Sarvshreshtha Kahaniyan (Hindi) - Jai Shankar Prasad (Book).

Book: 12/52
Sarvshreshtha Kahaniyan (Hindi) - Jai Shankar Prasad
My Rating: 4/5

Last month, I received an Amazon Gift card worth 1000/- from my credit card bank, and guess what I did with that :). Bought a pack of 4 Hindi books from the iconic literati of Jai Shankar Prasad, Tagore, Sharat Chandra and my personal favourite Premchand. I believe my Hindi has gone way too weak, or shall I say below standard, when it comes to reading (let's not even talk about my writing skills), hence I have decided to at least read 30% of my yearly quota in Hindi to keep up with the language. And on top of that, I vow to impress my parents by sending them the same books once I am done reading them, and give them another reason to be happy that I haven’t forgotten my roots yet ;) If you know what I mean. This was a terrific read from Jai Shankar Prasad, which took me back in time as most of the stories are from the mid-19th century, some as long as 30 pages long, while some were as short as one page (back to back though). But I must say a lot of them will remain in my memory for a long time to come. One of them was a young widow who hosts a warrior in her humble abode as he somehow gets lost from his own men. She feeds him and lets him rest one night in her hut. Cut to 47 years, his associate comes looking for the hut and realizing that the lady had passed long ago, makes an eight-sided temple in her memory (as ordered by the warrior), but couldn’t name it after her as he had no clue what she was called. Now, guess the warrior she hosted that night? None other than Humayu. And many more such gems he has penned in this collection of stories. 

One thing common to all his stories is the beautiful flora and fauna from across India. It took me quite a while to understand the city and state that he was capturing through his character's stories so beautifully, yet not at all easy to read for me, the fragile Hindi reader with almost nil vocabulary. This will surely qualify as the first book in my reading history that actually made me Google some chaste Hindi words so I could get to know them better and draw the relevance in the story. No doubt he made my vocabulary stronger with each story, and I was surprised to read so many old school names that stood for so cool references that I could never imagine. There is another memorable story that I will never forget, which was based on the last few days of Shah Jahan when his son took over the kingdom and put him under house arrest. How his own daughter Jahanara takes care of him till his last breath and how he pleads with his own son to spare him, but in response, he reminds him of their own history when it comes to taking over the empire was totally heart-touching. But I wonder, even after the story taking place in Agra, that too very near the Yamuna river, he deprives the reader of any mention of the great Taj Mahal, I can’t say for what reason. And a top third favourite will another terrrific story of a Nomad woman who falls for a married man just because the man who she asks to read his letter to her mentions that that the guy was in love with him whereas the letter says otherwise. How the matter gets resolved as the man in question visits the letter reader with his family and what happens to the woman, you need to read the book and find the story :). 

Do let me know if you have read this one or any other works of Jai Shankar Prasad. Although I am not much into poetry, otherwise I would have given his Epic Poetry collection - Kamayani, a try for sure. 

 

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera (Book).

Book: 11/52
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
My Rating: 4/5

Sometimes I surprise myself with my own naivete :) As it happened, when I picked up this book thinking it was from another Indian writer (welcoming brickbats for not knowing anything about Mr Kundera till yesterday). The first page introduction opened my eyes to the fact that he happened to be a Czech writer who had lived in France since 1975 (precisely when I was born). I should have read his name more like the Italian city I love big time, I guess. His books are translated into English by various elite people, as it goes, and they still make it any easier for mango people like me. And guess what, this book was banned for quite a few years after its publication, as Milan is not only very straightforward when it comes to writing from the heart, I can debate that he never wrote this one, at least from his head. His own theory of meaningless life is told through four of his protagonists, who go through so much in their lives in the mid 20th century, while the world goes through so many tumults. Especially the Russian invasion of a nearby country, one of which happens to be my favourite character, a surgeon whose life’s mission was to go through as many affairs in life as possible. On his last count, he had as many as 200 women in his life, other than ofcourse his wife, who herself wasn’t as faithful as you might think. Why? There is no reason why he does what he feels like, just like the author himself, who believes in questioning everything and doing what your heart tells you to do without any regrets. Ofcourse there is so much more going on in his love and life story that kept me surprised with each chapter. After Russion invasion, they simply forbade him from practising medicine as a punishment for something he wrote against the regime, and he went on to wash windows for a living around Prague and Vienna for a change.

What I loved about this book (merely 300+ pages) which was too short for the subject it covers and Milan’s theories. Almost all four of his main characters are unfaithful to their partners at one point in time or another. One of the author’s theories, which I will never forget, is when he makes his characters debate God’s existence. He says if there was a God (he says Jesus precisely), he must have a mouth, so he for sure will have intestines and certainly will eat and poop too, right? Now, can we beat that in any way? And let me not get into details anymore, as you get the drift and can read it in great detail in the book for yourself. I personally don’t believe in God and feel I am more of a science guy, so I totally agreed with his theory, dunno how my parents will read this one, and it will be very interesting to know the names they are going to call this guy :) If I send them this book. But no doubt I totally loved his theory of meaningless life, where we actually get no feedback, as there is no coming back from the dead to know if we lived it well. Or as if life is going to give us another chance to relive and do it any better this time, as one life passes into an unknown abyss. He justifies the title in a simply amazing way through his character’s stories so well that I was totally sold on the unbearable being myself, but is there alternate to it? Need to pick up a few of his other works to know if he offers any solutions in any of them.

Do let me know if you have read The Unbearable Lightness of Being or any other Milan Kundera book. I would love to give it a try.
 

The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh (Book).

Book: 10/52
The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh
My Rating: 5/5

I am in love with Mr Ghosh’s writing after reading his Sea of Poppies last year, although I must say his books are not easy to read, but as much as I could grasp from them, they are turning out to be beautiful reads. This one was no exception as it gives a terrific account of life in Burma (now Myanmar) from 1880 till the late 90’s and in between 20 years from our own town of Ratnagiri too. Unbelievably detailed account of an Indian expat Rajkumar’s life in the then Burma, where he falls in love with a teenage maid Dolly of the then queen who he meets only once. The most important character of the story is the Glass Palace itself, where the royal family resides. How this young guy's life takes a turn from working on a ship which lands him in Rangoon in late 19th century, after doing odd jobs how he becomes a man of substance and ends up finding his love after all is the rest of the story. The way Mr Ghosh has shown the life of the King and Queen who get ousted by the British Empire in search of Teak wood and how they end up living their life in Ratnagiri under house arrest, also what happens to the princesses, was totally heart-touching. Another important character gets involved while they are under house arrest in Ratnagiri: the collector and his wife. It's not only the rags-to-riches and back to rags story of Rajkumar, but also of the three generations of his own family, parallel to the royal family too. Fortunately, I had spent a few weeks in Ratnagiri a decade ago, and this book took me back to that town with its beautiful visuals, especially the jetty mentioned in the story, as a lot of the story takes place around the rivers and sea too. One of my close friends great grand father was the then Governor of Ratnagiri. I kept looking for a known reference in this fictional story, too. Mingblowing is the way he has captured the politics of war, imperialism and the British invasion of so many countries, the plight of the people affected by the same and the politics of ever-changing loyalty of the Indian army was shocking. And he does all that with half a dozen characters only from all walks of life, an expat Rajkumar from India, Saya John a local from Burma who comes to his rescue, Burma’s last King and Queen with their two daughters and third on the way, an Indian Civil Servant taking care of King and Queen in India and last but not the least his Wife followed by three generations of all of them, while so much goes in the world around. 

What I loved most about his storytelling is the way he refuses to give a clear timeline of the story but lets you capture it through his love of cars back in the day :). I consider myself a very passionate car guy, but after reading this book and the way he showed the beautiful cars from our own history, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard a majority of their names, let alone the details he shares of V6S or V8’s, trucks and the much important Daytona too. Post India’s independence, he started giving the years. The entire story is spread between Burma, Ratnagiri and the Malay region with terrific detailed accounts of what locals wear, eat, their houses, work culture, dialects, and so much more. No doubt Mr Ghosh is a genius, as the way he has woven this story with so much going on in India back in the day, but he never makes it so political that it loses steam and goes away from his characters. I was totally engrossed in both the central characters as they and their generations go through so much with the tumultuous times. Ofcourse it all was spread over 550+ pages and it took me a good 15+ days to finish it, but loved it to no end. I am definitely looking forward to reading so much more from him now and will come back to his latest outing the Ghost Eye, by year's end, I guess. 

Do let me know if you have read the Ghost Eye and loved it too. Also, let me know if you have a favourite Amitav Ghosh book too. I would love to read it at the earliest. 

 

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë (Book).

Book: 9/52
Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë.
My Rating: 5/5

I had to read this one very fast because I wanted to watch the much-awaited adaptation on the big screen, which came out last weekend. And what a treat this one turns out to be for me. Now the latest adaptation has Jacob Elrodi playing Mr Heathcliff, and I totally loved Jacob in his last outing on the big screen as Frankenstein’s Monster, yet again with a totally new take which touched my heart big time, as the Monster always does, as many times I end up reading the Mary Shelley book. This one was no different, as I am sure you will agree if you have read Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is no less than a monster when it comes to this harrowing story of what he does to the family who adopts him in the first place as a good deed. How he rips apart the family in its entirety was totally shocking to me, as I guess I had forgotten it after I read it for the first time when I was in school. How shrued and cunning the man turns out was beyond me, the way he falls in love with Catherine and she for him, making me think this will be a rebellious love story of sorts but the way Cathy takes a stand to get married to someone else (why? you need to read the book) and then Heathcliff vanishes for a few years but as soon as he comes back the revenge drama of sorts starts. The entire story takes place between two mansions a few miles apart from each other, with the majority of it taking place in the family owned Wutheing Heights, the haunted mansion to say the least. I loved the way Emily carves out the house as a solid character in itself. The whole story is narrated as a flashback to one Mr Lockwood, who becomes the latest tenant in the second house and visits Wuthering Heights to meet and greet his landlord. A very simple yet totally intriguing story kept me hooked to the very end whereas the ending is dislosed right in the first chapter itself, but it works beautifully to know how and what all happens in the first place.


Do let me know if you have read and loved Wuthering Heights or if you have liked any of its earlier adaptations, as the current movie is getting a lot of negative reviews as of now. I am certainly going to watch it as soon as I get back to my town after a short vacation.  

The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion (Book).

Book: 8/52

The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion

My Rating: 4/5

After I finished “The Rosie Project”, I had to read this one at the earliest to know how life goes forward for Prof Don Tillman (PhD in Genetics) when he tries to win over his love Rosie by doing a proper research project on her. Now, this one takes the story ahead as they get married and move to NY from Melbourne, as Rosie has to finish her thesis while he finishes his study of drunken rats' liver :). This is all about how he makes himself a better husband and a perfect father. But Don being Don, he has to help so many other lesser mortals’ problems too, like his ex-rock star drummer who is having a tough time solving his Beer stock problem in a sealed room, with another friend Dave’s refrigerator business going downhill, with his wife not being too happy with him and all that. Much to Rosie’s annoyment his philanderer friend and mentor Gene also makes an entry into their household in the USA. In between, Don gets arrested too for a reason that was not only hilarious, but the way he solves his problem makes it even better. As I said earlier Graeme Simsion will show up somewhere between PGW and Frederik Backman in my reading ratings and this second book from the series was no exception, totally hilarious affair and egaging till the very end where Don almost becomes a terrorist of sorts and gets on the verge of getting arrested again, you’ve got to read this one for his histrionics which never come to an end whatever situation life may take him on. Having said all that, I must say this one, in comparison to its earlier coutnerpart wasn’t that great or maybe it didn't work for me the way Rosie Project worked, but even then it made a fantastically quick read without any doubts. And I loved the Indian connection, especially the way he makes a mantra to calm himself in tough situations. Now that I have finished this one, I am eagerly looking forward to the third and last from Don Tillman series to see how it all will end for him once he becomes a father. 

Since I started the first book and now that I am done with the sequel too, the character of Din Tillman keeps on reminding me of my own favourite, much-loved Forrest Gump for some reason. I keep on drawing parallels between them two, don't you think Don Tillman is almost as good or maybe even better because of his PhD than Gump, but is almost equally fantastic in everything he does with aplomb, finesse and to the perfect result. Have you read this one or any other by Graeme Simsion? Do let me know, as I am sure to check out a little more from him once I am done with this series.