World of Books and Travel

1. “And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right.” —Ray Bradbury 2. “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” —Richard Bach 3. “Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” —Willa Cather 4. “I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.” —Roald Dahl 5. “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” —Oscar Wilde 6. “If the book is true, it will find an audience that is meant to read it.” —Wally Lamb 7. “A real book is not one that’s read, but one that reads us.” —W.H. Auden 8. “Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.” —Philip Roth 9. “Writing is a delicious agony.” —Gwendolyn Brooks 10. Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, h

On this colorful Occasion of Onam, I wish my readers abundant Happiness, Peace and Prosperity. Onam, the most important Festival of Kerala State, is celebrated by all Malayalis. It is the welcome celebration of their mythological king Mahabali who returns from netherworld to see his people living happily every year on Thiruvonam day in Malayalam month Chingam (August-Sept), and this year it falls on 28th August 2015. It is an ancient festival and is celebrated for ten days. The most important day is the 10th day, Thiruvonam day. The important features of this festival are Pookkalam (floral carpet), Thrikkakkara Appan (made with mud), Swing, Onasadhya, Onakkodi, Onappattu folk dances, boat race, Kathakali etc.

It is interesting to check through the first lines of some of the most successful books. Ten such best first lines are given below. 1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice ) 2. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. (George Orwell, 1984 ) 3. A screaming comes across the sky. (Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow ) 4. I am an invisible man. (Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man ) 5. Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield ) 6. Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. (William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury ) 7. Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. (Ha Jin, Waiting ) 8. Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had

Vanished Girl - is my upcoming novel. It is about a girl who boarded the train to reach her home to see her dying father, but unfortunately she never reaches there. What happens to her? You can read the first few chapters here. Vanished Girl Your comments will be highly appreciated.

1. “I want to do something splendid… Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead… I think I shall write books.” ― Louisa May Alcott 2.“Books are like rivers, meandering this way and that, but taking us on a steady, flowing course to somewhere different.” ― Carla H. Krueger 3. “There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.” ― Ernest Hemingway 4. “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” ― Aldous Huxley 5. “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” ― Anne Frank 6. “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” ― Albert Camus 7. “My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.” ― Ernest Hemingway 8. “So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all t

1. “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Robert A. Heinlein 2. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Herman Cain 3. “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” Dalai Lama 4. “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Buddha 5.“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus