English, August. From City to village and back

After reading catch 22. The most nasty comment I received was that this  book should have  been ready earlier, ie, I should have read it at younger age. I think it is not about the age at all. It is just that you should be in the know of it and the book should attract you. It could happen in a myriad number of ways. Any how, this post is about an English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee.

I liked the book. It is well written. It is just a coming together of jottings kept over a period of one year. The Indian sub-continent comes across in all its glory. The author travels from a hard core India city to the deepest of the forests possible. The society varies from rich, to the tribals to the lepors, to the beggars, to the helpers, to the public administration offices and the officers, to the most beautiful churches in the remotest parts of the country where drinking water is not available. The book definitely has the spread. The different hues of the sub-continent is nice. The language used is simple and straight forward. If "sex" sells then the word is used freely and profusely through the book. Lots of stoned situations, by the river, by the railway tracks, on the top floor of the house, in dark rooms, with friends, with colleagues, with unknowns. There is plenty of booze also, if you liked it. The point of view is from a well to do Indian. So you may tell that the narrative doesnt have the depth. But, yes, the book does scratch the surface and does     it well.

The most beautiful depiction is the bureaucratic setup in the country. It brings out aptly how the government resources which are to be distributed gets concentrated in few hands just by the manipulation of papers. It also bring out the monotony of a government official.     The constraints under which a bureaucrat works are also nicely portrayed. There are a few situations in the book where the protagonist goes deep about his real purpose with sayings from the Bhagavad Gita interspersed between. The novel has an unexpected ending. I was     expecting some other way. The individual coming out of the dilemma is nicely brought out. It is like ready reckoner for all the aspiring public servants. Of course, there are foreign visitors also. If the author was not intending to satisfy the foreign readers, the book    s would have a bit more depth.

The characters come alive, the office personnel, the tribals, rich kids whose parents have made enough for many generations, Egoist bureaucrats,  their more egoist wags, the variety of food, the lack and plenty of water, the effect of forcing of modern societal system on the tribals. The destruction of their very livelihood to survive the modern society and its demands. Roads, cycles, buffalos, and all other quintessential characters of a novel which plans to cross the border of India to other English speaking countries.

The private sector and its workings and its shortcomings, Doctors, helpers, drivers all have played out their role. Official Jeeps, "silent" Maruti cars also make their appearance.

Fascinating read. The book was also made into a movie. I dont remember it perfectly, But, I liked it more because of the lead actor. He was so perfect for the role. I would still recommend the book over the movie. This is one book which you would like to watch after reading it just because of the range and variety of places the protagonist passes. The book oozes laziness, everywhere and the protagonist is the epitome of it and thereby is able to recognize that aspect in all the people he meets.

Finally caught up with "Catch 22"

For the past many years I always wanted to read catch 22. Somehow I was thinking the book will not live up to its hype. Why were my thoughts like this I cant tell because, I don't know. Now, why am I not knowing the reason? Why is that i was not reasonable in taking up this book and start reading. Why couldn't I find a reason to read the book. Why did any other give me a reason for reading it or for not reading it. I don't know the reason why I left this book alone. Why is reasoning so hard. For the want of a reason I did not take up this book for reading. I wanted to read this book but wanted a reason, which again was not coming by. Oh, whatever....

To start with, I came across a new style of writing and was just thinking why others had not copied the style. The style is unique. The chapters are named after key characters. Every chapter describes the character in detail with an introduction/brief to the next character. In the mean time the story is taking its course. I fell in love with the style immediately. The words describing the harsh situations become "harsher". All the characters are crazy. Seeing the characters and comparing with present ones and the past ones, I thought there is no human in the world who is sane. The sanest person is the most insane. I don't know how sanity and the other side are related but they are definitely related. Do I know how they are related, I don't know. Now, don't get me on the reason for me not knowing the difference and I dare not ask you.

The characters are simple, straight forward and crazy. The situations are crazy. If you are crazy enough you can see the funny side of it. If you are sane, you will immediately throw the book into a parallel universe. Uh. Oh, you don't believe in parallel universe. You are not crazy enough. Stop reading right here, right now. And again, don't ask me the reason for it. You are not crazy enough. Am i crazy enough. Dont ask me about it. The combat sequences are explained beautifully. You definitely enter the war field. You suddenly know that flying a fighter aircraft is not for the faint heart. With nowhere to go and nobody to talk when communications are cut, it is a flying coffin. The dangers of flying a war plane are depicted beautifully. I don't think the author has left any use case.

The author intervenes in the novel at all times throughout the novel in the way of the protagonist. I liked the name of the protagonist. How he came about that name would be very interesting. To reason out this with the author would be very interesting. We are again back at reasoning. What is it about this word when we are talking all about craziness and lunacy. The protagonist is etched out beautifully and his relationship or its lack off, is nicely depicted. I many times thought that the author was not happy the character is coming up and he puts in lots of hyper which he himself would have dreamt of. But the way the author holds all the other characters with the main character as the binder is awesome.

It has been one hell of crazy &(*)(_(%% ride. I have curtailed myself from using many number of explicits. Why, Because I don't have the freedom, the author had. Why, This is not a book. It is about a book. So, how does the author get all the freedom he likes while we readers have to be careful. I am trying to reason out ........