On and on and on...

I think I probably think about writing a new post once every week... at least. Just havent got around to it lately. I guess most of April and May went in working out the details of Li'l S's birthday party. My son turned 5 in May, and we had a blast of a party. Thanks to brothers and friends who travelled distances to come down and make the day special. My parents, my grandmom, they all came down to Bangalore. Its a rich feeling to have people you love around you, and it made my boy's 5th birthday truly special.


Other than that, work as usual kept my all wrapped up. There were a couple of good books i read though. Finished Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel, last years Booker prize winner. It was a really good book, and also kindof challenging. Its densely populated with characters, full of the atmosphere of 16th century England, there isnt as much happening as you would expect from a book this size.. its close to 700 pages. But what it provides, is a wonderful character study of Thomas Cromwell, who grows from being the son of a blacksmith, to the king's right hand man, the most powerful man in England.

One section of the book is called Arrange Your Face, in which Cromwell realizes the importance of never showing his internal emotions on his face. Whether it is fury or sorrow, triumph or defeat, arrange your face to only show the emotion which is apt for the occasion, which will not allow anyone to truly judge what you are thinking. It is the one key point i took away from this magnificent book. Beautifully written and captivating.

Read Josh Bazell's "Beat the Reaper", excellent fast paced thriller about a former hitman trying to avoid being caught by the mob men he has been trying to avoid through the witness protection program. Its very funny and full of shocking details, most of them about the medical profession as our hero goes about his day as a doctor. A patient recognizes him from his past life and threatens to let his pursuers know about his location unless he can ensure that the patient doesnt die! But this would require a miracle since he has stomach cancer, all our hero can do is try to make him live a little longer than the 6 hours of life left for him!

Re-read "The Green Mile", Stephen King's wonderful novel about the happenings in a prison during depression-era America. Stephen King has a wonderful talent for making his stories believable, making you empathize for the characters and here he builds such a wonderful portrait of the guards who work at the prison, whose job is not just to guard the prisoners, but also ensure their last few days on earth arent any worse than they need to be. And in the middle of this, comes a new prisoner convicted of the most hideous of crimes, but who seems strangely unlikely to have really done something so awful.




Right now, I am re-reading another wonderful novel - "To kill a mockingbird" by Harper Lee, courtesy of a friend who loaned it out to me. Had read this book ages ago, probably in my teens, and always remembered its wonderful characters and the precocious naration by the little Scout Finch. But now that I have a child of my own, i can truly feel wonder at how perfectly Harper Lee captured the essence of childhood - the games which the kids make up together, the bravado of the older Jem Finch, the tiny Dill being forced to play character roles, Scout's complaints about her nanny Calpurnia and her teachers who always seem to misunderstand her. More than anything, I can understand the difficulty children have in expressing their opinions or feelings to adults, who arent all as bright and clear-headed as Atticus Finch. And this difficulty is also captured so beautifully by Ms. Lee. I truly feel its one of the greatest books ever written from the perspective of a child.




On to music then! My brother brought a few albums down for me, recommendations included Slash's new album, Kasabian, Chickenfoot and Chicane!


I have to say, I think Slash is just brilliant. The album consists of collaborations between Slash and a bunch of mostly comparatively newer musicians - including Adam Levine of Maroon5 on "Gotten", Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother on the brilliant "By the sword", Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge on the excellent "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". My favourites from this album are "By the sword", "Back from Cali", "Promise" with Chris Cornell providing the vocals, and a brilliant number called "Saint is a sinner too" which features indie-rocker Rocco De Luca. Brilliant album, check it out!

I have been listening to a lot more music too, and just want to add a song which I am completely possessed by at the moment. Its by the strangely, but fantastically named band Death Cab for Cutie and the song is "I will possess your heart"! Did you ever hear "Every breath you take" by Police back in the 80's and get the feeling that this has got to be the anthem for all stalkers?? Well, here is the new anthem for stalkers, circa 2010! At one level, i guess the lyrics could be thought of as relating to never dying love! But at another level, it sure seems a bit creepy! But as Brian Tellis, one of the first RJ's playing rock music on India's FM channel once said, enjoy the music but dont take the message to heart!

Here's the brilliant song by Death Cab For Cutie, with the fantastic moody intro. This intro has to be the longest ever, the vocals only start around 4.40 into the song! But love this song!

	Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Umbrella Day!

Wish everyone a very happy Umbrella Day!

(The cute drawing is from Darkris, who has loads of lovely drawings on her site. I just couldnt find anything prettier than this drawing for the all important umbrella article!)

So I guess this must be a huge achievement for those wonderful, hard-working folks at the World Umbrella Foundation (or WUF, as they like to be called) as umbrellas all around the world finally get their due. A holiday of their own! Its the day to marvel at this wonderful invention, and as the website says, "On a rainy day, we are sure glad that someone was smart enough to invent it." Amen, to that.

I have a sneaky feeling that if the invention of the umbrella had proved a little bit more of a challenge, we wouldnt have quite made it this far as a species. I mean, imagine the challenges in thinking up the lever or the pulley or just rope for that matter. And doing those while the rain pours down all over you... just dont see it happening. So thanks love, whoever you are, for the umbrella.

On a slightly tangential note, and also because I am too lazy to make this a different post, was just thinking of someone else who has been mighty impressed by the humble umbrella (and is also raking in a lot more moolah than the original inventor).

As regular readers (ha!) would know, I am blissfully unaware of the latest popular tunes and heard Rihanna's "Umbrella" for the first time at my hairdressers. It sounded good, but only today did I really listen to it properly and, I must say, it totally grooves. And more than the lovely tune itself, the lyrics really caught my ear and just thought I'll put it down here.

Am also planning to introduce music into this blog (if i can get the hang of it), and this one might just be the first. So keep checking, oh regular reader (please?).

You had my heart, and we'll never be world apart

Maybe in magazines, but you'll still be my star

Baby cause in the dark, we can't see shiny cars

And that's when you need me there

With you I'll always share

Because

[Chorus]

When the sun shine

We'll shine together

Told you I'll be here forever

Said I'll always be your friend

Took an oath imma stick it out 'till the end

Now that it's raining more than ever

Know that we still have each other

You can stand under my umbrella

You can stand under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh)

Under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh)

Under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh)

Under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh eh eh eh)

[Verse 2]

Fancy things, will never come in between

You're part of my entity, here for infinity

When the world has took it's part

When the world has dealt it's cards

If the hand is hard, together we'll mend your heart

Because

[Chorus]

When the sun shine

We'll shine together

Told you I'll be here forever

Said I'll always be your friend

Took an oath imma stick it out 'till the end

Now that it's raining more than ever

Know that we still have each other

You can stand under my umbrella

You can stand under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh)

Under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh)

Under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh)

Under my umbrella(Ella ella eh eh eh eh eh eh)

Ella ella eh eh eh! Its really a lot more fun than you would expect from all the eh eh's!

Update:

Trying this for the first time, lets see if it works. Heres to music!

All work and no blogging...

...Makes me feel real dull!

Its interesting though. There's been some general craziness going on in life, but I guess thats pretty much normal. Isn't it?

The other day, we went to my son's school. One thing's been worrying me a bit, its that he seems scared of slides. I see other kids going on the slides all the time, and I kept wondering how to make my boy lose his fear. Finally managed it this time! :)

I think it helped that there werent too many other kids on the playground at the time. The little guy finally agreed to try the shorter slide first. Of course, initially he wanted me to hold his hand all the way up and then on the slide down too. But I could see him losing his fear and enjoying it soon enough! In fact, he went ahead and tried the taller spiral slide too, and soon it was a chore for me and S to drag him away from the playground! :)

Watching children play is a lovely feeling. The pure joy of just running around screaming your heads off, jumping around for no reason at all, every little thing becomes a game. You fall down, you check if daddy saw you, if he did - bawl a little bit while dad soothes the hurt; if he didnt, just dust yourself off and get back to it!

The image is of a painting by a child, part of a lovely collection of paintings called Art for World Friendship. Couldnt think of any better way to embellish this post.

As the days get shorter, and it gets tougher to get out of bed in the cold winter mornings, nostalgia seems to be the order of the day.

Winter has always been associated in the colder countries as an end to the beautiful season of summer. The cold winds drive away the warmth of the summer.

In India, predominantly tropical, winter has always been a solace from the heat of summer, the dampness of the monsoon. But this winter somehow finds me in a much more nostalgic mood than usual. I have always loved winter. Mumbai kids usually do. In Mumbai, winter brings with it a refreshing change from the year-round humidity. For about a month or month-and-a-half stretching across December and January, you enjoy the coolness of the breeze, and the very slight chill of the late nights. In Bangalore, of course, winters are a bit more severe and the weather all round the year can get a bit chilly everytime it rains.

Last weekend I went down to the supermarket with my son, my little helper :), to pick up the groceries from a list already provided. When buying soap, I looked down the aisle and picked up one of the soaps which used to be a symbol of the winters of my childhood! Pears transparent soaps ! Living in Mumbai, you tend to perhaps not use any of the moisturizing kind of soaps, unless its winter! And Pears used to really come into my house only in the winters. In the early 80's, I dont think there were that many options anyway, and perhaps Pears was the only available "moisturizing" soap of the time. Wikipedia tells me that Pears soaps have been in production since 1789! Thats one amazing business model!

So anyway, I picked it up again this time. And I realized again after using it, what a gorgeous fragrance this soap has! I mean, I never imagined I will ever wax eloquent about soap, but it really is worth mentioning! And everytime that fragrance hits me, it just seems to remind me of home, of those carefree days as a child. When everything was worked out by someone else, everything was made available without having to struggle for it. When life was simpler, perhaps.

Whenever I am reminded of my own childhood, I also wish that I had been a much better kid than I was, especially in the teens! I also hope fervently that my son takes more on his mom than me in that department! Parents truly are marvellous creations!

I have been reading a lot lately. Well, a 'lot' is probably over-playing it a bit. Probably, giving it a little more time than I could earlier.

The experience of a long commute to work wasnt very helpful. A lot of time was taken away by the travel, and now that I dont have to do that anymore, I am enjoying the little things in life a lot more. One of those is reading. But the biggest positive is of course, that I can spend more time at home, with my son.

Its amazing how fast kids grow up. He's already taller than my waist now, and it seems just a few months ago that he was about knee-high! But now he's a big boy, as he himself would put it!

I am reading a Dennis Lehane novel currently, a dark, troubling mystery/thriller as he usually writes. There was a passage in it, where Pat Kenzie (of the Kenzie & Gennaro investigative duo), is watching his girlfriend's little daughter play. The author describes how every time the child stumbles, takes a bigger jump than you would expect her to, does the little things that kids do, Pat feels a sense of parental anxiety that makes him worry that she would get hurt. This struck so true with me. There are so many occasions when I tell my wife to not be so over-protective towards our son, but then there are also so many times when I too find my heart in my mouth! Just this morning, he took a too-big bite off the cookie he was eating as we waited for his school bus and just then his bus comes along. I made him spit the cookie out, and he went on and got into the bus, leaving me worrying about whether I should go after him to check if he is definitely ok! Little things, sounds even littler when I put it down here, but.. I couldnt help worrying! Didnt stop thinking about it till I went and checked on him at lunch time!

So I started off thinking I will write about the books I read, but I guess I am well off track by now. Anyway, this blog is reader-free enough that I can go ahead and indulge in whatever I want to! So, book reviews will just have to wait!

Sometimes, you cant help but wonder. Why are the good things in life, generally bad for you? And why are those very things that are bad for you, so tempting?


What really happened on that mountain? Was there really a burning tree? Or was Moses the first of the moral police? Did he make those rules up, and whats with people? Just a flock of sheep, I guess.

So, here I go. Just another in the flock, following the leader. There are some things which you just cant go against, I guess.

Re-re-re-repeats and general rants

I dont know what its about, but I have really been into re-reading, re-listening, re-watching and all things re ! Maybe this nostalgia is a sign of advancing age??

I have a bunch of books I bought lately which I havent read yet. Instead I find myself constantly trying to decide which of my books to re-read. Should it be the adventures of Rumpole, barrister-at-law, or the long journey of Frodo Baggins carrying his precious cargo? Will it be Ian Rankin's rugged Scottish mysteries or Satyajit Ray's Feluda stories set in often exotic parts of India? Neil Gaiman's Sandman volumes steeped in obscure histories, or Alan Moore's V for Vendetta set in a bleak, hopeless future? Even the contemplation brings me joy.

Coming to music, I was going nuts trying to find a few CD's I had misplaced. A bunch of Led Zep albums, which were once my regular listening, had been misplaced in an avalanche of electronic media. Sometimes, you keep the things you love the most in a place you feel is the most secure, and then you cant find it just coz its not where all your other stuff happens to be! Luckily, I did remember where it was, and with it found the wonderful unplugged Nirvana album, a collection of Hindi music I didnt even remember owning, REM's Monster and the wonderfully hard and heavy MI2 soundtrack. So, there it was. Audio nirvana!

I have just not had time for movies lately though. So what I have seen is just what was on tv, but then you still need to select which one you wanna watch, right? And again, I find myself preferring the ones I have seen before. Saw Seven recently, and was waiting for it with bated breath, although I have seen it at least thrice.

Apart from all this nostalgia though, hasnt there just been too much cricket lately? The IPL was great fun to begin with, but surprisingly as it came closer to the final stages, I found my interest waning somewhat. There is such a thing as overkill, and the IPL doesnt seem to get that, what with that Lalit Modi looking to add two more teams into the league.

But the beginning of the T20 World Cup has been interesting though. The last ball win for the Netherlands over England, the strong showing by Scotland against NZ, and the Windies beating the Aussies; all go to show that the 20-20 format is the one which has the most likelihood of producing upsets as there is simply no time to recover sufficiently from a bad period in the game. Lets hope for a few more interesting results. Maybe if Netherlands or Scotland go out and win the damn thing, the cricketing world will come to see the 20-20 format for the lottery it really is!!

(Image courtesy cricket.yahoo.com)

Where have I been???

So February 2008 goes down as one long, weird month. Doesnt time just take its own sweet time going by? Its been a month of two parts - one small totally fun time when we went down to Hyderabad for my cousins wedding. One week of complete fun. Lotsa drinks, lotsa time with my son, watching him at his wonderful, funny, sometimes maddening, but always adorable antics. The rest of the month was just a long lonely time as my wife and son had to go to Mumbai due to an emergency with my ma-in-law.

Lets just talk about the fun week. This was my son's first long train journey, as we decided to cut costs by going to Hyd by train. It was fun to see him curious about everything. Its amazing that he doesnt feel the airport is anything special anymore, but the train station is full of wonder! And he is probably the biggest fan of the movie 'Taare Zameen Par' ! We saw the movie on the first day of its release, and usually he just goes to sleep by around the half-way mark. But this movie, with Ishaan playing an adorable but naughty kid seems to catch his fancy completely. My son has memorized practically every line from the first half of the movie - and is happy enough to repeat it for us at all times!! So in the train, when he was lying down with me on the berth, suddenly he turns to me and says - "Akela ghoom raha tha! Road pe! Look at your guts, daddy bhi nahi hai. Tujhe kuch ho jaata toh!" I couldnt stop laughing as he played out the entire scene between Ishaan and his brother Yohaan, repeating the dialogues where Ishaan begs his brother to write an absent note for him!! And he is not 3 yrs old yet! Its so funny and cute to see him try to say the dialogues and stumbling over some of the words.

Then at the wedding and the reception, he got so much space to run around that he kept everyone on their toes. One of my uncles volunteered to take him out for a little walkabout, probably seeing me and my wife frustrated with trying to keep up with our son. After a while, we looked out a window and saw my uncle running around in circles after him! Spreading the fun all around!

We Bengalis have funny marriages. I mean some of the rituals are a bit weird. Now dont go thinking Apocalypto, pulling out peoples hearts, animal sacrifice kind of weird. One of the weird rituals is that on the second night of the marriage, the groom and the bride should not even see each other from 6 in the evening till 6 AM next day. This is known as the Kaal Raatri (literally the next night).

So, my cousin - the groom - trying to get rid of his gloom, decided to come down to my hotel room for the night. My wife gave company to the bride, and of course my son stays wherever his mom is. Me and my cousin watched 'Michael Clayton" first, and then decided this is a good time to get drunk. And man, we got blown out of our minds drinking scotch all night! The two of us got through an entire litre of scotch that night. I couldnt stop laughing when, after 3-4 drinks, he says - "This Kaal Ratri is not so bad, dada"!!

All in all, a pretty cool time down in Hyderabad.

The Year That Was... in Books

So 2007 has come and gone. This is my attempt to summarize the year that was and what the flow of time brought to me.

My reading year was filled with a need to re-read and a desire to accumulate. I have found that the need to collect - books, comics - has driven me this year. My work schedule has not allowed me more reading time than maybe an hour a day. After work is the time I get to spend with my wonderful wife and the little bundle of energy we have created together. But I collect - and in the process have accumulated a pretty large number of books and comics, both the bound-and-published format and the slightly guilty pleasure of the downloaded, pirated version.

Some of the best read's for me this year -

1) Watchmen by Alan Moore - Read this graphic novel for the first time this year when I picked it up from the Glendale Library. Read it again later in the year still filled with disbelief at Moore's writing ability, his vision of looking past the hype and hoopla of super-heroes and his ability to grab and expose the humanity under it. In all its grime covered glory. The series has been criticized for its art work, which is very much like a regular superhero comic. But Dave Gibbons's artwork is ultra-innovative and works in Moore's layer-upon-layer storyline spectacularly. See the image here for one small example, then imagine a similarly startling image every few pages.

Anyone who hasnt read this book yet should do so before the movie comes around and spoils it for all of us.

2) Sandman Volumes 1 to 5 by Neil Gaiman - Perhaps the one comics writer who can challenge Alan Moore for the brilliance of his work. And even if Moore pips him to the post as the best writer for comics, Neil Gaiman would still qualify for me as the most literary writer in comics. His seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of myth and mythology shows in the brilliant storylines of the Sandman series. There are 10 volumes in the full series, plus a few tangential works. I have only read the first five, but these comics go way beyond entertainment. These are works of art, as well as awe-inspiring drama. The characterisation of The Endless is brilliant, and the stories are the results of fever dreams.

3) V For Vendetta and From Hell both by Alan Moore again - Two more brilliant works from Moore. VforV is a futuristic story about a Britain ruled by a Fascist group and an anarchic hero who stands up against it. The famous London fog seems to have filtered into the very heart of the people in this story, as the government clamps down its laws of morality and all kinds of arts are banned. The hero, identified only as 'V' and seen in a Guy Fawkes mask, believes that anarchy is a better option than living in such a society. If you have seen the movie, its like missing the fire for the smoke.

The same applies to From Hell, a 550+ page graphic novel presenting Moore's own hypothesis about the identity of Jack the Ripper. This novel is complex, sometimes vulgar and always hard to read. But its a tour de force in the reconstruction of the strange times which allowed a murderer of the monstrosity of Jack the Ripper. From Hell is how he addressed the letters he sent to the newspapers and police. Moore has studied every conspiracy theory on the Ripper's identity and built a history of that torrid time. The bleak black and white art work can sometimes engender a feeling of nausea and claustrophobia as it draws you uncomfortably close to the monster's mind. The movie cuts out such large parts of the story that it does not deserve to call itself an adaptation of the comic. I have actually lost some of the respect I had for Tim Burton as a filmmaker after I realised what he has done to the comic.

4) Blankets by Craig Thompson - What can I say, the best books I read this year were all graphic novels! I think this one has been listed as the longest graphic novel yet. Its a simple story - a love story between two less-than-cool teenagers with somewhat dysfunctional families - but told in simple art work (also by Thompson) which elevates the story to the level of a fairy tale. Its heart-warmingly real love story apart, it is also a coming of age tale. So, thats a two line summary, how do you spread it across 600 pages? By filling it with love for each of your characters, and giving them room to grow - just grow.

5) My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk - Constantly changing narrators, intrigue in the world of Turkish miniaturists, a dead man talking from the grave, a world of repressed and sometimes extinguished desires, a culture steeped in its own history and its legendary artists, a time when originality in art is blasphemy, and also a betrayal of all those who are unoriginal - yet a world filled with beauty, desire, and the lust for power. Orhan Pamuk works all these threads in his off-beat murder mystery which only serves as an excuse for a discourse on the art of painting. Captivating stuff.

6) Lisey's Story by Stephen King - King has for a long time been one of my favourite writers. Although sometimes he can be blamed for writing sub-standard stuff, many of his books are brilliantly entertaining and gripping. Books like It (which i am re-reading currently), The Dead Zone, Dolores Claiborne, The Shining, The Green Mile etc transcend beyond just horror stories to a genre all his own - a truly satisfying story, well told. Lisey's Story is probably his first book which tries to be literary too, besides being a rip-roaringly good yarn. And he succeeds. Lisey is a well rounded character and her story definitely is a very satisfying one.

As a bynote on King here, 'It' has always been the one book by King which has had its spell on me since I first read it - close to 15 years ago. Though I never read it again since then, the story of a town haunted by a being which is more than just a ghost, something similar to a Cthulhu-like evil, stayed with me for a long time. But King has never been satisfied with just a good monster - he has to raise the monsters in your mind too.

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rounding off the list for this year, the Potter saga finally ends. Though many readers found the book to be anti-climactic, due to the fact that a lot of the clues placed by Rowling in the storyline being correctly interpreted by fans, I thought this was a very satisfying denouement to the series. Miss Rowling though seems to be missing Harry more than she had thought she would, she has already hinted that she will be working on another HP book. That could perhaps be the beginning of a completely new series of Potter books. And all I can say is, bring 'em on!

Well, those are my favourites from what I have read this year. So ok, I probably missed out on a large chunk of stuff worth reading. Maybe some of you guys out there can drop a few suggestions for me?

Some of the other books which nearly made the list were -

Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman - Art retells the story of the holocaust through his father's voice and add's a different kind of menace to it by representing the Jews as mice and the Germans as cats. The human-like animal representations freaked me out - adding a deadly satire to the already horrendous acts which were done. Maybe he has hit the nail on its head there - humans could not have done those things to other humans.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem - A mystery with a detective who suffers from Tourette's syndrome. Thats a plot device which just blows my mind. A Tourette ridden person has no control on what he says, so he blurts out whats on his mind at all the worst times. So what we have here, is a detective trying to hide his presence from various dangerous types while he goes snooping - but his condition never gives him the anonymity he needs! He scream's out his favourite tic - 'Eat me, Bailey' - at the most inopportune moments. There is humor in this book, but also a great deal of pathos.

And of course, I re-read the first two books of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series again this year. What can I say, I'm a fan.

In fact, I've done so much re-reading this year, its probably cut down on new books I have read. But all round, not a bad year at all.

And 2nd Jan is also the birthday of the kingslayer's room! Yippee yayy!! This page is now officially ONE year old and can go out and buy itself a beer now! Yes, ONE is the official drinking age for blogs! ;)

Vacation Vacation

Had a spectacular vacation.

Three weeks of free time with family, friends and just with myself. There were a couple of family occasions involved, which doesnt bother me as much as I know it does a lot of people. I guess I have a pretty cool family! Also, I loved the time I had with my son and loved watching him interact with (and gradually rule over) the entire family!


My cousins in Hyderabad are always fairly entertaining. We went out for a couple of drinks the day before one of them got engaged. And were treated to a lot of funny stories about their relationships. My younger bro seems to have picked up the idea that its real cool to ask a lot of vague, deep-sounding questions. Like - 'Dada, whats the biggest mistake you ever made?'! This, when we were sitting on the steps of a tiny shop at 11 PM, in what seemed to me a slightly disreputable part of town, smoking a couple of cigarrettes and washing it all down with cold coke's. I was sorely tempted to say 'Wishing for another brother' but avoided the temptation. I got the feeling the kid needed some advice on which of his girlfriend's he should not be dumping. I liked the one he introduced me to, and hinted as much. But kids these days, what can you say!


And I have always been very close to my grandmother. It was great to see my son enjoying her company too. Seeing her enjoying the imitations of her walking style by my two-year old and in fact making sure everyone else sees it too, was typical of her self-effacing humor. The time we spent together re-inforced my feeling that I have been blessed to have had such a warm relation with my Dida. There was also the one night she didnt feel at all well, and it worries me.


My son is fascinated with auto rickshaws! He doesnt get to ride one very often in Bangalore, and enjoyed all the auto's we took while in Mumbai. Everytime he is in an auto, he grabs on to the cross-bar behind the auto driver and acts like he is driving too. Everything the driver does, including pulling on the starter lever and waving his hands to signal a turn, is mimic'd. The funniest was when we returned from Pune at around 1 AM and caught an auto outside the bus station. Sio was asleep on the bus, but the moment he heard the auto start, he woke up and took up his post as the assistant auto driver. He actually thinks auto's are much cooler than our car!

The only thing I missed during this time were the bunch of graphic novels I left behind in Bangalore. I could have really got through a lot of them in this time, its my fascinating new obsession. Or rather I am re-discovering the love for comics which I had lost at age 10 probably. And to find the wonderful array of mature graphic novels available has been eye-opening. I wouldnt be as interested if comics still meant the grainy Phantom and Mandrake comics of my childhood - though there's nothing wrong with them, its just that I need a more mature aspect to the plot lines. There will certainly be a large number of posts in the future related to the comics I have on my reading list.

Anyway, I did have the wonderful Shashi Tharoor's novel, The Great Indian Novel with me on my vacation. And its a brilliant read. I'm still not done with it though, so more on it later.

This is probably going to be my last post this year, so wishing any stray reader a Very Happy New Year!

Dame Agatha's return

I was 12 years old, maybe 13. Not quite bored of Enid Blyton but ready for something a bit more intense. The school library was not quite as vast as I would have liked it to be. And anyway, reading recommended by teachers was bound to be boring, wasnt it? So then one day, my English teacher (whom I loved, by the way) digressed from the lesson at hand to discuss what she thought we should be reading. I still remember her words, when she said "I hope you are not wasting your time reading trash like those Agatha Christie novels!".

Of course, that was all that was needed. I devoured most of Dame Agatha's novels with relish and became an ardent fan of Hercule Poirot especially. The first Christie I read happened to be "The Big Four" and my 12 or 13 yr old self was thoroughly impressed. But the Christie phase ended as reading tastes matured.

Anyway, even though I havent read a Christie novel over the past decade or so, I have always had a fond place in my favourites list for her mysteries. I still own half-a-dozen of them, and thats after having 'loaned' a bunch of them to friends, never to get them back. So, when I recently found 40 Agatha Christie books, the nostalgia itself egged me on to collect them.

And the first of the books I decided to read was "The Big Four". The same story which so thrilled me as a kid, seemed like one of Agatha's worst this time around. Hercule Poirot just does not seem the type who would have cigarettes which would double as a blow-pipe containing a poisonous dart. Although it does work in bits and pieces, overall - bad decision Dame Agatha.

I followed that up with the truly excellent "Mystery of the Blue Train". Perhaps this book is one of the best constructed of the Poirot mysteries. I was a bit dissappointed to find that I was able to guess the culprits identity well before the end, but I guess being a lot older than 13 has something to do with that. But it didnt take anything away from the pleasure and charm of reading a classically constructed Agatha Christie plot again. This story is also probably one of the less common Poirot stories which does not always follow Poirot around, making it necessary for the great detective to be constantly on the scene. He is very much in the periphery for great parts of the novel, and does not even make an appearance until well into the book. This book also differs from many other Christie novels in the build-up to the crime - which is a lot more detailed and complex, reminding me of PD James and Ruth Rendell. Much more than the usual dinner party with suggestive small talk during the main course! I dont think Agatha's fans will like that description!

But whether it be the antics of super-spy Poirot, or the intricate laying out of red herrings in the second book, the charm of reading an Agatha Christie novel once again has me in its embrace.

Radiohead's fans leave them 'High and Dry'

Social experiments are a way to understand society and social behaviours. As such, they can often lead to rather unglorious statements about our society.

So we have studies on how swearing at work can relieve stress. Maybe another study is required on how employees are affected when one of them starts relieving his/her stress by swearing loudly at meetings. Another on the impact on prospective customers/clients maybe?

Radiohead, the alternative rock band, decided on an alternative means of selling their new album, In Rainbows. They wanted their fans to decide the price at which they want to buy the album. The album was released on their website and allowed purchases for as low as 1 penny. This was an interesting social experiment which also had a possible econimic backlash to it. And unfortunately for Radiohead, and everyone who thought this was a path-breaking idea, its not quite gone as planned.

Studies show that more than 60% of the people who downloaded the album paid nothing! Only 38% paid anything at all, and the majority of these people paid less than 4 dollars - probably about a fifth of the price that would have been quoted for the album if it had been released the normal way. Kind of harsh!

On the flipside, Radiohead does get almost everything paid by a buyer since this model eliminates the label companies from the equation. This is a band which has a huge fan base of millions worldwide but when it comes to paying top dollar - i guess theres nothing like a freebie. But Radiohead was prepared for it, they knew it may all come to nothing at all. The website clearly informs the buyer that its upto you what you pay. Its a path-breaking way to connect to your fans definitely. And if this was Led Zep putting their new album out there and asking me to pay what I want for it - I would know what its worth and would pay it. I bet there were the true Radiohead fans out there too, who would know the albums worth and would pay the best they can.

With the worldwide popularity of peer-to-peer networks, and the high cost of buying music cd's, especially a new release, its hardly surprising that most people just helped themselves at the buffet. Being only a middling Radiohead fan, I guess I would have probably done the same - maybe I would have paid at most 4 dollars, the same price which Frys Electronics charged me for a brilliant collection of early Deep Purple classics which apparently no one was interested in. I found it in one of those discount bins, hidden in a huge pile of forgotten albums and collections.

But it must have hurt to think your fans dont think your new album is worth much. Radiohead now seems to have decided to re-launch the album in physical format. Possibly that haunting Thom Yorke refrain of "Dont leave me highhhhhh, dont leave me dryyyyyyyyyyy" must have come to mind more than once.

The Leaky Cauldron?

This iconic writer spends the better part of 2-3 years (i honestly don't know how much time she spent on it... talk about research) writing the last of a record-breaking series. She lives with her family but cannot share her work with her husband or kids. Her agent sits on the manuscript when she needs to take a trans-atlantic flight, perhaps fearing for her job if she lets the manuscript out of her sight for even a second. The editors are sworn to secrecy, and probably several clauses in their contracts ensure they keep their promise.

The publishers have to sign heavily loaded legal contracts ensuring they will not leak the contents. They cannot talk to the media or boast about the history-making event they are involved in. The type-setters are made to work in dim lighting, trying to keep them from reading the story. The printers are watched closely by armed security guards, their lunch boxes are checked, their bodies frisked. The packers again work under dim lights and are hand-picked to ensure the precious manuscripts mystery and mystique is maintained. They pack the books into individual boxes labelled "Do not open before July 21st 12:01 AM" and each box is tracked by satellite. The trackers watch every movement of every box ensuring none go astray. The shadow of the deathly hallows is on them all.

Millions await with bated breath for the book's release. Tension grows as major bookstores around the world run their countdown to the biggest moment in publishing history since the Gutenberg bible. Fans everywhere repeat the same questions which has had them mesmerised since the moment they finished reading part six. There is debate, conjecture, excitement.

And then, someone, somehow, gets his or her grubby hands on the precious. And with Gollum's growling possessiveness proclaims "Its mine!" and shall be no one else's. This hateful Gollum proceeds to put every page on the internet, his/her's only concern being the demolition of the joys of millions, snatching away their right to read and uncover the mystery for themselves. Will shabby pictures of the precious pages on a background of a red and green carpet be a substitute for the book itself?

You, Gollum, shall not succeed.

Salman - The Great

No, not the shirtless wonder. The bespectacled, much-married, much-reviled but also much-admired writer, Salman Rushdie.



After running through the gamut of Enid Blyton, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Hardy Boys, Sidney Sheldons etc, one of the first "literary" books I read was Shame by Rushdie. This was followed in a matter of weeks by Midnight's Children. The second still remains one of my all-time favourites and the one book i have re-read the most (hmm.. except maybe the Harry Potter books. Dont think thats anything to be ashamed of!). Its the only book I have bought twice, after having lost my first copy to a bunch of borrowing friends who probably never read it. He was the first writer I called my "favourite writer" after I got over Dame Agatha.



Though he still counts among one of my favourites, the only other book of his that I have read is "Satanic Verses". Maybe this was a factor on my not having read any of his other books, not because of the controversies attached to it, but because I found the book a complete drag! The words were as beautiful as ever, and a Rushdie book is never one which you abandon half-way. But one craved the magic of his art. Was this the same writer who created the marvelous scene at the beginning of Midnight's Children where Aadam Aziz hits his nose against the ground while performing his prayers in the frosty winter of Kashmir? The drops of blood become rubies before they touch the ground, his tears turn into diamonds... This was the same magnificent writer who left this wide-eyed, young reader mesmerised with "knees and a nose, nose and a knees". The high suspense as the midnight hour approaches in the chapter aptly named "Tick Tock". I would probably end up with a post the size of the book if I keep going at this!



Compared to Midnight's Children, the controversial Satanic Verses felt like a let-down. But yet, its been in some ways the defining point in Salman's life. Ever since the fatwa, he has lived in constant danger of assassination and persecution from Islamic extremists. In 1989, a plot to blow him up was foiled when the bomb exploded prematurely, killing the terrorist instead. The recent Glasgow burning-car-in-airport-terminal incident was said to be inspired by the rage of the extremists on Britain awarding knighthood to Rushdie.



Salman was the first writer from the Indian sub-continent who dared to write not in the Queen's language, but in the queer mix of regional tongues and English which is the true Indian English. This use of the colloquial language itself has inspired a generation of writers ranging from Rohinton Mistry to Chetan Bhagat in accepting and writing in their own language, rather than aspiring to the prose of their western counterparts. He is also considered one of the masters of the "magic realism" genre although his more recent books have not been strictly of this type. More than this classification though, the magic of his stories come from Rushdie's insistence to get to the origins and get to the roots of his protagonists. Saleem Sinai's story would never feel the same without first having learnt of his quaint antecedents.



Through all the persecution, Salman has maintained his dignity. When Britain decided to ban the Pakistani movie which had Rushdie as a villain plotting the downfall of Islam, and is shown as vanquished by the long arm of erm.. Allah himself, Rushdie himself requested that the movie not be banned. His logic was succinct and street-smart - a banned movie would have become the hottest video in town. He has appeared in many discussions and has always upheld a reformist view on Islam.



He has spoken in support of women's rights to not wear the burqa and has spoken in support of free speech. He has maintained a certain amount of self-deprecating humour at times. When asked by a journo about how he felt when he first heard about the fatwa declared by Ayatollah Khomeini, he replied that his first though was: "I'm a dead man!" Every time he speaks about the reforms needed in the Islamic world, fresh death threats are issued. But Salman continues to speak out on the same topics. Maybe a few will hear.



To a smaller extent, his shrouded, turbulent life recalls the same kind of persecution as Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi faced. His every move needs to be protected information. As he mentioned in an interview with Salon magazine, "(if) you ask me where I am going tomorrow, I can't tell you". But inspite of these, he had it in him to give the below answer to the same interviewer -



Q: Fiction is not taken very seriously in our culture and yours has been taken so much more seriously than most. Having been sentenced to death for the content of a novel, how seriously do you think fiction should be taken?


Salman: Very. I think there is nothing wrong with the idea that fiction is a matter of life and death. Look at the history of literature. Look at what happened in the Soviet Union. Look at what's happening in China, in Africa, and across the Muslim World. It's not just me. Fiction has always been treated this way. It does matter and it's often very bad for writers that it does. But that just comes with the territory.


I bow to you, Sir Salman Rushdie.

Another brick in the wall...

Damn capitalism! Companies nowadays seem to believe their employees dont deserve any free time at all! Productivity is the mantra; get on that seat boy, nimble up the fingers and churn out lines of code, or whatever you do. How can you have any pudding, if you dont eat your meat? No, its eat your meat, brush your teeth and get back to work, there isnt any pudding anymore.

So whats inspiring this rant? Its them blasted internet firewalls which the corporates use to make sure employees dont get any pudding. I understand the need to block the particularly juicy kinds of pudding of course, after all you dont want your employees drooling in the cubicles and the corridors of this monument to profitable and untiring industry . That degree of freedom might be a few steps too far, and I stand stoically by the corporate in this decision, though with a slightly heavy heart. I even applaud the decision to block all web mail services during the official working hours. After all, the corporate can justly claim that employees only need the corporate mail service for all business purposes. But then, in their frenzy of righteous virtuosity, they decide to follow these decisions by adding another: let there be no sports!!

And thats where this loyal crewmember baulks and abandons ship. To club sports with the afore mentioned juicy stuff and the small discomfort of not being able to check your webmail is highly unfair. An avid football or cricket fan should be allowed to follow the game while at work. After all, the other option is to not show up for work at all!

Sports websites have been blocked for some time now, but the Slayer usually finds a way. I love those remote PC connection tools! Connected to a remote PC which was on a network that did not have sports websites banned, the Slayer was able to peruse the latest news in the world of sports whenever overwhelmed by his tirelessness of the past few working hours. And then came the rude shock today which lead to this overflowing of emotions and attempt of anger management through this rant. When the Slayer connected to that lovely remote PC today, and typed in his favourite football (or any) website URL, following that up by a dramatic rap on the Enter button, he was in for a rude shock - "This website is banned due to its content: Sports. Repeated attempts to access this website will be considered against company policies.". That remote sanctuary with its lush football-field-green pastures had been shut down, the drawbridge has been lifted, the gates closed, the towers manned by archers and the Slayer was on the outside.

Oh hateful, hateful day!

And by-the-way, all those links are to just show off my spanking new snap shots blog tool!! And the juicy pudding link might dissappoint some folks!

Play It Again

Sometimes a song just grabs you and seems to become part of you. Well, that can happen with lots of stuff, not just music. A great book, a great movie, just a great something. But lets keep it simple and just focus on the music for now.

Probably every classic rock fan knows and loves "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I have only recently discoved this song, having always considered Southern Rock as glorified Gospel or Country music! And its just got a hold on me. What great lyrics, fantastic tempo that goes from the gospel-ish beginning to that mind-blowing guitar driven orgasmic crescendo. Great stuff. And a couple of posts ago I had mentioned the movie "Duets" which had one of the lead actors singing the words from this song. Its just so good it feels like touching some kind of brilliance which will never be recreated again.

If I leave here tomorrow

Would you still remember me?

For I must be travelling on, now,

There's too many places I haven't seen

And if I stayed here with you, now

Things just wouldn't be the same

Well I'm as free as a bird now,

And a bird you can not change.

And a bird you can not change.

And a bird you can not change.

Lord knows I can't change

Bye, bye, its been a sweet love.

And though this feeling I can't change.

Please don't take it badly,

The Lord knows I'm to blame.

And, if I stayed here with you now

Things just wouldn't be the same.

For I'm as free as a bird now,

And this bird you'll never change.

And the bird you can not change.

And the bird you can not change.

Lord knows, I can't change.

Lord help me, I can't change.

Play it again Skynyrd.

Things left unsaid (thus far anyway)

While I'm at it, there are a couple more things to talk about. Urgently.

Firstly, a great big whoop of triumph at Saurav Ganguly being named the man of the series for the India - SL series. The big man is back and with a bang. His has been one of two cases of actions being louder than words which has happened over the last month or so. The second being the triumphant return of David Beckham into the Real Madrid first XI.

Looking back, the silence in the face of allegations and harsh criticism of both Gangs and Becks had seemed to indicate that these two stars had given up on their careers. Gangs decided to try his luck in English county cricket while Becks retaliated to the intense pressure heaped on him by the Real board to sign an extension to his contract or leave, by making the in-your-face decision to leave for the MLS. In return, Greg Chappell for the Indian team, and Fabio Capello for Real made similar noises about the door back into the squad being shut for ever for their respective players. Capello was a lot more outspoken about it saying that Becks will never play in his team again.

In both their cases, luck has to some extent played its part. The Indian team started playing really badly, it needed a spark and it looked more likely to come from its erstwhile captain than from the rookies who were tried. This combined with injuries to players like Yuvraj, and the poor form of some of the remaining senior players provided the opportunity of giving another shot to Gangs.

For Real Madrid, a series of dissappointing showings resulted in a clamour from the public to bring back Becks, who had made a mark in the hearts of the fans by his professional nature and his passion on-field. Capello though might have managed to ignore the public outcry, but when his influential players like Raul and Guti publicly commented on the teams need for Becks to be re-instated, he could not ignore it anymore. Another factor, as pointed out by Tim Stannard, in his excellent articles about the spanish league on Football365, is the unerring survival instinct of the Real coach. Capello brought Becks back, and he has been the lynchpin in Real's mini-revival over the last month. Capello even managed to get some credit from it by making the statement that a smart man knows when to change his mind.

Both games are richer for having these two wonderfully skillful players back on the field. For Becks, there may even be a return to the England team as McClaren has reportedly decided to follow Capello's lead and look a lot closer at his ex-skipper. If he looks close enough, he might just find a way to save his job.

As a postscript, my big hope of Liverpool accumulating 15 points before coming up against Barcelona in the CL, has been dashed to bits. First, they were held to a draw by Everton, then they actually lost to a resurgent Newcastle. Thats 5 points fewer then than they could have taken. But its Barcelona tomorrow, fingers crossed for that game.

Things that make you go "WHA....??"!

I have had a few vodkas in my time, but I dont even know how many vodkas it would take for me to attempt this.

An Australian bricklayer wrestles a 1.3 m shark after voluntarily jumping into the sea with the intention of gitting that them there little fishie. He says its the vodka that made him do it, yes siree.

People in Indonesia have reported large swarms of sharks migrating north from the shores of Australia towards the safer waters of the Java trench and the South China seas. One shark spokesman said "Its not safe for us around Australia any more!".

Footy Brawls

From my favourite website, F365. Great football reporting done with a great big splash of Brit humour. This article had me rolling.

There is so much to admire about football, but too often there are individuals in the game that tarnish its image. The case of Kieron Dyer vs Lee Bowyer fight night was unique in that it was teammates fighting each other on the pitch, while the match was being shown live on TV. It just showed the shambles in which Graeme Souness left Newcastle. John Hartson is another figure in the game who has only brought disrepute to it.


Eric Cantona was of course one of the great mad geniuses of the game, and his attack on Matthew Simmons, a Crystal Palace fan who was mocking him, was also on live TV. But that's Cantona, a man who is now dedicating himself to the upliftment of beach soccer. Nuff said!

But then there is a man like Henrik Larsson, who put it so beautifully to the warring Freddie Ljungberg and Olaf Mellberg - ""You are specks of dust. We all are. The team is what matters." Now that's inspirational.

Weekend Movies and Reading

First thing I did this weekend, I returned the books I had checked out from the library. I tried, but none of the three were keeping me interested enough. For the record, these books were -


1) Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck is a good writer, he has it in him to deliver a shock. But sometimes, the shocks can just make the reader numb. Ya, so there goes Chuck delivering another supposedly shocking fact, and you dont feel there was any need for it anymore. This book made me feel that way. Haunted, is basically a satire on reality TV like Survivor and Big Brother, except this is a bunch of wannabe writers who are trapped within Big Brother's house. So each one of these has a "shocking" tale to tell. Well, it just got boring.


2) The Return of the Dancing Master - Henning Mankell

Henning is a very very talented writer. His books are written in Swedish, and translated into English. I am a big fan of his series of murder mysteries. His main characters are excellent. His stories are very bleak and dark, atmospheric, and he tackles issues which are very relevant. But reading this book, I just probably overdosed on the bleakness. Blame Chuck for this as well I think, coz this is not a bad book at all. But combined with Haunted, it just left me hollow-eyed!


3) Three Witnesses - Rex Stout

My first attempt at a Nero Wolfe book. I guess it was too old-fashioned and archaic in its structure for me to get too much into it.


So, I went down and picked up some more books. My reading list now has the following -



1) Stephen King's latest - Lisey's Story


Just started it, not bad. The reviews are rave, so i'm looking forward to this one. I believe King is one of the most under-estimated writers ever, and though all his books are not brilliant, when he is good, he is very good.




2) Silence of the Grave - Arnaldur Indridasun


Arnaldur is a brilliant Icelandic writer, and his books are crime thrillers in the police procedural style. But his writing style is very good. This book is his second to come out in an English translation after "Jar City", a gripping thriller which started with the killing of an old man, but moves far beyond that scope. I am looking forward to reading this one and will definitely post my review.


3) The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey


This book is highly recommended by several people, its considered an underground classic. In fact this book is responsible for coining the term "monkeywrench" which usually gets thrown into the smoothly turning wheels.



4) Finally, I picked up two graphic novels I have been waiting to read. Both are written by Alan Moore, who is famous for his complex themed comics. The specific comics are probably two of the best graphic novels ever written - "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen".






Currently, I am absolutely absorbed into "Watchmen" a book so good it sometimes just takes the breath away. I will have to write a separate post for this one. It deserves at least one, maybe more. Just the tag line itself "Who watches the watchmen" grabs you and pulls you into the heart of this story. Just brilliant.


Also watched a few movies this week.

1) Snakes on a Plane - good for a few laughs, sometimes for the wrong reasons.

2) Rear Window - saw this fantastic Hitchcock classic again, brilliant. Based on Cornell Woolrich's short story.


3) In the line of Fire - one of Clint Eastwoods earlier directorial ventures, with John Malkovich playing a sublimely creepy villain.


4) Sholay - eternal Hindi favourite




Not a bad weekend. Also, didnt need to work this weekend after a long time!!