-
Book Review: ‘Ender’s Game’
Review: 4 stars Orson Scott Card can truly be called the father of ‘Modern YA literature’. Let’s not be pedantic about the perils of pulpy paperbacks – that stuff sells. And even though you swear on your stars that you can’t stand that trope, you love reading it. The stuff that screams action on every… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’
Review: 4 stars My mind cannot comprehend war. I have of course seen the movies and the documentaries, read the books by all the right authors – yet, fail to comprehend the immensity, brutality & the utter meaninglessness of war. I let myself be mindlessly pumped-up by jingoist fervor over a primetime debate on television,… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘Imaginary Homelands’
Review: 3 stars Salman Rushdie is a notorious name-dropper, or I must be simply unaware about the major chunk of literature that he enjoys and sometimes reveres. If this is the popular culture out there, then I must be the ostrich with my head in the ground. Or I can always say that it is… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘Genghis Khan and the making of the Modern World’
Review: 4 stars Let me tell you from the very outset, Genghis Khan was not a Muslim who perpetrated various acts of violence against the people of India. Furthermore, he even failed to mount a conquest on India as he found the weather to be too hot. Genghis Khan was a Mongol and a shaman… Read more
-
The Song of Democracy
“If I have to take police protection in my own country from my own people, then there is something wrong with me, I’m fighting within the framework of the Indian constitution and it is not against anyone, but for everyone.”[1] -Narendra Dabholkar On August 20th 2013, Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead while out on… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘Fahrenheit 451’
Review: 4 stars 1984 is terrifying, bleak, intricate, detailed and downright depressing,Fahrenheit 451 is lyrical. Before reading this classic by Ray Bradbury, my approach to dystopian novels was something as follows: gingerly open the first page, read few more, shut the book and pick it up after 6 months or so. I hated Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World ,… Read more
-
Humans dream of Organic Sheep!
I haven’t told you my name, have I? It’s Valmik Zone 365. Sub-writer of Speculative fiction. In direct employment of her holiness, Maa Gaia, Computer Supreme! Read more
-
The Surgery
The following poetry has won the First Prize under Poetry Category in ‘Black Coffee Competition 2017’ organized by the Literary Committee at MICA. Act 1 It clutched the being by his lapels, And thrust the knife into his belly, five times dead. It moved onto the next, before the body fell, Pushing the… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘The King’s Speech’
Review: 3 stars ‘The King’s Speech’ tells me that appearances matter, more so – when it is the question of British Monarchy. An inspirational figurehead, the king is supposed to rally the support of his subjects around important issues of the day – for that a skill of oratory is must. And the job of… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘Iacocca: An Autobiography’
Review: 5 stars This book is a gold mine. Labor relations, change management, marketing, Govt. relations, cost reduction, & the recent Trump rhetoric – I get to know all about it in this 370 page paperback, which was written way back in 1984. More than that it teaches you about persistence, about having a greed… Read more
-
Book Review: The Four Patriots
Sumit Agarwal is prescient. The recent events in the country – be it the ‘Surgical Strike’ against Pakistan or the ‘Demonetization Drive’ finds its way in the novel ‘The Four Patriots’, way before they actually happened. Even if you don’t take this book as a blueprint for the development of the nation, it is a… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘The Island of Doctor Moreau’
‘The island of Doctor Moreau’ reminds me of the robots in the Isaac Asimov novels, and the three laws of robotics. The first one goes something like this, “A robot may not harm a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm.” There is a similar but a more selfish… Read more
-
My lady, you have no free will!
The next time you are laughing, remember you have absolutely no control over it. You may try to rationalize as to why you elicited that embarrassing snort that drew unneeded attention from all the quarters, but then your conscious mind has known how to delude yourself. All these post-hoc attributions to reasons for your laughter… Read more
-
Hypothesis v/s Insight
Imagine yourself to be Descartes sitting under an apple tree. An apple hits your head and you wonder, ‘Whether in this Earth-centric vortex, are there invisible particles which force the objects down towards Earth?’ Then again, imagine yourself to be Newton sitting under an apple tree. An apple hits your head, and you wonder, ‘Why… Read more
-
Creation of Quality
I am a man who has always lived in darkness. I know nothing, I perceive nothing. I don’t have any preconceptions. Complete, utter darkness – total isolation. Then I see a light, from a corner of the boulder that had been obstructing the view of the outside world, in this dark cavern that I have… Read more
-
Why all Happiness is Not Equal?
‘A man’s flesh is his own; the water belongs to the tribe.’[1] – a Fremen Quote, Dune E.M. Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints says, ‘A chain is as strong as its weakest link’[2] or ‘any system is limited in its pursuit of achieving more of its objectives by a small set of constraints’. For the… Read more
-
Addicted
This is not a piece. It’s a note, for me to remember in future. Why are all the forms of Entertainment, so addictive? What do we find so pleasurable in Whatsapp chats? Why are we so hooked to our Tablets/PCs as we once were to our T.V.s? Why also do we constantly groan and lament… Read more
-
Pulling off a ‘Watchmen’!
Like all great books that I have come to admire, it all started with a rejection. I rejected Harry Potter, because I believed him to be yet another wannabe magician who would pull out a rabbit from his hat. Rejection actually helps – it is a sifting mechanism, though improper, which allows me to focus… Read more
-
Chapter 1: Somewhere in between!
I observed him carefully as he walked to the door. I knew that time was running out but suppressed my urge to check my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under my breath. “Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven…” Damn, I should have timed it better. This guy was taking an eternity… Read more
-
A viable business model for Space Exploration
Space, the final frontier. We wax lyrical about the immense possibilities of space: Martian Colonies, Base Camp on the Moon, the wonders of the Titan, Asteroid Mining, and what lies beyond the realms of this Solar System. Our strong and unassailable faith in human endeavour has brought us so far ahead… Read more
-
Why Alienman?
I clammed up. There, you see me, my neck craned over my cell phone, oblivious to what’s happening around me. That’s me trying to be inconspicuous. I am an anachronism, and people don’t like to be reminded of that fact. The group is polite enough, not to ridicule me. I have had worse. I don’t… Read more
-
Can a Robot be creative?
A disclaimer: This article is written by a layman who misunderstands and is misunderstood often. Robots have more often than not, been subjects of speculative fiction. So much to an extent that, every science fiction writer worth his salt has written at least one story/novel/article featuring robots. No other subject, except perhaps ‘Interstellar travel’,… Read more
-
Discussing ‘Foundation’
“Of all human conditions, perhaps the most brilliant and at the same time the most anomalous, is that of the Governor General of British India. A private English gentleman, and the servant of a joint-stock company, during the brief period of his government, he is the deputed sovereign of the greatest empire in the world;… Read more
-
Ticket Stub: Birdman
Ticket Stub: Birdman Stars: 4 Story: An actor playing a superhero, becomes one! tongue emoticon Talent to watch out for: Practically everybody… The Juicy Bit: The movie is smart, imaginative, artistically shot, idiosyncratic, funny as hell, anti-mushy yet touching Bitter Lemon: It is lemonade, all the way through! Reason to watch: It won the Oscar… Read more
-
Ticket Stub- Jupiter Ascending
Ticket Stub: Jupiter Ascending Stars: 3 Story: A royal intrigue, minor skirmishes in space, a girl falling for her savior Talent to watch out for: Eddie Redmayne (the husky whispers along with the occasional staccato outbursts) The Juicy Bit: The heady cocktail of superb visuals and spectacular vistas, amazing weaponry, and gripping chases and fight… Read more
-
Why India works?
I firmly believe that even if a craven despot becomes the leader of the nation tomorrow, he won’t be able to do a lasting damage to our society. Mainly because the common folks have become impatient. They have become all the more interested in the specifics of what is being offered and are not rigidly… Read more
-
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL THE OPEN LETTER WRITERS SET AGAINST MODI
This is to tell you from the onset, that I am a bhakt. Personally, I hate the terminology as it pits me as a saffron-tinged rustic Hindu hooligan, but for taxonomic purposes, you can classify me as Moditus Admirus, known otherwise as Bhakt. So now that you have already wrinkled your nose and would be… Read more
-
How a recourse to Content Writing spelled my Redemption?
It’s not that difficult to decide whether you are a hack or a writer, when you mechanically, monotonously and quite without a definitive surge of emotions, string together words so that they make cohesive sense as a whole, syntactically or otherwise, just that and nothing more, without giving a damn about what you have written,… Read more
-
The Other Universe
I have had an interesting childhood. Having never been interested in sports overmuch (partly because I wasn’t good at anything), I used to vicariously lead the life of superheroes, local as well as of phoren import, fighting their battles, facing their dilemmas, adoring their love-interests (Shaktimaan’s Geeta, the feisty reporter comes to one’s mind), and… Read more
-
Book Review: ‘My Life and Work’ by Henry Ford
Review: 4 stars I have read books by writers with fanciful imagination. Finally, I got time enough to read one by the author who has always captured people’s fancy and imagination. His accomplishments have inspired many, and we can’t really do without his useful little contraption. A rigorous capitalist who wishes to do a service… Read more
-
Book Review : Dead in a Mumbai Minute
I expected it to be a good read, but not a cracker! Yet I was pleasantly surprised by Dead in a Mumbai Minute by Madhumita Bhattacharyya. What a reader really loves is a well-conceived story. Unfortunately, in India, anything goes in the name of the story. Normally the characters lack depth, storyline is weak and… Read more
-
How to screw a perfectly fine Interview?!
There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. – Napoleon 1 For some people, failure is a setback; for some, it a learning opportunity; for others, failure is success in disguise; for the writers of the self-help books, failure is a source of employment. But for me, failing is an art.… Read more
-
Book Review: Cosmos
Why aren’t we going to space anymore? Why the space program is facing increasing budget cuts while nations have burgeoning defense allocation? Why is feeding the needy brought up as an argument against sending probes up in space? These rhetorical questions do indeed have an answer. We no longer have a Carl Sagan, an Isaac… Read more
-
Movie Review: Nebraska
For quite some time, I felt that reviewing a movie isn’t my cup of tea. I am not an expert on what public likes, or how many types of acting are there, cinematography or technical direction. I like what I like. But this movie made me write this. I am a huge fan of the… Read more
-
Alienman calling Alienman!
It sucks to be me! To pull myself out of this self-defeating blackhole, I have decided to go on a one hell of an egotistic journey. I have decided, once again, to write Alienman! Read more
-
In Defense of Spiderman
Ironman will scintillate you, you would always respect Nolan’s Batman, you would be awestruck by Superman’s near omnipotence, Hulk’s brute force will bring you sheer pleasure, Captain America would sing America’s blues, Shaktimaan would instruct you on the art of living, Wolverine would maul his way to get your attention (Other Superheroes weren’t considered because… Read more
-
Book Review: The Cuckoo’s Calling
Normally, people cannot associate a meandering pace with a detective novel. A detective novel has to be race against time, it has to be a high stakes game; the protagonist has to be silent, brooding types possessing higher degree of eccentricity and clairvoyance. But reality is scarcely romantic. Cormoran Strike is the non-romantic’s Sherlock. He… Read more
-
Book Review : Take Me Home
More than the simple lucid style in which she writes, it is that quality of careful and laborious handpicking of the stories of the men and women, each of whom have a different mindset, a different background, a different guiding principle, a unique vision yet a common drive and passion for working for your mater,… Read more
-
Essay No. 3 : Large Swings in India’s policies – Environment, GAAR derailing investments
The once ‘Shining India’ has lost its sheen. With inflation skyrocketing, a large CAD, amid low manufacturing outputs, India’s growth story has hit a bumper. The normal tendency of the ruling party is to blame it on recession in U.S. (of 2008). But there is a consensus amongst the learned economists of this country that,… Read more
-
Essay No. 2 : Can grow fast now and clean later work?
‘Myopia’ is a condition associated with short-sightedness. Humans are often blamed for that when it comes to environment. Too many diabolical sci-fi novels have been written, but soon enough, they might become reality the way we are moving forward. Climate change and Pollution, Deforestation and Erosion – are the fallout of unbridled industrial expansion. The… Read more
-
Book Review : A Salesman’s Lesson by C.R. Jena
A Salesman’s Lessons by C.R. Jena My rating: 3 of 5 stars When I was asked to review this particular book, I thought, ‘Why?’ Because I happened to be far removed from the subject matter. I initially thought what is the relevance of this book for a chemical engineering student, then again what is the… Read more
-
Essay No.1
I would be posting essays on a wide variety of topics as a part of preparation for entering a B-school. I might not achieve my desired goal, but with your help, I might become a brilliant essayist. Feel free to comment so that I could improve myself. Read more
-
‘Arjuna- Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince’ : Book Review
‘Arjuna – Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince’ by Anuja Chandramouli is a healthy if temporary respite from the slew of over-dramatized, barely-researched, ‘so-called’ modern renderings of the Indian classics which have become run-of-the-mill, cash cows for the publishers. Book Stores/ Libraries are inundated with these books and their shelve life, as such is pretty low.… Read more
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Alienman 