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

Ten Issues - 15

1- Why Pandits aren't returning to roots ? : The Pandits, though, will tell you another story: of murders and village loudspeakers issuing threats. Jagmohan is rarely the central figure that Kashmiri Muslim makes him out to be.

2-Will Pakistanis put their national interest first? by Harini Calamur :If there is any country in the world that is a poster child for dictatorship, it is Pakistan. Over the last two and half decades at least, Pakistan seems to have been more stable and more prosperous under its military dictators than its “democratically” elected leaders.

3- Islamic Banking System: Threats and Opportunities --- The Islamic banking system is an important component of Islamic finance. Islamic finance has unique features because its foundation is laid on the principles and rules of Islamic law (sharia), which states that everything is owned by Allah and man has only been permitted to use it.

4- The predicament of the Islamic Republic by Hamid Dabashi. Green Movement's focus on civil rights voids it of the appeal needed to spark an Arab Spring-like revolution. Author is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

5- Argentine Free Book Movement woos readers : In Buenos Aires, the 'City of Books', a novel idea sees books left in public places for readers to pick up and enjoy.

6- A Critique of Reporting on the Middle East by Nir Rosen : Too often consumers of mainstream media are victims of a fraud. You think you can trust the articles you read, why wouldn’t you, you think you can sift through the ideological bias and just get the facts.

7- The Insularity of American Literature: Philip Roth Didn't Deserve the Booker International Prize : "There is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world...not the United States," Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Nobel Prize jury, recently said. "The US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature...That ignorance is restraining."

8- The UID Project and Welfare Schemes : This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order to reap marginal benefits. A hasty linking of the PDS/NREGA with the UID can be very disruptive. Therefore, other cheaper technological innovations currently in use in some parts of the country to fix existing loopholes in a less disruptive manner are explored.

9- Uttar Pradesh to set up 2000+ mandis : The Mayawati government proposes to reduce the distance that farmers must travel to take their produce to market to an average of seven kms. This should help farming families boost their incomes, writes Devinder Sharma.

10- Revolution U by TINA ROSENBERG : The Serbian capital is home to the Center for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies, or CANVAS, an organization run by young Serbs who had cut their teeth in the late 1990s student uprising against Slobodan Milosevic. Author throws light on what Egypt learns from the students who overthrew Milosevic.

Thought of the Day : Economist Paul Krugman once remarked: If [George W.] Bush said that the world was flat, the headline on the news analysis would read 'Shape of Earth: Views Differ'. It was a pithy summary of how news organizations are now so obsessed with the idea of "balance" they will give both sides of any argument equal coverage, even if one side is plainly absurd.

Ten Issues - 12

1- Why We Have More Sympathy for Baby Jessica Than for Darfur by Dan Ariely. VIDEO
Focusing on the struggles of an individual appeals to our emotions and makes us care. As the numbers of people suffering get bigger, our cognition, calculation, and thoughtfulness are activated—and we care less ; A NGO on this concept is Rangde;

2- The danger of Being good : - The miracle of individual choice may be what is keeping us safe as a society. Some people just choose to be good, no matter what. This is the story of what happens to them

3- Freedom of speech and expression and the law of sedition in India: Text of keynote address delivered by Colin Gonsalves at the inauguration of Persistence Resistance 2011, New Delhi

4- Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks bluntly about politics and diplomacy, making the case that women's issues deserve a place at the center of foreign policy. Far from being a "soft" issue, she says, women's issues are often the very hardest ones, dealing directly with life and death. A frank and funny Q & A with Pat Mitchell from the Paley Center.

5- Jugalbandi: Hindustani music is our music By Namita Devidayal : Despite the modern claims to lineage, little is known of the Subcontinent’s classical music forms – beyond the centuries of cross-community collaboration that were required.

6-Jugalbandi: Divided scores By Yousuf Saeed : Though there was a general decline in classical music in Pakistan after Partition, there are many uplifting stories of how musical traditions have been kept alive and even enriched.

7- Poetry of Resistance, recited by Sudhanva Deshpande :



8- Indie and the Indian Middle Class by Arjun on PFC.

9- The Opening : If I was ever asked to host a Bollywood Awards night, here is how I would open it - BY Great Bong.

"Some people call this the “Oscar night for India”. I disagree. To quote a great man, we here dare to go beyond the Oscars. Tell me sir, would the Oscars have the Best Actress dancing an item number—-can you imagine Helen Mirren being made to dance if she wants an Oscar? Can you think of Robert De Niro fighting backstage and calling an angry press-conference because Al Pacino won an award? Can you imagine the award being taken away from Hillary Swank and given to Meryl Streep, just because maybe she is the brand ambassador of the event’s sponsors or because Hillary Swank came late to the show?Can you imagine Keanu Reeves winning The Best Actor Award every year? Can you imagine a movie like “Expendables” getting twelve nominations? No."

10- A Big Think Interview With the British author and activist Raj Patel.
Quote of the Day : Any concession to majoritarianism corrodes a democratic order. It creates two classes of citizens: those who belong to the definitive majority become ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ citizens, while those who fall outside this category have to be ‘naturalized’ through tolerance. Not only does constitutional majoritarianism create discontent and disaffection amongst minorities (reduced as they are to second-class citizenship), it allows religious extremists to set the political agenda because they can use the constitution as warrant for their never-ending quest to realize the perfect Buddhist or Islamic or Hindu state. --- Mukul Kesavan

Poetry of Protest - 1

I am remembering the scene in the movie "Dead Poet's Society" where Prof. John Keating was inspiring his student with the beauty of poetry : We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer: that you are here; that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

While most prefer to be didactic and dry in order to make a large statement at the expense of beauty, it is only one side of the coin. There is a passion, emotions, connectivity and power contained in the poems and songs of the people. Poems are sometimes frivolous and pretentious but are written with the Streams of the subconsciousness. The personal turmoil with the experience and observation of grimed reality make poems full of universal appeal. Free versus with the words flowed create a typhoon in the minds of freedom loving people.

Poetry is to create awareness, to create the desire for dreams, social justice, gender equality and to stand up for the downtrodden. To be a poet is dare to give voice to the silent victims witnessing endless suppression, discrimination and violence. To people like Neruda and Faiz, art is for the life and not just for art’s sake. Poems were never meant to be retained but often they end up to recited and remembered without even the efforts of the academia. As they are sing and enjoyed by the people, they created meanings more than if they can do on the paper.

Men are agents of self interest with a will to do good for others. No doubt people always began in good faith against power but insensibly, commitment by commitment, when not aware of dangers of owning power, individuals will become entangled in a web of lies, falsehoods, deceits and perjuries, until they lost their souls to the power. It is necessary to understand the larger ways that discourse supports power and also the larger movements for/against power in the reference of the culture. In the next part of this essay, we will move towards examples of protest and poetry in the real word.

Aaj Baazar mein

Faiz Ahmed Faiz is amongst the most famous poets of the Urdu language. Faiz, who was hounoured by Lenin Peace Prize in 1963, was seldom subjected to arrests by the right-wing pro-imperialist military regimes of Pakistan. Once, during the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq, he was arrested and taken to the police station in front of the public. In this context, he wrote 'Aaj Bazar mein'.



The video starts with a 'mushairah' (public recitation), where Faiz presents the poem, and describes its context. Then the video, with the melodious voice of Nayyara Noor in the background singing the verses of Faiz, shows the sufi culture of Pakistan, which was suppressed by the religious fundamentalist government of Zia-ul-Haq. Then, there are some clips of public floggings and public hangings of political dissidents, which were employed to ingrain terror in the people of Pakistan. Public floggings were a norm during Zia's time. The video, then, takes us on a trip to a well-known red-light area of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This red-light area is in the neighbourhood of a very famous mosque, a contradiction unresolved !

Quotations:

1) I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right. – Abraham Lincoln.

2) If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.– George Washington.

3) It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. – Thomas Jefferson.

Ten Issues - 7

1- How America Can Rise Again : The simplest measure of whether a culture is dominant is whether outsiders want to be part of it Any great nation can be judged on two parameters : continued openness to immigration, and a continued concentration of universities that people around the world want to attend.

2- (Hi)Story, Truth and Nation: South Africa is facing the process of developing a new identity for itself and its people, and to deal with its past. Jyoti Mistry looks at the meaning of nations and the nation state in examining this process of creation of a national identity. Story-telling, history and memory play vital parts, particularly in South Africa, in building this "whole". In a story that has no end in sight, she looks at how a country is dealing with its past and stepping into its future.

3- A virtual counter-revolution: The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it. The future of the internet is looking bleak;

4- Power, privilege, corruption, hypocrisy : There is nothing to be proud of India's ranking in the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2009. The country ranked low also in the Bribe Payers Index among emerging economic giants.

5- The Economics of Monogamy and Polygyny : Overview of the the economics surrounding marriage institutions by professor Marina Adshade who teaches a popular undergraduate course called "Economics of Sex and Love," in which students apply the analytical and statistical tools available to economists to examine human sexuality.

6- Creating scientific culture : The first step towards an African culture of science is to make science relevant to local people, says development expert Oyeniyi Akande.

7-Loving the enemy: Al qaeda version of west - 9/11 organizer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed exploited his trial to remind the court of its own human rights obligations, while Osama bin Laden's video statements include appeals to religious pluralism. Al-Qaeda's use of liberal categories is central to its rhetoric on war and justice, writes Faisal Devji.

8- Language, Poetry, and Singularity: A joint Arab-Jewish identity seems an impossibility given the current political situation in the Middle East. And yet it was a reality, exemplified by Arabic-speaking Jews and their writers. In his extensive essay Reuven Snir investigates the complex history of Arab Jews.

9- Fellows Friday with Sunita Nadhamuni: Water and sanitation are among the most crucial issues facing India today, Sunita Nadhamuni notes in her interview with TED. But while these problems are daunting, Sunita says India’s many innovations in managing water can teach the rest of the world a thing or two.

10- An Open Letter to Manmohan Singh : Not everyone is happy with the working of our appointed prime minister due to his apathy towards corruption and the issue becomes large as an IAS officer wrote an open letter in Livemint journal - The government has lost all credibility with the people, and the buck stops with Manmohan Singh;

Quotes:

“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion” - Henry Steele Commager

"Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government." - B. R. Ambedkar

The Buddha said: ‘If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.’

Ten Issues - 2

I am not interested in sensationalism in these sensitive times. I talk about phenomenon in the state of cultural stagnation and political apathy. Reading and education is do ours bit to build democracy as effectiveness of democracy depends on the awareness of its citizens.

1- Indianhomemaker tells us: What do men need liberation from ?

2- Half of India doesn’t even have access to the judiciary. what do courts mean to them? Lawyer Prashant Bhushan speaks to Amit Sengupta of Tehleka on Who is a public intellectual, who can pass for one in India?

3- Amrita Preetam Imroz : A love Story of a Poet and a Painter. Just read to understand the intimacy of the love and poetry.

4- Dubai for a common purpose: to make money as smoothly and painlessly as possible, even if that means turning a blind eye.

5- Greg Satell explains: The Difference between Social Media and Social Networks.

6- From fields to a BPO in 6 months : A first-of-its-kind women-only BPO started by 'Harva' in a Haryana village is all set to harness the rural talent while changing the rigid mindset of the people, transforming rural economy, writes Hemlata Aithani.

7- Author of this post said - If truly good cinema is what survives the test of time, then these three were my first encounter with good world cinema that subsequently attracted me into the good world of cinema! Go on and read - World Cinema : Dark is Mine.

8- By mollycoddling their charges and telling them how to fix each problem, coaches end up creating players who can't think or act for themselves. Is that what has happened to RP Singh and Ishant Sharma? Go figure it out yourself by Harsha Bhogle

9- The Envelope, Please: From Eight Great Innovative Tools, Which Ones Are the Winners? published by April 22, 2010 in India Knowledge@Wharton

10- Who is easily manipulated? A valid question asked by Seth Godin on advertisements.

Vichaar Shoonya - 4

A republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government.Today on 26th Jan, Salute to the heroes who had given us idea and base of republic nation ...
1- Indian Higher Education Reform: From Half- Baked Socialism to Half-Baked Capitalism : - Devesh Kapur, University of Pennsylvania and Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Centre for Policy Research

2-The meaning of network culture: - by Kazys Varnelis, is director of Network Architecture Lab at Columbia University and editorial board member of Kulturos barai.

3- The Bread And Butter Papers: Tehelka survey finds that Indians read books not for pleasure but for self-advancement. Given our writers, can we blame them, asks Gaurav Jain.

4- A commitment to modernity is one of the distinguishing features of the Internet generation: - by Vir Sanghvi, Indian print and television journalist .

5- I share Chidambaram’s contempt for those who seek to profit from education: - by Vir Sanghvi, Indian print and television journalist.

6- New class of civil servants: - by, S. Narayan, former finance secretary and economic adviser to the prime minister.

Food for thought: The triumph of heroes is that they rise above everything, even our cynical destruction of the very ideal that sustains them. We are more comfortable today with celebrities than with heroes for they are patently the product of the attention we have chosen, sometimes, inexplicably to shower on them. Fall of heroism to celebrity culture and rise of business tycoons without any ethics are dark side of our post economic liberation era. Really, are we becoming less idealistic and more practical day by day ?

Thought on the republic day: "To work for people you don’t need to have a position but if you have a position it is easier for the people to access you”.

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.

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

How Populism Works ?

I'm reminded of the well-known satirical novel by Robert Escarpit – The Literatron. I haven't read the novel but just a summary of its review is reproduced from eurozine article. It explains in subtle about how populism works....

I'm reminded of the well-known satirical novel by Robert Escarpit – The Literatron. The Literatron is more or less a machine for creating texts similar to a computer. The idea of its creators was to generate the perfect novel based on the best images from world literature. In response to the highest of expectations, the machine produced a bestseller – Virgin and Typesetter! When the Literatron was asked to compose a political speech the outcome was even more scandalous. After processing the entire history of political rhetoric the machine spewed out a series of gaffs such as: "This politics thing the more it changes the more it stays the same... There are no two ways about it, the clever people are the most stupid of all... All you have to do is hang a few of them (politicians) and things will improve...". This line of thought fits perfectly with an eloquent phrase from the Bulgarian transition, wrought by another merciless critic of his time, the Bulgarian satirist Aleko Konstantinov: "They are all rogues, on both sides!" The speech generated by the literatron was welcomed with raptures by the electorate and the politician whose job it was to make it quickly became a star. Every attempt to deviate from the absurd scenario led to vigorous disapproval.

I can't remember what happened to the literatron, whether it was destroyed as a malicious invention or if it destroyed itself. What was more important was the principles on which the machine operated. Its aim was universality and in the process it purged all nuances, simplified the meaning and looked for an arithmetical mean. The aim was for the text to reach the widest possible audience. The greatest irony was that a message meant for all was in practice a message for no one. This undermined its purpose, since it would have left its audience completely indifferent. The literatron is clearly a metaphor for populism as a leading principle of the political machine. However, populism works. If it didn't, politicians wouldn't resort to it so often.

The story is over dudes..

Vichaar Shoonya + 1

From RGV's blog, a thought for the day---
Q: Can you give me an example to differentiate between knowledge, intelligence, genius and wisdom?
Ans: Knowledge is to know that a snake contains poison; intelligence is to figure out what the poison contains and how it can kill you. Genius is to create an anti venom. Wisdom is to know all this but yet not to fuck around with the snake just in case the first three go wrong.

Capital gains : A vivid, wide-ranging (and very scary) portrait of unbridled consumerism in the post-liberalisation years. [Thanks to Jai Arjun Singh]

Infamous List: To clarify, the people in these lists are/were good, honorable people. What is unpleasant/infamous about the lists are the circumstances in which these people found themselves.

Rabindranath Tagore in Conversation with H. G. Wells

Gapminder: Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view.

Free Hindi Ebooks Download.

Mentor Yourself: Five core strategies for developing a more satisfying and successful academic career.

Vichaar Shoonya - 0

1- The Taliban have taken advantage of the vacuum of governance by carrying out spectacular suicide bombings in major cities across the country. They are generating fear, rumor, and also support from countless unemployed youth, some of whom are willing to kill themselves to advance the Taliban cause. The mean age for a suicide bomber is now just sixteen. It is a brilliant strategy of evacuation of opposition by suicide bombing and then fill the place with Talibs as a voice of people. They also utilize high illiteracy rate in Pakistan. All the crux of the above blabbering was to introduce you to these two articles describing mindset of our neighbouring nation elite society: Why is Pakistan Half Illiterate? and Causality of war.

2- Faith of Einstein.

3- Econ Sense: Equality vs. Efficiency, the Case of Universal Health Care..

4- Bloggers, Media and Science Reporting & Indian Scientists and Science Blogging

5- On black literature in America

Quote of the day:
Logic and reason are the naphthalene balls we use to pack our hopes, dreams and desires away into a SANDOOK called "Someday". But when that day comes we are too old, too poor , too tired or too lazy to do anything.--- Rashmi Bansal.

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!")

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.

Meaning of Sparsh

Often, I analyze various people arriving on my blog searching for the Meaning of Sparsh (by FEEDJIT). They were getting link of my blog for meaning of the word 'Sparsh'. I have named my blog 'Sparsh' aka 'Touch'. This touch is often mistaken with Midas or golden word. I do not support that combination with blog's name.

Meaning of 'Sparsh' is Touch. It is inspired from article below:

प्रभावित होना और प्रभावित करना जीवंतता का लक्षण है .कुछ लोग हैं जो प्रभावित होने को दुर्बलता मानते हैं. में ऐसा नही मानता. जो महत से,सुंदर से,साधारण में छिपे असाधारण से प्रभावित नही होते,में उन्हे जड़ समझता हूँ. चेतन तो निकट संपर्क में आने वालों से भावात्मक आदान-प्रदान करता हुआ ही जीवन पाठ पर आगे बदता जाता है.

These lines are taken from the introduction of book "Smaran ko pathey banane do" by "Vishnukant Shastri". Sparsh is the touch (motivation) of that chetan (consciousness) for sensitive exchange of emotions. Hoping that my point is taken crystal clear by reader. Also Check, not original review of a movie 'Sparsh'.

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."

Kakkaji Kahin

Bumper & Lucky Draw of the Century:
Teenkosva, jila Bahraich mein teen patte khelne ke liye grand invitaionva,
sath mein teen deen char raat katne ke liye teen packet desi beedi muft....

Quote of the Day:
Rahiman sit silently,Watching worldly ways;
Betterment when comes,Making never delays.

Reading is a Stubborn Habit.

I like reading books from childhood days. I am transferred to another land of beauty in my thoughts. I am enlisting here the books read by me in the time span at ITBHU. Most of them are not fabulous literature work but certainly popular ones in their category.

2007

Netaji Kahin - Manohar Shyam Joshi
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen
Shadows on the Grass - Isak Dinesen
iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business - Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling
1984 - George Orwell
Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
One Hundred Year of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
Omertà - Mario Puzo
The Sigma Protocol - Robert Ludlum

2006

The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
Ek Boond Sahasa Uchhali - Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayana ‘Agyeya’
Sanskriti ke Chaar Adhyaay - Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K. Rowling
Godfather - Mario Puzo
Mother - Maxim Gorky
Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

2005

India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium - Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Swami and Friends - R. K. Narayan
Wings of Fire - Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
The Lost World - Michael Crichton

Any comment and suggestion will increase my appetite to enjoy literature around the world.

HALLA BOL !!!

Safder Hashmi(b. April 12, 1954 - January 2, 1989)

Many youths of our generation do not even know this name.I was also accused of forgetting him in old memories.This name was invoked in me by the movie "Halla bol".The movie left me with little impression but the legacy of "Halla bol" was in my consciousness.I am telling you a story of a martyr.He died not for a noble cause in making world a better place for us.
Today , belonging to a ideology is consider just a time pass. Mostly people are either too liberal or too restricted and highly influenced by dirty politics. Membership of club or resort is more credible than a joining a library .You don’t belong to schools of thought such as liberal communists or liberal capitalist or right of center .I doubt if today’s average college student either knows or bothers about this.It is lack of thinking or more self centered approach in life is responsible for this.
Then why i am speaking on behalf of a dead man?Today development in society is highly selfish.Its all about losing your soul to gain material value.But in end ,you look in your heart and feel sorry for your whole life.

Safdar Hashmi was a Communist playwright, actor, director, lyricist, and theorist, chiefly associated with Street theater in India, and is still considered an important voice in political theater in India.
He graduated from St Stephen's College Delhi in English Literature, and did M.A. English from Delhi University.It was here that he became a associated with the cultural unit of 'Student Federation of India', the youth wing of the CPI-M.
Jana Natya Manch, People's Theater Front or JANAM (Rebirth), as an acronym, in 1973, which grew out of the Indian People's Theater Association (IPTA) and was associated with Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1970 . When Indira Gandhi was blamed with rigging the elections , he produced a street play, 'Kursi, Kursi, Kursi' (Chair, Chair, Chair)[, wherein, when a king tries to leave his throne for an elected public representative, the throne lifts along with him. This play proved to be a turning point for the group .Till 1975, Janam performed open-air proscenium and street plays for mass audiences, then during the Emergency years (1975-77), he worked as a lecturer in English literature in universities in Garhwal, Kashmir and Delhi.

Post Emergency he returned to political activism, and in 1978 Janam took to street theater in a big way, with Machine which was performed for a trade union meeting of over 200,000 workers on 20 November 1978 . This was followed by plays on the distress of small peasants (Gaon Se Shahar Tak), on clerical fascism (Hatyare & Apharan Bhaichare Ke), on unemployment (Teen Crore), on violence against women (Aurat) and on inflation (DTC ki Dhandhli). He also produced several documentaries and a TV serial for Doordarshan “Khilti Kaliyan” (Flowers in Bloom) on rural empowerment. He also wrote books for children and criticism of the Indian stage.
He was the de-facto director of Janam, and till his death, 'Janam' gave about 4,000 performances of 24 street plays, performed mostly working-class neighborhoods, factories and workshops.
The death of Safder hashmi was a brutual murder of free voice in this democratic country.
On January 1, 1989, Safdar and his associates set out to perform a play called “Halla Bol” at Jhandapur village in Sahibabad, on the outskirts of Delhi. The play was a part of their campaign for Ramanand Jha, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-supported candidate in the Ghaziabad municipal elections. Mukesh Sharma, the Congress(I)-backed “independent” candidate, apparently unnerved by the impact the play was making on the workers of the area, went with a horde of armed goons and attacked Safdar’s group. Safdar suffered multiple fractures in the skull and there was brain haemorrhage. He succumbed to his injuries the next day. Even while facing the goons, he made sure that the women folk with the team safely escaped as he fought with the goons.

Fifteen thousand marched at his funeral on January 3, the largest funeral ever for a theatre artist in Delhi. Protest demonstrations swept the country, and several hundred thousand marched in dozens of cities and towns. Thousand voices screamed in unison - “Hamare Safdar Ko Lal salam”as they paid homage to their real life hero

The death of Safdar Hashmi has been covered briefly but effectively by many journalists in the media, after the conviction of nine men by the Delhi High Court recently, including Mukul Sharma, the primary accused, 14 years after his death. This in itself is one of the few cases, where justice has actually been dispensed with, though the delay in itself is a punishment of another kind for the victims – the martyr and those whom he left behind.
The judgment brought some pale consolation to those of us who had followed his career, his work or watched his highly effective tool to create public awareness and opinion.

Hashmi had been enacting street plays regularly to raise public consciousness regarding the misrule by the ruling party, to a fairly appreciative and growing applause. The street theatre format had been adopted and used very efficiently by him to raise public awareness to the issues raised by him, so creatively and in an interactive format Given his socialist leanings, naturally, politics was a significant part of his death as in his life.
And,indeed who remembers him now??Its question for us to look inside our soul.