The English Teacher...

" There is no escape from loneliness and separation....." I told myself often. "Wife, child, brothers,parents,friends.....We come together only to go apart again.It is one continuous movement.They move away from us as we move away from them. The law of life cant be avoided. The law comes into operation the movement we detach ourselves from our mothers womb.All struggle and misery in life is due to our attempt to arrest this law or get away from it or in allowing ourselves to be hurt by it. The fact must be recognized. A profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. All else is false..........................No sense in battling against it..."

An exact excerpt from the novel The English teacher... A simple everyday story of a man in late twenties or say early thirties of a middle class man hailing from a small town (Mysore as it is R K Narayan work) during 1950's.The fact is, the novel has so appealed me that it has compelled me to write the blog after a very long time.. So here I am writing it in the middle of night without thinking or caring that I have to report to work tomorrow and have a lot on my platter... In between I have read few other books but I don't know why I have not had the wish nor the heart to write.. I guess as I was having some emotional turmoil during these months may be the reason for not writing or it may be plain letharginess... Still reading this somehow has evoked me to write. about it...


I usually never connect much to a novel having a male protagonist....This is one of the exceptions I guess.. An ordinary story told extraordinarily... The way he has captured the essence of everyday going ons changes the very meaning of human humdrum  that one has to read it and will definitely fall in love with the book... For example, the paragraph cited above is one of the few such beautiful ones that is scattered about the end of the novel...The paragraph is anything but simple yet simple... If one reads the paragraph one would feel it is a sad and desolate tale but it is not...The musing in the paragraph is of the male protagonist and it is during his most melancholic period but the tale ends with a optimistic note... ''We stood at a window, gazing on a slender, red streak over the eastern rim of the earth. a cool breeze lapped our faces. The boundaries of our personalities suddenly dissolved. It was a moment of rare, immutable joy- a moment for which one feels grateful to Life and Death."


reading this somehow has made me realize that loneliness is the only truth but the time we spend in lonliness depends on the lifetime we spend with others at various walks of life..A bad analogy but I guess the gist can be made out...

The review present at the back of the novel gives away the story but the novel has to be read to be savored and here story is just a backdrop.. The writing is the plot...The fact is aptly highlighted by the observation of Elizabeth Bowen and Spectator and does justice to the author...

Th king of court room drama...

To talk about court room and not talk about Perry Mason just cant happen. For me he is the king of court room dramas. I am a member at a library near my home. I had exhausted reading almost all the books in the library. Only few were left. I had no option but to read the few books that were remaining. I had not heard about Perry Mason books. There were some 12 to 15 of that. I took one and started to read. I was hooked. And how. I so liked it that each day I read one book and stopped only when the books were exhausted in the library. Thats a thing I am not likely to do again. When I did not find more books I was sad. But during that time I met with Anshuman Sir. When I went to his house for some work with my friends he called us to his study room to show something in the system. Why this elaborate unnecessary rambling. Well one half of the wall was covered with around 100 Perry Mason novels. I was thrilled. And later after I came to know him better, he told I can borrow the books and read. Well I guess he did not know that I would bother him till I finished reading all the books. I would borrow at a time 15 Perry Mason novels and afterwards return and take some more. Still few are left. Had it not been for my hyderabad stint I would have finished by now. Inspite of reading so many I am not bored. Because I liked the concept instantly and more so the characters of Perry Mason and Della Street. Especially Perry Mason. The character has such charm. The subtle undercurrents between Mason and Street just makes the readers to wish that something more is written about them. The plots are as varied as you want to be. And the cross examination at the end is edgy and superb. Wish there were more like that.The novels are small and affordable and quick read. Thoroughly masala entertainer. He is probably the most dashing lawyer character ever created and makes the profession looks cool. How the author Erle Stanley Gardner could write around 100 odd novels under Perry Mason is something that is commendable. Moreover they are old. Its not from our times. The surroundings and gadgets used to describe the plot are obsolete now. But still its gripping. Hats off to gardner. If you are going on a journey then Perry Mason is the perfect companion... P.S. There is perry mason movies also. But have not watched any of it.

Court room dramas...

I am not sure, if I am the only one who has this fantasy. I am pretty sure I am normal and so I assume others also have this. Most of the nights of my childhood I have spent imagining myself in various roles in life and trying to sleep on it. From being an old farmer woman to getting an oscar with srk,from being a spy to being a lawyer. Thinking back it seems funny that I have envisioned myself in so many roles. But one role I really see myself even now is to study law and become a lawyer. Will do one day. I am sure of it. Meanwhile, I always have the books to satiate my love for it. I guess my first book in which there was court room drama was where the heroine was a lawyer and it was rage of angels. That has touched me so much and its my all time favourite. The ending is marvellous. Sidneys finest according to me. It just brilliantly leaves the truthful message, life goes on. Its true. Eventually you will lose everything and everyone but till your last breath the will to live keeps you going. Philosophy aside, the story and especially the brief courtroom dramas are amazing. I dont know which is an inspiration of which but there is one scene in the court regarding a poison that is also there in karz movie. Its one of the nice scene among many others. Have to read the novel to savour it. I have read it so many times but still will read it again given a chance. Actually, yesterday I finished reading The Litigators by John Grisham and wanted to write about it. But today when I took to writing Rage of Angels just came to my mind and it just wanted to get out of my system for a long time I guess. I am always partial naturally to women centric novels. They rank first in my wishlist. And on top is this. But whats to be noted is its written by a man. A woman can know how other women feel but to capture it brilliantly by a man is whats amazing. The characters are superb. The book would make a classic movie or a well written short series. Among sheldon novels its top but its worthy of mention in terms of court room dramas as well... They are brilliantly conceived and written. When you read it you feel as if you are in a court room.. If you like reading about lawyers though strictly its not about lawyers its a good recommend. P.S. If you liked legally blonde and double jeopardy kind of movies, you will probably like rage of angels.

Christmas Carol

My first Dickens novel if I dont count the children version of abridged Oliver Twist. And also read it on christmas eve. Apt timing I believe.I dont know why I never tried Charles Dickens. He is among the genre of writers like Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, etc whose writings I adore. When I was browsing through a book shop looking for some classics to read, I happened to come across Christmas Carol. It was small. Just a 100 pages classic. That itself was unique and also wanted to read a dickens novel for a long time but never did. So I grabbed the book and read it. The title and the introduction in the back gives away the story but classics are read not for their stories but for their characters and the way the story is told. Well I read it for that. It was nice. The way the ghosts makes Scrooge realise the christmas spirit is nice. I wonder if Uncle Scrooge the name of the character of Duck Tales is inspired by it. This book has made me to want to read more dickens. The character of Scrooge is so universal and relevant and relatable, its amazing how nicely it is captured in so short length. To build characters and make them akin to readers by building upon them in some length is the norm but to do it in such a manner is sheer genius. The english has to be read to believe it. Its charm is much better than the swear words riddled and shortfened english I hear today... Have to now decide which dickens novel I should read.....

Treasure Hunting...

I was always harping in my high school days that I will never change. Well, I was more pea brained then than I am now.I have realised the folly of that and nowadays I never say NEVER. I have changed, for better or for worse.Some changes are good and some are not so. I can live with that but what I hate is how currently I am not noting down any excerpts from the books I read.I had this habit of writing down excrepts from novels I was reading in a book which I liked and after sometime reading those and remembering the characters, storyline of the novel,the emotions I felt and what made me take a note of it, who I had in mind when I was writing it. (Yeah I am jobless.. I think and do such stuff...)I really miss those. Whenever I come across something good I think of doing it and forget. maybe going forward will do. I used to write down not only lines which would resemble a quote but also some dialogue or a sentence along with the author name and the Novel. Some sentences are so profound that it just amazes me how authors can come up with that or how truly they have articulated the insight of human behaviour in some sentences. The excerpts are not always from classics like Leo Tolstoy novels.Sometimes if I go through the book where I have written it, some excrepts are from novels which are categorized as just a time pass read and one would never think anything quotable can be found there.Like from Perry Mason- The case of the substitute face" I am the flippant younger generation, Mr. Mason-born without reverence-yet reared without guile,thank heaven." Oh what a sentence!!! Its just me. I can totally relate to it.I feel sad that I have captured only a few and missed many which I wanted to.Well hopefully I will do so going forward. Still there is one that I have not missed. its my all time favourite because there can be only one favorite.Only rare cases there are exceptions.I think choosing between family members is the only one. My favourite is the one which was given on front page of the novel Fasting & Feasting by Anitha Desai.I am not so sure.I have not noted down the novel name. But the excrept is a poem by Che Fece...I1 Gran Rifiuto By C P Cavafy, translated by Rae Dalven. I really don't know both the persons and also not a great fan of poems. But this blows my mind.

"To certain people there comes a day when they must say the great yes or the great no. He who has the yes ready within him reveals himself at once, and saying it crosses over to the path of honour and his own conviction. He who refuses does not repent. Should he be asked again he would say no again.And yet that No-the right No-crushes him for the rest of his life."


Most of us would have faced this. We are either Yay or Nay persons.The way this poet has put forth is bang on. These are the joys of reading books. You will stumble upon such treasures a lot..So I am off to treasure hunting..


P.S. Google is great.I just googled the words Che Fece...I1 Gran Rifiuto By C P Cavafy and got a blog which had the same poems.

Not so nice a title....

That was the first reaction I had when I saw the cover page of Chetan Bhagats Revolution 2020. His five point someone was nice and way way better than lousy 3 idiot adaptation and his other books were ok. So I started reading this book but not with enthusiasm. I felt it would be like his other novels which would be nice reading but which does not strike a chord much. Surprisingly it did. I could not keep the book down. It has been a while since I have read like that. The story as usual revolves around youth, their education and job and of course LOVE... Chetan Bhagats usual receipe. I read the last chapter first so I knew the ending. Also most of the plot was predictable but what I liked most about the novel and which kept me awake in the wee hours of morning reading it and making me write this blog after such a long gap is the character Gopal. Its superb. It may seem strange or false but if ever I thought of writing anything, this letting go of your love because you feel they deserve better or this zeal to be alive when everything you care for is gone, is the idea that comes to my mind. Here its shown brilliantly. The pathos of the protagnist is awesome. I always like grey charactes be it the lead of Vanity Fair or Gone with the wind. And now Gopal. Havinggrey shades in women character is fine but in a mans character its difficult. So this goes to one of favourite stories list.... Hope its not made into a movie... My hero may do justice but not others....

Potter Mania...

I am an unapologetic Harry Potter fan. I really am very grateful for my friend Meeta for hooking me into Harry and for letting me borrow the books. To think, if not for her, could not have read it at all. Unthinkable now. I have read the complete series many times and watched all movies over and over again like every other millions of die hard fans. What can one write about it? Nothing, as already so much is said and done about it and then again I can just go on and on... I read the book when I was in 11th. By then already 4 books were released. I read back to back and was frustrated that the next one was not there. In comparison, I can imagine the impatience of fans who had to wait from second book. This alone says a lot about the genius of J K Rowling. To sustain readers attention from first book to last book cutting across age groups and nationality in an era of tv and internet is stupendous. Sequels are very difficult. Stand alone novels are easy. Often the sequel would not be as good as first one. Like twilight. Or pople dont get intersted in such lengthy tales like Lord of the Rings though it is strictly not a series. But if you read Harry Potter it just sails smooth. I loved the way how every thing was connected and explained in the last book leaving no room for doubts. People often accuse J K Rowling for borrowing stuff from other novels. So what if she has been inspired. The books are a class apart. A tale of an underdog who helps good triumph over evil. Does not it sound like a cliched story? Harry Potter is that but also much much more. Its not the story but the way the story is told that is wonderful. I would rather prefer Harry than the likes of The white Tiger which won a Booker Prize wherein the guy kills and walks scot free justifying a murder. No sirjee. We like age old good over evil. And thanks to J K Rowling for making so many children read and may be believe that goodness and love prevails ultimately. To think that the last link of Potter Mania is coming to an end through the last movie is sad but we can always read the book or watch the movie whenever we want... I just want to pay my tribute by saying thank you to J k Rowling for giving us magical moments in our otherwise drab lives...