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Monthly Archives: November 2011

Death and beyond

10 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by monikamanchanda in Parenting

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

death, general, kids, life, Ojas, parenting, philosphy

A couple of days ago I took Ojas for his first play “Suar Chala Space“. The play was about animals, spaceships aliens and swine flu šŸ™‚ It was more or less a fun play with loads of dance and music. Cubby and Ojas who went along seem to enjoy the play somewhat, laughing inbetween sometimes because they got the joke and sometimes because everyone else was laughing šŸ˜€ Lots of learning about friendship, caring, standing upto your mistakes etc. I totally loved the play, the way it was done perfectly suited for kids I would say. All in all I think I was pretty happy with his first introduction to theatre.

What left me thinking however was one scene in the play, when a buffalo falls sick and dies. The whole act by all means was underplayed. There was no drama or lot of crying involved but I observed that suddenly Ojas’s mood has kind of changed. He has quietened and was looking really sad. I asked him what happened and could see one small teardrop in the corner of his eye and with a very feeble voice he asked me “Mumma why she died”. It made me still for a moment, my heart alternating between pacing and stopping that only a mother can understand… that did my not even 4 yr old understood death? Did he realise that its something wrong? Does he know that we have to be sad when someone dies? I recomposed myself a little and told she wasn’t well and hence she died, he thought and asked me again ā€œWhy didn’t she go to a doctor, if she wasn’t feeling well?ā€. I tried to answer, however the act changed and the music and dance started again catching his attention and he was back to his laughing self in a minute

It left me thinking though, is it time to start talking to him about Life and Death? Touchwood, we haven’t had a death in the close family but life is cruel and you don’t know what it presents you the next minute do you? This was a play, how do you explain stuff like this to kids? I remember my grandma telling me that people become stars and go to the sky when they die, Its such a beautiful idea isn’t it? I know its not true but since my granny died I still like to believe that she is up there as a star looking over me and I can still raise my head and look at her, may be a smile will be passed between us a twinkle

But yeah all these dreamy and emotional ideas apart, tell me god forbid did you go through a need to talk to your kids about death? How did you explain to them? Do you recommend any books that can be read to them? What is the best age one can start talking to them about life and death?

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Book Review | Live From London by Parinda Joshi

09 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by monikamanchanda in review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

book, book review, chiclit, fiction, indian author, indian fiction, reading, review

live from london  

I love reading chicklits, and the first look of this book promised to be everything that a chicklit is supposed to be – a smart but slightly confused girl, a good looking hunk who might be her saviour, good friends, steamy romance, mushy feelings and to add to it London. I knew its a book that has to be read.

Live from London is primarily a story of Nishi Gupta, who came to live in London with her parents after her father got transferred, loves playing guitar and her bunch of friends Riya, Sarah and Zac. After finishing her education at a respectable college in London, she decides to play a risk with her career by wanting to join the music industry to prove the world that she has got it, to recover from the terrible hurt and embarrassment on her disastrous appearance in ā€œBritain’s Got Talentā€.

Against her Indian and conservative parents she sets out her struggle to make it somewhere with a cold and calculative boss but things turn around with the entry of America’s new pop star, Nick which predictably results in a steamy affair. Along with the love life, Nishi’s career begins to look good too with a song deal coming her way till the world decides to do a u-turn on her.

The book is a fast and easy read, written in a casual conversational language. I finished it in a single sitting during my Bangalore-Delhi flight. What I liked about the book was that it makes you realise that Parinda Joshi has promise for a better future, the characters were well formed and thought about. The book has it humor moments too, doesn’t drag around the story. Sticks to it and says is decently well

However inspite of all this, the book didn’t leave me fully satisfied. Why you ask? Couple of reasons and the top most being, like all Rupa books its not been copy read properly. It has grammatical errors and quite a few of them at that. And I have said that before, I can’t stand when that happens. For God’s sake there is some responsibility a publishing house has to take too.

The second reason that it left me wanting for more. I mean the book at times seemed hurried through, as if someone was under pressure to finish it for a deadline or as if short story has been forcibly converted to a novel.

But the book is surely a good addition to the fast emerging Indian Chicklits, books like this make me feel yes there is hope that may be just may be someday we will have an India Sophie Kinsella too?

Final Word : A fast and easy Indian chicklit with well defined characters. I would a good flight companion for people who like reading this genre.

Book : Live from London

Author : Parinda Joshi

Publisher : Rupa

Rating : 3/5

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

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