I love reading, and at one time, have been an avid reader of books. My father cultivated the reading habit in me, thinking (rightly so) that it would help with my studies. He’d never discourage me from any periodical-subscription that I requested or from me purchasing Indrajal, Tinkle or Diamond Comincs from the Raddhi-vala. My middle school years were also devoted a lot into reading fiction teen-novels (Hardy Boys, 3 Investigators and then upgrading to Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn etc etc). The last one that ended this phase (I remember more because I could not complete it) was “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. I then moved on to Target, CSR, (auto)/biographies into finally moulding into the non-fiction “type”. And now, well..let’s come to that later.
My reading habit started with one particular periodical forever etched as one of my growing years’ greatest influences, and fondest memories. I don’t even remember what was my age when Daddy began its subscription (or perhaps he would buy it each month), so I’d been reading it as far as memory serves. And hence I felt it would be not be fair to create a book-list without a dedication to the book (albeit not one book) that started it all:
- Chandamama: I’m not sure if all youngsters in India have grown up reading Chandamama, but I have, and used to think, so has everyone. I consider it the best children’s story-book cum periodical. I’ve always been amazed at their wide repertoire of original stories, and still more from a wide variety of impressive sources (Indian mythology, folklore, literature, Greek literature, Vikram-Betal, Jataka Tales, Panchatantra, etc etc). And they did keep re-inventing and changing themselves with the times, bringing in stories of science, quizzes, and current affairs. Chandamama stays close to my heart, and I feel the oneness also because it somehow suspended publication just when I was turning into a teenager. Perhaps if it would continued publication, I would have outgrown it naturally, and lost my fondness for it. Instead, I ruefully missed it. And when I heard that they had resumed publications some years later, it only brought me a smile. It had forever been etched as a good memory. As when in Love, when you move on, don’t go back ever or it will spoil what best you cherish of it. I believe the same is true not just for books, but for movies too. Watch a movie or read a book a second time, and in my opinion, you really have disturbed the magic it created in your heart the first time around...
The next book I must mention is one that brought out my interest and (if I may say so) talent in poetry. There were two books actually but I’ll highlight the one that influenced me the most:
- The Loom of Time by Chandra Ranjan: This is a beautiful English-translation of Kalidasa’s greatest poems, which per feedback, stays true to the original poetic composition and style of Kalidasa. Published by Penguin Classics (Link to buy), it includes translations of his most popular “AbhignyanaShakuntalam”, his best work “Meghadootam”, and my personal favorite “Ritusamharam”. Most might know that AbhignyanaShakuntalam is the (perhaps true) story of Shakuntala meeting King Dushyanta, his forgetting her after she loses the token (ring), and eventually remembering and reuniting with her when the ring is found. It is well popularized in plays, movies, paintings and stories with various endings, and Kalidasa takes artistic liberty too, to make an otherwise sad-ending happy, so important in my eyes to the true intent of a creation. Meghadootam (Cloud-Messenger) is about a love-lorn Yaksha, cursed to be away from his home and family, pleading with a cloud to convey his message to his wife. While Shakuntalam is appreciated for studying human behavior and emotions in minute detail, Meghadootam is considered path-breaking in many terms: eye for detail to geography in how the Yaksha describes the way home (which spans Central to Northern Bharata of the time), the idea of using poetry to convey a message (so popular for generations after and even today), and in technical terms with the style/meter. The eye for detail is what ensures Kalidasa is still considered the greatest poet. Indeed I was impressed with how the Yaksha points out minute landmarks (distinctive birds, flowers) apart from how to identify a river or mountain on the route home, suggesting the amount of reseach and travel Kalidasa did to create this work. But Ritusamharam somehow is what stays closest to my heart. As the name suggests, it goes into the detail of each season seen in India. It describes in true poetic terms how each season stands out, how to identify them, nature’s beauty in each, the behavior of animals during each season, and with even more sensuality, its impact on human feelings and behavior. I cannot do justice in my description, read it and fall in love. If I have to point out one, it is Ritusamharam that inspired the free-flow of poetry in me.
The third book that created a lasting impression is a searing analysis on the characters of India’s most famous historical event before Independence from the British- the Mahabharata:
- Yuganta by Irawati Karve (link to buy): I read much of this book in a bus-trip from Bangalore to Chennai back in ‘04-05, and the reason I clearly remember it is I can still feel the mind-blowing effect the writer’s analysis on history, had on me. I wasn’t surprised to later learn that the book was controversial when released. Thorough in research and authored by an eminent educationist, the makes Krishna human, but like the movie Passion of the Christ, seeing someone regarded Godly as human, only increases your respect manifold for the person, his achievements and the mark he has left on in human history. The book also heavily criticizes Bhishma, for he had the required influence and yet did not do enough to stop the Mahabharata. Just as Gandhiji did not do enough to stop the partition and prevent the mayhem we still suffer from (and the book does draw this analogy too).
And since we may only list 4 (although I know I may have cheated with Chandamama, but I had to), the last (and perhaps the move relevant) one to make this list is what introduced me to Ashoka.org:
- How to Change the World by David Bornstein (link to buy): This book is about “Social Entrepreneurs”, a revolutionary idea by the author of the Kyoto Protocol, Bill Drayton. He is the founder of the non-profit “Ashoka: Innovators for the Public”, which kind-of follows the credo of “feed a man a fish and feed him for a day, and teach a man to fish, and feed him for life”. Instead of restricting to a set of pre-defined roles like other NGOs, Ashoka instead invites innovative, implementable ideas for social good (with no borders in scope, location or reach), and enables the ideator (now called Ashoka-Fellow) to implement it. They have a tough screening process to accept only pragmatic, real-world workable ideas (not surpising for someone who introduced the concept of green-credits through the Kyoto Protocol), and yet ideas whose effects would be far-reaching in social terms. They even require that apart from the initial hand-holding, such creations should be able to sustain itself. The most famous example is the Grameen Bank, a farmer’s co-operative in Bangladesh (whose founder and Ashoka-fellow Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this), which totally revolutionized the economy and banking system in Bangalesh for the novelty of its idea and implementation. Read more about Ashoka.org, and do take part!!
To sign off, I began my article saying I love reading, and was at one time an avid reader of books. Well that’s because I’m unable to make much time for leisure reading anymore. My reading is more narrowed down to current affairs and technical stuff. Yet, some of the other books (recently and in the past) that I’d like to recommend, and would have made it to a more generous list (not in order): Isaac Asimov’s The Relativity of Wrong, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I.S. Mudugula’s The Acharya: Sankara of Kaladi (link to buy), Short Stories by Tagore/Guy De Maupassant/Jeffrey Archer, Biographies of Tagore/Kalam and Autobiography of Gandhiji, and not to forget Chethan Bhagat’s books whose simple writing style that masks brilliant topic selection/narration/humor is tapping into this big market of non-avid, low-attention span consumers, and making them read and take interest in buying books (300-page, affordable price model!).
My reading habit started with one particular periodical forever etched as one of my growing years’ greatest influences, and fondest memories. I don’t even remember what was my age when Daddy began its subscription (or perhaps he would buy it each month), so I’d been reading it as far as memory serves. And hence I felt it would be not be fair to create a book-list without a dedication to the book (albeit not one book) that started it all:
- Chandamama: I’m not sure if all youngsters in India have grown up reading Chandamama, but I have, and used to think, so has everyone. I consider it the best children’s story-book cum periodical. I’ve always been amazed at their wide repertoire of original stories, and still more from a wide variety of impressive sources (Indian mythology, folklore, literature, Greek literature, Vikram-Betal, Jataka Tales, Panchatantra, etc etc). And they did keep re-inventing and changing themselves with the times, bringing in stories of science, quizzes, and current affairs. Chandamama stays close to my heart, and I feel the oneness also because it somehow suspended publication just when I was turning into a teenager. Perhaps if it would continued publication, I would have outgrown it naturally, and lost my fondness for it. Instead, I ruefully missed it. And when I heard that they had resumed publications some years later, it only brought me a smile. It had forever been etched as a good memory. As when in Love, when you move on, don’t go back ever or it will spoil what best you cherish of it. I believe the same is true not just for books, but for movies too. Watch a movie or read a book a second time, and in my opinion, you really have disturbed the magic it created in your heart the first time around...
The next book I must mention is one that brought out my interest and (if I may say so) talent in poetry. There were two books actually but I’ll highlight the one that influenced me the most:
- The Loom of Time by Chandra Ranjan: This is a beautiful English-translation of Kalidasa’s greatest poems, which per feedback, stays true to the original poetic composition and style of Kalidasa. Published by Penguin Classics (Link to buy), it includes translations of his most popular “AbhignyanaShakuntalam”, his best work “Meghadootam”, and my personal favorite “Ritusamharam”. Most might know that AbhignyanaShakuntalam is the (perhaps true) story of Shakuntala meeting King Dushyanta, his forgetting her after she loses the token (ring), and eventually remembering and reuniting with her when the ring is found. It is well popularized in plays, movies, paintings and stories with various endings, and Kalidasa takes artistic liberty too, to make an otherwise sad-ending happy, so important in my eyes to the true intent of a creation. Meghadootam (Cloud-Messenger) is about a love-lorn Yaksha, cursed to be away from his home and family, pleading with a cloud to convey his message to his wife. While Shakuntalam is appreciated for studying human behavior and emotions in minute detail, Meghadootam is considered path-breaking in many terms: eye for detail to geography in how the Yaksha describes the way home (which spans Central to Northern Bharata of the time), the idea of using poetry to convey a message (so popular for generations after and even today), and in technical terms with the style/meter. The eye for detail is what ensures Kalidasa is still considered the greatest poet. Indeed I was impressed with how the Yaksha points out minute landmarks (distinctive birds, flowers) apart from how to identify a river or mountain on the route home, suggesting the amount of reseach and travel Kalidasa did to create this work. But Ritusamharam somehow is what stays closest to my heart. As the name suggests, it goes into the detail of each season seen in India. It describes in true poetic terms how each season stands out, how to identify them, nature’s beauty in each, the behavior of animals during each season, and with even more sensuality, its impact on human feelings and behavior. I cannot do justice in my description, read it and fall in love. If I have to point out one, it is Ritusamharam that inspired the free-flow of poetry in me.
The third book that created a lasting impression is a searing analysis on the characters of India’s most famous historical event before Independence from the British- the Mahabharata:
- Yuganta by Irawati Karve (link to buy): I read much of this book in a bus-trip from Bangalore to Chennai back in ‘04-05, and the reason I clearly remember it is I can still feel the mind-blowing effect the writer’s analysis on history, had on me. I wasn’t surprised to later learn that the book was controversial when released. Thorough in research and authored by an eminent educationist, the makes Krishna human, but like the movie Passion of the Christ, seeing someone regarded Godly as human, only increases your respect manifold for the person, his achievements and the mark he has left on in human history. The book also heavily criticizes Bhishma, for he had the required influence and yet did not do enough to stop the Mahabharata. Just as Gandhiji did not do enough to stop the partition and prevent the mayhem we still suffer from (and the book does draw this analogy too).
And since we may only list 4 (although I know I may have cheated with Chandamama, but I had to), the last (and perhaps the move relevant) one to make this list is what introduced me to Ashoka.org:
- How to Change the World by David Bornstein (link to buy): This book is about “Social Entrepreneurs”, a revolutionary idea by the author of the Kyoto Protocol, Bill Drayton. He is the founder of the non-profit “Ashoka: Innovators for the Public”, which kind-of follows the credo of “feed a man a fish and feed him for a day, and teach a man to fish, and feed him for life”. Instead of restricting to a set of pre-defined roles like other NGOs, Ashoka instead invites innovative, implementable ideas for social good (with no borders in scope, location or reach), and enables the ideator (now called Ashoka-Fellow) to implement it. They have a tough screening process to accept only pragmatic, real-world workable ideas (not surpising for someone who introduced the concept of green-credits through the Kyoto Protocol), and yet ideas whose effects would be far-reaching in social terms. They even require that apart from the initial hand-holding, such creations should be able to sustain itself. The most famous example is the Grameen Bank, a farmer’s co-operative in Bangladesh (whose founder and Ashoka-fellow Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this), which totally revolutionized the economy and banking system in Bangalesh for the novelty of its idea and implementation. Read more about Ashoka.org, and do take part!!
To sign off, I began my article saying I love reading, and was at one time an avid reader of books. Well that’s because I’m unable to make much time for leisure reading anymore. My reading is more narrowed down to current affairs and technical stuff. Yet, some of the other books (recently and in the past) that I’d like to recommend, and would have made it to a more generous list (not in order): Isaac Asimov’s The Relativity of Wrong, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I.S. Mudugula’s The Acharya: Sankara of Kaladi (link to buy), Short Stories by Tagore/Guy De Maupassant/Jeffrey Archer, Biographies of Tagore/Kalam and Autobiography of Gandhiji, and not to forget Chethan Bhagat’s books whose simple writing style that masks brilliant topic selection/narration/humor is tapping into this big market of non-avid, low-attention span consumers, and making them read and take interest in buying books (300-page, affordable price model!).
1 comment:
Always loved Chandamama ! You're right, most of us our age grew up reading Chandamama, atleast the normal average ones like me .. there were others who were reading Hi-Fi novels and stuff ! :) But it was a complete mixed bag - with stories with morals, witty stuff, Jataka etc ! Loved it !
As to the others you've mentioned, I am adding those to my list. Will have to read those, my curiosity is piqued. (PS: Dont know about the loom of time though, poetry doesn't like me much, but your description around seasons of India etc. is tempting)
I totally agree about the Chetan Bhagat comments. Simple writing style, no great story, commonplace events and a touch of humour. It sells !!
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