Girish's Blog

What I'm Reading Rj has taken a collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories from the library and I read them again after probably 20 years. In retrospect, these stories seemed interesting because of the novel character who was the center-piece of the stories and his eccentricities rather than the who-done-it part of it. Most of the stories do not reveal all the clues to the reader - Holmes often goes on solitary expeditions and the reader, along with Dr.Watson is often left in the dark regarding what Holmes has found. In contrast, almost all the Agatha Christie stories have all the clues laid out, although the most crucial clues are always played down, and after the climactic denouement in the library one can go back and find these clues.

Discussion on death penalty with Rj. Kerry had said that he opposes death penalty except for terrorists. My view is that this is pretty wishy-washy - this has to be a black&white issue and one cannot have positions on both sides of the issue. If you impose the death penalty on an individual, terrorist or otherwise, then you are pro-death penalty. Rj thinks that death-penalty should be decided on a case-case basis - I agree, but then one cannot say that one is against death penalty.