International frequency listing, and selected language broadcasts. Also included is a decode table for site and target area codes. The 80 p(...)

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An insight into the excursion

Author:ViShNu MS VaRdHaNaN      Blog :MY BLABS    Date: 5/14/2013 9:26:00 PM

There are books that clasp your fingers, grab your senses and have your attention on its leash when you take them up in your hands; they call it the page-turners. There are some books that are heavy not so much in terms of its girth and weight but in terms of the facets it explores, in terms of the impact it leaves in a readers mind. These books are delicately subtle, profoundly beautiful, and unbelievably chimerical in terms of their form and their very make. They are like a c(...)

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Odd Man Out

Author:Anu Lal      Blog :THE INDIAN COMMENTATOR    Date: 5/15/2013 4:27:00 PM

Image Courtesy: GoogleBloggingmight be a very personal and individual affair. However, with its impact, it is not. Every word one writes and sends out to the world to judge, caress, feel and hope from, holds n unavoidable energy, a spirit, be these words in the form of blog posts or Facebook comments or a printed book. A writer’s first duty is to be respectful towards this state of being. The cosmos works the way.I consider myself fortunate for having you here, reading with your eye(...)

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Monster Bookmarks!

Author:Karuna      Blog :CraAftINg QuEEn    Date: 5/16/2013 6:21:00 AM

Hey ThereMe is back with "what's new" at my end! My bestie Pallavi from - https://thoushaltcook.wordpress.com  wanted to send some bookmarks to the winner of a Food Blog Contest her blog and she wanted me to make some cute Food related bookmarks. But i was so absolutely out of ideas what i could do as am not much into bookmarks and then i remembered these cute monster bookmarks i saw somewhere long ago and had always wanted to make them! I think they have a totally "Hungry(...)

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Once Upon The Tracks of Mumbai: a Review

Author:Rinaya      Blog :Wandering Thoughts    Date: 5/16/2013 8:50:00 AM

After Chetan Bhagat got famous, there were a lot of IIT-related books. Books on teenage crush, amorous biographies & fictions with really bizarre titles flooded the market. Very few actually made sense & could be termed ‘literature’. Thankfully Indian authors are now breaking free from the Bollywood style writing & attempting their pens at new genres. For example Tantra by Adi (read review here). Once Upon The Tracks of Mumbai falls under this category. Yes there is a lo(...)

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Book Review: Instant jQuery Drag-and-Drop Grids How-to

Author:Anil      Blog :Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia    Date: 5/16/2013 2:28:00 PM

Instant jQuery Drag-and-Drop Grids How-to is a beginner level book by Marcos Placona on getting started with the Gridster jQuery plugin.Gridster is a MIT licensed jQuery plugin that allows building intuitive draggable layouts from elements spanning multiple columns. You can even dynamically add and remove elements from the grid. It has an active following on GitHub. The minified version (jquery.gridster.min.js) of this powerful plugin  measures just 33KB. Gridster supports(...)

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The Magus

Author:Anu Lal      Blog :THE INDIAN COMMENTATOR    Date: 5/17/2013 3:37:00 AM

Image Courtesy: Paulo CoelhoThe Fifth Mountainwas the first book that came to me from a local library, written by Paulo Coelho. I do believe that we do not choose books, but they choose us. The Fifth Mountain came to me with a purpose—it told me that it is not a shameful thing to be afraid of something. Fear is just a part of life, like courage and laughter.The preface of the book had a quote from Paulo Coelho’s legendary work, The Alchemist. It said, “If you want something, the who(...)

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To B.E a LOSER!

Author:Gayu      Blog :Outside The Kitchen Window    Date: 5/17/2013 7:47:00 PM

It was a typical Sunday morning. I was just lazing around with my cuppa coffee, when my sister called. She was super excited, as she gave me the news that a Software Engineer from Kalyan is an author of two books. My first thought was, “Oh it must be some IIT guy, and he must have penned down his love story.” However, I was completely wrong. Things are not always, the way we presume.I immediately Googled his name, ‘Author Dipen Ambalia’, and I came to know about his books. My curio(...)

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Book review: The Object-Oriented Thought Process

Author:Mohamed Sanaulla      Blog :Experiences Unlimited    Date: 5/19/2013 5:24:30 PM

If you were to ask me a book to understand the Object oriented concepts in a practical way- I will surely recommend “The Object Oriented Thought process”. These are some of the good things I found: the author tries to be independent of the programming language while explaining the concepts. You can see few Java [...] Related posts:Book Review: Scala for the ImpatientThe book covers almost all of the concepts in Scala...Book Review: NoSQL DistilledNote: This was reviewed by me (...)

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At the Radhi-Waala....

Author:Meena      Blog :Meena's Space    Date: 5/19/2013 6:30:00 PM

Jus when u feel that there is too much 'commercialization' happening around, comes along a friend who will rummage the Radhi-waala n dig out some lovely discarded books! Her finds in this dingy basement shop(n tht explains the poor pic quality) have included 'The Complete Works of Khalil Gibran', 'World Is Flat', 'Life of Pi', 'Connect The Dots', 'India Unbound' ........ Maybe she's one of those shining lights who reaffirms my faith in the existence of a non-materialist world(...)

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Business Sutra--Book Review

Author:rinzu rajan      Blog :The Page Dancers    Date: 5/19/2013 7:55:00 PM

Title: Business Sutra: A Very Indian Approach to ManagementAuthor: Devdutt PattanaikPublisher: Aleph BooksISBN: 978-81-923280-7-2Genre: Non-Fiction, Management, MythologyPages: 437Picking up a book written by an author who calls him the Chief Belief officer was a first timer.And I was wondering what could a once doctor turned thinker turned an author could offer. Since business in an interesting area of exploration and Vedas and holy books from other religions than what I follow hav(...)

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The diary of a social butterfly: by Moni Mohsin

Author:Tarang Sinha      Blog :Tarang    Date: 5/20/2013 8:22:00 AM

This is my first book by Moni Mohsin. "The diary of a social butterfly" published by Random House India, is a diary of butterfly, a wealthy so called socialite of Pakistan. She calls her husband Janoo (Sometimes Boodhi Rooh! And she is so gay, so gay keh koi hisaab nahin...) and mother-in-law Old Bag. She doesn't care what happens in her country or world. She is just interested in fashion, parties, GT (Oho, get together aur kya?) and her horrible (Incorrect pronunciation&n(...)

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My Sunday book haul at Abids in a long long time...with Vinod for company...

Author:winding river      Blog :jaisiri    Date: 5/20/2013 8:47:00 AM

I went to the second hand books market at Abids yesterday...I don’t remember when I last visited this amazing Sunday book sale...must be almost 16-17 years ago...I don’t even have memories of that visit... and ever since I began reading Vinod’s blog, I have enjoyed his retelling of his various hauls, his lucky finds, his regrets about leaving some book behind, his obsessed pursuit of rare books of even more rare and hidden authors...though I do manage to buy second hand books at a c(...)

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Anirban Bose- Mice In Men- Book Review

Author:Saro      Blog :Plate    Date: 5/20/2013 3:31:00 PM

I got this book in our last Indiblogger's meet and well, this rainy weekend had to arrive before I had the intent to actually pick out this book from my magazine rack of books that I'd bought, hadn't read and what a surprise! This must be one of the best collection on Indian short stories I've read, and I'm surprised that I haven't heard of this author until ofcourse I  got the free copy.

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The Lady On My Left - Catherine Cookson

Author:Sree      Blog :Simply Sree...    Date: 5/20/2013 4:23:00 PM

The old world feel read set in UK, the auction houses, the love between a girl and her caretaker much older than her, goodie goodie with a tinge of negativity and villiany :) .. feel good book.Felt like I was reading a non-detailed text book or something :).

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Social Suicide - Gemma Halliday

Author:Sree      Blog :Simply Sree...    Date: 5/20/2013 4:07:00 PM

What is more important than the book itself about this book reading is that I did it in Morgan Falls Park overlooking the lake in a swing, lying down with a pillow and a comforter on the swing when the kid played around happily in the play area take care of by OA, so no matter what the book is bound to be a super hit by any standards to me :-pIn the setting of a school campus, it has a young feel to it, the story of a girl working for a school magazine who ends up being at a place w(...)

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Book Review: When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time To Go Home by Erma Bombeck

Author:palsworld      Blog :Palsworld    Date: 5/20/2013 7:33:00 PM

I chanced upon this book on my visit to a local library. I have been a huge fan of Erma Bombeck's primarily because of her quotes but have never had the opportunity to read any of her books. Being fond of travel and hoping to travel the entire world one day, this particular book interested me immensely.The book talks about her travels across countries; about travelling with her husband, with kids, with parents, etc. It also talks about the various activities one undertakes in the co(...)

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The Times Of Amma - A Book release, Amma style

Author:Shweta Ganesh Kumar      Blog :Simply Speaking    Date: 5/21/2013 5:26:00 AM

Here I am at typing this out in the wee hours of the morning, burning the midnight oil with excitement and nervous anticipation.My third book and first ever eBook, 'A Newlywed's Adventures in Married Land' was just released a few hours ago.My family is celebrating in style!By sleeping.Yes, you can see me levitating in excitement at the releaseI don't mind though. This means that I actually get to type on my computer without having to listen to 'The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Rou(...)

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