Book: Truth, love and little malice

At times, when I'm left with no work, the question of what to do really troubles me. Now I can realize how powerful Thomas Carlyle's words are:

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom"

OK. So decided to blog something. After a looong thought I decided to blog about the book I'm currently reading. Its Kushwanth Singh's autobiography "Truth, love and little malice".

Going thru his autobiography, one thing strikes my mind. Starting from his childhood days in the pre-partitioned Punjab till date, he has witnessed the events and people who have shaped the nation. Let it be the freedom struggle or the partitioning or the wars or the post-independence progress - he has witnessed them. From Nehru to Menaha Gandhi, from Narashimma Rao to Sonia, he has personally known people. So eventually as I progress thru the book I could see that it was going thru the shaping (or the spoiling?) of the nation. Although his views on many things are biased, like his thoughts on Indira Gandhi & her actions, this book gives a great deal of ideas about the Indian history. Well, its not all about India, it about his personal life too - after all its his autobiography :-) Whether it be the growth and demise of his pet dog or be it his first sexual experience with a prostitute that lasted for less than a minute, he has crafted them in a very neat way. This fellow has gone many places and has served to many of the leading magazines in the country. His experiences with people and places are really good to read, mainly because of the way he has written.

Its surprising to know that he had initially thought that this book might be the last one he'll write. When it was published and was ready to the market, Menaka Gandhi, his good old friend, filed a suit against this book for writing about how she was thrown away by Indira Gandhi after Sanjay's death. Finally our man won the suit and the book got released, but then it was delayed by 6 years! Throwing away his guess that this might be his last book, he has written more books in those 6 years than in any other 6 years of his life!

Altogether this book is a nice read. I enjoyed reading it. Still yet to complete it. I guess mostly I'll be finishing it in a week or two. Next book is already in the queue - its Karunanithi's "Tholkappiyap Poonga". Have already enjoyed the frangrance of few 'malarkal' from the 'poonga'. You can expect another blog about it soon.

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A memorable evening

Today I was left with very little work. So thought of blogging something. Yesterday's blog reminded me of yet an another nice evening that I had. Perhaps this was my only wonderful evening in this kuvampatti. So here it is.

It was a sunday evening. Me and my friend Kicha thought of spending this evening somewhere. So decided to go for a beach, which is virtually uninhabited. Its in the East Coast Road, just after VGP Golden Beach. When we arrived there, there was a slight drizzling. The beach was so clean compared to the other beaches in the city (Marina and Besant Nagar). The climate was cool and the wind was chilling. We walked along the shore. We could find lot of jelly fishes washed away in the shore. They were so transparent as if we were looking at some piece of glasses. We found lot of nice looking shells in the shore. One particular shell was really cute. It was a opened up shell, which looked like a beautifull butterfly. Once we had a handful, we thought of returning back. Turning back, we found that we have walked more than 1 km ! Till that time, we were looking down for shells and walking. When we raised our heads, we saw a rainbow seen above the sea. The sea was fully covered with darkened rain clouds and at a far distance it was raining in the sea. The rainbow was on those clouds and we are standing in the evening sun. The bungalows facing the sea were artistically built. It was a nice experience. On our way back from the beach to the city, we had stopped for a hot cake and a tea. Then after coming to our place, went to Food world for a hot-n-good "podi dosa" and ended up with a glass of Miranda in Pizza Hut.

After that I've gone there twice, first with Jayku and next with a big gang of friends. During both the times, I was enjoying my time. When I was with Jayku we drove Muthukaruppan (my bike) in the beach. (But then I had to spend a long time in cleaning it) When I was with the group, we were playing frisbee in the beach and in the sea.

It has become one of my favourite places in this Kuvampatti.

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My wonderful weekend

First blog looks OK. I think I have to play with the CSS to get a good look and feel.

Last weekend I went to my native place, a small village near Coimbatore. I was surprised to see the reach of urban life style there. I could see more shops with cooled colas; a new medical shop; a brand new bakery in place of the old thatched tea-shop; good roads; and hey milk packets ! I was amused by the fact that Aavin milk packets are sold in my village. Actually, the milk is produced in the farms in the villages, like my native place. The farmers give the milk to co-operative societies. They collect the milk; process it; package it; and then sell it in the towns and cities. Now why should people go for the packaged milk, instead of the fresh milk that they get it from the farmers? Is there really a big market for packaged milks in the villages? I questioned few neighbours about this. To my surprise there was a market for the packed milk. Whenever there is an urgent need for milk like in the case of unexpected visitors - which is a frequent happenings in our place, they can't get till the fresh milk arrives. In tea stalls, they can't predict the actual usage of milk daily. They actual usage varies daily and the pattern can't be easily predicted. In those cases they prefer packed milk instead of the fresh milk. mmmmm mordernization has its own advantages.

Another thing noting worth of, is the Saturday evening. It was the most wonderful evening in my life. I was in the mid of a farm near to my village. The sky was cloudy and the sun was playing hide-n-seek with the clouds. There was a very mild drizzling. Last night's heavy downpour has created a small pit. I was sitting on a small wall and watching some sparrows taking bath in the pit. A squirrel was chasing another one and playing around the trees. I was simply enjoying the scene. Then there was a peacock running behind a fly to catch it for its evening snack. All together, mother nature was showing a wonderful face to me. Apart from all these the most beautiful thing was my friend sitting near me. She was resting on my shoulders and remembering her childhood days. In my daily life at this great kuvampatti city, I could see only concrete jungle and people rushing through them. It was altogether an experience in another extreme for me. As I started, it was THE most wonderful evening in my life.

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First post:

This is my first post. Let me see how it comes out :-)

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