Random Roundup

I was the only one in the bookshop last week who wasn't standing in line to get HP6. Mahesh, the owner of Paperback didn't bother asking me if I wanted one of them. He knew my tastes. So I just got my books and ran off as the umpteenth copy of HP6 made its way to an excited kid's hands.

Seems like it is almost unfashionable to not read HP.

The other day, Dee told me excitedly on YM that she got HP. For a minute, my innocent mind wandered along the lines of Hewlett-Packard and wondered if she was excited about her printer/scanner/some such getting repaired. It dawned on me only a lil while later that she was referring to the Potty chap. Besides, HP has got his fair share of blogdom. Every other blog (now including this one) seems to mention it.

I stopped reading fiction a long time ago. In fact I kinda took a break from reading when I shifted back from the hostel to home. Somehow everything else seemed to take up my time and I kinda put a full-stop to my own reading habits. I was arguably a dedicated fiction reader then. I managed to get back into the groove after buying Subroto Bagchi's book on Hindustani music - Raga. That somehow set off a trend and I have considerably augmented my non-fiction collection since. The collection mostly consists of books on philosophy, business management and then some.

I did manage to read two works of fiction - The DaVinci Code and The Alchemist. Neither of it caused the slightest stirrings inside me to return to fiction. Somehow, I tend to regard fiction almost as an escape from reality. As, moving into a world that is illusory and controlled by the author. It is not to detract from the capabilities of a fiction writer and neither is it to imply that fiction readers are escapists. The one thing I do like about some fiction is the abundance of trivia in them. Minor gems.

Was reading SV yesterday. And a point, that he mentioned, hit home very hard.
All of us are not born equal. That changes the equation somehow. Very drastically.

It almost depresses me somehow :) I guess the next few pages will help.

P.S. edited to add: one more poem here.