Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my date of birth, and needless to say my pages on social media went frenzy wishing me " Happy Birthday."

Sure, I was elated reading and received wishes from my near, dear and virtual ones, and acknowledged them for their wishes.

While thanking about ~200th time (yes, that many wishes) I realized (yes, better late than never, huh!) that thank goodness I was born as a human, to be able to cherish all these wishes, and enjoy the spotlight, and dance and bow thee!

Yes, we all are the fortunate ones to be given the birth of a human.

A human that has the five senses, intelligence, and a touch that can either impact an individual in a positive or negative way via our actions. These actions can sometimes speak louder than words; seen as clashes that rips our skin apart.

Sometimes when our egos clash, the harsh words itself can echo miles and can hurt an individual at the cellular level cause of its  sheer utterance.
Phew! What an impact.

Yes, we all are the lucky ones to breathe in that oxygen with freedom and choose to either be elated or suffocate at our circumstances that we are partially responsible for creating it.

A life as a human being is so precious, yet we let our days, months, years pass by without the knowledge of being gifted the best mortal being until we breathe our last!

A reminder (to myself) that we ought to cherish this life as a Homeo-Sapien since it is not only a wiser life as compared to any other form born on this planet, but also we can do wonders to this planet, and transform it as a blessing for other animals.

Mantra for today: Life as a human being is precious, let's give it our best shot!

Worded Wednesday #62

Reader Alert: Today's Wednesday is worded!

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With Thanksgiving around the corner, we will be surrounded by Family or Friends, and will celebrate this holiday with scrumptious food and a little laughter.

However, when family or friends meet, there could also be friction of opinions regarding things or issues.

That is normal since humans are intelligent souls, and not all people can think alike otherwise there would not have been any new discoveries.


But, in order to keep harmony whilst eating the food prepared with so much love and effort, we got to agree with the other person's opinion and it is okay if they do not nod at your beliefs.

We do not need a certificate of approval from them to act so, just be in the moment, enjoy the food, laugh (or at least pretend to laugh) and come home with those extra nutritious calories in your body.

Tis is the season to give thanks (such as surviving the daily grind, natural calamities, having a job, born as a human) for many things besides our opinions so, let's enjoy our surroundings and our community (since we cannot live without them, being a social animal) and be thankful for our mere existence.

 Mantra for today: Be thankful for your existence

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Spotlight and Review of 'Playing With Fire' by Devika Fernando

 

Playing With Fire

by 

Devika Fernando

 

The Blurb

 If you’re playing with fire, prepare to get burned – or to fall in love.


Sparks fly when Felicia and Joshua meet. Discovering her inner fire and unleashing unimaginable powers makes her realize that all her life, she has been hiding her true self. When buildings burn and people are in danger, the tempting game of playing with fire becomes serious. Will their love and desperate struggle for control save her life, or will the fire magic turn itself against its mistress?


My Review

The book opens with a bang. This bang symbolizes sparks flying, window panes bursting, and loud noises of structures falling. Felicia was slowly approaching this ball of fire to test her guts, when suddenly she gets a push, and her plan gets busted when another main character of the novel, Joshua enters the scene.

Story after that is an attraction between these two while battling the fury within themselves. This energy within them is opposite to each other, and maybe that is making the appeal even more intense. Felicia has a ferocity for fire; there is a furnace within her that is burning and could blame it on her childhood. While Joshua is calm and poise like the water.

These two elements (water/fire) make thy novel. 

Although, I would have loved to know the past of Felicia that made her so fiery. That would have helped me as a reader to understand and position her better. 

The Author has woven their interactions, chemistry, supernatural powers that they fight within to surface their emotions and sensitiveness that allows them to portray the kind of personalities  they are assigned is played well.  The words are crisp while giving visions to the reader as she goes page by page as if she is right there experiencing it first hand.

I would recommend this book to any reader who believes in paranormal forces; this is one of a kind!

Buy @

 

Amazon.com |Amazon.in | Smashwords | 

Watch It 

Meet the Author

Almost as soon as Devika Fernando could write, she imagined stories and poems. After finishing her education in Germany and returning to her roots in Sri Lanka, she got a chance to turn her passion into her profession. Having lived in Germany and in Sri Lanka with her husband has made her experience the best (and the worst) of two totally different worlds – something that influences her writing. Her trademark are sweet, yet deeply emotional romance stories where the characters actually fall in love instead of merely falling in lust. She draws inspiration from everyone and everything in life. Besides being a romance novel author, she works as a self-employed German web content writer, as a translator, and as a faithful servant to all the cats, dogs, fish and birds in her home. What she loves most about being an author is the chance to create new worlds and send her protagonists on a journey full of ups and downs that will leave them changed. When she’s not writing, she’s reading or thinking about writing.

You can stalk her @

                  

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Potty Training

Paula was running around her 15-month-old son while keeping a keen eye on his actions. Then suddenly, while playing, her toddler, paused, scratched his head as if confused.  Showed some discomfort, and bent his knees while popping out his buttocks, while giving out an annoyed sound. 

That noise was enough to alert her.

 She immediately picked him up and rushed towards the bathroom. Then pulled down his training pants and put him on the throne.

"Phew! Potty training is difficult and a laborious job" she murmured while singing him a lullaby to keep him stationed on the pot. 

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November 19, 2014 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes the toilet. 
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An impact with nature

A decade ago my friend and myself went for a casual hike.

Told our better halves that we will be back in no time. Just carried a bottle of water, but did not bother to get a map or the phone or wallet since we kept reassuring each other, "it will be a short one!"

Now, we all know that when two women get together time knows no limits or boundaries. We started with small steps, and casual chit-chat, but as our talk intensified our stride picked up, and we walked wherever the path took us.

We were ranting over our personal matters, mouthing our opinions, and echoing over various issues.

When two women agree on many things, the surroundings become hypnogogic, and even though our legs were doing the walking, we did not feel the pain of any muscle being cramped or asking for attention.

Our steps were just marching along with the tune of the words totally unaware of where we were going, and time was another factor that we did not pay attention to.

Just then I started to feel a chill and had to zip my jacket. I was quick to look at the watch, and my eyebrows lit up. "Sush, It is past 5pm. We gotta head home. The sun will set soon."

I guess any blow to the body makes one realize of the environment, and seeing unfriendly ambience, made both of us feel exhausted and thirsty. We took out our bottle from our jacket pocket, and it was frozen.

 We were just hiking amongst nature and with the bottle next to our body, how could that happen?

While trying to suck some water off the ice, we were trying to make sense of the scenario and feared to realize that we had reached a certain altitude.

Looked around us, and could not find anything familiar since we were busy yapping to glory. We tried our best in reviewing some landmarks, but our surroundings wore nothing but white. Ice was covering everything, and made our steps falter.

We also met some hikers and asked them the way down. They pointed us in a particular direction, and we would obediently follow that finger. Unfortunately, we were not equipped with a compass or anything high tech. Thus, we would just be going round and round without any success!

Finally, we sat down with tears falling down our eyes since we realized that we were lost and tired and nowhere to go!

We thought we were going to die in this cold!

We now missed our better halves, and although our walk started with several outbursts against them, we were longing to embrace them no matter what!
What a drastic change when circumstances change, huh!

As we were sitting there in desperation and trying to plan our night out in the cold.
We heard some guys in skis shouting our names loudly. Now the pronunciation was not correct, so it took us a while to understand.
We started to jump and walk towards that voice while shouting back...yes! yes! to get their attention.

These two guys were in their late 20's attractive, and well built and at first we were embarrassed to admit that we lost our way, but then we behaved like damsels in distress and allowed them to show us the way to the bottom.

We were walking slow (after all we were the lassies in pain, and had faced such hardships) while they were skiing with pace, thus making us plead them to slow them, but when they announced that a storm is on its way, and we all could get trapped. That made us gulp in fear, and we picked up our gait.

Finally, we could see two familiar faces, and boy! What a rush we got seeing them even though those two handsome hunks rescued us!

We thanked the helpers and went our way!

My 2 cents!
Nature sure can be imitating if not obeyed or followed or going out without any guide map.
Till today, I don't mind going on nature hikes but make sure I hold a map or have a compass with me cause when lost, nature tends to embrace you as its own, and honestly I still wanna enjoy the comforts of the city.

Mantra for today: Being a caveman is not easy!

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This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post, where writers and bloggers link up with relevant posts. This week’s sentence is “I thought I might die when…”

Wordless Wednesday #61

A clear sky is compared to a mind that is unhindered with thoughts (that is very rare!)

But, if a man allows one thought at a time, the picture would be like the above!

Serene!

Result: Thought turns into action, and man lands up being more productive.

Mantra for today: Focussing is obstinate, but Man can be more stubborn than this verb, let's prove it!


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A hike to remember

Laura and her family went on a hike in the woods. The surroundings were serene except for a bunch of squirrels who would go hither and thither. That would make them pause in their steps by giving these little creatures the way. 

Seeing them nibble cutely on their food, she showed interest in being clicked with one of them. 

Her son brought her and the little creature into one frame, and was about to click, when his eyes widened, and he screamed in horror.

Curious Laura turned around and to her dismay; she saw a bear in the background. 

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 In 99 words (no more, no less) write a photo bomb (serious scene interrupted by something absurd or unexpected).

Basics of Life

Hunger is not just a noun, since when it strikes, a human can turn his actions into a rash verb by becoming aggressive to get just a crumb either by hook or crook.

Food is one of the necessities for a human to survive. Feeding a child is very essential since it is a crucial circle of life as he is growing and needs all the required nourishment to be able to stay focussed. A child can only concentrate when the stomach is not rumbling, and that in turn can help him learn and grow.  Education can help him attain a decent job, which in turn will help him to sleep on a filled stomach each night. When there is food in the body, normal growth is happening and everyone is minding their own business by going to work, and earning decent amount to be able to satiate hunger with food, when it strikes.

A Chain reaction, but so crucial for the development of each especially a child since he is at a stage of growth, and development in all forms.

The global report indicates that 1 in 4 children is malnourished. Thus, wrecking the chain reaction of staying hungry, and not being able to focus and grow. The result is a bleak future!

In Mumbai, India there are a group of tiffin carriers (dubbawaala's) who actually deliver lunch to office goers during daytime. They have been known to be efficient in their delivery that even Harvard School of Business has acknowledged their expertise and competence. Besides being adept to the latter, they also have a system of any left over food, they request their clientele to put a particular dot on their lunch box. That particular box gets emptied, and hungry children are fed in stead of the leftovers going down the gutters.


The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 13.5 percent of the population is undernourished.


The above is one such classic example, which I feel can be taken into consideration on a day to day basis. Each city, can recycle the left over food, and there should be centers in alternate neighborhood to drop off that food, so that it can be used to feed the hungry.

 Asia is the continent with the most hungry people - two thirds of the total. The percentage in southern Asia has fallen in recent years but in western Asia it has increased slightly.

When hunger is satisfied, there is fulfillment, and that leads to contentment which in turn helps an individual to progress since desires tend to evolve. A man can only think beyond his basics once they are satisfied.

Let's unite on this front so that each human can get the basic commodities of life.

Mantra for today: Man has to get back to basics of life for humankind to thrive!



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• I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.
• 
  

Spotlight of Scorched by His Fire by Reet Singh

 

Scorched by His Fire

by 

Reet Singh 

 

The Blurb

Mita Ramphul can’t face another family set-up with a ‘nice young man’. What she needs is to divert her family’s attention so introducing the devastatingly handsome Tanay Devkumar as her new boyfriend is a stroke of brilliance. Until Tanay’s scorching hot kisses threaten to shatter her plans for the perfect pretend date. 


He might drive her crazy, yet spending time with Tanay sparks a passion Mita never knew she had. It’s only meant to be temporary, but when Tanay looks at her with that smoldering fire in his ebony eyes Mita can’t help but surrender to the temptation of her fake boyfriend.

Buy @

 

Amazon.com Amazon.in | Flipkart |Harlequin

Watch It 

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/52ykZrxmguc&source=uds

Meet the Author

Reet has a romantic soul, partly genetic but certainly attributable to the romantic fiction she devours by the kilo. When she’s not watching romcoms, or doing creative things with wool and a crochet hook, or playing Scrabble, she can be found in the kitchen putting together her ‘world-famous’ one-pot meals.Married for three decades, her prototypical tall, handsome, and sensitive hero-husband still makes her heart skip a beat. Writing about love and happy endings feeds her romantic soul; hearing from her readers thrills her.

Having a mother that read to her, she paid it forward, telling bedtime stories to her sons and nieces until they grew too old too fast. As a reaction to them growing up before she knew what was happening, she began writing for older children, and has published children’s books on Amazon, for Kindle.

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Review of Scorched by His Fire by Reet Singh

Good Reads Blurb

Convenient boyfriend, inconvenient attraction!

Mita Ramphul can't face another family set-up with a 'nice young man'. What she needs is to divert her family's attention so introducing the devastatingly handsome Tanay Devkumar as her new boyfriend is a stroke of brilliance. Until Tanay's scorching hot kisses threaten to shatter her plans for the perfect pretend date.

He might drive her crazy, yet spending time with Tanay sparks a passion Mita never knew she had. It's only meant to be temporary, but when Tanay looks at her with that smoldering fire in his ebony eyes Mita can't help but surrender to the temptation of her fake boyfriend. 

My Review

This is a story of a 26-year-old lovely, confident and ambitious girl who wants to explore different avenues thus, want to delay in settling down when approached by her uncle with various proposals. Destiny had something else in store for her when she found love and hate relationship with Tanay. Time and a journey to India unfolded their vengeful and lustful feelings for each other into affection and love.  The book is about their mixed emotions, and how they finally curb it by allowing their hearts to take over.

The plot is a very usual one, but the author's artistry of words keeps the reader hooked. Although, I feel there should have been dialogues in some cases, to bring out the essence of some parts of the story. For instance, when Tanay and Mita's mom are interacting in the hospital for the first time. The author could have captured the reader's attention by making it conversational and colloquial rather than putting it across informally especially since they were meeting for the first time where they would be uptight about each other's presence.


Mita and Tanay have an agenda towards this relationship. The girl does not want to fall for him just cause she wants to live a life without any complications, and Tanay wants to distract her from a relationship that she has been accused of. Although she attempted to clear the air about it repeatedly, but it would fall a deaf ear on this young detective.

Being a detective by profession, and not being able to do justice to her  in spite of Mita giving clarifications now and then, was a little difficult to digest. This private investigator should have done his research on her prior to any accusations.

Despite the above minor glitches, I liked how the journey to India unraveled for this lovely young couple, and they could discover the love for each other amidst the passion and the lust. The author's flair for words was impeccable, making the script tight, thus making it a delightful read who enjoy a good craft ship with words.

Love for mankind

Imagine yourself walking on a lonely street in broad daylight; it sure would give you the creeps!
But the same street if inhabited by a few other humans, even though you don't know them; you are quite comfortable and continue to tread upon your journey!

Man is a social animal, and even though we are not acquainted with those million faces, we are just comfortable around their company.

As a kid, I was surrounded by tons of such familiar and unfamiliar faces. All the credit goes to my dad!

Result: I never really got the time to be mindful of my actions cause they were right there, anywhere I would turn left or right...they would be next to me telling me of my faults or appreciating my milestones.
Sure, it used to get overwhelming when I needed my space especially as a teen, but then my father would repeatedly advice about humanity and its various benedictions.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
Mahatma Gandhi

His faith in mankind and relationships was numero uno!

He used to go out of his way to help his family when in need, did not even spare a dime when it came to his friends in need. His belief was that the humanity needed love and compassion, or else we would go extinct thus, always stressed on helping when in need!

He was such a loving soul that prior to departing from his body; he handed out bills to those who aided him in the hospital while he was bedridden cause of his stage 4 Prostate Cancer diagnosis.

A Generous Heart, Kind Speech And A Life Of Service and compassion are a few things that renew humanity.
Dalai Lama

His belief in humanity was actually too much for me to handle, in fact overwhelming but then when I saw the number of people turn up at his funeral...it was alarming, and then to top it all listen to all their stories of how just this one soul impacted them...was mind-blowing that gives me goosebumps, till date!

Mantra for today: Love the human race since you are one of them!

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Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

Hugh Mackay