This post is to list the books I have. This could help my friends who may accidentally stumble upon this post, and get an idea about the type of books I read, and hence know the sort of books not to gift me if they take it into their heads to get me a gift. Pretty convoluted, huh? Also I am not particular that the books be new. By buying used, you may be able to buy more books. I like more books. I buy books solely for the purpose of reading not to own a collectible. Here is a short list of books I would like to read.
Books I Want
In case you are curious about what I read, let us start here
My Current Reading List
Below is a comprehensive list of all the titles titles I have. This list is not complete and I will try to keep it updated.
Adventure Series
Agatha Christie
Alistair Maclean
Asterix
Biggles
Famous Five
Fantasy Genre
Fatty Series
Georgette Heyer
Indian Classics
Issac Asimov
Scott Orson Card
James Herriot
James Michener
Jeffrey Archer
Perry Mason
PG Wodehouse
Popular Science
Richmal Compton
Random
Monday, February 18, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Ravi K and I ate 60 Idlis
The event described below happened more than a decade ago when J was expecting our first child D. One of the usual features of this pregnancy was that J barely put on any weight. Most people would not guess that she was pregnant especially if she was sitting. And when the lady joined civilization 6 weeks later most people would not believe that she has just delivered a baby.
Most pregnant spouses usually get pampered but not in our house. J still cooked the best meals and our friends use to comment on how well I held up under the pregnancy. One day she made Idli and Sambar. Our friend Ravi K had come that evening to check on us. Ravi is a funny guy although his humor sometimes takes a juvenile turn. I believe that jokes about bodily functions (such as crapping) stops being funny post teen-age after which jokes take the form of sexual innuendoes. In Ravi's case the former type of jokes are yet to lose their appeal. So we suffer.
Getting back to the idli and sambar, J suggested that we eat our idlis hot and we acquiesced gracefully. We must have been very hungry or the food extremely delicious or both. The next thing we remember is J telling us that there was no more idlis left!! We ate so much that we left nothing for a pregnant woman!! Suffice to say neither of us are very proud of this episode in our life.
Most pregnant spouses usually get pampered but not in our house. J still cooked the best meals and our friends use to comment on how well I held up under the pregnancy. One day she made Idli and Sambar. Our friend Ravi K had come that evening to check on us. Ravi is a funny guy although his humor sometimes takes a juvenile turn. I believe that jokes about bodily functions (such as crapping) stops being funny post teen-age after which jokes take the form of sexual innuendoes. In Ravi's case the former type of jokes are yet to lose their appeal. So we suffer.
Getting back to the idli and sambar, J suggested that we eat our idlis hot and we acquiesced gracefully. We must have been very hungry or the food extremely delicious or both. The next thing we remember is J telling us that there was no more idlis left!! We ate so much that we left nothing for a pregnant woman!! Suffice to say neither of us are very proud of this episode in our life.
My nightmare
I dream a lot. I dream daily. Thankfully I do not remember all of them. But some of them are very vivid. You know the type of dream that when couple of days later remind of some event that you think really took place.
It seems it is OK to dream but my mom before my marriage and my wife thereafter do not seem to enjoy listening to me recounting them. So it is your turn to listen.
My dreams come in several varieties. Surprisingly even after 2 decades of being out of college; yes I am old fart; the most common theme seems to be around exams. Sometimes I find that I am at an exam and cannot remember anything that I have studied. Other times I realize that I have not prepared for the exam. Invariably this is always the final semester which would prevent me from graduating!! A variation on this theme is the missed exam. Usually I forget that I have an exam and do not go to college and find out later that I have missed it or I go to college several hours late on the day of the exam. Once or twice I have gone to an exam having studied another subject; I am kidding, that one was real. No really I actually did it and I am told that it is not that uncommon either.
Another genre of dream is about clothing or the lack there of. In all of these I usual find myself in various public places not suitably dressed. Occasionally I am not dressed at all. The strange thing in all these is not the fact that I am embarrassed and want to put on some clothes but that everyone else in my dream is serenely unaware of my natural state!! I must remember to ask our friend Dr. Ram who is a shrink what this dream means.
Then there are the dreams where something bad happens to people especially near and dear and I do not want to talk about them as they make me sad. I have enough pain from reality not to relive the painfulness of these dreams. I am thankful that these dreams are few and far apart.
Lastly I have a large number of dream where I miss a train, flight, or the bus and I have be somewhere urgently. Well I recently had one such dream that took the cake.
In this one I was standing in line at the airport and guess who do I see. Rudy Giuliani was ahead of me and flashing his badge and was being allowed to jump the line. I am digressing this dream is not about Rudy. At that moment I realize that I do not have my tickets!! That did not bother me as much as the fact that I found myself walking empty handed which means I left my computer in office in Velachary, Chennai. The worst of all I did not have my luggage.
My dreams come in several varieties. Surprisingly even after 2 decades of being out of college; yes I am old fart; the most common theme seems to be around exams. Sometimes I find that I am at an exam and cannot remember anything that I have studied. Other times I realize that I have not prepared for the exam. Invariably this is always the final semester which would prevent me from graduating!! A variation on this theme is the missed exam. Usually I forget that I have an exam and do not go to college and find out later that I have missed it or I go to college several hours late on the day of the exam. Once or twice I have gone to an exam having studied another subject; I am kidding, that one was real. No really I actually did it and I am told that it is not that uncommon either.
Another genre of dream is about clothing or the lack there of. In all of these I usual find myself in various public places not suitably dressed. Occasionally I am not dressed at all. The strange thing in all these is not the fact that I am embarrassed and want to put on some clothes but that everyone else in my dream is serenely unaware of my natural state!! I must remember to ask our friend Dr. Ram who is a shrink what this dream means.
Then there are the dreams where something bad happens to people especially near and dear and I do not want to talk about them as they make me sad. I have enough pain from reality not to relive the painfulness of these dreams. I am thankful that these dreams are few and far apart.
Lastly I have a large number of dream where I miss a train, flight, or the bus and I have be somewhere urgently. Well I recently had one such dream that took the cake.
In this one I was standing in line at the airport and guess who do I see. Rudy Giuliani was ahead of me and flashing his badge and was being allowed to jump the line. I am digressing this dream is not about Rudy. At that moment I realize that I do not have my tickets!! That did not bother me as much as the fact that I found myself walking empty handed which means I left my computer in office in Velachary, Chennai. The worst of all I did not have my luggage.
One would be forgiven if they thought I had some valuables in them such as gifts for J and the kids D & M. Not really. I recently discovered that I could buy inexpensive but quality books India. These are books I read as a kid such as Amar Chitra Katha, Enid Blyton, Perry Mason, Agatha Christie, etc. Lufthansa allows 2 check-in bags weighing about 100 pounds along with 15 pounds in carry on luggage. So I usually carry an empty suitcase since all my clothes fill just one bag with the hope that I could fill the other bag full of books for my return trip. The thought that I had wasted an India trip without coming back with books was sickening. I guess only a bookworm would appreciate my anxiety about the missed luggage.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Shaivism and Vaishnavism - Two Exclusive Clubs
More than a decade ago, I heard in graduate school a joke -
Q) What are the three degrees of egoism?
A) I, Iyer, Iyengar
This probably does not make any sense to a Non-Indian and even amongst Indians it is understood best by South Indians. Iyers and Iyengars are two sects of Brahmins predominantly from Southern India. The joke (if it is not clear) is about their snootiness
and therein lies the irony; first some back ground ...
Sometime in 11th century Ramanuja initiated a philosophy what ended up resulting in the sect Sri Vaishnavas or Iyengars. Ramanuja disagreed with the prevailing orthodoxy, which was the Advaita school of thought (that in its time was revolutionary) and Iyers follow Shankara's school of thought.
This post started with a joke, promised an irony. Now you are merely left with boredom. So to tide over the boredom let me recount a story, sorry I mean two stories, one attributed to Shankara and the other to Ramanuja.
While on a walk, some disciples of Shankara were supposed to have shooed a person of lower caste to which this person asked them how that was possible since the same entity (Brahman) that pervaded him also pervaded Shankara. Shankara acknowledged the validity of this argument and is supposed to have apologized.
In the case of Ramanuja, his teacher taught him a powerful mantra, but adjured him to keep it a secret. Those who repeated this mantra were supposed to attain Salvation. Ramanuja immediately called all people, irrespective of caste and creed, to assemble before the temple. He then stood on top of the tower above the front gate of the temple, and shouted out the sacred Mantra to all of them at the top of his voice. His teacher was furious to which Ramanuja said that he would rather see millions attain salvation if that meant torture in hell for himself.
Then the irony as I see it is this;
Both stories clearly demonstrate that at least in the minds of these two men All men were equal. Both these sects were universal in their philosophy. To the best of my knowledge there is no mention of caste. How then do Iyers and Iyengars form two of the most exclusive clubs?
Q) What are the three degrees of egoism?
A) I, Iyer, Iyengar
This probably does not make any sense to a Non-Indian and even amongst Indians it is understood best by South Indians. Iyers and Iyengars are two sects of Brahmins predominantly from Southern India. The joke (if it is not clear) is about their snootiness
and therein lies the irony; first some back ground ...
Sometime in 11th century Ramanuja initiated a philosophy what ended up resulting in the sect Sri Vaishnavas or Iyengars. Ramanuja disagreed with the prevailing orthodoxy, which was the Advaita school of thought (that in its time was revolutionary) and Iyers follow Shankara's school of thought.
This post started with a joke, promised an irony. Now you are merely left with boredom. So to tide over the boredom let me recount a story, sorry I mean two stories, one attributed to Shankara and the other to Ramanuja.
While on a walk, some disciples of Shankara were supposed to have shooed a person of lower caste to which this person asked them how that was possible since the same entity (Brahman) that pervaded him also pervaded Shankara. Shankara acknowledged the validity of this argument and is supposed to have apologized.
In the case of Ramanuja, his teacher taught him a powerful mantra, but adjured him to keep it a secret. Those who repeated this mantra were supposed to attain Salvation. Ramanuja immediately called all people, irrespective of caste and creed, to assemble before the temple. He then stood on top of the tower above the front gate of the temple, and shouted out the sacred Mantra to all of them at the top of his voice. His teacher was furious to which Ramanuja said that he would rather see millions attain salvation if that meant torture in hell for himself.
Then the irony as I see it is this;
Both stories clearly demonstrate that at least in the minds of these two men All men were equal. Both these sects were universal in their philosophy. To the best of my knowledge there is no mention of caste. How then do Iyers and Iyengars form two of the most exclusive clubs?
Sunday, December 30, 2007
As you sow, so shall you reap
Little over a decade and a half ago, a suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. I vividly remember one Sinhalese student at that time telling me in an acidulated voice about how they have this saying in Sri Lanka that can be summarized as follows - if you feed a snake it is apt to bite you in the end. She was referring to Rajiv Gandhi's support for LTTE and its subsequent withdrawal finally culmunating in his assassination by an LTTE suicide bomber. I was shocked at that time. How could someone be so uncharitable? It is a convention that if one is unable to praise the dead one should at least avoid censure.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated a few days ago in Pakistan and my first reaction was how sad. A little later the reaction set in. I now realize that the reaction from the Sinhalese student made sense in a perverse way. This is not to justify my uncharitable thought. It is my thought right now.
Almost all Pakistani political leaders typically follow a policy that can be summed by a saying - To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. In a way Benazir Bhutto's assassination is a logical denouement; the proverbial chicken coming home to roost. For over two decade Pakistan has been been involved in a proxy war using religion as a strategic tool. It has had the tacit approval of all political leader regardless of their public utterances.
Well the creation has now fully come of age. The snake that used to dance to the piper's tune so well initially has realized that it no longer needs to obey the master. It now dances to a tune of its own.
May be some good could come from this. India lost two Prime Ministers to assassination; Mother and Son. Both of them were done in by creations of their own making. This I think lead to certain healthy introspection in India. Last week's event could lead to a maturing of body politic in Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated a few days ago in Pakistan and my first reaction was how sad. A little later the reaction set in. I now realize that the reaction from the Sinhalese student made sense in a perverse way. This is not to justify my uncharitable thought. It is my thought right now.
Almost all Pakistani political leaders typically follow a policy that can be summed by a saying - To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. In a way Benazir Bhutto's assassination is a logical denouement; the proverbial chicken coming home to roost. For over two decade Pakistan has been been involved in a proxy war using religion as a strategic tool. It has had the tacit approval of all political leader regardless of their public utterances.
Well the creation has now fully come of age. The snake that used to dance to the piper's tune so well initially has realized that it no longer needs to obey the master. It now dances to a tune of its own.
May be some good could come from this. India lost two Prime Ministers to assassination; Mother and Son. Both of them were done in by creations of their own making. This I think lead to certain healthy introspection in India. Last week's event could lead to a maturing of body politic in Pakistan.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Can I sing Jana Gana Mana?
A few months ago, to be precise on August 14th, we were having dinner at our friends place. She had also included several other couple we have known for almost a decade now. All of us at the dinner were of Indian origin, settled in this country for over 15 years. All of us had chosen to take US citizenship voluntarily. You must be thinking "If there is a point, please make it now"
Since August 15th, the following day, is the independence day for India, some of the people in this group wanted to sing the Indian National Anthem. I asked the question that having voluntarily chosen American citizenship, if it was appropriate and pretty soon the conversation got pretty heated.
From this point on this post is nothing but me simply bloviating at the WWW. So stop reading if you so choose.
So let me pontificate.
To sing a national anthem of another country; let us face it; India is another country for some of us; is similar to swearing allegiance to another country. No one in US actually twisted our arms to become citizens here. We voluntarily chose this responsibility. In fact we wanted to be US citizens for the multitude of benefits that it gives is starting with no hassle travel all over the world. Moreover in the US thankfully for the white dude, we are just this brown skinned guy who speaks with a funny accent, worships strange gods, eats spicy food etc. We are not thankfully segmented by caste, language, region, and all the many ways we choose to divide ourselves. Don't kid yourself we do not; just check the matrimonial section of any newspaper. This is not to imply that there are not many advantages in remaining Indians. The fact is that all of us made some analysis and chose one over the other. Case closed.
Now obviously certain members of this crowd still felt guilty about their choice.
Some of them tried to gloss over it with the quip "It is just a song". If that were so, why sing it on only August 14th or 15th. Why not sing it in the loo or during showers. These individuals felt emotional and a strong sense of nostalgia when that song was played. Obviously symbols like the flag and national anthem mean something of belonging to a group.
Nuf said.
Since August 15th, the following day, is the independence day for India, some of the people in this group wanted to sing the Indian National Anthem. I asked the question that having voluntarily chosen American citizenship, if it was appropriate and pretty soon the conversation got pretty heated.
From this point on this post is nothing but me simply bloviating at the WWW. So stop reading if you so choose.
So let me pontificate.
To sing a national anthem of another country; let us face it; India is another country for some of us; is similar to swearing allegiance to another country. No one in US actually twisted our arms to become citizens here. We voluntarily chose this responsibility. In fact we wanted to be US citizens for the multitude of benefits that it gives is starting with no hassle travel all over the world. Moreover in the US thankfully for the white dude, we are just this brown skinned guy who speaks with a funny accent, worships strange gods, eats spicy food etc. We are not thankfully segmented by caste, language, region, and all the many ways we choose to divide ourselves. Don't kid yourself we do not; just check the matrimonial section of any newspaper. This is not to imply that there are not many advantages in remaining Indians. The fact is that all of us made some analysis and chose one over the other. Case closed.
Now obviously certain members of this crowd still felt guilty about their choice.
Some of them tried to gloss over it with the quip "It is just a song". If that were so, why sing it on only August 14th or 15th. Why not sing it in the loo or during showers. These individuals felt emotional and a strong sense of nostalgia when that song was played. Obviously symbols like the flag and national anthem mean something of belonging to a group.
Nuf said.
Friday, December 07, 2007
How I went on a hike and ended up eating a great Breakfast instead
Last weekend I was in Bangalore to visit my wife's family. I landed at the house at 5:30 and we leisurely talked about this and that. Usually my b-i-l and I make some plans or other to go see some nearby places. So after talking about various places of interest we settled on a day hike to a place called Shiva Ganga near Tumkur.
We had starting problem. To eat or not, to shower or not, to drive or not etc. Finally we hauled our butts at about 8:30 and left Jayanagar without having had a decent breakfast. Within 10 minutes it was apparent that we should have left much earlier. The traffic was stop and go and near Yashwantpur it pretty much stopped moving. After about 45 minutes of this intermittent driving I could sense my b-i-l getting a little frustrated and I suggested that we just turn around and go back and maybe plan on an early morning hike the next day. By this time our stomachs started making themselves heard rather loudly. As luck would have it we saw some signs by the side of the road that lifted our spirits. Turn left for Golden Palm Resort. It turned out to be a really posh hotel cum restaurant cum resort cum spa. Yup, just a nice place to have a much needed breakfast.
We parked our car and went through a lobby with vaulted ceiling. Beyond that were nicely laid paths with grass, shrubbery, flowers, and trees on either side. In front was a large swimming pool with a restaurant further away. I must tell you that the dosa was really good and so was the coffee. After eating a mere 6 masala dosas and 4 vadas and 2 coffees the world was at peace. I could hear birds chirping again. After idling over our 2nd coffee we paid our bill and drove away. At this point I made a supreme discovery. After the rather sumptuous meal I had lost my appetite for the hike. Moreover since I had landed just the day before from the US the jet lag kicked in making me very sleepy. So to cut it short we went back home!!
A small digression; while we were walking back besides the pool my b-i-l told me how he had stayed earlier at this resort and had met the person who was the manager of the pool. This man was a white man who looked vaguely familiar. My b-i-l could not resist mentioning the fact to pool manager and guessed if he was an ex-cricket player. The white man laughed and said "Jai Bajrang Bali" in anglicized accents.
Did you guess who he is?
He plays one of the bad guys in Mr. India, you know the one trying to steal India's heritage.
Tchuss
We had starting problem. To eat or not, to shower or not, to drive or not etc. Finally we hauled our butts at about 8:30 and left Jayanagar without having had a decent breakfast. Within 10 minutes it was apparent that we should have left much earlier. The traffic was stop and go and near Yashwantpur it pretty much stopped moving. After about 45 minutes of this intermittent driving I could sense my b-i-l getting a little frustrated and I suggested that we just turn around and go back and maybe plan on an early morning hike the next day. By this time our stomachs started making themselves heard rather loudly. As luck would have it we saw some signs by the side of the road that lifted our spirits. Turn left for Golden Palm Resort. It turned out to be a really posh hotel cum restaurant cum resort cum spa. Yup, just a nice place to have a much needed breakfast.
We parked our car and went through a lobby with vaulted ceiling. Beyond that were nicely laid paths with grass, shrubbery, flowers, and trees on either side. In front was a large swimming pool with a restaurant further away. I must tell you that the dosa was really good and so was the coffee. After eating a mere 6 masala dosas and 4 vadas and 2 coffees the world was at peace. I could hear birds chirping again. After idling over our 2nd coffee we paid our bill and drove away. At this point I made a supreme discovery. After the rather sumptuous meal I had lost my appetite for the hike. Moreover since I had landed just the day before from the US the jet lag kicked in making me very sleepy. So to cut it short we went back home!!
A small digression; while we were walking back besides the pool my b-i-l told me how he had stayed earlier at this resort and had met the person who was the manager of the pool. This man was a white man who looked vaguely familiar. My b-i-l could not resist mentioning the fact to pool manager and guessed if he was an ex-cricket player. The white man laughed and said "Jai Bajrang Bali" in anglicized accents.
Did you guess who he is?
He plays one of the bad guys in Mr. India, you know the one trying to steal India's heritage.
Tchuss
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
