A Book I Loved and Yet Disagreed With

I had been hearing great things about 'The Palace Of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni' for the longest time. Everyone who read it was raving about it. And my curiosity about the book was quite piqued by all those recommendations. Truth be told, there was a time in my life, when no matter how tiered, I could not shut my eyes, till I read some. Life changed, as did my habits, my association with books, could at best be called dead till a few months back. Then a couple of bloggers started discussing about the books they were reading on Twitter, and I felt a twinge, which made me realise how much I miss reading books. So I bought a few, and started getting back on track. It was on my way back from India at the airport, when we had an hour at hand, and I was running around the BB, that I stopped at the bookstore. And that is where I spotted The Palace of Illusions. And I immediately bought it. Its not easy to find an Indian author's book here, I had to source 'Bringing Up Vasu' all the way from India, and strangely enough that landed up with me on the day I was leaving from India, and I read it there.

However, getting back to The Palace of Illusions, it is a very gripping and captivating tale or maybe I should say narration. Since I did not know even that much about the book, it surprised me to know that it is the tale of Mahabharata as the author felt was experienced by Draupadi. The original tale itself is supremely riveting and captivating, with its twists and turns, intricate side stories and the entire chain of events. So a re-narration is very unlikely to be bad. One has to be a really bad writer to mess up the original, and that Chitra Banerjee is not. Her style of narration is wonderful. I could not wait to grab the book each chance I got, and go on reading it. Simply put, it is the narration of the epic as experienced by Draupadi. Her emotions, her views, her life everything expressed as she felt. The book also speaks of a love she holds in her heart for Karna, a secret love she harbours all her life, as does Karna. I have not read the unabridged version of the epic, and hence I do not know whether this is supported in the original or a personal addition of the author. But this does touch a little something special to the book. A touch of the forbidden love, a relationship doomed by the stars, feelings that run deeper than the formality of relationships, and yet morals strong enough to hold both the people back. The book is a wonderful read.

And yet I am not convinced by the idea of the book. While the author claims to write from Draupadi's stance, I don't think it is fair. We with our modern, liberated mindset, cannot claim to know how a woman who lived eons ago felt or thought. I do not believe the wants, beliefs or morals of a woman in those times are the same as those of the women today. It was a different society, a very different mind set. It is unfair to look at that world with today's mindset. There can be arguments saying human nature has always been the same, but I strongly believe that the society we grow up in, does shape up the way we are. And hence a woman today will be very different from a woman who lived thousands of years ago. That is my belief and hence the flaw in the very premise of the narration. The book is worth a read though, either which way. And that is my simple opinion.

Theatrical Debut

This weekend witnessed the SG's first visit to a theatre. Ever since his conception, I have been off the theatre, because it never felt right to take a baby into the theatre, which may not only upset him, but spoil the experience for all the other viewers. Leaving him with someone was not an option for me, because I would have ended up simply fretting about him. So it was Cd's, that I stuck religiously. But this time it was Harry Potter, and having missed catching Order Of The Phoenix, in the theatres, the SG being teeny tiny back then, no way, was I giving this up. Since the SG is grown up a bit now, I thought father and son can enjoy time alone, if required, but I am not giving this movie a miss.

Harry Potter movies obviously are not an optional thing for fans. My relationship with the movies goes back to when I was in college. The first movie was (The Philosopher's Stone) was viewed, just because it was running in the theatre. I did not know who or what Harry Potter was at that point, but I loved the movie, I guess it had a lot to do with the fact that I had not read the book, had I read it, I might have not quite liked the movie. Never did I have imagined back then, that one day I would be watching a movie in the same series with my two and half year old son.

So the tickets were booked online, and off I went for the six in the evening show. A big bucket of popcorn in tow, to keep the SG happy. A small multiplex screen, was not even packed, being a weekend evening. Maybe the movie really has received all the bad reviews it so rightly deserves. The SG was happy, with the popcorn, and was not at all disturbed by the darkened theatre. The issue then? He kept blabbering, and occasionally a screamed to express his excitement, especially when the screen showed special effects. His parents being the overly conscious people they are, kept asking him to keep quiet, which he did for a little while before going back to being all happy and excited. Finally with the last half hour of the movie to go, the BG left the theatre with the SG. Just did not feel right to kill the viewing pleasure of the other viewers. And that was how the SG debuted at his first theatre visit.

If you are expecting a review of the movie, there is none, because it is quite impossible to say anything even remotely nice about the movie if you have read the book, lets just say, they butchered the story, and worse than any of the previous attempts. And trust me I did not realise just how badly, till on the way back, the BG asked me several questions about the storyline, having not read the book, he just could not understand what was going on. It is that bad, for someone who has not read the book, there are way too many gaps in the storyline, and for the ones who have, you will be shocked at how much they have deviated from the original. I just prayed they would keep the last sequence true to the story, but they did not.

I had dressed up, because I was really excited to go to a theatre after ages. And well for nothing else, but the fact that it was the SG's first time, I am happy. The movie was followed by a trip to a bookshop, and after a really long time, I picked up some books to read, the last one I had bought was Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Have not bought a book since then. All my books are languishing, in a humid dump at a relative's place in India, don't know if I will regain them in good health. Libraries are not much of an option here, so I finally went and bought myself a few books. Reading is something I can barely make time for, and now it basically means I sleep later than ever, but I am happy, to be reading. Once upon a time, no matter how tiered, I could not shut my eye without reading a bit. In school I would have atleast four books of fiction on my bedside at all times. In college we would circulate books in the hostel, there was never a dearth of reading material. Later while working, my reading time used to be the four hours of travel time, I managed to read in the packed locals. Never realised how and when I gave up the habit. Too much time on the net I guess. Hopefully will be back to reading books, more than blogs.

So much to do, so little time, how do I prioritise. Lucky people with maids, I am so sick of the rinse and repeat cycle of housework. Dishes, laundry, home-cleaning, cooking. The endless cycle of it, why can't we be without food, I wonder sometimes. The dishes pile up each day, just as does the laundry. If only there was some variety to this work. Guess not, will have to make do with what I have, improve my efficiency, rather than dawdling time.