Book(s) watch

As usual, there are a bunch of books I need to catch up on. Kite Runner is languishing on my nightstand while I try to finish Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson. She is one of my lately discovered writers. Read her which witch? recently. I had bought it for my daughter, but haven't ever heard about it or her, wanted to read it first to see if it was appropriate. Loved it. What's more, I see that she is a contemporary of JKR and shares quite a bit with her (Read here).
Another favorite, Mitch Albom is also out with his latest, for one more day. I have loved his other 2 books and so looking forward to this one too.

Then there is Elizabeth Aston who writes books based on the Darcy's (Jane Austen). Her latest is out, The True Darcy Spirit: A Novel.

Then the master thriller spinner, Baldacci is out (soon to be, rather) with The Collectors, part of the camel club series. A few from my favorite, Nora Roberts, to catch up to.

And then, I feel a distance from Harry Potter that needs to be closed, so got to re-re-read 1/2 blood.

between dance classes, music lessons and soccer practices, I got to squeeze in some soul time.

So little time, so much to do!

Maggie cuts her hair

Anyone who has read "Mill on the Floss" would know what I am refering to.

Tom followed Maggie upstairs into her mother's room, and saw her go at once to a drawer, from which she took out a large pair of scissors.

"What are they for, Maggie?" said Tom, feeling his curiosity awakened.

Maggie answered by seizing her front locks and cutting them straight across the middle of her forehead.

One delicious grinding snip, and then another and another, and the hinder-locks fell heavily on the floor, and Maggie stood cropped in a jagged, uneven
manner

My youngest one has lost her bangs! What can I say!

Ramayana as a history lesson?

Came across this article - NASA Images Find 1,750,000 Year Old Man-Made Bridge.

To believe or not to believe?

There are those who find similarities between the dasavatharam and Darwin's origin of species.

Violence is never the answer

Violence begets violence. Are their problems going to be solved by decimating a few hundred human beings? How many more people need to die in the name of religion?

A possible witness?

Helpline

Words

Came across 2 articles today on one of my favorite topics. Don't ask me why, but words (etymology, usage, etc) have always fascinated me.

One was about new words that were added to the dictionary. Do you know what Mouse potato and soul patch mean? The first one is obvious and the second one denotes the fuzz under the lips that some men wear. (Kind of non-sequitur - Any of you remember that PGW story where Wooster sports a fungal fuzz that Jeeves is so disdainful of? Hilarious, that one!)

The other was about simplying spelling. This one, I don't know if it is a good idea. Learning a new thing is good as long as you don't have to "unlearn" something that is so automatic.

NaRukkunu 4 vaarthai

I came across this post through Ravi's blog

That is a very well written article and true to the last word. A must read for all Indians, especially the bureaucrats!

One of the points, discrimination against the foreign tourist, is a shame to the country. We are known as the land of hospitality, but are we really?

And for day-to-day life, the worst are the powercuts and potholes, to say nothing about potable water, traffic or clean living standards. Such simple things are a big deal for the common man.

I know a lot of people would consider this India-bashing. But these are the things that are glaringly obvious to a visitor. Something that each of us needs to consider.
In order to appreciate something or to get the bigger picture, you need to step out.
Living outside my birth nation, I have to grown to appreciate its finer points as well as to look at it objectively.

How many of us have no problems cleaning the house and throwing the garbage out on the road?

Lost friendships

Ever lose touch with friends and wonder where they are now? We live in such hurried times that we walk away from friends without a glance back. I have been thankful many a times when I have found some of them through the internet or through another mutual friend.

Drifting apart is sad, but a reality of life. Sometimes, we take the effort to reconnect, sometimes easier said than done. There are some friends we can always call after a hiatus and still have that special camaraderie. Friends who don't expect much from you. Who doesn't like them!

Countless times have I tried to find out about this girl I went to school with, but haven't been able to find out what happened to her. Another one, we drifted apart after meeting up again.

My husband seems to be better at keeping in touch with old friends than I am. Is it just a personality trait or plain laziness? I wish I could make that extra bit of effort, but it is oh so easy to drift away.

Out of the blue today, I remembered Sho and her sister Dee. Sho must be around 28 or so, her sister a year or 2 younger. I helped them with homeworks and projects, they moved out of the locality and we lost touch, although I saw them in school occasionally. Wonder what they are up to now?

Super(b)man!

He flies, zooms and rocks! A great movie with awesome special effects! Lois Lane was so-so. Routh as Superman is perfect! I feel a bit disloyal to say this, but he fits the role better than others(incl. the TV ones!). The little kid is cute! Kevin Spacey, needless to say, shines as Lex Luthor. And then our desi dood, Kal Penn as one of his side kicks. And he goes the way that all evil sidekicks go! And while on this topic, check this out. Also, a lil bit of trivia about the forelock of justice.

The trailer for Spidey was intriguing, to say the least! MY

Eeyore, etc

How many of us share his personality? Just wondering.

caught up on some movies over the weekend. Fanaa - could have been better, Phir Hera Pheri - laugh riot, keep your grey cells at home though, Chithiram pesudadi - Good one, Narain's body language needs improvement and there was a lot of needless yelling in the movie.

Krrish - yyess!

Superhero Krrish is out on the streets and the reviews are good. The movie is kid-friendly, which is definitely a rare thing in Indian filmdom. It promises to be cheesier and cornier than koi mil gaya, its prequel. How about that!

Soccer fever

(Yahoo!)

A view from the outside

Came across this website , a log of an American's journey through India. Interesting, to say the least! I haven't read all of it or watched the videos, but will get to them soon.

Back to the blo(g/ck)

Some training and some conferencing and now back to the daily grind.

Family vacation - a short trip away from the family - nice, but 10 more pounds to worry about!

Current read - Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie - Good so far!

A new favorite - Moe's

Cars - A must see movie, esp for the pseudo realistic locales!
Over the Hedge - Another good one, some risque dialogs that swishes over the little bitties' heads. Thankfully :-)

Time to watch something more on my level.

PS: 10 pounds is a lot on the way (hopefully) down.

oppression or democracy

Da Vinci code is banned in TN. Why? It offends some people. Didn't Boys "offend" more people? Doesn't SJS offend more people? Anything for a vote!

All these politicians need a crash course on democracy! Better yet, just a crash! :-)

They need to take care, if this goes on, some higher power might decide that the country needs to be "relieved" of such oppressors and deliver "freedom".

Would that be good or bad? hmm!

Reservation row

I got an email forward of the interview on Devil's Advocate between Karan Thappar and Arjun Singh (You can read it here).

Dumb politicians! They have no vision, only caste based politics is in play. To me, reservation should not be caste based. In fact, there should need be none. There is this quote by Nehru, that Thappar mentions in the interview -

dislike any kind of reservations. If we go in for any kind of reservations on communal and caste basis, we will swamp the bright and able people and remain second-rate or third-rate. The moment we encourage the second-rate, we are lost. This way lies not only folly, but also disaster.

This was after his idea of reservations failed to help the people who needed it most.

Would I want a barely-passed physician/surgeon doing a surgery on me? How many politicians would be willing to do that? If they need to help, they should help the brilliant but economically backward students. A rich sc/st guy's spoilt brat doesn't deserve it!

Would you drive on a bridge knowing that the engineer who built it was not qualified to do so?

I rant on this because I failed to get a seat in maths undergrad even though I had 91% in the subject whereas, my friend who got 70% had no such problems!!! I was lucky to have other options. But how many others lack that advantage!

Let the deserved get it. If we want to eradicate casteism, this is definitely not the right way to go about it.

Provide educational facilities to economically backward kids, provide them a good education until high school. Once they are out of school, it should be each to his/her own, if he/she is smart enough and DESERVES it, provide financial assistance for higher studies. This way, we not only help the ones who deserve it, but we make sure that jobs go to qualified people, improving the whole society eventually. And need I say, no quotas on job postings anywhere. Period!

Happy times are here again?

Seems to be the season for comedies in Tamil. Crazy's Jerry is on its way, while Shankar's house will be coming out with Imsai. I hope this signals a new trend for kollywood. They are any day better than sappy melodramas!

Visitation

I had to go to a visitation yesterday, a close friend's mom passed away. It was only when I saw the body, did I realize that the last time I had seen one at close quarters was my dad's. Till now, I hadn't had the nerve to attend a funeral/visitation - a fear of re-visitation.

There is a smell you can associate with death. And it came back yesterday. I still haven't been able to get rid of it. Time heals, but the scars never go away!

How valid are these exit polls?

IBN live posts the possibility of DMK achieving power (the right word).

Do these exit polls mean anything? Some say not.

I can't believe there are people who think he would be any better. They both belong to the same category, he is more seasoned in corruption, she is more seasoned in arrogance.

As long as the common folks keep running in circles, nothing will be achieved, except more corruption. We need to think out of the box, er, circle!

Disgustedly ranting...

Naushad

One of Hindi cinema's greatest composers passed away. I have grown up listening to and enjoying his songs. He gave some of the best classical numbers in movie music.

His biography

Some of my favorites:

my most absolute favorite of his - madhuban mein radhika naache re and Rafi was superb here.

O Duniya ke rakhwale

Pyar kiya to darna kya

Suhaani raat

mohe bhool gaye saanwariya

aaj ki raat mere

gaaye ja geet milan

Almost all songs in Pakeezah, Ganga Jamuna, and countless others.

Aptronym

What is that, you ask?

Refer here.

Now check this out.