Do you believe in miracles?

There’s a heart-warming story doing the rounds on the internet. It is about a little girl and her overseas benefactor. A foreign tourist travelling by train happens to spot a little girl wearing a pink bracelet, living with her family near a railway track. He manages to click a picture of the family though it is only a back shot with their faces not visible. He puts his friends on a mission to track the little girl with the intention of funding her education. In a country where more than 20% of the population are below the poverty line, and a third of them live in slums around railway tracks, finding the little girl seems quite next to impossible, doesn’t it? Nothing short of a miracle could do the impossible.

But, the miracle does happen, and the girl is tracked! Not only is her education funded by her overseas benefactor but her family is also sent aid to relocate to habitable surroundings and have a steady source of income. Incredible, isn’t it?

What were the chances that amidst the burgeoning poor population, this little girl would be spotted by the foreign tourist? What were the chances that he would decide to donate to a noble cause right then? What were the chances that he’d manage to click a picture of them that very instant from a moving train? What were the chances that she lived there and was not merely passing through the place? What were the chances of ever finding that girl again- the one in 1.25 billion? What is this, if not a miracle?

As it turns out, the girl who had been studying in class 3 had to drop out due to her financial condition. Did she send out a secret prayer asking for help? We might never know. But if she did, then her prayer sure was heard and answered.

Miracles are not meant to reaffirm your faith in God or turn an atheist into a believer. But they do make you trust in your own ability to call out to the universe for help when you desperately seek something, and believe, that in some mysterious way you might be granted what you seek. We might have read umpteen stories or witnessed events that are nothing short of a miracle. But can we believe that miracles can happen to us?

Perhaps, miracles occur more often than we’d like to acknowledge! The birth of a child is a miracle, waking up alive each morning is a miracle, in fact, every breathe we take is a miracle! But, we don’t count it as one, unless it has changed our life in some way.So go ahead in believe in miracles. You never know when one might just happen- maybe when you are least expecting it to!

Has something miraculous happened to you today? 

Book Review: The Madras Affair by Sundari Venkatraman

The Blog Tour

I have literally grown up on a staple of romantic novels, hungrily chomping on anything and everything that has love printed across it, whether in bold prints or fine! Reading ‘The Madras Affair’, I realized that I will always be a sucker for romance and that one can never be too old for it…Ever! This ooh-so-endearing book by Sundari Venkatraman had me in ‘hook-line-and-sinker’ from the word go!

Whether it was the nubile Sangita and her 'will-she-won’t-she' moments, or the sexy Gautam causing you to shamelessly salivate over his blue eyes and hot body (much to the amusement and/or suspicions of your hubby hovering around!) or the steamy scenes towards the end that almost sets your senses (and body) on fire, The Madras Affair scores on all fronts! The story is so real, the settings are so live and the characters are so believable that it is hard to stand aside and take a third person view of the story. Surprisingly, you will find yourself becoming a part of the story as it unfolds, you'd perhaps assume the form of Sangita or Gautam or any of the several other characters binding the story together.

What I also liked about the story is that it doesn’t rush you through the delicate affair; rather it takes its own pace and form- allowing the characters to guide the story forward. I also like the way the characters interact with each other and the beautiful way the author has brought them together. For instance, there’s a scene where Gautam meets Sangita’s son Sandeep for the first time. That scene is so vivid and rife with emotions that it brought tears to my eyes just reading it! There are several such delicately handled scenes that manage to make you smile, or bring a lump to your throat or create a palpable sensual excitement as you read through.

If you are die-hard romantic, this is one book you must pick, and allow yourself to curl up on the couch, on a cold winter night, covered in a warm comforter, with a hot cuppa in one hand and the book in another! Bliss!

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The blurb-

Sangita Sinclair was not always this successful & passionate lady, heading the NGO “Penn Urimai” for downtrodden, abused and homeless women…

When Sangita catches the eye of Gautam Sinclair she is a simple, homely girl; utterly unaware of her charms & capabilities. She has the devil’s own time in overcoming her inhibitions, hesitation, and her family’s orthodox and outdated rules before recognizing her love for Gautam.

Will Gautam be able to solve Sangita’s Dilemma or will she be forever trapped in her past?

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Genre                 : Romance

Get your book at : amazon.com | amazon.in | amazon.uk | amazon.ca | amazon.au| Flipkart

My rating            : 4/5 

The Book Club

Through the glass wall..

She stands across the glass wall and looks out for him. Though the glass is opaque, they have always been able to see each other through it. She calls for him, softly, and then calls again, a little louder. But there’s just an eerie silence that scares her. He has always come when she called, didn’t he?  Perhaps the glass is sound-proof now. Perhaps he can no longer hear her croon. The glass was once so delicate, she thought they’d break it someday. The shards would have torn through the skin of their souls, and yet she had not been afraid. He hadn’t been afraid either.  

She reminisced about the times they would take on different roles, like characters in a book. If she’d call him 'this', he’d call her 'that'…and then, they would magically turn into these characters. They’d speak in alien tongues and mimic various personae. With him, she could be anything she wanted to be and so could he. But the best of all was, that they could be themselves in spite of the characters they donned, never having to resort to pretence. Masks sometimes have more truths hidden under them than transparent veils, don’t they?  He'd flirt a little and make her blush, he’d pull her leg, and make her laugh. She would laugh long and hard until her jaws ached, her stomach hurt and her eyes overflowed with tears! No one had ever made her laugh so much before! They had shared their joys, their triumphs and their apprehensions. They didn’t have to find solutions to problems, it was just about the sharing.

He had a way with his words, contorting them into a labyrinth, before letting them fly into a world hitherto unknown. It was under him, that she had metamorphosed from a caterpillar into a butterfly; learning to let her words wander into realms she’d never dreamt of before. If her words ever wandered away, he gently catch them and hand them back to her. But more than anything, he had made her look deep into the abyss of her soul and find that part of her which had somehow been lost.

Where was he now? Why wouldn’t he answer her call? She would never know. All that she knew was that she’d never give up.

She stood facing the glass wall for some more time. No luck. She’d have to come back again tomorrow, and perhaps yet again another day.