Tuesday, February 23, 2010

1 book, 1 movie, 1 solo and 1 masala dosa

Here are four most awesome, amazing, spectacular and wonderful things. Sorry Jobs, none of them is an iPad.

1) Book: The Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett

I remember reading a story from this book as a kid many years ago and one of the feelings that stuck with me since then was awe at the pure courage of Jim Corbett. He was a hunter in British India who later turned into a photographer and a conservationist. He is renowned for shooting man-eating tigers and leopards that harassed the village-folk in Kumaon (in Uttarakhand) then and this book is a collection of ten such stories. Having recalled the story and the book recently (after watching ‘The Ghost and the Darkness), I decided I had to get my hands on it.
Open Amazon, search and find, order and checkout, wait impatiently for 2 days!
I cannot recommend this book enough. Corbett’s narrative as he describes how he tracked and killed the man-eaters is gripping and wildly entertaining. The little details he provides about observing the surrounding jungle in order to track the beasts are fascinating and one can easily see that he was a master at his trade. Once again I was awe-struck by his courage. Even with a little imagination it is easy to sense the amount of danger he frequently put himself in and quite frankly I would have had some trouble sleeping at night if I wasn’t surrounded by a concrete jungle for miles in every direction. 
Pick this book up and experience the thrills!

2) Movie: The Man from Earth

This movie is the mother of all conversational movies. The entire 90 minutes of the movie is simply a conversation between a man who claims he is a Neanderthal whose body has managed to avoid death altogether, thus surviving until now and his academic colleagues who are skeptical of his claim and question him to determine its veracity. There really isn’t anything else about the movie that can be described succinctly to function as a hook. One has to enjoy the dialogues in their proper context and I for one found them extremely captivating. Do yourself a favor by watching this.
Incidentally, this was written by a writer for the original Star Trek.

3) Solo: Hotel California

Only one of the best solos ever written. Notes drenched in emotion!

4) Masala Dosa

What? You need convincing that masala dosas are awesome? Hasn't Quickgun Muruggan taught you anything?