B : Books in Lockdown #AtoZChallenge2020

It is the third time, in four April A to Z blogging challenges that I have participated in, that I have chosen Books as a topic from Letter B. Books are something I love, and this fact reflects that. Today, I am going to talk about the books which I read recently, in later half of 2019. Since the corona virus Covid19 related lock-down was announced about 10 days ago in India, I have been thinking of these three books because of their deep rooted understanding of politics and future. They all paint vividly, our dystopian future in some form or other, and dystopia as a theme is playing out right now in real world. Also one of the books claimed, that the period of epidemic as a problem was over. An epidemic has now shut down the planet. Ironical!

Today I am sharing my views on these three books below. 

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

The inside of the cover jacket says that Sapiens (reviewed here) explored the past and Homo Deus (reviewed here) explored the future. And this one, these 21 Lessons explore the present.

It is a decent categorisation as the book is essentially drawing from past and exploring the future. If you have read the earlier two books, you might find few things repetitive, especially in first 9 chapters / lessons under the two sections of technological challenge and political challenge. But these chapters are still fascinating to read. But as you read the next set of chapters, the book makes some strong criticism of all the stories we have been fed with. It philosophically tries to explore the meaning of life and yet is rooted in grim realities of our world. The author's scepticism comes to fore and so does his objectivity. I may not always agree with his predicted future but he definitely puts across a compelling case.

His chapters / lessons on terrorism, truth & post truth, criticism of his own religion and meaning of life are subjects, he didn't explore in his past books in detail. These offer new perspective. At times, I don't agree with him, because he assumes that anything that can't be proven through direct observation or evidence doesn't exist.  Like soul. Well, he might be right. But centuries ago, people hadn't found internet and WiFi. They just saw thin air. May be we should still believe in world's mysteries.

In hindsight, when Harari claims in his earlier books that mankind has overcome the three challenges of war, famine and epidemic in previous century and now it has to deal with problems of future, there is nothing disagreeable. Even corona epidemic will claim lesser human lives than previous big epidemics and hopefully we will have a vaccine soon. But I think he hadn't fully understood the challenges new age epidemics will pose. Like shutting down of entire economies. Like poor people suffering more because of financial problems than because of the disease itself. He recently came up with an essay on this subject. You can read it here.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm is a political allegory under the garb of a fairy tale, published first in 1945. It talks about a revolution in a farm by animals against the humans. And how this political revolution formed on the basis of utopia soon gets corrupted.

I had earlier read Orwell's book 1984 (reviewed here) . That book constantly reminded me of our current loss of privacy, enabled by government snooping across the world and our personal data availability with Google and Facebook.  That book was highly cynical and made me reflect on our current times. Animal Farm takes that cynicism, dare I say nihilism of our lives, several notches  higher. The revolution on the farm, originally reflecting on events of Russian Revolution  of 1917 followed by Stalinist era, constantly reminded me of a revolution in India - India Against Corruption (IAC). And how this revolution also converted into some thing abhorrent, leading to formation of of a political party which is similar to many that already exist.

The parallels were uncanny. The old boar in the book reminded me of Anna Hazare (Indian social activist) who inspired people to join IAC movement. In the book founders of the revolution are eventually thrown out, just like what happened in Aam Aadmi Party. In the book all inefficiencies of new system formed by animals is explained through externalization. All Indian political parties do the same. In the book, the pig named Napoleon becomes the main deal. Now he is served not the revolution. At the end book goes onto describe how humans and pigs are the same. One can read so much into it.

The book also made me feel that no political or management system can be saved from greed, corruption and ignorance. Thus I have stopped siding with any -ism. The guys who can champion a paradise after death, will always have something to sell, though.


The Time Machine by H G Wells

This one is a yet another classic. From Terminator to Avengers Endgame, we have seen so much about time travel on screen, that at first you may feel that reading this book about this much bandied about concept would have nothing new to offer. And truly on surface it's just that only.

But the moment you bring in the perspective that Wells wrote it in 1895, you wonder about his ability to look into the future. It is his ability to not only look into future of material development but also into future of social as well as cosmic evolution. Given the fact that in 100 plus years since the book was written, we have far more knowledge about the universe and tools to predict future, this book is nothing short of genius.

While Well's visual description about the world in future centuries is vivid, it is his ability to assess the societal structure in future that really impresses me as a reader. He presents humanity as a  blip in the timeline of cosmos and insignificance of everything we have done or achieved so far lends the book its bleak but thought provoking outlook.

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What are your favorite books on sci-fi or dystopia? Please tell me in comments section. 

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My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Lock-down Blues. I intend to write and talk about how I deal with it, what it inspires me to read or watch or any aspect of it which fascinates me. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

Previous Challenges : Letter B

2017: Books (My journey with books - not any review)

2018: Books that I read in March'18 (book reviews)

2019: Bhes Badalna (Putting on a disguise) in Hindi Films / Bollywood

B : Bhes Badalna (Putting on a disguise) in Hindi Films #AtoZChallenge 2019

'Bhes Badalna' is the Hindi language phrase that means 'putting on a disguise'. It is one of the tropes that have often been used in Bollywood films to further the story. There are also some standard situations to use this. Like when the hero has to infiltrate the villain's den. Or when the hero cross-dresses to gatecrash the heroine's picnic, in his attempt to woo her. Or at times to create a false identity, especially in the genre of 'Comedy of Errors'. 

But what I find hilarious is that the film-makers don't even put an effort in developing elaborate disguises. They expect the audiences to suspend their beliefs and imagine that the disguise is working. I have seen umpteen films especially from 80's and 90's where a character will put a fake mole on his face or just wear glasses and walk into a party and no one will recognize him. 

In a revenge drama titled 'Khoon Bhari Maang' (Blood in Trichion), Rekha, the heroine of the film is shown in two avatars. She comes back to take her revenge with a changed hairstyle, western clothes and a plastic surgery. Yes, she looks different in both the avatars. But only fools will believe that it is not the same person. Other characters in the film were foolish. 

Okay! At least in this case there was a definite makeover. What about a film called 'Rafoo Chakkar' (Slip Away)? In it two male characters disguise themselves as girls. The lead protagonist, Rishi Kapoor, with his softer looks, could carry it off easily. But his sidekick, Paintal (left in the picture) was an  easy giveaway. Still every character in the film believed that Paintal was a girl. In fact a man falls in love with him her. 

A relatively recent film, though entertaining and well made, was entirely based on a flimsy premise. The wife doesn't love her husband. The husband instead of talking to her and addressing the core issue, creates a different identity for himself. He meets his wife at a dance school everyday,  under the disguise of this newly assumed identity. Miraculously, with change in disguise, his personality also changes. I am not even questioning that. May be there is a scientific reason for this change in his persona. May be the phrase 'clothes maketh the man' is literally true. The wife feels attracted to her own husband, who is in disguise now. The film is called 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' (A Match Made by God) and here are the two looks of the lead actor Shahrukh Khan while his wife in the film remained clueless. 

So if you owe money to a colleague of yours, don't worry. Wear a pair of glasses and go to office. While you will see the same people, they will not recognize you. Okay! don't take the risk. Glue a mole to your cheek as well. 

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My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Hindi Film Industry / Bollywood cliches. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

2017 Challenge Post from Letter B: Books - It was a fun post about the role books played in my life since childhood. Click here to read.

2018 Challenge Post from Letter B: Books that I read in March'18 -  It was a post in which I reviewed three books  (Kafka on the Shore, Byculla to Bangkok, The Everything Store) that I read in March 2018. Click here to read.

B : Books that I read in March'18 #AtoZchallenge

I have taken a goal of reading at least 24 books this year - at least 2 each month. I am happy to report that I am doing good so far. I was aware that in April due to the daily blogging challenge, I would be hard pressed for time, as my reading hours will be taken over by writing. So I finished reading my 8th book for the year, in March itself. I read an eclectic mix of books last month. That helped me cut through the monotony. I normally read during my travel time and for sometime before sleeping. In March, I spent my weekends reading voraciously, so that I don't fall back. 

The three books I read in March and my views on the same follow. March's reading amazed me because I realized that I haven't explored many genres of books so far.

Book 1 : Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

This was the toughest book I read in March, due to multiple reasons. 

One, this is the first book of Murakami, I have ever read. Understanding the syntax of a new author always takes time and as I understand now, this is one of his less accessible books, which can have multiple interpretations.  

Second, this is the first time I read a book which explores magical realism and I dare say pop-philosophy. As I read through its chapters, it became increasingly difficult to differentiate real and surreal. 

Third, the book is an English translation from Japanese. That was another first for me. There are chances, that few things got lost in translation. Also the Japanese context was new for me. So on a positive note, I am more aware and I think that is the idea of reading about 'others.' 

Lastly, this book was really thick and long and for a large part of March, this book was with me always.

The book works on two levels - On one hand, it is a fast paced and gripping thriller, (gripping, if you fill holes or open ends with few convenient assumptions of your own) and thus a page turner. On other hand, the underlying themes the book explores, it forces you to read again the pages you read minutes ago, thus slowing you down. The book deserves a second reading. I don't think I am going to do that soon. 

While the lead characters in the book are Kafka and Nakata, but I identified with Hoshino - the truck driver the most. His point of view reflects the agony and then the acceptance of a reader like me, who is clueless most of the time. His is the glass through which I understood the narrative of the book. 

Book 2: Byculla to Bangkok by S. Hussain Zaidi

This book is touted as the sequel to Zaidi's previous book Dongri to Dubai, which chronicled the rise and escape of India's most dreaded gangster, Dawood Ibrahim. But truly speaking, Byculla to Bangkok is not really a sequel. It just focuses on a different set of gangs and gangsters (Hindus / Maharashtrian) with overlapping timelines from Dongri to Dubai. 

At level of each chapter, the book is engaging and interesting. It is insightful, how crime world operates and how human frailties, ultimately bring down some of the most ferocious killers.  Also, unlike Dongri to Dubai, the author here doesn't glorify crime. That was my biggest complaint about his earlier book. At the same time, unlike Dongri to Dubai, this book has structural issues in its overall narrative. With no particular gang or gangster in focus, there is a lack of continuity. The author jumps from one gang / gangster to another, with too many similar sounding names of henchmen being thrown at the reader at a rapid pace. As a reader, it didn't give me satisfaction of grasping the whole, while I understood the parts.

Despite the above flaw, there is one particular storyline - Neeta Naik / Ashwin Naik from Naik brothers' gang - that was most complete and a strong one at that. Their lives had the essential drama - the rise, the fall, the betrayal, the revenge and the redemption - to sustain my interest. Their story amazed me for its sheer humanity and lack of it as well.

While glorification of crime is missing, thankfully; the vilification of police and security forces is complete. I believe the view point of policemen is completely missing. 

Book 3: The Everything Store : Jeff Bezos and the age of Amazon by Brad Stone

It is neither a complete work on Amazon story nor a definitive bio of Jeff Bezos. But it still gives you a ring side view of the key happenings in Amazon growth story. Though if you search hard on internet, most of these stories are in public domain. 

While reading it, I was constantly doing a mental comparison between this book and the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson. And sadly, The Everything Store, pales in comparison.  While you get to know key milestones of Amazon, Bezos personal story is missing. You don't get much sense of Bezos as a person. Yes, some indicators are there about his leadership style and related aspects. But it stops short of really fleshing him out. 

Also in terms of tonality it is different than Steve Jobs bio. In Steve Jobs bio, there was no effort made or counter-views presented to deify Jobs. On the contrary, The Everything Store, constantly tries to perform a balancing act and tends towards justifying Bezos' actions that may be considered strong-arm otherwise. 

There is an interesting side story of Bezos and his biological father Ted Jorgensen. It is amazing that for large part of his life Ted didn't know about his famous son. As I finished this book, I was left with the sadness I felt for the things that remained unsaid between them.  

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My last year's challenge post from letter B was about my journey with books, right from my childhood. Read it here.

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My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is all about writing stories, anecdotes and observations from my life in form of easy to read listicles. You can read the theme reveal post here.

B : Books

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Books have been part of my life ever since I remember. The fact that the readers need to know here is that growing up in 80s and 90s, there were no multiple screens. The satellite TV made its way into my life, when I was already 14. I started watching films frequently in cinema halls when I had exhausted half my teens. Books were the only escape or I must say a delightful respite from those hot afternoons in really lazy small towns, Yes, there were shady video game parlors and gully cricket too. But I never had enough pocket money to go play video games regularly though I was in love with Mario and Contra. A console at home, was a desire never fulfilled by my parents. Gully cricket kept me busy at weekends. But there was a limit to the number of tennis balls you can lose in a week. 

But the fact that I took to books like fish to water, was still strange. In my family, on my father's side no one had completed his / her studies. No one read books at my home. Before me no one bought books. Even all my cousins, never read much apart from school books. My mother was a graduate and I think she introduced me to books. Though I am not sure how I started reading, I clearly remember four things that deepened my love for reading.

1. Childhood stories and optical illusions:

I remember my parents bought me a children stories book which had these pictures (cutouts - don't know the technical name of such books) coming out of it. I was fascinated. I was hooked. I liked the characters in these books more than the kids I knew.

Also every year, at school annual function, I used to win prizes. And every time these prizes were books. Fictional tales of enterprising kids, princes, princesses, animals, trees etc. " As they were books I earned, I had to read them :-)

I faintly remember a book called "The Railway Children"which I had read in this period. I realized that there are places outside India, outside Punjab, outside Ludhiana, which looked beautiful. I traveled to new places with these books.

2. The Library Card: 

When I was in fifth grade, my school gave me a pink library card. That was my first exposure to library. And to Enid Blyton. The Famous Five and Secret Seven took me to new adventures daily. I was good with text books too, but these books provided fodder to my imagination.

3. The Comics Exchange Shop:

In summer vacations, I used to go to my maternal grandmother's home, which was in the same town as my paternal home. (May be that is why Ludhiana is the only place I call home as mentioned in my previous post A: Away). There I discovered a small shop that used to give comics on rent for Re. 1 a day. You can take one comic at a time and read as many in a day. I used to finish a comic in 30 minutes and run to the shop and get another one. I read as many as 10 comics in a day at times. Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu were my favorite characters. I never liked non Indian comics like Marvel / DC superheroes. I don't know why, because as an adult I like these superhero films a lot.

4. Dictionary:

There was this book fair held in our school every year. I remember buying my first Oxford Dictionary (Not sure if it was first, but I definitely remember buying one there) in one of these fairs. The dictionary gave me wings. It was like a sword and and a shield at the same time, making you the best armored guy in the battle of books.

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So as I grew up, I read lot of childhood fiction apart from my academic books. But then few things happened. Preparation for Board Exams (another topic from B, given its importance in Indian education system) and engineering entrance exams took its toll. I started reading lot of those books which were to be read not for love of reading. Even the annual prizes I won at school, were now Physics and Chemistry books. The adulthood was not going to be easy. Off and on I read other stuff, but still the childhood reading habit was gone. 

In this period I read few books / novels in Punjabi literature. I remember Nanak Shah's Chitta Lahu (White Blood). I still decide every year that I will read more about Sikh History (In school, I enjoyed reading tales from Sikh History in Divinity class), our holy book Guru Granth Sahib and its meaning, and more of Punjabi literature. But I never do so. I always go back to the English books.

As I did my engineering, I became friends with people who are my best buddies today. The focus of life shifted. Hormones raged. Alcohol flowed. Then first job happened. This was a period when I read very little. Though life educated me a lot. There are lot of stories from this phase which can't even be mentioned on this blog without heavy censoring.

I remember reading very few non academic books during this period, till I completed my MBA and married. But the few which I really liked in this period were, The God of Small Things, Fasting Feasting, Straight From the Gut By Jack Welch, The Company of Women and Maverick. There were others that I don't remember. But the point is by now I had started reading adult fiction and autobiographies. Some one also suggested "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey". Well I could never go beyond 3rd habit. This is the one and only book I have in self - help genre and haven't completed it in 15 years since then. This book is solely responsible that I loathe self - help genre altogether. 

As I completed my MBA and got married, life steadied in few ways. Academic books were finally out of way. Not completely, but still. I started reading regularly again. I discovered the most read English author in India and also the most hated one by those who want to be seen as intellectuals. But the fact is that Chetan Bhagat may not have best literary skills at his disposal, he is still a master story teller. I don't read books for my love of proper English. I read books for my love of a good story. One of my friends became an author (Nishant Kaushik). I read all books he comes out with. I read a lot more now than ever before. I am part of a book reading club and we take reading targets. In 2016 I read 13 books. My most favorite were: 

"Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson"  - This is one of the best and most honest biographies I have ever read.

"And the mountains echoed by Khaled Hosseini" - Here I must mention that Khaled Hosseini is my most favorite author. He transports you to a world which you have never experienced, but ironically it is rooted in reality. His books always make me cry and the ghosts of his books don't leave me for weeks.

Well taking targets kind of take away from innocence of reading. But in my busy schedule, there is no other way I will be pushed to read. In 2017 I am behind my target of 20 books. Just completed four so far. Also to avoid polluting my reading experience and memories of childhood any further, I have resisted buying a Kindle so far. I know economically it makes more sense and it saves lot of precious space at home. But reading paper books is the only way to retain innocence. There are lot of other screens to distract anyways.

I also started writing book reviews for the book club (will share some of them, some other time, in some other post may be) and made short stories on Word of the Day shared on this club's WhatsApp group. Some of those short stories which I reproduced on this very blog can be read here and here and here. I also used to write film reviews few years back, but as it happens always, priorities in life keep changing. Films / Movies is a subject to be discussed some other time.

But the point is books and movies may not always get equal importance as other things in my life. But they have played an influential role throughout and they will have a constant presence in my life. 

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P.S. This post covers my journey with books in line with the theme I have taken for the challenge. I would love to write another post on how these books shaped my world view.