THE OTHER SIDE

The Red Lipstick

Martha Trump a special investigating agent of crime branch was looking at her case files with pride.

Whether it was an enigmatic robbery or a gruesome murder nothing remained unsolved in her career spanning ten years.

'It feels good to have 100% record in crime solving, err... actually 99%,' she said dejectedly seeing the last page which has details of red lipstick serial killer.

'She has killed twenty five men without any evidence and clue, brilliant,' she smiled cunningly.

'But these men irritate too much,' she applied red lipstick to lure her twenty sixth prey.

This post is linked to Five Sentence Fiction(lipstick) and Three Word Wednesday #440 (enigmatic,gruesome,irritate).

Book Review : Hooked,Lined & Single

Book Review : Hooked, Lined & Single

Hooked, Lined & Single is written by Rashmi Kumar and published by Srishti Publications. I have received this book for Blog-A-Ton - 55 winning post The Monsoon Pain. This book is an fictional account of a girl's efforts to find a right match after a failed marriage.

Cover : It fails in the sensual look it is trying to give. Although the hints at loneliness in narrator's life from both aspects emotionally and physically is conveyed through this picture. This I think not one of the best to go with the story but an apt one.

Plot: A divorcee author in her 30's Alafia Singh is desperate to find a perfect match and is taking help of a matrimonial site for the same. The many men that came in her life through this means only add to misery to her all ready troubled life. She was used by those men either sexually or emotionally thus to hurt her from the core. After her younger sister's marriage she decided to take a firm decision on her marital status. The story revolves around the path she took to find a right destination for her.

Highs : The rawness in the narration impressed me. The character of open minded independent girl came out superbly with the narrative. The marriage scene of Alafia's sister presents the true image of Indian marriages. All men characters were different from each other giving a humor to the narrative in anecdotes about them.

Lows : The story was stagnant and moved an inch only in the end to give a one line message of the book. I feel the narrative was coming back to the same point after each change of scene without adding much to the story line. The author seems confused in building the plot. The way it ended lives the reader cheated. Even philosophically it has not much to offer.

Verdict : A good read to know an open minded independent girl's psyche who is in her 30's and is a divorcee.

Rating : I give it 1 out of 5.

You can buy this book Here.

The Great Indian Terrorist Tamasha

Indian Army catching an alive terrorist isn't a new thing. They have caught 44 Pakistani terrorist last year which are in their custody and under interrogation. But why is arresting a young terrorist between 16 to 20 years of age in Udhampur (J & K) became a matter of spectacle for our news channels? In a race to show themselves as fast they made the mockery of such an important issue. Have you heard or sea Americans coming out of their sleeves for killing of Osama -bin- Laden? No they don't because this hampers your image as a serious fighter to terrorism.

Some cabinet ministers also tweeted it as the second terrorist caught alive after Ajmal Kasab during 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks giving wrong signals in the public domain. The trolls on twitter got an opportunity to target every Muslim of the nation for this arrest. A conspiracy to polarize the masses through this incident appears eminent. The hate mongers must understand that those Muslims who denied Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Two Nation Theory by deciding to reside in India have nothing to do with Pakistan.

Experts condemned the television debates which tried to arouse people's sentiment through their loud coverage of the incident. They said that India should take this as an opportunity to pressurize Pakistan to admit the use of their land in promoting terrorist activities against India. The more evidence of Pakistan sponsored terrorism would bring down their credibility in international arena. The small arrest of a terrorist by villagers required an applaud for those brave hearts and not encouragement of mislead youths by showing his fearless visuals 24 hours on TV screens.

The present government's different statements at different level shows their confused state in dealing with Pakistan issue. Sometimes they exchange gifts with them, sometimes sings phrases of '56 inch chest' and advocates military action on Pakistan's soil, sometimes push for talks, sometimes says no talks without confirmation on terrorists and so on. This attitude has also lead to reemergence of separatist forces in Kashmir with higher intensity and increase influence of ISIS among Kashmiri militant groups. There is a need in government to rethink about their Pakistan policy.

Diary Confessions - 9 : Time Machine

15th Feb, 2015

Dear Diary,

My father sold that blue sofa to a scrap dealer thinking that it was unlucky for me because I have became lazy since he bought it. How silly he thinks, it wasn't unlucky but so soft that I always fell asleep whenever I sat on it to study. My laziness was the reason of my bad grades and not that sofa. But now I am determined to perform well in my coming board exam and will definitely make him proud.

##########

2nd Aug, 2015

Dear Diary,

You are witness to my father's brutality after I failed board exams. I think he is not wrong, I am a useless fellow who has ruined his own life in laziness. All my friends make mockery of me. I can't bear that insult anymore. I am ending my life by diving in this river.

##########

3rd Aug, 2015

Dear Diary,

I was never sure to see that day but God have a different plan for me. I should have heard that old man with steel leg who came suddenly from somewhere just before I was going to dive and said that the dive would make me handicapped. He was right I have lost my leg and also my father who died of a heart attack reading your yesterday's page. I have to change my destiny one day.

##########

2nd August, 2055

Dear Diary,

Wow! My time machine is ready after dedicating thirty years of my life in it. I have no family, no friends and only one leg just for an incident that happened forty years ago on that fateful day. Everything was lost by my silly behavior. Perhaps that blue sofa had some bad spirits which washed all sense from my brain and gave me this life of misery. Today I will go back and help my past self to change my destiny.

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Book Review : There's Something About You

Book Review : There's Something About You.

There's Something About You is a fictional love story by Yashodhara Lal. I have received this book published by Harper Collins India from Indibloggers. Apart from being the love story this book try to find some common sensical solutions to some nonsensical problems.

Cover : Full marks to the cover. It hints to a love story along with creating a mystery around their characters. Sea beach scene indicts a coastal city which is perfect to refer the city of dreams Mumbai.

Plot : A thirty year old single girl Trishna Saxena aka Trish lived in Mumbai with her Alzheimer suffering father and a nagging mother. She was content with her job in a leading publication which suddenly fired her from her job living her helpless in that big city. Unable to get a new job, she expressed her emotional and mental outburst in a part time assignment which changed her life for ever. Sahil entered her life at that moment and started easing her life situations. She found him connected to an incident happened in her life. How things turned out in between them? How she solves her friend Akansha's problem? The course of event changes to give readers an engrossing read to the relieved climax.

Highs : I like the narrative style of the book. The question and answer part of the book is interesting and really made you think how silly we behave in dealing with some simple problems in our life. The book never bores you even at a single point thanks to the well maintained pace in the narration. The climax is good and satisfactory for me. The characters are believable and you feel a connect with them as story progresses.

Lows : Half of the book revolves around only Trish which I think is an unnecessary stretching of the narrative without any interesting happenings at that time. I also missed some romantic moments between Trish and Sahil. Things are somewhat predictable.

Verdict : Pick your copy soon if you want to read a different kind of love story while discovering a fresh look at life during your book reading journey.

Rating : I would give it 4 out of 5.

To Be Hanged Till Death!

Today (30th July 2015), 1993 Bombay bombings accused Yakub Memon hanged at Nagpur Central Jail after all legal remedies for his release or mercy failed in the court and with the president. The demand for extension of the date to examine the newly found facts from ex RAW secretary of Pakistan wing B. Raman's article was also rejected by Chief Justice in late night hearing. B. Raman in his 2007 article that published few days back in rediff.com claimed that he brought back Yakub after a deal with him and his hanging would tarnish India's credibility in handling such situations in future. The facts are yet to examine which encouraged Asaduddin Owaisi and others to raise doubts in his execution.

The situation worsened when Twitter trolls labeling all those supporting his mercy plea as traitor and anti-national using abusive and derogatory words for all Muslims. We live in a democratic country where we all have right to question the establishment and judicial system. I am not a legal expert but still I can point out few loopholes in the investigation and prosecution process.

Why was his family accompanying him when CBI arrested him at New Delhi Railway Station? It is possible only if he has surrendered with his family.
Why he was carrying a briefcase of evidences against his brother Tiger Memon and prime accused Dawood Ibrahim.
Why TADA revoked in Sanjay Dutt's case to reduce his imprisonment from life to only 5 years but Yakub's death penalty was granted according to TADA procedure. ( Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

He was hanged after 22 years in imprisonment while others involved in similar charges in this case were either released or granted life imprisonment . On research you will notice that rioters who killed hundreds and thousands of innocent people just on the basis of one's religion which also spread disharmony among the people of the country never got capital punishment. Why Tamil Nadu assembly in Rajiv Gandhi's assassinates case and Punjab assembly in Beant Singh's (Former Chief Minister of Punjab) killer's case passed the resolution to revoke their death penalty.

The bias in police procedure and judicial hearings can be judged by the number of inmates in Indian jails. More than 65% people in Indian Jails are Muslim some of whom without any proven guilt. Those arrested in Malegaon blast case, Hyderabad Medina Masjid Blast case, Ajmer blast case on the basis of suspicion were all Muslims while later investigations revealed the hand of Hindu fanatic groups. Mere raising the questions on some one's death penalty makes you a traitor only because the accused is a Muslim. Why his hanging has made into a national issue if government was not looking at politics behind his hanging? An atmosphere of unnecessary tension was spread around the nation, Modi government should handle his execution like UPA did with Kasab and Afzal Guru. The doubts in judgement are raised because of the policies and behavior of the ruling party against the minorities. What they want to signify by hanging him on his birthday?

A judge breaks the nib of pen he used to sign the death warrant as a mark of disgust from this inhumanly decision. 140 countries in the world are against capital punishment and India whose judicial system is based on repentance and realization of crime than the penalty is rejoicing a death. If it is for justice to the victims of 1993 blasts then make this procedure faster as victims of Uphar Cinema Tragedy, Hashimpura massacre, 1984 Sikh riot, 2002 Gujrat riot, 2013 Muzaffarnagar riot, Malegaon blasts, Ajmer blasts, Samjhauta Express blast, Nirbhaya Gang Rape Case Delhi, etc are also waiting for the justice.

Good Bye Chacha Kalam!

Hasti hui surat teri sabno bhari aankhein,

tujhse mili har seekh har dum yaad rahegi

Smile on your face, dream in your eyes,

We will remember always your each advice.

Chacha or Uncle is used after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam or A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for being the only person after him who loved and cared for children. Mr Kalam who died last night (27.07.2015) was as inspirational in life as in death. He wished to die while working among the young generation which was granted by the almighty as he died while delivering a speech among students of IIM Shillong.

I remembered him as the president who changed the way we looked at that office. Before he became President (11th President of India), this office was merely a decorative position granted under constitution to replace the Governor General position of British India. He chose this place to become closer to the people of India. He didn't sit in office to enjoy the comforts of presidency but visited different parts of the country to interact with students and public thus to impart in them his vision of India of the future. He always remained active for the cause of children's education which he believed is the first step towards change. He wrote many books which are inspirational and motivational. He was a pioneer in developing missile technology in India. He was the brain behind the Agni, Trishool and other such missiles we have with our army that's why he is also known as Missile-Man.

The news of his sudden demise was shocking and painful at the same time. May Allah grant him the best place in the heaven. Although his lost is irreparable for the country but the legacy he left behind in the form of his works, his books and his life is an example of positiveness for all of us which will continue to instill hope and energy in the generations to come. He was also the best example of communal unity as he even practiced Hindu rituals in spite being a Muslim. I used to say him as 'The Einstein of India' for his looks. He was a simple man who believed in practice and not privilege. Good Bye Chacha Kalam may the journey to the heaven would be as satisfactory for you as the journey of your life.

Delhi Ka King Kaun?

Bhiku Matre didn't find any competition when he claimed himself the king of Mumbai in the movie Satya but here in Delhi the situation is different and the public of Delhi is confused about 'Who is the king of Delhi?' The problem they never faced since 1993 the time Delhi was granted partial statehood and held its first assembly election. We never heard news about tiff between elected CM (Chief Minister) and Central Government appointed LG (Lieutenant Governor). Their fights have made public servants directionless and people of Delhi hopeless.

Arvind Kejriwal who doesn't fit in the public known definition of political leader never in his election campaign speeches explained that he required full statehood before working on his poll promises. Either he was unaware of the procedure of working in Delhi or he was just luring voters at that time with fake promises. I am not saying that he is not doing anything actually I want to praise him for increase in education and health budget but the scenario he has created to expose the wrong doings of Modi government is not suitable for a person sitting on CM's chair. I am sure there are many better ways to handle the situation than to ridicule a constitutional post.

Najeeb Jung who was known as a sincere educationist and bureaucrat before being LG of Delhi has now reduced him as the puppet of Central government. It is an open secret that his actions are directed by Home Ministry and whatever hurdles he has created in functioning of an elected government are political motivated. He must resolve the differences amicably because at the end people matters the most in a democracy, the decisions taken by Mr Kejriwal wasn't for his benefit but for the benefit of the people of Delhi and raising objections to his every action is demeaning a constitutional post in people's eye.

I am personally not in the favor of decorative posts of LG's, Governor of states and President as they don't serve any help in the functioning of government instead I believe in a people powered body at that level with more powers to sign and decide for the bills send to them thus to make the process more democratic with the involvement of citizen. Anyways this is another issue of discussion now both the center and state government must understand that only people of the country are King in a democracy and their interest shouldn't hurt in their battle of supremacy. I don't understand why Narender Modi who fought a case against the Governor for unnecessary interference in government functioning as a CM of Gujarat now believes that Lt. Governor is the government in Delhi. Only Delhihites are Kings/Queens of Delhi.

Delhi's Serial Killer

Search for a missing girl in South Delhi on July 14, 2015 revealed a much sinister story of sexual assault and killings of minors aged between 2 to 10 at the hands of 24-year old laborer Ravinder Kumar. After discovering the dead body of missing girl in an empty house police arrested him through a driving licence of a person whom vehicle was stolen by him before abducting the girl.

Later in police interrogation he confessed to other such crimes not only in Delhi but also in Noida, Badaun, Hathras and Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. Everyday tolls of his victims are increasing and till now he has confessed the sexual assault and killing of 30 children. What is more strange is the fact that he remained out of police's reach in all these incidents and when arrested by police in 2014 for assaulting and dumping a boy in water tank (who didn't die), he was released by police for lack of evidence.

All thirty children sexually assaulted and killed by him belonged to the poor labor class which remained the reason for less media coverage and police inaction in all these incidents. The poor parents couldn't pressurize the police and the society in a way middle and higher class did even in the petty cases of misbehaving with them. This case has exposed the inequality in our police system. The height of the inefficiency of police could also be judged from a case of assaulting and killing of a girl child in Hathras, U.P confessed by Ravinder Kumar in which U.P police had closed the case with the arrest of that girl's father and filing the charge-sheet against him in the court.

It is also hard to digest that police investigations in all these thirty cases brought out nothing concrete regarding these cases. Why Ravinder did these crimes is a matter of another debate but how he escaped them all so easily is a matter of concern. The Delhi police who ranked itself among the best police force in the world and who is now patting its back for arresting Ravinder Kumar is unable to explain his freedom even after thirty killings which he has admitted so far. The toll may increase further as he speak more about his life and crime until then thank god for this precious life and pray for safety of children from such psycho killers.

Healthy Diet Is Right

Image source Indiblogger brandcover

The saying health is wealth is not just a phrase but a fact. If you are not healthy you can't do anything productive and even if you are doing something good in your unhealthy condition then most of your money would utilize in buying medicines and other health related things for you thus decreasing your wealth. Moreover healthy body thinks healthy, you remain active throughout the day without any complaints of lethargy. A healthy body takes away laziness from us.

Healthy body comes from a balanced diet and regular exercise. A balanced diet is one which gives our body the required nutrients in the required quantity. A diet mixed with fruits, green vegetables, dry fruits, honey, etcetra forms a balanced diet according to the requirement of a particular body type. When this balance breaks and we also stop doing regular exercise fat started accumulating around our body making us unhealthy which resulted in different ailments. As soon as we gain weight we start thinking about the ways to get rid of it and the first think that comes to our mind is the crash diet. Crash diet means a weight-loss diet undertaken to have rapid result. Although it do reduce weight suddenly but in the long run it is not beneficial.

When we go on a crash diet we stop eating which resulted in sudden weight-loss but in the long run our weight becomes stable after a certain point without further reduction. The energy lost during crash diet makes us sleepy and uninterested in any physical activity, skin glow reduces, dark circles started forming around eyes and craving for food also increases so when we see food items it becomes difficult to resist compelling us to eat more than our requirement. So instead of losing weight we gain some extra pounds and with crash diet idea of dieting got crashed. Crash diet may weaken bones, cause hemoglobin deficiency, etc if someone pursue it for a longer period due to less intake of required nutrients in our body

A proper way to have a healthy body is a balanced diet and proper exercise. Honey Diet is a good alternative as a diet plan. You can start your day with drinking lukewarm lemon water with 2 tsps of Dabur honey in it and substitute your sugar with honey in other food items you eat throughout the day. Dabur Honey has introduced some recipes and diet plans on their site to promote healthy living. Moreover honey's health and nutritional values are known to the world from ages. Samples of honey in Egyptian pyramid proves their use in the ancient age. It has sugar in its simplest form which dissolves in the body easily unlike processed sugar which accumulates in the body increasing body fat and body weight which makes us unhealthy.

Surf it All! Surf it Fast!

Image from Indiblogger brandcover

We Indians love cricket more than anything else in this world. We plan our vacations according to cricket season, we give marriage dates keeping in mind the cricketing season, skip office, postpone family get-together and even break promises for an important match. I am not surprised to say that we Indians eat cricket, sleep cricket and breathe cricket. Cricket moves in our veins faster than the blood. Accordingly we feel uneasiness if for certain reason we are unable to see a match. Our attention get diverted from a particular thing, person or occasion to cricket. We don't want to miss any match at any cost and thus knowingly or unknowingly hurt our closed ones with our behaviors.

Our love for cricket is so much that we feel almost impossible to miss a match but at times we are unable to do so and wish to have something which keep us updated about the match. We carry mobiles everywhere we go and if something keep us updated on cricket matches through our smartphones then we want nothing else in this world. But the time taken in buffering the video or in opening web pages our enthusiasm got struck like the video in the mobile. The only way to stay connected to the match while not missing out on all the little things that make life worth while is our smartphone which would surf fast. But the speed provided by our network operators is not enough to experience things in a way we desire. We can balance both the other important things in life and the cricket only if we could get match scores anywhere anytime without disturbing others.

UC browser has brought us a solution for this. A browser which is faster, easier to use with seamless transition has a feature called UC Cricket dedicated for cricket fans, connecting them to the match wherever they are. It provides latest scores and cricketing news in the real time without need to search it from Google or anywhere else. It has important match videos to see when you are not connected to someone important.

Life gives few loved ones in our life and its our duty to value them. In our love for cricket we sometimes didn't cherish their presence in our life and usually forget or miss or postpone important things just to watch a cricket match. In today's smart world we now can manage both with our hand- held devices which are as much part of our lives as anything else. So install UC browser and click on UC cricket to keep everyone happy. UC cricket displays mach updates in your notification panel so that you just need a glance at your phone to know the score and satisfy your cricket love. UC browser also helps you to explore many other app and services much faster from any other browser. #YuviSurfUC and we should also surf it.

Thief

He felt a hand on his shoulder while trying to open the locker.

His dad gave him a tight slap when he turned around to see who was behind him.

"Scoundrel! Who have taught you to steal."

"Remember dad , you treacherously took grandpa's signature to transfer all his property in your name that was my first lesson in theft."

His obedient son's raspy reply left him in somber to think about a thief in him.

This post is linked to Five Sentence Fiction (Thief) and Three Word Wednesday #434 (obedient,raspy,somber) .

Save These Species

Nature has created life on earth in such a way that everyone here has a role to play whether they are humans, trees, insects, birds or animals. There role are distributed in such a way to maintain a balance in the ecosystem. Humans being the most intelligent of all species in their quest to know to discover and to have more unintentionally or intentionally disturbed this natural balance which is resulting in extinction of some species. While we can't do anything to bring back the extinct species we can do many things to preserve and save the endangered species not for their sake but also for our own sake.

Ashok Mahindra in his book Capturing Wildlife Moments of India have photographed some endangered species of India to highlight the need of conserving them.

1. Bengal Tiger : What a PM is to India the Tiger is to the Jungle. He is the ultimate king. We have few tigers left in the country thanks to shrinking forests and increase illegal hunting. Although there are efforts to conserve them but still the threat of there extinction is not over. We all knew the famous story of formation of Sahara desert the mass hunting of carnivores increased number of herbivores resulting in eating up of all greenery of that area which later became reason for their own deaths when a green forest turned into a desert. Conservation of tiger is necessary to maintain the balance of nature and to restrict the extinction of other species of flora and fauna.

2. Gharial : Indian crocodile species is known as Gharial. They mainly eat small fish,insects and frogs. They are among the critically endangered species. Their conservation is must to save them from extinction. This species is beautiful example of nature's way of maintaining the balance. They are found in the regions favorable for fish growth, since their main diet is fish they keep check on the numbers of fish thus maintaining balance of that particular water body.

3. Indian Peacock : Only those who have seen a dancing peacock knew what others are missing. The joy felt by peacock in rain transfers to the onlookers with much high magnitude feeling their hearts with joy and positive energy. Their extinction would mean the end of that pleasure bestowed by nature on us. The peacock regarded as national bird of India need to be conserved for its beauty and purity. Its numbers are degrading in spite it being auspicious for many traditions which is alarming and needs our urgent attention.

Moreover these species are unique to India. There identities are associated with our country, when one see them one remembers India. It is for this reason that their conservation required collective efforts of the nation. Each one of us must understand their value and further instill love for them in our generations to come.

” I am participating in the Save the Species contest for the book “Capturing Wildlife Moments in India” in association with Saevus Wildlife India, read the reviews for the book ‘Capturing Wildlife Moments in India’ here “