Another Book Tag

Book Tag – Indian Authors
Have you read these books by authors of Indian origin? The ones in bold font are the ones I have read and the ones in italics are the ones I am longing to read....

1. The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri (great read!not seen the movie though!)
2. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy (amazing book!Estha and Rahel continue to haunt me....)
3. An Equal Music – Vikram Seth (I liked it)
4. The Vine of Desire – Chitra Divakaruni (I enjoyed reading it)
5. Mulligatawny Soup – Manorama Mathai (humourous one!)
6. The Burden of Foreknowledge – Jawahara Saidulla (I'm just waiting to buy it!)
7. By the River Pampa I stood – Geeta Abraham Jose ( guess who wrote it!)
8. My Story – Kamala Das (Good one)
9. The Raj – Gita Mehta
10. Circumferences – Suma Josson (it transported me to my childhood, good book)
11. Mediocre but Arrogant – Abhijit Bhaduri
12. The Enigma of Arrival – V.S.Naipaul (for serious readers only!)
13. The Better Man – Anita Nair
14. Fault lines – Meena Alexander
15. The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai (wonderful book!)
16. Fasting, Feasting – Anita Desai
17. Bookless in Baghdad – Shashi Tharoor
18. Train to Pakistan – Khushwant Singh
19. Difficult Daughters- Manju Kapur
20. Desirable Daughters- Bharati Mukherjee
21. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
22. The Feast of Roses – Indu Sundaresan
23. Malgudi Days – R.K.Narayan (read it a long time ago!)
24. Five Point Someone – Chetan Bhagat ( a cool one for teenagers)
25. Anything for You, Ma'am – Tushar Raheja (super cool one for teenagers)
26. The Moor's Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie

Hillgrandmom, Twinkletoes, Nav , John and Jawahara - You are TAGGED!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have this beautiful poem taped to my dressing table and I read it almost everyday as I get ready for office. I'm sure no working mom would be able to read through the entire poem without a pang of guilt in her heart or a tear in her eye....


When Time Flies By!!!!

My hands were busy through the day;
I didn’t have much time to play.
The little games you asked to do,
I didn’t have much time for you.
I’d wash your clothes;I’d sew and cook
But when you bring your picture book
And ask me to share in your laughter
I'd say, "a little later, daughter"
I’d tuck you in all safe at night,
And hear your prayers; turn out the light.
Then tiptoe softly by your door,
I wish I’d stayed a minute more.
For life is short, the years rush past,
A little girl grows up so fast.
No longer is she at your side,
Her precious secrets to confide.
The picture books are put away'
There are no longer games to play.
No Teddy Bears or misplaced toys,
No sleepovers with lots of noise.
No goodnight kiss, no prayers to hear,
That all belongs to yesteryear.
My hands, once busy, now are still,
The days are long and hard to fill.
I wish I could go back and do
The little things you asked me to.

Anonymous

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!!!

Deccan Herald - Interview 8 Apr '07

Familiar ground

Utpal Borpujari in an interview with Geeta Abraham Jose, whose first novel is about her own community, the Syrian Christians

Remember The God of Small Things and the world created in it by Arundhati Roy? It is the same world of the Syrian Christian community of Kerala that Geeta Abraham Jose takes a reader into through her debut novel By The River Pampa I Stood.

An IIT-Chennai alumni, Jose lives in Dubai.A portion of the proceeds from the book is being donated to the Nav Srishti Foundation (an NGO that works for under-privileged women in India) by Srishti Publishers & Distributors.

This is not the first novel with the Syrian Christian community as the backdrop and Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things is the most famous example of that. How would you describe your novel's theme?

Way back in 1995, I said to myself, ‘Hey, why not write a book using my own community as the backdrop? This is an uncharted territory. So let me write about it.’ That's when my novel was born.

I had almost completed writing it when Arundhati’s novel took the world by storm. I loved her book but I was amazed at the similarities in the theme and the family set up. We come from the same Syrian Christian background and anyone from this background would know the kind of incidents which could raise eyebrows in a highly conservative society like ours. This could be the reason for the similarity in the theme. As for the kind of life that existed in the pre-Independence era, I picked a lot from conversations with people from the older generations of the community.

As for the river Pampa, it has always remained close to my heart. I grew up hearing legends about the Pampa and during the hot summer days we cruised on its serene waters through the Kuttanadan plains. What is particularly appealing about Kuttanad is its old-world charm, its slow pace of life and its innocence which remain unchanged.

There seems to be a deliberate attempt to ride on the success of Chetan Bhagat, as the cover page of your book says, “A novel by yet another IITian”. Comment.

My book is not a book about IIT. I guess my publishers are still riding on the crest of the success wave of IITian Tushar Raheja’s novel (Anything for you, ma'am), which they published last year and still remains a hot favourite with teenagers in India. The publishers were attracted to my manuscript because it was penned by another IITian. That could be the reason for the rejoinder on the cover page.

How important was the Syrian Christian backdrop for your first novel?

I chose this background only because I am familiar with the community I was born into and brought up in. I was very particular that the descriptions of lifestyle and traditions be original; only then does the book have literary value. Instead of treading on unknown territory, I chose to walk confidently on familiar ground. I did not need much research for portraying the community's characteristics.

How long did it take for you to conceptualise the storyline and actually write it down?

It took me around two years to complete the novel. In one of my creative moments I must have conjured up the plot. The conceptualisation of the storyline must have taken only a couple of months. When I relocated to Dubai, the manuscript travelled with me and lay dormant in the bottom drawers of my closet. About a couple of years ago I transferred it to a word document on my laptop and gave it a few finishing touches before dashing it off to publishers.

Having been settled in the Gulf, has it allowed to take a more objective view of your society when you wrote the novel?

Sure, it did. But the main portions of the novel were written before I moved to Dubai to join my husband.

Are there autobiographical elements in the novel, since it ends with such an indication?

If it seems so to the reader, then I have succeeded in what I intended it to seem like. I wished that the reader would read it as though it was a true story. Frankly speaking, it is not autobiographical. A few incidents were picked from my associations with senior citizens. The main plot is totally fabricated. I have written in first person using a ‘journal style’ in order to lend credibility to the story.

As a first time author, what kind of experience did you have while looking for a publisher?

Oh, that was really the difficult part. Some publishers sent instant regret letters. Some kept the sample chapters for a long time and nothing ever happened. As I said, initially it was the ‘IITian’ tag that caught the attention of Srishti Publishers— who are well known to provide a platform for amateur writers— and then the manuscript was read and appreciated by the editor. Many a manuscript is born to blush and die unseen… You need to send it to the right publisher at the right time.

Thoughts of Pontius Pilate

My wife spoke of Him many times ere He was brought before me, but I was not concerned.

My wife is a dreamer, and she is given, like so many Roman women of her rank, to Eastern cults and rituals. And these cults are dangerous to the Empire; and when they find a path to the hearts of our women they become destructive.

Egypt came to an end when the Hyskos of Arabia brought to her the one God of their desert. And Greece was overcome and fell to dust when Ashtarte and her seven maidens came from the Syrian shores.

As for Jesus, I never saw the man before He was delivered up to me as a malefactor, as an enemy of His own nation and also of Rome.

He was brought into the Hall of Judgment with His arms bound to His body with ropes.

I was sitting upon the dais, and He walked towards me with long, firm steps; then He stood erect and His head was held high.

And I cannot fathom what came over me at that moment; but it was suddenly my desire, though not my will, to rise and go down from the dais and fall before Him.

I felt as if Caesar had entered the Hall, a man greater than even Rome herself.

But this lasted only a moment. And then I saw simply a man who was accused of treason by His own people. And I was His governor and His judge.

I questioned Him but he would not answer. He only looked at me. And in His look was pity, as if it were He who was my governor and my judge.

Then there rose from without the cries of the people. But He remained silent, and still He was looking at me with pity in His eyes.

And I went out upon the steps of the palace, and when the people saw me they ceased to cry out. And I said, "What would you with this man?"

And they shouted as if with one throat, "We would crucify Him. He is our enemy and the enemy of Rome."

And some called out, "Did He not say He would destroy the temple? And was it not He who claimed the kingdom? We will have no king but Caesar."

Then I left them and went back into the Judgment Hall again, and I saw Him still standing there alone, and His head was still high.

And I remembered what I had read that a Greek philosopher said, "The lonely man is the strongest man." At that moment the Nazarene was greater than His race.

And I did not feel clement towards Him. He was beyond my clemency.

I asked Him then, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

And He said not a word.

And I asked Him again, "Have you not said that you are the King of the Jews?"

And He looked upon me.

Then He answered with a quiet voice, "You yourself proclaimed me king. Perhaps to this end I was born, and for this cause came to bear witness unto truth."

Behold a man speaking of truth at such a moment.

In my impatience I said aloud, to myself as much as to Him, "What is truth? And what is truth to the guiltless when the hand of the executioner is already upon him?"

Then Jesus said with power, "None shall rule the world save with the Spirit and truth."

And I asked Him saying, "Are you of the Spirit?"

He answered, "So are you also, though you know it not."

And what was the Spirit and what was truth, when I, for the sake of the State, and they from jealousy for their ancient rites, delivered an innocent man unto His death?

No man, no race, no empire would halt before a truth on its way towards self-fulfilment.

And I said again, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

And He answered, "You yourself say this. I have conquered the world ere this hour."

And this alone of all that He said was unseemly, inasmuch as only Rome has conquered the world.

But now the voices of the people rose again, and the noise was greater than before.

And I descended from my seat and said to Him, "Follow me."

And again I appeared upon the steps of the palace, and He stood there beside me.

When the people saw Him they roared like the roaring thunder. And in their clamour I heard naught save "Crucify Him, crucify Him."

Then I yielded Him to the priests who had yielded Him to me and I said to them, "Do what you will with this just man. And if it is your desire, take with you soldiers of Rome to guard Him."

Then they took Him, and I decreed that there be written upon the cross above His head, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." I should have said instead, "Jesus of Nazareth, a King."

And the man was stripped and flogged and crucified.

It would have been within my power to save Him, but saving Him would have caused a revolution; and it is always wise for the governor of a Roman province not to be intolerant of the religious scruples of a conquered race.

I believe unto this hour that the man was more than an agitator. What I decreed was not my will, but rather for the sake of Rome.

Not long after, we left Syria, and from that day my wife has been a woman of sorrow. Sometimes even here in this garden I see a tragedy in her face.

I am told she talks much of Jesus to other women of Rome.

Behold, the man whose death I decreed returns from the world of shadows and enters into my own house.

And within myself I ask again and again, What is truth and what is not truth?

Can it be that the Syrian is conquering us in the quiet hours of the night?

It should not indeed be so.

For Rome must needs prevail against the nightmares of our wives.

-Kahlil Gibran (Book: Jesus, the Son of Man)

The Burning Candle

Excerpt-3
from "By the River Pampa I Stood"


A burning candle.
That’s what she often reminded me of. Attired in her crisp, white mundu-chatta-kavani - the traditional dress of the Syrian Christian woman of Kerala – she stood tall and stately, her golden hair creating a halo around her fair, radiant face.
Like a candle with a golden flame.
Even in her eighties she was exuberant and perky as ever; bubbling with energy and vitality as she went about, helping people, filling lives around with love and laughter.

If you think it’s about another Mother Teresa, dear PeaJay, you are sadly mistaken.
For she was no saint.
At least in the eyes of mortals, that is.

She was one who broke rules. And for that matter, broke hearts too!
She was one who reversed the Dos and Don’ts that convention demanded of her. Dos that were not meant to become Don’ts. Don’ts that were never meant to become Dos. And that too, in a society that was highly sensitive to the slightest infringement of its conventions.
She broke rules….
…….Rules that were never to be amended.
And broke hearts in the process….
…….Hearts that were never to be mended.
Which, obviously, made her a sinner. In the eyes of society. In the eyes of the world.
But not in mine. For she was my favourite grandmother!
"Rules", she once told me, "are like a heap of dry twigs. You tread on one intentionally and you end up breaking not one, but a good number of them, all unintentionally".

A Book Tag

I saw this tag on Hillgrandmom's blog and wanted to do it right away. There are a hundred books in the list. You need to highlight the ones you've read in Bold, the ones you long to read in Italics and the ones you haven't read in normal font.

So here goes mine:

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) - was curious about the hype
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) - loved it
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) - an all time fave book
4. Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell) was obsessed by it for a long time
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)- love all her books, especially The Story Girl and The Golden Road which instantly transport me to my childhood. I recommend these 2 books to all who love LMM
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)- borrowed from my daughter
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)- lovely book.
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - a classic I love
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) - great read
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) -one of my favourites
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) - I liked it a lot but the sea journey seemed too long
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte - An all time favourite classic
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) -
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert) - I have it in my collection
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell) - Classic science fiction.
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) - a wonderful book
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible - my favourite book -I've read it from cover to cover around 5 times
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) - good one. I'd love to read 'Tis and Teacher Man by the same author
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) - from my daughter's collection
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) -wow! great book
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) - have read its sequel The Edge of Reason too
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) - one of my favourites
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) -
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) - I love all her books
84. Wizard’s First Rule
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)- loved all her books
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

*do tag it if you like.

Mohanlal introduces the book to Dubai folks

India's renowned movie actor Padmashri Mohanlal introducing BTRPIS to the Dubai folks.