A Magical Evening Is All I Can Say!

It had been quite some time I got out of the house and socialized with friends. Summer vacation had started and the schools were off, kids longed to be on the streets while the mothers screamed from inside as the hot sun kissed their kids and sucked the energy as they played outside.  

The monotony had to finally break when a group of ladies in my locality decided to bring the whole colony together. Bringing people of various walks of lives is definitely not an easy task but I guess our ladies gang is different.

Quickly, they met at a common point and decided on a date and the agenda of the meeting and, this is how it all started.  They all giggled and roared with laughter as they decided on the menu and their choice of delicacies. Settling on a place wasn’t an issue but narrowing down on the dates looked a little messier at the beginning.

A few of us wanted to have it over the weekend while a couple of them wanted to have it during the weekdays. Finally, the day was fixed and we were all set to have a blast.

The evening arrived and we had eleven families of the colony coming together for the first time. Though we stayed in the same colony, there were people who were seeing each other for the first time. It was strange initially but as the event began, we let go off the hesitations and sank into the wonderful ambiance.

The event began with an invocation song praying Lord Ganesha followed by the introduction of the families. As we hit the roof with lots of fun, the evening lit up bright with great singing and musical performances from Spoorthi, Pramath and Pranav. While we all bursted with exuberance and ecstasy, the ambiance got all the more pleasant when Hashan, Tanvi,Nikhil, Agrini,Ambhrini and Ruchita introduced elements of fun and cheerfulness in their own ways.

It’s true that music brings hearts together and this evening was proving every bit of it to be right. It was now time to hit the terrace to munch on some yummy snacks. A plethora of various snacks that included mouth-watering Pani-puris, Samosas, Monaco toppings, Corn salad, Potato chips, Channa Vadas waited for all of us.

Ice-creams of various flavors along with the Carrot milkshake tantalized the taste buds all the more. With the star-lit sky and the terrace garden, with no distinction between the old and young, all of us were hypnotized by the magic of that amazing evening.

Finally, when I stood aside and looked at everyone there was only one thing that I could think of. We are all “Earthlings”; all we seek is inclusion and nothing else.

A magical evening that healed a lot of situations and brought every one of us together. Some of us hesitated to walk in initially but finally converted just an evening into a WOW, just a WOW.

Love you all!  

The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi

Mleccha-nivaha-nidhane kalayasi karavalam

dhumaketum iva kim api karalam

kesava dhrita-kalki-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

Victory to Keshava , the lord of Universe, Who would assume the form of  Lord Kalki,

Who would appear like a blazing comet, Holding a terrifying sword and kill,

All barbarians at the end of Kali age.

The story starts as Mr.Varshney gets knocked off by the antagonist of the story. The author has made a fabulous attempt to bring a lot of history along with the epic Mahabharata in his piece of work. The plot gets interesting as Ravi Mohan is charged guilty of the crime that he has not committed. The miraculous way of Ratnani and Priya (Ravi Mohan's doctoral student) involving in getting Ravi released from the clutches of the police. The way every time the duo gets caught by the police and someone out of thin air appears to save them. The best part of the book is when Tarak Vakil aka Sampath Kumar tells Mataji about his first success on killing Varshney, the scientist. It leaves he reader in wonder to discover who Mataji is.

The story revolves around the four secret seals of Lord Krishna which is believed to be in Mt Kailash or the Somnath temple in Dwaraka. Efforts from the police force goes in vain and the murderer gets away with every crime he commits almost effortlessly. The police force of Radhika and Rathore are mislead as the murderer leaves a symbol R.M after every incident along with a stamp and a few Sanskrit lines. The police force gets after Ravi Mohan based on the initials RM found at the murder site.

Kalki avatar being the last incarnation of Lord Vishnu, meant to destroy the evil on earth is created by Mr. Khan out of Tarak Vakil aka Sampath Kumar and gets him trained under Priya who is an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. Khan's interest lies in finding the philosopher stone, he claims himself to have descended from the Krishna clan. Priya's father Ratnani, a famous advocate is forced to serve Khan aka Kanha, a goon as instructed by Sunil Garg, the corrupted CBI officer. Priya seeks revenge on both Khan and Sunil Garg based on an incidence during her childhood days.

As Priya reveals her identity as Mataji, police officer Radhika Singh, Rathore and the historian Mr. Ravi Mohan Saini are baffled which in-turn brings them together as a team to fight Priya and Tarak. Ravi survives several attacks as they go in search of the seals. They face a lot of challenges but finally end up finding the secret in the beautiful Taj Mahal and understands that the secret lies in the philosopher and not the stone.

The author has tried his level best to bring in some humor and romance in between. However, at a point the writing goes off balance. It seemed like the author, Ashwin Sanghi has packed everything in the 400 odd pages. At times, the explanation of history gets a little too boring and also the reader may not find it interesting at times. The explanation of Mahabhatha in the background when the story runs in the foreground loses connection at times. It also becomes very confusing at a point when the author gives detailed information about every character. Introduction of Sarala aunty and Sunil Garg makes no sense. The unusual way of Mr. Khan getting killed by Priya and the escape of the father and daughter also leaves a little ambiguity to the readers.

At times, I felt like I was reading Angels and Demons and at a point when Mr.Khan reveals himself as Kanha and his affair with the film star took me to the movie, “Once Upon A Time In Mumbai”.

Overall, the author has very well connected Lord Krishna and his clans with the modern day surnames of the scientists who were the custodians of the seals. The explanation of places along with the maps and the connectivity of it with some secret codes is certainly a difficult job to accomplish and the author has done a tremendous job. Sometimes, it feels that it is packed with a lot of information which could have been eliminated otherwise, a good read.

The story ends with Mr. Saini and Radhika coming together as lovers at the amazing monument Taj Mahal while Rathore calls it an alchemy in progress.

"THE DEEPEST LOVE"

Seeketh I, where Love is? There came a pair of wide-opened arms – Here I am, run into me...

Ran I, too and fro; searching for the pair of hands I had seen – not to find them anywhere..

Lost I, all the hopes; yelled in pain and agony – after a while, the same arms came to me again with the same voice – Here I am, run into me.

Happy and Glee, ran I, too and fro; not to find the pair of hands again; sat I, in dismay with my face cupped in my palms in front of a gigantic reflector.

Soon I, wiped my tears; challenging myself to search the lost love – opened my eyes wide and there it was – A pair of beautiful arms from within me calling me again...

Embraced I myself, in the arms of SELF-LOVE ; thanking every second of my life I live.

Seeketh I, where Love is? Now I know, Love is inside of me, Look inwards and there it is, "THE DEEPEST LOVE" not anywhere else.