Books I read in 2010 ...

I read a lot, and I hear a lot from people who say I don't go anywhere without a book, and get restless when I don't have one to read. Anyways, a conversation with my brother gave me this thought and so I listed the books I read last year.

The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor
India after Gandhi - Ramachandra Guha
If God was a Banker - Ravi subramaniam
Into the wild - Jon Krakauer
Devil in pinstripes - Ravi subramaniam
Keep off the grass - Karan Bajaj
The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
Johnny gone down - Karan Bajaj
Dork : The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese - Sidin Vadukut
Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
2 States - Chetan Bhagat
Yes Minister - Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn
The Professional - Subroto Bagchi
Into thin air - by Jon Krakauer
It happened in India - Kishore Biyani and Dipayan Baishya
The Inscrutable Americans - Anurag Mathur
Of Course I Love You. . ! : Till I Find Someone - Durjoy Datta
A Romance With Chaos - Nishant Kaushik
India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond - Shashi Tharoor
Kane and Abel - Jeffrey Archer (continued from 2009)
First among equals - Jeffrey Archer
Not a penny more, not a penny less - Jeffrey Archer


It is amusing to look back at this list. For example, I recall how I could actually feel Jeffrey Archer evolve as an author as I read his 3 novels back to back. And then there were a bunch of Novels that got published due to what I call "The Chetan Bhagat Effect". There were others mammoth ones, Like India After Gandhi and The Great India Novel. And few like The Inscrutable Americans which belonged to the immediate post liberalization era, but are not so relevant anymore. And Yes Minister, which was a second read (first was in college courtesy Bhowmik)


Now that I have listed these, I realize I do read a lot. Well, it continues ..
For 2011, I have already read The Wizard of Oz and am currently reading India Unbound.


My Bookmark has this lovely comment on it:
"Never judge a book by its movie"


I guess thats a good point to conclude this post.

Bhale, Happy new year ho gaya

First of all, I am a bit pleased with myself. Finally got down to writing a blog after few months.
After 5 consecutive weekends, I spent this weekend at my place in Mumbai. I rediscovered the joys of laziness and procrastination.

But I am writing about the time spent in Delhi/NCR last December.

First of all, to all those who say I plan too much ... In You Face suckers ... I planned this trip and I made it happen ...

People say I end up writing a structured emotional itinerary of my trips with friends. So, I will try and make this one different. No recall of how the time was spent, no names of places visited. Just a few plain moments which are still vivid in my mind...

I still cant forget the uncertainty that bugged me before my flight for Delhi took off ... The flight had been cancelled in the days leading up to departure date, and things looked bleak. Too much Fog in Delhi. Funny thing, I was not really bothered about what would happen if I don't make it to Delhi ... bigger fear was I had no plans to do anything in Mumbai as a backup ...

So, the takeaways from the trip ...

It was Parag's call at 6:30 am on my B'day that set this all in motion. He told me he was coming in Dec, and then Goel also said he had some 'work'. It was the time of exorbitant Flight fares, and I was skeptical. But things fell into place, and I reached there ...

Now, being in Mumbai for so long, I had forgotten the joys of a warm sun in chilling cold ... I rediscovered that at Galleria over a period of 3-4 hours one fine morning.

No matter what, I cannot forget the formulation of our theory as to why and how really India got Independence ... the true story that was covered up ... How Bapu got up with his Lathee in his hand, and others followed him, and Dandi march happened. And what was the real reason behind Quit India.

Arpit, thanks for the endless cups of Green Tea / Herbal Tea. I loved them. The image is still fresh in my mind ... that steaming mug in hand, looking down from balcony, and seeing nothing but a layer of fog down on earth ... wow.

A standout was the nice peaceful conversation with Parag in icy cold balcony in the dead of the night ... that one to one chat was awesome. Very Boston Legal type Balcony conversation.. There was another one the previous night, with Parag and Pulkit ... it was no mean feat. We got Chojan to think, and thats all we are capable of.

The Wassuppppp commercials, the timely utterance of True, True .... Man, I shouted Wassup as I wrote this, ha ha ha.

That shitty Rihanna song which I hate from the bottom of my heart ... which was played over again and again ...

Gupta and his SLR ... and the conspicuous absence of Chojan One at times. Was nice to bump in to Kapoor saab, meet Arpit, and not so nice to miss Banerjee by a whisker.

It was a good place to start this 'Happy New Year'. I recall one of us saying this, 'shadi ke baad ek sheher me nahi rahenge, warna sab ki biwi ghar se nikaal degi'

This trip was different from the previous ones we had. Everyone was laid back. Very less was spoken but a lot was said. Advice was sought ... advice was given ... situations were judged, with underlying accepted on any course our lives take in future.
This just might turn out to be one of the last such meets ... the mood was different when we met at Pune in Jul 2010.

Hope to meet up soon, this time a bigger group ... things will surely change for all of us in 2011. Just that nobody knows where will the roads lead us.

Tomorrow’s Child, by Glenn Thomas

I saw a video on youtube, and it had this poem being recited. Very simple yet powerful, it chronicles the change in thinking of a person as he begins to realize the fact that the impact of his actions on the environment will be the reality of a child's life in time ahead.

Tomorrow’s Child

Without a name; an unseen face

and knowing not your time nor place

Tomorrow’s Child, though yet unborn,

I met you first last Tuesday morn.

A wise friend introduced us two,

and through his sobering point of view

I saw a day that you would see;

a day for you, but not for me

Knowing you has changed my thinking,

for I never had an inkling

That perhaps the things I do

might someday, somehow, threaten you

Tomorrow’s Child, my daughter-son

I’m afraid I’ve just begun

To think of you and of your good,

Though always having known I should.

Begin I will to weigh the cost

of what I squander; what is lost

If ever I forget that you

will someday come to live here too

By Glenn Thomas

The Empire bows out ... at last

Whoa !!! Germans must be drowning themselves in beer this Sunday afternoon...

The Ghost goal not withstanding, there is no doubt the deserving team won.

Looks like the Englishmen forgot to gulp beer before this match. The Group matches had exposed English side's lack of structure, they barely scraped through to get into the final 16. Germany, on the other hand looked good even in their loss to Serbia.

England looked hapless throughout the match, barring a brief phase in the latter 20 minutes of first half, when they scored a goal, were denied a rightful goal, had Lampard's deflector off the cross bar ... the rest was just pathetic.

As expected, the flow of German passing was simply poetic.

A hallmark of basic football; most of the time, when player A delivers the pass, there is no player B at the spot to collect it; the ball and player B travel and reach the spot simultaneously.

The young German midfield outran and exposed the disoriented English defence. I doubt anyone outside Europe would have even heard of Mueller, Oezil et al before this WC. Even the defence showed brilliance, especially Frederic. Neuer too made a couple of amazing saves.

Barring Lampard, none of the Englishmen made a mark. Rooney was rusty, and heavily marked as well.

The English Press will hound the players and coach for a while to come. I hope 'the Goal that should have been' does not initiate a diplomatic row between England and Uruguay. Capello will try to piggyback on the goal line controversy. True, A pumped English side going into 2nd half at 2-2 would have been way more exciting, but I believe Germany would have won anyway.

What if the goal had been given? What if if Lampard's deflector off the cross bar had sneaked in?

That's sports, Ifs and Buts don't count. 44 years ago England got lucky at Wemberly, it simply was Germany's turn this time. This will never go away, like Maradona's Hand of God in '86, but I hope the 4-1 scoreline and horrible English defence will ensure that this match is not remembered for only this in years to come.

It also marked the end of an era in English football; the ultimate glory will elude the likes of Lampard, Terry, Gerard for the rest of their lives.

On a very amusing note, both teams reminded me of our Cricket team in some ways; The English Star Studded team resembled the Indian ODI Team that crashed out of the ICC Champions Trophy; and the young imposing Germans reminded me of MSD's young team which brought home the first T20 World Cup. Incidentally, tournaments associated with both those memories and this WC were all hosted in South Africa.

Waiting for Capetown match next Saturday. I feel Argentina will beat Mexico today and then beat Germany coming Saturday. But the best thing about football is that the private leagues have distributed talent, wealth and game's knowledge across countries, and on its day any country can be dangerous. Ask that to France and Italy.

I am supporting Germany, Argentina and Spain wholeheartedly in this WC. I feel so WOW right now, may I live ti cheer India on a football WC stage. Meanwhile, the Cricket ODI 2011 WC will be as good. (fingers crossed)

I did not know before the commentator made the reference. Here below is the backdrop underlying the importance of today's goal line controversy :

In 1966, England and Germany were 2-2 in extra time in the World Cup final when Geoff Hurst's shot struck the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and spun back into play. That time, the referee consulted his linesman, who awarded the goal.

Hurst went on to score a third goal in England's 4-2 victory at Wembley.

Football, India

Had an interesting discussion today ... what will happen first?

An Indian team qualifying into Football WC Finals or India winning a bid to host Football WC owing to its Economic Might and huge fan base..

Of course, if we do host the cup our team will get in by default.

So, quite a few things came up which most people don't know about Indian Football ...

A. India qualified fr 1950 WC; withdrew coz FIFA rejected their request to play barefoot.

B. India won the 1951 & 1962 Asian Games gold.

C. India finished fourth in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

D. India's current rank is 133.

E. WC Qualifiers included 208 countries, some not even members of United Nations.

F. Even China was there in 2002 WC (Ans now they are sending full strength Cricket team to Asian games)

Here is my take on why India sucks at football...

A. Infrastructure; no playgrounds in schools etc etc.

B. Come on, we are not really built sturdy by default Like Europeans. We have to work fr it.

C. Cultural issues; First, sports has always been the second fiddle to academics across the country. Second, I think Indians just cannot perform in a random team; no team spirit.

Sometimes like minded individuals get together and produce results. Sometimes good systems in place ensure delivery. Sometimes the group feels a bonding due to weird reasons; caste, language, region and so on.

I have yet to see a total group of strangers in India willing to work together towards a goal; the grandeur of success, the sense of achieving something together doesn't generate the same motivation.

Thats why we have individual Sporting icons;

Ashok Amritraj, Vishwanathan Anand, Paes and Bhupati, Geet Sethi, Narayan Karthikeyan, Vijender singh, Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar, Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, Jyoti Randhawa, Jeev Milkha Singh.

Even our Cricketing success has been fueled by individuals ... we never play as a team, barring few exceptions. I mean, look at New Zealand and Aussies, they play cricket as a team.

I got a thrashing from many as I pointed the 3rd reason, and fought like hell defending my stand. I played football in college. I know what that sport is like, and I would end this blog by praying that I am proven wrong. Points A and B are small, it's point C that is holding us back.

Blood

When was the last time you bled? I mean blood dripping out of some wound in your body?
It doesn't happen much. And it is horrible if it does.

Last week I accidentally sliced my little finger of right hand across a glass pane.

The feeling is weird. To break it down bit-by-bit, the first sensation i felt was the touch of an object to my finger. Immediate next sensation was that the object was cold; Summer has arrived in Mumbai and a touch of something cold gets immediately registered by the mind.

And then came the pain; I could actually feel the split of skin millimeter by millimeter. As I turned to look at my finger I saw the horror. Blood gushing out; literally gushing. In seconds my hand was filled with blood up to the elbow, and drops were spluttering on the floor below.

It all happened so fast, one just goes haywire seeing all that blood and feeling all that pain. I gathered myself and rushed to get cotton and Dettol ... I pressed it real hard on the wound as I winced in pain. As the bleeding sopped in few minutes, I washed my right arm, scrapped the dry blood off my forearm. The throbbing pain was still there.
I went to the doctor, got it dressed, and came back.

Now, all this was over in less than an hour. But what an experience. As I think about it in hindsight, I feel weird that my blood gushing out like that actually fascinated me. In fact, as I was doing stuff on my laptop the next day, holding the mouse put pressure on my finger wound and it split open again. I did feel the increasing pain but didn't pay attention until I saw red streak appear across my bandage. I even took a picture of it then with my cell. Thank God it was a trickle this time.


The doctor told me to go easy for a couple of days as the cut was very deep. The friends of mine who saw the wound laughed at it because it looks so tiny now. I can understand them; after all, they didn't see the blood and didn't feel the pain.

I still don't get it why I was so fascinated by my blood. Maybe because it is so rare; that last tine I recall it happen this was was way back in college, as I bruises mt arm and knee in a Football match.
I wish it remains really rare.

Waah Waah weekend

People talk a lot about weekend getaways and escapes. I had a different this saturday in Feb. It started in late afternoon being one thing, and ended being quite something else.

I learnt a couple of weeks back that the price of a 1 TB External hard disc has gone below Rs 4500/-. Being a sucker of data storage space I want to keep everything; all movies, all TV Shows, all Photos, all Setups and so on. And so I decided to go to Lamington Road.

We made a pit stop at the Alpha stores in Andheri west. Those stores are one of the kind as well.

Finally we reached Lamington road. The road's name has something to do with Lord Lamington's arrival in early 20th century. Anyways, as we scanned the whole place, I was reminded of Chandni Chowk in Kolkata. A similar huge market with electronic stuff floating everywhere. Unfortunately I did not get my hard disc as the prices had shot up dramatically owing to low supply. I could have never imagined before that Electronic items could have a spot market as well.

Totally drenched in sweat, having walked close to 2 km up and down the road, both me and Rahul were dead exhausted. We both dialed anybody and everybody we knew to get hold of how to get to Bhagat Tarachand. But inside our mind was lurking that feeling;

"It's a weekend, and we've been roaming around in dust and heat on foot for close to 3 hours . It will be a disrespect to the spirit of weekend if we go straight for dinner skipping alcohol"

Thus it was decided on the spot; Beer is on the cards. But there were no good around to go and chill out for some time, so went straight near Zaveri Bazaar area, to find something close to Bhagat Tarachand. We ended up finding a very regular bar, where we had Carlsberg and talked about stuff for more than an hour. The local deep fried snacks and green chutney there deserves a special mention.



Finally, we made our way to the gali to eat, and were stunned to find 6 or 7 Bhagat Tarachand restaurants face to face. Which one is the original? We were determined to eat in the original one only, else this trip would be such a waste. We inquired around, went into the wrong one, and then were redirected to the original one by a person dining in the wrong one.

Once we sat down to eat, we were super hungry and tired. We started with the best thing;

Super chilled buttermilk served in beer bottles


It was an amazing experience. We had dal, paneer, churma, roti made of makka and bajra... authentic punjabi taste all the way. At the end of it we were so full it was hard to move. We had to let go our desires to have gajar halwa, rabdi and lassi. And this all cost us less than Rs 150 /- per head. That in itself was a pleasant shock to us, who are used to shelling out a 1000 bucks on a regular full blown weekend outing.



I re-discovered that Saturday that it's not always about getting to Lonavala, Kashid, Matheran or Alibaug. You need not watch a single movie either. Malls can be given a pass. All the Hard Rock Cafes and Leopolds can be given a pass. Just get out of the comfort zone and see new stuff. It was the most enriching weekend experience we had in a long long time.