Title: First You Plz

Author: Nisha B Thakur

Pages: 80

The story revolves around the three good friends Rachana, Avanti and Meenakshi who start to attend their masters at a B school at Matheran, away from home. The trio are inseparable since their graduation days.

Avanti, is immensely in love with Aakash at first sight. Aakash is a happy go lucky guy who is in a relationship with another girl and wants to marry her. Avanti learning this is hurt but unable to take her eyes off Aakash. Her buddies, Meenakshi and Rachana try their best and convince Avanti to stop thinking of him and she would hurt herself more.

Avanti and Aakash become close friends to an extent that she cannot start her day without seeing or speaking to him. She also learns that, Aakash had a break up with his girlfriend, hoping she would he the queen of his heart and Aakash would propose to her someday and she would wait for that day. But Aakash finds her behaviour similar to that of his ex-girlfriend.

Would Aakash propose Avanti or she forgets him longing for his proposal?

The author, Nisha, has maintained the flow and keeps the reader thinking, "what happens next?' Though it is a romantic college story, you cannot stop without completing.


About the author: Nisha lives in Navi Mumbai with her family. After completing her post graduation in Communication Management she worked as a copywriter with a reputed ad agency in Mumbai. She now works as a freelance copywriter cum screenwriter.
When she is not writing, she composes poetry. Apart from writing, she enjoys cooking being a big foodie, reading novels, watching cinema and surfing the TV. She is a spiritual person and a follower of Vipasanna meditation. She believes in God, Karma and Karmic connections. By means of all the experiences of her life she has written her debut novel.

Vienna: Art & Design was held at Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria covering the art works from famous Gustav Klimt, an  Austrian symbolic painter, Egon Schiele, an Austrian painter, Josef Hoffmann, an Austrian Architect, Adolf Loos, an Austro-Hungarian architect. The exhibition was a part of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2011 from 18 JUN 2011 - 09 OCT 2011. It was the first time I had been to an art exhibition that was from Vienna. It focused on how the artists, writers and musicians contributed to the modern Vienna during 1900.


I was happy to learn so much on the art and music of Vienna that I would stand staring at some of the paintings before moving on to the next. The trams in Melbourne are a replica from what you see in the Vienna. :)

If there is an exhibit on Vienna, then don't miss the chance.
Ticket Pricing in Australia:
Adult $24
Child (aged 5-15) $12

Find more on the history of Vienna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Vienna.

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

Title: My lawfully wedded husband and other stories (2012)

Author:  Madhulika Liddle

Published by: Westland Ltd

Pages: 215



This is the first book, I am reading from this author, though I haven't read her earlier books: The Englishman’s Cameo (2009), The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries (2011).
Thanks to blogadda for sending me a copy of this book. I was impressed seeing the cover of the book.

Most people mistake the title of the book to be, "My lawfully wedded husband", when I first searched for the book on google, it merely displayed the same results but the actual title is "My lawfully wedded husband and other stories." As the name suggests, the book is a collection of 12 short shorties.

Each of the 12 stories have an an interesting concept and the author has narrated imagining herself in their shoes. The endings of few stories can be predicted well and for few it is a twist. My personal choice of short stories are: A tale of summer vacation, St George and the dragon, and My lawfully wedded husband (title of the book itself). The story keeps you guessing till the end.
The other stories with predictable ending: A brief lesson in trust, Number 63, Hourie, Silent fear and The Crusader which could have been written with a better twist in the tale.
Sum Total: A little girl who has always been taught to stay mum and patient no matter how rude others are. As she grows into a young woman how she tries to get rid of those who trouble her in a gentle way.
A Tale of Summer Vacation: A little girl who spends summer at her granny's making friends with two sisters which develops in a wonderful plot.
A Brief Lesson in Trust: Never trust anyone nor show your weakness, you never know who is going to make a fool out of you.
Feet of Clay: A little girl who loves eating snacks everyday from vendor who is best at story telling and discovers one day he is gone without understanding the reason at her age.
My Lawfully Wedded Husband: The husband who always remained silent before his wife and the wife is always happy about this.
Number 63: An old lady in the neighbourhood is suddenly in trouble and how does she handle the situation.
On the Night Train: It is always good to have a companion on your compartment especially when you are all alone on the train traveling a long distance.
Hourie: A story of how a call girl changing from Hourie to Helen, to become famous.
Silent Fear: When you scare someone speaking of the ghost, the same person can even turn out to be a ghost.
St George and the Dragon: Who is the dragon and who is George?
The Crusader: A story of a young couple who had to pay a price for the mistake they did!
The Howling Waves of Tranquebar: The story revolves on the history of Tranquebar that you are lost imaging what happened .. ?
Most of the stories cover a wide range of people: the rich, poor and middle class.. and are mainly based on women from a young adolescent, a working professional, a call girl, a homemaker...

Overall, the author has used a wide range of vocabulary. Some narrations have a crispy ending and a moral too. It is a juicy book and one cannot take the book off having read it.


I would rate 3.5 on scale 5.

About the author: Madhulika Liddle is best known for her books featuring the 17th century Mughal detective Muzaffar Jang, although she is also a prolific writer of short fiction, travel writing, and writing related to classic cinema. Madhulika has written a range of short stories in different genres, including black humour, humour, crime and detection, and social awareness. Several of these have won awards (including the prestigious Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s (CBA) Short Story Competition, for A Morning Swim, in 2003) or have been selected for anthologies. She also blogs on cinema at http://dustedoff.wordpress.com/ (Source: wiki)

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

I, initially, came across this initiative from a friend who discussed on providing the microcredit, from the data collected during the Ted event.

Activity: Rang De is a pioneering web-based social initiative with a mission to provide cost-effective microcredit to low income households in India. Through an online platform (www.RangDe.Org), Rang De enables people to participate in microcredit by lending as little as Rs. 100. Rang De has reached out to over 5900 entrepreneurs across 12 states by lending Rs. 31mn. Rang De currently funds business, education, and artisan loans. Rang De is a registered non-profit trust.

Details: You might want to read through our FAQs for a comprehensive understanding of Rang De - http://rangde.org/faq.htm

Support: Microcredit, Peer-to-peer lending, individual social responsibility, online lending, philanthropy

Note: - More Corporates to participate in our corporate connects program (one time donation which will be rotated as social investments). - More people to blog about Rang De and on the Rang De blog also. - Social media advisors to help us on how to take our social media strategy forward - Java/JSP Developers who are interested in working for Rang De full time for at least a year. - Funding for our operations.

This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple steps. Visit http://www.blogadda.com/bsr/ and support the NGO's.

Uttara Bhoopa is a famous book written by BeeChi (Rayasam Bheemasena Rao), a well-known Kannada humorist. I bought this book a couple of years ago but never had a chance to read it. However, I was lucky to see the drama directed by Antaranga at H.N Kalakshetra, Bangalore on 29th Dec 12.

The play starts with a couple's discussion on finding a suitable match for their daughter. The couple think how the to be son in law should be in terms of the maturity, character.. so on and so forth. But their daughter is of different opinion and thinks she can find the man of her choice. The couple and daughter have an argument unlike any other parents or children do. The couple decide to publish an advertisement in the newspaper to find a suitable groom and the expected qualities. They interview the young men who had applied and finally, manage to select the three. Now, the daughter is in difficult position whom to select among the three.

The play is a comedy and you would love every joke. I am yet to read the book and I am sure I can complete reading the book in a day or two. ;)


Does she find the man of her choice or reluctantly marry one among the three chosen by her parents? Find it by yourself seeing the play at the next theatre.  

Cost of the ticket - Rs 70/-

The year 2012 was a very memorable one with lot of learning, happiness, sadness, going places on my own and last but not the least, coming back to hometown and meet my family and friends after an year and five months. I was sad to leave Melbourne, Australia and at the same time happy to meet my parents after a long time. As I have mentioned in my earlier posts from Melbourne, it was my first time, away from home, living in  another country which was 5585 miles from Bangalore. Melbourne has its own charm which cannot be expressed in words. No wonder it has been ranked the most livable city in the world and any one would fall in love for first time and so did I. :D

When I would ask someone who was in the US, "Don't you miss anything here?" and they would reply,"What do you expect to miss?". The same happened to me. Melbournians were always kind enough and always amicable to anyone who come there. I would like to narrate an incident where I fell on the footpath. People walking around came to help me get up and left until they were assured I was all fine and no injury. I felt this gentleness was missing in my home country itself where you are injured on road side and none comes for your help which is sad!

I had a chance to watch IPL, ODI (India Vs Australia) and Footy matches at MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) and also witness huge Indian crowd singing "why this kolaveri di".. Opera House, monorail, the world famous Bondi beach, jet boating, cemetery at Brunti, John Carter at IMAX, climbing the Harbour Bridge, meeting an friend after a decade at Sydney! Kangaroo Island at Adelaide, Tesselar Tulip Festival, Cooks Cottage, Great Ocean Drive, meeting backpackers at Tasmania, Steam engine train at Puffing Billy, Grampians, Melbourne Aquarium, Werribee zoo. Long working hours at office made a way to new hobby: Swimming and work outs at Fitness First. ;)

A three day holiday, exploring Singapore all alone where I reach Merlion at 1 AM and folks who see me would question-"Are you all by yourself?" I would smile,"yeah, Singapore is safe place where you can roam around alone even during midnight."

Back home, it was time to spend time with family and friends. Gokarna beaches with Sneha, Kannada play "Uttara Bhupa", same old day to day not interesting routines which anyone would crib about.

I realized huge difference what we gather about the West from media or word of the mouth and you, having lived abroad which I would explain in upcoming posts.


&copy Manasa. All rights reserved.

I had a chance to attend the Indiblogger meet at Fortune Park JP Celestial, Race Course Road, Bengaluru on Sunday, 20th Jan 2013. The meet was sponsored by HP and HaperCollins. I also had a chance to meet bloggers with the myriad interests - few familiar faces and many new ones and also win gifts. The blogger meet was to discuss on Fake Vs Original. I would like to pen down my experiences on using counterfeit and original products.

When I was a college student, I found the imitation sold at street side very fascinating and affordable compared to the cost of the originals. One could find the named brands such as Gucci, Esprit, Nike and even MAC cosmetics at an inexpensive cost. As time passed by, I have realized the importance of the originals and appreciate their usage.

There are two circumstances here:
1. People buy counterfeit products willingly because they are inexpensive or say "affordable" or in plain terms call it "cheap" since they are close to the original product.
2. People are cheated and sold counterfeit products without their knowledge.

Some products cannot be identified as fake until you have used them for at least 3 months or even less and then you identify the results of wear and tear.

There isn't one particular product where you find counterfeit products. There are electronic items, cosmetics, watches, bags, books, mobile phones, softwares and what not. You name it and they have it!

Though the counterfeit products look great and inexpensive at the time of purchase, in a long run, they cannot withstand wear and tear. It also results in loss of money when you are looking for goods in long run. There is no warranty or any sort of guarantee for such products. Most of them are sold street side without any bill commonly called "grey" goods.

Say for example, you buy any of the below Counterfeit products,

Fossil watch -> Rs 100.
-Might stop working after 3 months.
Dior Perfume -> Rs 250.
-Damages the fabric color and causes head ache.
MAC Foundation -> Rs 300.
-Itching on the face and redness.
NIKE shoes-> Rs 400
-Sole torn after a run.
Shantaram Book -> Rs 150.
-Paper Prints missing after 300 pages.
Lord of the Rings DVD -> Rs 30.
-Bad video print affecting eyes with missing parts
Pirated Adobe Photoshop -> Download free from Torrent
-No updates available and laptop goes for reboot due to the bugs.
HP Printer ink -> Rs 450
-Bad quality prints and degrades the performance of the printer.

The above outcome can be avoided by using the respective original brands. Originals offers warranty, services when something goes wrong. Most important - you are paying "respect" to the creator/designer who has spent day and night to bring out the ideas into the products to be a huge "Success". Remember, Even those who imitate the originals always fake the best in the market. Then why not buy the original?

HP is now offering the ink cartridges as low as Rs 449.

What if am cheated saying its original? 

HP has advised to look for the below while purchasing their refill cartridges:
Look for HP QR code. The QR code reader app can be easily downloaded on smart phone to determine the genuineness of the ink.


What if I do not own a smart phone?

You need not worry about it. Go to HP website and check for authenticity entering the code.

HP also offers a door delivery of the inks, free of cost,  within 6 to 8 hours on placing an order. You can place an order by dialing 1800-425-4999 or placing an order online here: https://h30042.www3.hp.com/SureSupply/?AppName=OACLanding&loc=in&lang=en. The website has set of instructions on choosing the printer, model.

I would like to quote an example here. Every book has an ISBN code with the thick and thin lines. I recently installed Goodread app on my iPhone which would scan the ISBN bar code and display the title of the book. I scanned many books in my personal library and the title would populate within a few seconds and the title was always appropriate.
Few years ago, I bought a fat book with 1000 pages-Gone with the Wind which had good print and strong bind. When I scanned the bar code, it returned an error saying the book was never found! The book was a counterfeit and I was under the impression that it was a genuine copy all these years. Apps like these help us to identify the originals.

Many book publishers are now releasing the low cost edition books that are original and affordable for the avid book readers to own.

Thus I conclude the topic saying: Always go for and encourage buying the originals.
As a person who always dream of owning brand and a responsible citizen, always opt for genuine product and test for its authenticity so that you are not cheated.

Scan the below QR code to test.

The blogger meet was an interesting event with fun filled events like tweeting about the quote which your mother or father scolded, mime be it Mr. Potter or Chronicles, best pose for photograph, finding the complete quotes... The speaker from HP advising on the benefits of Original product Vs Fake. The admins who were always cheerful from the beginning till end of the end of the meet. Interesting gifts and high tea.

Few pictures from the event:





Oh yeah, not to forget it was my second memorable Indiblogger meet. 

I have been signing up various book reading challenges for the past two years and haven't been able to complete any of this. I wish I can read at least the books which I have been longing for, in 2013. :)

Puffed Rice in English or Kallepuri in Kannada, usually mixed with salt and masala are sold road side, are the  best evening time snacks in Bangalore. Kallepuri vendors are commonly found at Lalbagh where walkers buy the kallepuri wrapped in a sheet on old paper, after a tiring walk around the park.
They cost less than Rs 10/-

Shot at Chitra Santhe 2011.