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Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Heh!!!
Monday, January 30, 2006
Waaaaaahhhhh.....
I have crushes. Which 17 (soon to be 18) year old girl doesn’t? But I am frightfully worried that something is a little wrong with me. A friend of mine suggested it a few weeks back. And after that I did some serious introspection and came up with the following list of crushes –
*Richard Gere
*Prannoy Roy
*A certain silver haired professor in our department.
*Al Pacino (as in Al Pacino as he is now….not the earlier younger version)
*Kabir Bedi
*Wasim Akram
*Rahul Bose
*John Abraham
I looked through the list carefully and found out that most (well almost everyone) of the people in the list were old men. And by old I mean really really old….men at least 30 years older than me and with white hair. That friend whom I mentioned earlier had suggested that I was a geriatrophile (I hope I have the spelling right.) A geriatrophile means that I prefer older men. And I think that my friend is right. But I do not want to be one. I want to be a normal girl who has crushes and stuff on people her own age. What if I never get attracted to people my own age? The thought is scary. Downright scary.
*Richard Gere
*Prannoy Roy
*A certain silver haired professor in our department.
*Al Pacino (as in Al Pacino as he is now….not the earlier younger version)
*Kabir Bedi
*Wasim Akram
*Rahul Bose
*John Abraham
I looked through the list carefully and found out that most (well almost everyone) of the people in the list were old men. And by old I mean really really old….men at least 30 years older than me and with white hair. That friend whom I mentioned earlier had suggested that I was a geriatrophile (I hope I have the spelling right.) A geriatrophile means that I prefer older men. And I think that my friend is right. But I do not want to be one. I want to be a normal girl who has crushes and stuff on people her own age. What if I never get attracted to people my own age? The thought is scary. Downright scary.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Ha ha ha ha ha ha....u agree people??
You're A Crazy Drunk |
What Kind of Drunk Are You?
Am I really like this??
How You Life Your Life |
How Do You Live Your Life?
Hah!! Beat that........
Gummy Bears |
What Kind of Candy Are You?
Sunday, January 22, 2006
My Very Own Bunch Of Weirdos.....( Statutory warning: this is going to be VERY boring to people who don't know this specific bunch)
A random adda session at monida’s today set me thinking. We were trying to come up with characteristics of each other that we like.(okay…that was a pretty weird sentence construction, but I think ppl will understand.) The entire gang was not there. Only a few people. So I thought I would write about some of the stand-out qualities in my friends which make them the really strange and funny and nice-to-be-with and we-all-care-for-each-other and one-of-a-kind bunch of people they are. (Not all of my good friends are here, but only those whom I think are kind of insane. And ‘insane’ as the respectable alal of our dept. put it, ‘is good - very very good indeed’.) So…..here goes….
The I-AM-NOT-NICE-AND-DON’T-U-DARE-CALL-ME-THAT-BECAUSE-I-LIKE-PEOPLE-TO-THINK-I-AM-MEAN-AND-I-AM-REALLY-MEAN-ANYWAYS award goes to……who else?? Yippee hippie of course….she is the only person I have seen who actually likes it when people call her mean and not nice. And she not only likes it….she positively GLOWS with self-satisfaction. And the weird part is…she is not really mean….not as mean as SOME people are anyways. But she is really really trying hard to reach this goal….and by the look of things I think she will succeed if she keeps on toiling like this for a few more weeks….so…all the best girl….keep going….
The AHEM-I-REALLY-APPRECIATE-THE-VALUES-MY-PARENTS-HAVE-INCULACATED-IN-ME-AND-I-WILL-NOT-EVER-REBEL-AGAINST-THEM-BECAUSE-AFTER-ALL-THEY-ARE-MY-PARENTS-AND-KNOW-WHAT-IS-BEST-FOR-ME-AND-WHY-ARE-U-TURNING-REBELLIOUS-THEY-WANT-UR-WELL BEING-AT-THE-END-OF-THE-DAY (phew!!) award definitely goes to E.T.(go home). I mean…come on….the ‘rebellious’ people here are 17 or 18…and if u don’t rebel against your parents now…..how will they know that you are almost an adult….and can be trusted to make certain decisions by yourself?? And trust me…when there are parents who yell at you when you reach home at 11:20 instead of 11 (which is a really early curfew time anyway and I was escorted by a “grown-up” for god’s sake!!) it is necessary to have a fight with them. Not to say that I don’t appreciate my parents being my parents and wanting the best for me and blah blah…… but there are some times when u just HAVE to rebel….to get it out of ur system probably…but you just have to.
Apart from this, however, I think the MOST-SENSIBLE-PERSON award should go to E.T as well. She is extremely level headed and knows just when to resolutely jump off the ledge and head home to her beloved “Ziauddin Barani”s and “Maurya foreign policies” – a quality which I sorely lack and thus very much envy.
The DAMN!-SHE-IS-SMART-AND-I-MEAN-REALLY-REALLY-SMART award definitely goes to E.T’s “big sister”. She is suited for this award to boot. And whenever I see her I go “damn! She is smart, I mean really really smart”. And just like her venerable “sibling” I think she should get another award. And that award let me tell you people….is really really hard to get.I don’t think anyone has got it in the recent past. And that is the I-DON’T-BUNK-A-SINGLE-CLASS-BUT-HAVE-A-ROARING-TIME-AT-THE-UNIVERSITY-ANYWAYS award. And she does people….she does. You will almost always find her hanging around the ledge or at monida’s – a gold flake kingsize hanging from her lips….and yet…believe it or not people…she does every single class….and I mean EVERY SINGLE one of them.
p.s. and she has got an amazing taste in music. ‘Big sis’, can I get ‘champagne supernova’ now please??
The I-DON’T-TALK-MUCH-BUT-KNOW-EVERYTHING-HAPPENING-AROUND-ME-ANYWAYS award goes to ‘eevee’. She doesn’t like to make herself very prominent….and likes to remain in the background, but, believe me, she knows everything worthwhile going on in the university and in the life of her contemporaries. And of course how can I forget her one and only similarity with the overtly extrovert and giggly me – we both come from the same (ahem!) ‘background’ you see. And before I forget I think she should have the I-AM-VERY-VERY-STUDIOUS-AND-I-STUDY-A-LOT-AND-I-MEAN-A-LOT award as well. Amongst all of us she is the one who really toils the hardest at her studies…(honestly, how many people would you find who would actually DO reference work in the off periods?? I mean, come on…off periods and studies?? Puh…lease….give me a break….)
The POUR-OUT-ALL-YOUR-AGONIES-TO-ME-DEAR-AND-I-WILL-SOOTHE-YOU-AND-NEVER-YOU-MIND-AND-HERE’S-A-TISSUE-AND-WIPE-YOUR-TEARS-AND-BLOW-YOUR-NOSE-AND-THERE-U-GO-THERE-IS-NOTHING-THAT-A-PAT-IN-THE-BACK-AND-A-CUP-OF-HOT-CHOCOLATE-WON’T-CURE award of course goes to the venerable ‘mommy’ of the venerable ‘siblings’ mentioned beforehand. She is a true-blue agony aunt if I have ever seen one. She is sympathetic and a really good listener. And as yippee hippie put it…..acts as the human ear. And so….if u want to know all the deepest darkest secrets of the most happening people in our campus….you know who to turn to. Not that she would tell you anyways…. She is VERY VERY tight lipped about the secret lives of all her nieces and nephews…..people call her a birdbrain sometimes…but she is not people….agony aunts generally aren’t….
The I-AM-STRANGE-AND-CREEPY-AND-I-AM-LIKE-THIS-ONLY-AND-WILL-YOU-PLEASE-LET-ME-BUY-SCRUNCHIES-FOR-YOU-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-I-WILL-BAKE-YOU-A-SINFULLY-RICH-CHOCOLATE-CAKE-IF-YOU-DO-AND-AREN’T-YOU-GOING-TO-POKE-ME-TODAY-I-AM-REALLY-REALLY-HURT-AND-ESTRANGED-AND-WHERE-IS-ANC-I-AM-MISSING-HIM-TERRIBLY-TERRIBLY-TERRIBLY award goes to ‘alliterations’. He is really a good boy and very very nice at heart but he can be really really freaky if he wants to. And before I forget it, he makes absolutely AWESOME chocolate cookies as well. Trust me people, I am speaking from experience.
p.s. and, please, for god’s sake, STOP CALLING ME LI’L BIMBO!! It freaks the hell out of me…..
The DHAT-B**-KICHU-BHALO-LAGCHHE-NA-CHAL-MAL-PARTY-KORI-AND-****KE-KI-BHALO-DEKHTE-NA-AMAR-NA-OKE-KHUB-BHALO-LAGE-KINTU-AHA-BECHARA-AMAKE-DEKHLEI-PALIYE-JAY-AND-DHUR-B*** C****-I-DON’T-THINK-I-FIT-IN-HERE-AT ALL-THE-ONLY-PLACE-I-FIT-IN-IS-MY-SCHOOL-GANG-AND-I-AM-MISSING-THEM-YAAR award definitely goes to mojo. She is one of the very few persons I have seen who run wild all day…all semester….smoking and occasionally grassing and boozing away to her heart’s content. She shares all her notes with everyone who asks for them and studies really really little and yet manages to pass with flying colours everytime. And though this is just not fair and I am green with jealousy, I have to say….. ‘don’t lose this gift of yours girl’….
The I-AM-THE-DADDY-AND-DON’T-YOU-DARE-DISOBEY-ME-AND-PLEASE-DON’T-BUNK-YOUR-CLASSES-AND-PLEASE-PLEASE-STUDY-YOU-HAVE-AN-EXAM-REMEMBER-AND-WANT-TO-LISTEN-TO-MY-NEW-POEM-ABOUT-A**-AND-THE-NAME-WILL-BE-ECSTASY-THAT’S-IT-I-DON’T-WANT-TO-HEAR-ANY-ARGUMENTS award goes to my ‘daddy’. He is strange….bunking classes left and right one week and spending all his spare time in the library the next. But he is a good friend nevertheless and for all the micro economics notes that he very generously gave me….a big THANK YOU DADDY!! And don’t mind….but don’t you think that the venerable prof. will get a little tired if you gift him a 4 pages long poem every other week?? I know u love the prof in question…..I do too….but give him a break, okay??
The ALL-THE-WORLD (ESPECIALLY WEST BENGAL)-IS-A-STAGE-AND-SPEAKING-OF-BANGALIS-AND-STAGE-GOTOKAL-BUJHLI-TO-MADHUSUDAN-MANCHE-EKTA-NATAK-DEKHLAM….award definitely goes to S…our resident bheto, aantel bangali.…..With his jhola, cigarettes and his passion for everything concerned with natak and cha…he represents the typical Juite. I can picture him in the not so distant future with ekmukh dari , Punjabi, jeans, jhola and chappal….running around college street in a cycle….trying to get his little magazine published……go S…..
The I-DON’T FIT-IN-HERE-I-DON’T-KNOW-WHY-I-CAME-HERE-IN-THE-FIRST-PLACE-WHY-WHY-WHY- award has only one recipient. D of course. She is pretty. And quite sensible. But I find her strange fits of depression and intellectual conversation (as well as her …ahem…’puzzling’ dress sense) very very confusing.
And I won’t even get started on ‘little johnny’ …..everyone (including to some extent me as well) will run out of patience if I do…. So just let it be said that the ORGANIC-WALKING-TALKING-AND-HOGGING-ENCYCLOPAEDIA-BRITANNICA award undoubtedly goes to him. ( I am NOT starting on his other….ahem…. ‘characteristics’ for patience constraints…….u see….)
p.s. and S.D. please don’t mind….but I couldn’t think of any award to give you. You are the only ‘normal’ person I guess. Though u DO tend to do VERY VERY weird things on the ledge once in the while. (or should I say DID?)
The I-AM-NOT-NICE-AND-DON’T-U-DARE-CALL-ME-THAT-BECAUSE-I-LIKE-PEOPLE-TO-THINK-I-AM-MEAN-AND-I-AM-REALLY-MEAN-ANYWAYS award goes to……who else?? Yippee hippie of course….she is the only person I have seen who actually likes it when people call her mean and not nice. And she not only likes it….she positively GLOWS with self-satisfaction. And the weird part is…she is not really mean….not as mean as SOME people are anyways. But she is really really trying hard to reach this goal….and by the look of things I think she will succeed if she keeps on toiling like this for a few more weeks….so…all the best girl….keep going….
The AHEM-I-REALLY-APPRECIATE-THE-VALUES-MY-PARENTS-HAVE-INCULACATED-IN-ME-AND-I-WILL-NOT-EVER-REBEL-AGAINST-THEM-BECAUSE-AFTER-ALL-THEY-ARE-MY-PARENTS-AND-KNOW-WHAT-IS-BEST-FOR-ME-AND-WHY-ARE-U-TURNING-REBELLIOUS-THEY-WANT-UR-WELL BEING-AT-THE-END-OF-THE-DAY (phew!!) award definitely goes to E.T.(go home). I mean…come on….the ‘rebellious’ people here are 17 or 18…and if u don’t rebel against your parents now…..how will they know that you are almost an adult….and can be trusted to make certain decisions by yourself?? And trust me…when there are parents who yell at you when you reach home at 11:20 instead of 11 (which is a really early curfew time anyway and I was escorted by a “grown-up” for god’s sake!!) it is necessary to have a fight with them. Not to say that I don’t appreciate my parents being my parents and wanting the best for me and blah blah…… but there are some times when u just HAVE to rebel….to get it out of ur system probably…but you just have to.
Apart from this, however, I think the MOST-SENSIBLE-PERSON award should go to E.T as well. She is extremely level headed and knows just when to resolutely jump off the ledge and head home to her beloved “Ziauddin Barani”s and “Maurya foreign policies” – a quality which I sorely lack and thus very much envy.
The DAMN!-SHE-IS-SMART-AND-I-MEAN-REALLY-REALLY-SMART award definitely goes to E.T’s “big sister”. She is suited for this award to boot. And whenever I see her I go “damn! She is smart, I mean really really smart”. And just like her venerable “sibling” I think she should get another award. And that award let me tell you people….is really really hard to get.I don’t think anyone has got it in the recent past. And that is the I-DON’T-BUNK-A-SINGLE-CLASS-BUT-HAVE-A-ROARING-TIME-AT-THE-UNIVERSITY-ANYWAYS award. And she does people….she does. You will almost always find her hanging around the ledge or at monida’s – a gold flake kingsize hanging from her lips….and yet…believe it or not people…she does every single class….and I mean EVERY SINGLE one of them.
p.s. and she has got an amazing taste in music. ‘Big sis’, can I get ‘champagne supernova’ now please??
The I-DON’T-TALK-MUCH-BUT-KNOW-EVERYTHING-HAPPENING-AROUND-ME-ANYWAYS award goes to ‘eevee’. She doesn’t like to make herself very prominent….and likes to remain in the background, but, believe me, she knows everything worthwhile going on in the university and in the life of her contemporaries. And of course how can I forget her one and only similarity with the overtly extrovert and giggly me – we both come from the same (ahem!) ‘background’ you see. And before I forget I think she should have the I-AM-VERY-VERY-STUDIOUS-AND-I-STUDY-A-LOT-AND-I-MEAN-A-LOT award as well. Amongst all of us she is the one who really toils the hardest at her studies…(honestly, how many people would you find who would actually DO reference work in the off periods?? I mean, come on…off periods and studies?? Puh…lease….give me a break….)
The POUR-OUT-ALL-YOUR-AGONIES-TO-ME-DEAR-AND-I-WILL-SOOTHE-YOU-AND-NEVER-YOU-MIND-AND-HERE’S-A-TISSUE-AND-WIPE-YOUR-TEARS-AND-BLOW-YOUR-NOSE-AND-THERE-U-GO-THERE-IS-NOTHING-THAT-A-PAT-IN-THE-BACK-AND-A-CUP-OF-HOT-CHOCOLATE-WON’T-CURE award of course goes to the venerable ‘mommy’ of the venerable ‘siblings’ mentioned beforehand. She is a true-blue agony aunt if I have ever seen one. She is sympathetic and a really good listener. And as yippee hippie put it…..acts as the human ear. And so….if u want to know all the deepest darkest secrets of the most happening people in our campus….you know who to turn to. Not that she would tell you anyways…. She is VERY VERY tight lipped about the secret lives of all her nieces and nephews…..people call her a birdbrain sometimes…but she is not people….agony aunts generally aren’t….
The I-AM-STRANGE-AND-CREEPY-AND-I-AM-LIKE-THIS-ONLY-AND-WILL-YOU-PLEASE-LET-ME-BUY-SCRUNCHIES-FOR-YOU-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-I-WILL-BAKE-YOU-A-SINFULLY-RICH-CHOCOLATE-CAKE-IF-YOU-DO-AND-AREN’T-YOU-GOING-TO-POKE-ME-TODAY-I-AM-REALLY-REALLY-HURT-AND-ESTRANGED-AND-WHERE-IS-ANC-I-AM-MISSING-HIM-TERRIBLY-TERRIBLY-TERRIBLY award goes to ‘alliterations’. He is really a good boy and very very nice at heart but he can be really really freaky if he wants to. And before I forget it, he makes absolutely AWESOME chocolate cookies as well. Trust me people, I am speaking from experience.
p.s. and, please, for god’s sake, STOP CALLING ME LI’L BIMBO!! It freaks the hell out of me…..
The DHAT-B**-KICHU-BHALO-LAGCHHE-NA-CHAL-MAL-PARTY-KORI-AND-****KE-KI-BHALO-DEKHTE-NA-AMAR-NA-OKE-KHUB-BHALO-LAGE-KINTU-AHA-BECHARA-AMAKE-DEKHLEI-PALIYE-JAY-AND-DHUR-B*** C****-I-DON’T-THINK-I-FIT-IN-HERE-AT ALL-THE-ONLY-PLACE-I-FIT-IN-IS-MY-SCHOOL-GANG-AND-I-AM-MISSING-THEM-YAAR award definitely goes to mojo. She is one of the very few persons I have seen who run wild all day…all semester….smoking and occasionally grassing and boozing away to her heart’s content. She shares all her notes with everyone who asks for them and studies really really little and yet manages to pass with flying colours everytime. And though this is just not fair and I am green with jealousy, I have to say….. ‘don’t lose this gift of yours girl’….
The I-AM-THE-DADDY-AND-DON’T-YOU-DARE-DISOBEY-ME-AND-PLEASE-DON’T-BUNK-YOUR-CLASSES-AND-PLEASE-PLEASE-STUDY-YOU-HAVE-AN-EXAM-REMEMBER-AND-WANT-TO-LISTEN-TO-MY-NEW-POEM-ABOUT-A**-AND-THE-NAME-WILL-BE-ECSTASY-THAT’S-IT-I-DON’T-WANT-TO-HEAR-ANY-ARGUMENTS award goes to my ‘daddy’. He is strange….bunking classes left and right one week and spending all his spare time in the library the next. But he is a good friend nevertheless and for all the micro economics notes that he very generously gave me….a big THANK YOU DADDY!! And don’t mind….but don’t you think that the venerable prof. will get a little tired if you gift him a 4 pages long poem every other week?? I know u love the prof in question…..I do too….but give him a break, okay??
The ALL-THE-WORLD (ESPECIALLY WEST BENGAL)-IS-A-STAGE-AND-SPEAKING-OF-BANGALIS-AND-STAGE-GOTOKAL-BUJHLI-TO-MADHUSUDAN-MANCHE-EKTA-NATAK-DEKHLAM….award definitely goes to S…our resident bheto, aantel bangali.…..With his jhola, cigarettes and his passion for everything concerned with natak and cha…he represents the typical Juite. I can picture him in the not so distant future with ekmukh dari , Punjabi, jeans, jhola and chappal….running around college street in a cycle….trying to get his little magazine published……go S…..
The I-DON’T FIT-IN-HERE-I-DON’T-KNOW-WHY-I-CAME-HERE-IN-THE-FIRST-PLACE-WHY-WHY-WHY- award has only one recipient. D of course. She is pretty. And quite sensible. But I find her strange fits of depression and intellectual conversation (as well as her …ahem…’puzzling’ dress sense) very very confusing.
And I won’t even get started on ‘little johnny’ …..everyone (including to some extent me as well) will run out of patience if I do…. So just let it be said that the ORGANIC-WALKING-TALKING-AND-HOGGING-ENCYCLOPAEDIA-BRITANNICA award undoubtedly goes to him. ( I am NOT starting on his other….ahem…. ‘characteristics’ for patience constraints…….u see….)
p.s. and S.D. please don’t mind….but I couldn’t think of any award to give you. You are the only ‘normal’ person I guess. Though u DO tend to do VERY VERY weird things on the ledge once in the while. (or should I say DID?)
Monday, January 16, 2006
Bookworm's Corner
These are the books which I have read in 2005………
At least the books which have left a mark on me – good or bad…..Besides the ones that I mention I have also read many others….but they were either too boring or too crappy to write about….. So….. here goes –
*"Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" – My biggest literary discovery in 2005 was Douglas Adams.I can’t believe what I was missing out on….. I have read all the 5 books in the hitchhiker’s series now…. Unfortunately though I found that the quality declined with each progressive book in the series…..
*"The Fountainhead" – I liked this book. I had read ‘We the Living’ by the same author a couple of years back….but I think that ‘Fountainhead’ is so much better. Absolutely fell in LOVE with Gail Wynand….but DID NOT like Howard Roark…thought he was too perfect for his own good. My biggest mistake though, was that I tried to read ‘Fountainhead’ and ‘Atlas Shrugged’ back to back….my head got SO full of high ideals that I had to leave the latter unfinished…..I am too unintellectual for this kind of intense reading I guess….
*"Five Point Someone" – I LOVED this book. Made for an excellent read during a boring train journey. Liked Hari….and especially loved the parts dealing with vodka,floyd and grass. Thought that Ryan was the ultimate college cool dude. I have not read ‘One Night at the Call Centre’ as yet….but have heard that it fails to live up to the expectations……
*"The God of Small Things" – I sort of found the book interesting. But some parts of it were way above my head. I liked Arundhati Roy’s descriptive powers though….
*"The Alchemist" – Probably one of the best books that I read last year. Became a true blue Coelho fan….plan to read more of his books soon.
*"Freedom at Midnight" – I LOVED the book. Thought it was really AWESOME. And developed a raging interest in India’s freedom struggle for the time being. But regretted not reading it before my class tenth board exams. Would have done better in history then. At least in Indian history.
*"Train to Pakistan" – Read it right after ‘Freedom at Midnight’. And the combined effects of these 2 awesome books were enough to make me wish that I had a time machine so that I could go back to the 1940s.
*"The Family" – Was shocked and amazed by the book. But in retrospection I think that it was a pretty good read. Comes nowhere near ‘Godfather’ though.
*"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" – Finished the book in one evening as it was lent to me for one day only. So only remember it superficially….as a result of superfast reading. Liked it though. Liked it quite a lot.Thought that the idea of the half blood prince was brilliantly conceived and concealed till the end. But thought that Rowling had still failed to live up to the expectations that she had generated after the first 4 books. But half blood prince is still much better than her 5th book – ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. That was really really crappy…perhaps the worst of the Harry Potter series.
* Don’t know why but I went completely Erich Segal crazy after my board exams got over. So in the months before the results I read ‘Acts of Faith’, ‘Doctors’, ‘Man woman and child’ and ‘Oliver’s story’. Liked each one of the books. Oliver’s story was good but disappointed me because I couldn’t let go of ‘Love Story’. My favourite among these is probably ‘Acts of Faith’. Simple LOVED the book.
*I also went Ruskin Bond crazy last year….and started reading everything by him that I could lay my hands upon. His writings have this strange, ethereal, timeless beauty which absolutely mesmerized me.
*I liked ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown. So I naively thought that his other works would be good too. I was wrong. I read all of his other books in one go and ‘Digital Fortress’ was the only one I liked. Was especially disappointed by ‘Angels and Demons’.
*Read 4 books by Robert Fulghum and came to the conclusion that these were probably the best anti depressant medicines available in the market. The books had weird names though. They went something like – “All I really need to know I learnt in kindergarten”, “It was on fire when I lay down on it”, “Uh-oh” and “Maybe (Maybe not) – Observations from both sides of the refrigerator door.”
*Apart from these I read lots of short stories by Maugham. He is one of my favourite authors. Especially loved the story ‘Rain’. It literally sent shivers down my spine.
*I read lots of classics too. Some of which were a part of my course – and so compulsory reading. ‘Wuthering Heights’ was by far the best read among all of them.
*Reread many of my favourite books like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Catcher in the Rye’, ‘Gone with the Wind’, ‘The Godfather’ etc. Found out that ‘Godfather’ still had the power to reduce me to breathless excitement. And though I read ‘Catcher in the Rye’ 3 times, was still confused by it.
That’s all I guess….those were all the mentionable books that come to my mind right now. The mentionable English books at least…..( I admit though that I may have missed out quite a few)
And following are the books that I absolutely definitely plan to read this year –
*‘The Manticore’s Secret’ by Samit Basu ( I am reading ‘The Simoquin Prophecies’ right now, and loving it)
*‘Hungry Tide’ by Amitav Ghosh
*‘The Namesake’ by Jhumpa Lahiri ( I loved ‘Interpreter of Maladies’)
*‘Lord of the Rings’ by J.R.R.Tolkein( I know, I know I haven’t read it yet…and that’s a bloody shame)
*‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl (I may have passed the age in which people generally read it, but I think that I should read it all the same.)
*Books by Teri Pratchett ( I haven’t read any)
*Books by Salman Rushdie (I haven’t read any)
*Books by V.S. Naipaul ( Again, I regret to say that I haven’t read any of his books.)
p.s. Tried to see if I could read mills and boons. Gave up after trudging through 3 novels. Actually got tired of heroes who had “ rugged good looks with broad shoulders and rippling muscles…” and passion which “flowed like hot and liquid honey through their veins”. YUCK!!
At least the books which have left a mark on me – good or bad…..Besides the ones that I mention I have also read many others….but they were either too boring or too crappy to write about….. So….. here goes –
*"Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" – My biggest literary discovery in 2005 was Douglas Adams.I can’t believe what I was missing out on….. I have read all the 5 books in the hitchhiker’s series now…. Unfortunately though I found that the quality declined with each progressive book in the series…..
*"The Fountainhead" – I liked this book. I had read ‘We the Living’ by the same author a couple of years back….but I think that ‘Fountainhead’ is so much better. Absolutely fell in LOVE with Gail Wynand….but DID NOT like Howard Roark…thought he was too perfect for his own good. My biggest mistake though, was that I tried to read ‘Fountainhead’ and ‘Atlas Shrugged’ back to back….my head got SO full of high ideals that I had to leave the latter unfinished…..I am too unintellectual for this kind of intense reading I guess….
*"Five Point Someone" – I LOVED this book. Made for an excellent read during a boring train journey. Liked Hari….and especially loved the parts dealing with vodka,floyd and grass. Thought that Ryan was the ultimate college cool dude. I have not read ‘One Night at the Call Centre’ as yet….but have heard that it fails to live up to the expectations……
*"The God of Small Things" – I sort of found the book interesting. But some parts of it were way above my head. I liked Arundhati Roy’s descriptive powers though….
*"The Alchemist" – Probably one of the best books that I read last year. Became a true blue Coelho fan….plan to read more of his books soon.
*"Freedom at Midnight" – I LOVED the book. Thought it was really AWESOME. And developed a raging interest in India’s freedom struggle for the time being. But regretted not reading it before my class tenth board exams. Would have done better in history then. At least in Indian history.
*"Train to Pakistan" – Read it right after ‘Freedom at Midnight’. And the combined effects of these 2 awesome books were enough to make me wish that I had a time machine so that I could go back to the 1940s.
*"The Family" – Was shocked and amazed by the book. But in retrospection I think that it was a pretty good read. Comes nowhere near ‘Godfather’ though.
*"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" – Finished the book in one evening as it was lent to me for one day only. So only remember it superficially….as a result of superfast reading. Liked it though. Liked it quite a lot.Thought that the idea of the half blood prince was brilliantly conceived and concealed till the end. But thought that Rowling had still failed to live up to the expectations that she had generated after the first 4 books. But half blood prince is still much better than her 5th book – ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. That was really really crappy…perhaps the worst of the Harry Potter series.
* Don’t know why but I went completely Erich Segal crazy after my board exams got over. So in the months before the results I read ‘Acts of Faith’, ‘Doctors’, ‘Man woman and child’ and ‘Oliver’s story’. Liked each one of the books. Oliver’s story was good but disappointed me because I couldn’t let go of ‘Love Story’. My favourite among these is probably ‘Acts of Faith’. Simple LOVED the book.
*I also went Ruskin Bond crazy last year….and started reading everything by him that I could lay my hands upon. His writings have this strange, ethereal, timeless beauty which absolutely mesmerized me.
*I liked ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown. So I naively thought that his other works would be good too. I was wrong. I read all of his other books in one go and ‘Digital Fortress’ was the only one I liked. Was especially disappointed by ‘Angels and Demons’.
*Read 4 books by Robert Fulghum and came to the conclusion that these were probably the best anti depressant medicines available in the market. The books had weird names though. They went something like – “All I really need to know I learnt in kindergarten”, “It was on fire when I lay down on it”, “Uh-oh” and “Maybe (Maybe not) – Observations from both sides of the refrigerator door.”
*Apart from these I read lots of short stories by Maugham. He is one of my favourite authors. Especially loved the story ‘Rain’. It literally sent shivers down my spine.
*I read lots of classics too. Some of which were a part of my course – and so compulsory reading. ‘Wuthering Heights’ was by far the best read among all of them.
*Reread many of my favourite books like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Catcher in the Rye’, ‘Gone with the Wind’, ‘The Godfather’ etc. Found out that ‘Godfather’ still had the power to reduce me to breathless excitement. And though I read ‘Catcher in the Rye’ 3 times, was still confused by it.
That’s all I guess….those were all the mentionable books that come to my mind right now. The mentionable English books at least…..( I admit though that I may have missed out quite a few)
And following are the books that I absolutely definitely plan to read this year –
*‘The Manticore’s Secret’ by Samit Basu ( I am reading ‘The Simoquin Prophecies’ right now, and loving it)
*‘Hungry Tide’ by Amitav Ghosh
*‘The Namesake’ by Jhumpa Lahiri ( I loved ‘Interpreter of Maladies’)
*‘Lord of the Rings’ by J.R.R.Tolkein( I know, I know I haven’t read it yet…and that’s a bloody shame)
*‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl (I may have passed the age in which people generally read it, but I think that I should read it all the same.)
*Books by Teri Pratchett ( I haven’t read any)
*Books by Salman Rushdie (I haven’t read any)
*Books by V.S. Naipaul ( Again, I regret to say that I haven’t read any of his books.)
p.s. Tried to see if I could read mills and boons. Gave up after trudging through 3 novels. Actually got tired of heroes who had “ rugged good looks with broad shoulders and rippling muscles…” and passion which “flowed like hot and liquid honey through their veins”. YUCK!!
Friday, January 13, 2006
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......
I love feeling cold. Not the kind of cold that u feel when u hold an icecube in ur hand for too long……no….that cold is painful….my palm starts to hurt after sometime…..i like the kind of cold that u feel in ur dreams when u have kicked off the covers in ur sleep and are not awake enough to pull it back….but u can feel the chill nevertheless….the cold creeping up ur leg…..i like that kind of a cold….a cold which is kind of unreal and vaguely disconcerting as well. I like the kind of cold that u feel when u r getting ready for bed….a kind of reassuring cold which promises that a warm snuggling down under blankets with ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ is still to come. Cold is nice. I like the kind of cold which numbs your limbs so that you don’t know whether they are ur bodyparts or not. A sharp kind of cold which clears your brain and reminds you of how much alive u r. actually I think I was wrong when I said that I don’t enjoy feeling painfully cold. I do to a certain extent. It reminds me as to how excruciatingly, mindbogglingly alive I am.
I love winters. Winters remind me of multicoloured pullovers and school excursions and sports practice and running for long hours without breaking into a sweat and bonfires and notun gurer sandesh and gorom bhaat and gorom malpoa and gorom patisapta (which my dida makes) and baths in warm water and angulkata moja and komolalebu and the smell of ponds cold cream and lakme moisturizer and pears glycerine soap and once again warm snuggles under the blankets with "Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" or "Moon and the Sixpence" or the latest "Harry Potter".
I can’t understand privileged people( not homeless poor ones but people who have warm blankets and heaters and so forth) complaining about the cold in kolkata. Feeling mindnumbingly, painfully, fantastically cold in Kolkata is a luxury. I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.
I love winters. Winters remind me of multicoloured pullovers and school excursions and sports practice and running for long hours without breaking into a sweat and bonfires and notun gurer sandesh and gorom bhaat and gorom malpoa and gorom patisapta (which my dida makes) and baths in warm water and angulkata moja and komolalebu and the smell of ponds cold cream and lakme moisturizer and pears glycerine soap and once again warm snuggles under the blankets with "Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" or "Moon and the Sixpence" or the latest "Harry Potter".
I can’t understand privileged people( not homeless poor ones but people who have warm blankets and heaters and so forth) complaining about the cold in kolkata. Feeling mindnumbingly, painfully, fantastically cold in Kolkata is a luxury. I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
I AM LIKE THIS?? REALLY??
Your Birth Month is February |
Your soul reflects: Purity, modesty, and faithfulness Your gemstone: Amethyst Your flower: Iris Your colors: Purple, yellow, and light blue |
What Does Your Birth Month Mean?
You Have a Choleric Temperament |
You posses a sharp and keen intellect. Your mind is your primary weapon.Strong willed, nothing can keep you down. Your energy can break down any wall.You're an instantly passionate person - and this passion gives you an intoxicating power over others. At your worst, you are a narcissist. Full of yourself and even proud of your faults.Stubborn and opinionated, you know what you think is right. End of discussion.A bit of a misanthrope, you often see others as weak, ignorant, and inferior. |
What Temperment Are You?
I know....i know....i should have started my blog with something i wrote myself.....but then...i was reading this story and by the time i had finished it, i had this strange tightness in my chest...and trust me i DO NOT often get strange tightnesses in my chest.....so i thought i would share this...anyhow this story is like me in a certain way.....crazy and strange..... with a good dose of sincerity an laughter mixed in it....
"Good friends finally put together their resources and made themselves a child. Me, I am the godfather in the deal. I take my job seriously.
So far I have introduced the kid to the good things in life – chocolate, beer, cigars, Beethoven and dirty jokes. I haven’t told him about sex yet, but he’s got some idea of his own already. I won’t go into the details here, but if you have ever had a little kid or have ever been a little kid, then you know what I mean.
Also, I introduced him to crayons. Bought the Crayola beginner set – the short, fat, thick ones with training wheels. Every few weeks I would put one in his hand and show him how to make a mark with it. Mostly he just held it and stared at me. He had a cigar in his other hand and couldn’t tell the difference between it and the Crayola. Then we went through the office – stuffing phase, when the Crayola went in his mouth and ears and nose. Finally last week I held his hand and made a big red mark with the Crayola on a sheet of newsprint. And WHAM! He got the picture. A light bulb went off in a new room in his head. And he did it again on his own. Now, reports his mother, with a mixture of pleasure and pain, there is no stopping him.
Crayolas plus imagination (the ability to create images) – these make for happiness if you are a child. Amazing things, Crayolas. Some petroleum-based wax, some dye, a little binder – not much to them. Until you add the imagination. The Binney Company in Pennsylvania makes about two billion of these oleaginous sticks of pleasure every year and exports them to every country in the United Nations. Crayolas are one of the few things the human race has in common. That green and yellow box hasn’t changed since 1937. In fact, the only change has been to rename the “flesh” color “peach”. That’s a sign of progress.
The way I know about “flesh” and “peach” is that, when I bought my own godson his trainer set, I indulged myself. Bought my very own set of sixty-four. In the big four section box with the sharpener built right in. Never had my own set before. Seems like I was always too old or too young to have one. While I was at it, I bought several sets. Got one for the kid’s mother and father and explained it was theirs, not his.
What I notice is that every adult or child I give a new set of Crayolas to goes a little funny. The kids smile, get a glazed look on their faces, pour the crayons out, and just look at them for a while. Then they go to work on the nearest flat surface and will draw anything you ask, just name it. The adults always get the most wonderful kind of sheepish smile on their faces – a mixture of delight and nostalgia and silliness. And they immediately start telling you about all their experiences with Crayolas. Their first box, using every color, breaking them, trying to get them in the box in order again, trying to use them in a bundle, putting them on hot things and seeing them melt, shaving them onto waxed paper and ironing them into stained glass windows, eating them and on and on. If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of Crayolas for everybody.
When you think about it, for sheer bulk there’s more art done with Crayolas than with anything else. There must be billions of sheets of paper in every country in the world, in billions of boxes and closets and attics and cupboards, covered with billions of pictures in crayon. The imagination of the human race poured out like a river. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev used crayons, I bet. So did Fidel and the emperor of Japan and Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs. Thatcher and Mr. Mubarak and maybe even the ayatollah. And just about everybody else you care to name.
Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A Beauty Bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.
Guess that sounds absurd, doesn’t it? A bit dumb. Crazy and silly and weird. But I was reading in the paper today how much money the Russians and our Congress just set aside for weapons. And I think about what those weapons will do. And I’m not confused about what’s weird and silly and crazy and absurd. And I’m not confused about the lack of, or the need for, imagination in low or high places. Pass the crayons, please."
by Robert Fulghum
"Good friends finally put together their resources and made themselves a child. Me, I am the godfather in the deal. I take my job seriously.
So far I have introduced the kid to the good things in life – chocolate, beer, cigars, Beethoven and dirty jokes. I haven’t told him about sex yet, but he’s got some idea of his own already. I won’t go into the details here, but if you have ever had a little kid or have ever been a little kid, then you know what I mean.
Also, I introduced him to crayons. Bought the Crayola beginner set – the short, fat, thick ones with training wheels. Every few weeks I would put one in his hand and show him how to make a mark with it. Mostly he just held it and stared at me. He had a cigar in his other hand and couldn’t tell the difference between it and the Crayola. Then we went through the office – stuffing phase, when the Crayola went in his mouth and ears and nose. Finally last week I held his hand and made a big red mark with the Crayola on a sheet of newsprint. And WHAM! He got the picture. A light bulb went off in a new room in his head. And he did it again on his own. Now, reports his mother, with a mixture of pleasure and pain, there is no stopping him.
Crayolas plus imagination (the ability to create images) – these make for happiness if you are a child. Amazing things, Crayolas. Some petroleum-based wax, some dye, a little binder – not much to them. Until you add the imagination. The Binney Company in Pennsylvania makes about two billion of these oleaginous sticks of pleasure every year and exports them to every country in the United Nations. Crayolas are one of the few things the human race has in common. That green and yellow box hasn’t changed since 1937. In fact, the only change has been to rename the “flesh” color “peach”. That’s a sign of progress.
The way I know about “flesh” and “peach” is that, when I bought my own godson his trainer set, I indulged myself. Bought my very own set of sixty-four. In the big four section box with the sharpener built right in. Never had my own set before. Seems like I was always too old or too young to have one. While I was at it, I bought several sets. Got one for the kid’s mother and father and explained it was theirs, not his.
What I notice is that every adult or child I give a new set of Crayolas to goes a little funny. The kids smile, get a glazed look on their faces, pour the crayons out, and just look at them for a while. Then they go to work on the nearest flat surface and will draw anything you ask, just name it. The adults always get the most wonderful kind of sheepish smile on their faces – a mixture of delight and nostalgia and silliness. And they immediately start telling you about all their experiences with Crayolas. Their first box, using every color, breaking them, trying to get them in the box in order again, trying to use them in a bundle, putting them on hot things and seeing them melt, shaving them onto waxed paper and ironing them into stained glass windows, eating them and on and on. If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of Crayolas for everybody.
When you think about it, for sheer bulk there’s more art done with Crayolas than with anything else. There must be billions of sheets of paper in every country in the world, in billions of boxes and closets and attics and cupboards, covered with billions of pictures in crayon. The imagination of the human race poured out like a river. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev used crayons, I bet. So did Fidel and the emperor of Japan and Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs. Thatcher and Mr. Mubarak and maybe even the ayatollah. And just about everybody else you care to name.
Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A Beauty Bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.
Guess that sounds absurd, doesn’t it? A bit dumb. Crazy and silly and weird. But I was reading in the paper today how much money the Russians and our Congress just set aside for weapons. And I think about what those weapons will do. And I’m not confused about what’s weird and silly and crazy and absurd. And I’m not confused about the lack of, or the need for, imagination in low or high places. Pass the crayons, please."
by Robert Fulghum
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