Growing up, my professor father would often reiterate learning is fun. The fact that I still love academics and wouldn’t mind doing my fourth post-graduation in my forties speaks volumes about the relation between happiness and studies. Unfortunately, the current generation of kids hardly gets to experience this aspect. I loathe the way education is robbing this generation of kids of the joy of learning. All they are forced to do is take exams at ridiculously frequent intervals.
Category: Personal
Forever a pluviophile…
I have a special love for rain, rainy days and the rainy season.
Add some chai and aloo chop to make it tastier.
Now let me read the latest and possibly the last book by Higashino – Guilt. There couldn’t be a better way to spend the evening with rain, book, chai and chop for company.
Happy Friendship Day 2026
To the friends from school, college & University, to the best friend I married, to the colleagues who became my extended family, to my husband’s friends who made me feel like I was always their friend, to my son’s friends’ mothers who are some of my close friends now and to my friends from the writing fraternity, thank you for making life a little more bearable and smoother with your presence.
Happy Friendship Day!
Wedding Anniversary
The transition from being just married to surviving 15 years of marriage. Here’s to driving each other nuts for an eternity. Happy anniversary, partner! 🧿
P.S. – Thank you for the wonderful surprise! Love the bloom.
Part 3 of our summer vacation to Lolaygaon
On day 3 of our vacation, we visited the Cactus nursery (Pine nursery) followed by a trip to the Durpin monastery and Durpin Dara view point. It was late afternoon by the time we finished lunch and it started drizzling when we started for Lolaygaon. The picturesque view during this road trip amidst the cloudy, foggy and rainy weather led to a surreal experience.
Here are a few more snippets (Part 3) of our recent trip to Kalimpong, Lava, Lolaygaon and Deolo.
Snippets of our summer vacation trip
Snippets of our summer vacation trip to Kalimpong, Lava, Lolaygaon and Deolo – catch the vacation diaries on my YT channel.
My blog reaches readers of 150+ countries
I started blogging in Sep 2017 when I was seriously considering switching careers from banking to writing after moving cities. 8+ years later, soniasmusings.com is still going strong and my articles are ready by people from 150+ countries.
It took me a moment of faith to take this leap and today I look back at my journey as an author with heartfelt gratitude and satisfaction. Thank you, WordPress, for the stats.
Happy Women’s Day
Happy women’s day! Please read more books by women authors. Here’s what I’ve written so far –
Link to purchase on Amazon –
Visiting the Kolkata Book Fair 2026 as an author for the second year
Yesterday was my second year as an author at the International Kolkata Book Fair 2026. I visited the Sristhi Publishers Stall (E-94) where I signed copies of my non-fiction book ‘The Sanyasi who became a King’ and interacted with a few readers.
The next stop was at the Storyteller Stall (E-95), where I signed copies of both my books – the detective thriller ‘Diary, Deceit and Death’ featuring Raya Ray and the true crime story ‘The Sanyasi who became a King’.
Met and chatted with some of my fellow authors. It was heartwarming to see a few readers who have read all my books drop in to say hi and enquire about what I am writing next.
Team Storyteller captured my journey as an author where I also spoke about both my books, about those who have been my pillars of support in this journey and my thoughts about Kolkata Book Fair this year. The reel is available to view on my Insta page.
Heartfelt gratitude to all my readers, my publishers – Sristhi Publishers and Vishwakarma Publishers, my literary agency – The Book Bakers, and Storyteller Bookstore team.
Signed copies of both the books are available at E-94 and E-95 (both stalls are near Gate no 2). So, go get your copy now and don’t forget to send me a picture.
Happy Saraswati Pujo 2026
2026 didn’t begin on a good note for me. All I’ve dealt with is sickness and missed opportunities. Three days back, it didn’t look like I could even sit through Saraswati Pujo this year.
But by God’s grace and my husband’s efficient treatment, I could at least be a part of the pujo.
Baba took up the responsibility of planning and executing it. He had his assistant, my son for support. It’s become their annual ritual over the years and it feels surreal to see them work in sync with each other.
May Ma Saraswati bless us all with knowledge and wisdom.
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