The World is full of stories and we come across each one every minute. For those who pay attention, they get it. Others just pass through life. These are the stories of my life, my mind, and my soul. What I see and perceive, what I reflect and what I keep a record of... with love!
When the world is running
after newly found hobbies, an old soul like me still finds solace between the
pages of a book. Reading has been something that I have discovered quite late
in my life. I remember as a kid, I saw my parents and other siblings reading voraciously
whereas I was mostly into sports. For me, sitting at one place for more than a
minute had been a real punishment. However, when I grew up and started working,
reading became a constant companion for me. Unknowingly it crept into my life
and made its place. Slowly, I kept turning the pages and explored the world
between the pages.
In today’s post, I would
share the first 5 books that I read when I started reading. In a way, these 5
books that got me into reading. Someone who has stayed away from books for
years came into the world of reading through these books.
Love
Story – Erich Segal
A timeless classic love story between Oliver Barrett and Jennifer Cavilleri is what I read first in my
life (apart from the regular books that I read like textbooks). Being stark
opposite to each other, this is the story of two people in love who discovers themselves
in their journey with each other.
The
Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
Originally published in
1988, The Alchemist is one of the finest books written ever narrating the story
of a young Andalusian shepherd in his journey to the pyramids of Egypt, after
having a recurring dream of finding a treasure there. This is not only the
story of his journey but also the story of his self-discovery. Originally
written in Portuguese, it became a widely translated international bestseller
The
Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Published in the year
2003, The Kite Runner is the first novel by the Afghan-American author Khaled
Hosseini. This is a soul story of two friends, a father and a son and many more.
Set up in the highly disturbed political conditions of the fall of
Afghanistan's monarchy through the Soviet military intervention, the exodus of
refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.
The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi
River. Set in the 1840s in the fictional town of St. Petersburg. This is the series
of stories of the various adventures that took place in the life of Tom with
his friend Huckleberry Finn. It is said that this book was a failure when it was
published first, however, in the later years, it became one of the most best-selling
works of Mark Twain’s lifetime.
Harry
Potter Series – J.K. Rowling
One series that I have
read and re-read till date. I don’t know how much I owe to this series to get
started with reading. Into the world of magic, friendship, courage, love, and
pain, I have found a new meaning of life. I started with the first book of the
series The Philosopher’s Stone and found a new world to be explored. The story
of an orphan boy who discovers himself to be a wizard belonging to a different
world altogether. As the series moves ahead, the plot thickens and there is so
much to be experienced.
All these taken together are
the books that got me into reading and today as I am known as one of the
voracious readers, I can’t help but express my gratitude to these books to get
me into reading.
Please let me know if you
are into reading and which books you liked the most.
The best part of my day is the first hour of my morning. My morning hour with a
homemade cafe latte. Unlike most of the office goers, I start my day at a very
relaxed note. I work for a second shift for which my work day starts only at 12
in the afternoon. To make the most of my morning the best thing that I do is
have half an hour all by myself with my morning coffee. Yes, I love the creamy
café latte that I made in my kitchen with instant coffee powder and trust me
when I say this, it tastes like magic
Morning Cafe Latte
The secret to a great morning hour is silence and relaxation. I
believe if we start our morning time with a rush, our entire day goes by in a
jiffy and hardly we end up making any meaning out of it. So, my secret mantra
to start my day is with half an hour of silence. Even though it's not a very
healthy option, still I indulge into the luxury of having a creamy café latte
in the morning.
The first thing that I need to do for preparing this is to boil milk, so
as I walk into my kitchen, I pour myself a tall glass of water and put the milk
on the stove. As I sip through the cold water, I look at the simmering milk on the
saucepan for a minute or two. Then I pick up my favorite yellow cup and add a spoonful
of coffee powder and sugar. Adding a few drops of warm milk on it I whisk the mixture
for a good 5 minutes in the cup till the milk comes to a boil. The mixture
gradually from dark brown settles down to a creamy golden color due to constant
whisking. Once the mixture reaches its desired texture, I pour the hot boiling
milk in the cup. Gradually as the cup fills up to the brim, you’ll find a thick
creamy paste of the coffee, milk and sugar mix in the cup. Believe it or not,
this will come out to be one of the best Café Latte you have tasted.
The next half an hour is marked as my morning hour and I prefer to spend
it in silence. No news, no newspapers, no music or no social media blaring on
the latest contents published. I prefer my morning hour to be in silence and relaxation.
I sit in silence for a good fifteen minutes and contemplate on life. I prefer
thinking about mostly good things and tend to ignore toxic stuff. After
spending the much-needed time thinking about myself, I prefer writing a few
lines in my gratitude journal. I also give some time practicing affirmations
which happen to be a new found practice for me. Altogether these things make my morning
hour highly detached from my mobile phone. It not only helps me in starting my
day peacefully but also gives me a reason to get up early.
That’s all I have in my life for the first hour in the morning. My homemade
cafe latte and morning hour of peace and rejuvenation.
Do let me know if you liked this routine and you want to know more about
the things that I do in the morning, I’ll be very happy to share.
As I sit in office waiting for
lunch I remember my childhood days. The school days were always marked with the
first halves waiting for lunch bell to ring. The lectures all going over head
thinking of that one big bell to ring so that we could rush out of the class,
straight into the ground and open our lunch boxes. Looks like there’s not much
of change in my life.
I think of my lunch box today neatly
packed with parathas and a very tasty coconut creamed potato curry. I never forget
my favorite cucumber yoghurt mix with an extra zing of chopped coriander leaves
and green chilies during summer. It may seem that lunch is one picture perfect
thing of my life, but to be precise it’s not. It started really different.
I woke up with a very serious
craving of eating egg curry and rice today. Somehow, my mom’s recipe of spicy
egg curry with plain white rice has been my favorite food for ages. That’s what
I look up to when I think of great food at the end of the day. This morning I realized,
that’s what I am missing out of my life. So I get up and walk down to my
kitchen with a zeal to prepare the same.
The first thing I did was put the
eggs to boil, four eggs, goes straight into the saucepan with a pinch of salt
for boiling, covered with a lid so that it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes. I
remember my mother never used to put tomatoes in egg curry. The key is to have
a spicy gravy without the sweetness of tomatoes. So there goes two roughly
chopped onions, two dried red and green chilies and some cardamom pods into the
blender to prepare a paste for the curry base. I pick up a bowl and prepared a
mix of powdered spices; cumin, coriander, red chili and garam masala and gave
it a stir. I chopped four potatoes into large sizes and fried them over extra
hot mustard oil which happens to be a must for this curry.
Once I was all prepared with the
masala paste and curry powder, my next task was to take out and peel the eggs
off their shells and fry them till they turn golden brown in low flame with
some mustard oil. The thought itself was mouth-watering. Little did I know that
my dreams were going to be shattered soon! The moment I removed the lid of the
saucepan, a part of me was expecting to see four eggs perfectly boiled and
staring at me immersed in boiling water, whereas the part saw something exactly
opposite. I saw four half broken eggs with their yolk and whites out of the
shells already splattering in a gooey water which was a mix of the spoilt white
and the yellow parts. My heart sank. I was getting late for work so I couldn’t afford
to wait another 10 minutes to boil another set of eggs. The masala and curry
powder were ready, so I couldn’t even drop the idea of cooking and eat outside
food. Dream one shattered!
The next option that I had in
hand was to cook a simple potato curry with the fired potatoes that I had prepared
to be added to egg curry. However, to cook that potato curry, tomatoes were a
must. I walk up to the fridge and take out the only three tomatoes left in my
pantry, and wash them under the tap thoroughly. I cut open the first one and
find it rotten inside, and the same series of events repeated for the other two
tomatoes as well. So I was left with a saucepan full of rotten eggs and a
chopping board full of rotten tomatoes. How does one feel when the day starts
with that? Dream two shattered as well!
I leave aside everything and
prepare a cup of café latte for myself in which I am always at my best. As I sip
the creamy coffee with its froth sticking to my upper lip, I figure out a very
important aspect of life. What do we do in life when things doesn’t turn up the
way we want them to? Do we leave it just like that? Turn our back and escape from
the situation? We can’t do that right? Life is like that, at times it gives you
everything you want and at times it plays in its own terms. Today is one such
day of my life, I wanted to have an egg curry and the eggs turned out to be
stale. I wanted to have a potato curry and the tomatoes (which happened to be a
very key ingredient in the recipe) turned out to be rotten. What do I do now?
Well, I chose the option of
preparing the best that I could with the best I had. Isn’t that what we do with
life too? Just show up with what best we have?
So I put on my apron and prepare
the best egg curry recipe that my mom taught me, only with the change that it didn’t
have eggs. It just had the potatoes that once used to be a side attraction in
the curry. Today the curry got a new identity. It’s the same egg curry recipes
which will serve potatoes as the primary ingredient.
And I sit aimlessly in my
workstation waiting for the lunch time so that I can just open my lunch box and
dive into the recipe I have been craving to eat since long.
Well, the time has come that I should speak up. It will be an injustice to my feelings if I don’t do it this time. Yesterday, I wasted around 3 valuable hours of my life reading “The Girl in Room 105” by Chetan Bhagat.
The question is — “Is this the first time I got disappointed by his work?”
The answer is — “No”
“Then why did I do this to myself?”
That’s what I have been thinking of ever since I finished reading the book.
I am one of those strange characters, who started reading pretty late in her life and got into some serious bibliophilism at a later stage. My relationship with books had grown from hatred (when I was a kid) to extreme love (when I discovered the magic of reading). I have reached a point of my life where I am matured enough to distinguish between what is good and what I bad for my reading. Unfortunately, “The Girl in Room 105” falls in none of these categories.
The book started with the murder of a girl Zara who was in a relationship with Keshav. Due to religious differences, they have been unable to handle their relationship in an established manner, resulting in a bitter break up. It so happened that she moved on very well in her life, leaving behind Keshav who has been still stuck up with the lost love, intruding in her life in every possible way even after knowing she was in a relationship with Raghu. One fine night, it is found that Zara has been murdered and Keshav happens to be in the same place after she died which is none other than room 105 of Himadri hostel.
Zara, who has been avoiding Keshav since the last couple of years drops a message and ask him to come to meet her in her hostel room the way they did when they dated each other. When Keshav reaches the place, he finds her cold and strangled to death.
The novel was supposed to be a murder mystery but it went from pin to piano addressing social issues like communal differences, terrorism, drug dealing and what not! My question is, do we really need all the social problems accumulated together to read a simple novel? Don’t we have lots of social issues already going on in the world?
To weave the story further, we have extra characters like Safdar, Farzana, Sikander, Capt. Faiz, Golu, Laxman, Pro. Saxena, Pammi and most importantly an inspector Vikas Rana who’s only interested in his promotion and least bothered about how the murder case is turning up to. Two college boys turned Private Tutors, crack open the complicated murder case where Inspector Rana was just busy enjoying the free Café Lattes of Barista. Are we not taking too much on us by reading such things?
Well, I have no doubt that Mr. Bhagat is an excellent storyteller. He has been writing for years now, even though being highly trolled on social media every time he got his work published. I don’t believe in tagging a book as a “DNR” right away, but I fail to answer the question as to ‘what would be the take away of a reader from this book?’ Covering a series of serious issues there is no specific message that the reader can come up to at the end of the book. Nor we have plain a simple entertainment to while away our time.
The character of Zara, however flawed it is, has been explained so less, that all the efforts made to find out the killer, doesn’t leave any impact to the reader’s mind. In spite of having loads of action, there is hardly any emotional touch given to story apart from the fact that Keshav boozed every night to forget Zara.
Cursing myself while reading, and finishing it only for the sake of not leaving something incomplete, I tell my friend how miserable I feel by the end of the day.
“Why do you read his books in the first place? Didn’t you hate Revolution 2020, Half Girlfriend and One Indian Girl too?” she snapped.
The answer to the question is yes. I did hate Revolution 2020, Half Girlfriend and One Indian Girl as well, then why did I read this one? I search my head for an answer to this for quite some time,
Finally, today morning, the thoughts in my mind, came to rest when I saw the old edition of “Five Point Someone” still in my Kindle device. I remember reading a hard copy of the book then, yet when I owned the Kindle, I bought a copy of this book for my collection. The answer just flashed over my mind.
The reason is none other than the book “Five Point Someone” itself. Yes, it was one of those books that I started reading with. One of those books that had a fresh story that a banker turned writer wanted to narrate. The way the tale of three friends has been narrated in the book is what I have always been looking for in his work ever since.
Unlike all the new Indian authors that came up during his era had developed and grown matured over time in their writing, Mr. Bhagat’s work still lacks that genuine factor that was there in his first work. Needless to say, there was no grave social crisis addressed under the book and yet it won the hearts of so many. Every time I pick a book written by him, I wish to see that banker turned writers’ genuine efforts of story-telling. That’s where Mr. Bhagat is not able to crack it. Over time his work has become more of what people want to read and less of what he’s got to say.
Time is high that he leaves all social issues and focus just on the art of simple writing that he’s good at. I am sure if he writes only for the sake of fulfilling his dreams of being a writer and not for making movies and addressing social issues unnecessarily, we can get back the old magic once again.
It's not an open letter to Chetan Bhagat or a book review of the captioned book. It's just the rantings of a readers’ mind.
It's peak summer where I am staying currently. Apart from regular curd rice, there's nothing that you would prefer eating for lunch in this part of India. Temperature shoots up to 40 degrees Celsius right from 10 o clock in the morning. Managing yourself in this scorching heat is not only a challenge but also an art in itself.
My regular breakfast always included eggs. I loved the way we can play around with egg recipes right from breakfast to midnight snack. On a regular day when I am running late, I would prefer having 2 boiled eggs for my breakfast which are not only super easy to prepare but also equally yummy and nutritious.
However, ever since mercury started hitting its highest, I had to stop having eggs on a daily basis. Browsing through multiple websites to find out a healthy and nutritious breakfast, I came across this delicious smoothie which made my life so very easy. I will share the recipe with my readers so that everyone can try this at least once during summer.
Blend all the ingredients together in a blender for 3- 4 minutes till they become mushy. Make sure the peanut butter and the almonds are blended well with the milk, oatmeal, and banana.
Once done transfer it into a drinking jar and garnish with either of the options mentioned under garnishing section.
Personally, I prefer to garnish it with honey and crushed dry fruits.
The smoothie is not only delicious and easy to prepare but also highly packed with nutrients.
Do prepare and let me know how you found it. Till then enjoy the heat and stay cool!
It’s a tough week going for me with a lot of family issues, slammed on my face for no reason. Day and night I am thinking, debating and brooding over issues that doesn’t add a cent’s value to my life. Half of my personal time is spent on long distant telephone calls discussing unnecessary stuffs about our relatives and remaining half, thinking about it. Altogether it’s like a mess that I am forced to get into where I am spending my valuable time getting drained and gaining nothing in return.
“Why don’t you start a gratitude journal?” Rhonda asked one day.
A gratitude journal would mean writing a notebook full of things that make me grateful about my life. The challenge that I face now is that, I can’t even think of a post-it slip full of things that makes me feel good about my life.
“Then it’s the right time for you to start” she smiled reading my mind.
As I sit with my cup of coffee this morning, I close my eyes and try to think of the best thing that I have in my life at this moment. I toggle between the thoughts of my job, my family and my friends. I think of the vacation that I took last to last year. My plans, goals and objectives… none of these clicked for me. I open my eyes restlessly. The cool morning breeze kept hitting my face as I stand in the main door of my apartment, letting the fresh air come in. It was such a shame that I couldn’t find a single thing that made me grateful about my life. Taking a sip from my cup, I look out at the corridor pathway of my one room apartment. I am not sure if it’s the strong hot coffee which played its role or it’s just that I my thought process got streamlined all of a sudden, I see Google right in front of my eyes. Running straight towards me looking into my eye. Her mouth open and tongue coming out of the four sharp canines always make me feel she’s smiling. It may sound weird but right at that moment, she made me forget every odd things that I was bothered about. All I did was keep my cup aside, get down on my knees and hug her tight as she marched right up to me. Never have I felt so loved since past few days. She jumps on me and sniffs vigorously all over.
For those who aren’t aware, Google is a 6 years old golden brown country breed mongrel friend that my landlord owned. Ever since I shifted to this apartment, she had developed a special affection for me. By nature she is desolate and is like a Security Officer of the house, but she doesn’t mind coming up once in a while to the family members to get conditionally pampered. When I say ‘conditionally pampered’ I mean only a bit of pat on her head and occasional verbal lullabies. For any new visitor in the house, she’s a terror. She’ll keep barking to every new one trying to get inside the building. However, she considered me as her friend. When it comes to me, she is even ready to lie on her back and spread out all her limbs in four directions so that I can give her a nice belly rub. The moment I stop doing it, she’ll look right into my eyes questioning why it stopped all of a sudden. Everyone around, including my landlady is surprised to see the level of patience and acceptance that she has for me. She will respond when I call her and also stop by occasionally upstairs to see if I am there.
Today when I sit alone with my coffee in the morning trying to think of at least one thing that I am grateful for, I see her running right up to me, I feel the unconditional love that she has in store for me. I have never fed her, neither have I ever worked on her grooming. Considering her terrestrial behavior I can never even think of taking her out on a walk, still I see the happiness in her eyes when she sees me. Right now, when I can find nothing to be grateful for, she is the only one who made me smile through this tough time.
As Rhonda said, I believe, this is the right time I should start feeling grateful about things I have. Here I go, with my first statement in the gratitude journal - “I am grateful for all the love that I receive unconditionally living on this planet Earth.”
I met him in the subway while I was waiting for the next train. He was playing flute in one corner. People passing by were throwing pennies on the hat that he had placed in front of him. To be precise, anyone would say that he was begging down the subway lane. A tiny frail boy with the same pair of tee and jeans, every day, he stood in the same corner from 4 to 7 in the evening. Being a regular traveler I have only noticed him in the evening hours. One day while he was playing I dropped a note in his hat to which he stopped playing and thanked me gratefully.
“Why don’t you work somewhere?” I asked, without even realizing how old he is.
“I am studying Literature in the State University. I don’t want to work, I want to teach when I grow up” he smiled.
Regretting over my words, I asked again, “What is it that you are doing here in that case? What’s your name?”
“Collecting my fees. I stay down the Middleton Row in the Holy Child Orphanage. No one ever asked my name here.” He sighed.
He told me his name and started playing again.
I was disturbed for the rest of my journey that day. How cruel the world is? Just being seeing him begging in the subway, I thought he must be someone who doesn’t want to work and is looking for some fast cash. When I came to know he’s studying, I never understood that he might be in need of money. My perception changed quite a bit that way and I decided to help him. I walked down to State University the next day and enquired to which course he is enrolled into. With some alumni contacts, I indeed found that he is a student of Literature who is from the Holy Child Orphanage. I enquired and found that his fees have been going pending since last few months. His excellent academic records and his relationship with the professors have been what still kept him there. The professors also mentioned that he spends his evening outside primarily to collect his fees for which he is not able to study well, which in turn is making him come down to the third or fourth position in the class.
With the few pennies flung on to him in the evening for a couple of hours, it appeared really tough to manage a living and the course fees. I discussed with my friends in the university and arranged for his fees through funding, for not only the pending few months but also for the complete year. We were very happy to help him and knowing that at least for a year he will be free for the evenings, focusing on his studies. It hardly took us a couple of hours to call for the alumni heads and arrange for the funds. We completed all the formalities anonymously as we didn’t want him to feel bad about it later.
I was happy to be able to help, but to my surprise the next day he was back in the same old place playing his flute. It was almost seven in the evening so I decided to wait and have a look at him. He kept playing his flute cheerfully and kept collecting the coins. Once it was over, he quietly thanked everyone around and collected all the coins and walked towards the other end of the subway. The way to Holy Child Orphanage was right outside the Subway Terminus, while he started walking towards the other end. Intrigued by his moves, I started following him till the last end of the terminus where he stopped by the Canteen and picked up a meal-box. Carefully meandering through the crowd I kept following him down the end of the platform where an old man sat, his legs amputated below the knees folded on the jute sack. He has been begging the entire day, yet sitting with a few coins in front of him. The jute sack where he sat was his bed as well, for there lay a pillow and a dirty blanket folded next to it. It was evident that he was homeless, sick, unattended, and all he had in life were right there folded next to him.
It was late in the evening when the boy sat down beside the old man talking to him cheerfully. I was surprised to see the old man laughing and talking to him happily. He handed over the meal box to him and gave him some coins that he had collected during the evening. The old man was so grateful to him that he held his hand and blessed him endlessly. While they sat down talking to each other, I was taken aback by the act of kindness I just witnessed. One who himself is struggling to earn his living is taking a step ahead and donating what he has to someone in need.
While I turned my way back, he suddenly appeared in front of me grinning at his best, “Hi, what are you doing here?”
“I am wondering what made you donate whatever you have earned to him,” I replied lifelessly.
He smiled and winked. “Well, you remember, the other day I told you that I am collecting my fees for this year? Someone heard it from somewhere and paid my entire fees for this year for my studies. I don’t know who it is, but I am so grateful to that person. As I get the money today, I can see others who are much more in need than me. I donated the amount to him for that. Henceforth every evening, whatever I get I will donate till the end of my term in the University” I had no words for him. How can someone be so very generous? So kind at heart?
“And mind you, I didn’t give him all the money I had. I still have quite a few pennies in my hat you see.” He flung open the hat in front of me to see.
“What are you going to do with these?” I mumbled to him. He looked at me amazed and answered something which changed my life completely.
He simply replied, “Turn around, there are so many around us who needs help.”
I turned around to see the lame man sitting on the jute sack in the dirty platform, sharing his meal box with a thin stray dog which was gulping the bread hungrily from his hands, wagging its tail out of happiness.
