Just Married, Please Excuse by Yadhodhara Lal.

The very talented and funny Yashodhara Lal whose blog I have been following for a long time is out with her first book as well. Congrats Y and wishing you all things wonderful!

Y has a contest going on too. Details below.

If you're one of those people who know that married life can have its hilarious moments, please pay attention to this one:

It's really very, very simple - 

1. You write a post on your blog, describing an incident aboutsomething funny that has happened to you as a part of married life, preferably when you were 'Just Married'. (By 31st August 2012)

2. HarperCollins and I select the 20 best entries and they will be sent copies of my book; and 10 Delhi-based bloggers get to join me and VK Karthika, (Chief Editor of HarperCollins and all round super-cool person) for a leisurely Saturday lunch at the new Mamagoto outlet in Gurgaon for some really great food ( I'm told the Khan Market outlet is never less than packed, and for good reason). Oh, and there'll be some good conversation too :).

Some things to keep in mind to be eligible for this contest: 

1. The Title of your post should be The 'Just Married, Please Excuse' Contest 

2. Please include in your post a link back to Y's post.

3. Please leave a link to your entry in Y's comments section to this post.

4. In case you don't have a blog of your own, do leave your entry in the comments section to Y's post. In case you face issues while commenting, email your story at yashodhara dot lal at gmail dot com (But only up to two such comment/email entries can win, so you better make it funny)
5.Note -If you're not married, but still want to participate, you can do it - just tell us about a funnyJust Married story about someone you know! 

You Never Know When You'll Get Lucky by Priya Narendra.

When I said its raining books this season in my last post, I was nt kidding. Blogger Priya Narendra is out with her first book "You never know when you'll get lucky". And there is a fun contest to participate. Take a picture with Priyas book and send it to ureadshop@gmail.com and lucky winners will get books worth Rs.2000. Click the banner for more details. Hurry up and win!

Congrats Priya and keep rocking!

Have you seen this? by Arthi Anand Navaneeth.

Its raining books this season from loads of fellow bloggers and one special book is written by none other than Art Navy from our very own IndianMommies corner! :) We are so proud of you, Art! Cant wait to lay my hands on the pretty book.

Have You Seen This?
Text : Arthi Anand Navaneeth

Pictures : Roomani Kulkarni

It's a very mixed-up world where flowers talk, doors run and trees fly! The
goofy text of this mad little bilingual spins on wacky illustrations that
whirl the reader along. Available in 8 language combinations it can spark
off any child's (or adult's) imagination!

Target age- 3-7yrs

Here is a review of the book at Saffron Tree.

You can buy it  online from Tulika and at Flipkart

Please Vote for a Worthy Cause.

Our society believes that girl children are a liability. They have always been targeted. New born girl children have been killed and abandoned for decades. Ultrasound technology has only made this worse. Girls children are being aborted as early as 20 weeks, while still in the mother’s womb. Which is less humane, no body can tell.

Many of us feel strongly for this and due to many reasons, we have been arm chair activists. Now is a chance to be an arm chair activist AND make a difference.

Arti Home For Girls is an orphanage for abandoned girls children based out of Kadappa, Andhra Pradesh. Its founder Sandhya, has been working with abandoned girl children and women forced to abort their unborn girl children for the past 20 years. She has contributed in many levels and has made a difference in the lives of more than 1000 girl children.

Arti Home is participating in the IMPACT CONTEST. Winning this contest will give many unborn children a chance of survival, women a possibility to stand up for their girl children, educational and vocational training for the abandoned girls.

Please vote and show your support.

What to do:

- Click on the link  http://www.gwln-contest.strutta.com/entry/265634

- Right top corner will have a link to log in to FB. Give appropriate permissions for FB, if asked.

- Click on VOTE FOR THIS ENTRY.

Thanks a bunch, you have made a difference in a child’s life.

Summer Reading Program in Hyderabad.

Utbtkids has designed a summer reading program for Treasure House in Hyderabad. The description makes me wish I were a kid and that I lived in Hyderabad! :) 
The below is from her post.

The program is called Reading Bugs.

It is for children age infant – 15.

For parents of children age 0 – 5, I am offering a parent information work shop that talks about why reading is important, what are the early literacy skills that are targeted by reading to young children, what to read, when to read, how to read, why we are reading what we are reading.

For children age 6 – 9, THE BUTTERFLIES BOOK CLUB. The underlying goal of this book club is to make children aware of other genres. The world of books is not just magic, fantasy and what-ever-my-older-sibling/friend-is-reading. There is fiction, non-fiction, drama, picture books, chapter books, environmental issues, humor, classics, mythology, history, exploration/discovery/voyages…. and many more. Catch them young, when they have started reading independently and introduce them to the different choices so that they pause at their age level and explore choices at level instead of jumping to what is popular and run out of choices soon. I call this, my ‘prevent children from getting lost in the adventure/magic/mystery Bermuda triangle’ mission. Children will interact with Sridala Swami, author of Cheenu’s Gift and Sandhya Rao, editor of Tulika Publishers.

For children age 6 – 9, I am offering a workshop. MAKE YOUR READING BLOOM. The idea is to work with beginner and reluctant readers on certain skills that will improve comprehension and fluency. This will be a 5 session workshop.

For 10+ children, in keeping with my Bermuda triangle theory, I am doing THE MYTHOLOGY BOOK CLUB. This club will analyze mythology as a genre, compare elements from various mythologies, talk about mythological characters and beasts and has two author interaction sessions. Devdutt Pattanaik and Anu Kumar.

If you are in Hyderabad the place to be is

Treasurehouse
plot#1254/A Rd#63,
Adjacent to ICICI Bank rd#36,
Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 5000033
Phone#: (040)23550118
Email: info@treasurehouse.in

Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Month - April 2012.

Remember April 2011 on Twitter, Facebook and blogs? We talked about Child Sexual Abuse – the hows, the wheres and the whens. We were overwhelmed by the response it generated, humbled by the weight of the personal stories of despair and courage.

It’s that time of the year again and we’re going ahead with Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Month – April 2012.

Do you have a story to tell? Tips to share? A video, a link, an ebook? As a parent, as an adult, as a child? As before, we honour all requests for anonymity.

Bring your experience and your expertise to this awareness initiative via

Blog posts with the logo (you can copy the image above), linkback to our blog, with the words “CSAAM April 2012” in the title
Twitter posts or links to @CSAawareness, tagged “#CSAAM”
FB notes linking to our Facebook page
Emails to csa.awareness.april@gmail.com
Or just simply show support by displaying the Picsquare badge on your site/page/profile

This year, we hope to increase our focus and reach with our new CSAAM App and our sensitisation workshops. You’ll find both in our blog come April 2012.

Stay tuned at http://csaawarenessmonth.com/

Congrats, Kiran!

If you have nt heard already, the fantastic blogger and a good friend (ahem!), Kiran Manral is out with her first book, The Reluctant Detective! Im sure whoever reads her blog knew it was coming since she is a wonderful, wonderful writer.

To learn more about the book, visit Kiran's brand new website http://www.thereluctantdetectivebook.blogspot.com/

You can buy the book from Flipkart here.

I love the cover and I cant wait to get my hands on it. Wishing you all things wonderful, Kiran!