Sunset/Sunrise

Way too long since i wrote the last blog. Things have changed a lot since then, reminding me of Bob Dylan's song, Times they are a changin', "Come writers and criticsWho prophesize with your penAnd keep your eyes wideThe chance wont come again." Something about the song that signifies the end of things and the beginning of new things. Kind of what the title of this blog says the end of a day, which again leads to the beginning of a new day. However, to tell a little bit about what has happened since the last time I wrote. I somehow graduated from IIT by the seat of my pants, and definitely a fake degree to tell the least. I enjoyed a fairly boring- sleepy summer. I joined PwC and met very, very interesting people. I didn't know what to expect when I joined but what I did see and do was definitely a vivid experience worth remembering. Looking back at the one month training in Calcutta, the sheer pleasure of meeting such individuals brilliant and carefree was refreshing after college where it seemed the weight of the world was on your shoulders. Calcutta was the last of the major metros I had yet to visit in India and it was definitely a change from the earlier cities. After that back in Bangalore to start the job in earnest. So the last couple of months were quite busy and happening in my small life.
Again thats why the title, sunset/sunrise. College was a fun time for me. I lived it to my fullest, acheived some of the goals i wanted to achieve, some failures, but overall for the lack of better words, i had fun, and as that ended, my job started off being fun. This title, isnt my own idea at any rate. I took it from the title of a chapter in Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor. (A fun book to read..a bit apopcryphal as well..in this a flight crashes into the US capitol building leaving just the vice president alive..)
I have been reading a lot of Peter F. Hamilton lately, and that author is seriously good! I have read his Commonwealth Saga, Dreamvoid, Neutronium Alchemist..Science fiction is reborn in his books. All the things that we think about and dream about(ok, maybe not all) but he makes the books come alive. His works deserve to be rated against Asimov and Clarke. I could sing epic poems about the wonder in his books, but I wont. I really enjoyed reading the stories that he weaves. A warning though, these books are not for the fickle reader, they will be long and torturous for those who cannot read and appreciate his style.
Also, I wanted to talk about the bomb blasts that have taken place across India recently. Basically its a conspiracy theory of mine I suppose. I have read a book called The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. In it she explains the theory of economic shocks propounded by Milton Friedman which states that in order to overhaul an economy, it is not done in sustainable steps, rather it has to be rude shocks in order to erase the old foundations and set new ones. She shows example after example how the Chicago School theory(Friedman was at Chicago when he stated this theory) failed many states as they tried to implement his ideas. In each of these places, democracy gave way to bloody dictatorships and insurmountable foreign debts. Each time the
state devolved as supposedly free market practices were being implemented. Examples include Argentina, South America itself, South Africa, Poland. Hyperinflation and unemployment destroyed the countries as privatization took over as all welfare initiatives were scrapped. Anyway, the point is, each of these shocks were preceded by widespread violence in each of these countries which led to revolutions and all. Could this be the case in India? To enact certain laws and regulations, could our government in any way be subscribing to the views of the Chicago School in order to force economic reforms and privatizations by a shock therapy? Could the bombs be a precursor to a government led initiative to increase its hold on our society by eroding our freedoms? Again like I said this theory was advanced by me after reading the book.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who feels that the history that they read in teh books is not a good enough explanation for the world as it is today.
Anyway, this is the duke of mayhem signing off for now! Will try to write more these days!