F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Had one of my most horrible days of life and also the day when i learnt  a lot in life , but they will be there for you :)

Roots - Alex Haley - Book Review

Awards: Published in 37 languages and won a special award for the work in 1977 from the Pulitzer board.

Was adopted as a television mini series and had over 130 million viewers then. 

"On September 29,1967, I felt I should be nowhere in the world except standing on a pier at Annapolis- and I was, it was two hundred years to the day after Lord Ligonier had landed. Staring out to the seaward across those waters over which my great -great-great-grandfather had been brought, again I found my self weeping."

This was the third bulky book of this year(Atlas Shrugged and Papillon) and like the other two it was also an awesome read. Many of us are never interested in our family history , being the same selfish fellow all through our lives. But some people like the author spend 10 years of their life going back 200 hundred years in history.  The amount of effort that Alex has taken to write this book is commendable.

The story begins from his great great great great grandfather's life in Africa. The description of his childhood and the customs really establishes the fact that every generation , every nation , every cult had their own way of living but the main idea and the cycle of their lives was the same as today. So the story starts from the childhood of Kunta Kinte born in the village Jufureh in Gambia. Just after his manhood training he is kidnapped by the whites and transported to Annapolis, Maryland. 

Then begins the long story of slavery of a family for more than 100 years.The owners to the slaves changes from generation to generation but somehow the family in their time manages to live together. Most part of the book covers the aspects and hardships suffered in being slaves . There are moments in the book which will make you so emotional. Just think of a lifetime when you were not free and spent your entire life working in the same field growing the same crops year after year.Amidst strict restrictions , they were hardly allowed to see the world and reading or writing was a heinous crime.Some slaves spent whole of their lives working for their massas and still could not earn enough money to buy their freedom. 

The book covers the stories of all the generations and each era has a hero ranging from Kunta kinte, George , Tom and so on. 

"In his hut after the Moro had gone that night , Kunta lay awake thinking how so many things - indeed , nearly everything they had learned - all tied together.The past seemed with the present , the present with the future ; the dead with the living and those yet to be born; he himself with his family, his mates, his village , his tribe , his Africa ;the world of man with the world of animals and growing things - they all lived with the allah. Kunta felt very small, yet very large. Perhaps, he thought , this is what it means to be a man."


Read this tale , it is awesome.

BG-1

Chapter one (Arjuna’s despondency)

The epic battle is all set to begin. The starting verses introduces the famous warriors of both the sides.The big names on the Pandavas side were : Bhima, Arjuna,Yuyudhana,Virata, Drupada , Dhrstaketu, Cekitana, King Purujit , Kuntibhoja,Saibya and Yudhamanyu.On the other side the Kaurava had valiant men like :Dronacharya,Bhisma,Karna,Krpa,Asvatthama,Vikarna and Jayadratha.

  

However the essence of this chapter is the questions raised by a grief stricken Arjuna. He sees that he has to fight against his fathers,grandfathers,teachers,uncles,brothers,sons,grandsons and comrades.He finds no good in this war because ultimately his own family would be ruined. He says that he has no interest in kingdom, pleasures and victory. Such confusion would land in hell the wreckers of the family and the family itself.

Finally he throws away his bows and arrows and sinks into the seat of the chariot

The first chapter in geeta raises many questions which are symbolic to our day to day decisions. The basic questions on righteousness , choosing what is wrong and what is right and the most important is our day to day actions. In the subsequent chapters lots of questions will be answered .

Caption Contest

The video song of one of my favorite songs is playing (November Rain) and still I have just closed my eyes for the breeze today is cooler than what Chennai expects over the year. The train guy must have slept by now , i heard the last whistle around 11 and i again wondered what keeps him going day after day.

Have you ever been on a swing ? If you have been u will remember the moment when u reach to the the farthest point laughing knowing that you will reach that high again after sometime. It is the same feeling here , the cool breeze is sporadic i must say but every time it passes it mesmerizes me.I don't whether i am happy now or sad though I have just watched for the fourth time the movie ,"The pursuit of happiness." I love one moment when Chris tells his son , " Don't let anyone say that you can't do something , not even me."

I have learnt a lot in my life staying all alone for the last six months , just in a room in my flat with the winds changing its direction and moon changing phases. There were days when I could see the moon sitting on my chair near the window but it has also changed its course same as somewhat my life has . 

Its amazing that i am just writing down my feelings here , ideally i would have filled the title box first but somehow i don't find an appropriate title to this post , i hope u will understand. 

Header - July

If your world doesn't allow you to dream, move to one where you can.

2 days at Banglore

Was just informed that the bus which was about to depart at 10:00 will no go at 11:30. So just writing down the experiences of the two days because these 2 days have been special in all respects.

  Traveling in the general compartment of a train has always been fun. The dirt , stench , people, food everything reminds me of a past, a past which stands up and says , " No matter what happens in life don't forget me." A place where you can see the crowd which has not slept properly in the night , a place where people coming far from North India to find a living in Bangalore, a realty which we sometimes forget while watching those movies where every fuc..... thing is beautiful.

Came here to meet a friend with whom i had prepared for JEE. Though circumstances were such that we could meet for only 10 minutes but none the less , those minutes and a cup of tea together was enough to suffice for the purpose of the trip. Met few other friends who are not from my college. The time spent with them was wonderful . Sharing of experiences of a solitary life that we have been living , the difficulties they are facing in their life and amongst all these few light moments to share among us will always make me happy. Walking casually along with a friend , i cam across a Ganesha temple , just prayed and thanked god,"Thank you for giving me one special evening in my life."

There are a bunch of guys from my college who are special and with whom I don't think before speaking. There are also a few outside, met them had a great time .We used to write essays on friendship when we were kids , if given a chance I would write one better today.

Bangalore: It is a great city to live in . There are many reasons for this , especially food which is cheap , transportation which is readily available , weather too pleasant and the especially the city itself which accepts you. 

Things

The toys which I longed for when i was a kid now seems just to be plastic and tin . Things change so fast ,you may be in love with something today , soon it will turn out to be TIN.