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!

Let there be light...

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 :)

Dragonfly

Clicked from my mobile , so I couldn't focus on the dragonfly properly... but I loved the colour and so wanted to share it on my blog :)

Taken at Kuppalli Kuvempu's Home

Insect

Took this picture from my mobile. Have not done any editing.

Life is Beautiful!

 Life is Beautiful!! Yes!! But only if you want it to be....

You are the maker and breaker of your life. You can only be as much happy as you want to be. So your life can be as beautiful as much you want it to be..... despite all the problems and all the setbacks.

Recently after refueling our car, we went to check the air in the tyres of the car. The man on duty was partially paralyzed on his left side.  His left hand was totally useless and his left leg was not looking healthy either. And by the look of it he had had an accident recently. His right leg was in a plaster that means his right leg that supported him, which helped him to walk was fractured. He had injury marks all over his body including his working hand. Yet he was performing his duty with as much honesty and sincerity. There was even a hint of smile for his regular customers. 

Yep some would say that he is poor and working is his necessity. But have you seen people faking injuries and begging for alms in traffic junctions and near temples. All the fake blood, the sleeping child in the beggar's hand gains a lot of sympathy with a lot of people.  He could easily have done that. Giving up is easy but never say die attitude is also not that difficult!! I have seen plenty of healthy people who do not work despite the financial problems. Every time I face a problem I try and remember that person in the petrol bunk whose left hand was paralyzed and right leg was fractured and yet worked hard and happily fought against all odds and my father who fought all odds and stayed positive. 

Another inspiration in my life is my father. My father has been fighting his health issues since the past 18 years. So many ups and downs he has seen in his life. But he has never given up in his life. He always wished more from his life and has worked for it. He is a very simple man and his needs and desires are simple yet he has fought all odds. 

Well you might be thinking why all of a sudden I am being so philosophical and writing so much about life and all...... Well one of my friend is in depression and all of our efforts to bring him out of it has not been fruitful. He doesn't reads my blogs, he doesn't even know that I have a blog as a matter of fact. Yet I am writing this post for him. A lot of things were going on in my mind and I had to get them out of my system. This post is also for me ..... to remember it every time I face a problem or whenever in a dilemma.............. to remember never to give up in life and staying positive because Life is Beautiful!!