Wordsmiths

In my opinion a writer's(successful writer that is) life is so attractive.However,writing is a tough tough art.How do you write something which people would want to read?How do you even know what people want to read about?However,there are some talented and exceptionally skilled folks who have somewhat figured out this mystery and whatever they write is a success.

The world of writers and their ilk is a crowded place.There are so many wannabees,so many aspiring writers.And on the world wide web almost anyone can call himself a writer for that matter.

I have delved into the works of numerous writers since childhood as books have always been very dear to me.As a child I remember reading the great works of English literature-Dickens,Robert Louis Stevenson,Jules Verne,Mark Twain to name a few.Enid Blyton with the great series of famous fives,secret sevens,five find outers and others remains an all time favourite though its hard to spot any of her works especially here in America. I also loved the Sherlock Holmes stories and have read and reread them and can still enjoy them. RK Narayan's Swami and Friends is another all time favourite.

There was a time I used to be very interested in business books and I read quite a few-Lee Iacoca's Made in America,Akio Morita's Made in Japan,an engrossing book on Apple computers,Jack Welch's book about GE,Lou Gestners Elephant's can dance.I got bored even though these were all great works about careers of exceptionally talented people however the paths that these books tread were more or less the same. It doesn't excite me anymore.

There are numerous books I have started reading,lost interest and left midway.Some have been boring like hell and I persisted with them as long as I could. Then there have been some absolutely fascinating but make very slow reading like the Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.This is one amazing work I have still been unable to read through after many attempts. It must be the most unusual book I have read ever.

I love books which are witty and funny at the same time.Bill Bryson books are recent favorites as they are great to read.A walk in the woods,I'm a stranger here myself,Travels down under make great reads.I somewhere read about Bryson that even if the guy writes about something as boring as laundry lint he will make you laugh. I certainly can vouch for that. I am currently reading his Life of the thunderbolt kid-a memoir about life in America in the fifties.

I also love reading cricket related books with their inside stories of famous matches and players.Sunil Gavaskar's one day wonders is fantastic. I recently read Sachin's biography but it was more replete with stats than the man himself.John Wright's Indian Summers seems to be an intriguing read with his take on the Indian team and the board.There are not many good writers writing about cricket unfortunately. A book on "sidhuisms" anyone?!

I have at several times attempted reading VS Naipaul and always given up with exasperation. I find his writing style too complex and elaborate.Its the complexity which puts me off.I mean you can sound all classy,sophisticated and regal but I would any day take someone whose narrative gives you an impression that the author is more or less speaking to the reader.Khushwant Singh is a writer that excels in this genre. His books make for addictively pleasurable reading specially his essays compiled in "Not a nice man to know" and his memoir "Love,Lies and a little malice".I rate him as a very accomplished and a thoroughly enjoyable author.

I also have a special liking for memoirs and biographies.Sometimes its amazing to see the parallels when you read an autobiography and you also go on to read the same person's biography.As in the case of Mahatma Gandhi's "My experiment's with truth"-as honest and sombre account of oneself as one can dare to make public.Louis Fischer's Gandhi at the same time is a fantastic biography presenting Mahatma's life from many other angles which are not conceivable when someone writes an account of himself.Another fascinating biography is Genius on the life and times of Richard Feynman.Feynman though gave fabulously original and creative lectures which later were compiled into several books never cared to write a memoir.I guess it would have sounded something damn boring for a person who hated authority and hypocrisy of any sort.

The subject of books being made into blockbuster movies is another interesting subject to boot.
It must be an incredibly difficult proposition to condense a lengthy book into a 2 hour movie with taut screenplay,interesting characters and all without loosing the guiding theme of the original work.Perhaps this is the reason that books are almost always better than the movies that adapt them.Rarely has been a movie made that has paralleled the book if not exceeded its charm.The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a perfect example of this.It actually made people sit up and take notice of the marvellous epic that Tolkein created almost a century ago.

Gifted writers you see are a marvellous and a rare species.We are thankful for their work.

All hail Team India!

I'm late on this but a week back team India did the improbable-beat the saffies in a test match in their own backyard.Going into the test series after being blown away 4-0 in the recently concluded ODI series,even the word 'underdogs' seemed charitable to the men in blue.But displaying an inspirational self belief the team rallied against all odds to beat SA inside four days.It was as good as it can get.

It's quite surprising to fathom why such a cricket crazy country like ours with its demi-God cricket stars wins so less test matches overseas.There are various theories the chief being the inability of our batsmen to counter the pace and bounce on foreign tracks.With the odd exception of Dravid and Sachin in the current team,there is hardly any batsman who can claim to have a sound teachnique to play on any kind of surface.However,this is an anamoly which afflicts most teams with the possible exception of the Aussies.Another theory which makes absolute sense to me is that we never have had bowlers who could bowl out the opposition twice to win test matches.So inflicted with this twin anamoly its not too hard to understand why our overseas record is so poor.

This test match however was a shocker for the saffies.They would have gone into this game assured of a one sided contest.What they were in for was nothing less than a miracle for an Indian fan.Chosing to take first strike on what looked like a dicey wicket to bat on,the Indian innings began badly with Sehwag and Jaffar out cheaply.Dravid playing the test match inspite of a broken finger led from the front and he found more than able support in Sachin at the other end.The pair saw off a very crucial passage of play where another wicket would have spelt doomsday for India.Ganguly returning to the team admist intense media scrutiny and public pressure produced a remarkable innings of 51 and some lusty hitting by VRV Singh at the end put the Indian score to 249.

When SA batted,Sreesanth struck havoc getting the ball to swing and seam prodigiously from a full length and literally running thru the SA side like hot knife thru butter.It was an incredible spell of seam bowling.The seam position was upright in almost every other delivery and the length was immaculate.Zaheer and the ever dependable Kumble bowled brilliantly too and before you knew it SA was bowled out for a mere 84 inside 25 overs.

Realizing that they had the upper hand in the contest India played well in the second innings with Laxman leading the pack with a brillaint 72 and Ganguly chipping in with 25.Zaheer showed enormous patience for a tail ender to stick around and add an invaluable 37 runs swelling the overall lead beyond 400.

When the saffies came out to bat in the second innings the pressure was squarely on them.The Indian bowlers fresh from their exploits in the first innings produced another sterling display to wrap up the game for India.They were backed up by agressive field placings from Dravid and impressive catching and ground fielding.

As they say cricket is a game of uncertainities.India the underdogs won this test by 123 runs and go up 1-0 in the test series.

Here's to the game and team India on a fantastic win!.

Rudolph!

I love this christmas song:

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen,
but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names,
They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say,
"Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleight tonight"
Then how the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, you'll go down in history!

Rudolph my friend you rock!!

NRI Blues....

Yesterday I read an interesting but disturbing story of a 'green card' couple based in the US who were denied entry at the Mumbai airport because they could not furnish visas for their two children who are US citizens.Apparently the immigration authorities initially agreed to accept a faxed copy of the documents but the fax arrived ten minutes after the family was sent back.

Now the gentleman went back and told his story to the media summarily mentioning "I'm ashamed of being an Indian". This was the piece that cracked me up. I mean you turn up at the immigration counter without visas and then you dare to comment back on the system.It's an unpardonable thing in these days of heightened international security to undertake a transcontinental journey without appropriate papers.Now,had the family been visting India on a personal emergency or tragedy then this miraculous absence of visas could still be fathomed but imagine being a seasoned international traveller and ending up in front of immigration authorities without visas. That is asking for big trouble.Atleast in India,the authorities were even willing to listen to the arrangement of faxed papers.Imagine the situation in the US or any European country. I have little doubt that much worse treatment would have awaited them there.

And then to cry to the media about being "ashamed" of being an indian!.Some gals here!.I'm not even for a moment suggesting that Indian officials are meticulous in what they do.There have been umpteen cases of people getting rude and insensitive treatments at Indian airports.Courtesy and politeness is not our strong point in any case.But the facts of this case put the blame squarely on the parent's callousness.

There was also this incident of a Frenchman who was given a transit visa on the spot while the Indian family was denied. It really needs to be investigated if proper procedures were followed in this case. Afterall you would believe that the rule is same for all.

Indian community event....

A couple of weeks back I got an invitation to attend IBM India's community xmas/new year dinner here in Cincinnati.The event was held today at a local holiday inn express.It was a great gesture from couple of folks who took the trouble to organize this event.

I'm definitely not a party person and tend to be somewhat skeptical.One thing that almost always happens in these parties is ladies and the men form seperate groups and the guys spend the time talking about work or office politics both of which annoy me no ends.I mean is that all that is interesting in the world to talk about?

The other funny thing that happens with amazing regularity is people being coaxed to dance!.I mean you should shake a leg and have fun by all means but atleast do not relentlessly coax people into doing a jig impromptu.My idea of fun does'nt happen to be dancing to bollywood numbers anyway.I would rather enjoy any other party games for that matter.

The other rite of passage that happens is when people start playing their work roles in office get-togethers. I mean you might be my boss or manager at work but give me a break this is outside work. I have frequently seen people higher in the pecking order being given more importance or trying to show off at these gatherings.

Anyways to cut the long rant short today's event was pleasantly better.The crowd was comprised of India based IBM'ers who work in and around Cincinnati and their families.The only problem seem to be that there was a big group coming from a single project who obviously knew each other well. I mean nothing wrong with that but its just that mostly these people interacted amongst themselves.I met some nice and interesting guys.The appeatizers and the dinner were good and there were a few games-housie and dumb charades thrown in.There was the inevitable 'dance coaxing'....but overall not that bad.

It was good to know IBM'ers who live and work here.I was a bit surprised at the relatively large numbers.I had thought not many would be around here.Good on that....

Winter time in Ohio

Its the best time of the year with Thanksgiving just over and Christmas and New Year to look forward to.Its also the time when temps drop like a stone and lakes and ponds freeze.This year it was unusually warm till around thanksgiving with temps pleasantly in the sixties.However,like day and night change of seasons is inevitable.The cold front hit with a vengeance last week.It dumped heavy snow in Missouri and Illinois and clamped the temps down in twenties from sixties just a few days back.There are no snow showers as of yet here in Cincinnati but the wind is cold enough to chill your bones.

I do like winter as it lets you cosy up with a book or watch tv and enjoy hot meals and wine!.However removing snow or frost from the car windshield during chilly mornings is no fun at all.I normally have a habit of parking my car a fair distance from the building where I work.Actually by the time I reach most parking spaces near the building are anyways gone.The short walk can seem like ages with the wind howling and the air so cold.

Normally the first day it snows is also the time when most car accidents happen.People skidding off or loosing traction in ice.Fortunately in Cincinnati,snow storms are not so frequent as in NJ or Chicago.Last year there was one major storm which dumped quite some snow and some snow showers otherwise.The speculation for this year is stiffer as most folks say last time it was a an unusually 'mild' winter.

However,the best thing about this time of the year is the festive atmosphere and holiday lights and decorations everywhere which always lift up your spirits.The local soft rock station plays melodious christmas songs like Sinatra's "Let it snow,let it snow" and others. I hear those on the way to work and back.They are always so delightfull.I can liken this euphoria to the Diwali celebrations and ligthts back home.There are "Happy Holidays" signs everywhere and people are spending a lot of time in the malls shopping for gifts.

As they say "Happy Holidays,Happy Holidays"....

Zee TV in the USA

Sometime earlier this year we planned on getting a dish network connection so that we could get the hindi channels-star,sahara,zee and the works.It turned out much more complicated than I had anticipated!.For starters you need a clear view of the southern sky and our apartment's backyard is laced with a line of tall trees.So on the appointed day the Dish tech guy came in with a compass and announced much to my chagarin that we could not get the service as the view of the southern sky was promptly blocked by trees.

Some months later when we ordered the cable service from Time Warner cable we found out that it offered Zee TV as an option for 15$ monthly.We signed up for it hoping to atleast view some desi programming after a long time.

Zee in USA is a well packaged channel with news in hindi,gujarati and punjabi apart from regular prime time soap operas.It also shows a matinee movie(some of them really antique!) on work week afternoons.

What really set me laughing(and still does!) is the absolutely slapstick approach to the hindi news coverage.For example all cricket analysis starts with something hillarious like "Rahul Bhai lage raho...".It continues to enlighten us on how "Guru Chappell ko yaad aayi Dada ki"!!
I recently saw a news item about a composer who has created a Bhojpuri song about how great would be if MS Dhoni and Sania Mirza tie the knot and the whole marriage is coordinated by Laloo.What a load of crap!!.

The news is really funny and its really speculation and sensationalization as opposed to reporting on matters of interest.I would rate DD news several notches up inspite of the drab presentation and that fuzzy INSAT b/w picture which served as a backdrop for "Mausam ki jaankaari".

Westward Ho!

I recently returned from my leisurely vacation in California,quite easily my longest vacation in a long time.The two official days off at Thanksgiving and two weekends provided me 12 days to complete my trip and complete I did with starting off my trip from Los Angeles then on to San Francisco and on to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon and back to Los Angeles.It was by all accounts a memorable trip. I was in Los Angeles for a couple of days in the last days of 2000 but most of that trip was spent in Disney World and Universal studios leaving no time to marvel at the natural wonders in California.The weather is quite amazingly pleasant(seems more so if you travel from the mid-west) and the LA expressways are bustling with traffic.Its a big bad city all right!.

It wont do justice to summarize the entire trip in one blog entry so I plan to dedicate a blog each to LA,SFO,Vegas and Grand Canyon.I did take a lot of pictures with my Nikon D80.What I thought were my best work so far are posted at http://flickr.com/photos/rishis75/

Some of the other places I really wanted to visit but had no time to do so on this trip were Yosemite National Park and Lake Taho.Maybe some time soon I would touch down on those too.

I enjoyed my time...more to come.