I've just been reading the 'Anne' series by L.M Montgomery for the umpteenth time. Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Willows, Anne's House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley as well as Chronicles of Avonlea, and Further Chronicles of Avonlea.
How I love Anne! She is my favorite character. Whenever Life pulls a fast one on me, I always wonder, what would Anne do? She is whimsical,clever, impulsive, good and sweet. I love her 'good'ness. She's good without being a prig. She's by no means perfect, and constantly laments having red hair and comforts herself with her pretty nose. She is also very proud at times and finds it very hard to forgive digs about her hair!
L.M Montgomery has described her gray, starry eyes that change with mood and I can almost see them flashing an approval at me, when I go for a walk at lakeside and indulge my Imagination. Dreams make life worth living.
Anne does not live a half life and is capable of experiencing the most exquisite joy and sorrow. I've realised that it's very difficult for people to be happy, really happy. Not just when they win a prize, but by regular every day miracles like a gorgeous sunset or an encouraging word. But these 'regular' things just seem to give Anne more and more scope for imagination and she revels in that! I love that about her!
That makes me think of Charlotte Bronte! How can a woman living a prim secluded life write something like 'Wuthering Heights'?! How can she write about Catherine's love for Heathcliff and describe it like 'the rocks on the moor below, comfortless but necessary.' How did she feel those emotions, to write about them like that? Did her life open up her 'golden casements' to 'perilous seas of faery lands forlorn?
Anne is not a genius, but she has the keys to her casements and it casts a golden cloak over her life making her one of those lucky, happy individuals. I love the way she describes 'people who belong to the race of Joseph' and I always have a weather eye open for people who do! I feel I have found a lot of them as I've followed my wayward star and I feel that they've made my life all the richer for it.
Anne's optimism, her sense of humour and her strength and her 'fineness' have made her a role model for me. I wonder if any of you have read this series and love Anne too? If you do, do tell me about it! I'm all up for a nice L.M Montgomery revel! I've read every scrap she's written and though I don't think her a brilliant authoress, I think her books have a rare sweet charm, somewhat like bottled moonshine, or like bluberries fresh from the dell, which i've never come across before!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Shannon's Way
So I was reading 'Shannon's Way' by A.J Cronin and I fell in love with
the story!
I'm not going to tell you the plot, because this is one book you have
to read! But I will tell you how the main characters touched me and
how by just knowing them so intimately, I feel like I'm a better
person!
That's the sweet thing about books! Every time you read one, your
circle of acquaintances expands. You learn more about yourself because
you see reflections of your best and worst emotions in the characters
you come across.
Back to 'Shannon's Way'! Robert Shannon is a brilliant young doctor,
who throws away a brilliant career away to continue the research he wants
to work on. The difficulties that he faces to achieve his goal are incredible and it truly is amazing to see the single minded determination with which he follows his lonely star.
The ending is very sad though, just after he finishes with his experiments, word comes that another researcher in another land has already published the results and Shannon has nothing left-no fame, no recognition, nothing.
Shannon is the protagonist. His is a straightforward character really. No other option is possible to him but to carry out the research he loves. It is not in him to even regret making his decision to throw away his career to pursue his passion. He is idealistic, splendid and noble.
But the character that appealed to me the most was of Jean. Jean and Shannon are madly in love, but as they are of different religious faiths, Jean and her parents believe that a true understanding in the form of marriage can never exist between the two. Jean is obedient to her parents and breaks off with Shannon though she loves him.
Shannon implores her to marry him several times. He tries to reason with her saying that he would respect their difference and it would never come between them, but Jean with her close knit, religious family is torn between her love for Shannon and what she considers to be her duty to her family and to her God.
Right at the end however, when she learns about Shannon's condition, when she learns that he has nothing left and was broken and disheartened, she realizes that her place is by Shannon's side. The God of her fathers loved each and every single person. If God could overlook differences among people then there was no reason for her not to be at the side of the person she loved the most.
Her struggle through out the book between duty and love was heartrending. The understanding that illuminates her at the end when she goes to Shannon seems to be of another world when you realize that Love is not a sacrifice but a gift. It is a coupling of souls of which externalities and man made conventions form no part.
This is what inspired me. And I hope when you read this book, it will inspire you too.
the story!
I'm not going to tell you the plot, because this is one book you have
to read! But I will tell you how the main characters touched me and
how by just knowing them so intimately, I feel like I'm a better
person!
That's the sweet thing about books! Every time you read one, your
circle of acquaintances expands. You learn more about yourself because
you see reflections of your best and worst emotions in the characters
you come across.
Back to 'Shannon's Way'! Robert Shannon is a brilliant young doctor,
who throws away a brilliant career away to continue the research he wants
to work on. The difficulties that he faces to achieve his goal are incredible and it truly is amazing to see the single minded determination with which he follows his lonely star.
The ending is very sad though, just after he finishes with his experiments, word comes that another researcher in another land has already published the results and Shannon has nothing left-no fame, no recognition, nothing.
Shannon is the protagonist. His is a straightforward character really. No other option is possible to him but to carry out the research he loves. It is not in him to even regret making his decision to throw away his career to pursue his passion. He is idealistic, splendid and noble.
But the character that appealed to me the most was of Jean. Jean and Shannon are madly in love, but as they are of different religious faiths, Jean and her parents believe that a true understanding in the form of marriage can never exist between the two. Jean is obedient to her parents and breaks off with Shannon though she loves him.
Shannon implores her to marry him several times. He tries to reason with her saying that he would respect their difference and it would never come between them, but Jean with her close knit, religious family is torn between her love for Shannon and what she considers to be her duty to her family and to her God.
Right at the end however, when she learns about Shannon's condition, when she learns that he has nothing left and was broken and disheartened, she realizes that her place is by Shannon's side. The God of her fathers loved each and every single person. If God could overlook differences among people then there was no reason for her not to be at the side of the person she loved the most.
Her struggle through out the book between duty and love was heartrending. The understanding that illuminates her at the end when she goes to Shannon seems to be of another world when you realize that Love is not a sacrifice but a gift. It is a coupling of souls of which externalities and man made conventions form no part.
This is what inspired me. And I hope when you read this book, it will inspire you too.
A getting back post
I can't believe it's taken me so long to write a new post!
I've just been going through my old posts and I feel like I've just had a reunion with an old and dear friend. I guess I've been too caught up with useless things really and have ignored a part of me, which is probably the most important.
I love walking by myself thinking my own pretty thoughts. And it surprises me and hurts me to think i've been worrying about so many silly things that I haven't had time for mulling over Cabbages and Kings!
So heres to getting back to being 'me'!!
Right at the present, I'm really involved in this new project called TIFAC. Every 20 years the government gets a bunch of experts to write a report on what they envisage to be the future of a sector in India. For example, what should the agricultural scene be like in 2035? What kind of equipment would be present etc.
Well this time Professor Rangan Banerjee is the expert in charge of writing the report of the future of energy technologies. He proposed that students make a parallel report as we are going to be the ones in charge in 2035 blah blah blah :P
Well here we are! We're about to write a report that has the potential to change the course of a nation! To write something that might be implemented. It is a grave responsibility. What should be our objective?
I mean, what should be our immediate goal? Should we aim for energy security, should we aim to start employ new cutting edge technologies to make our country more efficient? Or should we first ensure that people in rural areas and undeveloped areas get access to the grid?
They have to be connected to the grid at some point. Employing decentralized energy sources there will not give them a continuous energy supply through out the day. In addition, sometimes if renewable energy sources were deployed, there would be excess energy production in some parts of the country, while there would be a deficit in another part. By connecting everyone with a grid, we can ensure that no energy is wasted.
On one hand I see unborn generations scowling at me, living with inefficient, out dated technologies and on the other hand I see the miserable present and I shudder!
It is very important that India starts using the latest, most efficient technologies. This usage would encourage R&D and ensure the start up of a local ecosystem for that technology. More importantly, India is producing far less power than the demand. This gap would be bridged a little with more efficient technologies.
So suppose, we decide to adopt hydrogen as an efficient energy carrier, the future would vastly benefit from this. But revamping our entire system, will not help people who do not even have electricity. We need a parallel movement for them. It is important that we find a delicate balance between the needs of those present and those to come.
I hope that we achieve this balance! I sympathize with policy makers most heartily now. Making a decision like this is not easy!
I've just been going through my old posts and I feel like I've just had a reunion with an old and dear friend. I guess I've been too caught up with useless things really and have ignored a part of me, which is probably the most important.
I love walking by myself thinking my own pretty thoughts. And it surprises me and hurts me to think i've been worrying about so many silly things that I haven't had time for mulling over Cabbages and Kings!
So heres to getting back to being 'me'!!
Right at the present, I'm really involved in this new project called TIFAC. Every 20 years the government gets a bunch of experts to write a report on what they envisage to be the future of a sector in India. For example, what should the agricultural scene be like in 2035? What kind of equipment would be present etc.
Well this time Professor Rangan Banerjee is the expert in charge of writing the report of the future of energy technologies. He proposed that students make a parallel report as we are going to be the ones in charge in 2035 blah blah blah :P
Well here we are! We're about to write a report that has the potential to change the course of a nation! To write something that might be implemented. It is a grave responsibility. What should be our objective?
I mean, what should be our immediate goal? Should we aim for energy security, should we aim to start employ new cutting edge technologies to make our country more efficient? Or should we first ensure that people in rural areas and undeveloped areas get access to the grid?
They have to be connected to the grid at some point. Employing decentralized energy sources there will not give them a continuous energy supply through out the day. In addition, sometimes if renewable energy sources were deployed, there would be excess energy production in some parts of the country, while there would be a deficit in another part. By connecting everyone with a grid, we can ensure that no energy is wasted.
On one hand I see unborn generations scowling at me, living with inefficient, out dated technologies and on the other hand I see the miserable present and I shudder!
It is very important that India starts using the latest, most efficient technologies. This usage would encourage R&D and ensure the start up of a local ecosystem for that technology. More importantly, India is producing far less power than the demand. This gap would be bridged a little with more efficient technologies.
So suppose, we decide to adopt hydrogen as an efficient energy carrier, the future would vastly benefit from this. But revamping our entire system, will not help people who do not even have electricity. We need a parallel movement for them. It is important that we find a delicate balance between the needs of those present and those to come.
I hope that we achieve this balance! I sympathize with policy makers most heartily now. Making a decision like this is not easy!
Friday, January 14, 2011
A Rant
BBC recently broad casted a program on religious divide throughout the world. As I sat there, I watched the atrocities, the mindless arguments, the concentration of human resources on problems so trivial and banal, that I could hardly believe that the footage on the screen belonged to the 21st century.
A woman who had been raped sat in the shadows and talked to a BBC reporter. She had suffered simply because she belonged to a minority community in Egypt. She told the world her miserable story. And yet... the next day the reporter would leave, satisfied with having obtained a 'good story' and the rest of the world would talk about it in horror stricken voices about coffee tables, or perhaps post about it on their blogs and offer "sympathy" to those people. Perhaps in the future a few human rights groups would come up and start collecting money, most of which would not reach the actual victims.
Really? Will that woman ever get justice? The apathetic government still denies strongly that its police are corrupt, its streets are swollen with crime and such atrocities are becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Well thats about it right? And life would go on. Sordid and sick when taken in the bulk. And thats why we puny humans can never pluck up the courage to view the world as it really is, but concentrate on our own little corners and dance to the latest dance song and laugh at the latest joke and go for the latest movie... and forget... because we can not live with ourselves if we bring ourselves to remember..
Why on earth can't people keep their beliefs and views to themselves? Why do they have to impose their opinions on other people? Religion is a highly personal thing, and to wage a war on someone else simply because he has a different belief is mindless! Each and every single religion merely says that there is a God who created us for which we have to give thanks and that we must be good human beings. Which religion says that we have to conquer the earth and subdue the free will of everyone else and make a hash of things?!
Why can't people concentrate on more important things like to tackle the food problem, the climate change problem? The more pressing and urgent problems?
I sometimes imagine the world a century later or so. I see the devastating effects of climate change. I see ravaged countries and all everyone is still doing is argue about religion.
And then I see that the only way to solve this problem is exactly what Huxley paints in this book, "Brave New World". When you read the book, you shudder at the horror and the savagery in it. But its either that, or we all kill each other in this crazy, sad, beautiful world of ours
A woman who had been raped sat in the shadows and talked to a BBC reporter. She had suffered simply because she belonged to a minority community in Egypt. She told the world her miserable story. And yet... the next day the reporter would leave, satisfied with having obtained a 'good story' and the rest of the world would talk about it in horror stricken voices about coffee tables, or perhaps post about it on their blogs and offer "sympathy" to those people. Perhaps in the future a few human rights groups would come up and start collecting money, most of which would not reach the actual victims.
Really? Will that woman ever get justice? The apathetic government still denies strongly that its police are corrupt, its streets are swollen with crime and such atrocities are becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Well thats about it right? And life would go on. Sordid and sick when taken in the bulk. And thats why we puny humans can never pluck up the courage to view the world as it really is, but concentrate on our own little corners and dance to the latest dance song and laugh at the latest joke and go for the latest movie... and forget... because we can not live with ourselves if we bring ourselves to remember..
Why on earth can't people keep their beliefs and views to themselves? Why do they have to impose their opinions on other people? Religion is a highly personal thing, and to wage a war on someone else simply because he has a different belief is mindless! Each and every single religion merely says that there is a God who created us for which we have to give thanks and that we must be good human beings. Which religion says that we have to conquer the earth and subdue the free will of everyone else and make a hash of things?!
Why can't people concentrate on more important things like to tackle the food problem, the climate change problem? The more pressing and urgent problems?
I sometimes imagine the world a century later or so. I see the devastating effects of climate change. I see ravaged countries and all everyone is still doing is argue about religion.
And then I see that the only way to solve this problem is exactly what Huxley paints in this book, "Brave New World". When you read the book, you shudder at the horror and the savagery in it. But its either that, or we all kill each other in this crazy, sad, beautiful world of ours
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
FOOD!
I have had
Black Pepper and Chilli Crabs and soft shell crabs \m/
Barbecued Sting Ray
Deer meat
Pig Organ soup :(
Roasted duck
Tchu Tchu: Cockle shells you have to such the 'meat' out of
Pork ribs
Jelly fish
Octopus
Shark fin and crab meat soup
Abalone
An omelette with oysters!!
Grass jelly drink
Beef made from some special cows. These cows are handled with extreme care. The handlers even play music for the cows to relax!
Dumplings
Aaaaah! Life here is good
I've had HUGE black mushrooms and garlic prawns and all sorts of things made with tofu. I've tried soya milk, but it sux :(
I've had bee hoon noodles with fish cake and
the special Chinese dumplings made at the Dragon Boat festival time
Black Pepper and Chilli Crabs and soft shell crabs \m/
Barbecued Sting Ray
Deer meat
Pig Organ soup :(
Roasted duck
Tchu Tchu: Cockle shells you have to such the 'meat' out of
Pork ribs
Jelly fish
Octopus
Shark fin and crab meat soup
Abalone
An omelette with oysters!!
Grass jelly drink
Beef made from some special cows. These cows are handled with extreme care. The handlers even play music for the cows to relax!
Dumplings
Aaaaah! Life here is good
I've had HUGE black mushrooms and garlic prawns and all sorts of things made with tofu. I've tried soya milk, but it sux :(
I've had bee hoon noodles with fish cake and
the special Chinese dumplings made at the Dragon Boat festival time
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