Shakespeare for lunch

Heard someone talk about going for BA literature. Well, the someone is not battling paranoia of a midlife crisis but is a focussed young thing. But the choice of course caught my fancy. When it was my turn to choose a course, well, there was no choice really. (Or I was blind), The choices were - study and learn to chop your fellow beings or study and learn to make cool programs (hello world .. remember? That was the coolest one so far!)...

Of course the cool person that I am, chose the later and well, now I enjoy 'hello world' like hell.

( language.. language tsk tsk!). In fact I would say that was the trend with most focussed young things of my time ( I sound antique.. ).. But come to think of it, literature would have been a great option. Imagine reading Emma / Shakespeare for work ... Or participating in a discussion about the Renaissance with the students. Or research on what makes a hotshot writer tick....

Or would have been cribbing about empty pockets, lack of onsite. Or having to read the 16 century by product of a demented guys ramblings year after year. Or having to bear the short attention span of Gen Y..

Case of grass on the other side being greener.. Now back to Hello world ....

Austerity

.. is something I can do without. But looks like its been named the word of the year. Not surprising since the recession monster was dancing in our midst. It may be the most searched word, but its certainly not the most used one. Actioned up on yes, but used verbally ? No! What do I hear the most? A lot of 'whatever', plenty of 'awesomes' , 'like this' and 'like thats'. Then there is the 'nike', 'ipad', 'cricket', 'world cup', 'sachin tendulkar' , 'cwg', 'kalamadi' and 'Rajnikanth'. All this is casual talk ..

Waht happens once you step inside the office ? 'Scale up', 'rationalization', 'Pareto', 'top/ bottom 20,' , 'deviation' and of course' screwed up' and 'Rajnikanth; (yeah he is every where isn't he?)

Now what are the words that I would like to hear ? Books (Duh!), travel, bonus, free, subsidy, petrol, onions, efficient, beautiful, Salman Khan, holidays, break, Salman Khan, growth, did I mention Salman Khan? :-))

No mention of austerity anywhere eh ? :-)

Man's best friend

Not dogs.. While I love them more than some of the friendly people around, for now, I am talking about books. Mark Twain once said ' Good books, great friends and a sleepy conscience contribute towards a blissful life'. While I have a good stock of the second and third items in that list, I just do not seem to have enough of the former. The result - my home looks like that of a crazy cat woman.

There are books on the floor, under the cupboard, over them, near the bed, on the bed, under the pillow, near the TV (in case there is a power cut!), in my bag ( well .. I need to confess something, I have two of them in my bag and I am reading both the stories at the same time) .. well , you get the drift.

And here I am , sitting and contemplating, how did I get here?

First there was the need for a few to put me to sleep every night ( I am one of those creatures who cannot sleep with out a book in hand) , then came the desire to collect - other books by favorite author, classics, the must haves.

The next stage was the experimentation stage - read the books suggested(aping is also a possibility here) by the other book worms - biographies, psychology. And since every loony bin in the world is coming out with a book, this point covers a lot of ground.

Then there were those intermediary stages where I bought bags full of books while I took others to the book store, or the phase where every gift that I got was a book ( birthday, anniversary, farewell, get well soon, Happy 40th Happy 50th, err..somebody stop me).

And finally, the compulsive stage where I cannot stop myself from buying books.. I go out for a movie, I come back with 2 books, I go out for dinner, I spend 40 mins at the roadside bookwala's vehicle, I go to buy clothes and I end up in Blossoms. Who needs a new cardigan when I can read about Egypt eh?

Sigh.... The situation has reached a stage , that I carry books every time I visit my folks.. its an ideal place to store books. That would stop with immediate effect since mom has threatened to start charging me for using up space there.... So I think I do not need to spend too much time thinking of a resolution this year.

By the way, did I hear someone say the latest Mathew Reilley is out already??