BOOK REVIEW : 6 Degrees

I am fortunate enough to get a chance to be part of Game of blogs and experience this amazing yet different way, how a story was made with 10 different brains working part by part. Unfortunately my team was not among the winning team.

It feel great to read the amazing winning stories and got a chance to review the compilation of 3 winning stories as six degrees!

About The Game

             

In the September of 2014, when BlogAdda decided to #CelebrateBlogging, the office went into a frenzy to come up with the one activity that would capture the imagination of the blogging community. After several brainstorming sessions, an idea was born- Game of Blogs!

For the first time in the history of Indian blogging, bloggers would collaborate and work single-mindedly towards one goal- write a story based on the characters given by BlogAdda. In another first, the best story would be published in the form of a book- the first collaborative blogging novel!

We invited bloggers, extended personal invitations to them and finally had 30 teams of ten members each! Let the games begin!

The rules were simple- each team would have to write 1 blog post a day, weaving an absorbing story as they went along. This entailed a huge collaborative effort from the teams as they had to coordinate the order and content of the story which had to be written.

The jury for Game of Blogs consisted of the top names from the author community, including Ashwin Sanghi, Natasha Badhwar, Ravi Subramanian, Meghna Pant, Raksha Bharadia and Kiran Manral.


                   

The teams employed every means of communication available- calls, messages and social media to come together to write amazing blog posts each week, breathing life into all the characters and adding some of their own. So much so that at the end of Week 1, the impressed judges decided not to eliminate any team!

Round Two saw the introduction of a twist in the tale, with BlogAdda throwing a curveball at the teams. The teams responded and how by hitting a home run on the twist, making the stories more interesting!

Sadly, 20 teams were eliminated after Round Two as 10 teams carried on with the Game of Blogs challenge. BlogAdda felt that none of the stories should remain incomplete, so we introduced a Wild Card round where the eliminated teams could continue with their stories and get a chance to still be in the reckoning.

The Game of Blogs teams had the time of their lives (their words, not ours) putting their heads together and writing some great quality fiction content which though written by different people, had to look seamless.
At the end of the challenge, we announced the Top 5 teams which had bowled over the jury with their stories.

You must be wondering why we are telling you this, because you have lived the excitement of Game of Blogs and #CelebrateBlogging with us. Well, we just wanted to relive those moments with you before we announced the winners of Game Of Blogs!

Yes, the wait is over and we have the winning teams of Game of Blogs right here:

• Team ByLines
• Team Potliwale Baba
• Team Tete-a-ten

A huge round of applause to all the winning teams! Thank you to all of you who participated in Game of Blogs and gave us unforgettable stories. It is because of you that #CelebrateBlogging became a huge celebration in the truest sense.

A big thank you to the judges who pored over hundreds of pages of stories and selected the best stories from Game of Blogs.

About the book:

This book as you know is the labour of love of the top 3 teams of the Game of Blogs activity at BlogAdda, which means you will read 3 engrossing tales in this book.

The Game of Blogs activity is the result of India's first collaborative blogging initiative, where 30 teams all over India came together to write linked stories on their blogs, taking the story forward. It was a one of its kind activity, which transformed bloggers into authors!

Characters  

Shekhar Dutta – Stay home Dad, freelance writer, Hindu, Stays in Mumbai

• Description – French beard, bald, average height, fair, thin specs, lean, and wears t-shirt & track pants generally, ever smiling.

Tara Dutta – Shekhar’s wife, Media professional, career oriented woman.

• Description – Fair, short hair, tall, prim & proper dressed, wear formals & high heels.

Roohi Dutta – 9 years girl, Shekhar and Tara’s Daughter

• Description – Fair, healthy, notorious, 2 ponytail, wear frill frocks.

Jennifer Joseph – Photographer, Christian, Stays in Kochi (Kerala)

• Description – Dusky, average height, tattoo on right hand, wears casual shorts and tees, lots of accessories, always carries a camera.

Cyrus Daruwala – A law student, stays in Delhi

• Description – Tall, extremely fair, big specs, curly hair, stern face, and beard on the chin.

BOOK REVIEW:

Every person has its own style of writing/telling a story, and when 10 brains work on one story, it will be interesting or it will be crazy for sure. Here situation is not much far from reality the stories woven by 3 teams on a same plot comes under different genre. It is similar to making of same dish by 3 different chef, obviously texture, aroma and taste would differ.

Reading all the stories gave me a feel, our team was not too far, but these stories are the best possible way one could imagine.

All characters are well balanced and were well etched. The connection between characters were crystal clear.

First chapter gives you a good feel and keep you hooked. The story headed to a suspense in first chapter itself, that’s the beauty of weaving a story with your own flavors. In the end I felt lack of edge and thoughts. I felt the story was dragged and ended forcefully.

The second story entangled lives is a murder mystery. The maid servant at Dutta’s house is killed. By a strange stroke of coincidence all the characters land up at the Dutta residence at the time of murder. As a result all of them are suspected murderers. How the cop finds out the real culprit is an interesting tale to read. The story changes tones in many chapters. That affects the reading experience adversely. For example the cop Java has all his soliloquies in English. But in chapter 29, he suddenly speaks to himself in Marathi, that too incorrect Marathi. However the end of the story is absolutely brilliant. It is something different and unexpected.

Third story was kind of mysterious one and confusing too. It seems on and off track and the story left us with suspense and left the guessing game for us. . The flash backs should have been gelled well. . I would have loved if the writers had elaborated it. But still this story of a gay man is something different.

All three stories are well written and keep you glued till the end. But the book is poorly edited, which mars the reading experience. Line spacing between many words is missing. Apostrophe is typed as > instead of ‘.I wish these mistakes could have been avoided. Yet I loved the book.

My rating will be: 3.5/5

6 Degrees is India's first book published through collaborative blogging, written completely by bloggers for the Game of Blogs activity at BlogAdda. Know more about Game of Blogs here. You can buy 6 Degrees: Game of Blogs if you liked the review. :) 

To buy click : Buy now

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

BOOK REVIEW: "Ramayana - The Game of Life: Shattered Dreams"

Book Name: Ramayana - The Game Of Life: Shattered Dreams (Part-II)

ISBN: 978-81-849-531-6

Pages: 387

Price: INR 350

Author: Shubha Vilas

Publisher: JAICO Publishing house

The book titled - "Ramayana - The Game Of Life (Shattered Dreams) Part- II is the second book in the series Ramayana- The Game of life where the part-I titled "The Rise Of Sun Prince” which was a great success and a feather in the cap for Shubha Vilas who is a successful writer, motivational speaker and a philanthropist.

In this book, author tried to compare the mainstream of today’s modern day life with the life and condition which is explained in the epic –Ramayana. Kudos to author for how well he narrated the part of Ram exile and connected it with the way and thoughts of great Valmiki to today’s world scenarios and how it still has its own part to play. It is so interesting to relate the part of our lives with the Lord Ram’s life that problems are part of life and solutions are everywhere, what matter is how you find it and execute it.

The book revolves around the life of many - Rama, Dasratha, Kekeyi, Bharat, Laxman and other so many characters. It highlights the drama of Rama's exile. The simplicity of Rama's life is being brought out largely in the book which simply personifies his character and image. The books is well narrated, it is easy to grasp and compare to the present situations and scenarios of life. The best part of the book is that it links and teaches the mythology by relating concepts from Ramayana by applying them to the dealings and schedules of the life of recent times. It closely brings out the relations and associations of man's life and the hurdles and complexity which develops in this relational web.

This book has lot to offer , reading this make one realize that not only work or money is to be managed but management of life and relations in a simple , sensitive and meaningful way is outmost necessity . It also focus on the necessity of optimism and mental stability in terms of taking decisions which can have a huge impact in all lives.

The footnotes in the book enlighten and enthuse one with the solutions of lots of questions and doubts that come up in the connection of one's life by providing an insight through the quotes and lessons. The lessons of relationships, trust, faith, discipline, rules, regulations, forgiveness, obedience, amongst the whole list of morals and life's values.

I think author has done complete justice to the great epic Ramayana by detailing the characters and bringing out their relevance in present scenario. And the title is completely justified and it is truly a journey about a game of shattered dreams which turned out to be beautiful saga named - Ramayana.

About the author : Shubha Vilas is a spiritual seeker and a motivational speaker who graduated as an engineer and also as a patent lawyer specializing in intellectual property law. He believes that a good teacher sees learning and teaching as integral twin aspects of personal and spiritual growth.

Rating: 4.5/5 Just go for it!!!!

To buy at Amazon just click 

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

#IsLaundryOnlyAWomansJob

 

    

Laundry!!! When this word comes to the mind, mind start to point to the female member of the family and if you dare ask any male member, “why don’t you wash your clothes”?

A male egoistic reply will be thrown at you “why me, that is not my work???

Harsh isn't, one side we talk/hear about women equality or women empowerment, then why man should be the judging parameter? Why the work done by men should be set as standards to achieve by women of the society? Why no standards are set for men keeping, works of women as standards? Equality means from both the ends right!!! That is why our society is still biased and male dominant.

One BIG Question “Is laundry only a woman’s job”?? Seriously I never thought about it , I really want to thank blogadda.com  & ARIEL to come up with a wonderful theme which will make all the men to think, why only women should take the charge of Laundry? Why can’t Men do?

Some will say “we earn for the family”, some will say “it is women destined work”, some will say “that we have been seeing this in society don’t change it”, some will say “leave it they will do”. But guys don’t you think , u need to give a break to all these obsolete /orthodox or 18 century ideas and should think seriously about it, why only women is assigned or women are thought to do laundry even in the 21^st century?

Yes I know that in past gals/ladies/women used to take care of house, raising children and men used to be the sole bread earner for the family but as time passed the scenario changed, it took a complete turn around and today’s women is well educated, matching step to step with men and an equal partner in earning too, So those who says “we are earning, they are earning too…”. Where it is written “Laundry only a women job”?? Some will say “women excel the art of cleaning clothes”. When a women can, why can’t men excel? If they can do what men used to do, why can’t men can do what they used to do?

I am not asking to deliver a child: P, Just laundry, c’mon men can also do let’s check the stats what survey highlights, its little shocking and a mirror to this orthodox society too.

You will be shocked to know that, the stats you see above are the result of survey conducted by AC Nielsen in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad & Bangalore, in November 2014 

(1000 person)

Let me take an example, not from society but from my family itself, my mother is a homemaker and my father is in business, so by default laundry is thought to be task assigned to my mother. Sometimes if my mother ask for help, she has to insist so many times then he will think to help, if some match is going on surely, he will think let ignore some time she will wind up in the meantime. But main thing is that when my mother fell sick and father has to do laundry, which rarely happens, He will think that, what a big favor I did? Why? Is this his fault, No!! It’s the fault of our society in which more than 76% male thinks, this the work to be done by the female counterpart and this thinking needs to be changed when women can step into men shoes by working and managing home too , why can’t a men can help her in making her journey a smooth one! Stats reveals 85% women thinks they have to take care of both work and household task and more than 77% women thinks that men prefer relaxing rather giving a helping hand for household task!!!

 Let them to come forward and to change this stats. Seriously the boys/men who are reading this, I expect a change in the society and a salute for all women for doing great job and managing all.

Let’s see a TVC and judge yourself, how often it happen at your home? 

                         

“I am writing for #IsLaundryOnlyAWomansJob activity at BlogAdda.com in association with Ariel.”

time which changes everything !!!

people we love too changes..with time...
The love fades away...the bonds...lives with feeble..ray....
Just gaps deeps..relations somewhere creeps...
if u feel so...if your relations are already got a way 2 go...
Don't be a foe... Don't see more...only one cure...
Say no... in one go...don't let the heart die...
Don't let it fight for single sight.... </3
Be free & let it on a open air spree
Let it realize..
people we love too changes..with time..we will soon be fine....:)
One day we will get one who will match our rhyme...:)

Some one wacky !!!

This page will give a insight to the process of Saponifacation with some important 
chemical equation which are not given in N.C.E.R.T or S. CHAND 

of class 10th Std.

      the pictorial /animated image can help you to understand it better have a look  

Key Concepts about soaps and saponification :

• Soaps are produced during the chemical reaction known as saponification.
• Saponification is the reaction between a fat or oil and a base, producing glycerol and a salt (soap) 
• fat or oil + base -----> glycerol + salt (soap)
• Soaps are usually sodium or potassium salts of long-chain fatty acids
• Soaps are cleaning agents or detergents.
• Molecules of soap are made up of two parts: 
• a non-polar , hydrophobic tail consisting of a long hydrocarbon chain 
• a hydrophilic, negatively charged, carboxylate ion (anion) head
• Hydrophobic: aversion to water, not readily wettable by water. 
• Hydrophilic: affinity for water, wettable by water

Saponification :

fat or oil (ester)	+	base	heat ----->	glycerol (alkanol)	+	salt (soap)
RCOOR'	+	NaOH	heat ----->	R'OH	+	RCOO-Na+

Example of saponification :

glyceryl tristearate (ester)	+	NaOH (base)	--->	glycerol (alkanol)	+	sodium stearate (salt, soap)
H | O || H- C - O- C -(CH2)16-CH3 | O || H- C - O- C -(CH2)16-CH3 | O || H- C - O- C -(CH2)16-CH3 | H	+	3NaOH	--->	H | H- C -OH | H- C -OH | H- C -OH | H	+	3CH3(CH2)16COO-Na+

Most soaps are made from vegetable oils such as olive oil, palm oil and coconut oil.
Some soaps are made from animal fats (tallows).

Potassium soaps tend to be softer and more water-soluble than the corresponding sodium soap.

Soaps from unsaturated fatty acids are softer than those from saturated fatty acids.

Cleaning Action of Soaps (mechanism) :

When a soap such as sodium stearate dissolves in water, carboxylate anions and metal cations are produced:

CH3(CH2)16COO-Na+

water ----->

CH3(CH2)16COO-(aq) + Na+(aq)

Action of micelles in Removal of dirt from the cloth

The non-polar, hydrophobic, long hydrocarbon chain end of the carboxylate ion attaches to non-polar dirt, grease and oil.

The hydrophilic, carboxylate anion end is attracted to polar water molecules by ion -dipole interaction 

Soap micelles, clusters of soap molecules in which the hydrocarbon chains are attracted to each other by Van der Waals forces (dispersion forces, London forces, weak intermolecular forces), surround the non-polar dirt particle, with the anion heads attracted to the surrounding water.

When agitated, the soil particle surrounded by soap micelles breaks free and remains dispersed in the washing water because the carboxylate anions repel each other.

The soil particle surrounded by soap micelles forms an emulsion in the washing water. An emulsion is a suspension of one liquid in another liquid. Soap is an emulsifying agent because it allows oil to be suspended in water.

As a cleaning agent, soap suffers from two main drawbacks :

• it does not function well in acidic solutions because of the formation of insoluble fatty acid 
  eg. CH₃(CH₂)₁₆COO^-Na⁺_(aq) + HCl_(aq) -----> CH₃(CH₂)₁₆COOH_(s) + Na⁺_(aq) + Cl^-_(aq)
• it forms insoluble precipitates with Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ ions present in hard water, forming a scum
  eg. 2CH₃(CH₂)₁₆COO^-Na⁺_(aq) + Ca²⁺_(aq) -----> [CH₃(CH₂)₁₆COO^-]₂Ca²⁺_(s) + 2Na⁺_(aq)

Additives such as sodium carbonate and phosphates can help offset these effects.

synthetic are increasingly being used instead of soaps because they do not suffer from these disadvantages to the same extent.

ISOMERS

ISOMERS : A topic which confuse maximum time and a question just spark in the mind "isomers" but how many can be made....
There are two ways to find the number of isomers and to draw the isomers of given hydrocarbon
1st : The Arthur Cayley method, the older way to give you approximation of the number of isomers can be made
2nd: Set of five rules which will never fail to get you to the correct isomers and its no. too.
but before illustrating it further lets see what are isomers actually?????
Name ISOMER is given by two Greek words:
ISOMERS = ISOS (EQUAL) + MEROS (PARTS)
ISOMERS are compounds with the same molecular formula but different structral formula, ISOMERS do not necessarily share similar properties, unless they have same functional group (-x,-oH etc)

The first and old way to find the no. of isomers :

In 1875, a mathematician named Arthur Cayley came up with a mathematical formula to calculate the number of isomers. Unfortunately, this--and all other non-computerized methods developed since then--was disproved.

You can, however, extrapolate the number of isomers of a given alkane from the "enumeration" sequence he created.

RULE for Arthur Cayley METHOD :

Consider all alkanes in the following terms:

CnH(2n+2). Keeping this in mind, determine "n" for your particular compound.
For example, if you have C5H12 (pentane), "n" = 5.

Consult Cayley's Sequence to determine how many isomers this "n" alkane has.

For any alkane CnH(n+2), where "n" is any integer between 1 and 20
The following sequence represents the number of isomers possible (Cayley's Sequence) :
1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 18, 35, 75, 159, 355, 802, 1858, 4347, 10359, 24894, 60523, 148284, 366319.
In the case of C5H12 (pentane) -which has five carbons (n=5) and therefore represented by the fifth integer of the sequence--the answer is three ( 3 ISOMERS).






***** rest will be updated soon *****

Journey from ‘OR’ to ‘AND’

Life is another name for compromises and at every stage one has to do some or other compromise to move further. We all have one person among us and in our family, who never thinks to compromise, rather choose to fight and do what is good for all.
Can you guess? Yes, she is “mother” right from the beginning, for their life they start a fight within itself, with nature and at last with society, they don’t keep option of “OR” for themselves but they always choose “AND” instead.
I would like to share an incident which will prove my thought that “GALS”, “LADIES” are the pillar for a family. I am saying so because they choose to fight rather than thinking for an alternative.

This incident take me around 18 years back in past of my life and I was around 6-7 years old, my younger brother was around 3-4 years old. , My father was facing a severe downfall in the business and was on a back foot on financial front, he was broken and seeing the scenario my mother was worried about my studies and to raise both of us .My mother sensed the coming problems prior to the time. She had to make a choice of taking care of both of her children “OR” helping my father by doing JOB. My father said you take care of the family I will manage, but she was seeing, it was getting tough for my father to manage in handful resources. She showed her true character and took a bold step doing job in bank and taking care of us too.
We all knew it was going to be tough for all, especially for my mother but she chose a path of “AND” rather than “OR”. It was a great boost for my father as he was relaxed and free from some problems and could concentrate on reviving the business.
My mother’s decision worked for our family, father business started flourishing and got its pace back and my mother continued the job for some years. It was her efforts and hard work, how she managed family after job and that too with two small children. It was her who made a solid foundation for everyone to step up, it was her who was strong in her action and thoughts which acted as a pillar of support to our family .It was her “&” which made all difference.

Check this video surely , It will inspire you , not to limit yourself.

         




“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.