SHANTARAM - The book I finished reading

Mar 23 '07 - I had heard much about this book and the movie being made on it. Mira Nair and Johnny Depp are producing it. Depp is acting in it. I have just started the book and its huge - 944 pages ! So its going to take me some time to finish it.

Johnny Depp is my favourite actor in recent times. He has managed not to be typecast and reminds me of the nervous energy that Dostoevsky portrayed in his book 'Crime and Punishment'. After I read Shantaram, I will definitely try to see the movie. Its likely to be released in 2008.

This is a semi-autobiographical novel by Gregory David Roberts whose personal life is stranger than fiction. If any of you have read this book, then please let me know your thoughts.

ps: I will update this post as i progress further into this book.

johnny depp

Apr 25th '07 - I finished reading the book. Took me nearly a month to finish it. Change of job, work, training etc., did not allow me much time every day. Its engrossing and keeps your interest alive till the end. Very well written book. It took him 13 years to write this book. This is a must read and I definitely recommend it.

Cho Ramaswamy on Reservation

His reaction to the recent order by Supreme Court of India on staying 27% reservation for OBC's (Other Backward Classes) in educational institutions like IIT, IIM's etc., and his say on the recent bandh by the Tamil Nadu Govt. opposing the SC stay.

Cho Ramaswamy speaks well. He is known for his satire and no nonsense approach. Listen to him. Click on his pic above or here for the video of his speech. Its worth watching.

source: indiainteracts.com

Palna - Cradle baby Scheme

The Govt. of India has recently announced Palna - the cradle baby scheme for girl child. Under the proposed scheme, the Government plans to open a centre in each district where parents can leave their girl children if they do not want to bring them up themselves. The state will then raise the child. Jayalalitha the former chief minister had already introduced this in Tamil Nadu years ago, but its nice to see entire India covered now. The government is stressing on the girl child as they find statistics to show that female infants are the one's abandoned the most.

This is pure ignorance, selfishness and to a lesser extent illiteracy causing this. China too has a similar problem and I suspect because of their censored media, not much is heard of female infanticide/foeticide and abandonment. Girls in Tamil Nadu, compared to most other states of India, are better educated and score more marks than boys in high school and college exams. Go to any industrial town in the state, Tirupur, Coimbatore, Chennai etc., and you will find women workers far outnumbering the men. There are more women engineers and graduates in the state and the IT and Call Centre industry reflects that.

Female emancipation has brought in its own set of problems, especially for men, but I would rather have my daughter emancipated than lead a life subservient to men in her life. I propose laws should be made stricter so that any man or woman found guilty of abandoning their infant girl should be forcibly castrated or sterilized so that they are no longer capable to repeat such callous behaviour.

More details of the Palna scheme can be found at this world news site.