Room with a view

What fun in working day in and out when you can’t look down at the whole world as if you don’t belong to this chaos. What is the logic when logics work in the most logical way. What is the worth of that view when things don’t blend with each other to give a blurry image.

All I need is a cup of tea, a magnificent view and solace. It brings back all the things that you let go in the long run which shouldn’t have been left to themselves. It brings back the childhood memories of standing on the rooftop and feeling the pain of muddy water running from the overhead pipe directly on your head after a long rainy day has been over. Its like no one is watching you but you have that eyesight to inspect the farthest flicker of light which is invisible to all senses.

A room with a view is not a concept it’s a way of living. When you know that the pace of all your worries will be slowed down as soon as you will notice that dog who plays with his owner in the nearest house of the fifth lane. When you know the bells of the temple will be so soft from distance that you would be tempted to listen it from a closer vicinity. It changes something, something minuscule.

All I need is a cup of tea, a magnificent view and a book in hand. The characters will not be running in my imagination, they would be playing a role in front of the vast view that my eyes are noticing. They will live in the house which I can’t see if I stand in one corner of the room, but I can surely peep inside the window if I change my orientation. When the city I read about becomes the city I am observing, it’s like parallel worlds getting collided for the first time, people merging, time warps and strange situations happening just behind the park with a broken wall.

It can take away the pain which you felt when the view was changed earlier in the day when you stepped out. Maybe it can change the way you look at things or make you more vulnerable, but it has the power to change things; for better or for worse? that is a different concept. You can let go of things, people, love and hostility. Or you can be more anxious then you have been all day, and no one will even know; just your reflection which is lost in the void of a populous view.

But be alone to feel the feel of a view in the room of your own because at the end of it you need to return to what is yours and is real. You can’t run away but you can take a break and the break is worth it...

What a good book can do to you

You know you are submerged in a good book when you stop everything you have been doing for many weeks; all of a sudden. What it is doing to your mind and heart is more complex to understand then the book itself.

What I have been reading since past 3 days have left me wondering what your mind can do to you when you are involved in a fictional tale which you can relate to your own life.

How can it make you feel connected to different people in your life?

When the story is divided in phases and when people come and go according to their roles you understand how important that is. How the same thing has been following you around day in and out. But now as you know the ending of the book you understand how things mattered in the very start which led us to this outcome. You suddenly start worrying less. Its such a sudden thing that even you can’t believe it for some time.

People come and go but they leave their imprint and that will shape up what you desire wholeheartedly.

How you start loving and hating the same person in and out of the book?

Its strange how a writer can play with your mind and make you believe that you have been trusting the wrong person all along. You stop, close the book, wait a minute or two, read the passage again and connect the dots. Its hard to manage the bile rising in your throat but not everything runs according to your fancy. Loving and hating are strong words and run hand in hand. On one page you are loving them and on the last sentence you are heart broken. Sounds relatable?

How big revelations are not embellished, and pain is not told but allowed to be felt?

When I was reading this book, death was told in between all the commotion that was going on; it wasn't mentioned once in full royalty. It can be the last sentence and that tells you the chapter is over, move on. That hits hard. Analyze it for yourself, feel the pain hidden somewhere in between the last and the current page you are on and inhale the emptiness; as you are not going to meet the same character again in your life, but the book wouldn’t have been completed without them. That was something to learn for a lifetime.

How people turn their biggest defeats around?

I love books which don’t have an over-powered protagonist. The weight is too heavy for two shoulders. It needs to be passed on over and over and over till the distribution sounds sane, the problems sound genuine and the rewards are hard earned. Who needs a hero when you can have multiple normal people? Similarly, who needs one soul when you can have many who shapes you through and through until you sail with them, knowingly or unknowingly. You fail but who said it was an easy road. Be anxious, be stupid, make mistakes but DO something if you are not content.

How love can teach you what it takes to be there?

Fiction can have unrealistic love couples. But I see two normal people who fell in love because of no reason. Simply fell in love and never fell out of it. The stolen glances are much more functionary then the endless and tiresome love making. Something that lasts longer and leaves a beautiful imprint in the heart of someone who is reading such a simple and ordinary love tale that ends in not more then a few chapters or few pages, or maybe a paragraph.

How social reasons cannot affect a fictional tale?

 I skip all the unnecessary information the writer tries to give me when I am enjoying just a story. But you need to know who supports who just to see how they will react further. It’s an enjoyable process, though people are dying, murderers are not convicted but do you care when you know it’s a reality hidden behind a story which never happened. It’s a maze of creative space and real world which you never want to exit.

How big revelations can make you wonder your intelligence?

You feel you know it all, a few more chapters and its done. You will be crying your heart out in a few seconds without any explanation even if you are sitting in a room full of people. You breathe slowly, keep the book as far as possible to never return to it. But that is a pretense. You return to it after few hours, you are ready now. It will be over in a few chapters and maybe you have been too negative, and the writer wasn’t in the bad mood while writing the story. Maybe love stays when you think everything has gone astray. The hope rises and its not in your power to relate it to yourself.

How the pressure of finishing it and not letting them go is balanced?

Just 40 more pages; and it has been hard on you. People are dead, love has bloomed, hardened, lied to and what not. Nightmares will haunt you too because you are part of it now, believe it or not, it is not going to leave you alone tonight. You can’t escape it. You skip paragraphs because you need to end it before going to bed, but you know you are letting go of your breath with that, you revisit and find your favorite quote. Just like how you miss on important things not knowing they were important in the first place. But you go back and that is what really matters.

It was hard but it was hard in a subtle way 😊 

Weight Loss for the right reason

Losing weight is not hard, there is no rocket science involved. It goes much deeper.

Being an obese person for almost 23 years of my life I have realized one thing, no one could persuade me to do it other then myself. No matter how much humiliation I went through, I could never do it. No one could make me understand that it was important because they gave me all the wrong reasons.

Weight loss is not for fitting in better clothes, it's not for shutting up that creep from your college who body shammed you, it's not for that neighbour who constantly reminds you of your round shape; weight loss is for something which you don’t want in your life anymore. It can be your decreased morale, any disease due to obesity or decrement in your confidence level.

Proper and positive reasons for weight loss can make you move in right direction; with determination and passion. All it takes is the correct “why”. A correct “when” which should always be today and not any coming Monday. And a correct “How” which is the easiest to figure out.

The main factors that help in boosting your confidence are the right sort of people who are around you during this phase. With every kilo I lost I had a friend who was happier than I was and that made the process exciting. Every Friday she waited to hear how my week went. And every time my weight was same, she used to explain how I am losing fat and not weight so I shouldn't feel bad about it.

You don’t need negativity, you don’t need pressure, if you are enjoying what you are doing you are doing it correctly.

Many people are obsessed with not weighing themselves but trust me weighing and measuring yourself weekly or daily can help you satiate your mind in the best possible way. It can make you realize that what went wrong in your week, how your diet or cheat meal didn’t work in the best way for your metabolism or how your sleep schedule is affecting your progress.

If you are doing it for yourself, for your own betterment and change, you can follow it for a longer time. And once you achieve a little your greed for more will occur and that greed never lets you stop.

Chose the right reason and enjoy the changes. :)

Anxiety, Stress and Books

Those who say they have never been touched by anxiety while serving aren’t being truthful. It is common to cross the path that leads to small panic attacks while we are in distressing situations. There are many therapies to calm oneself and enjoy the present but deep down its hard to cope with the mundane reality. The Monday blues hit hard.

How reading helps?

When you read a book that genuinely interest you (this is important) it can help to let go of all the moments and happenings that are haunting you even after hours of their occurrence. When I read it helps me to reach a subconscious state where I don’t see anybody except the characters in the story. I sometimes relate to them and it gives me an extra edge to be in a more confined space in a good way. There are scientific studies that shows how reading is a more effective stress buster then any other activity which people normally enjoy to kill time.

No activity can be an ultimate therapy it can be a path to betterment.

Stress and anxiety can be prolonged or a distant visitor but in both cases it will make you restless. Being restless makes your concentration dwindle and alas resulting in reduced competency.

Reading offers you to fight your demons by reading about fictional ones. It takes you away from reality. Also reading before bed cures insomnia.

How to develop a habit of reading?

-          It is not easy to develop a good habit. I have had many friends who really wanted to read a book and they couldn’t wait to borrow it but they never returned it, as it was never picked up. The only thing that helps is a will and a good book to start with. Whenever someone asks me for recommendations I only ask one question, “What sort of films you like to watch?” it is as simple as that. You will enjoy books only when you enjoy the theme and topic. It is an experiment I did last year and it proved to be fruitful.

-          If you have no time to physically read a book try an audiobook they can do wonders when you are tired after a long day of work but want to get to the next chapter of your book.

-          You don’t need to read continuously or daily, read when you are free, read when you are doing nothing but scrolling through social media.

Some book recommendations from my personal favorites:

1.       Women centric-

-          The divine secrets of Ya-Ya sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

-          The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd

-          Memoirs of Geisha by Arthur Golden

2.       Mystery/Thriller-

-          And then there were none by Agatha Christie

-          The Girl on the train by Paula Hawkins

3.       Indian Authors-

-          Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

-          The God of small things by Arundhati Roy

-          The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

4.       Fantasy/Magic/Dystopian-

-          Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

-          Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

5.       World War 2-

-          The book thief by Markus Zusak

-          Last train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin

Happy Reading :)

Book Review: Killing Time in Delhi by Ravi Shankar Etteth

Book: Killing Time in Delhi

Author: Ravi Shankar Etteth 

Publisher: Westland

Genre: Fiction(Mystery/Thriller)

Blurb:

Bon vivant Charlie Seth, a privileged denizen of Lutyens’ Delhi, leads a life of idle luxury fuelled by money, drugs, sex and parties. A cocaine overdose kills his ditzy girlfriend, thrusting him into a maelstrom of conspiracy, murder, blackmail and promiscuity. As the world of Crazy Rich Punjabis unravels, Charlie’s future is suddenly at the mercy of an enigmatic woman, an unscrupulous swami, a society-obsessed policeman, a slippery drug pusher and a disloyal valet. The only person who can help him is his missing aunt. Holed up in the country palace that his grandfather had won in a game of cards from a raja on Diwali, Charlie plots his revenge.

Killing Time in Delhi is a brutally funny look into the shenanigans of Delhi’s ultrarich who live in the fast lane and are high on hypocrisy, borrowed money and dubious deals.

Review:

One problem I have with books dealing with rich people is that I cannot deal with the aura and the surroundings but here in this book when two and two put together the results were fascinating. I really enjoyed every bit of the book; from the thriller element to the witty things everything was on mark.

The characters were so rich and well executed that it felt like a real life experience to me. What takes a book ahead is a story but here the book was carried forward by the instances and narration. With a great narration and ambience this had me on edge from the very start.

I had some personal issues while dealing with this book because I was going in with a mindset that I will be reading a well know tale of thriller but oh my god I was totally wrong. It was hard at first to connect with it but as soon as I was few pages in I couldn’t stop reading it.

This book can be enjoyed any group of reader because it has something for every sort of reader.

Was my mind racing ahead of the book? Yes. Was I predicting things? Yes. Were my predictions somewhat on point? Maybe Yes. So there was a downfall.

Apart from few glitches here and there I had an amazing time reading this book.

About author:

RAVI SHANKAR ETTETH is a Delhi-based journalist, satirist, graphic designer and author. He has been the editorial cartoonist of Indian Express, creative director of Observer Group of Publications, editor at India Today and Sunday Standard, and CEO and editor-in-chief of Voice of India and Millionaire. In 1996, Etteth published his first book of short stories, The Scream of the Dragonflies. Subsequently, he published five more titles—The Tiger By The River (2002), The Village of Widows (2004), The Gold of Their Regrets (2009), The Book of Shiva (2016) and The Brahmin (2018). He is now a columnist and consulting editor at New Indian Express.

Buy the book:

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