The Reading Woman

The gracious simper!

Is it what she is reading? 

How I wish I knew?

This bronze statue of Roman Goddess Minerva is located at the entrance of Minneapolis Public Library, Downtown, Minneapolis. The sculpture of this ancient Goddess of Wisdom, made by Jacob Fjelde, was installed in 1889. Since then, the reading woman with a pleasant smile on her face has been an inspiration to many book readers.

Do you read books? If so, how do you define an ideal reading experience? That feeling of gentle rapture, that moment of euphoria? The feeling you get when you are deeply absorbed in your favorite book, the intense pleasure that soothes your life's little troubles in that moment?

The Sicilian

This evening I had the opportunity to visit the library, after much procrastination, and grab some books to read. This reminded me of the books I read recently, and now I cannot help sharing about one with you. Most of you might have already read Mario Puzo's famous novel The Godfather. It is amazing how much he knows about Mafia. Strangely, Mario Puzo is neither of Italian or Sicilian origin nor does he have any relations with the Mafioso. I still wonder how this creator of Don Vito Corleone knows so much about the gangsters behavior. 

The real "Sicilian" Salvatore Giuliano (Source: Wiki)

"The Sicilian" by Mario Puzo also revolves around Mafia and bandits. This book - a story about friendship, honour, courage, trust and treason - is based on real life adventures of a handsome young bandit Salvatore Giuliano. Its about how this young book loving peasant turned into a bandit, and became a force in Sicily. Its about how he became an epitome of Robin Hood by robbing the rich and feeding the poor. Its about how he got entwined in a web of bloody vendetta by opposing corruption and Bosses of bosses (the dons of Mafia) in Sicily. 

Puzo dramatized Turi Giuliano's exploits into a crime thriller in his book, and conveniently weaved characters of The Godfather like Micheal Corleone into this true story. Turi and Aspanu, although  different in their thoughts and behavior are cousins and friends since childhood. By a twist of fate, they get involved in a crime and become outlaws. With Aspanu's support, Turi nurtures his ideals and becomes a bandit. Michael Corleone, who is in exile after avening murder attempt on his father, tries to save Guiliano by bringing him to USA. And this is a story of a good guy who loses.

This book is yet another masterpiece from Mario Puzo, the author through his narration provides an  insight of the Sicilian history and the oppression they had faced for many years. The book also beautifully captures many elements like how Sicilians take pride in their honour, love their country and never forget to avenge the deceitful, "So die all who betray Guiliano!" 

A must read if you have read The Godfather and liked it. A must read even if you haven't read it. 

Project Gutenberg and the Indian Connection

If you have not heard of Project Gutenberg, it is oldest digital library, in making since 1971, encouraging distribution of free e-books. Since then, it has not just made 30,000 e-books in various languages free to access but also many useful audio books and videos. For more information, we have Wikipedia. Now, you have one minute to free your mind and set it on thinking to guess what the Indian connection is. Think wild, set your imaginations free. Free your mind! For those of you bright minds who have guessed it right, hi-fi. And, never mind if you have not figured it out yet.

It is none other than our very own second century collection of Sanskrit writings by Vatsayana on Kama Sutra. This book is the most popular e-book on Project Gutenberg, scoring the most number of downloads. Apparently, Apple rejected an app on Project Gutenberg for iPhones because people could search and download this book on love through the app. Strange and funny, but true!

As always we have tough competition as to what India is famous for at international level, and this case does not help solving the issue. What do you think is India famous for - (a) head wobbling, (b) mystic and spiritual yoga gurus, (c) the curry smells, or (d) as Land of Love?

P.S. There are some excellent books in this website. If you are a Kindle person, then this is your gold mine because this resource lets you download versions of e-books for Kindle Explore it, leisurely! 

Electron's new shape, is Dan Brown listening?

Apparently, electron is not a perfect sphere. You might say what difference does it make if its not symmetric by 10E-27 th extent, but hell broke loose to all the scientists after researchers at Imperial College London discovered this fact. Physicists say that this tiny difference - so tiny that if the electron is magnified to the extent of solar system the symmetry would be lost only to an extent of human hair - might make a lot of difference in terms of the interactions electron makes around. After years of all those science classes in school and college where my teachers over and over tried in drilling down various formulae, radius and size of these atomic and subatomic particles, now I find this discovery fascinating.

And, they say this slight difference might be one reason why it is difficult to manifest antimatter. I hope Dan Brown is updated with this article. This might help him build script for a sequel to his book Angels and Demons, in which the protagonists save the world from destruction due to antimatter. Danny boy, have you started working yet?

When the King lost the jewel in his crown

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again." These were the words uttered by the first Prime Minister of India when British granted a dominion status to India and hence giving independence to its 40 crore people. But little do we about the detailed events that happened among the British in deciding to give India its independence. Alex Von Tunzelman in her book Indian Summer: The secret history of the end of an empire deals with, in detail, the lives of Nehru, Gandhi, Jinnah and the Mountbattens who are the crucial people in birth of India and Pakistan. These are the people who triggered various actions that led to the independence. And these countries endured a lot of struggle and suffering even after their birth.

The author, a history student at Oxford, starts with a startling perspective. There were two countries in 1577. One was a vast, mighty and magnificent empire, brilliantly organised and culturally unified, which dominated a massive swathe of the earth; and the other was an underdeveloped semi-feudal realm, riven by religious factionalism and barely able to feed its masses. Guess what! The first is India and the second is England. In 1857 it was the other way about! Now you know what alien rule does to the ruler and the ruled! But, the country divided by its diversity fell prey to the British who found a way to enter this land as traders in the name of The East India Company. And India became a prized possession in the King's crown.

It is difficult to make history an interesting read, but Alex overcomes this problem by making the text highly readable. Her research deals with treacherous politics and personal details of the key players and her presentation of the otherwise boring history, clear and restraint.

Of all the things this book had to offer, I was particularly disturbed after reading about the aftermath of the independence. The Indian summer of 1947 had witnessed the transfer of power by the British empire to the Indian Union and the Dominion of Pakistan. But, it had to also witness one of the worst tragedies mankind had ever seen. The tragedy in which about one million people were murdered in communal and religious clashes. Sad, we celebrate independence every year but fail to mourn the death of these countless civilians. Perhaps Stalin was right, 'Death of one man is tragedy; death of millions is statistic'.

And, these key players has achieved what had not been achieved in 130 years of Mauryan rule, 180 years of Mughal empire or 90 years of British Raj. A united India by bringing about 570 princely states together. But then, is India really united? I think Nehru's words during the hour of independence will achieve salvation only when India becomes united in the true sense!

Mythology, Movies and Books

As a kid, I used to watch lots of old black and white mythological movies. They used to fascinate me a lot, may be because the characters are Gods and Goddesses we pray in our daily life. Or may be because it was projected in our Indian movies that those holy people used to express themselves in songs and pristine language. Or the knife fights and the way those movies were taken had a different charm altogether. As I grew up and started reasoning everything I have known about, things got quite interesting.

Even today, I browse a lot of articles and stories from the epics - especially Mahabharat. It has got stories that spawn out at every level which join the main thread much later, and what we know about each of its characters is very less. I also read a lot from Dr. Devdutt Pattnaik who said "Myths are subjective truths expressed through stories, symbols and rituals."

Very recently, I have heard of a novel called "The Immortals of Meluha" by an Indian author Amish Tripathi. Ever since I got to know the topic this book discusses, I so wanted to read it. To give a little insight from what I know about the book, it presents a story about how Lord Shiva, the Hindu god could be a human being. Having had this interest in Indian mythology I wanted to start reading this book at the earliest.

Unfortunately, this book was neither available in the bookstores here nor in libraries. The only option was to get it shipped all the way from India, and it was costing five times the cost of the book for the shipping itself. After months wait, a friend went India recently to visit his family. I asked him to to get the book when he returned back. And, now I have my copy with me when he found it in Delhi airport while returning back to US from India after he could not find it anywhere.

Suddenly, I am looking forward to those one hour bus journey to my work and those uncertain and long waiting times for the bus. I will sure be a happy man this Monday! :)

The Kite Runner..

I'm totally emotional now after finishing what by far my best read The Kite Runner. The only way to get salvation from guilt is by redemption. And life goes on, no matter what. Zendagi migzara!  

P.S 1: To Kill A Mocking Bird also makes a good read, but I strongly suggest The Kite Runner one if you haven't already.

P.S 2: Wondering how assumptions take an important place in our day-to-day communication. Implicit and intutive, that makes our life simple.