Capturing the Waterfall ( Fast and Slow Shutter Speed ) ~ Mahabaleshwar for Saturday Snapshot

This week for Saturday Snapshot I am sharing pictures of a waterfall, from our recent trip to Mahabaleshwar, a small hill station in the state of Maharashtra, India

I was trying to play with different shutter speeds and loved how the camera took two different pictures of the same thing!

Fast shutter speed froze the motion of the water

Slow shutter speed giving a smooth texture to the falling water

Enjoy the pictures for now and I will catch up with you later, with more pictures and details.

Saturday Snapshot is the brainchild by Alyce of At Home With Books. It is currently being hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mummy Reads. It’s easy to participate – just post a picture that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Melinda's site.

My Stroke of Luck by Vijay Santhanam - A Book Review

My Stroke of Luck by Vijay Santhanam #BookReview

My Stroke of Luck by Vijay Santhanam is an inspirational book based on the author's real life. It shows us how despite all the adversities life throws at us, we can emerge victorious if we have the will to do so.

The tagline of this book My Stroke of Luck by Vijay Santhanam is something that catches the attention of the reader at the first look. It says -Alphabet to Author - One man's inspiring journey - from adversity to triumph. I had applied for this book on blogadda to review but had no idea what it was all about. Only when I flipped the book to read the blurb, I realized it is not a fictional piece of a story but the author's real story. In the book, the author narrates his triumphant journey of recovering from a stroke. Yes, this is what the stroke in the title of the book signifies.

The writer has given good details about his life in general to set the context of the book. At the age of 41, he was at the peak of his health and the stroke hit him hard when he least expected it. He has given details of to what extent it affected him, how he fought against it and how eventually he took the charge of his life again.

Wordless Wednesday - Lush Green Hills

Linking it to Wordless Wednesday

Eggless Cherry Cake Recipe | How to Bake Eggless Cherry Cake | Eggless Cakes

Eggless Cherry Cake #Recipe

I made this eggless cherry cake for a trip recently and it was such a hit. Since I have not been blogging actively for a while, I thought why not break the silence with this delicious eggless cherry cake. The cherry here are the glaced cherries, and not the actual fruit.

Knock knock! Is any one there?

I would not be surprised if this space is deserted after irregular, intermittent posts and long absence. I guess I have confessed before, I am not really good at managing work, home and blogging. This threesome role takes a toll on me and of course, blogging takes a back seat. Despite my best intentions, I have not been able to blog much of late. Only the book reviews with dead lines have made it here past couple of months and that has somehow manage to keep the blog going for a while. I don't know why cooking, taking pictures and blogging about it seems like a huge task. Has anyone here passed through such a phase? I sincerely hope I am not alone.

I will not make promises here about coming back with a bang because I know not when I might disappear again. So, for all those who still care to listen, I am here, alive and well. A recent trip to a beautiful hill station has energized me and hence I am seen tracing my steps back to this space. While I share some pictures from the trip soon here, this trip also reminds me of my baking plans I had before the trip.

I wanted to bake this simple vanilla cake with condensed milk and soda for our journey and at the last moment I realized, certain vital ingredients were missing. No butter, no vanilla and no aerated drink. Well, worry not. I substituted ingredients and surprisingly the cake came out good and DH liked it better than the original one. And it was praises praises all the way!

Shoes of the Dead by Kota Neelima

"None of us can match the powers we challenge. It is an unequal fight, but we have the dead on our side."

We have often heard about crop failures, how it affects the farmers and how so many of them, think it better to end their life rather than live a life burdened by debt. Such news had made the head lines some time back, when the suicide toll of farmers in the Vidharva region of Maharashtra had reached alarmingly high numbers. To write a novel on such a sensitive topic is a tremendous task, because the subject is not just social, it is political as well. The author, Kota Neelima who works as Political Editor with a prominent newspaper has done full justice to the topic in her latest book- Shoes of the Dead.

Crushed by successive crop failures and the burden of debt, Sudhakar Bhadra kills himself. The powerful district committee of Mityala routinely dismisses the suicide and refuses compensation to his widow. Gangiri, his brother, makes it his life’s mission to bring justice to the dead by influencing the committee to validate similar farmer suicides.

Keyur Kashinath of the Democratic Party—first-time member of Parliament from Mityala, and son of Vaishnav Kashinath, the party’s general secretary—is the heir to his father’s power in Delhi politics. He faces his first crisis; every suicide in his constituency certified by the committee as debt-related is a blot on the party’s image, and his competence.

The brilliant farmer battles his inheritance of despair, the arrogant politician fights for the power he has received as legacy. Their two worlds collide in a conflict that pushes both to the limits of morality from where there is no turning back. At stake is the truth about ‘inherited’ democratic power. And at the end, there can only be one winner.

Passionate and startlingly insightful, Shoes of the Dead is a chilling parable of modern-day India.

Very often when one read a political novel based on real incidents and when the subject is as heavy as this one, the readers often feel bogged down. But, that is not the case with this book. As Gangiri fights for a cause, the readers heart goes out for him. There is a ray of hope. We hope against hope, that maybe things will change for the better at some point.

"There were many such farmers, different names, same fate. As Gangiri heard the stories, he once again found himself wanting something that was denied to him, something he could not have. Justice."

If you have a keen interest in the politics you can even deduce who is who for some characters in the novel. The book is unsettling at times, at times you might feel you are having quite an easy life and that can fill you with guilt. It takes a great deal to write a book on such a sensitive issue with such aplomb. The writing style is crisp and lucid. The characters are real and they will stay with you for a long time. The book will keep you interested till the very end.

Read this book to understand how politics plays with the life of the farmers when they are alive and even after they are dead.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Reviews Program. for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books! Thank you Blog adda for giving me the opportunity.

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!