All Aboard by Kiran Manral – An interview

I had a talk with Kiran Manral when she had published her second book ‘Once upon a time’

 Now she is back with yet another book ‘All Aboard’, a story completely different from her other two books but entertaining nevertheless. Her characters are normally the people you meet on daily basis. She talks about an interesting character from her book Rina Massi, “eccentric retired school mistress who is the protagonist Rhea Khanna's aunt and she's a livewire.”

Synopsis:

When Rhea Khanna is dumped just days before her marriage, by her boyfriend of four years, the only thing she wants to do is to get out of the city to clear her head.  The opportunity presents itself immediately when her aunt, a retired school headmistress, invites her to accompany her on a Mediterranean cruise.

As Rhea struggles to cope with her grief of being dumped at the altar, she finds herself getting attracted to the seemingly unavailable Kamal Shahani—the infuriatingly attractive ex-student of her aunt and a hot shot entrepreneur.  To add to the confusion, Sonia, Kamal’s very attractive ex-girlfriend boards the ship in a bid to win him back.

Will Rhea heal her broken heart, or will she end up even more shattered than she was when she got on this cruise?

Kiran Manral Speaks:

 What was your inspiration behind writing the third book?

It began with an anecdote I heard about a friend of a friend who decided to go on her honeymoon after her fiancé ditched her at the last minute, albeit taking a friend along for the company. I thought that was a most fun way to deal with the heartbreak, it was the mark of a survivor, and somewhere the seed was sown for this story. Of course, I did change it around a fair bit, but that was the genesis of this book.

Share some resources that help you when you are writing

Spell check on the computer. Seriously. And of course, Google baba.

Your favorite character

From this book? Rina Maasi. She's this eccentric retired school mistress who is the protagonist Rhea Khanna's aunt and she's a livewire.

A paragraph of your work before and after editing

Ah, the work goes through so many infinite versions, from first drafts through four edits plus a rewrite to simplify my tendency to run on and on with sentences as long as paragraphs, that this is quite difficult, because one really doesn't have first drafts anymore.

Your favorite (not too famous Indian) author, why?

I must say Annie Zaidi. Not because she's a dear friend but because what she writes goes straight to the heart, always.

You prefer: twitter or facebook..why?

Both have their place, but twitter definitely helps you to reach to a lot more people a lot quicker, facebook is limited to friends and family and a few acquaintances in my case.

Three books you would read in isolated places

Ah, I prefer to read in a crowd so I am not compelled to make conversation. But books I can read over and over again, Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, anything by P G Wodehouse or Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

You prefer: Ebook or hard cover, why?

Can I be contrarian and say I prefer paperback. Ebook, I have still to acquire an electronic reading device. If Kindle decides to convert me, I'm open to the trying of it. Hard back is too much of a pain to carry around and I have a book in my handbag wherever I go. Ergo paperback.

Favorite place to hang out: beach, cafeteria or library

None of the above. My favourite place to hang out is at home.

What book you reading now? How do you choose it?

Am between books right now. Therefore am busy re-reading Bridget Jones, Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding. It is great fun to read Bridget Jones, she's someone who could have been me.

Thank you Kiran for sharing your thoughts, wishing you success on your new book. Shine on…….

The Pre-order links for the book here:

Amazon India

Flipkart India

Amazon.com

In and Around Navy Pier In Chicago

Back home in India, we don’t go out in the afternoons because it’s sunny, and too warm to go out. We would rather sit in AC rooms than roam on the streets, but here, in America, summer is a blessing in disguise. Enjoyed only for three months in a year, its an happy occasion  something to enjoy with friends and relatives, There is cheerfulness everywhere, the roads are filled with people dressed in vibrant, warm colors, cotton shirts, short pants, and comfortable foot ware. Everybody is in holiday mood.

Navy Pier is the place where we see people spend the whole day involved in  various activities. Originally designed for shipping and recreational purpose, now there are various entertainments and exposition facilities.

Cousin said that there is air and water show along the lakefront from Fullerton to Oak Street, with North Avenue Beach serving as show center.  It would feature a wide variety of military and civilian aerial demonstration teams with pilots performing their stunts in the skies above Chicago. It sounded exciting. But there was too traffic jam everywhere, and that was a let down. I got a brief glimpse from my car window, but getting off at sea front seemed impossible.

By the time we reached Navy Pier, the show was over. We got off on the main road and walked towards the main building. Many people preferred to walk, but for those who was looking for extra fun, there was cycling and fun rides around the park.

The Terminal Building, so named because it was once a streetcar terminal dominated the sea front. Inside this building, there was children’s museum, shopping arcade, multiplex and food court.

We climbed up the stairs to see Crystal Garden, It was a large restaurant with palm trees and waterfalls, but it was closed on that day to the public as it was being prepared for late evening private dinner. 

Behind the terminal building was the huge Ferris wheel rising up to 150 feet. This Ferris wheel can carry the maximum of 240people.  This wheel is a recreation of the very first Ferris Wheel which was erected in Chicago in 1893.

I love sitting by the shore and enjoying the view, the weather was perfect. Most of our time was spent sitting on the bench, chatting and watching the boats ply up and down with eager tourists standing in long queues.

For me, just staring at the waters and the open skies with concrete skyline was a bliss.

Day Out At BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chicago

It was 1:30 pm, we made our way to the Swami Narayan temple at Pramukh Swami road, Barlett in Chicago. The huge parking lot was full of cars that indicated a massive attendance. It seemed like there was some festival inside the temple. Most of the devotees were Gujarathis. I tried talking to few, but they seemed distant.

We entered the main building that had beautifully carved white peacock perched on wooded windows in the patio. The carvings on the windows and on the walls were mesmerizing.

“Gods are sleeping,” announced the priest as we entered the main hall.

My cousin wrinkled her brows, “How can Gods sleep?” She wanted to know.

We had been driving since last two hours to reach this place, she was offended to learn that she would not be able to see the idols. The small carved, wooden doors were shut but we could see the idols on TV that were placed outside in the hall just near the donation boxes.

“Gods don’t sleep, He is supposed to listen to our problems 24/7” she grumbled.

“Its okay, maybe Gods need rest too”, I said. “Come lets admire the architecture instead”.

In the basement, there were group of ladies who poured cup of water over the idols (giving bath (perhaps) before putting Gods to sleep.) on the other side was a long corridor where big posters adorned the wall. The pictures were of India saints, who had contributed to science, technology and natural healing methods through yoga and other therapies.

Whether the Gods lived in this temple or not, I was awed by its architecture. The pillars, the interiors walls, the exterior had been carved meticulously. There was wood and marble carving and it was splendid. I admired the artists’ craftsmanship. The one who had worked on this must be truly blessed.

 Rumor has it specialists were imported to etch out the engravings in the doors and interior/exterior marble.

The limestone and marble stones for the temple were quarried from Turkey and Italy and shipped to Gujarat, India. From here, the stones were transported to Rajasthan where they were hewn and carved by 2000 craftsmen. Once the stones were sculpted, they were shipped to Chicago and then assembled like 3D jigsaw puzzle.

The temple is surrounded by beautiful landscape with fountains and statues spread across 27 acres. It was a pleasant walk outdoors and the weather was perfect. We walked back to the main building that had Shayona (cafeteria), there was a big queue for buying simple and tasty Indian food at discounted rates. There was a small supermarket too that sold Indian snacks and sweets. It did quite a good business because every devotee patronized this store to purchase India goodies for their family at home.

Crown Fountain at Millennium Park

Driving through the downtown in the city of Chicago, just near the millennium Park, I came across this strange pair of rectangular buildings, facing each other, separated by the pool of ankle deep water, the children waded through the water from one building to another. This is one of the most interesting interactive art pieces in Chicago. Made of 10,000 glass bricks, it rises over 50 feet and is designed by Jaume Plensa.

The interesting part of this building is that water pours down the towers glass block exterior in a cascade on three sides. I was attracted to the fourth side that featured banks of red, green and blue LEDs, which when I viewed from car window from far, it gave the illusion of projected video.

This is also called Spitting Fountain. I was told, that during daylight hours, the faces of one thousand people are displayed on the towers one at the time. Each persists for 13 minutes.

The expression of the face changed over the 13 minutes, first a serious expression, then the parting of the lips, a smile, and during the final minute, the lips round up and eject a spout of water from their mouths. some of the people went crazy during the waterspout and danced under the water spray, till they were completely drenched.

After 13 minutes, a cascade of water falls over the faces, and a new one is revealed. These faces were selected and filmed by students from the Art Institute of Chicago. They were not told that they would be part of a fountain. Instead, they were instructed to act as if they were blowing a kiss.

But it creates lot of excitement each time the water sprouts from the mouth of the faces on this structure. I was thrilled too, watching this spectacle…

It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.