View from the Hill

View from Sinhagad fort, Pune.

Linking post to #WordlessWednesday

Learning has no age limit

I often heard my mother saying, “Umar ho gayi hai beta ab kya sikhenge” or “is age mein aakar aadetein nahi badlti “. I used to think may be she is right, may be I will behave in a similar way at her age but this feeling always depresses me as I always love to learn new things, even I had made a new year resolution few years ago that I will learn one new thing or try to do something new everyday. I don’t know about everyday but most of the days I still follow this resolution. Life without new learnings seems very boring and dull.

Few weeks ago, I read Twinkle Khanna’s article in TOI mentioning 97 year old fashion icon “Iris Apfel” who has signed a modelling contract with IMG few months ago and Barbie doll was created with her image. I found her very inspiring, at the age 97 when most of the people would decide not to get up from the bed she is achieving new milestones.

Actually I proposed this topic to Indispire after watching an old episode of Satymev Jayate on old age. The stories shown in the episode was very inspiring. You will find one story in subsequent paragraph.

Chandra Tomar belongs to a very conservative family where women was not allowed to go out and persue the job. She spent her lifetime in taking care of family. Things got changed when one day she went to a shooting training centre with her grand daughter. She started learning shooting secretly. She was 60s when started learning shooting. Now she won several medals in shooting and opened the door for future generation girls of family to follow their dreams. Prakash Tomar her sister- in-law followed her footsteps and achieved the perfection in shooting.

Sometimes as age increases we lost curiosity and become complacent. Our fear of losing didn’t allow us to discover ourselves and this feeling will sure make anyone old even his physical age is 30.

Before you breathe

Overview – Before you breathe is a crime thriller book written by Tanushree Podder and published by Harper Collins. A small town called “Ramsar” which believed to be “free from crime” baffled after two consecutive break-ins, first in a doctor’s clinic and second one is at Shekhar Sharma’s residence but surprisingly nothing is stolen. Shekhar Sharma is a affluent inhabitant of Ramsar.

A retired Colonel Arjun H. Acharya along with a local inspector Timothy Thapa started the investigation of unusual crime but next day another tragedy was waiting for them, Shekhar Sharma died in a suspicious circumstances. Now they have to find out whether it is an accident or murder. As investigation proceeds Colonel discover new facts about Sharma family which involve Sharma’s wife Supriya, niece Naina and niece’s husband Alok Rajpal.

Review – The book is a part of a Colonel Acharya mystery books. It was a gripping read. I love the writing style, it is a bit descriptive. The Colonel Acharya seems like desi poirot. He himself confess in the book that “H” in his name stands for Hercule and is a big fan of Agatha Christie’s book (like me).

I like Naina’s character development, she is depicted as shy and introvert at first but gradually she became more confident. The background stories of three main characters are well written and not at a single point you feel confused. The Characters like Geeta, Laila, JJ, judge are not used that much in the plot line but discussion among them shows the possible things that can happen and guide the Colonel in investigation.

If I have to opt a favorite character, I will go for Timothy Thapa. He sounds reasonable and take a stand against his nagging and stupid boss whenever needed. The book keeps me guessing all the time but end is bit predictable.

About Author – Before you breathe is written by Tanushree Podder. This is her seventh novel. She was born in Delhi and worked for corporate sector few years. Then she quit the job and follow her passion of writing. When she is not writing, she loves to travel around the world.

The review is done as a part of blog chatter review program. More details are available here

Criticism

Criticism is not easy to handle. If you have low self esteem you will loose self confidence and in case of high self esteem ego will get hurt.

Recently, I have faced a similar situation. Some relative made a stupid joke on me (as people told me but I don’t feel like it was joke, may be a comment out of some negative feeling) and it took almost 24 hrs of analysis to come to conclusion that may be it struck me so hard because it’s true.

Few people would say that I was overthinking but I believe that a person should aware about his feelings. Once you accept your shortcomings then it will be easy to deal with them.

Sant kabir said a doha about criticism which help our generation to keep our head on right track.

निंदक नियरे राखिए, ऑंगन कुटी छवाय,
बिन पानी, साबुन बिना, निर्मल करे सुभाय।

Keep critics near you, they will help in character building and save us from doing blunders.