Tuesday, February 23, 2016

The Year I Met You - Book Review

Before I begin, I must say this; despite how it sounds, it is really not a romance novel. For a while now, I have been searching for good books that do not involve romance and this book was just that. Not that I am against love or something, it is just that I do not want to read something and sulk with the lack of it. I am not a big fan of crime fiction as well, too much suspense to handle. So I have turned to non fiction reading.

But then, this book was refreshing change. I devoured the book in a single day. It had drama, comedy and philosophy, all in right doses. This book is about two people who meet and what happens to them over the course of one year. The central character in the book, Jasmine can be you, me or any working woman. I am pretty sure all of us have had thoughts and feelings that Jasmine goes through the course of the book. If I were to get fired from my job tomorrow and forced to sit idle at home, I am pretty sure the book perfectly describes my emotions.

I love stories with imperfections and all the characters we meet in this have their own imperfections, most of them relatable. Jasmine has her fixation to be busy always while her sister Heather has her fixation with routines. Jasmine's neighbor Matt (the 'You' in the title) has a slight drinking problem while her other neighbor Dr. J suffers from loneliness. This book is all about how they manage their imperfections and still continue on with their lives.

If you are looking for something refreshing that would make you think about your own life and struggles but with an end that will leave you feeling good, then this is the book you want to go for.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

A Random Act of Kindness

So I was randomly scrolling through my Facebook wall and this came up. Reader's Digest had put up some stories about the random act of kindness as a part of The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation's Random Acts of Kindness week. I know it is a lot of repetition of the words "Random Acts of Kindness" but then I feel it is not spoken about often enough.
















I am pretty sure there has been a lot of instances where we have encountered these random acts of kindness. They might not be very significant, but then they are the ones that should inspire us to be nice and kind to people. There are times when I really want to be mean; no need to be judgmental now, all of us have those days. Generally I think of all the nice things people have said or done to me and then all my meanness goes away.

Below are some of my recent encounters with the Random Acts of Kindness

# Encounter 1
I have the bad habit of not having cash in my purse, sometimes nothing, not even a rupee. I know I should have learnt my lesson by now, with the Chennai floods situation but I happened to have no money that day. I was going to Narada Gana Sabha for a concert driving my scooty. I parked it outside the hall and was in a hurry as I was a little late already. I was trying to call my friends who were inside, but the ticket issuer stopped me in my path. He wanted me to get the ticket. I was juggling between my friend on phone and the ticket issuer, trying to explain to him how I did not have any cash with me right now. Now there was this other guy who was getting a ticket and he bought one for my vehicle too. All I could mumble was a 'Thank you'. But the gesture made me feel really nice and upped my mood to enjoy the concert.

# Encounter 2
I live 10 hours away from my hometown and travelling during the festival seasons can be really hectic. The bus stands are crowded and traffic gets jammed as every one tries to go to their hometown to celebrate. So there I was on the eve of Pongal, trying to reach home. The whole of Koyambedu was crowded. After waiting /standing for nearly 2 hours, I finally got into the bus which was supposed to take me to my original bus (don't ask me why - it was the bus operator's brilliant idea to skip traffic). This was a sleeper bus that I got into. I found an empty berth and sat there. As I was waiting for the bus to start, another girl came up and told me that it was her actual berth. I was very tired and sleepy by this point. I gathered up my luggage to again search for an empty one when the girl stopped me. She let me sit on her berth until I transferred buses again. It was the sweetest thing that happened to me that day. She could have easily made me move and went off to sleep, but did not do that.

# Encounter 3
This happened to me today. I have been trying to help out a friend to get her transcripts from the university. I already went there once and came back unsuccessful. Today, I was there again, submitting the forms. But then one of the xeroxes I had taken was not taken in the right way. This officer at the counter to whom I was submitting the forms was explaining what was wrong. I was exasperated that it was going to be another unsuccessful trip to the university. But then he got it xeroxed the right way for me after the explanation and helped me complete my submission. He need not have done it actually, He could have simply told me to get it corrected and come back again. But he did not and this is what random acts of kindness all about.
No one talks about the random acts of kindness they did because of 'hey! we don't kiss and tell', but then we should always remember that what goes around comes around. So to receive these random acts of kindness, one should do random act of kindness. So please remember to do your part and also leave below your encounters if any.