Books Tag

Once upon a time, long long ago, when this blog had jus moved to wordpress, it had a page tat went by the name “Books am reading”. It had a list of around 15 to 20 books which were in various stages of reading, rereading. Then I removed the page 😦

Instead am putting up a post about books. No. Not a ranting about Authors. A simple tag. About Books. THnx to Priya 🙂 Here it goes.

1.Books that changed your life:

1. Windmills of the Gods, Sidney Sheldon. Flicked it from my aunt when I was in 6th. Couldn’t understand most of it. Read it just for the heck of it. But Sidney@6th std raised lots of eyebrows! 😉

2. Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham. No Idea how I found this book. Read it during high school.

3. Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne. OooOps! Robert Ludlum. Responsible for my cynical outlook towards world in general and also inspired my alter ego, Jason Spencer 😉

4. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Inspired lots of idealistic visions and crap posts.

5. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie. I bow, Sir!

6. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger. As a wise friend of mine quipped once, in one way or the other, we all relate to Holden Caulfield.

2. Books that You have read more than once:

1. Barbarians at the Gates, Bryan Burrough and John Helyar Heard about LBOs?? any idea how Flextronics became Aricent?? read this book.

2. I met a Lady, Howard Spring. A beautiful book.

3. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie.

4. Paperweight, Stephen Fry.

5. As the crow flies, Jeffrey Archer.

3. A book that You’d take onto a deserted Island:

err…only one?

1. One Hundred Years of solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. (no pun intended :P)

4. Books that made you laugh:

I don’t usually buy or read books that is intended to make me laugh. Prefer sombre works.

1. The Monk who sold a Ferrari, Robin Sharma.

2. Paperweight, Stephen Fry

5. Books that made you cry:

1. City of Joy, Dominique Lapierre. Learnt about the side of my birth city I had never known till then. And cried.

2. A short story written by Jeffrey Archer. Don’t remember the name. It was about a letter written by a son to his father about his love.

6. Books You are currently reading:

Ah! A long list:

Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak.

Surely you are joking, Richard Feynman.

Yes Minister transcripts.

First among Equals, Jeffrey Archer.

War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy.

and lots more…

7. Books You have been meaning to read but yet to read:

1. Snow or My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk.(Was to be my bday present for myself but watched Sivaji with friends instead..not that I complained.)

2. Ulysses, James Joyce.  Paulo Coleho wrote in “Like a Flowing River” that Ulysses is the book every writer loves but can’t explain why.

3. Works of Samuel Beckett.

4. Crime and Punishment and other works of Fyodor Dostevosky.

5. Ponniyin Selvan , Kalki. Ok, I suck at tamil but ever since I heard my friends rave about it, I been wanting to read it.

6. The Golden Gate or A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth.

7. Das Kapital, Karl Marx.

8. Yet to beg/borrow/steal:

Wanna move onto the Classics now. Dickens, Jerome K Jerome,etc. And lots of modernist stuff too. Especially James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot,etc Also wanna read works of Tagore, Nehru and Rajaji.  And read more poems. Really regret hating them at school.

Everyone is free to continue this tag. Happy reading !

The BatPod

 

And they call it a BATPOD !! 😀

After Christopher Nolan infused some life into the big screen adaptations of the Batman series with his Batman Begins, he is back. He is gonna direct the next Batman Movie called The Dark Knight.  The pix above are that of  the redesigned Batcycle (or Batpod as they are gonna call it in the movie) to be used by the The Dark Knight in the movie.

Uber Cool !!! 😎

Aathaa..naan ‘sivaji’ paathuten !

As of today, I am 23 years and 1 day old. Celebrated my birthday yesterday. And what a way to celebrate it:

12 AM: Call from parents and friends.

9 AM: Call from chitthi. My8 year old cousin played “happy bday” on his keyboard and let me know that the next Rahman is on the way 😉

5 30 PM: Thalaivar Padam 😀 😀 😀

After standing for around 2 hours in the queue, got tickets for Sivaji :D. Thalaivar padam, first day first show 🙂 .Missed the opening scene 😦  (Dammit…!) The movie seriously rocks if you forgive the director’s “Anniyan” hangover and Peter Hein’s stunts (especially the KingKong fight…wtf was that about x-( ).

The movie is an out and out entertainer and masala mix. Yes it is preachy but not Ambi’s “Flush the toilet after use or else I will kill you” preachy. Shankar let us watch happily by directing his ire at the politicians and bureaucrats (thank God for that). Yes it has scenes that remind you of Gilli, Saami and a whole lot of other movies. But I strongly believe it was all included with a motive. Lots of one movie wonders and other bufoons have cropped up in Rajni’s absence and claim to be the next superstar. This movie puts them in their place. For instance, the scene where Vivek stops Rajni from mouthing a punch dialogue and sighs that almost every hero mouths one in their movie and asks “six kapparom seven da. Sivaji kapparom yevan da?“.

As usual, Sankar has paid attention to every detail.As usual, the songs have been picturised beautifully. As usual, Rahman’s music rocks . Rahman reminds us yet again that script alone was not the reason for Anniyan’s failure. Shriya ( or Shreya) looks great throughout the movie. Surprisingly, she acts well. And dances amazingly. Suman does full justice to his role. A good comeback.

However, Shankar’s magic touch has began to wane. If Anniyan despite Vikram was bad, this one minus Rajni would have been a disaster. The story is a huge letdown to all Sankar’s fans. For sometime, I did wonder, whatever happened to the guy who gave us Indian and Mudhalvan? But the image of Rajni (esp the mottai BOSS!) with  all those designer clothes and the Ray Ban takes care of everything. Substance gives way to Style. Who cares! Its the BOSS after all. 😉

Flashes of visions

A flash.

Life goes out.

A flash.

Life comes back again.

In between lay years of silence;

Awaiting redemption from the pain.

Dedicated to the Polish Railway worker, Jan Grzebski, who fell into a coma after he was hit by a train in 1988 and woke up a week ago ( ie 19 years later!)

A few days back, a friend of mine had messaged me that I was prone to meet with an accident. My initial reaction was to laugh at it and then I became serious and for sometime, I tried to be careful and acted all paranoid ( U never know whats gonna hit you and where!) And then, I wondered what would happen if I do get hit by something and lie in coma for 19 years ie till 2026?(“Abishtoo.Nallathey nenake maatiyaa..Abachaaram..Abachaaram”)

What would happen to the world in those years? Change? And in what way and form. Would the world in 2026 be like the Utopian ones potrayed in Shankar’s movies? Or more like the dystopian potrayal of the world in Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men? My bet is status quo. I do not see the world changing much in those years. Yes, the glaciers would melt away and every country would still try and evade responsibility. A bunch of clowns would realise Indian brains are far more precious than oil and more dangerous and hence start invading all the countries where we have a strong immigrant presence amidst calls and protests of “NO to war” and intelligence reports and counter reports that Indian brains are not so valuable, Indians do not have any brains and so forth. Every party in our country would be wraggling as to who should be the next president (the fight would be between a moviestar, ex cricketer amongst others). Bollywood would still be lifting movie plots from all around the world and then call it inspired versions( inspid though would be more appropriate). Our 20th cricket team coach since 2007 would have resigned by then and a very wise mind would recommend my name (“the greatest player never ever to played cricket…”,one would quip) The “men in blue” of course, would readily agree.

So as Hegel quoted once, history would keep repeating itself. After all, He only wrote one script. Its upto us folks to improvise.

So it starts….

Hurray! I have moved to WordPress…quite comfortably in fact.. there were no hiccups whatsoever…rite from moving my posts from my old blogger page to this one till importing my blogroll..all done in an instant..

hoping that I write more stuff here..been quiet for sometime..

And so it goes …:)

Tamil Blog

I ve started a TAMIL BLOG (after my favorite Raja number from Nizhalgal).. I got the software called Baraha..its awesome and fun..more importantly,easy to type…Will b posting regularly in tamil hereafter..

ெதாட௫ம்…..

Comfortably DUMB

For the second time in my life, I cried while watching a cricket match. The first was during the 96 World Cup. No. Not during India’s shambolic defeat against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens. I cried during India’s group match against West Indies. I am a leftie and Lara was the only southpaw performing well the world over(India din’t even have a decent left handed batsman in its line up then xcpt for the ever in n out vinod kambli). So naturally, I was hoping Lara would come good against India(din care much about patriotism back then…).Srinath bowled a peach of a delivery and Lara edged it to the keeper. West Indies were bowled out for 180 odd and India won comfortably. I cried.

I cried again yesterday night. Mind you, I am not a regular cricket watcher these days. I would prefer watching football over cricket. But WC is something special and I was hooked to the tele yesterday right from the first ball that Zaheer sent down to Jayasuriya.

India bowled really well and the fielding was gud enough. But Lankans had an edge over us. Even when Munaf Patel and Agarkar were bamboozling them, they dint flinch and were ready to wait for the bad balls. Compare this with Indian batting: Four dot balls. Ganguly went for a big hit and lost his wicket. One ball down the leg side that almost hit the stumps;Sehwag suddenly lost all his confidence and edged one to the slips couple of deliveries later. The less said about the other batsmen, the better I guess. This ain’t the first time. Even against Bangladesh, the same thing happened. In fact, Zaheer and Munaf Patel batted better against Bangladesh compared to the top order. Atleast now I hope, we wouldn’t be referred to as the strongest batting line-up in the whole world!

Tactically too, Lankans had an edge over us. Asking Sangakkara to keep upfront for Vaas was a brilliant ploy. And the positioning of their fielders was superb. Indian batsman struggled to get the ball past the 30 yard circle. Sachin should have opened and Dravid should have come at number 3. Knowing very well that Murali feared Ganguly, he should probably been sent down the order. Of course, its easy for us fans to suggest things. But where the heck was Greg Chappell and what the f**k was he doing??Booking tickets for the trip bak home??Chappell’s performance has made even Sven Erikson look like a great manager.

During the post-match interview, Dravid said that we din deserve to go the second round. He was spot-on. With a selection chief openly criticizing his selections and a coach whose tactically superior brain churning out one dud after the other(experimentation with the top order, pathan fiasco,etc), what could he do? I think he was ready for such a thing to happen even before the WC began.

India went into the World Cup with High Hopes. Ready to sizzle and bring back the Cup. And what happened? we all became comfortably dumb by witnessing the Great GiG in the sKy(Floyd overdose..I know).Things can’t get worse for Indian Cricket. Watching all those ads during the match only reaffirmed my view on Indian Cricket:the vultures are feasting on the carcass. Or is there still life in it as yet?
[©pictures from cricinfo.com]

All You Need is Love

Once upon a time.

———————————————————————

” …not anymore…”

(stare and look away…)

“…good bye….”

(walk off in opposite directions…)

“…if only…”

“…if only…”

(turns..looks…waits…turns back and walks off…)

(turns..looks…)”…HEYyyy…”(waits…)

(..turns…)”…hhEYY…”

(with disdain…)”…whatever…”(shrugs shoulder)

(irritated…clenches fist)

(turns and keeps walking)

(unclenches fist, turns and keeps walking)

“…good bye…”

“…whatever..”

“…not anymore…”

———————————————————————

And they lived happily ever after.

Taggit

Trinity Teal had tagged me…so finally got sth to blog abt..
its a set of 10 qs..here r my answers

1..One thing you are very much afraid of?
What if all those dystopian thoughts in my head come true one day..??

2.Two incidents you can never forget in your life?
1.Watching DDLJ with my dad and sis sometime during feb ’96…last days of innocent childhood..
2.My engineering studies…an exercise in futility.

3.Three books you would love reading again and again?
Tried voting here…
realised i have not read anything at all..:-(

rmmr:these r books i enjoy reading again and again…ther r whole lot of books which r gr8 but i cant read them again..

.Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
.I met a lady by Howard Spring
.Barbarians at the Gates by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar.

4.Four women who are most beautiful?
.Elisha Curthbert.
.Ayesha Takia.
.____________
.____________
[to be filled in later…;-)]

5.Five of you favorite food items?
.Onion vetha kuzhambu(with tiny pieces of fried coconuts :D) and deep potato or cabbage or kovakka fry cooked by ma mom(unlyk my sis, my mom deep fries it..i prefer it tat way)
.Akka’s patented veg. rice and whole lot of other food items[she experiments a lot..almost everytime i ve been the guinea pig 😦 ]
.Paati’s puri masala and rava kesari.
.Coffee@5 30 am…@Chennai…no adding any water to arokya milk and rite amt. of dicoction and sugar.(for the exact formula, ask my dad)
.Finally,Martini, shaken but not stirred :P(seriously,vodka…)

6.Six words you use very often oral/written?
Fill it wit six swear words in any lang…fuck tops the list tho

7.Seven things you like about yourself?
And I thot this was a tag…not a job interview 😛

8.Eight film personalities who are your all time favorites?
.A. R Rahman and Illayaraja
.Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Hassan.(Sivaji only b&w…exception:thevar magan..)
.Martin Scorcese and Robert De Niro
.Al Pacino.
.Steven Spielberg,Tom Hanks and Janusz Kaminski
.Mani Ratnam, P.C Sriram and Santosh Sivan.
.Darren Aronofsky.
.Countamani, Senthil, Vivek and Vadivelu
.Jyothika…..first heroine on whom i had a crush..
[yeha i ve listed more than 8..cant count..so wat? :P]

9.Nine movies you wont mind watching again and again?
Gonna watch Scorcese’s Raging Bull, Goodfellas this weekend…
1.Godfather( I and II)
2.Iruvar, Mouna Raagam.
3.The Departed.
4.If Only
5.Reservoir Dogs, City of God(this movie deserved an Oscar for the best picture..)
6.The Matrix Trilogy (duh!)
7.Munich, Saving Private Ryan
8.American Beauty,Requiem for a Dream
9.Karakaatakaran, Micheal Madana Kaama Rajan, Singaara Velan.

10.Ten songs you would like to listen to everyday?
Been listening to rock for quite sometime but listening to it seriously these days[yt to listen to metallica,iron maiden and lots of others..studyin II std in the skool of rock :-)].
1.Stevie Ray Vaughan cover version of Hendrix’s voodoo child(first song in any playlist of mine…SRV=God)
2.John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess’ Hang On and Furia Taurina(Petrucci and Rudess create magic!)
3.Illayaraja’s melodies from the 70’s,80’s,90’s(any time,any day..)
4.Breaking the Habit from Linkin Park’s Meteora(lyrics speak for itself)
5.Dream On and Janies got a gun by Aerosmith(truly inspiring stuff!)
6.Your body is a wonderland by John Mayer(even romantically challenged wud b swayed by Mayer’s singing)
7.Santana’s Evil Ways and Smooth[Santana’s guitar+Rob Thomas’ voice=Grammy 😉 ]
8.Bob Dylan’s Things have changed[Best lyrics in any english song i ve heard till now..]
9.High Hopes by Pink Floyd.[Best Pink Floyd song according to me]
10.Music Director: A. R Rahman. Song:_________ (U can fill it :D)

Anyone who wants to continue this tag,feel free to do so 🙂

Obit

Two very popular literary figures breathed their last the previous month: Sidney Sheldon and Art Buchwald. Both have had a profound impact on my life: The former’s novels allowed me to glimpse the cynical attitude prevalent while the latter showed that being funny is the best form of revenge.

I was introduced to Sidney(Windmill of the Gods) during my class 6 vacations. Fast paced action with a lucid storyline, his novels saved me from eternal boredom during my high skool years. His masala novels have inspired many a bollywood and kollywood writers(even serial writers).

My sunday mornings used to begin wit a cup of coffee and The Hindu. And the first article used to Art Buchwald’s syndicated column. At first, I use to find it difficult to understand what he wrote about(american politics was as alien as pizzas back then!). With time though, I was able 2 appreciate his humor. If laughter is the best medicine, then i guess researchers don need 2 look far to cure AIDS.

Both the writers would be sorely missed 😦 May their Soul rest in peace