Swimming in an ocean of thoughts.....

Ask me no questions and i shall tell you no lies :)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

An imaginative author exploring the dark side .....

Please note: The below post is solely my opinion on writing skills of this author.


There was a time when I despised Sydney Sheldon for his raunchy and explicit usage of language to describe every biological process in a crude way. But then this dreary choice of mine, Master of the game, got me hooked to this author for reasons elaborated in this post. And must say, not without a reason is he so famous.

When I read this novel Master of the game, I found the story clichéd and events quite stereotyped. But then there was something that attracted me to this book! I read it a second time! And i spotted the difference. Till date, all books that I have read (which included novels by Robin Cook, Irving Wallace, Arthur Hailey, John Grisham etc.. and also some new entries like Mark Giminez and Stephenie Meyer - The one who made teen vampire a sensation!), had the perfect protagonists! Then what made me appreciate Sydney Sheldon from this lot? Honestly, not all his books are good, most of which I could associate with trash. But then there is one quality that makes his write-ups stand out! He gives life to each of his characters. The passion with which he evolves a character is overwhelmingly brilliant! A fictional character in his book, seems to be so real and commanding which comes across as a mystic personality that camouflages a dark steel interior, exhibiting an overbearing exterior, which at times confuses the reader as to which of the traits, protagonist or the antagonism of the personality is more appealing. Very few people have that talent to make the character a charade, a make believe, and so real that the reader is carried off in a complex world of trust, envy, love, lust and betrayal.

Two of his novels that left a profound effect on me are Master of the game and The other side of midnight. I would say, both these books do not have a great story line, but still they are worth a read for the kind of power the characters hold on you till you finish reading them.

Sydney often portrays the dark facet of human personality in a very subtle, yet powerful manner. A trait that is hidden in every human, but emerges when the soul is brushed the wrong way. The antagonists of his novels are for sure, villains of the highest order, but what this author makes sure of is, Not Without A Reason! The two novels stated above are a worthwhile read, if and only if you are not a story chaser. Because, you will be disappointed! And the intention of his works is not about producing a story or a chain of events, but is more about molding of a personality against a plethora of events which evidently show off in the strong negative emotions that pour out in the course of events. Sometimes, we ponder what a human personality could be and could be not against the chain of incidents that govern the personality of these characters.

In short, I found Sydney has a knack of portraying antagonism without making the reader feel uncomfortable about the it!

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Teenage: is it dictating?

Probably the golden years of every life start and end at a time when the words ‘maturity’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘awareness’ sink in the transition phase – the coming of teenage. Quite a trying time, must say. An age, when the world refuses to see you as a kid and acknowledge you as an adult. Denial of adulthood during this changeover, can be a royal pain in the neck. After all, teenage is a strange phase of life, better defined as a plethora of opposites: colourful yet embittered, lively yet tensed, passionate yet aggressive and intelligent yet emotional. That is the age when a lot of human facets are put to test. And if the teen understands that it is a test, he emerges as a successful individual. And if he fails, he comes across as an embittered one with a lot of disgruntlement and discontented expectations. Well, the test was never that easy. Teenage often tests an individual’s attitude, his opinions and viewpoints on friendship and relationships, his performance in academics, sports and other extra curricular activities and his attitude towards the society and his level of adjustment in the environment he lives in. Each of this decides what kind of an adult would emerge out of this teen. Quite a test, I believe, probably more difficult than those competitive exams where the questions are known to an extent and some basic knowledge helps in gearing up the marks. However, the personality test is what throws some unexpected curve balls at him in the least opportune moments of life, trying to make him understand the gray shades of life. After all, every human lives his life, not in white and black, but with some shades of gray (and some blues too, perhaps?). But will the teen ever understand, the joys of his life are circumvented by the result of the test life puts him to, only to bring out the best in him? However that matters if he only he understands the nuances of life.....

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Human behavior, complex relationships ~ Relationships

Please note: The post below is an intended study on human behavior. Just a try after a lot of observation around. Comments are welcome 


Not without a reason, there goes a saying – ignorance is bliss. Well, here I would like to modify the statement - sometimes it is and sometimes, it is best to feign ignorance. When you come of age, you might have actually met a million people out there, and would be still meeting many more. That crowd you know contains all those people: ones you love, ones who make you feel loved and adored, ones who annoy you, ones who you are jealous of and ones who swell green with envy at the very sight of you, ones who make a real impression on you and some who disappear as snow flakes that brush off your fur coat and melt into the ground with a never to be seen message. But all of them make you learn lessons of life: History always repeats itself, no matter what! What is even more common, although perceived often with a bolt from the blue, are the rogue waves adhering to fatal laws of attraction. Most sixth sensed creatures of this world gets nudged down by the nubile waves of adolescence that comes with its surprise attacks of puppy love (or attraction?), lust and attention seeking syndrome. And the indulgence further sinks deep into a phase, the youth, making one feel more high, in his world, matured? Well, here the ignorance continues to play bliss as long as the self is misguided, misguided from the fact that there are more Chinese boxes waiting to be opened which will open further surprises, pleasant or otherwise, left to destiny. And then as the self grows, it feels poignant when it comes to love, relationship and security. After all this is where a human marks himself different from the five sensed animals. The human always yearns for security. He wants to socialize and he never wants to be alone. And that is when the down slide (or landslide perhaps?) starts. Not sure when the derailment happens, but when it does, the human does wonder, whatever happened? Probably, he did not see it coming. No, he did not, rather saw, but did not want to take measures to stop, as the precaution or should I say medicine was too bitter to be ingested? Not quite. Humans are humans. He thinks he can overcome hurdles in life, with that thing called love. And the catch lies there. That is where he is mistaken for life! Love? What is love? He knows love, but he does not understand it. It is just like, you know who Adolf Hiltler was, but you don’t know him! And then he further thinks love is security, but it is not. A wise man once said, “Love is something you let go off and it comes back to you and resides with you as long as your heart does not build fences and locks.” And the normal human instinct ignores the wise words and heads straight towards the impending doom only to let the history repeat itself over and over again. No wonder, human make is too complex to comprehend. But then if one cannot unravel the mystique make of a human mind, it is best to not test its inscrutability and accept it as it is.

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Thoughts in action .....

Why is it that we always want to hear, what we desire to? We like to see, what we love to and we want things to happen the way we want them to happen. Isn’t it? And then follows one list of woes of a human: disappointment, frustration, irritation, despair and the list is never ending. Human nature is quite complex. It aint possible for every human to think alike. Every mind is unique, different and in a few cases, it is wayward. And every mind builds a plethora of expectations and expects to meet all of them. There you go, expectations, a dark but unavoidable facet of every personality. Probably the root cause of all problems and also the only relentless solution. That is how probably life teaches, experience. But needless to say, we expect and expect more knowing, where all the worldly disappointments are hidden in that deadly word - expect, which come up like cream in a sweltering coffee in less opportune moments, making self feel defeated. More sad, perhaps. And we try again. Again and again. But then that is human nature, isn’t it? Relentless and trying. It just keeps trying. Trying to prove, to live, to expect.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Talking politics

Off late, politics has again caught a great deal of attention with the Adarsh scam still shining bright in all of the political gimmicks in recent times. Corruption in India picked up great momentum with our late Prime minister Narasimha Rao tangled in urea scam, followed by the king of cows, Lalu yadav who fiddled with their fodder and not to forget, the bofors scam which was an unavoidable taint on the country’s biggest political party, Congress! And then there was no looking back for media. Where making news was like binging on spicy chicken tandoori, such news fueled a useless anger in the Indians, who, except a few, raged, yelled, discussed and then as usual accepted the situation as a fact of life. With time, it seemed, the urge to question a wrong doing disappeared into thin air. And then such incidents are forgotten and lost in history and are not remembered until another interesting story on corruption pops up!

So when it comes to development, India has not only progressed economically and technically, but has taken a giant leap in the study of corruption. I wont be surprised if corruption is included as a subject in economics in near future, in the academic curriculum. No, am fun or pun intended, but I am quite serious and at the same time amazed at how success and development have had an exponential growth with corruption. Or is it, that our politicians have made great efforts to stick their bum to the chair? I would carefully avoid blaming politicians for anything other than good happening in this country, which is quite unlikely of me as before. There was a time in school, when I was seething at every politician, blaming, cursing and berating them on every chance I got. That is when a wise man advised me to reserve my right to silence. He said, ‘the politicians of a country reflect the attitude of people living in the country’.

Today I can say, if we find out politicians useless, then I believe, the fault lies with us. When I went to vote for the first time, I was appalled by the measly number of people who were exercising their rights, with the primary one of voting. In a country where democracy is the order of the day, and where people fail to understand its meaning and use their rights rightly, they have absolutely no right to blame a political system, which has come to power on the bulwark of their votes. Recently I was also quite surprised at people blaming the corruption here, as if it existed in India alone. Not a good thing! If you find your country handicapped, why don’t you take efforts to bring in a change? If you cannot, the best thing for you is to accept all nonsense with grace. Other countries have other problems. For instance, can you imagine walking on the streets of the Imperial kingdom of Middle East, as you can zoom here on a bike even at 3 AM in the morning? To appreciate the worth of what one has got, one needs to understand what it feels like to be deprived of the worthwhile. Although our country ranks in corruption, it ranks in other fields too. With the largest contribution towards IT, Science and Research and Development, it still offers a tough competition to Western countries.

I do not follow politics any more, except for what interests me and so am not giving you any stats and figures here, as most of it is all loaded on the Internet. The reason for why I felt like writing on this topic is the hypocrisy of people who rebuke everything, they are a part of. Politics is dirty, I agree, but it is not dirtier than people’s attitude and indifference towards the subject.

Please note: This post is not some rant or vented out opinions. Just a viewpoint, or let me say a sane attempt to let people know the importance of their rights. Because, when you do not exercise your right, you have absolutely NO right to enjoy the privileges of democracy! PERIOD.

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Mind awakens, Fingers in action after a long time

A long time since I wrote my heart out, and my blogger’s den has been locked for such a long time. Not that I did not have the time, but i could not just write anything, because that is what I do for the whole part of the day. But then, as I got up early today (quite unlikely of me!), I just felt the urge to vent my heart out. Not any special topic that I would write about, but was just wondering about the changes that i have experienced post my joining a new organization. When I joined here, I did not expect to make any new friends, but acquaintances. But by God’s grace, did make a few sweet friends, who have been kind enough to help me out at times, when I have felt low. Staying alone with hubby posted along LOC, with not much company would not have been easy without some of these sweet girls I have met and the good books they introduced me to. Ever since, mind has become calmer and more sane perhaps. And then it is all fun to listen to people’s talks (or should I say gossips?), without getting much involved. However, whenever I hear all this, a wise man’s wordings caution me, ‘a person who gossips to you, gossips about you as well’. True, but seriously, i wouldn’t care about that perhaps. Am not sure, if that is wiser or otherwise. But yes, the current job is more rewarding than the previous, when it comes to the kind of job. Besides, one gets to see a different crowd here, most of them young, single and ready to mingle. At times, me and one of my friends sit back and enjoy the small funny (though clichéd) escapades of the young crowd getting blown away by waves of crush, infatuation and puppy love. And then there are some funnier people who love to keep themselves in limelight. In another corner yet, there is a bunch which just focuses on work and work. But overall, i would say the workplace is colourful and at the same time, has so much to teach, but that is only if one is patient enough to study human behaviour. And as far as my role in my office is concerned, I am the master of my moods. Fortunately on most days, I love to write and there are days, when I just love to bug my neighbours and spread my infectious mood of joblessness which easily infects the others too :P. Apart from the life at office, Internet and books give good company at home. So life so far is good, but waiting for it to get better. Let’s see what destiny has for me 

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Saturday, November 6, 2010

Beginning aint easy ever .....

What does it take to know a life? A life that is ‘life’ and is silently watching you every second, every minute, every hour every day, from the time it takes form? It knows you in and out and probably better than you know yourself and cautions you each time you over emote. A small reprimand, a small gesture of sulk, a craving to do something that the mind wants to but cannot, a desire to be near the most loved one who is not around, a need for a peaceful sleep sans dreams, all seem to cloud into one big cloud of emotions, which is not differentiating into happiness or sadness, but is a tangled miscellanea of sensations. And then there is loneliness which brings in a tinge of darkness, making the heart feel empty and the breath full, eyes blurred and ears deaf. The feeling gets profound with time, making self feel disoriented but poignant. And the life keeps silently watching the episode, day by day, week by week, month by month, not totally unaware of what the self is facing. But it knows for sure, that some other soul is there but not around. It wonders who, but it is keen to know the ‘who’. It feels, it might as well comprehend why the self is so obsessed with the gamut of emotions on strike. But then the life waiting to happen is patient, patient enough to feel the world with clear eyes, sharp ears and serene thoughts and to meet the complete world of its own. And the wait has just started.....

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