At last Shrunked

I like to read although I don't read a lot. I had already read the 'Fountainhead' and I was advised to read 'Atlas Shrugged'. I picked it up from library. The moment I saw I just shrugged. The tome was returned without a single page turned.

Three months back, again I was offered the book, albeit a less scary edition. It looked like abridged version of the original but in fact had smaller print. I just carried it along in my hand bag for a couple of weeks...hoping to read. I still don't know the reason for indifference to it. I guess it was just the starting problem with a book of more than a mere thousand pages. When I started reading, I was glued to it and it took less than a month with my regular work schedule.
I finished reading the book last night (only skipping a big part of John Galt's speech). I'm glad that I read the book. It provided a new perspective at guilt and punishment, about self sacrifice, about pity, about help and about the way to live life. There are many more things which have settled in my conscience.

Thanks to Ayn Rand. And thanks to my friend who lent me the book.

I should read Anthem too.

Locked out of bathroom

What could be worse than getting locked out of your own bathroom on a Sunday night. When none of the apartment maintenance guy could come to help! When I would have to attend a meeting at 7:30 am and above all when I could still have to .... So the situation demanded action. Regretting mildly about being in US, I tried to push the door but was of no help. Then I got a knife from the kitchen and tried to make its way down the slit of the door...no luck. Then my friend (on phone) advised me to try a credit card. I had already called the emergency number for apartment maintenance and left a voice mail. I thought to give credit card a try. So I found one of my used stored value card and tried to slide it thru...nope. Tried again...it would work, my friend had said. I tried again and 'click'. The lock gave way.

I thanked my friend. Then called the apartment's emergency number again and left a voice mail with updates. I've stored the card for future use...just in case.

Who's the cat?

Alex loves his job… making presentations, client meetings, onsite tours, and a king size status. Of course he is happy. He spends his time improvising his skills or with his three friends - Marty, Gloria and Melman.

Melman stands out in crowd but is indifferent to everything and takes pleasure in nurturing his fears. He can live in despair forever; it is hope that scars him.

Gloria is a hippo-go-lucky, laid back and extremely supportive of her friends. She knows her mind and acts it too.

Marty lives in his monochromatic dreams of greener pastures. He is not brave or intelligent but a determined optimist.

It is on Marty's birthday, this September, that the lives of Marty and party take a sharp turn. They end up being in a wild frenzy …nothing to depend on but their friendship. Marty is the only one happy now. His long cherished dream of freedom from the shackle of worldliness has come true. Gloria and Melman accept the reality soon but Alex has grown immune to any change.

Sitting in the backdrop of panoramic beauty, Alex finds it hard not to miss his well heated abode, his dinner of filet mignon steak, and his audiences. He is desperate to restablish his routine. While Marty, Gloria and Melman are enjoying the warmth of the sun rays, gusts of the wind, swimming thru clear water and the limitless sky.

Marty persuades Alex to think beyond his banal life and to think out of the box before giving up. He tells him it is human to become accustomed to once surroundings and then spend entire life feeding the urge of feeding; to give up every dream in achieving something that was never the goal and then live that life in vanity; to have a routine life that serves no purpose. Marty gets dramatic and urges Alex to revive his animal instincts, to become a born lion again. Alex roars and finds the cat in himself.

And then they live happily ever after. Here is a group photograph (L2R) of Marty, Alex, Gloria and Melman taken when they reached Madagascar escaping NY's Central Zoo.