Thoughts and books :).

Hello! After all these days, months (and may be almost a year), it occured to me that i haven't written anything here for a long, long time. So, this is just an attempt to dust the cob-webs. For starters, i discovered some really refreshing debut books, and i am clearly looking forward to reading more works from the authors of these books. Two of these books are short story collections, vignettes mostly from the everyday world around us and sometimes from a hypnotic and very surreal world of imagination. The third one is a debut novel, which i liked purely because it broke quite a few stereotypes associated with "desi-lit". You do have the beautifully ornate sari picture on the cover and you do have quite a few of the standard things associated with what lies beneath such ornate covers, what you also get is a refreshing story of an ordinary citizen trying to make sense o the world around him.

And here they are, three very interesting and gripping works :

If it is sweet by Mridula Koshy
`Etudes by Aseem Kaul
The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa

And then, besides my standard fix of Murakami and Abe, I have also enjoyed reading the works of Banana Yoshimoto. I recently read "Kitchen" and "Hardboiled and Hard Luck" and was impressed by how simple words can sometimes convey very powerful emotions.

What's on your reading list these days?

Oh, and meanwhile I also visited Boston, along with my dear friend MD, in late summer this year, lots of fun, as always :).
Besides doing a highly touristy thing like taking a duck tour, the other highlight was going to Brookline Booksmith, the best bookstore ever! Meeting my friends Ms. Doll and Ms. E. and just walking around in my old neighborhood , besides eating in our favorite places, awesome! You know what i mean :).

Thoughts.....

Surprised? I am :-D.


Wanted to write a lil' something today. Its been a long, long time since i made an appearance here. Sometimes, words appear and then disappear, before you can string them together.....The silent scribbles in the diary of the mind. Sometimes, thoughts flash like a firefly in a corner and then fly away. Other times, you do end up finding words and then shaping them into a definitive something. The something, that will tell it like it is.



This just happens to be one such moment, and i am making sure that i catch the thoughts before they dissolve :).

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Few days back, i had a lil' trip back in time, with this beautiful piece of poetry and music. Its a musical rendition of a poem by Faiz (The video link is from a TV drama called Dhoop Kinare, which was popular even in India). I am not attempting to translate the poem, because no words can accurately translate its depth and the beauty.

It is one of the most beautiful combinations of poetry and music, ever! I first listened to this when i was really young, barely a teen-ager. The melody grew on me and so did the lyrics. The lyrics beautifully and poignantly describe the soothing effect that long-forgotten pleasant memories have. And few days ago, when i listened to this song, i felt soothed, blessed by the beautiful, long-forgotten memories.....
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I've recently caught up with my reading, and have been reading Murakami like an addict :-D. Besides some of his novels and short stories, i have also enjoyed reading some really inetersting books about mind and music, neuroplasticity, paranoia and the concept of self. Which means (or atleast there is a lil' bit of likelihood) that i would write about them at some point :).

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Oh, and the pictures that you see here, are from Santa Monica (where else?). Love the Santa Monica pier and the promenade.

These pictures were taken when MD was here in winter.



The ferris wheel in the picture is the old one. The new, solar-powered ferris wheel was inaugurated this week.

So, i did manage to capture some thoughts, didn't i :).

Mind and music :)

Its late in the night. I am waiting for my bus at the bus stop, tired, completely jaded, may be even a bit frustrated.....I reach my bag for the music player. The music begins to flow, into my ears, into my nerves, into my soul.....the same three songs spin again and again, as they have many a time before, soothing my soul, comforting my nerves. As the music plays on, i feel the warmth and brightness of sun, the flakes of snow melting on my skin, the pampering of the breeze.....in my thoughts, i walk with familiar faces in familiar places. i smile, i cry.....i think the thoughts. i walk with a spring in my step, almost dancing. i am in a different place, i am in different places.....these virtual trips to wherever are sponsored courtesy these few songs.....yet again, i travel through time and space: the music, my wings.....

Snap! the music player is off-i am "myself" again, back in the real world.....much soothed and ready to go!
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Music does it, to me, to everyone. Very true to my name, eh ;). It has got the power to touch the innermost core of human mind. Remember this story, about music? There are many more such stories. Dr. Oliver Sacks has narrated many more stories Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.

I am really looking forward to reading this one. Dr. Sacks' writings are about human mind and hope, and this one blends a favorite along, music. Check out the following video: Dr. Sacks talks about Music and Parkinsonism:



and this one: "A bolt from the blue", a story about his friend, who developed a passion for music after being struck by lightening!




There are more videos on Musicophilia.com.

And i know, i love me some floating on the cloud of music :).

Wonderland and the old dreams.....

Few days back i finished this book "Hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world", a very surreal book by Haruki Murakami, my first book by this author. The book is too true to the title, and i don't mean it in a negative sense at all. It narrates two stories, from two distinct worlds. On on hand you have the really modern, fast paced wonderland and the other one is, well, the end of the world! The wonderland story is all about information wars, the strange new ways of protecting information, which use the most sophisticated device of all times: the human unconscious mind.....this world is not as simple as it looks! While the story in the wonderland is all about mind, the end of the world allows its citizens in only on one condition: that you have to surrender your shadow, the mind! The shadow then wilts away at some point, and that makes you a true citizen of the end of the world.....and while the shadow awaits its end, you would read old dreams: the broken pieces of mind and memory.....which ones belonged to someone.....

Two stories, two worlds, one connect!

Two sides of the brain, working independently?

Two minds within one?

Sounds lovely? Yes, it does! And that precisely is the surreal feeling i enjoyed the book for. The narrative is psychedelic, almost like a feverish dream! The only distractions to me, were, some of the lead character's obsessions (you'll know what i meant, when you read the book!) and the really show piece like female characters! The book could do without them (but thats my opinion). But you can easily ignore all that, and just enjoy the journey into these two worlds.....

The book has some crazy sounding, but interesting thoughts on mind! The author surely is fascinated with human mind.

The book has no ending.....or does it? You decide what to call it.....to me, it was an image of the beginning.....

and i think of Alice in the Wonderland.....

Reading Sybil.....

I finished reading "Sybil"-a book by Flora Rheta Schreiber, last week. This book had been on to-read list for years.....but having read the reviews, i could never summon enough courage to read it. I finally did, early this year.....

The book is about a girl Sybil Isabel Dorsett, who suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder-based on the life of a real person-Shirley Ardell Mason. Multiple Personality Disorder is a condition where you have a conscious waking self and the other alternate selves who rise from the subconscious/unconscious mind.....and the waking self has no clue of their existence.

Sybil, who first dissociated into her waking self and an alternate self at a young age of 2-3 years, had no less than 16 selves of different ages who inhabited her being.....two of them being males! This is touted to be the most complex of such cases. Sybil found herself united into one whole being in her 40s, after she went through a whole series of psychoanalyses-some based in hypnosis and sodium pentothal (the truth injection).....Her dissociations apparently originated as a defense to protect herself from the childhood abuse.....and that, to me, was the toughest part of the book.....the other possible cause being the conflicting religious values she faced.

In the book you meet Sybil and 16 selves, her parents, her room-mate Teddy Reeves, her psychiatrist Dr. Cornelia Wibur and even the author of the book. Her 16 beings are different from each other.....the volatile Peggy(s), the French sophisticate Vicky, the baby like Ruthie, Vanessa, Marcia, Helen, Marjorie, Nancy, Mary, the guys Mike and SID (after Sybil's initials), the un-named blonde and Sybil, as her waking self. Each with different desires and skills, each a fragment of what were to be the whole Sybil. Sybil was a really good artist.....some of her sketches are provided in the book-different selves preferred different style of painting.....some of her works can be viewed in this link.

There has been some controversy on whether Sybil was a multiple personality or an extreme case of hysteria. It is said that Dr. Cornelia Wilbur delibrately induced personalities in her patient during hypnosis.....and that it had something to do with the book deal. More details on this controversy can be read here. Shirley A. Mason, Cornelia Wilbur and Flora Rheta Schreiber are no more in this world to share the truth.....Apparently, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur's archives and notes were to be opened in 2005. May be that would bring some facts to light.

The book scores, whether as a work of pure fact or part fact-part fiction, am not sure. If its fact, then its one of the most complicated tales of human psychology and if fiction, then its imaginative! The book is reptitive at times, but only to underscore Sybil's trials and tribulations. The description of her selves is rather vivid and you connect and empathise with each of them.....and you are sure to miss them after the book is over. The pages dedicated to childhood abuse are graphic.....very painful, and i admit, i skipped through those partly.....it was too difficult to take.

Sybil gleefully enjoys her days being all for herself, after all her selves have been united.....on how she can do simple things all by herself, without another person from within taking over her.....

And in this respect, it gives a message similar to many of Oliver Sacks' works- We have a lot in life to be thankful for.....simple things that we don't even think about.....Like being one with ourselves.....

Sheetal, Manjul, Komal.....

Sheeta, Manjul, Komal.....

These words convey heartfelt emotions.....emotions of comfort.....comfort felt by the soul.....soul that was touched by the soft, comforting emotions.....

Yes, and these words belong to a song so melodiuos, so poignant that it evokes the same emotions in you.....

Y'day, while chatting with MD, we discussed about Sharatchandra's books.....and the one that i felt most about that moment was "Chirtraheen".....and as all of his books, this book to has strong female protagonists, my favorite being Kironmayee.....

And i remembered how i had found her character so striking, so well etched.....

and then, i thought of the song, that belonged to the televised version of this book. i came across this song through Sukhan's blog that links to this wonderful archive of Sh. Salil Chowdhury's music.....

and this song played on.....just as beautiful as the lyrics are.....i thought i would share this song (below):

Sheetal, Manjul, Komal

and i am still humming this song to myself.....feeling nostalgic.....