Kanthapura

Kanthapura - I wasn't quite sure what I was picking when I decided to read this book. I usually read books based on recommendations of a couple of my friends. But neither of them had any idea about this one. Nor have I heard of the author Mr Raja Rao before. [Later, I found out that he is one among the Indian trio of R K Narayan - Mulk Raj Anand - Raja Rao] But the synopsis and the excerpts from the reviews on the blurb, including one from The New York Times, were impressive. Having depended on the staple from Mr Sidney S, Sir Pelham Grenville W and Ms Jonathan Kathleen R, for long, I decided to move on to something more serious and more close to real life.

I was very easily able to relate to the characters and the story of Kanthapura which is about India's struggle for independence. The story is set in a small, sleepy and remote village of Kanthapura on the banks of river Himavathy, some where in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, around 1930s. The story, narrated by an old lady of Kanthapura, is about the change the India's fight for freedom led by Mahatma, brings into the lives of the people of Kanthapura. I remember reading Ms Pearl S Buck point out the rise of leaders from all walks of life and the important role they played in the struggle as one of the unique features of India's freedom struggle. The protagonist of this book is one such leader named Murthy.

The circumstances he faces and the odds he fights to unite and make people shed their indifference and overcome their differences to fight for freedom made me sit back and think. Even today, we think of our freedom struggle as just being a fight against the British alone and largely ignore the efforts put in by the champions of freedom struggle in fighting our own prejudices and the inequalities of our society. It is India's great misfortune that the social evils of casteism and communalism are just as prevalent today as they were back then. True, economic conditions have improved a little but our minds have so stubbornly refused to embrace the idea of equality of all men. We have so comfortably ignored the ideals they stood for people and fooled ourselves believing that the real tribute to all the martyrs is erecting their statues and issuing commemorative coins and stamps in their name.

While the characters of the protagonist Murthy, the rich widow Rangamma, the money lender, the village head, the police man, the teacher who tries to educate the workers of a nearby coffee plantation owned by an English man are all interesting, the character I found to be even more interesting is that of Mahatma himself. No, it's not the persona but the name itself. The way his name inspires and the way he is revered, despite the dissidence he faces from many, is really interesting. Reading the way he is deified as an incarnation of some God, I just couldn't help feeling that his crusade to make people accept and adopt his principles rather than revere and worship him was lost back then itself.

The language used in the book is yet another thing that really surprised me. Being a non-native English speaker and lacking extensive vocabulary and command over grammar, I always felt that I deprived myself the full pleasure of many books I read. But thankfully, that wasn't the case with this book. It was almost like reading a book in my mother tongue. I have never before read anything where the translated vernacular expressions mean the same as what they mean in the native tongue and yet don't sound strange in English.

Overall, this is one book I am going remember for a long time to come. In fact, even though I'm writing this only now, I read this book nearly an year ago. Do share what you felt about the book or this article.

Google Books : KANTHAPURA (Preview)
Wikipedia: Raja Rao

Project Gutenberg

Hello world!

Here is a link to one of the best sites on the Internet. The site is www.gutenberg.org. It is a repository of free e-books. None of these books are illegal as most of them are out of copyright. And this collection is put together by volunteers all over the world. Most books are available in html format and other formats. Any book can be downloaded. Perhaps this one of those good endeavours on the web.

And the coolest thing about this site is that you can find almost all the classics you have ever heard about.Go check it out and help build it up.

Gone with the Wind

'Gone with the Wind' - this is one of the best books I have ever read.

I didn't understand what the title really means or how is it related to the book, even after reading the book. I only found it while researching to write this post, on Wikipedia. Yet, I loved the book. It took me longer to complete than any other book did. One reason why it took me longer is that the book itself is very big, over 1000 pages of relatively small print. But the other reason is that the book is so good that I enjoyed reading every word and I feared reaching it's end too soon. I had put the book away often, while reading, to recollect the vivid descriptions and ponder over them again.

The book is set in the backdrop of American Civil War (1861-1865 A.D.) between the anti slavery Americans of Northern states (referred to as Yankees) and the cotton kings from Southern states (referred to as Confederates). The descriptions of the war and its consequences are at times too vivid to bear and to continue with reading.

The best part of the book are these characters- Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler and Melanie Wilkes. They are some of the most interesting characters I've ever read about.

Scarlett - she is my favourite. She amazed me with her attitude. I wish I could put away all my worries from my mind, today, so that they can be worried over tomorrow, like she does.Though unscrupulous, insolent, proud, rude, ambitious and selfish, it isn't just Rhett Butler who fell in love with her. I couldn't help it either. I love the way she overcomes every obstacle step by step, patiently, without ever losing hope. I love her Fortitude.

Rhett Butler - cool, suave, dashing, daring, charming but not so affable. Well, those adjectives do some justice to his character. Yet, I felt his character was too complex. I liked his cool head, logic and more than anything, his candidness. I wish I were as charming as he is.

Melanie Wilkes - how I wish to have a friend like her. Or rather I wish I were her. She simply is everything I love and is everything i hope to be some day. Her strength, braveness, understanding, patience, understanding nature and everything , I just love those characters. She reminded me of the character of Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mocking Bird. Though at the beginning I didn't think much of her, as the book came to the end, I couldn't help admiring her remarkable strength. She made me cry, literally.

Apart from the three characters, there are other characters I liked very much like Ellen O'Hara, Will Benteen, Dr Meade, Mammy, Gerald O'Hara, Mrs Merriweather and Belle Watling. I couldn't help thinking of so many people I've seen in my real life, reading about these characters. At one point of time, I even forgot that all these characters are fictitious. Indeed, at one point, Mammy says to Scarlett that Scarlett and Rhett are both mules in the hides of horses and it is only at the end Scarlett realises that the remark is very true. But by the time she realises it, she loses too much that she could never hope to make up for. This particular remark actually brought back to my mind, my own past- all my arrogance, over confidence and careless nature. (Well, this doesn't mean that I'm a horse now, it just means that I stopped pretending to be one.)

And its just not the characters, I loved the style of narration also. Initially i.e., in the beginning of the book, I thought the book was unfair in its attitude towards the Yankees and seemed to glorify the South's Cause. But the frank remarks of the book's characters on issues like slavery expose the narrow mindedness of the southerners. The book is, in that way, balanced in that regard.

More over, though the book is historical in nature, the characters, their reaction to the situations are just as relevant today.

Though this book took me strenuous effort in reading it, in understanding the Blacks' language and referring to dictionary often to check out the meaning of numerous words I came across, in the end I'm happy that I read a very good book.

I'm now hoping to see the movie as soon as possible.

Tell me what you thought of this book or any other great books you read.