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.
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