tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86072752024-03-12T20:22:39.934-07:00Freein My MindGeneral Musings where I put down on cyber space whats Runnin Thru My Head. The rants help bring down my blood pressure, so please don't mind... Some Reviews, some opinions and sometimes just an article that made an impact on me but I didn't have time to write an opinion :)Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-74524719471538229782014-07-19T17:29:00.000-07:002014-07-21T07:08:27.291-07:00Black Beauty - #WhatTheBlackWhat does Black signify to you?
Something to be afraid of or something desirable?
In some cultures black is considered inauspicious, fair skin is prized over dark skin, so can black really be beautiful? and desirable?
I think it can. For the following reasons
1. Chocolate - Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, bitter chocolate - they all come in various shades of black and each one is more Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-49187845551656642802014-07-19T15:34:00.000-07:002014-07-21T07:07:55.198-07:00A Zestful LifeWhen you are on the wrong side of 30 and have siblings on the right side and you see their energy and enthusiasm, its easy to wonder if you are growing old, but there area few things that reinforce my zest for life.
5. Travel : Every travel experience of ours is an adventure. I have lived in 16 cities in 4 countries and have relocated many more times. Our lifestyle itself is Nomadic and we throwKimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-23222638381027747202011-04-02T03:26:00.000-07:002011-04-02T03:31:04.384-07:00Book Review: Random House's Kama Kahani seriesKama Kahani is a new series by Random house for Historical Romantic Fiction set in India. Growing up, I wasn't much of a Mills & Boon Reader - a phase most girls go through (for some the phase just lasts longer than others), but I did enjoy the Georgette Heyer novels.
I now realise that I relished Heyer's books because they took me to another time and place. They helped me explore a Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-73518943324960593872011-03-30T11:29:00.000-07:002011-03-30T11:29:06.369-07:00Book Review : Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree SeriesI was recently invited for a little girls birthday and remembering the lovely time I had reading the Faraway Tree series as a child, I decided to get all 3 books for this little girl.
By a strange set of circumstances, I could not make it to the party and the books were waiting to be gift wrapped, so I decided to quickly re-read them myself. Oh what fun it was, I was promptly transported back toKimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-1144203267350959402011-02-11T15:39:00.000-08:002011-02-11T15:39:12.178-08:00Book Review: Following FishFollowing Fish: Travels around the Indian Coast is Samanth Subramanian's debut novel and what a debut! Samanth is a journalist by profession and he uses the narrative version of journalism to full efect in "Following Fish"
India is a country with a long and diverse coastline and as the author says Fish inhabit the heart of many worlds - food of course, but also culture, commerce, sport, Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-71984628966901252452011-01-28T00:20:00.000-08:002011-01-28T00:20:39.306-08:00Book Review: The CobraThe latest novel from Frederick Forsyth, this one deals with the cocaine trade. An industry worth billions of dollars and which ruins millions of lives.
Paul Devereux an ex-CIA special ops is called out of retirement by the American President himself, to stop the drug trade at any cost.
The drug trade across the world, from suppliers in 3rd world countries to end users in developed nations Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-92148819967829199872010-12-06T07:28:00.000-08:002010-12-06T07:28:24.849-08:00Book Review: Curses in IvoryCurses in Ivory traverses three generations of women as seen through the eyes and memories of Sreya. The 3 main characters are Sreya, her grandmother Hansabati and mother Regina. The minor but still important characters are her mothers sister Queenie, her Fathers brothers wife Brishti and her sister-in-law Nilima.
The curse supposedly has its origin in the time of Hansabati's mother-in-law Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-33199523739790775312010-10-24T15:23:00.000-07:002010-10-24T15:23:15.721-07:00Book Review: Disgraced by Saira Ahmed
Picked this book up on a whim, as it seemed to be in the vein of Jean Sasson's books. It promised a glimpse into the life of a young British-Pakistani girl growing up in a traditional Muslim immigrant family in the 1980's.
Was it a good book? Well, it won't win any awards for the writing, but the story did make me empathise with her. It created an emotional response in me and isn't that Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-88833083330435573782010-05-20T05:15:00.000-07:002010-05-20T05:15:23.843-07:00Book Review : Yajnaseni - the story of DraupadiThis is a translation of the work of Oriya writer Pratibha Ray on the story of Draupadi. This tale portrays Draupadi in a completely different light from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Draupadi, in Palace of Illusions
I feel this book has lost a lot in the translation. The first half of the book was very diffcult to get through. The language is clunky and for someone unfamiliar with the multiple Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-79606993382283425332010-05-19T07:12:00.000-07:002010-05-19T07:12:00.463-07:00Book Review : The Hadrian Enigma - A Forbidden HistoryThe Hadrian Enigma - is a story of love, intrigue, politics, and scandal set in pagan Rome and Egypt, about 130 years after Christ.
The story is based on real characters and falls in the genre of speculative fiction. It starts with the discovery of the body of the Bythinian youth Antinous rumored to be Caesar Hadrian's lover or eromenos. While history says that his death was an accidental Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-85516488437221264982010-05-18T17:01:00.000-07:002010-05-18T17:01:45.231-07:00Book Review The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel ChristThe latest book from the Philip Pullman stable, being called in certain quarters as the Gospel according to Philip.
The plot is based on an innovative concept - that Mary gave birth to twins - Jesus and Christ. In Philips narrative Jesus starts out as the mischievous one, getting into trouble which his quiet, academically oriented brother Christ keeps getting him out of. But then Jesus goes intoKimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-7100682344683880022010-04-29T16:17:00.000-07:002010-05-18T16:59:20.983-07:00Book Review : The Other QueenThis is my first book by Philippa Gregory and I admit that it was the movie version of "The Other Boleyn Girl", that got me interested in her as an author.
While I knew the basic outline of the fate of Mary, Queen of Scots, this novel still kept me engrossed. It brought to life characters from history in a way that only movies seemed to be able to do until a few years ago. It is wonderful the Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-62140720835573173862010-04-27T16:16:00.000-07:002010-04-27T00:38:53.951-07:00Book Review : Wildwood DancingThis book by Juliet Marillier was left behind by an American friend who was visiting. Its teen female fiction.
Fantasy and Romance all mixed into one.
I found it way more interesting and the story telling style was far superior to Stephanie Meyer (I admit I read all 4 parts of the Twilight Saga in 2 days). Its a wonder that Juliet Marillier hasn't got more acclaim.
Wildwood Dancing actually Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-74653731144074931452010-04-27T14:05:00.000-07:002010-04-27T14:05:16.607-07:00Book Review : Sister IndiaPeggy Payne is a travel writer and her attention to the tiny details when traveling come through in this book, her fourth.
My husband who has lived and worked in Varanasi for almost 5 years, found it suprising that a "foreigner" could grasp the essence of the city so well.
Sister India is a work of fiction, which tells multiple stories of the guests at the Saraswati Guesthouse managed by the Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-33661717295691065132010-04-27T01:16:00.000-07:002010-04-27T00:39:29.200-07:00Book Review : The Immortals of MeluhaPart 1 of the Shiva Trilogy from Amish Tripathi. One of the first books by an Indian author to be introduced by a viral video on youtube
The story of The Immortals of Meluha is set in 1900BC and operates on the premise that Shiva was a mortal, a simple man whom legend turned into God.
Amish summarises his fundamental premises as:
I believe that the Hindu gods were not mythical beings or a Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-78618309800633936892010-04-23T14:03:00.000-07:002010-04-23T14:03:27.045-07:00Book Review : One Amazing ThingThe latest offering from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - it is a set of short stories strung together with a common narrative much like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales that is referenced in this book.
The basic setting of the book is that nine people are trapped in the basement of an Indian Consulate in the US during an earthquake. With limited supplies of food, oxygen and light and unable to get out Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-90081426516581829692010-04-16T12:59:00.000-07:002010-04-16T12:59:24.967-07:00Book Review: The Indian Epics RetoldI had been looking for a translation of Ramavataram - Kamban's Ramayan since I read In Search of Sita, when I came across this collection by R K Narayan. This book is a collection of 3 of his books - a translation of The Ramavataram, The Mahabharath and also his collection of short stories "Gods, Demons and Others"
Looking at the size of the book, I should have realised that I would only be Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-34702757635680500892010-04-14T23:32:00.000-07:002010-04-14T23:32:23.361-07:00Book Review : In Search of SitaIn an introduction to this book at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Devdutt Pattanaik aptly summed up the dillemma facing authors who want to write about the Ramayan and its principal character - Shri Ram.
"When in India, if you write about Ram, you will invariably be gagged by someone. If you say something positive about him, the left wing will get all upset and call you patriarchal. If you say Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-486389630463878702010-03-26T13:19:00.000-07:002010-03-26T13:19:56.229-07:00Book Review: Palace of IllusionsFor the first time, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni writes about Indian mythology rather than just characters influenced by it or stories inspired by mythology.
In the genre of speculative fiction, she retells the story of the Mahabharata from Draupadi's point of view. Draupadi plays an essential role in the epic. If not for her, perhaps the Pandavas might not have lusted for revenge against their Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-30465078751970568632010-03-25T12:14:00.000-07:002010-03-25T12:14:36.213-07:00Book Review: CuckoldAfter Ravan and Eddie I was itching to read "Cuckold" as this is a book that Kiran Nagarkar himself considers his masterpiece. In the midst of packing and leaving, I did not have the time to buy or read the book. On subsequent visits to India, we bought up all the latest best sellers (Egypt takes time for new books to be relased due to censorship issues) but sadly the Cuckold lost out in the raceKimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-17661783033959521902010-02-24T11:17:00.000-08:002010-02-24T11:17:07.350-08:00Book Review: First Family
The main story was rather gripping, engrossing, unravelled well and was generally well put together, but I found the digression into the story of one of the Private Investigators on the case, completely extraneous. It did not explain any behavior relevant to the case, nor did it shed any light on the main plot or add to it. It was just a distraction from start to finish.
In general, I do like Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-60023846128959677302009-11-11T13:13:00.000-08:002009-11-13T15:36:04.376-08:00Choosing a TV packageOne of the decisions that needs to be made when moving houses is what TV package to choose?The number of channels on offer is further complicated by their bundling and sometimes the smae channel could be provided by different vendors or suppliers. How to take a decision? Sites like Direct TV help you find an answer to this dilemma easily.All you need to do is answer a basic questionnaire as to Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-22693272971326348372009-11-11T12:46:00.000-08:002009-11-11T13:09:01.269-08:00In these times of Financial stressIn these times of Financial meltdown and stress, it is so easy to get bad credit.Even in the best of times, it is is easy to have one payment get lost in a mail box or go missing somewhere which all contribute negatively to your credit rating. The whole situation is such that it leaves you wondering if you could fix credit.Is it remotely possible?Fortunately, there are now a number of companies Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-89140693536374024582009-11-04T13:06:00.000-08:002009-11-04T13:14:33.751-08:00Beating the Online Gambling SystemWe were looking for the rules for games played in casinos, in preparation for an upcoming trip, when I came across Online Casinos. Call me blind, but with software to block ads from my web pages in place, I seeme to have forgotten the existence of this concept.Anyway, this site offers Online Casino Reviews and also detailed analysis of all the games including history and strategy. The strategy Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8607275.post-61942128935202754292009-11-03T12:55:00.000-08:002009-11-04T13:02:21.030-08:00IContact - for your email marketing needsiContact is the best option out there for anyone who wants to send out email newsletters. They have great inbox deliverability, an extremely easy to use interface, great prices that start at $9.95 per month, lots of templates, and also include surveying, autoresponder, and blogging capability from the same application at no additional charge.iContact starts at $9.95 per month and scales upward Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14687803417221589161noreply@blogger.com0