A Review: Johnny Gone Down

A new thing which i am starting in my writing.. yes other than my curious minds is all about the books i read and which had deep impact in me. A vivid book reader which i am, i have gone through many books of world literature but yet there is something good which i feel about this book by the second time novelist Karan Bajaj.

After reading "Keep off the grass" i must admire Karan bajaj for the kind of writing he has, which is mature logical and dark. yes the author himself says in his interview that movie like old boy (Korean) were his inspirations.

Johnny Gone Down is a complete story of Nikhil from his appointment letter in NASA to being ending up first as a monk, then an accountant to a drug mafia and then a software mogul. The story starts with the graduation day at MIT where Nikhil is with his best bud sameer. Nikhil has just landed up with his dream job at NASA and is expected to join by next month. Suddenly sameer lands up with an idea of leaving to Cambodia for vacation. Everything is well planned except that when the two reach Cambodia they find themselves in the midst of a war. Nikhil in his act of selflessness saves Sam and he in turn stays there only to be caught by the revolutionists and for many a years being in jail he escapes back only to find himself in Thailand and hence becomes a monk even when his heart still wants him to get back to US for his dream job. He continues with monk for full 10 yrs and finally on a trip to Brazil decided to move out and now he finds himself in Brazil being an accountant to a drug mafia. falls in love with a Brazilian actress and gets married. but now again circumstances forces him to flee to US where he becomes a software giant but life comes as a full circle and now he returns back to India to complete the full final journey whose destination is "Death".

With the above synopsis with very li'l spoilers included, the book continues to move at a pace of its own not forcing its reader to be lost somewhere or feel sleepy. An extraordinary journey with little philosophical touch and a time frame covering more than 25 yrs and 6 countries. this is an extra ordinary journey of a man. While reading the book we can still feel the touch of Bollywood in the narration. of course the book and the plot make up a spicy Bollywood movie. A sense of realism brought in few portions were just remarkable.

But still the character Nikhil tries to arouse curiosity among the readers. he might well be regarded as a superhero but a hero who is about to die in the first chapter of the book, looses his hand in the first 100 pages of the book and a dedicated monk lived up in monastery for 10 long years and still ending up in drug business. How do you rate this hero. may be the one which is not seen much in literature. a very difficult book to lay off, that's precisely the reason why i finished the book in one go.

A word for the author Karan Bajaj: Take a bow. In line with the current Indian writers i admire him just because of the style of writing covering almost all aspects: philosophy, thriller, darkness. just like his former book the character is confused and almost wants to take up whatever the life is offering him not knowing of the consequences. In recent days never seen a writing so true and dark.

Lessons learnt: Live life king size, live the life as its a canvas and paint it with bright colors, live the life at present and never to think whats gonna happen next. A life which we regard as a perfect could change overnight and yet instead of pressing the panic button we must continue on whatever life offers us and be patient enough to get the correct fruit.

For me to sum up with the book and the character: "A life once lived, but fully lived"

My Rating: 8.5/10 for good writing and a fantastic plot.

A tribute to "Nothing"

Well i am starting this post not something which i can say is my own writing but thanks to John D Barrow book i am able to understand some concepts of nothing and zero and just sharing it.

Nothing in itself is a concept. the dictionary have 10 different meanings for nothing. so it got to be something right

zero in itself is circumlocutary. i.e it is using more word than required to express an idea. in tennis the use of word "love" comes from a rather unromantic french word "leuf" which means egg which symbolically represents zero "0"

plus when we all say he is fighting for love (not money).. which means nothing..

A null operation is a technological crap for nothing in computer. so when the initial computers were designed, during the difference between one key stroke and the other key stroke the computer would run the null operation meaning nothing is to be processes now.

but not all usage of zero were derogative. in earlier 15th century when french used to escape to scotland they used to keep their names secret by using the surname nimmo derived from latin "nenot" meaning no one.

writers also embraced the theory of nothing in their own sense. elbert hubbard book "essay on science" was a neatly bound book of blank pages. The ray craft used it as an autograph book
also in 1974 the nothing book was published which is a beautiful bound book in a nut brown denim building full of empty pages for the delight of dedicated scribbler

Elbert Hubbard

Zero became a great trouble for the early days of computer. in the days where all documents and applications were processed with the help of computer. Now the dates were recorded with the last two digits of the year. little did the computer and their developers knew that as year progressed to 2000 the literal 00 was of no significance and the calculation would start backwards. now just think if the credit card expiry instead of 01-Jun-2001 becomes 01-Jun-1901. what a blunder the world would have caused.


There are other amazing stuffs in the book one of which is a paradox explained through a small story

There is a man and a turtle. The man walks at 400 metres per hour. The turtle walks at 40 meters per hour.

The turtle starts the race 400 meters in front of the man.

By the time, the man has travelled 400 metres, the turtle will have travelled 40 meters so will be 40 meters ahead.

The man travels another 40 metres, but by then the turtle is 4 meters ahead.

The man travels another 4 metres, but the turtle is 0.4 meters ahead.

And so on…

The man can therefore never overtake the tortoise.

The point here is we keep going in relatively smaller amounts but we would never go to exact zero, each time just the difference is leading towards zero 

Well this book would serve a great fact book and an awesome read which it is. so all facts are just from the first chapter of this good book. so just track this book on

For all Indian Readers:Flipkart: http://www.flipkart.com/books/0099288451?pid=pnw3f1adtf&_l=oMITT7hLtDgRhkHnIEH7fA--&_r=OJHxb7ljLS4UQpxFegA5DA--&ref=158fa884-4bb0-4236-8b7b-d0cf6c5d9b48


For all outside India: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Nothing-Vacuums-Origins-Universe/dp/0375726098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321701418&sr=8-1

My path to prosperity!

Its just strange that "Circumstances laid in front of us have a part to play in shaping up our entire life". We all act together and some choose to throw it away while some might want to redeem it. Its just the way we look at it, act strong and achieve the goal.

Just to state a small instance where there were two good friends. They used to stay together, had the same goal  but different yet strong ideas to achieve it. They knew that if they acted smart enough they would turn their small investments to big fortunes. But suddenly the market collapsed and the bank in which they put their money had hopelessly failed. The former said to latter that worry and tension might not bring the money back but hard work and positive approach would definitely help them. Saying this the former went to work with optimism but latter went to work mourning the loss of money,

Its so strange that the situation in front of them were same where one chose to follow the path of prosperity the latter chose to curse it and let go off the positivity in him.

If circumstances had the power to bless and harm they would bless or harm each one alike but the same circumstance would prove fruitful or disaster to different person only proves that its not the circumstance that is good or bad its the human soul. I do hope that this particular instance would help in the enlightenment of my friend who just challenged that the path we chose is the path that is shown in front of us. Well most of you who will read this would agree with me on the thought i pondered upon.

Counting in "DAYS"!!!!

The time when i post this blog i am 8459 + days old.


i have learnt this beautiful way of expressing my life. A day comes in a natural cycle. filled with a morning, noon and night which makes it a cycle. i have survived, lived and learnt something new in 8459 cycles of life.

if i remember it would be easy for me to recall incidents happening in days rather i can think of all those occurings in year.

Also it is good when i see that i have lived 8459 days rather than say 23 yrs. i could plan ahead in days and have a thinking that i still have 1000 more days and 1000 more oppurtunities lie ahead. never should i feel low for any wrong i do today thinking that there is tomorrow and i would reckon a chance to do something afresh tomorrow.


i've never been good enough to write a poetry but still i am writing this depicting the beautiful nature of my life

                           
I've seen the life in months and days
i've lived the life in my own ways
i've been bright like the sun rays
i've been living life with the gainsays 


life's been dramatic like stage screenplays
life's been thrilling like the swordplays
life's gave me path like the highways
life's gave me lessons like the failed essays


Strange is the way how life plays
but still i lean and prays
of all those miserable yesterdays
i still look forward to a good today


there has been many joyous birthdays
there has been sad part ways
whatever be the halt and delays
i have lived life each and every day





so to those who wish to calculate your number of days click here http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014370/jscript/datecalc/dcalc-e.htm

I did it....TOMORROW

“Paradox”...This was precisely the one word that came into my mind when I first thought of the title.

Living in this age where everything seems to be running at great speeds, man with the help of the Technology which he made has made this world a small place to live in. People changed, infrastructures changed, the way we look in to our lives changed, the way we travel, the way we communicate, the way we live everything’s changed yet the only thing which ever remained constant was “TIME”. It’s just like the derivatives of mathematics. Everything changes with respect to something. And in this case, all changed with respect to time.

Time would be a very irrelevant factor when it comes to the thinking of mind. Our mind revolves around the reference of objects called “Time Frame”. What we think of now may not happen to us in future or whatever we think of the past may not have happened to us now. We must exercise our mind to live on NOW.

Mind has 3 frames of time. Past, Present and future. Time and mind are inseparable. Once we remove the time from mind, the mind would stop unless we choose to use it. To a human mind time would only be an illusion. The mind would think of past as well as future as without past there would be no identity. We are in present because of past, our past actions have made us to create actions what we do at present and the future goals would determine the actions we carry out in present. 

But frankly to me there was never a sense of rightness in this. As I have learnt from some books by a good philosopher Eckhart Tolle, "Time isn’t precious but all the things that are beyond an illusion of time". Nothing ever happened in past which is not present. The past is just a memory shade, Stored in our mind as the former present. By thinking of past we just switch on the button of the memory shade and the future is just an imagination, a projection of our mind what tomorrow holds for us. The more we go beyond this the lesser would be the fear of the present. The past and the future would have no significance; they are just a reality that is borrowed from the present. A full concentration of the present would definitely make a mind more sharper and more active towards work. The past and the future should be just a illusion.

May be this is the reason I find that some people engage themselves in adventurous sports or death defying stunts. They would always think and concentrate of the present rather than thinking if they would be alive. The focus of the mind is just in the present.

So if present was taken a single reference all activities of past have been present at that time and all actions we do in future is the present of tomorrow.

For me this ever increasing enthusiasm in time has led me to write something which has been hunting me down since the time a friend of mine asked me to write something on this topic. Although the contents on this may have very less to mean by the title but such thoughts and ideas ran into me thinking of the topic. May be someday I would learn answers to all my enthusiastic and my curious mind but as of now I would chase down every single aspect, every single experience towards the subject after all I was keen to write this article and if I post tomorrow then from the present point of view I would definitely say “I DID IT…..TOMORROW”

Life is not a "BED" of roses

At times it is said "Life is not a bed of roses".  When i used to read it in my childhood i would never have understood its true meaning. Life as a teen is much simple. requires no understanding of this world what so ever. The life was full of simple innocence. but as i grew i tried fully to understand the place, the people and to very much life also. Life has very surprised me at each stage. The more i learn the more complicated it seems to me.

The evil has succumbed the earth at a much larger scale. Unrest pains & sorry have became a shadow of life. There ain't any household where the great destroyers like death and disease have not touched and casting a dark spell of sorrow. Life has its way of teaching lessons and i feel that the bitter truth of life is fully understood/learnt when we feel bad or when sorrow has struck. That's the God's mean to say that "Life is never full of roses"

There is also a thing or two about the personal satisfaction. A child cries to be a man, The man cries for the lost innocence of childhood, The poor man always rubs his poverty to which he is bound, and the rich lives under the fear of poverty. All this in search of happiness. Happiness by the fact can only be achieved when there aint any grunt or ego in ourselves. But with such realism where no satisfaction could be filled, all we can do is just work our way throughout and be ready for all the surprises be it good/bad and face it. So the life also has a way to teach us that it never full of roses. 

I write this article with many curiosity in mind. Not that i have not understood what life is, but with such complexity i would never be understand about life. A curious mind could never be stopped.

 Mind i feel is just like a running motor. It continues to gather and give us output with the alternating currents, but the advantage of motor is that it could be stopped anytime whereas mind could not. It continues processing every time. 

Until the next time where i can write more, some questions need to be raised and definite reasons need to be answered. Until then CHEERS to life!!!!!!!!!!

Perception of the deed

At times life dont give us our share of good deal. Anything at all we grudge and pointless results are drawn without analysing the situation. Whatever we do there is always a negative flow from within ourselves.

There was this wonderful story which i dont remember myself but was a thought provoking one so i m sharing it here

"Once upon a time, there was a man who had been the soul of kindness all his life. with whatever little he could he would definately help others.

When he died, everyone assumed that he would go straight to Heaven, for the only possible place for a good man like him was Paradise.
The man wasn’t particularly bothered about going to Heaven, but that was where he went.

Now in those days, service in heaven was not all that it might be.
The reception desk was extremely inefficient, and the girl who received him gave only a cursory glance through the index cards before her and when she couldn’t find the man’s name, she sent him straight to Hell.

And in Hell no one asks to check your badge or your invitation, for anyone who turns up is invited in. The man entered and stayed.

Some days later, the devil stormed up to the gates of Heaven to demand an explanation from St Peter, the keeper of heaven.

“What you’re doing is pure terrorism!” he said. “You sent that man down into Hell, and he’s completely undermining me! Right from the start, there he was listening to people, looking them in the eye, talking to them.
“And now everyone’s sharing their feelings and hugging and kissing. That’s not the sort of thing I want in Hell! Please, let him into Heaven!’

so with this all i can say is

 
‘Live your life with so much love in your heart that if, by mistake, you were sent to Hell, the Devil himself would deliver you up to Paradise.’

Live your life. Never think of all the badness. instead find the goodness in all the bad qualities. The life would definately give us a share deal of happiness and peace. At times situations might occur which might surprise us but have faith in you and ctake the road less travelled by. That was such thought by Nixon in his poem too.

life..thru the lens of experience

life... What is life... We all try each day each time to find out truly what life is.. To some life's just like a game of a soccer.. U either play rough or smooth but u set aside a goal. No matter how u play the only aim of the game is get urself a goal. Life's just simple like that. You may not be a football champ but u necessarily need not even be a fool so as not to understand a simple philosophy of life and that is to "Survive" live and secure a living. Much like the game eh!

We strive hard each day to earn a living. Such is a cycle of life when u reach a point where u live not just for you but u have got a additional support for you. U are the dependent source for others. You are a head of a family. And then there's a retirement. Retirement from all things..but not from life. Because we may still not know where it might take us. Is there gonna be an end or is there any other adventure waiting for us

Old age comes with a form of rest. But as the law of nature goes "everything comes to an end". Be it a movie, a soccer game, vacations or at the most higher hierarchy ur life. Each things come with an end. So what matters is not what u have done for you but what difference did your living make.