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September 18, 2011

LIVE FROM LONDON BY PARINDA JOSHI

"Live from London is a light-hearted, quirky, tongue-in-cheek and sassy chick-lit set in London and Mumbai. It follows the life of a young Indian girl against the backdrop of the British music industry."


Title : Live from London
Author : Parinda Joshi
Publisher: Rupa Publications (2011)

About The Book:
What happens when fate forklifts a fun and fearless twenty one-year-old from a crazy college costume party and puts her straight onto the stage of Britain's Got Talent?

Nishi Gupta lives in London, loves playing her red beauty (guitar) and has a knack of seamlessly landing up in dicey situations. Unable to battle her humiliation post a stage debacle, she interns at a record label company. There she meets Mr Fredrick, the godfather she was looking for; influential and hard to impress. Instead, she finds herself attracted to an international recording artist with a slightly funny name, Nick Navjot Chapman, who is part Indian, part Canadian and entirely sexy.

A short steamy affair, a gig on Nick's debut album and a ticket to stardom; life changes fast for Nishi. Then the unthinkable happens and she finds herself back in India trying to build a fresh life in a country she vaguely remembers. 

Will she be able to move on forgetting her past, or are there more surprises waiting for her?

On The Web:
 

About The Author:
Parinda Joshi works in the Entertainment Industry in Los Angeles. She holds an MBA in Marketing. She is a freelance columnist and a professional Photographer. Travelling tops her wish list and her favourite pastime is people-watching.

September 14, 2011

55 WORDS FLASH FICTION CONTEST - RESULTS

We had hosted a competition on Book Readers Lounge recently. Here are the details of the competition - link.
We thank our judges - Shreya Chatterjee & Nisha Arppit for going through 54 entries and deciding the final 5.

1. Vivek Banerjee
As the sunlight faded in the cold and foggy December evening, most of the working girls
hurried home.
Some had families to go back to while others went back to their respective working women
hostels or PG accommodations.
However, for the girl with sad eyes, excessive make-up and cheap perfume, the day was just
beginning.

2. Dev Kumar
Smriti was smiling as she entered the staff room. “The children responded very positively,”
she told her fellow teachers, “they are all horrified with how we kill the unborn girl child.”
Her colleagues smiled too. When she returned home her husband told her the result of the
ultrasound test. She wept for her unborn daughter.

3. Dev Kumar
Sunday 6 a.m. He loved checking the letters column in the newspaper first thing in the
morning. He smiled when he opened the paper today. His letter emphasising the need for
honesty, morals and values among the youth had been published. 7 a.m. He tiptoed to the
neighbour’s front door and placed the newspaper back.

4. Pooja Sharma Rao
On a hilly road,down a steep slope,she held my hand tight always.My mom's touch made me
feel safe and loved.
Decades later my daughter grabs my mom's hand,tells her to look left and right and cross
carefully.
I look at them and rejoice,my past and future walking hand in hand.

5. Aparna Santhanam
Tonight again, I dreamed of cabbage! Motibai, the gypsy dream reader says it is
symbolic of infidelity and lovelessness.Rahul and I’ve been married hardly three
months. The ink hasn’t dried on our certificate, but the dream recurs every night.
I turn my head as Suresh cuddles me in sleep! It’s all because of the cabbage!

Above 4 people have each won a copy of 'Musings of a Wanderer' by Shreya Chatterjee. Pls write to us at bookreaderslounge@gmail.com to claim your gift.

September 13, 2011

FRIENDSHIP DAY SPECIAL COMPETITION RESULTS

FRIENDSHIP DAY SPECIAL - a poetry & prose competition was held on our facebook group - Writers & Poets. The duration for the competition was 7 days beginning Aug 2, 2011 and ending on 9 Aug. 
An event was created specifically for this competition on facebook and it was organized by Siddharth Paldhikar (admin of the group)

We received 15 entries in all for the competition. Our judge Shreya Chatterjee chose two winning entries - one poem & one short story.

All participants of this competition heartily thank her for assuming the role of a Judge inspite of being so busy with work and giving her precious time to this competition.

Here is a brief BIO of Shreya Chatterjee
Shreya Chatterjee is a writer by profession and poet at will. In spite of handling two professions that leave her little time for leisure, she manages to read books, write reviews and manage two blogs.

Her blogs are:
She has been writing poems and articles for various magazines like “Raison d'être“, “Bonhik”, “Kindle Magazine” and few others.
She frequently writes in Poetry forums like Jingle Poetry, One Shot Poetry. She was featured recently on ofindianorigin.co.uk
Her debut novel of poems – “Musings of a Wanderer” was recently published by Power Publishers.
It is collection of poems that speaks about the simple pleasures of life.
Know more about her book at http://goo.gl/NBCD6
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We have one copy of the following book as a prize for our poetry winner.

 Title : The Journey of Rock
Author : Avishekh Das
 
 
 
About The Book:
Having failed to woo his lady love, crack all India exams and realize his only dream of becoming a rock singer, Samarth Dasgupta starts believing that he’s a loser, until he joins a nerdy engineering college. What happens in the aftermath?

How does Jerry help him? Can Armaan, with his uncanny ability to sniff out dangers save him? Who’s the mysterious blue-eyed Sardar? How do dreams and instincts affect their lives? Is it better to burn out than to fade away?

Join him as he travels from one part of the country to another in search of love, hope and passion.
 
'The Journey Of Rock' is Avishekh Das's debut novel which was released on the 17th of May 2010 by Srishti Publishers and Distributors
 
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The Winner for the best poetry is Sammya Brata and winner for best short story is Arun Sabtharishi

Winning poem
Topic - Friendship

The curve that can heal your anguish,
The barefoot trudges,
And the unscripted frolic,
Calls for a nameless land!!
Walking on the edge-
Or Crying it out-
When the daily dose tastes turns acrid,
When your grip alleviates,
When your feet refuse to assist,
When you wish to move out of sorts-
You crave for the heavenly curve
YES----the curve can do WONDERS!
The curve that can blend into you...
The curve that can bring the world together-
The curve of FRIENDSHIP!

Winning Short Story
Topic - Friendship
 
Title - SONA

The alarm didn’t seem to affect my heavy sleep. The AC was set high and I had buried the whole
of myself into the blanket. It always felt good to sleep inside the blanket even when it is a hot
summer outside. I never had any intention of getting up and was sleeping like a log.

Suddenly I felt something wet on my face. I could feel someone had removed my blanket and
kissing on my cheek. I could not open my eyes which had still at least two hours of sleep lodged.
The kisses continued and paused for a moment. My blanket was removed completely which
means I have to at least move or open my eyes and see who it was.

I knew who it would be. Sona, my best friend for the past six years… We were together right
from the moment we first met.

Many of my friends were jealous on me for the fact that how cute Sona was. I was proud to have such a beautiful friend. She used to wake me up very early in the mornings and disturb my sleep after she gets readied.

Without opening my eyes, I touched her hair and caressed her head. She knew that I won’t wake up and kissed my face again. I felt disturbed and irritated and pushed her off. She stopped the kissing and got separated from me.

I knew she would get angry with me and it would take some time to console her and I tried to
wake up and called her name aloud… “Sona…”

She gave no reply and walked off, showing her back.

With a tired and sleepy face, I yawned more than twice. When I tried to go back to sleep again, my cell phone beeped. It was an SMS from Neetu.

Being my girlfriend for more than a year, she fought with me more than loving me. She was very possessive about me and especially she didn’t like me talking and spending time with Sona. Unlike Neetu, Sona was very affectionate, friendly and likes me a lot. She never fought with me. She even leaves or forgets her boy friend to be with and spend time with me, if I was around.

‘You forgot to wish me at 12. Come to Diva for lunch. P.S: If you remember that you love me’
was that SMS.

I totally forgot that it was Neetu’s birthday. I need to go for the lunch with her to pacify.

I checked the time. Oops… It was already quarter to noon. I rushed to brush my teeth and get ready. I was searching for the towel here and there. Sona brought it for me, and she turned back to walk away as soon as I got it since she didn’t want to talk to me for pushing her off the bed.

I didn’t mind.

All that was running through my thoughts were what gift should I get for Neetu, how should I
make her happy and how would I make her day unforgettable. I took the newest shirt I had and the best pair of jeans that would match the shirt.

I ran to the hall and Sona looked at me and gestured that I looked good. But, from her eyes I
could find that still she was having a peck of anger on me and I had to pacify her too. I knew
how to make Sona smile and it was the easiest thing in the world.

I raced my car as fast I could to Neetu’s place. As expected, Neetu was standing outside the gate of her apartment and I picked her up.

‘Thank God! I was on time.’ I said to myself.

Neetu got into the car and smiled at me. With a white color urban gown on, she looked perfect
and angelic. I winked at her and she came forward to kiss me as I closed my eyes.

For a few seconds more than anticipated, I didn’t feel the kiss.

“What the hell?” I heard Neetu shouting.

‘Oops, she started again’ my mind started crying and I opened my eyes.

“Why did you bring her today? Its my birthday and I want to spend some quality time with
you… privately…” Neetu said pointing at Sona who was sitting in the back seat.

“So what? She is my friend… It is a special occasion for her too. She would definitely feel happy to see us happy.”

“You must know that every girl is possessive on her man. I am not exceptional. I don’t like your friend being with you always. At least not the time when I am with you…”

I looked at Sona’s face which turned cold and she put her head down. I couldn’t construe
whether she was crying but I was stubborn in taking her along with us.

Even after the heavy opposition from Neetu, I wanted Sona with us and we went to the most
popular restaurant in the city for lunch. With her head down and a sad face, Sona came along
with us.

As we were about to enter the restaurant, the watchman looked at us in a different way and tried to stop us entering inside.

“What?” I asked with a puzzled look.

“Sir, pets are not allowed inside the restaurant.” He said looking at Sona.

Without knowing that I am going to leave her back in the car alone and going to enjoy Neetu’s
birthday, my friend Sona looked at me blissfully with her tongue out and shaking her tail.

September 07, 2011

FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY - THE (IN)ELIGIBLE BACHELORS



Title : The (In)eligible Bachelors
Author : Ruchita Misra
Publisher: Rupa Publications (2011)

About The Book:
Arranged marriages are complicated things. So are mothers. And so are relationships.

Kasturi Shukla is a fresh MBA graduate with a great job in hand. She is also geeky and single at twenty-four. The biggest sore spot in Kasturi’s life is her dominating, arranged marriage obsessed mother now hell-bent on getting her married at the earliest.

Does Kasturi find love in one of the rather weird but IIT/IIM boys that Mum manages to ‘shortlist’? Or perhaps she can follow her wildly beating heart that seems to be set on the Greek God incarnate that her boss, Rajeev sir, is?

With office buddies Ananya and Varun by her side, the hilariously fumbling Kasturi embarks on a rip-roaring journey to find Mr Right.

The (In)eligible Bachelors, which chronicles Kasturi’s daily diary through this time, is a riotous adventure of adrenaline, laughter and guffaws.

It is also an invaluable lesson in love, family and friendship.
  • A witty take on the system of arranged marriages, the marriage market that rules the Indian society.
  • A witty and humorous easy-to-read writing style makes for a good read.
  • The creative chapter headings arouse the what-next quality.
About The Author:
Ruchita Misra is an MBA graduate and triple gold medallist from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi. She reads anything and everything she can lay her hands on and is an unembarrassed fan of all things Bollywood. She currently works in London where she lives with her husband.

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FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY - THE (IN)ELIGIBLE BACHELORS

Participate in our free book giveaway by answering a simple question and three lucky winners will a get a copy of this book.

QUESTIONS:
1. Name the two friends in Kasturi Shukla's life.
2. Name the college which the author Ruchita Misra studied at.

Send in you Full Name & Answers to these questions via email to bookreaderslounge@yahoo.com with FINAL GIVEAWAY as subject

CLUE: The answers to these questions are in this blog post itself. Get cracking

Contest begins - 07 September & ends on 12 Sep
Winners will be selected via lucky draw

ANSWER - 1. VARUN & ANANYA
                     2.  INDIAN INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN TRADE

WINNERS
  1. Gaurav Rana
  2. Ravi Goenka
  3. Mohit Jhurani





September 04, 2011

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - ANURAG ANAND

We interviewed published author Anurag Anand recently.


SHORT BIO

Anurag Anand hails from a small town called Chapra in the state of Bihar. The quest for quality education took him far from the comfort and care of home at an early age (five years) and since then he has been fending for himself in various cities across the country. He completed his MBA in the year 2002, and thus began his stint with the corporate world. He has worked with different organizations across sectors like FMCG, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services. He is currently employed with an MNC Bank in Mumbai. 

 So here goes:
 Tell us something about your novel - Reality Bytes. Any specific reason for this title?          
The title actually is 'Reality bytes Bites'. The 'byte' here refers to digital information and the 'bite' to the impact it has on the protagonist whose life till then had been a merry saga of fun and frolic.
 
How did this book happen and why did you choose to write about it?          
The life I led in various hostels, particularly my school, Delhi Public School - Mathura Road, left me with memories and anecdotes which often test the borders for people's belief when narrated to an outsider. Nevertheless not many are able to resist the the intrigue and excitement they are laden with. I always wanted to share some of these memories with people and in the bargain make them recall similar phases from their own life and hence the choice to give it the form of a book. The story of Reality Bites is incidental, it is the anecdotes and characters that form its lively soul.  

When did you take to writing? 
 I have always been an avid reader with a keen interest in writing. However, for a better part of my life I remained preoccupied with engagements which ensured that I remained deprived of the 'good boy' tag and I am sure those would not qualify on their appropriateness for this forum. As a result I never took my vocation seriously. It was when I found myself stranded in a small town of Gujarat due to the callings of my job that I took to writing my first book. The fact that I had nothing better to do with my free time had a critical role to play in my first experiment with writing.
 
 
Where do you usually write? What is your favourite setting to write in? 
 As much as I would love to say that I like to sit facing the sea with pen and paper in hand, that is not how it actually works. I prefer minimal disturbance (any kind) when I am writing and hence it is the solitude of night that works the best for me. So, behind every one of my published works there are numerous Friday and Saturday nights spent not partying but on my desk, writing.
 
Did this story  come to you easily or did you find yourself stuck with a writer’s block sometimes? 
 The writers block for me does not pertain to the flow of a story (I usually have this bit sorted out before taking on a new venture), it is instead the language flow and presentation that i find myself struggling with, at times. This usually happens when I am in a hurry to put down all the random thoughts that are bubbling within my head. The solution too is simple. I take a 1-2 day break from my writing and then resume again.
 
Does this story have anything to do with your personal life? Or is it a story of someone close to you?   
As mentioned above, the book indeed draws heavily from my own experiences and those of my mates during my hostel days. The story though that these characters and incidents weave together is completely fictional.

Tell us about something your books other 'Reality Bites'     
Reality Bites is my fifth published title. Preceding this, I have written two other books in the fiction genre - The Quest for Nothing (2010) & Tic Toc: A tale of love, hate & terror (2008). My first two books were in the self-help genre and were titled, 'Pillars of Success' and 'Corporate Mantras'.         The Quest for Nothing has been the most appreciated among my works, becoming a National Best-seller within 6 months of its release. The book was also included in the long list for the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2011.  

 Tell us about your life online and the sites you maintain 
 I am not very active online and my interactions with the worldwide web is limited to some social networking and e-mail sites. However, I make it a point to respond to every e-mail that i receive from my readers. My official website, www.anuraganand.in, is expected to go live within the next fortnight.  

What are your thoughts on life – The one thing that it takes to live it? 
 I think the below lines that I had written in my introduction for Reality Bites summarize my thoughts about life most aptly:  

Some day, the flowers shall ashen and the sun will cease to shine,  
These divine moments are all that will stand the test of time.  
Why should tomorrow then cast a shadow on this beautiful day?  
And why shouldn’t I make the most of what is offered by today?  

How has been your experience so far in the literary world? Any highs or lows being a part of this space that you would like to share here? 
 The biggest high for any author is to receive appreciation for his work. The mails and comments (on Facebook) I receive on my works from complete strangers work the best for me. The one low that most authors face, and so did i, was sharing my first manuscript with the potential publishers only to be shown the door by most. But that is a part and parcel of the game and has to be taken in ones stride.  

Tell us something about your work & hobbies? 
 I work in an MNC Bank, handling their Asset Products for Business Banking. Too technical? I guess that explains my dabbling with writing so as to provide an able outlet for the creative side to me. When I am not working or writing, i like meeting and making friends, watching movies (any kind that catches my fancy) and sleeping. Yes, i am a compulsive sleeper. 

So how did it feel when you finally finished writing the book? 
If you are referring to my first book, that was quite some time back and the memories are no longer vivid. But finishing the manuscript is just the first step of writing and much more goes into it before the finished product hits the shelves. So, I am definitely elated whenever one of my works is finally out. It is like fathering yet another son everytime (thank god they don't count these as children in the population census).  

Top 3 All-time favourite books. 
1. One hundred years of solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez  
2. Madhushala - Harivansh Rai Bachchan  
3. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand   

Anurag, 2nd from left, with his book Reality Bites at the launch event