Two Awards again

I’m truly overwhelmed to have been nominated for the following two awards -The Sunshine Blogger Award and Black Cat, Blue Sea Blogger Award by Chape and Pal fitness.Both of them have blogs where you can find lots of stuff on fitness , health and nutrition. My heartwarming thanks to both.
Now with the awards, the sunshine blogger award is given to those who bring inspiration and positivity to their readers and followers.

The Rules:
1.Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the 11 questions from your nominator.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers.
4. Give them 11 questions to answer.

Questions for me:
1. Favorite subject at school.
Mathematics

2.What 3 words describe you best? Impatient, Caring, Agile.

3. What is your favorite quote?
“It always seems impossible until its done. ” by Nelson Mandela

4.Why did you start blogging?
Because I needed a way to express and publish my various ideas and blogging provided me that platform.

5.What aspect of blogging do you love the most?
I get to learn something new everyday.

6.What do you feel is the most important takeaway for your readers?
Till I’m not very sure about it.

7.What’s your favorite hobby?
I like reading lots of books when I  don’t have loads of work.

8.Who is your dreams dinner party guest?
I have none.

9.Where is your happy place?
My home sweet home.

10. How do you handle a stressful day?
Its turns out to be a disaster for me and my darling Boo has to be the victim of all my rage .He seems to take it  lightly nowadays.

11.What was one of the most unusual experiences you’ve encountered?
Every new experience for me is unusual.

My Sunshines
1.Kaavyarth
2.Seeking you first
3.Clueless Birdie
4.Akkie
5.Zwesto
6.Millie Schmidt
7.Rum-n-Raisins
8.Tony Burgess
9.Syed
10.PalFitness
11.Nishthur Anadi

My Questions
1.What is your favorite season?
2.What inspired you to start blogging?
3.Are you a cat person or a dog person?
4.If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be?
5. Name your favorite book.
6.What do you love more -poetry or prose?
7.Who is your favorite author?
8.Do you believe in reincarnation?
9.What is your favorite dish?
10.Countries you have visited.
11.What is your favorite movie of all time?

Time for the next award that is,  black Cat blue sea awar

d

Rules for black cat , blue sea
Anybody nominated can nominate seven (lucky number ) other bloggers. Anybody nominated answers three questions. The questions you ask while nominating can be any three  questions. If any of the questions asked are offending or simply do not want to be answered,  the nominee doesn’t have to answer them to earn the award.
This award is for bloggers who strive to write for everybody,  and no matter how many viewers they get,  make an impact on a reader.  This award is an expression of gratitude to the nominees. It should be awarded to anybody that you choose deserves it and it doesn’t mean that they must have hundreds of followers and likes.

My nominees

1.Ngobesing
2.I am a blogger too
3.Wandering soul
4.Jacqueline
5.Silly
6.Dreamy Michaela
7.Shine power positive

These are the 3 questions that you need to answer:
1.Who was the first blog /blogger you heard of/read and did they inspire you to start?
2. Do you see blogging as a future career or just a side hobby?
3.What is your all time favorite album and why?  How does it make you feel when you listen to it?

My answers to the above questions:

1.There was not just one blogger,  there were many who inspired me to blogging.

2.Side hobby

3.My all time favorite album is Mehraj -E*Ghazal by Asha Bhosle.  It calms my mind.

Congratulations to all the nominees of the awards .Happy blogging .

©Paramita

An evening with Anirban

Hello everyone tonight we have Anirban Nanda. Thanks Mr. Nanda giving us some of your precious time.

1. Where did u grow up?

I grew up in Haldia, a small town near Kolkata.

2. When did you decide to become a writer?

From childhood, I always got drawn to comics (Tintin, Nonte-Fonte, Hada Voda, Batul the great are my favorites), fairy tales (Thakumar Jhuli),short-stories, novels etc. But I was a typical engineer (was among thetoppers of my class), doing engineering projects and everything. And in my leisure, I used to write poems, mostly in Bengali. Last year I got a chance to publish a short-story and it was liked by many. From then on, I have written more stories, read 42, explored more and I don’t know when I secretly started loving this whole thing. And this is how I decided to become a writer.

3. What was the first story written by you?

It was about a person and his extreme love for his smartphone titled ‘Im-mobile’. I wrote that when I was in 2nd year of my engineering course.It was partly inspired from ‘Ajantric’ (not mechanical) by Subodh Ghosh.

4. Do you have a specific time to write or how is your day structured?

I follow the most unplanned routine. Perks of student-life :D. I read whatever I feel like reading. I work on multiple stories at the same time and so I write whenever I get the feel for writing.

5.Have you written any other novels in collaboration with other writers?

No, I have not had the fortune yet to write anovel or contribute in anovel. But I have contributed few short stories in few best-selling anthologies.

6. Is there a message in your novel or storythat you hope readers will grasp?

Always. That’s the whole point of writing stories. You convey a message indirectly via stories. The messages are quite known to everyone (tell the truth, follow honesty, help women, be just, be sympathetic etc) but it’s the way of telling what attracts me.

7.  Which books have most influenced your life?

‘Chander Pahar’ by Bolaichand Mukhopadhyay was the first novel I read and this book was the reason of my sudden falling in love with stories. Then the next book would be ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by James Joyce which has changed my view of writing. I am more affected by short stories than novels. Few stories I recommend everyone to read: Franz Kafka’s stories (The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, The Hunger Artist, Blumfeld: an Elderly Bachelor, The Great wall of China, Report to an Academy), Ryunoshuke Akutagawa’s stories (Rashomon, Green Onions, HorseLegs, The Story of a Head That Fell Off), Rabindranath Tagore’s stories and James Joyce’s Dubliners (all of them).

8.Which is the most difficult part of writing a book /story?

I believe it is making the readers feel for the characters and get them involved with the story. When a writer becomes a master in those two areas,nothing can stop his/her book from becoming a bestseller.

9.Why did you particularly choose Lagaan as your story?

Readomania came up with an interesting theme for writing stories i.e. what would happen if you write the story after the end of your favorite movie? Lagaan is one of my favorite movies. It gave me everything a writer needs to build a story: intriguing context, unexplored characters, and an incomplete end. (Link to the story is here )

10.How difficult was it to keep the characters intact and yet go with the flow?
Yes, it was tricky. Firstly, in the movie, the characters were alreadydeveloped and so I couldn’t change them. Also, I had to link the previous story (which was about winning a cricket match) with the new one. So yes,it was tricky, I’d say.

11. What are your plans this year?

This year, I plan to read 100 books and write all the story ideas (19 to20) that I couldn’t write last year. Also, as I am a plotter, I’ll plot and develop all the characters for my first novel.

12.Name any 5 of your favorite authors.
1. Franz Kafka
2. James Joyce
3. Ryunoshuke Akutagawa
4. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. J.M. Coetzee

13.Any 4 favorite books.

1. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
2. To the Lighthouse.
3. Midnight’s Children
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude

14. Tell me about your stories published in‘Defiant Dreams’ and
‘When TheySpoke’.

Defiant Dreams is an amazon rank #5 anthology by Incredible Women of India in collaboration with Readomania on everyday women, their struggles, their extraordinary stories of their ordinary lives. My story ‘Amlanation’ in it is about acid attack and its effect onboth the convict and the victim.When they spoke  is an amazon rank #1 anthology themed on personification.
In this book, you’ll find 29 stories told by 29 inanimate objects. My story in it is about child abuse told through a veryignorable item.You can find stories/reviews by me here.

©Paramita

I love you

Harappa’s lost seal -memories

Swahayne rested her head against the quilt. She needed some rest now if she had to meet him later. Their meeting will draw out all her energy. She anxious and excited at the same time. Age knew he loved her but duties bound him against her. She could still remember the first time when he proposed her like a poet.

Swirling,  starving I waited for you,
For there’s no one else I can think of –
None who could take my mind of you;
I saw you grow from a girl to a lady,
Your beauty never did it fade
Honesty was inborn and charm graced you
A woman who can hold her own,
How could I not fall for her?
How could I not want her for me?
Honey,  I love you and that’s how I shall always be.

Slowly she stirred towards sleep,  but her mind still raced when his face fashed in front of her. So how  is she going to manage the entire time facing him?

©Paramita

A poet within us -Martian

Friends I feel honored to interview one of my blogger friend who is known as the Martian Poet. Besides being a blogger he is also a poet. As a Sunday treat he has agreed to spend few precious moments with us.

When did you decide to become a writer?
I became interested writing a short story and directed my siblings to act on that, and this happened when I was a 10 years old. Then I started writing poems, and  got prizes in school and I remember I wrote a poem on science which  got me the  first price in school.
2.I know that you are a blogger as well so what do you like blogging about?
I like to blog about anything that comes to my mind, I don’t have anything in specific or any constraint to write about. But I care or I’m interested in writing more on Peace, God,Nature, Women,Poverty,Life,Love,Romance

3.Do you write part time or full time?
I do write  part time or whenever I feel like  writing, and I don’t write  full time since I got  a full time job already 🙂 I will take writing as.my  full time job after few years.

4.What are you working on currently?
I am planning to publish another ebook of poems and have a plan to finish a sci-fi fantasy novel,and  hopefully will finish it by the end of the  year .The poetry book might be published in few months.Also I am in conversation with publishers to have a hard copy printed.

5.What genre are your books and what draws you to it?
Mostly I write Poems, sometimes Fantasy short stories ( not much on blog), and Essays.

6.How do you develop your plots and characters?
I choose from the real life, all of my poems or anything that I pen down are  a result of an emotional outcome from the surrounding, that makes me cry, makes  me sad or  angry.
If I write a poem on beauty of a girl it does mean there is someone behind it. If I write a poem on God it means something has happened at that moment.

7.We all need a hero! Tell us about your protagonist character ?
Was there a real life inspiration behind him or her?
Hmm, well this is an  interesting question. I had many, not one. Though being  an avid Engineering student I did liked Einstein , I liked Keats as well , I liked tamil poets who live 2000 years ago, and we call the period they lived as “Sangam Literature”.Among them Thiruvalluvar who wrote”Thirukkural “( a collection of couplet poems on ethics), Kambar ( who wrote Ramayana in Tamil language). I have never seen any such book in any country’s  literature ( I am not a literature student though, every word you wonder). If you can read Ramayana in Tamil, that’s enough to become a poet and you will be amazed the handling of the metaphor.And in real life there are close friends who inspire everyday, many fellow bloggers are the real ones who made me  write for past  4 years on my blog
.
8.Which was your debut novel?
I don’t have any debut novel but I have a collection of poems called ” Sonnet of a Saint”. This is available in Kindle store but I am planning to shove off soon, because I am planning to  publish it  as hard copy.

9. Do you go for self publishing or the traditional wayof publishing?
I like to publish myself but I still feel people are not much interested in ebooks. It’s quite difficult to sell off book ourselves, it’s very hard to market the book, I  still feel the traditional publishing is the best way to reach out your audience, and without spending anything you can’t get  anything. So self publishing might look interesting but from my experience I think  tradtional publising is the best way to start and then you can come to self publishing.when you are a proved writer, you can go and publish yourself, this is what I feel but still I believe in self publishing if friends can do some part of marketing for our words.

10. Were the sales upto your expectations?
Not at all , not  even 1% of my expectations were fulfilled . I am happy though.Maybe ,I could not reach out the people, but I can’t stop writing :).

11.Is there a message in your novel that you hope your readers will grasp?
I have not written any novel so far, but every poem I compose,  I try to put a feeling on it.

12.How much research do you do before writing?
I like this question so much, because I do some research before writing anything. One of my poem in my blog about Lion took me a week, to know about them and when I read about them and watched videos, I knew  why they are called as King of Forest/ animals, and  they truly deserve it.This inspired me to write more on them. I wanted to write a poem hence I read about them.It depends on the feeling and the message I want to convey in each poem.

13.Name any 4 of your favorite books.
Ok, here they are: -Einstein: His Life and Universe By Walter Isaacson How to Win Friends and Influence People By  Dale CarnegieThe Chronicles of Narnia By C. S. LewisTheAlchemist By  Paulo CoelhoAnd I have read most of the books of these authors and I have many more. I don’t read the most popular authors, instead  I  like to explore the unknown authors.

14 .What do you think makes a good story?

I feel the few things very  important for have a good story are , few characters, few plots and narrative style of writing rather keeping as mystery.

Thank you for the questions and have a happy blogging.All the best for your future works.

My thanks are towards Martian for this interview.
If you want to visit his blog you can do it from here.

©Paramita

Marry me again

Its been real bad for us
But you held on for me, 
I don’t know for how long.
I lost count of the number of times,
I fell and you helped me stand up.
Walking along with you –
I tried to match meet to feet,
Holding your hands I promised
Never to leave your side again;
For you are my love and life,
You are my one and only pretty wife.
The tempest together we passed
And will do,  if time holds us again
Now I want to repeat my vows to you,
Will you do me the favor of marrying me again? 

©Paramita

Harappa’s lost seal-the uneven match

I am sorry to have broken my promise again and not being able to post it yesterday. If anyone is interested in reading the Introduction of this series they’ll find it here

DISCLAIMER: The characters and incidents in thia story are fictious with no resemblance to real personalities.
Chapter 2
He did know it would be difficult to find her but to what level he was not sure, the search party has been assigned the task of summoning her yet she was not found. She belonged to the warrior class and after separating from him the last he heard about her was she went out of the fortified city near the Sumer borders and was assigned a higher post to lash the formers out.
He still remembers how unhappy his father had been when he put forwarded his wish to marry her,  nor was his mother too happy about this union. He could guess his father’s reasons, the man disliked women of lower ground and if his son was set to marry a woman of warrior class that would be the most embarrassing situation for him. Yet he agreed, being the elder some of a Parama Chandrayu Chahel had the right to choose his wife. But he couldn’t understand his mother’s aggressive behavior towards his wife. The former was the only lady from the family who adored the girl and now suddenly she turned against her. It was not until his was in his death bed,  that he came to know her reasons “She’s your step -mother “, his father barely whispered “father you should rest now “, he had said to which the old man lightly chuckled and said “I’ll rest from tonight, listen to me now;  your mother wanted Swahayne for her own son,  your  younger brother Adrij,  but when she saw that instead of Her son,  Swahayne hot married to you she couldn’t let both of you be together “. That night true to his words his father left this world for heavenly abode.

What none of them knew and perhaps will never come to know,  Swahayne herself was against this union

.

He was about to be the future leader when he turned twenty-five,  and she had to spend her life fighting battles. He had known her since she was a kid,  she was Adrij’s closest friend and has been visiting their mansion for a long time. Chahel was in love with her since then. He would allow her to try out various mischievous activities on him. Thinking of those memories brought an enigmatic smile on his face. She slowly grew up to be a beautiful lady and a fiery one at that.

He knew she would be just when she returned from her Pratyakshin. But when he proposed her she declined his proposal. Later he with the help of his brother convinced her to protect him, from a pretencious problem,  which was possible only through marriage.

The seals were a totally different story,  she knew their importance and would never break the family trichome seals  intentionally,  even more so steal the most precious Kritaksh seal, because she would already be gone by then.

“Parama we found her, ” one of his guards informed him.Silently relieved at the news he followed them.
TERMINOLOGY
Parama – leader or would be leader.
Chandrayu – surname of a clan
Pratyakshin – training for warrior class women which usually started at the age of ten and continued for eight years.
Kritaksh – a highly valued seal containing scripture written by ancestors of the Chandrayu.

©Paramita

Harappa ‘s lost seal 1

The chapter of Harappa ‘s lost seal could not be posted yesterday due to some technical problems for which I present my utmost apologies.

INTRODUCTION

Disclaimer:  The characters mentioned in this story are completely fictional and have no resemblance to real personalities.

Chapter 1

1500 B.C.
“Swahayne what do you think you are doing here? ” a loud voice bellowed behind her while she was sitting and staring at the fruit orchard. “Trying to count the number of trees pa “, she then excitedly went upto him,  held his hand and pulled him back to her original spot “here look “, she pointed towards the trees “there are six trees,  we learnt counting today and later the teacher said he will give us lessons on the stars “, she kept on learning. “So you will my darling,  now lets go home your Ma must be worried “. On their way back they heard a loud booming sound. “Pa I heard the Sumers will kill us “, she looked worried. Bhadrak couldn’t understand how his six year old daughter knew so much about the kids know more than they should,  he shook his head. He slowly bent down to her level looked up in her innocent eyes “they are not going to get us honey,  believe me when I say we are strong “.Her brown eyes turned bigger as she digested this new piece of information. He then rushed her home before she could eat his brains out with her curiosity.

After 17 years

Sitting on a raised metallic platform Chahel looked very much like the people around him and yes though most were his kins but very few could be like him.He looked like a God,  with his sun -tanned body,  tall and strong physique,  brown eyes. After the death of his father he was their leader and they had yet to mold his figur

ine

.

There had been recent losses in crop production for which they had come to him. They had been trying to solve this problem of drought for many years,  since his father had been alive. None of their tactics seemed to work , they were trying to construct a new drainage connecting a few wells to the field for now,  for which they might have to uninhabit a few house holders and he didn’t want to be brutal. So what else could he do?
” Sir do you think we should summon her here? ” one of his advicers asked,  bringing him out of the reverie. ” Not a good idea Chait,  she is from the warrior class and she might even destroy our seals out of ire like the last time “, the head priest spoke,  he had his body wrapped in Saffron and white fabric.
Chahel knew their disdainful feeling towards her,  the board would never allow him to bring her back.But the question is would she come back? When as her husband he could do nothing to stop her.

So did you like this first chapter. If yes then I would like to ask you a simple question – How do you think will he get her back? The next chapter will be based on your comments. So Romance seekers do comment.

©Paramita

Harappa’s lost seal

There’s an announcement for all historical romance lovers. Join seeking romance in an epic journey to the past.

Tighten your belts my dear blogger friends, the journey is not easy because we will travel back to a period of 2500B.C. to the Indus Valley during these two weeks

Harappa’s lost seal will be featured every Wednesday and Friday on Seeking Romance.

©Paramita

Rags

She never let him  see past her ruthless, selfish nature. Though they were in different departments,  he had already heard that she was called the Sweet Killer. Initially he wasn’t much interested to meet her,  but when he finally saw her he couldn’t let his eyes roam over some other girl. She looked like Venus herself sitting across from him. She smiled at something her friend told her,  there was a glow in her face and her smile it was just enigmatic. He could see none of the vigour,  slyness or brutality,  that his friends had told humanity about,  rather her face reflected purity,  honesty etc. Here it must be mentioned that Vikram was quite capable of understanding people’s character by reading their faces and that was the main reason behind his selection by the Narcotics.
It wasn’t until the 2nd annual meet of all the forces that he was able to get acquainted with her. So She had a beautiful face, charming smile and a sharp tongue,  which She used against all critiques.

Gradually he got closer to her added that she was a talkative lady  and no matter what she would open up to a conversationalist like him. So when they were assigned the same case Vikram explained her about the pros and cons and slowly took it to a personal level. He told her about his sisters and while he was telling her about his mom her face dropped so that’s where the thorn is stuck,  he thought. He then tactfully changed the track back towards the case.
As the case progressed their friendship got deeper and one after lunch she asked “Do you like shopping? ” , he cocked his head “You bet having two sisters at home have made their personal assistant “.She giggled “I know but I promise you don’t have to hold anything “.When they reached the mall to his surprise she started selecting a few ragged ,torn up teddies from the rejected section this is interesting,  he then helped her select a few more , after which they returned back to their bureau.
Later that day in the parking lot she could still see the quizzical look in his face,  she knew he was dying to know,  yet respected her privacy. So she did the forbidden thing of her life,  told him the story of her mother’s life.
Her mother was married to a family who cared very less about women,  for them women were low lives. They were very pretencious so no one ever doubted them. When her daughter was born things changed they started treating her better but she what she didn’t know was the psychopaths were trying to kill her with every step. After her daughter’s birth her parents had seen the child only once, so almost after a month they send their son to take her and her daughter to their paternal home. .When her brother told her that she was excited but again her husband allowed only her daughter to be taken,  to lighten things he said “I’ll take your sister at night after all we too need some moments , don’t we “. That night was her last night,  they gave her belladonna in a cup of tea and later burned the house. They too had burned marks so that none could suspect them.
“And this ” , she took out a little teddy from her car “was the last gift I have of her,  I held this all the while “.
They were silent for a while and then when she was about to get in her SUV he stopped her and handed a teddy, she was confused “I bought this while you were busy selecting the rags “He then looked into her eyes with all the sincerety he could gather “It’s time you forget the past and start life in a new way ” getting closer to her he hugged her tight.She could hear horns pomping everwhere they were standing in the middle, yet for a day she wanted to leave all her discipline and join this guy who blossomed her life with happiness.

©Paramita

Kiss me

I am a psychiatrist and I know what’s wrong with him,  yet I cannot cure him. It’s not like I am not trying,  but there’s no way to protect him while I am dying.

He sits near me everyday and just when he thinks I’m not watching he goes into one of his trance.I don’t let him though for long;  singing does the job. I must tell you that not even my husband can bear my crusty voice. So he starts singing along to keep the memory intact. Being the member of a rock band for years just voice is smoother compared to mine.

It was during his early years as a drummer that we network. He was having a blast of his life.Consequent live performances,  abroad tours made him tired and just to get out of it – he did drugs.  Well most of them did without putting much thought. They we’re ,five in total, Brad and Nell were married,  Ken lived with his girlfriend. Dunsten and Harry were the loners. Dunsten had a sister and Harry had none.
He was just 7 when his parents got divorced. He from then onwards He was tossed from one parent to the other.
They created the nature he had then when I met him. He came as a patient of depression to me and gradually won my heart.
Now when he keeps on staring at me I could feel those pools of blue almost different from the time we first met.

“You are starving,  now go and have lunch, “my sound came out as a rare whisper. “I don’t need that ,” “What do you need then? ” I asked him irritated. “I need to kiss you,  I need you to stay strong, I need you to stand beside me till we grow old. ” Tears threatened to stream down yet I held them,  I had to be strong for him.

©Paramita