Read It: March 2010

I'm going through a reading ebb now where the words and worlds I register are limited to those that The Hindu, magazines and random site-hopping introduce me to. And this at the end of a month when I bought a record number of books! Retail therapy, many call it.

I've also realised that I can't devote a post each for books that have been read earlier, I just don't have much to say about these except that if I had to own a handful of books, these would be vying for the space. So I'll just post lists of books a month, be assured that these come highly recommended (but follow the external links for real reviews! :) )

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Though I read this many years back, I still remember that reading the first two pages of this book just put me off. But it is in the third page that the narrator introduces herself. And that's when I went back and re-read the start - with the guiding perspective of six year old Scout Finch.

 It's through delightful little Scout, Dill and Jem that the reader enters Maycomb, a fictional town in Alabama in the early 1930s. Life in a small town, racism that was very much prevalent back then as seen by the children, like mixed up little pieces of a puzzle. Vividly etched characters -Atticus Finch, Calpurnia - the family's black housekeeper, Boo Ridley - and the very visual style of writing makes you wonder if this isn't an autobiography. It seems it isn't though the author has written about many events that happened during her childhood in Alabama. Just read it.
Wikipedia 

Amazon

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was a fairly recent discovery. She seems to be well known for The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart. The first was made into a movie, the latter into a Tamil serial (Anbulla Snegithiye)

The Palace of Illusions is a narration of Mahabharata from Draupadi's perspective. A contemporary one at that. Draupadi got me hooked on to the book from line one. Taken apart from the setting, the narration of her  birth, childhood and adolescent days are so  next door-like - even in today's terms ... the differences between the way her brother is educated and she is, her special friendship with Krishna, her infatuation with Karna (fictional..but well, who knows), her relationship with Kunti. The few lines on the disrobing incident that Draupadi is remembered for generally are amongst the best.

All this time I'd believed in my power over my husbands. I'd believed that because they love me they would do anything for me. But now I saw that though they did love me - as much perhaps as any man can love - there were other things they loved more. Their notions of honour, of loyalty towards each other, of reputation were more important to them than my suffering. They would avenge me later, yes, but only when they felt the circumstances would bring them heroic fame. A woman doesn't think that way. I would have thrown myself forward to save them if it had been in my power that day. I wouldn't have cared what anyone thought. The choice they made in the moment of my need changed something in our relationship. I no longer depended so completely on them in the future. And when I took care to guard myself from hurt, it was as much from them as from our enemies.

I'm sure most women will enjoy reading this book, it's one of the rare peeks at epics through a lady's point of view. Classic, contemporary, magical.
Amazon

All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot

This book takes me back to the time of an apogee when I spent some minutes browsing through a dog-eared copy while seated on mattresses, surrounded by many such second hand books. 

James Herriot was a country vet and the book is a compilation of true incidents he experienced during the initial years of his practice. Country-side England, 'English' writing, loyal pets, stubborn horses, insecure father dogs, ewes, pregnant cows, animal owners and farmers, pet contests, the starting days of a young vet's career and love life. What's not to love?! I laughed out aloud, turned a bit squeamish, even shed tears over an utterly devoted and trusting dog, just sat back and soaked in the beauty of Darrowby. I can't recollect what exact time lines are covered in each but they sure are books for all times for animal lovers.
Amazon

Jaaga - Creative Common Ground

Pallet racks are shelves used to store heavy materials in horizontal rows and on multiple levels. So they are an integral part of industrial warehouses. But pallet racking has now found its way to a nondescript part of Rhenius Street in residential Langford Town.
Jaaga (meaning space in Kannada) is a structure made of pallet racks, with metal wire mesh and plywood for flooring, paper honeycomb panels for doors and discarded Korean tarpaulin sheets for the ceiling, for tent-like flaps rather. It was built in 15 hours on a plot on Rhenius Street off Richmond Road. So the space in the true sense is the structure rather than its location for it can be dismantled and reassembled elsewhere anytime. Jaaga rose out of artist Archana Prasad's wish to have a place dedicated to art forms. The suggestion of building it out of pallet racks came from Freeman Murray, an American technologist who has built similar structures in the USA. 

 Pic Credit : http://www.designwala.org/2010/02/jaaga-creative-common-ground/

Last week I attended an event that happened on the ground floor of this space. In the dark, the Korean lettering on the front attracts attention but for which there is not much sign of this unique building's existence. There isn't a 'foundation' to the structure so it's just the ground covered with gravel. It's airy, minimalistic, yet equipped with the wiring needed to conduct events. The venue is available free of cost to those interested. 

Do check out this jaaga sometime. You can also visit the website for pics of how it came to be.