Who's reading what,when & the experience

icetea

skip the middle...it gets mushy, aberant and repetitive. But then, that's precisely what he intended, in order to make his point..so I can't blame him.

icetea

hmm..I looked it up on google...here's a quote of is what Narayan's former neighbour had to say about it:

"I particularly recall the visits to the City Power Press near the Market and the Clock Tower. (Both are major landmarks of Malgudi. But don't make the mistake of imagining that Malgudi is Mysore. Malgudi is a Tamil town with none of Mysore's pretensions to sophistication. The only Mysorean thing about it is the typical Mysorean languor.) The owner of the City Press of Mysore has become a Malgudi immortal in the shape of Mr. Sampath. Many of Narayan's friends can identify the prototypes of quite a few Narayan characters."

So that's about it, I guess...

Casey

I read Malgudi Days and The Dark Room and loved them both. I was so lucky when I went to a local used book sale and found 3 other novels! I read The Painter of Signs and am saving the other two. One evening, on the train out of Kolkata, I was looking out the window. The sun was setting and people were riding their bikes a long a beautiful path against the purple sky. There was a man sitting under a tree on a bench. It felt like a scene from Malgudi Days, and it is one of those moments that will stay with me forever.

sam371

Thanks for that info Icetea. You know, I can't believe this just occured to me: Doordarshan, the state run television in India actually did a series on Malgudi Days and Swami.

Actually found the DVDs on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...gla nce&n=130

icetea

Sam - Malgudi Days was running a few months back (was it on Pogo?)...then I saw that Swami and friends was also running. The little boy looked so charming, he was very well chosen

Casey - I have also read 5 of his books, and I make it a point to buy at least one of his novels whenever I go to the bookstore. Luckily..they are cheap too ...there's a trust taking care of re-publishing them.

I had a funny experience with RK Narayan's writings. Once someone pushed this little book in my hand....The Vendor of Sweets. Then I had no idea who Narayan was. I leafed through it..and the English seemed so oddly primitive to me that I said there's no way I'm reading any book of that sort...it looks like it's written by a retard, for retards! Then I started reading it afterall...and I kept buying several Narayan books since, including his autobiography. That wasn't my first surprise about him, though. I had settled into the belief that he is a jolly, carefree and down-to-earth fellow, when I came accross his accounts of some...spiritism sessions!?

Turns out that Narayan lost his wife to typhoid when fairly young and had regular "spiritism" sessions through which she supposedly comunicated with him. It just didn't go well with my image of him :-))...but it is true, he describes his wife's death and the turbulent period that followed, including a lot of paranormal activities, in his autobiography (My Days). He tells it in such a modest way that I simply had to believe him, as skeptical as I might be... His novel, "The English Teacher", is almost entirely following his own tragedy of losing his wife, the weird events that followed and his efforts of trying to bring up his little girl.

I love his simplicity; and, after learning about his experiences after his wife's death, I just see his writings in a different light. They are so primitively simple..and serene. There's nothing much in them really...no brilliant writing-skills...no brilliant stories...no amazing characters. Still, I keep on reading and enjoying his books, and I always close his books with a smile on my face.

sam371

Wow! I had no idea Narayan had undergone so much.
Thanks for that info icetea.

ladyvetphd

Hi, I am just about to conclude this book and I highly recommend it to everyone so that they can get a more balanced perspective on both the history and the various social factors that make India and Indians what they are. It also helps to dispel the myth about democracy being a "western thing"! And raises thoughtprovoking Q's as to why the grain bins of India are overflowing and yet 40-60% of it's children are malnourished!
I found Sen's thought processes to be highly distilled and the "distillate" sparkles, so much so that I was enviously wishing my neural circuitry were capable of doing the same

icetea

hmm...I found it verbose, pedant and quite unreadable It seemed to me that he begins to discuss a topic, and then soon gets entangled and lost in petty debates...often concerning rather form than content...thus losing grip on the essence. I unfortunately don't understand all the hype surrounding Amartya Sen.

I prefered reading Gurcharan Das instead..India Unbound.

vistet

I´m off to the post office , to re-connect to an old favorite read :


This is the mother lode for Hopkirk et.al. when they describe the pundits , the British cartographic spies that literally placed Lhasa on the map, made it possible to solve the source of the Brahmaputra (never mind that the British administration lost the information) and an enormous amount of info along the way. (publishers page)

Also in same package :Lhasa, Streets With Memories

ladyvetphd

Icetea, I agree with your comments on his writing style which is pedantic and difficult to read. But I did think that he has accessed various sources and presented pros and cons of variious thinkers. He certainly should learn to make his style more reader friendly.

sirensongs

Anyone read Being Indian by Varma? Looks cool.

I'm reading My Journey to Lhasa (Alexandra David-Neel); A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night (HH Dalai Lama); and just finished In the Kingdom of the Gods (great book about historical sites in the Kathmandu Valley, by the late Desmond Doig).

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"Why do people go to India to find themselves? India is where you go to lose yourself."
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icetea

ladyvetphd - agreed, his knowledge is quite impressive. And (for me, at least) it is always fascinating to read on the views of knowledgeable indians, who have travelled extensively, got a good understanding of both the western and eastern world, and who can cast an objective eye on India.

no, but was tempted to buy it. From the same lot (see above)

Bigzero

Life of Pi by Yann Martel... just about started.

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Nick-H

Washington Square by Henry James --- still! (I only read 10 or 20 minutes at bedtime).

It was slow to catch my attention, but now I am enjoying it!

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

KariB

Bags are packed, fly out tomorrow am. In my backpack are;

*Life of Pi
*Peace Pilgrim
*Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

KariB