GoodReads 2012

Mightily obsessed =]

Everyone is obsessed about something. In my case , it is a pretty Loong list - Kamal Haasan , Surya , movies , cricket and last but not at all the least ...BOOKS. Throw anything at me I read it ^_^ (ie if it has any visual stimuli to apprehend :P ) Also , I am a bit compulsive about recording , organizing and reviewing every book I read. And what better place to do it than http://www.goodreads.com/   where they do all the organizing for you , give a platform to review and discuss the books , interact with authors ( I got a chance to video chat with Jeff Kinney  - of Wimpy kid fame!!) Also at the beginning of every year, you get to make a resolution - of x many books you want to read , and keep track of it!

<3 =') 

Ok that was a totally random advertisement I did . Goodreads doesn't need any advertising -_- Just spreading the awareness to those who have been living under a rock / preparing for their boards :P 

And the thing about this year's reading challenge is that I am almost close to my target!! Not like last year's 52/120 but a more realistic 50/60 which i can maybe even complete :O Who thought peeps preparing for board exams would read anything but textbooks . And i swear , I did not add my text books to the reading list , for if i did , i should have added every book 100 times :/

Inspired by facebook 'trends' - I am coming up with my own list. This one is  about the books i was lucky enough to read this year and NOT some list about best books of this year as such - I don't do shiny new books . 

Here is a bird's view of whatever i read this year - HERE 

It is pretty hard to write about all the 50 books i read. That would need another mega resolution. So its gonna be 7 excerpts as 5 seems too small and 10 too long :P  and also because of my unhealthy obsession towards 7 tables =') ( after all the years of playing snakes in my dad's phone at level 7 :P )

Disclaimer - The numbers are mere numbers. Not some ranking or chronological order. As i am not qualified / bothered enough to do both.

1. 39 clues - Pretty much dominated the latter part of my year. To begin with it is so easy and fun to read! It is like reading an action packed movie . something like a book version of spykids :D Sure to attract young readers , it has found unlikely takers in stressed out older men/ women who don't mind having a breezy and almost a no brainer kind of a  book . The series has a total of ten books and it has another stream of series - Cahills vs vespers to its credit. The story is about adorable orphans Amy and Dan , the good guys who find that their family is the most powerful on earth. And they decide to give up a million dollars to sign up for the most thrilling life risking clue hunt of anybody's life to save the fate of the world. We get to goto places like Vienna , Paris , China , Korea , Australia , Russia , Africa , Caribbean and England and meet evil relatives like the kabras , Holts , Wizards and Hos . An apt book for a train journey ,which you can't really remember after a while - in a good way :) But please don't read it and ask for a logical explanation. Its like  questioning James bond / Rajinikanth.

Really wants to know what goes on in her head xO 

2.Agatha Christie all the way - Although i've been reading her for quite a while now , I was lucky enough to discover some interestingly different book of hers. The Endless Night is one of the few chilling books you will ever read. The books starts on a bright note, with Michael Rogers , an ambitious young man getting to own his dream house and the woman of his dreams - who his also  pretty rich. The land where his house is built is supposed to be cursed by the gypsies and i don't want to reveal much more as I may reveal the spoiler. Even if you do know the twist do read the book ; i read it with perfect knowledge and still was taken aback! A true master piece . I also read seven dials mystery which has a fresh and energetic 'bundle'  as the female lead , very different from the normal miss marple or poirot. Even with Mr.Poirot we find some interesting variances , when in the ABC murders  he is forced to stop a murder from happening rather than find the killer who is responsible. And again a very truly imaginative if not far fetched ending. I strongly recommend you the read all the three gems :)

1. 3.Growing up has never been this poignantly portrayed before . This can be said about to kill a mockingbird  , which is one of the stellar classics of recent times.  Here Scout is a school going girl in the southern suburbs of USA . The tom sawyer like appeal will grown on into you and you will be batting for her , when her brother starts finding her too young to hang out with and the exciting court trials and the mysterious neighbor who is presumed to be a ghost prove to be cherries on a very well made and delicious cake , which is to kill a mocking bird.  Another one of this same genre is the OUTSIDERS  a very realistic book on Teenage Gangster groups in America whose unlikely lead Ponyboy and his buddies/brothers are the proverbial underdogs who we get to know and root for. A Tiny girl's life is captured in A tree grows in Brooklyn  which tells us about hope amidst poverty and difficulties. All the three books are truly great masterpieces whose geniusness I'm in vain failing to capture. Please just go read them and share my excitement! :) 

1. 4.Mrs. Frisby and the rats of the nimh  will be the biggest surprise package if you ever read it! Covered and blurbed like a 7 year old's Aesop Fable , this book is all BUT that . Talk about an head fake! The book is about mrs.Frisby the caring mice and mum , who has to find an antidote to her son's illness before winter ends. She is advised by the wise owl to go and get the rats help. Now the rats are sinister creatures who have an agenda of their own . They want to start their own civilization. How? Why? when? Where? What? READ THE BOOK. 

1. 5.Indian Mythology has never been made cooler. Amish Tripathi , has proved to be one of the best writing talents who has emerged out of India. Immortals of meluha  proves beyond doubt why it is not over rated and why every Indian needs to be proud of it. We have the cool and democratic Shiva who is the head of his tribal clan and smokes chillum whenever he is bored \m/ He is called in to settle in Suryavanshi region , where people believe him to be the descendant of Rudra due to his blue neck ( neelakanta xD ) Will he discover the god in himself and rise to the occasion? Are the enemies truly the enemies? and will the nagas ever be defeated? The book answers all these questions and is a celebration of Indian gods and their stories, if not very accurately so. And sorry for forgetting the romance between Shiva and shakthi =') 

1. 6.Satires both on religion and politics made an imprint in my fantabulous reading year.  When i first took 1984  i thought it was a sci fi kind of novel which I would never enjoy.  I turned out to be grossly incorrect . Lucky moi! The book is situated in a parallel world where WAR IS PEACE.FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. It is what would have happened if communists and nazis formed a dystopian coalition . There is the thought police to monitor your ideas and the sad part is you are forced to believe that you truly believe something you don't actually believe in . A truly great novel which every person must read to value his right to freedom of speech and expression ; and fight for it. On the other hand Kiran Desai's Hullabaloo in Guava orchard is truly hilarious , showing how Indians are ready to believe anybody to be a saint and how religion is one of the most profitable businesses . Pick it up to if you wanna laugh till your stomach hurts xD 

cutest shock faced i could find :P 

1. 7.No list of mine is complete without having a Jeffrey Archer book :O <3 the best author ever and my forever rolemodel!! This is what i wrote on Mrach 27th after reading the book  "This is the BEST book I have read in the 16 years of my life. Sure I am an archer fan , but my expectations weren't really high after the average only time will tell (with a stunning finish though)BUT OH MY GOD. I started reading the book at about 4 thinking I would read some chaps during the two hour power cut. Being lazy nowadays - I had convinced myself I am losing my appetite for books. But Archer just proved that my tummy is destined for unseen obesity levels!  Like another reviewer wrote , the book just sucked me in and didn't let me move an inch till the very last page , cursing the author for not writing more and now here I am waiting for the release of the next book.the sins of father , has everything a Jeffrey Archer book has. right from the prison accounts which are a trademark ever since the author's brief stay in the prison to the war and political aspects which are found in almost all his books. There is also the 'unseen' romance like paths of glory and hell! EVERYTHING that you could ask for.Harry clifton , Giles Barrington and Emma and Maise and surely Sir walter barrington maybe the most regal and awesome characters created EVER. It is sad how all the friends who help these characters die =( but someone has to die in the was right? :P   P.S - Semi is back to the reading business B| "    It sure did bring me back  to the readin busyness :D ^_^ 

Existential Anxiety

Its true.
I have not blogged in a 'while'
and that while has been one big blue whale of a time :P

Its true .
I have exams all the time now.
Yet I spend more time on facebook
than i do to annoy the life outta my brother.

Its true.
This can never qualify to be a poem ,
it has no rhyme scheme
or a complex theme .

Yet its true
that my blog has become a mere vegetable ,
a fruitful retrospection
to be pickled from the upcoming disaster of time.

Disclaimer - Views totally attributed to harmful effects of psychology.

okay :P I went a bit overboard there. Please be a bit kind upon me as I'm a bit scratchy, as its been a while. Yet I'm back, as the itch to write is intolerable. In the past many months , I did try writing. But the problem is/was, I really didn't know what to write about.
Everyone runs out of juice and one simply can't be creative when they are being sapped out regularly of their life through examinations. No , don't worry . I won't crib about exams here too. At least i'l try not to.

So lets move on to something even more depressing. Or at least something which looks superficially so. The end of school life . This is the time of the year, when saying bye bye to school happens. However, it is quite sad when all the crying and emotional catharsis is followed by regular visits to school in the form of exams , special classes and more exams , lol .

Yet is quite a 'life event' in an otherwise drab year. eleventh is any day more fun . why can't twelfth be like eleventh? -_-  okay this topic is so boring i don't even want to continue writing on it. God! Maybe this is how a dying blog feels like. Free association and Freud ftw \m/

Conversations have become so structured that i can even predict it before it begins. unfairness of timetable , teachers , school , education system check. Portions , doubts , bitching about subjects/chapters check. Status quo is such that deep introspection on each others subjects seems almost attractive. I met this old friend after a very long time . And she ended up discussing about the structure of the DNA *facepalm*

However howmuchever cool we act on the outside ( yes it is an ego defence we put up. In fact , according to Freud every way we behave is an ego defence ,everything we think is sexual and ever one of us are disturbed. So you really can't blame me for my disillusionment)  deep down inside we are all kutti paapas (small children) who do not want school to end.

While some of us express it very openly , crying our lungs out , others like to maintain that they are the least bit affected and are eagerly awaiting college. This maybe true , but like everything else in life , only partly. There can be no exceptions to this rule. Homo Sapiens fear change more than anything else. That is why old people don't like us sticking to our gadgets ( again only partly xP) and we don't like leaving a system which has been inbred in us for 14 years of our life. Thinking about it , the next generation will find it harder. They seem to be going to school the moment they've learnt to walk. Poor kids -_-

On top of all this , like an icing on the cake ( subtle reference = I may end this post soon yay!) while trying to  enjoy my over earned sleep. Morbid , intrusive thoughts keep popping up :'(  . Too much existential knowledge is never good - only exceptions is for the religious leaders and thinkers i guess . However i have no plans to become a sankarachariyar anytime soon . SO IT IS VERY ANNOYING. Questions like Why do we exist? what is the purpose of life? What will happen if i fail an exam? What is the point of money , grades , job , family , marriage , retirement etc etc? If  the answer is  'happiness', why shouldn't i take the easier way - that too when i have one , ie, laze around? Why should everyone perform some function in the society? Why can't we just sit at home? And if you're staying at home , why should you be a 'house wife' ? Why is not considered right to do NOTHING? Doing nothing seems very attractive. Why at this rate I can become a sanyasi. Semi baba xD but no I am too self indulging and 'pleasure principle' oriented to be one. But again who said i can't be both? xD and who said such people aren't both? Google 'reaction formation' .

Ishouldgosleep after performing relaxation procedures and cognitive and behavior techniques at least.

Sorry i wrote for myself . lol i sound like Randy pausch . There i go again -.-

THrow your textbooks somewhere faraway ( yet in a searchable distance :P )  after an exam.

Ta Ta Bye Bye 

Love Story : Part 5

As lonely and pretty as it gets =) - photo courtesy - Abhinaya venkat  xD 

Act 1  - Dinky's Black innova . On the way to Mahabs .

This must be what running away feels like mused Kaushik Seetharaman. Not that he had never run away before . Every worthy childhood must contain a failed attempt to runaway. Also , the dreadful five years without Dinky , all alone in Switzerland was what he would recall as running away. Going incognito to cool off your loved one maybe mistaken as cowardice , but cow (everybody called him that now) knew that it was true love that ignites the fire called sacrifice , which helped him withstand the separation. Thinking more than was required , ie , Overthinking was his forte. While it helped in intellectual pursuits , it certainly hurt when done for emotional issues.





Why all of a sudden the word 'cow' seemed to resemble 'coward' he couldn't fathom . A painful memory from the past shot past his head. "Cow for coward" hooted his so called loved one. Such instances still warranted a rush of red to his fair cheeks.

Guess what mimosa is normally called?! 

The dreamlike quality of the happening events still wouldn't go. The past few hours seemed to be slowly compensating for the five years they missed being together. Sure , things weren't as smooth as before. Both Dinky and him weren't exactly the best talkers. While he could bore you to death , and even talk to your corpse for hours about the wonders of a mimosa pudica , he sadly couldn't hold a decent civil conversation with his ex girlfriend for more than a few minutes. And Dinky wasn't any better.
People who knew her thought that she was one of the most coherent and fluent speakers they've ever met. While this holds true inside the conference halls , business meetings and even the arun ice-cream endeavors with her friends it turns the opposite when she meets cow. To some extent we could attribute it to cow's total lack of speech but we also should take in mind that dinky was usually dumbstruck around cow ( *Rolls eyes* )
"Ahem..." *Clears throat n number of times to capture his attention*
Promptly enough he hands the water bottle to her.
She decided enough was enough and bursted out laughing much to Cow's dismay.
'So this was all an elaborate lie/ dare carried out by the Queeen bees? I must have known better. I am a science professor for Christ's sake!' he manage to rapidly think all these thoughts before she could finish her prolonged laughter.
" Im sorry ... hahahaha .......Its all just too incredulous!! A few days back , I didn't even remember who you were  ( okay that was a lie ) Now Im going on a secret vacation with YOU lol ( yes she actually said lol ) "
Deciding that it would be socially appropriate he joined in the laughter too.
" I know right? You wouldn't believe how much I missed you all these years da! Talking about being socially appropriate , don't you think people will be ... umm ... well uncomfortable and not happy with us going on a vacation together , you being my boss and all."

She continued laughing.
" Cowww.. You still haven't stopped continuing to talk from where you stopped thinking lol and don't worry da. Im not  exactly going around the world bragging that Im going out with you again. And did you forget already? I fired you!"
"Whaa..? Was that for real? ( Classic :O face ) "  And he was still struggling for words when he realized the full extent of the words  she had uttered. .
"Dinky.. did you say that we are going out?" he quietly asked. Praying that he didn't hear her wrong and that she wouldn't break his head again in anger.
A slow smile started breaking out in her really pretty face. Like a ray of sunshine he thought fondly.
" Yes , you heard me right" she replied
"You mean , with the same connotation I am assuming"
"Yes baby. And for the umpteenth time , i really can't read what's going on in your head all the time"
"me neither"


Act 2  - The Ravenous bungalow  - hungry for visitors it was.

Cow was still wondering about the contradiction dinky had posed to him . She said yes , I mean the same thing u said yet she also added  that she always didn't know what he thought. What did she mean exactly? He just sighed lazily as the car was pulled into the driveway very expertly.
Dinky was always the better driver , even in their school days it was she who drove him around in her stylish vespa scooter. And he really didn't care about the sniggers made by his mates that he couldn't even drive his own bike - he had the hottest chick in school not them .
Dinky's Bungalow was located pretty far away from actual Mahabalipuram. Somewhere in some Manamai village. It looked too tranquil and peaceful to be true. Picture perfect they call it he thought. As everything is dreamlike this would be my dream house he giggled to himself.
Then he noticed something else. Not the nude sculptures and fancy paintings which adorned the room , but something more strange . The huge mansion seemed to be devoid of any other humans except him and her. Surely there must be a few servants employed by one of the richest families of Tamil Nadu? When he asked Dinky this , she just gave him a mysterious smile.
He jumped into the oriental looking sofa , as Dinky walked over to the excellent refrigerator which also seemed to be multi tasking as the mini bar and picked a bottle of champagne.
"...But I don't drink Dinkyy.."
"You don't need to act tiger. I wouldn't pounce on you like before. You can drink anything to you wish to" she solemnly put.
"No da. I really don't drink!"
" Lol I thought people who returned from foreign always caught that habit? You sure?"
" Yes i clearly am. And What is it with you and 'lol' anyways? " :P
She just cocked her one eyebrow up . When she was too lazy to explain things he thought.
After a brief pause she said , " Please have this one drink cow. For me at least. For the sake of our old relationship." "And the new one"  she added belatedly.

"What's there in a glass of champagne?" " Champagne of course." "Thanks for your mokkai cow." 

So much for 'drink whatever you want' he thought. "Okay dinky . Just this one time. For you"  he said smiling sheepishly.
He took a small sip from the bottle. Dinky had gone to bring in some glasses and snacks from the kitchen. He secretly prayed to god that she had learnt how to cook. There seemed to be no restaurant in the near vicinity.So faraway from humanity he thought.....This stuff was good! He took a larger swig this time. And the last sound he heard before blacking out was the dull thud of his own body hitting  the ground.. and the last rapid thought of the day was - Never trust mysteriously smiling women. Even more so if they were your ex - girl friend.

Act 3  - In the smallest , darkest and coldest room of the lonely bungalow.

Cow woke up to see himself bound , gagged ........... and kidnapped. 

Quoting the truth

"Whatever happens , life must go on" 

My heart will go on and on <3 :*

There are a million quotes decorating all the languages. Yet i choose this one to start my post ; this is a very special post for me , and i am saying this before even writing it .Developing the 'seventh sense*' i guess. Firstly , the quote is awesome  because it is quite simply the truth. And truth is what this post is gonna be all about. Also , (forgive my awestruck -ness  ) This line was delivered by 'daddy' surya to son surya in vaarnam aayiram :P Surya surya everywhere <3 [ Maattrraann is releasing this friday , don't miss it! ]

* - hope the surya fans go the 7am arivu reference xD

There lies the book , which cooly changed my life :P 

Moving on to the actual topic , I am going to talk about this book i picked a while back ; which happened to change my life or atleast how i look at thinks quite remarkably. ( please don't sigh already) It is the " Life of Mahatma Gandhi " by Louis Fischer  - wohoo! I think Gandhi is the first Indian name which auto correct didn't mark in red for me. This book as the title suggests is about the father of our nation and it gave me a rough idea why he was called 'bapu' . Apart from  just mentioning the events which featured in his rather dynamic life this books gives us an understanding of the gandhian principles of Satyagraha and ahimsa . Simply put as truth and love.

Some ppl are just too cool pa 

Being the lucky person i am , I've got this golden opportunity to study history in my higher classes. And very recently we finished covering a lesson devoted to Gandhiji. And to my sad surprise , most of my friends found it cool to mock and criticize him as a person and his methods. I am nowhere near being called his blind follower , but having got the chance to read some real content about him , I want to clear some common  misconceptions and put forth some oft asked questions about him here.

Disclaimer - These are my own set of views on Gandhi and I totally welcome open debate.

First charge - He delayed our independence. 
When he first came into the fray of Independence struggle , our nation was in desperate need and search for a single leader who could represent the masses. Yes ,he was intermediary caste , hindu , middle class and a lawyer. Yet , the way he lived and practiced what he preached , inspired millions. And proved a point which desperately needed proving - caste and class doesn't determine how you live and shape your lives , it is your own actions that speak for you.
The people flocked to him ,seeing his actions. His principles were simple and unique. Speak the truth and love everyone. He was a humanist by nature. He did not want violence. Human lives were too precious to be killed and toyed with in the name of war and mutiny. All humans were well , basically human. Life of an European brother or African brother wasn't more important than that of an Asian , Indian one. Yes , there was right and there was wrong , but we are no ones to judge or kill in people in the name of god. He followed the same theory with hindus , muslims or parsis.

He really wouldn't have fought against the British rule if they were fair and just. He would have approved the new Indian rule after the independence only if it was following the righteous path to resolve the riots. His methods were done in a way not to produce immediate results , but to actually change the very structure of Indian society , which we all know is a product of thousands of years of culture and civilization. So what he achieved in the years he did was what critics should call a monumental success , what is 40 years in the thousands of years of Indian civilization and almost two centuries of British rule?
And ponder upon this. If we had overthrown the British as we wanted to in the 1920s or the 30s , would it have granted the smooth functioning of the new government? Surely the replacement of British in the top wouldn't have ended all the problems lol We had to work from the wide bottom and that's what Gandhi did.
He gave hope , inspiration and faith to millions and before attaining independence in the material sense , most Indians started behaving like their land belonged to them. And that is what was required i think.

Father of the nation ; wasn't exactly the best father to his own sons 

Almost everyone who tried to dissuade me from supporting the Mahatma quoted his personal life as a means to reduce his reputation.
a) Where did they get these intimated details about his personal life? His autobiography of course. He must first be appreciated for daring to accept the truth.
b) He is not a mahatma of course. He never liked the title Rabindranath Tagore crowned him with . He was very much aware of his own flaws and took upon self reflexivity rather seriously. And surely a title can't be given that much importance. Don't tell me you would sit and ponder upon why rajini is the 'superstar' . You just don't.
c) What he did in his personal life is private and called personal for a reason. You just cannot judge someone with that . It is wrong. And cheap
d) surely what is right and wrong in parenting - is very subjective. We must also take into account the context of the period he lived in .

Well that is my modest attempt to defend Gandhi. As i said - open to debates. I will put across my points , you put across yours. Surely no harm can be done.

As i said before , there are two lessons to learn from his life and perspectives.

• Truth
• Love

Truth - Lets face it. We all lie too many times a day - sometimes consciously and sometimes almost unconsciously. We are all liable to lie at some point if not at this point. Still truth is always safer , stronger and a more powerful weapon. That is why the most experienced liars most often mix a large amount of truth with a little amount of  realistic lies. Some wisecracks like "Truth is stranger than the fiction " , "her story was crazy enough to be true" tells us the queer status quo of things. Why lie when you have the truth beside you? :) 

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Love - Ahimsa   

Blimey me! I could write about this word all day. Basically developed by the jain school of thought , Ahimsa refers to non injury to living and non living things. Especially humans , animals , plants and insects. Like Jesus says show your left cheek after the right one is done.  Quite impractical one may think. But it is all the more useful in today's democracy. 

The current scenario of Anna Hazare ' fast against corruption and the Jal satyagraha against various nuclear plant and dam projects are deserving examples. The African continent where Gandhi first experimented with his unique methods is in shambles now. Nelson Mandela is an inspiring story. But the rest of the region there and the 'arab springs' seem to lose any semblance of humanity in the name of violence. For peace to be restored , love for the fellow being must be catered to. 

Talking about animals and love - I have a dog for a pet now!! Surely that is a big turning point in someone's life . More specially so , if the someone hated aesop fables for the mere fact that it was about animals . Well laika entered my life through the backyard of my house and its persistence to not leave our place. Along with the winning combination of a dog wanting brother ( he has been begging for one since the time he started learning how to talk i guess) and

Hi humans. 

 Who said mongrels are not cute? :O <3 

and yes its exactly a week after Gandhi Jayanthi.
semi

And we blog and blog and blog!

Not sleeping exactly 

After a rather romantic surprise early last month stoopid semi went off to hibernate -_- It is perfectly alright to think so beCAUSEE ------------------------------- It is the truth :P However you should empathize or at least sympathize with her plight. She was working her socks off , for her first terms exams , which doesn't matter in anyway to the boards.
But her question is this. Why should the boards matter? Many of you may feel that that the answer is quite simple  . Board exams = marks = good college = good job = good life. Too simple , too easy. Call me a non conformist or for that matter, a communist , For what difference does that actually make to you?  But what I feel is this :

"Education is about learning for your intrinsic needs , which in the process satisfy your extrinsic ones " 

Oh I do sound like a thinker :P
What we study should actually interest and make sense to us and let us apply it in daily life. And it should satisfy our desire to understand what we are studying. C'mon guys , even the person who opens the book in the last minute would love to know what the page actually means , sure he ends up mugging and reciprocating it in the paper . But no one would shy away from the chance to run away from understanding something , when they have the choice. Would they?

And like  spidey says We always have a choice!

And whatever we hereby learn should help us get marks. It should not be the other way round. I see my teachers teach and some of them are so obsessed about what questions they ask in boards , how your answers should match the answer key of the board examiners , how your handwriting should appeal to the board examiner etc etc etc.
Yes , presentation is good. But should all the learning i get be shaped so that it fetches me the maximum marks . I prefer not. Studying that way , will not allow me to read the para in the front and the back which may matter more in my comprehension of a passage than the para itself.

Hope you can make sense outta that senseless rant , which is done with an evergrowing hatred for examinations.

Now i feel selfish and rather sorry for ranting . However as my delete key is not co operating , I have decided to continue. But this time into more pleasant matters.

Whats been up off late?
ICC WORLD T20 CUP ~ Yes , the ipl is more attractive and champions league is literally the clash of the titans yet nothing beats an intense Ind vs pak match or an Aus vs windies or Aus vs eng match (ashes much? ) We are in the super eight stages now and Group A consisting of  Australia , India , Pakistan and South Africa seems very tight!

Yuvi the man <3 

While India was trashed by Australia( by 9 wickets) - thanks to Watson . It inflicted a 8 wicket loss on pakistan xD  It is a popular saying that the pak ppl lose to everyone but the indians . However , yesterday prove that the trend has reversed , pakistanis win with everyone ( including the all mighty S.Africans ) but Indians!! They lost the battle mentally , we could see by the way mohammed hafeez and shoaib malik got out!!
India put to rest all qualms about its team composition , which really didn't need have been so severely by the critics. Then again the media is news crazy and the people are cricket crazy. Dhoni proved that he is most comfortable with 7 batsmen 4 bowlers . And we really don't have the bowling resources to go all the way into the competition. Hope we spin ourselves to victory .


MAD about 39 clues!! 
Jesss. After reading too many slow paced classics , its time to put on the safety belt and get ready for this roller coaster ride! Expect no literary richness or awesomely complex sentence formations , What you'll get is non stop action. BANG BANG BOOM.
Amy and Dan are orphans with a rich grandmother. When she dies they expect a grand inheritance instead they are informed that their family - the cahills are one of the most powerful lineages of this century and they could either hop on a clue hunt for the greatest treasure of the world or opt out for a million bucks! They obviously choose the more exciting part.
But ouch , their  aunt decides to put them in the foster care and the social services are after them. Off with their cool au pair / babysitter Nellie they travel on this thrilling quest all around the world with powerful enemy cum relatives like the rich kabras popular jonah intelligent alaistair oh and cunning irina and strong holts close behind their heels.
From america to fance to vienna and venice the locales thrill us. Third book even takes us to Japan! surely this is one heck of a series and lets all read all the nine books and enjoy :)

Lets add some more colour to our post :)
The movies of the month!

While Barfi! has wowed everyone with its beauty and subtlety heroine has shocked and bored everyone with its sleaziness and predictable scandals . However as i haven't watched both the movies , I can't really comment upon them much.  ( Then y did u even write abt it? :P Eye candy anyone?)

Looks like the tamil film Thandavam has interested everyone with its style and intelligence. Full marks to chiyaan vikram for pulling of another great performance! I will comment more elaborately on this film , when i finish watching it tomorrow!!

I know that this post is as random as it gets and is a desperate attempt to just write something . However , i have a promise to make . I am surprisingly free this month and I intent to write about one of the following at least : -

• next part of love story
• The stalker story
• Something on current affairs 
• club le mubbu - girls style :P 

I know this is pretty vague. But this must be one of the bigger promises I've made in my life :P Not a very reliable person , I am . 

AND the craziest song to go viral. Gangnam style \m/ <3

evergreen classic - which i stumbled upon only recently

and an absolutely disgusting copy of slim shady. Eminem fans please spam and kill this video!!

Semi 

Love Story : Part 4

For all of you not familiar with first three parts of the love story series ( which must be everyone) ,Don't worry! . A 'Part' is more like an episode and the author prematurely gave up on the story , for she had her heart elsewhere. This time around cow and dinky are not gonna run away again ( i.e from my mind) or so I hope.
And don't worry this part will encompass the other ones and even it doesn't it won't alter the flow much. 

(The part 1 starts with a juvenile bunch of overgrown girls writing a testimonial , so that they can share the blame if their friend found out their sinister agenda. The agenda being the elusive search for an ideal boyfriend ,  and the target being 'Dinky' , their gang leader. http://semisharings.blogspot.in/2011/02/love-story-part-1.html

http://semisharings.blogspot.in/2011/03/love-story-part-2.html The second part gives a detailed character sketch of  Dinky the protagonist and how she snubs a school teacher ( she is the correspondent of the school) , who also happens to be her ex boy friend from her mysterious childhood .

The third part sees Dinky longing for a break from her tedious work , She decides to fire cow , the science HOD / her ex bf and to everybody's surprise runs away with him for a vacation. http://semisharings.blogspot.in/2011/04/love-story-part-3.html )


            Scene 1
Location - Bessie beach , The quite left part with lesser number of shops.

It has been a month since anybody heard anything about Dinky. Surely the sudden disappearance of the correspondent of one of the most prestigious educational institutions in India , is bound to be picked up by the media. However , strangely enough , everybody who would be concerned with Dinky's disappearance were done in with a personal email stating their goals for the upcoming terms and a change in the management.
"Even her lawyer has been informed of her vanishing act , but us" moaned the never whiny goodo ( whose name was pronounced "goo" like "boo" and do like "dough" . Yes , she did have a problem with her nickname (or pseudonym as she likes to call it ) being mispronounced. )
Sheila , popular for her tantrums and an hour glass figure , was in a fix. Poor girl , didn't know if she should be worried for her friend's safety or be  happy that she had taken a much needed holiday or  be petty about being the one who had to pay the ice cream bill nowadays. So she remained quite throughout the conversation. 'Rather be dumb the biological way  , than the psychological way' was her philosophy.
Jappy who hardly got angry , found the need to voice it today. "Goodo . I think you are over dramatizing things. If Dinky wants a holiday , she can take one . Who are we to decide her schedule?"
 "Stupid jappy! I have no desire to manage her schedule! It is a very hectic task . I am angry because she had the time to call up her staff , lawyer , heck her whole entourage! But she didn't have the courtesy to even text us!"

"She didn't call them ... only e-mailed them" countered jappy very unconvincingly .
"sheesh! I  just don't understand your overwhelming urge to defend her"
"No goodo , i don't understand YOUR urge to yell at her. Maybe she didn't want to tell us. We may have persuaded her not to give up so easily"
"We would have asked her to takes us along with her" giggled Sheila .
Then it struck goodo. Maybe they were the reason dinky needed a break. Always overbearing , "we may have hugged her long enough to strangle her" she thought. However , she refrained from voicing her thoughts to the duo. They would unnecessarily become over guilty and decide to track her down and apologise. Which defeats the whole purpose of poor Dinky's retreat she thought.
"Or maybe she just didn't want us to know where she was going " she said meekly.
" Exactly our point " exclaimed the other two in unison. Maybe goodo was under a lot of stress too! They whispered nonchalantly while she was lost in her thoughts.


Scene 2
Location - Ibaco ( New name for Arun ice creams ;/)

Brightened up by her own joke and the fact that jappy was paying the bill today , Sheila became her talkative self. Temporarily forgetting Dinky , the girls started discussing about the million other things they discuss normally. After a couple of hours ...

".....Talking of guys with bad spectacles , what in the world happened to our friend ,Cow?" inquired sheila.
"Oh you didn't know? He was fired the day Dinky left" grinned goodo , who never liked cow that much .
"Must be a devdas now , being fired by his only love. They were right when they said , playing with love was like playing with fire" . Jappy was amused with her own quip and started laughing.
"ei , Jappy. What Jappy? " :D Singsonged goodo , who was high after four scoops of rum and raisin ice cream :D
" How was Dinky even in love with cow?" asked sheila. She had joined the gang when she was in eleventh grade.Time when Dinky and cow were more acquainted with throwing things at each other. The gang strictly never spoke about relationships during their meet ups , but in the absence of their queeen bee their minds wavered.
"Oh you didn't know , did you?  Dinky and cow were close since the time they were in 2nd grade"
"You mean from when they were 7?? " asked sheila incredulously.
" Oh you silly. They were only friends back then . Jappy and I were best friends back then weren't we? :D But not Dinky. She used to be such a loner"
"Only ever found time for cow " agreed Jappy.
"Gahh. What a poor thing she used to be! We never knew that she was the founder's daughter. Else we would have paid her more attention. Only a few years back did we know that she was such a big shot"
" We got to know Dinky properly in sixth when we were in the same section. She used to bring the yummiest lunches and didn't know what to do with 'em , poor thing " mocked jappy
"That cow idiot also never used to touch her lunch. That is where we came in :) Cow and her used to be so inseparable! She even proclaimed to the whole class that she was gonna marry him , if she ever did marry! The guts of a sixth standard child can't be surpassed! " exclaimed goodo.
"It sure can gooo. A eleventh standard girl breaking a guy's head with a slice bottle is all the more darring" slurred sheila with a wink .
"Haha that sure was thrilling! But why again did she break HIS head? "
"Too much of anything is too bad , jappy. Dinky was over possessive of cow. As if any girl would be interested in him!"
"But you must admit that he has grown to become a hot young thing" sighed jappy.
"Puberty" added sheila prophetically " can work two ways. Take neville in Hp for an example..and harry himself :/!"
"La la . You are flying away from the point as usual! Thinking about it ,dinky has got quite a number of issues running in her head. Physically assaulting someone is sure not normal."
Jappy getting protective as usual . " Bbut .. bbut she was under so much stress. What with the debating , editing for the newspaper , sports day , exams and cow always behind her"
"It still is not normal" goodo stated it in her usual decisive way. Which implied " I will not change my view , even if the facts change" in her language.
Jappy and sheila sighed heavily. dinky's psyche was really none of their problem.
 ,

However, it was a huge problem to the young lad who was under house arrest in Dinky's Mahabalipuram Bungalow.

Will be continued

A Semi creation :) 

Block and Tackle

For the most of our lives , we force ourselves to some goal . So much so that we drive ourselves mad and end up quitting and consider a life of a priesthood. You can't blame us though , for the likes of nityananda and baba ramdev seem to prosper with fame and money due to people's ignorance . So i have taken the other path , not the rat race nor the path for quitters. Instead , I just don't do anything. I try not to think about the task I have to perform , I try hard to ignore.
I try having fun elsewhere, tucking the task to the fringes of my consciousness. Like pressing one's head deep within water , so hard that some opposing force will push it back. Only problem is you need to make sure that you don't drown or choke yourself with all the enthusiasm. What I am trying to blabber is this , by consciously trying NOT to blog , I have gained the thirst to write more than ever. Our minds are like that of an adamant child suffering from oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) . Do the complete opposite to the instructions given. Break the rules , breed the rebel , etc etc. And it seems to be working quite well!

This time I wanna talk about contradictions. We teenagers thrive on it , don't we?
When I first stumbled upon blogger , I met with an empty 'about me' column . Without even thinking for a second I filled it up as "Hey this is semi. And contradictions is the word defining me". I didn't know why I filled it up. the more I think of it , the more sense it makes now.Only when i was reading this other blog called 'shh diaries' (which i find to be a very gutsy and cool blog) and seeing the blogger's profile , i realized that everyone of us are filled with contradictions! :O Call me dumb or use 'You don't say' on me! But it was only then that i realized that every one of us are riddled with contradictions.
The blogger there , Shruti described herself as

"Not yet another teenager calling herself to be full of contradictions " 

or something like that. Her latest description is also hilarious :D

"Bullshittery is a way of life here."

Coming back to contradictions! Our lives are riddled with them. Every coin has a flip side pa ;  The toughest conflicts are between two undesirable decisions we have to take ( or avoidance avoidance conflicts ) says my ever trustable psychology textbook. Eg. don't go to the dentist or have tooth decay , Don't eat junk food or become fat or something like that.
For that matter , every issue has right and wrongs. It is usually our inclination to one particular stand or our fervor to one ideology which overshadows the other. Lets take one of the oldest topics , where both sides fight vehemently for their cause. Veg vs Non Veg. Basically vegetarians are of two types : Who don't eat animals because they genuinely love them or because their culture demands them to do so ( and they have never really tasted meat) The non vegetarians are basically humans who really like what they are eating and find no qualms about what they are eating as long as it is tasty.
so simply putting it . There are a few factors like taste , culture and love for animals . Whichever dominates or finds more importance in the individual's value/moral system it will play out as his attitude , action and behaviour towards a situation. This is a simple fact which many of us can't see. I actually know a friend , who loves animals like dogs and other pets , yet being a non vegetarian from birth her taste buds makes her eat chicken and turkey . This is a classic contradiction and we cannot really say that she is wrong or right .

Why cannot we judge a person who are true to their contradictions?

I just had to put this up :*

It is simply because they are being themselves and acting according to their set of ideologies. How can you question their ethics with your set of ethics? it is like correcting a history paper with a science key. All this , you must understand is applicable , only if it doesn't hurt some other individual and their possessions. We can not say Dexter is right in killing people , just because it is okay to follow your  ideals. He is taking another Human's life  , whether that man deserve to live or not is another matter altogether.
After reading what I have written till now , I find a major contradiction which you might have missed. Being a NV myself , I do not mind a hen being killed , even if she is good or bad . But I just cannot accept that an individual ,whether good or evil , can deserve to be killed. This is because I do place more value to a man's life than a hen's . How many of you can really ready to accept this IF you feel so?
I find humans astonishing . Really. Before studying the history of world wars , we surely  expect some big reason to be the cause for all the calamity. Alas! It is because of this slight distortion. This inability to accept that 'hell! WE ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.  Everyone has a life with their own right and wrongs , which i admit must fit into some sort of general  framework right and wrongs, but No! Our egos say we are ultimately doing the right thing.
And every side fights for what it thinks is right.
 grow up! You cannot blame anybody, Not even your ego . the poor thing is trying to defend yourself and your decisions by calling it the best. Doesn't mean it is...it is just to make your decision making easier.

What I am trying to convey is  :

• Stop trying to judge someone's actions  when you don't even know them. Give them the space , so that you get their moral code to decipher their actions. Eg. People who don't get sarcasm think the other person intends to be rude . 
• Don't go around boasting how your decisions are the best. 
• Maybe I am confusing enough to be the next spiritual leader!! :D 
• All the wars which were ever fought and will be fought are pointless.   

War does not determine who is right... only who is left

Samyuktha (semi) Jayaprakash