The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag - Review

With a life in posh atmosphere and handsome monetary benefits, girls like Irina would only wish it lasted forever. But wishes such as that neither come true nor leave you free, they turn on the evil mode. By the time it is known you are in heaven. The lust and life ends as fast as the race at Palm Beach. Tami Hoag’s “The Alibi Man” is as fast pacing as the horses in her stable. In the process of solving murder mystery of a Russian girl who tends to horses of an elite society, Elena has to encounter the hurtful past of hers that she long ago left behind for good.

Story starts out in a nauseated scene of an alligator biting off a young beautiful girl’s dead body. Narration of the scene is so real that you feel like puking. Book goes with dual narration of protagonist, Elena Estes and the author. Tami Hoag with her thrilling story-telling ceases your time. No wonder she is among the Best selling authors. More than the mystery to be solved you want Elena to be at peace, to be happy and settled. The Alibi Man is an excellent read for its story and writing.  

Hold My Hand - Book Review

Image Credit: purplepenblogs

Hold my hand by Durjoy Dutta is a very cute and heartwarming love story between a nerd boy and a blind girl. More than 80 percent of the story happens in Hong Kong. The story appeals more to Hong Kong tourism than for a dramatic love story. Durjoy Dutta has great hand at writing and narration, characters are cleverly detailed and their behaviors are also adeptly brought out. But, what lacks is crux! For an author of his worth must choose a gripping story rather than a mediocre.

As the story comes closer to end, it becomes too good to be surprised. The novel would have been more enchanting only if it contained more substance. 

How I Overcame My Procrastination

Procrastination!

Image courtesy: Google.com

If drugs make you an addict after having taken them in, procrastination will not even let you sense the flavor of the work at hand. You want to do the task but your inner voice says "Let's do it tomorrow" and you sincerely listen to it. Tomorrow, that tomorrow will never come. 

It has no bias for which race, nationality, religion or gender you belong, it's only mission is to make you give up at the right moment.

Even now, just a few seconds before I started writing this post, it was sweet-talking to me. Cajoling me to postpone it to tomorrow when the mood is fresh and time is anew. But, I also discovered a tiny voice that being run over by the loud procrastination's voice. That tiny voice is contradicting the loud voice. It said "Time is now and there is no tomorrow". Though it was hard ignoring the loud voice, I tried to make a conversation with the tiny voice. 

Asked where it has come from so suddenly. It said it has been there since the beginning. I was shocked, I asked it then why hasn't it been vocal all these years. It replied it would talk only when the loud voice would talk. I asked again then why couldn't I hear it until now. It blamed me for that, I was taken aback and demanded a reason. All that followed after that just left me speechless.

It said the tone of the tiny voice depends on the zeal of the owner. As the zeal ebbs, the tone of the tiny voice too gets weaken but if the zeal is strong then the tone too gets louder. As per the tiny voice, my zeal this time was stronger than ever that its voice has raised to a level of audibility. Imagine what would have been the decibels of the voice if my zeal was at its best. It would certainly surpass the loud voice and I will never get influenced to postpone any task.

I thank the tiny voice for teaching me a lesson but it threw back the thanks at me saying indeed it is thankful to my zeal for being high this day. It urged me to abide in the same zeal so as to preserve its existence.

  

5 similarities between Exercise and Reading you never noticed

As per Sir Richard Steele, famous writer and politician, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”. How true! Reading many a time is underrated but actually is a powerful trait if practiced regularly. Like exercise, reading too defines one’s lifestyle.

It is very fascinating to realize how similar is reading to exercise when observed deeply. Let’s take a look at a few similarities between Exercise and Reading.

1.   Burns fat – Yes it does and so does reading too but in this case thoughts replacing fat in mind. A good book has a power of changing the thoughts of a person. It can slay the negative thoughts and deeply rooted misconceptions with just a single wise line. History says there are people who influenced change in the world for good and for bad. And, often those historians are in turn largely influenced by powerful books. Thus, like exercise burns the fat, reading too burns positive/negative thoughts in the mind depending upon the book in hand.

Hint: Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. It had generated as much influence as possible to trigger a world war and take millions of lives.

2.  Mood improviser – Studies have proved time and again that exercise helps in secreting feel good hormones in our body. These hormones not only support weight control but also control the stress levels. Ditto for the reading. During our childhood, it always the bedtime stories which often our moms used to read to us or we read to ourselves that uplifted our spirits. And, there are comic books that never fail to bring a smile on our face. Isn’t that Mood improviser?

Hint: The Adventures of Tintin by Georges Remi

3.  Confidence booster – With constant workout, eventually, we get to achieve our ideal shape or fitness and in the process our confidence levels ascend too. Book reading has also same effect on confidence factor. If this wasn’t true then there would not have been any self-help books. Autobiographies, Biographies, Memoirs, Wisdom literature, etc. boost our self-confidence just how workout does.  

Hint: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

4.  It builds Muscles – Of course! With exercise you start building muscles for a better and toned shape. Whereas in field of literature, you read more and more to build your memory muscles. For muscle training, one requires to get trained with varying weights in sets of repetitions. Usually, memory trainers too burden their pupils with information load and make them reiterate the course to master the art of memory.

5.  Flexibility – Physical exercise and flexibility go hand in hand. You work out, you have flexibility; if you don’t, you are as stiff as a pole. In reading, the ratio is the more you read the more you realize. The pages of wisdom broaden your awareness sphere making you a progressive thinker. Your thought process becomes flexible enough to embrace any change in your life and society.

Hint: Enclyclopedia Britannica. Remember childhood?

Mother's Day - The Likes and Comments

Image courtesy: Mycutegraphics

More than at any time before, the world now is celebrating Mother’s day eminently. Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ among others are staging a platform to express a daughter’s or son’s gratitude towards their caring mom. These sites have been filled mostly with selfies of users with their “first best friends”. Sweet messages and notes are also storming across the sites by tagging the mommies.

For one day, Moms became very important and very relevant. Though acknowledgement of Mother’s unconditional love is required, the expression on the blogs and sites seem a bit artificial and only as an attention seeking element. Children who want mere ostentation rule the profile boards over the children who post out of pure love and gratitude towards their mom. Want the proof? The profile pictures and posts speak for themselves. Most of them just trailed off one person’s picture style after he/she posted a picture of self with his/her mother. Also, of all the history of one’s profile, there would never be even a slightest mention of one’s parents but suddenly on the days like one of these appears a huge write up about their “most favorite person in the world”.

Anna Jarvis who founded Mother’s day eventually grew colder to her own idea because the then business owners started commercializing the novel concept. She protested, boycotted and put double the efforts in preventing it than when she put for its creation but the Greeting card wishing and Candy distribution had rooted strong. The struggle took a toll on her and she was placed in a mental asylum later where she spent her last 4 years of life. I dread to wonder what would have been her reaction to the present culture of pretentious celebrations of Mother’s day if she were alive!  

Happy Mother's day!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Review

Image: Wikimedia.org

Sweet nothings are common between any couple but the couple in Gillian Flynn's New York Times Bestseller book, Gone Girl they tend to go way beyond than sweet and nothings. Nick and Amy, the leads in the book, understand each other to an extreme extent where one advertently controls the other’s impulses though they are far away from one another. It starts off like any other film which doesn't impress you until the twist is introduced. Ms. Flynn cajoles you in thinking that you are guessing everything right until halfway through the story. And then suddenly, she injures your confidence with a surly truth; in fact the truth is far more horrific and crimson than the plot itself. From then on the plot becomes vindictive and captivating. 

It takes a very special discipline to wait and execute a perfect thriller plot and Gillian Flynn undeniably has the discipline and intelligence! Gone Girl was the best fiction story for the year 2012 and as per Wikipedia it has been almost universally praised in numerous publications including but not limited to the New Yorker, New York Times, Time, Publisher's Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Chatelaine, People magazine, and USA Today.

An Idea that changed Pigeons' Life!

A Husband Pigeon (HP) and Wife Pigeon (WP) unaware of Life’s sweet surprise in near future, casually nuzzling tea on a weekend evening.

WP: Darling!

HP: Yes, Honey!

WP: Shall we go on a vacation?

HP: No. It is not safe for our house.

WP: Why?

HP: There is no guarantee that our house would exist after our return from the vacation.

WP: What?

HP: Yes, Honey! Our house would either be trespassed by other Pigeon family or be demolished by government's municipality.

WP: Come on, darling! Don't be a pessimist. 

HP: Have you forgotten our struggle to get this scanty nest house? Top to it, we got it in the middle of the city, amidst pollution and noisy tall buildings. 

WP: Yes. Our old house was a paradise. We had it on a tree, a very big nest and envied by all the pigeon community around.

HP: Yes, until you proposed the idea of vacation. We went to Canada and when we came back home, there was no home. Everything got vanished. If we wouldn't have gone on vacation that month, we would still be living in the same great place.

WP: Hey, don't blame me! Except the home tragedy, didn't we have an awesome time there?

Little Pigeon was overjoyed when he saw the snow for the first time. It is rejuvenating to have a vacation once in a while.

HP: But I cannot afford another home loss.

WP: Okay forget about this house. How about temporary homes? 

HP: What do you mean?

WP: Our dream home had already gone and I have no hope that we will build another such mansion again. So, hmmm.....let's become explorers. Let's travel and make the first nicest place our home until we find next. We will travel, explore and enjoy. Forever.

HP: Are you mad? Little Pigeon's education will get disturbed with this wacky idea of yours.

WP: Never! I promise you. There is a famous saying that goes like “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”  He will get more education on travel trips than in Pigeons school. I will start home tuition for him. 

HP: Hmmm.....(letting out a gust of air)

WP: Trust me! It will be the best thing we have ever done in our life.

HP: Seems like I will have to build 10 houses per year.

WP: So what?

HP: Don't you see me? I am growing old. I cannot build that many. 

WP: Okay! I will do it. I always wanted to do it. I always wanted to experiment with our interiors. I will do it.

HP: You are as stubborn as Guaiacwood! 

WP: So is it a yes?

HP: Have you ever taken "No" for an answer?

And thus, the Pigeon family embarked on a lifetime journey and started living the life to the fullest. After 3 years, at Glendale Narrows along the Los Angeles River, Little Pigeon now speaks 5 languages and understands 10 languages. While the Wife Pigeon successfully runs her Interior designs line, Husband Pigeon has become an affluent consultant.  

Rendezvous with eValentine

Valentine's Day! The day devoted to celebrate love. There are debates forever enduring why there has to be a day to remember love but today we are not going into those details. Let's just talk on celebrating love on the day of love - Valentine's Day! It is observed worldwide as a day when one discloses love for one’s loved ones and let the loved one know the depth of one’s affection for them through gifts, cards, flowers or sometimes just through words. On Feb 14th, the Valentine's Day, I had been to a restaurant for dinner. The place is so dressed up for the event that even the strictest singletons would hope to get linked up for one hour to spend at that restaurant. On each table rests a soft red satin fabric with three candles, put up as the middle three fingers of one's palm, at the center of the table illuminating the golden glow along its diameter and the perfect romantic look completes with roses on either side of the plates. The walls were decorated with radiant stars and cartoons of Romeo and Juliet and the ceiling was voluminous with heart shaped balloons in red and white colors. The staff also color coordinated with the setting by wearing white uniforms and red neckties.

However, the abundant romance in the environment failed to strike the chord with its customers. The people, who have come with their family, partners or spouses, were not connected with the love in the air. There was a couple sitting adjacent to the wall with Romeo-Juliet hand in hand smiling over their shoulders but the hands of these couple were busy romancing with their cronies - The Cell Phones. And there was Cupid on the window waiting so long to smite his arrow at the young couple by the table only to be disappointed later that none would lift up their heads from gadgets they were holding to look into each other's eyes for the arrow to work its magic. There is also a family of Father, Mother and two sons. The total family time was hodgepodge as the Father would check his work emails on his phone, the Mother would watch a video on her tablet and the older son would play game on iPad; and the younger son constantly disturbing his brother to give him one chance to play the game but the brother would not even look at him as he is about to make a highest score. On another corner of the restaurant sits family of three members - Father, Mother and Daughter. While the Dad and Mom get immersed in their respective phones, the daughter who is still too young for e-world is unconcernedly ignored. The little girl perplexed at the situation entertains herself by glancing at clouds of balloons. The pair of the evening was the couple which argued over who should order the menu as both of them had to tend an important work with their e-partners independently. In my mind, I declared them as the Pair of the evening because, though they didn’t exchange any eye contact, they had at least exchanged a few words.

On the day of love, I witnessed people who are deeply in love, who wanted each other very badly and madly, who are truly faithful with each other and who would do anything for the loved ones; these lovers are very much in love but not with the bodies which inhale oxygen instead with paramours that exhale radiations. Valentine’s Day with eValentine, how romantic and how alarming!

Are we living in an Aquarium?

The other day, my husband took me out for dinner on the occasion of our anniversary. It was a beautiful restaurant with scented candles, flowers and Buddhistic ambience. Before settling down at the table, my husband took me for a stroll around the restaurant. He had been here before with his colleagues and got impressed with its environment. He had been waiting for a perfect occasion to take me there and he had succeeded by choosing our anniversary date. As we were walking across the place, I noticed an Aquarium right in the middle of the restaurant. It was big! It contained fish of many types and sizes. I was amazed at the thought of placing an Aquarium inside a restaurant. It not only gave a tranquil touch to the area but also descended a fair amount of burden from parents' shoulders. The Aquarium was colorful and animated enough to engage the children. The Restaurant leadership must be dealing with a bunch of naughty children themselves at home to have got such a wonderful idea of Aquarium in the middle of the restaurant, I thought. Like any other child, I too went close to it and was checking each fish. My husband who didn't want to distract my study, ordered a table close by. As we were having our dinner, we were regularly glancing at the Aquarium. He started the conversation "Beautiful Aquarium, isn't it?" I replied "Yes" and added "But..". He noticed it and said "But?" by wrinkling his forehead and narrowing his eyebrows. I then went on to explain my "But" to him. 

"Although I liked the under sea exhibition above the ground, I somehow felt sad about it. I never liked caging of animals. Here the cage is glass, though. That glass container has hardly any place for fish to roam around." I paused abruptly as a new thought struck my mind suddenly. I said to my husband "Are we too not like them?". He didn't understand my short yet highly meaningful sentence so responded with a confused look. I continued the conversation by repeating the same statement "Yes, are we too not like them? Caged or glassed in our own world. How are we different from these fish? They are enclosed in a glass chamber and we are enclosed in our boundaries. But, there is a difference. These fish cannot free themselves, they are helpless. We can free ourselves because our boundaries are made mostly by us. We are not helpless like fish." My husband interrupted me by asking "Which boundaries are you talking about?" I understood that I need to elaborate the topic so answered him with a question. "Whats your daily routine?" He started out without even giving a thought from brushing to going to office and then from returning home to sleeping at night. I posed another question "Was there any change in it from past one year?" He now thought a bit and replied "No". I exclaimed "That's what I am talking about. We have been living the same routine for the past one year just like these fish. You wake up, go to office, come back home and then sleep. Now you tell me how different is it from living in an Aquarium? Only thing is that our Aquarium is made of fear instead of glass. We fear to change, we don't skip a bit out of our routine fearing about consequences." After a short break to calm down, I continued again to express what I thought "There is so much out there in life and we are here living each day just the same way. We must feel pity for ourselves before feeling for those fish. We already lived half of our life but still haven't seen at least one quarter of the world. Remember our school days, when we used to read about other countries and wish to fly there to experience them live? When we were children, we planned our future totally in a different way than it is today. You must be thinking that it is all because of time constraint". He nodded his head in acceptance, I continued "But is it really true? Is time that evil? If so, how did you manage to arrange a beautiful evening for us tonight?" His face turned from contemplation to congeniality, he realized that I had a point. So, with a trace of victory I proceeded with my argument. "It is all in our hands. Our routine is in our hands, if we want to break it, we can. We can take a chance to try something new. We can take a break and go on occasional expeditions. No one stops us and nothing hazardous would result from it. We are in our best shape and age to explore. This is the best time. If we do not do it now, I bet we would definitely regret it on our death beds. I don't want to die disheartened. Do you?" I stopped and waited for his answer. Obviously his answer was no. He said "No! I don't want that state. I always wanted to have a learning life since my childhood. As each year passed by, I completely forgot about it. I didn't realize how much I tangled myself in boredom ordinary until you mentioned it today. You are right about one life one chance. We should do it, let's experiment and learn something valuable from it just like what we learnt from these fish today!"  

Just when he completed that statement, our dessert had arrived and we toasted to our new bond-free lifestyle. 

         

The Balancing Act

The Beginning, Start, Inception or Commencement.....whatever you call it, it all means the same. It describes not only the zeal within but also the tension that comes along when doing it. To start something, either new or old, brings a feeling of anxiety mixed with excitement. Though excitement is manageable, anxiety on the other hand is hard to handle under utter pressure. As I launch my site "The Writer Friend", I face the same anxiety and tension. Of course, I am excited about the new assignment but apprehension rules my mind. As I write this blog post, I am trying to balance out my taut feelings with positive thoughts. After all getting stressed isn't that bad either! There are studies that proved that Tension extracts best results from people. While the thought of venturing something new gives me abundant vigor, the trepidation pertaining to failure keeps me grounded. I guess this is the formula for success, the Balancing act. Hope and Fear are always there when there is an attempt to prove one's ability. One gives you courage and fortitude and the other ushers you to potential challenges. The sensible act of equilibrium between these opposing factors defines your success! How true! All the while, I have been worrying on how not to worry but just now realized that I have to worry but in limited quantity. Too much of either elements can get you to the wrong destination and also absence of any of the traits causes failure. One has to proportionate hope and fear to achieve one's goal. Now that I found the medicine for my Outset-fret, I embark on a peaceful writing journey with some inspiration and some vigilance which symbolize Hope and Fear respectively. Cheers to the New Beginning!