Trials and Tribulations by Fire

Just finished watching Badlapur: Don't miss the beginning. The phrase is part of the name, not my addition.  Badlapur is all about Revenge. A bank robbery and a chance murder catapults the lives of all the characters into a never ending boiling cauldron. Varun Dhawan, a twenty something actor has pulled off a very tricky role, with panache. Playing the brooding widower baying for the blood of the murderer, he is stunning.  Nawazzudin, as the bank robber Laik Muhammad, gives a superlative performance. Together they do a perfect tango, of hatred and vengeance.  When Laik and Harman (Vinay Pathak) accidentally kill Misha (Yami Gautam), Raghav's (Varun) wife and their son Robin, Raghu takes to the streets, his heart set on revenge. He extracts his due fully, slowly, painfully, revelling in his torturous routine. Varun has given a spectacular performance, leaving behind many such anti-heroes far behind. You won't be able to believe the metamorphosis of the sweet...

Recently, I heard a voice from the near past. A not so pleasant voice.  Then came a tingle. It was my WhatsApp inbox, calling out to me, drawing my attention to a seemingly harmless message. It was from her. It simply said, how are you, how is life?  Well, life is as it can be, should be, how does it matter, as she would oft say. I stared at the message for a long time. My head filled with the images of the past, of her betrayals, of my reactions to her. My heart sank. Will I never get to move on? Will she pursue me even in my new life? I replied. A nonchalant, typical polite response. Then silence. She had been like that. Blow hot, blow cold. You could never emotionally attach to her, she would clam up. I knew this from before, didn't expect anything beyond. I just wished she would stop messaging. How much can a person avoid? I had unfriended her, un-Linked her, but she refused to get the message. 'How are you'? Why are you bothered? I thought.  Choicest expleti...

I am back to romancing my blog. I am sorry I was away for a long time. I should have kept in touch. I treated you also as deadwood.  You know what deadwood is? Wood that dies, rots and cannot grow roots. It must be chopped off at the right time, else it infects the entire tree.  Likewise, in life, we have several such people, relations that are no longer useful. These people and relations need to be cut off at the right time, else they become like an infected wound.  These can come into your life masquerading as friends, they will say things that make you reach out to them, then when you are stuck in their emotional melodramas, they suck you in, slowly, oh so slowly, into their web of deceit and hatred.  Helen was one such woman. Always a cynic. An atheist. I loved her bindaas attitude, when I first met her. I thought it was cool to question each and every ritual practiced by our forefathers, cool to ask questions, cool to just, rebel.  I was so far g...

When life gives you a lemon... December 6th, a month went by, without much ado.  I spent an entire month from my life, in shock. Denial was the first reaction, obviously.   Shock, denial, reluctance to accept reality, suspended disbelief, anger, then came grief, terrible sadness enveloping my whole being. Then came acceptance, like the white light descending from the heavens to rid me of my pain.  I spent my time doing mundane household chores: sweeping, mopping, washing utensils, cooking, cleaning... Doing the chores became an obsession slowly...I would mop till I could see my face on the floor! It hit me then. I was punishing myself for losing out, for not being able to sustain in a despicable situation and being handed a lemon. Yes, it sounds very romantic when people, from their posh condos in NY write about making lemonade from lemons. But, how painful or how realistic are these expectations?  When you are in a situation like I was in, all I ...

The New Year has started on Vaikunta Ekadasi. This means, Lord Vishnu will shower his blessings on all of us throughout the year.    2015 is a very different year. I can feel the vibes. Things happened quickly over the last few months and I have this feeling that the new year would turn out to be just fine. Let me just wait and watch. November was a pain and December was just a blur.      

The story begins with a high octane conversation between two corporate biggies: Vijay Banga, President of Mastercard International and Joseph Saunders, the CEO of Visa International. A surprise visit sets the tone for the story. The reader is promised a thrilling ride by the master of banking thrillers: Ravi Subramanian.  Then Wikileaks happens and bitcoins are the new rage. People are using the virtual currency everywhere: to pay for drug deals, to transact in underworld terror plans. Suddenly, there is an onslaught of virtual terorrism spilling over into the streets.    In the midst of all this drama, Aditya Rao (remember??) makes an entry. He runs a gaming company and along with his friend, is a very satiated businessman. He has a few skeletons to hide and is a mentor to Swamy, a brilliant but frustrated banker friend. A lot of backstabbing, betrayals, undercurrents, and a terror plot defines "God is a Gamer".   The story moves forward very quickly wi...

This post is written to #CelebrateBlogging, organized and moderated by Blogadda. You have entered ‘A Game Of Blogs’ ... Team name: Story6d Chapter 11 - Aryan's Magic Read the previous part of the story here . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 11 | Aryan's Magic 24 Carat Apartments  When Jennifer stepped down from the taxi near Tara’s apartment complex, she was unsure of her next step.  On an impulse, she had grabbed her bag and strode out of the office. But now, standing in front of the apartment, she was feeling foolish. What would she do, go up to Aryan’s flat, ring the doorbell and ask, ‘Dude, what is your relationship with Tara?’ Even the thought made her feel silly. She had to think about her next step. She was still trying to understand why Tara had chosen her to do this detective work on Cyrus. Shrugging her slim shoulders, Jennifer made her way to find Aryan’s flat number. The ...

Game of Blogs -  Team Story6d: A Night to Remember... Chapter 05: Dream Chaser |  Posted By: Nithya Kalyani  Click here to read the Fourth chapter of this story on my team member Sneh Chandel’s blog __________________________________________________________________ 24 Carat Apartments, 10th floor penthouse, Bandra Shekhar slumped on his bed and closed his eyes. His eyes were burning, his heart threatened to implode in his rib cage. Slowly, he lay down and stretched himself out. Was it all true? Could Tara actually have a condition like that?    Shekhar tightly shut his eyes. He tried to sleep. He had to sleep. Sleep eluded him. She was luring him but shied away when he attempted to slip into the state of bliss. Instead, he was forced to keep his eyes and mind open and go through the mental torture. Maybe it was the alcohol, Shekhar mused. Maybe Cyrus had said something else, and Shekhar had misunderstood him. He turned to ease the...

Blurb :  In Mumbai seemingly unconnected people are dying, strangled in a chilling ritual and with strange objects carefully arranged with the corpses. For Santosh Wagh, head of Private India, the Mumbai branch of the world’s finest investigation agency, it's a race against time to stop the killer striking again.  In a city of over thirteen million, he has his work cut out at the best of times but this case has him battling Mumbai's biggest ganglord and a godman who isn't all he seems.  And then he discovers there may be an even greater danger facing Private India. Hidden in the shadows is someone who could destroy the whole organization along with thousands of innocent Mumbai citizens. My Review :  Private India, starts with a bang. Literally.  Mumbai is rocked by deadly blasts. A beautiful doctor is found dead with a yellow scarf around her neck. A don, Munna, is involved in shady deals. A serial killer is on the loose, killing women by strang...

I have always been a straight talker, don't mince words much, have little or no patience for fools. I pride myself at being able to hold onto this aspect despite opposition from the world.  In this space, often, I have vented out many different feelings and let out several layers of emotions to virtual strangers and some friends. Sometimes, it so happens that my words are misconstrued.  Who I am, what I choose to write in my blog, on my FB Wall, etc are my personal views. I have given nobody the right to judge me, my values, or my relationships based on what I show to others.  I am slightly distracted by an  incident. I think, I may have sent a wrong message to a person. As an Indian woman, when I write about sex, sexual feelings, etc, I do so with an open mind and in the knowledge that the reader is free to misinterpret the meaning. I give a damn. The trouble arises when a person with a closed mind comes over for a chat and tries to get cozy (and into my ...