To be able to read

The past few weeks have been wonderful . Full of the illicit pleasure of being able to read . to read without having the weight of unfinished work pressing down on you , hovering at the corner of your eyes and nudging you in the back of your shoulder .
I have had this felling for more than 6 years now , ever since I became an office bearer in this NGO that I work with .
I borrowed an armful of new books from the club ( we are allowed only one out of 7 ) And I have been spending day after day reading and I love the feeling . Getting lost in another's life in another time on another continent .
I just finished "The Settler's Cook Book" by Yasmin Alibhai Brown . A kutchi Ismaili , born in Uganda , thrown out by Idi Amin and now in London . Did not think much of her recipes , though that was the reason I borrowed it in the first place . But her impressions of attitudes over the years to immigrants , the immigrants themselves - indians - are ones that I agree with to a great extent .
And yes I find this whole business of blending in with the place that you migrate to or  keeping up with the trend really very tiresome and boring . You just have a whole lot of clone like creatures at the end of it . Clone like - because they are not clones and will eventually come apart with the strain of being alike .
I like the way she put the Satanic Verses issue . Yes , you have a right to your opinion but not to wilfully hurt or abuse another.
And all those dogmatic , jingoistic people who belong to NGO's , think tank's and organisations - they have a  desert of their own - where alien thoughts and ideas are shrivelled at germination itself

Brooklyn - Colm Toibin

I loved Blackwater Light Ship and I loved this book too . Its great . His books are full of brothers , sisters parents and neighbours . That is the world I know and that I can relate too .

This book is about leaving home cause you have to and when you come back you realise that you would give anything to just settle back into the comfort of the known . But you cant , you never can

Reminded me so much of young girls in India who are married to total strangers and leave everything to go and live in their new homes .When they come back for a visit its a flurry of activity and pampering and no one speaks of the impending departure.

The forgotten Island

The Forgotten Island by Sasha Troyan

A little book that I picked from my daughter's collection of books

I picked it up because it was slim( would fit in my bag ) .Was travelling the next day and did not want anything thick and cumbersome

Its a story that I would call a fugue - rather than a tragedy .

You know what happens to the older child from the back cover and then the whole narration is a repetitive one of the child's wilful behaviour and you think each time , each page is going to be when she disappears forever .

A sibling whose voice is never heard because she doesn't think she has one .

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist | Video on TED.com

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist | Video on TED.com

Just watch this . Its amazing

How come I have never heard of this guy

Have you