The Workings of an Overactive Mind

  I'm on my 35th book now and I realized that I have read quite a few books with strong women characters that inspire us to think big and achieve them too. This blog is about a few of those books.  Dear Mrs.Naidu by Madhangi Subramanian "Never Apologize for wanting something. Just find another way""He has a second chance & he doesn't want to take it. He didn't lose hope. He gave it up." The above two phrases in the book stood out so much because of the rawness & truth in them. This book is about a girl who tries to improve the condition of her school through the means available to her. A child should not be fighting for her/his education. The government & society as whole should work towards making education available for all. I would rate this book 4/5 for narration & captivating story telling. The mother I never knew by Sudha Murthy Sometimes a book surprises us and leaves you in tears while reading. This is one such read. ...

        Teachers are one of the many the heroes that shape our minds. I was lucky I had so many awesome teachers who helped and guided me all through my academics. But this post is about my childhood tuition teacher Sakunthala Miss!!! She started taking tuition for my brother as my mom didn't have patience to make us sit and I used to join them right from LKG. I studied with her till 5th and then for my 10th board I again went to her. I used to learn the question along with the answer and recite to her. I know i was a big nerd and a show-off too 😀.     When my brother was studying for his 10th board exams, she used to rock him in my niece's cradle in order to coax him to study. She used to come at 6 in the morning, wake him up & was always attacked by his pet dog Pepsi for disturbing him. I learnt to drive so well in her 'Sunny boy' scooter. We both used to roam around our native singing loudly!!!     I always spent ...

    Two years back I started watching stand-up comedy & I really liked them so much. In the middle of a tensed work day they gave me so much comfort. I used to watch shows of SA Aravind, Kenny Sebastian, Karthik Kumar, Alexander Babu, Vir Das, EIC Outage & many more. My first ever live show was SA's 'Madrasi Da' & the opening intro act was done by Alex. PV & I decided that if we get a chance we should go for his show.     Over the course of time we followed Alex's show online & we really enjoyed his show with Baggy 'Yogi & the Bear'. Whenever 'Alex in Wonderland' was airing in Chennai, either we were out of station or there wasn't anyone to take care of Varun for us. So when the show aired in Amazon Prime on August 23rd I was super excited but I really regret not watching the live performance.     I watched the show on prime with my dad & we really enjoyed it so much. We laughed, clapped & sang along. Th...

                 Its Sunday night & I'm sulking around the house thinking of the week ahead, planning the menu in my head and basically picking up fights with my boys(PV & Varun). All i wanted to do was cry that my weekend got over. So as a pick me up I was watching Youtube in the TV & was browsing randomly.    I came across Nee's Kitchen Mango Rice & started watching due to the riot of colors. By the time she was sauteing the mango mixture PV was drooling at the mixture and of course the mortor & pestle. Then he started dropping hints about making it at home. Anu, Namma ithe vettule panrathuku antha Ammi kal illala(For us to make this at home, we dont have the mortar-pestle right). Note the word Namma(us) here. We'll deal with that in a separate blog.     Luckily for him I had some mango lying around & I made the recipe on Monday for lunch. Something to look for...

    The first book of this author that I read was 'The Palace of Illusions' which was Mahabarat in the views of Draupadi. It shed a new light to all the characters in the original epic. And also made me feel the pain of Draupadi.     This book is Ramayan from the views of Sita. I had never read Ramayan though I know bits & pieces of the epic. This book really captures a true & unbalanced narration. We all praise Lord Ram for his dharma & his pious belief in duty. But as a husband & life partner to Sita and as a father to Lav & Kush he was unjust to punish them without cause. Each time Sita was tested I cried for her & at the end of the book I was bawling my heart out. But through all the difficult times though there was anger Sita's love for Ram never wavered. Though she realizes that "Love is found in its purest form on this imperfect earth between mothers and young children, because there's nothing they want except to ma...

Book 5: Rusty by Ruskin Bond        A few years ago I got to read a book of this author & from then Im a huge fan of his works. His books are for children mostly but they have so much message & frankly anybody can read them. This book is about the childhood of the author himself. His life with his grandfather was so adventurous & laugh out loud funny. But nearing the end the author will make you cry for the little boy. The book was so engaging, entertaining, thought provoking & I would give a 5/5. Book 6: Saraswati's Intelligence        I don't know if I like this book or not. It is a good read but unfortunately it resembles Game of Thrones & the White Walkers too much. The part about the various Hindu God were good but a bit dry at some places. When I started reading the book I was in a dark place with respect to my faith in God. But this book gave me a good boost of positive energy. Overall I would give...

      The summer is so hot & cruel in Chennai. Scorching Sun, unbearable heat & never ending water scarcity led to the one ultimate destination the TV in our room with me watching endless movies & series on weekend & after office. PV & I use the other rooms only when necessary. We watch atleast 5 movies on the weekend alone thanks to Amazon Prime, Hotstar & Netflix. Instead of taking the book challenge, I could have taken movie challenge. (BTW I have completed 20 books so far)      One such evening out of boredom I started watching 'Naachiyaar' in Prime. Only during the title card did I know that the movie was directed by Bala. Now i prepared my mind to expect a dark story. Boy I was wrong!!! The movie stars Jyothika as Naachiyar a strict, honest & short-tempered police officer who tries to find a minor rape victim 'Arasi' who is now full 9 months pregnant. The person suspected is again a minor boy 'Kaathu' portray...