Some of my Fiction favorites

These are some of my fiction favorites. The list might be too long....So, for now let me put a few here. Will post more later....

Clive Cussler
- Sahara
- Inca Gold
- Treasure
- Night Probe

Henry Denker
- Horowitz and Mrs. Washington
- Error Of judgment
- Kincaid
- Physicians

Georgette Heyer
- cotillion
- These Old Shades
- Masquerader

Currently Reading

Tess Gerritsen's - The Sinner

Maura Isles - the main character in Gerristen's books is a Medical Examiner and most of her books deal with Forensic Sciences combines with a good detective work. She keeps the readers glued to her book with the vivid descriptions of scenes and the characters themselves are well developed.

Small Victories

The temperature here in Dallas has suddenly dropped to the 20's and 30's as we have a cold front that moved in. Also Sunday night, I was doing some stuff around the house and slept late. But still woke up at 4:45 AM and went to Gym in the morning. This probably is not that high in the list in the big scheme of things. But still I felt very victorious for having done this. Small steps....so even this matters. I enjoyed the work out and it was a good feeling. :))))

1/3 of the Day

I was feeling very sleepy today morning (just like the other mornings ;)) and was thinking that the reason I did not want to wake up early was that I needed my 8 hours of beauty sleep.

When I was driving to work I was thinking more about this and realized with a start that 8 hours of sleep is 1/3 of the day. And if I am spending 8 hours at work. That only leaves me with 8 more hours to do other things.......which I feel is not sufficient. Sigh.....

I am thinking it will be so hard to cut back upon sleep. I mean it is like an addiction. You gotta sleep......... And there quite a few articles out there which talk about how less than 8 hours of sleep can make you obese(!!!) and also affect your health in many ways etc. So there is no dearth of supporting information for my 8 hour sleep claim :))

Of course - if only that thought at the corner of mind which keeps reminding me that if I slept less, what more I could do in those extra hours would go away, then I could sleep in peace for 8 hours. But it does not...and the eternal battle of thoughts/theories/ideas - to sleep or not sleep for 8 hours keeps continuing.

It says it all I think :)

The Road Not Taken - By Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-- Robert Frost

My Cousin Shashi would always bring this poem up whenever I question any decision or thought whether there would have been any difference If I had done something else etc etc.....

The Road in this poem is a good metaphor in life for changes, journeys, adventures, partings etc. But that is just looking at this poem at a superficial level. If you keep peeling the layers, I think there are many more meanings to this poem. The author feeling sorry that he cannot take both roads is so reflective of how at so many crucial junctions of our life, when we have to chose one or the other - we wish if we could just have both....(could be a decision, or a change in life or people) kind of like having your cake and eating it too I guess. I have also felt the this poem indicates at some level that the two roads might not be that different than we feel.

I don't know why, but I was thinking about this poem a lot today and just wanted to penn my thoughts here.

My foray into short stories world

I was reading a post by my brother Teju regarding short stories and his own short story of 55 words and I thought this was a good time to post my own shorty story here. Enjoy...(comments are welcome).

Disclaimer: This was one of my first attempts at a short story written ages ago..


WAIT - A short story

As the taxi sped past the lush green meadows and towering trees, my mind raced to the past. I still remembered him as if I had seen him yesterday and not 12 years back.

Time seems to have flown so fast. His exuberance, vitality and joyful nature were not the only endearing qualities about him. He himself as a person appealed to anyone who went near him. I came out of my trance with a jolt when the taxi halted at a traffic signal. I could see the control towers of the airport in the distance. I was very nervous at the thought of coming to the airport to receive him and had planned to stay at home. But the strong urge to see him had made me take up this travel to the airport.

I consciously smoothed my yellow cotton sari, his favorite of course. He always had found yellow color pleasing to eyes, soothing and refreshing. I glanced at myself in the rearview mirror of the taxi. My hair had started graying near the temples and years had taken their toll by putting wrinkles on my once smooth face, but nothing could dim the shine in my eyes at the thought of seeing him after 12 long years. A long sigh escaped my lips. I hoped that his love for me hadn’t changed in the ensuing years. I was only dreading about his reaction on seeing me. Suddenly, a horrifying thought came into my mind – what if he doesn’t recognize me? Then I reassured myself that a person who had loved me so much couldn’t have forgotten me so easily. Still, I entered the airport with a fluttering heart. I was wondering whether I made a mistake by coming to the airport, when I heard them announcing the arrival of the flight.

I craned my neck to scan him among the passengers entering the lounge and there he was. All my fears went flying when my dear, lovable 12 year old grandson Suhas came running towards me to hug his favorite albeit old grandmother. Tears of happiness were flowing from my eyes when my son and daughter-in-law touched my feet. As hugged Suhas to me, I realized that my WAIT had come to an end and I had happiness in my hand.

Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli.................

Today morning as I was driving to work, I was listening to this beautiful song from Anand - Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli...Hai, Kabhi tho hasaye, kabhi yeh rulaye...

Not just the first line, but the whole song is very nice. Music, Lyrics and Singing of course.........Made my day :))

In fact all the songs in Anand are very nice. I love the movies that I call as A4.

Anand, Abhimaan Amar Prem and Anupama.

Monday Musings

We had a very good weekend. Saturday we totally relaxed at home, played around with iTunes, iPod and ripped some music into my iPod. Generally lazing at home. Evening we went out for a dinner date and movie. :) Sunday morning both me and Rajesh went to gym exercised, then relaxed and in the evening we went shopping and we cooked food for the week. In between this we did some laundry (some because I did not fold the clothes...just washed them) and some general house cleaning. So, overall if I look at it, it was really a good weekend, because it was a good blend of relaxation and work.

But I am still feeling guilty that I still did not lot of other stuff like folding the clothes, ironing (which I have do myself here :((( ) and writing birthday cards and sending them out.......etc etc etc.....

But I was analyzing as to why I was guilty and could not find a satisfactory answer. Sometimes (not always), I feel that maybe I set my own expectations very high and then feel bad when I cannot meet them. :( I used to rebel against Amma and Rajesh when they told me something, now I am doing that to myself. LOL. Life is very strange indeed.

Anyways, despite my guilty (so not so guilty) feelings, we had a good weekend and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. We saw Monster In Law Movie in dollar theater. So did not feel bad that we spent 3 dollars only for that movie. Also watched Forgotten at home. Watched Rush hour 2 on TBS. :))

Finished a book by Kay Hooper (Hunting Fear) and Iris Johansen (Face of Deception).

Choice and Regrets

You might be wondering how come I have a title like this for my post. I realized that at some level they are kind of intertwined. I was reading a post about Choices that we make on one of my friends post and that kind of started me off on my own post.

This past weekend, we were in a Pool Party and one of our friends are going to India to get settled there, so the topic of conversation was how to make that choice and how somebody had regrets that they could not spend much time with their parents etc. So, the choices we made are what we regret.

So many times when me and Rajesh have talked about this, I always tell him that we should not regret the choices we have made in the past because the - situation/circumstances and parameters now are not the same as they were during that time and we cannot decide now if that decision/choice was wrong or right. But what ever we think or not, we will still regret some of those choices. We tend to analyze (or not) and make the best choice at any given point of time.

And as my cousin Shashi would say - The road / path never traveled. There are always thoughts on what would have happened if you had taken the other path.. We will never know it, but we have to go on with life with the belief that this is the best choice we could have made.

Then I was thinking that regrets are part of life, and if we accept them and move on, that's it kinds. And personally speaking of regrets, they are fleeting and then as my friend said life goes on. Back to Iris Johansen books, gym, food, movie/tv... etc.