This is probably the twentieth that I have attempted to write something on this blog. The nineteen previous times, I spent looking at the monitor with a complete blank expression waiting for something to miraculously appear on the screen. No luck so far.
One cn say I have made some use of the holidays so far. That makes a few extra hours spent at home even more tiresome to spend. Read quite a lot of novels since the exams, most of them begged, borrowed and stolen (then duly returned back of course!) Will try and summarize the few that were good.
1) The Palace of Illusions - Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni...
Heard of "The Mistress of Spices"? the Aishwarya Rai starring English movie? The book was authored by this lady.
The Palace of Illusions is the Mahabharatha itself. The only change is this time, the story is being narrated by Draupadi. The narration is beautiful. Though somewhat blasphemous, it captures the more humane parts of the epic which I'm sure our grandparents conveniently forgot to tell us. Not a book recommended if you are a staunch believer of the devoutness of Draupadi. Truly, the Mahabharatha revolves around Draupadi. A book worth reading.
2) The Jeeves Omnibus - Pelham Grenville Wodehouse...
Amazing writer! Looking at his face you will never imagine that he is the kind who can make you execute a proper ROFL. His witticism coupled with an amazing sense of timing makes him one of a kind. Go read his books for a true feel of comic writing.
3)If you love someone... - Harimohan Paruvu...
The second book of the author. The first being "The Men Within". A short novel which is a love story with a difference. It is not the stereotypical teenage boy meets teenage girl - they fall in love - get married - lose interest in each other- finally love conquers all kind of story. A very refreshing take on love, life and sacrifice. A must read is you are a die hard romantic. (have always been amused by this phrase "die hard romantic", it sounds ironic)
4) I Robot - Isaac Asimov...
Isaac Asimov is a genius. These stories revolve around the three laws of robotics which govern all robots working in the world. The earth now has colonies on the Moon, Mars and Mercury. The stories are narrated by Susan Calvin, a RoboPsychologist. Weird term.. but a very nice read.
5) One Amazing Thing - Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni...
What do you do when you are stuck amidst the ruins of the Indian visa office in America after an earthquake with people from different ethnicities all having no hope of survival? you sit in a circle and tell each other stories from your life. Beautiful storytelling this time as well.
6) The Immortals of Meluha - Dont remember the author :P
This is Shiva's story. Written by someone who obviously has no sense of the devoutness which comes with the name "Shiva". The first of a trilogy, it tries to tell us the story of the lord of a mountain tribe who becomes the savior of an advanced race called Meluha.
Looking forward to reading more books. I'm reading "The temple goers" by Aatish Taseer. The book has started promisingly. Let's see if it lives up to expectations.
Good night folks! X men origins on TV now. Dont want to miss it.
Ciao
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Ai Karamba!!!
I guess nobody apart from Deepak G and Swaroop Rao know the rough literal translation of "Ai Karamba", so the rest of you please think of this is just another exclamation of sorts.
Attended what might probably be the last FYI quiz. The two quizzes held there were very good if one could get over the irritation of going so far... all the way to Indranagar.
The quizzes was more entertaining than informative and would have got a definite "A" or even an "X" rating by the censure board if it was a film. What else will they do if the quiz expects you to know how the braille or 3D version of Playboy looks? And that is only the tip of the iceberg.
Came to the sudden realization yesterday that the moment of truth is just a couple of days away. Still have to do a bit of research about which colleges are good and most importantly what course I should take. Doing nothing seems to take away most of the time nowadays, which is kind of ironic because that is exactly what we should not be doing. It was easy for Frost to choose from 2 roads. He's lucky he never wrote the CET and had so many roads to choose from.
I have still not gotten over the stupid habit of not acting earlier and then regretting later. A million thoughts of "If only I had been more serious..." have been giving me some sleepless nights. Guess I have not earned the right to sleep peacefully. Its amazing how all the supposedly age-old-stuff we mocked a few months earlier seem to be grinning maniacally at us. Our elders are right. There is no substitute to hard work. There is no luck in this world and you never get anything that you don't deserve (Note: all this doesn't apply if you are Siddharth Mallya). I kept thinking, coaxed by many a speech from influential speakers that today's demand is for "smart workers" and not "hard workers". What all of them conveniently failed to say is that average guys like us cannot be smart without our share of hard work. The reason is so absurdly simple ( it strikes me now! Ai Karamba!) for a person to be smart, he needs quite a lot of knowledge which cannot be got by birth. He has to slog, learn and then reap the benefits. Farming in one's own backyard is much more reliable than expecting the farm to come magically in front of you, completely laden with ripe produce, when you need to harvest. The produce appears if and only if there has been some ploughing, some labournig, some seeds, some fertilizers and lots of more hard work.
How can Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, ask us not to expect returns on our hard work? Whatever we do in life is in always in expectation of favorable results. Isn't it?
And when there are a series of results that don't go your way, then the only logical interpretation is that there is something wrong with ourselves. Unfortunately this realization is coming very very late.
But then, there is always a new beginning to look forward to. Something that, unfortunately, I will not be able to go to without any regrets. Without any compromises. Without holding my head high.
Ai Karamba! Yes.. it hurts.
Attended what might probably be the last FYI quiz. The two quizzes held there were very good if one could get over the irritation of going so far... all the way to Indranagar.
The quizzes was more entertaining than informative and would have got a definite "A" or even an "X" rating by the censure board if it was a film. What else will they do if the quiz expects you to know how the braille or 3D version of Playboy looks? And that is only the tip of the iceberg.
Came to the sudden realization yesterday that the moment of truth is just a couple of days away. Still have to do a bit of research about which colleges are good and most importantly what course I should take. Doing nothing seems to take away most of the time nowadays, which is kind of ironic because that is exactly what we should not be doing. It was easy for Frost to choose from 2 roads. He's lucky he never wrote the CET and had so many roads to choose from.
I have still not gotten over the stupid habit of not acting earlier and then regretting later. A million thoughts of "If only I had been more serious..." have been giving me some sleepless nights. Guess I have not earned the right to sleep peacefully. Its amazing how all the supposedly age-old-stuff we mocked a few months earlier seem to be grinning maniacally at us. Our elders are right. There is no substitute to hard work. There is no luck in this world and you never get anything that you don't deserve (Note: all this doesn't apply if you are Siddharth Mallya). I kept thinking, coaxed by many a speech from influential speakers that today's demand is for "smart workers" and not "hard workers". What all of them conveniently failed to say is that average guys like us cannot be smart without our share of hard work. The reason is so absurdly simple ( it strikes me now! Ai Karamba!) for a person to be smart, he needs quite a lot of knowledge which cannot be got by birth. He has to slog, learn and then reap the benefits. Farming in one's own backyard is much more reliable than expecting the farm to come magically in front of you, completely laden with ripe produce, when you need to harvest. The produce appears if and only if there has been some ploughing, some labournig, some seeds, some fertilizers and lots of more hard work.
How can Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, ask us not to expect returns on our hard work? Whatever we do in life is in always in expectation of favorable results. Isn't it?
And when there are a series of results that don't go your way, then the only logical interpretation is that there is something wrong with ourselves. Unfortunately this realization is coming very very late.
But then, there is always a new beginning to look forward to. Something that, unfortunately, I will not be able to go to without any regrets. Without any compromises. Without holding my head high.
Ai Karamba! Yes.. it hurts.
Monday, June 7, 2010
The power of tears-- part deux
It has been quite some time since I last put up a post. The negativity in the air is reaching very high proportions which has been a contributing factor in lessening my urge to blog... not to mention tired limbs and lots of nosy interferences. The gossip bugs have gotten their ugly heads out (for once its not about me :D) and long buried dissatisfactions are surfacing. All in all, not a very convenient time to get the creative juices flowing.
What did get some of the ice thawing was a function I attended today. It was a relative's 70 year's shanthi (more specifically Bheemarathi shanthi). All I did understand is that I was going to get some good free meals. As with most people I went to claim my meal today and after going through the initial overdoze of monotonous carrer counselling, I found my self seated amongst my cousins. One of my cousins, a young girl of around 8 was crying incessently. What does the father do about it? Takes out his wallet, stylishly fishes out a 100 rupee note and the crying stops instantly.
If just whining will get me a 100 bucks.. that's half my pocket money by the way, I will be happy whining just once a week. Something like a ceremonial weekly whine.
Is it a healthy sign to keep stuffing your young daughter's hand with cash every time she cries? After a few minutes I realized that the crying was for the cash and nothing else. The rest of us looked at each other in wonder. I was utterly disgusted with the upbringing that girl has had. It is definitely not her fault though. She knows that the reflex to the stimulus of crying is cash in her palm.
I have visibly turned a few shades darker on account of playing in the sun. Seeing my name in the newspaper after a long 3 year wait was a good feeling. Hopefully there'll be an increase in the size of the print in which my name appears. (:P) If anybody has the patience check out TOI, june 5th, last page under KSCA leagues, under brief scores, the last match
Tasted red wine today! It somehow tasted like the sweeter ayurvedic "kashayas" that I'm used to drinking.
Cioa... may you not be bored!
What did get some of the ice thawing was a function I attended today. It was a relative's 70 year's shanthi (more specifically Bheemarathi shanthi). All I did understand is that I was going to get some good free meals. As with most people I went to claim my meal today and after going through the initial overdoze of monotonous carrer counselling, I found my self seated amongst my cousins. One of my cousins, a young girl of around 8 was crying incessently. What does the father do about it? Takes out his wallet, stylishly fishes out a 100 rupee note and the crying stops instantly.
If just whining will get me a 100 bucks.. that's half my pocket money by the way, I will be happy whining just once a week. Something like a ceremonial weekly whine.
Is it a healthy sign to keep stuffing your young daughter's hand with cash every time she cries? After a few minutes I realized that the crying was for the cash and nothing else. The rest of us looked at each other in wonder. I was utterly disgusted with the upbringing that girl has had. It is definitely not her fault though. She knows that the reflex to the stimulus of crying is cash in her palm.
I have visibly turned a few shades darker on account of playing in the sun. Seeing my name in the newspaper after a long 3 year wait was a good feeling. Hopefully there'll be an increase in the size of the print in which my name appears. (:P) If anybody has the patience check out TOI, june 5th, last page under KSCA leagues, under brief scores, the last match
Tasted red wine today! It somehow tasted like the sweeter ayurvedic "kashayas" that I'm used to drinking.
Cioa... may you not be bored!
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