Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Happy mistakes happen. This is how I got this book. The cover made the book pretend to be some other book and after a lot of putting-off, I finished reading it for the second time on the morning of today. It blows your mind away after throwing you into the heart of Cephallonia, a lovely Greek island (about which you can read here)and the Greek way of life

The book is set in the Italian occupation of the island during WW2 and deals with the futility and brutalities of war along side leading you by the hand into the frangible shades of human life.

Louis de Bernières is not only an exceptionally fine author and a word-smith, but also a man who paints resplendent pictures with his prose. He infuses personality into characters that otherwise would have faded into the background of the events and brings out the most poignant of emotions with the delicacy of gossamer.

Dr.Iannis and his daughter Pelagia are lost in their mundane lives on the lovely island complete with Lemoni, Psipsina, and the goat, and various other characters, each with their own story until they are sucked into the vortex of the Italian occupation of Greece during World War II. The lovely Pelagia who was previously betrothed to another of the island finds herself falling for the beautiful Italian, Captain Corelli and his Antonia. The Greeks, though initially hostile to the invaders, cannot help accepting them and the invaders become deeply entwined into the fabric of Cephallonia to the extent that it is the Greeks who rescue the bodies of the soldiers executed by the Nazis and give them a burial.

The tale is about love, war and love in the time of war.

Highly recommended to anyone who is fan of war books, historical novels, a different point of view on the good and the bad, love stories and music (yes, the book is all of this and yet, more).

My boss cannot play peek-a-boo with my machine anymore!

Here is my first post from my workplace. The I have so much free time at work that I don't know what to do is yet to afflict me though and last I heard, was thankfully, still slinking around the fashionable IT circuit.

Life here mostly seems to revolve around arcane regulations by RBI (trivia: I am currently on ECBs. I might even post on that one next!), badly put business proposals which aught to scare the shit out of any Investment Banker, prudent or otherwise, and Gigabyte sized Excel Sheets. With the appreciating rupee and all the slash-hacking of interest rates, people seem to be running in droves towards the External Commercial Borrowings route and only time shall tell how wise/unwise the exodus.

By the way, did I let you onto the furore being created by SEZs? Looking at their numbers, one might even think every ha'penny might send his coin up and come down with an SEZ. It ain't complete bollocks either! Though the inflation figure was a bit of a fright and the IIP figures saw the dumps, everybody seems to be still wanting to jump on to the bandwagon. Hope the chappies do manage.

The stock markets are keenly continuing in their dance of the Yo-Yos and busy losing my money too. What can I say? Life has to go on.

Information is power

A month's hiatus and I post again. New job, new place and new issues to deal with and now you know I was away for a reason (really, am mostly consoling myself). Did I mention the contribution of the lack of an Internet connection? The Silicon Valley of India and ask me how not to get a line onto the web.

The place has now finally settled on my nerves and am getting along quite alright with it despite all those horrible things about it. A few good things have happened too though! For one, I am back to being the bookworm I was and with dear Blossoms right behind the building where I work, I won't be surprised if all I end up doing while I am here is reading.

Of course there is the whole affair of the does-he-love-me-does-he-love-me-not too. Wedding bells on the horizon?

Information is power too. Most things look foolish in retrospect so no point haranguing about it I guess.

One good thing, Alliance Francaise might become and thanks to Dans la main de l'ange along with Parias. Along with the Bangalore School of music (a voilin rendition of Tchaikovsky maybe?)

Viva la compagnie