Variety is the spice of life

When someone who is unaware of cricket looks at the events of past week and its culmination, they wouldn’t be unjustified in their astonishment, seeing grown men cry over not being allowed to play as punishment for cheating. Be it at school level or whatever level its being played at, sports is something that is beyond exhibition of physical ability or skill. It’s often seen as the last remaining bastion of sacredness and something that is regarded very highly by nations world over. Any act that brings disrepute to the game is never seen lightly and usually the punishments vary depending on the nature of the crime. Yes. The word is “crime” for disobeying the rules of a “game” supposed to be “played” on the field. Such is the amount of importance society assigns to sports. Even in country like India, where its often lamented that neither the government nor the parents, give enough attention or patronage, people get  decent paying jobs, seats in good educational institutions on “spor...

Probably the shortest post in this space. Check the link below to get to know about what politicians can do and when they actually do what they are supposed to do, the kind of support they get. Here's the link - to believe. http://indigoite.blogspot.in/2018/03/a-different-politician.html?m=1

A while back I had the good fortune to read an yet to be titled book by Bragz. It’s a love story involving three different couples, who are friends and colleagues and how each of them impact the other in arriving at a critical decision about their individual lives form the crux of the story. Towards the end of the book, there is a Sunder C movie like comic caper that hastens the happy ending as well and overall it felt like a movie script. The reason for this post was not as a review for the book, but for the singular character, who albeit was not the titular or lead one, yet, the characterization couldn’t be more profound. The story begins with an intro scene for his character, Paulraj, which is reminiscent of yesteryear Mahendran/Balu Mahendra movies and makes you sit up and take notice right away. I read the novel more than a month back so the version might not be verbatim. But, here you go. It begins with a cyclist, being overtaken by an auto. The cyclist, Paulraj, on his casual ...

I lost track of time of when I started reading this book, which felt so long back that, when I finished reading it, was wondering when I actually began reading it. From the three books that I’ve read, tedious is a simple word to describe the sheer volume of content bombardment in Nesbo’s novels. Probably it’s the effect of the translation or may be the style of Scandinavian authors, every single novel covered the weather for good measure almost treating it as a par character. The extent of detailing the minutest of items, like how art directors of period films take notes, is another common feature. Except that here, it would be any other room in any other house. The darkness, the corners, the phone stands, tv cabinet, wine cellar, lifts every single one of them have such detailed description that, anything that you may imagine comes with corrected version. Any more description on smoking, the next novel might warrant a censure on putting a statutory warning content. The advantage of ...

“You are close to hitting the half way mark. People like us should already have our own legacy by this time and yet here we are, chatting and cribbing over typical middle class worries” We met after a really long time and were chatting about our college mates. When the last memory you have of someone is over 20 years ago, it’s hard to imagine their present day situations. Seems some of our friends had divorced and remarried. While some were undergoing treatment for depression. There were some really astounding success stories and many had bitter experiences in their personal life. I was basically lost after the “half way mark” comment by my friend. Suddenly the difference between being old and feeling old struck hard and it really hit its mark. All of a sudden there was a nervous rush of all those things that I wanted to do and still haven’t even started. The moment you realize how little time you have left, every second seems to rush by even faster. Was feeling giddy for a while with...

Finally I managed to finish reading the book after almost a month since I started. Was never a big fan of Nesbo, with his novels lying unread for past 4 years. I found them to be way too slow and the characters way too complex for me to understand and follow. But after Devil’s star, wanted to give the series a try and started with “Red breast”. To describe the novel, one can reference the Ford escort car used by Harry Hole, the hero, in the novel. It’s made to sound like a scrap-on-wheels which has to be pushed really hard before it starts to run. The first half of the book, especially those detailing the war zone, were like pushing that car, uphill, with a safety pin. I almost gave up and started googling to figure out the end. To my surprise, apparently, this book had won several prestigious awards and was supposed to be one of the author’s best efforts!! I decided to plough through a little bit more to see where it leads and to quote the car example again, whether its scrap or not, ...

For long I have wanted to conduct an interview of a famous personality. I always love to ask questions than answer and reading the interviews on the dallies and weeklies, always used to wonder how the preparations would be. When I finally managed to coax one, I was at a loss as to what should i ask. For those who are regulars in this blog space, Brags is not just my source for novels that I get to read and enjoy, he is also an established author by himself. A true svaymbu if at all anything, he sculpted himself into what he is now and has already published 3 books with lots of short stories series in the offing. A versatile person, who dabbles into lot many things, be it online marketing, content creation, a master on trendy apps, event management and a well-known blogger he was kind enough to share his experiences and thoughts for some of the most trivial questions he would’ve ever been questioned across all the interviews he had ever faced. Brags- siru kurippu varaiga Siru kuripp...

“Is your software racist” screamed a headline on a magazine link that I happened to visit from a blog. When I read the content, it was right out of nightmarish scenario, that is scripted on Hollywood sci-fi movies, where the machines take over the mantle from humans. But unlike the stories that find fault with AI going awry, this article, explores the reason why those mistakes could’ve happened in first place. After all, machines/robots are supposed to be subservient to humans and when they go against the very purpose of their creation, it raises lot of questions, which are bordering on moral or ethical while the answer is more of technical. To put it simply, the articles lays it all on bad coding!!! As simple as that. Calling it “bad coding”, might be trivializing the issue in a giant sweep. For the issue which the author infers is far more dangerous and something that is quite common place, even in this age of “politically correct” world – racism in other words. The example which p...

As almost always, the book courtesy goes to mister Bragz. When I got the book, I wasn’t quite sure whether I would manage to finish it. The title, needless to say, projected it as an “interesting” genre. Suddenly the Indian writing space seems to be abound with stories about Punjabi clan. Probably I’ve woken up to it so late or coincidentally the Indian authors those I read, had set their premise on similar setup. Whatever the case maybe, I found that, more often than not, stories involving Punjabi characters were Dolby stereotyped with surround sound setup thrown in. There would be definite mentions of alcohol, pubs, unnecessary detailing of the locality, especially if its America/Europe, probably trying to show off that they know what they are describing maybe. The Punjabi characters would be projected as brash, with every alternate line of dialogue splashed with liberal dose of local language, most of them alcoholic with the lady characters engaging in drinking binges and above all,...