Advance Booking

I received a couple of awards over the past month, but I haven't gotten around to acknowledging them. So I'm doing a belated handing out of the awards. So sorry for the delay!


I received the Beautiful Blogger Award from readerbuzz and from Laurel-Rain Snow. Thanks so much, it's really wonderful to be appreciated!

The rules of the Beautiful Blogger award are to pass it on to other beautiful bloggers and tell seven things about yourself.

I'd like to pass this award on to

1. Shweta from Book Journal
2. Veens from Giving Reading a Chance
3. Joann from Lakeside Musing
4. Ivana from Willing to See Less
5. Jenny from Jenny's Books

And now, 7 things about myself...

1. I love reading (duh!)
2. I love writing.
3. I want to learn to play the guitar
4. My dream is to have a little cottage by the sea
5. I'd love to have a snowy winter
6. When I was 6, I wanted to be a gardener
7. I can't swim, because I'm scared of drowning.


I received the Happy 101 Award from readerbuzz. Thanks a lot!

My charge is to list ten things that make me happy and pass on this award to five more bloggers.

1. BOOKS (this would probably occupy all ten spots, but I decided not to make it so easy)
2. Writing
3. Travelling
4. Learning new things
5. Eating mom's cooking
6. Lazing around (oh, you've no idea how happy this makes me!)
7.Watching sunsets and sunrises (very relaxing)

3. Anna from Diary of An Eccentric
4. Carol from Carol's Notebook
5.Fyrefly from Fyrefly's Book Blog

Have a happy weekend!

When I first started my blog, I thought it would be an easy thing. I read quite a lot, and I have a lot of strong opinions regarding what I read, so it would be a piece of cake to maintain a book blog, right? Wrong! First, I realized that I couldn't write down everything I think about a book; I don't want to be rude or overly negative. Second, I actually don't read as much as a lot of other bloggers do. Third, blogging can sometimes be hard. Managing a hectic schedule leaves little time for reading, blogging and commenting, and you sometimes have to put in extra effort to regularly update your blog.

I passed my 100th post sometime back, and I didn't even notice it! Well, this is a belated celebration of me passing the century mark. This award is to all those prolific bloggers, who read voraciously, blog tirelessly and have made the blogging community such a vibrant place. This award is in recognition of their achievements and their enthusiasm. They are the people who keep me going!

There are a couple of rules for this award:

1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!

2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award.

3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.

4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we all can get to know the other winners.

So, to get things going, I wanted to give this award to these really prolific bloggers who I visit very often. [Drumroll please]

J.Kaye's Book Blog
Alaine-Queen of Happy Endings
things mean a lot
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
Books 'N Border Collies
The Zen Leaf
The Eclectic Reader

And I have a new design for my blog. The winter season is upon us, and I wanted my blog to reflect that, and the approaching festive season. So, how do you like my blog's new look?

GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE

Starring- Tapen Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Santosh Dutta

I've been wanting to see this movie since I was a kid, and it was worth the wait. An awesome, Awesome movie, directed by Ray at the prime of his career; a movie I totally loved.

Goopy is an awful singer, kicked out of his village for annoying the king with his singing. On his travels, he meets Bagha, an equally bad drummer. Both of them take shelter in a bamboo forest, which, incidentally is home to a group of ghosts. The King of ghosts is fascinated by their music and grants them three boons: they can eat what they like and get the clothes they want with a clap of their hands, they can go anywhere while wearing the magic slippers he gives them, and they can mesmerise people with their music. They hear of a music contest organised by the king of Shundi, and their adventures begin.

This movie has a bunch of lovely songs, penned by Ray himself. The movie is a fantasy which kids adore and adults enjoy, but is also a thinly-veiled allegory of today's world. The lyrics reflect modern concerns, Ore Baba Koto Sena (Oh, how many soldiers) saying how futile war is. When this movie was released, many said it would tank, as it did not fit into either the action or the romance genre, which were the only two kinds of movies popular in those days (and even now). But Ray proved all his detractors wrong, scripting one of the most popular Bengali movies of all time, and scooping up a host of national and international awards in the process. I'll leave you with my translation of my favorite song from the movie, a song with deep meaning and beautiful melody (and some humour from Bagha, which I'm not including, but which adds to the song).

Ek Je Chilo Raja (There was a King)

There was a King,
He had many sorrows.
Look at the King, he weeps,
Poor King, he has many sorrows.

How does sorrow arise?
It is not the sole domain of the unfortunate,
Whose home is lined with gold and silver, he also suffers,
Know that he is also not happy.

Will the sorrow go?
In solitary silence, the King wonders.
How will the King get peace after punishing the innocent,
How will the sorrow go?

How does sorrow go?
Confinement in his prison of a palace doesn't help,
If the King leaves his golden throne and breathes in the fresh air of the field,
Only then the King will have peace.

And, my exams are finally over! Three months of holidays, free time to laze around and, of course, READ!!! I've got a pile of books just waiting to be read, a reading challenge to be completed, new ones to join, so it's time to get cracking.