Our Destiny, Life and Prayers

From Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Overall, an OK book, a one time read. But there were these 2 or 3 bits that I just loved …Simple words…but so profound.

Coincidentally, all are from the Pray section of the book….surprising because I wear this badge of being a very unspiritual person!!!

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Better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody’s life with perfection. So now I have started living  my own life. Imperfect and clumsy as it may look, it is resembling me now, thoroughly.

God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are. God isn't interested in watching you enact some performance of personality in order to comply with some notion….

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Richard found himself praying all the time. His prayer was always the same. He kept begging God, “Please, please, please open my heart.” That was all he wanted – an open heart. And he would always finish the prayer for an open heart by asking God, “And please send me a sign when the event has occurred.” After a few months of praying constantly for an open heart, what do you think Richard got?That’s right – emergency open-heart surgery. His chest was literally cracked open, his ribs cleaved away from each other to allow some daylight to finally reach into his heart, as though God were saying, “How’s that for a sign?” So now Richard is always cautious with his prayers, he tells me. “Whenever I pray for anything these days, I always wrap it up by saying, ‘Oh, and God? Please be gentle with me, OK?”

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Of course God already knows what I need. The question is – do I know? Casting yourself at God’s feet in helpless desperation is all well and good – heaven knows, I’ve done it myself plenty of times – but ultimately you're likely to get more out of the experience  if you can take some action on your end. There’s a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, “Dear saint – please, please, please ….give me the grace to win the lottery.” This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, “My son – please, please, please…buy a ticket”

Almost Single

Recently I was in Alipurdwar, where my friend and her friend insisted that I should read 'Almost Single'. The author is alumni of my school, so loyalty to a fellow Welhamite demanded I read this book.
I was stuck at Siliguri airport due to bad weather and managed to complete the book in a couple of hours. I won’t say anything about the book. The reason being simple...recently a visitor to my house saw the book lying around and wanted to know what I thought about it. And I couldn’t remember for the life of me what I read in the book...and that is so NOT like me at all. If someone asks me what I think of a book like Kite Runner, I can point out the exact sections which I liked the most, what moved me, what I didn’t like etc.
Someone has rightly said "Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."

Manic Screaming

The moment I heard the name of the book –"I heard God Laughing" I knew I had to get a copy...
It’s obvious...with a name like that and the fact that it was not readily available at any of the bookstores!!!

It’s a collection of Hafiz’s renderings and each one is a gem... deeply passionate and always very inspirational.

One of my favorites -

God is trying to sell you something today,
But you don’t want to buy,
That is what your suffering is:
Your fantastic haggling,
Your manic screaming over the price!

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Its now become on of my favourite books...thanks Param for recommending this book and even sending me a soft copy. I now intend to buy this book for my collection…

It’s the most beautiful book I have read in a long, long time and touched me deeply…I could relate to the book as I often say...I don’t want to grow up.

The style of the book is wonderful...like a fable, very simple and at first glance looks like a storybook for children. Its less than 100 pages but it has so much depth in it. It is so philosophical but at the same time requires the innocence and faith of a child.

And the book has pictures!!! Interspersed with the text are more than forty childlike watercolour pen-and-ink pictures.

The book seems to be author's yearning for a freer and more sincere and introspective world.

It seems a bit autobiographical…the author begins with an anecdote from his childhood where he makes a drawing, which no adult is able to understand. In fact he is told by sensible (!!) adults to put down his paints and coloured pencils and concentrate on "matters of consequence" – thereby ending "what might have been a magnificent career as a painter."

The book then skips to several years later when the author has himself become a sensible adult(as he says) and as he describes his interactions with other adults I was thinking…so damn true…

One day he meets the Little Prince in the middle of the desert. The Little Prince lived happily alone on his small planet until the wind planted for him a new seed, from which sprang the loveliest flower he had ever seen. He lavished his love and attention upon the flower, which in turn tormented him with her vanity and her pride (so much like the control that adults typically want to exercise over people they love), ultimately driving him to abandon his home and venture forth into the galaxy in search of the secret of what is really important in life. He visits several planets and their owners till he reaches Earth where he finally learns this secret from a fox - the secret of unconditional love, which makes all things unique, and how the pain of saying goodbye is worth it if it changes how we look at the world.
This book is a MUST READ….
I finish with a beautiful quote from this book
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

~ Arnold Lobel

Illusions - Richard Bach

I just finished reading Illusions by Richard Bach...for the 2nd time if I don’t count all the times I have just opened it on a random page and started reading it.
Once again Richard Bach emerges a star as this book helps clear up my mind...helps me address all the apprehensions and concerns I have been facing lately.
There are 2 parts in this book that are my favourites. One is when Don is on the Radio Show and the way he insists that we have complete freedom to do just what makes us happy, is really inspiring.
The other is when he talks about the typical rant that we all hear in our lives –"I do unto others as I would have them do unto me but..." The results are never as we expect ...are they? His explanation as to what makes us think that the other people want to be treated like that, in the first place, makes one rethink all the times we wonder what went wrong?

A few of my favourite quotes from this book…

If your happiness depends on what somebody else does,
I guess you do have a problem.
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Don’t be
dismayed at good-byes.
A farewell is necessary before
you can meet
again.
And meeting
again, after moments or
lifetimes, is certain for
those who are
friends.
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You are
never given a wish
without also being given the
power to make it true.
You may
have to work for it,
however.
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Your
conscience is
the measure of the
honesty of your selfishness.
Listen to it
carefully.
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There is
no such thing as a problem
without a gift for you
in its hands.
You seek problems
because you need
their gifts

Patricia Cornwell

A couple of weeks back I was depressed...my library had closed down for refurbishment. They did open in an alternative place...but only 3 days a week for a couple of hours. My library opened 7 days a week and on Fridays it was open till 8:00 PM!!!
I happened to mention this to my colleague and next day she bought a book for me. The cover was sinister and the name weird –Cruel and Unusual.
I doubted that I would enjoy that book...but I thought something is better than nothing...a couple of chapters and I was hooked. And a few days later I stayed up till 3:00 AM to finish that book...
Currently I am reading Blow Fly by the same author...half way through now. When I started the book I thought so many characters, different locations...how do they stick together...but as the plot unravels...it is amazing...
I have always enjoyed mystery books...whether it was Secret Seven & Famous Five as a kid, or Nancy Drew and Hardy boys as a teenager, or finally Agatha Christie, M M Kaye, Sherlock Holmes. Now Blow Fly has made me an absolute fan of Patricia Cornwell.
She’s a crime writer and both the above books are from a popular series featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. They involve a great deal of detail on forensics - innovative but sometimes quite grisly…Gripping and horrifyingly good…
However, when I discussed her with another friend, she said she loved the initial few books but the quality has been dwindling…
Guess I’ll just concentrate on her earlier works!!!

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach

I have read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach many times and each time this book manages to make me look at my career and life from a different perspective…
‘Great things come in small packages’ holds so true for this book, which is just a little more than 100 pages, many of which are up-close pictures of seagulls courtesy photographer Russell Munson.
Even though it is overly simplistic, it stays in your mind for always. A very heart-warming story about Jonathan Livingston, a sea gull…but unlike other sea gulls of his flock that just want to glide along, he wants to soar high like the eagles and attain speeds that sea gulls have never even thought about. He wants to perform acrobatics…he wants to attain perfection in his flying techniques…
He thinks that flying is for more than just getting some scraps for eating…
As others search for food, he keeps practicing and for this eventually he is labeled an outcast…
But he persists, till he finds more like him many years later. He then returns to his flock and slowly and patiently works on them till his ideas are accepted by others from his flock who then become his students…
It is a book that one can easily apply to our culture where change is dreaded and feared. Then someone with the vision comes along…the resistance, the criticism he faces. The difficulty as he tries to keep faith in his beliefs, how many a times he would have just wanted to give up…all these emotions are so well handled in this book.
This book is about discovering your individuality. It is for those people who want more out of their lives…
And as I read this book this time I couldn’t help thinking about A, who I met recently…he fits the bill of a JLS

(The Complete??) Pride and Prejudice

At some point of time most girls have read (and loved) Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice... me being no exception...
I still remember a bunch of us discussing it with our English teacher...Miss Sen...

This analogy on P & P is hilariously brilliant..wanted me to just grab a copy and read it again...

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one of the best-written books I have read…

Even in its simple style the book is immensely powerful and is able to arouse a Kaleidoscope of Emotions...

It took me back to my childhood … when my mother would tell me stories about Sikhism…called Sakhis… the narrative style of this book was like that…simple but so engrossing that you just do not want to put the book down.

The author has used the style of the Russian Authors – while telling the story of Amir and Hassan, it looks at the history of Afghanistan as it moves from its final days of the monarchy, to the Soviet invasion and then the atrocities of the Taliban.

Set in Afghanistan it starts with the childhood of Amir, a small boy from a rich well to do family...who has all the worldly things he could ask for, except his fathers love. He thinks that his father hates him because his mother died during child birth. The father-son relationship is handled in a brilliant way.
The way the author describes his feelings you can almost feel the desperation on Amir’s part to prove himself to his father…

Hassan is Amir’s servant’s son– a Hazara (low caste), illiterate boy…with whom Amir has developed a close, unlikely friendship…Hassan literally worships Amir but Amir often makes fun of Hassan’s naivety and innocence …
At the annual kite flying competition, while Hassan again proves his loyalty…he could have given the kite to the bullies but does not because according to him it rightfully belongs to his Amir Agha. But Amir fails him as he hides and watches in fear as his friend is beaten and sexually abused by the bullies…

Amir goes on a guilt trip after that and avoids Hassan. This part of the book is heartbreaking. One cant help being moved by Hassan’s plight as the young child cannot understand what happened to his dear friend, why does he avoid him all the time, why don’t they spend all the time together as before, why his Amir Agha does not read stories to him…

But at the same time one feels bad for Amir. He was after all a child and its OK if he got scared and did not stand up for his friend…but the guilt and shame he feels is really touching…

This guilt sets the pace for the rest of the book.

Many years later Amir gets a chance to overcome his weaknesses. He returns from USA during the Taliban rule to atone for his sins to Hassan and save Hassan’s son Sohrab.

Sohrab’s character – again well sketched. The author is able to bring out his terror, his inability to trust anyone very nicely. A child’s mind… slowly seems to forget the past and learns to trust. But soon we realize how even a small slip can destroy everything that may have taken days, weeks …maybe even months to develop…and therafter how difficult it is to gain that trust again.

One line in the book that haunts me "How a child deals with terror – they just sleep it off…" and then I can just visualize Sohrab crawling into his bed and curling off to sleep…

The end is beautiful…as Amir repeats to Sohrab what Hassan said to many years back – "For you, a thousand times over"…

Overall an unforgettable book.

The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho

The Pilgrimage...magical is the word for this book...

It is the tale of Paulo Coelho's own personal pilgrimage along the road to Santiago ...he recounts his trials during the journey across Spain in search of a miraculous sword... However, slowly we realise that the true purpose of this trip is the spiritual wisdom that he gains as a spin-off of the search...

As he travels he recognises life's great truths...truths which we have actually known all along and dealt with in our day to day life...but refused or failed to acknowledge...

He talks of magic, mysticism, secrets, and mysterious ways...which I don't necessarily believe in...but there will be a learning from each of his experiences...something to apply in our daily lives...One does not have to say the prayer and hope that god will actually have pity...but there is so much that one can apply to one's practical life from that.
The scene where he is wounded but expected to erect the cross...he thinks its impossible...he wants to refuse...one hopes for a miracle to solve the problem...but applying his learnings he is able to do it...my take here is that...for all problems, one should look at the un-obvious ways to solve them too...

It’s a thought provoking book...about achieving the ultimate goal - the way to know oneself and the purpose of one's life.

Traveler that I am...I obviously enjoyed the travel perspective of the book and hope to do the trek myself someday!!!

Personal Vices

I am reading “The Pilgrimage” by Paulo Coelho…it’s a must read book…but more on that when I finish the book…this morning the chapter I read is really beautiful…(It touched me so much that I am actually typing out parts of it…)

The chapter titled “Personal Vices” is in the form of a prayer…some paras follow…

“Have pity on those who pity themselves and who see themselves as good people treated unfairly by life - who feel that they do not deserve what has befallen them. Such people will never be able to fight the good fight. And pity those who are cruel to themselves and who see only the evil in their own actions, feeling that they are to blame for the injustice in the world. Because neither of these kinds of people know thy law that says ‘But the very hairs of your head are numbered’

“Have pity on those who command and those who serve during long hours of work, and who sacrifice themselves in exchange merely for a Sunday off, only to find that there is nowhere to go, and everything is closed. But also have pity on those who sanctify their efforts, and who are able to go beyond the bounds of their own madness, winding up indebted, or nailed to the cross by their very brothers. Because neither of these kinds of people know thy law that says, ‘Be ye therefore as wise as the serpents and as harmless as the doves.’

“Have pity on those who are fearful of taking up a pen, or a paintbrush, or an instrument, or a tool because they are afraid that someone has already done so better than they could, and who feel themselves to be unworthy to enter the marvellous mansion of art. But even have more pity on those who, having taken up the pen, or the paintbrush, or the instrument, or the tool, have turned inspiration into a paltry thing, and yet feel themselves to be better than others. Neither of these kinds of people know thy law that says, ‘For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.’

“Have pity on those who bind themselves with the silken ties of love, and think themselves as masters of others, and who feel envy, and poison themselves, and who torture themselves because they cannot see that love and all things change like the wind. But pity even more those who die of their fear of loving and who reject love in the name of a greater love that they know not. Neither of these kinds of people know thy that says, ‘Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.’

Stray Birds

Another upside of the fractured foot is the amount of reading I have been doing these last few days...

Read Rabindranath Tagore's Stray Birds...simple and short verses but with so much depth...(well that is Tagore!!)
It contains thoughts on Nature, Man, and the Environment ...

Imagine yourself sitting by a window where the stray birds of summer sing and fly away...the thoughts are like these stray birds ...however they fly away to come back to you again and again...

Some of the verses that I enjoyed ...I actually enjoyed all...but I think I should leave you to read the them yourself..

6
If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.

42
You smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long

71
The woodcutter's axe begged for its handle from the tree.
The tree gave it.

113
The hills are like shouts of children who raise their arms,
trying to catch stars.

124
"In the moon thou sendest thy love letters to me," said the night to the sun.
"I leave my answers in tears upon the grass."

135
This rainy evening the wind is restless.
I look at the swaying branches and ponder over the greatness of all things.