a perfectly wonderful chirstmas followed by a shitty new year
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Agent 6 by Tom Rob SmithYes, it's another of those books by Tom Rob Smith which is very accurate with historical details---and the story has a unique flavour. I am slightly upset by the book,---don't get me wrong, its wonderfully written, and I appreciate the time spent in reading it,--but in my opinion the central plot is rather weak. Raisa's death is the result of an accident, which went wrong, and carries the status of murder--thats all right; but it doesn't show the ingenuity of the FBI agent. Somebody less intelligent might have done the same. I guess I was expecting a much deeper plot; and therefore was not very satisfied when things did take their face value! The entire episode of the Afghan war, though very meticulously written, is rather long-winded and takes the flow well off the main course of the book---in fact, the Afghan episode itself assumes an independent and large sub-plot which the author could have done without! All in all, I'm very happy to have read the book, but probably not as happy as after "CHILD 44" or "THE SECRET SPEECH".
View all my reviews
Monday, October 10, 2011
Shiva Trilogy: The Immortals of Meluha
I bought the first book of this trilogy from Flipkart, and already, when I am yet to finish the first chapter, I am struggling to reconcile what I already know about this civilization, with what the author states. I like these kind of historical novels; but of course when there is a credible amount of history to go along with it. The most supreme example of this genre of authors (writing in English) I have read is probably Umberto Eco. Even Paul Susskind's novels, though set in the present, have strong historical and archaeological themes. This blog entry will (within the confines of an amateurish capability) discuss and separate fact from fiction in the novel. Moreover, this will not review the plot or characters; but will simply take up facts and deal with them.
A starting disappointment: the author is by profession, not a historian or an archaeologist. While this does not bar him from writing on anything he chooses to, a reasonably serious attempt would have been to acknowledge scholars in the field who would have something to say about the manuscript. I found none. Moreover, no-where is it written that all the characters and many of the places in the novel are fictional. Is this a work where most things are fictional? Or does it draw from history? How much? It is not clear.
Let's start with the word: Mehluha. Supposedly, this is the name Mesopotamians gave the people of the east. Moreover, many of the archaeologists agree with this (supposedly! Note that I am no expert, so will only present my conclusions from articles seen on the web. However, see this for detail: http://www.harappa.com/arrow/meluhha_and_agastya_2009.pdf).
Timing: The incidents are supposedly took place around 1900 BC. With a very conservative estimate, I would say that this corresponds to the early Vedic period, or roughly the timespan when the Aryans were coming to India, and the so-called Indus Valley Civilization was decaying.
I don't think that this can correspond to an Aryan viewpoint, primarily because this is abound with non-aryan symbolism's. The Aryans were prolific writers (on the contrary the gurukul system educated by word of mouth), they didn't dwell in cities or citadels, they didn't have doctors, nurses or immigration systems or quarantines in the city. I don't think any civilization in ancient history had the systematics of quarantine. A person infected with a contagious disease could be left aside, that's one thing; and quarantine is another! That seems kind of borrowed from science fiction, even while dealing with history. And the city of Srinagar did not exist in the year 1900 BC. This kind of thing, in my personal opinion, is wrong. You do not glorify a city unnecessarily.
Even in the first chapter, the reference to Aryan words and customs seems very frequent. This is rather puzzling: since I guess the generic idea is that the Indus Valley customs were widely different from that of the Aryans. The Aryans were mostly agrarian, while the book refers to the existence of fantastic cities, and temples.
The other theme that recurs in the book again and again is the theme of perfection. There is a chief architect, the government provides such services that a modern political state would be ashamed of. And there was Census three thousand years back! Even if I could somehow try to settle down with the facts, a series of more bizarre facts strike me: at 1900 BC, the Meluhan society was living according to science, there was a chief scientist of the Empire, who had full knowledge of the existence of oxygen in the atmosphere. Maybe it's not too much to think that if he had been to high mountains, he would know that the "oxygen" content gets lesser since the air gets thinner. Further, his constant allusion to doing experiments, somewhat unnerves me. The ancient science in India had progressed via the elaboration of physical principles; stuffs of experiment came much later. As the novel progresses, there is a concept of the breaking up of colors: why does the leaf appear green? Well, why else, it rejects green of all the other colors! Now, Newton, and the entire human civilization must have been dump not to realize this thousands of years earlier. But of course, there were Meluhans! They know of the sun as a star which is shining, and about the existence of planets! Such a woe that they didn't leave their knowledge behind.
There is another reference to that of using "glasses" as vision improvement in the place where the Naga-aided Chandravamshis attack the Suryavamshi Royal family when Shiva, Sati and her mother are coming back from Mount Mandar to Devagiri. While glass making in India was known as early as 1700 BC, about 200 years before the events in the story, it is rather far-fetched to presume that the people had mastery of using glass well enough to be used in telescopes. I did a bit of searching the net, and even from there it is not very clear to me that image magnification techniques using devices other than glass were known to such ancient people.
References to the even further ancient history astound and astonish me, about the origin of Manu etc. Personally I find it rather un-nerving when a novel is thrown like this at the faces of the Indian masses, most of whom have learnt to take things at their face value, without further questioning the written word. In this respect, I have to re-iterate, that if the author had takes pains to write down at the very beginning that this is a work of fiction, then it would have put me much more at ease. Even if he believes that all that he has written could have been true, still he should have explained that historical sources do not necessarily support such a hypothesis. Take for example, the novel NOTHING IS BLUE by Biman Nath. Now that, forms very nicely a story from history and without trying to stretch historical facts to the accommodate the story. It does the reverse, and as a result everything fits in very nicely. Or take a more renowned example, the historical novels by Saradindu Bandyapadhyay, or those by Bankimchandra. Maybe this author should have had more inspiration from these authors than from Shiva!
On the whole, I have no problems in accepting this work as an entertaining read, although a rather short and quick one. The storyline is sufficiently simple and straightforward to follow, and you can even make guesses that will be proved right later on. A work of fiction to keep you engaged for the better part of a day in a lighthearted read.
A starting disappointment: the author is by profession, not a historian or an archaeologist. While this does not bar him from writing on anything he chooses to, a reasonably serious attempt would have been to acknowledge scholars in the field who would have something to say about the manuscript. I found none. Moreover, no-where is it written that all the characters and many of the places in the novel are fictional. Is this a work where most things are fictional? Or does it draw from history? How much? It is not clear.
Let's start with the word: Mehluha. Supposedly, this is the name Mesopotamians gave the people of the east. Moreover, many of the archaeologists agree with this (supposedly! Note that I am no expert, so will only present my conclusions from articles seen on the web. However, see this for detail: http://www.harappa.com/arrow/meluhha_and_agastya_2009.pdf).
Timing: The incidents are supposedly took place around 1900 BC. With a very conservative estimate, I would say that this corresponds to the early Vedic period, or roughly the timespan when the Aryans were coming to India, and the so-called Indus Valley Civilization was decaying.
I don't think that this can correspond to an Aryan viewpoint, primarily because this is abound with non-aryan symbolism's. The Aryans were prolific writers (on the contrary the gurukul system educated by word of mouth), they didn't dwell in cities or citadels, they didn't have doctors, nurses or immigration systems or quarantines in the city. I don't think any civilization in ancient history had the systematics of quarantine. A person infected with a contagious disease could be left aside, that's one thing; and quarantine is another! That seems kind of borrowed from science fiction, even while dealing with history. And the city of Srinagar did not exist in the year 1900 BC. This kind of thing, in my personal opinion, is wrong. You do not glorify a city unnecessarily.
Even in the first chapter, the reference to Aryan words and customs seems very frequent. This is rather puzzling: since I guess the generic idea is that the Indus Valley customs were widely different from that of the Aryans. The Aryans were mostly agrarian, while the book refers to the existence of fantastic cities, and temples.
The other theme that recurs in the book again and again is the theme of perfection. There is a chief architect, the government provides such services that a modern political state would be ashamed of. And there was Census three thousand years back! Even if I could somehow try to settle down with the facts, a series of more bizarre facts strike me: at 1900 BC, the Meluhan society was living according to science, there was a chief scientist of the Empire, who had full knowledge of the existence of oxygen in the atmosphere. Maybe it's not too much to think that if he had been to high mountains, he would know that the "oxygen" content gets lesser since the air gets thinner. Further, his constant allusion to doing experiments, somewhat unnerves me. The ancient science in India had progressed via the elaboration of physical principles; stuffs of experiment came much later. As the novel progresses, there is a concept of the breaking up of colors: why does the leaf appear green? Well, why else, it rejects green of all the other colors! Now, Newton, and the entire human civilization must have been dump not to realize this thousands of years earlier. But of course, there were Meluhans! They know of the sun as a star which is shining, and about the existence of planets! Such a woe that they didn't leave their knowledge behind.
There is another reference to that of using "glasses" as vision improvement in the place where the Naga-aided Chandravamshis attack the Suryavamshi Royal family when Shiva, Sati and her mother are coming back from Mount Mandar to Devagiri. While glass making in India was known as early as 1700 BC, about 200 years before the events in the story, it is rather far-fetched to presume that the people had mastery of using glass well enough to be used in telescopes. I did a bit of searching the net, and even from there it is not very clear to me that image magnification techniques using devices other than glass were known to such ancient people.
References to the even further ancient history astound and astonish me, about the origin of Manu etc. Personally I find it rather un-nerving when a novel is thrown like this at the faces of the Indian masses, most of whom have learnt to take things at their face value, without further questioning the written word. In this respect, I have to re-iterate, that if the author had takes pains to write down at the very beginning that this is a work of fiction, then it would have put me much more at ease. Even if he believes that all that he has written could have been true, still he should have explained that historical sources do not necessarily support such a hypothesis. Take for example, the novel NOTHING IS BLUE by Biman Nath. Now that, forms very nicely a story from history and without trying to stretch historical facts to the accommodate the story. It does the reverse, and as a result everything fits in very nicely. Or take a more renowned example, the historical novels by Saradindu Bandyapadhyay, or those by Bankimchandra. Maybe this author should have had more inspiration from these authors than from Shiva!
On the whole, I have no problems in accepting this work as an entertaining read, although a rather short and quick one. The storyline is sufficiently simple and straightforward to follow, and you can even make guesses that will be proved right later on. A work of fiction to keep you engaged for the better part of a day in a lighthearted read.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
About love
----I love you
----And why do you love me?
----I love you because you're mine... I love you because you need love... I love you because when you look at me I feel like a hero... It was always like that... I love you because when I touch you, I feel more a man, than any other man...
----I love you too
----And why do you love me too?
----I love you because when I touch you...I make you feel more a man than any other man. ...I love you because nobody could ever accuse us of love... I love you because to understand our love, they'd need to turn the world upside down... I love you because you could love somebody else yet still you love me... just me...
----Just you... just you... just you...
(source undisclosed)
----And why do you love me?
----I love you because you're mine... I love you because you need love... I love you because when you look at me I feel like a hero... It was always like that... I love you because when I touch you, I feel more a man, than any other man...
----I love you too
----And why do you love me too?
----I love you because when I touch you...I make you feel more a man than any other man. ...I love you because nobody could ever accuse us of love... I love you because to understand our love, they'd need to turn the world upside down... I love you because you could love somebody else yet still you love me... just me...
----Just you... just you... just you...
(source undisclosed)
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Self-Criticism
That is a wonderful thing to have: keeps you in check.
I am rather particular about who says what to me and exactly in which tone. Shouldn't I be doing exactly that? No matter who the person in the receiving end is...
Disconnected statements to be sure, and I guess meant only for me. Just needed to say that to someone, ---desperately,--- even if its a virtual audience.
I am rather particular about who says what to me and exactly in which tone. Shouldn't I be doing exactly that? No matter who the person in the receiving end is...
Disconnected statements to be sure, and I guess meant only for me. Just needed to say that to someone, ---desperately,--- even if its a virtual audience.
Saturday, September 03, 2011
So long, what's up?
Yeah, it's been quite sometime now. Well beyond the post-thesis period. And well-beyond the TIFR period now, as well.
That was quite a statement! Leaving a place where I have about a fourth of
my life is never easy; and I won't pretend it was. Somehow, I was in a dream buoyed by the fantasy world of Westeros by George R R Martin. This, at the very least, was a shock absorber. I was still in the middle of the second book when I boarded the train (after the customary see off by my friends; I wasn't sure if I should be happy or sad; and most definitely didn't behave in the way I had planned! Now, what did I plan? That's a secret!) And then back home, I got absorbed in the "family" way of doing things, which is, no matter how hard I try at poles apart from my life in TIFR.
So what is exactly the difference? Its not that I used to spend more time on my work in TIFR than here, though it seems like it is. There was a routine at TIFR: we used to go for lunch at 12:15 nearly always, and for tea always at 3:30; maybe where you'd go for dinner was something that could be changed at the last moment. And so there is a routine here: get out at 9:40 to reach workplace by 10:30, have lunch at 1:15 etc. The dinner option is not there (of course I can always my mother to prepare something interesting to surprise me!), and a considerable amount of time spent commuting, including some good amount of exercise in walking with a heavy laptop on the back! So at the very least, I don't have to worry about my exercise so long as I don't always behave like a glutton. It's just that these two routines are different, not in their nature but in their schedules. When I was very young, while thinking about why I wanted to do research, I convinced myself that it was because I could do it whenever I wanted. You didn't have to do from 10AM-5PM like in regular office. Now I know better: doing this involves a serious thought process, and unless you force yourself to develop this habit even while you are commuting, you have to do it the regular way! Of course, you can always work after you come back from office; but if you have a family, its gonna get harder. Still, as they say, when there's a will, there's a way!
Whatever whatever whatever ---- this wasn't meant to be a pointed post, so I allowed myself to ramble, but let's stop that now!
That was quite a statement! Leaving a place where I have about a fourth of
my life is never easy; and I won't pretend it was. Somehow, I was in a dream buoyed by the fantasy world of Westeros by George R R Martin. This, at the very least, was a shock absorber. I was still in the middle of the second book when I boarded the train (after the customary see off by my friends; I wasn't sure if I should be happy or sad; and most definitely didn't behave in the way I had planned! Now, what did I plan? That's a secret!) And then back home, I got absorbed in the "family" way of doing things, which is, no matter how hard I try at poles apart from my life in TIFR.
So what is exactly the difference? Its not that I used to spend more time on my work in TIFR than here, though it seems like it is. There was a routine at TIFR: we used to go for lunch at 12:15 nearly always, and for tea always at 3:30; maybe where you'd go for dinner was something that could be changed at the last moment. And so there is a routine here: get out at 9:40 to reach workplace by 10:30, have lunch at 1:15 etc. The dinner option is not there (of course I can always my mother to prepare something interesting to surprise me!), and a considerable amount of time spent commuting, including some good amount of exercise in walking with a heavy laptop on the back! So at the very least, I don't have to worry about my exercise so long as I don't always behave like a glutton. It's just that these two routines are different, not in their nature but in their schedules. When I was very young, while thinking about why I wanted to do research, I convinced myself that it was because I could do it whenever I wanted. You didn't have to do from 10AM-5PM like in regular office. Now I know better: doing this involves a serious thought process, and unless you force yourself to develop this habit even while you are commuting, you have to do it the regular way! Of course, you can always work after you come back from office; but if you have a family, its gonna get harder. Still, as they say, when there's a will, there's a way!
Whatever whatever whatever ---- this wasn't meant to be a pointed post, so I allowed myself to ramble, but let's stop that now!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Post-Thesis period
Hmm -- typing a word here after a rather long time. Was busy writing and submitting my thesis --- which took me quite long by my expectations. And our paper on diffusion, which should have been on the arXiv, a few weeks ago is still not out. I do not think I can stand it if we are scooped again.
It is a rather tense period now, because it is not exactly clear when I will get my degree. The problem arises because unless I get my degree, I cannot apply for my Swiss visa. And once I have submitted my thesis, and come August, I will have to leave my accommodation in TIFR, i.e. the hostel. What a bother!
So what do I do? I have arranged for a visit at the IACS, from beginning of August, till mid-September. The trouble is, in the meanwhile, I might have to come to TIFR again for the defense and visa applications. Really!
And, I am going to be here anyway sometime in the end of September. Add to this, the uncertainty of when to book the ticket and the house where to stay on reaching Bern and you will have some idea of the trouble I am in. The fact that I do not have much savings of my own, and might have to borrow money for this process only makes things worse. And where have my savings gone, you'd ask? In harboring the sin of gluttony, of course!
Anyway, too much of self-depreciation. The other unfortunate thing is that I wanted to write an detailed account of the wonderful trip to Roopkund that we went on in May; but given the lack of time and pressed by the huge burden of things to do, I need to postpone. This increases (exponentially, in my case!) the probability of the important things I had wanted to write about; but it doesn't look like I can help it right now.
Will have to officially say goodbye to the life I had known for the past six years in two more weeks. Can't seem to understand the gravity of the situation, though! So many things that had become a habit will just go away abruptly. Some of the nice atmosphere I had been exposed to, I will probably never know and feel again. Will I be happy to leave? Not entirely. Some things and some people, I'll really miss. Others, I'll be happy to gloss over.
It is a rather tense period now, because it is not exactly clear when I will get my degree. The problem arises because unless I get my degree, I cannot apply for my Swiss visa. And once I have submitted my thesis, and come August, I will have to leave my accommodation in TIFR, i.e. the hostel. What a bother!
So what do I do? I have arranged for a visit at the IACS, from beginning of August, till mid-September. The trouble is, in the meanwhile, I might have to come to TIFR again for the defense and visa applications. Really!
And, I am going to be here anyway sometime in the end of September. Add to this, the uncertainty of when to book the ticket and the house where to stay on reaching Bern and you will have some idea of the trouble I am in. The fact that I do not have much savings of my own, and might have to borrow money for this process only makes things worse. And where have my savings gone, you'd ask? In harboring the sin of gluttony, of course!
Anyway, too much of self-depreciation. The other unfortunate thing is that I wanted to write an detailed account of the wonderful trip to Roopkund that we went on in May; but given the lack of time and pressed by the huge burden of things to do, I need to postpone. This increases (exponentially, in my case!) the probability of the important things I had wanted to write about; but it doesn't look like I can help it right now.
Will have to officially say goodbye to the life I had known for the past six years in two more weeks. Can't seem to understand the gravity of the situation, though! So many things that had become a habit will just go away abruptly. Some of the nice atmosphere I had been exposed to, I will probably never know and feel again. Will I be happy to leave? Not entirely. Some things and some people, I'll really miss. Others, I'll be happy to gloss over.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Watched the movie, Love Actually. Initially, I thought that this was just a British remake of the Hollywood move Valentine's Day. Very soon I found out that was not the case. This was a romantic comedy maybe back in 2003 by Richard Curtis. It portrays many stories in parallel; love stories. The humour was different, very British, of course; but very fun and likable. The vision draws from the scene at the airport when you are witnessing an arrival: there is always so much happiness around. Something that I have witnessed and experienced! Really, we are really messed up creatures ;) Anyway, before I forget, I must mention that the last scene of the Hindi movie Jaane tu...Ya Jaane na was adapted from one of the scenes of this movie, when this little boy runs in the airport terminal to profess his love to his sweetheart.
One the whole, this is one of those feel good movies!
One the whole, this is one of those feel good movies!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The Ring of Solomon
Have just finished reading the new book (relatively new, since it came out in 2010) by Jonathan Stroud, The Ring of Solomon. The title will tell a lot to those who have already read the Bartaemius trilogy: yes, its about the famous ring that Solomon had; which could apparently control so many ferocious demons.
You've already heard about this ring in the Trilogy when Bartaemius claims to have spoken with Solomon himself; but here in this book things get very nasty. But, brilliantly written: now in my opinion, has hugely surpassed Harry Potter.
I only that he goes on writing about other episodes from Bartaemius' life.
And a book of this goes much beyond what the story is supposed to tell. Invariably, to understand the settings better, I mess with the actual history of the story; and in the process get to know a whole lot of things. For example,
take the The lost army of Cambyses. I ended up looking up quite a bit of the Egyptian history. And with this book; I happened to do quite a lot of reading about the region around Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Arabia and so on. This, reminds me how much I was interested in history. So many nations, so much culture, so much fighting! All very interesting.
Have ordered the Kindle. Will probably get it by the end of the week.
Before I completely forget, the last weekend was pretty nice. We went to Marine Drive, had ice-creams, actually rode on a horse-drawn cart in the Marine Drive; and had excellent pasta at Spaghetti Kitchen. Was definitely a day to remember.
You've already heard about this ring in the Trilogy when Bartaemius claims to have spoken with Solomon himself; but here in this book things get very nasty. But, brilliantly written: now in my opinion, has hugely surpassed Harry Potter.
I only that he goes on writing about other episodes from Bartaemius' life.
And a book of this goes much beyond what the story is supposed to tell. Invariably, to understand the settings better, I mess with the actual history of the story; and in the process get to know a whole lot of things. For example,
take the The lost army of Cambyses. I ended up looking up quite a bit of the Egyptian history. And with this book; I happened to do quite a lot of reading about the region around Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Arabia and so on. This, reminds me how much I was interested in history. So many nations, so much culture, so much fighting! All very interesting.
Have ordered the Kindle. Will probably get it by the end of the week.
Before I completely forget, the last weekend was pretty nice. We went to Marine Drive, had ice-creams, actually rode on a horse-drawn cart in the Marine Drive; and had excellent pasta at Spaghetti Kitchen. Was definitely a day to remember.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Paul Sussman
After reading Umberto Eco, this person does deserve a mention. I finished reading the book, The lost army of Cambyses by Paul Sussman. It was a modern day novel but with tangible roots to the history and archaeology of Egypt. There is of course a lot of human element involved about finding a momentous discovery in the Great Sand Sea in Western Egypt. The historical background is pretty interesting. It was time of the great Persians, when they were having waves of expansion. The Persian ruler Cambyses had conquered Egypt; and had sent a great army of 50,000 men to defeat the Ammonians in what is now modern day Libya which started from Thebes, in Egypt. While on their way, the army was caught in a huge sandstorm and all of them perished. That's what happened, according to Herodotus. The book involves a finding of that lost army; and how the authorities use it to trap a notorious fundamentalist. Of course, for more drama, the entire army and the people who now know about it get lost and destroyed in another sandstorm. There is the main protagonist, Khalifa, who survives.
It has lot of learned remarks on history and archaeology; and inspired by it I actually dug out a translation of Herodotus' Inquiries. Interesting, hmmm! And it has to be; this person is an field archaeologist, so he manages to give a vivid description to all the action that is going on there. Am reading the next book: The last secret of the Temple. Hope that this one's as interesting.
It has lot of learned remarks on history and archaeology; and inspired by it I actually dug out a translation of Herodotus' Inquiries. Interesting, hmmm! And it has to be; this person is an field archaeologist, so he manages to give a vivid description to all the action that is going on there. Am reading the next book: The last secret of the Temple. Hope that this one's as interesting.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
28 years after---
They have these horror movies 28 days later and 28 weeks later. Both horror movies. Maybe its time to make 28 years later; but this one is about cricket: the one in which we win the World Cup, obviously! Last Saturday was magnificient; watched the match with Lob in his guest house room; but the only regret that I will
evermore have is to have missed the biggest party in the world. So many people went to Marine Drive after the match ended. I wonder why it didn't come to our mind. The only interesting thing that I did is to go out with the folks next day to have brunch at Theobroma and watch a movie (Sucker Punch) after that.
But it was fun!
Anyway, have completed a first version of the synopsis, which I want to give Rajiv to read tomorrow. Writing this stuff destroyed two weeks of my time; much beyond my expectations. And I have to hurry; but I hurry too much then I have to leave TIFR soon as well keeping me straddled at some undecided place as a visitor. Creepy! And on top of that parents behaving like children; what a dismal thing it is. And today, dunno why, but spent a lot of time on YouTube watching a lot of romantic videos. Hell, they distract me; draw me to another world, full of risks, wonderful feelings, emotions, actions and what not!
Didn't want to make an abrupt end; but unfortunately can't go on much longer. But before I finish, let me mention this author Umberto Eco. After Swastik-da mentioned a book of his that he was reading, The name of the rose, I got hold of the e-copy; and it was so obsessive that I finished it in two days. The plot is historical thriller; and therefore a perfect match for my taste. A new book is going to come out, The Prague Cemetery. And thats when the kindle comes in.
After deliberating a lot, I think I should get an e-book reader. I mean, I keep on reading these e-copies shamelessly; I should try to protect my eyes. And I have my
whole contingency untouched! Well, well, we'll see.
evermore have is to have missed the biggest party in the world. So many people went to Marine Drive after the match ended. I wonder why it didn't come to our mind. The only interesting thing that I did is to go out with the folks next day to have brunch at Theobroma and watch a movie (Sucker Punch) after that.
But it was fun!
Anyway, have completed a first version of the synopsis, which I want to give Rajiv to read tomorrow. Writing this stuff destroyed two weeks of my time; much beyond my expectations. And I have to hurry; but I hurry too much then I have to leave TIFR soon as well keeping me straddled at some undecided place as a visitor. Creepy! And on top of that parents behaving like children; what a dismal thing it is. And today, dunno why, but spent a lot of time on YouTube watching a lot of romantic videos. Hell, they distract me; draw me to another world, full of risks, wonderful feelings, emotions, actions and what not!
Didn't want to make an abrupt end; but unfortunately can't go on much longer. But before I finish, let me mention this author Umberto Eco. After Swastik-da mentioned a book of his that he was reading, The name of the rose, I got hold of the e-copy; and it was so obsessive that I finished it in two days. The plot is historical thriller; and therefore a perfect match for my taste. A new book is going to come out, The Prague Cemetery. And thats when the kindle comes in.
After deliberating a lot, I think I should get an e-book reader. I mean, I keep on reading these e-copies shamelessly; I should try to protect my eyes. And I have my
whole contingency untouched! Well, well, we'll see.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Been quite busy for the last month. The screening-mass paper finally came out on the arXiv and was submitted (and accepted!) in Phys Rev D. So, I'm quite happy about that. And then there is the other work on diffusion coefficient that's going on: I worked out quite a couple of things that I am proud of. I mean, they were simple things; but it was a bit difficult to figure out exactly how things work out; but now that i have done them, I feel good about it. Finally there was the two week long Asian Lattice school, that was tiring, interesting and at the same time fattening, in the sense that I ate a lot of food during this period! As a part of the school dinners, we were taken out to Khyber and Indian Summers, both restaurants I've been wanting to go for ages. That's kind of it for now: the next few months will be taxing to the extreme; finish writing the synopsis and the thesis; and simultaneously finish all the work remaining on the diffusion constant project. Then getting some immediate results on the project with Shailesh, Nilmani and Anyi will be the next goal: at least if we could do the transfer matrix stuff; it would be quite cool. Then have to start on two different things with Saumen: lots of things to do ahead, I'm very excited!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wine Tasting
This was my first experience of the sort; and a magnificent one to say the least. It was a place for wine-tasting on the first floor of Rampart Row. Integrated with the Kala-Ghoda festival, the deal was simple and attractive: you had to pay 300 bucks and for that you got unlimited wine. What we soon found out was that pieces of bread, cheese, often stuck on sticks and dressed with olives and pineapple were regularly available. Slices of pizza were made and distributed: and they were pretty well made.
The entire experience went on very smoothly since Subho-da was there, and he would tell us which wines to have first and which ones to follow and about the reserves and so on. Since wines are my rather favorite drink items, let me describe the whole experience in some detail.
We started with the white wines, namely a Sauvignon Blanc. It is a dry white wine, and was pretty good to taste. Then we had many other white wines, mostly dry and less in sugar, like chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and several more which I do not remember at the moment. It turns out that these are all brand of grapes, mostly named by the regions of France where they are mostly cultivated. It also turns out that you always need to go for the white wines first, and only later can/should you have the red ones. Once you go to red, its almost impossible to come back. Well, I do not have such sophisticated tastes to claim that I see and understand all these differences, but I still can make out strong good wines from mild ones, and good ones from bad! :)!
There were several other things that I got to learn. Firstly, that in session on wine tasting, you should have water (ideally, also gargle a bit with water) before tasting the next wine. This act removes traces of the previous wine from your mouth. Also perform a similar ablution with the glass. Some people I found were actually, washing the glass with the wine they were going to taste, in order to completely remove traces of the other wine. Well, I hope I never go to that extent. Anyway, sloshing: red wine typically needs to be sloshed. This causes the wine to breathe, or in more scientific terms, "get oxidized". This often dramatically changes the taste of the wine for the better. Another practice is swirling. This is mainly intended to see the strains of wine as it slides down the glass. If it slides down slowly leaving streaks, it means the wine has high sugar content. A wine with less sugar should fall down rather smoothly without leaving streaks. That's a lot of stuff to know!
We gradually made the transition to the red wines, through a rose wine. I had a Vermont (I hope I got this correctly), which was sweetish. I found out that I liked the sweetish wines as well, in fact probably a tad more than the usual! Besides there was a sweet and mellow wine called Indian Nectar from the Pause wines that was very nice. A Temperanillo was a strong and less sugary wine from this company. Shiraz is another brand which is very nice, but at the moment I can't recall it's taste. Then there was this concept of "reserves", which is usually a wine from a very good variety of grapes from some very good harvest in a particular year. At the very end, we had gone to the reserves: from where there was no coming back. Other wines wouldn't simply taste any good after that!
We also saw a wine preserver. They come in two varieties, and the need to preserve is evident. Prepared and processed wine is stored in vacuumed bottles. If its kept exposed for a long time, it simply gets fermented to vinegar, and then even though you can use it for cooking, drinking is out of the question. Hence, the need to preserve it. There were two varieties: one cheaper, intended for home use and could preserve it for several days, while the other, mainly intended for use in restaurants and stuff, could preserve for a week or more, and cost around 35K. WOW! So much to know. We also found out that decent Indian made wines are now available for around ~500-600 rupees a bottle. It really does seem that the Indian wine market is opening up.
Well, I spend two and half hours of blissful time there. I came back a bit early, to discuss something about work. The others stayed longer. But by far, this was the best experience I had with wines in India so far!
The entire experience went on very smoothly since Subho-da was there, and he would tell us which wines to have first and which ones to follow and about the reserves and so on. Since wines are my rather favorite drink items, let me describe the whole experience in some detail.
We started with the white wines, namely a Sauvignon Blanc. It is a dry white wine, and was pretty good to taste. Then we had many other white wines, mostly dry and less in sugar, like chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and several more which I do not remember at the moment. It turns out that these are all brand of grapes, mostly named by the regions of France where they are mostly cultivated. It also turns out that you always need to go for the white wines first, and only later can/should you have the red ones. Once you go to red, its almost impossible to come back. Well, I do not have such sophisticated tastes to claim that I see and understand all these differences, but I still can make out strong good wines from mild ones, and good ones from bad! :)!
There were several other things that I got to learn. Firstly, that in session on wine tasting, you should have water (ideally, also gargle a bit with water) before tasting the next wine. This act removes traces of the previous wine from your mouth. Also perform a similar ablution with the glass. Some people I found were actually, washing the glass with the wine they were going to taste, in order to completely remove traces of the other wine. Well, I hope I never go to that extent. Anyway, sloshing: red wine typically needs to be sloshed. This causes the wine to breathe, or in more scientific terms, "get oxidized". This often dramatically changes the taste of the wine for the better. Another practice is swirling. This is mainly intended to see the strains of wine as it slides down the glass. If it slides down slowly leaving streaks, it means the wine has high sugar content. A wine with less sugar should fall down rather smoothly without leaving streaks. That's a lot of stuff to know!
We gradually made the transition to the red wines, through a rose wine. I had a Vermont (I hope I got this correctly), which was sweetish. I found out that I liked the sweetish wines as well, in fact probably a tad more than the usual! Besides there was a sweet and mellow wine called Indian Nectar from the Pause wines that was very nice. A Temperanillo was a strong and less sugary wine from this company. Shiraz is another brand which is very nice, but at the moment I can't recall it's taste. Then there was this concept of "reserves", which is usually a wine from a very good variety of grapes from some very good harvest in a particular year. At the very end, we had gone to the reserves: from where there was no coming back. Other wines wouldn't simply taste any good after that!
We also saw a wine preserver. They come in two varieties, and the need to preserve is evident. Prepared and processed wine is stored in vacuumed bottles. If its kept exposed for a long time, it simply gets fermented to vinegar, and then even though you can use it for cooking, drinking is out of the question. Hence, the need to preserve it. There were two varieties: one cheaper, intended for home use and could preserve it for several days, while the other, mainly intended for use in restaurants and stuff, could preserve for a week or more, and cost around 35K. WOW! So much to know. We also found out that decent Indian made wines are now available for around ~500-600 rupees a bottle. It really does seem that the Indian wine market is opening up.
Well, I spend two and half hours of blissful time there. I came back a bit early, to discuss something about work. The others stayed longer. But by far, this was the best experience I had with wines in India so far!
KalaGhoda
KalaGhoda are festival is one of the major attraction catcher in South Mumbai. Set in Kala Ghora, sanwiched in between Fort and Asiatic Society, its a small but very downtown place where many sort of art can be seen displayed. Loads of people come here during the festival. There are music programs, theater, folk dance, movie screenings and a variety of other programs. Anyway, for further descriptions there is the internet.
Today was my second visit to this festival. The place was thriving with people with each sight vying for your eye. But the nicest experience today was the music program, a classical vocal and instrumental, a bhajan. It was a wonderful experience of very masterful vocal combined with melodious instrumentals enthralling a vast audience filling the numerous steps of the Asiatic society against the backdrop of the Bombay Stock Exchange blocking the increasingly darkening sky of dusk. And I'll leave you with that.
Today was my second visit to this festival. The place was thriving with people with each sight vying for your eye. But the nicest experience today was the music program, a classical vocal and instrumental, a bhajan. It was a wonderful experience of very masterful vocal combined with melodious instrumentals enthralling a vast audience filling the numerous steps of the Asiatic society against the backdrop of the Bombay Stock Exchange blocking the increasingly darkening sky of dusk. And I'll leave you with that.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Reading Rybakov ....2
Yeah, this is my second post on Rybakov and his book "Children of Arbat". The first part in the trilogy: next comes Fear and then Dust and Ashes. And I must read the book, "The Thaw" by Ilya Ehrenberg. But lets come back to this book.
Well, as I said last time this is about a group of Moscow youths who grow up in a system which they idealize and which in turn, represses them. Unique! There is Sasha, who gets exiled for doing nothing wrong, but his exile is connected with arresting some other people. But you know, that part is the tragedy. Lots of people got repressed for no reason, for just being associated with someone the administration did not like.
The most fascinating aspect of the book is that it presents to the reader, two diametrically opposite views: that of the Soviet Man and that of the Administration. The Soviet Man is best personified with Sasha, Varya, Nina and their friends. They have the ideal within them to bring about a change: sacrifice for achieving something great, their faith in the Party and the ideals of socialism.
But what does the Party do? People like Sergei Kirov (who I think is depicted as a hero in this book) who understand the people and value their support continue to work tirelessly. But what can they do when Stalin is obsessed with the centralization of power? The book does paint a chilling psychological picture of Stalin by carefully analyzing his thought processes. Stalin was completely opposed to decentralization of power: all strings to himself,---a very dangerous game! But anyway, that's all history. But I just do wonder at times: that if people like Kirov had their way, not working at the very top, but among the people, helping and guiding them along, whether the experiment would have succeeded?
Did the rule of Stalin destroy the socialism in Russia? I think it did.
Simultaneously, we should remember that what the Russian people were also looking for was a complete change in society: where the individual would live, not only for self, but also for the community. The order matters, of course. Stalinist reversed the order, and committed numerous atrocities in that ideal. On the contrary, exploiting the other extreme, nations have become lousy capitalists.
A balance is necessary...but at which point? Next stop: The Communist Manifesto.
The book ends with two different points again. On one hand, Kirov is murdered by NKVD on the orders of Stalin (http://www.brushtail.com.au/july_04_on/kirov_assassination.html) and on the other Sasha realizes that he will probably never go back to Moscow. But in spite of that he has hopes: hopes for a life, a future, because for the first time, Varya has written him a letter.
Well, as I said last time this is about a group of Moscow youths who grow up in a system which they idealize and which in turn, represses them. Unique! There is Sasha, who gets exiled for doing nothing wrong, but his exile is connected with arresting some other people. But you know, that part is the tragedy. Lots of people got repressed for no reason, for just being associated with someone the administration did not like.
The most fascinating aspect of the book is that it presents to the reader, two diametrically opposite views: that of the Soviet Man and that of the Administration. The Soviet Man is best personified with Sasha, Varya, Nina and their friends. They have the ideal within them to bring about a change: sacrifice for achieving something great, their faith in the Party and the ideals of socialism.
But what does the Party do? People like Sergei Kirov (who I think is depicted as a hero in this book) who understand the people and value their support continue to work tirelessly. But what can they do when Stalin is obsessed with the centralization of power? The book does paint a chilling psychological picture of Stalin by carefully analyzing his thought processes. Stalin was completely opposed to decentralization of power: all strings to himself,---a very dangerous game! But anyway, that's all history. But I just do wonder at times: that if people like Kirov had their way, not working at the very top, but among the people, helping and guiding them along, whether the experiment would have succeeded?
Did the rule of Stalin destroy the socialism in Russia? I think it did.
Simultaneously, we should remember that what the Russian people were also looking for was a complete change in society: where the individual would live, not only for self, but also for the community. The order matters, of course. Stalinist reversed the order, and committed numerous atrocities in that ideal. On the contrary, exploiting the other extreme, nations have become lousy capitalists.
A balance is necessary...but at which point? Next stop: The Communist Manifesto.
The book ends with two different points again. On one hand, Kirov is murdered by NKVD on the orders of Stalin (http://www.brushtail.com.au/july_04_on/kirov_assassination.html) and on the other Sasha realizes that he will probably never go back to Moscow. But in spite of that he has hopes: hopes for a life, a future, because for the first time, Varya has written him a letter.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Reading Rybakov
Very recently, I came across this book, Children of the Arbat by Anatoli Rybakov. Its a book about the Stalinist Russia in the mid-1930's when the socialist revolution was in full swing. An amazing book!
As you know, I do have a fascination for Soviet Russia. Primarily, because its so different from anything I have seen. Thats why I used to like the book, The Last Frontier by Alistair MacLean so much. I thought he was amazing when he wrote about the viewpoint of the anguished Russian leadership at Western Intrusion.
And now this! This book is a work of pure genius. It follows the life of several Muscovite adolescents, from the locality of Arabat which was considered to be a place of intellectuals in the monarchial and Soviet Russia. Pushkin had his house there. Remarkably, it also analyzes the thoughts and actions of Stalin and his other comerades during that time.
What Lenin did, what Stalin did, the Second Russian revolution (not called by that name, though!) and maybe why he did it are explained brilliantly in detail. What the new generations thought about their leadership, their society, their role and duty in forming what they thought be a new world order forms the backbone of the book. What is the individual and what is the society: it is a work of pure genius. Let me quote a paragraph from it that I liked:
"The criminals are scum," Vodolya said, "Degenerates and murderers. They'd betray their own comerade for a bowl of camp soup. They're the systems main support, they help our 'administrators'. Kill your wife and you get eight years, and then they knock off four for good behaviour. But take a pair of shoe soles out of the factory and they'll give you ten years."
Really, what an administration!
As you know, I do have a fascination for Soviet Russia. Primarily, because its so different from anything I have seen. Thats why I used to like the book, The Last Frontier by Alistair MacLean so much. I thought he was amazing when he wrote about the viewpoint of the anguished Russian leadership at Western Intrusion.
And now this! This book is a work of pure genius. It follows the life of several Muscovite adolescents, from the locality of Arabat which was considered to be a place of intellectuals in the monarchial and Soviet Russia. Pushkin had his house there. Remarkably, it also analyzes the thoughts and actions of Stalin and his other comerades during that time.
What Lenin did, what Stalin did, the Second Russian revolution (not called by that name, though!) and maybe why he did it are explained brilliantly in detail. What the new generations thought about their leadership, their society, their role and duty in forming what they thought be a new world order forms the backbone of the book. What is the individual and what is the society: it is a work of pure genius. Let me quote a paragraph from it that I liked:
"The criminals are scum," Vodolya said, "Degenerates and murderers. They'd betray their own comerade for a bowl of camp soup. They're the systems main support, they help our 'administrators'. Kill your wife and you get eight years, and then they knock off four for good behaviour. But take a pair of shoe soles out of the factory and they'll give you ten years."
Really, what an administration!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Catching up
Hi, ---Long time no see. Was busy in quite a few things. There was the trip to Rajasthan to attend the DAE- conference. What was most interesting was the three day holiday we took after the conference got over, in which time we visited Jaisalmer, the Desert and Jodhpur. Why I write "the Desert" separately, is because while at Jaisalmer we took a desert safari, in which we had a camel ride to see the sunset, and were able to spend the night in a hut in a camp in the middle of the desert; and could get up very early in the morning and go and watch the sunrise in the biting cold! This place was about 50 km from Jaisalmer, and it was a very memorable experience. Want to have a look at the pictures? Here is the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cygnus2/LandOfTheGoldenFort#
The last day of our stay in Jaisalmer was mainly spend in visiting the Golden Fort, about which there is a very famous film in bengali. Why its called the Golden Fort is a mystery I'll leave you to figure out! The visit to the fort, though short, was exotic. Once again, you should be able to see the pictures from the web-site.
The next place of visit was Jodhpur. The most remarkable thing about Jodhpur is the Mehrangarh fort. Even in this second visit to the place, I could not help but be awed by the royalty so deeply ingrained in the fort. Simply majestic; and superb! This time though I had a audio guide with me that helped to appreciate the fort and the things displayed in it much more. To satisfy your curiosity, without much trouble you can find out where the pictures are.
Then was the trip back to Jaipur and in the half of a day we had there, before catching our plane to Mumbai, we visited the Jaigarh fort and the Amber palace. Both very good, but seen before: the last time I had come there was in Quark Matter 2008; nearly 3 years ago.
The trip to these places in Rajasthan was extremely memorable. It was a short tour, very hectic but very enjoyable. All those days we were travelling in bus on the every other day. In retrospect, even the Jaipur stay during the conference was cool. Our hotel was in a very happening place in the town and we used to eat out nearly every day. In particular, there was this very nice kabab place, which we simply adored!
Back in TIFR was a time to complete applications and keep waiting. A very frustrating phase, punctuated only by the arrival of Arnab-da: the week in which I had great fun. Among other things, we would go out every day! The last day on which he left, he gave us a treat in Cafe Moshe; which had just amazing food. Kabir, Kusum and I went and it was a whole lot of fun! There was also one day spent at the WichLatte and one at ZafferBhai + Mocha, which was equally good.
All in all every thing has turned out well. I will finally be joining Bern as a post-doctoral associate. The group there is pretty good and I am looking forward to join there. In the meanwhile however, a herculean task awaits me: write the synopsis and the thesis and get the degree! And then in the months it takes to get me a work permit there in Switzerland, finish the remaining projects and maybe start new collaborations here.
Well, lets hope for the best!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cygnus2/LandOfTheGoldenFort#
The last day of our stay in Jaisalmer was mainly spend in visiting the Golden Fort, about which there is a very famous film in bengali. Why its called the Golden Fort is a mystery I'll leave you to figure out! The visit to the fort, though short, was exotic. Once again, you should be able to see the pictures from the web-site.
The next place of visit was Jodhpur. The most remarkable thing about Jodhpur is the Mehrangarh fort. Even in this second visit to the place, I could not help but be awed by the royalty so deeply ingrained in the fort. Simply majestic; and superb! This time though I had a audio guide with me that helped to appreciate the fort and the things displayed in it much more. To satisfy your curiosity, without much trouble you can find out where the pictures are.
Then was the trip back to Jaipur and in the half of a day we had there, before catching our plane to Mumbai, we visited the Jaigarh fort and the Amber palace. Both very good, but seen before: the last time I had come there was in Quark Matter 2008; nearly 3 years ago.
The trip to these places in Rajasthan was extremely memorable. It was a short tour, very hectic but very enjoyable. All those days we were travelling in bus on the every other day. In retrospect, even the Jaipur stay during the conference was cool. Our hotel was in a very happening place in the town and we used to eat out nearly every day. In particular, there was this very nice kabab place, which we simply adored!
Back in TIFR was a time to complete applications and keep waiting. A very frustrating phase, punctuated only by the arrival of Arnab-da: the week in which I had great fun. Among other things, we would go out every day! The last day on which he left, he gave us a treat in Cafe Moshe; which had just amazing food. Kabir, Kusum and I went and it was a whole lot of fun! There was also one day spent at the WichLatte and one at ZafferBhai + Mocha, which was equally good.
All in all every thing has turned out well. I will finally be joining Bern as a post-doctoral associate. The group there is pretty good and I am looking forward to join there. In the meanwhile however, a herculean task awaits me: write the synopsis and the thesis and get the degree! And then in the months it takes to get me a work permit there in Switzerland, finish the remaining projects and maybe start new collaborations here.
Well, lets hope for the best!
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