''I Dare'' - Kiran Bedi by Parmesh Dangwal

Yes , that's right , it's all about the daring Mrs.Bedi , her personal and professional life. It gives a detailed account of her daredevilry, reforms, numerous brushes with authority and subsequent victories. Many of them esp the Tihar segment is quite awe-inspiring and touching. Zero cool ! Parmesh Dangwal desperately tries to explain what makes her tick , but what makes her tick? May be everything under the sun ! So, what prevents me from giving her a perfect 10? Yes, her phony marital status. Excuse my dirty mind.

Any chance for Mrs.Bedi to head the nation in the near future? Then, India would go through a real Revolution. Hoping against hope.....

The Kural - Thiruvalluvar

'India's missile man' is solely responsible for my reading this Tamil classic. Dr.Kalam being a Kural scholar , his books and speeches are adorned with verses from The Kural. So a must read for a Kalam fan . I'm reading the translated edition by P.S. Sundaram. The classic, comprising 1330 couplets, deals with the first three of the four supreme aims of life:virtue (dharma),wealth (artha),love (kama) and salvation (moksha).However, Valluvar omitted salvation from the kural because if the maxims laid down for the attainment of the first three goals were followed diligently, salvation would follow automatically. True. My 'dharma' is to read and advertise. Here are some interesting couplets:- 

This world is his who knows for what they are

Taste, sight, touch, sound and smell.

Be good, don't waste a day; and so

Block the way to rebirth.

Domestic life is virtue, especially when 

It is free from blame.

Be born, if you must, for fame: or else

Better not be born at all.

Life without blame is life,

Without fame death.

Even a lie is truthful

If it does unsullied good.

A day, so called, if rightfully understood,

Is a sword hacking at life.

When on liberation's road the very body is a burden

Why take other luggage?

What matters if they live or die

Whose taste is in their tongues, not ears?

Good friends are like good books-
A perpetual delight.


Folly is nothing but the conceit
That one is wise.


The plant betrays the soil, and speech
The man of birth.


The leaping then and the weeping now
Are laughable.


I live always on my past days with him-
What else have I?


Whom are you seeking outside, my heart,
While my dear one is within?
       

The Fifth Mountain - Paulo Coelho

Deep , spiritual and thoughtful , the novel is based on Elijah , the prophet from the Old Testament of The Bible. It focuses on his trials and tribulations in Zarephath , love-life , journey to the fifth mountain-the dwelling place of  Baal and his confrontations with the not-so-flexible and demanding God - Yahweh. But these are not the glorious moments of Elijah's life. He is said to be the most powerful and fierce prophet against paganism and the first one to raise the dead . His encounter with Baal's prophets at Mount Carmel is one of the most dramatic scenes from Old Testament. He is one of the only two prophets who ascended into heaven alive. Why did Paulo Coelho select this particular phase of the prophet? The message is clear. God demands obedience , yet at times He tests us and expects us to question and challenge Him. Be rebellious and demanding like a child.

Wings Of Fire - APJ Abdul Kalam with Arun Tiwari

He is the 'missile man' of India, is also known as the 'rocket man' and some still prefer to refer him as the 'newspaper boy'.During his presidency, he was lovingly called as the 'people's president'.He has been polled as the 'most trusted Indian' of this year. All these apt titles and axioms he earned with much diligence and determination. May there be many more nick names to his credit !! He hasn't spared the literary section also. His autobiography is as simple and down to earth as the man himself-the living legend of India. Dr.Kalam has quite a stirring story to tell. A big applause to the ghost writer Arun Tiwari for simplifying Aerospace Engineering . Indian rocket missions had always been a favorite topic for cartoonists. Even the laymen make fun of failed missions. Read 'Wings Of Fire', you sure would look at them in a different angle.

Beautiful hands are those that do

Work that is earnest and brave and true

Moment by moment

The long day through -APJ

We are proud of you ,sire...

Second Thoughts

They were like pakoras - hot & spicy and we , the hungry hostelers shared and gobbled them down whenever we got them . And felt like having 7 course meals. hee... hee.... I'm talking about Shobha De's  novels esp - Socialite Evenings , Snapshots , Sisters , Starry Nights and Strange Obsession.  I took up 'Second Thoughts' expecting the same. Well , my disappointment knew no boundaries. 

'Second Thoughts' is supposedly Shobha De's novel about women ''without waving a feminist flag''. It outlines the lighter shades of dowry system , mediocre arranged married life and the plight of educated women in the middle-class society. The title character finds herself trapped in a totally unhappy married life. A very realistic portrayal. And how did and how could she escape from her dull , monotonous life?  'une affaire' !!  


Hmm..... her second thoughts look quite dubious and dangerous. 

Diamond dust And other stories - Anita Desai

An exceptionally unique collection of nine short stories that sketch the cultural and personal struggles in subtle humor. I find the first story set in India rather dull and muddy. Winterscape  is very emotional and touching. The best is Rooftop dwellers. Read and enjoy.

I love u... ain't that enough my pet?

''Can I have a pet?''

''Adopt me.''

''I want a pet dog.''

''Your sister is ever ready.''

''I want a DOG.''

And thus my darling daughter gets 3 puppies.

Now she is after birds and cats.

Bye Bye Blackbird- Anita Desai

My first Desai novel is not an easy read. Since I'm an expatriate , the topic is very sensitive , hence I managed to pull through. No fun in using a dictionary while reading. The book is rich and heavy in the literary sense I guess.

 Black bird here means immigrants or expatriates. This psychological novel portrays the contradictory feelings of Indian immigrants in London in the '60s. Yes, the east- west confrontations, the patriot- expatriate conflicts, racism , homesickness and so on. Migratory birds often come back to their native place. Not always possible for human emigrants.


Home is where the heart is....

Death at the doorstep - Kushwant Singh

''We know what the reality of paradise is;

but it is not too bad an idea to beguile the mind.''

''Why did you order me out of the garden of paradise?

I have a lot of work that remains unfulfilled;

now you better wait for me.''

These quotes echo Sardarji's views on life and death and that explains his long lush life. He writes his obituary in his twenties and his epitaph is ready. Naturally death ignores him. And he lives king-size and spares no one. Brilliant ! What will be his real obituary age status - nonagenarian or centenarian? Whatever be it, the 'son of the gun' will die a happy man, I envy.

 

Part 1 of this book sheds some light on the views of the author and that of some important personalities, upon the eventuality of death .Part 2 is a collection of obituaries written over a period of time about some exotic people. They are heart-rending, scandalous, cheeky and witty. He is neither modest nor humble, but totally humane. But still, the mystery remains.....

What happens after death?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Dog days - Jeff Kinney

Can't find a better book to read on children's day. This is the fourth book in the wimpy kid series and the best selling book of 2009.It is the journal of Greg Huffley, an American middle school boy, chronicling his crazy plans to cope up with his family, friends and school. I thought high school was the most difficult phase.....Kids simply love the series. Parents may learn a few lessons from these laugh-out-loud funny books.
No kidding with kids.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - J.K.Rowling

So, this is the last book of the Harry Potter series. The first 3 are my favourites- the thin ones. I liked all the magical creatures except Harry Potter. Sadly he is nothing but a glorified scaredy turkey in eternal struggle with his stardom n magical powers. I'm a die hard fan of Hermione Granger. 

By the way, was it necessary to kill Prof Dumbledore and Sirius Black? sniff... sniff...

Dearest JKR, thank you for entertaining us in your fantastic magic world. And all the very best for your literary ventures.

Mrs LongFace for her faulty vision and hasty notions

You are not what I thought you were. When I saw you that day....  Oh, c'mon, please. How large a dent can you make on others on your first chance meeting? How can you conclude or write off someone at one glance?

First impression is called prejudice.

Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens

'Pickwick Papers' was first published as a serial in a monthly magazine in 1836 and became extremely successful as a light-hearted social satire. It was his first work to attract wide public. It's about a very wide range of incidents that happen in the life of Mr Pickwick and his friends. 


A delightful read. Simply hilarious.

The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown

A sequel to The Da Vinci Code  and  another Robert Langdon series. Suspense-filled , thrilling and engrossing, the novel compels the reader to gobble it down at a stretch. The voluminous edition is the only hindrance.


The lost symbol is The Word and the word is The Bible !

Mr Prime Minister for ignoring ACD

You know ,  Asian Summit (ACD) is being held here in Kuwait - the first international dialogue between Asian countries.  Almost 30 leaders are here.  Dialogue or monologue , India doesn't  give two shits about this. Why?  Kuwait may be half the size of Kerala , but we are the major expatriate community here.  What about NRI contribution?

Why sirji?

The Kiterunner- Khaled Hosseini

Ah, finally !! I have been waiting to read this book for years. A totally mesmerizing work. The movie too is equally good though I missed some scenes. Partially autobiographical , it tells the story of an Afghan boy, his carefree childhood in Kabul, strange relation with his servant boy, troubled times with the Talibans, immigration to America, life long struggle to live up to his father's expectations , sins and final absolution. Through out the novel, the writer is careful not to adorn the hero with a halo and so he appears genuinely humane.

Awesome....

A Thousand Slpendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

''One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs
And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls''
    

This splendid novel personifies Afghanistan and recalls its violent past. The novel is dedicated to the women of Afghanistan . Beautiful and haunting. Totally bowled over and speechless and wordless....

Gora - Tagore

Gora is one of Tagore's famous novels and it depicts the lives and problems of orthodox and unorthodox Bengali families during the late 19th century. This timeless creation of Tagore tells the journey of a young man, Gora, from religious captivity to his enlightenment as a human being. The novel takes place in Kolkata. Though strong and intelligent, Gora is obsequious to religious beliefs and traditions. His subservience to Hinduism alienates him from his close family, friends and love life. At the right moment, Gora finds out that he is an Irish orphan adopted by an Indian Hindu family. Funny, no one seems to have noticed much about his foreign features. Anyhow, within no time Gora discards all the religious norms he has held close at heart as his birthright and declares himself a free man and pledges to serve him country . A brilliant story.


Does any religion hinder personal goals and block anyone from serving his country?

The Third Man - Graham Greene

According to Graham Greene ,the book was never intended to be more than the raw material for a film and he wanted to entertain , to frighten a little and to make us laugh. But it's not very funny, not much entertaining and not at all scary . The movie is said to be a huge success.


SukumaraKurup must have got his brilliant but misfired ideas from this book or from the movie...

The Broken Wings - Khalil Gibran

The beautiful, tender and sad love story written by the Lebanese philosopher-writer is about his first true love. He falls hopelessly in love with Selma Karamy at the age of 18- love at first sight. Because of the socio-economic status quo, Selma marries another man. They manage to meet up occasionally , soon Selma departs from this world during child-birth  but not from Khalil's heart. Khalil with his poignant writing and beautiful imagery, has transformed a simple love story into a masterpiece.


''Oh Lord God, have mercy on me and mend my broken wings.''

The Wreck- Rabindranath Tagore

The Wreck is the translated Bengali novel written by Tagore in 1906. The storyline is quite simple. It is about mistaken identities and ends in a pleasant note. The diction flows effortlessly and poetic gems twinkles through out the novel. The most disputed and complex philosophies about love and life are presented in its simpler form. The womenfolk are being treated as deities. Even the villain is not quite villainous but just ambitious and outspoken. At times, the soliloquies and monologues of troubled characters are too lengthy and bland.


Tagore is a sage and a great poet. His insights about the life of common people are quite surprising. The simplicity of the work is totally unexpected.

Friends who accuse us of running away from Bahrain

Bahrain ! I spend my most productive years there. I beget 3 kids. See ! As soon as I enter the kingdom as a young bride, the old king dies. We mourn so deeply n loudly that we get the first warning from the housekeeper. We get goosebumps as we watch the upgradation of the handsome young crown prince to King. I grow up from home made ghee to clarified butter. My taste buds fall in love with all kinds of branded junk food. I expand in weight n width. My designation becomes 'Assistant Mistress'. That's what they call teachers. I love it. Orkut happens. Bahrain the bountiful island.

People congratulate us on our decision to abandon the burning ship. It is burning. Now. Not when we switch the ships. We leave before the mutiny. And we feel guilty. Our old friends are full of stories about the unrest. We miss the action.

Bahrain, my heart is bleating for you!

The foreign language English, for deserting me

SOS...... find eng.

OMG!  Dono hw long I'll last in this campus.  5 yr break hasn't done much damage; texting n chatting did.  Spellings.punctuations.  Grammar.  Where r u all?  I hereby promise to delete my orkut account.  Dear Oxford Muse, come back to me ASAP.

Happy Teacher's Day !

Little Women - Louisa M. Alcott

So far I haven't read such a pleasant and heart-warming classic like 'Little Women'. It paints the simple everyday events of the March family - the compassionate and loving Mrs March and her 4 daughters - amiable Meg , dynamic Joe , dove-like Beth and pretty Amy. They live during the civil war ,  experiencing the pain of poverty and the joys of growing up , love and family life. All of them are ambitious and hard working and they love each other like hell and they want to be good all the time. At the same time the book honestly represents the flaws of women - Meg is materialistic , Joe is headstrong and thoughtless , Beth whimsical and Amy aloof. Though affected and moralistic, the March family entertains us to the end.


To my sis - ''Bless you, my darling, and remember you are always in my heart - oh, tucked so close there is no chance of escape ...''

The Pilgrimage- Paulo Coelho

One of Coelho's strange and ambiguous books, The Pilgrimage is the recollections of his spiritual  journey. The trip can be our daily journey. The exercises described seem simple and easy to follow but not sure whether they are safe. A mysterious book full of novel ideas.


''Life teaches us lessons every minute, and the secret is to accept that, only in our daily lives, can we show ourselves, to be as wise as Solomon and as powerful as Alexander the great.''


'' Teaching is the only way to learn. '' 

Lajja - Taslima Nasrin

Lajja means shame. Yes, this book is a shame on humanity. As a novel, it tells the story of a Bangladeshi Hindu family, ripped apart by the riots followed by the demolition of  Babri-Masjid in India on December 6, 1992. As a historical document, it chronicles the history of Bangladesh from 1947-1992. According to the author, the book deals with the persecution of Hindus, a religious minority in Bangladesh, by the Muslims who are in the majority. Taslima is so worked up and passionate about her cause that the story line has been pushed aside and the book is crammed with bullet points, facts and data. But the true, chilling and horrifying account of religious extremism, fanaticism and inhuman brutality hits the reader at the right place. The book has been banned in Bangladesh and parts of India and Taslima has many 'fatwas' to her credit. Excellent publicity. She is still fighting to protect her beautiful country and her rights to live in it. By the by, the cover design of the book is misleading with pictures of women on both sides. 


''Let Another Name for Religion be Humanism.''

Like the Flowing River- Paulo Coelho

A wonderful and inspirational collection of Coelho's thoughts and reflections. The short stories are quite powerful and novel. They can be used to prepare speeches and essays. The messages are moralistic and profound yet not sermonic. They are all related to everyday life and explores what it means to be truly alive. A good read to be kept aside to re-read.

As always Coelho  urges the readers to follow dreams and fulfill our personal legends. If only one could do that.....

The guardian of Fingerprint Pad for messing with my fingers, all five of them !

Our darned papers are ready and we can stay here for the next 2 years.  I'm not a descriptive person and hate to revisit those haunted offices.  The fingerprint office tainted with  trampled dreams and hopes of third world people.  The Bangladeshi middlemen...... the greedy Egyptian translators..... veiled witches.......  the gigantic masri who takes litres of your precious blood...... the unwashed coat with centuries of dirt and sweat in the x-ray room........the fingerprint man who punches all your five fingers.  Barbarious.  You go there as a humble expatriate and out come a pathetic wormling.

I know what happened to Kavya Madhavan.  She must have gone to the Fingerprint office !   Poor thing,  is scarred forever and  ran away clutching her last bit of dignity.  I won't blame you dear.  My sympathies.

The Sandal Trees - Kamala Das

I've read almost all the works of Madhavikutty written in Malayalam. It's totally a new experience to read them in English. The Sandal Trees is an assorted collection of her 23 short stories. Hats off to the editors and translators , they've done a good job. The 'valluvanadan' slang which is the only thing I loath in her works , is lost in transit -  a huge relief.

As usual , the first and the title story is the best one. So, what are sandal trees? According to Kamala Das they are the silences that grow between a husband and wife. Oh ! only silences? What about kids , hatred , jealousy , indifference and  O yes, a flikr of love?


Kamala Das aka Madhavikutty aka Kmala Suraiyya has left this world to join.....Krishna or Allah ? Ooops !

India : From Midnight To The Millennium And Beyond - Shashi Tharoor

A heavily objective and lengthy account of India's first 50 years of independent being. The major part concentrates on India's divided pluralism and the rest is about caste, politics, economics, religion  and the future. The book mainly points out what ails and prevents India from all over development. Quite an engaging read. Here and there Tharoor has tried hard to charm the readers with his witty anecdotes and humorous tales from his childhood and youth. Though the background is urban middle class, those accounts light up and distract him from his games with words temporarily. Comic reliefs?

The book is indeed very informative. One learns a lot about the personal life of many of India's great leaders. Tharoor idolizes Gandhiji, Nehru and even Sonia Gandhi but devotes pages and pages to tarnish Mrs.Indira Gandhi. I learned the following from this book which perhaps should be listed in gossip columns but it's news for me. Let me quote:-

• The British ordered the thumps of whole communities of Indian weavers chopped off so that they could not compete with the products of Lancashire.
• Gandhiji had quixotically called the capital to be shifted to the hot and dusty town of Nagpur, which had the sole merit of being located in the geographical center of the country.
• Gandhi rejected the phrase - Father of the Nation and he detested the term - Mahatma.
• Gandhi had announced his intention to spurn the country he had failed to keep united and to spend the rest of his years in Pakistan, a prospect that had made the government of Pakistan collectively choke.
• Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated at the home of business tycoon G.D.Birla, a major financier of the Congress Party.
• Imprisoned for the first time in 1921, Jawaharlal spent 18 years in British jails.
• On his desk, Nehru kept two totems - a gold statuette of Gandhi and a bronze cast of the hand of Abraham Lincoln, which he would occasionally touch for comfort.
• M.F.Husain, 'India's Picasso', painted a triptych depicting Mrs.Indira Gandhi as the Hindu warrior goddess Durga.
• Rajiv Gandhi remains to this day the only Indian prime minister ever to have been photographed in jeans and a Lacoste T-shirt.
• The great 2000 year old epic Mahabharata was supposedly dictated by the sage Vedavyasa to Ganesh.
• The first Indian film star to become the chief minister of a state was a Malayali, Marudur G.Ramachandran.
• Dr.B.R.Ambedkar led his followers in a mass conversion to Buddhism to escape the stigma of Untouchability within Hinduism.
• India maintains the world's third-largest standing army.
• Only 7 people died in the 1996 elections.
• Orthodox do not use porcelain plates who note that animal bones go into its making.
• Arcticle 356 of the Indian Constitution, used just 8 times in the first 14 years of India's independence, was applied on nearly 70 occasions between 1965 and 1987.

Well, written in 1997 this work displays lots of intellectual and political maturity. Where has it gone ? What happened ? Where are you, Mr.Tharoor?

The Five Dollar Smile: And Other Stories - Shashi Tharoor

 Written around 1978-1981, this book is a collection of his 14 short stories and a two act play. Most of them are written in his late teens and early twenties and are sparkling social satire and observations of life in India. Touching and funny, they project many social issues and display his high level of maturity and understanding. The foreword given at the beginning of each story is very insightful and  interesting.  Most of the stories end with a twisted tail. The best is the first one- 'The Five Dollar Smile'. The two act play is a hilarious metaphor on Indira Gandhi's Emergency. These works show a prolific writer in the making.


You are a great 'interlocutor', Mr.Tharoor...