Semper Idem

Stupid White Men by Michael Moore

Ankit gave this to me two weeks ago, initially (I always judge the book by its cover, quite literally) I figured this probably contained abstract pages chock-a-block with bashing of corporate America and the men who run it, I was wasn't very wrong. It also included Bush, Gore and their associates. As chapters progressed it almost seemed close to pulp fiction, because I don't have any interest in a country organised as a federation of states.

Since this, since I've begun a more aware study of the Indian democracy and constitution for competitive exams, my appreciation for my country stands all the more stronger. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Women's rights, though all the facts Moore states in it are to be taken seriously, sadly they get eaten along with the laugh that the book is just a political satire ¹.

It could be outdated on few issues, but coudn't be largely different on socio-economic issues of the USA today and is a good read for people like Marc and all those who advocate migrating to that country just "for two years". Running away isn't the answer, it never is.

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moore#cite_note-35

Raduga Publishers, Moscow

What happened to raduga Publishers Moscow?

via wiki.answers.com

I wondered about it too! So much since I was 9 years old...err, I think that's when I found this book in the attic of my house...

None in my family remember how the book made it into the house, my parents don't remember buying it neither did someone present it and I was too small to have borrowed it with coherent words with anyone. It's the only book I was flipping over and over again till I had access to my high school library stocked with Enid Blytons. It's a fascinating book about how pollination of seeds both by nature and man resulted in exotic plants reaching new destinations. Did you know Chilli isn't Indian? it's Portugese in origin and now we simply can't register that fact that it really was foreign.

More of their publications listed here.

The IITians by Sandipan Deb

I finished reading The IITians and all throughout my 20 years of existence, I have grieved at every given opportunity at the lack of sophists in my family , immediate friends and Mangalore in general.

During the course of reading the book, I logged in on Freenode and got a mini flame war when I asked about how it felt to be living the great Indian middle class dream (read: government subsidized education in an IIT) in #linux-india channel on Freenode. IIT was hated upon by it's own students and I told to go away. Not that I expected to be treated kindly by a barrage of smileys, I did not however expect irrational irate answers at the very least.

All that talk about "alma mater" made me think about my own college, St. Aloysius. It was established in 1880¹, Thompson Engineering College (now IIT-R) in 1847, IIT-KGP in 1951. I remember being in junior college (+2) in another institution and participating in the 124th celebrations of St. Aloysius Pre-University College. A hundred and twenty four years later, we are still not an IIT, we are still only the best among the locally available options for poor quality education.

I liked the part on Alumni relations towards the end of the book. Not just IITs, any educational institution with a purview towards science and technological excellence must realize that there is no better way to move forward then to look back into their yearbooks.

¹ See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Aloysius_College_(Mangalore)

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

I've been wanting to read Kurt Vonnegut Jr since I started following Cat's Cradle and since he wrote ridiculously funny blog posts and since he won the Rhodes' Scholarship. So it goes.

Billy Pilgrim is a WW2 veteran, a time traveler, an optometrist and someone who just bobs up and down, up and down, with a large candy bar sized yet caring wife. He transcends from earth to Tralfamadore, from his nice white house to the military hospital in Vermont, from reading Kilgore Trout to being disturbed while listening to "The Febs" (Four Eyed Bastards). He picks up silver boots, finds diamonds in his fur coat and also fucked Montana Wildhack under the simulated sky.

Vonnegut's sense of humor is super cute and just as charming as George's. The book is easily digestible at 158 pages. I plan on skimming it through again.