Maktub!

Links galore in this post..

Just 2 posts below I had written how Sanjay Dutt has been sent behind bars and Salman Khan is still free. Now, the former has got bail and the latter has been sent behind bars. But it won’t be surprising that by the time I publish this post the latter one would also be on bail.

I would like to say sorry to Paulo Coelho and all fans of his book ‘The Alchemist’ for taking the ‘creative liberty’ and turning the wonderful book into a double entendre. Niraj and I were bored one day and while chatting the discussion on the book took an ugly turn (pun unintended) and at the end of the chat session the whole meaning of the book was turned over and we were laughing our assess off. As a penance, I would be picking up Paulo’s few books and read them like a fan of his and maybe his fans will say Paulo, forgive them, for they know not what they did. Sick jokes apart, I had given up reading this book after the third page, the first time I had picked it up but then took it up again after a couple of months. I liked it though the last few pages are quite debatable one coz of personal interpretations. Any suggestions for his books (or any other author for that matter) are most welcome. I have heard about his Eleven Minutes and The Zahir. I got myself Robert Ludlum’s The Bancroft Strategy last week but haven’t been able to get past the cover page. By the way, here is a video on YouTube wishing Paulo on his 60th birthday.

During breaks many of us here play Text-Twister game and I love solving anagrams. Whenever I find time in office I check out word lists and the origins of words and at home too I always have a dictionary within reach. I realized that I know many words but can recollect meanings of very few of them and rarely use them. Anyways that didn’t decrease my word-appetite and a few days back I found this site and I have been hooked to it. Also I found out a very hilarious raunchy tale here on the phrase ‘the whole nine yards’.

I sometimes wonder how will I die.. well could not think on how I was to be born so this is one thing I can think over, right? So if I don’t die a natural death I am quite sure that I will be murdered by people on whom I am belting non-stop sarcastic comments. One message from unexpected quarters last week made me realize this and I died a thousand deaths in just a few days sulking out of it. So now I remind myself that Words and knives can have the same effect; use both of them carefully. By the way I always thought that having a few good friends is better than being a public figure. But people want you to be ever-smiling for them, wishing them good morning daily and chatting with them in their cubicles like best buddies. If you care for them it is not enough.. you have to show it. I am trying to learn this new art and it is difficult even than the Permutations and Combinations chapter in maths which had tossed up my brain for a while. I had a wonderful home-made chocolate cake today so I am happy even after a very hectic working day.

One evening during a discussion on movies I got almost killed by my team-mates just because I hadn’t watched Sholay, Lagaan and Swades (3 blockbuster Bollywood movies). So last week luckily 2 of the movies were shown on TV and now only Swades remains in the list to be watched to save my life. I was searching for 3 of my all time favourite oldie tracks and luckily found them. One of them, Jaaneman Jaaneman from Chhoti si Baat, is playing on the mp3 widget on the right sidebar. You can hear the second one Aawaz di hai from Aitbaar here on eSnips and 3rd one is (hopefully) embedded here below. Thanks to my 2 cousins, who are here nowadays, I have to watch all those stupid singing competitions. I was of the opinion that whoever sings better than me is a good singer (unfortunately that accounts to almost 98% of the population) but I am sure Indian Idol sucks.. big time.. those kids sing songs which doesn’t suit their voice (the guy with French beard sings good though). Instead watch Voice of India on Star coz the contestants are 100 times better than what other channels have on their shows. And what’s wrong with the judges everywhere.. I mean everyone is being Anu Malik on these shows.

Damn.. that video was giving me some wonderful errors in html so here is the link on YouTube :.