Bibliophilia: Bond...Ruskin Bond!

Got my hands on a short story collection of Ruskin Bond, the famous Indian children's story writer. This collection is titled, "Potpourri", which means "a mixture of things" or "a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl to perfume a room". Origin, French - a rotten pot.

The meaning and the origin are the courtesy of The Oxford Pocket English Dictionary which I have here by my computer table with its hard-covers ripped off with a few pages indexing the words initialized by 'Z', missing. There is nothing more satisfying to a reader (and a writer) than a worn and dilapidated dictionary. It is...so fulfilling. Just by looking at it for a few microseconds you begin to feel proud/content with your vocabulary and literary achievements. If placed on a coffee table or somewhere in the living room, it will surely elicit praise and admiration from your guests and friends, as a symbol of your literacy and knowledge. (Irrespective of the fact that I have weak spelling retention but, a great meaning retention capacity.)

This gives me an idea...(link to my another post on the digressing idea, in order to keep the blog posts themes and premise in a more consistent and terse fashion).

Returning, to Ruskin Bond, short stories at hand. Ruskin Bond's stories that I've read right now are: "Our Great Escape", "Gone Fishing", "Susanna's Seven Husbands". Some of the stories of which I have some recollections are: "The Girl on The Train", "The Earthquake" and the poem: "Do you believe in Ghosts?".

Currently, my personal favorite of Ruskin Bond is "The Girl on The Train". Hush! I need not whisper anything about it, or, it'll become a spoiler! Short stories are more delicate than novels, you know.

This book happens to be with Ruskin Bond's personal commentary appended with the stories and a recent introduction (July 2007). A lot of funny idiosyncrasies and genuine humor is sprinkled in the introduction. His ideas and thoughts in the introduction are thought worthy and must be reflected upon.

The stories I have read are beautifully simple, lucid and yet rich with realism and emotion. Best fit for children's short stories and some deep thought provoking questions for us mature readers, too. Nonetheless, I am having a nice time reliving my childhood days and his life experiences via his narratives. I gotta buy me one of those hard-bound complete collections of Ruskin Bond as well as the complete short stories of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, by Agatha Christie.

I also am continuing my reading of Isaac Asimov's "The Rest of the Robots", already, mentioned in my previous blog post. (Link appended at the end.) This time completing the Section 2, titled "The Laws of Robotics" comprising of two shorts: "The First Law" and "Let's Get Together". I also, chanced upon an e-comic with the first three collected issues of "Transmetropolitan", one of the great graphic novels ever made.

Though not famous, Transmetropolitan, directly touches issues of grave importance in the current world spiraling towards becoming, Police States with growing corruption and injustice. It also, in the first three issues, beautifully shows the effects of alienating segments of society, discrimination, civil unrest/strife and the cruel actions of the government. Facts, themes and ideas that no longer are mere fiction but, now, resonate with recent world events and sociopolitical situation. And, the comic series being a Vertigo imprint is geared towards mature readers.

Meanwhile, delving deeper in, Asimov's, "The First Law", short story which records the first ever event of a robot's decision to override the hard-wired "First Law" which is;

"A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."

This overriding was due to the fact that it had begun to feel emotions and love (and subsequent attachment) which made it disregard the First Law in order to fulfill the demands of Love. I re-think this simple idea in the human context. Isn't this the very rule we violate in order to fulfill the demands of our love and other relationships. Isn't love the reason that one will go to war against someone else or avoid saving others in order to protect one's own self-interest (lovers, attachments etc)?

In turn that our attachments are the reason we will violate logically foolproof rules of peaceful self-existence. Doesn't the thief punished by law become a victim of circumstance and fate when his family is starving in poverty? Then why is Justice, blind? And, if it always meant to be blind then why do we tolerate such a system and not evolve it to incorporate the greater aspects of guilt, blame, sin and forgiveness.

Does that mean our self-interest is short-sightedness and our attachments are shackles binding us to err? Or is our defiance of this law, for short term self-interest truly or appropriately rewarding for us? Does this mean that we will always, sooner or later discriminate against someone or the other in order to favor those whom we are attached to (emotionally, socially etc)?

Maybe, this makes me feel a little comfortable with myself and my personal philosophy of perfect detachment and stoicism. Without emotions one will always make correct decisions but, then we also need humanity and morals to guide our laws and decisions for the greater good.

The other story, "Let's Get Together", is a modest mystery story with some adequate logical argument, mystery, challenge and strategy set in a fictional futuristic world of prolonged Cold War between the East and West (referred as "Them and Us"). Short, but, decent considering the age it was written in. Though, modern day marvels like Death Note, the Japanese Manga/Anime would make this look like ancient obsolete flint tools.

Books Discussed:

1. Potpourri by Ruskin Bond (Mixed Bag of Fiction, Autobiography, Poetry, Romance, Mystery, Supernatural, Horror and Humor)
2. The Rest of The Robots by Issac Asimov (Science-Fiction, Classic, Robots)
3. Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis - Vertigo (Comic, Mature, Dystopian Future, Social and Political Satire, Science Fiction)
4. The Oxford Pocket English Dictionary - Oxford University Press

Books Mentioned:

1. Complete short stories of Miss Marple by Agatha Christie.
2. Complete short stories of Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie.
3. Death Note a famous manga and anime.

Related articles

• Bibliophilia: Asimov, Milton and More..
• Con Art: Forging the Used Look

Con Art: Forging the Used Look

There is nothing more satisfying to a reader (and a writer) than a worn and dilapidated book. It is...so fulfilling. Just by looking at it for a few microseconds you begin to feel proud/content with your vocabulary and literary achievements. If placed on a coffee table or somewhere in the living room, it will surely elicit praise and admiration from your guests and friends, as a symbol of your literacy and knowledge. (Irrespective of the fact that you've read it or not.)

 

This gives me an idea...I should pick up a few second hand encyclopedias or thick voluminous books like War & Peace, Lord of the Rings or instead defile some of the technical programming books I have lying around here being rarely used  and in mint condition, How to Program Java by Deitel & Deitel would work wonders. Having watched a few seasons of White Collar and one movie, The Invention of Lying, I've been quite educated in the art of forging the rugged, aged and worn out look and feel in artifacts.

A few coffee stains, spills here and there. Folded pages. Randomly underlined texts (a personal experience from trying to highlight important portions of course books which inadvertently ended up coloring the entire book, instead of specific important sections). A few A4 printing sheets scribbled with notes, diagrams and barely legible re-quotations from the texts bibliography, index and chapter summaries. These A4 sheets can be aged by again spilling them over with drinks, food stuffs (avoid the cooking oil-stains - it looks unprofessional and makes you look sloppy), ink spills and then blow dried with a hair-dryer. The blow drying will create a little discolored tone representing age (Thank you, Neal Caffery!).

I saw the protagonist of The Invention of Lying, dousing the document in coffee, to colorize it. Though, I've no personal experience with it (coffee).  Oh! I forgot to mention some of these new printing pages are specially treated to avoid yellowish colorization which would make it quite difficult. Then, go for cheapest available A4 sheets or ripped out notebook pages. Also, fold the book carelessly to create the creases and folds in the covers, in case of paper backs.

Voila! You've successfully faked the use of your voluminous books that you abhor reading and yet, can con your guests in believing otherwise!

My personal tip: Read the Wikipedia summary of the books to get a brief idea in mere minutes before bluffing, else, your intelligent and knowledgeable guests will call your bluff. In my personal experience I have completely conned my old teacher who had assigned us to write a paper on Noam Chomsky.

Addendum:

I have one (proudly) unique habit of using playing cards ranging from "Duel Masters", "Yu Gi Oh!", "Magic: The Gathering", Standard Playing Cards and other trading card games (like Pokemon, which I abhor. The set of cards was an old gift, by the way. And, sports player flash cards) as bookmarks.


Keep a deck around anytime and just place one card whenever you need to bookmark.

How this adds to your forging the used look is by adding a card/book-mark every few chapters. The voluminous the book is the better the placing of the bookmarks appears. Those who are aware of your habit and practice of such book-marking will assume you've read a lot of the text and considered marking the pages for future reference.

I got this idea after my personal experience of bookmarking voluminous programming books. I used to first brainstorm a software/program I'd want to build. Then, I'd explore the Index and the Glossary for requisite locations and sections of text I'd have to refer, read, learn, understand or just mark for future reference.
Many a times I bookmarked all those important sections I did NOT know and intended TO DO. My friends would look at me holding the book with all its bookmarks jutting out and remark that I had thoroughly studied the material. When I tried to explain them my  purpose of bookmarking, they still did not believe. In hindsight I can say that, if I did not know the actual material but, would surely know which page, chapter and section to look for answers.

Other Links to Checkout:
1. White Collar TV Series.
2. Hellblazer comic which tells the tale of the world's greatest conman and occult detective.

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• The Art of Con 101

Bibliophilia: Asimov, Milton and More...

Been reading some real hard-copy books now a days after a long long time. The last hard-copy book I read out of my college curriculum was "Mysterious Mr.Quin" by Agatha Christie, a collection of mystery and crime themed short stories with a mystical twist. That was way back in '09, I believe. Since then I read a few e-books, but, nothing beats the smell and touch of printed paper. The feel of a book in my hands actually starts background thought processes, I feel, within me that gives me an immersive experience. Ideas, imagination and links with existing knowledge is formed. Meanwhile reading a digitized e-book version is an ersatz; It maintains an elusive detachment and requires greater concentration and effort to grasp the text. I'll blog in another post on my recently read e-books.

  

I picked up two books from an airport bookstore on my way back to Patna from Delhi. The first was an earlier read book, "33 Strategies of War" by Robert Greene; A very good book which assimilates and distills 33 strategies of war from history. Superfluous with facts and beautifully informative side-notes running parallel stories, from history, in depth with relation to references in the main text. I had read this book earlier when in High School. I had borrowed it for almost a year from my elder cousin brother and had to return it with a lot of text unread, not understood or, now, forgotten. This time, I am working through it slowly and memorizing the narrated stories and strategies for longer retention. (Thanks to a couple of memorization tricks and techniques I've mastered. Though, I'll not be

able to memorize the text verbatim.) 

 

The second book I bought was "The Rest of The Robots" by Isaac Asimov, the classic science-fiction writer. His works mostly have a robot theme with a socio-philosophical premise. It is a collection of short stories by Asimov. There was an offer going that time of 3 books for the price of 2 by the publishers Harper Collins, but, I did not find any other intriguing book by Asimov or any other author that would've made a set of three. (The other book with multiple copies was I,Robot by Asimov which I had seen as a movie starring Will Smith.) Hence, I settled for this one only. 

I, a few minutes ago, completed it's 1st set of stories from it's three groups; "The Coming of The Robots". Novel and decently humorous, I'll rate them. A lot of fancy science buzz-words have been sprinkled, as was common in those days (I'm talking about the 1940s, people!), which does not quite impress or affect me as was it's intention for readers then. Maybe due to my exposure and understanding of a lot of modern day science and science-fiction, makes it taste a little bland. Still, the stories do give an entertaining experience, considering the time they were written in, and ignoring my encyclopaedic knowledge of science-fiction.

This book that I bought also combines introductions by Isaac Asimov, himself, which explains the themes and premise he has structured his stories upon. He refers to Frankenstein and Faust to have primarily forced his thoughts and story themes to go in the direction they took. I am very much aware and know of both Frankenstein and Faust but, personally have not read any of these works (other than in cartoon and comic variants, especially in DC Comics). Faust is primarily a supernatural, moral and horror themed story while Frankenstein is based in horror and rudimentary science.

Personally, I found the short, "Victory Unintentional", quite amusing considering people of the characteristics and mindset of the Jovians (Dwellers of Jupiter) do exist. Go read the story if you want to know. Here's a link to the book on Amazon. (And, that is because some good products are Fulfilled Amazon; which means they personally package, send/receive in case of returns for free and is eligible for cash on delivery. Meanwhile, Flipkart still sucks. Good luck paying extra 

while you could've saved it for some other book.) 

 

I've also picked up John Milton's poem-book, "Paradise Lost", which makes it a difficult read. (But, thankfully not as difficult as "You're not a Gadget".) Old style poem-prose with Biblical theme and cast of characters, unknown to the modern eastern reader, would make it an instant turn-off. Though my knowledge of the myths, supernatural and religious materials is great enough to create sensory overloads, the book still is a slow read. The prime reason I'm reading this is due to its protagonist. The protagonist of the story is Satan and the entire Biblical chain of events and theology is narrated and shown from his perspective which makes for an interesting read. Plus, it has some really fancy texts. Take this for instance;

A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

Then there is one really strong rebellious dialogue worth thought;

Better to reign in Hell than serve Heaven.

But, what a great/foolish/masochistic decision, I'd say!! Reminds me of the concluding conversation between Dean Winchester and Castiel in Supernatural TV Series Season 5 Episode 22: Swan Song. (I'd recommend you to see the series from the start but, you can also gather enough emotion for this thought provoking reply by watching only seasons 2/3 to 5). Owning a hard copy of Paradise Lost does make it good for underlining texts. So, here's the link; (Be forewarned! I don't know which themes does it touch as I've not read it entirely yet. Just gotten my feet wet and this is a freaking long poem running 280 pages and was initially published as a set of 10 books back in the year 1667, and you thought Harry Potter was unnecessarily long?) Finally, I've been skimming the various models in the book, "The Decision Book" by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler, another non-fictional semi-technical book. Got it from Amazon, hardcover and all at only Rs149!! (One, of the reasons for my new allegiance to Amazon India.) Good book but, not for everyone. So, watch out and make sure it's worth your cash. For (a confused, a million thoughts & ideas a moment - brainstorm afflicted guy) me, it was totally worth it. Learned and tried out the first Eisenhower Matrix.

Books Discussed:

1. 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene (Non-Fiction, History, Strategy)
2. The Rest of The Robots by Isaac Asimov (Science-Fiction, Classic, Robots)
3. Paradise Lost by John Milton (Long Poem, Classic, Biblical)

Books Mentioned:

1. The Mysterious Mr.Quin by Agatha Christie (Mystery, Crime, Enigma/Paranormal)
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (Science-Fiction, Horror) - I must read later.
3. Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Supernatural, Horror ??)- I must read later.
4. The Decision Book by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler (Non-Fiction, Meta-thinking, Life, Mind)