rowing life
Life, as I fall for it
Review : Winter Garden
I picked up my third Kristin Hannah book, Winter Garden, last week. Anya loves her husband and her children love their father, but never are...
I picked up my third Kristin Hannah book, Winter Garden, last week. Anya loves her husband and her children love their father, but never are able to please their mom. Their home, Belye Noche, in upstate New York looks like a Russian Winter Palace when it snows in winter, and Anya, an ice queen who spins out the most enchanting Russian fairy tales with her ethereal voice. The girls, Meredith and Nina, grow up to be different people, all the more distant from their loving father and home, and each other. Suddenly, one night, the father suffers a massive stroke...
The Itinerant in the Himalayas
Reaching you was hell of a task and sent me into uncountable bouts of breathlessness and I swore I would never come back to you....
Reaching you was hell of a task and sent me into uncountable bouts of breathlessness and I swore I would never come back to you. After leaving you, I lost my appetite straight for three days, I was relieved that I will never come back for you. But memories are a bitch. Those 8 AM sunrises that started with hot hot ginger, lemon and honey water. Glad that I could not get a signal up on you, I would sit there and watch you just blow cold cold air, no matter how hot the sun shone. Shamelessly stuffed my face...
Review : Fahrenheit 451
I chose Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 under the prompt "A book that is set in future", which is essentially a book about our beloved books....
I chose Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 under the prompt "A book that is set in future", which is essentially a book about our beloved books. Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I will try talking you into reading it, while also not spoil at the same time. This is set in a distant future where a book-loving person burns books as his profession. The book discusses the joy of reading books and the protagonist's tryst with the dilemma he faces in the weird societal sanctions. The book also urges the reader to ponder about the future where the world is way too mechanised and...
Review : Verity
Okay, I just pulled off my 9 hour shift at work after reading the most exciting, thrilling book in my entire life. No, I am...
Okay, I just pulled off my 9 hour shift at work after reading the most exciting, thrilling book in my entire life. No, I am not kidding when I say Verity by Colleen Hoover tops Alex Michaelides' The Silent Patient. Can you believe it? I can't believe it. Seeing how Colleen Hoover has taken bookstagram by storm, I gave in to the hype, only meant to experiment. It has been so long since I have read a book like this, thrilling, endings that throw you off and turn on the temperature at apt places. I can only tell you so...
Review : The Color Purple
"And I couldn't understand why us have life at an if all it can do most times is make us feel bad. All I ever...
"And I couldn't understand why us have life at an if all it can do most times is make us feel bad. All I ever wanted in life was Shug Avery, he say. Well, us couldn't have each other, he say. I got Annie Julia. Then you. All of them rotten children. She got Grady and who know who all. But still, look like she come out better than me. A lot of people love Shug, but nobody but Shug love me. Hard not to love Shug. I say. She know how to love somebody back." Took me almost two...
Quick Recipes : Instant Noodles with Thyme broth
Ditch that seasoning!
Yes, I know - I have never talked about food in my blog before today, but if you are close to me, you'd know that food is a very critical part of me. I never think twice if it has got anything to do with food. Since the 2020 lockdown, I have realized that cooking is the best way to know your food - the source, the texture, the taste, the flavor, and the aroma; cooking is underrated magic. Before lockdown, I wasn't very dependent on my home cooking - I had regular meals from takeouts and in-office. Cooking was...
Review : People We Meet on Vacation
"So I just keep holding on to him and tell myself that, for now, I should enjoy this moment. I’m on vacation. Vacations always end....
"So I just keep holding on to him and tell myself that, for now, I should enjoy this moment. I’m on vacation. Vacations always end. It’s the very fact that it’s finite that makes traveling special. You could move to any one of those destinations you loved in small doses, and it wouldn’t be the spellbinding, life-altering seven days you spent there as a guest, letting a place into your heart fully, letting it change you." Above are my favorite lines from Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation, and I swear, it speaks to me. This year I am...
Review : Sistersong
Sistersong by Lucy Holland is everything about magic, love, and fantasy, but make it Irish.
Sistersong by Lucy Holland is everything about magic, love, and fantasy, but make it Irish. A gripping tale of three powerful sisters of the Briton tribe, who fought against the invasion of Saxons. This story is set at an interesting time - when Christianity was spreading to the so-called heathen uncivilised tribes, and the cultural struggle. The book is a great example of how resilient women can be - their patience, courage and their readiness to face anything. It also celebrates the idea of native culture and reasons the latter generations ditch them for something more practical, more profitable way...
Review : A Slow Fire Burning
“Look what you started.”
Right there, I was sold.
"Look what you started." Right there, I was sold. I finished my first thriller of 2022 - A Slow Fire Burning by none other than Paula Hawkins. Telling you right now, it's nothing like Gone Girl. Daniel Sutherland has been found dead on his boat, and the last people to see him alive are three women - Carla (aunt), Laura (fling from the bar), and Miriam (neighbor). Was one among them the killer? Did all of them have motives to kill? As the reader asks more questions, the author leaves us guessing with an impartial narration of these women's lives....
Times we leave behind
It was a regular work Thursday. You know those days when you have a lot of calls and explaining to do before you sign off...
It was a regular work Thursday. You know those days when you have a lot of calls and explaining to do before you sign off for the week, and even more so if that's your last working week of the year. I gave up. I logged off for a lunch by the river and walked and walked and walked to find a bunch of kids playing in the perfect afternoon sun. Maybe that's why I stopped. Perhaps that's why I clicked the picture. It transported me back to those days in school - when we played endlessly under the sweltering...
So seriously, how are you?
Why don’t we care anymore about our present – even if it is mundane and uneventful?
My friends at UNITE 2030 were recently talking about how casually we treat the above question. Generally, we use it as an ice breaker, call it niceties, but how many times do we sincerely mean it? Only when you hear that I was sick and took a personal day off at work, you decide to take a genuine interest in my well-being. Know that I can still take a day off if I feel low - physical inability to work alone doesn't determine if I should take a day off. Why don't we care anymore about our present - even...