Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories - Ruskin Bond

Short stories, since I was in school, have always had a special appeal for me. I loved reading English Text books because all they had were short stories and poems. I do wish I had preserved those books.
Anyways, Ruskin Bond, in the introduction to this book, claims his love for short stories as well, and admits unabashedly his unwillingness, and inability to write the more adrenalin generating stories. And most endearingly begins his introduction with, and I quote:

Gentle reader,

I use the old fashioned term to address you, because I like it, and because I know only the more gentle kind of person is likely to care much for my stories.

That captures for you, the tone and the heart of the book. Each of the story has something poignant about it which will touch your heart. And yes, if that kind of writing is boring for you, keep your hands off it. But there is a message about humanity in each of the stories. And really, you don’t have to be extra-sensitive or extra-intellectual to get that message.
I have always believed that the kind of stories Ruskin Bond writes, are best suited to the shorter version, that much he too believes. The problem is that a whole bunch of writers don’t get that and end up writing whole novels on this theme, which are invariably slow and boring.
A lot of the stories are autobiographical in nature. But not all of them. And Ruskin Bond covers a wide range of human life through the stories, including writers, of course, thieves, flute players, army people, commercial sex workers, and a lot of children. Nothing is too dramatic in any story. Rather, there has been no attempt to put drama in anything. It is a very simple, heart touching narration.
My favourite story, undoubtedly, is “The Boy who Broke the Bank” which I had also read during my school days. And it carries as much charm for me today as it did when I was twelve. That’s Ruskin Bond for you. He takes you away to the hills, amongst gentle breeze and flowers, and from there to an overpowering flood, and then to a waterfall where lovers might escape the wicked eyes of the world… all of it, in one book. And even if not all stories are fantastic, the book as a whole is immensely enjoyable.

The Small Bachelor - P.G. Wodehouse

I wonder if anyone would ever use the phrase “small bachelor” for anyone in real life. But this is a Wodehouse book we are talking about. And as always it depicts life in the rose tinted glass with an attached oxygen mask that really contains laughing gas.

George Finch is the small bachelor in this case. At least I think so, because there were in all three bachelors in this book, but the smallest one of them seemed to be George Finch. One of the other two, is the imposing, intelligent author of self help books, Hamilton Beamish – Jimmy for his near and dear ones – and George’s butler, Mullet. George falls head over heels in love, as usual, at first sight with a girl named Molly Waddington. The girl has a villainous mother, of course, who objects to the marriage and a father who dreams about the west and is generally ignored by everyone. Mullet is in love with an adroit pickpocket, Fanny Welch, who is in the business as much for the fun as for the cash. And then there is a police officer, Barroway, with an especially large adam’s apple who is a budding poet receiving training from none other than Beamish. See how the threads begin tangling? This is not all. Fanny Welch tries to steal a pearl necklace from the wedding of our Finch and Molly. Mr. Waddington is looking for Barroway because the former has sold substantial stock of a company he thought to be worthless to the later, and it eventually turned out to be quite a fortune after all. Mrs. Waddington is out spying on Finch because she thinks him to be what I would call a womanizer, but Wodehouse finds a bunch of other very amusing adjectives conveying the same thing. And while on her espionage mission, she messes with the law and hot on her trail is who else, but Barroway. Oh this is complicated, isn’t it? And believe me, I have left out a bunch plot threads out here for the sake of simplicity of summarizing. Needless to say, ending is happy as always.

This book is loosely based on a play co-written by Wodehouse. How would I have loved to see the play! The book also has a very honest preface to it, which is a delight, to be able to peek into Plum’s simple way of thinking.

Another highly recommended book for Wodehouse lovers!

A Beautiful Mind - Sylvia Nasar

It would be exaggerating to say that I have read a lot of biographies, but the fact remains that I do love reading them. The objective of reading a biography is not just entertainment that you would seek from a fiction novel, nor general knowledge of topics that interest you that you gather from non-fiction books. A biography gives a peek into the subject’s life. And a good biography will not just narrate the events of a subject’s life chronologically but will present the most significant events with sufficient background and detail to convey a message that is a learning for a reader to conduct his life. It is like reading a real live fable. Only the moral is a lot more complex and multi faceted than say “slow and steady wins the race”.

Whose life merits a biography? I guess no right answer there. Everyone’s life is interesting, noble laureate or not. But there are some who are capable on inspiring the readers with the tale of their lives like no self-help book ever can. Some are great exposes of political and other machinations which a layman will never otherwise learn. And these books more often than not end up being banned. Some are funny. And some are poignant and serve to sensitize the readers to things that they would be very indifferent to. A Beautiful Mind falls in multiple categories depending on your perspective. John Nash, by no means, is an inspiring character really. But his wife Alicia is. And the life of a schizophrenic person is something that people who have not encountered it will never understand. And making movies stereotyping schizophrenia forms a very harmful image of the disorder in the society. It’s a topic which needs to be tackled sensitivity. Something that the book conveys extremely well. And the rallying of Nash’s colleagues around him in his time of despair that just gives me so much hope that the world isn’t as bad a place as I sometimes think it is.

The story of John Nash’s life plays out like a novel. I will not comment about the research since I am not qualified enough for that, but as a lay reader, the entertainment quotient, for the want of a better phrase, of the book was like a fiction drama. No wonder it made for such a great movie adaptation. Nash’s history, his blossoming as a mathematician, decline during his disorder, and finally his recovery has been depicted beautifully. His relationships with his family, colleagues, students and how they impacted his life in both good ways and bad is borne out clearly. Nash is not played out as the hero. He only is the central character is the book. The author tells all about his life without trying to bring John Nash out as the good guy all the time. His flaws are plentiful, and there is no mincing of words while bringing them out. Most importantly, his paranoid schizophrenia is not over dramatized for the sake of gripping the reader. It is tackled with sensitivity and treated as an affliction that John Nash and the people in his life together battled out, not always agreeing about the course of action, but with a single aim nonetheless.

I will highly recommend this book for people who like biographies. If you don’t, maybe the movie will suffice, but be warned that the movie captures one-tenth of what the book has to offer. And if you think John Nash was just another scientist or just another schizophrenic patient, you are gravely mistaken. The fact that he is both together, and the fact that the scientist Nash won against the schizophrenic Nash, is what sets his life apart. If we can help anyone achieve that, you would have done your bit for humanity.

Summer Moonshine - P.G. Wodehouse

While I can sing an ode praising this book, let me get the one negative point away at the outset. The title… is chosen completely at random. It seems that Plum just ran out of titles for his stories and picked any convenient phrase out of the book.

The story… if one has to criticize it… is based on the usual Wodehouse formula. Someone has a money problem. Someone has a love problem. And everyone’s entangled in more ways than you can imagine. So I will commence upon my favourite exercise after reading a Wodehouse book, that is, trying to summarize the plot in a paragraph. I have had my Scooby snacks. Here goes.

Sir Buckstone Abbot, the apparently rich heir of the ancestral home, Walsingford Hall, is actually hard pressed for cash. And the only way out of his cash-flow problem is to sell his palatial house, which he runs as a sort of a motel, taking in spendthrift guests who are willing to pay a sum. The problem in selling the palace is that it has been hideously renovated, and it would take someone of eccentric tastes to buy a house like that. Thankfully Buck has found a customer, Princess Dwornitzzchek, who fits the bill. All of Buck’s hopes lie in keeping her happy. But the problem is that The Princess’ son, Tubby Vanringham, who is staying at Walsingford Hall, is sued by Buck’s secretary, and if the news reaches the Princess the deal would be off. So it is in the best interest of Buck that the paper server (for those who don’t know, paper server is the person who gives the court summons to the sued party. As it turns out, it is an adventure frought occupation) away from Tubby. The twist is that the paper server, Sam Bulpitt, is Buck’s brother-in-law, and while he goes about his job, also takes a liking to his niece, Jane Abbot, daughter of Buck. So another of Bulpitt’s agenda is to straighten out the love life of Jane, who is love with this Adrian fellow, who also secretly happens to be betrothed to the aforementioned Princess! Last but not the least, is our hero, if we can call him that, who also loves Jane and, without much success, tries to woo her. Our hero Joe, also is Tubby’s brother, and the estranged step-son of the Princess! That, pretty much completes the circle!!

Love triangles are all too common in Wodehouse books. But this one was exquisite. And the dynamics entirely different. I loved the way Joe went about wooing young Jane. While no single character is as forceful as a Bertie Wooster or PSmith or Galahad, the combination gives enough food for some extremely hilarious dialogue. The plot keeps getting more and more tangled, as only Wodehouse can manage. And gives a neat solution to all the problems in the end. There have been better climaxes to Wodehhouse books, but this one’s not far from the best.

Lovely book this one. A must read for Wodehouse fans!

Phantoms In The Brain - V.S. Ramachandran

This book was a recommendation by a friend. And boy was it a great reco.
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of assuming that like all medical books, this one, being on neurology, is as boring, dull, with unnecessary medical jargons and details. You couldn’t be more wrong. The author candidly confesses about how medical authors could get into that mould and steers clear of it. And while some details of the brain structure are required, no where does it get too lengthy for you to lose interest.
The book is not really an expedition to teach the laymen the working of the brains. But what it serves to do is elucidate us with the fact that a lot of strange behavior that we ignore, or worse, viciously hate, are no more than physical shortcomings of the brain. That, therefore, would merit some sympathy from the normal section of the society who can differentiate a vertical mail slot from a horizontal one and who do not see cartoons and animals out there in the world.
It is indeed very moving to read about some of the problems people have when some interconnections of the brain go awry. Imagine the fear of the lady whose left hand (or was it right?) kept trying to strangle her. Or like Memento or Ghajini, this guy could not form any new memories. There are a lot of cases described in the book. And the least we could do is be sensitive to their problems.
The book starts off with the discussion on phantom limbs, something that I wasn’t aware of before I read this book! What a strange concept, isn’t it, for the brain to think that an amputated leg or a hand, or even removed breasts, still exist! And to register physical signals to those phantom body parts! The entire genesis, problems, potential cure for the phantom limbs is beautifully explained. And did you know that when a body part gets amputated, physical stimulation on other parts will make you feel that something is touching that missing body part. For example, if someone gets a hand amputated, and if you run a feather on a section of his face, he will feel that your brushing his palm. What a strange thing the human brain is, isn’t it?
The book tackles phantom limbs, and other strange aspects of brain functioning, like visual responses, neglect and denial symptoms, the part of brain that gives you a religious experience (it’s grossly under-developed in me) and concludes with the question of how to define the “Self” in context of the brain. The last chapter is the only one where it gets really heavy and the discussion is a mixture of philosophy as much as it is about neurology. But then, that’s the nature of brain and how we live and think isn’t it?
Think Matrix. There a whole pseudo world was created was created for people by feeding electrical signals to the brain. Does then, consciousness have any meaning? No one is doing anything really, but they are living a complete life lying in a tube.
This book will make you look at life a lot more humbly. We are all a function of our brain. But how it reacts is a function of us. It’s a relationship hard to comprehend. And I really believe that the whole exercise, however intellectually stimulating, is completely futile. But then neurology can not be completely objective with it’s only aim being curing brain ailments. Philosophy is bound to get mixed up. And in this book, V.S. Ramachandran coexists peacefully with Freud.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling

The only reason why I waited to read the Harry Potter books was to let the movies fade out from the mind. The reason I chose to read them at all was because I was thoroughly disappointed with the last two editions of the Harry Potter movies. The special effects were all great of course, but when those movies ended I had this sensation that a lot of things were left untold. And the books were universally liked. So I had no choice but to start reading the books.

The first book was definitely written exclusively for children. It’s a good versus evil story where good eventually is victorious. It talks about virtues of courage, friendship, etc. etc. which would all be mixed with a story which would be meant for kids. Plus the writing is that easy style which the children will not struggle with. But I must also add that the stories aren’t as kiddish as say Enid Blyton stories and therefore can grip the interest of adults as well. But to expect any poetic imagery or literary pulchritude from Harry Potter books is just naïve. And probably snobbish.

A word about the movie… the first movie was definitely very well made. I had liked it when I had seen it, and now that I have read the book, I can say that the movie follows the book very closely and completely. And it captures the magic of Hogwarts and the Harry Potter world beautifully. You can not read the books now without the faces from the movie creeping into your imagination as you visualize what you are reading. The spells, the creatures, the objects, and Quidditch, my God that was well shown in the movie.

Well… 1 down, 6 books to go. Soon enough I guess

Risk - Dick Francis

This is the story of a righteous accountant, Roland Britten, who is also a jockey. And it is horse racing which is his first love. But being righteous, he has his share of enemies, the people whose scams he has caught as an accountant, and subsequently reported to the authorities.

It is one of them, apparently, who gets Roland kidnapped and confined in a small dark room. He escapes, and then again gets kidnapped and gets confined in another small dark room. Interim he tries to figure out who was out to get him, and his kidnappers, since they aren’t exactly professionals, do leave a trail which Roland manages to unravel. But that might just have been a very bad idea.

A large chunk of this story is about the confinement of Roland Britten. And while the narration isn’t as fear inducing as say Stephen King’s Misery or Gerald’s Game, it fits well into the genre that Dick Francis writes.

The story flows with an easy narration and witty dialogues and is entertaining. Something that you can read very quickly and feel satisfied about it. Though I must say that the accounting practices in England are very strange indeed. Or atleast they were pretty strange when the book was published. Roland Britten goes about matching a lot of numbers around and about which is not something that any accountant or an accounting firm would do. Well, whatever the case may be, it does make for an entertaining story and a very plausible premise on which the plot is built.