Bookmarks and Popcorns

October month is the month for my spooky buddies. You all know why! It’s the month of Halloween. Of course, we don’t particularly celebrate Halloween in India. It’s not a holiday for us. But years have passed. Earth has revolved a lot more number of times. Cultures have influenced in many ways. Some Indians celebrate Halloween by throwing costume parties. But most of us just sit and watch horror movies just like the rest of the world. Why? Come on! We live in a digital world and our virtual life is more happening than our real life. And when we have a more happening virtual life, we will easily get charmed by the rest of the world and enchanted to join them. I am not saying I am very proud of this aspect of me. I am just saying I know I am not alone in living this life. If you are shy and ashamed and admit to this part of your life. It’s okay. You don’t have to admit it. Just stick around because, you know, birds of a feather, go crazy together. Anyway, as I was saying, Halloween t...

  Genre: Crime fiction Author: Chetan Bhagat Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ “Love seemed elusive to us, but we had something else. We had friendship, which in many ways is even more beautiful than love.” I know I have given a rating of 3 stars. But it’s more 2.5ish. Okay. I have this book because my friend gifted it to me. And he gifted it to me because I asked him to. You have to understand that I was a huge fan of Chetan Bhagat as a teenager. I had developed a habit of reading his books ASAP. Song: Dharala Prabhu Title Track (by Anirudh Ravichander) Now I am finding it hard to get rid of this habit. You know it’s unfair how an author starts disappointing you more and more  after you have fully become his fan. It’s not fair because when you become someone’s fan, there is this inbuilt loyalty in your adorations for that person’s work. And loyalties are hard to ditch just like that. Okay, enough with my whining. Let’s jump to the business. One Arranged Murder is a story of 2 detecti...

  Genre: Fiction, Romantic comedy Author: Siddarth Raj Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” – Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Almost everyone who goes to college for the first time will have a mind prepared for crushes and proposals, for love and heartbreaks. Not everyone will find love but the ones who do will assume it to be everything. After all, this could be the one, right?! Never Date a Senior Girl is a book I won in a Giveaway. I was very excited to read it, for the concept was unique and it was the first giveaway that I had won. When at last I started to read the book, 10 pages later, I was no more an adult. Instead, I was the 14-year-old girl who had run to the library after discovering Chetan Bhagat and Durjoy Dutta, and picked every Indian Author’s romantic comedy books one by one because of the mere surprise that Indian authors could write so well and loving the way the stories and people...

  Genre: Psychological Fiction Author: Anna Burns Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Another book of which I could not ascertain or classify the genre and had to Google it. The genre suggested is also not something I completely agree with.) All of us have a habit that makes us unique. That makes us stand alone. Not a habit that many or anyone else has. A habit that is not offensive or bothering anyone in any way. Just you and your harmless habit. Imagine being judged by that habit. Imagine being judged, categorized, classified, and objectified by the society merely because of that habit. Milkman is the story of a girl with such a habit. In a society where mundane is preferred over an interesting lifestyle, lives the protagonist, an 18-year-old girl who is rumored to be in a relationship with Milkman who is twice as old as she. The rumor, being spread by her first brother-in-law, has tormenting and cascading consequences. Some of which, even prove to be fatal. Will she save herself from these ru...

  Genre: Novel of manners Author: Jane Austen Rating: Read the disclaimer Disclaimer: I should admit, I picked up Emma purely because of Pride and Prejudice. I did not write a review for Pride and Prejudice and so I was not sure if I should write a review – considering the fact that it is a classic. But I so badly wanted to rant about it. So here we go - A book discussion of Emma – NOT a book review. After reading the book, while drafting this, I was wondering what genre this book belonged to. Romance? No. Friendship? Nope. Comedy? Nah. Coming-of-age? No way. Drama? Not exactly. So I ended up Googling it and found a whole new genre whose existence I was clueless about – Novel of Manners. Emma is a novel about “youthful hubris and romantic misunderstandings” that “involves the relationships among people from a small number of families” is what Wikipedia says. I say Emma is a futuristic novel. Why, you ask? Let me explain the story and its relatability to the present. Emma ...

Genre: Romantic Comedy Author: Beth Reekles Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ I admit it. I read this book immediately after watching the movie. I thought this book would be my guilty pleasure just like how the movie was. Is that what I found? Books are usually better than the movies. Was this one? The Kissing Booth is the story of Roch”elle” Evans, Lee Flynn and Noah Flynn. Elle is a popular tom-boyish teen who has never been kissed (this point is given more importance for some reason). Lee is her best friend since childhood. Noah is the fiery, hot elder brother of Lee who excels in picking fights (and chicks), and in being an over-protective boyfriend. With this premise, even a person with no clue about this story could guess it right. Yes. Elle has a crush on Noah. Noah likes her too. They both date secretly. But Lee finds out. Mess. Easy problem, handled badly, is at last solved. Oh, wait. Another Mess. Possible problem handled badly is solved again, slowly. The END. 🌻 Although the plot is clic...

How many of you have looked at the back of your sunscreen bottle and noticed a CAUTION note? “For external use only”, most of the bottles say. Every time I read that caution note, I wonder to myself, ‘Which kinda idiot thinks sunscreen lotion is edible and consuming it is how you protect your skin and it’s tone from the sun?’ ‘Probably the same type of idiot who thinks the best way to booze, while the liquor shops are closed, is to drink hand sanitizer’ I would reply myself. How many of you have read, “If it irritates your skin, discontinue using it” at the back of a sample product?! Major facepalm, right?! I mean, how many douchebags out there persistently use a sample product in spite of it giving them a gory rash? Ridiculous! The moment I mentally laughed at these things, my brain got a cue to pick up a ladle, dig deep down into a mound of unforgettable embarrassments of my life and coercively pour it all over me until I am racked with a sambar of awkward- thrika ...

Bells of my heart rang loud, pupil grew wider, palms started to sweat, lips dried out, mouth ajar and body frozen. How many of you have experienced this state of yourself? Why? Is it always because of the love of your life? Fear begs to differ. Yes. Attraction could make your heart skip a beat, alter your reality, and make you feel like you are floating when he/she is attracted to you too. But fear could make your heart stop beating, crash your reality, and lift your soul to float its way to heaven as you lay dead when your fear comes true. It was definitely fear in my case. Fear is constant. For everyone who believes change is constant, fear poses as a pioneer of contention with its omnipresence. The rad is that, like most other things, there are 2 sides to this coin as well – The good and the bad. The good is that it gives you an image of what a failure could be and makes you run in the opposite direction. The bad is that it gives you a phantasm of the worst and forbids you...