Kemang, Jakarta - one of the best neighbourhoods to live in

 

My last international posting was at Jakarta and I would count as one of my best memorable ones.

The office where I worked was in Southern part of Jakarta – a relatively posher part of Jakarta IMHO.  Though like I have said repeatedly, Jakarta and Indonesia always felt like they were at least 2-3 decades of India in terms of infrastructure and if Indonesians were to ever visit India they’d struggle to live here.

Anyways I was lucky this was so, because it helped me get a place in one of the best neighbourhoods of Jakarta – KEMANG.

MAD Magazines (and Moghul Library, Hyderabad)

Comics were an important part of my childhood like my first blogpost which was dedicated to ACK comics showed.

MAD called itself a ‘magazine’ and was fairly popular both in the US and India and this success in itself was a surprise.

ANNOUNCING MY BOOK - Our Quizzing Journey

Have great pleasure in announcing the launch of my book co-authored with my brothers "Our Quizzing Journey"

Available on Amazon and you can buy it here.

Also available in paperback which you can buy here.  

The second helping…

One of my social acquaintances - a voracious consumer of books, movies, TV serials, newspapers etc  mentioned he’d seen only one TV series again as in twice.  No, He wasnt showing off - but it was purely a mindset that a lot of folks have including my better half - my wife.

“Why are you watching this again, havent we seen this before?” if I am watching a movie on TV - one that we have seen before. I sigh and move on.

Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Murakami’s book The Wind Up Bird Chronicle (WUBC) was more of an experience rather than a book, and a surreal experience at that

I was introduced to Haruki Murakami only a couple of years back and didn't know of him or any of his work earlier.  I tried to read as many books and his stories as I could, and enjoyed most of them.  I of course couldn't afford quite a few books of his and saved them for later…

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

For me the book makes it to my favorites more because of who recommended it rather than the actual story or movie based on it.

Its been nearly over a decade since I read the book for a third time & finally handed over the book to my social circle. The movie was frankly terrible and Clint Eastwood was quite choppy and still getting his grip as a director with most dramatic scenes handled terribly.

“Freedom At Midnight” and “The Men Who Killed Gandhi”

I am lumping these two books together as they are on the same subject and I thought offered a different perspective from what I knew about or was taught about history.  Both were great reads - only I read them nearly two decades apart.

India & Indians are quite open about hypocrisy in our lives, inevitable since the system is geared up towards that.  A honest discussion is almost rare and shied upon - we are more queasy than the Brits on a lot of subject.

Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister series

There are very very few books converted into TV series or films where you can say the TV series/ film was as good or better than the book. 

IMO the Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister TV series is one such rare example.

Coffee, Tea or Me?

You need to be of a certain age to know this phrase – and also to have to know that this is the title of an absolutely wonderful book (for adults and mature audiences).

It also belongs to a different era and unlikely to be popular or even relate-able – seriously in terms of the advances and fast pace of change we are witnessing, it truly is a snapshot of the glorious past.

There are several reasons I liked it, one of them primarily because it was written in the glory days of airline travel when it still was a luxury and for the privileged few.  In fact when I read it, it already was two decades old.

Michael crichton’s books and Disclosure the movie

For my generation Michael Crichton was a genius who made science and its latest developments accessible.  (Sorry couldn’t get Asimov – plus his books were not easily available).

Crichton’s genius was making Science easily understood as well as marketing this suitably.

Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami

To me, Kafka on the shore is one of those really engaging novels – wouldn’t call it unputdownable, but it can really get into you, like few books do.

I fell in love with Haruki Murakami (nearly 35 years after he wrote his first book – so that’s really a late start).

 

My new love - Haruki Murakami (and art films)

Being a late laggard has its advantages.  I discover Haruki Murakami thanks to Scheherazade in the New Yorker and am instantly hooked.  The advantage is that there is a great, and big body of work to now savour given how prolific this author has been (writing since the 1980s).

However, Haruki is not everyone’s cup of tea and can be challenging – and perhaps that challenge is the very thing that makes his short stories and novels interesting.

Haruki’s stories can have various effects – right from melancholy, to surprise, regret, an epiphany, nostalgia, interest – the whole panoply of emotions can come through at any point. As you go through them. But the one which is inevitable is a strong desire to discuss this immediately.

Haruki Murakami's “Scheherazade" in the New Yorker

Short stories can be tricky and I think the jury is out on what really makes a good short story.  When I got around to reading the short stories outside my textbooks -  This is very different, I realized,  from what I read in school - which were mostly reeeeally short as in SHORT stories. Most of the stuff I read in school were the shorter ones by RK Narayan (malgudi) and O Henry etc.

So, some very good ones would actually not be very short at all. I quite liked reading Maugham's stories from the orient, and expatriate life back in the days when colonization was in its last days. Jeffrey archer, Roald Dahl, Jhumpa Lahiri etc. were some of my favourites (and I think the entire list would be difficult to put down ehre)

And then One day... A memoir by Naseeruddin Shah

Hi, Not much to write here. The title pretty much says it all.

Ever since this book was published and I heard about it on the web waves, I wanted a copy of this. Unfortunately not so easy when you are in distant shores.

So the moment I land in India, I manage to grab a copy,

Broken Images: Shabana Azmi at her best

There are such gifted playwrights and actors on the Indian stage (we are indeed very lucky to live during their times) – its hard to choose one best performance out of so many.


However if I had to choose the second ten best  – this would be one of them. (I think top ten would be hard for me... and just to rub it in - I just recently read Naseeruddin Shah's excellent memoir "And then One day" where in the photos section he lists the ten greatest performances on theatre he has ever seen - and each of them stellar actors. The closest I have come to the list is - to see a few of the actors live, or a couple of performances from other actors - not exactly fulfilling - close but no cigar...)

Broken Images is a play written by Girish Karnad and the English version directed by Alyque Padamsee and stars Shabana Azmi.

                             

I had watched Shabana before in Tumhari Amrita where it was fairly staid and not really the best showcase of her talent (I think!).  But Broken Images is truly a testimony to her enormous talent.  Even better – it pits her, against herself.  So she’s competing with the very best – herself!!

Theatre - One of my true loves

Watching a good play is possibly the most unbeatable experiences, and the BEST way to spend an evening. And mix this with great friends, lovely food and you are living life to its best

But for me, even more special and the best experiences I have had have been in my favourite city Mumbai (yes, that one's coming soon)

For me the theatre scene in Mumbai is possibly the best (though I suspect Delhi gets better thanks to the NSD) and the absolutely lovely ambience.

Seema Goswami's recommendations of books to read

Sharing things that bring you joy is such a simple and fundamental delight – it’s not celebrated enough.  This is not gifting, but telling people you know (and others) that you discovered something new or unknown, exciting and loved it, and now are recommending others to try them.

Marketers dub it 'word of mouth' and try influencer marketing to get opinion-leaders to push their wares (nowadays through SEO).  This gets so overboard that it’s hard to find the real expert advice from say a paid testimonial.  Further, it is hard to get a recco that sooo much meets your requirements and matches your tastes that you simply have to go and get the recommended product – and, of course recommend this to more people – just like I am doing right now.

Nigella Lawson

Ok let’s get the obvious out of the way. As the stand up comedians say, ‘‘it’s impossible to talk about ____  [INSERT BUXOM CELEBRITY’S NAME HERE] without using your hands”.

And yes, that is a prominent aspect that strikes you – the abundant, bountiful, wholesome, hearty goodness – a figure like the Venus de Milo sculpture and the voluptuous women from the renaissance paintings.   (It ‘d be easier and less offensive for women to describe her – Seema Goswami, an editor with HT described Nigella’s cleavage ‘quivering like a well set blancmange’).  So yes, that's the obvious that everyone knows and likes, but there's a lot more...

Dick Francis

I discovered Dick Francis much later in life and it took quite a bit to get to like him.   But once I did get a hang of him, it was hard not to consider him one of my favourites.

I do not read intense stuff like what comes in Oprah’s reading club nor a fan of classical literature. (In fact books like ‘to kill a mockingbird’ and ‘Color purple’ used to leave me rather depressed and frustrated). My preference has always been popular pulp fiction. In fact I dig anything that is an easy read – preferably the faster I can finish it the better – which means my brain is not taxed much, and yes, usually these books also help me fall asleep. 

Elizabeth Gilbert and ‘EAT, PRAY, LOVE’

Imagine you are an editor/ publisher and get a request for a book – where the author asks you for a major advance. An advance to spend a year travelling across the globe. Those travels would include a mix of sun, sand and lagoons, as well as one of the most expensive locations in the heart of Europe, and there would be one of the muckiest places somewhere in between.  And then, there might be a book about all of this somewhere after the end of the year. Would you buy into this pitch, however less or well-known the author was?

Well the world, at least millions of readers like me, shall forever be grateful to this kind soul who approved this request for it produced one of the most brilliant, literally life-changing books ever – EAT, PRAY, LOVE