Review - Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Just back from a screening of Yash-Raj's newest opus 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'. The movie's a good one, something that you can go and see with your family, without feeling awkward or sheepish at any time. But then, I have always been a sucker for love stories with happy endings, so really not the best person to ask.

I have never been a die-hard fan of SRK; Swades was, to my mind, his best performance so far. His roles, I felt, were too escapist, and at the same time, were catered to the tastes of the NRI populace, to help them associate with a fictional India.
But in RNBDJ, he's done himself justice. His rendition of the simple, sweet and devoted Surinder, madly in love with a woman who says to his face that she could possibly never return that love, is touching and most endearing. He emotes so brilliantly that he brings alive the character. His willingness to do just about anything, just to see her smile and laugh, perhaps appeals to my idea of a romantic person, to a love that transcends all reason and thought. And even when he realizes that she is ready to leave him than to stay all her life with him, his stoicism and willingness to let her go, just so that she may be happy wherever she goes, speaks loudly of a true love, if there is any such thing in the film industry. Perhaps the story was written keeping the adage "if you love someone, let her go; if she comes back, you always had her, if not, you never had her in the first place" in mind.

Anushka Sharma is charming in her debut, so everyone says. Heck, to hell with all this decorum! She's BRILLIANT! Of course, she's a pretty sight to behold, but the hold of her character comes from the innocence and guile that only a debutante could have brought, and perhaps no one could have brought it as effortlessly as her. At times, she manages to steal SRK's thunder with such ease and finesse that one is left in awe.
Many have found fault with the fact that her character doesn't recognize her own husband in the debonair dancing partner; after all, she sees her husband everyday, doesn't she? That's the beauty of it. Taani (her character) has accepted Surinder as her husband, but doesn't find it possible to love him. It's one thing to look at someone, and quite another to see that person; you can look at a person for ages, but you only deign it fit to see into the eyes of the person whom you love. So it was with Taani. When you have never looked into a person's eyes, no matter how many times that person parades himself in front of you, you will never recognize him.

Newspapers may have panned RNBDJ, but if you happen to visit any theatre playing it, it's running to full houses; audiences laugh at the jokes, clap when Surinder wins his little victories, and whistle when Taani makes her delicate and graceful overtures. That, to me, is the mark of a film that has struck a chord. Not every film need strike a high note with everyone; it just needs to set off a rhythm. The symphony will definitely follow.

RNBDJ tells a seemingly fairy story: that you don't need to be a dashing person to win someone's heart. Sometimes, the sincerity of your emotions will pull you through. And this, though a over-romanticised idea, always rings true. Love dwells in the heart, and if the heart rings true, then how can love not come forth? People would call it long-drawn and farcical at points, especially during the sumo-wrestling sequence, but if anything, it just demonstrates the intensity of love a person can feel for another. And when you are in love, when you truly feel for that special someone, nothing is too much. Isn't that how all great love stories go?

The Promise.

I stood there on the porch
Looking at the dark cloudy sky
The moon was hidden
To the plain searching eye.

The breeze was cold
The night quiet as a mouse
My heart was silent
As if it nursed a secret grouse.

It sought the moon,
That pale white orb,
To soften the pain and sorrow,
To deaden the sound of a sob.

And then the moon came forth,
Like a knight in white armour,
And in it my eyes saw reflected
The face of my paramour.

Her gentle face, adorned by the lustre of the moon,
The clouds her soft tresses,
And the stars her eyes,
Twinkling with mirth and joy.

I know somewhere on some porch,
She too stands looking at the moon.
And in the moon, our eyes meet,
Promising to meet very, very soon.

To Love....

My 200th blog! When I started out writing in 2005. on the prodding of a friend, I never quite imagined that I would reach this far. Over time, I have come to enjoy the experience, and have perhaps gained more than I have given. This blog's dedicated to an idea I am most in love with: love.

For someone's who been in love for as long as he can remember, someone who loves being in love just because it makes him feel complete, love isn't just another emotion; it's the very reason of existence. Call me a sentimentalist fool, an impractical and emotional person, but that's the way I am. I alone know how much I have benefited from the love I feel for that special someone, how much I have grown in the past few years, how much my ideas, my beliefs and my views about the world around me have improved for the better. And all this when the love is merely one-sided, unrequited except for the affections of a close friend; imagine then what I could become if I were to receive her love as well!

Some would say that you are a fool and that she could never love you as much as you love her; I say to them, an angel can only be seen with the eyes of a child and the trust you repose in that angel is absolute and unquestioning, just like a child feels for a parent. Some say that it is futile to wait; but I say to them, would you not wait for that special someone with whom you want to spend your whole life? Would you not be ever so patient when she's taking her time to make up her mind, because in your heart, somewhere deep down, you feel that she loves you just as much as you love her? And moresoever, love is the purest and most beautiful when given with free will, without expectation and obligation. When you love just because you wish to love, that is true love.

For me, love is like it's in the fairy tales: a happily-ever after story. And that's the way it should be. Those who claim that their beloved has changed since they married, I wonder whether you really knew them well in the first place. When you love someone, you must feel her every heartbeat, sense her every thought; basically be her alter-ego, her soul, just as she must be yours. A love that is not based on mere attraction or affection, that is founded on a deep sense of devotion, a love far beyond time and age, which encompasses all the quirks and eccentricities of your partner, because even they make him/her seem so much more loveable, now that is true love. And believe me, such a love will last you your entire lifetime; even when you are old and aging, your eyes will still twinkle when they behold her and your ears will yearn to hear her dulcet voice, and she will still blush when you give her a simple red rose.

Love isn't something you can rush into; all the stuff about love at first sight is nice, but love's like a fine wine; it matures with time and patience. The experience is so much more better when you have waited for so long to live it. 

Musings

This is my first blog in two months and I am mortified. I offer no excuses except that circumstances prevented me from being more active. Perhaps the Fates will be more considerate now.

Much has happened over the last two months. The global financial structures have come toddering down like a pack of cards; the castle is still standing but the upper echelons are certainly missing. Some would attribute it to a faulty base, some to over-ambitious strategies, some to mismanaged plans, and some to extraneous factors. 

Whatever it may be attributed to, the truth is that we are in for a long winter, and we haven't even seen the worst of it. I read yesterday that India's foreign exchange reserves depleted by a whopping $63 billion, sufficient for over 600 unmanned lunar missions like Chandrayaan (which is also a current event, but more on that later). China's economy is showing signs of slowdown and its leaders are expressing worry, which in itself is a sign that it's time to take out the parachutes.

Obama's election as President of the USA is path-breaking, but not entirely unexpected. I mean, you would have to be a complete dullard to lose an election when the economy's going into recession and your opponent's party has been in power for the last 8 years. This was always the Democratic Party's election to win; the question was whether it was Obama's to lose. Thankfully, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to the USA in these troubled times. The problem with McCain and company was that they represented the status quo, and frankly issues were getting exacerbated by their reluctance to do anything. Problems are solved by doing something, not by sitting pretty wishing them away. Obama comes into power with a lot of expectations, some self-created, some inherent to his post, that he will make a difference and that by 2012, the USA will have recovered well enough for the Americans to give Obama a second term. Whether he will be true to those expectations remains to be seen.

The economic crisis has suddenly made socialism and the welfare state a byword for something that works, and capitalism as some sort of demon. As BBC's The News Quiz quite succintly put it, the West's going gaga over nationalization and Russia's an oil-rich capitalist country. I would prefer if the State merely invested in the future of the economy and desisted from trying to exercise actual control over the economy. More often than not, their tendency to dictate policy to the banks leaves the banks incapable of independent thought and when the times comes to such a stage when one needs to act, neither the State nor the banks is in a position to determine what needs to be done, and the clock's ticking at the side. If you want to see what sort of mess demented socialism can create for a country, you only need to read India's history post-1975. 

In other news, India's entered the hallowed precincts of the club of countries/alliances that have landed a mission on the moon. India's only the fourth country/alliance after the USA, Russia and the European Union (explains the alliance now?) to have accomplished this feat. Remarkably, the costs incurred are a mere fraction of the costs normally incurred by NASA, a testament to ISRO's high-quality optimization of limited resources. I read that ISRO has planned a second mission in 2012, and maybe even a manned mission by 2015. While many may decry this as a wastage of resources at a time when more pressing issues face the country, I feel that we, as Indians, are in desperate need of an icon, like the Apollo 13 became for the Americans or Sputnik for the Soviets, to aspire to. One hopes that such missions will inspire more people to opt for vocations other than IT and bench-work; hopefully many more astronauts, astrophysicists, aerospace engineers and avionics experts arise from this experience.

This blog has been more of a news bulletin; but then something's better than nothing, no?

A desire to change....?

Yesterday's blasts in the heart of Delhi perhaps once again served to lull us out of what is increasingly seeming like a sense of security and complacency. Whatever may be the cause célèbre behind this and all other related incidents is perhaps beyond the point now; this isn't the act of rational people, so reason isn't exactly what we need to comprehend here.

That those who plan such dastardly acts care neither for the lives of innocents nor even for the tenets of their own faith is reflected in the fact that this incident has taken place in the middle of what is regarded as the holiest month in the entire Muslim calendar, a time for fasting, penitence and penance. Surely a true believer would not have resorted to such extreme means at a time when the Lord seeks him to be most forgiving? And perhaps this again is the wrong question addressed to the wrong people, because no person who truly believes in a Divinity could be so barbaric, so heartless.

While we heap opprobrium on the assailants, we must also realize that it is high time that we safeguard ourselves from such attacks in the future. While it is impossible to completely neutralize the threat of such incidents, it is always good to be able to and to minimize them as far as possible. Newspapers and the television media have discovered that Indian intelligence agencies had knowledge of the potential threat, and have insinuated that despite having such 'knowledge', the agencies chose to sit quietly. I wonder whether these agencies knew anything about these incidents beyond the fact that they could occur, something that even a common man could know. And this shouldn't be construed as a criticism of the agencies, because I doubt terrorist organizations publish a list of coming events for the next month for the perusal of the public.

What hampers the intelligence agencies the most in India is the lack of a pan-India policing agency or a federal law and order body. Intelligence gathering, being a preserve of defence and law and order, is a centralized activity, but acting on intelligence, when gathered, is left to different state police agencies, which do not necessarily collaborate with each other. Internal rivalries, Himalayan egos, and a tendency towards blowing one's trumpet at the cost of the greater good have time and again hampered what should have been seamless investigations. In this year alone, four different cities have been afflicted by the venom of terrorism. With one federal agency, it could have been possible to investigate all these crimes more effectively, as often where the same organization is behind such crimes, crucial evidence is left behind, something that can enable creating a chain of responsibility back to the organization itself.

Perhaps it is too much to ask of our political class to give up their regional loyalties in favour of a national spirit. Perhaps we may as well go on dying, because in the end, we are the people who create the political class who is wont to let us die and do nothing about it. And if we aren't prepared to die, perhaps next year when we have the chance, we may vote for a change. Platitudes to the dead and consoling the injured may work for a month or so, but the wounds that these incidents inflict on the soul of our society are festering, and it is the need of the hour that we, the people who ultimately matter, do something about this. It is not just our duty to our society; it is our duty to our families, to ourselves.

GMAT Prep - II

Finally managed to complete the initial drafts of my application essays for ISB. Thankfully they were just three in number, quite unlike INSEAD with its seven essays, not that I really mind. The whole process of writing the essays is so much more envigorating and rejuvenating that I am looking forward to the next round of essay writing.... :)

On a general note, Google completes 10 years of existence. It is difficult to imagine a world without Google's search engine, despite it being barely 11 years since its launch. Here's to more successful decades at Google!

GMAT Prep - Le début....

Phew……I have just finished writing the first draft of the first essay for my MBA admissions, and let me tell you, it isn’t easy. Yah, sure, I write verbose and tome-like blogs, and I say writing a 250-300 word essay is difficult? But really, it’s very difficult, not so much for the want of material to speak about, but because of the want of space to accommodate all that material.

A MBA essay is not so much an essay as a marriage proposal! Ok, maybe that was a wee bit overdone, but you get the point. Now I know why MBAs get paid so much; they should be able to do their marketing even before they are in college!

Indian colleges, with some notable exceptions like Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, generally tend to rely primarily on examination scores (e.g. CAT, XAT, JMET, etc.), and leave the process of gauging the candidate to the Personal Interview rounds. After having given the GMAT, I have come to feel that such a system (the Indian model) is somewhat biased against those who somehow do not manage to get a good score, but may have the potential to be good managers and leaders. After all, a usually great performer may not perform, for some reasons, on the day of the CAT/XAT/JMET exam and may fare badly, but surely that doesn’t mean anything vis-à-vis his/her overall ability. I know many people in my peer group who are capable of being great leaders, but who simply couldn’t clear these exams.

I read once in a newspaper article that the Indian model is so because it’s a model of ‘admission by elimination’, whereas the overseas model is more of a ‘admission by selection’ model. Now, even if your GMAT score may not be in the range of 700-750 out of 800, you still stand a decent, if not great, chance of getting into a good MBA school with a decent scholarship.

So the point is, the Indian model seems flawed and there’s need to improvise. But the question then arises: do we have sufficient colleges and time to actually sift through so many applications of so many candidates in India? I guess not. So it’s best to stay with what is working. As some one said, don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken.

I have still some 12-15 essays to write, so the celebration's premature...but the beginning calls for a small one, no?

Quo vadis....?

So ends the great Indian tamasha. Or maybe it hasn’t; one can really never be sure. But if there’s one thing that one can be sure of, it is this that there is no depth in Hades that can be surpassed, no threshold in Hell that can be bettered by our political class.

We are wont to claim that we are the world’s biggest democracy, and that this alone should be cause to welcome us with open arms into the corridors of global power. But the fact remains that irrespective of our size as a democratic system, it still remains suspect as to whether we have truly comprehended the full import of the responsibilities that being a democracy entails.

Democracy is a word (pardon my lesson on linguistics J) formed from the Greek word for popular government ‘dimokratia’, itself derived from the words ‘demos’ (people) and ‘kratos’ (rule). It is therefore expected that the will of the people would be considered sacrosanct by a democratic system. So where lies the will of the people?

One must admit that the quality of the debate in Parliament has significantly improved, considering that for the first time in independent India’s history a government was being questioned on a matter of foreign policy. It’s true that this matter had greater domestic implications, but essentially the objections to the policy decision were mainly on concerns of sovereignty, surely not a domestic concern.

The nuclear deal is the need of the hour, if not in its form, but at least in spirit and essence. India cannot meet the growing energy requirements of a progressing populace with conventional and non-nuclear non-conventional sources of energy. The conventional sources are too polluting and given the concerns on global warming, we would be better off trying to reduce our reliance on such sources. The non-nuclear non-conventional sources of energy (wind, tidal, solar, hydro) are too expensive and too untested to deliver the concrete results that we need.

The opponents of the deal have stated that this deal would make us beholden to a certain foreign power and to its ‘undesirable’ influence. What they seem to have failed to comprehend, or at least wish not to comprehend, is that the due process being followed to go through with the deal would enable us to get the nuclear technology and fuel from all the current members of the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group), and not just from one or two selected members. And then again, those who accuse the government of selling out to a particular power are themselves ‘guilty’, by their own standards, of having ‘sold out’ the nation to the very same power. A case of the pot calling the kettle black, perhaps?

The government now has 9 months to get the deal through. Its task wouldn’t be any easier, what with its motley team of allies, all of whom are as temperamental as a baby with a soiled diaper. History will show us whether this vote was just; posterity will judge us for our commitment to our principles.

That's all.....

I can only give you love that lasts forever.
And a promise to be near each time you call.
And the only heart I own
For you and you alone
That's all,
That's all...

I can only give you country walks in springtime
And a hand to hold when leaves begin to fall;
And a love whose burning light
Will warm the winter's night
That's all,
That's all.

There are those I am sure who have told you,
They would give you the world for a toy.
All I have are these arms to enfold you,
And a love time can never destroy.

If you're wondering what I'm asking in return, dear,
You'll be glad to know that my demands are small.
Say it's me that you'll adore,
For now and evermore
That's all,
That's all.

If you're wondering what I'm asking in return, dear,
You'll be glad to know that my demands are small.
Say it's me that you'll adore,
For now and evermore.
That's all,
That's all.

Your Mona Lisa Smile....

As the rain pitter-pattered outside,
And the trees swayed in the wind,
I think of you,
And your angelic smile.

You smile your smile at me,
When I tell you I love you,
You smile again,
When I tell you I could never live without you.

You say nothing, you never do,
You just smile,
You just grin away,
Like a Cheshire cat guarding a secret.

I search for a meaning,
I search for a sign,
One that would tell me of your love,
But you smile away.

And then I realise
The secret behind your Mona Lisa smile.
The love that beats in your heart,
Comes forth each time as your smile.

The Fire Within...

We stand there,
Looking out together into the distance,
The sky is reaching for azure,
The sea is calm,
The sun is setting,
Its flames sputtering out,
In the cool waters of the Bay.

And I feel a feeling of warmth,
A glow that was surreal,
As you put your head on my shoulder,
As your delicate fingers play around with your curls,
Your other arm curls around my arm,
Your hand enclosed in mine.

You are wearing that dress I love,
The white one with the pink flowers on it,
And your tresses are untied,
Blowing in the cool sea breeze,
Filling the air with a fragrance ever so divine,
Like a jasmine blooming in the night.

And then you look up at me,
With those beautiful brown eyes,
Your cheeks rosy,
Like a white flower with just a tinge of red on it,
As we looked in each other’s eyes we knew,
The greatest of oceans couldn’t make our love go out,
Because it isn’t just the heat of the moment,
Because it is a fire that burned within us.

Fuelling woes....

This was a dismal week as far as the Union Government was concerned. Suddenly, the ‘achievements’ of the last four years have become meaningless. All those guarantees for rural employment, and loan waivers, and still people go ticking you off for being compelled to pay a ‘wee’ bit more for the groceries……one wonders what would one have to do to impress these blokes! If the fuel price crisis wasn’t enough, what with the state petroleum companies literally on the deathbed, global crude prices at an all time high, and food prices zooming up faster than a ISRO satellite in space, the loss of Karnataka was the proverbial last straw. I bet that the boffins in the AICC must be scratching their heads or pulling their hair out (depending on whether they have a shiny pate or not), wondering aloud, “Can we possibly do any worse?”

Prices, and more particularly fuel prices, have always been a sensitive issue with governments; they could and have been seen to cause the downfall of many a government over the world. And in India, with our populist political class, which simply frowns on pragmatism and long-term vision (and that isn’t because nearly half of them are geriatrics who are more suited for a nursing home than for Parliament…), price hike considerations simply mean that you are left with two options: one, raise prices and commit political suicide, or let prices stay the way they are and compel the nation to undertake financial and economic suicide.

Surely suicide is a strong term here, you say? Hardly so. Let us evaluate each option more closely.

Fuel prices don’t just affect your ability to go for long drives along the Bandra Reclamation or Palm Beach Road (depending on which part of Mumbai you stay); they influence the logistics costs of transporting right about everything from tomatoes to horses to automobiles, and of course the tykes commonly known as ‘humans’. So, even an infinitesimally minute raise of just 0.000001% in the prices of automobile fuels would mean that the ‘crooked capitalists’, those ‘slaves of Mammon’, (to quote the Communists), would get yet another opportunity to raise prices for just about everything.

And we aren’t even looking at cooking fuels yet. Raise the prices for those, and you will have the populace marching to the Legislature, demanding that someone be scalped, guillotined, hung, drawn, quartered, and just for a thrill, cooked on a low flame using some expensive cooking fuel paid for from the bloke’s own pockets. And considering the propensity of our legislators to be ever so enterprising, those pockets are bound to be pretty deep, and the cooking ever so slow and tortuous (if not the cooking, the expense certainly would be…).

So let fuel prices be as they are. I mean, who on this earth wants things to be more expensive (other than those pesky capitalists, bourgeois rascals, out to make a buck at the proletariat’s expense)? So what if the state petroleum companies are going bankrupt? How dare they go broke? They have mismanaged themselves, that’s for sure……and now they want us to raise fuel prices to cover up their ineptitude? NO SIR! We may be stupid and impractical, buffoons and idiots of the highest order, conniving and snivelling rats, but we would be damned if we were to allow you to do what is right for you.

On a more serious note (and I want to end this blog with this), the energy crisis is finally looking the world in the face. Oil producers may be profiting from this sudden increase in global prices, but in the end, resentment against them is also increasing manifold. And where there is resentment, there is a sense of being betrayed, a modern day Dolchstoßlegende, and the last time such sentiments arose, calamity (read war) struck the land. Oil importers need to comprehend the fragile nature of their existence, being wholly dependent on the fuel being brought in. The time to face the energy crisis is now.

We need to understand that a government of the people does not seek to mollycoddle its people; it seeks to protect them, yes, but even a mother sometimes feels the need to punish her children. She doesn’t love them any less, but the beating is for their own good. So it is with fuel prices.

If we do not raise these prices now (or do something to ensure that we aren’t too way off the global price mark), we may end up endangering the health of the very enterprises that are meant to safeguard our future. Oil prices may drop in the near future, and consequently domestic prices also will drop. It is time we evaluated whether we will bear the prick of the injection now, or suffer the agony of an amputation later on. The choice is ours and ours alone to make. So choose wisely.

Vive Le Republic!

Two years ago, this blog covered the crisis then occurring in Nepal, wherein the pro-democracy activists were pitted against the incumbent monarch, King Gyanendra. Then, one had mused that if the ‘good’ King weren’t careful, his people would gladly throw him overboard for his Machiavellian ways.

And now, one cannot help the temptation of saying, “I told you so”. To be fair, any person with a basic knowledge of history and politics would have been able to predict that this would be the way things would turn out. So, no credit to me alone for having ‘predicted’ this event.

Nepal now stands on the threshold of a new age. One hopes that the future is more calm and peaceful for the Himalayan state, considering that it’s people have suffered so much over the past decades, nay centuries, owing to the intransigence of a few autocratic tyrants. That the Maoists, people who most other people would say are most amenable to overthrowing governments and ruling like dictators themselves, are now part of the democratic process is encouraging.

The challenge before Nepal now is to let go of the past, of its bigoted traditions and rituals, of a civil code that was meant to repress the significant majority of the people, and to forge ahead into a future more agreeable to everyone. The discontent that fuelled the Maoists’ power needs to be addressed, and alleviated.

It would not do anyone any credit if the new regime fails the people just as miserably as the old one. Let us not forget that even after the French Revolution, the nouveau regime got barely 15 years when the people began clamouring for a renewal of the monarchy, leading to the First French Empire. Nepal cannot afford to slip into this state of affairs, because unlike in the 17th century, when times were slow and somewhat relaxed, now the world is more fast-paced, and any internal turmoil would result in unforgivable delays in the modernization of the Nepalese nation.

So one prays and hopes that the Nepalese people would not let this opportunity for change go unutilized. They cannot afford to.

Aprés moi, le deluge.....(or is it...?)

Ode To Loved Ones

In the silence of the world,

I was afraid,

The quiet seemed ever so noisy to me.

And then I heard a faint heartbeat,

Your heart beating for me,

A sweet pleasant sound,

Like a lullaby easy on the ear,

It drove away my fears

And lulled me to sleep

In a slumber ever so pure.

In the darkness of the world,

I was afraid,

The shadows seeming like monsters.

And then I saw a bright light,

Your love overflowing for me,

A beautiful heavenly light,

Like the sun rising in the morn,

It drove away my terrors,

And filled me with new energy,

And a desire to live again.

In the noise of this world,

I was afraid,

The clamour deafened my soul.

And then I heard your dulcet voice,

Your soothing words of reassurance for me,

An angel’s promise that all will be well,

Like a nightingale in the midst of a burnt forest,

It drove away my sorrows,

And made me shout out

Challenges ever so many to the world.

No matter how much I say this,

I could never be able to repay you in full,

So take this as but a part of my gifts,

I love you, and I can say no more.

A Good Bargain

Just went on my occasional book-buying spree. It had been a sort-of tradition with me till last year, but this year, all traditions and routines have flown out of the window. Of late, I was beginning to feel guilty of abandoning my passion. So, today was a moment of repentance.

For my friends, a summary of my proposed penance:

1. The Collected Short Stories of Saki – Hector Hugh Munro
2. The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
3. The Man Who Would Be King & Other Stories – Rudyard Kipling
4. The Diamond as Big as the Ritz & Other Stories – F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Les Misérables (Volume 1) – Victor Hugo
6. Silas Marner – George Eliot
7. The Inimitable Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse
8. The Girl in Blue – P. G. Wodehouse
9. Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen – P.G. Wodehouse
10. Big Money - P.G. Wodehouse
11. Ring For Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse
12. Jeeves in the Offing - P.G. Wodehouse
13. The Clicking of Cuthbert - P.G. Wodehouse
14. Piccadilly Jim - P.G. Wodehouse
15. Right Ho, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse
16. Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse

16 books, and can you imagine, the tab came up to just Rs. 1482. That makes it just Rs. 92 (approx. $2 or £1.15) per book. A real bargain if any. Mumbai offers a splendid deal when it comes to buying quality stuff at low costs, be it from street dealers or even from officious book-stores (of course the book stores nowadays are more friendlier than ever before). I haven’t had the opportunity to see elsewhere so really cannot comment on a comparative basis.

Always on My Mind - Michael Bublé

One of my most favourite songs by the inimitable Michael Bublé....

Maybe I didn’t treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn’t love you
Quite as often as I could have
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time

You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

Tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died
Give me, give me one more chance
To keep you satisfied, satisfied

Maybe I didn’t hold you
All those lonely, lonely times
And I guess I never told you
I’m so happy that you’re mine
If I make you feel second best
Girl, I’m sorry I was blind

You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

Tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died
Give me, give me one more chance
To keep you satisfied, satisfied

Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
You were always on my mind
You are always on my mind
You are always on my mind

Resolution time....

2008 has begun, and it’s again time for resolutions. Frankly, I never manage to keep them, but then ceremonies have to be completed, so here goes.

Resolution #1: Try to lose some flab
I know, I know, it sounds stupid. I mean, especially considering the fact that I love food, especially the type I shouldn’t be eating. So what goes? Nothing really. I just plan to control intake. And hopefully find the time and energy to do some exercise, nothing too strenuous; just a brisk walk once a day. Then again, the workplace is expected to be one hectic place this year, so expect some pretty radical changes (or maybe not!).

Resolution #2: Blog as much as possible
Over the last few months, my blogability had dropped to unacceptable levels. One hopes to be able to do better this year. And as a corollary to this resolution, I hope to be able to blog on issues other than politics and focus more on the positive side of life, on the achievements of humanity, and of issues that don’t just sadden you but also make you want to do something about them.

Resolution #3: Try to get into a Business School
This is along the career line. The wheel is spinning, and I am praying that it stops at my number. I like it at the workplace, but frankly also feel that it may just be the right time to move on and expand one’s horizons (so very clichéd, I agree).

I guess this should suffice for now. I mean, I am a lazy bum as it is, and surely even if I achieve this much, I can very well feel contended about 2008. Here’s to a very happy, bountiful and successful year!

Bonne année, mes amis!