Giving Peace a Chance....

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, and also Non-Violence Day…it was inspiring to read Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s editorial in the Times Of India. While how much of it is practicable, is up to each one of us. Here are a few which I particularly liked:

“Every reader has seeds of fear, anger, violence and despair, and also seeds of hope, compassion, love and forgiveness. As journalists, you must not water the wrong seeds. You have the job of selectively watering the right seeds. You must attempt to tell the truth and yet not water the seeds of hate. It’s not what’s in the story, but how you tell it that’s important” (On being asked by the TOI on what they should do on a day like this)

“You don’t have to run into the future, you have enough conditions to be happy right here and now….the kingdom of god is available for you. But are you available for the kingdom?”

“I am made of so many non-me elements – my parents, the food I eat, the education I received, knowledge gained from others. Take away all the ‘non-me’, and there is no ‘me’ left.”

“We cannot often choose our circumstances, but we can choose how we respond to them: that is our real freedom.”

Stargirl

Is she an alien?

Is she home-schooling gone berserk?

Is she sniffing fumes?

These and many more queries surround Stargirl Caraway when she makes her appearance at Mica High. Strumming a ukulele, carrying a rat called Cinnamon in her canvas bag and wearing clothes ranging from pioneer gowns to kimonos she’s as strange as they come. Add to that the fact that she does the weirdest, kindest and friendliest things. She sings birthday songs to perfect strangers, drops loose change accidentally on purpose for l’il kids to pick up, dances in the rain and laughs over no joke in particular!!

For the dull-as-ditchwater student body, she is something that they cannot grasp. Indefinable, quirky and kooky. But her eccentricity weaves its way into their hearts and they are soon doing selfless gestures of their own. Especially enamored is the 16-year old narrator Leo Borlock. A wary reluctance on Leo’s part gives way to mutual attraction. Soon they are a couple and he faces a lot of ribbing (not always good-natured)……even being termed as Starboy!

Stargirl is selected to be a cheerleader …and she does so in the truest sense the word. She cheers unabashedly for her team, the spectators…and then she goes one step further and cheers for the other team too. This sours things drastically and Stargirl’s glorious run takes a downward curve.

Admiration quickly gives way to hostility. The now openly shunned Stargirl is unaffected, but Leo suffers the backlash too. He is not used to be treated as an invisible entity. He attempts to change his girlfriend..make her more normal, run-of-the-mill. And she does change....for him. She even takes up her original name: Sarah Julia Caraway. But the antagonism never wanes, …and soon she reverts to her old self……her old, unique, individual self.

The beauty of this book lies in the prose. Simple and lyrical, it conveys an age-old message in the purest way possible. Stargirl Caraway may appear to be a ditzy bohemian girl…a throwback to the 70s Flower-Power era even. But her thoughts are clear, concise and loaded with truth, which is not always easy to swallow. Even Leo at the height of his young love described her most accurately: “She was bendable light: she shone around every corner of my day” .

She takes Leo (and us) into a world that can be good, kind and uncomplicated…..if we only tried, without fear of mockery and recrimination.

It's a tale about well-intentioned non-conformity. A tale about holding your own in a sea of similar faces. A tale about being a fruit-loop in a box of cheerios!

Mamma-Mia!

20-year old Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) lives on a picturesque Greek Island Kalokairi (actually Skopelos) with her single mother Donna (Meryl Streep). Sophie is about to be married to her sweetheart Sky, but the one dark spot in her perfect picture is the absence of her father. Snooping into her mother’s twenty-year old diary draws up three possible candidates :Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Bright (Colin Firth) or Bill Anderson (Stellan Skasgård). So she promptly gets the idea of inviting all three to her wedding, to find out who her real dad is. What ensues is a Greek Tragi-comedy with blunders, misunderstandings and discoveries all unashamedly adorned by ABBA’s popular numbers!


A musical which must be watched if you like

-*ABBA* or would settle for reminiscing about ‘dem good old days...
- Meryl Streep, the eternal bohemian having a middle-aged blast withj her girls; scatty Rosie (Julie Waters) and three-time divorcée Tanya (Christine Baranski).
- Pierce Brosnan looking dishy as ever in the classic white-shirt and dark-trouser combo(…although, whether he can carry a tune in a bucket, is up for discussion!) and the dapper Colin Firth who looks unfailing British and out-of-place as he can be!

- intense ultramarine seas, an island shimmering with lazy sun-rays, the tang of salty-air, red-faced locals and houses that appropriately capture the essence of all things greek and melancholic.


If you are perfectly okay with people breaking into song 'n' dance at the drop of a hat....then go watch the movie, mouth the lyrics, shimmy and make a sea of jazz hands! Sun-kissed and bursting with good cheer, this is another promising mood-lifter.

A Prisoner of Birth

As a friend very rightly put it…'A Prisoner of Birth' has all the makings of a Bollywood Masala Movie.

Danny Cartwright, a humble East-End mechanic has just proposed to his childhood sweet heart Beth. He decides to celebrate by treating his fiancée and best-friend Bernie Wilson (who also happens to be Beth’s brother) at an upmarket bar ‘The Dunlop Arms’. Also present at the bar, are a drunken party of four men, who started passing lewd comments at Beth and raise Bernie’s ire. Despite Danny’s protests, the two parties decide to take the fight out into a back-alley..and what follows is something that changes Danny’s life forever.

Danny is charged with the murder of Bernie……a crime he never committed. Despite the best efforts of his able lawyer, the young and relatively untried Alex Redmayne ……Danny is sentenced to twenty-two years at the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison. After all who would take the word of a grubby mechanic over a stalwart quartet of an upcoming barrister, a leading actor, a member of the aristocrat and the youngest partner of an established firm?

Danny’s long sentence is made bearable due to his two cell mates: Nicholas Moncrieff, who looks and behaves more like an officer than an inmate. And running-more-true-to-form, the rough and rugged, heavily-built Big Al. Nicholas bears a startling resemblance to Danny and herein lies the crux. When Nick is accidentally murdered, just a few weeks before his release…Danny (with careful mechanisations by Big Al) walks out a free man…as Nicholas Moncrieff. "Act like Nick.Think like Danny." Constantly keeping this in mind……Danny launches into an intricate and well-planned revenge.

A page-turner with certain implausible points. Look-alike Nicholas Moncrieff seemed to be aware from the beginning that his identity was for the sole-purpose of being used to prove Danny’s innocence. He trained him in all the niceties and etiquettes which a Moncrieff should exhibit in genteel society. He educated Danny and even conveniently maintained well-transcribed diaries which proved to be valuable evidence in the later trials. A post-Belmarsh Danny appears to lead a charmed life. All the people he hopes to have on his side, unflinchingly accept that he is indeed Sir Nicholas Moncrieff, never once cross-checking the fact.

While Danny Cartwright is a likeable hero, his transformation from the wronged East-Ender to a polished and articulate businessman is a little too good to be true. At the end of the day, I enjoyed the cast of supporting characters: Big Al, Alex Redmayne’s father; rt. Hon. Sir Matthew Redmayne KCMG QC, who handles Danny’s case in the end…and ofcourse, the wise Scottish solicitor Mr.Fraser Munro.

I particularly liked the miniscule speech Mr.Munro gives towards the end of his testimony:

“I have discovered with advancing years that few things are entirely black or white, but more often different shades of grey. I can best sum it up, My Lord, by saying that it was an honour to have served Sir Nicholas Moncrieff and it has been a privilege to work with Mr.Cartwright. They are both oaks, even if they were planted in different forests. But then, m’lord, we all suffer in our different ways from being prisoners of birth”.

In all, an interesting saga with an Indian tadka...

Five Go Down To The Sea (Famous Five, #12)

Five Go Down To Sea was no great shakes from the adventure-mystery point of view… A strange light flashing in a ruined tower -late night wanderings -suspicious characters -getting locked up -escaping - AND -ultimately tying up all the loose ends.

I primarily liked this book for three characters:
Mrs.Penruthlan : the bustling, jolly l’il house-wife whose main aim in life was to cook and feed everyone who came under her motherly wings. So Blyton indulged her love for the good ol’English food to the hilt. There were glistening hams, tureens of new potatoes gleaming with melted butter, drop-scones, cherry tarts, lashings of hard-boiled eggs, pickles, sauces, trifles, jars of cold creamy milk and what have you!! One of my earliest memories of a comfort-phrase was “a larder crammed with food”!! *s-igh*

Mr.Penruthlan: The tall, magnificent farmer.....dark as a sunburnt Spaniard. Larger than life, he was an intimidating figure. His unique quirk was his inclination to speak in weird mono-syllables like Ah…Ock, thanks to his tendency to go without his set of false teeth! The Five couldn’t figure till the end if he was one of the bad guys or not.

Yan’s granddad: I liked the way Blyton gave a description of the old shepherd. It went: “He wasn’t very big, and he seemed shriveled up, like an apple stored too long. But there was still a sweetness in him, and the children liked him at once. His face had a thousand wrinkles that creased and ran into one another when he smiled. His shaggy eyebrows, curly beard and hair were all grey, as grey as the wooly coats of the sheep he had lived with all his life”.

And then ofcourse there was Clopper, the comical stage-horse who seemed to have a life of it’s own...the surly Guv’nor and the gay and happy bunch of performers…who all belonged to the almost-vaudevillian group called “The Barnies”.

Simple plot….interesting characters…and tables groaning under an assortment of delicious eats! Blyton at her predictable-best.

Five Go to Smuggler's Top (Famous Five, #4)

One of the few Famous Fives where the wondrous meals took a back-seat! Smuggler’s Top however, atop the mist-shrouded Castaway Hill more than made up for the absence of “lashings” of delicious food.

The adventure starts off with the Five heading off to Kirrin for another glorious vacation. But a terrible gale puts a damper in plans. It uproots a massive ash tree that crashes on to Kirrin Cottage. Four active kids, an excitable dog, a house badly in need of repairs and an irritable Uncle Quentin. Poor Aunt Fanny is in a right fix!

Uncle Quentin comes up with the plan of parcelling off the children to his fellow scientist, Mr.Lenoir’s house. And the house goes by the name of 'Smuggler’s Top'. An added attraction is Sooty (Pierre Lenoir), Mr.Lenoir’s stepson…..a prankster who goes to school with Dick.

Smuggler’s Top is a huge house straight out of history….with hidden passages behind panels….pits under seemingly ordinary floors…..all mysteriously ensconced on a small island surrounded by marshes and swirling mists.

After a few uneventful days, the five soon discover that someone is flashing signals from the tower of Smuggler’s Top. Is smuggling still going under wraps of the creeping mist? And who is involved? Is their host up to something sinister? A delicious mystery made all the more intriguing by the house and it’s many unknown secrets.


Interesting characters are Mr.Lenoir….who likes to appear jolly and friendly, but regularly flies into a nasty temper (the indication of which is the tip of his nose turning white!). His man-servant Block is instantly repulsive with his blank-face....supposed deafness and brute-like strength. And then ofcourse, there’s Mr.Barling….the slightly eccentric smuggler who has escaped the police so far. He longs for a bygone era when ships crept in, over the treacherous marshes towards the appointed place.

Another one of my Blyton favourites……Five Go to Smuggler’s Top was one that appealed to me purely for the entire ambience created. The house located atop a hill……riddled with secret passages….the sleepy town with cobbled streets and diamond-pane windows……the catacombs, where people could wander for days and get lost forever….the squelching mud of the marshes…collectively added to the aura that was Smuggler’s Top. Enid Blyton effectively created a world that I could picture with startling clarity even after so many years.

When I was a snotty-nosed kid, I always read “Five Run Away Together” and “Five Go To Smuggler’s Top” back to back. From the windswept beauty of Kirrin Island to the sinister charm of Castaway Hill…..each had it’s own appeal.

And while I have replenished my stock of other long-lost Famous Fives….I have loyally preserved this ancient double edition…a slice of my childhood and a reminder of simpler times!

Five Run Away Together (Famous Five, #3)

Nothing brings back a slice of childhood like a good ol’Famous Five. While I lost many of the books along the way.....there is one particularly dog-eared copy which I turn to at regular intervals. Two adventures in one: Five Run Away Together & Five Go To Smuggler’s Top.

Five Run Away Together had it all...the truly hateful Stick family…Aunt Fanny taken ill and Uncle Quentin not running interference…full freedom to the Five to go and live on Kirrin Island and have their weird but truly fantastic meals (who can forget the freshly baked loaves of bread, tinned peaches, hot cocoa, potted meat etc.)…and the case of the mysterious trunk hidden in the wreck.

Are smugglers using the island as a stop-over? And who does the terrified scream in the middle of the night belong to?? A nice, juicy adventure handed on a plate to the Five!

Five Run Away Together has been my comfort-food for as long as I can remember. No particular reason…I liked the fact that outspoken George learnt to curb her temper towards the Stick family out of regard for her ailing mum. I thought Julian was the epitome of maturity for being able to shut the Sticks up with his ready tongue and quick wit. And I always enjoyed the whole “running-off-to-Kirrin-and-living-in-a-cave” idea. Sleeping on sweet-smelling heather…dozing off to the mysterious shadows cast by a friendly fire and waking up to mixed-up meals always sounded “mah-velous”!

Adding special significance for me, were the illustrations that are generously sprinkled all over the book. The later editions are almost clinical when compared to this visual treat. Am now moving on to “Five Go To Smuggler’s Top”…and continuing my trip down memory-lane.

Eat Cake

Long ago at a Stress-Reduction Seminar, Ruth Hopson learnt that the best way to deal with stress was to visualize a place where you feel safe and comfortable. While others dreamt of childhood bedrooms or Jamaican beaches…..Ruth’s ‘Happy Place’ was the warm, scented, hollowed-out centre of a bundt cake (preferably gingerbread). And this is perfectly natural for Ruth who has been whipping up cakes for as long as she can remember. Cakes are her stress-reliever…and the stress is only mounting.

Her once independent mother is staying with her.....Ruth’s husband Sam has lost his stable job and is bent upon discovering himself…her teenage daughter is uncommunicative and slowly drifting apart…..and to top it all, her estranged father lands up at her house….an invalid with both his wrists broken.

Diminishing funds, frayed tempers and all panic stations at full alert...Ruth is having a tough time. So she handles her stress the best way she can…she bakes. And then a chance remark by a well-wisher gets Ruth thinking. Could all that baking be put to constructive use? Could Ruth’s fabulous cakes save the day and turn around her family’s fortune?

A happy-baker myself, I can totally understand Ruth’s complete fascination with the whole measure-sieve-whip-pour-and hopefully not burn process of turning out a light and fragrant cake.A sweet and simple book...'Eat Cake’ is a family book dealing with real-life problems. I read this book as a part of Reader’s Digest’s Select Editions. The condensed version was just right, without endless pages of drama and dialogue.

Love, Rosie

Rosie Dunne & Alex Stewart have a deep friendship that begins in their schooldays and grows over the passing years. They share each other’s lives through a series of notes, e-mails, IMs and sometimes long, winding letters. Their friendship survives unexpected pregnancies, marriages (not to each other), subsequent divorces, bereavements and various phases of their chequered careers.

While everyone expects them to end up together, Alex & Rosie are the proverbial ships passing in the night. When Rosie wants to take the friendship further, Alex is announcing his marriage. When Alex wants to profess his love to Rosie, the latter is unaware and taking another shot at her failing marriage. A series of similar ‘almost-there’ moments and that’s pretty much the gist of ‘Love, Rosie’.

Cut the book in half and it would be a fantastic read. Instead, it rambles on.....and on...and on. While you start off rooting for Rosie and Alex…somewhere along the way, the roadblocks seem a bit contrived. The only bright spark for me was the quirky cast of supporting characters. They pepper the pages with their wit, humour and sheer likeability.

The Star of Kazan

Eva Ibbotson weaves an old-fashioned adventure around a young foundling called Annika. Abandoned in a church on the slopes of Mt. Dorfelspitze, the baby is adopted by a pair of friends: Ellie, the cook and Sigrid, the housemaid. They take her back to their owners’ house in Vienna. Annika is a happy, industrious child…..learning to cook Viennese delicacies from Ellie, keeping the house sparkling clean and doing a multitude of odd jobs for the eccentric professors who are the owners of the house. Her spare time is spent enacting mock-plays with her friends Pauline and Stephan. She also manages to pay frequent visits to a dying old lady who was formerly known as the wonderful actress ‘La Rondine’.

She only has one wish…that her birth mother sweeps in one day and says: ‘Where is she? Where is my long lost daughter?’. And here the adage of “Be careful what you wish for, it just may come true” comes into full play. Very soon, an aristocratic lady named Edeltraut von Tannenberg comes to claim Annika and swoop her off to a cold and desolate castle in Germany.

Fitting into a new scenario is always tough, but for Annika who has been used to a warm and friendly Vienna, her new home throws up many nasty surprises. Unfriendly relatives…lies and secrets…dreary food...dank climate...things are not as Annika imagined her new life to be.

The only bright speck is the new friend she makes called Zed, a Romany stable boy. But as the mystery shrouding her new family deepens...Zed is accused of robbery…robbery of a trunk which was left to Annika by ‘La Rondine’. Annika is torn between her faith in Zed and her loyalty to her surprisingly cold mother. In Vienna her old family is missing Annika terribly and also come across some unpalatable facts …which could put Annika’s life in grave danger.

A simple story…a predictable mystery and a plot oft-repeated. But what makes ‘Star of Kazan’ so engrossing is the absolute love and affection with which Eva Ibbotson describes the splendour and grandiose of a vintage Vienna..... The ancient but much-loved Emperor Franz Joseph with his ‘mutton-chop whiskers and bald head’. The extravagant waltzes streaming out of the cafes. The decadent opera houses. The sinfully rich confectionaries bursting with aroma and taste. And of course the pride of Vienna : The dancing Lipizzaner Stallions. You are soon transported to a magical city that seems to hum with colour, light and vitality. This is a book to be savoured...and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. Eva Ibbotson triumphs yet again !