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2 States - Oh please, no!

I don't know why I chose to read '2 States' over 'The Subtle Knife'. My copy of 'Subtle Knife' is sleeping in the shelf. I wish I had finished it off instead of reading this one. M' Okay let me tell why this book was so insipid, [beware of spoilers hehe!] Possible reasons why I picked up this book: 1. Thought it would be a light-read. 2. It involved IIM A 3. Curiosity to know the speciality of Tamil girls 4. Heard it is a slapstick comedy [ which is not, in any way] Top reasons why I disliked it: 1. Cliched plot with stale scenes. [Ithellam nanga 'Poovellam Kettupar' la ye pathutomm, Chetan!!] 2. Making fun of South-Indians went overboard. [where Punjabis were never hurt in any dialogues, a very feeble mocking was clear] 3. Nothing less than a Bollywood drama, too filmy! 4. Totally predictable. 5. Ananya herself [there're are a multitude of reasons to hate her, which I won't enumerate here] 6. The feeling of reading his p

Reunion is bliss

"If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale."  — Nicholas Sparks Today I spent the best of hours in almost a month. We had a reunion with my intimate friends [my lovely cousin incl. but separately]. In case of my friends, it started off with kidding each other and ended with 'miss you's. And with Pavi, it's all about the big laughs we had commenting on others photos, and making fun of the stupid guy who spammed my phone's inbox with funny messages (rofl). There's an assurance with Pavi, which is more laughs per minute. She's a wisecracker you know? Lovely moments!! The above quote reflects my feelings on the reunion. God! I miss y'all terribly.

The Age Factor

Does anyone think that I write in an elderly way? Because I have no clue why some people misinterpret my age.  First of all, let me tell you my looks are not in anyway linked here to this topic. :P The count has gone to 3, the people who thought that I am elder than what I really am. Let me substantiate, the other day my cousin showed my blog to her friend and was told that her friend didn't believe that I am in my early 20's...blow me!!... why would she think so?? Ok, and another day my blogger friend [we know each other through a mutual friend] thought that I was her friend's[the mutual friend] akka or somebody...SHOOT me!! Even my classmate thinks so... I went back through my posts once again and felt ill at ease. And you know "I am my own worse critic",  so I guess my posts didn't reflect my youthful nature ;)....nangalum youth than nangalum youth than...heheh! What am I supposed to do just ramble something hyperactively to prove my age? Anyway if I&#

What is this D/L method, mate?!?!

If a match is intefered by rain and the result is restrained by it, they calculate a score [which is unlikely] by the Duckworth-Lewis method. But how do they do that? Am I the only one who never understood the Duckworth Lewis method. Okay, I was so vetty that I took pains[:P] to do a petty research about it.[Mostly Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V work]. Who are these complicators? The D/L method was devised by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis. Applying the D/L method The procedure for setting a revised target, which is the same for any number of stoppages at any stage of the match, is as follows. For each team's innings (a) from the table note the resource percentage the team had available at the start of their innings; (b) using the table, calculate the resource percentage lost by each interruption; (c) hence calculate the resource percentage available. If Team 2 have less resources available than Team 1, then calculate the ratio of the resources available to th

Simple, yet poignant lyrics (II)

I've got a knack of discovering pleasant songs, excellent movies, endearing books very late in time, sometimes even after it's fad fades away. One such song is Perunthil nee enaku... The beauty of this song is that it relates to some very simple, unnoticed but pleasing moments in a our day to day life. The duet is of two people who sing about  what they mean to each other. There are some cute imperfections in Madhushri's tamil pronunciation but the male singer makes up for all that. Duh! Why do I even have to annotate the lyrics? It speaks for itself. ;) Perunthil nee enaku jannal oram Pin vasal mutrathil ne tulasi madam Vidumurai natkalil pallikoodam Vilayattu pillaigalin chella kobam Aalilla nalliravil ketkum padal Anbe anbe neeye (hmmm....) Payanathil varugira siru thookam Paruvathil mulaikira muthal koocham Paritchaiku padikira athikalai Kazhuthinil vizhundhidum mudhal maalai Pughaipadam edukkayil thinarum punnagai Anbe anbe neethane Adai

A day of surprises

A blog without school time remembrances would be incomplete. So here I present one charming memory I use to think and smile of. I've always cherished the days I'd spent with Devi and Sudha. So much fun, so many recollections. One fine day, when we were at Std VII we decided to surprise each other the next day. I went home thinking hard about what to do. I wanted my surprise to be the best and at the same time I couldn't think of anything you know... we used to have regular HW and other stuff to do. I sat down to prepare two small bouquets each with a rose and a few leaves with plastic paper around it.[I love bouquets] and took them to school. Sudha had surprised us with a card full of rare leaves and a quiz in it asking us to guess the trees which they belong to. A thoughtful surprise, wasn't it? I guessed a few leaves but nothing was right I think. Then it was Nakhs' turn, she didn't bring anything like us. I had no idea what she was going to do. I tho

Little Miss Arrogant Kapoor

No..no... it's not about Kareena[possible mistake, quite understandable] It's about Sonam :P. Sonam thinks she's so intelligent and rich in attitude. But to my eyes everything she does seems to be too funny and annoying. This is just a compilation of various things I've read, heard and seen about Sonam Kapoor. Disclaimer: No offense. If you really like her, take it light-heartedly. Facts: Her words: Tools to offend anybody irrespective of age and fame. Her vanity factor: She reads five books a day. Never forgets to mention her reading list on every intervew. What does she think of herself?(I) A fashionista, but wears uncomfortable costumes and embarrasses herself. How old is she? 2 films old [yet to give a hit] ana scene mattum... She says that Imran is gorgeous and the most beautiful man she has seen so far. [I guess this is to offend the current crop actors esp. Ranbir] Calls Aishwarya, Aunty since she acted with her Dad. Yet she romances Uncle[Au

UID Card from 'The Unique Identification Authority of India'

What is the future of Unique Identification in India? The nation is envisioning the effectuation of the Multipurpose National Identity Card or Unique Identification card (UID Card) project by 2011. The card will possess a unique identification number which each Indian citizen will carry as  a permanent identifier from birth to death that also contains biometric data and photographs.   The permanent identifier which will also cover children, will help in at establishing citizenship, reducing identity related frauds, addresses security issues and prevent leakages in different government schemes. However, other reports claim that obtaining a unique number would be voluntary, but those that opt to stay out of the system "will find it very inconvenient: they will not have access to facilities that require you to cite your ID number". As the unique identity database comes into existence, the usual  identity databases including passports, ration cards, licenses, fishing perm

Mothers and sons

Generally, mothers are closely bonded with their sons. They naturally show favouritism for their sons. There maybe many reasons. Here I quote an extract from "The Thorn Birds -by Colleen McCullough" which I read a few years back. This is a conversation between a Father Ralph deBricassart and Fee Cleary who are friends where they talk about the Cleary family and the deaths of her sons. "Fee, I want you to think about something." "Yes, what?" She was dark again. "Are you listening to me?" he asked sharply, worried and suddenly more frightened than before. For a long moment he thought she had retreated so far into herself even the harshness of his voice hadn't penetrated, but up blazed the beacon again, and her lips parted. "My poor Paddy! My poor Stuart! My poor Frank!" she mourned, then got herself under that iron control once more, as if she was determined to elongate her periods of darkness until the light shone no more i

Steve Waugh: Compassion personified

Nicknamed Iceman , Steve Waugh has melted himself to support the misfortunate children with Steve Waugh Foundation India after his retirement. Inearly 2000's, he linked himself to Udayan [a trust to help leper children] West Bengal India and still being a great patron of it. What other reason can anyone ask for being an admirer of him. The children there, were so emotionally attached to him that they called him 'Steve da' and once a child quoted, "We want India to win, but Waugh to score a century" on a test match played by Ind & Aus. Ha..this is true diplomacy but its actually sweet. An Australian, opening a Global Foundation in India to manage his charity work around the world is not something usual. Australians are infamous for racism and sledges. They are like "India is a beautiful country and a great place", "We love to tour India, the people are very good"...These are the statements thrown away by various cricketers who come to In

Girl's adornment

The yellow metal, Gold is every girl's delight[Atleast Indian]. But that time is gone. Girls prefer the other versions of jewellery. I never had a great liking for gold ornaments. Still gold doesn't have even 1/10th of the attraction I hold for books or gadgets[not including Platinum :P]. My mom used to tease me that my dad wouldn't have to spend much to buy me wedding jewellery, they can make it inexpensive. But hold on, Mom I've started liking golden ornaments. :P The other day we went to Jeweller's and bought me a casual necklace. Our budget was small but what I chose was a bit overboard. So I gave up considering the alarming prices of jewels. My mom was surprised and satisfied that I was no longer reluctant to chose jewels. Maybe this is a sign of my coming of age. Often men used to taunt females doting upon jewellery... "Diamonds are a girl's best friend and a man's worst enemy."  But men don't seem to realize that it's a girl

The Heyer Flavour

The Grand Sophy, a Georgette Heyer book. I happened to read this last week and it was an endearing read. A medium paced regency novel. It's not that regular stereotyped Regency romance but an entertaining plot with a mordern heroine misplaced in the olden era. It was fun to read and the romance, very subtle and creative. The 20 year old Sophy, the herione is a girl of good quality, wit and sensibility with a touch of lovely sense of humour. She can fix anything I mean everything and can be a reasonable judge for any case. The other characters are very real and natural. The leading man, Charles Rivenhall and Sophy Stanton-Lacy bicker, disagree, and fight with each other until barely the last page where Charles finally declares his love for her. The situations for the scenes are very realistic and simple esp. the ducks roaming about the manor where the climax takes place. Sometimes you even laugh out loud for certain conversations. Totally enjoyable fiction. I'm sure going to

Small Wonder Big Amusement

Small Wonder, the sitcom aired during the late 80's which was re-telecasted on StarVijay 2 or 3 years back is one of my faves. I practically never missed the show in the evenings. For those who already know about this there's no need of description. But.. The sci-fi series is based on situations that arise in daily life of the Lawson family.                A brief character info: Vicki Lawson - A robot in the form of a human girl created by Ted Lawson. Jamie Lawson - Only son of Mr. Lawson Ted Lawson - Robotics scientist Joan Lawson - Wife of Ted. Harriet Brindle - A nosy neighbour. And others. You'll be bugged if you watched this now[i.e. late 2000s] due to the outdatedness of it. But that drew me to it. Every episode had a decent plot and a good point to consider for children. The silliness in the series is the high-spot, while the timely background laughter adds humor to it. Tiffany Brissette's[Vicki] expressionless face and spiritless eyes make her a classy

The Prestige & The illusionist

Two period drama movies which quite made a lasting impression. I'm too unworthy to judge the movies because my knowledge in this genre is just fair. Except for the genre, the movies are completely different...very different. To look into ' The Prestige ', a thriller with an unexpected climax, made me think over it for long hours before I could get it clear. The exceptional acting of Christian Bale lured me to watch the film and later I discovered that Hugh Jackman was incredible too.         Robert Angier and Alfred Borden at a show The movie simply explains what all a man can do to attain the peek of fame and glory. Both Bale and Jackman meticulously and dedicatedly persue their magic careers where Jackman owes revenge on Bale. All the time I thought Bale was the negative one where he finally turned out to be the better one. Never seen such an intriguing film as far as I could remember. Now, ' The Illusionist '... while I was flicking past the tv chan

Is Perfection a myth?

I have always wondered about the title. Why is PERFECTION considered to be a super noun? You may assume that I'd liked to be a perfectionist once and never been successful. That is 99.999% true. Sometimes I get a strange brainwave... like beauty, perfection may also lie in the eyes of the beholder.That does answer my own complex questions. Turning back to my past, I've never had a perfect friend or a perfect beau or a perfect situation. If your work is appreciated to be perfect then keep tabs on it, it'll be considered so only until someone else comes up with a better idea. Our parents, teachers and elders repeatedly ask us to hone up our skills to perfection. I made that to sink in my mind and work for it. But in the end I just want to scream that 'Perfection doesn't exist'. Striving for something that can't be achieved. We have to stop trying or we're going to end up dying. After all 'Perfection itself is a myth'[I believe so]. I prefer

Some trivial facts about me.

Here I am... after a very long time, entering the world of Push-button publishing as they call it. I wish I could post something really catchy...But nothing pops in my mind. So I present to you some crap... [An inspired post] A few trivial facts about me, I can do a 'bottoms up' in a 200 ml Pepsi bottle. My mom calls me a loafer but she never knows that I admit it silently. I do confess that I had a strong crush on Eric Bana. I've never been good at mental calculation. I simply hate driving vehicles. I often self-pity myself. I can't beat that. I fell easily for the pompous nature of Mr. Darcy [P&P] but failed to feel the love of Edward Cullen[Twilight] for Bella Swan. I could eat Lay's potato chips even when my stomach is so full. According to my cousins, I cook the most delicious noodles in the whole world. ;) I love Regency Period's dress style. But it'd be too odd to get unnoticed.[Thats why I didn't try] I always bother