Promise to time of my Life.

What if i meet my life, like in real...as a living person whom i can see, touch and talk with. How he or she would be? As charming as me or a total surprise proving me wrong?

Ohh don't get confused, i know life is within me and life is what i am. But since i finished reading "The Time of my Life” by Cecelia Ahern a few days back it has been going on in my mind. What if?!?!

Now when you pick a chick-lit and it gives you this self-interrogation effect, it is something, isn't it?

I always thought that i read chick-lits for some mind-less fun, some head over the heels hopeless romance. But now this one as much as it was fun reading it still gave me enough to ponder upon.

What if "life" was really a person, and what if he/ she (your life*) comes to your door knocking to help you, to show you a direction when you start becoming a hope-less case without knowing about it. I am hooked to think endless (born defect), and now i have one more topic.

* Main character of this book "Lucy" was surprised to see her life was a "male" and i do not know what mine could be, so no taking chances here.

All life wants from us is to be happy, not for others but for ourselves. And many a times we don't even realize it - the impact we have on our lives, funny it sounds i know.

Even when we think we are doing everything right, have a job, have pets, have friends, have family and we are busy all the times and still it can be that we are unfair to life.

One cannot be fair to life without being fair to oneself.

It comes naturally to love and care around us, and at times it goes ignoring a few things you love for the people you love. It doesn't sound or feel too bad, but what if to your life it is unfair.

Let me make it a bit easy for you to get me, the book i am going on about is about Lucy Silchester. She receives an appointment card, an invitation to meet her life. She keeps ignoring it busying herself with work, helping friends, her cat (which she is not suppose to keep), family (she has problems with), car (which keeps giving up on her) and all the surrounding drama. So you got a gist but then comes a stage when she cannot miss this appointment anymore.

When she meets her life, she hates him at the first glance.... (Yes her life is a male, told you) what with badly dressed - soggy, grumpy, bad breathed little man.  She immediately feels the impulse to shut off on him, and tries to ignore him once again. But her life keeps up and decides to give her another chance and makes her see things that she could not. Over the course we see Lucy's life changed a lot throughout the story and that's because of Lucy, and how she treats her life and live it. But at the same time her life remained constant through out the story. He wanted what was best for her, and for her to be happy, not just from the outside what world could see but from within resulting her in overall a good person. 

That made me think, i was lucky enough to live my life the way i want... study whatever i wanted, fell in love and married love of my life who shared with me similar dreams and ambitions. Everything was perfect, we have been lucky to travel to places the way we dreamed, and live a life that we wanted. And now we have a beautiful piece of our hearts, living with us, amazing us everyday in a new way.

Now in all this, if my ambitions take a back-seat momentarily, will that be being unfair to my life?

If i do not have time for things I used to do or love or for my friends at times, will that be being unfair to my life?

If i let go of a few of my hobbies for time being to give more time to people i love, will that be being unfair to my life?

And in my laziness if i let go of my favorite meal so that we can have something we all love, will that be being unfair to my life?

When we do things with our own will, because at the time we think that is a right thing to do and that is the call of time, without anyone pointing us or asking from us, can we be still unfair to our lives?

So there i am, confused.

And one thing that makes me sure is to be grateful and promise to be always fair, to my life.

Dear Life, Thanks you for everything, thank you for choosing me and thank you for being with me.

I won't let you regret to have me to live forever with. I promise to do my best to be fair to you. 

A book that made till morning !

I am talking about a book; my very best friend gave me as a good bye gift, when we visited India this year.

(How things changes... I used to call it a home and now I refer it as “we visited”, and what we used to call “visit” now we call “home”, yeaah life! )

“Can You Keep a Secret?” By Sophie Kinsella

I didn't get much time to start with this book and so it was lying on the shelf for more than 2 months. I finally picked that up to read in flight when I went to Paris last week.

This is the first book of Sophie Kinsella's that I have read and so I had no pre-notions to compare it with some of her earlier work.

To be honest when I started with it, I found the book okay in my first half an hour reading, didn't know that time it will make me change my opinion afterwards !

(Normally it takes hack out of me to change my opinion based on first impression, they don't say it without a reason that first impression is the last impression ! )

The story is narrated by and from the view point of main female character Emma Corrigan, after a run-of-the-mill business presentation, on which she was depending and dreaming to ask for a promotion as a Marketing Executive, runs amok, Emma finds herself on an unusually turbulent plane ride next to a handsome aloof stranger.

As she contemplates the business meeting having few vodka drinks at air-port she fears will end her career and the plane ride she fears will end her life, she aimlessly blutters her deepest secrets to the man by her side. Within a matter of minutes she divulges everything about herself, she hasn’t shared with anyone, not even with her conscious self.

Is this possible in real life? Why not if you are afraid to ride in a plane, if you like to be on ground and not in the sky and if you had a really bad day, and you are going through depressing feeling that nothing is going right in your life, and you have messed up badly ! Anything is possible, isn’t it?

Then I got busy and during my return flight I picked up that book again thinking it is not possible that my friend would give me a book with recommendation if that is not interesting, and also I have to find out who is that guy to whom Emma spills all the beans.

More I read more I liked the character of Jack Harper, a stranger turning to not so stranger as the story developed. I would not go on writing about what happens next and who he was as for that one needs to read real book! Hehe (No, I am not getting paid for marketing the book!! Ohh Gosh I wish they would be!! )

Then I was home. It was Friday night and so not having to go to office next morning I decided to read for a while, and I kept on reading. The plot is a bit predictable but still I didn't feel bored. It is not one of the most romantic books, and it is not even romantic novel, but still what I loved in the book was "romance”!

One could really relate to the main character Emma at one or other point and pretty much all the situations on the book looks realistic making you feel this can happen, you never know!

And then I realized it was 7.00 am, it was already morning! Yes I didn’t even realize that I read whole night and I didn’t even feel tired reading, even with the fact I was tired due to travelling! I don’t remember when was the last I did the same, may be back in university days! (Of course never for studies)

Thanks Dhara, for the wonderful gift, I thoroughly enjoyed it. (And by the way Belated Happy Birthday to you Dhara ! J )

One thing for sure is, after reading CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? You will filter while talking to your seatmate on airplanes, trains or other mass transit!

I actually quite tried to imagine who the person sitting next to me might be !

Good thing, I was so busy figuring it out, I didn’t try to talk; good for me to avoid Emma situation in real and other thing until now I haven’t seen him around making me realizing a Stanger not so stranger!

Twilight - New Moon... arrrr No Moon !

Being in the Paris on my own and not having to cook or not having to worry about any household things is giving me more time to ponder upon things which i wouldn't otherwise. Given time, this post would have been up two weeks back, but yeah life, It can be busy sometimes !

(What if all what kept you busy was reading a book or watching movies !! They are enough to keep you busy, right? So I can call myself busy !!)

I wanted to watch Twilight the day it got released, but then Ashu was not here so i waited until Saturday but surprise !!!!.... He got that same book for me on the way back (knowing how crazy i am about books) and then i was no more that eager, as i wanted to watch the movie now after

reading the book!

So i finished reading the book in 3 days with late nights and sleeping in office schedule.

Ohh boy, ask me ... was he happy?

At first yes, as i started reading book soon as he gave me, so may be a happy feeling knowing i liked what he got me but then as i read all the time, a bit annoyed at times with more of those.... will you sleep now? please sleep. Please put book aside for a moment.... I am sorry Ashu, for all those things, but i would't have slept at ease even if would have , You know how reading can take you at times!

So as soon as i was finished reading the book and even though it was a weekday and we had office next day we ran to watch the movie.... Aaah and what a disappointment ! One who has not read book won't get what is going on and will be confused what's going on. ( Or may be it's a tectic to get people read the book ! You never know marketing gimmicks hehehe)

Ok so back to the movie, It was confusing as there are many chances that you even might have forgotten what was in first part, trying to make you remember and link it with what was going on to understand. Just in 5 mins i knew this is going to be a difficult one.

I was looking at Ashu's confused face and smiling, i tried to explain what was going on but how much you can without disturbing others?

And most disturbing part was, while reading the book at some moment you feel sad, at some part you feel the intensity of feelings /pain each character holds. But unfortunately in the movie it was opposite, when those parts played on screen whole audience laughed, ya even including me whose heart had ached while reading it ! What a contrast, isn't it?

I understand they have to wrap up a story detailed in hundreds of pages in a few mins picturisation..... something which took me to read more than 14 hours in 2 hours ! I understand that is difficult but .... I never imagined this was outcome.... A total disappointment to me !

Anyway, whatever...that is not going to stop me from reading next books in the Twilight series and even from watching subsequent parts of movies whenever it comes !

P.S. With courtsey internet and google god i found out what is New Moon, Apparantly it has nothing to do with the movie, New Moon is a name given by fans to new sensation with his perfect biceps and six-packs " Taylor Lautner " aka Werewolf !

Book which made him read....

I love to read, and I am not that choosy about what i read. I read everything ... fiction, science-fiction, thriller, romance, non-fiction, self-help, motivational whichever comes my way and whatever interests me enough to continue reading on first few pages to get through it.

I had ordered few random books. One of them was "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham. It was still waiting to be in my hands for a few months now, So I thought to take it with me on my vacation to read on flights.
I took it out from my bag to read while taking seat on flight and Ashu asks me if i have any other books in spare which he can read.
Now he is not one who loves to read. He likes that i have this hobbie but sometimes when I am too busy wandering in my imaginative world he complains that I get so indulge in other world that sometimes I forget everything around me. I do not dely the fact but now I try not to indulge myself in books especially in day time when there are other peoples around or things to be done, not to behave totally lost.

But now he asking me for a spare book, that is a big surprise!
So for the first time I did that... I handed some one a book to read which I had just started and hadn't yet completed ! ( Yeah I know, I had just started so had gone through few pages only, but still !! !)


That made me come face to face with the reality, I could see why he complained when I was reading, as he kept reading whenever he could sneak out some time, also at nights until he would fall asleep. And yeah I understood the meaning of "what you give away, come backs to you" in a funnier way! hehehe

And man, could I be any happier when he asked me for some other book on completing that one !
He started reading "Who Will Cry When You Die" by Robin Sharma and was loving it. Unfortunately we missed bringing it here with us!
So next book I have given him is "Winning" by Jack and Suzy Welch. I thought it will be a nice read for him, getting into groove as he is starting his executive MBA from this January.
But this book needs to be taken in slowly as it is not a story, So far he is saying he likes it, to be seen when he actually finishes that one.

I hope he continues with readings now developing it in a hobby, he always appreciated but now it is great that he appreciates my reading love more!

By the way it did surprise me with no end when I saw him sticked to a book and actually completing it !
I was wondering what was that, and soon realised ahhhhhh FOOTBALL !!! Aaaaah, He and his love for sports !

In spite of all my book love ...

G is my colleague, who sits opposite to my desk, our desktop screen back to back and we face to face!!

G – Can you please help me with this box…?
Me- yeah sure

Me – hey what’s that? Some more books huh..?
G- Yeah, I ordered some and got it today, can you please put that in drawer?

I open the drawer and find it full of other books.

Me – phew… so many books, aren’t you taking them home?
G – Hmmm, ya I will eventually…but if I take everything altogether, my dad is going to kill me so one by one I will sneak them home.

Me – hee hee hee
G – Don’t laugh…!!

Me – o okie… (Going through the book collection) which one is this? You have ordered whole series.
G – Which one are you talking about? Ohh you are talking about P.G.Wodehouse?

Me - Umm which?...hmmm ya that
G- Ohhh, haven’t you read P.G.Wodehouse?

Me – (sheepishly) Nop, as far as I remember
G – (In a surprised voice) WHAT??? That is impossible……..

**** pause*****

After some time....

G - Really you haven’t read P.G.Wodehouse?
Me - Arrrr…no… (Frantically trying to save my image of book lover) or may be I read them but don’t remember name now.

G - Ya it is not possible…if you say you haven’t read I will be shocked
Me- Arrr okieee (wondering what it might be about)

And may be G reads my mind same time

G - Have u read about Jeeves…. Bertie ???
Me - Arrr….i don’t think so…

G – (In a high pitch shocked expression which throws me 2 ft away) OMG, I m shocked...
Me – Arrrr… Is it that good? I mean one gotta read it?
G- Yeah, I cannot believe someone wouldn’t have read it.

Then taking mercy on my poor knowledge...

G - Okay you open that packet and take home one of that to read….
Me – Ok, thanks G. (I am so happy, now i have one more book with humour and i will know what is so big deal about it) which one shall i take G? Which is the first part?

G gives me a look… may be thinking…you dumb girl…

G –Doesn’t matter …there are no parts… take any of them
Me – arrrr …okkk

As I carefully select one reading titles and take one….

G - Ok leave it … I will bring a paper cover edition for you tomorrow

(What??? why??? Is it because she doesn’t trust me with books??)

Me – arrr….But you will forget it tomorrow. (Disappointingly, I don’t want to let go an opportunity to have any book)
G - No, I won’t.
Me - Because you are shocked?
G - Yes, my dad will be shocked as well...

Grrrrr….aahhh… hmmm

Other day, as G enters office… I am all prepared pulling her for forgetting the book. Why I am so sure? Obviously ….. We hadn’t mentioned it whole day and I hadn’t even reminded her in evening while leaving to bring it other day….!!

Me – Good Morning G
G- (In stead of good morning in reply) I did not forget!!!
Me – (arrrr….trying to hide my disappointment on missing the chance) Hee hee hee , you were that shocked??
G - Yeah… reaching home first thing I did was to put that in bag…

Me - heee heee heee
G – Here it is… but I want it back…I am making a collection

Me - Ya….sure…. (Then looking at the book as it appears as very new without single folded page, as I have many in ones I read) Ohh haven’t u read it…it looks so neat n new
G - I have…. but I DO TAKE PROPER CARE !!!

Okay… So I was right yesterday on why she changed her mind while giving one from that hard cover collection ;)

P.S. Now after coming home when I opened the book… it did look like that I have at least seen it before if not read it ;) ... noooo ... i am serious.... trust me.... really i have...!!