I can tell you why

People go insane

I can show you how

You could do the same

Shadow of the Sun (Audioslave)

Tears of Gandhari

A rare point of view in an article by Devdutt Pattanaik written in the aftermath of 26/11.

Oh, My God

Oh, My God was one helluva mind bender! It had it's cheesy parts, but loved the way the movie kept changing directions.

Rodney Rogers

Ex-NBA player Rodney Rogers was seriously injured in an accident recently. According to reports he's paralyzed shoulders down. During his playing days, I knew of Rodney Rogers as a very determined and tough player on court. I remember watching him play a key role with the Celtics against the Nets in the fiercely fought Eastern Conference Finals in the 2002 Playoffs. While the Celtics lost that series, later he signed with the New Jersey Nets. I was thrilled when that happened, knowing the kind of player he was and the tough attitude he brought to the team everytime he was on the court.

I hope he shows the same determination and courage now in working his way back to getting healthy again. I wish him and his family all the best in this endeavor.

I'm sorry

So here we are
Little drops of blood, dancing.

Pretty people naked, lighting
candles on a sweltering November night.

Someone out there thinks he must kill
and he succeeded tonight.

A couple who had made plans
to live forever, are no more.

A cop who told his wife
that he'll be home, is no more

No more are that man and woman
who were walking the streets, just because they chose the wrong time and place.

No more is a man who didn't want a candle lit for him
he just wanted to live another day.

He just wanted to speak to someone
he would have asked for a ray of hope, but it did not come.

All I can write is this piece of crap,
while someone out there lost someone they cared for.

I would like to tell someone that all will be well
but i know it won't be so.

They say tomorrow will be a new day
But not for those who died today.

I'm sorry!

Book Review: Himmelfarb by Michael Krüger

I do not consider myself to be an adventurer when it comes to most things including books, music and movies. I depend on and trust the recommendations of others. But then often times I feel like trying out something new - something random. I tell myself that doing this I might discover something really novel. But then I never actually do that. There were plenty of book/music in the "must-read" list (based on the recommendations I'd received) that I never felt motivated to experiment. But a few weeks ago I finally took a step. I was in the public library in town and as an experiment, I walked about the book shelves, closed my eyes and then pointed in a random direction. The book that my finger would be pointing towards would be the book I read next. That book turned out to be Himmelfarb written by Michael Krüger, and translated by Leslie Willson. The synopsis seemed interesting enough - Just around the Second World War, a young German ethnologist named Richard takes a Jewish guide (against the advise of his Nazi advisor) named Leo Himmelfarb to the jungles of South America to study the tribes. But as it turns out Richard finds himself sorely out-of-place there, while Himmelfarb soaks in everything about the place and the culture. Then Himmelfarb gets very sick and thinking he's closer to death dictates a manuscript of their work there to the Richard, who in turn promises to have it published. Richard heads back home (leaving Himmelfarm behind) and promptly publishes the book under his own name and becomes famous as a result. Now on his eightieth birthday, he receives a letter out of the blue from Himmelfarm who survives the sickness after all, and who has seen his own book plagiarised. The book is written as a first person account of Richard's frame of mind upon reading that letter and experiences and flashbacks of his and Himmelfarb's time in the South American forests, interspersed with sketches of Himmelfarb and all of this annotated up by his (Richard's) own opinions and complexes.

The synopsis, and the first half of Himmelfarb - the book - showed promise of creating two interesting characters with two very different backgrounds and great plotline of their interaction. Unfortunately I felt that Michael Krüger doesn't do a great job of developing them well. When I finished the book, thinking about the book I was also disappointed in the way the story was put together. While reading it, I felt the author may tie things up in the end, but that never happened. The book, especially in the second half, often times felt like a television soap opera with new characters being brought in, introduced briskly and then going away - almost like the author had a goal for number of pages/words for the book that he was trying very hard to meet. In addition, flashbacks were brought in when they were least expected - and felt completely out of place at the point in the book where they appear. The way they were handled also gave the impression of being more page fillers than an inspired piece of writing. When I started reading the book I was really interested in the characters of Richard and Leo Himmelfarb - and how their vastly differering backgrounds would affect their views and their behavior, especially when they met. The book does start out well and begins to sketch out the characters, but then as it develops, it doesn't hold up. While a lot can be learnt about Richard's character because he is the narrator, Himmefarb's character comes across as very sketchy. The end result was that I came away disappointed as the book seemed to promise certain things, but it didn't deliver them. I don't elaborate on some of these in order to avoid giving away spoilers.

That said, I'm keen to read Michael Krüger's other works. The back cover of Himmelfarb (ironically) had reviews about one of his other books called The Man in the Tower. Hopefully I'll be able to read this in the not too distant future.

Related: I came across a review of Himmelfarb on NY Times. You may want to read this to get another perspective on the book.