Most Beautiful Words in English

It was such a delight, when I read somewhere that one girl liked the word 'beauty' the most because of the way it sounds. Really 'beauty' is such a great and mellifluous word. So, what can be even sweeter - the most beautiful words ? I googled to find whether anything like this is even discussed. To my no-surprise, there exists a polled-list of the most beautiful words in English. Here are the top ten:-

1. Mother
2. Passion
3. Smile
4. Love
5. Eternity
6. Fantastic
7. Destiny
8. Freedom
9. Liberty
10.Tranquility

The selection is hardly surprising, for all these words do exhibit emotion, spirit, belief and peace. And indeed they are beautifu, aren't they?

My favourite cricket journalist

I would be considered another schooled reader, if I say that Sir Neville Cardus is my favourite cricket writer. He is the doyen of cricket journalism, but I haven’t ready much of him.

It is a mere reflection of times, but it does suggest something. The writers have to be relevant to the topic and time. That’s why a guy named, Osman Samiuddin, is my favourite cricket journalist. He writes on Cricinfo but he not only writes but also creates.

He is Pakistani, so he was initially assigned to write on Pakistan cricket only. He brought out the party and poignancy of Pakistan cricket in no uncertain terms, and it was a joy to read his articles. Call it a quirk of fate or misery, Pakistan lost out on much of cricket last year, so his articles became less in number. But still he came out intermittently with some amazing writings, probably better then before.

His last one is both straight and shrewd. It is also hilarious and metaphorical.

Money Talks, Money Shrieks

Who the hell would have thought that Pamela Anderson, Dolly Parton or Muntazer Al-Zaidi (whoishe) had something to do with cricket? You wanna know, go through it. But also don’t miss the cricketing insight and information in between.

Free Rice-What a concept!

I was immediately struck by the concept of Free Rice, when I had heard about it last year. What more can you ask for? Donate rice, just by answering Vocabulary questions. In the process, you also improve your vocabulary, and mind you, if you think that it is another run-of-the-mill affair, try scoring more than 45. I played the game very regularly, and it was obviously driven both by my penchant for learning new words and by my ever-bubbling quest to do something philanthropic. I don’t know why the visit to the site died down subsequently though. Probably my preoccupation with other stuff played its part.

When I happened to visit the site today, I was pleasantly surprised to see the site grow not only its content but also its reach. There are more subjects, viz. Mathematics, Language, Geography, Chemistry etc to choose from, and their levels are good enough to cater to and also teach every group of people. Further I read and saw the success it has already achieved. Widely hailed by media and people alike, it has reached to the neediest zones in the world. The most promising part is that the site can only grow bigger than here.

I feel an obligation, thus, to promote it. I had already shared the link with some of my friends. But now it needs to go out to the world. Play, enjoy, learn, donate and feel better. That’s its mantra. The Internet never ceases to amaze me.

Time to say, two and two is four

A few things, seemingly of passing nature only, can apprise you more than the calculated ones. They are more honest and humble too; and create that self-cognizant view that you had always wanted to develop.

It was an honour that one of my friends asked me to review his MBA essays. I am considered good in English, but it takes far more that some crammed words and exercised grammar to be a good writer, or more so, a correct reviewer. I knew this, and I feared this; and the demon invariably came out when I started reading his essays. They were not what I am used to. They were expressions of facts, and not poetic lyrics. I hate facts, because they are simple and true. The formality of the essays was too good for me, and frankly speaking, beyond my reviewing acumen. I knew the essays were not the best, but they were glorious for me, because I am not good at writing straight facts. For me, two and two is never four. Why should it be? If it is four, then it is Mathematics, not literature. Such views have made my writing unbound, but also corrupt.

Naturally I was not able to add anything to the essays, except amend a few glaring grammatical mistakes. He would have been disappointed, but I was more, because my inability which I had always wanted to conceal was again revealed. I want to be good, nay brilliant, in factual writing. I have taken his essays as the starting point of my melioration. Hopefully in due course of time, I am able to develop not only interest but also flair for that kind of writing.

A damn good writer

I love the way Amitav Ghosh writes. He is a seriously good writer. I have read only one of his works, ‘The Hungry Tide’, but the experience was enough to bind me to his literary style. He elucidated the characters in the novel so well that you felt you were the protagonists out there.

He is again in the limelight now after his latest novel, ‘Sea of Poppies’ was released last month. The first of the trilogy, Ibis, it is a tale of India of early eighteenth century, beset with opium trade and the related migration of the poppy growers. The story is not to my full liking, but there is ample scope for him here to sketch the characters in his own unique ways. In fact, in the reviews, this very point has been highly praised.

I feel he gets this perspective of characters from his detailed observation of life. A writer needs to be discerning enough to know what and how people in front of him think. His work is nothing but his own life’s story drawn from others. Amitav’s Bengali roots are exhibited very often and starkly in his writings.

As soon as time permits, I am going to get hold of his another famous, in fact the most credited, novel, ‘The Glass Palace’. It was in front of me a few years back, when one of my friends was reading it. But somehow, I let slip the chance. Now, I will have to rummage for it. Sigh!

Golden words

"Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to change himself"

"If all our wishes were gratified, we would often be sorry"

"Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it"

First words are special

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