Salvation!!

The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and who will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

Author's Note: This took like about 2 minutes to scribble down..and seriously, 15 is just way too less!!!

In no particular order:
All time favourites:
1. Tom Clancy (The only movie series adapted from a book that didn't leave me disappointed have been authored by this guy..though I guess Harrison Ford had more to do with it than the novelist-cum-scriptwriter himself! )
2. John Grisham (I almost became a lawyer because of him!)
3. Sidney Sheldon (For those quick reads)
4. Stephaine Mayor (Human-Vampire-Werewolf Triangle; makes me wish the Underworld series had been books first)
5. PC and Kristen Cast (Gossip Girls AND the Twilight Series rolled into one!!)
6. J.K Rowling (.....)
7. JRR Tolkein (Consistent with my fascination with the world of fantasy, the 3-in-1 LOTR book is one of the books in my book collection, dating way back to 2000 AD)

One -book wonders :
8. Jodi Picoult - My Sister's Keeper
9. Eric Segal - Love Story

(I cried buckets and buckets while reading both of them!)

Oldies and Goldies:
10. George Bernard Shaw (His plays-OMG! Arms and the Man-Eternal favourite)
11. Rabindranath Tagore (The only Indian author/poet I've stayed loyal to)
12. Shakespeare (Every known play, Unabridged version)
13. Lord Byron (For the romantic! And Don Juan anyone?? Epitaph to a Dog, Love's Last Adieu, She walks in Beauty..marvels of poetry I tell you!)
14. Wordsworth (It would be ghastly to mention Byron but not this fellow in the same space!)
15. Ok..I'm going to cheat and break the rules here... :D
      The Bronte Sisters (For their women-centric works)



Narrow Misses:
1. Robert Ludlum (many know him for the Bourne Books alone..my favourite- HMS Unseen)
2. Robin Cook (Wish he would write some more...which reminds me..NAMAN, I NEED THAT BOOK!!!!)
3. Herge (Teeeeeenteeeeeeeeeeeen!)

What's In Today

The most fabulous piece of news (no, I'm not being sarcastic) I've heard in a long long time calls for no preamble today.

1. It's official. India will host its first Formula 1 Grand Prix on October 30, 2011.
With this new track being built at Greater Noida by the same guy who gave the world the F1 circuits in Malaysia, Bahrain, China, Turkey, UAE and South Korea (I guess I should mention his name-some Mr. Herman Tilke), formula one racing in India has almost come to a full circle -with our own driver (past perfect) and Team (Mwaah Mallaya!!).

Also what warmed the heart was that the 5.14km track is built by the Noida-based Jaypee Sports International. The U.S. of A should be taking notes on how to prevent outsourcing rather than whining about it and then tackling it by asking lame questions about their history which I doubt even a patriot there would know!


2. Commonwealth Games
I can't seem to get enough of taking a dig at India's first international sporting biggie. The latest that is in on this front if that work will continue upto 3rd October. Here's the catch- 3rd October conincidently happens to be the day the CWG actually start! Blame it on the procedural hurdles or the incessant rains that seem to be bugging only Delhi (Come over to the land that goes by the name Durgapur, O Merciful Rain God!), we citizens can still accept that. However, some dud in the Delhi ministry went on to say ' Bhai, this is toh democracy..' (something to that effect).

By the way, I can't help feeling sorry (for everybody and nobody at the same time) when I read this piece of news- "This Friday, Delhi braces for worst flood since 1978". Amen.

3. Crucial Babri title suit verdict on Sept 24.
All Hail the Lord (Ram or Rahim-your pick)!. In what will certainly not be the end of the 60-year old tussle, the Allahabad High Court will give its verdict on the ownership of the Babri site. Next stop: The Supreme Court of course. This verdict though will certainly set a precedent to what has eluded us for more than half a century-an amicable settlement of the masjid-temple divide issue.

Quote of the Day: "The way the country deals with it will have a profound impact on the evolution of the country." -PM

4. U.S Open: Bopanna and Qureshi reach semis.
A good Indo-Pak bonhomie story, this one. The only Indian left in the draw, Bopanna gets all my best wishes for this last slam of the season. Go Boy!

5. HC verdict may force Vodafone to pay $2.6bn tax!!
Well, outsourcing is seriously least of our problems because things like these take the cake! Literally shooing the foreign investors away is the Bombay High Court by slamming a petition filed by the global telecom giant against the Indian income tax department's power to impose a capital gains tax on its $11 billion-plus acquisition in 2007 of a controlling 67% stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd (HEL). 

Why this is news: This is the first time an Indian court has passed verdict on whether Indian tax authorites have jurisdiction over a transaction between two overseas corporate entities (British-born Vodafone and the Hutchison group of Hong Kong-based multibillionaire Li Ka-shing) concerning a business venture in India (operating assests of HEL were in India).


6. Joke of the Day: Shiney never raped me-Maid.
 This is seven witnesses, plenty of forensic evidence and one year later. For a guy whose career was just taking flight with movies like Bhool Bhulaiya, this is one bummer!

Looooong Day..........

What's In Today

Over the last couple of days, I've only been admonishing myself for letting down the ardent readers this series had gathered in a short span of time (er, two days do qualify as a 'span of time'). I sincerely hope that this time around, I manage a decent streak of posts before pretending to get lost in Bermuda again (If that left you scratching your head, stay tuned for a post on 'The Bermuda').
All the pitter-patter aside, the latest happenings that will be creating headlines across dailies tomorrow are going to be something along these lines...(In no particular order today)

1. Kolar - a gold mine again!!
After being shut in 2001, the 121- year old Kolar mines in KA (second deepest in the world after the South African ones) still have an estimated 30L tonnes (1 ton = 1000 kgs, you can do the math) of pristine gold deposits. With gold selling at a record Rs 19,000-plus per 10 grams, it would be a windfall for all those fretting mums and wedding planners!

2. BCCI set to sever Modi's last link with cricket.
For a man who gave us the IPL, this is one sad and cruel story. The suspended cricket Sheikh could well have seen his last days in this field as the BCCI continues to deviously plot ways to keep him from not just the sporting gala but also from all BCCI posts in the future (Don't want another Azhar, I guess). Guilty before tried. That's BCCI. Oh wait-that's India!

3. Another 'It Happens Only In India' event: Haryana MPs get their salaries for the first time in 44 years.
Ever since the inception of the state, the Haryana MPs, who were till today getting only petty (I, um, can not verify that!) allowances, will 'soon' get their salaries. When it's raining molaah for the MPs elsewhere in India, why shoult thee stay behind?!

4. Jharkhand's probable new CM-Mr. Arjun Munda (ya..for the third time)
Defeating another veteran at this job, Mr Soren, The BJP and the JMMform an alliance yet again. All I can say is that after two terms of President's Rule and seven governments in 10 years, for the sake of the pockets of the common man, I sincerely wish the new (really inappropriate adjective) government  works out this time around.


5. And the Bandh ofcourse!
Thanks to eight central trade unions, including the Congress affiliated AITUC,  we at college had the day off. And so did the economy of  the country (thanks to overzealous party workers especially in my favourite states*- KL and WB).  After exhaustive googling about the strike, the reason for the nation wide bandh turned out to be price rise!! This is the one things we Indians are really adept at - Raking up old issues when all is quite and calm. (To add credibility to their cause, the strikers threw in some heavy words like 'alleged violation of labor laws and disinvestment in PSUs' ). Whatever their issues, lets hope it's amicably resolved to their satisfaction in  the PM-Sonia meet scheduled a couple of days from today.

Since I'm tired of being politically correct, I must say that the holiday was indeed welcome :D



*sarcasm written all over it

That Day It Rained...

 Do not stand at my grave and weep;
    I am not there. I do not sleep.

   I am a thousand winds that blow.
   I am the diamond glints on snow.

   I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
   I am the gentle autumn rain.
  
   When you awaken in the morning's hush
   I am the swift uplifting rush
   Of quiet birds in circled flight.
  
   I am the soft stars that shine at night.
   Do not stand at my grave and cry;
   I am not there. I did not die.



One day in Kolkata last summer, it rained. No, I wasn't in the city that day. I was 1,303 kilometers away in the Andaman Islands sitting out a storm, alone at home.The storm blew part of our roof away and drenched our television set and my Mom's laundry. Nothing too dramatic.
I have always wondered- that day when it rained in Kolkata, why wasn't the day just as uneventful.

What lead to the events is irrelevant in the light of what happened. Zorro, my favorite, stout, lion-like lazy, smashing stud of a bull mastiff drowned in the pond in the backyard of my cousins' place during West Bengal's worst cyclone, Aila. If only it had been the television.

My cousins' place in Kolkata is mad dog house, literally! 17 dogs the last time I counted. Hounds, Mastiffs, Pugs, Great Danes- they are all there. So, when I came back after my holidays, I had decided to stay away from these adorable sweethearts lest I have to go through the trauma of seeing a favorite become dear to the Almighty all over again.

Snow wasn't making it any easy. Super spoiled, courtesy the fact that it stayed inside the house (just like Zorro..I should have known), Snow was petted and pampered by everyone-from the Class 9 kid to the rosary telling members of the family.

I'll skip the mushy stuff including how I rescued him on a rainy day from under a bush where his collar got stuck (yeah yeah..we rolled in the mud) or when I was morose on another rainy day, sitting on the window sill and Snow patiently heard me rambling throughout the afternoon, appearing to be nodding and frowning at all the appropriate places.

I also remember that last rainy morning. It was 4am and I was leaving for my aunt's place. From there I would be leaving for Hyderabad, my home from this summer on. Snow was sitting on top of one of my bags and getting his fur all the over place. And of course, barking himself crazy. The last thing I recollect telling him was- "SNOOOOOOOOOOW!! YOU"LL WAKE THE HOUSE UP..KEEP IT DOWN!!!"

No " I'll miss you these two months that I'll be gone", no " Be a good dog", no " You are the cutest, most adorable darling I've known". Nothing.

Fast forward to a month later. Another rainy morning, this time in Hyderabad. My cousin bro calls up and specifically asks for me. And then just like that, it happened yet again.

Snow died of a some unknown disease-one of the millions that plague this planet  and no one could do a thing about it.

Today, it rained yet again. I was sitting on my bed, starting at the grounds that I can see from my window. I was missing someone. And then all of this came back and it struck me--that someone is Snow. And Zorro. They were like the sun that warmed and brightened a dark day for me. They did not judge me, they did not stomp off and leave me in a lurch, they did not tell me that I was in the wrong when I was bawling my lungs out, and those brown eyes were full of something soothing and comforting.

I realized something in black and white today. As they say, Life never plays fair and that we may never get a chance to say the goodbye we wanted to give to someone and then there will be a time when only one of us lives to regret that.

Snow and Zorro - you were both amazing dogs, a credit to your kind. Though there will be others, there certainly won't be any like the two of you for me. I hope you both are making someone's day, like you always made mine.

Rest In Peace.

Amen.

PS: I still miss you.

Snow

 

Baby Zorro

The Romantic

Look at the pictures. And please do not just glance at them. Imagine yourself there. Close your eyes.
Ask yourself what you see and what you feel.

I see myself there and I'm not alone. I'm with a faceless man. I initially thought the guy was Daddy; both of us strolling, me kicking up those beautiful leaves or the two of us leaning against the railing over looking the waters, having our heart-to-heart chats. I can hear someone chuckling out there.But ya, that's me-Daddy's baby. People talk about Mother Teresa and Sachin Tendulkar as thier idols but ever since I was a toddler, i adored my dad. And some 19-20 years down the line, nothing has changed. Not even Mahatma Gandhi ever managed to dethrone him. That's my Dad.


But then no. It's not my dad. That faceless man, remember? Who is it then?

I do not know. Vague as it sounds, this is going to be any romantic's answer and don't you dare laugh! Ofcourse, I'm only talking about those who have not been lucky in love (All romantics have loved at some point of time).

What do I see? Besides this faceless man?

See- you need a reason to be an ardent K.Jo fan. After all, he casts a 44-year old in almost all of his movies-there has got to be something in those movies other than an ageing dimpled-cheeked seasonal smoker(Hey! Do not get me wrong-I have loved and adored him since i was 4!).And this is my reason-His movies appeal to the romantic at heart. We need happy our happy ending. And we enjoy these happy endings even more when we had to go through hail storms and high waters to get there. Its not that we harp on melodrama. We just feel that to get somewhere, if you have known pain, you learn to value it more. If something was to fall on your lap from the clear skies , you for all the cows' sake in the world, would not know what it means to someone who had to slog for it.

Anyway, that's deviating from the topic. K.Jo should thank us-the creed of Romantics (yes, our number is on the rise and you could be next-so do not sit there and smirk or roll your eyes). We love his movies because his movies tell us that love is forever and its beautiful as long as it lasts.

And the person we want by our side, sharing that beauty is this faceless guy I see in my dreams and after one major crush and two relationships later, all I know is that this guy is pretty elusive. One bit of advice for all those romantics at heart like me (I learnt it the hard way-you know, been there, done that..)-do NOT ever take the plunge and expect fairy tale endings to miraculously happen. Because they won't. And because they don't.

PS: This post has been written by a person who is home-stricken and down in doldrums and hence the depressing air about the post.
Next ones ought to be better...about NIT Idol, Hall Nite, IPL (go KKR!), Mother Jane and then Recs too :)

The Month That Was...

Exhausting to say the least.
Fraught with meaning less fights is again a negative.
Some good times were my plain and simple prerogative (It never works out that way, does it? and oh, heard you are doing great these days, Mr Malaya..great going).
Vampyres kept me captive.
TPR matters were all but festive.
The CERN selection panel left me clueless about its motive.
Mom and Dad were sportive.
Friendships went passive.
CMN's syllabi for the 2 upcoming tests are indeed massive.
Truth to me, was to others only fictive.(and vice versa)
One thing did nothing but outlive the other.
Some one misgives
But its not for me to forgive
And as the month ends, I'm just as pensive.

Damn!


I'm running late for the MNTC event-Numbola ( wonderful reminder of Tambola sessions at NOI, Kochi)..but i do feel that this one hapenning needs sharing. A certain tpr( a.k.a training and placement representative) was heard telling and i guess the following is a fairly accurate quote:
"Usne mereliye jab vote nai kya, toh mein uski baat kyu maanu?"

(If she hasn't voted for me, its not her place to tell me anything)


Very Interesting.

Lost Symbol. Truly Lost.

What a book. That's what i told myself after i finished the book in 4 hours and 25 mins. However, its so not the same 'What a book' i had told myself after the Da Vinci or Angel n Demons or even Deception Point for that matter (i did not find Digital Fortress as enticing as the rest). Mr Brown is now getting repetitive. Langdon is contacted by the bad guys who have middle men. All the bad guys want is to get Langdon to decipher some symbols, words in Greek, Latin, Egyptian. And in all probability what Langdon will get at the end is something that will 'enlighten' the world. But now is not the time. As told to Langdon by the good guys. So now begins the tug of war between the good guys and bad ones. Alternate rounds are won by either sides. But like a Bollywood script, all ends well and the world is no more wiser about the Universe, its beginning, the ocean, the mystery that shrouds its depth. Sigh.




The book will probably get the D.C in habitants really interested. Those who have visited these places (Washington Monument, Capital Building, National Mall,  Reflecting Pool , Lincoln Memorial) as part of their class excursions, field trips or by those who work in theses places every day for the last 20 years and didn't know about the story behind The fresco on The ceiling. Da Vinci and the others had a more universal aapeal..everyone has seen at a Madonna at some point of time.. a Last Supper..read so much about them, about Da Vinci in school books, renaissance books, about Mary Magdalene, Vatican and so on. So probably my limited knowledge about D.C is the main reason i couldn't relate to Langdon's excitement and trepidations and what not. Despite being a science student, Katherine's work hardly made any sense to me (however, the hydrogen-fueled semi dark lab was interesting)
Anyway, there is this one thing i found more intriguing...(did some research of my own..)
  At the time of its construction, it was the tallest building in the world; it remains the tallest stone structure in the world.It is still the tallest building in Washington, D.C.; the Heights of Buildings Act of 1910 restricts new building heights to no more than 20 feet (6.1 m) greater than the width of the adjacent street. (There is a popular misconception that the law specifically states that no building may be taller than the Washington Monument, but in fact the law makes no mention of it).  (Source: Wiki)


And all Langdon says is that there is an ancient rule that no building can be constructed taller than the Monument itself.  Or may be I do not remember correctly.


Anyway, i do admit that i have not done full justice to the book, never bothering to refer to any pics or stats on the net (like i did for the others). So half the things were left to imagination. Now when such a thing happens, I'm definitely not okay with the freedom i'm getting as a reader to defrom and disfugure and dimensionally and geometrically change famous monuments which i hope to see sometime in the future. 
So for lazy readers like me, can Mr Brown provide pics and maps (like Tolkien does..haha..what a comparison!)? That would make it easier to understand the plot and the sub-plot and all those subtle hints that strike Langdon and not us. I fell so left out by the end of every chapter!




Oki on the whole...will give it 2 out of 5( two cause I'm a Manson fan :) )
Running short of time..need to finish 6 numericals of thermodynamics before 4..then make a dash to the dept. for clearing all the doubts (which is like about the whole of the syllabus)..Ciao..till next time...