Priorities and Baby

#BabyDiaries

How priorities change...

पहले फ़ोन गिरता था तो: "हे राम, फ़ोन गिर गया, कही टूटा तो नहीं"

आज फ़ोन गिरा तो: "हे राम, फ़ोन गिर गया, कही बेबी उठा तो नहीं"

translation:

Earlier when phone fell: "Oh God, phone fell, hope its not broken"

Now when phone fell: "Oh God, phone fell, hope baby has not woken"

LOL LOL LOL

Love and Cheers

An Amazing Experience at Amazon.in

#Random

We all shop online and nowadays Amazon.in is the most common platform for most of us (it is for me atleast)...

I buy everything online, from clothes to grocery -with a tiny little baby one hardly gets anytime to spare to go out and shop, isn't it. Given I buy everything online I decided to buy my baby's cradle as well. One rule that I follow though is, I never buy a 'non-returnable' product as you never know what problem might occur.

Now, I researched a lot on cradles and discussed with friends. The most recommended one was a little unusual one but given two of my friends' kids have used it I decided to go for it (with difference that they bought it from a shop).
I usually buy 'fulfilled by amazon' products but sadly this was not in it. And this type of cradle was only one. I took my chances based on recommendations but it was not the one for me. 

The product was damaged. The cloth was torn, net was torn, hinge caps were broken and most importantly the cloth was of such poor quality that I feared that if I placed my baby in it, it might tear and hurt him severely -not acceptable condition at all. Of course I decided to return but much to my shock (not surprise) the product was non-returnable. I checked product site again and seller cheated, nowhere it was mentioned that product was non returnable. 

Of course it was not a cheap item for me to let go -even if it was, I can't stand cheats. 

I called customer care immediately. The return of the product was not in their hands. But, they understood my concern. They asked me to send the pictures and they contacted seller. The seller refused to do anything -I guess they forgot that they delivered damaged product. But amazon is pretty good at its services (I found out through this experience), they checked out the pictures I sent and refunded the amount immediately. Not just did they refund my money, they didn't even ask for the product back. They simply let it go. I am not sure what I am going to do with this product but I am never going to use it for my baby.

The product in question is: 

I have never been happier with the services of an online seller. I decided to share this story mainly because I always hear how online sellers cheat or do fraud, but no one talks about good experiences. I just wanted to change that...

Love and Cheers

Book - The Prince of Patliputra: Reliving History Again

#BookReviews

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Title: The Prince of Patliputra
Author: Shreyas Bhave
Publisher: Frog Books
Pages: 382
Price: Rs. 375
My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

272 BC BHARATHVARSHA, LAIID OF THE ARYAS Samrat Bindusar, son of Chandragupta and the second Samrat Chakravartin of all the Aryas rules over the massive subcontinent from his holy seat in Patliputra. Almost five decades ago, his father had laid the wealth and glory of the past has subsided. As the Samrat's health continues to decline due to an unknown illness, problems are arising all over his realm. There is infighting and rebellion. No clear successor to him is present. Ninety nine of his sons stand in line waiting for his throne. Bharathvarsha needs a Chandragupta once again. And it needs a Chanakya too. Can the young Prince Asoka, who is the least favorite son of the Samrat, fill the boots of his grandfather? Can Radhagupta, a mere Councilor of the Court be what Chanakya was to all the Aryas? Begin a new adventure with the first book of the Ashoka trilogy as you read to find the answer to one great question- That who shall be the next Samrat of this holy land of the Aryas?

Review:

Remember the history we studied in schools? No? Well, this the book that relives it. 

Prince of Patliputra is the first part of 'Asoka's triology' which deals in 272BC and 50 years before that. It has two parallel story lines, one of Asoka and another of Chandragupta.

Talking about history, it seemed so boring when we studied it, isn't it? (Please excuse all who thought otherwise). But this book is not boring at all. While reading it, you would feel you are actually living in that era. Well, two eras actually - Asoka's and Chandragupta's and both are written beautifully and author has done justice to both. 
Chadragupta was the grandfather of Asoka and the great Samrat of India. The story lays down events of the lives of two great kings India has ever seen. One key angle to the book is of Chanakya. It is well known that Chankya enabled Chandragupta's rule but to read it from author's perspective is fresh and different.

Talking about characters, the book is full of them. Author had been smart while putting up a list in the beginning of the book to enable readers with an index. Yes, there are so many that one might get lost while reading.

Although there are many characters but author has done a good job in justifying them. You won't feel story lost of any or yearn for more details.

The writing style is rather friendly and decent. However there are small errors which can be ignored. The only thing that I didn't like was certain scenes were dragged out but given the book is overall good, one tend to get over it.

Overall, the story is full of politics, conspiracy and betrayals -but it is also laced with slight romance, which makes it perfect.

My rating to the book is - 4/5

You can grab your copy here. (Yes price is a little too much but well, it is a rather huge book and a good one too ;)

Love and Cheers

Book: Figmented Reality - Its 'Deep', its 'Dark', its 'Human Psychology'

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Title: Figmented Reality
Author: Zuko
Publisher: Frog Books
Pages: 162
Price: Rs. 150
My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Addiction blurs our hold on reality; people say. But what if addiction becomes our reality? Siddharth had a fair few addictions in his wake. The challenge now was to differentiate between the ideal world and the real world. Will Siddharth be able to overcome his addictions and find true love. Or is it just another addiction? This book is not a biography of the author but is written in a way that author is the protaganist.

Review:

Figmented reality shows the deep dark side of human psychology. It revolves around a man who was sexually assaulted when young, and now he is trying to fight his demons.

As the blurb suggests, the book deals with various addictions and addiction to sex is the primary one. The way it is portrayed is rather bold and impressive and kudos to author to write on such topic.

The characterization  is not very impressive. I feel author could have done a much better job with it. With such strong content, one needs to build characters rather strongly. However, I did like Veena's character but again, it needs better build.

The depiction of the childhood trauma and how it affects rest of the life is very well portrayed. 

Overall it is an impressive read but there are two major turn offs - firstly editing issues. There are serious grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Even the blurb has spelling issue. Secondly, the ending is rather abrupt which is very disappointing.

My rating for the book is 3/5.

You can grab your copy here.

Love and Cheers