Alright this list may not be comprehensive because I realize the mind is either too chaalu or too selective. But I'll start with my childhood onwards.
1) Searching for my little Willys jeep toy and finding it - Age 5 (man I searched the heavens and the earth for it)
2) Age 7, Vying for the attentions of Sister Mercy who was a very good looking teacher and scoring over that skunk Pradeep son of an IPS officer on the last day in Nellore (she gave me ten lovely stickers and gave the others only one and that too on the last day, Yeahhhh)
3) Age 10 - Got myself a football despite my Dad being his stubborn best, no money, no transport - easy I broke into my Kiddys bank and blackmailed my mom by suitable crying so she made Dad drive - foot ball achieved for Rs. 27 (never thougth Dad would be so tough an opponent)
4) Cracking the Kiddys bank was a great job in itself, needed money to buy chikki in the petrol bunk near Dad's office (figured it out by carefully observing the movement of the dials and noticed the little grooves which helped it open)
5) Age 11 - Walked into the cricket team in St. Gabriel's - wanted to badly
6) Age 12 - Traveled from Hyderabad to Warangal by evening train all by myself and took the bus home. Mom was surprised and shocked. What if I got lost! (But I had a strong motive - I wanted to play with Ajay who was a cute little baby then)
7) Age 12 - Made it to the state table tennis double team almost (broke table tennis racket and stayed put, too scared to ask for a replacement)
8) Age 14 - Cracked the school cricket team in my tenth which I had been hoping to for the past three years (completely by design)
9) Age 14 - Match against Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar and chasing 65 or so against a fearsome bowling attack led by Sudheer. I had decided that I will not get out come what may and stuck it out defending stoutly. Was not out 31 and we won. Most satisfying batting performance.
10) Age 14 - Put in my all to pass the SSC exam studying by myself into the late hours of the night. Did a good job considering I missed most classes due to two tours to Bangalore and Calcutta, both 15 days each. (Passed with 70% yeaahhh)
11) Age 16 - Bowled Mallesh of Syndicate bank by bowling him an inswinger on his pads - he played on - as he did innumerable times in the nets. he was one of the five victims of mine in my famous five wicket haul against Syndicate Bank which we won
12) Age 16 - Got Khurshid caught off a short ball outside the off stump (designed by MLJ) and then Khalid caught off another against SBI (designed by Vicky)
13) 5 wicket haul against Allwyn (actually turned into 6 but I had targeted 5 that day) and a 5 wicket haul against Arts and Science (as planned)
14) Age 18 - Got 158 against VST after vowing to my team I shall get the 128 runs that I conceded while bowling. Easily the best performance by design.
15) Age 18 - Got a 100 for OUCE as planned (168 against VV College), won the Endeavour for OUCE, got a 100 for Civil versus Electronics as planned, 100 against VST in a lost cause but I had decided to get a hundred that day, 109 against Nizam College after deciding to just hang in there with the last wicket
16) Passed all exams in the second year (18 papers and 4 practicals) at one go (I had aimed for 14). Slogged by myself for more than a month getting hold of experts in each area - Krishna Reddy for GD, Vinod for Physics, Ram for Maths
17) Planned the Inter varsity win with my skipper Vijay and others and played to win. We won after 12 years and I returned the highest wicket taker. We won the Vizzy as well. This was a period when I was competitive and was enjoying the spirit of winning. And as you can see we were winning several things by design. There were more things that I cannot attribute to design but they we won and we were brilliant
18) Planned to win the league championship for MCC and we won in 1994. We won again in 1998. The first win was a well planned, executed campaign that lasted six months
19) Carried the spirit of ownership into work. At ITW Signode I was the star salesman for the year for my product after selling exactly what I had committed (I was blasted in the sales meeting for my low projections)
20) Got married as planned. There was no doubt in my mind though I think there was some skepticism all round.
21) In IDBI Hyderabad I got new (and star rated) business worth Rs.300 crores all by my own effort
22) In IDBI Hyderabad I vowed to outperform previous issues after one issue went for a six. What we did was turn it around by a concerted action where we left nothing to chance - we reactivated 600 agents who were to be removed, brought all previous investors into our ambit and contact almost every single person who might want to invest - we did one of the best issues for our centre beating Chennai and Bangalore. And with the momentum we built, we kept increasing our amounts raised for the next few issues.
23) Bought car as planned for Mom who was sick and needed constant support to move to doctor and back
24) Decided to write and get published and wrote four books. Before the first got published after almost 4 years after the decision to turn writer (The Men Within)
25) Became workshop facilitator. motivational speaker by design. Hugely satisfying.
I am sure I missed out a few which I shall add as I remember. Next, a list of YES factors where I stretched myself beyond my limits.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Column in the New Indian Express - July 11, 2010
The following article came in the New Indian Express on July 11, 2010 in my Sunday column Un Intended.
A Chop At The Roots Of Democracy
In a true democracy, people must protest freely to express their views. And we know how to protest, don’t we? Ask the British and they will give us a glowing recommendation. But those days have long disappeared. The commoner is not protesting. Democracy is in danger, I felt.
I met this chap checking newspaper headlines at an Irani café a few days ago. “See,” he said gleefully. “The Bharat bandh was a huge success. Everyone got together.” “Really,” I exulted, at this rare unity amongst our countrymen. “Yes,” he said. “To keep democracy alive, protests are essential. Not essential goods!” But why this bandh, I asked innocently. “Prices are rising baba,” he said, shaking his head at my ignorance. So how is the bandh going to tackle rising prices, I asked. “Close down everything!” he shouted wildly. “Rs. 13000 crore loss for the country in one day.” But won’t that effect the economy and push up prices further. I mean, a candle lit protest is fine, but Rs. 13000 crore loss? We must repair the damage caused by the bandh, I said, getting up. “You are right,” he muttered. “Our prices have gone up.” Your prices? What are they now, I asked.
“Anyway, you cannot go anywhere now,’ he said, checking his notebook and changing the topic. “The radicals have called for a 48 hour bandh.” A 48 hour bandh? Why? Isn’t that a bit too much? “In a democracy everyone has a right to protest,” he said firmly. “Dissent is good.” But we cannot have bandhs everyday and by everyone, I said. Why not, he countered angrily. The more the better.
He consulted his book again. “We have a 56 hour bandh by politicians, judges and beaurocrats to protest against corruption and criminal cases filed against them. Some want exclusive rights for top posts in sports bodies, specially female ones. And the education sector wants to organize a bandh to bribe the Council authorities freely and to collect money from students without interruptions.” But what kind of protests are these, I spluttered.
I tried to peek into his book. He shielded it and looked at me darkly. “A 24 hour bandh by communal organizations wanting permission to kill people of other communities without interference. A hoochwala bandh to make drinking compulsory, taxi drivers bandh to dispense with meters …” he reeled off. “Producers bandh for casting couch rights, students for cheating, rapists, kidnappers ….” My jaw dropped.
“Muh bandh,” he said, wagging his finger at me. “Close your shutter. I want more protests. The spirit of democracy must live on.” The café closed its shutters. I asked him why he was doing so much for democracy. He thrust his card at me. Bandh Consultant, said the card. Always open to shut, was his tagline.
“There is one marginalized section that approached me. You see, mafia gangs based abroad are not able to protest. Even they have a right to protest, no,” he pondered. “I am considering an international bandh.” I told him I would stay at home on that day surely. He smiled brightly at this unexpected support. “Anything I can shut for you? Any bandh?” No thanks, I said, my constitution was working quite fine. He consulted his diary. “No, no, you must. There is one bandh for you. Some parties had booked dates for a bandh, but they don’t know what to protest against. So I am organizing a small protest against bandhs. Bandh Bandh. Social service yaar. It’s a useless, peaceful bandh that no media will cover. Come join it.”
A Chop At The Roots Of Democracy
In a true democracy, people must protest freely to express their views. And we know how to protest, don’t we? Ask the British and they will give us a glowing recommendation. But those days have long disappeared. The commoner is not protesting. Democracy is in danger, I felt.
I met this chap checking newspaper headlines at an Irani café a few days ago. “See,” he said gleefully. “The Bharat bandh was a huge success. Everyone got together.” “Really,” I exulted, at this rare unity amongst our countrymen. “Yes,” he said. “To keep democracy alive, protests are essential. Not essential goods!” But why this bandh, I asked innocently. “Prices are rising baba,” he said, shaking his head at my ignorance. So how is the bandh going to tackle rising prices, I asked. “Close down everything!” he shouted wildly. “Rs. 13000 crore loss for the country in one day.” But won’t that effect the economy and push up prices further. I mean, a candle lit protest is fine, but Rs. 13000 crore loss? We must repair the damage caused by the bandh, I said, getting up. “You are right,” he muttered. “Our prices have gone up.” Your prices? What are they now, I asked.
“Anyway, you cannot go anywhere now,’ he said, checking his notebook and changing the topic. “The radicals have called for a 48 hour bandh.” A 48 hour bandh? Why? Isn’t that a bit too much? “In a democracy everyone has a right to protest,” he said firmly. “Dissent is good.” But we cannot have bandhs everyday and by everyone, I said. Why not, he countered angrily. The more the better.
He consulted his book again. “We have a 56 hour bandh by politicians, judges and beaurocrats to protest against corruption and criminal cases filed against them. Some want exclusive rights for top posts in sports bodies, specially female ones. And the education sector wants to organize a bandh to bribe the Council authorities freely and to collect money from students without interruptions.” But what kind of protests are these, I spluttered.
I tried to peek into his book. He shielded it and looked at me darkly. “A 24 hour bandh by communal organizations wanting permission to kill people of other communities without interference. A hoochwala bandh to make drinking compulsory, taxi drivers bandh to dispense with meters …” he reeled off. “Producers bandh for casting couch rights, students for cheating, rapists, kidnappers ….” My jaw dropped.
“Muh bandh,” he said, wagging his finger at me. “Close your shutter. I want more protests. The spirit of democracy must live on.” The café closed its shutters. I asked him why he was doing so much for democracy. He thrust his card at me. Bandh Consultant, said the card. Always open to shut, was his tagline.
“There is one marginalized section that approached me. You see, mafia gangs based abroad are not able to protest. Even they have a right to protest, no,” he pondered. “I am considering an international bandh.” I told him I would stay at home on that day surely. He smiled brightly at this unexpected support. “Anything I can shut for you? Any bandh?” No thanks, I said, my constitution was working quite fine. He consulted his diary. “No, no, you must. There is one bandh for you. Some parties had booked dates for a bandh, but they don’t know what to protest against. So I am organizing a small protest against bandhs. Bandh Bandh. Social service yaar. It’s a useless, peaceful bandh that no media will cover. Come join it.”
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Column in the New Indian Express - July 4, 2010
This article appeared in my column "Un Intended" in the New Indian Express on July 4, 2010.
RAISING FUEL PRICES FOR EVERLASTING HAPPINESS
I was protesting the fuel price hike by squatting on the highway when I met this evolved friend of mine. ‘Why are you protesting?’ he asked, concerned.
‘Because, the government is messing up our good life,’ I replied angrily, throwing stones at buses to reduce prices.
‘A good life?’ he smiled. ‘Happy relationships, good health, prudent financial planning, a thriving career and a spiritual bent of mind, right? This fuel price hike will give you everything.’ ‘What?’ I spluttered, stopping mid-throw. He drew me aside. ‘Come, stop burning effigies with expensive fuel,’ he said. ‘Here’s how.’ I listened intently.
‘Firstly, you’ll lose weight. This is because you will forget about driving vehicles when you see the new prices. Instead you’ll walk, cycle, even run mindlessly, like Forrest Gump. Food craving? Forget it. Since you may not be able to afford even basic food, you must satisfy yourself by looking at it. Lots of exercise, good food habits and restraint, the mantra for weight loss and good health.’ I blinked.
‘Secondly,’ he said, ‘financial planning. Since the price hike impacts everything, from vegetables to condoms, you will be always calculating, trying to match fixed income to fluctuating costs and your rising desires. To choose between food, education or a vacation – you need razor sharp financial planning. Most choose food. Some, education. The race for survival my friend.’ I started sweating.
‘And professionally you will rise. Primarily due to company transport - an attractive option to you and other financially strapped employees. This togetherness will foster great team spirit. You will talk, live and breathe work-related stuff always, to erase memories of other rapidly disintegrating areas of your life. With improved work orientation, you start performing better at the job. You will do well.’ I gulped.
‘Happy relationships have a strong connection to fuel prices. With no money to spend, thanks to the hike, you head home directly. You will have no option but to spend time with your family. You will be surprised to know that your children have grown so big; some are elated to know that they have children. But the more you see of your family, the more the chances of your liking it. A bit like in jail where inmates like each other because of the time spent with one another. A few serials with the spouse, dinners with family, a couple of fights and soon things turn out well. Family connections are more important than LPG connections my friend,’ he smiled. I grimaced.
‘And now, spirituality,’ he said. ‘With free market pricing, fuel prices may fluctuate between Rs. 51 to Rs. 5 million per litre for all we know. Other prices will follow suit. With this maddening chaos you will soon start to smile at no one in particular, nod incessantly and throw up your hands every now and then. Clear signs of spiritual growth! And you realize that everything goes up, one day or another‘. I realized that I had chewed up the effigy. ‘Yes, yes ,’ I nodded.
‘Now do you understand the great paradox! The much maligned fuel price hike is actually what we need for eternal happiness and contentment. And err, big families.’ ‘Big families?’ I asked, surprised. ‘Where did they come from?’ For the first time my friend appeared doubtful. ‘We cannot avoid the last possibility. You see with couples spending so much more time together and all that. It’s not just the prices that rise my friend, the intimacy index of the nation will rise as well.’
RAISING FUEL PRICES FOR EVERLASTING HAPPINESS
I was protesting the fuel price hike by squatting on the highway when I met this evolved friend of mine. ‘Why are you protesting?’ he asked, concerned.
‘Because, the government is messing up our good life,’ I replied angrily, throwing stones at buses to reduce prices.
‘A good life?’ he smiled. ‘Happy relationships, good health, prudent financial planning, a thriving career and a spiritual bent of mind, right? This fuel price hike will give you everything.’ ‘What?’ I spluttered, stopping mid-throw. He drew me aside. ‘Come, stop burning effigies with expensive fuel,’ he said. ‘Here’s how.’ I listened intently.
‘Firstly, you’ll lose weight. This is because you will forget about driving vehicles when you see the new prices. Instead you’ll walk, cycle, even run mindlessly, like Forrest Gump. Food craving? Forget it. Since you may not be able to afford even basic food, you must satisfy yourself by looking at it. Lots of exercise, good food habits and restraint, the mantra for weight loss and good health.’ I blinked.
‘Secondly,’ he said, ‘financial planning. Since the price hike impacts everything, from vegetables to condoms, you will be always calculating, trying to match fixed income to fluctuating costs and your rising desires. To choose between food, education or a vacation – you need razor sharp financial planning. Most choose food. Some, education. The race for survival my friend.’ I started sweating.
‘And professionally you will rise. Primarily due to company transport - an attractive option to you and other financially strapped employees. This togetherness will foster great team spirit. You will talk, live and breathe work-related stuff always, to erase memories of other rapidly disintegrating areas of your life. With improved work orientation, you start performing better at the job. You will do well.’ I gulped.
‘Happy relationships have a strong connection to fuel prices. With no money to spend, thanks to the hike, you head home directly. You will have no option but to spend time with your family. You will be surprised to know that your children have grown so big; some are elated to know that they have children. But the more you see of your family, the more the chances of your liking it. A bit like in jail where inmates like each other because of the time spent with one another. A few serials with the spouse, dinners with family, a couple of fights and soon things turn out well. Family connections are more important than LPG connections my friend,’ he smiled. I grimaced.
‘And now, spirituality,’ he said. ‘With free market pricing, fuel prices may fluctuate between Rs. 51 to Rs. 5 million per litre for all we know. Other prices will follow suit. With this maddening chaos you will soon start to smile at no one in particular, nod incessantly and throw up your hands every now and then. Clear signs of spiritual growth! And you realize that everything goes up, one day or another‘. I realized that I had chewed up the effigy. ‘Yes, yes ,’ I nodded.
‘Now do you understand the great paradox! The much maligned fuel price hike is actually what we need for eternal happiness and contentment. And err, big families.’ ‘Big families?’ I asked, surprised. ‘Where did they come from?’ For the first time my friend appeared doubtful. ‘We cannot avoid the last possibility. You see with couples spending so much more time together and all that. It’s not just the prices that rise my friend, the intimacy index of the nation will rise as well.’
Column in the New Indian Express - June 27, 2010
This article appeared in my column "Un Intended" in the New Indian Express on June 27, 2010. The article was titled "If Romeo and Juliet were on Twitter"
IF ROMEO AND JULIET WERE ON TWITTER
Ask any romantic, and he or she will, after blushing and hawing and hemming, vouch fervently that good communication is the bedrock of any thriving romance. Which throws open a case for us to examine the relationship between communication modes and romance, especially since the olden days. Clearly, if the movies I’ve seen are to be believed, Romeo and Juliet (the father and mother of romance) had poor communication between them, leading to the grave situation they eventually found themselves in. Apparently they used messengers, who were either shot at or, who, frequently wandered off to sell the hot story to tabloids. Promising affairs thus got nicked in the bud – the letters reaching too late or never at all. Naturally most romances in the old days died in early stages. A cry rose for advanced communication modes.
Postal services, for example, would have helped romances much better. Letters laden with long prose, poems, perfumes and heart shaped diagrams could have caused much joy and cheer to Juliet and Romeo (long as they did not fall into the wrong hands). There is one problem with letters though. They always outlive the romance, and pop up in tattered conditions at fragile moments in matrimonial life, causing distress, bad words and divorce. Romeo and Juliet divorced? Not a good advertisement for any service that is promoting romance.
To avoid these tattered letters, Romeo and Juliet could have used the ubiquitous STD/ISD booths. They could have spoken for as long as their hearts and pockets allowed them to, planned better, and run off into the sunset without the complicated poison business. Or, if they had waited longer, emails would have averted all tragedy. Romeo and Juliet could have easily created mail ids such as Crazy Lover 2001 and Tender Rose 2003 and maintained secret liaisons without anyone knowing. With the exception of sever not responding, messages could have been sent and received, for quick and clear action on either side. A well worded email, bcc’d to all, and they would have remained happily married ever after in Greenland or Iceland. Subject matter ‘Come tonight’ and ‘Got married’ would suffice.
Cell phones? Even better. Why send mails that can be stored forever and brought up at inconvenient times? Also, they could sit next to each another and speak sweetly into the phone instead of cursing one another face to face. SMSes can be used only for forceful messages. And since all villains would be busy fidgeting with their cell phones, there wouldn’t have been any problems of any sort.
But no communication mode can beat Romeo and Juliet being on facebook or Orkut or Twitter. Connect, propose, marry, upload pictures and videos on both accounts, and everyone in the world knows right then. Broken hearts, happy families, friends - many birds with one post! A more efficient method is yet to be found.
Apart from benefiting the cause of romance, my big theory is that Romeo and Juliet would have lived much longer if they had been on Facebook or Orkut or Twitter. Juliet could have tweeted, a second before consuming the potion, and Romeo and his 93 friends (and their 2500 friends) and 40 followers, would have known instantly. That would have set everything right. The downside is that Romeo and Juliet (868 friends) might not have attained their cult status – if one of them were to post their status as single after a small tiff, we’d all know that Juliet is single, and by default, Romeo, and that’d be the end of it all!
IF ROMEO AND JULIET WERE ON TWITTER
Ask any romantic, and he or she will, after blushing and hawing and hemming, vouch fervently that good communication is the bedrock of any thriving romance. Which throws open a case for us to examine the relationship between communication modes and romance, especially since the olden days. Clearly, if the movies I’ve seen are to be believed, Romeo and Juliet (the father and mother of romance) had poor communication between them, leading to the grave situation they eventually found themselves in. Apparently they used messengers, who were either shot at or, who, frequently wandered off to sell the hot story to tabloids. Promising affairs thus got nicked in the bud – the letters reaching too late or never at all. Naturally most romances in the old days died in early stages. A cry rose for advanced communication modes.
Postal services, for example, would have helped romances much better. Letters laden with long prose, poems, perfumes and heart shaped diagrams could have caused much joy and cheer to Juliet and Romeo (long as they did not fall into the wrong hands). There is one problem with letters though. They always outlive the romance, and pop up in tattered conditions at fragile moments in matrimonial life, causing distress, bad words and divorce. Romeo and Juliet divorced? Not a good advertisement for any service that is promoting romance.
To avoid these tattered letters, Romeo and Juliet could have used the ubiquitous STD/ISD booths. They could have spoken for as long as their hearts and pockets allowed them to, planned better, and run off into the sunset without the complicated poison business. Or, if they had waited longer, emails would have averted all tragedy. Romeo and Juliet could have easily created mail ids such as Crazy Lover 2001 and Tender Rose 2003 and maintained secret liaisons without anyone knowing. With the exception of sever not responding, messages could have been sent and received, for quick and clear action on either side. A well worded email, bcc’d to all, and they would have remained happily married ever after in Greenland or Iceland. Subject matter ‘Come tonight’ and ‘Got married’ would suffice.
Cell phones? Even better. Why send mails that can be stored forever and brought up at inconvenient times? Also, they could sit next to each another and speak sweetly into the phone instead of cursing one another face to face. SMSes can be used only for forceful messages. And since all villains would be busy fidgeting with their cell phones, there wouldn’t have been any problems of any sort.
But no communication mode can beat Romeo and Juliet being on facebook or Orkut or Twitter. Connect, propose, marry, upload pictures and videos on both accounts, and everyone in the world knows right then. Broken hearts, happy families, friends - many birds with one post! A more efficient method is yet to be found.
Apart from benefiting the cause of romance, my big theory is that Romeo and Juliet would have lived much longer if they had been on Facebook or Orkut or Twitter. Juliet could have tweeted, a second before consuming the potion, and Romeo and his 93 friends (and their 2500 friends) and 40 followers, would have known instantly. That would have set everything right. The downside is that Romeo and Juliet (868 friends) might not have attained their cult status – if one of them were to post their status as single after a small tiff, we’d all know that Juliet is single, and by default, Romeo, and that’d be the end of it all!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Couple of reader reviews of 'If You Love Someone' on the web
It was very nice to read a couple of reviews of 'If You Love Someone' on the net. One from a young reader, Shreyas, from Bangalore (who appears to be a friend of my niece, Prarthana). The other is from Rashmi, on asianfanfics. I shall reproduce an extract of what Shreyas wrote on his blog first.
http://shreyas199223.blogspot.com/2010/06/books-that-i-read.html.
Books that I read
This is probably the twentieth that I have attempted to write something on this blog. The nineteen previous times, I spent looking at the monitor with a complete blank expression waiting for something to miraculously appear on the screen. No luck so far.
One cn say I have made some use of the holidays so far. That makes a few extra hours spent at home even more tiresome to spend. Read quite a lot of novels since the exams, most of them begged, borrowed and stolen (then duly returned back of course!) Will try and summarize the few that were good.
1) The Palace of Illusions - Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni...
Heard of "The Mistress of Spices"? the Aishwarya Rai starring English movie? The book was authored by this lady.
The Palace of Illusions is the Mahabharatha itself. The only change is this time, the story is being narrated by Draupadi. The narration is beautiful. Though somewhat blasphemous, it captures the more humane parts of the epic which I'm sure our grandparents conveniently forgot to tell us. Not a book recommended if you are a staunch believer of the devoutness of Draupadi. Truly, the Mahabharatha revolves around Draupadi. A book worth reading.
2) The Jeeves Omnibus - Pelham Grenville Wodehouse...
Amazing writer! Looking at his face you will never imagine that he is the kind who can make you execute a proper ROFL. His witticism coupled with an amazing sense of timing makes him one of a kind. Go read his books for a true feel of comic writing.
3)If you love someone... - Harimohan Paruvu...
The second book of the author. The first being "The Men Within". A short novel which is a love story with a difference. It is not the stereotypical teenage boy meets teenage girl - they fall in love - get married - lose interest in each other- finally love conquers all kind of story. A very refreshing take on love, life and sacrifice. A must read is you are a die hard romantic. (have always been amused by this phrase "die hard romantic", it sounds ironic)
The other review (more a lovely testimonial if I can call it that) is from Rashmi, Maine, India who can be found at the following link:
http://www.asianfanfics.com/index.php/profile/view/2897
Personal Message
Well,hello friends my name is rashmi well my friends call me sunshine and i like to called by this name.i have completed my schooling this year and now i am in university. i am doing law,i have spend quiet a long period reading winglin and asianfanfics and now i am starting to write my stories.i hope you all will support me.thank you,love you all
About Me
about me hmm let me think
well i am 18 years old i am from india,and i love to read novels my favourite novel is if you love someone by harimohan paruvu and i love to paint, i am also quiet a good singer and i am a music freak.my hobbies are singing,reading,writing,driving,sleeping,shopping etc.
Thanks a ton Shreyas and Rashmi for the mention in your blogs. I hope you guys don't mind me using content from your pages. Good luck with your writing, education and all other passions you are pursuing.
http://shreyas199223.blogspot.com/2010/06/books-that-i-read.html.
Books that I read
This is probably the twentieth that I have attempted to write something on this blog. The nineteen previous times, I spent looking at the monitor with a complete blank expression waiting for something to miraculously appear on the screen. No luck so far.
One cn say I have made some use of the holidays so far. That makes a few extra hours spent at home even more tiresome to spend. Read quite a lot of novels since the exams, most of them begged, borrowed and stolen (then duly returned back of course!) Will try and summarize the few that were good.
1) The Palace of Illusions - Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni...
Heard of "The Mistress of Spices"? the Aishwarya Rai starring English movie? The book was authored by this lady.
The Palace of Illusions is the Mahabharatha itself. The only change is this time, the story is being narrated by Draupadi. The narration is beautiful. Though somewhat blasphemous, it captures the more humane parts of the epic which I'm sure our grandparents conveniently forgot to tell us. Not a book recommended if you are a staunch believer of the devoutness of Draupadi. Truly, the Mahabharatha revolves around Draupadi. A book worth reading.
2) The Jeeves Omnibus - Pelham Grenville Wodehouse...
Amazing writer! Looking at his face you will never imagine that he is the kind who can make you execute a proper ROFL. His witticism coupled with an amazing sense of timing makes him one of a kind. Go read his books for a true feel of comic writing.
3)If you love someone... - Harimohan Paruvu...
The second book of the author. The first being "The Men Within". A short novel which is a love story with a difference. It is not the stereotypical teenage boy meets teenage girl - they fall in love - get married - lose interest in each other- finally love conquers all kind of story. A very refreshing take on love, life and sacrifice. A must read is you are a die hard romantic. (have always been amused by this phrase "die hard romantic", it sounds ironic)
The other review (more a lovely testimonial if I can call it that) is from Rashmi, Maine, India who can be found at the following link:
http://www.asianfanfics.com/index.php/profile/view/2897
Personal Message
Well,hello friends my name is rashmi well my friends call me sunshine and i like to called by this name.i have completed my schooling this year and now i am in university. i am doing law,i have spend quiet a long period reading winglin and asianfanfics and now i am starting to write my stories.i hope you all will support me.thank you,love you all
About Me
about me hmm let me think
well i am 18 years old i am from india,and i love to read novels my favourite novel is if you love someone by harimohan paruvu and i love to paint, i am also quiet a good singer and i am a music freak.my hobbies are singing,reading,writing,driving,sleeping,shopping etc.
Thanks a ton Shreyas and Rashmi for the mention in your blogs. I hope you guys don't mind me using content from your pages. Good luck with your writing, education and all other passions you are pursuing.
Writing the weekly column
My weekly column in the New Indian Express - Un Intended - is keeping me on my toes. Its quite challenging since I chose to write humour and that is something I have not done for a long time. It has been two weeks since and I am getting better at identifying the core idea and presenting it, hopefully funnily enough to bring a smile. Nothing is worse than an article trying to be funny and nothing happens. Writing humour I always found was a lot more tedious job because new ideas keep cropping up every once in a while and drag you away from the one you started on. The new string always appears to be much better than the original one and soon the version 1 and version 2 are made. And then it has to be brought together, the core identified and then refined. To me it is a 3 or 4 draft job. But that is the way I write - it never is perfect the first time. get the idea and the whole in, get it closer, get it closer and then identify the best way to put the idea across. I normally get the one funny line or idea just before the last edit. A case for being with the idea long enough I guess. It is hard work in a way, but it is something I enjoy.
I think its a great challenge to make a person smile if not laugh. Even better if the article is so stark that it takes the pain away of the actual happenings.
The first two articles have made their appearance on the web. Follow this link:
http://expressbuzz.com/searchresult/harimohan-paruvu
I think its a great challenge to make a person smile if not laugh. Even better if the article is so stark that it takes the pain away of the actual happenings.
The first two articles have made their appearance on the web. Follow this link:
http://expressbuzz.com/searchresult/harimohan-paruvu
Friday, July 2, 2010
Rajneeti - Movie Review
Watched Rajneeti last week. I was looking out for the Mahabharath angles in this contemporary political thriller so I got along fine. But a couple of my friends who are not too clued into Mahabharath left the theatre before the movie ended. Personally I liked the movie - my one big compliant was that it failed to leave any moments with me after the movie was done. Not one!
Also I felt that there was a bit of Godfather meets Mahabharath in Rajneeti with atleast three scenes that I can identify out of the Godfather. The cop slapping Ranbir Kapoor is reminiscent of Michael Corleone getting slapped by a cop in the hospital, the car bomb going off killing Arjun Rampal and the phirang girl was reminiscent of the Sicilian gun men running off before Micheal Corleone's girlfriend Appolonio dies in a car blast and the most obvious one is of Babulal walking up to the discomfort of slimy blood in his bed which runs from the neck of his gay partner just like the producer in the Godfather wakes up to find the head of his race horse in his bed. Or for that matter even Arjun Rampal's torrid fling with a ticket aspirant (I can't get her name but she did a good job) reminds one of Sonny Corleone's brief affair with one lady with a peculiar gynaec problem during his sister's wedding. Frankly I did not really expect this from someone of Prakash Jha's calibre. I mean, those scenes could have been constructed differently to the same effect. Lazy? Bored? Taking the audience for granted?
Bhaskar Sanyal (Naseeruddin Shah) is the Sun God as the name suggests, Bharti is Kunti, Suraj (Ajay Devgan) is Karna, Virendra (Manoj Bajpai - he is brilliant) is Duryodhan, Prithvi (Arjun Rampal) is a mixture of Yudhishtir, Bheema, Nakul, Sahadeva and Sonny Corleone, Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar) as the name suggests is Krishna, Katrina Kaif is Draupadi (in love with Ranbir and married to Arjun Rampal) and a host of such Mahabharathian characters getting into such situations. For example why Krishna had to leave the baby Karna in a boat on the ghat I did not understand when there are several orphanages around.
What did not work for me most was that the desire or the reason to gain the CMs post or of being wronged by their cousins did not appear strong enough for Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor (not their fault though - they did a good job). In fact Manoj Bajpai leaves a bigger impression of having greater desire for the CMs post and of being wronged than Arjun Rampal.does. Ranbir seems to conjure all his tricks out of the laptop and some of his actions don't really make sense. Like rejecting Katrina Kaif and then wanting to marry her and getting her finally married to his older brother (if Katrina's father was such a power hungry industralist, he'd be pretty clear anyway without all this). Kunti's offer to Karna made no sense to me considering that Karna had already killed off her husband and her older son and nothing was to be gained by having him on their side anyway. Karna throwing off his revolver to save his friend also made no sense since he could have killed Arjun and Krishna both and then gone ahead specially since he knows that Arjun knows he killed off his father and brother and wife and unborn kid as well- unless he had no bullets in his revolver but nothing indicated that.
Despite my personal issues, I would still go and watch it at least once for the scale and the attempt. All performances were good with Manoj Bajpai, Ajay Devgan, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar bringing on stellar performances. A *** star rating from me. Maybe half a star more for the attempt.
Also I felt that there was a bit of Godfather meets Mahabharath in Rajneeti with atleast three scenes that I can identify out of the Godfather. The cop slapping Ranbir Kapoor is reminiscent of Michael Corleone getting slapped by a cop in the hospital, the car bomb going off killing Arjun Rampal and the phirang girl was reminiscent of the Sicilian gun men running off before Micheal Corleone's girlfriend Appolonio dies in a car blast and the most obvious one is of Babulal walking up to the discomfort of slimy blood in his bed which runs from the neck of his gay partner just like the producer in the Godfather wakes up to find the head of his race horse in his bed. Or for that matter even Arjun Rampal's torrid fling with a ticket aspirant (I can't get her name but she did a good job) reminds one of Sonny Corleone's brief affair with one lady with a peculiar gynaec problem during his sister's wedding. Frankly I did not really expect this from someone of Prakash Jha's calibre. I mean, those scenes could have been constructed differently to the same effect. Lazy? Bored? Taking the audience for granted?
Bhaskar Sanyal (Naseeruddin Shah) is the Sun God as the name suggests, Bharti is Kunti, Suraj (Ajay Devgan) is Karna, Virendra (Manoj Bajpai - he is brilliant) is Duryodhan, Prithvi (Arjun Rampal) is a mixture of Yudhishtir, Bheema, Nakul, Sahadeva and Sonny Corleone, Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar) as the name suggests is Krishna, Katrina Kaif is Draupadi (in love with Ranbir and married to Arjun Rampal) and a host of such Mahabharathian characters getting into such situations. For example why Krishna had to leave the baby Karna in a boat on the ghat I did not understand when there are several orphanages around.
What did not work for me most was that the desire or the reason to gain the CMs post or of being wronged by their cousins did not appear strong enough for Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor (not their fault though - they did a good job). In fact Manoj Bajpai leaves a bigger impression of having greater desire for the CMs post and of being wronged than Arjun Rampal.does. Ranbir seems to conjure all his tricks out of the laptop and some of his actions don't really make sense. Like rejecting Katrina Kaif and then wanting to marry her and getting her finally married to his older brother (if Katrina's father was such a power hungry industralist, he'd be pretty clear anyway without all this). Kunti's offer to Karna made no sense to me considering that Karna had already killed off her husband and her older son and nothing was to be gained by having him on their side anyway. Karna throwing off his revolver to save his friend also made no sense since he could have killed Arjun and Krishna both and then gone ahead specially since he knows that Arjun knows he killed off his father and brother and wife and unborn kid as well- unless he had no bullets in his revolver but nothing indicated that.
Despite my personal issues, I would still go and watch it at least once for the scale and the attempt. All performances were good with Manoj Bajpai, Ajay Devgan, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar bringing on stellar performances. A *** star rating from me. Maybe half a star more for the attempt.
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