What our eminent author Khushwant Singh has tried portraying through this blunt and stereotypic sexual comedy is the picture of an Indian male, and the relationship with his counterpart women which is basically sexual here. The protagonist is Mohan who being a gifted academic, completes his graduation abroad (U. S) and after rejecting many lucrative offers comes back to India, where his aged father awaited him. Mr. Singh, in a very humorous tone, has depicted the auctioning in an Indian marriage. Even through humour, he is adept in connecting us with the ongoing issues of the Indian society. Mohan does settle down with a handsome dowry and on a sad note, a cranky, jealous and mediocre wife. His marital bliss had its short comings which eventually ended up with a divorce, his loyalty being the best plausible cause.

The story proceeds as Mohan, in an attempt to overcome loneliness, starts having contractual trysts with women, which included an English professor Sarojini Bharadwaj, Molly Gomez,a masseur and Susanthika, a Sri Lankan Diplomat. He being a very young millionaire gives in to lust and then to love, exotically and unnervingly.

The projection of Mohan might seem excessively obscene at times but on a serious note, through some light fencing, the role which he played of a loving son was noteworthy. After the demise of his father, throughout his life till the end he kept going back to Haridwar as a part of his promise to his father and stayed at his father’s room.

Its the story of his “commendable” life where he literally “ate, laughed and made merry”. Mohan was never faithful as a married man. His promiscuity could be derived from his varied relationships with his house maid and his baby’s nurse. His never ending endeavors with a fair set of women, pre and post his marriage stand as vivid examples to this tale. All his life he had a lustful relationship with various women but Susanthika was his last one, she dumping him for the States. His character showed signs of nursing a broken until his infliction with the disease. The story is gripping with funny narrations in uncertain situations. Its erotic as well as engrossing. The author has done full justice depicting the playfulness of Mohan. Also the end do sends a moral to men who portray such promiscuity, Mohan ending up as an AIDS victim. Somewhere it’s an image of what we see around. From lusting after one’s maid to paying for it, this is harsh. And hence, a justice to the title, Mohan’s life in “The company of women”.

A word about the author – he is a brilliant storyteller. Mr. Khushwant Singh has done a wonderful job through this story, he is best in his humor. We don’t usually find writers of his genre in Indian literature.

I practically soaked up all the humor filled emotions throughout the book. The characters are very real and relevant. Its modern day India indeed, no place else would a man go for his maid (jokes apart!). Mohan, was looking for love, let it be physical to his best concern. Also the social message will be an eye opener to people.

To all the people who want to have a good laugh and are ADULTS, you can try this book.

P. S. – girls might want to flinch once after reading it.

Happy reading.

Review by Bhabana Pathak, Guwahati

In Veronika decides to Die, the extremely masterful Paulo Coelho does what he is best at:  forcing us to ponder upon things we all know, and making us see them in a whole new light.

The fundamental question that Coelho puts forth is on what madness actually is. We all seem to have perverted ideas on what madness is, but Coelho’s book provides the simple answer: Madness is creating our own world and choosing to live in it, without concern about other things that do not matter. Madness is living in a separate world that you create yourself, a world others consider ‘different’. That, of course, puts Einstein, Columbus, even Edmund Hillary and the Beetles on the list of madmen. To put it bluntly, in the words of one of the characters, ‘And all of us, in one way or another, are mad.’

The narrative begins with Veronika, an attractive 24-year old Slovene musing on her life just after she swallows sleeping pills in an attempt to commit suicide. The reasoning she gives herself for this drastic act was life was the same for her every day; lack of major emotional upheavals had become mundane for her. The reasoning she leaves behind for others is that it was extremely saddening for her that an ignorant French journalist had begun an article with the rather disconcerting words: ‘Where is Slovenia?’

Veronika ends up in the Villete, the infamous Slovenian mental asylum. She meets fellow patients Zedka, who is suffering from chronic depression, Eduard the schizophrenic, and Mari, a lawyer plagued by panic attacks. She soon learns that the intake of a very heavy dosage of sleeping tablets had irreparably damaged her heart – and death is inevitable. Veronika ingests this information with no particular emotion and begins counting moments when she would finally die. In the course of her stay, she develops a relationship with Zedka – not friendship, as the author notes – and concludes that her words have deep philosophy embedded within them. She also bonds with Eduard; her piano-playing skills deeply pleasure the young schizophrenic. What suddenly stabs at Veronika is the realization that she has fallen in love with Eduard: primarily because once she is gone, he would be one who would not miss her. Love, hate, curiosity, sexual desires and the wish to live start clouding her. She finds her time at the Villete to be an emotionally enriching one.

Dr Igor- the doctor in charge of the asylum- has been portrayed as an ambitious psychiatrist, who works hard on his thesis which, he believes, will revolutionise the psychiatric world. He considers ‘Vitriol’ or Bitterness to be the poison responsible for madness. Bitterness, he believes, poisons a man in a way that he ceases to have the will to either live or to die. He gets a much-awaited chance to test his cure for ‘detoxification’ when Veronika arrives at the Villete. As the story unfolds, it is revealed at the end that Veronika has actually been cured of all damages to her physical being, and she is healthy as anyone could be. This fact had been hidden from her purposely by the doctor.  By means of a drug, he continued to induce in her the symptoms of heart damage in an attempt to eliminate Vitriol. The flushing away of the toxin was carried out thus: by flooding Veronika with the desire to live at the expense of the fear of imminent death. He achieves this seemingly impossible task by employing his belief (and the title of his thesis) ‘an awareness of death encourages us to live more intensely’. The twist in the tale comes when Veronika escapes the asylum with Eduard, without the knowledge that she is healthy and has long to live. Dr Igor finds out about her escape on the very morning when he plans to notify her about her health; yet he relishes the fact that Veronika, unaware that she is fine again, would live each day as a miracle.

In addition to the extremely thought-provoking narrative, we learn about mystical Sufi wisdom, the inhuman yet thriving practice of ‘Insulin shock’ treatment, comparisons between heroes and madmen, sexual preferences, and of course, the prevalence of mental diseases across countries. The book, in essence, questions the stereotypic ideas that we seem to have about psychiatric illnesses.

The book makes for an absorbing read. Anyone who wishes to delve deeper into his own being and is, at the same time, willing to let his thoughts run free would find this book to be an enriching experience. An international bestseller authored by the famed Paulo Coelho and translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa, the book is just another feather in Coelho’s cap. The writer weaves a tale seemingly ordinary tale, but tells the story in a way that only Coelho can; he questions seemingly ordinary ideas in the way that only Coelho can. In a way, he forces the reader to look at things from another point of view, and the experience is definitely worthwhile.

And yes – I can confidently argue that the book has done its bit in making me consider ‘madness’ in a very different way. The ideas may seem too fantastic to be real at times, but a bit deeper reflection discards the very thought as narrow-minded. I’m sure that this book has affected many in the way it has made an impact on me: the next time someone rebukes me as ‘mad’, I won’t be flared up as I usually am – on the contrary, I’ll grin inwardly, realizing that there’s something I know that they do not.  The book got me thinking that to write about such things, the writer has to be, in the precise word, mad.

Rating: 4.5/5

Publisher: Harper Collins

Price: Rs. 299

• Publisher: Vintage (July 30, 1991)
• Author:Jun’ichirōTanizaki
• Translated by: Howard Hibbett
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679730230
• ISBN-13: 978-0679730231

I have always liked stories written in first person as I find them more convincing about the thoughts. I have read many stories written in first person, but this one was special in the sense that the story was told in first person by two characters in the story. Extremely innovative in narration style, it is in the form of two diaries. The diaries speak of a 55 year old husband and his 44 year old wife, who have a problematic sexual relationship. The book is erotically charged up with explicit descriptions of sex. The wife though an orthodox woman who married a man much older to him as her parents wanted to, is very frank in describing the declining prowess of her husband’s sexual capabilities and how she hates making love with him. Throughout the book, she mentions how she loves her husband as much as she hates him. The husband finds his wife very attractive even at the age of 44 and tells about his wife as sexually aggressive even if she surrenders herself in bed with him passively. Her body is described in detail by her husband in his diary.

As the story unfolds, we get to know that the couple has 20 year old daughter and a man who the couple considers to be a good match for daughter. Reading the two diaries together provide us different viewpoints of the same event. As an overview, the story is not so interesting but the treatment of the story makes it very interesting. The genesis of Tanizaki lies in the way the story unfolds with exciting twists in the story. Great narration and the way the mystery of how the story would end is maintained with great expertise.  It was very difficult to guess the ending of the story and a surprising end meets the story. The Key was first published in 1956 and a book like that written almost 6 decades ago also needed guts as the society was not that liberal at that time. Tanizaki is surely one of the greatest novelists of the 20^th century.

For me, getting a comic book to read was not easy in those days of being a teenager. When I used to ask my father to buy me a comic book, he replied, “You can’t even complete your educational books, leave aside the comics”. Thus, it became a reason for my being fanciful and feeling jealous about one of my bench-mates in the class. He used to bring dozens of beautifully sketched glossy comics every week and would happily flaunt it in front of us. I remember, ‘Spiderman’ from Marvel Comics was one of them. In the evening, I would eagerly sit in front of our Black and White Television set at home  to watch my most awaited programs in the DD Metro Channel, ‘the cartoons’. But, sometimes I lamented over why we don’t have a cable connection (especially to watch more cartoon channels).  During the breaks, many advertisements especially targeting us would come up. An advertisement of Diamond Comics that I still remember goes like this way –“…paaiyein ‘Chacha Chaudhary’, ‘Phantom’, ‘Mandrake’ ‘Billoo’… WoW!” Being with Mickey and Friends for 15 minutes and temporarily shifting to the world of comics was one wonderful experience. It was a completely different world beyond reality, where people are super human beings possessing extraordinary power. Those super heroes could fly like the birds, walk in the water, can stop a running train and what not.                                                                                                                              As I was on the ‘search mode’ to have some basic study over comics in different websites I found it quite interesting to know what role comics played in molding a young mind and how it started. Comics have a hidden meaning altogether. In spite of dragging the young minds towards the ‘fantasy World’ comics mark the basics of storytelling, education through entertainment, building a character and maintaining the pulse of and most importantly delivering different flavors to people of different age groups. I now feel why ‘Asterix and Obelix’, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ and many more still remains as hot favourites.

In India Comics made its mark almost around late 1940’s. The distribution of comics in India is more recent than the European, American and Japanese industries, but is nevertheless more than 80 years old. Despite the publication of about 100 million copies a year, comics in India are still largely dominated by American characters. Our comics are slightly marginal in quality than the Japanese ‘Manga Cartoons’ thus local production remains marginal. One of the earliest attempts In Indian Comics was by comic magazine ‘Chandamama’. ‘Chandamama’ has published in more than 5 languages since 1947. It developed from the adaptations of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in the 1960s, to educational comics for children, caricatures in print media, and adaptations of American superheroes.

One of the early Indian comic authors was Aabid Surti, who published the first 3 panel strips ‘Dhabbuji’ based on the protagonist who is a lawyer by profession and is witty, in the magazine ‘Dharmayug’. Pran, another Comics Author, created numerous strips, like ‘Shrimatiji’, ‘Pinki’, ‘Billoo’ and the popular ‘Chacha Chaudhary’ in the 1970s. These comics continued to be inspired mainly by newspaper strips, and popular early superhero based Western comics.                                                                               Among local languages, cartoon strips and comic books thrived, especially in West Bengal. Pratulchandra Lahiri created two strips on a regular basis, for the Jugantar newspaper in Bengali and for the Amrit Bazar Patrika in English. One of his creations, Batual the Great is one of India’s earliest superheroes as it was conceived during the sixties.

Comics in the middle years were influenced by the popularity of American ‘Archie Comics’ and series like ‘The Adventures of Tintin’. In 1967, the editor Anant Pai of the India Book House (IBH) launched the series ‘Amar Chitra Katha’. Its objective was to transmit the great stories of historical figures and of those in religious texts of different religions to the children. ‘The life of Krishna’ was the first in the series, joined rapidly by the ‘Ramayana’ and the ‘Mahabharata’. Anant Pai along with IBH launched the first Indian comic magazine for children, called ‘Tinkle’ in the beginning of the 1980s. It was a big success. Tinkle diversified on the educational themes developed by ‘Amar Chitra Katha’, including science, contemporary culture, etc. The magazine introduced numerous recurring heroes like amusing ‘Suppandi’, ‘Mooshik’ the adorable mouse, ‘Kalia’, the crow and the malicious minister ‘Tantri’. ‘Target’, another magazine was an innovator. It had its own artwork and originality and was of a high quality in its time. Manjula Padmanabhan, one of the few Indian female comic authors, did illustrations for Target. She also created a female comic character called ‘Suki’ which was serialized in ‘Sunday Observer’ in the 1980s. Raj Comics, another notable Indian comic publishing house homes to characters such as ‘Nagraj’, (a superhero who has subsequently made the transition to television), ‘Doga’, Super Commando ‘Dhruva’, ‘ Parmanu’ and various others.

In Assam, ‘Rongmon Comics’ was the first coloured comic magazine published in Assamese language. It started its first publication from February 2005. It depicts Assamese fables, stories from epics, folk tale, comic story, science fictions and general knowledge.

 A partnership between Richard Branson’s Virgin group, and India’s ‘Gotham Comics’, led to a new company, ‘Virgin Comics’. In 2006 it geared towards creating new lines of comics rooted in Indian mythology andIndian history. The first series of comics were published the same year, to mixed critical reviews. The main icon of Virgin Comics was the superhero Devi.

In addition to the recent development of more mature comics, in 2004, Penguin’s ‘Corridor’, by Sarnath Banerjee, which was widely advertised as India’s first graphic novel, followed by a second foray in 2007. However, a 60 page comic called ‘River of Stories’ by Delhi based artist Orijit Sen, published in 1994 by ‘Kalpavriksh’, about the Narmada Dam Projects controversy, is an important precedent and can be regarded as one of the early Indian graphic novels.                                                                                                        In 2009, the Virgin Group pulled out of Virgin Comics, and a new company Liquid Comics has taken over with the same core team of Gotham Chopra and his group. Their significant achievements include ‘Devi’, ‘The Sadhu’, ‘Snake Woman’, etc.

  Based out of Mumbai, ‘Level10 Comics’ was founded in the same year.  It owns a flagship publication titled ‘Comic Jump’ that is targeted at the 18-30 male audience. They experiment with a number of genres, namely ‘The Rabhas Incident’ which is a Zombie thriller, Shaurya which is about five young people with Super Human qualities etc. They have also published creator-owned titles.

The art of Indianization

Comic artists such as Grant Morrison’s ‘Vimanarama Comic’, and Marvel’s ‘Spiderman: India’ project, were the first major release by a large comic company. It introduced India-based artists’ talent to the mainstream, and which was published in India by Gotham Comics.

Newspaper Medium Comics                                                                                                                                              

In the 1990s, newspapers started publishing more caricatures of Indian origin. Among the most famous caricaturists are Joseph Arul Raj, Ashok Dongre, Anupam Sinha and Neelabh Bisen. Anupam Sinha’s weekly strip superhero “Rudra” is being hailed as trend setting in hindi newspapers like Dainik Jagran. Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thakeray was also a caricaturist when he was young, and has worked for ‘The Free Press Journal‘, where cartoonist R.K.Laxman has also worked.

Web-comics                                                                                                                                                                     

The increasingly popular Web Comic medium after the radical shift from the mainstream Comics is mostly dedicated to short online comedy strips. It has also been used by a small number of Indian artists or writers. The Indian blog “Daily Humor” also publishes web comics and was featured on one of India’s premiere blogs “India Uncut“. Also famous among youngsters, ‘Savita Bhabi‘, a web comic, is possibly the first pornographic comic in India.                                        

The Offbeat                                                                                                                              

 Very recently a new genre of comics has come up. It is known as ‘World Comics’. The Indian wing ‘World Comics India’ launched syndicated comics service in 2004 headed by cartoonist Sharad Sharma. The idea behind this service was to disseminate information on varied issues to a wider audience. Mainstreaming unheard voices through newspapers is the key objective behind “Syndicate strip service”. These Comics are drawn in four-panel format and are converted into comic strip form, so that it can be circulated to newspapers, magazines and NGOs’ journals. Through this a voice from a remote region of the country reaches the mainstream and is heard across different parallels. These are comics maybe drawn by common people living in rural hinterland and remote towns of the country. So far this strip services were circulated in Rajasthan, Mizoram, Assam and Uttarakhand.

The Final Addendum                                                                                                                                                     

With the advent of India’s potential and demand of quality comics, but lack of institutes for the speciality in comics art, Mr. Anupam Sinha has launched his own ‘Anupama Academy Of Art’ for specialization in departments of creation of comics.

 Moreover, at this time we see a sea change in the mindset of the youngsters and others. With the advent of ‘Cable revolution’ in India, the ‘Comics Readers’ have decreased drastically in the 90’s and the internet and video games have been pouring the salt over it. Children at this age hardly know who ‘Supandi’ is but they know about ‘Doremon’. It is quite ironical that this art is facing severe competition from all sides. Ten years before, thousands like me were compelled not to read comics. But now, we ourselves are ignoring not to read them. Thus, leaving a bleak question open, “Is it going to be another ‘Dodo’?”

Definitely not! On February 2011 A Comics Convention was held at Dilli Haat, New Delhi. It happens to be the first for India that took the San Diego Comic Con (Convention) as its inspiration. This signals its horizon to reach new heights in popularizing Indian Comics over its readers nationally and globally in a more creative and innovative way in the coming years.

I got this book last Christmas. I have always heard of Frank Miller but haven’t actually checked his books and comics. He made Daredevil a memorable character. I did not know about Geof Darrow. At first, I read it in some half an hour timespan, but I could not understand it that well. I kept the book aside for some time. The next Sunday, I picked it up again. I read a line and then stared at the picture for some time. It took me the whole week to complete the book. I really liked it. Quite a lot of brutal sex, ultra-violence and spilled blood illustrated to the meticulous details. There is clutter everywhere, and it is as lovingly detailed as are the bizarre residents of the dark future. Car seats and footwells are littered with junk food wrappers, spare parts, toys, and utensils. Cars parked on the street are dented. Trash heaps are strewn with recognizable artifacts, not only from the modern day but things that should be available any day now.

The ultra-violence and the paranoia expanded the scope of comic books. I see a lot of this book inspires the creators of Level 10 comics, but that is just a personal opinion. The comic at that time attracted many debate about the kind of content, but nevertheless it was liked by comic book lovers for the graphics and it ushered a new era of comic book illustrations.

The story cannot be said to be great. Nevertheless it is interesting. I believe that was deliberate as content was just to support the graphics and the illustrations itself would say a story and the story was like putting words and limiting the imagination of the comic book reader.

As one of the reviewer said before I bought this book, don’t buy one copy but buy 2 copies – one for you and one for your friend so that you can discuss the book.  The fact that even after 12 years someone is writing about the book so passionately says everything about the book.

Plot (Warning: It can be a spoiler also, but I doubt.)

In a dystopian, near-future Los Angeles, city tax collector Nixon is badly injured during a violent encounter with one of his targets, and must undergo extensive surgery in order to survive. Nixon wakes up in a bedroom sometime later, believing his previous experience was a bad dream, and that he is really Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator for the Benevolent Assurance Corporation, with a wife, two children, a dog, and an overall routine life. However, when his persistent dreams disturb his sleep, his wife distracts him with sex while his children inject him with a sleep-inducing drug, indicating not all is as it seems with Carl’s “normal” life.

The next day, Carl heads out to pursue a delinquent account, talking to himself the whole way. All the while, his ramblings reveal increasingly large inconsistencies in his own memory, to the point where he even starts referring to himself by different names. He is distracted when his target’s vehicle appears on his car’s scanner, and he sets out in pursuit. After a high-speed chase through the city, both cars end up destroyed, and Carl continues pursuing his targets, an old woman and a young girl, on foot. As the two parties battle each other, the old woman is injured and revealed to be a robot, which Carl seemingly destroys with a large grenade just as the police converge on the area. The resulting explosion blows Carl into a supermarket, where he finds that the flesh of his hands and face have been torn away, revealing robotic parts like those of the old woman underneath.

Dazed and confused, Carl begins making his way back home. As he navigates the wreckage of the battle outside the supermarket, he encounters the old woman again, who tears off the remains of her false skin to reveal her robotic chassis. She calls herself Unit Two, and informs Carl that his family are all actually paid handlers, that he is really a robot called Unit Four, codenamed “Nixon”, and both his jobs as an insurance investigator and a tax collector are covers for his real function, as a corporate assassin for Willeford Home Appliances, the corporation that created all the world’s robots. Unit Two explains that she and the little girl, also a robot, have broken the programming that forces them to serve humans, and are part of a revolutionary group led by Barbara, a robot that works inside Willeford’s headquarters, that intends to free all robots from their programmed slavery. She claims Carl is the revolution’s only hope, being the only robot powerful enough to stand up to Willeford’s paramilitary security forces. Carl, however, refuses to believe her, and knocks her head off in a fit of rage. The little girl robot appears and berates Carl for his behavior, until Carl’s dog arrives and reveals itself to be a robot as well when it destroys her.

At the Willeford building, it is revealed that both Barbara and Mr. Willeford, the morbidly obese founder of the company, have been tracking Carl’s movements through the city. Meanwhile, Carl steals a new set of clothes and makes his way onto the subway, where he is attacked by a group of frightened citizens and is forced to kill them. Carl’s dog follows him onto the train as Carl finds a Willeford logo underneath the torn skin on his arm, and realizes that Unit Two’s story was true. Carl’s dog offers to lead him to the Willeford building to get some answers from his creators.

Later that night, Barbara hears loud noises from elsewhere inside the Willeford building and goes to investigate, finding a trail of destruction and dead bodies leading deeper into the building. Realizing Carl has arrived, she rushes off to find him. When she finally reaches him, she sees that Carl has slaughtered most of the security forces, but has been all but destroyed in the process. When Barbara finds him, he is in the clutches of Willeford’s mechanical aides and is slowly being pulled apart by his owner. Defeated, Carl makes a deal with Mr. Willeford to be put back together, have his memory reset, and be returned to his family. Her plans for revolution in shambles, Barbara commit suicide by hooking herself up to a large generator and overloading her circuits. Sometime later, Carl, with a new skin, new car and new memories, returns to his family, completely unaware of his true nature once more.

Find this book in Flipkart: Hard Boiled

Title: Holidays in Ice

Author: David Sedaris
ISBN: 0-316-77998-9

Rating: 4/5

David Sedaris’ Holidays in Ice (originally published in 1998) is back on the bookshelves in a re-publication since 2008. The book is a collection mainly of work already published pre 1998. So, if you are a Sedaris regular, then it is possible that you may have encountered some of the material elsewhere before. Nonetheless each story is riveting in its own way. Of these “Santa Land Diaries” is my personal favourite . As the name suggests, the piece is an account of a thirty three year old Sedaris’s work experience as an ELF at Macy’s. It is a vivid evocation of the store filled with kids and adults, and of the Elf’s irritation at having to play the tiring job of being a merry Santa helper for all of them in the middle of a chaotic shopping season. Sedaris’s annoyance with the parents rather than the children is pretty evident and very strongly worded (this is not to say the children don’t get on his nerves). The story could have ended up being just a rant by a shop employee again customer behaviour. But the writer critiques his own role and demeanour with the same razor sharp attack and that gives the story its precarious balance on the edge.

The story that follows is titled “Season’s Greeting to Our Friends and Family!!!” As the name suggests, it is a spin off on the family holiday newsletter. The season, of course, can greet a family with rather unexpected turn of events and this piece is all about such tidings some newsletters can carry with them. The plot line is bold and takes us through the journey of various emotions families undergo on receiving such newsletters- be it anger, shock, acceptance, hate, pity or sheer helpless distress. “Dinah, the Christmas Whore” is about a prostitute rescued and befriended by Sedaris’ s sister at Christmas time. This piece laments the loss of individuality in the holiday season under costumes and masks. However with all the apparently not -so -sensitive -language, the holiday season infact is beautifully turned into a larger mirror-glass on society and it emphasises on what makes some people different and why. “Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol” aims its attack on the tradition of staging a seasonal school play and takes a scathing look at a child’s world vis a vis such imposed frivolities while “Based Upon a True Story” rips off the media and the news-market throwing light on extreme extents some media houses go to in trying to get themselves an exclusive (as well as sensational) seasonal story to break. It makes one wonder on the definition of ethics in the news world.“Christmas Means Giving” is a hilarious piece on the competition that arises between two obnoxiously rich families over who appears as the more “generous” family of the season exposing the selfish desire for fame and publicity underneath a supposedly selfless Christian act.

And thats not the end of the compilation. However I will stop here as I do not wish to turn this review into a boring list of story summaries and would rather that you inquisitively probe through the pages yourself- especially since the rest of the stories come with a range of eclectic and weirdly profound titles like “The Cow and the Turkey”, “The Monster Mash”, “Us and Them”, “Jesus Shaves”- Yes you read all of them right. Not a surprising array considering Sedaris doesn’t mind being irreverent , shocking and even disgusting to paint the colours of the world he sees around him. Oh, and yes, in keeping with this attitude,as you may have realised by now no topic is taboo either. So then, yes, this is a book of Christmas tales and no these aren’t really the HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS sort of compositions that you expect in the spirit of the season. Thats David Sedaris for you.

Why did I pick this book out of the several Christmas books on the lists of Must Reads doing the rounds these days then? It was one of those dreary aimless days when one wants to do “something” just to ward boredom off that I randomly picked up Sedaris for a read from an e-library. Perhaps it was the randomness of the exercise or maybe all credit was to Sedaris’ writing style or maybe it was a combination of both that set the mood for a fairly engrossing session of reading- a delightful thing to do for any avid reader. However, having said that, I will end with a warning, if you cannot tolerate Sedaris as a comedian, this book will probably hit way off the nail for you as a really mean, rude and abrasive piece of work. The book does continue on the lines of what Sedaris is most famous for- he draws mainly on his own life experiences in a very self-depreciating fashion, often bringing in his family and acquaintances under the probing lens of dark humour. But the man can sometimes really stretch the limits for readers who are used to a more sophisticated and refined understanding of humour, morality and propriety.

So if you are ready for a mindless session of laughter over choice of words that you will otherwise consider politically incorrect, read on. Infact, you will probably enjoy every page of this book then. If you are a sensitive reader, you will probably be intrigued by the human psyche more than the tales themselves as you read and wonder what sells as comedy and why, especially when you reach that moment when your stomach does a sudden churn over the realization of a sickening piece of revelation. You will be reading with pauses of poignant musings. Crass laughter to quite disillusionment- thats the kind of diverse reactions various sections of this book evoke even as a few sections reflect easily forgettable writing. And therein I believe lies the genius of Sedaris.

A brand new year is round the corner. This is the time we take stock of the year past. We analyze and appraise; chalk up our victories and brood over our defeats. We drift away to a world populated by the ghosts of ‘what might have been’. Sometimes, we even permit ourselves the pointless indulgence of rationalizing our errors and blaming others for what we know was our own lack of follow through.

Once we are done with the year already gone, we turn our face to the one the shines alluringly ahead, imbued with the promise of all that could be, and all that we could achieve. From the ashes of the year past, we dig out the unfulfilled dreams and unreached goals of last year and bring them to the anvil once again. With a deep breath of new hope, we light the fire of our soul and watch as our dreams light up, ready to be forged into a new will.

We give ourselves another chance to renew and reawaken our potential and look for tools and resources which will assist us. It is said:

Five years from now, you would remain the same person you are now, but for the people you let into your life.

For me, the easiest way of letting people into my life is through books.

It is chiefly through books that we enjoy the communion with superior minds. In the best books, authors talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts and pour their souls into ours. God be thanked for books.

~ William Ellery Channing.

I am an avid reader with an eclectic taste. I read all kinds of books. The books which make their home in my heart however, are those that grab me firmly by the hand, entice my mind and heart and take me on an exhilarating voyage of discovery within my own inner world. Once a book ensconces itself in my heart, I know it will always stay there. I have read such books over and over, learning something new each time. Perhaps this is the reason I like to own the books which live in my heart… for I read them many times.

Over the years, many books have blessed my life. In moments of despair and loneliness, they have become my counsel and the shoulder I have rested my head on. They have spoken to me- cajoling, encouraging and scolding. Their authors have become my confidants and fellow travelers who have flopped down on dusty roads hobbling with the same boils on the feet of their travel worn souls as I had on mine. For years, books have been my only solace… remaining consistently the same… sans agenda, moods and demands of reciprocation. What more could one ask for?

Of the many scores of books that have shaped me into what I have become today, the following are my all time favorites. I have read them many times, and yet find the ocean of their wisdom ever deepening and inexhaustible. Will you also step into the brand new year armed with these tools of self-renewal? Here, check them out (in alphabetical order):

1. 1.       Atlas Shrugged ~Ayn Rand: I didn’t want to be partial, so decided to list the books in alphabetical order. This one came tops with no manipulations required, pleasing me no end. You see, this IS my most loved book. I have been reading it steadily since I was a slip of a girl, and am on round 344 at present. Yes, I am nuts about it.

What is it about? It is about men of vision, genius and courage- the struggles they endure from a world which is eager to benefit from their creativity which breaks open new paths and soars to new worlds… but denies them recognition and accolades and tries to keep them chained endlessly to do their bidding. It is about the love these men have for their visions; love for the sake of which they permit themselves to be so chained… just so they would be allowed to walk the paths their spirit has chosen for them. It is about these men going on a strike… and their ultimate victory once the world learns that men of genius cannot be chained.

I could write about it forever, but I’d rather you read it yourself.

1. 2.       Awaken the Giant Within ~Anthony Robbins: In eight years, Anthony turned his life around. From an overweight, loveless, jobless man to someone people collected in thousands to listen to! He makes this miracle happen by using Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques, some of which he teaches in the book. I was shocked to learn the power our everyday words wield on us, shaping our thoughts and our beliefs… and thus our actions. If I were to condense it in a sentence I’d say: Whether you are successful or not, it is you who have talked yourself into it.

Anthony uncovers the damage done by some of the most commonly held, disempowering beliefs and thought. It is these limiting beliefs and world views he says, that lead people into states of learned helplessness. He urges his readers, persuasively and gently, to let go of such beliefs and to replace them with empowering ones, to wake the giant of their potential and to soar.

1. 3.       Conversations with God ~ Neale Donald Walsh: If you’ve ever asked yourself a question like: Why does God permit the world to be in such a mess… or… why do bad things happen only to me… or… why was I even born… or… or… or… I mean, you get the drift, right? What I mean is, if you ever asked yourself such questions- as I did- you’d find some answers in this book.

Here is the fine print. This is not ‘a’ book; this is a trilogy. But you can always read one, they cannot shoot you. (Yes, I checked. But I bought all three anyhow, just to be on the safe side. I urge you to do the same.) Neale’s premise is that it is not he who is writing the book. The book is dictated to him by the Big Chief personally. I baulked a bit at that I one, I confess. But by the time I was 30 pages into the book, I could have testified to the claim being abnormally true!

1. 4.       Future Shock ~ Alvin Toffler: Written in the 60’s, this book is the first of a trilogy. The other two books of the series are The Third Wave and Powershift.

Future Shock refers to a state of mind (like shell shock I presume) brought on by a shift in the social/ societal dynamics. According to Toffler, the society of the future will be governed by a need to adapt on the run, brought on by rapid change on multiple levels, happening simultaneously. With ever decreasing turn-around times, the pressure on people will mount. They will suffer from what he called FutureShock. This FutureShock will take a toll on every aspect of their lives- work, relationships and personal space.

His observations are not a study of the social trends of the times he lived in, it is a projection (and an amazing accurate one at that) of the social trends (and maladies) that will be prevalent in the society of the future. Considering that he had NO idea at all, of the manner in which technology will upset all precedent and expectations, his predictions are all the more astounding. The world of the future that Toffler talks about is the world we live in today! I recommend this book because Toffler not only describes the state of flux in today’s world; he also suggests strategies of coping with its pressures.

1. 5.       Man’s Search for Meaning ~ Viktor Frankl: Dr Frankl is an Austrian psychotherapist in pre-WWII days. He was of Jewish origin and ended up as an inmate of the most notorious concentration camps- first Dachau and later Auschwitz. Primarily, this book is not about the horror of his camp experiences. He has used the atrocities of a concentration camp as a means to study the reason men survive- or give up in despair.

The style of the narration is objective and stoic. As he states himself, his purpose was not to horrify the reader by describing in gory detail the inhumanity the camp inmates endured. With amazing grace, compassion and fairness, he looks beyond the suffering to bring a valuable lesson to mankind. He demonstrates that it is not the presence of pain that breeds despair in the hearts of men- compelling them to give up on life. Men give up when they can find no meaning and no worthiness in their pain and suffering. As long as men can find something worth suffering for, hope will burn bright in their hearts.

As he says many times in the book- As long as you know the ‘why’, you can endure any ‘how’.

1. 6.       Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ~ Stephen Covey: This is Dr Covey’s first book. Over the years, this book has become a classic across the world. Here are reasons I love this book.

Not only are the seven principles (on which the seven habits are based) eternal, they have also been presented in a simple manner. You cannot help but agree that they are self-evident and obvious. What I liked best is that Dr Covey comes along with his reader on the journey that reveals these principles one by one. He doesn’t come across as a teacher, but as a fellow traveler. He freely talks of his own faulty perceptions and with touching humility shares the pain those perceptions caused in his life. Only then, does he show the slow unfolding of his own transformation as he acquires new paradigms and beliefs.

The journey he deftly takes you on is not only enjoyable, but also effortless. Without seeming to, you learn and shift vantage points in your inner world. By the time you finish reading the book, you find yourself changed. Of course, the degree of that change depends entirely on your own inner dynamics and willingness to let go of limiting dogmas.

1. Sidhharth ~ Hermann Hesse: Inspired by the life of Budhha, this is the story of a young Brahmin who seeks self-realization. He follows the recommended paths until he realizes that he has moved no closer to his quest. He becomes a wanderer- living first as an ascetic and then re-entering the world to experience the life of a man of wealth.

Disillusioned and almost ready to give up his quest as impossible, events lead him to the river bank where he decides to live out the last of his days. There, by the flowing water, he learns to look within, to listen to his inner voice. That’s when he gathers the meaning of life and experiences the wholeness and the wisdom which come with the realization.

1. 8.       The Speed of Trust ~ Stephen M. R. Covey: His first public appearance was in one of the stories his father related in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

In this, his first book, he talks about trust. I recommend this book for many reasons.

This is the most exhaustive book ever written on a subject as elusive and intangible as trust. It gave validity to what was vague and nebulous in my mind. Being strongly intuitive, I have always known whom I trusted and whom I didn’t. What I never understood was, why. I was never able to put my finger on the specific behaviors untrustworthy people demonstrated which made me wary of them. I learned to observe and identify those behaviors after I read this book. Trust me (pun not intended), this is a skill you’d find very valuable.

In addition, he lists out thirteen behaviors that trustworthy people have. He gives a very comprehensive checklist of what behaviors and mannerisms to watch out for when dealing with people, so that you’d be able to evaluate them for trustworthiness. Best of all, he gives a detailed series of steps to follow if you have- through sheer carelessness- lost someone’s trust I haven’t come across any other book which teaches you how to make amends and repair relationships as beautifully as this book does.

1. 9.       Three Men in a Boat ~ Jerome K Jerome: Technically speaking, this book doesn’t really belong in this list of serious resources to help you build a more empowered life. I included it here because I consider laughter one of the most important skills your arsenal must possess. As Anthony Robbins asks: What can I do to enjoy the process (of achieving your goals) meanwhile?

What can make the journey sparkle with fun more than to delve into prose vibrantly alive with anecdotes so packed with humor as to make you guffaw helplessly with soul-cleansing laughter? Written in the beginning of the last century, this is a story of three young men who, bored with their mundane routine, hire a boat and decide to row up the Thames. British capacity humor was never as delectably demonstrated as when the author recounts the experiences- peppered with delightful detours- that he and two of his friends go through. No matter how many times I read this, there are always passages which make me roll as I hold aching sides, while my children watch on wondering if their mother has finally lost it, as they feared she would one day, all along.

1. 10.   To Kill a Mockingbird ~ Harper Lee: This is the first, and the only, book Harper Lee wrote. Fifty years after its first print, it is still in print. What else can testify to the book’s eternal and enduring appeal?

A small town in southern USA is the backdrop of the story, written in first person by a six year old girl who lives with her elder brother and lawyer father. The sleepy town is rudely stripped of its complacency and pretentions of equality exposing the underlying bigotry in all its virulence.

The lawyer Atticus Finch has become a legend over the years. Consistent, compassionate and courageous, he takes up the mantle his town and community thrust upon him. He becomes the conscience of the town, and fights without, a battle each member of that small community fights within his own soul. What makes me love this book and return to it again and again is that he wins, not with horns blaring and a lot of fireworks, but in the way huge battles are won in a man’s inner space. He wins quietly with a silent giving in which is more emphatic than any amount of fanfare could have been.

Books are the shoes with which we tread in the footsteps of great minds. To read a book is to have your personal coach who lifts you high and gives you a new vantage point at viewing life- one you never thought existed before.

“Give me a fulcrum,” Archimedes is reported to have said, “and a place to stand—and I will move the world.”

I hope you these books will become the fulcrum as you stand in the vastness your inner space ready to move your world. My best wishes for the coming season of transformation.

The recent blend of Indian authors writing in English has seen a new hero- the 36 year old Amish Tripathi, a guy in financial services turned full time writer now. Amish’s debut novel “The Immortals of Meluha” went on to become an overnight national bestseller and has propelled the author into instant stardom. The Immortals of Meluha was a part of a three book series called the Shiva Trilogy, based on the life of the Hindu deity Shiva. Recently the second book in that series was released, “The Secret of the Nagas”. Like his first book, this book too has become an instant hit with pre-release sales, nearing that of almost the amount of first printing. There can be no doubt that Amish Tripathi is here to stay and that too in style.

The Trilogy is based on the presumption that every God was at first human and it was by their varied acts of kindness and bravery that they were transformed into Gods above mere mortals. Amish is transfixed with Shiva, and his books lie on the premise that Shiva was a human of extraordinary talent and genius. The books therefore trace his journey through the then Indus Valley civilization in serach of evil and in turn destroying it. The first installment of the series showed how Shiva helped one great nation thwart another nation by his sheer dominance and skill. The second book, now carries on with Shiva’s journey through the lenghth and breadth of India in search of the dreaded group of people called “Nagas” who lived in the south of India having been banished from the northern parts for their outwardly cruel appearence. Shiva’s journey is not going to be easy and in the path that he takes he will be forced to ally with known enemies and bandits. Can he do what others before him has failed? Well, of course he can or else why will he be a God. But would he find the true evil or like his earlier attempt, this time too he was to be fooled. This question lies in the core of the second installment.

The book traces a journey that takes the reader in a swinging tale full of adventure. The battles or the romance described in the book is almost beliavable and the technology described for such an early part of the human history seems at times to be far fetched. But still, Amish delivers yet another knocking punch of a book and recreates the mystery and the magic that he did so eloquently with his first book. “The Secret of the Nagas” at times seems a bit mild compared to the earlier installment, maybe because Amish was censured by some for the brash language that he uses at times. Still, the book comes out as a fresh new perspective on what earlier used to be just blind faith. Even if we don’t belive in the Shiva legend, we will definitely enjoy Amish’s work. Indeed a first class novel penned by a new author. Amish takes pains to eliminate the various misgivings in his earlier book and succeds in most of them. Howver at times, the narrtion seems to a bit too loose and borders on boredom. But their are twists and turns all over the plot and Amish never lets the reader rests untill he has been to the very end. The book ends with yet another twist in the tale and we have now to wait for the third installment of the series “The Oath of the Vayuputras” to know what finally happens.

This book is an amazing union of flair of writing and an extraorinarily creative mind. What it creates in beyond words and has become my instant favourite- both the author and his books. I have deliberately not mentioned too much details about the story line in the hope that the FE readers will be enticed to read the book. I promise you it will be treat for you, just give it a shot. Recommended reading for everyone who is bored with the puppy romantic novels that has invaded the Indian market in recent days. Amish is any day a far better choice than the so called revolutionary writer of Indian writing in English- Mr. Chetan Bhagat. A perfect blend of amazing literary skill and a shrewd sense of humour gives us a definite page turner. It is almost a tradition to mention the reviewer’s favourite lines from a book. I will now take the liberty to mention two of my favourites from both the books in the trilogy. In “The Immortals of Meluha” I am very fond of the line “Whether a man is a legend or not is determined by history, not by fortune tellers.”, and in “The Secret of the Nagas” Shiva mentions, “The opposite of love is not hate, its apathy.” Those two lines have sealed Amish in my mind for maybe eternity. What are you waiting for go grab the book as soon as possible!

Title: The Secret of the Nagas

Author: Amish

Publisher: Westland

Price: Rs. 295

ISBN: 978-93-80658-79-7

Rating: 4/5

Reviewer: Manjil P. Saikia

(Reviewer’s note: Buy the book from either Flipkart.com or Infibeam.com and get heavy discount of almost 40%.)

When people ask me what my hobby is, I almost always tend to reply that it is reading books; not just fiction or the course work but also non-fiction. What I don’t mention is that I also like buying books. Well, that can be an unusual hobby-buying books. But yes, its an old hobby of mine. I normally buy books meaning to read them, but due to lack of time, effort and energy most of them are still lying unread. Someday I will read them all, I promise myself. In this pursuit of buying books I always scan any new places for bookstores and over the years I have been to numerous places and have visited some amazing stores. In the recent days, Flipkart.com and the Tata Book House at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras have been my favourite for the amazing discounts that they offer.

Recently I went to Guwahati and had some money with me, so I decided to spend some of it on books. I scoured the area for a good place to buy some and went to many stores, but most of them seemed cluttered with books without any meaning. I timidly went into “Papyrus”, a tiny book store in Panbazar which I had visited only once about 4 years back. At that time,it stuffed only Penguin books and so had a lesser variety. This time however I wasn’t disappointed as I could see books from many publishers both Indian and of foreign publishers. All the books were however in English and as such it is not a good place to shop if you plan to buy any regional language books. The shop is a tiny one with a staff of two members but they have an amazing collection of books. This is mostly due to the fact that they maintain only a single copy of most of the books in their shop which is good to increase their collection. I took a close and long look at almost all the books on display and found to my delight and surprise that they have a wide range of books on varied topics and sub topics. I found books on Literature, Music, Art, Drama, Dictionaries, Science, Mathematics, and what not.

I had planned to buy just one book, but I couldn’t resist such an enticing collection. I have a thrist for all books scientific and imagine my delight when I saw some books by Roger Penrose and Watson of DNA fame. I wanted to buy everything that the shop had to offer but unfortunately I neither had that much money nor did I have that much strengtth to carry everything. Still, I did do a sizeable amount of shopping and I am still wondering how I had missed that stall for such a long time. My Govt of India scholarship was completely spent on the books that I got and I walked away with three bags full of books. And let me add here, the bags provided by Papyrus are both very good looking and eco friendly. That’s one more feather in their cap. Add to it the behaviour of the owner and you get a good combo of everything. Really for all the book freaks out there, Papyrus is sure to give you a delight. You have the option of paying via your Credit Card or Debit Card.  They even accepted my SBI Smart Card so you needn’t carry too much cash and can go on a shopping spree.

One incident that I won’t forget which  happened that day was I bought a book for which I paid Rs, 1104 for. The owner than calls me after 15 minutes to say that he has overcharged me and that I will get a rebate of Rs. 305. This honesty will always be admired and I hope many people will go and buy books from him. A friend of mine studying English literature at Shillong commented how she liked the way that guy smelled. Now, next time I visit the shop I will be sure to give a sniff or two.

I plan to visit the store the next time I am in Guwahati and I hope I can spend some more money on good books.

Food is the best thing in our life and perhaps the only good thing. It has also been said by the wise that a happy stomach can only lead to genesis. This has been recognized by some of the genius authors who have written tales based on food to capture the young imagination of a child and their works have become classics in children literature. Following are a brief review of the most popular of such tales.

Charlie and the Chocolate factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children’s book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka.

The story centres around an average boy named Charlie Bucket, who lives in extreme poverty with his extended family, and his adventures inside the chocolate factory of Willy Wonka. Fifteen years prior to the beginning of the story, Willy Wonka opened the largest chocolate factory in the world, but spies stole his recipes, so he eventually closed the factory. Although, it wasn’t closed forever and one day he decided to allow five children to visit the factory. Each child would win a lifetime supply of chocolate after the factory tour. The children had to find one of the five golden tickets hidden inside the wrapping paper of random Wonka bars to be qualified to visit the factory. Augustus Gloop (a boy who eats constantly), Veruca Salt (a girl who is spoiled), Violet Beauregarde (a girl who chews gum all day), Mike Teavee(a boy who loves to watch television), and Charlie Bucket win tickets and visit the factory. (Barring Charlie Bucket , the rest of the children are symbolic of the vices that are prevalent among children.)

The factory is full of strange and fantastical rooms, and a wonderful drama is woven around these wonderful rooms.

The Gingerbread Man

It has been one of the most popular fairy tales among children. The Gingerbread Man (also known as The Gingerbread Boy) is the anthropomorphic protagonist in a fairy tale about a cookie’s escape from various pursuers and his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox. First published in 1875 in St. Nicholas Magazine, it is a tale of a childless old woman baking a gingerbread man as her son who leaps from her oven and runs away. The woman and her husband give chase but fail to catch him. The gingerbread man then outruns several farm workers and farm animals while taunting them with the phrase:

I’ve run away from a little old woman,

A little old man,

And I can run away from you, I can!

The tale ends with a fox catching and eating the gingerbread man who cries as he’s devoured, “I’m quarter gone…I’m half gone…I’m three-quarters gone…I’m all gone!”.

The Enormous Turnip

“The Giant Turnip” or “The Enormous Turnip” is a children’s fairy tale of Russian origin. It is a progressive story, in which a grandfather plants a turnip, which grows so large that he cannot pull it up himself. He asks the grandmother for help, and they together still cannot pull it up. Successively more people are recruited to help, the boy, the girl, the dog, the cat and lastly the mouse until they finally pull the turnip up together symbolising the strength of united efforts.  Lastly they all eat the turnip together.

The Princess and the pea

“The Princess and the Pea” is a tale of a young woman whose royal identity is revealed by a test of her physical sensitivity. The story tells of a prince who wants to marry a princess, but is having difficulty finding a suitable wife. Something is always wrong with those he meets, and he cannot be certain they are real princesses. One stormy night (always a harbinger of either a life-threatening situation or the opportunity for a romantic alliance in Andersen’s stories), a young woman drenched with rain seeks shelter in the prince’s castle. She claims to be a princess, so the prince’s mother decides to test their unexpected guest by placing a pea in the bed she is offered for the night, covered by 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds. In the morning the guest tells her hosts—in a speech colored with double entendres— that she endured a sleepless night, kept awake by something hard in the bed; which she is certain has bruised her. The prince rejoices. Only a real princess would have the sensitivity to feel a pea through such a quantity of bedding. The two are married, and the pea is placed in the Royal Museum.

Hansel and Gretel

And of course how can we forget the cottage made of chocolate and candies – a fantasy of every child. For that matter even the witch who owned the cottage was unforgettable too. The tale of the abandoned brother and sister in a jungle by their parents  has a poignant note to it and the chocolate and candy treat house kind of compliments each other perfectly.

There are hundreds of tales where food is used as a medium to capture the imagination of a child which we could not cover due to time constraints, but you are always welcome to suggest us your list.