LOL: Life Of Leo

Sharath Komarraju As most of you will know, Soumya recently reviewed my book here on her blog. I secretly lurked around in the comments section, and was pleased to realize that many of her readers were interested in mythology in general and the Mahabharat in particular. So I asked her if she would like me to do a guest post, and once again to my pleasant surprise, she said yes. So here I am. In a nutshell, the Hastinapur series (of which Winds is the first book) aims to tell the story of the Mahabharat from the viewpoints of all the prominent women characters. This doesn't mean just Kunti or Draupadi, but also those women whose voices we rarely hear in popular retellings and movies. For example, in Winds , the tale is told by Ganga and Satyavai, two incredibly strong women (albeit in different ways) who occupy little more than a paragraph each in the canon. In this post I will give you a little glimpse into the second book of the series, tentatively titled 'The Three

Images Source: Google So Rajinikanth is just about to log out from Skype, when he gets a call. " Hello Vanakum. Who is this? " He says through the microphone attached to his finger tips. " Hola... Sir. I am big fan Sir. Big fan ." A pleasant voice comes in. " Hahaha kanna, all people are my fans. You are nothing special ." He says lighting a cigar with his other hand. " I am special. I am special ." A shrill cry. " Wokay wokay. Who are you by the way ?" Rajinikanth grins. " Ah ha ha ha ha, oo ooo ohh la la ." A giggle follows this tone. " Why are you laughing? Yena rascala, how dare you laugh at me ." Rajinikanth puffs away harder. " That's my song Sir. I am Lady Gaga. The one and only ." " Oh ho ho, the lady with the meat dress ah? Sorry I am vegetarian only ." " No no sir. I want to ask you question. That's why I called ." An urgency is heard in the

Image Source: Google He grabbed me into the empty meeting room. It was past eleven, and there was hardly anyone left in the office this night. Only a bunch of us were working to complete the release on time. I had walked up to the pantry to get myself a cup of coffee while he got me. " Say it, say it now ." He murmurs into my right ear. " Oh come on, let it go. You know I am married now ." I try to push him away. I felt one of his hand on my back and the other on my head. He is feeling my hair and trying to catch a glimpse of my scent. His eyes are hungrily looking into my eyes waiting to hear something else. I look away. " I am married too, but I still love you. I know you love me too, come on say it !" " What is wrong with you Varun? Shilpa is a very nice girl. Get away from me ." I push him away and try to walk away but he grabs my hand. " Shilpa? You know I do not love her. I married her just to get back at you. It was

Image Source: Google. Edited to a badge by LOL. When PeeVee started ' U Rok My Sox ' award on her blog a few years ago, I was more than impressed by the idea. I also wanted to start an award on my blog, to honor the writers who impress me. Somehow I never got around to doing it. Also, back then I used to only follow a limited number of bloggers who already had more than enough awards to their credit. Soon, the idea drowned in my mind and I did not think about it again. Until I came across Aathira's blog . One fine day, this lady leaves a comment on my blog as 'A' and I go back to see who this actually is. The minute I stepped in to her space, I was hooked. The first post of hers that I read was a fiction piece titled ' Desire '. I remember reading it again and again and again. As beautiful as it was, it reminded me of a few old posts of mine. Not in terms of content, but in terms of emotions and feelings. This post till date, remains one of the best

Image Source: Google Your eyes are inviting me Oh girl, what is that you want That golden tan on your body Is perfect for this taunt Your pink lips mesmerize me As you sip on to your drink What is that on your mind It makes me want to think Your hair is far from messed In the pleasant summer breeze Who are you, dear stranger Watching you gives me peace I can't take my eyes off you You cool me in this blistering heat As the waves make their sound The sand slips through my feet Is that me you are smiling at Oh God, should I make a move There you go dancing again My jaw drops watching you groove I now slowly walk up to you The music plays with my mood The beats do not distract me To you, my eyes are glued You welcome me with a tease I crave to be a part of you Your touch sends me a chill Even as a hot wind blew I can now feel you reciprocate For me, it was love at first glance I want this day to never en

Copyright - Mary Shipman I could see that old building through the fence of my house. The neighbors said that no one lived there anymore, as the building was supposed to be torn down years ago and was left abandoned since then. I used to peer from my fence and try to look inside, through that broken window hastily covered by a card board. I could hear noises come from the building throughout the day, but no one else could hear the commotion. And no one believed me either, when I told them that everyday a face stares back at me from that window. This five sentence fiction is written for the topic ' Fence ' at Lillie McFerrin Writes . This drabble (100 word fiction) is written for Friday Fictioneers, 20th June .

Image Source: Google Why just nod your head If you have an opinion Share it with others Share it with others Your wonderful ideas Don't fear anyone Don't fear anyone Everyone is still learning Give it a good shot Give it a good shot Open up to the world around It is not so bad It is not so bad Try to embrace everything Make your mark out there Written for Haiku Horizons : Prompt - Open .

Image Source: Google Unless we are born to a Tata or a Birla , none of us are born with a golden spoon up our butt. All of us come from middle class families or at least came from. At least I do. I came from a lower middle class family where we struggled to make a decent living at first. Later as my sister and I completed our studies and started making good money we rose up the ladder to an upper middle class family. But I do not act like I was born into luxury. I still remember those struggling days and hence I know the value of money. This is how I am always gonna be. I see a lot of people around me who act like they were conceived on the bed of luxury, when that clearly is not the case. Unless you had a gold crib as a child, you still are a part of the rags to riches story. Whether you contribute to it or not, is something else altogether. One of the biggest examples that I see around me are those people who come from small towns to a big city like Bangalore. Suddenly,

Image Source: DeviantArt I come here and sit alone I can see nothing nor feel My soul is lost somewhere I don't know if I can heal How could the world be so cruel Snatched you away so soon I am lost in this loneliness As I await impending doom I feel completely hollow inside I have no purpose to live Everything around pierces me I have nothing left to take or give Just when I was about to give up Something held me back tight I do not know what exactly it was Yet it kept me up all night Then the reality finally struck You were now breathing inside me Cocooned and safe inside my womb A piece of you that now I could see Destiny has played its game again I now await your presence  Our child brought back my soul Enveloped truly in your essence I no longer feel lonely now The life inside me keeps me alive I feel your love all over again Helping me breathe and survive Linking to Poetry Jam : Prompt - Lost and Fo

Image Source: Google Title: The Winds Of Hastinapur Author: Sharath Komarraju Publisher: Harper Collins Genre: Mythology Price: Rs 299 Pages: 300 I have always been fascinated by mythology. Even though I had never read the books, I have seen the adaptations on television ever since I can remember. I know the tales of ' Ramayana ' and ' Mahabharata ' pretty well, all thanks to my grandmother who used to explain the story to me while we were watching it. I have wanted to read the original stories though. After reading the ' Ramayana ' I fell in love with the mythological genre. The only problem is that it takes a really long time to finish the books and it has so many characters that you need to read it with a keen eye. Thankfully Sharath Komarraju's adaptation of the 'Mahabharata' comes in a series of books, told in the point of view of the lesser known ladies of the epic. So when, the author himself asked me to review the first bo

Image Source: Google " Oh you believe in all this ?", I asked Naman as he walked me towards the wishing well, in the middle of the jungle. " No harm in trying right ", he smiled as he handed me a coin and asked me to close my eyes to make a wish. I closed my eyes and wished that Naman would forgive me for ' that ' mistake. I did not intend on cheating on him, just that I was really drunk that day and Sahil happened to drop me home. Before I could complete my wish, I felt Naman's hands on me pushing me into the well. This five sentence fiction is written for the topic ' Wishes ' at Lillie McFerrin Writes .

Image Source: Google Cast: Rajkummar Rao , Patraleka , Manav Kaul Direction: Hansal Mehta Genre: Drama Duration: 2 hours 7 minutes My husband is not a big fan of Bollywood movies hence I was surprised when he told me that he wanted to watch ' Citylights ' instead of 'X-Men'. I was intrigued by the trailers too because anything off beat immediately catches my fancy. 'Citylights' apparently is the official remake of a Phillipines movie ' Metro Manila ', a movie which I had never heard of. I hadn't watched ' Shahid ' either, but I knew that Rajkummar Rao is a fantastic actor. Extremely underrated though. While everyone was praising Kangana's acting abilities in ' Queen ', no one noticed the restrained acting by Rajkummar Rao. He was brilliant in the movie; his attitude, the loser look and the loss in his eyes. For him and for the praise Hansal Mehta received for ' Shahid ', I decided to watch the movie. Deepak

I looked around and saw them all sleeping. I peeped out of the door and slowly walked towards the exit. I was in pain, but at this moment the only thing that I wanted to do was to get out of here. The newspapers next day spoke of an abandoned girl baby in a hospital.

Image Source: Google You think you shall win I know that you are playing me Misusing my love Misusing my love For your dreams and benefits Yet you cannot win Yet you cannot win Cos you don't know that I am Master of the game Written for Haiku Horizons : Prompt - Master .

Image Source: The Magpie Tales You look so calm and serene Under this silver moonlight I can feel your eyes on me As I shiver in the cold night I know you want to come up to me Trying to make some conversation Waiting for a train has never felt this good As we are the last two souls in this station As my eyes finally meet yours You have a lot to say I could tell I sit back and soak in this moment The moon seems to have cast a spell Adding to this hesitating moment I can hear a slow song somewhere I trace dance steps with my toe Wondering if a dance we can share Your eyes remain fixed on me I play with my hair and give you a smile You smile back and heave a sigh This game was happening for quite a while Can't you see that I need you Why are you not approaching me What are your stares supposed to mean What is that you want me to see Tonight was meant to happen Don't think much, just give in Come on stranger,

Image Source: Google People on Twitter think that they are wise, people on Instagram think that they are photographers, people on Facebook think that they are surrounded by a million friends. Life has become that way now. No matter how much you want to avoid it, technology never leaves you. Gone are those times when vacations were all about relaxing and having a chilled out time. These days it is all about check ins and photographs in front of famous monuments. The age old Kodak camera has now become a monument too. It is now an antique piece in the showcase. Nothing more than that. When we were young, we were filled with enthusiasm to become something and change the world. But alas, the world changed us. All thanks to technology. I do not remember the last time when I spent an hour without the Internet. Be it on the laptop or on the phone. Newspapers have long been replaced by e-papers, and the first place I look for updates regarding anything now is on Twitter. While we a

Image Source: Google I come from a middle class family. Both my parents were working in order to fend for my sister and me. Yet, we were content and happy. But somehow, the people around were not. There was a constant comparison by others, trying to put us down. Oh you do not have an own house, you guys don't own a car and more blah blah. Any normal person would feel bad when such questions were hurled. We did too, as it was offending to say the least. The people talking had their houses and cars, yet they only felt content when they compared themselves to us. Reassurance perhaps. As a child, my parents gave me everything that they could afford. Strangely, I was never a demanding kid. I was content with whatever came my way and my folks made sure that I was taken care of well. I was put in the best of schools and thankfully for my parents I was a topper and received scholarships one after the other. I went to one of the best colleges for my degree, in which I secured a free

Doesn't seem to work Our marriage is long over Should I now retreat Should I now retreat Or hold on for some more time For our two children For our two children Don't know about your cheating Why should they face this Why should they face this They do not deserve this pain It is my problem It is my problem That I shall learn to ignore I shall not retreat Written for Haiku Horizons : Prompt - Retreat .