The Quarter Finals, and The Trip

Cricket is the flavor of the season, and the World Cup is now at its very best. We have the quarter finals going on, and in a few days we will have a new champion. Only, this time it would be a new champion, after Australia dominated it for more than a decade. India, Pakistan and New Zealand have already made it to the last four, and one of Sri Lanka and England would join them soon. 

India's quarter final match was simply amazing - it had everything which the contest was awaited for. Ponting finally finding back his form, and for half the innings the whole of India feared the repeat of 2003 finals. However, he was slow this time, and overall they finished a 100 run short of the then target. Sachin was masterful, as he has been all through the WC. Ashwin and Zaheer bowled beautifully, making one wonder why did we persist with Chawla/Nehra/Munaf combination for so long. Ashwin looked like the second best bowler in the side by a huge margin. And now the attention moves to the Semi final clash on wednesday. 

My India trip got postponed by another week, and am not too happy about it. I am in between jobs, and I have to apply for renewal of my work visa with the new employer. However, I didn't know I would need to submit my passport for it as well - as we don't need the passport for fresh visa applications. Anyways, out of some error of judgement at my end, and lack of planning from the HR's end, my trip is delayed by a week. I still need to decide on what I would be doing over the next 6 days. 

I'm reading a book on Cricket titled 'The Gamechangers', and its based on the fakeiplplayer blog which was the talking point during the IPL 2. Hopefully will be finishing the book in a couple of days, as it an easy read, and will be able to start with another book as well before my trip. I still have 2 cartons full of books which I haven't touched as yet :)

Science Fiction: Isaac Asimov

I am usually not much into books under normal circumstances - as its difficult to finish them within a few days, and the long delays make me lose the context. However, I do try to read different books, from a different set of authors, just to get an idea about their style of writing. So that, whenever there are any intellectual discussions (real or show-off), I'm not at sea, and can appreciate the same (or call the bluff). 

There are a lot of writers about whom I have heard a lot of praises, and one of them is Isaac Asimov. The science fiction writer is a must-read, as per a lot of my friends. And finally, I did get to finish my first Asimov novel. In fact, this was my first science fiction, and even though have passed the age, liked it. It was part of the robotics series by the author, and book was named 'Robots and Empire'.

The story revolved around the tussle between earthmen and spacers (an advanced breed of earthmen settled in far off planets, who had longer life span). It involves space travel, deals with inter-galactic wars, and robots - everything that a science fiction deems to have. I am really amazed at how writers can imagine a consistent world (very much like Harry Potter as well) - whenever you are writing about fantasy world, you start by imagining a whole new world, with different set of rules. And it has to be a consistent world, and you define the boundaries of possibilities. In case of Asimov, he decided on the state of universe, the advancement in science, the time period, and what would be the limitations in that age. 

I have ordered another set of his books - the Foundation series. Its the most famous of his set of books, and its a trilogy (originally a trilogy, which was later extended to 7 books). Hopefully will get to read it some time soon.

Favorite Places

I guess everyone has their dream destinations and favorite places. Dream destinations are usually the places which we have seen in movies, or some friend's facebook album. For me, there are the places I have never been to, but want to visit at least once - Italy, France, New Zealand. There is something associated with these places which is hard to describe, and I sincerely hope that when I actually visit any of them, they don't turn out disappointing. 

There are a separate set of places which are our Favorite Places - where we have been earlier, and would love to visit back on the first opportunity. These are the places where we have had some memorable moments, and we find ourselves comfortable in. I haven't seen too many places round the world as yet, in fact not too many in India either. Goa would be one such place, and another for me would be Hong Kong. Even though I have been living in HK for some time now, I still like the place very much - for all the reasons why a Mumbai fan would like the city in spite of all its shortcomings. Hong Kong is lively, is comfortable to set in, and has a place of almost everyone in the world (culturally). There is no one big over-bearing culture in the main area, and it contributes to ease with expats can settle in. 

I'm going to India this week, and would be spending at least a couple of weeks there. Not much planning done as yet on things to do, and places to visit, but guess once I'm there things would fall into place. Hopefully would get to meet a lot of people this time - something which I always plan but never end up doing. 

Habits

We are all very strange in terms of how we get used to things, and then move on to other things. 

When I was small, we used to play cricket. Almost on every alternate days, if not daily. We used to play in the big grounds, as well as in the small places near our house. We played even at the rooftop (chat, as we used to call it), and had all sorts of weird rules. Then, all of a sudden, after school life ended I never played it. Once in a while we played it during our final year in engineering, and a couple of times in the B-School. But never on a regular basis since my school days. 

Another strange habit which comes and goes is the choice of drinks (not liquor, but general drinks). In my engineering days, it was always Ice Tea. We had a lot of small stalls outside the academic complex where we got Ice Tea and Veggie Pattice. So, it was almost always that for me - between and after the classes. During my MBA days, I got used to hot tea (made from tea bags), and even though it tasted real bad the first time, over time I got so used to it that I preferred it over freshly made tea as well. I came to HK for my job, and as there was no tea available, discovered a really nice coffee pack. During my two months in Manila, I got used to Hot Chocolate (as I disliked both the tea and coffee there). The thing is, at different points of time, I developed different hobbies, and then moved out of it as soon as my surroundings changed. 

Currently am on a 3 months leave, and am now getting used to it as well. In my first job, I was used to working long hours, first to come to office, and last to leave. In my last job, I was never in office for long times, and was always moving around. I had never imagined what life would be when you do not go to office, and have full time to your self. Or how it would be to spend you time deciding on which movies or serials to watch next. As days pass, I got used to it as well. May be, this is the longest break I may get for a good part of my working life. All my life, I always woke up early in the mornings - and now its never before 10 AM these days. And am sure when I re-start my job, I would be back to the schedule of getting up at 6 AM. 

Kafka On The Shore: Book Review

Finally laid my hands on a novel after ages, and finished it within a week. 'Kafka On The Shore' is a 2002 novel by the famous Japanese author Haruki Murakami. This was my Murakami novel, having heard a lot about the author from a few friends. 

The plot is very confusing and mysterious, with two seemingly unrelated parallel stories running - very much Tarantino style (I guess one of these guys may be inspired by the other). All the odd-numbered chapters tells the story about a boy named Kafka (which is not the real name of the boy) who runs away from his home to escape his 'curse'. He undertakes a journey from Tokyo to Takamatsu in search of his mother and sister, who left home when he was 4. After stopping at a few unlikely places, he finally finds a job and home at an obscure library. He spends his time in the library reading all sorts of books, and develops some fascination for the head librarian, Miss Saeki. 

There is another parallel story running on the even-numbered chapters about an unusual fellow named Nakata. He is a weird way of talking to people, and has an ability of being able to talk to cats. He met an accident when he was a kid, and could never become normal again. He lives on the state subsidy, and in his free time tracks lost cats to generate some extra income. It was during one of his searches that he gets into trouble, and expected events unfold. 

I would stop here, as anything more might be a spoiler (there are already a few). The novel deals with metaphysical world, and is full of surreal events. The book is open to interpretation, and leaves a lot of unanswered questions. When Murakami asked public to ask him about the questions, he got 8000 questions from people. He later said that one needs to read the book more than once to grasp it fully - and might need to make some assumption (and hence a linked set of assumptions as there are many loose ends). And different people might reach at different conclusions using their assumptions. The book reminded me of the Matrix Trilogy, and its ending - which was to a large extent an open ending. Different people could end up with different conclusions about the whole trilogy, and the director made no effort to clarify the same. 

Overall, its one of the best books I have read - not so much in their final treatment of conclusion, but the overall plot and how it develops. The writing style is amazing, and there are times when you can imagine being at the scene.