Books read in 2017

In the brief prose piece, The Four Cycles, Jorge Luis Borges wrote that there are only four stories in the world: the story of war, the story of return, the story of search, and the story of sacrifice (Troy, Ulysses, Jason, Christ).

If Borges is right, then literature is not a museum of endless novelty so much as a chamber of recurring forms. What changes is not the underlying plot of human life, but the cultural machinery that gives those plots their authority—what makes war feel righteous, return feel inevitable, search feel sacred, sacrifice feel meaningful. That machinery is very often myth.

Rich cultures—with their myths, religious narratives, heroic histories, and rituals—offer especially thick symbolic resources to legitimize rule, sacralize authority, and frame dissent as betrayal of the civilization itself. Mythical stories such as these refuse to see the past as fundamentally different from the present. People accept and assimilate myths, they act on the myths, and the myths become the basis for actions that shape history.

Yet the strange thing about myths is that their power does not depend on their literal credibility. To get rid of the things I certainly do not need. Myths are interesting stories, and sometimes they even have a basis in fact. The stories were bizarre and had absolutely no connection to the real world. Even a child found them very unrealistic. And still—people live by them, argue through them, and defend themselves with them, because the force of myth is rarely the force of proof.

It is myth, not a mandate; fable, not a logic; and symbol, rather than a reason, by which men are moved. – Irwin Edman

In that sense, mythology teaches something both unsettling and practical: that what a society calls “truth” is often a negotiated story backed by consensus, repeated until it feels like nature. What do we learn from mythology? Every rule, every value, was created by the consensus of adults, and adults will discard those rules and values when it suits them.

And this is why myth does not disappear in the modern world; it mutates. There is Sword and sorcery fantasy, while seemingly escapist, explores timeless human conflicts and moral questions through mythic elements and archetypal storytelling. The costumes change, the setting changes, the vocabulary changes—but the old four cycles remain: war, return, search, sacrifice.

Books especially dealing with mythical/sci-fiction/adventure genre make us capable, but it is also true that we have to become capable of understanding books. Understanding books requires more than just age; it requires wisdom and experience. Age doesn't only refer to physical state but to understanding and experience.

   ~Highly Recommended~

  • The Lord of the Rings- J.R.R. Tolkien
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography) - Maya Angelou

~Worth a Look~

  • Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia - Ahmed Rashid
  • The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
  • Sahir Ludhianvi,The people's poet - Akshay Manwani 4
  • Lucknow Boy: A Memoir - Vinod Mehta
  • Unreal Elections - C.S. Krishna
  • Does He Know a Mother's Heart: How Suffering Refutes Religions - Arun Shourie

~Pleasure Reading~

  • The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1) - Robert Galbraith
  • Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
  • The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike, #2) - Robert Galbraith

~Avoid~

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Kanpur Coaching Gurus

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Memories of coaching days at Kanpur are inseparable from me. I have done a separate post on Kanpur coaching mandi only. The most remembered image of my coaching days was the advertisement of Ankush Bhatia by Pran classes, and it was pasted on each wall of Kanpur. His photo was spread at distant corners of the city, showing All India Rank 51. Never seen any local marketing campaign like this. Sometimes, I recall the rush of students from one coaching center to another for seat capture, xerox copying of assignments, and 'out-of-course' study material. The JEE course was never completed on time in the Kanpur coaching mandi. At the end of March, the mad rush to complete the course began with various test series taking place simultaneously. I could not forget that pressure till now. I will never forgive Anish, Pankaj, and Vishnoi sir for combining their individual treats into 1 party for JEE-qualified students. For information on the pre-2000 AD days of coaching mandi, check this l...
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Book Review: The Jihad Game: Inside Pakistan’s Dark War by Abhinav Pandya

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The Jihad Game: Inside Pakistan’s Dark War by Abhinav Pandya The Jihad Game: Inside Pakistan’s Dark War by Abhinav Pandya | Goodreads ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading India-Pakistan conflict (wars) is a challenging mostly negative-sum game where both countries are often in escalation cycles with no easy solution. The roots of the conflict, particularly cross-border terrorism supported by Pakistan trace back strongly to Kashmir.  Pakistan has long used Jihad   (religious war against infidels)   as a strategic tool in Kashmir, now reinforced by a nuclear umbrella. Kashmiri Muslims were predominantly Sunni Hanafi , practicing a syncretic, Sufi-influenced Islam shaped by local traditions (Rishiyat), shrine culture and coexistence with Kashmiri Pandits. What has changed over the years? Religious followership has shifted toward a more orthodox, radical Sunni Islamist and scriptural orientation  especially among youth. The 'Jihad Game' written by Abhinav Pandya (counter-terro...
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Lyrics of Title Song from Bharat Ek Khoj

सृष्टी से पहले सत्य नहीं था, असत्य भी नहीं अंतरिक्ष भी नहीं, आकाश भीं नहीं था छिपा था क्या कहाँ, किसने देखा था उस पल तो अगम, अटल जल भी कहाँ था सृष्टी का कौन हैं कर्ता कर्ता हैं यह वा अकर्ता ऊंचे आसमान में रहता सदा अध्यक्ष बना रहता वोहीं सच मुच में जानता. या नहीं भी जानता हैं किसी को नहीं पता नहीं पता नहीं है पता, नहीं है पता........... वोह था हिरान्य गर्भ सृष्टी से पहले विद्यमान वोही तो सारे भूत जात का स्वामी महान जो है अस्तित्वमाना धरती आसमान धारण कर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर जिस के बल पर तेजोमय है अम्बर पृथ्वी हरी भरी स्थापित स्थिर स्वर्ग ओर सूरज भी स्थिर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर गर्भ में अपने अग्नी धारण कर पैदा कर्व्यपा था जल इधर उधर नीचे ऊपर जगह चुके वो का एकमेव प्रान बंकर ऐसे किस देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर ॐ ! सृष्टी निर्माता स्वर्ग रचायता पूर्वज रख्सा कर सत्य धर्मं पलक अतुल जल नियामक रक्षा कर फैली हैं दिशाएं बहु जैसी उसकी सब में सब पर ऐसी ही देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर ऐसी ही देवता कि उपासना करे हम अवि देकर......
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Bahadur Shah Zafar - Last Mughal King

Lagta Nahin Hai Dil Mera Ujde Dayar Mein Kiski Bani Hai Aalam-e-Napaidar Mein Bulbul ko baghban se na sayyaad se gila Kismat mein kayd thi likhi fasle-bahaar mein Kehdo In Hasraton Se Kahin Aur Ja Basen Itni Jagah Kahan Hai Dil-e-Daagdaar Mein Umr-e-Daraz Mang Ke Laye The Chaar Din Do Aarzoo Mein Kat Gaye Do Intezaar Mein Din zindagi ke khatm hue shaam aa gayi phaila ke paanv soyenge koonje mazaar mein Kitna Hai Badnaseeb “Zafar” Dafn Ke Liye Do Gaz Zameen Bhi Na Mili Koo-e-Yaar Mein English Translation: My heart is not happy in this despoiled land Who has ever felt fulfilled in this transient world The nightingale laments neither to the gardener nor to the hunter Imprisonment was written in fate in the season of spring Tell these emotions to go dwell elsewhere Where is there space for them in this besmirched heart? I had requested for a long life a life of four days Two passed by in praying/wishing, and two in waiting. The days of life are over, Its evening of death Now I can sleep w...
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Book Review - Mukiwa by Peter Godwin

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Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa | Goodreads ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading Rhodesia in the 1970s stands as one of history's most intriguing anomalies—a fully functioning economy, internationally isolated, ruled by a tiny white minority of about 7% who controlled the government, military, and economy while disenfranchising the 93% Black majority.  The book  that captures this paradox at its core, portraying a state born from defiance: in 1965, the white minority government unilaterally declared independence (UDI) from Britain, rechristening itself Rhodesia.  Rhodesia practiced white minority rule with a veneer of civility, a "multiracial" facade that fooled no one. Black people knew there was no path to reform; whites knew majority rule was inevitable. It was rotten from the start, a losing battle against the tide of history. The 1970s Bush War escalated into terrorism, cross-border incursions from Mozambique, and full civil war. In the en...
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