Transition of Thoughts

Weaving thoughts into words

Tag: united states of america Page 1 of 2

Book Review – Just US Things

By

On June 8, 2020

In Book Review

Book Review - Just US Things

I had read a few of Sushmita’s blog posts on her experiences about life in the US. What I liked was the sincerity in the way she narrated her thoughts. And so I was quite curious to download and check out her book from the Blogchatter Library.

The blurb goes like this

Irrespective of the countries, when you immigrate, you expect a cultural shock. Indian millennials are very well adapted to the American culture, thanks to television. But is that enough? Every day is different – even when you have travelled the world and have enjoyed every land and its culture. This book talks about the daily struggles and the existential battle of a new Indian immigrant in the US.

The title and the cover which has an outline of Statue of Liberty and other skyscrapers is quite interesting. Though I felt that rather than a white background, maybe some more colour could have been added.

Read More

Photography: Blue skies

By

On May 7, 2020

In Photography

Blue skies have a beauty of their own which nothing else can replace. There are so many times we all pray for clear blue skies free from all the clouds, the dust, the haze and whatever one can imagine.

Here are ‘fairly’ blue skies from 3 continents.

Photography: Blue Skies - Muscat

Muscat, Oman

Photography: Blue Skies - Portland

Portland, Maine, USA

Photography: Blue Skies - Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Linking to Blue Sky Backdrop

Skywatch Friday: Sunset

By

On October 11, 2019

In Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday: Sunset#ShotoniPhone

A rainbow makes its presence felt as the sun sets on another cool fall day in Glastonbury, Connecticut.

Linking to Skywatch Friday

In conversation with Ram Sivasankaran – Author of The Peshwa

By

On December 9, 2016

In Interviews

It's always great to see your work in print isn't it?

It’s always great to see your work in print isn’t it?

Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWgbD5tVEAAtlnY.jpg
:large

Ram Sivasankaran was born in Madras, India, but has spent most of his life abroad largely in the Middle East and the United States of America. He was brought up with stories from Hindu legend and the great epics and classics of both India and the West. In addition to being a passionate student of history in school, Ram built keen interest in stories of valor, heroism, chivalry, beauty and romance.

A day-dreamer of sorts, Ram believes deeply in the power of imagination – the mind being the canvas on which even the seemingly talent-less can create new universes, resurrect eras long gone, bring the gods to life and even resurrect heroes and damsels of yore. As such, Ram makes his debut with a historical novel on one of the greatest and yet, to an extent, less-known warrior from Indian history – Bajirao Bhat, Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy.

He joins us for a quick tete-a-tete.

Aseem: When did you first feel that you had it in you to become an author?

Ram: I have always written tiny blog posts across many topics such as politics, religion and ancient science and received decent feedback among close friend and family circles. Many have encouraged me to write in a form that ups the scale of both words communicated and audience reached so I decided to give professional writing a try.

The earliest though when I fell in love with writing and recognized any innate ability to do so was in third grade, when my teacher appreciated me for a little story of Winnie the Pooh I had written in the form of a couple of paragraphs.

Read More

Book Review – The Taliban Cricket Club

By

On July 5, 2015

In Book Review, Uncategorized

The Taliban Cricket Club

The Taliban Cricket Club

Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71nO3biRspL._SL1500_.jpg

Timeri N Murari has more than 14 published novels to his credit including many bestsellers. He has also written screenplays for various movies and plays. Truth be told, I wasn’t aware of his pedigree when I picked up The Taliban Cricket Club. Instead, I was quite intrigued at reading about cricket in a country which has suffered from wars for years on end. Moreover, the story of the Afghanistan Cricket Team has been a true fairytale even among those who don’t really follow cricket. Is the book as good as it sounds? Let’s check it out.

Read More

In conversation with Shobhan Bantwal

By

On November 14, 2014

In Interviews

Shobhan Bantwal
Source: http://www.shobhanbantwal.com/Media/Shobhan_Bantwal-300ppi.jpg

Shobhan Bantwal is the author of six novels and co-author of two anthologies. Her books combine contemporary women’s issues with romantic elements. Her articles have appeared in The Writer, Romantic Times, India Abroad, Little India, New Woman and India Currents. Her short fiction has won her honours & awards in contests sponsored by Writer’s Digest and New York Stories. She won the First Place Award in New Woman magazine’s 2005 Short Fiction Competition for her story, Lingering Doubts. Her debut book, The Dowry Bride, won the 2008 Golden Leaf Award. The Unexpected Son won the 2012 National Indie Excellence Award. Shobhan lives in Arizona, USA.

And today, we have her here for a short tete-a-tete –

Aseem: What does writing mean to you?
Shobhan: Writing is almost a spiritual experience for me because I put my heart and soul into each story. The characters I create for each book temporarily come into my life like family, friends, or neighbours. Many of my characters also possess the traits of people I know, some of them intimately. The wonderful thing about fiction is that one can express just about anything via one’s characters that would not go over as well in non-fiction or speech.

Read More

Book Review – The Full Moon Bride

By

On September 8, 2014

In Book Review

WP_20140908_00_29_34_Pro

Shobhan Bantwal has published 5 novels and 2 anthologies before this one. Her books cover a wide variety of women centric issues from dowry to pre-marital sex to even abortions based on gender. ‘The Full Moon Bride’ explores the concept of arranged marriage from the point of view of an Indian American woman. Does it work? Let’s check it out.

Read More

Q & A with Madhumita Mukherjee: Author of ‘The Other Side of the Table”

By

On June 13, 2013

In Interviews, Uncategorized

Madhumita Mukherjee grew up in Delhi and did her medical education from Calcutta National Medical College. She has been living and working in England since 2001 as a Paediatrician. She has a special affinity for epistolary novels as well as novels written as journals and diaries like ‘Diary of a Provincial Lady’ by E.M. Delafield, and ‘I Capture the Castle’ by Dodie Smith. Besides these, she takes special interest in novels with medical themes such as ‘A Country Doctor’s Notebook’ by Mikhail Bulgakov.

‘The Other Side of the Table’ is her first novel. She joins us here for a small tete-a-tete –

Aseem: Who or what inspired you to begin writing?
Madhumita: Nothing in particular and certainly not anyone. I suddenly had the time for the wrong reason and I wanted to distract myself by telling myself a story…

Read More

Book Review – The Other Side of the Table

By

On May 28, 2013

In Book Review, Uncategorized

the-other-side-of-the-table-madhumita-mukherjee
Source: http://vaultofbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/the-other-side-of-the-table-madhumita-mukherjee.jpg

‘The Other Side of the Table’ is Madhumita Mukherjee’s first novel. She has pursued medicine and works as a consultant paediatrician in Manchester. She has a special affinity for epistolary novels. And that’s what she pursues in her first attempt at writing. Does it work? Let’s check it out.

The blurb goes like this –

Circa 1990.
A world drawn and woven with words.
A bond punctuated by absence and distance . . .
Two continents. Two cities. Two people.
And letters. Hundreds of them.
Over years. Across oceans. Between hearts.

Between Abhi, who is training to be a neurosurgeon in London, and Uma, who is just stepping into the world of medicine in Kolkata.

As they ink their emotions onto paper, their lives get chronicled in this subtly nuanced conversation through letters . . . letters about dreams, desires, heartbreaks, and longings . . . about a proverbial good life falling apart, about a failed marriage, a visceral loss, and about a dream that threatens social expectations . . .

Letters that talk. And don’t. Letters about this and that. Letters about everything . . .

Letters with a story you would never expect.

Read More

Uncle Sam’s debt crisis: Can it ever live within its means?

By

On August 12, 2011

In My thots and scribbles, Uncategorized

Let me start off with an analogy here. Consider an individual who doesn’t have the means to go on a holiday to Europe but goes for one by taking a loan. But then he wants to send his children for education to good colleges. So he takes an education loan. And he also wants to buy a car. So he takes an auto loan. Loans becoming such a predominant part of his life that he starts using one set of loans to fund his other set.

Something similar has gone wrong with Uncle Sam. US has never stayed within its means. Whether manufacturing huge gas guzzling cars or spending trillions of dollars on mindless wars (Iraq and Afghanistan), the US govt. has always lived beyond its means. One would think that the crisis of 2008 which was the beginning of the economic collapse of the world would give them some sanity. But then as they say common sense is really not that common.

Read More

Page 1 of 2

Next →

Archives

Categories

Meta

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

%d bloggers like this: