The Help, by Kathryn Sockett, is a New York Times bestselling book. That’s not all, the book has been adapted into a movie, which was nominated for the Best Picture at the Oscars, last year.

This is where all fourteen short stories are set.All fourteen of them have different characters. None of them ever meet. None of the stories ever feel remotely similar or repetitive. Yet, they’ve all got a sense of eccentricity which is common to them all.

Before I talk about the book, I have a question for you. How many of you have friends who belong to North-East India?Not many right?That’s because we always consider them a separate community. We treat them as if they belong to a different planet altogether. Remember calling them chinkis in college?

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne is a book that has changed the way I approach life. The way I think. The way I speak. It has transformed me as an individual.Primarily focusing on the importance and relevance of positive thinking, this book explores the lives of many individuals, who through their exceptional mind power have overcome fateful accidents and financial constraints to make their life into one of happiness and prosperity.

This quote finds true meaning in the UnBox 2013 that took place at the cosy yet stunning location of Zorba. And to understand how the UnBox Festival is different from other design conferences that take place in India we asked a couple of volunteers who had come down from various parts of the country, to be a part of this design conference cum festival. According to the volunteers, “UnBox is about creating inter-disciplinary collaborations, which holds relevance in the tagline “Action at the Intersections.”

Every tourist or Mumbaikar has a few must visit places when they travel to Mumbai and the Kala Ghoda Art Festival is one of those pit stops. Mumbai is a city which is culturally heterogeneous but was never considered a centre for culture or art. However, the spirit of innovation and art which is missing in the city comes alive at Kala Ghoda. It is here that the cultural diversity prevails.

Books about business don’t interest me.They’re generally all preachy and boring, but I was more than relieved to find that “Start-Up Sutra” wasn’t like that.Rohit Prasad’s “Start-Up Sutra” talks about the qualities of a successful entrepreneur through real life stories of two sets of people. And the book is a conversation between two people, the author and his mentor/friend – Moojin.

Jeet Thayil’s debut novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012 and won the DSC prize for South Asian Literature in the year 2012.I have to admit that my hands normally do not reach out for Indian literature at a bookshop. But its not always that an Indian author gets shortlisted for the Man Booker.

Yakshagana,,which is about 300 years old, was traditionally performed in temples as a form of offering praise to the Gods. In those days, the Yakshagana performers were illiterate and they performed for daily wages during the festive season and with time, it has transformed into a commercial art form. The artists get fixed salaries and lead a better life with immense support and patronage from the government and NGOs.

“I dream my painting, and I paint my dream.”These words of Vincent Van Gogh resound through the walls of the NSIC exhibition grounds in Okhla Industrial Estate as one wanders from one hall to another, struck with awe and inspiration.