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99.9 % of Indians watch cricket,
the rest play basketball. ... Anonymous
 | Basket Ball - I have played a lot of basketball both at the
Army Public School and at IIT Guwahati. I intend to
restart swimming shortly. Other than that I like to play
volleyball, and football sometimes. I am also planning to start
playing pool shortly. |
| Reading - I have read quite a lot of Ruskin Bond who
remains one of my favourite authors. Ruskin Bond lives in Mussorie and
his stories mostly talks about the places in and around the Dehradun.
He writes fondly about nature and the mountain people with whom I am
able to relate really well as I have spend some of the most carefree
days of my life in Dehradun.
Presently I like to read Indian Contemporary Stuff. Some of
the books I have read are reviewed below.
 | Fasting and Feasting, by Anita Desai not very
interesting stuff although it was short listed for the booker, I
wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone. I had to slog to
finish this one even though it ain't quite thick. |
| The Calcutta Chromosome, by Vikram Seth was really
interesting Science Fiction .. some of the very few works on science
fiction in Indian Contemporary Literature in English. Must read. |
| Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri consisted
of short stories on 'Bengal, Boston and Beyond'. I could really
identify with some of the people in the stories. The stories are
mostly about Indians in the U.S., some are full of pathos, some are
light love stories .. all in all an interesting read. |
| The Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth This one is really very
fat book ,, about 1500 pages or so. I was able to go through only
about 500 pages, but found it quite interesting. It talks about a
family during the time of India's Independence and gives a very good
outlook on the Indian Society at that point of time. Very well
written and very readable. |
| The Midnights Children, by Salman Rushdie.
This talks about the Indian Dream in a completely metaphorical way.
Very difficult to understand unless you have someone to guide you. I
luckily went through this book in a course on English Literature at
IIT Guwahati under the wonderful guidance of Mrs. Rohini Mokashi
Punekar. The book talks about what a great dream and hope India was
at the time of Independence and how that dream died when Indira
Gandhi imposed emergency in 1962. The book concludes on a very
pessimistic note. Mrs Mokashi would suggest that this book should be
read by every Indian and on one thing I really agree with her. |
| The Shadow Lines , by Vikram Seth. interesting read,
talks about nations, borders and how they change/affect people. |
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| Movies - I am a movie buff and have really watched a lot of
Hollywood stuff. The following are some of the great movies I have
seen.
| The Matrix .. this is the simply the best film ever, it
is the coolest, the baap of science fiction.. anything and
everything that has been made in science fiction pales in comparison
to the piece of art that is the Matrix. There is not much I can say
about the Matrix that will do justice to this masterpiece, infact..
unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to
see it for yourself. Full marks to the Wachoski
brothers...great going dudes. |
| Apocalypse Now. This is a movie is based in the backdrop
of the Vietnam conflict and talks about the futility of war. The
best part are the dialogues of Captain Kurtz some of which I
reproduce below
In a war there are many moments for compassion and tender action.
There are many moments for ruthless action, for what is often called
ruthless, what may in many and many circumstances be only
clarity; seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it
directly, quickly, aware...
I've seen horrors...horrors that you've seen. But you have no right
to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right
to do that...But you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for
words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what
horror means. Horror. Horror has a face...And you must make a friend
of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not
then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I
remember when I was with Special Forces...Seems a thousand centuries
ago...We went into a camp to innoculate the children. We left the
camp after we had innoculated the children for Polio, and this old
man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We
went back there and they had come and hacked off every innoculated
arm. There they were in a pile...A pile of little arms. And I
remember...I...I...I cried... I wept like some grandmother. I
wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And
I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to
forget. And then I realized...like I was shot...Like I was
shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my
forehead...And I thought: My God...the genius of that. The
genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete,
crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than
we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters...These
were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with their hearts,
who had families, who had children, who were filled with
love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that.
If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be
over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral...and at
the same time who are able to utilize their primordal instincts to
kill without feeling...without passion...without judgement...without
judgement. Because it's judgement that defeats us. " |
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