Whispering Shadow

I thought of calling it chicken soup but then I didn’t want to offend the vegetarians in any group. I didn’t even use a name of a Chinese variant of the soup because there might be members from the Jain community whose sentiments I might hurt unintentionally. So here I am labeling my next post “Green Soup for Mobster’s Inc” Do I need to tell you why? I do not want to be the next person beaten to death with iron rods by a mob of 60 men in broad day light in a buzzing corporate complex for doing what is required of my job. Lastly, as an added precaution, I will write the title of this post in Devnagri script to prevent the MNS hackers from tearing my blog down. Since all measures are in place, I guess I can start with the recipe now. Ingredients: Angry Men – 10-12 Leader – 1 to 2 Victim(s) – Depends on how memorably bloody you want the recipe to be. Sensationalist News Channels – Even one is enough. Steps: Place the leader in a spot that threatens his hold over his domain of work or area...

It had been raining heavily since four hours, but since we were in the comforts of our training centre, we didn’t realize how the weather situation in the locality was. So much was our ignorance that we decided to stay back and practice for an upcoming test. My friend and I consequently decided to go home at 8 pm. The rain had receded but the effects of the rain were still evident in the form of the traffic jams. There was no sight of a rickshaw. Considering how far away from civilization our training centre is, it was the only way of getting to the nearest station or bus-stop. Since there was none, it only spelt bad news for us. We had only two options, either wait or walk. In the Mumbai rains, we did not have much of a chance of staying dry with only our umbrella for our protection. So we chose to wait a bit and if nothing would work out in a while, we would walk towards the station. We waited for 15 minutes with not a single rickshaw came our way. We saw a tourist taxi taking a turn...

There are novels that you read for sheer entertainment. There are novels which take you on a journey into another world. There are novels with suspense so gripping that you can’t let go of them till you finish. And then, there are books that simply inspire. The Fountainhead belongs to the last category. It is so beautiful a book that I don’t feel qualified enough to review it. The book surely inspires, but it inspires each person differently. This is how it inspires me. I liked many aspects of the book. Each aspect was represented by one of the Fountainhead’s protagonists. Each represented an ideology of living, ideologies which can’t be categorized as valid or invalid. The book exposes you to so many facets of human nature that it leaves you heavy with thoughts. The egotism redefined by Roark was at the forefront. I personally belonged to a school of thought that despises the whole concept of egotism but this book made me rethink my stand. Is altruism positive in its truest sense? Is...

I usually don't upload factual stuff in this space, but then the mega-project by CERN is such an exciting innovation that I couldn't ignore it. I share with you a rap song which gives an ultra-simplified working of the World's Largest Particle accelerator: By the way, does any one know why did the Hindi news channels have to complicate a scientific experiment to such a level that it almost became a reason for the end of the world, the final apocalypse, in the minds of many? It is quite a rhetorical question, but then how did the move beyond TV seriels, Cricket, reality show updates, horoscopes and crime-fighting (rather sensationalising) and reach scientific frontiers?? I will call it progress at least for the time being. And thank goodness we are not an extinct planet just as yet. I won the bet with my grandfather.