Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Vayam Rakshamah by Acharya Chatursen

After reading "Vaishali ki Nagarvadhu" this was the book I was looking forward to.

Acharya Chatursen said it in the preface that "मेरे हृदय और मस्तिष्क में भावों और विचारों की जो आधी शताब्दी की अर्जित प्रज्ञा-पूंजी थी, उन सबको मैंने ‘वयं रक्षाम:’ में झोंक दिया है। अब मेरे पास कुछ नहीं है। लुटा-पिटा-सा, ठगा-सा श्रान्त-कलान्त बैठा हूं। चाहती हूं-अब विश्राम मिले। चिर न सही, अचिर ही। परन्तु यह हवा में उड़ने का युग है।"

This summarises he gave all that he knew, believed or understood to this book. This book openly tells us how the life had been in those days. The book is so open that people may feel ashamed of hearing such things or wouldn't believe it at all because that is the easy way out.

The whole narration goes around Ravan who was a marked villain in the epic Ramayan. There had been different views on how Ravan was, in fact it is a long pending discussion across cultures who portray Ravan in different characteristics.

This book portrays Ravan as a young man full of ambition, challenging all the orthodaox rituals, and creating a society on equality which apparently doesn't go very well with the existing rulers/gods.

The whole plot is so thoroughly researched and there are so many citations from the ancient scriptures that this can easily qualify for a thesis.

This is not a book for closed minds. If you're willing enough to accept or at least listen to the things that obviously may not be very pleasant earlier, than this book is for you otherwise it can hurt your sentiments very easily withing very first few pages.

Peace

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

There are times in life when you realise that you could have avoided doing something. Reading this book was one of them for me.

The title was so catchy that I didn't try to find much about the author. As a rule of thumb I don't read other's review before picking a book but sometimes I go for a check on author. I so missed it here because I'm stuck with another point that I don't leave the books in the middle irrespective of my opinion.

Personally, I'm against any type of self help or motivational books. I believe that there are a lot of people who might have been benefited from such readings but I don't fall in those cases.

So, I'll say don't waste time on this book. If you've a problem, all you need to do is find a solution or at least start searching for it. Reading such book is not really going to help much.

Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu by Acharya Chatursen

This one is a historical book around the time when Buddhism was expanding it's reach.

This is said to be the best book from Acharya Chatursen.

I read it in Hindi, and again it felt like long lost language has come back. But I must say that it was a great read.

The whole story revolves around the power conflicts around that era. It openly talks about the bad rituals in the society which were harming it's stability, and fairness.

Since the whole narrative is weaved around that era a lot of things has been assumed or directly taken from the scriptures but this should be fine as long as we're treating it as a story, and not really taking it word by word.

It was not a quick read since I was reading in Hindi after a long time since Mrityunjay. Planning to take Hindi books more frequently, and the next in line is "Vayam Rakshamah" from the Acharya Chatursen again.

Love

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

I was thinking of reading this from quite some time now, and I picked it up last month.

To start with it's a quick read, and didn't take much time.

Like you might have heard of this being famous in teenagers who connect with it's theme of teenage rebellion, and complexity of thoughts in that age.

I must say that I'm way past the teenage, and this can be reason why I couldn't connect with it very well.

However, I'll like to add that the whole narrative was incoherent, plots were lost, and finally you don't feel the completion in the whole narrative. I don't know if this incompletion is by choice or otherwise but it does leave you lost.

I don't really recommend this even it being a quick read because this is something which is blown out of proportion. It doesn't offer anything for thought or even fun read. Somebody who wants to read about teenagers can pick something else but this book for that matter.

Peace