AutHer Awards 2020 declares its top winners
It was an exhilarating evening at Taj Palace, New Delhi that saw a heart-warming celebration of women on Women’s Day. Times of India and JK Papers joined hands to celebrate women authors who have added value and creativity to the literary space. The AutHer Awards 2020 was attended by the who’s who of the town and the hall jam packed with authors, academicians, publishers, bureaucrats, politicians, artists and book lovers, cheering at the winners was a sight to behold. And the awards went to…….. The awards were handed over in 4 categories and consisted of a trophy and cash prize worth Rs 1 lakh each. There was a Lifetime Achievement award and a Popular choice award too. In the category Fiction the award went to Madhuri Vijay for her book, The Far Filed (Harper Collins Publishers India)-(Literary Fiction) and Sutapa Basu for The Curse of Nader Shah (Readomania)- (Historical Fiction). The Best Author Non-Fiction award went to Saba Dewan for her book Tawaifnama (Westland). The Best Author Debut award was split between Rudrakshi Bhattacharjee for This is how it took Place (HarperCollins Publishers India) and Rehana Munir for Paper Moon (HarperCollins Publishers India). The award was given to Rudrakshi posthumously who passed away at the young age of 16. It was an emotional moment for the entire gathering when her parents Debasree Bhattacharjee and Ratnadip Bhattacharjee received the prize on her behalf and said how happy and incredulous she would have been to receive it. Bijal Vachharajani was given the Best Author Children’s award for her book A Cloud called Bhura (Speaking Tiger). The Popular Choice Award went to Sutapa Basu for garnering maximum number of votes online. Legendary author Nayantara Sahgal was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award that was received by her daughter who read out a soulful message by Nayantara, thanking TOI for giving her an award that she had never received earlier-a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution as a woman author. Times Group CEO Raj Jain who graced the occasion with his presence, emphasised on the need of focussing on the contribution of women and said, “Since times immoral women have always played an integral role in all aspects of life and indeed have been at the forefront of the creation and origin of existence. Sadly though, they have always been praised out of fringes and have never been a part of the mainstream social and historical narrative.” The journey of the awards The books were chosen, post multiple layers of screening, out of a whopping 850 entries submitted by both publishers and individual authors for the coveted national award, the first of its kind in India. The jury considered books by women published in India between December 2018 and November 2019. Eminent writer and politician Shashi Tharoor who was the Chief Guest of the event, said: ” Of course, things have changed very much, but the fact fundamentally remains that too much of our history, too many of our stories have been written simply by men and if you look at the global picture, the vast, vast majority of published writings have not just been written by men but by white men. Therefore the literate public have looked at the world or have been shaped and conditioned by perspectives of these men.” The jury The chairs for the AutHer Awards jury consisted of author Ashwin Sanghi (Fiction), actor and author Sonali Bendre (Non-Fiction), columnist and author Shobhaa De (Debut), and author Bulbul Sharma (Children’s books). The other jury members were author Jaishree Misra (Fiction), author and former Deputy Secretary, Sahitya Akademi Gitanjali Chatterjee (Fiction), author Yasser Usman (Non-Fiction), author and journalist Manimugdha Sharma (Non-Fiction), author and comic writer Arjun Gaind (Debut), Co-founder of ScoopWhoop Rishi Pratim Mukherjee (Debut), actor, compere and Director of The Study School Shivani Wazir Pasrich (Children’s books), and author Ramendra Kumar(Children’s books). Vinita Dawra Nangia, Literary Director, AutHer Awards beautifully summed up the need for having a special award for women authors, “Why should there be an award for women authors? This is to encourage them and recognise their talent because men still seem to have a disproportionate advantage in the field of publishing. It was 174 years ago that Bronte Sisters wrote under the pseudonym of a man because it was felt women writing fiction would not be acceptable in men and although a lot has changed after that, but women continue to use pseudonyms and initials and men dominate the bestselling lists. We need to change all that.” The AutHer Awards was hosted by popular stand-up comedian Papa CJ who interspersed his conversation with humorous anecdotes and added a lively nuance to the gala evening.
Women ruling even the literary World
The AutHer Awards 2020 Longlists for best women authors in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Literature and Debut were announced today by a panel of 12 eminent judges. The Times of India received a whopping 850 entries submitted by both publishers and individual authors for the coveted national award, the first of its kind in India.The AutHer Awards – a joint venture between JK Paper and Times of India — are a celebration of women authors who have added value and creativity to the literary space. The jury considered books by women published in India between December 2018 and November 2019. The chairs for the AutHer Awards jury consisted of author Ashwin Sanghi (Fiction), actor and author Sonali Bendre (Non-Fiction), columnist and author Shobhaa De (Debut), and author Bulbul Sharma (Children’s books).Talking about women’s writing in literature, Shobhaa De says, “Women’s voices in Indian literature today are exploding several myths and stereotypes. They are speaking a new language which is honest, irreverent and out there. There is enormous confidence and talent emerging through their work. It is our job to acknowledge and reward the best! It has been a fantastic process of reading all these wonderful women authors sharing their stories with so much verve! Good luck to the winner. And a big thank you to all participants.” While sharing her experience of the AutHer Awards, Bulbul Sharma says, “I really enjoyed reading these amazing new books for children by women authors. Each book painted a vivid picture of a new facet of our society and dealt bravely with different, somewhat difficult concerns. What a variety of prose and rich ideas; what a long way we have come. We must thank TOI for taking women writers on a most exciting journey ahead.” The other jury members were author Jaishree Misra (Fiction), author and former Deputy Secretary, Sahitya Akademi Gitanjali Chatterjee (Fiction), author Yasser Usman (Non-Fiction), author and journalist Manimugdha Sharma (Non-Fiction), author and comic writer Arjun Gaind (Debut), Co-founder of ScoopWhoop R ishi Pratim Mukherjee (Debut), actor, compere and Director of The Study School Shivani Wazir Pasrich (Children’s books), and author Ramendra Kumar(Children’s books). Sharing his experience of being a part of the AutHer Awards, Ashwin Sanghi says, “I am delighted to be part of the jury panel for The Times of India’s Women AutHer Awards 2020. It has been a painstaking process to read and review the final selection to arrive at the longlist. Jaishree Misra and Gitanjali Chatterjee (my fellow jury members) and I have burnt the midnight oil in attempting to ensure that we look at each book holistically. We too have gained by being part of this terrific initiative because we all ended up reading books that we may have otherwise missed. In fact, even determining the Longlist was difficult because there were several more that deserved mention.” Actor and author Sonali Bendre, who also hosts her own book club for fellow readers, called it an “enriching experience”. Sonali Bendre says, “Going through the AutHer selection was such an enriching experience. From the 21 non-fiction books that we read, these 9 were the ones that stood out and unanimously got voted in to be part of the AutHer Longlist! It’s been a pleasure discussing these books with Yasser Usman and Manimugdha Sharma… it’s been a smooth and thoroughly enjoyable journey.” The books under consideration went through multiple layers of screening before reaching the final jury. The Times editorial teams were helped in the initial screening by authors Kulpreet Yadav and Sujata Parashar, Write India winner and teacher Vasudha Gulati, and Dr Anjana Neira Dev, Associate Professor of English, Gargi college. Vinita Dawra Nangia, Literary Director of the Awards, says, “It has been an eye-opener to see the range of books submitted for the Awards and the process through which our judges painstakingly selected the best. Our effort is to be all-inclusive and neither dismiss any genre, nor favour another. The Women AutHer Awards have been launched to recognize and encourage the contribution of women writers, and to acknowledge their unique space in the literary arena.” The AutHer Awards Shortlist will be announced tomorrow. The AutHer Awards winners will be announced at a grand ceremony on Sunday, March 8, at Taj Palace, New Delhi. A prize worth Rs 1 lakh each will be given to the top winners of all four categories and a Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to a woman author for her lasting contribution in the field of literature. For the Longlist, please log on to : https://autherawards.in/
7 lessons to the path of being a good writer
How to be a good writer? 7 lessons to change your career quickly. Being a good writer is directly related to the speed of your learning. To boost this process, these 7 tips are essential. After all, the better your content is, the more you can charge your customers. And, if you can produce quickly, more tasks can be done. In addition, for your good writing, you can refer to Cheap Custom Papers Adding these two things together, we have reached an important goal for every copywriter, reviewer or planner: To increase their income considerably. As we know, mastering the techniques of copywriting, blogs, SEO, etc. requires time and work. You need to practice every day. However, people always look for hacks and shortcuts to get there with less effort. And, contrary to what it seems, this is very cool. So, here are some tips to improve your content. Check out: 1. Basic knowledge never hurts Neither your customers nor your readers want a text of 1000, 2000 or 3000 words. This is just a way of pricing content. What they want is quality information, written in a simple and readable way. It makes no sense to have an explanation disproportionate to the complexity of a problem. After all, the size of a post correlates with its rankings, but it does not mean that it is a direct ranking factor. In other words, there is no point in filling sausage. This will only make the quality of text for the web worse. In content production, we have to cut out everything that is not essential. So, let’s recap the basic rules: Avoid paragraphs with more than 4 lines. Create sentences that have up to 25 words. Write intertitles with less than 300 words. Talk to your reader, don’t be formal. In other words, be objective and get to the point. Redundancy can kill your text entirely. Note the excerpt: “After already solidifying itself as a brand that values positive self-image, this company sought excellence by doing a great job creating a favorable environment for its fans on social networks.” It can calmly be condensed into: “After gaining a positive image, this company started to attract more fans on social networks.” See how simple it is? As we said, remove everything that is not essential and write as if you were talking to the reader. 2. The more you write, the greater the value of your work Copywriters who write frequently are less insecure. The experience makes you feel in control of the situation and, to get there, you need to practice. In the beginning, it is quite normal to be insecure about deliveries, in addition to a greater expenditure of time to produce. So, if you’re not sure about the quality of your content or your deadlines, there’s a solution for that: writing. By practising, you condition your brain to deal more easily with problems that were previously difficult for you. The more you write, the more confident you will be in this job. Over time, you’ll learn to recognize what your customers need – and impress them for it. 3. Your audience and your competitors must be in your sights One of the quickest and most practical ways to write a good text is to perform a complete benchmarking. Make a list of the blogs you would like to post on and monitor what they do. Learn about your style, your favourite formats, and content production practices. How are your posts introductions? And the conclusions? Do they use a lot of images? What is the average word? What is the tone of the language? Here on the Community blog, we have already taught you a hack to monitor as many blogs as you want in real-time. And, to analyze your targets, this technique is perfect. Create your dashboard in Google Sheets and make all necessary comparisons. Whenever you find it interesting, access the contents and make a more in-depth study, always taking notes. This will help you understand what works, and how you define a style applied to the audience. That way, you’ll quickly get a lot of insights on how to create your style (in a way that your readers love!). 4. Reading is fuel for creativity In addition to writing, reading should be a daily practice, and you can do this in a variety of ways. The most important of these is to look for books and blogs on how to write. As well as national and international blogs, which have materials more focused on writing on the web. ABC Copywriting. Copy Hackers. Copyblogger. In addition to these, General Readings are also an excellent complement. News, fiction, literature, among others, will always be incredible sources of ideas, new words and to reinforce your spelling knowledge. 5. External opinions matter a lot Do you have any writing friends? Can you make contact with other professionals you admire? Write a play or show a publication of your own to these people. Ask for honest feedback on this, and try to make the most of the lessons from the responses you receive. This type of attitude is normal and, even if you are not answered, this is well regarded by the community of creative professionals. So, if the answers are far from what you expected, try again. 6. A professional review can change your life In addition to external feedback, look for review experts who can give you accurate feedback on your mistakes. Nothing will get you better than a professional review. It can be difficult to get that kind of help. First, because there are few professional reviewers (and they are hard to find), especially on the internet. Fortunately, this is changing little by little. Freelance platforms, such as Rock Content, have teams of reviewers who are responsible for evaluating all writing jobs that circulate there. Therefore, if you want to receive feedback from an expert, performing tasks on the Platform will ensure that you are always evaluated,
The Most Anticipated Telugu Movies of 2020
2020s Most Anticipated Telugu Movies According to the legendary Indian superstar Amitabh Bachchan, the Telugu Cinema beats all other Indian cinemas in almost all aspects. It performs better commercially and makes more films annually than all other regions in the country. The Telugu cinema’s core goal is to give a better experience, creating modern-day films that match the latest trends and audience acuity. As 2020 knocks on our door, we have some of the most exciting latest Telugu movie trailers to watch. Here we go: RRR RRR isn’t the real movie’s name. It’s used as a working movie tittle for updates and promotions. Directed by the man behind the greatest achievements and riding on the success of Bahubali S.S.Rajamouli, RRR is one of the latest Telugu movie trailers to expect in 2020. As we all know, the Telugu cinema director, Rajamouli, has helped take the Telugu cinema to international levels through the award-winning movies he directed like Bahubali. The RRR movie is going to rock the Tollywood and bring fun to another level. It features the two leading roles by Telugu cinema Young Tiger Jr.NTR and Mega Powerstar Ramcharan. Alia Bhatt, the most popular actress from North got the leading role in the Telugu movie industry for the first time, will also be present. Ajay Devgn, one of the most popular Hindi cinema leading actor is also playing an important role in the film. Also, this film stars a couple of Irish actors as antagonists and it sure is going to have a Pan-India and international feel. We just need to wait for the first trailer of this movie. M.M.Keeravani is the man behind the music for this film. We expect the movie trailer to be released on the 30th of July 2020. Chiru 152 Megastar Chiranjeevi is one of the top actors behind the success of the Telugu cinema industry. Their last movie Syeraa Narasimha Reddy was a hit that left many in awe. Chiranjeevi, under the direction of Mr. Koratala Shiva, is about to add another blockbuster movie to the other four movies he released in the last six years. The name of the movie is yet unveiled, but it will surely leave the Telugu movie lovers in awe. They are producing the film under the Konidela production banner. Manisharma will compose its music. We expect the movie to be released in late 2020. Prabhas 20 Before the impact left by the stylish action film Jill by Radhakrishna and Gopichand has vanished, Prabhas has linked up with S.Radhakrishna to come up with one of the most anticipated blockbuster movies that could leave every Telugu movie lover in amazement. The movie producers are yet to come up with a name for the film they are just about to produce. Based on the information readily available, Pooja Hegde will take the role of the leading female actress. The movie will be produced by Prabhas home production among others. The information we have got from some unverified resources claim that the movie title will be JAAN. So far, we have very little information to share about the movie, but resources claim that they have done more than 20% of the shooting. The exact release date for the film is yet to be unveiled, but we believe it will be sometime in mid-2020. Sarileru Neekevvaru Sarileru Neekevvaru is one of the most anticipated 2020 Telugu-language action movies. Anil Ravipudi is the man behind the writing and direction of the film. The role of the Indian Army Major, Ajay Krishna, will be played by none other than Mahesh Babu, while Rashmika Mandanna will play as the leading female role. The movie will also feature actors and actresses like Vijayashanti, Prakash Raj, Vennela Kishore, Ajay, Subbaraju, Rajendra Prasad, Hari Teja, and Pradeep Rawat. Tamannaah will play a distinctive appearance. The movie was shot in Kashmir, starting from July 5th this year. The soundtracks in the film will include the Serileru Neekevvaru track that represents the Indian’s sacrifices and bravery. The film is expected to feature several soundtracks made by our Rockstar DSP. We expect the movie to hit the market during the Sankranthi festival of 2020. Ala Vaikuntapuramlo The last in our list of 2020’s topmost expected Indian Telugu-language action-drama movie trends by the title Ala Vaikuntapuramlo. The movie director is Trivikram Srinivas, while the producers are S.Radha Krishna and Allu Aravind. The movie is produced under the banners Harrika &Hassine creations and Geetha Arts. The leading role players in the film include Nivetha Pethuraj, Allu Arjun, Tabu, Jayaram, Brahmaji, Samuthirakani, Sunil, Murali Sharma, Sathyaraj, Rajendra Prasad, and Vennela Kishore. We highly anticipate that the movie will be a big hit that will leave many in awe. This movie is going to be released for Sankranthi in 2020. This is the second time Allu Arjun and Trivikram Srinivas will be collaborating, their earlier film was S/O Satyamurthy which was a big hit a few years ago. . . . . . So, these were some of the most anticipated Telugu movies of 2020. Do you think we missed some here? Just let us know in the comments below. Also, read: 45 Best English Series that you should binge-watch today!
Divided We Fall
I want you to do something for me. I want you to think about your maid or a beggar on the street, their eyes dark and sunken, three meals a day their only goal in life. Now I want you to think about how it is a pure accident that you have been born as you, in your family, with your resources. I want you to understand that had anything gone even a little bit differently, you could have been the one out on the street. The reason I am telling you this is not to admonish you or anything but to remind you of this fact because everyone seems to have forgotten it. The way I see people treating those less fortunate than themselves… it appalls me, it really does. I never thought that one day, possessing basic human qualities such as kindness and virtue would be regarded as a rarity. This ties into the main point of this article, which is regarding the recent surge in communal violence in this country. The Bhagavad Gita and the Quran do not speak of ill-will towards one another, but their followers are hell-bent on wiping out the other community. With the advent of social media, it became acceptable for embittered millennials to preach selfishness as a viable trait. “The world will never understand me. So screw the world”. Why? Because they got their heartbroken by their crush. As time went on, this ideal gathered widespread acceptance. Looking out only for yourself and being aloof from those around you became the “cool” thing to do. Not caring became the “cool” thing to do. While this by itself did not lead us to the point where actual legislation is being made to exclude Islam from this country, it did exacerbate the problem. Because being selfish and never forgetting or forgiving are the root causes of India’s latest issue. Because of things that happened decades and centuries ago, we are today taught that some problems cannot be fixed, some people just cannot change. It is in their “blood”. We need to eradicate them from our nation. Facebook and Twitter are not social media platforms, they are the breeding grounds of intolerance. They played a pivotal role in the spreading of hate culture in this country, and now we are in too deep. Remember I asked you to think about those less fortunate than you? Now think about this – it is pure luck that your last name is, say, Bose or Das instead of Khan or Ali. At the end of the day, we are people first, and Hindus or Muslims after. Religious intolerance is simply not forgetting and not forgiving on a wider scale. We are all children of this great nation. I am a law student, I know what the Constitution says. We are supposed to be the noblest, most forgiving and most accommodating race in the entire world. Instead, we are at each other’s throats, because of books written by people, not even by God. Someone like you and I wrote those scriptures, and now a country is tearing itself apart from the inside because of them. At the end of the day, it is up to you – let the past destroy the present and the future, or carve a new path, based on values that seem to have been forgotten? Side with a Government that thinks Islam is a dangerous disease or side with the secular Constitution without which that Government would not exist in the first place? None of us are perfect, but we are supposed to be the best there is in the entire solar system. If this is our condition in the present, what hope remains for the future? In my opinion, India was once the greatest country in this world. Let’s you and I play our part, no matter how small, in restoring it to its former glory. Also, read: The Rage Within
Whose fault is that women get raped?
Whose fault is it that women get raped? Short clothes! Society! Education! Convent Schools! We knew that we’re going to hear some really horrifying things while shooting this video but now, we are more disgusted than horrified. But as the famous saying goes ‘Har raat ke baad subah aati hai’, we also believe that things are going to change and we as collective can play our part in bringing those changes. We mostly talk bookish stuff at @booxoul but today, in our own small way, we want to bring a change and hope that you will help us to bring that change by sharing this video and, let us know in the comments section, what else we can do. (Read more)
Top 10 Adventurous Things to do in India
India is an incredible country where so many adventurous can be done; Numerous people visit India every year for enjoying unique festivals, for relishing authentic & traditional Indian dishes, and for having exciting, daring, and unusual experience in life. Here I want to describe ten adventurous things which people can do in India. Here we go: 1) Holi Celebration This occasion is known as the festival of colors, Mathura and Vrindavan are the best places for Holi celebration, their people play Holi with flowers, colors, water, and these places are also famous for Lath maar Holi in which women beat men with sticks and men use shields to protect themselves. This is an old tradition that was followed by Lord Krishna and his beloved goddess Radha Ji. Million of foreigners and locals visit these places at the time of Holi. 2) Rafting There are so many rivers in India where people can enjoy rafting. Still, Rishikesh is the well-preferred place because of the Ganga river, it is known as the holiest river, and rafters can fill their mind with positivity and can enjoy breathtaking sceneries and views. 3) Diwali This is the very famous festival of Hindus, and People celebrate this festival for commemorating Lord Rama. This festival is the sign of victory of good over evil; this can be enjoyed in many states (Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, etc.) of India in October and November. 4) Ride of Hot Air Balloon Riding in the hot air balloon and great fun, those we see in the movies or our imagination world we can enjoy those views in real via hot balloon ride. Beautiful sceneries, seas, and oceans can be seen clearly. Jaipur, Lonavala, Bhopal are the most beautiful sites for a hot air balloon ride. 5) Trekking It’s a type of walking, and the purpose of walking is exploring and enjoying the view of a specific place. People can enjoy trekking in Nag Tibba, Bhriggu lake, Ladakh, and Singalia national park in India. 6) Paragliding If you want to fly like a bird in the sky with open arms, so paragliding is the immaculate activity for you. There are numerous destinations where you can enjoy the lush greenery and snow-capped mountains in India through paragliding. 7) Underwater Walking Do you want to feel like marine animals? If yes, then there is no need to worry about swimming because you can walk underwater and enjoy marine life. Guides accompany you in underwater tours, Pigeon island, Havelock island, and Grand island are the great destination where this walking can be enjoyed. 8) Scuba Diving Scuba diving can give you the excellent lifetime experience of marine life. You can see beautiful fishes octopus, sharks, and other marine animals; the beautiful view of underwater can give a different light to your eyes. 9) Windsurfing There are many water activities which people live to perform, but widely performed water sports is windsurfing. Goa is the most preferred place where this activity performed by numerous tourists and locals. 10) Jungle Safari It is a courageous thought to explore wildlife where you can see the natural habitat of your favorite animal. Gir forest in Gujarat, which is popular among other forests because of conserving the Asiatic lion, jeep safari is the only way to see lions there. . . . . . Also, read: 4 Underrated Destinations in India every traveler should visit before they die Overall, you can say that the person who once visited India cannot forget the unique things about the nation which is versed and quite famous. Do let me know in the comments below about your experiences in India and hey, Happy Traveling 🙂
Top 7 Ways To Live A Stress Free Life
Life, off-late, has been all about adulting. And with adulting comes excessively stressing out. Life is difficult and everything that happens to us happens in superlative. Emotional stress, work stress, it can be chaotic. You think you find reprieve in meditation and you do that but a few days on and you feel it isn’t working out anymore. Insomnia follows. You stay awake all night looking at the ceiling, killing thoughts, counting sheep or stars but stress doesn’t go away. You go to a pub, think of getting a life but a ping from your boss about the “presentations tomorrow!” pulls off that smile from your face. The weekend doesn’t crawl. It speeds past you like a bullet train and you are left with the mundane. How then do you cope with stress? I have been going through emotional chaos so much that I stopped talking to my friends, cut off my social media and went into a shell. I then pinged a small group of friends, and one of my friends told me to “take help.” I have come out of clinical depression and I know how disturbing things can be. It was a hell hole and I didn’t wish to go back in that black hole. You find this article here because I have been able to get over the stress. How did I de-stress? Read on to know. 1) Talk The mistake I did was not to talk. I shut myself off and that’s not right. You need to vent your anger, your anxiety, your thoughts – good or bad, doesn’t matter. JUST SPEAK UP. Half of your stress in life is because your thoughts sit in there, in your head and mess up the wiring within. 2) Write Writing helps a lot. But what to write? These days people journal. You can check the videos online wherein there are exclusive channels about journaling. How to journal is simple. Write your thoughts in this notebook you keep. You may write two lines or an entire essay or may abuse your managers but do it! It helps. Also, read: This is how writing a journal made my life less stressful 3) Take up a hobby Take up a hobby. Any hobby. You may wanna check out a dashing car every weekend in a nearby mall or take painting lessons or go cycling or just fill in the adult coloring books. 10 minutes every day or 30 minutes every weekend, doesn’t matter, as long as you get to unwind. 4) Read I am a voracious reader and a book is my comfort food. [I go by the name @book_gobbler on Instagram, you may want to follow me for all the book recommendations 😉 ] Reading helps take your mind off the things around you. Immerse yourself in a fantasy world or a nail-biting thriller or spine chilling horror or general fiction – up to you! 5) Walk I hate rains because all my walk routine becomes kaput during monsoons. I am a better person when I am walking, I always say that. Walking is exercise, yes. But more than that it helps release mood-boosting endorphins. There are multiple other benefits of walking but let’s stick to this one for now. Watch: I walked to a bookstore and this happened! 6) Balasana If you can’t find 10 minutes from your busy schedule for walks, (this taunt is from me to me :P), then you ought to try Balasana. This is done by taking a child-like pose, that helps you relax and destress. Check this video out to get a clear picture: 7) Music The first thing that helps me heal is music. It is my first aid when I am stressing out. Contemporary Bollywood, Trance, Retro, it all depends on my mood but music heals faster, at least it puts the healing process in a gear one. Also, read: My 9 Favorite Lines from the movie Rockstar Lastly, I would like to tell you all a simple fact – money, position, fame – and everything else you are running after in life is temporary and perishable. What’s permanent and important is how you treat yourself and those around you – that is here to stay. So while keeping yourself sane is important, it is also equally important to make sure that you don’t drown yourself in these luxuries so much that getting out is impossible. I hope these tips help to de-stress your life. Do let me know in DM on Instagram at @book_gobbler. Here is my website and twitter profile.
I Married a Sanyasi
I know you are here because you are intrigued by the headline of this blog post. But please be patient as I use my writing skills, some adjectives, some adverbs, and bring out an “alankarit” (ornamented) write-up for you. Every girl wants to date a bad boy and marry a good man and that’s exactly what happened to me. But this bad boy was, in fact, a good man. And I was to know about it only after I was married. Immediately after I was married, in fact! Well, my husband and then-boyfriend aren’t definitively bad, he would just turn roguish when necessary. What with his political ambitions and jazz, the word “radaa” or ruckus was something that he used often. Then there were those fights with dishonest rickshawalas and even I joined him when he fought against their loot. (But after the marriage that image sort started to wilt. He became a matured and responsible chap.?) But the day after my wedding my new family decided to break news to me which actually shocked me, surprised me and I am still reeling with the effect of that news! I was introduced to the family’s past via the photo albums and there I saw an image of a guy, dressed in saffron-colored pajama, jhabba, and a pagdi. I couldn’t recognize this chubby boy. My family is a lot religious and we follow a spiritual Guru and so I presumed that this boy was a fellow disciple of our Guru. I WAS WRONG HE WAS MY HUSBAND! MY HUSBAND WAS ONCE A SPIRITUAL GURU! Wait, weren’t you expecting that? But, really, I wasn’t. It was a shock to me. I hadn’t a clue if I should laugh or cry or feel cheated because my boyfriend never once uttered a single word about this past. Understand now, don’t you? That even if you date a person for a year or more, you are not really going to be acquainted with every aspect of their life. And with that thought, I sort of quelled my thoughts, pulled myself together and gave a hesitant laugh. Furthering my scare were these words, “I was going to become a Sanyasi.” S.A.N.Y.A.S.I (That sort of came out in slow-mo or that’s how I remember it now ?) Wait, what? “Why did you….not…then?” “Umm….my inclination towards history and politics is so strong that our Guru seems to have got a whiff of it and he said that I shouldn’t take sanyas….” “Oh….” “Perhaps, he knew that I was to meet YOU!” Perhaps… Now that’s highly possible to have worldly instincts, you know? Enlightened people usually talk cryptically. And it’s up to us to solve those riddles they throw our way. And hence I didn’t think of it as odd at all. “So you would give pravachan in those clothes?” “Ummhmmm…every Saturday.” “Wow!” That didn’t really come out the way I wanted it to…but yeah it was more of a surprise, every Saturday! That’s when someone from my family chirped in (you see I was in a trance and don’t recall who asked this question next). “So, why did you fall for her?” I heard this question and his laughter followed. “I married her because she replied to one of the most toughest questions quite easily?” “What question?” I asked. “Don’t you remember?” “Nope….” I was quizzed about a question I was asked! ? “So, once I asked you, who are you?” “Yeah ….??” ? “To which you replied, they call me Siddhi but I am aatma.” I AM AATMA. Make that sentence bold, italics and underline it. And here I was thinking I was someone special… This Sanyasi married a soul who knew that she was just a soul. Get it?
My 9 Favorite Lines from the movie Rockstar
“Toote hue dil se hi sangeet nikalata hai, jab dil ki lagti hai, tukde tukde hote hai, tab aati hai jhankaar” Kuch yaad aaya? Rockstar! It’s one of my all-time favorite movies and if you’ll ask me about it, then I would say that this movie can be summed up into these lyrics alone: “Mann Ke Mere Ye Bharam Kachche Mere Ye Karam Leke Chale Hai Kahaan Main Toh Jaanoon Hi Na Tu Hai Mujh Mein Samaya, Kahaan Leke Mujhe Aaya Main Hoon Tujh Mein Samaya, Tere Peeche Chala Aaya Tera Hi Main Ek Saaya Tune Mujhko Banaya Main Toh Jag Ko Na Bhaya Tune Gale Se Lagaya Ab Tu Hi Hai Khudaya Sach Tu Hi Hai Khudaya” Okay, so here are my 9 Favorite Lines from the movie Rockstar: I can hum the music while reading these lines. This song trigger your thoughts but soothes your soul. Though true! Already missing my ex! My all-time fav song. This line ? The most underrated song according to me! A song that sums up everything. Jordan, us and Rockstar! . . . . . I can’t forget this album until I die. Such a great gem by A.R. Rahman, Irshad Kamil, Imtiaz Ali, and Mohit Chauhan is gonna stay with me for my whole life. Every playlist of mine is incomplete without this album. I just can’t tell how much I owe and love this album. Songs which I can’t mention like ‘The Dichotomy of Fame‘ still does something to me… it’s just ineffable. Anyways, those are the 9 best lines from the movie Rockstar, according to me. But hey, I know that I’ve missed a lot in here, so do let me know in the comments about what are your favorite lines and I’ll try adding it up here. Happy Listening 🙂
