Four hours reserved for traveling to and fro everyday seems to be pretty interesting these days. Weekend readings are thus easily transferred to weekday readings… in the trains of Mumbai.
Read a book, which I have always wanted to read earlier… "The City of Joy” by Dominique Lapierre…a book depicting the slums of Calcutta… about people like Stephan Kovalski and Max Loeb…about lives of characters like Hasari Pal and Aloka…about diseases…about the human horses…about floods and droughts…
This book is a tragedy its entire course, yet the element of hope and selflessness is very strong. But I guess Lapierre likes to move in one dimension…I mean when he elevates characters, he elevates them completely to sainthood…. maybe its true as this book is based on real life picture…. but I cannot imagine that someone can be as selfless as Kovalski or Max.
However this book has left an impression…I read this 500-pager in the local trains of Mumbai…and every time I look outside the window of a train…when I see the slums, this storyline of this book gets so easily reflected.
Also read Zig…the autobiography of Zig Ziglar, the successful marketer and public speaker…its always a different feeling to read an autobiography…its as if the person is sitting close to you and speaking his glorious life out. In this book, Zig describes his childhood, each of his family members and their impact on his career and life, about the Redhead, about the early financial constraints, failures and finally super success. But the distinguishing feature is his transformation into a devoted Christian during the journey of his life. At times, the later half of his book sounds slightly Biblical, but his approach to life is different and this book is definitely worth a read.
Autobiographies are like case studies…. they keep on reminding one philosophy and that is
“Isn’t hindsight marvelous for honing wisdom?”
Read a book, which I have always wanted to read earlier… "The City of Joy” by Dominique Lapierre…a book depicting the slums of Calcutta… about people like Stephan Kovalski and Max Loeb…about lives of characters like Hasari Pal and Aloka…about diseases…about the human horses…about floods and droughts…
This book is a tragedy its entire course, yet the element of hope and selflessness is very strong. But I guess Lapierre likes to move in one dimension…I mean when he elevates characters, he elevates them completely to sainthood…. maybe its true as this book is based on real life picture…. but I cannot imagine that someone can be as selfless as Kovalski or Max.
However this book has left an impression…I read this 500-pager in the local trains of Mumbai…and every time I look outside the window of a train…when I see the slums, this storyline of this book gets so easily reflected.
Also read Zig…the autobiography of Zig Ziglar, the successful marketer and public speaker…its always a different feeling to read an autobiography…its as if the person is sitting close to you and speaking his glorious life out. In this book, Zig describes his childhood, each of his family members and their impact on his career and life, about the Redhead, about the early financial constraints, failures and finally super success. But the distinguishing feature is his transformation into a devoted Christian during the journey of his life. At times, the later half of his book sounds slightly Biblical, but his approach to life is different and this book is definitely worth a read.
Autobiographies are like case studies…. they keep on reminding one philosophy and that is
“Isn’t hindsight marvelous for honing wisdom?”
3 comments:
Which trains do you ride to and fro? Thanks.
"City of Joy" had moved me immensely a couple of years back... DL's illustration of the rick-pullers [I cant recollect what he called them] had brought tears in my eyes... Anyways I have serious plans of reading it all over again. Only to know if I can still cry for the characters in the book.. Loved the way you critique.. Check out Shelfari.Easier to track.Keep reading and writing about your reads
-N
DL called them "human horses"
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