Book Review : Life of Pi

Title : Life of Pi

Author : Yann Martel

Publisher : Canongate/Random House

ISBN : 978-1-84195-392-2

There are some stories, I consider fortunate enough to enjoy the spotlight of the center stage more than once in their life times. Life of Pi happens to be one of them. Published in 2001 after being rejected by at least five publishing houses in London, Life of Pi won Man Booker Prize for Fiction, the following year. Later it got translated to a couple of other languages too. The story has managed to create hysteria once again after a decade when it has been adapted into a movie by an ace director - Ang Lee.

Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel written by Yann Martel. The protagonist of the story is Piscine Molitor 'Pi' Patel, an Indian boy hailing from Pondicherry, who happens to get his unusual name courtesy a famous swimming pool in Paris. His not so regular name makes him subject of a lot of ridicule, teasing and some funny incidents though it brings a lot of distress for the owner of the name himself.

Majoring in religious studies and zoology, Pi's quest to learn more about the divine power leads him to be a Muslim-Christian-Hindu, a rare combination indeed. The family (his parents, elder brother Ravi and he)decides to make the alien lands of Canada their home when his father, a zoo owner decides to call it quits in India. But that was not destined to be and the cargo ship tragically sinks in the rough waters of ocean leaving just a few survivors on the solitary lifeboat - newly orphaned sixteen year old Pi, a hyena, a monkey, a crippled zebra and a royal Bengal tiger who accidentally got the name Richard Parker. And hence the stage is set for a perfectly adventurous, nerve wrecking tale of fiction.

Life of Pi turns out to be a coming of age story of a boy who is caught in a strangely precarious situation where it is unimaginable to be sharing a lifeboat with a tiger while it is equally important for him to keep the tiger alive.  "A part of me was glad about Richard Parker. A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he died I would be left alone with despair, a foe even more formidable than a tiger. If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful. "

His experiences, understanding, grit, patience, suffering and much more equip him to churn the same into fine pearls of wisdom. Situations which demand all possible and many times impossible faculties of an individual make the highlight of the book and it is wonderful to read how the survival instincts kick in at the right time. 'When your life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival'.

After struggling with many menacing foes, learning a lot more than regular routine offers, graduating from being a simple vegetarian to eating anything for survival, realizing the desperation that threat to survival poses, confronting the power of fear from close quarters, witnessing the magical presence of God on many occasions, riding the waves of hope and despair continuously, striking a symbiotic relationship with a creature with whom it is most unlikely, Pi, in the company of Richard Parker reaches the shores of Mexico after 227 days. 

The commendable part of Martels's writing is the life like portrayal of Pi, every mood, every feeling and every scene. Pi's questioning and analyzing mind goads the readers to introspect on many issues including the one that stays in the thinking minds always - presence of God. Overall an extremely well written, engaging account of adventurous life of Pi indeed. The story is power packed with action, philosophy, spirituality and introspection - all in one.

Some excerpts from the book worth copying here:

"Fear is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for our weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in the mind always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy. Doubt meets disbelief and disbelief tries to push it out. But disbelief is a poorly armed foot soldier. Doubt does away with a little trouble. You become anxious. Reason comes to do battle for you. You are reassured. Reason is fully equipped with the latest weapon technology. But to your amazement, despite superior tactics and a number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low. You feel yourself weakening, wavering. Your anxiety becomes dread. "

"Ataman seeks to realize Brahman, to be united with the Absolute, and it travels in this life on a pilgrimage where it is born and dies, and is born again, and again and again, until it manages to shed the sheaths that imprison it here below."

 

Book Review : Manto

Title : Manto

Author : Sadan Hasan Manto (Translated by Aatish Taseer)

Publisher : Random House India

ISBN : 978-8-184-00144-0

The author Sadan Hasan Manto born in undivided India donned many hats ranging from being a radio and film scriptwriter, journalist to a short-story writer. Though his short stories created many controversies yet he is acclaimed as one of the greatest story tellers of his times. In Manto's words, "If you find my stories dirty, the society you are living in is dirty. With my stories, I only expose the truth." Originally written in Urdu, his short-stories have been translated by none other than an accomplished writer himself - Aatish Taseer. Perhaps this is the reason that while reading this translation I never felt the missing link which usually the regular translations suffer from. The language is great and even though I have not read the original Urdu stories, I still could enjoy the details and nuances as would be done while reading classics of seasoned authors. So my compliments to Aatish Taseer that he brought the works of Manto to wider audience.

After reading these short stories, the most significant thing that could be said about the writing is that - his stories carry much more beyond the written text and understanding what is written between the lines make the stories and the story teller tower higher than the crowd.

Manto's stories introduce the readers to the realities of life and there are times when the reality is not very pleasing for the eyes and otherwise. Since his writings are around the time of partition, they do carry a somber mood and pessimism to a certain extent. This book brought back the memories of the writings of Khushwant Singh, Gurcharan Das, Gulzar and likes of them. Manto's writing has similar sensitivity and emotional aspect to them whether it is about : 'Toba Tek Singh' - a lunatic caught in no man's land, 'The Last Salute' which depicts friends turning into foes, child prostitute in 'Ten Rupees', cultural boundaries in 'The Mice of Shah Daulah' or the plight of a father after seeing her lost daughter in 'Khol Do'. Every tale stirs many deep seated strings within the hearts of the readers and I consider that an achievement of the storyteller.

The stories are set mostly in North western region of India which bore the brunt of partition the most. These 11 sensitively written stories explore those aspects of some lives which usually are left unspoken and un-talked about. In spite of belonging to conservative era, Manto did not hesitate to write about sensitive subjects so his writings were much ahead of his time. Usually women centric, the stories bring out the aspects which go beyond the realm of rationality and logic. These perceptive short stories would surely keep haunting the readers in times of non-activity.

Book Review : Bohemia

Title : Bohemia

Author : Veronika Carnaby

This is the debut novel of Veronika Carnaby and she chose 1960s as backdrop to portray the lives of a bunch of young adults in their twenties, who try to carve a path for themselves in order to satisfy their creative urge. This particular set of youngsters highly influenced by free-spiritedness of the beat generation confront many obstacles, challenges and experience some very pleasant times together while treading this path.

The story is set in England and is narrated by Valerie, a vivacious person who wants to create an identity for herself. Her association with Emm and some other like minded individuals takes her to various places from New York, Chicago to Boston. It is through her eyes and ears that the readers get a flavour of fine music and other forms of fine arts. The author has beautifully dealt with the description of music and how sometimes it becomes such a powerful tool to influence the lives of people who are passionate about it. It is commendable how the author has etched the character of Valerie who comes across an epitome of liberation and exuberance.

The narrative does give a feel of the depth of relationships in that period which seem to run much low on the emotional side. Valerie cared for her friends but not to that extent which could make her committed to a certain thing for any of them.  The story becomes engaging at some points while there are some portions where it appears to be too scattered and jumpy. These are the parts which hinder the natural flow of the story and lessen the impact of the proceedings. The high points of the narration are the parts where the surroundings and people are meticulously described which work perfectly as inviting factor for the readers and a great way to make readers understand the essence of that period of time.

Usually I am open to all genres of books with an exception of suspense thrillers. But after reading Bohemia, I can say that is not my kind of book either. Though all the characters are meticulously carved by the author which I enjoyed reading about, yet, nobody could make an impact on me by the time I finished reading the book. There are overwhelmingly large number of characters with different personalities and there is too much of movement (literally) happening in the book which makes it hard to flow seamlessly with the storyline. It is not the book which stays with you for a long time and it never attempts to be one either. 

Book Review : Asura - Tale of the Vanquished

Title : Asura - Tale of the Vanquished

Author : Anand Neelakantan

Publisher : Platinum Press

ISBN : 978-93-81576-05-2

I enjoy reading retellings of our age old epics and do not mind how different authors enthuse their creativity and imagination in the same to bring out different perspectives. I guess I must have read and reviewed close to a dozen such books which are either purely fictional or are reporting of the original story with some twists here and there.

However, 'Asura' is the first book which walks the readers through the situations and circumstances in Ravana's life and how the same made him the person he was. It was indeed interesting to read how author's flight of imagination soars in this book and brings a completely unique angle to the whole story. It would be unfair for the readers if I talk about that unimaginable twist in the review here, it is better left un-revealed.

We all are well conversant with the broad storyline of Ramayana, however the same story appears to be a completely modified version when it is narrated by different characters which are very much a part of the story or when it is being reported by a third person. In Asura, author works on the pretext of what if the opposite side - the Asura side, has its own story to tell. How many of us know about that side of the saga? Throughout the book, the narrative oscillates between Ravana and  another character Bhadra whose life was ruined by Devas. Ravana has some very strong reasons for doing what he did, including being present in the Swayamvara of Sita, followed by her abduction which led him to his own doom.

The story begins with Ravana nearing his death in the battlefield and his whole life flashes past through his eyes. A Shiva devotee, an accomplished veena player, a fine scholar - Ravana opens his heart and shares his inner feelings through the pen of Anand Neelakantan. As is the case with any human, Ravana is not immune to vulnerabilities, inabilities, fears and weaknesses either but it is interesting to read how these frailties do not eclipse the strengths of his character, some of which soar really high. I specifically liked the part where he unconditionally stood by  his wife and that is the part where the author subtly tries to draw parallelism between Rama's way of dealing with his perfection vs Ravana managing with his imperfections.

Asura is not Ramayana, it is Ravanayana. In Ravana words, "For thousands of years I have been vilified and my death is celebrated year after year in every corner of India. Why? Was it because I challenges the Gods? Was it because I freed a race from the yoke of caste-based Deva rule? You have heard the victor's tale, the Ramayana. Now hear the Ravanayana, for I am Ravana and my story is the tale of the vanquished."

Thus Asura becomes the epic tale of the subdued side and another addition to already inundated literary world of mythology in varied makeovers. However the editing needs to be tighter which would have reduced the length of the unnecessary portions in the story. There are many typos too which could have been eliminated with at least one more iteration of editing. The first half deals with a lot of guerilla wars when Ravana tries to establish his kingdom in Lanka and the details become too overwhelmingly drab at some places which readers would want to skip. Though I enjoyed reading Ravana's tale, I found something really amiss. Ravana has been  portrayed as an able ruler who stood by his people but somehow he fails to create the aura which Anand attempted to create in this book. I don't know whether to blame it on my conditioned mind or lack of magic in narration, Asura ends up being just another view point, nothing more nothing less.

Bringing in the festivities of Diwali...

by decorating cushion covers with little something and ...

making candles in glass jars...

Beckoning Mount Everest

Many people succumb to the charm of beckoning wilderness, challenging mountain cliffs, enticing treacherous trails and coaxing unknown paths. The reasons, objectives and experiences may vary from individual to individual but it is amazing to notice that even the fatal incidents and near death experiences do not mitigate their passion to walk the razor sharp edges (sometime literally).Perhaps the excitement to be at the top of the world or exploring the un-traversed paths is difficult to replicate anywhere else and  even more harder is to derive the same joy and contentment from any other pursuit. But thanks to the chronicled words of these mountaineers and trekkers, their armchair counterparts can virtually share at least some part of the thrill.

'Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?', was the question asked to George Millory (an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s). To this question, he retorted : 'Because it is there' and these three words have become the most famous words in the world of mountaineering.

Mt. Everest  8,850m (29,035 feet) high lays in Himalayas, along the border of Nepal, Tibet and China. New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay were the first people to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest. Since that year, the roof of the Earth - the Sagarmath (the mother Goddess), the Everest keeps beckoning many people year after year.

 

'Into Thin Air' is the first person account of Jon Karuker who was part of the Mt. Everest expedition of 1996.  He was in a team led by a seasoned climber Rob Hall heading the Adventure Consultants. But despite being well equipped with all required paraphernalia, expert guidance, meticulously planned program, well researched tracks, deftly organised training camps and human assistance in the form of Nepali Sherpas, this expedition completely fell apart.

Closer home, Arjun Vajpai relates his experience vividly in 'On Top of the World'. He became the youngest Indian to scale Mt. Everest in the summer of 2010. For him the fascination of mountains began at the tender age of 10 and his parents nurtured his passion in tandem with the support of his teachers and friends. The hunger and thirst for adventure drew Arjun to the mountains. His is a story of inspiration, grit, determination and indefatigable spirit to fulfill the dreams and his was clearly an expedition where almost everything went right from the fitness, weather conditions to the support system.

'The Top of the World : Climbing Mount Everest' written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins is a picture book for very young readers - Ages 5 and up. The book briefly explores the history, natural geography, culture, climate of Mount Everest along with the mention of people like Mallory and Irvine, Tenzing and Hillary. The formation of Himalayas, the weather conditions and brief introduction to various aspects of scaling Mt. Everest including the gear and training required and the impending threats on the way find the mention in this book. Besides being an informative book, the beautiful cut paper illustrations make it a visual treat for young adventurers.

 

'Legs on Everest' is written by Mark Inglis, the double amputee who fulfilled his childhood ambition to stand on the summit of the highest mountain of the world. He achieved this feat on 15th May, 2006 braving all odds in the wake of his peculiar condition. The frostbite from one of his previous expeditions costed him both his legs from below the knees but it could not rob him off his dreams rather it made him even more focused and driven to accelerate his efforts towards the goal. In Mark Inglis words, 'Whenever you have pushed yourself to the limit, you know you can achieve things that were once only a dream. The more times you undertake the extreme journey, the greater your confidence that you will attain your dreams, and the bigger your dreams become. And if you want a bigger dream then why not go for the biggest - imagine standing on the summit of Everest!'.

These are not all, there are umpteen books written on the experiences of mountaineers who have dared to climb the crowning glory of the Earth. There are some common strings worth appreciating in all these adventurous stories which tower taller than the uniqueness and differences of the same. Such individuals dare to let their dream soar high, they make their passion fuel their efforts and eventually their determination leads them to achieve the set goals. After having accomplished the designated objective, they find themselves having gained maturity and education from none other than the supreme teacher - the Nature itself. Being in the lap of nature in its purest form, they get to witness its true soul - its nurturing quality and its tempestuous side, its fury and its vulnerability, its unpredictability against human planning. The individuals come out with heightened respect for the supremacy of nature and understanding of the humble position that we share in this precarious balance that has been so beautifully maintained.

Whether it is the - love of wild flora and fauna, desire to redeem oneself, test of self limitations, need to push oneself harder and further, this trend would continue, the epitome of grace Mt Everest would keep seducing mortals year after year. 

Book Review : Math Trek - Adventures in the Math Zone

Title : Math Trek : Adventures in the Math Zone
Author : Ivars Peterson and Nancy Henderson Publisher : Jossey-Bass
There is an amusement park in town but this is quite unlike the ones that you must have been to so many times. Since this is an extraordinary amusement park, how can the ticket be a regular one for such a place. Of course, it is extraordinary too. Here your mind is the ticket as you unravel the secrets of many joy rides while having fun with math in everyday life.

The only way to open the naughty knotty gate is to find the knot that is not a knot. Tying a simple knot was never a problem and we all learnt it pretty early but tying a knot which is actually not a knot?, now that is the tricky part. Many magicians have earned our appreciation and applause performing exactly this trick seamlessly and now the visitors of this park can do it too. One hurdle crossed, time to enter MapZone and the lady manning the stall invites people to try the Map-ematical challenge. The visitors are handed six coloured pencils and they need to figure out the smallest number of colours that is needed to fill in the MathZone map so that a distinctive colour could be seen for each activity area. And the rule is : no two sections that share a border may by of the same colour.
Here is one for you to try. Can you complete the map using six colours? Five? Four? Three?


Once through the mapzone, proceed to fractal forest where an intriguing Mobius Strip roller coaster is waiting for you. Here you will be guided to design your own Mobius strip in order to feel confident that after the ride you all will end up right side up. So no need to fret. You come out of the roller coaster and enter the Mercenne's Fun House and The Fractal Pond Race. This is not it, in fact the joy ride continues with dice, decoding the code, a ride on Tilt-a-Whirl and in the wild game hall. Soon enough it is time to advance to the way-out zone where you are welcomed by intriguing fractal mazes to guess.
Remember how we all try to cover a regular amusement park by sampling different rides during the whole day that we spend there, similar is the case with Math Trek. The idea is to try as many activities as possible to derive maximum fun out of the Math Zone. Interesting trivia, sneak peek into historical background of the concepts, mind-exercising puzzles and the answers to the problems make this book a fun filled adventure read. 'Math Trek' is a wholesome package for children, parents and teachers. The driving force which led the couple to compile this book was to highlight the 'fun' component with math learning. 

Book Review : G is for Googol

Title: G is for Googol
Author: David M. Shwartz
Illustrations by Marissa Moss
Published by Random House

A for Abacus to Z for Zillion, 'G is for Googol' has all. The book introduces fascinating mathematical concepts in an interesting and palatable manner.

The Supreme teacher - nature seems to be an eternal lover of Math; It is surprising how Fibonacci numbers show up so much in nature! The number of petals in a flower is usually a Fibonacci number. Fibonacci numbers could also be called 'sunflower numbers', 'artichoke numbers' or 'pineapple numbers' because sunflower's seeds, artichoke's leaves and pineapple scales all spiral according to this series of numbers. Amazing, isn't it!!! Who can ignore amazing symmetry in nature.

Googol is actually a number which is 1 followed by 100 zeroes, and so is googolplex which is 1 followed by a googol zeroes. R is for Rhombicosidodecahedron and this is a real word and a mouthful too. It is a special kind of Polyhedron.

Little bees are not just busy, they are super intelligent too as they work to get the most space to store honey for the least amount of wax that they have to spend to build their honeycombs and so they use hexagons as the tessellate (when shapes cover a surface with no gaps in between, the shapes are tessellate) polygons to build their honeycombs. So you see, it does pay to be good at math - even if you are a bee!!

Talking about units, in Egypt about 5000 years ago, the distance from the pharaoh's elbow to the tip of his middle finger became the first standard unit of length. It was given the name Royal Cubit. Just imagine taking his elbow all over the place just so everyone could measure papyrus!! No prizes for guessing, what got invented - a measuring stick of course.

I have been asked this question by the little ones at home.. When are we ever gonna use this stuff anyway? The answer is - everywhere - at school, at home, at play, and at work. Don't you check the quantity and quality and the units used to measure what you’re buying. Living in this world who can avoid conducting transactions without dealing with money?

Designers of modern computers have weaved a whole new world around binary numbers because computers 'think' in binary. The computer understands only two digits - 0 and 1, and it is happy working with just these two digits to get amazing things done for us.

It is strange but the world of unknowns in Math which is also called algebra assigns names to unknowns and X can boast of being the most common and famous personality here whose identity changes with every equation and who revels in a new identity every single instance.

G is for Googol' would entice every reader to dig further and no matter how much you try, in no time this book would turn you into an ardent fan (if you already are not) of this wonderful subject which holds keys to solve many other queries that crop up in the minds. From light year to exponents explaining very big and very small numbers, from mobius strip to Fibonacci numbers, delightful information is tastefully packed which kids and even adults would love to explore. The fact that math is in every aspect of life would not go unappreciated when the concepts are found getting practically executed and validated in day to day life. A convincing presentation of the fact that math is all pervasive.Its time to kiss the Math phobia goodbye with this alphabet book.

Book Review : Minpins

Title : Minpins

Author : Roald Dahl

Illustrator : Patrick Benson

Publisher : Puffin

ISBN : 978-0-141-50178-9

"Little Billy's mother was always telling him exactly what he was allowed to do and what he was not allowed to do. All the things he was allowed to do were boring. All the things he was not allowed to do were exciting.

One of the things that he was NEVER NEVER allowed to do, the most exciting of them all, was to go through the garden gate all by himself and explore the world beyond".

Thus begins another adventurous tale spun by none other than the ace storyteller Roald Dahl whose imagination knows no bounds and who dares his readers to enter the magical worlds where anything and everything is possible .

So little Billy kept on looking at the garden gate longingly day after day, month after month, year after year but the lure of the world at the other side of the gate never mitigates in his mind. And one odd afternoon, a devil whispers in Billy's ears and instigates him to cross the garden gate to explore the lovely world that is alien to him. He makes Billy believe that there is no such thing as Hornswogglers and Snozzwanglers and Vermicious Knids and the Terrible Bloodsuckling Toothpuckling Stonechuckling Splitter about which Billy's mother often alarmed him.  Little Billy stops 'being good' and follows the advice of the devil whispering in his ears.  

He enters the forbidden forest and soon enough finds himself being chased by none other than the terrible snorting smoke-blowing, smelly breathed beast. Billy runs for his life and on finding a mysteriously low branch climbs on the tree and enters the world of green leaves and thick, smooth branches with no earth or sky in sight. As he rests there in peace for a while, he notices tiny little windows and doors opening up in the bark of the tree and many miniature faces staring at him.  He realizes that he is in an extraordinary strange world of tiny people who called themselves Minpins. Minpins had taken refuge in the hollows of the trees for the fear of Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher, who had grunched up hundreds of humans and millions of Minpins. They had special suction-boots which helped them walk up and down almost vertical branches without any trouble and the feathered birds were their friends and transporters with whom they had a beautiful symbiotic relationship.

But now with the fearsome Gruncher waiting for Billy under the tree how could Billy reach back home again? Can he help Minpins get rid of this Gruncher so that they enjoy their freedom once again? Read on to find that out.

The curtain draws on the adventurous story with these words - "Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most likely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it."

These words capture the essence of life and how it should be approached with open senses and mind to experience the wonders all around us. 

Book Review : Desperate In Dubai

Title : Desperate in Dubai

Author : Ameera Al Hakawati

Publisher : Random House India

ISBN : 9788184001716

Desperate in Dubai is centered around the lives of four women protagonists. Each of these women have much to hide, little to reveal in the crazily diverse culture of Dubai. The author Ameera talks about many of the taboo subjects which usually do not come out of the cupboards especially when it is concerning Muslim women. She explores the lives of her heroines addressing the topics like - dating, love, secret marriages, drugs, alcohol, extra marital relationships and much more.

Lady Luxe has a rebellious streak in her disposition and she comes across as a person who loves walking on the razor edge of thrill, adventure and exploration. She manages enter the garb of a completely different person, usually for her nocturnal pursuits. She has inherited the business acumen of her Emirati father and is the potential heiress of the business empire. Lady Luxe's friend Leila thinks she has just a small age window left to find a suitable wealthy husband for herself. Nadia relocates to Dubai following the dream of her husband but it does not take her very long to realize that all her efforts were in vain. The last is Sugar who tries to push her past away by leaving the familiarity of UK behind and by trying to embrace the culture of Dubai.

Though apparently they all seem to belong to diverse backgrounds but as the stories progress, it becomes very clear that all of them are trying to be someone who they actually are not. And the main motive behind all this struggle is to get the illusive happiness either through defying norms, starting afresh or believing that having someone else would end the search finally.

Being a Muslim woman herself, I feel the author has dealt with the issues much more authentically and has also brought the right perspective to the proceedings. The habitual usage of hijab, prayer routine, religious symbols, mosques and such are entwined in the narrative without letting them hog the complete focus. The narrative has good dose of luxury which Dubai stands for. You will find mention of glamour, fancy brand names and luxury cars scattered throughout the narrative.  It is courageous on the part of the author to bring to the forefront the other side of Dubai's glittering picture. The book never attempts to be a literary masterpiece so readers should not expect it to be one. It is simply a breezy light read which gives a small peek into the lives of a set of people.