Books finished

Me of little faith
by Lewis Black.

To start with, i love Lewis Black's shorts on The daily show with Jon Stewart. Both his material and style of delivery is unique and makes me laugh. So when i saw that he has written a book and that too on religion, i was on to it. The cover of the book says something like this - "there is only one man who can yell in print form and that man is Lewis Black". I agree :) Me of little faith is more or less a personal story of Black's relationship with religion, how he became an atheist after being a Jew and how others react to him. While it is humorous, it is not a Laugh out loud kind of book and frankly towards the end it even feels that i have had enough of Mr. Black. But still the book is very interesting take on religion filled with anecdotes and one liners that are typical of Mr. B. Not the kind of book i would like to buy but nevertheless a good read while you are sitting on THE seat.
Book can be found here - http://www.lewisblack.com/Me-of-Little-Faith.aspx


Guardians of being
Eckhart Tolle and Patrick McDonnel
Amazon link


Guardian of being is an awesome book - a perfect gift to someone. It is also the closest that i will ever get to a spiritual kind of self-help book. It is a very short book containing small spiritual deep meaning sentences, written by Eckhart Tolle, accompanied by graphic images illustrated by Patrick McDonnel. Both people are masters in their genre and this book is like an experiment to merge the two art forms. And it is great. The title Guardains of being refers to the pets. The book is the importance of having pets, what we can learn from them. The book illustrates how pets help us in realizing what nature is, what life is, what stillness is, what enjoying the present is. And many things. I will highly recommend this book.

Some lines -

“The vital function that pets fulfill in this world hasn’t been fully recognized, They keep millions of people sane.”

Whether it’s a dog leaping joyously after a butterfly or a cat curled blissfully in the lap of its person, the messages are clear: “Life is good!” and “Enjoy the here and now!”

Millions of people who otherwise would be completely lost in their minds and in endless past and future concerns are taken back by their dog or cat into the present moment, again and again, and reminded of the joy of Being.

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still it is, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.

I love NPR

Before i forget to write about it, let me write about it.

I love NPR - National Public Radio.

It is primarily a news radio with some shows at particular times. To start with, their news coverage is awesome. Their reporters are professional, it is unbiased to any political party and they report genuine stories from around the world. Kudos to NPR for this one.

As far as shows go, the one that i have become a fan is selected shorts. In this one, they call actors to read short stories selected. The one that got me hooked was a short story Jobs's Jobs by Aimee Bender. It can be found here - http://www.webdelsol.com/Other_Voices/Bender.htm


Podcasts can be found here - http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php?type=main&id=-1

NPR website is here - http://www.npr.org/

It reminds me so much of AIR FM Rainbow - its days in 2000/2001. Te fact that they combined both english and hindi songs, jazz songs, classical (both indian and western) and other things, awesome!

I need an NPR in India as well!. Somebody do it please!

San Diego trip

6 people, all from NSIT - will they be able to bring back the NSIT josh?
What was the best part about the San Diego trip?


Was it seeing killer whale jumping up and down in Seaworld?
Well not exactly my kind of fun, infact i realize that i do not like zoos and sea worlds, i think asking animals to entertain us and that too 4 times a day is not entertaining to me atleast. May be i need some fresh perspective.

Or Playing Literature (card game) / Dumb charades sitting at the back seat of the mini van while driving at night? Guessing those cards in darkness or understanding those hand gestures without being able to see them clearly? Well, playing literature was surely THE thing that reminded me of NSIT days.

Was it going to the Seaport village and talking to the man who know how to balance rocks. Yes! balancing rocks one on another with his bare hands. You can see the seaport videos here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM7XVAsbTLk and here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bEEuthN4VI&feature=channel I believe he is the same guy as in this site - http://www.rock-on-rock-on.com/ . Talking to him, he told us about the magnetic attraction between rocks, 3 years of his life spent in understanding this energy. Gurshi was also able to balance after seeing him. Pretty cool stuff. [The youtube videos are not mine, i have just taken the liberty to post them here without asking the video owners] . At seaport village we also went to this super-cool kite shop - http://www.kiteflitesd.com/ . They have amazing kite crafts and more - wind mills, magic sticks etc and the shop owner was so friendly, he even showed his tricks. I would have bought something if it was cheaper but super-cool crafts come with a price too. But the shop was amazing - do check their website.

Or was it eating at the Indian places - the gujrati food with its theplas and mouth-watering chaats?
Well it was ok, and any place in US (yes any place here) can not compare to what i have had in India. And when it comes to sub-optimal, algo a is as good (or bad) as algo b. Bad joke! Got it!

Or was it going to Point Loma - the highest point in San Diego and watching sun rays come behind a veil of clouds.
Yes, for me this was the highest point of the trip as well. It was a beautiful scenery. We were standing on a mountain with sea in front of us. It was evening, almost the time for sunset but not quite yet. The sun was there sitting behind black clouds but we couldn't see it. What we could see were the sun rays, piercing the clouds as if they were bullets. You could see the clouds in between the rays and rays in between the clouds. A cold wind is blowing but it is not freezing. No matter how much i describe, you will not get it. There are some pics as well, i will pose once i get them.