bachao senti-man se!

Hmm.... Abhinav in his senti-man mode again! I need to be saved from this super-hero! :P

Anyway, what is this book about? I didn't quite like the sermonisitc (if there is such a word), pessimistic, overall darkish tone of the excerpts that you've posted. Not presenting a very positive view on life... perceptions of an overly pragmatic person (atheist as well). That said, the text is written quite well and is thought provoking. More on that later.

On a different note... well of course.. there is no place like home and none in the world like family. But of course, it is natural for one to take them for granted. Do you guys remember Gandhiji's talisman? It is not really connected with the thread of discussion, but I, as a personal pratice, do apply a variation of it whenever I feel disappointed or seem to take things for granted. Here is the original:

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

I imagine the face of the poorest person that I've seen, but yet, with a smile on his/her face; I've seen many such people. And then I cannot help but feel a deep sense of heartfelt gratitude towards God for blessing me with all that I have.... friends, family, health and wealth.

On a completely different, leg-pulling note, here's another quote directed towards you-know-who:
"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave"
- Gandhiji

Carpe Diem! Let it out! :P

And then some....

More stuff from Shantaram...

"The facts of life are very simple. In the beginning we feared everything - animals, the weather, the trees, the night sky - everything except each other. Now we fear each other and almost nothing else. No one knows why anyone does anything. No one tells the truth. No one is happy. No one is safe. In the face of all that is so wrong with the world, the very worst thing you can do is survive. And yet, survive you must. It is this dilemma that makes us believe and cling to the lie that we have a soul, and that there is a God who cares about its fate. And now you have it."

"She kissed my cheek, and turned away. I couldn't obey the impulse to hold her in my arms and kiss her lips. I watched her walk, her dark silhouette a part of night itself. Then she moved into the warm, yellow light near the door of her apartment, and it was as if my watching eyes had made her shadow come to life, as if my heart alone had painted her from darkness with the light and colors of her love. She turned once to see that I was watching her, before she softly closed and locked the door."

And now the eerie one... "One of the reasons why we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow. But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you." ... true?? I don't really know. Moving..? Oh hell yeah..!!

A few good ones...

Was just reading this book aajkal.. And came across some pretty neat lines in it. just wanted to share them with you guys..

It starts off like this...

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it's all you've got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choices you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life."

... Now I remember hearing something to that effect in The Shawshank Redemption.. I think it goes like this. "Hope. Now that's one thing they can never take away from us, one place they can never reach, one thought they can never kill." Liked it then, like this now.. :)

"The only force more ruthless and cynical than the business of big politics is the politics of big business" -- hmm..

"A man has to draw the line somewhere. Civilization, after all is defined by what we forbid, more than what we permit."

"There's a truth that's deeper than experience. It's beyond what we see, or even what we feel. It's an order of truth that separates the profound from the merely clever, and the reality from the perception. We're helpless, usually, in the face of it; and the cost of knowing it, like the cost of knowing love, is sometimes greater than any heart would willingly pay. It doesn't always help us to love the world, but it does prevent us from hating it. And the only way to know that truth is by sharing it, heart to heart, just as Prabaker told it to me, just as I'm telling it to you now." - - nice, eh???

The book is Shantaram, by the way, the bestseller by Gregory David Roberts. Will put up more stuff as and when I come across it.