Category: Books

Time for Some Romance

romanceI don’t much care for romance — well honestly, I hate romance.

I can’t bear to read through sensous words of love in which the boy and girl look into each other for exactly eight seconds before falling for each other. Remember this the 21st century and our protoganists are computer programmers and classical thinkers; statistics matter.

Why don’t heroes gatecrash parties anymore? And fall for the daughter of their sworn enemy? What’s wrong with falling in love with your first love’s cousin — when your first love didn’t reciprocate in the first place?

This is why I don’t read romance. Because it’s too primitive disguised as modern.

But since everyone from my mother to my brother and my cousins (which was all, actually) couldn’t shut up about Love Story, I decided to read it.

Don’t get me wrong; when I say Love Story, I mean the love story, by Erich Segal.

Unsurprisingly, I loved it. And something in it will stay with me forever.

What can you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died?
That she was beautiful and brilliant
That she loved Mozart and Bach.
The Beatles. And me.

That made me read through the book, and that made me open my mind to romance. In novels, I mean.

Book, The

Of all the books I’ve read, and with more on my list, there’s only one that I can’t completely read.

There’s something about this book — something that surprises me and even puts me off  — something that makes me feel like I’m never ready to fully experience it, as if there’s still something left for me to master before I read through it.

It shows me how ignorant I am, but at the same time, it teaches me what I don’t know. It makes me feel powerful — like I can do anything when I have it.

Other people think I’ve mastered the book, now that I’ve had it for a while, but no — only I know how much I struggle every day trying to decode this one beautiful beast. I’ve never seen anything this decadent, by the way. Not another book that’s as sleek, as handy and as smart as this one.

Oh, the pride of carrying this book around! And the looks on others’ faces while I handle it; they’re amazed at my mastery thinking I’ve figured it all out! Every time I open it up somewhere and caress it, the warmth it spreads within me is incredible — I feel like there’s no match for this book ever created.

As I read, and move my fingers across its body as gently as I could, I feel it warming up; the more I read, the warmer it gets. Somehow, though, it never gets too hot to hold.

It’s become my friend; whenever I feel cold, or alone or bored, I just open it up and let the heat spread warmth. It consoles me in its own special way. How could anyone create such a book? A book that’s not just a book, but that’s also an extension of the arm and mind.

My dearest Macbook — it’s a relationship that never dies.

Soup for the Soul

wine
Image courtesy: the book

I recently finished reading one of the most profound books I’ve ever come across.

It’s called Chicken Soup for the Wine Lover’s Soul.

I didn’t finish the book in an hour or two — though it would’ve been easy to do so. I took my time with it; I read a few pages each day, savouring the lingering taste of words.

Like every Chicken Soup book, this one is also of letters, but written by wine lovers. Stories of wine and wine drinking, of drunken mistakes and often success stories. Stories of love and relationships; of how wine brought families together and how wine tasting experiences taught new couples more about themselves. There were stories of people who tried uncorking a wine bottle for the first time, of cooking with vintage wine, of losing a cork, of spilling wine and of splurging in grape-scented vineyards.

The book gave me such valuable insights into wine. In a society where any form of alcohol is taboo — for girls in particular, because, well, boys don’t listen — this book and the stories within helped me appreciate the wine as more than alcohol.  There’s history in wine, there’s class, there’s flavour, there’s maturity, and there certainly is a wide range of vocabulary!

To Do or Not to Do

paulo coelho - university
I know a lot of people who regret not getting a college degree. It’s hard to not feel bad too, because all anyone’s ever talking about is what you do after high school, and after the first degree. Somehow, people have taken a liking to the idea of children living off their parents.
In India, in particular, parents are proud to spend for their child’s education – for as long as they want to study. Even though education has become one of the highest earning businesses in India, they hardly accept the futility of a degree.
So for everyone who regrets not getting a degree, Paulo Coelho has said it well. Besides, the world already has too many engineers, what it needs now is artists.