Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Atonement - Ian McEwan

         Atonement

an easy story-line, where the major events occur at the tallis estate, just before the outbreak of the second world war. what sets it apart is the tautness of the narration which manages to capture the intense feelings of the main characters at that point in time- the two sisters- cecilia and briony, and robbie.

robbie is the little boy who grew up with the girls, who dreams of becoming a doctor and is the hired help's son....only he has been singled out by cecilia and briony's father for an excellent education.the younger sister-briony, with her ambition to be a writer and her naive view of the adult world, her ability to see only in black and white, her possessiveness to her sister as well as her barely understood hero-worship for robby; the older sister-cecilia, who is studying in Cambridge, but is unable to identify a proper outlet for her energies....there is their brother- leon, who has brought his friend- Paul. along with these protogonists are their cousins- lola, and the twins: jackson and pierrot- who are staying at the tallis' mansion, while their parents sort out their divorce.

the drama unfolds when robbie writes a note for cecilia, gives it to briony to hand it to cecilia. briony reads the note. it has an explicit sexual suggestion and was not the one robbie meant to give cecilia. the one he meant to give cecilia stays in his copy of gray's anatomy. the same evening, briony stumbles upon her sister and robbie in a passionate embrace, which only strengthens her misguided resolve to protect cecilia from robbie's attentions. cecilia meanwhile, is discovering her latent sexual feelings for robbie and perhaps her love for him.

post dinner, the twins go missing, lola is molested by paul and briony is an unwitting witness. only that briony identifies the perpetrator as robbie to her parents and the police. a lie which creates havoc in the lives of many and reverberates through out briony's long life. except for cecilia and robbie's mother, no one believes in his innocence.

these disruptive events are overshadowed by the second world war. cecilia cuts off all ties with her family and becomes a nurse. robbie, after a few years in prison, is released to enlist in the army. briony is older and wiser and is a trainee nurse. she now wants to make amends and meets her sister to do so. she find robbie also there, with her sister. she tells them that she now realises that lola was molested by paul and that her lie has ruined lives. and that paul was marrying lola. she promises to make amends and tell the truth to her parents.

but what briony promises does not come to pass. cecilia dies in a london bombing, robbie is killed in the war. briony's writing brings her fame and fortune and she eventually writes it as a story, making it a happy ending for cecilia and robbie.

an interesting tale, but not mcewan's best though it was made into a movie.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

guards! guards! - terry pratchett

a funny little book about how sam vimes meets his future wife, Lady Sybil- she breeds dragons, she is from the ankh morpork nobility ['old money'], she wears old clothes but they were fashionable once and still have an aura of 'nobility', she is the only one who seems to have some knowledge of the dragon which is charboiling the city and residents of ankh with its dragon breath.......
the huge fire breathing ['draco nobilis'] dragon is summoned from its 'dimension' by a secret society. the leader of the society is keen on ruling ankh with the support of the dragon. his followers in the society are people in small-jobs with big egos. the followers have been chosen because of their ability to be led like sheep by working on their frustrations and grievances. the magic chant to summon the dragon is in a book in the library of the unseen university, but as the librarian [an orangutan] discovers to his horror: the book had been stolen!

a new recruit to the ankh police is carrot- a human raised by dwarfs. the patrician - the current ruler of ankh- who has been imprisoned by the dragon in his own palace dungeons, extracts a cleverly concealed key in the dungeon and gets back to the remains of his office. carrot's heroics -as well as that of sam vimes and his team of police officers- saves the day and the patrician graciously gives them a more important role to play in policing the city.

since the dragon had burnt down the original 'police hq' of ankh, Lady Sybil has donated one of her huge properties in the city for use as the new police hq.

the 'draco nobilis' is found to be of the female order and is tamed by one of the dragons bred by Lady Sybil.'

so all's well that ends well!!!!

Monday, November 3, 2008

micheal ondatjee's divisidero

the narrative structure of this book is based on the panchatantra style, which involves a number of sub-stories or "upakathas". there are three streams of stories which the book begins with- one with anna, then her adopted sister - claire, and coop. all three grow up as children in a farm in california. When anna's mother dies soon after giving birth to anna, her father adopts an orphaned baby from the hospital- claire, to be a companion to anna. When Coop's family was murdered, anna's parents adopt the lone surviving child, who is four years older than anna and claire.
coop, as befitting his youth, falls for one of the girls- anna. the anger, violence and horror that anna's father exhibits when he comes upon the young lovers, ends up tearing apart the fragile fabric of the carefully constructed 'family'. anna herself is so enraged that she causes physical hurt to her father.
coop and anna leave the farm and go their different ways, while claire stays on in the farm.
the narrative then moves on to an adult anna who is researching the story of a french writer while living in the dead writers' home in france. a gypsy who is familiar with the house, helps out anna and becomes a part of her life in that dead writer's house. the story then follows the thread of this gypsy, his childhood and the relationship that his parents shared with one another.
the next part of the narrative delves into the life of the dead writer.
at each point in this book, there is the repeated pattern of violence and uncontrollable anger which creates havoc. as a result, each of the characters are shown as breaking away from the past and creating a division of family, of their own lives- they refuse to integrate the past with their current existence.
a lyrical narrative which leaves the reader eager for more... imagining the ways in which the lives of all the characters could have progressed: would anna and coop meet again? would the father ever forgive coop and anna? what becomes of claire.. does she always live in the shadow of the violent event of the past?

Sunday, November 2, 2008

prayer hall at dharmsala

Posted by Picasathe prayer hall of the dharmsala monastery in himachal pradesh. The Dalai Lama resides here. dharmsala is another tibetan refugee camp, this time in north india. [pic: dec 2005]

tibetan monastary near mysore

Posted by Picasathis is the monastery at bayalkuppe near mysore, which is one of the largest tibetan refugee camps. the wealth is visible. [ pic: october 2008]

pemayangtse monastery in sikkim

Posted by Picasapemeyangtse monastry in sikkim. this is run by the bhutias and was established by the royal family of sikkim. [pic: june 1995]

rumtek monastery in sikkim

Posted by Picasarumtek monastery in sikkim, is said to be one of the richest tibetan monasteries. [pic: june 1995]

tiger's nest - bhutan

Posted by Picasa

tiger's nest monastery - bhutan

Posted by Picasa tigers nest , paro-bhutan [pic: may 2008]

tibetan monastery [bayalakuppe]

Posted by Picasa bayalakuppe near mysore [pic: oct 2008]

monastery near mysore- bayalakuppe

Posted by Picasa monks of all ages gathered for a daily prayer meeting at mysore. the chanting was very moving, powerful and somehow militant... a call to arms almost. has economic-progress-in-exile made the tibetans hungry for seperate nationhood? [pic: oct 2008]

monastery near mysore [bayalakuppe]

Posted by Picasa picture of the prayer hall inside the monastery in mysore. [pic: oct 2008]

tiger's nest monastery- paro, bhutan

Posted by Picasatiger's nest at bhutan near paro. it is a good 90-100 minute trek uphill. Its opulence is limited to the exteriors, while the interior is a cave with a place for meditation. There is also a monastery attached.