Book Review: Unposted Letter by Mahatria

This month’s book review is claimed by ‘Unposted Letter’ – a collection of insights to life by Mahatria. Let me warn beforehand that you will take a long time to finish this book. Not because it is a hard read. But for the sole reason that you will want to understand what is being said, introspect to see how well it relates to your life and take time to incorporate it immediately. This book does not unravel the mysteries of life or preach philosophy and religion. There is a high probability of you already knowing most of its content. What this book actually does is act as a refresher for all that we learnt as we grew up.

Daily life is a struggle, for everybody. Be it rich or poor, young or old. Each one has his own set of challenges. And in trying to cope with the responsibilities, we often find ourselves getting angry, stressed or depressed. But, there are times when we feel happy and contented too. In this state of buoyancy, we often rise above the mundane and wonder why human beings can’t be at peace with what they have. Why is there a constant greed for more? This brief period of enlightenment tells us not to want more but to do more. And we do try to act on it. For the whole of that day, we try to be a bit more patient, a bit more understanding and a bit more selfless. Unfortunately, the next morning we relapse into our usual state of neglect.

This is where the book helps us. It acts as a medium to reach the neutral state of mind, in a faster way. Each of the simple chapters tells us how we can lead a better life just by trying to be a better person ourselves rather than waiting for the whole world to change. Tolerance prevails as the main theme. An old song from the Hindi movie ‘Guddi’ beautifully summarizes the entire book in these few lines -

Humko man ki shakti dena, man vijay karein
Doosron ki jai se pehle khud ko jai karein

(Give us the maturity to gain control of our mind
Let us triumph over our evils before correcting the mistakes of others)

The general attitude when reading self-improvement books is to question and argue with the beliefs of the author. I am not condoning it. In fact, I have almost never accepted any philosophy without question. It is not arrogance. It is genuine curiosity to know the pros and cons of a subject in order to understand it completely. Some of the teachings in the book may seem contradictory. For example, one of the chapters says that “love is not love that pampers”. Love will constantly provide feedback so that you can improve on your shortcomings and become a better person. But another chapter says “Do not benchmark expectations”. Everybody has their positives and negatives. We must stop focusing on isolated qualities and start relating to the whole being. So, should you help others overcome their negatives or cut them some slack and choose to see their positives instead? Of course, mull over it a bit and you will understand that the teacher is asking us not to obsess over the flaws of your loved ones. What I am trying to say is do not take a cynical approach. Read the book with an open mind. You will have questions, which is a good sign, because you are taking the content seriously. However, do not stop there. Discuss it with family and friends, anyone you deem fit. Arrive at your own beliefs. You are fully allowed to develop your own opinion as long as you have arrived at it in a holistic manner.

I won’t dwell on why we should read this book because the reason for picking up a self-improvement book is self-explanatory. This particular book appealed to me because it is not heavy duty like most other books of this genre. It suggests making simple changes to everyday life which can be followed by anybody willing to make the change. I don’t recommend it as a must read. I recommend it as a daily read. Stay in touch with it until it becomes a part of you. Let your heart rejoice in its new found peace.

Buy n Save

I had been thinking of buying some clothes online. There was a BOGO offer going on in an online clothing store yesterday. I selected two tops each costing Rs.795. They had free shipping on orders above Rs.995. Since there was nothing reasonable for 200 bucks, I did not add any more items. The total amount with delivery charges and VAT came up to Rs.874. When I went to check-out, I was pleasantly surprised to know that the store had credited me with Rs.200 :D Happily, I decided to pay my bill of Rs.674 using my online wallet. The best part is that I had Rs.150 in this wallet as cashback from some other transaction. I paid Rs.524 like a boss and could hear some reward points falling in my credit card kitty :P As you understand, I had to brag about my great achievement to somebody and my parents were selected for the honor. I saw them suppressing smiles, though they pretended to listen to my tales of kanjoosi with absolute awe. But I chose to be smug about it :P As I walked back contented, I received a message. It was from my online wallet company and said I had received a 10% cashback for my recent transaction!! I went running to my parents to announce the message and all of us rolled in laughter :D If we were to do some quick math, the actual bill amount with revised VAT is Rs.1709. I paid just Rs.524. So I got a whopping discount of Rs.1185 which is almost 70%!! Now, that is a very very satisfying shopping experience! ;)

Up in the Loft

Yesterday, we went to this amazing place called Loft 38 in Indiranagar. Although we have been having a slew of parties recently, this was a proper night out with the dirty dozen. The lounge bar looks exquisite with a high roof and purple lights creating an electric atmosphere. The dance floor is the focal point on the ground floor with tables placed on different levels at the sides. Perfectly suitable for those moods when you want mehfil mein tanhai, privacy amidst chaos :) We got our private space on the second floor with our very own drinks counter. The dance floor has a bar nearby and was beginning to get crowded by 10 P.M. Towards midnight the place was jam packed!

For starters, we had Crispy Avocado Pastry, Nachos, Peri Peri Basa, Go Chu Jang Chicken and Chicken wings. All of them were yum especially the Avocado Pastry. I skipped main course which looked reasonable. However, the walnut brownies and vanilla pannacotta with strawberry coulee were deeliiiccious!! My heavily watered Virgin Mojito was a let down. The fruit punch kind of made up for it but I heard the cocktails were better. All the same, I stuck to orange juice for the better part of the night because you need vitamin C for non-stop dancing! We had DJ Answer churning out music. It wasn’t exactly dhik-chik dhik-chik but we were more than glad that it wasn’t like the trance we got to experience at Blue Frog. There was one particular guy who caught my attention. It looked like he had come alone but that did not keep him away from the dance floor. He was unstoppable going from hip hop to Bollywood like a man under spell. When I wasn’t dancing, I was busy admiring his moves :D

An evening of fun was about to end with a long-lost tradition - being thrown out by bouncers :P We were amongst the last ones to leave. As we sat waiting in our cab for the traffic to clear out, I was mindlessly staring at the cab ahead of us on the next lane. Out of nowhere, a bike sped straight ahead and hit the cab! Bam!! Fortunately, there was no bloodshed, just a dent on the car. As the rider got back on his feet, I noticed that he was the same guy who waited on us in Tipsy Bull last week. Such a small world. It also made me wish we had gone home sooner. I am terribly scared of accidents and watching one at close quarters does not help.

Although, I was initially reluctant to attend the party yesterday, I am glad I did. Bangalore is my birth place and I am totally in love with it. Being alien to its happening night life, which has become a distinctive feature of this beautiful city, does not go down well with me. And thanks to my cousins, lazy-ass me gets to be a part of it :P More than that, there was this really special moment when one of my brothers called me aside and said “You are my sweet sister. We will always be by your side no matter what. You don’t have to worry at all. We will stay together”. Ignoring the fact that he was terribly high :P and that I have no brother of my own, this rare display of affection caught me off-guard. I looked around and realized that despite all my cribbing, I love each and every one of them. I am so happy and grateful to have this mad, crazy family with me. We do have our share of squabbling and back-biting. But I also know that we will always be there for each other. And that, my friends, is the best feeling of all :)

Book Review: Matilda by Roald Dahl

For this month’s book review, I picked up Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’. I originally wanted to read ‘Confederacy of Dunces’ by John Kennedy because it would cross off one more category on my Reading Challenge – award winning book. Due to lack of time and because I was in a mood for children’s books, I opted for ‘Matilda’. I knew it was a book about a girl who loved reading which made it all the more compelling. It is a small book and I finished reading it in few hours.

Roald Dahl starts off describing the two kinds of parents. The first are parents who can never see a fault in their offspring. The second are those who fail to see the virtues of their kids. Although rare, they do exist. Matilda is the story of a precocious kid who is born to the second type of parents. Narrow minded and stereotypical, they believe girls are meant to look pretty and snag handsome husbands while the boys are the ones to continue their legacy. Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood are incapable of seeing Matilda’s prowess despite knowing the fact that she taught herself to read and is very good at math. However, Matilda is not someone who goes in quietly. She plans her revenge and gets back at her parents. The situation gets better for Matilda when she starts school. She meets the amiable teacher, Miss. Honey, who understands Matilda and provides her the much needed emotional support. However, she also has to deal with the evil principal Miss. Trunchbull who derives pleasure in terrorizing students and teachers alike. How Matilda gets the better of Miss. Trunchbull and finds her true calling with the help of Miss. Honey forms the rest of the story.

I think the author tried to represent every factor that influences a kid as a character in the book. For example, Matilda’s parents stand for every important person in our life whose lack of trust in us deprives us of the courage to fly. Miss. Trunchbull represents all the bullies who are forever trying to break us down. Miss. Honey tells us how a bit of understanding and encouragement can do wonders. And finally, Matilda shows how positivity and confidence can help us get past every obstacle. When Matilda is with her parents, she is neglected and ridiculed. Yet, she finds ways to nurture her love for books. She stands up for herself and others and takes on the mighty Miss. Trunchbull all because she believed in herself and her strengths. I enjoyed the part where tables are turned on the formidable headmistress.

This is a highly acclaimed book. I was hesitant to give it only 2 stars out of five which means I found the book just okay. The situations in the book seemed highly exaggerated to me. I say this after reading Anne of Green Gables! And I am not referring to Matilda’s extraordinary reading capabilities or amazing telekinesis. It is more about the storyline I guess. The book turns violent and abusive at places. For example, Matilda gluing her dad’s hat to his head using a super strong adhesive or making him dye his hair platinum blonde seems extreme. I was horrified to read that Miss. Trunchbull picked up kids by their pigtails or ears and hurled them outside the window or across the playground! I honestly would not want my kids or anybody else’s for that matter to read such content at a highly impressionable age. I cannot summon a laugh even if I wanted to while reading lines that addressed kids as different types of parasites or infections. I am kind of relieved that I did not read this book when I was a kid. I still remember being scared to death after watching an old Hindi movie called ‘King Uncle’ where the orphan kid is made to sit in various kinds of roller coasters in the middle of the night and at one point of time, the evil uncle and aunt peel off their eyebrows!! Eeeww..

Also, I find it very annoying when enough insight is not provided on why a character is the way he/she is. I understand that some characteristics are inborn but not every person can be so one-dimensional. Why do Matilda’s parents hate her to the extent that they readily disowned her? How come none of the parents and teachers complains against Miss. Trunchbull’s atrocities? I would have liked the author to describe what a person’s environment or upbringing can do to his nature. And then prove by example, that like Matilda, we always have a choice on how we let circumstances affect us. Even the conclusion was quite abrupt, almost like a rushed fairy tale ending. The book doesn’t show a single character regretting their action or turning over a new leaf.

However, while reading about the book on the net, I found adorable pictures and videos of the screen adaptation of Matilda. I searched for the trailer and seems like they have added a lot more scenes to the movie version. The girl who plays the protagonist looked like she fits the role to a T. I guarantee you that the movie looks way better than the illustrations in the actual book. I have a feeling that this might just be another case where the film turns out to be better than the book. Looking forward to rediscover Matilda :)

Let the fun begin!

I got a lot of gifts for my birthday. One of them is a memory box gifted by my sister. A memory box is a box containing keepsakes related to an important event or person. Usually, people have a memory box for their wedding or when they have a child. But my memory box is going to be more like a time capsule. I plan to put away collectibles through out the next year and seal it. I will open it only after ten years or so. Isn't that exciting? :D

Ever since my sister returned from Germany we haven't had a proper sister's outing. When she was at our place couple of weeks back, she regretted not going out more often. I feel the same. The problem is whenever we get together, we have so much to talk about and do at home that we rarely go out. And that's why I came up with these flash cards. We will try to do one of these every month or so and take a picture while we are at it. This cute shishter snap will then get locked in my memory box and will be available for reminiscing only a decade later! I can't wait already :)

Hayao to the rescue

I spent the best part of last month sewing. To be honest, I need some motivation to get on to my felt crafts. Unless I am stitching for somebody, I don’t feel like picking up the needle and thread. But if you look hard enough, opportunity is bound to present itself to you :) For days together, I was trying to come up with a memorable gift for my friend. And I am not at all joking when I say it’s hard to shop for guys. The best way to gift somebody is to round up their interests and hobbies and get them something related to that. He is a big fan of animated movies and the Hayao Miyazaki movies by Studio Ghibli are his favorite. If you haven’t watched these Japanese animated movies, then you must. The characters are simply adorable. This gave me an idea. Why not make felt toys out of the Studio Ghibli characters! :D And that is precisely what I did. Look below!

Can you identify all of them? :P

Starting from the left, I have named the characters along with the movies they star in.

            Totoro – My neighbor Totoro
          Calcifer – Howl’s Moving Castle
                  Jiji – Kiki’s Delivery Service
          No face – Spirited Away
Dust bunnies – My neighbor Totoro (not in the pic)

The last one is not covered in the pic. I bought black pom-poms and added googly eyes to make them look like the soot bunnies. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of everything and this is the only picture I have. You can see that my stitching is not very commendable :P Totoro’s stitches seem too tight and I ran into a knot when I was finishing up Calcifer. Jiji had its own issues with the eyes melting the first time I tried to stick them using Fevi-kwik (Oops). I did not find time to stitch up No face. My sis and I struggled to glue everything on to his face :D I also wish I had kept everything in the same size. But may be Totoro needs to be a bit bigger than the rest? Hmm.. I don’t know. But I do have a chance to correct my mistakes. You know why? My sister loved these so much that she wants a set all for herself :D 

Yayyy! That’s my first order!! Howzzat :D

Book Review: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

I finally managed to read ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ by Anne Frank. Somehow, I perceived this to be a very serious book and hence never ventured to read it when I was younger. I wish I had. The book is easy to read although some words may have to be looked up. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who went into hiding along with her family in Amsterdam during the Second World War. They hid in the secret annexe of their office along with another family and took in one more man sometime later. After listening to a radio announcement that said diaries and journals maintained during the war will be published as historical documents, Anne made up her mind to record the daily events of her life in a systematic and elaborate manner. The family was in hiding for two years and the book narrates Anne’s experiences in the annexe, her interactions with the others, her thoughts on various subjects and her dreams.

I don’t think it is appropriate to be reviewing someone’s diary. A diary is basically a person on paper. And we have no right to judge a person. A fictional character has traits established by the author. It is easy to criticize when the character doesn’t stay true to its personality. But how do you comment on a real person? Anne’s diary reaches out to us at a personal level. The book may seem to be full of teenage angst. But let me tell you, I had a diary at a similar age and it was no different. There were times when I thought I could have been Anne Frank in my previous birth :) Then again, maybe every other teenager felt so. That’s the reason I think that this book must be read by both adolescents and adults. Anne expected her parents to treat her as an adult but her parents had no clue. These days, it is known as the 'generation gap'. Anne seems bright and mature for her age. She is spunky and has an opinion on everything. I wonder how many kids can cope so well in a restrictive environment. Yet, she is constantly subjected to age bias.

But that does not mean that her parents did not care for her. They ensured that their kids did not miss out on education. They even remembered to bring Anne’s movie poster collection. The only area where they fell short is in understanding their daughter. To be honest, during the first half of the book, even I got tired of listening to Anne’s rants. Then, I imagined myself being cooped up in a small house with several people, not being able to go out, having to eat the same food, listening to the horrifying stories of cruelty being meted out to people and thinking will I be next? I could relate to Anne much better after that. Once I had taken these few steps, the rest of the journey did not take long.

I think the main drawback of the book is incorrect publicity. This book does not describe the holocaust or its atrocities, as often stated. Anne fleetingly touches these topics since she wrote this book when she was in hiding. In fact, I will go to the extent of saying Anne’s family was relatively safe while the diary was being written since they were in the annexe. But it surely affects you when you get to know how these people were denied basic rights. Despite having shelter, the family never felt secure. They had to be on constant vigil. However, Anne’s optimism even in the face of danger is inspiring. You can actually see Anne growing mature and dealing with the situation better.

I realized how important it is to channel our emotions and try to do so in a constructive manner as much as possible. Writing helps me gather my thoughts and reflect on them. It is really sad that Anne never got to experience freedom in the end. The after math is too touching. Anne’s family was compromised and they were arrested by the Gestapo. All her loved ones were separated from her and she herself succumbed to Typhus. It is indeed tragic that the concentration camp where she spent her last days was liberated soon after her death. A special mention goes to all the Germans and Christians who helped the Jews, during dark periods of struggle, without caring about their own safety. Every one of you is a brave heart. After living Anne’s life through her diary, I am happy that at least her book got published, thus fulfilling her lifelong wish. I will sign off with a quote which appeals to both Anne and me..

"Paper is more patient than man."