Bartimaeus- the world's most notorious djinni

Book just read -

Golem's eye. The second book in the Bartimaeus trilogy.

Books in hand -

Adventures of Sally by PGW

Emily's Quest by LM Montgomery

Mostly Harmless by Doug Adams.

3 dull boring research papers ( to be honest 1 dull one. the others have been very useful and understandable. I am very happy when I find a journal paper that doesnt OHT (overhead transmit) . A couple of them have been a delight to read. Maano ya na maano :-D

Coming back to the Bartimaeus trilogy, the first book in the series was Amulet of Samarkhand. This is the story of an orphaned boy called Nathaniel who wants to be a famous magician. The story is set in London which is ruled by Magicians. ( The muggles here are called the commoners. thank god for a decent name. This we are used to, as every news channel keeps talking about aam aadmi and common man.. pray tell me who is an uncommon man!!)
Anyway he summons up a djinn called Bartimaeus who has been around for quite a long time. The djinn is a delightful character. He is witty, very vain, very practical, has a very condescending opinion of humans. His thoughts have been put as footnotes and they are the ones to watch out for. The story gets more engaging in the second book, Golem's eye. Looking forward to reading the third part.

You can check out the excerpts at their site. Its a book worth reading. Infact I found it more fascinating than the Harry Potters.

Goodnight :-)

Water goes to Oscar

Have you seen the movie? This is when I joined John Abraham's fanclub. Lisa was gorgeous as ever and Seema Biswas brilliant. But what stayed in the mind after the movie was the girl who played the role of Chuhiya. Cute, chubby chubby and a moving perfomance. Im happy that this movie goes to Oscar but afsos from Canada. What is India's nomination this time ?



Saw a good review of Dor on rediff. Would love to see the movie. Ayesha Takia was very refreshing in Socha Na Tha, Shreyas was mind blowing in Iqbal and Nagesh Kukunoor 's movies are always a delight :-) Will it be released in Chennai! Im watching out :-)

Comments

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But I would more or less like the readers to follow the guidelines given at the IM comment policy site. I think they are reasonable and easy enough to follow. Also, please dont post anonymous comments. Leave your name behind. Nameless comments will not be retained.

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The views put up here are entirely my own and I hope they dont hurt nebody. And if they are disagreeable to nebody, they are entitled to their own opinions.

I write the blog because I enjoy it and my readers are mainly my friends who do know what I mean or I dont mean by something or others who have come to know me. And criticism from them has been always taken with pleasure and my misconceptions cleared too. I have not put it up at any publicity site either. So I dont consider it an obligation for everyone to read and suffer my ramblings.
In short, decent debates are always welcome but please dont be nasty :-D

Miffed and hmphh-ing

1. My cycle is missing :-| I had not seen it for the past 3 weeks and when I checked today it was not there. The security people have been nice to me and they are my last hope. Its only a cycle but it was the first thing I bought with my fellowship and was quite attached to it. sob sob.
2. Dosai in mess. Believe me I hate them by now. And instead of fruit salad, they served cut and mashed bananas. Yewww. The mess servers think they are as clean as a baby and so shuffle and massage the food stuff and serve it to us. Tomorrow's breakfast is also repulsive. They call it uttapam but looks more like the things they feed an elephant. Fat and raw at core.
   
3. To leave physics or not to is the dilemma and the first tentative step away has to be taken by tomorrow evening. I dread talking to my advisor about it. But whats gotta be done gotta be done. I wish I could see my future. I will even be very grateful if there is somebody out there who knows who I am and what I want and makes the decisions for me. I no longer know myself what to do :-D

On the bright side, Im reading a nice sweet novel by LM Montgomery called Emily Climbs. Its the second part of the Emily series and very cute. It has a third part too. I think its called Emily's Quest. Plus my friend has bought the second part of Amulet Of Samarkhand so more of Bartimeus awaiting me :-D Thats a djinni with an attitude haan!!
Plus weekend is not far away :-) These days I even love the food I cook :-D Homemade food is the mantra. Once upon a time I used to hate eating and wished for nutrition capsules.
Thats why people say watch what you ask for.

I have lost all hope now :-D

I happened to overhear a conversation in the canteen today. (Actually I overheard only the first part of the conversation. I turned towards them and actively listened to the rest of it. :-D ) Was pretty shocked, surprised and amused in turns. Ill try to sketch the picture for you here (atleast the gist)

( 3 guys, all of them btechs, maybe in 2nd/3rd year were discussing)

A: Arre yaar tu kaisi ladki se shaadi karega?

B: arre use ghar ka kaam aana chahiye, zyada ladkon ke saath na mili ho, khaana theek se banaaye.

C: Haan yaar hamaare yahan to 4th std mein hi ladkiyaan chaaye banaa leti hain. zyada se zyada ladkiyan 10th 12th tak padhti hain

B: arre 10th 12th tak padhi ho to ye sab seekhne ka time kahaan milega.

A; u know meri mausi doctor hain par sab kaam tareeke se karti hain, har cheez banaa deti hain.

B: ye sab maa baap par bhi depend karta hai na. jaisa sikhate hain wahi to hoga. maine kayi gharon mein ye bhi dekha hai k ladke badhiya khaana bana lete hain.

A; u know ladkiyon ko padhao to wo guys ka advantage cut ho jaata hai..

Believe me Im not bluffing. We were stunned. Pin drop silence in our table. This was just too good to miss :-D Im sure these creatures will also demand dowries. Wo ladkon waala advantage jo mil gaya hai unhe!! I hope that atleast by the time they graduate, they get rid of their medieval ideas.

Why did I lose hope? Well I thought today's educated men wouldnt mind dealing with a person like me. I have failed the criteria of 10th std education. I can cook sparing a few accidents (I will not starve) but not perfectly. But then I have a hope that this species is in minority. I hope to god that Im right :-D

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I saw Munich

And I liked it. Before watching the movie, I had reservations about it. LIke I said, I could not read more than 100 pages of O Jerusalem because I was biased against it. This time I was determined that Ill sit through the full movie whatever be the case. And I liked it. I felt it had a balanced view. When one looks at the issue from either side, one feels both the parties are justified. The jews had to have a home right! And the palestinians have been robbed of their home too! There is a scene where a palestinian fidayeen says to the israeli assasin "my father did not gas your father". So true!! They are paying for someone else' crimes. The movie was from Israel's point of view but it still had glimpses of the other party's stand. Showed the human side of the "terrorists" too. Its a Steven Spielberg movie and Im told he is a Jew. Im impressed :-)

History and women

I heard a very good talk today by Urvashi Butalia, a feminist historian. She talked about how history marginalises women's concerns. The talk was not on women in history but history from a woman's perspective. She specifically focussed on the history of partition. She highlighted how women were the principal victims by narrating 3 stories, and yet their (women's) plight does not find mention in the history records. This mainly depends on who writes history right! As its often said, history is written by the victorious. She raised this issue that history is much more than leaders and wars. It is also made by the people living that age. So looking into the lives which lived the trauma of partition would give us a richer history.

I used to feel this when I used to read Glimpses of world history. 200 years of a nation's history are summed up in 4 pages with major events highlighted. They say 'people lived through the worst, barbarous dynasties for over 100 years and then the regime changed'. Thats it. 100 years of hardship summed up in one line! Maybe thats why we have arts and culture so that the future generations have something other than wars, plagues and conspiracies to remember us by. This also gives us hope. We can always say "This too shall pass" ( I forget where I heard this. )

Anyway, it was a very clear, coherent talk. I liked it immensely. I admired her clear thinking. I think thats what separates the experts from the others in every field. The discussion which followed was the icing on the cake. A guy asked her what is feminism for her. She said that its the right to live her life on her own terms, the right to choose whats good for her and since it should apply to everyone, its actually humanism but humanists generally ignore the women :-D

Of books and movies

I got to see two classic movies on Sony Pix- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner & Lawrence of Arabia. Sydney Poitier had awesome presence in the first one (Kya Style hai! ) and the other one had real good dialogues. Its 3 hrs 45 mins long though.

Somebody recommended The Constant Gardener to me. Waiting to see the movie. Movie in campus this week is Munich. I checked it out on ImDB and I think Ill give it a try.

Im reading Orwell's 1984 in spells. Its difficult to read it in one go as it can get very depressing. All throughout one gets the feeling that there is no hope. I have ditched reading Glimpses of World History :-( I had reached till the era when Mughals came into picture. Someday when Im free Ill finish this. I have an allergy these days to detective, thrillers themes in books so much that I cant even read Agatha Christies. Im told Georgette Heyer writes good detective novels but I am staying away from them. She otherwise writes romances with the heroes being garbed in lavender satin breeches and pink coats and red shoes. I used to be a big fan of hers once upon a time :-D I think I have grown old. Really!

This comic strip is so apt sometimes !!

9/11 and satyagraha

Much has been said about 9/11. Year after year the world over, this day is mourned. Because 5000 people died. Yes they didnt deserve to die. What happened should never have happened. But then as a consequence, millions elsewhere have died. Well life seems to be much cheaper everywhere else. I mourn 9/11 for the millions dead. In The Hindu, there were some really good articles on this occasion.

9/11: five years later - A reflective article on the pros and cons of 9/11.

The other 9/11 - This one pointed out the other significances of 9/11 - Gandhiji's Satyagraha, Swami Vivekananda's address in Chicago..

Hands off Lebanon - "It has to be realised that wars are not a deterrent to terrorism..."
A good article on the current state of affairs in that country.

No wonder I love The Hindu. :-)

Dont dance so fast

(One of the email fwds I received - a poem written by a teenager suffering from Cancer. Its beautiful na!)

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"Hi"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

*****
sighhh I seem to take my life much slower as it is....

psst I thought Ill reduce the frequency of my posts. Will it work! mmm....
By the way this blogspot enters its 3rd year in action this September :-)

Why me?

Arthur Ashe was a tennis legend who later died of AIDS.
I read this about him on wikipedia :

During his battle with AIDS, from the world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does God have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied: The world over -- 50,000,000 children start playing tennis, 5,000,000 learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD "Why me?". And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?"

Steve McCurry's gallery

Check out Steve McCurry's gallery for more colourful pics of India.
But I also remember Circuit's dialogue in Munnabhai MBBS where he says to the foreign photographers that " tumhe India mein bhooke nange hi dekhne ko milte hain! Taj ki tasveer nikaalo na!! " Applies to this too :)

I want to see Lage Raho Munnabhai, Ahista Ahista and Jillunu Oru Kaadhal (Tamil), the last one more so cos of ARR's music. It rocks. New york Nagaram (sung by ARR himself), Munbe Va, Kummi Adi are my favourite tracks. Try listening to them :-) I too dont understand most of the words but I love the music :-)

He he Jillunu Oru Kaadhal according to me translates to "One Chilled love" :-D
One girl had translated Poovellaam Un Vaasam as "Flower all your smell" :-D