Americanah

<<This review is first posted on my Goodreads profile here>>

Nigeria has fascinated me for the past few years, thanks to Adichie, The other two books of hers have interested me greatly, and I was glad to discover a different side to Nigeria, the one that is intelligent, rich and prosperous, not the one we are otherwise used to knowing, full of princes wanting to give us money over the internet or the one that we generally put in the same category that we reserve to African countries … that place in our heads that’s reserved for some pity, some shudder and a sigh at a lost continent.

This books does everything to keep up the image of Nigeria Adichie built in my mind so far. I like that fact that the main protagonists in this book are intelligent, well-educated and have normal childhoods. I like the fact that their parents are also educated and are working class. I like it that the children have gone to regular schools and have had rich classmates like the most of us. It makes me feel good, safe that in a land far, far away, people have lived happily, untouched from war, dread and terrorism. It appeals to the optimist in me. I like it a lot.

I love it that the characters are so well etched. That they long to leave their country in search of better lives and have the American dream. It makes me feel that youth has same aspirations no matter where they were born - a dream to travel far away and make something of themselves. It makes me believe that no matter what color we are, we are all the same somewhere deep within. The experiences each of the characters have during their time away from Nigeria are so similar to the experiences immigrants from any country have, like some of them from the lives of people we'd have known. Especially the pandering for the American visa or working odd jobs to fill the stomach, or making it big with blogs or finding someone to marry you so you can get the passport. And the longing for home. This made the book very personal to me, that fact that people everywhere have the same immigrant troubles.

I love the narration of this book. I like the fact that I already know what Ifemulu and Obinze have been up to in their lives till the point of narration. I like how each incident in their past lives unravels itself as they are living their present lives… busy getting their hair done, or closing some business deals or visiting their friends. I like it that narration is honest and brazen, true to the characters of the main protagonists. I liked the imaginary lives I've built for both Ifem and The Zed, and they looked very beautiful to me in it, living their prosperous lives not thinking of each other, and slowly leaning towards each other.

This book is a story of two people who never really stopped loving each other. It’s a story of two people who are not together because the Universe didn’t let them be together, and its not either one's fault. It’s a story where instead of pining for each other forever, they carry on with their lives and lead fulfilling lives. It’s a story of hope and nostalgia, appealing to the romantic in me.

It’s a story of how strong or weak women can be, examples of each facet in one of the various characters, be it Aunty Uju or Obinze's mom or Ranyi or Giniko or Kim or Kosi. It appeals to the feminist in me, because Ifem is a strong character, and goes about doing everything she wants, goes out with anyone who fancies her and lives a full life. Yes, she pines for the great love of her life, but she doesn’t let that stop her from living. I like it that Obinze lives a full life but pines for Ifem very strongly, even when he is with her. His strong, calm nature adds to the allure and aura created around him... Who doesn’t like a strong, brooding man pining for a lady love, tell me? :-)

As the book was ending, and I was reading some of the best lines I've ever read about two people being in love, I wanted the book to last. The passion the protagonists feel for each other, the various ways in which they miss each other and the things they do to remember the other person are crazily normal, yet surreal, reminding you of the love they feel for each other , every minute.

And that’s when I realized I was in love. With this book. With Adichie, especially if as the claims go, Ifem is based on her. With the gift of reading for having brought me to this book. And with world, in general for having brought such beautiful books into being. Oh yes, am in love! :)

And I really wish someone made a movie out of this book, for the sheer joy of seeing such strong passion on screen!

The story of nesting

I think nesting is in our genes. We, as women, are genetically inclined to nest. To create a nice, cozy home where we can fuss around with our family and friends. There is something incredibly relaxing about returning home and putting your feet up on your couch. It is extremely fulfilling to whip up meals for your near and dear amidst friendly banter. And it is contentment you feel as you relax in your favorite spot with a book in hand or sit in your balcony with a cup of tea or a drink in hand.

The mere fact that I feel all the above makes me feel that I am indeed a woman. I like all the above things. I like my space to be all the above. And that’s when it becomes home for me. And home is the most comfortable place for me.

It is one of the primal needs for a human, according to me. Food, Sex and Home are the most important things that drive many of our behaviors and it’s the way its evolution intended it to be. Good so far.

It’s the rest of the stuff that comes with nesting that I don’t get.

A wise man once told me that settling down is for rocks. As I listened to him utter those words and shrug nonchalantly is when I realized that he spoke my mind, something that I had never realized I actually felt. Settling down feels scary. Settling down reminds me that I am committed. Settling down means I have a chance to become complacent. Settling down might mean I might not push my boundaries. Settling down , or rather the fear of settling down has been a very important fear/emotion/feeling for major part of my adulthood, driving most of my decisions. As much as I like home , calm and peace, I have never been able to imagine myself settling down. Anywhere. I’ve always been the person who enjoys the moment as it is and keeps reminding herself that this is not permanent and that I shouldn’t fall in love or be afraid of the moment. At least, I try. And oh yes, I married the wise man. That’s the only kind of long term commitment I’ve allowed myself to get into, getting married, that is.

Accumulating stuff. Now this is something related to settling down for me. Makes me feel like I am committed to something. Something I might not be able to change. A fear of loving all these material possessions. And having to move with it all. What would I do if it doesn’t fit the back of my car? From the 22yr old who carried all her possessions in two duffel bags and moved to a strange new city to the 25 yr old who had to pack all her possessions in a suitcase to move to her marital home to the 30 yr old who gave away all her favorite books to move to her ‘dream’ house to the 33 yr old who wanted to shake up that dream , the goal had been to not accumulate stuff - Stuff that I don’t need to function in my daily life, with all its luxury. Stuff that has no utility value and exists only for aesthetics, or the stuff that I love so much that I shudder to imagine existence without it, or stuff that I am scared others will damage.

The fear had always been that I’d be tied down to the stuff and I wouldn’t be able to move ahead. Where ahead, I don’t know myself. Don’t ask me. Now, this is the fear that’s been driving most of my life decisions.

From the person who never wanted to even buy a dining table because it felt ‘sooo married’ , I’ve accumulated a lot of stuff, thankfully, all of it dispensable. And that is going to be the goal, at least till I find the next thing that I fear the most! Or value the most. Whichever way you look at it!

Now, don’t ask me how many clothes or bags or shoes I have. That’s for looking good. That’s for myself. Not for the world! :)

That first moment in love…

Can you remember it? The first moment you realized you were in love? Think about it for a moment. Just humor me.

Did you smile to yourself? Did you wish you could relive the moment? Did you just do that little trip down the memory lane? It is a beautiful trip, isn’t it?

That first instance when you realized you love the person you are with. And that its not just like, and you want to be with that person more, may be a lifetime. And you more than just like everything about that person.

There is something about this feeling that warms the heart, no?

That instant when he peered at you through the mesh of his long fingers sheepishly . Or the moment you saw the moon and him in the same frame and thought , this is it. Or when you lean on to him in a moving train and look at the moon together , and sing songs familiar to you?

Yeah, I cherish those moments. They make living fun. :-D

Writer’s block and what not…

Oh, what a joy it is to finish reading a book you've loved. And yet, what a pain it causes in your heart at having finished it. A deep, numbing pain, and a wish that the book has a sequel . Or may be there are some pages of it left unread somewhere. And the hope you have as you are nearing the end, hoping it doesn’t end, hoping all goes well with the characters you've so grown to love and hoping that there is some more, just a little more.

Yes, I am still in the hangover of this feeling. I just finished reading a book I thoroughly enjoyed and felt, and as I hit the 100% mark, I felt the longing and the wish that there was some more of the book. I wanted to share it somewhere. The husband understands perfectly how I feel , the passionate reader that he is, but I wanted it to be some place more permanent. And that’s when I realized I have a blog, a place I love yet something I've neglected a lot in the past few months. A place which I've stopped visiting myself because I felt bad at having neglected it. Writer's block, you see. :-)

But if I didn’t write now, after having gone through an emotional upheaval and not expressed it here, I figured I would never return to writing, a love more than a hobby of mine of sorts.

I've been good. Life's been good, and I've been jolly with it. The same old stuff that I'd say to a friend I haven't spoken to , in years. But here I can be honest, can't I? :-)

So here it is. I've been jolly. Life's been good. And this probably is the most fun I am having since I can ever remember. And I can only remember fun times, except when I am feeling melancholic and digging deep into the memory troves for something that will be make me sad. Oh, there are quite a few of those. Things that make me sad with regret. Or those that make me sad with nostalgia over times that were very good. Or people that I love but don’t talk to any more for some unknown reason. But I stay to this statement - this is the most fun I've had in a long time.

Growing old feels good. I haven't still figured out what clothes look good on me, or how to make my hair behave all the time. Or what shoes to pair with what clothes. But this realization has made me feel calm, and accepting of my my-ness. The small town girl who never figured out how some of this stuff works. And that I like. But yeah, most times I wish I knew what to pair with those electric blue colored peep toes that I bought on an impulse. The feeling passes off in a while, and I safely return to my safe old pair of jeans, and slippers.

So yeah, growing old feels good. I don’t have to impress anyone with my looks, coz I know I am smarter than the way I look. And that realization is what I like. I know what I like in food now, what kind of alcohol I prefer and what I will do if there is no one around me. I have grown lazier , and I like it that people around me don’t complain about it. I have grown more stubborn , and I realize I have to work on it. I have begun to understand my strengths , especially at work, and I know I don’t use them all the time. And I am comfortable in this knowledge. All of it.

I realized that I am a butterfly when it comes to hobbies and they keep changing. This realization made me feel oddly comfortable. Now I don’t have to berate myself at not having blogged more at my Food blog, or not having cooked more for friends or not pursuing that knitting hobby.

Weekends are fun. No single weekend passes the way I intend it to pass, and I like it. The husband and I talk often about how much we wanted our weekends to be like how they are now, and we are glad that we are living it now.

Weekdays are fun too. I like what I do. Strangely enough, I wait for Mondays on most days, and ask myself what I've been doing all along before this, and why I have postponed having fun so long. Yeah, I like the work I do, the people I work with and the stuff I do when am not working at work.

It's not all as rosy as I project it to be. No one's life is. But I choose to overlook the not-so-rosy parts.. There is nothing that a little bit of good company , some optimism and some detachment can’t cure. For everything else, there is always my purple couch!

Another post

For some more mike testing.

Mike testing...

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2...
3!

Gratitude Giving

So, I've been tagged to post 3 things am thankful for , for the next 5 days.
This is going to be generic, and not just for this day, coz I have a lot of things am grateful to the Universe for, and my moment of epiphanies cant happen in the middle of a busy day . :-)

Gratitude - Day 1

1. As sappy as it sounds, I am grateful for having found love. And it really makes me feel complete.
2. I am glad that I have t...he opportunity to talk about self-actualization, feminism, freedom and all other stuff like this. I think about what keeps me going often, and I try to work on that. I am grateful that I get a chance to follow my heart, very often. And I can do all of this because all my other basic needs are taken care of, which I cannot thank the Universe enough for.
3. I am very glad that I have a choice. I have a choice at everything I do, at work, in life and in general. And I exercise it. Even if I am lounging on my couch for an entire day watching a silly sitcom or if am toiling on my computer for 14 straight hours or I spend the entire night reading a book and crying over the characters, I do it only after I have asked myself if I want to do it. 80% of the times, at least.

Gratitude - Day 2

1. Hyderabad - I am so glad Hyd is home. I am always so happy to be back home, more so if am coming from a city like Bangalore where going anywhere is a nightmare.
Yes sir, please keep your weather and weekend destinations. I love my petrol, time and spontaneity more. And oh, I can safely talk about my environmental consciousness. ThankYouVeryMuch!...
2. Coconut oil - For the way it makes my idli with mango pickle taste. For the way it makes the complexion of my people glow. For its aroma and for everything. It has the power to lift my spirits instantly!
3. Technology - Not just because I earn my bread and butter thanks to it. But because of the incredible things it allows people to do. Starting from making it easy for my computer-illiterate Dad to operate his smartphone like a pro to making an otherwise seemingly tech-savvy person like me be constantly in awe of its capabilities. [I just made my first ever Skype call and yes, am in awe :-)]

Gratitude - Day 3

1. Friends - all those who accept me as they are and surround me with so much love, the ones that make me want to be a better person, those that teach me that I can make and keep friends, especially after I've given up on the idea of new friends, coz you know, we are all growing older and the older you are, the harder it gets to make new friends.
2. The things around me that enable me to stay without internet for hours - I know, its hard to believe for most, but I do stay without the internet and my email for hours.
Am either deep inside one of the books, or having fun with people I like without putting it on FB or Twitter, or am just lying on my couch doing nothing.
And it keeps the asocial side in me still love the world and the people in it, and return from my shell full of smiles ! :-)
3. My Family - For just letting me be. In all ways. Especially when families in India are known to pressurize people into doing things they don't want to do and being people they don't want to be, I feel super glad that my very orthodox family, every single member I am related to, is letting me live my life the way I want to.

Gratitude giving - Day 4

1. India - I am glad am in India. And that am an Indian. Yes, things dont move as fast in India. We have a ever-growing population and limited resources. We have a very laidback attitude towards human life and things in general. But at least, am not in China. Or in Congo. Or in Gaza. Or with Boko Haram. Women in this country aren’t in a happy place right now, but I don't ...feel unsafe. Scared, yes. Worried, definitely. But unsafe, never, not yet.
2. My Bamboo plants - If there is just one thing that will instantly make me happy and smile in my house, it’s those tall Bamboos of mine. Truly, the only material possession of mine I truly love. I have a lot of twisted bamboos plants around the house, and the tallest of them are more than 6' 3" (taller than the husband!)
Yes, there is a short story behind them which nearly everyone who visits the house gets to hear, and that's what make these bamboos special.
Oh, and yes, they make me feel that I can really take care of living things. :-)
3. My workplace and the culture here - It wasn’t just a career choice, it is a lifestyle change. It keeps me grounded and has gotten me an opportunity to see some of the smartest people I'll ever know, at work. It reminds me every day that I'd rather be a mediocre person among a bunch of smart people than be the smartest one among a group of mediocre blokes. And has given me a motivation to push myself every single day. I don’t think I’d be the same person I am today had it not been for all these years I spent here. Some people like this new me, some don't, but it suits me just fine.

Gratitude giving - Day 5

1. Vipasana - Well, what can I say about the difference this has made to my life. Not only is this a form of meditation, this is a way of living, and taking those 10 days to do it certainly is one of the best things I've done for myself. You will still see me freak-out for things, but those instances are reducing day by day. Well, no one is perfect, no? ;-)

2. Books - For me, book reading is not just a hobby anymore. It is something that I do, along with eating and breathing, things that keep me alive. From introducing me to things and worlds I never knew existed to influencing some key thoughts in my life, books have been everything. I've not known how to be a non-reader, and I don't think I'll be one too.

3. This is a tough one, and there are two contenders -
a. Hand-sanitizers - For the slightly OCD-ious me, these bring peace of mind, without a background thread polling on all the different places a particular thing must've been. [And the husband insisted I add this to my list, which brings me to the next item on my list :-) ]
b. To-Do lists - They let me live my life, and as annoying as it is to me and everyone around me, these lists let me get stuff done. And technology (Thank you OneNote!) has made it easier for me to keep my lists in sync so I am not anymore dependent on those yellow stickies.

2013 and a 2014 look ahead…

It has been a good year, all in all. Can’t complain on any front since life’s been good. Did a couple of things, some personal achievements, some holidays and a lot of activity. And am thankful to Providence for each of these things!

For starters, we did what I never thought we would. We sold the apartment which I initially thought was our dream house, and had never intended to leave for anything in the world. Turns out our feelings weren't strong enough, and we fell out of love with the house , sold it , and moved on from it physically , emotionally and mentally, all in no time at all. The pretext was to buy a bigger apartment, which we didn’t in the end, but I guess we were both ready to move on from that old apartment. One of the most impulsive yet very well turned out decision of our lives, I must say! I thought I’d be insecure without my own house, but the bigger realization was that we were both nomads deep inside, and the obligation of not paying an EMI made us realize that we like this life better than anything else. It makes me feel free, unattached and gives me the independence to do anything I want, which I wouldn’t trade for anything! We rented a larger apartment which brings us closer to our goal of having a better social life, we spent a bomb in doing up this apartment, and are happy! That’s what matters, right!

We, the husband and I, took a hard look at how close we are to our target-retirement-assets, during the whole real estate transactions and figured out that we were both close and yet far from it, which was a good revelation to have. That makes the money goals quite clear, and we both know what we are working for, and towards. A good place to be in!

Work has been good. There is a very welcome job change, something that teaches me something new every day. And am more clear in what I want to do with my work life – To work for passion, not for money. On that note, here’s one of the most impactful lines I read this year, something that made me change quite a few things in my work life, and is currently my work signature -

When you look back at yourself six months from today and don’t feel embarrassed by your naiveté, there’s a problem. That means you’re not learning, growing.

And the decision to not have children still continues. We still are asked the same old questions about children and why we don’t have one yet, but they have decreased a lot. Either people are growing sensible or we are developing a thicker skin. Parents have accepted that we have a mind of our own, and have stopped expecting a grandchild from us. Once we got to this point, both of us have become quite open and aren't shying away from telling people that we are childless by choice !

I got a tattoo this year, my second one. Based on Impermanence, I have the line ‘Sarvam Anityam’ inked in Devanagari lipi on my wrist. Its such a pretty tattoo that I still stare at it lovingly, a full 3 months after I got it done! The lines mean what I believe in strongly, and what I try to practice every single day of my life, yet to not much success. This line also reminds me what Vipasana taught me, and how I should be detached from everything and yet be attached to everything! Unlike my first tattoo, I wasn’t scared of this second one. I was looking forward to it, I had thought about the lines a long time ago, and this was like an craving I had to crave in to! Here it is…

A great holiday happened. In fact, two great holidays. One was our regular annual vacation to Goa, where all we did was take long walks on the pristine white beaches (yes, there are a few of them even now in Goa) and drink bottles of port wine. The other was a dream vacation to Greece. It was originally planned as a getaway vacation, but I added a fitness goal to it and made it into a hiking holiday, something that worked out so well, that am now inclined to take up atleast one activity based holiday per year! There was one other vacation that happened towards the end of the year, but that wasn’t even one. It was intended to be a annual reading holiday, but turned out to be a driving holiday. We got to Mudumalai, took one look around at our surroundings, realized we were too bored by that place, and drove back to Hyderabad the next day! Just an example of how we are letting our impulses take over these days… its like the older we grow, we have more freedom! :-D

To gear up for the hiking holiday, I took up working out, something that I had never done before. Found a great instructor who is making me realize every single day what I am capable of doing with my body, and what I could do if I realize its full potential, and how my body reacts when I abuse it with crappy food. What we do is programmed strength training, and am now all set to have a few fitness goals for 2014. On that note, healthy eating has also increased. This year, even the husband has been nice enough to play along with me in eating the millet-heavy diet am laying on his table!

Read quite a bit, though not as much as I wanted to. 76 books in one year is a good number, but its not as good as 122 books in an year , no? Blogged a bit. Did a very taxing month-long project where I posted one salad recipe per day. Gave one health based talk at a hospital. Got mentioned in a newspaper, thanks to a friend who was writing the article. Did one photo shoot for someone, for which I didn’t get the credit. Yeah , yeah… lessons are always learnt!

Friends… where shall I begin and where shall I end. Without being too sentimental, let me just say in one sentence what I feel about the people in my life. I am truly thankful to God (am almost an atheist, so that’s saying a lot!) for all the delightful people in my life today, every single one of them. I might not meet them every single day, some I haven't met in months, but all of them that matter are still a part of my life. Over the years, I’ve figured out that I need to keep away from people who don’t add a positive influence to my life, and have been largely successful too.  Guess that’s one of the perks of growing older… you discover whom you like to hang out with , you discover your own self via the people you are with. And yet again, am truly truly thankful to each of my friends. And I hope to be as good a friend to them all as they are to me. Like I always tell the husband, we must’ve done something right in our past lives to be blessed to be around such wonderful people.

2014 brings with it a lot of plans, decisions, goals and hopes!

There is an obligatory fitness goal, which I intend to reach this year. Yes, there’s nothing better than fitting into less sized clothes, and smiling as people ask you if you’ve lost weight.
I’ll hope to read to at least 50 books this year. Unlike my old apartment where it was only me and the husband, there is a thriving social life in this new place that we moved into. So anything more than 4 books a month would mean that am missing out some good girlfriends time! :-)
May be another tattoo, but am not sure. :-)
Take my food blog a little more seriously. And invest in it. On that note, take my food photography a little more seriously too. Both of them need a lot of TLC!
Meet more of my old friends. Meet more new interesting people. Keep people who don’t mean well out of my life.
Take more holidays, one every quarter, may be! ;-)
Keep working for passion!
Hang out more with the adorable daughters and sons of my friends. And with those wonderful nieces and nephews am gifted with!

Lets hope that the Universe lets me follow each of these plans through this new year. And wish you all a very happy new year! :-)

A Grecian Holiday!

This September, we went on a dream vacation... a full 10 day hiking holiday in Greece. We ate great food, walked a lot and had loads of fun during these 10 days. It was like a trip down the history books lane, what with every corner of Greece reminding us of a little something we read back in school. Pythagoras, Delphi, Parthenon were just some of the historical aspects that we enjoyed while in Greece!

God, I need to backup a bit and go from the beginning... I've been like this ever since I got back from Greece. You ask me a question, and I start rambling about how nice a holiday it was there.
Sometime ago, I read an article on The Hindu Metro edition about someone's cycling holiday in Tuscany. I read the entire holiday, took note of the website given in the article and mentioned to a friend sitting beside me that someday I'd like to go on a holiday like that. She laughed at yet another item being added to my travel-wish-list, and said I could do all that if I find someone who can plan it all for me. Obviously, I couldnt do it all by myself, she said. As discouraging as they might be, I saw value in what she said, and decided to go with someone experienced. Thats when I realized I had taken note of the company mentioned in the article - The Active Holiday Company, and decided to get in touch with them, when I was ready for a holiday.

After searching through their list of holidays for over a month, and mulling on leave dates with the husband, I finally narrowed down on a hiking holiday to Greece, and got in touch with folks at The Active Holiday Company. Gauri & Uday , the founders of this company, promptly got in touch with me, read my zillion emails patiently, gave me all the suggestions they could, gave me an itinerary that I loved and even helped me through the visa process.
You see, I did not want to go with a pre-decided holiday, and had a list of other places that I wanted to visit in Greece, all of which were addressed in this new custom-made itinerary. And since this was an activity holiday, 5 hikes were baked into the itinerary.

 

Yes, as usual, the husband didn't get involved in any aspect of holiday planning and left it all to me... someday I'd like to travel with a person like me, who would plan all details of a vacation, and all I have to do is to just show up, and of course, pay! :-P

Only after we reached Greece and started our first walk did I realize how well planned the holiday had turned out to be. Every night was taken care of, every hotel knew we were arriving, every walk had enough details given and every place was what we expected it to be. And considering that we were given enough information about various travel options within Greece, we could get a flavor of the life the locals live.

We travelled in metro trains in Athens; took city buses in all the major cities - Athens, Chania, Delphi, Fira, travelled in ferries when we were island hopping from Athens - Hydra - Athens, Athens - Santorini, Santorini - Crete; and even in taxis where required.

We had not opted for meals in any of the hotels, and so had plenty of opportunity to eat the local food, plenty of it, all fresh and yummy at every place we visited. I can say this with authority now that as far as food is concerned I dont think I will get better vegetarian food anywhere in the world outside of India! Yes, Greek food is awesome. Greek vegetarian food is heavenly, and Greek ingredients are out of this world. I could not get enough of the olive oils, olive pates, tzazikis, feta cheeses and roasted vegetables, so much that I carried most of them back home. I am going to do a full feature on Greek food on my food blog, The Meal Algorithm, very soon.

Talking about food to eat in Greece, I cannot forget the awesome hospitality extended by the Greeks. They were in financial troubles, petrol is super expensive in Greece, they clearly were trying hard to make ends meet with the meagre sales they were making in the markets and the heavy taxes they were paying, but had the adorable Greek pride on. There wasn't a single negative word spoken about the country, or a single remark at how they were doing. To the outside world, they were perfect and gracious hosts.

Every meal is served with a on-the-house dessert of grapes or a shot of Mastiha, a liqueur made out of a tree resin, one of the most heavenly drinks I'll ever have or Raki, a fermented liqueur made of honey. As far as alcohol is concerned, I think the Greeks have mastered it all. They have an alcohol derived out of every edible and yummy ingredient. Ouzo made out of fennels, Mastiha from the tree resin, Honey raki, Tsikodia from some spices , Peppermint liqueur ... you name it and they have it.

I tried capturing a bit of Greece through my lens, and am quite happy with my pics. I carried a Canon Rebel Xsi throughout the trip, and shot most of these pics using the standard kit lens, in landscape mode. I, of course, did a lot of reading up, because I was apprehensive about the harshness sun can create in the pics, and was so glad that they all came out perfect! :-)

Here's my short take on each of the places we visited -
Athens - A beautiful, quaint capital city. You can finish sightseeing this entire city in 2 days, if you plan it right. We took a walking tour through the major sightseeing spots in the city and ate only in the restaurants in Monastiraki square, the most happening place of Athens. Seeing the Parthenon is an unforgettable experience.


The Temple of Zeus in Athens

Parthenon

Hydra - One of the most beautiful islands in Greece. If you've been there, you know how tough it is to say this statement, but in my experience, this is true. Its your first introduction to the azure skies and white houses, and its also an island which has absolutely no vehicles on it, and a port full of eateries. A ferry from Piraeus will get you to Hydra in less than 90 min. We did a 8km walk on this island over a day trip and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The main port of Hydra, in a 'C' shape

Another mini-port in Hydra

Delphi - If you are a science student, you MUST visit this place. If you are a history student , you MUST visit this place. Oh, what the heck, if you've been to school, you MUST go here. Its a very little and beautiful town, with ancient ruins. Plan to stay overnight, and visit the ruins once more before you return. The European trail E4 goes via Delphi and walking a portion of it is a good experience.

Temple of Apollo, also where the Navel of the earth is!

Temple of Athena

Santorini - Out of all the places I've visited in Greece, this place is the one that we looked forward to the most, and the one that has disappointed us the most. Yes, it is beautiful. But its not something you wont see anywhere in Greece. Its extremely crowded in every place in Santorini - Fira and Oia, and the hotels obviously have seen a lot of tourists to be genuinely nice to you. Sightseeing doesnt have a lot to do there, except for that one most photographed church in Oia. Had it not been for the 10 km walk we did from Fira to Oia, we would've been very very bored for the 3 days we spent there. If this isnt on your bucket list, give this place a miss and go to other nearby islands like Paros or Naxos.

The two ends of the caldera on Thira, the biggest island on Santorini.
On your left is the town of Akrotiri, and its Oia on the right

There you go! Now that you've seen this church,
you can safely give Santorini a miss! ;-)

Crete - The largest island in Greece, and the one where the density of the olive trees is the most, this place stood up to everything that we read up on it. My next visit to Greece will definitely be to Crete, and to the charming town of Chania. We did the tough 16 km hike in Samaria Gorge which was deeply satisfying on a personal level to both the body and the eyes. This place is one heck of a natural beauty. Extremely beautiful, especially at the end of a tiring walk ;-) Also, lying down on the beach overlooking the Libyan sea made me feel quite accomplished! ;-)

The gorgeous town of Heraklion!

The Venetian harbor and lighthouse in Chania!

Ah, the joy this sign gave us. The end of the 13km walk inside Samaria!

This marked the end of the 16km walk inside Samaria.
Over to the Libyan sea from here

Greeks believe a lot in the concept of evil eye, which I found quite nice actually, which is why I carried back lots of them for friends back home. Little signature bottles of Ouzo, olive oil soaps and olive oil bottles make other awesome souvenirs - not very expensive, but still feel like a bit of Greece in your pocket.

If you are planning to go on a zara-hatke holiday, have time to spare, and the patience to train for it (oh yes, some basic training is required. I don't recommend a direct couch-to-16km-walk approach myself), then I strongly urge you to go on an activity holiday like this... will make you feel rejuvenated, accomplished and happy for years to come. And yes, I definitely am visiting Greece again (given that I only want to see a dozen more countries to tick them off my bucket list, I will be visiting each country I've been to, atleast one more time! ;-)) and this time, I will do more island hopping!

Some of the common sights in Greece...

 

A regular run-of-the-mill street!

Not everything is white and blue in Greece

Kafka-esque moments abound!

Some graffiti on the walls!

Wise enough to be foolish

By now, its common knowledge that I am wary of books by Indian authors. My dislike for Chetan Bhagat is well documented, I could not finish Jhumpa Lahiri's last book, I have read only one book by Aravind Adiga and have never even read Amitav Ghosh. Vikram Seth is different, he doesn't get into this league of writers at all!

So when I picked up this book, I was sceptical. I had attended the book launch and heard some great things about the book by people there, I saw the author speak, I also read the quotes behind the book cover. But the book snob in me was still a bit sceptic. Then, I read the booklet that came along with the book, something like a sort of introduction to the book and the author's style, and noticed myself getting excited.

 

And once I started the book, I was pleasantly surprised. As I got more into the book, I noticed myself getting interested more and more in the story. And by the time I was midway into the book I knew I liked the book. I was engrossed in the plot , completely and finished it in one go, cover to cover in 3 hours!
This is a fictionalized memoir of the author's life, with her drawing inspiration from various incidents in her life to put in the story. The style is narrative and its apparent that the author is the narrator. But when you start reading the book, you forget that this is a novel because it doesn't feel like fiction or that it is a memoir because it is not boring, self-indulgent or preachy.
What I liked best about this book is the flow of the story. It starts at a logical point in the author's life, and ends at another logical point. The writing is breezy, almost as if a friend is narrating her story to you, but it doesn't really have the conversational style, which is a welcome change.
There is humour in parts without the author sound funny because she has to but because the incident is funny, and the English is something you and I would use in our regular conversation, not some flowery language.
Its also an incredibly honest book, touching various serious issues that a regular Indian girl will see around her or happen to her. The author touches a bit upon the expectations the society sets for an Indian girl as she is growing up, the boy-girl child discrimination that most girls see in their houses and the child molestation issues, and yet makes sure that this is not a serious book. The tone of writing is not pat-me-on-the-back-I've-done-so-good-in-spite-of-having-so-many-issues , but is very as a matter of fact look-here-is-my-life-there-are-the-people-that-touched-it.
In my opinion, it is also very difficult to write a memoir and ensure that the reader does not get to know too much about the author's life, because when you are writing a memoir, you do not know how much information is too much. For example, one minute you are talking about having boyfriends and your views on sex and another minute you could put in a little too much detail for the reader's liking. I did not notice that in this book, which again talks a lot about the author's ability to tell a good story.
The treatment of all the various characters in the book is also very pleasant, even when the author talks about the not-so-good people in her life. You cannot help but applaud the maturity of the person if most of these incidents have actually happened in her life for real. And the relationships the author has had with each of these characters evolves as the book progresses and you can feel it in the words used.

At the book launch, I heard the author say that she didn't intend this to be a Booker prize standard book, and she wrote it because she had a story to tell. I liked the honesty behind that statement. All of us have a story to tell, its how you tell it that matters. And I think this is a very well told story, something that might not win awards but will win hearts.

Also don't let the booklet judge you the book. In my honest opinion, the author did not chose the best passages to be in the booklet, the ones in there are just ordinary if you compare it with the rest of the book!
Yes, the book is much much better than the booklet will you think it is.

I will not call this a story of a rebel or a revolutionary tale of an Indian girl. To me, this is a story of a regular Indian girl who has lived her life the way she wants to without getting bogged down by the expectations that she has to live upto and worrying about judgement.

If you are a girl reading this book, you will identify with a lot of aspects in this book. At many parts it feels like the author is talking about your life, at other parts, you might feel that you should've behaved like the author has. It will also appeal to the feminist in you, not the bra-burning one, but the am-equal-to-a-man-in-every-respect and I-have-a-right-to-live-my-life-the-way-I-want-to one.
If you are a man reading this book, depending on how evolved you are, you will feel various degrees of surprise at the honesty in this book, and also get a peek into the mind of most modern Indian girls of this day.

2012, in Books!

A super-good year for books... I touched a number that I only dreamt about touching.
Reading 120 books in 12 months is a big deal, especially to me.
That means an average of -
10 books per month
2.5 books per week 
a book every 2 days
All this combined with a very demanding job, and another demanding hobby... well, I felt like I ran past the finish line of a marathon as I closed my 120th book earlier today.

[Do check out my book list by clicking on the pic above]

It was indeed like a marathon. I started off with great gusto, I grew disillusioned in the middle, I told myself that number doesn't matter(which didn't till I finished my 100th book, after which it was merely a challenge I threw to myself to see if I could touch 120!), I drew inspiration from other readers, my elbows ached with all the book/Kindle-holding I did, and when the finish line was visible there was exhilaration and excitement, and when I finally reached the magic number after some huffing and puffing, I was overjoyed. And am overjoyed because as I hit the number, I also know that I enjoyed and savored each book, even the not-so-good-ones.

One of the reasons why I am not able to contain the excitement is because I am not sure if I will ever be able to read 120 books in an year again. Life is busy and it will only get busier in the coming years. Also, I want to not read 120 books in the coming years... I want to concentrate on other hobbies... coz as much as I love them and think that they are really the only things that matter, I know that books alone cannot satiate the zest I have for things! I want to work on other aspects of the hobbies, like working on my cooking techniques and understanding better photography...

When I started off this year, I wasn't sure if I would be able to read even 50 books, which is why I set myself a modest target of 30, which I think I crossed by the 6th week of the year. And as the numbers kept on increasing, I kept on piling them up. I spent a lot of time on figuring out what my next books would be, where to source them from and internalizing each book that I finished reading. The last bit was particularly important because I've read some great books this year. Some books which I will carry with me forever either because of the marks they made on my mind or what they have introduced me to.

 

I finished the Tome-Travelling challenge I picked up at the start of 2012, read some incredible writers for the first time, read some real duds and some life-altering-awesome books.

The Tome-Travelling aside, I have read some great books in 2012. Thankfully, there were not many young-adult books, a genre I still enjoy reading, but know for a fact that they cannot teach me anything new. There were a lot of authors I read for the first time and wondered how on earth I survived without reading them before. There were also some disappointments in the form of highly rated authors whom I couldn't enjoy as much as I thought I would.

Here are some of the best books I read this year, in no particular order -

1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – A very well researched and written non-fiction book, something that’s not my first choice but am glad I picked up, which opened my eyes to a whole new world.
2. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – As I mentioned in my review of this book, the word ‘beautiful’ doesn’t even begin to describe this book. A very poignant love story with a lot of other elements interspersed, this is a very interesting book.
3. A Room of One’s Own – Ms.Woolf’s account on why there are not many women in literature is a very profound book, something that aligned to the theme I chose for this year – Feminism.
4. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle – One of the most complex works of Murakami’s that I read this year, this is also a weird yet thoroughly awesome amalgamation of worlds, in a classic Murakami style.
5. Kafka on the Shore – Oh.My.God! What a brilliant book! Every aspect of this book will mess with your head for days after you are done reading, and every aspect of it will remain with you forever. You will talk about sardines, portals and wish you heard the title song somewhere… the book will haunt you forever and you will love it!
6. Wide Sargasso Sea – Like the reviewers say, this is indeed the other side of Jane Eyre, a book that implores upon the story of Rochester’s first wife. You will not feel the same about Rochester after you read this book!
7. Thirteenth Tale – What.A.Book! It’s a pity Diana Setterfield has not written any book after this, and am eagerly waiting for someone to make a movie out of this one, though I know the movie will NEVER live up to the book. As I mentioned in my review, this one is a thorough book-lover’s paradise.
8. 1Q84 – I’ve written, spoken and thought about this for every waking moment for up to a month after reading this, and am still not done.
9. Ines of my Soul – I took a free trip to 1500’s Chile and came back when I finished this book. Yep, Allende’s prose is as captivating as the interesting life Ines led back then.
10. A Doll’s House – Ibsen’s short play is anything but short. Thoroughly feminist and thought-provoking, I would recommend this book to every girl.
11. The Bell Jar – Slyvia Plath’s talent is not unknown to the modern world but I think this book is am embodiment of it all. Though the concept is depressing, Plath manages to write it in an un-depressing way.
12. The Shadow of the Wind – A profound tale of undying love, extreme hatred, time-tested friendship, deep sorrow and above all Barcelona, this book made me a fan of Ruiz Zafon’s.

2013 is going to be about classics. I intend to read classics, both old and new. I also intend to re-read some books that I love - Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, Harry Potter series, The Thirteenth Tale, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the likes…
Am also going to pick up the books I chose for my 2012-Tome-travelling challenge, those that I couldn't read either because I couldn't source them or because I barely couldn't finish them.
I will also read Vikram Seth's Suitable Boy and Rushdie's Midnight's Children, or at least try to read them.
There is also a plan to finish reading all Murakami's works, though I highly doubt if I will do it all in one stretch, for the fear of not having anything to look forward to if I finish Murakami.

The ONLY thing I regret in all this mad-cap-reading is that I did not take the time out to review each book that I read, something which I enjoy doing otherwise. As a result of this, all I have are the ratings I gave for the books and no track of my thoughts as I was reading them, something I love to read at a later point of time to reminisce. 

2013 will have a new Kindle, the new Paperwhite one which has just been ordered(Yippee!!), which might hopefully mean undisturbed sleep for the husband who gets bothered by the reading lamp by my bedside but is sweet enough to not mention it, because he knows that I cannot sleep without reading. There will also be a new Surface later in the year, which will hopefully make updating my reading progress in Goodreads much easier.

So here’s to an exciting 2013… an year full of good books, great conversations with friends, some travel and some great work. :-D

2012–the Year that was…

Oh, it has been a good year. A very good year, indeed.
I read a lot, enough to compensate for the very less travelling I did, cooked quite a bit, learnt a bit more about photography and learnt how to knit.

Travel: There has not been a lot of travel, thanks to the very colliding holiday schedule both I and the husband kept this year. Right when I would be free from work, he would be swamped with it, and when I would be busy, he had some free time. In spite of this killing schedule, we went out twice... Delhi-Agra and a week long trip to Coorg, which was essentially a reading holiday, where we both did nothing but read in our respective corners in the charming little homestay we stayed at. And I went for a short holiday to Goa with friends where I did nothing but eat mangoes in the comfort of our hotel room, take a couple of long bike rides and squirm as usual at the thought of sitting in the beach.

Blog: No, am not talking about this one. Am talking about The Meal Algorithm, which is where I blog more frequently(72 posts in 2012!). I love to write, and the love for cooking has continued even in 2012. I discovered slowly that baking is certainly not a strength, though I can bake to save my life, its cooking that I'd like to do. Even that has suffered a bit in the latter part of the year, thanks to the house help disappearing for a full 4 months, without whom, I had to cook the basic meals of the day too after which I was too busy to think of something new to cook or even shoot what I cooked. So yeah, both cooking and photography suffered in the latter part of the year.

Books: This is going to need a whole new post for itself. Yes, reading has been the focus this year. I was busy and stressed at work. A lot of family visited us this year, I watched some mindless TV for months at a stretch (imagine watching back to back episodes of Gilmore Girls, The Good Wife and 30 Rock). I also picked up a new hobby-learning to knit which didn't really kick off as well as I thought it would and hence required me to spend a lot more mind power and time on it. During all these, reading was what I did. With great focus and lists in tow, I read every day, for atleast an hour. And thanks to the incredible speed at which I could read, I finished a great number of books (all of which will be in a separate post!) and am mighty proud of it...

Hobbies: As mentioned before, knitting suddenly piqued my interest. Well, there are reasons to it. I once saw a bunch of girls crocheting in an episode of The New Girl which I totally loved as a stress-buster-idea. And then, there was this awesome cardigan and handbag that I wanted to make for myself. Only when I finished learning knitting(I can do a decent knit and a pearl now but knitting sweaters is a long way ahead!) did I discover that it was crocheting that I should've done, if I wanted to make myself that cardigan and the handbag. So yeah, 2013 is going to be the year where I learn crocheting.

Work has been good, with even some good stuff towards the 3rd quarter of the year. As usual, I met some amazing people, didn’t lose friend (touchwood!) and have gotten slightly better at reading people. I still take things at face value, but the cynic in me is back, which I think is good. The positive attitude is still there, and I hope it will continue.

We have absolutely not been socializing, partying is beginning to look like a chore. The husband and I have been hanging out by ourselves on a weeknight , mostly in HRC to do some people-watching, and meeting some good friends at either their or our homes. I stopped worrying about this trend, which I initially thought was alarming, and have not begun to understand as yet another change age brings in. I’ve realized that I’d rather have conversations with people I like than sit with a drink I don’t drink with blazing music in my ears, and am okay with it being a sign of growing old.

Weekends are either spent reading on my couch or with family around. There have been quite a few alone-weekends what with the husband travelling a lot over the weekends initially. So yeah, there has not been a dearth of alone-time which I’ve always enjoyed. I spent most of this time by myself and some of it hanging out with friends, all of it super fun! New babies by friends are welcomed into the world and good things have happened to people who are dear to me, this year, and that has made me immensely happy.

Health has been bad. Yeah, pretty bad. Its not something that’s visible to the naked eye and people wouldn’t know if I don’t mention it, but its been bad, to the point of being traumatic in the first half of the year. There were days I was so down physically that I couldn’t even get up in the morning. I am glad persisted through it all, and now its all getting better. Only in the past 3-4 months have I been settling into feeling good. I know I have to exercise, coz only that is the solution to everything I’ve been facing, but then, that’s a problem I have decided to solve on another day. For now, Homeo is what am relying on.

2013 Resolutions:
I plan to read up a lot more on food photography, bring in some technique to the way I shoot pics, learn some photo-editing software to enhance my pics and see what I can do with my food photography.
I will aim to post atleast once a week on my food blog, this should be do-able, but lets see where work will take me!
Crocheting - learn this!
Read as usual, but not with the mad fervor! Also re-read some books.
Travel. Take another holiday in Goa and may be a reading holiday as well.
And please, for the love of God, get in shape. Exercise!

Tough decisions…

Yep, only when you have to make them do you realize that you are indeed a grown-up. And that life is not how it was when you were Daddy’s little girl, you’d run to Daddy and tell him the problem and expect it to be solved in the next minute. Or pick up the phone and talk it out with Mommy, and expect her to solve it for you. Well, when you grow up, more often than not, you discover you cannot even discuss many of your dilemmas with your parents. That’s the downside of being a grown-up, I feel.

I will take a slight digression and mull on how much watching Gilmore Girls again made me miss my Mommy. And how many times in the middle of an episode, I would pick up the phone and talk some random stuff with Mom, not the usual, how are you doing, did you take your meds, no, I cannot visit you this weekend etc. Yeah, I realized that watching the show made me grow closer to my Mom, reminisce all the moments I spent talking to Mom when I was staying at home, and how we are still close, except that we now don’t see eye-to-eye on most topics. Watching the show has also made me understand Mom more, understand how she would’ve felt when she saw her kids leave home, how she dealt with the empty nest syndrome and how she is coping with it even now… Well, as I said, I digress.

Back to the decisions, it sucks, doesn’t it. To be all grown-up, with the whole world expecting you to know what you want in life and how to get it. To have to deal with all your problems without support. To be an adult, pay bills, make plans etc. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for independence, but I sometimes get nostalgic about the irresponsibility, of depending on someone else to get your stuff done and of having to pick up the phone and just expect problems to be solved. Yeah, I chose this world, and as much I whine about it, I want this. I want to be able to decide what I want to do with anything I would like, and how things have to be dealt with in my life. Makes me feel all super-powerful.

It only stinks when I have to prioritize. When I have to decide what I want to do over something else I want to do. Its the difference between ‘want to do’ and ‘have to do’ that bugs me, and by what I see around among all the adults I know (those who don’t want to be adults but have to be ), its a problem all of us have.

I just made one of such tough decisions. It was between what I want to do, and what I have to do. Have to do is pretty important stuff and yes, it keeps me happy. Want to do is something I always wanted to do. An option I wanted to explore as an alternate career. Something I wanted to do when I grew bored of my Have-to-do stuff. Something that was my cushion. I thought I could do both of these, I am a super-woman after all , just that it turns out I am not. Deadlines in both these areas of work, and I figured out I will have to let the want-to-do go away. I cannot screw up with my have-to-dos, can’t I? And so, I decided to take a shot at want-to-do when I am more relaxed with my have-to-do.

I know I am going to regret this decision, moreover opportunities do not keep coming. And so this will get filed under the Missed-Opportunities list I am maintaining. This might even be a Dear Diary moment, for me to look back when this list grows too big because I will forever be busy with my have-to-do. Sigh. Sometimes, at very very rare times, being an adult sucks. Coz I alone am responsible for this decision, no?

Mango!

Nothing says summer like the arrival of mangoes and watermelons to the markets. And of course, the sweet songs of the cuckoos in the mornings, the power cuts and the hot afternoons. And yes, the reminder that I've indeed grown up, and so I do not have summer vacations anymore.

No more running around grandparents' houses with cousins without a care in the world.
No more sitting by the todu and squeezing the mangoes out of the last drop of their pulp.
No more competitions on whose mango seed flies the longest, and who will hide from the rest of the cousins the longest.
No more of those very expensive put-a-hole-through-cousins-pocket gad-bad ice-creams.
None of the pelakkai gattis, mango rasayanas , tandoorlis and kukku bajjis.
No more summer exhibitions where you would meet all the people you've ever known , all in the span of just one evening.
No more of just-cut-me-a-mango-Mom all three meals a day.
No more sleeping on the terrace till the sun tans you to the darkest shade possible.

Well, I can make, eat and see them all as much as I want now, but its not the same without the company of the people with whom I shared my childhood.

So , come every summer, I inevitably miss the summers I spent in my grandparents' house in Hidingala and Ujire, and the careless 12-hr-long night and days I spent reading all the books I want. Basically, I miss being the 15 yr old me.
And of all the things I miss in summers, I miss the tastiest mangoes ever – Banaganapalle mangoes a lot.
You do get them in Hyderabad, but they are not as good as the ones you get in Kurnool, the place where I grew up. Very tasty, export quality mangoes for the cheapest prices possible, straight from the orchards.... oh yes, that’s possible only if you are in Kurnool. And yeah, you gotta be as mad for mangoes as we as a family are.

I was whining about the lack of good mangoes in Hyderabad and how I haven't eaten an Alphonso mango till date with no particular action item in mind. And now the house is full of mangoes. From the orchard, from the streets and even the Alphonso variety ... you name it, and the husband has managed to get it for me this time, making me grin wide, but also miss my childhood all the more.

As I am making lists on whom all to share the Alphonso crate with, I called Mom asking her to come over, just to taste the mangoes (yeah, that's how crazy we are for mangoes). She promptly refused my offer to share my Alphonsoes and told me that her Banaganapalles are way tastier than any other mango under the sky, and that I should go over to Kurnool if I want to have a bite of them. :)
So yeah, I am not considering driving over just to taste them, because she refused to parcel them to me the way she did it for the brother... :)

After I am done sighing at the awesome smell of mangoes the minute I open my fridge, I have to plan a short vacation and also the endless work that has been piling up when I was busy doing... well, eating mangoes... :) and yeah, the home photo studio for my food photography experiments.

Tell me, how are your summers going? Lots of fun? Vacations? What other plans?

1Q84 – A World, a journey and an experience…

Wandering , I was lost in the big almost-bad , never-ending world of books, YA novels and some dumb series , fluttering from book to book, wondering where in my book-journey I lost a purpose and where I had forgotten all about my favourite style of writing and the worlds I'd live to get lost in and worrying about what my next book would be like and telling myself that quantity is never better than quality but still piling on the number of books I read per month and questioning my own attention span ... And that is when Murakami happened. Almost every time he happened, he managed to fill my head with unimaginable worlds and beautiful paired sentences and aptly used words... Thus showing me what the joy of reading is all about!

Like how they say that when you are in love, every step you take in your life is so that it might take you closer to your love (am refraining to use a reference from the book here, something which Aomame does towards the end of the book), every book I read this year so far was to get me closer to this book – Murakami’s 1Q84.

It was to read this long a book with complete dedication that I spent weekends and weekdays maniacally reading all other books in my To-Read list. The sheer size of this book was deterring me, and I was questioning myself if I would persist enough to finish this book at all and if my restlessness take a upper hand from the love I have for Murakami. Well, turns out my love for Murakami , his words and the worlds he creates for me is greater than anything else!

At the core of 1Q84 is a beautiful hopeful love story, something very deep and soul-touching, taking course over an year, 1984. Well, Murakami has his way with words for sure, can do a great job with love stories and his translator does a good job too, but what is better than the love story in this book is the way it shapes up. The characters that are introduced in the midst of all the action in Aomame’s and Tengo’s lives, the worlds they exist in, the individual characteristics of each of these characters , their purpose in the book, and the sheer world he created in this story… each of these are brilliant. Murakami sure did give a lot of thought on how he would develop each character, where he would end them, how they would play according to his wishes in 1Q84 and what impressions they will leave in our minds.

I will rate this book as one of the best books of this century. I’ll even go ahead and say, this can be a Must-Read for any fan of the Magic Realism genre.

No, don’t attribute this to my undying love for Murakami . Read this book for yourself, get lost in the world he created, try to find your way back to reality like how Aomame does and then sit back in wonder and recount all the happenings of this book, and the time you lost in reading it, which gives its 900 odd pages is nothing. Yes, time just flies when you are reading this book. You’ll feel like you’ve lived through an entire year yourselves, lived both Aomame and Tengo’s lives, been to the world of The Little People by yourself, and even wish for your own Air Chrysalis.

There is an obvious Orwell reference, and something to do with pasts and remembering it as well, but this book is not dystopian. Its magic realism with tonnes of learning embedded in it. If not anything else, you’ll come back richer with knowledge reading up on all the references he gives for a varied set of music, movies and books. And yes, you’ll listen to Janáček's Sinfonietta a zillion times to understand the different undertones to it! And not to forget the haunting feeling you’ll get every time you make a decision in your life, leaving behind another world… its like being opened to a whole new world of What-ifs, like this quote below -

Quote link – GoodReads

More than any of these, Murakami gave me something else. One more thing to share with my husband, we are as different as chalk and cheese , the both of us, our music, movies , books and even pace of living. How we manage to live together , that too, dare I say, happily is a question for another day, but Murakami is one author we both love. Equally. 1Q84 is the only other book we both read at around the same time, and fell in love with it, equally.

As I was reading this book, my moods varied from being exhilarated, excited, curious, shocked, amused, look up to the sky(you’ll know why!) , scared and worried that I might get stuck in a Town of Cats as well and wish that I was in Tokyo among all the lights, Sakigake and in the Ichikawa school myself. I gasped every time either Aomame or Tengo looked up into the sky and moved pages in a hurry at the end of every book in this mega-book. I just couldn’t wait to finish this book. I loved the method of story telling, the pace in the plot and the introduction of characters. Oh what the heck, I loved the book in its entirety.

Word of caution though, if you have never read Murakami, or do not like his style of writing, you MUST not read this book. It will only turn you against him, something my poor heart cannot bear! ;-)

As a sidenote, my GoodReads reading progress…

Books… the impact!

 

Needless to say, books impact our lives a lot. I also believe that books shape us, our characters and a lot on how we think about many aspects around us. That is why being well-read was a very important trait for me. The ONE thing I was particular about my life-partner even as a young girl was that the boy I would marry would be well-read and should be able to talk and hold conversations on books. If not anything else, we’d at least never run out of topics to talk about.. :)

I am a huge fan of Haruki Murakami, his books, his style of writing (with due credit to his translator)  and the world he weaves in his stories. I’ve learned a lot and read up a lot after finishing each of his books because of the many references he gives to many topics in his books, all those that he likes or he draws his inspirations from. So when his 1Q84 was due for release last year, there were a lot of articles on him, his living, his books and his inspiration for 1Q84 itself and the various things in the book that he refers to. First and foremost on the inspiration list was that he titled the book on the lines of George Orwell’s 1984. Now, until then, I’ve obviously read and heard a lot about George Orwell but was never compelled enough to go and read his books. But to read and understand and to not miss a single reference that Murakami would give in 1Q84, I decided to read 1984. This is first of the many things I did in 2012 to gear myself up to read 1Q84. Yes, that is/was how important it was for me to understand the book and Murakami, and the book. I am currently reading this book, but more about this later, in a separate post which this book totally deserves.

Now, 1984 – from the minute I finished reading this book, I cannot tell in how many ways this book has impacted my thinking. From the outline of it, its not a great story. Its set in a dystopian society ruled by a dictator where people are forever forced to think in a certain angle. Obviously, the setting is brilliant, the story telling is awesome but what’s more awesome is how this book has been in my thoughts forever. Every time I think of past, and how I would like to change it, like the old photographs on my food blog, or the posts on this blog, or changing certain aspects in my Facebook Timeline, I cannot help but think that I am trying to change history, one of the most important points of 1984. Its shocking how deep an impact the book has made, because of all the things that have crept into popular culture from this book, the only thing that stuck to me is trying to change history. Trying to change history is trying to change who we are, and in effect changing our own identity. This thought has dawned on me only from the book.

And that is how I began to think of all the books that have impacted me , changed the way I think about certain things and shaped the person I am today.

First and foremost on that list is Gone with the Wind and Scarlett O’Hara. Every time I think of survival, I think of Gone with the wind, and how Scarlett survives the war and saves her family and those around her. Its the image of Scarlett stomping her feet and saying – I’ll live through this day, and when I do, I’ll take care I’ll never have to see a day like this forever, this is the image that will never leave me, and come to my mind every time I see a challenge, or something that might weaken me.

I am a huge Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling fan, but what I love best about this book is the image of love it has created in my mind. To me, all the 6 books are a prelude to a beautiful love story which unravels itself in Book 7, when Snape wants to look into Harry’s eyes as he dies. Also, when I think love, the one other book that I can never forget is Love in the time of Cholera, and the image of a young man being turned down in a market and resolving to win over the girl some day, even if he has to wait for it for a lifetime.

Love is a vast subject, there are various angles to it, and it is one of the most written about topic too, but there are some books which stand out. Always. Like Wuthering Heights, for example, which will forever evoke an image of a doomed love in my mind. Ralph Fiennes had a lot to do with this, but the image of the enraged Heathcliff and headstrong Katherine will never leave my mind if I were to think of love, and the pain it causes. Oliver’s Story , and the image of Oliver Barrett running by the river Boston and stopping, heaving is an image of a  young man who has decided to live the reminder of his life thinking about his love, Jennifer. Also , Gatsby’s crazy neurotic love and the things he does for it create another irrevocable image when the talk of love comes up.

From the time I’ve read up on Communism, I’ve been extremely interested in it. How it is implemented, how it affects the people living in that country , are they happy or not and such questions have always been on my head, but nothing answered them better than Orwell’s Animal Farm and Rand’s We, The Living. So now when I whine about the lack of freedom in India to not think of Sachin Tendulkar as God, I cannot help thinking about Stalin’s Russia, where it was not allowed to think about certain things. That was where a deep sense of wanting to have freedom of thought has arose in my mind, and now if I value ONE thing in my life, it is the Freedom of Thought, something that guides many of us in many directions.

The word ‘Charity’ always brings up Atlas Shrugged in my mind’s eye. This probably is THE book that has a deep influence on how I think about a lot of things around me, and one that is responsible for me being so opinionated. Charity should never be forced, individuals should have the freedom to do what they want to do with their money, and it is completely okay to be selfish and do the things you want to do because you love to do them, and not for the greater good of mankind – Atlas Shrugged, Hank Rearden, Dagny Taggart and John Galt are single-handedly responsible for these opinions I hold in highest regard, some of the most important thoughts I have.

I think of depression and I feel Sylvia Plath haunting me from inside the Bell Jar. I think of being alone or feeling lonely and I think of Ursula from 100 years of Solitude. I think of Power and Family and Don Vito Corleone emerges in my vision with people kissing his hand. I think of making deals or negotiations and I see the Don making an offer people can’t refuse thus teaching a valuable life’s lesson. When I am waiting for the husband to come home, I cannot help but think of Penelope and her long wait for Ulysses as she is weaving her shroud. The words impact and influence come to my mind and I think of Prabhakar, Sara and Khan from Shantaram, another of the books that I hold in highest regard.

When I think back of the days I was growing up, all of them have the same memory – me reading a book on an easy chair, in the dark with a torchlight on, in bed in my room after I moved away, walking back from the library after picking up a book to read that night , in short of most of them are about books. Back then, I did not know what kind of books I loved, or what it was about the books that made me read them so voraciously. I hadn’t even identified my favourite authors then, and I was game to read just about anything.

One of the many perks of growing up and growing older is wisdom, and awareness. Its like I’ve suddenly become aware of what books I like, the genres I enjoy reading, and the authors I like. This has been a life long process and I keep discovering everyday now, but for the past couple of years, the books I’ve read and the ones that have stuck have adhered to certain simple subconscious rules.

The book/author should teach me something new, be it a concept or a part of history or introduce a new thought. I should have enough material to read up on the aspects mentioned in the book, thus giving me a scope to expand my horizon of thoughts and opinions. Magic realism , dyrstopia or fantasy should be an underlying theme, if there was a love story in it, its a bonus. If I get to do a time