Revisiting Roald Dahl

So when gilly a.k.a vinay asked me to issue two books for him, I went straight to the section where Roald Dahl's books were kept and picked up "Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl." First of all, they are, well, short stories and add to it a brialliant combination of unpredictability, an old world charm and a decent speed and we have that nice recipe which is missing these days and so while the book is still lying in my room, I am re-reading some of the stories I like the best. Some of which are -

• The Hitchhiker
• The Landlady
• Bitch
• Lamb to the Slaughter
• The Umbrella Man
• The Butler
• The Bookseller
• The Visitor
  

Come to think of it, there is something about short stories which makes it a better option than the occasional huge novels (specially the ones like Fountainhead which ran 700+ pages and had such a small font.) Some blame it on my small attention span, but my strong feeling is that there's my father's influence at play here. He himself is a (very huge) fan of short stories and if one ever asked him the authors he liked the most, he'll always give the names best known for their short stories like Anton Checkov, O. Henry, Sommerset Maugham, Guy De Maupassant, Roald Dahl and Saki. Though I haven't read much of his stuff, I hope to complete all one day.

adios
sashidhar

Tagged - F.A.Q

Haven't been blogging for a while. Blame it on twitter or on sheer laziness, either way I wanted to get outta this loop. Maybe this will hopefully serve as a motivation to write more often. So here go the questions as I lifted them from Karan's post

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
damn! why did i waste so much money on a stupid haircut

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?
150 bucks

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
ore

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
charan

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
Love me or Hate me by Lady Sovereign

6. What are you wearing right now?
tee and jeans

7. Do you label yourself?
i used to. But not now :)

8. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently own?
i have nike floaters rite now. nothing else

9. Bright or Dark Room?
dark. fade to black baby!!

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
Karan: i guess, thoroughly systematic is the first word that comes to my mind

11. What does your watch look like?
I don't wear watches :P

12. What were you doing at midnight last night?
taking some quizes on facebook

13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
"Not able to reach you. call me ASAP"

14. What’s a word that you say a lot?
oh.k

15. Who told you he/she loved you last? (please exclude spouse , family, children)
i have been sorta starving to hear something like that... can't remember the last time someone said something like that :(

16. Last furry thing you touched?
a cat. it's there in OBH. its name is "my pussy" :P :P

17. Favorite age you have been so far?

got to be this one. So much fun, so many realizations...

18. What was the last thing you said to someone?

19. The last song you listened to?
Beautiful: Eminem

20. Where did you live in 1987?
no idea

21. Are you jealous of anyone?
yea, loads of people. I'll go as far as saying that it's not even jealousy, it's plain loathing

22. Is anyone jealous of you?
i'm not sure if there is anyone

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times?
this is something i can't think of. they keep changing

24. What’s your favorite town/city?
Hyderabad.

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
i had this pen friend during my school days. Wrote a letter to him. More than 8 years back i guess.

26. Can you change the oil on a car?
nope

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
tried searching her on social networking sites, asked friends but looks like she has disappeared off the radar :(

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
my back. slept the wrong way... feeling miserable

29. What is your current desktop picture?
the default ubuntu wallpaper

30. Have you been burnt by love?
never been in love to be burnt :D

adios

sashidhar