Kite Runner

In my short term memory, I have never had a week of nothing to do. Once I got that, I grabbed it with open hands. Planned and went for a trip in that week. But still had couple of days left. Seeing my wife's adulation of the book Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, I decided to give it a read. Before starting my PhD program, I used to sit with a book in a corner of a room and read the book till I felt hungry or the book got done, whichever happened first. I took the opportunity of reading a book in the 2 days left in my vacation and decided to give Kite Runner a try. I would like to say that it was one of the best fiction novel I have ever read. The book was full of staid sorrow, 'gham', which I normally do not like to read. But Kite Runner, which was full of 'gham', kept pulling me deep into the book and never let me out of its grip. It might be because I related to the context of the book or of the deep empathy the book evokes from the reader, but the book is just phenomenal. The author revels in creating 'gham' through the book without actually writing about it much. The book dishes out in open sight ironical twist of life, i.e. we as human always get a chance to correct things when it happens the first time but we always end up seeking for a second chance to correct it, which either never happens or happens too late to be of any use. For some reason, the book provides what Hosseini calls as a 'cathartic experience'. Thanks to the author kindling the fire to read books back in me again. Lots of the classics referred in the book (like stories of Rostam or the Mullah Mohammed stories) were my child hood favorite and I plan to read through it again.

Things I Would Like to Do More Often

Life after moving to Austin has more or less changed for the better. Work has been fine. Weekdays have been great. The weekends have been wonderful. Have a good bunch of friends here to hang with. Volley ball group is picking up too. But I still feel bad in a corner of my heart that I am not able to spend much time on. Few of those are:
- Take 10 mins in the morning to do some stretching and basic Yoga
- Read more books. I used to be a voracious reader. But now my pace of reading has slowed down. I guess, I need to take my eyes off the Internet when I am at home and read books during that time.
- Bike more. Got a nice Schwinn Hybrid. In the last 3 weeks, have biked 2 times. Goal is to bike atleast twice a week. Cycling provides such a good break from walking.
- Lift weights. I hate this "chore". I dont want to be a hunk. But still lifting weights once a week is good for the muscle. But I just do not get any pleasure doing it within four walls. Grrr...

Best Album and Best Song of ARR (My Opinion)

Slumdog was awesome. But I always think the best album he has ever created was Thiruda Thiruda. It has a eclectic mix of songs. From the slow melodious one from Shakul Hameed (without any instruments) to folksy veerpandiya kotayile to westernic Chandralekha to the crescendo Thee Thee.

Everytime I listen to Thee Thee, I get to hear one more track which I have not heard before. Gosh, there are that many layers in that song that you will lose count of it. I always wished that what would have been the outcome of the song if the current bunch of talent singers from ARR stable lik Tanvi Shah or Chinmayee would have sung that song.

Jai Ho ARR!

Maanbhumigu (H'ble) Padma Shris in India

I think like a month back I read in Indian newsites that the Govt of India has announced the Padma awardees for year 2008, and the list tops more than 100 folks. Gosh, there used to be a time when the Govt will be very hesitant to give more than a handful per year and nowadays they are giving in 100s. As a matter of fact, I remember couple of years when the Govt did not announce any Padma awardees for few years. If Padma awardees, which are supposed to be given to citizens who involved themself to the most highest service of society, is given like kothaval chavadi vegetables then there is something grieviously wrong with Indian Govt. I would like to kindly request Indian Govt to provide the reason behind giving Padma Shri to folks like Aishwarya Rai, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh. WTF have they done to society? Aishwarya has dolled her way to stardom, have we ever heard of a single thing she has done for upliftment of the million folks who pray her as the MOST BEAUTIFUL LADY IN THE WORLD. Yuvraj and Harbhajan, other than throwing tantrums and slapping his fellow teammates, WTF have they done to deserve Padma awards? If Aishwarya has excelled in her field, then give her a National Award or a Dada Saheb Phalke award and not a Padma. If Govt thinks that Yuvi and Harbhajan have excelled in Cricket, please give them Khel Ratna or Arjuna awards. Should we remind them the purpose of such awards.
Govt of India, please, for Petes' sake, don't bastardize an award meant to garner respect from common man.

pssst..
A concerned Indian Citizen

Movies I Caught up With

Wall-E,
Chronicles of Narnia,
Pineapple Express,
Subramaniapuram,
Saroja,
A Wednesday,
Bommalattam

Out of all these movies, I would rate Wall-E and A Wednesday as my pick. Wall-E was a jaw dropping animation extravaganza. Loved every bit of it. A Wednesday was a beautiful thriller. After eons, I have seen a worthwhile movie from so called, THE BOLLYWOOD. Arguments put forth by the protagonist in the movie are very worthy and most of it really kindles some thought process among the viewers. Kudos to the director for giving a sensible movie.

Worst of the lot was Bommalattam. What the crap was Bharathiraja thinking, when he conceived the movie? I guess he thought all the viewers who would see his movies are mango idiots. Shucks. Waste of 3 hours in my life.

Remaining movies were all very good time pass. :)

Saturday/Sundays After Buying a House

Between the last blogpost and now, lots of things have happened, including buying a house, moving to a new city, moving to a totally different practice in work. But the one thing which has pretty much dictated the way I have been managing my time is the House. Gosh, house is like a black hole. Time just disappears in the time warp, which House is. For the first few months, it was all about arranging furniture in rooms. Once that got done, it was all about garden. Now with winter, gardening is out of picture. But there are zillion other things to fix inside the house. I am currently re-staining all the cabinet doors. Did it once, but failed to sand it between coats. That screwed up the stain. Now have to tear down the existing coats of stain, sand it and stain it again. If I am in town, I tend to do some of these work during week days. With me travelling during weekdays for work, week ends have become one-hell-of-a home project time. For quite a while, when one of my friends called me over the weekend, I was invariably in Home Depot or Wal-Mart buying or returning home furnishing stuff. Hope this kind of ends soon. So that I can push on to other pursuits of mine. :D