A Nice Read

There are good writers and there are very good writers. But, Archer manages to surprise you by bettering them all. The book "A Prisoner of Birth" was perhaps the 16th book I read over the summer, but it was the only book that compelled me to write something about it.

To begin with I am now a sound believer that Archer's genius and the overawing finesse in his writing are something that I find unparalleled in many of his generation of writers. The plot which is a basic murder - legal - thriller tangle has been so orchestrated, that I found unable to put down the book even for a minute.

Archer's characteristic flamboyant pace and his expressive way of using words with unassuming ingenuity and a well - constructed climax has once again made me an ardent fan of his works. True, I had been more than a little disappointed with Cat 'O Nine Tales but this novel has surely redeemed Jeffrey Archer .

What to say of the man. While he remains till date one of the most well read writers of all time, He remains one of the most controversial person ever to be in the British Parliament. He has spent some time "inside" as I would like to say. But still he was awarded the title of "Baron" in 1992. This led a friend of mine who lives in the UK to remark on the intellectual honesty of the British people. She said to me "Look, this bugger was sent to the pen once. But , seeing his contribution to the field of Literature he was given this title...." . I replied " So what's so great about that?". She replied exasperatedly "Don't you see the good side of it...? The man spent some years in jail and yet he became a Baron... Isn't that remarkable? ". I could only say " In our country a person with a criminal record can become a minister, make laws, perform executive responsibilities and even become the President!!! So what's so great about our dear ol' Jeffrey....?"

She had no answer.

The unanswered question...

I heard a very moving story a few days back....
Unfortunately It's all true and as much I would have been pushed towards spamming-mail it I think this thing is not meant to be sent to the many anonymous people in my address book to be read and either pushed into the trash can or forwarded to all. Because I want this story to be read, and not merely read I want people to give me an honest opinion about what in reality makes a person? Is it good education or is it just the adversities he faces? Can really born in a privileged position be any help?

My story starts at a construction site in suburban Mumbai; A flyover was being constructed and a laborer's wife went the family way and our dear Kallu was born. Nothing unremarkable there. These sort of births take in India all the time. And most of them in much more appaling conditions then our dear Kallu here. He got his DDT shots in a nearby government clinic and maybe some kind of food from the local laborers. At the age of 3 and a half months his father died in an accident. Nothing remarkable here too; laborers die all the time all the place.

At the age of 4 Years his mother died of some unknown illness . Who knows what illness who has the money to go to a doctor in this country . His mother had been a God Fearing person and she hoped God would treat her . It seems that this family was one of the forsaken ones....

So we have this family again elder brother and sisters (2 of them) and one younger sister. After the death of the mother everything falls apart. As if disbanded from the army they all break up. Our Kallu is one of these left alone to forage on whatever he could find to eat, beg to have and fight to get.

At the age of 7 Kallu is a maverick of the streets . He is a shoeshine boy + a sweeper of the local train + a tea stall worker + a smalltime coolie.

If you go and have your shoe shined by him he charges 3 Rupees 50 paise for it. And if you decide to go easy on the 50 paise he says "Aye saa'b mere ko mera 50 paisa dedo". His arithmetic is flawless. He has his own place for sleeping inside a very large construction pipe; not very comfortable he accepts...but atleast it is his. Bought for that is... from a "seth". Ask him how much money he has and he tells you he has Three thousand eight hundred and fifty six rupees and twenty five paise. A total you can count and verify. He hides his money somewhere and he challenges "akhha mumbai mere paise nahin dhoondh sakti".

This guy does not have a bank account. This guy does not have a police record. This gut does not have a Birth certificate. This guy does not exist on paper. Never participated in a population census he tells me. What is this guy doing you may ask....

He survives.

Now tell me one thing ... what were we capable of at the age of 7?
We knew A-B-C thats for sure. and we knew a range of things like brushing our teeth and stuff. We knew if we cried really hard our parents would get anything for us.
We could not have demanded the 50 paise with so much conviction.
We would not survive 2 minutes in the same situation that Kallu presently lives.

Yes Yes... We are an educated lot. We studied in schools : there we learnt about science and history and geography, for God's sake!!! We were doing the "Good" stuff.

Think: Kallu did not have a formal education ; he did not have parents to guide him protect him. He was just a toddler thrown forcibly into this world to find his own path among the bushes. Who taught him? Nobody.

Adversities teach us better than schools then? Or do they?

You may argue that both the systems give rise to a very different individual. Catering to different needs of the society... but in the end... It's all about surviving out there. And Kallu's doing it from the age of 7. Just because we were lucky enough to be born in a well to do hospital than under a semi constructed flyover ; are we here where we are.

Think about it.

Looney toons and the need for some madness in Life

Just finished going through my entire collection of Looney toons......the entire 10 hrs of it.....Well, that is enough to make anyone see the lighter side of life...in my case, I tend to focus on the lighter side of life too often so this just pushes me over the brink of publically accepted standards into insanity.

One great thing about Looney toons is that its Timeless Appeal. no matter when you watch it or how many times you watch it it again presents itself with reinvigorating sense of light headedness , a bullish appeal to stay nonsensical and an overcoming zeal to be funny, funnier, funniest. One can never get tired watching it. The simple vagaries and varieties of life presented in a plethora of unusual and hysterically humorous situations.

The way the Gravity waits for the time for the Coyote to realize that he has made a mistake, the various actions Bugs does to show how a "Wabbit" acts, The sniffing spiffing spitting supreme Daffy Duck, the sweet Tweety Bird and " i think i thaw a puddy tat", T-th-the p-p-p-Porky P-P-P-Pig, The absolutely lightening Roadrunner, and the one and only ACME factory and its most generous User....Wile E.Coyote, The Mexican Crossborder Refugee...Speedy Gonzales, and the hopeless romantic Pepé Le Pew always constamment trouver l'amour, The fuddled brain of Elmer Fudd, and TAZ my personal Satan....the Tasmanian Devil.


Of these the one I like the most is Bugs Bunny......" Aeeeeyyy ....What's Up Doc?" and one of Groucho marx's most oft repeated line"Of course you realize...... this means War". The really excellent piece of work done by Mel Blanc and Friz Freleng had Bugs bunny take up the Star at Hollywood. His nonchalance and total nonsensical approach towards life is one that , maybe I think is required (of course in moderation )...... today.

These days our lives are too much bounded by time, career, and what not.... some moments of insanity will help bring back the asymmetry of life.

The Direct (Un)relation of Planning and Execution.

Here I am ..... finally back at home..... replenished, re-energized, rested, re-formulated, and reminded (what food is). Now comes the hard part.... what will I do? क्या करोगे आगे ???

I had planned many things before coming here.... just coming here and being at home is soooooo comfortable that we think "कौन जाए .... जबरन नींद हराम करे " So we sit and makhao.... This is exactly what I am tending to do this summer truthfully....makh fully.

Why does it always happen that the rate of your execution is inversely related to the square of the planning that you do. It happens all the time. We see numerous examples in history too.

During the Third Reich , Hitler had many elaborate plans (and elaborate here is an elaborate understatement)....All came to a naught.

So was the thinking of Edward "Longshanks" that led William Wallace to have so much success in his initial endeavors.


So the fact is. Lots of planning took us nowhere. Lots and Lots of planning looks good.... but only on paper. sometimes we just need to grit our teeth and DO IT.

Like I just did away my mustache....Just DID it... When I was planning it did not happen.... When I decided to do it ...I did It. Although now I look like a gunda without a mooch which is all the more insulting .... but heck!.... this is just an example over the direct unrelation of planning and result(Although it would be noticeable here to mention my brothers and sisters . till this day, refuse to recognize me.... I am having my DNA test done.... will tell you all about it when we meet....remind me)

So my plans as of now now are ...as my camera is repaired I am off to take pics and stuff.... the one thing I truly enjoy....

I leave here with pics I took recently in Mumbai....Happy Hols!!!

What????

Where I am?
Am I lost?
Where to find the answers?
Where to get over the mistrust?
Where to do when you get there?
Where to go when you feel?
How to speak up face to face?
Why do I still conceal?
Where to hide my face then?
Where to NOT show my shame?
Where to find solace perhaps?
Where to put all the blame?
Why do this happens?
Why does it happen again?
How does this thing go wrong?
Why am I always in vain?
How do I find the precious?
How do I avoid the strife?
Why do I lie again?
How do I live the life?
What is this going to be like...
When this goes on and on again...
Will I even recognise myself...
When I come from the other end of the game.

Chaos...
Like Oil flows into Water...
The medley is quite a sight

Derangement...
Like Flowers smile in the light...
But Somehow...something's not right..

Confusion...
Bit of like a steal of rays...
In the morning ; but it is still night...

Turmoil...
Standing near the edge of yourself
The ripples; they dance and shine bright...


What did I just write?????????????

An excellent composition

I was watching V for Vendetta this veekend and had the luck to come acoss one of the most brilliantly written pieces of dialogue I have ever come across..

Given here is the Introduction of V(the main protagonist) to Evey (the main heroine):-

V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V!


Evey: Are you like a crazy person?

Vell vhat to say.... VOW!!!

Psychology of Decision....

What is a decision?

It is the logical answer to an query put by your active mind to your passive mind...
We all experience and know that our executive and the logical parts are two almost tangibly separate parts of our nervous system. Also these two parts take input from another parts of our psych. That is Physical Input(Conditions), Mental Input(Feeling), Psychological Input(Instinct), A Random Input(Luck), and a Heuristic Input (Experience). (At this point it is wondrous indeed to see.... so many inputs all condenses to give a right decision...The brain is indeed a wondrous piece of machinery)

So... Whenever we are confronted with a situation , a very complex neurochemical process initiates.
Our body tenses up.Even if we don't know.The brain searches for previous occurrences of the incident.We try to see some sense and act on intuition and of course ....luck .... is also a random function of the brain.
The Order of Preference of this working is:- Physical,Mental,Heuristic,then Psychological and Random.

How to make the right decision?

There is no Golden rule for making good decision rather it is the very opposite of making good decision that will help you being a better decision maker. If you make bad decision the full extent of your actions are beared by you. You alone bear the full brunt of the force. So that is why we see the children who are spoon fed all there life , rarely turn out to be good decision makers in their adult life. Remember...Experiences have the 3rd most priority in your decision making...

Don't shy away from making decisions. You are merely incapabling yourself to be a better decision maker.......experiences good or bad teach you.....Rather I'd say bad experiences teach you more.....