Tsunami

26 – Dec – 2004 …..that Sunday introduced a black word to the Indian dictionary, Tsunami. God!!! Thou took away lives ignorant of thy master’s plan. May the souls washed away reach the shores of your feet.

Harry and Me

Now-a-days, I immerse myself with Harry Potter. I am on a proper re-course on Harry.

 

I first came to know about Harry only when the first movie, the Philosopher’s stone, released. At that time, when in college I remember asking Kannapan ( http://gulmohar.blogspot.com ), who went to watch the movie, about the story. Again it was Kannappan who made me read the book, after I joined Infy, but this time it was book 5 (Order of the Phoenix). I started there. Though, I could not understand everything pretty well, I thought Jo gave enough info for newbies like me to read without feeling much stupid. This infact makes the latter versions of HP books a little boring though.

 

I bought all the books. I read the first book, and then watched the Chamber of Secrets (CoS) movie. Then I read the PoA (3) and GoF (4). Then I found that the CoS movie missed a lot of info in the book and read that.

 

I became so addicted that, I longed to have a proper read, starting from 1 to 5. After a fortnight, I am successfully into book 4 now. I must say the books are amusing even for a second time. Infact, I must’ve read the book 2 (CoS) atleast 4 times. Though, I am able to find a few glitches when I read through again, I really enjoy reading them. I read after returning from Work. Thus most of the time, it extends to 2-3 AM on weekdays and even till 5 AM in weekends.

 

I really don’t appreciate the idea of broomstick flying. I always felt and even now feel that is really stupid. But, Harry changed my opinion. Well, great work Jo. I have been regularly going through Jo’s website ( www.jkrowling.ciom ). It has changed a lot and became quite interesting for a few months now. Finding trap doors, secret things spread throughout the website make it lively.

Thinkings over the weekend

Buying vegetables and groceries, though a little irritating, make me feel confident. It lets me, who spends most of the week in front of my PC, get a little idea of the real world. Living in a rented house in the suburb of Chennai, you need to do such things to get a decent food. Well boy, you did something today.

 

I am looking forward to the Discovery channel’s feature this week, Rameses -> the wrath of god or man. I am recently fascinated with the similarities between the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Indians. Many of the customs they followed seems to be the same. I am eager to know which one is the fountainhead of all these customs. I suppose its either India or Egypt. I found in the preview of the program, Rameses the great that in one of the temples of Egypt, the sun rays enters the sanctum sanctorum at particular days (Feb and Oct 21) to light up the deities. This is a feature that is more common or prevalent in South Indian temples. With the recent uncovering of the ancient silk route between India and Egypt, there is a sure possibility that cultural exchanges had taken place between Egypt and Southern India. I am not sure which one learned from which. Perhaps, Egypt might have been a part of the great ‘Sindhu-Saraswathi’ civilization.

 

Let me apply some plain logic to it. When we construct something, say a wonder, we build smaller model first and then develop the bigger thing. Most of the temples in India, which are wonderful engineering marvels, are small compared to those built by the Pharaohs. I hope these bigger temple complexes were built after learning the art from the smaller temples of India. This is just my opinion.

 

regards,

Ramesh

 

"There is no use in learning, if we do not worship the good feet of the one who is in the form of pure knowledge."

- Thiruvalluvar