Vairangad

Update: Due to time constraints, the story will be continued later this week. Till that time, please read my three-part series "Countdown to 14th Feb" on my other blog, which is my way of telling all that I am not waiting for The Day with bated breath (don't want to suffocate, do I)...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

20th Feb.

The Sahyadri ranges in Maharashtra contain many interesting and unique forts. The mountainous region and forts characterize Maharashtra and its people, and have played a large part in its history. And one of the most interesting forts is named “Vairangad” (Fort Desolate).

The uniqueness is not only limited to its name. Even the location is different from the standards for the forts. The fort overlooks a region which does not contain any main roads or passes joining the ghat and konkan regions, the location is remote and contain very few important towns, even today. So it has always been a question why somebody raised a fort there.

The answer is also not forthcoming. The fort is clearly very old, maybe dating back to 16th century, but there are not mentions of the fort in any of the bakhars or any other historical accounts (which is not surprising due to its remote and isolated location), till late 19th century, when a British officer who was mapping that region mentions it in his report. Some people from a nearby village were forced to leave their ancestral village due to plague and move up the mountain, and one of them found a fort when he was out hunting up the mountain from the new village. Not surprisingly, the area had a reputation for being haunted for a long time before that.

But the most unique thing about this fort is its architecture. The fort is not located on a tableland or mountaintop as is common for all forts, but in a kind of valley (of course, located some 1000 metre above the surrounding area), surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, and overlooking a flat land on the fourth side, which slopes down to the lowland. Of course, the cliffs and the flatland with nothing to hide behind make the fort almost impregnable. Kind of reminds me of Schloss Adler in “Where Eagles Dare”, of course, minus the jutting rocks, Nazis and the cable cars.

And so, when grandpa told me to get him info and photographs of this fort for his book, I had to jump at the chance. As much as I am waiting for his book to be published, I really like the chances of visiting various forts and interesting locations from our history he gives me for it.

First thing to do was of course to call The Manager. As usual, The Manager was ready with suggestions and plans for the trip. I left him to do his thing, which left me free to call the other members of our team. I don't know how he does it, but he called me back in about 2 hours with all the plans, bus routes, timings and everything for the trip.

So, to cut the long story short, our team of 2 amateur photographers, an amateur artist, me (the writer, of course), and not to mention The Manager (who also doubles as the cook) is going to visit Vairangad over this weekend.

Kille Vairangad, here we come!!!

This is the starting of my new story, called "Fort Desolate". I am going to write it as diary entries of the grandson of a history teacher, who with his friends is visiting different forts in Maharashtra for a book his grandfather is writing.

Please comment on how you feel the start is, and any suggestions/changes/improvements are always welcome. The full story will be up with my other stories as soon as I finish it.



The Great Eagle has spoken...

Quote of The Day:
An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
- Charles de Montesquieu (1689 - 1755)

Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

Recently, a teacher wanted her students to read a book she liked. Given their past comments, she felt she would face considerable opposition when she asked them to read it. So, she told them the outline of the book:

The book is about a young orphan, she told them. He lives with his relatives, who hate him. But as he grows up, he realizes his potential. He meets new friends at his school, and learns about friendship, loyalty and other values. He excels at his favourite sport. Then, there is a mass-murderer on the loose, who has killed the hero's parents.

Then she asked them to write a page about whether they would like to read the book, and what will happen at the end.

After they had written in unison about what an interesting book it would be, she told them the name of the book: “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”. (this was before the movie was released)

Now, I thought it would be a good idea to ask you to give your comments before reading the last paragraph, so that I can call your bluff when you say in your comments how you don't find the books interesting. But it is not feasible. Instead, I am sure I can safely assume that there is at least one element everybody found in that story which appealed to you, and made you to read further. It's not just a kids' book you know...

As millions of fans around the world (reading in many languages) will tell you, the series is about how an orphan, left on the doorstep of his aunt and uncle finds about himself and his past, and his role in his world. When he enters the school, he is totally ignorant about everything in his past. But then, the most important lesson he learns is that, it's your choices and not your skills that determine what you are. It's not just about magic you know...

The series is also about Hermione Granger, who has magical skills despite being born to “normal” human parents, and even then, she is the cleverest of their class (in fact, in the whole school). It is about how you need not have blue blood in your veins to excel in whatever you do. It is also about Ron, and how friends are loyal to each other despite being overshadowed by your friends at every step. It is also about how size is not an indicator of power, and how there is something more than just academic excellence in life. The series is also about how it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. About how values like loyalty, friendship, bravery are important in life. It's not just about witchcraft you know...

The series is also about Prof. Dumbledore, the most powerful person in Harry's world. He is aware of his powers, but that does not make him lose contact with his students, and he is as funny as best of them. He tries to teach his students the difference between “being dragged in to face lions and entering the arena with your head held high”. He is the person who believes in giving second chance to even the worst persons and criminals, and sees the good in everybody. It's not just about Harry Potter you know...

Any person of any age who is reading these books finds something to interest him in it. There is brave Harry, with his friends, Ron who is a loyal friend, and Hermione who is the bookish. There is Gred and Forge (sorry, Fred and George) Weasleys, the Troublemakers-in-Chief of the school. In their own words, their pranks are “so many that it is hard to keep track of sometimes”. Then there is Dumbledore, who is the most powerful person in the world, yet he enjoys sherbet lemon, lemon drops, and is funny enough to match Fred and George. These do not even cover the complete list of “good” characters, and I haven't yet started on the bad ones yet.

It shows in every page, every paragraph that J. K. Rowling has the complete story in her head from the start. There are clues enough in spread everywhere, which show you the way story will go (and make you go, “so that's what that meant” when you come across the explanation of the clue sometime later, many times in some other book). Just to give an example, a character in book 5 mentions, “"...at the solstice will come a new... and none will come after..." There were a lot of discussions about what this meant in the fandom. The title of the seventh (and last) book of the series was announced on JKR's website this winter solstice (21st Dec).

I guess at this point, it should save me a lot of words to mention that these are books (along with PuLa's books I mentioned earlier) which are beyond Book(?)...err scale. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is The Book I am waiting for...

For all those people who want to start reading (come on, admit it guys), I will recommend that the best book of the series till now is “Prisoner of Azkaban” (and each book contains enough back story to read independently), but then, it is always a good idea to start at the very beginning.





P.S. For all those people still saying that this is kids' book, about magic and all, please count the number of times I needed to mention magic, spells, witchcraft etc. to tell you about the books.

P.P.S. For all the "grown-ups", there are adult editions of the books too.


The Great Eagle has spoken...

Quote of The Day:

"E for 'Exceeds Expectations. And I've always thought Fred and I should've got E in everything, because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams."
- George Weasley

Those Were The Days...

(a.k.a. The Wonder Years Tag)

This is my 50th post on this blog....

Thank you for all the applause, hope you could see me taking the bows there (not curtain calls, I am afraid. I am going to continue writing). So, I was thinking for a long time what should I write. I mean, I should be writing something important, about a topic I really feel about to mark this important milestone, right? I thought about a lot of topics, including a Marathi book I love, a new author I am reading, a great TV serial I am watching right now. But then I thought, what in the world is more important than... “me”?

So, I am taking up a great tag, started by one of my favourite blog-writers (this has nothing to do with the fact that she called me “The King of Commenters” or something like that)

The Wonder Years Tag

1.Write 8-10 things about childhood ( 1-12 years) that you miss.
2.Write 8-10 things that you disliked about childhood.
3.Tag a few people.


Since the tag is about 1-12 years, I have to leave out anything we did in 8-10 std in school, which is bad, since 10th std was when we had the most fun in school. Also, I don't remember much till when I was 2-3 years old, so cannot write anything about that.

What I miss about my childhood

1. The long diwali vacations and even longer summer vacations. We used to go to Nasik every summer.


2. School: I cannot miss it more. We had the greatest group in school, and being the top of class (which directly meant top of batch), we were (almost) every teacher's favourite. I miss that preferential treatment in school.


3. Cricket matches: we played cricket on weekends using bats and rubber balls. In the school though, it was writing pads and plastic balls. We had the record of scoring 24 runs in an over. In fact that was 24 runs in 2 balls, if I remember correctly, since after so many wides, the over was cancelled, making the score 24 runs, no wickets, 0 balls.


4. Football in break: This wasn't using normal footballs, or even normal rubber balls. We used to play with the hemispherical rubber balls which were broken due to excessive beating in cricket. The ball used to trace a nice circular route when kicked, which accounted for a lot of kicks to the shins we got while playing. Also, watching the ball turning away from goal without anybody touching it was a bit of fun for everybody involved (in defending team of course)


5. Competitive exams: and of course, classes for these exams. It was fun attending the classes before and after the school with my best friends.


6. Playing with my cousins: in nasik. I am older than all my maternal cousins. And frankly, my sister being 5 years older than me, while we all being born within 5 years of each other, she is kind of outside our group. Anyways, I miss playing with them.


7. Being the youngest of all the cousins on my father's side. Well, I am still the youngest, and still get all the attention I want for that, but it was much more fun when I was in school and “the kid” in all senses of the word.


8. Watching the Sunday morning serials, with my parents. This was more for the sunday morning heavy breakfast, and second coffee, than actual serials. Well, we had some good serials then, including Ramayan, Mahabharat. Of course, watching Rangoli was a bit of event too.


9. Late night cards sessions with my parents, my cousins, my grandparents. These were once in a while, holiday sessions, which would later include coffee (I learnt to make coffee when I was pretty young). There were also movie sessions on saturday nights.


10. “Laurel & Hardy” and “Tom & Jerry”: my friend had video cassettes. Our deep study of these started in his house watching those movies on his VCR. I still have the memories of us sitting in his room on the roof of his house, watching the movies.

What I disliked about childhood

I don't remember many things which I actively disliked or hated in school. Let me try and think some of them up.

1. I was an accident-prone kid. I broke the bone in my right hand when I was 2 years old, the other bone was broken when I was in 8th standard. I had so many hospital visits that I am pretty much sick of hospitals now.


2. The teachers who used to beat students up. And then there was a teacher who used to tell me every day that I would do better to not be friends with my best friend.


3. Drawing class in school: unfortunately, my drawings did not count as modern art too. But though I could and did keep my colors inside the lines, drawing the lines themselves was a bad. My drawing submission eve was the time when my mother and sister drew the requisite things while I tried to fill colors.


4. Learning Marathi Grammar: I cannot recall even one of the things they taught us, except where to put what in a sentence.

Sorry, I can't go on... once I started, I realised how many bad memories I have... I am sure my (auto)biography will tell all how I became such a great man in spite of such adversities...


Whom I am going to tag

This is going to raise my spirits... So Sid, you do take up tags pretty well, so here's one more. Almost everybody else I know has already picked up this tag, so *donning helmet and protective suit*, I tag, you know.... *running off to bomb shelter*

The Great Eagle has spoken...

Quote of The Day:

People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children.
- Bill Watterson (1958 - ), Calvin and Hobbes

Back With A Bang... Sorry, Tag...

If there wasn't another post for last few days, it was because I was reluctant to push the last post down on my page (and that doesn't mean I was lazy as some might think). But, on fear of being frozen, I am back with a tag. And this time I am going to lay my soul bare for the world to gaze at and marvel what a great person I am...

Rules of this tag:

1. Name the person who tagged you.
2. 8 things about you.
3. Tag 6 people.

Question 1: (Sounds like I am writing an exam, right?)
This time, it is the charming etc. etc. (for complete list, contact her) ex-doofus and my partner in crime... sorry, my fellow-philo Kusum who tagged me. And while we are at it, if any of my lines seem a bit out there, remember that we are philosophers and there is some residual effect (*ouch*) of a well-aimed flowerpot...

Question 2:
Apparently, this can be anything as long as it is about me... now that's interesting... so many possibilities, so many things to tell... and nobody to confirm or deny anything I put here. *evil laugh* Now that's my favorite type of post. So, where should I start?

• I am an aspiring writer. I have written some stories till now, and have played some part in the magazine we used to publish in our department in my engineering college.
  OK, so you know this already, but how many people know that my first piece of writing (and prize-winning, published piece at that) was a poem I wrote when I was in 4th standard? It was about summer holidays if I my memory serves me right...


• I have a large circle of acquints, but it takes some time for me to become a friend. So, I have very few, but extremely close friends, and we are (mostly) together from our 3rd-4th standard. Yes, you guessed it, we form The Knights of The Round Table. (That post just keeps getting postponed).


• I find it very very hard to be serious, and I can make fun of almost any situation. I have found it helps keep me the sane, well balanced person I am (no snickering at the back there, I can hear you)


• I am normally found pulling somebody's leg. The victim can be anybody, and even though teaser can be teasee anytime on The Round Table, I am the person who is the teased least, or hit least (Offense is the best defense, you know)


• I am a movie buff, and though the number is reduced in last year, I used to watch at least 2 movies every weekend when I was working. I guess I haven't missed any single good (and sometimes bad) movie when we were in college either. I can foretell what is going to happen in almost any movie (which is not saying much, I know) Yes, I have watched movies like Jis Desh mein Ganga Rehta Hai, Yaadein, and recently Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Which just shows, I have a lot of patience...


• I am an confirmed fan of Sherlock Holmes. I have read and re-read the books at least 100 times (in fact, if my memory serves me, this was the first English books set I bought, ever). Given my slightly bad memory for names, I can recite the whole plots of every single Sherlock story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, ever, along with its salient points, and recite the name of the book Altamont slipped the von Bork, instead of naval signals, from memory...


• OK, let's get some things over with. I still read comics like Tintin, Asterix (though I don't like Chacha Choudhary and public that much), Enid Blyton's books and many children's books. I can watch (good) cartoons for hours, and I am a great fan of “Laurel and Hardy” (while we are at it, why couldn't anybody get the references at the end of this post? What are they showing the children now-a-days?). And, I love chocolate in any form.
  In fact, now you mention it, I must agree, I am a child at heart. (Send all your chocolates to my address, none will be wasted)


• Last but not the least, I can read almost anywhere. I read while I am walking to college, I can read while brushing my teeth, tying my shoes, getting dressed. That, combined with my excellent reading speed, gives me an edge over normal readers, so that I can bombard people with my book reviews. I have finished an entire Champak (when I was in 6th I guess) riding pillion on a scooter in 20 minutes. I have finished the 5th book in Harry Potter series (an 870 page volume) in less than 13-14 hours, in almost one sitting (the day before my project orals in my last year engineering, which is no less an achievement).

Question 3:
And this is where I get to choose my victims... *evil laugh*. You know who I mean...
So, after thinking for a long time (about 2 seconds) about who should the persons I would like to perform open-soul surgery on, I have come up with:
1.Sid (he is always ready to take up tags like the good fellow he is)
2.Silverine (though I think we will get more material out of her brother M)
3.Deepa (she seems to have taken a sabbatical from blogging, which has extended way beyond my patience)
4.Nikichan (of course, the owner of cute mee-chan must be here, right?)
5.Keshi (of course, I would like to know more about the hot ghostess apart from coffee and blueberry muffins)
6.Cuckoo (did you seriously think you wouldn't be in the list? No chance of “later” here)

And, of course anybody who wants to take up the tag, please do so... and please leave a comment here so that I can visit you in the hospital with the Get Well card after your open-soul...

The Great Eagle has spoken...

Quote of The Day:
Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.
- Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)

Pu La....

Update: This post, along with all my book-related posts have been shifted to my new blog.
So please click on

"Vyakti ani Valli"

for reading this post on my new blog, or

"Lazy Habits of Thinking"

for my new blog.

---

---

“[If the people in this book come alive and meet me,] I will embrace them warmly!”
P. L. Deshpande (when asked about characters in Vyakti ani Valli)

Almost any marathi person's introduction to PuLa is reading “Vyakti ani Valli”, “Batatyachi Chaal” or “Asa Me Asa Me”. These books, along with his other comedy stories are so engraved on marathi psyche, that just the mention of the names of characters is enough to invoke laughter.

“Vyakti ani Valli;” consists of twenty character sketches of fictional characters written from around 1944 to 1968, but we can see those character traits even in people we meet today after so many years. And I think that's why PuLa is so popular even today.

The characters come from various backgrounds, are diverse in their traits. But almost all of them have one thing in common. They all form some part of tragedy of life, and when they try to fight their lives, that's what causes the idiosyncrasies which are the root of the comedy in their life.

So, you meet Narayan, a complete nonentity, but who is the omniscient, omnipresent being in the marriage hall. He is the person who is nothing in normal life, but he is The Person who ensures almost single-handedly that any marriage preparation he is part of will go without any incident, while remaining completely in the background.

And you have Gampu, who is known as Paropakari Gampu (Philanthropist Gampu), born to help others. You can recognize this person easily, as he is the one who will come to invite you to his marriage and tell you while leaving, “I saw some good rice in the market. Will get it for you once I am free from this marriage stuff.” In the same mold is Bapu Kane, who is born to be a secretary of every organization he sees. He doesn't differentiate between an organization which is in birth control and one which helps families arrange funerals.

All these people are nothing if seen outside their “expertise”, are extremely poor to boot. But they don't have to do anything to get their roles when their time arrives, and they have all the qualities (even slight arrogance) when it comes to finish their work.

And then, you have Sakharam Gatne (one of the most famous sketches in the book). He is the shy school boy who eats books as often as he breathes, speaks in Perfect Marathi (which is something beyond even written marathi, think about using words you read in your friends GRE books in normal conversation). And when the writer gives him the message, “Be loyal to literature” along with his signature, he is so faithful to literature that he refuses to marry.

And on the other hand, you have Namu Parit (parit = washerman), who has all the characteristics of successful laundryman: he breaks buttons, steals clothes from his clients (not steal, he wears them in front of same clients) and never gets the clothes back on time. On top of that, he drinks, has some other ahem... unsavory pursuits and is completely unaware that anything he does is wrong. Also, you have Babdu, who is the dada of his class in school, goes to jail on false charges, and comes back in writer's life for a day as a successful smuggler. But at the same time, he hasn't forgotten the laddus writer's mother once gave him, or his english teacher who was the only one who met him in jail.

Then there is Lakhu Risbud, who is an embittered writer, who wanted to change the world by his writing but instead ends up in an assistant-editorship in some second rate magazine. Also, the nameless person who is only recognised as “He”, the person who sells his scholarship to others and helps them gain recognition. “He” has created so completely his own reputation as a deceiver, that when writer gets to know his real story (“He”'s thesis advisor steals his thesis and gains recognition publishing it as his own), nobody believes him.

Then you have representative of all the poor in wealth, having characteristic sarcastic edge in their comments which can cut you to quick, but underneath all are big-hearted people in Konkan area, Antu Barva. Also, the representative of all the teachers who are devoted to their profession, Chitale Master (a teacher is called master in marathi). And who can forget 100% Pestonkaka, the perfect Parsi gentleman of yore. These characters are so representative and so completely part of marathi life, they shouldn't need any more introduction.

There are many others, but there are three characters which in my opinion, form the peak...

Nanda Pradhan, the cursed angel. He is a friend of writer's from college. This is a person whose mother ran away with their neighbor and father died when he was very young. This is the person whose wife was a jew in Germany, when he was there at the time of second world war. This is the person whose almost only love was unfortunately a daughter of an embittered old man, who asked her to choose between Nanda and feeding her three small brothers. Though he is the only person who was paired in almost every cute girl in their college (and who would have given “walk-over” by any boy in college in any affair), he is completely detached from life.

Natha Kamat, the eternal lover. He is the first one to know the complete biodata any new attractive girl in whole Mumbai. People can tell which parts in Mumbai have what quality in girls department by where he stands in local when the station arrives. He is the first one to visit all the colleges first thing in June, the day colleges open. He opens and closes many “accounts”. He gets many “cuts” in love life, but the only one which goes deepest is the girl who marries first the college hero and then a major in army, before killing herself.

Bhaiyya Nagpurkar, the so-called “gunda” of college. This was the first character sketch written by PuLa of the ones in the book. Bhaiyya is navabi, born with golden spoon in his mouth. He loves drinks, music (mehfils) and everything that comes with it. Though he is “brahmin” by birth, he is often mistaken for a muslim because of his mannerisms, not to mention his mastery of sarangi. He is recognised as the “mavali” (=tapori) by almost all, but he has photos of Mahatma Gandhi and autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru in his room. He drinks, but is not enslaved by it (and feels for the poor who spend all their earning in drink), and decidedly keeps away from drink for all the days Gandhiji was fasting.

I can write on and on and on about the book. But I guess saying that this is one of the few books which can score negative 10 on the Book(?)...err scale should tell you what I feel about it.



P.S. Read introduction about Pu La, here.

Update:
For all people asking for english translations, check out this excellent translation of "Chitale Master"...


The Eagle has spoken...

Quote of The Day:
He was a genius - that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities.
- Robertson Davies, "Fifth Business"