Book : A Fine Balance by Rohiton Mistry

Had read this one in June 2006 and I can still swear by it. One of the best fiction I have come read.The reason am putting it is also cos am reading another one of Mistry's book.



Just finished reading "A Fine Balance" by Rohiton Mistry. One of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. The characters are alive,all around you. It is set in time of emergency and the four strangers who are together through the trying times. Entertainment is what it offers as it helps you step in another era and world.. Though the ending is tragic but that doesn't make the endeavour of reading worthless. In fact it makes it all the more worthwhile. The book starts and end dramatically and yet almost real and believable way. High on my recommendation list.

My quote from this one:
"After all, our lives are but a sequence of accidents – a clankingchain of chance events. A string of choices - casual or deliberate – which add up to that one big calamity we call life"

Book : Family Matters - Rohiton Mistry

Pg 221.

"Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories - your life, my life, they are the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, and loss, and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Just the details are different."

Pg 347.

"What folly made young people, even those in their middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the end. Carrying your death with you everyday would make it hard to waste time on unkindness and anger and bitterness, on anything petty. That was the secret : remembering your dying time, in order to keep the stupid and ugly out of your living time."

The two quotes above sum up what Family Matters is about. It's an ordinary story of love , happiness , sorrow and wealth. It is the story of Nariman's death and his life.The book reminded me of some ways of the Death of Vishnu. The common element between the two books is the element of Mumbai and death. Both the protagonists in the books are lying on their deathbed as the vague images of their life move in front of them. The background in the book is the romanticized images of Mumbai. The difference between the two is that while Family Matters revolves around Nariman's Family , there is no family at all so to say for Vishnu.

It's far less complicated than A fine Balanace by Rohiton Mistry but still as engaging and interesting. There are the dark elements to the entire book and it is depressing nevertheless but one thing that I love about Mistry's book , is that there is no end. It has a very slice of life feel to it and that is where the reader, I guess, connects to him. It does challenge love , religion and wealth all three together.

Jal , Coomy , Edul , Roxana , Yezda , Jehangir , Murad, Vikram and of course Nariman , all characters are so well defined, flesh and blood as the cliche goes and so humane that its hard not to relate. I particularly loved the scene when Nariman is about to die and violin is played by Daisy aunty.

It is not the most entertaining book , far from it, but nevertheless it is engaging and interesting! I would surely recommend this one but a word of caution about the depressing setting. Memoirs from a man on deathbed suffering from Parkinson's and in capable of ablutions is not essentially pleasant. But so is life, not always pleasant!

Book : Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

As it turns out, Kiterunner is on the best sellers list but that was not the reason why I picked it. I was given this one by a dear friend and with high recommendation so I thought it was worth a read. and it wasnt disappointing.

The distant father son relationship, the changes in setting after almost half the book has passed by and the ending , all have elements of beauty and surprise. It is bleak and in a way hopeful, but nevertheless engaging all through.

Its only a coinicidence that strikes me now that I reviewed this book on 11th Sept. The book is about Afgahnistan and about the many Afghanistanis who have left their native land only to survive and for no ther reason.

Read it you are fond of heartwrenching tragedies.

It's a good read for sure.

Book : The Color of Love - Priti Nair

This is an interesting piece of fiction. It could be very well be titled as "Practical step by step guide to PR and Media Lies". That's what the story is all about.

Its about a painter at heart turned lawyer trying to break free of cobweb of lies that she builds around herself as the story progresses.It is inspiring to the extent that it does motivate you at some level to believe in yourself and just take the plunge. Somewhere I felt some shades of the alchemist's universal conspiracy theory in action and at others the media ritual theory of participative media.

So here is a woman who fools everyone and lies to the entire universe to be true to herself.

Media plays an important role in the build up. She creates a fictional character to live her life through the surrogate.What does media do?It makes fiction turn real so everyone knows about FORUKI - the fictional character.Media is news hungry , believes all you say ,investigates life and above all has the power to make or break lives.That's the power of media.

So whats with the color of love? Its a fun read. I don't know whether to call it Chic-lit or something else. But if you enjoy comedy of errors - this one is for you. Though it's not a must read.

Book: Shantaram

Shantaram. The book I took longest to read. If it were some other book I would have given it up in so much time, but I couldn't. It was because it was Shantaram. The book I read each day to walk vicariously with the author through the lanes and by lanes of Mumbai. I have lived in Mumbai for 4 years and the city just grows on you. I know it and I can vouch for it. If you love that city despite its pace and dirt you will love this book too.




There are various parts of the book that I really love.

On Love : Pg 372 :
I never believed in love at first sight until it happened to me. Then when it did happen, it was as if every atom in my body had been changed, somehow : as if I had become charged with heat and light. I was different , forever, just for the sight of her. And the love that opened in my heart seemed to drag the rest of my life behind it , from that moment onward. I heard her sound in every lovely sound the wind wrapped around me.I saw her face in every in brilliant mirrored flares of memory, everyday.

On Man and Money: Pg 804
You can't reason with a man who has no sense of money and its....its value. Its the one thing all civilised men have in common, don't you agree? If money doesn't mean anything there is no civilisation. There is nothing.

On Life : Pg 871
Every Life , every love , every action and feeling and thought has its reason and significance: its beginning and the part it plays in the end. Sometimes, we do see. Sometimes, we see the past so clearly, and read the legend of its parts with such acuity, that every stitch of time reveals its purpose, and a kind of message is enfolded in it.

There are many such moments in the book but the thing that stands out most are the characters . Lin and Karla , Prabhaker , Ulla and Khader Bhai , each one of them is so flesh and blood that you want the book to never end.