Tag: readbooks

5 RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES – During COVID19

Yoga has got another level of importance during COVID19

COVID19 has made us locked in our own houses , & made us suffer boredom . People are finding recreational activities more interesting & trying many new recreational activities . RRecreation refers to all those activities that people choose to do to refresh their bodies and minds and make their leisure time more interesting and enjoyable. Examples of recreation activities are walking, swimming, meditation, reading, playing games and dancing

Ask any health expert and they will tell you that exercise is a cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, getting enough physical activity could prevent one in 10 premature deaths. It can also reduce stress levels, improve sleep and leave us feeling happy.  

But when it comes to being more active, many of us don’t know where to start. While some people love lifting weights at the gym and training to run marathons, these strenuous activities aren’t for everyone. In fact, just spending time outdoors has been shown to improve overall health. 

FIVE RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES THAT WILL HELP YOU TO SURVIVE THIS LOCKDOWN ARE :

  1. YOGA : Yoga is the basis of life .

It’s time to roll out your yoga mat and discover the combination of physical and mental exercises that for thousands of years have hooked yoga practitioners around the globe. The beauty of yoga is that you don’t have to be a yogi or yogini to reap the benefits. Whether you are young or old, overweight or fit, yoga has the power to calm the mind and strengthen the body. Don’t be intimidated by yoga terminology, fancy yoga studios and complicated poses. Yoga is for everyone . Its true , if you do regular yoga , you , your mind , your body will always remain in healthy state . It increases your flexibility , enhance your digestive system, improve you mood , keeps you relax & cheerful . For learning it , you need not to join expensive yoga classes as you can watch the videos on YouTube.

2. GARDENING : If you love planting saplings & plants around you , here is one one more enthusiastic activity for you all , that is gardening . Studies show that gardening can greatly reduce stress levels. What’s more, you can save money at the grocery store by growing your own herbs and vegetables. If you don’t have your own space to garden at home, see if your home town has a community garden. You can also spruce up a small space with window flower boxes. you cam even put saplings in bottles to reuse the , in this way you are protecting the environment in two ways , 1st by reusing plastic bottle & 2nd by planting trees .

3. ART & CRAFT : I know not every body knows how to dram but i feels everybody loves to color . it not only help you paint a beautiful painting but also teaches you patience , concentration . it fills your mind with cheerfulness , & your stress will fly in seconds Expressing creativity and emotions through the arts can be immensely satisfying. Painting and drawing can boost confidence and hand-eye coordination. Arts and crafts also have numerous health benefits: increasing memory and motor skills, stimulating the senses, boosting mood, and triggering positive memories, as well as positively contributing to overall health. Crafts such as quilting, sewing, and scrapbooking are all excellent indoor activities.

4. ONLINE CLASSES : Older adults have many opportunities to learn about almost any topic of interest. Courses are available online, on an audio disc, or DVD. Topics can range from history to music, philosophy, and anything in between. Harvard University and Stanford are offering free online courses to anyone who wishes to participate.

5. READING : A good book can transport readers to new places and create feelings of adventure. Reading provides quiet time, while also exercising the mind. Studies have proven that reading can enhance memory function, reduce stress, and promote better sleep.

Planning a book club with friends can make reading a great social activity. For those with visual impairments or those who prefer not to read, audiobooks are widely available as well.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒆 – Book Review

𝑨𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒖𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚.’

‘𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒆’ 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒃𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒌 𝑩𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒕

Interpretation

A beautiful book you read recently?

Beautiful song it was! I listened to a beautiful song and then I was wondering, did I just read a book? It’s rhythmical and melodious. The blurb says it’s a ‘tragic tale of two star crossed love’, but it wasn’t. It was balmy and soothing, it uplifted my spirits and delineated a beautiful love story with the aesthetic backdrop of post independence period.

I have read a lot of exhausting and overwritten Indian romance with the backdrop of post independence period, ‘The Prince and the Nightingale‘ is certainly a comfortable read for me, the writing style, character sketch and everything is comforting, reading this book is quite similar to watching a vintage romance movie.

Plotline

The story revolves around Abhimanyu, a prince who has decided to follow his passion after the collapse of princely states in India and Meera, a commoner who struggles to earn a good position in the society, the family roots of Meera intimidate her to follow her passion, when these two different people from different social backgrounds meet, melodious and melancholic song of ‘The Prince and the Nightingale’ commence painstakingly.

If you are looking for a good, refined Indian romance novel, I would certainly recommend this book.

Book Review – Shamal Days

“He realized that any form of pain needed time to turn itself into art… In the cold face of tragedy, in the heat of pain reality, no one could express its gravity in poetry or any other form of art. Time has to work on sense of loss, squeeze the heart over lonely days and nights to churn out art from pain”

– Shamal Days by Sabin Iqbal

Theme –

Solitude has two different interpretations, it sculpts your soul to experience the most beautiful occurrences in the world, it makes you contemplate your existence, Solitude has an immense power to transform you, on the other hand, Solitude turns you cold, rigid, numb, the pain it’s inflicted upon you never fades, it deteriorates your heart and makes you yearn for the beautiful memories.

‘Shamal Days’ by Sabin Iqbal cloaks the second interpretation, this book is petrifying and strikingly veristic. Thinking about the novels I’ve read on expatriates’ issues, those novels intrigued, fascinated and overwhelmed me, but ‘Shamal Days’ emotionally destroyed me. I’m still traveling with Abbas and his regrets. I carry the cumbersome thoughts inside my mind, the thoughts of Abbas, Ratnam, Matt, Abimanyu, ‘Mirror’ magazine, Abdullah and Ed. The characters are flickering inside me.

The pivot of the story

This book unravels the horrifying issues that were happening in 1990s along with the life of our protagonist Abbas, set in Arabian Gulf, the story is told in a haunting, atmospheric narration. Abbas, our protagonist works at a small newspaper ‘Mirror’ in an anonymous country in Arabian Gulf. ‘Mirror’ is a hub of expatriates, the journalists are from different regions, China, India, Africans, Pakistanis. Abbas, who lived a lonely life since his school days, decides to work in Arabian Gulf without settling down in Allepey, his hometown in Kerala, India. Abbas travels with guilts, regrets, longing for those days he’s lost. His dark memories, memories of cheating, subjected to abuse in his childhood and the hoaxer inside Abbas plagues him.

From searching Saddam Hussain and arresting him in the end, the story delineates the political issues alongside the regretful decisions of Abbas. Sabin Iqbal has weaved the convulsing political issues with the disturbing personal life of Abbas. The characters are divergent, repulsive and conflicting. The realistic portrayal of expatriates in the Arabian Gulf is astonishing, the author has also created the backdrop with the Palestinians’ struggles and Zionists’ attack on Palestine, though the author has not extensively portrayed in the novel, the author sends a shiver down our spine in the very first page.

Conclusion

The novel ends with the quest, with a strange determination, the audacity of the few characters are flickering in the end, the novel is certainly a page turner with the Abbas’ interview with Saddam Hussain, the Sheiks in the Arab, the government controlling journalism in a desert country and the unforeseen betrayals of the characters. ‘Shamal Days‘ is haunting and idiosyncratic.

Books – the elite partner

Who would not relish reading a book with a cup of coffee / tea? If you are a person who is not fond of reading books then you might be missing a great part of life even. Some may find it boring and consider it as of no use or waste of energy. But the fact provided by reading books is just a contrast to your mindset. The love towards reading books can protect you even from hazardous diseases of life. But for many reading books in their spare time is like a great craving. Nevertheless it is not like the other leisure time activities that we do to pass time. We are benefitted by books beyond what we think. It benefits both the physical and mental health and the benefits are enduring, lasts lifelong. It increases our creative thinking, imagination and molds us into better person. It aids us to formulate a better roadmap for our career. Books exposes us to new things which we might have failed to notice in our past times, renders more information, and fosters us to handle strenuous situations and provides us innovative ways to solve them and thus gives us a great exploration. It leads us to the other part life which is peaceful and gets you tension free apart from your regular hectic work. Reading good books widens our mind and uplifts our way of thinking.

Books can be referred to as the man’s best companion which is the power house of information and ingenuity. Even in the early times, writing system was invented and people used stones, clays, tree and different things that can be carved as a writing material. Fortunately today we have newspapers, magazines and books. We would have come across several books over the years. In our childhood we were fond of story books which would be flooded with pictures to fascinate little children and for the better understanding of the younger ones. And then as we grow up we would be interested in different genre of books like history, literature, science fiction, crime, fantasy, inspirational, adventure, horror, comics, detective, biographies and so on. All books are either nonfiction or fiction. Nonfiction books contain biographies, history books and contain factual information . Fiction books contain a story which is framed by the author. Technical books gives you technical insight, novels distracts you from the monotonous world and stimulates your imagination level. Comics is meant for enjoyment and relaxes you from your repetitive work. As writing is an art, so is reading and it an excellent habit. It should be inculcated in all from an early stage. The cognitive abilities of kids who read books regularly seem to be improved. It helps us on a larger scale to improve the vocabulary , communication skills, writing skills. As we read books we come know about the various fields engaged around us and it boosts the confidence & self esteem and helps us to become highly efficient and excel in various activities. It increases our concentration level and makes it elastic to grasp things quickly and easily.

With the gradual advancement in technology people are getting fascinated by the idea of e-books. E-books – It is the digital representation of a book publication on platforms like computers, smartphones etc. and provides an easy access to the readers. They are more flexible than paper books. It has many perks like we can enlarge the font size to make the reading more pleasurable and it is easy on the eyes. They are portable and handy making it easy to carry around. E books can be purchased through internet and also some are available for free of cost. E-books have a large scope for further developments and universal acceptability.

Paper and electronic books , both provide an effective way of reading . Paper books allow more precise reading and e books are quicker and more convenient. Books are like fellow mates with no demands and no anticipations, rather we could anticipate many stuffs from books. It gives us a kind of inner happiness and gives us an optimistic feel which enhances our knowledge and wisdom.