Moon water

The discovery of water in the moon was great indeed.. Now, each and every day, am hearing more and more exciting info about that. In today's paper, I read the way in which water is being formed in the moon. According to the current speculation, moon's surface acts as a sponge and absorbs hydrogen ions from the sun. Then, inside the surface, it combines it with oxygen to produce hydroxyl ions, and then, water. Seems very interesting.. doesn't it?

This discovery is really huge. Especially, when earth is facing a scarcity of water. Let's hope that scientists will bring about ways of exploring moon water. Now, suppose that we did achieve that. Won't that water be more expensive? Definitely, it will be. So, will the poor be able to afford it? Or will only the upper class with enough dough with them be able to enjoy moon water?

Ensuring the supply of water for the poor is going to be a huge issue, anyway. Even if we explore moon water or not. In some of the poor African countries, water supply is controlled by private agencies and the poor people are having a hard time. They are forced to spend a large portion of their income for buying water only.

At last, Argentina made it!!

And at last, Argentina has made it to the next years world cup, without leaving it to the play off. Am so glad for Maradona and his team. But they will have to do a much better job in the world cup if they want to make a mark.

Waiting to see Lionel Messi, best football player of the contemporary world, according to me, playing for his country. I hope this time, luck will also be with the Argentinians.

Pakistan needs to act

Terrorists unleashed yet another attack on Pakistan, spreading chaos all around. All the recent attacks that occurred in Pakistan were highly organised and exceedingly well executed, leaving the common people traumatized. The Pakistan Government will have to act rigorously, that too, as quickly as possible. Questions concerning the legitimacy of Pakistan has already been raised several times, in the International arena. Strict and clever action will only be the proper reply.

Once, the Pakistan Government got enticed by the destruction of India and tried to use terrorism as catalyst for it. Now, their country is facing a snub due to that foolish decision.

The other countries, especially India, need to be concerned about the happenings in Pakistan. Plenty of proof has been obtained for the nexus between Taliban and the anti- India extremist groups. We can't even deny the possibility of the nuclear weapon reaching the hands of these these groups, if their rein continues. In case that happens, the consequent catastrophe will be too severe us to stop. So, our Government will have to see the current events in Pakistan as a premonition and exert pressure on their counterparts to do the required.

loved it!!

Finished reading '2 states' today morning. But, this time, I am not going to write any review on the the book, just the way I was doing for the last few books that I read. It's not because I didn't like the book. (I loved it!!) There is no need for a review. It is better you read the book yourself than reading my(or any) boring review.

If you liked FPS, you would like this one, too. It is filled with the same sort of sarcasm and humorous observations.

2 states!!

Em so happy to procure a copy of Chetan Bhagat's new novel, 2 states. Bought it today, from the DC book shop.

Hopefiully, I will complete it today itself.

Election thoughts

The Maharashtra assembly elections are going on. Just like any other election, it provides us with plenty of things to ponder about...

Political parties use film stars and other celebrities to entice the common people and make them attend their rallies. It is a highly bad and reprehensible custom. Parties should try to attract people with their pragmatic approach to common man's problems.

The assets of a Maharashtra MLA grew by RS.520 million between the election in 2004 and this year!! I was totally astounded.. I don't think that these people are paying any sort of attention to anything other than their own euphoria after they are being elected by the stupid common men..

The BJP - Sena ally seems to be totally out of touch in Maharashtra. They are still to recuperate from the debacle that they had to face when MNS grew as strong menace. MNS, at the same time, has grown pretty much in popularity. But, quite unfortunately, MNS leaders have got hardly any time to scrutinize the problems faced by common people. They are concentrating on changing the names of institutions and assaulting people from other states. Many of the statements by MNS leaders are totally against the concept of national integration. But besides all these, they have succeeded in gaining some popularity in Maharashtra. That seems quite a premonition

An award which Mr. Obama didn't deserve..

I am having a hard time these days. My preparation for MBA entrance exams is not going that well. My performance in the last two mock tests were poor. In the day time, I try to burnish my problem solving skills and make some changes happen. But still, I can't see any change. Have got an exam tomorrow. Let me see how I perform.

Yesterday afternoon, I was lying on the bed, with some similar thoughts in my mind. I knew that I was not going to make anything happen thinking, and doing nothing. Only a pragmatic approach could make a difference. Right then, my mobile rang. It was the regular news update. "Nobel prize for peace will be awarded to Mr. Obama" - It said..

I was totally surprised. That was really unexpected indeed. Especially, considering the fact that only twelve days were left for the nomination after Mr. Obama took charge as the president. It was highly improbable that he could contribute heavily for world peace within those twelve days.

I myself, saw the election of Mr. Obama as a good sign. He was a man with some good intentions. The public did have a heavy amount of hope on him. But, he has not been able to live up to all those expectations.

His promise of closing the Guantanamo has not been fulfilled yet. Most of the people from Yemen are still being detained there even though people from some other countries have been released. The problem is that Yemen does not have a good rehabilitation program and I don't think that it is a good enough reason for denying someone freedom. Mr. Obama has not done anything to solve the Palestine - Israel conflict. Solving it was also among his pre election promises.

The Nobel prize has given a very bad indication to the ordinary people. No one, including an American president should have been given such an award for simply talking about the action plans to sustain peace. This award seems more like "come on.. you can do what ever you talked about" sort of award. It is an encouragement for what he is supposed to do in the future rather than a recognition of what he has already done. And that was the worst way to give away this award..

How do we tackle the food crisis?

Seems like books are the subject about which I write, most of these days. I don't want my blog to be a boring book review blog (as one of friends told after looking into it).. nah.. not at all.. But what to do? I love books and that's what I feel like writing about most of the time.

The statistics about climate change and food crisis that appear in newspapers are really astounding. Today, I read an article, according to which the demand for food in 2050 will be 70% more than the total food that we produce now. I was sort of shocked. Is our food grain production going to increase substantially in the coming years? I don't think so.. Unless we do something miraculous about it.

I, myself am coming from a village in Kerala. During my childhood, people of my place used to rely heavily on agriculture. My village used to be so beautiful, with greenish, splendid paddy fields spread around. Those paddy fields are still there, but no one is interested in taking up agriculture as a profession these days. There is an enormous decrease in the availability of work force, due to the increased migration to the cities. My grand father owned some paddy fields, where, we have planted trees now.

But in spite of the falling food grain production, it is estimated that we do produce enough food to feed all the people currently living in this world. But, the problem is that a large amount of people are far too poor to buy anything to eat.

Our politicians(most of them, of course) have no time to seriously think about all these and do something effectively. They are all busy, playing the religious card or making money for their younger generations.

The rich, educated class of our country is also not actually doing anything. They are happy as far as they can stay rich. They live, leading a fake aristocratic life, being least bothered about the poverty or food crisis.

Trust me - Rajashree

I was hovering around in the second hand/pirated book shop two weeks ago, and in between, I noticed this book. i had not heard about the author, so was kinda skeptical about it. Right then, I noticed that there was an opinion by Chetan Bhagat on the cover. 'Impressive debut' - Didn't think much and picked it up.

'Trust me' turned out to be a funny, engaging, time pass read. As mentioned in the cover of the book, 'real Indian chick-lit romance'

The main protagonist is Parvathy, a 22 year old girl, who lives in Mumbai, along with her room mate, Shweta(Well, em not very sure about the name), whose heavy metal music is the only thing that Paro can't stand with.

Paro was from a very small town. She wanted to be an art director, and that's why she was there in Mumbai. First, she worked in an advertising company. There, she fell in love with a cameraman, named Karan. They made love once, and Paro got pregnant. As soon as Karan came to know this, he dumped her. It was an emotional catastrophe for poor Paro.

Her boss in the company tried to make use of her situation and invite her to bed. She quit her job and sought another one.

A friend helped her to find her a job, as an assistant director in a Hindi movie. That was a totally new experience for her. She got exasperated at certain occasions, especially when she came to know that the actresses had to sleep with directors, producers etc. in order to fetch roles.

In the film set, she met Rahul Kapoor, who was a new guy in the industry, an aspiring young actor. he fell in love with Paro, but she was too skeptical just because of her bitter experience with Karan.

Paro makes up her mind, not to fall in love with anyone, supported by the advices of her friends. But, she couldn't help herself. In the climax of the story, she realizes that Rahul is the one made for her, only her.

The story is woven in a very adroit and humorous way. Light, and subtle. I would wait for Rajashree's second novel, wondering what subject she would take up now.

Wading along

Yesterday, I went to write my first AIM CAT conducted by TIME. My performance wasn't any good. Am yet to know the results.

I was totally tired by the time I came back to my room. Heat was very severe outside. I sprawled on to the bed as soon as I reached back, and slept just like that. Survived the whole day eating noodles and bread. I didn't want to waste money eating outside. It's not that I am being a niggard. I don't have too much money left after applying for 2 - 3 mba entrance exams. Each costs around 1500 rs.

In the evening, I tried to study, but felt like I needed a refreshment. I thought I would continue reading 'Japanese wife' but couldn't read it for long. Felt that I had been reading too much heavy stuff. Couldn't fully understand some of the stories in 'Japanese wife' because it had considerable amount of history involved in it. Some of the people mentioned in the book was totally unfamiliar for me.

Wanted to read something, light and funny. So I started reading 'Trust me' by Rajashree. Turned out to be a very interesting read.

Have got immense amount of work left in front of me. Need to perform much better in the coming AIM CATs.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

The book which won the man booker prize in 2002.

The book tells the story of an Indian boy, Piscine Moliter Patel, known as Pi patel. His parents owned a zoo at Pondicherry. So, from his childhood, he was pretty much familiar with wild animals.

Pi showed a very keen interest in religious matters. He loved god, and he felt a deep sort of intimacy with god. He learned the religious practices of Hindus, Muslims and Christians. His parents were upset about this and they tried to resolve the problem with the help of the local priests, but not without much success.

Pi never knew that it was a turning point in his life, when his dad decided to relocate the zoo to Canada. They set off to Canada on a Japanese cargo ship, with a not so comfortable cargo, the animals.

The ship sank in the middle of the Pacific ocean, and all except Pi were drowned. Pi found himself in a lifeboat with a hyena, a tiger, an orang utan and a zebra with a broken leg. The hyena killed the zebra and the monkey very soon. The tiger fed on the hyena and Pi was left alone with a tiger, on a lifeboat, in the middle of the ocean.

He made a raft and tied it to the boat to escape from falling prey to the tiger. He caught fish and fed the tiger with it. Pi was always vigilant, because death, in the form of a tiger, was right beside him.

He survived around 200 hundred days, and during the course, he ate raw fish, turtle meat and once, even the droppings of the tiger.

Towards the end of his adventure, he made a botanical discovery. He found a large group of algae, growing in the middle of ocean, and forming a small island. There were trees growing on it. He lived in the island for a few days, but left as soon as he found out that the trees were carnivorous.

At last, he reached the coast of Mexico, and as soon they hit the shore, the tiger ran away. People could hardly believe his story of survival.

An adventure novel, an interesting read. The happenings in the middle of the Pacific is not something that the author can experience. And hence, his imagination is appreciable.

BJP and obscene western music

Seems like this world is going to hell!!(So am I.. But who cares?) Every day I see the news about climate change disrupting the normal living of people all around the world. News paper reading is a tough task these days. Yesterday, in the opinion page of 'the hindu', I saw the picture of an African child affected with malnutrition. It's condition was so pathetic that I couldn't think of anything else for the next two hours.

But the news on Indian politics do provide some relief. BJP has promised the people of Hariana that the party will ban obscene western music, if elected. This statement was in their election manifesto and when a party spokesperson was asked about this, he failed to define what obscene western music was. A few more questions, and he was totally exasperated. He said that the party is not going to win the elections, so, why make a big fuss about what ever is said in their election manifesto.. Well.. This is hilarious isn't it? I had a good laugh over it..

BJP will have to ban item numbers in Bollywood before they ban western music. They will have to conduct a meeting and sort out the difference between obscene and decent western music.

Do things like this happen only in Indian politics?