1

Potter mania hits Crossword stores India‏


Crossword stores across the country are celebrating Potter Mania on 31st July for the global launch of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.


 The Harry Potter themed food at Crossword comprises


                1              Butter beer



                2              Witch hat- cupcakes


                3              Lightning scar cookies


                4              Hot Chocolate





There’s also to be a Hogwarts Castle selfie-wall. Customers can also participate in the Harry Potter Quiz Contest, Costume Party, and get designs from tattoo artists.


Discounts, cashbacks etc. are all a part of the game. “But the experience at Crossword will be the differentiator,” says Kinjal Shah, CEO, Crossword. And Crossword Kemps Corner is where you want to be.

When it comes to Discounts, for pre-booking you would get 50% discounts if you hold the Crossword Book Rewards card where 20% is given as Flat Discount and 30% as Reward Points added to your card which you can redeem it on your subsequent purchase. 

Click this link to pre-book your HarryPotter 

If you already have a Crossword Book Rewards card and do not know your points, click here to check.

Destiny Of Shattered Dreams by Nilesh Rathod


An excellent emotional fiction by the author is what I would say and this would be a perfect storyline for an Indian Film be it in Bollywood, Tollywood or Kollywood.

It talks about the rise and fall of Atul Malhotra who had a humble beginning. He along with his friends Prem, Anil and Rakesh sets up TTL - a Telecom Company. He was ably assisted by Qazi who served as his Legal Counsel as well.

Though Atul had high ambitions, he was against ill-doing but not until he met with Shalikram who was introduced to him by Mir who was Atul's good friend. Mir stayed in Delhi and used his position to lobby powerful politicos to invest in other's business.

Shalikram offered to invest Rs.1,250 crores in Atul's company and in turn wanted Rs.500 crore every year as returns. When this was sniffed by Atul's employee cum friend Prashant Nagarkar, Shalikram eliminates him.

On the other hand, Atul's personal life was also at stake. His better half Roshni who he married after being in love, 11 years back was not happy with the fact that they never had a child and adding to that when she got pregnant later, Doctor Awasthi said the child may be born with autism.  Atul insisted in aborting the kid but Roshni did not allow him to do it. n the meanwhile Atul gets attracted to his employee Aarti and when news gets leaked to Roshni, she walks out of the house and send divorce notice to Atul.

Now Atul badly wanted to take out Shalikram from his business and he seeks the help of Mir who sets up a meeting with the Finance Minister Shravan Kumar Poojari who Offered to invest Rs.2,500 Crores in TTL. He also ask Atul to meet Elisabeth in Switzerland to take it further.

Shalikram loses his ministership in the meanwhile but prior to that he lobbied for Atul's office to be raided by ED. He also tries to eliminate Atul. Atul brings this to the notice of Elisabeth and within few weeks, Shalikram gets killed.

What happens to Atul, Roshni, Aarti is what the story is all about in the end. It was a perfect ending which I had not expected. Do buy the book and I am sure you will be glad that you read it.

The Mahabharata Code by Karthik K B Rao


We all would have watched Mahabharata in television as a kid or otherwise. We would have also listened to the story from our grandparents or in conference or at least have read it in parts in book/school text. 

Undoubtedly we had seen the evolution of story over a period of time where we had seen the greatest epic being translated and transformed in various forms with the help of technology but not getting the basic story line changed.

The same happens in "The Mahabharata Code". How nice would be it be to read that Lord Krishna writes in a Parker Pen and there are lot of coding and technology involved? This is what the author tried bringing in this story. He has integrated it very well at suitable places that makes this book really interesting to read.

I must say that the thought process gone in this book is simply mind-blowing because as a kid, I always remember my Mom saying that the so called GOD would be Technologically Superior to us sitting elsewhere in the galaxy monitoring us and when I read it in words, my joy knew no bounds.

I liked all the chapters in this book which had 22 chapters and among all I liked Chapter 20 which is The Revelation and I would compare it with modern day 'Bhagavad Gita" which would make you to "Self-Realise". This is one book which can be read by people from all over the world without giving a second thought as it is more of though provoking and compelling.

I am not going deep into this book as it is a simple integration of the Epic Mahabharat itself but with modern day twists and turns. Do give a read and enjoy :-)

"Songs of the Mist" book launch - Odyssey,Chennai

The book "Songs of the Mist" penned down by Shashidhar Sharma which is the first book of the 3 book The Monk Key Series was launched with much fanfare in Odyssey,Chennai on 24/7/16 at 6:30PM,

The members of Chennai Bloggers Club which includes Mahesh Lakshmanan, Bragadeesh Prasanna, Sindhu JP, Vinodh Velayudhan and others played a vital role by organising this event which saw a full house participation.

The Chief Guests of the event were none other than our Rapper Blaaze and Mr Keshav,renowned Cartoonist from The Hindu. Mahesh Lakshmanan took the hosting part and he executed it with near perfection.

Prior to the book launch, the Author gave an inspirational speech as to what made him to write this amazing book which had close to 125,000 words that was later reduced to 70,000+ words after editing. The whole series seems to have more than 500,000 words which is stunning and he also spoke about his association with Blaaze who then took over. Blaaze's speech (speech continued) was mind blowing and the audience were dumbstruck when he sung this song

Then the book was unveiled.


The event ended with a happy note with some of us(in fact most of us) took a selfie with the rapper himself.



Stupid Cupid by Ankit Sonthalia


A beautiful story penned down by Ankit Sonthalia. It goes to various life stages of Suhaan Arora, the lead character in the story.

It starts with Suhaan who had interest in Cricket gets into leading educational institute and eventually gets inducted into the college team. He gets introduced to his three friends Ramaraju, Saurabh and Akshay. 

Hs initial intro with Kanika was unexpected by his friends sine he strikes the chord and takes it to the next level. However Kanika has to go overseas for her higher studies and in the mean time, Suhaan gets into leap and bounds in his cricketing career by joining the League Club to play. In the meantime, he meets Namrata and fall in love with her and gets married after vowing not to play cricket anymore.

However things take a different turn since his marriage relationship turns sour and Namrata send Divorce Notice. Though Suhaan was reluctant, he had no other option but to agree for it mutually. He then gets in touch with Bose da who was instrumental in shaping up his cricketing career. Around this time, IPL auction takes place and Suhaan was bagged for a huge amount which was not expected by anyone. Suhaan starts flourishing in his career and in the meanwhile he gets close with the team owner Ashlesha Kapoor.

Things take lot of twists and turns from here. Suhaan wanted to be reunited with Namrata. Did he manage to get back his lost love? Read the book to find out about the remaining part of the story.

My rating for this book is a cool 4.5/5 as the author has penned it so well with good flow without making any deviations or irrelevant additions.
Aasha - The Inspiration

Aasha - The Inspiration

This is a simple self narrative story about a girl from Maharashtra by name Jyotipriya Mavlankar. It took couple of hours for me to finish it. As I had mentioned in the title, it is a perfect eye opener because the authors had beautifully portrayed the life of a girl who in the remote parts of India are still considered as a liability.

Jyotipriya too had a troubled life though her Mom was not like others but owing to the family situation, she has to struggle on various instances including her first love which she had to sacrifice but there was a good reason behind it. She later realises that it was one of the wises decision she has made.

The flow was neat and authors did bring out the exact message what they wanted to convey. This is surely worth the read and would definitely bring in a change in the lives of others....

Do buy the book which is available on Flipkart and Amazon

KABALI - Review



This is an unbiased review about the movie KABALI

After creating so much of expectation and hype, I managed to get the ticket for First Day First Show in AGS, T.Nagar. The show was at 11:50AM and unlike it's competitor multiplex, AGS did start the movie on time.I also did not realise that all of them who had the tickets were given FREE Refreshments which I enquired and found out myself which AGS would have mentioned it on their tickets clearly. This isn't an issue anyway because I got mine finally and it was worth the money.

The theatre did have the air conditioner running till the end which is also really appreciated. There was multi level car parking which I noticed it only today. Kudos to them for implementing this which is the need of the hour as it saves space constraint.

Now coming to the movie bit. As soon as the name was screened, spectators started shouting. It is of no wonder since the movie features none other than Superstar Rajni. Even though I got to read the news elsewhere that the initial movie scenes were released elsewhere on the internet and was circulated in WhatsApp, I did not care to give a look at it or search for it because I firmly believe it would defeat the very purpose of watching the movie in theatre.

The introduction scene of Superstar Rajni was classic. He was a don who got jailed for no fault of his by his nemesis Tony Lee. Rajni gts released after 25 years from the jail and gets a warm welcome from his team mates. He finds out that the city landscape along with functioning got changed completely during his absence by his rival. Rajni who would henceforth be addressed by me as Kabali vows to restore peace in the City.

By the way, I will not be revealing the entire plot in this blog post because it is almost like leaking the movie online which shouldn't be the case when reviewing a movie but unfortunately not most of them do this....

Kabali was very much attached to his wife who has changed him a lot and she was eventually killed. Only after his release Kabali finds out that his Wife was alive so as his daughter. Did he meet them? How did the story transpire is what you must watch in theatre.

I would like to give my first mention to the movie director Pa.Ranjith who has done complete justification to his role by giving a different story for Superstar.

No need to mention about Superstar who was simply classic.

I liked pretty much the role of Radhika Apte and she made me cry in one of the scenes which I am not revealing it here and so as Dhanshikaa. Attakathi Dinesh and other artists did perform their role well.

Music by Santhosh Narayanan was pleasant. Screenplay could have been bit faster but considering the story line, it is ok. I don't give a rting to a movie scoring or giving a percentage. All I can say is thi movie will surely not disappoint you.

MY TAKE: If you go to the movie with the mindset of Badshah, Padayappa, Sivaji etc., you would be disappointed for sure. Go with a free mindset without any expectation and you would love it.The movie has a run time of 2hours and 30 minutes. You'll come out satisfied :-)
Syska opens its seventh LED Lounge in Uttamnagar, Delhi

Syska opens its seventh LED Lounge in Uttamnagar, Delhi

Pioneers in LED lighting with the best innovation in technology, SYSKA LED (An SSK Group Brand), expands its footprint in the Capital City/North with the inauguration of its seventh LED Lounge in Delhi, as part of its growth strategy to consolidate the retail presence. The LED Lounge shall exhibit popular bestsellers, specialty products and recent innovations, to experience the future of light.

Commenting on the launch of the newest LED Lounge at Delhi, Mr. Rajesh Uttamchandani, Managing Director, Syska LED says, “We at Syska are always keen to create a channel exclusive for our LED products. In continuation with our commitment to provide the best in-class products, SYSKA looks forward to opening Lounges across major cities in India. We have been very aggressive in the LED space and the LED Lounges resonates the same Brand philosophy. Offering our customers, a superior quality lighting solutions for their homes, Offices & Industries would be our newest Lounge at the heart of the new showroom at Delhi”.

With the launch of the newest Syska LED Lounge in Delhi, the company now boasts 89 LED Lounges across India. The Store located at Delhi is spread across 427sqft area and shall bring in the first hand experience for its customers at providing lighting design solutions to both individual customers as well as industry professionals. The service will help consumers to utilize the experience and know-how of the company to select lighting fixtures at the time of renovation and new constructions enabling them to find solutions that are ideal for them based on the layouts of their homes or commercial workspaces.

With the complete range of LED Lights which includes Residential, Commercial, Outdoor & Industrial, Syska LED facilitates a world class brand experience at all its stores Pan India.

About Syska LED:

Syska LED Lights is the flagship company of the diversified conglomerate Shree Sant Kripa (SSK) Group. SYSKA LED lights are a smart innovation in the future of lighting. Advanced technology, energy efficiency and durability puts SYSKA LED lights years ahead, giving it a clear edge in today’s market.

Every LED Lights made by SYSKA LED is crafted to meet global standards. It offers an extensive array of LED lighting solutions for residential, commercial, industrial and outdoor usage. Its expertise covers the entire gamut of LED solutions – including design, manufacturing, supply & installation of fixtures and strong after-sales service.

In addition to its manufacturing plant in Korea, SYSKA LED has also set up has its manufacturing plant in Rabale, Maharashtra. Spread over 75 locations across India, are the dedicated spaces ‘SYSKA LED Lounges’ also known as experience Zones where the entire LED range including popular best sellers, specialty products and recent innovations are displayed in all glory. Syska aims to expand its trustworthy tentacles to 200 lounges within next one year.

As a pioneer in LED revolution in India, Syska has several awards to its credit that acknowledge their superior customer service and technical abilities. The latest addition in the award section being recognized as the “The World’s Greatest Brands for Electrical Lighting' by 2015 Asia GCC” 


For more info Visit: www. syskaledlights.com
On the journey in an empty train

On the journey in an empty train

I came to the railway station. It was early in the morning. There was hardly any lights around and I could hear dogs howling from a distance. I was bit scared but I thought why should I be since this is a railway station and not an haunted bungalow or castle.

I managed to see the time on my mobile phone. It was 3.45AM. All of a sudden there was an announcement " Train No. 12345 will arrive at platform no.1 shortly" and even before the announcement was complete, I saw the train approaching.Strangely I could not see clearly as to who was in the engine room as the lights were switched off but the train did stop at the station.

When I got in, I was into more of a shock. It was completely empty. Though I had an unreserved ticket and now that I can travel happily by sleeping on the berth, still my mind felt something fishy. I quickly ran to the other bogeys and found everything was empty. Even before I thought of getting down the train, it started moving. I was on a complete shock.

Fear gripped my minds. I fell asleep. I thought I had slept for real long time and all of a sudden there was a sudden jerk. I got up and found it was only 4AM in the morning. OMG!! Did only 15 minutes pass by all this while? God. When am I going to see the sunshine and why I had face such a terrible experience? I fell asleep again.

It should have been almost 3 to 4 hours now for sure. Someone was trying to wake me up. My head started aching severely and when I woke up, I saw the sunlight, finally. I saw the time. It was 8AM. it was my Mom who was trying desperately to wake me up from my sleep.

All this while I had been...... DREAMING!!!


‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

SuperStarOda5Star - Kabali Movie Special

This is my first post on my blog and I am really glad to write about the one and only SuperStar - Rajnikanth. His name needs no introduction. He is a Brand and an Icon by himself and movies sell like hot-cakes which features him. As a kid, I have watched many movies of Superstar but I always had a special liking to his Baadshah since he has donned the role of a Don.

Many fans just like me had always wanted Superstar to perform another role just like Baadshah and there came Kabali. As per the information circulated in Social Media, this story revolves around the movie of a person named Kabali who has gone from Tamilnadu to Malaysia for work and has fought against the others who were oppressing the people(labourers) in rubber farm. Let us not go deep into it since the movie is set to release in few days from now.

Yes. The movie is set to release on July 22nd and what I heard is most of the theatres which has opened the advance booking has seen tickets being sold out within few minutes for almost a week. Lot of Corporate Houses, Start-Ups has bought the tickets in bulk for their employees and customers. Kalaipuli V Thanu who has produced this under the banner V-Creations has a firm belief that Kabali's over all collection would cross Rs.500 Crores and this is no small amount.

The brand has been tied up with various other brands for Promotion. Buzz is that few Star Hotels in Bengaluru is planning to do special screening accommodating up to 300 people at a time with 4 shows a day for 3 days with each tickets priced at Rs.1,500, Calculate the amount yourself...

The first one to hit the news with regards to Kabali Promotion was Air Asia. The airlines announced a Special Kabali Flight from Bengaluru to Chennai cost of Rs 7,860 inclusive of round trip tickets, movie tickets, audio CD, lunch, snacks, local fares in the city from Airport to theatre and return.

Pic Credit : Mashable

Catching up on this trend next was Airtel which would offer Special Recharge Pack with Unlimited 2g Internet Data, Hello Tunes and a "Kabali" branded SIM pack and customers would also get a chance to greet Superstar directly through an SMS which would be compiled and presented to him as a Coffee Table Book.

The next major brand to join this fray is Muthoot Fincorp. They have launched Special Kabali Silver Coins which would be available exclusively on their showrooms in the denomination of 5,10 and 20 grams priced at Rs.350, Rs.700 and Rs.1,400 respectively.

Pic Credit: Muthoot Fincorp

Just when I was writing this blog post, I got a mail from Ola which has also announced it's own campaign. The Pic says enough about the campaign.

Pic Credit: OLA


I have also witnessed lot of other brands announcing contests for FREE Kabali Tickets which includes The Hindu, Nippon Paints, AGS Cinemas, ThePaperRoast among the few signalling that Kabali fever has captured the entire Nation.

 Among all, I was an active participant in Five Star Promotions for the Movie. The event was held last Sun(17/7/16) in Express Avenue Mall where I was invited to be a part of the Promotions. An icing to the cake was when I met the Emcee Mirchi Vijay who I knew on Twitter for sometime and he was equally glad when he met me. This welcomed all and now I am also eager to see whether I am featured in their commercials :-)



I was awestruck when I saw this gigantic greeting card which had best wishes for the Superstar from thousand's of fans.


I also had the chance to watch the exclusive "Kabali" making footage which ran for 20 seconds and as soon as I came out, I got an opportunity to sit on the couch and get clicked the same way as Thalaivar did it in the movie. As you could see the hashtag was #SuperstarOda5Star


What made me really glad was this....



Watch the video that I have attached which would show how the event unfolded...


Just like all the other fans, I am also eagerly waiting for July 22nd :-)

6X Green Tea



When I got to know about the Green Tea which leaves no residue, I was surprised. I decided to give it a try and got this 6X Green Tea packs. As mentioned earlier, there were no tea bags inside but the light brown coloured powder and when I added it to the hot water, it got dissolved quickly. I tasted it and I must say it was much impressive.

I could smell the aroma of the tea and also the essence of it. It was bit sweet as well and I wondered where it came from. When I took a look at the contents of the pack, I got to know the reason.


As you can see, the product contains sucrose which is why the tea tasted sweet. I did not feel any change n the very first day but after a prolonged use for few days, I must say that I started feeling fresh. This is not an exaggeration but the real fact.This pack detoxifies the liver from harmful oxidative radicals. When this is done, it triggers improvement in metabolic abnormalities associated with glucose and lipids by enhancing insulin sensitivity. It thus helps in reducing cholesterol there by giving good health to cardiovascular system.

Green Tea provides antioxidants that help us fight the free radicals. However, the free radicals available in the normal green tea are not sufficient to fight all the free radicals that we have in our body. Therefore, we need to have at least 5-6 cups of green tea every day. But, this also increases the caffeine intake of our body and at the same time is not very convenient.

6X Green Tea comes with the right amount of antioxidants that your body required to neutralise the free radical’s effect. It is also caffeine free and is therefore much healthier. Each box of 6X Green Tea comes with 30 sachets (1 month supply). You just need to mix the powder directly in water and have it anytime of the day. This provides you enough antioxidants for the complete day.

Benefits of 6X Green Tea

1) Fights the harmful free radicals that damage body cells. This helps in reducing ageing, wrinkles and white hair.

2)  Quenches oxidative stress and thus helps in detoxification.

3)  Shown to be of value for healthy metabolism and fat reduction in the body. The antioxidants present in 6X Green Tea boost metabolism and help in weight loss.

4) Prevents diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity


Availability:

Currently available at Four Fountain Labs. Would be shortly available at Amazon and Godrej Nature’s Basket. It is also available at all Four Fountains De-stress Spa

Team behind it

Four Fountains Labs has been founded by Four Fountains De-stress Spa Team. The co-founders are Anurag Kedia, Saurabh Garg and Sunil Rao. The products have been formulated by Dr. Ezhil Arasan, an ex-Dr. Reddy’s Research Scientist and a consultant with various nutraceutical and nutrition companies.

It's time to say goodbye to aerated drinks and let us start drinking 6X Green Tea to lead a healthy and a better life.



My eBook on Smash Words - Buy and Save

My eBook on Smash Words - Buy and Save

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my eBook to you all. Since this is a collection of my own stories, I would be real glad if you buy this book and let me know your feedback/comments.

As a Festive Offer in U.S. I have enabled 25% discount on its Regular Price of USD1.50 which you can now avail it or USD1.12

The link to buy is:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/606637