Not so idle, after all

For some time I have been thinking (in fact all the times that I made a post on this blog, except for the very first one) that this blog turned out not really about idle thoughts. It is really difficult to write down idle thoughts, much less publish them on web. At the time you do have a chain of thoughts in mind, you are too busy thinking (or should I say, too idle ? ) to write it in any form; when you do get around to writing, that thread is broken, if not lost altogether.
I have more or less turned this blog into my "reading journal". I hope I continue with the activity on this front - that it does not get lost like my travellogue. I didn't manage to write down about my other trips after the first one - that of the day outing to Qutub. Since then, we visited Garden of Five Senses, Neemrana, Nainital, and Mashobra. I still hope to post some of these, although I have given up on the most ambitious of the lot - post on the week long trip to Goa.

The Kite Runner

A friend had gifted me a copy of this book quite some time back. The review had been quite good. But, from what I gathered, the book seemed to be rather sad, and this deterred me from picking it up for quite a long time. For last few months, things have been rather hectic and tiring, and I am not inclined towards heavy reading. Nitin read it some days back, and recommended it, but I still could not muster up enough enthusiasm to start on it. Which goes to show the kind of deep rut I am in - fiction is usually my forte. So, when our recent trip to Shimla promised to provide enough time and opportunity, I looked forward to reading The Kite Runner. I love to read during journeys. As soon as the train started, and everyone settled down, I opened the book. Okay, not exactly - I covered it with a newspaper first, so the pages would not get dog-eared. The first few pages had me engrossed, and I continued to read all the free time I could get, staying up till 1:30 am one night to finish.

 

The book was indeed good, even though there is a constant feeling of sadness throughout; which is to be expected, given the context of the long war and the rule of Taliban in Afghanistan. The story, narrated in first person, is well told. It gets you interested within the first few pages, and manages to sustain this interest till the very end. I think that is one of the main reasons that make it a good read. It portrays different shades of human nature, including the darker ones. It depicts a spectrum of emotions - the innocent joys of childhood, conflicts of an adult mind, devotion of a loyal friend, unapologetic cruelty of an enemy. In spite of all the pain and suffering it shows, and the somber mood it carries, the book does not leave you depressed or gloomy. Perhaps because the negative acts are compensated by virtues - sacrifice, unconditional devotion, remorse, and a desire "to be good again".

HIWSGMAT - Opal Mehta

HIWSGMAT - How I Wasted Some Good Money And Time

We had been browsing in the bookstore, when we found a copy of Kaavya Viswanathan's much commended at first, and much condemned later, book - How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got A Life. Controversies not withstanding, we bought it with not much expectation ("not much expectation" was quite right), considering it a good one time read about college experiences - something like Five Point Someone ( now this is how wrong can one be!).

So, I spent some three hours this saturday afternoon reading this book. The story has been outlined over and over again, in the reviews, so I do not see a point in attempting to recapture it. I would just say that I found it very predictable, and very cliched, and at many places, over the top. It falters in narration and fails to capture one's imagination. One might read it to pass time. Completely avoidable. I wonder if my afternoon could have been better spent sleeping.

I am not joking ...

Last weekend I finished Richard Feynman's "Surely you are joking Mr. Feynman". To summarize my experience, I enjoyed reading it. It makes a light reading (quite unexpected from an autobiographical account of a Nobel prize winning physicist), but intellectual at the same time (which can be expected :-) ).
This book tells the reader about life and times of Feynman through a series of anecdotes, and I appreciated his sense of humor as he relates these. It shows Feynman not just as a dedicated scientist, but as a "normal" human being, who pursues other interests, like music and arts, and gives his best to everything he tries. He plays drums in carnival in Brazil! And holds a one-man painting exhibition!! He is also probably a little eccentric, like scientists are ;-)
This book also gives a brief glimpse of what went into the making of the first atom bomb (though not the reaction of the people who created it, on the aftermath of its deployment). What was missing was a better view of his "personal" side - his emotions and his family, but then this is not exactly an autobiography. At some points he tends to get a little repetitive.
In my view, this book can be enjoyed by people who like non-fiction, as well as those who prefer fiction. But a word of caution : quite a substantial part of it would make sense to people who have an understanding of basic physics. (So, the engineers are safe :-)).

Brand Value

A couple of days back, I happened to glance at a magazine Nitin was reading. From the black-and-white page, one word (Bubble, to be precise) in large font and multi-colored letters, stood out. My immediate response was "What is this article about Google ?" While Nitin described the article, a concious thought appeared in my mind - how did I ever, almost unconciously, associate the article with Google. All I had seen was a word written in red-blue-yellow-green letters - the colors in the logo of Google. What an amazing brand establishment. And recognition!
A brief discussion on "Brand" creation and marketing ensued. Although we have seen the "Brand" at work (and play) innumerous times, it never ceases to amaze me. I am still surprised at the Google incident. And amused to hear about my colleague's two-year-old son (who cannot yet read, and who has not yet developed a special taste for burgers) displaying excitement at the sight of a slightly curved M.

One night at the call centre

One Night at the Call Centre

This weekend I finished the much-hyped (and much-bashed) book by Chetan Bhagat. I was rather disappointed by this book. Although almost all the reviews I had read about it in the papers had thumbed it down, I still had hopes; but well, they were meant not to be. After I had read one-third of the book, I was not particulary interested or enthused to finish it - something that does not happen with me often.

The book is about six people working in night shifts in a team in a call centre, the doom of which is imminent. The book talks of their personal and professional crises, and in the end they set on their way to triumphing over their setbacks.

So, what do I think is wrong with it? That it is very superficial and shallow. Although the setting is new, the story is trite and cliched. Probably I have read too many books with a similar underlying plot, but with much better treatment. It appears that the author has tried to make the emotional upheavel of the characters as the main focus of the book, but the depiction has no depth. The solution they figure out for their professional problems sounds very unrealistic. On the whole, it feels like an account of few of the problems faced by working people, borrowed from miscellaneous sources, and patched (I wont call it "woven") into a story. Even the narration in first person lacks conviction, which was a big plus in his first book, Five Point Someone.

My First Post

Ever since I came to learn about the concept of blogs, I was very keen to create my own blog, and put my thoughts in words. I created my blog with great enthusiasm but considerable amount of inertia held me back from actually writing something. Now, that enthusiasm has risen once again, and I have finally gotten around to make my first post on my blog. I intend to continue the momentum this time. With this newfound energy, I also created another blog, for my travel memoirs - another thing I have wanted to do for a long time, in some form or other. Hopefully I'll be able to write the logs of my most favorite trips sooner rather than later.