Aanya's Dreamy P.A.U.S

When Aanya turned fifteen she got two gifts from her best friend, ‘The Princess Diaries’ and a bookmark with George R.R. Martin’s quote: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” She was so inspired by the quote that the reader in her never looked back.

It was a beautiful Saturday evening and Aanya was in the backyard reading new book by her favorite author. She always wanted to meet him once in Lifetime and that day was no different. Soon she fell asleep.

Aanya : Sir, I have read all your books and I cannot explain how happy I am to meet you.  Thank you so much for taking out time.

Author : My inbox was filled with your emails so I had to meet this crazy fan of mine.

Aanya : Sorry about spamming your inbox but everytime I finish your novel I cannot resist writing to you.

Author : No problem, Infact we are lucky to have readers like you.

Aanya : I always wanted to ask you one thing. How you take Criticism.?

Author : I take criticism to improve my key areas rather than let others dictate my direction.

Aanya : Wow.! Well said Sir. All The Best for future endeavors. It was great meeting you.

Author : Same Here. Good Luck.

As they were about to leave Aanya said to herself : His Clean Shaven Look Bowled Me Over. Suddenly an apple from the tree hit her on the head and she starts laughing thinking about her dream meeting.

* This post is a part of the Protest Against Smelly Stubble Activity in association with BlogAdda. 
*   I was tagged by Sammya in his post Here.

The Fault In Our Stars..

My love for books has grown suddenly out of nowhere or may be when I don’t find a direction in life I turn to literature precisely the world of fiction. Few months back I saw a tweet of an author on twitter that said she was really inspired by John Green’s work and instantly my detective mind started searching for this man. After googling I came to know that John Green is an American writer of young adult fiction, a YouTube vlogger and educator. 

His first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award presented by the American Library Association. His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His next novel, Paper Towns, is a New York Times bestseller and won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best YA Mystery. In January 2012 he reached number one on a New York Times Best Seller list with The Fault in Our Stars which won 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards for the Best Young Adult Fiction.

And that's how 'The Fault In Our Stars' was on my wishlist. Trust me I had never been too excited to buy a book. I don't know why but the title kind of attracted me. I ordered in October from Amazon.in as a Birthday gift to myself but started reading in December because I had others books to finish before I could start this (I don’t leave any book half read no matter how bad the story is :P).

The Fault In Our Stars is a very simple, sweet, cute, funny yet heartbreaking love story about Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters. The story is narrated by a sixteen year old Hazel who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Thyroid cancer with metastasis forming in her lungs when she was 13, but has managed to live with her disease thanks to doses of an experimental drug called Phalanxifor. Augustus lost his leg to osteosarcoma, and is in remission. She loved being at home, spent quite a lot of time in bed and read the same book (An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten) over and over. As a result she was forced to attend a support group for children living with cancer though she hated it. Hazel met Augustus through Isaac at the support group and their short conversation after the group meeting started their bittersweet story.

Though I want to write the whole story here but I won’t act as spoiler. Let me tell you Augustus is just 17 yrs old and all that he did for Hazel was not so ordinary. I loved their chemistry. If this book suits your taste and you get time do read it. Please don't expect something fancy or extraordinary. As the cover says it is insightful, bold, irreverent and raw. 

There were certain lines in the book that really touched the strings of my heart and I am sharing them here as follows :

• Don't worry. Worry is useless.
• Love is keeping the promise anyway.
• Without pain, how could we know joy?
• The world is not a wish granting factory.
• Grief does not change you, it reveals you.
• Our fearlessness shall be our secret weapon.
• That's the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.
• Sometimes it seems the universe wants to be noticed.
• Pain is like fabric: The stronger it is, the more its worth.
• In the darkest days, the Lord puts the best people into your life.
• You gave me a forever within the numbered days and I'm grateful.
• Everybody should have true love, and it should last atleast as long as your life does.
• Its hard as hell to hold on to your dignity when the risen sun is too bright in your losing eyes.
• No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can't go all the way around.
• I'm in love with you and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things.
• God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

In January 2012, Fox 2000, a division of 20th Century Fox, optioned the rights to adapt the novel into a feature film. Josh Boone signed on to direct a year later, in February 2013. Filming began on August 26, 2013 on location in Pittsburgh, doubling for the novel's setting of Indianapolis, Indiana. Filming is currently underway in Amsterdam. The film is planned to be released on June 6, 2014 and I am really looking forward to the movie :)

Connect with the author : 

• Twitter : John Green

Aaliya and her P.A.S.S

Aaliya was a sweet, bubbly girl from Delhi while Abhay was a shy, quiet software engineer from Mumbai. Aaliya was a complete chatterbox but Abhay always kept distance from strangers. Both met on Twitter during a promotional campaign of a Brand and their story started with Hi over DM. For Abhay it wasn't easy to let someone enter his personal space but Aaliya knew how to become friends with everyone. Her lovely nature bowled him in no time. 

He kept denying his feelings but couldn't stay away from her. He wanted to start and end each day with her chit chats. They never shared their images which forced Abhay to think if it was mere an attraction but he decided not to believe anything except 4 letters (LOVE). After 2 months Abhay was supposed to come to Delhi for a client meeting and both of them decided to meet. Starbucks was the place and 7 p.m. was the time.

Aaliya wasn't an admirer of great body or looks but preferred clean, presentable men. She hated Devdas look as she believed Life is too short to waste or spend in grief. She was surprised to see Abhay and murmured I hate that unclean stubble. His unshaven shabby face made him look pathetic still Aaliya met him with a smile. She chose not to speak something that might hurt him. He also couldn't tell her anything about his feelings and soon Abhay got a mail with Subject Aaliya Weds Aarav.

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We all have heard of First Impression is the Last Impression. No matter how good you are still you cannot open your heart and show your love. No one is telling you to follow a celebrity and lose your identity but unhygienic, smelly stubble is not something to be proud of. 

* This post is a part of the Protest Against Smelly Stubble Activity in association with BlogAdda. 
*   I was tagged by anitaexplorer in her post Here.
*   I would like to tag Pooja (Born with heels).

Source : I have created the charatcters using Bitstrips.com and then edited them in Paint.

Birth of Aaisha..

The story dates back to 1980's when Aabha was married to prince of her dreams that her parents had chose for her. The marriage was done according to Hindu rituals and blessing of elders. She was the shining star of her family but this star was now supposed to shine somewhere else more beautifully and brightly. 

Starting a new life in a new family din't scare Aabha rather she was excited for this kind of beginning. She was highly qualified girl who had also received several awards in school, college for her outstanding performance in debates and creative writing. But unfortunately she was now in a family where her education meant nothing. Her degrees and certificates were just plain sheets. Suddenly the sweet mother-in-law was no less than a jailer. She wasn't a daughter-in-law but someone who was bound to complete all the household activities anyhow at any cost. The more Aabha tried to make everyone happy the more she was cursed for something or the other. She was humiliated but she never expressed or told anyone. She din't want to return to her parents as it wasn't considered good for the girl and her family at that time. But now God had given her a reason to forget her sadness and miseries. 

It was the fourth Monday of the post monsoon season in India when Aabha heard the first cry of her baby at 4:40 p.m. She was so happy to see her bundle of joy that she didn't want any evil eye or shadow around her little princess. A ray of hope had entered her barren land. Her arid days were turned into blooming ones with sweet smiles and laughter of the bright soul. She kept her name "Aaisha" which means One who is Lively. She wanted all the happiness of the world for her baby. 

Aaisha was not the prettiest but a very cute baby with height little more than normal. No one can understand the joy of holding a baby better than a mother. Those small eyes, hands, feet are truly the best view. Now the only aim of Aabha's life was to nurture her daughter, educate her in the best way and make her independent so that she can easily live life without any limitation. She wanted to prepare her for the worst too. She herself had gone through so much that she didn't want her angel to be weak and give up in hard times.

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This is not just a tale but journey of Aabha and her daughter Aaisha. This could be anyone's or no one's story. Set in free Independent India still far away from Freeness.