Books & Authors I Liked

Enid Blyton

my book shelf

A list perpetually in the making...Some books in here are the ones I liked at the time i read them, not sure if all of them would fascinate me as much (chances are they would)...Not a comprehensive list again....

What I Liked This Week (19 - 25 Dec 2011)

1. Across The Globe, Corruption Is The Issue, Will It Defeat Us,Or Will we defeat it?
2. Exposure
3. For My childhood Dead .... liked a few verses in particular - Sans lasting hate and envy and strife; Yes there were quarrels,oaths,hurts and pains

Why This Kolaveri Di, Boon or Bane???

What got me going to write this...to start with, was kind of amused that I liked the song, kind of grew on me. One pretty much left it at that. One was aware of a few positive sound bytes towards the number. The makers themselves staked no claim to it being a classic or the like. From what little i have heard and given my limited exposure to the world, have not seen anyone put the song on a pedestal and call it a classic. The awe has been the popularity and how it went viral on the net.

Then came two incidents that got me wanting to write. One was Javed Akthar's (A man i kind of look up to given the body of his work) Tweet "KOLAVARI-D". Every one is praising the robes but the emporer is naked. Tune ordinary ,singing substandard.words an insult to sensibility" Then a subsequent snippet on the Hindustan Times mentioning the same which got a whole load of comments quite a few supporting Javed's point of view. Thus my reaction is not limited to Javed's comment but to many supportive arguments born then on, hence would be unfair to put all those on his (Javed's) door step for many of the views may or may not be shared by him.

What I Liked This week (28 Nov - 4 Dec 2011)

1. The Rare Feat Of A Batsman Scoring Century Before Lunch On Day1 of a Test
2. Amrita And I
3. My Uncle Dev Anand The Man No One Knew (not sure why i put this here,me is gullible to such stories or the writer and the written are celebrities i like.. maybe a bit of both)

Changing Heroes

As we grow, our heroes change, the reasoning transform, the passion involved mellows.. Our experiences, intellect , rationale, egos, growing cynicism all of these play a role in the transformation. 

Vinoo Mankad

As a child most of us start of with our Dad being the hero (more often than not the mother grows in stature at a later stage in life, could be the overall male chauvinistic world..). Starts with Dad and then goes on to looking up to personalities he thinks of as his heroes (Which in all probability would be one generation further  up). A few years down add a few uncle's or aunt's who start becoming the be all and end all..As we begin to grow out of the 'My Daddy Strongest' phase we start to find our feet along with siblings,peers, friends.. as the years run along one starts to see the need to differentiate with one's parent and maybe an elder sibling if one exists... this attempt at being different from the older is plausibly a way of telling that 'I have a mind of my own' may be not too much thought goes in, just the need to be different

What I Liked this Week (7 to 13 Nov 2011)

1. brothers In Arms
2. Word about history

Why Homogeneous,in a Heterogeneous India?

What got me going on this line of thought? Why Homogeneous,in a Heterogeneous India? Two incidents in the space of a few days. One, was a banter with friends over the brilliance of India not having a national language and existence of 26 odd official language (Though only yours truly seemed to see the brilliance :-) and was outnumbered two to one) the other was an article in Times of India Bangalore Homogeneous living. {and now (after i first published this piece) an article in Tehelka.com No entry, we are the meat nazis which is more disturbing}

What I Liked this Week (31 Oct - 6 Nov 2011)

1. The Legend Of Arsene Wenger
2. Race Language And Symbolism
3. Settle
4. The Rape Of Men - July 17 2011 The Gurdian (be warned very depressing)

Corruption - Varying degrees

There has been lot of noise about Kiran Bedi and her inflated ticket costs (Inflated travel cost) wrong as it might be or at the least debatable. See no reason why that by itself would discredit her and the larger anti corruption movement by team Anna (I have had points of disagreements articulated in an earlier post  Anna circus). Earlier there was news around Arvind Kejriwal (Arvind Kejriwal IT notice) There seems to be an an ongoing effort to tarnish the members of team Anna which have been petty to say the least.

Relatively and qualitatively, the scams such as the CWG, 2G, Adarsh housing and many others found, not found  and never to be found scams Vs misdeeds such as inflated travel expense, waived bonds could by no stretch of imagination be painted with the same brush. Flaws they both are, but the difference in quantum and magnitude must count for some. (even legally, when reprimanded the degree is considered)

One Plus of reading online

One big plus I find of reading online, be it news or blogs or whatever else, is the easy access to the dictionary. Over the years have stumbled on words and at times have continued to stumble upon the same words, without knowing their exact meanings, most times the context of the line or the piece allows us to comprehend and hence we move on. The sheer effort of having to reach out for the dictionary, the need to leave a cozy chair or bed or where ever one is, many a times is more than enough to put it away for latter. A 'later' which rarely comes. The lethargy, inertia,potential of loosing continuity in our reading, does us in....

When reading online all it takes is opening a new tab with the dictionary on it (Which now for me is an habit http://dictionary.reference.com/ is perpetually open in one tab). The advantages are many, more so for some one as lazy and unorganized as me. One does not have to go hunting for the dictionary, that done one would have to flip through pages and search the word out. If all that was not enough, if the word being hunted down is a slang or a relatively newer word which does not find a place in that edition, the hunt ends futile. Further, for some one like me whose understanding of phonetics would make a ten year old jump with joy and a sense of superiority..... An online dictionary is a sure blessing, where one could choose to listen to the word being called out. Not only does one get the meaning but also the correct pronunciation  of the word.

I for one, sure prefer cut & paste (ctrl c , ctrl v) to flipping through pages... Call me lazy!!!All this pretty much in real time, without having to move one's derriere or hinder one's reading by much...

Movies I liked

This list is not necessarily a comprehensive and an all inclusive one, there could be movies I have liked and missed out here. Guess this is going to stay dynamic. There would be movies which would be added as and when I watch something and like, also there could be some dropped if on a watching again it is not liked as much.

Information Technology - Well used, Indian railways & Banking sector

Edmondson cardboard ticket

computerised - I-ticket

Any Science or development fructifies when it goes on to effect and simply our lives. We in India today talk so much about information technology be it as a career choice or in terms of e-governance or commerce all leading to a better a life, and many a times it is a hyperbole....no doubt they have contributed significantly...

E-ticket

Two areas where the change and its effect has been felt widely are the Indian railways and the banking sector.

Where has humour gone??

As a society, Indian in specific and maybe the world in general we seem to be losing humour, or so I feel. If that be the case sad indeed it is.

One misses humour in arts. Not many movies have humour in it, save some slapstick. On the idiot box comedies are extinct; a few that are on are re-runs. As for pen on paper, there too humour is sadly missed, not to mention the lack in variety of humour across the board. The only genre that is hanging by a thin strand seems to be slapstick. And when we do come across what should have been seen as humour we seem to slot in very different boxes. Cannot help mentioning here the letter (on the blogosphere which was nothing but a rant-"Open letter to a Delhi boy") in which a vast section saw everything but humour......

Head On - Botham's Biography

with his family

Interesting read...more so for those of us who grew up in the era of the great all-rounder - Botham, Hadlee, Imran & Kapil (alphabetic order) a breed that has been rare over the years in cricket and for four to play in the same era was something indeed. The book has been largely about himself and English cricket as it ought to be...no pot  shots aimed at publicity. Many a times it is about giving his version to popular controversies at that time (Also realize how much of that actually got carried in the Indian press).

Driving - The Western Ghats in Monsoon

Few months back with the Monsoon setting in over the western ghats, had the opportunity to drive through the monsoon rains...Words could hardly describe the beauty or the serenity or the happiness experienced. Taking to the roads has been a joy to me for some time now, in the last few years have found greater joy driving in the rain. Have always loved the rain, but until recently (a couple of years or little more maybe) never cherished the thought of driving in the rain..Gladly no more the case.
Rains in the Ghats give the green an ethereal beauty.

The Millennium Trilogy - By Stieg Larsson

Brilliant Trilogy -  A Must Read

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played With fire; The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. 

The characters are brilliant, their interplay and how relationships develop depicts great strengths. Rare it is to see strong female characters being a very important part of the story, if not the protagonist. All the characters are well developed and unique. One common strand running past all the main characters of the story is their strength.

The Anna Circus

The Indian media if not India has way too much sound bytes on Anna Hazare and amidst all this noise lot of real issues get buried. Few sensible voices (guess i find them sensible since they are akin to my beliefs) exist, not sure how much of it gets heard. Tavleen Singh is one and a recent interview of Nadan Nilekani had lot of sense in it. (Nadan Nilekani interview). No single law ever has solved any problem, there needs to be at all times a multi-pronged strategy to rectify any social malice and laws are surely a critical part of that strategy.

Let the bird fly......

Let the bird fly, if it comes back it is yours,if it doesn't, it never ever was yours... as simple as it may sound, have seen very few people who have been able to put the concept in practice. More often then not, most of us hold onto people ever so tight, for the fear of loosing them. In the process doing them more harm by crowding them, hurting them and not letting them explore and find themselves. All this in the name of the immense love we have for them.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Brilliant movie,Well shot, good camera work and locales, a simple believable plot - a trip which involves facing ones fears and overcoming them having fun. The movie uses adventure sports to make the point. Brilliant lines from Javed Akthar - mouthed via the character played by Farhan Akthar...nice dialogues more so the one liners or rather comments to situations.The only downside if any was that the movie felt a tad bit long (on second/third viewing).

Delhi Belly

Three youngsters (friends) set in Urban India from the working/middle class... caught in a muddle with gangsters chasing them over a courier gone weary, how they come to the passe, and the circumstances leading up to it is very unreal making the plot very weak.

What goes for the movie though is the that it is very well edited, the language has a novelty value in the context of urban Indian movies and captures well the language and humor that belongs to that section of the society in various parts of India. More importantly unlike is some movies (No one killed Jesica, where it did not feel natural) the whole interaction between the characters and the dialogues seemed very natural and not out of place nor did it feel that it was done just for the sake of doing it.... Assume that was one of the largest reasons the movie made a positive impact and did not feel like a wannabe. Yet another very watchable movie from the  Aamir Khan Production stable

The performances were good, Poorna Jagannathan was super hot.... Kunaal Roy Kapur did a brilliant Indian version of  Zach Galifianakis  The rest of the cast pulled their weight...

Recommendation :7/10 - Me liked the Movie - Should watch - Unless you have  an issue with abusive language. Don't even think of taking the kids with you, unless you want them springing the four letter word at the most embarrassing places

For more details on cast etc http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1934231/  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Belly_(film)