Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

-------------- By Rabindra Nath tagore

he child who is decked with prince's robes and who has jewelled chains round his neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every step.

In fear that it may be frayed, or stained with dust he keeps himself from the world, and is afraid even to move.

Mother, it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keep one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life.

---------------------------Excerpts from GItanjali by Rabindra Nath Thakur

Walking along the path of life,

I became aware of another pair of legs

treading the same weary way,

Another pair of eyes seeing the same dreams I saw,

Another heart loving what I loved,

Another hand in mine,

Sometimes leading, sometimes following,

Another free spirit like me,

Aspiring to fly across unknown realms,

Conquering the very winds,

It is you my friend my guide,

Walking by my side



-------------------- Vidya on 05 september, 2006

Often we measure human intelligence by the amount of facts we know, the math we can do, the books we can read, the music we can play.

Certainly, I don't disagree with any of that, and I'm not trying to say I would want to trade in the education I had for what these Cambodian children do. But there is another type of intelligence that gets developed when one has to survive day-to-day out in the real world before becoming a teenager, when one has to hustle to get by.



Came accross on orkut.worth a thought!

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Started:15th August
Ended:25th August
Rating:*** (on 5) Enjoyable

Another good one from the stables of Dan Brown, Dan Brown again does the trick:Cryptography,brotherhoods,Anti christianity and yes Robert Langdon with a beautiful girl.The story unfolds quite fast with clues after clues and mysteries after mysteries to solve.

The story is about a startling breaking discovery of a nuclear type weapon-only that it is much more potent than nuclear weapon-antimatter.How it is stolen from CERN( one of the premier Research institute's of Europe) and lands in the hands of a dormant brotherhood-the illuminati which are cut throat against Christianity.Thus, the antimatter finds its way into the Vatican City where the elections for the new Pope are to be held.A series of bizarre events and one by one 4 popes are killed by the brotherhood and Robert and the beauty( one of the co-founders of Anti matter!Wonder why they are always beautiful females with whom Robert gets to bond!) are on the trail to save the Preferrati(the Popes) .And in the backgroun the clock is ticking away towards the destruction of the Vatican as the antimatter is not to be found.The story is good for those who enjoy thrills and mysteries and puzzles to solve all the way.And yeah it has got quite an unexpected climax.

One thing is sure.The way in which Dan Brown presents his novels with all the scientific facts thrown in,it is for sure that Dan Brown does his homework well.It makes for an informative rading.For eg. did you know that internet was invented inEurope but markted by US as its own invention?Did you know about a brotherhood called Illuminati?These are the stuff which make up the novel a leisure reading.But yes, those who are comparing it with The Vinci Code will be disaappointed for neither is it that interesting neither the puzzles that mind boggling.But then the kind of novels he writes are unique in themselves and worth giving it a shot if not for the entertainment,for the sake of the loads of facts.

So go ahead and read it for a nice time pass.I would give it a clean 3 on 5.

Lajja-By Taslima Nasrin

Rating: *** (and a half)

Started:10th August,2006

Finished:20th August,2006

Amongst the most objectionable works which got banned in Bangladesh and got Taslima,the author a fatwa issued against her, this book is more than just pure fiction.It is more of a factfile of the repercussions of Babri Masjid demolition in Bangladesh.Setting the scene with a Hindu family which lives in Bangladesh,it depicts the persecution of Bangla Hindus in the country.Quite informative with the figures,this book does show the true picture of religion based discrimination against Hindus in Bangladesh.Apart from the gruesome facts and figures and the frankness of the author in showing the true picture in a simple language,this book fails to be amongst the best of the entertainers.On a scale of 5 i would rate it at 3.5 for its informative character but 2.5 in other aspects which include delightful reading,literature etc