Atlas Shrugged

I would always remember this book not because of its intellectual content but because I carried it to GOA to fulfill my dream of reading a good book on the beach. Ayn Rand has done a wonderful job in follow up of Fountain Head, she has shown a perspective of human nature and presented in such a way that you feel blown away at her capacity of classification of people. "Who is John Galt?" is the central plot of the book and the central character Dagny Taggart's struggle to find him. Though I hardly read philosophy but Ayn Rand's philosophy (she calls it objectivism) is based on the fact that this world is surviving because of people who only get happiness out of there work. The plot is so mind blowing that you would not let the book away from your sight to find out in the end how appropriate the title of the book is.

The characterization of good and evil is done on the lines of Fountain Head. I would still consider Fountain Head as Ayn Rand's best book because Howard Roark is the most unforgettable character.
The only drawback of Atlas Shrugged is that it's too lengthy to finish, it took me a long time to go through the 1000 pages paperback edition with a really small font.

My Rating: ****1/2

My pics from GOA!!!!!!! If you want to check out the rest.....just click here

A trip to remember……

Thailand one of the most exotic place on our planet…unfortunately it was not my time to be there due to the ECR status of my passport and since I had my leaves in hand I took a decision for which I’ll thank these immigration policies for the rest of my life. We (I was in company of a really great friend) decided to forget Bangkok and go to GOA!!!!!
To our disappointment the only ticket available to fly on the same day were IA’s business class, that’s 5 times expensive than the normal fare but that didn’t deter us and we landed in GOA within 5 hours of taking that decision without any prior knowledge of where to go as it was our first time there. Taxi driver’s advice took us to North GOA and we landed up in a hotel near Baga beach, the whole place was filled up with Indian tourists which did not give me the picture of EAST meets WEST of GOA. Though the beaches (Baga, Calengute, Anjuna) were beautiful but the place was really crowded. We had a great dinner with mouthful of Crab meat and went to Tito’s for a nice party that lasted all night with a Coyote Ugly style dancer showing some amazing moves. Next day was spent exploring all the beaches of North GOA and Agoda Fort (from Dil Chahta hai fame) on a motorbike, a quite satisfying day but it finished most of the things I wanted to see in GOA and we were left with 3 days on our hand. A wise man’s advise on Anjuna beach made us go back to the hotel pack our bags and make a move to Palolem beach in South GOA a 132 km drive (GOD bless him). With the first sight of Palolem I just knew that this will become the most famous place on the planet earth for me. We lodged ourselves in the most amazing beach facing coco huts and dived straight into the water…….it was the calmest and most peaceful beach and made me feel @ home right away. For the rest of our stay we spent whole day either lying on the beach or wetting ourselves with the salty water. Evenings were better and with the help of some new found friends from England we explored the most beautiful sites on the adjacent beaches of Palolem. There were the most amazing sunsets and since the beach was full of foreigners it was view of EAST meets WEST that GOA is famous for. Well my friends GOA is also famous for some amazing sea food and my assorted list of meals included crabs, prawns, calamari, shark and some great intercontinental stuff.

The beach facing Restaurant at the End Of my Universe was named Titanic and was responsible for my blood being replaced by alcohol, my face constantly stuffed with food and adding some amazing new friends to my life. Even though we went at the end of the season on all our evenings we ended up partying till dawn, there were some really beautiful and amazing people in these parties to make them memorable. Imagine dancing on a Sandy beach till dawn and take a dip in the sea in the dark after getting smashingly drunk. The drinking sprees starting right after breakfast and ending till dawn of next day are just unforgettable. The adventure of those walks from sand to rocks, the view of sun setting in the sea and behind the coconut trees, the ideal days lying in the sun and the waves hitting my bums, the parties that never stops the booze that’s never enough, it was time out of my deepest desires, it was a holiday to put my soul on fire. I wish the time could’ve stand still and I wish I would have never come back to this swill. But it was the thing I had to do and before leaving these was my last words GOA I LOVE YOU BUT I WILL LEAVE YOU!!!!!!!!

PS: Keep waiting for the beautiful pictures of the most amazing sunsets of GOA along with mine….