Tuesday 4 July 2017

Lone Fox Dancing - Ruskin Bond (The Master Storyteller)

The man is a master. Everytime I pick up any of his books, it is like a whole new experience all over again. He makes the mundane interesting. He makes biology fun. He concocts wild animals in the funniest of ways. Finally, his autobiography is out and all the questions about his childhood and early life is out in the open, well somewhat. Made me realise how close to the truth his books had always been. He rejuvenates my interest in reading. Been through a lot, the man has shown perseverance. He instils the confidence in us to give up everything and just go live in the hills, that everything is worth it. He ultimately has proven it to us that life is all about wanting to do what you want to do. And being happy about it. No regrets. Salute to the man. As many of us, one of my earnest desires has alwayd been to meet the man face to face and talk to him. Maybe I could. But then, I read somewhere in an interview that he doesn't like being disturbed by strangers. Well, that's what we are to him. Hence, when I did get a chance to pass by Ivy Cottage during my last trip to Mussoorie, I just paid my distant respects to the master writer who has retained the love for reading in young readers like me who have grown up reading him, like he were one of our very own.

Monday 3 July 2017

Mist Over the Mersey - Lyn Andrews (A review)


War changes everything. What began as a completely normal story of a not-so-well-to-do neighborhood, its various characters, eventually turned out pretty morbid. In the end, of course, it was a happy ending. It had to be, as most fictional novels are. There is Nancy and Mary who are brought up separately by single but independent mothers. And there there is Jerry, Mike and Tommy, who, although belong to complete families, have woes of their own. The whole neighborhood suffers from perennial lack of finances but makes up for it with universal fellow-feeling and unity. Although there is a bit gossip, well, there is always gossip. Then come the Chattertons. Newly paupered, having lost everything to bad investments, they begin to find and build a life in the Liverpool slum. They are welcomed, and rendered a helping hand in more ways than one and they gradually begin to settle down, albeit with some hiccups here and there, what with Dee losing her mum.

Things could have gone on smoothly, but for the onset of the Second World War, tearing the normalcy of lives apart. Of course the boys now have to sign up and fight for the country with their betrothed and about-to-be-betrothed waiting behind. With nothing to live for, even the girls think of taking up nursing as a career, helping those wounded soldiers fighting so valiantly, and the story goes on and on...

In the end, every piece of the puzzle seems to fall back together with a sort of happily ever after to it. However, a lot has been lost in the process, innocence, to say the least.

A completely gripping read which had me turning the pages till the end and left me in a state of shock. Wartime isolation, the fear, the estrangement and the hopelessness of it all seemed to shrink into my veins. In the end, you might get a feeling...it was all for nothing.

Saturday 1 July 2017

Unsatiating Desires

Feed me some pleasant memories, 
Feed me the cool breath of wind following a particularly hot day, 
Feed me the warmth of your comforting hug,
Feed me the assurance of unspoken promises,
Feed me the playfulness of childish memories,
Feed me the feeling of homeliness and all things good,
Never before had all things good seemed so much farther,
Feed me the optimism that I lost somewhere between growing up and going away.....