Booya!!

I like this word!! Its funny and expecially when the Human Torch says it... Booya!! Ding!! The Turkey is roasted!!

Its been a horrible start to a year, and its gonna get even worse as it goes on. I know, this is gonna be one of the worst years of my life. Anyhow, so I really forgot what I was gonna write about?

Two songs - Losing Your Religion and Square One. Losing your religion is about losing things you believe in while trying to keep up with life and trying to get someone I guess. Oh no I said tooo much!!!! Chasing something always leads to disruption... It doesnt get you that thing, never, ever.

Square One is a song by coldplay. The only other coldplay I like is Trouble. This one has a great feeling to it. He says you're in control, but thats rarely true, we are never in control. Everything has been controlled for us, we are preprogrammed. And to break away from that is impossible. And if you can manage to do it, that wud be great and scream out then Boooooooooooooooyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
First line of the first page to the end of the last day, its all setup, you were a mere actor in it. Why cudnt I get a easier role to play!! I saw a role I wud have liked the other day, that wud have been easier. They obviously bleeded all my colours into one!!! Gimme back my colours!! And when he says somebody listening to what you say... whose listening to you anyhow!! Somewhere in human history LISTENING became a commercial activity as well. You have to get something outta listening to someone!! You wudnt listen to something where you cant derive anything out of it.

And a third song, I just heard. I dont care about the lyrics of this song, all it goes is like - I wanna be adored - I wanna be adored. I dont need to sell my soul, he's already in me. Thats the eternal fight for you, selling your soul to be adored. What would you rather do? Think I am going crazy................Boooooyaaaaaaaa!! I am crazy!! :) Cut off from human civilization already, if I fail, I would abandon my virtual post as well. Why am I living a virtual life already? I dont know...... time's up....... Booooooyaaaa!!

Aliens and Time Travel and Some Memories

I was recently flipping through channels when I suddenly stopped to that tune. X-files at 10.45pm. If there is one show I always wanted to watch, it was x-files. It used to come some years back on star world too, but then it was in between and was pretty difficult to understand. I wanted to watch it from the start, and finally its happening, though its dubbed in hindi. Fox Moulder and Dana Scully, two FBI agents, who are investigating the paranormal, or more specifically aliens, where moulder is a believer and scully is a skeptic.

Back in 1994 or 1995, when I was in Malaysia, this show was new then. And it was a talking point in the class if I remember right. X-files and Time Trax were two shows that ran back to back from 9.30 to 11.30. And the fact that one was on aliens and the other on time travel, I really wanted to watch them. But we had to sleep by 9 then. There were no hindi serials on offer on the tv then, and so my parents werent really much of tv watchers anyhow. So lights off at 9pm sharp. I think I even had a fight about it one day, and my mom angrily made me sit in the front of the tv alone, and I felt so guilty that I quietly closed the tv and went to sleep.

Also in the same duration, the star wars movie once came on tv, at 9pm. I remember watching the first half hour, with the holographic image of Leia and the robots and a desert, but the tv was closed at 9.30pm. So basically, I never saw any of this stuff then, but aliens and time travel and science fiction in general always attracted me, but I guess that would be true for most kids my age.

So, last night I was thinking about all this, when I pulled up some other memories as well. Back in Malaysia, there was this boy in my class but the other section, who was a distant maternal uncle of mine. I dont even remember how we're related, but its one of those weird ones, where your uncle is your age. So they were these two brothers as well, the elder one being my brother's age too. Their dad was an engineer. And their mother was a very social woman I suppose.

We went to their homes a couple of times, or maybe 4 or 5 times. Since the dad was an engineer, they were rich I suppose, and had a pretty good house as well. Much bigger than ours. Down the years in my life, I have developed this dislike towards rich people. I dont know if it existed then. They werent really haughty people, but I somehow disliked them I guess. They had a computer then, which was quite a big thing for us back then I suppose. I remember he put on the Mortal Kombat game, which was a huge thing in the school, and well he was concerned about me doing something to his computer, so he just let me touch the keyboard once I suppose. He he, perfectly ok I guess.

So once there was this party in their house, and we went there, and I am not sure we fitted in, but we went cos our mom wanted us to. So there were all these kids, probably from the engineer community, infront of a tv, playing this super cool mario game (Super Mario Bros. 3). We just watched, I had never played on a nintendo then. I am sure if I was them, I would have probably done the same too, so I got no hard feelings for that. Then some weeks later I spent all of my pocket money savings, to buy a video game machine, not a nintendo, but one of those tv plugin ones. It was good, it used to work till about 2 year back I think. Some shopkeeper even conned me back then, and I spent 100 Malaysian Dollars to buy a game cartridge!! Dont say a word about that, cos I dont know how I could have agreed to pay that much, its just that I was sneak buying it while my mom was buying vegetables.

They were still ok compared to a car ride I had several years later which disgusted me like anything. I never really found myself at ease with any A+ kids. Or any happy people I suppose. Or any sane humans I suppose.

So, a couple of years back I heard that both those brothers became IIT products. And it was the elder one's marriage in delhi, and ofcourse I didnt go. So, all in all they were this perfect A+ kids and family. Which is quite common in this NRI engineer, doctor etc. community. We werent NRI's, we were there on Government expenditure, living in a small flat, and even our education was paid for the government. I never really understood what good did coming abroad did to us. Not sure anybody else did either. I think my mom would have wanted us to be them, without them ever tyring to be their parents. He he, thats really strange.

I guess their parents would be beaming with pride that their kids went to IIT and came out just perfect in life. Did we as kids let our parents down? I dont know. I wanted to be our family hero I guess. But that wasnt me I guess. If I ever be successful then I would be so guilty of being successful. And it all started back then, in that tv room, when I was successful in watching the tv alone. I wouldnt do that even now, I would still feel guilty and close the tv, and go back to sleep.

Book Review : A Painted House

(by John Grisham)
Even when the book ended I never found out whether uncle Ricky returned from Korea or not. This book doesnt really have a fairy tale happy ending, but such a practical one, and that says a lot about this book, a simple story told with great purpose through the eyes of a seven year old. The world the seven year potrayed might have been completely different from another person's vision. I think its after a long time that I have really loved a book.

The first couple of pages were confusing for me getting so many names at first. But then the scene settled in, and you could see the unpainted house, the cotton fields, and the whole family too. Its a simple farm tale set in rural Arkansas, and the narrator of the story is 7 year old Luke Chandler. And his amazing vision makes the whole story so captivating. And you fall in love with all the characters. The always grumbling and annoyed grandfather. A granny who is always eager to play doctor and test out stuff on anyone. A silent father who is a dutiful family man. And a mother who wants to escape the farms, but didnt make much fuss about it. And ofcourse Ricky Chandler, the nineteen year old uncle of Luke, who makes no appearance in the book, but is mentioned so many times, you just wonder will he be the surprise hero at the end of the book, but thats not to be.

They are cotton farmers, living in a unpainted house, and farming on rented land, and each year they are getting under debt cos of crop failures of floods. This year the crop is good, and they find labour in mexicans and the hill family. Luke wants to grow up and be a baseball player and play for the Cardinals. He is just seven but even he has to work in the farms, and pick cotton. The floods would be arriving soon, and they have to pick off cotton before the weather ruins the crops. The hill family have 5 kids, and the eldest Hank, taunts him that their house isnt even painted. Luke is hurt, but doesnt really set about painting the house. He is saving money for the cardinals jacket. But two other kids of that family are secretly painting their house. And then Luke is faced with many secrets which he has to withhold with himself for sometime. And his curiosity leads him to witnessing the murder of Hank. But that part isnt over played in the story and that was impressive. He keeps it with himself cos the murderer - a mexican labourer - Cowboy, threatens him.

And then Tally, Hank's sister, runs off with Cowboy. And then their remanining crops are destroyed by rain and hail. Luke in a way grows up and uses the money he has been saving for the Cardinal's Jacket, for buying paint for the house. And Luke's father decides that they have to leave for a job up north, leaving Pappy and Gran. That was such a sad moment to see Pappy drive them down to the bus station. And the books ends with the three sitting in the bus, and Luke viewing outside the window.

In between all this was so much more. Normal family chit chat and stuff which was very interesting. Their visits to Black Oak, the nearby town, the illegitimate child of Ricky being born at the Latchers, the friendship of Tally and Luke and ofcourse the letters of Ricky. It was all interesting. The way a seven year old child would think makes the story more interesting. Some sample lines of his thought

"Reverand Akers, a loud and angry man, who spent much of his time conjuring up new sins."

"Yes, and they were all bigger than luke - my mother said, and the legend began to grown. The size of my three attackers would increase as the days and months went by."

"As we entered the garden, I realized what my mother was doing. If we hurried and made it to the Latchers before quitting time, then the parents and all those kids would be in the fields. Libby, if she was in fact pregnant, would be hanging around the house, most likely alone. She would have no choice but to come out and accept our vegetables. We could blindside her, and nail her with Christian goodness while her protectors were away. It was a brilliant plan."

Luke's a pretty intelligent kid. And his trail of thought is funny and honest. The whole story kinda reminded me of my childhood. I didnt have a rural childhood but we used to sleep up on the roof in summer, fighting, flashing torchlights, and watching stars till we slept. And point out at strange things in the sky at night. And my trail of thought was always pretty inquisitive as well.

About the ending, the fairy tale ending would have been that Ricky came back from the war bringing in loads of cash, meaning no one had to leave and the family united. But things are seldom that way in real life. Though our throat constricts in the end, when they are having their last breakfast at their home, and then Gran sitting on the front steps wiping her tears. And then even an otherwise unflappable Pappy had moisture in his eyes when he pinched Luke's cheeks and said goodbye. That paragraph brought back some memories of my grandfather I guess. As Luke watched that tractor go back to the farm, what was he thinking? I would have thought about what Pappy was gonna do when he reached back to his home, it would be empty without those three. I almost made me cry. Why does life have to be that way? But, isnt that what I intend to do, I intend to go away to discover a life for myself too. And thats the way it is, and though we would love to see them live together, and Ricky return, but thats not how it is. And the grin on her mother's face in the bus probably shows that she has no intention of going back.

Its such an honest and sincere book and I loved it a lot. I am gonna give it 4.5 out of 5....