Happy New Year!!

Happiness Being happy – it’s a song in your heart, a smile of ur soul, a skip in ur step

This festive season, I’ve learnt a new dimension to this wonderful word. Happiness – it’s in being with your family, being there for your family, and it’s in knowing that they are there for you too.. When everyone in your family is happy and healthy and cheerful – you don’t know the value of it until that is lost for a while and you gain it back. It’s only after a few ripples shake your boat, that you truly enjoy a smooth sail. This year, I wouldn’t have traded the hugs I gave my family for any wild, happening party.

Happiness is in getting your prayers answered. It’s a wonderful joy to know that God loves you back. To know that a guardian angel is watching out for you, that you can step into the future assured that you’ll be caught even if your steps falter.

Happiness is sharing – making someone else happy, the joy of giving. Spending time with little kids, knowing you are making a difference in their lives. Sometimes playing Santa… this reminds me - When I was a little kid, about 4-5 yrs old, there was this old man, who used to come every evening to the little park where all of us kids played, and gave us a chocolate each. Every evening, day after day, he would be there, getting chocolates out of his bag, and putting them into eager little hands. Every Christmas, when I hear about Santa, I think of him. I still remember the sweet smile on his face, when we used to gather around him, chirping away. I can now understand his happiness.

Happiness is love – the strong binding love of ur family, the cheerful warm love of your friends, the rosy blush of your first love, the silent commitment of ever-lasting love, and sometimes even the sweet memories of a love lost.

reading away to glory..

I turned the last page of the book, and read the last line. For the next couple of minutes, the story was wrapped around my head. And then suddenly, I snapped out of it. It was as if a spell over me had broken that second. I realized I was in my room, sitting in my bed, reading this book. It was cold, actually I’d been feeling cold for a long time I guess, but I was so engrossed in the book that my brain disregarded this particular signal it was receiving.

It’s true, what they say about Jeffrey Archer. He’s a magician, and his writing really does cast a spell on his readers.

I remembered vaguely that I was very angry before picking up the book, having fought with a very dear friend. I still remembered what the fight was about, but my mind was devoid of any disturbed feelings. I just felt nice. Maybe this is why they say a book is your best friend, coz isn’t this what friends r supposed to do? No matter what is troubling you, a friend can pull u out of it and take u somewhere better.

Books, (well only the good ones), take you on such wonderful journeys inside your head, that for a while, you cease to exist in the real world. This feeling is truly wonderful and cannot be described, only experienced. I’ve had it so many times, yet it constantly amazes me how mesmerized we can get by a bunch of words skillfully strung together by a master-craftsman.

I salute all the word-wizards who have created these delightful little words which we can journey through.

A FLAWED GOD – Review

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

The beginning of the story is interesting enough - coupling intrigue with an issue easy to relate to. The protagonist Sanchit is the quintessential boy-next-cubicle, facing the concerns and predicament of a typical workplace. An under-performer aiming to excel. It is this trait of his,that pushes him to dive headlong into a mysterious adventure. Following a strange message delivered to him on a postcard, he journeys all the way to Turkey to join an elite group of individuals. Though partially skeptical and dogged by fears, he persists, spurred on by a hope of glory. In Turkey, he’s inducted into a secret society which functions on the belief that the shareholders of any company can’t really affect the working of the company, and hence should not have more power than the employees who do all the actual work.

At some places, where the functioning of the group is talked about, I was briefly reminded of the secret brotherhoods from a Dan Brown book. The story flits between past and present, which makes the narrative interesting. The first half of the book is good, but the later part of it, comes with many bizarre twists and absurd revelations. The characters you were reading about for almost 3/4th part of the book, are in reality something entirely different. I found this rather confusing, and even a little irritating. This is where a ‘slightly-weird but interesting’ tale starts becoming absurd. The book ends with a couple of Ayn-Rand type speeches (thankfully neither as heavy, nor as long) in the movie-style climax.

Like Sanchit, the other characters are pretty believable, all except a woman called Pause. There’s a senior manager with Don-Quixote like traits, and is referred to by that name throughout the book. Then there’s talkative Lokesh (aka loquacious) who evokes our sympathy, being the rather feeble link in the Sanchit-Pause-Lokesh love triangle. A Gabbar Singh style villain also has a presence, adding drama with his larger-than-life presence. A super-ambitious, manipulative lady completes the gang. The only unrealistic character is Pause. It’s not only her name that’s unusual. It’s the bizarre and baffling ideas she comes up with. She creates an impossibly complex hoax to only to convince Sanchit to see the light. But yeah, their love-story has been cleverly written into the story and is subtle and sweet.

The relevance of the pictures of the huge bull on the front cover and the little bear on the rear end becomes clear half-way thought the book. ‘The Flawed God’ is the sharemarket that’s worshipped these days, and the flaw is the way it’s structured. The power to form the strategies and agendas in a company lies with the board- that its to say, the share-holders. The author feels that this decision-making power should lie with the employees, who do all the actual work in the day-to-day functioning of the company. This would give them the freedom to set their own strategy, and the same time inculcate the feeling of responsibility in them.

The ideas presented in the book are new, and there are some funny moments in the book, but at times it’s a tedious read, and the ending, to me, was a little disappointing.

Warning - Blogger posted this in a bad mood..

Well when I’m sad about something, I talk to people. I did. Were the people inconsiderate? No. did they talk to me? Yes. Were they there for me? Yes. Did it help? No… am I still sad? Hell yes.

And now I’ve run out of people. My biggest source of comfort is asleep, and the other people, well they tried the best they could. So now I thought I’ll talk to the whole world. Well at least the part of the world with internet. So here I go..

I’m super duper sad!!! No the depressing tears-n-all kinda loser sad. Just a whiny sort of juvenile sad. The kind where you don’t really feel like doing anything. Eating yes, but I have made a huuuge promise not to eat for emotional reasons. Stupid promises!!

I tried another thing, watching re-runs of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.. sorta made me sadder. All that coffee they drink… But yes, the last episode when everyone’s crying.. that made me feel better. No, I’m not a sadist, it’s just that I took comfort from the fact that it happens to everyone. It’s ok.

And I’ll be ok too. I have a low emotional capacity (ThankGod!!) I can’t feel sad about anything for too long. I’ll get over it. Hope it’s soon.. I’m totally intolerant of sorrow. It wrecks more damage in my head than an average human. I become this hyper-active aggressive creature, that’s not fun to be with (in stark contrast to my usual ‘joy-to-be-around’ self)

In case you continued reading this post to find out what was wrong with me.. haahaa!! Like I’ll tell you, you stranger reading this blog…

And if you really are a stranger reading my blog, thank you!! It’s the no. of pageviews in the stats column that can cheer me up…

brake.. Brake! Braaaaake !! THUDD…

The first two decades of my life were blissful. I had no serious concerns. I didn’t put myself or other people in danger. And one day, I woke up and wanted to drive….

I never really gave much thought to transport. When I was little, there was always somebody to pick and drop me. After I grew up, there was public transport for the times that such a convenience was not available. Traffic, directions, routes, geography.. these things were never a concern. I was peacefully pillion. My biggest concern, while on a bike was to not fall asleep, or not to scream too loud when something came in the opposite direction. In a car, I only had to make sure I was sitting close enough to play my fav music.

And then the universe decided that things were too peaceful in the world, (splly for my dad), and it planted a desire to Drive, in my head. Two sets of driving classes, several weeks of postponing, and a bit of freaking out later, I was finally able to drive!!

It wasn’t easy. First, I had to overcome my most basic instinct (developed over 2 decades of practice) of closing my eyes and turning my head away, whenever there was a vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Second, there was this thing of eye-hand-brain co-ordination.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying “u can never forget how to ride a cycle, even after years and years of not doing it”… I have no clue, because I’ve never even thought about riding any two-wheeler, but I can say this for sure – it isn’t the same for cars. I take a month’s break, and it’s a whole new thing all over again. The freaking out, the effort to remember to not look at the gear while changing it, and finding the stupid little seat-adjuster thing.

So one day, I’m driving, in a not-so-good mood (I’m not saying this as an excuse, promise!) and I’m turning, and see this really cool bike parked next to the road. Then I drive forward, thinking about something else, and a voice inside my head said “brake.” After a split second, it screamed “Braaaake”. Somehow, my brain was the only thing responding. Not my foot, not my hand, only the screaming in the head. “hit the bloody braaaaaakeeeeeee”…..THUD!

And then it was nasty. The owner of the bike was looking like he wanted to slap me, and there were a few cops standing there (of course! Just my luck!!!). and did I panic?? I did not!!

Just flipped my phone out, called my brother and cousin. They came, put me in an auto, and took care of it. I was back where I belonged – the backseat. No stress, no effort, no danger.

That’s when I decided. No more steering. I’ll let my ‘driving’ be what it is – a Joke…

travel-bug...

I was just thinking about the books I’ve read recently – Bill Bryson’s account of his thrilling hike in the Appalachian ranges (A Walk Through The Woods), William Dalrymple’s amazing journey along the ancient Silk Route (From The Holy Mountain), and just yesterday, Shankar Roy’s adventures in Africa, amidst ferocious lions (Chander Pahar)

It’s official – I’ve been bitten by the travel bug. I’m yearning to pack my bags and go somewhere.

True, I just came back from a short trip to Bangalore, but that doesn’t count, because it’s not somewhere new. I’ve been there so much, that inspite of being geographically retarded; I can claim to actually know a lottt of places in that city. I want to go somewhere I don’t know – at all. Like that time I went to Pune – a whole new city, hitherto unknown territory. But that was a whole year ago. Im getting anxious to go travelling again.

I think my travel-fascination has its roots in my childhood. Dad has a transferable job at the bank, and we packed up and moved to a whole new place every three years! It was absolutely delightful. And while we were there, we would see all the places nearby. A vacation every summer. I’ve been almost all over India, and have had a blast everywhere!

True, my vacation stories aren’t as exciting as the ones I’ve read. I go to normal, super-civilized places, as opposed to exotic wilderness, teeming with wild beasts. I stay at comfortable hotels, armed with nothing but books and music. Food’s always served in beautiful platters, rather than hunted and roasted in the middle of a forest. However, I have enjoyed my travels and holidays as thoroughly as those guys did. I did have some accidents too, but they were all due to my clumsiness. I got lost for about 2 hours, almost-drowned in a river, was violently sick in a train, and broke my glasses countless times. A lot of my belongings are now lying at various tourist spots across India - a watch in a valley in Kulu, shoes in the middle of a sea, an ipod at a waterfall in Jharkhand, and a super loved audio cassette in a taxi at Darjeeling; to name a few. I’ve felt myself being roasted in a desert in Rajasthan, I’ve rolled about in the snow at Rohtang pass, drenched in torrential rains at Ranchi, seen mountain peaks and valleys.

And met some really wonderful people. So wonderful that they deserve a new paragraph. There have been so many, that it’s difficult to remember them all, without consulting my diary. Most notable of them is a very peaceful looking monk I met (read -looked at from a distance) at a monastery, who I was convinced was God himself. Then there was this girl I met on a train journey who was my best friend for two whole days, a tourist guide in Jharkhand I was in love with for a week, a super-funny set of twins I met while on a tour of south India, a German lady who was in India for some social-work. Not to sound cheesy or something, but their memories are all like different shades of colors on my mind’s canvas. All those conversations somehow chiseled a part of who I am.

Now there’s one place I’ve been dying to go to, for over a decade now. Andamans. Yes, people have said that there’s nothing much there, but this trip comes with a cruise in a ship. Tra-la-la!!! I’ve been wanting to be in a ship ever since I was a child. We (me n my family)had it all planned 7 years ago, but sumthing happened and we didn’t. And somehow every single year, it gets postponed. I just heard my dad n brother talking about it yesterday, so people pray for me.. at least in 2012…..

This blog post is dedicated to my good friend Ezra Raj. Ez, this long enough? :)