Almost Single- Advaita Kala

These days I am rooting big-time for Young Indian Authors. I finished reading Advaita Kala’s first book ‘Almost Single’ and waited for my mixed feelings to settle down before I acknowledge what is what..

‘Almost Single’ is a chick-lit and if you are a fan of this genre you would like this book. There is your protagonist Aisha Bhatia- the quintessential young female, single, working, attractive and also..…big-boned (yes a characteristic in itself, the world is divided between slim and fat). She is 29 and on the lookout for the ONE, the purveyor of her future domestic bliss, the answer to her mother’s prayers...a Mr. Eligible Bachelor who is in need of getting rid of that title…

Throw in the usual paraphernalia- a mother desperately wanting dear daughter to wed well (wooo…alliteration), a nagging boss, close female friends making a staunch support group, a couple of male friends who have to be mandatorily gay and an occasional Ex- here now we are all set. Let’s start the ride then:

Aisha Bhatia works at a luxury hotel as a Guest Relations Manager, loves going out with friends, loves her booze and ciggy, loves her independence and life but at age 29 she has to think and act seriously about catching () a husband. But do they grow on trees?? If only they did..well, they do not.. and so a girl has to go the dating route, friends and family referrals and the web route ‘desivivaha.com’!!

Running parallel to Aisha’s quest is that of her friend Misha, also a wannabe Mrs. Rich NRI, and Anushka who after being happily married for years catches her husband cheating on her and is now divorced and into singledom part 2. Together they give you occasions to laugh and have fun vicariously. One night while running a revenge on Anushka’s ex- husband Anuj (toilet papering his car in a swanky club parking) Aisha runs into a loaded and gorgeously sophisticated Karan Verma. She sees him again at her Hotel where he is a guest and this time happens to be in his (ahem!) birthday suit. A few more run-ins and Aisha knows she has a thing going for Mr. Verma. All this happens by page 50, the book has over 280 pages and between them is the story unfolding and progressing towards a happy end.

Overall….fun reading. But I have a little, just a little bit of discontent growing in me, in spite of reading through the whole 282 pages and giving some 4-5 hours of my life to this book.. I feel like I don’t know Aisha that well, you don’t know how the inner circuits of her brain work, you can relate to her but cannot become her, I don’t know if you have come across this dilemma but for me its a very uncomfortable situation. Another thing, the relationship between Aisha and Karan is not allowed much print time, they’ve met each other, had dinners, Aisha did shopping for Karan’s new house, organized a party for him but…is it all that takes to know someone enough. May be a sequel is planned, I have no idea. Moreover majority of the book deals with Aisha and her friends, they are hilarious but eat into quality time with Aisha, the dating horror stories of Misha are good, so good infact you end up knowing and liking her more, then there is this Ex BF who is in the background, mentioned but a few times before and yet Aisha is upset enough at his engagement party to enact a petty revenge (using 18 plates to eat at the charge- by-plate- count buffet). Ohh! I forget to tell you the hotel going-on is one bright spot along with Aisha’s social life, the Grand Orchid Hotel and its working comes alive to you, Advaita being a hotel professional, she has done this part perfectly.

But as I said before and if you are not very demanding with your chick-lit…this is a good book. Advaita writes well, knowingly and funnily too, promising well for future....all the staples of the genre are there in good dose..instead of a Manhattan or a London you have your good old Delhi for a background..all the young hip people, life on the fast lane, it’s all there. So go read this book…only don’t think too much and you’re good to go. I am definitely looking forward for more from Advaita Kala.

Burnt Toast: Teri Hatcher

‘Burnt Toast and other Philosophies of Life’ by Teri Hatcher is my recent read. You all know Teri Hatcher. Don’t you? Okay, let‘s say ‘Desperate Housewives’…ahh the bulb clicked. Right then..Teri Hatcher is a celebrity, beautiful, successful and rich and she’s also a human being, a mother and a woman.

This post was hard to come by, I liked this book immensely, I was so with Teri every moment of reading and by the time I finished I felt like I know her so well! But writing about this experience I find myself so short of appropriate words. It’s like you and your bestest girlfriend had a sleep over after a long time and you talked long into the night and shared your innermost thoughts and now you want to tell another friend about it…

I finished reading this book yesterday though I have been reading this in parts before for many days. Every time I’d take up a chapter and every time I’d be set thinking…

‘The Burnt Toast’ is a metaphor for a psychology of self sacrifice, poor self image, insecurities and other complexes and failing to realize your own self, own wants, your own wish. We women are only too aware of this, sometimes willingly choosing to eat the burnt toast for love and sometimes conditioned into accepting it … .why does a woman’s life is so much about living up to the expectations of others. Most of the times undermining herself as an individual.

Teri Hatcher has revealed a very vulnerable side of her in this book, starting from her childhood seeing her mother deliberately taking a back seat, putting everyone and everything before her, accepting the burnt toast of life as a matter of course. Sometimes as parents we unknowingly pass on our bias, our insecurities to our children and they live their lives with them.

Here’s an excerpt:

“In early high school, when I was taking geometry, I remember showing my math-genius dad a problem I’d solved correctly. I probably hoped he’d be proud that I was learning a little bit of his field. He looked at the paper and said, “You know, there are three other ways to solve that problem.” I said, “I got it right, didn’t I?’ I wasn’t really interested in alternate solutions. I’d managed to do it the way the teacher had taught us and that was enough. He handed the paper back to me and said, “You’re a brick.” He didn’t mean it in the jolly old English use of “brick” as a dependable chap. Nor was he referring to my abs. He went on, “You should be a sponge, but you’re a brick.” He meant that I wasn’t as open minded or curious as he wanted me to be. I had shown my dad my correctly done math homework, and he in turn found something wrong with me. Getting the right answer wasn’t enough.”

Teri realized that this tendency of ‘not looking after herself’ was not just making her life miserable but could be a stumbling block for her daughter as well. Chapter after chapter you learn how Teri overcome her own prejudices and pieced a wholesome life together for her and her daughter.

Quote from the book:

“I try hard to move peacefully through the world, and I’m sensitive to that kind of judgment from a stranger. If we could all spend a little time thinking people might need a little help, instead of assuming they’re selfish snobs, we might live in a nicer world.”

We generally take celebrities for granted, we think it’s easy for them, they have the looks, name, fame, money what not. Sometimes we simply can’t see the person behind that aura. Sometimes we are so busy living our lives we don’t see people around us as fellow human beings.

Another Excerpt:

“We went to New York for New Year’s a couple of days later. I was walking down Ninth Avenue when I saw a woman drop a full bag of groceries. It was dark, cloudy day, and the street was full of people hurrying their separate ways, dull and unanimated. Several oranges rolled out of the woman’s fallen bag; the only bright spot of color on the street. Nobody stopped to help her collect her groceries. They just walked past, oblivious. Then something happened. The clouds broke, and a double rainbow appeared. A double rainbow! In New York City! That’s two more rainbows than you ever see in New York. They arched perfectly over the Chrysler Building. There was a collective gasp on the street. People pointed and smiled. Some ran into stores to buy disposable cameras. We all watched until the sky clouded again, then went on our own ways. But then the second miracle happened. The whole way down Ninth Avenue strangers stopped each other to say, “Did you see the rainbow?” and “You can still see it over on Seventh Avenue!” A twin rainbow. That’s what it took to get people to notice each other, to bring them together.”

What do you say..

We All Love Bond.....Ruskin Bond

‘Rusty Runs Away’ by Ruskin Bond is a book for young adults and I don’t fall in that category… nooo no more, in fact that period seems like ancient history now…having cleared that I want you to know I LOVE Ruskin Bond….I mean his books.

Depending upon where and how you spent your growing up years, the pace of a Ruskin Bond book could soothe your nerves, they can lull you into peaceful daydreams, they could take you in a flashback mode and they can make you cry for your momma, daddy and your childhood dog and your best buddy and the days long gone by and have me positively rambling….

Now Mr. Ruskin Bond’s books are NOT true biographies but they bear shades of biography, some true pieces, some made up tit bits are richly interspersed in the tales. Also, since the Mr. Bond has lived only one life you’d find certain similarities, some repetitions here and there in his stories. But they also make the reader feel she is an old acquaintance of the author…like hearing again and again your father’s or grandfather’s stories of his golden youth.

The book ‘Rusty Runs Away’ is a collection of short stories. There are splashes of joy, a bit of sadness, optimism of youth in the stories, the voice is peppy and all is wrapped in inherent simplicity of narrative.

The first story ‘The window’ is about friendship between a lonely boy Rusty and Koki, a new girl in neighborhood and how the presence of a likeable person in your life changes your days agreeably.

The second story is ‘The Prospect of Flowers’, this is again about friendship but this time between two unlikely persons, the school boy Rusty and eighty years old spinster Miss Mackenzie. Here interaction with youth brings some sunshine into the life of the lonely spinster.

‘A Job Well Done’ has some dark humor, it reminds me of a story of Saki about an orphan boy who had to live with his oppressive Aunt and his wishful thinking for revenge bears fruit one day…this story is macabre and at the same time funny..

‘The Woman on Platform No.8’ is heartwarming tale of a chance meeting of the boy Rusty with an older woman at the Railway Station where Rusty is waiting for his train to Boarding School. The woman senses the boys loneliness and befriends him and pretends to be his mother in front of his friend’s insensitive mother...(Caution: Lonely young adults DO NOT talk to strangers, DO NOT accept eatables from them, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT copy this story).

‘Running Away’ is the star attraction of this collection, young Rusty and his Sikh friend Daljit decide to run away from their strict, uninspiring boarding School, their object is to reach Jamnagar (Gujarat) where they’d board a ship/tramp- streamer captained by Rusty’s uncle. How they prepare for this escape and how the two fifteen year olds survive the world outside using their wit and a dare devil approach makes for a nail biting adventure. (Caution again: DO NOT, DO NOT copy any of it young adults).

'The Playing Fields of Shimla’ is a poignant tale. Rusty (who is now at a different boarding school because of ‘Running Away’ fiasco) befriends another lonely, reticent boy Omar, with both playing hockey for the school team the bond of trust and camaraderie strengthens. But then comes partition in 1947 and Omar has to go to Pakistan while Rusty remains in India.

‘It Happened One Spring’ is a coming of age story. The same events are also covered by Ruskin Bond’s first book ‘A Room on the Roof’ written at the age of seventeen. Rusty was living with his guardian who was a cold, indifferent person barely bearing with Rusty. Although he was not allowed to but Rusty makes friends with Indian youths Somi and Ranbir, he was introduced to their world- the India beyond his all-white- upbringing limits, to the chaat shop in Bazaar and colors of Holi which ultimately lead to his violent falling out with his guardian. His new friends help him in setting up a life of his own.

I love all the stories, reading Ruskin Bond stories is like visiting your childhood home...one cannot bring back those days but one always cherishes the memories.

My copy is published by Puffin and costs Rs. 250/-.

They Came to Baghdad

‘They came to Baghdad’ happens to be one of my favorite Christie. This copy is an old one, bought at a used books shop. You can see this one is much battered but one I am so very fond of.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read this, the moment I need a little wallowing into memories I whip out an old book and this one is often recalled in service. I’ll be sharing my other treasured oldies by and by..

Plot wise you’d see this is not Agatha Christie at her best (I am a bit apologetic saying this Agatha...but bear with me), the international espionage yarn is poorly woven. The sabotage theory in this case is very flimsy and could have been developed more but the plot is so racy you’d easily overlook the flaws. In fact I usually now just skip those pages about Dakin meeting Crosbie, Carmichael’s exploits, agents pursuing Anna Scheele etc. and go directly to where the cream is…..over to Victoria Jones, the little London cockney and her adventures in Baghdad. But since I am telling you this story and you may or may not have read the book, I’ll make a proper report..

Here the narrative is split into two parts, one is the espionage story where Mr. Dakin who is heading the British side of security/spy services is worried about their operations which seem to be infiltrated by enemy. There is an international conspiracy, an undercover group of people is amassing large amounts of money to fund a change of order, a power struggle in the world, by fueling the strife between communist countries vs rest of the world they are spreading their network, they are young and intelligent but ruthless, remorseless people who need to be stopped by the good forces (U.S., U.K. & Allies).

There is one British spy who risks his life to collect proof against this undercover group. There is one American woman who has the brains to assimilate all data, all proofs against them. There is a world traveler who is also an ally. They all are coming to Baghdad to put all proofs together and unmask the enemy. And there is Victoria Jones, a London typist- stenographer recently out of job who meets a dashing young man in a park who in turn is leaving the very next day for Baghdad and is very keen to meet Victoria again…

If you want to read the book yourself don’t read further.

Victoria Jones is a resourceful, irrepressible and quick thinking London bred cockney. When she learns Edward is going to Baghdad she decides to follow him there inspite of her financial constraints. Fortunately she is offered a one way passage to Baghdad as a companion to an invalid Mrs. Clipp, an American. Adventure follows her in Baghdad when a stranger dies in her hotel room in her very bed. She tracks down Edward and gets a job too but is soon kidnapped by unknown foes. She escapes her kidnappers and finds refuge with an archeological expedition with a man whose niece she pretended to be and his assistant who is suspicious of her. When she comes back to Baghdad she accidentally unearths a very very ugly secret. Now I am not going to tell you more, go read the book.

But yes, there’s one thing I’d like to point out..this “unknown enemy” reminds me of another book. See here’s an excerpt:

“In the past two years, twenty-eight promising young scientists of various nationalities have quietly faded out of their background. The same thing has happened with constructional engineers, with aviators, with electricians and many other skilled trades. These disappearances have this in common: those concerned are all young, all ambitious and all without close ties”.

And here’s another one:

“Then Mr. Dakin took up the tale. In a gentle tired voice he told the saga of Henry Carmichael, of his belief in certain rumours and wild tales of vast installations and underground laboratories functioning in a remote valley beyond the bounds of civilization.”

Tell me where else did you read that…..

A Hermit in the Himalayas

'A Hermit in the Himalayas' by Paul Brunton is the book I finished reading freshly. I wanted to read a travelogue on Himalayas, this was a travel narrative albeit the journey being mainly of the spiritual kind, the physical traveling is only incidental.

This book was first published in 1937, Paul Brunton was a British journalist who later took a turning for spiritual philosophy. In India he came in contact with various spiritual leaders, saints, mystics and yogis of that time mainly Ramana Maharishi, Kanchipuram Shankracharya & Meher Baba among others.

I bit into the book somewhat reluctantly because honestly I wasn't looking for a spiritual travelogue and that too written so long back. I'll have to give it to Paul Brunton for his easy, light handed treatment, almost everyday language that before I knew it I'd finished a chapter.

Paul Brunton wanted to visit Tibet, Mount Kailash in particular (as he says) not as a 'trader nor geographer' but for a 'higher purpose'. He was denied permission by the authorities in command and he decided to carry on his quest in Tehri Garhwal, in comparative solitude among the majestic Himalayas.

Though largely solitary his Himalayan sojourn was occasionally interrupted by visits from persons of his acquaintance, one of them the Prince Mussooree Shum Shere Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal (who has written the foreword for this book) with whom Brunton roams around the hilly terrain and also pens down some thrilling anecdotes told by the Prince. Another time he was visited by Swami Pranavananda with whom Brunton shares an immensely spiritual experience. There is one chapter wholly dedicated to Charlie Chaplin whose genius is held in high regards by Brunton.

Throughout the narrative Brunton's reverence for the Himalayas is evident, if you too have seen the lofty, rugged sentinel you'd know how the Himalayas inspire awe in us mortals. The search for innerself or as Brunton says 'overself' is eternal for the humankind and so as such this book is relevant even now...

Yes, overall this book is an interesting and satisfying read for me, Brunton doesn't go overboard anywhere except in parts with his political (?) opinions (which could be opinion of many a Britishers in those days).

My copy is published by Rider/Random House and costs Rs. 499/-.