Mother Teresa

We were walking alongside the Brahmaputra, almost trekking, given the ups and downs. Between us and the blue waters, were these houses made of mud, bamboo and tin. We were in the Hill View Slum for a survey. If only fancy names brought prosperity.

In front of one of the houses, was a lady draped in a white saree, busy weaving another, in a makeshift setup which she herself managed. On being asked which medical facilities she prefers for the family, she said, "For the kids, we go to the private hospital, for us, we are fine with the govt clinic nearby".

Those words came out with a beaming smile, that confluence of humility, laughter and motherly love, painted on a white landscape, evokes that ubiquitous figure, Mother Teresa!

Reflections

I was on my way back from a long cycling trip when I saw the setting sun fast embracing the lush green canopy which was covering up for the horizon. Beneath that rich tree cover lay a shattered meadow withering away in the absence of rain, still beautiful, though.

And then filling up the space between the road and the meadow was this lake, so virgin that you could see the reflections of everything beyond - the spectacular red sun, that magnificent crimson sky and the wavering shadows of birds floating around.

The confluence was so magical that It made me stop. I thought I should capture it forever, but then something occurred to me, all the megapixels in the world are not enough to reproduce the original. And how would it capture the emotions it evokes. There I stood in awe, reflecting, on reflections.

[Book Review] The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho

Like everyone else, you do have a name for yourself. Your parents did real hard work finding just the perfect name for you. Perhaps they also hired the naming consultants. But how did they know what kind of person you would grow up to be? That is one thing from the book that would bother you and it should. We must discover a name for ourselves that defines us. That motivates us. For Elijah it was liberation, what is it for you?

Yes, it is a dramatic retelling of the legend of Prophet Elijah spanning across the lands of Lebanon and Israel. It starts with a trance. There is no buildup. And that works brilliantly as you find yourself glued to the fortunes and fate of a young prophet who faces a certain persecution. Things move fast and you stay thrilled even when you know the legend since ages. 

Apart from that, the story is beautifully intermixed with the subtle questions of existentialism. The meaning of life is what one makes of it. Simple words, profound wisdom. It also beautifully touches the relevance of tragedies and unavoidables in life. And how they are nothing but opportunities to rebuild. The story inspires us the resurrect from the ashes of time, as the city Akbar did. An inspiring tale of grief and rebuilding, presented in the form of a gripping read. Go enlighten yourself.

[Book Review] Olympus by Devdutt Pattanaik

This is what happens when you fall in love with a couple of books written by an author and decided to read them all. After the soul-shaking narratives of Sita and Jaya, one might get the idea that it would be so cool to read about something completely new from this author who is good at narrating mythologies. And Greek myths, they are very intriguing, or so I felt before picking up this book.

This book more or less felt like a scrapbook of sorts, or to be more precise, the introductory part of a script for a greek play, where each chapter is named after a name and there is no flow onto the next one. Simply description of characters. Reminded me a lot of the memoirs we made in college writing about each other. The narrative lacks creativity and more importantly a framework of sorts to keep you engaged.

Perhaps it may be so that we have been raised in the shadows of Ramayana and Mahabharata and we tend to connect to the analysis more easily. Perhaps. But the excitement and adrenaline to indulge with these greek myths do not last long. It is disappointing, I am sure, Zeus would have agreed on that too.