MellowDrama

Glitter and Gloss by Vibha Batra is funny, warm and endearing. Misha is a make up artist (whattay refreshing choice of a career for our heroine!)who is witty, hard-working and suffers (literally and figuratively both) from a huge mothering instinct. This very instinct is the cause that she ends up falling for Akshay Aggarwal a dishy, heir of a Marwari business family. Now please focus on the word Marwari. These families are largely rich, make that stinking rich- he sends her a Cavalli gown when she complains she has nothing to wear for an after work party- annnnd more importantly if you want to be expected into the fold then you need you to impress the entire community. Here we have Akshay's overprotective didi who parades Misha to ensure that she gets approved by all the aunties of the Marwari smaraajya in Mumbai. Misha's story is heartwarming because of the life that the author has managed to breathe into the character with her words. She is flawed yet endearing. Misha is e...

If you have grown up in a typical north Indian household like me then you would have seen women around you wearing suits. Not just the business kinds but the three piece garment consisting of a kameez/ kurta, a dupatta and a churidar/a salwar. Getting the cloth, going to a tailor ( over and over again) and getting the material designed and stitched has always occupied a major position there because those are, like I said, the everyday clothes worn by women all around, from my mother to the house help. They are worn to the functions- birthday parties, kitties and kirtans. Bollywood even sang a song to the suit wearing girl. But there is this one occasion where there isn't a chance for the suits or for any other garment to make an appearance. These are the shaadis, the weddings, the marriages where the silks, the pochampallys, the kanjivarams, the banarsis- read the heavy guns- put in an appearance like a chief guest at some sarkari function who soon after the initial formalitie...

The world that we live in today has become even more dynamic than it was till only a few years ago. There is an uncertainty in almost everything. But then us, human beings, have always come out as winners and on top of the chain by the sheer will power to sustain and by our ongoing efforts. This is what is of great importance to me- the effort. I firmly believe that those who start will finish.  It might take time and it might tax one’s faculties, but this constant pursuit, this effort making, to me is the essence of human evolution. This is the only way that we learn and carry forward. This is the only way we improve and this is the only way we excel. Not making an effort is certain death- death of dreams, ambitions and that very basic human urge to survive. -------------------- There are times when I find writings like this one in a nook or a cranny of my overstuffed, aged and blinking laptop. I am impressed at first with the force of the ideas like this one here- Not m...