Treasure wrld!

My better half loves detective stories and swears by the name of Sherlock holmes & Hercule Poirot - his two very favorite characters. I for myself don't take much fancy on this particular genre - they somehow haven't stimulated my palates enough. Till very recently - which obviously is the reason I am penning down my review on ABC murders based on this very genre. Rated 10 on a scale of 5 - ABC murder forced into my hands through immense encouragement & sakes of heavens that could perpetuate me into action taking it up as next read by Mr. A. I must say I was enchanted & affected by the end of it. ABC murders is a dark detective story that takes readers through not one but series of crimes with no relevance to each other. Except that they have an alphabetical pattern ! Person with name starting A living in city name starting A gets killed first - followed by person with name starting B getting killed in city with B - and so on. While police & poirot

While splurging on books at Delhi book fair '14 I came across this masterpiece. An intriguing tale of the challenging condition of farmers/ workers in the developing world forming the foundation of much of world's key raw materials yet themselves living only on daily subsistence. What is much much appreciated is the passion the author displays in this work - wherein he himself has traveled across countries of the globe and understood the plight of Chinese factory workers, African coffee workers, Afghanistan's weed farmers etc. The fact that story comes from the horse's mouth adds the drama & authenticity which one needs in books like these. The reader can trust the facts stated in book & form his own perspectives. Connor starts with how we as consumers are increasingly becoming ethical centric in terms of goods we buy. We trust big organizations to find the best way to their raw material suppliers problem and believe when they say "we are ethicall

Detachment is a key virtue which has been addressed since ages as the source of inner peace. Detach - yourself from people, your surroundings, work - and you would feel so relaxed , chilled out and at peace - it is a marvellous feeling. That is why we love vacations - to take oneself away from the humdrum of daily routine - and gather back the lost energy. Why is it so difficult to "switch off"  then for a common person like me/ you? Bound by relationships, corporate life I imagine myself as a slave whose life has been turned chaotic by external factors. Is it good or bad ? Not sure but one thing is clear - To blame external world for this is wrong - this is an effect of one's own decision to stay amidst chaos- maybe,  I and you,  we -  LOVE chaos. Last week was a very hectic week for me - lots of work at office and was carrying back the baggage to home - which lead me to frustration. This week has been better placed in terms of manageable work  but then  I a

Hobbit - the prelude to famous The lord of the Rings is a mind capturing story of ordinary hobbit living a mediocre ( read boring ) life who undertakes extraordinary journey  for a treasure which he was least interested in !! . Gandalf the wizard spots the hidden talent of hobbit and visions in him a spontaneous, practical burglar who could help the troop of dwarves successfully conquer the treasure hidden in perilous mountains. The way hobbit is poked into taking the journey by Gandalf is interesting - where he is unsure of what he is embarking upon - but slowly he & entire dwarve company realizes the undisputable importance of hobbit in the gameplan. The story involves journey to the treasure marked with interesting mishaps the troop faces in fight with Goblins, wolves and rendezvous with king of elves, big spiders and of course  our gollum. The interactions of Hobbit with Gollum are eerily interesting as the reader gets a peek into the adventurous flesh hobit is made of

5 nights 6 days  at Leh( Ladakh ) were the most magical vacations we had taken 6 months into marriage. This is one place where you could have streams, clouds, hard rock terrains . All the world beauty is out there and one just cannot stop taking pictures. We are back from there  but still cant stop talking about how miraculous  & acutely different our journey had been - taken in Jul-Sep 2013 Nubra valley was one of our stops from Leh City. On the third day at 6 in morning we started our journey from Leh 11500 feet above the sea - via Khardungla - 18500 feet and to finally reach Nubra Valley- 10000 feet. All this with our cherubic driver Ramzaan sir. Scenes on the way were as usual breathtaking. We had our pics taken up on a slippery ice bed - quite a memory. Journey was full of scenic views. We had stopover for pics and lunch and finally at 2 PM we reached nubra guest house. Here we had a wonderful cozy bed laid out for afternoon sleep. In the eveni

When I read business books there is a sense of boredom attached to it. But Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean in" is too interesting to drift off.Lucid in language and contains lot of anecdotes which most women will agree to.(at least I did very strongly) Go or not go ? "MUST READ" for all women out there trying to balance their personal & professional lives. Also a must read for men if you want your wife/gf to be always satisfied & happy with life. What to expect? Book is based on the fact that whatever jobs we are in have come after a lot of struggle and now we should try utmost to preserve & nurture it - which is why "leaning in" is important at every point of your career. Sheryl from her personal expriences tells us most glaring mistakes which women can avoid and simple creative solutions in case we struggle to keep alive our jobs. You can't help but agree (at least I do) with what Sheryl says in Lean in -

Through with the book “The great Indian Novel” by shashi tharoor. The book is a meandering river that helps one travel through entire Indian history  - pre & post independence . Interesting part is none of the characters carry their real names – the author in a conjugal act – relates all characters in his story to closest replicas in Mahabharata .  Gandhiji is named as Gangaji – Bhishm pitamah, Pandit Nehru becomes Dhristrashtra & Subhash Chandra Bose is Pandu and so on.  Go or not Go ? Book is educational – so it tends to bore you. Only when post independence events are introduced does it becomes somewhat gripping.  Must read if you want to understand events which have shaped India. Quick peek : A substantial part of story revolves around pre independence struggle, Gangaji/ Gandhiji’s heroic formation of congress & the politics within it which drove SC bose/Pandu to seek help from Japanese as he was ousted from Congress. Karna is the Muslim leader – M