I have been tagged. Now its your turn... !!!

I have been tagged! The first from SiD and the second from Shilpa. I will go in reverse chronological order... in my response, that is. Shilpa wants me to complete her tag in 15 minutes flat. Can't promise... what with all the unscheduled power cuts! But, will try nevertheless, with a prayer on my lips... and with my fingers typing away furiously... on the keyboard! And Oh! Before I forget... the Alexa Traffic Rank for my blog... has travelled northwards again... and is now at 236,032. Not bad... eh?!!

#1. Came across an interesting 15 Books Tag!

The rules are: "Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag up to 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose."

1. Tintin - Herge (I am a huge comics fan.)

2. Asterix - Goscinny and Uderzo (Reasons: same as above. I have to mention my other favourites here: Handa Bhonda, Bantul The Great and Nonte Phonte - all bengali comics. Plus Calvin and Hobbes and Tinkle. May be they should get an "Honourable Mention"... what?!!)

3. Book of Humour - Ruskin Bond (Delightful! You can read my views on this book: here.)

4. Malgudi Days - R.K. Narayan (Classic... and was part of my growing up years. I can never outgrow this book, ever! My thoughts on this book are: here.)

5. Sanchaita - "Kabiguru" Rabindranath Tagore (This is a veritable treasure trove of this great poet laureate's poems/songs. Tagore is my favourite poet... need I say more?!!)

6. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier (Classic and haunting.)

7. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (A classic and simply un-putdownable.)

8. Love Story - Erich Segal (For its love story... with the memorable line: "Love means never having to say you're sorry". The very first Sentence of which began like this: "What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. The Beatles. And me." Read my thoughts on this timeless love story: here.)

9. The Guns of Navarone - Alistair MacLean (Thrilling!)

10. The Count of Monte Cristo and

11. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (Classic stories, thrilling and adventurous... riveting tales of romantic rivalries, struggles for power, legendary friendships, betrayals, revenge, daring escapes, buried treasure, clever disguises, and solemn promises... the latter set in 17th century France.)

12. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (This novel/historical fiction occupies a central place in the canon of Charles Dickens' works, and is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The opening line being: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair... " and the final sentence: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known." Profound.)

13. The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (The greatest detective...)

14. Feluda/Byomkesh Bakshi/Kiriti Roy/Indranath Rudra - Satyajit Ray/Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay/Nihar Ranjan Gupta/Adrish Bardhan (Iconic, gripping and delightful. I can't, for the life of me, rate them in any particular order.)

15. Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare (History, drama and a literary classic all rolled into this one novel, a masterpiece by Shakespeare. An examination of the relationship between political power and personal conscience, it is a veritable master class for aspiring politicians. Caesar was one of history's greatest generals and a key ruler of the Roman empire... on second thoughts, he was probably the greatest general in Rome's history, and among the most successful of all time. Caesar's life and death is dramatized in this William Shakespeare play/tragedy, "Julius Caesar", with Caesar's famous death/last line: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar!" Caesar is thought to have been assassinated on March 15th, a date known in the Roman calendar as "the Ides of March". The month of March is still considered to be pretty intriguing, and references to "the Ides of March" are still in vogue. Another riveting read!)

Note: I have not mentioned any of our great epics in the above list. Simply because they are way beyond any kind of ratings. They are all too great, too timeless, too profound, epic works... I am not upto 'rating' them.

#2. 5 things I love about myself. This one from SiD. Okie dokie, here goes...

1. I love our terrace garden (You too can read about it, right here: Green Thumb)

2. I love to read and I absolutely love comics (Tintin, Asterix, Handa Bhonda, Bantul The Great, Nonte Phonte, Tinkle, Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Dennis The Menace, Archies...)

3. I love visiting craft exhibitions and am passionate about handicrafts.

4. I just love the rain!! The sweet sound of rain falling on parched land, on window sills... pitter-patter... pitter-patter; the smell of the rain-soaked soil, the magical feeling of breathing in the rich air of rain on soil... so relaxing, so fragrant. I just love the "after-the-rain" smell. The summer dust getting washed off and the freshly washed flowers and leaves. The amazing weather, the nip in the air, being able to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee... once again! Ohhhh! I could go on and on and on...

5. I love listening to "rabindra sangeet" - the "songs of Tagore". Lilting, lyrical and soothing... their fragrance lingers on and on and on... ! And on windy, cool and rainy evenings... sheer bliss!

Now... I am tagging: Kaddu, Rajdeep, Ved, Kokonad, Sumit, Dhiman, Tangerine, Deepa, WebSnacker, Vamshi, Subhayan, puresunshine aka Virtual Crossroads, Shilpa, Mukund, pawan, abhijeet, SiD, wandering soul aka Neelima, Books and Comics, Crocodile's Tales, Rana Sinha, Jamaica My Way aka Jamaica, Sandy, Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind, ACKnowledge, Welcome to the world of Devil, সোনার তরী, History and Mythology, Vik's angles, Rhett, My Memoirs of Mesmerizing Memories, Simply Ridiculous, Prateek Shah and thoughtsandviews. To borrow Nike's tagline, Just do it!

P.S. Finally... I am done! Yippieeeee!!! After a few power outages and multiple power trippings in between... which generally made life miserable.

Note on Julius Caesar: Full name: Gaius Julius Caesar. Born July 12/13, 100/101/102 BC, Subura, Rome - died March 15, 44 BC, Curia of Pompey, Rome. Celebrated Roman general, statesman, and dictator.

Caesar's life and death is dramatized in William Shakespeare play/tragedy, "Julius Caesar", with Caesar's famous death/last line: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar!" In spite of its title, this is not the story of Julius Caesar; his corpse is just the island on which all the other characters fight. Nevertheless, it is an important role, he bestrode this world like a colossus. who bestrides the world. When Caesar tells Marc Antony he trusts only fat, well-fed-looking men, it seems like a shrewd campaigner passing on a useful observation to a promising up-and-comer.

There is the opportunistic Marc Antony's famous funeral speech with the immortal opening line: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar." (The full speech can be read at: http://www.artofeurope.com/shakespeare/sha10.htm.) He plays on the word "honourable" a number of times. Watching the mob swayed from one direction to the other first by Brutus' speech and then by Marc Antony's is the best warning there is on the perils of democracy. Marc Anthony, unfaltering in his love for Caesar takes revenge for his murder.

"Julius Caesar" is peopled with such complex and subtle characters, we don't know whom to root for. There is no Iago or Richard III to step forward and tell us boldly, "I am a villain." Each of the characters acts for both high and low motivations alike. This is one of the Bard's most memorable plays, the greatest of all his historical tragedies. Undoubtedly.

Note: Some info courtesy: http://www.amazon.com

Photograph:

Rain drops falling on an outstretched palm. We all know the feeling... don't we... ?!!

(Picture courtesy: http://photobucket.com/images/Rain/)