I am Malala - Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

Read it!!

"To all the girls who have faced injustice and been silenced. Together we will be heard."

The story of Malala is no secret. A Nobel peace prize winner of 2014 and shot by Taliban in October 2012, her story been a serious topic of discussion through out the world for years. This book provides the unseen, gruesome facts; the prologue and epilogue of incidents when Malala got shot, from her point of view.

Almost every country suffers in a way, by their own set of beliefs, political or otherwise. Some are surfaced, some buried; some are trivial, some extreme. 

Malala's story exhumes the unseen and neglected pain in her world.... a part of our world! 

Just read it. Period.

Veronika decides to die - Paulo Coelho

Referred by a friend as a resurrecting experience, started on this book for a second time after a previous failed attempt of perusing through the first few pages. Though could not make any sense of the book in the beginning, I was determined to finish it. The wow moment came much later. The story was just OK but the morale was grand so i am considering this a beautiful read. I have always said that translated books lose their soul somehow and "Veronika decides to die" is no exception. The witty and morale filled one liners  save the grace.

Veronika, an attractive twenty four year old Slovenian, staying in a convent decides to end her life by choosing the easiest path of swallowing sleeping pills. Her reason being her "purposeless, constant" life and her powerlessness to improve "all the wrong" in this world. Her attempt backfires and she ends up in a mental asylum in Villete. Her suicide attempt weakens her heart and Dr. Igor declares she has only few more days to live. In the world filled with insanity she discovers Mari, Eduard and Zedka. Mari suffers from panic disorder which affected her happily married life, although she is completely cured she lies and comes back to villete because she could not tolerate the real world; Eduard suffers from schizophrenia and Zedka from depression due to her obsession for her long lost ex-lover. All of them were trying to run away from the real world and make their own imaginative world within the walls of Villete. "An awareness of death encourages us to live more intensly". Slowly Veronika starts to question the definition of insanity. With death so close, she sheds down her inhibitions and releases her anger without the fear of hurting her close ones. She understands there is so much to life. In the newly discovered freedom she experiences love, anger and hate. She runs away with Eduard, her new love, and tries to make the most of the moment unaware of the fact that Dr Igor was using the time limit declaration as an encouraging button to help Veronika understand life and appreciate the gift of breathing.

As usual Coelho fills the book with encouraging one liners:

• The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.
• People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves.
• Be crazy! But learn how to be crazy without being the center of attention. Be brave enough to live different.
• You have two choices, to control your mind or to let your mind control you.
• Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.
• Collective madness is called sanity. 
• Death frees from the fear of dying.

 And many more!

The gist : this world is an insane place and every one's trying to hide their weirdness and act normal just for the sake of acceptance; Just dare to be who you are and be alive. The catch however is to find someone whose insanity matches yours! Simple as that. :) 

Happy reading!

The white tiger - Aravind Adiga

If you love this book or love other creations of Adiga, please kindly avoid this review. This is down right disappointing and i have nothing good to say. 

Bought this book in a whim, to be my travel companion in a recent journey outside town. But i never got a chance to turn the pages then. My live companions were so lively and consuming; boredom was kept at bay. And i am grateful for that. :)

Anyway, i read this book later in my leisure.  Realising that this creation was bestowed with Man Booker Prize in 2008 and good words adorning every corner of its cover, i read it with enthusiasm. My sole purpose being able to enjoy the words and story that millions thought worthy to devour. 

Few pages in and i thought - wow! its like slum dog millionaire, the movie. It will get interesting in the middle. Reached the middle and i was trying to swallow the dark humor that bore hole through me and haunted my conscience, but still continued with a blazing hope that it will get better in the end. End came but the wow moment did not and i was thoroughly disappointed. 

Balram Halwai, self proclaimed "The White Tiger" and a common Indian man born in darkness, writes a letter to Mr Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, explaining his rise to his current status- A businessman. He explains with gut and a glint in his eyes like that of a mad man, how he escaped the darkness of his birth, following the regular ritual of a common man. Flight of idea impregnates his thoughts and he writes about his journey from a simple worker in a teashop to a driver then a businessman. He describes his fears, his fight, his flight and how he became a murderer.

I neither found this book to be blazing brilliant or arresting. This book is a black humor describing the dark side of modern Indian society. A desperate attempt to shine the light in the corrupted parts with depressing details that plunges you to misery. Satirical indeed but I think you wont miss anything if you let this book slip unnoticed in your to-be-read list. You can skip this one without guilt and avoid the boredom and nothingness.

I sound heartless making this review but it is what it is!

Fewa Lake- Pokhara

Phewa Tal or Fewa lake is a beautiful fresh water lake situated in Pokhara valley, Nepal. One of the main attractions of the lake city, it faces north to the beautiful Macchapucchre (fishtail mountain) and Annapurna range. An island in the center of the lake harbours a temple called as Talbarahi which can be reached only by boat. 

Interesting legend surrounds the temple origin. 
Refer to
http://glamour-pokhara.blogspot.com/2011/06/tal-barahi.html

The early morning stroll gives an enchanting view of the mountains and the beautiful fewa lake

The greenery around is captivating!

An evening  boat ride gives some exemplary view of the stupa above

The legendary Tal Barahi Temple: A cultural heritage

The Mountain range: The view is so much better in person

Just beautiful, isn't it?

Fewa lake as seen from a lakeside restaurant: La pizzeria

The beautiful sun reflection on Fewa lake as seen from the temple

Hope you enjoyed these natural eye candies. Share your photo travel with me :)

My Sister's keeper - Jodi Picoult

Took quiet lot of thinking and reevaluation before determining what exactly i felt about this book. Sorting out my thoughts after the emotional turmoil took longer than expected. More than a month to be exact. This is a fantastic read....

But the immediate post read moment was.. oh well teary! and dilemmatic. My thoughts were/ tweets actually:

. Thought i have grown immune to attachments to the silly book characters and won't be ever crying my heart's out over them.

. Can i die of heartbreak from crying? Its all wrong. This was not suppose to happen.

. No you can't do that, rile up all you emotions to the zenith, then throw u off the cliff. Its barbaric!!!

. Someone tell me i read the end wrong. Please.

I was stretched between what happened and what i thought should have happened. And after a lot of reasoning and reflection, my conclusion is either way i would have surrendered to my emotions. And this was definitely the best ending cause both lives a life in a certain way.

This story is about a thirteen year girl old Anna Fitzgerald, who is genetically conceived to match her sister Kate who suffers from Acute Promyelocytic leukemia. She is a savior sister who donates her cord blood at first to save Kate. With time she undergoes various physical pain from drawing blood to bone marrow extraction for her sister without complaining but the breaking point is reached when she is asked to donate her kidney and she seeks legal help with Mr. Campbell for medical emancipation. 

Sara Fitzgerald (Anna's mother and a former attorney) and Brain Fitzgerald (Anna's father and a fire fighter) caught between the dilemma of saving their dying child or supporting their healthy one are torn between the improbable options. Epileptic Lawyer Campbell Alexander and court appointed guardian ad lit em Julia Romano help Anna in this process (They have a romantic yet painful past! Spoiler Alert: they get back together in the end ;) Meanwhile Jesse, Anna's elder brother who is neglected in the shadow of a dying and a savior child becomes a pyromaniac unlike his firefighter father to seek attention.

The trial continues, the emotions become erratic, Anna wins granting Campbell medical power of attorney and revealing the whole idea was that of Kate to save Anna from the pain because Kate was not going to survive cancer anyway. However things change... Jesse is forgiven... Kate survives.. and Anna.. well you need to read the book.....

Jodi Picoult's writing style is most captivating. She allows each character to speak their mind. Though initially the jumping between characters can create  confusion and irritation; once you get a grip on it, the book is a "can't put down". Actually its the emotion of each character you deal with, that makes My sister's keeper a fabulous read. Picoult has done absolute justice to the thought process of a torn mother and father, to a child going against their parents will, to a pyromaniac teenager to an epileptic lawyer or the court appointed guardian ad lit em. You will be exposed to the soul of each character and you wont be able to support anyone strongly in particular. Everyone seems right in their own accord. 

This book is an emotional hurricane which demands deep thinking and reflection.