Brighten Up Your Dull Day

Hey lovelies, How are you doing girls? Well today I am having one those dull days when you feel like staying under the duvet all day long and even the smallest things like a loose strand of hair against your cheeks can irritate you like hell. The reason of me having a dull day? Ah! Well I am suffering from the sudden outburst of hives which has restricted my activity to my bed in loose fitting cloths because apparently hives can get worse when you workout, take hot baths or stress about any stuff. This has stopped me going to my fitness dance classes this week and it had made me depressed beyond the words. I mean dancing brings me joy, freedom and of course fitness, which god know I need more than anything else. Lol!

So to brighten up my dull day I have planned to do these small but amazing things and if you too are having a dull or a gloomy day then join me in the party.

To brighten  up your dull day, all the ingredients you need are:

A cup or preferably a pot of coffee
Really good book preferably chick-lit
Couple of magazines like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar or Glamour and if you can than buy Tatler
Few scented candles on your night stand. Try Bath and Body Works
And a pink nail polish. Maybelline New York's Colour Show range have some good ones. My favourite is coral one with the shade no. 211.

P.S: Don't forget to play some good music in the background while you get on with your brightening-up-the-day process. I love to listen 'Label or Love', 'Watch Me Shine' and  'I'm Woman' on such days!

Good Luck!

P.P.S: FYI if I feel better after all of it then I might forget about my hives and could go to my Zumba class in the evening and will thought about it consequences later. God knows I need this!

Swati xxx

Dilemma of a writer! Would you make it sexy to sell?

It was in the year 2005 when I first stumbled through the pages of Bridget Jones Diary and that changed everything. I read the book in one sitting. It was hard to put it down. It was for the first time I felt that books could be fun and lively. Back then I wasn’t aware of ‘women fiction’ genre and it's writers for that matter. Hence every time I wnet to the book store I used to look for the books, similar to BJD but couldn’t find much. One day I asked the book shop owner to help me find the book similar to BJD and he found me The Devil Wears Prada. I finished the book within 24 hours and then I wanted to read more. It was like that BJD got me addicted to this whole new section of light, hilarious and romantic books. These books were such a pleasant change from the Paulo Coelho books (I read a lot of them).  After reading few more books like The Dirty Girls Social Club and The Nanny, I thought of trying something from Indian writers. After searching through and through I managed to find only one worth reading book, The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Indo-American author Kavita Daswani. That was that. From the year 2005-2013 things haven’t changed as much as I expected.

Even today I struggle to find a single women fiction book by Indian writer which is hilarious, magical, mesmerizing, romantic and fabulous. BUT if I look at west, there is no shortage of women fiction/chick-lit. On an average I read-review five chick-lits every month and before I can finish one book I have another in my hand and i never get tired of reading book after book because they are totally mesmerizing and gorgeous.

Anyway, Two years back I decided to try my hands and write a kind of book which I would love to read (or people like me). I wrote a synopsis and three sample chapters and sent it to all four of the big publishers in India. While the proposal was rejected, two out of four publishers said that they liked my writing. It was a silver lining. One and a half year later I finally decided to sit and write a full-length chick-lit novel. After 6 months of hard labour I had a manuscript in my hand and this time I sent it to one of the literary agents instead of directly sending to the publishers.

Here is what he said:

“Though I like the story and your writing but it’s not up to the mark. It’s not as sexy as it should be”.

Sexy? Seriously? What about witty, engaging and fresh? Sorry Mr. Agent it’s not an erotica or romance!

 Well then I decided to go back to my original plan and sent it to the publishing houses directly. The book has been rejected but some of them said in their rejection letters that either they liked the writing or the story but still it doesn’t match their publishing programs. They were probably right because when I checked on their sites there were hardly any chick-lits from Indian writers. When I read few of those published books, I seriously had no idea that how those books could be published? More than chick-lit they were family dramas or plain chaos. Books in India who are written by women for women are either extremely dark or full of a lot of sex advices and non realistic take on life and career. There heroines are not lively, bubbly or even ambitious like the protagonists of Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk, Jane Costello, Claudia Carroll, Holly McQueen, Polly Courtney and Scarlett Bailey. There is no magic or glamour in those books. I don’t know what’s wrong in Indian women fiction/chick-lit market! But I do need an answer. Anyone?

I seriously doubt the quality and supply of chick-lit in Indian market. Why my book is needed to be sexy if I want to publish it? Well since all big publishers think that somehow in spite of being a good story or writing they can’t publish my book I think I am gona look for more options. But I am not gonna give up or add couple of erotic scenes in the book to make it fit for the publication!

Dubai! Like A Dream!

Bang on time! Everything was perfect from the moment I set foot in the Delhi International Airport. Flight was on time and even the queue at the security check was nearly inexistent. Three hours long flight was spent in watching “Meet Me in Saint Louise” and “Gone with The Wind”. Once the flight landed at the Dubai International Airport, I was among the first of the people to exit the flight and well well… there was this huge surprise for us and that was a shinning white Hummer Limo waiting for us outside the airport to take us to our ultimate destination aka Atlantis The Palm Hotel.

                                                                 Atlantis The Palm

 As soon as we reached to the hotel in a knackered state, I was greeted with the most amazing and fresh wind which ever touched my skin. It was awesome. It was first time ever when I was going to stay in an eight star property and it was for the first time ever when I was going to wake up in a bed with a view of the ocean. *Scream*.

                                                                                     View From My Bed

It was just like a dream. It took me good 36 hours to absorb the fact that I was actually in the lap of the luxury you can only ever dream of. Three nights and four days were spent in walking by the beach at the early morning hours, looking at the Dubai Skyline for hours, visiting The Lost Chamber aquarium, taking rides in Global Village, shopping at Iran stall (Global Village), people and brand watching at the Dubai Mall, eating the most exotic French food and strolling through Meena Bazzar.

                                                                  Kempinski Hotel

On the fourth day we shifted to the Kempinski Hotel. We did all kind of technical fun here like visiting Burj Khlifa, shopping at the Dubai Mall (shopped everything from Chanel to H & M, whatever came in my vicinity), living few Bridget Jones moments in the Ski World (Mall Of Emirates), riding on the Sand Dunes in Hummer, watching exotic belly and sufi dance performances and at the end of the day soaking swollen feet in the hot and bubbling bathtub.

And then it was time to come back home.

                                                         Always Travel In Style

All in all I had the fabulous holidays. I am always going to keep these memories with me forever.

                                                               Thanks for the memories!