Books 2014 Vol. 4 – “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith aka J.K.Rowling

Swathy · February 16, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Finally, I finished the book. As far as I remember, I had mentioned this in the first week of January or soon after. Yup, a crime thriller which took me almost one month of reading. And thereafter, I gave myself a few days to internalize the book to know how I feel about it.

So, lets begin to talk about the book. The story begins with Robin lost in thought of her recent engagement and hunting for the office where she is supposed to be acting as a temporary secretary for a week. Cameron Strike, the detective and an ex-army guy who lost his leg in Afganistan, is her employer.

Strike has recently broken up with his ex-fiancée and has been living in his dumpy office. He is completely broke, receives murder threats from his previous client, and in huge debt. Robin’s arrival to his office changes his fortune in one way!! He is visited by John Bristow, a lawyer, to ask Strike investigate the death of his sister, the very famous model Lula Landry, which had taken place three months back.

And, then, begins a very disconnected process of investigation which picks up pace in the last few pages of the book. The entire plot seems to like have been churned out in bits and parts from all the other detective novels. That is also one of the reason I could not bring myself to stick to the book.

Accepting that book is good in bits and parts, I think it could have been easily edited to a novella if we leave out the personal lives of the detective and, though less described, his assistant. They stand out in the entire process. One tends to lose interest about their personal lives and ends up wondering why they picked the book!!

My Verdict

It is not an amazing book and you are not losing out on anything by missing it out.

Have you read the book?

3 foods that digest food immediately {Health}

Swathy · February 14, 2014 · 7 Comments

Sometimes I eat so much unknowingly and suffer with a stuffed and over-filled stomach tending to burst. Recently, I have found ways to reduce the uncomfortable feeling with the help of following three foods which can be had right after the meal. They empty your stomach in a jiffy by boosting your metabolism and making you damn hungry in the next two hours!!

Green Tea

On top of my list is this one coz you can have this anytime of the day whether you are stuffed or hungry or whether you feel like munching junk or just want to sip some water. Also, being hot, it relaxes the mind as well. A glass of green tea can make your tummy feel lighter in just about 15 minutes.

You might say how can I have water over a filled tummy? Well, you need not gulp down the tea. Boil the water, brew the tea and sip it slowly. Trust me, its extremely relaxing, just as much as a body massage. And, do check out how to make green tea properly unless you love the bitter taste.

Ginger Tea

Well, not really my favorite but one of my colleague vouches by this. Now, there are two versions of this tea. One is the {ginger boiled in water} tea and another is the regular milk tea we make at home. If you are just boiling ginger in water, you can have it right after the meal and ginger is amazing for its potent anti-oxidants.

But, you can not have the milk tea immediately. You need to give it a half hour to one and then have a small cup of this tea. Make sure sugar is less and ginger is more! And, your food will digest off in one hour!!

Fennel

Reducing the bloating and improving digestion is one of the prime reasons for this spice to be an inherent part of the meal. And, since I have discovered that chewing fennel is extremely soothing for the stuffed tummy, I have never missed a chance to pop some. Btw, stay away from the sugar coated fennels as they tend to pump more sugar into the system than the goodness of fennel!!

A TIP: Try not to drink any fluids immediately before meal. If you do feel thirsty, keep a glass of warm water by your plate. Warm water helps with the digestion process, I believe!!

What are your remedies to help with over-stuffed tummy?

5 Goofups I made as a bride {Five Series}

Swathy · February 13, 2014 · 2 Comments

Huh…there were so many things I totally ignored or freaked out on unnecessarily. Ok, my only tip to all would-be brides over there – Do not really bother on what everyone says. Do your own thing in which you are more comfortable.

For me, makeup was something I should have never bothered myself with. Instead, I should have stuck to searching out a good place to get my skin and hair care getting done. Similarly, I had a lot of trouble making decisions coz of being out of station and lack of references. So, check out what went wrong and what can you avoid.

Makeup

Well, I have to say finally that whosoever does my makeup, I am not really comfortable with it. Yup, it can also be due to the fact that I did not get it done by some of the best but honestly, I do not give a damn to it. This is probably the most expensive thing which I completely wasted money on; that too on a lady whom I had employed completely on recommendation.

You might think that how can a bride not have makeup? How will a bride look like one? But, in my wedding, there was literally no makeup on my face! Only the two rituals before that, I had got makeup done which I honestly hated but thankfully the snaps are not glaringly aboard!

If you are like me, I would suggest you to dispense off with such pretensions and concentrate on things which really matter to you. Also, I bought so many makeup things which I will not end up using in my entire lifetime. I have no idea what to do with them!!

Appoint a Lady with the terms and conditions clearly explained

Gosh, the makeup and mehendi both were complete disaster in my case.

The lady, I appointed on recommendation, knew she was supposed to stay till 4 AM in the morning during the wedding because that was the last change of saree to Madhuparkam, a white saree with a red border, in which the actual wedding takes place. But, she started to make some hoobla at around 1. Then, she did not do any makeup but still charged the same amount. Also, she did not tie the Madhuparkam properly either.

Same thing happened with the mehendi lady. The girl came at around 4 PM and it took almost six hours for the design and she was constantly squabbling which was a real pain and then she made a hoobla on amount of money. I know it all sounds so messed up and yes I guess they were not professionals. But, I had no idea earlier.

If you are having an outstation wedding, better go beforehand and get a trial like almost a month before. I know its easy for me to say this but it was not possible in my own case.

Getting all worked up

Be calm, no matter what. And, always remember, things WlLL go wrong and that is absolutely fine!

Wedding is the time when we meet all kinds of relatives from ones you have grown up with to the ones you never knew existed. Everyone will come and offer help and create chaos in your otherwise organized plans. Even my mum got all worked up with the amount of advises poring in. It is better to turn a deaf ear to all such things.

No Hair Care

The biggest blooper in all of this was that I had not got any hair servicing done! I had been following a decent hair regimen but all the while I was getting my facials and other things done, I never paid the least attention to my hair. I would not say that my hair is looking terrible but I should have taken care of it.

Related to Blog

I think this was something which I should have planned early on. I totally forgot about my availability and took some products to review which obviously I have not been able to deliver till NOW!! In fact, I could not plan for the blog properly.

The wedding was fixed in September middle and the engagement was in last week of October followed by Diwali and then the wedding in November middle which was almost a one week affair if I think of all the rituals. I could not plan for the blog at all during this time either due to lack of interest or due to lack of time.

So, these were my goofups as a bride. But, if I look back, honestly, I do not think they were really much important. Except for my blog handling and time management skills, I do not really regret any of the bloopers above. So, again, I would reiterate: relax and enjoy and remember things will go wrong.

So, what were your goofups?