The Reward

Aditi excused herself from Geeta as she left her place and took a cab back home. Several thoughts about the conversation that she had a few minutes back with her friend, jumbled inside her head. “Who was it?” the voice inside her asked in different tones and there she was in cab fidgeting impatiently to reach home and find the answer!

A few minutes back, at Geeta’s house,

She said, “It feels wonderful to meet you after so long, Aditi. All hail technology! I missed you!”

“I missed you too Geetu! Meeting school friends is the best thing ever for we spend almost a quarter of our lives in school!” exclaimed Aditi.

“How we shared our lunch boxes sitting under tree! Also, in class, under the desk” giggled Geeta, “Remember how I dreaded the maths and chemistry classes! It was a nightmare every day. Phew! Somehow I managed to pass every time despite standing outside the class most of the time”

“I loved our English teacher. She was the best! How she motivated us by sending nice little books every time you score good marks but never spoke about it! If not for her, I am not where I am now”

“What books!? What are you talking about?” asked Geeta with a puzzled look on her face.”I never received anything except for those little red stars on my exam paper.”

Aditi, after 18 long years wondered why it never occurred to her that “the teacher” always sent her books on post secretly. Aditi loved her teacher immensely. The first time she received a book in post, she opened the parcel excitedly saying, “I hope it is from my english miss! I love her!” and every time after that, the posts were from her teacher.

On reaching home, she opened her bookshelf and looked at the front page of every book she had and found written in them “To sweet Aditi, the future Author!” It struck her after so long that she shared her secret dream of becoming an author with no one but one. Her dream had come true without her knowing the person behind it.

She went inside her father’s study where he was sitting in his easy chair, his face hidden behind the newspaper. “Ahem!” she cleared her throat and her father looked up. She opened a book and showed him the front page and said “Thank you ‘English miss’!”

Her father grinned as she lunged at him lovingly and hugged him!

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Stories for the Soul)

 

Catch 22 – The Classic Satire on War!

Title: Catch-22

Author: Joseph Heller

Genre: Satire, dark humor, war fiction, historical fiction

Literary Awards: National Book Award Finalist for Fiction (1962)

No. of Pages: 453

Goodreads rating: 3.97/5

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When was the last time you smirked, chuckled and laughed at someone’s pain? Oh, wait! Before you go into judgement mode, let me suggest you to read Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. A feeling of guilt with sadistic amusement filled me every time I found myself guffawing and clapping my hands at bruised faces, broken heads, fractured limbs and other horrid things in the book.

The novel is set during WWII and it mainly revolves around the life of U.S.Army force B-25 Bombardier, Captain John Yossarian. Yossarian and his fellow airmen try to maintain their sanity while desperately trying to save their skin from the clutches of the evil called war, and return home safely. Every time Yossarian completes the number of missions to be flown to complete the service, it is raised cruelly by Colonel Cathcart. He even attempts to escape from flying and to get grounded to the hospital by faking a liver condition, unknown to doctors. Yossarian and his friends’ who attempt to exempt themselves from flying more dangerous missions are trapped by “The Great Loyalty Crusade Oath”.

The dialogues are outright hilarious and maddening due to its extreme absurdity. The novel is quite draggy and exhausting. It took me aeons (figuratively!) to complete it where as I usually complete a 500 pages book in around two weeks. The author probably made an oath to confuse the readers with the lack of chronology. Several times, I had to go back to previous pages to understand what is written. The characters are all crazy and hence, it is difficult to distinguish who is who. The only few characters apart from Yossarian I remember are Orr, who keeps Crabapples or horse chestnuts inside his cheeks for nothing, Hungry Joe, who always clicks pictures of nude girls but forgets to load his camera with film, and Milo Minderbinder, because of his crazy syndicate. There is no plot, but the incidents per se and the (mis)interpretation of dialogues by each other are absolutely insane.

Some of the best moments which make me grin even now if I think about it are:

1. Orr: “When I was a kid, I used to walk around all day with crab apples in my cheeks. One in each cheek.”

   Yossarian: “Why?”

   Orr (tittering triumphantly): “Because they’re better than horse chestnuts. When I couldn’t get crab apples, I used horse chestnuts. Horse chestnuts are about the same size as crab apples and actually have a better shape, although the shape doesn’t matter a bit.”

   Yossarian: “Why did you walk around with crab apples in your cheeks? That’s what I asked.”

   Orr: “Because they’ve got a better shape than horse chestnuts. I just told you that.”

   Yossarian: “Why, you evil-eyed, mechanically-aptituded, disaffiliated son of a bitch, did you walk around with anything in your cheeks?”

   Orr: “I didn’t walk around with anything in my cheeks. I walked around with crab apples in my cheeks. . . .”

2. “Is Orr crazy?”

   “He sure is,” Doc Daneeka said.

   “Can you ground him?”

   “I sure can. But first he has to ask me to. That’s part of the rule.”

   “Then why doesn’t he ask you to?”

   “Because he’s crazy,” Doc Daneeka said. “He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he’s had. Sure, I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to.”

   “That’s all he has to do to be grounded?”

   “That’s all. Let him ask me.”

   “And then you can ground him?” Yossarian asked.

   “No, then I can’t ground him.”

   “You mean there’s a catch?”

   “Sure there’s a catch,” Doc Daneeka replied. “Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy. . . .”

   “That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he [Yossarian] observed.

   “It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.                                                                                    

3. “What would they do to me,” he asked in confidential tones, “if I refused to fly them?”

   We’d probably shoot you,” ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen replied.

   We?” Yossarian cried in surprise. “What do you mean, we? Since when are you on their side?”

   If you’re going to be shot, whose side do you expect me to be on?” ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen retorted”

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Overall, Catch-22 is a one of its kind novel on war, bureaucracy and hypocrisy. Interesting thing is that the title “Catch-22” has become a phrase now which means ‘a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.’

Read it. At the end, you won’t regret it!

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For the love of books!)

 

10 Reasons to Love Atticus Finch of TKAM:

Some books are like Rainbow – gives you happiness for a brief span of time.

Some are like spring – the bliss lasts long. But it is seasonal.

Some are like the Sun and the Moon – it lingers in your heart for eternity!

“To Kill a Mocking Bird” is one such novel that will stay with your soul. The story is simple yet strong. The mind-blowing dialogues and the gradually built up thrill makes this book a page-turner.

It wouldn’t be just if I don’t tell the world about the character I idolize in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel – Atticus Finch, a righteous lawyer, loving and kind father and a great humanitarian.

1. Atticus Finch is an Egalitarian:

The protagonist of the novel, Scout (Jean Louise Finch) and her brother, Jem Finch, elder to her by four years, call their father by his first name “Atticus”. Though, the relatives and neighbors find it disrespectful, Atticus doesn’t find it offensive or wrong. He treats them as adults. In fact, the children love him and do have a great deal of respect for him.

2. Believes in Personal Freedom:

 “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year….” 

Scout, being a tomboy invites the criticism of her aunt as well as neighbors like Mrs. Dubose, who keep telling her to get rid of her overalls and wear girly dresses instead. Atticus doesn’t bother her with the wishes of others. He is not eager to turn Scout into someone she is not.

3. Inculcates the Habit of Reading in Children:

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” 

Atticus teaches his children to read and write. In fact, Scout learns to read and write even before she went to school. She compares it to breathing.

4. Atticus is empathetic:

Atticus Finch: You never really understand a person . . . until you consider things from his point of view.
Scout: Sir?
Atticus: Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.
Scout: But if I keep going to school, we can’t ever read anymore.
Atticus: Scout. . .do you know what a compromise is?
Scout: Bending the law?
Atticus: Uh. . .no. It’s an agreement reached by mutual consent. Now. . .here’s the way it works. You concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll keep right on reading the same every night. . .just as we always have. That a bargain

He teaches them to empathize. He doesn’t give sermons on morality. Still, he instills a deep sense of morality in them.

5. A Symbol of Magnanimity:

“You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ’em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change.”

When Atticus takes up the case of Tom Robinson, the negro who is accused of raping a white girl, Scout’s and Jem’s cousin Francis and even some of their friends sneer at them and pass  comments like “Your dad is a nigger-lover”.  This enrages Scout and she gets into fist fights. Atticus forbids her from getting into any fight regarding this and asks her to keep calm.

6. A doting father:

Atticus lets his children learn life lessons at their own pace. He neither pesters them with boring long advice nor fails to do his duty when it comes to molding the children. He defends Scout, to his brother Jack when he scolds her for using foul language on her cousin, Francis.

“Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they’re not attracting attention with it.”

7. Doesn’t believe in deception:

He never evades a question asked by his children. If he finds the question unsuitable for the kids, he uses subtle terms to explain the same. He also advises his brother Jack not to dodge a child’s question.

“When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness’ sake.  But don’t make a production of it.  Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles ’em.”

This is very much evident when Scout asks him the meaning of rape and he replies “rape is a carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent”

8. A quintessential Humanitarian:

“As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it – whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”

Atticus makes his children understand that racial prejudices are wrong. He considers his house-keeper and children’s nanny, Calpurnia, a Negro, as one of the members of the family.

 It takes tremendous maturity for a girl of Scout’s age to state these words:

“I think that there is just one kind of folks. Folks.”

9. A down-to-earth person:

Atticus is humble and down to earth. When the children think that Atticus does nothing but read, he proves them wrong by shooting a mad dog wandering in the street in a single shot. That is when Mrs. Maudie says, “People in their right minds never take pride in their talents”

10. Last but not the least; Atticus is a Man of Virtue!

“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

In this novel, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, who is said to be residing in the spooky house in the neighborhood are compared to mockingbirds, who do nothing but sing songs for people to enjoy. Atticus firmly believes that one who means no harm shouldn’t be harmed. His compassion is something that the children realize at the end.

In the last few lines of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Scout says about Boo Radley, “he was real nice”, Atticus replies, “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.”

I fell in love with the last sentence which I read over and over again.

 “He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning”

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For the love of books!)

 

 

Paper to Pixel – The Rising Digital Frenzy

          I was leisurely scrolling down my Facebook page to check my notifications. Suddenly a small flashy window popped out from a famous online shopping site which read “Flat 50% offer on EBooks till midnight. HURRY! ” EBooks! I have recently been reading quite a lot of them. I never knew why, other than the fact that eBooks are cheaper than the conventional printed ones and sometimes even available for free. Although I admit that I did indeed pay a hefty price for the gadget in which my eBooks occupy a considerable number of megabytes.

People opt for eBooks justifying that their printed counterparts occupy space.  True, they do. But so do our favorites – our pet dog, home theatre, kids and even the  mighty Taj Mahal. I had always felt like a Queen whenever I looked at my bookshelf. Believe me, the dog-eared, dilapidated, doodled and spine loosened books sitting in your book shelf will give you more happiness than the glamorous eBooks. I do feel proud and happy when I come across words like, “Save trees, Save Mother Earth”.     Of course, we are saving trees. But aren’t we killing our beloved, Books? Won’t the kids of future generations miss the smell of new books which had always excited us in our childhood?

The growing “Digital Mania” has already killed traditional habits like writing diaries, letters and using dictionaries. Newspapers are also at the death door. Oh Come on! You cannot resist panipuri over pizza despite the fact that the latter is delicious in its own way! Can you?

Once a “little Mohan” was deeply moved and inspired by a play depicting King Harishchandra, who lost his kingdom and suffered much for truth. He is now celebrated all over India as “Father of the Nation”. EBooks saturate the feel and lessen the impact of characters, which has the ability to linger in one’s mind and even change one’s way of living.  Polls show that more than 70% of the people who read eBooks once in a while prefer books to eBooks just for the sheer experience it gives which they can’t expect from touching the screen or pressing the buttons. The same applies to me. An EBook neither gives me the nostalgia that I feel after reading a Mills and Boon nor gives me the goosebumps I get while reading a Dan Brown.

Furthermore, eBooks need the gadget to be charged and are also susceptible to viruses (though printed books are susceptible to little worms, less dangerous, I shall argue! :P)

Books are good collectibles, they give you a feel of ownership which eBooks fail to do despite their relative abundance. But if the present trend continues, someday, the books which are now adorning the libraries may shift their way to museums; protected and awed upon by generations to come. Let us hope that the sands of time which led to this digital disruption will soon lead to the re-invention of the moribund books.

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For the love of books!)