Sangam Landscape

In Sangam Literature (that which belongs to my native language Tamil), the landscape is classified based on the flower that is specific to that region. Based on that they arrived at 5 different landscape classifications.

Kurunji – Mountain areas

Location: Munnar

 

Mullai – Forest regions

Location: Matheran

Marutham – Cropland

Location: Bali

Neithal – Seashore

Location: Bali

Paalai – Desert

Location: Hampi

A-Z Book List: O for One

Every once in a while (which is becoming more in a while nowadays) I need a book which doesn’t put too much pressure on my mind. That is when I pick up the romance genre. But even in that, they can be various levels. Some are intense, some are browsable, some hilarious and some are sure shot HEA feel good books. Depending on how I feel, I pick up (going with my gut feeling after reading the blurb of course) one. One name you will find associated with the romance genre for the feel good and HEA (Happy Ever After, just in case you didn’t know) books is Danielle Steel.

Name: One Day at a Time by Danielle Steel

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Drama, Fiction

The friend of mine who was my supplier of books, when I started reading novels as a part time thing after work (back in 1999), had a couple of Danielle Steel books even though she was a huge fan of Sidney Sheldon (and yes, I have read almost all of his works). I remember reading a book of hers called ‘The Long Road Home‘ and feeling so depressed and sad for a day (so much for feel-good books heh!) But I do realize why my friend had that book with her. I guess I am digressing. Back to the topic. So yeah, that was when I was introduced to Danielle Steel and maybe it was that book back then that made me buy this one on a sale. I wanted a feel good love story because I was feeling so down and this was when I did not have access to e-books and such. And this book did just that. Made me feel good about love, as does a couple of her other books. I agree I haven’t read too many books of hers, but what I have read have accomplished the set goal. Tell you that love is worth it, it’s OK to have a bad phase and so on.

This story is about three people and their lives and how they find love. I gave it three stars because I wanted something out of this book and it gave me that. It is as simple as that. Recently I loaned this book to my friend’s mom and she too loved it. So far, she has loved my collection and she wants more of romance (she is about 60 years I think) but sadly I have more thrillers and mysteries than romance 😳

If I wanted a very nice relaxed contemporary love story, I would go to Danielle Steel and a couple of such authors I have found over the period of time.

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here

A-Z Book List: K for Kiki

What constitutes a book? I go with the definition “a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers.“, irrespective of their size and volume. I could have gone with a lot of other books for the K series like ‘Kite Runner‘ (which is an amazing book, because it made me cry – yes, literally cry, for a day or two and I refused to watch the movie after some time because I couldn’t bear to see the pain) or ‘King Solomon’s Mines‘ (yes, I do have that book and a children’s version of it too and let me tell you, it’s a very cute book to read) or any such. But instead, I chose to go with a book which doesn’t have any rating (except two) in Goodreads. I don’t even know how to categorize it. But it is a book and I have it with me. How else will I introduce you to these treasures I have heh? 😉

Name: Kiki and Other Stories by Sunanda

Genre: Children’s Literature, Fantasy

Again, I don’t remember when I got this one. I used to go to a lot of book sale events, once upon a time (when I started working, that is, and found that I had my own money with which I can do whatever I want and so, I went and bought as many books and music cassettes as possible) This is a very short book, shortest and the smallest in my collection, so far. Just 48 pages and of all the animals I had to get a book on, I went and got one about Cats. The one animal that doesn’t like me. Go figure. But then I know that they didn’t like me very recently. Those days I used to think that if dogs like me, there is no way a cat won’t like me. They are all pet animals right? Same logic applies doesn’t? Well, I was naive. I definitely don’t want a snake to like me. Thank you very much.

Coming back to the book. It is about cats which can be considered bedtime stories for kids and since it is small and handy they would definitely love it. I am going to try this on my nieces and nephew who are going to be here for their annual vacation for a week.  And I hope that this book brings a smile to their faces just like it did to me when I got it and read it some 10 years ago.

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here

A-Z Book List: J for Jokes

I am not a big fan of non-fiction. I tried, I swear. But it always puts me to sleep faster than any sleeping methods I have tried. My serious reading days are over I think. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t bought books that are non-fiction. There is no specific reason as to why I would buy a book. It can range from ‘I like that title’ to ‘I am intrigued by its success’  to ‘I loved the blurb’ to ‘I have read it once and I need to have this book for later reading’. Today’s book is one that I picked because of the title.

Name: Joking Around by Osho

Genre: Non-Fiction, Philisophy

I have to admit that I haven’t read this book fully. I bought it at a sale somewhere (not evne a book sale) and have had it for a very long time. What I usually do with this book is: Pick it up, randomly select a page, go through the chapter or the story (yes, this has some stories as a way of answers) and keep it back. That way it is more fun. I remember reading a nice chapter about ego. Do I believe in OSHO? I don’t know much about him or his views to form an opinion. We did try to visit his ashram in Pune on one of our trips but we ended up very late in the hour and it was closed. I am not sure when I will finally complete this book. But I have got it with me in paperback. So I can go back to it whenever I feel like it. I definitely need to be in a particular frame of mind to read such books and grasp what they are trying to tell. And with the work and other stuff, it is very rare for me to get to that space. Will definitely update you all when I eventually do (hoping that I will still be blogging and y’all still be reading my blog)… 😉

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here

Prompts and Challenges

This was a post that I had published the same day last year. I thought why not post it again. There have been some changes, like Sue’s weekly word challenge hasn’t been active for a while, Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge is on a break, Steve’s musicology has changed a bit but otherwise things are still on, I guess 🙂

There are a couple more which I am currently participating or that I know of. They are

a) One Liner Wednesday by Linda

b) Sylvain’s Weekly Photography Prompt

c) Julie’s Travel Photo of the week (this is on a break I guess for now)

d) Helen’s Song Lyric Sunday

If you are looking for challenges, you can check these out and join the fun. Happy Blogging 🙂

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I did have a list of the Photography related Challenges listed down so that when I feel like it I can participate. But didn’t think that posting it might actually help anyone because I am as much a newbie to this as are the others. But then when Ger asked me for the list yesterday I thought, irrespective of whether others already knew about it or not, it may help someone if I did publish them. So here is a list of prompts/challenges which I know of, even though I take part only in two photography challenges per week (as much as my work can let me do it) and two writing prompts (just for fun)

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Photography:

Cee has a couple of photography challenges. They are Odd Ball Challenge, B & W Challenge, Fun Foto Challenge and Which Way Challenge. You can check them out on her site. There are separate menu links for the same.

If you like playing with your photographs and doing editing and stuff like that, then Robyn’s One Four Challenge might be interesting.

You might like Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge, if you like taking photos of your pet(s).

Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness is a good one, if you like playing with your photographs, be it editing, or if you frequently like taking or editing your photographs in monochrome.

Sue does her weekly word based photography challenge, which is almost similar to Daily Posts’s Weekly Photography Challenge.

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Writing:

If you wanna take part in some writing Challenges or prompts, you should check out Linda’s SoCS, hosted every Saturday (you will get your prompt by Friday evening) and JustJoJan, for the month of January only. ( I am gonna tag this post for the prompt )

If you like writing short fiction based on a photograph, then you can check out Al’s Sunday Photo Fiction. A similar prompt is done by RocNaNo using their Wordless Wednesday photographs.

You can also share your world with Cee’s Share Your World weekly questions.

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Music:

The only one Music related prompt that I take part and I currently know of is Steve’s Cosmic Musicology. Its fun and I am yet to do my post for this week’s questions. If you listen to music and have a good collection of songs in your playlist, you might wanna give this a try.

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And there is a whole lot more and you can find them here.

For people who like literature, you might wanna check out this site called Interesting Literature.

Hope you find some which might interest you and if you know of any other cool prompts, please do let me know.

Just one tip: Make sure you ‘tag’ your posts with the corresponding prompts as is given in their descriptions and to add the correct pingback so that it will be easily visible to others too.

Happy Blogging & Sharing.

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