Munni of all Trades

Award winning Lifestyle and Travel Blog by Khushboo Motihar

Review

Meet the Goddess of all cars!

A goddess descended on earth on a beautiful day and decided to take humans for a ride. She seduced them with her charisma and bewitched them with her gorgeous  eyes that sparkled. With just a little flick, she could light up the world. She was protective, almost motherly towards ensuring that people remained safe yet she gave  them the freedom to enjoy life to the fullest. She had a way of connecting hearts, you know. Almost as if she could hear your thoughts and aspirations and almost instantaneously, she would bring it to life. Yes, she was called the Zest, The goddess of all cars in the universe.


What made her unique from the rest?
Well, 29 different aspects, but let me be frank, they are too technical! You won’t be able to understand half of them if I started listing them and I will end up sounding like a saleswoman. So, I rather tell you about my experience of enjoying a long drive in Goddess Zest.
Sheer gorgeousness
I fell in love with the car the minute I saw it front of my eyes. Sure, she looked great in photographs but we all know these things are photoshopped. But not Zest! You get what you see.
And this is how I looked when I set my eyes on the car 😀

Yes, it was love at first sight. I happily hopped into my ride for the next two hours to have the time of my life.

Pamper me silly!
The first thing that I look in any car is comfort. It should have enough leg space, it should some section where I can just stuff in a bottle of water or maybe a juice box and the most important thing, it has to fit in large families. Coming from a joint family, I know how irritating long drives get when you are cooped up into a tiny little car but Zest seems to be designed for me! 

I could move legs around, stretch them as much as I liked and even managed to do a funky dance.

What about the music you ask?
Well, Zest has an amazing infotainment system that is compatible with all devices. All you have to do is switch on the Bluetooth and you can listen to your favourite songs all the way.
It is made for the future
The people who have designed this car definitely have a lot of foresight. 

Initially I assumed that this car is jam packed with features that would not be of much use. Reading the list made me dizzy like this!


But when I actually experienced them, I realized the thought that must have gone into it. This car is brilliant. I mean they have matched the quality standards of the west and this car has passed 56 km offset test criteria with low speed impact criteria that speeds up the insurance process. What’s more, I don’t even think that you will need to claim for insurance ever. After all, it has been made with baked hardened steel, the first in its category! The fact that it is dent resistant means that there will never be a frown on my father’s face. I can drive freely. Woot woot!
Zest is Beauty with Brains
Yesterday, Shiva was telling me about the entire process of designing a car and the amount of research that goes into it. They start off with creativity and along they way, they start adding practical elements to it, making Zest perfect for a dreamer like me and a practical man like my dad. So this car, helps me strike a balance within my family.
I can show it off to my friends and my father can boast about its mileage and engines.
It is tailor made for me!

First of all the Zest has been created keeping you and me in mind. We all have different modes don’t we? An angry mode where we drive a little carefully so that we don’t ram into someone. A happy mode where all we want to do is go as fast as we want and an environment friendly mode where we want to do our bit for the nature by not wasting fuel. It has all this and more!

It makes the wind whistle
I admit, I failed in science in school and I don’t know what is horsepower. But what I do know is that Zest is really fast. The minute I opened the window, I could hear the wind whistle at the car (she is pretty, isn’t she)


These were the things that I spotted from my window on a ten minute drive!


After a while, I got tired of clicking the pictures and decided to just enjoy the nature.
It can defeat the Rain, Sun and the Wind Gods!
It has a climate control feature that is absolutely amazing!

 Do I need to say anything else? Go buy a Zest already and #ZestUpYourLife!

All the photographs have been clicked by me and are copyrighted. 

Book Review: Where Earth Meets Water

Synopsis
Karom Seth should have been in the Twin Towers on the morning  of 9/11, and on the Indian shores in 2004, when the tsunami swept  his entire family into the ocean. Whether it’s a curse or a blessing,  Karom can’t be sure, but his absence from these disasters has left  him with crushing guilt—and a belief that fate has singled him  out for invincibility. 

Karom’s affliction consumes everyone around him, from his  best friend, Lloyd, to his girlfriend, Gita, who hopes that a trip  to India will help him find peace. It is in Delhi that he meets  Gita’s grandmother, Kamini—a quirky but wise woman with  secrets of her own. At first Karom dismisses Kamini, but little  does he realize that she will ultimately lead him to the clarity  he’s been looking for. 

Spanning the globe from New York to India, Where Earth Meets Water is a stunning portrait of a quest for human understanding,  and a wise exploration of grief, survival and love in all its forms.    
My review
Pia Padukone’s debut novel, Where Earth Meets Water has been written in an interesting format. The story told through different perspectives and one can simultaneously experience the stories of all the characters. This book does not talk about Karom’s story alone but also the story of Lloyd and Kamini, two people who are struggling to make sense of their lives.
Karom is a young man who likes to defy death whenever he gets an opportunity, and the people who are a part of his life. Llyod, who is engaged to be married in a few weeks, is fighting his inner demons to understand who he is in love with and Kamini, who never got a chance to embrace her full potential because of her family’s restrictions, is now ready to
The little vignettes help you to piece the story together, little by little. Karom is trying to come to terms with his haunted past that has left him scarred for life. His healing process through his various interactions with people and places and his stubbornness in either dying or proving his invincibility and water, that has deeply influenced his life is a running theme across the book.
Karom and Gita’s journey to India puts things in perspective for them and I feel that Karom, who leaves the only thing that binds him to his past behind, is ready for the future. It does not have a conventional end but it leaves you satisfied that the future definitely is full of hope.
If you pick up this book, do read Pia’s description of the Taj Mahal carefully. I loved it and I could not help but read it a couple of times just to let it sink in. Kamini, a true woman of substance, is by far my favourite character in the book. Her little idiosyncrasies, her prayers and her love for Gita and Karom is very endearing. It reminded me of my Naniji.
Where Earth Meets Water is an absorbing read and what I loved about this book is the fact that different people can come to different conclusions about the story. It does not tell you what is going to happen eventually, but allows you think and imagine the future on your own.

Book Review: Twisted Twenties

Hello, it has been a long time since I posted a book review isn’t it? Well, I have been reading a lot but I am too caught with work to pen down my thoughts. You will see a deluge of book reviews next week.

So, today, I am going to review Twisted Twenties by Deepali Junjappa. Let’s have a look at the synopsis first.

Synopsis

As Baz Lurhman once said ‘The most interesting people are the ones who still don’t know what they want to do.”
It’s okay to be confused in your twenties. It’s okay to NOT know. Ok Peeps, why don’t we get straight to the point.  Do we really know what we want in our twenties? Yes and No. Are we confused?
The hell we are.
For Mimi Hittalmani, a confused twenty something life is about to begin. After getting sacked by her badass editor for attending a silly Bollywood bash, clotted with a nasty breakup; Mimi decides to expand her worldview. Two years later, armed with a foreign degree and some flashy Aussie stories she begins her misadventures in Mumbai where she meets the gorgeous Mehra brothers and falls in love with all three at once. Mimi then joins the carnival and let’s herself go on the train of chaos, cacophony, camera and drama. She’s glad; her co passengers are all potential soul mates, she never met; the brotherhood of lost loves. From then on the joy ride of working, flirting, schmoozing, networking, hiring ‘tight assed’ women and finally falling in love become part of Mimi’s quirky and hilarious journey. By the end she realizes that the twenties are indeed twisted; it’s ok to goof up, jump courses, change careers, flout opinions and of course chat up four guys at once! 
My review
 Twisted Twenties follows the crazy life of Mimi Hittalmani who is a young girl, with starry eyes all set to make a career in… well she is not quite sure. But fate and a little ingenuity on her part intervenes at the right moment and soon Mimi has landed a job in a TV production house headed by three gorgeous brothers. Spoilt for choice, Mimi first decides to share her crush equally. Who does she end up with and how? Well, read the book to find out J
The plot is interesting and it talks about the struggles of being a writer in the TV industry. I guess, Deepali, a TV scriptwriter herself, must have used some of her own experiences in the book. One thing that you will definitely enjoy is the caricatures of some really famous TV producers and personalities. You will love guessing who is Deepali referring to. It will also give an insight into the world of TV and that was the bit that I enjoyed the most. The love story is, which is a running sub plot throughout the book, did not excite me much. It is very Pride and Prejudice-ish. (just invented a new word :P)
Deepali has good intentions, she wants you to understand how life may sometimes overwhelm you with its choices but sometimes it gets a tad too preachy. It seems that every third page has a paragraph that starts with, “In your twenties…”
The book is meant for a casual read, not requiring much thought but it will definitely make you chuckle. Better editing would definitely make it a much more breezy read.

So are you planning to pick up this book any time soon? Let me know and we could have a nice discussion.

Blogging anywhere, everywhere

Every morning, I play with the sun; the sunrays sneak into my room and caress my eyelids to gently wake me up. I yawn a little, snuggle into my blanket and move my eyes away. Hah! I say sleepily to the sun, how will you wake me up now? But the breeze joins in and roars a little, forcing me to get up and switch off the fan. I sleep again. But they don’t give up. Slowly the sunrays and the breeze with their gentle reminders tell me it is time to wake up.

I get up, brush my teeth, drink a glass of warm water, put on my sneakers and leave my dorm with my Dell tablet. Mornings are the best time to bring out the writer in you, especially if you live in a beautiful place.

As I walk, I remember the days when I did not have my Dell tablet. I had to carry a bag pack with my diary, some pens, my camera and extra batteries. I would take my diary out whenever an idea struck me and scribble it untidily. Sometimes, my scribbles were so illegible that understand my lovely ideas!And then, Dell entered my life and like the proverbial princess (why should knights have all the fun, eh?) in shining armour rescued my ideas. Now, instead of carrying an entire backpack, I just carry my Dell tablet.


Lost in thoughts, I walk on the beautifully paved path and wave hi to the beautiful trees, whose leaves gaily whisper some secrets to me. 

Next comes the bed of roses who haughtily survey all the flowers from afar, ensuring that all of them woken up and are busy spreading their fragrance far and wide. The birds twitter a little and I take my tab out to tweet about them.



As I type, I decide to take a little detour and start walking towards the little pond with chairs all around it.

 I prop myself on one of them and watch birds for a while. Suddenly, an idea strikes me and instead of hurriedly opening my backpack to look for my diary and pen, I simply switch on my Dell tablet and start typing. I type for quite some time and then suddenly, it starts buzzing. Its time to return. With my super light tablet, I start walking back, merrily clicking pictures of whatever I fancy. 


And as I am operating it, I realize something and I ask myself, “Khushboo, why can’t type out your post on the tablet? Why should you switch on your laptop, plug it to ensure that it doesn’t run out of battery and stay in one place when you can go anywhere you want and write in peace. You don’t even have to bother transferring the photographs to your laptop before you upload it.” 

I am genius, I think as I give a pat on my back and then sit on the stone bench and start typing. I stop only when one of my friends rushes up to me and tells me that breakfast will get over in the next 5 minutes. I type one last line and rush to the Dining Hall.
The outcome? This beautiful post that you are reading. Yes, all the pictures have been clicked through my Dell Tablet and this post, in its entirety, except for a few minor changes has been written on it. Aren’t you amazed at what this powerful little gadget can do? I know I am. J