Long time no post!

I forgot how refreshing it was to hibernate once in a while. Well, the enjoyment in being alone once in a while is just awesome. Enjoying that feeling after a long time. Posting all the posts that lay in dormant folders of my laptop.. Good feeling to lie back and kick a lazy Sunday afternoon with a book you have been trying to complete. Oh yeah, I completed it. And now posting. Check. Now the reviews of the books I read since I last posted! Check! Well here goes!

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..

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.

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 one 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. I consider myself so lucky to have read this book. Rich in Mythology and avid contemporary connectivity to psychology.

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?’

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.

The 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. 


Now, I think I should change the blog template. I don't see it go in tune with my mind right now.. Well you ll see if its done! ;)


PS:I promised myself that ll post more frequently, as complete isolation is not my cup of tea!

Betwixt Lumos and Nox

"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book
will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children"

As much as I avoid to agree upon, it is a fact that magic was what I dreamt of the most, as a child. The day I created my blogger account I figured out that the blog would be deemingly incomplete without a post on my childhood hero! So I figured I should do this right if I am doing it! And here goes..
Stupefy!’ ‘Experillamus’! His wand flew out of the door, outraged. Doesn't the line ring a familiar bell? Of course, it is Harry Potter. A guileful expression and Ohh! Now don’t switch off the monitor.. Close the tab or do anything drastic.. Saying "Ohh not another Harry freak!!" Well.. Actually, You can do that.. But I am on the other side.. and so I continue writing.. Err.. Typing ;)
So.. Bide a wee! :D


Lumos!!

As I lazed out of my bed that day.. The news paper had this huge article and a picture of a boy holding a wand immediately abandoning the article on the assembly proceedings that day.. I started reading
that article (Yeah.. :D I always did that..)

"A classic favourite among young readers, Harry Potter has found a place in the course curriculum of Durham University in the UK this
year. Around 80 undergraduates have already signed up for it. Though students will not be taught wizardry in keeping with the books, or how to wave a wand, the course will cover the social and cultural aspects
of life through the novel and examine prejudice, bullying and friendship in modern society."

A 11 year old me must have put up to a reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others!! Devilment!! Must have asked my father to send me for studies in the UK! :P
Well.. Not now.. I am 19!! See.. As much as I tend to abnegate today I cannot deny the fact that
12 years of age and I was one of those millions and trillions of Harry Potter freaks!!!

Not to mention all those scary dark art dreams I had all the spells waking me up in the bed! I must say I loved all that! Not just because it is fascinating and alluring but as i look back today.. I learnt many things I needed to, and Harry Potter helped me do it the right way!
In contrast to much of the Pagan discussion I've seen, I think the books and movie do teach some of our basic Wiccan values in a subtle and entertaining way, and that's part of their appeal.Courage, empathy, ingenuity and generosity are some of our core values, found in the heros and heras of thousands of fairy tales. Harry and his friends exemplify them all. They contend with the values
of his loathesome relations who represent utter conventionality (the adults) and utter selfishness and bullying (his cousin Dudley). One of the first things we see Harry do is to talk to a snake with empathy.
Stands up for his friend against the snobbery.
Magic in the Harry Potter books is a somewhat neutral force, a technology and a talent rather than an ethos. Part of the genius of the books is that the shadow side of life is dramatized so vividly.
Childhood is full of intense passions and contests of power. Witness a pair of five-year-olds playing together, and you'll see anguish, outrage, affection, hurt, jealousy and selflessness succeed each other
like rapid changes in the weather. Children's lives are determined by powerful figures who set the ground rules, provide or don't provide love, nurturing, nourishment, pleasure and privileges.
How important it is for children to see both their positive and negative impulses mirrored, The presence and absence of it, to know that greed and envy and rage are part of the common human condition. Only then can they eventually develop the maturity to grow beyond greed and hate. The shadow side is not disavowed, it's acknowledged and recognized. It's part! You can never overlook! Certainly influenced by the values in the books they read, but often in ways that are more oblique and paradoxical than we think. As a child, I read books about magic voraciously. I so desperately wanted magic to be real. The willingness to sacrifice, the concept of a deity who represents powerful, unconditional love, in a way I could understand and accept. In that world, consciousness is not limited to human beings. Animals,
plants, and objects all carry their own awareness and can be communicated with.
Isn't that the essence of the Pagan worldview: that the earth is alive, that all being has consciousness, and that we can learn to communicate with that consciousness if we are sensitive and empathetic. In a global culture increasingly devitalized, corporatized, logoized and shopping malled, where everything is reduced to a commodity that can be bought and sold, I find it cheering that kids still yearn for magic. I hope their love of Harry's magic will inspire them to cherish and defend the natural world upon which real magic is based.
Obviously, the idea of heroes fighting for values in some sense has to be part of any compelling fiction. What strikes me about the Harry Potter series is the richness of the characters and their commitment
to their personal values. There are a lot of people saying these books promote witchcraft, these books are satanic. You have a lot of fairly stringent attacks on the books by Christians. And then you have some
Christians who are arguing the books are in fact fundamentally religious in nature and are promoting key religious ideas. These are interesting debates, but I am offering a fundamentally different way
to look at the books. I am saying, yes, they do include these religious elements. But they are fundamentally at cross-purpose with Rowling’s central theme, which is all the elements related to this
heroic fight for values.

Today, rereading the books,
The magic in Harry Potter takes us back into an animate universe,
where hats talk,
pictures move,
snakes hold conversations.

This world lies just on the other side of ordinary reality, behind a
door or through a seemingly solid wall. Ahh.. How I wish there is a
door, like in Narnia! ;)

This is not a review.. This is what I felt and dreamt of a hero who
made me ‘read’!

"There are many little ways to enlarge a child's world. Love of
books is the best of all".
#Grateful!


Nox!!