A simple book review

I have read 2 books recently

1.  Khushwant singh’s selects Best Indian short stories (different stories)


2. My first darling in the morning – Uma  Thritankar


3. Dangerous kiss (its actually a trash, by Jackie Collins)

Books yet to read:

1. Gone with the wind.- Margaret Mitchell


2. Arabella  - Georgette Heyer   (both are classics)

 

The first 2 books I bought from India today book club. Book 1 is a book of variety. It consists of short stories from difft authors even some from south India, which includes M. karunadhi , R.K. Laxman, Yashpal and even singh himself. Its easy to understand , empathise and visualize as the characters are ordinary Indian ppl either in the slum or middle class ppl. But most of the short stories have a common nature. It portraits, different ways or ideas ppl use to cheat each other, for money, fame and position. In short it shows different fraud ways a normal Indian does. And in most of the stories , the writer doesn’t narrate a story. He will be a character in that story.

 

The one I remember most, is the story of a wealthy and respectable elderly man, who comes to temple regularly and on his way back, gives hand full of money to all the beggars who sit on the steps to the temple. It’s a story by Khushwant singh. Singh notes that while he gives alms to ppl using his right hand , his left hand will be busy pinching ladies’ bottom, who comes to temple. And in the crowd when they turn around, they never suspect this elderly guy  who is giving alms to beggars. Singh notes this everyday, and decides to put an end to it. He gives anonymous phone calls to the so called wealthy mans house and leaves a message  to his wife that “Mr. Bottom Pincher” has called, her husband. The man soon gets the message and is absent for a while. After some 1 or 2 mths he comes again and does the same thing. The cycle repeats and one day when he comes with his wife and daughter who is 16, singh goes and pinch his daughters back and police catches singh. But he story ends when the wealthy man, takes bail for singh and is released.

 

It feels  so sarcastic, when we finish reading. The double faceted , so called respectable ppl, who is NOT so good at their inside. The real man who pose himself as cultured, educated social animal, who behaves neither like that.  In the last sentence, singh feels sorry for that man. Even the reader feels sorry for him.

 

Its good as we feel like having a dinner with lots of dishes. It’s the variety that matters. Not the taste.We can never say that what singh has selected is the best. There may be stories better than those. But we will get an over view of difft authors’ look towards their society and their response towards them. Its in a way different, from reading a novel of a particular author, who may be our favorite. In that case, we are in a way, brain washed by his/her thoughts. We are forced to think in the same way as he thinks. But collection of different stories helps a lot to see different views of different ppl and analyse them and we will then start to think on our own. We realize that ppl think / react differently and it’s the difference that’s all what matters.

 

I think I wrote too much…but I think thinking and discussing helps our brain to grow, rite?

 

I will write about another book, later…