This time I broke all my previous records. I took over six months to finish Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance. I would blame my busyness (this isn’t a word) for this. The only time I could give to reading was when I was traveling. It took me two journeys to my native place to finish the novel. I may blame bad air/rail/road connectivity for so many things but for reading, it was a boon. The over twenty-hour (one way) journey gave me a chance to read this masterpiece.
As far as busyness is concerned, it’s obvious. Career is moving fast and it’s taking its toll in terms of my time. I leave office building every evening but I am unable to leave ‘office’. It has come to my bedroom now and has left me with no choice to do anything else. Maybe this is what happens with everyone, right? So, no complaints here. Anyways, this is supposed to be A Fine Balance’s review, right? Let’s start. :)
The novel is all about lives of four characters i.e. Dina Dalal, a widow in mid-fifties, Maneck Kohlah, a young, under-graduate student, Ishwar Darji, a cobbler-turned-tailor, never-married, mid-fifties man and Omprakash Darji (or Om), a tailor and Ishwar’s nephew. Dina Dalal has been living in Bombay since her birth. Maneck comes to Bombay for higher studies. Ishwar and Om made Bombay a home in hope of good jobs and better livings. If I say anything more than this about the characters, I would end up revealing something that you would regret to know before reading the novel. Despite being entirely different from one another, they come close in very bizarre circumstances.
I find A Fine Balance as very close to Premchand’s Godan in terms of brutality of one’s fate, the society and the system. Just like Godan, in this novel, there seems to be no end to the problems of the common man. To me, A Fine Balance looks like a revisit to the world depicted in Godan by the great Premchand. Godan is a pre-independence novel and mainly shows the problems associated with the lives of villagers. Rohinton’s A Fine Balance too moves around the same problems but it extends further and shows the condition of common man in the more brutal Bombay. The novel proves that nothing has changed in the last 100 years. The country, the people and the problems, all are the same.
The novel covers a vast set of problems that persisted in India in 1970’s. The novel makes us go to the roots of well-known (and still persisting) problems like caste system, unemployment, poverty and corruption to specific problems of 70s like problems emerged because of Emergency called by Indira Gandhi. There are several examples in the novel that tell us how systems are made for betterment of things but end up ruining them. One such example set in novel is, the Gandhi government encouraged family planning for controlling the emerging population. But this didn’t do any good to the most, rather it ruined lives of many. Mostly young, unmarried or elderly people were forced to go for the nasbandi program.
Despite of the lengthy descriptions of the characters and events, Rohinton Mistry was able to keep me involved. Curiosity was always on extreme. Due to less but prominent characters, I was able to recall them without any confusion, even after an interval of three months. The only thing I regretted reading this novel was the kind of stress it gave me. Every event mentioned in the novel made me go deep into the situation, maybe because I have seen quite similar events in my own life or in lives of people around. Another positive point about this novel was its connection with Parsi culture (apart from Maneck Kohlah and Dina Dalal, there are several Parsi characters in the novel). Being a Parsi, Rohinton Mistry was able to beautifully describe the Parsi culture.
I give full marks to this highly tragic novel. A must read if you can bear all the stress it will give to you.
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda by Dharamvir Bharati
I had read Dharamvir Bharati's Gunahon Ka Devta around three years ago. The novel is one of my favourite Hindi novels. Since Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda is much more acclaimed novel than Gunahon Ka Devta, my expectations were much higher. And I must say this short-novel over-delivered on my very high expectations.
The way Dr. Bharati has told the story in Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda is very much different from the conventional story-telling style. Today, in twentieth century we may have read novels with similar way of story-telling but for a Hindi novel that first published in 1952, it must have been quite revolutionary. Bharati have split the story of the novel in seven short stories.
Bharati, himself, is the story-teller. The place of the events is Allahabad (I suppose) and the time is immediately after India’s independence from the Britain (~1950). The novel starts with an introduction of Manik Mulla, the protagonist of the novel. Manik is a famous personality of the colony Bharati lives in. It’s summer, typical North India style. A group of friends (including Bharati) gathers at Manik Mulla’s house. A regular activity. Some of the friends are playing cards, some are laying on the floor, doing nothing. Bharati is reading a novel. Manik Mulla pulls the book from Bharati’s hands, saying, “You can’t read others’ stories in a story-teller’s house!” And this is how Manik Mulla starts telling the stories. He tells seven stories on seven consecutive noons. All the seven stories prove to be a part of a single story in the end. Manik Mulla tells the conclusion on seventh noon and novel ends.
Unlike Gunahon Ka Devta, Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda has nothing to do with sacred love and commitment. This novel is all about Indian lower-middle-class people. According to Bharati, economy is more important to Indian lower-middle-class people than love or any other emotion. And this phenomenon has led the entire class to darkness, immorality, inhumanity and apathy. All the people in the novel tend to do injustice to humanity. Their characters seem to be weak and they end up betraying the people around. All because of money or their low values.
If you are wondering what Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda means then Bharati ji has described it in a very beautiful manner. As per him, despite of all the darkness and sadness, there is something that inspires to light up the dark, lead to the good. The truth, faith and bravery lead the soul to the light in the same way the seven horses lead the chariot of the Sun. The chariot of the Sun has to move forward, always. But it’s destroyed during its journey via the streets of our dark, corrupt, low-value and immoral lives. Except for the seventh horse, all the six horses have been severely injured. The seventh horse is still brave, determined, focused and is moving ahead continuously. The seventh horse is the future. Bharati ji has co-related this seventh horse with the children of his novel’s characters. He says these children, the new generation will lead us to the light and we must have faith in this seventh horse.
A very small but good read. Highly Recommended.
Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda by Dharamvir Bharati. pp 101, rs 25 paperback. Bhartiya Jnanpith.
The way Dr. Bharati has told the story in Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda is very much different from the conventional story-telling style. Today, in twentieth century we may have read novels with similar way of story-telling but for a Hindi novel that first published in 1952, it must have been quite revolutionary. Bharati have split the story of the novel in seven short stories.
Bharati, himself, is the story-teller. The place of the events is Allahabad (I suppose) and the time is immediately after India’s independence from the Britain (~1950). The novel starts with an introduction of Manik Mulla, the protagonist of the novel. Manik is a famous personality of the colony Bharati lives in. It’s summer, typical North India style. A group of friends (including Bharati) gathers at Manik Mulla’s house. A regular activity. Some of the friends are playing cards, some are laying on the floor, doing nothing. Bharati is reading a novel. Manik Mulla pulls the book from Bharati’s hands, saying, “You can’t read others’ stories in a story-teller’s house!” And this is how Manik Mulla starts telling the stories. He tells seven stories on seven consecutive noons. All the seven stories prove to be a part of a single story in the end. Manik Mulla tells the conclusion on seventh noon and novel ends.
Unlike Gunahon Ka Devta, Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda has nothing to do with sacred love and commitment. This novel is all about Indian lower-middle-class people. According to Bharati, economy is more important to Indian lower-middle-class people than love or any other emotion. And this phenomenon has led the entire class to darkness, immorality, inhumanity and apathy. All the people in the novel tend to do injustice to humanity. Their characters seem to be weak and they end up betraying the people around. All because of money or their low values.
If you are wondering what Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda means then Bharati ji has described it in a very beautiful manner. As per him, despite of all the darkness and sadness, there is something that inspires to light up the dark, lead to the good. The truth, faith and bravery lead the soul to the light in the same way the seven horses lead the chariot of the Sun. The chariot of the Sun has to move forward, always. But it’s destroyed during its journey via the streets of our dark, corrupt, low-value and immoral lives. Except for the seventh horse, all the six horses have been severely injured. The seventh horse is still brave, determined, focused and is moving ahead continuously. The seventh horse is the future. Bharati ji has co-related this seventh horse with the children of his novel’s characters. He says these children, the new generation will lead us to the light and we must have faith in this seventh horse.
A very small but good read. Highly Recommended.
Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda by Dharamvir Bharati. pp 101, rs 25 paperback. Bhartiya Jnanpith.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
The Kite Runner by khaled Hosseini
Great book! I am away from books for at least three months due to extreme busyness in office and at home but I managed to complete this book by sleeping late at night and awaking very early in the morning. It was really a pain, I won't do this exercise for anything but I just got hooked to the book. It was worth all that pain. :-)
The Kite Runner is a story of Amir, son of a very rich businessman of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Kite Runner is Hassan, a servant-cum-friend of Amir. Hassan is son of Ali who was given shelter by Amir's grandfather. Ali served Amir's father, serving Amir was duty of Hassan. He served Amir well, amazingly in fact. Hassan never disappointed Amir and always thought Amir agha (sahib) is a friend of his but Amir didn't think the same for even a second. In some very dramatic political conditions, Amir had to leave Afghanistan. Ali and Hassan couldn't come with them. But some very unfortunate incidents in Afghanistan brought Amir back after all twenty-two years. Hassan's son was waiting for him...
Novel has pre-taliban background of Afghanistan, mostly. After reading the novel, I came to know really good details about Afghanistan, its people, culture and economy. I also came to know a special type of muslim community, Hazara and their relations with muslim (shia, sunni) families in Afghanistan. A little description of Taliban's effect on Afghanistan is also provided by Mr. Hosseini.
Overall, a very thrilling, moving, genuine story written in really wonderful way. 9/10 from me.
The Kite Runner is a story of Amir, son of a very rich businessman of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Kite Runner is Hassan, a servant-cum-friend of Amir. Hassan is son of Ali who was given shelter by Amir's grandfather. Ali served Amir's father, serving Amir was duty of Hassan. He served Amir well, amazingly in fact. Hassan never disappointed Amir and always thought Amir agha (sahib) is a friend of his but Amir didn't think the same for even a second. In some very dramatic political conditions, Amir had to leave Afghanistan. Ali and Hassan couldn't come with them. But some very unfortunate incidents in Afghanistan brought Amir back after all twenty-two years. Hassan's son was waiting for him...
Novel has pre-taliban background of Afghanistan, mostly. After reading the novel, I came to know really good details about Afghanistan, its people, culture and economy. I also came to know a special type of muslim community, Hazara and their relations with muslim (shia, sunni) families in Afghanistan. A little description of Taliban's effect on Afghanistan is also provided by Mr. Hosseini.
Overall, a very thrilling, moving, genuine story written in really wonderful way. 9/10 from me.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Goli by Acharya Chatursen
You must be thinking where do I find these books? Its quite possible that you are completely unaware of the fact that there have been a good Hindi writer in India, Acharya Chatursen, reading his work is out of question. Including this one, I have read three books from this writer, Vayam Rakshamah (the best among three) and Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu. And I am sort of fan of this writer. Sometimes I wonder why Mr. Chatursen is so forbidden? After reading his works, I find him good enough to be considered in good Hindi authors. Mohit sir/Priya didi once suggested me Vayam Rakshamah and I was wary of the title/author/book. After reading that book I realized that I have no idea of Hindi literature, how can I miss such good writer. Later I came to realize that it wasn't me who didn't know about him, it was he who is not so popular. A few months back, Google search for Chatursen used to return absurd/irrelevant results. Today when I searched again, I got this Wikipedia article and got a reason why Chatursen must have been forbidden.
Goli (a term for females, for male, its Gola, plural is Gole) is (or was, no idea!) a caste/subcaste in Rajasthan. Golis are bound to become concubines of kings, they live in king's Rangmahal the same way as queens live. They get everything except for the proper respect. Everybody in kingdom knows what and who Golis are. In nutshell, they get every possible luxury in life but at the cost of dignity. Kings don't marry them, produce children with them and in order to give those children father's name, kings marry these females to some similar caste person or Gola. Gola takes care of his wife (so called, he cannot even touch her!) and children. Kings play with these females, enjoy, humiliate and throw away, if Goli has got some brain then King makes sure that she is killed silently.
Goli is based on a true story of such a female, Champa (virtual name. Chatursen hasn't revealed identity of any character or place). Time period of story is around 1900-1950 (India was ruled by English people then). In a 242-pages novel, Chatursen has elaborated the story quite nicely. Entire life of Champa from birth to elderly-age is narrated in her own words. Unlike Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu, characters are not in huge numbers and are prominent. Hindi too is not as hard as Vayam Rakshamah or Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu. Since the background is recent enough, Acharya ji have used Urdu and English words very often (you can starve for one such word in most of his books).
Story seemed genuine and in a sense it touched me. Overall I liked the book, 7/10. Now I look forward for more Chatursen literature, I'm lovin' it! ;~)
Book Details:
-------------
Goli by Acharya Chatursen,
Publisher: Hind Pocket Books,
Pages: 242 (paperback)
Price: Rs.90
Goli (a term for females, for male, its Gola, plural is Gole) is (or was, no idea!) a caste/subcaste in Rajasthan. Golis are bound to become concubines of kings, they live in king's Rangmahal the same way as queens live. They get everything except for the proper respect. Everybody in kingdom knows what and who Golis are. In nutshell, they get every possible luxury in life but at the cost of dignity. Kings don't marry them, produce children with them and in order to give those children father's name, kings marry these females to some similar caste person or Gola. Gola takes care of his wife (so called, he cannot even touch her!) and children. Kings play with these females, enjoy, humiliate and throw away, if Goli has got some brain then King makes sure that she is killed silently.
Goli is based on a true story of such a female, Champa (virtual name. Chatursen hasn't revealed identity of any character or place). Time period of story is around 1900-1950 (India was ruled by English people then). In a 242-pages novel, Chatursen has elaborated the story quite nicely. Entire life of Champa from birth to elderly-age is narrated in her own words. Unlike Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu, characters are not in huge numbers and are prominent. Hindi too is not as hard as Vayam Rakshamah or Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu. Since the background is recent enough, Acharya ji have used Urdu and English words very often (you can starve for one such word in most of his books).
Story seemed genuine and in a sense it touched me. Overall I liked the book, 7/10. Now I look forward for more Chatursen literature, I'm lovin' it! ;~)
Book Details:
-------------
Goli by Acharya Chatursen,
Publisher: Hind Pocket Books,
Pages: 242 (paperback)
Price: Rs.90
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Durgeshnandini by Bankimchandra
Picked up this book along with Goli by Acharya Chatursen from Jhansi railway-station while coming back to Mumbai. Just wanted to read a book of Bankimchandra, didn't have much expectations, started reading and found it good. Writing style is different at one particular point. What I found amazing is the fact that Mr. Chattopaddhyay interacts with readers, he asks questions, he firstly created doubts then he himself clears them. He calls readers Tum, I think it might be a bit awkward for elderly, senior readers... actually am not sure :(
Its a love story of Jagat Singh, son of Maan Singh (his sister was married with Akbar) and Tilottama, daughter of a thikanedaar in Bengaal. Jagat Singh meets Tilottama and her caretaker Vimla in a temple. They had to take shelter in this temple because of thunder and heavy rain outside. Their eyes meet and they fall in love with each other momentarily. They decide to meet at the same place after 15 days, Vimla comes instead of Tilottama and takes Jagat Singh to Virendra Singh's (Tilottama's father) fort. Meanwhile Katlu Khan's (a decoit Pathan) men attack on fort in the leadership of Usman. Katlu Khan attacks Virendra Singh because he refused to support Katlu Khan in battle. Virendra Singh went with Akbar/Maan Singh. Jagat Singh was here in Bengal to vanish Katlu Khan's terror. Now Usman and Jagat Singh were in front of each other swords in their hands. The only difference was, Usman was with thousands of his men and Jagat Singh was alone...
I found writing style similar to Acharya Chatursen or a few others. Story was very much concise and was involving. Story seems historical rather than fictional. I knew a few characters already. I have read a couple of books in which Maan Singh, Jagat Singh were there. But in those books I didn't like them. But this book has created a spark inside me and I now look forward to explore more about Maan Singh and Jagat Singh.
Story might seem like a typical Hindi movie but yet you can appreciate it for its originality. Bankimchandra has done a good job of writing the story beautifully. I give story a 8/10 and book a 6/10 overall. A good quick read! :-)
Its a love story of Jagat Singh, son of Maan Singh (his sister was married with Akbar) and Tilottama, daughter of a thikanedaar in Bengaal. Jagat Singh meets Tilottama and her caretaker Vimla in a temple. They had to take shelter in this temple because of thunder and heavy rain outside. Their eyes meet and they fall in love with each other momentarily. They decide to meet at the same place after 15 days, Vimla comes instead of Tilottama and takes Jagat Singh to Virendra Singh's (Tilottama's father) fort. Meanwhile Katlu Khan's (a decoit Pathan) men attack on fort in the leadership of Usman. Katlu Khan attacks Virendra Singh because he refused to support Katlu Khan in battle. Virendra Singh went with Akbar/Maan Singh. Jagat Singh was here in Bengal to vanish Katlu Khan's terror. Now Usman and Jagat Singh were in front of each other swords in their hands. The only difference was, Usman was with thousands of his men and Jagat Singh was alone...
I found writing style similar to Acharya Chatursen or a few others. Story was very much concise and was involving. Story seems historical rather than fictional. I knew a few characters already. I have read a couple of books in which Maan Singh, Jagat Singh were there. But in those books I didn't like them. But this book has created a spark inside me and I now look forward to explore more about Maan Singh and Jagat Singh.
Story might seem like a typical Hindi movie but yet you can appreciate it for its originality. Bankimchandra has done a good job of writing the story beautifully. I give story a 8/10 and book a 6/10 overall. A good quick read! :-)
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The Story of My Experiments with Truth or An Autobiography by Mahatma Gandhi
Was searching for this book for a long time. No online store had it, searched it in some local book-stores but no luck. Actually I was under impression that Gandhi ji wrote it in Gujarati and Hindi originally and later he only translated it into English. So I was looking for Hindi original, however I didn't find it in any language! Went to Priya Didi that night and she handed me over the Hindi translation! Yes, then only I realized that Gandhi ji wrote it in English originally. I thought like saying NO to didi and find English one now but couldn't resist myself, picked up the book as soon as I finished Shalimar the Clown.
I was always very much curious about Gandhi ji's life, in fact I must say I didn't have very good views about him. Sometimes it happens with me that even if I don't know anything about something I start making prejudices, same happened with Gandhi ji. However even after reading his autobiography I am not able to prove myself wrong for what I used to feel about him. I still don't have good views for him and I need to read more books/articles on him to know more about him. In fact my research should start where Gandhi ji finished his autobiography i.e. his role in Indian independence and after-independence politics. But still this book gave me a fair idea about Gandhi ji's life.
I must say, I am pretty much impressed with this guy. No doubt he was a genius, not born, not god-gifted but he made his fate himself. He dominated in his magnificent personality. While reading the book sometimes I tend to compare myself or people around me with the protagonists, other characters, same happened with this book. Until Gandhi ji crossed 40 or so, he seemed very much disappointing to me. Not a single sign of great (or should I say, good, educated?) human being. He acted very cheap at times, he did what a person with good sense of humor is supposed to do. He stole money, ate meat to build his personality, went to prostitute (well, just went!), suspected his wife and many other small-big things. But the good thing with him was his determination, genuine/pure thoughts, desperation for going ahead, care for others and above all truth. Whatever he did, he knew he did wrong, he confessed and corrected it. Whatever he has confessed in his autobiography is not an easier thing to do.
He was very common, dull student in the class, who was afraid of failure in Indian college, just to skip this hard study, he went abroad. He did what every common man is supposed to do. He followed others so that he can be considered more civilized there, he wasted money on things that a wise man will never do. In nutshell, his personality didn't reflect anything that could be predicted as this person will become father of a nation. But he did it and did it very well. I guess, this was his truth, his genuine thoughts, his helping hands for everyone and determination.
I always wondered why this guy got so much hype, I realize now that that wasn't hype. He deserved whatever he got. Its no easy task to help others while your own future is on stake, you have a family to take care of. I don't know what I learned from Mahatma Gandhi ji's autobiography but I can say one thing for sure that if Gandhi ji can go this ahead, anyone in the world can go even farther. The only thing you need is determination and truth in your life. Harishchandra could have been a virtual character in Indian mythology but I think Mahatma Gandhi is no less than him. Whatever I think about him, will write later but as of now I am feeling very good that I read his autobiography. I will buy the original English version and will keep with me as inspirational book.
I was always very much curious about Gandhi ji's life, in fact I must say I didn't have very good views about him. Sometimes it happens with me that even if I don't know anything about something I start making prejudices, same happened with Gandhi ji. However even after reading his autobiography I am not able to prove myself wrong for what I used to feel about him. I still don't have good views for him and I need to read more books/articles on him to know more about him. In fact my research should start where Gandhi ji finished his autobiography i.e. his role in Indian independence and after-independence politics. But still this book gave me a fair idea about Gandhi ji's life.
I must say, I am pretty much impressed with this guy. No doubt he was a genius, not born, not god-gifted but he made his fate himself. He dominated in his magnificent personality. While reading the book sometimes I tend to compare myself or people around me with the protagonists, other characters, same happened with this book. Until Gandhi ji crossed 40 or so, he seemed very much disappointing to me. Not a single sign of great (or should I say, good, educated?) human being. He acted very cheap at times, he did what a person with good sense of humor is supposed to do. He stole money, ate meat to build his personality, went to prostitute (well, just went!), suspected his wife and many other small-big things. But the good thing with him was his determination, genuine/pure thoughts, desperation for going ahead, care for others and above all truth. Whatever he did, he knew he did wrong, he confessed and corrected it. Whatever he has confessed in his autobiography is not an easier thing to do.
He was very common, dull student in the class, who was afraid of failure in Indian college, just to skip this hard study, he went abroad. He did what every common man is supposed to do. He followed others so that he can be considered more civilized there, he wasted money on things that a wise man will never do. In nutshell, his personality didn't reflect anything that could be predicted as this person will become father of a nation. But he did it and did it very well. I guess, this was his truth, his genuine thoughts, his helping hands for everyone and determination.
I always wondered why this guy got so much hype, I realize now that that wasn't hype. He deserved whatever he got. Its no easy task to help others while your own future is on stake, you have a family to take care of. I don't know what I learned from Mahatma Gandhi ji's autobiography but I can say one thing for sure that if Gandhi ji can go this ahead, anyone in the world can go even farther. The only thing you need is determination and truth in your life. Harishchandra could have been a virtual character in Indian mythology but I think Mahatma Gandhi is no less than him. Whatever I think about him, will write later but as of now I am feeling very good that I read his autobiography. I will buy the original English version and will keep with me as inspirational book.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Shalimar The Clown by Salman Rushdie
I always wanted to read Rushdie's Midnight's Children, in fact I was planning that I will start Rushdie literature with this book only but its unfortunate that I read Shalimar The Clown first and now I am not sure whether I will read Midnight's Children or not. Was wandering through the books, asked the shop-guy about The Kite Runner, he answered in negative and handed me Shalimar The Clown, saying 'Sir, you will like it.' I picked the book, had a quick glance and thought, lets check Rushdie out.
I finished the book last week with mixed feelings. Salman Rushdie writes first-class literature, no doubt. Writing style was quite different for me and I guess I liked it. Research? Its fabulous, he seems to know everything around and put it very beautifully. You can prepare for UPSC GK test by reading his books. But story... I think story couldn't bind me, it seemed highly elaborated and distracting. Story seemed to cover entire world. At times I was wondering, what is Mr. Rushdie up to? I started the book considering it as murder mystery, poor me, and ended up realizing it was a plain, straightforward, literature book. It seemed the book was written for literature students only. Typical course book! It seemed I read the book in wrong age or maybe at wrong time at least, my mind is not stable these days, so maybe I spoiled the good reading anyhow. Anyways, I won't be reading Midnight's Children or any other Rushdie book until I find myself very much dedicated for it. I think, you just cannot dare reading Rushdie while doing some other stuff, you need to be a dedicated client of it.
I am not rating the book as it will be injustice to it. Am not blaming Mr. Rushdie for making me sleep earlier while reading the book, am blaming myself that I didn't give the book my hundred-percent.
I finished the book last week with mixed feelings. Salman Rushdie writes first-class literature, no doubt. Writing style was quite different for me and I guess I liked it. Research? Its fabulous, he seems to know everything around and put it very beautifully. You can prepare for UPSC GK test by reading his books. But story... I think story couldn't bind me, it seemed highly elaborated and distracting. Story seemed to cover entire world. At times I was wondering, what is Mr. Rushdie up to? I started the book considering it as murder mystery, poor me, and ended up realizing it was a plain, straightforward, literature book. It seemed the book was written for literature students only. Typical course book! It seemed I read the book in wrong age or maybe at wrong time at least, my mind is not stable these days, so maybe I spoiled the good reading anyhow. Anyways, I won't be reading Midnight's Children or any other Rushdie book until I find myself very much dedicated for it. I think, you just cannot dare reading Rushdie while doing some other stuff, you need to be a dedicated client of it.
I am not rating the book as it will be injustice to it. Am not blaming Mr. Rushdie for making me sleep earlier while reading the book, am blaming myself that I didn't give the book my hundred-percent.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Vipradas by Sharatchandra
I had read Sharatchandra's Devdas, Parineeta, Charitraheen and Baikunth Ka Daanpatra earlier and I liked them very much. This was the only reason that made me and Rajeev jump over Jabal's (Arun sir) collection of Sharatchandra. I picked up Vipradas last week. As you must be expecting, its a Hindi translation of his Bengla book with same title (I hope so, I don't have an idea about the original book.) Publisher of the entire collection is Raja Pocket Books. The books are quite different from they are expected to be. These books look like more of station-chhap books, with shiny names and all. Price is quite economical, 50 rupees per book. Paper quality is above average and there are not much printing errors etc. There is one major problem, you don't know who the translator is. Book doesn't talk about the translator at all.
This novel too, like maximum Sharatchandra novels, has very much influential, mostly Brahmins, jamindaars and well-educated people. Like Premchand, poverty is not an issue with Sharat Chandra. Our protagonist, Vipradas Mukhopadhyay is the eldest son of Dayamayi, jamindaar of the village Balrampur. He is well educated, has enormous physique, is very much influential and is very kind. Villagers, his family persons respect him from bottom of their hearts. He is step-son of Dayamati but is the main person of the family, looks after all the property and business. Story of the novel rotates around him only mainly, though his younger brother, his wife, his wife's cousin sister etc are other people in supporting roles.
There is not much to talk about the story, its small, straightforward but involving. Its written in typical Sharatchandra-literature-style, a complete family drama, love story with very good depiction of society, its values, its narrowness and peculiar rule-regulations. What I feel about authors like Sharatchandra, Premchand and other authors of their time is that they were not completely fictional. They presented us a real picture of their time, society and people. They tried to solve many of traditional, superstitious problems, they tried to move people by their work. They didn't write bull-shit just to make people feel good. Perhaps money wasn't on top of their minds. I feel very good after reading such books, believe it or not but they influence me a lot. Sometimes I start feeling like if I am doing nothing for my country, my people. This book wasn't revolutionary like Godan of Premchand or Ganadevta of Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay.
Overall a satisfactory read. Would say nothing was great, but everything was above average. 6/10 would be my bid for this book of Sharatchandra.
Book Details:
------------
Vipradas by Sharatchandra (Hindi Translation)
Publisher: Raja Pocket Books
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 182
Price: INR 60
ISBN: 8176041149
This novel too, like maximum Sharatchandra novels, has very much influential, mostly Brahmins, jamindaars and well-educated people. Like Premchand, poverty is not an issue with Sharat Chandra. Our protagonist, Vipradas Mukhopadhyay is the eldest son of Dayamayi, jamindaar of the village Balrampur. He is well educated, has enormous physique, is very much influential and is very kind. Villagers, his family persons respect him from bottom of their hearts. He is step-son of Dayamati but is the main person of the family, looks after all the property and business. Story of the novel rotates around him only mainly, though his younger brother, his wife, his wife's cousin sister etc are other people in supporting roles.
There is not much to talk about the story, its small, straightforward but involving. Its written in typical Sharatchandra-literature-style, a complete family drama, love story with very good depiction of society, its values, its narrowness and peculiar rule-regulations. What I feel about authors like Sharatchandra, Premchand and other authors of their time is that they were not completely fictional. They presented us a real picture of their time, society and people. They tried to solve many of traditional, superstitious problems, they tried to move people by their work. They didn't write bull-shit just to make people feel good. Perhaps money wasn't on top of their minds. I feel very good after reading such books, believe it or not but they influence me a lot. Sometimes I start feeling like if I am doing nothing for my country, my people. This book wasn't revolutionary like Godan of Premchand or Ganadevta of Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay.
Overall a satisfactory read. Would say nothing was great, but everything was above average. 6/10 would be my bid for this book of Sharatchandra.
Book Details:
------------
Vipradas by Sharatchandra (Hindi Translation)
Publisher: Raja Pocket Books
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 182
Price: INR 60
ISBN: 8176041149
Saturday, October 07, 2006
The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur
I am not satisfied with this short-novel which I randomly picked from book-fair, Vashi last week. Maybe I could enjoy more if I hadn't seen movies like American Pie series and their desi adaptation Ye Kya Ho Raha Hai. I find many people admiring this book, even the print media and all. But I kept on thinking what's special in this book apart from a very straightforward comic story? I started this book with no expectations, the criteria of buying it was its size, only 246 pages! I didn't even started reading the book, one of my boss told me that there is a very famous letter in the book. The letter is written by an Indian (just reached America) to his younger brother. This is what made me excited to read the book and provoked many expectations...
The book starts with the letter itself. Gopal, protagonist of this novel is from a very small town Jajau, somewhere in interiors of Madhya Pradesh, has just reached America and writing this letter to his younger brother. You must be thinking, what's so special about this letter? Its funny! The guy, Gopal's English seem to have just one tense, Present Continuous! He is totally unaware of American English, their special vocabulary and their special meanings. He like peanuts and appreciate the security person at the exit while he is shouting 'Nuts, totally nuts.' He feels, this guy knows that I like peanuts. :-) Book is full of such estimates, guesses Gopal makes. Gopal's understanding on things, his way of talking, his town, family, his Hair Oil Factory and especially his 'and like that', 'all that stuff', 'things like that' and other suffixes for every sentence made the book a bit special.
He went America for studying and he did or at least tried to do everything but study. From day one in America, he was told that every girl here is America is desperate to get laid. Once Mr. Anurag Mathur started this American Girl Philosophy, he continuously used it till last page. Girls, girls, and just girls. As per Mr. Mathur, everybody in America is obsessed with sex. Our Gopal seems to be more desperate than the other Americans out there. He gets a good friend in terms of Randy, another research scholar at University.
I found a problem with Mr. Anurag's writing (it might be a problem with me too!). Whenever he tried to elaborate Gopal's mind, he made me lost. Many time I couldn't figure out where is the story going and what is the context of this elaboration here. In the short-novel of merely 250 pages, he managed to talk about America's white-black problem, poverty problem and of course girls and sex problem. He talked about Indians-turned-Americans who prefer to be called as Andy (Anand!).
Maybe I read this book very late, I could have read it in early 90s in order to appreciate more. Today every second sex-comedy movie seems to have same ingredients. I was wondering whether this must be an inspiring book for many of such movies/books. Read this book for Gopal's letters and his funny English. Nothing else to read. I didn't like the book very much, however overall it gets 2.5/5 from this novice reader for being very funny.
Book Details:
-------------
The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur,
Publisher: Rupa Co.
Price: INR 76
Pages: 246
Binding: Mass Paperback
ISBN: 8171670407
The book starts with the letter itself. Gopal, protagonist of this novel is from a very small town Jajau, somewhere in interiors of Madhya Pradesh, has just reached America and writing this letter to his younger brother. You must be thinking, what's so special about this letter? Its funny! The guy, Gopal's English seem to have just one tense, Present Continuous! He is totally unaware of American English, their special vocabulary and their special meanings. He like peanuts and appreciate the security person at the exit while he is shouting 'Nuts, totally nuts.' He feels, this guy knows that I like peanuts. :-) Book is full of such estimates, guesses Gopal makes. Gopal's understanding on things, his way of talking, his town, family, his Hair Oil Factory and especially his 'and like that', 'all that stuff', 'things like that' and other suffixes for every sentence made the book a bit special.
He went America for studying and he did or at least tried to do everything but study. From day one in America, he was told that every girl here is America is desperate to get laid. Once Mr. Anurag Mathur started this American Girl Philosophy, he continuously used it till last page. Girls, girls, and just girls. As per Mr. Mathur, everybody in America is obsessed with sex. Our Gopal seems to be more desperate than the other Americans out there. He gets a good friend in terms of Randy, another research scholar at University.
I found a problem with Mr. Anurag's writing (it might be a problem with me too!). Whenever he tried to elaborate Gopal's mind, he made me lost. Many time I couldn't figure out where is the story going and what is the context of this elaboration here. In the short-novel of merely 250 pages, he managed to talk about America's white-black problem, poverty problem and of course girls and sex problem. He talked about Indians-turned-Americans who prefer to be called as Andy (Anand!).
Maybe I read this book very late, I could have read it in early 90s in order to appreciate more. Today every second sex-comedy movie seems to have same ingredients. I was wondering whether this must be an inspiring book for many of such movies/books. Read this book for Gopal's letters and his funny English. Nothing else to read. I didn't like the book very much, however overall it gets 2.5/5 from this novice reader for being very funny.
Book Details:
-------------
The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur,
Publisher: Rupa Co.
Price: INR 76
Pages: 246
Binding: Mass Paperback
ISBN: 8171670407
Monday, October 02, 2006
Ganadevta by Tarashankar Bandopadhyay
Another Jnanpith awarded Hindi legend. Originally written in Bengla by Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay. Originally it was written and published as two books, Chandimandap and Panchgram. Later its single-hardbound Hindi translation was published in 1967 by Bhartiya Jnanpith. I bought this book after reading very high praise for it by Jnanpith itself, the editor said "This book is considered to be one of the best books ever written." After reading such beautiful words for any book who won't be interested in reading it. I was no exception. Moreover Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay is considered to be one of the best Bengla authors.
Background of this book is pre-Independence, around 1920-1930 in Bengal, India. Its a very touching story about Indian villagers and their day-to-day problems. First part of the book starts with the introduction of a very small Bengla village, Shivkalipur and its inhabitants. Almost every caste is there in this village, from low to high, all needed to make a community. Problem starts when a few low-caste people deny to do their usual/inheditery work e.g. hair-cut, forgery, carpentry etc. Their complaint is that they are unable to survive on what they are getting for their work. They try to move out of the village to work in mill or do some other work that they are not supposed to do. A panchayat is called at Chandimandap (As the name of first part suggests, Chandimandap, is a place for public gatherings, panchayats and considered very respectable by every villager. Here is a small temple as well which adds some dignity to this place) in order to punish these revolutionary people, Arihant Lohar (Blacksmith) and Girish Badai (Carpenter) but they refuse to follow any suggestion further.
Central characters of this novel are Devnath Ghosh (Debu), Chhiru Paal aka Shrihari Ghosh, Jagan Doctor (A fourth-pass individual who practices as Doctor), Yatin Babu (A freedom-fighter who is kept in this village by police itself so that they can keep an eye on his activities. He is not supposed to take part in any anti-British activity), Durga (A Chamar/leather-worker by caste) etc. Debu is a very respectable person of Shivkalipur as he has passed 12th and teaches in village's only primary school. People of all ages call him Guruji. Initially Debu seems to be a very ordinary person who knows something about this village's problems and wants to have a solution for everything. He thinks too much and wants to do something good for this village and become central character. There is another character, Shrihari Ghosh. He is rich, has a great personality and has a very ill mind. He too wants to be prayed, but nobody likes him. He is considered to be a villain and everyone just hate him. He is ready to do anything for this village, school, temple, hospital, roads, loans to people and all but in return he wants to be god of the village and people have no intention of accepting it. Then he tries all the evil means to break the villagers down and bring them to their knees. He burns their crops, houses at night, uses his power and wealth in flattering the police in order to put few good people in jail for no apparent reason. Most interestingly, he changes his name to Shrihari Ghosh from Chhiru Paal.
Durga a very interesting character in the novel seems to remain mysterious for most of the villagers, they considered her as prostitute who can sleep with any man for some money. She does this for sure to feed herself and her family. Her brother doesn't do any work and counts on her for his living. Despite of unliking her shameless act, he too helps her sometimes by taking her to rich people's house at night and take her back home. Later in the story Debu starts to get involved in social activities and Durga proved herself as extremely helpful to him. Yatin Babu, a stranger to villagers initially too become very respectable person in the village because of his high-caste (Brahmin) and educated, good looking personality. He too provokes Debu to do something for this dying village and later helps him from behind as much as he can.
Second part of the book includes four more villages which are pretty close to Shivkalipur. In fact all these five villages are called Panchgram as a whole. Debu becomes a prime person of all these villages and fights against poverty, starvation and all. He finds himself responsible for feeding every single person in Panchgram and works hard to do the needful. Problems of these villagers seem never-lasting which break this young guy sometimes but he continues to think positive and do what the best he can do to help all of them.
This novel is all about poverty, illiteracy, superstitions, castes, religions and many other very commonly found problems associated with Indian villages. Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay had analyzed the problems very well and depicted them as it is in the book. Being very close to rural India, I could feel what he tried to convey. Bandhopadhyay seems to be the second author who presented the Indian villages very lively to me, first was Premchand! Premchand's Godan made me cry and so did Ganadevta. The poverty, pain, sorrow, problems seem to have no end, they seem to grow everyday. Every kind of problems on this earth find their way to come down to villages and villagers struggle with these till their death. No government, no God, no person can help them.
This is no fairy-tale, except for the climax which surprisingly romantic! This is hardcore poverty description. You might feel disturbed after reading this 580 pages long novel. But believe me if you dare reading it and complete it anyhow, you will find yourself aware of most of the Indian villages. Overall I found the book very good and give it 9/10. Highly recommended to people want to know rural India.
Book Details:
-------------
Ganadevta by Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay,
Publisher: Bhartiya Jnanpith,
Pages: 581
Binding: Paperback
Price: 135
ISBN:
Background of this book is pre-Independence, around 1920-1930 in Bengal, India. Its a very touching story about Indian villagers and their day-to-day problems. First part of the book starts with the introduction of a very small Bengla village, Shivkalipur and its inhabitants. Almost every caste is there in this village, from low to high, all needed to make a community. Problem starts when a few low-caste people deny to do their usual/inheditery work e.g. hair-cut, forgery, carpentry etc. Their complaint is that they are unable to survive on what they are getting for their work. They try to move out of the village to work in mill or do some other work that they are not supposed to do. A panchayat is called at Chandimandap (As the name of first part suggests, Chandimandap, is a place for public gatherings, panchayats and considered very respectable by every villager. Here is a small temple as well which adds some dignity to this place) in order to punish these revolutionary people, Arihant Lohar (Blacksmith) and Girish Badai (Carpenter) but they refuse to follow any suggestion further.
Central characters of this novel are Devnath Ghosh (Debu), Chhiru Paal aka Shrihari Ghosh, Jagan Doctor (A fourth-pass individual who practices as Doctor), Yatin Babu (A freedom-fighter who is kept in this village by police itself so that they can keep an eye on his activities. He is not supposed to take part in any anti-British activity), Durga (A Chamar/leather-worker by caste) etc. Debu is a very respectable person of Shivkalipur as he has passed 12th and teaches in village's only primary school. People of all ages call him Guruji. Initially Debu seems to be a very ordinary person who knows something about this village's problems and wants to have a solution for everything. He thinks too much and wants to do something good for this village and become central character. There is another character, Shrihari Ghosh. He is rich, has a great personality and has a very ill mind. He too wants to be prayed, but nobody likes him. He is considered to be a villain and everyone just hate him. He is ready to do anything for this village, school, temple, hospital, roads, loans to people and all but in return he wants to be god of the village and people have no intention of accepting it. Then he tries all the evil means to break the villagers down and bring them to their knees. He burns their crops, houses at night, uses his power and wealth in flattering the police in order to put few good people in jail for no apparent reason. Most interestingly, he changes his name to Shrihari Ghosh from Chhiru Paal.
Durga a very interesting character in the novel seems to remain mysterious for most of the villagers, they considered her as prostitute who can sleep with any man for some money. She does this for sure to feed herself and her family. Her brother doesn't do any work and counts on her for his living. Despite of unliking her shameless act, he too helps her sometimes by taking her to rich people's house at night and take her back home. Later in the story Debu starts to get involved in social activities and Durga proved herself as extremely helpful to him. Yatin Babu, a stranger to villagers initially too become very respectable person in the village because of his high-caste (Brahmin) and educated, good looking personality. He too provokes Debu to do something for this dying village and later helps him from behind as much as he can.
Second part of the book includes four more villages which are pretty close to Shivkalipur. In fact all these five villages are called Panchgram as a whole. Debu becomes a prime person of all these villages and fights against poverty, starvation and all. He finds himself responsible for feeding every single person in Panchgram and works hard to do the needful. Problems of these villagers seem never-lasting which break this young guy sometimes but he continues to think positive and do what the best he can do to help all of them.
This novel is all about poverty, illiteracy, superstitions, castes, religions and many other very commonly found problems associated with Indian villages. Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay had analyzed the problems very well and depicted them as it is in the book. Being very close to rural India, I could feel what he tried to convey. Bandhopadhyay seems to be the second author who presented the Indian villages very lively to me, first was Premchand! Premchand's Godan made me cry and so did Ganadevta. The poverty, pain, sorrow, problems seem to have no end, they seem to grow everyday. Every kind of problems on this earth find their way to come down to villages and villagers struggle with these till their death. No government, no God, no person can help them.
This is no fairy-tale, except for the climax which surprisingly romantic! This is hardcore poverty description. You might feel disturbed after reading this 580 pages long novel. But believe me if you dare reading it and complete it anyhow, you will find yourself aware of most of the Indian villages. Overall I found the book very good and give it 9/10. Highly recommended to people want to know rural India.
Book Details:
-------------
Ganadevta by Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay,
Publisher: Bhartiya Jnanpith,
Pages: 581
Binding: Paperback
Price: 135
ISBN:
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown/Ron Howard
Finished reading this wonderful book last week and the within next two days watched the movie as well. Book is simply awesome. I liked Brown's simple way of story-telling and his depth of knowledge. Cryptography, Code-breaking, symbology, art, history and religion, whatever he covered in the book was fantastic. Dan Brown's research on these various topics wondered me, very vast and very accurate.
Being an software engineer, I can understand what he talked about Cryptography and all. And I found that part of book not only interesting but also very informative. Arts, symbology et al meant nothing to me but after reading a very comprehensive description of symbols, paintings I must say they meant too much. I always used to wonder why paintings are sold for some million dollars, what do they have apart from being a creativity of a ultra-popular artist. I can well say that those guys were geniuses and their creativities were no ordinary, simply masterpieces!
However I didn't give a damn to what he told about Christianity, Jesus, Mary Magdalene their relationship, their successors and all but whatever he presented sounded convincing. Story was fantastic and was flawless. Characters were limited but were well elaborated. A good quality suspense was created and was broken in decent and convincing manner. After reading merely fifty pages I was deep into the story.
The film on the contrary didn't convince me. First of all it skipped all of important (at least for me) incidents like code-breaking, symbol descriptions, suspense and so on. It simply presented the religion part but did it well. Some tempering with original story was done which seemed unwanted and unnecessary to me, it could do if it could have been presented as it is. Since length of the story was pretty much it wasn't possible to depict each and every scene but yes, I think people who didn't read book prior to watching movie may have found them lost at places. Direction, presentation, acting was good, actors did justice to their roles and didn't leave any flaw for me to point at.
At the end the book gets 4/5 and the film 3/5 from me.
Book Details:
-------------
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown,
Publisher: DoubleDay
Binding: Mass Paperback
Pages: 489
Price: INR 230
Movie Details:
--------------
Da Vinci Code by Ron Howard
Being an software engineer, I can understand what he talked about Cryptography and all. And I found that part of book not only interesting but also very informative. Arts, symbology et al meant nothing to me but after reading a very comprehensive description of symbols, paintings I must say they meant too much. I always used to wonder why paintings are sold for some million dollars, what do they have apart from being a creativity of a ultra-popular artist. I can well say that those guys were geniuses and their creativities were no ordinary, simply masterpieces!
However I didn't give a damn to what he told about Christianity, Jesus, Mary Magdalene their relationship, their successors and all but whatever he presented sounded convincing. Story was fantastic and was flawless. Characters were limited but were well elaborated. A good quality suspense was created and was broken in decent and convincing manner. After reading merely fifty pages I was deep into the story.
The film on the contrary didn't convince me. First of all it skipped all of important (at least for me) incidents like code-breaking, symbol descriptions, suspense and so on. It simply presented the religion part but did it well. Some tempering with original story was done which seemed unwanted and unnecessary to me, it could do if it could have been presented as it is. Since length of the story was pretty much it wasn't possible to depict each and every scene but yes, I think people who didn't read book prior to watching movie may have found them lost at places. Direction, presentation, acting was good, actors did justice to their roles and didn't leave any flaw for me to point at.
At the end the book gets 4/5 and the film 3/5 from me.
Book Details:
-------------
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown,
Publisher: DoubleDay
Binding: Mass Paperback
Pages: 489
Price: INR 230
Movie Details:
--------------
Da Vinci Code by Ron Howard
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Home by Manju Kapur
A very simple and ordinary story! You will feel it as a story of yours or some neighbour/relatives. Very much realistic story, written beautifully. Every subtle event is elaborated to an extent which makes reading a real joy. Ms. Manju's writing style is different, liked it.
Its a story of Lala Banwari Lal (yes, its my name ;-) ) and family. They have migrated from Lahore to Karol Bagh, Delhi. Lala Banwari Lal runs a cloth shop here now. He has two sons, Yashpal and Pyare Lal. Both the sons help their father on shop and the family has a perfect balance. Everything goes smooth. The first dramatic event happens when Yashpal falls in love with a girl came to their shop to buy cloths. Sona! She belongs to a very ordinary family, not by far close to Banwari Lal's status. Yashpal anyhow convinces his parents for the marriage. Pyare Lal undergoes arranged marriage. Sona is very beautiful while Sushila (Pyare Lal's wife) is a girl with ordinary looks. Sona has a sister too, Rupa, she too is not as beautiful as Sona. There is a sister of these two brothers who is married in Bareily. Her terms with her husband are not pleasant and she dies in the starting of story. Her only child Vicky is brought back to Delhi and starts to live with Banwari Lals. Sona gives birth to her first offspring after ten years, Rupa is not fortunate enough for her entire life. Nisha comes in the Banwari Lals family. Sushila gives birth to two children, Ajay and Vijay, Asha (Vicky's wife) to one child and Sona to another child Raju. Problems arise when children grew and became adult. They started to dominate in decisions being taken for family, business and all.
As I told, story is that simple and realistic, it virtually fits to maximum middle-class Indian families. It shows reality of life of middle-class families. How girls dream about their future husband to be a smart, intelligent, worthy, caring, loving and all and what maximum of them get is entirely a different person. A girl who is beautiful that she deserves a prince gets a widower as her husband, on the other hand a girl who doesn't deserve even a common guy gets far more than she would have ever expected. Its the life. What you dream and you desire may not be realized in the real world or what was too good to be true becomes reality the next day.
Author's way of telling is very good, very amusing. Overall a good book. 7/10.
Book Details:
-------------
Home by Manju Kapoor,
Publication: Random House
Binding: Hardbound
Pages: 337
Price: Rs.350/-
ISBN: 81-8400-000-6
Its a story of Lala Banwari Lal (yes, its my name ;-) ) and family. They have migrated from Lahore to Karol Bagh, Delhi. Lala Banwari Lal runs a cloth shop here now. He has two sons, Yashpal and Pyare Lal. Both the sons help their father on shop and the family has a perfect balance. Everything goes smooth. The first dramatic event happens when Yashpal falls in love with a girl came to their shop to buy cloths. Sona! She belongs to a very ordinary family, not by far close to Banwari Lal's status. Yashpal anyhow convinces his parents for the marriage. Pyare Lal undergoes arranged marriage. Sona is very beautiful while Sushila (Pyare Lal's wife) is a girl with ordinary looks. Sona has a sister too, Rupa, she too is not as beautiful as Sona. There is a sister of these two brothers who is married in Bareily. Her terms with her husband are not pleasant and she dies in the starting of story. Her only child Vicky is brought back to Delhi and starts to live with Banwari Lals. Sona gives birth to her first offspring after ten years, Rupa is not fortunate enough for her entire life. Nisha comes in the Banwari Lals family. Sushila gives birth to two children, Ajay and Vijay, Asha (Vicky's wife) to one child and Sona to another child Raju. Problems arise when children grew and became adult. They started to dominate in decisions being taken for family, business and all.
As I told, story is that simple and realistic, it virtually fits to maximum middle-class Indian families. It shows reality of life of middle-class families. How girls dream about their future husband to be a smart, intelligent, worthy, caring, loving and all and what maximum of them get is entirely a different person. A girl who is beautiful that she deserves a prince gets a widower as her husband, on the other hand a girl who doesn't deserve even a common guy gets far more than she would have ever expected. Its the life. What you dream and you desire may not be realized in the real world or what was too good to be true becomes reality the next day.
Author's way of telling is very good, very amusing. Overall a good book. 7/10.
Book Details:
-------------
Home by Manju Kapoor,
Publication: Random House
Binding: Hardbound
Pages: 337
Price: Rs.350/-
ISBN: 81-8400-000-6
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Mrityunjay by Virendra Kumar Bhattacharya
I have a Gyanpith (Jnanpith!) book catalogue with me, so whenever I run out of books I choose a couple of books from it and buy them. I am choosing the books that have won Gyanpith or Murtidevi Award. I found this book in this catalogue only and I am very happy after choosing this book. Again, its Gyanpith awarded novel.
The novel was originally written in Assamese language but I read the Hindi translation. The novel's background is of 1920s when India was struggling to become free from English rule. The book depicts role of Assam in freedom fight. This is not a comprehensive book on freedom-fighting but covers merely one scene.
The scene is about derailing a train of military. Very limited characters came into the scene and tried to accomplish the task. Dhanpur, Roop Narayan, Bhibhiram, Gosai ji, Dimi, Shayikiya etc are the main characters. Among them Roop Narayan is the youngest and most intellectual guy. Dhanpur is very hard-working and straightforward person.
Story is written beautifully well. However I didn't read the original book but Hindi translation was flawless and enjoyed it. The book gave me a fair idea of assamese people and their way of living as well. Overall I liked the book very much.
Book details:
-------------
Mrityunjay (Assamese) ,
by Virendra Kumar Bhattacharya,
Pages: 264
Binding: Hardbound
Publication: Bhartiya Jnanpith
Price: Rs.145/-
ISBN:
The novel was originally written in Assamese language but I read the Hindi translation. The novel's background is of 1920s when India was struggling to become free from English rule. The book depicts role of Assam in freedom fight. This is not a comprehensive book on freedom-fighting but covers merely one scene.
The scene is about derailing a train of military. Very limited characters came into the scene and tried to accomplish the task. Dhanpur, Roop Narayan, Bhibhiram, Gosai ji, Dimi, Shayikiya etc are the main characters. Among them Roop Narayan is the youngest and most intellectual guy. Dhanpur is very hard-working and straightforward person.
Story is written beautifully well. However I didn't read the original book but Hindi translation was flawless and enjoyed it. The book gave me a fair idea of assamese people and their way of living as well. Overall I liked the book very much.
Book details:
-------------
Mrityunjay (Assamese) ,
by Virendra Kumar Bhattacharya,
Pages: 264
Binding: Hardbound
Publication: Bhartiya Jnanpith
Price: Rs.145/-
ISBN:
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Doctors by Erich Segal
Finished reading 'Doctors' by Erich Segal a couple of months back. I liked this novel like anything. It was recommended by my friend Neha Bansal from Chandigarh, thanks Neha. Though I am too late at reading Erich Segal's novel as every second person around seems to have read it long back. Not my fault, as I said I am new to reader's world but believe me its an amazing world, world of books. I am sort of obsessed with it, sorry, can't help it! :-)
I had read Erich Segal's 'Only Love', 'Love Story' and 'Man Woman and Child' before. They all were good but Doctors is a class work of Erich Segal. A very good novel on doctors' life. It seems that Mr. Segal must have done a lot of research on doctors before preparing his mind for it. He has used a lot of ultra-technical medical words that went above my head but still I could get every bit of the novel.
This novel is that great that it really doesn't need any review or something. Its a brand in itself, a masterpiece. A fabulous book, indeed. Lead characters are Barney Livingstone and Laura Castellano, friends of each other from childhood. Their friendship takes too many curves in the story but most of the time they kept connected to each other. They studied together in Harvard and became successful doctors. Barney became a Psychologist while Laura turned into a Paediatrician,.
Me. Segal has shown us a clear picture of this profession, he has covered every aspect of it. There are good doctors, bad doctors, scared doctors, Merci-killing doctors and so on. Doctors do need doctors and they need them very badly, I came to know this from this book only. General parents do take care of their kids but they are very far from the fears of doctors. Doctors seem to find every second decease in their kids/families. How hard it is for a paediatrician,to become a mother is shown in this book. 'Doctors' gave several examples how hard is it to become a doctor and live being a doctor.
An amazing book, I guess it must be the best work of Erich Segal.
Book details:
-------------
Doctors by Erich Segal,
Publication: Bantam Books,
Binding: Mass Paperback
Pages: 615
Price: Rs.250/-
I had read Erich Segal's 'Only Love', 'Love Story' and 'Man Woman and Child' before. They all were good but Doctors is a class work of Erich Segal. A very good novel on doctors' life. It seems that Mr. Segal must have done a lot of research on doctors before preparing his mind for it. He has used a lot of ultra-technical medical words that went above my head but still I could get every bit of the novel.
This novel is that great that it really doesn't need any review or something. Its a brand in itself, a masterpiece. A fabulous book, indeed. Lead characters are Barney Livingstone and Laura Castellano, friends of each other from childhood. Their friendship takes too many curves in the story but most of the time they kept connected to each other. They studied together in Harvard and became successful doctors. Barney became a Psychologist while Laura turned into a Paediatrician,.
Me. Segal has shown us a clear picture of this profession, he has covered every aspect of it. There are good doctors, bad doctors, scared doctors, Merci-killing doctors and so on. Doctors do need doctors and they need them very badly, I came to know this from this book only. General parents do take care of their kids but they are very far from the fears of doctors. Doctors seem to find every second decease in their kids/families. How hard it is for a paediatrician,to become a mother is shown in this book. 'Doctors' gave several examples how hard is it to become a doctor and live being a doctor.
An amazing book, I guess it must be the best work of Erich Segal.
Book details:
-------------
Doctors by Erich Segal,
Publication: Bantam Books,
Binding: Mass Paperback
Pages: 615
Price: Rs.250/-
Friday, July 07, 2006
Draupadi by Pratibha Ray
Finished Draupadi by Pratibha Ray this morning. A great book on a great character of Mahabharat, Draupadi! The novel is originally written in Oriya with as 'Yagyaseni', I read its Hindi translation. 'Draupadi' was awarded with Murtidevi Award (worth 51,000 rupees) of Bhartiya Jnanpith.
The central character of the novel (and the narrator) is Draupadi or Yagyaseni or Krishna or Panchali, the wife of five Pandavas. It was the first time I was reading a book written by a female author and narrator was a female as well. It was a entirely different but great experience. It gave me an insight of feelings of a woman. The second most effective character in the book is Lord Krishna.
Novel covers entire life of Draupadi, from birth to death. The novel starts with a letter written from Draupadi to Krishna and finishes when she finishes reading it. Almost complete Mahabharat is covered in the book and it was a great experience to read it through Draupadi's point of view. I noticed one thing special in the book that Ms. Ray hasn't described a single scene of war, even she has cut the Mahabharat war in a couple of pages.
Every time I read Hindu epics, they force me feel how great they are. Every character, story, everything is simply great and has something to learn. They seem to be ideal, just perfect in every aspect. It seems, nothing better is possible. Even the smallest characters seem to inspire thoughts. They make me think and wonder. Ms. Ray has written the book so beautifully that I was lost in thinking from the page one. I enjoyed every page of the book. Her explanations on various things were fantastic.
Special thing about the book was that Ms. Ray has emphasized on Draupadi's sacred love for Krishna I wasn't aware of this fact. Though Draupadi was wife of all five Pandavas but her love for Arjun was different. But it was quite unfortunate for her that she couldn't get some moments of peace with Arjun, so many dramatic events occurred in her life.
We can consider Draupadi as one of the most unfortunate women on this earth ever lived. She was produced from fire just to take revenge of her father. She loved Krishna and she was married with Arjun. When she prepared herself for Arjun, she became wife of five Pandavas. She kept waiting for Arjun for her entire life but he never came to him. She was insulted in front of thousands in Kaurav-sabha for no fault of her. Dushashan, who could never dare to touch her, abused her and not only touched her but also pulled her all the way by her hair to the sabha. When she became mother of five sons, she went to exile and couldn't love her sons, in the end of Mahabharat, her sons too were killed by Aswasthama. I guess, this is the worst a woman can have in her entire life.
Another interesting take on of Ms. Ray was her explanation of Draupadi's marriage to five Pandavas. In Mahabharat, it was told that Draupadi's marriage to all Pandavas was an accident. When all Pandavas came to Kunti after winning Draupadi in Swayamvar, Yudhisthar informed her mother that they have got something special today. Kunti ordered, 'share it all of you'. Ms. Ray has explained the same as: Kunti already knew that Pandavas have gone in the Swayamvar to win Draupadi. When they came back, Yudhishthar intentionally told Kunti that 'we have got something special today' while he could say 'Maa, Arjun has got bride for you' or something. Further as per the plan, Kunti ordered him to share it.
Reason for this peculiar and unfortunate drama was the fact that every single Pandav desired Draupadi as their wife because of she was an extreme beauty. If Draupadi was wife of just Arjun, it was possible that all Pandavas ended up fighting with one another for Draupadi. Since they had to do fight for Dharm, it was necessary to keep them united. Hence Krishna planned this all along with Kunti and Yudhisthar. However it was a great strategy for Dharm-sake but it was unfortunate for Draupadi.
I liked the book like anything and give it full marks. I would like to thank my EI friend Pushpak Karnik for writing a wonderful review of the same book which made me read this book.
Book Details:
-------------
Draupadi by Pratibha Ray,
ISBN:
Publisher: Rajpal & Sons
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 268
Price: Rs.95/-
The central character of the novel (and the narrator) is Draupadi or Yagyaseni or Krishna or Panchali, the wife of five Pandavas. It was the first time I was reading a book written by a female author and narrator was a female as well. It was a entirely different but great experience. It gave me an insight of feelings of a woman. The second most effective character in the book is Lord Krishna.
Novel covers entire life of Draupadi, from birth to death. The novel starts with a letter written from Draupadi to Krishna and finishes when she finishes reading it. Almost complete Mahabharat is covered in the book and it was a great experience to read it through Draupadi's point of view. I noticed one thing special in the book that Ms. Ray hasn't described a single scene of war, even she has cut the Mahabharat war in a couple of pages.
Every time I read Hindu epics, they force me feel how great they are. Every character, story, everything is simply great and has something to learn. They seem to be ideal, just perfect in every aspect. It seems, nothing better is possible. Even the smallest characters seem to inspire thoughts. They make me think and wonder. Ms. Ray has written the book so beautifully that I was lost in thinking from the page one. I enjoyed every page of the book. Her explanations on various things were fantastic.
Special thing about the book was that Ms. Ray has emphasized on Draupadi's sacred love for Krishna I wasn't aware of this fact. Though Draupadi was wife of all five Pandavas but her love for Arjun was different. But it was quite unfortunate for her that she couldn't get some moments of peace with Arjun, so many dramatic events occurred in her life.
We can consider Draupadi as one of the most unfortunate women on this earth ever lived. She was produced from fire just to take revenge of her father. She loved Krishna and she was married with Arjun. When she prepared herself for Arjun, she became wife of five Pandavas. She kept waiting for Arjun for her entire life but he never came to him. She was insulted in front of thousands in Kaurav-sabha for no fault of her. Dushashan, who could never dare to touch her, abused her and not only touched her but also pulled her all the way by her hair to the sabha. When she became mother of five sons, she went to exile and couldn't love her sons, in the end of Mahabharat, her sons too were killed by Aswasthama. I guess, this is the worst a woman can have in her entire life.
Another interesting take on of Ms. Ray was her explanation of Draupadi's marriage to five Pandavas. In Mahabharat, it was told that Draupadi's marriage to all Pandavas was an accident. When all Pandavas came to Kunti after winning Draupadi in Swayamvar, Yudhisthar informed her mother that they have got something special today. Kunti ordered, 'share it all of you'. Ms. Ray has explained the same as: Kunti already knew that Pandavas have gone in the Swayamvar to win Draupadi. When they came back, Yudhishthar intentionally told Kunti that 'we have got something special today' while he could say 'Maa, Arjun has got bride for you' or something. Further as per the plan, Kunti ordered him to share it.
Reason for this peculiar and unfortunate drama was the fact that every single Pandav desired Draupadi as their wife because of she was an extreme beauty. If Draupadi was wife of just Arjun, it was possible that all Pandavas ended up fighting with one another for Draupadi. Since they had to do fight for Dharm, it was necessary to keep them united. Hence Krishna planned this all along with Kunti and Yudhisthar. However it was a great strategy for Dharm-sake but it was unfortunate for Draupadi.
I liked the book like anything and give it full marks. I would like to thank my EI friend Pushpak Karnik for writing a wonderful review of the same book which made me read this book.
Book Details:
-------------
Draupadi by Pratibha Ray,
ISBN:
Publisher: Rajpal & Sons
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 268
Price: Rs.95/-
Saturday, June 24, 2006
One Night @ The Call Center by Chetan Bhagat
I have read 'Five Point Someone' of Mr. Bhagat too, I liked the book. I don't say Five Point was a great book but it was above average effort from a debut author. I was expecting 'One Night @ The Call Center' something better from Chetan Bhagat but what all I got was disappointment. Sorry, its not Chetan's better work.
When I started reading the book, I was taken aback by the prologue only, what a drama! However epilogue was even more dramatic than the prologue and the story itself. In first 50 pages or so, I started to think it might be my third book that I am not going to finish (first was 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' and second 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari'). But since the book started to evolve as a bollywood drama and some characters started to seem interesting, I could finish it comfortably at last.
At times Chetan gives a feeling of very professional, researched writing, and at other times, he hasn't given a thought on what he is writing! For example, Chetan thanks Bill Gates for the wonderful software MS Word in the acknowledgements. He tells he is fond of this MS Word, and we will know the reason in the book. I was so curious, what the hell is special in MS Word. In the story, Chetan points to rand() function and calls it as a bug. I am not a supporter of Microsoft but Mr. Bhagat it isn't a bug at all, its a function provided by Word to insert random text in the document.
Chetan Bhagat tells, he is writing this book to depict the life of youths at Call Center, but in essence I find it a life of maximum Indian youth and none at the same time. It has nothing to do with Call Center! 'What genre in fiction this book is?' was the question I was unable to answer until I finished the book. Even after finishing the book, I couldn't find the answer but was sure that book will be a success due to its low price and the hot content. Hot! Yes, he has presented the complete 'masala' for youths. Lead characters drink, undergo sex and use abuses extensively. I was considering 'Pulp Fiction' as movies with most abuses, this book is no less.
I liked few things about book. Agent Vroom was very good. Priyanka was good at a few times especially her restaurant-CBI-lady scene was too good. 'Military uncle' character was good as well. I liked the speech Vroom made at loud-speaker very much. And last but not least, Vroom's hatred for advertisements. I almost laugh whenever I see some person smiling or laughing in a hoarding advertisement. I liked the term 'black piss' for cold-drinks. ;-)
Overall, a below average book. 2/5.
Book Details:
-------------
One Night @ The Call Center by Chetan Bhagat,
ISBN: 8129108186
Publisher: Rupa and Co.
Pages: 280 odd
Price: Rs.95/-
When I started reading the book, I was taken aback by the prologue only, what a drama! However epilogue was even more dramatic than the prologue and the story itself. In first 50 pages or so, I started to think it might be my third book that I am not going to finish (first was 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' and second 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari'). But since the book started to evolve as a bollywood drama and some characters started to seem interesting, I could finish it comfortably at last.At times Chetan gives a feeling of very professional, researched writing, and at other times, he hasn't given a thought on what he is writing! For example, Chetan thanks Bill Gates for the wonderful software MS Word in the acknowledgements. He tells he is fond of this MS Word, and we will know the reason in the book. I was so curious, what the hell is special in MS Word. In the story, Chetan points to rand() function and calls it as a bug. I am not a supporter of Microsoft but Mr. Bhagat it isn't a bug at all, its a function provided by Word to insert random text in the document.
Chetan Bhagat tells, he is writing this book to depict the life of youths at Call Center, but in essence I find it a life of maximum Indian youth and none at the same time. It has nothing to do with Call Center! 'What genre in fiction this book is?' was the question I was unable to answer until I finished the book. Even after finishing the book, I couldn't find the answer but was sure that book will be a success due to its low price and the hot content. Hot! Yes, he has presented the complete 'masala' for youths. Lead characters drink, undergo sex and use abuses extensively. I was considering 'Pulp Fiction' as movies with most abuses, this book is no less.
I liked few things about book. Agent Vroom was very good. Priyanka was good at a few times especially her restaurant-CBI-lady scene was too good. 'Military uncle' character was good as well. I liked the speech Vroom made at loud-speaker very much. And last but not least, Vroom's hatred for advertisements. I almost laugh whenever I see some person smiling or laughing in a hoarding advertisement. I liked the term 'black piss' for cold-drinks. ;-)
Overall, a below average book. 2/5.
Book Details:
-------------
One Night @ The Call Center by Chetan Bhagat,
ISBN: 8129108186
Publisher: Rupa and Co.
Pages: 280 odd
Price: Rs.95/-
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Gunahon Ka Devta by Dharamveer Bharati
I bought this hardbound from Bhopal Book Fair, yes, along with Muktidoot and Kshama Karna Jiji. This novel too is from Bhartiya Jnanpith, no doubt this publication possesses real diamonds.
This is one of the best love stories I have ever heard or watched in movies. Truly amazing story with no flaws. When I first saw the book at the shop, the title 'Gunahon Ka Devta' seemed somewhat awkward to me, felt like it is a title of some C-grade Indian movie. I didn't purchase the book and came back, googled for Dharamveer Bharati and found this novel and 'Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda' on top. I heard about the later novel, more precisely, I had watched the movie with same title. The other day, I bought the book's hardbound edition.
Every character is depicted in a way that you start feeling them from the page one of the book. Not too many characters to remember either. Sudha, Chandar, Binti, Dr. Sahib, Dadi of Binti, Gesu and a couple of others, that's it! If I tell you the story, you might say "what's new? It seems that I have listened it earlier!" But my friend, think, this novel was written in 1948 by Dr. Bharati, almost 6 decades ago. You can consider this novel basis for a number of bollywood movies.
This is the story of Sudha and Chandar, two youngsters living under same roof of Dr. Sahib. Sudha is daughter of Dr. sahib and Chandar is a poor-fellow, who is quite intelligent and co-operative. He helps Dr. Sahib in his college work. Dr. Sahib is that impressed with him that he asked him to live with him only. Story is quite straightforward, as it seems! Sudha and Chandar start to love each other, wait, this is not the love of Hindi films, it was sacred love! Sudha was more devoted than Chandar, maybe, Chandar's stand was the problem. He lived in Sudha's father's house and he didn't want to prove Dr. sahib wrong. Dr. sahib had had a great faith in Chandar and Chandar didn't betrayed!
I don't want to go ahead with the story any further...
I don't have words for expressing innocence of Sudha. I can tell you for sure that if there were to be made a film on Gunahon Ka Devta storyline, it could become almost impossible to depict the character of Sudha on the screen. I can't say about actresses of yore but today, I don't find a single actress with that caliber.
This is a must read for everyone out there. Read the novel and you will keep blessing me for your entire life. I give the novel full marks. One of my favourite book...
Book Details:
Gunahon Ka Devta by Dharamveer Bharati
Pages: 248 (Hardbound)
Price Rs.110
Publication: Bhartiya Jnanpith
URL: http://www.jnanpith.net/book_catalogue/detail.asp?id=993
This is one of the best love stories I have ever heard or watched in movies. Truly amazing story with no flaws. When I first saw the book at the shop, the title 'Gunahon Ka Devta' seemed somewhat awkward to me, felt like it is a title of some C-grade Indian movie. I didn't purchase the book and came back, googled for Dharamveer Bharati and found this novel and 'Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda' on top. I heard about the later novel, more precisely, I had watched the movie with same title. The other day, I bought the book's hardbound edition.
Every character is depicted in a way that you start feeling them from the page one of the book. Not too many characters to remember either. Sudha, Chandar, Binti, Dr. Sahib, Dadi of Binti, Gesu and a couple of others, that's it! If I tell you the story, you might say "what's new? It seems that I have listened it earlier!" But my friend, think, this novel was written in 1948 by Dr. Bharati, almost 6 decades ago. You can consider this novel basis for a number of bollywood movies.
This is the story of Sudha and Chandar, two youngsters living under same roof of Dr. Sahib. Sudha is daughter of Dr. sahib and Chandar is a poor-fellow, who is quite intelligent and co-operative. He helps Dr. Sahib in his college work. Dr. Sahib is that impressed with him that he asked him to live with him only. Story is quite straightforward, as it seems! Sudha and Chandar start to love each other, wait, this is not the love of Hindi films, it was sacred love! Sudha was more devoted than Chandar, maybe, Chandar's stand was the problem. He lived in Sudha's father's house and he didn't want to prove Dr. sahib wrong. Dr. sahib had had a great faith in Chandar and Chandar didn't betrayed!
I don't want to go ahead with the story any further...
I don't have words for expressing innocence of Sudha. I can tell you for sure that if there were to be made a film on Gunahon Ka Devta storyline, it could become almost impossible to depict the character of Sudha on the screen. I can't say about actresses of yore but today, I don't find a single actress with that caliber.
This is a must read for everyone out there. Read the novel and you will keep blessing me for your entire life. I give the novel full marks. One of my favourite book...
Book Details:
Gunahon Ka Devta by Dharamveer Bharati
Pages: 248 (Hardbound)
Price Rs.110
Publication: Bhartiya Jnanpith
URL: http://www.jnanpith.net/book_catalogue/detail.asp?id=993
Vayam Rakshamah by Acharya Chatursen Shashtri
Few months back Mr. Mohit Dubey (My boss) asked me to read a book 'वयम् रक्षामः(Vayam Rakshamah)' by Acharya Chatursen Shashtri. I was eager to read the book as Mr. Dubey highly recommended it. I asked Priya didi (Mohit sir's wife) for the book and she immediately handed it to me. Thank you very much didi :-)
I had very high expectations from the book as I always admire mohit sir's recomendations. Without knowing the fact that what is this novel all about, I started reading it and believe me I wasn't disappointed a bit. I remember very well that with very high expectations, I couldn't appreciate even Sholay very much while the movie is a milestone in indian film industry, you know that!
This book solely concentrate on Ravan, yes the Ramayan Villain! Started reading it as a fictional novel and ended up realizing that it is an Epic. The way of story-telling is good and entirely different. There is too much voilence, let me correct, blunt voilence! but still I liked the way of presentation. In first 50 pages or so, Shashtri Ji tried to connect the virtual terminologies of Ramayana to the places on this earth. Let me explain, he said the Baikunth or heaven is nothing but a place in ancient Iran or Persia, the Paradise Mountain! The Nark or hell too situated in Persia itself, Australia's ancient name was Andhra Pradesh!!! However it is hard to digest all this (I don't say, Impossible!), but still this seems better than the Bakunth and the Nark itself. I don't know whether the facts covered in this book about India, Ravan or any Aryas are correct or are just an imagination, but I really liked those. So many doubts in my mind about Hinduism, India etc seem to have some base now :-)
I googled for this book then but couldn't get enough satisfying results. There was no review available at all. I immediately thought of reviewing it. Firstly I sent its ultra-small review to Mr. Ashok Banker (great writer, retelling our epics) in the Epic India mailing list. I didn't have a blog then to write :(
This book was written in 1955 and the writer claimed to have written as many as 136 books before but I can't find any satisfying results for him either! Now since I had read this book, I purchased his another renowned book, Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu. Rajeev is reading that at the moment. :-)
I am attaching the complete details of the book. Anyone interested can read it. The book is in Hindi but a huge vocab of Sanskrit is used. Sometimes it becomes very hard to understand the meanings :-) Writer passed few (1 or 2) chapters writing in Sanskrit only, then explaining in the next chapter.
Overall was a good read. I must say the book seems controversial and may not be widely accepted. This is one of the book, either you love it or hate it. 7/10. :-)
वयम् रक्षामः(Vayam Rakshamah)
By: Acharya Chatursen Shashtri,
ISBN: 81-216-0877-7,
Pages: 500 (Complete Edition)
AHW HPB Hindi Series,
Publisher: Hind Pocket Books
Price: 125/-
I had very high expectations from the book as I always admire mohit sir's recomendations. Without knowing the fact that what is this novel all about, I started reading it and believe me I wasn't disappointed a bit. I remember very well that with very high expectations, I couldn't appreciate even Sholay very much while the movie is a milestone in indian film industry, you know that!
This book solely concentrate on Ravan, yes the Ramayan Villain! Started reading it as a fictional novel and ended up realizing that it is an Epic. The way of story-telling is good and entirely different. There is too much voilence, let me correct, blunt voilence! but still I liked the way of presentation. In first 50 pages or so, Shashtri Ji tried to connect the virtual terminologies of Ramayana to the places on this earth. Let me explain, he said the Baikunth or heaven is nothing but a place in ancient Iran or Persia, the Paradise Mountain! The Nark or hell too situated in Persia itself, Australia's ancient name was Andhra Pradesh!!! However it is hard to digest all this (I don't say, Impossible!), but still this seems better than the Bakunth and the Nark itself. I don't know whether the facts covered in this book about India, Ravan or any Aryas are correct or are just an imagination, but I really liked those. So many doubts in my mind about Hinduism, India etc seem to have some base now :-)
I googled for this book then but couldn't get enough satisfying results. There was no review available at all. I immediately thought of reviewing it. Firstly I sent its ultra-small review to Mr. Ashok Banker (great writer, retelling our epics) in the Epic India mailing list. I didn't have a blog then to write :(
This book was written in 1955 and the writer claimed to have written as many as 136 books before but I can't find any satisfying results for him either! Now since I had read this book, I purchased his another renowned book, Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu. Rajeev is reading that at the moment. :-)
I am attaching the complete details of the book. Anyone interested can read it. The book is in Hindi but a huge vocab of Sanskrit is used. Sometimes it becomes very hard to understand the meanings :-) Writer passed few (1 or 2) chapters writing in Sanskrit only, then explaining in the next chapter.
Overall was a good read. I must say the book seems controversial and may not be widely accepted. This is one of the book, either you love it or hate it. 7/10. :-)
वयम् रक्षामः(Vayam Rakshamah)
By: Acharya Chatursen Shashtri,
ISBN: 81-216-0877-7,
Pages: 500 (Complete Edition)
AHW HPB Hindi Series,
Publisher: Hind Pocket Books
Price: 125/-
Muktidoot by Virendra Kumar Jain
In Bhopal book fair, past month, I stopped at Bhartiya Gyanpeeth stall to buy books. I decided to buy at least three books, I had no problem in buying two books, Kshama Karna Jiji (Narendra Kohli) and Gunahon Ka Devta (Dharamvir Bharati) but I was finding it hard to choose third one. I went to Rajeev and told the situation, he said in his usual manner, 'Why third one? Two are enough, we already many un-read at home!'. Now the condition was worse, I had to choose a third one even faster! I went back to stall and chose a random book, titled 'Muktidoot'. There was no criteria for choosing it, the only thing I could notice about it was a small note on top right corner of front-cover, saying 'Murtidevi Award Winner'
While reading the prologue, I came to know that the book is a love story of some Pavananjaya and Anjana and the story is about 2,500 years old. Name 'Anjana' and 'Pavananjaya' seemed to be known, listened! Hanuman's parents??? God knows! Anyways, I started to read it...
Despite of reading 50 pages, I couldn't get into the book. The story was written in very good Hindi, very good Hindi indeed! A native-hindi speaker had to understand the meanings! But the story was going smooth.
When I finished the book, I realized, whatever I has just finished reading, was awesome. I was really amazed at the story and the way of telling it. Virendra Kumar Jain must have been a master of Hindi.
Yes, the story is about Hanuman's parents. What a great love story, indeed! The novel was written back in 1947 and was lost until 1973. Now its considered to be a milestone in Hindi literature. I remember the moment, I was going to buy it thinking maybe its going to be a wrong decision. No regrets! Was a wonderful read. The story is great and informative. I didn't know too much about our great Hanuman Ji's parents. :-)
Highly recommend it. 9/10.
book details:
Muktidoot by Virendra Kumar Jain,
248 pages, paperback, Rs.75/-
Bhartiya Jnanpith, New Delhi
Kshama Karna Jiji by Narendra Kohli
I bought this 100-odd-pages-long Jnanpith-Paperback from 2005 Bhopal National Book Fair. I had heard about Dr. Narendra Kohli before and just wanted to read any of his book. I think smaller book is always better to start with, so I just grabbed it.
This novel tells story of a very common, middle-class, Indian family. The central character is 'Nirmala' (also called Guddi). The narrator is Vineet, younger brother of Nirmala. Vineet calls her Jiji(elder sister). Story of the novel is that simple and realistic that any medium-class person can feel it happening around.
'Kshama Karna Jiji' is all about caring, love, respect, responsibilities and commitments for relations, family. We all try to give our cent-percent to our families but still we miss something very important and we don't even realize it until its too late to do anything. Then remains - regret and sorry! In relations, sometimes we take things for granted. This tendency makes things worst.
Mr. Kohli has tried to depict this feeling. Vineet gave his hundred-percent to his jiji, tried to make her happy, whenever she needed it. She was the sister of five brothers, all of them loved her, she too loved all her brothers but Vineet was her most-loved-brother, he too really cared about her, but still he couldn't help her when she desperately needed it. Why Vineet had to say 'Kshama Karna Jiji' is well told.
This is the only book, I have finished in one sitting. Reading this book was as same as reading a story of our street. So real, indeed! I was watching 'Magnolia' last Sunday, while I felt, this is not the story that any Indian can feel. I can't imagine any Indian literally abusing his/her father but I can imagine someone dying to help her sister who is married for 10 years. After finishing this book, I couldn't stop myself to feel like crying.
Overall, the book was a good read. Dr. Narendra Kohli wrote it very well and I am bound to read his other great works.
Complete Book Details:
Kshama Karna Jiji (Hindi Novel)
by Narendra Kohli
ISBN: 81-263-1079-0
Publisher: Bhartiya Jnanpith
Pages: 108
Binding: Paperback
Price: Rs.35/-
Book URL: http://jnanpith.net/book_catalogue/detail.asp?id=1468
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