Why am I talking only of Mangalore? Because you cannot separate Mangalore and this book. The short stories here are of different people in that sleepy town – from a half-casteboy who explodes a bomb in his class to a quack sexologist trying to help a dying stranger. These stories map the time between the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. I could relate to it more because I have lived in Mangalore. Also, this book is very much relevant in today’s context, when there are so many unwanted events happening in Mangalore. This book might give you a better perspective on the demography of the place and help you understand the present events. Kittur is like any other small town with its variety of people, its beliefs and its problems.

The book is a good read for those who like reading Indians writing about India, full of wit and keen observations.

Definitions keep changing, meanings differ but people surely think it to be blind. Ones in love just turn blind to either each other’s faults or to everything around them.

People say love is based on trust but then there are so many for whom love is synonymous to possessiveness, which in turn is equally proportionate to doubting each and every opposite sex person your partner talks to or even looks at. Is this “true love”?

Certain of us believe in destiny. We feel there is someone out there for everyone, just waiting to come into our lives, someone who will sweep you off your feet. When they fall in love, they feel they were destined to be together – they share too many co-incidences in life. They think this is “the” one. After a year they realize that “the” one is the wrong one and that they were never meant to be. Is this then “true love”?

Love is blind, love is madness, love is the union of two hearts, etc etc etc. But does anyone really understand love?

“One word is too often profaned
For me to profane it;
One feeling too falsely disdained
For thee to disdain it…”

This story about the young Matilda, her small island, her mother, her school, her “teacher” Mr. Watts (called Pop eye by the village folks), is an enchanting and endearing story. The story has a very unassuming start but as it slowly takes shape, you realize that you are reading a story which is impactful yet simple but not too simple so as to let you forget it easily. The story held my attention throughout and is stil fresh on my mind because of the picturesque descriptions and explanations, I could actually see what Matilda was looking at (I am not exaggerating here).

For a person who picks up books at random, I am happy that I chanced upon this book. It gave me a totally different view to Dickens’ and his Great Expectations. I had read it during my under grad but never saw it the way Lloyd Jones makes us see it through this novel.

On the whole a beautifully written, poignant story which makes you see life the way an innocent child would.

I think people should first try to understand what a blog is. It’s something like a diary-albeit one which can be read by others. It’s completely up to the blogger what he or she wants to write. If you like something you appreciate it and if you don’t like something, just say that it’s not good. Other than that I don’t think anyone has any right to point fingers out here (and not on my blog by any chance).

To make it clear once again, I am not writing for others. This is my way of just jotting down things which come to my mind. If anyone doesn’t like it, they can just stop reading it, I am no way going to stop anyone from doing so. But please stop posting stupid comments on my blog. At the end of the day, that is what it is-MY BLOG.

javaan hone lage jab woh to ham se kar liya parda
haya yak lakht aayi aur shabaab ahista-ahista

shab-e-furkat ka jaaga hoon farishton ab to sone do
kabhi fursat mein kar lena hisab ahista-ahista

savaal-e-vasl par un ko uduu kaa Khauf hai itna
dabe honthon se dete hain jawaab ahista ahista
 

hamare aur tumhare pyar mein bas farq hai itna
idhar to jaldi jaldi hai udhar ahista ahista
 

woh bedardi se sar kaate ‘Ameer’ aur main kahoon un se
huzoor ahista-ahista janab ahista-ahista…  

 What is MTI? It is the influence of the accent of your mother tongue on the accents of other languages you speak, esp English. And it is a common problem that people face. None of us can speak proper South England English and I don’t think that would serve any purpose. The basic intention of any language is to communicate and to get our ideas across. For that mutual intelligibility is more than enough.

You need to know good English and should be able to communicate properly. When you talk, the other person should be able to understand what you are talking. But we still need to have good knowledge of the English language today. So, what do we do for that? The ancient method of reading still holds good. Read books, if you don’t have the patience to read books, read newspapers. It would improve your English as well as keep you informed. Another thing which you should do is talk to people in English. Don’t bother what others might think and there are many who wouldn’t laugh at you but would try to help you correct your English. I know it’s a little difficult when you aren’t sure if you sound right. But you want to speak good English and only you can make an effort towards it, no one else. If anyone wants to know anything, my blog is open to questions. Would be glad to help anyone

क्षण भर को क्यों प्यार किया था?

अर्द्ध रात्रि में सहसा उठकर,
पलक संपुटों में मदिरा भर,
तुमने क्यों मेरे चरणों में अपना तन-मन वार दिया था?
क्षण भर को क्यों प्यार किया था?

So, what are the pros and cons of such a site???

Pros:

1. A legal way of downloading
2. Reduction in piracy
3. No threats of adwares or spywares
4. You cannot post copies or videos taken from SpiralFrog

Cons:

1. You need to register on to this site and if you don’t login every month, whatever you have downloaded gets locked and you can’t play it.
2. Not compatible with Apple’s Mac or Ipod.
3. Universal Music group is the only major label that has licensed its music to SpiralFrog.
4. So, right now only around 800,000 tracks and 3,500 music videos (though they are planning to increase that number in sometime).

Don’t know if a Pro or Con:

1. Doesn’t allow the user to burn tracks onto a CD.
2. The tracks carry copy protections, like iTunes, etc.
3. Users are allowed to copy their downloads to no more than two portable music players or compatible mobile phones at one time.

There are also other issues which the site might face. For example, how many users would actually go through the ads? Would the ads generate any revenue? Another setback for the site is the delay in its launch (it was supposed to be launched by the end of 2006). Apart from all that the users of this site would be music lovers, who would want a hassle-free and faster way to download. So, it’s for us to decide whether sites like these are meant to stay or not.

This is for anyone who wants any kind of editing or proofreading (print) (in English) to be done. I have been involved in proofreading and editing for the past 2 years. Have done my graduation in Journalism, English Literature and Communicative English and I have fairly good grammatical as well as comprehension skills.

Good, quality stuff doesn’t come for free and I too charge for the work I do (which depends on the work). All you need to do is reply to this post. I can do a sample work for you and then if you feel I am good at my work, we can work together!

So, thanks for taking time off to read this post…

It could be something ranging from inspiring, soul-stirring, thought-provoking to out-of-the-world romantic poetry; I can fall in love with anything. From Keats and Shelley to Donne to Ezekiel…

Among the Indian poets, my favourite is Harivanshrai Bachchan, who is also the inspiration for my poetry. The metaphysical English poets inspire me too (though I prefer writing in Hindi). I feel my language of expression is Hindi. Bachchan and the metaphysical poets are an inspiration for me because of their metaphors, even Shelley and Keats (who were much beyond the other romantic poets, according to me). The superficial sort of writing is highly unattractive to me, in simple words the straightforward and direct ones. Poetry is beautiful when the poet uses symbols to convey his thoughts and the interpretation of the poems is left to the readers. This gives rise to different interpretations. When you look at certain poets, their works could be taken either at the surface level or by probing into the deeper meaning; it’s completely up to the reader how he/she wants to take it.

Poetry is not just “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquility”, it is the outpour of emotions into words and verses. It is a way of expression, which is not just ornate but can also move the deepest feelings of your heart… at least for me that is what poetry is…

 P.S.:- The thoughts expressed above are solely of the author and need not be in consensus with anyone else.