Book Review- NOBODY'S CHILD (Kanchana Banerjee)

Give me a book and I am sorted, but when you get the opportunity to write about it that's even better.

NOBODY'S CHILD by KANCHANA BANERJEE came as part of Book Review Program from BlogChatter and I must say what a delight reading it was!!!

The book runs as a monologue from two characters "Avniel" and "Kamini" and flashes between 2016, 2018 and 2019

The main protagonist is Asavari around whom these monologues take place.

Asavari a small-town girl wins the prestigious singing contest "Indian Koel" despite all odds. Without any formal training and no one by her side to support she wins the contest.

The runner un Tanya Pratap Singh is the daughter of rich and famous Pratap Singh and Kamini Pratap Singh. Pratap is dead but Kamini takes over the reins of his business and is now carving her path into active politics. She is a woman with a dark past and has made her journey all the way up from gully's in Varanasi to being Heiress of 2000 crore business empire (left behind by her loving husband Pratap Singh).

Avniel is a small-time journalist with  Filmfare who loses his chance after an episode of drinking and misbehaving with a famous film actress in one of the parties. He now is desperate to find a story, his only salvation to make it big.

Luck comes knocking on his door as he bumps into Asavari one of the contestants who came to Mumbai for audition of "Indian Koel"

As Avniel hears Asavari sing he has but no doubt that she stands a very good chance to win the contest. He sees a story in her (a bestseller) and wants to cash it before anyone else can. With his charm and easy-going mannerism, he befriends Asavari.

Asavari wins the contest and this does not go down well with Kamini, runner up Tanya's mother. She had big plans and Asavari has just ruined everything.

But she won't sit quiet, what follows is something nobody had anticipated. With the help of Dheeraj (right-hand man of Kamini), she devises a plan to get Asavari out of her way so that her political aspirations are fulfilled.

Asavari meets with an accident month after her winning the contest and the news of her death takes the entire nation by surprise, This happened in the year 2016.

Avniel, writes a book on Asavari's life and publishes it within two months of her death. The book as he envisioned becomes a best seller and he becomes famous out of the blues.

But everything changes when Asavari suddenly reappears after two years mysteriously in 2018, with bruises all over her body and scars on her face. She was found by one of the journalists outside the Churchgate station and thus starts the mayhem.

A series of questions are raised, Avniel and Kamini are both shocked to find Asavari alive and walking out of the dead. What is it which they are hiding?

The book takes you through roller-coaster ride and you can't wait to find out what happened to Asavari in these two years. Where was she? How she survived? Who helped her? Who was behind her accident? What dark secrets lie in the closet of the past? and many more.

All and all the book will keep you hooked as the monologues progress.

The characters are very well sketched and the story moves in smooth progression with Love, deceit, trauma, emotional turmoil and hunger for power and success being the main elements of the story.

A terrific work of fiction by Kanchana Banerjee all packed in just 327 crisp pages which comes from the publication house of Harper Black (An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers) for you all to read and immerse in.

My rating for the book is good 3.5 out of 5, and I highly recommend it if you love suspense and drama. There is not a single dull moment as you flip pages and without even you knowing it the story reaches the end or is it the new beginning ;)

So what are you waiting for? Grab your copy now by clicking any one of the links below:

Buy Online here >>>> Harper Collins India or Amazon India

Learn more about the author "Kanchana Banerjee" >>>> 'Tap me'

P.S: This Book Review is part of #BlogChatter "BookReview Program" 

I am taking my blog to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa Season 4 courtesy #BlogChatter as #nilesharmaawrites

Teacher's day Special

Source~ Google Images

Today on this special day I wish to share with you all various teachers who taught me one thing or the other, and touched and transformed me to become what I am as of today.

First and foremost is without saying my Parents, who were instrumental in bringing me into this beautiful world. The value systems they passed on to us (me and my siblings) we are now passing on to ours. The love and respect towards each being is something which forms the core of their teachings.

Teachers from school and colleges had their own role to play.

The most I learned in my former years of career is from is my Boss Mr. Kailash Nath Sharma, he taught me things very invaluable which helps me even today, and helped me survive in toughest of times.

Through my childhood friend I learned the most important and the most difficult lesson that which most find difficult even today to implement and practice and that is "LET GO"

From my dearest and best friend, I learned the art of not giving in to temptations.

My ex was instrumental (indirectly though) in teaching me the importance of compartmentalization in my case keeping personal and professional life totally separate, irrespective of whatever the circumstance and challenges life throws at me.

Positive and long term benefits of the ethics and principles in business came from the insights of my ex- LIC mentor Mr. Deepak D Sawant.

The true meaning of the phrase 'Knowledge is Wealth", 'I think therefore I am", "Its never too late", "There is no age to learning" and many more was shared to me by my dear friend, guide, philosopher, mentor, Guru, Mr. Krishnan Raman Vedant. We met in 2001 for the first time and even to this very day he enriches me with his wisdom and knowledge.

These as mentioned above are some of the most important people in my life who played a very significant role in my life and shaped me into the person that I am now.

Then there are so many more with whom I crossed the path and they either learned something from me or managed to teach me a few things.

Then there are few lessons which no one can teach us but only comes from the mistakes we commit and these my friends is something worth living and cherishing all our lives.

Time as they say teaches us all that we need and being in tune with mother nature only adds to the learning. 

I think of me as a humble "Student of Life' and today by way of this post on this special day I am paying my tribute and gratitude to all who touched and shaped me in this life journey so far.

Thank you all for being a part of me and my journey.

I am taking my blog to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa Season 4 a campaign organized by #BlogChatter as #nilesharmaawrites

When I was a Kid, I ran away from "MILK"

Yes we all have been there,when we were kids.... and boy what a time it was :)))

Then it was all about just playing and eating and beating and when I think of more the list will goes on and on and on...

Back then my Mom would often be behind me to drink "MILK", making all sorts of stories and giving examples to explain how Milk was so important for our overall health.

I am sure your mom or you as a parent now, too does that?

If yes, then you must continue reading this post...

Few years ago a very close friend of mine introduced me to one of his colleague . It was a very brief interaction and we never met again.

Very recently the same old friend called me up and asked me to talk to Vidushi, since she needed some professional help related to one of my fields of expertise,.

 I asked, Vidushi...... Who?

It took him some time to help me recollect who he was talking about.

Vidushi is still his colleague but is now "Dr Vidushi Agrawal" in fact a very renowned "Dietician & Nutritionist"

I was checking out her website, when I came across her blog-post Why NO to MILK & YES to CURD & PANEER (COTTAGE CHEESE)

On the same lines, I also came across her video  "Beautiful Explanation on Relationship between Diabetes & Milk"

I was astonished to find how Milk could play a part in Diabetes. It was hard to believe for me as a lay man, so I saw her complete profile on her website and her credentials.

I found out that not only is she well qualified with a long standing practice and seemed to be an authoritative figure in her filed., since she is also has to her credit several  "Recognition & Awards" which speak for her.

She knows what she's speaking and this made me think, should one consume milk, at all ?

Well as they say there is always three set/ group of people The one's who are "FOR" then there are those who are "AGAINST". I belong to the third group, that of a "NEUTRAL". My main reason being I do not have milk except for a very little quantity that too in my morning cuppa tea.

Whether you  should or wish to continue with drinking or having milk in your daily diet is something you need to decide, but yes if you are looking for some Diet advise do get in touch with Dr. Vidushi Agrawal through her website or Blog.

And if you already have a Dietician, but need someone to home deliver "Healthy Food" for you (only in Mumbai) then please log on to "www.leanmeal.co" for some yummy and mouth watering recipes
specially designed and  hand crafted, as per their in house assessment or your Dietician's diet chart

Hope the information shared here was helpful.

If you found this article useful please share with your friends and near and dear ones. And do not forget to send in your feedback and please drop in comments section.

Happy Day :)

Bhairavgarh - Rappelling & Rock Climbing

I received a call from a friend of mine with whom I had gone trekking to KalsubaiTrek and about which I wrote in one of my posts, which also got the selected as "Featured post" in indiblogger.
This time her son Vishesh and she were going to Bhairavgarh, near Malshej ghat. The offer was tempting but the notice was very short, so I could not join them on this one. But then I did ask them to share the experience, which they did, and thus this post.
My friend is quite adventurous and being a single mom she sees to it that her son Vishesh is not only well looked after but that he also grows on to be an independent and fearless individual.
The exploration and trekking lesson started for him early last year with small treks in neighboring hills of Pandav Lene, Nashik.  Major trekking happened with Kalsubai Trek, sometime in November 2018.
Bhairavgarh was more of a Rock climbing and Rappelling. With some experience in trekking both Mom and Son were all set to go.

The duo reached the base of the mountain and joined the group at around 9: 30 pm. The climb was 1145mtrs and started at 11:30 pm. Vishesh age 8, was the youngest member in the group and hence also the center of attraction of all present there. The instructor and guide took special care of him and there responsibility grew even more than what they already had...

Loaded with all the enthusiasm, instructions and dose of Do's and Dont's Vishesh set out on the climb with his Mom and the group members.

The valley was deep and the atmosphere was cool, and the night was dense in all its glory, the ever beautiful...

It was two hours of climb after which the group reached the base of the fort. It was a plateau big enough to accommodate about 1000 people at a time. Everybody took rest and had a short sleep. At 5:30 am the group had a tea which was prepared by the instructor team members.
With harness in place Vishesh took to the ropes and started rock climbing. It was like he had done this many a times. With cheers and claps and his name being called out by the group members Vishesh marched slowly and carefully uphill.


With expert guidance of his instructor Mr. Rohit Hiwale and applauds and cheers of his group members Vishesh continued the steep climb

and finally made it to the top of the summit, and flagging the winning pose. Vishesh might not be the youngest of all, but definitely the only youngest one on this expedition.

Now that the easier part was done, here comes the tougher one, climbing down the mountain. Rappelling down is not so easy, especially when you are this young and that too a first timer without any proper training. But then kids know nothing about fear, they only need encouragement and proper guidance, and that is what his Mom and the instructor Mr. Rohit Hiwale did. The group members encouraged and motivated by cheering up for him. No task is difficult if you decide, and with some support and encouragement one can achieve whatever one wishes for. Vishesh is a very good example of this. Age is not the deciding factor, motive is.

It's not about the big things one does, but small achievements like these and encouragement  and trust of parents in their kids, that make them grow into extra ordinary individuals. We should never underestimate the potential of kids, we just need to be there to guide them when needed thus allowing them to explore the experiences to the fullest. After all our experiences are our best source of inspiration, just like mistakes are our best teachers, and the sooner they learn and get this the better.
If you like this post please share with others. Do remember to drop in your comments. Thank you so much for reading this post. Stay connected for more such stories from my diaries.

My Visit To Police Station

Today morning I received a call from a PSI (Police sub Inspector) attached to Dadar Police Station. The call was for me to come and collect my bag which I had forgotten in a Taxi.

The taxi driver a good Samaritan and a responsible citizen who had dropped me home found it out when I guess he was calling off for his day. I am now assuming that since he might be staying at Prabhadevi, he went to Dadar police station and handed over my bag to them, so that it reaches safely to its rightful owner, which is me.

As per our telecon I reached Dadar at around 1:15 pm and made a call to him. He did not pick up the call as he was in court at that time. I dropped him a message informing that I was at Dadar and where do I come to meet him. After few minutes I called him again and this time he answered that he had to go to court and that he will be back only by 4:00 - 4:30 pm

I had enough time on my hand so I took my Mom and my younger brother who were with me, to Mahalaxmi Temple and Siddhivinayak Temple. They are very religious and I thought why not make this time useful and take them there.

They had good darshan at both the temples and were very pleased. While they were visiting Siddhivinayak temple I went to the Police station. I asked my brother to give me a call on my mobile phone when they are done with temple visit.

I had to wait for sometime because the person (PSI) with whom I spoke was still to come. I must have waited for about forty five minutes or so there. While I was waiting I was observing everything happening there. I saw the people working there were very helpful and co-operative to all the other people who came by with whatever there reasons were. Not only they all the police personnel's but the overall staff were doing there respective jobs very diligently and responsibly. Not once did I see any of them behaving rude or being uncooperative with anybody who came there with there grievances. The over all staff was very well behaved and polite and helpful.

The other good thing which I saw was there adaptation to using technology be it e-mail, or whatsapp or text message. This person (PSI) had used whatsapp to get in touch with me while my phone was switched off. I had an envelope in the bag which was supposed to be sent to a friend and which had both his and my contact details, this helped him (PSI) to get in touch with me.

There was one more thing which I observed. Most of them were in a very good shape. Fit and healthy. I was amused at seeing all this. The image which normally is portrayed in films or the way people had perceived and talk about them was very different. Here I had my first hand experience and seeing and listening to them and the way they were all carrying there duty was really commendable.

I did manage to get my bag with all my contents in it safe and intact, after verifying my identity and the contact details. I was asked to give a xerox copy of my identity and address proof , which I did but not as hard copy as in xerox, but using online mode. Yes I shared it via whatsapp the social media application.

The experience I had there was something I wished to share and let you all know that police people are not as bad as they are portrayed or perceived. They are very helpful and cooperative and are very responsibly honoring there command of duty through there services. They too are like us and they empathize with us and are doing there duty well as we all try to do in our respective fields of work.

When I came out of that place I had came out with a sense of safety and security, and my respect and faith in them was elevated. Today in that police station I witnessed the change, a new changing India and changing people, all changing for good. They are also helping to make this world a better place to live.

I don't know how or what has caused this, whether it is our current governments effort in promoting technology in all government institutions, deploying steadily CCTV's  in all there offices and workplaces, on road and stations and all those places which needs constant monitoring so as to let us all know that we are being watched.

Yes, India and its people are adapting to change both in terms of using technology to its benefit and there behavior and attitude in the way they carry out their work, and this I am seeing happening in every filed of work. May be the governments slogan "Acche din aayenge..." will be a reality soon, all we need to do is have faith, patience and lend our support to them in whatever they are doing. Because only those in the highest echelons in the government knows what they are doing, why it needs to be done and how it needs to be done. One of the important pre-requisite of a good leader of the country is that he/ she needs to be a visionary and think long term and serve selflessly putting its country and people first, above anything else. Thus I believe will ensure the well being of all nation and its inhabitants in the times to come.

We all want a better and clean and progressive India, right? They are doing there bit, so should we. Let us all make effort at our individual level to act responsibly in all our deeds and help our country become on the Best countries in the world, let us all join hands to make INDIA, truly Incredible India....

P.S: After seeking his permission, I am putting the name of the PSI who helped me and the police station he is attached to where I was waiting and wrote my observations. The name of this kind man is PSI - A. Gadhave, who is attached to Shaitan chowky Police station, Dadar, Mumbai, Maharshtra, India

My friend is also my new teacher...

Meeting friends after a long time is always fun, isn't it ?

But if they add some value to what you are doing it makes the meeting even better :)

Today was one such day...

A very good friend of mine came down to Mumbai today. He called me and asked if I was in...

I did not have much to do and so when he called in asking about my plans for the day , I immediately asked him to come down to my place.

He came and we caught up on several things. 

He loves trekking and travel and has passion for it, and hence started his own venture and is now doing what he loves doing the most. Yes he too is now doing what I do, following one's passion. The movie #3idiots is my all time favorite and I learned some very good and important lessons for life after watching it, following my passion being one of them. 

My friend is an events organizer at Hyderabad Trekking Club -HTC and does off site programs for corporate clients and also for individuals in small groups on weekends in and around Hyderabad.

Having known this, I asked him how is he managing to get the crowd and all....

Although he had a bus to catch in about two hours, he was kind enough to share with me his learning's. I am very grateful of him for doing that.

In very simple way and just few minutes he showed me how he created his facebook page and promotes it. He gave me a tutorial on this and that helped me in understanding the basic idea behind creating the page and how it helps get a bigger audience :)

He also shared with me his other social media presence where he can be found and he was all over, and now I know his twitter handle is @itzmesrikanth , and click here >>> for his Instagram where he shares the photographs from his travels and events.

I was always media shy, so much so that I do not like posting even my own pics anywhere on social media or in personal collections of even my friends and families.

I started writing as a hobby and it turned into passion which I pursued and this resulted in my writing blog posts. Initially my audience were limited to my few friends and clients through whatsapp, but very recently I did took to social media platform.

I try to share my experience and learning's and want to help others in the situations who find themselves where at some time in life I was in, and the things I did to sail through them and emerge out as a better and wiser and stronger individual. The things which worked for me may or may not work for all but it will give the readers a certain direction to move forward.

So in order to reach out to a larger audience I took to social media and now I have my facebook account and have created a twitter handle too :)

Today my friend helped me with how to create a facebook page tutorial so that I can reach out to even wider audience globally. So yes, do not be surprised if soon you receive note from me about my new facebook page :)

But I first need to do some more researching and exploring and experimenting before I finally launch it.

Keeping oneself open to new learning's not only expands our spectrum but also is a great adventure and fun. And in doing so I can see the child in me again who is ever curios and excited to know more.

The journey so far was very exciting and fun, and I look forward for much more adventure and new learning's as I travel this path of life with you all as my fellow traveler's and companions :)

Please leave your comments on this page before leaving this page :) Thank you so much for reading this post and even bigger thank you for sharing this post with your folks.

P.S : Do watch this video in case you want to find out how to figure out your calling. I loved seeing this video.

Source: Priya Kumar youtube channel

#Studentoflife #friends #love #teacher