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Some times when less is not ok, for me

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu


If you are following me on Twitter or FB then you will know how incredibly mad I am for this man. And lately I’m in that zone where I want Hrithik almost every where. I get into these modes often and then get back to youtubing some previous interviews or some random videos. I often get an urge to write a post on him, I have already written quite a few and am sure I’ll write even more. Now this is not a recent crush/ following/ being a fan or anything it’s a 14 year long nice feeling of watching an actor grow and feeling nice about the person.


Now why I’m writing this post is not to tell you how I feel crazy sometimes or how good he is (that’s what I think) or like another fan post. It’s to do with how crossed I am with Fox Studios. Like you know BangBang, his next movie, is due for release on 2nd October which is exactly 1 month from now and I am finding this studio house is not promoting their film at all… I don’t have a problem with the promotion or the business part, I am watching it anyways. But what do we have so far just a teaser and 1 song that’s it!!!! Tomorrow they are going to release the second song though. But isn’t it too less and too slow?? For me it is. Fox Studio, looks like, is too busy with Finding Fanny and some other film but please our Duggu darling is part of that one-film-a-year club. A HR fan gets to see him on screen so less anyways and just before the launch of this movie there is nothing, almost. 

I heard PVR had started Pre-Booking for BangBang and I thought I’ll pick up my first day first show ticket, 2nd Oct being a holiday. But their site gives me option only for 4th and 5th Oct – which I have no idea why? But I’m pretty sure I’ll watch it on 2nd itself, even if it means I have to go to a stand alone theater. Actually I have not been in a stand alone theater since 2006!!! I dont even know if any stand alone theater in Bangalore screens any Hindi movie, but let’s see. 

Now this is my current favorite song and no prizes for guessing. It’s on loop in my car, on my iphone and also in the laptop (for those times when you want to shut yourself at work and want to concentrate). Weird right? But I do it quite a lot, if I have to concentrate on some work I always keep some music/song in the background playing to stream line my thoughts. I am embedding the video of it here for you to listen, if you already have not caught it on Youtube. 



Last evening when i was driving back home, I was sitting at this traffic signal in a place called Koramangala. When ever this song is playing I get into my dancing mood and I was dancing in my seat. Head bobbing, and totally grooving for about 130 seconds (that’s how long the signal makes us wait each time). It’s only after sometime that I realized people were staring at me thinking I was some mad person who was enjoying sitting at the red signal!!! Now tell me what do I do if the songs so cool and the actor in it is Hrithik looking and dancing at his best! I say to hell with you onlookers, I’ll enjoy anyway. 

Are you one of those who’s crazy about someone? 


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Book ReviewReviews

Book Review – The Devil’s Gate: An Impossible Journey by Deepak Kripal

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

Here’s the second book that I read over the long weekend. It’s called The Devil’s Gate by debutante author Deepak Kripal. It’s an adventure fantasy novel with a social message. So let’s see how this read of mine has been.

The Story

The story involves these characters called Katy, Dug & Billy a cat a dog a bird who are sidelined by the humans. Katy the secret agent of United Animals is entrusted to with the mission to travel to the mysterious island – Five Hundred Graves – which is visible only on a full moon night and is under the control of demons. Katy and Dug do not get along well, because of their obvious differences. They need to get permission from the demons for cohabiting in the island. How they reach the island, what is the game by the UA chief have a little thrill offered.


My Thoughts

Debutante author Deepak must be someone who really loves animals, stray ones specially. Because the thoughts with which he has written this novel are quite genuine. Yes we as humans are quite intolerant about other living organisms though we might not admit it. He has expressed the pains and emotions of the animals beautifully. There are sparks of thriller and suspense but I felt it went too long.

Writing style is a little too long with long sentences and is not quite fast paced as you would expect in a thriller. The thought is quite interesting because you don’t see a lot of main stream writers delve in such a topic so a loud shout out from my side to the author.

About The Author

Deepak Kripal is a doctor by profession and a writer out of passion. This is his first novel. He is a well known blogger in the Indian Blogosphere who write poetry at The Original Poetry. SO he is yet another blogger turned author. I am hoping I take that plunge too someday. Should I?

My Rating – 2.75. I think it will be enjoyed by the teens and tweens more.

Book – The Devil’s Gate: An Impossible Journey
Author – Deepak Kripal
Genre – Fantasy Thriller
Publisher – Lead Start Publishing
Published in – Nov 2013
ISBN-13 – 9789383562060
ISBN-10 –9383562064
Pages – 248
Format – Paperback
Price – 175  

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The Book was sent to me by the publisher for a review, the views written here are entirely mine and I try not to be biased. 
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Uncategorized

Long weekend ends

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

Sunday nights are always sad, specially after a long weekend. And more so for me because I have a terrible headache now. 

Anyways I did laze around and caught up with lot of reading. I ended up finishing two books and am on the third one now. 
We had a great weekend with loads of good food, (am I bragging about my own cooking???) hell yeah I am coz hubby told they were all great!!! 

So here’s how I spent my long weekend in the company of books and food. What did you guys do??? 
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Book ReviewReviews

Book Review – Private India by Ashwin Sanghi & James Patterson

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

So in my earlier post I told you about my reading updates. And as I’ll be done I’ll keep posting the reviews. The first one to go is Private India by Ashwin Sanghi & James Patterson. Now Patterson’s the Private series is extremely popular in the west and this collaboration brings Private to India and Ashwin handholds it. So, Private is one of the most secret and discreet investigating agency and Private India is their India chapter. So let’s see how has been the experience.


The Story

A woman is found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room. Santosh Wagh the head honcho of Private India is called upon to solve the murder case along with Mumbai Police. By the time Wagh and his team of experts make any progress on the case another lady is found murdered with similar tell tale signs left by the killer. Before the police or Private investigators can crack anything a serial killer is on the loose and corpses keep piling up across the city. The only common link found across all murders is all victims are women and they are being garroted in the same pattern. The killer leaves signs with every corpse through props but the investigating team cannot pick up his mind. After the murders of a pop star, a film actress, a politician, a judge and a yoga guru the killer’s next victim is one of Privates investigator Nisha. A walk during the Navratri celebrations and a trip to the Asiatic Society library throws a good amount of light on the clues left by the killer. Can Santosh and his team of experts including Jack Morgan, the ex-marine and Private Inc head, solve the puzzle? Can they hunt down the killer before he garrotes Nisha?

My Thoughts

Knowing Ashwin Sanghi’s pervious works I was quite aware the plot will have a reference to religion and mythology. Here however, it’s a mix of ancient mythology, modern day corruption, terrorism, medical advancement et all. The story almost has two plots (which probably was not required). You have this eccentric killer who leaves his victims garroted and tied to props and then you have the ISI plotting to take down Private India. You get all the usual masala from mafias, to religious babas, a corrupt police officer. The plot started off quite well with the murders building up. If you know your mythology well you will get to decipher the clues from the second murder on. I like the way Ashwin intertwines mythology and religion in his works. There are subplots and characters to distract you from zeroing in on the killer, though the killer is present in day light.

But what I didn’t get was the need of the track of the ISI and a terrorist attack alongside. It was okay without it. That is also true for the climax – actually you have two climaxes for the two tracks. This distraction could have been avoided.

Coming to characterizations – Santosh Wagh, the protagonist is an ex- RAW agent who now is the head of Private India. He is weird but brilliant guy trying to cope with his drinking problem and memories of his deceased wife and son. We see the plot unfold through his eyes. Rupesh, the corrupt police officer’s character looks little odd to me, the way he sees and imagines the victims’ corpses. The villain however, in interesting and his way of killing is interesting too. Now I don’t want to mention all the characters and give out the story. Jack Morgan, however, was finding it hard to fitted here but how can we have a Private book without him?

Things that I liked: The thrill of murders, the clues left by the killer, the sophistication of the forensic science, sequence at the Tower of Silence. I somehow liked the killer more than anything else. Yes I like these dark stuffs.

About the author:

James Patterson is a well known name in the thriller genre and is the best-seller author for the Private series, Alex Cross series, Women’s Murder Club series and many more. This is his first collaboration with any Indian author. 

Ashwin Sanghi on the other hand is a well-known Indian author who specializes in mixing mythology and Hinduism in his thrillers. Some of his noted works are The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key. I had reviewed The Krishna Key earlier and you could read it here. Here he does a good job in building up the murders and the references to mythology.


My rating: I would give 4 out of 5. Overall it was a good weekend read. The book is fat enough for the weekend but I somehow finished it in a day and a half because I liked the murder descriptions!

Book – Private India
Author – Ashwin Sanghi & James Patterson
Genre – Fiction, Thriller
Publisher – Random House India
Published in – July 2014
ISBN-13 – 9780099586395
ISBN-10 – 0099586398
Pages – 448
Format – Paperback
Price – 350 flipkart has a good discount though 
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This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books! 
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Fiction & WritingFive Sentence FIctionMicro FictionUncategorized

Five Sentence Fiction – What do I do?

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

Should I accept it…or should I just tell him to buzz off?


She felt in her heart Aakash had serious feelings for her… but why her… is a question that lingered in her mind.


What was it in her that attracted the son of such a famous industrialist?  

She loved him from the moment they had met in college but she wanted to stay away from him… will he be always true to me… she didn’t want to be his spring muse.


It was time… he’ll enter the café anytime now…ohh these conflicting thoughts… what do I do? 

source

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This post is for Lillie McFerrin Writes Five Sentence Fiction for the prompt CONFLICT.  

Also linking this to Write Tribe Pro Blogger Challenge as my Day 29 post
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The long weekend ahead

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

So the long weekend is here…. Three days of bliss. I have decided I’m not working at all… I’ll try to not go out and just laze around. I’ll get into my sloth mode. I have not been in that mode for sometime now. 

I have to catch up on a lot of reading In these three days. And also update my cook blog. Ohh if you already do not know I have a food blog www.twinklingtinacooks.blogspot.in do visit there sometime and let me know how you like it. 
Okay, now food just reminded me our long weekend binge has already started. I’m sharing tonight’s dinner pic with you. A pretty bong dinner with pulau kosha mangsho and fish fry!!! 

 

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