Ruminations!!!

This had been scribbled in January however due to some technical problems was unable to post it.

New Year is a time when you silently reflect upon various things that happened last year and make few resolutions. I refuse to make any considering my dismal past record. Despite resolutions I cannot refrain from the seductive charms of a cheerful bookshop or a well-stocked music store knowing fully well that there will be little leisure to read or listen to music. But then isn't leisure a state of mind !

Every year there are books that I read with pleasure, and there are books that are quickly skimmed through. There are many books whose pages are flipped with enthusiasm but do not get a second look. No wonder these books are angrily staring at me. And its time I did something. This year, therefore, I intend to avidly browse my library and revisit the books whose delight I have savoured and more importantly read those whom I have neglected for a while.

Well 2010 started with some ‘Audacity of Hope’.

Autobiographies/ Memoirs:

The Audacity of Hope - With Obama winning the election, I simply couldn’t stop myself from rummaging through this remarkable book which provides an optimistic look at America. Obama uses the book to share his perspective on America's history, present situation, and the challenges the country must overcome in order to have a prosperous future.

Dreams from My Father is an unforgettable read, illuminating not only Obama’s personal journey of discovery but also the universal desire that people have to understand their history and what makes them into the people they are.

High Adventure by Sir Edmund Hillary - With nimble words and a straightforward style, New Zealand mountaineering legend Hillary recollects the bravery and frustration, the agony and glory that marked his Everest odyssey. The memoirs are so inspiring, engaging and indeed insightful. Hillary describes the thrill of expedition, and succinctly conveys his admiration of the human drive to explore, to understand, to risk, and to conquer.

Istanbul - Orhan Pamukh pays homage to his home city and literally encourages you to visit Istanbul during your next holidays.

Politics:
If Management literature is abound by Ram Charan then political and sports books are governed by Ramchandra Guha.

India After Gandhi – Ramchandra Guha’s books are simply irrestible and this book does not disappoint you either.

Imagining India – Nandan Nilekani – book provides a road map that defines the strategies required to build the future of India.

Films:
Something like an autobiography – Akiro Kurosawa – If you love Kurosawa films, then you shouldn’t miss this wonderful literature. The book is a treat for all those who wish to learn about film making.

Cricket & Sports Books:
Indian Summers -Well nothing can match the cricket books written by Sir Neville Cardus, C.L.R. James and Jack Fingleton. I wish some day my friend in Australia and UK would get me the volumes written by these three greats. Its time I request my school buddy Alwyn to help me. John Wright’s Indian Summers is more than one man's story. The book is an account of the dramas and disappointments of a coach and his team who worked and played in an environment where keeping your head is as vital as keeping your wicket. It also lifts the covers on modern Indian cricket, as phenomenon and passion, and explains why coaching India is like no other job in the game.

Pundits From Pakistan is a book on cricket by Rahul Bhattacharya. It covers the Indian cricket team’s tour of Pakistan in the year 2004. While the book is largely about cricket, it also tells of how the tour had an impact that went far beyond sub-continental cricket in terms of the goodwill and sense of bonhomie it created between the people of the two countries, thereby encouraging peaceful relations.

Travelogues:
The Great Railway Bazaar is a travelogue written by Paul Theroux. It recounts Theroux's four-month journey across Asia by train, travelling through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, before finally returning via the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The Kingdom by the Sea (1983) is a written account of a three month long journey taken by Paul Theroux round the United Kingdom in the summer of 1982.

Science:
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris is truly a best seller and incisive. No wonder translated into 23 languages and still in demand.

Novels/ Light reading:
You cannot keep a John Grisham away but last year; I was overwhelmed by two famous women writers. The Grass Is Singing by Dorris Lessings is a remarkable novel that provides a bleak analysis of a failed marriage, the neurosis of white sexuality, and the fear of black power that Lessing saw as underlying the white colonial experience of Africa.

‘July's People’ is a 1981 novel by my another favourite Nobel laureate author Nadine Gordimer. Nadine Gordimer wrote this book before the end of apartheid as her prediction of how it would end.

Play:
Tughlaq – A Kannada Play intelligently translated in English by Girish Karnad. In its canvas and treatment, Tughlaq is both huge and contemporary. It is a tale of the crumbling to ashes of the dreams and aspirations of an over-ambitious, yet considerably virtuous king.

Gourmet Books:
Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi is interesting but no where closer to gourmet columns by ‘Busybee’ a.k.a Late Behram Contractor. You can read ‘Rude Food’ from any chapter since it is a compendium of Sanghvi’s various articles.

Eating in India by Chitrita Banerji very appetizing. This book is a fascinating tour through the culinary and cultural landscape of India, with mouthwatering descriptions of local delicacies and brief historical side-tours that provide context and background for the reader.

Recipe Books: I have yet to enjoy Sanjeev Kapoor and Tarla Dalal’s recipe books. But Jeroo Mehta’s ‘101 Parsee dishes’ and India’s famous chef Arvind Sarswat’s book ‘Masala cooking' unravels several authentic delectable recipes. Don’t forget to experiment, Jeroo’s famous Parsi Lamb Dhansak recipe and wash it down with some good beer on Sunday afternoon. Well unless you do not experiment in the kitchen, you will never enjoy these recipes.

Management:
Often, it is a drudgery to read management books especially when there is nothing new. However the books that still manage to enthrall me:
We are like that only: Rama Bijapurkar unravels Indian consumers and presents insights to business who wishes to capture Indian markets.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson is an important manual for the new economics of the Internet and digital culture. As well as demystifying the numbers it provides an essential guide to how to navigate a world where everything is available, all the time. Although The Long Tail is a business book, it is also about culture in general and how it’s changing.

I have yet to finish reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan and Fooled by randomness. Somehow was unable to concentrate on these books, despite knowing how radically different and best sellers these books have been.

Books read again:
Marathi books written by P.L. Deshpande and an inspiring biography of Dada Kondke. Someday must explore if there any books about these phenomenal thespians – Mehmood, Pran and Nilu Phule.

Read again:
A corner of foreign field – Ramchandra Guha.- A must read to understand Indian cricket. Glimpses of World History – Jawaharlal Nehru – I still love reading this epic and you can never keep a P.G. Wodehouse away, can you?

Now I must stop because I have painfully realized that its time to remedy the lamentable state of affairs.

2011 - Time to read the books that have been neglected by me and also savour the pleasures of reading again - Sartre, Bertrand Russell, G.B. Shaw, Aldous Huxley, Ayn Rand and J Krishnamurthy to gain some new perspective and learning. The last time I read them was 20 years ago.

Until then, Belated Happy New Year !!