Saving money….?

The Crossword is right next to my door. So I indulge in saving a lot of money. The idea that a book shop is next to me drives me wild. I go their every weekend – because I can’t go on weekdays as I have a corporate job. 😦

Everytime I go there I make myself a promise – No books today, girl. But it doesn’t work. Really, it doesn’t.

I went there last sunday and spent some two and a half hours, amusing myself with Murphy’s law. I was laughing continuosly. I would read a law and relate it to what happens to me. This makes you more and more happy. I enjoyed those two hours to my hearts content. The few that I related were this: “It is only during the exams that all the computers in the laboratory are in working condition” or that “Absentism is the lowest if it is necessary for the grades” or that “Great ideas are never remembered and dumb statements are never forgotten.” They surely make you sniffle.

I meet a mom’s friend and suddenly realised that I had 35/- bucks in my pocket. Excitedly, I picked up Murphy’s law but realised that it was for 125 /- bucks. I finally picked up a 25/- bucks Sudoku puzzles….all are unsolved still.

shhhh…..mum doesn’t know it.

Fools and their Folly

Yet another Maugham. Yes, I am enjoying this book because this is by Maugham. But I am definately missing the “Maugham Charm”. I loved Cakes and Ale – it is a brilliant, MUST READ book; I will blog about Cakes and Ale later.

We all know about Machiavelli – an Italian Statesman and Politician – who believed that, if necessary use treachery and deceit to run the state. He was a loyal and a patriot – it seems thus so far. He loves his land more than his soul. He is a womanizer but he is smart and it is difficult to play games with him. We meet this Machiavelli in Maugham’s Fools and their Folly. But the tables have turned.

The state of Florence has to safegaurd its border. The powerful Duke of Imola , Cesear Borgia, is betrayed by his allies – at his own will. And so it is time to make new friends. Machiavelli, representing Florence, rushes to Imola to make a deal with the Duke. And thus the book begins.

Machiavelli is accompained by Piero – a young, handsome teenager. The wise and smart Statesman is smitten by a young and beautiful married woman. He does everything a man has to do to woo a woman. He sends the husband to a saint so that he can get sterile. And when the night to fulfill his desire comes he is summoned by the Duke on the matter of utmost importance. Nothing goes his way and he is desperate to go to the woman but ALAS! his love and his duty for the state has to make him stay back so that he can know what the Duke is thinking. The night turns out to be a big mess.

As time goes, life goes on. Duke captures many more lands and territories. The husband turns sterile and his wife is pregnant – a miracle, thinks the foolish husband. And Machiavelli realises that he was made a fool. The end turns out to be a little surprising and so I will not reveal.

I liked few statements & I will write some here.

“They say that dog doesn’t bite dog: Whoever invented this proverb had never lived under a democratic governement.”

“It is absurd to be wise with fools and foolish with the wise: you must speak to each one in his own language.”

“Be careful with your speech . There is always time to put in a word, never to withdraw one.”

The books ends with the statement
“We must believe that God loves men of good will, but there is no evidence to show that He will save the fools from the result of their folly.”

Not my favorite Maugham but not the worst of lot.

Mother: Maxim Gorky

“Immortal Classic of Maxim Gorky….To read Mother is to undergo a great emotional experience” – thus goes the back cover of this book. After reading this at the library of my Grandpa – I was tempted to bring this book among many others. I never knew this one before – after all Maxim is not as known as his ‘compatriots’ Tolstoy, Chekhov or Dostoevsky. The book, as it suggested, did not disappoint.

It begins with a vivid description of a daily routine of a workingman; the whistling factory would summon the workers who would drag their feet to work, they worked and cursed at the same time, the evening would throw the workers out of factories – like an ejected production – and the evenings, relief for the workers, was a nightmare for the wives as they awaited drunken and violent husbands. Occasionally a holiday would be respite but these days were rare. Thus lived Nilovna Vlasova and her son Pavel Vlasov. But Pavel was different.

He believed in reason over power of wealth. He was a Socialist fighting for the cause of the workingmen. He, like his fellow-thinkers believed that God is also forced to adorn falsehood – one goes to Church because Christ, who lived bedraggled, helps the poor but he wears gold. He reads, learns and understands. And in doing so he goes against the authorities, the Tsar, the police. As planned, with the courage to
sacrifice his love for a women, he unfurls the flag of workingmen on May, the first. For this he and his beloved Ukrainian friend among many others are arrested.

But is this the story of Pavel? Amidst all this rises the heart and soul of his mother, Nilovna. She understands that her life was a waste as she spent it in fear. She finds that this young generation has arisen: they are willing to die. She forgets her fear and joins the fight. Walking miles to distribute books, going to factory as a cook to spread the word, disguising as a nun, the Mother carries forwards the work of her only son.

The atmosphere is revolutionary. Even the nature mourns the death of these young like-minded revolutionists. The trees shed its leaves and the sky is unusually calm. Even the shadow near a bonfire quivers. But the hearts are strong. There are vivid and lucid descriptions about demonstrations, emotions, pain and sorrow. Personally, this book is worth a read.

Maybe one is not a Socialist but this book is not about socialism. It is about a mother’s love for her only son. The fear of living under Tsar and later Socialism is something that I cannot write at this moment and so I will differ on the views on Socialism and/or Communism until I have read Oscar Wilde’s ‘Soul of Man under Socialism’.

Trivia about this book: This book is based on real life of Pavel Zalomov and the factory described s very much inspired from Krasnoye Sormovo shipyards. The character of Mother is derived from many Zalomov’s and many other mothers. The town described resembles his birth place – Nizhni-Novgorod. The book was written in America and faced a lot of revolution in Russia. The first part was destroyed and the second mutilated. However the copies of this book were distributed secretly and were translated to many languages. Gorky, needless to say received a heroic welcome to his birthplace which was later renamed Gorky.

I had to start this blog…

Alas! I had to start this blog because Blogger gives 404 to my critical views (another blog). I did a lot of posting there.

However, I am starting again here and will try to post all of my earlier posts here. This will take hell of a time.

Travelling to TRC and …

I love riding, that is a joke. I like being a pillion but I hate it when others drive my vehicle especially when my breaks are broken. I filled up my tank to the full and drove more than 25 Kms. It was a long road, it was highway, it was a breezy ride. Divya was the pillion. We laughed and laughed, enjoying the breeze throughout the ride.

Kanika’s Activa (Desh ki Dhadkan!) was driven by Siddhartha, Ravi surely missed it and Kaushal was all alone (poor chap but he got a call from his girl-friend (hush-hush), he is afterall not all-alone) , and yeah Sandip and Manish (who are nothing more than RASH drivers) were on Manish’s bike. We drove full speed but I was the slowest, not to mention Sandip and Manish getting angry with me for a wrong turn. And so Abhishek, sitting behind Harsh, teased me that tricyle was faster. Alas! I was at 50 Kmph and I am sure tricycles are not that faster( Believe me I am DAMN! sure about that).

Since then I am not talking to him and it will be so untill I choose to start the conversation. Besides he had no right to say that as I was driving and he was siting behind Harsh holding tight to the rear metal; I think he did not trust Harsh to drive him safe and alive to the destinations or whatever. And look at the nerve….teasing me…a COWARD. Well we talked this morning, SAP’s sake. Yeah I don’t know what happened but Manish and Sandip kept asking me to let them drive my vehicle but I wouldn’t let them as the breaks are broken and my Saffire is already in shatters. Besides I don’t trust guys with vehicles – mine or theirs. I was twice bitten (Thank god I am alive!), forever shy.

The TRC – Torrent Research Center was enormous. The place was neat and clean too. There are 600 scientists who work there in two shifts. There was a huge Garden behind the canteen that made Kanika to open her eyes wide. Food was bad. Divya was enjoying by teasing all others……cool, tension-free she is! Sometimes just like me….except that she doesn’t read 😦 . She kept on teasing Kaushal, who was on lunch-time call (DUHH!), and was unaware of the potholes, gutter openings etc around him. Harsh explained the purpose of the LARGE metal pipes to us, which Divya said could burst any moment, but Kaushal said he doesn’t believe him. I think Gaurang and Jaymin were the silent lot.

The lecturer was a guy from SAP India. It was really a nice lecture – I enjoyed it because it involved J2EE (SAP NetWeaver). To talk more about it…I loved it. It was perfect. There was an enormous guy who was very knowledgable and a less enormous guy who was a little less knowledgable. I don’t know what you gather from that! Kanika slumbered off……she always does so I am not surprised but others who weren’t aware of this laughed to death. All of them later kept on asking her “Hey, kid how was the sleep?”. And she kept asking, “Hey, did Sir see me sleeping?” Poor Girl!

I think the evening sucked. We returned to HO at around 1700 hrs and I started for home at around 1915 hrs. The bloody rear tyre was punctured which pissed me off. I had to drag it to a garage, some 200 meters, run back to office and borrow some cash from Manish and Gaurang, rush back to the garage, wait for some 10-15 minutes for the mechanic fellow to fix up my tyre and then drive back home. As Mr. Murphy may say: When you want to go faster you always will have to slow down. I stopped 15 minutes at the railway crossing (because I wanted to reach home alive) and then at every other traffic signal (for the same reason) .I reached around 8:15 at home. Long day! Phew!

The day Nevertheless Rocked!!!

If anyone from the workplace bothers to comment, I am expecting the worst from Abhishek, Manish and Sandip and a wry smile from Kaushal.