Whats your favourite kind of book? Does it have to be one of those gripping, edge of the seat, un-put-downable-unless-your-in-a-life-and-death-situation kind of book for you to get interested, or are you one of those read-when-i'm-free-run-along-at-a-casual-pace type of book reader? I mean that if you had to choose between the Da Vinci Code and the Great Expectations (supposing you haven't read either), which would it be? Personally I'd go for the former because slow paced books bore me very quickly.
Of course there are those books that are on everyone's must read list and whose reputation precedes them by a mile, Lord of the Rings being a very good example of such a book. Though when I read it myself, I found it too lengthy, tiring and making me wish that the whole bunch of good doers would get a move on for god's sake! At this point all the LOTR fans would rise up in protest saying that I had no real appreciation of the beauty and majesty of this extremely famous series of books. I would like to counter by saying that I have read other mythologies like Fire and Ice and Sword of Truth, that are big reads by themselves and though they may not stand shoulder to shoulder to LOTR for intricate detail, they hold their own when compared by standards of not boring the reader to death before anything significant happens.
So what does make for a good read then? There are other genres of course like sci-fi, thrillers, mystery, biographies, autobiographies, drama, comedy etc etc. But to keep the reader in me interested, the plot has to thicken quickly or else I'm liable to start looking elsewhere. Now there are some exceptions to this rule (aren't there always?), Gone with the Wind being the best example I could think of and such books, though not exactly a thrill-a-minute, still never fail to keep the reader hooked. A book I read recently, Anything for you, ma'am by Tushar Raheja, was a perfect example of the kind of story that doesn't give u a minute's time to think, forcing you to quickly grasp the events happening with and around the protagonist, at a pace some readers could find exhausting. But frankly I thought it was a great read and a great first effort by the author, for the same exact reason.
So why do I feel such a need to be kept on tenterhooks whenever I read a book? I completely blame our new age media, that has crippled me with a monster-sized Attention Deficit Disorder by feeding me more than I could handle since the minute I was delivered into this world of ours. Our food has to be fast, our news must be latest, our sports live and our lives itself a rat race. Honestly, does anyone realize how fast paced everything now is, how that poem Leisure by William Henry Davies is more relevant now than ever? Sometimes I wish I could take a moment to stand and stare, but everyone says I must run like a hare (not trying to be poetic). Now what was that old fable about the tortoise and the hare all about once again??
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Laughin' all the way
The most uncommon sense in the world, contrary to public opinion, is not common sense, but rather a sense of humor. Common sense is what is actually keeping a semblance of order in our world, but we would all be a lot happier, and a lot less peeved, were more people to have a simple sense of humor. I always prided myself on being able to see the lighter side of life, and though this does not necessarily mean I can crack a good joke, I know a rib-tickler when I see one. Being able to distinguish a good joke and then to laugh whole heartedly not only at jokes on others but also at oneself, constitutes what I consider to be a fully developed sense of humor.
Now some people might disagree with that opinion. I remember reading the following quote or a similar one at the bottom of a page in one of those diaries that has quotes at the bottom of every page (my favourite kind when I was a kid) : " A man who can laugh at himself is the best man in the room.". So throughout my life I always took jokes directed at me rather sportingly, and so made for a rather poor butt of jokes, since I would often join in in the laughter! Many people thought this to be a lack of self-esteem on my part, and that might have been true to a certain extent, but of all the delightful people I have met in my life, the ones who impressed me the most were those who could take a rib at themselves in the right spirit. Although I do think cracking jokes at one's own expense is a step too far and is better avoided.
How would the world be a happier place if people learnt to laugh more? Well, its an undisputed fact that misunderstandings cause such distress and break up so many relations that a pinch of humor always helps lighten the situation. People take themselves way too seriously, and the inability to see the lighter side of life and just take it easy ends up making us all frustrated and discontent. Also, the whole of business of jokes is made such that every joke is always at some stereotype or other. Americans are all fat and eat just burgers, Indians are all brainiacs stealing everyone else's jobs, Muslims in the middle east are all bomb strapped AK-47 wielding terrorists, Sardars, blondes etc are all really dumb, the list goes on ad nauseam. The minute one makes a joke, someone has taken offense and launched a tirade against the purported abusers who should all be hanged for their insulting comments. Take it easy mate!! Or as one would say in Indian lingo, Light le baap! Its true to a certain extent that such stereotypical humor encourages the wrong kind of ignorance and false rumor about people, but since when has man ever failed to take note of one person's behaviour and stick it to all his so called neighbours? The point is to take such humor lightly and disregard it, or if possible pay back in kind! But taking offense at it seems a tad out of line, and the root cause of unnecessary tensions.
To put a point to it, life is too short to spend it hating or insulting anyone. There are always going to be a few weird people in the world, and there are going to be even more who make it a point to make fun of these so called weirdos. But were one to take this ribbing for what it is, just man trying to amuse himself, we would have a lot less frowns in our ever-suffering world. Spread love and laughter, and Utopia though it may not be, there would at the least be a lot more smiles in the world than there are currently.
Now some people might disagree with that opinion. I remember reading the following quote or a similar one at the bottom of a page in one of those diaries that has quotes at the bottom of every page (my favourite kind when I was a kid) : " A man who can laugh at himself is the best man in the room.". So throughout my life I always took jokes directed at me rather sportingly, and so made for a rather poor butt of jokes, since I would often join in in the laughter! Many people thought this to be a lack of self-esteem on my part, and that might have been true to a certain extent, but of all the delightful people I have met in my life, the ones who impressed me the most were those who could take a rib at themselves in the right spirit. Although I do think cracking jokes at one's own expense is a step too far and is better avoided.
How would the world be a happier place if people learnt to laugh more? Well, its an undisputed fact that misunderstandings cause such distress and break up so many relations that a pinch of humor always helps lighten the situation. People take themselves way too seriously, and the inability to see the lighter side of life and just take it easy ends up making us all frustrated and discontent. Also, the whole of business of jokes is made such that every joke is always at some stereotype or other. Americans are all fat and eat just burgers, Indians are all brainiacs stealing everyone else's jobs, Muslims in the middle east are all bomb strapped AK-47 wielding terrorists, Sardars, blondes etc are all really dumb, the list goes on ad nauseam. The minute one makes a joke, someone has taken offense and launched a tirade against the purported abusers who should all be hanged for their insulting comments. Take it easy mate!! Or as one would say in Indian lingo, Light le baap! Its true to a certain extent that such stereotypical humor encourages the wrong kind of ignorance and false rumor about people, but since when has man ever failed to take note of one person's behaviour and stick it to all his so called neighbours? The point is to take such humor lightly and disregard it, or if possible pay back in kind! But taking offense at it seems a tad out of line, and the root cause of unnecessary tensions.
To put a point to it, life is too short to spend it hating or insulting anyone. There are always going to be a few weird people in the world, and there are going to be even more who make it a point to make fun of these so called weirdos. But were one to take this ribbing for what it is, just man trying to amuse himself, we would have a lot less frowns in our ever-suffering world. Spread love and laughter, and Utopia though it may not be, there would at the least be a lot more smiles in the world than there are currently.
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