Youth or Adult? Problem or Solution?

When we enter youthhood, with the rush of blood in veins and an indescribable energy surging along with it, we all try to act as 'angry young men' (or, women, as the case may be). We start questioning why are things this way instead of that way, why is there so much of injustice around, why are there so many wrong things when doing the right things is the easiest and noblest way to live, and so on. 

 

But, as we grow, we slow down. We mature. And, we start thinking in a different tone. We start turning those questions inward. If there is so much of injustice and stupidity, what is my part, what am I doing to change the status quo, am I adding to the idiocy around me or am I working to wipe out the same, am I adding to the woes or am I contributing to the cure, am I part of the cure or in team with the chaos and so on. 

 

I believe, may be, that is the age when youth enters adulthood. Being an youth or an adult is not merely about the surge of hormones or a change in appearances. But it is all about the maturity and wisdom that one gathers and implements in one's life. Some adults remain the part of the problem. And, some youth become the harbingers of solution and better ways of life. The immature ones choose to remain a part of the problems and complain. The mature minds decide to solve the problems and soar above!

Book Review – The Palace of Illusions, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

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As the book 'The Palace of Illusions' is racing towards the conclusion, stirring so many emotions within me, like the scene of a beautiful sunset, I am feeling some familiar pangs. The same pangs that I felt when I first completed reading the Mahabharata, translated into Tamizh by Rajaji.

Written in a lucid, convincing style, this book will make you fall in love with Panchaali. Often through the book, I felt that I could hear the voice of Panchaali from the depths of Time's abyss. Then I reminded myself that this is only a work of fiction and not the words from real Panchaali. And, a work of fiction this is, like no other. 

The most crucial cog of Mahabharata around whom the entire epic is woven, appears here not like the heroine that she has always been glorified to be but as a woman with the typically feminine frailties. Her anger, desires, wishes, ambitions, jealousy, friendship, passions, love, vengeance, sorrow and, finally, her salvation – Chitra Banerjee lays out the whole gamut of emotions for us to feel and empathize with one of the foremost feminists of Indian history.

This is a book that you should not miss reading!