Reading Siddhartha

Art and the wise agnostic promised me a life altering experience when they strongly recommended the book to me.I love reading about spirituality and Advaitha in general.This book completely shattered any half-baked philosophies I had developed in my reading so far! Firstly, when the philosophy is presented to you as fiction it is a lot more pleasurable to read and ofcourse this book throws out all pretence of trying to teach. It instead takes you into this amazing journey of life metaphors and self exploration. I have been re-reading portions of the book over and over again and I discover a new truth/idea in each reading!  I especially loved the last chapter where Siddhartha describes to Govinda about how you can never find the truth if you go seeking it. The allusion between time and the river was mindblowingly brilliant. The book is filled with so many wonderful ideas, allusions and metaphors. The circle of life is presented in the book in so many contexts so brilliantly!Wisdom can’t be articulated (paraphrasing Hesse) and so I won’t even try especially with my paltry way with words! Read the book. It will change your life.

Mahabharatha - the greatest story ever

I love the Mahabharatha. In all its forms, renditions and narrations. It is one of the biggest stories ever being atleast 10 times the size of the Illiad and Odyssey put together! It is the mother of all masala movie scripts. It is not as preachy as the Ramayana with some wonderfully multi-layered characters. Duryodhana’s character is one of the best explored one.Almost every charcater is painted with shades of grey. It is a fantastic exploration of the powers and devices of the human mind.

Starting from appa’s awesome bedtime narrations of the smaller more obscure stories and plots, I graduated to the various Amar Chithra Katha volumes almost as soon as I could read and comprehend full sentences.  And like every other kid that grew up in the early nineties, I would join the rest of the family in front of our TV religiously every Sunday to catch up with Mr.Samay. I remember this one time where appa and perippa with a lot of effort taped the theme music for me to use in a school annual day play. I played Nakula, amber was one of Drona’s (played by a droolicious S Murthy - BG remember?) sidekicks, D was very aptly Duryodhana (ha ha), and we were recreating the bird’s eye aiming story. Soon enough by the time I was in my early teens I was finally permitted to read our family bible - Kamala Subramanian’s Mahabharatha. It is almost like a coming of age ritual in my family, considering my dad and all his siblings know the book cover to cover! My dad’s favorite Sunday afternoon pastime used to be conducting “The Mahabharatha Quiz” ,my cousins and me being enthusiastic participants, right after Mastermind India finished on TV and usually during the Spirit Of Unity concerts. It is from that time that I remember useless information like names of  Krishna’s charioteer and Bhagadatta’s elephant (Daruka and Supritika if anyone is interested!). We had this awesome Hindi “non-detail textbook” in the 7th std , from NCERT I think, which had wonderfully glossy pages and even resembled a slokam book with a landscape page format! For once I listened in Hindi class. And my love for this epic continues till date. I am sure I would have watched Ekta Kapoor’s crappy “K” Mahabharatha with equal deligence if I were in India now.

I hope that some day my kids would inherit my passion for this wonderful tradition and epic and go to sleep listening to tales about Karna’s bee-bite and Abhimanyu’s valour. I for one will continue to return to my tattered copy of the book enjoying the stories from the days by-gone and memories from the years that were!

*Sparked by a recent discussion on the tennis court with friends*

P.S: The new header image is from my library at home in Chennai. I can even spot the Kamala Subramaniam book at the right extreme in the second row right by the Pears cyclopedia

Fiction Fantasy

Somewhat inspired post about the top 10 literary characters who I will totally make out with if they were real!

1. Amit Chaterjee (A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth): I did this post so I can profess my love for Amit Chaterjee!A witty, sarcastic,intellectual, cynical poet. (If you haven’t read the book please don’t read ahead…) I had to resist severe urges to smack Lata when she rejected him. I would have married him just for the proposal. Surprisingly everybody I know who’s read the book thought she should marry Kabir!

2. Mr.Beaumaris (Arabella - Georgette Heyer) : My favorite from all of Georgette Heyer’s lovable heroes. I adore him for his indulgent, nonchalant , witty attitude!

3. Luke Brandon (Shopaholic Series - Sophie Kinshella) : There’s something about him that sends tingly feelings to my finger tips when I read the books! Again a very indulgent hero often willing to laugh at Becky’s escapades!

4. Sirius Black (Cmon! Must I say!) : Again the self assurance, wit and easy going nature! After Dumbledore, Sirius is the character I love the most!

5. Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mocking Bird- Harper Lee): The sensitive intellectual with the spectacles to boot!

6. Scott Bradley (Honour Among Thieves - Jeffrey Archer)- The dashing, erudite, valiant hero!

7. Gilbert Blythe ( Anne Series - L M Montgomery) - Smart, sensitive, funny. For old time’s sake since I had the biggest schoolgirl crush on him when I was growing up!

8. “Daddy” from (Daddy Long Legs- Jean Webster) - The mysterious, benevolent lover!

9. Mr.Aladdin (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Kate Wiggin) - Wickedly funny, kind and absolutely adorable! There seems to be a trend here with Children fiction heroes! Hmmm! But thats the genre I have read and re-read most voraciously!

10. The Narrator in the Series of Unfortunate events who I think is Lemony Snicket himself! Weird fantasy this one!

Some popular ones I don’t necessarily love and why :

1.Holden Caufield - I love the book but the guy’s a little over the top crazy for my tastes

2. Rhett Butler - My favorite male characters in the book were Gerald O Hara and Will Benteen. I loved Scarlett more then Rhett!

3.Mr.Darcy - He was a big sulky wimp!

4. Howard Roark - I hate Ayn Rand!

Now that I started, I can’t stop. So going to make this a Tag of sorts!

Top ten Fictional Characters :

1. Scarlett O Hara - Gone With the Wind

2. Albus Dumbledore - Harry Potter

3. Anne Shirley - Anne of Green Gables

4. Florentyna Abel - Kane and Abel

5. Amit Chatterjee - A Suitable Boy

6. Yossarian - Catch 22

7. Scout - To Kill a Mocking Bird

8. Jeeves - From P.G.Wodehouse

9. Jennifer Cavilleri - Love Story

10.Ulysses - Homer

And now Some of my favorite novelists (I am not listing them as top ten as I might regret missing out someone) :

Jeffrey Archer

Vikram Seth

Mark Haddon

Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni

Khaled Hosseini

J K Rowling

Lemony Snicket

Saki

L M Montgomery

Francis Hodgens Burnett

Georgette Heyer

F. Scott Fitzgerald

I had a lot of fun writing this post! I tag Mahathi and anyone else who wishes to take this up

The voice behind the words

Chanced upon this treasure trove of audio links. Got goosebumps listening to Vikram Seth reading from A Suitable Boy!!

The Name is Rajnikanth

I read it and you know what, I liked it! I had read so many reviews trashing the book in both the blog and print world, that my expectations for this book were rock bottom. The book is all it claims to be and all it is accused to be. It definitely presented a very honest and detached view and narrative of our thalaivar’s life. The author made no attempts to sugercoat the superstar’s vices or past misdeeds. It wasn’t a fan’s account of Rajni’s life either. There was no holier than thou attitude in the book and nor did she make it sound like a devotee’s tribute. The book was a racy, interest binding and an honest narrative of what made Rajnikanth the man he is today. I am a huge Rajni fan too, and the author’s approach to the biography really appealed to my sensibilities. Sure, the grammar was terrible in places and there were some glaring factual errors in some of the film names she quoted. But these for me, only added to the casual conversational story telling style of the book. I was really impressed about how the author managed to retain her perspective despite being a huge fan and presented the facts as they were. Her accounts of Rajni’s childhood and time at the film institute were surely new to me. Especially the story about New Woodlands and the buying of the building next to Palmgrove.  What I didn’t like was the cover design and the awful picture of the blond Rajni from Sivaji.  Surely there are better pictures of the superstar that bring out his magnetism and charisma! And also I was expecting a foreword/afterword from Kamal and(or) KB. Not sure where, but I had read somewhere that there was going to be one. I definitely was looking forward to that.

100 years of Anne!

A discussion with a cousin about her daughter’s literary pursuits, led me into discovering that we are celebrating 100 years of Anne this year! I don’t know about you, but Anne of Green Gables was one of the most defining books in my reading. Till a lovely friend of my mother’s gifted me the book, my reading was mostly restricted to Enid Blyton and her lovely school and detective series. The love for books, and the passion for reading that I enjoy now- I will attribute it all to this book! The story isn’t all that unique or brilliant. But Montgomery’s lovely  poetic prose and the wonderful window that she opened into the enchanting Prince Edward Island, weaved magic into the lives of millions of tweens around the world like me! Anne is one of the most lovable heroines of all time classic literature. She was scatterbrained, wasn’t considered pretty (of course she had her nose for consolation!) and had a childhood devoid of any real love or luxury. Girls all over, I am sure, could relate to her. The fantasy and imagination she weaves into her life was inspiring. The books proves the power of imagination and friendship. PE island as Montgomery describes it, was my favorite retreat as a kid. The lake of shining waters, Cordelia, Mrs.Rachel Lynde, puff sleeves, Matthew, Gilbert (I had a huge kid crush on him), sensible Diana and Anne of course! You can’t help but fall in love with the characters and Avonlea. I made my parents and thatha ,between them, buy me every sequel to the book at the annual book fair in St.Ebbas school. The sequels were just as brilliant and Anne of Ingleside is a personal favorite. I also enjoyed the set of “Chronicles of Avonlea” books ,which are of course meant for older kids, with some very moving tales along with a few other hilarious stories. The Anne books continue to be a favorite retreat. Even during my engineering days I would re-read the entire series during every single semester exam- reading them during meals and breaks. I had to leave my collection at home when I came to the US. But thanks to Gutenberg, I continue to visit my favorite hideout ever! L M Montgomery and Jayanthi Aunty thanks for Anne! All you “kindred” spirits from the race that knows Joseph, please check this out.

Life in bullet points

These are random jottings from my life that breezed past while I was busy writing proposals!

• Watched Djokovic beat Nadal and Fedrer lose on the same day in the Pacific Life Open - my kinda day!
• Saw Hrithik Roshan in a Sony Ericsson commercial on TV here. Yay to that!
• I am making progress in my resolution to be “greener”. Refused plastic bags in stores and did laundry in cold water. Now if only I can get into recycling at home! ( I do it diligently with my stuff in school. But somehow with no recycling centers close by at home the resolve gives into laziness.)
• I have been ODing on Khamas the past 3 days. Fell in love with Dr. S. Ramanathan’s voice watching this youtube video. My first encounter with his voice and I simply love the “twang” in his voice! I of course then hunted for more of him and found a mine in good old sangeethapriya. (And also found fodder for the trivia hunting me. I knew he was Sowmya and Unni’s guru. But he also happens to be Geetha Bennet’s father and can be linked as a fifth generation descendant to all three of holy trinity of carnatic music!) I found more Khamas in the form of a melting RTP by TN Seshagopalan. And to keep pace with the mood Mathey from Morning Raaga (I can’t find any other version of this varnam) and M.S’s Dholayam have been added to the listening loop. And this has led to a non-stop humming of saamba sivayanavera .
• I am currently reading Sophie’s World and am thoroughly enjoying.
• And the absolute best thing that happened to me was a word of praise from my advisor (on reading my proposals) when she told me she was “very pleased with the quality” of my writing

Bedside book pile!

I like to think of myself as an avid reader. I have a compulsive need to read, especially while eating or sitting on the potty! On several occasions I have stooped down to reading the backs of shampoo bottles to satisfy the craving when caught without a book. There is always a book in my bathroom. Same with eating. That relation is symbiotic - I like reading while eating but unfortunately this has led to the “have to eat something while reading” syndrome. Enid Blyton always made me hungry. And the cups of plain delicious bournvita eaten then, have now enlarged (pun intended) into this unhealthy urge. Also, I used to have to read at least a page before closing the shutters every night. Grad school work load (it exists! even if not working always looming in head to make one guilty), living and eating with friends and several other distractions (damn wireless internet and Youtube) has led to a steady decrease in my book devouring speed. I did finish the last Harry Potter and a Thousand Splendid Suns in one sitting but in general I take several weeks to finish my books. This is disheartening to me as I was always a quick reader and took pride in being one! This however doesn’t affect my book purchasing speed. Now I read multiple books at the same time; something I never could before. I want to put a list down somewhere for the fear of losing track!

Currently reading :

1. My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk (third attempt at finishing-Love the writing but have to reread every time cos the details become hazy!)

2. Blink - Heard so much about it..yet to make significant progress into it!

3. Blind willow sleeping woman - My first Murakami! Have to read at steady pace giving me enough time to reflect on it. Finished two stories so far!

4. Shopaholic and Baby - Hey everyone needs their chick lit!I looove the series. Sadly this will be the first book in the list I finish!

5. Karma and other stories - Rishi Reddy.  Read a review in Jabberwock’s blog and bought the book!

Hopefully will write some book reviews once I get done with them. There should be a way to sneak them as pdfs onto my laptop. Can pull off some reading time at school pretending to read scientific papers!