tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71079912613802440342024-03-05T20:50:15.407-08:00The Book World"So many books, so little time.”
― Frank ZappaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-8587530687012044952021-10-26T08:23:00.001-07:002021-10-26T08:23:18.051-07:00The Dark Forest (Remembrance of Earth's Past #2) by Liu Cixin <p> Why is the space so quiet?</p><p>How would humanity fare when an advanced civilisation, the <a href="https://aliens.fandom.com/wiki/Trisolaran#:~:text=Trisolarans%20are%20a%20species%20native,Body%20Problem%20and%20its%20sequels.">Trisolarans</a>, is on its way to invade earth? </p><p>The Dark Forest, the second book after The Three-Body Problem, answers these questions in a gripping and century spanning epic. The story picks up with humanity gearing up to face the consequences of <a href="https://www.gradesaver.com/the-three-body-problem/study-guide/character-list#ye-wenjie" target="_blank">Dr. Ye Wenjie</a>'s decision to reinitiate contact with the Trisolarans (read Three-Body Problem), revealing to them Earth's location. In this world nothing on earth is hidden from the Trisolarans due to their advanced technology except for human thoughts.</p><p>The Dark Forest is not only set on earth with humanity's hopes pinned on four 'wallfacers' but also in space where humanity is building a formidable space force to face the incoming Trisolarans.</p>Tracer Bullethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01141997977919042498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-27398208671801910782016-02-08T06:32:00.000-08:002016-02-08T06:33:38.371-08:00Right Ho, Jeeves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9SBD-n0zEVhWIwLilBHIyEbMQQ780UHSgPntzaZPTXdPHgME0D3LTG3TbHqH9BBKs2W_UFNC5ptjjKouaYzfxl3jlYDvVul8-PVULHn2ufS-QNLkqnwMyptAPbTPeJlo-bETBZLwQlaV/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9SBD-n0zEVhWIwLilBHIyEbMQQ780UHSgPntzaZPTXdPHgME0D3LTG3TbHqH9BBKs2W_UFNC5ptjjKouaYzfxl3jlYDvVul8-PVULHn2ufS-QNLkqnwMyptAPbTPeJlo-bETBZLwQlaV/s1600/download.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Synopsis: Bertie Wooster is back from a refreshing holiday from Cannes
where he spent time with his Aunt Dahlia, Cousin Angela and one Lady Basset. Now in his abode in London, he is surprised to
get a telegram from his Aunt asking him to immediately come to Brinkley Court (where she resides) to attend some urgent matters. Meanwhile
Jeeves, his buter, is helping one of Bertie's old school pal by the name Gussie
Fink-Nottle, who is a nerd and an authority on newts to woo Lady Basset. Lady Basset who happens to be family friend of
Aunt Dahlia is staying at Brinkley Court currently. Around the same time cousin Angela breaks off
her engagement with Tuppy Glossop, who also happens to a school pal of
Bertie. Being of chivalrous nature,
Bertie rushes to Brinkley court to amend the relations between Angela and
Glossop as well as to unite the pair of Gussie Fink-Nottle and Lady Basset. But chivalry is not enough in the world of PG
Wodehouse and the brilliant Bertie schemes tend to turn Brinkley court into a disaster
zone. But then Bertie has Jeeves, doesn’t
he?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Right Ho, Jeeves (Jeeves, #6)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1302047500m/9850375.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9850375-right-ho-jeeves">Right Ho, Jeeves</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7963.P_G_Wodehouse">P.G. Wodehouse</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1534078830">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
One word will suffice, hilarious!<br /><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/8912090-dhiraj-kartik">View all my reviews</a>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-66049626805876782122015-01-19T03:26:00.001-08:002015-01-19T03:26:14.134-08:00Sherlock Holmes - The complete novels and stories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLmKBACRrs5-iX7Fg0TzFwrlNVYDT7HIw643kdk_kwi2Qsd5rS4K0SvSkYRor-MhXTikgQbWcJBGeg_JafqBwPY_wV_-VQVb3cb4UIx-fH3rfIB8V0RM-28I85FqnwOukAIu3Oafp1Hhv/s1600/IMG_20150118_134316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLmKBACRrs5-iX7Fg0TzFwrlNVYDT7HIw643kdk_kwi2Qsd5rS4K0SvSkYRor-MhXTikgQbWcJBGeg_JafqBwPY_wV_-VQVb3cb4UIx-fH3rfIB8V0RM-28I85FqnwOukAIu3Oafp1Hhv/s1600/IMG_20150118_134316.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>The world's greatest detective and his trusted aide never disappoint. No matter how many times you go through their adventures, the dark grey mist which surrounds London does not appear to be much threatening, thanks to these tenants of 221B Baker Street.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWuFu2AMmXzMVazJMlRzwNDDgB5Ok_Q5lPnmraFi9Wdncnyr8ZLQfAJmo5Id3LcLX4WgIyrKKp2qL7qZCvHQYrybDXrT8ez0PYOrwb90E9NoR61CbZKiud6wmmq4B-xf6kBoJEJ5Q78xn4/s1600/IMG_20150118_134216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWuFu2AMmXzMVazJMlRzwNDDgB5Ok_Q5lPnmraFi9Wdncnyr8ZLQfAJmo5Id3LcLX4WgIyrKKp2qL7qZCvHQYrybDXrT8ez0PYOrwb90E9NoR61CbZKiud6wmmq4B-xf6kBoJEJ5Q78xn4/s1600/IMG_20150118_134216.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>The set shown in the picture was picked up by me from the now defunct Alphabet Book Store in Kadavanthara, Kochi, back in August 2005. The two volumes contains all the Novels, Novellas, Short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyal starring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It is a collector's delight and a book connoisseur's dream. After all isn't it elementary .......!<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-17688339166248321422014-01-24T23:48:00.001-08:002014-01-24T23:48:29.751-08:00Two States - the story of my marriage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a somewhat fictionalized autobiographical account of
how the writer, Chetan Bhagat, met his better half during his IIM days. The protagonist of the story, Krish Malhotra
is a Punjabi guy, who falls for Ananya Swaminathan, a Chennail girl, his
classmate at IIM-A. The story recounts
the difficulties he has to face to bring together two of India’s polar opposite
communities together inside a marriage mandapam. The writing is laced with humor, sarcasm, and
witty references.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/2_States_-_The_Story_Of_My_Marriage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/2_States_-_The_Story_Of_My_Marriage.jpg" width="200" /></a><b>Synopsis</b>: The story as is usual for Chetan Bhagat,
starts with Krish’s visit to a psychiatrist after suffering a nervous breakdown. He
narrates to her (psychiatrist), how he met Ananya for the first time, how they
get going. Krish comes from a Pubjabi
middle class family in Delhi. His father
was working in army and has been a unsuccessful entrepreneur in his civilian
life. His mother has been a housewife
all her life. Their family life has
never been good. Studying hard and as a
result having a brilliant academic credential was Krish’s way to escape from
the daily quarrels at home and also to keep his mind occupied. Ananya on the other hand comes from a upper
middle class family from Chennai. Her
father is working in PSU Bank. She has a
younger brother who is an aspiring IIT geek.
Her mother is a house wife who loves carnatic music and is a amateur
singer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus the family of both Krish & Ananya are as different as they come. However, both of them are hell bent on
making their relationship work. During
convocation ceremony, Krish & Ananya try to get a bonding session between
their family. As Krish is not on
speaking terms with his father, his mother is the attendee from his side. Ananya’s full family is there on the
eve. The bonding session turns out to be
a fiasco with both families sticking to their stereotypes about the other
community brief skirmishes ensue despite the firefighting done by Ananya &
Krish.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Krish, who gets a job with Citibank, deliberately chooses
Chennai for his training. He uses this
period of time to get close to Ananya’s family.
He tutors Ananya’s brother for IIT entrance. He eventually wins Ananya’s father on his
side by helping him with a power point presentation. Last but not least, he gets a show for
ananya’s mother, where she shares the stage with legends SPB &
Hariharan. Her singing is widely
appreciated. Thus he conquers the last
frontier as far as Chennai is concerned.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now comes the bigger hurdle.
To convince his Punjabi
community, which mainly consists of his mother’s relatives. Krish’s training is over & he opts for
Delhi. Ananya to comes to Delhi as part
of her corporate work for 1 week. Ananya wins over his younger cousins, but
winning over Krish’s Mom still remains a distant dream. Krish is not concerned with taking his
father’s approval for the wedding, as he has always remained aloof. Krish & Ananya take their family to Goa
for another session of bonding which turns out a bigger disaster than their
first one. Ananya finally gives up on
reconciliation efforts as she thinks it is difficult for her Punjabi in-laws to
accept a South Indian Bride. This leads
to the nervous breakdown which finally culminates in the meeting with
psychiatrist. His love story seems to be
doomed, when suddenly out of nowhere, an unexpected player turns up and helps
to break the ice, and eventually sets in a motion a chain of events concluding
with the marriage of Krish & Ananya (Tamil Wedding).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>My views</b>: There is something in the writing of Chetan
Bhagat, which touches the raw nerve of youth.
The soaring book sales and that Movie makers are queing up for bagging
movie rights are sufficient proof of that.
The reader will be chuckling even
while going through the scenes where Krish suffers a nervous breakdown. It is because of the underlying sarcasm and
dark humor, which I believe, is his greatest USP.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I chanced upon this book when it came out in 2009, but at
that time, I had read all three of his writings, <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">(</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Five Point Someone, One Night @ Callcenter & Three Mistakes of my life</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span> and a cursory glance at the
beginning led me to think that Chetan Bhagat is again using his time tested
formulaic method to tell a story (present – past – present). However, I believe, this is the first time Chetan
Bhagat is trying to be preachy (though I agree with what he has to say). He insists that Indian youths should marry
outside their community in order to break the stronghold of caste &
community & thereby espousing true national integration. Overall, this is a book you should pick up on
a long travel & and it will keep you hooked till the end. </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-69534598192634960252011-12-20T22:19:00.000-08:002011-12-20T22:25:19.970-08:00Death be not proud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQa8oWU8MG_l9V7KsdZF2pBc8QkmlXiv6If8c22ncwzYnnALVp74ujlClg3" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQa8oWU8MG_l9V7KsdZF2pBc8QkmlXiv6If8c22ncwzYnnALVp74ujlClg3" /></a>I did not have any idea that it was a gem of a book that I had picked up from that second hand shop. "Death be not proud" as the name suggests deals with death and ought to leave the reader emotionally drained and depressed towards the end, but that is not the case. As the author, John Guther Sr. himself says - "There are other criteria for measuring a life as well as its duration, quality, intensity. But for us there is no compensation, except that we can go to him though he cannot come to us. For others, I would say that it was his spirit and only his spirit that kept him alive against such dreadful obstacles for so long - this is the central pith and substance of what I am trying to write as a mournful tribute not only to Johny but to the power, the wealth, the unconquerable beauty of human spirit, will and soul."<br />
<br />
For people who love books, this will be a great read, a book which will set you thinking about the ingenuity of human spirit and the great gift that ever day brings along.<br />
<br />
<b>SYNOPSIS</b>: This is the story of John Gunther Jr. who was diagnosed with a malignant tumor of brain and given only weeks to live. He not only did fight it out for 15 months, but completed his class assignments without attending classes, received his diploma along with his classmates, undergoing all the formalities including a quarter mile walk to church on the day of convocation. (This is a boy who had just turned 17 and was losing his left side strength and functions). In the meantime, between the heavily straining operations, he found to communicate with Albert Einstein on "Unified field theory," had serious discussions with the doctors regarding the tumor, the tests, the results and also brought a smile to the face of everyone who came in touch with him, from the liftman to the nurses, doctors, barber, not to forget other patients.<br />
<br />
Let me finish this post with Johny's prayer.<br />
<br />
Unbeliever's prayer<br />
Almighty God<br />
Forgive me for my agnosticism<br />
For I shall try to keep it gentle, not cynical<br />
nor a bad influence<br />
And O!<br />
if thou are truly in the heaven<br />
accept my gratitude<br />
for all thy gifts<br />
and I shall try<br />
to fight the good fight.<br />
Amen.<br />
<br />
~ John Gunther Jr<br />
May 1946.<br />
<br />
<br />
NOTE: This post was written in February 2007 while I was working in Coimbatore. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-37615986222168482832011-12-11T08:31:00.000-08:002011-12-11T08:39:26.661-08:00The Chosen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">"The Chosen" is a book written by American Jewish Rabbi Chaim Potok. Since the writer is a rabbi, the book deals extensively with Jewish culture, and one would come across a lot of words particular to this religion. But what makes this book great is the captivating story that it unfolds.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDFdKf2gOt73m6FOyLRuCKP7jOXsh9eJKQ4qyceDyXelsN7om_b5djKOyyWiQn4t4kPv0wBI-e713iPbyB6qYteIiSV5re_QbevUilGIzq9yZgTFlrpZUOaMn50vCpg8tMfcv1reVp40/s1600/TheChosen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDFdKf2gOt73m6FOyLRuCKP7jOXsh9eJKQ4qyceDyXelsN7om_b5djKOyyWiQn4t4kPv0wBI-e713iPbyB6qYteIiSV5re_QbevUilGIzq9yZgTFlrpZUOaMn50vCpg8tMfcv1reVp40/s320/TheChosen.jpg" width="185" /></a>The story has got 2 protagonists, Reuven Malters, who is also the narrator, an orthodox Jew and Danny Saunders, a Hasidic Jew (Hasidic sect are very very conservative). Reuven's father, David Malter is a teacher, religious scholar with a scientific and secular outlook, whereas Danny's father Reb. Isaac Saunders is the head of Hasidic sect and comes across as a religious fanatic who is quite angry with David Malter for propagating his secular and scientific outlook as well as later for actively supporting Zionism.<br />
<br />
This is the story of friendship that develops between Reuven and Danny despite their basic differences over several issues. Reuven is an extrovert, who is brilliant in mathematics and is a good student of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud">Talmud</a>, whereas Danny is an introvert, who takes a lot of time to open up and possesses photographic memory and is very much ahead of Reuven as far as Talmud learning is concerned.<br />
<br />
The story is full of conflicts. There is this conflict of ideas between David Malter (Reuven's father) and Reb. Isaac Saunders (Danny's father). There is also this conflict between Judaism and the secular American world as both Orthodox and Hasidic Jews are immigrants trying to fit into liberal and secular American culture. There is conflict between Danny and his father as Danny does not want to occupy the position of patriarch of Hasidic sect, which usually the eldest son of the leader inherits, instead he wants to study psychoanalysis and do research on it. There is conflict of ideas between Reuven and Danny due to their difference in upbringing.<br />
<br />
In spite of carrying so much contrast and conflict, this also is a beautiful story of friendship between 2 boys, and later 2 young men (as the boys grow up), also this is a story of 2 fathers who love their sons in entirely different ways.<br />
<br />
This book gave me an insight into Judaism as well as a peak into Jewish mind in the aftermath of World war II and the Holocaust and is certainly the best book that I have read in 2011 and will certainly count it as one among my favorites.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-35353300283713201102011-05-30T19:41:00.000-07:002011-06-25T03:02:42.416-07:00Doctor in love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3w_2TBYmE5uP-bzRM9DiPWdTEjjP8mCS3iZu9xWEQMcdNjVw_" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3w_2TBYmE5uP-bzRM9DiPWdTEjjP8mCS3iZu9xWEQMcdNjVw_" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The monsoon has started to make its presence felt in Kerala, and I am rather feeling it acutely in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the form of power outage one day, then internet unavailability on the other. It was one such day..err..night when I was without net and all the thundering and lightening going on in the background that I turned to my much neglected and dilapidated bookshelf. The archeologist in me was suddenly alive and I started digging. (My book shelf is more like a mound so one has to really dig). After digging deep, at last I was able to come up with Richard Gordon's "Doctor in love." It is a book I had purchased some time back and had entirely forgotten. Now the time was ripe, and so off I went to the land of Dr. Richard Gordon, an intern at St. Swithin's hospital, who during a bout of jaundice falls in love, gets duped, vows to remain bachelor, and then when all was going fine and he least expected, love happens again, this time sweeping him off his feet and the story ends with tying of nuptial. </span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With his queer friends and queerer mentor, Dr. Richard Gordon's world is funny and I had a great time reading this book.</span></div><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did I enjoy this more because I am an MT, well, I cannot really say so, but perhaps the medicals humors made more sense to me due to my work and training, but still I guess those who love reading should enjoy this one.</span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-84112602923586241462011-01-20T02:13:00.000-08:002014-01-16T05:14:19.742-08:00Siddartha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested ~ Sir. Francis Bacon.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<a href="http://daylover.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/scover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://daylover.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/scover.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After reading Siddartha, written by Hermann Hesse, this old quote from Sir Francis Bacon kept on reverberating in my mind, for Siddartha certainly comes under the third kind of books mentioned by him.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story set in the times of Gautam Buddha tells about the search for the true self by a young man named Siddartha. Written in simple yet lyrical style, the story leaves a profound impact on the readers mind and poses some very straight, but complex questions regarding life and God, the answer to which Siddhartha himself has been unable to find, which forces him to set off in a non-traditional path for self discovery.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is based on the Advaita school of thought, which states that God resides in the self only, but the self because of maya/deception is unable to realize God.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is also the story of friendship, between Siddartha and Govinda (childhood friends) and also between that of Siddartha and Vasudeva (the boatman), who later on becomes a sort of mentor to Siddartha.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;">Another amazing thing about this book is that it was written in German, still the translation has been able to convey the subtleties, and thanks to the translation, the thoughts of Siddartha and Hermann Hesse would never be lost to people not knowing German language.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-14574893044275888772010-12-04T11:23:00.000-08:002014-01-16T05:15:31.959-08:00Mohan Bhai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">This post is not about any book, and to tell the truth, actually I am not much into reading these days, although I did finish Ken Follet's Whiteout some time back.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would like to share something with all of you here. As we keep getting lost in the daily grind of life, we do miss the point....that is life is simple, and life is beautiful.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the way, you may be wondering who is Mohan Bhai, hmm....he is neither my colleague nor a relative, although, I can say he is a friend I got from www like some of you. And how I bumped into him is an interesting tale.....</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am an on and off member of Shelfari, some times I am active there for prolonged periods of time, other times I am in hibernation, and it was during one such period of hibernation that I was informed by e-mail that book information on one of my favorite books, "Swami and friends" had been modified, out of curiosity I decided to visit Shelfari and found Mohan Bhai. I gave him friendship request on Shelfari which he promptly accepted and asked for some samples of his short stories (he had mentioned about it in his profile).....I also added him in Face book and it was there in FB, that while going through his blogs, it suddenly dawned on me that his friendly demeanor and humor masked pain and suffering. He was a cancer patient, it came as a rude shock to me, suddenly I started seeing him in a different light.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite suffering from a deadly disease, I found him to be a humorous person, looking at the sunny side of life.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am reproducing his FB notes here...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My simple pleasures of life</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1) drenching in the rain<br />
(2) touching the petals of the flowers that carry drops of rain<br />
(3) observing kids' expressions while they watch cartoons on TV<br />
(4) doodling on the window glass while it rains outside<br />
(5) getting licked on face by my pet dog<br />
(6) watching the swaying trees just before it rains<br />
(7) observing the girl in love<br />
(8) long drive with the loved one, hand-in-hand<br />
(9) reading out stories to kids<br />
(10) teaching mathematics or science to children<br />
(11) rest my head on my loved one's shoulder while we watch the sun setting<br />
(12) touch her well-made up strands of hair gently<br />
(13) listening to ghazals in the moonlight<br />
(14) having dinner in a roof-top gazebo with classical music in the background<br />
(15) smelling the pages of the book that I read</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<h2 class="uiHeaderTitle" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Things I want to do in my lifetime</span></span></h2>
<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1) Spend a week in Switzerland</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(2) Read 1000 books of literature</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(3) Learn speaking French</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(4) Learn playing guitar</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(5) Help atleast 50 patients fight against cancer</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(6) Help atleast 3 people achieve their dreams</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(7) Publish atleast 1 article in Harvard Business Review (HBR)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(8) Write atleast 1 textbook</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(9) Be part of a historical/archaeological expedition</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(10) Organize 5 tennis tournaments</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(11) Watch all grand-slam finals at their respective venues</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(12) Write 5 stories and 2 novels of fiction</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(13) Help atleast 1 company improve its top-line</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(14) Pursue doctoral research</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He passed away on December 3, 2010. His death did come as a shock as I was under the impression that he would recover, but at least his suffering had ended, as desired by him in his last </span><a href="http://mygreenshoots.blogspot.com/2010/11/chest-pain-fever-phew.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blog</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> post.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"> </span><br />
<a href="http://deekayrites.blogspot.com/2010/12/tribute-for-mohan-bhai.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;">RIP dear Mohan Bhai</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;">...</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-5090858385461585712010-10-12T06:49:00.000-07:002011-01-31T07:42:21.287-08:00The book of life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Isn't our life itself like a book, although there is no guarantee that there will be a certain ending or whether it will be left unfinished. I felt like this due to an event which happened last </span></span><a href="http://deekayrites.blogspot.com/2010/10/rip-jyotish.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">week</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">. Although I have read about death in many books and the different perspective that it brings, still no amount of reading can compensate for the real life experience. To see a man with whom you talked recently, lying in front of you, surrounded by wailing family members is heart wrenching and pondering over his death left me with many "what if" and "why" !! There were only 2 answers to be elicited for this event (which were also the cliched ones), 1. He was very good and thats why he was called back. 2. His time had come, so nothing could have stopped his demise.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Being a novice in spiritual matters, I do not know what to derive from all this, except the fact that life is unpredictable, and the most important thing is I am still here to fight out another day.....</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Hey friends, if any of you are interested in sharing your ideas here, please do let me know and I will add you as team member/contributor here.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-45316937715390851422010-09-26T09:33:00.000-07:002011-01-31T07:44:06.827-08:00The road not taken<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">And sorry I could not travel both</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">And be one traveler long I stood</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">And looked down one as far as I could</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">To where it bent in the undergrowth;</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<a href="http://smartlemming.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/road-not-taken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><img border="0" src="http://smartlemming.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/road-not-taken.jpg" /></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Then took the other as just as fair</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">And having perhaps the better claim</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Because it was grassy and wanted wear</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Though as for that passing there</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Had worn them really about the same,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">And both that morning equally lay,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">In leaves no step had trodden black,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Oh, I marked the first for another day,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Yet knowing how way leads to another way,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">I doubted if I should ever come back.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">I shall be telling this with a sigh,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Somewhere ages and ages hence,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Two roads diverged in a wood, and I</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Took the one less traveled by,</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">And that has made all the difference.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">This beautiful poem by Robert Frost has stood the test of time and would continue to touch a cord within the reader's heart every time it is read. What if I had taken that path, instead of this, which would have in turn lead to a different path and eventually the universe where I am sitting and contemplating this thought would have crumbled and a new world would have come to fore....would that one be better than the one I am currently inhabiting?</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAUr14P87NhTUA1SV_pfbixEJcNWTapj6A08DXJn0zNgcfsfOdG-D13N4Zkm-Fza4uE7KGsk5JSY8UjJSBX-2RlkSMHqfmp0J-cKxuGheTIfqsq4rM4JEVqNCrlnr3jWdumwLKpIN5F0/s320/2518_Full_jonneygonedown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAUr14P87NhTUA1SV_pfbixEJcNWTapj6A08DXJn0zNgcfsfOdG-D13N4Zkm-Fza4uE7KGsk5JSY8UjJSBX-2RlkSMHqfmp0J-cKxuGheTIfqsq4rM4JEVqNCrlnr3jWdumwLKpIN5F0/s320/2518_Full_jonneygonedown.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Well that is the question posed by Karan Bajaj through his hero Nikhil Arya in his second novel "Johnny Gone Down." Nikhil has walked the less traveled road and what a road it had turned out to be! From Cambodia to Thailand, from Thailand to Brazil, from Brazil to US, and from US to India, spanning different lives and careers. A tourist who eventually becomes a genocide survivor, a monk, an accountant (exclusively for the mob), and a software guy.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">A racy novel with an underlying dark as well as witty undertone, "Johnny Gone Down" is a thorough entertainer, and reading this novel is like watching a good masala movie. Karan himself admits of being inspired from Forrest Gump and also some other </span></span><a href="http://www.karanbajaj.com/Q&Awithkaran.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">movies and books</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">If you are in a mood to read something light, casual, and interesting at the same time, Johnny Gone Down is the book for you.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Also as an afterthought, I would like to add, whichever road we take, the journey is what matters and the friends we make on our way is what matters, and Nikhil aka Johnny would concur with that....;-)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-46462594323943589522010-09-12T21:32:00.000-07:002014-01-16T05:17:11.494-08:00It ain't fair<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://images2.travbuddy.com/1236173_12670909963535_bigthumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee;"><img border="0" src="http://images2.travbuddy.com/1236173_12670909963535_bigthumb.jpg" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week while travelling on Island express, I came across a young boy, whose activities moved me very much. He stepped into the compartment, removed the ragged shirt he was wearing, folded it into a bundle, came down on all fours and started sweeping the floor with that. In slow yet neat strokes, he was collecting all the dirt and dust and also moving forward at the same time. Occasionally, he would throw a soulful glance and thrust his hand forward. Now this was not the first time I was seeing this. In fact, used to see hoards of boys like this on our quadrennial trip to Kerala from Bihar, but this one set me off on a train of thoughts. I tried putting myself in this boy's place, but still could not imagine myself doing that, because even if i was in that boy's place, I was still "deekay" and deekay would never do that. I would try to work and earn money, do menial job, but wont beg. why? Because I had this upbringing in which values were inculcated in me by my parents and so it was unthinkable for me, but this boy had nothing like that. Or may be his parents had inculcated this begging thing into him, who knows!! I never had the option of choosing my parents and neither did he, but both of us did end up having parents which ultimately led us to the way we were. Now is it fair?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:-0n2jzoMawhdwM:http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/members/space/news_images/big/pharoah_news_1176451854187.jpg&t=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:-0n2jzoMawhdwM:http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/members/space/news_images/big/pharoah_news_1176451854187.jpg&t=1" height="200" width="181" /></span></a></div>
<a href="http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatpersonalities/ekalavya/ekalavya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatpersonalities/ekalavya/ekalavya.jpg" /></span></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remembered </span><a href="http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2007/4/13911_space.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karna</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekalavya"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ekalavya</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of the Mahabharata. Karna, one of the earliest known antiheroes and Ekalavya the greatest archer world would have ever known were sacrificed at the alter of life by the cruel hands of fate and destiny and, both had Arjuna as the competitor, the destiny's child.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSXT4sGv2Uti8y_GO0fNqgqCMNSxkmikXEtwd8O0zYjOHtmyWk&t=1&usg=__qXmrv0UXrfvCcDwtUecqNlgf5ZI=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSXT4sGv2Uti8y_GO0fNqgqCMNSxkmikXEtwd8O0zYjOHtmyWk&t=1&usg=__qXmrv0UXrfvCcDwtUecqNlgf5ZI=" height="200" width="129" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was while going through all these that I suddenly remembered Hassan, oh how could I forget him. The self- sacrificing, hair-lipped kite runner of Amir from the "Kite Runner." It was one of the 2 books in the recent past which had made me emotional, the other being Roots (more on that some other time).</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Meanwhile the "shirt sweeper" had reached my side by now and I placed a few coins in his hand and he made his way forward on his all 4s.....</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7107991261380244034.post-70728342533176016922010-09-05T22:36:00.000-07:002014-01-16T05:12:29.786-08:00Hobby as a career?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.marlowe-players.co.uk/Marlowe%27s%20Website/pygmalion%20poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://www.marlowe-players.co.uk/Marlowe%27s%20Website/pygmalion%20poster.jpg" height="320" width="228" /></span></span></span></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">This thought has been going through my mind for quite sometime, what if one has his hobby as his career/profession, would the boredom/job fatigue that is usually associated with ones job go away? This thought was first triggered by reading Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion wherein Prof. Henry Higgins says, "Lucky is the man who has his hobby as his profession." Here, he was referring to himself, a phoneticist by profession, who was madly in love with English language and had mastered all its nuances. A hobby according to the American Heritage dictionary is an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure. So going by that definition, a hobby technically stops being a hobby once it becomes a profession. Still can the amount of satisfaction derived from doing a job as a hobby be equal or greater than doing the same as a professional one, because the latter one comes with a lot of strings attached!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.semiliterati.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/my-name-is-red-orhan-pamuk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://www.semiliterati.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/my-name-is-red-orhan-pamuk.jpg" height="320" width="232" /></span></span></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">To add to the confusion, this is what Orhan Pamuk says through a character in his famed book, 'My name is Red', "To avoid disappointment in art, one mustn't treat it as a career. Despite whatever great artistic sense and talent a man might possess, he ought to seek money and power elsewhere to avoid forsaking his art when he fails to receive proper compensation for his gifts and efforts." My uncle from whom I borrowed this book is a very good example for the above statement. He has a great love for literature, especially his native language Malayalam, closely followed by English. He has carved out a name for himself in the literary circles of Malayalam and has a couple of books to his credit, but he never lived by his hobby. He is a qualified accountant (now retired) and he himself admitted to me that he never thought of writing/literature as a full time career as he did not think he could support himself doing only that.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><br />
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517vEqw20SL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517vEqw20SL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">After a lot of deliberations and contemplations on both of these views, I came to the conclusion that the best path lay somewhere in the middle. Incidentally, I am also reading One person/Multiple careers, by Marci Alboher, which made me believe in the middle path. The case studies given in this book are an eyeopener for the readers, many of whom may have felt the yearning desire to do something creative, but who stick to the routine day job due to the financial security it provides. This premise has been taken by the slash person (Marci's term for person pursuing multiple interest) and adjusted according to his or her requirements. One of the best and most endearing case study that I remember is about a person who works as a freelance computer programmer to support himself and pay off his bills and in the free time pursues theater, which he is passionate about. He has sort of achieved a balance between the two, and when he feels like things getting over his head in one of them, he just switches to another (from theater to computer and vice versa).</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">A medical transcriptionist/aspiring accountant/blogger seems to be an ideal slash career for me, but that figures do some times appear slippery and I am always too lazy to write (but still I do have a faithful reader~Joby, hope u read this) appears to be the 2 hitches for me. Only time can tell what I will make out of myself, anyway, it has been a great journey.....</span></span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09766662233160713768noreply@blogger.com5