MellowDrama

Summer and Cee are neighbours and growing up in the vicinity have become best friends. In fact, Summer actually looks up to Cee. She also has a secret crush on Cee's brother.  One day in an attempt to have a little fun, the girls get into a car with a couple of boys and take some pills. The car meets with an accidents and Cee dies from a cardiac arrest. Summer is devastated by the loss of her best friend. She feels guilty as well to be alive instead of Cee who she thought had the zest for life.  Gradually the social media begins to turn into a bullying ground which begins to torment and trouble Summer. Adding to her woes, the townspeople also start bullying Summer making her life miserable. How Summer lives through these testing times and how she comes out on the other side of this avalanche of feelings is what comprises the story. The author writes Summer's story quite emphatically. Summer's pain as a young adult who has lost the one person, they thought knew them insid...

Aanandika Sood today breathed her last in the house that she had always seen in her dreams. The house was bustling with activity as her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and their children played games, danced and chatted about life and its meangeries, all of which she had been witnessing intently. She had eaten her fill of the fruits of the season and had been humming 'Hum bekhudi main tumko pukare chale gaye.'

The Secret Life of Debbie G is the story of a teen girl named Soundarya. Her family and friends of course make for the rest of the cast of characters. But that is not the information that would want you to pick this book up and zip through it. Vibha Batra and Kalyani Ganpathy have created #agraphicnovel that is a coming of age story.  The book is very important in the number of topics it manages to bring to the fore. The writer and the illustrator have dared bring the topics generally swept under the carpet, out into the open.  What's more, with Debbie G's help and with that of the social media they have laid these bare and out in the open for everyone to pick up and examine with a lens of their choosing. Still, as you progress with the story you do realise that judgments are easy to pass especially at the younger lot who are just beginning to explore this world that adults before them have muddled up. As a mum of a teenager the book gave me a perspective on life as a teen in ...

I have always known that the respect in any relationship matters utmost. There are other things like being seen and heard that are mandatory for a relationship to thrive but here are some ways I have realised to see it in simpler tangible things. Whatever the nature of relationship might be- romantic or platonic.  1. It should make you feel good about yourself. Very important. Non negotiable. Absolutely. 2. Also I don't think there is an accusatory tone in a healthy relationship 3. I think it should give you aspiration, some inspiration and not hold you back from wanting and expressing what you think you are Some seriously good stuff from The Angry Therapist 1. Healthy feels like safety  2. You having the ability to express yourself and nothing is taken away. There are no consequences. 3. Held not grabbed 4. Supportive, encouraging and CHAMPIONING your story 5. Helps connect you to yourself 6. It should not hold you back from wanting something because you should be able to wan...

 To be loved means to be seen as existing.  My friend Ruchi had shared a clip from Thich Nhat Hanh's interview being conducted by Oprah Winfrey in which I heard these words for the first time. It was a couple of years ago.  As soon as I heard him say this my whole world sort of lit up.  I have always struggled with the idea of love. I have never found a satisfactory answer from people who claim or who I have known to be in love. I have had this conversation with Ruchi also and I don't know if this in any way contributed to her sending me this particular message but despite our discussions on purpose, authenticity, love, karma- I have my doubts. Well, anyway. So back to love. I think I was set on this search for meaning of love, quite unwittingly by my younger sister. We were small kids in a village in Himachal Pradesh living the life that could only be imagined via Blyton's books. One day after being scolded by either of the parents she went on to stand on the extend...

This post is brought to you by the cyclone Yaas, raging outside my window, shaking up the trees as if puppets and forcing rain to dance in every direction. Did you stay in an area where power cuts weren't the norm? Have you ever shuddered at the thought of an electricity cut? Did you completely abhor the fact that when the lights went out, you had nothing and I mean absolutely nothing to do? Well, well, well, save yourself the time and quit right here because this is an ode to the glory of windy or rainy days and rainy, windy and sultry nights when there would be a power cut, rendering the whole area, the whole house in darkness. This is in praise of all the times when there would be an electricity cut in various cities I have lived.  In Palampur that meant and if I am not wrong, till this day means, no electricity on Mondays from roughly 10 AM to 5 PM.  It also means that if there is hard rainfall or gusts of wind breaking the speedometer, the house might turn dark at any mom...

Flamingo Fashion is an audiobook written by Samantha Hunter and recorded in an impeccable style by Crown actor Michael Maloney. The very bright and nice  cover for the audiobook has been illustrated by Maggy Roberts. It is an interesting book in itself as the author has chosen to publish it as an audiobook rather than go the traditional way. I would say that this has been a might good thing for me. We will find out how, just in a bit! More on the Book Flamingo Fashion is the story of two fashionistas. make that two fabulous fashionista flamingos Fiffi and Freddie. One fine day these two fine flamingo fashionistas decide to give the other residents of the Savanna a touch of their glamor. To find out who visits them and what do they manage to do for their clients and whether or not the clients are happy with the end result, you will have to download the book for yourself. The book is aimed at small children in the ages between 3 to 6 years but hey when has that ever stopped us from e...

We have put International Women's Day behind us just yesterday but I am sure some people are just waking up to it. Literally and metaphorically, both! So in continuation to the point that I was trying to get across yesterday I am here to speak about the bitter half. No, you read that correct. The bitter half has been complaining why no Men's Day (BTW it falls on Nov 19th, if I am not mistaken), give us an entire day to celebrate. Ask them what and I don't think they have a concrete answer yet. It is better to leave certain things just as they are and move on like Sahir Ludhianvi wrote: Wo afsana jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumkin, usse ek khoobsurat mod de ke chodna achha. Coming back to the main idea of today's post. I have a son and a daughter, so it has fallen on my broad shoulders to bring to your kind attention a very important thing.  Let me first make a thing clear, I am not here attempting to bring this point out for conversation and debate because either I am b...

In my school group today morning, someone posted  Strong women do not have an attitude. They have standards and boundaries. I wrote fab to that in my comment. And then it happened. I analysed the statement quite unintentionally because I am not the one to keep up with gender tropes.  Well, well, well ain't that food for thought! Come let us dig deep(err).  I think this must have come from a man and there is an obvious problem with the first part of the statement but we will get to it later. Hear me out  first, So, strong woman- who is this creature? A mythical being or a character from folk lore? Does she exist beyond the realms of imagination of feminists- both male and female? Let's turn the question around.  Who isn't a strong woman, rather? You are my friend. Yes you too, gentlemen! Remember the concept of Ardhanaareshwar? The coexistence of the feminine and the masculine. The naari form before the eshwar.  Every man and woman, every human being on the ...

I just saw a tweet asking people why they read YA or middle grade fiction and this made me contemplate my recent choices ahem ahem!! I have been reading some (or maybe a lot!) thanks, mostly to Dave and the fantastic book tours he organises, as well the fact that I have a teen in the house. So it is just sheer cleverness on my part that I read YA and try to see what goes on in the minds of today's young generation. Well, to read Bad Habits by Flynn Meaney was one such attempt. Which mother of a teen can resist going through a book titled THAT? Enough of jokes, let's get to the serious business of reviewing this book. So, first things first, an introduction to the book and the protagonist. Alex goes to a strict Catholic school and wants to be expelled from it. Her story is an attempt at gaining some shock value and getting the school authorities to chuck her out. What actually happens is a tangential growth in Alex's character and discussions and debates on topics which have...