The Book Thief

Lately, I have been watching innumerous movies and almost reading no precious book. All the books which I wanted to read, I decided to watch their movie versions. Though I know even a masterpiece-movie can not replace the joy-of-reading-a-good-book. But I had no option. So, I watched specially Gone with the wind and The Great Gatsby and most recently The Book Thief the next desiring one is- Fifty Shades of Grey.

via: google images

Yesterday I watched The Book Thief. It was like - Hypnotizing. The beautiful young girl - Liesel Meminger, the innocent love of -Rudy Steiner and humanity of - Hans Hubermann are spellbound. 
The movie is based on the novel by Australian author  Markus Zusak which was first published in 2005. It is directed by- Brian Percival. It portrays the Germany of 1938 when it was ruled by Hitler and Nazis. The whole story is narrated by Death. 

The most striking thing about the story is - Humanity and the power of Words. Humanity is everywhere among the people of Nazi Germany.  Hans Hubermann takes  Liesel Meminger as a foster daughter whose mother was a communist. Later, he takes in a Jewish boy Max Vandenburg because his father had saved Hans' life in a war. With the humanity, there are Words in the movie like air. Liesel Meminger can not read, it is with the help of her new papa that she begins to learn to read. Books mesmerize her and she can't hold herself back from stealing them. Upon asking by Hans that is the book yours? She says, "It wasn't always mine." The power of words is so surprising that almost dying Max is restored to life by Liesel's reading to him. And further, with the motivation of Max, Liesel even begins to write. 

via:google images

The movie is definitely a work that unfolds multiple layers of meaning and metaphors. It bounds you in a moment. And the girl playing Liesel is so beautiful. Altogether, you can't forget the movie. !!!

Satyam Shivam Sundaram

I happened to watch this movie , Satyam Shivam Sundaram , yesterday. It is a beautiful movie. And more so ever, when you realize it has very universal themes. I wanted to write the "emotional reaction" in Hindi, but I decided to write it in English, so that I can convey my message to a wide audience. Specially to those, who wouldn't ever watch this movie.

The movie is directed by Raj Kapoor and acted by Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Amaan. It is one of the best movies of its time since it conveys a universal message, which in my simple words, is that beauty is not what eyes see, but it is the Truth which heart feels. Doesn't it remind you John Keats?

" Beauty is Truth, Truth beauty ;
That is all ye know on earth,
And all ye need to know. "

I had misunderstood the Keats' message at first, due to my own inferiority complex, perhaps. But the movie captures and justifies with its message completely. Beauty is an idea and our idea of beauty is a reflection of our own heart and soul.

" ye dariya jo tujhe moh leta hai,
dil bhi tera ek dariya hoga ... "

The hero of the movie, is influenced  by his own idea of beauty , of whose glimpse he finds in a village girl, Roopa. Roopa is considered an ill-omen by birth and her face was disfigured by an accident in childhood .No one in village is ready to marry her.While a town boy, Rajeev asks her hand from her father. She refuses to marry Rajeev. But she is married to him. Rajeev when discovers that his wife has an ugly face, he disowns her saying, you are not my Roopa. The Roopa (the idea of his beauty) of his mind does not match with the real life disfigured Roopa.

There is a striking conflict between Idea and Reality. Roopa is awestruck. She has no other option to split herself as Mehbooba and Wife. Rajeev loves her as Mehbooba, meeting her under the bushes when the sun sets. And discards her as Wife, leaving her alone to cry over her destiny. He doesn't realize both are the same person.

There lingers the clouds of pathos in the story at this point. There is also an irony here, a striking one. Rajeev asks his Mehbooba to show her face, while at home he doesn't even bother to look at the face of his wife. Here comes a song... a pathetic , deeply agonizing song, presenting the two point of views.

" Woh Aurat Hai Tu Mehbooba
Tu Sab Kuchh Hai Woh Kuchh Bhi Nahi ... (sings the hero)

Woh Aurat Hai Main Mehbooba 

Woh Sab Kuchh Hai Main Kuchh Bhi Nahi ... (sings the heroine) " 



The most touching nerve of this song is - She is your wife , therefore she is everything. The beloved is same, but the love given in marital relation is much more pure, respectful and enduring. When Roopa's reality of split persons is discovered by one of the servants of Rajeev, and he asks Why? She says, what is not given to me being a Lawful wife, I had to take it by being a Whore. It is her faith, her hope that one day Rajeev will accept her as she is. One day he will realize she is the one whom he loved.

The situation is in literary terms called, Dramatic Irnoy. When the actual situation is known and understood by audience but not by the characters. We know the Mehbooba and Wife are the same person, there is only one Roopa but Rajeev doesn't realize it. The best thing about it is. there is a multiple layer of meaning in this situation.

1. We as human beings , always look things by splitting them into two - Day - Night, Good - Evil , Beauty- Ugly. But the Truth is one. The both things are same, two sides of a Coin. Not even the two sides, just a thin veil of Illusion.

2. We as human beings are fallible. We have an idea of beauty and happiness in our mind, and keep hunting for it through out our lives, like a Kasturi Mrig but what we dose not strike us is, we could have found (or create) beauty and happiness in things that are just there in front of  us.

3. Like Rajeev wandered here and there in search of beauty, but overlooked what was in front of him. Most of us do ignore what is in front of us, and keep looking all life, what is not there.

The dialogues are heart touching. Specially, that are spoken by Zeenat Amaan. She says to Rajeev, you could have found at home, for what you wandered in Jungles.

When he disowns her publicly, pronouncing that you are bearing an illicit child. She says, " Dil ke tutne ki aawaaz nahi hoti, lekin jab wo tut.ta hai to jaljale aa jate hain, tufaan aa jate hain..."

The songs are as meaningful and touching as the movie . You can't miss the title track , and specially these  lines - Radha mohan sharanam , satyam shivam sunderam...

That Girl in Yellow Boots

"Who's that girl in yellow boots ? "
"Oh I don't care much. But I like her boots."




Well ,  : P Okay. Watched That Girl in Yellow Boots yesterday. The first thing I noticed about the movie was that it was written by Anurag kashyap and Kalki Koechlin in collaboration. Did you notice it too ? And last thing which struck me was- a question , which I ask you now - does it not remind you of Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov?

A nice movie. Just nice if you see it after Gulaal. Nice and different. As the TOI review tells the plot , you can read it below :

Story: Ruth ( Kalki Koechlin), an illegal immigrant in Mumbai, refuses to return to England unless she finds her father, an Indian who abandoned the family when she was a kid. She works in a massage parlour for her upkeep and tries her best to fend off the local goons who want to take advantage of her situation. With a drug addict as a boyfriend, life doesn't seem too much of comfort, except for the presence of the avuncular Naseeruddin Shah, one of her regular customers. Does Ruth manage to find her father? More importantly, does he turn out to be the ideal dad she had always dreamed of....  (TOI)


What I saw in the movie : - a girl and many sick minds who are possessive about her. Now I am almost on the verge of disclosing the climax. Ahh.. no I won't spoil it. But here is something - Ruth is smart, brilliant and shiny British girl who has a boy friend , who is possessive about her and Naseeruddin Shah who seems like the only genuine person around Ruth also shows his possessiveness at one point , though he covers it with the words - I care about her. 

But what with the Yellow Boots? Why she is shown wearing them all through the movie? And why she is shown as holding them in her hands at the end? Will talk about them later. :)

There is one theme Possessiveness that goes through the movie but it has many facets. And at some points it almost overlaps with Obsessiveness.

All I can say in the end is - I tried to pick up Lolita several times but couldn't go through it , thank you Anurag, though with so many limitations of cinema, you provided us with a better Indian flick of Lolita than what the real Lolita could provide.

And yes, loved her Yellow boots :P

Love, Peace & Happiness : What more can you want? By Rituraj Verma

I knew what does insanity mean long before I had read Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. I knew from where it stems, how it grows and unfolds slowly into the dim light of your own head. When I picked up Rituraj Verma's bright-covered book, "Love, Peace & Happiness : What more can you want?" , I didn't know how to read it? No, I am serious. I have read dozen of books this year already, but I didn't know how to read this particular , since it provided alternative endings to the stories which one can read on web-links given at the end of each story. I was not even sure I would like the beginning. But I liked it. I liked the beginning of the book. The foreword by Smriti Verma, the author's wife. And I knew then I would like the book as well. 

Let's not talk about each story the book presents, for you would come to know yourself when you read them. Since there are many stories in the book and many characters who freely move in and out or make a fleeting appearance in other stories, at the end there may be things rather than the characters, you remember. As the author claims that you might relate yourself to at least one of the characters from the book, well, I would say, it is not necessary that you do so. But you might relate yourself to one Feeling at least. The book is grand basil of feelings put up together,mixed well,stirred well, tasting both sour-sweet at the same time  which definitely leaves a mark somewhere on your mind. 

It is rather weird, but looking at the book, all I remember is a word : Penance. It comes from the story - " The Practitioner of Austerity",  I may not feel akin to the protagonist Aparna, but I feel related to the dark word -  Penance. 

From the very first story of the book, one realizes, things are falling apart. Can one blame the sight of the rare Brahma Lotus at the height of the great Mountain? Or as one progresses, one frowns at the speed life is running. Is the Metro City to blame? But then didn't one choose to live in the same city that he blamed? So is it always a matter of choice? What happens when the choice is between your own desire and your duty? is the answer, duty and penance? is it necessary? Who is not a penitent in the falling-apart world? When we don't have any answer for our present miserable condition, we still have a ready-made answer - the penance.   

Like a pinch of salt that makes the food tastier, a bit of supernatural, fantastical and poetical element enriched these stories of common people. These are in fact common people, made uncommon by their very common emotions and actions. When I finished the book and put it on the table, the title glared back at me, it was rather the sub-title that struck me -" what more can you want?"  I had an instant answer. Insanity. Only...only after you have lost some of your senses, you will realize that Nothing matters. And if nothing matters, you can choose anything, you can choose to love, to live with peace and to enjoy happiness. Just Anything !

The Glass Bead Game

I spent last few days reading the magnum opus of Herman Hesse , The Glass Bead Game. After going through some tiresome forty pages of introduction, I began with the life of Joseph Knecht, who was born into twenty-fifth century, according to our author.

This book is not an ordinary novel or biography, it demands your participation. While reading it , I had to pause many times for short meditation and contemplation exercises. I enjoyed them truly and found them fruitful.

Castalia , the educational province had a fine sketch and a major role to play in the book.

I realized that my experience of Banasthali helped me to get the idea of Castalia. They both are aloof from the outside world. In the period after Banasthali , I have often longed for the childlike innocence and simplicity of Banasthali Life. But this dichotomy of life is presented in many forms in the book.

The subject of dichotomy brings Blake to my mind. He had said , ‘Without contraries is no progression’. The crux of his “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” is that both innocence and experience are required for the development of soul. This experience is not something evil or worldly but a belief that truth is not simple or blissful. And this perhaps what Knecht realized later in his life and resigned from the post of Magister. He craved for risks, sufferings and worldly experiences. The innocence, chastity , intellectual freedom of Castalian life would not provide for the other side of his soul.

And It’s not only about being aware of dichotomies but about crossing the threshold of known to the realms of unknown. Knecht , in his childhood , had called it “a leap”. In his own words, “ But I do wish that if ever time comes and it proves to be necessary, that I too will be able to free myself and leap, only not backward into something inferior but forward into something higher.”

Freeing oneself – sounds so blissful. But it isn’t always easy to free yourself. When you grow your consciousness of the Life consisting of different stages and your ultimate goal would be something higher than things related to the World and aspirations of present life, you would be able to free yourself. You would move swiftly, firmly and without fear or regrets to the next stage , even if it is the period after promising youth or death.

Stages - a poem by Hermann Hesse , From Glass Bead Game

As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.
Since life may summon us at every age
Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.
Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.

The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slave of permamence.
Even the hour of our death may send
Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
And life may summon us to newer races.
So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.

When tradition kills ...

Everyone wants a Mother , a Wife but no one ... no one wants a Daughter. Why?

Riwayat , a movie directed by Vijay Patkar , raises this question .  It says , that a journal stated , till now about one hundred million girls are missing from the world . They are missing because they are dead . They have been brutally killed due to the mind-set of people , due to the hideous tradition , according to which a daughter is the root of several problems so there is only one solution - kill her as soon as she is born.

The movie revolves around three females who adopt different ways to cope up with this problem. High-class, Deepika , committs suicide when she is hopeless. Low-class , Radha can not even in her dream charge against her husband who , she knows, killed her third daughter. But Middle class Anita , the protagonist , refuses to abort her girl child and leaves her husband's house.

A very beautiful song is played when she recalls her past when she left her husband - आंसू कभी छलके  न , मोती बिखर  जायेंगे , ओ साथिया... सच के रास्ते पर चलोगे तो वो भी आजमाएगा...
It says that even God takes your test if you decide to walk on a right path.

It was a wonderful movie. It shows that one person , if s/he is determined can bring the change in society . But the most important thing is - Raising our voice against bad practice. I know many girls (some of are my friends) who are married and oppressed by the thought that they are expected to give birth to a Boy . It is time now - It is we , ourselves , the girls , the wives , the mothers who should raise our voice and fight the battle against this brutal Mind - Set. I hope that the day would soon come when the so - called equality will also reflect in the numbers of females on males per state.

The official website of movie - http://www.riwayatmovie.com/

India : A Wounded Civilization

" The crisis of India is not only political or economic. The larger crisis is of a wounded old civilization that has at last become aware of its inadequacies and is without the intellectual means to move ahead."


V.S.Naipul , a Caribbean writer of Indian descent has written Indian Trilogy comprising three books respectively - An Area of Darkness , India : A Wounded Civilization , A Million Mutinies Now . Its was on his third visit to India , prompted by Emergency in 1975 that he came to write his second book - India : A Wounded Civilization.


The title itself shows Naipul's concern in his book - neither politics nor economics but emphasis is on the Civilization and that too A Wounded Civilization. Of course the work is critical and analytical as in the beginning he says that "I am at once too close and too far " from India as it is his home and cannot be his home. Well for him its a difficult country and for one who is not Indian , I think India becomes mystical and so difficult.


Its very strange that we are always guided either by "supernatural" or "inner voice". The magic , religion , caste , customs , samskara , karma n alike are so imbibed in our lives that they become us and we are lost in them . One's identity in India is described by them and not what they are actually. That is one reason why in most Indian novels or literary work author tries to find out his own "identity" . In West , individual is individual . So no further complexity.


What Naipul tries to show us is that - Rich Civilization was a past and now India should rediscover its past not by adopting it as it was but by creating something new by moving ahead. He is also critical of Gandhi , he said at one place that " Gandhi swept through India , but he has left it without an ideology." Tolstoy in the last year of his life , said of Gandhi " His Hindu Nationalism spoils everything." This Naipul calls a defect of vision and for it he says Gandhi could give something better and alive to Independent India.

What I most liked about the book is - it has a literary air about it which as Naipul wonders , lacks in Gandhi's auto-biography . It talks about R.K.Narayan's novels and his isolated world undisturbed by 1930s political environment and appreciates the novel Samskara by U. R. Anantha Murthy , as it shows the predicament of individual identity in relation with Indian culture and castes. It also talks about Vijay Tendulkar , a marathi playwright whose works are translated into English. His works are realistic and he is more harsh than other Indian writers. 


The book is thought-provoking as Hind Swaraj of Gandhi but as Gandhi takes us back a hundred years , Naipul shows us the truth of today's reality and dream of future Renaissance .