Anything For You Ma'am by Tushar Raheja

Last weekend was a long one and I had actually made some brilliant plans, but Varun Dev was not in good mood and he foiled it all.

I ended up reading a book called “Anything for you ma’am” by Tushar Raheja. It was marketed as “an IITian love story”, and the strategy tricked the poor souls like me. I went ahead and purchased the book expecting it to be on the similar lines of “Five Point Someone”. Not that I am a great fan of Chetan Bhagat, but his initial work was a good read. Every author gives their best shot in the first novel and seems to take the readers for granted in the next one!

Coming back to “Anything for you ma’am”, love story is passé, too cinematic, an archetypal script for YRF Bollywood masala! “Too many cooks spoil the broth”, similarly too many happenstances in a write can take away the pleasure and the punch of a narrative.


On the positive side, I liked the few lyrics that the author had penned. For a first timer, Tushar has done a good job. Also, getting his work printed at such a young age is an astounding accomplishment too!

Now that you have couple of long weekends ahead and if the rain plays spoilt sport, you can grab a copy (100 bucks for 250 pages) and get engrossed in this tale of coincidental incidents.

Do let me know your take on this IITian “love”ly fiction!

Kochiyude Kochu Kathakal (Short anecdotes of Kochi)

My sister forwarded an email from her school yahoo groups which described about how Kochi has evolved, the city where I had spent twenty years of my life. I had been to Kochi two years back and almost lost the way to my college. Four lanes, tall buildings, shopping malls, Mc Donalds, KFCs, Pizza Corners have almost conquered Kochi. One thing has not changed at all – traffic jam just before the North Bridge!


Earlier, every second Saturday we used to travel to Kochi – I can even recollect the names of the red colored private buses which used to take us there (Ambily, Ansamol) , watching movies at one of the theatres - Savitha/Saritha/Sangeetha complex / Padma / Shenoy / Sridhar, eating out at one of these restaurants - Ceylon Bake House / Dwarka / Woodlands / Bharath Tourist Home, shopping at Jayalakshmi / Seematti / Parthas, prominent areas - M G Road / Kacheripadi / Padma Junction / Marine Drive / Broadway …


During those days, girls if seen in Jeans and Skirts had to face wide stares and obscure comments. Eve teasing and pick pocketing were always on a higher scale. Can you imagine - I had given elucidations to neighbors for my late comings! The city was always ahead of its times but its inmates were always dogmatic and bigoted. May be it explains why my parents didn’t stay back in Kochi after retirement.

“Nothing is permanent but change” – Globalization should do well for the city which gave me sound education, illustrious teachers, good friends, variegated experiences of love, of camaraderie, of tiffs, of treacheries...lifelong moments to cherish and relish!

Queen of Arabian Sea, I'm coming!

Falling in to Fallen out?

Love is thought to be unconditional
Only to discover that it’s ruled by conditions!

Love is believed to be blind
Does it imply to seal the eyes and move ahead?

Love is supposed to be true and pure
Is pain and ache all that it has to offer?

It takes real time and effort to fall in love
And a single moment to fall out!

The power of C

A relationship nurtured with utmost care and attention is nipped before it buds and blossoms. Why?

On analyzing meticulously, the root CAUSE of any problem is expectations. If the expectations are like two sides of coin which never face each other, fall out is bound to happen. CURBing expectations can evade troubles. It requires tons of introspection and retrospection, only a determined person can reach to that stage, a step closer to saintly hood. COMPROMISE is another way to sort out issues. Relationship is comparable to clapping. It requires two hands to clap, similarly giving and taking should happen freely from both sides.

Is there are any other way to avoid altercations? If not, how far one should curb expectations and compromise?