Category: Books

The Last Lecture

“Take Time Out. It’s not a real vacation if you’re reading email or calling in for messages.”

Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

While reading the book, there was only one thought in my mind. How the hell did a programming nerd (yeah, that he was) have such an interesting way of thought?

I know a lot of programmers, the nerdy people whose world is made of directories and variables. There are exceptions everywhere, yes, but I have seen programmers who are so immersed in what they do, that they have made it their life. They’re the classical thinkers; the impassive people.

For a romantic thinker like myself, they appear dull, and I’ve seen the shocked look they give me when I tell them coding is boring. They look at me like I have no interest in life. To quote another person, you know you are a romantic thinker when, “you give more importance to feelings and less to facts.”

But that’s the way we think of each other.

Getting back to The Last Lecture, this Randy Pausch was such a classical thinker, except for the craving for fun. He was a nerd, a computer scientist and a professor. And from what I could discern, he was good at what he did.

Before writing this, I went through the reviews of the book and the lecture on Goodreads. There were a lot of people who gave four or five stars for the book. But, there were some who rated it one or two. There was such a contradiction and wondering why, I concluded, sometimes it’s arguable that one takes a view of life as Randy had, when he is counting his time. I don’t care though. Dying or not, the book has some very valuable thoughts. There is no guaranteeing that it would work for everyone, but it sure did for Randy, and considering that the lecture and the book was his message for his kids, I would say that Randy has succeeded in leaving a legendary legacy behind.

This book greatly reminded me of a similar story I read sometime back. A story of a dying professor – a story about living, in the words of a student. This, on the other hand, is a narrative from the professor himself, about the way he lived life and his regret of not being able to be a father.

It’s ironical that he practically raised his sister’s children and so many other students, but not his own children. That’s the sad part; that you were reading words of a dying person who prepared for his last lecture instead of spending his little time with children who would hardly remember him in future.

The book was the written form of his lecture. I watched the lecture too and Randy was careful to avoid topics that would make him emotional. He was just joking around, like he was trying to make an interesting class out of a dull one.

As a lot of people would say, the book was bound to have pathos spilled all over. It was, yes, it’s a pity to realize that the man who had such unique views is no longer living.

It’s quite similar to what I felt when I read Tuesdays with Morrie; I wish I had had a teacher like that. Two teachers; two conditions; two very different attitudes; both wonderful!

Life Is What You Make It

“If you have not made somebody’s day happier, if you’ve not appreciated something good that has happened to you and if you have not felt thankful to be alive, then you have wasted that day of your life on earth!”

~Preeti Shenoy, Life Is What You Make It

Alright, before I start about the book, let me just declare that I can’t tolerate love stories. Surprised? Yeah, I get that a lot.

Bleeding hearts, love letters, sleepless nights, butterflies and all the other insane things people relate to love – I hate them all. Particularly when the author takes up multiple pages describing how blissfully painful the sensation is.

I totally hate when simple events are exaggerated. Oh, I can’t stand to read how people in love, trip over something as tiny as a pencil and break their leg! Love isn’t about such mindlessness and I dislike it when authors illustrate it so.

Having said that, I was a bit tentative about reading the book. Knowing it was a love story, I had evaded the book for some time now. It was only when I held the book and read the description on the cover that I realized that the story addressed a bigger issue; a disease bigger than unrequited love; Bipolar Disorder.

I so wanted to read the book after that! 

I wasn’t new to the condition; I’ve read blogs of people who are bipolar, and a few other articles too.

So the adventure began. It kept me awake through the night, and that doesn’t happen often, in the case of books that is.

I’m not into reviews, so here’s the story in short. It’s the life of an Indian girl, whose ambition penetrates her love story. She is the brightest student in her MBA batch, until she starts showing signs of bipolar disorder. With her recovery, ends the story.

I only felt that the learning-to-manage-without-medication process was too quick to be true. It is a lengthy process, as I understand, but it seemed simple in the book.

Bipolar Disorder seems to have a simple solution, and trivial matters, like trusting the “weird sisters“, end up tragic. Maybe that’s the queer thing about the written word. But that’s a topic for another time.

Tuesdays with Morrie

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they think they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

A long time ago, I just happened to come across a movie titled, ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’. The title seemed interesting and so I decided to watch it. I should say I was not disappointed at all. The entire movie was filled with such serenity that simple words cannot express.

When I learned that the movie was adopted from a book, I made it my priority to read that book. After a long time I finished reading the book on a train journey. It left me with an inner peace that I find difficult to discern.

About the book – it’s based on a true incident in the author’s life. It’s about the author, Mitch Albom, who, after hearing about his favourite professor’s fatal illness, visits his professor sixteen years after his graduation.

After the first visit, Mitch is convinced that he wants to visit the dying professor every week. Being Tuesday people – as his professor called it – Mitch visits his professor Morrie, every Tuesday with a handful of food parcels.

Each Tuesday, Mitch learns something new about living a meaningful life. Morrie speaks of his love for living. He helps Mitch understand the purpose of life and wants his words to educate more people who need a loving voice of comfort. Morrie is one who does not give in to the society that chases happiness without realizing that it could be found within. He has built himself a sub-society where no one is inferior and everyone is on the lookout for the other. Morrie and Mitch talk about everything that seems to torment the present generation and Morrie always has something valuable to offer.

The author has done a great job of describing Morrie’s decreasing health condition. The style in which the author has narrated the story touches every heart. You can’t help but appreciate Morrie and wish you had had a teacher like that. That’s where Mitch Albom succeeds.

Five Point Someone

A best seller, adopted into a Hindi movie which topped the charts for several weeks.

Well, that’s not a petty description. It’s the highest a novice author can dream of. Chetan Bhagat shook the Indian literary industry with his first novel; Five Point Someone, in which he portrayed life in India’s greatest institute of technology (or in simple terms, life in the hell on Earth) which, by the way, is supposed to be IIT.

 Though it portrayed a normal college story craftily, and there were some parts which were highly enjoyable, on the whole, I wasn’t too impressed by the story. I have no reasons, but the novel didn’t seem unique to me.

Though it was highly advertised that the book was adopted into a movie, I didn’t see too many similarities between the book and the movie. Only the theme seemed similar.

I am usually interested in the cover of a book. In this case, the cover just didn’t appeal to me. Firstly, it was white. The next thing, it looked like an illustration of a highly confused mind. Maybe that’s the way IITians’ minds are: disorganized.

Bhagat has openly criticized certain habits in IIT, though it’s worth noticing that Chetan Bhagat is an IIT alumnus himself. This is a story about three youngsters, who didn’t take long to realize that their common dream had taken the wrong turn, right into a nightmare. The story relates their lives, their trials and their not-too-many triumphs.

They go through a lot and love blooms, in addition to the educational burden. Their lives move on, and they never score more than five-point-something. At the end of their final year, they leave, as three five-point someones, each pursuing a different career. Life at IIT is tastefully said in this story, and yet again, IIT proves to be a student’s choice of a suicide spot. I am confused as to whether the author was criticizing the overall educational system or the way thing are done at IIT, or both. That, in my view, is the only confusion in this otherwise artfully knit story.

O Alquimista

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” 

~The Alchemist~

Well, that’s the subject matter of  ‘The Alchemist’. It’s a story, simply portrayed; a story that conveys a not-so-simple message in a way that anyone can understand.

This is the tale of a young shepherd by the name of Santiago, who follows his recurring dreams all the way to Egypt and back again. His encounters with an old king, love, fears, an  alchemist and others carry the story.

We all have or would have had deep desires and ambitions. We abandon our desires for the fear of not being able to achieve it and then regret our decisions throughout our existence. Santiago was different. He gave up his comfortable life and became a shepherd for his love of travelling.

The best part of the story, in my opinion, is the fact that it gives a great piece of advice to all aspirants: “Listen to your heart.” It’s simple, yet powerful. The heart, like the brain, ‘is a many layered thing’ and has the ability to lead the body in the right path. (That is, if your heart is in the right place!)

It really is a book that should be read, enjoyed and passed on.

I’m just plainly glad that I read this story (even if it were only an abridged edition). It changed my life for the better. I have a feeling that, had I read the story earlier in my life, it would have had a better impact on me, but it’s never too late to read.