...shoOOonya...

  Akshayapatra (Sanskrit: अक्षयपात्र ) meaning "inexhaustible vessel", is an object from Hindu theology. It was a wonderful vessel given to Yudhishthira by the Lord Surya, which held a never-failing supply of food to the Pandavas every day. That's Mythology !! In the modern world, Akshaya Patra is an initiative to feed children. Here are 2 videos that you should see ... both are mind-blowing in their own ways ...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1DfmguKVHE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDs4empZQ6A

It is absolutely rare that I make a back-to-back blog post but the time and situation kind of demanded it.   I just made a post few minutes ago related to yet another interesting activity by BlogAdda.com and told my wife about it. She read it and told me something that I had never known before. Something related to the stubble and the unshaven look.   I still can't stop laughing but still managing to write this … So here goes the story.   As mentioned in the earlier post, I shave alternate days and you can imagine that the end of Day 2 is the worst. It was on such a fateful 'day2' that I got a call from Dad asking me to come to a CCD (café coffee day) … straight from office.   The reason was simple. An integral part of the arranged marriage process is the 'boy meet girl' and my father being slightly modern, preferred the informal setting of a café/restaurant where the 'boy-n-girl' could take another table and talk. So h...

  Life is strange and so is the human body. And of course, the same can be said about fate and luck. Whats with this whole body hair thing? And let's suppose that there is some biological need for all that hair, why facial hair?? And let's assume that even that is required, what's with the world's (in fact humanity's) preference for the clean shaven look. There are times when I felt that it was a well planned marketing illusion created by razor companies. But then I have seen myself in the mirror when I have been unshaven for 3-4 days   (ya, just 3-4 days) and I did not like wee bit of myself. The clean shaven look is definitely 'neat' besides maybe sexy or professional. I generally shave alternate days and then occasionally it just happens that I miss or forget or am too much of a hurry to shave on the third day and I end up with quite a stubble! Don't like it but haven't got around to using an electric shaver (if I...

Book: The Great Zoo of China Author: Matthew Reilly No. of Pages: 500 Genre: Fiction, Action Thriller, Suspense Publisher:  Pan Macmillan Australia Matthew Reilly (MR) is back in his elements with a bigger-than-before and stranger-than-before action thriller. MR does it again ... In style - At a grander scale - With dizzying visuals and absolutely high-octane fast-paced unbelievable-but-believable action-suspense – and as an MR fan; I loved every minute of the fun-tastic roller-coaster ride that MR creates in the Zoo. There are sentences which would never make sense in any other author's novel but in MR's high-octane mind-numbing action thrillers; they seem perfectly OK. How else do you explain a reader being OK with a line like "Oh My God! The dragons are throwing cars at me" and that is just about the 'tip of the iceberg' since there are MUCH LARGER things getting thrown ...

    Book: God is a Gamer Author: Ravi Subramanian No. of Pages: 314 Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Suspense Publisher: Penguin Books India   BlogAdda does it again; sends me an author-signed copy of a novel that was a delight to read. It is always a delight to receive an author-signed copies and I can imagine the joy-ful pain the wrist the authors might be undergoing to actually sign a large number of books. Just yesterday, I saw an FB post by an author who signed a 1000 copies of his latest book. I have read several of Ravi's novels and I have always found them enjoyable. He has his style of writing. Short chapter, events spread across seemingly unconnected characters (and you, as a reader, keep searching the connections, with enough amount of suspense built into the writing … all coming together to make the novel a nice racy and pacy read. I have written about an earlier novel of his … tha...

  First Things First … What exactly is the INK Conference and what is INK Live? The INK Conference is an annual conference that aims to fuel innovation and foster knowledge by bringing together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers on a global stage. The ideas that these speakers put forth are shared with the world, inspiring thought, conversation, and ultimately action. (source: http://www.inktalks.com/conferences ) INK Live is a unique and stimulating experience to witness a real-time telecast of the INK conference live and uncut. The experience is designed for students and young professionals, and is very affordable. The event hosts interactive workshops, speaker interactions, inspiring and engaging discussions, and other fun-filled learning activities with peers. For speaker interactions, selected speakers are brought to the INK Live venue for face-to-face interaction with the attendees. The workshops are designed to be fun-fi...

It all began with BlogAdda … like so many other things in my life this year. J I read about the Quikr initiative on BlogAdda's blog and after some 'quick' consideration, decided to participate. Not that I was planning to buy something from Quikr, but the activity gave me the idea of picking up a second hand tablet for home use – wife, mom, dad – etc could use it for viewing photos or video chat while I am away from home for work etc. So, I filled the form and nominated myself for the Quikr experience. Once I received the confirmation email, I put down my search parameters in place; even before opening Quikr. 1. Want to buy a second hand 'working' tablet 2. Budget – 5000 to 8000 – since the utility of this tablet will be very limited, did not want to spend too much on it 3. Explore Kindle Fire – dunno why but Kindle Fire has fascinated me. I already had the plain vanilla earliest version kindle for reading and wanted to ...