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100 Word Story – The Coveted Ratings

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

Hello hello, in case you just thought that this lazy blogger is like that blue moon, let me tell you I am back with yet another month long challenge – The UltimateBlog Challenge July 2014. That this is my first UBC – Okay I get it… blogging for so long and this is my first UBC etc etc… but yeah it is, and that is how it will remain :p


So I post everyday this July without a break, no theme, no name, no A to Z – just simple blog post. I have not decided what I am going to write on, but I think I’ll go with the flow. I might link the UBC post with some other regular posts that I do. There you go today, is a 100 word Story.


The Coveted Ratings

She sunk herself on the couch as she entered her apartment, thinking as if the long tiring day at work was not enough that she had to face the punishing traffic and the stupid rains.

Flipping through her phone for the FB updates and tweets something suddenly caught her attention.

She sat straight and realized today was the day, how could she have forgotten… the ratings for blogs were out and she was excited to see how her dear blog has fared. She quickly logged into the web address to check.  Only to be shown
‘Error 404, Page Not Found’!  



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Now don’t blame me, that is a true story, I do wait for the ratings for my blogs J.
Linking this post to Velvet Verbosity for 100 Words Challenge on the prompt Ratings. Also it is my Day 1 post for Ultimate Blog Challenge.
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It’s raining gifts from Delhi – Blog Contest

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

Waking up in the middle of the night, he first searched for his spects on the side table. These days it’s not the temperature of Delhi that is troubling him, it’s something else that is making him sweat, even at 2 in the night. Half asleep, he started walking towards the kitchen to get a glass of chilled water to bring some respite to his parched throat. Just when he banged his big toe in the wrong corner of the wall did he actually wake up… ‘oh, it’s the new house, I had got used to the old one, why did I have to vacate it?’


Arvind sat down on his sofa with the glass and suddenly he felt all awake…as if awakened after a month long sleep. ‘What is happening to my party?’ ‘Everyone seems to be ditching me, what do I do now?’ It was time to introspect, and these happen well at night… sort of.

‘Shazia, Sheila, Sonia – all these S ladies are going against me… I need to bring them back on my side.’

‘Dharna kar liya, resign kar liya, ab bacha kya hai karneko?’ he asked himself. [Protest done, resignation tendered, now what is left to do?]

Arvind took out his iPad and quickly Googled for something.

‘I think I know just what can get these ladies softer on me, I’ll gift them something!’

He quickly logged in to baggout.com and flipped through their massive inventory of gifts, and apparels. It was surprising when he saw his FB friends were already on baggout and Arvind could see what was trending.

After a good five minutes of search Arvind had a smile on his face – he had picked just the right gifts for the ladies.

“Shawl for Shielaji, Saree for Soniaji… and Shazia what can I give Shazia??”
Source: Baggout.com

A hot deal on the page caught his attention…


“… Ahaaa.. I’ll gift her this watch, maybe she will remember the good times in the party”

Arvind quickly selected his orders, and added a unique special note for each of the three gifts.

His note had a slight plea for Soniaji – he did want a partnership now, actually again. He worded it just perfectly so that it didn’t look he was begging to be back on Delhi’s chair, but he just mentioned he wanted her co-operation.

His letter to Shielaji, however, was short and sweet. He congratulated her on her determination of remaining the governor of the sate and resenting the new government’s pressure of her resigning. He emphasized she should remain the governor no matter what.

He chuckled and thought – at least one contender less in his race to the chair (if at all that was possible, now!)

But his longest letter was for Shazia, his partner in crime (what crime?? She was one of the founding members of his party). He hoped the timepiece will remind her of all the good speeches they had written (which he coughed away, in anyways) and all the afternoons they spent at ‘janter manter’ – yeah they had good times at the Dharnas and protests.

With all his orders placed Arvind was a happy man now. In 48 hours all the three ladies will be receiving his gifts and he hoped it will all turn out positive.

“Arre Modiji jab border par gift bhijwa sakte hai, to Aam Admi kya border ke ander nahi bhej sakte?” he smiled thinking as he turned his iPad off. [If Mr. Modi could send gifts across the border, then can’t the Aam Admi send some within it?]


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The post is written for a light laugh and the author is absolutely not serious about it. 😛 and also ask the readers not be serious about it. LOL. The characters are partly fictitious and partly existing (if that is possible at all).

This post is my entry to the Blogging Contest at Baggout.com. If you liked it leave a comment below.
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Book ReviewReviews

Book Review: Kingdom Come by Aarti V Raman

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

As promised in my earlier post there’s a host of book reviews coming up on the blog. Today I am reviewing a super thriller called Kingdome Come by Indian author Aarti V. Raman. I read a thriller after a long break from thrillers. I was reading a lot of romance. And I was so happy when I got my hands on this book. I had a lot of backlog on reading up so I am reviewing this one little late. I finished up two books like some super book worm. Okay now let’s get to our Kingdome Come.

The Story

Krivi Iyer, the former spy and a bomb diffusal expert is coming to terms with a deep loss in his life.

His only aim left in life is to get hold of The Woodpecker, the mentally unstable bomber who is the reason of Krivi’s loss. With a call from his discreet partner Krivi gets to know his only change to get closer to The Woodpecker is through his alleged sister, Ziya Marten. From groing up in foster homes to getting a high profile degree Ziya had moved in leaps and is the manager at Goonj Enterprises in Srinagar, Kashmir, incidentally, Krivi joins Goonj undercover.  When tragedy hits Ziya, she finds herself more dependent on Krivi and learns about his tormented past. Will Krivi be successful in getting The Woodpecker? Can Krivi and Ziya come together? You gotta read Kingdom Come for the answers.


My Thoughts

The first time I started reading the book I got completely taken by the narrative. I like how the author opens up with a nail biting kidnapping sequence, and how Krivi saves a sixteen year old victim. It was quite a ‘Hurtlocker’ sort of experience. I like it when authors throw action, thrill and mystery in the beginning. It only helps to get the reader going.
Kingdome Come is exciting, thrilling and exhilarating from the word go. The characters are extremely well etched and descriptions are superlative. You can visualize things infront of your eyes as you go on reading.

I loved the foreword that Aarti has written. She states Akshay Kumar is the inspiration of the character, and I can totally understand why. You somehow believe it’s probably written for him. I won’t be surprised if I see this on celluloid some time. Though I don’t know how far Akshay will do this role (given the kind of roles he has been doing lately – read Boss, Khiladi 786 etc.. ohh Holiday is an exception).

About the Author

   

Indian author Aarti V Raman, has many novels to her credit which includes White Knight, a short story in the Atlas of Love. On GoodReads I read she always wanted to become a lawyer but she decided to become an author. I am so glad she went with her heart, because when you write a thriller like that that, you deserved all praises. And she is just 27! I am actually quite overwhelmed with it and you will get to know that below with the rating!

My Rating – 4.5/5. Read it. I can assure you’ll like it. [I usually don’t rate books specially thrillers so high – but it’s worth it.]
Book – Kingdome Come
Author – Aarti V Raman
Genre – Thriller Romance
Publisher – Harlequine India
Published in – April 2014
ISBN 13 – 9789351063971
ISBN 10 – 9351063976
Pages – 336
Price – INR 299 [I just checked it’s available for 194 INR on Flipkart.com]
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This book was sent by the publisher. These are entirely my own views and I try not to be biased while reviewing.
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Short Fiction – Outing With Dad

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

While surfing this morning I came across this awesome ABC Wednessday blog. And I had no idea about it so far, such a detached person I am. Anyways, now that I did come across and saw the wonderful blog hop, I decided to squeeze in. I have got some fiction bug in head right now and all the time thinking on situations… Weird??? Don’t know. So here is my post which is supposed to be a word starting with X (or may be can have X) and I chose something different. Go on and read my Short Fiction.

You can read my earlier Short Fictions here. 


Outing with Dad

Being the only child of separated parents was no small deal. Rebecca had chosen to stay with her mom while her parents were getting separated but she missed being with her dad. She used to eagerly wait for the two Saturdays of the month when her dad would visit her or take her out. 

Rebecca was ready before time today. Today was her outing with daddy dearest. She didn’t know where daddy would take her today. Rebecca looked at the clock near the breakfast table and realized it was only 8, which meant another hour’s wait before daddy would turn up. She slouched back on the chair with her bowl of cereals as her mother passed by the table.

The weird sound of the car outside their driveway brought an instant smile on little Rebecca’s face.

“Daddy’s here… mom I’m leaving”

“Don’t jump around too much…. And ask your dad not to get you the junk foods…”called out Julia, quite unsure if her daughter heard her at all in all her excitement.”

“Daddy, where are we going today?” she asked as she leaped on him.

“I’m taking my Princess to the museum today… how about that??” explained Robert while handing out a box of chocolate to his girl.

****
The day at the museum was wonderful. Mom had not brought her to this place before and Rebecca was enjoying her time with daddy as he explained about the statues and paintings.

The long winding stairs brought them to this huge hall which had an enormous ship in the middle. The sight of it made Rebecca scared. She inched closer to daddy as they approached the magnanimous ship.

“What is this daddy?? Such a huge ship??”

“This is a very old ship Rebs, it is called a Xebec. This one here is like the ones used by the French Navy long time back. Look at the masts, aren’t they beautiful?”

“It is so huge daddy. Will you take my picture with it?” she asked while she ran to pose in front of the Xebec and Robert obliged his little princess with a smile.   

Image Source

P.S. – I learnt this word today as well. So it’s better I tell you what a xebec is. It’s a Mediterranean sailing ship with three masts. You can get more information about xebec on the wiki page.
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This post is for ABC Wednesday. X is for XEBEC.
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Fiction & WritingFive Sentence FIctionMicro Fiction

Five Sentence Fiction – Living the Dream

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

I am on a look out for the word prompts, drabble challenges, 55fiction challenges and what not. Lillie never misses her prompts and I try not to miss them as well. Here is my entry for this weeks 5SF. 


You can read my earlier short fictions here and 55Fictions here.





Living the Dream

Every time she came here she felt happy.

Every time thousands of people applauded she felt glad.

This was all that she loved – the bright lights, the peaceful music, the story – this was all that she longed for.

Every time Maya saw her beautiful daughter dazzle on the stage she felt a sense of pride, a sense of accomplishment.


Her daughter was living the dream that Maya couldn’t do when she was younger caught up in two jobs and night classes, but she was happy she could provide for her daughter and mold her as a popular ballet dancer in the town. 


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This post is for Lillie McFerrin Writes Five Sentence Fiction. Word theme for the current week is DAZZLES.
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    Lillie McFerrin Writes

Leave a comment below you liked this short fiction and if you want me to write some more. Your words mean a lot to me. 
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FIFA WORLD CUP – Suarez – is he the accidental man???

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

People who watched last night’s match between Italy & Uruguay or the ones who watched the highlights you probably noticed a ‘werewolf’ on the field. Didn’t you? The Uruguayan Werewolf, dressed in all whites, the one who looks always hungry – the other way.

Have a look at the GIF below and you will know what I am talking about.



There is no doubt anymore, the werewolf inside Luis Suarez comes out often when he (his team) is in a vulnerable position. Having said that, let me reiterate for all the Suarez fans, being a good player doesn’t mean you turn into a cannibal on field anytime you wish to. And hey, accidents don’t happen so often. And then acting that you are hurt only shows how pathetic one can be.


What is he a werewolf, a Dracula, a Vampire or just a dog in disguise of a man??? He definitely is not a human being, I don’t consider him to be a human anymore. Actually, I should take off my comment on him being a dog, they are much better anyway. He looks like got born as a human by accident, the who was to become a wolf got born as a boy!!
                                 
                                   I am not surprised with this

                                                 Or this

                           


                                                 Or this


                                                 Or even this



He also dares to say “These things happen” [Read the article here]. Mr. Luis Suarez this happens when you are a werewolf or a vampire, no doubt, but not when you claim to be a human being. And your claim that Chiellini barged into you doesn’t stand true – not from the live videos that we saw.  

This guy has completely lost it. FIFA you are not being fair with Chiellini because you want your stars to play the World Cup and entertain people. But this is not entertainment, we are not in that Roman era and this is not a fight in the Colosseum. Going through the next stage of the tournament like this doesn’t give any credit to you guys. Banning Suarez for few matches is not working it is evident from his attitude and his biting sprees. It’s high time FIFA you take good action and let the game be between humans and let’s keep this werewolf away from the scene. 

What do you guys think and Suarez and his biting episodes? Let me know with your comments.

Image Source: Google Images

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P.S. – I am editing the post little later because i came across some hilarious content on the net and couldn’t keep myself from sharing them here. Check out how some of the Indian Brands responded on this incident here and some of the international brands here , here , here . LOL they are hilarious – Brands are always on a lookout for such stuffs, but gives you a good laugh. 

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