Saturday, September 9, 2017

Book Review: What Kitty Did by Trisha Bora

Book Name: What Kitty Did
Author: Trisha Bora
Publisher: Harper Collins
Price: INR 299 (MRP)

I am reading a book after what seems like ages, and I'm glad I picked up this one. It has opened up the floodgates for reading quite a few more. Thank you, Vivek and Flipkart for shortlisting me for reviewing this book. Will keep this review short and simple.



The story revolves around Ketaki Roy, aka Kitty to her close friends and family. Working as a journalist for a fashion magazine, at times Kitty feels like she's a misfit. However, she is handed to cover the life of a high-profile yesteryear actress and socialite, Roxanne Merchant, which ultimately leads her into a web of the murky lives of big shots. At the same time, an incident helps her realize her true interest: baking and spreading the sweetness with the world. How she unravels the real cause behind Roxy Merchant's death is what the crux of the story is.

Firstly, this is one really great weekend read, filled with rib-tickling lines and funny innuendos. Trisha Bora does a fine job with the narration, sticking to the storyline, at the same time digressing when it is required. For example, she talks about the city of Delhi - where the story is based - quite well; where a non-Delhiite like me could relate and understand. All in all, this book is very in-sync with today's generation and most parts are quite relatable.

If you feel like you need an entertaining read, go for this.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Tinkle Buddy Box from Amar Chitra Katha - Product Review


My childhood in the nineties revolved around reading Tinkle, Champak and Chandamama. And from these periodicals stemmed my passion for books, series like Harry Potter and Poirot, and helped me take baby steps towards the world of literature. However, what I did not realise then was the magic of the colourful characters like Suppandi, Chacha Chowdhury and Shikhari Shambhu that were amusing and how most had a moral or a lesson to tell in the end. I also looked forward to solving a riddle or puzzles like spot the differences.

Over time, we all grew up and we pushed it away for more trivial pursuits including our affiliation for technology. We forgot about the charm and unadulterated joy that a freshly minted copy of Tinkle or Champak got us when we were gifted one or spotted one at our sibling's or friend's place. An irreplaceable part of my childhood were these periodical paperbacks.

It was after a really long time that I got my hands on a Tinkle digest. This happened when I was asked to review TinkleBuddyBox, an activity box. And no points for guessing who was more excited than my daughter! :)




I soo wanted to do an un-boxing video, but my daughter beat me to it. She was super elated with her shiny new box of things that she has seen for the very first time. It was perfect timing since she has her vacations and I was just thinking of purchasing an activity box to keep her busy while I was away.

The contents of TinkleBuddyBox are:

a never-seen-before Tinkle board game
a 108- piece jigsaw puzzle with Shikari Shambhu
an exclusive Tinkle card game
Tinkle merchandise: four badges
2 DIY art projects
2 mega Tinkle digests

All this equates to a whole lot of fun.

Even though my darling daughter isn't 6 yet and is still young to understand most games, she thoroughly enjoyed piecing the puzzle and making an aeroplane and Suppandi's autorickshaw - the DIY art projects. 

Take a look:




The contents of my TinkleBuddyBox







My thoughts about the Tinkle Buddy Box:
For kids ages 6 and more: It is hours of fun and learning for your child, away from the television or smartphone. They are bound to be glued to the activities that will keep them engaged. I had my nephew and niece go ga-ga over the fun-filled activities.

For kids less than 6 years of age: This box will give you an opportunity to spend quality time with your kid. knowing that most of us parents have very little free time on our hands. You can develop a lot of your child's skills through this pack of activities and keep them engaged and away from the smartphone mania.

I know I created a mini storm on my Instagram account @missalpao just by posting a snapshot of this box.
My kiddo and I had loads of fun with this activity box. So head out and grab a box for your kid (or may be for you!).




Monday, March 20, 2017

Colgate Magical Stories - A Toddler's Adventure in Space


As kids, our lives kinda revolved around stories. Be it before going to bed or for being coaxed to eat up those veggies. Our grandparents, parents as well as our elder siblings showered us with stories of their experiences, sojourns and life's lessons. Enriched with these stories, we took each day as it came...with a burst of creativity and imagination.

But then arose a problem.

We stopped sharing these stories. Partially to blame is the addiction we have towards gadgets. And partially, because we may have become lazy and uninterested in this ritual.

This thought made me wonder, how limited our kids' imagination might become if we don't encourage them to build and share stories. We may have developed a habit for thinking practically but kids are still young and need to be exposed to various creative experiences and develop their own way of thinking, questioning and understanding.

Colgate Magical Stories - An breakthrough initiative by Colgate Palmolive has reopened the doors of creativity and imagination in the children's lives. In association with BlogAdda, India's leading network of bloggers, they've tried to bring back the beauty of incredible stories in children.

I too signed up for this initiative for my daughter. I want my daughter to start young in expanding her creative skills.



I received three packs of Colgate toothpaste with a different space adventure inside.

My daughter was elated in learning about the contents of these packs. As she has limited knowledge of the planets, space and the solar system, I took this as the right opportunity to show and tell her about them.

The story goes like this:

 Here is Tony, our space crusader.

 Like every astronaut he sits in a rocket. Ready to launch, 3...2...1...BLAST OFF!

 The rocket travels far away from the earth and into space.

 It passes through the International Space Station. "I'll visit my friend Tina after I complete my mission." says Tony.
 He successfully lands on the surface of Mars. Tony places his flag on the Martian land. Now, it is time to explore this planet.
 He sets out to explore in his buggy.
 "What's this. We have company!?" Tony exclaims on eyeing the spacecraft and the Alien being.

"Hello" says Tina and Tony is surprised to see her there. The Alien gets scared and leaves the planet in his spaceship.




Tina invites Tony to her Space Station. Floating in outer space, Tony gets to see the various planets and inter-celestial bodies.






 Having successfully completed his voyage, Tony bids adieu to Tina and heads back to earth.


Wasn't it a magical story? What did you think?


“I’m blogging my #ColgateMagicalstories at BlogAdda in association with Colgate.


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