tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37053631664655891102024-02-19T20:27:05.684+05:30The Bliss of Being...deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.comBlogger226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-84063180466271665962014-07-26T23:45:00.000+05:302014-07-26T23:45:56.693+05:30Woody Allen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I simply admire this man: Woody Allen. Watched his movie <i>Broadway Danny Rose</i> this evening.Whenever I feel dull and moody, just a Woody Allen movie will do. I fly into an entirely different mood and inclination. He is great. One of those who live their life doing the thing they love. My pet definition of a great individual is someone who has managed to live authentically according to their own individuality without allowing themselves to be blindly influenced by the things around them that has nothing to do with their own spiritual essence. I don't mean to say that this movie is a great one. The Woody Allen movies I have loved the most are <i>Annie Hall, Manhattan and Midnight in Paris</i>. But all his movies are special. They have something in them that most other directors don't have with them to offer you, or rather, me.</div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-46958165055160470082014-05-29T01:05:00.000+05:302014-07-26T23:47:03.691+05:30നിത്യചൈതന്യയതി, അമേരിക്ക, ഇന്ത്യ..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
അബൂദാബി<br />
മേയ് ൧൭, ൨൦൧൪<br />
൧൨.൧൭ pm<br />
<br />
ഗുരു നിത്യചൈതന്യയതിയുടെ ആത്മകഥ 'യതിചരിതം' വായിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു. ൫൩൯-ആം പേജില് ഇങ്ങനെ കാണുന്നു:<br />
<br />
"പെനിലോപ്പിയുടെ വീടിന്റെ മിക്കഭാഗവും അവര് ഒറ്റയ്ക്ക് പണിതു ശരിയാക്കിയതാണ്. ഇലക്ട്രിക് ഇൻസ്റ്റലേഷനും പ്ലംബിങ്ങുമെല്ലാം പെനിലോപ്പി ചെയ്തിരിക്കുന്നു. ഈ അമേരിക്കൻ
സ്ത്രീകൾക്ക് എന്തു സാമർത്ഥ്യമാണ്! ഒന്നിനും ആരെയും ആശ്രയിക്കാതെ തനിയെ
ചെയ്തുകൊള്ളും. മറ്റുപല കുഴപ്പങ്ങൾ ഉണ്ടെന്നാലും അവരുടെ നിർഭയത്വം എന്നെ
അദ്ഭുതപ്പെടുത്താറുണ്ട്. ഒരിക്കൽ ഇന്ത്യം സ്ത്രീകളും അവരെപ്പോലെയാകും."
<br />
<br />
അവസാന വരി ഞാൻ കൂടുതൽ ശ്രദ്ധിച്ചു. അത് എത്ര ശരിയാണെന്ന് എനിക്ക് തോന്നി. എനിക്കും വളരെക്കാലമായി ഉള്ള ഒരു അഭിപ്രായം ആണത്. ഇതുവരെ കണ്ടു മനസ്സിലാക്കിയ കാര്യങ്ങളുടെയും അനുഭവങ്ങളുടെയും വെളിച്ചത്തിലാണ് ഞാന് ആ അഭിപ്രായത്തില് എത്തിച്ചേര്ന്നത്. യതിയും അങ്ങനെ തന്നെയായിരിക്കണം ആ ഒരു വീക്ഷണത്തില് എത്തിയത്. പാശ്ചാത്യ രാജ്യങ്ങളില് വളരെ യാത്ര ചെയ്യുകയും ജീവിക്കുകയും ചെയ്ത ഗുരുവിനു അങ്ങനെ തോന്നിയില്ലെങ്കിലെ അദ്ഭുതമുള്ളൂ.<br />
<br />
നമ്മുടെ നാടും പാശ്ചാത്യനാടുകളും തമ്മില് ഒരു അമ്പത് വര്ഷങ്ങളുടെ അകലമുണ്ടെന്നതാണ് എന്റെ സിദ്ധാന്തം. ഇത് ഞാന് എല്ലാവരോടും എപ്പോഴും പറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു. സാംസ്കാരികവും സാമൂഹികവുമായ ഒട്ടുമിക്ക കാര്യങ്ങളും എടുത്തുനോക്കിയാല് മനസ്സിലാകും ഇന്നത്തെ നമ്മുടെ ജീവിതവീക്ഷണം ആയിരുന്നു ഏകദേശം അമ്പത് വര്ഷങ്ങള്ക്കു മുന്പ് പാശ്ചാത്യനാടുകളില് ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നത്. ഇന്ന് സമൂഹത്തില് മോശം (Taboo) ആയിട്ടുള്ള കാര്യങ്ങള് അമേരിക്കയില് അങ്ങനെയാകണമെന്നില്ല. എങ്കിലും അമ്പത് വര്ഷങ്ങള്ക്കു മുന്പ് അതേ കാര്യങ്ങള് അവര്ക്കും മോശപ്പെട്ടതായിരുന്നു. ഇതിനായി എത്ര ഉദാഹരണങ്ങൾ വേണമെങ്കിലും കാണിക്കാൻ കഴിയും.
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-44204319025982637402014-01-25T16:50:00.000+05:302014-01-25T16:50:11.421+05:30Epidemic ContainmentIn this age of extensive cross country travelling, and also of
continuously emerging contagious diseases, governments have been forming
new rules and regulations, medical procedures and visa restrictions for
epidemic containment. Muhammad too thought along the same lines..<br />
<br />
'The
Prophet said, "If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not
enter it: but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it,
do not leave that place."<br />
<br />
(Sahih Bukhari 7.624)<br />
<br />
So simple. Beautiful. Common sensical..deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-13505556126496513802013-10-05T17:05:00.000+05:302013-10-05T17:05:51.312+05:30The pleasing lord<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It seems that ‘Allah’ has always been favourable (read ‘partial’) to his prophet, Muhammad. To the extent that his wife Aysha stars questioning him about it. <br /><br />I would like to present a couple of authentic hadith from Sahih Bukhari regarding this.<br /><br /><b>One: Sahih Bukhari – 7:48</b><br />This hadith narrated by Abu Hisham mentions the Quranic revelation from ‘Allah’: “(O Muhammad) You may postpone (the turn of) any of them (your wives) that you please.” (<i>Quran</i>- 33:51) <br />This is about the prophet’s rotation in visiting his wives. As everyone knows, since he had multiple wives, he used to sleep with them by rotation, one at a time. And the revelation is about ‘Allah’’s permission to postpone his visit to one of the wives in favour of another. Aysha cleverly responds to this revelation thus:”O Allah's Apostle! I do not see, but, that your Lord hurries in pleasing you.”<br /><b><br /><br />Two: Sahih Bukhari- 7:92.2</b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In this hadith, mention is made of the Quranic revelation regarding the norm to be followed by people when they visit the prophet’s house for a meal. The occasion is Muhammad’s marriage with Zainab. Several people lingered chatting with each other after the feast. This annoyed Muhammad as he was probably waiting impatiently to be with his new bride, which was not possible unless the people left. And he recited the revelation that would help him: “O you who believe! Enter not the Prophet's house until leave is given you for a meal, not (as early as) to wait for its preparation. But when you are invited, enter, and when you have taken your meals, disperse without sitting for a talk. Verily such (behavior) annoys the Prophet; and he would be shy of (asking) you (to go), but Allah is not shy of (telling you) the Truth.”(<i>Quran</i>- 33:53)<br /><br />Is the Prophet putting words in his beloved Lord’s mouth? :)</span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-77312545918716026912013-10-05T15:54:00.000+05:302013-10-05T15:54:20.749+05:30Thus Spake Zarathustra<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Thus Spake Zarathustra</i> by Friedrich Nietzsche. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It has been many years since I heard about it and wanted to read it. The book has been so famous and so applauded that some might even say that if it is allowed to read only one book in your life, then it is the one to be read. And because of the hype, I started reading with too much expectation. But however I didn’t find it as appealing as anticipated. I have loved a similar book <i>The Prophet</i>, perhaps equally famous, written by Kahlil Gibran, many times more. By the way, the structure and style are the same with both books. I enjoyed every bit of <i>The Prophet</i>, whereas in this one, all is not as enjoyable, even though there are pages as appealing as <i>The Prophet</i>. Perhaps it is because of the difference in the sizes of the books. <i>The Prophet</i> is a thin book. <i>Zarathustra.. </i>is thicker. Perhaps if all less interesting pages of <i>Zarathustra.. </i>are removed, the remaining will look as much qualified as <i>The Prophet</i>. Was Kahlil Gibran inspired by this book in creating his <i>Prophet</i>?<br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A part I loved very much is this:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Your slaying, ye judges, shall be pity and not revenge. And whilst slaying take care to justify life itself !</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is not enough that ye should be reconciled unto him whom ye are slaying. Let your sorrow be love unto beyond-man : thus ye justify your still living.'Enemy' ye shall say, but not 'wicked one' ; 'diseased one' ye shall say, but not 'wretch' ; 'fool' ye shall say, but not 'sinner.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And thou, red judge, if thou wert to declare aloud all that thou hast done in thy thoughts, everybody would cry : ' Away with this filth and worm of poison ! ' ”</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This book is a desperate cry of Nietzsche himself to see a radical change in the world and humankind. He hates man and openly proclaims his wish of destruction of the humankind. He sees the total destruction and death of humankind as the foundation for a new, better generation, not of man, but of what Zarathustra calls ‘beyond-man’. Nietzsche wishes a new world for those rare people who are different from the wretched hypocritical crowd and stand alone companionless, to which he himself belongs:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Ye lonely ones of to-day, ye who stand apart, ye shall one day be a people : from you who have chosen yourselves, a chosen people shall arise : and from it beyond-man.”</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I still feel Gibran has done it far better than Nietzsche. The former has kept it brief and compact. Sweet and short. Instead of talking too much, he just gave us the essence in a nutshell. Nevertheless at some points I felt I have found something I never came across anywhere in <i>The Prophet</i>. I must say this is simply a marvel. I haven’t come across this brilliance anywhere, let alone Gibran! :</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“The man of perception must not only be able to love his enemies, but also to hate his friends.”</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I couldn’t enjoy it as a complete book. But it offered me a treasure of golden quotes. Too many of them! I don’t remember when it was that I read some book with so many lines I felt like quoting. It is in stark contrast that even books I enjoy for their completeness don’t necessarily guarantee any quotable lines. But this one I could consider a book of great quotes, even though I couldn’t enjoy it as one having complementing portions of a well rounded plot or narration.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-91845178077565396712013-08-27T23:49:00.000+05:302013-08-27T23:51:05.971+05:30wisdom..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">“There
is much childishness in the old books of wisdom.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">-<i> (T</i><i>hus Spake Zarathustra</i></span><span style="font-size: large;">)</span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-35642007441614087322013-07-20T17:11:00.000+05:302013-07-22T22:00:51.801+05:30Annabel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJygjQs6zKSuG_XKPgLJK7ETBNaN_E473QWu83TZiHrKrPYg16HOfJw0i1nc2LXpAlhE9_UP4MSEZ1-AOopHYvDvjH7zcu98VdA7M2vPhO7l7mpfXObNIslPCTp6wk1y4kMj9Y3U-FNFC/s1600/Annabel-cover-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJygjQs6zKSuG_XKPgLJK7ETBNaN_E473QWu83TZiHrKrPYg16HOfJw0i1nc2LXpAlhE9_UP4MSEZ1-AOopHYvDvjH7zcu98VdA7M2vPhO7l7mpfXObNIslPCTp6wk1y4kMj9Y3U-FNFC/s320/Annabel-cover-11.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Title:</b> <i>Annabel</i><br /><b>Author:</b> Kathleen Winter<br />eISBN: 978-0-88784-276-4</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">The first page - i.e., the prologue – is captivating. A few lines amounting to sheer poetry in style etching vivid, beautiful pictures in the mind. I understood this is how a good book must start. It looks like a great rule. Give shape to a great picture in the mind’s eye of the reader, and he/she is going to feel like reading further, till the end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />I thought I loved the fine language. Balanced language. I instantly felt that this is my kind of writing style. But soon I felt I was wrong. The read became a drag as it progressed. I guess the other book I read about a similar theme <i>Middlesex</i> was far better. My recent reads have been so boring that I had to abandon one of them half the way (sadly), which I had never done for years. I guess I now understand why these books are boring. They all lack the art of literature. The artistic play of words. The stylistic use of language. The amusing rambling of ideas. The interesting jumble of chronology.. They just concentrate on the plot and keep narrating the story in a straight line. I miss Rushdie. It must not be for no reason they have started the <i><a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-literature-prize-folio-prize-20130313,0,820634.story">Folio Prize</a></i>. Booker prize isn’t enough. Popular fiction isn’t enough. There is a need to revive Literary fiction. There is perhaps a dire need to rescue fiction from being looking like non-fiction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />I guess no reader who has read <i>Middlesex</i> can read this book without thinking of it even for a moment. But, however, as far as I could find out, there is hardly anyone who thinks this book is redundant. Despite being aware of the existence of the other book on the same theme, the author might have been wanting to write this to show a different perspective or style or just plainly, tell a different story around the same theme.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />However, I found the last quarter of the book highly appealing. There were so many subtle factors working together towards bringing it to perfection. And the book was coming of age in those last pages. I guess I found more enthusiasm in reading the book at the point. And I now know the book is equally important as <i>Middlesex</i>, even though I hesitate to rank it any high in stylistics.</span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-16145968687317391272013-06-30T02:08:00.000+05:302013-06-30T02:13:23.692+05:30 Superstar India- From Incredible to Unstoppable<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0AOckIZOiMpdCtDHUASpebzIfq6AKtN0A03geDxbPiF2oPN6Xk6l5Shz_E4eQU_6cjnr5sWndvNOqgw2CjmiPXHZKO-DWdPvROe_EU3f_vUa6Hmp2DP3xNzn2LJrjwcZQfonNwhwK9bC/s300/Superstar+India-Shobhaa+De.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0AOckIZOiMpdCtDHUASpebzIfq6AKtN0A03geDxbPiF2oPN6Xk6l5Shz_E4eQU_6cjnr5sWndvNOqgw2CjmiPXHZKO-DWdPvROe_EU3f_vUa6Hmp2DP3xNzn2LJrjwcZQfonNwhwK9bC/s300/Superstar+India-Shobhaa+De.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Title:</b> <i>Superstar India- From Incredible to Unstoppable </i>(ISBN:9780143102588)<br /><b>Author: </b>Shobhaa De<br />Publ: Penguin Books</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I remember reading M. Krishnan Nair many years ago commenting on Shobhaa De’s works. According to him, he was wasting his precious time reading the trash while so many quality works from great authors were waiting to be read. I admire his openness and impartiality as a critic, but I can’t help enjoying De’s books. I have read <i>Socialite Evenings</i> earlier and have thoroughly enjoyed it. And <i>Superstar India</i> is the second one I am reading. I believe she is a gifted writer who knows well to use apt words and expressions for any context thanks to her stunning vocabulary. Her word power will never stop amazing me. She is one of the authors who command the entire attention of readers like me to what they read. While reading even the greatest books, my mind wanders a lot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Shobhaa De says she loves India however flawed it is, and has never considered moving to a better country and settle there even though it would be so easy for her. I for one am always dreaming of moving to a better place. I do love India, but I find it hard to tolerate its people with all the hypocrisy more than its potholed roads and filthy places. But then, if I were a person of De’s standing and as rich as well with “the latest phone, laptop and car” and whose “watch is a Cartier” and drives a “midnight-blue Mercedes”, I guess I wouldn’t be pining as much as now for a serene life in a distant land because then I would be able to have right here the kind of life I have always been dreaming of and the kind of company I would be having there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />She takes pride in India’s noteworthy qualities and at the same time feel ashamed and, being an Indian, sort of accountable to the world, about the dirt, filth and crap lining the neighbourhoods of Indian cities. Perhaps she feels so disgraced just because as a famous Indian figure that sojourns abroad frequently and is constantly in touch with eminent personalities around the world, especially west, she must be getting entangled in discussions in international gatherings where topics of India and Indians pop up now and then. This is quite evident from her words about the slum dwellers with respect to their daily routine of emptying their bowels in public places:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />“Often I’m asked, ‘Where are all these people going, carrying cans of water?’ I can’t get myself to say bluntly and crudely. ‘To shit…’ So I answer. ‘To bathe their cows…’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />She is an adorable woman anyway. She has all the luxuries in her life and still keeps an observant eye on anything and everything that has only to do with the wretched and the lay citizen in the street. Even though she can drive her Mercedes all the time she isn’t blind to the experiences of the ordinary commuter in the yellow-blacks, BEST buses and trains in the city of Mumbai. She is concerned about the same happenings of the society as the common people which otherwise individuals of her stature tend to overlook, as much of them doesn’t have any negative impact on their lives, and if at all they do they are sufficiently equipped with ample resources to bypass them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />She discusses at length the trait of Indian hypocrisy, especially in matters of sex. Sensuality is still a taboo. And no doubt many of the ghastly rape/assault/murder combos are unfortunate outbursts of the repressed sexual urges. The Delhi gang rape/assault case is one of the latest instances. It is interesting to read a clear and plain observation of the author:<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“it isn’t uncommon to see Indian men walking around un-self-consciously with their arms around each other’s waists or shoulders, or their fingers interlocked. Outsiders often believe that sight is an example of how liberal and accepting Indians are about homosexual love! What it actually is, is a displacement or an expression of frustration. Human beings want to touch and be touched. I’m sure most of those men would rather be fondling/ embracing females _ but they can’t … ”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I don’t know if De has any other non-fiction title to her credit. I guess all her other books are novels, whereas this is part biography, part travelogue and she has spilled a fair share of her beans. This book reveals a lot about the person that she is. She is not hesitant in relating her innermost feelings, desires, insecurities.. In the Meet my Mrs. Section, she reminds the reader of Erica Jong and her book The Fear of Flying. <br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Power lady? Ha! If the world only knew my anxieties and fears each time I walk into an airport!” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">The word ‘airport’ looks like a subconsciously let out motif. The protagonist of Erica Jong is never satiated by her man and is in mental turmoil and moves from man to man and spends a lot of time on psychoanalysis sessions seeking genuine contentment and existential fulfillment, which in turn reminds of yet another woman Kamala Surayya (also variably known as Kamala Das or Madhavikkutty) and her work of collected biographical jottings Ente Katha (My Story). Jong’s character has to finally return to her own man, trying and failing repeatedly, humbled and embarrassed.<br /><br />De goes on to say…<br /> </span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“It’s not all that easy to shrug off years of conditioning. It’s not all that easy to obliterate one’s mother’s life, circumscribed by tradition and role-playing. I suspect there’s more than I care to admit of that life, deep within me. Secretly I often fantasize that I’ve switched places with my mother. For a while that fantasy looks so appealing. What a ‘safe’ existence__ no risks to be taken. Everything handled by the ‘Mr’. No stressing about an uncertain future.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Maybe I’m longing to hear my own husband introducing me with a reticent, ‘Meet my Mrs’. And there I would be, eyes lowered, three steps behind him, smiling a perfectly controlled half-smile, speaking only when spoken to, never interrupting, never arguing, never contradicting. An obedient, well-behaved ‘Mrs’, an asset of the old-fashioned kind,__ quiet, non-threatening, willing to compromise, eager to please, not looking beyond the hearth of my well-run home, forgetting about the enticing world out there.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“… that’s when my iPod rescues me. Like right now. I drown myself in Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s dhadkan and the pain becomes easier to bear…’Dulhe ka sehra suhana lagta hai,’ he sings, and I can see a newly-minted ‘Mr’, with his ‘Mrs’. It brings a smile to my lips. But the tears in my eyes are equally real. I’ll never be that ‘Mrs’. And I don’t know whether that’s a blessing or a curse!”</span></blockquote>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Even though she says that the obsession with the Mrs. Image is due to her mother’s influence, I guess there is more to it. Every woman must be yearning to finally obtain solace in the arms of her dream prince, finding self-fulfillment in total submission.<br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Shobhaa De sounds too naïve and immature at times, what with all her teenager-like rants. But then it could well be a conscious round of masquerading which conveniently helps her shout out anything and everything she wants, rather than donning the intellectual cloak and stay silent and ugly. And I guess she enjoys it herself thoroughly. <br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">The season of Diwali comes with a load of nostalgic as well as guilty feelings for her. She grieves about not having learned or bothered to record the priceless recipes of traditional Indian delicacies prepared by her mother and elder women in the family years before. <br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“So many years later, I regret I did not participate more fully in the activity or bother to record those secret family recipes. Those are treasures lost to me forever. And with their loss comes the realization that my own children, and later their own, will have no knowledge, no memory of this valuable tradition. And several traditions as precious and priceless as this one. There are no substitutes for legacies that knit and bind cultures and communities in such subtle and profound ways. Who can put a price on this?”</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">But then, as she herself admits, (and as my own favourite Life-is-a-package theory claims), “When the belch goes, a lot more will go with it”. <br /> </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Yes, we actively annoy people in an adopted land by our far-from-endearing habits—we spit, scratch, belch and pass wind in public without the slightest self-consciousness. We plead guilty. These are national traits that need to be addressed and modified since nobody finds them anything but offensive. Perhaps the neo-Indians who are global globs, blending seamlessly into the international circuit, will be more conscious of tailoring their social behavior to conform to what’s universally acceptable. One can already see this change taking place, as young adults squirm, pull faces and sharply correct parents and grandparents who burp contentedly after a hearty meal in a posh restaurant.”</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Yeah, in a package, there often could be bad things as well as good things in the same offer. So, on one side </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">when we lament about things changing for the worse, on the other we could feel ourselves proud of transitions for the better.<br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I would like to quote one more touching passage from the book before winding up..<br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Today, when I talk to my children about 'their' India, they ask, 'Why do you call it “ours”? Doesn't it belong to you, too?' I don 't answer. I don't need to. At sixty, you learn to give away all that you hold most precious. The gifts you pass on at this stage are the ones that make the difference. For they are given with the fullness of your heart, and minus any expectations. India belongs to the young. it is rightfully 'their' India, and they should be intensely proud of it . . . cherish it. For it is a rare gift that has come to them with no strings attached. Like the best gifts always are. One only hopes and prays that this new generation of bright and beautiful Indians values its extraordinary legacy . . . enriches it.”</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">I must not forget to add that the page layout of the book is quite attractive. The cute small sized fonts coupled with the wide empty margin spaces around gives a neat adorable look to the pages…</span></div>
</div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-64877646009037853302013-06-18T07:28:00.000+05:302013-06-18T07:29:57.509+05:30Red Sorghum by Mo Yan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje3g97vFkKZAML9AWFz-YTo2pmaDjiqbkeMZPfGGDN3MEzyn6vt8oICfCoiXmniNhVFCHKRa-kI2k3FZc6ssyTp1N7Tj_tOdIqT8J3c-VU_kKtdHtbPfnaZIpe3gwBWh3qwDNMFIPplu5S/s1600/red-sorghum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje3g97vFkKZAML9AWFz-YTo2pmaDjiqbkeMZPfGGDN3MEzyn6vt8oICfCoiXmniNhVFCHKRa-kI2k3FZc6ssyTp1N7Tj_tOdIqT8J3c-VU_kKtdHtbPfnaZIpe3gwBWh3qwDNMFIPplu5S/s320/red-sorghum.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The book wasn't really very impressing. Perhaps it is the subject. This is the first time I’m reading Mo Yan. I’m not sure if all his books are of the same style. If it is, then he can never be an appealing author to me.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
I couldn’t appreciate the book well. This is the kind of book that sort of tells the story of a certain class or community of people belonging to a certain culture. And I guess I am not sufficiently acquainted with the setup to appreciate it enough. And I feel there must be people who are sufficiently equipped to really enjoy reading it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The book is filled with lurid descriptions of violence and cruelty. The author looks like a lover of blood. He seems not being able to restrain himself from bringing in blood even while talking about romance and love. The ‘red’ in the title is not only of sorghum, but also of blood.</div>
<br />
Nevertheless, the honesty in narration is commendable than anything else in the book. So brutally honest.<br />
<br /></div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-46510393035140721842013-05-23T21:39:00.000+05:302013-05-23T21:45:22.198+05:30loving..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">There’s
a difference between really loving someone and loving the idea of her."</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">- <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">(<i>Gone
Girl</i>)</span></span></span>
</div>
</div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-30046586496629090682013-05-01T01:21:00.002+05:302013-05-01T01:23:49.778+05:30The Catcher in the Rye<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Title:</b> <i>The Catcher in the Rye</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Author:</b> J. D. salinger</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The first time I came across this title was when I saw this book in the hands of Nikhil, my classmate many years ago. I didn’t feel any special interest for the not-so-thick book, at least nothing more than what I generally feel for any book as a booklover, as I didn’t think it was a famous book. Later, in a few years, mostly thanks to the internet, I noted that the book is mentioned in zillion different book-places. And I started wondering how come I never heard of the book back then, in spite of my not-so-bad general knowledge about books and authors. I guess it’s because it was an American book. And what I was aware of, being an Indian, like others around me, were mostly famous British titles and authors and classics. That’s why I never heard of <i>To Kill a Mocking Bird</i> either even though it is one of the greatest books in the greatest books list if you search the net. Even though The Catcher in the Rye was a thin book, I saw it in Nikhil’s hands for days on end. It was sort of his companion for life. I must say he was a hardcore individualist. And he was mad for America too (perhaps because he knew America is a place where individualism is respected more than a country like India). Perhaps these were the two reasons how he came to be acquainted with the title. In spite of being an Engineering student, he dreamt of studying, living and working in America as a medical doctor. And when he got through the entrance for medicine, he left the Engineering college after just a semester.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The beginning of the book was not really interesting, perhaps because I expected something extraordinary from this icon of a book, but what I got was a narrative style similar to the one in <i>Of Mice and Men</i> (which, of course, was not very interesting to me either). However, after around the first ten pages, I started finding it comparatively a bit more appealing, thanks to its lucid style of storytelling. In contrast, I had enjoyed reading <i>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time</i> from the very first page despite the similar way of storytelling by a little boy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At around ten pages further, I had the feeling that I wasn’t going to like the book just for the style of it, if the style so far was just to extend until the end of the book with nothing special happening. When that something special happens, that’s when we say ‘All’s well that ends well’. It mostly happens when reading books and watching feature films. Somewhere down the line you become sure that you’re not going to like it, considering it overall, for the style. Then there are books and movies which give you the opposite feeling. That is, you really enjoy the style and you are sure that you find it good overall just because the style is so engaging that even if nothing special happens you don’t consider reading the book/ watching the movie a waste of time. Jose Saramago’s <i>All the Names</i>, Haruki Murakami’s <i>After Dark</i> and Salman Rushdie’s fiction are such creations, I believe. So are most Satyajit Rai movies.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I hoped there would be some change after the first half of the book. But there was nothing. The style was the same. Nothing new was happening. And the narration was monotonous. I was finding it hard to keep myself concentrating on what I was reading. The book is about individualistic and anti-hypocritic outlook of a non-conformist, maverick, teenage guy, which was supposed to be something that interests me, but surprisingly the account couldn’t excite me much.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However it’s true that the book portrays adolescence anguish very well and this part indeed aroused my sympathy for the guy:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“I could hardly get my breath, and I was still sweating like a bastard. I sat there, I guess, for about an hour. Finally, what I decided I'd do, I decided I'd go away. I decided I'd never go home again and I'd never go away to another school again. I decided I'd just see old Phoebe and sort of say good-by to her and all, and give her back her Christmas dough, and then I'd start hitchhiking my way out West. What I'd do, I figured, I'd go down to the Holland Tunnel and bum a ride, and then I'd bum another one, and another one, and another one, and in a few days I'd be somewhere out West where it was very pretty and sunny and where nobody'd know me and I'd get a job. I figured I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and oil in people's cars. I didn't care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people didn't know me and I didn't know anybody.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He continues: </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something, they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life. Everybody'd think I was just a poor deaf-mute bastard and they'd leave me alone.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Which reminded me of Osho’s comments about the Sufi mystic Jabbar. He wanted to be alone and contemplate on the self. And people who admire and revere him and come to him all the time for his spiritual counsel were a disturbance for him. So when the people asks him something, he utters some gibberish totally unconnected to the topic. And gradually people get tired of it and lose interest in his meaningless chatter and leave him alone. According to Osho, the word ‘gibberish’ has its roots in the name of the sufi ‘Jabbar’.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The guy’s reverie goes on.. “They'd let me put gas and oil in their stupid cars, and they'd pay me a salary and all for it, and I'd build me a little cabin somewhere with the dough I made and live there for the rest of my life. I'd build it right near the woods, but not right in them, because I'd want it to be sunny as hell all the time. I'd cook all my own food, and later on, if I wanted to get married or something, I'd meet this beautiful girl that was also a deaf-mute and we'd get married. She'd come and live in my cabin with me, and if she wanted to say anything to me, she'd have to write it on a goddam piece of paper, like everybody else.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It’s really a poignant picture of frustration, helplessness, alienation. Wonder how many kids around the world would be going through a similar ordeal? Losing interest in everything around them at such a colourful age and feeling there is nothing for them in this big wide world, and ultimately heading to suicide or some such thing…</div>
</div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-69773295423265601662012-12-15T22:59:00.000+05:302012-12-15T23:10:16.772+05:30അറിഞ്ഞിരിക്കേണ്ട പൊടിക്കൈകൾ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>പുസ്തകം:</b> <i>അറിഞ്ഞിരിക്കേണ്ട പൊടിക്കൈകൾ
</i><br />
<b>സമാഹരണം:</b> ബാബു പ്രസാദ്
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<b>പ്രസാധനം:</b> H & C പബ്ലിഷിംഗ് ഹൗസ്
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അസുഖങ്ങൾ വരുമ്പോൾ വീട്ടിൽ തന്നെ ചെയ്യാവുന്ന ചില ഒറ്റമൂലികൾ, വീട്ടിലെ
ഇലക്ട്രോണിക്ക് ഉപകരണങ്ങളും മറ്റുപകരണങ്ങളും വസ്ത്രങ്ങൾ മുതലായവയും
ഏറ്റവും നല്ല രീതിയിൽ പരിപാലിക്കുകയും ഉപയോഗിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യാനുള്ള
എളുപ്പവഴികൾ, പാചകത്തിലും അടുക്കളയിലും പ്രയോഗിക്കാവുന്ന പൊടിക്കൈകൾ,
വിവിധതരം ഭക്ഷ്യപദാർത്ഥങ്ങളിലും ധാന്യങ്ങളിലും ഉള്ള മായം കണ്ടുപിടിക്കാനുള്ള ലളിതവും പ്രായോഗികവും ആയ മാർഗങ്ങൾ തുടങ്ങിയവയാണ് ഈ പുസ്തകത്തിലെ പ്രതിപാദ്യം.
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പുസ്തകത്തിൽനിന്നും ഏതാനും ചില നുറുങ്ങുകൾ:
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1. തീന്മേശയിൽ എണ്ണ പുരണ്ടാൽ മാവു വിതറിയശേഷം തുടച്ചെടുക്കുക.
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2. ഒട്ടിച്ച സെല്ലൊടേപ്പ് കടലാസിൽനിന്ന് പറിച്ചെടുക്കുവാൻ മുകളിൽ തുണി
വിരിച്ചിട്ട് ഇസ്തിരിപ്പെട്ടി കൊണ്ട് തേക്കുക. എളുപ്പം ഇളകിപ്പോരും.
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3. സ്റ്റീരിയോ ശരിയായ രീതിയിൽ ആസ്വദിക്കാൻ രണ്ടു ലൗഡ്സ്പീക്കറുകളും തമ്മിൽ 10 അടി അകലത്തിൽ വെക്കുക.
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4. കൈയിലെ മീൻമണം മാറാൻ പുളി ഉപയോഗിച്ച് കഴുകുക.
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5. പുതിയ ചെരിപ്പ് ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നതിനുമുൻപ് ഉപ്പൂറ്റി തൊടുന്ന ഭാഗത്ത് അൽപം സോപ്പ് തേച്ചുവെച്ചാൽ കാല് പൊട്ടുകയില്ല.
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6. ബിസ്കറ്റ് മുതലായവ സൂക്ഷിക്കുന്ന ടിന്നിനകത്ത് ബ്ലോട്ടിംഗ് പേപ്പറിന്റെ ഒരു ലൈനിംഗ് ഉണ്ടെങ്കിൽ അവ തണുത്തുപോകുകയില്ല.
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ഉപയോഗപ്രദമായ ഒരു കുഞ്ഞുപുസ്തകം. </div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-53779100792832084982012-10-30T23:39:00.001+05:302013-05-23T21:47:07.990+05:30like water..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“she is beautiful like water…”<br /><br />- Muhammad Asad<br /><br />(<i>The Road to Makkah</i>)</span></div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-1183440343709913912012-10-28T23:08:00.002+05:302012-10-28T23:10:06.375+05:30Prophethood..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifhgO4az0sUY5tjPVEcnaMjFH5BSmPBIea7kbHn1SnMDCsXz1U_Dw3YBkyA5PjRjH2eY7A5VzbM0FSfwPeckYpc3WFd8I3XPFkjIh89ZPIc-QP7kh01CIYH_fjDOGByDe3cSauoL_sOT4/s1600/Muhammad-Asad2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifhgO4az0sUY5tjPVEcnaMjFH5BSmPBIea7kbHn1SnMDCsXz1U_Dw3YBkyA5PjRjH2eY7A5VzbM0FSfwPeckYpc3WFd8I3XPFkjIh89ZPIc-QP7kh01CIYH_fjDOGByDe3cSauoL_sOT4/s320/Muhammad-Asad2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"It had been no accident that the Prophet Muhammad died without having nominated a successor and, indeed, refused to nominate one when a suggestion to that effect was made shortly before his death. By his attitude he intended to convey, firstly, that the spiritual quality of Prophethood was not something that could be 'inherited' "<br /><br />- Muhammad Asad<br /> (<i>The Road to Makkah</i>)</span></span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-79272777469275815812012-10-14T17:23:00.000+05:302012-10-14T17:30:18.425+05:30Jesus- A story of Enlightenment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXtOYIln8fnTQiRYQezOdqvJoInGg8ti5K4p_qaEHCC8-QMBit8miMiMD-2q3qDOEqQIRxLxDSet1x2uS5-GWw0I3uT9YF0_N2OPEqJFWNA-tM0qfu08wlyPgLGVvhKwXCn9uTaipH5V_/s1600/P10046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXtOYIln8fnTQiRYQezOdqvJoInGg8ti5K4p_qaEHCC8-QMBit8miMiMD-2q3qDOEqQIRxLxDSet1x2uS5-GWw0I3uT9YF0_N2OPEqJFWNA-tM0qfu08wlyPgLGVvhKwXCn9uTaipH5V_/s1600/P10046.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Novel:</b> <i>Jesus- A story of Enlightenment</i><br /><b>Author:</b> Deepak Chopra<br />Publ: Harper Collins<br />ISBN: 978-81-7223-777-6<br /><br />A prerequisite to reading this book is to have read the gospels. I had read them years ago and have forgotten many of the details of Jesus's life and the people and incidents and their interrelations. Being a non-Christian, the benefit of the knowledge of Jesus's life that a Christian naturally gathers as a part of growing up itself wasn't there either. So if you plan on giving this book a try, do brush up your Jesus lessons before embarking upon it. Or else you are going to waste a good part of your time spent on it.<br /><br />This book is a fictional account of Jesus's life. It is an attempt by the author to reconstruct Jesus through the power of literary imagination. This is not the story of Jesus that we know. This is not about his sermons on the mount or his miracles or the God that he is or about crucifixion or salvation. This is not about anything that is there in the gospels, but about what is not there. This is the story of Jesus that is missing from the gospels, or in other words, it is the story of the 'lost years'. We see in the Bible Jesus as a kid of twelve years debating with the rabbis at the temple. And the next chronological mention about him is when he is an adult of 30 years. Where did he disappear to all the years in between? That's what Deepak Chopra is telling us through a fictional narrative. A mysterious holy man who meets Jesus narrates to us the story.<br /><br />There was more than one path open before Chopra to start off with his endeavour. He could have written a biography, but then it needed solid recorded facts, which are unfortunately not available. Then there was the possibility of writing a spiritual fantasy where the author is totally free to allow his imagination to run free in any direction it wants. But it would sound too presumptuous. Then there was the third possibility of working backwards on the little facts available in the gospels and complete a puzzle. And that's what Chopra did. And I guess it was the most brilliant and prudent choice, though one that could prove utterly disastrous. But somehow, it didn't turn out to be as disastrous as feared. At the same time, it didn't sound that intriguing as the author perhaps wanted it to be either. But then, that could indeed be the indispensable fate of such works. This could perhaps be the maximum that's possible. I guess non-fiction is a better option to deal with things as these.<br /><br />Half of the book looks like what could be aptly called a 'Jesus thriller'. Jesus the hero, with Judas and Mary. The adventures and travels. Could this be treated as an historic novel? Historic novels are generally based on real facts and characters recorded in history. And I don't generally have much admiration for or affinity to what is categorised as the historic novel. And I know it is because it is an attempt to create fiction out of facts which sounds unnecessary, out of place. Instead non-fiction could do the thing a hundred times better. I never liked <i>War and Peace</i>. And I have understood that it's not my kind of thing. At the same time, I feel <i>da Vinci Code</i> was a better bet in this aspect, its questionable quality level as a work of literature notwithstanding. In it, the story takes place in our own times and the characters are living in the same age as ours. Only they are trying to make some studies about a past age, and it's about Jesus too. Even the movie <i>Titanic</i> could boast of a better setting. Although the tragedy of <i>Titanic</i> is a thing of history, the movie shows the story of two characters that are fictional yet plausible. And I crazily love <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i>. This book by Deepak Chopra closely resembles this kind of framework, but with the one difference_ and it's a crucial one_ that the major characters are from recorded history and the incidents fictional. A dangerous terrain to tread on indeed, unless it is to build up a comic story as Rushdie always does with reckless abandon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />Chopra's conjecture seeks to complete the gospel. He describes Jesus as a man that gradually progresses in the path of spiritual fulfillment. As mentioned above, the kind of treatment can never attain the level of success it earnestly desires and perhaps deserves, nevertheless, someone had to tell this story sooner or later.</span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-81625615074893455332012-09-14T20:51:00.001+05:302012-09-14T21:40:15.080+05:30ആടുജീവിതം<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccaUdmfKkqHeCKVVyunrOSL2V4qFCGRr2LG5lNSORdoZ_hGESNB2t4N3e5AGKfKdIHFG2-yHmhVdoz64uTEyKwcV7_SwymdpKqQ7kVECTOjyGLQ22WDCAZYbZ2KzhFKTdAED03pjpLyp3/s1600/IMG_3329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccaUdmfKkqHeCKVVyunrOSL2V4qFCGRr2LG5lNSORdoZ_hGESNB2t4N3e5AGKfKdIHFG2-yHmhVdoz64uTEyKwcV7_SwymdpKqQ7kVECTOjyGLQ22WDCAZYbZ2KzhFKTdAED03pjpLyp3/s320/IMG_3329.JPG" width="208" /></a></div>
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<b>നോവൽ:</b> <i>ആടുജീവിതം
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<b>നോവലിസ്റ്റ്: </b>ബെന്യാമിൻ
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പ്രസാ: ഗ്രീൻ ബുക്സ്
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ISBN: 81-8423-117-2
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"മലയാളത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും മികച്ച നോവല് ഇതാ ഇറങ്ങിയിരിക്കുന്നു എന്നൊന്നും
ഞാന് പറയില്ല ഇതേ കുറിച്ച്.പക്ഷെ ഈ പുസ്തകത്തില് എന്തോ ഉണ്ട്." </div>
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എന്ന് ഭവ്യകൃഷ്ണ രണ്ടു വർഷം മുൻപ് <a href="http://bhavyakrishna.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%AF%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%A8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%B0%E0%B5%8D%E2%80%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D/">ബ്ലോഗിലെഴുതിയിരിക്കുന്നു</a>. എനിക്കും ഏതാണ്ട് അങ്ങനെ തന്നെയാണ് തോന്നിയത്.
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നോവലിസ്റ്റ് ഈ നോവലിന്റെ അനുബന്ധത്തിൽ ഇങ്ങനെ പറയുന്നു:<br />
"<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: AnjaliOldLipi;">കഴിഞ്ഞ എത്രയോ വർഷമായി
ഗൾഫിലെ എഴുത്തുകാരൻ നാട്ടിൽനിന്നും കേൾക്കുന്ന പഴിയും ശകാരവുമാണ് നിങ്ങളുടെ ഗൃഹാതുരത്വം
നിറഞ്ഞ കഥകൾ വായിച്ച് ഞങ്ങൾക്കു ഛർദ്ദിക്കാൻ വരുന്നുവെന്നത്. ഗൾഫിലെത്തുന്ന ഓരോ സാഹിത്യകാരനും
നിരന്തരം ഇവിടുത്തെ എഴുത്തുകാരോട് ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നത് നിങ്ങളുടെ ഇടയിൽനിന്ന് ഒരു
കഥ നിങ്ങൾ ലോകത്തിനു പറഞ്ഞുകൊടുക്കൂ എന്നാണ്"</span></span></div>
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</span>ആ ദൗത്യം ബെന്യാമിൻ ഏറ്റെടുത്തു. വളരെ ഉത്തരവാദിത്തത്തോടെ
പൂർത്തിയാക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. പ്രവാസികളുടെയിടയിൽ നിന്ന് ഒരു കഥ ലോകത്തിനു
പറഞ്ഞു കൊടുത്തു. ഇതിവൃത്തത്തിലെ ഈ പുതുമ തന്നെയാണ് ഈ കൃതിയുടെ മഹത്വം.
കാലഘട്ടത്തിന്റെ ആവശ്യം നിറവേറ്റിയതാണ് അതിന്റെ വിജയം.
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ഈ പുസ്തകത്തെ രണ്ട് ഭാഗമായി തിരിക്കാം. നാടിനെയും വീടിനെയും
നാട്ടുകാരെയും വീട്ടുകാരെയൂം ഭാര്യയെയും ഒക്കെ വിട്ട് അനേകലക്ഷം
പ്രവാസികളിൽ ഒരുവനായി ജോലിക്കായി സഊദി അറബിയയിലെ റിയാദിലെത്തുന്ന നജീബ്.
പിന്നീട് ഒരു 'അർബാബി'ന്റെ കീഴിൽ, അറ്റമില്ലാത്ത മരുഭൂമിയിലെ കൊടും ചൂടിൽ,
കുളിക്കുവാനോ നനക്കുവാനോ മലവിസർജനം നടത്തിയിട്ട് കഴുകുവാനോപോലും വെള്ളം
ലഭിക്കാത്ത അവസ്ഥയിൽ, സൗഹൃദം കൂടാൻ ഒരു മനുഷ്യജീവി പോലും ഇല്ലാതെ,
ആടുവളർത്തുകേന്ദ്രത്തിൽ ആടുകളെ മേയ്ച്ചും പരിപാലിച്ചും, ഉണക്ക ഖുബ്സ്
(യഥാർത്ഥ ഉച്ഛാരണം: khubz; മലയാളികൾ 'കുബൂസ്' എന്ന് വിളിക്കുന്നു)
കഴിച്ച് ദീർഘനാളുകൾ കഴിയേണ്ടിവരുന്ന നജീബ്. നജീബിന്റെ ഈ ജീവിതാധ്യായം
ഒന്നാം ഭാഗവും ആ കൊടും മരുഭൂമിയിൽനിന്ന് രക്ഷ നേടുന്നതിനായി ഖാദിരിയെയും
ഹക്കീമിനെയും കൂട്ടി മരുഭൂമിയിലൂടെ നടത്തുന്ന ക്ലേശം നിറഞ്ഞ സാഹസികയാത്ര ആരംഭിക്കുന്ന ഭാഗം മുതൽ
രണ്ടാം ഭാഗവും ആയി കണക്കാക്കാം.
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ആദ്യഭാഗത്തെ വായന അത്ര ഒഴുക്കുള്ളതായിരുന്നില്ല എന്നതാണ് എന്റെ
അനുഭവം. വായനയുടെ രസം നശിപ്പിക്കുന്നതിനായി അനേകം കാര്യങ്ങൾ പല
ഘട്ടങ്ങളിലായി മുന്നിൽ വന്നു വഴിമുടക്കി നിന്നു. മനസ്സിൽ പൊങ്ങിവന്ന ചില
സംശയങ്ങൾ.. ചോദ്യങ്ങൾ.. അവയൊക്കെ സാധുവാണോ എന്ന് എനിക്ക് ഉറപ്പിക്കാൻ
വയ്യ. ഒരുപക്ഷെ രചനയിലെ പോരായ്മകളോ പിശകുകളോ ഒക്കെ ആയി എനിക്കു തോന്നിയ
മിക്ക കാര്യങ്ങൾക്കും എന്റെ പരിമിതമായ അറിവിന്റെ അതിർത്തിക്കപ്പുറത്ത്
കാര്യകാരണസഹിതം എന്തെങ്കിലും ന്യായീകരണം കാണുമായിരിക്കും. എന്തായാലും ആ
ദിശയിലേക്ക് ചിന്തയുടെ ഒരു ചെറുചീള് പാളിപ്പോകാതെ ഈ
പുസ്തകത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് സംസാരിക്കുക എനിക്ക് അസാധ്യം.
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രണ്ടാം ഭാഗമെത്തിയപ്പോൾ എഴുത്തുകാരൻ 'ഫോമിലായി' എന്ന തോന്നലുണ്ടായി.
(ക്രിക്കറ്റിലൊക്കെ ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്ന ഈ പ്രയോഗം മനസ്സിൽ വന്നത് യാദൃശ്ചികം
മാത്രം. ബെന്യാമിന്റെ എഴുത്തുകാരനാകുന്നതിനു മുൻപുള്ള ക്രിക്കറ്റ്
ഭ്രാന്ത് പുസ്തകം വായിച്ചുകഴിഞ്ഞ് അനുബന്ധം വായിച്ചുകഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ
മാത്രമാണ് അറിയാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞത്). ആ 'ഫോം' പിന്നങ്ങോട്ട് കഥ തീരുവോളം
നിലനിന്നു. എങ്കിലും അതിന്റെ ഉച്ചകോടി കഥയിലെവിടെയും ആയിരുന്നില്ല.
കഥയ്ക്കു ശേഷം ചേർത്തിട്ടുള്ള അനുബന്ധത്തിലായിരുന്നു. അനുബന്ധത്തിലെ ഓരോ
വാക്കും, ഓരോ വരിയും ബെന്യാമിൻ എന്ന സാഹിത്യകാരന്റെ ഹൃദയത്തിൽ നിന്ന്
നേരിട്ടിറങ്ങി വന്ന് വായനക്കാരനായ എന്റെ ഹൃദയത്തെ തൊട്ടു. അത്രയ്ക്ക്
സത്യസന്ധമാണ് അതിലെ ഓരോ തരിയും. അത് വായിച്ചപ്പോൾ ലഭിച്ച അനുഭൂതി
കഥയിൽനിന്ന്, പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് ഒന്നാം ഭാഗത്തുനിന്ന്, ലഭിച്ചില്ല. അതിനുള്ള
പ്രധാന കാരണം നജീബെന്ന കഥാപാത്രത്തിലേക്കുള്ള 'പരകായപ്രവേശം' നടത്തുന്നതിൽ
ബെന്യാമിൻ എന്ന കഥാകാരൻ വേണ്ടത്ര വിജയിച്ചില്ല എന്നതായിരിക്കാം.
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ഒന്നാം ഭാഗത്ത് എന്നെ അലട്ടിയ കാര്യങ്ങളിലൊന്ന് 'അള്ളാവിനെ' എന്ന
പ്രയോഗമാണ്. മലയാളികളായ മുസ്ലീങ്ങൾ 'അള്ളാഹുവിനെ' എന്നാണ് പറയുക.
മുസ്ലീങ്ങളല്ലാത്തവർക്ക് ഈ വാക്ക് എപ്പോഴെങ്കിലും ഉപയോഗിക്കേണ്ടിവരുമ്പോൾ
മാത്രമാണ് 'അള്ളാവിനെ' എന്ന് പറയുക. അതായത് മുസ്ലിം അല്ലാത്ത ബെന്യാമിൻ
അങ്ങനെ പറയുമായിരിക്കും. പക്ഷെ മുസ്ലിമായ നജീബ് അങ്ങനെ പറഞ്ഞുകൂടാ.
കഥയാകട്ടെ കഥാകാരൻ നേരിട്ടു പറയുന്നുമില്ല. പകരം ആ ജോലി കഥാപാത്രമായ
നജീബിനെ ഏൽപ്പിച്ചിരിക്കുകയാണ്. അപ്പോൾ നജീബ് ഉപയോഗിക്കാൻ വിദൂരസാധ്യത
പോലുമില്ലാത്ത പ്രയോഗം നജീബിന്റെ നാവിൽനിന്ന് വരുന്നത് എങ്ങനെ ശരിയാകും.
ഇതുകൊണ്ടാണ് നജീബിലേക്ക് ബെന്യാമിൻ നടത്തിയ 'പരകായപ്രവേശം'(സൽമാൻ റുഷ്ദിയുടെ ഭാഷയിൽ പറഞ്ഞാൽ 'കഥാപാത്രത്തിന്റെ തൊലിക്കടിയിലേക്ക് കയറുക' ('<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">getting under the
skin</span>') എന്ന പ്രക്രിയ) പൂർണ്ണമായില്ല എന്ന തോന്നലുണ്ടായത്.
അനുബന്ധത്തിലെഴുതിയിരിക്കുന്നതുപ്രകാരം പരകായപ്രവേശം എന്നതുകൊണ്ട്
ബെന്യാമിൻ ഉദ്ദേശിക്കുന്നത് ഒരു കഥാപാത്രത്തിലേക്ക് പ്രവേശിച്ചിട്ട്
അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ദൃഷ്ടിയിലൂടെ ലോകത്തെ നോക്കിക്കാണുക എന്നതുമാത്രമല്ല,
അതിലുപരിയായി തനിക്ക് പറയാനുള്ളതും ചെയ്യാനുള്ളതും ആ
കഥാപാത്രത്തെക്കൊണ്ട് പറയിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുക എന്നതും
കൂടിയാണ്. പക്ഷെ ഇതിന്റെ അതിർവരമ്പ് എവിടെയാണ്? നജീബ് സഊദി അറബിയയിൽ
വന്നിറങ്ങി എന്നു പറയുന്ന ദിവസം, <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1992</span> ഏപ്രിൽ <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4</span>, യഥാർത്ഥത്തിൽ കഥാകാരനായ
ബെന്യാമിൻ ബഹ്റൈനിൽ കാലുകുത്തിയ ദിവസമാണെന്ന് അദ്ദേഹം തന്നെ അനുബന്ധത്തിൽ
പറഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്നു. ഇത് കഥയെ ഒരു രീതിയിലും ബാധിക്കുന്നില്ല. മറ്റൊരു വലിയ
ഉദാഹരണം യഥാർത്ഥ നജീബ് ഒരു കമ്മ്യൂണിസ്റ്റുകാരനായിരുന്നിട്ടും കഥയിൽ
ബെന്യാമിൻ അദ്ദേഹത്തെ ഒരുറച്ച ഈശ്വരവിശ്വാസിയാക്കി ചിത്രീകരിച്ചു. ഈ
രീതിയിലുള്ള പരകായപ്രവേശമൊന്നും തന്നെ കഥയ്ക്ക് ഒരു രീതിയിലും ദോഷമായി
വരുന്നില്ല. പക്ഷെ മുസ്ലീമായ നജീബിനെ ക്രിസ്ത്യാനിയെപ്പോലെ
സംസാരിപ്പിക്കേണ്ടതുണ്ടോ? കുറച്ച് താളുകൾക്കുശേഷം 'അള്ളാഹുവിനെ' എന്ന
പ്രയോഗവും നജീബിന്റെ വാക്കുകളിൽ കാണാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞു. അപ്പോൾ ആദ്യം കണ്ടത്
അച്ചടിപ്പിശകായിരിക്കും എന്നു കരുതിയെങ്കിലും പിന്നീടങ്ങോട്ടുള്ള താളുകളിൽ
അനേകം തവണ 'അള്ളാവിനെ' എന്ന പ്രയോഗം കാണാനിടയായി. ഇതൊക്കെ പ്രസാധകനു പറ്റിയ
തെറ്റു തന്നെയോ?
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<i>ആടുജീവിത</i>ത്തിൽ എന്നെ ചിന്താക്കുഴപ്പത്തിലാക്കിയ മറ്റൊരു കാര്യം 'മസറ'
എന്ന അറബിവാക്കാണ്. ബ്ലോഗിൽ തന്നെ പലരും ഇതിനെക്കുറിച്ച്
പരാമർശിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട് (<a href="http://www.nammudeboolokam.com/2011/01/blog-post_14.html#comment-5379764772842394911">ഒരു ഉദാഹരണം</a>). മസ്റ (യഥാർത്ഥ ഉച്ഛാരണം ഏതാണ്ടിങ്ങനെ:
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">mazra</span>). പുസ്തകത്തിലുടനീളം ഇതിനെ ആട്ടിൻകൂട് എന്ന അർത്ഥത്തിലാണ്
പ്രയോഗിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളത്. ശരിയായ അർത്ഥം farm എന്നാണ്. അതായത് കൃഷിയിടം.
ഈന്തപ്പനയോ, സസ്യങ്ങളോ, പച്ചക്കറികളോ പൂക്കളോ ആടുകളോ കോഴികളോ എന്തും കൃഷി
ചെയ്യുന്നിടം. ഒരുപക്ഷെ നജീബ് അങ്ങനെ തെറ്റായി മനസ്സിലാക്കിയതായിരിക്കുമോ?
മരുഭൂമിയിൽ സമ്പർക്കം പുലർത്താൻ അധികം മനുഷ്യജീവികളെ കാണാനുള്ള
ഭാഗ്യമില്ലാതെ പോയതുകൊണ്ട് താൻ പഠിച്ച അറബിവാക്കിലെ തെറ്റ് മനസ്സിലാക്കാൻ
കഴിയാതെയും പോയി.
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ഇനിയുമൊരു സംശയം നമസ്കരിക്കാത്തവരെ ജയിലിൽ ഇടുമോ എന്നുള്ളതാണ്. പല
തെറ്റുകൾക്കും ജയിലിൽ അകപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നവരുടെ കൂട്ടത്തിൽ
നമസ്കരിക്കാത്തതിന് പിടിച്ചിട്ടിരിക്കുന്നവരെക്കുറിച്ചും പരാമർശമുണ്ട്.
സഊദി അറബിയയിൽ മതപ്പോലീസ്, മുതവ്വ എന്നീ പേരുകളിൽ അറിയപ്പെടുന്ന
സ്ക്വാഡുണ്ട് എന്ന് പലർക്കും അറിയാവുന്ന കാര്യം തന്നെ. അവർ
സൂക്കുകളിൽ(ചന്തകൾ) നിന്നും മറ്റും നമസ്കാരസമയമായിട്ടും പള്ളിയിൽ പോകാതെ
ചുറ്റിത്തിരിയുന്ന മുസ്ലീങ്ങളെ അവരുടെ വണ്ടിയിൽ
പിടിച്ചുകൊണ്ടുപോകാറുമുണ്ട്. സാധാരണ അങ്ങനെ കൊണ്ടുപോകുന്നവരെ ആ
സ്ക്വാഡിന്റെ കാര്യാലയത്തിൽ കൊണ്ടുപോയി അവർക്ക് മതക്ലാസ്സുകളെടുക്കുകയും
കൗൺസലിംഗ് നടത്തുകയും നമസ്കരിപ്പിക്കുകയും ഒക്കെ ചെയ്തിട്ട് ഏതാനും
മണിക്കൂറുകൾക്കുശേഷം വിട്ടയക്കുകയാണ് പതിവെന്ന് കേട്ടിട്ടുണ്ട്. ചിലപ്പോൾ
ഒരു വാഹനം പോലും കിട്ടാത്ത വഴിയിൽ, താമസസ്ഥലത്തുനിന്ന് വളരെ ദൂരെ, അതും
രാത്രിനേരത്ത് ഒക്കെ അവരെ വിട്ടേക്കാം. ഇതാണ് നമസ്കരിക്കാത്തതിനുള്ള
പരമാവധി ശിക്ഷയായി അറിയാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടുള്ളത്. ജയിലിൽ അടക്കുന്നതിനെപ്പറ്റി
കേട്ടിട്ടില്ല. ഇനി ശരിക്കും അങ്ങനെയെങ്ങാനും ഉണ്ടോ? റിയാദിലുള്ള
മുതവ്വമാർക്ക് അൽപം കാർക്കശ്യം കൂടുതലാണെന്ന് കേട്ടിട്ടുണ്ട്. മറ്റു
സ്ഥലങ്ങളിൽ നിന്ന് വ്യത്യസ്തമായി അവർ ചൂരലുമായാണ് നമസ്കരിക്കാത്തവരെ
കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യാൻ ഇറങ്ങുക എന്നറിയാം. എങ്കിലും ജയിലിൽ പിടിച്ചിടുമോ? അറിയാൻ
ആഗ്രഹമുണ്ട്.
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ഇനി 'അർബാബ്' എന്നതാണ് മറ്റൊരു വാക്ക്. സഊദിയിൽ അഞ്ച് വർഷം ജോലി
ചെയ്ത എനിക്ക് ഒരിക്കൽ പോലും ഈ വാക്ക് കേൾക്കാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടില്ല. യജമാനനെ,
അഥവാ സ്പോൺസറെ സൂചിപ്പിക്കാൻ 'കഫീൽ' എന്ന അറബിപദമാണ് അവിടങ്ങളിൽ
കേട്ടിട്ടുള്ളത്. ഇമറാത്തിൽ (<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">UAE</span>) എത്തിയപ്പോൾ മാത്രമാണ് ഇതേ കാര്യം
സൂചിപ്പിക്കാൻ 'അർബാബ്' എന്ന പദം വ്യാപകമായി കേൾക്കാനിടയായത്.
അവിടെയാകട്ടെ 'കഫീൽ' എന്ന പദം അത്ര ഉപയോഗിച്ചു കാണുന്നുമില്ല. ഈ
പുസ്തകത്തിലുടനീളം 'അർബാബ്' എന്ന പദമാണ് കാണുന്നത്. നജീബ് ആദ്യമായി ഈ
വാക്ക് കേൾക്കുന്നത് റിയാദ് എയർപ്പോട്ടിലെ ഒരു ജീവനക്കാരനിൽ നിന്നാണ്.
അദ്ദേഹം എന്തിനീ വാക്ക് ഉപയോഗിച്ചു? ഒരു പക്ഷെ, റിയാദിലും മറ്റുമൊക്കെ ഈ
പദമായിരിക്കുമോ വ്യാപകമായിട്ടുള്ളത്? അറിയാൻ ആകാംക്ഷയുണ്ട്.
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വെടിയുണ്ട കൊണ്ട് മരിച്ച ആടിന്റെ മാംസം 'അർബാബ്' ചുട്ടു കഴിക്കുന്ന
രംഗം പുസ്തകത്തിൽ വിവരിക്കുന്നുണ്ട്. പക്ഷെ ഇത് യാഥാർത്ഥ്യത്തിൽ നിന്ന്
വളരെ വിദൂരമല്ലേ? എത്രതന്നെ 'കാട്ടറബി'യായിക്കൊള്ളട്ടെ, പിശുക്കനായിക്കോട്ടെ,
അങ്ങനെ ചാകുന്ന ഒരു മൃഗത്തെ ഭക്ഷിക്കുമോ? ഉണ്ടെന്ന് തോന്നുന്നില്ല. കാരണം
അത് ഹലാലല്ലാത്ത ഭക്ഷണമാണ്. ഹലാലല്ലാത്ത ഭക്ഷണം മുസ്ലീങ്ങൾ,
പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് ഗൾഫിലെ അറബികൾ ഭക്ഷിക്കുമെന്ന് തോന്നുന്നില്ല. കാരണം അത്
പോർക്കിനു തുല്യമാണ്. പോർക്ക് അഥവാ പന്നിയിറച്ചി മുസ്ലീങ്ങൾ
ഭക്ഷിക്കാറില്ല എന്ന കാര്യം എല്ലാവർക്കും അറിയാവുന്നതാണ്. ദൈവത്തിന്റെ
നാമം ചൊല്ലി അറുത്തുകൊല്ലുന്ന മൃഗത്തിന്റെ മാംസം മാത്രമെ ഹലാലായി ഇസ്ലാം
മതം അനുവദിക്കുന്നുള്ളൂ. മറ്റ് ഏതുവിധേനയും മരണമടയുന്ന ജീവിയെ ഭക്ഷിക്കാൻ
അനുവാദമില്ല. അതൊക്കെ ഹറാമായി പരിഗണിക്കുന്നു. ഗൾഫിലെ അറബികളാകട്ടെ ഈ വിധ
മതനിയമങ്ങൾ വളരെ കാർക്കശ്യത്തോടെ പാലിക്കുന്നവരാണ്. മതത്തിൽ തന്നെ പറയുന്ന
സ്നേഹം, അനുകമ്പ തുടങ്ങിയ ഗുണങ്ങൾ ഒന്നും തന്നെ ഇല്ലാത്തവരാണെങ്കിൽ കൂടി.
വെടി കൊണ്ടു ചത്തുപോയ ഒരാടിന്റെ കാശ് നഷ്ടമാകുമെങ്കിൽ കൂടി.<br />
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ഒരുപക്ഷെ ഇതിനൊക്കെയുള്ള മറുപടി ബെന്യാമിന്റെ അനുബന്ധത്തിലുള്ള ഈ വരികളിൽ കണ്ടേക്കാം. ഇവ ഒരു സാഹിത്യപ്രേമിയുടെ ഹൃദയത്തെ സ്പർശിക്കും:
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"ഞാനെഴുതുന്നവയിലെ സാഹിത്യഭംഗിയും പുതുമയും മേന്മയും എനിക്ക്
ഉറപ്പില്ല. അത് കാലം അളന്നു നിശ്ചയിക്കേണ്ടതാണ്. പക്ഷേ, അവയ്ക്കുപിന്നിലെ
എന്റെ ആത്മസമർപ്പണത്തെപ്പറ്റി എനിക്ക് ഉറപ്പിച്ചു പറയാൻ കഴിയും. ഓരോ
കഥയിലേയും കഥാപാത്രങ്ങൾക്കൊപ്പം ഞാൻ മനസ്സുകൊണ്ട് നടന്നിട്ടുണ്ട്. അവരുടെ
നിയോഗം എന്റെ നിയോഗം പോലെ സ്വീകരിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. അലസത കൊണ്ട് എന്റെ
ഏതെങ്കിലും കഥ മോശമായിപ്പോയി എന്ന് എനിക്കു വിചാരമില്ല. എന്റെ മോശം
രചനകൾക്കു പിന്നിൽ എന്റെ പ്രതിഭാരാഹിത്യമല്ലാതെ മറ്റൊന്നും കാരണമല്ല."
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കാരണം, ഒരു എഴുത്തുകാരന്റെ സത്യസന്ധതയുടെ വാഗ്ദാനമാണിത്.
ഒരെഴുത്തുകാരന്റെ മഹത്വം എഴുതുന്നതിനോട് സത്യസന്ധത പുലർത്തുക എന്നതാണെന്ന്
പൗലോ കൊയ്ലോ പറഞ്ഞത് ഞാൻ പൂർണ്ണമായും വിലമതിക്കുന്നു. ആ സത്യം
മനസ്സിലാക്കുന്ന എഴുത്തുകാരനാണ് മഹത്വമുള്ള സാഹിത്യകാരൻ.
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പരകായപ്രവേശത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് പറഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ അക്കാര്യത്തിൽ മഹത്തായ വിജയം
കൈവരിച്ച ഒരെഴുത്തുകാരന്റെ കൃതി ഈയിടെ വായിച്ചത് ഓർമ്മയിലേക്കോടി വന്നു. <span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yann Martel</span></span>-ന്റെ <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://theblissofbeing.blogspot.in/2012/08/life-of-pi.html">Life of Pi</a></i></span> എന്ന ബൂക്കർ സമ്മാനം നേടിയ നോവൽ. നോവലിസ്റ്റ്
ഒരു കാനഡക്കാരനാണെങ്കിലും പ്രധാനകഥാപാത്രം ഒരിന്ത്യക്കാരൻ പയ്യനാണ്. ഈ ഇന്ത്യൻ കഥാപാത്രത്തിന്റെ വാക്കുകളിലൂടെയാണ് മാർട്ടെൽ കഥ പറയുന്നത്. അവൻ
മുങ്ങിയ ഒരു കപ്പലിൽനിന്ന് രക്ഷപ്പെട്ട് കടലിന്റെ നടുവിൽ ഒരു ലൈഫ്
ബോട്ടിൽ പെടുന്നു. അവന്റെ കുടുംബാംഗങ്ങളെ അവനു നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നു. ഒരു
കാഴ്ചബംഗ്ലാവിൽനിന്ന് അമേരിക്കയ്ക്ക് അയച്ച ചില വന്യമൃഗങ്ങളും വെള്ളത്തിൽ
പെടുന്നു. ഒടുവിൽ കടലിനു നടുവിൽ ലൈഫ് ബോട്ടിൽ ബാക്കിയാവുന്നത് അവനും ഒരു
ബംഗാൾ കടുവയും മാത്രം. കടുവയുടെ വായിലകപ്പെടാതെ നോക്കണം. അല്ലാതെയും ജീവൻ
നിലനിർത്താൻ നോക്കണം. മാസങ്ങളോളമുള്ള കടലിലെ ജീവിതം. ഈ കഥയുടെ ബീജം
മാത്രമാണ് യാൻ മാർട്ടലിന്റെ മനസ്സിലുണ്ടായിരുന്നത്. ഇതെഴുതുന്നതിനുള്ള
അനുഭവങ്ങൾ ഒന്നുമുണ്ടായിരുന്നില്ല. പക്ഷെ അദ്ദേഹം ഏതാനും വർഷങ്ങൾ
അതിനായുള്ള ഗവേഷണത്തിനായി മാറ്റിവെച്ചു. ഇന്ത്യയിൽ അനേകനാളുകൾ താമസിച്ചു.
കാഴ്ചബംഗ്ലാവുകളും ആരാധനാലയങ്ങളും സന്ദർശിച്ചു. കടലിൽ പെട്ടു
പോകുന്നവരെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ളവരുടെ സാഹസികകഥകൾ ധാരാളം വായിച്ചു. വന്യമൃഗങ്ങളുടെ
പെരുമാറ്റത്തിന്റെയും ചലനങ്ങളുടെയും മന:ശാസ്ത്രം പഠിച്ചു. ഫലം:
ഒരിന്ത്യക്കാരനെഴുതിയതെന്ന് തോന്നിക്കുന്ന ഒരു നോവൽ. യാൻ മാർട്ടൽ
ഒരിന്ത്യക്കാരനാവുകയായിരുന്നു. മറ്റാർക്കും ഒന്നും കണ്ടുപിടിക്കാൻ
കഴിയില്ലെങ്കിലും ഇന്ത്യക്കാരായ നമുക്ക് അത് വായിക്കുമ്പോൾ എന്തെങ്കിലും
പിശകുകളുണ്ടെങ്കിൽ എളുപ്പം ശ്രദ്ധയിൽപ്പെടുമായിരുന്നു. പക്ഷെ കാര്യമായ ഒരു
പിശകും കണ്ടെത്താൻ കഴിഞ്ഞില്ല. ഒരിന്ത്യക്കാരന്റെ തൊലിക്കടിയിലേക്ക് യാൻ മാർട്ടെൽ നടത്തിയ നുഴഞ്ഞുകയറ്റം അത്രയ്ക്ക് ഗംഭീരമായിരുന്നു. '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Indian writing in English' </span>
എന്നതിന്റെ നിർവ്വചനം തന്നെ മാറ്റിമറിക്കാൻ കെൽപ്പുള്ള ഒരു കൃതി.
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Life of Pi</i></span>-യിൽ മാസങ്ങളോളം കടലിന്നു നടുവിൽ കടുവയുമായി
ഒറ്റപ്പെട്ടുപോകുന്ന പട്ടേലിന് അറ്റം കാണാത്ത മരുഭൂമിയിൽ അർബാബെന്ന
കടുവയുടെ കൈയിൽ പെട്ടുപോകുന്ന നജീബുമായി സാദൃശ്യമുണ്ട്. പക്ഷെ ഒരു
കാര്യത്തിൽ ബെന്യാമിൻ മാർട്ടെലിനെ കടത്തിവെട്ടിയിരിക്കുന്നു എന്ന്
നിസ്സംശയം പറയാം. ഈശ്വരവിശ്വാസമാണ് ഒറ്റപ്പെട്ടുപോയ മനുഷ്യനെ ജീവന്റെ
തുടിപ്പ് അറ്റുപോകാതെ ഒടുവിൽ കരയ്ക്കടുപ്പിച്ചതെന്ന് സ്ഥാപിക്കുന്നതിലുള്ള
വിജയം. മാർട്ടെലിന്റെ പട്ടേലും ഈശ്വരവിശ്വാസിയാണ്. കടലിനുനടുവിൽ
ഏതുനേരവും അദ്ദേഹം കരളുരുകി പ്രാർത്ഥിക്കുന്നു. എങ്കിലും അതൊന്നും
വായനക്കാരനെ ബോധ്യപ്പെടുത്തുന്നില്ല ആ ഈശ്വരവിശ്വാസമാണ് അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ
ജീവൻ നിലനിർത്തിയതെന്ന്. പകരം, കടുവയുടെ മനശ്ശാസ്ത്രത്തെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള
അറിവ് അഥവാ കടുവ എപ്പോൾ എങ്ങനെ പെരുമാറും എന്ന ജ്ഞാനം തികഞ്ഞ
വൈദഗ്ധ്യത്തോടെ പ്രയോഗിച്ചതാണ് അദ്ദേഹത്തെ കടുവയുടെ വായിലകപ്പെടാതെ
രക്ഷിച്ചത്. മാർട്ടൽ ഇന്ത്യയിൽ ആരാധനാലയങ്ങൾ കയറിയിറങ്ങി മതങ്ങൾ പഠിച്ചത്
വെറുതെയായി. പക്ഷെ <i>ആടുജീവിത</i>ത്തിൽ നജീബിന് പട്ടേലിനെപ്പോലെ
രക്ഷപ്പെടുന്നതിനുള്ള യാതൊരു വിജ്ഞാനവും കൈവശമില്ല. ഏറ്റവും നിസ്സാരനും
ഏറ്റവും നിസ്സഹായനും ആയ ഒരു പാവം മനുഷ്യജീവിയെയാണ് നമ്മൾ കാണുന്നത്. ആ
അവസ്ഥയിൽ ഈശ്വരവിശ്വാസമല്ലാതെ മറ്റെന്താണ് നജീബിനെ ജീവൻ വെടിയാതെ
മറ്റേയറ്റം വരെ എത്തിക്കുക? വായനക്കാരന്റെ മനസ്സിൽ ഇത്തരത്തിലുള്ള ചിന്തയെ
സാധൂകരിക്കുന്ന രീതിയിൽ മരുഭൂമിയുടെയും നജീബിന്റെയും ചിത്രങ്ങൾ വരച്ചിട്ട
<i>ആടുജീവിത</i>ത്തിന് അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങൾ! യഥാർത്ഥജീവിതത്തിലെ നജീബ്
കമ്മ്യൂണിസ്റ്റാശയക്കാരനായിരുന്നെങ്കിലും ബെന്യാമിൻ അവതരിപ്പിച്ചത് ഒരു
വിശ്വാസിയായ നജീബിനെയാണ്. ആ തീരുമാനം ബെന്യാമിന്റെ വളരെ നല്ല
തീരുമാനമായിരുന്നെന്ന് പറയാതെ വയ്യ. മനസ്സിലാക്കിയിടത്തോളം ബെന്യാമിൻ
നിരീശ്വരവാദിയല്ല. അതുകൊണ്ടു തന്നെ നജീബിനെ വിശ്വാസിയാക്കിയതുകൊണ്ട്
അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ജോലി അദ്ദേഹത്തിനു നന്നായി ചെയ്യാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞു.
നിരീശ്വരവാദിയാക്കിയിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ നജീബിനുവേണ്ടി ബെന്യാമിന് തന്റെ സ്വത്വം
കൈവിട്ടുകൊണ്ട് നജീബിന്റെ പാതയിൽ സഞ്ചരിക്കേണ്ടി വന്നേനെ. അങ്ങനെയാകുമ്പോൾ
ബെന്യാമിൻ എന്ന എഴുത്തുകാരൻ നജീബ് എന്ന തന്റെ കഥാപാത്രത്തിൽ നിന്ന് വളരെ
അകന്നുപോകുമായിരുന്നു. കാരണം, അനുബന്ധത്തിൽനിന്ന് മനസ്സിലാകുന്നതുപോലെ,
കഥാകാരന് കഥാപാത്രമാകാൻ ഏറ്റവും നന്നായി കഴിയുക തന്റെ തന്നെ ആത്മാവിനോട്
ഏറ്റവും ചേർന്നുനിൽക്കുമ്പോഴാണ്. അല്ലാത്തപക്ഷം താൻ സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്ന
നാടകീയതകളുടെ ഏച്ചുകെട്ടലുകളിൽ നിന്നുളവാകുന്ന മുഴച്ചുനിൽക്കലുകളുടെ ഭീകരത
താൻ നേരിട്ടഭിമുഖീകരിക്കേണ്ടി വരും.
അതിലുപരി, അതു വെറും ചങ്കൂറ്റം കൊണ്ടും
സാഹസികതയും മനസ്ഥൈര്യവും കൊണ്ടും മരുഭൂമിയെ അതിജീവിച്ചു ജയിച്ച ഒരാളുടെ
സാഹസികകഥയായിപ്പോയേനേ. 'സാഹസികത' എന്ന വാക്കിനാവും അപ്പോൾ മുൻതൂക്കം.
സാഹസികത കൊണ്ട് തടസ്സങ്ങളെ തരണം ചെയ്തു വിജയിച്ചവരുടെ നമ്മൾ കേട്ടുമടുത്ത
ആയിരം കഥകളിൽ ഒന്നു മാത്രമായിപ്പോവുമായിരുന്നു അപ്പോഴത്. നേരേ മറിച്ച്
ഇപ്പോൾ 'നിസ്സഹായത' എന്ന വാക്കിനാണ് മുൻതൂക്കം. നിസ്സഹായനായ മനുഷ്യന്റെ
ദയനീയതയാണ് ഇവിടെ വായനക്കാരന്റെ മനസ്സിനെ സ്പർശിക്കുക. നിസ്സഹായനായ
മനുഷ്യൻ എങ്ങനെ ആ സാഹചര്യങ്ങൾ അതിജീവിച്ചു എന്ന് വരച്ചു കാണിക്കുന്നതിലാണ്
ഈ കൃതിയുടെ മനോഹാരിത മുഴുവനും.</div>
</div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-72311077035746033152012-09-11T23:31:00.000+05:302012-09-11T23:31:37.674+05:30ഗൾഫിന്റെ കഥ ..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">“കഴിഞ്ഞ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എത്രയോ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">വർഷമായി</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഗൾഫിലെ</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എഴുത്തുകാരൻ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നാട്ടിൽനിന്നും</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">കേൾക്കുന്ന</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">പഴിയും</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ശകാരവുമാണ്</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിങ്ങളുടെ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഗൃഹാതുരത്വം</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിറഞ്ഞ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">കഥകൾ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">വായിച്ച്</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഞങ്ങൾക്കു</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഛർദ്ദിക്കാൻ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">വരുന്നുവെന്നത്</span>. <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഗൾഫിലെത്തുന്ന</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഓരോ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">സാഹിത്യകാരനും</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിരന്തരം</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഇവിടുത്തെ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എഴുത്തുകാരോട്</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നത്</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിങ്ങളുടെ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഇടയിൽനിന്ന്</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഒരു</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">കഥ</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിങ്ങൾ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ലോകത്തിനു</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">പറഞ്ഞുകൊടുക്കൂ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എന്നാണ്</span>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ബെന്യാമിൻ</span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-68654779811874043702012-09-05T20:21:00.000+05:302012-09-20T01:02:07.566+05:30Step Across this Line<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFIodpqgtmkegroGrmAd2eO74k2QW_0POmyCZOVtUtLgO7YE5ArJQcClBTcQs8qWg37VXvaU_vxWlXJaRAWzfl5UvyojJjHBS3kqx23VXt_eDlKYrkD40SYzZ4Com9gPItfuCPkYeIQe26/s1600/Salman-Rushdie-Step-Across-This-Line-Collected-Nonfiction-1992-2002.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFIodpqgtmkegroGrmAd2eO74k2QW_0POmyCZOVtUtLgO7YE5ArJQcClBTcQs8qWg37VXvaU_vxWlXJaRAWzfl5UvyojJjHBS3kqx23VXt_eDlKYrkD40SYzZ4Com9gPItfuCPkYeIQe26/s1600/Salman-Rushdie-Step-Across-This-Line-Collected-Nonfiction-1992-2002.jpeg" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Title:</b> <i>Step Across this Line</i><br /><b>Author</b>: Salman Rushdie<br />Publ: Random House<br /><br />This is a collection of essays, columns and speech transcripts by Rushdie published or occurred at various points of time during 1992-2002. This is an exciting mix of widely varying topics, from fairy tales to Islamic extremism, and from Soccer games to International politics.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />Even to an avid reader who has read all of the novels of Rushdie will get a new insight about him from this non-fiction collection. In fact, if someone has thought he/she has understood enough of Rushdie from his fictional works, he/she is utterly mistaken. His non-fictional writings show us the real person behind all those novels. While the themes and topics of all his novels, however serious they might be, finally acquire a comical form by the time they tumble down as words from his fingertips on the keyboard, travelling all the way from the vastness of the intellectual space inside his head, present before our eyes a nihilistic and frivolous-looking baldy as their author, his works of non-fiction show us how deeply he feels for and is affected by the things going on around him and how thoughtful he is about matters that have serious implications for humanity. If you have not read Rushdie’s essays and columns, your knowledge about the author is imperfect and incomplete. I have also read one of his other similar collection <i>Imaginary Homelands</i> which was when I realized how different Rushdie is from what I have understood about him through his novels. This book is to be read by all those who have shouted out slogans to get him killed over his book <i>The Satanic Verses</i>, most of them without even reading the book. For it will give them a different picture of the human being that he is, who is disturbed even by the suffering of Muslims themselves and the atrocities and denial of rights they face every day in different parts of the world as much as similar groups belonging to other communities.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />The book starts with a piece on <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, perhaps his first ever love among tales that has never lost its luster for him and has been an interesting topic that pops up now and then in his intellect even to the present day. He makes an in-depth analysis of this story that has been a source of inspiration and an object of love since the childhood of this teller of colourful tales.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />He talks at length about his love for India, his first home, in a way that clearly shows how much it all means to him, with all its filth and starving bellies as well as its majesty and glory, sincerely lamenting one while taking pride in the other. He voices out his concern for the people of India and the hardships they face in their own land as well as in the international scenario. Perhaps there is no Indian author contemporary to Rushdie who talks so much for the cause of India, the country that was the first to ban his book. This is well conspicuous in <i>Imaginary Homelands</i> too. He also talks in this book about Babur, <i>Baburnama</i>, the Mughals and Indian history, not forgetting to put emphasis on Babri Masjid and the Ayodhya issue. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />He gives a fairly good account of his life in exile, living under cover during the fatwa issued on his head by late Ayatollah Khomeini following the publication of <i>The Satanic Verses</i>, and all the difficulties he has been facing in moving around since then. His piece on how he travelled to India to his old house, too nostalgic to him, after the fatwa had faded off more or less with the passage of a few years, with his teenage son, is a really touching one. He describes how he still travelled around various places in India in disguise, always trying to hide his face under the hat and wearing sunglasses etc. and how he was still spotted by the media persons. To him, it was a very special homecoming, more so with a father’s emotional attempt at introducing the land and places and its cultures that mean his life itself to his son Zafar. He is driven by memory to the scene of an earlier trip to the same land years before that he made with his western wife with the small sum he had received as advance for his first novel while he was hardly known and during which he stayed in cheap hotels and travelled by buses to make the most of the money in hand. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />The essays also show how an avid reader and an incurable movie buff he is. In fact, the entire book is littered with mentions of great titles and authors, movies and plays. His erudite discussions on the idea of the novel and generally about writing and writers are valuable to anyone who loves literature. We also discover that he is a fan of soccer and has sweet memories of the game. He reminisces the first time he watched a game when his father took him to a tournament between two of the greatest soccer clubs. Discussion on international politics is one of his interesting topics too. I have read elsewhere that he could never think about writing sans politics. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />The book also contains writings about topics which are about very personal matters of his, apparently unimportant or even silly to the reader, like the one titled On Being Photographed, which looks into the moments inside moments and stories inside stories. It is about the intricacies involved in his photo sessions and their photographers and how he feels about them all. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />The final pages try to find explanation and definitions for topics of borders and what it really means to cross them, alienage, exilehood, freedom and discovering oneself, all raising a load of burning, tumultuous questions in the minds of the readers as it has been for the author, a person in exile himself, all his life. He draws wonderful anecdotes from the Sufic works of Fariduddin Attar and Doris Lessing in the process. The book owes to this piece for the title.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />I truly believe a book as this definitely adds value to my bookshelf.</span></span></div>
</div>
deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-10907141547929787682012-09-04T18:21:00.000+05:302012-09-04T18:34:36.250+05:30ആതിഥ്യമര്യാദ..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഞാൻ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ആദ്യമായിട്ടാണ്</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഗൾഫിൽ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">വരുന്നതെന്ന്</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിങ്ങൾക്കറിയാതെയാണോ</span>? <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നീ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ആഹാരം</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">കഴിച്ചതാണോ</span>? <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിനക്ക്</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ദാഹിക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ</span>? <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിനക്ക്</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">വിശക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ</span>? <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എന്തെങ്കിലും</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഒരുവാക്ക്</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">നിങ്ങളെന്നോട്</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ചോദിക്കേണ്ടിയിരുന്നതല്ലേ</span>?
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എനിക്കെന്റെ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">താമസസ്ഥലം</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">കാണിച്ചുതരികയും</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എന്നെ</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">എന്റെ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">സഹപ്രവർത്തകർക്കു</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">പരിചയപ്പെടുത്തിത്തരികയും</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ചെയ്യേണ്ടിയിരുന്നതല്ലേ</span>? <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഇതാണോ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ഞാൻ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">പണ്ടേ</span>
<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">കേട്ടറിഞ്ഞിട്ടുള്ള</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">അറബികളുടെ</span> <span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";">ആതിഥ്യമര്യാദ</span>?" <br />
<br />
- (<span style="font-family: "Kartika","serif";"><i>ആടുജീവിതം</i>)</span></div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-77110376415230318072012-08-23T22:40:00.000+05:302012-09-18T09:44:56.246+05:30Life of Pi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhoHxzCq8q7nl4jJ_VIZrs0ySljcCfxOTE63Ejv22PumkBOthjA8V9FlVHuy11LTmPIBCC7COedKJyI-6KL6mQ4aw8paCrVaLRg6hq40HraKB1sK0yCPf2UACOnXSJXvqXjd7h221JCFx/s1600/LifeOfPi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhoHxzCq8q7nl4jJ_VIZrs0ySljcCfxOTE63Ejv22PumkBOthjA8V9FlVHuy11LTmPIBCC7COedKJyI-6KL6mQ4aw8paCrVaLRg6hq40HraKB1sK0yCPf2UACOnXSJXvqXjd7h221JCFx/s320/LifeOfPi.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<b>Title:</b> <i>Life of Pi</i><br />
<b>Author:</b> Yann Martel<br />
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I guess it's time that we redefined what is widely known as 'indian Writing in English'. Wikipedia states that Indian Writing in English </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"refers to the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. It is also associated with the works of members of the Indian diaspora, such as V.S. Naipaul, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie, who are of Indian descent."</span></blockquote>
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And we know that Indian writing in English, with its hybridism of style and language, is naturally pregnant with rich Indianness (what else?). And this book, <i>Life of Pi</i>, gives you a feeling that you are reading someone like Aravind Adiga, Salman Rushdie or Arundhati Roy. In fact, if the book is stripped of its title and author's name and given to any Indian reader, he/she would never have the tiniest inkling that it's written by a non- Indian writer. But that's the truth anyway. Yann Martel is not an Indian. He was not born an Indian. Neither is he a person of Indian descent. But he has, by and large, succeeded in thinking and talking like an Indian through a novel that has such colourful and vivid expressions of Indianness. To borrow Salman Rushdie's expression, he has 'gotten under the skin' of an Indian and viewed Indian life, culture and society through those Indian eyes. Nevertheless, a keen Indian can easily find out instances that show that that getting-under-the-skin has not been entirely perfect, but then, they are minute, and after all, how Indian can a non-Indian get, for that matter?<br />
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Talking about Yann Martel and <i>Life of Pi</i>, one cannot help reflecting momentarily on the two categories of writers as far as the material for writing is concerned. The first one is where the author is so full of experiences and knowledge accummulated over the years of one or more particular spheres of life, the world, human behaviour and interaction and so on that he only needs the literary acumen and perhaps a little digging here and there to brush up his knowledge of things or to collect some minor amount of details to convert his ideas and concepts into quality words that eventually put on paper gives shape to a piece in the beautiful form of art called the novel.<br />
<br />
Then there is this second category of writers who, all of a sudden, get a revelation about a certain story idea revolving around a certain concept, but don't have enough knowledge or experience that help them go about it. But nevertheless, they are on fire with the tiny spark that has descended upon them which is capable of taking them to any length to convert the idea into a story worth reading. Extensive research and deep digging is done by them, not to mention long distance travels to collect information. Martel is of this second kind of writer, at least as far as <i>Life of Pi</i> is concerned. <br />
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He was struck with the idea of an earlier story written by a different author about a castaway who survives in the sea on a boat with a wild beast. And soon he found himself spending years travelling, researching and collecting information for his story. Quoting Wikipedia again,</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />"Martel spent 13 months in India visiting masjids, churches, temples and zoos, and spent two years reading religious texts and castaway stories." (Citation: <i><a href="http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html">How I Wrote Life of Pi</a></i> ). </span></div>
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As is obvious from the above statement, it's the knowledge of animals - animal psychology to be precise - and religions that he needed for the book. Hence the two major themes of the book are religion and behavioural psychology of animals. And I would like to assert that while the latter is the core of the book the former has nothing whatsoever, so to say, to do with the book.<br />
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As one of the characters in the story, Francis Adirubaswamy, says, this story was supposed to make you believe in God. That's the only reason for religion - religions, rather - to find a place in this book. But if it is so, then I guess the author has been an utter failure in the respect. I don't think anyone who is not a believer in God already would believe in God just because he/she has read this book. At least I didn't find the thing so convincing as to make me believe in God. But at the same time, it could well be the statement of that character alone and not of the author. However there is no way to clarify it. Perhaps Adirubaswamy preferred attributing the survival of the teenager protagonist Pi, the son of a zoo owner in Pondicherry, in the middle of the ocean to his staunch belief in God and the religions Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, all three of which he practised devoutly. Pi believed that all the three religions led to the same God. However, stripping the book entirely of the religion part would do no harm at all to the story irrespective of whether Pi was a believer or not. It wouldn't make any difference at all to the story, because it is the other prominent theme, namely, animal psychology which is the core idea that drives the story. And if the book is stripped of the animal behaviour part, the book ceases to exist. However, I must admit the religion part made for a really enjoyable read, especially for me to whom it has always been an interesting subject.<br />
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Coming to the theory of animal behaviour, no doubt, it has been a superb idea to base a story on the subject. Pi, with his father Santhosh Patel who ran a zoo gets a good opportunity to observe and learn a great deal about the behaviour of a wide variety of animals and birds. This knowledge greatly helped him deal with the wild beasts he was trapped with in the middle of the ocean when the ship carrying the zoo animals sank and the people in it, including his family members, drowned. The animals were supposed to be shipped to the U.S. as they had sold the zoo and wanted to dispose of them, and Pi and his family were moving to Canada leaving India for good. The ship sank in the Indian Ocean on its way, and Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat in the water with a few of the animals, namely a Bengal tiger, a hyena, an orangutan and a zebra. And sooner or later, the small ecosystem was bound to follow its natural life cycle. One was supposed to eat the other. The stronger was supposed to consume the weaker. (Telling anything more about the plot would be a huge spoiler. I respect the feelings of someone who is yet to read the book.)<br />
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The structure of the entire book is wonderful in its little, silent way. It can be thought to be divided into two parts. The first part creates a good backdrop for the story. And the second part is the story itself. The first part again deals with roughly three aspects - Pi's family, his acquaintance with animal behavioural patterns and his experiences with various religions. These aspects are narrated marvellously and they form a solid ground-work for the smooth flow of the rest of the story. The book is an enjoyable read, I would say. And of course, one that has to be read twice if anyone has to savour the real essence.</div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-75262203383908078142012-08-12T23:03:00.000+05:302012-08-12T23:03:38.913+05:30Middlesex<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Title:</b> <i>Middlesex</i><br /><b>Author: </b>Jeffrey Eugenides<br /><br />It's not a boring book. I must say it's interseting. But nevertheless not fully satisfying. That is because somewhere down the line I started comparing him with Salman Rushdie. It's very clear that he follows a style of writing similar to that of Rushdie. Further research confirmed that he was indeed very interested in Rushdie and his style. I happened to read a transcript of a conversation between him and Rushdie. Also about his visit to India and how he became fascinated with Rushdie's <i>Midnight's Children</i> etc. This book has almost all the elements of a Rushdian novel. And his fancy for the orient, the Islamic culture, India etc. like Rushdie is clearly reflected in this work. I'm sure he is a person with an Indian soul trapped in an English body. With all these features, how could someone not compare him with Rushdie? And the result is that, in spite of all these ingredients, he doesn't do it as good as Rushdie.</div>deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-55940214462895540102012-08-12T00:19:00.003+05:302012-08-12T22:59:37.253+05:30hands..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"The first time I went to an Indian restaurant in Canada I used my fingers. The waiter looked at me<br />
critically and said, "Fresh off the boat, are you?" I blanched. My fingers, which a second before had<br />
been taste buds savouring the food a little ahead of my mouth, became dirty under his gaze. They<br />
froze like criminals caught in the act. I didn't dare lick them. I wiped them guiltily on my napkin.<br />
He had no idea how deeply those words wounded me. They were like nails being driven into my<br />
flesh. I picked up the knife and fork. I had hardly ever used such instruments. My hands trembled.<br />
My sambar lost its taste."</div>
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- (<i>Life of Pi</i>)</div>
</div>deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-75006701428495594782012-08-06T23:32:00.004+05:302012-08-12T22:59:02.174+05:30War and Peace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Title:</b> <i>War and Peace</i><br /><b>Author:</b> Leo Tolstoy<br />Publ: Wordsworth Editions ltd. (1993)<br />ISBN: 1 85326 062 2<br /><br />War and Peace. Not my kind of book. It is an epic size historical novel. It is about Napolean's invasion of Russia. Perhaps I have a basic dislike towards historic novels. As it is a novel, there are numerous fictional characters and the story of their relationships and family affairs. And since it is an account of an episode from history as well, there are real historic characters such as Napolean and Tsar and historic events and dates and stuff. Alas, I missed the novel for the history, and the history for the novel. Perhaps that's why I dislike historical fiction. Apart from the history and fiction, there is scattered here and there real non-fictional philosophy of Tolstoy on war, history, humanity and the world. I guess this is the part I liked more than the history and fiction. But this too needs a bit of trimming as it is extensively repetitive and lengthy in places and even dull at times.<br /><br />As it is a novel, the narrative of war and related events from history looked kind of out of place. And since it is a report on history, the fictional part didn't look like a fully blown novel.<br /><br />However, the author's sharp insight into human nature and characteristics and their clear depiction are commendable. The same was the feeling I had when I read <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> by Jane Austen. That story seemed not that great to me, but her power of observation deep into human hearts and minds was greatly reflected in the book. That said, I now know that I love Charles Dickens's style far more than the plain straightforward style of realistic narration of Tolstoy and Austen.</span></div>
</div>deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-13120878359155934192012-07-19T20:11:00.000+05:302012-09-20T01:10:56.636+05:30Atlas Shrugged<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Title:</b> <i>Atlas Shrugged</i></div>
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<b>Author:</b> Ayn Rand</div>
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I have read that Ayn Rand has written four books. And that <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> is her last book. She is considered to be the proponent of the philosophical theory called <i>Objectivism</i>. And it is said that it is in this last book of hers that she has presented her theory most extensively which has resulted in a culmination of all that she tried to tell the reader through her previous books. I have also read that it is through this book that she has been successful in concretely establishing her philosophical theory unlike her other books, and came to be well reputed to be a philosopher more than a writer. She has lived around a quarter of a century after this book was published, but didn't write another book. I guess she would have written more books had she not been known as a philosopher with the release of this work. Whatever, if she is a philosopher, then I would like to believe that she is a very immature one. <br />
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One might think that this book is about glorifying capitalism, greed, blind profit-making, selfishness or egotism, and is anti-communist, anti-socialist etc. But as mentioned above it is a new theory called <i>Objectivism</i> which is a foolish combination of all the above. The protagonist of this story, Dagny Taggart is an individual with great intellectual brilliance and self confidence coupled with enormous capability to undertake industrial ventures and make them a success. In her view, the fruit of one's hard work is to be enjoyed by one alone. It need not be shared with anyone. Not even with the government in the form of payment of taxes. It looks so stupid when we live in a democracy. Because in a democracy, the government is not an external agent; it is formed by people and its funds come from what people contribute to it. Apparently Rand is trying to say that there is no need to help others in any way with one's earnings and there is no need of dependance of anyone on anyone else. And the underprivileged are looked upon with hatred. Even indifference could be justified in the case, but not hatred and contempt. Rand seems to say that if someone has not got enough, it is because he/she has not worked hard enough. If this is true, the contempt could be justified, but I guess it is not always true. And how is it justified that a big manager in the steel industry cannot give some money to his old mother to buy the grocery just because she doesn't earn anything? Does the author mean to say that she also has to work hard and become some manager in some industry so that she can buy her grocery? It is very clear that the author has an axe to grind and is very prejudiced. It seems that she doesn't like some characters and tries to portray them negative solely because of it. I strongly have a feeling that there must have existed some people similar to them among her own family members or close relatives and she is trying to vent the hatred for them through the portrayal of those characters. A great example is Jim, the brother of the protagonist Dagny Taggart. To the reader, he must look like a person with a very good heart, because he has a lot of good characteristics that people generally feel proud of. Despite being a manager of a great organization, he is humble to all and free from any tendency to discriminate people on stupid grounds. And Rand wants to portray him as negative. But she employs very weak and silly reasons to prove him bad. And I guess she has utterly failed in the endeavour. He never looked negative to me. And I loved Dr. Pritchett very much too whom she has considered negative for his words that the aim of philosophy is not to explain the meaning of life but to prove that it hasn't any. But I have loved him for these words. His dialogues are very stimulating to me.<br />
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Even though Rand seems to oppose dependance of one person on another without paying for it, Dagny Taggart falls in love with people now and then at the drop of a hat. And when it happens she is so childish and stupid and becomes obsessed and overdependant on the male for satisfying her desire. In the moments of love there is no thought of business or <i>Objectivism</i> or profit-making or the industry. The depiction of the love scenes looks too bollywoodish. It all looks so silly and not suitable for the theme of the plot. It all looks so out of place. Which again brings to me the feeling that she is stupidly trying to live her unfulfilled life through the book. Perhaps she has never been satisfied enough sexually in her own life the way she wanted. In the story, Dagny has three love affairs which is too much for a book like this.<br />
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In general the book contains characters which can be easily grouped into two. Good characters and bad characters. But all in the view of the author. All characters that the author supports are strong in character and the ones opposed are weak. But there is no doubt that the author has been greatly successful in creating figures with great strength in character. It could be considered an ultimate model for writers when creating protagonists with great will power, confidence and mental strength. Among the good characters (according to the author), I have loved Ragnar Danneskjold and John Galt for the uniqueness in their individuality. And among the bad ones (again according to the author), I have greatly loved Dr. Pritchett the philosopher. The book has given me the feeling that Ayn Rand is a writer of great ability with a wide range. I saw three books in this one book. The first one is constituted by all those parts which are so dry, dull, trying and tiring and devoid of much happenings and discussions, which pervades the major bulk of this bulky book of more than one thousand pages of fine print, nevertheless driving the plot in some way. A great bulk from the beginning of the book is nothing but this. Which means an average reader tends to abandon the book without going much far, thinking the entire book is the same dull story. In fact, I had tried reading the book two years ago hearing it was a philosophical book, but abandoned reading after completing a great part and sensing no philosophy at all. But in this second reading, I have discovered that on the sixth chapter, all of a sudden, it becomes very lively. It's the wonderful portrayal of a party scene where many of the great personalities from various realms of society like arts, science, philosophy and industry meet each other and exchange ideas and ignite stimulating discussions. It is where Dr. Pritchett first appears. While reading all those pages, I was really wondering if it is the same author that has written them. But such instances were like occasional oases in the vast dry desert, at least in the first three-fourths of the book. Other two greatly stimulating instances were the portrayal of Dagny embarking upon her new railroad and train service and the discovery of the special motor that has been abandoned and lay rusted in the wilderness. But the last one fourth of the book is the least boring and displays a constancy of style. and it is in this last part that the things in the first three fourths start making sense. In short, the book is interesting towards the end with a lot of happenings and peculiar twists and turns. Apart from these two styles of dull narration and stimulating happenings in the plot, there is this third style, the childish and immature one when it comes to romance and love, which has been already mentioned above. It makes one feel as if the book has been written by three different authors. I have got this feeling while reading <i>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i> by Mark Twain. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are characters in the book. But since the book is mainly about Huck, Tom appears in very few portions. But wherever Tom appears, things get so energetic and exhilarating. Otherwise I didn't find the book very interesting. It is as if even though the same author has created both characters, Tom defies the author himself and goes his lively way to add colours to the pages, and gets out of the control of the author.<br />
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And the characters I hated most are Dagny and Rearden.</div>
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deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3705363166465589110.post-70399828187624067052012-07-13T22:53:00.000+05:302012-07-13T23:06:20.737+05:30Homo Faber<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Title:</b> <i>Homo Faber</i><br />
<b>Author:</b> Max Frisch<br />
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<b>Publ:</b> Harvest<br />
<b>ISBN:</b> 0-15-642135-6<br />
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Walter Faber has a very simple, rational and individualistic view of life. I am so happy to have read this book. The time spent on reading it has been enjoyable. There are only a few books with that quality. There are books that are great and yet boring. And there are books which are not enjoyable while reading, but gives a good feeling in retrospect. This book is not one of them. Thanks to Maja, who calls me Faber, as she acknowledges my resemblance to him in character and idiosyncrasies, I have discovered a great book and a great author. If it had not been for her, perhaps I would never have known Max Frisch or <i>Homo Faber</i>.<br />
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The simple and straightforward style of narration is so captivating. The entire story is a report from Faber about things that happened in the past. Which means that at any point, the protagonist, who is the narrator too, knows beforehand what he is about to say. The central theme is that Faber, while on a voyage, happens to have a brief affair with a girl much younger to him, who later turns out to be his own daughter from the relationship with his old girlfriend who he left years ago while she was pregnant, on the understanding that she would abort it. No, this is not a spoiler. Because the narrator himself reveals it at a very early stage! Which means there is no room for suspense in the plot. And that's the greatness of this book. Any author would have employed to full capacity the element of suspense to thrill the reader with an engaging read. He could well have narrated the entire story with his having the affair with the girl and all the events taking place and finally described how he discovers at the last moment that she was his daughter. The author has shockingly abandoned that possibility. Instead at the very beginning of the encounters with the girl, Faber says how could he have known that this girl was his daughter. He has killed all the possibilities of the plot. And yet he has managed to create a marvel of story-telling. This is his greatness. It reminds of M. T. Vasudevan Nair's comment about Basheer that 'great words of Malayalam have ran after him crying and imploring him to take them', but he abandoned them mercilessly and created magic with the simplest of words of the <br />
language, not pretending to be an intellectual, writing very thin books.<br />
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Recently one of my Facebook friends had shared a quotation explaining the criterion to tell a good book from a bad one: 'Strip the book of its story/plot if any. And still if there is anything remaining, it is a good book.' That's exactly true about this book. I remember reading about Khaled Hosseini that he taught creative writing. He must have taught great techniques and tricks to students on how to create an 'unputdownable' book. I am sure he has employed the same in his own books which have been international best sellers. But that's all about producing a book. <i>Homo Faber</i> is about creating awesomeness from thin air..</div>deepdownehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12011955251392138333noreply@blogger.com0