Devil’s Gate (Book Review): Deepak Kripal

Tags

animals, book review, children, demons, fiction, island, thriller

 

Taskforce: A cat, a dog, an owl, a baby skeleton and a 5000 year old rat (Reminded me of the mix-match and mismatched cast of Wizard of Oz).

Task: To free a deadly island from a battalion of demons, monsters and witches.

Underlying message: Inner demons (Fear/Prejudice/Hesitation) are worse than fictional demons. Humans are more destructive than demons. Humans, stop encroaching upon the animal world.

Target audience: Children, I guess. In spite of the demons and devils all over, there is nothing macabre enough. Also, in true Enid Blyton style, *SPOILER none of our five-member team dies. *

Pluses: a} Some deep thoughts:

1. Not showing quietness is difficult. You are required to talk a lot to do that.

2. Love at first sight is an invention of poets. They don’t have the patience for the second sight.

3. You have to lose an emotion to get a perspective.

b} Cute characterizations, albeit a tad clichéd: Cat with attitude, dog with ‘hang-dog’ attitude, wise owl, cute skeleton. Although the Rat may not be what he seems!

c} Bursts of humor– 1. Dog says,’Tell the world I killed 99 demons.’

Cat says, ‘Why 99?’ Dog says modestly, ‘Well, I just don’t want to exaggerate.’

2. Hey, Son of  a Bitch, says cat to dog.

3. Witch says,’God has a special affection for owls. He made me serve owls for breakfast.’

Owl goes, ‘I cannot even say “Oh My God now!”.

Need improvement: a} Grammar– There were errors like ‘He clinched his teeth’, he was prepared to die thinking of her beloved’, he was tore into 2 halves like paper, no existence worst than being blanked.’

b} Punctuation marks– Some affirmative statements ended in a question mark, while questions ended in a full stop.

c} Unnecessary tendency to explain sentences, resulting in repetition: For example- ‘Can you please utter it in a language that I find easy to comprehend?’ Dug pleaded Katy to make herself available for easy interpretation.

Overall: Definite seeds of a fertile imagination exist here. The climax hints at a sequel. Need better grammar and sharper editing next time. Good Luck.

Note: I received a print-copy for review by the author. Free of cost.

WordPress to NonWordPress: Bridging the bloggers

Tags

Blog, blog url, Google Blogger, Gravatar, profile, Reader, WordPress

Anybody can complicate matters. It takes Genius to simplify.

Techies, feel free to laugh.  Non-techies, I hope I am your savior angel.

Blog world has 3 planets: WordPress , Blogger(Google)   and the super-special stand-alone independents.

My quandary-How to make these parallel paths merge?

1. Foremost, there are blogs who follow me (Yayyy!) and those I follow (which may, unfortunately not be mutually inclusive) Circa Now, the latter outnumbers the former. Some fine day, I intend to reverse the numbers!. For now, I will call these Followers and Wishes respectively.

2. The Followers and Wishes can be inhabitants of the above mentioned 3 planets. (Techies, I forewarned you!)

I mean, my Followers can be http://xyz.wordpress.com; or http://xyz.blogspot.in  or http://www.xyz.com (WordPress, Blogger and Independents respectively). The same goes for my Wishes.

OK, take a deep breath… Fine…

By now, my simple, easy blog world is split into 6 lists. (How come whenever I intend to simplify; I end up blogging…I mean, boggling myself…I mean, get bogged down…)  

3. Sharing – That was the whole purpose, wasn’t it? How do you connect?

For WordPressers, the ’Reader’ is the golden gate, of course! It is the fav arena to preen your blog, to collect Followers, to sniff out new blogs and faithfully trot after Wishes.

But! It is a snobbish, uppity, eclectic party. It frowns upon non-Wordpressers.  I can neither see their blog update nor show-off my blog update to them. So…

If your Followers/Wishes are non-WordPress bloggers….then simply copy-paste their blog url . Now come to WordPress Reader…Blogs I Follow…click ‘Edit’…add the url in the textbox that pops up…and click ‘Add’.

Voila! Now you have all your WP and non-WP blogs under one roof. Neatly classified by either Alphabetical or Date-wise series.

Remember to remember: Crucial information.

a] Understand that your name, blog url and blog title are separate entities. 

For example, my name:drsweetyshinde

                  url: https://sweetyshinde.wordpress.com

                  blog name: Impractical Dreamer.

To my vexation, I may have  a Follower/Wish  whose

               name :Arvind shah

                   url : http://torture myself often.com

                   blog name: White Elephant.

How on Earth am I to remember the connection between these 3 names?

My solution: I painstakingly made a Word document where I enter all relevant data about each WordPress, non WordPress and Independent blog. Followers and Wishes. It is the only sane way (atleast to my limited knowledge) to keep it all together.

This document has name, blog title, blog url, and blog-specialty(book review/creative photography/spirituality)

Why do I need to do this? I get a witty comment from , say  GreenEyes. I would love to visit his/her blog and demonstrate my wit in return. Next step, I hover over their Gravatar image. 

b] Gravatar: It is a visual hook. Also, pausing over the Gravatar image gets you a quick peek into Gravatar profile. For example, “Shaun Mason. Author of abc book. Virile footballer. Violinist. Wine connoisseur.” (P.S-Shaun is imaginary)

c] If I hover over your name, I should automatically  get linked to the blog url. (Provided you have edited Gravatar profile).

Thus, your Gravatar image shows your face and your Gravatar introduction(make that Wow! first impression), your name tells your real name and hovering over the name links to your blog url. Mission accomplished!

Coming back to our neat Reader list of non-Wordpress and WordPress Followers/Wishes.

…. Grudges:  {a]Reader will not update you on non-WP blogger’s new posts. So you need to click on the blog url under ‘Blogs I Follow’ to see their latest posts.

{b}Reader will save your favorite blogs by ‘Blog Title’ and not blog-url or blog-writer name. So, that painfully crafted word document is much needed as reference point.

Whew!

How do you keep track of your ‘I follow’ and ‘who follow me’ ?

Do you know a much simpler method? Enlighten me, please.(Don’t say email is the best option.)

Mistress to the Throne (book review): Ruchir Gupta

Tags

aurangzeb, book, book review, jahanara, mistress, mughal, review, shah jahan, throne

‘Our Empire had an abundance of everything- except trust and loyalty.’ says Jahanara. Daughter Shah Jahan; sister to Aurangzeb; wife to none and as aptly titled, lonely Mistress to the (Cursed) Throne.

Ruchir Gupta, debutant novelist, takes up the mantle of unfolding her life saga. Thankfully, he adds a family tree to clarify the baffling plethora of characters.

Steeped in debauchery & deceit; forbidden lusts & chilling cruelty. The Mughal Empire has always been a source of curiosity and wonder at their culture and their architecture.

However, there is a turbulent atmosphere within the palaces. There is deep insecurity for personal safety; burning ambitions and raging envy that lead brother to kill brother; sister to torture sister and son to imprison father!

Particularly deep chilling moments burst out, surprisingly, not from the blood-lusty men…***Spoiler alert…but from the frustrated and ill-fated women of the Empire. (Raushanhara’s lovers are boiled to death by the creator of Taj Mahal! Equally blood-curdling is the cruelty that drives Raushanhara to roast alive her younger sister’s lover!) Spoiler ends***

In spite of the female protagonist, the men get a fair deal in terms of character development, emotions and bravura. Especially noteworthy, Aurangzeb is not reduced to a sinister caricature. Instead we see his lonely childhood, under the relentless misguidance of NoorJahan. We also see his martial exploits and competent generalship; and yet see him facing constant ridicule from Shah Jahan.

If anything, it made me want to re-read the superb Marathi novel, Shahenshah by N.S Inamdar. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16204056-shahenshah?from_search=true).

Note: I have not read Indu Sundareshan’s Mughal series. So no scope for comparisons there.

Verdict: Ruchir has evidently researched thoroughly and sifted through emotional depths instead of skimming the surface. Recommended, especially for Mughal era fans and History buffs.

Scratch on my car; Wound on my heart!

Tags

Accident, car, car accident, emotional attachment, Emotions, feelins, Heartbreak, possessiveness, Scratches, Trauma

I saw a gleaming Porsche in my colony yesterday. I eyed the beauty with a single thought, ‘How does it’s owner manage to sleep peacefully? Every night this dream is parked outside unguarded; must be possessive agony till he/she sees it safe and sound next morning.’

I found out the next day…Today. The Porsche was fine. My car had been banged into by an unknown reckless driver.

I received the gloomy details courtesy my maid. Time: 9.30 am. Damage: Emblem ripped off, Bumper hanging out. Witness: None. (Yes, on a crowded, buzzing with life, weekday morning. I can totally see why Nobody Killed Jessica can happen in our country). Assailant: Absconding.

I heard in silence. My heart held anything but silence.

2 voices babbled within me. The Intellectual one; saying ‘Don’t react. It is a mere material object; not worthy of emotional attachment. The mind always blows out of proportion a minor problem. Intellectualize the problem.’

The Emotional voice sobbed, “It is not a mere material object. She is My car. My baby!’

Intellectual said, ‘Possession is a Momentary Joy; and Permanent Agony at the thought of losing it.’ When  I brought her home 2 years, the dread started: regarding the First Scratch.

My Liva is an electric blue. The tiniest scratch would stand out like a jagged scar. Why hadn’t I listened to my brother’s sensible suggestion of White or Silver? He then offered me another sensible suggestion, “Make the first scratch yourself. It will hurt less.’ I had shuddered at the mere hint.

Back to today. As I rode down the elevator, I steeled myself for the inevitable. Practical one reminded me gently to carry the home key(or you are stuck outdoors), turn off the geyser (nobody wants two accidents to crash into their lives). Intellectual one prodded me- ‘Visualize the damage and make it as worse as you can. Reality will seem much bearable in comparison. ‘

Emotional one screwed shut its eyes before they saw. Practical one glanced to see if the car was jutting out; badly parked? It wasn’t. I was not guilty. Then why? Out of all the cars parked in a row…unaffected. Why my car? Why Mine?

Intellectual one reasoned , ‘It could have been worse.

1.You could have been inside when the other car banged into it.

2.You could have been the cause of your car accident.’

Maybe. It could have been worse. Perhaps the blow we receive is a pre-softened version of the one meant for us.

Emotional one stooped over the car, with trembling lips. ‘No, it was not mere metal and paint. She was my darling. Hurt, bruised, ripped. I wanted to scoop her up in my arms and carry her home. She was my private Oasis from the humanity overflowing outside it, my  Chariot. Mine.’

Wynand says in Fountainhead, ‘Whenever anything becomes Mine; it acquires a special quality,  a halo around it.’ I identified completely with him.

The Practical one assessed the damage in cool detachment. It checked the Insurance date. Checked the PUC. Mechanically reached for the service station and dialed an appointment.

Tomorrow, the mechanic, the  truly emotionally-detached will decide whether my Baby gets hospitalized or waltzes home with a mere band-aid.

So, is  ‘Emotional detachment’ a farce?

If a Philosophy is not practicable, can it still exist?

What does your car mean to you- Possession, Object or Beloved?