The Da Vinci Code

Leonardo Da Vinci - the name I always write in autograph books (from my school days) or in any other place, where I was asked to write my role model / icon. It is because of my interest in paintings and love towards great artists. I know nothing about him. I just heard his name and about his two famous paintings the “Mona Lisa” and the “Last Supper” from people around me. If some body asks me to speak about my role model I never had a word, because I hardly read anything about him. Forget about autobiographies, I don’t even read daily newspapers.

Some where deep in my heart the desire for reading books was residing, this at times makes me feel bad that I don’t read books. All of sudden I decide to read some thing. I ask my friends to list some good books. I take a book from them and start reading. Never did I complete any book which I barrowed till date. Few of them are “Love Story – Erich Sehgal”, “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus – John Gray” and many more. I read a line, find some word difficult to understand, take dictionary to get the correct meaning of the word, find some other word which is more interesting and suddenly I find my self in the world of dictionary rather than involved in the book which I read. I close the dictionary and read the same line with the correct meaning. Few pages pass on, I get bored with this exercise and I stop reading it. The book remains in my shelf till owner of the book forces me to give it back.

“The Da Vinci Code” is the hottest topic now. Any TV channel you tune to, any public gathering you attend, you can just hear people talking about the film and the book. The controversies on this book and the people around me (bookworms) made me to look at the book. I started reading the book (softcopy). To my surprise… reading went on and on and I completed the book in a week. God! Even I couldn’t believe it. It is all the greatness of the author. He carried the suspense till the end that even I couldn’t stop reading without completing it. I am not a great reader to judge this book or give review of the book. But I can certainly say a nice book to begin with. If you are trying to read books then start with this book it is really amazing.

Immediately after reading the book, I watched the movie with a lot of enthusiasm. To my surprise, the movie was not up to my expectations. It is only in three places I found the movie exceeding my expectations. The glass pyramid at the museum, the scene where Teabing explains the last supper to Langdon and Neveu, and the scene where Langdon, Neveu and Silas move out from the plane to the car. Rest of the movie is not that good. I think …

“None can understand the movie with out reading the book… and
None will appreciate the movie after reading the book…”

This is just my perception… I might be wrong. All I can say is "The Da Vinci Code" will be remembered for ever as the first completely read book of my life. Now I am with “Angels and Demons – Dan Brown”.

Rulers of the Road…

I am the king of the roads of city. Even with just two wheels, I rule the road. Three wheelers, four wheelers, six wheelers and even big vehicles with huge body don’t suit this city road. In heavy traffics, I can just have a snake cut, hair pin cut or any bloody damn cut and reach the destination much ahead of my counterparts. In busy narrow streets, I can just go zoom... zoom… and zoom. People driving me can feel the cool breeze and enjoy the whether. Even parking charges is less for me at any place (people don’t dare to charge me more). Maintaining me is also economical when compared to the rest which crawl on the road. I am the Bike and the ruler of the road in all seasons except the rainy season, which I hate mmmm…

Monsoon has come… Yahoooo… it is my turn now. That bloody bike always comes into my way being a great obstacle to me. Now I am the ruler. The bike is scared of me now. I can drive wroom… wroom… wroom… even in heavy rain. I can splash the dirty water on road over these bikes and three wheelers. No one can stop me. People who drive me need not wear jerkins or any heavy dresses to protect themselves getting wet. They will reach destination neat and clean (the same way as they dress up). If people are going with friends or family on a long drive, I will be their first option. I add richness and royalty to the lives of the people who use me. I am the Car and no one can win a war with me especially in rainy season.

Hey… you… keep quiet. Do any of you give livelihood to people? I do. People own me to earn some money. Many middle class families drive me and earn their livelihood. School kids, daily wagers and many others do travel with me every day. I am some thing like… owners pride and neighbors envy. You didn’t get that right… Well I will tell you an incident. You would have heard that Larry Page and Sergy Brin (founders of Google) came to our city recently right! They had a small journey and started praising me a lot. They said it's me who suit the busy traffic of India better than anyone else. You know that is what I am … I am Auto Rickshaw. I have a strong union which can even collapse the ruling government.

Hello… jujubies… you two or three or four wheelers need to argue to prove what you are. But I don’t need any such argument… it’s a know fact that I am huge (a six wheeler) and I am the king of the roads. Lots of people travel with me, in fact many hang over me. Forget about living, people don't even dare to dream my absence from their lives. And you… hey auto rickshaw… you talk of unions…mmm… don’t you remember my strike periods. People prayed for me and they want me to be on roads as soon as possible OK. My unions are more powerful than yours. Colleges, schools and corporate own me for their needs and not you. For daily journey or long journey, for marriages or get-togethers, parties or any other occasion I will be the first choice. I am the Bus.

Hey folks.... each of you have your own importance and definitely have some impact on people and me. I am RaMo. Today I own a two wheeler; tomorrow I may buy a four wheeler for my needs. And you auto and bus you also help me in many ways. Every one of you is a ruler. Cheer up dudes… :-)