Bits And Pieces

Target:    100 books Current:      2 books I figured if I'm going to read a lot of books this year, I might as well make the most of it. I will be making a conscious effort to read as eclectic a bunch of books as possible. In that spirit, here's book two. #2 Subliminal      How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior - Leonard Mlodinow Liked It, Non-fiction, Interesting, Factual, Lots of case studies When friends visit me in New York, I have this habit of taking them to one of my favourite places in the city: Strand Book Store. Invariably, we end up buying one or more books. On one such trip my friend decided to pick up this book. Although it piqued my interest, especially with its witty cover, I decided I didn't want it for myself. The rest of the long weekend played out, and then everyone went back to their own lives. A few weeks later, sometime around my birthday, I received an unexpected package: a second hand book. My friend had s...

Target:    100 books Current:      1 books I claim that I'm a Book Lover, but the truth is, I have no idea how many books I end up reading in a year. If I reach my target by the end of this year, I'll continue to call myself a Book Lover. If I reach half my target, I'd like to call myself a Book Friend. Anything less than 25, and I'll know in my heart that I'm a Liar. I'm also quite curious to see how sick of books I'll be, if at all, by the end of this exercise. #1 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee Liked It, Fiction, Easy to read, Lighthearted despite heavy themes It's all over the news that Harper Lee's second ever book is coming out soon, 55 years after her much celebrated first. To Kill a Mockingbird has been on my "Get to it" list for several years now. And obviously, when you put something on a list like that, it's license to forget all about it. Besides, I'm a little suspicious of all those books they call "C...

Clichéd though it may sound, it IS really the small things that make life "funner".  Here are a few things that can help improve the quality of your life –   Get Wet Water is amazing! Never EVER miss a chance to be near/in water (unless great white sharks are swimming around). H 2 O can be your personal therapist and masseur. It can even get you contemplating the origins of our universe. Get drenched when you go to theme parks. Walk in the rain once in a while. Go to a beach and let the waves kiss your feet. Have a luxuriating bath. As long you are not drowning, water really is your best friend. Get Addicted NEVER TO DRUGS/CIGARETTES!!! Addictions can provide immense satisfaction. Just make sure to pick one that is not harmful to you in the long run. Ever started to read a book and realized you can't put it down without finishing it? That dear friends, is addiction. There are a zillion addictions to pick from once you start looking. Become a movie buff, or becom...

Sorry about the highly pedestrian title guys. If Benjamin Button , and a dog in the night can have curious cases, well, so can I! What happened - I had a mobile phone in India paired with an Indian SIM card. Now here in the US (where I'm currently kuppa kottufying*) I have the same mobile phone with (Surprise Surprise!) an American connection. I keep getting a particular kind of weird Call on my phone all the time. Sometimes, several days pass by with no signs of it, and on other days it wreaks vengeance with an annoyingly high frequency. For two years now I have had this problem. The Call leaves no trace. Never shows up in my Missed or Received Calls list. It comes up as "Unknown". You try to reason with whoever/whatever only to be greeted by dead silence on the other end. One can only wonder at the intellectual genius of the Call that can so effortlessly transcend SIM card boundaries! What everyone said - "You have a stalker! Kalakku**!!" (??? Serio...

When you've lived more than half your life looking at the world through four eyes, it can be quite magical to once again use only two to experience the world like with the four. LASIK can do that to you. It can change your world, especially if you are able to relate to what i have to say below. It all started when i was in 2nd standard. The math(s) teacher always used to give us mental sums in the beginning of the class as a small test of what we'd learnt until then. Funnily, i always got the audio questions correct, but when the questions went up on the black board, i muddled up the 8's with the 0's, the 3's with the 5's and ended screwing up my most important mental sums tests! I still manage a wry inner smile whenever i think of the agony that my younger self went through, not knowing the answer in spite of knowing the method. It took till 3rd standard before i could confide that there was something wrong with me, and i was terrified it was my fault. Let us...

Something just had to break. What with the waves of "SCAMS" (which is almost the name of a disease now) and the dumbass cover ups, it was just a matter of time before a few good people sat up and thought - "What the hell? I've got to do something about this menace". Kindly notice the use of the word "I'VE". It shows courage and patriotism. After all, it definitely can't be easy taking on the corrupt politicians of India head on. When we suffer from gastro-whatever problems (read stomach indigestion), we vomit. That's how the body cleanses itself of the muck that sits in the stomach. Our nation is currently undergoing a serious case of indigestion. No amount of Gelusil can help us. India has got to throw up or the puke will remain inside and cause further torment. Have you heard about the Lokpal Bill? What about the Jan Lokpal Bill? Don't worry if you haven't. That is why this post is up here. The Lokpal Bill allows "aapu adich...

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that most of our Indian on-stage speeches are just plain stuffy? Why doesn't anyone ever get to the point? Longer is definitely not the way to go, and yet, it seems to be the sole aim of the speaker to shush the audience to dreamland for at least half an hour. And don't even get me started on the Adjectives!!!! Why in the world does a mayor have to be "Worshipful"??!! We aren't in England for God's sake! And "Beloved"? "Radiant"? Sheesh. Such grandiloquence puts even the great bards to shame. The irony is, not even a single bit of any of this actually comes from the heart. Every word that is uttered is meant to butter up the "Dignitaries". Gone are the times when humility was considered to be a virtue and not a weakness. And while we are at it, let us not forget "Very". The ubiquitous "Very" has seeped through, into every speaker's "very" life blood. Isn...