Deep Impact

Writing about the best books of all time, I want to mention something first here. Just recently dropped in at Crossword Book Store in Pune and was astounded and happy to find a whole range of new authors which included Indian ones too in a fair number.  I refrain myself a lot of times from stepping into a bookshop as I have this overpowering urge of buying the whole bookshop! All the same just going through these books I came across ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ (which I grabbed pronto!), which is considered to be a classic and one of the all time popular books. Unfortunately, there are so many books which are worth a read, it is intimidating! I mean every time someone asks have you read this book? It is a classic! And there I go. Another dent to my reading career! But here with this blog atleast I now know what am I missing out on, to some extent! Here is the list! ·          To Kill a Mocking Bird – Harper Lee ·          Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  ·         

Was just wondering how it would be if I want to buy a house in India. I have no clue what goes into the whole process of signing a house agreement. So I thought I would dig some info. Buying a house is definitely not a cake walk. What with a zillion documents to sign (and an equal number required for the purchase), formalities to be done and basically running from pillar to post, any home buyer would tell you that it surely gets to your nerves. But hey, where is there ever any gain without pain? So for those looking for their heavenly abode, going through these scary motions of getting affidavits, loan approvals, registration etc is inevitable. The only good news is that if you know what all to take care of before signing house contract, then the whole process will be a tad easier. So what all should a first time home buyer be looking at prior to signing on the dotted line? Here are a few basics. The Good ‘Deed’ Checking the title deed of the property is of utmost importanc

Well, guys it is time to gear up for a nice ride! No actually, you don’t need to, especially if you are looking at driving a car. The reason? Ladies and gentlemen please brace yourselves to welcome Google’s driverless car! But maybe, few years from now! Google, tussi great ho! I don’t know how many of you have read about this driverless car, so I just thought I will share a thing or two about this amazing new development I read about on the Forbes Magazine portal. To begin with, hold your breath, as this car has potential worth trillions. While on the one hand this monumental development has in store business opportunities which can overshadow the current search engine leader, at the same time it will have serious repercussions on auto related businesses. On the brighter side there are claims that such a wonder car can –    D ecrease the number of traffic accidents    T ime and energy wasted on commuting from one place to other and    R eduction in the number of cars

The morning dawned with splashing of news of former Haryana CM Prakash Chautala and his son’s arrest all over the news channels, online news portals and any other news medium one could think of. It was just interesting to notice the irony in our political scenario. While a certain party supremo is let off and has regained his position, the other is now going to have face imprisonment. The judgement was passed amid a lot of violence outside Rohini Delhi Court complex. Teachers' recruitment scam landed the 78 year old politician in trouble along with his son. Well, der aaye , but is it durust aaye ? No doubt this is a welcome decision as far as curbing corruption goes.  But what about the other politician whose corrupt practices were blatantly proved? He was let off and he is slated to be reinstated to his previous position. It is such an irony really. And to add to it, there was this breach of ceasefire agreement between us and Pakistan. And suddenly as one my favouritest (I know

Yes, finally, a well deserved victory for the Men in Blue yesterday on 15 January. Perhaps the fact that I was completely indifferent about it helped! :P  I have been told that whenever I am not interested and not watching India match, we win! So much for superstition! On a serious note, the spark which was not seen in our players for quite some time, (inspite of being there) shone well on a reasonably pleasant afternoon in Kochi.  A poor run of performances was finally given a full stop, for the time being. Even as there were a couple of things to be worried about, India got it right for most part in yesterday’s encounter. It was not at all heartening to see the likes of Gambhir and Rahane failing to click and deny India a good start once again. But propelled by Chandigarh Southpaw Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Raina, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, India put on a formidable score – 285 on the scoreboard. Kudos to them! Dernbach had his last laugh, which was actually very early in the da

RAPE. This is the only thing I am reading about these days. And as if the whole incident was not gut wrenching enough, anyone who thinks he or she is an authority on Bharatiya Sanskruti, is going on a rampage giving advice to the fairer sex. From wearing Burkhas to chanting mantras to migrating to rural areas, everything (only condition is that it has to be outright outrageous) has been suggested to girls to avoid being raped, molested and murdered, with incomprehensible and unimaginable brutality (in a few cases). Candle light vigils, protest marches and other acts of defiance notwithstanding, I really wonder how much will it help. I totally support these acts of solidarity, but will it ever be able to transform the draconian laws and the stereotypical male mindset? In one of the columns in a leading English daily by a luminary on social affairs a couple of days back a very valid point was raised. The column said that unless and until women are looked at as individual entities,

After a rigorous election campaign, which was running almost for a couple years, the US Presidential elections are finally over. President Obama comfortably defeated his Republican counterpart, Mitt Romney. While I was not following the campaign related news zealously, I was definitely glued to the TV on the D-Day and a day prior, when the pre-election stats and predictions were going on in full swing. And there were some stark differences I observed between the American election scenario and the India one. The first thing I noticed prominently was the supporters of both the worthy candidates had American flags. No one was without the American flag and not a single American citizen was seen holding the flag of any political party. This is a huge indicator of the fact that the nation and the feeling of nationalism is far more important than the parochial considerations which come with supporting a single political party. Another remarkable thing I came across was that there was a lot