Back....

You can’t revive a blog whenever you want to. It either happens or it doesn’t. And right now, I am having one of those moments when you have stuff to say and you think it would be great if you could post a.k.a. vomit it on to your blog. I know it’s been ages since I last posted, but I haven’t been that busy really. Life has been interesting in the past year and a half or so when I’ve been away from the blog. So that means the only reason I haven’t posted is b’coz I am a lazy bum. We all are lazy bums, no? Now that I am home with almost nothing to do and I have stuff to say, I think it’s a good time to bring the blog back to life.


So you drag yourself out of bed at 5 am hoping to see New Zealand like 380/8 and you switch on the TV and you see 410/4 and you realise the difference between dreams and reality is as wide as it can ever be. There has been some criticism of Sehwag’s captaincy when it comes to field placements and bowling changes. It’s unfair to the guy, b’coz he never uses his brain when he bats and he cant be expected to use it when he fields. And when Yuvraj drops a dolly and someone as boring as Franklin hits 52 and a number of edges go thru the slip and gully region, its not really Sehwag’s fault. The real blame should be on Dhoni and Dhoni alone because if he was playing, things may have been different. The best part of the day’s cricket (if you are a sadist) is watching Charu Sharma and Arun Lal discuss the day’s play after stumps. I pity them. Poor guys have no clue what is happening and they are expected to discuss it for I think, like an hour, or maybe more. It’s like Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh discussing Salsa and Tango. Watching it for like 5 minutes proved to be too much for me, and I am glad someone invented the remote control and I am glad we have other TV Channels.


I finished the book ‘You are here’. It’s a funny name for a book. You are here. I’m sure the sequel will be called ‘You are there’ or ‘You have moved’ or better still ‘You are now here’. The author’s name is Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan. Seriously, that is the name. From the name, it sounds like she is either a Kathak danseuse or the author of some research paper titled ‘The study of the effects of algae on water purity in Lake Chihuamuhua’. I just realised that the book title “You are here” has 10 letters and the authors name has 22 letters. The book has Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan on all the pages. I do hope she has a shorter version of that name in real life. Imagine saying “Are you okay, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan?” or “Would you like coffee or tea, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan?” or hearing “Hello, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan here”. But seriously, what’s in a name? I just found it funny that a book called You Are Here would have Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan on all its pages.The book is cool. It is not about all the women liberation and all the feminist gasbag talk. The best part about the book is that it is honest. There are parts of it I can identify with and a lot of it makes sense to me. Now if I can identify with something, it really must be something no? It’s not autobiographical or anything of that sort, and it’s not some story that goes on and on and ultimately ends, sometimes very abruptly. I used to read her blog once upon a time, back in the days when I would religiously read everything in my Google reader, and the book is just an extension of her blog. Her blog is a great read, and the book although a toned down and fictionalised version, is also easy reading. It does get boring at times, but then everything does. Happy I finished the book. It’s one of the few books I have started and finished lately. The same goes for movies. I have never been a movie person. I start to watch a movie at home and I always end up not finishing it either because something more interesting comes up, or its gets so boring that I have to make something more interesting to please come up. The only movies I finish are ones that are watched in the movie hall.


I saw this band called Faridkot on Channel V Launchpad and I loved them. Check them out, the lead singer Inderpreet Singh is cool ...


P.S. As I type this, Arun Lal and Charu Sharma are back on TV. What happened to superheroes? Paging for Superman or Batman or Spiderman, someone needs to be rescued guys... help!!

Top ten books related to Goa

I got this list from Goanet

1. Domnic's Goa: A nostalgic romp through a bygone era.
Author: Domnic Fernandes
Publisher: Abbe Faria Productions
Price: Rs 350.00
Year of publication: 2007

2. Butterflies of Goa
Author: Parag Ragnekar
Publisher: Mineral Foundation of Goa
Price: Rs 150.00
Year of publication: 2007

3. Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History: Pangim
Author: Vasco Pinho
Publisher: Vasco Pinho
Price: Rs Rs 295
Year of publication: 2007

4. How To Be An Instant Goan
Author: Valentino Fernandes
Publisher: Diamond Publications
Price: Rs 150
Year of publication: 2006, 4th edition

5. Goa: A Daughter's Story
Author: Maria Aurora Couto
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs 495 (hb) Rs 350 (pb)
Year of publication: 2004

6. 100 Goan Experiences
Author: Pantaleao Fernandes
Publisher: The Word
Price: Rs 395
Year of publication: 2006

7. Window on Goa: A History and Guide
Author: Maurice Hall
Publisher: Cimino Publishing Group
Price: Rs 695
Year of Publication: 1995

8. The Parish Churches of Goa: A Study of Facade Architecture
Author: Jose Lourenco
Publisher: Amazing Goa Publications
Price: Rs 495
Year of publication: 2006

9. An Historical Sketch of the City of Goa
Author: José Nicolau da Fonseca
Publisher: BR Publishers (Post-copyright reprints)
Price: Rs 575
Year of publication: 2006, originally published in 1878

10. Tivolem: A Novel
Author: Victor Rangel-Ribeiro
Publisher: Milkweed
Price: Rs 495
Year of publication: 1998

Fiction Books

I stopped reading fiction a long time ago. Infact a very long time ago. I think the last time was Enid Blyton in the 7th standard.

My sister has to study Arundhati Roy's God Of Small Things. I was tempted to pick it up and browse through. Dont know whether i should read it or not. Maybe i should. I am just curious to know if it really is as good as it is touted to be. Arundhati Roy comes with a reputation, in any case. Maybe i should try to figure out whether she is worth the Booker Prize. I doubt she will impress a biased mind like mine.

Sometimes, i wonder whats the point of fiction? Is there a goal or moral the author is getting to? And does always the point have to come after 300 pages of bulldust? It is not for me. But when you want to involve in a bit of light, imaginative reading, i guess fiction it is. But i cant stand the romances. I think they are just frustrations of a depressed soul expressed on paper. Like my frustrations on these things called romances.

Fiction is like these soap operas. The two have a lot in common. Both go round and round in circles and end up nowhere. And in the bargain, they tempt a lot of wayward and unaware souls into believing that they are actually heading somewhere.....

Reading fiction can promote a vivid imagination but then, so can daydreaming. Reading fiction can enhance your understanding and analysis of complex situations but then so does life. We learn to deal with the complexities as we move on in life. Reading fiction can provide entertainment and fun, and thats true.