Gyan Of The Day.

We are not the best because we're of a certain ethnicity, but because we can easily cross ethnicities.

Book Alert: The Historian.

Now that we are close to grudgingly accepting a Huntington-ian explanation of world affairs today, our intellectual attention has, of late, turned towards the other side of the civilisational equation: while they persist in clashing with each other in these post-capitalist times, we've been taking quite an innate fascination into how civilisations come about in the first place, and indeed, how they die.

To this end, I was actually hoping I'd pick up a copy of Collapse or Guns, Germs and Steel, or even, Thugs at our local Borders today. Alas, the first one was prohibitively expensive, the second one was out-of-stock, and the third, never stocked at all in the first place. Quite convinced that it would be futile for me to try and remember the name of another history-related book I am interested in, I have had to settle for a rather bulky historo-cultural thriller to munch on.

Two pages down now, and I can't exactly say I've settled for a lesser choice. The only question is do I treat this as fiction, or as self-evident truth? More on this on the other side of the book cover.

Friday Night.

While Metlin has provided us with suggestions of rivetting action from across the world, we offer a glimpse into a much more sedate lifestyle involving Sarkar, whisky, an IKEA nesting ground, a high-pitched discussion on whether English was a Germanic language or not, and some great photography on my friend's mobile.

The takeaways include quality time with an always-interesting crowd, crashing on a friendly couch and a firm belief that, whatever our problems are, they are not related to teen-angst; our Jedi mind control powers are at an amazing state of development.

Will be posting those pictures as soon as my friend emerges from his bubble.

How do you say "Make an offer you can't refuse" in Mumbaiyya Hindi?

That's a tricky one; you don't.

Instead, you offer a haunting background score and some awesome cinematography, and hope the masses will lop up your acknowledgement of a bigger movie classic.

Yup, Sarka[a]r is Ram Gopal Varma's best so far, but still doesn't beat Nayakan (నాయకుడు) as the best Bombay-gangster movie ever; also, I'm still waiting for the day we have good characterisation in pop-Indian cinema.

And oh, casting Kota Srinivasa Rao as a Tamil gangster wasn't an atrocious casting decision, seeing a Kota-isque villain in a Hindi movie being surprisingly fresh, it was an atrocious script-writing decision; as anyone south of Pune will immediately point out, his Hindi accent was Dakhni and Tamil accent was Telugu. You shouldn't be doing this, Ramu, you're a Hyderabadi yourself.

Accidental Wisdom of the Day.

Check-marks are what makes the world tick.

Licensing + Cool Video of the day.

Just defined certain legal terms under which you can read this blog. Scroll down all the way to the bottom to check out the new CC icon thingie.

Also, Bill Gates' most favourite easter egg.

"The Day I Grew Big" and other stories.

Been brewing up some ideas lately on a possible short-story. The working title all along as been Jalpenos in Vindaloo Sauce but now am thinking of changing it to The Day I Grew Big.

Played some tennis for the first time today as a test. I think I like it; could come back for more. May be this downtime management stratergery thing might finally work out.

Hollywood Clicks is a decent concept, but how is it that Netflix charges S$16 (approx. conversion rates) per month, while these guys charge S$35? And why can we have only 30 DVD's in queue, whereas Netflix folks can have 500? Oh, don't bother, I know already: volume.

In any case, here's my viewing list currently: Hidalgo, Hidden Fortress and Scent of a Woman.

Meanwhile, permit me to feel slightly bitter at this time of the day on how some folks get it all so easily, while we flounder in the swamps so much. It, frankly, is just not fair.

On Why I'm not Middle Class - The Prelude.

Emotive post alert on Alam's blog.

Will expand on those ideas and post here in the next few days.

Vimanmek Palace, Bangkok 

అదిగో, అల్లదిగో, శ్రీ హరివాసము.

(There it is, the Lord's Abode.)

Heaven - The Queue Complex. 

The Photo Blogger Cometh. 

A New Day Has Begun. 

Akslish 2: The Pretense of Purpose.

Pretense of Purpose: n. Why we keep going back to work motivated enough to spend ten hours a day, despite dreaming of better challenges.

2005: I felt unnaturally guilty bunking off from work on Friday. Why do you think it happened?

The Aks-lish Series 0: 'Aks'lish

(wherein we narrate how our thoughts could reasonably be considered sub-cultural. )

aks-lish: n
1. A set of linguistic constructs created to expose the limitations of the English language.

2000: A Girl Who Once Had A Pleasing Nature In conversation You don't speak English at times, you speak Aks-lish!

2. What we mutter when we're fumbling for words.

2005:Ummm, no usage as yet.

All Roads Lead to Charminar. 

Grand Palace, Bangkok

The Rapture.

My aura is not usually visible on a camera, but there are times when it is.

Fevered Delirium - A Photo Essay In Many Parts.

It all started when I opened my window to a beautiful monsoon wind blowing over from Indonesia.

I had, by then, fallen in love with watching Singapore light itself up.

Unfortunately, little did I know that it was, in fact, was in a rather dark and brooding mood.

There was only one thing I could do.

I'm still a Public Health risk, but am working on it.

The picture couldn't be clearer. Overdozed on a couple of DVD's I've been meaning to watch in a long time.

Meanwhile, my flatmates make merry.

In the Hot Seat. 

First Anniversary!

... and we're back again after a quick break!