Happy Diwali

Columbine

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I walk through summer

and am greeted in colors

it's here that they bloom

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• Carpe Diem - Columbine

Sunflowers

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my heart fills with glee

sun shining in my garden

tuning with the bees

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• Carpe Diem - Sunflowers

Vacation

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bring your cups and pots

we shall have our vacation

amidst fragrant flowers

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• Carpe Diem - Field Of Flowers

Confined In A Glass Jar

(Image Source: https://www.deviantart.com/lostinthisphotograph/art/the-butterfly-jar-172178633)

how does it feel to be trapped

confined in a glass jar

hearing your own echoes

long after the voice is gone

blessed are you to be free

to not know the touch of shackles

that bleeding of the soul

the dying wails of prison

but what if, the lid was tight

the sunlight, a mere mockery

your breath, stale, reused

imagine yourself chained, and abused

there lies a world of nightmares

one that you read about in books

alas, the fiction is naked real

where flying high is still untrue

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• The Sunday Muse
• Imaginary Garden - Tuesday Platform

Waves And Beaches

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I could hear the waves

serenading the beaches

the cool breeze whistles

Shared with

• Carpe Diem - Cooling Down

How Online Dating Can Lead to Marriage Satisfaction

It is a no-brainer that online dating takes a lead these days among the many dating options that are available. Both millennials and the seniors have flooded the web to look for love. This has forced social researchers to get curious about the primary reasons leading to this. They also want to know whether online dating leads to marriage satisfaction now that many people are finding their partners here.

Without wasting much time, let us dive into these insights because they will surprise you.

What the Data Says

According to research, one out of three couples in developed countries have met online. This data is expected to change drastically in the future years with such couples becoming more common. But the interesting part is that spouses who met online are more satisfied than their counterparts who met online and even dated for a while.

Although it is too early to conclude, experts have said that marriages that resulted from online dating are less likely to seek divorce, which has been a big threat to young marriages these days. This means that online dating leads to marriages that are more satisfying. The numbers are already saying it all. Only 6 percent of people who meet online end up breaking up their marriages while the traditional avenues have a higher figure at 8 percent.

Why Marriages From Online Dating Are Better

Before someone goes online to look for a spouse, they must have thought about this issue. One of the popular dating sites that promotes both serious and сasual dating for everyone claims that most of their users are serious people who are looking for spouses. Making such a serious decision will force you to look for someone who is equally dedicated so that both of you will have the same goal of settling down. Look at these other reasons that make marriages from this platform more satisfying:

• You get to see each other's profiles - Before people can start scrolling down the list of potential spouses, they are prompted to create a profile and indicate all of the qualities that they portray and even mention the type of person they want. When all other members have done this, it is easy to filter down to a partner with qualities that you desire.
• You can compare - Online dating is very straightforward. It allows people to interact and get to know each other before they commit to anything. Thus, you can test the waters with a few potential candidates of your choice. So, you can either chat with them through the provided platforms or decide to go for a date and get to know each other more.
• You can easily go back - If things do not work out well when you start dating, you can always go back to the drawing board and quickly start all over again. Since people know this, they rarely compromise their standards to accommodate people that do not meet their requirements.

Conclusion

Online dating has increased satisfaction in dating, and this is a great thing for couples. It is an easy avenue and you should try it if you have not been lucky enough to meet a serious partner by now.

Sunlit

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dust by my window

waltzing in a random gait

through the sunlit pane

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• Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation - Sun Rays

... And Us

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deep blue and purple

a slice of lemon on top

two glasses, and us

Shared with

• Carpe Diem #1694 summer cocktails

The Lowland - Review

Born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other in the Calcutta neighborhood where they grow up. But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead.

It is the 1960s and Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement: he will risk all for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother's political passion; he leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet, coastal corner of America.

But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he comes back to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind - including those seared in the heart of his brother's wife. Suspenseful and piercingly intimate, The Lowland is a masterly novel of fate and will, exile and return. This is Jhumpa Lahiri at the height of her considerable powers.

About The Author

Jhumpa Lahiri is the author of three previous works of fiction: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake and most recently, Unaccustomed Earth. A recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, a PEN/Hemingway Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2012.

This June, while I was done reading most of my unread piles, I decided to give ‘The Lowland’ (which has been lying unopened for so many years in my book shelf), its share of attention, and whoa, what a revelation it has been. I was instantly struck with regret – why didn’t I read this before? But then, as they say, there is always a perfect time for everything. Probably, my tryst with this masterpiece was slated for this summer.

‘The Lowland’ characterizes time, spanning decades, going back and forth with whatever each moment has to offer. Subhash and Udayan are the two protagonists, siblings, who move onto different paths, their choices conflicting, yet their bond endearing. They are conjoined by an inexplicable camaraderie of brotherhood, so much that their stories remain entwined till the end.

There is Gauri, fiery, with a mind of her own, but trapped in fate’s ordeals. Though strong in outlook, her vulnerability is essayed in many decisions that she takes throughout the course of her journey. There are times when she is wrong, and moments when she has been wronged, her path criss-crossing with the two brothers, jittery, unsteady, but always in focus.

And then there is Calcutta, gradually progressing to Kolkata. The markets, the people, and the rickshaw – pullers, the politics all around, the unrest, and then finally the change that years of instability bring, form the core of this novel.

‘The Lowland’ is an experience, an emotional one, a struggle between guilt and determination, failure and the ongoing expectation, a hope, a dream. It’s real, caressing the boundaries of human aspirations. ‘The Lowland’ is a remarkable voyage, where one could be lost, hoping to be found, again.

Title: The Lowland
Authors: Jhumpa Lahiri
Publisher: Random House India
Publication Year: 2013
Language: English
Binding: Hardcover
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
No. of Pages: 344
Price: Rs 499
My Rating: 5/5