Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Thoughtful Present

In the name of "They got what they deserve", a great deal of injustice gets explained away and perpetuated in each society! We self-deceive to make us feel better about ourselves and naturally think in ways that come to conclusions that favor us. Strength of the country is not just in its GDP but in the confidence of its citizens on the fairness and equality of justice there.

I was guided by several articles on issues of Justice, Liberalism, Secular State, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequalities, Need of strong Institutions. I was inspired by persons like Christopher Hitchens, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nadeem Parcha, Pratap Bhanu Mehta etc. Also, I interacted with a progressive, and liberal individual whose essays have impacted me in a positive manner. The person is Mr. Namit Arora whose blog was a insight into heart of a humanist.

It was his great gesture to share a copy of The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities with a young reader for a social network friendship. Thanks Sir for the gift.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Books read in 2016

“When you read a great book, you don’t escape from life, you plunge deeper into it. There may be a superficial escape – into different countries, mores, speech patterns – but what you are essentially doing is furthering your understanding of life’s subtleties, paradoxes, joys, pains and truths. Reading and life are not separate but symbiotic.” ― Julian Barnes, A Life with Books

Beliefs acquired by reading fictional narratives are integrated into real-world knowledge. I am addicted to surfing news articles and watching movies.But the internet has this addictive quality, and it’s one thing I am unable to control. I had less time to read, but I still enjoy a good book now and again. I discerned my love for spiritual reading from early age as our problems are on the enigma of life. The joy of reading comes from entertainment, enjoyment, education, enrichment, escape, and the way it eases life in a stressful world. But a deep reading always increase the insight in tragic world and the escape route looks more difficult. Deep reading does demand a lot of focus. I can't possibly comprehend the book without paying attention to it completely. Hence, I had surrendered myself to self-chosen ignorance and proving difficult to change inertia.

To cut a long story short, I have seen better days in reading. No self pity, but one see through the present crisis of confidence, fitness and concentration. I was more cynical, asshole in complete sense, bad judge of person and minor burnout due to work. To say that I let the momentum slip away is an understatement. Longevity in any field is a achieved only through endurance, endurance is a product of persistence amid ups and downs of the path. I have to extract 'fight' or 'flight' response. There are no half measures. I am trying to read more in tranquillity, to revive mind and body. Hope springs eternal. Repository of hope in a broken system is all that I need to set a target free 2017.

This year was cruel one as my favourite writer Martin Crowe passed away with a lasting legacy. The grand plan of reading 2 book a month for perfection was an abysmal failure. I realised the stupidity of it all, and instead would settle for a long, slow reading. I have completely updated goodreads profile and this sort of classification comes naturally to me.

Books Read in 2016:

Playing It My Way - Sachin Tendulkar - English - 7/10 -autobiography of former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar with popular anecdotes.

Durbar - Tavleen Singh - English - 7.5/10 - Comprehensive chronicle of the events from the Emergency to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi with a few well written sections.

India's Broken Tryst - Tavleen Singh - English - 6.5/10 - A lot of potential is wasted on documenting history and insights are more personal in nature.

Battle of the Ten Kings - Ashok K. Banker- English - 5/10 - Historical fiction and expanding a story into novella.

A History of the Sikhs, Volume 1 : 1469-1839 - English - 8/10 - A comprehensive history of Sikhism, spanning the social, political and religious factors accessible to a general audience.

A History of the Sikhs - Volume 2: 1839-2004 - English - 8/10 - An essential reading into the history of the sikh community and it ends with a beautiful epilogue on the challenges ahead.

The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan -  Yasmin Khan - English - 6/10 - Densely written academic South Asian history during partition era with deep focus on communal line in political parties

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Books Read in 2015

Annus mirabilis is a Latin phrase that means wonderful year or "year of miracles". This year was wonderful in more nihilistic sense. I was able to complete only three books despite of ample time. I remain connected to Facebook and whats-app. That is clear symptom of distraction by technology. I need to create tech free zone around me in the era of techno-utopianism. Personal reform is always an active choice. It involves to do something that isn't default and must be applied with rigor in disciplined way.

I might have been victim of the slow kind of destruction due to many days & nights of loneliness. It just erodes enthusiasm and put reading habit in demise. The anxiety due to monotonous life became irrepressible leading to mental frailness. Even if I was doing everything right to read books but not able to progress beyond few pages. When I don’t read books or watch movies– always having stock of them – and then I “surf” them.

I have wasted a lot of time in surfing news articles on the internet. This addictive habit is going out of control for me. In this random news readings, I enjoyed words of Sanjay Manjrekar and Akash Chopra. There is strong element of lethargy in this reader's block. The lack of concentration, anxiety and work related exhaustion are minor elements of the whole story. Even the longest rope will fall short if I don't take a more strict and passionate approach towards reading. Excessive self-pity has its own psychological quirks. Hence, I would buck up for the challenge of reading 26 books in the new year. As Mark Twain wrote on New Year’s Day in 1863, “Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”

Books Read in 2015:

1. Inferno - Dan Brown -English - 8/10 - An interesting and stylish read but lacking content level of previous novels.

2. Hind Swaraj - Mahatma Gandhi - Hindi - 7/10 - Honest opinion to be read for understanding conditions of India through personal lens.

3. Poor Economics - Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo - English - 9/10 - Refreshing book with clear evidences to work at micro level to alleviate global poverty.

4. Wisdom of Ants - Shankar Jaganathan -English - 7/10-  A good book for the beginners on the history of economics

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Books Read in 2014

“Why is America so rich and we are so poor?” I posed the question to my father in the summers of 1998. My father answered me as best he could: “India is a young democratic country of 50 years with huge population while America is almost 200 years old." I nodded in agreement, satisfied with the explanation. One answer unearthed a dangerous way to more questions.  I was a nationalist, theist and a more enthusiastic supporter of RSS version of India at that phase of life. I had complete trust in their claim of ancient knowledge and glory of Hindu India. So, why we failed to defend our country from foreign culture and invaders ? Why Hindus were treated like slave for thousand of years in their own country ? How to solve Islamic and Christian problem?

That started an active engagement with history books. Yet, I haven't touched NCERT books. I studied history books to have an idea of India. My grip on history was weak because, half-truths and myths are intermingled as historical fact. I wanted to know an accepted version of history - validated by both losers and winners. It was the reading habit that gave me the chance to think more deeply. Nothing was considered as averse and accepted with open heart in heated debates with friends. It's often hard to separate myth from reality. Reading diverse set of books helped me to find rational view in the haze of morality and deliberate ignorance. I was able to see that every perceived external interference doesn't involve a sinister plot. I was able to challenge infallibility of books and beliefs. There was not always misinterpretation by the reader. The travesty of the modern world history is to find a 'factual' narrative in the versions of religious 'right' and Red 'Left'. I concluded with a solid reality of our lives - Social Reality in past or present does not come, like topaz crystals, already made. It is well hidden in camouflage of culture, taboo and class in the maze of daily life. I had started not to view at history as a place of debate and multiple opinions, rather than reductive nature of evidences. Our history is a hybrid of facts and fiction, it is a tale nonetheless, which represents a sore reality, and I have tried my utmost to learn it in a sympathetic and sensitive manner.

If one doesn't contradict oneself on a regular basis, then one is not thinking. We all start popular readings for a start, then make own way. Everyone’s reading list is unique, but each is remarkable in its own way.I don't read today in order to master the craft of writing; I read because I like to read but surely it helps in putting words together. Imitation, it turns out, is a great engine for personal growth to some extent. I always travel through books, but never get lost in them. A lot of books are in the pending list for reading. Life is short for reading all I wish. There’s a more likelihood of me doing what is necessary but mot sufficient.

Books Read in 2014:

Our Moon has Blood Clots - The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits :- Rahul Pandita - English - 9/10 - Compelling Memoir of person giving us a brief account of ethnic cleansing.

In the Land of Invisible Women :- Qanta A. Ahmed - English - 7.5/10 - It gives a vivid description of religion, racism, culture and society of Saudi regime from the perspective of a Western trained Muslim doctor woman.

Hello Bastar: The Untold Story Of India's Maoist Movement :- Rahul Pandita - English - 7/10 -  A poignant book that explains story of Maoist movement  through the eyes of reporter.

Acts of Faith :- Erich Segal - English - 7/10 - A boring romantic story caught in the web of Jewish Christian relationship.

I am Malala :- Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb - English - 6/10 - A brave account of girl but written for people having not having clue on Afghan situation

And the Mountains Echoed :- Khaled Hosseini - English - 7/10 -

A Game of Thrones :- George R. R. Martin - English - 8.5/10 - A must read thriller in realm of epic fantasy novels.

A Clash of Kings :- George R. R. Martin - English - 8.5/10 - A must read thriller in realm of epic fantasy novels.

A Storm of Swords :- George R. R. Martin - English - 8.5/10 - A must read thriller in realm of epic fantasy novels.

A Feast for Crows :- George R. R. Martin - English - 8/10 - A must read thriller in realm of epic fantasy novels.

A Dance with Dragons :- George R. R. Martin - English - 8/10 - A must read thriller in realm of epic fantasy novels.

The Devotion of Suspect X :- Keigo Higashino - English - 7/10 - A detective novel that starts beautifully but was disappointed with sudden and swift end.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Books Read in 2013

Literature demands something, not just from the reader but from society at large. It demands not just that we watch or cheer together, play or dance together, but that we take the time to understand one another. It demands that we create the institutions and the time to make this possible. It demands that we put in the effort. And it demands, most of all, that we agree that it is worthwhile to do so. - Hasan Altaf

History has showed us that leisured aristocracies tend to become bored, hedonistic and eventually decadent. This proves that power is not enough. One must set goals to excel in them, even if done slowly. I had set such goal and polish mental agility through the habit of reading. Reading books is an exercise in self knowledge and carries risk. These thought provoking books estranges our familiar landscape of settled beliefs into strange wonderland (may be dystopia) through new viewpoints. Good books open windows through mysterious ways. I had already listed down books by different authors of various regions, languages and backgrounds in  a wish list.

There are two articles worth mentioning here. I read about "Let them eat cake" phrase at the age of eight in a history book. It was the supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread and further events lead to the french revolution. That phrase always remained in back of the mind since that day. The Necessity of Atheism was an astounding article that I read as a young engineering student. It blow my world apart with the power of the words. The religion and society never remained same for me .

While the reading journey has been going on, it has been quite fulfilling till now. I grew old and wise with each book that I read. I enjoy rich earthy humor, satire and cultural essays. I even felt nostalgic with the death of Christopher Hitchens and Peter Roebuck. I miss their strong words, remarkable anecdotes and deep analysis. And. I found new gems like Ian Chappel, Martin Crowe and Pratap Bhanu Mehta.

Many giants of Hindi literature are still untouched by me.  I am living in the world created by Munsi Premchand in his short stories. I have no clue of the progress made in literature on last 30 years of Mandal, Kamandal & Dalit movements. I don't even know the names of Urdu books and their transliterated versions are out of my reach. I want to start reading more of fiction genre and real life stories more in upcoming months. '26 Books in 52 Weeks' is a goal for next year. I'm a super slow reader, but I usually get through ten to twelve books a year, mostly non fiction. I had accelerated pace of reading to utilize the time. And, the result shows in the reading list. I mostly try good reads and rarely best sellers. As well said by Frank Zappa : “So many books, so little time.”

Books Read in 2013:

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich :- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - (Russian) English - 9/10 - A brilliant and mind blowing description of just one day of prisoner in Gulag at Siberia

The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End :- Peter W. Galbraith - English - 8.5/10 - The name is sufficient to describe good work of journalism.

Tuesday With Morrie :- Mitch Albom - English - 8/10 - A beautiful memoir or discussion of teacher student on life, love and death.

Burden of Democracy :- Pratap Bhanu Mehta - English - 7.5/10 - : A very well written essay which discuss the reasons for which spirit of democracy is failing in India.

Lord of the Flies :- William Golding - English - 7/10 - A study of human behaviour through backdrop of group of British boys stuck on an uninhabited island.

Patriots and Partisans: From Nehru to Hindutva and Beyond :- Ramachandra Guha - English - 7.5/10 - A honest attempt on showing builders of country across all ideologies in Independent India.

Bharat ka Bhavisya :- Osho - Hindi - 4/10 - A below average book even with Osho standard having collection of speeches.

Karmath Mahilayein :- Reethu Menon - Hindi - 7.5/10 - A book on the path-breaking Indian women who defined their fields through their works.

Ek Gadhe ki Aatmkatha :- Krishna Chander - Hindi - 7/10 - Satire written during Nehru era still holding true to its core.

Uncle Tom's Cabin :- Harriet Beecher Stowe - English - 8/10 - An anti-slavery novel to be read for emotional reasons only.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft :- Stephen King - English - 8/10 - A simple story of life with great tips on writing coming in patches.

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty :- Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson - English - 8.5/10 - man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success.

Joothan:- Omprakash Valmiki - Hindi - 10/10 - A personal account of a stalwart of Hindi literature describing caste system in Hindu society.

The Immortals of Meluha :- Amish - English - 6/10 - A below par average first part of triology with Hindu mythology background.

The Secret of the Nagas :- Amish - English - 6.5/10 - Second part of the book series with little improvement.

The Oath of the Vayuputras :- Amish - English - 7.5/10 - Third and Last part series is more mature and enjoyable.

And Quiet flows the Dons :- Michail Sholokhov - (Russian) Hindi - 7.5/10 - It depicts the lives and struggles of Don Cossacks during era of Soviet revolution.

Bitter chocolate: child sexual abuse in India :- Pinki Virani - English - 9.5/10 - Felt broken and depressed on reading about child abuse stories and awareness among our own Indian society.

Yuganta: The End Of An Epoch :- Irawati Karve - English - 9.5/10 - This study of the main characters of the Mahabharata treats them as historical figures and uses their attitudes and behavior to gain an understanding of the times in which they lived.

O Jerusalem ! :- Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins - English - 8.5/10 - A great book capturing the events and struggles surrounding the creation of the state of Israel.

My Days in Prison -: Iftikhar Gilani - English - 8/10 - A shocking story of trial and triumph under the framework of exploitative power of state.

The Idea of India :- Sunil Khilnani - English - 7/10 - Comprehensive account of India's economic and political journey from the independence to the liberalization.

I Too Had a Dream :- Verghese Kurien - English - 8.5/10 - Dr. Kurien's life story is chronicled in his memoir and must be read by teenagers and youths.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist:- Mohsin Hamid - English - 8/10 - A political thriller set in Pakistan but will appeal to the globe with sharp focus on fundamentalist mentality.

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break :- R Fields - English - 6.5/10 - A simple book on managing daily business through example from movies of WC Fields.

What I Did Not Learn At IIT: Transitioning from Campus to Workplace :- Rajeev Agarwal - English - 6/10 - A simple book but useful for fresh graduate on managing fresh career ahead.

Quotes for the Year 2013 -:

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” - Carl Sagan

Great stories agree with our world view. The best stories don’t teach people anything new. Instead, the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and makes the members of the audience feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place. — Seth Godin (Author, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us)

You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story. — Anthony de Mello, from One Minute Wisdom

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Books Read in 2012


Life begins at the end of our comfort zone. Enjoy 2013. I will say goodbye to 2012 with an appeal of common honesty and decency. "Don't just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it." Jim Rohn had captured essence of reading long ago with this lucid statement. We choose for ourselves the sort of literature we want.

Yet, this year was spent in going through easy books. Absence of books related to concept of business strategy and marketing may be counter of prevailing norms of reading list of a MBA student. I still want to read the forgotten matters of culture and society. Reading Economic Times has already made my vision one dimensional in nature. The reading list is getting skewed in favor of English language is not an healthy sign. Is the gradual exit of mother tongue from our reading materials a rational choice? It will be immense loss of mine command over both languages and misunderstood social acceptance that discourages free thought.

I want literature to be full of engagement, entertainment and even enlightenment. That is the joy of reading. Only few authors have tenacity to present complex issues in the most subtle manner and verbalize our angst that dissect through our souls and stirs our social conscience. Yes, I am starting to believe in Osho's Hypothesis that 'if consciousness changes, then certainly the social structure will change, because the social structure is just a projection of man's mind.' But how this consciousness can be even touched? I got this answer in a quote by Irwin Edman : It is myth, not a mandate; fable, not a logic; and symbol, rather than a reason, by which men are moved. That was profound discovery of the irrational side of human behaviour. Still can't leave rationality for the sake of emotions. It works well for survival purpose of human being. I am not a spiritual communist like Osho but find the hypothesis quite true.

Reading is not a time limited activity and text can't be seen as one dimensional lines. The meaning between words need to be understood through random and one must try repeated readings in different phases of life. There is need to add more of witness literature in reading list and also required an instrument to gauge health and progress of the reading habit.

The Kaoboys of RAW : Down Memory Lane by B. Raman - English - 7.5/10

Hoshruba: The Land And The Tilism by Musharraf Farooqi - English - 7/10

Unbearable Lightness of beingby Milan Kundera - English - 8.5/10

Games Indians Play: Why We Are the Way We Are by V Raghunathan - English - 8/10

The Prophet, The Wanderer, Sand & Foam, The Forerunner by Kahlil Gibran - English - 8.5/10

Snow by Orhan Pamuk - English - 9/10

Dreams from My Father (A Story of Race and Inheritance) by Barack Obama - English - 8/10

1000 Films to Change Your Life - Time Out Guides Ltd (Author) - The short interviews of the people involved in film-making to the opinion of various critics make this book one time readable. - English - 8/10

The Room On The Roof, Vagrants In The Valley by Ruskin Bond - English - 6.5/10

The Temple Tiger and more Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett - English - 7/10

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins - English - 7/10

Zen: Zest, Zip, Zap and Zing by Osho - English - 8/10

Breakout Nations by Ruchir Sharma - English - 7.5/10

Kyozan: A True Man of Zen by Osho - English - 7/10

Monday, May 14, 2012

Personal Reading History -2

‘Time, like a fistful of sand, slips through our fingers while we stand and wonder what to do with it.’

A habit is must for proper utilization of the time during our growing years. I had a nice habit of book and comics reading from the childhood days. I have already written a brief about reading history in a previous post (Personal Reading History -1). In retrospection, it feels great that I have read so many books, comics, stories and poems.

I want to read with the growing age the best of all world literature. It varies with the short stories of Anton Chekhov, Guy De Maupassant, Somerset Maugham, Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde and O Henry. UP, CBSE and ICSE board short stories and in English and Hindi from class 5th to 12th were fondly read by me. Smriti by Sriram Sharma, Gift of the Magi by O Henry, The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde, Idgaah by Premchand and A Letter to God by Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes (Translated by Donald A. Yates ) are still mine favorite stories.

Books Read at friend's place: Panchatantra, Sindbad the Sailor, Pinocchio, My experiments with Truth, Gulliver Travels, Chandrakanta Santati and Prisoner of Zenda.

Books read in School Library : Moby Dick, Three Musketeers, The count of Monte-Cristo, A Christmas Carol, Time Machine, The War of Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Thirty Nine Steps, Oliver Twist, Great Expectation, You can win by Shiv Khera, Frankestein, The Red badge of courage, King Arthur and Round Tale, Sunny Days, Malgudi Days, Plays of Shakespeare

Books Read in Hindi Translation: David Copperfield, Ivanhoe, The Man in Iron Mask, Black Beauty, Call of the Wild , Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Black Tulip, Alice in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, Talisman, Don Quixote, Robin hood, Around the world in eighty days, Coral Island, The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

These books were treasure house of enjoyable and informative literature that I had read in my wonder years. Sometimes, it was encouragement of the parents and cousins that later on converted into my own initiative. Thanks to my sister also who competed with me in finishing a book as fast as possible. Later on, the reading habit died due to my own negligence beyond class 10th.

I never seek happiness as those who run only for happiness never find it. On the surface when life becomes "eat, drink, be merry." It is superficial, and one day everybody get bored sooner or later. Some will seek refuge in religion and others in the work. It is extremely important to pick an advisors, mentors, friends and role models who are concerned about our intellectual growth and not just our productivity. Productivity is just like machine but thinking is done at different levels. We can only pick the best of ideas by becoming morally serious and intellectually curious.

I like books and write outdated essays on the blog. I always aspired to become an average educated reader for understanding the world around me. Currently, I appreciate reading mostly non fiction books. Simultaneously, I introduce popular concepts and idea that focus on the problems and prospects of sustainable development at this blog in a lucid manner. I feel indeed as a custodian of a common heritage of the civilized world through this cultural tradition of reading and writing.

As a grown person, it seems beyond understanding that scholars have stopped just reading novels and poems and started studying them. That is tragedy of Literature. While most of mine friends and classmate lack the habit of reading books for pleasure. Only few had started reading beyond school books, other just prefer to watch TV and Internet. They watch TV so the attention span is low. May be because people don’t read books these days.

Reading is tough and requires patience. It actually needs application to grasp the meaning of words and find hidden emotions between the lines. I act as writer at this blog. This blog is a demanding, difficult and not much reader friendly...highly personal place, typically filled with short insights. But if you have arrived here for a light-hearted entertainment's on your mind, then this blog is a wrong location in blogosphere.

As a writer, I have began to doubt my own capacity to see things unbiased, when I no longer am sure if my view is right or left. Yet, I am trying to remain as independent as possible. I suspect that market forces have altered the behavior of writers. That bothers me a lot. I will easily pass away, unnoticed and unremarked with time. Just let me read and write without censure story of my own. I thanks books as they had changed exposure and outlook. A nation must have its culture rebels, prophets, saints, heroes and martyrs. I am none but a Reader and Writer.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Books Read in 2011

Reading creates capacity for deep, linear concentration. That is one unintended positive outcome of the habit of reading. Books always touch man’s head and heart with a burning/soothing/boring sensation. I read books on cinema, consumer behaviour, leadership and culture having various overtones this year. They helped me to fight desperation, myopia and close-mindedness prevailing inside me; I have always tried to pay attention to theories that conflict with common perception, only if those theories are more driven by human behaviour than common stereotype assumptions. Books of great authors are the best tools to understand these theories.

"Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs." Quite an apt statement to start about reading tour of this year. I am enlisting the names of books read by me in 2011 with their background and my feedback. Ratings are highly personal.

My name is red by Orhan Pamuk - English - 8/10

Hitch 22 :- Christopher Hitchens - English- 8/10
Author’s intellectual trajectory over the life time

Among the Believers :- V. S. Naipaul - English- 8/10
He makes writing verse look so easy and publishes Journey that highlights the culture of few selected Islamic country.

Who moved my Cheese ? :- Spencer Johnson - English- 7.5/10
Motivational business fable about opportunities and life at work.

In custody :- Anita Desai - English- 6.5/10
Loss of Urdu language in India through the eyes of a dying poet.

Our Films Their Films :- Satyajit Ray - English- 8.5/10
A deep insight by an auteur about his films.

The man who knew Infinity:A Life of the Genius Ramanujan-: Robert Kanigel - English- 7/10
Biography of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan written with utmost details and articulation.

Something Like An Autobiography :- Akira Kurosawa - English- 8.5/10
It is a charming account of the legendary movie director's early life.

Predictably Irrational :- Dan Ariely - English- 8/10
A book written in the behavioural science field makes a rational person looking dumb.

Rinzai: Master of the Irrational :- Osho - English- 8/10
No comments to be made about Zen !

I Have A Dream :- Rashmi Bansal - English- 8/10
Inspiring Stories of the 25 social entrepreneurs from humble and diverse background.

Heart of Darkness :-  Joseph Conrad - English- 7.5/10
Unfathomable dark nature of human explored through the journey of the narrator

Winning by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch :- Jack Welch - English- 7.5/10
A comprehensive look on designing career path and taking decisions in the corporate world.

As French novelist Marcel Proust once said that the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. I hope to evolved as a Reader and to enjoy more books in the coming year. XIMB library here I come !

Thought of the Day- New year doesn't bring happiness but people do ! Enjoy 2012.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Personal Reading History -1

"It is good to be curious because that is how one starts the journey of inquiry... into existence; but if one simply remains curious, then there will be no intensity in it. One can move from one curiosity to another — one will become a driftwood — from one wave to another wave, never getting anchored anywhere. Curiosity is good as a beginning, but then one has to become more passionate. One has to make life a quest, not only a curiosity." --- Osho

I am now searching the root of mine reading habits and how they have changed my behavior over the span of time. Even though I was attracted towards school books, I don't remember any interest in the reading at KG level. Only memory I have of reading, it is of nursery rhyme 'Johnny Johnny Yes Papa' in the classroom. I spent most of the time listening to the old songs of Kishore Kumar and Mahendra Kumar in the cassette player.

I had started reading Children stories in Hindi newspaper 'Dainik Jagran' initially in the childhood. I was reading stories and poems in the school books. Chamapak for toddlers, Balhans for folk and patriotic stories, Nandan with tales of kings and queens and Nanhe Samrat with its Murkhistan were made available for us by our parents. I was more fond of reading comics of various desi superheroes. But the summarized five page short summary of world famous novel in Nandan was my favourite of all. Suman Saurabh and Chandamama were also there but there stories were interesting but in the discrete form dispersed over various magazine issues. But the story of Vikram Betal and Ulysses left a deep impact on me for epic novels and drama.

This was the phase of my life when I was more interested in religious texts. I had finished reading of Ramcharitmanas and Ramayan till the age of 9 years. Then, I also read a lot of Gitapress books about the life of Srikrishna. By sheer chance only, I never had opportunity to read any Amar Chitra Katha. Also, I was taught various short stanzas of Rahim, Raskhan, Dinkar, Niraala and Kabir.

Now comes mine fanatical reading of comics portion. I was avid reader of Naagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Tausi, Doga, Parmanu, Chacha Chaudary and Ram-Rahim. I never had any chance to read english comic strips like Archie or Calvin-Hobbes.

One more subject that drew my attention was history books. Since, there were no hundered of comics available for a fast reader like me at maternal grandmother's home, I was given history book of 10th, 12th and graduation. It has most powerful impact on my memory. I was sheer delighted by the concept of revolution that happened in France and Russia. The complex name of Rousseau and Voltaire became familiar for me. It was also win win solution for everybody as it kept me engaged for a long time and I was like enjoying the dive into the world of knowledge.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Ten Issues - 17

1- Why Zappos Offers New Hires $2,000 to Quit : The policy of providing a let-out after one week has gained worldwide attention. Columnist Keith McFarland explains why it makes sense.

2- Who Was Milton Friedman?: Keynesianism was a great reformation of economic thought. It was followed, inevitably, by a counter-reformation. A number of economists played important roles in the great revival of classical economics between 1950 and 2000, but none was as influential as Milton Friedman.

3- End Financial Control of European Governance : In developing countries and now in Europe, government debt allows creditors to exercise undue power over decision making. The Euro crisis is clear evidence that we need to break out of the economic straitjacket imposed by an over-powerful financial sector, says Susan George in an interview with Nick Buxton.

4- Who needs a bank? : Should we make banks better, or just make them redundant? Peer-to-peer currency schemes like bitcoin.org offer the possibility of networked money without banks. Should democrats embrace the possibilities?

5- Free Enterprise Vs. Regulation : Raghuram Rajan had seen the impact of over-regulation in an underachieving economy. Years later, he also saw the perils of under-regulation as championed during the Alan Greenspan era. The Eric J. Gleacher, Professor of Finance at the Booth School of Business discusses the question of achieving the right mix of free enterprise and sensible regulation

6- Too much information : How to cope with data overload

7- Good Ideas and Great Ideas : A worthy idea needs to be nurtured and developed, rethought and reworked, often thrown away and picked back up again. There’s a substantive difference between a passing fancy and groundbreaking concept. It is our approach to ideas that makes that difference.

8- Johann Hari: How to survive the age of distraction - As in the book The Lost Art of Reading – Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time, the critic David Ulin puts it: "Reading is an act of resistance in a landscape of distraction.... It requires us to pace ourselves. It returns us to a reckoning with time. In the midst of a book, we have no choice but to be patient, to take each thing in its moment, to let the narrative prevail. We regain the world by withdrawing from it just a little, by stepping back from the noise."

9- 5 Principles of Creativity : So to compete in today’s marketplace, you have to be able to create. That’s much different than just working faster or harder or longer. The good news is that, while we can’t all be a Picasso or a Mozart, there are some simple principles we can follow that will enhance our ability originate ideas that are truly new and important.

10 - The game theory of discovery and the birth of the free-gap : Too many things to choose from, more every day. No efficient way to alert the world about your service, your music, your book. How about giving it away to help the idea spread?

Friday, February 18, 2011

Books read in 2010

Language has a dominant effect in the knowledge level of various people and community. I had not read a single book in Hindi this year. That is a sad part of weakening of mine cultural roots in the zeal to know about the other cultures of the world.

The native language (like Hindi) gives us the culture root but the foreign language (English) only open the new doors of business and learning for most of Indians. The advantage of reading or writing in a second language – that it gives a diversified view of the world. There is a good chance that a foreign language makes a native culture as inferior, and mold learner to look down on his past and fundamental things like beauty, art, and politics as ‘a wasteland of non-achievement’. With the time, this educated person begins to understand himself and his culture through the eyes of the foreign concepts, categories, and judgments. Before too long, the native turns into a proxy for his foreign with a native face. I remember now that Bhagat Singh had aptly said that real independence would not come to us if Brown Sahibs replaced white Sahibs.

Writing in English is just a tendency where one assume that views will be given more importance and the outbound reach will be international. The staggering of regional conflicts of language can be well overcome by adapting international language as our own. This comes as a heavy cost as the power of observation reduces a great deal if one doesn't know the language of even his ecosystem.

But what is the use of language if it does not liberate person's soul from the bondage of tyranny and discrimination. A language is only tool to pass down ideas but it may lead one to either exclusive and elite position ( via English) in majority or neglected by dominant majority as voice of enemy or preexisting culture (Urdu).

While I don't read for the sake of it, still I prefer to read more on blogs and e- magazines than books. May be it is due to concentration deficit syndrome born due to facebook. I am enlisting the names of books read by me in 2010 with their background and my feedback. Ratings are highly personal.

Tao: The Golden Gate, Tao: The Pathless Path and When the Shoe Fits :- Osho

The Argumentative Indian  :- Amartya Sen - English- 7.5/10
A slow reading is required for this work of cultural and economic depth of Indian intellectual history.

Letters from Burma :- Aung San Suu Kyi - English- 9/10
Description of peaceful resistance and endurance of the people of Burma by her leader.

Connect The Dots :- Rashmi Bansal - English- 9/10
Collection of the inspiring tales of 25 entrepreneurs from humble background.

The Tipping Point  :- Malcome Gladwell -English- 8/10
An out of box look into the phenomenon of social epidemics.

Imagining India :-Nandan M. Nilekani - English -8/10
A good book showing development of Infosys at par with the Indian growth story.

The Sunil Gavaskar Omnibus- Sunny Days, Idols and One Day Wonders :- Sunil Gavaskar -English- 8/10
Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar memoirs, what more else is left to say.

Infidel :- Ayaan Ali Hirsi - Dutch (Read in English)- 10/10
A brave, inspiring and beautifully written life story of girl evolution from dutiful Islamic child into a freedom fighter.

Creating A World Without Poverty: Social Business And The Future Of Capitalism:- Muhammad Yunus and Karl Weber - English - 8/10 - Best and inspiring book on the social business.

The Motorcycle Diaries:- Ernesto Che Guevera- Spanish (Read in English) - 7/10
An adventure story of two boys that makes one a rebel legend of 20th Century.

The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid :-C.K. Prahalad - English - 8/10 - With the innovative ideas towards the eradication of poverty, this book focus on the emerging markets business development.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A Divine Reading Trip

Religion should improve the life of mankind. The war on religious purity will fail if warrior fail to underestimate the power of humanity and love. Too much stress on morals make us immoral. Prohibition produces duality in us where our mind says 'No' and sub conscious says 'Yes' luring us into the addiction of things. So, let the life flow in the reigns of mystery, spontaneity and be full of love.

I have just finished 17 pages of  book written by Osho on Tao and completely feeling ease with my inner soul. See this beautiful paragraph --- One rule of the mind is, when you try very hard to do something, that something loses its edge. This is how we lose the edge of our happiness. What happens is instead that the edge of our unhappiness remains razor-sharp. We suffer so much misery in the world not because there is so much misery but because there is a fundamental error in our way of life. We do not want to touch unhappiness so its edge remains razor-sharp; and we are so eager to touch happiness that we blunt its edge in the process. In the final analysis we find nothing but misery all around and no sign of happiness anywhere. Then we say, ”Happiness is difficult to come by. It is only a dream. Life is a long stream of misery.”

This flow of misery and pain is entirely of our own making. One who keeps feeling the edge of misery and does not worry about happiness at all gradually finds that the edge of misery becomes dull and all of life becomes a fountain of joy. Whatever you touch is destroyed; whatever you desire is lost. You never attain what you run after. Life is not a mathematical equation but a riddle that defies solution. He who takes it to be a calculated science finds himself in difficulty. He who looks upon life as a riddle, a mystery masters all its secrets and attains the highest existence.


The experience of reading is like elixir to the heart and eases mind into nothingness. It is giving me confrontation with my fears, not any shallow consolation. You can also read them. Thanks to Rajjo for making me aware of these books.

Index of /Beloved_Osho_Books/
Tao_The_Golden_Gate_..> 04-Mar-2008 16:00 589K
Tao_The_Golden_Gate_..> 04-Mar-2008 16:00 547K
Tao_The_Pathless_Pat..> 09-Dec-2009 19:02 873K
Tao_The_Pathless_Pat..> 04-Mar-2008 16:01 938K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:02 561K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:02 540K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:03 527K
Tao_The_Three_Treasu..> 04-Mar-2008 16:03 515K
The_Secret_of_Secret..> 04-Mar-2008 16:04 1.0M
The_Secret_of_Secret..> 04-Mar-2008 16:05 942K
The_Way_of_Tao_Volum..> 04-Mar-2008 16:06 1.3M
The_Way_of_Tao_Volum..> 04-Mar-2008 16:11 1.1M
When_the_Shoe_Fits 04-Mar-2008 16:08 563K

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Books read in 2009

I got 'new funda' about reading. Here it is: Watching, Hearing & Speaking is a natural talent inherited by each man to observe nature. But reading and writing are 'artificial' which humans inculcate to record their observed data and learn from them as case studies. Hence, we remember more from cinema, music and speeches delivered lively to us. Reading books is a tough process because it requires patience to understand answer to our curiosity. But, if not practised both cinema, art and literature will perish with the time of an individual.

I really want adaptation of the essence in the translation of books in different regions to understand their culture. Artificial and imposed culture will never survive, how homogeneous it may appear. Books fill this artificial way of life to inherited one, because they are reflection of society's dreams, emerging trends, ambitions, past and faults. I am enlisting the names of books read by me in 2009 with their background and my feedback. [Ratings are highly personal.]

Yugnayak Vivekanand (3 parts)- Swami Gambhiranand- Hindi- 7/10
Detailed biographic account of Swami Vivekanand and his thoughts.

I dare !- Parmesh Dangwal- English- 8/10
Biography of Kiran bedi and what makes her say, I dare !

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish- Rashmi Bansal- English- 8/10
Collection of the inspiring tales of 25 entrepreneurs of IIMA with simplicity and wisdom lines.

India After Gandhi- Ramachandra Guha- English- 8.5/10
Very balanced contemporary history of India from 1947 to 1985.

A better India, A better world- N.R. Narayana Murthy- English- 8/10
Speeches delivered by author about his vision, corporates, economics, ethics and India coming through his lifetime experiences.

Everybody loves a good drought- P. Sainath- English- 10+/10
Jouranlism showing detailed daily picture of how people live under usury, drought, health and educational predicaments as a result of government mis-management in the name of development of poorest districts of India.

India Unbound- Gurcharan Das- English- 9.5/10
It is the history of India's economy transformation from Independence to Global information age.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Insight Look of Beautiful Minds

Literacy specialists say that giving children a say in what they read can help motivate them. “If your goal is simply to get them to read more, choice is the way to go.” I am presenting here few interviews and speeches given by beautiful minds who are/were shaping our thinking.

1- Uttarpara Speech by Sri Aurobindo in 1909. Aurobindo made this speech after his release from prison, where he had been incarcerated on charges of conspiracy to murder an English magistrate.

Another speech of Sri Aurobindo when he was requested by the All India Radio, Thiruchirapalli, to give a message for India's independence. This is the message which was broadcast from the All India Radio on the 14th of August 1947.

2- Edward R. Murrow gives a speech at RTNDA Convention, Chicago on October 15, 1958. He is famous for bringing down of 'McCarthysim' in America. A movie 'Good night, and good luck' inspired me reproduce his speech about power & responsibilities of journalism. He has quoted that :

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular."

Source - Edward R. Murrow:A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy; See it Now (CBS-TV, March 9, 1954)

3- Two rare interviews of social activist and writer Mahasweta Devi. She is Jnanpith winner and committed to the rehabilitation of tribals. The interviews are: By Outlook India and Rediff.

4- A Conversation with Uday Prakash about his works is presented here. Uday Prakash is emerging Hindi writer of current era.

5- Last but not least, I found a useful article written as an 'Advice to a Young Artist' for young scholars understanding the world around him/ her.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Too Busy To Read Books?

The first list is of the books which are rusting on my book shelf from very long time. I have to finish them as soon as possible. The other books are in the list which I will finish one day. I have also put the name of person who recommonded me name of the books directly or virtually.

Books Rusting on the Shelf

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal --- Sonal Rai

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwelll --- Sonal Rai

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair --- Self

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk --- Shubhank

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger --- Shekhar Iyer

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowel --- Sonal Rai

Walden and Other Writings of Henry David Thoreau --- Self

Selected Short Stories by Franz Kafka --- Self

The Renaissance in India and other essays by Aurbindo Ghosh --- Self

Thus spake Zarathustra by F. Nietzsche --- Rajneesh


Books to be bought & read in future

Our Films, Their Films by Satyajit Ray --- Nitesh Rohit

Something Like An Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa --- Nitesh Rohit


India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha --- Rahul Basu

India: From Midnight to the Millennium by Shashi Tharoor --- Self

How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond by Pankaj Mishra --- Self

A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan by Farzana Versey --- Vikram V Garg

The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm --- Self


Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker --- Brajesh Rai

The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman --- Madhur Garg

The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed --- Rahul Priyedarshi

The Creation Of Wealth : The Tatas From The 19th To The 21st Century by R M Lala --- Self

The Amul India Story by Ruth Herediya --- Self

Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts by P Sainath --- Self


A Better India, A Better World by N R Narayana Murthy --- Self

Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani --- Self

A Time Of Transition by Mani Shankar Aiyar --- Puneet Jain

Ignited Minds by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam --- Self

The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen --- Rahul Priyedarshi


On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King --- Steve Yegge

The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara --- Vivek Padmanabhan

Sunny Days by Sunil Gavaskar --- Self

The Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett --- Self



Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut --- Self

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley --- Ankita Mukherjee

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink --- Self

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn --- Self

The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol --- Jhumpa Lahiri

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Rajneesh

Faint Heart by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Rajneesh

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho --- Srikant Singh

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Self

On the Road by Jack Kerouac --- Self

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates --- Self

Snow by Orhan Pamuk --- Shekhar Iyer

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller --- Shekhar Iyer

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk --- Shekhar Iyer

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho --- Puneet Jain


Peeli Chhatri Waali Ladki by Uday Prakash --- Varun Grover

Kasap by Manohar Shyam Joshi --- Self

In custody by Anita Desai --- Self

Tamas by Bhisham Sahni --- Mother

Pinjar by Amrita Pritam --- Mother

Aag Ka Dariya by Qurratulain Hyder --- Self

Kitne Pakistan by Kamleshwar --- Self

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky --- Ankita Mukherjee

Like a flowing river by Paul Coehlo --- Puneet Jain


Discover Your Genius by Michael Gelb --- Nimmy

What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson --- Rashmi Bansal

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig --- Zaheer Sir


Evolution of Geographical Thought by Majid Hussain --- Neeraj Jadaun


The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins --- Shubhank

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins --- Shubhank

The End of Faith by Sam Harris --- Self


Tao, The Golden Gate [1] & [2] by Osho --- Rajneesh Tiwari

Satyarth Prakash by Swami Dayanand Saraswati --- Self

The Life Divine by Aurobindo Ghose --- Self

God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History by Stephen
Hawking --- Puneet Jain

Friday, May 8, 2009

Small Notice

I am highly addicted to the Internet and word 'diversity'. I have recently started 2 blogs with my same 'yayaver' profile.

1-For the sake of study --- http://fusedvision.blogspot.com/
It is just prepared for academics and professional purpose by me.

2- For the love of cinema --- http://hybridchoice.blogspot.com/
It is just created for maintaining the database of the films watched by me.

We didn't imagine that somebody takes breathe and live in his own way 10,000 miles away from your home until now.- Ankur Joshi.

It was line spoken by Ankur to whom I met in Germany. That becomes a inspiration to understand universalism in world. I will now trace the history of my reading habit. There was an awesome article on Kolkata long ago in 3quarksdaily taken from Eurozine. Since then, I had became reader of both these online magazines with focus on 'culture' tag. As interest evolved, I started reading articles on diverse topic about my college, cinema, politics, education, cricket and agriculture. There links are now mentioned on this blog.

Now days, There is decay in reading from books but daily almost 50 news or blog articles are read by me. This paranoia of reading on Internet is one of extremist quality that has shuffled my life. I always dedicate myself fully in some passion and after few months find it boring and jump to other one. But now, this inconsistency, craziness and undisciplined life is taking toll on my health. Still a self destructive nature is pushing me for more writing and reading.

Tips for writing:

Harvey Keitel puts the soul of creative writing in one para in the movie The Shadow Dancer, Quoting him -- Get rid of that computer. Writing is not supposed to be easy, supposed to be hard. Typewriters make you think about the words you choose more carefully because you can't erase them with the push of a button.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

3 Anecdotes & a Joke

For the sake of blogging, three abstract thoughts that influenced me in 3 days. And a quite old joke which makes me laugh even today.

1-There is an interesting anecdote from a Godard film. In one of his film a daughter asked her father, “Papa, tell me how do we know a person is trustworthy”, her papa replied, ask him whether he loves reading? And if he replies Balzac, Shakespeare, Homer…move on, but if he asks you.” What do you mean by reading?” there is hope. [Origin]

2-As per Rabindranath Tagore's famous poem, when God told Valmiki to write the Ramayana, the life-story of a king yet to be born, Valmiki reportedly asked God: "But how can I write an accurate account of what has not even happened?"God then told Valmiki: "It does not matter what Rama will be or what he will do. What the ages will remember is simply what you shall write. That will be the only truth." Origin]

3-A sage who had retired to the hills since many decades was once cajoled by his disciples to come down and experience the plains. One of the disciples was the probing kind; he was well read, intelligent, and full of rationale. When Swamiji reached the city, the disciple managed to convince him for an outing to a multiplex, very reluctantly though. The movie was a typical bollywood potboiler filled with every conceivable emotion on earth. Swamiji sat through the entire movie unflinchingly. At the end of the movie, as every one tried to make way towards the exit, the disciple asked, “What was the experience like, Swamiji?”

Swamiji replied, “As long as there was darkness there was love, hate, sadness, laughter, violence, and lust, but all of it dissolved the moment there was light." That was all he saw. [Origin]

Joke: An old joke in Delhi went like this: Police teams from all over the world participated in a lion-capturing competition. At the end of the day, all the police teams had returned -- some successful, some not -- except the Delhi Police. So the organisers went to look for them, and found them with a bear that they had captured, thrashing the animal mercilessly and shouting, "बोल, तू शेर है!" ("Admit it, you're a lion!")

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Books read in 2008

I am enlisting the names of books read by me in 2008 with their background and my feedback.I also embed here their original language of creation and mine language of study (either Hindi /English). This is done because I believe that the thinking pattern of author is reflected much in original language of his writings. The emotional binding content between reader and book is somewhere lost in translation / transliteration. Ratings are highly personal.

A Thousand Splendid Suns-Khaled Hosseini-English--7.5/10
Slow paced and Heart wrenching story of a woman in Afghanistan.

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life-Lance Armstrong-English--8/10
Inspirational autobiography of a sports person.

Lajja-Taslima Nasreen-Bangla(Read in English)--8/10
Story of Hindu family living in Bangladesh in religious riots.

Midnight's Children-Salmaan Rushdie-English--8/10
Facts interwoven with Fiction.Beautiful art of story telling with post Indian sub-continent independence background of a Muslim family.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain-English-7.5/10
Journey of young and rebel boy in 1870's American dropout with strong remarks on orthodox society practices with ton of laughs.

Smaran ko pathey banane do -Vishnukant Shastri-Hindi-7.5/10
Detailed and poetic autobiographic epilogue of important personalities that influenced the writer's life and literature.

Ghumakkar Shastra-Rahul Sankrityayan-Hindi-7.5/10
An inspiring push for young minds to travel in the world with his autobiographical experince.

Animal Farm-George Orwell-English-9.5/10
A deep and sarcastic look at Stalin era communism with simple narrative and absolute masterpiece.

Sanvatsar- ‘Agyeya’-Hindi-8.5/10
4 brief psychological essays on time and human consciousness.

Garden of Essays-Firaq Gorakhpuri-English-8.5/10
Essays for all the seasons of life with wide diversity in topics.

Kim-Rudyard Kipling-English-7/10
Adventures of young English boy with Buddhist monk across India in 1900;

The Pearl-John Steinbeck-English-7/10
Short novel about Poverty,Lust and Luck of a mankind intertwisted with a simple story.

Srimadbhagvadgita-???-Sanskrit(Read in English)-10/10
Is anything needed to say about this larger than life book?

Srimad Dayanand Prakash-???-Hindi-7/10
Biography of Dayanand Saraswati.

Anamdas ka Potha-Hazariprasad Diwedi-Hindi-7/10
Struggle to know the ultimate truth by a young sage in ancient India.

Gunahon ka Devta-Dharmveer Bharti--Hindi-7/10
Compelling novel about man-woman relationships and traditions set in Allahabad of 1960's.

Volga se Ganga tak-Rahul Sankrityayan--Hindi-9/10
Chronological migratory detail of human from 6000 BC to 1940 AD ;15 short stories with focus on social and cultural evolution in India.

Life is no bargain-Indira Goswami-Assamese(Read in Hindi)-7.5/10
Autobiography of this prolific writer and inner views of changing times in her life.

Freedom at Midnight-Larry Collins & Domanic Lapierre-English(Read in Hindi)-8.5/10
Honest opinion and detailed account of Indian partition and Independence.A must read for learning about Indian subcontinent in 1947;

The Old man & the Sea-Ernst Hemingway-English-7/10
Saga of constant struggle of man and nature depicted with only 2 main protagonists.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

2009 in Blogworld

Y2K +9=2009
I finally woke up on blog-land to wish my readers happy new year. All of us human suddenly go into mass hysteria about a 'much talked and less known event' (like Y2K),then one by one recover from the impact.Same rule is applied for this new year celebration also.

About previous year: What might have been abstract, the remaining is perpetual. A wonderful void in professional life..

New Year 2009: No Resolution or Commitment for anything. It is well said that things which matter most should not be at the mercy of those things which are of least value. I am fighting with me for priority list of important things. Only an idea to start a new blog to gather interviews,speeches and thoughts of parallel India/World is in my mind. Technology can only provide time and cost saving solution but its about old habits. Even after the advent of newer technique, the implementation fails due to lack of will power. Knowledge can be generated by gathering of information both tacit and explicit.Wisdom is one more step ahead of knowledge.

"Facts and data are the fundamental building blocks of intelligent thought and action, but in themselves, have little value until first, they are vertically integrated into patterns of useful information, and then second, these patterns of information are further vertically integrated into useful knowledge. Value rises exponentially with each degree of integration, and sometimes -- when accompanied by a bit of experience and intelligence -- a bit of wisdom can result."[ref.]

Also,I will revise 'Sparsh' to edit grammatical mistakes and to remove the traces (in heaps) of copied sentence. I will try to be more neutral because hate/love can blur the just decision. No bollywood bashing from now on as sarcasm is veiled violence. And for change of mood: Life has a way for rewarding those that back themselves.

Word of the Year---
P2C2E : Process to Complicated to Explain.
I feel B.H.U. tender process reflect the true meaning of the word.

For readers, Never suppress your curiosity while searching about a topic. It may be about latest trend in fashion industry or issues like global warming. I had ventured into various web links of Wikipedia until becoming mentally exhausted,not bored. Be Diverse, Dynamic and Distinct in life. Just do no walk the line,follow the middle path.....

Friday, September 26, 2008

Habit of reading Literature

"Despite being educated and brought up in a rational society, there are times when we fail to understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom! Perhaps it’s only when you observe and understand the world around you, do you realize that difference can be altered for increasing your pace of the learning curve. Observation too has its limitations! What you would ideally require is developing the reading habit. Perhaps because it’s the most natural habit to inculcate!"
The above lines from a blog inspired me to write the effect of literature and habit of reading in our daily life.

There is an epidemic with million of victims in our country. There are no visible symptoms of this problem. It’s an epidemic of people who can’t read. There is difference between literacy rate and true percentage of educated population. Those who can read and write few words are consider as literate in India. It is simple considered as education till class 5th grade. So the literacy rate is not predictable by governmental statistics.

Habit of reading removes the boredom and monotony of a humdrum life. It means us to realize a view point of another person. Currently, newspapers are most widespread and cheapest source of reading material. National income per person of India is Rs.1265 per year. It is quite low figure in comparison to rising prices of books. Still, it is not the major problem in Indian intellectuals. The literate and prosperous part of population does not want to invest money in good books but it willingly purchases show objects. This mentality must be changed by us. They are on the verge of becoming shallow & cynics. Cynic: The person who knows cost of everything but value of nothing. Oscar Wilde says that the supreme vice is Superficiality. Literature saves us from superficiality. It gives new depth and dimensions to human kind. Human personality can only be enriched by imaginative contact with other time, place and people.

Each invention of human kind is an extension of tools or time saving device. Books are extended version of thoughts. That’s make them special invention in human civilization. Cheap sensationalism is a monster in the realm of literature. Trash is produced in abundance in every decade but natural taste of healthiness of public taste lets it die. Literature enables us to experience the great truth that each man is all men. It teaches us the religion of humanity. Humanism is greater than any school of thoughts.

One of the ironies of human life has been that literary giants have envied men of action and men of action have envied with writers and poets. A class of probably mistaken and misguided people insists that Literature should bring immediate social and political change. In other word they want literature to become propaganda. They forget that literature works imperceptibility by becoming only one of factors and forces which re-mould life. Like each great tree, literature is a plant of slow growth. The secret of literature and literary creation is the sincerity of imagination. It is just the best way for expressing and feeling your emotion.

"Human’s mental, moral and spiritual evolution can only be achieved by spreading literature to the remotest corner."