Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Fault In Our Stars

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This is a book about dying. It tries, justifiably, very hard not to be, but it is actually a book about dying. I would not denigrate it by labeling it simply as a love story. Love stories are to make you feel good and give you hope, this book promises neither.

   ‘Fault In Our Stars’ depicts Hazel Grace Lancaster as its protagonist, suffering from grade IV cancer since she was detected at the age of thirteen. A medical marvel called Phalanxifor extends her life(or what can be described as life for a cancer patient) indefinitely. While at just sixteen, Hazel Grace shows a maturity and knowledge, and a depth in human emotions well beyond her age. She’s a terminal; she’s seen it all: the horror of discovery, the pain, the slim chances of recovery, the constant pining for hope from new medicines, the toxins poured into your system (that harm as much as help you) and the never-ending struggle of the parents and other children who suffer along with her.

  However, things start to change when a boy called Augustus Waters enters into her life through the Support Group that Hazel is made to attend. Augustus is a cancer survivor himself and has been NEC(No Evidence of Cancer) for over a year. Augustus has a charming, interesting and an easily likable personality. Therefore, it comes as no surprise when Hazel feels a very teenager-y crush on him. Contrarily, Hazel is struck by the fact that despite being good-looking, he is neither pig-headed nor vain(though she does say otherwise) and who likes her in return. Augustus has a very large personality, such, that one might suspect, could tackle cancer by it’s horns.

  The book presents itself as being very readable and simple, which is a falsity. While the characters seem like they might actually belong to this world, their ideas are beyond it. You do not end up pitying or being repelled by the characters, for to pity them, you’d have to be distinct from them, and you don’t feel that for a second. Hazel Grace becomes you. You feel her pain, her journey, but more than that, her skepticism towards her condition. During the first half, you have the feeling that the author is trying to sound deep and abstract; by the end, you understand that he actually is. If John Green was going for writing a book which wants to be taken seriously, he couldn’t have chosen a better and bolder topic. This book is a riot: naturally funny without killing it constantly with gallows humour (pun intended), the twists and turns that will make your insides squirm and characters that you genuinely fall in love with (except for one).

  I really recommend this book, not just for it’s humour and tragedy, but because it will honestly teach you something. I don’t know if Mr.Green was closely related to someone with this disease, but I have gained a perspective that I lacked before. This was not a book that I would ideally pick out for reading, and didn’t expect to like it, but let’s just say Hazel and Augustus (and the countless others) sort of become a part of you forever.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Crime And Punishment

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Dostoevsky was one of the prominent forward-thinking writers of his time. ‘Crime and Punishment’ is a by-product of his time spent in prison and his observations of the criminal psyche through other inmates.

In this book, Dostoevsky wades into the mind of a soon-to-be criminal, Raskolnikov, who then commits an act from which there is no coming back. Raskolnikov is haunted by the constant lack and poverty that surrounds him and the lives of his fellow university students. He is an intellectual and his crime is not motivated by his need for survival, but in fact to test a theory that he has propounded.

Raskolnikov believes that the world consists of two types of men-ordinary and superior men, the latter, who shape the world through their moral or amoral actions and are risen to the social positions of world leaders. According to him, the world has always celebrated the acts of such men as Napolean, whose actions no matter how vile, were validated by this world of followers. When these men were born before their time, they were hanged or imprisoned, but they changed the course of history forever, for instance, Galileo. However, after their deaths they were honoured and praised. He believed that such a man was one in a million and the rules of the society didn’t apply to him. Raskolnikov admits that while they do not have an official stamp of approval, such men have an “inner right” to override superficial laws of society.

Despite it being his foremost crime and suffering from constant reproach by his conscience, the author never denies Raskolnikov’s guilt or intent. The book is a journey through Raskolnikov’s mind and his internal conflicts, sometimes verging on schizophrenia. While this is a thin thread of a plot running across such a large volume, Dostoevsky paints a fixed and definitive portrait of the lead character with extreme descriptions of the horrible nature of poverty. This book has played a major role in changing the perceptions of society towards the ordinary criminal and criminal psyche. At a time when few books were written with a criminal for a protagonist, and in the absence of television or any criminal tele-dramas, this book was a treasure-trove of resource for criminal psychology.

Dostoevsky also plays with the idea of faith and its restorative qualities for a criminal. Raskolnikov claims to believe in God and has a sense of right and wrong demonstrated by his dreams, which show him trying to save a pony from cruel and painful death. But while he is righteous in thoughts, all the greater injustices he observes in his poverty and stagnant state make him rethink the immorality of his crime.

The end of the book might seem a bit out of place but just like in the Bard’s plays, every character has something to say. After experiencing the agonizing struggles and mind-mazes throughout this book, the ending is like a soothing effect to the soul. This book proves to be, if nothing else, an exceptional study of a brilliant psychological specimen.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Dnyaneshwari: The Read of A Lifetime

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      I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told by people to go and read the real deal: The Vedas, The Gita, and so many Sanskrit texts which my entire life will prove too short to read. But perhaps you’ll sympathize with me if I was a bit overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start! It’s like walking into your dream library and crying from sheer nervous happiness because you know you want them all!
  Finally I found an English translation of Dnyaneshwari by Ravin Thatte. I was a bit hesitant of reading a translation, because let’s be honest, there isn’t a book written which can be translated word for word from one language to another and not lose any  of it’s original meaning. Still, it was a start.
   The copy has 1034 pages to be precise (I’m still on the second chapter) and I’ve read large volumes before, but this book is different. The feeling that you’re reading something sacred and dealing with knowledge passed down for centuries by men from generation to generation like it is some secret treasure, is ever-present.
   Sant Dnyaneshwar was smart. His effective use of poesy, his almost mnemonic-like description of certain qualities and characteristics is very interesting. Dnyaneshwari teaches you how to live. It was written with the individual in mind, but it’s concepts largely apply to the society and how one must live in it. This book might be a dense encryption of the deepest secrets of the ages, and is by no means an easy read, but it is a colourful one. The description of Ganesha in the first chapter with different qualities describing his different organs is if not anything, a brilliant mnemonic device.
   Dnyaneshwari  was first present in the oral form when it was translated from the Gita by Dnyaneshwar for villagers and laymen who could not understand the Gita  because it was written in Sanskrit, a language then only restricted to the upper echelons of society, the Brahmins. Hence, not only does Dnyaneshwari contain easy and familiar language which describes the ancient landforms of India with its people, but also stories and mythological lores of Gods and man which the villagers possibly could understand better.
   Dnyaneshwari is like a river. It is a river of ancient knowledge and still carries with it the essence of the India that once kings with abundant riches and possibly men with strange powers resided in. You cannot stop it, you can’t even measure it and few have been able to cross it, but it flows on, providing knowledge to those who were not fortunate enough to receive it and who praise the one man who cared enough to.

To Kill A Mockingbird


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  This is a book set in the state of Alabama, USA or as they say the Deep South in the early decades of the 20th century. The book is about a black man convicted for a crime he hasn’t committed, tat is, raping a white woman.
It covers the irrational prejudices held by human minds against different classes of society and racial hatred in this little town of Maycomb. It also very colourfully describes black slavery in the most domestic terms. What is extraordinary about this book is that it is written from the eyes of two children who witness this case of a black man being framed shamelessly by a town which is familiar with the truth. While a lot has been said about racism and targeting the weakness of an innocent featured in this book, surprisingly, the humour created by the minds of these two children growing up is highly underrated. Unintentional humour created by children is always refreshing and To Kill a Mockingbird does not disappoint. If you are tired of reading books that tell you how to think and keep repeating the diktats of society or keep addressing the distortion of justice, you’ll love this book.
The writer gives us an idea of how a child’s mind works. She shows just how perceptive children actually are and how their ideas of justice and right and wrong are so much simpler. Our society would indeed benefit and our judicial systems run smoother if kids could have it their way!
This is not just a funny book addressing a serious issue; this is ‘the funny book’ addressing the one serious issue that most American authors of the time tend to ignore or overlook. ‘To Kill’ has got to be the book with the most under-appreciated protagonist ever and that is what makes it so appealing in a way. The father of these two children is the only white person in the entire town who stands up for the accused and takes up his case as a lawyer. While to the black community he must be a Messiah, Mr. Atticus Finch is just an ordinary slightly above middle-aged man who is nothing short of the ideal man in my eyes. He treats his children well, never differentiating between his daughter and his son. The high principles he holds himself up to, soon catch up to his children and although it pains him to see them suffer for that, he understands that that is the price to be paid if he wants to raise them right. He portrays a gentleman who treats a black woman with as much respect and dignity as he does his insufferable, prejudiced sister. Perhaps it is true what they say about children making us conscientious.
If there is one thing that jumps out at you after reading this book is how people would rather keep on being cruel and unjust simply because it is far too difficult, shaming and painful to admit that they have collectively pretended to be blind to actual people with real suffering so as to spare themselves the discomfort.