P.S I Love You - Heart-tugging & a life-affirming debut by Ahern!

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Reading the book, I literally cried after long time...a book which I would ponder upon till my lifetime..."P.S I Love You" by Cecilia Ahern!!!! Ahern has discovered a brilliant knot to the "Moving on after Death" concept...a surprisingly charming debut about grief, love, family and struggling to move on with life!

“Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly & Gerry!” This novel, by Cecelia Ahern, is about an Irish widow, Holly Kennedy, who is going through a tough time in her life. She was married to Gerry, an impetuous Irishman who loves her with every breath in his body; both of them were childhood sweethearts!!! Ahern had portrayed a symbiotic relationship between both…But when Gerry died of brain tumour, Holly feels completely lost & doesn’t want to re-embrace life, despite the efforts of her family & friends!

Then she receives a package from beyond the grave: the List. It was from Gerry. He knew his death was imminent and that his absence would be hard on his beloved Holly & wrote it before his death, leaving her a to-do list month starting from March and ending in January, there is one letter per month spanning the year after he died & every note ends with "P.S I love you." And the way Gerry re-assures that she has to obey the list & its contents “And remember, I'm looking out for you, so I will know . . . “ is the ultimate touch! Holly does things reluctantly & her experiences out of it, guided her through her grief, helps her to overcome her past & re-discover her future! We watch as Holly as she sings in Karoke which used to be a nightmare for her, finds an interesting Job & enjoys an adventurous holiday with her best friends Denise & Sharon arranged by lovable Gerry, becomes a God Mother for Sharon's kid, watch Denise getting engaged & be a maid of honor in Denise’s Wedding.... and sorts through her beloved husband's belongings… wrestles & juggles with the possibilities of a new romance…whilst still trying to stay true to Gerry. They were eternally grateful to each other!

Ahem…Holly was being a jealous, bitter and incredibly selfish & hesitant friend, when she heard about Sharon’s pregnancy & Denise’s Engagement, but Holly needed to be selfish these days in order to survive. But the touchy moments when Holly meets Sharon & Denise was sculpted beautifully, as we will relish the heart-tugging moments spent with our good old friends.

Holly is a fantastic protagonist who begins to mend through the solace provided by Gerry & Gerry, despite being dead, an intriguing personality and incredibly figured out what he could do to get his cherished Holly out of her depression and mourning and into the light of life. Accompanying Holly throughout the healing process is a cast of friends and family members who add as much to the novel's success as Holly's own tale of survival. Her family seems a little too bizarre at times, but weirdly enough, we all knows jerks, freaks and lovables like this. Worse, we're related to some of them :P

Filled in with Irish slang & perspectives, the book provides intriguing view unlike in American literature...You won't be able to put it down and as you move on, you would find yourself smiling & weeping all mixed emotions all at once....! A wonderfully life-affirming debut…I should say!

Testimonial on ma dear frnd!!!! :)

It's an absolute pleasure to blog abt suji, but the way she insited on writing up this testi, is absolute cribbing on daily basis :P ....she did not let me do this writing peacefully, as she wants this testi imm :) ....here goes the testimonial to my dear friend....

Suji....a package of personality who can be easily predicted(not sure abt all - but atleast I predict her without any misinterpretation) & that's y she calls me a clairvoyant!!! :-)....She is so energetic as she'l never be tired of fighting & arguing....it goes on & on & on...! mostly you can see a change n her orkut caption whenever there's a fight bet us or with any of her close frnds...not sure how my wipro journey would have been without suji....

First meet.....the most dramatic one, I shud say...! how could I ever forget the most unfortunate
moment...lol...jus kidding! Then it was a kinda formal coffee meets which resulted in the evolution of beautiful friendship....she was tooooo caring even in the initial meets...we really had a great struggle to call each other "Podi Vaade"....finally all the formal things came to an end & even now she regrets for insisting me to call her casually without the due respect :-)

We both have few similarities in contrast to the unlimited non-syncs....we both love reading books, but none can read books as fast as she could...after meeting her, I have completely stopped buying books, as she is the sole supplier of books....she doesn't trust in other's driving & hence she would only drive me out whereever we plan to go...! She has absolute craze for watching new movies in theatres as and wen it get released...not one day she would wait after the movie got released...all in hi-fi theatres...The countless movies she has seen in Satyam...even the walls of satyam theatre would recognize sujatha... :)the satyam proprietor has to definitely
make her a shareholder in the venture....will never forgive her for booking early morning shows in satyam....she's quite acquainted to that kinda situations which am not used to & literally slept at the cinema hall....! her most favourite word (SMS)....thinking it's Short message service.....naaaaaa...its called "SUJATHA MESSAGE SERVICE"...ha ha...she is so fond of messaging & have the high end capability of fillin up my inbox within a minute...before i type one msg, I will receive 10 msgs in a jiffy & she will complain abt me not replying back....She is so fond of hearing abt wat ppl think abt her...everything in black & white...which am not quite used too...she wants messages,scraps, testimonials, blogs even wen am sitting next to her all the time :-) Suji..."Unsung songs are more sweeter than the heard ones"...Hope u get it :)


The way she calls me out with different names as related to the situations...the way she remembers each n every important day in our friendship journey...n all the celebrations & gifts...she literally makes me feel as if am an angel & an important part of her life....

I would never forget the way she made me write my certifications, for which I showed reluctance nearly one year & cos of her, I completed it within a week's time...was really unbelievable...but the sad part is ..she'l never practice wat she preaches...still so many certifications are pending for her to complete....


Days spent in our office tht too in our morning shifts together....remarkable days.... :) the early mrng drive...the astronaut get ups....temple visits...alreef lunch & dinner....unforgettable moments...will always be cherishable...she never cares abt spending money at all...she has fond craze & love towards credit cards & other offer cards....ul be stunned to see her purse as you would see 100s of cards in all possible colour combination's....(ubayam: Satyam, lifestyle, Westside, Pantaloon & the vital role played by ICICI)...hee hee...you can see suji in all the food mela or any other gathering happening in any part of Chennai....she has classic tastes & she loves chennai in specifically mylapore from the bottom of her heart...as much as she loves Chennai...that much she hates mumbai jus because I frequently use the word...;-)

My stay in suji's house for 2 days...wow....not only suji...but her fly...takes care of people with absolute care....ultimate time we had...literally...motta maadi talks...late night return to home...played an imp role in we becoming close...I hav shared many litter and hard moments with her....and rarely she gives out real sensible suggestions but mostly with sarcastic comments & mokkais!!!!

To put up in a nut shell....She is an elusive combination of smart...toooo caring...talentd...outspoken...curious...a typical workaholic...insomniac...possessive pisasu....& in addtn to all the above..she is just an uncontented beast...she'l never be happy abt the times spent together, but she needs more and more time to be spent....! :) which makes her more interesting....!

YOU are definitely a vital part of my life...Will always cherish the togetherness with a beautiful companion like YOU....

As I always say....KEEP BEING YOURSELF....

Watch out for much more testimonials...Blogs I should say..in the years to roll-by....! :-) May God Bless U..Come out with flying colors! BFN....

Christmas Celebs in JDI!!!!

With the cold air surrounding, the snow of celebration falling all around...the atmosphere so warm and jolly mood diffusing everywhere..yes...it was definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas inside Johnsondiversey ODC, the mood of Christmas competitions & plenty of advent presents to be won, was buzzing around!

The Christmas committee came up with the different ideas & finally crafted - "Nothing but Paper", "Mr & Miss Clean", "Nostalgia - Back to School", "The Photographer"...And each of the representatives started advertising on the events they were responsible for & collected the nominations...

Nothing but paper - Collage making was the height of creativity amongst all. Surprisingly there were 5 entries from different teams to unleash their creativity. There were 3 themes given, out of which "Colours of Life" was chosen by all teams invariably...may be people have realized life without colours is a drab...

One of the teams portrayed that "Our art & culture" is the traditional colour of our nation...Other team went one step ahead & showcased the concept of "Donating eyes"...another team clubbed the "stages of life" with the colours and depicted the fact that life is after all a mixture of all emotions and not a monotonous one....One another team doesn't wanna bring up with any serious concepts..instead came up with the basic emotions & correlated them with the various colours...Final illustration was the highlight of all, which depicted the WIPRO LOGO with the colours as it is and talked about "Team Work as a united form of colours"...For the first time,in the history of JDI, we saw such a huge participation & to sum up, we had many voters to make this competition a great success...Based on public voting, the EYE DONATION concept won the first prize & the WIPRO LOGO concept won the second prize...

Other competitions were parallely happening, as collage making was the only floor event...Nostalgia - Back to school was a gala time we all had in figuring out the 16 kids, who in future happened to be the PILLARS OF JDI :) Each one of us picked up a paper & guessed out the names with all the more seriousness, which one would have never experienced even at the time of their board examinations....!!!! We had a 4 member tie for the first place & one was picked by lots...

Next came up the "Mr & Miss Clean" Contest, where there was no competition among the genders, as none of the "Mister" wanted to compete with the "Mistress" of JDI, making it an all women contest....! The prizes were shared between 2 of the gals...

Last but not the least, the contest which saw the maximum number of entries - Photography Competition... People had sent various scenaries & eco related pics among which we saw an extremely creative green pic which portrayed a face made of veggies winning all hearts & the prize as well...

And came the day with all excitement & enthusiasm....every contestant holding their breaths to know the "Winners of the show"...The grand finale ended with the prize distribution to all the deserved followed by cake cutting ceremony which marked the eve of Christmas....!


"Merry Christmas" was all around in the air...! :)