The Ivory Throne

I'm someone who hates to read thick books and that too about history. The more the number of pages, the more I repel from picking up that book. :). But Ivory Throne was an exception. I read somewhere that, its better to read the first 5 pages of a book before buying it. If we feel a connection during those 5 pages, then definitely we will finish the book else we will not. This logic helped me to go with Ivory Throne. On seeing the book, I thought I made a mistake. How big this book is :-O. I might end up using this as a pillow. But the first few pages itself, proved me wrong. Hip hip hurreyyyyyy, I started loving this book. I couldn't keep it down. Whenever I get a short break from my tiring schedules, I will start from the book marked page. It took almost a month to finish the book. 

This book revolves around the life of Senior Rani (Sethu Lekshmi Bai). Senior Ranis life was a roller coaster ride. The author Manu S Pillai took 6 years to finish this book. And that effort is clearly reflected in this book. Before dwelling into the life of Senior Rani, the Author clearly explains the history of Travancore, so that the reader will get a clear picture of the scenarios that existed. Ivory Throne can be used as a reference book for people interested in history. This book exposes us to lots of shocking incidents and family politics , which are hard to believe . But the bitter truth is we have to believe whats written, because all the incidents mentioned in this book are based on solid proofs (mostly in the form of hand written letters). My 5 stars for Ivory Throne too. 

Jaya Mahabharata and Yuganta

 ' Yuganta ' by Irawati Karve : Status 'Checked' . A different approach to the epic Mahabharatha, by brilliantly dissecting the lives of few characters . Devdutt Pattanaik's  'Jaya Mahabharata ' was my inspiration to read Yuganta. Also I heard good reviews about it through few of my friends.

Irawati's work is entirely different. Yuganta is not telling us the full Mahabharata chapter by chapter. It's more like looking at Mahabharatha's characters from a third angle. We can  easily find the pros and cons with each character, irrespective of the greatness of that person. Best example is 'Bhishma'. Before reading this book, I was blindly in love with the charatcer Bishma. This book forced me to look at him, through all the angles. This in turn , showed me the flaws of the character.Many of his deeds, which I once looked upon proudly (as a symbol of a strong man), now lies in front of me as unjustifiable or shameless .

But there are 2 contradictions in Yuganta. I wonder how this went unnoticed. 

1) In one of the chapters, the Author says Vidur died before Dhritharashtra, Gandhari and Kunti. But in another instance its shown as Vidur died along with Kunti.

2) In another chapter Author says that , pandavas constructed the secret tunnel to escape during palace fire. But in another paragraph Author says, Vidur send his trustee to construct a secret tunnel for the pandavas to escape during fire.

If we ignore the above 2 mismatches, the rest of the book is a good read. 

Coming to Jaya Mahabharata by Devdutt, Oh God, WHAT A BOOK. WHAT A BOOK !!!!!

I will give 5 stars for this book. Jaya Mahabharatha clearly reflects Devdutt's hard work. Hats off to him for the efforts he had taken to make this book a real gem.Each page gives lots and lots of information. I had a feeling of seeing the characters in real, in front of me. That's the effect of Jaya Mahabharata. 

Those who really want to know what Mahabharata is all about , in the simplest form, go for this one. 

Until we are free

                                    Another good read. It will be unfair if I simply call it a 'book'. It's the lives of many people in Iran. Shirin Ebadi , the author of this book is Iran's first female judge and a Nobel peace prize winner . She takes us through the lives of people, in Iran which most of us are unaware of. Only if we know the journey of others, we will know how lucky we are and we will start to count our blessings.

Dr. Shirin Ebadi is a strong lady who made several sacrifices in her life, for the human rights, to deliver justice to others. In this journey she had lost many valuable moments in her life. She is now not even able to go to her country, living far away from her husband. Even from outside , shes is working for her people back in Iran. Respect you Madam, for all your sacrifices. 

When breath becomes air

Uh. Feeling heaviness in my heart........ 

' When breath becomes air ' a memoir by Paul Kalanithi, who was a Neurosurgeon . Yes you read it right, 'WAS ' a Neurosurgeon.  He lost his life in a battle with Cancer at the age of 37.

This book will show you the value of your life. After reading this book, you will regret by thinking about the time, that you had wasted in the past by fighting with others,blaming others......You have only one life, live it to the fullest.  Live it meaningfully.In this book, he is taking us through the ups and downs of a terminal cancer patient ,which we all will very well understand. If you ask me whats the biggest wealth in this world, I would say "HEALTH". No doubt in that. "Health is wealth".

Roles to play

                     

                                In this stressful world, we all need to go through many different roles. The main transformations being from a small baby to Wife to Mother to Grand Mother (same applies to Man) . And the sub roles (considering a Woman's life here ) include

1) Working Mom with support
2) Working Mom without support
3) Housewife without support
4) Housewife with support

     I had the opportunity to try all the above 4 roles. So just thought of doing a comparison among the 4 situations.

1) Working Mom without support

          THE TOUGHEST - Here you should handle the office stress like meeting deadlines / time management/ training's / meetings etc and at the same time manage household chores like cleaning /cooking/taking care of your loved ones . EMOTIONAL STRESS is a big factor here. And being a Mother, the top thought in your mind will be the concern about leaving your little one at the child care center. Especially during the first few days, you cannot concentrate on your work. Only your physical body will be at work and mind will be with your child.

If your child falls sick in between, that's the worst case. 

2) Housewife without support

       Main problem here is the PHYSICAL STRESS. Here you don't have to prove to anyone , how good your performance is compared to others. Nobody is going to rate you. You yourself can prioritize work. And baby will be in safest hands, your own hands. Here your full day will depend on how your baby is doing. There will be days when you will not be doing anything and simply carrying your baby around the house. 

3) Working Mom with support

            You can relax,especially if you are leaving your kid with parents / in - laws. Of course you have to do your part of households but still you have less mental or physical stress compared to other 2 roles.

4) Housewife with support

            Heaven I would say. Luckiest. No deadlines, Less physical and  mental stress . Housework can be shared.


   Whatever be your role, there is one thing that can bring the life to normal path......it is the thought of your wonderful family and the innocent smile on your kids face.

Small Things Matters.............

I'm someone who focuses mostly on small things in life. Someone who prefers:

A flower over a diamond
A hug over a 1000 words
Being open than keeping love inside
Being silent than explaining yourself to wrong people

At the same time, Im someone who fights over small things ;). And this my hubby knows very well.

* I will get irritated if you forget to include my name in the ‘senders list’ where I’m expecting my name

* I don’t mind, if you don’t wish me on my birthdays/anniversaries, but I will never forgive you if you don’t call me up after my doctor’s appointment.

I always believed that the value of a person is known from the small things that he does for others. For example

* Gift your wife some flowers, irrespective of special occasions.

* Try to make your hubby’s favorite dish, even though you are a bad cook. Just give it a try.

* Keep your mobile aside and sit besides your wife/hubby, hugging tightly without even saying a single word. I bet you Silence matters a lot.

* Value the sacrifices one made for the other and for the family.

* If possible, call your parents daily. Hearing a SMALL “hello” from us, is a BIG thing for them.

* Spend some time with your kids daily, it’s your presence that matters the most than any costly gift.

Unconditional Love

The only unconditional, pure love which exists in this whole world, is the Mothers love. I realized this, when I became a mother. The moment, a child is born, a mother is also born. And for her, the small bundle of joy in her arms becomes the whole universe. She will sacrifice anything in this entire universe for her kid. Everything that was surrounding her,even her better half, will become secondary ( irrespective of the constant complaints from the better half :) , for the lack of attention he is getting).

I have been to old age homes. On my way back, I was always disturbed and  heartbroken.My mind will be bursting with thousands of questions . I believed strongly that, the one curse from the parents is enough to spoil the entire life of the kids. But now I know, even if a mother scolds her kids thousand times, deeply down in her heart, she will be praying for their wellness, thousand and one times. This is possible only for a mother.