Malcolm Little to Malcolm X

I went to Prithvi theater few days back with a friend. Just could not resist myself from visiting a bookstall in the premises. Actually it was a month end and was running low on cash. I knew I would get tempted so was very nervous. I also felt to ask my friend to buy for me something but I am an introvert kind of a person. I could not ask him. In fact, to avoid any purchase I went out of the store for some time. Then again went in.

Guess what i found? The Autobiography of Malcom X, as told to Alex Haley. I had heard so much about the book from an another book nerd friend. He always used to talk about the book and also recited many lines and paragraphs from the book. I had tried searching the book in my regular stores and secondhand bookstalls also but didn't get it. Unexpectedly I found it there. So bought it and started reading with lot of curiosity.

Its amazing to read it. I need not discuss who Malcom X was but his conversion from Christianity to Islam was very interesting part of the book so far. I personally do not believe in any religion but after reading the book reached to my same old conclusion. Men create new religions or sects to overcome suppression, injustice and many inhumanities committed in the earlier one. But the new one also goes in the same way of the previous.

Malcom X was a negro by origin and paid a heavy price of life in his initial years. Elijah Muhammad changed his entire life and showed him path of Islam. For the blacks that time in America, it was definitely a way out of the white world. It gave them different identity and forced them to think out of 'white'.

I must share some of his thoughts here. He talked so much immensely about oppression of black race. How it was cut from its origins in South Africa through a slave business. Their condition was worst than the animals. He asks a question somewhere, (sorry I could not find the exact quote) 'how can a God (Jesus Christ) of black men be white?' This also made me to think, he was correct. The origin, the history, the real names, skills of the black men were forced to forget and given them an identity as a 'nigger'.

Converting to Islam was a life changing experience for him and may be for many black people looking for their real identity. But a lot of stories and mythologies were created to convince people to convert into Islam against the whites. The stories were very ridiculous but I must give a credit to them for elevating lives of the people. I think that's the beauty of religion though I many times hate its existence in human life. It is destroyer at the same time saviour.

But I was really astonished to read lot of things about circumstances of the blacks in America. in my visit to the country I had observed this that the situation may be changing slowly but still the blacks are doing the low-dignity jobs everywhere like the backward castes people in India.

The friend who took me to the bookstore said the gist of the book is simple, white men cannot be good because being good to others is not in his favour. He said the same thing is applied to Brahmin caste here. Evidently he is true.

But in the beginning of the book there are lot of funny things I should have shared them earlier. Anyways I will try to post it soon. One more thing I must mention that during my America visit I went to the state of Nebraska and travelled from Omaha to Lincoln. I talked with many people there, journalists, lawyers, bankers. They talked about the speciality of the state in all the sense. None of them forgot to mention the great industrialist Warren Buffett who was born in the capital of the state, Omaha and stays there. But they conveniently forgot to say that Malcolm X was also born in the same capital city.

Child Soilder

"We had been in the village for only a few minutes when the rebels attacked again. They didn't want to give up the village easily. We looked at each other sitting around the fire and angrily changed our magazines and went out to get rid of attackers for good. We fought them throughout the night and the following day. None of us wanted to give up the village to other, but in the end we killed most of the rebels and captured a few more. The others ran away into the cold and rainy forest. We were so angry with the prisoners that we didn't shoot them but, rather, decided to punish them severely. "It will be a waste of bullets to shoot them," the lieutenant said.

So we gave them shovels and demanded, at gunpoint, that they dig their own graves. We sat under the huts smoking marijuana and watched them dig in the rain. Each time they slowed down, we would shoot around them and they would resume digging faster. When they were done digging, we tied them and stabbed their legs with bayonets. Some of them screamed, and we laughed an kicked them to shut them up.

We then rolled each man into his hole and covered him with the wet mud. All of them were frightened , and they tried to get up and out of the hole as we pushed the dirt back to them, but when they saw the tips of our guns pointed into the hole, they lay back and watched us with their pale sad eyes. They fought under the soil with all their might. I heard them groan underneath as they fought for air. Gradually, they gave up, and we walked away. "At least they are buried," one of the soldiers said, and we laughed. I smiled a bit again as we walked back to the fire to warm ourselves. "

This is a true story of a soldier Ishmael Beah who was just 13 years old when he committed the merciless act. Unrest in Sierra Leone was forced Ishmael to join Army to survive and get food. He had already lost his entire family in inter conflicts and wanted to save himself from rebels.

'A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of A Boy Soilder', This is assumed to be the first memoirs of the boy soldier out of three lakh child soldiers the world has today. Hopped-up on drugs, wielding AK-47s and killing people on the orders by senior soldiers is what these children do in more than thirty conflicts prone countries.

Before knowing the world around him, Ishmael sees lot of violence and gets pool into it for survival. I remember seeing movie 'Blood Diamond' has similar story that how children were exploited to get diamonds.

Such stories are not only terrible but they leave a permanent impact on the child's mind. Like in the book, when Ishmael gets into better company, he could not accept it initially. He has to hide his past life from others and gets frequent migraines.

Children are very vulnerable in the society and therefore they are the easy target. They have been used, abused, beaten up and killed for political gain. How to stop this is the big question.

I am missing him!

I think I am missing him. This is not the first time that I am missing someone like this. But still he is special and I am missing his each and every word, the moments we spent together, my sleepless nights after his meeting and his unending stories.

For last few days we were away from each other, at least 800 kms. Otherwise also he is thousands of miles away from me. But I always feel his presence when I am at home. I keep listen to him quietly. He takes me for the World tour from Afghanistan to Iran, Iraq, the places I would like to visit searching his footsteps. Slowly, I start feeling sleepy but he doesn't stop, just goes on and on. I close my eyes and sleep in his lap feeling his body moments. Till morning he sits besides me.

He is actually an intelligent man. Of course, he does not need my certificate, the whole world would agree with me. I am the stupid person realised it late. He articulates things whenever we meet. He has lot of knowledge about the World and has a presentation skill also.

These are not only things I like about him. What I like most are his views. They are very much anti-establishment and against imperialist powers. He has gained that authority to speak against his own country, England and the superpower America. He is no more a citizen of any country, father, lover or anyone but an individual in true sense.

There are many such things that brought me so near to him and now he is a part of my life. I don't want to end the relation so early with him but want to cherish it.

More I miss him more I would go close to him and communicate with him. But I don't want
him to stop, he should go on and on and on....

Hmmm I think I need to meet him tonight where I left him last, page no 298 of The Great War For Civilisation by Robert Fisk.

Things Fall Apart

I just finished reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author. The book is based on the South African tribal culture, which is on the verge to change and people's dilemma over accepting the new World.

It portrays life of the tribal people, their happiness, sorrows, rituals, beliefs and gods. Everything seems fine and normal with the people but change is inevitable in life. That change comes in the form of Christian missionaries.

The villagers are confused over resisting or embracing the Christianity. It is difficult to suddenly abandon their culture and take on the new unknown one. Some of the them are excited about the
Christianity and its modern look while others are adamant to leave their roots easily.

Though, I am not in favour of any religion, I liked the technique used by missionaries to show the tribals that their Gods do not exist. But the same formula can be implemented to show that the God otherwise also does not exist. It is very interesting to know.

All the tribes have their evil forests, which are preserved by the community. Missionaries come to the villages and build church and other institutions on the same land. They challenge the God of the
tribesmen that if he really exists then he would stop them. Poor villagers keep waiting that their God would punish the missionaries for the blasphemous act. They wait for few days and months but nothing happens and that raises question in the minds of tribesmen about their God.

The incident leads to the curiosity about Christianity among the people and some prefer conversion. In initial stage, the clan's outcasts people get converted and embrace Christian values which give them more elevated status than the original.

The missionaries with their modern technologies and thoughts create threat to the age old methods of farming, harvesting, building, and cooking. The methods, once necessary for the life, are now,
dispensable.

The title of the book which has been taken from W B Yeats's poem "The Second Coming" is very expressive.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

Death for Life

I have been reading William Dalrymple’s new book Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. It is based on real stories of nine people in search of piece, divine and sometimes giving up materialistic world.

A first story is about a nun of Jain religion. She gives away all her life with the belief that all attachments bring sufferings and finally embraces Sallekhana- fast to death.

Her life talks about all sacrifice, control of emotions, pain, sufferings to take new life. “When the body withers completely, the soul will take a new one, like a hermit crab finding a new shell. For soul will not wither, and in rebirth you simply exchange your torn and old clothes for a smart new suit,” she says.

After reading the entire story I have failed to understand the philosophy of the religion. It goes against the basic theory of human birth. We are born to live and death is the ultimate reality.

Why one has to forcefully push oneself to death when we are born to live the life. Living is the basic instinct of human being. All the discoveries and inventions in human history may be good or bad came from this instinct.

Now the second half part of the philosophy, which says the death is only for the body but the soul gets rebirth. It means you have greed to get another body. So, to get a new body, you torture the earlier body by giving up food, pulling hair, refusing to wear proper clothes etc.

I wonder why these contradictions in the theory are not being raised by the followers.

A Foreign Correspondent

Some people are born to do some jobs, this is what I have concluded from the initial few pages of a book by Rober Fisk : The Great War for Civilisation. I am zapped by reading few hundred pages of the book. Fisk was born to work as a foreign correspondent. He has been working in Middle East for more than 30 years and settled in Beirut now. He was one of the three journalists who interviewed Osama Bin Laden before 9/11. Fisk has a great understanding of issues in Middle East and his stand has been always anti-imperialists.

The preface of the book is very inspiring. He says 'I suppose, in the end, we journalists try- or should try- to be first impartial witness to history. If we have any reason for our existence, the least must be our ability to report history as it happens so that no one can say: 'We didn't know- no one told us'.

I think all the journalist should adopt this attitude, at least I will. I have finished just few hundred pages of the 1200 of the fat book. But they just kept me engaged that I never felt like keeping the book aside. The opening of the book is with his first encounter with Bin Laden. First interview is not very descriptive but the second is.

After reading Osama's version over US invasion in Afghanistan and some other Muslim countries, I was amazed. Osama's some of the arguments against US sound logical but the way he has adopted to fight against the US are wrong.

In today's modern world, one cannot win a war in the name of religion. There has to be a direction to the war, which would be beneficial to oppressed. But people like Osama have no ideologue and no logic to their war. The question which always disturbs me is how long this battle between Christianity and Islam would go, killing crore of innocent lives.

I think to find out my answer, Fisk's book would definitely provide me some background and details of root cause of today's scenario.

Too boring...

I have been reading former BJP leader Jaswant Singh's autobiographical work A Call To Honour for more than 10 days. It is too boring and unnecessary lengthy. I don't even feel like reading it further but I want to read about Kandahar plan hijack case. I need to bear the book for may be one more day. I should finish it tonight.


But after this experience, I am not going to read his new book, Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence, which created lot of controversy and as a result he was expelled from the party. I completely agree that everyone has personal opinion and Singh expressed it through the book. However, forgetting the main culprit of the partition Lord Mountbatten, BJP again opened a fire against Jinnah, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel.

The boring text is also affecting my life. I have started feeling very dull and without any enthusiasm. I think I should finish it fast.

Nemade in Crossroads

I went to crosswords yesterday after three years may be. Please do not get surprised because it’s not on my way. I saw a board SALE from outside and immediately went in. Thousands of titles lying on the shelf and table and discount were up to 50 per cent.

Most of the books were really ordinary Dan Brown, Robin Cook, Sidney Sheldon, Paulo Coelho, Orhan Pamuk and many more for which you don’t need an discount. These titles are always available from Rs 50 to 150 at any road side shop in fountain. I was bored. I saw the entire collection twice but couldn’t find anything interesting. Some good titles I already had.

I must mention that they had en entire collection of Noam Chomsky and Karen Armstrong. Finally I got a story book Where The Jackals Howl by Amos Oz.

But a book shelf with regional books attracted me the most. It had Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati books. I was happy to see them. Surprisingly, in the Marathi collection books, the store had all books by Bhalchandra Nemade, one of the great modernist writers in Marathi. They had Kosala, Bidhar, Zool, Jarila and Hool. Some other good authors like Uddhav Shelke, Shyam Manohar and Rangnath Pathare were also in the collection. I was very happy to see the small Marathi collection among western, American and English Indian authors.

There is a common complaint from publishers that Marathi books have no buyers. But I think if available easily at any book store or at least the big one like Crossroads would definitely have buyers.

Bonus!

I got bonus last week. You may not believe but its true. One may wonder about the bonus in recession time so I have to tell the entire story. It actually started with a proposal of Maharashtra Government to build a 309 ft tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Arabian sea opposite to Marine Drive. The Government appointed an advisory committee for the project and Shahir Babasaheb Purandare was chosen as the president on it.


The controversy started when Maratha organisations opposed the appointment of Purandare alleging him to be biased and writing pro-Brahmin history of Shivaji. There were hot debates from both the sides (not from Purandare but his supporters) and some part of the history was questioned.


One of the allegation from the Maratha organisation was that the character of Shivaji's teacher Dadoji Kondeo did not exist. The Government also removed the mention of it from history books of standard 4th.


I have learned Shivaji mostly through my school books or short stories so this encouraged me to find the truth about the Maratha warrior. There are hundreds of books on Shivaji but I wanted to read some


One my friends suggested me a book by Jadunath Sarkar 'Shivaji and His Times'. It was published by Orient Blackswan. I went to them to collect the book. Years back, I was a frequent visitor of the office, as my friend was working there so knew some people there.


I just said hello to them and then came the surprise I mean bonus. One of the employees there offered me to write some review of there newly published books. I said ok and their kind sales manager handed me three books! (wow) namely This Gift of English (English Education and The Formation of Alternative Hegemony's in India) by Alok K Mukherjee, Good Women Do Not Inherit Land (Politics of Land and Gender in India) by Nitya Rao and Cinema and Censorship : The Politics of Control In India by Someswar Bhowmik.


One book about Indian cinema has been already taken by my friend in office and promised me to even review it. Now I am thinking which one to choose first for review.

Amen!

From thousands of years a man has been worshiping God in some of the other form. The world-wide belief is that 'He' knows everything and 'He' is responsible to run the World. 'He' is pure, holy and possess all the sanctity, which men don't. On the other hand, we think the human world is full of sins, ugliness and abuse. In order to preserve the sanctity, people prefer serving 'Him'. But the path is not so simple.

Former nun Sister Jesme' autobiography 'Amen' published in English recently opens 'the path' to the God's world which is full of sexual abuse, sex scandals, nun suicides, murders and corruption in Educational institutes.

Sr Jesme entres one of the Catholic church in Kerala during her pre-degree course as she gets revelation from Jesus Christ. She decides to become a nun and submits herself to the Christ with the hope of serving him, her entire life.

But as I told you its not so simple. She starts getting acquainted with the darker side of the Church organisation. She gets first experience of sexual abuse after realising girls in her batch were unsettled about going to the confession chamber. The complaint was that the priest there asks each girl if he could kiss them. When she opposes him, he tells her lines from the Bible on divine kisses.

In an other incident, a senior nun forces her to have sex and Sr Jesme has no option and accepts it. In one more incident where a priest asks her to strip. On denial over his demand he asks angrily if she had seen a man. When she says no, he strips himself, ejaculates and forces her to strip.
This is not enough she also alleges the educational institutes for being corrupt and discriminating poor and rich students. The discrimination among staff of the Church is also huge. The caste system very well exists in the Church.

The Church also tries to curtail Sr Jesme's honest efforts to bring transparency in the work. The Church wants to send her for psychiatric treatment and she has to leave the institution forever.
The autobiography is really shacking. It doubts the belief in religion or God. I wonder after so much of hardship and abuse that how can Sr Jesme still has faith in God and the institution. She says the belief only gave her power to deal the situation. Amen!

Dream comes to reality

I deposited my salary cheque today in account and was surprised to know that the account has some balance on the month end. It was like a dream come true for me that I have left enough cash to buy books on month ends.

After work I went to Oxford book store. A first book I saw was Amen by Sister Jasme, which was kept in new arrivals. I was looking for this book for quite a long time. It was much debated book since it reveals corruption and sexual abuse in Churches.

One of my friends was also looking for the same book and he had asked me to buy a copy for him. But the book was not available then. He thought that I didn’t want to buy it for him so avoiding.
He was repeatedly irritated me by reminding for the book. But what to do men it was not in the market. I gave him a list of leading book stalls from where he could have got it.

Finally he got the book two days before me. One of his friends bought it for him from Crosswords. Again the chap called me to tell this. Now what will I do if he has got the copy. I think he wanted me to feel jealous because he specifically told me that it is not available in any other bookstore.

I forgive him because he does not even know bookstores in Mumbai. Now I also have it and I can read with better speed than him.

Another book was A Case Of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif. The book was available in paperback edition and in affordable price.

Moral of the story is dreams come into reality sometimes.

I Got A Message!

There was a special message for me from a special person today on my mail. The best known Marathi writer Ranganath Pathare had left the message for me on facebook wow! I felt great.

It said 'thanks shruti.'haran'was written 20 yrs ago.things have changed for worse since then.it was nice hearing from you.many critics feel that ,this is not one of my good works.but there are many readers like you ,who think otherwise.personally ,i also like this work of mine despite some dissatisfaction.by the way , have you come across my new novel,'bhar chaukatil aranyarudan'? i feel that ,this is one of my remarkable attempts in recent times.'

I had commented on his book Haaran actually and he replied to that. Now I am very excited to read his new book.

Crazy surprise

Forgotten an incident to share (as usual busy schedules to be blamed). I came to office after a long day work. Checked mails, letters, fax etc. Had a glance at stories filed and updates. I was just planning to leave and my friend asked me to give his newspaper lying on my table.

I picked it up and returned him, but there was something in that newspaper. Guess??? a book 'Rivana Vahili Mungi' written by Rajan Gawas. I was searching the book for a long time. It was out of print actually. I was a surprised by my friends act.

I remember that I had mentioned him once that I was searching the book but it was very unexpected that he would get it for me. I finished it in three days. The stories were written on rural background and the style was superb.

No, but the surprise was not over yet. I was explaining the friend about the stories I read initially. While talking to him, he suddenly called up someone. It was the author of the book Rajan Gawas. I spoke to him and said I liked his stories. But couldn't talk much it was so sudden. I didn't understand what to say.

The author must be thinking us crazy. But it was really a crazy moment.

Two Marathis Novels

I read two Marathi novels which were completely different from each other. One by Vilas Sarang 'Rudra' and other by Ranganath Pathare 'Haaran'.

Rudra is the story of a poor God. Now one would wonder what is rich God and poor God. But its true. People belongs to different strata of society have different Gods. So he was the poor God. Then he tries to create the world but others rich Gods like Vishnu prevents him from doing so. Rudra has always been given secondary treatment by other Gods and Goddess.

This is sufficient to understand that the author wants to comment on the contemporary world by using mythological characters.

Sarang is known for his experiments in Marathi literature. Some say that his writing is inspired by Kafka, Camus and Sartre. He writes in English too and has been recognised as a modernist writer. I have read his earlier book of stories 'Atank'. The stories are of magic realism type.

Other story of a beautiful girl named Haaran. She born in lower caste, marries to an unsuitable man. The society forces her to break the barriers because everyone wants monopoly on her. But this is not so easy.

Recreation of Torture

Couple of days back I had written about Eric Saar's book Inside The Wire, based on sexual torture at Guantanamo prison. Though here I only talk on books, I am going to write on a blog dedicated to the same topic. Even New York Time's global edition has taken note of the blog.

A blog named http://legofesto.blogspot.com/ describes methods of physical torture in the form of toys. An anonymus author of the blog is pissed up with US and UK's 'War on Terror' and has recreated real events (torture) in the world with the help of legos (toys). A latest post on G20 talks about how an innocent man was beaten to death by police in London. But now the police is trying to hide the matter from legal frame, it says.

Another post on death toll in Iraq is very heart shacking. It says, US Central Commond had once said "We don't count bodies in Iraq". It was supposed to convince a sceptical American public that victory was coming, it adds.

The blog gives great insight to devastation by US millitary in the name of 'War on Terror'.

Sexual Torture at Guantanamo

She started to unbutton her top slowly, teasingly, almost like a stripper, revealing a skin-tight brown Army T-shirt stretching over her chest.

……she walked slowly behind him and began rubbing her breast against his back. “Do you like these big American tits, Fareek?” she said.

“I can see that you are starting to get hard. How do you think Allah feels about that?” she said placing her hands on her breasts. “Don’t you like these big tits?”

……. She started unbuttoning her pants. “Fareek did you know I am having my period?” she said. She placed her hands in her pants as she started circling behind him. “ How do you feel about me touching you now?”

…..she beginning to withdraw her hand from her pants. As it became visible, he saw what looked like red blood on her hand. She hissed, wiping what he believed was menstrual blood on his face.
It may sound like some kind of racy material but no. This was a technique used by an American interrogator (She) on a detainee (Fareek, one of the accused of 26/11) at Guantanamo prison in Cuba.

The details of interrogation techniques and life at Guantanamo prisoner and linguists were revealed by Eric Saar in his book ‘Inside The Wire’ and co-authored by Viveca Novak, a political correspondent of Time. One more black and white proof was presented to American administration by its own Sergeant about mental and sexual tortures of detainees.

It was basically a document submitted by Eric to Pentagon for clearance of his completion of the job was leaked by the Associated Press in 2005. It raised serious questions over US’s 'war on terror'.

Eric initially worked there as a translator for detainees and later helper to the interrogators. Earlier, work was simple as to convey the detainees need to the officials. But working with interrogators was much of a tough job.

The prison had almost all the Muslim detainees mostly from Afganistan and Iraq. Many of them were randomly picked up by Army men and dumped in to jails for years without enquiries, interrogations, lawyers and trails.

The international standards about prisoners were violated many times. In order to break their silence while interrogating detainee's religion was insulted and tried to served his belief.

Some of the interrogators were Muslim and helping the US Government to nail down the truth behind the attacks. In fact, the sexual interrogation technique explained initially was suggested by one of the Muslim linguists. He had said “tell the detainee that she (the interrogator) was having a period and then touch him. That could make him feel too dirty and ashamed to go before God later.”

Bush administration gave a much negative publicity to Abu Gharib prison in Iraq for torturing prisoners after fallout of Saddam but what about the Guantanamo? It is also very shameful and abusing that US military is using females to break the silence of prisoners.

The story doesn’t end there. The treatment given to the prisoners was so bad that anyone belongs to Muslim community would feel disgusting and sympathise towards detainees, despite that they were accused of the terror attack.

The three Muslim linguists were later arrested and sent to prison on the false charges like sedition, mutiny, spying and aiding the enemy.

The story repeatedly indicates that US is fighting no 'war on terror' but it is hatred about Islam. It has already ruined Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of terror and now eyeing Iran and Pakistan for the same.

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.

'Landmark Khmer Rouge trial starts' : BBC

BBC's website carried a lead story in afternoon yesterday, on Cambodian genocide by Khmer Rouge. The report said 'The long-awaited UN-backed trial of a former Khmer Rouge leader in Cambodia has opened at a Phnom Penh court, 30 years after the murderous regime fell.
Kaing Guek Eav - better known as Duch - was head of a notorious prison camp and is accused of presiding over the murder and torture of at least 15,000 inmates.

The trial is the result of a decade of painstaking and often ill-tempered negotiations, a BBC correspondent says.'

Khmer Rouge, a Communist movement was founded by Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) during 70s in Cambodia. He was said to be forced the city people into villages to bring agrarian civilisation. But history held him responsible for death of two million people, who died from starvation, overwork and execution as the Khmer Rouge emptied the cities to send people to work on collective farms during its four years in power.

This reminds me a book written by Loung Ung, First They Killed My Father:A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. The book shares a real story of her childhood and beginning of Pol Pot regime.

Loung's family was forced to flee to countryside with leaving everything behind except some money and clothes. I was aghast when I read the description of her family's separation, hard work, hunger and cruelty at children camps. One incident I must mention here, the family left with no food at all and in order to survive, her mother cooks earthworms which grow on deadbodies, for the siblings.

Slowly, she looses her father, brothers, sisters and mother too.Finally she and two brothers managed to escape to Vietnam, then Thailand, then finally to America.

The story was really horrible. The communist regime was criticised by her for destroying a complete generation. But I think, some part of the section, mostly weaker, always undergo such a severe pain whether the regime is communist, capitalist or even democratic. Just think of India, where 77 per cent of our population (836 million people) live on a per capita consumption of less than Rs 20 a day, (Arjun Sengupta report ). The question is how they live?