Adventures of POLICE - POLICE to Blunderland

Six kids accompany their grandfather in a perilous journey to experience the mysteries of a place they had heard of only in his narratives. ‘Police to Blunderland’ tells us about their first ever adventure together. 

What do they face on their journey? Do they finally reach Blunderland? Read the exciting story to find out.

To purchase this book, please follow this link : amazon.com/author/josephl
This book is currently available only in kindle. You can purchase the book via the Kindle App. 

Books to expect soon: 

-- POLICE in Blunderland
-- Adventures of Dr Cloney 2 - Dr Cloney and the Robocops

Here is the 'From the Author' section of the book

This story started as a bedtime story. My kids loved listening to stories and would beg for a story every night. As days and years passed by Jo and me soon ran out of stories and were forced to be creative. Every night a part of the story would be narrated an we would stop as soon as the kids fell asleep. Kids love these stories more than the stories that we narrated from our memories. The more elements of creativity Jo added to it and the more the kids loved it. A few years ago wrote a single page outline of the story and then sat down to build it. In 2013, I wrote the first manuscript. I edited it several times before it came to this form. In 2016 I added some illustrations to it on Jo's advise. It did add to the the overall appeal of the book. In my previous book, the cover page was a big challenge and I had a difficult time designing it. Though I put effort on the design, the book cover did not come out that well. So I thought of adding a good photo for my second book. I chose a real photograph for this. This photo had an air of mystery and also a fairy tale feel about it. It did come out better than the first one. 

The Black Dog and its new prey?

Sushant Singh Rajput -One more added to the list of good souls held captive by the Black Dog?

I saw him first in the movie, PK and was sure that he was a promising artist. With this single movie he moved to my list of favourites in Bollywood (in line with Aamir Khan, Shabana Aasmi, Konkona Sen, Nasuruddin Shah, Om Puri, Navasuddin Siddiqui, Nana Patekar, Paresh Raval, Kajol...). He had a captivating smile and his eyes could express even the subtle emotions.

I remember one of his speeches given to students of DCE where he was an alumni. The audience wooed and clapped for almost all the lines he spoke. There he described himself as an introvert. Though he was the owner of a personality that attracted the attention of a lot of youngsters, it did not sound contradictory to me. Many of the Mollywood actors whom I watched from childhood and appreciated were introverts. From big shots like Momootty, Mohanlal, Shobana to other talented actors like Prithviraj, Fahad Fazil, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Sreenath Bhasi, S P Sreekumar, Sudev Nair, Tovino Thomas, who won the hearts of people of Kerala are introverts. Many times I felt that they compensated for the limited words in their life with the mind blowing performances as outgoing characters. This was kind of confirmed in the message that Sushant conveyed in his speech at DCE. He admitted to feeling excited and happy when he played the characters in the movie who were very different from him.

Samuel Abiola Robinson a young actor from Nigeria, played the role of a football player in the Malayalam movie- Sudani from Nigeria. This movie won a lot of awards in the Kerala State Film Awards. Samuel was appreciated for his brilliant performance in this movie. Recently he was in the news because of his post in the social media regarding his stint with the Black Dog.

The topic of the Black Dog never came up in any of  Sushant's conversations. So none of his friends found the need to dig deeper or found any reason to be concerned. Did the brightness of his smile hide the Black one that growled behind him? Smiles can be very deceptive...

Reminds me of a small poem (Sher) which I jotted some years ago

कहते है सब, आप की मुस्कराहट है हंसीन बड़ी।
कहते है सब, आप की मुस्कराहट है हंसीन बड़ी।
मगर वह क्या जाने ;
दिल में जो चिंगारियाँ है, उसी की रौशनी चहरे पे पड़ी ।।

By the POWER of Google Search… I have POWER…

I remember the time in early 2000s when Altavista was awarded the best search engine award. Google was there even then and it made me wonder why Google was not rated the best. Today Google has evolved to become the answer to most of my questions.

Now when I search for something it gives me much more than I ask for. I can also use the powerful options given by Google to promote my site. The beauty of it is that these powerful options can be used by following some simple steps.

Knowledge Panel – This is additional information about the entity searched combining many related attributes of the entity like website, logo, name, etc. This is seen as a box on the right side of the search result. You can own up the Knowledge panel and do the necessary modifications so that the knowledge panel shows the right data. https://millennialmoderator.com/how-to-create-a-google-knowledge-panel#fold

Example: Search for Google in Google search. On the right panel you see the Knowledge Panel with the summary details of the entity Google.

Site search – This is a powerful tool to enable Google search within your website. When you search a website powered by Google search, Google gives a secondary search option in the search result for your company. Use this secondary search option to search for anything within the website. To enable this, follow the instructions in https://support.google.com/customsearch/answer/2715510?hl=en.

Example: Search for pinterest.com in Google search. You can see a secondary search option in the first result. Search for something using this and the search result would only have items within pinterest.com

Rich Snippet- Do you want Google to give you rich snippet for the items/products in your website, then this feature is for you. Code in micro-data on your product into your website page using JSON-LD or Schema.org. Google would use this micro-data to build a rich snippet in the search result. Want to know more? https://jsonld.com/product/

Example: Search for a popular product in Google search. You see the result with the micro-data that you set for the item like Rating, Description, Price, Reviews, Offers, etc.

More on the powerful options of Google search in another post

Pay it Forward

I searched the net to reach, 'Paying Forward-Trigger of an uncontrolled chain reaction', I posted in TwoDropsOfInk. I also wanted to see how Google handled my search request.

During the search I stumbled upon a movie Pay It Forward directed by Mimi Leder, released in 2000 with Haley Joel Osment in the lead. The story line is beautiful and in line with the title of my post.

Pay forward, I believe is something that every person can practice [This is more a reminder for me than an advice to others] to change the world for the better

Currently it is published in the international blog twodropsofink.com
https://twodropsofink.com/2017/03/21/paying-forward-trigger-of-an-uncontrolled-chain-reaction/?iframe=true&theme_preview=true

Adventures of Dr Cloney - Dr Cloney and the Invisible Aliens

This is the story of Dr Cloney, a brainy scientist, who is an expert in modern physics and robotics. He uses this passion for creating amazing gadgets and devices which he ultimately uses to overcome the different problems faced by people.

He is part of the Save Earth Team that saves Earth from any disaster. He is assisted by his humanoid Robot, Robbie, and his bright apprentice Dan. In this adventure, Dr Cloney and team confront the invisible aliens who landed on earth.

Read the story to find out the intentions of the invisible aliens and whether Dr Cloney and team were successful in the venture they took up.


To purchase this book, please follow this link : amazon.com/author/josephl
This book is currently available only in kindle. You can purchase the book via the Kindle App. 

If you have a kindle-unlimited account, you can read this book absolutely free. 


Books to expect soon: 

-- POLICE in Blunderland
-- Adventures of Dr Cloney 2 - Dr Cloney and the Robocops

Aparthamma - The mother next door

As a kid I remember running to the neighbour's house when ever I got a chance. Our neighbour and us lived in a twin  house. We shared a common compound and gate. Though in the same compound I was supposed to ask permission to go next door and was never denied the permission.
I called the head of the family 'Doctor' and his wife 'Aparthamma'. Doctor was an Ayurvedic physician and so calling him so was not out of the ordinary. But when I think back now, 'Aparthamma' which meant 'Mother next door' had a very deep meaning though I never realised it as a kid.

I had the freedom to go into their house whenever I felt like it. I could even go into Doctor's consulting room even in the midst of a consultation. It never raised a brow. If my mother had to go for work on a school holiday, then Aparthamma's home doubled up as a daycare for my brother and me.

Aparthamma had four children, all of whom were much elder to me. However, I had two friends in the family. Her second and third kids; son named Ani and daughter named Lekshmi, both of whom were pursuing their graduation. Lekshmi was one of the prettiest ladies I had ever seen. She had long dark hair and I loved playing with it. Ani was popular in his college and he also won the college election. Spending time with them was the best entertainment I had as a kid.

The dishes that Aparthamma made had a special Malabar flavour. I can still feel in my taste buds the taste that I used to feel on drinking the Karingali (water flavoured with the bark of Cutch tree) after a ball of hot rice mixed with curry. Having the food on my own was good. But having Lekshmi feed me was even better. The way she mixed the curry and rice with her hands gave it special taste. Having dinner with Ani too was fun. He would tell me interesting stories while I had food.

Aparthamma was a simple lady with long curly hair and drooping eye lids. She always had a smile on her face and kept some goodies for me when ever I visited her. Her house was always well maintained and had guests most of the time. She was always busy with some work and seeing her rest was very rare.

Today when I think of her, I realise how big a heart she would have had to welcome two kids like that into her home. The lasting memories that I had of her family shows how deep an impression she left in my heart. Every time kids come to my family, her memories challenge me to be the good host like her. As I grow older, her memories become fonder as I realise how difficult it is to be the warm and smiling lady Aparthamma was.

Dedicated to the lovely family:
Dr. Madhavan Nambiar
Ms. Malathi Nambiar
Mr. Rajeev Nambiar
Mr. Ajay Nambiar
Ms. Lekshmi Nambiar
Mr. Manikuttan Nambiar

Sher - Smile (मुस्कराहट)

कहते है सब, आप की मुस्कराहट है हंसीन बड़ी।
कहते है सब, आप की मुस्कराहट है हंसीन बड़ी।
मगर वे क्या जाने ;
दिल में जो चिंगारियाँ है, उसी की रौशनी चहरे पे पड़ी ।।