Labyrinth by Udayan Majumbar

                                     

                                                       

                                              Acknowledgment

           That day I was starving , having no book in hand to savour with. my brain was almost sobbing, and I couldn’t handle it anymore. I anxiously rushed to the higginbothams, I was fooling around, looking for something down to earth, something into which I could melt, leaving behind the dead monotonous academic schedule.Then did I came across ‘The Labyrinth’ , the title lured me to hold it ,and the cover page was exceptionally good. The palpable feel of holding the book couldn’t stop me from having it . That’s how I fell for it………….

Plot(from the back cover)

          Woven around relationships, memory and desire, The Labyrinth is a haunting account of Sudipto, who, having awakened to the magic of a reclusive forest estate, forges a life-long bond with the faraway retreat, its genial owner Dadu, and his granddaughter Mrinalini. But each of these relationships must clear the tests of time and destiny, and as Sudipto is buffeted by events he has no control over, he seeks refuge in memory of these treasured old bonds. Yet when the past comes back to reclaim him in a way he never imagined, Sudipto resists it with all his might, and in a moment of blind fury commits a crime of passion that seals his fate forever. Lyrical and sensitive, told with humour and compassion, The Labyrinth is the unusual love story of a dreamer who wakes up to the persistence of memory and the insidiousness of desire.

                      

                                             My insights

The story is about sudipto and his myriad of thoughts and emotions . He loves mrinalini, more than his life but life seems to be rude at him . The protagonist is a little sissy ,traditional and down to earth ,assuming everything to be granted. It’s the sobbing story of love, beautifully narrated in the backdrop of nature. The story takes many unexpected moves and finally it’s sudipto by his willing destiny makes his life.

                          Words on the author

Hats Off to his literary excellence . The author has taken care to meet the subtle nuances of english literature. Since I am too young into reading , I had a trouble in following the different phrases and very fresh vocabulary , as I passed on I enjoyed it , The whole book is smothered into a backdrop of nature, the exquisitely good description of nature is the one I liked the most . There are many phrases in the book , still unraveled ….I wish to give it another read , because there is much more to learn …..than to just read it as a story ………..

                                                                

1984 by GEORGE ORWELL

                          Acknowledgment                                                             

     When I was surfing , I came across a list of 100 books which were ranked by BBC as the all time best books . In the very list I came across the book 1984. Later after many days , I casually texted my friend about what she was doing , she seriously replied that she was reading 1984, that gesture of her's intimidated me . I too wished to read it .

    After many days of anticipation, one of my friends and I were surfing through facebook , he was showing me some of his personal photos and there in one of those photos I could scrutinize the picture of the book 1984  and I went crazy about reading it now . Surprisingly after a couple of days , my professor mentioned about this book and described the inside of the book . And the very next week he gifted it to me . This is absolutely awesome . I was sure law of attraction works ,when I read the book 'secret' by Rhonda byrne , but I didn't expect it to be so precise 

                                                                                           Plot(from the back cover)   

Winston Smith is a long-rung member of the Party, the ruling government of Oceania. He works in the Ministry of Truth, the Party’s propaganda arm, where he is in charge of revising history. He is but a small brick in the pyramid that is the Party, at the head of which stands Big Brother. Big Brother the infallible. Big Brother the all-powerful.

In a totalitarian society, where individuality is suppressed and freedom of thought has its antithesis in the Thought Police, Winston finds respite in the company of Julia. Originality of thought awakens, love blossoms and hope is rekindled. But what they don’t know is that Big Brother is always watching….

                                                   My Insights

  The plot is too simple, It is just about a member winston smith ,who always wishes to rebel against the party for which he works, because of  it's compulsion of brotherhood , the conspiracy which destroyed the concept of individuality and many other aspects . The notion of privacy was actually obsolete, every one were watched by the Big Brother through the telescreens. Winston couldn't tolerate all these and was planning to rebel against , meanwhile he falls for julia who also has the same rebellious Ideas as he has , even before they could revolt  , the party authourity Identifies them and imprisons them where they are tortured to believe Big Brother , finally they some how make winston believe in him.

                                                 words on the author

    The whole Idea and the plot of the author is fascinating . Hats off to  his clairvoyance , he has almost predicted the future scenario of the world. He speaks of the society , a deadly dominant society actually , where the idea of individuality is obsolete , the idea of rebellion is shattered , the freedom of expression is snached and all were only expected to believe in the BIG BROTHER(ultimate power)

      The depiction of power is very clever. The instinct which power triggers in a human brain , the wide spread devastation a human brain can manifest in the name of power.
       Power is noble ,but dangerous too, he clearly puts in how the human mind is deviated to the latter one hardly looking at the former side.
      The things which I could relate ti were the few lines in the page-249, which speaks about reality .which says reality exists not in the outer world, but right inside the human conscience and that's absolutely true .He has also depicted the vanity of human mind , of how the brain of an authority strives to condemn every other mind, even the subtlest form of rebellion.
     
 Cover Page: I didn't fathom why the rupa publications have designed it very scary , when ever I sit to read it I get scared by The cover page . But lately I  realized that it was designed  cleverly . I understood that it is the eye of the 'BIG BROTHER', who is always whatching . 

THE WHITE TIGER

                                                                   ACKNOWLEDGMENT

         long back ,in 2008 I was probably 0 book old that time, and then did I come across 'arivind adiga', a young, man with a little bald head and the remaining shaved off, to cover baldness, he was all around, in the media, newspapers for winning the man Booker  prize award ,I didn't even know what that was

                after so long time, just few days ago i borrowed it from my friend , and she  just told me that it was about politics or of that kind. ohhhh...I really annoyed it , and started the book reluctantly......

                                                                       INTRODUCTION

         OH MY GOD !!....the book is damn cool thank god that I had borrowed this book, I wished for myself ,It sounded very bold, something out of the box

          I think the author is an ardent follower of osho , because the book has his Midas touch 

 frequently, he talks about, the gods and deities, and says that he is very lazy to kiss all the 3,60,000...arses of the gods( 3,6, 0000 Hindu gods, 3 christian gods and 1 Muslim god )....so  , he choose to be an atheist 

         * The one ingredient left me fascinated was, throughout the book he says about 4 Sufi poets, from whom one of them is IQUBAL , I don't remember the other two names and the fourth, the author himself  doesn't remember

      the quote given by iqubal is witty:you always go on searching for the key, but the door is always open .

     .

* there is something for all upcoming  young trailblazers

         The he here refers to the character created by adiga ,which indirectly show Adiga
  

 * he  actually wishes to become an entrepreneur and confesses some tips

* the basic prerogative of an entrepreneur is to make the bad news into the good one's                                       * an entrepreneur should  be walking on both dualities 

* his sense of humour makes one crazy, and the way he describes things is marvelous. And went crazy, the way   he describes his missing poster (care to notice it)

*I liked the way he describes a goat's pee to the stars in sky ..                                                                        * he is a great critic too, and obviously he was into mocking at India, but the style with which he mocked was cool( please don't get offended).

                                                                                PLOT

           The story is about a boy who is from a village near gaya(orissa), whos father  is a rikshaw driver, obviously a very poor family, and they don't allow him to study even he gets a good opportunity, but still he is brave enough to face it, and he doesn't lose his hope of becoming an entrepreneur, as days pass, he enters the town, learns driving, and works as a driver for a rich family 

            Here comes the twist  in the story which actually makes you crazy , and you feel like abusing the author, for leaving you ambivalent , then finally our hero is a  rich well settled entrepreneur in banguluru .  

                                                                              THE TITLE

            The title white tiger is actually given because when he was studying his primary grade , an inspector comes to his school and finds him unique in the whole class, and so he calls him "the white tiger " , which is unique in the jungle , whose happening is a rare phenomenon and so, white tiger is something one need to imbibe into one's life. I am proud that i am a white tiger .       

           * an other thing I skipped is " the hero's vision , he wanted to start a school, where he would educate the poor children of begaluru, make all of them white tigers, not teaching them about 3,60,000 arses of gods, not teaching them about Gandhi,  but teaching  them the real things in life

            * he also explains that he is tied up in a Rooster coop ( his family , especially his granny ) .....who doesn't let him have freedom , have individuality, he says he is actually a white tiger put in a cage ( the cage is his granny ) 

          I  need to confess to my friend, due of the adrenaline boosting literature I came across in the book,I couldn't resist myself underlining and marking few sentences in the  book . 

         Arvind adiga is amazing , I some how want to kiss his arse one day...............................

THE FOUNTAIN HEAD

Introduction : This sound touches my ears , whenever I get to read some article by Rama Gopal Varma precisely known as RGV. 

                     The way he describes , Ayn rand's philosophy and her books drives me crazy . That very moment I antisipated to read it . I haunted many book stores ,asked many people and one fine day I found It when I went to some shop which purchases and sells second-handed books.

                      Unfortunately my anticipation didn't last long, the book was snatched by many  of pals who intended to read it too, and that just left me more desperate.

                      Finally 1 day after a whole year since I bought the book , I started it All those days , when I holded the book and peeped into the flesh of thoughts , spit by Raynd were the days of encounter with my self.I Lived those chatacters

PLOT:  

   HOWARD ROAK  : Howard roak , sounds crisp and bold thus is his personality too, bold and brave . Oozing out  the sketches of buldings which his contemporaries could'nt digest .

            His Arichitecteral work is exquesitely beautiful, sufficiently blended with perfection. But the society wasn't worth of having his beauty manifest , it always tried to  condemn him , but that didn't bother his ego.

DOMINIQUE FRANCON: The woman just made for Roak. She fells for him , for his selfishness[ This is not in the convintional terms, specially defined by Rand]. She loves him to the extent of killing his fame , because she feels the society is not worth of his work and propagating his work is actually an insult to him .

                                      

          The story is about how both of them finally come together , fighting against all odds , suffering all the adversities with a sufficient touch of obscenity , romance, pain , passion ,love and finally Rand's philosophy 

MY WORDS ON IT: The most fascinating thing about the book for me is the character of Dominique. She added the whole grace to the art work , salvation to read the book . She is the woman to be cherished and I literally fell for her.

                   Another note is that , the book is beautiuful and bitter at the same time . One should have the guts to be a masochist, to enjoy the pain of reading too.

Rand's Philosophy : Her philosophy Is a little abstract . She says that a man should live to himself . All the words sacrifice , selfishness, selflessness, love , ego have totally different approach according to her

                 But she somehow seemed to be right to me . I felt skeptic in the beggining , but when I Introspected I came to believe Her  

                                                 

words are my wine

   Those were the days when I used to feel enthralled at the words of my teachers , the days of my childhood , I immencely feel nostalgic when I get to look at books , because I was profoundly influenced by the words explained by my teachers, the lively charectars of the lessons from books, stuck me deep .
                 Then did I know about  " HENRY DAVID THOREAU" , his philosophy   for which I took myself granted ,of one day getting into his shoes . All his  literary stuff  is terrific .
                It rouse the spirit in me , the spirit usually for which youth goes crazy . There I found something magical in his words, poetry in his works, philosophy in his life which drives me crazy . And all that stuff is preciesly the wine for me . The wine which gives the taste of pain , pleasure , happiness, joy , agony every expression of life , which you can hardly have in any other deed  .
             This is actually sometimes a romantic affair , and a tugoff war too between you and the author , this wine of words have that potential to turn the consience of an individual , the very consiousness of the author is preserved , persued and projected through the words .
             Thus I decided to provide the essence of all the books I read  , which may account for unleashing your spirits .