The Gods Themselves
A wonderful book by my most favourite Sci-Fi author, Isaac Asimov. Remeber the law of conservation of energy/momentum/angular momentum? No?! then this is not the book for you. This is a wonderful book but, it's slightly high on science. It's mainly about a freshly invented means of inter universe energy transfer which could potentially play havoc by blowing up the sun and hence, resulting in the destruction of our universe. The first edition of the book was published in 1972, just 3 years after man successfully landed on the moon. Asimov's ingenuity is strikingly visible in the book when he speaks of under ground Lunar colonies and the effects of residing on the moon over generations of human beings. But, somehow it was not as much a page turner as the 'Nightfall' or for that matter, 'Nemesis'. But, this is totally worth reading if you are a hard core Sci-Fi buff, after all, the book's got Asimov a Hugo award.

/PhaKuDi

Apples and Gravity

I reached Gibraltar last Saturday evening after a continous, tiresome and considerably boring flight with no highlights except for the interactive streaming entertainment system called ICE on the Emirates flight from Dubai to London. Watching 'Chicken Little' "interactively" with lazily interspersed nap and booze breaks was great fun. Had problems with Visa stamping which got rectified as soon as a magical HR girl named Stephanie Beckett took them up with the immigration department. Stephanie is engaged to this Irish lad working for another betting company in Gibraltar and is to be betroth to the same lad in November. Their honeymoon is to take place in Phuket, Thailand, post which, they are going to spend couple of them lovey dovey days in Bangkok on their way back to Gibraltar. I know you don't give a rat's ass about all this stuff and normally, I wouldn't have too but, she is a wonderful girl - she speaks very freely and bears a wonderful spirit about her. Okie! Dokie! enuf talk about one English girl. Since I have been here the last time there have been lotsa changes to our office. The good old board room which used to sport a great coffee machine and very sumptuous cookies is all gone. The are signs of expansion all over the place, lots of new faces in the office and even a larger bunch of people over from the Indian office. Most of the people over from India are put up in apartments close to office. Heck, what's 'close' in Gibraltar?! I mean the whole country is hardly the size of 10 city blocks. Anyways, half of us are located in an apartment complex right across the street from office. So there is a lots of company, be it for some collaborative cooking or just a bachelor(&//forced bachelor) hang out.

A meagre breakfast lead to a slightly delayed lunch for which about 6 of us "guys" were assembled. Having subdued our gastronomic urges with a south indian meal of Alu curry, Sambar and rice we adorned the futon with our respective bums of varied sizes for what one can call a fairly "what if?" discussion.

What if Archimedes hadn't taken that bath? What if the apple hadn't hit Newton? What if it were a coconut tree and not an Apple tree?

Best of all, what if the apple/cocunut (you need to be an adult to be able to appreciate the humor and irony in this) had hit Newton in the nuts instead of the head?

I personally think that in the former case (in case of an Apple) he would have still ended up discovering gravity and formulated the laws of gravity but, not before enduring some excruciating pain. Had it been a coconut, the laws of gravity would have remained undiscovered or we would have known an anatomically incomplete Newton today :).

/PhaKuDi

Meeting a Freemason

I paid a little visit to my dentist today and found a card on his desk with an emblem of the Freemason printed on it. The golden masonic square and the bejewelled compass were set as if they were breaking out of dark clouds covering blue skies. I got really curious and asked him if he were a freemason. I got an affirmative. I couldn't hide the excitement in my eyes over meeting the member of a partly (if not predominantly) secretive organization that I have read about only in books. He sensed the excitement in me and asked me how I came to know about the freemason. I told him how and I also added that I've always wanted to be one. He assured me that I could count on him for a referral in to the brotherhood. Our not-so-short meeting ended after few more minutes of general conversation.

Hmm I have no clue how stringent the Indian chapter of Freemasonry is about new additions to their brotherhood but, from what I have gathered so far (about the freemason in general), I am quite sure my dentist is a perfect candidate to get induced into the brotherhood. He does believe in the supreme being, he is inclined towards a good amount of charity if not oodles of social service. But, more importantly he is true to the masonic spirit of bettering one's knowledge. Apart from updating himself with the latest in his field of study, he also keeps himself abreast with all round developments in the medical field. You should have heard him describe a single trauma ward cubicle setup which is capable of an X-ray powerful enough to locate a glass splinter as small as 150 microns in length stuck in the plethora of nerves among the lungs and blowing it up on to a 8ft x 4ft screen without having to get the patient off the bed. He was also kind enough to actually explain me the difference between an emergency ward and a trauma ward. One short informal meeting with the man and one will understand his thirst for knowledge. I have thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with him, especially about cars. He subscribes to 4 different auto magazines and is a major buff of the Indian automobile industry. In all, a very delightful fellow to meet if you have the time and enthsiasm to speak about anything ranging from neonatology to nano technology. I am hounoured to have met him and known him at more sociable terms rather than just as my dentist and the fact that he is a freemason adds to my admiration for him.

/PhaKuDi

Silver Jubilee (a.k.a. One Red Undie :) )

By far the best birthday I ever had!! Usually I don't cut a cake for my birthday but, I cut 4 yesterday. 4 wonderful flavors of cold cakes made me feel loved :D. "Happy Birthday!" calls from friends, relatives and colleagues kept coming in till the afternoon. Normally I should have gotten at least 5-6 international calls but, I guess people have their own lives to live. Thanks to Ravi and Vasavi for calling from London, I at least have one "ISD wish" to boast about :) I went out to lunch with my family and now my mom is added to the fan list of Ming's Court's Bamboo Rice. :) The evening was very delightful too.

Me and my close friends whom I hang out with most of the time, Sachin, Aruna, Rajiv and Sarita (unlike me, not Gults, though Rajiv understands and speaks Telugu very well) were once in the middle of a game of Uno and I happened to blurt out something in Telugu which they understood as a "cute"ification in English and we ended up having a good laugh over it. I said, "One red andi" (Ek red card hai ji) and everyone almost instantly set out to think why the heck I was talking about Undies (Underwear) and that too red ones in specific. And guess what!? As a symbol of the good times we had, Sachin and Aruna presented me with a Red Underwear :). I intend to frame it and set it up on a wall in my room. :) Sahi gift tha! We ended up laughing for a good half hour over the gift.

Once we reached our party destination, Ten Downing Street (TDS) I left the Red Underwear safely in the car lest I should wear it and burn up the ramps in TDS after getting drunk. :D The recent Bar Tending workshop I attened inspired me to order a warmup round of Cosmopolitans for everyone but, we (Me, Sarita and Aruna) honestly thought what we had made as amateur Bar tenders in the work shop was a class apart from the sad looking over dose of Cran Berry juice with Ice floating in it. I showed off some of the mixology funds I managed to grasp during the workshop to Sachin and Rajiv and they teamed up to get back at me :).

It was just 11.45 by the time the bar at TDS closed and the night was still young so we decided on assembling back at Sachin's place to open up the Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottles which me and Sachin received as compliments to a professional favor we did for an acquaintance from Pramati. After opening the Blue Label the only thing I remember is waking up in Sachin and Aruna's bed beside the AC while the Miya-Biwi themselves had to sacrifice and sleep in the other room. I have experienced quite a few temporary time and memory losses like this because of whisky and the Shivanes (Rajiv and Sarita Shivane) have also been very helpful and supportive witnesses to some of them :D although, the worst of them was handled by Ravi :). I feel really thankful for wonderful friends like these. :)

Having gained my senses and washed my face, I bid the couple adieu and reached home to find my dad in the doorway. I remembered that I didn't call him to inform that I wouldn't be coming home for the night. I knew I had to face the music for this irresponsible act of mine :D and as I was preparing myself for an impending lecture, he brought up a broad, teasing and "since it was your birthday I'll spare you the lecture" smile and said "Washup, have some milk and sleep you must be 'really tired' ". :)

Needless to say it was a wonderful 25th birthday. At the onset of the day I experienced what seemed like tremors of a mid life crisis but, by the end of the day I knew that "life" was just starting for me :).

And oh! I almost forgot, I got some fundooooooooo presents as well. "The Golden Gate" to kick start my Vikram Seth collection. I've always wanted to read Vikram Seth and Ashok K. Banker. Thank you Sarita and Jeev! now that I have this book, I'll buy myself "The Prince of Ayodhya". Another fundoo gift was from Sachin and Aruna - The complete collection of Calvin and Hobbes with exclusive illustrations by Bill Watterson. Unless Bill Watterson decides to come out of his break and authors some more of them marvelous strips, I have everything till now. Thank you beautiful people for all the presents. :)

/PhaKuDi

Rang De Basanti

A very well made movie. The story line is nothing new or novel but, the narrative is awesome. The brilliant music lent by the magical composer Rahman is definitely an added jewel to the movie. I didn't realize this when I first saw the movie but, it involves almost no choreography. Who needs flashy choreography in a social awareness message ridden movie anyways? The background scores are wonderfully sonorous. I especially liked "khoon chalaa khoon chalaa ...". The 'almost' black & white scenes interspersed through out the movie cast a great mood. Sending out an intense message based on a light hearted set of characters like DJ (Aamir Khan) and Sukhi (Dunno who but, very cute) is a risky thing to do but, the film carries it off very well. Siddharth fits well in the tortured role. In... err... Soha Ali Khan is a complete lookalike of a colleague of mine called Indira. Aamir Khan is undeniably a brilliant actor. The scene where he starts crying on his girlfriend's shoulder recollecting the mishaps of the recent past is an epitome of his acting capabilities and it couldn't have been better. It's a very youthful and energetic film and I am sure hence, a big hit.

Above all I loved the spontaneity of the dialogue "Haan! hum ek pair past mein aur ek pair future mein rakhte hain isi liye toh aaj mein moot te hain." :)

/PhaKuDi

The Dream Kiss

Seated on an executive chair I was working on my laptop with my legs stretched out on top of the huge desk in front of me. She came in to the room holding a female child in her hands. She walked purposefully to me and placed the baby on the desk. She gave me a wonderful smile and left the room leaving the baby with me. I stopped fiddling with my laptop and kept it aside on the desk. The baby had an angelic smile on her. The baby had a bunch of key shaped teethers in her hand and was pretty involved in playing with them. I picked the baby up on to my lap and started playing with her. I tickled her little feet and her little tummy and she gave me the pristine laughter while holding on to her plaything tightly. For a moment I wished I could be her. Meanwhile, "She" entered the room again and slowly bee lined her way to the back of my chair. She pushed the back of my chair till it was reclining at an angle. Then she bent over me and gazed into my eyes for a minute. I could get lost in those deep dark eyes. Then she ever so lightly kissed me on my lips. Her lower lip met mine and they remained locked for a second or two. The touch of her tender lips on mine stirred a lot of emotions in me. She pulled back and hugged me from behind the chair with her cheek touching mine. We stayed that way for a while with the baby still playing on my lap. She then collected the baby and in doing so came eye-to-eye with me and both of us knew instantly that our eyes were wet. A tear rolled over her cheek as she lifted the baby to her shoulder and a tear rolled down mine as she left the room without looking back. I felt something vibrating near my feet and picked it up to find that it was a call from the office. I don’t remember what I spoke over the phone when I took the call but, it took me at least 5 whole minutes to gain consciousness. The baby playing on my lap, soft touch of the lips, the feeling of my heart being ripped out as she left with the baby, everything was so vivid that it took me quite some time to convince myself that it was a dream. I got out of bed with a stirred feeling and a pair of wet eyes.

/PhaKuDi