The Shoe Story

As a little girl not owning any shoes seemed quite normal to me as I saw other kids of my age running all around the village without shoes. To be honest with you at that age I didn't want anything else but shoes, I dreamed about shoes, when I saw movies I ogled at shoes and I did masters just to earn money so that I could buy loads of shoes ;-)

I can't really say that my parents didn't have the money to buy shoes for me because they bought hundreds of books, a lot of art supplies, puzzles, board games, notebooks, nice pens, showed me innumerable movies, sent me to music lessons and took me to see more than half of India with them.

In case you are wondering then they did buy shoes for me every year after my 8th grade or so when we moved to a big city (I am not talking about school uniform shoes).

Today I have a closet full of shoes but not a single one of them gives me as much happiness and tranquil as reading, writing, painting, dancing, traveling, nature, music and sewing does (it doesn't matter even if I suck at it).

If I had to give one advice to parents then it would be to give your child exposure to as many things as you can because hobbies (and not Jimmy Choos) make life worth living for.

P.S. Have you seen the movie Children of Heaven yet?

Physics of the impossible

Adjoining is a picture taken by Hubble  telescope. It shows thousands of galaxies that surround us. Each one having thousands of stars and planets. There is a high probability that there is life somewhere in those 100+ billion galaxies. Since Earth is a newborn compared to other galaxies it is possible that the life existing there is much more advanced. Would it ever be possible to contact them?

Ever wonder what will happen when our Sun dies killing everything surrounding it and leaving the beautiful intelligent life that resides in this galaxy go extinct? Unless of course we kill each other before the Sun does in a dispute over the name of 'The Creator', in that case we can't blame it on the Sun.

There were so many things tagged as impossible a century ago, such as man on moon. There are many we still tag as impossible such as invisibility, space travel, teletransportation. Ironically the word impossible itself says i am possible ;-).

The famous theoretical  physicist Michio Kaku talks about these impossible things in his book 'Physics of the impossible' and how far scientists are in cracking the code.

Do you think a billion years from now humans will be hopping from planet to planet, populating (and polluting) everywhere around? One can only wonder or then read what these brilliant minds have to say!

I liked the book and am planning to read all books by Kaku. Will keep you posted ;-)

Court

India's entry for Oscars this year is a Marathi film 'Court'.

In the last scene of the movie a small kid tries to wake up a court judge who is sleeping in a park. The judge wakes up slaps the kid and goes back to sleep. It indicates the current status of judiciary system in India. It is sleeping and whoever tries to wake it up will get slapped in the face even if they are naive and innocent.

This film is an intelligent work of art; subtle, slow, marvelous and yet shocking! It is a movie that you need to experience. The movie says a lot without really saying anything, the harsh reality of castes, classes, justice system, superstitions, repression of artists and much more.

In one of the scenes after a day of court hearings everyone leaves the room, the court clerk switches off lights, the camera stays there in the dark, indicating another day of injustice at the court.

One of the lawyers is a smart woman who objects, talks, takes a stand against men in an aggressive manner in the courtroom. On her way home picks up kids, reaches home and cooks, attends phone calls while cooking, after dinner studies for her case. She does all of this effortlessly while her husband is relaxing on the sofa watching TV. She doesn't rebel, object against this or rather she doesn't even realize that there is any injustice.

This film just peels one layer at a time of the real Indian society.

'Court' is really a fine film, if this doesn't win an Oscar what will!

Privacy Please!

This story is from a few years back when I was 19-20. There was a boy, let's call him Ass, I did not invent that, those are the initials of his name ;-). Ass sometimes blurted out things about me that I had never ever told him or anyone else for that matter. I had no clue where he was getting this information from.

One day it clicked me that all the information he knows about me was in my emails. I remembered that he had used my computer for some assignment. So now imagine someone reading all of the information about you - someone finding out that you are into pricking voodoo dolls or whatever you are into when you are 19 ;-) Trust me at that age people are least likely to be into something as simple as voodoo dolls!

There was no mal-intention on Ass's part I guess, he was just having fun with it but I found the whole thing weird and creepy. After my initial panic attack I decided to have fun with it too. I changed my email password to Bastard(Ass's full name) and on the same day I received an email from him which indicated that he was very upset with me, obviously he couldn't specify the reason.

I got my computer fixed after that episode, never interacted with Ass and I delete my emails after I read them!

My grandmother always told me to be nice as she thought there is someone out there who is watching everything that we do, the good, bad and the ugly. She called this someone 'God', well she was almost right except it is not God it is cookies, worms, viruses, malwares, trojans, horses, tigers and what not sitting on your computer and tracking you, or may be just sitting and waiting silently, to do something.

Imagine something gaining access to your webcam and is able to watch you! May be your phone is injected with something? It can see your messages, record your calls? People use computers and phones for everything these days, there is less of a personal interaction, so imagine the number of things that can be tracked.

Do you ever fear that someone or something is tracking everything that you do? May be right at this minute someone is watching you or your screen, that someone may be seven seas across or right under the same roof... may be your boss?

Why would someone want to read irrelevant information about people? Social media is similar, that is why I am not on FB, I do not want to read information that is not useful or making a difference in my life in any way. I do not care who is celebrating their dog's birthday! Don't get me wrong, I follow a lot of blogs (as trivial as style blogs) but they are not fed to me rather I chose them based on my liking.

Yes, I am a private person in the era when Privacy is a Myth.

P.S. Have you seen TV show Mr. Robot? I did not like its story but loved the concept.

The Sun's Heartbeat

One fine day something happened out of nowhere. That something created everything, it is the reason why we exist. I am talking about the big bang.

Was there space before the big bang happened? Or it created the space? What existed before it happened? If it happened here then did it happen somewhere else too? Is the theory of multiverse true?

Some questions bother me every single day like why is there something rather than nothing? how does it make a difference because there is something? What if none of it happened or existed ever? Did it exist at one point of time and then something went wrong, everything collapsed and then the big bang happened again? 

My biggest pain and worry is I will die without ever getting answers to these questions, I think all of us will. I wish I had some simple questions. As you can see I never get questions about my own life... Why do I exist? What is the goal of my life? Am I making any difference? I am more than convinced about the futility of existence in general ;-)

I think things are more frustrating as the humans have the so called 'intelligence' factor, so they want to have a purpose to everything. It is beyond us why would there be something without any goal, aim, purpose or ambition. Also it bothers us that there is creation that has no creator, so we want to believe in a creator. Well, that fixes us in an endless loop of what created a creator with conscious?

Would there ever be a time when scientists will get closer to the truth? May be a billion years from now?

Would humans even live that long to find out? What will happen to the human race once the Sun dies? Obviously it will die one day, just like all the other stars do. Our hearts beat because the Sun's heartbeat is still intact.  May be we will die before the Sun does, because of global warming, wars, population, pollution or may be an asteroid hits the Earth.

Is there anyone living far away who evolved like we did? And what is the probability that they also figured out the radio frequencies, space travel and what not? Would the future 'aliens' ever know that there once lived a Sun that gave birth to such stupendous life forms who invented such extra ordinary things like the social media    :-) Or the knowledge of all our inventions will die with us?

I have reviewed a lot of books on this blog, probably more than a hundred. If I had to recommend just 5 out of all of them then 'The Sun's Heartbeat' would definitely be one of them. The book is about everything one would want to know about our life giver. Author's sense of humor makes it an excellent read.

I have expressed this many times before that reading books related to science (not just textbooks) makes one realize the pettiness of religions, wars and all that crap. I won't rate this book as it goes beyond anything as petty as rating. 

Kudos to Bob Berman!

The business of spirituality

Long back I joined a spiritual organization in India and did a meditation course. For people who do not know what a spiritual organization is - it is a business that has a CEO (AKA Guru) who claims to be an avatar of some god and he has employees (AKA devotees) who do marketing and other jobs associated with running this organization. The CEO's job is to make nice motivational speeches (stolen from some books), talk about spirituality (from old scriptures), teach some breathing techniques (invented long back by yogis) and also claim that he/she knows everything about the ultimate truth (why and how all of this exist).

So what is spirituality? For me being spiritual means being a good human, feeling satisfied/ content also having a wonder of what lies beyond our knowledge of the universe, a thinker and someone who doesn't gain ultimate pleasure in consuming material/worldly things. When one wonders about the bigger picture they realize how petty the concep ts of religion and wars are. So would a spiritual person really look for fame-popularity- money-reverence and make ignorant claims that they know it all?

I am a strong believer of science, it states everything with proofs. You can hate science but you can't deny it. When I heard this particular Guru talk I thought it did not make any sense. Why are people blindly following him? I have seen people following Gurus who pull out watches and stuff from their mouths, trust me all the factories will shut down if people start doing things like that, how can anyone believe in that? I mean this is 2015 for science's sake.

To my surprise it is not just the naive or uneducated people who become victims to inane concepts like Guru. I was surrounded by people from all fields during my course - doctors, engineers, scientists. I thought I was the only one who thought that the concept of spiritual company is ridiculous. Spirituality is a business for them, something that buys their sisters Louis Vuittons. I laughed at the whole thing and stayed away.

I recently saw a short film called Kumare which is based on the same topic.

I wish I had made such a short film with my experiences to portray the politics-gossip-sex and scandals that happen in these so called 'spiritual' organizations. I also wish I had the courage to name such orgs or gurus but I don't as most of them have goons and lawyers to take care of those who do not have nice things to say about them.

I highly recommend the film Kumare - it is available on Youtube and I also urge you that don't be a part of such orgs. Being part of an organization or having a Guru does not mean you are on a spiritual path. 

You don't need any such CEO, just read self help books, read science, wonder, live, have a hobby, think about the bigger picture, be a better human and that's it... you will be your own Guru.

Life and Chess

I am not very clear about the term time... I don't know what it means still I spend a lot of it on playing chess. Every time I play chess I realize how similar it is to life. 

• Chess is timed just like life. It is ruthless, very competitive and time management is extremely important.

• Every move has (or should have) a purpose.

• One needs to think before making a move but not so long that you lose all your time. 

• Some play defensive but playing offensive is needed too. Risk takers are rewarded may be later in the game.

• Thinking 3-4 moves ahead helps but what the opponent's move will be is always unpredictable unless you make/allure them to make a certain move... It's a trap! 

• One may sacrifice some pieces or loose material in the trap, try to minimize your losses and move on.

• Be less predictable: that is more interesting.

• You don't have to be a swindler to win... you just have to be better.

• We all blunder from time to time. This does not mean we should give up and run away. There is ALWAYS a lifeline.

• Sometimes people make moves that we simply don't understand, don’t read too much between the lines. They are just silly moves – that’s all there is to it.

• Always have plan B, plan C, plan D ready in your heads.

• Play wisely, start well, how you begin matters!

• If an opportunity (opening) appears, seize it immediately.

• Make every effort to get into the game – ASAP.

• It seldom goes the way you planned – adjust and continue.

• Trade inferior material and positions for important ones, the King being your body, use all the other pieces to give the King happiness, wealth, comforts and mostly health & fitness.

• Latent talent in ordinary people can become obvious after years of hard work and learning.

• (If you do) Lose graciously and learn at least one lesson from it.

• Draw is as good as a win and definitely better than a loss.

• Take your time, but settle on one plan of action… and then do it!

• Most important lesson chess teaches is you are given everything that one needs to win (even if you have sacrificed or lost a few pieces)... rather than thinking about what is gone make the most of what you have on the board. If you don't win then nothing but you yourself is to be blamed...!

I am on chess.com and my id is rasikamahabal. Do add me! Let's play and enjoy it!

Superstardom

I was born in an absolute filmy family where the Father carried Sadhana's (yesteryear actress) photo in his wallet (I think he still does), Brother1 constantly bombarded me with Amitabh Bachchan movies and dialogues while Brother2 covered all the walls and entire furniture of our shared room with Aishwarya Rai's photos.

It crossed all boundaries when the Mother started bribing lord Ganesh with 1/2 kg sweets every year and in return asked to bestow Madhuri Dixit with an award (this went on for years). She also fed me Stardust and Filmfare magazines since I was little. People who haven't seen many Hindi films or do not know about filmy gossip or dialogues will not understand half of the things me and my mother talk about.

There is no denying that I like films but I didn't understand the devotion for a star/actor/actress. I thought they are just freakin entertainers, they are not bringing any social changes, scientific advances or helping us understand the ultimate truth (the origin of universe). Well, definitely not until I saw His films. Today I revere Him, think about Him almost everyday, watch His films over and over again. I want to see Him when I am sad, depressed or happy. When He died I cried for three days and kept calling the Mother... who wasn't of much help as she herself was in complete distress. I am talking about the first (and the last according to me) Superstar - Rajesh Khanna.

The way I feel for RK is beyond my understanding specially considering I have no personal connection with him. (I still don't comprehend the craze for any other actor though... Humans are a society of hypocrites and I am just being human ;-) )

I highly recommend these Rajesh Khanna films if you haven't watched them already - Khamoshi, Safar, Anand, Aaradhana, Ittefaq, Kati Patang, Swarg.

More Books ....

Can You Keep a Secret? - Sophie Kinsella

I must admit that I love Kinsella's books just like I adore those damsel in distress kind of movies starring Sunny Deol... a lady in trouble and a strong man offering to help this weak person.. as she can not take care of herself and needs a MAN to help her out ... and all that crap, then they fall in love and live happily ever after. Remind yourself to leave your feminism aside and enjoy this book... (4/5)

Confessions of a shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella

Sophie Kinsella's books are like deserts ... you love them but feel guilty once indulged. The female leads in her books (generally) are extremely stupid and millionaires happen to fall in love with them anyways. As if the entire goal of womankind is to find a rich boyfriend. Anyhow, I enjoyed reading the book immensely as I have seen so many shopaholic people who take maximum pleasure in owning things without thinking if they need it or not. I give it 4/5.

The Martian - Andy Weir

This probably was the first hardcore science fiction that I read and I simply loved it. There is a movie being made on this book starring Matt Damon, can't wait to see the film. I give it 5/5.

Rang Manache - Va. Pu. Kale (Marathi book)

Glad that I can read and understand Marathi and can enjoy marvelous books by Marathi writers Va. Pu. Su. Shi. and Pu. La. (4/5)

Book Reviews again

Essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less - Greg McKeown

Self help books - author telling you how awesome they are, these amazing people they have helped, they share their secret with you - how everything is going to change blah blah blah. But to be honest self help books do work. These self indulgent people (and who isn't?) make us feel motivated, inspired and positive even if they chose to ramble 500 pages on minimalism.

Essentialism talks about how to simplify your life, thinking, purpose and cut out all the extraneous stuff that continually distracts us and focus on what is really important (including people). I liked the book. I would definitely recommend it (4/5)

The Girl In Blue - P.G. Wodehouse

I like P.G.'s books. His humor is always subtle and situational. 3/5.
 
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

I am not a big fan of Twain's books. I found it quite boring. 1/5

I am Malala - Malala Yousafzai

Malala and her father have quite a story of bravery. I hope that the women in Pakistan will get to enjoy the same privileges as I do. But I am reviewing the book here and I didn't like it even a bit. I wouldn't recommend it. 1/5.

Love Story - Erich Segal  

I was expecting a masterpiece after hearing about its reputation as a great romance novel. Just because something is well known doesn't make it great I guess. 1/5.

Landline - Rainbow Rowell

I read this book because it was voted best book of 2014 (fiction category) on Goodreads. I mean this book voted the best book of the year??? I am dumbfound, must be something wrong with me to say that it was the worst book I ever read (and I have read quite a few). Read at your own risk! 0/5.

Book Reviews

Here are short reviews of books that I 'finished' reading -

On Writing - Stephen King

A must read for everyone who wants to venture into writing. Highly recommended - 5/5. (I haven't read any other books by Stephen King so I don't know how he writes his stories.)

Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino

This book won a lot of awards for best mystery novel, movies are made on this story. I couldn't keep the book down. Absolutely superb. I give it 5/5.

Dollar Bahu - Sudha Murty

Can not believe Penguin published this book. Absolutely crappy story full of stupid characters and situations. Only book worth reading by Sudha Murty is 'How I Taught My Grandmother To Read'. I give it 1/5.

An Appetite for Wonder: The making of a Scientist - Richard Dawkins

I am a big fan of Dawkin's books but I didn't quite enjoy his autobiography. It was boring to read about his entire family starting from great great grandparents to know names of his each and every teacher. I wouldn't recommend this book. 1/5

1Q84 Book 1: Haruki Murakami

Absolutely mind blowing  book by Murakami, couldn't keep it down. Fell in love with all the characters instantly. I give it 5/5.

1Q84 Book 2: Haruki Murakami

Since I loved first book in this series I had to read the second part which was a complete let down. I was annoyed to the core to have read this book. 1/5.

1Q84 Book 3: Haruki Murakami

How does one give up something mid way (except for classics)? I had to find out what happened to the characters I fell in love with in Book 1. How does it end? I would recommend to not read the first part which will save you from all the irritation of having to read 3 books! Murakami is being considered for Noble prize in literature??? 1/5

Fed up!

All of the young people out there - when you are 60 years old what are the things you would want to have? What are your goals? What is your long term plan?

Money? Career? Family? Knowledge?

And what if at that age you have reached top position in the company, living in a multi-million dollar house, traveled the world, have a gorgeous family but guess what you do not have the most important thing that one would need to have? HEALTH - physical and mental both.

Is it your long term goal? Are you taking any action on it right now?

It is saddening to see that people don't spend any time on their health. Reason? They are too busy! They don't have time to exercise or to cook. Everyone gets 24 hours a day - nothing more nothing less. No one in the world is blessed enough to have a lot of time, seriously! So what makes some people focus on health and some not? Simple - Priority! and a long term plan for health.

Since I spend time exercising, eating healthy and home cooked food everyday am I in best of health shape? Nope! I do get sick now and then, catch colds/sinusitis, feel exhausted on some days and to add more to that I am 8 pounds overweight.

Does it also mean people who have Health as their long term goal are in best of the shape at 60? Not necessarily...

So why plan and spend time on it today that we very well could 'wisely' spend on watching TV or getting more promotions/money??? Well, you need to answer that question yourself.

Talking about weight issues I feel most of the overweight people deny that they are overweight or else accept to be overweight. One and only thing that we need to realize to get going is IT IS NOT OKAY TO BE OVERWEIGHT.

But is it just about weight? Because some people are thin outside and fat inside.

How about diet? It does not matter even if we have all the knowledge and awareness in the world about food and food products - it is all waste if we do not have common sense and control required to avoid junk food and actions.

It is hard, really hard to not be overweight. We are all surrounded by such amazing food choices, how are we supposed to not indulge in them? We also belong to a culture where parents concentrate more on a thin child than the overweight one, ours is a culture where overweight is considered healthy even if they are lethargic.

In earlier days human race faced two periods - a bountiful period and a famine. In today's times for all of us every single meal is bounty with no famine in sight. Does our body really need so much food?

Fed up is a must watch documentary that shows all the problems associated with obesity and sugar consumption. It absolutely changed the way I eat, may come true for you too.

Book Reviews - November 2014

Persepolis is a humorous and haunting memoir written by Marjane Satrapi. It is the first time ever that I read a graphic novel and realized that plain text books do not take advantage of the massive processing power of our minds. The pictures in Persepolis are absolutely stunning and tell so much more than words do. I have also seen the movie based on this book but I must say that this book is hundred times better than the movie based on it. It is a must read book!

I read 2 books from George R.R.Martin's book series 'A song of Ice and Fire'. The books are way too lengthy and there is lot of information about characters in it than I cared to know or even equipped to remember! HBO TV show 'Game of Thrones' has done more than justice to this book series. 

Other two award winning books that I absolutely didn't like - A wrinkle in time - Madeleine L'Engle (may be it’s a children's book and I happened to read it at a wrong phase in life) and Old Man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway. 

Some Really Good Movies

A Separation - Asghar Farhadi makes us roam endlessly in complicated lives of a group of people. There is no essence no meaning, just like life... simple and pure. His films are like onions, they peel one layer at a time - of characters, their situations, story and the complications. A Separation is not about sex or violence, there is no sentimentalism or philosophical pretense nor is it a morality tale AND yet an extremely beautiful, engaging and a very well deserved Oscar winning film.

The Past - This is one more by Asghar Farhadi. Whatever we are today - our judgement, opinions, decisions and perception is all because of our past. In fact the minute we say "I am" the next moment we become "I was" and though the movie shows what is happening in the present in a way it is all about past, just like our lives. While the viewers wait for a judgement there is no end to Farhadi's movies. To our angst film stops leaving us dismay. There are no epiphanies no miracles no preaching. As a director he doesn't lead us to show who is good who is bad. The viewers get the task to do that! A very beautiful film!


Lucia - There was a time when I didn't miss watching any hit Bollywood film. Since almost 7 years I have seen hardly one Bolly film a year. My thirst to see Indian movies is quenched by watching regional cinema. Lucia is a Kannada film which I thought is loosely based on Murakami's book 'Hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world'. I feel Indian regional films have touched a milestone with Lucia. The conquest of Lucia lies in the twist that overturns the entire story and in its color treatment (colored/ black & white). I strongly recommend this film.

May 2014 - More Book Reviews

1. Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Sallinger

I didn't like a long series of books that I read - like 50 shades of gray, divergent. So I decided to try classics. I feared I might fail to understand these sort of books. Catcher in the Rye has fairly simple language and structure to understand, very well written book but did I like the story? Nah! Its my inability to interpret 'show but don't tell' stories. I am too dumb to decipher any symbolism or anything, so Satanic Verses is out of my league. I couldn't put the book down but at the end of it I thought what exactly was it about? This book was banned for a few years in the US and is considered a classic. Go for it, unlike me you may be able to construe the story.



2. To kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee


This month I read books which are really good examples of writing so I was not frustrated at any point. In US school students have to read certain books as a part of their syllabus like this book 'To kill a mockingbird'. I wonder why there is no such thing in our Indian school syllabus? I had seen the movie based on this book earlier, liked the book too. I would definitely recommend it.





3. Lady with the toy dog - Chekhov

I heard this audio book by BBC, Anton Chekhov is famous for his short stories and his frugal use of words. I thought it was a good story so I would be reading a short story book by Chekhov this month. A lot of his stories are available on audio books too.

4. The Pluto files - Neil Tyson
This depicts the history and geography of Pluto, didn't like it much. 

Idiot Box : Part 7

Last week tonight with John Oliver -
I do see a few talk shows now and then like 'The daily show with John Stewart' or the 'Colbert Report' but John Oliver is the best of all. It is Oliver's satirical take on the current happenings. I give it 5/5.






True Detective -


I was totally completely absolutely impressed by the dialogues, story and music. Finale was a little bit let down but worth to watch this show for those first 7 good episodes.
I give it 4/5.







Cosmos -

 It needs skill to express or write ones feelings in exact words. I don't know what to say about this brilliant series except the fact that I cried after watching each episode just by looking at the vastness of the cosmos and the futility of life. Kudos to the makers! I give it 100/10. A must watch show for people from all ages. I watched it on Fox channel but I think all episodes are available here - http://www.cosmosontv.com/

May 2014: Book Reviews

1. Matilda - Roald Dahl

Matilda is a children's book. I loved the audio book by BBC. I give it 4/5 stars.






2. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

I haven't read the first two books in the series but have seen the movies. Couldn't wait any longer to know the end of hunger games so read the book. The book is better written than other fast food effect books like divergent or 50 shades of gray (I fail to fathom how the later one became a bestseller~). I give it 3/5 stars and feel that there was no need to make 2 part movie based on this book.



3. Seven pillars of health - Donald Colbert

I absolutely loved the book it talks about 7 pillars of health - water, food, sleep, nutrients, exercise etc. Each pillar is covered in depth starting from what kind of water you should drink, what are its constituents, what are the filtering methods available, which ones are the best to if your body requires supplements. The book is targeted for Christians but the author does not over stress on his faith or religion. Jesus appearing in one or two sentences in the book was fine by me. I highly recommend this book, I give it 4.5/5 stars.

Book Reviews : April 2014

1. Mind Body Medicine : The science of Optimal Health - Jason M. Satterfield

This is an audio/video series of 36 lectures, each covering different topics like why some people catch cold, exercise, sleep, stress, depression, personality types and diseases, cardiovascular diseases.

The most interesting part was listening about new research in the field of biology. I listened to one chapter everyday and almost for a month talked about just these lectures to everyone around me. I strongly recommend you listen to this series. I give it 5/5.

2. Monk who sold his Ferrari - Robin Sharma

 This book gives a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance, and joy. I absolutely loved the book and wondered why I didn't read it earlier. I give it 5/5.

3. Fermat's Last Theorem - Simon Singh

I majored in Mathematics, I assure you I am not good at it. I did it simply because I love problem solving. During last year of graduation we had 9 different subjects in Math like Real Analysis, Modern Analysis, Complex Analysis and what not. Each having hundreds of theorems and their proofs. None of the textbooks mentioned where these theorems were applied, how are they used in the real world? I found it frustrating. Fermat's Last Theorem is a book that covers the story of how Fermat's last theorem was proved in the 90s. The book is very well written, it has a mystery kind of a feel to it but again fails to make readers understand if the proof helped resolve any real world problems? or was it just a challenge for people who like to play with numbers and find some random co-relations between them. I give it 4/5.

Nothing Something

How and why did it begin? Is there an end to it?  Was there space before the big bang? Or then big bang created the space? What exactly is space? Why is it there?
Is the universe open? Are there multiple universes?

What created life? Is there a creator? If yes then what created the creator? What is the purpose of life in the universe? Is there even a purpose? Did nature want to let out its secret and that is why humans evolved the way they did?

It is all perplexing.  I am sure most of you think about these questions. These sorts of questions bother me many times. I am not helping in any way to find the answers but some are - of course I am not talking about Gurus/Sadhus who say they know it all, I am talking about finding it scientifically.

I totally feel that humans have the capacity to find answers. It may take many years to get there. I have utmost respect for those who are making efforts in understanding the process of creation.

A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing  by Lawrence M Krauss is a must read book - brilliant and easy to understand. Does it have an answer to all the above questions? NO! but It shows that we are on the track and gives a summary of things we know today.

March Book Reviews

A fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

There are some books which I love and still have no patience to finish reading -
various factors like number of pages/ pace of the story affects affects the interest level. I recommend 'A fine balance' and 'Cutting for Stone' to anyone who like long books - both have really good reviews and ratings on goodreads.






Mountain of Light - Indu Sundaresan

There are times when I skip a few passages here and there but in this book I didn't want to miss even a word. This is the story about Kohinoor diamond and its journey. Liked it, 3.5/5 stars



Perks of being a wallflower - Stephen Chbosky


 Loved the story telling in this book. Chbosky portrays a character of innocent and naive 15 year old boy - Charlie - who is bright but shy. I give it 3/5 stars. If I had read this book a bit younger this would definitely have been 4 stars.