Random Thoughts

Just today, I was talking to my family. We were planning what to have in dinner. Different views were being contributed all across the bed but we could not reach any consensus. Tired of this daily exercise, I suggested to my cousin who is pursuing her M Sc in Food nutrition that she should take, as her research project, the onerous task of devising a pill so that we do not need to eat or cook food. A simple tablet should do the trick.

Then, we had a discussion which I will sum it up here... We all work because we need to eat good food, do to good places. The lower class likes rickshaw worker and masons etc work primarily to earn four square meals of the day. If a pill was to be devised in which a pill, once eaten, would last a week or something; or any similar variation of standardization... Where would the variety of life come from? Why would I want to earn loads of money when all i have to do is pop the pill... better to lead a more of a comfortable life.

That got me to think... what would happen were we to go to a WALL-E kind of state when day-in and day-out you are doing the same thing, meeting only the same people and wearing the same clothes for months straight. How dull the life would turn out to be... A mass of blob all across... Where would the difference in life come from? What would be the initiative for one person to differentiate themselves from the others?

64th Independence Day of India

We have 64th Independence Day of India on this Sunday. Now, I know that while it all yay and yippie; has anyone stopped for a second and wondered what it means, if at all it does.

What has this bought for us? And even more importantly, what have we done for India?

True, we have been able to do a lot of things that people were not able to do earlier; like listen music and watch movies on video iPods, talk on blackberries, wear fine French tailored suits, drive German cars with American/Nigerian friends, get high on vodka and run over migrant laborers, more variety of STDs and so on.

India has developed a lot over the years. But, more to the point, it has developed split personalities. On one side is the personality which everyone endorses; the ‘India Shining’ persona. Heads of various leading companies across the globe have been quoted as looking forward to India becoming a beacon in the global landscape (Read some here). Global consultancy firms have been ranking India high in various performance parameters (read some here and here).

On the other side of the spectrum is the India that nobody wants to talk about. The India which is barely able to cover four square meals of the day. The India which tried to host commonwealth games and is, seemingly, failing at that. The India which has a plethora of corrupt politicians like Kalmadi, Lalu, Behenji, just to name a few. The India in which spawn of rich tycoons go scot free even after killing a dozen people while a common man is killed in fake encounters and jailed for having sneezed. The India where the vigilante army MNS and Bajrang Dal think that it is their moral duty to curb the right to every free expression there is.

Kind of makes me wonder, which India is celebrating its independence day!!!

Image Courtesy: nehasinha.wordpress.com

Memories

Has it ever happened to you that came across some old memorablia of earlier years, like a greeting card you made when you were 6, or a tiny glass rose that you gifted to someone dear. Do you feel nostalgic about those times? All the memories you had of that time.

Coming to present, do you think that we would be feeling nostalgic about what we blog today, or tweet or share on FB?

Even today, it is the physical experience that we remember... The time you pulled an all nighter finishing a project, the time you felt like practically killing the next guy, the time when you were so over joyed that you could not restrain your enthusiasm to share some news with some one.

Book Review-Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex

I am a big fan of the entire Harry Potter – LOTR – Septimus Heap – Eragon type of books. I have read through a lot of books in this genre, and several of these series are over. To this extent, I had actually been waiting a lot for this book to come out along with the sixth book in the Septimus Heap series.

I am not going to spoil the story for those of you who might be interested in reading the book. instead some broad premise about the book might be in order. The story is a typical Artemis Fowl plot with a villain planning to cause havoc in the Haven. And it is up to the boy genius Artemis Fowl and his entourage of the ‘Butlers’, Mulch ‘Tombstone’ Diggums, Captain Holly Short and Centaur Foaly to thwart these plans, capture the bad guys and save a magical warlock along the way. Except, Artemis is not all himself. If, anything, he is more than himself. HE is double himself, what with a hopeless romantic split personality of Orion (Get it? Orion and Artemis…. Subtle…). And he has an obsession with numbers, especially fours and fives. Hence, we are treated to a general dosage of OCD and split personality gyaan. A lot of it. Interestingly, the personalities interchange the ‘Driver’s Seat’, an expression used in the book as well, at the behest and command of, of all things, an electric shock.

I must confess that after the 'Time Paradox’, I was a little bit skeptical about the book as the Time Paradox was not at all what I had expected from Colfer. There were so many lose ends in the book and the technical glitches etc. But I am must say that ‘Atlantis Complex’ proved my apprehension to be baseless. True, that the book did not quiet reached the epitome of the first book and we don’t get to witness the brilliance of Artemis’ thinking as much as we had wanted. But Orion proved to be a comic relief in the story with phrases like “Oh fair maiden” and “Oh goodly beast” and ever preparing to fight a dragon, look for his birthmark which he may or may not have; of course somewhere involving a bivouac on the way. The climax was slightly anti-climatic and could have been done wonders had a little bit more thinking put in it. But the Squid phase was interesting and Mulch Diggums has always been my favorite.

The story proceeds along nicely and as well as the story in the rest of the books.

From my side, it is a must read for the fans. Rating of 3.5/5.

PS: A sample first chapter of the book can be found at: http://www.artemisfowl.co.uk/downloads/atlantiscomplex_chapter1.pdf

Don't quote me on that!!!

"Don't quote me on that" is such a wonderful phrase. It is an incredible ploy to say anything and everything and yet get away with it by disclaiming what has just been said.

Of course, once disclaimed, the listeners are then free to go ahead and repeat what they just heard from a reliable source, but just don’t quote them on that.

If the information turns out to be true, then the original perpetrator gets to say “I told you so”. If the information, however, turns out to be false, they could not be held liable.

It’s a Win-Win situation.