Bookie matters

When I bought my kindle, a friend asked if this meant I would stop buying books. I gave her a non-committal answer as I was not sure myself. Since ebooks have been part of my life for the last 8 years, Kindle or no Kindle, I am still happily emptying my coffers on books.

I've been reading "The Twentieth wife" by Indu Sundaresan. Nowadays I have too many things in mind and books have not been able to hold my attention for long. But this one is a compulsive read and I was forced to put down my other books (I am always reading at least 2-3 books at any given time) to finish this one.

The last books that held my attention this much was Amish Tripati's Shiva trilogy. I held off reading them for as long as possible but could not resist and then I felt irritated, coz the third book was not yet available and I was left hanging on a limbo.

Since “The Twentieth Wife” was impressive, I ordered its sequel “The Feast of Roses” at Indiaplaza last night. I've not yet ordered the final book of the Trilogy "The Shadow Princess" in the hope that by the time I finish the second one, either Flipkart or Indiaplaza will offer me a better discount than what they are currently giving. Greedy maybe, but a gal can hope, can't she? :-)

Which brings me to this website I’ve discovered. Don't know if you guys already know and having been using it, but I came across Indiaplaza only recently. I have always been a big fan of Flipkart but Indiaplaza is even better. Where Flipkart gave me 5% discount for “The twentieth wife”, IndiaPlaza gave me a full 40% off and for “The feast of Roses” there was no discount at all in Flipkart but I got a 40% off for this one too in India plaza.

Similarly Jeffrey Archer's new book, The sins of the father, is available to be pre-ordered in both the websites but we get a 5% extra discount at Indiaplaza. :-P

Sigh! It’s been a good week. I got to read some good stuff, I downloaded almost 20 ebooks, ordered 2 books.

The blog world has opened up my life to a whole plethora of ideas and perspectives, some of them so very different from my life experiences that I am not even able to relate, but it does make one realize it’s a wide big bad world out there.

And in news other than books, I breezed through an audit at work just on my reputation, despite not being all that well prepared.

I have a new little niece to play with as of yesterday :-)

I leave y'all with this quote from G K Chesterton, that I can definitely relate to

"A room without books is like a body without a soul"

On books and comics

I am reading The Immortals of Meluha, the first of the Shiva Trilogy. Bought the book ages ago, but there were other books ahead of it waiting to be read and I had lent it to my cousin, so could start it only couple of days back.
I expected to be bored or at least mildly annoyed with it, despite the good reviews. But I was pleasantly surprised and Its turned out to be a pretty interesting read.
Its the indus valley civilization with a quirky and futuristic bent. I can't wait to finish this one and start the second book, but I am not able to read it with my usual speed.. Know why?

Because I have hit on a mother lode of Indrajal comics. :-D  Remember them? They are the ones who brought Lee Falk's and Alex Raymond's imagination to India in technicolor.
Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordan, Rip Kirby, Bahadur, Kerry Drake and so on and so forth.

Ooooh! its my childhood revisited all over again. Despite the many years of separation from them, I find myself still totally enthralled by their adventures.
Phantom, the Ghost who walks, the commander of the Jungle Patrol, the man who cannot die and over all gentleman,  is still my ultimate hero.

Mandrake the magician, with his house Xanadu, Side kick, jungle prince and mightiest man on earth - Lothar , their girl friends and his Chef Hojo, who is also the secret chief of Inter Intel, have provided many many happy hours of companionship to the younger me.

Not to mention the Handsome golden haired Flash Gordan and the Sauve Rip Kirby (I must say, I liked his butler Desmond better)

Anyways, there you go. This is the reason I have been losing many hours of my beauty sleep and have not been able to finish reading the Shiva Trilogy and the other books patiently waiting in my shelves.

Eclipse of the moon

There are times when I wish my eyes were camera that can capture some of the beauty it sees and share it with you all. Today is one such day.
I am lying on the terrace, with cool breeze blowing, listening to Mukesh croon about love and looking at the moon.
I have been sitting here for the last hour or so. Saw the whole eclipse.. while the full eclipse was on, the moon they said would be in red colour. But it was more golden black than red from where I see.

But the full effect of the eclipse can be felt only now, when it is waning.
The blinding white sides peeping out of a golden black moon, like a naughty child peeping from behind its mother... that is the picture that I wanted to capture with my eyes and put up here.

You must have seen pictures of the moon rising between two palm trees? That is the view you get from my terrace. The moon rises from between the two coconut palms we have on the east.
The clouds and the twinkling stars add another layer to the over all beauty.

Ohh! the stars.. they look like chunks of diamonds that are just waiting to reached up and plucked.

Sigh! does life get any better?

PS: Wow! The eclipse is waning so fast
PPS: I can't, for the life of me, recognize any star, much less a constellation. They all look the same to me. My sis is pointing out them all and I am nodding my head very knowledgeably... hehe 

Pretty Red shoes!

*** Feminine post alert ***

My friend PSR sent me this shoes blogger link and my eyes lit upon this beautiful article.
And here I was thinking I am the only one coveting red shoes and it turns out the whole wide world is right there with me.
Needless to say I had to rush to Metro to check if they had any red shoes. And boy! did they?! It was this seriously cute peep toe with about 2.5 inches heels. I had unfortunately taken my mom along and she put her foot down and refused to let me buy such big heels. Sigh!
So anyways I got another pair of rather cute red sandals with 1 inch heels.

Two days ago I met PSR and she was flying high, coz she had got a pair of red shoes too. A little while ago my friend from UK calls me to tell me rather sheepishly that she could not resist this pair of red shoes she had seen.  (Way to go gals! :-) )

Today I wore my new sandals to work.. feeling rather good about myself (until I got into the share auto, but that's another story for another time) and what do I see?
So many pretty feet wearing .. what else.. but pretty red footwear.
Its a good feeling to be a part of such a large sisterhood! :-)

PS: Took some fotos of my new shoes thro my mobile, but unable to transfer it to my comp.

Gurukanth Desai

How many times would I have seen this movie? 10 times 15 times. I still like to see it again.
Of all the movies of Abhishek Bachchan I think Guru was his best show.
Have always had a soft corner for AB Jr. Poor guy, always under his dad and wife's shadow.
But this is one movie where he has shown the world what he is made of.
Love his laugh in the movie, that shoulder shaking, teeth baring, belly rolling laugh .

But credit where credit is due, I have always maintained that Mani Rathnam could make a statue act. So not surprising that Aish not only did some acting but such subtle understated acting at that.
(Even though the Time magazine called her an actress-model and not a model actress.. Good play of words huh?!)

How many of you remember Roshan seth? He was Nehru in the Gandhi movie and the anchor of the old Doordarshan Sunday night program Bharat Ek Khoj. It used to be telecast when I was very young and didn't really understand much, but I still remember being awed by chacha Nehru's language in it.
When I hear/see Roshan Seth today, I still think of him as Nehru, and a very handsome one at that.
It made me smile to see him as the head of panel of Judge hearing Guru's case. A very good actor indeed!

One of my favourite movies and a satisfying experience. 

Can we have enough friends?

Four of my old friends, whom I had thought I had lost touch with, contacted me.
Have been feeling very very happy :-).
One of them was actually my school friend, dunno how she got my number but darned glad she did.

With another friend, we had had a small tiff and had not spoken in quite a few months.
Life being what it is, we slowly lost touch. While I was not actively thinking of him, only when I spoke to him today and felt a lightness, did I realize that I had had this slight weight weighing down my heart. Now of course its all forgotten and its back to normal again.

Can a person really have enough friends? I don't think so.
 They are after all one of the most important facets for an interesting life.

Sigh! Its been a good week :-)

The Lizard prediction

Was sitting and chatting with my dad in the veranda. Apparently sitting right under the tube-light is a perfect target for lizards to fall on you.
Needless to say one darned slimy creepy lizard jumped on my right ear to slither down my neck.. by which time I had brought the house down and pushed it off.
Well! after I finished hopping and shuddering, I went running to scrub my ears n neck while my cuz went running to fetch the almanac.

Do you know that there are predictions given in the almanac on what happens if a lizard falls on you.
Its falling on each part of ur body apparently has a distinct effect. (Oh! and I am to have a long life and good health)

Not only that, it contains a table which predicts what will happen when a lizard chirps,  facing each directions on each day of the week (also based on how many chirps).

Cute, Huh?! 

Parichay

A simple story sweetly told. Beautiful songs. Talented cast and a fulfilling experience.
While today's movies have their own space and time, the actual acting seems to have taken a back seat to all the technological thingamagiks, six and eight packs and bikinis.

This movie is said to have been influenced by the Sound of Music. Taken in 1972 by Gulzar, having a cast of Jeetendra, Jaya Bhaduri (as she was then), Sanjeev kumar, Pran and Asrani.

In the whole movie. the love between Jeetendra and Jaya is never expressed explicitly. Only by the subtle expressions in their faces. And some of the reasons why I like Sanjeev Kumar, Pran and Asrani can be seen in this movie.

The sympathy on Sanjeev Kumar's face when Jaya sees his bloody kerchief. Pran's expression when his grandchildren wish him for the first time and Asrani's tears when he sees Pran laugh. Its a definite feel good movie (except if you see it in Sahara One channel.. in which case they will make u want to tear your head bald putting on soooo many advertisements)

Let's not forget the music by R D Burman. After all Lata got a National award for her Beeti na Beetayi



or Kishore's Musafir hoon yaaron

RIP Jagjit Singh!

:-(. Just now saw the news and feeling like I lost a personal friend. :-(

God's own pyrotechnics

When God decides to have some fun, She sure shows us mere mortals what pyrotechnics is all about.
Its raining here. Boy! is it raining! and that too along with all the accompaniments in their complete splendor.

Lightning tearing the skies open and wow! during the last thunder I could actually feel the ground under my feet vibrate.
You can almost smell and feel the sky getting reading to unleash the next bout.
It gives me the goosebumps witnessing all this fury. Its also very very exhilarating. :-)
Makes one realize how really small and insignificant one is in the grand scheme of things.

Bedardi Raja

Hey, How many of you saw the movie Delhi Belly? You must have seen and heard this song, then. But check out this video of Bedardi Raja with Sona Mohapatra in it singing (I think they call it the Grind Mix).  The lady looks so cool in her sari and guitar and a very nice voice too.
The first time I heard the song I was not all that impressed. But when I saw this video.. I Like!

Lucky me!

Sometimes I think I am lucky to have been born in this particular time, especially when I get to hear songs like the ones below, by artists like Chitra, Sudha Ragunathan, MS and KJY.
When they say music has no boundaries or language they (whoever they were) knew what they were talking about.
But its not just the music or the singing but the composition and its simple but beautiful meaning.

For example in the first song below, Enna Thavam Seithanai, by Papanasam Sivan in Kaapi raga.

 The first charanam (stanza) goes
bhramanum indranum manadil porAmai koLLa
uralil kaTTi vAi pottik-kenjavaittAi kannanai (enna thavam..)

Which translates to something like
"Even as Lord Brahma and Indra look on with jealousy in their hearts
you have got the Lord Krishna tied, gagged and begging [...for his mischief] (oh mother! what penance you must have done)"


Enna Thavam Seithanei Yashoda (What penance you must have done, Yashoda)


Kanda naal muthalai kathal peruguthadi (Since the day I saw [Lord Muruga] my love has been increasing)


Asainthu aadum mayil (When I see a dancing peacock, it seems to be telling me that our Krishna has come)


Kurai Ondrum Illai (I don't have any problems) Sigh! MS! Need I say more


Harivarasanam By KJY (And finishing it off with Mangalam)

Mr.Mummy

I've always had this fascination for Ancient Egypt in general and their mummies in particular.
Found this superb video of Egyptologist Robert Brier's Mummy project.
After over 2000 years Briers actually mummified a human cadaver the egyptian way.
While this might not be of interest to many people, I was totally astounded and wanted to keep it here for posterity.



And for those interested YouTube has a lovely collection of BBC and National Geographic documentaries on this subject.

My Sketches

Know what I did this weekend? I mean other gorging on Pizza and Ugh!!! working.
I was scanning some of the sketches I had done. So obviously I just had to put a few of them here.

Pizza pizza pizza!

Dad and I had a pizza orgy just now.. mmmm! I am still reeling from an over dose.

I dont even like Dominos pizza... But if you are cheese lover then you just have to try their double burst pizza.

And the best part is that there are 3 more slices sitting in front of me tempting me

पेट बर गया पर दिल नहीं  sigh!!!!!

Later added:- *Groan* I am probably going to burst and die! but what a way to go!

One fine night

=> 11 PM,
=> A big chocolate slab,
=> Popcorn in hand,
=> A bottle of coke,
=> George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer romancing on TV.

Sigh! George Clooney!
What more could a gal want?

My Laughter, my joy

I found this post all deep and hidden in my drafts. I seem to have written this about an year or so back. Not sure why I did not publish it then. So I decided to dust it out and put it up here.
---------------------------------
I was always known for my smiles. I remember this gal I used to meet in the bus once telling me that I was always smiling and that was what she first noticed about me.

So when I did I lose my laughter and smile? It was a very slow process and very subtle. It happened over the two years at my last work place. I had not realized it was gone. All I knew was that life was no fun anymore. I was fun no more. While it might sound very dramatic, it felt like I was in this deep dark smothering place.

But now I have been out for some time and today when I laughed with my friends about something, I startled myself. I was suddenly filled with this great whooping big joy inside, I had been out of my fetters for quite some time and had just not known it.

I had got my laughter back. Something that I had not realized losing but had missed desperately.
-----------------------------------
Today, when I smile and laugh at home, at work , with friends or just at life. I know I will never take it for granted again.
Even the sorrow and rant of today is a sweet memory or amusing entertainment of tomorrow.
.

My Loves

I fall in love every week, sometimes the love lasts for as much as a month, but eventually I get bored and move on.

But its all cyclic. I come back to my old love eventually.

For eg. Last week I was all melty for Bhupinder singh. Was downloading his songs like crazy.
The way he croons and caresses the words of the ghazals he sings,sigh!... Like each word is the most important word at that point and there is no hurry to go to the next word. mmmm!!! and what a deep voice. I am a sucker for deep voices. (I dont like Jagjit singh and Suresh Wadekar though I love ghazals)





This week its Rafi saab. I listened to his Woh jab yaad aaye and kuch kuch yaad aane laga.




Sometime back it was Mukesh Saab. God! the man can cry like no one's business. Was singing "Waqt karta jo Wafa" repeatedly and driving myself wild.



Talat Aziz, used to have a crush on his voice and him, until I saw him act in some serials. But I decided to forgive him for his voice :-)




I am off Kishore for sometime. ODed on him. Lata and Asha are all time loves

Why I hate Flipkart!

Honestly! Flipkart has made my bookshelves so much healthier and my wallet that much less.
It is so easy to buy a book with just a click and they give such great discounts and darn them! they deliver it at home for free and I don't have to move out of my seat.

I've become a compulsive buyer, and I feel almost ashamed (Almost being the operative word)
:-) .

Believe it or not I have almost 40 books that I have yet to read, stuck in my bookshelves.
The number never seems to come down, since I keep stocking up on newer books before I can make any headway on the older ones.

My librarian is not happy with me, I have not been borrowing much from him nowadays.

Sigh! I just came to office and ordered myself the new Jeffrey Archer book at 40% discount :-).

Oh Yeah! you can see why I hate Flipkart.. Can't you?

Why Hinduism is so much fun

Hinduism is one of the most fun religions to be in, basically because it is not a religion at all but a way of life. It shows us the pros and cons of any path we might choose and lets us do the choosing. This is also one of the reasons why one cannot convert into Hinduism.

It teaches, by example, that even if you are God himself, your sins will be punished. (Lord Krishna was shot down by a hunter in hiding, as He had done many sins from behind the Pandavas, to make them win the Kurukshetra war. Lord Rama drowned for his treatment of Sita)

How many religions do we know, that lets their believers question its tenets? Hinduism does. It allows its believers to look at its principles from all angles and perspectives and question it until a person is totally satisfied and comfortable with what it says. This is one of the reason why it can accommodate all walks of life so comfortably.

Its epics and mythological stories! Wow! I have read some 5-6 different versions and perceptions of the Mahabaratha and every one of them sound totally logical and all of it will lead to the conclusion of good triumphing over good. None of the heroes are totally white or villains totally black. They are both shades of grey and its the degree of greyness that makes them good or bad.

Talking of questioning even our Gods. There is this story my grand ma once told me. There was this great saint (whose name, I forget :-( ) who was doing Kathakalakshebam (Praising the Lord by telling stories as songs) of Ramayana in a Krishna temple. As he was telling the great deeds done by Rama, the listening deity inside the garba graha (Inner Sanctum) piped out saying "It is my deeds you are singing about". When the saint started singing of Rama's unfair treatment of Sita in asking her to jump into fire , he turned to the deity and asked how could you do that to the innocent Matha Sita. After a brief pause a voice sounded from inside " That was not me, it was all Rama's doing". :-)

Is it not the ideal world where even the highest authority is answerable to the lowest order of beings.
.