The books I didn't read this year...

I own these books. They are scattered all over my nest. I'm yet to read them. No excuses to offer. Most of them are of my favorite authors'. Yet. Sometimes the pressure weighs me down. Otherwise I'm happy to have them around. My great escapades as long as I remember. I wish to enjoy them soon.

I haven't abandoned you my dearies. Let me take you out.
 Here you are :

1. Mullappooniramulla Pakalukal  - Benyamin
2. Al Arabian Novel Factory        - Benyamin
3. Thalpam                                 - Subhash Chandran
4. Kathakal                                  - Benyamin
5. The Great Indian Novel              - Shashi Tharoor
6. The mustard seed                       - Osho
7. Shalimar the clown                    - Salman Rushdie
8. Shame                                      - Salman Rushdie
9. The return of the native              - Thomas Hardy
10. Nicholas Nickleby                      - Charles Dickens
11. American notes                           - Charles Dickens
12. Jane Eyre                                   - Charlotte Bronte
13. The autumn of the Patriarch        - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
14. Moll Flanders                             - Daniel Defoe
15. The war of the worlds                 - H.G.Wells
16. The last temptation                     -  Nikos Kazatzakis
17. Journey to Ithaca                         - Anita Desai
18. Mr Darcy's daughters                   - Elizabeth Aston
19. The circle of reason                      - Amitav Ghosh
20. The Fountainhead                       - Ayn Rand
21. Atlas shrugged                            - Ayn Rand
22. Mein Kampf                               - Adolf Hitler
23. Mansfield park                            - Jane Austen
24. The enigma of arrival                  - V.S.Naipaul
25. Pravachakanmarude Randampusthakam - Benyamin

Also a few omnibus by some famous writers. And most importantly 5 books written by my own uncle !  No worries. Adorn my tiny library for the time being. Be patient. Hope to hold you soon.

    

Meet Mr Mulliner - P. G . Wodehouse

Funny that I haven't read PG until now. What took me so long? Anyways... Mr Mulliner is simply hilarious. Heee heee

Thunder and rain on my Happy Hair Day !!!

After a much misunderstood henna treatment and a terrible hair cut,  I decide  to straighten my hairy issues. Miss Bliss tries hard to pull my curly locks out of the roots. She then rakes and bakes my scalp, part by part she dry fry and straightens the locks. Nah, they are no longer locks but silky smooth threads. The much lusted after straight hair !! I pay 3 dinars!

What a day ! I spend half the day  busy talking about my hairdresser, hair colouring, the possibilities of permanent straightening and received compliments humbly. They love me ! I mean my colleagues. So much love, so so much concern ! ❤️❤️❤️

And its becomes dusty suddenly. The clouds gather. Thunder. Rain. Blow dried hair and water? By time I reach the bus area, my curly locks are back. 

Warning: Check the weather forecast before you blow dry your hair.

I exist ❤️

gold nuggets - Osho

Don't you judge these nuggets by their size nor by the super cool design. They are crispy, crunchy, yummy and leave long lasting sensations. As Osho says All you have is this very moment, do not go on postponing. 

Happy munching n musing.

Open your hands if you want to be held

I liked the introduction given to each chapters ; also the headings of the poems. The poems. I liked the narrative poems, rest of them are beyond my horizon. 

Book of Verse - Ruskin Bond

I'm not a lover of poems ; I hardly comprehend any. But for our 'resident Wordsworth' , I'm willing to try even poetry. The book is a collection of 81 poems categorized into various arenas like love, nature, childhood, humor, travel, words to live by & Haikus and other verses. They are supremely simple and enjoyable.

Grow tall my child, be wise and strong 

But do not take from any man his song.

The past is always with us, for it feeds the present.

Customized fruit salad

Annie May's Black Book - Debby Holt

Wacky and funny till the first quarter, rest of the book falls to the category of a romance-drama. Annie May keeps a black book in which she writes down the offence people has done to her. Then the man who jilts her 17 years before, re-enters in her life and she suffers, so are her black book entries, so are the readers. 

Light read for those who are looking for humor, romance n drama.❤️

monkey-man : Usha K.R.

Banglore. Then. The first trip becomes the sabbatical with my parents n siblings. The exciting, long train journey with Appa's colleague n family who brings conguntivitis along with them and shares with us. We walk along the streets of Banglore wearing sunclasses to cover our infected eyes. We even enjoy the eye drops n their sour taste. The stay at hotel, Lal Bagh and Dharmaram.. Next visit being the so called study tour with classmates. It's the usual Banglore-Oootty trip in search of exotic plants for herbarium. Later,The Honeymoon trip. Lal Bagh, Dharmaram n food joints. Bengaluru. Family tour with in-laws. Cousin-in-laws, Lal Bagh, Dharmaram and zoo. Now. I rest my case with Warba Lady, the true Kannadiga. Fingers crossed.

The book is about Banglore n explores human nature in great extent. Fantastic observations. It's like a multicoloured patchwork quilt interwoven with the lives of a couple of interesting people. Nothing much to do with 'monkey-man'. I like the book though the novelist winds up the story in a weak note.

me the ignorant, illiterate, inane Indian

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi bag this year's Nobel Prize for Peace.  Great achievement.  Congratulations.  I know Malala but Satyarthi?   He is a new discovery for me.  What a shame! What a disfrace ! Everyone talks about  Satyarthi. Favebook, Whatsapp. Everywhere.  I wish I've some dynamite to kill myself. Finally I decide to share my bitter feelings over Satyarthi's Nobel Prize winning.  Here comes Annamma with her pearls of wisdom. She says it's ok not to know all the important people. Do they know you? No. So, it's not a crime not knowing of them. Nothing to be ashamed of. Thank you, Annamma, you saved my life.

Annamma is my benchmate of 2 years. The tiny classroom with 12 students. On the first day I sit with her in the first bench and shifts to the last bench and remains there till the end. We talk not much. No explanations, no judgements.  A girl of few words.  So strange that we are friends.  Caramel chocolates, her flat, books, hindi songs and lunch break at the sea side. The long walks in the evening.  How I miss those moments!

Annamma rocks...

allrighty!

Welcome home. Now is the right time to visit. The flat is immaculately clean. Believe me. Id holidays start today. And guess what? Including the weekend, it's 9 days this time. And... my bro n family are coming down from Qatar today. Finally.

Happy Id, friends. Enjoy!

Freud's Sister - Goce Smilevski

• Goce Smilevski pens down the novel in 2011 and Christina E. Kramer translates it from Macedonian to English. Smilevski snatches Europen Union Prize for Literature for the same. The translation is too good to be true. Good job!
• The novel sheds light to the story of Adolfina Freud, one of the four sisters of Sigmund Freud. The story starts n ends in concentration camp, but rest part is set in Vienna. Grateful for that.
• Throughout the novel, the main character accuses her brother of negligence n abandonment towards his four sisters. She helds his brother responsible for their unfortunate death. But a google search on Sigmund Freud fails to reveal any such foul play.
• Why Adolfina? Why this pathetic,depressing tale?

In the autumn of my life, I grow reflective

Landour Days - Ruskin Bond

Published in 2002, the book is sort of a journal about the previous year , seasonalized into 4 - reflections in summer, monsoon, autumn and winter. The journal is lightweight with only 141 pages with black & white illustrations. 

A simple yet profound n witty diary.

Life is What You Make it - Preeti Shenoy

Preeti Shenoy. I recently find out her blog. Also this book. The title of the book is misleading, sounds like an inspirational self help book.

The novel starts off like an M&B romance esp the episodes in Kerala. St. Agnes n Mahavir? It must be St. Teresa's and Maharajas I guess. Anyhow. I can relate to that part of the story. Later the novel becomes the life of a bipolar female. It reminds one of the movie Silverline playbook. But here somehow the efforts do not reap the same results. The characters n events look shallow n unreal. This story can be a big help for bipolar victims.

Grimus - Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie's first novel. A mix of magic, fantasy and science. The book is a difficult read. Actually the most tough book I've ever read till to date. But anything from the author. I liked the book. No, I didn't understand anything. Flapping eagle? Bird-dog? Whatever. It was fun reading  for the pure magic of his writing.

Between the blinks, this is what stuck home."Most of life has no meaning- so it must surely be a distortion of life to tell tales in which every single element is meaningful? How terrible to have to see meaning or a great import in everything around one, everything one does, everything that happens to one!"

Blink.Blink.

Do you remember your Grade 2 teacher?

No. I don't. That becomes my main objection in teaching in class 2. The other being well pointed out by Bernard Shaw -  "those who can, do; those who can't, teach". Till today.  I'm flattered n honored. No more qualms. I'm in cloud 99.

Tell me. Who is your favorite teacher?

onam again

Olan. Yes, olan. What do you think about olan? Is it a curry actually? Who invented it? God, it's the worst bland curry if all curries. Anyways Onam is already here. As usual the first Onam is @ cousin's place. And as usual...... no.... I'm not doing payasam. It's olan. Thus my first olan. To tell you the truth, this white curry is not  thaaaat bad.

By and by, it's Teacher's day today!! No comments.

Landed heavily

We are back. I mean we the gulfies are back.

off to q8

We have Irish breakfast from the hotel. Second time not that tasty.

@Bewley

Flight is in the afternoon. Till then we go round n round Dublin city. Fantastic place. 

Bye bye Ireland. I still can't believe it. Anyways....... I don't expect any casualities during our flight to Kuwait. Inshallah!

@ Dublin airport

@Dublin

We start early. 9o'clock. Reach Dublin by 1. The first thing is to visit The Guinness Brewery.

view from the brewery

James Joyce

in memory of war martyrs

last chance@ Dunnes

My last shopping. Finally I got over europhobia, now I'm euromaniac. But my wallet is empty. Whatodo? Anyways I buy some momentos for colleagues and lacy stuff for BFF. Sighs...

Of all these days, he chooses to come today! Martin chettan the savior of homesickness n the server of Indian vegetables, powders and other stuffs. Long live Martin chettan.

Packing n packing n packing....... 

O My God, what  do you know of packing? 

fire@home

Last day @ the library. The librarian invites us for Reading Day on Sept 2. Of course we are delighted to grace your library. The only trouble is that we will be in Kuwait that day. Sniff sniff.. As usual we wander mainstreet n end up in Courtyard. No more euro to buy steak.

I drink Jalapeno coffee from Joe Jackson's. It's already sweetened ! No one tells me. So I ask the ladybird to add sugar. Phew ! 

In honor of the visiting dignitaries, my bro-in-law lights up the fireplace. Cool. 

Going Irish

The count down has begun. Only 3 more days to go. I'm busy ticking off my Irish bucket list. The first in the upgraded list is to have an early morning Irish breakfast. Totally Irish. It' a rainy day. Forget about 'early bird ', we will have 10 o'clock 'full Irish' breakfast.We sisters walk to Kelly's without raincoats nor umbrellas just like the Irish.

Quite a filling one. Totally delicious if eaten in the proper way. The bacon pieces are extremely salty, beans sweet, black n white puddings taste like meat cutlets and  egg on potato bread bland. Just kidding. We try all the sauces n powders available. Now, it tastes much better n we happily break our fasting and almost lick the plates. No more food today. 

The young rascals at home are getting restless. The bookworms have done with the library books. The fight for TV remote has began. They haven't gone out for the last 2 days! So, after a biriyani lunch, we take them rascals to their right place- ' Dizzy Rascals'. Heee heee

The hunt for suitcase

Did I tell you about the only causality that happened during our trip to Ireland? We start at 4 am and without much ado reach Dublin at 4 pm. Upon braving out the heavily accented Irish immigration officer, I count my kids and suitcases. 3 each. Battered, jet logged but under control. Then I see my American Tourister suitcase of 3 years ! Somebody has manhandled it, the handle is broken beyond repair, it's almost open and barely holds together with the locks on each sides. By the grace of The Queen of Ireland, the inside stuff remains there. Just imagine...... Thus the official hunt for suitcase begins from day 1. On that pretext, we sisters shop n shop. Why didn't we see a single suitcase in any of those shopping malls? Anyways, it's time to pack, no more time to waste. Thanks to my sister's friend Smartypants, I own one from Ireland !

During our last trip to the library, Mirchi pesters me for this huge lollipop. Lollipop? He gets ice cream instead. Because we have left the four kids alone at home, I buy lollipops as a compensation. Holy Poppins ! You should see my teenager smile. Anything for your smile my dear.....


As you know, my little sister is a fantastic cook. You may not know that both of us are fida about mushrooms. This is the third time she makes mushroom masala exclusively for me. You have no idea. It's extremely hot n tasty like her prawn masala. Bon appetit cherie !

@ Bushmills' wonder

Today's agenda is to visit Giant's Causeway, Rope bridge, Old Bushmills distillery and then to meet a cousin sister n family at Belfast. Thus, we are going to UK again. Third time lucky, I guess.

@ Lough Foyle Ferry

Using this tiny ferry n crossing the river itself is a huge excitement for us elders n kids. Lovely river.

This is the starting point of the Causeway. The upper trail takes us to the top of the cliff with a breathtaking n wonderful view of the coast. Slightly terrific since I'm scared of heights. The lower trail leads one to the 'Giant's footsteps'. Causeway is free for public. There are only two bars here. We lunch at the coolest n the oldest one n gear up for 2 hrs trekking.

@ The Nook

I wish I could write more about these sights..... This is nature at its best. Totally mind blowing.

We plan to cross a tiny part of the Atlantic Coast through a rope bridge. It's close by. But we have to walk 1km trail to reach the bridge. The kids are tired so abandon the rope bridge. Off we go to the Old Bushmills distillery nearby but it's past visitors time. We lose a golden chance drink fresh whiskey ! Great loss.

@ Portballintrae beach

cousins meet @ giant's causeway

sunset in UK

This peaceful seaside village lies to west of river Bush with an enticing sandy beach. Kids no longer tired nor thirsty.






































It's 11pm, the sun is slowly planning to retire. I'm not yet used to this sun.

I'm not hungry and  going to hit the bed. OMG ! A day without my staple food- rice. A milestone in the history of my dietary life. What a day ! Hope I survive the night....

in London derry

We are in UK again! This place is under dispute just like Jammu and Kashmir of India. The city is proud of its culture n history and has preserved it pretty damn well. The place is full of ancient historical buildings that trumpets the past events esp 'The Siege of Derry'.

St Columb's Church

@ YANOTZE express

@ the peace brigde

It's the first day of Londonderry Fair today. Lucky us.

We are @ 'the store' my sis wanted to go so badly. This store of course is a wonder n a blessing to Indians esp Malyalees. It's run by a Keralite obviously. I meet a man there. A malayalee. When he comes to know that I'm here to visit my sis, he sort of wiggles his face n lips and asks me:- ''Are you a nurse?'' WTF! What if I am? God!

@ the Asian store