Books read in 2018

“To travel,” Aldous Huxley once quipped, “is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”

“That is the American Dream: to make your life into something you can sell. — Chuck Palahniuk”

~Highly Recommended~

~Worth a Look~

The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities - Namit Arora

Execution Premium - Robert S. Kaplan

~Pleasure Reading~

Origin (Robert Langdon, #5) - Dan    Brown

Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark - Tilly Bagshawe

The Legend of Virinara - Usha Alexander

Fathers and Sons - Ivan Turgenev

The Great Indian Obsession: The Untold Story of India's Engineers - Adhitya Iyer

The One-Straw Revolution Masanobu Fukuoka 3

~Avoid~



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My Childhood and Bambi

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I started this post to write about ideas, and abruptly, the mood changed. I was lost in the illusory display of childhood days. Imagination wove the reality of our lives daily and archived it as memories. I, too, have my share of memories. I had a pencil box with the cover of the Bambi movie imprinted on it. It always comes before my eyes whenever I think about my life. A sense of surrealism has taken over my imagination. When I was 3, my father lived in the Oak Park area at Mallital. I have faint memories of the school where I did my LKG education. Its name was St. John’s, established in 1844 , and it is located near Mallital. I visualize large images of Jesus on the church glass windows, the LKG class on the first floor, and the UKG class on the ground floor. I also remember myself struggling with alphabets. I have good memories of Buck Preparatory School, Nanital. I have completed my UKG from this school. The school was converted into hotel in 1994. Googled about the founder and go...
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Kanpur Coaching Gurus

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Memories of coaching days at Kanpur are inseparable from me. I have done a separate post on Kanpur coaching mandi only. The most remembered image of my coaching days was the advertisement of Ankush Bhatia by Pran classes, and it was pasted on each wall of Kanpur. His photo was spread at distant corners of the city, showing All India Rank 51. Never seen any local marketing campaign like this. Sometimes, I recall the rush of students from one coaching center to another for seat capture, xerox copying of assignments, and 'out-of-course' study material. The JEE course was never completed on time in the Kanpur coaching mandi. At the end of March, the mad rush to complete the course began with various test series taking place simultaneously. I could not forget that pressure till now. I will never forgive Anish, Pankaj, and Vishnoi sir for combining their individual treats into 1 party for JEE-qualified students. For information on the pre-2000 AD days of coaching mandi, check this l...
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Lyrics of Title Song from Bharat Ek Khoj

सृष्टी से पहले सत्य नहीं था, असत्य भी नहीं अंतरिक्ष भी नहीं, आकाश भीं नहीं था छिपा था क्या कहाँ, किसने देखा था उस पल तो अगम, अटल जल भी कहाँ था सृष्टी का कौन हैं कर्ता कर्ता हैं यह वा अकर्ता ऊंचे आसमान में रहता सदा अध्यक्ष बना रहता वोहीं सच मुच में जानता. या नहीं भी जानता हैं किसी को नहीं पता नहीं पता नहीं है पता, नहीं है पता........... वोह था हिरान्य गर्भ सृष्टी से पहले विद्यमान वोही तो सारे भूत जात का स्वामी महान जो है अस्तित्वमाना धरती आसमान धारण कर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर जिस के बल पर तेजोमय है अम्बर पृथ्वी हरी भरी स्थापित स्थिर स्वर्ग ओर सूरज भी स्थिर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर गर्भ में अपने अग्नी धारण कर पैदा कर्व्यपा था जल इधर उधर नीचे ऊपर जगह चुके वो का एकमेव प्रान बंकर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर ॐ ! सृष्टी निर्माता स्वर्ग रचायता पूर्वज रख्सा कर सत्य धर्मं पलक अतुल जल नियामक रक्षा कर फैली हैं दिशाएं बहु जैसी उसकी सब में सब पर ऐसी ही देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर ऐसी ही देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर......
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MOVIES AND REAL LIFE

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Note: The following post is taken from the archives of  PassionForCinema.com , a much-loved platform for cinema enthusiasts. This is being republished here in the spirit of archiving, historical significance, and sharing important conversations with the readers who may not have had access to the original site. The author of the post is Shailesh Limbachiya, who published the post on June 9, 2007 at 3:10 am. Some days back, I saw an interview of  Sudhir Mishra   on Sahara Filmy by Mayank Shekhar. Mishraji told “Today’s film makers watch movies, not life” They are engaged in watching movies, discussing movies but they do not devote their time to watching, analyzing life. 100% correct. Some so called biggest filmmakers claim their film’s connectivity to real life. They give very stylish, larger than life films. Making is stylish, larger than life films is not a bad thing. But their films do not connect with common man. Why? Because…. - They do not research properly for their ...
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Apne hi pani mein pighal jana barf ka muqaddar hota hai.

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks. I am doing this job but I am unable to understand if I am really doing the job or it is just for the sake of doing something. Confusion is there and no direction is clear to me. I am unable to decipher to whom I should take advice. This post is gentle expression of my wrath on me and everything. Currently, I am unable to express myself here. It may sound like some idealistic and impractical but its not road map of utopia, it is mine day dream of the happy world. Read Bhagat Singh's India for more glimpses of true feelings buzzing around my head. It is more review of history of my country, on whose base our future will be written. Every monumental crisis shakes the people and society of each generation. The art, literature, cinema matures from it. Every unjust decision pushes us in the direction of becoming more fearful, more regressive; and surely there is always enough time for us to undo old injustice. America emerge...
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