Category: Awards

Categories
Awards Incidents Short story Thought and Reason

Long overdue – Bagful of peanuts and more

This happened a couple of months ago, and I only remembered to write about it now (thanks to my friends on an online community).

Remember the innovative ‘Blogsplash’ conducted by Fiona Robyn (author of ‘The Most Beautiful Thing’)? My contribution to the Blogsplash was a little story about a touching incident that took place on my last trip to India. I’m very glad to say that of all the entries, mine was chosen as the top entry!

I’m very happy about this, particularly because it was the gesture of one humble man that has moved people (across the globe) to tears. Please do read it. Here: https://writerzblock.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/a-bagful-of-peanuts/

God bless such simplicity and humility. Need I say more!!

Once again, thank you Fiona for conducting the event, and many thanks to the One and Only: Shail for inviting me to it. It was a learning experience.

(Comments disabled. Thank you all so much for your warmest wishes :-))

Categories
Awards Incidents

F-Un-Scrambler Golden Trophy

*****Drum-roll***** 

OK folks, here is the much-awaited Golden Trophy award!! 

Most of you (er, all of you) had figured out the jumbled words and sentence perfectly in my earlier post called ‘Unscramble This’, and that too, within 3 seconds flat… (much to my disappointment 😦 ) As Uma mentioned, you are a rather smart bunch of people 😛 which I whole-heartedly second! 

So here is your very very beautiful golden ‘The F-Un-Scrambler Trophy’. 

 

But .. but .. but, going by the popular saying ‘There is no free lunch’, the Trophy too comes with a small catch 😉 

I hereby award the trophy to the FIRST THREE COMMENTATORS, AND THE LAST THREE COMMENTATORS. 

In order of commenting:
Winner 1 – Prats
 

Winner 2 – Uma 

Winner 3 – Shilpa 

Winner 3rd from last – IHM 

Winner 2nd from last – Shail 

Winner 1st from last 😉 – Masood 

(Also, my dearest Deeps did drop by, and technically 3rd from last, but very unfortunately, she did not mention if she had managed to unscramble this or not! But she did mention something on Facebook. So what do you guys think? Should we give her the trophy too? Reply YES or NO and not MAYBE 😉 ) 

Now, your CHALLENGE is: Proud recipients of the F-Un-Scrambler Golden rolling Trophy are HEREBY TAGGED to put up a similar post with scrambled/jumbled words!! No rules/conditions apply. It just has to be jumbled words or jumbled letters or both, the way you like it!!

Do remember to link back to this original post though, so we maintain continuity. AND please also come back to let me know when you’ve posted your challenge (that way I will get a chance to participate too 🙂 😉 )

And yes, do pass on this beautiful rolling trophy to your winners too 🙂 

OK WINNERS, OVER TO YOU!!! 

x

EDITED TO ADD:

Ok folks, we have a controversy now.. and I’ve been (un)justly accused of ‘favouritism’. So to clear my name of this infamous slander… I have to hereby award the gorgeous F-Un-Scrambler Golden Rolling Trophy to the foll. three people who commented on my post on Facebook!! Psst: Since there were only these three, they win both in the ‘First’ and ‘First from Last’ categories 🙂

Urmi

Swaram

Deeps

Phew… who knew all this would happen…. 😛

Categories
Awards Short story Thought and Reason

Contest – murder mystery

‘A Mystery is History!!’

Catchy lines from my son’s favourite ‘Tigger and Pooh’ 🙂

I love Mysterys. Always enjoyed reading them. Watching TV serials like Byomkesh Bakshi (olden days), and more recently, Special Squad (especially Aryan Khanna 😉 ) and D.O.N (Remember, Mr.Archana Puran Singh? Er… Detective Omkar Nath)

So when Blogadda wanted to make the community more exciting, I suggested this concept of a WHO-DUNNIT mystery. For the last year or so, I’ve been a huge fan of Ajay‘s stories. When I asked him if he would be interested in writing the mystery for this contest, he very kindly agreed. And what a little gem he produced! On Blogadda’s request (and Ajay’s permission ofcourse), I peppered the story with some clues and distractions 🙄 😛 and it was nice to see the concept coming to life 🙂

To confess, I was really nervous about how the blogworld would respond to this contest. Then, WOW! What a bunch of interesting entries poured in!! What was equally fascinating was the ‘comments section’ with Suranga and the others exuding their sparkling wit in the form of poems, limericks and two-liners 🙂

I am sure Sidin had a really tough time doing his job!! Its a pity though, that ‘only 2 of the entries were pronounced winners’! However, like Ajay rightly said, its the umpire’s decision that is final.

Tiku had asked me/Ajay to comment on the results. Ajay has already commented on the Blogadda website. And I would like to take the liberty to name a few of the entries that I found interesting.

Imho, this was a contest of judging not only the correct answer but also the quality of writing. I whole-heartedly agree with blogger Asheesh who said this is about the inner Ekta Kapoor 😉 😉

Strictly, in my opinion: Lila had killed herself. That’s part I. Part II – the way it was carried out/motive/etc. of course is very subjective.

Bloggers had very seriously donned the detective’s hat and came up with extremely imaginative and creative suggestions of the killer/motive/weapon. Some spoke of poisoned beads, some of liquid HCN (wonder what that means 🙄 ), some others of poisoned roses :mrgreen: It was real fun 🙂 entries by Gyanban – (who also cheekily tried to mislead people into guessing 😉 ) – Gosh! This guy must work with Scotland Yard!!! and Chatterbox‘s who was quite convincing.

I liked the entries by bloggers like Niveditha, Anu and Sudhakar who took tremendous effort to ‘understand’ Lila’s character, and then come up with a solution. They were all, for a moment, or several moments, Lila herself. I loved Urmi’s line ‘She was Lila, she couldn’t bow down even before the wishes of the Almighty’

Avada Kedavra nailed it with these lines: ‘Nobody in this house was capable of killing her. Moreover, nobody had any reason or motive what-so-ever to kill her, after these many years’

Shankha’s entry was very interesting and Soumya’s was straight-forward and convincing.

I also enjoyed reading the very sleuthy (is there such a word even?!!) solutions by bloggers like the Paranormal Guy, Chandana.

This particular wannabe writer was extremely creative in her presentation of the answer. Her entry was a class apart!!

Ashwini again got the answer simple and straight, but a little explanation would have done the trick.

Enjoyed the way Brindha has given a logical explanation for all those supposed clues, which really were meant to be distractions.

Blogger Archangel very cleverly took an alternate stance, that ‘No smart lady would kill herself’.

Unfortunately, I could not find this particular entry in her blog… hmm.. is this the beginning of the NEXT MYSTERY???!!!

The more I think of it, the more I wish we could have had atleast 3 winners 😉 and even that would be a challenge!!

And now, a totally uninvited vote of thanks:

Thanks to Blogadda for accepting my ideas/suggestions. It has really made me think!! So my blog friends, be ready for more such events!!!!!

Thanks to Ajay for so readily accepting to write a story, when he hardly knew me 🙂 except through Ryze! I am sure we will see your work in print some day. And I will hound you for an autographed copy 🙂

Thanks to Tiku (and the rest of my blog-buddies) for being such a darling friend. If I have got anything out of this entire contest, it is friendship 🙂

Thanks to ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS. You make me feel good about myself 🙂 Thank you 🙂 So much 🙂

Cheers..

Pal

Categories
Awards Thought and Reason

2009 – Year of blogging!!

As you already know, its the last two days for sending in nominations for the Avant Garde Bloggies Award.

All you need to do is check out the Categories here (spreadsheet) and here (additional categories) and write down your nominations in the Comments section on the blog.

I have sent in Nominations Part 1 and Part 2 already, and will be sending in a couple more today.

And I want to thank Hitchy, Dreamer and Smitha , Monika AND Urmila, for having nominated some of my posts in Fiction, Poetry (Lol) and Culinary categories (:roll: ). Thank you so much, people, you made my day!!

Now, these are the posts I’ve written this year. (Thank you, IHM, for sharing the secret 😉 to the archives code 🙄 )

So if you liked any of these, please do remember me 🙂 whenever the voting phase begins.

Cheerio…

(Signing off from a snowy land)

Categories
Awards Thought and Reason

Avant Garde Awards – Nominations List 1 and 2

Came across the Avant Garde Bloggers Awards on Facebook, and landed there to see the variety of categories under which we can nominate fellow bloggers.

So, here is my first list of nominations:

1) Best Off-Beat Post -(by) Saurabh: http://stuffilearnttoday.blogspot.com/2009/11/luck-jury.html

2) Best Movie Review Post -(by) Mayuri Sharma: http://diemos.blogspot.com/2009/11/movie-review-de-dana-dan.html

3) Best How-to Post -(by) Dreamer: http://gawdsowncountry.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-achieve-zero-figure-with-minimal.html

4) Most Humorous Post -(by) Mayuri Sharma again: http://diemos.blogspot.com/2009/08/rakhi-ka-swayamvar-aftermath.html

5) Best Satirical Post – (by NONE OTHER THAN) Quirky Indian (the King of satire): http://quirkyindian.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/there%E2%80%99s-no-stopping-progress/

6) Best Travel Post – (by) Swaram: http://thesongoflife.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/straight-from-gods-own-country/

7) Best Travel Post – (by) Pixie: http://mytakeoneverything9.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/yercaud/

8) Best Visual Post – (by) Monika: http://monikamanchanda.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/where-i-secure-my-place-in-mommy-heaven/

9) Best Poetry Post -(by) Ozzymandias: http://autophony.blogspot.com/2009/12/history.html

10) Best Poetry Post (again) -(by) Piper: http://mishyroy.blogspot.com/search/label/attempt%20at%20poetry

11) Most Networking Blogger – Our very own Kishan Kanhaiya : the one and only Hitchy Bhai! http://hitchwriter.wordpress.com/

12) Most Responsive Blogger- Our Don Solilo: http://mesoliloquy.wordpress.com/

(I need to track down all those posts that made me think, laugh, and ROFL and send in my next list of nominations soon!)

Those of you who would like to add nominations please hop over HERE.

(Need I add, that if you found any of my posts interesting, please do nominate!)

Danke!

Here goes LIST TWO:-

1) Best off-beat post – (by) Solilo: http://mesoliloquy.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/does-obama-deserve-the-nobel-peace-prize/

2) Most humourous post – (by) Salil Ravindran   http://www.salilravindran.com/2009/07/no-excuse-for-no-exercise.html

3) Best header-  Monika : http://monikamanchanda.wordpress.com/

4) Best ‘How-to’ post- (by) Ordinary Guy     http://quintessentialhope.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-advanced-guide-to-cutting-your-fingers/

5) Best Poetry- (by) Mystic Margarita   http://mysticmargarita.blogspot.com/2009/06/kind-eyes-behind-pair-of-glasses-curly.html

Categories
Awards Incidents

Of stars that were colourful..

Once again, a very Happy Deepavali!! or Happy Diwali!!! (as you like it!)

If you are reading this post, it means you had a nice and safe Diwali, and I hope it was exciting and happy too 🙂

Our Diwali morning went off rather quietly (I had to go out on some work, so ‘Knight and Baby Hunk’ – read ‘Hubby and Kid’ remained indoors), but the evening was lovely. A new friend had invited us over for a fireworks party, and OH MY! What a range of fireworks there was, and all by the banks of the river Thames.

Also, this is my little boy’s first active Deepavali…meaning, he was a real baby until now, so didn’t actively participate with the crackers et al, but yesterday was different. The first time I showed him a sparkler, he RAN!! I had to chase him and bring him back. Slowly, he got into the groove of things, and by the end of the evening, he had held four sparklers, and had watched open-mouthed, amazed at the countless colourful, sparkling stars that lit up the cloudess night sky.

My only crib is that we didn’t have the foresight to have the camera ready. I wish we had taken a couple of pictures!

[Special thanks to little Pixie, for suggesting that we make fond memories of our first Diwali away from home].

And now, back to AWARDS! Yippee!

Swaram had very sweetly given me all these awards…

  • I love your Blog (goes to all the blogroll) loveblogaward111
  • Addicting Blog Award (again, to the blogroll)
    award_addicting
  • Inspirational blogger (I pass this on to ‘TATTOO’, for her beautiful work, though she hardly blogs anymore)

Dmanji had received tons of awards in Sep. and had passed it onto his Blogroll and Commentators.

  • I choose this one – ‘Blogbuddies’, and pass it onto EVERYONE in my blogroll and all those who are kind enough to lurk or leave comments 🙂blog_buddies

 

  • I also pick Super Scribbler, in order to share it with:superscribbler

Pixie
Swaram
Hitchy (Now take your turn on Scrabble!!)
Monika
Ritu
Vimmu
OG
Ganga
Smitha
Urmi
Barath
Aaroo
Dmanji
Prats

  • Out of sheer greed, I pick this award too, especially because I want to pass it on to some exceptional bloggers: The Most Stylish Blogger award.stylishblog

MM
Piper
Solilo
Vipul
Pragya
Dreamer

So, that’s it, people!! Have a happy Sunday, and a good week ahead.

Cheerio….

Categories
Awards

More awards..

Happy Weekend everybody! And let’s begin it on this nice note…

 

Dreamer has awarded me with this precious ‘I Adore your Blog’ award.

J'Adore_Tien_Blog_Award_2009[2]

While I most gratefully accept it, I would also (rather promptly) like to pass it on to the foll. people, whose blogs are on the list of blogs that I admire…

1- Quirky Indian (though Quirky never bothers to acknowledge the award on the blog, or pass it on!)

2- Phoenix (for her wonderful sense of humour, and daring)

3- Shail (especially for her latest poem on Love)

4- Ratna (for being a wonderful writer..if you haven’t done so already, you have got to read her ‘Art of Having a Crush’)

5- Shankari (her stories lay the truth so bare, it could rip your soul apart) 

Cheerio!!

P.S: Dmanji is on an award-receiving spree, and has ever so sweetly passed them on to people in his blogroll..so I am going to ransack his collection of awards soon, and pass them on too 😉

Categories
Awards Incidents Thought and Reason

Far and away…(and Awards et al)

I’ve been away for so long. And nobody missed me 😦

Btw, I’ve been in a very non-www mood of late. Just too many things keeping me pre-occupied. But we did have a very nice weekend in Brussels…to celebrate our 6th Wedding Anniversary 🙂 Pics later.

I was thrilled to see Hitchy bhai’s interview on Blogadda, and PRG’s post on Driving License on Blogadda’s Tangy Tuesday Picks.

And totally J of seeing Pixie, Mon and gang meeting up in the real world. Anybody on this part of the world ? Pliss to let me know!

Oh, and THANKS a ton, Dmanji, for some lovely awards from you. Bless you with many more 🙂

International Blogging Community
International Blogging Community

Passing this on to:  Everyone on my blogroll!

Love Your Blog!
Love Your Blog!

This, I pass on to: Ritu, Piper, Vimmu, OG, Hitchy, Mystic Margarita, Quirky Indian, Prats

One Lovely Blog!
One Lovely Blog!

And this one goes to: Everyone on my blogroll, again.

THANKS once again, Dmanji! Awfully generous of you 🙂

Cheerio!!

Categories
Awards Thought and Reason

The true Bharatiya Naari @ Aap ki kachehri

spicysaturday

I never watch Star TV. Its rubbish. Totally. And we don’t get Sach Ka Saamna yet, so there’s really no point in tuning into this channel. I accidentally turned the TV on, and this programme was being aired:

Bharatiya Naari\’s reward

I watched, appalled at the casual way in which this guy…(Shall we just call him – The Polygamist – TP) admitted to having an illicit relationship with another woman, and also having a child with her. There he is, standing in court, with both women!

This is what struck me:-

1- The polygamist – Ashok – Looked absolutely cool! He showed no trace of shame or guilt. The only emotion he displayed was distress – at the thought of having to pay some monthly maintenance amount for both families.

2- The wife – Looked resigned to her fate. She has simply watched her husband living with another woman, and even having an illegitimate child with her. She has been abused by him. Disrespected. And ignored. And there she is, standing by the side of her husband. Like good wife Hillary Clinton next to the respectable (ahem!) Mr.Clinton during the Lewinsky affair! And all she claims is for her to be provided for.

3- The mistress – Looked equally resigned too! Like they were all part of one happy family. She actually called the wife ‘Didi’! And all she wanted was her child (an 18 year adult himself!!) back.

And what was the great Verdict?

That the man shall pay a monthly maintenance charge to provide for both his families, and shall not see the mistress again.

What was Kiran Bedi thinking when she passed that sort of judgement?

-Does this man even deserve a family?

-Should he not be divorced from his wife AND separated from the mistress?

-Shouldn’t he be restricted from seeing his children any more? Its not like he has been providing for them or caring for them all through their growing years!

Post-judgement. These were the reactions:

1- The polygamist – Spoke a poorly-rehearsed line about how he made that mistake (of having a second family) without thinking of the consequences.

2- The mistress – She actually cried, because her ‘child’ would miss his ‘father’!

3- The wife – Now this lady really took the cake!! She was all smiles. And why? Because she ‘got her man back’.

So, is this the moral of the story??

Men: Have as many affairs as you want, all you need to do is, come back to your wife at the end of the day

Women: Don’t worry, your man will be back. And you can legally claim maintenance charges from him.

Is this is the message the programme conveyed?!

WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON THERE?????!!!

Two women fighting for one man’s affections and/or attentions? Its not like he is a handsome hunk or even a responsible dad!

This man has disrespected the santity of marriage, and has not even accorded his wife the basic respect that another human being deserves.

And the wife? After all those years of humiliation, actually is happy to be back with the traitor that is her husband! Doesn’t she have an iota of self-respect??

I don’t know! I am really appalled at all the above – the man being so brazen, the mistress being so cool, and the wife being so subservient.

But most of all, I am shocked that Ms.Kiran Bedi let this man off the hook, so very easily.

I am sure all the pativrata Bharatiya naaris were delighted at the judgement. A happy ending to a sad story!

Please let me know your thoughts.

 

On another note, I am ecstatic that this blog post has been selected by Blogadda in its Spicy Saturday Picks! Thank you, BlogAdda and thank you, my dearest friends, for continuing to read and encourage me 🙂

spicysaturday

Categories
Awards

More awards

Thank you, dear Ritu, for these lovely awards.

1.What is your current obsession?
Spring-cleaning (Kind courtesy: Visit from Big Spider)

2. What are you wearing today? – Crazy ques. so am going to change this one.
The new Q.2 – If you won a Million dollars, what would your first words be?
Mine would be: S-H-*-T!

3. What’s for dinner?
Pudina paratha 🙂

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
Owww…read about my shopping expedition here.

5. What are you listening to right now?
The drone of the weary washing machine and the snore of my tired brat!

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Ritu is strong, Independent, Bindaas!

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Chennai! Where else!!

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Nice sandals, Bright coloured clothes and accessories to match

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Chennai again 🙂 to meet the family!

10. Which language do you want to learn?
French – its so sexy!

11. What’s your favorite quote?
‘How long a MINUTE is depends on which side of the bathroom door you are!’

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
God, to ask Him to give our war-torn-world some respite

13. What is your favorite colour?
Anything that suits me 🙂

14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own closet?
My favourite shirt from my pre-maternity days. Something I’d never fit into again!!

15. What is your dream job?
The state that I am in, I don’t mind anything that pays!

16. What’s your favorite magazine?
Me no read Magazines either.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
TOYS!! Not for me, obviously.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
One look at me, and you’ll exactly what a fashion faux pas is!

19. Who are your style icons?
Nobody! No wonder I have no style!!

20. Describe your personal style?
Casual and comfortable (stole this from Ritu ;-))

21. What are you going to do after this?
Just had a heavy lunch..so you can imagine my next stop 😉

22. What are your favorite movies?
Just wrote a long list on FB. DCH for one. And many others.

24. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can’t live without?
Bodyshop lipstick (that I never use), E45 lotion (that I always use!!) and a nice Dior perfume (that I sometimes use)

23. What inspires you?
The knowledge that Life is short,

24. What do you carry in your bag?
Lollipop, Baby wipes, Nappy, Spare shirt :-)))

25. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?
Yank out my most worn-out and most comfy shirt.

26. Coffee or tea?
Always coffee. Not filter. Regular instant coffee.

27. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Ice-Cream!! Chocolate! Window shopping.

28. What is the meaning of your name?
Related to music, is just about how much I know!!

29. Which other blogs you love visiting?
My blogroll 🙂

30. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Ice-Cream!! Chocolate!

31. Favorite Season ?
Winter 🙂

32) If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
Paneer paratha

33)What’s your current mood?
Tired…sleepy…waiting for a break , from doing nothing 🙂
=========
The rules are:
Respond and rework – Answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own.Then tag eight or ten other set of people.

I would like to share these awards and tag the foll. people , to begin with. Others in my blogroll, please feel free to drop by and collect yours 🙂

Solilo
Indy
Pixie
PRG
OG
Vimmu
Piper
Quirky