Ganesha on the Dashboard- A saddening but delightful read

“Ganesha on the Dashboard” by V.Raghunathan and M.A Eswaran caught my eyes in a book fair that promised a huge discount margin and a display of interesting works. The title was attention-grabbing enough and the reviews added to the appeal. And this piece of nonfiction having read, I found myself resonating to the DNA review, “A saddening but delightful book”. A curious paradox, one might wonder, but this makes up the gist of feelings one goes through on reading the book.

Published by Penguin books, the book is most reasonably priced at Rs.299 and is definitely worth the amount. The cover illustration by Joy Gosney is beautiful as well provides an insight into what the book is about. There had been some serious research done behind the work, and the book is provided with valuable footnotes and appendices.

The book is all about the extremes of absurd superstitions that we Indians delve into and the shocking lack of scientific temper of our country. A country that has spawned number of international scientific figures, isn't it a paradox that our country is also the one in which people dying of poverty and “stone idols being fed milk and fruits” coexist? Excerpting from a precis of the book,

“Take the way we go about buying a car. We identify an auspicious date and time, then proceed to break a coconut, plonk a plastic deity of Ganesha on the dashboard, and zoom off at a great speed, refusing to wear our seat belts.”

The book is one hundred percent accurate in describing the “incredible” Indian sensibility and is informative, quirky and at times funny. The several chapters devoting to the explanation of scientific temper and science vs. Superstitions are simply delightful to read about. Each chapter starts with a quotation and an interesting story or a tidbit about the chapter. To those who aren't much interested in science, don’t recoil. The book, unlike your deplorably uninteresting Physics textbooks, makes scientific facts sound interesting and once you've read the book, tadaa!  There you are, about five times enlightened than before. I managed to learn a lot about Kepler, Einstein and Roemer than from my discarded physics text books.

So, does the book go wrong somewhere? I guess the extremities of scientific arguments of the authors can prove a bit unsettling to the reader. The arguments for astrology being a pseudo science are acceptable but when the belief in “gods” is being questioned, I guess that’s where the ‘saddening’ part comes in. Science has made our life a lot better and the right perspective about science or the scientific temper is integral to a good future. But then,the age old battle of science vs. Religion creeps in. One major truth in our life is that no matter how tough we appear, we all hope for miracles secretly. Whether we see them true or not, hoping for miracles, praying, meditating, all this can make people happier. (Hormones responsible for this are called endorphins, again the science part.J)

So when we read that there is no point in praying, instead run to you makeshift labs, well! Belief in a supreme force, the knowledge that there is something to lean on, can be a motivation, a source of hope and is essential for a human being; false or otherwise. And so here it is- a book well worth reading, “saddening, but delightful”.

A Cuppa Heaven!

Quite recently I happened to pick a book from the Chicken Soup series at a book exhibition in Kochi. Memories sort of engulfed me; I can vouch, for Chicken Soup series used to be a thing of the past, marking the reading habits of me and my chums during our sixth and seventh classes, along with musty copies of Nancy Drew, Harry Potter and Malory Towers.

Evidently, Chicken Soup series are great; they used to be great back then, and they are great even now. The guys have come up with a new indulgent series of CS for the soul; a collection of books devoted to satiate the indulger in you. There were four books at the exhibition; CS for the coffee lover’s soul, tea lover’s soul, chocolate lover’s soul and wine lover’s soul. I would have picked up the first three if I had money, that is, if I ‘had’ which evidently I didn’t, so I ended up in picking up the first.

I have had the fortune to meet several coffee lovers in my life; ardent, passionate people for whom coffee is not just a beverage, but a way of life. I remember my friends Elizabeth and Anu, who cry when they see exotic coffee caskets at departmental stores. One day Anu woke up at the middle of the night; saw a brand new bottle of ‘Bru’, which she didn’t exactly had an access to and roamed around the house, murmuring “coffee, coffee”.  J

The book is full of quotes, humorous anecdotes, stories of addiction, stories of love brewing, and a lot more. I implore the book fanatics to try and get one of CS books on your favorite indulgence. There are, in every story, tales of the best coffee beans getting dried into the finest powder, the addictive aroma of coffee brewing, and the soft whiff of coffee and cream, which leaves you longing for your favorite cup of Java.

I recollect the escapades I personally had with the beverage. Late night preparations for exams would obviously top the list, the dark murky liquid with darker precipitate settling at the bottom of the cup- the concoction called black coffee that we call “kattankaapi”. The same thing that you gulp down when you are down with fever, sometimes with an added pinch of pepper or ginger powder.  The numerous cups I have had from railway stations and college canteen, which had tasted the same, thanks to the monotonous coffee machine. But I remember a coffee I have had from some railway station in Karnataka (this happened when I was little), which remains till date one of the best cups of coffee I’ve had. Then there are cups of coffee from south Indian vegetarian restaurants, made by guys for whom the aroma of coffee is, as I said earlier, is a way of life. Curling up with a book and a cup of coffee is my idea of heaven on earth!

Actually, what made me write this is, a couple of days back, I went for a competition with a best buddy, who for me, had been a real ‘partner in crime’ since our first year in college, and went to this famous coffee shop to have a cup. A blast of coffee scented air greeted us on entering the shop; a mixed whiff of coffee, cream and cakes (Sheer heaven!). A group of guys were discussing good films over their coffee, well known names of celluloid popping up in their discussion. We had this extremely bitter cup of coffee (which appeals to top notch caffeine lovers, but not to me, I presume) along with a gooey, creamy, chocolaty dessert. I don’t know what did the trick, a day off from the humdrum college or a good time with a friend, we were in good spirits that day. But honestly, I think it is coffee that did it. Coffee is really, a pot of heaven.

A true tea lover as well, “coffee or tea?” for me is like “Mammooty or Mohanlal?” to a Malayali. Still, coffee is a mood-changer, spirit-lifter, like no other beverage. To all those females who shy away from a cup in the fear that coffee makes you dark,

“Seriously, seriously?”

 A lot, a lot, a lot can happen over a cup of coffee.

YOUTH DAA.... YOUTH. (ENGLISHE KOLRADA....)

It’s been ages since a new post. It’s not a creative vacuum but I guess I need a constant spur to talk about things. Something on which I should feel an urge to talk about. And guess what, I’ve found this amazing TV channel which can give you a thousand reasons to cry; a thousand reasons to laugh. Sounds like a phony book cover but yes... A youth channel which makes you curious about who exactly is the ‘youth’ intended. It makes you wonder if you are a Kryptonite. Well the thing is, once you watch this channel, you would bloody well want to be a Kryptonite.

I debated a lot whether I should be revealing the identity of the channel. (Well what’s the issue? Four or five people read this blog anyway, including me :p) But the channel authorities have two or three other channels, which feature bearable programs, and there is this great actor who is, I guess the general manager of the channel. (So you get the general picture.) But the youth channel...

There are a few Malayalis who feel a stab on their sensibility when some fellow Malayali goes... “enikyu malayelem kurachyu kurachyu...”I’m proud to say that I’m one among them. And I’ve noticed this syndrome is seen in people who had spent practically their whole life in Kerala. Or once you spend two or three years elsewhere, you go like, “these mallus are so difficult to put up with.”Give them a big solid whack on their ass and they will go screeching in solid Malayalam. I once had this classmate who was always going like” I flunked in Malyalem, guys... I need tuition. AWWWWW..... (The universal noise made by wackos.) And people go around appreciating her. It troubled me a lot that the same treatment was not meted out to Maths flunkies (They need it the most, you know? :))

But very few of us feel agitated when somebody does injustice to English. I don’t know why, maybe because it is still perceived as an alien tongue. But a language is a language. The above mentioned channel is a mixture of disrespecting English and disrespecting Malayalam. The guys over there have somehow developed this notion that Malayalam is inferior, and as ‘youth’, “vee talking in inklees....” My question is, what exactly is wrong with our mother tongue? It IS a beautiful language. And the channel guys don’t need to fear that Non-Malayalis would care to watch their programs. They would run for their lives. And the reason why Malayalis like us (read me and my friends) watch their programs is that 'WE' HAVE AN EXCELLENT SENSE OF HUMOR.(pun intended)

You might think I’m exaggerating. Well, here is an excerpt from one of their fashion related programs.( did someone say fashion? Njan chirichu chaakum :P)

Anchor: ( don’t call them ‘VJ’S. “ANKOR” IS MORE THAN ENOUGH.) We should change our attitude, dress, fashion. All change. Hope you all segments. Thank you.

Whoa!

I know I’m having fun having tuned in to this channel the whole day. I hope this is not a sin.

 I’m not saying that everyone should be speaking in flawless English. But please don’t degrade a language like this. More importantly, please don’t keep such a besmirched concept about “what youth want.” And thank you channel guys, for making us laugh so much.

An age of pseudo aestheticism.

About five years before the scenario in Kerala was very different. Kids hurrying for an endless series of tuition, parents in thick framed glasses talking of studies, studies and studies.., the pranksters and naughty ones ending up as the obvious black sheep of the family, and most often ending up in drama institutes and centers catering to art and acting. That my dears, used to be a very bad period for people of art. 
And... now the whole vista is different. Almost everyone(let's say, two out of three) you meet is a photographer, and my God, that art has flourished like no other had in these years.( courtesy to a popular post saying even a monkey with a DSLR is called a photographer these days.) And again, brace yourself against those umpteen pages of Tinku photography and Pinku photography. Good photographers, God bless them, are having a very troublesome time, it seems.

Music is another area where a huge transition has occurred. With all due respect for music bands like Avial, whose music was and is genuine and are undoubtedly talented,what with their music and the huge appreciation it had garnered, every other mallu 'rock band' is having members clad in lungi and going about screaming pathetic versions of otherwise beautiful folk songs whose beauty lies, I must say, their pristine state. ( They must be feeling down too, I surmise.) More than music, I guess musicians are more focused on the number of facebook proposals they get.( courtesy to a lewd interview of a faceless singer who was getting "marry me" proposals heaped upon him,
on a  very famous Malayalam 'youth' channel which has a very serious case of misconception about what youth want.) I went to a movie with a friend yesterday, and a song really had us in splits by the end of it. The song was good( read bearable) but the singers, Oh My God, had this seriously constipated look on their faces.( btw they don't remind us of the 'Life in a metro' guys, OK...Maybe a little... oh no, they don't.)

We know that the whole history of art, right from the times of Chaucer, had been interspersed with periods of aestheticism, romanticism, classicism and in between flashes of puritanism. This sudden surge of love for art in Kerala is definitely something to be proud about, I agree. I guess even our parents are slowly getting rid of their B.Tech mania for this artistic movement and forcing their kids into music lessons and photography coaching.(Maybe this is because they have finally begun seeing the big fat unemployment club or the "Mech ,EC or civil, we do IT" club.) This is exactly where it goes wrong, as well. Why the heck aren't we happy with doing what we like? Why do we have to wield a DSLR because everyone else does? Why do we have to force toilet jokes and swear words into our movies JUST FOR THE SAKE OF IT? Why do we  to get subjected to a parade of lungi dances and songs just because some guys were innovative about it?

Art is great and is the best thing to live life. But it can be the most disastrous thing if people are just copycats about it.
 DISASTROUS.

Bibliophilism

A collection of some book reviews I had posted in Goodreads. (In case anyone would find this helpful).
 

Having discarded the "this is from the HP author" prejudice, one can start to read this book, which delights, shocks and is worth reading. I can't fathom the reason why this book had conjured up so many negative reviews, except for the flaw of the unreasonable price, which fits her image as the best selling author, but somehow the book isn't worthy of. The magic land of Hogwarts, friendship and patronus charm has given way to the harsher realities of life.The book is indeed for the "adults", but gives glimpses, now and then, of something remotely "magickish". The towering image of Barry Fairbrother somehow seems "dumbledorish". Just another reminder that writing in an easy to follow language doesn't indicate at the weakness of an author.

Being a great fan of Lahiri, the book didn't came surprising.Her lucid style, style of narration, after all these are a few reasons why her works are sought after.But for me, you should read this book for the tremendous amount of reality in it, the way she makes the reader feel as if she/he is a part of the story, and for those who prefer their books with a tinge of pathos in it,you should definitely read it.Her characterization is just superb, her "American born confused desis", ranking the top of the list. A BOOK THAT MADE ME SMILE, THINK AND CRY.

 

 

  What a great book... Bond magic is at its best in this book as he devotes various chapters to those people in his life who could be never forgotten... Simple, ordinary men and women who secures an extraordinary place in our hearts through their gestures of love and kindness... His books reek of mountain air and is the best thing that can go along with a cup of hot coffee. Truly, he is India's resident Wordsworth in prose.

 

 

 

  A husband finds his wife missing one day. A series of psychological interpretations and bombarding of cosmic truths. May be I'm not that transcendental. May be the soul got lost in translation.Call me shallow, but reading this book was a painstaking effort for me, and I had to read it just for the sake of completion, something I hate very much.No Coelho for me in the near future, I already have been subjected to a volley of life truths to last a life time. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

  One of those books in the alarmingly increasing pile of metro-reads or easy-reads or whatever you call them. Good if your aim is to kill time or read while having a face pack on your face:). No serious plot or anything,a series of diary entries that could be read in one go.Humorous in patches, I should agree that it is definitely better than some of the ridiculous Indian urban reads that come out these days, with equally ridiculous titles. 

 

 

Great book... Great book.... And I guess this time I'm really confounded. Yann Martel is nothing short of a genius. A great tale that underlines the importance of perseverance and faith. And mind you, it is least didactic as it could get.Truly, a MUST-READ.

 

 

This is definitely a book that goes into the list of must reads. This is not a didactic gospel, but a beautifully drawn picture of a happy family that goes through many temptations and sufferings, together.. a marvel of a book.

Have a 'Filmy' Onam

Well,  belated ഓണാശംസകൾ  to all Malayali pals out there. Like any other 'quintessential'(oft recently this word began to have lewd associations for me, thanks to a cranky pal.) Malayali, I had  gala celebrations( or was victimized by it) at college, which consisted of  pookalams comprising of salt, saw dust and a few flowers, an ഓണസദ്യ  and a couple of DSLR pics for proof.
At home, thanks to the umpteen number of TV channels showcasing  newly released( some were even released on the TV!) movies and innumerable interviews with film stars who fondly reminisced their memories associated with, and went on reiterating about their busy lives and tightly packed schedules, I was kept engaged.. This is a favorite part of mine as, if not all of them, very few of them are seen to be affected by this syndrome of talking about things they don't understand or pretending for somebody else. There are beauties with brains in Cinema, but a few make it evident that they are not fit to talk about anything other than lipsticks and sunscreens. Yesterday I cried watching an interview of an actress, who was shocked by the 'newses' of 'misuses'.:p

Conscious of the fact that Onam had been much better when I used to be little, with cousins all around, presided by benevolent grandparents, I realize that like any other festival, Onam too, is about togetherness and warmth. Life hacks might have made life pretty easier, but the price paid is evident. Bliss. From that of the petite but profound pleasures of life. Maybe this is a part of growing pains as well. People abroad celebrate it with much gusto and nostalgia,whereas back at home, we sit glued to the TV screens. Well, it has become a pattern now. The mode of celebration. Who knows, generations later, we would be telling our grand kids the tale of the benevolent king Mahabali and the traditions associated with Onam. "We used to watch films in TV back then you know? Of Mohanlal and Mammootty... What a time we used to have back then..."

GenNow, Dating and the 'Me' syndrome!

The last time I was on Facebook, I received a friend request from someone who apparently seemed a stranger. After looking close at the profile picture, it dawned upon me that I was staring at a second cousin who was hardly ten. Seeing her wall posts which were mainly constituted by Robert Pattinson in his ghastly Twilight look and some other chick flick movie posters, I wondered. What was I doing when I was ten? Baking mud cakes? There were also snippets of conversation between her friends on dating, stalking and what not. Why, I can’t help smiling reminiscing about my own ignorant childhood. The first time I heard the song DATING from the Tamil film Boys, (I might have been 10 or 11 back then) I imagined it as some kind of a game. :-) (Well it is, for the majority). Forget reminiscing, scanning through a yellow newspaper last day, the leading headline was"Dippy has too many dates", as if the sociopolitical structure of the country was dependent on the number of her dates.(And don't ask me who  Dippy is, I don't have the least idea.) Well, as they say, ignorance is bliss,  at least sometimes. 

Millennium’s teens swear without second thought and are adept in mastering them. Many of them swear for no apparent reason, like "Motherfucking Lord, I dropped my pen.." as if not swearing makes them uncultured and primitive.  The shocking truth is some of the Godforsaken parents smile and nod at them, wondering” My kiddo ees speaking engleesh”. Forget swearing, there is a chance of getting branded 'orthodox' and 'hopelessly narrow minded and outdated if you abstain from that. But what about learning to care for others? What about realizing there are other pronouns other than 'me', 'my' and 'myself'? Having always been a person who stood gaping at the smart-alecks who won their way through sheer selfishness, and wondering at times if life isn't just to the meek, maybe I'm saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

 Capital cities often frighten me and that too, for no particular reason. Years back, way back in my school hood years when  I had to join in a new school in Trivandrum, a pompous girls' one, I was made to sit next to the topper of the class, a quintessential bespectacled one. Clearing my throat I asked her, meekly " Umm.. "Can I have your Geography notebook?"  With a glare, she replied" Can't give you. My notes are for me to study"Flushed, I turned my face to a group of students who were eying me with  sympathetic expressions etched across their faces. I was told later by a bunch of eager girls that she shared nothing with no one in the fear of losing the much cherished first rank. And I was like..." God! These kind of girls do exist" as the only instance I have seen them before was in English chick flicks and Enid Blyton novels.( They can be seen in plenty in Trivandrum, don't ask me why, coz I honestly dunno. I'll tell you this. In one month, I was back at my old school. :p)