“People aren’t either wicked or noble,” the hook – handed man said. “They’re like chef’s salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.”
On Beauty, Zadie Smith
I picked up Zadie Smith’s ‘On Beauty’ while browsing through the aisles in the British Council for the sole reason that the cover called out to me. I confess, I judge a book by its cover. There is no denying that one is attracted to a book by the cover. ‘On Beauty’ had a pretty vine and flowers theme with a black background. The front cover said, ‘Nominated For The Man Booker Prize’. If it is nominated for an award then it can’t be that bad, right? Right.
The book talks a lot about ‘art’. If there is one thing I do not understand it is art. Although ‘art’ is used as a backdrop it talks a lot about ‘family’ and that is one thing I do understand. Smith talks about two families, each following their own set of beliefs, each defining morality in their own special way. Howard is the most liberal-est liberal there is and Monty is a conservative, to the public. Both are each others greatest critics. Howard is ashamed of his son, Jerome, a staunch Christian who lives in his fathers house but prefers the Monty way of life. To add fuel to the fire, Jerome falls in love with Victoria, Monty’s daughter. In the midst of this drama Levi, Howard’s youngest befriends the wrong crowd and Zoe, his daughter, fights for the cause of a boy who ultimately disappoints her.
Meanwhile, Howard ruins his relationship with his wife of twenty years, Kiki, by cheating on her with an old friend. Kiki is devastated. But what is interesting is the way she reacts to it. She doesn’t make a scene and throw him out of the house. She lets him stay under the same roof, for the sake of her children, she says. But the real reason is that she loves him too much. Is it really possible to continue to love someone whom you’ve known for so many many years after they have committed the most unmistakable act of cheating? But she does, not in the most obvious way. This is a woman who has sacrificed her thoughts and her beliefs for the man she loves. She accepted his beliefs like they were her own. Howard comes across as a selfish person. He is so obsessed with his ideals and does not lend a ear to what the next person thinks. He is also a hypocrite. He thinks one thing but does something else. He holds a lot of importance to what he feels. All in all I found him a very difficult character. To read and to fall in love with.
It is intersting how Smith defines each character and gives each of them their own battle to fight. Every character in the book has their own ideals. They beleive in it so strongly that nothing can shake them. I did not understand the art. The liberal vs conservative battle did not interest me. What caught my fancy was the family dynamics. Parents work so hard to pass on their ideals to their children without realizing that they have their own dreams. But once the children learn to fight for what they believe in, parents feel like they’ve lost their control.
Why do we really love the people we love? And how far we willing to forgive someone even after they cross the point of no return? Zadie Smith understands the nuances of family. She writes so beautifully about life and its loves. The difficulties Kiki faces with her children and with decisions she has to make are so relateable. The book also deals a lot with female body issues. That part spoke out so clearly to me that I am saving it for another post.
I genereally do not like movies and books that do not have a definite end. For example, books that end with a puzzling situation or in the case of movies, like in Inception when everyone was arguing whether the totem stopped spinning or not. I’d like a proper ending to anything. I’m not a fan of “let’s leave it to the audience to interpret it”. But the last chapter of this book did just that and in a way I found myself liking it.
‘On Beauty’ is, for the lack of a better word, a beautiful book. Zadie Smith is now one of my top favorite writers.
“What infinite energies are wasted steeling oneself against crisis that seldom comes: the strength to move mountains; and yet it is perhaps this very waste, this torturous wait for things that never happen, which prepares the way and allows one to accept with sinister serenity the beast at last in view: …”
“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of the earth, overlying our hard hearts.”
Happiness.
I was reading The Museum Of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk when I came across a chapter called ‘The Most Important Thing in Life Is to Be Happy‘. For a long time I was always in search of Happiness. Not Earth shattering revelations or amazing achievements, just Happiness. Reading that chapter made me realize that ultimately, Happiness is what we aim for. It is what we expect our life to ultimately give us.
Another chapter was named ‘Happiness Means Being Close to the One You Love , That’s All‘ and I strongly disagreed. I always though of Happiness as a selfish thing. Something that you need and is present within you. Happiness can be found in other ways, I thought, not just in the company of those we love. Happiness meant getting something you wanted, reaching your goals. It was meant to be personal. Something that you could give to another person but personal, nonetheless. The whole of yesterday I had an internal conflict in my head, trying to disprove what Pamuk said. By the time I went to bed I was so sure of myself, so sure of what I thought was right.
Today was an entirely different story. I learnt that Happiness IS actually being close to the ones you love, that’s all.
Happiness is seeing someone after months or even years and realizing that no matter how much time passes, some things never change. Happiness is opposing teams being shot down by paint pellets. Happiness is listening to the same song on loop. It is food that satisfies a hungry stomach, the breeze in my hair that tugs my scarf away. Happiness is looking at the endless sea and knowing that everything is going to be okay. It is the knowledge that no matter how bad things may seem, they always have a way of working themselves out.
It is knowing that no matter where life may take us or where we may end up ten years from now, we will still have the memory of today, the sea and the sand.
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“In fact no one recognizes the happiest moment of their lives as they are living it. It may well be that, in a moment of joy, one might sincerely believe that they are living that golden instant “now,” even having lived such a moment before, but whatever they say, in one part of their hearts they still believe in the certainty of a happier moment to come.”
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Really.
I was nine years old when Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone released. Everybody were raving about this book and all the magic it contained. I scoffed at the fact that people were reading a book that was about wizards and magic. It seemed all too trivial. But boy, was I wrong.
I started reading it first out of boredom. But as I read chapter after chapter I realized that all the fuss that surrounded this book was well worth it. Rowling continued to release the subsequent books and I pre-booked my copy every time for the measly 10% discount that Odyssey gave. I read the books in express time. I read them at dinner and at lunch tables. My eyes got redder and I’m sure my eyesight grew worse leading to the soda buddi glasses that were increasing in size. I loved Ronald Weasely’s wit. I wanted to drink Butterbeer and visit Hogsmeade. I wanted an owl. I wanted a wand. I wanted to see Rita Skeeter. I was in shock when Sirius Black died. I cried when Dumbledore fell from the tower. I basically lived a few years oblivious to everything else but Harry Potter.
As a child I read a lot. I did the usual ascending in reading children’s literature. The farthest I remember reading is Enid Blyton. I’ve read every Famous Five, every Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, St.Clare’s, Mr.Meddle, Amelia Jane, The Faraway Tree, etc, etc. But after that there was a void. There was nothing in between, connecting children’s literature to the those of teenagers. My mother deemed it quite scandalous for me to read the Sweet Valley series at that precocious age (but I did read it behind her back). Harry Potter was that missing link.
Harry Potter is more than just magic, wizards and wands. It’s a book that has more morals and character than most of the other books I’ve read. Harry Potter taught me to be brave, to choose good over bad. It taught me that it is okay to take the wrong path but it is important to come back to the right one. It taught me never to let down the people we love. It taught me never to misuse the power or authority that we’ve been given. Harry Potter taught me to stand up for what I believed in, that it doesn’t matter where you come from but it does matter who you grow up to become.
I’ve always liked books and authors that have an underlying moral. Enid Blyton taught me that it was okay to dream. Wuthering Heights taught me about passion. Jane Eyre instilled in me the concept of unyielding self-worth.
The story of J.K.Rowling is an example enough. The idea for Harry Potter came to her when she had nothing. Literally. It is quite obvious that she wrote this book from her heart. It was the only thing that could either make or break her life and that devotion is seen so clearly in the book.
There are critics who find Rowling entirely laughable. The Vatican banned the book because it promoted ‘magic’. There were rumors doing rounds that Dumbledore was gay! But Harry Potter is beyond all that. It is beyond magic. It is one woman’s dream and hows she achieved it. It is a way of getting children to read again. It is revolutionizing children’s literature. It is about failing tirelessly but experiencing success in the end. It is about the joy of taking the journey with Harry and enjoying every bit of it. It is about waiting for months for the book to be released. It is about that anticpation for something wonderful.
It is about adventure, the joy of reading and the happiness it brings.
“I recalled this tattered memory from when I was a ten-year-old miniaturist’s apprentice like a picture whose outlines are clear but whose colors have faded”
Chapter 28-
I Will Be Called A Murderer
My Name Is Red
Orhan Pamuk
Edward Vs Edward
The first time I read Twilight was way before the madness that followed it. I recall being in High School at that time. One day my friend Mallu Girl calls me and goes “OMGG Zaaa!! You should soooo read this book called Twilight! Its awesome!”.
Me: “What’s it about?”.
MG: “Its about this girl who falls in love with a vampire and OMG its sooooo good”.
And that was the day I passed my judgment on Twilight and the three other books that followed it. I’ll admit that even I, although cynical, read all the four parts at least once. What was Stephanie Mayer smoking while she wrote it I don’t know. This book has got to be the single most dumbest book that I have ever read.
Okay, maybe half way through I did have a teensy crush on Edward Cullen (which girl didn’t). But the dude was too demanding and was way too much in love with Bella. The desperation she had for becoming a vampire was a little too umm.. desperate.
God must really hate us because right after the book came out, the rights for the movie was bought.
WHY WOULD ANY SANE PERSON WANT TO MAKE A MOVIE ON TWILIGHT?????
And good for us the movie turned out to be cheaply made with pathetic dialogues and even worse direction. They picked Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart to play the roles of Edward and Bella. Yes, these two look good separately but together they have awful chemistry.
PLAIN AWFUL.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet I beg you too. I promise you tears of laughter. How I wish Sudish Kamath had reviewed this movie.
But even Twilight is too crappy for him to review it.
Now the other Edward, the Edward that I know, is a perfect gentleman. Not Adonis looking like Edward Cullen. In fact, not attractive at all. Not desperate like the Cullen. Not a foolish git. Or a possessive idiot.
But a gentleman, not the least bit attractive. With education and class present in every fiber of his being. Granted he made a few bad calls here and there but he was a man with respect.
Edward Rochester from Jane Eyre.
While asinine Edward Cullen wanted to kill himself because he “thought” or “saw” or “dreamt” or whatever it is that vampires do these days, that Bella was dead, he was prepared to die. Not by killing himself, vampires are immortal you see. But by going to the chief vampire people and asking them to kill him. Something like a planned suicide if you will.
Obviously he doesn’t get killed. He is saved and yadda yadda yadda. What would be the point of the next two books if Edward died?
Now coming to Mr.Rochester, when Jane left him, for months he never knew if she was dead or alive. If you read the book you will know the wonderful twist after this chapter. So while he did not about Jane’s whereabouts he waited for years and years just hoping that she would come back to him. He was not a nut job like the above mentioned Edward. He waited for her and knew she would come back when she gained her own respect.
Eventually she did come back. But that was years later and Mr.Rochester was blind for years prior to that. Yet he waited knowing that one day his Jane would come back. Although he was blind he did not give up hope or decide to ruin himself. He continued to live, hard it may have been, but he survived. And that’s what matters.
Now tell me, if you were given a choice between the two Edwards who would you choose? Pale, partially demented Edward Cullen? Or sane, wonderful Mr.Edward Rochester?
Bright Star
BRIGHT STAR
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priest like task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.
John Keats
I just finished watching this movie called Bright Star and I have to say, this has to be the best romantic movie I have ever seen. The subtlety of the entire movie was amazing. Each character was etched out so beautifully. The movie is based on the last few years of in the life of John Keats, the renowned poet and his relationship with Fanny Brawne. Unfortunately it ends due to the untimely death of Keats at a very young age.
This is one movie I have seen that had no flairs or even fancy costumes given that its a period film. The locations were breath taking. There was so much drama between the two main characters without being overly dramatic.
This is such a wonderful movie. The dialogues are perfect. And the mild touch of humor makes what might seem another period drama easier to digest.
Overall this is such a beautiful movie. I am just so taken in by it I really have no words to say now.. *sigh*
Maybe In Madras 