cloud atlas, human hunger, n the quake in pakistan

just finished reading david mitchell's cloud atlas, n its one hell of a good read. wasnt expecting it to be this good actually. got a 20% mph coupon a few months ago, n since the book i wanted to get wasn't there, decided to get this one cos of the good reviews on the back cover. but the first few pages put me off straightaway man. it was so bloody boring cos of the style of writing...all 17th-18th century kind of english writing..with cursive font to boot(!)... i gave up reading after a few pages.

so thank god i'm left wif nothing else to read these past few days...wat wif spider telling me to keep off buying books for a while...n theres no way i'm gonna be standing in the train wif nothing to do but pretend not to look at other people's faces/papers/books/laptops. so i decided to give the book another try...n was i glad i gave it a shot cos its a wonderful wonderful book.

the one i got looks kinda sissy cos of the super pink cover...but its sci-fi all the way. the premise of the book's kinda interesting...six different stories yet somehow connected thru a weird comet-like birthmark that each of the protagonist has. n the stories span all the way from the supposed start of civilisation...when western countries go around colonising the 'savages'....to the hippy sixties all the way to the oh-so-futuristic future where cloning is all the rage..to an era after the fall of civilisation. what a roller-coaster ride!

anyway...it got me thinking. many sci-fi books worth their salt have been predicting the fall of civilisation for years now...warning that if human hunger goes unabated, then one day this hunger will lead to destruction. we all know this is possible. we've read all the doomsday scenarios. yet we go head-on to satisfy our hunger. this is good...how abt making it better. no..better's not good enough. we must be the best! but hey...is that the best you can do? more of the best pls. more more more!

interesting to watch the news today. we have coverage from pakistan wif all the pictures of the desolateness (is there such a word?) n misery of people crying for help. n we get coverage of china launching its second shuttle into space....n how this is not a move to give their shot in the global arms race a boost but a move for the betterment of mankind. its just amazing man

funny how i reacted when i first heard abt the quake in pakistan. "oh..theres an earthquake". n thats it. thousands of people were dead and tens of thousands of them living in misery rite now wif no shelter n no food n knowing that watever little that was there ahead in yr life was wiped out in a second. so much helplessness...so much misery. n that was my reaction?? why was i not as affected as i was affected wif the tsunami?

i realised that i'm becoming more n more self-centred as the days go by. well missy...heres a reality shot.....the world does not revolve around you!! can i be better? i sure hope so. i suppose realisation of one's shortcomings is a step in the right direction. so heres to empathy for my fellow human beings!