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.