A Book Review

                                       Spartan Gold

Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood
Penguin Books
Rs. 299

It seems like there is a whole truckload of thrillers written these days based on ancient mysteries, mythical treasures and the modern day treasure hunters. Spartan Gold is another such offering. 

Remi and Sam Fargo are a husband-wife duo who chance upon a German U-Boat from the Second World War and it happens to contain an extremely rare bottle of wine from..hold your breath..Napoleon's Lost Cellar! 

A French conqueror, a Greek treasure, a Persian Invader, two German U-Boats, one Ukranian Mafia-Pin, his Russian go-to man and our two American adventurers..Whew!! That sounds mind boggling already! But a promising first hundred pages drag on and on to a rather predictable conclusion, and you are left with the feeling of being let down. Especially being a book on a treasure hunt, one would expect some clever clue solving. Cussler and Blackwood let down their fans on this front with hardly any pages devoted to it. Still, it's a somewhat interesting read mainly because of the friendly spousal banter between our protagonists and the innovative ways in which they get themselves out of trouble.

My rating: 3/5

(Read it once)

Tangali Tandeya- My (first) attempt at a translation

Have you ever tried a translation of an Indian song into English? If you try a direct word to word translation, the chance are, it ends up sounding very weird and meaningless in English, and sometimes very silly.I like tweaking with the translation a little so at the end of it all, it makes sense and at the same time retains the original meaning. Here's a video and translation of the Kannada song, Tangali Tandeya from the movie, Love Guru. I don't claim to be perfect so all suggestions for changes are welcome. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojNVwnwi0y0&feature=related

Tangaali tandeya nanna baalali..
Sangaathi aaguva savi ganasali
Did you bring a cool breeze into my life..
.. In the sweet dream where you are mine?

Tangaali tandeya nanna baalali
Sangaathi aaguva savi ganasali
Kai jaari hodeya
Nanna preethiya
Mannalli hootheya
Nagutha, nagutha
Did you bring a cool breeze into my life..
..In the sweet dream where you are mine?
Did you slip away from my grasp?
Did you bury my love..
..in the sand..
..laughing all the while?

Kunthu ninna kaala kelage
Naa hoovu hididantha galige
Ningeke nanna preethi
gotthe aagade hoythu
Eshtondu saari naa manasanu terede ninmundhe
Ondondu saarinu ariyade eke nee hode?
Ohhh...
There were many times that I knelt at your feet,
With a bouquet of flowers in my hand
But why did you never understand
that I was trying to tell you that I love you
There were many times that I opened my heart to you
But every time you walked away without like you never understood..


Ninage anisillavenu?
Ninagagi bandonu naanu
Ee nanna kanna bhaashe 
Ode illa neeneke?
Ee gaali kaanalla, anubhava ondu sullalla
Ee preethi heegeke, heLade thiliyode illa
Ee ee daariya munna
Kaledu kunthe na ninna
Ohhh....
 Have you never felt that...
...I'm here only for you?
Why did you never read,
the language (of love) in my eyes?
This breeze cannot be seen,but it's experience is not a lie
Why does love have to be like this, cannot be understood without expressing it..

On this, this path,
I lie waiting for you to come..


Tangaali tandeya nanna baalali
Sangaathi aaguva savi ganasali
Did you bring a cool breeze into my life..
..In the sweet dream where you are mine?

Tangaali tandeya nanna baalali
Sangaathi aaguva savi ganasali
Kai jaari hodeya 
Nanna preethiya
Mannalli hootheya
Nagutha nagutha
Did you bring a cool breeze into my life..
..In the sweet dream where you are mine?
Did you slip away from my grasp?
Did you bury my love..
..in the sand..
..laughing all the while?

My bucket list

• Meet Brett Lee.
• Marry Brett Lee!!
• Visit Switzerland and learn how to ski on the Alps.
• Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef.
•  Have a child before I turn 30 and adopt another one before I'm 35.
• Watch a live cricket World Cup/ 20-20 match.
• Watch a live Federer vs. Nadal match.
• Redecorate our current house in Bangalore for my parents.
• Make enough money to be able to donate to all the causes I care for.
• Own a library.
• Own a bookstore!
• Get 3 stars and attain every achievement possible on Angry Birds :)
• Write a bestselling thriller novel.
• Win the Nobel prize for Medicine.
• Plant at least 10 trees a year.
• Fund a girl child's education.
• Make all Bangaloreans learn Kannada. (Totally impossible, I know.)
• Read a Kannada novel.
• Go on a Europe tour, visiting all the places mentioned in the DaVinci Code and follow the Path of Illumination described in Angels and Demons :)
• Meet JK Rowling.
• Meet Dan Brown.
• Win a prize in a photography competition.
• Send my parents for a vacation in Kenya and Switzerland.
• Own an Amazon Kindle.
• Put on weight :)
• Straighten my hair permanently.
• My honeymoon destination: Manali and Rohtang Pass.
• Own the best laptop with all the latest features.
• Play with dolphins.

And finally... To die saving the life of the one I love :):)

Post no. 2

A few funny status updates that I found on Twitter and Facebook over the last few days-

"Roses are red and violets are blue. We have no mutual friends, so who the hell are you?"

"After the whitewash, the boys can hardly wait for another coat of distemper."

"Team India's motto this English tour: Pick an English batsman and try to match his first innings score!"

"England beat India 4-0. Dravid beat England"

 "The Indian Cricket Team should thank Anna Hazare for diverting the attention away from their performance."

"I miss those days when I would type 'Anna' and Google would suggest 'Kournikova'.."

"If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con', then the opposite of progress would be... Congress"



Disclaimer: I didn't come up with any of the above, just felt like sharing the funny ones.

And I'm back to...

... Angry Birding!

Well, after leaving for Mumbai 4 months ago, I hadn’t been able to try my skills at busting those annoying green pigs, marmosets and what not.. But the first thing I did after coming back to Bangalore was to update the game on my iPod, or rather, my brother’s iPod (which he rarely uses) and BAM!!! I’m back to my favourite pastime, and boy, doesn’t it feel great each time I score 3 stars and find a hidden melon or papaya… It’s all about those tropical shakes baby!!!

I first heard about this addictive game a few months back and immediately downloaded the free version on my (brother's) iPod and i was hooked! Almost immediately got the paid version and haven't looked back since. The game is supposed to be based on physics and geometry and stuff like that but to me it's common sense. I suggest this game to all for many hours of pure, unadulterated fun!