Happy New Year all! Have been away for a while and was busy with other things. I have not been reading your posts so give me some time to catch up.
Some random questions that I have been thinking about
- Why do kids fall sick one after another no matter how many precautions one takes?
- Why are some people so rude in their manner for no reason? What is the best way to deal with such people, snap back or handle them calmly or show them their place. I would personally love the third one :).
I did watch a few movies in the past days: Bol (Pakistani movie) — a sad tragic tale but very moving, Allah kay Banday (a crime thriller about kids who turn criminals) — engrossing, 3 Idiots (again for the umpteenth time) — I never tire of this one. I read a couple of books too and am midway through “The Litigators” by John Grisham. Just a question — have you ever felt satisfied reading an Indian author? I read one recently and the word that came to my mind is popcorn fiction. They can be bestsellers, but they make for very pedestrian reading. What could be the reason for that? I hated Arundhati Roy’s Booker winner — she just rambles on and on. Aravind Adiga’s book was very dark and depressing — I guess a formula to win a Booker is to make the jury sleep before they can finish reading. Aatish Taseer really writes in a confusing manner. I just read half of “Noon” and gave it back to the library. Chetan Bhagat — only liked his first one, resolved not to waste time on reading him anymore after “Two States.”
And no I didn’t do anything on New Year’s Eve or rather did what I do every year, slept off before 12 :). I just don’t have it in me to party till late night. I actually hate noisy parties and hate traveling after midnight on roads filled with drunks. I’d rather have a cozy get together with a few friends or just be at home watching TV or a movie.
We had left Coco (our dog) at a dog boarder’s and what do you know — he has got so many ticks :(. I have to do tick treatment on him now. It is so painful. Every time we are away, Coco has to be boarded and carries some disease or the other. But, it is great to have him back :), my sunny boy!
New Year Resolutions — Never make any is my policy :). What I have to do or need to do, I will do anyway.
So, back home and back to work! Hopefully, this year will be better than the last!
Pic courtesy:Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Happy New Year Rachna.. Its been the same with me. Have not been able to read most of the posts lately. I am trying to catch up on them. Nice to see you had a wonderful time. Have a wonderful year ahead.
Nice rambling on a variety of subjects.I would give wide berth to those who annoy me and never reply.You have strong views on certain books.Tastes vary but what you feel is not objectionable.
I share your views on going out on new year night
Happy new year to you and your family
For the past few years, I don’t know why can never read a book for than half an hour, it is so boring. My husband bought me the Vinod Mehta, because I wanted to read, but after half an hour of reading I cannot bring myself to read more, though he writes well.
I can watch a good movie, but no good movies are shown these days in the TV.
Lately I feel Internet is much better at least one can try to learn lot of things.
New Year has lost its charm, the best one can do is to be at home and have some quality family time.
Where did you go?
It is really sad in India or maybe only in Bgl. we don’t have any good kennel to leave the pets.
Although abroad it is there, but my sister always feel her dog would never eat properly and she would feel very guilty to leave her dog for 3 weeks there.
We luckily don’t have that problem for we leave in our house only and she is with the watchman whom is familiar and comfortable with, who love her and take good care of her. She would miss us a little, but she is not unhappy, for she is knows both the morning and the evening watchmen.
Look after Coco well for ticks are very bad , he might even get tick fever which is very serious and can make him weak. Poor guy.
@ashwini wish you a good New Year too. Have fun reading up posts. I like your new pic.
@kp you are absolUtely right. I have very strong views on certain issues :). Hmmm wide berth, I try to do that, but I must tell you that it is difficult to do that when faced with obnoxious people.
Happy new year to you and family 🙂
dont know the answers to the questions .. on rude persons well ignore them .. one day they will meet someone ruder them themselves ..
why hopefully.. I am sure it will be a better year This year …
Take care and all the best
Bikram’s
Happy new year 🙂 Somehow the blog town is slow. All of us are occupied with something or the other. Hopefully that will change 🙂
Happy new year Rachna. Hope 2012 will bring you much joy 🙂
I had begun to wonder that u had taken sannyasa ;)Happy New Year Rachna
In our house its not only the kid but the adults too who fall sick one after the other;)
My NYE was memorable, one which will never be forgotten. U must have understood what I did
Happy new year Rachna. was wondering where u had got lost..I was watching the 1978 movie Don for the fourth time. Though dramatic, and except the too quick climax scene, it is an all time fav of mine..and you know, though Arundhati does not write the genre which I am familiar with, her Booker winning book was somewhat likable to me, because being a Keralite, i could understand many of the things she wrote about..
Both of us are in the same league as far as the NYE is concerned 🙂
Wish you have a great year ahead
cheers!
@rama Really, that’s strange about finishing a book. And, I am looking forward to getting that Vinod Mehta book from the library. New Year’s Eve parties are quite a nuisance with all the noise and the risk of encountering drunks. I was in Hyderabad, in-laws place. I know, I have left Coco at these two boarders. They take of everything else except hygiene and hence the poor thing catches some disease each time. He otherwise eats well and is friendly so he does not sulk which is good. I have given him the tick treatment Protektor as per the vet. Hopefully, he should get better in a few days.You are lucky to have a watchman you can entrust with your pet.
@Bikram Wish you the same
@Insignia I guess, all of us are preoccupied with end-of-the-year lethargy :). Wish you a happy new year too.
@Agnes Wish you the same dear. And a lovely pic there!
@Bhagyashree hehe I know exactly what you did :). Wish you a happy new year too.
@Tomz Wish you the same. Yes, I have seen Don so many times myself. Perhaps, you could understand her. I gave up after reading half of her book.
@Vijay Looks like many of us are in the same boat as far as NYE is concerned. Wish you a very happy new year too.
Wishing you a very happy and fulfilling new year!!!
I also like the third option, but it is better to just ignore them:)
About Indian writers, I agree to you, these modern ones are all like that, but some are good too.like Manju kapur,Vikram seth
Nice post Rachna, and agree not to make any new year resolutions:)The only Indian writer I really liked was RK Narayanan!Happy New Year!
I have stuck to Amitav Ghosh since college and he rarely disappoints. And I recommend Anita Desai’s Journey to Ithaca.
And people who annoy you are meant to be ignored. Why stoop to their level?
I dont like Arundhati Roy either but loved Arvind Adigas dark humour in The White Tiger.
Havent read Atish….
A very happy new year to you, Rachna!
Ignore such rude people, difficult it is but very much possible!
That satisfaction and happiness on reading a good book is priceless, but there have been times where I have read some books, as if I had an exam the next day… just wanted to finish them despite the boredom or loss of interest!
No resolutions for me too, this time! 🙂
Just focusing on keeping everything simple. 🙂
That was really random, but loved the mix! I agree about the epithet of pop fiction too. Anyone who has can write is coming out with their books these days. I stick to children’s books. I am reading the Wimpy Kid series right now. It is wonderful.
Is it so sad that Coco picks up some health problem from the dog boarding place. Maybe you should change the place next time? Ticks can be really painful for them, right?
random but nicely so 🙂
indian authors = pedestrian reading!! ouch!that hurts
Aravind’s White Tiger was good but not the one called Between Assassinations. Chetan too first two were nice, rest like you said why waste time
Hi Rachna, a very happy new year to you! I would recommend you Shashi Tharoor and Vika Swarup if you haven’t read them yet. They have done some really good work. I agree, I found God of Small Things boring and Chetan Bhagat’s Two States was a sore disappointment.
Having pets myself, I can understand how you feel about Coco. These days we leave our pets at home and leave their food with the neighbours. That way, the doggies stay happier. 🙂
hi rachna ji..nice to hear those good words fm u yar..yes our blog circle..v will stay connected..thanks and keep the cheers
प्रस्तुति अच्छी लगी । मेरे नए पोस्ट ” जाके परदेशवा में भुलाई गईल राजा जी” पर आपके प्रतिक्रियाओं की आतुरता से प्रतीक्षा रहेगी । नव-वर्ष की मंगलमय एवं अशेष शुभकामनाओं के साथ ।
happy New year!
hope coco gets rid of all the ticks ..poor boy!
rest ..the rude people actually want to show you the attitude ..which is-best to be ignored!
enjoy !
Happy new year
A Very Happy 2012 to you and yours Rachna.We too celebrate our new year eve at home by having a special meal .We wait for the new year arrival.I always light a diya at 12.00 since past 25 years , do my arti where we all participate.Right after we cut a home made cake and eat it with hot chocolate.I dislike loud,noisy parties.Well about rude people -i just ignore them.I have not read a good book lately ,need to pick up the habit again.
@Renu Wish you a happy new year too. Yes, Vikram Seth is good.
@Rahul Bhatia RK Narayanan was good. I’ve read only one book of his. Wish you a happy new year too.
@Purba Thanks for the recommendations. I’ve added them to my reading list. You’re right about ignoring such people. But sometimes one has to interact with such people on a professional level routinely or be around them, in which case it is very hard to keep ignoring.
@Alka I had mixed feelings about The White Tiger!
@Shilpa I’ve also been gripped by certain books when it is difficult to have a break to even sleep, so I know the feeling :). But such books are getting rarer by the day.
@cybernag My son is a huge fan of the Wimpy Kid series. He has read them all I think. I just recently watched the movie of the second book in this series and loved it so perhaps I will try reading the series too now. I loved the Harry Potter series too. You are right about just about anyone becoming an author these days. Serious writing standards are getting diluted. I even read a book by an Indian author (a bestseller) recently that had grammatical and punctuation errors! I mean can’t they hire a decent proofreader before publishing a book. The entire scene is dismaying.
Yes, ticks are quite painful. I won’t be leaving my dog anymore with them.
@Sujatha 🙂 Actually, these days there are a lot of non-serious writers writing books. I see them as people who can write reasonably well and have an eye on Bollywood lapping up their stories. I mean you and me can become published fiction writers in such scenarios. To me book writing must weave stories that require research written in good quality English instead of just some popcorn tales. Anything is chalta hai these days.
@Destiny’s Child Noted your recommendations, any specific titles of books you’d like to share? I wish I could leave my dog that way. But, he requires walking, grooming and handling his poop and pee thus he needs a lot of work. I am not sure if neighbors can put in that kind of effort. And many of them take off when we do :).
@Ramesh 🙂
@Prem Sarovar Thank you for visiting my blog. i will surely visit and give my opinion on your post.
@Harman Wish you a happy new year too. Yes, ticks can be so painful :(.
@BKC Wish you a happy new year too.
@kavita Wish you a happy new year too. Now that is something worth emulating. But, I find it so difficult to stay up till 12 these days :).
Q&A
Six Suspects
– by Vikas Swarup
The Great Indian Novel
The Riot
Show Business
-Shashi Tharoor…
and of these, I really, really recommend The Great Indian Novel. 🙂
@Destiny’s child Thanks so much! I’ve already placed the request for The Great Indian Novel at the library. I will be sure to read Vikas Swarup too. Thanks again :).
Thanks so much for visiting my blog, Rachna. I can’t believe I am already into my fifth week in India…I have a total of four months here. Initially, it was to have been six but I was moving from my home of 14 years, downsizing, putting things into storage and I just couldn’t do it quickly enough. At 67, I seem a it slower than I was even ten years ago.
My life with my friends, who I visited 14 years ago for ten days,has been wonderful.
New Year’s was nice since the party was out our front door in the compound…no driving, just a few short steps to the merriment. Like you, I don’t enjoy having to drive on New Year’s. In San Francisco, the police are out in full force, of course, because of so many drunk drivers on the road although many people now, at all times of the year, will wisely have a designated
driver who refrains from drinking…it’s a smart idea.
@RNSane nice interacting with you! At 67, you are open to exploring new and different things. Hats off to you! I lived in the Bay Area in California for sometimes and love going to SFO. Yes, the police is out on our streets too, but I would not risk coming in harm’s way on NYE. I will follow your blog to know more about your adventures in India.