Ravali Priya: Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

Sick of all the TV viewing and lazing around,ten days into my summer vacation, I decided I should cease to be bored and be awesome instead! ;) And since my childhood, whenever there was hint of awesomeness.. My fun-map pointed it to Vizag, The city of destination! :) The magic that city holds.. I should say,It makes everything nah wait,EVERYTHING look a lot better! It fascinates me! More on that later..

Concerned of getting bored on my first lonely journey ever! I bid farewell to my parents clutching "The Bleachers-John Grisham" in my hand. Found my seat.. And was surrounded by various people..! And to my surprise.. Most of them were travelling alone too..!!
I always liked the window seat, glad on getting one, I made my way through all the clutter and sat there, waiting for the train to move towards the destination. When after a few other stations an old couple came up to the coach dabbering but well in time before the train sped past the lustrous green fields. I was enjoying the view, Once in a while, I discover the nature-lover in me! The sheeny grass and the fresh air which went missing decades ago in cities and left those with the lonesome concrete jungles!

One tall,lanky guy with a sober expression on, was sitting in the corner of the coach.. His window down,and his attire made it clear that he was least interested to start a coversation with the others..
'Ahem' One sturdy looking man who was sitting right across the coach, cleared his throat, who ofcourse obviously might have noticed that I was travelling alone, embarked inquiring me...

Student?
Why are you studying there?
Why are you going to Vizag?
Are you really travelling alone? (Why the hell would I sit alone, quietly if I were not travelling alone?)
Whats your percentage in Engineering? (I smiled, did not answer! :P )
'Aaaaaghh!! Will you stop it already?'
Yeah, to my utter bliss!! He was no more interested in my answers but, He started his tale, a doctor he was and served many people, in a private hospital before he fell ill and decided to leave the profession and go stay with his son.. At this point where one man beckoned by our conversation came in and said he was a commissioned military officer in the Indian army but resigned due to many reasons (which he did not give us!)
As we spoke a crippled old man in rags came into the coach and cleaned the cluttered floor (I only recalled of how I cribbed last night to clean my own room much to my mothers annoyance).

Live n Let Live..

The doctor continued speaking to the others, There were two business men who explained him their job and enjoined him about their commodities! When he turned to me and lectured me, of how dangerous it is for girls to travel alone (It was broad day light all along the journey! Trust me!!)
As this went on.. The old man said he was a teacher in a government school worked for 39 years before retirement and that he was visiting his son! Till they asked of what the lady did.. "She must be a House wife right? Couldn’t guess better.." With intended sarcasm, as she smiled no one noticed the old man in rags except for the old lady. She gave him some money and thanked him, and went to the washroom!

Her husband calmly spoke, She adopted 2 orphans and that they had two sons adding that they are now visiting one of those orphans, and not one of their own kids!! That was a blow out of the water, as she returned.. I looked at her, She was calm.. A peaceful smile, And no one spoke anything for few minutes.. The train screeched to halt at a very small station, the lanky guy got up from his seat, took a coin from his pocket, gave it to the old man and left! Some how, I was sure that man was a happier person when he reached his destination! Savvy!

Relished from her silent act! Basked in her glory! Little does she know that she confronted yet another soul of perdition apart from bequeathing her four nestlings!
Not knowing what to say.. Or may be I knew.. there was nothing more to say.. I continued to look out of the window.. Into the skies.. Then realizing, Every cloud has a silver Lining!!
I put in one more coin and thanked the old man... figured, that journey indeed made a difference!! As Live Love n Laugh get together so well for me.. And now, so do 'Live and Let Live'!! :)
Thanking the aborigine.. Now and more than ever! :)
A memory is a way of holding to things that you love.. The things that you are.. And the things you never want to lose..
Sometimes in the winds of change... We find our true direction!! :)
I learnt that I needed to
Stop existing and Start living!!

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Recent Library

~ Imagining India- Nandan Nilakeni

A complete neo-liberal approach in introducing the ideas that are being taken up or are making the possibility of of a vibrant country a tad closer.. Mitigating the challenges wile in a convergence to the new India. it really helped me renew the dreams I had.. I am a better optimistic egalitarian now.. I can say without a doubt

~ Fault Lines - G. Ranjan

The best caught spirit of the importance of contemporary economics and how the hidden but intricate and threatening fault lines , contradicting to 'under the sea bed of chaos lies a calm regularity',are to every economy. My new found interest in economics was quenched by the book while giving a silver lining of the recession prediction. Hats off!!

~ Splendour in the grass - Dept of Admin Pub

The most respectable knowledgeable minds of the country have contributed to this book while being in the cutting edge and facing the real problems of policy implementation while taking into view the large ,nope, huge demographics of the country is a well knit policies and the innate and eternal strife towards betterment.Nice one! Did not realize the complications till I read this book. There is always something more than what we can spell out in the texts

~ The immortals of Meluha and The secret of the Nagas - Amish

It was a by chance read (I buy Indian authors' books even without a thorough review)and I was pleasantly surprised to have stumbled upon Indian Mythology in the form of fiction. First off, hatsoff to the mind that brilliantly, vibrantly yet carefully moulded the known mythology into a gripping fiction. I actually fell in love with the name 'Shiva' after reading the introduction paragraph over and over again. As claimed there are some mishaps regarding the relation drawn to the Harappan civilization.. It was a gripping read and eagerly waiting for the next one to be on the stands soon..

~ Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

The one thing I loved about the book was that they profoundly made it clear that what is read and what is preached is completely different from what can be experienced. Picking the right choice from a lot and learning to love it grows from within and it is nothing like someone holding your hand and making your way through the dark. Though not initially interested in reading the book, it really got to me by the time the writer started the beautiful illustrations of relating the life to a coursing river.

~ Revolution 2020 - Chetan Bhagat

I was intrigued by the title ‘Love Corruption and Ambition’. By the end of the book also I was left to hold on to three discretely different things tied in a poor knot at one character who is, as always in Chetan Bhagath’s books, the narrator. Nicely put in words the frustrations undergone by a student facing IIT JEE and the other competitive exams. The story was too predictive at most of the places and the theme of the book had a late start and demands a better ending throwing more light on other characters a bit more than they got. I still can’t understand why girls need to be portrayed with a total lack of clarity!

~ I too had a love story - Ravinder Singh

In a desperate attempt to find some book that didn’t talk about the society and will be a small detour and a light read into a love story I ended up reading this book and I still regret reading it completely due to my weakness of not being able to stop reading a book half way through. Seriously poor narration and a very boring story till the last 20 pages. It vividly reminded me of a poorly narrated south Indian movie which was a hit in Telugu and Tamil, sans illustrations. However, the efforts were great. Better language would have done a lot of good to the book. I hope that goes into ‘Can love happens twice?’

~ JAYA- An illustrated retelling of Mahabharata- Devdutt Pattanaik

This was one book that really got to me in the recent past. I fell in love with every inch of the book, the cover design and everything that added to it from Lorem Ipsum to the very end of the book. For the love of the book, it demands on whole post. It was nothing less than – “AWESOME”. I might not find enough words to describe the feeling after I read this book in less than two days. ;) If you are, even at the slightest, thinking of buying the book, go to the store, turn to page 300 and read the third paragraph on ‘Kaliyuga’. After that I don’t think anything can stop you from buying it.

~ White Tiger -Aravind Adiga

The book was a series of letters written by the protagonist. The novel studies a strong contrast between India’s rise as a modern global economy and the lead character, Balram who comes from crushing rural poverties, and the opening lines of the novel establish this fact. It not only makes you laugh out loud but makes you think. ‘Take whatever comes out of a Prime minister’s speech and exactly the opposite is true about India.’ The way he clearly portrays the widening gap, dysfunctions and how least it bothers a poor man of how many international forums India is a part of really got me to think. Heavily thought provoking and darkly humorous and an honest account of the staggering economic inequality book. I just went wow after the book.

~ Non Stop India- Mark Tully

I must confess, I ended up ordering this book only because of so much written in The Hindu and the fact that I loved the cover page! Seriously, I should stop judging the book from the cover. :D Just two words would do: Simple and Awesome. Everything from a village’s malignant problem to a city’s sophistication beautifully penned down by Mark Tully. India is divided into two distinct classes: the contented and the discontented, the optimists and the pessimists, those who gush about the glorious future and those who anticipate a violent revolt. Tully meets both kinds during his extensive travels and presents objectively the scenarios which are provoking the extreme views. His conclusion at the end of the book is: “I am confident that there won’t be full stops to halt progress over the next twenty years.” I really loved the way the author institutionalised Vote Banks by saying ‘Vote Banking’. The Biblical dictum that "there is no new thing under the sun" in some measure applies to Non-Stop India.

~Playing for Pizza - John Grisham

Charming short novel which enthralls the reader about the culinary, cultural and architectural marvels of Italy through the fall and rise of a loser NFL quarterback. Great pace and perfectly enjoyable.

~The Secret- Rhonda Bryne

The first book of philosophy I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Great Read! Inspires and all.. But then, can't comment too much on philosophy.

~Guerilla Warfare - Che Guevara

How a small band of guerrilla fighters might use specific strategies and tactics to resist and defeat an oppressive state enemy in asymmetrical warfare. A peak into the manifestations of Che's mind and a great insight into his vibrant brilliance.

~ Motorcycle Diaries - Che Guevara

If you're on the bottom end of the social spectrum, you would wish that life were a little bit easier, hoping that the the riches those bourgeoisie enjoy would trickle down to your own plate. That's the hope. Alas, it is easier said than done. That I have seen the film before reading the book,knowing the places helped a lot and got me back the flashes of the film.

~Chanakya's Chant -Ashwin Sanghi

The book runs alternatively between 2300 years ago and the present day. One chapter speaks about the legend chanakya who helped unify India and bring in the golden rule of Chandra Gupta Maurya as the emperor of India, while the other is the present day account about GangaSagar Mishra, Chanakya’s modern avatar, with the same narrative, where his protégé is the oxford educated slum child Chandini, who becomes the eventual prime minister of India. The writing style is great felt like an awesome screenplay and never felt like putting the book down.

Ravali Priya

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

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