It annoys me when I have to introduce myself to someone twice.
I can understand the situation when it's a big crowd and people can hardly remember one's name and basic information.
But I meet someone personally, do the initial introduction and the other person fails to register it.
I meet the same person again in the next few days and the person asks- 'Am sorry I didn't get your name?' and 'What do you do, working?'

For someone who is fond of travelling and going places the list of "Places to see" never ends. A new destination, a new land awaits to be explored and savoured. Yet, there are so many other places which have already been treaded upon once and have even faded from memory's corner. And those places too need to be revisited. For all these, both time and money fall short.

The Namesake

Already having watched the movie, there was little room left for my imagination of characters of the book 'The Namesake' by Jhumpa Lahiri. The two characters- Ashima and Ashoke were represented (for me) by Tabu and Irfan Khan. Nevertheless I wanted to read the book. As with the movie, I liked the book too. Lahiri's narration is impressive and it maintains reader's atttention throughout.
The story which revolves around the name of a Russian writer 'Gogol' carried me to the many books by Russian writers- Dostoesky's Crime and Punishment, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina', Chekov's The Cherry Orchard and of course The Overcoat by Gogol himself.
Almost all the protagonists of these Russian authors wear a gloomy appearance, their stories are tragic, they speak of hardships of Russian citizens which is either forced upon them by the governmental policies or by themselves.
Talking of Nikolai Gogol, I studied The overcoat as a literature student but then I seldom ejoyed either the story or the person who taught the story. Or may be beacuse of the way the story was told made it all uninteresting.
Though I disliked reading The Overcoat, there are few scenes which still linger in my memory. The story of Akaky Akakyevich who earns a meager salary as a clerk loses his only overcoat which protects him against all the hard climatic conditions. His struggle to save few pennys to buy a new overcoat is touching. His walking on tip- toes to save his shoes from wearing out, his struggle through the dark hours to save his candle- all speak of his sacrifices in order to save money for the new coat.
Keeping this name- Gogol in the background, the story of The Namesake progresses well to expalin the yearning and nostalgia which both Ashima and Ashoke have for their motherland. But in the end, how Ashima finds it disheartening to leave a foreign nation also a truth. That was the land whre she formed new memories, where she saw her children grow. But most importantly, that's where she lived with her Ashoke for so many years.
Some of the excerpts from the book goes somewhat like these:
"...pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will never regret it. One day it will be too late.
My grandfather always says that's what books are for,... to travel without moving an inch."
"Finally, they stood by the lighthouse, exhausted...He heard his father cry out- they had left the camera with his mother. 'All this way and no picture', he'd said. we will have to remember it then."
"The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name."

People seldom use camera's with film rolls these days. They get a fairly good digital camera with the same price as a film camera. Likewise, people no laonger take the pains of getting the pictures printed and arranging them in an album. They take refuge in less laborious task of copying them in a CD and watching them on their computer screen.
But there's a different kind of joy involved when the photos are flipped through an album. It gives more personal touch, makes you a part of the memory itself. The connection gets lost somewhere between the keys while watching the same pictures on a computer screen.

Staying at my parent's means living without any mobile network or an Internet connection. The other modern facilities- as a phone, TV or electricity seldom work due to heavy downpour. The slow paced days end here at late evenings. For the one who's been sheltered here since their childhood wouldn't have much problem with this set up. But for people like us it could be quite depressing, especially gazing at the incessant rainfall day in and day out.