The Palace of Illusions

Mahabharat has always been known for its complexity and also the shades of human nature that mythology rarely accepts... maybe that is the reason why it has been so much more fascinating and intriguing than any other story we might have grown old on... when we talk of mahabharat, we see a lot of strong warriors, rulers, gods rally past the lanes of our memory... but what has always been interesting is that no matter how strong the men were, the women were stronger... they were the ones who kept it all together and when the time came destroyed it as well....
There have been interpretations and versions of Mahabharat and each one better than the other.. recently I happened to come across Panchali’s Mahabharat- The Palace of Illusions... the book told the story of mahabharat through the eyes of Draupadi... and i am not sure if it was the magic woven by the author or the amazing magnanimity of Mahabharat which made the book such a page turner...
It turned and tossed the corners of mahabharat and presented a picture which I had ever thought of... in the initial years panchali, through her fascination for Kunti comes to the question that do strong women have good marriages... well the question was relevant to her then and is relevant to me now... I wonder if men then and men now are so insecure that it is unbecoming in a female to be strong... or is it that once the lifelong dream of a happy marriage is broken the woman no longer has anything to loose and can take on the world for all that its worth...
Every woman strong or weak gives a hand and an eye to make her relationship work and I find it harder to believe that stronger she is the weaker the relation will grow... do men have such insatiable need to assert themselves that a strong woman can make them look inadequate... May be the answer is yes... maybe this is the reason that the girls are always painted as mute, giving and docile creature who needs to looked after... and maybe this is the reason that women through ages have been told to learn and accept their fates without question... to satisfy the great male ego...

CURFEWED NIGHTS

The first thing that struck me after I read this book was… how come the government didn’t ban it??? At first I was happy to think of it as a trump of democracy but then it struck me- how bad can polyester prince be… or is it just because The Polyster Prince exposed the political corruption it was banned? Or is it our tolerance or our indifference that we can have this book on our book shelves…
The prose was not poetic and it did not really made say much about the author but the book’s honesty did say a lot. The book is not about India and Pakistan it’s not even about Kashmir, it’s simply about the people… who feel violated and ostracized every single day of their lives. But here it did not matter what form of writing it was… the book had horrific images of truth coming out of its pages… it’s a shame on humanity that people had to live through those moments…
I remember reading of an experiment aimed at justifying Nazi atrocities on Jews, which ended up showing that all of us are capable of that kind of barbarianism and all of us are capable of that kind of sustenance. This book also brought that back to me we Indians are also capable of that…. The experiment was scrapped midways because of the disturbing results it produced…. but how can we put an end to it…
The book made me realize that we have part of our nation which is at war, where the people are not happy and are living under a constant dread, where the dreams and reality differ so starkly that people have lost the ability to dream… where we have managed to put a price tag on a human life, where the air smells of ruins and shattered families, where pain and despair have replaced hope and love…
How can any of us give up… how can we accept that… is the barbarian in us so strong that we have forgotten our humanity… well even if that is true… I refuse to believe it and I refuse to give up…

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

I have been meaning to read The Reluctant Fundamentalist for a long time, I have again and again picked it up and left it unopened. But today when I picked it up, I couldn’t keep it down. I finished it in one go… guess the book deserved it. It speaks on behalf of the most under represented group of all… a genuine muslim… and a true Pakistani who is up in arms against the US

The book does not attempt to provide answers, but has managed to raise a lot of questions. It attempts to ask if a successful Princeton Graduate comes back to Pakistan, disgusted by US policies, is he a fundamentalist? We have perhaps not formally labeled Pakistan as a terrorist state but the socially we have tainted Pakistan and all the muslims in it. Is this a step towards curbing fundamentalism or encouraging it?

In just the story of one life, one person the book has managed to question the collective wisdom of our world leaders. It talks of identity crisis, nostalgia and the extent to which human mind feeds on it. Through love and passion, it conveys the dangers of hatred.

Final Verdict: the book has manages to alarm you and make you think. It’s not meant for a break, it’s a serious book in search of serious answers.