Creativity and books

“The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources” . I have heard of this one before, still makes me smile every time I hear it. And with the power of Google at one’s disposal, I tend to agree with the above statement.

Finished reading a few books which have sort of disappointed me. The best of the lot was undoubtedly “Immortals of Meluha” by Amish. Based on Hindu mythology and a premise that what if the Gods were ordinary human beings like you or me who got elevated to a cult like status by means of their deeds. Shiva is the central  character of the novel and it is quite decently written. I did not find it moving fast enough for my liking though. And it is the first part of trilogy. As a rule, I hate trilogies, don’t think I have ever found the patience to even attempt completing one.

Also managed to plough my way through the massive autobiography of Steve Waugh : Out of my comfort zone . Well over 750 pages. Boring and irritating for most of the time and an incredible pain to hold in your hand and read ( nearly sprained my wrists just holding the book! ). Unkind readers may suggest that the book is not unlike Steve Waugh himself. A much better review can be found at the following location : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/234157.html

Currently thrashing my way through In the Line of fire by Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf is genuinely un-aware of world history or is a blatant liar. His portrayal of India is as the rogue state and Pakistan is the friendly neighbor who is minding its own business. I doubt if he believes in this himself !! More controversies regarding the book can be read from the Wikipedia entry above. Overall he comes across as a pompous man who is desperate to prove to the reader that he was a great man. However the end effect is quite to the contrary. 

Must try and find better books. The growing collection of books in my home is again forcing me to look at e-book readers. In the next year, I hope the companies can sort out the pricing of the readers as well the e-books themselves.

Jose again …

Jose Mourinho is back after his Inter Milan won 3-1 against Barcelona in the first leg of their champions league semi-final. When asked by a journalist about some petty complaints that Barcelona had about the loss, he answered

“The way they are, tomorrow we will probably read I am to blame for the volcano. Maybe it is true. Maybe I have a friend in the volcano and I am responsible for that."

Barcelona , of course had to take a long bus journey to Inter to play their match because all flights were canceled due to volcanic ash

I like this guy !!

Water under the bridge

There are a lot of things that I prefer not to write about, just treating those as more water under the bridge. I have to do so , if I hope to retain my sanity. Times of extreme trial, when your faith and belief gets questioned severely.

I shall survive again, no doubt :-)

Not a good time to be hitting me with motivational quotes, I can tell you that much !! I get brutally violent these days when I see quotes like “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. Ain’t no such thing in life

I have started becoming more active on Facebook and Twitter these days as compared to Orkut. Twitter, mainly because I can read the updates from folks like Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Ruebens Barrichello etc by just signing up as their follower !! I like the simple no-nonsense interface too, reminds you so much of Google.

Somehow, I have been signed up for a flower show competition being held in office tomorrow by Chatter Box. Senior being one of the other helpless team members. Two key learnings so far

• Flower show does not mean wearing a hibiscus over your ear and standing at the display. Somehow that sounded a lot more fun ….
• Cauli-flower does not count as a flower. This is an outrage, I must say !! Why not ?? It looks like a flower, at least

It would be evident to the casual observer that I am clue-less about the concept. Let us see how it goes tomorrow :-)

Quotes , quips, dialogues

You know, some quotes that you read, dialogues that you hear, tend to stay with you for a while. Here are some that randomly come to my mind

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist" - Verbal Kint ( Kevin Spacey)  from the movie The Usual Suspects

"Birdy Edwards is here. I am Birdy Edwards!" from the book The valley of fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. ( I must have read this while I was in 10th, it was so thrilling !! )

"Anger is what gets us into trouble, pride is what keeps us there" - Source unknown ( Might have mentioned this earlier sometime on my blog, one of my favorites )

"Beedi undo sakhave oru theepetti edukkan ?" from the Malayalam movie Lal Salaam.( Dialogue has no specific meaning, just one of those you can never seem to forget !! )

"I am going to make him an offer he cannot refuse" from the book, The Godfather by Mario Puzo ( One of my favorite books, sadly whoever I have loaned this book to has never liked it :( . For the record, I have not seen the movie )

"You don't need a patch on your arm to have honor"  - Kaffee ( Tom Cruise ) in the movie A few good men

"Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?" - from the movie Reservoir Dogs

"I'll be back" - Don't think you need a source on that one !! :-)

I would like to add Stand by me by Ben. E. King to the earlier list of songs. Lyrics are decent and a soulful rendering.

Off to my cooking lab now . Let us see if something edible comes out today !

Road racing , an interesting quote

I had expressed my new found fascination for the sport of cycling in couple of earlier blogs. I was re-reading a book when I came across this quote.

"Road racing imitates life, the way it would be without the corruptive influence of civilization. When you see an enemy lying on the ground, what's your first reaction ? To help him to his feet ?

In road racing, you kick him to death."

Powerful for the sheer brutality of the quote. Tells you all you need to know about the sport of professional road racing /cycling.

I am limping back to normal after a poor weekend. Again had to come back early from office today as I just could not focus on work. Return to normalcy is taking a lot longer this time :-((

Orkut has again thrown a feel good fortune statement at me : "You have a friendly heart and are well admired". I am sure I have a friendly heart. I think the well admired part would be highly debatable.

Nice one

I was browsing through the orkut profiles of some of my friends, came across this superb quote

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass,It's about learning to dance in the rain"

One quote that describes you ?

What would be the one quote that describes me ?

"Anger is what gets me into trouble, pride is what keeps me there" would come close, I guess.

There is another quote which I wish I could live up to : "Dream as if you will live forever, live as if you will die today"