A short and well-lived life
When is the right time to do the right thing? If we can answer this by doing it then, I think, it is to have lived well.
PG Tenzing passed away on 26th July 2010. Before that he seemed to have lived well. He left the dull, laidback world of IAS officers, embarked on a bike ride across India, alone and then wrote a book on it! His book was published in May 2009. Talk about doing right thing at the right time.
An example of how one should live life to the full, simply because it’s too short not to!
Review of the book ‘Don’t ask any old bloke for directions’ by PG Tenzing is on this site also -dated December, 2009.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
State of Fear
By Michael CrichtonMichael Crichton has surprised me before. I had read Jurassic Park when I was younger and was amazed by the details, astounded actually. In my self-centered mind, the biggest success of the author was the fact that noone had ever explained science to me as well as Michael Crichton did.
2nd surprise was when I saw him in Oprah – a very tall (almost 7’), charming, CEO-ish and very non-author look let alone a person of science! I loved him!
3rd was when I picked up Disclosure! First of all I kept looking back at the cover to check if it could possibly have been written by the same person. But as I read more and more, I was quite sure. With the details and the fast paced way the book had been written, it had to be him. From Dinos to sexual harassment – it was hard to believe!
On that, the movies were huge and the tele-drama ER was fascinating, intense and fast paced, as would be expected.
I read ‘State of Fear’ recently and I am surprised again. The arguments are terrific, the conclusions even more so. Being a ‘green-reading-enthusiast’ it was a right book for me to read. The arguments are quite a revelation in terms of the so called global warming and climate change phenomenon. We really are so under informed! Michael Crichton has studied this for 3 years before embarking on writing this book. So the book is very educative, informative, thought-provoking and definitely influencing.
It’s a must read!
Of course I picked up this book as my tribute to the great man, who passed away in 2008.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Constant Gardner
By John le Carre
My blog is about books that leave an impression on you, whether on your being, your treatment of people or your perception. So it doesn’t have those books which I felt lacked the depth or the necessary ‘it’ factor.
In a way I am also like a constant gardener – weeding the unnecessary and planting books which help give us a wonderful kaleidoscope of imagination, interpretation and magical story telling.
I never picked up any books by Carre always thinking that he must be a French novelist and I wasn’t quite ready for those. But lack of books in the library led me to finally pick this one up and what a surprise awaited me!
The most remarkable thing about this book is of course the fairness in which the story had been told. The characters presented are neither ‘herofied’ nor ‘villanized’ more than they should. They are just people who like all of us change differently with circumstances.
Tessa the wife of British diplomat travels with her husband to Kenya. What she sees there changes her life leading to her murder. After her brutal rape and murder, abound with rumours about her infidelity and what she would have known as likely cause of her murder, Justin surprises everyone when he embarks on a journey to relive the murder of Tessa which takes him and us to a journey across 3 continents and multiple perspectives. As the story unfolds - at the heart of it - you will find a deep, well-rooted, heartening and at the same time a simple love and trust story of Tessa and Justin Quayle.
The constant gardner takes you to a journey of drugs, of human guinea pigs, of treachery, of politics and diplomats and the screaming insides of those who that something must be done, no matter what.
It’s very difficult to write the review of this book because it’s a book which is written is a sedate tone – like an onlooker. It might become like ‘Chinese Whisper’ if I start to. So read it!
My blog is about books that leave an impression on you, whether on your being, your treatment of people or your perception. So it doesn’t have those books which I felt lacked the depth or the necessary ‘it’ factor.
In a way I am also like a constant gardener – weeding the unnecessary and planting books which help give us a wonderful kaleidoscope of imagination, interpretation and magical story telling.
I never picked up any books by Carre always thinking that he must be a French novelist and I wasn’t quite ready for those. But lack of books in the library led me to finally pick this one up and what a surprise awaited me!
The most remarkable thing about this book is of course the fairness in which the story had been told. The characters presented are neither ‘herofied’ nor ‘villanized’ more than they should. They are just people who like all of us change differently with circumstances.
Tessa the wife of British diplomat travels with her husband to Kenya. What she sees there changes her life leading to her murder. After her brutal rape and murder, abound with rumours about her infidelity and what she would have known as likely cause of her murder, Justin surprises everyone when he embarks on a journey to relive the murder of Tessa which takes him and us to a journey across 3 continents and multiple perspectives. As the story unfolds - at the heart of it - you will find a deep, well-rooted, heartening and at the same time a simple love and trust story of Tessa and Justin Quayle.
The constant gardner takes you to a journey of drugs, of human guinea pigs, of treachery, of politics and diplomats and the screaming insides of those who that something must be done, no matter what.
It’s very difficult to write the review of this book because it’s a book which is written is a sedate tone – like an onlooker. It might become like ‘Chinese Whisper’ if I start to. So read it!
In the picture: I haven't seen the movie but I am sure this is one of the best shots. Lovely pic!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Agony and the Ecstasy
By Irving Stone
I have consciously chosen only 3 biographies to read so far. All 3 have left an indelible impression on my mind and my outlook. But that is unimportant here, the big deal is that, this one in particular was recommended by my truly brilliant friend Anil. The irony is that Anil and I became friends when we found our common interest in the works of Leonardo da vinci. I call it irony because this book recommended by Anil is the extraordinary account of the life and times of the sculptor, poet, painter par extraordinaire Michelangelo Bounarotti, who was a rival of da Vinci. Thanks Anil, I see a bit of Michelangelo in you btw!
No doubt Michelangelo was a genius, but I feel without this account by Irving Stone, we wouldn't know what mettle the genius was made of. Its when you wake up with Michelangelo, go to the bottega and tire yourself out as the sculptor without sleep or food goes on for days concentrating on that one piece (that would go down to history), that you realize, not only has Michelangelo outdone himself but so has Irving Stone.
This book is about geniuses, about people who taught us to love beautiful things, about people who appreciated beauty so much that the proof of their foresight still remains with us after over 500 years. This book is graced by the amazing Lorenzo di Medici, the beautiful Florence and the greatest works of art.
What I will not forget are
1) The Nurturer: Lorenzo di Medici's foresight to nurture art and artists like one nurtures a garden, a true appreciator of art,
2) The Talent: Michelangelo's relentless search for reality and perfection. What makes an artist extraordinary? - he learns dissection of humans just to complete 'David', he thinks for days about how Mary would have felt when holding her grown up child after he has been just been crucified, before he does the 'Pieta' - while the rest of the artist still painted Jesus on a cross! It wasn't just a piece of art for him but the whole thought behind the art, a true thinker.
3) The Storyteller: Irving Stone's detailed yet very contemporary and easy story-telling which makes this book unforgettable and the characters far more realistic than we would have ever thought.
Read it, as these extraordinary men come together to bring you a bittersweet experience of the agony and ecstasy in a life well-lived.
(Inset: Michelangelo's Day and Night, so beautifully described in this book)
image courtesy: travel webshots
I have consciously chosen only 3 biographies to read so far. All 3 have left an indelible impression on my mind and my outlook. But that is unimportant here, the big deal is that, this one in particular was recommended by my truly brilliant friend Anil. The irony is that Anil and I became friends when we found our common interest in the works of Leonardo da vinci. I call it irony because this book recommended by Anil is the extraordinary account of the life and times of the sculptor, poet, painter par extraordinaire Michelangelo Bounarotti, who was a rival of da Vinci. Thanks Anil, I see a bit of Michelangelo in you btw!
No doubt Michelangelo was a genius, but I feel without this account by Irving Stone, we wouldn't know what mettle the genius was made of. Its when you wake up with Michelangelo, go to the bottega and tire yourself out as the sculptor without sleep or food goes on for days concentrating on that one piece (that would go down to history), that you realize, not only has Michelangelo outdone himself but so has Irving Stone.
This book is about geniuses, about people who taught us to love beautiful things, about people who appreciated beauty so much that the proof of their foresight still remains with us after over 500 years. This book is graced by the amazing Lorenzo di Medici, the beautiful Florence and the greatest works of art.
What I will not forget are
1) The Nurturer: Lorenzo di Medici's foresight to nurture art and artists like one nurtures a garden, a true appreciator of art,
2) The Talent: Michelangelo's relentless search for reality and perfection. What makes an artist extraordinary? - he learns dissection of humans just to complete 'David', he thinks for days about how Mary would have felt when holding her grown up child after he has been just been crucified, before he does the 'Pieta' - while the rest of the artist still painted Jesus on a cross! It wasn't just a piece of art for him but the whole thought behind the art, a true thinker.
3) The Storyteller: Irving Stone's detailed yet very contemporary and easy story-telling which makes this book unforgettable and the characters far more realistic than we would have ever thought.
Read it, as these extraordinary men come together to bring you a bittersweet experience of the agony and ecstasy in a life well-lived.
(Inset: Michelangelo's Day and Night, so beautifully described in this book)
image courtesy: travel webshots
Monday, April 12, 2010
Thank You, Jeeves
By PG Wodehouse
As a tribute to one of my very close friends who passed away recently – I read a book, I know nothing else better. In my normal world, this book was ‘not my type’ and I would never have read it - if not for him.
This was a guy who made me read PG Wodehouse. In school one of my nerdy friends, die-hard fan of Wodehouse used to beg me –‘Ira please read Wodehouse, he is so funny.’ But I was in no mood for funny then, I was more Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Maugham, Hardy –classic, tragic type. And seriously, I never read funny. But this friend of mine T was more persistent than anyone I have ever met. He gifted me a big, thick copy of Wodehouse. This copy, which I ignored for sometime in the beginning, has now become a very important part of my collection of books - it is a commitment to my memory of a wonderful friend, an involved person, and irritating-interesting character, a boy more talkative than me or any other person I have met. This book is for keeps, for life.
I was glad that T gifted me Wodehouse, definitely British, stiff lipped humour is something else. Seeing every situation as funny is what this book teaches you, it tells you that it’s the sum of the parts that’s funny, when the parts themselves might be tragic. Read this book, you might not get weary with laughter, but the smile never leaves your face as you imagine the butler (Jeeves) and the master (narrator), the uncles and the aunts of the top echelon of the British society go on about their social networking in the old times.
Thank you, T.
Rest in peace and if it helps, I agree with you - I loved the book too!
2 quotes as dedication:
She had a penetrating sort of laugh. Rather like a train going into a tunnel.
P. G. Wodehouse
There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.
— P.G. Wodehouse
Read T's blogs at: http://tirtho-random-thoughts.blogspot.com/
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