Arbit Scratchpad

The bigot repents after a fit of violence in a frenzy of anger and retribution, mad rage and bigotry, ill-will and blind fundamentalism ...

Having read Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer winning short story collection, 'The Interpreter of Maladies'; which was a well crafted kaleidoscope on NRI lives, their emotions, circumstances and events I took up The Namesake with great expectations. The prose itself is very descriptive and starts off by delving into the life of an NRI couple in United States, a professor at MIT, Ashoke Ganguli and his wife Ashima. Soon the focus shifts to their son Gogol – the strange name is after the famous Russian writer Nikolai Gogol and the background behind this name forms a bedrock for the entire narrative and the disconnected life of the protagonist. How Gogol is frustrated with the name, wants to change it and finally gets to know the reason behind the name; as he grows up, comes of age and moves into the profession of an architect going through many transitions, relationships and many ups and downs of life. The story revolves around various events in the lives of the members of this partic...

LARGER VERSION HERE .

First sketch after a long long time ...

No one is infallible. The champions were vanquished as if benumbed under some spell of that wizard Zidane and the blistering speed of Henry or were they haunted by memories of 1998 finals ? They were no match, not able to come-back after they went down 1-0 in the 57th minute. I went back to sleep in absolute silence after the match. The South Americans now with the exit of both Argentina and Brazil must be in deep mourning - I expected these two to meet in the finals. Current mood: Slightly dazed.

Argentine coach made a big blunder when he substituted Riquelme and Crespo. It cost them in the penalty shootouts. And then the better goalkeeper getting injured and having to be replaced with the substitute goalie was a double blow; third and final blow : Messi was hidden away by Pekerman somewhere... Argentina had greater possession and were playing much better, attacking football. German keeper Lehmann also will need to be given credit for blocking off the penalties. The other match seemed to have gone one-sided with Italy winning 3-0. Will watch both the matches today. Want England to lose ... Portugal are a better team. And hooray for Brazil - Viva Brazil !!!