Book Review: Lost in Pattaya

Book Title: Lost in Pattaya
Author:  Kishore Modak
Published June 4th 2014 by Grapevine Inda Publishers Pvt. Ltd
Reviewed for The Tales Pensive

Life is not always what it looks on the face value. Similarly the as the story reveals itself in the end, you realize it lands on different dimension that you earlier thought.The entire story is told from the eyes of a protagonist who is a drunk broke man. He has a darker side and it take time to adjust to his way of thinking. I hated the protagonist, the main hero (supposedly) but I loved the book. 

The Premise: "It is every dad’s nightmare – his little girl goes missing."
The story starts when a father looses his daughter in the streets of Pattaya while he is busy dealing with the drug peddler in a corner. His addictions have taken over his saneness and everyone blames him for the loss. His married life was already on a rocky path and due to this incident, his wife leaves him. The police too is not very helpful for him. His work too suffers and eventually he looses his job and there is no hope left for him. There is a ray of hope when he meets a lady who narrates him the story of how she rescued her daughter from the beggar mafia in Thailand. Determined to find his daughter, he sets out on a journey which will shock him to the core. Will he find and rescue his daughter or loose himself to Pattaya?

My 2 cents: The book is an interesting casual read with good narrations and character built up. It is narrated from the eyes of Palash, the lead character, father of a young girl, broken, drug addict and most of the time in drunken state. The way he thinks is not expected to be too sane, and so it took time for me to understand his point of view. There were places where I hated him and felt justified for his loss as it was difficult for me to put myself in the shoes of the narrator. Questions kept propping in my mind such as 'How could a distressed father of a missing daughter call the drug peddler for his regular dose of coke, even before landing at the police station?', 'How could he be lost and narrate to us the beauty in the eyes of a prostitute when he is on a mission to search for his baby?'
These kept me going through the book, but I would say this is a positive point. Generally, in most of the novels I fall in love with the lead character, or at least feel empathy for him. This is the first book where is felt strong antipathy for the protagonist for a good first half. The characterization done by author is so damn strong that he wants to peek into the thoughts of a helpless man caught in addictions. I felt this was one strong point along with the use of awesome language and flow.

The second half gets better when the mystery unfolds and it leads to strange revelations. It becomes more of a personal quest for Palash than for his daughter. Though the title and cover page with a sad girl suggests that the story is about a lost girl, it is more about the father. There are narrations about the lanes of Pattaya, drug peddlers, prostitution and other dark alleys where you would never want to venture, but can be virtually explored through the book.

All in all, the book is a good read. Read it for powerful narrations, good vocabulary, some magical sentences and to visit the darker side of the world.

My rating : 3.5 out of 5 stars.






The book was received as part of the Reviewers Program on The Tales Pensive.

A click for cleaner safer India #ToiletForBabli Initiative

India is a country of contradictions. On one end, we talk about technology, space travel, world class education and becoming a world superpower while half of our countrymen do not have toilet in their house.
This reminds me of an incident when I was travelling by bus from Mumbai to Shirdi. It was fun trip and we were out for a vacation. We were passing time enjoying and singing with friends when the driver stopped the bus for a break, apparently because the driver wanted to answer nature's call.
But what was notable is he simply got down, turned to the corner of the road, opened his zip and started his business on a tree trunk. But did it come as a surprise to most of the people in the bus? No.
It is so common to see men emptying themselves by the road-side, along a wall or by the tree.
Following him many men in the bus also got down and dispersed inside the trees polluting different trees and grasses.
But what about women, I asked. And got the reply from a lady sitting on the next seat - "Tum bhi chali jao na". She was a rural looking woman, darker complexion, colorful synthetic saree tied loosely and head covered by a veil.
"What?" I am not used to relieving myself in the open. I cannot imagine living in a place where this is a common practice, every day.
That lady asked her daughter Babli to get down and go in the field and Babli happily obliged.
It was disgusting. I got up and asked the driver to stop over a dhaba or petrol pump nearby so that the girls can also be comfortable.
And this is what I got in reply - "Madamji, Idhar hi side me chali jao ped ved ke peeche"

There are millions of such Babli's who do not have access to proper sanitation. If you happen to walk around the slums in the city during mornings, you will find men, women, children squatting by the road, each with his own water mug separated by few feet doing their business without any shame.
This is the major reason why so many children in India suffer from diarehhoa, cholera, worms in stomach and so many diseases.
The government allocates funds for making healthcare accessible, but what about funds for making toilets which is the root cause of diseases.
Not only diseases, there is a risk to safety and privacy of women too. Recently there was a case in Uttar Pradesh, two girls were gangraped. They were going to the toilet (in the open fields).

It's high time this issue is addressed. There is no point blaming the government, each one of us have to do something. Increase awareness, keep our surroundings clean, educate our maids about healthy sanitation practices or just contribute in the Domex #ToiletForBabli initiative.

You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

This post is written for Toilet for Babli contest on Indiblogger in association with Domex India.
 

My dream 24K home with Porcelanosa

"He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

 

Since my childhood, whenever I imagined my dream home, it was a amall mediterranian villa by the side of the beach. But life is seldom matches those dreamy childhood imaginations. After my studies I settled in Bangalore where there are no beaches and given the real estate prices, you cannot afford a villa that too with a mediterranian feel would be impossible. A medium sized apartment in a decent society is where dreams meet reality.

 

I had almost adjusted in real world when something struck me. Why not turn my decent medium sized apartment into something more like my dream house. So when Porcelanosa offered to make my 24Kdream home using their world class interior products, I thought why not give it a try.

 

The most important aspect of my home would be Kitchen, coz thats where my heart lies. I am a foodie and I love to cook, so I spend most of my weekends trying new recipes in the kitchen. The kitchen should be such that it provides space to my creativity along with manageable shelves, modular design and worktops which can handle my experiments with food.

 

Browsing through the catalogue of Porcelanosa, amongst the umpteen designs, I would choose the grey Roble Humo Vintage design for my kitchen as it reflects elegance and style. Since I have an open kitchen, I would select Seven Roble Coco Vintage dining setting to match with my vintage kitchen where my family can sit and enjoy those piping hot chocolate muffins as I bake them in my open kitchen.

 

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The second most priority place for my home would Bathroom since that's the place where I can be myself, sing to the tunes of splashing water, relax in my bathtub with lavender scented shower gel or simply freshen up after a gym workout. I would go for a Victorian single bathtub design as it will go well with my overall vintage grey interiors and a nice rain shower for my daily bath.

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Though most people would like to decorate their living room first, but it comes at a later priority for me. I do have friends visiting over every weekend, so I would love to have a soothing feel to my living room with minimalistic decor. The furnishing should bring out a calming and relaxing feel, so I would choose wall designs and floor tiles with softer shades and colors. Since Bangalore is has a cooler climate, a natural wooden floor finish would add to the warmth and an overall feeling of wellbeing. Wall tiles matching with the flooring would add to the beauty of my living room. A comfortable sofa and bean bags in darker shades would complete the get up of the room where me and my friends can sit for hours and enjoy latest flicks on my home theatre system.

 

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I am not a typical girl but I would still love to have a large cabinet for my clothes and accessories and a large dressing table to match the overall style of my bedroom. A Foc Blanco Artico wardrobe would be perfect since it is compact and does not crowd my bedroom and it has umpteen drawers to store multiple small items in separate compartment. To top it, the wardrobe would match my vintage interiors in kitchen and bathroom.

 

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Well, all in all these are the things I will need to make my dream house interiors. Ofcourse, there are many other things that I would like to choose from the awesome range of products from Porcelanosa once I start to re-decorate my home.

Visit http://www.24kliving.com/. for more information.

This post is written for My dream 24K home with Porcelanosa contest on Indiblogger in association with Porcelanosa and http://www.24kliving.com/

Book Review: God Is A Gamer

Book Title: God Is a Gamer

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Published by Penguin Books India 2014
Reviewed for: BlogAdda

Power corrupts and absolute power has a dark side. Multiple characters, interweaving stories and mysteries untangling themselves beautifully towards the one end is something I loved about the book.

The Premise: "God Is a Gamer is a world where money means nothing, martyrs are villains, predators are prey, assassination is taught by ancient Greeks, and nothing is as it seems".

Intelligence agencies are tracking the murderer of Gillian Tan, a senator with close relations to the White House. Meanwhile in India, a phishing scam in a reputed international bank causes lots of turmoil at high level management. A gaming company launches a Facebook based gaming app but gets involved in illegal bots to bring up on no.1 downloads list. Former CEO of the bank, a very powerful women, who is said to have liaisons with the finance minister, is found dead. Is her death just an accident, a suicide or a well-planned murder?

In the mean while an ATM heist takes place which loots people with millions of money. Who is involved in the scam? Does he have any relation with Cotton Trail, a website with dark intensions, where anything can be bought from drugs to prostitution, using virtual currency bitcoins and that too anonymously.

Somewhere else in the world Laptops are heating up and blowing when in sleep mode. Does it have any connection to any event sabove?

Is there one mastermind behind all this or many?

All these questions unfurl as we read page by page of this awesome novel.

My Review: Awesome is the word for Ravi Subramanian. God Is A Gamer is the thriller revolving around bitcoins, the virtual currency, while running around multiple dimensions of banking, money laundering, gaming industry, internet trade, political lobbying and so much. It is fast paced and surely a page turner. The illustrations are good and it does seem that the author has put in a lot of meticulous effort in interweaving stories of different characters in Mumbai, Washington, Goa in multiple small chapters. The character background is not that elaborate but they are well crafted. From page 1 itself the story grips you and it is unlikely to leave the book midway once you start it. I started reading casually one night, and I couldn’t keep it down until I had finished it by morning. The first half of the book keeps you guessing as new surprises turn up every now and then, but I had somehow guessed the eventual culprit in the second half so climax did not come as a surprise to me.

I do not normally enjoy reading thrillers, don't have many on my bookshelf, but I am thankful that I got a chance to read this one. It opens up a whole lot of revelations about virtual money, fraudulent practices and virtual world. It’s a dark world out there and I had never imagined the way banks could be involved in money laundering, gaming apps using bots to increase popularity, TOR networks for anonymous dealings, whistle blowers dying anonymously, charades of powerful faces... lots of new stuff for people like me who live in their own world.

Lots of new jargons, but explained seamlessly in layman terms.

Awesome Fabulous Fantastic. Keep writing and good luck.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
 



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

Healthy Child makes Happy Home

Every mother wants her kids to be healthy and protected. But when I look around myself, my 70 year old grandmother seems to be more healthier and active that the next generation kids. The pollution in the atmosphere has increased along with the amount of junk food in our diet.
Even for mothers who avoid junk and provide nutritious home made food to babies, the increased use of pesticides and genetic modification in fruits and vegetables has reduced the actual nutrition in food.
When I was a kid, I used to be very skinny and weak. I used to get tired easily and cough cold used to attack me with every changing season. I was the only one in the household who used to bend her nose at the name of green leafy vegetables and ran when milk was offered. Obviously my immunity suffered and I was on antibiotics for some or the other infection. My parents worried for me, my class teachers used to scold me for being absent and my family doctor had tried all doses of medicines and multivitamins.

Image Source: https://www.liveveda.com/

Then someone suggested my mom to give me Dabur Chyawanprash, which is known to boost immunity 3 times. It has ayurvedic ingredients and an age-old formulation has a number of herbs like Amla, known to be one of the best antioxidants, Giloy (Guduchi), known to have immuno-modulatory properties, and more than 40 other natural ingredients. My mother started giving me Dabur Chyawanprash every morning and evening one spoon. The taste was kind of sweet and strong, so I liked having it. I realized that I was feeling more energetic day by day.
It was my dream to be selected in NCC at school but never thought I would make it ever. But soon I thought that I could materialize my dreams. The trips to the family doctor reduced and I used to attend school every day. My parents were happy, when they saw me participating in sports day events.

It is true that a happy child makes a happy home. Unhealthy kids are a concern for most parents and it seems the entire household is worried and sad when kids are not happy. When kids don't fall ill, they attend school more regularly, their grades start improving and they hop around the house happily. This satisfies parents, grandparents and home turns into a happy place to be.

When I go to the society children's park, I notice so many kids have specs at such a young age, and are afraid to play in the sand like we used to do in our childhood. There was a kid whose mother was running behind him with food. His mother said he doesn't eat home made food but loves french fries and burger. That is the major reason his nutrition suffers and he falls sick very often. I suggested her Dabur Chyawanprash, which had proved useful during my childhood 20 years back. It is a time-tested formula which has been used by so many parents for so many generations.
I hope she follows my suggestion and gets her happy home :)

Visit Dabur Chyawanprash site https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/ for more information.

This post is written for A happy child makes a happy home contest on Indiblogger in collaboration with Dabur Chyawanprash.

Image Source: https://www.indiblogger.in/

 

What's the Smell: My hostel encounters with Smelly friends

As soon as I think of my unpleasant encounters with smells, I remember my hostel days. Limited number of bathrooms, you on your own and a lazy atmosphere makes everyone skip a day or two from our regular bath routine. But there were some students who would always smell unpleasant.

It was exam time and preparatory leaves were going on. I had a friend of mine who was too lazy to take a bath, whenever she would go out, she would dump himself with a full deo spray, apply gel to her hair, wear an ironed dress and assume that she is ready to impress everyone around. I went to her room because I wanted notes for the exam. There was a peculiar smell which made me feel sick.

I asked her- "What's that smell??" sniffing my nose.
"What... what smell??" she asked back.
"I don't know, something strange. Did you take a bath today?"
"Wha... what smell yaar..." She immediately picked up a room freshener and sprayed it around.
"No.. its not the room... Its you." I grinned at her making a nosey face.
She did not admit that she has'nt taken bath and just kept on ignoring my comment. I couldn't tolerate even a single moment in that room and told her that I would come back for the notes.

Image Source: Google

Ugh.. it was unbearable.I wondered if she was aware of her smell. Later she came to my room with the notes. I could clearly smell that huge shower of deodorant or perfume that she had on her, but still there was a peculiar repulsive smell.
"What's that smell?" I asked again. She took a long breathe and made a pleasant grin.
"Is'nt it nice.. its my new perfume.. that too bina gas vala"

I was not sure if it was a problem with olefactory settings in my nose or was it really her problem. She was a very popular girl in college and I was not sure how her various boyfriends never smell what I do.

I decided to figure out her problem. She was my friend and I was concerned if she was undergoing any skin problems or if my nose was too sniffy. So I asked her very frankly if she has bathed today.
She replied, "Yaar.. there is so much left to study, no time for bath. I had it yesterday."
The next day, same time I asked her if she had gone for bathe. She felt my behaviour towards her was turning strange. but she replied.
"Its too cold yaar.. december ke mahine me kaun thande paani se nahata hai"
The next day again there was another excuse for not bathing.

So I spoke to the hostel warden and explained her the long term implications of the conditions prevailing in our hostel. Few Racold heaters were ordered for the hostel, and soon I realised that there were days when my smell friend became a pleasant smelling friend.
A deodorant can never replace a hot water bath.

This post is exclusively written for Racold What's that smell contest in association with Indiblogger.

So, if you also undergo a smelly encounter, recommend them a hot water shower with Racold water heaters.

Visit their facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/racoldthermoltd

SkyScanner Travel Smart: Living the Yash Chopra Dream!!!

Image Credits - myswitzerland.com

My dream destination has always been Switzerland. Since my childhood days I have fantacised being around Sharukh khan on one of the Yash chopra movie sets. The beautiful Alps in the background, flakes of snow blissfully falling over me and I am dancing hand in hand with the most handsome man in bollywood. Things have changed over the last 14 years since DDLJ was released, Sharukh is no longer as handsome, YRF have explored more lovely places to shoot their romances and I too have reached my 30s. Now I imagine myself with my lovely husband doing campfire, but the Alps background still figures in all my imaginations.



Image Credits: www.englishforum.ch

So I would make a trip to Switzerland as soon as I had saved enough money in my bank account.
The first step is smart planning to maximize the trip in my budget. I do not want to go through any travel agent as they charge unnecessary commission and when all the information is available on the Internet why not utilize it.

Image Credits - Google images

Charting the destinations to go - It is said that Swiss beauty is more in its villages than cities. But I want a mix of both, so I would surf travel sites such as wiki travel, lonely planet, Switzerland tourism to figure out the locations.

Image Credit: http://www.skyscanner.co.in/

Planning for the flights - I would log into skyscanner, the one stop shop for all your travel needs and search for flight options. I will prefer to select the cheapest flight, but I am not sure which airport in Switzerland would have maximum flights from India. So I simply search for "Bangalore" to "Switzerland". The results shows me flights to all the three international airports and a comparative study helps me select the lowest price for my travel dates. I can shuffle my travel dates avoiding weekends to check if further reduced price is available and found one.


Post booking, I would all set with my date of travel and which flights I would go with. Now the next step is to understand the visa formalities and apply for the same.

Travel Insurance: Purchasing travel insurance is mandatory for visa formalities. There are various insurance providers and it can be purchased online.

Image Source: Google

Visa formalities - Since the country falls under EU, I would be required to apply for the Schengen tourist visa. I researched on the vfsglobal.com site and schengen visa site. The procedure described is very easy and does not need an agent to apply for you. Just collect the required documents and apply for an online appointment. The documents requirement mainly include your travel itinerary (day to day travel plan which can be prepared yourself), bank statement (proving you have enough balance in your account) and supporting documents for your itinerary such as travel tickets and hotel bookings.

Once the plan and itinerary is ready, I would go and book my travel tickets. The next step now is to search the right hotel.

Image Credit: http://www.skyscanner.co.in/

Selecting the right hotel - Again skyscanner comes to your rescue with wide range of hotels from different booking sites all at one place. I search for hotels in Zurich first since I would be landing there. The sorting can be done by Price per night and to avoid confusion the rate is shown in Rupees. Since I am budget travelling, I would like to stay in a hostel rather than spend heavily on hotels. So I shortlist few hostels from the list based on their reviews, ratings and distance from the Zurich central station. Taxis can be expensive, especially when you have to pay in CHF, so select a hostel which is nearby the Zurich station.

Similarly I booked hostel rooms for my other travel cities as well.

Travel within the city - Skyscanner offers car hire options to choose from a variety of providers and who would'nt love to roam in the Swiss interiors in a nice convertible.
Most of the country can be covered by public transport and trains. The cities are small enough to be covered on foot with a backpack on. And yes, my research on travel sites/blogs says that most of the tourist spots are close-by to the local station. The country is tourist friendly and have tourist information offices everywhere. All you need to do is just walk in and ask for a map of the city. The map will not only contain the directions, but also the popular tourist spots and how to reach them.
So this is it. I would prefer the public transport system. But to avoid buying tickets at new destinations or being fined for boarding wrong trains, the best option is to go for a Swiss pass where I have the freedom to explore the country in any bus, train, tram or even ferry without any worries.

Image Credits - myswitzerland.com

Swiss Pass - A simple search on google provided me the link to purchasing a Swiss pass. The options were for 4, 8, 15 or 22 days. I would preferably select an 8 day pass for second class and order it online providing my India address for it to be delivered. As promised on their website, the pass arrives in 5 days from ordering it.

Image Source: Google

Smart Packing - I love to travel light, but missing any essentials might cost heavily. So I will make a list of all the important items that need to be carried including camera, phone, credit cards, tickets, visa, passport, some cash, first aid and clothes according to weather.
Check the weather in Switzerland and pack the woolens, jackets, thermals etc properly. I will also pack some packets of cuppa noodles (which can be made instantly by adding hot water), soups and biscuits to survive in case of emergency. Most of the hostels provide coffee makers or boiled water for the cuppa noodles.

Other Smart Tips to follow:

Image source: Google

Medical kit: I always carry a small medical kit and it has proven very useful in many of my trips. Generic medicines for headache, fever, body ache such as paracetamol, ointment for muscular pain and first aid will do wonders in emergency. Make sure to carry a doctors prescription along with the medicines, even for OTC as some countries may have restrictions.







Image Source: Google

Credit/Debit Cards: Make sure to carry debit and credit cards which do not charge any international fees. I never ever use credit cards outside the country unless there is an emergency. There are a lot of credit card frauds that are being reported when credit cards are used outside or on airports.  Do not pay by credit cards, carry travellers cheques or withdraw cash from ATM using debit rather than swiping directly. I try to make most of the transactions by cash.

Image Source: Google

Smart Phone Batteries: Since I use my smartphone extensively be it for google maps navigation or whatsap messenger, locating local eateries, train timetables so it is bound to go dead too soon. And while trekking, it might get difficult to find charging points. So I prefer to carry extra battery packs while travelling.






Image Source: Google

Language Translation: Europe is multilingual continent and people may not necessarily understand English. From translating signboards to menu card in restaurants, help is required. Switzerland has four national languages - German, French, Italian and Romansh. So, I download the Google Translator app on my smart phone. If you want to translate the menu card to find out vegetarian options, just click a pic and ask the app to translate.




Image Source: Google

 Important Numbers - I always save the address and phone number of Indian Embassy in my phone. Apart from that, also keep note of police, ambulance and tourist office phone numbers. Keep a scan copy of passport saved on email id just in case all your luggage is lost.

Image Source: Google

Sim card- Having international roaming on cellphone can be very costly. So, I purchase a Lebara sim card from the International terminal in India itself and inform my family about my new number which I switch on after reaching my destination. I only know Lebara which offers 1cent/min calls to India, but I am sure there would be other similar service providers also.


My Smart Itinerary: Where I would go and What I would do

 I would prefer to travel to Switzerland in the summers as during winters most of the Alpine peaks may not be available for Skiing or trekking. Since I would land in Zurich, my itinerary would start from there.

Zurich is known for its metropolis culture and fashion labels, a mile long shopping street with world class fashion labels is walkable from the station. The likes of Armani, Gucci, Guess, Vuitton, you name it and it could be found on these streets. The city never seems to sleep as there is no official closing time, people love to party till wee hours in the morning. I would also love to experience a flavor of the Swiss parties for a day.

Image Credits - myswitzerland.com

 The Zurich lake looks beautiful in the evenings.

From Zurich I would travel to Interlaken, which also means surrounded by lakes. It is about an hour and a half by train. It provides extremely beautiful scenaries to the three mountains Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. I guess Jungfrau is the place where certain Sharukh Kajol scenes were shot, and it is also the highest peak amongst the three, so I would definitely go there.


Image Credits - myswitzerland.com

 Zermatt is another summer destination which is known for Matterhorn, one of the world's most famous Switz posters. It is a car-free destination, so there are no horns, no fussy roads, just some happy people walking around the city. I would click pictures of the serene surroundings and go on hiking, trekking and nature trails.

Image Credits - myswitzerland.com

 The trip should be a mix of nature and cities, so my next destination would be Geneva, which is known for UN headquarters. Apart from UN headquarters, it is the host to a beautiful Lake Geneva and also the worlds smallest metropolitan. A fountain of 140 mt high super jet marks the periphery of Lake Geneva as of symbol of world's smallest metropolitan.

Image Credits - myswitzerland.com

 Continuing with my itinerary, my last destination in this Alpine country would be Montreux region, which is known for its moderate climate and Mediterranean vegetation. It is the home to a beautiful castle which continues to inspire our fairy tales till date. The Chillon Castle is located on a rocky island on the shore of Lake Geneva and provides serene views to the likes of poets and artists.

Image Credits - myswitzerland.com

Wine and Dine: Switzerland is known for its Chocolates and Wine, so I would definitely indulge a little bit in wine tasting and chocolates. I would also go for fine dining to experience the Swiss cuisine and the famous chocolate filled cappuchino.






I hope to travel to my dream destination Switzerland in 2014 and re-live the DDLJ moments in original... 

Image Source: Google

So, If you also want to travel smart, then visit Skyscanner to book your flights and hotels.

This post is exclusively written for Travel Smart with Skyscanner contest in association with Indiblogger.

Visit the skyscanner website for more information: http://www.skyscanner.co.in

Dove Go Play: Time to go Bollywood !!!

I have rough curly hair and none of the hairstyles suited me. Since childhood I craved for compliments but my unruly wavy hair were never quite gather any. I used to feel jealous of my friends who had silky shiny hair, they would sometimes open them, sometimes color them or they would portray streaks of different shades at times. It was rather annoying to me as I could never try any of those styles. All I would do it put lots of oil and braid them as they would get unruly in no time otherwise. Whenever I went to a beauty parlor for haircut, the beautician would comment on how dry and low quality my hair were and advice to use shikakai, some expensive conditioners, serum etc. Who wants to listen to unsolicited advice, but still I tried all the products they suggested diligently. Sometimes I felt that I am a scapegoat for the beauticians who would buy whatever product they sell. I tried umpteen hair oils, shampoos, conditioners, serums and natural remedies too. The expensive salon products would make you look good for a day but in subsequent washes the quality of hair further degraded. The harsh chemicals in salon products led to excessive hair fall and greying of hair. On the other hand the natural remedies were not as effective.

Bollywood was the biggest craze since I was a teenager and I craved to look like models and actresses. Even after matching their dress I could never match their style. Though disappointed, I had accepted the fact that some things in self are by birth and will never change.

After all that, one of my friend suggested me to try Dove shampoo and conditioner. Though I was apprehensive to experiment with another product on my already broke hair, I decided to give it a shot. After the first wash, it felt softer and a bit more manageable. The smell of the product was also arousing enough to gather couple of compliments on my wet hair. I tried subsequently and to my surprise, after every wash my hair were softer and smoother, and no hair fall. I felt happier to try different hairstyles and just let is fly open without any worry about damage. I would try different looks from bollywood and it all suited me.

Dove Hair Care Range

I was as if my life had turned upside down. I will share some pictures where I tried the bollywood styles and I also go compliments for my hair.





I my college I wanted to have Bipasha Basu style of curls, she was the latest model in the industry with lots of Bhat camp hits and the Bips trend was something to look for. I thought of giving it a try and I thought it was not bad. People specifically commented on my hair. It was quite easy, overnight oiling, washing in the morning and little bit of blow dry with a roller comb.

This gave me the confidence to try more hairstyles on my newly managed hair.

Post completion of college, we all go posted in different companies. First look in office for a filmy girl like me had to be inspired again by the then latest flick, Corporate, where Bipasha Basu truly justifies her image of a successful confident woman in a high ponytail.
Oh my God.... I totally rocked it too. Soon I was forgetting my hairy vows and focusing on more important aspects of like.

For office picnic again I had to think of something unique and thanks to bollywood movies, the latest running flick at that time was Gajini where Asin played the role of a bindass open minded girl seen portraying a hairband most of the time. That was it, I tried it and believe it or not, it was major style statement. Women folks started asking me from where I had purchased that band and how it suited me so much.


Soon my parents found a guy for me and I had to meet him for the first time at a coffee shop. In arranged marriages, first impression is the last impression as most of the time only one meeting is allowed. How could such important occasion go without me being inspired by bollywood again. My parents wanted me to portray a moderate homely look and play it down. By now they were very well aware that their Bollywood fanatic daughter would want to be rebellious. I wanted my true bindass personality to come out in my first meeting. The filmy trends suggested aviator glasses with a western casual outfit, be if Deepika Padukone in Cocktail or Prachi Desai in I me aur mai or Priyanka Chopra, no one seemed to get enough of Aviators. So it was :)
You can see my picture and guess what, it all went amazing and the decision was a yes. I liked the guy too ;)

On my engagement I wanted to try a modern yet retro look, so I took a printout of the model I wanted to look like and showed it to my parlor lady. To my surprise, the lady who had passed a thousand comments on my hair earlier and looted me with all those expensive products, complimented me.
"Aapne hair spa karvaya kya?" she asked rolling her fingers through my hair. I had no words, I simply smiled.







Wedding look - On my wedding I wanted to look my traditional best, so I opted for another actress inspired hairstyle. Though it seems like a simple braid and a gajra tied over it, carrying this hairstyle required me to have long strong and thick hair. I avoided getting them cut for a couple of months before my wedding and I was glad to pull it off very well.

Now comes the honeymoon which is one of the best times you spend with your husband. It is indeed special, but will I still spend all my time looking like bollywood actresses? I decided to just be myself on my honeymoon, and let my hair speak for themselves. I let them free to flow and fly the way they wanted to, not the way bollywood wanted them to be...

My hunger for healthy happy hair is satisfied now but bollywood craze still continues... :)

Recently I had to attend a friend's wedding who is from Chennai and she insisted that I dress up like a South Indian. So how could my look not be inspired by our latest Chennai Express, Deepika looks beautiful in a half-saree and south hairstyle. I tried it too... :)



So if you are also bollywood crazy like me or love to play with your hair, go for Dove and you will fall in love with it.

This post was exclusively written for Dove Go Play contest in association with Indiblogger.

Follow the #DovePlay updates on twitter.

Check out this lovely Dove commercial -

Landlady ki Condition Serious Hai!!!

I have met a lot of people suffering from the seriousness problem, but one person who deserves special mention here is my landlady Kamla Aunty.

When I first shifted to Bangalore I was looking for a small apartment when I saw the To-Let board on an apartment while returning from office. I decided to ring the bell and check it out. It was a two storey small house where the ground floor was available for rent while the landlady occupied the upper floor. She seemed to be a sweet old lady whose sons were settled in Singapore and she did not want to leave her age old home.

I instantly liked her and her house, so decided to confirm immediately, little did I know that behind a sweet old face lies a serious ailment of seriousness.
Soon after I confirmed, she started with the rules of ideal living that I needed to follow.

The Rules:

"No non-veg in my house" she said as she broadened her eyes and adjusted the gajra in her oily grey hair. "Only Veg khana banane ka". I agreed since I was desperately looking for a house near my office.



"And noooo buoyphriend (no boyfriend she meant)". I nodded again, thinking that once I shift here, I will pataofy her to bring in some friends if possible.

After knowing more details about my job etc, she seemed satisfied.

"Give me your mother father number" saying this she walked slowly inside her house. She brought a paper and a pen. "Write your parents address and phone number here"
Uff.. no boyfriend, no late night parties, no non-veg all okay, but parents???
She dialled straining her eyes on the small digits of her Nokia 1100 mobile. "Halloo... haa.. aapka beti mere yaha kirayadar hai.. Emergency me mereko phone karna... okay.." she spoke in hindi in a typical tamilian accent.

She amicably looked at me and smiled. She lovingly touched my chin and said- "Tum hamare beti jaisa.. khush raho." And at that moment I knew my life is not going to be easy.

Micromanagement.. Uff...

Paranoid about thieves: My landlady expects me to lock the main gate even when I am inside my home. She apparently thinks that all the thieves in the locality will attack her if she sleeps in the afternoon. "Aiyappa Swamy save me. This girl is so careless, she never locks the main gate. You know Sneha, two rookies entered Mrs.Venkatesan's house and showed her the knife. They took all her jewellery and cash in the house. And did you see yesterday's paper, these gundas, they are snatching chains on the street... blah blah blah blah...."
"Okay Okay Aunty.. I understood.. I will lock the door everytime."

Toilet Phobia: Alright, she believes in cleanliness.  But does that mean she has to check my house and especially toilets every week and pass comments on the same??

Water Usage: "Aiyoo how much water you are using girl? My tanki got empty twice and I had to switch on the motor." I don't think I used enough to empty her tank... Uff...
"Sorry Kamla Aunty... I will take care from tomorrow"


Late nights:  She would call me on Fridays..."Haaloo... Aiyoo Sneha... where are you? It is 10.30 in the night?? You shameless girl.. come back.. or I will call your mother". Common, its only 10.30 pm not 02.00 am??


My marriage: Okay, I know I have reached a marriageable age and my mother too nags about finding a suitable boy for me, but does that mean Kamla Aunty has to remind me every alternate day about my age?
"Mummy ko bolo acha ladka dekha tumhare liye... Abhi shaadi ka age ho gaya hai"
"Aiyoo Sneha, tumhara shaadi kab hoga. Tumko koi pasand hai to muje bolo, my tumhari mother ko convince karegi"

"Beta... ye baal maine dhup me safeed nahi kiya. Ladki ka time pe shaadi hona bahut important. Age nikal gaya to ladke nahi milte."

"Sneha beti, tum vo nearby Shiva temple me daily milk donate karo.. tumhara shaadi fatafat fix hoga"

What if I don't want to get married at all??

Uff... This is Kamla Aunty, my landlord who never minded her own business and surprisingly interfered in my life too much. I realized her Condition was Serious. She was suffering from the seriousness disease.

And from then there was no looking back. I researched on the Internet and found the perfect solution for her condition - Five Star.

I started with a small dose, one Five star a day and gradually increased it.
"Aiyappa Swamy, ye ladki bhi na... mai budiya ye chocolate ka kya karungi."

"Aunty ek baar kha kar to dekhiye.. just try it once."
She ate and was lost in the magical taste of the chocolate. She started bothering me lesser... surprising na..
I gradually increased her dosage to two and then three per day. She was old and couldn't eat that much, so she started distributing it to the less fortunate kids in the locality. Soon she became popular from Serious Aunty to Five Star Aunty. She waited every morning to meet those kids and her entire day would spend in satisfaction.
Soon a time came, when she was least bothered about me and that day she became the less-serious Aunty. :)

So guys if you also know someone jiski #Condition Serious hai.. give them a Cadbury 5-star and seriousness bhagao !!!

The post is exclusively written for Indiblogger contest #ConditionSeriousHai Contest held by Cadbury 5-Star!!! Visit their Facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/cadbury5star