Malgudi Times

Nostalgia thy trigger is simplicity! Ah how simple times were when we were younger. Of the shopping expeditions I have been on off late.... they have included books too! See now I realised I used to hate shopping till I realised shopping can be for books too! Bazinga! Yay to that!

This blog is dedicated to some of my all time favourite books which I bought more of this time: to R.K. Narayan and his town of Malgudi. I managed to lay my hands on a few of the episodes of Malgudi Days (remember tana na na na na na na?) and that in turn triggered off a shopping binge of R K Narayan books....so I bought Swami and His Friends, The Bachelor of Arts, Malgudi Days and the Financial Expert....ah! Some of his other books that I have savoured are the Guide (trust me the movie doesn't even come close to doing any justice to it!) and Salt and Sawdust (this one though not one of  the more popular ones is a must read!)

What strikes me the most about his books is how he managed to create an entire town with its own geography, customs, quirky characters. Malgudi is just like another town we would find in South India and yet it has its own unique flavour! Another thing about his books is the Narayan style of humour....its quite subtle and very unique and hard to emulate....many havee tried and failed because there can only be one original, isn't it?!

So a toast to R.K. Narayan, his Malgudi, its characters and to warm childhood and adolescent evenings spent curled up to good books!

Some Craft: Bookmarks

I love trying my hand at making new stuff...especially stuff from old non-beautiful stuff....so here s a new idea I had. I have some old visiting cards:

 

 I took a couple of them and stuck them together, the printed side facing each other; and used felt tip pens to decorate them... and voila!

Small bookmarks; individualised for my two best friends...they'll kill me on seeing them here before in their mailboxes...but I'll take the risk!! :-)

A lot of variations can also be used for the design by adding drawings, collage works out of old newspapers and magazine papers.....any further ideas? Drop a comment..would appreciate it!

Random Thoughts

You know what I like about boring lectures? Your mind is not under any obligation to stay in the class (wish it were the same about your physical presence....however....) so you can take your flights of fantasy and jot down some random thoughts (if you are someone like me.....)

Chick lits of today are modern day fairy tales written by cynics who don't believe in romance and are neither waiting for their prince charming but definitely want to and actually do believe in happy "endings"....

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It is ok to take certain unimportant decisions to please others like wearing a dress you don't particularly like for a loved one whose special evening it may be.....but it is ABSOLUTELY NON NEGOTIABLE to to make the important decisions of your life like whom to love and marry to please or appease someone else.... ABSOLUTELY NON NEGOTIABLE!

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As I grow older and need to be "responsible" I have noticed a increasing gap between the the things I would LOVE to be my priority....such as reading, writing, blogging, drawing etc....and the things I SHOULD make my priority.... tests, assignments, stupid presentations! What brought on this rant? A blog that wasn't updated in over a month! A short story haunting me for the past one week and no time to write it in peace! Arghhhh!!!!

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With the explosion of the number of ex IIT-ians and ex- IIM-ians leaving lucrative jobs and getting into full time writing...one thing is for sure.... students in our country are getting into the wrong streams...getting into somethings they definitely don't want to do..or believe they want to thanks to what is being said around them..till they discover otherwise...but well at least somewhere they do realise what they really want and have the guts to go for it! So kudos to that!

And Je is Back!

Well this post is just going to be an updation rant since I last blogged! A few key things happened this weekend which were great!

Firstly  I had my first experience of shopping online and that too for books! I got myself a great deal! On great books! Thanks to flipkart.com. And I ordered all my favourite reads from some time back: R.K. Narayan! yaay! Great fun! Also got the first delivery today! Felt all nice and important and all...considering for some its such a mundane thing but well it was a new experience for me! :-)

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I splurged like crazy on books this weekend! I did not even think twice before putting books into my shopping bag! It was therapeutic! I hated shopping till I realised books are also something I can shop for! Hahaha! Late but happy realisation.....

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I read Nirupama Subramanian's Keep the Change. Its a typical chick lit with the simple girl moving to a big city with a new job and her experiences with falling for a typical "bad guy" and then the  friendship with the good guy turning to something more....what I liked about the book was her writing style. She manages to bring about something fresh to the genre! A good read if you are into chick lit!

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Je got myself this lovely journal by Paper theatre...its made of recycled papers, sturdily hand bound with a cover so beautiful that its perfect to capture my thoughts (which are strictly non-class related) and daydreams (strictly class duration related!!!). The size is also perfect enough to carry around in my bag and hide away if the professor catches me writing! It also took me hours to decide on one journal to buy as there were so many I wanted to buy but i had to restrict myself! These beautiful journals are available at Crossword stores across Mumbai and are worth checking out! Alternatively you can check out their collection online at: http://www.papertheatre.com.

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Also a quick mention of me having joined indiblogger.com and a quick hi to the two new bloggers: soulcare and Vijaykrishna who have joined me on the blogosphere!