All Aboard by Kiran Manral – An interview

I had a talk with Kiran Manral when she had published her second book ‘Once upon a time’

 Now she is back with yet another book ‘All Aboard’, a story completely different from her other two books but entertaining nevertheless. Her characters are normally the people you meet on daily basis. She talks about an interesting character from her book Rina Massi, “eccentric retired school mistress who is the protagonist Rhea Khanna's aunt and she's a livewire.”

Synopsis:

When Rhea Khanna is dumped just days before her marriage, by her boyfriend of four years, the only thing she wants to do is to get out of the city to clear her head.  The opportunity presents itself immediately when her aunt, a retired school headmistress, invites her to accompany her on a Mediterranean cruise.

As Rhea struggles to cope with her grief of being dumped at the altar, she finds herself getting attracted to the seemingly unavailable Kamal Shahani—the infuriatingly attractive ex-student of her aunt and a hot shot entrepreneur.  To add to the confusion, Sonia, Kamal’s very attractive ex-girlfriend boards the ship in a bid to win him back.

Will Rhea heal her broken heart, or will she end up even more shattered than she was when she got on this cruise?

Kiran Manral Speaks:

 What was your inspiration behind writing the third book?

It began with an anecdote I heard about a friend of a friend who decided to go on her honeymoon after her fiancé ditched her at the last minute, albeit taking a friend along for the company. I thought that was a most fun way to deal with the heartbreak, it was the mark of a survivor, and somewhere the seed was sown for this story. Of course, I did change it around a fair bit, but that was the genesis of this book.

Share some resources that help you when you are writing

Spell check on the computer. Seriously. And of course, Google baba.

Your favorite character

From this book? Rina Maasi. She's this eccentric retired school mistress who is the protagonist Rhea Khanna's aunt and she's a livewire.

A paragraph of your work before and after editing

Ah, the work goes through so many infinite versions, from first drafts through four edits plus a rewrite to simplify my tendency to run on and on with sentences as long as paragraphs, that this is quite difficult, because one really doesn't have first drafts anymore.

Your favorite (not too famous Indian) author, why?

I must say Annie Zaidi. Not because she's a dear friend but because what she writes goes straight to the heart, always.

You prefer: twitter or facebook..why?

Both have their place, but twitter definitely helps you to reach to a lot more people a lot quicker, facebook is limited to friends and family and a few acquaintances in my case.

Three books you would read in isolated places

Ah, I prefer to read in a crowd so I am not compelled to make conversation. But books I can read over and over again, Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, anything by P G Wodehouse or Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

You prefer: Ebook or hard cover, why?

Can I be contrarian and say I prefer paperback. Ebook, I have still to acquire an electronic reading device. If Kindle decides to convert me, I'm open to the trying of it. Hard back is too much of a pain to carry around and I have a book in my handbag wherever I go. Ergo paperback.

Favorite place to hang out: beach, cafeteria or library

None of the above. My favourite place to hang out is at home.

What book you reading now? How do you choose it?

Am between books right now. Therefore am busy re-reading Bridget Jones, Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding. It is great fun to read Bridget Jones, she's someone who could have been me.

Thank you Kiran for sharing your thoughts, wishing you success on your new book. Shine on…….

The Pre-order links for the book here:

Amazon India

Flipkart India

Amazon.com

100 Happy Days: Day 87 New book arrives

Happiness is joining the book discussion group on Goodreads

The book selected for group discussion in the month of april2014 is ‘The Lowland’ by Indian author Jhumpa Lahiri.

I had ordered it online and was happy when it arrived today. Now for next few days, I hope to be busy reading this book so that I can take part in the group discussions when it happens.

Okay, I just read first page, and it sounds interesting.

So here I am, with the project of ‘100 Happy Days’I am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

100 Happy Days: Day 39 Reading Offline.

Happiness is reading a real book offline

Most of my reading is normally done online. There are blogs, news, posts, e-books, there is endless material on the net. But still, the greater pleasure is reading offline with actual book in hand.

I am still old-fashioned when reading is concerned. I love books in my hand, the weight, the smell, the touch, and actual turning of the curled pages. The comfort of resting against soft pillow, inclined at an comfortable angle, and reading at a slow pace without worrying about the battery charge.

Presently, the book in my hand is ‘rude Food’ that takes me through the food journeys across the world drooling all the way.

Such comfort!!

So here I am, with the project of ‘100 Happy Days’I am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

The Secrets of the Nagas

The Shiva Trilogy part one ends with Sati chasing the retreating hooded Naga.

Part two- The Secrets of the Nagas” continues with the chase still on, it is difficult to understand the story if you have not read the part one,-‘The Immortals of Meluha’ and it gets interesting if it is read as a sequel, same excitement, same curiosity to read more-about-what-happens-next.

While in part one, you grow to like Shiva, Sati and many other people that appear in the story, in part two, you are introduced to two Nagas and you discover that they are not as evil as they were thought to be.

I don't wish to reveal the secrets about who Nagas are and how they are related to Sati.

But, Shiva believes that Nagas are evil and he needs to destroy it but first he has to be sure that they are evil. 

He questions his philosopher guide ‘Gopal’ , he says “the Nagas are obviously the people who are evil right? Almost everyone seems to agree. And yet, the Nagas helped a man in need, in the interest of justice. That’s not how evil is supposed to be.”

“I have travelled through all of India. Met practically all the tribes except the Nagas. And if none are evil, maybe Evil hasn’t risen. Maybe I am not required.”

Shiva searches for truth going across India but finds no answers, only more confused that everything is different from what it appears to be..

My favorite passage on Page 108 because this is what I believe in:

“There is no past life sins, Sati! There is only this life! That is the only reality. Everything else is theory. Believe the theory that gives you peace and reject the one that causes you pain. Why believe in theory if it causes you unhappiness? You have done all you can to take care of your child and your self. Now have faith.”

After reading the two parts of Shiva Trilogy, I begin to respect the author Amish, who has done a great research and presented the story which is fiction and yet so believable.

There is so much truth when he quotes

 "Remember nobody is good or bad. They are either strong or weak. Strong people stick to their morals, no matter what the trials and tribulations. Weak people, many a times, do not even realise how low they have sunk" 

What evil is he talking about? How can we destroy evil when it does not exist by itself?

Good and evil, two sides of the coin, he must visit Panchavati, the city of Nagas to know the secret.

Waiting for part three…..