total timepass...

An English colleague of mine recommended reading this book as a good first introduction on the eccentricities of English behaviour, what it means and why it is what it is. The author is a English anthropologist who is trying to look at her countrymen from a distance and make sense of it. (It takes her also quite an effort, I must say!). I would highly recommend reading this book to anyone who has stayed long enough in the UK to be confused and is curious enough to look for answers;-). Its a longish book and will take patience to finish. However, its written in a light funny way and will be an enjoyable read for sure. The author looks at many different aspects of the English way of life - work, play, pubs, social interaction and so on - and based on the behaviours in these situations, comes out with a synthesised list of reasons why they are what they are. The picture below is the outcome of the book. I think its still too cryptic to get it fully just looking at the picture, you nee...

The book, 'Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography' gives a narrative of the sub-continent's history looked at through the lens of its geography. Its nothing really new in terms of the history, I have read a couple of books which narrate it better. The difference of course is that this book brings in the geography as an essential player in the narrative, plus its very easy to read. All in all, time well spent. So rather than writing a book review, I thought it might be more fun just listing some of the interesting facts that I read in the book which I had not known before. And here they are: Early civilisation The Indian subcontinent was attached to Africa and Madagascar when the continents started drifting away Saraswati or Ghaggar was an actual huge river in Rajasthan which dried up leading to a big change in Indian history The Vedic people and people of the Harappan civilisation were not the same people There was no Aryan invasian in...