Nostalgia and Bollywood Music

I have been owning and driving a car only for the last 4 years. I used buses/autos mostly before that while travelling to work. So while I did listen to FM radio occasionally during my Bangalore and Mumbai days, it wasn't until I started living in Chennai since 2011 that I really started listening to FM during the 1 hour commute to work during morning and evening. In Chennai of course FM meant ads and Tamil film music or people talking about tamil movies, music and musicians.

Right from childhood we were brought up listening to carnatic music and I was even sent briefly for music lessons. We also used to watch tamil and malayalam movies a lot as kid, I didnt study Hindi till I reached class 5 and I think it did take another 2-3 years to even vaguely understand the language. So all the movies and film music I heard till 90s were tamil and malayalam ones and most of them were classical based as well.

Till mid 90s we only had Doordarshan channel on TV and whatever played on it we watched and TV viewing was highly controlled by parents. So all I remember is watching the epics on Sunday and occassional serials in the night initially. Rangoli, Chitrahaar, Ek Se Bhadkar ek were the music based shows I remember very well. 'Bollywood' music was very popular among kids in my age group in 90s as it represented something different more pan-indian, something more cool perhaps though we could hardly sing it fluently or speak the language properly. But in 90s whenenver we had scheduled power cuts daily and that was the time to gather and play Antakshari though multiple languages were perhaps allowed it was mostly Bollywood songs as far as I can remember. Even in school when a teacher was absent and a substitute teacher could be not be arranged some junior teacher would come and encourage students to come forward and sing some songs. Mostly it would be bollywood songs which had come in Chitrahaar recently which some gulf returned kid already a cassette and knew the lyrics!

As cable tv arrived by mid to late 1990s we all got flooded with MTV, Channel V and likes and listening to latest film songs was not something you eagerly waited every week. It was just everywhere and though it was good initially but it was never the same. In 2000s as I moved to college there was no restriction on watching TV ( who stops you in hostel anyway! ) and lot of time was spent listening to film songs on TV after dinner with nothing much to do. It was pre-cell phone, internet, computer games era and old movie re-runs and music was all we had. I had started working in Bangalore and even though it was a Kannada speaking city ( for the record I did make an attempt and did manage to learn the language) I never heard Kannada songs at all. Maybe its because of my friends circle or because my office buses with FM or CD player played only Hindi tracks. Of course bollywood music was something that you had on TV daily those days to kill time once you got back home. That has been the case often until last 5-6 years when internet and social media got us some better things to do.

In my personal  ipod collection which were mostly songs from friends its mostly English, Tamil and malaylam songs and very limited Hindi songs most of which would be from AR Rahman. So while I did enjoy hindi music and had familiarity with songs from 70s to late 2000s I never used to listen to it regularly.

In US, though I did drive quite a bit the FM radio and music didnt mean much to me.All that changed when I moved 6 months back to Dallas, while moving I sought out a friend who had lived in Dallas earlier before moving to Seattle. He told me the weather would be warm and there would be lot of Indians and also mentioned that one of his favorite memories of Dallas was listening to Hindi FM channel - FunAsia. Sure enough within a few days of arriving here I scanned for the channel in my car's FM radio and till date I have not changed the channel even once.

I mostly listen in morning around 10 while doing my 30-40 minute commute to work and in the afternoon/evening between 3 to 5PM when I head back. Maybe it could be because majority of the listeners are in my age group,  though they play recent ones as well there are a lot of songs that get played which are older bollywood numbers ( anything from 60s to early 2000s).  The songs from 90s especially are really like 'Pensieves' and  magically transport you back to that era and stage of your life and open up a lot of lovely memories associated with that time. Many of these songs were the ones we used to love a lot for a while and then slowly got replaced by more recent popular songs as time went by like with most things in our life.
These days there has been numerous occasions when I start my car thinking about something at work, some email for which I need to reply, some task to complete and while being pre-occupied with all those things there arrives suddenly a song  on air which brings a sudden smile and changes/uplifts your mood suddenly and makes you hum along and tap your fingers on the steering wheel and it radically changes your day!

Nothing like good old 90s music to set off that wonderful nostalgia train and bring back that smile!

The Winter Solistice

Right from my childhood, I have always been a trivia buff. I knew what summer solstice was and what winter solstice was and the date it falls on June 21/Dec 21 respectively ( oh yeah it does vary by a day at times). I had an idea what it was but never quite realized what it meant and why it mattered. The first quarter of my life was in Southern India and the two terms I mentioned above hardly mattered over there as the variation of day was not much. You read in news papers about Winter Solstice or Summer Solstice when the date approaches but it dint really register or mean much to me.

Just for illustration, June 21 in 2015 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu my hometown had Sunrise at 6:00 AM and sunset at 6:47 PM and that's like 12 Hrs 47 min of daylight. Dec 21 in 2015 in the same place the sunrise was at 6:35 AM and sunset was at 6:04 PM and that's around 11 hrs 28 min of sunlight

Of course most of Southern India or India/ South East Asia / Middle east ( other places I have lived in) are somewhat similar there might be slight variation as you go norther but most of the tropical places we don't have too much variation between longest and shortest days. Or at least I didn't really notice it much. Well during my last 5 years in India I lived for 3 years in Mumbai and 2 in Chennai both of which don't have any winter and just have a very hot season and not so hot season

Only after coming to Seattle, I was able to witness 4 clear and distinct seasons and in Seattle for the same dates - June 21 in 2015 the sunrise was at 7:55 AM and sunset was at 4:20 PM and that is 8 hours and 25 min of  winter sunlight. Meanwhile in June 21 2015 the sunrise was at 5:12 AM and sunset was 9:11 PM and that's almost 16 hours of summer sunlight.  The contrast was too stark especially when winter comes. For a month or so in winter there would be no sunlight when you start for work around 8 AM and it will be dark when you get back home even though I would be back home by 5 PM. To add to this it would be mostly gloomy weather with rain and cold winds would keep appearing every now and then and that was indeed a depressing combo. You really missed those warm summer months with those long days of beautiful weather when most people would spend lot of time outdoors. Winter Solstice marked the day when you turn a corner and the world starts getting back to brightness a little more with maybe 1-2 minutes of extra sun a day gradually and in a few months you stop noticing the darkness, the cold winds, constant rains and the general gloom. The winter will still be there for a few more months, but at least the days slowly start getting longer
After my first year in Seattle, I was very sure there is some connection between sunlight and warmth and general cheerfulness and in the next year you would really wish for Dec 21 to come soon and for Feb middle when things start getting better/brighter. Also you sort of understand why they packed a set of holidays and family/social events during this period as the lack of sun does get to you at times

After a few years of that, now while living in Dallas, TX there is 10 hours of sunlight even on winter solstice and there is still sunlight when I step out in morning  for work and when I'm getting back in the evening so it doesn't feel that bad and I'm back to not paying that much attention. Sure it is winter and yes the day does feel slightly shorter but still it doesn't feel so bad as to wish for Dec 21 to come and to just get past the worst!

Yet another move!

Having a fixed address for a long period  is something I have never had in my life, in essence change or moving has been the only constant. Right from childhood since my parents had transferrable jobs we kept moving between towns/cities and even when within a town we changed houses multiple times. At times I would envy some of my friends and cousins who have always lived in 1 or 2 localities throughout. I would wish always that how would things be if we didnt move houses and we stayed in same place.

But again it was not just my parents who were to blame, when I grew up I was also doing the same thing at even more rapid pace. I lived in 5 different houses in Bangalore in 3 years I spent  there to give you an idea. Post 2008 I have lived 6 major global cities and moving is something that is a norm

Anyways what I want to write about today is not about those missed childhood experiences of a single familiar place or lack of something constant  though my parents eventually settled back in my hometown to the house they built around the time I was born and for last 15 years my hometown / permanent address is same.  So in a way I finally did get that. On the positive side whenever we moved we would meet new people, there would be new school, school mates , new neighbors, new neighborhood which I usually explored alone. It was always a huge fun going out and discovering the place you lived in. I think that's the reason why this movie is a huge personal favorite of mine

Moving in childhood was always easy and huge fun, because I basically did nothing. My parents along with some folks from my dad's office would come in and do all the actual moving. Subsequently during my student days I did stay for short periods in multiple places but all I had to carry was a mattress and couple of suitcases. Even when I had started working my worldly possessions were very minimal and could be carried in 2-3 suitcases.

Only after my marriage I actually started 'settling down' and started buying household stuff like furniture, household electronics, cooking utensils etc. So when I moved from Chennai to Seattle there was quite a lot of stuff to be moved to my hometown. Again as I had to leave quickly I just left and my efficient better half took care of it all.  We hired a professional movers and packers, but it was still exhausting for her and she was certainly not happy but having never really been involved in a move I still had no idea how hard it was.

Then we settled in Seattle and everything seemed fine for a while we lived in the same apartment for an year and half. Even though the apartments here are equipped with household necessities like Fridge, heater, washing m/c, dryer and dishwasher with time we did accumulate enough stuff.

So when we had to move to another part of the city so that we can be near her workplace, finally there was a 'Move' which I had to co-ordinate. As with most things in US the 'do-it-yourself' attitude extended to even household moves. With a fair bit of planning using internet and more importantly with inputs from a local cousin who enlisted himself as volunteer#1 we decided that we will do it ourselves. Moving on your own is certainly something that needs to be done once in lifetime it certainly was a good experience to remember later

Overall it was simple and straightforward  : hire a truck get lot of boxes and tape and then put stuff in, take it out and before you do that just let the word around in office floor and friends circle. So many helpful tips and inputs came my way.
Essentially there was lot of initial planning and getting boxes to pack and identifying the right truck. With services like U-Haul renting truck and getting any other necessary stuff is very easy. Couple of folks my office team who lived nearby also offered to join and in fact they did most of the hauling.  The previous evening we had to start putting stuff into boxes and taping it up and it was a long night. Next day early in the morning when the store opened I went and picked up a U-Haul truck. It was my first time driving such a big vehicle and the old guy at the store mumbled some instructions and I didnt understand a single word and decided to proceed to the truck. I tried a while but couldnt figure out the gears and luckily the guy had followed me slowly and he explained how to start it. It was smooth sailing until I had to put reverse gear and park in my apartment community and once again a quick google search solved it and the truck was parked and ready. It took us an hour or so to load up the truck and then I set out  on the truck with my friends all whom were new to US and had recently started driving cars. It was really good experience driving the full truck through multiple highways and luckily we reached and parked with no issues. The actual move itself took only like 4 hours and by late afternoon we were ready to unpack. My entire furniture was from IKEA which meant it could be easily dismantled and assembling back was also easy. By evening along with my cousin who stayed back till late evening we had assembled all the furniture. Since we moved from 1 Bed apt to 3 bed one laziness took over quickly since there was lot of space to keep the boxes and my initial plan was to just take out immediately the most necessary stuff on Day1 and then gradually over the week slowly do the other boxes.

But it always never works according to plan, always! Most of the time the things we need will be in the boxes kept in spare bedroom and even though the boxes were marked appropriately almost always I had to open 3 boxes before I found the right stuff  Within a few days we got rid of almost all the boxes and moved everything to correct places but it did take  another 3-4 weeks fully settle down

Our new house was simply fantastic, it was on a hill and there was greenery all around. There was a small stream right outside and the place around had all the amenities you needed. We had sufficient and more space inside and for rent we were paying it was a steal. All this lead to the thought that we had a perfect place and we are not going to move anywhere for a while. Things indeed looked fine for a while and then in another 6 months we had to move again. This time we were moving to Texas about 2000 miles away in another corner of US and this time the Do-it-yourself was ruled out not only because of logistical issues also because my wife's employer was paying for the whole thing.

So this time we got a professional packers and movers, again there was same dread and pain but in lesser magnitude. We had to do some amount of planning on what stuff we will carry with us and what will go in truck and also on how to manage once they picked up the car which was moved by a different company. But the actual work was fully done by the Movers and after 2 weeks of survival in a hotel once we moved in to our current apartment in Dallas we had the movers bring in our stuff which was kept in Storage until we were ready. Getting the stuff in boxes to apartment without any damage is one thing, but setting up the home is another major challenge and it again took us well over a month to make it into our home again!

Given the nature of our jobs and our willingness to be ready to move if needed means those empty boxes will always be there in my storage room. Since we had very little time to find an apartment and most homes look spacious when empty it was very confusing. Only when we started unpacking we realized how small our kitchen is and the pantry shelves are tiny. So I guess its only a matter of time before those boxes come out again

Some things that I found strange when I first came here

This is a post that has been in draft folder for a long time, I captured some part of it in 2013 year end and wanted to put it up when I complete an year in US  ... that day came and went multiple times , so better late than never ....

The basic thought for this came to me a few years back while chatting with friends and some ex-colleagues back in India who were curious about how I was finding the American life and how different was it .Though I had a fair idea of what to expect given the fact that majority of my college mates lived in US and I had a sister and a couple of cousins over here there are many things seemingly obvious things which I found odd when I first came. These are just some random first impressions about life here and things which I didnt know  despite being fed a steady diet of movies, TV shows and updates from relatives about life in US

These were 'strange' to me based on my then sense of 'normal' which was formed based on life in India with occasional stints in other parts of Asia and this in no way a discussion of whether it is good or bad and attempt to pass any judgement

1. Its all very big

I had heard people here are big and sort of figured big roads and wide spaces but seeing it in person was a different experience altogether. Even the trees were really big and extremely tall and huge atleast in pacific Northwest region. When I went to grocery stores I could see that the big concept applied over there as well. People bought things in huge quantities because of how it is priced. The family sizes were also big , the cars were usually very big and coffee cup sizes, ice-cream sizes were all really big

2. Sun sets so late in summer

Sunset is very late in summer as late at 8-8:30 pm for most of April to August
I just didnt have a clue about this at all until I came here and it was really weird at first as we are just not used to seeing so much sunlight after 7 pm

Initially seeing warm sunshine outside as I got home somehow made me very happy as our lifestyle in Indian IT cos made sure we always got home much after sunset. In India those rare occassions when I could get back home before it became dark were much cherished, so to be able to do that daily with ease was something I enjoyed. Then winter came and took the sun away but topic is for another day

3. The big wide roads with streamlined traffic ( for most part!) ... shouldn't have been such a major surprise but travelling in the Highway ( also called Freeway) at 65 Mph with defined speed limits which everyone adhered to ( more or less) and with clear defined exit lanes and entry was a source of wonder for me. Not that I had not seen good roads before or seen people follow rules but just seeing that these things were so common and just seeing it all work was amazing the first time.It was strange to realize you just have to drive and you don't need to anticipate if what the guy in next lane might do as everyone follows rules. Also the presence of  separate dedicated HOV ( high occupancy vehicle) lane was a surprise these lanes were present on all major highways within metro area .Each revelation about this concept just added one more level of surprise, I next found out  having 2 ppl (yeah  just 2) meant High occupancy but biggest or strangest one was noticing how empty that lane actually was! That was a quick intro lesson into American  way of living

4. Total absence of Cash in all transactions

More to do with city living where you buy things from major grocery chains and stores or online there is absolutely no need to have physical cash at all. I think for a long time I didnt have a single dollar note in my wallet and unless I was going on a trip or going to places like farmers market I never had to use cash

In India having the ATM of your bank nearby was one of the points I considered while doing apartment hunting and it was surprise to find that cash was just not needed at all. I think I did withdraw couple of hundred dollars initially more out of force of habit of needing some cash in wallet for any emergency but found that the cash lasted me a long long time

5. Checking vs Saving account

It strange to me to find that everyone preferred 'Checking' account with zero percent interest in it but the first visit to bank helped understand it even better. The banker was trying to convince me to open a savings account and it all went fine until he mentioned that interest was 0.03% !!!
Now wonder people purchase things like crazy and live on credit

6.Small talk / idle chit chat

Total strangers you walk past, will greet you and say Hi , 'Good morning'or ask 'how is it going' or something like that and just expect another greeting or nod back thats all ... it took my a while to adjust and take it in and nod back or give some greeting back. They were just being polite but that was something I found strange and slightly creepy at first.
Another place was at billing counter of any shop, the sales clerk will not just ask you if you found everything alright but will also make some polite conversation. At first most often I would just not reply properly and mumble something  because I just did not expect that conversation at all mind would have switched off ready to just swipe the card and be done with it. Also noticed that often at work as well and almost always the person has no interest in how you are doing but just wants to ask something but that's just the way the conversation is started.

7. People being extremely courteous

Again might be just something I saw in pacific north west area and I'm generalizing of course but overall people are very polite both and readily help out. That habit of saying 'Thank you' and keeping the door open for the next person were things we all knew were good to do but I never practiced consistently it until I came here. Another place where I noticed the politeness was while driving. In India we end up driving crazily and it was always a stressful experience where I would be honking like crazy and cursing frequently as I drove. But over here it was totally different experience ( talking only about non-peak time driving in non-downtown areas ) and on the road people were very courteous and while trying to enter a road even if you didn't have right of way invariably someone would stop their car and let you enter the road totally out of courtesy which I found it very hard to believe

PS : I have honked a total of 2 times in last 2.3 years of car driving.

8. Silence

Last but not the least ... total silence ... strange as it may sound I dont remember hearing such total silence ever before. At night there is just no sound absolutely nothing at all in suburban apartments. It took a while to get used it as there is usually some sound or other that you can hear in Indian cities. When my wife joined me in US she found it very strange and we got a pedestal fan which we used only to get some sound in room as it was too quiet!

Ok there are many others like how people follow sports, the amount of time and money spent on pets and several others but just these were the ones in my original list from few years back and since these were the first impressions I leave it at that.

Down the memory lane with World cup and Ind-Pak matches

Harry Potter books among several neat magical concepts had something called Pensieve. For those
who dont know it is an object to store/retrieve memories. For me World cup in general and Ind-Pak matches in particular is something similar. Majority of Indians watch/follow cricket but thats a very loose terms associated with being aware of the game and having a general idea of whats going on. There are a lot of us who follow the game passionately and  most of us follow almost all matches played by Indian cricket team but given the fact that India plays 40-50 matches an year most of the action is forgotten very soon.

However World cup is one of the events that is remembered for a long long time. Among my earliest memories of cricket has been watching the Benson & Hedges World cup in 92. Thought I do remember catching some action in the tri-series prior to it, the 92 WC was the first time I followed an entire cricket tournament, we all caught up with everything available, read the newspapers caught the action on TV whenever possible and spoke about it with friends in school and neighbourhood and had our own reenactment of those matches in gully cricket!

You sort of pick up general vibe from your parents, neighbours and coloumns in newspapers and Pak was a country we really wanted to beat and mostly fell short in close battles until then in ODIs and it in 92 WC we were meeting them for first time. As such defeats in Sharjah were fresh in our minds then and this match with More-Miandad clash and Kapil and Sachin scripting a good win was athe lone bright spot in an otherwise not so memorable tournament from Indian perspective. But South Africa , Jonty Rhodes, NZ team with Dipak Patel opening and Crow and Greatbatch and Inzy, Wasim , Lara  and of course the rain rule is what I remember even now from that edition.

By the time the next world cup arrived I was in 9th standard and had become a huge cricket fan reading up all I could find about the game which meant newspaper and Sportstar magazine. This was around the time my dad had decided that I was wasting too much time in non-studies related activities and had banned cricket from tv for a while .I still managed to find a transistor radio and caught up with action is another story but even his resolve to keep away melted as the World cup fever heated up and I ended up watching most of the significant matches. Ofcourse the most memorable match indeed was the Ind-Pak QF game of 96 which is perhaps the best Ind-Pak WC game that ever was given the stakes involved and mental baggage. I think we were batting well and looked set for a good score and then all of a sudden Jadeja ( that meant Ajay then) went berserk and ripped apart fearsome Waqar. But Pak reply was equally good with Sohail and Anwar batting really well and then that Venkatesh Prasad moment happened which I do believe was sort of thing which ensured the 'mental edge' and swagger Pakistanis had (atleast in mind of Indian fans) dissapeared and our heroes seemed to be an even match for them. Another enduring sight was Miandad struggling and looking hapless. From WC perspective it was last time the mighty WI showed their dominance and Aus also impresed and pulled off a brilliantly heist in semis, but the Lankans were the team of the WC and eventual winners but the way they played their cricket was something else. My dad termed them 'unprofessional' and was convinced such crazy batting cant be maintained and indeed many others who had seen the game for a while could not understand what was going on as Lankans threw old theories of batting steady aside and forged a new way to win matches which got adopted by almost all teams in the next few years and sort of changed the game itself! That Eden defeat to SL was very painful indeed. Sri Lanka made a powerful statement to the world with the WC win


The next world cup arrived in 3 years and this time I had completed board exams and was preparing for Engg entrance and with high performing cousins securing marks in high 90s and admissions in colleges of choice there was added pressure from parents. This meant no TV at all, but I do remember watching the Ind-SL match with my cousins and a score like that was unbelievable. I couldnt watch most games  was only able to catch up on newspaper next day on what exactly happened. The only exception made was the Ind-Pak game and somehow I dont remember much about this match at all except that Prasad took a lot of wickets. The best match of course was the semis when Australia pulled of yet another heist like previous WC

2003 WC was in my college final year and this time I was in hostel and there was a general cricket fever and a big group used to sit together and watch and discuss during matches. The India-Pak clash was another memorable one, I cant remember why there was a huge hype around this one perhaps because we were hardly playing Pak at that time. This was billed as Shoaib vs Sachin and Pak put up a huge total. The reply from Sachin and Sehwag is something that I will remember for a long time the entire TV room in college hostel erupted with joy with every big hit. There were lots in the initial overs as Sachin went after Akthar and Sehwag also smashed Wasim and Waqar and there was a huge silence and Sehwag and Ganguly got out immediately. But there was still Sachin and boundaries kept flowing almost every over and huge chase was achieved. Another thing I remember from this world cup was performance of Zim and Kenya and the fact that they could not help these two teams make it to big league given their promise and performance in 2003 should rank as one of the major failures of cricket. Of course the WC final was a match all Indian fans would like to forget as it was a savage mauling by an extremely strong Aussie team that we watched/suffered through. And what an Aussie team it was!

By the time next WC arrived we were suddenly very sure of Indian team being able to cross the final hurdle as Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid and Ganguly were complemented by a solid middle order of Yuvi and Dhoni and we had changed from poor chasers to a team which can chase any target. But it turned out to be the worst ever performance maybe the format can be blamed but net result was that from a fans perspective this was one of the least memorable World cups. I was working at Infosys and  no longer had to contend with exams and other distractions but with India crashing out and the matches starting late evening there was not much incentive to sit whole night and watch the matches. Ofcourse Ireland and Bangladesh would be summary of the World cup from subcontinental fans perspective, that and that squash ball! Again Aussies were unstoppable and they completed yet another comprehesive WC campaign and were hardly troubled while defending it and my fervent wish throughout the WC for some nation to upset Aussies remained a wish alone until ...

2011 WC was in India and I had taken up an offer from Cognizant to join their Business Development team and with WC in mind negotiated with my previous employer to reduce notice period and release me early and had asked Cognizant for a later joining date and created a gap of 1 month which was when bulk of World cup happened. This meant home food and viewing world cup matches without any kind of disturbance and this was indeed the only WC where I could watch almost all the matches fully. The match of the world cup for me was the Ind-Aus QF when India finally stepped up and stopped a strong aussie team ofcourse the final was a great win and the win against Pak in semis were also really crucial but in terms of strength of opposition and how scared we as fans were it was the QF that really mattered. The Ind-Pak match was a semi-final and as such a high pressure one without baggage associted with usual rivalry. But as Indian fans we were lot more confident of our team and it was the Pak team which seemed to have lost the mental resolve and swagger and looked very nervous and fumbled around and lost. That was the match which sort of confirmed the trend in the rivalry for a while and it perhaps began in mid 2000s as India stopped being nervous about meeting Pak and routinely coasted to wins. That ending in Mumbai was the moment fans of my generation will keep talking about or atleast thats what we thought that time!

2015 WC being in Australia and me living in North West US had made it hard to follow first there was the matter of getting the matches on TV. Lot of discussions with friends and searches on net later the package was identified and purchased 30 min before start of Ind-Pak game and then several other NRIs seemed to be doing the same as the website's server crashed with everyone trying to activate subscription. Luckily just as the toss finished and teams were lining up for National Anthemn the link came up and gave me Sky Sports HD coverage. Since WC 2011 this was the first match that I saw entire innings, I have ranted a lot about the length of ODI format ad nauseum and for a while I have been only watching first 15 overs and last 15 overs and catching the rest on cricinfo or chekcing score occassionally. But this being WC and Ind-Pak out of nowhere came this desire to not miss a ball, I couldnt watch the entire Pak innings but went to sleep confident that this Indian team had their opposition's number. This might perhaps be the weakest Ind and Pak squads to have clashed in a WC but under high pressure Indian batting really stepped up and Pak bowling struggled before coming into their own towards the end. Sadly their batting couldnt put up similar fight. This might be low intensity group stage clash but the effect an Ind-Pak clash in WC has on fans and ultimately the teams themselves is something to be seen to understand. Due to various reasons mostly attributable to form of Indian cricket team most of us were not really looking forward to the World cup but now that it is here and has kick started hoping to catch as much as possible despite the hurdles imposed by timezone

2014 - List of books

Again yet another year when finding time to read was very hard but still managed to still carry on at least read enough to put up a list of sorts. No excuses this time as it was plain laziness and lack of time management. I started using the wonderful county library here and also got a Kindle towards the end of the year ( more on that in another post ) which considerably bumped up the number of books read.

As its such a short list have added some comments on some of the books

So without much ado the list

1. Leela's book by Alice Albinia : I really loved the previous non-fiction work by this author ( Empires of Indus) and picked this up with high expectation. That could be perhaps be the reason why I was very dissapointed with this one. This is a fictional tale set in modern India but its a sprawling epic threading so many different worlds with Ganesha as narrator and themes from Indian epics, re-incarnation, religious and class divide in modern India, homo sexuality and so many more things. Somehow the narrative lost steam very early for me and despite some good writing in certain stretches it was just not convincing enough for me.

2. Around India in 80 trains by Monisha Rajesh :  Indian railway stories is something I really love and I have devoured lot of documentaries related to Indian trains. But there is really no good book on train journeys across India. Thats a statement from this book from Monisha Rajesh an NRI from UK who comes to India to discover the country through trains. After finishing the book thats the one statement I agree completely with the author. The book is not without its merits there are few stray gems about how Indian trains and system works but its mostly average stuff with choppy narrative and mostly personal experience of a 2nd gen NRI and might appeal more to foreign readers than Indians I guess

3.The Messenger by Markus Zusak : Had started reading and then misplaced the book and recently found out, technically not fully read but planning to do very soon so will have it on this list :)

4. Myth = Mithya by Devdutt Patnaik :  This was a book I wanted to read for long and finally got around to reading this year. Hindu mythology and cultural practices and reasons behind it is a fascinating read. It was good to read about and understand so many things that are all around us as part of culture but to understand the possible origins to all these in such an easy to follow manner was what impressed me about this book

5. Skeptical Patriot : Exploring the Truths behind the Zero and Other Indian Glories by Sidin Vadakkut : Exploration of myth/history behind most email forwards with lots of humor thrown in

6. Seven secrets of Shiva by Devdutt Patnaik  - really enjoyed this one and looking forward to reading more such books

7.Goat Days ( aatu jeevitham) by Benyamin : This was translation of a malayalam book recommended by Vaidya. Downloaded the book on Kindle and finished it in 2 days. Its story of 'gelf' dream gone horribly wrong for a poor young man from Kerala. Having lived for a while in the 'gulf' and with so many of my college batchmates living there and interacting with folks there I was aware that it was not really all that rosy and so many folks have it really tough especially those doing blue collar jobs. But this was something else, similar in some sense to the book 'What is the What' ... its about story of dashed hopes and survival and ultimately its a great story about survival of human spirit. Even in presence of most adverse conditions the ability to pick oneself up and somehow survive the ordeal was really inspiring in a sense

8. The Devil in Us by Monica Bhide : Stories with Indian diaspora in east coast US, pretty dark ones involving guilt, loss and alienation

9. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn : guess everyone must have seen the movie by now, I wanted to read the book first!

10. The Martian by Andy Weir : Robinson Crusoe experience / Gravity movie type experience set in Mars, again thats just the gist but this was a fascinating read for the science involved and the general geekiness . Also a great story of survival and triumph of human spirit in face of gravest of grave dangers. Can't recommend enough!

11. Sachin - Genius unplugged by Suresh Menon : There was lot of hype around the SRT bio which seemed overpriced and possibly banal as Sachin is so non-controversial, so in spirit of things picked up this book which was compilation of articles/essays on SRT by lot of cricket writers

12. What if ? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Questions  by Randall Munroe - This author is creator of xkcd - enuff said!


So thats the list , 12 ... not bad considering I had read only 3 books by Dec 2nd week, so there was lot of activity  towards the end of the year like Dhoni - ODI innings!

As part of our annual tradition looking forward to the lists from my more well read cousins : @Vaidya  and @Indu .. over to you guys!