Immortals of Meluha

Amish Tripathi takes the concept - what if Lord Shiva was not a God but a man like us who became a God - and develops it into one of the best Indian books to come out in a long time. This is the story of how a Tibetan tribal leader became the most revered, respected, feared, loved and admired legend and how Lord Shiva - Mahadev and destroyer of evil came into being. It deals beautifully with the myths surrounding the legend.

This book presents lord Shiva as a young tribal leader in Kailash Mansarovar, -a chilled out guy- whose favorite pastime is to smoke marijuana with his friend. The book follows his journey to a city called Meluha which is ruled by the descendants of Lord Ram.

The book presents a beautiful juxtaposition of the perceived good and evil; the “by the books” and “the free spirited”. The author does a remarkable job in narrating the story by treating the mythological characters with logic. For example the character Nandi is not actually a bull but a person from the bull caste.The story is fast paced and interesting. Amish manages to keep the reader completely engrossed. The best part of the book is that it makes almost all the God legends into possible human beings who achieved greatness and contributed so much to society that story tellers made them Gods.

'The Immortals of Meluha' explains how Lord Shiva got Nandi, a blue throat and the Trishul. I am eagerly waiting for Amish's next two books and his view on the rest. Keep an open mind and take Amish’s writing for face value.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP8Qzv2r3iI

Is it a matter of taste!!!???!!!!

I enjoy my share of the slap stick comedy and jhakaas action that is mainstream hindi cinema, but what is it this year I wonder, that the hindi movies are particularly crass and lack any sensibility whatsoever. I mean its just gone downhill from Housefull, Kites, Khatta-meetha to the recent much awaited Dabangg .
Dabangg is particualy bad, especially after Salman's last movie -Wanted- this new venture has no storyline, good actors wasted in nonsensical roles and an awful villian. The dialogues are so bad that I feel it takes a certain kind of talent to come up with such boorish language on screen. But what is most disturbing about this movie is that it appeals to a section of the educated audience. I cannot understand why people would spend hard earned money and precious time watching such trash, why would anyone for that matter applaud it. Well I guess in the end it comes down to a matter of taste or maybe it’s just Salman all the way.

Passage of Time

Didnt realise that its been 6 months in Ahmedabad -an interesting 6 months at that- seems like the time just flew by. I realised how much 6 months had accomplished when I met baby Krish today, he was the youngest one on campus when we had come in April. This little angel who would do little much but smile and sleep. I remember holding him for the first time. This little fellow has grown into this beautiful baby who smiles and loves to touch and feel things trying to get to know everything. Its like he is the best symbol of the passage of time here, a new life, a new being ready to learn and to explore.

Coffee with S

In Nov after S and I set a date for our wedding, the IIMA results came out, so we had about 5 months in which to get married wind-up our lives in blr and get ready for a whirlwind time at ahmd. I knew from the word go what I was getting into, I knew that he would be completely occupied with his studies, I knew I would be missing out on a lot of mushy stuff newly wed couples do. I was ok with all that or so I thought. We arrived in ahmd in April, 2 months into our marriage, after the initial settling-in the course started full swing, what followed were sleepless nights and numerous squabbles.S and I barely get to see each other, and rarely get to spend quality time together, us time has suddleny vanished. Recently, we discovered the joy of spending just a few moments together. The first cuppa coffee every morning, just the 2 of us,in the balcony of our MSH. The campus is so serene, so calming, the chirping of birds is the only noise that one can hear its the perfect start to the day.We have started re-connecting and finding peace in each other. The coffee together each day brings us closer as a couple. This ritual has become a part of our lives something which we will cherish forever.

I-Day @ IIM MSH Style :)

Shifting to Ahmedabad this year has been a back to school experience in more ways than one. Everyday I am reminded of the simple joys of simple life.All the years growing up Independence day was a day for parades/speeches/songs/flag hoisting, the works. Every year without fail my family would gather to watch the Lal Qila in all its glory, the Prime Minister addressing the nation, the parades and the floats, but in the past few years all this had changed. Life had suddenly become fast paced  and all of us self involved, I remember spending last years Independence day in office trying to finish an important piece - atleast seemed so at that time-of work. This year being at IIM on Independence day was a breath of fresh air. One of the spouses took the initiative to teach the youngsters and put up an awesome show. Many other folks also got involved so the entire MSH was abuzz with excitement on I-day. The toddlers put up an indpendence day theme fancy dress while the little older ones did a song and dance.Snacks and celebration of T-Nite success followed; on the whole the entire Independence day celebration "MSH style" was such a heart warming experience, that it felt like I'm living my childhood again :) :)

Who Cares?

New to Ahmedabad we decided to go sight seeing, and after a little research decided on Adalaj Vav (step well), 20kms from Ahmedabad. We did a little search on this Vav and came to know that it’s not just an architectural marvel but also has historical importance. It was interesting to know that these vav’s -which literally mean “well” in Gujrati- were built as retreats for travelers and date back to the 15th century. This particular vav though has an interesting story to tell. The Adalaj Vav was built by Rubda Devi in memory of her dead husband, as a ploy to abate Sultan Begara’s –her husband’s killer’s-marriage proposal. She was to marry him once the construction was completed; but she dragged the work for 20 long years and finally jumped from the balcony of the well meeting her watery death. Locals believe she sacrificed herself to save her honor and to appease the jal devi, who is believed to be responsible for the perpetual flow of water even today.

Very excited to see this intriguing place, we set out on a breezy Sunday afternoon.
Once there we marveled at the architecture, noted the missing canopy and the octagonal landing. We decided to go down to the well only to be shocked by its abysmal state.The temperature did get cooler as we went down but there was such a strong stench of human excrement that is was impossible to stay and see the well let alone marvel at the architecture.
It is in such a sorry state that it is impossible to appreciate the fine architecture or the legend behind it. When one visits the Vav the urge is to run away from it rather than to visit it more frequently. There was a delegation of foreign nationals on tour of Ahmedabad the same day we visited; needless to say they could not stand even 5 minutes in the Vav.

The question is who is responsible for such hara kiri? Is it just the government who is passive about national heritage and preserving such historic sights? Is it the miscreants from among us -The aam admi- who goes about defecating in public places? Or is it people like you and me who go visit such places take pretty pictures but do precious little to improve the situation?