Nat Geo

Read National Geographic all day yesterday .. I lend this from a nearby library . Unlike the usual libraries, this one lends the latest magazines ( and books ) for 2 days, for a "fee" of Rs.10/- per magazine. ( that comes to around a quarter dollar ) ... to read ! and the older issues come for half this price !

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0505/index.html ( this is the May 05 online edition .. almost as good as the paper based edition ....but never as good. )

Did you know that the US govt tried to deliver to Cuba a box full of cigars soaked with botulinum ( a lethal biological poison ) during the 60s to kill him ? (him = Fidel Castro ...)

Did you know that India is a country with 80% of its population as Hindus .. ( India's population is a billion+ and growing steady ), with a sikh ( not sick ;-) ) Prime minister , a muslim president and with a Christian leader for the ruling party ?? ( can it be more politically secular ?? )

Living the Brdige way !

In the last few couple of days .. I read more than I had read in the last month . Read Bridget Jones Diary ( yet another time ) and towards the end of the book she writes "silently spending the weekends reading books and listening to classical music ... " . Mine was almost like that just for the 'subtle' difference that I took a trip yet another time to pondicherry ! Visited Auroville yet again and ate from the same beach side hotel yet again ! ... ( sometimes I wonder i used to like to ask myself "When was the last time I did something for the first time ??" - ad from Malaysian airlines . )

Started to read this rather interesting thing called Google Hacks and Iam pretty interested in that already ! I generally dont read tech books that rampant. But I felt this was quite interesting and try-it-out kind .

Thought for the day

Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.
— Jef Raskin, interviewed in Doctor Dobb's Journal

pretty interesting huh ? ..well ... why dont we complain .. and rather just restart ??

Back to a sense of hollow-meaninglessness

All my work at office is done . I got the necessary appreciation and it is all over with it .. now it feels like .. All-is-done-we-dont-need-you-anymore kind of feeling. The better side is I get a lot of time to read. And Iam reading two books at a time . I switch between them when I feel like ..

• Time quake - Kurt Vonnegut
• All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten - Robert Fulghum

Both are good in their own ways . I like the insight in Fulghum and the language in Vonnegut ( Haven't you heard about the email hoax with Vonnegut's MIT commencement speech ( sunscreen speech ) for the class of '97 ?? )

Thought for the day :

Do one thing every day that scares you. (.. from Kurt's hoaxed commencement speech at MIT )

A Random Review of Music and the Lyrics 'behind'

Miss Sarajevo ! and The hands that built America - U2

Taking you slowly to the move, raising you to the mood and the rising tempo makes you go higher and then just carefully dropping you high up there .. just to let you float back to ground like a little orphan feather coming from an unknown bird . Slowly as you approach ground you realise you have been falling ... and the end is near ... but you still want to glide.. Alas its all over a little too fast.

Where the Streets have no name . - U2

The seemingly "endless-monotonous" guitar at the very end makes you spin around in circles

Hello - Stevie Wonder ( "Infact here's just another Ordinary day .... I just called to say I love you" )

You probably wont have a reason to call up the one you love ... but still when you call .. and talk.. it goes on for hours ... and you end up talking nothing !!

.......... to be continued someother time

I lost myself in the summer rain.

What more could be the signs of a beautiful day ?

• Finishing the 15 day-stretch of work early in the morning ( 0430 ) and going to sleep with a happy feeling.
• It rains after almost 9 months .
• standing out in the open and just watching it rain... and patiently waiting for it to subside ( and all the way enjoying it ) .. so that i can start to office ..
• Singing while riding bike on the way to office.
• Absolute feeling of refreshed enthusiasm and the false feeling of a different world in the office.
• Having coffee with someone whom I knew for the first time . ( known for three years )
• joining the people who are standing outside the office .. just to watch it rain and talking to them.
  
• and ... calling your best friend just to tell that its wonderful seeing the rain after a long time . ( I hear from the other end .. that its unbelievable ( but wonderful ) to see it raining !! )

Water and Rain ... I know how much it means to the people here .. And staying here for 3 years .. I have started to share their feeling.

Less-than-a-Million dollar Baby !

My brother told me to watch that movie .. when ever my brother suggests a movie .. I bet its worth it ! .. he suggested My Life as a Dog, Pulp Fiction, Dog Day Afternoon and Shawshank Redemption. and now ...the Million dollar baby .. Somehow I just could not fully appreciate it .. though partly I got into the swing of it . It was much hyped for me . Maybe its the company that matters.