The Lonesome Road

Well, here’s a list (not comprehensive) of some of the books that I have read, and think are a good read. They have been split into genres and then the books have been sorted by author. Please note that there is no real ordering - the order of authors in totally based on my whims

As I said - this is not exhaustive - authors I read like Jeffery Archer, Clive Cussler, E.R.Burroughs, etc as well as my non-fiction reading still have to make an appearance. That will be rectified in part two of this list - whenever I put it up . Try the books - and I hope you like them as much I do.

As an aside - I made this list using HTML - but it did not display properly in blogger. If someone wants the HTML list - drop me a line and I’ll mail it. Then I tried to make it using ordered lists - looked worse. Finally went for the easiest solution - made a table in Word and pasted it in here .

Happy Reading!

Well - at least what passes for winter in this part of India. Not exactly the world record for low temperatures. It’s about 6 degrees C in the morning. Unfortunately, anyone who walks around in the afternoon will tell you it’s the middle of summer. Due to Pune being landlocked, the temperatute variations from morning - afternoon and afternoon - night are quite large. As I said, temperatures early in the day can be around 7 degrees and shoot up to nearly 41 degrees in the afternoon and fall back to 10 degrees in the night. Quite a roller coaster ride.

There’s no real news as such to speak of at present. My life is revolving in the circles of studies and applications. Sort of fun juggling studies with filling forms, writing the sop, resumes and looking around to see if you have all the papers you need to dash off the applications.

Anyway - still have a lot of work left in that direction. Have to make a sysnopsis of my final year seminar, third year mini-project, final year project and finish my resume. Have to include all this in my application package.

The photo gallery has been updated. New photos in Temples , Scapes and Plants .

Enjoy!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic with a lot of people visiting. It’s really hard to get your hands on the computer when there are two computers and six people who want to use them. But, no complaints - it’s been a lot of fun having people over and now that everyone has left, the house feels a little empty.

Been roaming a lot the last few days. My aunt came over in a Scorpio and had made arrangements to have it around while she was here. We all went doing Pune darshan - very comfortably I may add . We went to a temple around 40 kms away - it’s being constructed similar to the Balaji Temple in Tirupathi. While we were standing in line, waiting for darshan, we were told there was a ceremony in progress and it would take half an hour before we could go in. I was standing with my uncle and we got to talking about what Vaishnavism means. My uncle is a scholar in this area and it was an amazing half hour. One of the best things I learnt from the entire conversation is this little thing. We have a saying in Tamil that translates into english as : If you see the dog, there is no stone and if you find the stone, the dog is absent. We always thought that it meant that when you have a problem - the solution is absent and vice versa. My uncle gave me a better explanation. He said it actually meant that when you see a stone statue of God and you see God - it’s not a stone - it is God. But if you look at it and see a beautifully carved statue - there is no God - it’s just stone.

Gmail is giving PoP access. Good fun. So please go ahead and check - as they are doing it in parts.

Anyway, trying my best to write a good SOP. It’s hard - so making efforts. Better get back to it - and my studies.

later all..

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Spirit of Divali, originally uploaded by shadowfall.

We all went out to the Balaji Temple last night. Now when we came back, we could not tell the difference between the area and a battlefield.

According to a Supreme Court order, you are not allowed to burst firecrackers on the road. Secondly, at a distance of 4m from the site, the noise level cannot exceed 125Db. Guess what the people said - Phooey! We came back through firecrackers burst right in the middle of the road, rockets set of next to parked cars, firebombs set off while people were walking past them - in short a battlefield. When we were coming down a lane to our house - right in front of the car was a lit rocket - and a jam as 4 cars were waiting for it to go off before they could move. It’s sad.

To be very honset - to me, the spirit of Divali is best represented by that lamp above. As far as I am concerned - that’s what Divali is. Light and colour.

In other news, 2 new photos in the Gallery (link on the left hand side) and for all my fellow Star Wars fans who want to emulate Luke (Light side) Skywalker or Anakin (Dark side) Skywalker - please follow this link to fulfil your dreams

Later all…

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Fireworks 2, originally uploaded by shadowfall.

Here’s a firecracker I really like. It’s called a zameen chakri (literally, ground wheel). Low pollution , no noise and a lot of fun.

Enjoy!

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Fireworks 1, originally uploaded by shadowfall.

You know, Divali always brings out mixed feelings. I love the family coming together, the sense of happiness and of course - the food.

But Divali also has it’s sad side. It’s supposed to be a festival of light and color. It has degenerated into a festival of noise - high level noise. You have people who wake up at 6 in the morning to light firecrackers which have a decibel rating of 125Db. Not the best thing to be woken up to. These crackers are extremely powerful and can cause harm to the people in the immediate area - but no one seems to bother.

Also, most of these firecrackers are made using child labour. It’s an issue that most people tend to ignore - or worse explain away with twisted logic like - if we don’t buy them those poor children will be out of jobs. I really don’t know what to say to such explanations. This year - despite my protests, we bought a few firecrackers. Almost all of them produce light and negligible amount of sound. Oh yeah - on the boxes - prominently displayed is the legend - Not made using child labour. Yeah right.

One final aspect and I shall end this ranthing. The photo that you see is of an anar - it’s a light fountain for want of a better description. This is the amount of smoke that is released as it starts to light up. This is just one firecracker. Multiply this by the number of people and the number of crackers and you will have an idea of the pollution that is caused.

It’ not that I don’t like this time - it’s fun. Even so - there are some negative aspects that just cannot be ignored.

Later people. Let’s have a colorful (and less noisy) Divali

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Before Picture, originally uploaded by shadowfall.

Nothing much to write as of now. Am a little woozy. Had to get up at 0530 AM. Then have an oil bath. Yuck! It comes once a year and I still hate it.

Anyway, as I was saying yesterday, my mom makes a lot of crunchies for Divali - well, here’s the proof. This is called the Before Picture. The After Picture does not exist - it’s just a whole set of empty vessels.

Just looking forward to eat all this now . new updates on the photos as well - 2 new in Misc and one in Scapes.

That’s all from me for now.

Once again, wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous Divali.

Pune has been having some unseasonal rains. Been pouring pretty heavily these days. And where there is rain - I’m present with my camera for a few nice photos. I’m sorry if the plants that star in these photos seem to be the same - but I really can’t go down in a downpour and take snaps. I take these standing sheltered and dry on my balcony.

Was trying to upload a few photos that I took on to my flickr account. Did manage to upload them - though it gave me a whole range of errors while saving the changes to the names of the photos. Anyway, if you want to see them - there are 3 new additions in the Trees and Plants section and one in the Scapes. Hope you like them.

Use this link to the Gallery.

Later..

Addendum addendum :
As usual - I am slow to the world of RSS feeds. For all those of you who like to torture themselves with my ramblings, here is the link : http://loneroad.blogspot.com/atom.xml .
May the force be with you

Well, it’s been one more set of “those days”. What are those days - oh they are just a set of days where I cannot post. They manage to come around once in a while and like sunspots there are times when their activity is so high that I don’t post for a week or more. But who can argue with cosmic laws. Anyway, I’m back and here what’s been going on.

I gave my GRE and TOEFL on the 2nf and 3rd of this month. GRE score : 1420 (640 verbal + 780 quant). The score is a little odd - usually my score is more in favour of my verbal side. In fat there has been no practise test where I scored less than 750/800. Anyway, not too much of a fuss. It’s not a great score - but it ain’t half bad either (pardon the english ). TOEFL scores will range from 243-300/300 depending on how they rate my essay. Let’s see - 300 seems to be a very possible figure. But to be honest - TOEFL is a very simple exam. Let me ammend that. It’s a simple exam for anyone who has learnt in an english medium school/college. ]

Came back to Pune on the 3rd itself. Had a Computer Networks oral on the 6th. Went of pretty well. We all had the jitters when we heard the examiner was a networking whiz. But the questions he asked were very sensible and heavily application oriented - really made you think. Though the biggest problem with him was that he had a poker face. There was no way of telling whether the answer you gave was satisfactory or not. Anyway, all that is behind me now. I have my first theory paper on the 2nd of December - and I’m aiming for a First Class this semester. So, studies are on in full swing.

Well - should be on in full swing. The thing is that my naniji and 10 (almost 11 - she insists on this distinction) year old cousin are here. Note : Little sisters are not very conducive to study - but then they are a blast to have around. Speaking of blasts - it’s Divali! So a very Happy Divali to all. It’s not been a lot of fun though - cleaning the house and putting up the decorations. And mom insists on making a whole set of savouries for the festival. The problem is she starts making them three days before we can start eating them (why? Oh she makes a lot - for distribution and family consumption - so it takes time). And the sight of them drives everyone nuts. Classic torture - see all you want - but no touching.

More visitors are on the way. My great-grandmother and aunt may be coming tomorrow or the day after - so lots of people home this Divali. Feels great .

Oh - and one last thing - if your computer makes a lot of noise - try vacuuming it, especially around the fans. My computer has gone from industrial belt fan to a honda engine

Diya jalao and have a rocking Divali!