The Good Person of Szechwan - Bertolt Brecht

The Good Person Of Szechwan: Vol 6 by Bertolt Brecht
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had been looking for something fresh to read and came upon my little sister's collection that was part of her course material in Delhi University. Most of the books were too "theoretical" to interest me. I am barely interested in the poets of yore, but there were some dramas in there that I picked out. "Good Person of Szechwan" seemed interesting enough to start with. So I borrowed the book and started it a few days later.

My consumption of the book was quite slow; but it was wholly due to my own lack to time. I would pick up the book irregularly during the final hour before sleep overcame me. Even in the state of drowsiness the book was able to keep me hooked. The story was slow paced and interjected with dreamy songs. I imagined the drama being played out on a stage of my imagination. The characters, colours and lights acted as a lullaby and I closed the book after the scene was over. It was thus that I read the book, one scene at a time; relishing and digesting the scene before I went to the next. But none of my imagination would equal Brecht's in recreating how the story would be played out on a stage. Brecht has kept the plot quite simple and focused on the moral quandary that he wished to show. Consequently, there are very few profound moments in the play. It is adorned with a touch of reality that most can relate to easily. Brecht argues that goodness cannot exist by itself in this world. For good to exist, it must be aided by evil and ruthlessness.

The story begins with the gods entering Szechwan. They are on their quest to find enough good people on the earth. They are turned down by many before finding a host in Shen Teh. She is a poor prostitute but good at heart. The gods are impressed by her hospitality and make her a gift of a small fortune. This she uses to set up a small business but her goodness is coming in way of her managing to keep the business profitable. People leech on her and swindle her while she keeps giving with both hands. Her cousin, Shui Ta, steps in from time to time to take control of her failing business. The story narrates how Shen Teh's goodness needs Shui Ta's ruthless business acumen to survive.

I liked Brecht quite a lot for the kind of scenes he created. They seemed akin to the Greek dramas of Euripedes and his contemporaries in their construct; the scenes and the musical interludes. But the story was significantly different and (perhaps) original. The way Brecht leaves the issue open without passing a 'final judgement' on the moral question that the play poses is again a very realistic end to the issue. Overall I liked how the play was built and would definitely like to read more of Brecht's works if I ever get a chance to.

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Tales From the Road... - Aniket Ketkar

Tales from the Road... by Aniket Ketkar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was during the period that I was waiting to implement the change of lifestyle that I had decided on that this book was recommended to me. The recommendation came from a friend of a friend, whose friend had done something of the sort that he thought I was about to do. I looked up the book and was a little surprised at finding only a Kindle edition. At that time I did not own a Kindle and was, as I still am, a paperback fan. But once I did get a Kindle, it was not long before I went back to the book and ordered it.

The book is a memoir of the experiences of the author while he was on the road. There is a disclaimer right in the beginning of the book which warns the reader not to nitpick grammatical errors. Ketkar gives a brief introduction of himself in the opening pages and tells us that he is (or was) a charted accountant by profession and his aim in the book is to tell the story, rather than aim at establishing himself as a master of the language. But language contributes as much to making a book engaging as it's story. And the fact that Aniket Ketkar managed to write such an engaging book with such a simple language makes his story-telling all the more laudable. What appeals most in this travelogue is the personal touch that the author has added to it, but it's a right balance of personal emotions and travel information.

Aniket was a charted accountant in a big multi national firm but he always had a penchant to travel. And travel he did, but in a way that most of us Indians do : on a limited leash. On one such vacation, in Mongolia, he was reminded of his childhood dream to be a traveller. He then decided to take up travelling more seriously, quit his job and hit the road. The book is a product of the eight months he spent exploring various parts of south-east Asia.

I quite liked the book. It was thoroughly enjoyable and quite a light read. I read it slowly, a morsel at a time. There were many points on which I could relate to the author, there were many incidents where I was amused at how his experiences matched mine. There was quite a lot of information in the book that I explored further. I will definitely look forward to Ketkar's next set of experiences.

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The Masque of Africa - V.S. Naipaul

The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief by V.S. Naipaul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was in Manali, on my way back from an exhausting road trip. I had taken a break for a couple of days and, quite strangely, found myself without a book. So I went to the friendly neighbourhood bookstore near my hotel and started browsing the shelves. I had thought of picking up a book on Mahayana Buddhism but I failed to find any that offered an interesting back page teaser. The next best thing was a Murakami book which picked up with the intention to buy. But I had not yet scanned all the shelves. Driven by compulsion, I went through the ones that remain and found a beautiful hard bound book with the name of Naipaul on it. It said : "The Masque of Africa - Glimpses of African Belief". Going by the storekeeper's recommendation, I ended up ditching Murakami for Naipaul.

I had never read Naipaul before, but I had heard his name in passing quite a few times. The bookshop's owner, Piyush, had recommended the book strongly. In his opinion, Naipaul had a power of observation that gave him his edge over the other writers. This sense of observation gave his writing a very personal touch and made it opinionated. Piyush was appalled at how people had started criticizing Naipaul for his opinions. According to him Naipaul was entitled to them like anyone else, the reader had a choice to agree or disagree. This discussion had got me curious about Naipaul and his writing. I immediately went to a cafe and read a few pages. What Piyush had said became quite evident. Naipaul gives a very personal touch to his writing. It is his perspective and some research added on to it, but it is more of the former than the latter.

In "The Masque of Africa" Naipaul has tried to explore the beliefs and religious systems of Africa. He travels in six countries across the continent : Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon and South Africa, and tries to dig into the local culture and traditions of these countries. All the African countries had faced colonization and as a result had had Christianity and Islam forced upon them. But the cultural undercurrents were still strong. There is magic and spirituality, mixed with the vastness of forest and its bounties, ancestors and witchdoctors. Some condemn the old African beliefs and some crawl back to it despite generations of disconnect. The book provides (true to it's title) mere glimpses of what was the traditional African system of beliefs, with each tribe still holding on to the ghosts of its roots.

What I liked most about this book was Naipaul's writing. It was easy to see why Piyush was so fascinated by him. However, as I had read in another review about this book, Naipaul's research left a lot to be desired. He travelled as a VIP and received such treatment. His hotels were lavish and his company political and powerful. Though it is easily understandable given his age, it is difficult to see how he could have gotten close to the real deal in such a simulated environment. Perhaps the project would have been done more justice in the hands of a younger and more daring researcher. But Naipaul wins me over with his writing. His "A House for Mr. Biswas" goes on my list.

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The Book of Imaginary Beings - Jorge Luis Borges

The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was smitten by Borges after our first encounter. So much so that even his name could make me jump around and ramble in excitement. More so because of the rarity of coming across his name. It was thus with a mild surprise that I pulled out the book bearing his name in a small and endearing cafe in McLeodganj. It bore the title of "The Book Of Imaginary Beings" and I immediately started fantasizing about what the pages might be like. Unfortunately I did not have the time to read the book then so I made a mental note about it and ordered it when I got back to Pune.

The book is something of a modern bestiary indulging in the imaginary creatures from across the world and over aeons of time. Borges has curated a list of the most remarkable imaginary creatures that titillate the readers imagination. He presents these beings with his bit of research on their origin and mentions. His commentary not only serves to educate, but also incites one to think and imagine. The small book is crowded with wonderful creatures. Some are often read in popular and classic fiction, like the Centaur, the Minotaur, the Dragon, the Phoenix or the Gnomes. Some are rarely found mentioned or come from folklore, like the Tin Pig, A Bao A Qu, Hochigan, Kujata and more.

I read the book as it prescribed : in small morsels. To bite off a few creatures at a time and chew on them, savour and swallow them before biting off the next lot. It was not just the collection that was brilliant but also the research and commentary associated with each creature. Borges still remains somewhere on the top of my list. He has the power to preempt any book when he comes along.

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The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I chanced upon this book when I was talking to a friend about a recent Bollywood movie, "Drishyam" and he told me that he had already read the book. The movie being an adaptation of a book was not much talked about so, curious, I decided to check it out. Since I recently bought a Kindle as well, this also served as my first Kindle book. I am now a tech savvy reader. Yay!

Turned out that the movie was very vaguely similar to the book. The premise was shared but the movie could not match the book's level of suspense. Higashino had done a brilliant job in creating the plot and since this was a detective story, that is what counted the most. The writing style, unfortunately, was a bit too unadorned for my liking. The uniqueness of the story lay in the fact that the culprit was already known. It was the cover up that was a mystery. Higashino revealed the mystery bit by bit through his characters and as a result, I, the humble reader, was hooked till the very last page. Higashino kept the entire plot extremely rational and believable while twisting it around in unpredictable ways. As I found out later, this book is part of a detective series which is quite popular in Japan.

The story revolves around a high school maths teacher - Tetsuya Ishigami. He is in love with his neighbour - Yasuko Hanaoka, a single mother with a daughter. Yasuko has a turbulent past which she is trying to shake off but the ghost from that past, her ex husband, keeps reappearing and troubling her time and again. On this particular occasion circumstances lead her and the daughter, Misato, to accidentally kill the evil ex. Ishigami then steps in to offer his help in getting rid of the dead body. When the murder is reported to the authorities, the body is a John Doe with fingerprints burnt off and face smashed in. Kusanagi leads the investigation and Manbu Yukawa - Detective Galileo - finds himself being sucked into the case. The deeper he digs, the more formidable the challenge appears. Until he realises that he is up against an old friend, the genius Ishigami.

Although the plot was brilliantly made, I found many a parts entirely far fetched. Plus the weak character building and simple language did not help much. The only reason I got through the book was the suspense, which, as I have already mentioned, was brilliant. I might have been much more impressed in another age but now, it came across as a brilliant story, nothing more.

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The Dilbert Principle - Scott Adams

The Dilbert Principle : A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions by Scott Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had found "The Dilbert Principle" two years ago in a previous flat in Bangalore, stowed away in a shelf with other scrap paper. After inquiring as to whether any of the flatmates owned it, I pulled it out, dusted it, smelt the yellowing pages and kept it in my shelf. But for the gain in status, the book achieved little else. It travelled to Delhi when I moved and sat in a shelf there for a really long time. I found it sitting in silent anticipation while rummaging through the shelf to find something to read with an unexpected free week in front of me.

My Dilbert experience had, quite strangely, started with another borrowed book : "The Dilbert Future". I was still in college back then and could not really appreciate office humour to the fullest. But I could certainly appreciate humour. And Scott Adams's was the king that I preferred. It was insane and dry, just the kind that I liked. But in the many years since that first Adams book, I have read more of Dilbert and started appreciating it for the office humour as well. I picked up this book with quite an expectation which mellowed as I turned the first few yellow pages. The book was more than twenty years old! Surely office humour from the nineties would be irrelevant in the current world. I couldn't have been more wrong. The only thing out of date about the book was the way the characters were drawn. Everything else, including the humour was strangely fresh and relevant.

"The Dilbert Principle" like all other Dilbert topics, deals with the stupidity of people. In particular, it focusses on the stupidity of people in the corporate environment, right from the upper management down to the lowly engineers. Scott tries to explain to the baffled audience what the corporate world is all about. He picks out various concepts like 'Business Plans', 'Budgeting', 'Meetings, 'Team Work', etc. and explains the difference between their apparent and perceived meanings. He explains how and why the real motive of 'Business Communication' is to hide information and confuse your co-workers rather than conveying clear information, as many naive corporate employees mistake it to be. Adams illustrates his points with the help of short strips and pickings from the fan mails that he receives.

Adams is a riot. I always have liked his work, and his writing is no different. What was most surprising was the relevancy of his humour after all these years, though that is not something that Scott can take credit for. It is amazing to see how the corporates have managed to stay so stale in the fast paced business environment of today. As for Scott, I do continue to read his work on his blog and will readily pick up another of his book if and when I come across one.

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Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

'Persepolis' was, if I remember correctly, a recommendation on goodreads. I don't quite remember what about the book had caught my fancy. Perhaps it was the cover image, or maybe the plot seemed interesting. Anyhow, the book was there when I was looking for something fresh to read.

Slowly, yet steadily, I have come to appreciate the graphic medium of story telling. It is perhaps less intense in it's plots than it's purely literary cousin but it too has it's own charms. It tends to bring together multiple forms of arts together and the beauty lies in how seamlessly they integrate rather the intensity of one. 'Persepolis' is Satrapi's autobiography between the ages of ten and twenty four (1980 - 1994). Unfortunately, 'Persepolis' is also a one woman show with Marjane Satrapi playing the author, the subject and the illustrator, the three main components of a graphic novel (colours are important to but 'Persepolis' does away with it). Satrapi talks of a childhood in the war infested Iran, a child's naive reaction to political upheaval, her brief separation from her family and life of a third world person in Europe. Thence she talks about her return to Iran and life in times of "peace". There are glimpses of Iranian life, of the horror of war and sorrow of life without family but all is in context of our protagonist. Satrapi has made no special effort to portray a life or section of the society that she did not come directly in contact with. Every third person who could have had a story of his own is touched only briefly. Her only forte is her ability to add humour to almost every situation.

'Persepolis' starts in 1980, at the end of the Iranian revolution and the introduction of the veil in the country. Satrapi recounts the revolution and her understanding of it. Her family was quite progressive and educated her about the history of the revolution. And by the end of the Shah's regime, the government landed in the hands of religious fanatics. Iraq invaded soon after and Iran suffered a catastrophic hit to it's population. Dissenters of the religious government were prosecuted and taken prisoners within the country. Young boys were promised heaven and sent to the battlefields to be blown up. Women lost their rights. Marjane's family sent her to Austria to continue her study away from the oppressive air of Iran. She suffered as a third-worlder amidst her European friends. But she managed to get good grades. Teenage heartache and cannabis led to her eventual wrecking. She eventually returned home to Iran admitting herself as a failure. After a period of depression she got hold of her life again and eventually left Iran promising her mother that she would not return this time.

I really liked the first part of 'Persepolis', where Satrapi talks more about the Iranian revolution and the population's oppression under the new regime. In the second book she gets more self centered. The life of a third world child in Europe and her pains might interest readers in the "first world" but it was a mighty drag to me. Anyhow, I am glad that I read this book, if even for just the first part. As for the author, I did not find any special attraction to her style.