books.. the best friend..

well.. i seriously think that one should marry a book.. book won't ever desert u.. he/ she (depends on wat u want to call a book), won't ever have any shopping plans, nor rant about the colour of ur bedroom, won't have mood swings.. rather u can choose which book to read according to the mood.. now some ppl wud contest sayin that book can't cook, can't clean, can't love.. fair enuf.. i have maid for cleaning and washing.. another maid for cooking.. and love?.. hmm.. thts the blond spot.. u can love the book but wat abt book loving u?. moreover we always read a book and move on to a new book after its finished.. and book after giving us gr8 "pleasure" (not of all kinds u pervert) it just lies there on the bookshelves biting the dust.. so is it justified for us to use it in the way we want and then just adorn it on our bookshelves.. may be the bigest reward a book expects is to be read.. but a big bonus would be when it is reread.. ain't it?

random things..

bloggin after a long long time..my lappy had crashed.. anyways.. its less than a month to my marriage now... most of prep done.. my biggest work of finding and settling in house is complete.. shifted here on 31st october from the wonderful PG at khar/ bandra... nice house though seema wants to get it repainted to some light shades.. broker has refused and i am not much inclined but i will better get it repainted then listening the rants everyday.. what else.. nothin much.. changed job in july end from IDFC to IndusInd Bank.. work goin good but has become hectic since 2 weeks as have been given charge of whole north and south region... loads and loads of cases keeps pouring daily now.. but good that my boss (judy) who knows things very very well and handles pressure from top.. chalo, am pushing for bed now.. feelin sleepy.. anyways didi will wake me up at ~7:30 am as she will ring bell and come to wash clothes and clean house.. i wonder why the house needs to be broomed and mopped daily.. waste of water, energy and domex cleaner :)

Book review: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff

"my first reaction after readin this book was that it should be made compulsory for everybody.. and then i realised its against the very spirit of this book .. "freedom of mind" :-) ... do read it.."

Book review: The Godfather by Mario Puzo, Robert Thompson, Peter Bart

"wow!!! now i understand why people say that everyone should have a Godfather in his life.. wish i would have read it earlier.. now i know the power of "reasoning" and "making an offer which can't be refused".. and finally i got the answer to the question (who is your role model?), which was asked in numerous interviews to which my answer was always "None".. "

Book review: The Japanese Wife: And Other Stories by Kanal Basu

"after reading interpreter of maladies i had lost faith on short stories.. but thank god it was saved after reading this book.. though not many "great" stories but good ones.. kunal basu has a different style of writing and am yet to fathom it fully.. think will read the opium clerk again.. "

Book review: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

"another very good book..shows how society lives.. how people mindsets shape up.. how children are different from adults.. how once man can stand against everyone and still be right.. how racism is not about skin color but about the state of mind.."

Book review: We the Living by Ayn Rand

"the pursuit of freedom.. the quest for Capitalism.. to achieve the dreams that can't be quashed.. to live the life for yourself.. those who dream these will just love this book.. "

Book review: The catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

"amazing clear portrayal of all the phony things in life, and how do we tend to love them instead of hating them..adolescence is such a wonderful period of life..and many of us don't ever realize it when it passes..hope we all enjoy till it lasts.. "

Book review: Love Story by Erich Segal

"beautiful and short .. loved it :)"

Review of Gulaal Movie

written it on 19th March after watching the movie.. but forgot to post.. here it goes..

Go watch Gulaal !!! Republic .. Constitution.. Democracy.. It's a heady cocktail of youth, politics, power game, powerful dialogues emanating from cannon of Kay Kay Menon, coupled with beautiful + meaningful lyrics which continues over the movie and some very strong acting by the new-bies.. plus all the shades of Anurag kashyap's directing of red colors, john lennon, drugs, daaru, queer setting in a Democracy bar gives it a thumbs up.. if Dev D scored 3/5 for me, this one is sure a 4/5 material...

Book review: Sea of Poppies: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh

"i wonder how much research Amitav ghosh puts into each of his novels.. his detailing of River and Sea is just spell binding... plus the way he interweaves the stories of different lives of people and bring them together shows the thought process involved in it.. all in all one more gem from Mr. Ghosh.. :)"

Slogan for Mayawati's BSP

I was getting bored in office and since its election time so started thinking about party symbols.. since Mayawati's aim for Delhi power is there, so came out with this slogan for her..
since job is in turbulence now so may be i could become slogan writer for her party or some other party.. so here goes the slogan..
"Haath pe haathi chadega.. kamal ka sarvanaash karega.... delhi pe haathi raaj karega.. raaj karega, raaj karega.."

it means... elephant(symbol of Bahujan Samajwadi party) will climb on hand(symbol of Congress party), it will also trample lotus(symbol of BJP party)... Elephant (i.e. BSP Party) will rule over Delhi.. it will rule.. it will rule..

How to make Cement

http://www.cement.org/basics/images/flashtour.html

nice site for a glimpse of Cement making process

Book review: Q & A: A Novel by Vikas Swarup

"wow!!!!.. i loved the movie and after reading the novel u realise how the theme has aptly been set by vikas swarup.. story and questions are quite different from the movie though the overall theme is the same.. and then respect for both vikas swarup and danny boyle increases manifolds... vikas swarup for his brialliance in narrating and danny boyle for the magic he created in the movie by just giving the right touches to the book.. fantastic.. just superb!!!"

Book review: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

 "a fast paced book with numerous characters thrown in... yossarin is a personality many might use to question things which happen to us in daily lives and which we just take it as our fate.. "

Book review: The Golden Notebook: A Novel (P.S.) by Doris Lessing

"a book full of emotions... can be a little bit depressing for female readers.. but think they should read it for getting to know various facets of a womens' life.. and men can get some peek into a women's mind.. though it will still be a misery.. :)"

Book review: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

"did Pi go through all that ordeal.. did he not?.. though book becomes a little slow in between but has a solid ending which does keeps u thinking for sometime.. it's one more story as to how a persons life can change totally within some days.. "

Book review: 1984 by George Orwell

"the black black world... "

Book review: The Little Prince: Sixtieth-Anniversary Gift Edition by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Richard Howard (Translator)

"beautiful book.. should be read by every grown up to remind one of the innocence of childhood one has forgotten.. "

Book review: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Constance Garnett

"a beautiful ensemble of Philosophy, religion, literature... "

Book review: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Constance Garnett

"a beautiful ensemble of Philosophy, religion, literature... "

mahipal's wedidng and Kolkata visit

This Sunday I went to Kolkata for Kunal Mahipal’s wedding.. took an early morning flight on Sunday after shopping loads of stuff i.e. a white/ cream/ beige Esprit jacket for Rs. 3,750 ( MRP Rs. 7,500 with 50% disc) which I paid through the nose and was one of my Vanity purchases.. a jeans from UCB with MRP of Rs. 1800 for Rs, 700 after the 50% discount and utilizing 200 points on my Shoppers Stop card… a white Nike T-shirt of the running material for Rs. 900.. so a big blow to my personal finances.. anyways, jeans was a value buy.. yeah, so back to my Cal trip.. took an Indian airlines flight in which the air hostesses were like bouncers (applies to both the trips which I took in Indian airlines.. i.e Mum – Kolkata and Kolkata to Delhi).. damn bad services.. took some 10 mins per person to check in and issue the boarding pass… anyways.. boarded the flight and reached by 9:30 pm to Kolkata.. the journey from airport to ballygunge was my first tryst with Kolkata.. realized that Kolkata still embodies the Old India and has that serenity maintained which has been lost in Mumbai.. I kept bugging the taxi driver bhaiyaa for the names of places we were passing, what all things are there etc etc.. it was a very calm ride.. saw the “ancient” buses having wood paneling and emergency exits which were very much required (pun intended), trams which a cyclist can defeat peacefully.. had to go to Ballygunge place where the guesthouse was situtated.. got some directions and reached there quickly as it was Sunday and hence not much traffic and also no morchas/ rallies by mamata di J .. Pehlajani, Ratan, Sunil Khetan, Rohit Sarawagi (Play Me) were already there in the guest house… met them all, washed face, got ready, had shots of glennfidditch (whiskey) and off we started for breakfast and Kolkata tour.. we went to Park street for breakfast at the most hyped place i.e. Flurys.. firstly, we had to wait for almost half an hour to get in.. then 15 minutes to place the order as most of the stuff we were asking was not there.. remember that it was a Sunday and time was around 10 am.. after giving order of the famous dishes like beans and toast, 3 eggs French style omellete etc we had to wait half an hour to get served our breakfast.. damn poor service and customer handling.. anyways.. we thought that wait would be worth the food as it was told to us.. alas, the beans came but the breads with it were plain and not toasted.. why??... because the toaster is out of order.. so we eat beans and toast with plain bread.. then comes omellete which was worse than the Mamu omellete anytime.. we thought that atleast the desserts would be good.. we got chocolate croissants which was cold and the chocolate was only for show and not at all in qty.. then we ordered for crepes which were told to us to be finished.. then we had to settledown with blue berry cheesecake and a chocolate pastry.. blue berry cheesecake has fungi kind of green stuff sticking to it.. the chocolate pastry, though not bad but the adiyar bakery’s of Banagalore wins hand down in it.. so overall a terrible experience which the people from Calcutta hail as one of the finest restaurants.. may be it was our bad day but surely it left a sore taste in the memory..

Anyways, putting that behind, we started our tour of the city of joy.. our first destination was old and new Howrah bridge.. all of us thought to walk the old bridge.. my impression of the bridge was that it would be some 5-6 kms long and so was others.. we thought that we will start walking after travelling half the distance by taxi.. disappointment rings its bell again.. we realized that the old bridge is hardly 1 km long.. anyways, not all was gloom as it was a architectural piece and none of us understand the architecture very well despite having read the fountainhead.. but we did appreciate the beauty of it.. after that we travelled in our ambassador to New howrah bridge which was much bigger and beautiful one.. then we went to Victoria memorial and it liked it.. there were very nice painitings inside and one painting specially by Danielle (dun remember whether it was Thomas or William) was just too good.. it was oil on canvas showing a scene of sea waves, moon behind the dark clouds etc.. after that we came out, had good papari chat, aloo chat stuff and played the shooting the balloons game J.. then we were out of time so went back to guest house, got ready, had more shots of glennfidditch and proceeded to the place from Mahipal’s baraat was to start.. reached there and Mahipal was fully dressed in sherwani kind of dress.. in some people’s words he was looking like a jaadoogar J .. we joked, did some time pass and then some puja started.. so all junta ( girish singhania, pushkar gupte, and andy also joined there) went off again for the shots.. after that for 1-2 hrs it was the same session.. going in, coming out with ice, having shots, eating samosas, mithais in between.. then the baraat left for the bride’s place.. there was no band baaja and so we din’t got chance to dance.. we reached the place in another car.. there the garlanding of flowers happened and so we all cheered that it’s proceeding and tension of Mahipal was reduced J .. then the usual stuff of long winded pujas started and we were left to ourselves and had to pass the time with the shots again interspersed with the starters.. watched the puja also with the pandit ji in full on mood chanting the mantras in the top of his voice and action.. there was nice spread of food and starters so had full stomach food.. waited till the pheras and then congratulated Mahipal and left for the guest house… reached, changed, had some more shots and went back to sleep as had to catch early morning flight to Delhi for IDFC PE conference.. a day of pure bliss comes to an end.. the joy of seeing a friend getting married to his long lasting love, meeting with freinds and reliving the good old days.. hope we have many more days like these in life.. amen..

The Nashik Trip

This weekend i made a shoestring trip to Nashik.. total trip costed be 806 Rs... break up is Travel 340 Rs, Food & Water 166 Rs.. Lodging 150 Rs.. Sula vineyard tour and wine tasting 150 Rs..
now the details.. took the tapovan express at around 6:20 am from Dadar to Nasik.. it was a Chai car, very similar to the local train.. but with less crowd.. my seat was the aisle one and beside me two old aged uncles were sitting.. seat was not very comfortable though easily manageable for that 3 hr ride.. was there in nashik by 9:30 am or so.. got down.. took the bus from there to Panchvati.. asked the people for directions and landed near Ram kund.. the scene there was just too holy.. pujas being perfomed everywhere.. men, women and children, all taking the dip in the water of gangotri... water was just gushing out and was pretty clear.. thought of taking a dip but then told myself that will take it later or on my return journey.. roamed around there for sometime soaking the atomosphere.. then asked people for the directions to famous temples and they directed me towards the Kalaram temple.. visited the shrine.. was peaceful and made of black stones.. then i proceeded to Sita gufa.. it was a nice place.. had to crawl down to reach the insides of the cave.. there was a shivling to which it's said that ram and sita perforemed puja when they were in hiding in Panchvati.. as soon as i came out of the gufa some autowallahs asked me to visit Tapovan.. the first auto wallah told me it will cost 121 rs for thr 11 places to be shown at 4 diff stops.. i refused.. second one approached 2 minutes later as i proceeded to have missal pav and offered the whole ride for Rs. 101.. i refused again.. so he said that i can go on sharing basis and that will cost me 30 Rs. only.. so i approved.. had my missal pav near the sita gufa and waited for other passengers.. while waiting i saw Rekha subraminam (ICICI RBG) alighting from the auto to enter sita gupha.. i decided against to call her as i do not wanted any company at that time and she was also with her husband.. after waiting for a while passengers came and we proceeded for tapovan with autowallah serving as driver cum guide.. tapovan is the place where Lakshman ji did tapasya for 12 years to kill Meghnad (ravana's son).. also included in the trip to Tapovan was laksman rekha.. the only solo temple of Lakshman ji.. the place from where sitaji was kidnapped... swayam bhu (self originated) Hanuman ji ka mandir.. sangam of godavari and kalindi to continue as Godavari ( was a shady sangam as kalindi looked more filled with wastes of city).. etc.. after this trip i trudged back to the panchvati bus stand and asked as to how to reach the Sula vineyards.. i had the address and also called the vineyard for the direction.. the easiest option was to take an auto which would have costed me more than 200 Rs.. so i decided to take a bus which would drop me at a point from where i can again take an auto or walk the 4.5 kms to reach Sula.. i waited for the bus and bus going towards Girnara (Govardhan) started at 1:30 pm.. boarded it and it took only 9 Rs. and 15-20 mins to reach to the point from hwre i had to walk/ take an auto.. i asked an auto... he told 50 Rs for one way.. i decided to walk the 4.5 kms.. i started walking but i would have hardly gone 300 mtrs when i turned and saw a car approaching.. i showed the thumb and it worked :) .. i got a lift from a lawyer from Nasik.. yippee.. my first lift in life which i remember as of now... so i reached the vineyard.. waited for sometime and my tour started at 2:30 pm with Neelkantha as the guide and another lady (din't get her name though she was british and stays near Globus in Bandra.. din't had courage to take her number.. not formy benefit but may be Rupam's ;-) .. so Neelkantha told us the history of the vineyard.. showed us the grapes and how drip irrigation is done.. then we went on to see the process of manufacturing, the steel tanks where wine is prepared, the diff between white and red wine making etc.. then we headed for wine tasting.. we were asked to handle the glass wine from the stem lest the heat of our body touches the wine and make it warmer.. also then we were asked to tilt the glass a little and see the color of it.. then to swirl it and smell the aroma.. we tasted 6 types of wine.. 2 white wine (Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc), 2 Red wine (Red Zinfandel, Dindori Reserve Shiraz), 1 rose wine (Blush Zinfandel) and 1 dessert wine ( Late harvest Chenin Blanc).. my best picks were White wine (Chenin Blanc) and the dessert wine.. there the shooting of movie"Desire" was going to start featuring Shilpa Shetty and some Chinese fellow.. waited for some time and decided against watching the shooting as it was to start after 1-2 hrs.. off i went, and then hitch-hiking in a truck carrying the sugarcanes.. it was a damn nice ride.. my second experience of lift.. :) .. truck was just chugging along.. very very slowly.. the road was very narrow.. and in came from the front another smaller truck.. then the tussle began to cross each in that road.. took 10 mins of back and forth of vehicles to let both them cross each other.. the truck driver was very nice.. he dropped me near CBS.. from there i took bus to traymbakeshwar.. reached there in hardly 45 mins.. then the trouble started.. asked first lodge for a room.. denied saying that i was alone and they don't give to single people.. same thing happened at 3-4 places and was told that there have been some suicides in past and hence denied admission.. i started feeling that i should take a bus back to nasik and go home.. then someone suggested that i should try Hotel Sahyadri.. and thus my savior was a dormitory with beds.. it was nice and clean.. got a bed for 150 Rs.. put my stuff.. took bath in the hotel and headed for the temple visit.. stood in line and visited the temple.. it's also made of black stones and is one of jyotirlinga.. after visiting the temple, roamed about in the streets for some time and went to see the kund in which have to take bath next morning.. after that bought some pedas, ate it and asked the pedawala as to a good place for dining.. he told atithi bhojnalaya.. and off i went for dinner as was feeling hungry.. had a thali which was quite stomachfull.. wandered about a little bit and then went off to sleep as was really tired.. went to hotel, watched movie for some time on the TV and slept off very soon.. had kept the alarm for 5 am but woke up only at 6 am as was feeling very cold.. went to took bath in the kund.. water was not very clear and think it was treated with some kind of chemical.. anyways, took the plunge, managed to tie the yellow cloth which i had borrowed from ashish.. was feeling very skeptical that this cloth will drop anytime and i will be exposed nude.. tugging along the cloth at m waste i hastened towards the temple.. stood in the line but it was a long queue.. was able to get the darshan only by 9 am.. wanted to enter the main griha as was wearing the proper dressing and also had taken bath... but was told that bhog was starting and will have to wait for an hour for the same.. so i decided against waiting and went to hotel to change and check-out.. henceforth i started the trek to brahmagiri.. was a steep climb with stairs also.. was fully drenched in sweat by the time i reached at the top.. visited the main brahmagiri temple, the jatadwar temple and the krishna temple there and the adjacent peak.. then started my descent and got lost but continued my trek.. after sometimes i realised i had reached the place of Gangadwar and had again to climb some steps to reach that.. so again i went huffing and puffing.. visited the second udgam (the second coming of godavari ji), 108 shivlings in a small cave and one more temple.. took total of 4 hrs to go up and come down including both the peaks.. it was quite tiring.. on my way back had some lemon juice and cucumber.. reached back to bus stand and immediately started for nashik.. reached nashik CBS by 2:15 pm.. from there took an auto to nasik road railway station and reached there by 2:40 pm.. took a general ticket and planned to catch Pushpak express coming at 3:30 pm from lucknow to mumbai.. train came at 4pm.. boarded the 3 tier AC with the lad from Nashik (ankit tripatih was the name i think).. met the TTE and asked if he would take me to mumbai without the extra fare ticket and just pocketing some money.. he refused.. so i took a full fare ticket for sleeper class b paying 90 bucks additional fare and got my seat.. off i went.. the journey was nice as the sun was setting, there were hills and fields to be crossed.. nice and cool wind was blowing.. i journeyed throuhg reading the book which i was carrying (Wuthering heights) and listening to my i-pod.. came to mumbai.. went home.. ordered delivery of subway.. watch mission impossible 2 and slept.. ThE eNd

The worthless of Worth - II

since i have more time to kill.. so i will think on this topic again but with a different angle.. so this needs a deeper thought.. lets see what the meaning of worth is in dictionary. .. as per http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Worth the definition of worth as noun has following meanings.. Worth (as noun)
1. The quality that renders something desirable, useful, or valuable:
2. Material or market value: stocks having a worth of ten million dollars.
3. A quantity of something that may be purchased for a specified sum or by a specified means: ten dollars' worth of natural gas; wanted their money's worth.
4. Wealth; riches: her net worth.
5. Quality that commands esteem or respect; merit: a person of great worth.

now, with all these meanings and the current financial crisis looming all over the world, do i even need to prove my title.. that the worth is totally worthless.. the networth, market value, riches etc etc are the terms of bygone era.. so the meaning of Worth itself has become worthless now.. i rest my case..

The worthlessness of Worth

i asked ashish (sheru) to give me a topic to blog as i din't had any work.. so the topic is the creation of his mind.. now i have to blog about this.. firstly, i will have to decipher, decode, or probably wring out the meaning of the topic.. the worth of anything is different for different people.. as they say "beauty lies in the eyes of beholder", so i say.. worth lies in the mind of worthful person.. now deciding the worth of worth is a very dauntung task.. i can't ask worth as what his worth is.. cos no one knows its own worth.. but for asking Worth i have to first search for him/her.. let us put down our assumptions first.. assuming that this weekend i take a trip to nasik and in the vineyard while drinking wine i happen to stumble upon Worth.. now the scene is this "I am Worth are sitting side by side, relishing the wines and getting intoxicated by the lovely aroma.. and i suddenly pop him this question.. hey Worth.. do u know what ur worth is?.. suddenly he becomes mystified, petrified, and starts getting fits.. i became worried.. was wondering as to what happned to Worth and started praying for him.. 1day, 2 days, 3 days, and a whole week passes by but Worth hasn't yet opened his eyes after getting those fits.. am still waiting, sitting by his bedside.. suddenly, i hear the rustle of bedsheet... his hands are moving!! Worth's hands are moving!!! yippee.. he opens his eyes, sees me and suddenly turns his face.. his eyes are swelled with tears.. the room is silent.. only the sound of small sobs could be heard.. i wait.. i do not move... 10 minutes later he turns his head towards me.. i press his hand to console him.. and ask "what happened".. he answers.. "I am Worth.. but i am worthless" .. THE END

luck by chance = 1

uff.. no work at all is damn boring.. haven't got anything to do since last 6-7 days.. so what to do.. surfing net whole day.. reading arbit things.. thinking arbit thoughts.. one of this goes as follows.. recently a movie by Zoya akhtar was released called Luck by Chance.. so i declared that Luck by chance = 1.. how?. well luck is equal to chance in meaning.. so luck divided by chance is equal to 1.. bwahh.. i know its a PJ.. but empty mind is a devil's workshop.. kya karein.. not my fault.. :)