Read the full review at Bengaluru review's newsletter - December edition
Tuesday, 29 December 2020
Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Major Pettigrew's last stand
Author : Helen Simonson
Set in the English country side in a a small village EdgeCombe St.Mary, Major Pettigrew’s last stand is a delightful tale centered around a retired army officer and his unlikely romance with a Pakistani shopkeeper Jasmina Ali.
Major Pettigrew is a quintessential respected gentleman in the village community. He is 68 years old widower who has lost his wife to illness, member of the golf club, a man of faith and a clear favorite among the ladies. He is very particular about his belongings and proud of his family background. At 68, people have fixed notions about life and are critical about accepting anything new. He is a typical gentleman who has aged well and is accustomed to his definite lifestyle, has selective friends and has fenced his boundaries. People in the village look up to him for his judgement and his word is honored in the community.
Mrs.Ali owns a shop in the village which is a legacy from her deceased husband. She sells essential supplies to the villagers who are not capable or running in short of time to travel to the nearby town for their regular shopping. Over a period of time, Major Pettigrew and Mrs.Ali develop a steadfast friendship because of their common taste in literature, gardening and varied aspects in life. When their friendship comes into limelight in the yearly village dance, the entire village scorns on Mrs.Ali as a permanent outsider, declining her right to be a part of the community. And it is up to the Major to take a stand against the village to give Mrs.Ali the special place she deserves or go on with his life as usual.
The book is a very interesting portrayal of the struggle faced by two old people belonging to two different cultures and the consequences they have to face because of their bold choice. Even the youth face the brunt of the society when they fall in love. The objections, the isolation and the criticism are immense. At a ripe age, when people usually resort to religion and faith, falling in love with someone from a completely different faith, brings rivals of all kind, seen and unforeseen. And as the Vicar very rightly mentions to the Major, “The lovers come to me for blessing to be in heaven together, when I cannot even promise them a grave side by side”.
It is not very difficult to understand certain conservative religious customs and practices, and the status in which the women are held by the conformists of those religions. The doctrines are laid and fanatics stand by them. The author very deftly brings out the difficulties faced by the protagonists when they are confronted by two such conservative belief systems in a very light hearted way.
There are other interesting characters in this book. Amina, a single mother struggling to find her standing in the village, the Major’s son Roger who befriends an American lady and Mrs.Ali’s nephew Abdul Wahid, who goes deeper into faith after being forced to sacrifice his love, each of them offer a fresh perspective to the reader, on how the personalities of the youth are molded based on their confrontations with the conservative society.
This is my second book from the same author and I love her narration style. Her books are primarily society centric with humor in abundance. But they progress at a very slow pace. A lot of pages are dedicated to social customs and dance parties. The subtle nuances and social protocols are highlighted in great detail. At the same time, they offer a deep insight into people’s characters and their reactions in the face of adversities. If you enjoy Jane Austen novels, you will love Helen Simonson.
It is holiday season and everyone is winding down their schedules. Curl up in your bed, with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy this read.
My Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍
Sunday, 22 November 2020
The Mummy of Monte Cristo
The Mummy of Monte Cristo by
J Trevor Robinson is a re-take of the ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, so I was
very curious on how the plot will be played.
A group of men put Edmund
Dantes behind prison because of vengeance and ambition. Dantes is dejected and
heart broken when he finds out he is imprisoned indefinitely. He finds a friend and a well-wisher who
reveals the hidden terrible power in the Island of Monte Cristo.
Besotted with revenge,
Edmund escapes prison to go to the island and mummifies himself alive to seek
the terrible power. Then he goes on his path of vengeance to destroy the lives
of all the men who imprisoned him.
The horror and fantasy
elements are very interesting indeed, I never expected the Kraken with it’s prying
tentacles in this book. There are vampires, zombies and a dangerous mummy.
Horror is usually not to my taste, but I did find myself reading this book,
possibly because I grew up reading “The Count of Monte Cristo” and the classic
is very dear to me.
I do not want to compare
this book with the classic, but this book can stand on its own. The characters
are developed and well-rounded to fit in the story.
If there is a qualm, it’s
just that it’s a bit too lengthy. Could have been shorter. Nevertheless, I
enjoyed the book.
My rating: 👍👍👍👍
Buy the book at The Mummy of Monte Cristo
Wednesday, 18 November 2020
The Summer before the War
Author : Helen Simonson
A very delightful historic fiction, The summer before the war is set in a small provincial English town Rye, which borders Belgium. The story is centered around feisty independent Beatrice Nash, who arrives in Rye after the death of her scholarly father. Her outlook is progressive and she wishes to carve a place in this world, and she seeks a teaching position at Rye. She is welcomed by one of the influential women in the town, Agatha Kent and her two nephews Hugh and Daniel. Beatrice’s progressive outlook is not quite appreciated by the small-town members, where people are in general meddlesome. Everyone in the town is well acquainted with others and it does get difficult to draw a line of discretion on private matters. Unmarried Beatrice faces challenges in every direction, first with a rigid landlady, the town leadership, unwanted suitors and tough pupils.
On the onset of the first world war, when the German soldiers march into Belgium, Rye sees an influx of refugees, the wounded and the homeless. It falls on the small community of Rye to provide shelter to these refugees.
Though all seems well at first, the past of few of the refugees comes to the light and does not escape the scrutiny of the meddlesome folks of Rye. Beatrice stands apart questioning their judgment and is forced to bear the consequences. And eventually Britain partakes in the war. Lives of dear ones is at stake. And Rye pays a very heavy price.
It is a beautiful book, albeit a little slow. It has got all the elements of Austen in it, the nuances of social etiquette, literature, dances, dresses, tea parties and of course the army. In between all this is a slow blooming romance between two kindred spirits who are meant to be with each other, but each trying to serve the world their own way.
The only thing which goes against this book is the length. Nearly 500 pages long, it does drag at places. And at times, there are certain episodes which seem out of place and do not get along with the flow of the book.
But I would love to see a television adaptation made out of this book. I am sure it will be on the lines of Downton Abbey and Persuasion. Austen fans, give this book a try.
Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍
Thursday, 22 October 2020
Ramayan Rendition-2020 (siya ka vilaap)
Jai Shri Ram ! This year's Ramayan rendition is the narration of events through the eyes of Sita. Sita comes across as a calm and a placid person, but in the end, she did take a stand, in her own way.
This is an attempt to explore feminism in the epic , though it needs to be clearly noted that we are talking about the events and people who lived thousands of years ago, when practices were different and we cannot entirely condemn or criticize anyone completely.
It is published in Amar Ujala, the hindi daily, literature section. Here is the link.
Sunday, 11 October 2020
Enola Holmes
Check my review on Enola Holmes in the IMDB critics reviews through The World of Movies.
https://theworldofmovies.com/enola-holmes-review-a-netflix-original-movie/
Friday, 18 September 2020
Sunday, 6 September 2020
Totto-Chan: The little Girl at the window
A perfect book to celebrate Teachers’ day and another gem in
Japanese literature, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the window is an educator’s
guide on how to deal with children with diverse needs. There is a lot of
history behind this book. The author, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, a very inspiring
woman is one of the most popular and admirable celebrity in Japan. She is an
actress, a television host and the UNICEF ambassador for thirty years. At the
age of 83, she still looks so young and energetic.
She started her first talk show on Japanese Television in 1975,
has completed more than 10,000 episodes and has entered the Guinness books of
world record for the longest Television show ever aired. And it is said that
the host never missed a single show.
The book “Totto-Chan: The little Girl at the window” is an
autobiographical account of the author, where Tetsuko aka Totto- Chan recounts
her childhood days in a school named Tomoe Gakuen, a unique Montessori-type
school which valued the freedom of expression and the spirit of curiosity in
each child.
It begins with Totto-Chan being expelled from her previous
school for non-compliance and bad behavior. She was more interested in standing
near the window and watching the street magicians rather than focus on the work
at hand. She would not listen to the teacher, makes a mess of her work and
disrupts the whole class.
Her mother, instead of rebuking her for her bad behavior
takes her to an unconventional school called Tomoe Gakuen, which is led by a
visionary headmaster Sosaku Koboyashi, who believed in a completely different
set of ideals on how to run a school.
He had modelled his school like train cars to get the
children excited about coming to school. As there were less than 50 children in
the school, each class had children with different ages and each child learnt
at his/her own pace. A lot of importance was given to outdoors, nature walk,
field trips and activities like farming. A child was encouraged to speak up,
anything as simple, as “Today I woke up and brushed my teeth” was appreciated
by everyone.
A child who threw a newspaper in a cesspool wasn’t rebuked
but just told to clean up after the mess. A teacher who made fun of a disabled
child was vehemently admonished to have brought down the confidence of the
child.
Totto-Chan increasingly started trusting her headmaster and
as the faith develops, so does the compliance. She was willing to do anything
for him including giving up her fancy ribbon as he could not find one for his
daughter.
She studied in Tomoe international for few years and transformed
from a problematic child into a world-famous personality. She attributes her
success to her headmaster who nourished the freedom of expression in his own
unique style.
Because of the Tokyo air raids in 1945, the school received
a severe blow, and the dream of Sosaku Koboyashi remained half fulfilled. His
other efforts prove less futile and he died in 1963.
Tetsuko went on to become an actress and started her own
television show in 1975. She published a series of articles in a magazine
between 1979-1980 about this unique elementary school she attended in her
elementary years.
In 1981, it was published as a book and Japan witnessed
history when it became an instant book seller breaking all barriers within a
year.
It started a new trend as the educational professionals in
Japan started analyzing the reason why the book was such a huge hit. This culminated
in a comprehensive assessment of the amount of dissatisfaction among the
children and the parents because of their prevalent schooling system.
More laurels awaited the book when it was translated to
English and published worldwide. The world embraced it with open arms, and it
triggered a new revolution in the world of education. Few chapters of the book
found its place in the text books of middle grade students. It has been
translated into multiple languages in India, Nepal and SriLanka.
The educators started using the book as a reference for best
practices conducive to support education for children with diverse needs across
the world.
My respect towards Japanese literature and the people
quadrupled after reading this book. Their perseverance, optimism in the face of
crisis and their out-of-the world innovative ideas are very commendable. More
one reads about them, more one tends to feel inadequate in one’s own
personality development.
I wouldn’t deny that I was expecting the book to end with
the school prospering with flying colors. I was curious to know how Kobayashi tweaked
the education system as the children grew older.
In the present world, the education systems are diverse and
supportive for all kinds of children. But my observation is that beyond Elementary,
they are forced to get into the rat-race of the academics sooner or later. This
also depends on the mindset of the parents, who are justified in getting
worried about the future of their children.
in 1937, in far less conducive circumstances, one man came
up with an idea of inclusion for children with diverse needs. Though Koboyashi
was the one who laid the foundation, it took more than 4 decades for the world
to realize his vision through this brilliant piece of work by his extraordinary
student, Tetsuko. We as readers should consider ourselves fortunate to read
about the lives of these two very inspiring people. They reinforce the belief
in us that the battle to make this world a better place is certainly worth
fighting for.
Perhaps it would take another Koboyashi to come up with a revolutionary
idea and define a completely alternate education system to cater to children
with diverse needs.
Meanwhile as the effort continues, here is a toast to all
those teachers who make a slightest effort to establish the empathy link with all
the children. Thanks for bringing out
the Koboyashi in you. We bow to you and are forever indebted to you. Happy
Teachers’ day.
Sunday, 16 August 2020
Friday, 14 August 2020
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)