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2016 in Books!!


2016, The year is coming to an end, While there are much thinking about what resolutions to pass in 2017 and try keeping it up. 

I would like to look back on 2016 and share my reading list with you all. What I enjoyed about each book, What prompted me to read these books. 

The Year started with Reading “Benjamin  Franklin An American Life” by Walter Isaacson. I Picked up this author as I enjoyed reading Steve Jobs by Him and Benjamin Franklin was another American great he had written about, Yes it was also about learning about one of the greatest men in American history.

But the most interesting highlight from this reading was knowing the different interest and business he was part of, right from his childhood A scientist, Part of publishing newspapers in a huge way,  and more so he has a “font “type named after him, The Franklin Gothic was named after him a typeface used in newspapers headlines.

After, Reading about the American Icon, And going back into history, It Was Time, To come back to India 2000s and I began reading the “Behind The Beautiful Forever, Life Death, And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity ” by Katherine Boo, A story set in India, Mumbai describing and narrating a story of life in the slums of Mumbai, The 1st book I ever read on a story set in the Mumbai, Which we actually don’t like associating with. The Book makes you realise, You do have an emotional side and you can empathize with it. A great book to live the Mumbai life Slowly, Especially with documentaries making you feel the pain, Without giving you time to share your feeling.

 “The Year of the Runaways “by Sunjeev Sahota, Another Book that gives you another perspective on the most important thing ever We are searching for “Love” The year of the  Runaway.  A story about three young men from very different backgrounds come together in a journey from India To England. Where They hope to begin something new, To support their families, Where they can build their future to show their worth, to escape the past, they have almost no idea about. Tarlochan, a former rickshaw driver, who will say nothing about his life in Bihar. Avtar has a secret that binds him to the unpredictable Randeep. Randeep, in turn, has a visa-wife in a flat on the other side of town, whose cupboards are full of her husband’s clothes, in case the immigration men surprise her with a visit.

She is Narinder, and her story is the most surprising of them all.

Utterly absorbing and beautiful in its scope, The Year of the Runaways is written with compassion and touched by grace. As Tochi, Avtar, Randeep and Narinder negotiate their dreams, desires and shocking realities, as their histories continue to pull at them, as the seasons pass, what emerges is a novel of overwhelming humanity: one which asks how far we can decide our own course in life, and what we should do for love, for faith, and for family. A novel, That taught me about the cross-culture differences and thought about the characters. Moving the story ahead for readers to be curious about what next?

                                     “Man Search For Meaning” by Victor Frankl

       A Book title, That you would consider would be suitable For someone who is depressed in life, And is finding  A  Purpose Right? 

But, It’s a must-read for everyone to understand the times we are living in, In luxury and comfort without having any idea how it is to be on the battlefield every day and not knowing how long you have.   

According to the author, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected his longevity. The book intends to answer the question “How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?” Part One Constitutes Frankl’s analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory called logotherapy human nature is motivated by the search for a life of purpose

and indeed Having a purpose or finding one can be the best way of living.

This Blog is another 4 part series blog One blogging have all could result in information overload.

If you enjoy, This one visit for the other books which one must-read.

     

Typewriter-TypeWriting experience!!


Ever wondered How challenging is it to write on a typewriter?
Not really Right?

About a fortnight ago.I had the privilege of experiencing to write on a typewriter.

Since,I have being longing to Own one for a while,I thought this is the only moment I could come close to experiencing writing on the mechanical device.

So,without thinking for a moment,I sat on the chair and started writing my 1st few words on the typewriter. And after my typing my first Word itself I realised,In today’s time its a device for the very patient writers to write on and can be a tiring laborious job for a generation who are hooked on to the Touchscreen devices and computers,Laptops for writing.But,looking at the past history its surely a device to own for its design. But, Sadly it isn’t available anymore,Unless you can hunt for a store that sells antiques.Without Boring You guys for another minute,I shall begin describing my difficulties while typing on a typewriter.

1.To enter and begin on another line a bar needs to be moved,Whenever you need to begin at another line.

2.Caps Lock are keys available at the extreme left, Until an assistant doesn’t tell you where it is, You would miss it.

3.The most interesting part the way words are written out and getting printed.

4.It’s A very Heavy device 

5.NO Delete,With so much dependency on not knowing what to write and silly spelling mistake it can become frustrating to write on one.

6.Thanks to The typewriter for the Courier Font and AmericanTypewriter for us to able to experience the writing style of a typewriter on our I.T Gadgets.

7. The QWERTY Keyboard was first came into the existence in a typewriter The QWERTY layout was devised and created in the early 1870s by Christopher Latham Sholes, a newspaper editor and printer who lived in milwaukee,Wisconsin . In October 1867, Sholes filed a patent application for his early writing machine he developed with the assistance of his friends Carlos Glidden and Samuel W.Soulé  

8.These are just some of the experiences on using the typewriter for barely 5 minutes,But I guess In today’s time with word processing software making it easier to type these days,its only my lack of imagination to imagine how did the writers of the past adjust pages,Alignments and manage to write on such a manual mechanical device.

Food in India!!


Indian cuisine is so rich in variety with 29 states, each having a different taste of food to offer to tourist That makes it impossible to compare the options we Indians have compared to the world.

With the variety of Dals, the multiple options with Indian bread from naans chappati,parathas ,Rolls ,pizza on an Indian bread to level of Hotness from regular,Medium to really Hot with curries. A level when compared with other global cuisines will fall short With Popular cuisines like the English fish and chips, Italian pizza’s ,Chinese Noodles ,Europeans mostly have Breads as an standard option and Middle East having kebabs, all of these cuisines sum up to be bland and repetitive with the offerings.

No wonder,Travellers across the continent and immigrants who consider themselves to be the in between are either here nor their are mostly considered to Hogg on our cultural rich food from starting their day with the breakfast menu to ending their day with a variety of dishes 

Women leaders of the world

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The world is really becoming warmer and warmer due to the global warming taking place globally.And Yet, when we thought the WEST to be more liberal and more understanding towards gender equality,We the people were stunned and stumped to have dealt with the news of Donald Trump being elected as the 45th  president for United States of America.

But,Why is it Women leaders aren’t given the chance to prove themselves?And if they have ever got one opportunity why is it been only from their families? As if politics is like a family business.

The  Asian continent That includes India,Pakistan,Myanmar (Burma)Bangladesh just to name a few have had leaders like; 

Gandhi’s ruling  INDIA. Indra Gandhi one of the most successful Prime Minister from India.

Benazair Bhutto  Former Pakistan Prime Minister 1993- 1996 was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto  the  9th Prime Minster for Pakistan Serving Term from 1973-1977.

Sheikh Hasina Current Prime Minister for Bangladesh too has a family member being involved with politics her father  Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the 2nd Prime Minister  for Bangladesh During the period of 1972-1975

Aung San Suu Kyi elected as Prime minister for Burma 199o and currently State Counsellor of Myanmar has had politics in her blood considered the father of  the nation of modern Day Myanmar brought Burma independence from British Rule.

The Point here isn’t about women leaders not given the opportunity to succeed,The question here is why are only women from political background only elected to do the job.Is it because of the understanding they must be having being in a political family?

Or is it People can relate to the family of their daughters and not mind taking the risk.

Also why do we have such few women leaders in the world? Is it because we find women incapable of doing the Job? The thought of being ordered by women ?

Coming back to being an indian and India.Why are we not making more women law for their safety? Do we fear the law being misused or we in the country aren’t really bothered about are citizens. 

Why do we forget Women help us grow our economy too.With being shopaholics and unnecessary spending money,They are helping the economy grow more than the ever.

  The Women’s Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008, is a lapsed bill in the Parliament of India which proposed to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33% of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all state legislative assemblies for women.

following  are some of the statistics of % of members in the parliament globally and around India.Women have a poor 11% representation in India’s Lok Sabha and 10.6% in the Rajya SabhaThe global average of women in parliaments as of November 2013 stood at 21.3%, a slight increase over the numbers in the immediately preceding two years (20.3% and 19.5%). Nepal, ranked at 24, led the pack, followed by China (55) and Pakistan (66). 

 

International Films @ MAMI Fest


Swiss Army Man Winning the Best Director Award for Dan KWAN,Daniel Scheinert at Sundance Film festival.

A Movie starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and Paul Dano who was last seen in 12 years a slave.
Hank(Paul Dano) is stranded on a deserted island.Having given up all hopes of making it home again.But One day everything changes when a corpse named manny(Daniel Radcliffe) washes up the shores,The two become and go on epic adventures that will bring Hank back to the woman of his dream.
The movie was unexpectedly one of the best movie I Have watch of Daniel Radcliffe as its humorously,Well constructed movie set in a single location.    
 

Goodbye to language (Adieu Au LANGUAGE) By JEAN LUC GODARD French swiss film director,Screenwriter and film Critic,The man responsible for identifying with 1960s French film movement as the “New Wave” and was innovate in his style of storytelling.
Goodbye To language is an experimental 3D Film And the highlight of the film is two separation shots in which a single,unbroken shot splits into separate shots that can be viewed simultaneously through either the left or the right eye and returns to one single 3D Shot,Double exposure 3D images and shots with parallax that are difficult for the human eye to see.   

The Lure(ĆORKI DANCINGU) Directed by AGNIESZKA SMOCZYŃSKA her 1st feature film and she has executed it so well.
Two mermaids sister swim out of the sea into a Warsaw nightclub set in the 80s,They are wild,Sexy and hungry for life.And with human qualities one of the sister falls in love with A young Man and the sister bonds are tested when they are forced to take decisions . Another polish film that I watched and enjoyed as these ideas are so fresh.
 
The film also got a special jury Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Fest.

The Together Project(L’EFFET AQUATIQUE)

Samir a tall,lanky,in his 40s crane operator from Montreulli in the outskirts of Paris,falls head over heals in love with Agathe.
And discovers she is a swimming instructor and decides to join her classes (although he can swim perfectly) and a few lessons later she realises the real intentions for him to join the class and this is how they actually meet each other.
 
Winner of 2016 CANNES FILM FEST (Director Fortnight)  

The last and final article of my experience and MAMI Fest 2016