A fellow-Ambahite sent a mail in Ambah group a couple of days back. The mail contained something very special, well to me and every person belonging to Ambah or Chambal. The mail had a few Tesu and Jhainji songs written in Devnagiri script. All original bundelkhandi/brij dialect ones. Those songs and much more is composed by Mr. Mushtaq Khan and is available at this URL. All the stuff is in Hindi/Bundelkhandi language/dialect.
A quick overview of Tesu and Jhianji: As the Deshahra/Vijay Dashmi finishes, Chambal starts to celebrate a very interesting ceremony. Almost every chambal family takes part in this ceremony but at individual level. At least one boy (5-15 years age) in the family buys a Tesu ( a three-leg statue, resembles a king/prince) and girl (of similar age group) buys a Jhainji (a pot made of mud, resembles a queen/princess). Now boys and girls roam in streets in groups, singing Tesu-Jhainji songs. They go to every door-step and ask for money (usually 25 paisa to 1 rupee). This goes on till Sharad Purnima (15 days prior to Diwali). On Sharad Purnima, the Tesu and Jhainji's marriage takes place. It's just like normal marriage. All major events take place in this marriage. Even a pandit is hired to perform the pooja. I had performed pooja in a few such marriages and could be able to get some 15-16 rupees ;~) Parents of the children too participate in this and enjoy the event. After marriage, Tesus and Jhainjis are broken by hitting hard on floor. Crackers, sweets, songs are all around to celebrate this mega-event.
Well, I should have described all this in past tense as nothing happens now. Chambal is modern now, unfortunately! Trust me, Sharad Purnima used to be a bigger festival than Diwali at my place. It's all over now. Thanks to technology for providing TV, CD players, mobile games...
Anyways, I don't know Mr. Mushtaq Khan but I sincerely thank him for making so much efforts for us. And yes, I am thankful to Deepak as well to bring up such a great thing.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
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.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
'The Wanderer Thinks' shifted to my own website
Happy News! 'The Wanderer Thinks' has got a new address: www.BanwariLalSharma.com/Blog/. :) Site doesn't have anything apart from this blog as of now, I will try to upload a few pages in a while.
Well, if you have been redirected from http://banwarilal.blogspot.com, then I am sorry for the inconvenience. The information you are looking for, can be found in the archives. Notice the URL you clicked on, there is a date format e.g. /2007/04/. It says this post was written in 04 i.e. April of 2007. Browse relevant month to read the post. :-)
Well, if you have been redirected from http://banwarilal.blogspot.com, then I am sorry for the inconvenience. The information you are looking for, can be found in the archives. Notice the URL you clicked on, there is a date format e.g. /2007/04/. It says this post was written in 04 i.e. April of 2007. Browse relevant month to read the post. :-)
Monday, March 12, 2007
A bad day...
A bad day began when I left to office without breakfast. It was hardly one hour in office when I burnt motherboard of Rajeev's machine. While coming from hardware shop, tyre of bike got punctured! Got a repair shop around and got the tyre repaired for 40 rupees. Yes, fourty rupees for a puncture-repair! Just 400% costlier than Bhopal. It wasn't enough, I felt worst when I saw a Palio S10 in this condition...
Luckily, day didn't end this way. Got news that Arun sir's marriage has fixed. Had a quick party, took two samosas and one-and-half glass of Pepsi. :-)
Luckily, day didn't end this way. Got news that Arun sir's marriage has fixed. Had a quick party, took two samosas and one-and-half glass of Pepsi. :-)
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
My sweet Bhopal and its sweeter Bhopali language
A few days ago, Mohit sir asked me to search 'Bhopali Bakar' in wikipedia. Though I am very much comfortable with the meaning of the term, I was wondering what will it come up with. Searched and found a page with Bhopali Bakar title. Went through it and found myself laughing like anything. I had been in Bhopal for around seven years and I enjoyed this special Bhopali-style language a lot then. This page just reminded me old sweet days. Thought of sharing the same...
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Maniratnam is the Guru
Watched Guru last Sunday. Though I have a lot to say but considering that fact that I am at work and that too it's morning, I am keeping it short.
What an acting! What a direction, cinematography, music! What a movie! Maniratnam, A. R. Rahman, Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun Chakravarty... Everything is so good about the movie. A big thumbs-up to junior Bachchan and Mithun Da for their class-leading acting. I think, it's time for Mithun Da to do second-round of mind-blowing acting.
Indian cinema is growing and growing like anything. So many great movies in such a short span... Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Dor and now Guru! It seems every new movie I am watching now is making an entry in my all-time-favourite list.
I watched Guru in R Adlabs, Mulund. Happened to visit Nirmal Lifestyle too. Apart from the great movie, what amused me most was this dance event for children at Nirmal Lifestyle. Despite of the fact that photography is strictly prohibited there, I managed to click a quick snap there. :-)
What an acting! What a direction, cinematography, music! What a movie! Maniratnam, A. R. Rahman, Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun Chakravarty... Everything is so good about the movie. A big thumbs-up to junior Bachchan and Mithun Da for their class-leading acting. I think, it's time for Mithun Da to do second-round of mind-blowing acting.
Indian cinema is growing and growing like anything. So many great movies in such a short span... Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Dor and now Guru! It seems every new movie I am watching now is making an entry in my all-time-favourite list.
I watched Guru in R Adlabs, Mulund. Happened to visit Nirmal Lifestyle too. Apart from the great movie, what amused me most was this dance event for children at Nirmal Lifestyle. Despite of the fact that photography is strictly prohibited there, I managed to click a quick snap there. :-)
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Is it Modernization or Westernization?
I and Rajeev were standing on a tea-stall behind our office. It's almost a routine for me and Rajeev to visit the tea-stall at least twice-thrice a day, no matter how many teas we have in office in a day. ;-)
There is a private college with some Tilak... name. I am not sure about the courses offered by the college, but I saw MBA/MCA written below college's name on a wall nearby. Every-time I go there and see the students, I find myself thinking unnecessarily. There is always a debate going on in my mind. Topic? Westernization vs Modernization! Every student has got something different as far as looks and outfits are concerned. Take example of their pants, they wear pants those are so bizarre in looks, it seems they haven't washed them for months. They are so low at waist, it seems they can fall anytime. Underwear are apparently visible and if they bow in front direction by 30-40 degrees, you can consider yourself one of the people who got a chance to see private parts of this gentleman/lady!
One young gentleman was shouting abuses at someone on phone. His opposite-sex batch-mates were standing very close to him and were giggling all the way. This guy was center of attraction for everybody passing by. I would rate those abuses below C-grade, only a sadak-chhap drunk moron can abuse this way. We Indians use incestuous abuses and we (men) can digest them but the abuses seemed alien to me, felt like approaching the guy and slap very hard. The only thing I could think was, 'These are under-graduate students. Future of India! What happened to their manners?'
Suddenly, many questions seemed to blow up my mind! Is abusing aloud a sign of being contemporary? Wearing highly obscene/vulgar clothes a symbol of being modern? Are they modern? Or are they going Western? Or are words Modern and Western synonyms? One part of my mind says, Banwari, beta, you are too much traditional to digest this. You have come from a very small place and these young fellows have been living in the fastest Indian city for their entire life, and this makes a difference. But another part of my mind is not able to accept it and keeps me bugging, always. It says, 'Mumbai is going towards Westernization, not Modernization!' :-)
There is a private college with some Tilak... name. I am not sure about the courses offered by the college, but I saw MBA/MCA written below college's name on a wall nearby. Every-time I go there and see the students, I find myself thinking unnecessarily. There is always a debate going on in my mind. Topic? Westernization vs Modernization! Every student has got something different as far as looks and outfits are concerned. Take example of their pants, they wear pants those are so bizarre in looks, it seems they haven't washed them for months. They are so low at waist, it seems they can fall anytime. Underwear are apparently visible and if they bow in front direction by 30-40 degrees, you can consider yourself one of the people who got a chance to see private parts of this gentleman/lady!
One young gentleman was shouting abuses at someone on phone. His opposite-sex batch-mates were standing very close to him and were giggling all the way. This guy was center of attraction for everybody passing by. I would rate those abuses below C-grade, only a sadak-chhap drunk moron can abuse this way. We Indians use incestuous abuses and we (men) can digest them but the abuses seemed alien to me, felt like approaching the guy and slap very hard. The only thing I could think was, 'These are under-graduate students. Future of India! What happened to their manners?'
Suddenly, many questions seemed to blow up my mind! Is abusing aloud a sign of being contemporary? Wearing highly obscene/vulgar clothes a symbol of being modern? Are they modern? Or are they going Western? Or are words Modern and Western synonyms? One part of my mind says, Banwari, beta, you are too much traditional to digest this. You have come from a very small place and these young fellows have been living in the fastest Indian city for their entire life, and this makes a difference. But another part of my mind is not able to accept it and keeps me bugging, always. It says, 'Mumbai is going towards Westernization, not Modernization!' :-)
Thursday, January 18, 2007
New Year, New Resolutions... New Blogger!
Another year passed finally and I am in 2007! Unlike every other year passed, this time I have set some goals for myself. There are some new year resolutions. Most of them are very much personal and I don't want to bore anybody with my personal life. One resolution I can talk about here is 'I will try to blog more. At least 5 posts per month.' Well, I seem to fail at this resolution of mine. 17 days have passed and it's first post of the year. Blogger has come out of Beta stage and have provided some new cool features (still figuring out, what are those?).
I have many expectations from 2007 and myself. Will have to try hard to live up my own expectations. So, 2007... I'm coming. :-)
I have many expectations from 2007 and myself. Will have to try hard to live up my own expectations. So, 2007... I'm coming. :-)
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Chiken Munia: An epidemic or fantasy?
I visited my home-town (Ambah, Morena district, M.P. India) during Diwali festival and found something strange there. The instant I entered my home I came to know that almost every member of my family has pain in their hands, legs/feet. They had fever too just a few days back which vanished over time. My mother, who was on bed told me that we are not the only victims of this strange disease but entire district is struggling. My father added that not only Morena but people in almost 500kms range are suffering. He concluded that its Chiken Munia, an EPIDEMIC!
Chiken Munia starts with very high temperature and ends up leaving pain and swelling in hands/legs which seems never-lasting. There was no medicine available in the market for the disease, doctors were recommending people to have good rest and patience. They said, it will go on its own. However, no one could believe them and people were taking pain-killers, injections in order to reduce the pain. I saw my mother's right hand which she could barely use for any work in last couple of weeks. She took injections on alternate days but in vain. Visited a few friends/neighbors and realized that almost every Ambahite is suffering or at least have suffered! In nutshell, none at Ambah seemed 100% fit, doesn't matter how good or bad at finance s/he was. When I went to Bhopal (which is 450 kms far from Ambah), Auntie told me that she too had suffered from Chiken Munia and still have some pain in hands.
I was wondering what Indian government, doctors did in this regard. There was no medical camp held, no special medicines provided, no precautions aired, virtually nothing happened. It seemed that there is no disease/epidemic named Chiken Munia. My brother took me back to reality, reality of Indian government, Indian politics. He told that there was some statement in newspapers/TV by some health minister that "Chiken Munia is no epidemic. Its merely a fantasy which is originated in idle minds in order to create some buzz around." I couldn't stop myself from smiling at my brother's declaration and thought, 'Wah minister sahib, how true you are!'
Chiken Munia starts with very high temperature and ends up leaving pain and swelling in hands/legs which seems never-lasting. There was no medicine available in the market for the disease, doctors were recommending people to have good rest and patience. They said, it will go on its own. However, no one could believe them and people were taking pain-killers, injections in order to reduce the pain. I saw my mother's right hand which she could barely use for any work in last couple of weeks. She took injections on alternate days but in vain. Visited a few friends/neighbors and realized that almost every Ambahite is suffering or at least have suffered! In nutshell, none at Ambah seemed 100% fit, doesn't matter how good or bad at finance s/he was. When I went to Bhopal (which is 450 kms far from Ambah), Auntie told me that she too had suffered from Chiken Munia and still have some pain in hands.
I was wondering what Indian government, doctors did in this regard. There was no medical camp held, no special medicines provided, no precautions aired, virtually nothing happened. It seemed that there is no disease/epidemic named Chiken Munia. My brother took me back to reality, reality of Indian government, Indian politics. He told that there was some statement in newspapers/TV by some health minister that "Chiken Munia is no epidemic. Its merely a fantasy which is originated in idle minds in order to create some buzz around." I couldn't stop myself from smiling at my brother's declaration and thought, 'Wah minister sahib, how true you are!'
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.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Chambal-Division - Yesterday and Today; Myth and Reality
Apart from writing book-reviews and other minor-major things, I am seriously considering writing on Chambal-division now on. (If you are new to the term Chambal then hold on, I will be explaining it in next two paragraphs.) I simply love this place. No, its not pure chauvinism. I agree that I belong to this place and its quite inevitable that I love this place but there are many other solid reasons for loving it.
If you have gone through my profile, homepage and some previous posts you might have well realized that I belong to a very small place Ambah which is there in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. Despite of the fact that my native place Ambah and its surroundings are wonderful places to live in, irony is that they are highly notorious in India. They are considered to be Bihar of Madhya Pradesh. (people from Bihar should not get offended here as they share the same fundamentals that these places I am talking about have.) My objective of writing about Chambal is to make people aware with the realities of these places. I have a lot to tell and I want to tell it aloud so that every single person who have heard about Bhind, Morena, Ambah should realize that these are not those places they have been reading or listening about. They are quite simple, normal and friendly places like the ones you are living in.
If you have been interested in Indian Civil Services or any GK-based exam, or like to read newspaper or have watched old Indian daku (Dacoit) movies then you must be well aware with Chambal ghati, Chambal beeharh and or Bhind-Morena. Yes, I am from same notorious place that you have worst thoughts about. What you have been told by media, movies and all is a bit different than what I will be telling you. If it surprises you or you need further clarification of anything, please do let me know, I will try my level best to come up with a solution.
Its just a preface, I have a lot to talk about, like people, place, agricultural status, education, dowry system, caste system, poverty, festivals, revenges, disputes, killing, and every other thing that I know and you should know too. Will begin with it very shortly.
If you have gone through my profile, homepage and some previous posts you might have well realized that I belong to a very small place Ambah which is there in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. Despite of the fact that my native place Ambah and its surroundings are wonderful places to live in, irony is that they are highly notorious in India. They are considered to be Bihar of Madhya Pradesh. (people from Bihar should not get offended here as they share the same fundamentals that these places I am talking about have.) My objective of writing about Chambal is to make people aware with the realities of these places. I have a lot to tell and I want to tell it aloud so that every single person who have heard about Bhind, Morena, Ambah should realize that these are not those places they have been reading or listening about. They are quite simple, normal and friendly places like the ones you are living in.
If you have been interested in Indian Civil Services or any GK-based exam, or like to read newspaper or have watched old Indian daku (Dacoit) movies then you must be well aware with Chambal ghati, Chambal beeharh and or Bhind-Morena. Yes, I am from same notorious place that you have worst thoughts about. What you have been told by media, movies and all is a bit different than what I will be telling you. If it surprises you or you need further clarification of anything, please do let me know, I will try my level best to come up with a solution.
Its just a preface, I have a lot to talk about, like people, place, agricultural status, education, dowry system, caste system, poverty, festivals, revenges, disputes, killing, and every other thing that I know and you should know too. Will begin with it very shortly.
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:
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
How my worst nightmares become reality
I personally believe that one's worst nightmares become reality sooner than one expects. It happens with very often. Whatever I considered to be a nightmare for me becomes reality the next day. Something similar happened two months ago. Its not like that this happened to me for the first time but it was one of the worst!
The latest example of this fact is my Mumbai arrival. I always used to tell my friends, family and all that Mumbai would be the last place I will prefer to work in and within a few months I am here in Mumbai. I am still not able to digest that I am in Mumbai, Mumbai??? Firstly I left my home when I was selected in Navodaya school. I studied there only one month before I called my papa and asked him to take me back to home. I was too young to live separately. It's not that I was the first who went to a boarding school in age of 12 but I simply didn't find the environment friendly and I had to leave it within a month. Again I left home in 2000 when I had to prepare for engineering entrance test. Then onwards I couldn't get chance to go back home. Gwalior, Bhopal and now Mumbai.
Bhopal was second home to me. I consider myself one of the most fortunate persons on this earth who get this comfort and love away from home. In Bhopal, I didn't realize for a day that I am not at home. I entered D-12, Patel Nagar, Raisen Road, Bhopal - 462021 as paying guest and became part of family in no time. I lived in that house for 6 long years, exactly one-fourth of my life today! I got there every relation, elder and younger brothers, bhabhi, father in terms of Uncle and above all, mother in terms of Auntie. Everybody so caring, loving, respecting. Auntie used to say, "I won't let you go until your marriage. After marriage you will have to buy a house closer only so that I can come down to talk to your wife or invite her in here for a while". I never ever intended to leave any of them but what happened at last? I left them on a short notice of eight days! Life takes terrible turns, very true!
People say, Mumbai is the city of opportunities (pardon me if this term is used for some other city!). Maybe there are correct, I might agree to them but for me these opportunities are coming at very high price. A price that I wasn't about to afford!
My second month in Mumbai has just passed and I have a lot of to talk about. Will write sometime in details. I hope you are not wondering why Mumbai is a nightmare to me? Now, I am living in the most advanced, most costly and fastest city on India. I am not able to decide whether its a matter of happiness, excitement or sorrow
The latest example of this fact is my Mumbai arrival. I always used to tell my friends, family and all that Mumbai would be the last place I will prefer to work in and within a few months I am here in Mumbai. I am still not able to digest that I am in Mumbai, Mumbai??? Firstly I left my home when I was selected in Navodaya school. I studied there only one month before I called my papa and asked him to take me back to home. I was too young to live separately. It's not that I was the first who went to a boarding school in age of 12 but I simply didn't find the environment friendly and I had to leave it within a month. Again I left home in 2000 when I had to prepare for engineering entrance test. Then onwards I couldn't get chance to go back home. Gwalior, Bhopal and now Mumbai.
Bhopal was second home to me. I consider myself one of the most fortunate persons on this earth who get this comfort and love away from home. In Bhopal, I didn't realize for a day that I am not at home. I entered D-12, Patel Nagar, Raisen Road, Bhopal - 462021 as paying guest and became part of family in no time. I lived in that house for 6 long years, exactly one-fourth of my life today! I got there every relation, elder and younger brothers, bhabhi, father in terms of Uncle and above all, mother in terms of Auntie. Everybody so caring, loving, respecting. Auntie used to say, "I won't let you go until your marriage. After marriage you will have to buy a house closer only so that I can come down to talk to your wife or invite her in here for a while". I never ever intended to leave any of them but what happened at last? I left them on a short notice of eight days! Life takes terrible turns, very true!
People say, Mumbai is the city of opportunities (pardon me if this term is used for some other city!). Maybe there are correct, I might agree to them but for me these opportunities are coming at very high price. A price that I wasn't about to afford!
My second month in Mumbai has just passed and I have a lot of to talk about. Will write sometime in details. I hope you are not wondering why Mumbai is a nightmare to me? Now, I am living in the most advanced, most costly and fastest city on India. I am not able to decide whether its a matter of happiness, excitement or sorrow
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
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