They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.

- Mexican Proverb

2. मस्त भटकंती - दिवाळी अंक २०१५

खरं तर जानेवारीतच लायब्ररी एक महिना बंद करायची असं ठरवलं होतं. कारण दरवेळी कपाट उघडलं की मागच्या वर्षी घेऊन ठेवलेले दिवाळी अंक दिसायचे आणि ते वाचायचे राहून गेलेत ह्याची आठवण व्हायची. पण का कोणास ठाऊक, रोज पुस्तकाची काही पानं वाचली नाहीत तर चुकल्याचुकल्यासारखं वाटत रहातं. म्हणून जानेवारीत लायब्ररीतून पुस्तकं आणली. आता मात्र पण केलाय की फेब्रुवारीत लायब्ररी बंद करायची म्हणजे करायची. हा पण पुरा करायला सुरुवात म्हणून 'मस्त भटकंती' वाचायला घेतला.

लेखांचे विषय मस्तच वाटत होते आणि पर्यटन हा तर माझ्या जिव्हाळ्याचा विषय. पण 'प्रथमग्रासे मक्षिकापात:' अश्यातला प्रकार झाला. Canada मधल्या बुटचार्ट गार्डन्स वरचा पहिलाच लेख वाचायला घेतला आणि जेमतेम ३-४ परिच्छेदानंतर पानाच्या शेवटी 'पान ६६ वर...' हे शब्द दृष्टीस पडले. पानं उलटून तो लेख पूर्ण केला. पण दुसर्या लेखाचं तेच. आता मात्र मी वैतागले. एखाद-दुसर्या लेखाचं ठीक आहे पण प्रत्येक लेखासाठी अशी पानं उलटत बसायचं म्हणजे तापच की. त्यात लेखाचं एक पान आणि एक जाहिरात असं प्रमाण. व्यावसायिक तडजोडीचा भाग म्हणून एका ठराविक मर्यादेपर्यंत जाहिराती समजू शकतो पण इथे मात्र अतिरेक झाल्यासारखा वाटला हे नक्की. लेख वाचताना आणखी एक लक्षात आलं ते असं की काही काही लेखांत त्या पर्यटन स्थळाविषयी नुसती माहिती आहे. अशी माहिती काय आजकाल नेटवर कुठेही मिळते. पर्यटन विषयक लेखांत लेखकाची स्वत:ची मतं, निरीक्षणं, एखादा मजेशीर किंवा हृद्य अनुभव असं काही असेल तर तो वाचनीय होतो. वाचकाला आपण त्या जागी स्वत: फिरतोय असं वाटलं पाहिजे. पण हे भान फार थोड्या लेखक-लेखिकांना आहे असं दिसलं.

मला आवडलेले लेख म्हणजे 'ले गया दिल साकुरा जपान का', 'जलस्मारकं' ह्या विभागातले सर्व लेख, अभिनेत्री मृण्मयी देशपांडे चा हिमालयातल्या ट्रेकिंग वरचा लेख, जयराज साळगांवकर ह्यांचा 'बुलावा आया और', 'ऑरोराचा भुलभुलैय्या', 'सिक्कीममधल्या टुमदार घरात', 'पाताळगुहा आणि जंगलं', 'विदर्भातील खजुराहो' आणि 'रुपीन पास'. मी कधीही ट्रेकिंगला वगैरे गेले नसले तरी मलाही हिमालयाचं विलक्षण आकर्षण आहे. कधीकाळी बेस केम्प पर्यंत जाऊन यायची इच्छा मीही बाळगून आहे. मृण्मयी देशपांडे आणि साळगांवकर ह्यांच्या लेखांनी त्या इच्छेने पुन्हा उचल खाल्ली आहे. :-) 'उद्याने-देशांतर्गत' मधून कोलकात्याचं वनस्पती उद्यान आणि पैठणचं ज्ञानेश्वर उद्यान ह्यांची माहिती मिळाली. 'मुक्काम आकाशात' ह्या जयश्री देसाई ह्यांच्या लेखातून साहसी पर्यटनात नवं काय चाललंय ते समजलं. कोकणातल्या बकासुराच्या वाड्याबद्दल वाचून मजा वाटली. 'देव मामलेदारांचं देऊळ' लेखाने एका वेगळ्या देवळाबद्दल सांगितलं खरं पण लोकांनी देऊळ बांधावं इतकं काय चांगलं कार्य १९ व्या शतकातल्या त्या मामलेदाराने सटाण्यात केलं ते लेखातून पुरेसं स्पष्ट झालं नाही. सज्जनगडावर स्वामी समर्थांचं थीम पार्क झालंय हे वाचून थोडं विचित्र वाटलं पण खरं तर ते एक म्युझियम आहे. तिथे जायची उत्सुकता वाढली आहे. मेक्सिकन केरेबियन समुद्रातल्या अंडरवॉटर म्युझियमची चित्रसफर मस्त.

एकंदरीत काय तर अंकाची मांडणी अधिक घट्ट केली आणि लेखकांच्या भाषाशैलीत थोडे बदल आणले तर हा अंक अधिक वाचनीय होईल.

असो. हा अंक वाचल्याने माझ्या पर्यटनस्थळाच्या यादीत आणखी काही जागा समाविष्ट झाल्या आहेत:

जपान चेरी ब्लॉसमच्या दिवसांत
पीटरहॉप गार्डन, रशिया
बारा मोटेची विहीर, सातारा
रानी की बाव, गुजरात
चांद बावडी, राजस्थान
कुंडी भंडारा, दापोली
पैठणचं ज्ञानेश्वर उद्यान
कोलकात्याचं वनस्पती उद्यान
मेघालय पाताळगुहा आणि जिवंत मुळाचे पूल
ऑरोरा, पोलर नाईटस्, मिडनाईट सन
मार्कंडदेव मंदिरे, चंद्रपूर

कधी आणि कसं जमतं ते पाहायचं :-)

NYPD Red 3 - James Patterson (Spoiler Alert!)

Between you and me, 'NYPD Red 3' is a very unimaginative title. Hell, it almost sounds as if the author gave it a working title as he was writing it and lateron forgot to change it. :-) But I guess it is better than giving a title that has no relation whatsoever with the plot. At least it gives the information that this is the 3rd installment in the NYPD Red series. I read the 2nd offering - the one containing the Hazmat killer - recently but I am yet to read the start of the series so I don't really know what's wrong with detective Kylie McDonald's husband.

So anyways, this one starts when the only son of one of New York's wealthiest - the group that NYPD Red was formed to serve - is kidnapped. The funny thing is that no one reports Hunter Alden junior aka Tripp as missing. The elite force is instead called upon to investigate why Tripp's driver Peter was beheaded. Detectives Zach and Kylie soon realize that all's not well in the paradise and there is more to this than meets the eye. But their efforts to get at the truth are frustrated because of Hunter Alden Senior's influence. The new mayor Muriel Sykes is of help to a limited extent but the detectives realize that if they have to solve the double crime, they need to step on more than a few toes.

Hmmm.....the killer's identity did come as a surprise, and a little bit of shock. But I must say that the killer went to a great length to get at the 100 million dollars. Surely, things would have been a lot easier if he had used just Project Gutenberg to blackmail Hunter rather than orchestrating the kidnapping of his son.

And in the subplot of Cheryl's taking off to help her ex-husband, in my humble opinion, Dr. Gerri got it all wrong as far as Zach is concerned. Zach gets full marks for behaving the way he did in my book. It was a natural reaction and Cheryl the woman, not Cheryl the psychologist, would have behaved much the same way if the shoe were on the other foot. Of course Kylie doesn't come out smelling like roses in this whole episode but then it takes all kinds to make this world, doesn't it?

I liked the novel and might read the original novel of the series just to find out 'where it all began' but if there is any 'NYPD Red 4', I don't think I am going to pick it up in a hurry. The whole plot of the detectives trying to solve the crimes related to rich folks as the paparazzi and politicians breath down their neck is getting too common. :-(

Jamie Oliver has always been one of my favorite chefs. I was watching one of the episodes where he prepared a complete meal in 30 minutes. It was plain amazing! I mean, sure, most of the ingredients came from tins and the continental cuisine doesn't need as much slicing, dicing and grinding as Indian cuisine does. But that doesn't take away the fact that it needs skills to be able to work on multiple dishes at a time. I, for one, wouldn't have been able to let the rice simmer away on its own while I worked on the chicken. I would have been tempted to remove the lid and check on it from time to time. Wonder if the psychologists would be able to neatly put it under some form of OCD :-)

To be frank, I wasn't too impressed with the rice preparation, too bland for my taste, but then I am an Indian. :-) The curd dish sounded cool (no pun intended!) but the jerk sauce (what a name!) was most interesting. He just poured a little olive oil, salt and pepper on the chicken breasts before grilling them to a crisp top. The rest of the flavors came from the sauce as the chicken lay simmering in it in the oven. Brilliant!

I loved the way he ground a little onion and used its juice to season the salad along with lemon juice and salt. And yes, I was green (!) with envy when I saw him pick up the herbs from his own kitchen. :-)

Mahalakshmi Saras 2016

Okay, there is no use mincing the words. This time the exhibition was a huge disappointment for me. :-( Sure, there were the usual stalls selling everything from spices, eatables to clothes and gift items but I felt that most of the stalls were from Maharashtra and the rest of the Indian states weren't adequately represented - at least in the food section. :-(

I think it's time they made some changes in the exhibition's format.

One, there are too many stalls selling the same stuff - spices, pulses, rice and condiments - with no way for the buyer to figure out the differences. After a while, it gets boring and buyers will just move on. This must surely be affecting the sales of these stalls.

Two, except for the famous Halwa from Kerala and non-veg pickles from Andhra, there weren't many regional delicacies to be seen (e.g. कुंदा , कर्दंड from Belgaum, Karnataka or Bebinca cake from Goa). This, according to me, defeated the very purpose of this exhibition.

Three, some products don't make sense for some cities. e.g. it doesn't get very cold in Mumbai so thick shawls and comforters won't sell here.

Four, divide the exhibition in sections - stalls selling food, condiments, pulses, gift items, clothes, jewellery so people can just move out of one section if they have bought all that they wanted to and don't have to go through the whole exhibition if they are pressed for time.

Five, and this has been observed since past few years, the food court needs to have better hygiene standards. At many places food being sold wasn't even covered properly. This must turn off people like me. e.g. the Moong Dal ka Halwa in the Rajasthan stall looked yummy but I couldn't go for it because it was not covered.

And lastly, for God's sake, have a proper parking arrangement in place. It was really bad this time.

That said, we ended up buying Kerala Halwa, Solapuri Bhadang, Churma Ladoo, assorted Papads and assorted munchies. Needless to say, everything was very good. :-)

In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

- Buddha

Revealed: Siachen, tonight on Discovery at 9pm

For more information, check http://www.discoverychannel.co.in/revealed-siachen/

Supernatural- The Devil In The Details

I remember a scene from one of the James Bond flicks - the villain asks one of his minions, a software engineer (named Gupta!) if the system is ready. Gupta says that it is. The villain then asks him if any changes will be needed to which Gupta (very naively!) replies in the negative, and dies regretting it. I guess Rowena wasn't a big fan of 007. If she were, she would never have told Lucifer that she was the only one capable of opening The Cage. I predicted he will break her neck,a moment before he actually did. But I am rather skeptical that the witch can be killed so easily.

I am glad that Sam said No to Lucifer and mad (as hell!) that Castiel didn't. I guess I heaved a sigh of relief a moment too soon when Lucifer disappeared in a whiff of smoke. Of course, I should have suspected that there must be some twist in this tale because they wouldn't have dragged Lucifer from the depths of hell if he were not meant to play a major role in the story. I just wasn't ready to see him possessing my favorite angel.

As if this were not enough, the Darkness is alive and kicking and eating up people's souls. With her and Lucifer both running amok, I am tempted to say God Help Us All - except that God has gone MIA.

Guess the Winchesters are in for the roughest ride of their lives :-( Good Luck, guys!

Trouble In Mind - Jeffery Deaver

This one will remind you of Jeffrey Archer's 'A Twist In The Tale' for sure. 12 stories of whodunits where the story turns on its head towards its end, well, most of the times. My reactions were similar to what it was for Archer's book. I was surprised at the first twist in the first story and then I started looking out for ways the author could have tricked his readers. Sometimes I succeeded in guessing it and sometimes fell flat on my face. But I enjoyed every moment of it :-)

My personal favorites - Fast, Game, Bump, A Textbook Case, The Competitors, The Weapon

And the ones that I didn't much enjoy - The Obit, Forever, The Therapist, Reconciliation, Paradice, The Plot

I was particularly annoyed by The Obit - this must be the worst Lincoln Rhyme story written, ever, I hope - and Forever - this one lived upto its name and seemed to drag on forever. :-(

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (Spoiler Alert!)

This novel is a must-read, sort of those 101 guides - if your husband is having an affair and you want to teach him a lesson or you want to protect yourself from your psycho wife. Since I do not fall into either category, it ended up giving me a very bad case of splitting headache which refused to go away even after turning the last page. :-(

As far as the plot goes, we have a couple - Nick and Amy. As is the norm in these novels, Amy is very pretty and Nick is handsome in a roguish way. They lose their jobs in New York and move back to his native town, supposedly to take care of his dying mother. There is Go (for Margo!), Nick's sister who is helping him run the bar purchased with Amy's money (Ouch!). And then there are Amy's parents, the psychologists and authors of the successful book series 'Amazing Amy'. Then one fine day, Amy disappears. The house is a mess - suggesting she might have been kidnapped. And yet, there is no ransom note. So the needle of suspicion points to Nick, he being the husband. Innocent till proven guilty? No chance. It is upto him to prove that he didn't do it - unless the Gone Girl (or her body!) is found.

The author has done a very good job of making the reader suspect that Nick is the culprit - so much so that the reader starts wondering if Nick is innocent after all. Amy's schemes appear clever but they are so elaborate that at many points during the narrative I paused and wondered aka Dean Winchester from Supernatural - Seriously? Of course, I also couldn't stomach the fact that in the end Nick cannot bring Amy to justice. :-( The book jacket mentioned that there are talks to turn this novel into a motion picture. I am curious to see who are cast as Nick and Amy but don't think I will shell out any money to go watch it in the theaters.

I have had enough of Amy and her scheming ways.

Happy Republic Day India!

I would have been surprised if I hadn't woken up to the cacophony of patriotic songs from old Hindi movies being blared from multiple loudspeakers today morning. But 70 years down the lane my compatriots don't seem to have lost their penchant for this. All the usual suspects have been played as I write this - ऐ मेरे वतन के लोगो, कर चले हम फिदा, वंदे मातरम (from movie आनंद मठ), मेरा रंग दे बसंती चोला (this one seems to have multiple versions), है प्रीत जहा की रीत सदा, संदेसे आते है and मेरे देश की धरती. दुल्हन चली and जहा डाल डाल पर सोनेकी चिडिया are yet to make an appearance but I am confident that they will, sooner rather than later. :-)

Well, all is not well in the Republic of India - we are fighting in the name of language, caste, creed, religion and seem to be discovering more and more differences over which we can kill each other. The farmers are committing suicide. The environment is being destroyed. Women are facing discrimination and violence. More laws are being broken than followed. Every year I wonder how this country - of different cultures, languages, castes and religions - is being held together and every year I fear that we will eventually fall apart.

But we haven't, at least, till now. There is news - never front page (encouraging news rarely makes it there, today's journalism being what it is!) - of people going beyond these differences to help each other out, of honest people returning valuable things to their rightful owners, of people doing what they can to protect the environment, of people losing their lives while trying to save others' and of people doing their bit to make sure that this country gets better every day.

We can follow their lead without having to go out of our way or causing a great inconvenience to ourselves. We simply have to decide to do one thing from here on. It could be to follow traffic rules - not to start driving till the signal turns green (no matter how much others honk!) and not to start crossing the road on foot if the pedestrian walking sign is off. It could be to donate to a good charity working on a cause dear to our heart - amount does not matter, desire does. It could be to save water - saying no when the server brings water as soon as we are seated in the restaurants (if you don't intend to drink it) or refills it later. To not forward hateful messages on whatsapp or any other social media. None of these are really difficult, are they? And certainly more effective than playing the same patriotic songs every year (and polluting the environment in the process!).

We have to remember that our Constitution gave us rights but we also have responsibilities. Oh, and in case you are wondering, my resolution for this year is to fill up the form for organ donation. :-)

I happened to watch a scene from the movie 'Legion' yesterday. God has lost all faith in humanity and sends an army of angels to destroy it. And yet there is one angel who stands shoulder to shoulder with humans to defend them. When the protagonist, Jeep, asks him how he managed to keep his faith, the angel replies that it is because of people like him that he knows that there is hope yet for humanity. It is worth fighting for.

Let's give that angel more reasons to fight for us now, shall we? :-)