It's that time of the year again when some women from my city deck up with the finest of the silks and the shiniest of the jewels as they go "golu-hopping". The last couple of years have been difficult for everyone with many people losing their loved ones to the horrid imported disease. This year, as the infection is slowly being degraded to the status of common cold, people seem to have resumed doing all things they once did with vengeance -  Like travelling, eating out and of course, now the Golu-Shopping.  Sunday evenings are the only quite times in my locality. The main roa ..read more

 You can read part 1 here  Years of being constantly reminded that interactions with the opposite gender should be strictly limited to a professional capacity unless he is your husband made it impossible for me to answer. I felt light headed in spite of the fresh carb intake.  “Err…um….Sorry, but no, I don’t even know your name!” I replied. I hated that it came out squeaky! “There you are! Engaellam unna theda bro! (Where do I search for you!) What’s wrong with your phone!?! It kept going off to voicemail” boomed in a voice. I peeled away my face from that distracting tuft of ch ..read more

The Perfect Date - A short Story “Sei la mia donna La forza delle onde del mare Cogli i miei sogni e i miei segreti molto di più Spero che un giorno, l'amore che ci ha accompagnato Diventi casa, la mia famiglia, diventi noi E siamo sempre bambini ma Nulla è impossibile Stavolta non ti lascerò Mi baci piano ed io torno ad esistere E nel tuo sguardo crescerò” Andrea Bocelli’s voice blared from the restaurant's audio system as I sat glued to my chair. A little stalk of cabbage hung from the corner of my mouth. A  layer of mayonnaise formed a thin mustache as I bit into my sub. Crumbs of brea ..read more

Disclaimer - This is a lengthy and personal account of tackling a mental health issue. Seek professional help as needed.  Wikipedia defines Impostor Syndrome as a psychological occurrence in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.  A bit of context before diving into mechanisms to tackle it,  This is the story of my 10-year-old career. I got out of college with an employment offer in hand - The offer was in no way related to the coursework I did, but it did pay well. Being the bul ..read more

 The Italian phrase - "Dolce Far Niente" has been making rounds on Instagram reels with people posting videos of them enjoying the quintessential Italian summer, sipping a glass of limoncello while devouring delicious pasta handmade in a small restaurant along the cost of Amalfi. That does feel heavenly, but honestly, would all of us normal folks afford that? A combination of sadness that arose from looking at my bank balance and madness from looking at my work calendar jolted me out of that Italian dream and got me to rethink that Italian concept. Or rather, I dug deeper w ..read more

 Make haste while the sun shines - Pen down it down when inspiration strikes!  It's been a roller-coaster ride this year so far with some crazy decisions taken - seemed like a logical continuation to the circus that 2021 was. With the art of blogging almost dead and video content taking over, it felt like a waste of money (INR 1000) every year to maintain this blog. I contemplated closing it down and almost cancelled my domain subscription. I stopped myself from committing a blunder that I certainly would regret.  I never cared for the "trends". Blogging has always been the most ..read more

When I sat down to pen this post, I realized that I had written just four blog posts this year - By far the year with least number of blog entries since I first started actively blogging in 2012. With normalcy going for a toss after COVID hit, it became just difficult for me to balance my routine. In fact, 2020 seemed to have been a better year - I wrote 15 blog posts. Consumption of digital content is fast changing. I have no idea what sells as content these days. While I'm not one to care for numbers, some light human interaction would be of good help. Lack of readership and motivation, amon ..read more

  Historical literary fiction is one of my favorite genres. A well written literary fiction can make a reader forget their lives and push them to a utopian world that the book is set into. This book turned out to be one of the best reads of recent times. Victorine is the story of Victorine Meurent, the muse of famous painter Manet and a skilled painter herself. The story follows the journey of Victorine as she poses for various painters, though predominantly for Manet and eventually ends up becoming a respected painter eventually. She is porta rayed as a headstrong woman who owns up e ..read more

Book trailer - You can read the review here 1. Your books always have strong female lead. What or who is your inspiration to write such strong characters? All of the women I have known and admired, most especially my daughter, my mother and my grandmother. The latter, Esther Fanous, was a revolutionary feminist and writer in Egypt; you can read more about her at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ester_Fanous 2. Your latest book, The Song of Nile, is set in Egypt – tell us more about your life in Egypt.  My home town is the ancient and historic city of Alexandria, founded in 331 BC by Alexand ..read more

  Blurb :  Luxor, 1946. When young nurse Aida El Masri returns from war-torn London to her family’s estate in Egypt, she steels herself to face the challenges ahead. Eight years have passed since her father, Ayoub, was framed for a crime he did not commit and died as a tragic result. Yet Aida has not forgotten, and now she wants revenge against the man she believes betrayed her father – his best friend, Kamel Pharaony.  Then Aida is reunited with Kamel’s son, the captivating surgeon Phares, who offers her marriage. In spite of herself, the secret passion Aida harboured for him ..read more