My favourite books from last year

Here are 15 books which I would recommend for reading. This selection has been made from the ones I read last year; some for the first time and some I had read earlier but gave them a repeated read – 

1. Chanakya’s Chant – Ashwin Sanghi

2. Immortals of Meluha – Amish Tripathi

3. Secret of the Nagas (sequel to Immortals of Meluha) – Amish Tripathi

4. Open: An Autobiography – Andre Agassi

5. Chowringhee – Shankar

6. The Story of My Assassins – Tarun Tejpal

7. Tunnel of Time (An Autobiography) – R K Laxman

8. Mao – Jung Chang, Jon Holliday

9. The Girl Series – Stieg Larsson

            The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

            The Girl who played with Fire

            The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest

10. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography – Waltor Issacson

11. God save the Dork (sequel to Dork) – Sidin Vadukut

12. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

13. Romancing With Life: An Autobiography – Dev Anand

14. Alchemy of Desire – Tarun Tejpal

15. Curfewed Night – Basharat Peer

P.S. Of these 2 must read are: Open and Curfewed Night. 

Bye

P.P.S. If you are going to buy online, I recommend flipkart.com as you will get great discounts plus very good service and delivery. On sites likes Indiaplaza.com and Infibeam.com you might get additional discount of Rs. 15-20 but you might end up ruing your decision plus their customer care sucks. This is Personal experience. Rest is up to you. After all ours is a democratic country.

Ullu ka pattha

Ullu ka pattha, I have started using this term quite frequently of late. It’s not that I have learnt Hindi just now and hence relishing in exploring new words. I don’t know the reason but it seems that someone has taken glue (not Fevicol as the words do not remain fixed and keep slipping) and stuck it to my tongue. In office, on roads, in taxies, in malls everywhere, the moment somebody irritates me Ullu ka pattha comes out of my mouth. Fortunately nobody whom I have adorned with this title has heard it till now. If someone has heard, he has not understood that the praise was meant for him and I can say this for sure as till date I have not landed in a soup. 

Let me put some pressure on my mind and look for a reason, even an excuse. The closest would be the presence of so many people in my life exhibiting this trait. This seems to be the case in the lives of all my near and dear ones. Allama Iqbal ne sahi kaha hai (Allama Iqbal has correctly said) – 

Barbaad gulistan karne ko to ek hi ullu kafi tha

Yahan Har shakh pe ullu baitha hai anjaam-e-gulisatn kya hoga. 

Literally translated in English it will mean –

For destroying the wonderful garden, even one owl is sufficient. Here there is an owl on each branch, wonder what would be the fate of the garden.

But then as the voiceover in the final scene of the 1984 film Ravan (the movie which had that beautiful song by late Jagjeet Singh – Hum to yun apni zindagi se mile) says – 

Ye tha is film ka ant, kahani ka ant aap par nirbhar hai (this is the end of the film, the end of story depends on you) – This is the literal translation of this sher (couplet) of Iqbal, true meaning depends on you.

P.S. If you remember the difference between Shabdarth and Bhavarth from your High School Hindi class you will understand what I am trying to say. 

Bye

P.P.S. Eureka! I remember from where this term became a catch phrase for me. I had recently watched the movie, Tere Bin Laden. 3 cheers to Noora.....

Thodi bakwaas thoda gyaan

This is the first month of this year and the New Year is marching ahead. 2012, the year when the world as we know is supposed to come to an end according to the Mayan Prophecy (Hope you have seen 2012 where Roland Emmerich has shown everything breaking and falling inside the cracking earth; erupting volcanoes and flooding oceans are the supporting cast in this saga of apocalyptic mayhem). The date is 21.12.2012. Think if it was 20.12.2012, we would have got one more status update to share on Facebook. 20.12 – 2012, so symmetrical, and would have got so many likes and a few comments also from those people who had the time to type (and who do not suffer from writer’s cramp).

I am feeling guilty to admit that till now pangs of anxiety have not started within me. I have not yet started reminiscing about my life. I still sleep till 9:45 in the morning (office starts at 10:30 and I am never late), work hard in the office and have fun. Okay! The second thing was meant to be a joke. Anyway, the good and the bad times, everything which I have done till now, mistakes which I made, problems which I created (off course for others; as I am too smart to create problems for myself). Alas! What I wrote was true as I am one among those unfortunate people who were not born with the inherent talent to be a nuisance to all around them. Sometimes I really miss this quality and wish to be a prodigious troublesome talent. And last but not the least, things which I wished for but could not get in my life like a Porsche, sea facing penthouse on Marine Drive, Nokia Vertu and a candle light dinner with Trisha Krishnan (Oh Jessie, I love you). My God, she was enchanting in Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya (if you have not seen it please watch it because there are films other than Bodyguard and MI4). Off course you will need subtitles if you are not Tamil because the movie is in Tamil (see how smart I am). It is my humble request to you that please do not wait for the Hindi remake called Ek Deewana Tha. Watching Amy Jackson in the trailer made me wish that the world should end right now.

Anyway what I was saying before I started blabbering about Ek Deewana Tha?? Ah! Trisha. Trisha. Trishaaahhh…… Now I remember that I was talking about what I could not get in my life. But why should I repent and feel sad. There is a song from a Hindi movie…..Jo hona hai so hona hai, phir kis baat ka rona hai, kis baat ka rona hai…..

So bhai log and my dear girls/ ladies (I doubt that any female would read this so I can be cheeky ) I will share with you some things which I Learnt in the year 2011. Please be attentive and read carefully to grasp the nuggets of wisdom being imparted here for free (muft, muft, muft, bilkul muft) –

Ajay Rao is a person with a great sense of humour (J, you owe me J) Every time I read his blog, this belief of mine gets stronger. I strongly believe that he should write a book because I think he can be better than Sidin Vadukut, another writer with a great sense of humour (though his sequel to Dork, his first book, was a little amiss). Vadukut is a columnist with Mint and is an avid blogger. Google him and you will find more about him. Those of you who understand Hindi, please get a copy of Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla (He died this year at an age of 86 J). I assure you this is the best piece of humour you can find. Back to Ajay, those of you who don’t know him, don’t put much pressure on your brains, because in that case you will have to spend money and buy Saridon, use that money for better things, e.g. buying a cigaretteJ. He is a college mate and a dear friend. He blogs at jaydedforlife.blogspot.com though occasionally these days. Please read it and give your opinion.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), a French Jurist is known as the father of modern essay, an example of which you are reading right now, every paragraph written here can be an example of a short modern essay, but since it is fashionable to call such writing blog in the world of internet, my dear co-residents of blogosphere, I accept that I have written a BLOG.

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, not original; Steve Jobs got his most famous phrase (he ended his 2005 address at Stanford University with this phrase) from the back page of last issue of The Whole Earth Catalog, an American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972. After 1972 the magazine was appeared occasionally till 1998.

It is better to avoid travelling in Mumbai local trains because no matter how much we romanticise them, when your balls get crushed in the crowded Churchgate- Virar Fast or when your calves are itching but you cannot scratch them because you are holding whatever you can hold inside the train to prevent yourself from getting pushed outside the train, all the romanticism vanishes. Don’t believe me! just imagine such a feeling and you will get the answer. Can’t imagine, well! just travel by a Churchgate – Virar local between 6-8 pm on a weekday

P.S. – Parle – G gives you more energy per Rupee spent than any other biscuit in the market.

Bye