Loose Control...

'More you control more you tempt to do things, so loose control' - (by yet to be known person Shruti Ganapatye). I was controlling myself from buying books and finally it became uncontrollable that I ended up buying three books.

One I got was Polyester Prince by Hamish McDonald. The book is available in gray market though it is banned. I bought it at King's Circle. I had another copy of this book but my friend took it and forgot to return. But when I saw that I was tempted to buy.

Another I got from same place was Midnight's Children by Salman Rashdie. Out of the guilty that I have not read him bought the book.

Then on the way to office I was waiting for my friend at McDonalds near CST. I saw a board of exhibition by Ashish book stall and I just couldn't miss that. I went in and first book that caught my attention was Rag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla. A day earlier, my friend had recommended me to read the book and I bought that too.

I am feeling great now! Moral of the story is loose control....

'Thumari', The Sound of Life!

There is always an advantage if you know more languages. I am experiencing it. I was bored by reading Marathi and English books and didn't even try to choose a new one. But then I remembered that I have little collection of Hindi books. I choose 'Thumari', a short story book by Phanishwarnath Renu.

I haven't finished it but the book is superb. I first read the story 'Tisari Kasam (or Mare Gaye Gulfam)', which was adapted into a bollywood film. The story is very simple but the way Renu has presented it, is great. He has successfully used local language, folk songs in the story that it really appeals the reader.

Initially it was tough for me to read the language because it is not normal Hindi. But the stories are really interesting. I felt that they were happening around me, in some village, in train or may be in my home.

The characters portrayed by the author are simple or poor people. Usually we don't bother about their lives but in reality their life has many facets, which are unseen by sophisticated people like me. These stories are like a music with different characters representing tones which enhances it's beauty, so the name 'Thumari' (music type or Raaga ).

Now I want to read his first and the most famous novel ‘Maila Anchal’.

Oh! Sorry I forgotten to mention one more book I read was ‘Ek Ladaki ki Jindagi’ by Qurratulain Haider. Haider was just ahead of her time. I think she should have been alive now to write such bold stories.

The novel is based on a girl who chooses her life in her own way. But such people have no place in the society. I always dream that people who are strange in society’s view, should come together to have their own world. I would be one of them and few of my friends would definitely join the world.

I Am In Love...

I am in love with Fermina Daza, Dr Juvenal Urbino, Florentino Ariza, Hildebranda Sánchez, Miss Lynch, the Captain. I love them because we have a small house in perfect sleepy town somewhere in Spain. We earn moderately with not much ambitions. We do whatever we want with no time limit, we go out, we have fun and we even make love at the top of the house witnessing stars. We don’t have much responsibility except we wanted some.

Hmmm... reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love In The Time of Cholera was like a dream come true for me. Every character of this novel is so independent in a way that I feel jealous at their life. Why I can’t have such a peaceful life?

The novel is a simple love story of two and their life revolves around it till the age of 60. The end of the story is very romantic. With a fear to get exposed before the world that a widow Fermina Daza and an unmarried man, Florentinio Ariza had a date in the boat at the age of 60, they decide not to go back to the cruel world. So what do they do now? They host a yellow flag on the boat indicating cholera patients are traveling. So none of the port allow them to dock with a fear of cholera outbreak. They are forever together with each other.

The story touched me with this end. As a human being we all like imaginations. Things we imagine usually don’t come true, so we enjoy it more. The end of the story is a magic realism type, which keeps you always at high without making one realize the truth.

Marquez, a journalist and a nobel winner, has a special power of imagination. His words are so intense that you cannot escape a line while reading. He is also a master of detailing things. I think I am in love with him also.