To one person..

When you feel down, you need to acknowledge it, embrace it, experience it, and then let it ride itself out and move on. There is never a quick fix to pain or rather sorrows. Ups and downs, troubles, sorrows and Happiness are part of life. They are nothing but an internal phenomenon - Your personal reaction to the situation. we just need to conquer them. If one is not able to handle the downside of his/her life, one should simplify the situation- tackle one problem at a time. I hope that you do the same. 

Welcome back Eddy...It is so good to see you back. I hope something triggered you back into blogging and whatever it is, I am sure it is going to bring the best out of you. You are a strong person and I am sure you are going to bounce back with strong vigour and passion. Good luck and All the very best. I am happy! No, I am ecstatic. A wish has been granted. Rather a mission has been accomplished. I swear this would be my last meaningless post.

And here is your welcome back gift. Nothing hard here: Simply paste the following code wherever you want on your template.

<?php

if(isset($_COOKIE['comment_author_'.COOKIEHASH])) {

$lastCommenter = $_COOKIE['comment_author_'.COOKIEHASH];

echo "Welcome Back ". $lastCommenter ."!";

} else {

echo "Welcome, Guest!";

}

?>

Twitter : A New Addiction

This video is hilarious. I can get the point what this video is trying to make. Twitter is addicting because of the kind of attention people get with their continious blabbering about themselves and their mundane things. It can be addicting in the first but soon it grows out old very quickly. People just spend hours chatting about themselves, and their mundane routines. A huge time consumer used by self absorbed celebrities and other jerks. I totally cant be stuffed letting the world know what I am upto. I use it as a journal since no one reads, just pass on the interesting links which I come across. Usually I only update mine when I'm doing something halfway interesting, just heard something funny, want people to watch something that I came across on the web.

And I only follow people whom I think will be really useful to me. Its not a follow game any more. I follow you and you follow me? I think most of us will reflex and hopefully use Twitter, Facebook wisely. Its RECESSION time guys, think before you tweet..

Be with gratitude, it is enough

Children are trained from a young age, to think of hell and heaven as entities outside of them. They are trained to think that God is sitting above, on a big throne, and watching every moment of ours, and noting down our sins and good deeds.

By thinking this way, we start the cause and effect cycle of all our actions. We associate good deeds with heaven and bad deeds with hell. We start thinking of God and the whole of Existence as a transaction center. Each one of us becomes a businessman in our own way, whatever may be our real profession!

What do you do when you go to the temple? You purchase flowers, coconuts and fruit, and go to the deity inside and make an offering in your family’s name to the deity. You tell the name, birthstar etc. of each and every member of your family and do the ritual.
 
The poor priest will hold one bowl in his hand and you will be telling him a long list of names with all the details of each of your family members. You are so afraid that God will send blessings to the wrong person, to the wrong household! You give him the exact geographical location etc. and emphasize to him that it is you and no one else who has come with the offering. Only after doing this, you leave temple.
 
As if God does not know you if you don’t tell him all this! As if you need to remind God of your existence so that he will shower on you.
 
All you need to do is feel continued gratitude towards Him, that’s all. He is always showering on you…
 
The problem is, we are always trying to reach God through your head. You can never reach God through your head. If you simply drop your head, you will automatically function through your heart and discover that you need not even reach out to Him; He is already there in you!
 
- Excerpt from "Guranteed Solutions" book by Paramahamsa Nithyananda

The Monk who sold his Ferrari : A Review

When one of my friends asked if I have read this book, I said I don't like self help,spiritual and motivating books, coz I can't take all the gyan such books try to teach you. But I am glad, I read this. Quite an Inspirational read. Its surely going to change my attitude towards life. I found this book very energizing, giving me a lot of inspiration and motivation to go on and many answers to my questions. A blueprint for successful living, I would say. Now I am going to download it from iTunes and listen to it again with my iPhone.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma is a self-help book that resolves around the adventure of a successful, work-obsessed lawyer in the Himalayas where he found out the true meaning of life. The lawyer, Julian Mantle, realizes his problem after a heart attack and decided to give up all his possessions to seek a more meaningful and youthful life. The book is about Julian meeting his colleague after a long time; Julian tells how he has changed because of what he experienced and gave suggestions on how to live and deal with situations in life. The book provides practices to lower stress, make you feel happier and to improve certain parts of your body that would allow a more youthful life. It also presents the practices step by step showing what one is good for.

The book is full of aptly chosen practical quotes each of which is an inspiration in itself.

"Never regret your past. Embrace it as the teacher it is."

"'Never be a prisoner of your past. Become an architect of your future." 
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. "  
"The average four year old laughs 300 hundred times a day. The average adult - fifteen times. " 

My Rating :

 

A documentary on Mumbai terror attacks

The untold story of 2008's terrorist attack on the Indian city of Mumbai.It just refreshed all those bad memories in my mind. I am surprised at how much calm and serene were the terrorists when they were executing such an heinous act! Those who enjoy documentaries will definitely like it. Well, "Like" may be a rude word, and it makes me a heartless person, but it will definitely bring tears to your eyes. It has actual mobile phone recordings of the conversations between the terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan. . The terrorist handlers in Pakistan were watching the live coverage and updating the terrorists about what the Indian authorities are doing. The handlers sound happy about the coverage that they were getting and were using this to encourage the terrorists to put up more fires. The documentary also shows the footage of Kasab’s interrogation immediately after he was apprehended. I was amazed to see how come these recordings of mobile phone conversations and footages that were made by Indian authorities were never shown by Indian media, but was used by a foreign channel to come up with this amazing documentary. It is a MUST WATCH, though it might be chilling, especially the conversations between the terrorists and their handlers, and how they are giving step-by-step instructions to shoot hostages and cause destruction.

IIT Faculty: Hunger Strike

IIT Facutly go on a hunger strike today. I empathize with IIT's faculty. Students they coach get jobs that pay lakhs, and here they are sado-fying. Unfortunately only ministers have the privilege to hike their own salary. Kapil Sibal refuses IIT faculty pay hike demand. IIT faculty should be given pay on par with those at Harvard, Stanford etc. This would motivate others to join IITs as profs. Why protest like unionists, Sibal asks IIT faculty http://bit.ly/97q5C. I am not sure, What's wrong with protesting like a trade union? Not to take him too literally, but I am quite disappointed that Kapil Sibal could have made such an uninformed remark.

It scares me that the professors from our most prestigious institutes call hunger strikes. What era are we living in? what did anyone ever get out of hunger strike in this country? The level of intelligence they actually possess, they certainly deserved to be treated in a much better way. Definitely Not like this, Teaching with an empty stomach. There is more and more Govt. intervention into IITs over the last few years. It’s not healthy.

They should negotiate more and convince the HRD Ministry. Its certainly alarming and grabbing too much media attention. Its seriously hurting the image of India's Premier Institutes. IIT Brand is in danger now. Never thought I would feel so bad for the IIT/IIM profs. We should pay our teachers fairly.

Photo Courtesy: CSE Department, IIT Kanpur.
Comments?

Some Random Ramblings..

17 Again: Sweet and Funny movie. Enjoyable,  light-hearted humourous watch with just a touch of contemplative elements. A little unbelievable at times, but who cares , all you need is entertainment. Hollywood nothing compares to you. I absolutely loved this film. 

Said no to looks Again. Still think I need some time, when all my classmates are keeping their kids birthday pictures in orkut. I think they should buy some bigger TV with some DVDs. Lack of entertainment is keeping them busy in other places. I am not going to invite friends with kids to my marriage.  My Wedding is for couples who are responsible. 

Crawled through the fiction and Motivational books on the net and made a list for the stuff that I can/want/should be reading. For now, Got hooked to "A Monk who sold his Ferrari" . Quite an Inspirational book. Who knows it may totally change my attitude towards life. Never be a prisoner of your past, become an architect of your future. 

Felt warm due to Family people.  They are back again, nothing can beat home food. 

Stalked by an anonymous, confused soul. My only suggestion, Go Take a hike to the moon and get a life there. 

Walking on a Lunatic Fringe

Six months before, when he started this weight loss journey, he slowly started rediscovering, who he is, what he want, need and deserve in this crazy world. As rightly pointed by Jack welch..“You can’t behave in a calm, rational manner. You’ve got to be out there on the lunatic fringe.”  Life is getting crazier day by day, Some times he feel like he is walking on a lunatic fringe. He always felt that he has hit the proverbial cul-de-sac whenever he try to figure out where life is going????? But not anymore. He was fuzzy on why he needed to get down on weight.  Then one fine day he took the following resolutions and started his journey..

1) Thou Shalt be Patient with thyself and thy weight loss.

Ofcourse he Knows, Rome cannot be built in a day. He knows he cannot become a hrithik roshan all of a sudden in a day.

2) Thou Shalt simplify and organize EVERYTHING!

So he does, he doesn't think too much about anything now. Well..Good for him..

3) Thou shalt reduce stress.

He does, Stress is just an internal phenomenon - His personal reaction to the situation. Did he ever felt too much stressed after that.

4) Thou shalt eat wholesome foods that make thee feel great.

He eats everything... Sprouts, fruits, vegetables, Roti. He also grabbed couple of sweets from his manager desk now. He never missed his evening snacks at office, whatever junk it is.

5) Thou shalt exercise every day

He does religiously. Well atleast he thinks so.

6) Thou shalt not do taste testing.

He doesn't. He simply go grab everything his coleagues gets from their home town.

7) Thou shalt know thy body and value it.

He is getting there. He already started fitting into his old clothes, which he still thinks is the coolest part of the whole thing. He is now wearing only his brother trousers. But the eerie part is he next plans to tackle with the skin tight shirts.

Don't tell anyone, he lost 9 kgs from the last 6 months. Phew.. Wow. Harder than almost anything he has done. Even though he knows people are likely to fall off their chairs in surprise and break their legs if they know this, but yes its true and 3 more to go. No short cuts in losing weight BTW, You have to be constantly hungry.

The Pilgrimage : A Review

This is the 4th Paulo Coelho book I've read, and my least favorite so far. I may be little harsh in saying this, but I really hated this book. I know the character in this book is on a spiritual journey to find himself, but I thought It would be similar to "The Alchemist" with some philosophical thoughts. But the story made no sense, and key parts of it were left unexplained (what is RAM? what is The Tradition?). Here Paulo Coelho details his journey across Spain along the legendary road of San Tiago, which pilgrims have travelled since Middle Ages.The entire book is mostly about rituals and "The Tradition" whatever that is. It was difficult for me to get into the book, but I got through it. The only good quality was that it was short and went quickly. I think this is his first book as a writer and probably one of the reason that it failed to make an impressive mark. I could see his evolution as a writer after this.

Only one thing to quote here..

When you are moving toward an objective, it is very imporant to pay attention to the road

My Rating :

Life of Pi : A Review

I read this book because it was recommended to me by a good friend. I had mixed fixed feelings about it. I'll admit that it took me a while to get into it.  The guy won't shut up about animals! There is no story, even when I read through the first half.The first chunk of this book does suck. About half way through I just wasn't sure if I could keep reading. But I'm actually glad that I did, because it really stretched my mind. I'm still not sure what it was all about!

It's about a teenage boy stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with several animals. The ship Pi's family is riding on to Canada will sink. Pi will be  left  alone in the Pacific Ocean on a life raft with Bengal Tiger.  A boy, zebra, hyena, orangutan & tiger on lifeboat. The hyena kills the zebra and the orangutan, and the tiger kills the hyena. Tiger and boy remain in boat. It is a tale of survival and man’s interaction with himself and the wild. It is a lesson in zoology and spirituality. First few chapters seem to go nowhere,story falls in place later. Nice tall tale with a spiritual twist. I did NOT expect that ending. But it turned out to be a great book. Its about survival, faith, sanity, endurance. Makes me wonder how much have we got?

However it failed to impress me in few scenarios. When I read a book, I like to get sucked into the world. I don't want to constantly be reminded that I'm sitting in a location reading. I want to be with the characters. This book kept me at a distance.

Only one good quote to list here...

"When you've suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both unbearable and trifling." -- Yann Martel, Life Of Pi

My Rating :

Priests don't lie!!!

I got this joke forward from a friend,  Thought it would be a nice one to share. Don't tell me its a whimper..Atleast I had a good laugh after long time :)

A distinguished young woman on a flight from Switzerland asked the priest beside her, “Father, may I ask a favor?”

“Of course. What may I do for you?”

“Well, I bought an expensive! Electronic hair dryer that is well over the Customs limits and I’m afraid they’ll confiscate it. Is

there any way you could carry it through Customs for me? Under your robes perhaps?”

“I would love to help you, dear, but I must warn you: I will not lie.”

“With your honest face, Father, no one will question you.”

When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her. The official asked, “Father, do you have anything to declare?”

“From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing to declare.”

The official thought this answer strange, so asked, “And what do you have to declare from your waist to the floor?”

“I have a marvelous little instrument designed to be used on a woman, but which is, to date, unused.”

Roaring with laughter, the official said, “Go ahead, Father – - Next!”

Happiness

What is Happiness? 

I am Happy

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. It reminds me of the dialogue from Matrix.

Agent Smith : Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization.

How do u define Happiness?

Happiness = health + money + social life + meaning

Where health = Nice Sleep + Good Diet + Regular excercise.
and Money = Your Income + Your Investements
and Social Life = Good Friends + Fantastic Family + Good Behaviour of the People around you + Less hassle

and How exactly you define the meaning of your life? Its all in your state of mind. When you serve a purpose in this world larger than yourself, you experience the sensation of having meaning to your life.

Life has both Happiness and Sadness(or unhappiness or in a milder form “wanting more happiness”)

Life + (Something that makes you happy) = Happiness
Life – (Something that makes you happy) = Sadness
___________________________________________________________________

On Solving you Get

2 x Life = Happiness + Sadness
Life = ½ Happiness + ½ Sadness

Proving that Life has both happiness and sadness in equal parts

On simliar lines I would like to show you a wonderful add...

Bing Visual Search

Bing VisualSearch is public now. Its amazing I would say... Here is the Visual search for top iPhone apps. http://bit.ly/4oxQL1. Another example for greatest Movies by AFI rank. http://bit.ly/y1twd. For those Who cannot view the visual search, Go to bing.com/worldwide and set the country as United States. You should be able to enjoy the visual search at the url bing.com/visualsearch, by saving the settings . For example you need to buy a car, so having the different search options available and opportunity to re-order the list based on different priorities in real time is great. Plus in many cases the clickthrough from Visual Search goes to a page with reviews for the car and pointers to local dealers, which is a real help.

The nice part is, this is in Silverlight, Which is real future of the web development. HTML5 almost could do this without needing a plugin. That's probably one of the reason why, HTML 5 is being pushed by Google.

However Google launched something cool too on the same day, as when Bing Visual Search is out. http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/

An Open Letter to the Media

Dear Media,

I am writing today to request you on behalf of my fellow Indians.We adore you. We appreciate your generosity of time, energy, ink and airtime. we continue to see record growth for a grass roots message that touches us all. Now as much as we worship the ground you walk on, we need to ask a little favor.

Media is considered as another form of government which can be used to fight against many powerful things. In a democratic country like India, Media is considered as the important means of forming public opinion. The world can change for the better if everyone is informed about the facts of the crime at the right time. We simply need the truth to get common knowledge so that the War on Crime can be ended and Justice is served.

All you have to do with your pen is simple..

• Give us real facts.
• Get to some real news broadcast.
• Give the truth about the land mafia.
• Write about Drought happening in India, the economic crisis, and the positive steps that needs to be taken to come out of this.
• Voice out our real problems to the government.
• Bring out the truth and become a change event.
• With you mode of communication you can become the "Junta ka Awaaz", A real HERO.

Its ok If Yuvraj singh gets a new girl friend. We are fine if Amitab Bachan catches cold. We are not interested in Rakhi Sawant Swayamvar. We are not drunk enough to watch all this crap. If YSR is dead in Chopper crash, We already mourned for almost a week. Its not end of the world, we need to move on. We don’t need you to be pimps for movies people,politicians and celebrities. We don't need your meaningless, senseless debates and the follow up questions.

Some of the blunders you have been doing, and you still continue to do are.

"Nun was gang raped and priest brutally assaulted in Kandhamal, Orissa". This has been on the name of RSS. Politicians play all these different cards for their selfish interests. In a country with different kinds of culture, langauge and religion, they find it easy to do this.

Women were being physically abused, assaulted and brutally murdered. They are becoming the victims of ragging and many other psycho lovers. All you could do is shoot the video and broadcast all over the media, repeating it over 500 times. By doing this you could only instigate fear among the public. Instead you could stop the event and give a confidence to them.

Chennai Law college students are bet to death. Its seriously an issue with Law and order.

Remember that the media is the most powerful entity on earth. You have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power.Because You control the minds of the masses. But Now you are so compelling and so filled with sex, that you have become our true sex educators. What You the mass media offering is not the real news, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish.

Please be loyal to yourself and fight against injustice. Undress the crime. Bring the awareness in people about lot many prevaling issues of the country which needs immediate attention.

To the rest, We have all been empowered by the web: everyone with a keyboard can now effectively broadcast to a national audience. In a sense, it puts each of us on the same footing as the major media conglomerates.

So lets get Started...

Yours Sincierly,
Lonesailor.

Voice Control for iPod nano

Have you ever felt that there should be a simple interface to easily control your ipod with three simple commands, play, control and search. Have you ever thought you should be able to access your music database without touching your ipod. Have you ever felt entering a brand new ipod listening experience with voice activation to search your personal music database on ipod. Have you felt a need for a control which quickly responds to your mood, to bring the right song for your mood immediately. Have you ever felt the requirement that you no need to wait to circle around your iPod untill you find the song match your mood.

Well AITALK is all about that. Voice control works for everyone ..No pre-recording or voice training require to use AITALK. When finished the sync, everyone could pickup and use it right away, It even works with local accents.

First time when I saw this, I thought a company would be crazy to tie their product to a single manufacturers product stream. Taking on the dependencies like this I would normally consider this as a business suicide. But given the penetration of Apple products and their huge market base, they actually have a very decent Worldwide market. While Apple do provide some voice control, this company have done it across a huge number of languages, and don’t appear to have a bad implementation at all. The real surprise is that this add on product doubles the volume you carry, so if it succeeds it must be very worthwhile.

If it achieves what it claims, then I’m impressed…if their voice control software is as good as presented, they have to be an acquisition target for some monolith.

They have a nice YouTube Video...

Has anyone tried this control..Do let me know your experience in the comments...

Ipod prices slashed...

Ipod Touches — 8gb ($199), 32GB ($299), 64GB ($399).

160GB iPod Classic is now $249

Nano: Built in video camera, speaker, 1/5 as thin as a Flip, 1/10th of the volume. New nanos get Genius Mixes as well.   Nano gets a pedometer app, voice records, nike+ syncing, and more.   8GB is $149 and 16GB is $169

Video/camera on nano:

•H.264 VGA video, 640 by 480 pixels, up to 30 frames per second with AAC audio

•15 real-time special effects: Sepia, Black and White, X-Ray, Film Grain, Thermal, Security Cam, Cyborg, Bulge, Kaleido, Motion Blur, Mirror, Light Tunnel, Dent, Stretch, and Twirl

New iPod Shuffles:  Its $59 for 2GB, $79 for 4GB and $99 for a special 4GB (stainless steel) version and comes in New colors, five colors, silver, pink, green, blue and "stainless steel"

iPhone OS 3.1 is released today: New Genius technology automatically makes plalylists from songs in your library that go great together, applies to apps too (app reccomendations).   Obviously there is more stuff that was not announced here

iTunes 9 was announced: Genius Mixes (using iMixes to teach the Genius feature), improved syncing options:genre, artist options, albums, faces/photos, events, arrange your iPhone apps in iTunes, iTunes LP which bundles loads of exclusive Artist content with album purchases (lyrics, liner knows, videos, and more)


I must say I don’t see a bright future for any other competitor. I just don’t see the market need for a “portable HD” device.

More details: http://bit.ly/31F7D

What is a Browser?

The Google Chrome team did some market research to find out how many people really knew what a Web Browser was? and it turned out that less than 8% of the people who were interviewed knew exactly what a browser was...Thank God atleast few people knew what IE is :). Most of the people say that browser is nothing but Google or rather browser is what you use to search things.It's amazing that a browser was around for as long as the internet was there, and it's much talked about outside but most of the people can't decipher the difference between a web browser, search engine and exactly what the internet is... Simply Unreal :)

So do you know the difference between a web browser and a search engine? If not find out soon and hope you will not be in an embarrassed situation like this.

A nice booklet about Google Chrome Browser.Click here

YSR Saga : Shame on Andhra Politics

Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy, AP chief minister has been killed in a chopper crash along with four others, and What's following after that with this media Jingoism is a shame on Andhra Politics. In this incident YSR, the principal secretary, the chief security officer and the two pilots died. I do feel sorry for the two pilots who lost their lives in this incident. I express my heart felt condolences and pray god to give the friends and family of the deceased, enough courage and strength to bear this unfortunate incident. Dr.YSR, no doubt he is a great leader, who has lot of mass following, I have seen people who treat him as a god, and I know some families who was benefited by his schemes.

My Orthodox upbringing suggest me that we should pay tributes to the dead, but I can't take it any more. The media has made him as hero more than necessary. I am not sure if he deserve such respect or did he  do so much for the poor, But If he is not then media is certainly passing wrong message. Now the media also claims that more than 200 people across Andhra Pradesh have died of shock or committed suicide after they heard the news of YSR death. The figure is too much eleavated and the reality is, it is not even to close to those figures. Every one knows that, most of these media channels are backed by the politicians who belong to the same party. What's even more appalling, as I hear now, Y.S. Jagan 37, has emerged as the front runner to succeed his father YSR as the AP chief minister. Now many YSR followers are spreading the news saying that “When Indira Gandhi expired Rajiv Gandhi was made the prime minister. Why not Jagan be made chief minister now?” The decision also has a backing of some hundred plus MLA's. There is lot of politics added to this, the ministry formed by Dr. YSR will be invalid after his death, and if Y.S.Jagan is elected as CM, he is most likely to keep the same ministers. Many MLA's met Union Minister for law and in-charge of party affairs in the state M. Veerappa Moily and submitted a memorandum to make him the chief minister. Senior leaders like Rosaiah and others are even dancing to the tunes of the other MLA's. Some party workers sitting outside Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters in the city, is now saying that they would not accept anybody other than YSR’s son to head the state government.

Y.S.Jagan a first time MP from Kadapa Lok Sabha, is a young politician of shady sort. I have seen him directly challenging Ramaoji Rao and using foul language in the media after his father is reelected as CM in the recent elections. "Chief Minister’s son figures in TDP MLA murder case Tuesday, January 25 2005 16:52 Hrs (IST) – World Time – Hyderabad:" is one such news. The Satyam scam saga has lot to do with YSR, who is the chief minister that time. Most of the benefits of the programs introduced by him went to congress party workers. The funds are misused and state economy is almost at the blink. If they continue to rob it like this we will not be left with any state owned assets to recover. Still media tries to fool everyone..Yesterday I was watching YSR's funeral, before he was buried, Gemini TV started a program why & how Jagan is a great leader.   It was so ridiculously scripted and trying to pass on a message "there is no better leader than jagan in AP".   Earlier people used to do lobbying for a person but now channels are doing lobbying.


The nation should move on from blind hero worshipping. The dirty clan of Indian politicians and their bootlicking nature should come to an end. They need to start getting inspired by real leaders. "Politics is like the weather: everybody discusses it but nobody actually does anything about it", As rightly said, may be I am one among the lost crowd. I really really hope YSR's saga doesn't end like this.

The Kite Runner: A Review

This novel fascinated me. What a powerful story. I didn't think I was going to like this book as much as I did when I read the first few pages. But I am glad I read the whole of it.  I loved the protrayal of the Afghani culture, the relationship between a father and a son, friendship, betrayals, essence of humanity.It gives a deep insight into the recent history of Afghanistan,culture and differing ethnicities living there..It was moving, thought-provoking, and engrossing. It wasn't what I would call "action-packed", but I was overwhelmed with curiosity about the fates of the characters and that's what kept me reading.

The Kite Runner is about a young boy, Amir, growing up in a wealthy part of Kabul, Afghanistan, the only son of a popular and rich entrepenuer, who betrays his best friend and later has a chance to redeem himself. As his father's best friend, Rahim, says, "There's a way to be good again." The rest of the story follows Amir and how at the end of the book he goes back to Afganistan from his home in America to see his father's friend who tells Amir something he should have known his whole life.

Some Interesting quotes in this book..

"For you, a thousand times over."

"Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors."

"When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal a wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing."

"All my life, I'd been around men. That night, I discovered the tenderness of a woman."

My Rating:

The Zahir : A Review

This book starts with a mystery, A woman leaves her husband with no explanation. She leaves no note, no messenger, takes nothing, just seems to disappear. He finds himself in the journey and learns he needs to look for her because he loves her, not because he is obsessed.It really attempts to analyze how we fall in love, as well as how we maintain it. We never realize how we are drifting away from it when we start taking things for granted. We only realize the importance of it when it is over. This book was not of the same quality as Alchemist but still presented some noble and elevated concepts as presented in all of paulo's books. Typical Coelho...lots of really good quotes.

"When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive - I'll find love again."

"That is why it is so important to let certain things go. To release them. To cut loose. People need to understand that no one is playing with marked cards; sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Don't expect recognition for your efforts, don't expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. Complete the circle. Not out of pride, inability, or arrogrance, but simply because whatever it is no longer fits in your life. Close the door, change the record, clean the house, get rid of the dust. Stop being who you were and become who you are." 


My Rating :

Eleven minutes : A Review

This book is a story about Maria, a young girl from brazil who do not settle for being just ordinary country girl. Her jouney begins when one day she went for vacation, and a stranger offered her to working abroad as a dancer. Her life changed on the day she accept the offer. She leaves her country for adventure, possibly to become a model or a famous actress, but ends up becoming a prostitute for a year. She learns a lot about sex and what it actually means. There is a difference between sex for the sake of sex, and doing it with meaning. In this journey she will fall in love with a painter Ralf and the story goes on. Discovering Ralf makes Maria discovering about herself. 

Another thought provoking book from Paulo coehlo..I would say Coehlo kicks some serious ass about and love and sex in this book.. Why is it that we all long for love, yet it is so elusive to so many? Is sex an expression of love or merely a physical act? These are some of the questions that were addressed in this book.

I did find several quotes that I really liked in this book...

"The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.."

"Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.."

"I am not a body with a soul, I'm a soul that has a visible part called the body."

My Rating :

The Alchemist : A Review

I am a big fan of Paulo Coelho's work. I can say that he is my favorite author. I discovered this author when I visited my friend's house on a boring sunday, and since then I must admit that I am love in with his books. I finished this book in two sittings on the way to my hometown. This review has been long due now, almost two months.

The Alchemist is all about following your dream and about taking the risk of following your dreams, which is actually so difficult to do and there are very few people in this world who actually do, I mean risk it all, just to follow your heart and your dream. It was written from the point of view of a traveling shepherd, telling us how he dealt with problems he encountered through his journey. When he had dreams about a hidden treasure, he had to chose between living his normal, plain shepherd life, or to follow his heart and search for a treasure that he wasn't 100% sure that even existed. He decides to leave everything behind sells his flock of sheep and leaves Fatima, the beautiful girl he fell in love with. He was robbed at the beginning of his journey and recuperated by working with a crystal merchant. When he finally reached the pyramids in Egypt, where the treasured was buried, he was robbed again.While he was digging for the treasure he finally realized that the treasure that he traveled so far to find, was hidden in the place he started all along, There are a lot of hidden messages and themes here...one needs to be fully present to fully appreciate what Paulo Coelho is doing.

Some really good quotes in this book..

"when you really want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"

"-What's the world's greatest lie? the boy asked, completely surprised. -It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."

My Rating :