Literary Jewels

Israel bars Gunter Grass over his Poem

2012-04-09T02:24:00.000+05:30

Gunter Grass, the 1999 Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature, has been barred by Israel for openly claiming that Israel is a 'threat to the world peace' in one of his poems 'What Must Be Said'. In the ripe old age of 84, Gunter Grass, an author, playwright and sculptor, has courted a huge controversy and the issue of claiming that "nuclear-armed Israel is endangering already fragile world peace" has generated a lot of heat. The poem 'What Must Be Said' has been published in the German newspaper, 'Süddeutsche Zeitung'. A lot of hue and cry has been raised in Israel as well as in Germany, as both Left and Right-wing politicians support Israel because of various historical reasons. Iran has very happily welcomed Grass' poem. The poet has a few other supporters too. Klaus Staeck, the president of the Berlin academy of art, defended Grass saying, “It's got to be possible to speak openly without being denounced as an enemy of Israel”. He stated that Mr. Grass was just giving vent to his feelings and worries about the developments in Middle East. Now what we have here is a nice amalgam of literature, politics and the question artistic freedom! Let's see how things turn out to be. To keep an eye on the turn of events, maintain track of Literary Jewels More discussions will follow. There are many questions raised, but they can only be answered after a bit of pondering over the matter. Keep your thoughts and reactions flowing in...

Adrienne Rich, award-winning feminist poet dies at 82

2012-04-04T13:57:00.000+05:30

Adrienne Rich (1929 - 2012

The news of death of Adrienne Rich, an American poet, essayist and feminist, pulled be back to a reading of her works. As I have always said, rather than discussing a writer's biographic facts in detail (which are available at any website or book), it is more important to discuss his/her literary writings. This especially behoves a literary website like Literary Jewels

She died on 27 March, 2012.

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

My swirling wants. Your frozen lips.
The grammar turned and attacked me.
Themes, written under duress.
Emptiness of the notations.

They gave me a drug that slowed the healing of wounds.

I want you to see this before I leave:
the experience of repetition as death
the failure of criticism to locate the pain
the poster in the bus that said:
my bleeding is under control

A red plant in a cemetary of plastic wreaths.

A last attempt: the language is a dialect called metaphor.
These images go unglossed: hair, glacier, flashlight.
When I think of a landscape I am thinking of a time.
When I talk of taking a trip I mean forever.
I could say: those mountains have a meaning
but further than that I could not say.

To do something very common, in my own way.

NOTE: Submit your viewpoints about the poem. Let's start a literary discussion...Keep watching this space for more insights into this writing and much more...

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2012-03-25T22:15:00.001+05:30

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Man Asian Literary Prize Winner 2011

2012-03-16T17:27:00.000+05:30

South Korean novelist, Kyung-sook Shin became the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize, Asia’s most prestigious award for writers, for her novel ‘Please Look After Mom’. She received the amount of US$30,000 at the black tie dinner at The Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong. The translator of the novel is Chi-Young Kim. He also received a sum of US$5,000. This prize is the first for a South Korean writer.

Man Asian Literary Prize Dinner Event

2012-03-10T00:01:00.001+05:30

The winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize 2011 will be announced on 15 March, 2012. Razia Iqbal is the Chair Judge. The other judges are, Vikas Swarup, the author of 'Q&A', the book on which the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' was based; Chang-rae Lee, a Pulitzer-prize finalist who authored 'The Surrendered'.

The 2011 Shortlist is as follows:

JAMIL AHMAD, Pakistan - The Wandering Falcon
JAHNAVI BARUA, India - Rebirth
RAHUL BHATTACHARYA, India - The Sly Company of People Who Care
AMITAV GHOSH, India - River of Smoke
KYUNG-SOOK SHIN, South Korea - Please Look After Mom
YAN LIANKE, China - Dream of Ding Village
BANANA YOSHIMOTO, Japan - The Lake

A dinner event has been organized with the seven finalists by the Hong Kong Literary Festival in association with Man Asian Literary Prize. The tickets for the event to be held on 14 March, 2012 have already been sold out. Each ticket costs 600 Hong Kong dollars. There will be a book signing session at the end of the event.
The 'Sold Out' tag might have put off some of the prospective participants. Now all they can do is wait for the fifteenth for the final announcement. Keep watching this space for the declaration of the result! Till then....Happy Reading!

Seven novels make Man Asian Literary Prize’s strongest shortlist

2012-03-09T23:30:00.000+05:30

An unprecedented seven novels have been shortlisted for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize, Chair Judge Razia Iqbal announced today. Speaking at a press conference at Man Group offices in London, Ms. Iqbal revealed that because of the strength of contemporary fiction coming out of Asia, the decision had been made to increase the number of writers on the shortlist from the usual five to seven.
The shortlisted titles are as follows: AUTHOR, Country – Title (Publisher)
• JAMIL AHMAD, Pakistan – The Wandering Falcon (Penguin India/Hamish Hamilton)
• JAHNAVI BARUA, India – Rebirth (Penguin India/Penguin Books)
• RAHUL BHATTACHARYA, India - The Sly Company of People Who Care (Pan
Macmillan/Pan Macmillan India/Picador)
• AMITAV GHOSH, India - River of Smoke (John Murray/Penguin India/Hamish Hamilton)
• KYUNG-SOOK SHIN, South Korea – Please Look After Mom (Alfred A. Knopf)
• YAN LIANKE, China - Dream of Ding Village (Grove Atlantic)
• BANANA YOSHIMOTO, Japan - The Lake (Melville House)
90 books were submitted for entry in 2011 and the longlist of 12 books was announced in October last year. Four of the shortlisted novels were originally written in English; the novels from South Korea, China and Japan are all judged in translation. Speaking of the decision Chair Judge, Razia Iqbal said, “The judges were greatly impressed by the imaginative power of the stories now being written about rapidly changing life in worlds as diverse as the arid borderlands of Pakistan, the crowded cityscape of modern Seoul, and the opium factories of nineteenth century Canton. This power and diversity made it imperative for us to expand the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize shortlist beyond the usual five books.”
The two other judges for this year’s Prize are Pulitzer-prize finalist and author of The Surrendered, Chang-rae Lee, and Vikas Swarup, author of Q&A which was filmed as Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. The judges’ comments on each book can be found
below. Chair Director of the Man Asian Literary Prize, Prof. David Parker said, "Once again the Man Asian Literary Prize makes a unique offering by bringing the best writing of both South and East Asia into the same frame, allowing us all to glimpse the diverse richness of imagination in play in Asia today.”
The winner of the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize will be announced on Thursday March 15 th 2012 at a black tie dinner in Hong Kong, the home of the Prize.

THE SHORTLISTED BOOKS

Jamil Ahmad - The Wandering Falcon
Jamil Ahmad was born in Jalandhar in 1933. As a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan, he served mainly in the Frontier Province and in Balochistan. He was Political Agent in Quetta, Chaghi, Khyber and Malakand. Later, he was commissioner in Dera Ismail Khan and in Swat. He was also chairman of the Tribal Development Corporation. He was posted as minister in Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul at a critical time, before and during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He now lives in Islamabad, The Wandering Falcon is his first novel.
About the book
Set in the decades before the rise of the Taliban, Jamil Ahmad’s stunning debut takes us to the essence of human life in the forbidden areas where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet. Today the ‘tribal areas’ are often spoken about as a remote region, a hotbed of conspiracies, drone attacks and conflict. In The Wandering Falcon, this highly traditional, honour-bound culture is revealed from the inside for the first time.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
“A stark and loosely connected set of stories set on the frontiers of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, which seem timeless and absorbing; this has the feel of a captivating classic.”

Jahnavi Barua - Rebirth
Jahnavi Barua is based in Bangalore. She is a medical doctor but has been writing fiction for the past seven years. Her first book, Next Door, a collection of short stories, was published by Penguin India in 2008 to wide critical acclaim. Barua’s short fiction has been widely anthologized and she also contributes essays and book reviews to various
publications. In 2006, the British Council awarded her a Charles Wallace Trust fellowship for Creative Writing.
About the book
Rebirth is the story of Kaberi, a young woman coming to grips with an uncertain marriage. It is also an intimate portrait of the passionate bond between a mother and her unborn child. Moving between Bangalore and Guwahati the novel weaves together Kaberi’s inner and outer worlds as she negotiates the treacherous waters of betrayal and loss.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
“This is highly controlled, finely restrained writing. What appears to be a straightforward portrait of an uncertain marriage reveals itself layer after layer to be a more poignant tale of the redemptive power of love, but also of the power of story telling to make yourself anew.”

Rahul Bhattacharya – The Sly Company of People Who Care
Rahul Bhattacharya was born in 1979. A cricket journalist since 2000, he is now a contributing editor with Wisden Asia Cricket and has been writing for the Wisden Almanack since 2003, when he compiled the series overview of India in England, 2002. He also writes for the Guardian.
About the book
A twenty-six-year-old Indian journalist decides to give up his job and travel to a country where he can escape the deadness of his life'. So he arrives in Guyana, a forgotten colonial society of raw, mesmerising beauty. From the beautiful, decaying wooden houses of Georgetown, through coastal sugarcane plantations, to the dark rainforest interior scavenged by diamond-hunters, he is absorbed by the fantastic possibilities of this place where the descendants of the enslaved and the indentured have made a new world.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
“Part travelogue, part novel, this is both funny and smart: a young Indian cricket journalist travels to Guyana, and finds it and its people beguiling. Bhattacharya's prose style is reminiscent of early Naipaul, and his engagement with his subject is full of humanity.”

Amitav Ghosh – River of Smoke
Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956 and grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He is the author of several novels including the bestselling Sea of Poppies which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. He currently divides his time between Calcutta, Goa and Brooklyn.
About the book
In September 1838 a storm blows up on the Indian Ocean and the Ibis, a ship carrying a consignment of convicts and indentured laborers from Calcutta to Mauritius, is caught up in the whirlwind. On the grand scale of an historical epic, River of Smoke follows its stormtossed characters to the crowded harbors of China. There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for boxes of tea, silk, porcelain and silver. Following Sea of Poppies, this is the second novel in Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
“This is epic story telling, set against the backdrop of the Opium wars, meticulously researched and important. It not only presents a strong case for hybridity, but also a reminder of an earlier time when the East was ascendant.”

Kyung-sook Shin - Please Look After Mom
Translated by Chi-Young Kim
Kyung-sook Shin is the author of numerous works of fiction and is one of South Korea’s most widely read and acclaimed novelists. She has been honored with the Manhae Literature Prize, the Dong-in Literature Prize, and the Yi Sang Literary Prize, as well as France’s Prix de l’Inaperçu. Please Look After Mom is her first book to appear in English and will be published in twenty-nine countries. Currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York City, she lives in Seoul.
About the book
A million-plus-copy best seller in Korea, Please Look After Mom is the stunning, deeply moving story of a family’s search for their mother, who goes missing one afternoon amid the crowds of the Seoul Station subway.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
“This is a moving and structurally compelling novel, which examines a single family's history through the story of the matriarch, who mysteriously goes missing from a train station. A disquieting portrait of what can happen when ancient rituals and tradition are ignored in favour of modernity.”

Yan Lianke – Dream of Ding Village
Translated by Cindy Carter
Yan Lianke was born in 1958 in Henan Province, China. He is the author of many novels and shortstory collection, including Serve the People!, and has won China’s two top literary awards, the Lu Xun for Nian, yue, ri (The Year, the Month, the Day), and the Lao She for Shouhuo (Pleasure).
About the book
Officially censored upon its Chinese publication, Dream of Ding Village is Chinese novelist Yan Lianke’s most important novel to date. Set in a poor village in Henan province, it is a deeply moving and beautifully written account of a blood-selling scandal in contemporary China.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
“An impressive and searing work, which chronicles the disturbing practice of blood selling using dirty needles in rural China, which results in peasants becoming infected with the AIDS virus; both true story and allegory on the price a country can pay in the pursuit of power, money and real estate.”

Banana Yoshimoto – The Lake
Translated by Michael Emmerich
Banana Yoshimoto wrote her first novel, Kitchen, while working as a waitress at a golf-course restaurant. It sold millions of copies worldwide, and led to a phenomenon dubbed by Western journalists as “Banana-mania.” Yoshimoto has gone on to be one of the biggest-selling and most distinguished writers in Japanese history, winning numerous awards for her work. The Lake is her thirteenth book of fiction.
About the book
The novel tells the tale of a young woman who moves to Tokyo after the death of her mother, hoping to get over her grief and start a career as a graphic artist. She finds herself spending too much time staring out her window, though ... until she realizes she’s gotten used to seeing a young man across the street staring out his window, too. They eventually embark on a hesitant romance, until she learns that he has been the victim of some form of childhood trauma. Visiting two of his friends who live a monastic life beside a beautiful lake, she begins to piece together a series of clues that lead her to suspect his experience may have had something to do with a bizarre religious cult.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
“Both poetic and atmospheric, The Lake is a moving glimpse into the nature of an unconventional relationship; the couple who have a troubled past seek solace and solitude by a lake in the country, where dark secrets are unearthed.”

About The Man Asian Literary Prize
The Man Asian Literary Prize was founded in 2007. It is an annual literary award given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. The judges choose a longlist of 10 to 15 titles announced in October, followed by a shortlist of 5 to 6 titles announced in January, and a winner is awarded in March. The winning author is awarded USD 30,000 and the translator (if any) USD 5,000.

Charles Dickens' 200th birthday

2012-02-07T18:28:00.000+05:30

Charles Dickens

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

(Charles Dickens wrote in 'A Tale of Two Cities')

A remarkable statement by one of the greatest classic writers, Charles Dickens, stands so true for our situation today! Remembering Charles Dickens on his 200th birthday today (Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth, England)the most befitting tribute we can pay to this reverred author is holding his words close to our hearts and cherishing them as always. The present is considered to be an age of 'knowledge explosion'. The same holds true for the literary world. We have had a hurricane of writings, good and bad. Let us not be swept away by the this tide of sub-standard reading material. The classics can serve as a benchmark of quality for the present. This opinion is not at all to negate all the contributions being made to literature today.

Let us think of 'A Tale of Two Cities', 'Great Expectations', 'David Copperfield', 'The Pickwick Papers' and give them their due place in the glorious history of English literature.

Things to Remember

2012-02-07T00:17:00.001+05:30

LESSONS FROM LIFE

Things to always remember

YOUR presence is a present to the world.

You are unique and one of a kind.

Your life can be what you want it to be.

Take the days just one at a time.

Count your blessings, not your troubles.

You will make it through whatever comes along.

Within you are so many answers.

Understand, have courage, be strong.

Do not put limits on yourself.

So many dreams are waiting to be realised.

Decisions are too important to leave to chance.

Reach for your peak, your goal and your prize.

Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.

The longer one carries a problem the heavier it gets.

Do not take things too seriously.

Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

Remember that a little love goes a long way.

Remember that a lot goes forever.

Remember that friendship is a wise investment.

Life’s treasure are people together.

Realise that it is never too late.

Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

Have health and hope and happiness.

Take the time to wish upon a start.

And do not ever forget.

For even a day

How very special you are!

(Author unknown, source unknown)

Book Review: Delhi - 14 Historical Walks

2012-02-06T21:05:00.001+05:30

This book authored by Swapna Liddle is a product of putting in loads of time while taking a ‘walking’ route to the most famous monuments of the city of Delhi. The book is a complete package with the details about how to reach the place, the historical background and a step-by-step walk through the place. For the convenience of the tourists, who are not so familiar with the locale, the author has also given information about the issues concerning parking facility, nearest metro station, basic amenities available there and important things to be carried. Special tips (if any), events organized at the particular place and other important bits of news are the highlights of every story.

As the reader goes through the chapter, he feels as if he is himself walking through that monument. One gets a feel of that place; such is the impact of the printed word. An additional benefit of the book is that along with guiding you to the particular place, it also provides you an eye-view into the glorious past and history of the concerned monument or place. The illustrations add to the beauty of the content of the book and also enhance the quality of the information given. The glossary and the timeline of events given at the end of the book are especially very useful. The book not only provides the historical context but also information about the architectural significance. And what adds to the utility value is that the method of describing the architectural characteristics is such as makes it very easy for even a novice reader. The utility of this book not only relevant for the tourists; it will also come to the aid of locals, students of History. It is suitable for all age-groups, both youngsters and adults.

There a few things that might make the reader a bit hesitant in categorizing the book in the best books category. And those deterring factors include a few misprints here and there. The book makes poor reading from point of view of the quality of language used – it is poor on punctuation, there are few grammatical errors too and flaws in sentence structures. The language used in the book is a very simple one but that point can be justified by the fact that this is not a literary piece of work. It is just a compilation of information about different heritage monuments with a view to inspire people to walk to those places to enjoy their beauty.

Overall, we can say that this book is not just for adorning your drawing room bookshelf. It will occupy a place of utility, or might be an important part of your travel bag. Hence, it might make your tourism and journey all the more informative and enjoyable. This will enable you to have a well-guided tour even without a guide.

This review was posted as a part of the Book Reviews Program by BlogAdda.com

Salman Rushdie at Jaipur Literature Festival 2012

2012-01-23T14:55:00.001+05:30

Yes, Salman Rushdie will be a part of the Jaipur Literature Festival - 2012 finally! Don't believe it? Believe it or not, this is what is true. True that Rushdie won't be physically present, But he will be addressing the festival through video conferencing at 3:34 pm IST on Tuesday; January 24, 2012. He has been venting out his anger through his tweets. He is outraged by the information that he received the death threat. He is believed to have learnt that the death alert was fake. He has also given a statement to the Press that the story was concocted by the Rajasthan Police. Earlier he was told that some Mumbai assassins from the underworld had been hired to kill him. But these reports were not owned by the Mumbai police as according to them they had received no such input. With the controversy refusing to die down, rather advancing with the leaving of the four authors,Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi, who had read excerpts from Rushdie's book 'Satanic Verses' as a mark of protest; Rushdie has agreed for video linking from New York to the venue of the Festival.

Rushdie and Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 - an Afterword

2012-01-23T13:55:00.000+05:30

Rushdie controversy instead of dying down, seems to be growing with each passing day. The latest development has been that the four authors (Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi), who read excerpts from Salman Rushdie's controversial book 'Satanic Verses' as a mark of protest, have left the Jaipur Literature Festival - 2012 midway, with the organizers asking them to leave as an aftermath of a threat of arrest of those authors. William Dalrymple, one of the organizers of the Festival has confirmed this. With a view to clarify the organizers' stance, he said that they didn't know that reading from the book was an arrestable offence. Probably he had an undercurrent of satire too in saying that! Asaduddin Owaisi, a Member of Parliament and president of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has voiced his demand of arresting those four 'erring' authors. He has been quoted as saying, "Reading from a banned book is a deliberate provocation and proof that the festival is a forum for Islam bashing". Let's see how the events turn next!

Author of Controversial Gandhi Book in India

2012-01-21T14:26:00.000+05:30

The controversy does not begin and end with Salman Rushdie this Jaipur Literature Festival (2012). We have another controversial author in India. He is Joseph Lelyveld, the author of 'Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India'. The book when published was received with opposing voices from some Hindu groups. They were outraged after a few reviews published about the book suggested that the author had hinted at Gandhi being a gay.

This is Lelyveld's first encounter with Indian audience and readers, and he says he has had a wonderful experience.

Rushdie and Jaipur Literature Festival 2012

2012-01-21T14:16:00.000+05:30


Amitava Kumar and Hari Kunzru reading out from 'Satanic Verses'						Photo Courtesy: India Today

There was a clear cut proof of the protest of the authors over Salman Rushdie issue. The controversial author of 'Satanic Verses', Rushdie had announced that he won't be attending the Festival. The literary community had already been expressing their anger over the protests against Rushdie. But two of the authors attending the Jaipur Literature Festival 2012, Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar, had their ingenuous way of protesting. They read out portions of 'Satanic Verses' in their session. Kunzru clearly declared in a tweet that he was doing this to defy bigots and the shoe-throwers. They also quoted Rushdie's tweet in which he had thanked the two authors for showing such a gesture. A while later two more authors joined the stream, namely, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi. So we can say that Rushdie is present even while being absent for this literary extravaganza!

Latest Issue of 'The Literary Jewels'

2012-01-17T23:26:00.001+05:30

'The Literary Jewels' Issue: January-March, 2012

The latest issue of 'The Literary Jewels' - an online magazine of Art, Culture and Education is available now. You can access it here: The Literary Jewels

A GLANCE AT THE CONTENTS:

Cover Story
Chetan Bhagat: The Story 'Seller'

Book Review
Revolution 2020

Photo Essay
Faith and Nature

Special Features
Jaipur Literature Festival 2012

Other Columns:
Telling a Tale
In Philosophical Terms
Words' Worth
Poetic Pleasure
Art and Artifacts
Letters to the Editor

and much more...Read and enjoy
Most importantly, don't forget to give your feedback!

Salman Rushdie's India Visit Cancelled

2012-01-17T20:28:00.000+05:30

TIME FOR SOME NEWS UPDATE FOLKS!!

The much talked about Salman Rushdie's visit to India during the Jaipur Literature Festival - 2012 is again in news. But now for the exactly opposite reasons, that is, the calling off of Rushdie's visit. The visit was cancelled after Rajasthan govermnent raised fears of security threat. Rajasthan police has confirmed that Rushdie's trip has been cancelled. They had persuaded the organisers of the Festival to ask Salman Rushdie to call off his visit. Rushdie was being believed to be the main draw at this annual Literature Festival held every year at Diggi Palace, Jaipur. Earlier it was scheduled that Rushdie would be a part of two sessions, namely, 'Midnight's Child' (20 January) and 'Inglish Amlish: The chutneyfication of English' (21 January), to be held at the Jaipur Literature Festival - 2012 (20-24 January, 2012).

Rushdie or no Rushdie the festival has already got its share of publicity. What remains to be seen is how much this cancellation would affect in numbers!

Salman Rushdie in India

2012-01-11T19:08:00.000+05:30

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie, the famed author of 'Midnight's Children' has been in news ever since it was announced that he'll be visiting the Jaipur Literature Festival - 2012, to be held at Jaipur from 20 to 24 January this year. After that there were a few voices of protest on Rushdie being granted a visa to visit India. Now he has become an election issue too. Amused? It's true. According to a news item published the website of 'The Hindu', dated 11 January, 2012, Omar Abdullah (Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir) has said that visa being given to Salman Rushdie is unlikely to be a big election issue for Muslims, who are more concerned with their day-to-day affairs. Nevertheless, the name of Rushdie has to be discussed on whether that would become an election issue or not and that is what is important.

Rushdie himself has tried to brush aside the controversy surrounding a demand for denial of visa to him, by tweeting that he would be visiting India. He also posted a tweet mentioning: "Regarding my Indian visit, for the record, I don't need a visa."

It may be mentioned here that Rushdie has earned this wrath of the Muslim community all over the world with his controversial 'Satanic Verses' that was published in the year 1988. Earlier too Rushdie was in India to attend Commonwealth Writers Prize awards in 2000 and the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2007. With a view to silence the controversial opinions cropping up Sanjoy Roy, managing director of Teamworks Productions, the organizers of the Jaipur Literature Festival said (as quoted by Times of India (dated 11 January, 2012), "A literary platform like the Jaipur festival provides a space for free speech in India's best democratic traditions."

Harry Potter aspires to be a writer

2011-12-29T12:14:00.008+05:30

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe has worked in the series of Harry Potter films as the lead character of Harry Potter:
# Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
# Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
# Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
# Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
# Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
# Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
# Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010)
# Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)

The films have been based on novels by J.K.Rowling. And now Harry Potter aka Daniel Radcliffe himself aspires to be a writer. He says that he wants to try his hand at scripting a play or a film.
Daniel, who has been working in films ever since he was 12-year-old, says, "Every time I see a play or a film,I want to write something. I'm convinced in my heart that I am a writer, but I have no ideas."
Let's see if some ideas strike him and his pen churns out some inspired piece of writing!

Book Review: ‘Harbart’ by Naburn Bhattacharya

2011-12-28T17:37:00.000+05:30

Harbart Sarkar, the protagonist of the novel ‘Harbart’ by Nabarun Bhattacharya (translated to English by Arunava Sinha), is the sole proprietor of a business. He has had a tragic and eventful childhood. Harbart was the son of Lalit Kumar and Shobharani. His father lost all the money in gambling that he had made from the war economy. Harbart lost his parents when he was less than two years old; his father in an accident and his mother due to electrocution. Having faced such a tumultuous childhood, he goes on to live with his uncle, Girish Kumar. Life was not smooth for him even after that shift. He had to live on the charity of his relatives. Being a highly neglected child, nobody noticed that he had left his school and only indulged in a bit of self-study.

His life takes a sudden, complete turn when he discovers a skull along with a few bones lying in a trunk in his room. The discovery of such things gives a huge boost to his hunger for knowing about the mysterious death and after-life. And this was the beginning of his intriguing business. And his business is nothing short of the most extraordinary. He is into communicating messages of the dead to their near and dear ones on this Earth. Then in continuing with the chain of turn of events, one night after a bout of drinking Harbart is discovered dead in his room. With a view to gathering an insight into the after-world, he took to reading more and more on such topics.

While going through this novel, the rational reader might find this pill a bit too hard to digest. Despite a sense of skepticism being there that dominates a major part of the novel, there are times when the reader feels for Harbart. For instance, it is heartbreaking when Harbart is labeled as an impostor.

One incident that gives a new direction to Harbart’s life is Binu’s revelation at his death-bed. Binu tells Harbart of his private diary.

The narrative technique is a bit complicated for a casual reader as it frequently shifts focus from the known to the unknown. The book has a few flaws that creep into the fabric of literary translations. It is worth a one-time read, as there are parts, which make you read more of it.

Do share your take on the book once you read it!

GRAND STYLE AND DICTION OF 'PARADISE LOST'

2011-12-27T23:21:00.000+05:30

“Forms and figures of speech originally the offspring of passion, but now the adopted children of power”.

COLERIDGE

INTRODUCTION

‘Paradise Lost’ was for Milton the fulfillment of a long cherished ambition. He had resolved that his ‘adventurous song’ intended to ‘soar with no middle flight’. Accordingly, after much deliberations he chose the epic form and a theme equally sublime. Milton himself tells us in Book IX that he could rise to the demands of his ‘sad task’ only.

‘If answerable style I can obtain

Of my careful celestial patroness.’

This ‘answerable style’ demanded a verse which admitted of dignity and flexibility and an ability to rise to the sublime heights. And no responsive readers of ‘Paradise Lost’ can fail to notice that Milton indeed did obtain such a style.

MILTON – THE INNOVATOR

According to Hamford, “Milton of all English writers is the greatest innovator in the matter of expression. It is not merely that forged out of various materials. It is marked by bold departures from English literary usage of his own or of any time. And yet it is this uniqueness of Milton’s style, its remoteness from ordinary English that has aroused a fierce controversy. If it is has found its admirers like M.Patilson, Bagehot, Saintsbury, Raleigh and in our own time C.S. Lewis, B.Rajan, Frank Kermod and L.Smith; the anti-Miltonians too are a formidable array – Ezra Pound, Middleton Murry, Herbert Reid, B. Debree and T.S. Eliot. Obviously, the best course would be to depend upon one’s own response.

INVOCATION

The very opening of the poem, the invocation reveals the grandeur of Milton’s style. It begins with a ‘syntactical leap’ by which we are kept suspended for thirty-six words without a verb. And even when we arrive at the word ‘sing’, we are once more deflected into a maze of subordinate clauses and phrases. Even at the full stop after ‘rhyme’ (line sixteenth) there is hardly any respite and the whole invocation really forms a single continuous statement. In fact, it can be looked upon as a ‘capsule summary’ not only of the theme and action of the whole poem but also of the most salient features of Milton’s grand style. This style is human for its unusual syntax, its exalted language and diction, rich allusions, remarkable epic-similes, formidable erudition and skilful handling of blank-verse.

LANGUAGE

Milton’s style has been called ‘grand style’ because it has always an unmistakable stamp of majesty in it. Milton’s language is not the language of ordinary life. His diction is grand and majestic and his language has a force and spontaneity of its own. He uses a lot of Latin words. He borrows words from Latin and employs them in his language in a befitting manner. He creates a language and diction which quite appropriate to his theme. The Miltonic diction follows the ancient models. Similes and metaphors abound; with the result that the impression that is left on our minds after reading his poetry is that of grandeur, majesty and dignity.

We can describe Milton’s grand style in the words of Matthew Arnold, who says, “In the sure and flawless perfection of his rhythm and diction, he is as admirable as Virgil or Dante, and in this respect he is unique amongst us. None else in English literature possesses the like distinction.” It is sometimes said that the language of ‘Paradise Lost’ is ‘no language’. But in the art of literature one often comes across several instances where the literary language is no spoken language. The Euphism of Lyly is one of the best examples. So is the prose of Milton. So too is the poetical vehicle of Milton. It is an artificial language but it is not the artifice of bombast.

VOCABULARY

The diction of Milton’s epic is a thing composed of many elements – all tending to result in a rich and varied medium. Milton’s vocabulary contains a large proportion of Latinized words such as ‘untamed reluctance’, ‘horrid here’, ‘prodigious’, ‘officious’ etc. Often Milton uses words in their Latin sense or sometimes in senses which have become obsolete. The best example is ‘influence’, which Milton uses in its old astrological sense of suitable fluid from the stars and planets, which was supposed to exorcise plants. Instances of this use are innumerable.

MILTON’S PECULARITIES

Milton prefers the Italian forms of words to forms of a French character such as ‘sovereignty’. Among other qualities of Milton’s style are his peculiar use of the Latin idiomatic participle construction (for example, the loss thus far recovered), the use of Nominative Absolute (for example, ‘I extinct’ meaning ‘I being extinct’); the use of past participle, the use of transitive verbs intransitively and vice-versa. Among other peculiarities of Milton’s diction is the use of adjectives as nouns, as ‘our stronger’ in the sense of ‘he who is stronger than us; a love for conciseness that compels Milton to compress the maximum meaning into few words in a characteristic passion with Milton. Milton is also famous for ‘Inversions’. For instance, take the sentence: “Where to with speedy words the archfiend replied”. Without inversion this sentence would read as: “The archfiend replied to this with speedy words”.

SIMILES AND METAPHORS

Among figures of similitude, of course, the simile and the metaphor abound, example of which stare up from every page.

In search of really remarkable comparisons he borrows from myth, legend, History, Science and travel and of course from contemporary events. And though sometimes, his similes seem to be carried away by prolific imagination, they have a definite purpose. In most cases they offer a changed perspective and are suggestive of Milton’s own attitude. For instance, Satan is at first depicted as of gigantic proportions. He is likened to the huge sea-beast Leviathan who may be mistaken for an island by the Pilot of “some small night-founded skiff”. But while this suggests Satan’s unusual dimensions Milton also implies the danger of taking shelter in Satan’s treacherous protection. Similarly Satan’s ‘ponderous’ shield is like the moon that Galileo scans through his ‘Optic glass’, his spear is like the mast of the ship, ‘shaped out of tallest pine’ growing on Norwegian heights’ what we are made to feel is Satan’s eye view. Yet a little later Satan and his crew are compared to ‘at Pygmian Race’ and to ‘autumnal leaves that strew the books in Vallambrose’.

Like dead leaves; these fallen angels are forever cut off from their source of life.

USE OF PATHETIC FALLACY

We must also refer to Milton’s use of the Pathetic Fallacy. It is an old device in poetry by which a poet attributes the feelings of living beings to inanimate things. In Paradise Lost, Book IX (782-784), for example, universal nature is represented as feeling a death-wound in the impending fall of Man at the moment when Eve eats the forbidden fruit:

“Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat

Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe.

That all was lost.”

These are the various ways in which Milton uses the English language in poetry. He works magic with the language, distorts it in the way he likes, uses foreign idiom in an excellent manner and handles the language like a linguistic wizard.

VERBAL MELODY
There is an important characteristic yet to be mentioned – the solemn grandeur of his verbal melody. This melody is in consonance with general atmosphere of the poem – a mood of awe and majesty and sublimity. Milton’s style has been called the grand style as there is grandeur in his music and in his description. Milton chooses his words for the sake of their sound effect.
“farewell happy fields,
Where Joy forever dwells. Hail Horrors hail,
Infernal world and thou profoundest hell,
Receive thy new possessor, one who brings,
A mind not to be changed by place or time,
The mind is its place and itself,
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

STYLE UNIFORM OR NOT

Infact, most of the critics who decry Milton’s style seem to suppose that Milton wrote a uniform style throughout. But as Pope has pointed out ‘Paradise Lost’ has not one but various styles, an ‘Infernal style’, a ‘celestial style’ and ‘style of Paradise’ before and after the fall. In any case the more acceptable view is that of C.S. Lewis, B. Rajan, Douglas Bush and E.M.W. Tillyard – that the sublimity of Milton’s style was necessitated by genre – that is by the epic form in which the style had to be dignified, ritualistic and formal. It was Milton’s great achievement that he attained this sublimity without sacrificing the intensity of an impassioned personal commitment.

CONCLUSION

In reading ‘Paradise Lost’ one has a feeling of vastness. One floats under illimitable sky brimmed with sunshine or hung with constellation. The abyss of space appears to be somewhere about as one hears the cadenced surge of an unseen ocean. In loftiness of thought, splendid dignity of expression and rhythmic felicities, Milton has few peers, no superior. In ‘Paradise Lost’ Milton has invented a type of poem, the divine epic superior to anything in antiquity.

Sahitya Akademi Awards 2011

2011-12-23T13:23:00.000+05:30

Ramachandra Guha (Winner of Sahitya Akademi Award 2011 for English)

A jury representing the 23 Indian languages chose the winners of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Awards this year. Under the chairmanship of the Akademi President, Sunil Gangopadhyay the awards winners chosen by the jury were approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi. Ramachandra Guha(English), for his narrative history, was among the winners of Sahitya Akademi Awards 2011.

Among the novelists were:
Baldev Singh (Punjabi)
Gopalakrishna Pai (Kannada)
Kashinath Singh (Hindi)
Kshetri Bira (Manipuri)
Kalpanakumari Devi (Odia)
Atul Kanakk (Rajasthani)

The poets included in the winners list were:
Late Kabin Phukan (Assamese)
Manindra Gupta (Bengali)
Premananda Mosahari (Bodo)
Naseem Shafaie (Kashmiri)
Melvyn Rodrigues (Konkani)
Harekrishna Satapathy (Sanskrit)
Aditya Kumar Mandi (Santali)
Khaleel Mamoon (Urdu)

For their books on essays Lalit Magotra (Dogri), Grace (Marathi) and Samala Sadasiva (Telugu) received the award.

SAMANVAY: IHC INDIAN LANGUAGES' FESTIVAL, 2011

2011-12-18T20:18:00.001+05:30

Samanvay’: IHC Indian Languages’ Festival was inaugurated with the lighting of a torch on 16 December at India Habitat Center by two Jnanpith winning poets and Senior Fellows of the Sahitya Akademi, Kunwar Narain and Sitakant Mahapatra, along with IHC Director Raj Liberhan. During this 3-day event, 63 writers from 14 languages will discuss upon various issues and read from their work.
In the inaugural session, Raj Liberhan announced the annual ‘Samanvay Bhasha Samman’ award for young writers who have worked to advance literature in Indian languages. The ‘Samanvay Bhasha Samman’ will carry a 1 lakh rupee cash award as well. Chairman of the Indian Languages Newspapers Association (ILNA), Paresh Nath, announced an annual award of 50,000 rupees for journalists working in Indian languages – the ‘Samanvay Bhashai Patrakarita Samman’.
Padma Vibhushan Kunwar Narain spoke during the inaugural session about the importance of this event, and said that ‘Samanvay’ would prove to be a coming together of literature from all Indian languages and in the future we will be able to discuss here our issues of greatest importance. Oriya poet Sitakant Mahapatra said that the synthesis one notices in Indian people is the same synthesis that makes literature in Indian languages an Indian Literature. Raj Liberhan then invited two of the main young designers and organizers of the festival – Satyanand Nirupam and Giriraj Kiradoo – on stage. He spoke of how such meaningful events would encourage creativity among young writers.

The topic for the opening session was: ‘Is there an Indian Literature?’ Various writers from all parts of the country were part of this discussion, moderated by renowned Malayalam poet K. Satchidanandan. He spoke about how Indian literature is one (unlike Nihar Ranajan Rai’s contention that it be spoken of in the plural because it is written in many languages), despite the multilingualism. Dalit Marathi writer Laxman Gaikwad also expressed his views. Renowned Gujarati writer Sitanshu Yashaschandra said that Indian literature was multilingual from the very beginning with works not only in Sanskrit but also Prakrit and other languages. English academic and writer Alok Rai too took part in the discussion. Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi and renowned Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi said that multilingualism precisely is the point of Indian Literature, and this diversity must be protected.

The reading session saw poetry readings from Sitakant Mahapatra (Oriya), K. Satchidanandan (Malayalam), Sitanshu Yashaschandra (Gujarati), Ashok Vajpeyi (Hindi), Mangalesh Dabral (Hindi), C.P. Deval (Rajasthani), Radha Vallabh Tripathi (Sanskrit), Gangesh Gunjan (Maithili) and Malkhan Singh (Hindi). To close the evening, famous Sufi singer Madan Gopal Singh and the Ensemble Chaar Yaar presented a mesmerising performance based on the poems of renowned Hindi and Maithili poet Nagarjun.

DAY 2:
Discussions on Marginalized Literatures at Samanvay: IHC Indian Languages’ Festival
The second day of Samanvay: IHC Indian Languages’ Festival began with discussion around writing in Assamese and Punjabi. The subject under discussion for the Assamese session was ‘New Challenges for Women Writers’ which began with Nitoo Das’ fiery question: “Have we moved beyond tokenism that’s given to us by a masculinist tradition?” All four speakers unanimously agreed that the time for tokenistic awards was past. Another concern was voiced, with all writers agreeing that, for the contemporary Assamese woman writer, not only is there the constant pressure to be a ‘woman’, but also the pressure to be ‘North Eastern’. Apart from questions of representation, experimentation in form was also discussed, with new evocations of folk traditions being addressed in context of the cosmopolitanism of the Assamese modern female self. The session ended with readings by Arupa Patangia Kalita and Bonti Senchowa.
The second session was on the topic of Dalit Love Poetry in Punjabi. “Dalit poetry is not the poetry of hatred. Rather, it is the poetry of love,” began Punjabi poet Desraj Kali, who was moderating the session. Nirupama Dutt spoke of one of Punjabi Dalit poetry’s strongest voices, Lal Singh ‘Dil’ and his deeply political life, which ultimately ended in exile. A deeply engaged discussion on what it actually means to be a Dalit subject/writer/activist in Punjab followed, with poet Balbir Madhopuri saying that, even as there wasn’t anyone on stage wearing the ‘traditional’ markers of being a Punjabi, it did not mean that they did not belong to Punjab – and that this was precisely the thought that Punjabi Dalit love poetry sought to counter. Dr. Gurbachan talked about ‘sangha’/communal poetry of the late 18th century, citing poetry of couples in love who wrote together: of Sadju Gulab Das, and Peero, a Dalit Muslim woman, and Vajir Singh, a Dalit man in love with Rang Devi, an upper caste Hindu. The session asked questions of the construction of language itself, and how Dalit love poetry attempts to break these given constructs. The session ended with readings by Madan Veera, Nirupama Dutt and Balbir Madhopuri.

Madan Veera, Balbir Madhopuri and Desraj Kali

The post lunch session saw autobiographical writings from Kerala, moderated by K. Satchidanandan who talked about how autobiographies are never “dull” literatures because they are not only an insight into oneself but talk about the human condition in general. C.K. Janu started the discussion by addressing the need for an “Adivasi” literature, how a state like Kerala, where the literacy rate is the highest, still sees no recognition for the tribals and how women are twice affected by this on levels of both class and gender. Next was Sister Jesme, who talked about the marginalization that she encountered within the Church and addressed how religion and politics mesh together to bind a woman. This was followed by a moving personal account by Nalini Jameela who talked about a sex worker’s life. The last speaker was Pokkudan, who is one of the leading environmentalists in India, and touched upon politics in Kerela and his identity as a Dalit which earmarked him as a target of the party.
In the Urdu session, renowned Urdu poet Sheen Kaaf Nizam, Prof. Sadique, Alok Srivastav and Giriraj Kiradoo debated about the death of the Mushaira. All the poets rejected the idea that the Mushaira as a tradition is on the wane, rather, it has changed. After a question and answer session with the audience, the poets all read out their work.

Alok Srivastav , Sheen Kaaf Nizam, Prof. Sadique, and Giriraj Kiradoo

The evening ended with an exciting qawwali performance by the Nizami brothers.

DAY 3:
‘Hindi publishers need to reach their readers’

In the morning sessions of the third and final day of Samanvay: IHC Indian Languages’ Festival, authors from Tamil and English shared their experiences in writing.
The Tamil session discussed ‘Women Writing the Body’. Iconic Tamil poet P. Sivakami moderated the session, which also included the poets Kutti Revathi, Salma, Sukirtharani and Malathi Maithri, who talked about their experiences of bias due to their gender and how poetry, and the body in poetry became their site of resistance against this discrimination.

Arundhathi Subramaniam

The session concluded with poetry readings by the Tamil poets. Arshia Sattar and Arundhathi Subramaniam also read English translations of Kutti Revathi and Salma’s poems.

English writers, Arshia Sattar, Basharat Peer, Annie Zaidi and Aman Sethi, moderated by Chandrahas Choudhury, talked about the challenges of non-fiction writing, especially long-form non-fiction, in the Indian scenario on the next panel entitled “Indian English Writing: Beyond Fiction”.

The consensus was that the biggest factor contributing to this was the lack of resources directed towards it by Indian publishers. They also spoke about the difficulties of translation they encountered in the journalistic and book-length work. This was followed by readings by Rahul Pandita and Arundhathi Subramaniam from their books of non-fiction.

Rahul Pandita

The post-lunch session on Bengali talked about poetry and the popular, and featured renowned poets Nabarun Bhattacharya, Subodh Sarkar, Ujjal Singha and Srijato, on a panel moderated by academic Dr. Paromita Chakravarti. They also read their poetry, in the original and in English translations.

The final session was a discussion by publishers, editors and writers on the search for new readers in Hindi publishing. They spoke about how there certainly were readers for Hindi literature, but that it was imperative to find new ways to reach out to them.

S. Nirupam, Rajendra Yadav and Ravish Kumar

Ravish Kumar of NDTV said that TV had managed to find a new breed of super-viewers for itself and that literature needed to do something similar. The consensus was that it was a multi-level problem that publishers, distributors and writers all needed to work to solve. On the panel were novelist and editor of Hans, Rajendra Yadav, Aruni Maheshwari of Vani Prakashan, Neeta Gupta of Yatra Books, poet and editor Mangalesh Dabral, and co-editor of Pratilipi Giriraj Kiradoo. The session was moderated by S. Nirupam of Delhi Press. Prior to the session, Mahesh Verma read his poetry and Prabhat Ranjan read from his forthcoming book, Badnaam Basti.

The 3-day festival ‘Samanvay’ concluded with an address by Raj Liberhan, Director of the India Habitat Centre, with an announcement for the second Indian Languages’ Festival to be held in November 2012.

Book Review: 'Mafia Queens of Mumbai' by S. Hussain Zaidi

2011-12-07T23:26:00.002+05:30

The theme of crime, investigation and intriguing mysteries have been very popular when it comes to the choice of themes to be read. We have had great classics apart from the contemporary authors (writing on such themes), who are a great hit with the readers. It is not without a grain of truth when Vishal Bhardwaj writes in the foreword of the book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’: “Crime is juicier than spirituality. Guns are more attractive than roses.”

The words like gang wars, mafia etc. are on everybody’s lips with nefarious activities becoming an every other day affair, especially in cities like Mumbai that is considered to be the den of such deeds. Do the names of Gangubai, Jenabai or Ashraf alias Sapna ring a bell? If not, that means you have not been through S.Hussain Zaidi’s book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of Women from the Gangland’.

‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’ is a book of thirteen factual stories about mafia queens who are prostitution ringleaders, black marketers or trained assassins. The book boasts of a foreword by Vishal Bhardwaj and gives the feeling of a film-script. It is indeed a pulpy fiction that gives the reader a full chance to enjoy the twisted tales with surprise turn of events. ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’ is the second book authored by S.Hussain Zaidi, a veteran journalist by profession. While work of fiction like Chetan Bhagat’s books are fit masala for Bollywood, these true stories too are promising ones for Bollywood pulp. They have all that it takes to be success story. The narration is so gripping that at places the reader tends to forget that the work is produce of careful investigation and reporting. All bits of information have been assembled together by the author, S.Hussain Zaidi, who also penned ‘Black Friday’ (also made into a film by Anurag Kashyap). Zaidi has a lot of experience of working with ‘Asian Age’ and ‘Deccan Chronicle’. The original research for these stories was done by Jane Borges.

There are a lot many brilliant turn of events from the plot, where the reader’s attention and concentration is focussed towards the book. There is the story of Ashraf. Her husband is shot dead in a fake encounter at the behest of Dawood. She determines to avenge her husband’s murder but with a sudden twist she is unable to do so. The basic twist lies in the title itself, just because the stories are about women and not the popularly known con men. It is a discovery that some women were so powerful inspite of the fact they were living in a world that was dominated by men.

Monica Bedi’s story might seem unconvincing to a few readers. It is already a well known fact that Monica Bedi was Abu Salem’s girlfriend. We have an amazing story of Neeta Naik. It was she who had made her husband join the underworld. Later on he was shot at and paralysed. That was not all, she also forced her husband to leave the country. Finally, he hired goons to get his wife killed.

Overall, the book was an interesting reading. Apart from that it also provided an insight into the role played by the powerful but lesser known women in this ‘gangland’ called Mumbai (that has been the capital of smuggling, gun-running, drugs, terrorism etc. for decades now). We have in ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’ a remarkable piece of research and investigative journalism.
(This review was posted under Book Review Program of BlogAdda.com )

'Moment of Realisation' (by Amritbir Kaur) - Hindustan Times (14 Nov., 2011)

2011-11-15T23:14:00.001+05:30

I am elated to present before you my latest article published in Hindustan Times, 'Inner Voice' column, dated 14 November, 2011. I do hope you enjoy reading the same.

Here is the text of the article:

Hindustan Times, 'Inner Voice' column dated 14 November, 2011

MOMENT OF REALISATION

“But I have promises to keep/ And miles to go before I sleep...”. ---Robert Frost. We travel miles for the realisation of our dreams. But it might not be miles away always. It can be within one’s own self. It all depends on how well you plan your travel. Often it happens that you travel through side streets and by-lanes and then come out on the main road, and back to the normal, civilised world.

It is like journeying from dreams to reality. Miles seem a magical moment once we come to the realisation of the reality. The dreams are not just about owning a bungalow, being rich and famous, flaunting a fleet of luxury cars etc. The ultimate dream is the dream of knowing oneself. The age old question hanging heavy on our minds has been, “Who am I?” Bulle Shah, the great Sufi saint and poet, questioned his own identity with ‘Bullah ki jana main kaun!’

Once, while sitting in a park, with trees standing tall on the boundary of the park, I was watching the sunset. The scattered clouds over the blue canvas enhanced this colourful effect. I intently watched the sky change from blue shining in the sunlight, to a bright orange. The clouds glowed and then darkened gradually.

I could feel my own self descending into myself as the natural slide switched hues. My heart repeatedly asked, “Who am I? What am I doing here?” I was travelling inside me like King Lear’s journey within.

By the time I got up, it was dark outside but I knew I carried a light within me. I told myself, I have to spread this light. I am a speck of the glowing lamp of the Supreme Power. It is He who lends us the spark. It is then that I told myself, “I am a messenger who has to pass on the light to others, to the whole world around to preserve the sanctity of soul, to protect it from the ensnarling clutches of bewitching worldly chains.” Finally, I had the answer to who am I?

Inaugural Issue of 'The Literary Jewels'

2011-10-26T00:35:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends
I feel elated to announce the launch of the inaugural issue of 'The Literary Jewels', an online journal of Art, Culture and Education. I do hope the journal finds favour with you. I will be looking forward to your feedback, suggestions and brickbats on that.
I am sure you will all support the cause of 'The Literary Jewels' by sending in your contributions in the form of an article, story, poem, drama, a photograph clicked by you, a work of digital art or anything that comes within the purview of the fields of Art, Culture and Education.
Have a look at the cover of the inaugural issue and read its contents.Click Here

Book Review: 'Revolution 2020' by Chetan Bhagat

2011-10-19T16:05:00.001+05:30

‘Revolution 2020’, the fifth novel by Chetan Bhagat (after 'Five Point Someone', 'One Night at a Call Centre', 'Three Mistakes of my Life' and 'Two States'), too begins with a Prologue just like all his other novels. The Prologue binds you to the story as a reader. The only difference is that this time the prologue continues at the end of the novel and the whole story of ‘Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition’ is a flashback of the events that have already happened. As a reader, I found the prologue comparatively a bit less effective in evoking a sense of suspense and mystery.

As far as the pace of the story is concerned, the pace of events happening in the first half of the book is fast but they become a bit dragged in the second half. Inspite of this, the greatest achievement of Chetan Bhagat is that he keeps the reader hooked on to his book till the end. Though Chetan Bhagat has none of the literary touches (you’ll be totally disappointed if you are a fan of Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry, Jhumpa Lahiri or Amitav Ghosh), yet he is a good story-teller. At times the things become predictable, just like it happens occasionally in Bollywood masala flicks. After all, soon ‘Revolution 2020’ would be one amongst them.

At the very onset of the story of the novel, Bhagat visits GangaTech college in the city of Varanasi, where he is to deliver a lecture. The story presents before us a love-triangle, which involves two childhood friends, Raghav and Aarti, and Gopal. As might be expected, Gopal falls in love with Aarti, who instead professes her love for her childhood friend, Raghav. And then in vengeance, Gopal sets out to prove himself better than Raghav. In this venture Gopal entangles himself in educators-MLAs nexus. Thus, Bhagat weaves in a social message along with a masala story.