best dollars you will spend

Give some to Wikipedia. The world is a better place because it exists.

Wow Ann

Ann Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a smash hit on publication and sold out faster than Emily's Wuthering Heights. Why is it then not as well known as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights? Could it be Charlotte's jealousy (the bad review and with-holding the republication)? Was it not romantic enough? Or is the reason a simple 'coz it is just not as good'?

They say the concept was unheard of, for it's time and was akin to a bombshell for the victorian crowd. It is considered to be the first feminist novel. I have seen Jane Eyre described as one of the great decision making heroines of literature. Helen Graham, in my opinion, leaves Jane way behind in feminist credentials.

Just to keep things in context, Ann was the daughter of a poor Irish clergyman who for the most of her life lived on Yorkshire moors. Ann Brontë's achievement is staggering.

how did I miss it?

Blown away by Toby Stephens in Jane Eyre (2006).
I kept thinking through out the series that I know him from somewhere, he is not a stranger. Accidentally found out just now that he is the guy who played William Gordon in Mangal Pandey. His friendship with Pandey was the one redeeming feature of the movie. Love this discovery, but slightly mad at myself for not having connected the dots sooner.

I shall pine for you all my life.
That is my fate.
And I am resigned to it.
-Jane put the pen down and closed her diary.

left right.. left right..

I learned today that in United States, field hockey or what we just call hockey... is a girl's sport and not really played by men that much.

*shakes head from left to right.. closes eyes and sighs. I don't understand this country and it's sports sometimes.

fair game

The content of the show (satyamev jayate) is fair game for debate and Farah Naqvi (member of National Advisor Council) raises some relevant points in this article. I agree with her on the need to focus on the nuances of the issue, esp the motives and socio-economic factors. But it's just not fair to expect a one hour TV show to address everything. Audience looking to meaningfully engage with the issue, will ask the question 'why'. Helping them find the answers if they are not already painfully obvious, seems to be the government's / activists' job. The show never advertised itself as the beginning and the end, as the disperser of all gyan. If people are talking about the issue, then the show has accomplished what it has set out to achieve. To burden it with our desperate expectations of finding a resolution to this issue is simply not fair.

The WHY?
Like most things one can trace the motive back to economic factors. Dowry, capacity of the girl child to contribute to the family income and social security (after retirement). The girl child is gotten rid off because keeping it doesnt add up financially (esp. for the lower income parents). The balance sheet is marked negative on birth because there is dowry to be paid in future. Investment in her education is not given priority because she is not expected to get a job and earn. Even if she does work and earn, she will be married soon enough and that puts a stop to any financial contribution.
Our social structures were built for an age when people had multiple children and statistically there was bound to be atleast one boy and he is expected to take care of them in retirement. Today, if we expect people to have just one or two children and raise them happily even if they are girls, then we also have another question to ask ourselves.. how many men and in-laws are willing to let married women financially support her own parents.
What about the parents of women who dont work? Do we have a social security program in our country that allows people to retire in dignity?


I also agree that popular rhetoric doesnt lead to nuanced legislation. Precisely the reason this is different from the Anna movement. This is not an attempt to legislate. People appreciating this show know that at the end of the day this is just a TV show, they simply hope that it will be a start of wide-spread discussion and inward search in the common populace.

long list of shame

Lets keep aside for a moment, the horrifying argument about how homosexuality is immoral and against Indian/eastern culture. How sloppy is this?

Add another one to the govt's long list of shame - instances where our dear government comes across as incapable of performing its basic functions. Remember how, after raising all the fuss about THE list that we were going to hand to Pakistan, they embarrassingly botched it up. And now they have no clue what the solicitor general is gonna argue at the SC on their behalf. Seriously?!

Now to the actual issue on hand. Is it the govt/court's job to lecture me on morality? I am sure the same 'these are western values, our society and culture are different' argument was used against people fighting caste discrimination or gender inequality. Heck, weren't 'untouchability' and 'sati' part of our so called culture? Did being part of our culture make those practices any less inhuman?
In this particular case though, the culture argument doesn't even apply. Homosexuality is not a fashion trend that we'd pick up from the west. If you think it is alien to our culture, may be you should read our scriptures a tad more carefully.

It is not a cultural or social issue. It's a basic freedom and equal rights issue. And most of the civilized world agrees that - fundamental rights are not subjected to a majority vote. They are called 'rights' for a reason.

Without you

If the reader goes... "I wonder what the writer could have meant";
The writing has fundamentally failed no?
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Chariots of Fire
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Girl Who Kicked the Hornet Nest
Girl Who Played with Fire
Iron Man 2
Billy Eliot
Limitless
Next 3 Days
A Soldier's Story
J Edgar
Daddy Long Legs
Star Trek
Agneepath
Mujhse Fraandship Karoge
Ladies vs. Ricky Bhal
Saahib Biwi aur Gangster
Inglorious Bastards
Ides of March
Fawlty Towers
Fast Food Nation
Food Inc
Fat Sick and Nearly Dead
Last Night
One Day
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The only good thing about the long commutes is the dedicated time I have each day to catch up on my fav podcasts.

Stuff You Should Know
Stuff You Missed in History Class
Freakanomics
The Rachel Maddow show
Real Time with Bill Maher

The SYSK podcasts especially are little gems. Each one of them.
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What would I do without you Netflix?
Seriously what?

couldn't you eat a green vegetable now and then..?

Stieg Larsson...

Thank you for bringing me back to fiction after a long time. The joy that your Millennium series (or 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' series) gave me was only followed by despair when I learned that you died shortly after delivering the 3 manuscripts. The despair doubled on knowing that you had a series of 10 books planned. Tripled when I realized that your real life experiences provided a fertile ground which you could mine for any number of books. The series shows how satisfying fiction can be when the author is more than just a career writer; An idealist, feminist, expert on neo-nazi right wing terrorism, editor-in-chief of a magazine and involved in politics.

Just when my heart was about to leap with joy on learning that you wrote enough of the fourth book that your partner could put it together, I learn your family and her are feuding over the control of your literary estate.

They say your diet consisted solely of coffee, cigarettes and hamburgers. The reason for your death - a massive heart attack. Oh dear Larsson, couldn't you have touched a green vegetable now and then..?! :-(

How I wish you were around to see the success of your books; we could hear from you directly and not rely on second hand accounts; you wrote more books.

*sigh

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23Larsson-t.html?pagewanted=all