The Story Of My Assassins by Tarun J. Tejpal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




Six months after completing this book the appreciation for this writer and the work he has done has brought me back to write this review. The reasons to write this may be many but the strongest one is the fact that this author is extremely under rated.

I mean, in the world where in the name of Indian writers, we admire [Author:Arvind Adiga] and [Author:Arundhati Roy] but still a guy like [Author: Tarun Tejpal] who took the whole country with storm after his revolutionary magazine Tehelka remains under rated. It's nothing less but a shame.

The first work that I read of him The Valley of Masks was by pure accident and I never expected much from him. But after reading that book whenever someone asks me to suggest an Indian author that they can read, i can't help myself but to say "read Tejpal".

This book is unlike Adiga's The White Tiger(which won him the Booker) and Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire where the writer wants to exploit the desire of the non-Indians to see the misery and irony of a country.

Here, Tejpal gives a balance account of how the life of a poor and unfortunate Indian materializes when he lets fate take the handle of things.

The narrator in the book was planed to be attacked by 5 assassins who were handed the task to kill him. The actual attack never took place and all 5 were apprehended by the police.

Narrator is overwhelmed by the fact that he has been targeted to be assassinated with such grand a group of criminals. The hilarity and irony of the life of the narrator is captured well by the author.

The book gives us the story of all 5 culprits one by one and thus unfolds the plot of the great human tragedy. The author goes to great details to make us aware of the situation and psyche of all the 5 men.

Each story is tragic and refreshing at the same time.

After completing this one I was severely left wanting more of the author. I hope he comes out with another book soon.




By guest writer Prashant Gupta
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The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It been a long time since I saw the movie 'The Namesake'. It's a beautiful movie starring Irfan Khan and Tabu. In the movie, Irfan Khan named his son Gogol for his favorite writer and mentioned many times "The world is like Gogol's overcoat".




At that point in my life, my lack of interest in reading stifled me from finding and reading this story. Finally after so many years I came to read this and I regret so much, not have read it till now.

In this story Gogol encapsulates everything in the world related to the human desire.

The desire to acquire

The desire to hold on

The desire to control

The desire for authority

and other innate feelings that we witness in one or many different people every day.

This such a great story recommended to everyone.

Don't wonder if you find me someday standing in the corner of a room, muttering to myself "The world is like Gogol's Overcoat"!

By guest author Prashant GuptaView all his reviews

Loving Juliet!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Guernsey is a small island in England. The story illustrates the character of a lady, Juliet through her interactions with the people of Guernsey just after the war is over. While the style of writing is in the form of letters exchanged between them, the theme revolves around how she starts living in the world of her pen friends. She goes over to the place to write her book on their book society. A very empowering story where the lady sets out to write a biography of another girl with a yet different shade of attitude, equally, if not more, appealing. This girl is characterized as someone who would either be hated or loved, but would not go unnoticed. While it may not be just to de-emphasis the significance of Gurnsey and the history shared, the main attraction point for me was the way the character of the girl unfolds. It is heart-warming to see a character coming out of pathetic past to make a mark and stick to her principles and listen to her conscience.

The sketch is unequivocal. The authors colour the scenes with the hue of their opinion. The fact that the opinion remains consistent is the main stay of the character. A character of a woman who stays where her heart is, is painted in the canvas of war, loss and struggle. A book that leaves you feeling richer!


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An emotional Indulgence

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I was rating the book, I asked myself again, was it the origin of the author and thus the emotions in those stories, that touched me?!

I realise however, that it would not be justified to pose a "why I liked it" before accepting that I indeed liked it enough.. so the rating..


While taking us through some wonderfully positioned(both geographically and sentimentally) places(places touched with absolute justice) the book presents the idea of our emotional plane, though affected by our origins,

removed from the geographical expanse, constrained and manipulated only by our feelings, thoughts and experiences.


The author again and again gets into the theme of loss, one way or the other. While I don't like reading sad stories, maybe I came across this book at a time when I was happy enough to let the story be just that. But I am more inclined to believe, that the story is written weaving loss as a part of our lives. That the people carry on and live despite however great their pains had been. The beauty of the stories is in the ability to balance the act of life and its opportunities despite of whatever one had to forfeit. They are not a judgement on nature's cruelty to leave us bereft of love but a factual image of how things can turn out.


Enjoyed this indulgence!



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Numbering the stars

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Independence is a precious gift. A story of war brings back the realization multiplied to leave a sharp impact. The book emphasises on treasuring harmony while quoting from a letter written by a Danish Resistance leader a night before his execution:

"..you must not dream yourselves to the times before the war, but the dream for you all, young and old, must be to create an ideal of human decency, and not a narrow minded and prejudiced one.."

While reading an account of struggle captures the reader in that world, the writer I assume congratulates herself to have delivered the promise. The idea of putting a small girl at the centre of the story is not an innovative trick but to deliver that innocence, imagination, apprehension and courage in the same soft and chaste tone to appeal to the audience decides the success of the writing.

While the imaginative descriptions of the countries and locations did an excellent job in leaving behind memorable imprints, I for a moment amused myself with the thought of having learnt the entire geography through such descriptions. Then I wouldn't have feared that subject, maybe! :)


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The first dairy account I read

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The diary takes us to its times in a very subtle manner. It is always easy to look at a book which is written in first person. The issue is with the thought of dealing with the idiosyncrasies of a fictitious character.
The story takes us through the life of a Jewish family in Holland during 2nd World War. The 13 year old girl starts with the account of how her life was until the one day when things suddenly changed for everyone. The musings and hopes of the girl and the reactions and circumstances around her mature her into a person with perspectives. The teenage years entangled in the struggle to face unruly constraints and constant fear develop a web of emotions in her heart which she tries to demystify and present in words. The feeling of the constant presence of unease within her intellect is discernible. The young girl with her heart touching innocence deals with her life with constant vigil and enthusiasm.

The book is recommended not for those who are looking for an account of The War, but for those whom the web of human relations, emotions, impressions and contradictions might entice.
Hats off to all those who made through the war years and maintained or regained there sanity!


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Working Notes: On re-realization and mockery

On re-realization:

I strongly believe that the resistance to a lot of thoughts come as a reaction to the impact it had the last time it was witnessed. A lot of clichéd lessons generally relating to self-awareness, create repulsion or a tendency to overlook its applicability. Knowing its validity is one thing, accepting it into our mind is quite another.

The next time I attend a human-values lecture or a self help talk, I will try to put it in the framework where I put aside my prejudice and then listen. To react with irritating or repulsive reaction is the easiest choice. So every single attempt at letting that feeling pass and listen patiently would be a small victory!

After all most of the wisdom reaches us much before we realize it. It also rewinds and replays its lesson untempth number of times, mostly without a conscious effort!!

I was talking to a friend who as I would do too, wanted to convince me on her view-point. While I did get her perspective, it amazed me (re-realization) that one would put in ones entire reasoning and negotiation skill to get through what one strongly believes. Having the last word creates a kind of power that goes beyond happiness! As the conversation closed, when I let her have the last word, I wondered at how powerfully the statement holds:

"When in doubt, exchange roles"

For every problem that she faced, I helped her with comforting words. Every time I faltered, she did the same. The irony being, we almost had similar sermons to quote to each other till their re-realization dawned!

On Mockery:

One thing that I truly loathe is mockery. To laugh or show someone low, for the sake of the satisfaction drawn out of it is appalling. There I just one thought that I have:

"Humility gains its value, for what you mock at today, may be exactly where you stand, and that time could be just a blink away!!"

Let the journey begin!

The idea of letting people know what occupies ones mind needs the willingness to share for the sake of the thought. But the idea of being put to test for your thought is upsetting. The realization, that the thought is indeed its own identity and stands to the interpretation of the onlooker has to be absorbed. Now, that I re-realise atleast seemingly to some extent, the same thing triggered by a warming discussion with a friend, I guess I should ignite the spirit with the introduction into the journey of blogging.

So here we go.... Bon Voyage!!

PS.

There is fun in writing on a notepad instead of MS-word!

You are liable for your grammar, punctuations, spelling errors and sentence construction.

It helps one, or atleast, it helps me to think straight. The thought flow maintains its rhythm. The auto correction to me comes as an obstruction to my writing.

So, when I write, I first put it down on the notepad and then, if the need remains, I copy paste the entire thing once on word, to see if it has to object somewhere.

Pleasantly enough, I haven’t faced many corrections! (I advertently made a mistake once just to check if it is working!)