Book Review – Nine Indian Women Poets, Eunice De Souza

Well, I am torn between giving this book an OK-ish 3-star rating and the approving 4-stars. This anthology contains the poems by nine Indian women poets, arbitrarily chosen by the compiler Eunice De Souza, who happens to be one of those nine poets.

On the positive side, this anthology is a fair introduction to the works of the little known or unknown poetesses of India. Poetesses like Mamta Kalia, Smita Agarwal and Tara Patel, the names that aren’t even heard of in the Indian literary circles these days, are brought to fore in this book. The book begins with the works of Kamala Das, understandably one of those few female authors that could stand on their own in the Indian literary stage dominated by men. But the names that all follow are in no way secondary to Kamala Das, though, when compared in terms of works published, Kamala Das wins the race miles ahead. But each poetess – hardcore feminists please forgive me – adds a rich shade of her own to this little rainbow of nine colors. 

On the downside, editor Eunice could have done a better job in selecting the poems and poets. While many of them are poems of a lovely nature, easy to read, of high literary quality, capable of tugging at your heart’s strings, an equal number of them just manage to fly above your head. Some of them come across as mere obscure ramblings, muddled words and written with a purpose to impress than to convey. If you’re a person that believes that a poem shouldn’t sound like a lesson in Particle Physics, then you’ll find some of these poems quite dull and uninspiring. 

Some of these poems are really beautiful, like love, sunset and a baby’s smile. Some others, confusing and just make the count. Three stars, it is!

Book Review – The Greatest Show on Earth, Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is one of my favorite authors, in the same league as Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Neil deGrasse Tyson. What stands out in the works of these people is their unwavering loyalty to Truth and Reason. They are not the sort of persons that can take an affront to Knowledge lying down. All of them are outright atheists that don’t mince words when it comes to attacking the superstitious and stupid religious beliefs. 

This is the third work of Dawkins that I am reading, after having gone through ‘The God Delusion’ and ‘The Magic of Reality’. Dawkins continues in the same vein as in those two books, but this book is turning the heat up for the ‘Creationists’ – those that believe that a god created this universe, our planet and all the life forms that populate it, within the last 10000 years or so. Dawkins builds a citadel from which the Evolutionists – those of us that believe that the planet Earth is about 4.6 billion years and all the life forms that we see in front of our eyes today evolved through natural genetic modification – can fight the ignorance of the ‘Creationists’. 

And, what a citadel has he built! I don’t think that a staunch believer of the religious version of ‘Creation’ will be moved by this book well enough to reverse his/her views, but this book will nevertheless end up causing a dent in his/her belief. Be it plants, animals or the multitude of bacterial and vermin life forms, Dawkins pulls them all up to stand as witness to the survival of their ancestors in the long gone past and their evolution by ‘natural selection’. Dawkins also arms all the ‘Evolutionists’ and ‘Darwinists’ with enough arsenal to fight back the stupid questions raised by the ‘Creationists’. ‘If men evolved from monkeys why are there monkeys still around?’, for example.

But one thing that I couldn’t stomach in this book is that, while trying to build a citadel of facts and arguments strong enough to be unassailable by the ‘Creationists’, Dawkins seems to have become too obsessed with the details to the extent of ignoring the normal, laymen like me that couldn’t grasp science beyond a certain level, at least for now. You need to have a fair knowledge of genes to understand the book. In the previous two books, I found the words of Dawkins having a smooth flow. The same is lacking here. His random jumping between the topics and cross-referencing details in other chapters and even in his other books doesn’t make matters easy either. 

A good book to read, if you prefer reading books that are slow and heavy. Though this lacks the usual flow and wit of Richard Dawkins, it is a worthy shot in the arm if you are someone that ends up arguing with the ‘Believers’ every now and then.

Can Indian Women Become Great Orators? (Warning: Sarcasm and Just For Fun)

If you are a person that doubts the ability of Indian women to become great orators, you MUST read these findings of my recent observations (read, 'experiences').  ;-)

1. In a 4-hour long bus journey, men may chatter for a while, but sooner than later they tend to get bored and fall asleep, lulled by the wind and heat. But women can hold a riveting conversation throughout the course of the journey with the same vigour with which they started the discussions. Talk of being indefatigable!!!

2. At the restaurants, they can speak so fluently and unceasingly, without ever letting the inflow of food, solid or liquid, hinder their speech even for a nanosecond. Silver-tongues, 'borne with (ever-)silver spoons'!

3. In an over-night train journey, they can lull the entire compartment with their slow murmur, while slowly increasing their volumes to a crescendo that can put to shame the rattle of steel-on-steel. I often wonder whether they are the secret arrangements to keep the train driver alert and awake with their chatter and thus prevent accidents. Talk of not being loud enough!

Finally, what is more astonishing is their ability to hold an eloquent dialogue about almost any topic under the sun. If you're 'fortunate' enough to be seated near any such 'orators', you're bound to come away wiser in the topics of family life, tackling cunning relatives, family financials, neighbourhood gossips, hereditary inheritances of both properties and diseases, art of buying vegetables, culinary magics and what not?! Stay with keen ears and they may even 'spice it up' for you.

So, the next time you find two women sitting together, find a seat as close to them as possible and let me know your observations.

3 Lessons from the Movie 'Cast Away'

No one watching a beautiful movie like 'Cast Away' can miss out on these three life lessons.

1. Love isn't about those romantic cuddles, walking into the sunset holding hands, or dancing with a gang of hundred people clad in flashy attires. It is about being 'together' even while staying away from one another, even when there is nothing more to offer to one another, physically or emotionally.

2. Loneliness isn't just about sitting alone and sullen. It is about taking the time to evolve, learning from that solitude, taking it as a chance for deep contemplation and personal betterment.

3. Hope isn't just about hanging in there and believing that things will improve on their own. It is about grabbing the initiative, performing one's own little part in the great chain of events and trying one's best to improve the situation.

 

No wonder this movie remains one of those beautiful ones in my 'all-time favorites' list!

Book Review – On Writing, Stephen King

‘What is the point of reading the Scriptures anymore, now that I have listened to the Sermon on the Mount?’

This exact line came to my mind when I finished reading this book. Who else can teach you the art of writing better, if not one of the best writers of our times? Now, Stephen King may not have won Nobel for literature, but tested in terms of the number of readers and monetary success, he is one of the top ten authors in the world currently. In fact, one of the recent issues of Forbes placed him fifth in the list of world’s highest paid authors for 2016.

I haven’t read even a single book of Stephen King prior to this nor am I a big fan of his brand of fiction. But that didn’t deter me from picking up this book, when it popped up in my Amazon recommendation list. I am glad that I did.
 

This book consists of three parts. The first part forms the memoirs of Stephen, starting from his not-so-happily-memorable childhood of having been raised by a single-mother struggling to make ends meet by doing every odd job available. Stephen’s love and admiration for his mother subtly shines throughout the book. His formative years as a writer and his journey towards the pinnacle have been captured in good measure as well. Any person who goes through all that Stephen has and still retains his passion for doing the thing that he loves deserves to win, I would say.

The second - and more important - part for which I picked the book is filled with suggestions and tips about the art of writing. I didn’t want to go through a formal, boring list of Do’s and Do Not’s that would make a dent in my natural flow as such and Stephen King has stayed true to his reputation. If you are looking for a formal course on the art of writing, sorry, this book is not for you. If, on the other hand, you want to listen to a senior and accomplished writer sitting by your side and sharing his wisdom with you in a matter-of-fact manner, then this is a book that you must read. I was really impressed going through the pages. Dreaming of becoming a writer myself, I could identify my flaws, ascertain my strengths and get some warm affirmation while reading through these pages.

In the last part Stephen shares his harrowing experience in a van accident that threatened to hamper his physical movement, and his recovery from it, both physical and mental. Aptly titled ‘On Living’, this chapter is a touching end to a lovely book. As I finished reading, I couldn’t help admire his ability to keep even a non-fiction book so riveting. An interesting book on the art of writing, starting from framing ideas in the mind to putting them on paper, to handling that dreaded disease called ‘writer’s block’ which every person successfully wielding the pen has gone through at least once in his/her writing career.

A must read, if you’re a budding writer or are wanting to become one!

Happy Independence Day - 2016!

Seven decades ago, the Sun coming up on the Eastern horizon of this country would have noticed joyous scenes all around. All through His whole sojourn up there, He would have noticed people waving the tricolor, chanting, dancing and jumping with joy, for it was the day when this nation woke up redeeming its pledge, fulfilling its 'tryst with destiny'.

The Sun, 70 years older today, would be witnessing the same nation going through the motions with the spirit of Freedom and patriotism watered down, manipulated and moulded to fit each of our own narrow interests.

While it is easy to get carried away and feel a bristling sense of 'patriotism' amidst all the special events and symbols of the nation freely flaunted today, the real patriotism is what we carry in our hearts and display on a daily basis.

Go through the lives and letters of all those leaders and little-known freedom fighters that gave their all for attaining freedom for this nation of theirs and we will know that we are incapable of the level of ethics, honesty, grit and morality that they displayed as a matter of habit.

While it may not be possible for us to follow them in their giant footprints, having become the corrupt and selfish puny ones that we are all today, we may try to emulate as little of their deeds as possible to us.

There are 364 days more for the next Independence Day and let's make a pledge today. For the next 12 months, let us try to become the worthy citizens of this great land. Let's fight corruption and let's equally fight pollution. Let's obey the traffic rules and also the tax laws. Let's learn the lives and words of the past giants, while trying to shake off our petty interests. Let's work for the common interest, while working on overcoming our human selfishness. Let's treat our women with equality, while they learn what their real freedom is. Let's take a pledge to protect the national monuments, while caring also for her natural resources and ecological system. Let's burn our narrow caste and religious identities, while evolving spiritually, brightening the beacon of spiritual wisdom that this glorious land of ours was once for this whole world!

Overall, let us be the real patriots that silently and solemnly keep working for the welfare of this land as well as that of this whole beautiful world, instead of reserving our 'patriotism' for some special days or for sports matches.

Let's ensure that the pledge we made with the destiny and our tryst are consummated to the whole, instead of wilting away as just another failed affair!

Jai Hind!

Modern-Day Rishyasringas!

Those who have a fair idea of Hindu Mythology and Puranas would have definitely known about the sage Rishyasringa. Brought up only by his father Vibhandaka, a sage who hated the entire womenfolk due to the treatment meted out to him by the celestial dancer Urvashi, he never knew the presence of the opposite gender. He grew up without even knowing about the existence of women and the pull of the primal instincts. Having been brought up as a perfectly chaste and unique celibate, he fell face down at the first sign of 'trouble'. He was very easily seduced by a courtesan from the kingdom of Angha, whose mere sight unleashed all the unfelt desires deep inside his mind and he was very easily conquered by the lure of physique.

These days, I am feeling that all of us are being turned into Rishyasringas of a different kind. Have you ever noticed the increasing amount of advertisements for sanitisers and washes - ranging from face to body to 'intimate'?! Now there is even a special sanitiser for use after cutting vegetables!

Where is all this senseless and hedonistic hygiene headed?! What are we trying to protect ourselves from? Are we growing so insensible to the fact that the more we keep ourselves hidden from something the less immune we become towards it? And, any person with a very basic idea about the human body will be very much aware of the fact that this whole human body is teeming with micro-organisms of varied kinds, that having a 'clean' body without the proverbial 99.99% 'germs' is impossible. While basic hygiene is essential and a good thing for our own sakes, as for the sake of those around us, splashing the chemicals on our bodies and splurging on such cleansers and sanitisers is definitely not the right thing to do. It may be good for those companies that make such products, but for us mere mortals, such hedonistic indulgences in personal 'hygiene' will end up only in our turning more flimsy, fragile and vulnerable to the first signs of 'trouble'. After all evolution and immunity work by facing the challenges and overcoming them, not in such superficial measures and methods!