Memories of my melancholy whores - Gabreil Garcia Marqez

Marquez is simply the best. This is the second book I am reading. The first one was the macondo story – One Hundred Years of Solitude. That was quite a read. Had to go back to the family tree given in the beginning so as not to relate the name with different person. Reading took some effort. But I don’t regret. Read Marquez and you will know what makes Nobel laureates Nobel laureates and Booker laureates Booker laureates. I won’t even attempt to draw parallels between Marquez with Salman Rushdie or Arundhati Roy, though I admire the other authors also. Marquez is simply unbeatable.

The book is about a 90 year old chronic bachelor who wants to celebrate his 90th birthday with an adolescent virgin. His special birthday gift to himself becomes an obsession and later the love of his life at the last hours of his life. Having with lots of women, the protagonist takes pride in the fact that he had always paid all of them. Even when they did out of love, he had forced them to take money.

Once he was to marry one of the most eligible ladies of the town. But on the very day of marriage he succumbed to his horror to commit and didn’t turn p in the church.

After all this, it is only at the age of 9 that he finds this girl. He never talks to the girl. For that matter he can’t even recognize her in the day light. And the funniest part is that he doesn't even sleep with her in the literal sense. Still he realizes she is the love of his life.

The story is all about his concerns about the 15 year old, his obssessions and his longing for her. This is one of the best books I have come across.

Next time you pass by a book shop, just drop in and pick up this book. I can guarantee you won’t be wasting your money.

The Trial – Franz Kafka

This is the second novel of his I am reading in a row.

Thanks to Max Brod for rescuing this one and publishing. Otherwise Kafka never intended to get it published. This was rather unfinished when Kafka died. There is an ending ofcourse, which sounds plausible, but you never know if the author wanted to write more. There is a chapter that is unfinished. So that means, he wrote the ending and was bridging the gaps?

My poor vocabulary doesn’t give me a proper word to describe the book in one word. So I resort to the word - excellent.

The protagonist is a chief clerk in a bank named Josef K. One morning he gets up and finds two gentlemen waiting for him. In a few minutes he learns that he is put under arrest. For what? He never learns neither do us. He stops thinking of his fault or crime as we proceed. Rather he completely forgets that he has to know why he is arrested, within a couple of initial pages.

He was arrested in the strangest of ways. They say he is arrested and don’t reveal why. They admit they don’t know it themselves. And then they leave telling him he is free to lead his normal life but has to appear in court if summoned.

There are characters who appear during one particular chapter or other, whom you feel would be of great importance but suddenly disappear without any mention. There is Miss Burstner, Court Usher’s wife, the student, Titorelli the painter, Leni, The business man. But the most intriguing of all are the whip man and the policemen with him.

During his very first appearance in the court, he mentions that the policemen who came to arrest him had eaten his breakfast and wanted to take his expensive clothes. Then one day as he was leaving for home he hears some noise from the junk room in the bank. He sees the two policemen and a man with a whip. The whip man was punishing the two policemen as K had complained against them. I didn’t understand how is it possible for them to occupy the bank’s junk room. Does that mean K was loosing his mind owing the stress of trial? Or that was a deliberate act by the court to put more pressure on him? He finds everything repeated the next day also. I am confused.

Wherever K goes, he finds all the people and places are related to the court in some way or the other. Even the little girls at the painters place are also said to be belonging to the court. And once again there is no explanation as to why or how? I thought K would go back to the painter for help. He didn’t. or may be Kafka died before writing something more. In that case he would have written more chapters on all of these mysterial characters.

The second last chapter, The Cathedral, is the most intriguing of all chapters. He goes to the Cathedral to meet an Italian client but ends up meeting the priest. Who was that old man doing wild gestures? And how did the priest know K’s name? Even the priest turn out to be related to the court. Still this chapter is the best part of the novel.

In the last chapter two new men come and take K out. There they kill him by stabbing in his heart. K goes with them willingly, knowing that he would die. But we realize that only after a couple of paragraphs. Then why was he killed before his trial ended and a verdict was given?

It is said that Kafka took Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky as a reference. To be frank, I didn’t see any obvious influence of Dostoevsky. But it is quite possible.

There are again a lot of mundane activities explained in detail. Certain descriptions are brilliant. But some other is, though excellent narration drags a little long. For example the chapter in which he thinks about the advocate, the thought process is stretched too far that somewhere in the middle I got lost and had to go back and check if I have missed any lines in between as there was a conversational dialogue which confused me.

Kafka didn’t think that as readers we may need some explanation and conclusion. That is what makes this book different. There are lots of things that we are left without any reasoning. But that is the excitement in this book.

If you have some time to read a 100 page book, definitely go for this. I have become a Kafka fan.

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

Heard of this word – Kafkaesque?

Check in the dictionary and if you still don’t understand, read “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, the iconoclastic German novelist. Kafka’s style of writing is been interpreted through schools of Modernism, Magical Realism and Existentialism. With my limited knowledge of these schools of criticism and having read only one of his novels, I feel it is more of Existentialism and bit of Magical Realism.

Though they were into different mediums of expression, there is a glaring similarity between Kafka and Vincent Van Gogh, the post impressionist Dutch painter. Kafka remained unpublished and unnoticed till he died at a young age just as Van Gogh. Both were ill, Kafka physically and Van Gogh mentally ;). Today their works are among the most admired and sought after.

He doesn’t have any extra ordinary subject to explore in this book. It is rather a crazy idea. No sane soul would come up with a main character like this. I won’t say this is a brilliant piece of work. This is rather an unimaginable plot narrated through mundane incidents. but once you read you would want to go hunting all the book stores in town to gather all of his other works.

The protagonist is Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman. One fine morning he wakes up and finds himself metamorphosed into a “horrible vermin”.

This is the first paragraph –

One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.

The incredibility of the situation isn’t much explored. It is all about how the family takes care of the disgustingly huge vermin. Gregor was living with his bankrupt father, ailing mother and teenage sister. He was barely managing the financial needs of the family.

The book makes an irresistible read throughout. You have to read to believe how captive is the way he narrates about the first morning the metamorphosis happens. Gregor, the vermin, tries to crawl to the door and open it; the initial shock and acceptance by the family. His sister, Grete, takes his responsibly.

He is ashamed of his own physical appearance and is aware of the embarrassment and emotional trauma he”is forced to impose” on his family. So he hides under the couch every time a family member enters his room.

But it ends on a different note. Gregor, the darling and bread winner of the family, is helpless when he finds out all the others are forced to work to provide for the family. He is full of love for his siter and mom, but can’t express. He dies, much to the relief of his family. But don’t expect an overflow of emotions or tears through the pages.

The ending is what I liked the most. Things are normal and his family makes a quick entry to the normal life like Gregor never existed with them. Simple.

Kafka is, simply put, different. Read it. You will not regret spending the time on it.

It made a great reading to me. Give it a try.

Siddhartha – Herman Hesse

My brother had seen a play on this book by some aspiring director whose name was Ajayan, I think. This happened when I was wasting time at home after my graduation. He came with full of admiration for the play and the book. And next week he managed to get a copy of the book.

This book has a philosophy, which I find very much true to my way of things. At the same it is very simple and the language is not complicated that I had to be glued onto the dictionary.

Siddhartha is desirable Brahmin youth. Adept in his vedic studies and the pride of his parents. He has a close friend Gopal(I guess that was his name). But Siddhartha wasn’t satisfied with the kind of life he was leading. So he decides to be a disciple of Gautama Buddha. His parents painfully agree. And Gopal chooses to follow his friend. Finally they reach their destination.

I vaguely remember certain conversation between Siddhartha and Buddha. There are two things that I am not impressed with at this stage. First one is that the wisdom of Buddha, I feel, isn’t highlighted enough. Second thing, the reason why Siddhartha decided to move on isn’t stressed to extend it should have. But I totally agree with the path chosen by him. I am convinced with the reason but not impressed with the narration.

Siddhartha goes in search of his destiny but Gopal decides to follow The Buddha. The best of friends, thus part their ways. Here I appreciate the individual space take by the friends. So is the fact that despite being inseperable in everything else, they accept it that their destinies are diferent. They accept it with an enviable tranquility. The author doesn't play with the emotions. But plays at a different and higher level, through out the book.

There after he gets to a kingdom where he gets everything from money to fame by his sheer knowledge and wisdom. He, still remains detached to his all that he had accumulated. He also meets Kamala, who is a courtesan. He knew he lacked the knowledge of love. So he chooses to learn it from her.

Though thoroughly impressed by the magnitude of his personality, initially she refuses to teach him anything unless she is paid for i t. After he gathers enough of money he starts frequenting her. There is an unsaid bond of love between them. Hesse doesn’t write much about that. But that can be easily read between the lines. The love and the mutual respect. The most wonderful aspect is that their love doesn’t bind them but set them free. They grow together.

This novel was filmed with Simi Gerewal as Kamala. And there was some controversial scene during there teachings. I don’t how was that handled in the movie. But the book handles it brilliantly.

One fine morning Siddhartha decides to leave everything and go back to his ascetic life. He was sitting in his garden while that thought came to him. He simply gets up and walks off. When Kamala comes to know about it, she doesn’t show any sorrow. But shuts the door of her bungalow forever to her patrons.

Siddhartha reaches a riverside and make acquaintance with a boatman on the river side. The man turns out to be a great teacher to him so he chooses to stay with him. When he dies, Siddhartha stays on as the next boatman.

One day Gopal happens to travel through that place thereby taking his assistance in crossing the river. Another day, Kamala comes there, totally unknowing that she would met him. She comes there with their son. She was on her way to The Buddha. I think both Gopal and Kamala were going as The Buddha has passed away. I don’t remember.

But the reunions are written well. There is no emotional turmoil. And Kamala dies in is lap. He is happy to get his son. But the guy isn’t happy living in his hut as he is acuustomed to his mother’s bungalow. The kid runs off. Siddartha searches him everywhere in vein. Finally he comes back with the kind of pace he had always been searching.

This is not one of those typical books that speak about Moksha or Nirvana. Rather this book tells us not to run away from the life as a layman. Take learning from everywhere. From the boatman, from the courtesan, from the merchant or from the lady at the well.

Siddhartha lives through all phases of life. But never ever he is quenched of his thirst for knowledge. Even Gautama The Buddha couldn’t fill his needs !!!!!!!!!!

Through out the book you can see the silent veneration of Siddhartha towards Buddha.

To be frank, I didn’t find it as much impressive as my brother told me. But yea, the underlying philosophy is very much thought provoking. I feel there is no point in running off from life and being an ascetic searching for peace or knowledge. It is all in your perception. And the biggest ability is the ability to be open to all forms of knowledge, even those that the so called sophisticated scholars would scorn at.

Will I ever e able to step out of my ego, my preconceived notions and my complacence ? I wish I could ...

City of Joy- Dominique Lapere

I have read 2 more books of him co-authored with Larry Collins - Freedom At Midnight and Is Paris Burning. Both are really good, especially the First one as it is about Indian Independence. We can relate to it. Second one Is about the France's fight against Hitler during World War 2. Again good. Very captive writing style.

City of Joy is about a slum in Calcutta. There is a movie by that name which I haven’t seen. It is told by means of an evangelist priest who serves the poor, living with them. He lives a devout Christian life, yet come to discover that Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist, God is right there with us. God has no religion or name. The priest wasn’t the usual lot who would create a big hulla-bulla about conversions and religious brain washing. He didn’t attempt anything of that sort.

He accepted the religion of the slum, the religion of humanity, as his own. He was such a great man of God that he could assimilate everything into his God. He would chant Om Jesus and be apart of the religious celebrations of Hindus and Muslims of the slum. There is not a single mention of an occasion where anyone had been inspired to convert into Christianity by him. May be, it takes more than our dead brains to decipher the real meaning of The Bible. He did. He is, indeed a great man.

The people of the slum also, embraced him as one of them. They had there initial apprehension about his true intentions, quite justifiable. But that gave way to the true love flowed from him. There is a scene at a railway station where the Ghosh family was returning to their village. The man of the family asked the priest to bless him in the name of Jesus even if he was a Hindu. He considered Jesus as just another form of an all encompassing, omnipotent God.

It was great to read how Kovalski(the priest) got the people together to improve their lives. How he instilled confidence in them and how he overcome his own reservations about the Lepers and the Hijras. I would have puked onto the book when the author narrated about the crude amputation of the lepors and the castration of the Hijras.

The second protagonist is a young peasant who migrated to Calcutta from Bihar, owing to a bad famine. It is about how the poor thing struggled to make a meager survival with his family, how he gets one hope after the other. I was touched deeply while reading about his pains in collecting the dowry for his daughter. Have you heard of selling your own bones? This guy did. And the buyer paid him 500 bucks and waited for him to die so that he could collect the bones and export it to US universities.

There are flaws in the book, or may be I can’t help being an inveterate critic. I have felt that the author takes a sarcastic look at the other religions, at times. And he has glorified Mother Teresa a little too much, again at times. But the author is well known as a disciple of hers. And I have some personal reservations about her, though I respect her for her life dedicated to the suffering.

This book tells u, there is a god, who lives right here with u. Man, I am moved by reading this. I really fell what use are lives of? We can't live in harmony with our roommates. Still crib about a boss or the canteen food.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. And the best, as far as the non-fiction and non-story types are concerned. This is a relatively fat book. But worth it.

Must read as an Indian. More over, must read as a human being.

There were occasions I felt my eyes getting wet, both 'cos of sorrow and 'cos of joy. I didn’t read the book. But the author made me live thru it. I lived in The City of Joy.