So life goes on eating,sleeping,puking and once in a while working.

Besides the EBook reader which I bought last year, successfully stopped me from buying any books outside. That almost shattered my dream of owning a small library sometime soon. Though Ebook readers are good to hunt and read rare books, it has become a nuisance in its own way. Each time when I stumble across a book, I will say to myself that I will read the ebook first before I invest on hard copy. Most apparently it never happened.

Also, I stopped visiting library and the Moore market (near central railway station). A year back, these two spots were shrine for me. Now it became history.

Desperate to get back my reading back, I have been forcing myself to read books in spite of me yawning for every 5 minutes. To my surprise I completed 3 books in past three weeks. One of which is “The Calcutta Chromosome” by Amitav Ghosh. This is a sort of book that you read on for hours only to find yourself in utter chaos. The story was more confusing than the movie ‘Inception’ I watched last year. If someone had read this book, kindly explain me the story please …. Nevertheless I would say I enjoyed the book. Mr.Ghosh has superior talent in writing. It is just that I am too average to read his books!

One fine day on mid-2009, I made up my mind that I have no intention to get married to some unknown face from Matrimony sites (it still gives me nightmares to think about them). I woke up my mother at midnight and told her who I wanted to marry and made her sit up straight. Though she was happy that at least she could finally get me married, there were some hitches that had be tackled. The companion whom I wanted to marry is my relation and closely blended with our family. So lots of approvals had to be yearned out which was not easy. But things took shape. Both our families consulted and finally groom was asked for his opinion. Poor him. He was peacefully enjoying his bachelor days and suddenly found himself nodding his head briskly for our marriage. I don’t think he was given a choice. He was shown only one finger and he had to choose it. In a month I was engaged but not officially.

Even then my marriage didn’t happen. There comes a twist. My husband’s elder brother had to get married before our marriage. It was kind of weird. I not only gave my husband a choice but also tortured my brother-in-law to get married soon. Any way it look little long for him to get married. Immediately in another few days our much waited marriage ended and became history.

The best thing about marriage is you will get lot of limelight. Before one say, ‘Oh I am shy of all these attention’, there will come loads of responsibilities and other unknown task that will make one forget everything they had enjoyed before marriage. I think it will take a year to sort things out. Anyway I feel that I have gone too much deep into the family and lost all connection of outside world. That’s the main reason why I dusted out the blog.

To my surprise I got the copy of “The leopard” on the next day. Thanks to the Internet!!! Right away I dropped the other novel I was reading and plunged in to this new book.

Summary from the book cover:

Two young women are found dead, both drowned in their own blood. Then a female politician is found brutally murdered in a city park. The crime scenes offer no clues, the media is reaching fever pitch, and the police are running out of options. There is only one man who can help them solve the case, but Inspector Harry Hole doesn’t want to be found…

What I liked most about this novel is the way the suspense has been carried through out the end. Nesbo has superior talent in crafting a gut wrenching thriller. There were many moments in the story that took me by surprise. The story makes the reader keep guessing the murderer, and later only to realize that all that were suspected is utterly wrong. Nesbo’s writing and Don Barlett’s translation was simple and pristine. I don’t have to concentrate hard on the sentences and phrases. The word flew before my eyes just like the story. Surely, ‘The Leopard’ would be the best thriller I have read recently. And of course, ‘Harry Hole’ is an interesting – though not superhuman- character to watch out.

Having said all these, the book had its pitfalls too. Foremost being that, the overall length of the novel, which I found to be the biggest setback for the book. Especially even after realizing who the murderer was, the story drags on to another hundreds of pages which was really a killer. If the ending of the story had been edited, the novel would have been much crispier and gripping. Secondly the book mentions many times about ‘Snowman’. That was Nesbo’s earlier novel. Though it didn’t affect the flow, it left me intrigued sometimes.

I became a fan of Nesbo’s writing. I heard his earlier novels are far more interesting compared to this. I am going to read every one of them!

Rating: 4.5/5

For the past six months, I have been toying the idea to buy an e-book reader. Mainly because…

• In order to borrow a book from the local library, I must travel for 3 – 4 hours (to and fro) from my home. Being a book freak, this literally vanished my weekends. I regretted for not having a good library nearby.

• Sometimes it is impossible to find some best books, in the libraries and even in the book shops, that I wish to read. However, internet is a treasure. The problem is reading e-books is “LCD screen”. It is a sheer torture for eyes. It was those eBooks which blinded me.

At last to drench the reading thirst, I started to look for e-book readers. The obvious choice were “Amazon Kindle” or “Sony e-book reader”. I didn’t choose kindle mainly because it lacked some of the features that I was looking. I didn’t want to operate keys in the reader as I felt it would be a pain. Besides, the wireless access feature of Amazon has no use in India. So I didn’t want to pay for something from which I have no gain. That’s when my eyes went for Sony PRS 600 touch screen edition. Instead of wireless access, Sony offered some cool features like highlighting, notes..etc. The dictionary in Sony is so easily accessible. All you have to do is tap the word twice and there the meaning will pop out. The only negative comment that I found about Sony was glare . It is because of the touch screen. But, I hoped it wont be that bad.

Then came the big question. How to buy it ?

Both the products are not available in India. It is sad that Sony or Amazon don’t find market here. I have to go for international shipping which increased the cost considerably. In addition to that, I was not willing to rely on international shopping. I have my cousin at London, but the cost of the product is too much in sterling. Hence I preferred to buy in dollars. Unfortunately I was not able to reach anyone who could buy me this precious from US.

After a point, I was so disappointed that I started to look if any ebook reader available in India. I came across Infibeam’s PI. But it lacked many features that Sony offered. Moreover, the cost is almost equal. Then I dropped this idea.

Last month, one of my friend helped me to get Sony reader from US. It cost me around 12,000/- rupees. I got the device on last Monday. I was happy.

The reader is nice. I have uploaded few books and read couple of them. The E-ink technology didn’t hurt the eyes. The zooming option is wonderful . As expected, the inbuilt dictionary and touch screen features are awesome. There are wide chances for me to improve my meager vocabulary. I didn’t find any problem with glare either. If there is any fault in Sony, I haven’t witnessed it yet.

Having said all these, like every book lover, I too miss the smell of the books.

PS – I lost my camera, so couldn’t post any snaps. My mobile camera is so poor and a picture from it would convince you not to buy anything like this.

At last.

In the end.

Finally.

The eternal waiting ended.

The longing pain ceased.

Dream once again fulfilled.

Oh! Surya!

When blogadda wanted to blog about the very first of this sensation, I asked myself …eh? For I wanted to make sure is this what they really want to know about their bloggers. When ears are eager to hear, pleasures can’t be denied. And subsequently I decided there is no harm in revealing him. This is he. I first eyed him in a song where he was running behind a heroine. My heart skipped a beat, legs refused to stand, toes attempted circles and other indications promptly gripped me. I saw him jogging behind the heroine for the whole song with no intention of giving up. It made me sat and continued to watch the movie with reverent eyes that refused to blink.

I went to school restlessly after that weekend with the pierced heart and the eyes that still shone with strange light. When I was about to break this heart mashing matter, it came quite a shock to me, that all my friends who had watched the same movie over the weekend, confessed that they also feel the same way about this new South Indian cine star. I was rather shaken. So were my friends. Nature tends to shake one, if his/her object of love is shared by others.

Though initially shattered, our young spirits took the matter pretty sportive later, and began to hail this charming chap by whom we were all magically trapped. In the place of William Wordsworth poems, we memorized our young hero’s movie songs, in spite of earning evil looks from the English teacher. Eight girls we were and all wanted to show the affection we held for him. I dedicated a 192 page A4 size notebook to have all his pictures. Every week as the Tamil magazines hit our door; I would search for his picture tenderly and tear them for my dear collections. The deep holes that I left in those books  pained my father. I would stare at my collections daily and keep them safe under the pillow.Once I was so glued to his thought that I mistook brown cough syrup for blue ink and filled it in my hero pen. Glorious days!

One fine day, I took my collections to school to show the depth of adoration. So were all my friends. After discussing with a critic’s eye, why our star had been running on that whole song and why he was denied a dance, we shared our albums for each other’s view. That’s when my friend produced a white paper all of a sudden for our sight. It had one name written in caps – “SURYA”. Something smelled bad. We all looked at her doubtfully. She nodded and said, “Yes it is my blood” and showed her forefinger tip that was punched by safety-pin. Shattered by this soul-stirring sacrifice, we – including me – all gave up that great man for the heart which deserved that. “He is for you”, we said unanimously.That was a historic moment happened many years ago.

Four days back, I read news about this hero being blessed with second baby. I smiled. Then wondered what my friend is doing now.

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Even though, now trains are not my regular mode of transport, once it was. I used to travel endlessly to reach other end of city those days. With not many tools – like a mobile or mp3 player or an ipod – to entertain me, I longed for something to vanquish all the lonely hours before I am starved out of boredom.

It was only in those long train journeys, I met a bunch of girls who were so fascinated by Shidney Sheldon, Dan brown and other authors whose books in general will have a tag line “ From #1 New york times best selling author” . I used to see them discussing and exchanging the books they read. I had often noticed a gleam of most peculiar nature emerge on their face, whenever they discuss books . I was puzzled – or rather troubled- by greed for not having something and someone to debate like this.

One day a thought hit me like a bullet and the same evening I was in the second hand book shop near Moore market purchasing a battered copy of a novel “The Salamander” by Morris west for 20rs/-. My first novel ever! I have still have that book with me.

Gradually books gripped me. I became one of those characters in this post.

Now coming to Chennai local train readers, I am disappointed. I am referring same trains which once had me interested on books. I often travel in ladies compartment and from what I see, the passion for reading has been deeply dipped ever since everyone is occupied with that little monster “Mobile”. People prefer to utilize their train journeys on managing family problems via cell phones. If they lack in family problems, they get happy and hear songs in FM that is played amidst scores of ads.

The last time I saw someone reading a book in train was months back. He read “One night at the call center” by Chetan Bhagat.

Recently, in my office food court, I saw an elderly American lady reading in Amazon Kindle. Amazed by it, I was tempted to grab, to have a good look at the device and the book she was reading. But then, my friend soothed and reminded me that grabbing others reading device may not be a moral thing to do. Hence I suppressed the urge.

Having vented out all these, I want to end the post with the books I am reading now. One is “Education of a wandering man” by Louis L’amour. I came to know about this book here. Next is “Wodehouse on Wodehouse” by PG Wodehouse. Both are sort of auto biography. I am having a great time reading them

A silence fell over the room following this demanding question.

It startled him . Straight forward questions always have this effect upon him. Being a “Managing head”, he always loath such questions. It prevent him from giving detail account on what he think of the subject. Without explaining in detail, he cannot confuse people. Without confusing, he cannot conclude. His management strategy is subjected to strong test now, he thought.

He further reflected. Had he been less cruel in his last answer to this young lady, he might have been spared from this sharp question. He had definitely stepped outside the boundary breaking all the unseen limits of patience. The determination that danced on that female face is proof for it.

He recollected the previous question. “Will it be possible for you to do ?” , asked this lady politely an hour ago. It was a question he had been expecting all day. It gave him the liberty to put forth all his views. In the course of this action, he became too verbose. He cannot blame himself. Because, he had been trained so. He was so deeply immersed in the conversation, that he bothered not to check neither the clock nor the woman’s face. That’s how the past one hour went. This somehow seemed to have disturbed this female disposition which stares at him now with her piercing eyes. This troubled him.

He had a doubt. How on earth, he, the manager, can elucidate his listener, with out a proper 60 minutes clarification, that even in the next infinite years it is impossible to deliver the wish that had been directed at him. He was about to break the spell of silence with this knowledge, but then a gesture that surfaced from a bangled hand stopped him.

“Can that be done or not ?” , I repeated the question injecting enormous force now. Sensing the sudden animation in this man’s face, I was afraid of another 1 hour conversation.

He gave another try with his eloquence.

I stopped again, dragging him from stepping out the boundary line again.

I said, “Well, your opinions might have gripped me, had we been discussing this in a merry mood. However, now, the timings constraints prevents me from lending eager ears to your elongated explanations. I would be grateful, if you can answer my question in one word. Tough, of course. But, you have to try. Here for your convenience I am repeating ‘Can that be done or not ?’”

“NO !”, He gushed.

“Thanks, That’s what I wanted.”, I said and vacated the place.