A Hundred Years of Solitude is one of my all time favourites, a book so rich in both language and characters, that I’d like to read through it at every conceivable opportunity.  The article below contains a very good story on Marquez, and a curious little linkage to dictionaries in Columbia:

http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/the-shadow-the-patriarch?page=0,0

Three months into legislative briefing, and I’m beginning to feel traumatized by the inanity of the everyday routine.  The work’s good, the place is good,  the day is not.  Yesterday I woke up went to office worked half the day and surfed the other half before heading back home in a bus got on to the metro and reached home finding to my immense excitement that my car had come back from the service station, and now reeked of petrol, the interiors having been cleaned by it.  Took it for a drive and had my exciting event of the day when I met friends from college who borrowed my suit. I finished my day off by watching everybody loves raymond.

Uncritical Faith

Sam Harris provides what could be a stand-up routine: “Tell a devout Christian his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yoghurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anybody else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him the book he keeps by his bed was written by an indivisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim, and he seems to require no evidence whatsoever.”

Harris fails to mention the downside of being an atheist — you have nobody to cry out to in the throes of an orgasm.

http://myparentsjoinedfacebook.com/ Its this really funny site that lets you know the way out of embarassing yourself because your parents happen to be on Facebook. Time Magazine has done a story on it, and the website has really funny stuff as well (Click here to read).

One of the less known things about our parliament is that it has a fairly functional website (www.loksabha.nic.in) where debates of the current session are posted online as well.  One of the even lesser known things about the website is its Wit and Humour section (http://164.100.47.134/newls/withhumour.htm).

Here is an extract for those too lazy to go to the website:

MEMBER PUT VERY GOOD QUESTION WHEN ANGRY !

During the Question Hour on 17.12.2008 while allowing the Hon’ble MP, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav to put a supplementary on the subject of National Rural Health Mission, the Hon’ble Speaker advised: “You put a brief question and don’t give a long speech.” The Hon’ble Member put a pointed supplementary question to be answered by the Hon’ble Health Minister. On seeing the serious mood of the Member, the Hon’ble Speaker humourously remarked: “Very good question. You become very specific when you are angry.”

The Holy Crescent

About a month ago, I finished reading a book by Karen Armstrong titled ‘A Short History of Islam’,  short and succint, but very enlightening history of the growth of the religion.

It made me realize that essentially, the religion is trying to evolve towards a perfect society, that it is far more ‘communal’ in a secular sense than we understand it, and that a number of violent upheaveals in Islamic society have contributed to the violence that we witness in the middle-East today.

So, I read with the greatest pleasure, an interesting article on the Shiite forces holding power in Iran in the context of the recent upheaveals there.  The link is posted on my blog, and those interested are requested to kindly check it out (Or click here).

The link below directs you to a list of 21 countries where citizens enjoy the least amount of freedom in the world. Some are known, while some that rarely surface in the news or the media. Take a look if you care…

(Click here to go to the article)

Posted below is the first part of the documentary prepared for UK’s Channel 4 on the 26/11 attacks. It claims to be a complete and exhaustive documentary wtih never-before seen footage, and also includes the transcripts of the conversation between the terrorists and their operators based in Pakistan: