JOHNNY GONE DOWN!!

Finished reading this book called – JOHNNY GONE DOWN.
I purchased this book thinking it would be just another novel for time pass. Plus it was only. Rs. 100. So I thought why not buy it cause even if I dont like it I would have wasted only Rs. 100.

But it turned out to be much more than a run of mill novel, which has given me much more than I had asked for. It has one single underlying theme. Never ever take life for granted. If this moment I am enjoying the luxury of sitting in the comfort of my house , writing this piece on my laptop, next moment my whole world could come crashing down due to some unfortunate event.

It begins at a normal pace and you dont get hooked onto the book till you come to the turning point. And the turning point is where during the vacation, the protagonist Nikhil Arya gives his passport to his friend Sam to save Sam's life. After that there would hardly be a place where you would wana put the book down. And Even if you put the book down for some reason, when you pick it up you transported back into Nikhil’s world. The descriptions and writing are so lively. Nikhil’s whole journey form Cambodia to Thailand to Brazil to US and back to India is truly a lesson as to how we should be happy with what we have, how we should not judge people, that if something unfortunate has happened today it can be for something good to come. And most importantly it teaches us how to just live even if there is nothing to live for, no family no friends nothing. Its amazing Nikhil doesn't think of ending his life in such circumstances.

The only part where I feel the book loses its grip is towards the end. Its like you are waiting atleast now Nikhil’s life should stabilize, atleast now the book should end peacefully. I would rate it atleast 4 on 5 and a total paisa vasool thriller. I am bad at writing what the book is all about so heres the summary written at back of the book.

"""Nikhil Arya has fallen.

Once, he was an Ivy League scholar with a promising future at NASA; now, at forty, he is broke, homeless,and minutes away from blowing his brains out in a diabolical modern-day joust.

It wasnt meant to be this way. An innocent vacation turned into an epic intercontinental journey that saw Nikhil become first a genocidesurvivor, then a Buddhist monk, a drug lord, a homeless accountant, a software mogul and a deadly gamefighter. Now, twenty years later, Nikhil aka Johnny is tired of running. With the Colombian mafia on his trailand his abandoned wife and son ten thousand miles away, he prepares for his final act, aware that he will have lost even if he wins.

Or will he? Is there any greater victory than living a life that knows no limits, a world that has seen no boundaries?"""

WHERE GIRLS DARE by Bhavna Chuahan

Finished reading this book. All I can say it was a good read. Dint know when I actually finished this book.

Its a short simple book about girls in army and their coming of age not only as officers but also as individuals. Thankfully there is no love story in the army backdrop. Yes it could have been better but the editors/publishers have decided to not to beat around the bush and keep it short and simple.

The writing is also very simple and hence i feel it is also good for school kids.

So if u get chance do read this book.

Book Review - KARL,AAJ AUR KAL!!!!

KARL AAJ AUR KAL, written by Cyrus Broacha. Yes hulk hogan MTV VJ. Lemme be very frank with you, after reading this book you will say, KARL AAJ BUT NEVER KAL, cause book just does not live upto any expectation.

The reason I am saying any expectation cause I really dont know whether anybody had any sort of expectation from cyrus as a writer.

The book begins on an okish note. Then it reaches its comic peak in between and then slums so badly that it never recovers.

I really dont know why Cyrus decided to write this book. It took me more than a month to complete this book. and I completed reading it only because I paid for it. I am so bugged by reading this book that I dont even wana elaborate on what the story is or who the characters are and what went wrong where.

Apart from a few chapters that are absolutely hilarious there is nothing in the book.
GOD now how do end this topic....................................dunno seriously dont know

ENGLISH IS A VERY FUNNY LANGUAGE!!!

Well, a sort funny thing happened in office. I work in the HR dept and one of my duties is allocation of office boys to different departments. The newly recruited Mr. GM Finance ( Age 58 +) comes to me and says - Madam i need a 'PEEAAN'. Now I was wondering what on earth is a PEEAAN. I asked him - 'u need a what'.He again repeated 'PEEAAN'. I again scratched my head. i thought if its a stationery i have not heard of it. If its a IT hardware, i havent heard of it. Then what on earth is a 'PEEAAN'. I still stared at him with a blank look. Then my trusted office boy came to my rescue and said - ' madam unko ek PEON chahiye.' I barely managed to suppress my smile.

The thing is that we all are used to saying particular words in some fashion. Uptill now i thought PEON was pronounced as 'pee-yun'. But now when I look up the dictionary the definition of PEON is as follows.


pe·on
1   /ˈpiən, ˈpiɒn/ Show Spelled[pee-uhn, pee-on] Show IPA
–noun
1.
(in Spanish America) a farm worker or unskilled laborer; day laborer.
2.
(formerly, esp. in Mexico) a person held in servitude to work off debts or other obligations.
3.
any person of low social status, esp. one who does work regarded as menial or unskilled; drudge.

So it seems that Mr. GM Finance was right after all.

But come to think of it English is indeed a very Funny language. The way you pronounce and and the way spell are two different things.

SAD ADDS!!!!

There are good advertisements and there are bad advertisements. And then there are advertisements after seeing which you feel why on earth were they made. I call these SAD ADDS. Some times they are so repulsive that you actually start questioning the sanity of the person who thought of these adds.

No.1 on my list is the latest NIRMA add. The lady in white - Sanjeeda actually says to a stilled splash of water - "NIRMA NIRMA WAHSING POWDER NIRMA DUDH SI..........." and splash of water falls back on the ground. Wish all of us could do that to all the dirt around us so that our clothes would just not get dirty and we would save a lot of water and electricity and mehnat in washing the clothes. Seriously doesnt make any sense.

Then there is this AKshay Kumar add which actually made me write this blog. The micromax mobile phone which has virtual gaming. Akshay the chef is in the hotel kitchen playing game on the phone, distroying everything and laughing like a miniac.All he does in the add is play the game distroy some stuff laugh like a miniac..and continues to do so 3-4 times. No dialog nothing. Why this kitchen setting GOD knows........

There is one more Akshay Kumar add. He is latest one to join our superheros in the "CHADDHI BANIYAN" race. The add shows a gang of thieves trying to rob a bank. Out of the blue akshay kumar comes there wearing black glares and stick in his hand. so everybody believes him to be blind. Then he goes on fighting spree when a thief pulls his vest and manages to out do the thieves. The whole add seems fine till the time the sexy lady says something to Akshay and he say in the most offensive and repulsive manner - "BUTTON KHULA HAI APKA." I must say that while Hritik and Shahrukh carry themselves extremely well even in the Undergarments adds, akshay kumar has absolutely no class..



YES...fortunately there are some good adds being made which deserve a mention over here. The Bank of India add series with the tagline - "RISHTE CHAHE JAISE BHI HO HUM RISHTON KI HEMIYAT SAMAJHTE HEIN" are really good. Elder brother giving gyan to younger brother over cricket, Fifty something husband forgetting to take the medicines and wife reminding him over mobile to take them after he has reached the ground floor of the building, two oldies sharing a morning tea after morning walk with out uttering a word.....just define the different kinds of relationships people have.


Then the latest IDEA add about saving tress is also good. The ideas given in the add to save paper can actually work. Last time the idea was about teaching underprivileged children over phone. Yes some ideas might seem far fetched but a lot of thought is put into the whole concept as every series is associated with some IDEA.

The AMAN KI ASHA peace project add - where the Indians try to play the song on the radioso that the Pakistanis can here the same at the border has been dealt with very sensitively.

But my favorites like many others are the ZOOZOOS. Not only are they cute but every add is a master piece in its own. They should go down in some hall of fame for adds. The latest add where a zoozoo comes, sits alongside a theif looking man after greeting him, and then slowing sneeking away in charlie chaplin fashion after seeing his pic in the newspaper, with the tagline - "KNOW WHATS HAPPENING AROUND YOU IN 30P PER MINUTE" is absolutely fantastic. What a thought yaar.

I can go on and on.Well people have their own likes and dislikes. As far adds are concerned these were mine.

CRICKET NOT ONLY OVER HYPED BUT ALSO SEXIST!!!!

So the God of Indian cricket has created history by scoring 200 runs.

But Consider this

A)
BELINDA CLARK
AUS VS DENMARK
1997
ICC WOMENS' WORLD CUP
RUNS - 299
STRICK RATE - 147.74

B)
SACHIN TENDULKAR
INDIA VS SOUTH AFRICA
RUNS - 200
STRICK RATE - 136.05

I did not pull out the numbers mentioned in (A) out of the hat. Its in the newspapers!!!!

I know that women's cricket and men's cricket are in two different leagues. but still it took some one 13 years to do that. Forget India what about players from other countries and is it such a big feat that the president and prime minister of India have to go all out to congratulate sachin.

See guys I am not against cricket just feel that as far as cricket is concerned people just stop thinking. Its not that Indian team does not perform but m sure statistics will tell that its performance in India is much better than anywhere else.


Anyways for those hopefuls who think that Indian team will win the next world cup i would love to put some bet on it that it will not win the world cup and would be happy to lose.

KAHAN CRICKET !!!! kahan hockey!!!!

The other day I was just browsing through the news channel and came across this news of Pakistani team arriving in India. I was surprised as to how there was no opposition from SHIV SENA. Then when i went back to the news channel i realised it was the PAK hockey team which had arrived for the Hockey World Cup. Now if Shiv Sena has been opposing the Pakistani Cricket players for its terrorist activities then how come the same logic doesnt apply to the hockey players. After some thinking I came up to the following conclusion.

1) The main reason why Shiv Sena did not oppose the PAK hockey players is same reason which is responsible for the great class divide between cricket and hockey. and that is MONEY!!!!

2) Cricket involves a lot and lot and lot of money as compared to that in hockey. Cricket players sign deals worth crores and hockey players have to fight it out for increase in their monthly remuneration form the the government.

3) We all know what the extra source of income of Indian politians are and even God will not be able estimate the amount of Indian money stacked in Swiss banks by our beloved netas. Arre even the govt babus nowdays take bribe in crores so forget the politicians.

4)So if a politician of Mr. Pawar's Stature (forgetting all his political differences) goes to Bal Thakrey's residence to request him to not to oppose Pakistani or Australian players for the IPL I smell something fishy.

5)Why on earth is he making so many efforts. For the love of cricket. Oh please give me a break. Can you imagine the money involved in IPL.

6)After this meeting the Thakreys are still opposing Pakistani cricket players. I guess the deal between the two Netas dint work out.

AS far as hockey goes obviously there is no money involved, with no sponsors and no fans who will even bother to check if the players coming in for world cup are Pakistanis or australians. So what if its our national game its not a religion like cricket and certainly not hyped.

I am not a hockey fan nor a cricket fan , but I would like to tell that cricket as game, or as religion, or whatever is truly overhyped and that too unnecessarily. Other sports do deserve the required attention not only by the people of India but also from the respective govt officials who are responsible. Else it will take us few more centuries to win more gold medals at olympics.