Author Author !

Just finished a breathless journey with Prof Robert Langdon thro the Vatican City and its secret lairs and I must say Whew! That was some trip Mr Brown..Can't wait to see the film now ( For those not clued in, talking about the book "Angels and Demons" -now a major motion picture ) For those of you who plan on seeing the film this weekend as it releases here, I have one word of advice..read the book otherwise it may seem like a roller coaster ride that you can't quite figure out. And those who are livid with the creator/film maker for hurting religious sentiments i would say..Keep the faith.

At the risk of sounding snobbish.I have to confess best sellers are not exactly my cup of tea. Give me Murakami, Fitzgerald, Ilosa, Marquez, Hemingway,Amitav Ghosh, Rushdie and that growing breed of talented little known Scottish writers any day..there are books you never want to get out of...have you ever felt that tinge of sadness and longing at the end of a really good book? That you didn't want to wake up from that almost real world you found yourself in ( however improbable and bizzare it may seem..) That is when you truly know a genius. May their tribe increase !

Book shelves in the swanky bookstores are crammed with newer and newer authors Every other guy is an author. Best sellers( ?????!!!!!!) these days are written by CEOs of successful companies , Wannabe Prime Ministers , IITians ( these guys have hit the jackpot though ) a whole lot of people who have joined the bandwagon. Publishers give the contracts to these guys becoz they would guarantee sales of the mandatory 1500 copies, either buying it themselves or forcing it upon their minions..But look beyond the display shelves and browse among darkest and deepest of corners ,you might come up with a treasure which the sales guys don't bother to promote..Good literature never prostituted itself..Book promos these days are undertaken by media -savvy authors..It helps if you are good looking and have an attitude to boot. Smart sound bytes and couple of tete-tete with a TV anchor, you have arrived. Who knows , some editor might reward you with a column ! Where are the reclusive, eccentric,talented writer of yore? You will find them when you look hard enough..

P.S.I have to add a footnote here. Reading is entirely one's personal choice. What works for me may not work for you..Go out and look for your own personal worlds out there.. And one more thing ..Dan Brown rocks ! May not be great writing but rivetting stuff...

Monsoon blues

Simply can't understand why poets and sundry tourism promoters in Gods Own Country wax eloquent about the monsoons. Sure,Monsoons are pretty sight if you are sitting on your veranda and sipping hot tea watching the rain gods wreak havoc.. But if you have to step out and go about your daily existence it's an entirely different thing...
Ask the average Keralite...Sitting in the Monsoon heartland and waiting for the downpour, my sympathies are with the little ones who begin school in these parts on June 1. They have to fix their huge educational baggage on the back plus the lunch basket and waterbottle..To top this all, the poor kid has to arm himself or herself with a raincoat and an umbrella.
Umbrella makers in Kerala are an innovative lot..Every year they bring out varieties of umbrellas that also function as gadget toys..They know the pester power works...This year the winner seems to be one with the bubble burster ( wonder whether there's a bubble- making facility involving raindrops..in which case, it 's definitely worth the buy..imagine going along collecting raindrops in your umbrella and blowing them as bubbles! What fun! )My daughter and I have made a mental note to check out this one before we leave to our summery homeland .
Monsoons also bring out the creepy crawlies out of their resting places.. Our pet rabbits Cabbage and Lettuce are an adventurous lot and if they survive this monsoon without an encounter we can count ourselves lucky! My nephew and daughter are still recovering from the death of their sqiurell Turner...A cold coming of it I have and if it doesn't give usher in a fit of asthma I 'll be eternally grateful to the rain gods..
Since a good three months of tourist season is at peril, the Kerala government's tourism spin doctors have come out with this wizard of an idea of Monsoon tourism package . They claim that the ayurvedic spa treatments work best in monsoon months! How many fall for this yarn , god only knows...As for me, will pack my bags as I begin to hear the rain drop fall...

The Hills are alive

Long over due post but have been on the move and living out of suitcases almost all weekends this month..But sit down I must and savour the memories of that last weekend up the hills. All of us arrived Saturday morn, sick with anticipation and for some with that familiar queasy feeling as one ascends the mountains..My daughter wanted to throw up and we stopped at a hairpin bend (as these curves are called ) and who greets us as we open the car door but a sombre looking rhesus monkey who refused to make space . We went further up and stopped .But there were rows and rows of monkeys seated like welcome committee members.. Finally the poor child had to resort to her burf bag she'd carried thoughtfully.

It's been a long time but Coonoor remains pretty much the same..we made our way down to Brooklands. Straight out a picture postcard, the cottage stood before us abloom in a riot of colours. Smiling happy faces came out to envelope us in that festive spirit...our bags disappeared inside and we soon scrambled on to a little bus for a trip to school. As we made our way up the familiar drive , we noted the changes the years have brought in. Every space available has been swallowed by concrete structures..more class rooms , labs, computer rooms maybe..(remember Computer was an alien phenomena at the times we lived there.) Orchards, rock gardens have all disappeared.. Only the nuns' garden remained florally magnificient.Thankfully the Chinese guava tree remained ..how many generations have climbed that tree furtively in the cover of many a dark night and shared the spoils among friends with triumph..The taste still lingers in the tongue...A tour of the dorms proved another disappointment as the entire block lay ravaged to make room for renovation..The wash rooms, the infirmary, the dining room was all set for a make over.. We spotted some lockers lying forlornly in the corner of the washroom..they looked the same..the stories they said to us ....we remember all you people who left a part of your lives here inside us- oh those devout ones who enshrined their dieties inside and lit little lamps in worship, the drama queens whose nail varnishes, kajal ,make up and accessories cluttered the little shelves .( all for those sweet Saturday afternoons ) and people( like yours truly) whose lockers remained mostly empty - friends remind me now- becoz I would lend everything I had to needy souls..other times , people took the stuff assuming I would be okay with it ! All I can remember is trying to break the locks becoz the keys I would perpetually lose..Finally I found the solution..Mobaj locks! The lock that opens with a clever twist of a hairpin !
The school ground had aquired an impressive stadium..sports obviously was big even today... When we left without meeting a familar soul there was a little bit of regret tinged with sadness..what did we expect? For the clock to stop or simply turn back..All things must change..Change we found in the neighbourhood eatery from where we used to source our masala dosas and biriyanis ..Sharing a wall with a hotel had its advantages..Even now I guess kids in boarding schools are perpetually hungry and looking for variations to the staple hostel diet...Give us a break from the "transparent vegetable" ( what was that? Chow chow ??) and the watery beet root !But now eating legitimately. seated respectfully on tables and placing our orders as "normal '' customers, the food didn't taste half as good. Menu had expanded but the flavour was missing...Changes.....
Afternoon saw us visiting some old teachers in their homes...Our Math teacher had just become a grandmother..her home which we'd visited while in school looked so pretty that some of the kids wanted to know if we could stay there! Our Biology teacher insisted we eat dinner at her place and our PT teacher cooked us an elaborate and delicious lunch . It was all a coming home feeling..Our Math teacher even brought out our class picture..The day ended and we spent the night talking, getting updated on each others lives ..story so far kind of thing..ofcourse some lives had taken extraordinary turns...bottomline was that we'd all come a long long way....

As a friend had asked before we set out on this pilgrimage, have people changed? Well, Yes and No... One can't be fifteen for ever I guess..but look closely..we have all shaped out the way we set out in the first place..our beloved slumber- loving sloppy friend remains the same but she has reached a higher plane and gone where none of us ever will..Those of us who had a heart- to- heart with her will marvel at her spiritual quest, knowledge , commitment and dedication. Hats off to you V!
As our two- day reunion ended, people began making plans for the next one ,two years from now...We'll be back..Adios Amigos!!