A new Rapunzel - By my daughter Aishani

Tonight, after the 3rd storybook was read (yes, we did set a limit of 2 but ....) my 4 year old pleaded for another story - to be told by mommy storyteller. So I started with Rapunzel. Now, I am a bit guilty of converting the everyday fairy tale into a "story with a moral" and the moral usually hovers around " Always stay with mommy and daddy" or " Don't talk to strangers" or "Never Lie". Actually I have gotten pretty good at it and I glibly add bits here and there as to how the fairy or princess wandered too far or even spoke to the evil witch and consequently bad things happened.

Anyways, as usual I digress. My daughter insisted that she there was another story about Rapunzel and this how it went :

Rapunzel wandered away from home and reached the airport in Boston. She was on one side and her parents were on the other side and so they could not meet. She went into the wrong plane and sat on the wrong seat and reached the wrong destination. But as she was walking on the wrong side she suddenly found that her mom and dad were on her side and they hugged each other. Then they ran home. The End.

She told the tale joyously. I noticed the quite apparent absence of "hair", "witch", "tower" or "prince" which I tend to relate with Rapunzel. She insisted on the part when they all ran home. I actually checked with her since that was quite intriguing. So there, my little daughter's first very own story and hopefully there will be very many more to come. And hopefully mom and dad will still have some leading roles.

Bitter Sweets

The striking red Sari on the cover of the book caught my eye as I was checking out yet another set of Childrens Books at my local library. Having given up the right to wander anywhere away from the Kids Section since my daughter turned 2, I seized this oppurtunity and picked up the book hoping that the contents will be as appealing as the cover.

The men are the victims in Roopa Farooki's novel "Bitter Sweets". People come and go with disturbing speed and their stay within the pages tend to be abrupt and unconvincing. The book spans across 3 generations of characters each with his/her own quota of vague secrets . However the reader aka me in this case, is left with a vague feeling of mistrust since one really does not get the chance to know any of the characters in depth.

Story starts with Henna's father who has been more or less blamed for the errors made by all following descendents in the family tree. But that is the only time one hears about him - although he is the lone male species who has not been victimised in this story. So Henna and Ricky unites and Shona is born, Shona and Parvez unites and Omar and Sharif are born. Omar and Jim, Sharif and Candida unites respectively. And then there is Verity, Dermont, Uncle Aziz, Mother Karim all hovering around these many main characters.

To sum it all, a book with an interesting story (After all I did read it in 3 days which says much when you have a 4 month and a 4 year old) but a ghastly habit of jumping from people to people, places to happenings, starting one thing without finishing another gives the reader a frustrating feeling of incompleteness. Most disconcerting is the underlying disturbing belief of the novel that we will always repeat the mistakes that our parents did, that our individual sense of morality is completely and irrevocably dependent on that of our parents even if we are repulsed by the same values.

Author website - http://www.roopafarooki.com/

The Other Boleyn Girl

The most recent book that I finished reading - is simply fascinating. "The Other Boleyn Girl" is the mesmerizing tale of the Courts in England in the 16th century. The details of the proceedings, the fanfare, just the everyday dawn to dusk (and beyond!) activities of the court have been potrayed so vividly, one can almost imagine the richness and the extravagence of the times.

The fact that the novel is based on true research of the Boleyn family interested me immensely. Did all this really happen ? Were women that powerful and yet helpless in those times ? There are paradoxes in every paragraph. The author Philippa Gregory has been both acclaimed and criticized for the book. Some say that she distorted the truth, while others claim that the unknown Mary Boleyn has her story told at last instead of the famous sister Anne.

Just as a book without considering its percentage of truth and fiction, it is an extremely pleasurable read. Not easy to put down once I started, I highly recommend it. The characters are very well defined, very articulate. The language is beautiful and self depicts every scene, every fight, every seduction. But did Mary really long to raise her kids in the farm rather than the palace ? Did Anne and George have an incest relationship ? Could Mary's husband be so patient and tolerant with her (family's) pursuits ? Was the King so gullible? One wonders .....

Some more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Boleyn_Girl

I also learnt that a movie has already been made and due to be released next year.
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theotherboleyngirl/

Initiation - With a Poem

Let me initiate myself into the bloggers society with one of my favorite poems, by one of my favorite poets.

On the Nature of Love

By Rabindranath Tagore

The night is black and the forest has no end;

a million people thread it in a million ways.

We have trysts to keep in the darkness,

but where or with whom - of that we are unaware.

But we have this faith - that a lifetime's bliss

will appear any minute, with a smile upon its lips.

More poems by Tagore at http://www.writespirit.net/spiritual_poets/rabindranath_tagore_poetry