“all thinking men are atheists”

I bought this book sometime back from amazon, just a random pick wanted to read some classic- if this be so called. I am not sure and don’t care whatsoever; just a book it is.

I haven’t had read any of Hemingway’s. Just have a faint recall about having read something while at school, a prose maybe. The story of which has no traces left in my memory. Hence l has not read Hemingway’s.

A Farewell at Arms, is based during the world wars of 1940’ties when Germany was on side of Austria and fighting with Italy who were with the Allied nations.

The story goes around one Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American who has volunteered to lead a team of Ambulance drivers; ferrying patients from frontline to field hospitals. Henry also being the narrator and protagonist of this story tickles the deeper thoughts of a man in middle of war and women. The woman here is his love Miss Catherine Barkley, a British nurse who is trying to fill in the gap from her past life- her dead fiancé, by serving as a nurse.

Henry is wounded by splinters from a bomb. A near escape from death that landed him on hospital bed and some glory. Where he was repaired and recovered all while making love with Cathy. Soon they realize he has to report back to duty and she has now conceived.

Until then it was quite a happy go lucky for Henry, but soon War shows up its ugly face. His team of Ambulance drivers get lost, missed and killed. Misunderstood, mistrusted, mislead into grapevine rumors; a scene of complete melee and chaos at the losing Italian side. Henry was himself almost dead from being shot at before his escape to Milan. Where he meets Cathy again and their overnight journey into Switzerland via the lake is quite an experience. Even though I felt my author was kind of hurrying at the end a second thought makes me realize that on contrary I am the one who was hurrying to the finish line.

The overall experience was good and what I learned apart from this being a great story that during those war times wine flowed more than water.

Here goes my favorite quote from this book:

"That's why I never think about these things. I never think and yet when I begin to talk I say the things I have found out in my mind without thinking.”

Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

falling into short stories

It was only very recently that I was introduced to this particular genre of literature called short stories. I do not know the big names of this culture and haven’t had any time to do a digging into the relics of short story telling. Apart from the fact that the flickering tongues of the grand-moms are an expertise in narration of short stories, unfortunately of which my ears have no experience. But I have to indeed mention the old school Gulmohar English books of prose most of which I don not remember, some of which I only made notes, and a few I loved reading.

Since those days and now most recently I picked one Rudyard Kipling’s collection after which I picked Maupassant’s and then Saki’s and now looking for O Henry’s. Tell you what its really good reading, does not take long time though I haven’t finished all of them yet. Deciding to read one I end up reading five or till ‘am dead asleep (mostly do reading before sleeping). Talking about Kipling, his stories are more about the sub-continent’s life then, during the British rule. Lots about the soldiers living in India, the life of people under British rule. His way of narration is very raw to read (my opinion as an armature) in an English that I had not learned at school. But once you start picking up you might find hard to keep it down (not always, sometimes you might sleep). Among all that I had read “The Story of Muhammad Din”, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, and “The Daughter of the Regiment” is worth mentioning. And yes! “The Finest Story in the World” was real fun.

Of Maupassant and Saki, they are all individually different from each other, so are their stories. Will talk about them some other day.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

on the charts today is "world women heart day" and an international Hospital here in Bangalore has urged everyone to support this cause by wearing something Red. So far so good, though I am not really sure for those who are in red today are supporting the very cause.

Anyways I am supporting the cause and have a red band on the wrist of my right hand, does it help! Yes it does for sure....

Some time back I read this book by Khaled Hossini, "Thousand Splendid Sun". The condition and environment in which I read the book was somehow giving me a chance to make a comparison. Its about life of one Mariam, a five year old Afghan girl. She is a "Haarami" i.e resultant of a wealthy man sleeping with his maid and the social rejection here-onwards for every haarami born. Its even worse for a girl to sustain in a male dominated Afghan society.

The book goes into actually walk you through her life and the reflection of all the changes that was occurring during the time in Afghanistan becoming a part of Mariam. The small girl gets the shock of her life when she escapes from her solitary hut into the town where her father lived and was not allowed to enter the mansion. She had to stay all night at the gate until the next morning a driver took her back to the hut only to find her mother hanging dead. It was just the beginning, Jalil(father) and his wives quickly arrange for her to be married away to an older widower named Rasheed, who was shoemaker in Kabul. Then comes the repeated attempts of giving birth and also the fight with her self into becoming a wife from a girl in company of Rasheed.

The story is quickly disturbed by the sudden introduction of Laila, a beautiful girl born to the ethnic Tajik couple - Hakim, a progressive-minded high school teacher. And neighbor to Mariam and Rasheed. The changing political scenario of the country started showing its colors on the entire cast of the novel. Here the story turns into more and more torturous, leading to events one after another and ending at Laila getting married to the very old Rasheed as his second wife. Rest is worth reading in Khaled's way rather than me trying to narrate it for you. Its about their struggle and sacrifice into becoming and living a friend, a wife, a mother, a woman.

The White Tiger

Reading something that is not very long and tediously written(tediously not tidy) that makes you think with a kind of fun behind, is what I consider "good"(again not best, I repeat). Similar was my experience with Mr Aravind Adiga's first novel "The White Tiger"( of Man Booker fame). Its a self-described narration to the Chinese Prime Minister, a glimpse beneath the surface of an Indian Entrepreneur, Balram Halwai alias Ashok Sarmah.

The book is about how from dirt of rural India which our author address as Darkness, "Munna" our hero becomes a successful business man, a "white tiger." In his journey from rags to riches, Munna takes a number of different profession, a school boy, the hotel boy, a driver cum household worker, even a murderer, entrepreneur and a white tiger.

He grew up in a small village near Gaya in Bihar, born to a poor rickshaw-puller, and named only "Munna," until his teacher named him "Balram" and gave him a birth date so that he could vote for the landlord.Then he becomes a tea table boy at the village tea stall, then a driver in Dhanbad and entered the light of Delhi via a job as driver to Mr Ashok, the son of a rich landlord. Here he chronically describes the Indian common man as to caged chicken at slaughter house and called it "the Rooster Coop."Being the honored servant and family waala, who never opposes his master and gharwaale's, naive enough to go to jail for Shahib. Our hero too did the same but his sarcastically cynical mind overcomes and prevents him from being a part of the Rooster Coop. Tired of a life of servitude, he takes a violent action goes ahead to murder his employer Mr Ashok, for the red bag of future, an also his name. The book is spiced up with miss-adventures of climbing the village old fort and dipping beak into blond haired and of course his granny Kusum bragging him all along the way for money. Above all its a good read, a good movie material; unpretentiously showcased, revolution and insurrection; outcome of a sardonic mind,an artistic representation evoking pity and compassion. The Chinese Prime minister would definitely like it and be more skeptical of coming to visit Agida's India.