Veronica Decides To Die

The fifth one from same author and second in the trilogy of “On the seventh day”. Most of the part one would feel quite sad, especially the initial one as all talk is negative. But in spite of that it still manages to catch hold of reader’s attention. That is one common thing across all the authors book I have read so far (at least for me). The story is about young woman named Veronica who decides to take on her own life as she doesn’t see any good reason to live longer due to the same routine path every day. She has become bored with her current life. She swallows some dozen sleeping pills but the death doesn’t come that easy. She finds herself landed up in a hospital, not usual but mental. The reason I guess one would figure out. To her surprise she doesn’t seem to believe first but then as soon as she gains consciousness she again start thinking of ways to eliminate herself. The doctor says she has just a week to live as the swallowing pills have done a severe damage to her body. The book explains in details about the people she meets, their lives, about madness in those 7 days and how it changes the way she thinks of life and its meaning. The book finishes off at a happy ending which doesn’t look to be till the very last part. Plenty to think and ponder on from this read as well. I also feel all of us are crazy/ mad in some way or other. A person too occupied by something is generally considered crazy or asking questions which others generally consider as too stupid but for which others also don’t have an explanation. It’s the way it is, no questioning about the common rules which have been defined by don’t know who.

Quotes/Facts:
-Madness is the inability to communicate your ideas. Its as if you were in a foreign country, able to see and understand everything that’s going on around you, but incapable of explaining what you need to know or of being helped, because you don’t understand the language they speak there.
- Laws had not been created to resolve problem, but in order to prolong quarrels indefinitely
-Some things are governed by common sense, other things however become fixed because more and more people believe that the way they should be.
- Why the arrangement of the keys on typewriter the way it is?
The first such machine was invented by Christopher Scholes, in 1873, to improve calligraphy , but there was a problem: if a person typed very fast the keys got stuck together and stopped the machine working. Then Scholes designed the QWERTY keyboard, a keyboard that would oblige typists to type more slowly. It so happened that Remington- who were sewing machine manufacturers at the time-used the QWERTY keyboard for their first typewriters. That meant that more people were forced to learn that particular system, and more companies started to make those keyboards, until it became the only available model. (…. I also thought about same but then assumed its because this way one could type fastest, some research done and people would have arrived at this combination being the fastest…..till I read in the book)
- An awareness of death encourages us to live more intensely. This reminds me of the movie Griffin and Phoenix. This is exactly what the 2 people do (suffering from cancer and knowing they would die soon ),living and doing what they always intended to do but resisted. They were living out their dreams :).

By The River Piedra......

The 4th read, was quicker than I expected. As with the others once I started didn’t felt like leaving it in the middle. This one talks about story of love again, starts with a flashback (past) and ends in the present. This one is the first of the novels of the trilogy "On the seventh day". A woman from a small town who is in touch with his childhood friend meets him again on his request after 12 years. They both have stayed in touch with each other through mails all these years. She has stayed back at the same place where as the man has traveled around the world. The ‘Other’ in the woman is quite dominant in the beginning , she questions every move, though she thinks love is not possible as they had been living too far and for love closeness is a must. But to her surprise the man is in love with her and tells her. She first rejects it but as she spends along more time with the man over a week long trip, by the end of it she is deeply in love with him. The man is headed for a spiritual life, has got healing powers which makes him quite popular among the local population living there. They refer to him as the one who perform “Miracles”. The book also talks of the feminine side of the God in form of Virgin Mary (the mother of Jesus). The man has a big belief in the Goddess and attributes the reason for his special skills to be the mother goddess. He takes the woman to places and performs rituals as per those related to the Goddess. The woman has lost faith in the existence of god as she has suffered some setbacks over these years. But by the end of it she has regained her Faith, and in faith is the God. The end is quite interesting when one as a reader the story is poised towards a sad ending with lovers departing…the story takes a twist and the flashback is now complete and present starts…and the two childhood friends reunite.
The title comes from the woman sitting by the side of river Piedra , weeping and writing the story, detailing all what has passed by in one week she was with her childhood friend and who she loves dearly now.

Some quotes:

* Spiritual life is essential to love. One doesn’t love in order to do well or to help or to protect someone. If we act that way, we are perceiving the other as a simple object, and we are seeing ourselves as wise and generous persons. This has nothing to do with love. To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God.

More reviews here.

Loss

Lost companion which had provided support for 4 long years. Had travelled across to places including Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Indore, Singapore & Chennai. Finally today evening ...the back sole of the left shoe came off. One of the best shoe which lasted for so long with my rough usage.

The Zahir

The third in the series by the same author as the last 2 books I read. Much more sophisticated and complex to understand but still holds on ones interest like the other two. Its about an author in search of his missing wife learning through the times what Love is all about before he finds her again. Though I read a lot more interesting things to write about but cant recollect. The lesson this book tries to convey in my view is to define the true essence of love which I guess many lack to understand. The word forming the title of the book means obsession which is what the main character in the story suffered from in the beginning. Also there is an interesting insight on why rail tracks are always about 143.5 cm apart. The book surely made me think again, trying to reevaluate some of the fundamentals which were so imbibed without ever realizing the same. The author does a beautiful job trying to say things generally marked taboo quite openly in the book, i guess one of the reasons of success for his books is he speak about things through the characters of his stories which people could relate to being in some bits their own and then trying to find and answer of how to deal with it in a correct way. As with the earlier book lot of things to ponder upon when one reads through the book, and definitely more readings required to understand completely. There are some sudden shifts in the plots so one gets confused sometimes as one has just been in same frame of reference as last read paragraph and suddenly some other scene is built up and it starts right away without any introductory paragraph in beginning....makes one feel lost out sometimes but that's a style of writing i guess :). Some interesting insights on some practices in Kazakhstan and France. Oh remembered, the book was banned in Iran, that drove further interest in me as to find the reason for the same ...which is guess happens to be some sharp comment marked against mohammed preachings.

More reviews here.

Some quotes which I could mark down while reading:
- Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose- and commit myself to-what is best for me.
- People always believe what they want to believe
-Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it , it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us.When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.
-Epilepsy is an excess of electrical impulses in one specific area of the brain, which provoke convulsions of greater or lesser severity.
-acomodador: there is always an event in our lives that is responsible for us failing to progress
-Suffering occurs when we want other people to love us in the way we imagine we want to be loved, and not in the way the love should manifest itself- free and untrammelled, guiding us with its force and driving us on.

Anna Nagar Tower Park

(Entrance View)
(From the Stairs of the tower)
(view from Top)
Went out with Chiru(Srivatsav) today to Anna Nagar Tower Park to catch up on some reading but ended up bit late and by the time we came back after being at top of the tower it was already 6.45 pm..need to go early some other day.It was fun in moving up and down the spiral of the tower .....felt little amusing.

Crusader-Yuvraj Singh

Fastest 50 in 12 balls and hitting 6 sixes in an over. Simply stunning Yuvraj !! Must watch for all cricket lovers.

Pulicat Lake!

Went to Pulicat lake with Kaushik and Bala (Kaushik's colleague in office)this weekend.The lake is unique in a way that the maximum depth is about 6 feet. Its not a tourist spot as such so the crowd was not there and place was much cleaner as well. The water is clear as can been seen in some pics. Spent around 4 hours travelling around in a boat hired for Rs 600. The lake is close to Chennai- around 70Km ....on bike it took around 1.5 hrs to reach the place. On the way there is good scenery around as paddy farming all along the road stretch.We were lucky enough to spot the "Big Fish " which happen to enter the lake by mistake. If the slideshow is not running one can view the pics here.