The Forest of Enchantments - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Palace of Illusions was one book that had blown my mind. Chitra's portrayal of Draupadi was real, complex, rebellious yet submissive at times, arrogant, enigmatic, powerful and what not. She is flawed and yet perfect....very much human. Palace of Illusions was written from the perspective of Draupadi. We have read the epic Mahabharata from so many writers and from many perspectives and yet Draupadi's perspective was refreshing to know. And my expectation form Chitra was already set high. After this book I reread Mistress of Spices. Here too her portrayal of Tilo left me craving for more. I started off with high expectation when I brought the book The Forest of Enchantments. I knew that the author had written the book form the perspective of Sita. And I had wanted to read Ramayana from the perspective of Sita very badly.

I have grown up being told that it is not good to name any girl child Sita or any of her other names like Janaki, Dhara, Dharitri, Siya, Maithili, , etc. The reason being that all Sita did in her lifetime was suffer and nothing else and if we name our daughters Sita or any of her other names, the same fate maybe in store the child. So in general we all know that Sita suffered throughout the epic story of Ramayana, So I was naturally curious when I picked up the Forest of Enchantments. I wanted to read about her experience as an adopted kid, her relationship with her peers and parents. I was very curious to know her perspective of being a bride and entering a household which had three mother in laws and other concubines. What was she going through actually when she went with Rama into the forest. Did she ever regret going into exile with her husband? After all, we are all humans we naturally question our each and every move. Did she question her decision and regret it ever? How did she feel about Lakshman for abandoning Urmila for so many years? I wanted to learn about Lanka and Ashoka Vatika from Sita's perspective. And most of all I wanted to know her relationship with Rama... the intimacy and the realty of being a wife to someone and her reaction to all the betrayals she faced.

The word play by Chitra Banerjee is brilliant. This book did answer many of my curiosities about Sita. Her story telling is as always too good and there can be no other opinion about it. But it was definitely not Palace of Illusions and most definitely not like Draupadi's character. The book felt more like just another Ramayana book to me just told from Sita's voice. I guess I wanted Sita to be filled with rage, hate towards the injustice, more emotions and most of all I wanted her to be real.... human. There was rage, emotions and everything that I wanted, but it was all very muted. Sita surpasses her emotions as much as possible. Eventually Sita rebels and stands up against the system, but I waned to feel Sita's rage against the injustice and not my rage.  Sita felt very much like how we have read in other Ramayana versions..... It was in a way a bit disappointing for me personally as I have felt that female characters in our epics are very strong characters and yet mostly they are pushed into the background and every major decisions are taken by the male characters. A female is always either a revered or a servile character but when it comes to decision making, they are never taken into consideration and always female characters have to be either a damsel in distress or made a villain . How often have we heard people saying that in Ramayana and Mahabharata war took place because of Sita and Draupadi as if by blaming the female characters one can hide the fact that the male characters created the circumstances that led to war. 

Overall this Sitayan had its hits and misses. The author also writes about other neglected characters in this book like Sunaina - Sita's mother, Kaikeyi - Rama's 'evil' stepmother, Urmila - Lakshmn's wife ( although I wanted more) ,  Surpanakha -  Ravan's sister and  Mandodari - Ravan's wife. We get to know each one of these female characters more and from other perspectives. Chitra Banerjee weaves all the characters so well and makes us desire more.  She makes the character of Ravana as a very learnt and an intelligent man who respects Sita. Overall I did enjoy the book and is a must read for everyone as it teaches us how one should treat others especially women and also how not to treat them. 

Ramayana- Stolen Hopes

Title - Ramayana - The Game of Life - Stolen Hopes (Book 3)
Author- Shubha Vilas
Publisher -JAICO Publishing House
Total pages 312
Price Rs. 299
Formats available - Paperback and Kindle
  

Its been very long since I reviewed any book. But when you receive a signed copy of the book by the author himself, you have to blog about it for sure. Ramayana- The Game of Life - Stolen Dreams is third in the series written by Shubha Vilas. And if you have missed the first two books, not to worry. The book has summery of the first two books. But summary is only about the general story and not the short stories / Upakatha that you get to read in a Shubha Vilas book. So it is good if you can get the first two books too.

The book starts in Dandakaranya and then to the sages and their trouble with the Rakshasas and the massacre of Rakshasas of Janmasthana. After the massacre at Janmasthana there is Sita's abduction and the story ends with the meeting of Rama and Lakshmana with Shabari and their quest for the wonder monkeys Sugriva and his group in order to save Sita from Ravana's clutches.

As Indians, Ramayana is not new for us. We have heard the story from our parents and grandparents, read in Amar Chitra Katha, seen on television and read other books too. What is different about this book is Shubha Vilas's writhing. The language is pretty simple and eloquent and can be easily understood by kids too. The other major plus point of this book are the short stories / Upakathas. I mean, one gets to read so many back stories, short stories / Upakatha, in this book which makes this book all the more interesting. All these back stories helps us to know more about the relative characters other than Rama, Lakshmana and Sita in a better way and in turn helps us to understand our epic better. 

The many stories of Agastya Rishi helps in a better understanding of him. Without the upakathas Agastya would have remained just another character that we read in our epics. but Shubha Vilas has written so many small stories about Agasthya that we get a good understanding of him. Similarly Rama's meeting with Shabari has been elaborated so as to provide us with a good knowledge about Shabari and her role in Ramayana. There are Upakathas about Ravana, Virada, Vatapi and Illvala, etc. There are references to Meru Parvata, Nahusha, Mandarkini, Kabandha, Matanga Rishi, Sati, etc. 

One should read this book once to know about all these characters and also about life lessons that Ramayana teaches us. There is this one instance when Sita who disapproves of Rama involving himself in killing the demons to cleanse the forest of Panchavati and protecting the Sages. Her reason being that they are in exile and so should refrain from violence. But Rama explains that Kshatriya dharma is to protect the helpless ones from the evil. He explains to Sita that by wearing a sage's attire, he cannot forget his duty of following the Kshatriya Dharma.

This book provides a proper insight of how Gods in the form of human think. Even if they are the incarnation of God himself, one can always see the human touch and human trait in the characters. For example the scene before Sita's abduction, in a desperate attempt to send Lakshmana to Rama's rescue, Sita doubts Lakshmana's character. These traits shows the human side to God like characters of Ramayana.

Also the specialty of Shubha Vilas's Ramayana series is the little foot notes throughout the novel. These footnotes usually contain some explanations, back stories or some philosophical notes about life lessons. Shubha Vilas is a spiritual seeker, motivational speaker, holds a degree in engineering and law with s specialization in patent law. So along with narrating the story of Ramayana, the book contains the philosophical narrations which gives us valuable lessons about life.

The designs in the foot note throughout the book is also very interesting. In the Shattered Dreams, Rama's Paduka / Slippers were used very effectively in the footnotes throughout the book to show the departure of Rama from Ayodhya for exile. And in this book, Stolen Hope, similar approach has been taken. Design of a deer is used throughout the book in the footnotes. The deer changes its position and there is movement throughout the book. I liked the cover of Shattered Dreams much better compared to Stolen Hopes though.

The book has a mixture of traditional as well as a modern approach in narration. And apart from the story, the foot notes are the highlights of this book. Its worth a read if you are in to mythology, spiritual and self-help kind of books. You can buy the Kindle edition here

Ramayana - The Game of Life- Shattered Dreams Book Review

For may years Ramananda Sagar's Ramayana was the original Ramyana and Arun Govil  Lord Rama for me. Though I had got the opportunity to listen to many Ramayana stories form my Mom and an uncle , the television series had a great influence on me. Later on I got to read Ramayana from Amar Chitra Katha and some other books too. A few years ago my friend introduced me to Ashok K Banker's Ramayana series. Though I was reluctant at first, I simply fell in love with his vision and narration style and I started to  read and love these epics again. 

Mythology is one of my favorite genre and Mahabharata and Ramayana are always classics. No matter how many times you read it you get to read new stuff. And according to me every author has his own perspective of these classics. Every Author brings his own version of the epic whenever he or she writes the Ramayana or the Mahabharatha. Shubha Vilas's Ramayana, The Game Of Life is a series of 6 books. I am writing the review of the second part of this book called Shattered Dreams. 

In Shattered Dreams, the author narrates the beginning of Rama's exile. The book starts with Dasaratha deciding to hand over the throne to Rama, his eldest son. And then starts the twists and turns that changes the course of the story. This book deals with the emotional aspect of Ramayana rather than the story itself. Shubha narrates the agony of the King, Kausalya, and the other queens, the courtiers and the common people when Rama , Lakshmana and Sita leave for the forest for fourteen years.  

It begins with a happy note of Rama's coronation. Then comes Manthara's scheming and then sthe story moves to Keikeyi who falls for Manthara's evil scheme and brings havoc to Ayodhya. And then one gets to see the human emotions where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana give all the worldly happiness and move to the forest just to fulfill Dasaratha's promise to Keikeyi. 

What I liked most the most about this book is the mention of Urmila, Lakshmana's wife, who has been ignored in many books I have read so far. I have always felt sorry for her character because we never get to read much about her though she has sacrificed as much as the trio has. Also the small small back stories about Ravana, Dasaratha, Indra, the fisherman, etc add so much depth to the book. I won't be writing more because I don't want to be a spoilsport here. Please do read the book to know more. 

If you are the philosophical kind then this book is a must for you because of the various footnotes provided by the author. He has given explanations to almost all of the actions of all the characters and also provided a few back stories here and there. Sometimes you will also get to read  comparisons with Mahabharatha and other stuff.

Overall the book is worth a read if you are into mythology and philosophy.What I didn't like were these little foot notes were more about morality, spirituality and philosophy than about the story itself. That might be because I am not a very spiritual or philosophical person. I felt that the book was a bit lengthy in some places. Otherwise Ramayana is a classic and any day you read it, there is something to learn, something more to read and something extra to know and ponder upon. More over we need a bit of spirituality and philosophy in this age more so because we have become more materialistic. And Ramayana teaches us that Rama is Lord Rama because of his virtues and he sacrificing the worldly pleasures just to fulfill his father's promise.

This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own and this review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers for Blogadda . Participate now to get free books!

More Indian than you think

"This is the best time to be an Indian" this was the quote by an NRI, I heard on a news channel recently regarding Mr. Modi's New York's Madison Square Park. Madison Square Park is one of the World's Most Famous Arena and thousands of people had gathered to hear and see Mr. Modi. Though I am not a big fan nor do I hate him, this event surely kept my interest up. I haven't seen the world or the NRIs being so interested in India or an Indian Prime Minister in a long long time. 

NRIs holding placards, shouting slogans about India like "Bharat Mata ki jai", in a foreign country especially in a country like the USA is a very rare scene. The 18,500 strong audience was gathered at New-York !!!! One of the people gathered there said, "It is amazing to see the kind of euphoria created by Modi's visit and this is probably the best time to be an Indian". 

There was live and extensive coverage on various news channels regarding Modi's visit not just in India but also in the USA. We could see many non-Indians at the event too. This is the proof that the world is finally getting up to look at India with interest now. The fact that the Indian MOM missions' success and the fact that it cost India under Rs.10 per kilometer to reach Mars...... made every Indian proud of our scientists.

The photographs of ISRO scientists celebrating after MOM entered Mars was inspiring. The scientists hugging each other and congratulating each other the sari clad women scientists gave all us such a thrill that those pictures won't fade from our memories for a long time. 

India is surely a very happening phenomenon now. Mr. Kailash Satyarthi winning the prestigious Nobel Peace prize is another proud moment for all Indians. The reaction of Indians to all these changes shows that we are more Indian than we think like this in ad.

This is not a sponsored post ... all opinions are my own. Submitting for the contest in Indiblogger 

Diwali Shopping!!!

Festival = Shopping!!!!!!

Don't you agree?!!??!

Everybody loves festivals, especially Diwali, the festival of lights and gifting :-) Its a great time for get-togethers, parties and celebrations!! So there is a lot of shopping involved and bargaining to be done. 

I was looking to buy some good books for my Daddy and a DSLR for hubby.And I was checking online for those stuff and with good deals too. There was too much of research ;-) involved for the best website with the best discount. It was just maddening .... That's when I found this amazing website which helps you narrow the search down and lists the best deals and offer coupons too.

27coupons , website is a platform related to discount coupons and deals. It displays discount coupons on offer to the buyer from almost all top most E-commerce website. We can easily "search" for products and find coupons quickly and make huge savings on most of our shopping.

The coupons are categorized into apparel, electronics, books, computers, jewelery, restaurants, kitchen appliances, kids Store, fashion, travel, etc.

 Its pretty much easy to search for items and best offers or coupons. Earlier coupons were offered on items only on foreign websites. This is the best Indian coupon site I have come across. This site directed me to Amazon for books which was offering upto 60% discount and Flipcart for DSLR. 

I couldn't resist such a good deal and ended up ordering 11 books for my kiddo too. I ordered Geronimo Stilton, Wimpy kid, Nancy Drew books for her. And a cool looking mobile case for my sister which she received yesterday :D :D. I am expecting my (read hubby's) DSLR in a couple of days.

So go on and try 27coupons for Diwali shopping for yourself and your family. And do tell me too about the good deals that you got :)

Road Trip!!

Road trips are always fun and exciting .... no matter the condition of the road, company and vehicle. And it is much better if the road is good and the journey takes us through some beautiful places or it is raining :D . So when this time hubby dear planned for a road trip to and from Mumbai and Shimoga in our Ritz, both me and the kiddo became excited. We started from Shimoga by morning 5 and reached Mumbai by 8 in the evening. We took a lot of breaks, did a bit (read a lot) of shopping ;-) and enjoyed the trip thoroughly!!!

Mom had packed some homemade( mom made) rice flour 'Rotis' with 'Kadale chutney' and Brinjal 'palya' for breakfast!! We took our first break near Haveri for breakfast. We were having those tasty rotis when we heard some unusual sound coming from the tree under which we were enjoying our break. Upon investigation, we realized that there were three monkeys on the top of the tree!!! To be precise they were Grey Langur.

The weather was good and because of the summer showers through out Karnataka this year there was a lot of greenery all around. Past Hubli, there were mango sellers on either side of the road and what yummy mangoes they were. Bought loads of mangoes and different varieties of them too!!!!

The road form Shimoga till Kolhapur is awesome especially between Harihar and Belgaum!! Soo wide and beautiful roads... makes it totally enjoyable to drive !! From there till Mumbai the road is good too but not as good as in Karnataka. We took a lot of small breaks... to click pics or just to admire the scenic beauty. We even bought some pairs of shoes in Shendre near Satara. Apparently a friend of hubby told him about this place. And it was worth the visit!!! The store is huge and full of shoes, shoes n more shoes.... A must visit if you are travelling that way!

The trip was smooth and uneventful till Panvel and it just past 5'o clock when we reached Panvel. But past that the traffic was heavy and it took nearly 3 hours for us to travel 30 to 35 kms :( .Anyway it was an awesome trip. The stretch between Pune and Mumbai especially Khandala, Lonavala are awesome. The tunnels, the valleys the clouds, the occasional showers...... I have travelled so many times between Pune and Mumbai many times , yet the Lonavala stretch fascinates me everytime!!!!!

Linking this post to Carconnect , a place where you can share your car trip experiences and submitting in Indiblogger. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and experiences are true and not fictional.

Smelly to Smiley :-)

I have lived major portion of my life in towns.... small, medium and large. I have also lived quite some time in metros and shifted to another metro recently. There is this constant debate going on in my mind whether life in small town is better compared to a metro. If metro wins one day , the small town wins on the other. Though I am falling in love with this city of dreams , Mumbai everyday. 

But somewhere in the back of my mind I keep remembering the lovely gardens, the independence of individual house, lovely neighbors, the occasional cats and their litters who make your home theirs, the lovely early morning fragrance from the garden and many more.

I have always been a nature lover..... I had had dogs, cats, birds as pets most of the time. People used to bring any wounded strays to my home because they knew I would nurse them back. I have had a bird bath in almost all the houses I lived ...... That is ... till now...

 I have refrained myself from tying anything out of my window area. I am  scared pigeons might make it their homes.  There was a time when I looked out of my window every morning and put grains and keep a bowl of water for the birds. But everything have changed after moving to this metro high rise... :-(  In fact, now I shoo the pigeons away from my windows.....

I hate myself for doing that.... but the smell of the pigeon shit on all my windows plus the constant Mumbai rain....Yeeeewwwww

Bad smell... very unpleasant situation for me especially when I have guests over. When you live in a high rise in a residential area, where green trees and fresh air is as precious as the Indian Rupee,  we start to appreciate the small garden we used to have in those small towns, with the smell of the fresh flowers lingering into your living area.

But here you have to think twice before opening a window with the fear that your house might smell of pigeon poop.  It's a love and hate relationship I have with the pigeons. I love them but hate them anywhere near my window sill. Anyway recently I got a package of Ambi Pur for reviewing. And I have kept it in my living area. And boy do I love to keep my windows open? YES !!! I no longer look out of my widow for any pigeon to shoo  ;-) 

I have been using this Ambi Pur since 10 days in my home . My home is actually smelling WAAOOWW!!  I have no issues with the pigeons. My living area actually reminds me of my lovely hometown...... fresh flowers, fresh fruits.....It actually is Smelly to Smiley :D I am off to buy two more Ambi Pur for my bed rooms. If you have your smelly to smiley experience do share with me.
To like Ambi Pur on facebook click here.

BANKSTER- Review

This is the first time that I have read any book by Ravi Subramanian and I must say I loved it. I had read John Grisham's Rainmaker a few years ago. It was intriguing and was interesting after the first half....but boring at times... Ya ya.... I know... People admire Grisham... But this is my opinion.... Anyway, when I read the cover "meet the John Grisham of banking" I thought it to be a similar thing. But I must say all the characters in this book were interesting.... Never did I feel bored or uninterested. I thought that a bankers life is very mundane and I have to read through the boring financial aspects about banking....but I was wrong. And there are so many Indian characters ,their habits, the places they live and other daily stuff ..... You feel more interested as you read on...

The way Ravi has taken characters from different places, put them through different situations and intervened their lives, their stories.... it is soo interesing book. Being a banker's daughter, it was difficult for me to think that banking , especially corporate banking was so complicated and filled with crimes and stuff.  Like the book says , banking is based on mutual trust , and murders in the bank ... Whoa!

Also the other fact I liked about this book is the little little details thrown here and there...... Like this one character who owns an I-Pad but have no idea about I-Cloud and its uses. The character uses the IPad  just for reading books and taking pics.... Humour is thrown just here and there and not in your face.

You got to read this book.... You don't get to read about guys like Vikram, nor the reporter cum ex-banker Karan nor Tanuja nor Krishna Menon nor Indrani in all the books....... Ravi Subramanian is a master story teller of financial crime. He has received Golden Quill Readers'Choice Award for his book If God was a Banker. His other books are Devil in Pinstripes and The Incredible Banker and I bought the Monk's Ferrari. I am planning to read all these books as soon as possible.

This is the first time I am writing a review... All opinions are my own and please feel free to write your comments back to me.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com . Participate now to get free books!

Melbourne and Malgudi

Have you ever felt like going to place after you read a book about that place? Its happened to me a lot of times :) I have read a lot about  Ireland in Nora Roberts's Books and I have a fascination about Ireland...Would love to visit it at least once ....*sigh*

The other country that has fascinated me is Australia!!! Yep!! Australia.... specifically, Melbourne!!!

Whenever we speak of Australia, the first thing that comes into my mind is Cricket..... Nope!! I am not a huge cricket fan.... But we had this lesson in my collage ,by R.K. Narayan , the Malgudi Days, in which the legendary Swamy and his cricket loving friends form a team called Malgudi Cricket Club aka MCC.
For those of you who have not read Malgudi days, the book is set in a place called Malgudi, a sleepy and picturesque South Indian town. The stories revolve around Swamy and his friends and other characters.
Swamy is a busy bee(boy)creating some mischief in the classroom, or playing some mischief on anybody specifically his grandmother ;) and doing many more such things that you will relate your childhood days to. But the lesson that we had, mainly concentrated about the 'MCC'  , where Swamy and his friends challenge their neighboring Young Men's Union to a match. And just before the match, there is a twist in the story, where things go terribly wrong and Swamy tries to run away from his house and never return back to Malgudi.....

OK.... so if you are thinking where the hell is the link between Malgudi and Melbourne..... This is what happened during our lesson, our Professor who was a huge fan of Cricket, went  a bit out of context and started telling about Melbourne Cricket Club and about Melbourne too. 
He told many things about Melbourne, about how beautiful it is and how Australians are passionate about cricket, their love for beer and beef, the beautiful beaches, the kangaroos and ostriches, the gold rush etc. That is when my fascination about Australia started....

I even love the book, 'Shantharam', where an Australian, runs away from Australia and land up in Mumbai, India. You get a glance of  Australia every now and then throughout the book.... though I can't say that the book has any beautiful things to say about Australia, but it make one feel intrigued about it... 

 I would love to go there, explore those cricket stadiums, the beaches, the famous gardens, the kangaroos, ostriches, in fact everything :)
Would you love to explore Melbourne? If so,its your time to visit Melbourne now ..... 


This post is brought to you by Indiblogger for a contest about Melbourne. All views and opinions are my own :)

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