The power of literature..

There are some art forms which appeal to us rather quickly: dance, videos, painting and all. They are fast to assimilate by us and hence mainstream. And then, there are also some art forms like literature:books, religious scriptures, technical publications or blogs. Literature is a medium which can be used as a tool to stimulate the mind, satisfy the thirst for knowledge in a knowledge seeker. The experience and knowledge which one gathers from reading is unparallel to any other art form. This art form not just take the reading habit forward but also open up the reader`s imagination. The greatest movies of all times like The Lord of the rings, The Godfather, Shawshank Redemption were initially that literature which some movie makers were interested in and used video as the transformative art form to share with the world.

I am concerned about the future of reading and writing. People now are slowly moving away from newspaper, magazines as their source of information and knowledge in this digital age. Instead masses are being force-fed with information from social media unknowing of the credibility of information. As a result, many authors/publishers are finding it difficult to survive or going digital with their products.

Imagine if a person is attending a conference as a delegate or is part of a sporting spectale like the Olympics as an athlete or a sports lover. Video(s) or image(s) shared will not even give an iota of justice to what that person would want to express. Video or an image will just show the highlight or the highs of the event, but will definitely not capture the entire experience. It is like seeing the success of Apple products and disregarding the immense effort or the breakthrough decisions which were done to make Apple products the way it is now. Highlights gives the direction of the story alright, but not the entire story. A reader will be more satisfied to know the entire story and literature definitely meets this requirement. This way we will not loose out on experiences and stories which are to be told and experienced. 

Me being a sports lover, I was especially intrigued to read this biography "Its not about the bike, my journey back to life" by Lance Armstrong. The intricate detailing upto which Lance Armstrong described his training and the strategies which the US Postal team devised to win Tour de France multiple times are the things I enjoyed to read the most in this book. I had never followed Tour de France till then but this book gave me an insight of one of the world`s most gruelling competition. The training which athletes do in high altitude locations to get acclimatized and perform in this competition, how a team safeguards their leader in the peleton(race leading group) so that this leader saves energy for the final dash to finish the race are some such highlights of this book. It is a shame that he had confessed to doping though. Nonetheless, I am very happy that I read the book and got an insight of Lance`s life. 

There are many stories out there which are equally intriguing and there are many more authors/people who have stories to tell and stimulate our imagination. Let us save this art form by reading more books, blogs, encouraging more authors..

Half year of US life, hoping for more

Coming from India, I was doubtful how my stay here would be in the US.
Since I day I came here, I have been in awe of the opportunities that this country presents and the diversity of people that its home to.
I have not encountered any untoward incident till now god forbid but whatever little I have seen of NY and NJ are nothing short of an education.

From the time one comes here to the US, one would notice that you see more cars than people. People are always in a hurry to get their job done, greet you with a smile even if they don`t know you. Relaxation for people is a quiet drink by the bar, family barbecue or a ball game with family/friends. Its expensive to get a college degree or to get work done. So, one would always see people doing multiple jobs or seek a high paying job to manage their family expenses.

For a person who was attuned to having women settle as housewives in India, I was really amazed and impressed at the tune to which women workforce is in place here. I have also observed that women get more work done faster and are more focussed too. One more thing you would notice about the country is cleanliness. The roads are properly marked out, maintained regularly by the concerned departments and there are designated bins at most places for dumping trash

America is a land of opportunities and land of innovation. One can see innovation in each and every american product which is bought. The furniture bought from Ikea/Walmart can be self assembled by following the instructions, most packages can be opened with minimal force applied by hand, payment of bills by using your mobile as your credit card. The user experience is visible in each and every product we buy.

The people being friendly here is a main reason why I see there are no restrictions on what one can achieve in this country. You can do whatever you want provided its legal. Nobody cares about who you are or what you do unless you are obstructing a way of someone. People are proud of their ancestry or where they have come from and they tell their entire family story if you stimulate this topic with them.

I hope I get to explore and experience the country a little better in the months to come and update this blog regularly.
Until then...