tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294Fri, 25 Oct 2024 09:14:43 +0000BooksFunIncidentsJourneyMusingsDan BrownReading ListThe Lost Symbolsatire100 wordsHomeMovies1411 tigersCompanyDa Vinci CodeNobelObamaTravelYoungOn and on it goes on - So do arms on the clock - You and I just live onhttp://p2speaks.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)Blogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-2319085582778919535Sun, 06 Jan 2019 04:10:00 +00002019-01-06T09:40:06.540+05:30 It's been a while. A long while. More than six years. That is six out of almost nine years this blog has been up. How have you been? Is anyone there? Through these years I always had access to internet and a computer. So all the reasons I come up with for being away for so long are going to be excuses. Some of them more legitimate than others, but excuses nonetheless. So many things have changedhttp://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2019/01/its-been-while.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-6841789664265898462Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:07:00 +00002013-06-04T20:58:12.158+05:30BooksReading List 1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 2. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 3. The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi 4. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig - I need to read this book again, in its own time. 5. The Secret of the Nagas by Amish Tripathi 6. The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2013/02/reading-list-2013.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-7744970483845575572Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:27:00 +00002013-01-16T10:13:58.934+05:30BooksReading List Did not do very well with the book reading last year. Doing only slightly better this time. Will keep you posted. 1. Noon by Aatish Taseer (If every life was a story with a begining, middle and an end; mine wouldn't be one of them. That is how this story is. But a good one) 2. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Fiction. American classic, an awesome novel) 3. One Hundred years of http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2012/06/reading-list-2012.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-6263205340853903107Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:28:00 +00002012-06-18T20:32:33.766+05:30100 wordsFunIncidentsTravel [Another of those 100 words. I guess only this can keep this blog alive. Well, I hope not.] “So many Indian people here, do you have some kind of holiday today?” On the way back from the fireworks a random oriental featured American asked me. “So many people in India. Population very high maan. Of course they gotta go somewhere for vacation. Might as well go to US. Can’t tell. I am no http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2012/06/its-given-we-will-take-over.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-5405994070118616963Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:02:00 +00002011-09-10T21:32:21.469+05:30Journeysatire“Now listen to this my fellow Americans, this is what the Japanese would have heard that morning on 18th April 1942. This is the sound that struck the fear in the hearts of the Japanese for the first time in the Second World War. This is the war cry of Jimmy Doolittle that shattered the Japanese confidence and made America believe that Pearl Harbor was just an aberration. This is the announcementhttp://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-hate-you-like-i-love-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-8377104282039325243Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:16:00 +00002011-07-25T00:44:16.832+05:30100 wordsFunIncidents A colleague did a scintillating performance in the youth festival organized by the local Indian association couple of weeks back.Reacting to the video posted on facebook, an American colleague sulked that we did not invite him. ‘Indian people don’t invite Americans to Indian dance parties’, he said, ‘it’s bad, it’s almost racist’.He could but did not take offence to my retort, ‘how do you like http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2011/07/giving-it-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-8935426507974620827Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:36:00 +00002011-07-27T21:40:27.118+05:30FunIncidentsJourneyI have always liked travelling in trains. It is the next best thing to driving, especially for long distances. You are not boxed in a seat. You get to walk around if you want or if like me, can happily lie down and doze off. You are much at ease. You make new friends, can have long and animated face to face discussions about anything important or not. You can’t do all this stuff in a flight.&nbsphttp://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-need-your-blessings-only.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-497242559162305599Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:32:00 +00002011-12-02T09:03:31.956+05:30BooksReading ListThis is turning out to be not so great year for reading. Read my last year's Reading list. Here is a list of what I have been able to manage this year Crime and Punishment by  Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Drama, an awesome one) This will change Everything : Ideas That Will Shape the Future by Mr. John Brockman (Ideas from an assortment of people about what they think will change the world. Good, http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2011/06/reading-list-2011.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-163693571682761450Sun, 12 Dec 2010 13:26:00 +00002010-12-12T18:56:50.406+05:30FunHomeJourney“Koorly.” “Eh? “ “It is very koorly.” “What is what?” “Your hair is very koorly.” “Hair is what?” “Koorly koorly! Your hair is very koorly.” Getting a haircut has never been a good time for me. Staring at the faces of 10 other people, all of them of varying degrees of boring sophistication, while waiting for my turn has never done any good for my nerves. What was happening now was not helping http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/12/hairy-tales.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-3136192504271888425Sat, 25 Sep 2010 03:26:00 +00002010-09-25T08:59:00.377+05:30BooksDan BrownThe Lost SymbolWhen I started this blog, I wrote a couple of posts about Dan Brown and the Lost Symbol. Go ahead and read them if you have nothing better to do (here and here). I promised to write about the latest book once I read it. Since I have read all Dan Brown books, even the ones before Robert Langdon stories, this should have been easy and natural. But the problem is that between then and now, I have http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/09/you-promised-that-you-will-die-for-me.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-8389270936994865240Sun, 12 Sep 2010 16:35:00 +00002010-09-12T22:54:31.322+05:30MoviesMusingssatire Few weeks back I watched this movie called Peepli [Live]. Now if you are in India and have not heard about this movie, then it’s probably because You live under a rock in the middle of Thar desertYou tribe lives in one of the protected junglesYou are illiterate, blind, deaf, all of theseYou live in a different country (at least you think so) called Tamilnadu You live in Bombay (which is almost http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/09/sometimes-nathas-poop-is-better.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-3769320132020420608Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:05:00 +00002010-06-07T00:12:27.446+05:30FunIncidentsJourneyThere are stories that you go about telling people the moment after they happen. Then there are personal stories you want to keep to yourself and never forget. Until one day you realize you are forgetting the details. That is when you go ahead and write about it in your blog. If you read the blogs by expats in India, you will invariably come across the shock and reluctant awe they have about thehttp://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/06/peeing-pong.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-7926303796098223705Sun, 16 May 2010 11:49:00 +00002010-05-17T21:33:10.376+05:30MusingsThis is one of those days. You know, when I am not making fun. So here is the serious stuff. Consider yourself warned. Welled up with choked emotions? Holding tight grief of letting go? Find that sink to pour it in Look around there's an ear so No balm better than a smiling face No balm better than a perky tone No balm better than a hand in hand No pain worse than suffering alone http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/05/life-is-but-optimization-game.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-8741931545139606919Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:33:00 +00002010-05-02T12:14:47.320+05:30IncidentsMusingssatireFew weeks back there was this video of a stick man and a stick woman posted on facebook. Someone amongst my friends or their friends or may be their friends posted it. Can’t remember it now. You know how it is with social networking. You are supposed to be in touch. So much so that you end up forgetting who it was that you touched. I have been terribly caught up with work for last few weeks now.http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/05/not-honey-not-until-we-decide-on-your.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-7829282661855915429Sun, 11 Apr 2010 04:05:00 +00002010-04-11T15:12:04.280+05:30Musings Quite a few things happen in our lives in only few days. Small things really, when compared to the long lives that people live. Things small enough not to fill up a dedicated post. Here is a small compilation. My last manager GC left for higher studies. After eleven long years, starting as a fresher, in the same organization, I suspect it was boredom that took him. But he was a great manager. http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/04/it-keeps-moving-on-only-ahead.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-3280721571040026801Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:59:00 +00002010-02-12T08:56:00.211+05:301411 tigerssatireWhen I wrote the last time on this blog, I remember a wooly mammoth walking by my window. We don’t see too many of them these days. I think it’s been a long time since I wrote. By the way mammoths were not really mammoth size wise. They were smaller than the current day elephants which don’t pass by the windows. I don’t know if any one actually harvested wool from the wooly parts of the mammoth http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/02/satire-on-tiger-or-lack-of-them.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-798019360380691244Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:29:00 +00002010-12-30T09:06:58.944+05:30BooksReading ListLast year has not been the best ever in my life. I would want to forget it in a hurry. Except that I managed to read 26 books in a very tumultuous year. Coming up with this count took me some time. So I thought why not create a list and keep adding to it. Here is the list. Heaven's Command : An Imperial Progress by Jan Morris (History) The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2010/02/reading-list-2010.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-44442949876605709Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:53:00 +00002009-11-28T02:47:34.081+05:30FunIncidentsLike a true family, we like to remain close as we travel. Even if it means fitting 7 people in a car meant to seat 5 people only, including the guy who agreed to travel in discomfort. This usually is the youngest of the lot barring toddlers. They just keep standing or may be move around, lap to lap. Last weekend I was at my sister's place and all of us went out together, taveling like a true http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-do-you-get-coconut-oiland-kerosene.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-4487798092743914607Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:03:00 +00002009-11-15T17:08:53.359+05:30MusingsHow many times you meet people you think you are so in synch with. There are those people whom you want to embrace and not let go ever. You think you will be friends forever, will stay close forever and will realize the common dreams together. In the pleasure of the company of the friends and the camaraderie and the common thoughts and so many other things, you tend to forget something so http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/11/you-and-i-just-live-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-37389337078216284Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:38:00 +00002009-10-26T10:42:37.163+05:30Books What’s the big deal? It saved my life too, many times. That’s what I thought when I first heard the title of this book. Lately I came across this title here . I have been meaning to read this book ever since. Sometimes it so happens that you want something and it presents itself. It’s been happening so with a lot of things for me, except of course that truck load of money that just doesn’t http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-starbucks-saved-my-life.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-7696201815004928963Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:20:00 +00002009-10-19T22:29:28.427+05:30NobelObamaEver since the unthinkable has happened, it has got me thinking. And it has got me thinking very seriously. Not that I don’t think seriously ever, but this is different this time. I have been thinking mostly on the lines of 'akhir mujhme kya kami hai' (roughly translated to what is missing in me after all). I mean if Barack Obama can have the Peace Nobel, so can I. After all in our different http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/10/mom-where-is-my-nobel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-3468153699949436183Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:27:00 +00002009-10-19T16:08:58.321+05:30CompanyIs it time or is it youth or is it an opportunity? No silly, it’s your earned leaves. Never mind that you think that you have earned it, because you have not. It’s us, the masters of your universe who have given you this. So better use it or lose it! That is the policy change in the company that greeted me on my return to work. The earned leaves will now lapse if not used by the end of the year. http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/10/use-it-or-lose-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-2542383532920109363Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:42:00 +00002009-10-19T16:38:59.637+05:30HomeJourneyYoungThis is the only year when I have made so many trips to home since I moved out about thirteen years ago. The one last week was by train. Here is a little account. Onward I book my tickets in second class. I favour being close to the elements more than closed comfort of an air conditioned coach. That dog peeping out of the car window will agree. But this one time I was thankful to God (and Laloo http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/10/train-trip-to-home.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-5767567064201487934Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:26:00 +00002009-09-28T17:58:46.689+05:30Dan BrownMoviesThe Lost SymbolThe MovieIn this world full of uncertainties, there is one thing that I am absolutely certain about. Somewhere someone right now is thinking about making a movie called ‘The Lost Symbol’. Absolutely no secrets there. I also know that Tom Hanks is going to play Langdon. Further I know that people who are going to watch this movie without reading the book are going to find it a little difficult to http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/09/lost-symbol-movie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6785325093010845294.post-3156110460195161788Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:48:00 +00002009-09-29T13:15:42.956+05:30BooksDan BrownThe Lost SymbolThe title I wanted for this was “The Lost Symbol – Robert Langdon, New Girl, Stupid Law Enforcers and a Secret/Mysterious/Bizarre Brotherhood/Sisterhood/Fellowship/Society”. But I didn’t actually use it because 1. This is too long for a title.2. I think most of us (including me) don’t know how to read out words with ‘/’ in between. I will make do with the current title only and talk about the http://p2speaks.blogspot.com/2009/09/lost-symbol-dan-brown.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Pratyush)0