Tushar Mangl

I was reading the first book of Ramayana By Shubha Vilas for the second time when I received the email that I had been chosen to review the second book in the series as well. My first reaction was like 'finaly' the book is out. The first book was simply great but it was just the beginning of a story that changes your life. The second part starts off with King Dashratha deciding to abdicate his throne in favor of his son Rama. What follows is a series of jubilation and unfortunate heart breaks. This is the beauty of Ramayana. We know how it starts and ends still love to read it again and again.  Also interesting are the facts and stories that are in between. Shubha Vilas masterfully narrates and explains these to us. He has weaved in various forms and versions of Ramyana, from Valmiki's Ramcharitmanas to Kamba Ramyana and other popular versions of the legendary tale. As in the first book I liked the idea of footnotes. They are something to look forward to. Each of th...

 When I was reading the details of the activity at BlogAdda, Use Your And, one thing that instantly struck me was Rajeshwari and her story. It seems apt for me to bring it here to share it with you all. Hers was an arranged marriage. There was love and long vacations. Life was good and Rajeshwari enjoyed an enviable social position.Her husband was a well known industrialist. Until one day wh  en an accident claimed Sunil's life. Her world was shattered. Not even in her wildest dreams she could have imagined being a young widow. Coping up was extremely hard. She shut down the doors of her heart and home to anyone who came knocking. What she didn't know that the worse was yet to come. Bankers, not confident about Sunil's company anymore started calling in the loans. There were rumors about financial bungling by some company officials. Up til now, Rajeshwari hadn't even bothered to know much about her husband's business. As a habit he seldom talked about his work...

She had been working at our apartment building for months and still I never knew her name. Yes, our paths did come across but I seldom talked to her or even gave instructions. They way she wished to clean and wash, was OK with me. One day Mrs. Bannerjee who lives on the third floor (I think) met me on the stairs and asked, "Did Lila come to work today?"  I do not know the Bannerjees well enough, and her striking a conversation seemed odd to me. I just said a no and moved on. It was only when I had entered my apartment did it strike to me, Lila. So her name was Lila. Maybe the watchman had told me her name, when I had hired her. I was not even paying attention then. All I needed was my apartment clean, my utensils and crockery washed. As if on the cue, she knocked and entered the apartment. I couldn't help but notice that her eyes were puffy and red.Now as you know by now I have a very impersonal relation with the maid. Its not about employer employee thing, its just ...

I am an immigrant A Mexican in New York A Pole in London A Nepalese in Mumbai I run, I chase I strive, I thrive I am an inspiration if I make wealth I am an outcast otherwise The locals hate me much But their survival is all thanks to me I am the wheel on which their cities run Like a wheel I roll and run Carrying the burdens of all I am an immigrant This city is not mine These streets don't have my home Do I belong here? It is what my soul asks me everyday

In India, we need modernization of education. It is just not a need but an urgent necessity. We have to educate our young ones and equip them with knowledge. Then and only then can India become a force to reckon with. Only then can we overcome the multiple problems being faced by our society. Food is one thing that is stopping the spread of education. Ravi is a bright student. His parents are poor, daily wagers working at a construction site. They are very vocal about the need for education for their son, even though they get a lot of job offers for their 12-year-old son. They want him to study hard as they believe it is with the education that he could buy a house like the ones they build but can never afford to live in. But despite that, his results are not very impressive. They give him full marks for dedication, they feel he is focused, the family atmosphere is supportive, still something is stopping his intellectual growth. I guess you would have guessed it by now. It...

It was a routine Sunday afternoon. Brunch was leftover Pizza from the previous night. At the time she called I was doing my laundry. A pretty boring task, if you ask me but then you need clean undies man. Anyways coming back to the point. She called me up and said, "hey, I am at JN market right now, if you can come within 15 minutes, we can meet." If a girl as pretty as Snigdha as you to meet her in next 15 minutes, will you say no to her? Of course not. I said yes. Left the laundry on the bathroom floor, had a rushed shower and ran my way to JN Market. The market is not very far from where I live But you know girls right. They will call you, suddenly out of the blue and ask for things you can't say no to. Snigdha and I had met at a mutual friend's birthday treat and things went quite well from there on. Except the first kiss. We talked on phone a lot, went on long dates. My fingers ached with all that messaging, for that one smily from her made my heart melt. Bu...

Hey all, I just got a new Red Mi phone from Quickr.Com. And here goes my story of purchasing a product for the first time from Quickr.com. So, as you know this new Redmi phone from Xiaomi (Often called the Apple of China) is flooding the Indian market with its amazing features and great price. I had an eye on this product but on Flipkart it sells out too quickly. It is virtually out of stock. So I thought of trying to buy a phone over quickr. People say, it has a lot of a variety and a lot of phones are up for sale from people who no longer want to use their phones. So my hunt began on quickr.com home page. It had an option for choosing a location which I set up as Delhi. And Oh My God, there were so many options. As in, you can buy any phone of any make or model. For my nominal budget I could buy any phone. I researched various phones which I could buy. Research looked like an uphill task but it was quite easy because of the navigation panes on the left hand side of the page. For...