its me!!

I came across the concept of an Academic Holiday when I was skimming through  The Difficulty of being Good  by Gurcharan Das. In the prelude, he wrote about his plans to take up an  academic holiday  because he wanted to write on  Dharma , for which he had to read about Mahabharata thoroughly. He wrote how this idea of his was received with scepticism by his wife, who suggested to “go to the Turkish coast instead”. His mother had similar qualms, who suggested that he was suffering from  Vanaprastha melancholy  – whatever that means. I believe I related to his idea of an academic holiday in a much better way than both his relatives. In fact, he also wrote about his previous holidays when his wife and he went to their Alibaug beach house loaded with nothing but books, and spent days doing nothing but reading. This too seemed exciting, and little more achievable. I love traveling also. So every time I went for some trips with or without my frien...

I bought this book on an impulse. At a friend’s suggestion, I visited  Cha Bar , Oxford bookstore at Churchgate. There I found it, and just picked it up. I always wanted to read about Nathuram Godse. When I first saw this book, I felt that this was a propaganda to get the book sold. But then I thought to give it a try. Talking about the book: the author tried hard not to take sides but I feel inadvertently he did – sometimes he got towards Godse, and sometimes (more number of times) towards Gandhi. I believe this book is a wonderful lesson in history to all. It is a must-read for most of those who think that Nathuram Godse was a Hindu fanatic – a madman, and Gandhi a saint. There were striking similarities between the two. Both were born into devout Hindu families – just that Gandhi’s family was well-off unlike Godse’s. Both led austere and self-effacing lives. Godse was a step ahead of Gandhi – he remain celibate all through his life. Both wanted to help the downtrodden ...

I feel a book is great if it inspires and urges you to read more on the same topic due to the sheer grip it has on the mind while you read it. For me, “The Great Indian Novel” did exactly that. It motivated me to read not only about Mahabharata but also about Indian struggle for Independence. Shashi Tharoor did a wonderful job of mixing two of the most important epics from Indian history/mythology – Mahabharata and Indian Struggle for Independence. In the book, there is a close resemblance between different characters from Mahabharata and those from Indian freedom movement. Resemblance is so close that often you end up pronouncing the actual names rather than the ones given in the book! For instance, I often pronounced “Gangaji”, who is Bhishma from Mahabharata – as “Gandhiji”. Tharoor has made absolutely no efforts at hiding the identity of the characters. For example, Gangaji is Gandhiji (pretty obvious), Dhritarashtra is Nehru, Vidura is Vallabhai Patel, Pandu is Subash Chandr...

My first tryst with Ramayana was when I watched it on TV on Doordarshan. Arun Govil was Ram. He always looked sad and weak. To my child’s mind that image was imprinted. He even looked weak to me because his face was always drawn. Expression of sorrow from a man was a clear cut sign of weakness for me. I could never understand why he was called Purushottam . So I disliked Ram. Similar was my impression of Sita. She was also always blue, with tears in her eyes. When I read “Sita”, lot of things changed for me. The book not only told about the way Ram, of Raghu Clan ruled his kingdom, but also about the chemistry between Ram and Sita. Ram is the pinnacle of human achievement. Everyone who came in contact with him, benefitted by “broadening of minds” and “reaching their human potential”. In his company, even animals became civilized. He was epitome of stoic, calm and composure. And so was Sita. While most of us believe that Sita was victim, first, when they went for Vanvaas, and ...

The Class is a story of 5 students from Harvard, class of ’58. Ted Lambros, an outsider, becomes the ultimate Harvard insider: a beloved classics professor and President of Harvard. Jason Gilbert, a gifted sportsman, decides to change the direction of his life after the death of her beloved, embraces his “Jewishness”, and joins Israel Army, only to make the supreme sacrifice in an attempt to save Israeli hostages. George Keller, a Hungarian who runs away from his country to save his life and ends up in the White House. Danny Rossi, a gifted musician embarks on an illustrious musical career Andrew Eliot, from the Eliot clan, who remains unsuccessful for whole his life till he raises Millions of Dollars for his alma mater. I started with much anticipation – this being my first Eric Segal book. Till around 300 pages I waited patiently for the excitement to come, like a passenger for his train, only to realize that the train didn’t exist. I read remaining 200 pages ...

A bookworm is someone who has non-fictional feelings for fictional characters. After long time I fell in love with a book. First time I fell in love with a fictional character: Sayuri. First time I started reading a book in the open. I can’t put a finger as to why reading in open air was more fun than inside a room, but it was. Again, for the first time I took a book on a trip. It was fun again. The story is about a girl whose father sold her to a Geisha House. The book describes the struggle of that girl. The main Geisha of her Geisha House took a dislike for her which made her life hell. The situation was hopeless and there was no end to the tunnel when one day she met a man. That’s when the story started to change. He talked to her kindly and that gave her hope. From then on her every step was towards getting that man. She was taken into the mentorship of another big-shot Geisha. She mentored Sayuri, and taught her the tricks of the trait – basically how to woo men, fo...

I love reading. Every time I visit a bookshop, I am struck with a fantasy of reading all the books neatly arranged there. I fantasize about my own reading room – a small room with an AC; filled with natural light; few lamps which give yellow light and NOT white one; various seating options – couch, bean bags, rocking chairs and one huge table; and finally an electric kettle which I can use to prepare as much tea as I wish. The dark brown wooden bookshelves capture the entirety of the two sides of the room, decorating the room like nothing else can. Another of my fantasies was to read non-stop, endlessly day after day. I couldn’t fulfil that fantasy ever. I was once reading a book. One thing stayed with me from it: the protagonist used to read a book every fortnight. I thought about it, and thought some more. Why couldn’t I do that myself? Unfortunately, like the Indian Government which starts development projects and then shelves them, I too started reading a-book-a-fortnight whe...