Just for Fun. :)

Getting sufficiently bored after taking study notes, I grabbed by drawing pen and pencils and started doodling to clear the mind blockage. Drawing somehow makes me concentrate in a strange way, that nothing else does.
So with my no specific idea I started drawing a few lines here and there and ended up with this.

Don't really know if its good or not, but completing a zentangle piece in one sitting is quite the achievement in itself. So even if its not up to the mark, I at least managed to be creative .:)

With love                                                                                                                                                    

V_RinkiD_V                                                                                                                                               

REVIEW : THE ELITE BY KIERA CASS (#003)

Book - The Elite 

 

Genre - Young Adult

Rating - 4 out of 5 Stars

Publisher - HarperTeen 

“Love is beautiful fear” 

                              -The Elite by Kiera Cass

The First book- The Selection sees protagonist America Singer trying to figure out what she wants to be - a One or a Five. And The Second Book - The Elite, describes her journey, her joy and her pain, her achievements and her failures, during her stay at the Palace, fighting for the position of the Princess of Illea in the contest called Selection.

America Singer, a Five, who is elevated to being a Three ever since she got selected in the contest, starts feeling something for Prince Maxon, which she cannot think of as love. She gets awfully jealous when he is with other girls, yet she doesn't confess why she is jealous. Prince Maxon, a One, has always been clear about his feelings for her and is ready to give her all the time she needs to decide what she wants. On the other hand, Aspen, a Six, who is now a Two, after getting the job of a guard at the Royal Palace, is still deeply in love with America , which makes the whole situation nothing but stressful . She is tied up with her love for two years and a prince who cares for her.

This Book has moved ahead and deals with all the girls in the Selection, now Elites and their pursuit in winning the heart of the Prince as well as proving to be a capable Princess. There are attacks that they need to survive, tasks they need to perform and challenges they need to face. 

The Fairytale idea of  "A Princess is not required to do anything" is not applicable here. These Elites have to work hard and with their own intelligence and smartness, will one be crowned the Princess of Illea.

America Singer, a beautiful , smart girl , who has what it takes to be a princess , but doubts her own capabilities. Prince Maxon lets out secrets of the Royal family to her, which no one else knows and yet she doubts his love for her! She thinks he has secrets which he isn't disclosing to her, however she is ignoring the fact that all the while she is keeping a secret, which, if disclosed, could destroy many relationships.

America finds her first real friend in Marlee, who is also in the running to be the Princess, but she too has secrets, which after being exposed left nothing but a hole in America's heart. Kriss, another Elite, extends a hand of friendship towards America, but Kriss's closeness with the Prince disturbs her.

Filled with twists and turns, from secrets being kept to secrets being revealed, with hearts getting drowned in sorrow to hearts filling with the deepest love - this book has it all!
The previous book left me with no choice but to jump right into this book, and I am happy to confess, this book has surpassed my expectations. This being the second book in the Trilogy, I can't wait to lay my hands on the final book - The One, which is expected to release on 6th May, 2014.

I would recommend you to read this book, if you have already ready the first book. And those of you who haven’t do give this a try. 

With love 

V_RinkiD_V

The Story of the Telecom Service!!

The inconvenience that customer care executives and retailers of telecommunication company causes you , is just so annoying that you feel like suing the company for having such incompetent service. The list of errors in there service is limitless. After having received one such “amazing” service from a particular telecom company, I was compelled to pen down their so called “helpful”,” user-friendly” service.

So it all started with porting a CDMA sim to a GSM one.
 While Dropping of the necessary documents the retailer made a fuss about how I brought a Stamped size photograph instead of a Passport size one. Seeing all the nagging I informed him that I certainly would bring it the next day, and left the store.

 The next day another executive came over to our house for verification and when I asked him about the photograph, he said it wasn’t mandatory to provide a passport sized one. Still to be absolutely certain, I called up the retail shop and he assured me that if need arises to provide a passport sized photograph, he would inform me.

According to the retail shop executive , the GSM sim would be activated within a week but the connection would be cut off for a whole day when the CDMA to GSM transfer happens.

Now yesterday a message popped up saying the GSM sim would be activated within 2 hours time. And in the morning when I checked, neither did the GSM nor did the CDMA have any network. Recalling what the man had said about one day gap, I waited patiently. However when I went to a local recharge shop, they informed me that I needed to call up customer care to activate the sim.

I did as told, and then began the story of utter annoyance!! I was put on hold for a good 5 minutes before getting a chance to speak to a customer care executive. I told her my details and without wasting any time, she put me on another round of hold. After which she told me that I needed to visit their Outlet once again, for the” connection has been processed but there is some other problem.”
By this time I had lost my patience with all the holding and her broken English. I told her to connect my call to her senior and after 5 minutes the senior spoke to me, and went ahead with the same exact process, telling me I needed to talk to my retailer, for they never send the documents.

Having lost my patience already, I called up the retailer who instead of listening to me started back chatting. And worst still, he seemed to have imagined me going and dropping of a “passport sized “photograph. I told him why the documents had not been sent. And he charged me saying why I called him so late when the connection transfer had happened yesterday.
He told he that I needed to call on a particular number to activate the sim and very confidently accused me of forgetting that he had mentioned it on that day. (Which he didn’t)!!

So summing up this whole chaotic phone calling fiasco, all I can say is, Telecom companies really need to employ better people, since if this is the way the service continues, it won’t too long, before the popularity drops.
I still can't understand why they would assign people to the English speaking department, when they can’t even frame a sentence in English properly! And also Companies, please employ people with better remembrance power, because the retailers for sure have some amazing imagination , where they visualize customers dropping for documents or confidently demand of providing a particular information. Also Companies should train their employees to speak nicely and politely instead of snapping at the customers and back chatting with them.

Absolutely irritated with the service, I wish I could do something about it. But all I can do if put it down in writing.

REVIEW : THE SELECTION BY KIERA CASS (#002)

Book - The Selection


Genre - Young Adult

Rating - 4 out of 5 Stars

Publisher - HarperTeen

The Selection is the first book in the Selection Trilogy, written by  NY Times Bestselling author, Kiera Cass. Hailing from South Carolina, the author has made a promising debut in the writing world with this book. Creating a world which is far ahead of our time and having rules that are almost unimaginable, this book promises to keep you hooked till the very end.

Here in this world, there are new rules, new ways in which people lead their lives. They are segregated into classes and they are required to work as per their class. America Singer, the protagonist, is a Five, which allows her to take up a career either in art or music, but nothing else. She takes up music just like her mother, while her father is an artist. But the pay isn't enough to feed the family of five including her younger sister May and younger brother Gerad.

In Illea the country in which she resides, it is customary for the crown Prince to choose his wife, his soul-mate from among the citizen. A contest called the Selection is held, where any girl eligible could contest, irrespective of her class. Troubled by the limited income of her family, America unwillingly enters the contest.

On being Selected, she is confident that she will never get too far in the contest and will still be able to marry her Secret lover , Aspen, a Six. 

However, after meeting the Crown Prince, Maxon and becoming his friend, his confidant, America is left to wonder whether she has feeling for the prince, whether she can ever forget her first love and whether she can ever adopt to the lifestyle of a One.

America, a simple girl who doesn't feel confident when in front of a large crowd, a girl who is more comfortable in her pants than in a highly gorgeous dress, is left torn between her first love and her new found friend for whom she might have feelings.

Kiera Cass portrays the journey that America Singer goes through and leaves us craving for more. My excitement for wanting to read this book for so long, didn't prove to be wrong and thus I'm eagerly waiting to read the next book in the trilogy - The Elite, to know what happens next, in America's life.

If you are interested in a novel that deals with realistic issues of poverty and at the same time strikes a spark of romance, then this is the book for you.

With Love
V_RinkiD_V

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A to Z Challenge Theme

This is the first time I am participating in something of this sort. Its a challenge to be creative for a whole month. Its called the A to Z challenge.

In this challenge, each blogger has to write and post about something starting with each letter of the alphabets. The trick is, the letters have a specific date of publish. Say letter 'A' post will be published on 1st April, 'B' on 2nd April and so on, with the only exception of sundays. All the sundays of this month are excluded for the challenge purpose, leaving only 26 days corresponding to the 26 letters.

Being a first timer, I did not pick any particular theme. But if I have to define how I will be going about in the coming month, then I must say I am going for the theme - FREESTYLE. 
With no specific theme, I aim towards writing on a variety of topics all through out the month.

This is a challenge which builds and strengthens the blogger community. If you are a blogger too, feel free to join the challenge and make new friends in the process.
The link for sign up is mentioned below:-

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Time Passes, Memories Remain.

While everyone appreciated the concept of book related blog posting, a certain friend expressed his utmost hatred towards this idea. According to him, I should continue posting on more generalized topics.
So I've decided on posting book related topics once every week, while dedicating my other posts to ideas that randomly pop up in my head.

To get it started with, today's post relates to Memories.

For men may come and men may go, 

          But I go on for ever.
                                          - THE BROOK By Alfred Lord Tennyson

I can related to the words of the great poet, the meaning seems so very true at this point in life.
"Men may come and men may go" -  you will meet new people, give them a space in your life, share Memories with them but for how long?? We trust people and we share our lives with them, only to realize that it wasn't meant forever. Forever is a strong word .
"I go on for ever" - Time doesn't wait for anyone, it moves ahead leaving you with all the remembrance from the past.

In the past few years, I have had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people and opening the doors of friendship for them. The time spent together were filled with joy, laughter and promises. Only that Promise is a heavy word. It is a huge responsibility, which if not kept can turn the lovely friendship into a sour relationship.
When we are together, we think life will be this way forever and we enjoy the moments we have together, but do we think of future ? Do we consider the fact that in a few years time, we might live in different places and have rare and seldom talks? No, we don't. Some may call this the beauty of the moment, but i think this is the game that Time plays with us. It tricks us into believing that the happiness and joy we are experiencing will last a lifetime. Certainly it does, but most of the times only in our memories.
The heartbreaks that people face, when someone they truly loved turns their back without giving a proper explanation, leaves them shattered and broken. They think it was their fault for which their loved one left them.
But it is not so, the person who left you behind without giving a proper cause, is nothing but a coward!! And however this will sound like a cliche - "you are well off without that person".
Time might have played the tricks according to Its will, but you can rise above and defeat It by changing your life, by making better choices , by keeping distance from people who only stick around to take advantage of you. Time only has the upper hand in one respect- It moves on and doesn't stop for anyone or anything. We on the other hand lag behind when things don't work out . But to keep moving on with Time will only keep us from breaking down for people who don't deserve it.

This is dedicated to a friend, who is the nicest person I have ever known. She can never be mean to others, however she is tricked by Time always.

I know this wasn't much of a fun related topic, but I had to put it out there for all the wonderful people who fall into traps of evil and are left heartbroken.
I hope you liked this read, for I genuinely wish you all live a happy life, smiling all the time.

With love,
V_RinkiD_V

REVIEW : PANIC BY LAUREN OLIVER (#001)

Book - Panic By  Lauren Oliver
                                                                           

Genre - Young adult , Contemporary

Rating - 4 out of 5 Stars

Publisher - HarperCollins Publishers

"     THE WATER WAS SO COLD IT TOOK HEATHER'S BREATH away as she fought past the kids crowding the beach and standing in the shallows, waving towels and homemade signs, cheering and calling up to the remaining jumpers.
She took a deep breath and went under. The sound of voices, of shouting and laughter, was immediately muted.
Only one voice stayed with her.
I didn't mean for it to happen.   "

                                     - Chapter 1 from Panic by Lauren Oliver


The opening lines of Panic-the latest book by bestselling author Lauren Oliver , is enough to arouse a sense of thrill in the minds of readers. The author, who is well known for her dystopian trilogy which includes Delirium , Pandemonium and Requiem has ventured out in the contemporary genre with a very interesting and gripping plot, which captures the attention of the readers from the very beginning.

The book deals with a bunch of recent graduated kids who live in a small town called Carp and play a dangerous game called Panic. It is a game which demands the players to attempt the most dangerous and daring tasks. The game goes on all summer, at the end of which the winner gets to take away the pot which usually amounts to a little over $50,000.
The story is narrated by two of the main characters - Heather and Dodge. It also has Bishop and Nat as the main characters. Its a plot that revolves around these 4 kids and how each of them have their own share of secrets , which is revealed as the story unfolds. The challenges faced in the game are not just difficult and intense, but life threatening for the most part. With the excitement of the games, the events that take place in their personal lives is also something to look out for.
The book deals with love and heartbreaks, joy and sadness, curiosity and eagerness, courage and fear, anxiety and hopefulness . Lauren Oliver's writing is easy to grasp and thus makes the book a fast pace read .The thrill element is kept intact till the very end of the book and leaves the reader with wanting more of the story.

This being my first read of any  Lauren Oliver book, I am more than happy to say, I am looking forward to reading more of her books. I recommend this book to you, if you are in for some fun and wish to spend the summer with the kids of Carp as they unveil their secrets.

With love
V_RinkiD_V

Physical copy V/s Ebooks

This decade has seen the rise of e-books like never before. E-books or electronic books have been widely appreciated in the book market for a variety of reasons .

1. The space saver
   Anyone and everyone , irregardless of a physical book or e-book lover , will agree on this point. It is the most obvious advantage of an e-book. It saves space !! You buy books and you are immediately haunted by the question of finding an adequate area in your room to fit those!! Your E-books reader takes care of that problem. 
2. The Cheaper Source
   -now this flows from the space saver point of view. When you fail to find any spot to fit in your books, (obviously your book shelf is filled with all the book buying), you are then forced to purchase a new book shelf to stock in your recent book collection. E-book spares you all that drama. So you save up on the furniture purchase :)
   -another way how e-book helps save money is most e-book versions are a lot cheaper than the actual book, as a result you are more drawn towards an e-book. (Money matters!!)
3. The Accessibility
   When you decide on reading a physical copy, you either go to the library or your local book store . But with e-books that is not the case , since your books are only a few clicks away!
   p.s.- even in online shopping , you need to wait until delivery!

Now having said that, lets talk about the Physical books. For me , books mean a physical copy which you could feel and touch , a few hundred pages filled with someone's creative writing bound together. Books mean the printed pages!!

With the Advantages of e-book shouting loud and clear about its worthiness, I would still prefer BUYING PHYSICAL BOOKS over e-books. Yes you read it right !! 

The feel of reading with a book in hand cannot be replaced by an electronic device. The pleasure of holding a book and reading it , absorbing all the words and its beauty , is a divine sensation.

Yes it leads to spending a lot of money and jamming up your room, but who said you have to buy all the books. Buy only the ones that you absolutely love and want to re-read over and over again. And library is always there to help you out. Somehow with the whole e-book vibe doing the rounds , there is a constant fear that the business of  printed pages is facing. And that is scary ! I cannot imagine a world where physical books are no longer available .

I would thus requested each and everyone of you to make an effort and keep the physical books business alive .Though my contribution is negligible in the eye of a vast publishing industry, if everyone's negligible contribution is added it can lead to a significant amount and help change the fate of Physical books. 

With love
V_RinkiD_V

Book review At Last!!

As you all can guess by the header, this post is related to book reviews!!

Like I had mentioned earlier , I wasn't much of a reader, or more specifically I was a "slow reader" which made me think that I wasn't capable of reading too many books. Until recently when I came across something known as the "book-tube" community on youTube. There are these people who talk about books, predominantly about Book Hauls and Book Reviews. Watching those videos somehow made me feel like I havent been reading almost anything considering to what people of my age have been reading. I started going through all the books they have been raving about and have been recommending people to read.

It didn't take long to decide what I wanted to do. I always wanted to read , but thought my "pace" was the issue , not realizing that it was my thinking that stopped me from reading.So I got to reading almost immediately and its been 2 weeks since I started and have completed 3 books namely- 

1. The Immortals of Meluha
2. The Secrets of the Naga
3. Safe Haven

I wanted to be connected with this whole "book-tube" community , but I cant make videos at the moment and I think blogging is the only "other" option I have to connect with people who read, who share views and opinions on a certain book and who are willing to know you and be friends with you through the medium of book reading.

I joined Goodreads with the hope, to be able to be know what others are reading and tell everyone what books I have read or will read in the future. To challenge myself further I also signed up for the "Reading Challenge" - where you set a target, a certain number of books that you wish to read in the year . 

With reading , I will also be posting a few reviews about books that I have read, with the hope to slowly turn this "normal, at times dying"  blog into an "active, book-reviewing" blog .

I would appreciate if all of you guys out there ,who read or wish to read , please subscribe to my page here or on twitter , to encourage my new attempt.

With love,
V_RinkD_V