The Bihar Elections

So the NDA won the Bihar elections. I tend to be a centrist when it comes to national politics. I do not care what happens in Bihar. I do not care about Laloo, Nitish, no one. But one thing I do care about it is secularism. And I am glad that Ram Vilas Paswan who had set out on the election campaign with the aim of giving Bihar a Muslim CM has been soundly thrashed. As in he is not going to be a king-maker. Find great satisfaction in that.

The 81 ers

Trying to list all the famous people born in 1981 other than me of course. Of the top of my head I can remember:

Roger Federer
Lleyton Hewitt
Michael Clarke
Graeme Smith
Yuvraj Singh
Shahid Kapur
Anna Kournikova
Serena Williams
Mahendra Singh Dhoni NEW

Shanghai Knights

Must admit I have been pretty much cut off from what's happening in tennis since the US Open. The injury to Roger Federer was a major reason as was the fact that in India you simply do not have enough time to deliberately follow the circuit - there being other distractions like cricket and family.

But now is the time for the season-ender and the return of Roger Federer really makes it something to look forward to. Quite keen to see him do battle with Rafael Nadal (one of only 3 players to beat him this year) and of course the grand old man, Andre Agassi.

With the withdrawal of Safin, Roddick and Hewitt the tournament has definitely lost some of its sheen - imagine there are players like Nalbandian, Gaudio, Coria (3 Argentines !!) Ljubicic and Davydenko in the frame. Well, it does not really matter when the Swiss king is in charge does it ? His injury is a bit of a worry though and interesting to see if it in anyway affects his near-flawless game.

Five Point Someone

Well, this has been one of the bestsellers in India for some years now - but I only happened to read it today. Well, started it two days ago and finished it today. Why the delay you may ask ? Well I am never one for laying my hands on a book the minute it arrives (except the latest Harry Potters). Nor do I believe in letting other people's opinions decide whether or not I am going to read one. If it sounds interesting and if I have not been horribly disappointed at any of the author's previous books, I believe in giving it a fair chance.

So by what could justifiably be called a sudden impulse I decided to read this book which has been topping Indian charts for quite some time. My brother, a senior at IIT, Powai had warned me against reading it. His exact words were to the effect that if I did go ahead and read it, his opinion about my taste in literature would deteriorate. My friend, an MTech student at the same place had also read it sometime back and gives his view here.

Anyway, why I am bothering to write all this stuff ? As I mentioned earlier, I don't care about other people's opinions when it comes to books, right ? Well, I guess, it is just blogging culture to try and link to all related stuff .. blah blah .. whatever ... ok let's get to the deep end of it.

Overall impression - Nice stuff. Sure, it won't be hailed as a literary classic or even be looked at in more serious circles, but for college kids and those just passed out, definitely an enjoyable read. The Tabloid Of India calls it as Dil Chahta Hain in print (ah there I go again) and for once is pretty much spot on.

Superb pace, easy informal style definitely the great plusses. Plus you can easily identify with the characters ... ah well deep insights, you might say ... but there you go - I said it is not ground-breaking stuff ... nor is my review about it anything out of this world. It's just that you "like" it you know ... so much ... taking you back to college days ... and well it does not give any earth-shatteringly deep message either ... but then little things you know ... like whether it is right to judge someone by his/her GPA, the importance of the IIT stamp, the way they are handled provide a nice sentimental touch to go with the basically fun-filled story of 3 friends.

Well besides the trio-thing, the other similarities with DCH include a fallout and reunion of two of the friends. Well, as we know DCH went on to be a mini-classic. Well, not quite but it will - 50 years down the line - it definitely portrayed so well a generation - the decade of the 2000s. Will FPS go the same way ? I heard it is soon to be made into a Hindi flick ... well for now ... I would say it is definitely more than a five pointer ... and hell should I really be judging in those terms ??

Now We Might Understand Women Better !!

The Venus Express lifts off and the mission hopes to "lift the veil" off the planet named after the Goddess of Love. About time, I should say - after all we have been concentrating on Mars all these years. Men are from there isn't it ? So now that we have focussed our attention on Venus ...

Idealism Gone Awry

Ideally no one should have a problem with the ideals liberty, equality and fraternity. These are the ideals of French secularism that are themselves threatening to shake its very foundations and send France into a near Civil War - Dileep Padgaonkar of DNA analyses.