Book Review- Journeys Beyond and Within

 One of the learnings (hers) that comes through is getting over the idea of the White Man/Westerner being superior to others. In India with our fairness fetish, this is more pronounced. But that is just skin deep, is what you learn when you go inter-cultural over long periods. Like she did in Chile in a volunteering stint, teaching English to local kids (My wife taught local immigrants English in a small US town a long time ago- they were adults though).

Simple joys like drinking in public - near the Eiffel Tower, or the Seine- are captured well, along with the more elaborate journeys into the unknown, inaccessible or less travelled parts of the world. The Indian parent syndrome also gets panned, particularly the gender discrimination- the same things done by a Son are praised, and by the Daughter, criticized.

I found the insights into growing up in our (patriarchal) culture very accurate. Of course, every culture has its issues- the U.S. had loneliness, teen pregnancies and drugs as some of theirs. Maybe Trump too, now!

The style of writing is honest and not showy, and it helps to keep you going, wanting to know more. Well done, Priyanka Gupta.

Why should you read the book? Hope you got the answer to that above. I can't tell all- you have to read it to experience it fully. You can get it from Amazon.  https://www.amazon.in/Journeys-Beyond-Within-Life-Changing-Adventures/dp/B0DTT1Y2HB

My Autobiography

 The autobiography has had its origin in the urge to tell the world about yourself. Mine has had a few more readers than my estimate of four (the size of my family)- I distributed it to some too :)

It has had two editions so far, and it stops at IMT Nagpur, which is to say, around 2013. Here are the covers of the two editions, published by pothi.com, an online self-publishing and POD (print -on-demand) company. The first came out in 2009-10.

Why the Adjective Matters

You could actually make it Why Adjectives Matter, because you are going to need more than one.

Imagine if you were an author. Your most important job is to describe the hero and the heroine. How will you be able to do this if your command over adjectives is weak? Your description will fall flat on its face, and readers will desert you in droves. Mills and Boon, for instance, would be out of business.

Imagine you are out on a date. How do you impress her/him? It is by using adjectives, of course, apart from showing that you are tender, and loving, and that you care. Ae nargis-e-mastana (a popular Hindi film song) is just one of several examples. Your chances of taking the whole thing forward rests on which adjectives you choose to use.

Imagine you are an eye-witness in a court on someone's murder trial (just imagine it!). Most of what you will be asked are descriptions of a scene, or a person-before and after the murder. Adjectives will come in handy, once again.

Hope you are convinced, after such appropriate examples. Go learn some adjectives. They will stand you in good stead.

Book Review- Mr. Majestic by Zac O'Yeah

Yes, the author's name may sound stranger than that of the book. He is a Swede settled in Bangalore. This is his second book I have read, thanks to a friend who gifted it to me. The first was something about Scandinavistan.

A good read, and an original style of writing. This guy, Mr. Majestic, is a small-time crook and a tout in a seedy area of Bangalore (named CD Road, quite appropriately). In fact, like Asterix comics, the names here are quite revealing of the character. So you have Gundajee alias Rhino, a bigger crook, Mensinkai (chilli in Kannada), a medium-level crook with more experience than Majestic, and assorted other crooks with colourful names.

The humour is pervasive, dark at times, sardonic at others. The author abviously likes to explore the underbelly of Bangalore, where forgers, touts and louts have a field day. Some of them, like our hero, indulge in cybercrime too, in collaboration with the Nigerians.

There is also Jagatprasiddha, the demi-god actor who can cause riots just by falling sick, and cows on the road who can stop even him. In fact, the nuances of Indian reality lend authenticity and punch to a narrative that in itself is not a great mystery. There are a few twists to the storyline, nevertheless, and Majestic, named after an old cinema hall, resolves them with panache, just like the Sandalwood (Kannada film industry) heroes.

You will get more out of it if you are familiar with Bangalore, and a bit of Kannada, but even without that, it's an enjoyable autorickshaw ride, pot-holes and all.

Bollywood Nation- Book Review

Vamsee Juluri, the author, is a prof. at an American University, and cannot therefore be taken lightly! He does not disappoint, in this take on Bollywood and the role it plays in the life of an average Indian. I have always been a watcher of Hindi (and some Telugu and Marathi) films, and I could relate to what he was talking about in the whole book. Some of my favourite films figure in his discussions, including the Telugu film Maya Bazaar, which I loved as a child, mainly for the role played by Ghatotkacha in the movie.

This is a serious look at Bollywood from Dadasaheb Phalke's times to the fairly recent films. The analysis of an alternative reality that seems to exist in Indian films (mainstream) is done well, and the relationship between Gods and us mortals in the context of film portrayals also seems plausible.

His argument that films as made here uphold some things that we still hold dear in spite of modern life- feelings, relationships, and morality (the good and the ethical), is one I would like to believe. I sincerely hope that is the case.

A good read if life, and Bollywood portrayals of it, interest you in any way at all.

The Sense of an Ending- Book Review

Julian Barnes is an author I discovered recently, accidentally. While browsing with friends opposite IIT Delhi at a bookstore. That book was Nothing to be Frightened Of, about death. Non-fiction.

This is a novel, a humdinger- if that is the right word. Keeps you gripped throughout, and does not let go, till the last page. Ends with such a twist that it leaves you gasping, or rather, gaping. You don't know what hit you. I also liked the decsription of dating in Victorian (1960s) England, sounded like our own times, almost. The humour in the writing is very British, and very good. In the other book too.

Not too long ( a quality I appreciate these days), I was able to finish it in two sittings interrupted by some work (more on that later).

I think it won the Man Booker. Must say, it beats many other winners that were unreadable- at least to me!

Does He Know a Mother's Heart- Book Review

This is a book by Arun Shourie. Known as an investigative journalist once, here he investigates religion as we know it, and he uses a suffering child- his own as the benchmark for all that he discusses. Hence the title, that is inspired by the encounter that he and his wife had with J. Krishnamurty the teacher-philosopher.

His investigations lead him to some very useful territory, by way of defining what the various religions say, why they may be saying it, and what we might conclude from it. The territory covered is vast, from Christianity, Islam to Hinduism and Buddhism, and some science, particularly neuroscience. Makes for good reading and pondering. I may continue to ponder.

The best sections are a summary of his conclusions at the end of a chapter, sharing his own interpretations of what the sages have said- in particular, Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Ramana Maharshi. The soul, the maya or otherwise of the world around us, the Self, the mind and its games, the roles played by thoughts, and efforts to rid ourselves of all these, are dealt with nicely.

His son suffered from cerebral palsy, but gave new meaning to his and his wife's lives, in many ways. It is an upbeat book, not drowning in self pity. I would recommend it. There may be a lot of takeaways. 

Ruskin Bond- A Nice Man to Know

I happened to watch an interview with the man on national TV the other day. I was really impressed. I am not easily impressed by people (usually celebrities) most of whom I find faking things, looking to promote themselves or their immediate work (normally films).

Self-effacing must be his second name. I confess I have not read any of his work, and may do so now, because of my interest in him as a person. Loveable is a term that comes to mind. He has a gentle humour which comes through in this interview. A couple of observations he made were really heart-warming. A couple of his young readers told him that he should put more action in his stories.-that they are slow-moving.

He is also the writer of ghost stories, apparently. He wrote the story that was converted into Saat Khoon Maaf, about a wife serially murdering seven husbands- so he is not as innocent as he looks. He confessed he had a few more ways of killing them he had thought about but did not use in the story!

On living in India, he said it is far more interesting than Europe, which is a bit monotonous. An astute observation, one that I agree with, even regarding the U.S.

More Murakami

I just finished one more of his books (South of the Border, West of the Sun) and am halfway through another (Norwegian Wood). Don't know where he gets his ideas for the titles, but these and the cover designs of his books are both startling, and attract even a casual browser in a store. That's how I got introduced to him. Not through a book review or a recommendation from anyone.

I am still struggling to find the right adjective for his prose. Dazzling, lyrical, emotional are all possible adjectives. But it's somehow not adequate. Other-worldly, Surrealistic, sound more appropriate. Because even when he is describing physical love (the first book has some of that), it somehow transcends the known. Even his decsription of a mind and thoughts is something unexpected, and so is his description of Tokyo sewers. Or earthquakes. (After the Quake is also a collection of his short stories)

The stories themselves are varied, from the normal growing up angst of a teenager to mid-year crises, broken hearts, and so on, but marvellously put together. I have yet to come across such a languid yet gripping writer (of course, I am reading the translated English versions). Though I don't read much fiction these days, I can't seem to have enough of this guy.

Guess the Author

"That abominable and sensual act called reading the newspaper, thanks to which all the misfortunes and cataclysms in the universe over the last twenty-four hours, the battles which cost the lives of fifty thousand men, the murders, the strikes, the bankruptcies, the fires, the poisonings, the suicides, the divorces, the cruel emotions of statesmen and actors are transformed for us, who don't even care, into a morning treat, blending in wonderfully, in a particularly exciting and tonic way, with the recommended ingestion of a few sips of cafe au lait."

Who is the author of this? Answer will follow in my next blog. Hint- the following passage is also his.

"There are few things humans are more dedicated to than unhappiness. Had we been placed on earth by a malign creator for the exclusive purpose of suffering, we would have good reason to congratulate ourselves on our enthusiastic response to the task. Reasons to be inconsolable abound: the frailty of our bodies, the fickleness of love, the insincerities of social life, the compromises of friendship, the deadening effects of habit. In the face of such persistent ills, we might naturally expect that no event would be awaited with greater anticipation than the moment of our own extinction."