The edge of desire by Tuhin A Sinha

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Fiction

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Its a tale of Shruthi Ranjan who leaves Delhi  resigning her job as a journalist discovering her boy friend with a common friend..She is utterly devasted at the indifference of her boyfriend's attitude..Living with her parents she is subjected to constant pressure of marriage ,enters Rohit Verma, Deputy commissoner of Kishanganj in Bihar..Lawless is in every aspect of life in Kishanganj..Her life turns upside down when she is raped and justice is denied ..When justice is nearly denied she grabs the oppurtunity provided by Sharad Malviya Charismatic politician to become an elected member of Lok sabha to fight her case..What follows is the roller coaster ride of Shruthi life  where is a constant subject of mockery that even earns her the name Draupadi..

The subject  and the treatment of the story-line is so good that the you start to admire the protagonist Shruthi..Shruthi is a strong, straight-forward and a girl next door whose fate gives little choice to remain so making her shrewd, ambitious and politically correct personality..This novel explores every aspect of Indian politics and the so called democracy that is at stake..The kind of experience that shruthi goes through is an everyday news that we come across in new paper  so often that nobody is surprised by them .Its as though they have all  become a part of life ..In spite of all these reading the book one can feel the emotional trauma that Shruthi is subjected to.. At one point life itself turns unfair to her not letting her do what she desires but life itself takes her in its flow..She is all by herself to deal with things with no backup from her family or her friends...She finds strength in herself and from enigmatic Sharad Malviya..

Time and again as per plot characters are put in reference to the characters in epic of Mahabharata, Ramayana and other famous personalities of India like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru..When Shruthi is being dragged into every newspaper portraying as a girl with no moral values rather than sympathizing with her situation , anger , anger and more anger is what I felt at the media judiciary and the people of society.. Every time she had go through this and her family too not sparing her I felt she was raped more than what she had to undergo during her physical abuse ...

The book is  fast paced that blows on to a  full toss as it ends..Overdose of politics is the best part of it..The apt portrayal of a woman's struggle in all man's territory couldn't have been better told..I shared my part of surprise and wonder with Shruthi, when she was offered a seat to contest election.. I wondered  Lok sabha ticket for being raped!!!

Tuhin Sinha is quiet different from other Indian writer and thats the best and refreshing part of his writing ..He has indeed niche a mark for himself..The topic is boiling and explosive and  justice has been done to it..The honestly of the state of the country and people where a relationship between a man and woman is most often  blown out of proportion for wrong reasons is highlighted well...Yes of course you may not read it over and over but its worth for that single read leaving Shruthi in you mind for sometime...

The black Swan : The Impact of the highly improbale by Nassim Taleb

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                                 Non-fiction

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Before the discovery of Australia  every one around the globe thought that all swans where black, but then they  realised the existence of Black swans everyone was took by surprises and now  their number has steadily...  Essence of the book is the bottom line of uncertainty and its done and he is pundit to to it form different vantage...
Our mind is used to witness the usual not the unexpected, and these unexpected events are the one that has extreme  effect upon us...  Unexpected events like Hitler rise and war, dissemination of Soviet union now on 9/11 is one such event.. That essentially is what the book deals with ...But this book was a difficult read for me as I had to google certain theories time and again ... Major part deals with  distinguishing and explanations between Mediocristan and Extremistan..The book is divided into three parts..If you don't understand well he helps us with examples of famous names.. Mediocristan is the regular guy whose earning is proportional to his work done that moves in Guassian Distribution (I told you  I had to brush up my basics of school) with a bell curve.While extremistan are those of celebrities such as J.K Rowling, book authors and rock stars who earn more beyond their proportion of work and energy spent, he puts certain cases also into extremistain that of the black Monday and Tuesday when the stock crashed in 1987 that resulted in 22% decline of US stock market..For a technically ignorant person like me it was real enlightening but a heavy dose of book..
He quotes several anecdotes from the lives of many scholars who are not famous..There is an amusing tale of a turkey..Turkey lives in a fantasy thinking that its life is great having been well fed for almost thousand days, but its only on the 1001 day it fatally realises that the farmer is going to cut its head out, and that precisely how we live under the wrong impression that everything is well unless we are hit with the reality..Black swan events are the ones that are rare and difficult to predict in all fields such as science, finance and mathematics.. These events might be good or bad...
He advice to invest 85% of the investment on very safe T-Bills and then use the rest of 15% on high risk but high payoff devices and make adjustments as per once ability to take risk..At times I felt the book to be repetitive..His work is scholarly 19 pages of notes and 18 pages of bibliography explains it..He boldly comes across with the pitfalls of many statistical data which according him were meant to fail than help in extreme situation..I don't think the book will go down well with the management experts, statistician and academicians..
Taleb (he calls himself NNT) puts  that the success of a author is when a reader reread him work, to me to get to know certain facet of his vantage I indeed had to reread...
the quotes that I loved are:
"What matters is not how often you are right , but how large you're cumulative errors are.."


"Problem with expert is that they don't know what they don't know.."


"Information is bad for knowledge..Worry less about embarrassment rather than missing an opportunity.".

Go for the book If you are looking for an unusual hard subject...

Eleven minutes by Paulo Coelho

Its a daring novel of Maria ,whose is heart broken at a very young age by the relationships she was on to thus concluding that she'll never find true love..Right from when she was eleven her beauty was adored but nobody wanted to embrace the girl in her..This book is about discovering fantasy called sex through Maria's character..She is a paradigmatic girl whose journey took her through love,lust, betrayal,confusion, attraction by the men she was involved..She never had a steady relationship always ended up being betrayed ..Her past gives her courage to follow completely different path breaking rules of society's confinement..This makes her travel seeking knowledge building a window to her inner self, from Brazilian village  to Rio to Switzerland.. In search of fame and wealth unfortunately ending up as a prostitute..In Switzerland she is given with a choice to go back home or to become high class prostitute  and she chose the latter.. But when he meets handsome painter Ralf and as love blooms its turns out to be her battle to fight between desire and life there by true love..Ralf sees the light in her beyond the mask of a prostitute...
This book ventures upon prejudice on sex dealing things philosophically and through simple dialogues between Maria and intellectual Ralf  ..Maria's character is  not of a girl who becomes a prostitute by fate that earns her sympathy but she comes one by choice somehow puzzles the reader yet I couldn't get to hate her only like her more as the story culminates..
Best part of novel is that author speaks from a prostitute's point, her desire her wish to seek knowledge , wanting to travel more and learn things are amazingly portrayed.. This is something unexpected from an author of a book like Alchemist.. Love sex, desire all three are completely dissected and well placed completely , that nothing feels overdone..Difference between the sacredness of sex and masochism is neatly built on..The treatment of the subject is different and refreshing so is the beginning of the novel.."Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. Wait a minute. "Once upon a time" is how all the best children's stories begin and "prostitute" is a word for adults. How can I start with this apparent contradiction? Author has differentiated sex from love making and tells that when involved with the right man with all love a girl feel her divine self..The novel uncovers about human body its desires and need in simplicity and elegance..

Does he know a mother's heart by Arun Shourie

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Does god exists? If yes, does he care..This book is to anyone who has confronted with this question in life..Its an all personal quest of spiritual exploration of Arun Shourie ...The following excerpt is going to be long but its well done..This book is to all who have confronted with the omnipresence of god and his way of trialing mortal souls like us ...
"Your neighbous have  ason.. he is now thirty-five year old..Going by his age you would think of him as a young man , and ,on meeting his mother or father ,would ask,almost out of habit, 'And what does the young man do?' That expression,'young man',doesn't sot well as he is but a child.He cannot walk ,Indeed, he cannot stand. He cannot use his right arm. He can see only his left. His hearing is sharp, as his memory. But he speaks only syllable by syllable...The father shouts at him.. He curses him:'You are the one who brought misery into our home... We know no trouble till you came.Look at you-weak,dependent,drooling ,good for nothing..' Nor does the father stop at shouting at the child, at pouring abuse at him, at cursing the child. He beats him.He thrashes him black and blue..As others in the family try to save the child from the father's rage, he leaps at them.Curses them, hits out at them.What would you think about the damned father? Wouldn't you report him to police or some such authority that can lock him up?Wouldn't you try everything you can to remove the child from the reach of the father? But what if the father is The Father- the 'T' and 'F' capital .both word italicized? That is what is the 'father' in question is 'God'?Why so the reaction and answer change for so many of us?" (Page 1)
I read the above from an exclusive excerpt and ordered my copy right away...

Shourie is stunned beyond horizon when he learns about his son's cerebral palsy as a result of insufficient oxygen in incubator few days after his premature birth.. He is perplexed about his son's suffering and future of the family..Like all he is confronts the cliche question, WHY ME? It's been thirty four years with his son Adit who doesn't have an independent life; worst he can't carry any of his basic chores of life, adding to the anguish, his wife Anita has been diagonised with Parkinson's disease..
This book tears you apart several times through his personal journey fathering a child with cerebral palsy, his heart felt worry of  future about his only son as he himself is stepping onto old age..His love for his son is evident in every word that he pens down.. He describes spirit of his son that inspires to be the person he is through many anecdotes,one which readily comes to my mind is when Adit fell off wheelchair as the caretaker forgot to cling the seat belt that left him hurt  with two frontal teeth knocked off, at the dentist's inspite of all the pain Adit called him close blowing kiss that leaves the doctor stunned..His wife's courage, is another startling point , her support and love to keep him afloat through all these years of life is beautifully portrayed where in spite of Parkinson's gruesome clutch been able to support him all through taking care of the house letting Shourie all time for work...But unlike other he has been able to set his personal trauma aside in later part of the chapters  to reason out things logically and justify his point completely..He describes that his son has taught many things in life, like finding happiness in simple things, non-attachment, living life for  the moment, sense of gratitude etc etc...According to him, even with Adit's mental state his son is quite lucky to be surrounded with all love and joy ..

Through all these odyssey he pondered upon all religion's unfailingly teaching that god is merciful and not even a leaf moves without his will. If so  why there are so much suffering around the globe..He quotes from bible about Abraham,God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac, but God spared him when Abraham indeed was all set for the sacrifice for a ram instead..bible says that this a Abraham's faith is a perfect example of faith , affirming that the promises God made to Abraham extends to all who believe in him...He questions the discrepancies of all religion's anomaly to sufferings ..In Hindu religion everything is connected to 'karma' one's sins  in the past birth.For Shourie "Karma is a convenient fiction" ..There's no credenda of heaven for innocent, but he sees laughter for sinners then asks why so? When Christianity believes that the whole world is the result of bad deeds of adam disobeying him, why all the innocents thereafter are condemned?? Islam promises life for eternity and death is a journey to god if that's the case what about a spastic ???

He says all religion for that matter are self contradictory this time ... Every aspect is thoroughly researched at times, glimpses of  personal anguish sparkles throughout...Oddity of religious preaching and theory is questioned through many examples from bible to Quran to Gita ..Shourie has also borrowed many phrases and philosophies of many writers and thinkers to build up his own vantage..In Hindu religion where everything good and bad is attached to karma which Shourie aptly borrows from the quote of PV Kane that "our sense of fairness and justice would be shocked by the inequalities in the world"  which implies that linking every deed and it consequences to karma is an intelligent and creative invention..

He quotes Gandhi  that  a child is subjected to pain so that parents learn about demure and kindness but Shourie questions., to start with why all pain upon the an innocent child ,that too by a God who is supposed to be all merciful..If the child's suffering is by the karma of his past then it was God's plan to make him do all that..Now why blame the boy..He adds ,when a plane crashes,how can God be cruel  killing all 300 on board  except for a 5year old..He comes with the logical reasoning why to complement good things to his mercy and the bad upon the person himself..

He says borrowing from Buddhist philosophy that sufferings are the basic truth of life which one cannot escape..To overcome this one should conquer his prejudice and the cultural upbringing and the myth about god and world..

I am sure no parent can get used a child's sufferings, it only goes over and over gain, living through this  is the most difficult thing a parent live by ...I feel this is what made him write on all this. All the confusions and question, frustrations he was confronted with made him question  every thing that included life and fate..This indeed formed the very essence of this book, which would help emotionally  any one who is onto such situation every single day of life, or anyone who has compassion in one's heart...His vivacity for religion and spiritual life is based on his own experiences..He says Buddhism doesn't require belief in god but belief in life and that seems to be convincing to Shourie than any other religion... He quotes from Andre comte-Sponville that "The belief in God is so strikingly congruent with our longings that it seems to be invented to fulfill them." Humans created God rather than vice verse..He argues that people should learn to accept what ever circumstances they are onto and react to things in a matured way rather running up and down in haste cursing life,god and fate...And that's exactly what he does in his own life, he takes his son everywhere with full pride and not hiding him away from society and living with hope and love than worrying about the future...

The alchemist by Paulo Coelho

First thing I did was look into dictionary for the meaning yes you would have come across in your school  but alas as you get older your memory fades of course..lol..Alchemy means the transformation of metal to gold by nature it is a philosophical tradition related with intellectual power from time immemorial..

Every time  Santiago sleeps under sycamore tree, he is troubled by a dream where a child tries to show him a hidden treasure near pyramid...He goes to a gypsy woman to interpret his dream , she asks him to set on the journey to pursue his dream..Thus begins his journey that transcends places right from his home in Spain to lively Tangeries's market and finally to desert in Egypt where his destiny awaits him...
Though Santiago's parents sent him to school to study language and religion he chooses to become a shepherd that would match his aptitude of curiosity travelling far and wide learning things on his own...In course of the journey he  meets Fatima a beautiful maid falling in love she encourages him to pursue his dream as he is hit by dilemma between his destiny and love...He once even loses all money that forces him to work in a carpet shop in Tangeries ,but he turns out to be the lucky charm.. His ideas slowly transforms the business into profit from loss, he runs on to Englishmen who are in search of a universal language..Finally he moves to desert in Egypt where he encounters the Alchemist.....Among all the characters Santiago get to meet, the golden one is of course the alchemist who has discovered the secret about philosopher's stone...

Santiago's character is that of a determined headstrong and curious boy who wants to taste everything around....In short the book tells you to listen to yourself and follow your dreams..It says life is full of omen that will lead to your destiny just watch out carefully..It says that the world itself has a soul of its own and when person's and the world's soul are in sync, magic happens or in other words you do what you are destined to be and for that one has to start with following instincts..I wish the end was more detailed, somehow I felt it ended all of a sudden..

The book of Mirdad: The strange story of a monastery which was once called the Ark by Mikhail Naimy

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                                                   Spiritual philosophy

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Highly quoted by Osho that made me to give it a try..This was my first purchase from flipkart back in 2008..The book is about Mirdad, who leaves everything to visit a temple, on a mountain top in a remote place ,built hundreds of years ago..Pathway described as extremely dangerous doesn't deter Mirdad from his journey, through sheer perseverance facing hardships he finally wakes up at the doorstep..Following are the spiritual revelation...Anyone with high spiritual quotient would definitely want to read it over and over again...Had you liked Alchemist , I wouldn't say you would like this book but book of Mirdad is for people who love deeper and mystic phase of spiritual being..There are deeper meaning said as a matter of fact, one has to be completely absorbed in the book to get the right tone or things would go over the head like a swish of hard breeze..Initially I found it heavy to appreciate but once then I understood that the book needs a different treat altogether ,I got the hang of it.. I slowed down so I could perceive and enjoy the whole experience of reading it...I found it poetic and extremely beautiful that I started moving along Mirdad accompanying him in his journey and all  seemed delightful till end..The distinction between pride and ego, mystic believes about god , arrogance..Aloofness of pride and the importance of meekness is all a wonderful treat for the reader..
Quotes that hit me hard were the following:
"Often you shall think your road impassable, somber and companionless.have will and plod along; and round each curve you shall find a new companion"
Next one is hard to be followed
"Be neither volatile to joy nor condensable to sorrow. But be serenely equitable to both"..
Read on to experience yourself..

The last lecture by Randy Pausch

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"What would you do when you have to bid goodbye to your beautiful family, doting wife and lovely kids and to the friends and colleagues those where every part of your life , and from then on how do you face death or life "...that's the theme of the book..


"The last lecture" is a heart shattering memoir of Randy Pausch that completely moved me..It is co-written by Wall street columnist Jeffrey Zaslow..This book is a compelling read ..
Every year at Carnegie Mellon University, a faculty member is invited for a series, famously known as The Last lecture, apparently considered as a final speech to their students before death..But for Randy Pausch it was indeed his last lecture, not only to his students, but also his family and friends, for Pausch had been diagonised with pancreatic cancer..His speech was titled "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"..the entire speech is available on you tube..He gave this speech most importantly for his children.. He wanted to leave a message to them who would never get a chance to know their father ,Truly they all would be proud of their father as they read through or watch the video.. There's nothing written about death its all about life ,love, dreams and how to fulfill them, truly that's how Pausch was, completely lively..He quoted "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand" and he lived completely true to what he said, heads high fighting the most difficult battle of death courageously leaving a lesson behind to all...

Even writing this book he never wanted to spend time with the co-author away from family wasting his precious time ,hence the discussions were done during his everyday bike ride in the morning...Pausch describes all his philosophy through anecdotes from his life...Pausch is an awesome story teller,recalling all the important events of his childhood with ta whip of fun and gaily spirit..

I loved this quote "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And Experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer".he says hurdles are there for a reason, and this is what he belived everytime he was faced with one,"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not to keep us out.The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something..Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough..They're there to stop the other people."  Golden words are about time"the key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the things? Because time all you have"
After he delivers his speech his wife hugs him by the end whispering"Please don't die" moved my heart away...
It's a slim book that will leave you heavy...

To Sir with Love by E.R Braithwaite

Down the memory lane is this book.I had an excerpt from the book in one of my English prose class in school,and it was an instant love.."To sir with Love is an autobiographical novel" of an ex RAF (Royal Air force) pilot also an engineer who is forced to take up the job of a substitute secondary school teacher in London east end because he is unable to find any other job in spite of his qualification and experience due to racial discrimination..He is assigned with "top" class pupil who are a complete rebel, disconcert to learn,extremely disinterested to anything..Despite all the barriers he reaches out becoming not just their favourite teacher but a mentor to the whole class, standing tall as an example ..Rest is history..

His approach to the class is different, instead of treating them as pupil he decides to treat them as adults, and sets them with basic rules to be followed and demands respects back from them. Initially unresponsive, as days passes they all come together respecting each other.. He wins them by different vantage, he takes the class outside the school premises which is totally new to them to one of the museum and getting them involved in discussions there after.. Initially he is met with skepticism from the head of school,but as he discovers  positive outcome from the students he becomes appreciative of the whole effort .. ..He makes it a point to address his students as Mr or Ms followed by their surname that makes students feels like adults, he also asks them to address each other that way when in class..In due of course of time he finds out a teacher in him and realises that his students are helping him to grow as a person ...Pamela dare one of his students who storms out of his first class, admires him completely taking him as a role model, her mother comes to him seeking advice as she hopes that he is the only person who can  reach out to her,and indeed he does, that was the kind of influence he had upon his students..

His first day of class, his mental preparation to face the class whom the head and many staffs gave a negative points is wonderfully penned out with clouds of confusion shaping up which is then brushed apart by his belief in himself..
Set up during a time era whenthe racial discrimination based on color was at the heights are heart rendering. One such is during his visits to a  restaurant , he is refused to be served because of his skin colour and still he remains patient taking the insult gracefully while Gillian Blanchard(she is white) who accompanies him is left totally aghast...
In spite of all these years this novel holds its charm as you read over and over again.The title of the novel is a note written by Pamela dare on their teacher's farewell gift..

Wicked woman of the Raj by Coralie Younger

I love anything frozen in time which reveals the intricacies of the time gone by in all its splendor..Indian history is my favourite..Though british period is not my cup of tea yet there are loads of events that gets me intreseted to..This book is about one such phase..
It's run down of twenty women from west tagged as wicked, who were held enchanted with the Indian prince (some for their rich and some for the like of the social standings),Not all stories belong to Raj period of India many are from post Independence..Introduction itself would leave you startling with lot of theories . It's believed that white woman were sent to India seeking a suitable match failing which they are tagged useless and most don't go home for the fear of social rejections..Some of these ladies take up prostitution,luring the Rajah and sultans for their rich and charm, in return they are provided with abundant wealth , jewels that are even worth millions, in short life of grandeur..But some were women were indeed hopeless romantics driven by magic of love to their sultans or Rajah who broke the rules laid  by the society to get their fairy tale life with the man they loved, imbibing in them Indian culture and tradition some even following the purdah to an extend, lending a hand of advice with the administration and social devoir..
But Money and wealth always played a major role .. Indian prince who were sent abroad for education or for vacations become great admirers of western culture, art, culture and lifestyle eventually finding a companion in European lady who would not just sharing his name and title but becoming a retinue intellectually..Most of the marriages failed pathetically but some were indeed successful like Morag Murray who married Syed Abdullah Khan of Koh fort, Joan Falkiner who married Taley Khan of Palanpur and Nancy Miller who married Tukoji of Indore.Not all women were vice, while Stella Mudge who married Paramjith Singh, the Maharah of Kapurthala looted her state treasurey of its exquisite jweles, Marguerite Lawler nurse-stewardess who married Yeshwant Rao Holkare the Maharah of Indore,was pushed for a divorce luring for custody of his daughter but it was for him to marry   Euphemia Crane..
Ladies who married  Indian rajah or sultans were not just against their people but also had to fight their husband's other wives and society who looked at them skeptically..They were not recognized by the British empire often refusing to bestow  the title of her Highness like that of their husbands...Finally they fall apart losing the battle drunk and immersed in luxurious parties dying with nothing much around them...
All chapters has details of the riches drawn well, the marriage, exquisite gifts, elaborate honey moon and the to the days that ends all..All along, the details of jewels laden with precious stone forms the major part of every story..
Writing is simple and engaging... Good research has shaped up the book, but the way you cling onto the writing of Woods, William Dalrymple, John Key are missing..The book is a good historic gossip that will delight you but will not leave any prints in you..

Mother by Maxim Gorky

Mother by Maxim Gorky is one of the earliest earliest books that formed my basis of love for books and reading...

Children follow parents what when the reverse happens!!! That is the story plot..The novel is based on the real event of may day demonstration of factory workers at Sormov..Pelageya Nilovna was an ordinary woman married to a man working in a factory, evening she would be beaten brutally by her drunk husband ,after her husband's death villagers started gossiping that she would be relieved to have got rid of him.. After the death of her brutual husband life moves calmly in their household , though Pelageya was apprehensive about her fourteen year old son  Pavel Vlassov  getting drunk but she sooner realises that he is taking a different path... Working in factory Pavel  learns the power of the working class and the injustice upon them.. Unlike other men who just get drunk, Pavel  starts  bringing like minded people as him ..the house turns out to be a hosting place for various reading sessions  Pelageya starts to pay notice to whats been said and discussed and she is strangely feels attached to all of the proceedings..She is astonished to find about Natasha and Sasha comrades(both daughters of rich father ) who have abandoned everything for their cause...Pavel gets arrested and is sentenced  exile to Siberia ..Pelageya is entrusted to distribute pamphlets to the workers thus getting completely involved in this movement ..she is addressed as comrade by a woman after a meetiing at her house at that moment she feels so proud...Though the end is tragic it leaves a mark in every way..

This novel brought out the inspirational role of a mother in a working class prior to the revolution..Every line is so poetic that I can read it any number of time..Extremely beautiful that I can't say enough of it...What captivated me was the awakening of the common man against the ruling class, the events  that lead to the revolution itself ..The lives of workers in the factory where they are made to work to death., after a tiring day all they do is get drunk, beat up wife and children in the household..Their lives is nothing close to civilised life..They live poor,politically helpless, oppressed , and illiterate, when they die they die the same if not any less..

The Reader by Bernard Schlink

I read this book because of the movie trailor (The reader) few years back ..Something seemed different about it and I wanted to try the the book, before the movie hit the screen.. " Oh they ruined the book by making a movie out of it" that is what I expected to tell myself watching the movie but this one was different..Movie did a  total justice to the book and yes of course I loved Winslet performance..

 Michael Berg , 15 year boy falls prey to Hepatitis falling ill on his way back home from school..Hanna Schmitz who works as a tram conductor helps him out...Everything goes haywire when he visits her to thank,and comes back again the next day, thus beginning their unusual affair of a 15 year boy and a woman more than twice his age...Strangely reading becomes an integral part of their relationship..One day Hanna disappears leaving Michael emotionally unstable with lot of insecurities never been able to develop a healthy relationship or friendship with anyone..He never expects to see her until he runs into her as a law student on a trial where she is defending against her crime (as a guard) killing 300 women in transit between camps ..He realises she is refusing to prove her innocence and he finds out the secret behind it...How he copes up with his own guilt and opening a window for Hanna to live forms the rest of the novel..
Initially, I thought its going to be all about a lewd relationship and reading.  But slowly the tale unwraps itself revealing layers of thoughts, and many questions to ponder upon .... I was left thinking while reading at many places.... The novel moves across phases of Michael's life starting from his teenage which is central part of the novel with his high end relationship with Hanna its failure and the effect it has on his life..As a result of a  relationship that fell apart, Michael is unable to cope up with his situations,he even ends up divorced with an estranged daughter .. He hates Hanna, at the same time he is unable to let her go off completely from his mind..
Hanna's character is a kind that you cannot come to love not even close to like, and that's the best part of it...She is illiterate at a time when everything around goes dark , She is unable to have a sense of morality nor a sense of responsiblity, though nothing can justify her actions,still her illiteracy plays a larger part in her actions..Even when she is accussed of killing 300 people ,at courtroom she comes out with a sense of pristine confession " I did what I was told to do"..Everything  about her seems misguided..

Set in post war Germany ,holocaust's haunting memories lingers upon all the protogonists..I felt detached at places and evry much involved at some..

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Losing my virginity by Richard Branson

Price Rs 450 (got it for 250 from homeshop18.com)                                                                                  Autobiography

Its not just a memoir of  Richard Branson the business tycoon  but an inspirational buisiness guide ..Every page tells you to be tough when the going gets tougher..Its all about his personal philosophy that he lived by which took him to heights..Glimpses of his childhood the family's support their unconditional love, the way he was brought up where he was taught to believe in oneself .. I wish the the first chapter about his mad passion  for adventure,his experience about balloon flight that he took was added to the last or in the middle, I felt it to be tad long and it was my sheer patience that kept me reading had I given up, I would have regreted real bad, because  the rest of the memoir is fast paced, cool sprinter than a marathon..Didn't feel I read 573 (few more to index and other notes) pages...Writing is witty and crisp ..A lot of credit to his unorthodox upbringing of his family , especially his mother who was determined to make her children independent..which he aptly puts " Our challenges tended to be more physical than academic" he was sent on a 50 mile cycle ride by himself when he was under twelve..Even his aunt encouraged him with money as price, to learn to swim by a fortnight..The rebellious streak was instilled by his parents..His adventurous spirit is quite predictable as we read his memoir about his parents who were adventurous themselves, but one that stood out in my mind is about his mother Eve who pretended to be a  boy to follow her dreams to be a pilot for in those days girls were not allowed to fly..He is dyslexic and he says he still has problem while remembering  long speeches and how he copes up yet managed to put that aside to become such a brilliant CEO inspiring his team ..

His first attempt in buisiness was a student magazine which couldn't fetch him any great fortune yet it taught him the basics of buisiness letting him explore his own horizon and how to push hard to achieve his goal whatever might it be..Then he moved to record sales , he reinvested his profit from the mail orders to open stores one after another..His first break was the success of Tubular bells by Oldfield which let him built a grand base for further buisiness proposals.. He even got on Janet Jackson to his side..Through every endevour one thing that come across is his marketing skills, he is a marketing wizard and he pens it down beautifully the art  of marketing throughout his personal experiences while setting up various businesslike.. There were many set backs all along but he just stuck to what he believed in and went on to any extremes and hardship to see his dream fullfilled may what come..An example is selling car which was his wedding gift in order to complete a deal..He is a man of his own philosophy living by the rules he has set for himself and he takes decisions guided by instincts and not by theory...

From nothing to fortune worth almost 25 million isn't that itself speak for itself..From Virgin Atlantic Airways , Virgin records, V2, Virgin cola and Virgin Megastores he has extended himself to all arenas making his mark felt.. 

I loved especially this quote from the book "A buisiness has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instinct"..

No better way then he puts it himself "Losing My Virginity:How I've survived, had fun,and made a fortune doing business my way".

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Price Rs 819 (got it for 639 from Flipkart.com)
Fiction


The painting in the cover is by the famous painter Johannes Vermeer (I didn't know until I read the book and started deciphering his life thanks to google).But the focus of the novel is not the painter but the model, Griet a sixteen year old girl who is the protagonist..She is forced to take up the job of a maid at Johannes Vermeer's house after her father a respected tile artist is blinded in an accident..She is approved by Vermeer himself after he visit Giet at her home with his wife Catherine and finding out her sensibility while arranging vegetables cut on the platter in her kitchen..She is put in a new house always as a stranger delibrately rooted out from her favourite base, yet she manages to take care of the large household along with another maid who gets jealous of her after a while, she also given charge of the care of six children ,while she herself is only a teenager..In spite of all this she enjoys one priveldge that nobody (not even Catherine) enjoys , that is getting inside Vermeer's studio...She does  the cleaning ,and she proves to be a perfectionist at it...With her workmanship,which Vermeer starts to appreciate ,takes her as an assistant to help him with painting...She eventually becomes the model of his painting which almost ruins her life....She is fascinated by her master's work and her liking for him grows every single day.. Pieter (butcher's son) adds up as a character attracted to Giet and makes no reservations of his intentions to marry her...
Giet's character is a winner with her quiet  manners, sharp observations,dedication to the family she is working for and to her own family....The novel beautifully draws the seventeenth century lifestyle of the social set up the divide between the rich and the poor, between the catholic and the protestant  without much deliberate effort crafted along the story line..The quarantine declared and her sister's death all adds up to the well written backdrop..
Chevalier brillaintly puts forth Griet sense for art  for example, she never cleans the window so that it doesn't alter the lighting of the room, once she rearranges blue cloth to add a dash of disorder for the painting Vermeer was currently working on.. ...These are the suttle things, Chevalier scores by highlighting the character's worth...
Its a breezy read altogether..

Footnote: Vermmer's will indeed mentioned a maid ..In some texts mentions about a baker who traded with the paintings Vermeer had painted in exchange of the debt the family had..In short certain things we read in the novel might have been true...

The south asian Challenge 2012

I came across this while I was browsing..I am super excited to join this reading challenge..Though the challenge started in Jan 2012  till Dec 2012 and I see that I'm late to file in, still I want to start it high with 30 books..
So here is my challenge to complete 30 books by 30th Dec 2012 by south Asian authors or books about south asians..Isn't a brilliant idea..Kudos to Swapna Krishna who is hosting this challenge..Wishing me all good luck..

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adchie

Price Rs 299 (got it for 179 from homeshop18.com)
Fiction

I read Adchie's Half of a yellow sun first. I liked it so much that I ordered for her first novel Purple hibiscus.

The book is about Kambili (Kambili Achike)a 15 year old teenage girl and life  through her eyes, set in Nigeria with Iqbu outset...Its about her fear, her constant looking upto her Papa(Eugene Achike) for constant approval, her first love, her bundle of fear,her happiness and of her faith..Inspite of being the daughter of a rich and affluent father who is generous at the outset exploring all horizons of philanthropy owner of many factories and a newspaper named "Standard", that gives publishes only truth..At home he is fanatically religious  punising his family which includes her elder brother Jaja (Chukwuka Achike), mama (Beatrice Achike) for the slightest aversion from his orthodox religious mindset..We goes overboard with it by not allowing his children to visit his father who follows old traditional religion, beating Kambili so hard that she was hospitalized  for not letting go off painting of  her grandfather , beating up her brother when he refused for communion ..Her country is taken over by military regime way in the begininng , the tyranny is similar to the atmosphere at home..Character of Papa is too complex that I started to hate him when he pours hot water with tears on Kambili's and Jaja's legs just because she shared a house with grandfather who is a heathen...She is a brillaint student in school yet been shunned away by her classmates as being  sloppy and pathetically snobby and its all because of the fear in her that has turned her upside down...

Its in Aunty Ifoema's(bold lecturer who can stand up to papa) home in Nsukka  Kambili and Jaja taste real life..Her reflection to see her brother smile "I didn't know that Jaja had dimples"  is as innocent as when she says "I Knew that publishing underground meant that the newspaper would be published from a secret location from secret location..Yet I imagined.. the staff in an office beneath the ground, fluorescent lamp flooding the dark damp room, the men bent over their desks writing truth" ..Its a different life altogether at her aunt's home filled with loads of love and laughter where they work together even when the money and food is scant, children talk back to their mom, pray and enjoy every moment being together , but at Kambili's home its all about schedule to study,eat , pray , sleepand sometime with family ..She feels strange when her aunt's family pray for smile laughter unlike her father who prays for faith...Her cousins Amaka, Obiora and Chima give Kambili insight about happy life getting her back to normal , far away from her shyness...Amaka is a thing of wonder to her with her bright lipsticks make up, jeans and trousers, loud music and clear thoughts of her own.. She is surprised to see her cousin questioning their mother while at back home all she knew was muted approval of her father's decisions..Father Amadi is another character I like who was instrumental in resurrecting faith in her and she experiences her first love..All this beautiful things comes to a standstill when Aunty decides move to America after being sacked and Father Amadi leaves for Germany with missionary work... With all the emotional crushings by papa, mama poisons him Jaja takes the blame on himself sufferes ill treatment in jail..At the end the novel gives a new hope for a better future where they have freedom and where they cam smile..As she puts is "Silence hangs over us, but it is different kind of silence, one that lets me breathe. I have nightmares about the other kind , the silence of when Papa was alive"

The book is full of weird normal events that happens everyday in Kambili's life The bright contrast between the elite and the middle to that the poor in market and how they are treated by the military coup is depicted with brilliance..The food they eat , day , night, weather are all minutely described with the flow of the story not being utterly dramatic yet striking hard note every now and then...All in all I loved this creation of Adchie's Kambili and her life...

Lucknow boy: A memoir by Vinod Mehta

                   


                       Price Rs 499 (got it for 349 from Flipkart.com
                                                   Autobiography


 I'm always reluctant to buy autobiography mostly because of being overly timeline oriented, and being self indulging(well that is what a autobiography is supposed to be) but most often they go over the line, but this one was like  reading a fiction on the run...My last post on "The museum of innocence" Pamuk's romance with the city reminded me about this book where Mehta describes his fond memories about the people of Lucknow while he was young.. Outlook is the only magazine (i'm not too proud about it) where I pay attention to the editorial note even though I'm not a loyal reader of it..So it isn't surprising when I readily picked his memoir isn't...


As a kid Mehta was an average kid with all his limitations (though good in sports) in terms of thoughts and education (third class in B.A)brought up in a modest middle class society during 60's Lucknow with  high value.He had wonderful gang of friends in school who stuck for life..According to him life in Lucknow had lot of shades to it for instance “In Lucknow at that time, you could be a liar, crook, bigot, miser, ugly, lower caste - that was okay. What you couldn't be was a bore. When we wanted to damn somebody, call him the worst possible name, we would say, ‘bore hai’"... It was London that let him shape his life with his various assorted odd jobs and friendship with men and women later to be more in number.. Self taught and hardworking, reading in depth about authors and political developments in Britain  laid a strong foundation to his rich experiences and vantage that we get to see today...His confession of fathering a child and refusing to stay by his girlfriend when she refused for abortion made me wish that someday he get to meet his daughter...First part of the book with his childhood and life abroad is very interesting and fun..


Getting back to India, his efforts of self publishing a book (which he is not proud of ) "Bombay a private view" , then a biography about Sanjay Gandhi The Sanjay story,and Meenakumari became controversial...His first job was as an editor in debonair (Indian playboy version) where he managed to get published some sensible articles in spite of the magazine that it carried , where he had to write under different pseudonym still maintaining the center page of the magazine of nude girls..  But during emergency he was asked to make it decent and this is how he described the model in the center spread "The breasts were covered with an ugly, dense dupatta. The Emergency had taken its toll on our naked women"..


But as he moves on to become the most sacked editor from The Sunday Observer-Independent-Indian post-Pioneer and finally to The outlook (where he currently serves as an adviser after he resigned from the the post of editor for 17 years)the book misses the personal element (may be he was completely into work)becoming largely professional with lots of insight about the well known name which is thoroughly entertaining...His statement of being a gossip monger aptly fits in..Throughout his career he has witnessed many famous rows and hosted some like that between Willaim Dalrymple and Ramachandra Guha most famously Between V.S Naipaul (Mehta's good friend) and Salman Rushidi are amusingly good read..The best part are the work behind the scene of making and working with some of the sensational scoop that stirred the entire nation from cricket match fixing to revelations of Niira Radia's tape, 2G spectrum, Moraji Desai's other side, , Narasimha Rao's writing skill certainly makes the reader smile..There are not just success stories but also some blunders like Y.B Chawan and exit poll result  predictions being always wrong etc etc...


The Chapter "Sweepers Wisdom" is a rich read where he offers his piece of mind to the young Journalist..


Throughout the book I felt an anti BJP spirit running all wide and strong and a slight lean towards Congress, especially Sonia Gandhi,he tries to justify it with the statement that a journalist cannot hate every politician..His sense of humour is all through the book even through the candid moments when he gets sacked and his rift with the proprietor helping the book stay tuned into life...His naming his pet dog editor is one among the situation where he makes self mockery with deep meaning...


All in all the book has every element to keep you reading and had it not been for this memoir I wouldn't have known the outstanding life of Vinod Mehta...

Museum of Innocence By Orhan Pamuk

Price 599

Fiction

Everyone goes through this phase as Pamuk puts it right from the go "It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn't know it" ....I have loved all his earlier work.. He is one of my favourite authors..

The novel is about Kemal's (a wealthy eligible bachelor from elite class) compulsive obsession for Fusun (beautiful shop girl and his cousin)..The novel unravel through their extreme passion and attraction to each other making them to throw away the society's rule only to wreck their lives..In spite of being involved with Fusun he gets engaged to Sibel (good looking fashionable girl belonging to elite society) ..In the first phase Kemal let go off  Fusun and rest of the story is about his hardcore effort to stay around her (while she is married to)trying to get back her in his life even if that means to tolerate her husband her family's television dinner with her parents taking care of every single affair, finally even trying to become a producer to make her a famour heroin, because that is what she wants and he just wants to fullfill anything she desires..To follow his obsession he breaks up with Sibel driving his family and friends mad with fury...Kemal suddenly develops a habit of collecting every single thing that reminds of their time together as a souvenir like calm maniac building his own kind of a museum...After years of ardent faith and hope to get back Fusun to his when I read through the chapter  where they get engaged, I let out a sigh meaning "FINALLY" but soon a tragic hit shattering it all...

The beauty lies in the way Pamuk romances with his homeland Istanbul.. The novel is weaved through knook and corner of the city,from mosques to market street filled with simple everyday life, their abandoned apartment .All this is added one upon another like beads in a string building up shaping Kemal's life..I still remeber the details of the abandoned apartment, the  dusky mat, the table everything is sketched by the author so intricately that reader lives through the situation..Many a times I felt like arguing with Kemal to snap off, rather holding on miserably...

Just love it though I had some impossible moments reading it. 

Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Price Rs 350 (I got it for 228 from Flipkart.com)
Philosophical -fiction.


This is a kind of book that breaks all the conventional philosophy about selfishness, atruism, individualism...If you can uncomfortably read through them all without being shaken and not getting deviated then this book is for you...

Like the author's many theories the book has an unlikely start where Howard Roark (protagonist or our hero) is expelled from his college for not standing by traditional way of work while Peter keating (other main character) who graduates being the best student....Now you know what to expect from rest of the book...There  is a sharp contrast drawn between the two characters throughout..Howard Roark a hard core dreamer who considers his work to be superior and is indifferent to others taunting and demeaning, he is  pathetically honest and loyal to himself driven by wild passion for his work while Peter Keating is driven by the desire to reach on top by any means..Predictably Peter Keating is an instant success with his spirit of flattering after joining a prestigious firm in New York, Howard who joins James Cameron (an architect  who Howard admires but now degraded) lose out of work in spite of beautiful work they create. James Cameron retires financially broke while Howard finds a job at granite quarry to unable to find business.Its after this familiar plot the book differs where he meets Dominique Francon (female lead) for she would never fit into the regular stream of heroin. Roark is attracted to her and their vigorous love affair where they are a couple in secret but though she admires his work sabotages his career and work publicly..

Ellsworth Tooley is an architectural critic considers talent a threat to society finds Roark a threat to himself...Tooley convinces a business man to hire Roark to design a temple dedicated to human spirit . After the work is completed Roark is sued for his unorthodox work .In trial all but Dominique testify against him. Domique declares that the world doesn't deserve a gift like Howard..Howard loses his business again...What makes him fight for his principle and move onto supremacy  with love,emotional turbulence, philosophical theories with high class drama with other main character like Gynyard and others makes up the rest of the book..

 Throughout Howard is indifferent to any kind of life that he leads by, for him its his work that gives him utmost satisfaction and not the accessory things like great house, car ,high rank that come by.. His unwillingness to compromise on his designs to please anybody at any stage of his career gets him a full on thumbs up..

The final testimony of Roark in courtroom about the importance to remain true to oneself, the art of selfishness is worth mentioning.. He describes the price that legendary creators have to pay at the hand of crooked society will last in you even after you complete reading the book..The philosophy that Ayn Rand puts forth through Howard or Dominique will make you ponder upon the existing line of thought we are in....This book is a great read for anyone creative no matter what his/her area be..Though books stand on altruism and creation be jolting but after thoughts would make sense..

This quote by Roark will stood with me for long..
"The creator stands on his own judgment. The parasite follows the opinions of others. The creator thinks, the parasite copies. The creator produces, the parasite loots. The creator's concern is the conquest of nature - the parasite's concern is the conquest of men. The creator requires independence, he neither serves nor rules. He deals with men by free exchange and voluntary choice. The parasite seeks power, he wants to bind all men together in common action and common slavery. He claims that man is only a tool for the use of others. That he must think as they think, act as they act, and live is selfless, joyless servitude to any need but his own. Look at history. Everything thing we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. Without personal rights, without personal ambition, without will, hope, or dignity. It is an ancient conflict. It has another name: the individual against the collective."


 This long one is I loved it because it tells all about Dominique's love  for Roark and the conflict she is onto...

"Roark, before I met you, I had always been afraid of seeing someone like you, because I knew that I’d also have to see what I saw on the witness stand and I’d have to do what I did in that courtroom. I hated doing it, because it was an insult to you to defend you–and it was an insult to myself that you had to be defended… Roark, I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: their halway, the almost, the just-about, the in-between. They have their justifications. I don’t know. I don’t care to inquire. I know that it is the one thing not given me to understand. When I think of what you are, I can’t accept any reality except a world of your kind. Or at least a world in which you have a fighting chance and a fight on your own terms. That does not exist. And I can’t live life torn between that which exists–and you. It would mean to struggle against things and men who don’t deserve to be your opponents. Your fight, using their methods–and that’s too horrible a desecration. It would mean doing for you what I dod for Peter Keating: lie, flatter, evade, compromise, pander to every ineptitude–in order to beg of them a chance for you, beg them to let you live, to let you function, to beg them, Roark, not to laugh at them, but to tremble because they hold the power to hurt you. Am I too weak because I can’t do this? I don’t know which is the greater strength: to accept all this for you–or to love you so much that the rest is beyond acceptance. I don’t know. I love you too much.”

Though there are many more quotes I loved , adding them would be too long to go..No wonder it took seven years for the author to complete this novel..Like Roark she had her struggle with her unconventional writing to get the book published.. But finally she too triumphed when her book became an international best-seller.

For me this book is a classic tale of Horad Roark a hard working  ultimate dreamer, unaffected by anything around him...I loved the author for her boldness and utter ease of questioning existing theories..You take it for pass it on is upto you...

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Price Rs 225.
Non-fiction

The book cover says "an old man, a young man and life's greatest lesson"..and the book stays honest to this plot..

Its a compact book, and still I didn't finish it off in one read ..I slowly read it through beacuse I wanted the emotions to sink in completely page after page...After the usual acknowledge page  the book goes to whooping start with "the curriculum " starting with "The last class of my old professor’s life.......and when I come across "Kissing him good-bye earned you extra credit" , I could't help but smile...Lines like ".A funeral was held in lieu of graduation","The last class of my old professor’s life had only one student, I was the student", made me sigh...

The chapters are named The curriculum, syllabus, the student and not just numbered  is a author's vantage to write for his favorite professor , Morrie Schwartz college professor in philosophy at Brandeis University.. In spite of all this after graduation Mitch becomes too busy to keep in touch with his professor until he (author is currently a newscaster and sports journalist) finds out in an interview that his old professor is dying  battling ALS (Amyotropic lateral scelerosis). Morrie is happy to hear from Mitch again and invites him and there begins the journey of an old man, a young man and life's greatest lesson...They meet every Tuesday extending to fourteen weeks, all their conversations are taped..They discuss topics on life like whats love, life , death, relationship..Even when topics deal with death aren't uneasy to read along.. Every single aspect of life is discussed with simple ease yet striking the right chord..I found myself reading in again and again for the sheer elegance they had been put forth to..My favorite quotes are :
"So many people walk around with meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things . The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." 


" I don’t mean you disregard every little rule of your community. I don’t go around naked, for example. I don’t run red lights. The little things, I can obey. But the big things - How we think, what we value - These you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone- or any society - determine those for you".

"The culture we have does not male make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture soesn't work, don't buy it.."


"We need to forgive ourselves..For all the things we didn't do..All the things we should have done.. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened."


During the college days unlike being addressed as professor , Morrie is addressed as coach by Mitch..The book ends with "A teacher until end" is heart rendering.. Even at his death bed Morrie's spirit is inspiring and true to his nickname coach he taught how to keep one's head up facing things head on at every situations and for Morrie death was just another situation considering himself lucky for a happy life till now...

Do find time to read this and you'll never  be disappointed...

Hot tea across India by Rishaad Saam Mehta

Price: Rs 195 (got it for 146 through Flipkart.com)

Travelogue

It was the title and an attractive cover that made me to lay my hands on the book....The cover picture tells you all about the book..I usually don't go by review as they take away the element of surprise from it..I have all crazy things that make me to buy a book...In short this book is 191 pages 20 chapter fully packed entertainer...Rishad Saam Mehta has put all his adventure carefully jotted down with such an ease with such an ease, that made me put aside the book only when I had finished reading it..

Its a travelogue in a different note, its about tea across India as the tittle suggests and thankfully its not the only focus of it but the linking points in a distorted puzzle picture...Until he pointed out I have never worked on the aspect of tea ..His passion turned obsession to travel through lonely terrain at night with nothing but darkness and his bullet (that he is in love with) is just as breath taking as much the snow covered himalayan submit that hes been to...At times though the description of his bike becomes cliched..

Author worked for Autocar writing about his experience , may be this experience gives an edge in his writing to be  short,crispy yet thoroughly engaging...I was laughing aloud when author runs with his bike from a local gunda  saving his bike and his embarrassing run clearing his tummy....Almost losing his bike which he had parcelled , his being mistaken as a terrorist...

There are no hard  strokes or word of complain all along, even on his not so good experiences with corrupt officials (Chai-pani moments) is all all  put in a gentle stroke that  the reader almost misses them..With his AMS (acute mountain sickness) its his sheer zeal for travel that took him all through high mountain terrain on and on....Through his buffalo's milk straight from source to LUXAREY bus to guides in khajuraho and Halebid ,Belur one  moves with the author experiencing the same anxiety and urgency through the travel...I wish there were pictures added on to it ..

All in all its a wonderful read that will not disappoint when you are not in a mood of serious reading... 

Eat Pray Love by Elizebeth Gilbert

Price Rs 359 (Its available at 175 in homeshop18.com)
Non-fiction

Now of all books that I have  why am I starting with this one????..Recently I happened to watch this movie Nth time of course while browsing through various movie site...Need i mention that Julia Roberts was awwwwweeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssooommmeee...I love her so much..For me she is a true star..The way she fitted in as Liz mmmm wow...Did I say I love her..ok now back to subject I got this book to read it again..As I snuggled with my book DING!!!!..I wanted to write about the all books I have read...

And so here I am..

I picked up this book which carried the slogan "One woman's search for everything"...That seemed to strike a chord ,I picked it instantly....True  to its words this book indeed is a journey of self discovery of Elizabeth,  Liz... After traumatic divorce at 32 from six years of marriage ,she takes up a journey to Italy,India and Indonesia , four months in each country  after realising that shes been missing singular balance of the good  and the beautiful ..I decides on harmony amid extremes in short worldly enjoyment with divine transcendence...

Her journey is truly enlightening..In Italy she masters the art of seeking pleasure ..At any given time she is either eating ,reading or learning Italian because she finds the language beautiful...Through Florence ,Venice Naples she rediscovers herself overcoming  her loneliness...

Next in India through the amazing grace of Sanskrit and  yoga ,begins her spiritual journey..She learns meditation  with the help of a mantra... Initially she is unable to concentrate but eventually she finally gets into the swing....Not a word about the whereabouts of the ashram is given in the book but for few vague whereabouts...After her Kundalini, experience she moves on to Indonesia.

Bali her final destination is the point where the whole journey starts and she comes back to complete the circle..Her meeting with a ninth generation medicine man who asks her to teach English who in return would teach all things known to him..He also foretells her happy future from her palm at a time when her life was in all tatters..This time her visit sheds away her depression ....She gets to meet many interesting people  all along most importantly  Felipe's love of her life ,his focused love for her makes one wish for that kind of guy in one's life....As in fairy tales,Eat pray love ends in a happy note with an epilogue of the couple's struggle to keep up with life and distance...

Elizebeth Gilbert's pathetically honest approach with a dash of humour makes it a super read....Her travelogue about three different country is a real inspiration who carry a travelling bug in them ...
For me this book was a pleasurable read...

Now that i can read

Fairy tales kept my world full of happy tales where all lived happily ever after..Bed time stories were my favourites when i was a kid ,My dad  my favourite reader ..He never used to get tired of reading out to me nor he got irritated when one story couldn't slip me to sleep...Those were the days when i couldn't read..Now that I could read I started with  stories, comics, fiction, non-fiction etc etc  .. To put it straight I love reading...Books to me are a window that take me to a new world completely..I love the authors who do that to me...Books have been my friends for many years for now...And here is a celebration of my relation with MY BOOKS....