Monday, October 29, 2012

Building Airport Model - Not a child's play!

Making an airport model was the holiday project my 3.8 year old son got during the recent puja break. While he just about mouths aeloplyne, I was wondering what he will learn from this session of building. Apparently there are quite a few lessons I learnt -
  •  Don't keep the tubes of paint open and drift off elsewhere.The kid's got a      fertile imagination and an open arena to sprout his artistic tendancies
  •  Don't take your eyes off the fevicol tube, else you know who is busy squeezing it away !
  •  The colour papers if left on their own will be torn to smithereens and played with gay abandon---
  •  Scissors and sticking tapes go hand-in-hand and the kid loved sticking the blades of the scissors with the tape.
  •  The kid knows we are a picture of seriousness and concentration. And that's the time to climb & perch on us ! 
You get the drift right? so after what seemed an eternity in making him just watch and not do anything, myself and hubby kicked off the airport model


We shopped for
  • Thin Cardboard
  • Black Chart Paper
  • A thick cardboard  (used the inverter outer packing cover)
  • Scissors
  • Fevicol/Glue
  • Colour Papers (Green, Yellow, Brown)
  • Acryllic Colours
  • Sticking Tape/Cello Tape
  • Pins
And most importantly
  • Toy Aeroplane Set - complete with model planes,pilots,air hostess,portable staircases,aero bridges---)
(Yeah the set cost a good INR 400/- but so worth it)


Ascertain the size of the model you want to make and cut the thin carboard in to the size. To make it more sturdier cut a similar size off the thick cardboard (in this case the inverter outer packing) and stick the thin cardboard on top of it. Cut thin strips of green paper for the grass and stick all around as shown.


Cut a  rectangular strip of black chart paper for the runway (the length almost 80% of the model length) and stick it in one side of the model


Colour it to represent a proper runway with arrows representing takeoff,blinkers et al.


Some more detailing



I used a cardboard stationary box to mould the ATC.


For the cylinderical part of the ATC, the rectangular box was used by sticking a colour paper around it. For the round structure on top of it , I cut a piece of thick cardboard and shaped it with cello tape. The round part was further prepped up with a colour paper and stuck on to the cylinderical part. Finally stick the tower on the corner of the model. Paint square windows around the tower.


Glue colur papers on some rectangular cardboard boxes and stick it on the model to represent buildings such as waiting area. 


Finally place/glue/stick the toy planes, aero bridges, the pilots strategically all over


The only put-off was I purchased oil colours instead of the acryllic colours, as a result of which a few window painting spread and gave a smudged halo effect. All -in-all a pat on the back to me and hubby. I have never made an airport model or for that matter of fact any model (park/post office and the ilk); so the 4 hour long marathon crafting session was euphoric. Did my son learn anything at all ? Not sure but he had loads of fun !

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Love,Peace & Happiness - A Book Review

I was pleasantly surprised when the author Rituraj Verma contacted me by commenting on my book review of The Immortals of Meluha . His book 'Love,Peace & Happiness' very soon reached me for a review. I loved the cover design of the book. Appealing ain't it ? The tagline of the book 'What more can you want' signifies the 3 things we constantly strive for !


There are books that I finish in one sitting or at the most finish in 1-2 days and there are books that like take an eternity to finish. There is nothing wrong about taking time to read the book if that means contemplating over the characters and delving deeper in to the rationale behind a particular character's personality. Love, Peace & Happiness took me more time than usual to finish. 

This book is a compilation of 9 short stories by Rituraj Verma and is high on myriad emotions of people all around us and promises of situations that may or may not be in their control.  The author has penned  these stories based on what could happen in day-to-day life and the confict of the mind in some of these characters is well etched. None of the stories were gripping enougth to stay in the mind and force an instant recall! Further, he has tried to bring in a sexual appeal in most of the stories which appear very forced and artificial.

However, a very novel thing I found about the book was the URL's at the end of every story with an alternate ending, posted in the author's website.The author also invites any other end that the reader can think of and I found this concept to be interesting.

The stories and the end to every plot is different  and at times edgy. The language is simple in general though the situations in some of the stories seemed contrived. Some of the characters make an appearance in a few stories and blend seamlessly to the thick of things. The foreword by his wife sets the tone of the book and I especially liked 2 stories. - The practioner of austerity and The victim of many loves.

Having put in my 2 cents of the way I perceived this book my husband also an avid reader finds the book more interesting as he is able to relate to the stories and finds them more down to earth and something that could happen to you & me !

FINAL WORD :-


All in all a nice effort by the author !



Author    :  Rituraj Verma
ISBN      :  978-93-81836-34-7
Price       :  INR 145/-
Publisher :  Leadstart Corp
Category  :  Fiction
Recommendation : Read to while away a bored afternoon !