Listing 10 books on any basis is quite difficult. Especially if they have to be listed based on the effect they have had on you. Did a book make me grow up, or was I finally grown up enough to appreciate that book? What about a book that had felt wise at fifteen, but feels pedestrian at thirty? And a book that had felt boring at fifteen and enchanting at thirty? What about the books whose content I have mostly forgotten? What about those which I might remember incorrectly, that is they werent really about what I now remember them to be really about? With all those confusions, I still am trying to respond to Chandra Mohan Thakurs tag about books. This isnt a recommended reads, but a list of books that left something with me. 1. I will start with a book whose name I dont remember. It was a children’s book about Swami Vivekananda that I owned in my childhood. I think it was bought in Kanyakumari, when my parents had visited the place (with me as 2.5 years old). There are two things I remember from the book. One was that when the young Narendra was searching for a Guru, he had stumped many potential candidates by asking if they had seen God. Because if they had not seen God, how could they guide him to God. Only someone who has seen Varanasi can guide you through the city. Shouldnt the same be true of God. The other was a description of Swami before he died. Apparently he was mumbling to himself that if only another Vivekananda is born will someone be able to understand what I have done. 2. The second one is a book, which I think if I were able to re-read, I won’t like much. Almost all the business and self-help books I had read in that phase of student life, I no longer care much for. The book is called “How to think like a boss and get ahead at work”. I can no longer find it in print, or as e-book. What had stayed with me was an idea that an employee that goes to the boss with problems is not a valuable one. One that goes with a problem, and a plan for tackling it if not the solution, is valuable. Boss should be partial to such employees when considering rewards and promotions. And employees should strive to become that. I don’t remember much else from the book. But I would like to get my hands on a copy of this one. If only to see if the rest of the book was also something worth remembering, or was this the only gem? 3. Mein Kamph: No. I am not anti-semitic. In the current geopolitical environment, it is important to clarify that. Here was my main takeaway from the book. If you are thinking of leading masses, you must read this book. It’s not possible to find such an explicit and bold acceptance of the power as well as stupidity of masses and how that stupidity can be availed to use that power to achieve your ends. 4. The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History and Letters from a Father to His Daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru: These books, for the first time, made me doubt history as a single narrative and nation as an unquestionable concept. 5. Saint Joan by G. B. Shaw: The sad and funny reality of greatness. 6. Surangama (Hindi) by Shivani: This was one of the first books I had read of the author, and hence were not bored by the “sameness” of her heroines. Probably one of the first romance novels I had read too. It might not have made to the list, if the timing of reading it wasn’t what it was. But it was what it was! 7. Anna Karenina and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Re-reading them made me realize that certain things can be enjoyed better later in life. 8. The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells: H. G. Wells is the only science fiction writer I can read. His science fiction is so grounded in contemporary reality. 9. Ghumakkad Shastra and Volga se Ganga (both Hindi) by Rahul Sankrityayan: Because he is the intellectual rebel I identify with. 10. The Strange Case of Billy Biswas by Arun Joshi: An accidental discovery. I didn’t identify with the protagonist. But I did identify with his restlessness to discover that primitive joy. Oops! The list of is already over (And I have already cheated by clustering the books from the same author together). Can I add five more? I will just leave the names without explanation 11. Mahasamar (Hindi) in eight volumens by Narendra Kohli 12. Cuckold and God’s Little Soldier by Kiran Nagarkar 13. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 14. Animal Farm by George Orwell 15. The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant And I tag Apurva Mathad Rajendra Nargundkar Sameer Shisodia Grishma Udani Aravind Chandramohan Meera Iyer Neelima Vinod Srivani Narra Ward
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:43:07 +0000
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