What's in the name

AC Milan's number 10 has simply been an outstanding footballer of 2007 and proved that claim by grabbing the Footballer of the Year Award. I was going through some articles on Kaká winning the World Footballer of the Year Award, but to my surprise almost every one of them had a paragraph on his unusual name. ESPNSTAR wrote - "His talent was as obvious as the jokes about his name were numerous and he was a key component of AC Milan's 2003/2004 Italian league winning team which finished 11 points ahead of AS Roma.".

Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi is famously said to have commented: "Kaka? We could never sign anyone with a name like that." Of course AC Milan had the last laugh and he went on to become one of the best players in Italy. What a shame!!

So, does a name defines a person's character or his actions. Surely, Mr. Moggi had pressed a wrong button on that occasion.

His nickname is pronounced as it is spelled, with stress on the second syllable. It is a common term of endearment of "Ricardo" in Brazil. In Kaká's case, however, it was born from younger brother Rodrigo calling him "Caca" due to his inability to pronounce "Ricardo"; it eventually evolved into Kaká.

Then, a few days back I was going through the blogs of other people. When suddenly I came across an unusual blog. The name of the blogger was "Ashanka". Which generally means "Apprehension" in English. But she was adamant in stating that it means "Hope". I don't understand why is she so conscious about her name, when her actions (her blogs) suggests that she is in total control and has no doubt. The blog is written here.

The GodFather

Finally, I managed to finish reading, the great novel "THE GODFATHER" by Mario Puzo which I had started in the summer of 2003 :D......

Cheers,

The Kite Runner

"The Kite Runner" is the first English novel written by an author from Afghanistan. It is the first novel by author Khaled Hosseini. It was voted the 2006's reading group book of the year. It was also the third best seller for 2005 in United States.

The protagonist of the story is Amir, a Pashtun boy from Wazir Akbar Khan district in Kabul, who hails from a rich family. He is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. This is the story of Amir's friendship with Hassan and how he atones for sins he had commited in childhood. The story is set against the backdrop of riotous events that rocked the nation of Afghanistan. It stated in 1973, when Daoud Khan staged a coup to overthrow Zahir Shah and established a republican government. It was the time of soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.

The story brings to notice the precarious condition of Afghanistan, i.e. established people losing everything, people getting severe punishments(even tortured to death) for petty crimes (some times the crime may not be a crime in true sense).

On reading some parts of the story, you feel such intense pain as though someone has heated an iron rod red hot and pierced it into you skin. But there are parts where you feel light and happy. For example when Amir and Hassan participate in the annual kite flying competition and, when they sit under the pomegranate tree near the Kabul river and Amir reads out to Hassan.

Overall an excellent work of fiction.

Cheers,

Pseudo intellectual

In the last few weeks I have been coming across this word - Pseudo intellectual, quite often. I heard Kintu characterizing Apurv as pseudo intellectual in the movie "Dil Dosti Etc" when they met for the first time in the library. Maya calls Raj pseudo intellectual in a pub in the movie "Mumbai Salsa". Then one day when I was having a serious discussion on asymptotes with a group of guys. One of them called me with that same word - pseudo intellectual. Till then I didn't know the correct meaning of the word. So I thought may be the guy means that I am intellectually sound and have a strong hold on the subject, after all I have a masters in mathematics. But his attitude suggested otherwise.

So that night I looked for the correct meaning. And then I realized that I was not pseudo intellectual but the other guy was..


Meaning: Pseudointellectual is a pejorative term used to describe someone who engages in false intellectualism or is intellectually dishonest. The term is often, though not always, used to describe one who regularly critiques the work of professionals, while lacking the requisite background knowledge and experience to have an informed opinion. Synonyms for this character include sophist, and in medical terms, mountebank and quack.

www.PleaseFindAName.com

Sometime last week during lunch at bay, I was having a light conversation with one of my friends who was in great pain. The cause of the pain was that he was unable to find a cool domain name for a site he had developed. He told me that he had tried many names but to his displeasure all of them were already registered. I was a bit surprised.

So that evening, after work. I sat down on my laptop to find a cool domain name for his site. I tried http://www.sutta.com, http://www.dhakkan.com, http://www.makra.com, http://www.timepass.com and many such faltu names. But to my annoyance all existed. Then I thought had Sir Tim Berners-Lee anticipated that his major creation would rock the world one day. And the name WorldWideWeb given by him was appropriate. I finally gave up the idea of finding a domain name for him.

Next day in the office my friend told me that he was able to find a name. I was excited to know the name and I could also see the relief on his face.

Finally the name he came up with was http://www.makkhi.com. :D

Cheers.

Creeper

This is a play which I went to see on Saturday evening at Ranga Shankara. I won't be telling much about the play, except that it was great. Acting was terrific, direction superb and the concept mind blowing.

Creeper is a modern re-imagination of the tale of Vikram and Betal. For more details about the play visit addledbraindump.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

In the novel "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari", Robin Sharma brings forward the problems a person faces in this fast paced world. I have often wondered, why are people always in a hurry? Why don't we stop worring about the future and enjoy the pleasures of the present? Why don't we spare some time to help others? And most importantly, why don't we have time for ourselves? These questions are like the million dollar questions which are difficult to answer but not impossible.

Sharma, outlines some methods and exercises that a person can practice to make his life better. I am not a very big fan of inspirational or spiritual novels. But I feel that some may find this book worth reading. And may find out the answers to the above questions.

Tagline: Carpe Diem. It is a phrase from a latin poem by Horace. It means "Seize the day, for tomorrow you may die".

The DaVinci Code

I had seen the movie The DaVinci Code, directed by Ron Howard a long time back. But was surprised to see that it's IMDB rating was just 6.5/10.

Then last weekend I got hold of the novel The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. After I had finished reading I was convinced that the voters were not fools or biased towards The Vatican. Novel was written quite eloquently and was much better than the movie.

I was surprised to read about the stories and interpretation of the stories put forward by Brown.

I don't know what will happen in this world if those stories turn out to be true. I hope the truth remains buried for the better of mankind.

MISTRESS

“Mistress”, is a novel written by one of the most exciting female writers of India – Anita Nair. The pace of the novel was good, but sometimes I found she was describing things very elaborately which hindered the flow. Nair’s writing style is exquisite and the way she weaves the story is excellent.

The whole story revolves around KathaKali and the 9 emotions or expressions (navarasas) that describe a person’s life. The emotions are:

Sringaaram: means Love. We have words for this flooding that can sweep away all other thoughts. Pleasure, longing, lust... we call it by so many names.

Haasyam: means Contempt.

Karunam: means Sorrow. All of us have known sorry some time or the other

Raudram: means Fury. The common fallacy is to think raudram is a synonym of anger. Nothing wrong with that, for raudram wears the countenance of anger. Wrath, even.

Veeram: means Valour.

Bhayaanakam: means Fear. The state of being frightened can stem from many things. A wild beast, an evil man, a natural calamity, a dark night.

Beebhalsam: means Disgust. The expression that contorts your face when you stumble across a grotesque.

Adbhutam: means Wonder. And wonder is immediate. It cannot be premeditated or calculated. If you do that, it isn't wonder.

Shaantam: means Detachment. Shaantam is not turning yourself into a catatonic being. An absence of desire. A coming to term with life. When all is done, that is what we all aspire to. Shaantam.

Nair describes these emotions and plots the story around it. The story revolves around Radha, Shyam, Chris, Uncle Koman and uncle’s ancestors. After describing and elaborating each emotion, she continues with the main story and shows how the main characters of the story feel the same emotion. Through this was difficult but the way she joined the parts was awesome.

The story was gripping and didn’t feel like dropping the novel before it was complete.

Key terms: Adultery, Bigamy, Unsafe Sex, Rape, Honor, Religion, KathaKali.

Everything you know is wrong

Not very long ago I was listening to a speech by Steven Pinker on "Everything you know is wrong". Pinker is a prominent Canadian-American science writer and an experimental psychologist.

In the 20th century we witnessed the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Rwanada and other genocides, and the start of 21st century has not been sweet either. We have already witnessed the horrors of Darfur and Iraq. These conflicts and terrors make us believe that we have moved away from the state of harmony, in which our natives lived.

In fact our ancestors were far more violent than we are and that violence is on decline for long long time, and today probably we are living in the most peaceful time in our species existence. The above statement may sound absurd. But the statistics and the logic put forward by Pinker reveals the truth picture.

A surprising statistic reveals that if the tribal conflicts had continued in the 20th century, there would have been 2 billions deaths compared to 100 million American and European deaths in the world war.

If we look into the ancient civilizations, the one mentioned in the bible, we find that the people were slaughtered for petty crimes. And now, if the law gives capital punishment to some genuine murderer, human right activists will blow our heads off with slogans and rallies.

Reasons sited by Pinker are quite logical.
a) Pinker sites some points from Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan that if the authority for illegitimate use of violence was vested on a single democratic agency then such a state can reduce the temptation of attack because any kind of aggression would be punished. In the present era we have such agencies.
b) In the ancient and early modern era life was considered cheap because of the level of sufferings and early deaths. So one had little compunction in taking one's life. As economic and technological advancements had made life pleasant and longer, people have started putting higher value on life in general.
c) Pinker further sites the concept of "Non zero sum game" provided by the journalist Robert Wright. Wright points out that under certain circumstances cooperation and non violence can benefit both the parties. He further points out that technological advancements have lead to global interactions and increase in international business. So one would benefit more from one being alive than dead. From one of the many reasons, I don't want to bomb the japanese is that they built my laptop.

There are many other reasons that justify the above argument. But I feel there is still lot of violence in the world and it would be best for mankind to live in peace and harmony.

Sign

ps: courtesy www.ted.com

She Who Must Be Obeyed

The title is a translation of the honorific used for Ayesha by Amahagger, a tribe whom SHE had subjugated. You must be thinking that what am I taking about.

Well, last few days I had been busy, enjoying the sudden change in Bangalore's weather (for the better), reading a fictional classic titled SHE by Sir Henry Rider Haggard. In this work Haggard developed the Lost World sub genre which many authors enumerated.

Horace Holly, a Cambridge professor along with his adopted son Leo Vincey and servant Jobs, travel to Africa in search for clues about the ancestors of Leo, by taking lead from the potsherd left by Leo's father. There they encounter a queen Ayesha and are enthralled by her beauty. She is apparently ageless and had survived for 2000 years by bathing in pillar of fire. She is breathtakingly beautiful and merciless. And would not hesitate for a moment in slaying anyone who disregards her or comes in front of her wishes. She shows this dark side of her character by killing Ulesha, the woman Leo loved and had vowed to be her husband by the customs of Amahagger. Later they realize that She believes that Leo is the reincarnation of Kallikrattes, her long lost love.

In the climax of the story, She takes the three English men to the pillar of fire. She wants Leo to bathe in the fire and become immortal and pure just like her. But Leo was uncertain about the idea. So She herself steps into the flames. However, with the second submergence she transforms into her actual age and withers and dies. But before she takes her last breath she tells Leo that it is a parting only for a little while (ironically little here refers to maybe another 2000 years :D). And says "I die not, I shall come again".

The story is a classical fiction and a creation of abstract thinking and observation. Throughout the novel Haggard explores the idea of love, solitude, power, reincarnation, death and fate. Overall an excellent novel to read.

Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna or just Che was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, political figure and leader of Cuban and internationalist guerrillas. The Motorcycle Diaries is an autobiographical novel about his travel through South America with his friend Alberto Granado on a 1939 Norton 500 motorcycle.

The book presents the lighter parts of Che's character and the events which urged him to dedicate his life to fight and die for the cause of proletariat in Latin America. In the book he details the life of autochthonal peasantry throughout Latin America, including mine workers and persecuted communists fleeing their homes.

The book is a good example of the fact that, everybody is the same to start with. It's only when we encounter events and meet people, and the urge to do something special to make the world a better place to live in, we rise above a common man.

Veronika decides to die.....

The title of the post is a famous novel by Paulo Coelho (author of The Alchemist). This blog is a plot spoiler. The whole story revolves around 4 main characters. Veronika who suffers with a critical heart condition and had once tried to commit suicide by ingesting too many sleeping pills. Mari, who suffers from panic attacks; and Eduard who has schizophrenia and with whom Veronika falls in love.

The kind of mental or physical problems with which they suffer brings them to Villete, a mental hospital in Slovenia. But story is not about how they suffer or how Veronika dies. The story touches few of the most important aspects of a man's life. The story tells us how Veronika's presence affected others in Villete and how they found out the true meaning of life.

There is another main character in the plot, Dr. Igor. He keeps injecting Veronika with medicines which simulates heart attack. Unaware of the fact and the tought that she is about to die gives her freedom. Because of the newfound freedom Veronika experiences all the things she never allowed herself to experience including hatred, love and even sexual awakening. She starts living her life full time and does what she likes to do most. She had always loved to play the piano. From then on every night she use to play the piano. All the patients in Villete are wary of her, but Eduard is the one who stands and listens. This gave Veronika immense pleasure and satisfaction. This goes on for a few days and she eventually falls in love with him.

Mari was cured of panic attacks but was afraid to go back to the real world thinking what would the people thing and how are they gonna treat her. She observes Veronika and Eduard for days and realizes that she should do whatever she wants to do and not to give a damn about others.
Eduard realizes the true meaning of love.

Overall the story tells us to lead a life in such a way that we are not afraid to do things we want to do. Express your love and emotions if you truly love someone. Moreover lead your life as though everyday is your last day.

The quotation from Henry David Thoreau aptly fits here..
Quote:
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived … I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner…"

LIFE as we see from the eyes of Lucas Scott

Have you even wondered how long it takes to change your life? The measure of time is enough to be life altering. Is it 2 years like high school, or 7 months like my BT job, or yours life can change in a month or a week or a single day. We are always in a hurry to grow up, to go places, to get ahead, or when you’re young, one hour can change everything.

There are moments in our lives when we find ourselves in crossroads, afraid, confused. Without a roadmap. The choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days.

Of course one faced with the unknown. Most of us prefer to turn around and go back. But once in a while people push on to something better, something found just beyond the pain of going it alone. And just beyond the bravery and courage it takes to let someone in. Or to give someone a second chance.

Something beyond the quiet persistance of a dream.

Because it is only when you’re tested, that you truly discover who you are. And it is when you’re tested you discover who you can be. The person you want to be does exist, somewhere on the other side of hard work, or faith, belief. Can be a hard ache and fear what lies ahead.

Sometimes pain becomes such a huge part of your life that you expect it to always be there because you can’t remember a time in your life when it wasn’t. Then one day you feel something else, some thing that feels wrong, something so unfamiliar. Than in that moment you realize you’re happy.

Happiness comes in many forms. In the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make some one else’s dream come true, when the promise of hope renewed. It’s ok to let your self be happy because you never know how fleeting that happiness might be.

POINTS :
a) 7 months is a long time and I realized how much I have changed since I have left kgp. Nocturnal activities are down to zero. I have become lazier , chubby and most importantly boring. IT world sucks man !!!!!!!!!
b) Its very true that happiness comes in many forms. For an IT professional like me it come in the form of friday night and the following weekend.