Tag: Books

Why are artist important?

Artist are the only who you turn to when you need a change. 
When you are sad and low you would like forward to hear something that makes you happy. 
When you are looking for inspiration, You again turn towards music. 
When you are looking for a story or want to know somebody better you look towards reading books and try finding the missing pieces of your life or your story. 
You are looking and are trying to live the life of that character by becoming part of his world. 
When You are in the mood of a good laugh or suddenly burst out with tears after you watching a scene or the movie. 
When you are starting at the painting or drawing to express Wow! So beautiful. 
And now when the World has come to a standstill it’s these artists through their Music, Stories, Movies and Art are keeping us entertained and alive with hope that life would be back to normal. 
It’s the artist who we criticise, who we too have in our inner-self but don’t want to explore or are parents who don’t us to explore that side of ours. 
Now it’s high-Time we encourage more artist to be part of this world. Because it’s them who keep us entertained always. 
And with so many uncertainties in life. 
And not knowing what’s happen’s tomorrow 
Let’s all be bold and live our dreams. 

Self Isolation – Coronavirus!

It isn’t something that isn’t new anymore in the digital age! 
But, When you are forced to be self-isolated all of a sudden. That’s the challenge. 
And what does one really do in self- isolation? 
  • You can look for self-improvement. 
  • Exercise – Start with a routine which you can follow (Push-ups, Planks and crunches, Meditation, Breathing)and stretches at home. 
  • Read – If you always wanted to read that favourite book or start reading- Now is a perfect time – You can read books on kindle or subscribe on Magzter for all the popular magazines and newspaper and Flipboard for all interesting articles.  
  • Write – Start writing a diary, notes of what was the unexpected or expected that happened today. 
  • Draw – If you were always interested in Art than now explore that side. 
  • Cook & Bake – Learn to make your favourite things at home. https://www.youtube.com/user/BonAppetitDotCom
  • Learn – Something online that you would like to know more about. – You can lookup https://www.coursera.org/ & https://www.edx.org/  you can also learn a language https://www.duolingo.com/ 
  • Social Media – Now is the perfect time to start your own online channel and share what you know.
  • Watch Movies & Tv show – Netflix, Hotstar, Prime Play,zee5, Balaji Alt MUBI and Ted Talks
  • Play- Online Games with your friends. 
  • Listen – To Podcasts  – https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Stuff-You-Should-Know-p295446/ https://tunein.com/podcasts/Comedy-Podcasts/The-Read-p499920/ and on Saavn you can listen to a whole lot of them too.
But most importantly one will need to be Disciplined to Implement any of things they would like to begin and one more tip have a schedule for the day to try and work out the forced self- isolation period.

Lonesome!

I often go to coffee shops and sit by myself on a table. But,Whenever I have visited and just sat at a coffee shop,the waiters and service people keep asking me if anyone is coming or for that matter the other people out there wondering if anyone would be coming before they could grab the chairs for their friends or business meets.Go into any Starbucks, and you’ll probably see two kinds of tables: round tables and rectangular tables. There’s a reason for the round tables. According to Reader’s Digest, the round tables are supposed to make you feel more at home when you’re by yourself.Then why do the service people question,When you are by yourself at coffee shops or for that matter restaurants.Why can’t I go to restaurant and occupy a table and have a meal by myself. I mean,Where in The rule book is it written,That you need company to enjoy a meal? I completely understand it’s considered logically that meals are eaten together,But haven’t you heard or experienced teenagers eating meals by themselves when watching television or streaming online websites ?Is it to difficult to accept and welcome people who are loners.Is this a reason why a huge number of people around are preferring to order food online and be socially isolated rather than going out and enjoying a meal at the restaurant or cafe and experience a meal with all their sense being involved ? The Visual appeal,The fragrance,The taste and the feel of the meal with the freshness sizzling around. I completely understand occasionally this would not make sense commercially,But you don’t have to be rude to the one’s who would be having meals by themselves.

2018 Dairies !!

2018 has been a Journey filled with lots of travel Stories. Right From Jaipur to Jodhpur in India to Monoco and Morocco for Work. And not to forget the highlight –  Japan for Family Holiday. 
Culture
Experiencing the Rajasthan culture in India to experiencing the Japanese culture and living the  Moroccan life. 
All these places either had Food, lifestyle or architecture. And these  Culture  became another Journey in itself.
Books worth the Read In 2018. 
Journeys through the books. 
Starting from Exiting West to Landing at the port of Mokha and Many reads in between from open by Andre Agassi to “Killing Commendatore by Murakami  below are the top 5 reads of 2018.
1.Exit West – by Mohsin Hamid  stories of immigrants. 
2.Homo Deus – by Yuval Harari  How the Technology  is collecting data and using it. 
3.Born a Crime – by Trevor Noah A true story of a comedian born in South Africa with a mother being a black and father a white. 
4.Monk of Mokha –  by Dave  Eggers – Story of how The port of Mocha coffee travelled across the international waters.
5.Killing Commendatore – by Murakami
Noteworthy Movies of 2018 
1.Puzzle -How a simple gift of a puzzle changes the perspective of one individual 
2.Crazy Rich Asians – The Big fat Indian wedding going global 
3.Searching – How technology helps track down a father daughter and her murderer. 
4.Ben is Back – A  young drug addict and his mother’s story to come in terms with reality. 
And the Hindi film industry had many movies to choose to watch this year! 
But there a few out there you couldn’t miss at all . 
1.Pad Man by R.Balki was one of the great stories the year began with and continued till Raid, The income tax issue can sometime come as a surprise-Ajay Devgn needs to experiment.
2.Hichki -Though a inspiration from the west.Brought Rani Mukherji Back as a actor and the production house for their content. 
3.Missing the only missing from this psychology thriller was the audience who missed one of the best thrillers of the year.
4.October – Simple stories are the most difficult to tell.And October by Shoojit Sircar was one such story.
5.Beyond the cloud by Majid Majidi -Had the world  take notice of Ishan Khattar as an actor & performer 
Raazi,Soorma,Parmanu,Andhadhun,Badhaai Ho ! And Manmarziyaan were a few movies to watch out. 

Born a Crime -Trevor Noah Book review!

Born a crime @trevornoah is an interesting read giving insights on how it is growing up in South Africa. 
This book indulges in the stereotypical South African life and it also describes how interesting place South Africa is. The book is titled “Born a Crime” Because in South Africa his mother was black and his father was white…. 

The immortality act 1927 is the reference to why Trevor Noah was born a crime. 

1.Any European male who had illicit carnal intercourse with a native female, and any native male who had illicit carnal intercourse with a European female…Shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonments for a period not exceeding five years …
2.Any native female who permits any European male to have illicit carnal intercourse with her. And any European female who permits any native male to have illicit intercourse with her shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding four years …

The style of the book written is interesting every chapter has a brief summary of what the chapter is about.
South African are divided into different tribes like Zulu, Xhosa,Tswana, Sotho, Venda, Ndebele, Tsonga and Pedi are just a few of them.  
Just like our Indian caste system has the Kshatriya who was known as the warriors & kings The Zulu tribe in South Africa to are known as the Warriors & like the Bhramin priest and the academics the Xhosa are the thinkers in South African tribe. 
Trivia : 

1. Streets  in Johannesburg are named after cars 
Jaguar streets, Ferrari street etc…
2. Rockery street is also known as the main strip in Johannesburg is one of the popular street filled with restaurants & bars.
3. Chinese in South Africa were classified as black and Japanese as white as they wanted Japanese fancy cars & electronic to be imported.


If you want to read something totally different this is the book! Stories from South African childhood. Interestingly this is my second South African author who I have read and realised personal stories are so interesting to read. The 1st South African Book I read was the tales of the metric system by Imraan Coovadia and the blurb of the book had caught me the attention but what lacked in the book was the storytelling. 

Over 10 chapters and 40 years—from 1970 through the end of apartheid, the election of Nelson Mandela, and the 2010 World Cup—multiple narrators provide varying perspectives. Each chapter showcases a short period of time, from a few hours to a day, in a character’s life. The small moments captured by Coovadia are snapshots of South Africa’s cultural change. 

But Trevor Noah doesn’t disappoint you at all. It’s funny, Interestingly told the story of his life in South Africa.