In My Hands Today…

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches – Alan Bradley

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On a spring morning in 1951, eleven-year-old chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce gathers with her family at the railway station, awaiting the return of her long-lost mother, Harriet. Yet upon the train’s arrival in the English village of Bishop’s Lacey, Flavia is approached by a tall stranger who whispers a cryptic message into her ear.

Moments later, he is dead, mysteriously pushed under the train by someone in the crowd…

Who was this man, what did his words mean, and why were they intended for Flavia? Back home at Buckshaw, the de Luces’ crumbling estate, Flavia puts her sleuthing skills to the test.

Following a trail of clues sparked by the discovery of a reel of film stashed away in the attic, she unravels the deepest secrets of the de Luce clan, involving none other than Winston Churchill himself.

Surrounded by family, friends, and a famous pathologist from the Home Office – and making spectacular use of Harriet’s beloved Gypsy Moth plane, Blithe Spirit – Flavia will do anything, even take to the skies, to land a killer.

2019 Week 16 Update

This was such a hectic week that before I knew it, it was over!

S’ Uncle who passed away last year had his first death anniversary. In the tambram community, this is an elaborate three day affair. S had taken leave to help out and so I was also roped in to helping and serving the priests and Brahmins who would come to eat.

This meant that I had to wrap up my daily work by 11 am when S would come home to pick me up and then we would be back home around 4 pm after the day’s function was over. It was so tiring!

The week ended with a nice long break for Good Friday and Easter. Next week is back to the grindstone with work and items to be ticked off my to-do list!

Happy Monday everyone!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 16 Update

This week was a relatively short one because of the Good Friday holiday.

All CCA has been suspended and for both this is the end of CCA as they start to gear up for their O levels.

GG stepped down as her CCA Vice President to tears and laughter. Her juniors all gave cards, notes and small presents to the seniors and she got more than her share of the goodies! They had a pizza party to celebrate the end this batch and the new CCA leaders.

BB’s CCA has still not thrown a farewell party to the graduating cohort, so this is something that he will still look forward to.

Next week is exams week for both. BB has practicals this week and then the written exams will only start from the week after while GG’s exams including practicals start from next week.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

In My Hands Today…

The Lives of Others – Neel Mukherjee

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The ageing patriarch and matriarch of the Ghosh family preside over their large household, made up of their five adult children and their respective children, unaware that beneath the barely ruffled surface of their lives the sands are shifting. Each set of family members occupies a floor of the home, in accordance to their standing within the family. Poisonous rivalries between sisters-in-law, destructive secrets, and the implosion of the family business threaten to unravel bonds of kinship as social unrest brews in greater Indian society. This is a moment of turbulence, of inevitable and unstoppable change: the chasm between the generations, and between those who have and those who have not, has never been wider. The eldest grandchild, Supratik, compelled by his idealism, becomes dangerously involved in extremist political activism—an action that further catalyses the decay of the Ghosh home.

World Creativity and Innovation Day

I recently read that this Sunday is the World Creativity and Innovation Day. To be honest, this was the first time I was coming across this day, so I did a little reading about it.

Celebrated in the week of the birth anniversary of the modern renaissance man, Leonardo Da Vinci, the World Creativity and Innovation day was first celebrated last year in 2018 by the United Nations and will continue to mark 21 April each year to encourage creative multidisciplinary thinking to help us achieve the sustainable future we want.

According to the UN, the observance is meant to encourage creative multidisciplinary thinking for a sustainable future.

The UN holds that creativity and innovation, at both the individual and group levels, have become the true wealth of nations in the 21st century.

On this day, the United Nations urges the world to embrace the idea that innovation is essential for harnessing the economic potential of nations. Innovation, creativity and mass entrepreneurship can provide new momentum for economic growth and job creation. It can expand opportunities for everyone, including women and youth. It can provide solutions to some of the most pressing problems such as poverty eradication and the elimination of hunger according to the UN.

The World Creativity and Innovation Day provides us an excuse to try to solve old problems in new ways with the potential of finding better and more effective ways to accomplish our goals! No more hum-drum day to day sameness!

Creativity and innovation are beneficial in every walk of life, and every career. From those in customer service finding ways to improve their customer’s experience, to scientists who’s every work day is filled with learning new things about the world and finding new ways to apply it, to politicians who could use their creativity to find new ways to solve problems and aid the public. World Creativity and Innovation Day encourages everyone to imagine a different world with different solutions.

How to celebrate World Creativity and Innovation Day?

Start the day out by brainstorming, sit down and think of all the things you do during the day and how you might change them for the better. Throughout your day keep a notepad handy for ideas that occur to you, whether they are for your own use, or ways that other people can do things better. Got an idea for your local municipality? Send it to them and let them know how you think it may benefit everyone. Got a new idea for your workplace? Inform your bosses and see what they have to say? Got a new plan for you? Set it in motion and see where your creativity gets you. World Creativity and Innovation Day could be the day that set your life on a whole new path!

The World Creativity and Innovation Day was established to encourage everyone to dig deep and find their own inner da Vinci. So do try and find you own inner creative genius this weekend! For more ideas on how you can be more creative at home, work or school, click the link to the World Creative and Innovation Week