life... work...

There's nothing of any importance in life—except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are, will come from that. It's the only measure of human value. All the codes of ethics they'll try to ram down your throat are just so much paper money put out by swindlers to fleece people of their virtues. The code of competence is the only system of morality that's on a gold standard.

PS: excerpt from Atlas Shrugged #2

naked!

She looked at him in the exact moment when he turned to look at her. They stood very close to each other. She saw, in his eyes, that he felt as she did. If joy is the aim and the core of existence, she thought, and if that which has the power to give one joy is always guarded as one's deepest secret, then they had seen each other naked in that moment.

PS: I was reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand... Sometimes, her writings and expressions take the readers to the ecstasy!

chivariki migiledi?

Lately, I have not been watering my plant in the blogger's park... Except regular visits to see how others are grooming theirs, I didn't contribute much to this beautiful place... Though it's only three weeks after my engagement, I have been observing a lot of changes, both personally and professionally, in my life... I will leave all those details to later posts... For time being, I will share with you a good old telugu novel, namely CHIVARIKI MIGILEDI (which means, "what'll be left ultimately"), by Buchi babu, written in late 1940's...

The story is all about an idealist, caught with so many unanswered questions about life... He is constantly under distress, puzzled by the enigmatic rules of love, hatred, people, society and life in general... Of course, there is no proportion of breathtaking excitement or sexual enthrallment in this novel... what really impressed me is the way the author has portrayed the roles... There are numerous thoughtful statements in the novel, like: "Marriage is like a maze, those who are outside try to go inside, and those who are inside will try to go outside", "The fallen leaf, and the thirsty crow teach me philosophy", "when you don't know what you really want, you will develop hatred. At the end, even the realization that you don't need anything will abolish that hatred".

So, what's left ultimately? those who know how to read telugu, and are patient enough to go through those countless number of philosophical paragraphs, can read the novel... and those who can't read telugu, nor have the patience, may know the truth by experiencing and analyzing their real life!

interpreter of maladies...

It looks like this corporate life is sucking all my creative juices... no social networking sites, no blogs, no online chats... huh, week starts on monday morning, and comes to a halt only on friday evening... no breaks, no pauses... what the hell???

meanwhile, i am enjoying the only recreation i can find these days... "reading". I came across this wonderful collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of maladies... as it is written on the cover page, "Jhumpa Lahiri is the kind of writer who makes you want grab the next person you see and say Read this! She's a dazzling story teller with a distinctive voice, an eye for nuance, an ear for irony. She is one of the finest short story writers I've read"

Erich Segal

I was introduced to Erich Segal's novels a couple of years back. The first book is "Love Story", which I took one day to finish. The book has thrown me into a kinda trance for the next couple of days. It's not just the story line, but the way the emotions are expressed in the book that makes one feel heavy and light at the same time. I think, he is one of the best authors who has the skill of touching the readers' hearts at their deepest.

If you are a kind of person who likes walking under the snow, still feeling warmth inside with the past memories... if you are the kind of person, who dream with your eyes open... if you are/were in love with somebody... if you have experienced the pain of separation... if you are ambitious and emotional at the same time... then, you must read all of these books by Erich Segal!!!

Love Story: A beautifully written love story between a brilliant plus rich Oliver Barrett, and a decent plus independent Jenny. The story is romantic, funny and tragic too. Unlike other books of this author, this one is written in a brief and lucid style. The reader will be left with tears, if he happens to identify the depth of the story. The novel ends with a nice line, "Love means not ever having to say you're sorry."

Oliver's Story: A sequel to "Love Story", where our protagonist, Oliver, tries to find her dead Jenny in another girl. In the process of internal struggle, to forget Jenny and accept this new girl, Oliver ends up in staying alone in life. That's a kind of portraying a fact that once there was a full-fledged relationship with somebody, it's highly unlikely to find another relationship with the same intensity. It left me so heavy and gloomy for more than a week after reading.

Man, Woman and Child: Yet another emotional world, explored from the point of view of a boy, who was born as a result of his father's infidelity towards his legal wife. It's quite unclear why a happily married man/woman will commit to some temporary attraction. But, the underlying fast might be that we are still one among the other species which are driven by instincts than by morals or conscience. A well written story of the boy's world.

The Class: I felt more close to this novel. A story of five graduate students of Harvard University of the same class. Too much of intelligence and talent, too many expectations out of life, too much of frustration, too much of ego, too much of emotional agony... these are the common qualities that are seen among all the roles that are portrayed. One who has studied at premiere institutes, where everyday is a battle of life, would better identify themselves in this novel. I personally felt that this one is the most grand among all these six novels.

Acts of Faith: Do I love god more, or do I love you more? A constantly nagging question. This story is basically about three people, who are struck in the strict beliefs of their corresponding religions. Does love has any boundaries? Does it goes beyond religion and faith? Something is clear at the end. Nothing is absolute. It's all internal happiness that matters!!!

Doctors: How do you feel about a penis? Is it just another organ that functions for biological activities, or someway different? Well... "DOCTORS" is all about the lives of medical students, who undergo hell like training to accustom to the dead and alive in the same way. There is a beautiful relationship that's shown between Laura and Barney. They are brought up in the same locality. The pursued the same course. They explored relationships with others. They took more than twenty years to realize that they love each other, than anybody else! And, by the way, if you are planning to become a doctor, it is advisable to read DOCTORS before you actually go for that profession!!!

That's briefly about Erich Segal's novels. I am looking for his other two latest books, PRIZES, and LOVE ONLY. But, unfortunately, they are not yet available in Indian book stores. All these books are worth buying, reading and keeping in the shelves for our next generation to read and relish!!!

taare zameen par...

Have you ever been punished for not doing maths homework? Have you ever been told that your hand-writing is like Greek and Latin? Have you ever bunked school and roamed on roads? Have you ever hidden your marks sheet from parents and got a false signature on the progress report? Have you ever been placed in residential school and you waited for your parents' visit on the weekend so desperately? Did you ever feel so difficult to button your shirt or tie your shoe-lace in the childhood? Have you ever been compared to your classmate or brother about your school performance and belittled? Have you ever felt that you can do nothing, in spite of the material support provided by parents? Have you ever yearned for the affectionate touch/embrace from parents? If your answer is 'yes' to at least one of these questions, here is a wonderful movie you should watch and feel!!!

Aamir Khan has proved himself to be good as a director too... With too many touching scenes, pointing at the faults of parents bringing up the children, the story proved to be a timely eye-opener for those who put too high expectations on their children. Darsheel Safary's innocent face with his too long teeth is too cute and fit for the role... Shankar Mahadevan's music is an added credit for the success of the movie...

If you have not yet watched the movie, don't miss it... thanks to Government of India for making the movie tax-free!!!

the namesake...

I have read this touching novel 'the namesake' recently, which kept me reading to the end in one stretch... A story about an Indian family shifted to the land of opportunities, America, and settled there... Ashoke, the father of the protagonist Gogol, met with a dreadful accident during his train journey, when he was reading the short stories by Nikolai Gogol... the same accident, which almost takes him to the doors of the death, motivates him to move to a foreign land to pursue his higher studies... he gets married to a bengali girl, Ashima, during his Ph.D and builds his own world there in that foreign land...

Ashoke names his son by the name of his favorite author, Gogol, the book of whom he was reading during that dreadful accident that haunts him throughout his life... Gogol, along with his sister Sonali (gradually converted to Sonia due to her American ambiance) grows up with a mindset of considering himself truly American... Later, Gogol officially changes his name to Nikhil after numerous embarrassments and other inner feelings... Then onwards, the story goes on describing how he goes to India with his parents, how he hates that ambiance, his two unsuccessful love affairs, his father's sudden death, and finally his unsuccessful marriage with a girl names Moushumi, who turns out to be unfaithful to him... Finally, his mother moves to her motherland leaving Gogol and Sonia to their individual lives...

Jhumpa Lahiri, the author of this novel, starts this story with Ashima's feelings when she was expecting a child... the story takes the readers to their innermost self, dwells out those memories of childhood, points out our way of behaving with parents, and finally the intricate difficulties of typical metro/cosmopolitan lifestyle... a novel worth reading at least once, which leaves us with a nice feeling... just like feeling the touch of a dew drop after a chillingly cold winter night!!

PS: thanks to Deepa, who has gifted this book to me!!!

unanswered...

when the rest of the world is moving ahead... moving ahead on a path that never ends... passing through a myriad of phases... leaving everybody puzzled... not knowing the answer for 'what next?'...

when the rest of the world is moving ahead... i am here... i am here, standing still... puzzled with those countless emotions... those countless feelings... unidentified pains... and, unanswered questions...

the dew drop hanging on the lonely leaf of the banyan plant, grown from the corner of my balcony, is making me wonder... making me wonder 'how this tiny thing has acquired so much of beauty out of nowhere?'

the dog lying besides the road, its leg half crushed by the ruthlessly blind city bus driver, and its hunger never fully satisfied, is asking me... asking me 'in what way you are better than me?'

the golden colored cleavage of the girl in a violet silky top, casually exposed by her while standing in the checkout counter of the grossery store, is questioning me... questioning me 'why the hell are you gaping at me? you don't have an invitation here'

the shapeless awkward stone, lying besides a busy traffic road, decorated with fresh garlands, turmeric and incense sticks, is troubling me... troubling me with a thought 'when will these people be self-reliant rather than blindly worshipping some silly stones'

the clear sky in the night after a day full of rain, with its romantic blue color and added decoration of stars, is throwing me a puzzle... a puzzle 'where is your destination among these stars?'

the last leaf on the unnamed tree in front of my college building, turned to brown and dry after its trimphant longer life than its peers, and finally falling to the ground, is inquiring me... inquiring me 'you will be like me someday. when shall we meet?'

Man, Woman and Child...

Finally, i have finished reading Man, woman and child... a touching story by ERICH SEGAL in his usual and charming style of depicting human relations highly filled with emotions and sentiments... the MAN in the story Bob is happily married with two kids... one fine day he comes to know about a child born to another lady with whom he had a brief affair some ten years ago, who is dead and the kid is left with nobody to take care of him... the story goes on how the MAN and his wife (WOMAN), and the boy (CHILD) go through the emotional crisis to their family... the way the author projected the innocence and perceptiveness of the child is too good... a good novel worth reading... though i have the movie (hindi) version of the same story MASOOM earlier, i liked this book version of the story very much... in fact, the ending of both versions are quite different... particularly, i liked the way the CHILD bids farewell to the MAN's family and decides to live in the way his mother wished!!! hats off to ERICH SEGAL...

Love Actually...

Yesterday, I watched this wonderful romantic comedy movie Love Actually... A mix of different realistic situations where people are confused at the start, and ultimately find their soulmates... A prime minister falling in love with his catering manager, a writer falling in love with his house cleaner who belongs to another native language, a sensitive man who silently loves a girl who marries his best friend, and even a school boy who confidently says that he is in love with his schoolmate... well picturized with a backdrop of christmas season... "Love actually is all around" is the caption!!! I really loved this movie...

With the valentine's day approaching, all radio channels are flooding us with loads of romantic songs... 'thoo bin bathaaye mujhe lekar chal kahin', 'dil ne tujhko chun liya hai, tum bhi is ko chuno na', 'tere bind zindagi se koi shikwa nahin', 'tere bin main yum kaise jiya, kaise jiya tere bin', 'aate jaate, hanste gaate'... and the list goes on!!! each of these songs has it's own flavor of reminding those good old days, where life is just like a bed of flowers and I haven't experienced any pain of separation ever... i liked these lines of nariyalchutney in his post eX... "We always know that looking back on the tears would make us laugh someday. But we never know that looking back at the moments we laughed together would make us cry someday"... With each day passing, our perspective about true relationship may change, but the feeling/soft-corner for those eX's will always be there... of course, many will not admit it!!!

Wherever we are, however we are, and whoever with us... loving somebody makes us feel complete!!! someday, we will say "You can't imagine how beautiful my world has become eversince you walked into it... with you be my side, I am the luckiest person on the earth".

life is beautiful... love actually makes it more beautiful... love actually is all around!!!