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[Book Review] Rajmohan’s Wife

Author: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay ISBN: 9780143067436 My Rating: 3/5 This book, as the Introduction and the Afterword present in this edition, take pains to inform us, was the first attempt of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (Chatterjee) to write a book in English, along the lines of those that he was exposed to during his years of learning in the medium that was English. Chattopadhyay who was among the very few to graduate in the first of such ceremony held at the then recently established n of Calcutta (founded 1857) had been learning in English even before his years at college, and had been well-acquainted with the form and ways of the english novels. And that style he has tried to emulate in this book as well. There are numerous references which would only make any sense to the English, or if any Indian understands them, he/she must be one of the 'educated' elite; education, here, referring to English education, and proficiency in knowledge. One can, therefore, infer that Chattopadhyay was trying to imitate his masters, perhaps he felt liberated, as now the likes of him were not confined to the Bengali (and Indian) culture, but were accustomed to the ways of the ruler, the better. But, as we very well know, this stint in English writing, which is considered to be the first Indian novel in English, was very short-lived. Although, he continued writing essays and articles in English, his primary language of addressing his audience of poetry and novels became Bangla, for which he is today immensely popular. This novel gains importance, though, because it brings to forefront the strata that the English language created in the Indian society, creating another line of separation between the groups already clustered along the lines of religion and caste. The Afterword present in this edition can explain the interpretations and possible reasons in the context of pre-independence India much better than I can summarize here, and I would urge anyone interested in knowledge of such kind, to kindly look at the mentioned text. After reading the book it is abundantly clear that this is not a masterpiece in any sense. Neither is the story very compelling, nor the style of writing. I, however, am very attached to the books describing the rural India of the later-20th century, and any part of the older India (or the land that it was). And hence, I would always be biased towards this, like I am towards R.K. Narayan.

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[Book Review] Bring Up the Bodies

My rating: 5/5 This review holds for both, Wolf Hall as well as Bring Up the Bodies, and I hope I would be able to carry it over for the third book in the trilogy too. The first few pages are extremely confusing, not due to the content which is straight and simple, but owing to the writing style that the author has adopted. Mantel keeps referring to the protagonist (Thomas Cromwell) as "He" throughout the book, and this persistence baffles the reader when there are more than one male participants in a scene or a conversation. This excessive reliance on a pronoun, at first, pushed me strongly to abandon the book, but holding on paid off wonderfully. It is neither every writer nor every series that wins the Booker prize twice. There had to be something exceptional and once I adjusted myself to the way the author had worded the book, that something special was ubiquitous. The choice of words is brilliant, and there is no chapter or page which seems either over-paced or annoyingly slow. The author has been able to keep the flow just right, which is a wonderful quality in itself. I, not being English, was not familiar with Tudors' history or any of the characters. I had picked the book for two reasons. One, it had won the Booker Prize, and two, it was a historical fiction - one of the genres I love. Fortunately, it seems that the author had sensed the need to keep the book as comprehensible for an uninformed reader like me as for a reader well-versed in England's medieval history. The book felt like a top-notch mystery and drama set in the 1500s, instead of a book with historical references. The author also makes up for Wolf Hall in the second book Bring Up the Bodies, and I felt that one need not re-read the first book to understand the second, even if considerable time has passed between the two. The books also provide a list of the dramatis personae and the family trees at the beginning and they turn out to be very helpful while reading, to make sense of the happenings. I believe these were two excellent books, and I would definitely skip my reading-list to read the third book, whenever it comes out.

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[Book Review] Ten Days

My rating: 3/5 I received this book through Goodreads giveaway and was, thus, one of the first to read the book. I had no huge expectations from this book, being aware of the fact that it was Nandan's first foray in writing fiction. The writing had all the characteristics that a new author shows. Reading the few first pages, it seemed that the author always had a thesaurus in hand. The words, though not inappropriately used, didn't fit in with the way sentences were formed. It smoothed after the first quarter, but if someone was to judge the book from the first few pages alone, this would certainly have a substantial effect. There is also no concrete way to describe the story. It seems to revolve around a character (Tina), but the character is not as richly described as a protagonist should be. In fact, all the characters roughly equal each other in description and the reader feels at loss to bond with any particular one. Apart from that, the book introduced all the characters in the first few pages, making it difficult to keep track of the names and their stories. Even if one keeps up with all this, the story is unconvincing. Almost every character is connected with everyone else - maybe the author wanted to establish the Six Degrees of Separation Theory. I wanted to give 2.5 stars to this book, but owing to the limitations (of Goodreads) decided to give 3. I think this is a good start for a new author and if Nandan takes the feedback positively and works upon it, maybe she can deliver a best-seller next time.

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[Book Review] The British Conquest and Dominion of India (Set of 2 Volumes)

My rating: 5/5 Stuck between the British sense of superiority, grandeur, and supposed generosity on one side, and politically unconcerned, staunchly religious, and, later, nationalist mass of people on the other, it is indeed a great achievement for Sir Penderel Moon to have remained utterly unbiased and produced a masterpiece such as this. This relatively lesser known book traces the history of the present day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, with some traces of Afghanistan and Myanmar, from the mid-1700s and ends with the partition of British India. It must be added that this is not a regular book on Indian history. The book focuses on the administrative side of the rule and although it describes the life of the common people during all periods, the details are relatively scarce. As possible for an Indian Civil Services officer, Moon has included many interesting anecdotes and, sometimes, an extremely concise character sketch and biography of the executives and rulers, which prevents the reading from becoming dull, and the text retains the same vitality throughout. The author's ability to state facts clearly in a simple language is commendable. The book is as accessible to the common population as it is valuable to the scholars. At times the author uses terminology and references that might be unknown to a non-English reader, but it doesn't ruin the pleasure in any significant way. For an English reader familiar with the political organizations of Britain, however, these details would make a delightful enhancement. At approximately 1200 pages, this book certainly requires patience, but the patience rewards wonderfully. For anyone looking for an unprejudiced and plain history of the British conquest of India, this book is perhaps a must. More than anyone, I'd recommend this book to the children of India and the blind Indian nationalists, who would probably benefit the most with some taste of truth.

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[Book Review] One Hundred Years of Solitude

My rating: 5/5 Very few authors can capture the story of death and solitude while at the same time injecting bits of plain lies, fantasy, and humour in a story which is anything but comic. Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez has written this book with such expressiveness which leaves the reader gripped as characters take birth, live a solitary life (hence the title), and die. No single protagonist can be singled out, however if one has to point one out, it would either be the town of Macondo, which comes into being at the beginning and stands decrepit towards the end, or the Buenda family, or Solitude, if it can be considered as one. Márquez has the quality of articulation so brilliant that at no stage do the words seem superfluous. Words have been chosen carefully and sometimes provide a poetic aura to the book. And it was not only the diligence on Márquez's part, the English readers must be grateful to the translator, Gregory Rabassa, as well. The quality of a book undoubtedly depends on what the author has written but it is also greatly supplemented by how the translator performs his job. A translator can degenerate or exalt a work, and in this case Rabassa has truly done a beautiful job. An interesting phenomenon to note in the book is the author's mechanical description of child birth and romantic articulation of death. The characters, after living a life of varying lengths but invariably tainted with solitude, die in mysterious and, sometimes, supernatural ways. However, if death is interpreted as the culmination of solitude, then this is a very fitting feature. Birth, on the other hand, is accompanied by affection and attention, and perhaps that was the reason why the author chose to keep it prosaic. The story, although gripping and stimulating, could have been extremely complicated owing to the repetition of names in the family, but Márquez has dealt with the problem gracefully by referring to the characters with and without surnames, or sometimes adding a point of reference to illuminate the one. It would be very clear why Márquez won the Nobel Prize after one reads this book. An exhilarating read.

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[Book Review] Catch-22

My Rating: 4/5

Catch-22 is a satirical war comedy set during the Second World War. The title, Catch-22, is a term often used in the novel to describe military and bureaucratic rules consisting of contradictory conditions. One prime example, and the first explanation of the rule in the book, is the following excerpt:

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to.

Like every other novel, this book has characters too. But unlike most other novels, although the story seems to revolve around a central character named Yossarian, it often meanders gently to the lives and thoughts of other equally rich characters. The characters are rich in their details. Heller has created a story-verse with not a single live sphere, but one resembling scores of soap bubbles - each shimmering and sparkling with a radiance unique to itself. The author surprises the reader throughout the novel by picking characters that don't appear to have a noteworthy role and describing them in such a way that they become indispensable cogs of the machine. The machine has no loose parts, everything fits perfectly.

The storyline is interesting partly because it is not linear - something which adventurous readers would undoubtedly appreciate - and partly because the connections often take substantial number of pages to establish and explain the seemingly incoherent affairs. Heller must have made tremendous efforts to get the story right and the work is manifest in the excellent product.

Lastly, since it is a satirical comedy the reader may expect plenty of rejoinders and ridiculous situations, and the reader would not be disappointed. However, the characters in the book often indulge in conversations and contemplations which sometimes start with ludicrous foundations but take a philosophical turn quite unexpectedly and provide some marvellous food for thought. In particular, Chapter 39 and Chapter 41 (my favourites) are singular as they remind the reader the true nature of wars and suffering.

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[Book Review] The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings (Simon & Schuster MMPB)

My Rating: 3/5 Every piece of art is open to interpretation, therefore enfeebling the intentions of the artist. This piece of art, which deals with so many of life's affairs and at the same time concentrates on a niche section of society and just society itself, is just another in the multitudinous artifacts that humanity has succeeded to produce. What one takes away after reading this novel depends as much on the reader's literary, historical, and mythical know-how as it depends on his/her perception of beauty and art. The characters and society portrayed in the novel all seem to be aesthetes and the major characters are devoted to art to an extent which appears to surpass the limits of devotion. That being said, my perception of art and beauty is what I think is the most prevalent one; "ignorant" or "naive" might be one of the more bland words which critical artists might use to describe it. I do not try to find hidden beauty in beautiful things, nor do I criticize that microscopic irreconcilable scratch that mars the beauty of an otherwise excellent object. In other words, I see things as they are, neither worrying about what they or their constituents signify nor deriving sensory or sensual pleasure out of objects not ostensibly meant to do so. The Picture of Dorian Gray, unfortunately, deals with just such things. It was the first composition by Oscar Wilde that I read and although I might not have fully understood what Wilde wanted to convey I definitely do not regret reading it any more that I regret reading De Profundis, which was one of the "Other Writings" that this edition of the book refers to. Both texts had a simple story behind the complex play of words that garnish them. Both of them contained references to mythology and history that I had never heard of before and probably would have not bothered to carry on with the book had this edition not contained "Notes" explaining them. I would like to add though that this was not a failure on Wilde's part as he targeted the English readers of Victorian Era and, unsurprisingly, I'm not English and definitely do not belong to the Victorian Era. The target readers were expected to be informed about Narcissus, Adonis, Marquis de Sade and such. Neither did I have any such knowledge, nor an inclination to learn about such creatures. I took what I had to take away from these compositions and I'm satisfied, if not delighted. The third and the last composition which this edition of the book contains is The Ballad Of Reading Gaol. This, for me, was a sharp contrast from the previous two readings as the language was much simpler and was not gilded with esoteric references. However, at the same time, the ballad, true to the nature of ballads, filled me with delight that was missing in the previous two readings. The stanzas were wonderful and I can unhesitatingly say that the three star rating is mostly the contribution of this last and, in no way, the least composition.

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[Book Review] India: A History

My Rating: 5/5 If you want to read just one book on Indian history, this has to be it. Enthralling and yet unbiased, Keay sets a very high bar for future historians with India: A History. I completed this book in a period of about two months, reading 10-15 pages each day, and there was not a single day when I was dispappointed. Each day revealed some amazing fact and left me craving for more. Although the book covers each period in not too much detail, as that would span several volumes (see The History and Culture of the Indian People by R. C. Majumdar), it might still be confusing to read about scores of dynasties and the dynamic nature of Indian states. It is, of course, difficult to retain everything one reads and it is more so with history. However, one has to remember that the purpose of studying history is not to retain facts or dates, although that is something that seems to provide authencity, but to learn from the mistakes as well as achievements of the past and to get a historical milieu of a place, person, or family. In this respect, India: A History outperforms any other book easily. Just to give a glance of what's inside, here's a peice of text from the book (Chapter 15, Page 348, paragraph 2):

Amongst the coconut groves on one of the islands they [Portugese] had built a small fort. They called it Bon Bahia, or Bombay. In the 1660s, following an Anglo-Portugese alliance against their Dutch rivals, the place was transferred to Charles II as part of his Portugese wife's dowry.

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Life, Death, and Other Things

(Also on scriptogr.am)

The text below might not be well-written, but I think it successfully does its job. I must emphasize that the text is solely the materialization of my thoughts, and I'm in no way depressed, despondent, or pessimistic.

You're very welcome to share your thoughts by sending me an e-mail or commenting below (if comments are enabled/available). I'd be more than happy to receive any responses.

Below is just a random thought that struck me while writing this:

Praise me and I shall be motivated. Criticize me and I shall improve.

I might not know anything about you. I might not know anything about your life. But one thing I know for sure is that the probability of you dying before finishing this piece of text is finite - it is not zero. And depending upon the present states of the multitude of atoms and molecules in the universe, this probability varies unpredictably between naught and unity.

I might sound morbid, but you cannot deny the truth in this fact.

Speaking of truth, it usually comes in two forms, one which is bitter, and the other which is trite and banal. The realization of mortality and the texts and talks of this ilk belong to these forms of truth, respectively. Everyone experiences the banal truth multiple times, but the onset of realization is often too late. This realization, if untimely, can result in an unprecedented level of inactivity or frenzy. I think, it is for this reason, that a healthy human being finds it difficult to be cognizant of the impending death.

What really matters?

Death is the end of your life. Your life is you. Death is your end. There's nothing that matters after death. You strive for fame, wealth, and power throughout your life, but does it really matter? Can the wealth you accumulate defy death?

Wealth is materialistic. Fame and respect are not. It's the conscience, not the material body that governs what you achieve in your life. Ideas are respected, individuals are forgotten. The only reason the names, Einstein, Newton, or Gandhi are cited often, is not because they, as physical entities, were worth worshiping, but because their ideas are applicable even today, and are applicable in the areas which are significant and anything new directly or indirectly depends on them.

Everything you own or are related to would have no meaning to you after you die. This needs to be understood. You might commit an act of valor and become a hero, or you might write some fine text and become a famous writer, but once you're dead, these things have no meaning to you. They might affect the future generations, but with each new generation, comes a new hero and a new writer, and you'd be forgotten eventually.

The weight of history increases as the time passes by. Each moment of the present would be a part of the history the next moment. With the wheels of time rolling, the history would become so burdened by influential and significant people that their value would be nullified. But the ideas would still remain. The aim of history is not to introduce you to the people who are long dead, but to their ideas which are immortal.

Symbolizing Death

Sleep has an inherent and peculiar guarantee. If you wake up after sleep, the guarantee is fulfilled. And if you do not, the guarantee doesn't hold; it's still valid. Think of death as sleeping, just with the quirk that you never get to wake up again and of course, you don't get to dream.

Temporally, your life is just an infinitesimal time frame on the time axis of the universe. Spatially, your sphere of influence amounts to nothing. Engaging in bickering and dishonesty over petty issues does no good. Think of your life as the games you play. Do you want to enjoy the game or fight for something completely irrelevant and mess up all the fun? Just as the earth is nothing when compared to the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is nothing when compared to the whole universe, our lives are just an enlargement, though still insignificant, of the games we play.

What can you really achieve?

All our life, from our childhood, we are preached by our parents and teachers to work hard and make our lives successful. We are told to study, learn, and work, so that we make something out of our lives. But do we really have to do it? Does this slogging actually do any good?

The simple answer is no. Whatever we do, we do it for others. Let me explain. What did Newton gain by proposing numerous theories and laws? Sure, he gained fame and wealth, but now that he's dead, he can't be wealthy and it doesn't matter if he is famous or not. However, his theories have enabled others to build new theories upon them. He helped others much more than he could benefit himself. This applies to all the professions. The work of an accountant or a clerk can help him earn some money, but is hardly helpful in anything else. The work itself, however, is crucial. For a wall to be complete, all the bricks need to be in place.

YOLO or You Only Live Once

The usage of this phrase is actually interesting. While all the scientific knowledge accumulated hitherto, supports this fact, and we might, for the moment, consider it to be true, the phrase is commonly used as an excuse to do something which a normal and sane person wouldn't think of doing in normal conditions and which would be classified as utterly stupid and half-witted by the so called intellectual and/or mature folks.

Most often, the veracity of the phrase is ignored and the meaning, neglected. This ignorance is beyond my comprehension.

Facing Death

How would you feel if someone very close to you is lying on his deathbed? You know he is not going to be physically near you after sometime. The most difficult part is how to act. Do you embrace exuberance and vitality to make the final step of the journey the best one? Or do you let the grief and fear take upon you?

I've no answer.

How would you feel if you were lying on your deathbed? You'd realize that you have to die alone. Death, being an experience that can never be shared, seems pretty scary. And after you're dead, what would you leave for the future travelers who take your path to make them aware of your presence? Can you actually leave anything?

One needs to think about it - death is inevitable. What happens in the world after death doesn't matter, the dead can't feel it or experience it. You're gone forever. If everyone has to die eventually, what is it that we're supposed to do in life. Why are we here? It is well known what happens to the body when someone's dead, but what happens to the mind, the consciousness?

Religion might have answers to few or all of the questions, but I have none.

I find people so engrossed in materialism and their superficial lives, I often wonder how can anyone not think of matters like this? And if someone tries to introduce the subject in a conversation, they try their best to dodge it and don't hesitate for a moment to label him/her as a maniac.

This ignorance is beyond my comprehension.

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If the Internet crashes, is there a plan B? No!

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Fix Faience Battery Icons in Ubuntu

The battery icons from the Faience icon pack in Ubuntu look terrible.

Here is how I fixed it:

I had to rename some icons and add some. Follow these steps:

Download the faience_battery_icons.tar.gz using the link below.

Extract the file.

tar xzf faience_battery_icons.tar.gz

Copy all the icons inside the faience_battery_icons folder to the status/22/ directory of the Faience icon theme directory. The icon directory can be one of the following:

~/.icons/Faience/

/usr/share/icons/Faience/

For example, if the icon directory is ~/.icons/Faience, then you have to paste all the icons inside the faience_battery_icons to ~/.icons/Faience/status/22.

cp faience_battery_icons/* ~/.icons/Faience/status/22/

Done!

Download Link: faience_battery_icons.tar.gz

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New Theme

I've been working on the new theme for this website and it's turning out to be pretty fine, in my opinion.

I'm not yet completed, however, and will fix it whenever the need arises.

For this theme, I've chosen black and white colors only (or only black?) and I decided to use flat icons (or icon fonts) and not images. So, the thing you see beside the tag names is a character (a font) and not an image.

I'm including a snapshot of the page because I believe that I'd change my theme in future too and you know, it's good to have memories.

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BASH Inline file search script

Here's a script: What does it do? Well, it is a sort of inline file search utility. Suppose you're in a directory having a lot of files. You want to search for a file but you remember it's name only in bits and pieces. What do you do? Probably use find command. This script along with the script below makes this task way more easier. You just type the string you remember and press TAB and it shows you the files having that string in the filenames. Once you get your file, you can press Enter and it asks the name to program to execute. Here's the second script which is nothing, but the one which enables completion on TAB: Steps you need to follow for this to work:

Download the first file.

Rename it to is

Make it executable using

chmod +x is

Move it to either /usr/bin or /bin/

Download the second file and rename it to is

Move it to /etc/bash_completion.d/

You are ready! Now, if you want to search for a file which has 'xyz' in its filename, you type in the following command and press TAB:

is xyz

Once you get the name of the file right, press ENTER, and then type in the name of the program with which to open the file.

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When bewildered with the validity of matters, mathematics is my solace.

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Confirming Benford's Law

So I watched a video about Benford's law, a few time (minutes or hours, I don't know) ago. You should probably check it out, too. It's very informative.

Yeah, so I decided to test it. I got some csv files and plotted the data using octave. The sources of the data are:

General Measures of Geography: http://www.cid.harvard.edu/ciddata/geographydata.htm

Others: http://data.un.org/Default.aspx

Note: The y-axis is percentage but is not scaled correctly. Sorry for the mistake! Here are the graphs:

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Human Behavior and Working days

Baudhayana: Humans are intriguing, aren't they?

Nicolaus: Ofcourse, they are.

Baudhayana: Let me ask you a question. You've two consecutive working weeks. One week has six working days, while the other has five. In which week do you expect a normal person to be happier?

Nicolaus: Well, not addressing all the other questions arising in my mind, I'd say the second one. The one with five working days?

Baudhayana: And what if the non-working days were Sunday after the first week and Monday of the second week.

Nicolaus: Hmm, I'd still be happy. But I'd expect a typical human to be more excited in the first week.

Baudhayana: There! You see! I wonder if you can apply statistics to humans?

Nicolaus: Humans invented statistics.

Baudhayana: Or did they?

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My Desktop as on 13th October 2012