Author: manuscrypts

  • Lunatic in My Head

    Anjum Hasan

    Though this is the author’s debut, I happened to read it after I read the second work – Neti Neti, which can arguably be seen as a sequel of sorts to this book, not just because its protagonist happens to be Sophie Das, a character introduced in this book, but also because both the books seem to have a common theme of a search for belonging.

    ‘Lunatic In My Head’ has four principal characters. Firdaus Ansari, who teaches English literature to an apathetic class, pursues an elusive PhD, finds it diffuclt to connect to the authors she’s dealing with, fights staff room battles, suffers from near OCD and tries desperately to remain in love, as she lives with her grandfather, both of them conscious of a fragile balance that allows them to endure each other.

    Aman Moondy, Civil Services aspirant, obsessed with Pink Floyd with a bunch of friends, each fighting their own battles with parents, siblings, lovers and representing the life of youth stuck in a small town.

    Sophie Das, eight year old daughter of an English professor who refuses to be realistic and his wife who feels her husband has stopped caring for the family.

    And Shillong, for this book is also about the place, its people, its gossip, its idiosyncrasies, and its clearly visible lines of separation between the natives and dkhar (Khasi word for non tribal person)

    Each of them also live in their own fantasy world too- Sophie, who cooks up a story of being adopted, and Aman, who thinks Roger Waters makes songs based on the letters he sent him. The smallness of the town is perhaps emphasised by the degrees of connection between the characters, how their paths cross, and how intertwined their lives are.

    Divided into chapters such as ‘Wonder’, ‘Sadness’, ‘Love’, ‘Courage’, ‘Disgust’, ‘Fear’, ‘Anger’, ‘Joy’ and finally ‘Peace’, the book passes through what can be seen as a cycle, and uses the mundane occurrences in a small town to reflect mindset and the paradoxical static and dynamic nature of the place and the people there. What takes it to a higher level is the moodiness that seems to reflect rainy and misty Shillong itself.

  • Moral Signs

    A little more than a year back, I remember writing a post on identity – what exactly constitutes the individual – work, relationships, consumption, combinations of these…….

    More recently, I read a Scott Adams post which actually asks the same question ‘Who are you?’ He also provides his best answer to it ‘You are what you learn’. It’s an interesting point and I do agree that what you learn is what gives you additional perspective. It changes the way you view older experiences and how you react to new experiences. And so, despite believing in being prisoners of birth to some extent, and knowing that the apple never falls far from the tree, and at the risk of generalisation, I would tend to agree.

    Which brings me to learning. In an earlier era, our ‘channels’ of learning were limited – parents, relatives, friends, teachers, literature, some amounts of media, and so on. Limited when compared to the abundance that a media explosion and the internet have brought into our lives. Sometime back, I read a post in the NYT titled ‘If it feels right‘, which discussed a study on the role of morality (rather, the lack of it) in the lives of America’s youth. The author clarifies that it isn’t as though they are living a life of debauchery, it’s just that they don’t even think of moral dilemmas, the meaning of life and such. The study ‘found an atmosphere of extreme moral individualism’, mostly because they have not been given the resources to develop their thinking on such matters.

    It led me to think about the moral frameworks that were instilled in us by our sources when were young. At the very least, value systems existed, though obviously their ‘quality’ would be a subjective affair. I wonder, if in this era of abundant sources, we are missing out on inculcating the basic moral guidelines that are necessary for a society’s sustenance and  evolution. If people are what they learn, then the least we could do is take a closer look at our own moral framework. The next generation, despite the abundance of sources, could be learning from it. Or perhaps this is the way it has always been, between generations. 🙂

    until next time, moral poultice

    PS: a beauuuutiful related video

  • Punjabi By Nature

    We’re not, but since food transcends all cultural and geographical barriers, we decided to drop in at the restaurant by that name, on Hosur Road. (ok Marigowda Road then) When coming from Koramangala, this is just after Manchester United.  (map) Parking is taken care of. In any case, it’s just a short walk from Forum. Builds appetite.

    We reserved in advance, since the web seemed to suggest that. But the process turned out to be quite funny. When you call the number, and tell them you want to reserve a table, they take your number and inform you that they’ll call back. They did, after 5 minutes, and I wondered if they should have some missed call service instead.

    The thing that struck us as soon as we entered was that they had somehow used up the space to transport people far away from the busy road right outside. Superb ambiance, complete with greenery, mood lighting, comfortable seating, soft music, a view of the microbrewery….. and giant TVs. They also seem to have outdoor seating. In all, a very relaxing atmosphere.

    From the liquor menu, we decided to check out the Gol gappa shots – puris (2) filled with Indian spices, and you can add the vodka shot yourself. From the four flavours available, we asked for pepper. Since the hours were happy, we got another couple of shots. It comes with a glass of beer., and we asked for one wheat and one dark lager. The Gol gappas were pretty awesome, and the wheat beer is perfect for less-than-occasional drinkers like us. The dark lager is more standard. The shots were at Rs.395, but considering that a glass of beer costs Rs.150 standalone, it was a reasonable deal. In addition their regular menu, they also had a  few tawa delicacies.

    We asked for the Tawa Magaz Masala and though we were told initially that it wasn’t available and that we could have the regular version (Amritsari Magaz Masala) instead, it miraculously did appear on our table in the end. The Kandhari Murg was our next choice, and the person who took our order very helpfully suggested that we could manage with a half plate. Ditto with the Chicken Keema Naan, when we asked for two and he said one would be enough. Turned out he was right, the damn naan was more like a medium pizza in terms of size. The brain was quite good and spicy. The Kandhari Murg was a yellow gravy dish (not boneless) with the creamy texture of regular white gravies and quite rich. Both worked really well with the keema naan, a bit spicy and quite filling.

    We were too stuffed to check out the desserts. That was a miss, especially those flambe Gulab Jamuns I had read about somewhere. The service is, as mentioned, very helpful. All of the above cost us just less than Rs.1700, including taxes and a 10% service charge. It’s definitely quite costly, but if you do decide to splurge, you wouldn’t be disappointed with the food and ambiance that Punjabi By Nature provides.

    Punjabi By Nature, No:6, Krishna Nagar Industrial Area, Behind Forum Mall, Hosur Road Ph: 49138800

  • Realty Check 1

    They would’ve loved to live here. A relatively hidden area in the heart of Koramangala, such that the EMIs would karmically commit them to several rebirths. But they had a plan. A group deal involving like minded people – to dump garbage there everyday until the rates came down. This post is the first step. 😉

  • Deaf Heaven

    Pinki Virani

    I’m quite a fan of Pinki Virani’s earlier work – Once was Bombay, so there might be a bit of a bias here. 🙂

    ‘Deaf heaven’ is billed as her first work of fiction, but is perhaps as close to non-fiction as it can get. The characters are clearly based on the contemporary personalities – from movie stars to politicians, and the descriptions are such that a little knowledge can easily help you identify them – the ‘caterpillar -eyebrows’ actress to the leader of the saffron army, to the famous film star and his wannabe famous son and the lesbian maker of daily soaps. See? 🙂

    The narrator is the cleft lipped and recently dead Saraswati, librarian by profession and collector of facts. Over a weekend, with an eclipse that serves as a climax for the multiple narratives, she traces the lives of the characters, a mixture of the famous and the ordinary, connected to each other by varying degrees of separation.

    The book is a commentary on modern India and its mixture of contradictions, with representatives from different geographies, strata in life, age, and religion. Though primarily a woman’s perspective, the author manages to tackle the paradoxes of the emerging superpower – from female infanticide (and an ingenious way of communicating the unborn child’s gender – an illegal act), and tribal exploitation, to the mechanics of religion-politics, the effect of chemicals on vultures and the ‘death by railway track’ on Mumbai’s famed local trains, all interconnected, just like the characters.

    Though a preachy tone does dominate the last part of the book, it is definitely a must read, not just for the pertinent and fundamental questions the author makes us think about, but also for her razor sharp wit.