Otiose Opinions

The Devil

2012-02-02T08:05:32-08:00

No, he hasn’t given up yet and he would never give up. How could he when she meant everything to him? But he also knew that he could never be with her, as she was too good for him. He was a devil, who punished the bad and she was an angel, who always gave love to everyone. He knew that even she liked him and she would bring sunshine into his life, if he gave himself a chance, but that would be asking for too much. In his opinion, he didn’t deserve a chance after everything that he had done until then. Or did he? He knew not. Nevertheless, he was ready to accept whatever came his way but only after he had finished what he had started.

Only if he was as great as her, only if he could forget everything that had happened in the past, only if he could forgive, then his life would have been lot different. He had spent thousands of sleepless nights, plotting revenge. He had to punish the bad; he believed that is why he was spared when his family was killed in front of his eyes. Was it even possible to forgive? Forgiveness was for the great and he was only a devil. A devil meant to punish the bad.

He was lonely and he believed that nobody cared about him. They did but he couldn’t believe because they weren’t there when he had needed them the most. They knew nothing about how much he hurt inside. How could have he stopped the pain over which he had no control? He had long forgotten how it felt to be not hurting inside. He knew not what it meant to be happy. He was a devil who knew only wrath and woe.

He was a devil, who couldn’t forgive himself for not forgiving the ones who had wronged him. He was a devil, who couldn’t take pleasure in punishing the bad but he had to do it anyway, as it was too late to turn back. He was a devil, who loved an angel but could never be with her, though he would trade anything if it meant that he could be with her.

He wanted to be freed from all his woes. He didn’t want to hate anyone, anymore, as it hurt him more than it did earlier. His heart bled alone in the dark, he cried alone in the dark and he wanted to die alone in the dark. He wanted to just disappear and wished no one would feel his absence, the way they had never heard his crying heart.

He didn’t know whom he hated the most, the bad or himself? He wondered whether he was any different from the ones who had turned his life upside down. Anyway it was too late to become someone who could look into a mirror and say, “I forgive you”. He had gone too far to even consider returning. He was a devil, who punished the bad while he waited the nightmare that he was living to end.

The drama “The Devil” is the inspiration behind this small write up. Ju Ji Hun played the DEVIL in the drama and he communicated the hurt and the hatred inside him so beautifully that I couldn’t hate him for hating others. I just ended up falling in love with the character that he played in the drama.

The Perfect World

2012-01-20T09:23:49-08:00

I haven’t read too many motivational or inspirational books or anything other than fictions and of course, my course books. To be honest, I hadn’t read any motivational book at all but thanks to Priya Kumar’s “The Perfect World”, now I can claim that I have read one such book too.

“The perfect world” was not just a motivational book but Priya has taken help of a fiction to tell readers whatever she intended to tell them, and that’s what makes the book interesting.

It was a shame that I couldn’t complete it in a go because of my exams but I am glad that I completed it, later or sooner, because Niki Sander’s, protagonist, story has helped me grow spiritually. I have realized that there is something beyond this material world and I am capable of doing more than what I am delivering now. There are no superior and inferior beings in this world but only souls that have lost their purposes and are away from the path that they should have taken to fulfill their purposes in this world.

I also learnt that we are what we chose to be and nobody else should be blamed for whatever or whoever we are today. If I am not happy with my life, then I should be figuring out how to make my life better and be happier, instead of blaming others or anyone at all for my unhappiness.

Now, I see where I was wrong in expecting someone to perceive me the way I wanted them to see me. I didn’t let them be and constantly tried to impress them, while I could have been working to fulfill my purpose in this world. I didn’t grow when I was chasing someone else and their purposes, and didn’t let them grow. I should have respected others for what they are but I wanted them to be me, like me. I wasted my energy in trying to change others according to me and also, occupied their spiritual spaces which were meant only for them.

Niki Sanders’ transformation from a loser to someone who decided to do what she really wanted to do and transformation of the sorceress Thelda to a drummer, and their journey to Zedius, the perfect world, along with the beings of Zedius, Acrodorf and Bren, was really magical. The barriers that they came across and difficulties that they faced on their way taught them lessons that they had chosen to ignore or forget, and helped them in realizing the strength that their spirits held within them. They learnt how wonderful creators they were and how they had lost the power to do what they wanted to. They defeated Maya and other evil powers to save themselves and the planet Zedius. They also freed Zedius from the imperfection that they had chosen to overlook.

We have the power to change our world and our lives and that is what I learnt after reading Priya’s “The Perfect World”. I am sure that everyone who reads this book would take some points from the book that would solve one or the other problem that they are facing in their lives.

And to tell about Priya’s writing skills, she has narrated the story in a very simple language hence the spiritualism concept won’t seem like a rocket science. The story is surreal but it’s alright as long as you don’t pick up this book for its story but the message it intends to spread.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 and recommend that everyone read it too, as I, totally, enjoyed reading it.

Fablery!

2012-02-02T07:52:13-08:00

Dear Readers & Writers,

I know that I haven’t been blogging these days and I am not even reading other blogs that I used to read regularly. I miss reading Blog, I rhyme without reason & A musing who update their blogs frequently and also, other bloggers whom I follow like Aura of Sleepless Dreams, The Unwise prevails over the Wise, Wandering thoughts, Nirvana, Shravan RN's, A rose is a rose is rose!…the list goes on. Note to self: I must visit their blogs soon.

What to do? College keeps me busy and also, I had been busy with Fablery. I still got lot of things to complete. To mention few- assignments, reading books that I have been reading since forever but haven’t completed yet and watching the movies that I downloaded last week. Not to forget, I wanted to start watching “Vampire Diaries” too.

Anyway, the reason behind this blog-post: I wanted to tell my readers about a simple game that they could play on Facebook to win a book written by R K Narayan and also help in spreading the word about Fablery. I started Fablery because I thought good writers deserve a chance to get published as that is every writer’s dream (it is my dream, at least). If writers do not learn about this opportunity then Fablery would be meaningless so please spread the word and make a writer’s dream come true; that writer could be you or someone close to you. Another thing that I want to add is, Fablery wasn’t started with the intention of rejecting few stories and selecting few, but with an intention to provide writers with an opportunity to get published. The contest will be held every year and your story gets a chance to make it to the book every month so there will be plenty of opportunities that one could use. Doesn’t that sound good and fair?

Now, about the game that could win you a book written by R K Narayan:

Quote your favorite character & get your friends to “like” the same and also the page “fablery” (otherwise the number of likes on your quotes won’t be counted). The quote with maximum likes will win a book written by R K Narayan.

Here’s the link to the game: Quote your favorite character here

And here’s the link to the site: Fablery

Also, the Facebook page for Fablery: Fablery on Facebook

Twitter handle: @fablery_

The game ends on 20th January, 2012.

When I say “quote your favorite character”, I mean you must quote a character from a novel, not authors or some famous personalities. Also, do not forget to mention the book to which the character belongs.

I am ending this blog-post on a note that I will try to blog regularly from now onwards and also, read the blogs that I follow.

Thanks & Regards,

Nethra

Prevention is better than cure

2011-12-09T21:42:21-08:00

Courtesy: spiderkerala.net

We, Indians, always complain about how dirty our country is compared to the developed nations like USA, Japan, etc but when it comes to doing our bit, we do nothing. We throw wastes anywhere and everywhere we feel like-be it bus-stops or on our neighbor’s doorsteps. And when somebody complains about our wrongdoings, we ignore them by saying that they are just trying to be righteous, instead we could ponder upon our actions.

Let’s exclude not-so-learned men and also women for awhile. It’s really painful to watch college going people throw wastes out of a moving bus. Would it hurt them to dump the wastes in the right place “dustbin” instead of throwing it out, carelessly? Don’t they realize that it could make a rider lose his vehicle’s balance and meet with an accident, if the waste falls on him out of blue? Is it alright to risk others’ lives just because we are too lazy and careless?

We don’t have to carry broomsticks on our backs and clean the city but we can always avoid dirtying it more.

Wearing helmets and following traffic rules, throwing wastes in dustbins, being humane towards weaker beings-these little things make huge difference if practiced regularly. We never know who’s watching us. People might pick up our good habits and then that might lead to a greater good.

Let’s be responsible.

Prey by the Ganges

2011-11-27T03:13:50-08:00

Like every other Indian, I have watched the movie, Sholay, more than once. Not that I liked the movie so much that I wanted to watch it repeatedly but when we were still stuck in Doordarshan era, you wanted it or not, you had to watch the movies that they played during weekends on television because everyone watched it. I watched it too. It was a funny movie; the Thakur, the Gabbar and his Samba-everything about Sholay was funny.

The book “Prey by the Ganges” written by Hemant Kumar got two Thakur- one, who plays the Gabbar & another, his victim-in it. It also got a Thankurain, glamour, gore, men driven by emotions, lust and power.

No, I’m not comparing it with Sholay though there are few elements that are common in both the stories like Shambu and Ravi’s friendship that reminded me of Jai and Veeru. Trust me; they are just not-so-important similarities. It's just that all stories with Thakurs in it reminds me of the movie Sholay.

Vaidya Shambhu Nandan along with his man-servant, Hariya, spend the night of Sharad Purnima on the bank of Ganges, waiting for his friend, Ravi, who had gone to Janak Ganj to trade with Thakur Suraj Singh. A blood-curdling scream shatters the stillness of the night. Shambhu, helplessly, watches his friend getting beaten to death. When the bandits, finally, leave the victim, Shambhu brings the body, washes it and buries it. Ravi took all that beating - his jaws are broken, an eye is out of its socket, legs and hands are broken- still he takes his last breath in his friend’s arms that makes you wonder how could someone have any life left in him after taking all that beating. Anyway, he doesn’t giveaway what happened to him or who killed him (such things always happen in Bollywood movies, don’t they? But it didn’t happen in this book. Good.) Shambhu puts one and one together and figures out what might have happened to his friend and then, he starts to Janak Ganj to learn the reason behind his friend’s death from the murderer himself. He resumes his friend’s half complete plan and that brings him in face to face with the cold-blooded murderer, Thakur Gajanan.

Thankur Gajanan was a cold-blooded dictator of Janak Ganj and Narainpur alright but he was handsome too and every woman whom he beds is left craving for him – they might hate him but they just cannot help but enjoy the encounter with him. One such victim, Etwari, decides to pay back for what Gajanan did to her and her family. Rajni, the learnt and beautiful Thakurain, decides to revolt against her husband, Thakur, after Shambhu comes into picture. When Baabu, the psychopath among Thakur’s men, decides to have Chanda, Thakurain’s maid, on finding her alone and up to something, her father, Laalten, rips his body and thrashes it against a wall as if it is a doll. That was the goriest scene after Ravi’s death.

There are others too, waiting silently for a nemesis to arrive at Gajanan’s doorsteps and when Shambhu arrives, everyone pushes him towards Gajanan but for the cold-blooded murderer he was, he never learns what it is to be a friend, a husband or a brother, until the end. Shambhu is different from Gajanan; sex, money, power doesn’t drive Shambhu, and that made Gajanan fear Shambhu and the fear confuses him. The prey goes after the hunter and even the hunter is looking for the prey, and the game is quite enjoyable.

To talk about the writing itself, I quite liked the narration and the language. For a beginner, Hemant Kumar has narrated the story beautifully. It doesn’t leave you with a feeling that he wrote the book for he wanted to be an author too. He wrote the book for he wanted to tell you a story that was in his mind since forever.

I shall rate the book 3.5 out of 5 and would suggest everyone who can digest gore read it too.

Dear, I love you

2011-11-22T09:42:41-08:00

Who doesn’t want to love and be loved? If you say that you don’t then you are just lying, not just to others but to yourself too. Have you read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series? Initially, I found Edward to be very charming. I didn’t mind having a powerful boyfriend who had eyes only for me but Bella and Edward’s love overdose sickened me and my liking for him ended up as abhorrence. Alright, let’s talk about Arun Sabtharishi’s book named “Dear, I love you” now. To be honest, the protogonist Goutham and his love left even twilight series behind. The book had nothing but Goutham, his girlfriend Anu and their love.

I have never been in a romantic relationship but I am sure that even if I had been, I wouldn’t live like there are no people around me, except for that one person whom I loved. It just doesn’t sound right.

Do you believe in love at first sight? Well, I don’t because I’m mature enough to understand that a person can only create interest for him/her in me in one meeting and the same interest would make me want to know him/her more, then the love might happen. Is it possible to start loving every cell in a person’s body just because they are good looking? It’s not love at all. Such cheesy dialogues disgust me to no extent.

To tell you about the protogonist, Goutham, I didn’t find him smart at all but he always managed to score more than his hardworking friends. Might be it was just his luck. Also, his friends would always be at his service though he hardly gave a damn about them. He couldn’t deal with either his love for Anu or his mom’s refusal to accept his love. If I have to describe his character in just two words then they would be a “loser” and a “stalker”.

Anu, a Bangalore-based brahmin girl, was no good either. She showed no sense of dignity. She quite enjoyed the attention of a stalker. She got dumped repeatedly by him and yet, she always accepted him as soon as he went back to her. He says, “I love you” and she would be at his feet.

Amrita, Goutham’s sister, who is supposed to be smarter than him according to the author was weak too. The very few dialogues that she exchanges with her mother, Goutham and Anu didn’t make much sense too. I found her “I-am-so-smart” attitude to be very irrational.

Goutham’s mother was the worst of them all but she helps you figure out why Goutham ain’t that smart so she isn’t a total waste. Anu’s parents’ response towards their daughter’s love was quite hilarious too.

Author’s broken English didn’t help either. As he is studying at University of Texas in USA, I assumed that his English would be better than most of the Indian authors but I was left disappointed. My dissatisfaction with the book is my opinion alone but you might enjoy the book, unlike me, so read it to find out whether my opinion about it is right or not. Anyway, I would rate the book 1.5 out of 5.

The Ancient Book

2011-11-22T09:35:26-08:00

I don’t remember my mother reading me to sleep but I read my niece to sleep sometimes. She likes stories of dragon, witches, monsters and what not. And “The Ancient Book” is one such book that I can read to her. The story of King Zius and his daughter Sara narrated by Parikshit Rane narrates the victory of good over evil. The pace of the book is good too. You remember the flashbacks in the movies where everything goes black and white or too colorful and the narrator starts sharing his story of the past? The writing style adopted by the Parikshit Rane is somewhat similar. At least, that is what I felt. Apart from few editorial and proofreading errors here and there, I should appreciate author’s narrative skills.

Now, let’s talk about the story itself.

When everything was going just fine in Angdom, the good for nothing Satan shows up and destroys peace. He marries an equally cunning and cruel witch named Gilda. They build their own kingdom, Lyncastia, where they live with witches, vampires and other gruesome monsters. These creatures kill as many humans they can get their hands on.

King Zius, the ruler of Angdom and the protector of the ancient book that holds every secret of the world, marries a beautiful mermaid, Isabella. They have a equally beautiful and talented daughter, Sara, within a year or so. She’s a very gifted witch who learns magic at a very tender age. Her sense of justice is something that shouldn’t go unmentioned and I’m sure you will like her broom too.

Well, that’s not all. There are aliens too. The aliens, who helped king Zius create the world, now, want the land for themselves. They fight the Satan and his army, who had taken over the earth from Zius by then and was destroying its habitats. The lazer and other technologies that aliens use seemed beyond Satan and Gilda’s power in the beginning but Gilda had solution for everything. No wonder Satan married her, right?

I need not tell you how it ends because it’s obvious that good wins over evil in the end but how it does is what differentiates “The ancient book” from other fantasy novels. The book is about the usual fighting between heroes and villains but I’m sure it won’t bore you because the story is quite pacy.

Enough about the book now because I don’t want to give away the story anymore. Let’s talk a little about the author too, shall we? Parikshit Rane had been writing since his childhood. It seems like he loved writing essays and also got few of his poems published in his college magazine.

I shall rate the book 2.5 out of 5 and suggest everyone read it too because it reminded me of my childhood and the stories that I loved hearing when I was young.

Making of a fantasy author

2011-10-23T09:02:58-07:00

Dear readers & bloggers,

I won’t say that I always wanted to be an author. To be honest, I was dragged into this whole write-a-novel thing. Well, it’s a long story and I don’t intend to pen down another book explaining how I became an author and Blah! Blah! Blah! So, I shall keep it short and try to explain the entire journey in a few simple words.

I was a crazy blogger (but I hardly blog nowadays) and I’m an avid reader too. I love reading fantasy fictions and paranormals, and I also daydream a lot. Entrapped is just a product of those daydreams. I imagined a girl haunted by a dream and every-time she dreams, someone calls for her help, “We are trapped. Please, free us…” The idea intrigued me and I decided to spin a story around the same. I named the girl Myra Bose and penned down the prologue of Entrapped in no time. Few of my friends, who read it, encouraged me to continue. It took five months to finish the initial draft. After my exams, when I was waiting for the results, I got enough time to polish the initial draft. I prioritized Entrapped over other things and to be frank, at that moment, I didn’t have getting it published on my mind.

Halfway through my script, I came across this fantastic group, Book Readers Lounge (BRL) on Facebook. It was a turning point for my book. I met many Indian authors on this online community and few of them even guided me on how to make a book proposal, how to approach publishers and so on. Until then, I knew nothing about publishers and publishing process but thanks to those who aided me, I got my book published. I owe those guys a lot.

Steadily, my network grew and I got acquainted with many great writers. However, I really doubted whether my manuscript would interest any publisher in India as it was a fantasy fiction; romance seemed to be publishers’ favorite genre. Nevertheless, I wanted to take a chance. Soon after my manuscript was completed, I sent the book proposal to as many publishers as I could. Many rejected saying that they don’t publish this genre and very few asked for the complete manuscript. This continued for awhile but finally, after three months of struggle, Cedar Books agreed to publish it.

Even the title of the book has an interesting story behind it. When I submitted my book’s proposal to publishers, I had named it as “In quest of dreams” but I wasn’t too happy with the title. I couldn’t come up with anything better either. I played with many options before deciding on “Entrapped”.

On the ending note, I’m glad that I got an opportunity to share my experience with you-readers and bloggers. Thanks to Nethra for inviting me to do a guest post on her blog!

Sneha Kedar
Author of the book "Entrapped"

The Storyteller of Marrakesh

2011-10-23T09:02:25-07:00

I did it again. I read another Indian author and I will never again tell anyone that I prefer reading only foreign authors because the author Joydeep Roy-Bhattachraya changed my perception about Indian authors and their writings. Well, I must accept that I was prejudiced but thanks to Joydeep, I am a changed person now. He had my attention from the first to the last page of the book “The Storyteller of Marrakesh”. And when it ended, I was left wanting more-so was the thirst that the story evoked in me. It was an open ended story. The story has an ending alright but I'm not sure whether I got what the author had in his mind when he wrote those last two pages or was it meant for the readers to interpret it the way that suited them. Whatever it was, however it ended, I wished it hadn’t ended so soon. I wished that the night at Marrakesh had never ended so that the storyteller of Marrakesh, Hassan, would continue narrating his brother’s story that he recounted every year at the square of Jemaa el fna on the day the two foreigners had disappeared.

The narration makes sure that all the characters get to voice their encounter with the two foreigners around whom the story revolves. A beautiful half French-half American lady and her Indian man manage to awe everyone they meet during their stay at Marrakesh. Her beauty pleases few, few want to make her theirs and few even try to steal her away from her beloved. It inspired few and it also stole sanity from others. She was a symbol of purity to some, while her beauty was a bad omen to others. She and her companion because a memory, a dream, then a work of fiction and she was also the reason why Mustafa, Hassan’s brother, surrendered to law for the crime that he never did. At least, Hassan believed that his brother was innocent and narrated his story to his audiences, every year, believing that it would prove his brother’s innocence or might be he just wanted to assure himself that his brother was innocent by retelling the story.

The story narrates the love of a storyteller towards storytelling and his brother. It also tells us the story of three sons of a storyteller who go in three different directions. It recites their pasts and dreams. Though they share same genes and live under same roof, they are totally different from each other. One is materialistic, one chases beauty and another likes to give life to his dreams and illusions, weaving a beautiful story for his audiences.

The book puts light on the life in the desert and also life in a Muslim old-city that holds centuries of history in its books.

I shall rate the book 4.5 out of 5. I am telling it again that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and would suggest everyone read it too, not only because of the captivating story but the language and the narration is extraordinary too. It’s a must read for those who are looking for a quality read, not just entertainment.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Of Dreams

2011-10-08T11:29:55-07:00

Have you ever read or heard a story that makes you feel that you have read it before but still want to go on and know what happens next? I have read so many such stories. With around 7 billion people across the planet, we are losing uniqueness. Yesterday, I bought roses for my mom, dined at KFC with dad, took my dog out for a really long walk and also played with my little brother. I wonder how many of you would have followed the same schedule. You or people around you might have done at least one of the above things if not all. Coincidences happen all the time and such coincidences bind people together under the tag of interests, tastes and other things. However, such small familiar stories are what connect us with the book “Of Dreams” written by Aditi Talwar Sodhi-another Indian author I never imagined I would read one day. It’s not that I think lowly of them. It’s just my friends who also got a habit of reading mostly read foreign authors hence even I end up reading only foreign authors. It got another reason too; that is, I usually read fantasy fictions and when it comes to this genre, Indians have contributed very less or might be I’m ignorant so please pardon my ignorance.

You might have liked the same guy whom your friend liked. You might have married a stranger, blindly, just because he/she was chosen by your parents. You might have spent days crying over your broken relationship. But all along, you had a dream too. You make plans for tomorrow and rush with full force to achieve those small goals. You want to prove yourself to the world, to yourself and sometimes, to no one in particular. You even write down your dreams on a piece of paper and might forget all about it for awhile because of the responsibilities that demand your attention but you come back again, overcome all the obstacles that stop you from achieving those dreams and finally, succeed.

Amrita-only daughter of a rich business man-whose dream was to manage her father’s business marries another rich man and loses her dreams as she gets busy with her married life, kids and her narrow minded mother; Aarti-only daughter of a defeated man who lost his business-had to give up her dream of studying business and starting up her own business to financially support her family; Payal, who fancied fame and had always been proud of her beauty loses her dignity and flies abroad to save her face. And the story of the book revolves around these three characters. Not just these three characters but the author has given enough space and attention to every other character in the story and that makes the story more lifelike. You shall definitely end up identifying these characters in people around you. The story doesn’t contain too many miracles unlike our Hindi movies which would have made it more of a fairytale rather than a simple and beautiful story that it is.

The narration is neither pacy nor draggy. The one strong point of this book is that it makes you feel that you have read the story already but that’s a weak point too as it seems predictable at times. The story fills you with energy and encourages you to go ahead with whatever fate has in stores for you because you shall anyway achieve what you want, no matter how hard the fate tries it make things difficult for you but only if you truly want something. It might take a life time but you can always fulfill your dreams and that’s what I learnt from the story that was beautifully narrated by Aditi.

I shall rate the book 3 out of 5 and would suggest that everyone read it too because I truly enjoyed reading it.

My college diary

2011-09-18T03:24:32-07:00

If you are a student too then you definitely know that no matter how hard you try, you just cannot pay attention to few lectures. You either sleep or entertain yourself by doing things that you’re not suppose to be doing sitting inside the class during lectures. Well, it’s perfectly alright to play on your phones or draw caricature of your professors during such lectures. I do it all the time but for a change, I wanted to try something else and ended up chatting with an elephant that was sitting beside me. I must add that it found the lecture equally boring. Anyway, just read our following conversation-

“I would rather hear a frog crook”, it said.

“Pardon me!” I asked.

“Never mind”, it snapped and I wondered why. Then, I guessed that it probably assumed that I was listening to the lecture hence didn’t hear it properly. I wanted to clear the misunderstanding instead another question slipped out of my mouth, quite unintentionally. “How does it feel to be kicked out of your home?”

“Kicked out? Says who?” It asked.

“Come-on, don’t deny it. Everything was on newspaper the other day”, I said.

“I don’t know what you are talking about” it said and I could see that it really meant it so I decided to enlighten it.

I explained how elephants are being captured, trained to work at depots and also entertain at circus. We talked about wild elephants breaking into nearby villages, destroying crops and dying because of electric shocks etc. We discussed about how forest brigands kill elephants for the tooth that’s worth several millions and how the government is doing very little to save such elephants. I saw rage, fear and finally, the defeat on its face as we moved from one topic to another.

“Why?” it asked and I understood that it was asking why we, humans, are so cruel to them. I wish I knew why we never considered animals’ lives as lives. Feeding on animals was one things- quite justifiable too-but torturing them to death was definitely unforgivable. Nobody, not even animals, deserve to be treated the way we treat animals.

Humans fly to space. Technology has developed so much that the meaning of communication, market, business and life itself has changed to adapt to the change that technology has brought with it but we still see a horse carriage, bullock cart, even donkeys carrying the burden of our kinds. Why? I wondered too.

“I do not know”, I replied.

“You should be answerable too” it told me and I again wondered why.

“I have never been cruel to an animal”, I justified myself.

“You don’t understand, do you? I have never hurt a human too but I am being punished. Though I’m so well mannered, I don’t see respect for me in their eyes. If I’m chained for what wild beasts do then shouldn’t you be answerable for what your kinds do? Why do you kill us? Do you like it when sharp weapons pierce our thick skins? Do you like beating us up when we don’t oblige to your desires? Is it fun separating our young ones from their mothers? When you do such things don’t your conscious prick you at all?” I had nothing to say.

I opened my mouth to say something but didn’t know what to tell that would justify those cruel actions so I shut my mouth and started at the lecturer who was delivering the boring lecture. I thought boring lectures were cruel but life wasn’t as simple as I thought it was.

The Elephant and the Rising Sun

2011-08-24T07:09:57-07:00

Weird or not, my college wanted me to do an organizational structure study in a manufacturing company even before the classes started, hence I went to Toyota Kirloskar Motors Pvt LTD to learn something about the organization and everything else that the assignment demanded. People who know me, personally or not, also knows how much I’m obsessed with Animes, and Japanese and Korean dramas. I’m sure that you, whoever you are, is wondering what’s the link between my obsession and the college assignment. Well, if you didn’t know already, Toyota is a Japanese company and it merged with Kirloskar groups in the year 1998 and formed Toyota Kirloskar Motors.

No, I’m not going to write about either my college assignment or Toyota. I just wanted to share my opinion about the Japanese people whom I encountered during my 30 days internship at Toyota and also about the misconceptions that we have about them.

Image Courtesy: WildImages

After studying Toyota’s history, I can no more deny that they are extremely intelligent and hardworking, but what I saw, with my own eyes, told me that they are down-to-earth people too. During lunch, while most of us, Indians, wasted lot of food, complained that the food wasn’t good, they emptied their plates without frowning once and also never took more than what they could eat. India is still a developing country and many go to bed empty stomached and not to forget, the stray dogs that die because they don’t eat enough, yet we waste food. To be honest, the food was alright, still people complained for reasons only they knew. Alright, I’m not going to downgrade anyone here and just give my opinion about Japanese.

Japanese people are, mostly, soft spoken and very hardworking. Oh yea, they even laugh when someone cracks a joke. That makes them humans too, right? They are no different from us, except we are brown skinned and they are yellow skinned, and might be few more physical differences. The one difference between them and us that is very prominent, not physical difference though, is that they continuously strive for improvement, at least most of them do and only few of us, Indians, seek that path. With the man power we have, we could have definitely become world leaders in every field but we are nowhere near being leaders. I’m not saying we are dull; we just lack that urge that’s required to excel in whatever we do. I hope we learn something from our friends and work for the greater good than messing around with nation’s money for our personal benefits. Making profits is a trait of good business man alright but values are important too. If you are a management student then you must have heard about The Toyota Way and The Toyota Production System. Toyota truly follows the values that it preaches at every stage of the business it does, so I feel it’s alright to assume that Japanese, in entirety, are the same. I would also like to request foreigners not to judge us, Indians, by reading about or watching how our politicians portray us and our culture on world stage; we, citizens, are hundred and thousand times better than those petty politicians. We had Sir M Visvesvaraya, one of the most intelligent people born until date. We got A R Rehman, one of the best musicians; Sachin Tendulkar, one of the best cricketers; Vishwanathan Anand, one of the highest rated chess players in the world and many other great personalities.

The other day, in class, one of the professors told that Japanese people are usually short rather small. All the Japanese people whom I saw didn’t look short at all and they were neither abnormally thin. Even the wikipedia says that average height of Japanese people is more than that of Indians, then how do they become small if they are neither short statured nor very thin?

By the way, I intend to do even my summer internship at Toyota. No, it’s not just because of Japanese men but Toyota was the one who introduced lean manufacturing concept and that’s the specialization I’m opting for. I'm sure that you must have guessed what I am getting to, right? You guessed right. I shall write another detailed post on my experience with Japanese people and Toyota after my summer internship.

Until then, there are hundreds and thousands other topics to write on, right?

Chanakya's Chant

2011-08-16T06:48:21-07:00

Chanakya; I assume that there isn’t an Indian who wouldn’t recognize the name. After all, he’s the mastermind behind the glory of Chandragupta, who fought Alexander, the great.

What comes to your mind when you hear the words “Indian Politics” rather who comes to your mind? Oh, no! I’m not talking about modern politics or politicians. I wasn’t hinting about Sonia Gandhi or her Amul-baby Rahul at all. I’m talking about politics as a big picture. According to me, Sri Krishna, Shakuni and Chanakya are the three people who were good at politics, and also exploiting opportunities and other’s weaknesses as well. They were the greatest strategist of all times in my opinion and I’m sure most of you would agree with me. However, I love reading books or watching animes, where the protagonists are extremely intelligent. For example: Code Geass is one of my favorite animes and whoever has watched it knows how good a strategist Lelouch vi Britannia was. Hence, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ashwin Sanghi’s Chanakya’s Chant.

The book narrates two stories parallelly-one Chanakya’s and another Gangasagar’s, who is a great fan of the former. I never fancied history classes at school because of too many names and dates that I had to mug up to pass the exam but I enjoy reading story-like history books and for people like me, Chanakya’s Chant is really a treat.

And to tell about Gangasagar’s part of the book, I liked the way it went along with Chanakya’s. Chandini playing Chandragupta and the way Gangasagar play politics and everyone around him and the Prime-minister’s throne to make her the prime minister, just like Chanakya struggled to make Chandragupta the king while avenging his father’s death.

Both Gangasagar and Chanakya, the protagonists of the stories seemed almost invincible because of the strategies they came up with and the way they dealt with people and situations. Though they played dirty politics, you would still support them for they were just working for the “greater good”. They follow none other than Sri Krishna’s principle of removing evil by evil. They have answers for almost everything. In the situations where others would have given up and felt defeated, they saw opportunities. They make you feel dim when they solve a problem. They are cunning but you would still look up to them.

At times, you might feel like you have already heard the story because of the clichés and in between, even I felt like the author has just replaced the real characters with few fictional ones and rewrote the story by adapting it into recent times. Nevertheless, it was a good read.

If you have read the book review of “Love on the rocks” on my blog then you would know that I don’t read much of Indian authors but Chanakya’s Chant is one book that I would like to reread among few novels written by Indian authors that I have read until date.

I would rate the book 4 out of 5 and recommend everyone who loves history and politics read it because I really enjoyed reading the book.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

A dream and a lost cause

2011-09-18T01:20:53-07:00

Stocks, budgets, accounts, strategies, economy and what not-I have been hearing these kind of words since two months. To someone like me, who studied Computer Science and Engineering during graduation, all these words sounded jargon in the beginning but not anymore; I’m used to them already. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about what happened or what’s happening at my college in this post but about a particular class-very sleep inducing class it was. It’s not the lecturer’s fault but the subject’s, probably, not sure though.

He was drawing something on the board; I guess he was solving a problem or something like that. Whatever he was doing is not important but at that moment, a lion appeared on the green board-they use green boards at my college instead of black boards; might be it’s their way of going green. I knew it was only my illusion but the images were so vivid that I continued staring at it. It was roaring continuously but the professor seemed to not notice it. How strange! I thought, before I noticed something else rather someone else nearby. A beautiful archer. Yes, he was beautiful. His strong chest, biceps and broad shoulders-everything about him was beautiful. His smile was mesmerizing and eyes were sedative. He was pointing his arrow towards the lion and his posture was so perfect that he reminded me of someone whom I couldn’t name at that moment.

A moment ago, the lion seemed scary but with the archer’s arrow pointed at it, it looked so pitiful. I wanted to stop the archer and also wanted to know why he was killing the lion but I couldn’t do anything but choke. I wished that I could at least stop the lecturer who was going on and on, clueless that half of the class was sleeping; might be he was pretending to not notice. Anyway, something was holding back my voice. I was paralyzed too-I couldn’t even move my body; I was glued to my seat. What I saw next scared me greatly. I saw cruelty in the archer’s face. There was no warmth in his eyes and his smile was cunning too. His beauty and grace failed to hide the cruelness that his aura oozed, and the lion that seemed dangerous before the archer’s entry looked harmless. At that moment, life seemed unimportant. Everything was meaningless to me except that lion’s life. I wanted to save it no matter what, even if meant I had to stand against the archer and fight him.

How was I supposed to know that he wasn’t my only enemy; there were others too, waiting to tear the lion’s skin apart. How cruel! I muttered under my breath so no one would hear me. I had to attack my enemies silently. I had to plan instead of plunging on them because proceeding, driven by emotions wouldn’t save the lion. It would only put me in danger, along with the lion.

I wanted to come up with a foolproof plan to save the lion but my mind refused to think because it knew that I was just hallucinating. I seriously didn’t understand why it was refusing to help the lion that was in danger. Even though it was just my illusion, it wouldn’t lose anything by saving a poor animal. I realised that it was not just the archer who was cruel but my mind too. Might be the lion noticed the archer for it started growling, not in anger but fear.

Not just ideas but causes too are lost with time, mostly because of distractions. If the girl sitting next to me hadn’t woken me up from my dream then I might have saved the lion. I might have come up with a really smart strategy to save the poor animal. I hope lions are not on the verge of extinction because I couldn’t save one that was in danger. If you want to blame anyone for what happened then it should be the girl who interrupted my dream. However, I wish to see the lion again and if I see it by chance, then I hope I wouldn’t be sitting next to someone who would wake me up in between.

Love on the rocks

2011-07-10T06:48:34-07:00

I haven’t read many Indian authors though I’m a voracious reader. It’s not like I don’t like reading books written by Indian authors but I am more into fantasy fictions and Indians haven’t contributed much to the genre but I hope I will get to read many fantasy fictions written by Indians, soon. Now, when I started reading “love on the rocks”, to be honest, I didn’t expect much. The title made me think that it would be another love story with a girl and a boy running around trees, playing mind games. Well, that’s how Indian love stories will be, right? Pardon my prejudice…

I’m not familiar with either the life on the sea or the Malayalis’ life which seems so different from the life at Bangalore. Anyway, that’s not the point here. What I wanted to tell is that the plot of the book surrounds a ship named Sea Hyena and a Malayali protagonist, Sancha.

Sancha, who worked as a voice trainer at a BPO meets a sailor-Aaron. They fall in love instantly and then get married too. Like all sailors’ wives, even Sancha is left to wait for her husband to return from sea.

After six months of their marriage, she plans to join her husband on board, of course, for a vocation. She soon learns about the mysterious death that happened on board before her arrival. Even the police had given up on the case and declared it as an accident but she would just not accept it. Her instincts told her otherwise and she knew that something wasn’t right. She helps the investigating officer, Raghav, get a lead on the head cook’s death case, while he was on board to catch the thief who emptied Captain’s locker.

Sancha’s presence of mind, analytical abilities and beauty attracts Harsh Castillo to his best friend’s wife, while she sees him as nothing more than a friend. Not only Harsh, even I liked the way she never gave up on finding the murderer, even when things were not so good between Aaron and her. However, she decides to leave the ship when she could take no more of her cheating husband, who was also a suspect for the head cook’s murder. But the murderer couldn’t continue outsmarting the police and other suspects forever, and finally Raghav solves the mystery, of course with little help from others.

One character that was more interesting than Sancha was Manna. He was lonely, bet and sad, and death followed him wherever he went-not his death though. Throughout the book I suspected him to be the murderer but couldn’t figure out who exactly was Manna.

The language that Ismita Tandon Dhankher has used is simple and the characters are so full of life and so much life-like. The plot wasn’t dragged and there aren’t too many twists and surprises that would have made the plot look made-up rather than realistic. When I finished reading the book, I felt like there could be a woman by name Sancha somewhere, and Manna too.

I liked Sancha’s sense of justice alright but she believed everything that she saw or heard, or sometimes, what her instincts told, instead of finding out the truth. She sounds rude most of the times; acerbic, as Harsh Castillo describes her attitude in the book.

I shall rate the book 3.5 out of 5 and would suggest that everyone read it too because I truly enjoyed reading it.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

K's and J's

2012-02-02T08:06:12-08:00

Choi Si Won-oppa

I have been very active on twitter these days and whoever follows me there knows because I always spam their time-lines with my tweets about animes, Korean and Japanese dramas, movies, books and my rants about other mundane things. I didn’t even spare my Facebook wall. I wonder how many people have blocked my feeds, though they were polite enough not to unfriend me or ask me to stop spamming their walls with mushy status updates and pictures of anime characters and Korean celebrities.

I don’t like watching or reading romance at all; at least, that’s what I believed until I started watching Korean dramas. Alright, I accept that I watch them for those drool-worthy Korean guys but trust me, that is not all. To be honest, I’m tired of watching dramas or movies that resembles fairytale; a not-so-happening honest lady, a handsome, rich and arrogant man and a love story between them. However, every time I watch a boy, who’s head over heals for a girl, do crazy but cute things to get her attention or win her heart, I cannot help but feel mushy and desire that someone pampered me too; what girl doesn’t love being treated like a princess?

I’m not sure whether I should call myself plain or not, but I would surely get suspicious if a very handsome guy claimed that he is madly in love with me. I wouldn’t like someone stalking me and being persistent after I reject their proposal but I curse the girl, whoever she might be, if she rejects the so-desirable male-lead’s love. I know that it’s hypocritical but I just can’t stop myself from taking sides. Anyway, they are just fictional characters so it shouldn’t matter much, right?

I fancy those Korean male celebrities who makes my heart skip a beat but no, I’m not obsessed. I’m well aware of the difference between obsession and liking more than necessary; they sound the same but there’s definitely a thin line between them and I believe that I haven’t crossed that line yet. Well, whatever you might tag it as, I don’t mind accepting that I enjoy watching couples-to be specific, Korean couples-running around trees, singing cheesy songs or playing hoy-hoy; now, do not ask me whether I like watching Bollywood actors do such things on screen.

Korean male celebrities are breathtakingly good-looking alright, but I don’t suppose that’s what makes them so desirable; I guess, it’s the characters that they play. The first Asian actor whom I liked was Matsujun (Matsumoto Jun, a Japanese actor) and I still like him. I even wrote Goodbye and Ramen Girl for him, imagining him as the Japanese celebrity in those stories. Even you would agree that he’s not the most handsome guy in the world but you would definitely start liking him after watching Hana Yori Dango and Kimi wa pet. He has played the characters so gracefully and naturally that it’s very natural to like him after watching those dramas. Thanks to Samadrita Kuiti for she was the one who suggested that I should watch Hana Yori Dango and that was the first drama I ever watched. Then I watched, Orthros No Inu, Honey and Clover, and Hana Kimi.

The 1st shop of Coffee Prince was my first Korean drama. I liked it so much for not only it’s storyline but also for its presentation and the actors, of course. It made me watch more Korean dramas; You’re beautiful, My girlfriend is a nine-tailed fox, Princess Hours, Oh! My lady, Loveholic, My Princess and 49 days-I watched it all and liked every bit of it.

I’ve got a huge crush on Choi Si Won-oppa. I keep listening to his “Who Am I” song repeatedly; his voice just mesmerizes me. And any guesses on what’s on my desktop (wallpaper)? I even follow him on twitter and that’s thanks to Samadrita Kuiti again. I also annoy mom with my endless reminders of how much I like Siwon-oppa and how handsome he is. Everytime my neighbor asks me what I was upto, I tell her that I was dreaming about Siwon-oppa. Sounds like I’m another fanatic? Well, I’m his fan but I’m aware of my limits too. I don’t keep thinking about him all day and all night but he’s surely on my mind whenever I’m not doing anything important or not doing anything at all.

Siwon-oppa, saranghae!

The other day

2011-06-13T20:37:03-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 21; the twenty-first edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

The other day, I walked by the sea, admiring its vastness and wondering how many secrets it could be hiding behind its mask of calmness. After walking for what seemed miles, I looked back and saw my footprints. I had walked a lot yet I wanted to go on.

The sun sank into the sea. The birds flew away. The sky swallowed everything-the sea, the land and the faraway mountains, yet I wanted to go on.

That day, I never supposed that there would come another day in my life, when I would want to go on more than I ever wanted to. I did not know that, one day, I would be ready to trade anything if that meant I could go on a long walk, alone. Walking under the sun, not caring about getting tanned and not minding the time-I don’t know about others but I would like to spend an eternity under the blazing sun. Nothing can replace the feeling of the warmth of the sunrays that kisses my skin, while I walk under the bright sky, as if I own the world.

I wanted to draw on the sand and watch the waves wash away my name. The smell of the sea, the heat and me, what more could I have asked for but, the other day, I never supposed that there would be another day in my life, when I would want to stand under the sun with my hands opens more than I ever wanted to.

The other day, after walking by the sea for hours, while returning home, I met a man who changed my life. He was handsome alright and so full of himself but I didn’t suppose that I would never forget him, as long as I lived.

One moment of carelessness and boom!

If, the other day, he had only noticed me walking by the road, I would be, probably, walking under the sun, by the sea, at this moment. Only if he had been more careful, neither he would be dead nor I would have been crippled; I would be walking under the bright sun, not just watching it from the window and think about the other day...

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

An eternal quest

2011-06-03T04:47:41-07:00

I’m not sure whether my post will be even considered as good, forget about winning; nevertheless, I wanted to participate in the Yahoo! Dove Real Beauty contest, not because of the lucrative prize but it got me thinking about what beauty means to me.

The first sunray that hits the earth, the twinkling stars, the moon in the dark sky, the first rain, the morning dew, the blooming flower, the fireflies, a baby’s smile, the butterflies, the mountains, the snow and the running stream-they all are beautiful. I even find a mother’s lullaby to be beautiful. There’s beauty in everything; you just need the eyes and heart to appreciate it. I truly believe in the saying, “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”.

Even a soothing song, a memory, a thought, a feeling and a dream that are immaterial could be beautiful too. There’s beauty in a poet’s poem; there’s beauty in an artist’s artwork. When, one tries to find beauty in everything, it becomes very difficult to generalize what exactly beauty means to him or her; it’s even more difficult to put them in words. And there’s beauty in those words too.

Like other women, I want to possess a blemish free and beautiful skin too. How about a perfect silhouette, with no flab at all? Hair that’s always done, pricey clothes, fancy makeups, diamonds and everything that is believed to make a woman beautiful. However, sometimes, I wonder whether it would have made me look any more beautiful. Everyone forgets that fair skin wrinkles away, hair turns gray and whether we like it or not, we grow old. Even the sky falls apart, the moon disappears and the snow melts leaving behind only the beautiful memories.

I’m not saying that physical beauty got no importance at all. I’m just telling that it doesn’t lasts forever. It’s very natural for a good-looking person to feel special when he or she is with a bunch of plain looking people but that illusion fades away when that person grows old with the same group of people. I’m sure that he or she would gradually see how special everyone is.

Beauty might not be everlasting but if it manages to bring smile on someone’s face even after it’s gone then it must have really been beautiful.

I feel this article is incomplete; there are many things that I could have added but I’m just not finding the right words. I’m sure that it’s not writer’s block, just ignorance. Probably, years from now, I might truly realize what exactly beauty means to me.

Anyway, thanks to both Yahoo and Dove for providing me with an opportunity to learn about what beauty means to me! Now, I’m on an eternal quest of finding the truth; there’s beauty in truth too. Thanks to Indiblogger’s team too!

PS: Promote the post i.e. only if you liked it. If you are on indiblogger’s already then just “vote” otherwise facebook “like” it.

Promise not

2011-05-21T05:22:37-07:00

Wind blows,
And away it flows.
The sun rises everyday.
And sets, leaving the sky gray.
Great Kings ruled our lands,
And finally went down the sands.
Promise not you will stay.
After all, death gets its way.

Comes and goes, the seasons.
And so does the pleasing reasons.
Awhile, the bubbles stay.
In flash, the ripples fade away.
With the promise, the heart breaks.
A moment and a lie is all it takes.
Promise not you will stay.
Go where you wish, just go away.

I know where your heart lies.
Begins a new, when a beginning dies.
Speak your heart and walk away.
Little courage is all it takes to say.
Once, there were two friends.
With that the story ends.
Promise not you will stay.
Love for another always gets its way.

PS: It's an old post from the blog's archive. Re-posted it for some reason that only I know.

Home! Sweet Home!

2011-05-07T23:40:40-07:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 20; the twentieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Home; though he has been married for almost ten years now, the first thing that crosses his mind when someone mentions “home” is his childhood home, where his parents still live. His wife was a wonderful person; she tried really hard to keep him happy but she couldn’t stop him from missing his parents and his craving for the life that he had left behind for her. No, he never blamed her for anything because he was the one who had chosen her over his parents and even she had left behind everything so that she could with him; however, she never complained or displayed her despair, so even he never mentioned his parents in front of her. Neither he nor she ever spoke about it because they understood that it was already hard enough for them, even without knowing how unhappy their partners are about the coldness that their parents have maintained since many years; ten years was a very long time, really long.

He wondered why they could never forgive him; he hadn’t done anything that others hadn’t done already. He wanted to ask them what was so wrong about falling in love with someone and wanting to spend the rest of your life with that person; it is very natural to fall in love when you meet that right-one, isn’t it? Why didn’t they realize it too? He would have never left home and them if it wasn’t for their stubbornness; only he knew how badly he had wished that they had just accepted his decision of marrying the one he loved, than a long lost relative. He just wanted to know “why?” but his why-s remained why-s because he never asked them; he wasn’t courageous enough.

Why? he wondered again. He also wondered if they missed him too or had they moved on and learnt to live without him. Didn’t they want him around? Didn’t the memories of presence in the house haunt them and make it impossible to not want him around? He wished that they would just accept their fault and ask him to come back to them. He hadn’t even exchanged greetings with his parents since ten years, but he knew that they were doing alright, at least, decent enough. His father had invested all his savings on a local business and that kept enough cash flowing that he could even afford a holiday to Singapore; his mother always wanted to go to Singapore, he still remembered it and hoped that his father hadn’t forgotten it too.

Every year, on his birthday, on his parents’ birthdays, on their anniversary and on every possible festival day, he would drive to his parents’ house-his previous home-and park his car somewhere from where his parents wouldn’t notice him but near enough for him to watch them. Once, he caught his mother feeding a dog; how much he wished that he could taste her cooking once more; her curries were the best, quite mouth-watering. His parents always spoilt him by granting his every small wish yet they rejected his love and that hurt his ego. He wondered why they couldn’t just trust his choice and why they valued their egos over his happiness; he wished that he could understand them better but what he failed to understand the most was that even he chose his ego over them.

Today, it was raining heavily; the heavy raindrops that hit his car’s window-glass was making it very difficult for him to see anything. He could barely see the house, let alone, his mother whom he wanted to see very badly; even a glimpse of her would have made him happy but the sky showed no mercy upon him and he knew that it wouldn’t calm down anytime soon. Cursing his fate and the pouring sky, he continued waiting in the car. He even kept the windows and doors closed because keeping them open would only dirty the car; it was raining cats and dogs. He sighed at his luck and tried calling up his wife to inform her that he would be late but he couldn’t get through; he supposed that was because of the rain too.

“Damn you, rain!” he cursed.

“Of all the days this week, it has to rain today”

He didn’t realize when he dozed off but when he woke up, it was still raining; it was raining so heavily that lowering the window-glass only wet the seats. He decided to return some other day and drove away. In his eagerness to see his mother, he failed to notice the emptiness that was haunting the house; he didn’t know that he would never see his parents again. They were gone, to never return. If only he had sincerely apologized instead of waiting for them to realize their mistakes...

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits

Image - Window Rain Drops by Eric Alder

Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

The crowd is "not" my shepherd

2011-04-18T05:35:52-07:00

Image courtesy: jasonlove.com

No, I haven’t given up writing fictions. It’s just that, nowadays, I feel like writing about everything and anything; mostly about the things that inspires (or influences) me greatly. Recently, I haven’t been doing anything productive though there are few things that I would like to do like exhausting the must-watch animes’ list, updating my bookshelf, finishing the half read Cecelia Ahren’s “If you could see me now” and study accounts; however, I choose to continue doing nothing. Trust me, it’s no fun and now, even the word boredom bores me to no extent but I know that it won’t last forever. Soon, I would be forced to run behind something that I don’t even want to chase and all because the world is going after it.

I agree that earning bread is essential but it’s also necessary to choose a career that would keep us interested and doesn’t make us feel burdened. Career apart, I suppose that we have stopped thinking for ourselves when it comes to other things too because we always prefer following the crowd. We feel safe doing things that everyone does because if something goes wrong then it goes wrong for everyone; like that, we make sure that we aren’t losing anything that others haven’t lost already.

It’s not compulsory to stand out but I’m sure that we would enjoy doing things our way more than mimicking the crowd. I’m not saying that the mass could be wrong; it’s not the crowd that I am talking about but us as individuals and our decision making abilities, hence it doesn’t really matter whether others are right or wrong.

Are we so retarded that we cannot decide upon a book to read without worrying about what others are reading lately? Should I stop using Orkut just because others prefer Facebook and Twitter over it? (by the way, I do not use Orkut but my account still exist) We even made someone like Rebecca Black famous just because somebody out there told us about how bad her song was; I checked out her song too, and I agree that it was pretty bad and the lyrics silly. Poonam Pandey made use of our herd mentality and became famous overnight, didn’t she? And we already know how TV commercials exploits our herd mentality.

I believe that we should never restrict ourselves and always welcome change; however, doing something just because it’s trendy is not something that I would want to do. Firstly, I would ask myself what I really want to do and then, follow my heart, no matter what it decides for me. It’s alright if others don’t accept it and laugh at me instead. We, humans, are social beings, hence we want our society to acknowledge us but we don’t have to play sheep to get noticed. Everyone is unique and irreplaceable; why should we lose ourselves in the crowd?

When we follow the crowd, life becomes predictable but change is the only thing that’s good about this life; it makes life fun. For me, all is well as long as I am happy.

Pottermania

2011-04-11T23:30:09-07:00


Tom Marvolo Riddle to Lord Voldemort

Image courtesy: boocherhix

Oh yea, I am another Harry Potter maniac alright and I have read the entire series at least 7 times. Everytime I read the book, it feels like I’m reading it for the first time because there’s so much to imagine; so many new and fascinating things, fantastic beasts, nerve wracking adventures and then, the magic itself. The book always keeps me interested to the very last word because of the detailed description of everything and every moment that the author has got into until the end.

The journey that starts from platform 9¾ and ends with students of Hogwarts going back home would make anyone want to go to Hogwarts. I wouldn’t mind taking extra potion classes and hours of detention if I could just be a part of the wizarding world. I would even befriend the monster book of monsters if that meant I could go to Hogwarts. Sometimes, even a Blast-Ended Skrewt looks so endearing and I so much wish that I could keep a dragon as a pet. I find myself dreaming about fighting a Basilisk and defeating it with the mighty Godric Gryffindor’s sword. I also wonder what would a boggart become if it saw me and what if there’s one hiding in my cupboard right now. I would have played Quidditch too and unlike Hermione, I would have mounted a broomstick confidently. Fighting monsters, being chased by the dark wizards and using thousands of magical spells are just the things that I wish to do for the rest of my life. I would have definitely made a great Auror; tough and efficient just like Alastor “Mad-eye” Moody. I could have even taught at Hogwarts like Professor Dumbledore or worked at Ministry of Magic with Arthur Weasley; hundreds of possibilities but with the possibility of those possibilities ever happening is only in my imagination; however, I wish so much that the wizarding world existed in real too, not just J K Rowling’s greatest contribution to the fantasy fictions.

My fantasies apart, the reason why I’m writing a post on Harry Potter now, while I have been a fan since 2003 and have been blogging for almost 2 years, is none other than You-Know-Who. I liked He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from the very first time I read the book; I liked him more than Harry and Dumbledore, though sometimes, I feel that it was more of a pity than liking.

I understand that we always get to choose between right and wrong. Even Harry Potter had lost his parents just like Tom Riddle and might be Harry lived a pre-Hogwarts life that was much worse than Tom’s, yet Harry chose to be a hero while Tom became the Dark Lord. I always wonder what would have made him a different person. He had a bunch of followers who called themselves as death eaters and mindlessly followed his instruction but what he really needed was, might be, friends like Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger; some good company would have surely inspired him to do some good too. However, it’s also true that different people react differently to a situation.

Blame his Slytherin ancestry or indifferent parents, he lead a life of solitude and died the same way. I’m not justifying his actions here; however, I truly wish that someone had sympathized with him and then, had stopped him before he destroyed his own soul. How does it feel to be not loved by anyone? Isn’t it scary? I wonder what would have young Tom felt when he learnt about his parents. And I wonder why he enjoyed torturing others? Was it his way of making others acknowledge him? I know that whatever he did was real bad but I only wish that someone had stopped him before it was too late.

I’m not going to drag this anymore and it’s alright if you don’t agree with my point of view; I shall understand that you got your reasons too. Whether I like Voldemort more or Harry Potter, I enjoy reading the series just like any other harry potter fan out there.

Playing Love

2011-04-06T01:21:29-07:00

Do you suppose that the world revolves around you? Everyone does to some extent but it's also necessary to be considerate of others' feelings. People are people; we pass by many everyday, few good and few bad, yet they are people who can feel joy and pain. A person, no matter what he or she is to us, is not disposable. It's normal to be self-centered and do things if only it benefits us however it doesn't give us rights to use another person for our welfare and then cast them away without thinking twice. We might even remorse and want to compensate for our mistakes but some wounds can never be healed.

Sometimes apologies don't yield forgiveness because such would be our mistake; we quetch that the person, who is supposed to forgive us, is overreacting but we never wonder whether we would have forgiven if we were the one to bear that wound. We might have even sought revenge.

It's easy to ask someone to forget their bitter past; it's also easy for that someone to pretend to have forgotten that past but only he knows how much it hurts when he's alone. People forget everything but some things are hard to forget. With time, it might not hurt much but still it does hurt.

Not everyone are alike; betrayal might break someone completely, while others move on easily. If we belong to the latter group then we are lucky but the former have it hard on them. They are so sensitive that small things affect them greatly and though they wish otherwise, they cannot help it.

People die/kill in the name of love and everytime we hear of such people, we cannot help but chuckle. They seem silly but then we cannot judge them without knowing what it was to be in love for them. Love, like life, means differently to different people. Some people fall in love easily; for such people their day starts and ends with love. And we should be extremely careful when we deal with them. Our one mistake might shatter their hearts and dreams, and then only-god-knows-what.

Everyone needs a companion, who would stay by their side till the end; only saints seek solitude by choice. Trust is the base of every relationship and when we break someone's trust, they might crawl down into darkness and then do not trust another person again. What could have been a beautiful life otherwise, would become a lonely journey that they might never want to take. They exist alone but, forever, wishing differently. It's really cruel to play love with someone without telling them that it's just a game; they might take you for real and when that dream is broken, everything ends for them.

However, we are mere humans and are prone to make mistakes but we can surely consider others' feelings and the consequences of our actions before doing anything. If we intentionally hurt someone then we should be able to accept when somebody else plays the same game on us. Why do we complain then? We shouldn't curse the person who plays with our emotions, instead we should laugh at the joke played on us.

The Shawshank Redemption

2011-03-17T13:03:30-07:00

Andy Dufresne and Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding

Image Courtesy: listal

Have you ever been to an ocean? Doesn’t it look calm though we know there are millions of lives and zillions of activities happening underneath that mask of calmness. It hides countless secrets beneath it and when we learn any one of those secrets, we are left with nothing but the feeling of awe and that was exactly what happened to me when I watched “The Shawshank Redemption”. The movie wasn’t pacy but it wasn’t slow either. I quite liked both the pace and the storyline but if you decide to watch the movie after reading this review then let me warn you that the movie might not necessarily have the same effect on you, however I guarantee that it would at least not disappoint you.

Any man would be outraged if he learnt that his wife was cheating upon him; Andy Dufresne, our protagonist played by Tim Robbins, was angry too when he found out that his wife was sleeping with a golf player. He got drunk and then went to his wife’s boyfriend’s place with a loaded gun, for only-god-knows-why. The next day, the maid finds them dead and Mr. Dufresne is sent to serve two life sentences, back to back, at Shawshank. Initially, he remains quite and lost in himself, then he become friends with few other prisoners; Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding, played by Morgan Freeman, being one among them. The awful things that he experiences at the prison and the prison itself fails to deplete his hope for a peaceful and a happy life post prison, and his hope gives hope to his friend Red. The movie is mainly about how Andy copes up with the sudden change in his life, then the prison and his bonding with Red. I know that it doesn’t sound fun and I suggest that you postpone watching this movie if you are seeking a frivolous watch.

I believe Stephan King doesn’t need an introduction and the movie is adopted from one of his short stories that shares its name with the movie, and Frank Darabont has made that short story into a wonderful movie. Everyone who was a part of the movie must have worked really hard hence a big applause to everyone, but we identify only those that we see on the screen and I must say that all the actors have done justice to their roles, especially Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. They are so natural in the movie that they make it look real. I don't want to rate the movie; however I suggest that everyone should watch it, at least once. I have watched it twice already and plan to watch it again, and again.

My favorite dialogues from the movie are “Yeah. The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.” and “Everyone in here is innocent”.

An animated world

2011-03-17T13:00:49-07:00

Zero and CC from Code Geass

Image Courtesy: Hiino

“What in the world should I write about?” this question was haunting me since last few days. No, it’s not writer’s block. It’s just that I had too many things on my mind. Firstly, MBA admissions and then other otiose things. However, I was never busy when it came to watching Animes (Japanese toons) and reading Mangas (Japanese comics). I have watched almost all the anime series that my friends recommended yet the list of animes that I want to watch shows no sign of exhaustion. Though, I don’t understand Japanese and watch either English subbed or dubbed version of the anime, I still love watching them. I have also learnt few Japanese words and I do not find Japanese names hard-to-pronounce anymore.

My journey to the “anime” world started with Naruto, an orphan ninja, who always craved to be acknowledged by his villagers, and inside whom nine-tailed-fox chakra was sealed. It’s an ongoing show and right now, the ninja world is waging fourth ninja world war. Then, I watched Death Note. Was I impressed by Light Yagami also known as Kira? I totally fell for him and his brain. You see, it’s hard to find such an intelligent guy and when you find one, it’s either in the Animes or the Mangas. However, he had no sense of humor and he hardly cared about anyone else other than him nevertheless I liked him and I still like him but there’s someone else I like more and that’s Lelouch Lamperouge or Lelouch vi Britannia from Code Geass. I believe that I shall never like a fictional character more than I like Lelouch, who was just a high school student yet bore the burden of saving the world from the Holy Britannia Empire.

I, who has always been a sucker for vampire and werewolf stories, watched quite a few vampire animes; Shiki, a story of a quiet and boring village under corpse demons attack, the villagers battle against the plague and finally the destruction of the village itself caused by Natsuno Yuuki who plotted not only against his kind but the villagers too; Tsukihime (Lunar Princess), a story of a vampire named Arcueid, her quest to destroy Roa (her former love-interest) and her new love interest, Shiki; Black Blood Brothers, a quite humorous story of two brothers, where the eldest, Jiro, lives to protect his youngest brother, Kotaro, so that he can pass on the legacy that had once saved him; Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight Guilty, a romantic triangle between two vampires (Yuki and Kaname) and a Vampire hunter (Zero).

And under the tag “romance”, I have watched few animes; Angel Sanctuary, a romance between two siblings, where the brother also happens to be a reincarnation of an angel, who is the only one that can save the world; Skip Beat, a story of a girl named Kyoko, who followed the man whom she loved to Tokyo and did everything possible to assist him in achieving his dreams, only to be betrayed; Elfen Lied, a tale of a diclonius (a mutant) named Lucy and Kouta, her human friend.

Initial D is the only sports anime that I have watched until now and it was about Takumi Fujiwara’s discovery of his passion for street racing. Fullmetal Alchemist is an adventure of two alchemists, Alphonse and Edward, who lose their body/body-parts when they try to bring back their dead mother and later, go around the world searching for Philosopher Stone that would help them get their bodies back to normal. Darker than Black, a science fiction and supernatural story at the same time, is about Hei’s search for his sister’s whereabouts, who is also a contractor like him. High school of the dead is about a bunch of high school students, who escapes the lethal disease that turns people into zombies.

I have watched few other animes too and intend to watch more but I’m not going to talk about all of them here. Might be, I shall write another post on animes showcasing my craze for them.