total timepass...

In recent years, I have diversified from reading only fiction, to sometimes reading history books. And I just love them. One because they are still stories (so I don't miss fiction) and second because there is so much more that you can understand about the current world, its intricacies and under currents if you can understand and follow its history better. I was always interested in understanding the events in the Middle East, especially the Israel-Palestine conflict and realised I had only a half-knowledge about the issues for a long time. Reading Wiki helped, but not enough as Wiki is good enough to get some information about something, but if you need a detailed insight about anything, Wiki too falls short. So one day in the library, I just picked up this book randomly. And it turned out to be a successful experiment. Of course I learnt a lot about the Middle East through it. But I realised two other things which I tend to sometimes forget. One, its fun to pick random boo...

In recent time, criticism for Apple has started to dominate the news a lot more than appreciation. And maybe justifiably so, Apple has started to lag Google/Samsung products. But one thing even Apple critics will accept, their products are way way ahead of Microsoft, which is still used by the majority in the world. The fact that it took Bill Gates an entire day to setup his own built software is testimony to that! I wonder if this news article is true or not, but its definitely believable!

I know its not right to compare India with a Scandinavian country, they are way ahead from even the rest of the world, that comparing them with India is just not fair. Still it does increase the irony.. My question is this (la Arnab style), what would India have been if like in Norway, a huge oil reserve had been found in India. Am sure the result would NEVER have been this . In 25 years, the sovereign fund has (notionally) made every Norwegian a millionaire. If this had happened in India, what would have been the result in 25 years? The mind runs wild, The Gandhis could become multi-multi billionaires The Mulayam/Laloo Yadavs could become billionaires Amma, Maya could become billionaires A Raja could be a billionaire ........... The options are infinite, except every Indian becoming a (notional) lakhpati even! That is the one option we all know is not realistically an option. How sad is that?

Strangers on a train is a play based on the Hitchcock movie by the same name, but with a storyline of its own. It is based on quite an interesting idea, that two strangers who meet on a train agree to murder a person for the other. And they think they will never get caught, because the police will never suspect them as they are not connected. One of those people is a rich heir (Bruno), who wants to have his father out of the way, and the other is an architect (Guy) who is troubled by his ex-wife. What follows is a psychological thriller, where Bruno carries out the murder and then blackmails Guy into committing his part of the deal. But Bruno does not leave Guy alone, he vitiates his life, his soul, his relationship with his wife, and ruins him to the point of destruction. The play is very well acted, and Bruno as a psychologically challenged person is the highlight. There did feel a homosexual tinge in his acting, I wonder if that was also part of the story or not. The sets in t...

There are many authors that I have been impressed with, but Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a world apart. There are authors who write, and then there are authors who make you feel.. And Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of them... I have read 'Love In The Times Of Cholera', '100 Years Of Solitude', ' In Evil Hour' and ' Leaf Storm'. And each book had the same effect on me, it made me flow with the words. The whole writing style is so dreamy, so unreal, so poetic; its very tough to describe what you feel when you read his books. The stories are actually very average, they are all over the place, unrealistic, sometimes even confused. But its his words which create the magic! They take you through a journey, where you forget yourself and just see the world that he wants you to see.. Its almost as if you are cut off from the rest of the world when you read his books, you flow with the stories, and come back to the real world only when you keep the book down... ...

After a very long time, I saw a movie as soon as it released; not because Dhoom is an amazing franchise, but only because of Aamir Khan! He has single-handedly changed people's expectations from stars nowadays, plus a hope that commercial actors can also do good movies! This time though I was disappointed... The weaknesses of the movie are many. What is Katrina doing in the movie, other than have two scenes where she has dialogues? Why is Aamir making a weird face all the time? His escapades are not well-planned at all. He doesn't wear masks, how is he not recognised? Why is every action sequence shown in slow motion, and extended unto boredom? Why another 'inspiration' from a Hollywood movie? Really, it was quite a bad movie, worse than Dhoom 2 for sure. It was still bearable because it was Aamir, but still it was a pain on the eyes and the brain! The only thing I liked in the movie was the theatre musical sequence. It has been beautifully choreographed and execut...

I went in to watch Hunger Games with a little bit of skepticism, as I had not been bowled over by the last version. Not really because the movie wasn't good, but because it made me feel very helpless, seeing what the games meant! But I came out of Part 2 feeling a lot happier than before, mostly because it ended with hope. The plot moves ahead from where it left off, Katniss is now a heroine and goes around the empire as the latest winner. Even though she faces internal dilemmas and does not want to be held to the empire's principles, she nonetheless follows them for the safety of her family. Inspite of that, disturbances break out across the districts because of her. And then she gets to go back into the games, as part of the 75th celebration which has winners from the previous games. The games feel different, and even though as tough, there seems to be an alliance around her. At the end of the games, she survives, realising she was part of a plan for an upcoming revoluti...