Doomsday clock advances!

CHICAGO/CHENNAI. The Bulletin of Atomic scientists today released a press statement, announcing that the doomsday clock has been shifted to 30 seconds to midnight. This announcement, today has sent shock waves throughout the world as the clock reached the closest time to midnight since its inception in 1953, which according to the board means catastrophic destruction on earth which can include complete annihilation of the human species. The clock though initially created just to represent the threat of global nuclear war, now signifies any change in climate or activities that may threaten or create harm to humans.

The press release also stated that the reason for this sudden decision to advance the clock by 4.5 minutes to 30 seconds, from its current position of 5 minutes was due to recent activities in the Southern part of India, namely the state of Tamil Nadu. The recent spate of movie releases by a certain south Indian actor by the name of Joseph Vijay has been deemed by the bulletin to be "hazardous and of harm to anyone who watches the movie", unnamed sources said. The bulletin also warned that one more movie from the said person could raise tensions across the world with many governments already involved in a covert operation to protect their citizens from watching the movie. Our Intel revealed that these operations include discreet activities such as booking all tickets at every show, making theatres apparate thus leaving citizens lost and even paying Vijay to perform in advertisements, supporting the Chennai SuperKings at every practise session, changing room team meet and providing a dance intro to MS Dhoni at every batting session. The International Monetary Fund is in the process of allocating a global budget for this purpose. Sources from within the Indian government have been quoted as saying that the Indian parliament is not amused by this man's antics and is contemplating on a ban if he attempts another movie despite all the precautions. The utilisation of the controversial POTA act is also being mulled, though political observers feel that the government might be better off by just putting in place a 50km radius ban on him and any video or still camera.

Unsuspecting fans who fervently awaited his new release "vettaikaran" which was screened at theatres on Dec 18th, exited the theatres in tears as they mulled on the sanity of their once beloved star. " He is just getting worse by the day! He jumped onto the roofs of trains in previous films and now he dares break pillars with his bare hands! Does he think he is the Captain or what??", wailed a film buff as she left the theatre, completely distraught at the insult to her superstar, "The Captain", Vijayakanth. Film critics consider this day a sad day in Indian Cinema if not as worse as previous attempts by him. Noted film Director James Cameroon though was heard to have commented that Joseph Vijay might have been a cheaper alternative to all the expensive computer graphic imagery that he spent on in his film "Avatar" which simultaneously released worldwide. When contacted for further comments, government officials had only this to say, "All we can do is wait and see, He has not performed any illegal activity as such and hence no legal action will be taken at this point. With the recent spate of such films not only from Kollywood, but the rest of India too, the judiciary is mulling introducing new laws that may make bad film making an illegal activity. At that point, society shall no longer be at his mercy, He shall be at ours." They said, with an evil glint in their eyes.

Random ramblings of the week

Ok, its been a reeeeeeaaaaaaly long time since I blogged and wanted to put in something so as to give life to it. :D Interesting events have been happening off late in the news. people fast in Andhra and our benevolent govt decides they deserve a new state. What is with that? Can I fast and insist that I have the democratic republic of Ramnagar for myself to rule?? While I'm at it I would like to anneexe some coastal regions of Goa and Kerala as well. Wait why annexe just parts of it. Coimbatore, Ooty, Cochin, Goa. It all belongs to me. I also want Tirupur. Where would we be without some form of international trade? I could barter with Obama. Give us cheap oil that you stole from the Iraqis and Cheap electronics at Amazon.com and newegg.com prices if you want cheap Gap T-shirts that you can sell to the consumer at ten times the price. :P :D I shall create a "democratic" country ruled by me :P and, umm, and all right, I haven't got a plan in place, but tell me, does TRS either? I doubt it? All he wants is a state that he thinks he can claim and with Hyderabad as its capital. Some how everyone thinks its going to be the doom of Hyderabad and not the rise of Telengana. Andhra will be fine. It has Vizag, Vijayawada, Tirupathi(Richest god in the world) to itself, and of course the Reddy bothers and their vast mines, So Andhra will do fine and rise back. But Telengana? we'll have to wait and see. here are some interesting facebook status messages I picked out over the week, all related to the Telengana issue:

- I'm going on a hunger fast demanding the partitioning of my choco chip cookie. - Courtesy Nikila, I personally liked this one. Infact I wanted to post a reply stating that I was going to go on a hunger fast demanding the partitioning of her choco chip cookie and insist that the half that had the choco chips in it belonged to me :P, but I never got round to posting my demands....

- People in India fast and they get a new state... EE grads in USC fast and don't sleep and all they get is bad grades. - Courtesy my overworked USC grad student Srinath :D

I have an unrelated word of warning to the Indian government: Please don't ferry any VIP's in Indian Air Force Vehicles. They are sitting targets for Snipers! If you are wondering why, look at this link:

http://www.loupiote.com/photos/3740818562.shtml

Why do you have to paint a car blue, and then draw a nice bulls eye on it? The vehicle I saw on the roads here had bigger bull's eyes that then one in the image! I know its based on the Indian flag, but still, what were they thinking?? Alright, we know unrelenting terrorists are going to come up and blow stuff up anyway, but why make it easy for them? They jolly well better take the effort to aim and fire!

The South Indian Road Trip Project. - An update!

5 days in all. Actually 4.5 days. Covered, 1073km. Coimbatore - Ooty - Mysore - Bangalore - Coimbatore. Me the driver and few other co-passengers. Learnt quite a few things.

1. My car is actually very good! Not once did I face a single minor problem!

2. The road from Ooty to Gudalur is a great piece of driving stretch. Not the flat out kind, but the well laid mountain road kind.

3. The road from the Karnataka Border to Mysore is crap. Its even quite bewildering because it has several speed bumps continuously. there were 7 at one stretch which had the Fiat Linea in front of us prancing like a wild horse!

4. The 4 lane highway from Mysore to Bangalore is great. Ignoring the speed bumps in the first 10-20km stretch. Its got several Cafe Coffee Day's, a Barista and even a 24x7 Mcdonalds! :D Makes for a great weekend driving trip!

5. Bangalore is truly becoming an international city. the infrastructural development that has happened and is happening is amazing. The roads leading to the airport are well paved and well light at night. No Autorickshaws! :D (rubbing hands in gleee) or motorcycle traffic. Hence all traffic is doing 60kmph plus. Thus giving faint reminders of driving to the airport in Singapore. Reach the airport and you see an amazing glass facade, Metallic Green Renault Logans as taxis or Big red Volvos as city shuttles. Sexy man! is all I can think!

6. The drive back to Coimbatore from Bangalore was even more fun! 300km of nearly arrow straight or nice curved, 4 lane highways! Kept an avg speed of 100kph! Infact they seem to be testing out interactive, real time digital displays over the highways as well! I've seen those being used to give traffic updates to drivers abroad! It will be amazing if such a system became active here too! Currently they just display warning messages about how you should drive safely! :P

I took 6 hours to reach Coimbatore from bangalore, inspite of the fast highway. Reason behind this being, getting out of Bangalore took me quite some time and the last 60 kilometres before you reach the 6 lane road at Nilambur near Coimbatore is still a 2 lane road. I guess the Bangalore traffic issue might be solved with the current flyovers under construction, but I don't see any respite from the 2 lane highway because there doesnt seem to be any construction activity happening as yet! TN govt! please, construct the road soon! :(

Walking in the rain

10 P.M.- Friday - N.H. 47

A lone light shone in the distance. As Raghu walked on in the light drizzle, the distant light grew in intensity. It was an open shop; a rarity at this time on this stretch of road. Raghu consciously avoided the light, staying in the shadows on the other side of the tarmac and carried on forward.

5 A.M. - Saturday - J.A Terminus

He entered the bus terminus as discreetly as possible, attracting minimal attention to himself. The strict fitness regime and endurance training had clearly proven useful in the 40 mile walk. He boarded the bus and seated himself in the corner at the end. It had always been his preferred seat on his regular commute and today was no different. The bus started filling in with harried farmers, workers, travellers and the like. The diesel rattled to live accompanied by the shrill whistle of the conductor. As the bus trundled off, Raghu handed out a crisp Twenty Rupee note towards the conductor. The conductor looked up quizically. "Munnar". 5 hours of twisty mountain roads had begun.

10 A.M. - Munnar

An incessant drizzle characterised the welcome drill of Munnar as Raghu alighted. He walked out of the Terminus into the mist. Around the corner stood her Scirocco - GA 04 S 6577. An Unmistakable fiery red. Raghu hopped into the passenger seat and locked the door. "So much for subtlety". "We do what we can", She said, looking at him and smiling. She pressed the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. Silence was exchanged for sometime, as she drove on and Raghu stared into the mist which enveloped all, around them. It had been quite a month.


To be Continued....

***************************************************************
Had I ever gotten anywhere near writing, this would most probably have been my entry to the Bloggerati competition, but as you can see, it's no where near that. Just a teaser of sorts, hardly covers 3 paragraphs. Hopefully I'll have it ready soon...
Let me know if it by any chance sounds like an enticing teaser or a collection of random words.. :P

2 Sambars found dead!

Coimbatore: Two sambars were found dead in a restaurant kitchen near sapadupuram yesterday. The Assistant Inspector of food, health and safety said that the department had been informed that the body of a sambar was lying in the kitchen. However when kitchen officials went to investigate they found 2 sambars dead. One was male and the other female, both aged between 3 days to 4 days old. Investigations are going on with the help of a culinary chef.

From our special corespondent:

An unnamed source within the FHS department has been quoted as saying that an arrest has been made in connection with the deaths. The Suspect is a male Rasam, stale and around 5 days old. A few more arrests may be made in the next few days with the list of probables including the who's-who's of the culinary industry. A FHS source has said the list includes names such as Vatha Kulambu and Kootu Poryal. Other unnamed sources state that a special meals family feud and the recently exposed, highly publicised love affair triangle may have something to do with the deaths. Investigations are still going on, till expiry.

The wet ride!

I insist on using the above title even at the risk of it sounding like the perfect title for a porn flick! :P The monsoon has arrived and finally the nation is relieved as the skies shed tears all day long. The monsoon is a great time to be driving, but as I realised today, not a great time to be riding, especially when you don’t have a spare change of clothes. All it took was 15 minutes of a mild downpour for me to collect approximately 3-4 litres of water samples and a few hundred grams of mineral samples. My collection medium was, obviously my clothes! Of course the quantity collected increased due to the valour I showed in braving the rain and forging forward. At the end of a 2 hour battle where I covered a distance of 45km(usually done in 45 min) I stopped at a restaurant to order something to defrost myself. I sounded vaguely like this: One Shezzzizwann chickcken noodles and boozzt..(Background score of self drilling teeth). The waiter strangely stared at me. Obviously they didn’t get many backpack touting, windbreaker wearing, strange noise emitting bikers who clearly looked out of place in a “Benz” hotel!(Local Dhaba owners sure show great resourcefulness in naming their shops!) Anyways after a few frantic antics the order got through and I made my way to defrosting back to human temperature. This was one of those days when food felt like a gift from god himself!

Anyways I reached my destination after having refreshed and recharged myself and quickly opened my bag, to find to my dismay that the water had seeped in thus dampening my spare clothes as well. Looks like it’s a cold night ahead in a town where the Airtel network refuses to pick up EDGE and hence I type this on a GPRS connection. Download rates according to Mr. Netwarrior(Airtel’s Internet Force commander I suppose – Online crimefighter who duels everyday against unseen enemy forces such as spam, viruses and George W Bush) are a mind blowing 0.5kbps/s as of now! (Typed at 11.25P.M. , July 2^nd 2009. Will get uploaded, when my server deems is an auspicious time.)

Thinking about it, there won’t be anything exciting about a monsoon bike ride if there was no rain to drench a person to the core such that his soul would pop our shivering and ask for a hot cuppa! So, take out those wheels and hit the road. Give yourself amazing therapy sessions in mud, minerals, water, CO and NOx!

Long time coming!

It has been quite a long time and I have been wanting to make a post for ages. I helped myself to a whole bunch of books when I was in Chennai and here is a review on one book that I bought there!

The White tiger!

It was a booker prize winner. I think you can compare it to the movie Slum Dog millionaire in the sense, that there wasn't exactly anything fascinating about it, but it was a decent entertainer and it somehow caught the imagination of the jury and won a prize. This book is a good read no doubt, but it's not a work of literary art or anything. It is a tale of rags to riches. It shows the differences in lifestyle between the rich and the poor, what people do to get where they want, and talks a lot about how India actually is a land of opportunity for those willing to bend and play by the unofficial rules that exist in the Indian system. The Narrator Balram is a pretty interesting character and quite easily defines the average lower strata Indian. Infact In my recent trip to Chennai, I remembered seeing the dozens of call taxis zoom along OMR to reach the numerous offices late at night and my thoughts came to The White Tiger. The changes that have happened in India over the past few years due to IT have been tremendous, and I realised the effect only this time.

The White Tiger in short, is a bundle of truth packed in commercial packaging to make for a very interesting book. A worthwhile single read for sure!

The Elections!

I know, I know, everyone is talking about it! Well i ain't gonna bore you talking politics as well, but here is an interesting tidbit. Apparently there were a few local body elections held recently in some places in India and hence this time, voters will not get their index finger inked. Instead its the middle finger! :D Yep, everyone now gets an opportunity to show the finger at their politicians without being man handled for public indecency! What a brilliant idea Election Commission! Why didn't you folks think of this before???

This actually came out as a news article in the times of India a week ago. link here.

But what interested me the most was, a picture in The Hindu today.
















Yep, the first family of Bollywood showing the finger!

Now I can't wait for the pictures of the rest of the politicians! :D

Thanks to a tag.

Right I've been tagged. By one Aparajita. And I'm supposed to talk about myself. Time for self appraisal or more humble statements I wonder....

Ok lets hit the dirt straight.

1. I live on a few things. That includes, Music, Movies, TV shows. Love technology and cars. I have a dream garage of a dozen cars. Man I gotta get rich fast.

2. When there is a power disruption, I thrive on the more old fashioned habit of reading. I love books and love buying them. Sadly my buying power is still somewhat limited and hence my collection mostly includes a lot of duplicated versions.

3. Will kill for food. Good food. Will love the provider dearly. Will kill the creator of Onions though!

4. I currently, am a so called businessman, running my own content development team. Cut the corporate jargon and it means, I write stuff for the internet for a living. Any writers interested?? part timers wanted. Immediate openings!

5. I am a greenie in many ways and will try to recycle anything and everything. Yet I will drive my Dio like a maniac ignorant of mileage. Hypocrite? I am balanced! :P

6. I personally think am a very good driver, but make a really bad backseat passenger! I follow all road rules to the T. Seriously. Everything. Except the speed limit! :P

7. I will one day tour the world, just to take pictures! Saving up for that compact pro.

8. Stubborn. An Ass quite often. Crankily sensitive at certain times. Will ignore the world even if it was disintegrating during such periods.

9. Louves the rain. And sun. And moon. wind. and dark clouds.

10. Crows are fatally attracted to me. Guess maybe they think am not so full of shit yet or something and make generous donations on me and my vehicles. Will purchase an air rifle to wage war on them one day...

11. Will learn to shoot. Did a few times on my uncle's air rifle and loved it! maybe go on a GTA style rampage....

12. Started blogging out of an interest to be heard. Now lame reasons have added up which include earning Adsense money (55USD in 2 years, HEll yeah am rich) and the possibility of finding a significant other online! Ladies, tell me, does my blog in any way seem like a possible turn on?? :O

13. Have an inhibition to calculus. Especially Mathematics 3. M3 was truly more like MI3!

14. Academically weakened over time. Now struggles to add 1+2. Ahh Education. Over college rather. an 86% 12std mark became a 6.89/10 GPA in college! Ahh the inversion!

15. Thinks he knows everything. Maybe I do. maybe I don't. Try figuring it out.

Reading it again, now, I really don't know what I've typed and why I've typed it, but then hey its done and so it shall remain. Now I shall tag, Pranesh, Rya, Abishanth, Asha, Archie!

New International sport!

The International Olympic Committee today announced the inclusion of a new sport in world sporting meets. The Sport know as "Shothrap" is an all new game that has been inspired from daily occurance in real life(Especially off late). There exists no exclusive governing body for the sport and hence the IOC has decided to take upon itself the task of governing all rules and regulations of the sport. The brief description given by them about the sport is as follows.

Shothrap is an athletic event on the lines of javelin throws and shot puts. It draws its inspiration from the basic human nature and instict to wield unique objects and propel them at a rapid pace. This sport shall test the athlete's ability to aim and throw with speed and accuracy at any given target. Parameters on which the performance of the athlete will be gauged include, speed taken for the given projectile to cover the prefixed distance and the accuracy with which the projectile hits the target. The Shothraper (object flinger that is) will have to exhibit inhuman strength and aim in being able to fling an irregular object to succeed. Initially, the given target will be a fixed object of some sort. But as the event gains pace, The Committe plans to bring the game back to its roots by using real people as targets, and shoes as projectiles. These targets will also be athletic participants in the event and will be tested on several parameters. These parameters deal with one's mental prowess and include being able to withstand repeated shoe attacks, identifying the type of shoe, size, colour, brand, stitch, height of heel while the object is being flung at them etc. And keeping in line with the strictest traditions of the game, the shothrapee(that is person at whom projectile is being flung at) will be politicians only. This will enhance international affairs as it will bring world leaders into direct active events which will test their mental strength and resolve while bringing them together to interact on a more casual and competitive platform instead of whiling away their time at their regular summits in air-conditioned rooms where they sit, eat and chat. Yes shothrap is basically an abbreviation of SHOe THRow At Politician.


Found this in the Hindu today morning. My inspiration for the above. I had thought of the very same lines a few days back....

Nanobyte!

At last the people's car is here! and keeping in trend with the high tech society of India, Its called the Nano!

revealed to the world last year, initial reactions have varied from cute to interesting to modern. It does look exactly like how most predictions of future city cars looked like. Compact, spacious, cheap, efficient and decent looking all in one package. Lots of critics have been pessimistic about the quality of the vehicle, from safety, to comfort. But first impressions have clearly proved the pessimism to be just that. Pessimism. Clearly being launched at a 1-lakh price tag means certain draw backs will exist. Ratan Tata has mentioned that several times. But the game winner here is that, the drawbacks are in places where you will least identify it. the layman's requirements have been met successfully and that is where the success of the product lies.

The vehicle is not available for a test drive. Most motoring hacks have been given test vehicles but not the general public. This is due to the high levels of interest generated. Infact I dropped by at the local TAFE showroom where I know the salesperson well cos I bought a car frm them sometime back. There was a lot of fanfare with Aqua playing in the background and fancy strobe lights around the car. there was a huge crown mulling that I could not even see the car frm the road. It looked more like a party was underway! there was a security guard vehemently protecting the car from the crowd. No one was allowed near it. I was pretty amused by this sight and mentioned it to the sales guy.

Me: I don't recall this much protection for the Linea(a 7-9 lakh car!) when it was launched
SG: Yes sir, we didn't have this many people walking into the showroom then! In fact We've never had this much crowd at our showroom till date!
Me: But why so much security?
SG: Well Lotsa people keep coming in to look at the car and we've had some people keep opening and closing the doors and they broke the door on the safari! had we left the Nano unprotected we would have just the frame remaining!
Me: Right.

Anyways back to the car. it's impressive, hugely spacious and should I mention this; One car mag says it's easier to get in and out of the Nano than an S-classe! it's got the right features necessary and fits the right pockets. A first car for many families and a 2nd city only car for bigger families. In fact I hear many variants are in the pipeline including a 650cc diesel, and hybrid or pure electric car based on the Indica EV that was jointly developed in Norway. yes there exists an Indica and Indica Vista which run about 200km on a full charge purely on batteries. slated for production in Norway and for sale in Europe. It is expected to come to india sometime in the future. This technology may filter down into the Nano as well and then will make for a very good enviro friendly city car. it surely will be much better than the current Reva.

The launch of the Nano has made quite a stir on the international stage as well that, quite a lot of motoring hacks from abroad have dropped down to try it out too.

Autocar UK editor-in-chief Steve Cropley had this to say:
This is a car neither the Germans not the American could have built. They'd have lost sight of the cost and marketing objectives. The Japanese could get closer, but they've already had a shot and the resulting car costs twice as much.

Seriously, a tribute to Indian engineering Genius I have to say!
View the video reviews here.




View more videos on the Nano here.
You can book your Nano from April 9th till the 25th. But before that you have to buy an application that costs Rs300. I hear that nearly 500,000 applications are expected to be sold! That itself will cover quite some costs for Tata! Tata has stuck to its promise of a 1 lakh price for the base version which will total on around 1.2Lakhs for the on-road price.

On a lighter note, BBC Topgear say they've found the inspiration behind the design of the Nano. look below for that!








Quite inspiring don't you think! :D

My love!

In my search for never ending entertainment on the net, I chanced upon a website that said that it would generate a love poem for me, if I just filled in a few questions. In the hope and belief that Maybe this might be the key to finding my true love :P I attempted it. Apparently I made some mistakes with filling up the form, because my poem, has turned out to be, umm...... quite unique..., to put it mildly. :D

have a look!

My Love

Your skin glows like the jackfruit, blossoms sexy as the sunflower in the purest hope of spring.
My heart follows your electric guitar voice and leaps like a baboon at the whisper of your name.
The evening floats in on a great crow wing.
I am comforted by your speedo that I carry into the twilight of printerbeams and hold next to my middle finger.
I am filled with hope that I may dry your tears of vodka.
As my nose falls from my brief, it reminds me of your cat.
In the quiet, I listen for the last roar of the day.
My heated belly leaps to my bikini. I wait in the moonlight for your secret rat so that we may glitter as one, belly to belly, in search of the magnificient orange and mystical speaker of love.

Try it out yourself HERE , hopefully with better results!

F1 is back and in what a way!

Brawn flexes Brawn!

Kubika Kamikaze!

Trulli truly Lucky Bugger!
Hamilton and Glock too!

Slumdog millionaire Brawn GP!

These are some of the lines that ran thro my mind. And I'm sure lots more will be running thro everyone else's too! Seriously so much action in one race! Formula one seems to be returning to its nature of biting climaxes ever since the 2008 season!

The weekend starts with Jenson Button clinching pole and then ends with him winning the race. As for the front of the race, that is all there is to be said. He had a great race and won it fair and square. But behind him there was a flurry of activity that would make any marketplace envious of! A lot of wheel to wheel racing, daring overtaking manouvres, lots of grazing and nose panel breaking! Lots of crashing in fact at one point it looked more like the drivers were playing bumper cars. I do believe at least 5 cars changed their nose cones during the course of the race! Around 5 cars damaged their wheels and had them replaced. 2 cars at various points were actually mobile on just 3 wheels! And we even had a mini race which started at the start of the start-finish straight and ended at the chequered flag. Seriously! And we had Kubica who is from Poland but has been trained in the art of Kamikaze driving (Japanese instructor maybe??). But I have to say he has balls! To try such a move and it is drivers like these that will create history with unparalled driving which will either end up as stunning moments of history or utter stupidity, like in this case. But I tell you, this guy has to be watched. He is going to make racing far more interesting to watch. And so will Vettel! Really poor luck chap!

The fact that the top teams of last year, namely Ferrari and Mclaren failed to make a mark seems to have been overshadowed by the rise of all the minnows. Braun, RBR Renault, Sauber, Toyota have all risen into the top league and they clearly raced better than the Crippled Horses or the Broken Arrows (1 Arrow broke actually). Maybe these guys had a bad day out, but from what I've seen, they aren’t going to have it easy either. We saw last year, what one Sebastian Vettel could do and we saw today what 2 Brawns can do. And you know what? Mercedes has got a great engine setup too! We saw it in the Brawn cars, guess maybe Mclaren should pay a visit to those guys see what they've come up with.

Fisichella forgot his parking spot and spent precious moments in reversing with the help of pit lane attendants! Force India continues to be a farce though Sutil scored a 10th place today.

And yes, for all those greenies out there, F1 cars are green now! We saw KERS in action, Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems and the extra boost it can give during overtaking and stuff. 80bhp is pretty cool! But I have to day the cars look kinda weird with the small rear wing!

Well anyways, clearly F1 2009 is going to have a lot of crash bang whams happening so buckle you seatbelt get your airbags and get ready to roll with the circus!

Latest news: Brawn GP bagged a deal yesterday with Richard Branson of the Virgin Atlantic group. This guy is like the Vijay Mallya of the UK and trust me this means loads of more glamour in F1!

twilight

A vampire love story? Really??

These were my reactions when I first heard about the book. I wasn't really impressed, Plus I wasn't really into romance novels. But then another friend of mine happened to read the book. Fact was, He wasn’t much of a reader and when He told me the book was good and that the movie of the book was out recently, I had to go try it out. And the result, well I'm not flabbergasted or entirely thrilled or anything. But hey the book was good, and I shall read the sequels as well. I should quote one friend who said that the book according to her was better than Erich Segal's love story. I've never read that book and don't really intend to either. This statement was just for those who have read it to make a judgement.

It's a modern day love story where a girl exiles herself from the big city to a godforsaken town. Here she happens to meet an exceedingly handsome guy from a family of exceedingly beautiful and handsome people and falls in love with that guy. The guy reacts strangely towards her like he was revolted or afraid of her. But the incidents that happen later on bring them closer and soon she understands the reasons behind his initial reactions as they decide to break all traditions and embark upon a human-vampire relationship. (One of them one of us. – Sounds familiar? I snicked it from heroes. :P) Having seen all the eloquent prose and poetry that describes love, strangely I didn't find this all that overwhelming. The words and language used were simple and somehow I didn’t really get all the emotions being described here as I should have. The inability of the couple to be intimate due to his nature and instinctual capabilities which could harm her was just not really explained well I felt.

Pretty dramatic towards the end, some how I felt the book didn't really keep me turning the pages as fast as I could really do. Maybe the more romantic at heart might disagree. Hmm so maybe I'm not romantic at heart. Sounds probable. Back to the book, a pretty good book; I've downloaded the film though, hoping it maybe might express better, what I felt was lacking in those words.

But then, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I expected it to be a dramatic, cheesy weird love story and instead I got a good simple and elegant modern tale.

Thousand Splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini

It's a tale based in Afghanistan. It starts off in the 1970's telling the tale of one Mariam and goes on where after around 2 decades the story of a young girl Laila intervenes into Mariam's. the rest of the story goes on about how their life goes on amidst the turmoil around them.

It gives one a really good perspective into life in Afghanistan back then and even now. The way people are treated, women are treated, how people survive. I've always found the subject of life in the past interesting, so the vivid descriptions of the Afghani elite who followed a nearly American way of life, from cars, music and the comparisons to the much poorer kept me enthusiastic. But then if you want that more, you really should be reading the kite runner. Cos it's got a lot more adventure that you could relate to in certain ways, Specially me being a male.

It's not exactly a gripping tale but it will keep you immersed. Specially if you haven't read Khaled Hosseini's other book. For people who have read the kite runner, specially me, I found this book a little boring in bits and pieces. It does not come close to The Kite Runner in any way, I felt. But else it really is an impressive book. Worth a read for sure!

Binge Reading!

I made a trip to Chennai recently and that trip entailed my presence at Spencer's Plaza numerous times. During those visits, I paid visit to Landmark and purchased several books!. 9 to be exact. Now now, I should quote, by Landmark, I don't mean the bookstore located in side, but the one outside. Chennai'ites might wonder where that landmark might be! Well it's at the traffic light. :D

yeah well anyways, I got quite a few books and have been on a binge reading session. over the next few days i shall write about the ones i've read! Hope it makes interesting reading for you!

The state of automotive design for the masses

I don't know if it's me or what, but off late, I do find quite a few cars to be weird. And the funny part is, people actually think it is cool and stuff and buy it in the dozens. What has happened to great automotive design. Practical yet great looking cars like for example the Beetle are rare to spot nowadays. It's like if you are buying your car at a price, don't expect great design to be part of the package!

Let's start with this, The Suzuki Swift. Yes its curvy, can be modified to one's whim and fancy, has a somewhat cute front end, but then go to the back, its squat rear is kind of weird. Quirky, but somewhat cool too. It does leave an indelible impression, but I would not call it a great looking car or anything, though it does carry of certain character, the cheeky one.

Then came along the i10 and I was aghast. Just look at the front it. It's oriental. Chinese eyes, you think that looks great??? The rear is fine though. Normal. But the interior is really a great place to be, so owning an i10 is a good thing, because you will be seeing the good part of it rather than the weird front end.

Suzuki then launched the A-star, it's got check written all over the front and that is good. Interiors are cramped but fun, specially that pop up tacho. But go behind and, you are for a shocker. It looks like the hulk sat on a Swift rear end! Really, where did the designers go wrong?? Did they get drunk??

Another similarly design gone wrong, I don't understand what your car is trying to say piece is the New Honda city. Amazing front end. That grille, headlights, all exemplify Honda design. Then we walk to the back and all we see is a stubby boot with those slightly cross tail lights. It just doesn’t seem to match with the front end!

Similarly goes the Honda CR-V. I just don't understand what people see in that gaping front grille. Everything else in that car is good, in fact great. But the front end is nothing short of Horrendous. I would rather buy a more simple looking Mitsubishi Outlander than buy this (Another reason for this being the 10 speaker including subwoofer Rockford Fosgate music system in the Outlander :P )

Talking about butts gone wrong we do have the Indigo and the Swift Dzire there too, but you know what? Both these butts actually exude some richness with the chrome and stuff. I may be making a blunder here, but the Dzire actually kind of reminds me of The Bangle (older BMW 7 series with the big boot). Isn't that a good thing??

The Honda Civic though has been one of those cars that fit perfectly from bumper to bumper. That sharp aerodynamic front end, a simple linear monoform design that ends with jet fighter afterburner style tail lights, just combine to scream futuristic that you might just about expect the car to take off! Interiors are ultra cool with the dual level display, really it looks like a car that's back from the future. You want more future by the Civic Hybrid which comes with those completely covered alloy wheels.

Another design that has pretty much captivated my heart is the Fiat Linea. I have to say it's just so elegant that I could literally marry it! It's not the kind of hot ramp model, but the madamoiselle in an elegant dress. There is certain grace and elegance to the Maserati inspired front and the simple vast rear end. Those Audi style side windows that stretch from pillar to pillar just add to it all and then sit inside, the dash design just mersmerises you. It's a little retro styled, but just totally classy. This is a car that you will love to see out of your window everyday, parked outside your house, pretty much like the ad on TV goes. It is I have to say, one of the best Italian designs for the masses, after cars like the 500 (old and new) and stuff. :D

And amidst all this I just realised that the new Toyota Corolla is also a pretty sensibly designed car. People who know me will know that I am not a fan of Toyotas, but it's pretty simple, almost plain, but has those hints of Camry here and there with those new headlights, tail lamps and front grille. Hey being a baby Camry is surely a good thing, especially when the Camry is considered to be a baby Lexus; You can't be far of from well designed luxury right??

I have to quote, the new i20 makes a much better case for itself in terms of design than the i10. It's pretty sporty looking with all those creases and curves, which also remind me of the BMW 1 hatch.

Ahh well I've said what I want to say, but I guess all this ranting will fall on deaf ears, because as I speak, the i10 and A-star continue to rake in sales in big numbers for their mommies, as customers will flock to buy these cars…

New dawn.....

Within the next 48 hours, something that one would have never imagined, something that Martin Luther King could only dream for is going to happen. The most powerful post is being given to a man of Kenyan Origin. A man who is technically black, but as I see it as American as any other American. Obama's father was Kenyan while his mother was of English and Welsh Descent. So theoretically speaking he is not of American descent. Yet the fact that he has climbed to the top seat of power talks about the incredible person he must be. But I am guessing this happened only because he was a Democrat and not a Republican.

For one I can say that, his varied heritage and the experience of growing up on so many cultures will help him understand the world so much better than all those people who throughout the years have hardly had any idea of what the rest of the world looked like and yet, insisted on being the supreme power poking their noses into all and every affairs.

Anyways his predecessor, the butt of our numerous jokes, President George W Bush is leaving Mr. Obama a very interesting situation as a welcome gift. He must be smirking right now "Lets see how you figure this out sucker!". But I have reason to believe that he will tackle it with much more intelligence than a kindergarten kid as we have seen over the past 8 years. Lets see how he handles it in the days to come...