Child, Lee. The Hard Way. Bantam Dell.New York. 2006.

A modern sleuth, combining the investigative and analytical skills of  Poirot, the deductive capability of Miss Marple and the brawn of Steven Segall, this man Reacher does indeed have the power to emerge as a character worth keeping in touch to give you hard thrills and puissant enjoyment in seeing murderers, rapists, child molesters, mafia and junta groups  brought to justice.

This story of a kidnap of the wife and daughter of an ex-military, paid to fight intergroup wars in far off African lands, with millions in hard cash and Reacher’s involvement in finding them becomes a battle, the hard way. This is because, Reacher,  for the first time, is stumped at every turn, till he reaches a sleepy English countryside, where everything becomes clearer, but not before he almost gives up, for the first time in his life.

This Reacher, reminds one of the  knightly valour of Launcelot – fighting battles to kill dishonourable knights and rescuing maidens in distress, but he is also someone one can identify from the modern scenario- a no-nonsense, hard-hitting,  invincible, charismatic Superhero in print in recent times.

The story itself is interesting, because just as Reacher thinks he has solved the mystery, he finds a new answer that only leads to another question.

Good read, though not a classic of the Agatha Christie type, because there one can return again and again to savour the various bits and pieces coming together to present a collage of unsurpassable intricacy, whereas in Child, Reacher is the one who remains in mind, not the mystery.

Braithwaite.E.R. To Sir With Love. First published in Great Britain.1959. Coronet Paperback.1988.

Over this week, I made my annual pilgrimage through the pages of this book. It is a classic for any educator, because it is a teacher education manual in print and one can consider it as a tool of reference, if one is beset by difficult classes.

What an amazing story, entirely credible, because haven’t we all had some teacher like this Braithwaite who influenced us at school and helped us grow with dignity and self esteem?

The struggle of this black teacher in a school set in the  tough East End neighbourhood is every teacher’s struggle. These students are systemic of learners who fight against odds at deprived homes and loveless existences to find their own paths in a society that mostly does not care.

The story is well knit – the teachers, each an entity with personal prejudices and ideas, Mr.Fabian, the headmaster, the man who dreams and envisions a great educating system for his wards, Ricardo Braithwaite, a black war veteran and now a teacher by sad turn of events, Gillian, who stands for a miniscule white community beginning to respect the balcks, the students who tackle their poverty and the ugliness of their lives with the dignity that Braithwaite has given them, the Thomases who doubt the efficacy of a system that educates without the cane... ah, each of these combines with the other to form a beautiful collage.

There is enough drama,  passion,  romance, trust, anger, mistrust, to make its pages interesting. What caught my interest was that it was on one side, the story of a teacher finding acceptance and solidarity with a tough batch of East End students and on the other, it was the story of a man who wanted to be accepted as a human being, on his own merit, undeterred by the colour of his skin. Gillian’s love for him and the children’s unreserved acceptance of him redeem this man and help him win his battle of colour.

I may go back to this story, may be next year, but I’d like it to be on the bookshelf of my grandchildren, for whom the Civil Wars and Apartheid Policies may be things of a distant past and I’d like them to remember that people went through such struggles before the  people could enjoy the liberty that they are enjoying now.

Child,Lee. Killing Floor. Bantam Publishers.New York. 1998

This is the first in the Reacher series. 

Having read the books in anywhich order, I find that this is Reacher Primordial...he is raw, brutal, merciless, cold and ruthless. There are hints of the gentleness and romantic streak, so obvious in the later books, and but a tiny peek here. 

The story takes place strangely in two distinct realms...each unconnected till the very end. 

And again, his women are not only alluring, they are gutsy, strong individuals ready to battle it out with criminals in their own court. 

I feel like I am going back in time...there was a time when I read Alistair Macleans with the same intensity and passion. I read through those series and loved each one of them. 

I don't probably love Reacher, but, yes, he and his adventures are interesting enough. I have no complaints.

 

Child,Lee. Tripwire. Bantam Publishers.New York. 2000

Leading a  slow, measured and settled life as a swimming pool digger, but at peace with himself, Reacher is brought into a world that shakes his faith in his intuition and leaves him with a burning desire to clear the name of a Jet fighter of  the Nam war. His love for Jodie is a special part of the story. In fact, the villainous activities Hook Hobie are narrated almost parallel to Reacher's love story. Till the last fifty pages or so, it is as if the 'twain shall never meet' and yet, they do and how! The tight feeling in the gut and the restlessness in the head, caused by Reacher's almost fatal effort to bring Hobie on his knees, are the fuel for the reader. 

There are many instances when Reacher is philosophical in his musings on life. Again, the mystery for me is how  this man becomes a drifter who cares for nothing , not even the shirt on his back.

 I've still not tired of this hero. So, let me keep going. 

Bombeck, Erma. At Wit's End. Fawcett Crest. New York. 1967.

Irrepressibly funny in  every line of her pages on domesticity, motherhood, wifely responsibilities and Committee chairpersonship for County Fairs. Bombeck laughs at herself, as much as she laughs at men, women, children and the society. She sees the sunshine behind every dark cloud and the smiles behind every jibe she takes at herself. This is satire, simple, clean, vibrant and humorous. Readers can also discern the love that shines with a light of its own from a benevolent source, large hearted in its acceptance of human errors and foibles. Her repartees for all her characters, from her littlest one to her husband, double you up with laughter.

Some of her lines:

'What do you mean you're a participle in the school play and you need a costume?'

'Could you please do something diplomatic with Mrs. Reading? She's threatened the refreshment committee with her traditional whiskey balls and rum cookies. You know what a fire hazard they caused last year'.

The key word with growing children is communication. If you are a lip reader of any repute whatsoever, you have no problem. However, if you have to compete with local disc jockeys which feed hourly through their ear plugs, it could get tricky. We have solved this problem by buying time on the local station and reporting personal messages;" We moved last week'. 'Daddy's birthday is in September'. ' Do you still lisp?'

The list goes on. I hope I have the opportunity to read her other books:Family-the Ties that Bind ...and Gag, Aunt Erma's Cope Book, The Grass is always greener over the Septic Tank, If Life is a Bowl of Cherries-What am I doing in the Pits? After a long time, I just smiled and smiled and gurgled in a few places, reminding me of my Wodehouse days. 

I loved this one.

Child,Lee. Echo Burning. Bantam Publishers.New York. 2001

Another Reacher. Two things I noticed about this Reacher.

This Reacher uses a watch unlike the Reacher of 2007 who can intuitively and accurately give the time on the clock.

This Reacher does not pick up an obvious clue given to identify the perpetrator. This makes him a human at the end of it all.

There is still a subtle mellowness about this Reacher...his investigative skills are however sharp and thorough.

He is a thorough gentleman, inspite of his rough ways and tough meanness with criminals, and implicitly  believes his employer, in this case, a Hispanic who hires him to be her bodyguard, to protect her from her wife-basher of a husband.

The story takes one on a rough ride...it seems one is there having solved the mystery and then finds that one is not there, nowhere close to it at all ...

Just recommended Lee Child to my son for the long flights home. That is because, the stories are like a nourishing meal that is a solid mouthful and does not disappear or melt before you can say 'Bread'.

Read with interest the blurb which said that Bill Clinton likes these Reacher books.Well, I like the two I've read so far...

Laurence, Margaret. The Stone Angel . The University of Chicago Press: USA.1993 edition. First published in 1964

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

Hagar Shipley, the protagonist is ninety years old and is as vivid, interesting and passionate as any young heroine could be. Reared in a small town by a man who wanted to showcase her as an example of his success in life, Hagar longs for freedom from these domestic ties and to be herself. She fights all her life, as a daughter, later as the wife of the untamed Bram, then as the mother of Marvin, the sidelined elder son and John, the much loved younger son who sought his love not from his mother but from Arlene, as the mother-in-law of Doris, the dutiful daughter-in-law, as  the room-mate to the young Wong and as grandmother to Steven.

She finds her peace with some and with some , she remains, ’the holy terror’ till the end. She is ‘the stone angel’, hard as stone, because she hardens up her heart against all overtures of love from those around. But, we see her so tenderly full of compassion and understanding as she comes to terms with her own nature. She constantly tries to understand the complexity of her feelings, the rottenness of her severity and the utter helplessness as she cannot open herself to those around her.

 The only people who see some of that hell raging inside her are the stranger Lee, the nurses in an impassionate and professional way, the young child who sees Hagar on her death bed being so entirely free of inhibitions and truly helpful and caring. Who is this puzzle called Hagar? She is so full of contradictions and torn apart by these all through her life. The tenderness and compassion with which she helps Marvin accept himself just minutes before her death is touching and wrench a dry sob or two. However, there is no sentimentality, she is a real bitch till the end, as she proves to Doris, her daughter-in-law.

Laurence has an evocative style as she moves from Hagar’s past, then to the present and then to the past again.

This story is not just about a powerful character...it is about senility and all its terrible companions. The pity of a life dependent on others, the helplessness caused by physical ailments, the desolation of being abandoned by one’s children, the shift from a state of forgetfulness to loss of memory, the childlike love for freedom from the fetters of old age, the desire for dignity in the uncouthness of old age... all are so touchingly dealt that the book demands the reader to be lost in this world of Hagar till she dies. There is an ineffable sadness as one realises that old age has its revenge on all of us...one can resist it and fight with spirit as Hagar does, or yield to the beauty of life while one lives, something  Hagar fails to do. The choice is ours to make.

.Lee Child. Bad Luck and Trouble. Bantam Dell.New York. 2007

How do writers think of such excruciatingly carefully plotted tales set in unfamiliar contexts, such as secret FBI actions, ex-army groups, spies within spy rings etc?

I assume that these must be close to real settings, or else they cannot sound so genuine. Well then, an ex-army gang gathers to avenge the killings of some members of this closely knit group with its own distinct call : You do not mess with the secret investigators.

With the precision of a surgeon, Child’s character Reacher and his friends Neagley, O’Donell and Dixon work together to trace the sequence of events and are riveting in their accuracy, insight and sharp thinking. Each action of theirs is a mystery till the eventuality becomes clear and we breathe out a ‘Aha, so that was it!’.

The story of revenge is intricate, complex and mysterious. At the same time, if one thought these were characteristics of old world tales of revenge, rest assured, this is one story of the present, cool, hip and of the eyebrow arching kind.

It’s whetted up my hunger for more of Lee Child’s and Reacher...I’m told this is one of the eleven military thrillers. I come, Child, just give me time to read Margaret Laurence’s ‘The Stone Angel’, probably as far removed from your kind of tale in its literary richness and storyline. But Reacher , you bet I shall be back for more of you.

one night @ the call center. Chetan Bhagat. New Delhi. Rupa Publishers. 2005

What was all the noise about this second book of Bhagat, back then in 2005? I mean, yes, I’m reading this in 2010, almost five years after its publication. But, does it merit all the attention that it received from the reading world. Granted, it is written in an easy, typically Indian-literate lingo of the youth; is not complicated; is not taxing on the brain. By the same yardstick, it is not intense, not passionate, lacks depth and the storyline is what one can easily predict in a movie. There is the typical Indian romance of movies like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya and the books of writers like Ramani Chandran in Tamil and the Barbara Cartlands of the past. What is missing is the lyrical beauty of romance and at the end of the tale, it is neither a dare all, bare all kind of story about call centres, nor a heart warming tale of love and heartache. Even the climax is predictable. Mr.Bhagat must have been aiming for the studio lights and cameras when he thought up his plot. Not a great and memorable read, but then, it is not boring either...

Morning, Noon and Night. Sidney Sheldon

Sheldon is a perfect crime fiction writer, as he explores the grey areas in the lives of his fictional billionaires, empire builders and their families. Henry Stafford, a billionaire, hated by his sons and daughter for his cruelty, vindictive sadism and coldness, dies in a yacht accident leaving behind billions for his children. What seems like a repeat of  The Testament by Grisham,  starts unravelling in the most interesting way, as one puzzle after another gets solved. It comes as a shock when one finds unpleasant and hardhitting truths about the family one after another. Human foibles and weaknesses are revealed with no regard for the sensitivity of the reader. Each truth is a punch, a sharp undercut that knocks you out for a while. The moment one is up, another lands to hit you again. 

The story is like a ball of strings all wound around, with little bits of them sticking out to help you unravel the ball. Each little bit is unwound and then tidily put away. Sheldon does this so well, that in a masterly way, he helps us see human greed, lust and bitterness in all their bare ugliness. 

It does not tax the senses like more serious didactic books do; however, if one were simple minded, not too serious, and looking for a relaxing read to unwind from the day's hardwork, then this is one for you.

De Mille, Neville. Word of Honour. Grafton Books. London. 1985

War stories are personally a fascinating genre for me…as my eyes see the destruction, loss, grief and the pain of it all, reinforced by images of war shown in movies like Pearl Harbour, Flags of Our Fathers, Guns of Navrone, Eagle's Nest and The Pianist, I am able to follow the intricacies of war actions.

I am amazed by the scenes that De Mille lays out…the plot is unravelled from the perimeter and moves in with a punch to the centre of it all. Tyson, a Nam war veteran is caught up with his past and is to be court martialled for a war action in which hundreds of Vietnamese civilians are killed by deliberate shooting by his platoon. He refuses to save his skin, because of the word of honour that he has given to the platoon. What happened there to lead to that dishonourable pact for which Tyson holds himself responsible is the crux of the story and till the last few pages one does not really know the why of it, though we all understand Tyson is a man of honour.

The code of honour of the army and the valour of men like Tyson make this story immensely readable. De Mille makes no bones about the US army’s shameful war on Vietnam, but even in that shameful act, there is a certain dignity as evidenced by men like Tyson. The strong bond of love that he shares with Marcy and David, his family and with Corva, his lawyer, also a war veteran, is something to be savoured, so that at the end of it all, there is a pleasant feeling of having read a heart warming story of human spirit to stand by one’s word.

Grisham, John. The Partner

This would make one good movie.

A carefully crafted story of a lawyer, a partner who takes away ninety million payback money which his firm has hidden from him, gets a woman lawyer to stash it away, is caught by the gang, rescued by the FBI, made a prisoner, but walks away from it all, with a cleverly crafted legal escape. If you think there are too many twists in the tale to be handled by the reader, wait till you get to the last two pages. The shock is subtly imparted, but the senses reel from the powerful blow. Loved the final twist and all.

Racy, taut , impeccably plotted and filled with unexpected twists, the book made interesting reading.

And, just as you were wondering if it was all that easy to do what the hero does, Grisham deals the final blow. There is justice after all...you get what you sow.

ABDUCTION. ROBERT COOK

Not a nail biting kind of science fiction...but, the story of a group of people being abducted by aliens, not from space, but from the mysterious space called Mohovovic line, is rather an inversion of imagination from space to the depths of the earth's mantle. 

Quite weak in plot, what saves it is the importance given to one's freedom to make a choice, never mind if it is subverted by the Interterrans. Then, there is the idea of immortality and pleasure becoming a pain actually...now, that is different. 

The Hindu belief that the body is only a physical form and has no bearing to one's personality and that we carry our karma from the past to the present and to the future - this idea is explored with a little imagination by Cook. Otherwise, the story is not exciting and is a featherweight piece of writing from Cook.

As the Crow Flies . Jefferey Archer

An interesting story of a costermonger who rises from a greengrocer selling from a barrow to a war veteran to a shrewd businessman to a seeker of truth told by a master stroy teller Archer. As always, his humour is subtle and his plots strong. The story moves from character to another as they narrate their parts in the story. So, there are a few repetitions which gets a little tiring after some time, but when the story picks up momentum, one is forced to ignore this. What one likes about the story is the indefatigable spirit of the man, so typical of so many heroes in lands across the globe. That is the abiding memory of the story long after it is read.

Psycho - Trilogy

How ignorant can one be was exemplified when I noticed that there was a Psycho trilogy by Robert Bloch, when all the time I had assumed that Psycho was Hitchcock's masterpiece. It is, no doubt, in the visual medium. But, if you ask me, the thriller had its origin in this book.
In this book, fear gets under your skin...not the fear of blood, brutality and murders, but the fear of one becoming Bates. His fears, his psychotic thoughts, his vulnerability to psychological voices inside his head....are all these 'his' or 'ours'? Bloch takes us so infernally deep into Bates' mind that there is complete identification with Bates as he struggles with his screzophrenic personalities.
The point is, if one hadn't seen the movie, one could never have guessed the gruesome riddle.
Bloch is at his best in stoking our fears, not through graphic visuals and music as in the movie, but through his words. The 'how, when and why' of it all is best enjoyed only by reading Psycho.

Psycho II is chilling, becuase the terror keeps building through the opening pages. Dr.Clairborne, Bates' physician is determined to find his patient who escapes from the Detention centre after killing two nuns. The revelation and denouement are unexpected, in fact, it goes beyond our limited imagination.

Psycho III is a culmination of the psychological study and completes the horror story.

SHADOW OF POWER

SHADOW OF POWER BY STEVE MARTINI

The book fizzes out in the last section, where it really should've picked up momentum. The first part reminds one of Perry Mason who used all his guile, wile, friends and associates to wield magic in his court room trials.
Almost there, but like a tired athelete, losing steam in the last few yards, the book disappoints one at the end.
All the same, one can take it for the careful and crisp plot. The plot-holes come later.

James Herriot

ALL THINGS WISE AND WONDERFUL

Simple, sweet and sunshine stories of man and animals, this collection is once more entirely readable. The old world charm is interestingly captivated. The World War forms the backdrop to all the stories here. Herriot, the vet and Herriot, the Airman form an interesting combination and as he narrates the stories of his travails as a recruit for the British Airforce, the reader is taken once more to the farms of Darrowby.

Herriot is the quintessential vet of the past, someone who formed a bond with every animal he treated. Every patient of his, becomes an interesting character and one can almost palpably feel the goodness of life flowing through.

I'm glad that I had the opportunity to read Herriot again.

James Herriot

Herriot, James. All Things Bright and Beautiful. London: Pan Books.1978

Darrowby comes alive with its green hills, rolling farms, animals and people as James Herriot, the veterinary surgeon talks of his early practice there in a collection of short stories. A classic Coverley Papers by itself.

Each story is heartwarming and Herriot's humour is never far behind to make it all lively and real. He laughs at his own inability to hold a few mugs of brown ale, beer and scotch and to hold a ball at a cricket match as it fell from the heavens straight into and out of his hands.

The stories are a peek at a slowly changing pastoral scene - before the War. The modernity of veterinary practices had not evolved - this is dung, wet noses, uterine entrails, animal deliveries, castrations, colic, ringing bull noses, healing ulcers, emphysema, TB, lockjaw etc in the raw. But the one thing that stands out is, however gory, bloody or sickening the scene, Herriot infuses it with a sense of wonder, tenderness and warmth.

Each story is a gem - the drunk Harold, Tom, the city returned young man determined to make a success of farming, the chirpy Cliff, the Mr.Pickergill whose mauls English with his 'semolina' for 'salmonella', 'rectrum' for 'rectum', 'labrador' for 'laboratory', 'bled a lot from his biblical cord, didn't 'e?' etc , the sprightly Siegfried, the talented Tristan, the ghost walker, the nosy parker Mrs.Donovan, the vagrant Pip, Granville, who always held his own when it came to drinks, the cricket matck in the Darrowby vicarage, the straight talk of the farmers, the brood of Dimmocks whose dog Bonzo becomes Herriot's professional challenge, Sam his dog and the long line of his grateful and ungrateful animal patients...

What a kaleidoscope! I savoured each page of the book which made for such good reading pleasure in the midst of murders, crimes, betrayals, mafias, pedophiles, sex, political intrigues, philosoply, spiritual quests and all other possible scenarios in books that we read, this was a whiff of pure, rejuvenating, oxygen filled, clean and fresh air.

Here's some interesting information from the web:

Trivia: Herriot's old veterinarian practice is still run by his son, James Alexander Wight. The veterinarian's daughter, now a physician in Thirsk, thought the original book should have been called "Ill Creatures Great and Small."
Fictional places we love: Darrowby of 'All Creatures Great and Small'
John FlinnRead more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/28/TREVRQEBS.DTL#ixzz0XDRPZmtL

The Snow Tiger

Bagley, Desmond. The Snow Tiger. House of Strauss: London. 2000. (First printed in 1975).

After the fiascoed reading of the previous book, I tried to go around a little more carefully to
select my book. Desmond Bagley...a vivid picture of a book with an airman in flapping cap came to my mind, though I had forgotten the name. I decided to go in for the book 'The Snow Tiger' and am I glad!
The simple storyline...alternating between a Commission enquiring into an avalanche and the role of a mining company there...the good at heart Ballard, the snow expert Macgill and the town's characters were an enjoyable ensemble. An avalanche is sommething that I've only seen in a National Geographic telecast and now what goes on when the avalanche is peopled is something that I've never seen or read anywhere. I enjoyed the simple lines of the story though there were plenty of opportunities to dramatise it and Bagley did not. The story was entirely credible although to most readers like me, the setting and ambience are of another country, another clime and another people.
Bagley, you charmed me. Thank you.
( Bagley, born in 1923, wrote for two decades and his novels won great acclaim as good adventure novels).

Last Man Standing

David Baladacci. Last Man Standing

David Baladacci is no doubt a good story teller...but, the slow, painstaking unravelling of a mystery by a policeman who finds himself being the only one who has escaped from an ambush by a group of druglords made unbelievable reading. All right, my understanding of the underworld is limited to my reads about their devious plans etc, but honestly, the scenario here was totally so very cinematic, like a 70s Bollywood and Tollywood movie of a gangster's den doing unbelievable acts of torture and revenge. It appeared as if there Baladacci intended his story for effect rather than for authenticity. Gwen, her farm, her husband, their trusted secretary, the kidnapping for revenge...all carried the sense of boredom that comes with an unconvincing setting. Not impressed at all.

Jeffrey Archer. Paths of Glory.

George Mallory on his Everest expedition

Chomolungma, Mother Goddess of the Earth

Jeffrey Archer. Paths of Glory.London: Macmillan.2009.
ISBN. 978-0-330-50425-6

The paths of glory lead but to the grave...
Thomas Gray.

What a different Archer I am seeing now in this novel...there is truth in this fiction. There is fiction in this truth. The philosophy of the Gita, ' What did you bring to earth to say you've lost it? What did you lose that you had to redeem it? You've lost nothing. You've brought nothing...' is at the core of this story, a true story in part.

The novel marks a man's journey twoards his hour of glory, only for him to realise that his hour of glory is at home, in his wife. The discovery of an innate talent, the true potential to rise to the top, the endless hours of grooming and preparation, the friendships of a lifetime, the finding of true love, the sacrifices made to reach the pinnacle of glory...all these and more are drawn with fine strokes of penmanship.

Ruth and Chomolungma , the Mother Goddess of the Earth vie for Mallory's heart. Ruth wins his heart, but Chomolungma wins his body. The ultimate defiance of Chomolungma's supremacy and priamriness by placing Ruth's photo atop the Everest, I feel, brings Mallory down.

However, page 446 is still a mystery to me. I've read and re-read the page to see if I have missed any small clue and am still in the dark. Perhaps, other readers can illumine my mind.

The book is not the nail-biting type of wild life stor, nor is it a truly romantic novel of adventure, chivalry and daringness like his 'Prisoner of Birth'. Yet, one cannot put the book down, because one wants to know if all the efforts taken by Mallory and the sacrifices made by Ruth were worth it all.

At the end of the tale, we are told of the recovery of Mallory's body. This is the truth. Mallory dies after having planted the photo of Ruth atop the Everest. This is fiction. Or is it?

The Icarus Agenda

The Icarus Agenda. Robert Ludlum. Bantam House: U.S. 1989. ISBN 0 553 27800 2

This book is full of surprises all the way. It is the stuff of American heroes - the White House and a foreign land serve as backdrop.
The story is of a man of extraordinary courage whose political journey goes through more twists and turns than the by lanes of a small Indian town. The journey maintains a heart-thumping pace.

Evan Kendricks, a Colorado Congressman is at the centre of it - he is caught in an act of retribution for his daring rescue of freeing hostages held in Oman.

What makes it subtly profound is that he is loved by an Arab lover and Jewish surrogate father, even as a group of terrorists of Arab and Jewish origin scour the corners of the earth to kill him.

The plot is tight and moves ahead without uncouth pauses. The conversations are witty, light and good. The length of the book is a wee bit intimidating, but the length is perhaps the reason why the story evolves neatly...something that might not have happened if it had been shortened.

I liked the book because it kept me away from television and sometimes, when I just needed a winky wink, it helped me do just that...the extremely fine print ensured the objective was realised. No, honestly, I liked the book in the latter half...that much I have to honestly accept.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams' Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' is a riot of imagination, a whetstone for one's capacity to go beyond the known and the familiar, a virtual maelstorm of suppositions, possibilities and contradictions.

The trilogy is immensely interesting, especially the first two. If Rowling went from the familiar to the magical land, Adams goes from the facts of science to the fiction of it.

Inter-galactic travel, scientific propositions regarding time, place, alien creatures unseen and yet imagined vividly, the last two survivors of earth, the concepts of teleporting, time travel, the search for an answer to the Creator of the Universe, etc, (This quote is an example of the logical, yet mad reasonings of an extremely intelligent mind- It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.Ch.20) are all so well mixed in a heady cocktail, the books blow one's mind away.

As I followed Arthur's travels with the manically depressed robot called Marvin ("Life," said Marvin dolefully, "loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it." ) and a fellow traveller from a distant planet, I felt as if I had gone through the whole experience and been there and seen it all. There is no predictability about what might come next, Adams is always yards ahead and so one ends up drinking in a soup of tentacles, two heads, noses above eyebrows, music that is so loud that it causes cataclysmic destruction of an entire planet etc.

Space travel and the relative theory of time have always fascinated scientists and science fiction writers...Adams, you have given that fascination a quirky slant, entirely funny.

Paulo Coelho

Life is a journey filled with dreams, pain, despair, hope, prayers, truths and spiritual clarification. Every human makes this journey and whether the meaning for one's life is is found or not, there is the eternal quest to understand why everyone of us feels this urge to go on, move ahead and search and search for that elusive treasure.

Paulo Coelho ( pronounced paulu 'kwelu) writes an exotic tale of a shepherd boy from the Andalusian mountains who dreams of a treasure at the Pyramids of Egypt, a land across the seas...he sets out, though he is content with his life as a shepherd, talking to them, taking care of them at night and hoping that, perhaps, one day he might marry the merchant's daughter. He leaves this life that he is used to, propelled by the dream. The journey that he undertakes is so symbolic of the life that each of us must take - look for omens, take up opportunities, believe in oneself, be one's own alchemist, meet the love of one's life and ultimately find the treasure right at the doorstep.

Santiago is the flagship for all of us. He tells his father of his wish and his father tries to dissuade him, but finally gives him a few gold coins to go on his search for treasure in a distant land. Santiago realises "...in his father's gaze a desire to be able to travel...a desire still alive, despite his father having had to bury it, over dozens of years, under the burden of struggling for water to drink, food to eat, and the same place to sleep every night of his life'. How soon we become addicted to the monotony and strange comfort of a life we all know. Our lives as shepherds and bakers become 'more important than our destinies'. My heart ached a little at these lines...how ordinary can our lives be, if we do not wake up to go in search of our dreams. Each one of us must 'be an adventurer, looking for treasure'.

Through his journey, the boy finds that language is no barrier. The only language that one needs ' is the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as a part of a search for something that one believed in and desired'. He understands that when desires something, all the Universe works to help him get it. He learns to 'listen to his heart, because it came from the Soul of the World and will one day return there'. When his heart tells him that people are afraid to follow their dreams because they are afraid of leaving loved ones or they feel that they don't deseve these dreams, the boy realises that every day of his serach has been luminous because he has found things he would never have found if he had stayed at Andalusia as a shepherd.

As for love, he finds that 'love is something that transforms and improves the Soul of the World'. What a wonderfully mature way to describe the best aspect of love.

Everything about this book is like this...the reader goes through a sudden flash of understanding of something that one always thought was crystal clear and something about which one thought one had understood it all.

What a soul stirrer this story of 202 pages is...a clarification of one's purpose in life, the words are those of a sage...in a language that the modern world understands, the lessons are from a great Teacher who has sensed the Soul of the World. I keep returning to this book and every time I read, there is something new for me to know and act on. One of the best books I could ever have had the opportunity to read.

Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie. Doubleday:UK. 1997.

A poignant true story of Professor Morrie and his student Mitch Albom, 'Tuesdays with Morrie', the book that was presented to me in 2006 by one of my students Deepa Muralidhar, never fails to move me everytime I read it.

Morrie suffering from ALS, a progressive degenerative muscular disorder, continues his lessons with Mitch, his special student during the time left for him. As Mitch says, " The class met on Tuesdays...The subject was The Meaning of Life...No books were required, yet many topics were covered including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and, finally, death. ...A funeral was held in lieu of graduation...The last class of my old professor's life had only one student...I was the class".

Morrie battles his disease in his own way...shedding a few tears in the morning and then getting on with it. He teaches Mitch that the best way to tackle death is the Buddhist way...look at the bird on your shoulder and ask, 'Is today the day? ...Am I doing all I need to do?...Am I being the person I want to be?...if you can accept that you can die at any time, then you might not be as ambitious as you are".

Morrie also encourages Mitch to give up his fears of growing old. When one frets about growing old, that reflects a dissatisfied life. Such a person will never be happy. One has to find what is beautiful and good and true about the present moment. Oh, how I loved these words. Morrie has put in words exactly what I feel.

Morrie informs Mitch that geeting involved in doing something beyond one's own world , by devoting oneself to loving others, devoting oneself to the community, one gains a sense of purpose and meaning. Mitch jots downs these ideas and as he does, the reader does too.

In between these interchanges between Morrie and himself, Mitch desscribes the onset of the disaese with such clarity that for the reader it is a sweet and agonising moment when one accepts the finality of the disease and the infinity of the person who affects others' lives. As Morrie himself says, 'Death ends a life, not a relationship'.

For those of us who have suffered losses of family and friends and seen them go before us, this book comes as a comfort. For we know, everytime we remember the loved one lost, we perpetuate that relationship. As Mitch does, through this book.

Though one feels the lump in the throat and tears roll down without a warning, the book is strangely comforting, for it is a lesson that helps us see the thoughts of a dying person, much like the thoughts that must've gone through our family and friends that we have lost to a disease, sickness or illness.

Thank you, Deepa, for the lovely book. It has clarified so many things for me and comforted me about my confrontation with some losses and my own attitude to life. I would like to think of you as one of my Tuesday's students, if I had one.