Creative Musings

The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer My rating: 3 of 5 stars View all my reviews

A debate that has been hotting up in Singapore recently is whether preschoolers ( kids between the age of 3 and 6) are better off learning through play or should they be sweating it out in school, enrichment classes and home in order to get a head start in Primary School.  The debate sparked off after Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong in his 2012 National Day Speech exhorted parents to stop hothousing their children and to allow them to learn through play. The response to the PM's comment from educationists and parents has been overwhelming but divided.  One set of parents ( mostly parents of children who are either going to college or have yet to start preschool or grandparents) have complimented the Prime Minister and lauded his advice. The other set of parents ( whose children are actually in preschool or preparing to go to primary school and who were presumably the targeted group for the comment ) have been largely critical of the Prime Minister's remark, terming it i

I have been a bit obsessed about the Fifty Shades Trilogy lately ( who isn't these days? ) and so here comes my third  article/ post on the books after Fifty Shades Unplugged and What is Driving the Success of the Fifty Shades Trilogy?  Here, I am listing out, what in my opinion, are the Best and the Worst Shades of the Fifty Shades; Shades of Grey - Fifty Shades has shades of white wrapped in innocence and pure love; shades of red embodied by bold passion and pain; shades of black in the form of dark secrets and evil intentions but most of all fifty shades has several shades of grey from the boldest steel to the shimmering silver to the darkest deep - this is the threshold where love and lust mingle, where erotica meets mush, where control fades into compromise and where innocence steps into self-assured maturity. The Names of the Characters - The names given by the author to the leading protagonists - Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele sound just so perfect f

Earlier this month, 'Mind Your Body', a supplement of the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore turned its focus to the subject of Breastfeeding. In a nation that is currently obsessed with falling birth rates and on encouraging its youth to marry and procreate; breastfeeding ( the inevitable milestone for every new mother)  is a very relevant theme. The supplement carried reports of how hospitals in Singapore are encouraging new mothers to breastfeed. It also featured stories of some mothers who have successfully breast fed their babies despite problems such as clogged ducts and sore nipples. But shockingly the same supplement carried an editorial which was titled "Breastfeeding is not for everyone", it stressed on how cumbersome breastfeeding could be and how many women would not want to breastfeed after nine months of pregnancy, an arduous labor and because they did not want to feel like a cow! Hardly an appropriate editorial if the intention of the paper

A blubber from my Article  published on 13th August, 2012 on Helium. "So what is driving the phenomenal success of the novels ( the Fifty Shades Trilogy, by British author E.L.James) dubbed as “mommy porn” of the century, is it the hype or the marketing? is it the storyline or just the sex?"  In my article, "What is Driving the Success of the Fifty Shades Trilogy?" on helium ,  I have tried to unravel some of the factors which have contributed to the books’ runaway success, both literary and commercial. Click on the link to learn more. Genre- Helium- Arts & Humanities- Literature- British Literature

All parents learn the hard way that asking children to read because it is the right thing to do only makes the child detest the idea of reading more. The secret lies in influencing the child so subtly that he is himself keen to read. How do we do that? In the age of the all-pervading Internet, television, video games and mobile texts; is it even possible to make a child explore the world of books? Surprisingly, it is. One only has to use tact, discretion and create an environment which is reader-friendly. Here are some secret tips that help in making children want to read. 1. Read by Example -  The environment at home is the first and foremost factor in influencing a child to read. Read more on helium. Article created on March 15, 2011 Category- Education-Writing and Reading Skills 

Just finished reading Fifty Shades Freed , the third and last book of the  Fifty Shades Trilogy by British author, E.L. James. I am trying to gauge my feelings after having read the Trilogy ....am I feeling liberated as the author has expected her readers to feel? I am not sure about that but yes I am feeling spent with a vague sense of deja vu ( I did manage to read all the 3 books - despite my initial squeamishness at the erotic content). Millions of people (mostly  members of the fairer sex ) have by now devoured the Fifty Shades books- till date 31 million copies of the trilogy have been sold worldwide. For the minority who have refused to succumb to the temptation/ curiosity/ hype/ aura of the Fifty Shades Trilogy , I will run down the plot; The first book, Fifty Shades of Grey begins with the chance meeting of Anastasia Steele, a 21 year old undergrad studying literature and the very dapper, rich and successful  27 year old entrepreneur Christian Grey (''oh m

Read a Danielle Steel after ages and was thoroughly disappointed :( The yr 2011 published '44 Charles Street' by Steel was a terrible let down, an extreme wash out in all the ways possible and I am cursing myself for having picked it up in the first place. Why and how did I read through it? Well, because I have a pact with my bookaholic self that however boring or useless the book maybe, I will finish it off to the end.....who knows maybe, just maybe there is an interesting twist to the tale in the penultimate chapter! But alas! there was no such queer twist, no such golden moment in the whole book which just seemed to drag on at an alarmingly slow pace from start to finish. Plot: A start-up art dealer Fransesca in a small town west of NY splits from her partner Todd after a 5 year old relationship. Her house on Charles Street is high-maintenance and in order to revive her art - business and keep her house, Fransesca turns to the only visible alternative. She decides to take