Book Review: I was the Wind Last Night by Ruskin Bond

When the sun is hidden behind grey clouds, but the heat has refused to wane and words on your screen don't make sense anymore; is the moment you take out your favourite author's book and rummage through it.

I am not a poetry person, because of my ignorance about rhyme scheme and meters and metaphors; I consider myself a hard to impress reader of poetry. If it doesn't strike me the poem is not worth my patience.

But something about this collection made me happy and peaceful, of course, I am biased towards Mr. Bond, he is one of the greatest literary love of my life. What always surprises me about his writing is clarity of his thoughts and his ease at breaking down most complex of relationships to a Haiku: Sweet-scented jasmine in this fold of cloth
I give to you on this your bridal day,
That you forget me not.

I have been reading him since I was four, I understood him then and at twenty-five I understand him still. He doesn't complicate, he observes and pens, he feels and he writes, that is what is so lacking in today's writing, the clarity of thought and sight.

It's a collection of some amazing new poems and filled with his old gems like The Cherry Tree. Divided into craftily named sections, and touched with the perfect blend of illustration. The book itself is a wholistic experience to hold, the Goudy old style font, the light paper, the strong spine and Young Rusty on the cover. Sometimes you pick up a book because it aesthetically pleases you.

Ruskin Bond's poetry can be summed up as an assorted box of chocolates, they are all sweet; some are bittersweet, some are caramelized sweet, some are sour-cream sweet, but at the core of it lies satisfaction of that toffee you bought for 50 paise once. His words might not be something grand that overwhelms and overpowers ones thought process, but they are sweet nothings that make the overwhelming and overenthusiastic writings bearable.

Oh yes, I am channeling work distress by reading him. If he is not one of the greatest then who is?

And I shared my favourite ones, some of my friends have been poetry assaulted since last Sunday because I have been carrying this book with me everywhere and sharing pictures with them.

Comments

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire.

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire. Quote: Perhaps the answer lay not in striving but in being. In simply accepting that the loneliness would never be eliminated fully, but that one could deal with it by learning to treat it like a companion and no longer an adversary. Ville a hunter wakes up from a dream, ventures out to search for the heart-stone; that holds the power of the river that's asleep. And this stone is guarded by wailing-angry-widow-spirits. Many attempts have been made at magical realism in Indian English writing, and I didn't like them. My personal opinion is that magical realism needs a deep connection with nature, maybe never explicitly explored in the text, but the traces of that connection always shows in the words written. And I have always argued that North East India is the most fertile ground to plant the seeds of magical realism in. Easterine Kire, pens our deep connection with nature for the national readership to gawk...

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam Quote: If this were a relationship between a male and a female, wouldn't it be safe to assume that we were 100% attracted to each other? But because I'm a male and just an underclassman, Eungi Hyung would never consider anything like that, would he? Fools is a Korean Webtoon written by Yeongha and adorably illustrated by Bagdam. A weepy and heartbroken teen Choi Jeongwoo meets Kwon Enugi one night, where the latter ends up comforting and advising the teen. A few years later, Jeongwoo is a freshman in the university where Enugi has returned for his final year after completing his military service. Enugi comes off as a standoffish young man while Jeongwoo the pretty boy is always smiling and super friendly. After hearing Jeongwoo cry on his phone to his boyfriend during the welcoming party, Enugi can't stop but worry about him from then on. By the twist of fate they end up having breakfast tog...

Book Review: Whom Can I Tell? How Can I Explain? By Saroj Pathak

Book Review: Whom Can I Tell? How Can I Explain? By Saroj Pathak Quote: But Poorbi was impatient. She was a woman alone, and men were never very trustworthy. If she could once and for all wear the wedding sari that would bind Sambal to her for good! She didn't care about caste or class. The trouble was that she had lost all joy in the red of wedding sari; there was no other reason why she felt h esitant. An anthology of twelve translated stories that Stree published almost two decades back. My interest grew in the book when one story, The Vow was selected for an upcoming Reader. But due to space and budget crunch, we had to drop it later. Originally written in Gujarati, Saroj Pathak remains one of the first Indian authors to delve into the psychological and social strains the men, the women and the society go through. From divorced women to unmarried women to women in an extramarital affair, all sorts of character from lower to upper-middle-class society get a glimpse. Sh...

KhepiAri

Search This Blog