Talkative Man – R.K. Narayan
The Talkative Man tells the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at the Malgudi train station to pursue a purported U.N. project. The stranger winds up staying at Talkative Man’s home, where he begins to seduce the librarian’s daughter.
As the plane flies over the blue sea,
Suddenly, you see land and rivers and a patchwork of fields;
As the plane swoops down to land,
Small as an ant, you see people and farmland;
The plane lands and there’s excitement in the air,
There’s a stampede to exit the stair;
As you exit the aircraft, the smells envelop you,
Gathering you in their warm and humid hands;
That’s when you take a warm breath in the crowded aerodrome,
And you know….you’ve reached…. home!
Troubled Pilgrimage: Passage to Pakistan – Balwant Bhaneja
Troubled Pilgrimage: A Passage to Pakistan is about a journey by the author, a retired Canadian diplomat, who is visiting his ancestral land of Sindh and Punjab in Pakistan, the first visit since he was five. Bhaneja’s Hindu family had to leave their homeland following the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in August 1947.
The author’s journey begins at the Birla House in New Delhi, India where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu extremist over sixty years ago, from where he travels into Pakistan during the troubled and violent spring of 2006. The reader is taken through bustling Islamabad, the back streets of the author’s birthplace Lahore, and to the more remote, and mysterious towns of Sukkur, Rohiri, and Shikarpur in Upper Sindh, the ancestral land from which he and his family were exiled. After revelations about his past, his nation and his people he returns to Delhi for an audience with the “Refugee” Prime Minister I.K. Gujral.
The trans-cultural narrative deals with the universal theme of displacement and how it impacts mind and psyche of those involved. It is a thoughtful work about how our multiple identities shape and get played out in a globalized world. What makes some to leave their homelands while others to stay on despite fears and uncertaint
As mentioned last week, I went for another interview earlier in the week. It was quite promising and the main person on the panel (there were 3) spoke of what I would do and what I should focus on. I am supposed to send them some writing work done (they needed some help in some marketing collaterals and so asked me to do one as a sample), but I have to still hear from them on what I need to do as well as meet the top person, which will happen towards the last days of the month as that person is still travelling. So let’s see. The job seems interesting, the people nice. If I get it, it will be good, but otherwise, I am feeling quite zen….
The last two Sundays have been busy with going to S’ relatives places to invite them for BB’s thread ceremony. We decided to only go to his close uncles and aunts (parent’s siblings) and sister’s place to invite. The others, we will post the invites. The time for us to leave for the ceremony is nearing and there’s so much to do!
We also need to prepare for my father-in-law’s annual death anniversary (called shradh in Hinduism) which we perform each year to keep his soul as well as the soul of his ancestors happy for the rest of the year. He passed away just before Diwali and so I usually will wait for this to finish before I start working on my Diwali preparations. So it’s a busy month for us here….
Over the weekend, GG & BB had their annual music class concert at the nearby temple where their group again sang a devotional song in their group in honour of the various goddesses.
Today is the ninth day of the Navratri, which we South Indian’s celebrate as Saraswati Pooja. Today is the day we honour the Goddess of Learning and so I have put a few of GG & BB’s school books plus a laptop in front of a photo of Goddess Saraswati. This honors and celebrates anything that you use to learn and work.
Have an amazing week filled with positivity!
We’re in the midst of exam season for both BB & GG. BB’s exams get over one day before GG’s next week and then till the end of the month they will still go to school but have non-studies components until the end of the month when holidays start.
Both of them say ‘OK’ when asked how the exams went until today, but I guess the proof in the pudding is when we get the marks back. That’s when we’ll actually know how well they have done.
Next week, when they have a holiday for marking day (luckily the same day for both), I will be taking them to the bank’s local branch to open a savings account for both of them. This will be kept separate from the trust accounts I opened for them when they were around a month old. The money there (in the trust account) is meant for their tertiary studies and can’t be touched by them under any circumstances (I’ve indoctrinated them about this from the time they were babies and so they do know they can’t touch this account). However, to operate a savings account independently, they need to be 16 years old, but between the ages of 12 and 16, they can operate this account under parental supervision and consent.
The main reason for opening a bank account at such a young age is to get them familiar with this process now and also make them financially literate before they start working and earning serious money. I’ve also told them that by the time they finish school, they should have more than 80% of the total money they get over this period of time saved up. GG is good at saving and even now she’s managed save double that of BB, so I need to work on him for this now. Let’s see how this pans out.
