14 reasons why you must read Vikram Seth

After being part of a conversation where the other person did not know who Vikram Seth was, I had decided it was time to put up a spectacular post on the man. Of course, reason one is reason enough to read him but just in case you need much persuasion or are difficult to convince, I list down my reasons. You are free to add some more:

1. He looks like this.
2. If you went to school in Chennai (or India perhaps) and studied CBSE, odds are your textbook would've had a poem by him and you wouldn't have been intimidated by it. (The Frog and the Nightingale, The Hare and the Tortoise)
3. He studied at Oxford. OK, I'm not being biased about quality education or the fact that people who haven't received an Oxford education suck at writing. Seth does justice to it.
4. If you're not a poem person (I know I'm not) don't worry. Seth has been kind enough to write novels for us.
5. A Suitable Boy - This should convince you to take up his work. I know it's a cumbersome read, 1400 pages, but it doesn't feel that way. So what if it's a big book and you don't have enough patience? Take time out to read this masterpiece and you'll know why.
6. He does not *try* as hard as other Indian writers to introduce a sense of Indianness to his book. It flows naturally.
7. Subjects like partition are boring I know. Imagine having to go through it in school every year! What's that? You know too. Good, I'm glad we're on the same page. Now A Suitable Boy deals with partition in a manner you can actually read without dozing off.
8. Awards and prizes
9. He has written a book for children as well. It's quite difficult, actually and he's done a wonderful job.
10. He takes his time to write books. (See, now we can all procrastinate without guilt!)
11. Not much of a lit person are we? Music? I bring to you An Equal Music.
12. Apparently this. 'In 1981 he hitchhiked 4,000 miles across China and produced the charming, clear-eyed travelogue "From Heaven Lake."' Who doesn't love a traveller?
13. Guess who's NOT a fan of Ulysses? YES!
14. (So that I don't end with an unlucky number) There's something about his writing that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside. Like a bear hug from your mother, or a pot of hot cocoa consumed on a cold day, that sense of achievement when you ran a whole kilometre, laughed at something till you cried. I could go on but I'm sure you get the point.

Convinced? 

ECSTATIC AND ALL THAT

YAYAYAY! I'm resisting the urge to not type in caps, cannot able to and all that. Excitement is coming, I'm forgetting the English language.

So at about 11.45 am today when I was having an early lunch the doorbell rang. As usual thinking it was the maid, my mum got up to answer the door with a customary why-are-you-late question. Only it wasn't her. A guy asked for "Apoorva Sripathi?"
Amma: Yes, my daughter
Guy: Delivery from Flipkart

Me: *Putting the down plate, forgetting yechal and other nonsense brahmin traditions raised hands in mock celebration.* The book is here! Yaaaaaaaaaaay, what a wonderful way to spend my.. er.. your money, amma!
Amma to courier guy: Ok, thanks
Me: *Plate in one hand, ripping apart the packaging with the other*

Took me 4 minutes exactly to rip off packaging, and I didn't even use my teeth. This as opposed to opening the package with two hands which takes me almost 15 minutes. I think I was also quite desperate to see the book and more importantly Dravid's autograph. (Apparently only a select few will get it. Unfair no?)

After making the book pose in various positions and uploading the same on Facebook and Twitter, I've kept it on the shelf for weekend reading. Even if it means I'm going to Bangalore.

P.S. Dravid didn't autograph my copy, tche.

New series - BOTD (Blog of the day)

BOTD-1

I'm going to start a series where I feature blogs/tumblrs dedicated to things I adore such as books, coffee, clothes, shoes and bags, cupcakes and pretty much everything that catches my fancy.

Today I'm featuring: Prettybooks. You don't really need a stronger reason than the tumblr's title: Books!

One of my favorite posts features a girl cribbing to a guy on reading a book. She says that once she starts reading she'll eventually get to the end of it and that'll be it. The guy asks her to re-read it and I love her answer to that: "But this is the ONLY chance I'll ever have to read the book for the FIRST time!"

I agree. Some books are special and I feel sad when I finish them. Of course I can always re-read them but it doesn't beat reading them for the first time, finding out the plot, falling in love with the book and its characters, living their lives and then come back to reality with a bang. I also have this nasty (as some people call it) habit of reading the last few pages first to find out how the book ends. I know, I know I can see the daggers in your eyes, but hey I'm *extremely* impatient and this is one habit I cannot get rid of.

I'm currently re-reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. I'm an out-and-out Hercule Poirot fangirl, I adore his egg shaped head and his oily mustache! I'm also working on building a collection of Hercule Poirot mysteries so if you have any of them and if you're going to get rid of it, please do give it to me! I'll be thankful.

Which book are you currently re-reading? And what is your nasty book habit (if you have one)!

Book review — Lucknow Boy

Vinod Mehta’s Lucknow Boy, A Memoir, I’m sorry to say, starts quite unexpectedly dull. The first two chapterswere incredibly boring (in fact, I put off reading them for a while) and was quite a task getting past them. 

You would expect Mehta’s professional life, which was nothing short of a roller coaster ride, to be written in an electrifying fashion, but it hardly promises to live up to that. The book, then takes an interesting ride when he takes up the editorship of Debonair (apparently, India’s own Playboy).

How Mehta became the editor of Debonair is another story altogether. Tired of working as a copywriter for an advertising agency (modeling was his other option) and left with no other means of money, (he wrote a book titled Bombay—A Private View, which actually sold more copies than he expected) he wrote a letter to the publisher of Debonair and pleaded with him to give him just six months with the magazine.

The rest as they say is history.

After former Prime Minister Vajpayee’s remark to Mehta about how the former had to hide Debonair under his pillow, Mehta thought it was time to leave; but he wasn’t finished yet.

He would bring out India’s first Sunday paper, Sunday Observer, become the editor of Indian Post at the request of his publisher, resign due to a controversy (a word which always exists in Mehta’s dictionary) and later become the editor for yet another newspaper: Independent (and resign subsequently). In between Independent and Outlook, Mehta worked for yet another newspaper, which the skeptics dismissed at first, but Mehta’s arrival, reversed the fortunes of the paper,Pioneer.

His biggest project, the magnum opus,Outlook,would be the turning point of his life and would pose as the biggest competition for India Today (as Mehta puts it, “India Today stood like the Taj Mahal). 

With Outlook, Mehta looked like he would stay put in one magazine for quite a long time and he did. His career in the magazine spanned 17 long years (he resigned recently and Krishna Prasad has taken over as editor-in-chief).

The book also tracks Mehta locking horns with Arun Shourie, Salman Rushdie, Sharad Pawar, Shobhaa De etc., and his cordial relationships with A. B. Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi and quite a few others.

The autobiography has two quotes before the introduction, one by George Orwell, and another by W.B. Yeats. The Orwell quotereads, “An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.” The book agrees on that note: Mehta fathered an illegitimate child, something that he regrets. This, to me, is the single most scandalous fact in the book.

Lucknow Boy reads like a storybook, the flow is smooth, interesting, and honest and one gets a good glimpse into Mehta’s professional life (his personal life, however, does not get much of a mention). Lucknow Boy is one of those books you would want to keep on your bedside table and flip through it to understand journalism in India from 1980 until today.

My dinner guest list

Okay as I retweeted Kals Nats post on list of authors she'd love to have dinner with, she asked me to do one too. I'm kindly obliging her :) 

In no order:

Enid Blyton: I know it sounds childish, but most of my childhood was consumed by reading this wonderful author. And as clichéd as it sounds, I did imagine all of those midnight feasts (minus the meat of course!) complete with tins of pineapple slices. I'd read them all again.

William Dalrymple: I've read two of his books - The Last Mughal (partly) and Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (read review here) and I've been impressed. His flair for the language, style and narrative style have me hooked. I'm self-confessed fan, Mr Dalrymple :) And the fact that he is both a historian and a travel writer only adds to the list of attributes!

J K Rowling: No it's not the norm to add her name to the list. Rowling is indeed one of my favourites. Writing about magic is quite a tough job and it obviously requires much imagination. To make us imagine the sequences requires even more imagination. (Okay so you get the drift). Here's tipping my (imaginary) wand to you!

John Grisham: I think I've read almost all his books and they're pretty interesting (hey they keep me occupied!). He made me like law-based books, I owe him that much. My favourites are The Rain Maker and The Partner.

Ruskin Bond: My list can never be complete without Bond. I can visualize school memories of running to the library and borrowing his books, reading them, returning them and borrowing them for a second time. I've always wanted to meet and talk to him. I'm secretly happy that he lives in India!

Agatha Christie: I’m running the risk of my list sounding more and more un-elitist. Christie is one of those authors I’d read anytime, anywhere. This also evokes school memories where I’d ask my friends to borrow some so that I can read more than one at a time. I still ask my sister to borrow some books from school to keep the tradition going. Murder on the Orient Express is my all-time favourite book.

At this point you may argue saying that Arthur Conan Doyle writes better detective stories and that Sherlock Holmes is a better detective than Hercule Poirot, but I beg to differ. Poirot is an utter delight with his bald head, oiled moustache and prim and proper shoes! Especially his ‘tap those grey cells Hastings’ dialogue! Holmes’ fans can turn their noses up at me, Poirot wins hands down!

Ramachandra Guha: I like everything about this guy! The fact that he doesn’t restrict himself to one genre and explores various others is a blessing. His articles/columns are equally interesting to read. I’d say it’s a must to read his work! Him being cute is an added bonus! Again, I’d love to converse with him.

The list doesn’t end here though, there are various others I’d like to add but that’d just make it bulky.

:O

Yes yes, the title will suggest the expression on your face when you read this. But I have to say it.

I have finally set my hands on this and reading it for the first time.
Kals Nats is now shocked. Or I hope so. :P