3 Idiots

This movie is about 3 friends studying engineering at university and their lives during and after they graduate. There are undertones of social expectation and also every person's journey through life. What experiences we have, what our backgrounds are, the decisions we make and how they impact our future. And the main message is be brave and go with your heart.

This is such a wonderful movie! Actually I have not watched a Hindi movie in ages. Which makes me recall my childhood. I actually never liked watching them, but then my grandma had to watch it every Friday afternoon and Hindi movie beats the hell out of homework so...little by little, I started to love them. Then I don't know, I just stopped watching them again. Because they always had the same story line and the stupid dancing around trees.

Well, this movie is different, surprisingly so for me. The plots were excellent, the dialogue was smart, and the comedy was not overly cheesy. The different stories moving were well-paced, and each intertwining with the other smoothly like a velvety twirl of caramel, wrapped in fluffy creamy chocolate. Okay, maybe I just drifted to thinking of a Cadbury commercial. I digress. This movie is wonderful and I would definitely watch it again. Lovely. Certainly rekindled my love affair with Bollywood.

Bricks of Void

Opulence dims and withers. It has no meaning. What meaning does anything have when there is no value. Things are things, they only fill space. In the moment of heightened senses, everything means nothing and nothing means everything. So trapped inside these four walls, I begin to think.

These four walls., they do not falter. They are strong to protect me, to give me security. But it also holds me in, keep me comfortable. I dare not venture outside, what is out there. I am comfortable here so just leave me be. Outside it may be better but do I dare risk, for I am in no need of anything more.

I am closed in but what is holding me in. Nothing. Only the cages in my mind which I cannot break. They are more impenetrable than the solid walls enclosing me. It is that I do not believe, trapped in self-imposed boundaries. The room seems tiny that it suffocates me. I cannot breathe. I cannot move. I am fixed in place, I stare at the closed space and just see limitations. I see no possibilities. With the compression, I am tiny. I am insignificant.

Crushed to nothingness now, the same room then seems so large, so vast, so empty. I am alone in this great big nothingness. I reach out for the ceiling, it is too high to touch. I touch the ground, it is cold and foreboding. I touch the walls, they are unyielding.

I am lost...miniscule in infinite space....clumsy and tangled in a complex web of my own weaving. I am forever looping in a broken track droning the message, these four walls which I will never fill and I will never be free of. In the end, all there is, the space I cannot fill.

Bloodline

by Sidney Sheldon

This is a story about the Roffe family, a wealthy family who owns a large pharmaceutical company. Their annual profit is more than that of several countries combined. Sam Roffe, president of the company has died in an accident while climbing Mont Blanc and the whole Roffe empire is now left to his only daughter, Elizabeth Roffe. There is increasing pressure on all the other Roffes to make the company go public. The other Roffes are desperate and would go to any length to make this happen...even murder.

So I just picked to read this now because felt like something pacey. And yes, it really was! I started reading Monday evening and finished Thursday. Actually i finished the last 200 pages in about 2-3 hours. So that's how riveting it was. It is typical Sheldon but I wanted much more from some of the characters, because they were such wonderful characters. And the ending could have been a bit more conclusive. Nonetheless, it was quite good.

One side note, I just realize that Sheldon novels are a lot like soap operas. I would say like novelas, because those are always so much more intriguing and the people are hotter. So I guess Sheldon's books are sort of like soap books. But I still like them.

by the river piedra i sat down and wept

by Paulo Coelho

Read this over the weekend. I actually read it about a quarter way before and just did not get through it. Then re read it from the start again this time.

This book is about a girl who like the title says, sat by the River Piedra and wept. The book went back to the start where of how this event culminated. She received a letter from a childhood friend who had now dedicated his life to the church. He was having a conference in Madrid and asked her to meet her there. She did meet him, even though the trip was 4 hours away because he was the first boy he had fallen in love with. After meeting each other, they found their feelings rekindled. It was a difficult situation due to her commitments in her studies and her life, and his commitments to his life and the church. And what ensues is the remarkable journey they go through.

Well, overall this book was good but at times found it a bit preachy. Not that is did not make good sense what it was saying, but just too much preaching for me. But the story is a good one and quite touching at times. It says a lot about taking a leap of faith and opening life to possibilities. And it does not focus too much on that of just love and relationships, but also on life in general. How to be open to new life and not to live every day like it is a repetition of yesterday. Also to invest yourself wholly into something and not worry about success or failure. All in all, it is a good read. And the ending is wonderful, so that's always a plus.

Ring Ring

I called the psychologist's office to make an appointment and the lady on the line asked would 4 pm that afternoon be alright. To which I replied that would be too late. And she nervously inquired if this was an emergency. I did not quite get what she meant at first and said no. So I arranged to see the psychologist the next day. After hanging up the phone I thought about the conversation and chuckled. She thought I was probably going to kill myself right that moment. What a misunderstanding. I was only thinking of doing it next week.

Sophie's World

by Jostein Gaarder

This book is about Sophie a 14 year old girl. Several week before turning 15, she received mysterious letters that introduces her to the wonders of philosophy. In this book she learns everything from the teachings of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, through to Descartes, Locke, Marx, Darwin and of course many more in between. She also feels the strange presence of a shady major of the UN army and her correspondence with her daughter Hilde. She received letter between the major and her daughter which were mailed through Sophie. And through this, Sophie's life is threatened by these strange string of events.

This is the most wonderful book I have ever read. It is very well-written and the story is beautiful. If you were to ask me the books that were tipping points of my life, this would be one of them. It could be the most significant book I will ever have read because it has opened my eyes, my mind. It has revealed to me the wonders of philosophy.

*As this is a book review, more of my thoughts here.