Reviews & Musings

Sarika Pandit is a market researcher by day and a freelance travel writer by night. She graduated from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and did her MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar. Her travel articles are featured in publications such as The Times of India, Mint Lounge, Femina and National Geographic Traveler India. She lives in Mumbai, but every now and again, manages to break away from the shackles of her work station to journey to the far ends of the globe. The Bucketlist of a Traveloholic is her first novel.

Some moments of life are just too precious to be captured in pictures, they deserve to be placed in a crown and adorn your head.

At times all that life demands from you is respect. Respect it and it will respect you back. Love it and it will love you back. Hate it and it will ensure you hate every moment of it with more hatred

He (flinging the newspaper): This is full of bad news. I told you good things never make it to the newspapers. Only bad things do. No one wants to know it all. She: Ya they don't. Because good things make it to books, where they are forever. Just like the way they should be. Bad things are temporary just like these newspaper which feature them.

At the end of it all life isn't only about all those things where you succeeded. Its also about things you failed at for it means you tried, which is most important.

Never ever stop dreaming. Never ever. And those who ask you to, pity them for they know not the magic of dreams.

Introduction • ISBN –9788172344979 • Genre: Non-Fiction / Travelogue • Publishers: FingerPrint Publishers • Price: Rs. 250/- ( I got this book from the publisher for a review ) While her B-School batch mates are busy scrambling for top jobs and grades, a restless Sarika dreams of putting on her running shoes and having all the pages of her passport stamped by the age of thirty. What follows is a frenzied quest of not just collecting stamps but ticking off items off her ever-expanding bucket list: From learning the local language in Spain to an alcohol trail through Greece; from a tryst with Shakespeare and Jane Austen in the United Kingdom to an encounter with the Vampire in Romania; from straddling the border between two countries in the Middle East to a road trip through Morocco to the Sahara; each experience bringing her just a little closer to reaching that final destination on her passport. A journey of falling in love with globetrotting--this one prom...

If you observe closely life is like twitter. People follow and unfollow you, just like they come and go from your life. There is nothing you can do about it except treat them with love and respect till the time they choose to stay in your life!

There is always a phase in life where feel all that we did has failed. It didn't lead to the desired results making us question our own abilities. At that times it is important to remember that hard work never goes waste. It might not have got its due recognition now but someday that hard work surely pays off. Hard work is like a rose. However much hard you try to hide it, it's fragrance still spreads around marking its inimitable presence which is difficult to miss. Never let such deterrents stop you from giving your best. At the right time, someday it will all fall into place. Till then, keep giving your BEST

Worried about that perfect hour glass figure you could never achieve or that flawless skin you so envied every time? We tend to forget one thing, one thing that sets up apart from each other and makes us unique is our so called imperfectio ns like our habits, flaws... for otherwise we would all look so boring clones of each other making this world not-so-interesting! Celebrate being YOU - celebrate those flaws for they make YOU unique in every sense - Celebrate the differences for ~Imperfection is beautiful

It is said, "The problem with being a strong person is people forget you feel low too." We are so obsessed with whole idea of living upto their expectations that we continue to pretend being strong long after we have exhausted all of our s trength. We reach a stage where there is nothing left in us to give any further and it begins to hurt us. Yes, being strong also hurts at times. And at such times we need to remember, it is OK to break down. It is OK to cry. It is OK to say it hurts.... for beyond that is the place where lies the real strength of ours.

Stop comparing yourself to others. It is unfair for even the dictionary meaning of compare says - of a quality or nature surpassing all others of the same kind. We are not of the same kind. Each one of us is different with unique battles of our own to sustain this beautiful struggle called LIFE.

Some of the toughest problems in life at times have the most easiest solutions.

Being loved by someone so much that even your weaknesses turn into strengths is the kind of love one needs in life.

There is always a phase in life where feel all that we did has failed. It didn't lead to the desired results making us question our own abilities. At that times it is important to remember that hard work never goes waste. It might not have got its due recognition now but someday that hard work surely pays off. Hard work is like a rose. However much hard you try to hide it, it's fragrance still spreads around marking its inimitable presence which is difficult to miss. Never let such deterrents stop you from giving your best. At the right time, someday it will all fall into place. Till then, keep giving your BEST

Stop comparing yourself to others. It is unfair for even the dictionary meaning of compare says - of a quality or nature surpassing all others of the same kind. We are not of the same kind. Each one of us is different with unique battles of our own to sustain this beautiful struggle called LIFE.

Source: Google Images As I child I remember learning in school – eyes are to see, ears to hear, hands to do, legs to walk, heart to pump blood and mind to think. I grew up believing it to the eternal truth of life – heart pumps blood and mind thinks. It took a series of failures, fall outs, heartbreaks, tremendous breakdowns and worst nightmares coming true to realize that whatever I learnt then was so wrong. Apart from pumping blood heart has its own way of thinking and giving us different perspectives in life. And I learnt the biggest lesson of life. FOLLOW YOUR HEART- 99.99% of the times it knows exactly what you want. And the remaining 0.01% times when it doesn't mostly means you don’t want anything! ~ N When you decide to listen to your heart there will be many instances where you will be termed an emotional fool, a person who is not rational enough in life to accept the harsh realities around. But what these people will never understand is that it is not ...

A perfect moment is not when everything around you is perfect. It is when things are at their chaotic best and you are still at peace.

Introduction ISIN: 978-0804138598 Genre: Nonfiction / Business and Banking Publishers: Random House Price: Rs. 699/- (P.S: I got this book for review from the publisher ) Stress Test is the story of Tim Geithner’s education in financial crises. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery. In a candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, he takes readers behind the scenes of the crisis, explaining the hard choices and politically unpalatable decisions he made to repair a broken financial system and prevent the collapse of the Main Street economy. This is the inside story of how a small group of policy makers—in a thick fog of uncertainty, with unimaginably high stakes—helped avoid a second depression but lost the American people doing it. Str...

The way someone speaks to us doesn't necessarily define us but it surely defines them.

Trying to prove yourself to someone who just doesn't know your worth is like drawing a line on water - futile!

Introduction ISIN: 9781849044080 Genre: History / Nonfiction / Biography Publishers: Random House Price: Rs. 599/- (P.S: I got this book for review from the publisher ) The Last King in India is the story of an extraordinary man whose memory still divides opinion sharply today. Was he, as the British described him, a debauched ruler who spent his time with ‘fiddlers, eunuchs and women’ instead of running the kingdom? Or, as most Indians believe, a gifted poet whose works are still quoted today, and who was robbed of his throne by the East India Company? Somewhere between the two extremes lies a complex character, a man who married over 350 women, who directed theatrical events lasting a month and who built a fairytale palace in Lucknow. Wajid Ali Shah was written out of the history books after his kingdom was annexed in 1856. Some even thought he had been killed during the mutiny the following year. But he lived on in Calcutta where he spent the last thirty years of hi...

Never let anyone tell you your worth. It is not that you are worthless, it is them who is incapable of knowing it.

Introduction • ISIN: 9789381841228 • Genre: Fiction/ Drama • Publishers: Grapevine India Publishers • Price: Rs. 150/- ( I got this book for review from the publisher ) It is every dad’s nightmare – his little girl goes missing .   For Palash, the sorrow compounds from the incessant replaying of the critical minutes when his ‘Daddy-eye’ faltered, distracted by his own weakness, substance abuse. The loss and the ensuing search sends him spiraling into a divorce and the loss of a steady corporate job. Scouring for his little girl in the brothels of Pattaya he is ensnared in the web of mafia that runs the sex trade of Thailand. When he eventually finds her, will he be able to build back a wasted lifetime, or, is it too late for rescue, for him and his child?   Behind The book Source: Google Images

Some lessons of life come free, while there are some for which you have to pay a huge price ! They are worth the price for they are actually priceless :)

Have you ever tried breaking your favourite chocolate into pieces? Or rather crushed them beyond recognition before eating? They still taste the same don't they? For that's its real essence. That's how WE are. However much broken we are still the same. We might be broken but our soul is still whole for our core essence is that of a fighter, a doer and an achiever!

You know you are blessed when you are smiling and you need to think of why!