The Scarlet Pimpernel

Just finished reading 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' by Baroness Emmuska Ocrzy. Loved it. Now I know where all the old M&Bs I used to read in college got their inspiration from :)

The novel is set right in the middle of the French Revolution. It's the year 1972 and the aristrocrats in Paris are being beheaded by the hundreds at the guillotine. Their only hope for rescue - the Scarlet Pimpernal . Reknowned for his daring rescues and clever disguises, his identity is a mystery to all but his league of loyal followers.

The book is filled with a host of intriguing characters:
The cunning French agent Chauvelin - who is bent upon hunting down the Scarlet Pimpernel
The beautiful and intelligent Marguerite Blakeney - who is blackmailed into spying on the Pimpernel's league
Sir Percy Blakeney - Marguerite's wealthy, gallant and handsome but dull-witted husband

The book is soooo romantic - with a love-story woven into swashbuckling adventure, along with intrigue and comedy.

Lines I loved:
Sir Percy Blakeney's witty poem:
"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere,
Is he in heaven? - is he in hell?
That demmed elusive Pimpernel"

the whole of chapter XVI ;)

of bonsais and birthday gifts

..tea-time conversation among my team-mates( we are a bunch of s/w engineers :))
The topic- B'day gifts and the people who are yet to get one from the team

A: you guys haven't given me a b'day gift as yet
V: Yes. M and I went to Lalbagh today.
A(taken aback): whats the connection?? :))
V(very embarassed):..nothing..
rest of us: tell us!!
V: It's for the bonsai...
A( to those who came in late): R (the boss) wanted a bonsai as a wedding gift from us
J: V wanted to know if it's ok to pluck one from Lalbagh :))
A: So were you planning to pluck(!!) one and throw it over the wall to M?
S(patiently explains to V that bonsai are actually stunted trees): you know, like dwarves
G: Even I'd been to Lalbagh to buy one ...but no luck
G: How do they grow bonsai?
someone: maybe using the seeds from the fruits of bonsai trees
S: I didn't know bonsai trees bear fruit...(to R) what kind of a bonsai do you want?
R: I want a jack-fruit tree!
R: I've heard that the older a bonsai plant, the more valuable. I saw a 35 year old tree worth 35K.
S(doing some mental math): my mum has a 20 year old one ....
J: the older a tree the sooner it will die, why would it cost more?
R(after some thought): It's a well established tree.
A(after some more thought): yes, like buying an adolescent instead of a baby..
V:also it becomes more difficult to pluck
A: It's really cruel to stunt trees like that...they are cutting down all the trees in front of St.Jonh's Hospital....

the conversation then moves on to tree-cutting to the state of Bangalore's roads....

It's Not About the Bike

'It's Not About the Bike' is not just the story of Lance Amstrong's - 7 time winner of the Tour de France - battle against cancer, it's a tale of courage and of one man's will to triumph against all odds.
It's one of the most inspiring books I've read.
Lance Amstrong's story is the stuff of legends. 'It's Not About the Bike' talks about Amstrong's childhood. His early rise to fame. Being diagnosed with cancer at 24. His battle against a disease that ravages both body and soul. His comeback into the world of professional cycling. And his first two Tour de France victories.
Anyone who enjoys watching the Tour de France on t.v. will love the first person account the book gives. You get a biker's-eye-view of the peloton, the attacks and counter attacks, the 60mph downhill freefalls, the mountain stages, the 'dear god please don't let him get caught' breakaways and all the other stuff that makes the Tour so exhilarating and heart-wrenching to watch.
But the book is not about the Tour. It's about the will to win. It's about hope and the unbreakable human spirit. A must-read for anyone looking for inspiration.

Am Currently Watching

      Nach Baliye
A reality show on Star-one where TV celebrity couples show their dancing prowess’z. The judges in this one are Malaika Arora Khan , Farhan Akhtar & Saroj Khan. Was thoroughly disappointed last week when Archana & Parmeet were out.(Completely blame the judges for their harsh scoring).Right now am rooting for Rajeshwari & Varun.
Love this show esp. its
"Put u'r hands up ...put u’r hands up ..like u just don’t care..its nach baliye..
Na sharma mere mahi soniye..duniya ki na soch oe nach baliye..
Lootenge waah waahi..chal rang jamale ..nach baliye.."
Timings: 2100hrs on Thursday’z

      Monk
He’s the defective-detective. He’s a cleanliness freak & is phobic to almost everything, but he’s a genius & no-one can solve crime quite like him.
Timings: 2100hrs on Friday’z or 1400hrs on Sunday’z (Star World)

      Friends
This is the final season & ofcourse,I like the rest of the world am a loyal fan of this serial.
Timings: 2200hrs on Saturday'z-Zee English

      Smallville
Life of Clark Kent, when he was a teenage-how he comes to terms with who he is & how he masters his powers.
Timings: 2000hrs on Wednesday’z (Star World)

      Scrubs
A comedy about a group of medical interns & their hilarious experiences in the hospital.
Timings: 2000hrs on Star World

           & ofcourse these currently off-air serials which I still can’t get outta my head:
            Lost
A group of people find themselves abandoned on an uninhabited island & a series of the most strange & sinister events assail them all. It’s a complete thriller & is perhaps one *the* best serials I’ve seen in a very very long time.
It used to come on Saturday’z at 1900 hrs on Star movies. Right now am awaiting impatiently for the next season to hit Indian televisions.

      Ed
Comedy on Star World. It’s a nice funny, feel good serial. Its basically about Ed, a lawyer who one fine day finds out that his wife has cheated on him with the milkman & moves back to his childhood home-Stuckyville. Here he tries to serenade and win over his school-crush Carol Vesse, buys a bowling alley & re-unites with his high school best friend. There’s something about this one which always made me switch on my tele at 2000 hrs on Tuesday’z and watch it glue-eyed for an hour.

            Fear Factor
On this reality show, the contestants are made to do the most hair-raising antics. Walk on thin beams, jump off cliffs, eat spiders & other insects & all sorts of other such things. It’s very entertaining :)

Other than my regular watches, I irregularly watch Desperate Housewives (kinda lost interest in it after Lost came on air), Tru calling (she can bring ppl back to life), Seven (too early to tell if its going to make my fav-list), Medical Investigation, Gilmore Girls, Indian Idol (loved the first season), KBC,Monster House, The Amazing Race, Caroline in the city and Will & Grace.
Hmm...I guess that just about covers everything on air.

Winter days

Hey Noor, just accepted the invitation to join your blog...better late than never, like they say.
So you'll find some of my posts scattered in between yours from now on...

Guest writing on one's best friend's blog has its advantages
-you get to post stuff on the net without maintaining a blog of your own :)
-the friend will no longer crib that you don't visit her blog often enough (net nanny at work to blame )

Winter days
Bangalore is at its best in winter.
Deep blue skies, the kind of blue you just don't see the rest of the year...with cotton-white clouds floating about. The red steeple of St.John's church framed against the sky. The breeze creating ripples on Ulsoor lake and the pale winter sun warming the early morning joggers. The abandoned granite buildings of the military barracks with their soot-blackened chimmneys. Even the trees here seem to wait for winter to shed their leaves and bloom. Thats the scenic route to work.
The nights are amazing too. Clear clear skies, a chill in the air that makes you glad to see the warm yellow glow emanating from the windows of your home. The huge full moon rising over the little islands on Ulsoor lake, the lights from the Philips campus reflected over the still waters. The early morning prayer from the local mosque breaking the stillness of the night air...reminding you of stories from the Arabian Nights.
Just the right kind of weather to laze around with a cup a coffee, a chocolate bar and a good book.

I recently got back from a visit to Chennai. It's a really nice city - great roads, well planned, etc.
But when it gives you a thrill just to see the signboards along the railroad change from Tamil to Kannada, you realize that Bengaluru with all its traffic and pollution and potholes is the best place on earth. Simply because its home.

This Must Be

All things are not always what they seem,
There’s always more than meets the eye,
All people aren’t always so good,
And all aern’t all that bad,
There is kindness in the darkest souls,
& even angels have a darker side.
U need to look within your self,
U need to find the path, u chose,
We are here bcuz we wanted to be.
We’d like to look up & blame the stars,
& shift fault to a force beyond,
But, we know, deep inside that ‘tis not true,
Some where somehow we’d made this choice,
We had decreed that this must be,
& that’s why we are where were meant to be.

Life's Truth's

1. “All are lunatics, but he who can analyse his delusion is called a
philosopher” - Ambrose Bierce

2. “For most of history, anonymous was a woman” - Virginia Wolf

3. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will” – Mahatma Gandhi

4. “Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens”- Jimi Hendrix

5. “Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it”-Henry David Thoreau

6. “The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence” - Marianne Moore

7. “Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike" - Oscar Wilde

8. “There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them” - Phyllis bottome

9. “We are forced to participate in the games of life before we can possibly learn how to use the options in the rules governing them” – Goethe

10. “What a wonderful life I’ve had. I only wish I had realised it sooner” - Collette

The Collected Short Stories

…contains 36 of Jeffrey Archer’s finest short stories. Almost all his stories have an unexpected twist in the end & are immensely readable. The stories have been drawn from his three volumes- ‘A Quiver Full Of Arrows’, ‘A Twist In The Tale’ & ‘12 Red Herrings’. Though I liked most of the stories, my favourite was ‘Christina Rosenthal’. Also brilliant were ‘The Perfect Murder’, ‘Clean Sweep Ignatius’ and ofcourse the romantic ‘Old Love’ with that wonderful multi-meaningful one-liner ‘Legend has it that there were never apart for more than a couple of hours’, just like my books & I, whatsay?
[No. of pages: 705]

Artemis Fowl

Fantasy became my new buzzword after ‘Lord of the Rings’ & the Harry Potter books. So, with me wanting to completely explore this genre, I was looking for more authors to exhaust & when Pratz mentioned Eoin Colfer’s ‘Artemis Fowl’, I was more than ready for this new adventure. Despite its hype & my huge expectations, the book did not disappoint. Thoroughly enjoyable, I can’t wait to read the entire series. The story is about a criminal-millionaire-mastermind Artemis Fowl, who happens to be a 12yr old boy. The entire Fowl’s race are pioneers in various criminal activities, so wanting to unload the Fairy community of their gold seemed to come naturally to the boy. But, when Artemis decided to capture a fairy, he hadn’t realised that he’d be getting the feisty & fiery Capt. Holly Short (of the LEPrecon Unit). What happens when these two diverse races clash, makes for a fun read. The other characters like Butler, his sister (Artemis’z allies) & Commander Root, Foaly (Holly’s comrades) add more spice to this already chilli hot book. After AF, I’m more in love with Fantasy than I was before. To Fantasy & Fowl, Addidas’z catchphrase aptly applies ‘Impossible Is Nothing’.
[No. of pages: 396]

Dan Brown

Has written a whole number of books which I’ve enjoyed immensely. It all started with the much talked about “Da Vince Code”. I read the book & ofcourse, liked it, however, since it was hyped up so much, it sort of spoilt the ‘joy of discovery’. But, it had been quite long since I had become so interested in an author’s work & so I decided to read all he’d ever written (My last such obsession being ‘Earle Stanley Gardner’ of ‘Perry Mason’ fame). So, I read his prequel to Da Vinci Code, which was “Angels & Demons”. It was Brilliant. It was leagues ahead of DVC & the ending was a complete shocker & that really is saying quite a bit. Living in a world, where we’ve seen & read so much and where nothing seems to raise an eyebrow anymore, this book thrilled. It was superbly written and it put Dan Brown high-high up on my list. So, ofcourse, I had to read his “Deception Point” & “Digital Fortress”. Both good, but paled in comparison to A&D. Deception Point dealt in depth with rocks & rocket scientists & Digital Fortress was ofcourse, about codes. A curious feature I observed in all (well..almost all) his books was that the lead character was inevitably a professor. I suppose, DB found that in order to extraordinarily brilliant in any chosen field, one couldn’t be any less. Like for e.g. In DVC & A&D the lead character was a Prof. & in Digital Fortress the heroine’s fiancé was a Professor. Deception Point seemed to be the only odd one out, without any of the protagonists being one, I wonder why…
All said and done, Dan Brown with his A&D is the current flavour of my season.


Here are DB’s books read by me, in order of me having read them:
1. Da Vinci Code [Pgs: 389]
2. Angels & Demons [Pgs: 592]
3. Digital Fortress [Pgs: 430]
4. Deception Point [Pgs: 558]

Not So Strange

Was in one of my melancholy-philosophical moods, when I came up this:

It’s not so strange when u think about it,
The world’s a stage & we all act,
When the cue begins, we cry,
We sing & dance & laugh & sigh.
But, it’s when our problems overwhelm our lives,
We think about life & the how & whom & the when & why,
We start to wish & pray & hope,
We invent & create a better way,
It’s not as strange as we think it to be,
All lives follow a similar strategy.
We think we know it all for a while,
But it’s when tragedy strikes our journeys begin,
We take strange paths & meet strange men,
We walk to mountains & to sages’ saint,
We slowly begin so see the light,
& see that it’s not so strange, after all.

A Rare Something

It glimmered in the morning light like a silken thread, it was bright bronze and felt like gauze. It had the exact shape of that which left it, I’d never seen one like this before & this rarity added to its beauty.

Primal Fear

Like the cover back said ‘a terrifying read’. In this psychological thriller, William Diehl left out no trick. The story kick starts with the violent murder of Archbishop Rushman, described in graphic detail through the eyes of the murderer. Gruesome & bloody, it sets the tone of the book. Aaron Stampler is found near the murder scene with blood all over him ‘and’ the murder weapon in hand, but he claims, he hadn’t dunnit. Martin Vail, the city’s most feared and brilliant attorney gets slapped with the case. His detractors say, it’s an open and shut case, he cannot win. As Vail & team delve into the mind of Aaron Stampler, they are astounded by the extent of its disorientation & brilliance. Diehl chooses those fascinating complexities & defense mechanisms which the mind contrives & explains them with élan.
Schizophrenia, split personality disorder, its causes, devastating effects & the mind of Aaron is dealt with brilliant dexterity. Diehl’s pace never slackens a moment, whether he’s explaining about the mind & its ego, superego & id or if it’s Vail’s courtroom shenanigans or Aaron n his antics, it races like a bullet train. Horrifying, thrilling & thought-provoking, it’s a roller-coaster ride, start-to-finish.
Suspenseful, it keeps one guessing, what Vail would do & how he would get Stampler’s acquittal. Like the tip of the scorpion’s tail, the ending’s a stinger.
William Diehl was a reporter before he started writing and as I read the book, I wondered where he got these absolutely thoroughly terrifying storylines from, could it be from his past profession? Does life imitate art or is it the other way around…..
[No. of pages: 508]

Tomorrow is another day

I love sunsets. No matter how bad my day is, a few minutes alone on the terrace, at dusk, manages to soothe my hurt mind and senses. Its like taking a dip in a sea of tranquility.

The Thorn Birds

.. took me 5 years to finish. No, I didn’t read a paragraph a day, I had actually progressed quite rapidly through the book, but when I reached the end, I realized to my absolute horror that the last chapter had been torn off(I had quite idiotically not checked to see if all the pages were there, whilst borrowing the book from the library).I did try obtaining it from various sources but wasn’t at all successful, later I got busy with life and the thought of getting the book was gradually forgotten.
So, when five years later, my sis comes home with a copy of this very book in her hand, my surprise & happiness knew no bounds.
“My cup runneth over” I yelled out loud,
to which she, used to my sudden emotional outbursts by now, walked on by, unfazed.
Anyway, after I wrestled the book away from her, I starting reading the last chapter and was quite happy to remember all the characters really well. It is a fantastic book. Even though I’m not too crazy of books which fall into the family drama category, I totally enjoyed this one. Made me crave and wish for more brilliant writers like Colleen McCullough . Every emotion struck a cord and the book was nothing if not soul-stirring.This is one of those books which one just *has* to read in their life time.
I’m not going to write about the story, like I usually do, but instead I’m going to write the book’s brilliant opening parah:
“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches ,it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine .And ,dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale .One superlatives song, existence the price .But the whole world stills to listen and God in his heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain…..Or so says the legend.”
[No. of pages: 560]

The Last Juror

……………barely passed muster. I bought it basically because it was a ‘John Grisham’ novel and his books have a certain palpable excitement to them. This one though boasted of a slow humdrum. Set in the 1970’s, it tells the tale of Willie Traynor, a 23 yr old college dropout who assumes ownership of a bankrupt newspaper. A brutal murder occurs in the town and with the paper reporting it all, it begins to rake in the moolah. The murderer is tried before a jury who convict him and he swears revenge against them all. After a couple of years, he gets paroled and retribution begins. The book isn’t a complete washout and is extremely readable in parts. You even begin to connect with Willie & his struggle and feel warmly for Miss Callie, a maternal figure to Willie. It’s a slight drift from the usual Grisham and though this lullaby is soothing, it’s for the adrenalin that I thrive.
[No. of pages: 505]

Book Tag

Found this amusing & interesting topic on the net and decide to try it moa self. It’s quite simple & anyone who is an ardent book reader will love it. Like the title suggests, I 'book-tag' 5 people who according to me are passionate about reading. This I realized to my dismay wasn't as easy a task as I had thought & that I knew barely a two. So, I contacted friends, friends-friends and far-off friends to compile my honour roll of 5.
These people, might I add haven’t been selected at random, but after doing a lotta in-depth research(my perfect excuse to my mom for my loooong callz).

Right, so the fantastic-five arrrrrrrrrrrre:
1.Pratibha Ramakrishnan
2.Chaitra Rai
3.Ubaid Bin Dhiyan
4.Riya
5.Raj Menon

Now, the next section of my task required me to list the number of books I have. Well, since I started buying books only once I was working, the number is a sorry double digit,'but' steadily increasing.

Ok, now comes the best part, where I list my 5 favourite books of 'all time'.To list just five is immensely difficult, but nevertheless, here are the one's I’ve chosen:

1. The Fountainhead
This one needs no introduction or explanation. I think this one by Ayn Ryand would feature in almost anyone'z top 5.Brilliantly written & thoroughly inspiring, it’s a masterpiece.

2. Works of P.G. Wodehouse
Wodehouse, I think has become synonymous with laughter. From the very first book I read, I was in love with his works. Wry and very Brit,no book collection would be complete without his works.

3. Jeffrey Archer & ilk
By 'JA & ilk' I mean those pacy thrillers which I love so much. The reason why I’ve put Jeffrey Archer in the title and not Dan Brown, Robert Ludlum, Sidney Sheldon, Robin Cook, John Grisham etc is for the simple fact that his "36-collection of short stories" was my last book. Thrillers for me are like chocolate-chip sundaes, you love them
when you've dipped into them & once you’re done, you always want more.

4.Jonathan Livingston Seagull
This extremely small book of 127 pages was one of the most thought provoking works I’ve ever read. Even though Richard Bach went on to write a number of bestsellers like Illusions & The Bridge Across Forever(which also, I enjoyed immensely), even he couldn't recreate the brilliance of Seagull.

5. Calvin & Hobbes
I don’t know if this qualifies as a 'book', but I love it so much that I just had to include it. This comic strip is the first thing I read in the newspaper in the mornings & no matter what my mood is, it invariably makes me smile.

So, that’s it. Now, the rest remains in the hands of the people I’ve book-tagged, who have the repeat the process that I’ve just done. Do it people, cause other than the fact that you'll enjoy doing it, we will get to know about some great authors & wonderful books.

Peek into the past

Peek into the Past

Re-reading an old mail took me back to the time of engineering, exams and "all that jazz".All those who want to take a ride down that road, hop on:

"Yes,student psychology is strange indeed.So,as the exams near so do my supposed (nonexsistance ..until now)“extra curricular activities”,It seems as though the movies on all the channels are a little more interesting,the comedies a little more funny and the songs a little more zesty.Not to forget that my creative skills seem to all of a sudden show an almost geniustic flair and demand that i write,draw,paint and in general create.Ofcourse, once the exams end so do my interests and creativity.

The 8th sem has just one theory and a project.This semester was like a long picnic and I totally enjoyed it.I did my project in this Research institute which was amazingly scenic.We actually spent the better time of our project admiring its beauty.The place is huge,so to go from one department to another we take our bikes and riding through the place is quite something.
There are gulmohar trees flanking the roads and there were times when I wished oh so much that I could stop time.

But time moved on and now here I am, having finished the theory paper yesterday, which was as usual an o 'n' k.Was expecting a dream paper,being the last semester, but our generally reliable professor was apparently unhappy with our class(long story)and the end result a not so great paper.Anyway,its over and a second thought is not going to be given to it.

Tomorrow is the project viva which means having to read my project again and well again.Its neccessary, as although, an off-hand explanation of my project could perhaps be given without blinking(its a possibility),the external “might” ask some irrevelant explanation of some obscure part.

Besides having stayed up a sun for my theory paper,I’m still groggy and there seems to be quite a, how can this be put,healthy(?) amount of my project to be gone through.But rather than be perturbed, i'm taking the road less travelled.I could go on forever(whenever i have an exam approaching) with my prattle but,i think i shall saunter back to the report and give
it a dekho.

So since i'm certainly going to need all the luck I can get,keep u’r fingers crossed and “say a little prayer for me”.

--Noor

P.S:By the way,who are you rooting for? Brazil or Germany?I’m gonna be cheering for Brazil and ofcourse, their “oh so talented” ronaldhino."

The Unexpected Guest

Was an unexpected surprise. I bought the book with much trepidation because it was by Agatha Chritie. The reason for my apprehension being my brush with her works during my very early years wasn't a very pleasant one. Surviving only (at that point of time) on the dashing Hardy boys, plucky Perry Mason, terrific 3 investigators etc(your'll get the picture...I presume) I found Madame's novels to be quite boring.Now, ofcourse having significantly mellowed down my reading, I decided that it was time to make my acquaintance with the lady. Now ofcourse, after having read TUG, I intend to become her best friend.
The novel is exceptionally good. Its plays a beautiful deception on the readers mind and psyche. It makes you unwittingly believe her every word as u wait breathlessly to find out the truth.
And if u'r not sold yet...here's a sneak peak:
"When a stranger runs his car into a ditch in a dense fog in South Wales and makes his way to an isolated house,he discoversa woman standing over the dead body of her wheelchair bound husband, a gun in her hand. She admits to murder and the unexpectedguest offers to help her concoct a cover story.But is it possible that Laura Wawick did not commit the murder after all? And if so, who is she shielding..."
This exceedingly slim book of 204 pages by Agatha Christe was actually one of her most successful plays and its been adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne.
I've oft found that the dazzling things are the most unexpected, perhaps that's what makes one love them all the more.

Ocean's Twelve

Sleek, smooth and very very sexy.