The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

We often hear recruitment ad’s say that they want people who think out of the box, creative thinkers, etc etc. Well, if you want a crash course in the subject or are a fan of out of the box thinking you should get your hands on this amazing book called “The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams.

You might have heard about the “Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy”, which is only one part out of the “Ultimate …..guide”, since it has been made into a movie. Now while I haven’t seen the movie myself I don’t think any movie could do justice to his style of writing. I do plan to watch the movie at the first opportunity I get. But I seriously recommend this book.

I went crazy with this book. I mean he can take the most mundane fact and create a whole new dimension to it. For example, more often than not, when we book a table at a restaurant we turn up much later than the time we specify. He takes this to the extreme of saying that the time we specify is the exact time that we will not turn up at the restaurant and hence became the basis for metaphysical calculations that should take place on a waiter’s notebook. Or mice being the most intelligent species on earth and they are actually observing us while leading us to believe that we are observing them. Ok. I am getting ahead of the story here.

Basically the book revolves around a book (please note the irony here) called the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. DON’T PANIC is printed in bold on the cover page because you would probably only refer to the book when you run into trouble on your inter stellar travels. Inter stellar travel. Mr. Arthur Dent is the lone survivor of the demolition of earth for an Inter Galactic Hyper pass and is thrust into this journey with a humanoid alien life form.

The story line itself is vague and contradicts itself in places. So if you are the kind who likes a well defined story line and slow build up of facts and figures to a definite conclusion you shouldn’t really consider this book. You would find it a waste of money. But if you are looking to expand your horizons of thought and are ready to laugh at the idiosyncrasies of the human race, pick up your copy the next time you see it in a book store.

Counter

Well, I just realised that I haven't done any blogging in like a month. So in an effort to revive my blog I have added a counter at the side. Lets see whether this helps me put regular posts.

On the topic of the counter, this site seems to be amazing. The guy offers pretty advanced tracking and counting options for FREE. Yes. You heard me right. FREE. There is no catch. Read more about it here Best of all there are no Advertisements associated with this free service.

Shame on the media?

This came to me in my mail. Thought I would share it with you all :

Shame on Indian Media??? Really what a shame...

By the time u guys read this news, the body of Major Manish Pitambare, who was shot dead at Anantnag, would have been cremated with full military honors.

On Tuesday, this news swept across all the news channels 'Sanjay Dutt relieved by court'. 'Sirf Munna not a bhai' '13 saal ka vanvaas khatam' 'although found guilty for possession of armory, Sanjay can breath sigh of relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn' Then many personalities like Salman Khan said 'He is a good person. We knew he will come out clean'. Mr Big B said "Dutt's family and our family have relations for years he's a good kid. He is like elder brother to Abhishek". His sister Priya Dutt said "we can sleep well tonight. It's a great relief"

In other news, Parliament was mad at Indian team for performing bad; Greg Chappell said something; Shah Rukh Khan replaces Amitabh in KBC and other such stuff. But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Dutt's "phoenix like" comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges. Surfing through the channels, one news item on BBC startled me. It read "Hisbul Mujahidin's most wanted terrorist 'Sohel Faisal' killed in Anantnag , India . Indian Major leading the operation lost his life in the process. Four others are injured.

It was past midnight, I started visiting the stupid Indian channels, but Sanjay Dutt was still ruling. They were telling how Sanjay pleaded to the court saying 'I'm the sole bread earner for my family', 'I have a daughter who is studying in US' and so on. Then they showed how Sanjay was not wearing his lucky blue shirt while he was hearing the verdict and also how he went to every temple and prayed for the last few months. A suspect in Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under armory act...was being transformed into a hero.

Sure Sanjay Dutt has a daughter; sure he did not do any terrorist activity. Possessing an AK47 is considered too elementary in terrorist community and also one who possesses an AK47 has a right to possess a pistol so that again is not such a big crime; Sure Sanjay Dutt went to all the temples;

Sure he did a lot of Gandhigiri but then........ ...

Major Manish H Pitambare (who is from our very own city Thane,was residing near makhmali talao,who was just like one of us some years ago a former student of maharashtra Vidyalay,Thane) got the information from his sources about the terrorists' whereabouts. Wasting no time he attacked the camp, killed Hisbul Mujahidin's supremo and in the process lost his life to the bullets fired from an AK47. He is survived by a wife and daughter (just like Sanjay Dutt) who's only 18 months old.

Major Manish never said 'I have a daughter' before he took the decision to attack the terrorists in the darkest of nights. He never thought about having a family and he being the bread earner. No news channel covered this since they were too busy hyping a former drug addict, a suspect who's linked to bomb blasts which killed hundreds. Their aim was to show how he defied the TADA charges and they were so successful that his conviction in possession of armory had no meaning. They also concluded that his parents in heaven must be happy and proud of him.

Parents of Major Manish are still living and they have to live rest of their lives without their beloved son. His daughter won't ever see her daddy again. Finally Major Manish, to my generation is a greater hero, someone who laid his life in the name of this great nation.

So guys, please forward this message around so that the media knows which news to give importance, as it is a shame for us since this Army Major's death news was given by a foreign TV channel!!

Ash Abhi

In the last few days I have had tons of Ash and Abhishek pictures flood my mail box. And I am talking of each mail being in the 2 to 4 MB. Add to that people re forwarding the same mail and it makes for a clogged inbox. My poor colleague even had his official email id barred since it exceeded the 50 MB mailbox limit in the two days that he was away.

Add to that 24 hour news channels broadcasting the wedding for well, 24 hours of the day and one wonders what this country is coming to. What is with this fascination? Could anyone enlighten me? I have seen it happen when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie came to India too. Hundreds of photographers hounding them to give the mob what it so desperately wants.

Culture in shambles?

Richard Gere kisses Shilpa Shetty. Mob goes on protest. Court registers a case and issues a warrant. Richard Gere is a wanted man in India.

The list goes on. But I think you get my drift. In the land of the Kama Sutra, a peck on the cheek has outraged the “moral brigade” so much so that our courts (that are already over burdened with pending cases) have time to issue warrants? Couples relaxing together on the Bombay beaches are hauled to police stations for indecency? Kissing in public, they say, is a Western phenomenon that is “polluting” our culture. Is it really? Is our culture so really weak and pathetic that a few public displays of affection are going to leave it in shambles?

Well, I guess so. Since this same moral brigade are the first ones to glorify western medicines, western sciences and send their kids to the west for a “good” education and “good” job. In the midst of this all, the AIDS awareness campaign that they were running seems to have been forgotten. On a parting note, I’ve attached the “offending photos”. Do you really really think that it deserves the amount of attention it has got?

Virginia Tech

The recent killings at Virgina Tech University shocked the world. Images of the victims and the killer have dominated the headlines and writers columns for the last few days for the want of a new “shocking” headline. One can only hope and pray that some other crazed maniac doesn’t see this and go “Hey, I can do better than this nobody”

While I sympathize with the family of the victims I was really intrigued by the question “which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?” This seemingly innocent question posed by Stephen and Steven in FREAKONOMICS is the best answer to all those screaming for tighter gun control laws.

This “rogue economist” has analyzed the number of deaths occurring due to guns and those due to unfenced swimming pools and gives you a very startling answer. You guessed it. Gun deaths are much lesser than the number of drowning deaths in swimming pools.

So in this context, all these calls for tighter gun control laws are hogwash. I’m not campaigning for ‘guns are needed for personal protection’ I’m just trying to state that at times you need to look beyond the media hype.

If you are really interested in looking beyond what is being thrown at us, you should read this book. A great read for breaking the false notions that most of us carry

Apocalypto

I was totally freaked by this movie. Though it hardly a story line, the acting is simply superb. The emotions and graphics are superbly portrayed. Mel Gibson has a knack for these displays of emotion and raw graphics. If you liked Passion of Christ then you will probably enjoy this movie. If you felt Passion of Christ hurt your sensibilities, you should forget about watching this movie.