Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

In school, we used to read a lot of interesting short stories about human intention and aspirations. Many of the authors were non english and often the english version of the story was all that I got to know. What I really liked about these stories was the amount of emotional impact they delivered despite the fact that I was reading off a translated version. When I read Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's 'The Drought', it turned out to be a very simple story about life during a drought. It was a dark story about the sacrifices one has to make during times of desperation, and yet, at the end of reading it, it gave me a uplifting feeling when you interpreted the actions of the protagonists and realized that there was a lot of wisdom in their action.

When I began reading The Alchemist, I was expecting something deep and profound, after hearing some good reviews from my friends. Unfortunately this book is shallow. I just didn't get what the author was trying to convey and how one could deem this to be a popular book. The writing style is that of a 10 year old and the story breaks into wild mumbo jumbo about 'Language of the World' and Alchemy, that sadly takes the seriousness out of the book.

I tried quite hard to figure out the metaphorical meaning to some of the situations (eg. turning into the wind) but was at a continual loss to understand if there was some glorious meaning in the backdrop of the story. I don't think there was a moment while reading the book, which made me stop and contemplate about aspirations and dream. The story lacked personality and impact.

Unfortunately, I would conclude saying that it is not as good as the hype says it is. Perhaps, it is just a personal feeling, but I would rather prefer to read something more contemplative and literary, if I want to read something that is preachy.

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

I noticed this book at the local bookstore a few days back and I read through the first two chapters. It was definitely interesting and the whole premise of God calling up a call center sounded like a good setting for a very funny novel. The humor is very tongue in cheek college flavored sarcasm, which I don't have anything against.

When I finished reading the book, I was completely disappointed, a hundred times amplified by the very last page of the story. Even the humor was getting tiring half way through the book. So where did it all go wrong? Firstly, I could sense the author had started off with a list of personalities that he wanted to 'fit' into this story. Let me just say that all the personalities are extremely flat with predictable flaws. The plot moves without any twists as the author reveals the lives of the characters through conversations and flash backs. Finally, when you expect something witty to happen when 'God' turns up at the very end of the book, the book fizzles and employs some corny techniques to impart some 'moral preaching'. The conclusion is a typical Hindi masala film style ending.

The biggest problem with the book is that it doesn't try to be original or get the reader to feel for the characters. Maybe it is because of the short length of the book or the rather informal style of writing, I don't know. The author could have avoided using many of the cliches of middle class youth segment problems and tried to be inventive. The book tried extremely hard to 'teach' you a good moral lesson, but it sounded more like the hollow speeches that a contestant at a beauty paegent comes up with.

What really disgusted me was the final page of the book which ensured that I was going to put this book in the annals of worst ever books written. What the grok was the author thinking?

I cannot really recommend this book and I think the if you are still desperate to read, go half way through the book and stop as soon as you find the humor tiring and move on to reading something else.

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

1) You are driving on a three lane road and you are on the left lane. You realize that you need to take a right turn at the very last moment. What do you do?
a) Miss the exit and try to switch lanes by the time you come to the next intersection.
b) Come to a complete halt and wave your hand crazily, hoping to scare the drivers in the adjacent lanes allowing you move in to the right hand lane.
c) At the intersection start heading right, honking the horn madly, hoping that no car will hit you. If you are driving a truck or a big car, you should have enough credibility to get people to stop for you while you take your right turn.
d) Take 15 minutes while you slowly crawl through the traffic and shift to the right lane and finally take your right turn.

2) You are entering a road which allows traffic to move in one direction only. However, the next divider is miles away and you need to get to an intersection which is just a meters away. What do you do?
a) Move in the direction of the traffic and take a U turn (if allowed) at the divider.
b) Move quickly in the direction of opposing traffic, keeping to the extreme side of the road (exception - trucks can go anywhere) and head for the intersection.
c) Move quickly in the direction of opposing traffic, switch on the high beamers as a defensive measure to make sure oncoming traffic is blinded.
d) Initially join the direction of traffic to pose as if you are not violating the law, then move into reverse gear and head towards the destination.

3) You see a pedestrian on the road and you are driving at a high speed. What should you do?
a) Bring the car to a complete halt and let the pedestrian proceed.
b) Start honking the horn to get the pedestrian to give a run for his life.
c) Calculate the exact trajectory of the pedestrian and figure out the optimal route that will just skirt past him/her and let you go past without reducing speed.
d) Kill the pedestrian because they irritate you at traffic signals by not walking through the zebra crossing.

4) You are waiting for the signal at a traffic intersection. You are given the green signal but you notice that the traffic has not cleared and if you proceed you will cause a deadlock. What should you do?
a) Wait for the traffic to clear before proceeding, even if that means that you will miss the green signal.
b) Proceed and cause the deadlock.
c) Try to act smart and move to take a U turn to avoid the traffic, even if the U turn is not allowed at that location.
d) Proceed because it is a dog eat dog world, even if you don't it, the autorickshaw is going to do it anyway.

5) Extra points: A road requires repair and you need to inform the public that the road will be closed and a secondary route needs to be used. What will you do?
a) Construct a well illuminated signboard that indicates that the traffic should enter the opposing traffic road. Also attempt to construct indications for the opposing traffic lane to proceed with caution.
b) Put a bunch of tiny stones and hope that people will figure out the hard way that this is a diversion because they have heard stories of how people who didn't notice the stones were killed.
c) Dig a big hole, so that no one can physically proceed further in that road. The diversion route will need to be figured out by the driver.
d) Park some cars and hope that acts as a sufficient deterrent for using the road.

If you have driven on indian roads (or more specifically on hyde roads), you should be able to ace the test :-)

First off, she asked us, 'Why do you like to stay in India?' ...

Second ... 'Would I be happy in India?' ... *okay, what are you thinking?*

The third one was a real kicker ... 'Is India less polluted that Oregon?'. *Ahem, can someone point out the polluted parts of Oregon, so that I can make a sound judgement and answer that question*

Ignorance is bliss? :)

Here are my top 5 strategies that I find quite useful,

* Placing a number in a block where the adjacent blocks already have this number. This is the easiest approach, but requires that you can narrow down to a single cell by eliminating rows and columns that have the desired number already.

* Filling up a cell by eliminating numbers based on columnar, row and block constraints.

* When you have two cells in a row/column that needs to be filled, figure out those missing numbers and most likely there will be a columnar/row constraint on these numbers which will help you fix up the position.

* When there are three cells that need to be filled, you can still apply constraint rules to fix up position. For example, let there be two missing cells in block 1 and one missing cell in block 2. Figure out the 3 missing numbers and you might be able to fix the number in block 2, as two of the numbers may fail the block constraint. Alternatively, two numbers may fail a columnar/row constraint in block 1.

* Try to keep the momentum, and complete it in single session. If you are stuck try reverse solving - i.e. ask yourself, to solve cell X what do I need to fill out?

Everytime I go to Kolkata, my grandparents urge me to move back to Kolkata so that I'll be with them. Unfortunately they don't want to move out of Kolkata, so that makes the situation bad. Worse is that my dad is in Chennai and he too doesn't want to move out and I'm stuck in Hyderabad. Everyone has stuck their pole on the map of India and none can move.

It's fascinating that we have not tried to solve the fundamental problem of locational proximity. I'm not talking about communication or transportation abilities (to some extent), but rather the seamless perception of virtually living in a defined region while actually being physically distant. I know there is VR, but have other kind of approaches for this attempted?

Heard Jai got a big scholarship.. after I looked at the scholarship site, it totally blew my socks off. Kudos!

Been wasting too many hours fraggin office friends in Halo on our XBox. Reportedly lot of folks have willingly extended their working hours... *ahem* to do some non serious office work in the XBox room.

Cosmin is off to a Google interview in CA. Good luck to him!

Some more people I know are off to land of $$$ this month.

Still working out the kinks in my plan to become rich, powerful and famous...

On Saturday, I took up a shared auto to return to my residence and they provide an excellent source for practicing 'voyeurism on wheels'. When I boarded the auto, a love lorn couple were already seated and engaging in small talk. The girl was holding a rose and looking excitedly happy about all things in the world. The auto took off and while we were trundling down Hyde's divine roads, I was audience to the couple's conversation which went something like this,
[please forgive my hindi transcriptions!]

..... Lot of lovey dovey stuff .....
THEN

----

She: "Arre yaar.. itne dino baad hamne eksat bahar ghomne ke liye gaye" (We went out after long time)

He: "Ab kya ghar jana hai? Kahin ja kar chai ya coffee peene ja sakte hain" (Should we go home? We could go drink coffee or tea at some place)

She: "Thik hain" (Okay)
She: "Maine socha tha pehle tankhwya milne ke bad kya kya kar loonga!" (I thought I would do so many things after I got my first salary)
He: "Apna company kharid dal ne ke soche the kya?" (You thought you would buy your company?)

----

And then something totally GROSS happened....
----

She: "Arre chod yaar... pehle mujhe yeh sab technologies ko janna padega, ASP.NET, VB, C#." (Forget it, I first have to learn all these technologies like ASP.NET, VB, SQL"

He: "Tum kya office main SQL be use kar te ho?" (Do you use SQL in office also?)

She: "SQL main to bada panga hain. Ek command may thoda be mistake ho to, woh chillata hain" (There are big problems with SQL. If there are even small mistakes in the SQL statement, it screams!)

----

I was flabbergasted. How the heck did that conversation turn into a talk about .NET and SQL ????????? Hyderabad's techno culture has infested even the love nests. Perhaps I should muster up some courage and try out a pickup line like, "Babe, Can I be administrator on your box?" .....

Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Later on, I managed to watch David Lynch's movie version of the first book 'Dune'. Although I didn't exactly like the movie, mainly because it felt like a big disjoint movie trying to cram a lot of content into limited movie time, I could see the problem. There is no way to compress 600 pages of literature into two and half hours of movie.

After that came the Dune mini series which was produced by the Sci Fi channel. I had heard that it had received rave reviews and was being hailed as the best Dune small screen adaption. After watching the three part mini series, I had to agree. Dune's plot involves political intrigue, sci fi elements, relegion and weird family trees. Much of what interests Dune fans is the amazing detail of the Dune world. It is also interesting to note the Islamic influence overall! The faithful adaption of the book into the movie series is one of the high points of the series.

While the world wasn't waiting for a Dune follow up, the brilliant big screen adaptation of Lord of the Rings set a benchmark for epic book adaptions. In comparison to LoTR, the Dune mini series doesn't even come close. The primary reason why LoTR is so good is not just the visual imagery and details, but the simple fact that the dialogues and screenplay has been knitted together into perfection, never allowing the viewer to get bored by story content that are hard to portay in movies when adapted from a book. I'm guessing this has something to do with Peter Jackson being a genious and if anyone else had done a LoTR movie it would have turned into a farce. Dune is still an above the par series, but don't try to compare it with LoTR!

Finally we come to the important part of the review, how does Children of Dune mini series rate? It is brilliant and surpasses the first series! The visuals, the sets, the new characters, a much more interesting plotline and an amazing soundtrack are the key points of the series. Be warned though that you might not understand what is going on if you haven't seen the original Dune series. As I mentioned earlier, Dune relies on intricate characters and detailed history which influence the whole plot line, so be prepared for a high learning curve when you start watching the sequel series! The mini series covers the second and third book the series - Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. The acting is a bit stiff and dialogues are very Shakesperian like, which might put off some people. The sets are beautiful and the special effects are much better (but there is room for improvement). Don't expect large scale wars as that is not going to happen, although it might have been interesting and would have captivated a larger audience had they pulled one off!

The soundtrack has been highly rated and I particularly enjoyed the ethnic tunes of 'Inama Nushif'. I initially thought that it was a Hindi song, but apparently the composer went into great depths to research Fremen language from the book to come up with the enchanting vocals. Kudos to Brian Tyler! Did you know that LoTR's soundtrack also has a chorus sung in Entish, Hobbit and languages from the book?

You can listen to real audio clip of Inama Nushif here.

There are two more books to go - God Emperor and Heretics of Dune, but I believe these are difficult to adapt into a movie... so don't get too excited :-)

Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Introduction to Reverse Engineering Software

Ahh... let's see if that machine has come back online.

The movie started off rather abruptly and in a short span of thirty minutes, we were forced to listen to three film songs. Of course, the movie plot had not progressed any further beyond what I had gathered from the first few minutes. NOT GOOD!

There are some segments of the movie that are well executed but the overall impression is disappointing. The acting is mostly below par. Fortunately, Sanjay Dutt's acting shines in comparison to the rest of the rubbish. I felt the acting lacked the touch of naturalism that makes a good movie. The female characters appear to have been attacked by a dose of the laughing gas. Sure, the lead actress has a pretty smile, but it gets to a point of irritation if you have to watch it every scene. Please keep all the smiling for a Colgate or Close Up ad! I think the story is far too short to make an effective movie. Although the sets were well designed, the direction lacks effectiveness and the acting is not memorable either. The songs also become an exercise in tedium after they pop up with incredulous regularity.

I know the buzz has been positive and people might consider this as a classic arty/commercial flick fusion, but I feel sorry for those people as they have certainly not realized the joy of watching a well knit and impactful movie, which this isn't.

Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Manifold: Time is a wonderful book. It is filled with ideas and twists that will keep even the non scifi fan glued to the book to find out how the story culminates. Stephen Baxter weaves a wonderful story and describes some amazing ideas which should be a must read for anyone who wants to tantalize their minds.

Time reads like a two part novel. The first part sets up the story and introduces the main characters and gives the impression to the reader that the story is coming to an end. Time has quite a few twists that are well executed to keep the reader interested. And just when I thought the book had come to the end (50% through the book), I was blown away by the fact that it wasn't over it!

The story is told through multiple perspectives by the different characters in the book. There are only three main characters that dominate the narrative however - Reid Malenfant, Emma Stoney and Cornelious. Malenfant is a bold visionary who proposes that human colonization of space can occur if humanity can tap into the vast resources of the universe. He builds a simple spaceship capable of harvesting resources present in asteroids and pushing them on a trajectory to Earth for collection. Meanwhile, a scientist Cornelious expresses his interest in Malenfant's project. Cornelious brings in a big twist in the plot by telling Malenfant that the Earth will be destroyed within the next 200 years and something has to be done to avoid it.

Soon Malenfant discovers a time travel portal on a desolate asteroid during his asteroid mission. Here Baxter brings out a fantastic vision of the effect of time on the universe which will make your jaw drop! And this is where I thought the book would end.... but apparently it was just getting warmed up!

I can whole heartedly recommend Manifold: Time to any avid sci fi reader who misses the brilliance of The Space Odyssey series. Baxter's only shortcoming is the lack of strength in his character building, but considering the fact that he packs in so much brilliant stuff, I can forgive him!

Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

Blood Music is a very interesting read for any science fiction enthusiast. The plot rolls along nicely as the book progresses and keeps the reader in awe and suspense. There is a lot of reference to cellular biology which might sound alien, but can be ignored without losing out on the plot.

The story starts off with Vergil Ulam, a brilliant scientist who has trained blood cells to become intelligent. The company which he works for finds out about his research and decides to scrap the project as they feel it goes beyond ethical boundaries of science. Vergil is left with no choice but to leave the company and in a moment of desperation he injects the trained blood cells into his body, hoping to some day recover them and continue his research.

In a matter of weeks, Vergil finds himself turning stronger and healthier. Vergil figures that these changes must have occured due to the cells that he had injected into himself and decides to get help for removing the cells. Vergil enters a dilemma wherein he can't figure out whether things are going for the better or he is left with only few more days to live....

Blood Music is relatively shorter than most science fiction books. I found it an engrossing read, only put off by some loose writing in the middle sections of the book. The author brings up a fascinating theory called Information Mechanics in his narration, which was interesting. The ending left me wondering whether I really understood the book, as I couldn't figure out whether things ended up being better or worse. Obviously this seems to have been an effect the author intended to put in, so brace yourself for a confusing end!

Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

Altered Carbon is a futuristic cyberpunk novel. As the story starts off, Takeshi Kovacs, the protagonist of the book, dies in a shoot out in the first few pages of the book. But, this is the future and humanity has managed to cross the boundary of mortality by making use of 'resleeving' technology. Resleeving is the process of downloading a person's brain into another body/sleeve. The catch is that a certain amount of memory is lost as an older backup which lags by a few days has to be used to reconstruct the individual.

Kovacs is resleeved and finds out that he has been hired to investigate an attempted suicide attempt by an affluent Earth citizen, Laurens Bancroft. Laurens does not believe that he would have committed suicide and assigns Kovacs the job of finding the real killer. If you are wondering why someone who has been killed would be hiring an investigator, you probably missed the resleeving idea.

Once the story is set up, the book takes on a normal cyberpunk noir feel, often crossing into hard boiled detective story territory. The scenes are well described to give the reader a good sense of the environment. The characters are also well developed.

Besides the resleeving idea, I didn't find any other plot element fascinating. The book moves at a slow pace and parts of the story were totally unnecessary. I am guessing this will be yet another cyberpunk novel that I haven't liked, which probably means I don't enjoy this genre. If you liked Neuromancer, this might just be the next best thing you can get your hands on.

There is also a background story about Kovacs past in the Envoy Corps which comes up frequently. I couldn't care less about this, which contributed further to my lack of interest in the book. If you do find yourself liking the book, then you could go on and read the sequel.

Personally, this was yet another failed attempt at reading a cyberpunk novel. If you find the hard boiled detective genre coupled with cyberpunk enjoyable, then you might want to pick it up. If you are interested in fast paced action with strong plots, then don't bother with this book.

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0