Nano Fiction 13 : Can't Unlove You

People say, 'Love is blind.' I totally disagree. Infatuation is blind, love is all-seeing and accepting. Love is seeing all flaws and still accepting them. It is accepting their bad habits and mannerisms, still making it work. Love is recognizing all their insecurities and fears and understanding your role is to comfort.

Love is not fragile like infatuation, love will not shatter when life is imperfect, it will instead strengthen if it is real.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much you fought or how little you talked, if you're certain that he/she is the only person in the universe who could make you feel loved even with their silence - you shouldn't give up at any cost!

Besides, I feel there are some people you can't un-love. Even if God shows you their true color over and over again, you continue to paint a different picture; because you cannot see them in the wrong light ever. You only love and love such people. It doesn't matter what they've said or haven't done because you are going to love them anyway. There is going to be that soft spot in your heart for them, a feeling of warmth that will overtake you every time you will think of them. You just can't help loving them. Who said love is complicated? Love is simple, it requires no reason to thrive.

Nano Fiction 12 : Moving On

First of all, this is my 260th blogpost. I am so glad to have touched this milestone. I never had any idea when I started blogging, that I would reach here with more than 1.5 lakh pageviews! I feel so happy to be doing what I do.

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Today I will talk about 'moving on'. This means different to different people. For some it can mean that after you end a relationship, give yourself some time, and then move over back to any of your old 'ex' or some new person. Or for some it can mean - try as much to save a relation, if it doesn't work, accept that you do not have a forever with some people and things are not going to change, then you try to stay happy in the happiness of the person you loved and decide to give your entire life for that person, because you know you can never emotionally invest the same with anybody else ahead.

Basically, everyone is different and everyone copes with different things in different ways.

For the people belonging to the first category, it may be a regular routine to get over somebody and 'move on'. But the second category, abides by all the promises they made during the relationship and stick to the fact that - "I have no future with anyone except that one person who is now gone. And it's okay. I can live alone." What breaks these people who dwell on relationships for long is when the person for whom they are ready to sacrifice is the fastest to move on.

The first category of people move on for different reasons - they cannot handle loneliness and want to fill that space ASAP or they are too weak and want a shoulder to cry on or maybe even for their physical needs or parental pressure. Some people can be cold and heartless. Such kind of people never really invested emotionally in you. Often these kind of people do not want to wallow to the pain and sulk, hence rebound, and options are easily available in a digital world like ours nowadays.

The speed in which a man moves from a breakup to a new amorous attachment is directly proportional to the pain he's feeling -- the deeper the hurt, the quicker the hook up. So if you see your ex in the arms of another within days of your breakup, remember 'IT'S STILL OKAY, though not justified. It is his/her way of coping with it - however cheap a way to mend the broken heart.' With that understanding in place, it is perfectly reasonable to go home and cut his/her head out of all the photos of him/her you own, and incinerate them in your barbecue. *winks*

Here's the 12th Nano Fiction. Happy reading.

e-commerce Trends For Kids #FlipkartKids

Last Saturday, IndiBlogger hosted its last blogger meet of 2015! We met one last time this year to share a few drinks and have some fun at Blue Frog, Mumbai. Just loved the sitting arrangement and the ambiance there.

The IndiBlogger team had a quick introduction, followed by a talk by Kalpana - a parent blogger. Later, Chota Bheem and Flipkart team members took over to share their thoughts on the e-commerce trends that are changing the way people shop for their kids. I clicked a snap with the very-famous-among-children 'Chota Bheem'! Check it out!

Various bloggers shared their views on the e-commerce trends that are changing the way people shop for their kids.

I feel, kids these days are super smart and cannot be lured by simple things. Hence, the way people shop for their children has changed too. Kids these days are very much fashion conscious and aware of the latest trends. Hence, online shopping comes to the rescue and saves you a lot of hustle and bustle. Order 'trending' stuff for your children and if there are quality issues, size issues or simply if your kid is unhappy with it, you can change them with easy returns policy on Flipkart! Technology has made things this simple.

My 10 year old nephew already adds the stuff he wants his parents to buy for him into the Flipkart shopping cart, can you imagine, that's how smart kids have become with these e-commerce trends coming up in market!

In light with these changing trends, our team of bloggers performed an Ad called #FlipkartSanta where each one of us covered the different ages of a child and their specific requirements at every age.

Flipkart has launched the 'Li'l Star, India's Biggest Online Kids' #FlipkartKids Store on 19th December, 2015 with nearly thousand national and international brands, awesome isn't it? Makes shopping for your little ones so comfy and convenient. You do not need to go store to store searching for the right outfit/toys/books and so much more for your kids. You just need an internet connection and vroom you go! Take your kid along and browse until you get the best deal on Flipkart from toys to clothing to accessories, shoes, books, bags, and a lot more.

Source: Indiblogger

Personally I love Flipkart and now that it has a special range for kids, it has become so very easy to buy stuff for the kids in the family. Kids are the most choosy creatures!

With the launch of Flipkart Li’l Stars I am looking forward to pampering my little cousins with an amazing range of products from brands like Fisher Price, Lego, Chota Bheem, Disney, Barbie and other international brands that are just a click away. See the image below to get an idea of what I am talking about!

Source: Indiblogger

Humari Adhuri Kahani

Off late, I have started to realize that I can glorify pain. We do not realize the power that pain and loneliness give us. Some of my best written pieces are when I was not in a happy mood. Pain changes you profoundly. Intense, debilitating, saddening emotions often bring out great words. Pain works for writers, it really does. And that doesn't mean always that the writer writes about his/her own pain, quite often it is a conglomeration of what they observe around that saddens them.

Pain strikes when you are unprepared and is often glorified through words, songs, written letters. The saddest of songs have but naturally come out when the writer was sad and felt every emotion described in the song.

I don't know if this is a shayari or whatever. Maybe totally random. I love writing in Hindi, but emotions come out only rarely in this language. Today was one such day.

I like being happy, but these days, my colleague, a very senior Professor tells me, "Aayesha, angoor ki tarah raho, kismish mat bano. Smile always! I like you cheerful." She is such a sweetheart, I tell you.

Anyways, I wrote this in a jiffy, but it turned out to be nice, I didn't want to backspace all that I had written, so sharing it on my baby blog, who is ever-listening to my ramblings. This is probably the best I have written in Hindi-Urdu mix: My personal opinion.

"Kaise dil tod ke chale jate ho,

Kaise muh mod lete ho,

Kaise keh dete ho behrehmi se, "Mujhse koi pyaar nahi karta",

Areh meri taraf dekha toh hota!

Mujhe uljhan me daal ke,

Kaise khush reh lete ho?
Niwale yahan nigle nahi jaate,
Aur tum wahan dawatein karte ho?

Bichadna hi tha toh mile hi kyun?

Haath chodna hi tha, toh thaama hi kyun?

Sheeshe ke the kya sab vaade,

Toot gaye ek hawa ke jhonke se?

Tumhe yaad karna galat hai,

Fir kyun yeh galti achi lagti hai?

Bin bole, tumse baatein karna,

Kyun lagta hai sahi?

Guzara tha jo sath waqt,

Sadiyan thi ya kuch pal?

Kabhi lagta hai unn me zindagi jee lun,

Aur kabhi lagta hai kuch lamhe the, buss lamhe the woh!

Na bhulo mujhe,

Na jamne do dhool meri yaadon par,

Main toh dhoop ki kirne banke bhi sataungi tumhe,

Baarish mein bhigaungi,

Behti hawaon se baal sehlaungi.

Tumhare shabdon se toh pyar tha hi,

Apni khamoshiyon se bhi pyar karna seekha diya tumne!

Teri kami bhi hai,

Aur tumse hi poori bhi hoon,

Tumhare sath jeena shayad mushkil hota,

Tumhare bina jeena namumkin hai.

Bahana meri asthiyon ko kishton me, harr sheher me,

Hai yeh iltejaa,

Wo kabhi akela na mehsoos karein kahin,

Mere fanaah hone k baad.

Kabhi lagta hai saara likh du,

Jo hota hai mehsoos,

Par kaagaz reh jata hai khaali,

Isse behtar kya karun bayaan mera haal!

Toot ke, bikhar ke, marr toh hum bichadte waqt hi gaye the,

Warna saans lene ko zinda hona thodi hi kehte hai.

Reh gayi humari kahani adhuri,

Jaise hum..."

Book Review #52: The Bestseller She Wrote

ISIN: 978-93-85152-38-2

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Genre: Romance / Drama / Thriller

Publishers: Westland Books

Price: Rs. 295/-

Getting author signed books delivered right at your doorstep is one of the blessings blogging bestows on you.

The novel starts as the story of an aspiring author Shreya, who is from IIM. Shreya right from the beginning appears as a manipulative, ambitious girl who can go to any extent to fulfil her dreams. She exploits Aditya in every sense to publish her book (even if that means sleeping with him) and turns his life upside down. Aditya is bewitched by Shreya.

Adultery causes chaos in Aditya's household while Shreya is busy finalizing her manuscript. It is when Maya, Aditya's devoted wife is on the deathbed that Aditya realizes that he has wronged her by indulging with Shreya, and seeks her forgiveness while deciding that sleeping with Shreya hasn't, in any way, hampered the love for her almost dead wife. The turmoil of a wife when she finds out her husband is having an affair is portrayed in a very emotive manner. The part where Maya gets Ebola has been explained in a good way too.

As Aditya puts an end to his adulterous relationship with Shreya, she doesn't take it very well and poses a threat to his writing career as well.

The characters are very neatly etched out. The story brings out the fragility of human relationships beautifully. From the plot to the characters to the dialogues everything is just perfectly served!

Ravi Subramanian is an amazing thriller writer and his books start doing magic right from the first page itself. Kudos to him for venturing out into something so drastically different from his previous works and yet managing to do it with such an amazing ease and perfection.

With so many writers aspiring to become ‘Best Selling Authors’, this book gives an insight into the Best-Selling game and guides the reader regarding the process of writing, editing, publishing and marketing the book.

This book is definitely a thumbs up from me. It is pretty light and easy read and keeps you hooked to the climax too. It is a corporate saga of love, betrayal, friendship, vengeance, dreams, desires, love, lust and longing all wrapped into one. 

I found the book interesting also because it provides a man’s viewpoint on extramarital affairs. Many books that deal with this theme are women-centric and dwell on the fate of the woman. What happens when a middle-aged guy falls for a woman, loses his carefully constructed family and world and wants to end it all because he loves his wife? What can he do when he realizes he is being used, yet is still in love with the ‘other’ woman?

There are minor grammatical errors that could have been avoided. Overall, the story is a potboiler, with the right mix characters, conversations, twists and turns.  The chapters are short and engross the reader, making it difficult to put the book down. It definitely makes the reader a better person by the end.

I am waiting for the Bollywood movie release of this book!

Rating: 4/5

P.S: Special thanks to BlogAdda for sending me an author signed copy of this book! I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Nano Fiction 11 : Incompatibility

Sometimes, two people who cannot live without each other are made to live without each other. People are not bad, I would say, situations are.

Together you could have been exactly what the other needs, but then life is a bitch at times.

It is hard to think about them ever being with someone else. Feelings are consuming and intoxicating.

The fact is: we are finding ourselves with big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low morale, secured rights and diminished civility. We are excelling at making a living but too often failing at making a life.

We celebrate our prosperity but yearn for purpose. We cherish our freedoms but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger. The hunger of belonging.

Communication, understanding to one another, the give and take is very important to sustain a relationship. Incompatibility should never be a reason for relationships to fail, because all humans are different and hence incompatible. Communication is the bridge between them.

We forgive ourselves for so many mistakes, but fail to forgive that one person who wrongs us once. We need more of communication, more forgiveness, more selfless love!

Addicted to writing, so here's the next Nano Fiction. Happy reading!

Nano Fiction 10: Treasure The Words

I have observed that quite a lot of people do not take breakups in a way they should. I mean no one wants to experience a break up, but once it happens, I see many people crib or bitch about the other person. Whatever that person has done (actions) or not done (inactions), whatever be the reason of separation, it is painful - if you were REALLY involved in the relationship.

But what I do not appreciate is when people roam about explaining others in person or hinting on social media sites - what wrong the other person did, clarifying their own sides and explaining how right they are. To me, it is a sign of an extremely weak person. I don't understand that if it caused you so much disturbance or pain, why didn't you talk about it to the person who caused it there and then? Why go about defaming anyone or showing how clean your side is, once everything is over!? If you know you are so right, why clarify? Don't you think the other person also has the option of doing what you're doing? But they don't choose to defame you or talk ill about you in public- ever wondered why? Because they truly love you. 

And btw, who in the world anyways wants to know your devdas kind of stories? Half of them are happy you have sorrows and half are not interested - they only oblige to hear you out of friendship.

When people do such things, I wonder if there ever was love between the two of them!? And if they do wrong to you, doesn't mean you have to give it back to them. Hold on! Love is never about revenges. Khalil Gibran says, "Between what is said and not meant, and what is meant and not said - most of the love is lost."

Ignorance is a bliss at times. Flow with what life has in store for you, don't try controlling every outcome!

There are so many beautiful instances in every relationship! Why do people always remember the bad things? You might have spent some good times too. When you both have done 99 good things for each other, why do you remember the only one thing he/she didn't do?

Not for anyone else's sake, but for yourself, remember the good and let go of the bad. So that you are free of negative energies. Karma will do the justice to whoever was wrong. If you had given up then, GIVE IT UP TOTALLY even now, from your wildest thoughts too - G.I.V.E  I.T. U.P.

There's no point in going round and round about the same things again and again. You hinder your personal growth. And it does not ever take one hand to clap. So it's better that both sides reflect and think what their own flaws have been, rather than playing blame games! Common, we ought to be mature enough to handle such things!

I write this Nano Fiction so that people start concentrating on the happy things in a relationship than wrong ones. Enjoy and appreciate it while it lasts. Concentrate on little things they do for you and the words that people tell you. Treasure the words. Because people may eventually change. Their good words don't change. They remain as they are in the history.

Learn to handle your loss. Be positive and be thankful to the wonderful times spent together. Be mature enough to understand the fact that we don't have a forever with certain people and their time does get over soon. Take them as a lesson or a blessing or both and look ahead.

Whether to choose to hook up again or stay single, life still offers a lot more than a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a wife or a husband. Look for it!

Choose to remember the good. Enjoy little moments. Stop chasing people who don't care for you, or your apologies or your goodwill.

Leaving the readers with a lot of positivity, happiness and here's the Nano Fiction - all full of goodness and sweetness.

Today I am reminded of a very beautiful song "Main Na Bhoolungi.. Inn kasmon ko, Inn rasmo ko, Inn rishtey naaton ko!"

Kill them with love, I say! ;)