Everyday ....

Sunday, November 1, 2009

books

cI read my first novel in class 5. I read the english translation of the novel "Godan" by Premchand. I remember giggling on a character's name -"Gobar". That novel was a gift to me from my library teacher for helping and assissting her in the library. I used to help her in cataloging the books, in covering them etc. etc. I missed my music class, i missed my s.st class and went to the library. I did not bunk any classes when i was in 11th or 12th standard, but i bunked my classes in 6th standard and went to the library.
At home, my mom was a hindi language fan and my chachi is a hindi teacher. The house is full of hindi novels and that brought on my love for hindi novels. I used to read lots of hindi short stories and all of premchand's novels.
I read book after book of Enid Blyton's . I agree with shantanu, she is good. I remember reading book after book of the secret seven series. i m sure i ve read 90% of them. i read the famous five series, the nancy drew series. somehow, i dont like the hardy boys series...mayb bcoz of the "boys" in it, it offends the feminist in me.
jus like shantanu, i used to read in the bus too, in the morn as well as the afternoon. if anyone found that weird , or was thinking that i am a freak, or was staring at me, well i didnt notice, coz u see i was too busy reading. Since seventh -eigth standard i used to read books under my desk.the class would be going on, the teacher would be teaching, i would have the course book open on top of the table , but my eyes and my mind would be fixed on the novel open my lap. kids at dps (dat includes shantanu) used to have some special comments to say about that.:)
When I read at home, i am completely into the book. My parents would call my name, but i would keep reading. Ma would come and instruct me to do something and i wont even register what she is saying. often, the instruction was - "milk is boiling, turn off the gas in 5 mins." My ears and my brain conspirated and i wouldnt even be aware of any such instruction till she came to shout at me for letting the milk overflow and spill.
While reading book, i feel what the character is feeling. i cry when a tragic events take place. i laugh when a funny line is said. Once i was reading a very funny book and started laughing loudly all of a sudden, my brother and sister thought i am crazy . (they still believe so)
I reread books all the time. It feels good to go back to a known story and relive it and feel it again. This, obviously, doesnt apply to mysteries.
books are expensive. and when u have a limited pocket money it can be tough. my parents would occasionally buy books for me, but i ve never found it enough. they pay attention to my pleas only occasionally coz they know me well and they know that its a never ending demand.
Just like shantanu, i too have wasted time on some really bad books. but i ve wasted it nevertheless.
in college, the library is awful, horrible, gross, sick , crap. no novels.
But i manage to find more and more books. i read "gone with the wind" some months ago and i LOVE it. i love the book too much. i ve reread it atleat 10-15 times. its always on my bedside. i daily open it randomly and read some pages before going to sleep. I ve started liking classics too. My last purchase was 9 novels from penguin india from the book fair at pragati maidan.
I love reading more than anything, more than hanging out with friends, more than talking to my bestfriend, more than being with my boyfriend, more than talking to my family, more than anything.I read my first novel in class 5. I read the english translation of the novel "Godan" by Premchand. I remember giggling on a character's name -"Gobar". That novel was a gift to me from my library teacher for helping and assissting her in the library. I used to help her in cataloging the books, in covering them etc. etc. I missed my music class, i missed my s.st class and went to the library. I did not bunk any classes when i was in 11th or 12th standard, but i bunked my classes in 6th standard and went to the library.
At home, my mom was a hindi language fan and my chachi is a hindi teacher. The house is full of hindi novels and that brought on my love for hindi novels. I used to read lots of hindi short stories and all of premchand's novels.
I read book after book of Enid Blyton's . I agree with shantanu, she is good. I remember reading book after book of the secret seven series. i m sure i ve read 90% of them. i read the famous five series, the nancy drew series. somehow, i dont like the hardy boys series...mayb bcoz of the "boys" in it, it offends the feminist in me.
jus like shantanu, i used to read in the bus too, in the morn as well as the afternoon. if anyone found that weird , or was thinking that i am a freak, or was staring at me, well i didnt notice, coz u see i was too busy reading. Since seventh -eigth standard i used to read books under my desk.the class would be going on, the teacher would be teaching, i would have the course book open on top of the table , but my eyes and my mind would be fixed on the novel open my lap. kids at dps (dat includes shantanu) used to have some special comments to say about that.:)
When I read at home, i am completely into the book. My parents would call my name, but i would keep reading. Ma would come and instruct me to do something and i wont even register what she is saying. often, the instruction was - "milk is boiling, turn off the gas in 5 mins." My ears and my brain conspirated and i wouldnt even be aware of any such instruction till she came to shout at me for letting the milk overflow and spill.
While reading book, i feel what the character is feeling. i cry when a tragic events take place. i laugh when a funny line is said. Once i was reading a very funny book and started laughing loudly all of a sudden, my brother and sister thought i am crazy . (they still believe so)
I reread books all the time. It feels good to go back to a known story and relive it and feel it again. This, obviously, doesnt apply to mysteries.
books are expensive. and when u have a limited pocket money it can be tough. my parents would occasionally buy books for me, but i ve never found it enough. they pay attention to my pleas only occasionally coz they know me well and they know that its a never ending demand.
Just like shantanu, i too have wasted time on some really bad books. but i ve wasted it nevertheless.
in college, the library is awful, horrible, gross, sick , crap. no novels.
But i manage to find more and more books. i read "gone with the wind" some months ago and i LOVE it. i love the book too much. i ve reread it atleat 10-15 times. its always on my bedside. i daily open it randomly and read some pages before going to sleep. I ve started liking classics too. My last purchase was 9 novels from penguin india from the book fair at pragati maidan.
I love reading more than anything, more than hanging out with friends, more than talking to my bestfriend, more than being with my boyfriend, more than talking to my family, more than anything.

Friday, March 27, 2009

The Paradox of Our Age


by The Dalai Lama

 

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

More conveniences, but less time;

We have more degrees, but less sense;

More knowledge, but less judgment;

More experts, but more problems;

More medicines, but less healthiness;

We've been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.

We build more computers to hold more information to

produce more copies than ever but have less communication.

We have become long on quantity,

but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;

Tall man but short character;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It's a time when there is much in the window,

but nothing in the room.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Blogs I follow

Shantanu pointed out that i m not writing these days, well, its getting boring to blog. Reading what others write is fun and a less time consuming task. But there is nothing so special which
i have the urge to write down. Its a very lazy attitude and certainly not something i am happy about especially since its reflected in other parts of life as well. When i mentioned i am reading i should have said that i am laughing plus reading. The first blog i go to is the "cake wrecks" ...the blog has the best wrecks, the commentary by Jen is like the icing of the cake. Se is soon bringing out her own book of cake wrecks. It should make a good coffee table book with all the illustrations but i wonder what would it do to the appetite. Once, I was baking while upset over something and I just wrongly measured everything and used extra huge quantities and ended up making EIGHT cakes. It was pathetic, i swear. (but go through this blog,its hilarious)

As for abhigyan's blog,....he started with so much enthusiasm, i could have assumed that the guy would become part of the "blogs of note". The first post was perfect. It was the hot
topic all over. It still is. Hot and Important. It feels optimistic that the country is taking its rights seriously and demanding better action. I appreciate. But there is still something i would like to point out. We all are full of opinions of what needs, of the action we are going to take. So far so good. But lets be careful not to ignore other issues that need to be addressed. Lets not forget poverty, hunger, malnutrition, diseases and illiteracy.People die due to lack of clothes during winters. This needs attention too. i can bet that the number of deceased due to terrorism is less than half of the number of people who die because of these problems.

Lets not rate life on the scale of the 'tragedy' of death.

Human life lost to hunger is certainly as much a loss as life lost to guns. That's what i feel. I also believe that eradicating poverty and all that i mentioned earlier is much much easier for us to change. Anyone of us can be a change to these and that too in a more immediate and easier way.
Anyways, reading abhigyan's is thought-provoking...i just hope the guy would write soon.

Someone called kidblogger in my list has lost it. he just uploads pointless pics every other day. Someone surely isn't busy.

I simply loved the idea of the confessor for the rickshaws. Maybe it will happen. I hope it happens soon. And it should be privatised, but with regulated rates. That i think would make it perfect.

Coming back to shantanu's... my favorite out of his all posts is "Not a Gentleman's World" Maybe because i see kids being so rude to teachers in college almost everyday. I don't have any hope that such a scene would ever change. But really, some teachers are worth the respect and when its not credited, its wrong.
That's it. Have a nice day.