Book Review: The Twentieth Wife!

Been waiting to pick this book since the time Swaram reviewed it! Heres my take on it:

'TwetiethWife' is the tale of Nurjehan... I luv the way these novels brings to live what are until then jus another borinbg name peeping out from the dusty history books! Be it this book or Draupadis personification in Palace of Illusions!

This book is a winner in its own rt but it fails to hold ur attention at few places(U could blame it on my reading marthon).... Possibly cause while the book is centered around NurJahan, there are multiple instances where the focus goes away from her n is instead embroiled in the drama surrounding other characters or rather on history!

Except this one grouse, the book is a true page turner!The way her character is etched ~~ U almost end up identifying with her ~~ Not a mean task considering we are talking of a character from history few generations back! Ofcourse not to forget the share of  interesting snippets!


As I was telling a friend of mine, Gift this book to an school student and lest assured he\she will remember history like the back of their hands n will love it too! Indu Sundaresan, Cant wait to finish all the books in this Taj Triology....

Wow! Another book done for south asian book challenge :-D

The mandate Happy- Bday Waali Post!

Whats with me n my bdays! What is it that makes me get onto ma hubs throat on eve of every b'day ~~ This time the slight was the missing cake (N I thot a missing gift too... While it was sitting all nicely gift wrapped on my bedside... But I was too Grrrr to notice :-/ )! So despite this disastrous start, the day did go on quite well ~~ After all my mom, sis n niece being around is in itself a sure shot recipe to a gr8 day :)

Ofcourse the more than generous gifts I got ~~ Watch, Books, wallets(Funny how at times the very thing you had in ur wish list for a long time  materializes as a gift from the most unexpected sources!), dresses (My sis came loaded with like 4-5 new dresses :-D) was the topping on the cake! Ha! The fishy dinner had @ Coast -Coast (Koramanagala) jus added the 'yummy' quotient to the day :) Surprisingly or sadly the fact that a v v v v dear person conveniently missed the day dint spoil my day ~~ Realization dawns huh!

 

Yummm!


   Yumm Huh! Nope nope this is not a Bday delicacy... But well no bday post is comp till u hv something to slurpp on.. aint it! Pic courtesy hubbs ofcourse  :)

On another note, as u know me n athletics jus don go together ~~ Last week I hv been tagging along with am hubbs for his swimming classes n well looks like am almost on verge of giving it up :(.... Help! Help! Help!

Tagging this to ColorDeckors weekend Wrpaup!

Happy Vishu :-)

Happy Vishu to all dear n near ones... Heres a quick glance of my Vishkani.... This time thnx to the 'Ways of Nature' it was 100% hubbs effort.....

The Dusk And....



The Dawn......



Urban Stories!

Heard abt this first from ma frnd n saw a fleeting glimpse of it in one of the blog that I lurk on! But surprisingly dint c a huge publicity for it in blog world!!! So hop on here n submit ur story....

Considering what we dish out on our blogs day in n out is nothing but 'Urban Stories' this should be a cake-walk ~~ So put on ur writing caps(like the bloggers eva put it down), spice it up with a few'Inspirations', season it with a little of ur 'writing magic' n oo la la u dish out the most amazing 'Urban story'!

But hurry up! The last date is Apr 15th!

Words...

or rather a Line is all it takes to break a already fragile relationship! This is one status update tht I always dreaded but guess everyone has to face their worst fears... Hmpf :(

Yummmm!

I jus had to share this pic with u guys(ofcourse pic courtesy Hubbs) thou the treat was a few weeks nee months ago, but well the very sight of it is an indulgence for the sense aint it :)

Linking this up to the weekend wrapup...... Ha u c the major part of this weekend my status was "To the look n back" courtesy a stomach upset thou that dint prevent me from some retail therapy..... Nothing works like this therapy does to get all ur senses back in full form huh :-D

Esp when u end up getting the very gift u seek for somebody dear that u had in mind thou as ma frnd says, the clarity with which I hv it sketcked is say at a height of 50000 Ft.... Making the task of finding it all the more diff(How do u freeze down on something when u don even know what is tht u want huh) n exasperating(esp for the partner-in-crime .... Thank U sweetheart for putting up with it!)  but still  all the more satisfying :) ...

N did I tell ya tht this shopping expedition did reap in a sexy b'day gift for me ... again thnx to Sabs! Cant ask for more... can I???

Book Review: Japanese Wife - Kunal Basu

Ok now letta try a diff approach for this book review... ok??


The cover page of the book has this quote by Aparna Sen ""The Japanese Wife" is a haunting but improbable love story, almost surreal its innocence"!

The backcover has this "Such is the dexterity with which Basu writes that the twelve separate stories melt together to become a book of evocation. In the end what one remember is the splendid and the remarkable"!!

Thus ma frnds I sign off the book review .... A remarkable approach to book review huh :-D.

Truly these lines above jus about covers what I hv to say this book... The story of 'Japnese Wife' is the creamiest story in the book, thou ofcourse every other story in it has tht distinct appeal to them (Thou I agree few went above ma head!)

Pic courtesy Google!

This ma frnds is the 2nd book in ma series of South Asian challenge! Do check out the rest here......

Which sense goes to sleep when you are fast asleep?

Ans: "Nonsense" !

Answer courtesy hubbs :-D. This Q was aired on the radio ~~ yest being the world health day... N Mr.hubbs so nonchalantly msgs his answer in no time!!!!

Once upon a Time in Mumbai.....

....Haa how how  could I not post this??? Well betta late than never rt....

Pic courtesy hubbs ofcourse (Well he did turn out to be rt huh!) .... He jus couldnt resist from clicking it as soon as it splashed on the TV screen.... Something to preserve for the future rt :-D. Well its not always that a so-much-craved-for fruit isnt snatched away right from under our nose rt :)

Haa nothing jus about nothing could make the weekend(A long one at tht!)  more picture perfect.....ofcourse the prospect of a houseful ~~ Ma mom, sis, ma niece.... few weekends from now is jus the topping on the cake rt!

So goes without saying tht this has to be linked to Color Deckors weekend wrapup......  Along with my cupcake dreams :)

How old are you??

I hv a frnd of Chinese origin who gave birth to this cutest cutest cutest boy in April 2010.... N so next week is the cutie pies 2nd b'day... Yeaaaaaaaaaaah n am the guest-of-honour :-D

Ho oh! Wait a sec... did I say 2nd b'day??  N u think thats a typo... Well well u couldnt hv been wronger.... I hv got tht right on dot! Don believe me??? Go on... read it up here..... Basically translates that in a few east asian cultures the day the child is born is considered to be start of year 1... N so the end of year 1 is well start of year 2 n is thus the 2nd bday!!!

BTW the first part was jus a made up story :-D. This piece of gyaan is courtesy ma frnd n her students from tht part of the world!

N heres presenting you with some yum yum cup-cakes(Cup cake is the operative work ... ok???)........... ! Why???? For the bday ofcourse... Of the  fictitious god child :-D  N for some reason I been drooling over this for past few dyas.... which ofcourse means  somebody is supposed to take  hint for the cake I want for ma bday :-D ! Did u jus call me shameless....... I take a bow ....



Pic courtesy Google!


PS:  Sheesh! To think I almost missed this persons bday.... Haaa how soon do I tend to forget ... even somebody who was(is) right at the top of my 'Like' List :( ... why??? Cause well am judgemental, cause I tend to be v v v easily swayed by opinions which come with a dose of on-your-face-evidence!!! But please please please noooo.... I soo don waana this happen.... I so don waana this person to move away from my 'Like' list.... cause well she is my 'Guardian ANgel' ....... Or is it just Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?????????????????????????????

Mr. Optimist...

... Thats ma hubbs... Take a bow mister!

The WC final just drove the point home... While many of ma family-n-frnds were disheartened when India lost the first 2 wickets within 10 overs, hubbs just wasn't flustered ~~ Hes v confident that we could still pull it thru!

 N thi is the case with every other episode at my home ~~ However hopeless the situation looks Mr. Unflustered is the first to see the silver-lining-behind-the-cloud .....Haa lets not go into the instances where he has to bite the dust :-D (Ofcourse I then don lose the chances to tell him I-Told-U-So :-D)

Hmm possibly gets the dynamics of home rt.... Am the Ms. Pessimist so possibly the mister balances it out huh.......

Signing off with ma pick of this weeks puc from hubbs photoblog .... Do hop on... won ya (Free publicity never hurts huh :-D)

Book Review: 'Kaalam' by M.T. Vasudevan Nair

As I had said here... Am a  proud matrilineal nair woman !!! While this did set me apart from many of my peers, I really never appreciated the dynamics of it... All I knew was tht a few generations back in a typical Nair family the father never played active role in upbringing his children instead it was the maama(moms bros!)! While I hv heard a few snide comments on this abt 'Crafty Nair Women'(N I take a bow for it :-P)~~ I never knew enuf to what this setup translated to for this is never a topic thats come up for a discussion in my family circle (Well guess they had graver topics to worry abt!)

Haaa now b4 u ask me if this post wasnt supposed to be an book review ~~ Lemme dig in n introduce you to the book 'Kaalam' by M.T. Vasudevan Nair ~~ Haa but ofcourse the fraud mallu I am, I read an English translation of it by Gita KrishnanKutty ~~ A gr8 shes done with the book!

So as you must hv guessed the book revolves around the 'matrilineal Sambandham' system ~~ N heres a brief decko of the system  ~~ The lady continues to stay at her home(her mothers place if u prefer) post marriage while husband keeps paying her on-n-off visit(While this aint written anywhere how many of you would waana guess the 'Days-of-the-month' the husband will come visiting :-P) So but obviously the men-in-House would be the girls brothers and so their significance n so the matrineal system too!

Now while this is jus a decko am sure theres more to it... From the hear-say what I know is this is followed to avoid the wealth n property from being partioned ~~ While I am still to understand the chemistry of how matrilineal system prevents partition n such I can vouch with some level of accuracy that while today matrilineal system ot not the wealth does gets partioned but the rate may still be a degree lessser ~ Possibly to do with the closer bonds that a sister - sister as compared to a sister - SIL (N who are you kidding if u say tht the shots at a home is not called by the women!) or possibly cause this prevents a man from floundering all his wealth on his family(read wife n children) at cost of others  as well the key stakeholders here are the women( C'mon the chances of women floundering off wealth is much lesser!)


Ok now the above para was a digression from the book!  The story in 'Kaalam' revolves around the the family dynamics of a not-so-well-to-do Nair Families n the downfall of Namboodiris......   A book tht gives u a insight into the fibre of kerala society..... A nice good read!

This BTW is the 2nd book I finished  in keeping with the south asian book challenge ~~ A review of the first one coming up soon!