Everybody must read because books and ONLY books can teach character to you.

Books that actually taught me something are listed in chronological order pertaining to my life :

• Growing up, amidst Noddy and Pip, I managed to come across a senior year text book- Tom Brown's school days. What is gave me is hard to tell because like all 10 year olds, I was an impressionable kid. I'd like to believe that the book taught me about brotherhood, loyalty and the general sense of caring.

• I was 13 when Harry was 11 years old but soon I'd started comparing my forehead scar to the famous lightning imprint on Harry Potter's face. Still rated by me as one of the most creative storytelling of all time, the series shaped my imagination, it helped me to dream big and take all that comes my way with steady humility.

• It was teacher's day celebration of 2004 when a classmate narrated to me the general concept of Middle Earth- of Sauron and the rings of power. Mr. Tolkein with his detailed elaboration called the Lord of The Rings made me want to read more and more and more. Reading LOTR was probably the toughest job I had undertaken(closely matched with reading Anna Karenina, Gone With the Wind and Atlas Shrugged) but when I saw the maps, the family trees, the different alphabets in the appendix of the book, I realized that 'Books are a proof that humans are capable of magic'.

• Around me, everybody or everybody's parents including mine had framed a path for their lives. The path I took didn't feel right then and it doesn't feel right now but it doesn't matter as long as the path hasn't broken me enough to make me enjoy it. That's what I learnt from The Catcher in the Rye. The high school kid sick of the pretence filled society felt like my alter ego. His dream of going the un-dreamt way seemed what I would have wanted to do if I'd have given a thought.

• I raced through The Kite Runner in ragging period. I don't know how to describe how I feel about this story. I seriously don't. All I know is that Sohrab and Hassan, I'd read this book- "For you, a thousand times over."

• And then was Mr. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. I read the book and was amazed at my own maturity at respecting the character. Not many teenagers would appreciate Atticus' willingness to support outcasts. The day I'll be able to do something good for the world we live in, I would thank Harper Lee and Gregory Peck for creating/depicting Atticus Finch.

• It's a book that is hard to find and easy to miss in the book-stands but to me it was the best random book I ever picked. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby flamed my love for music, pushed me to pick up an instrument and also go ahead and explore new artists. The story was alright, the writing style was somewhat funny but it were the songs that lingered and the need to keep looking for the good ones has been imbibed for good.

• Cloud Atlas - I don't know why but for some bizarre reason it taught me let go of someone who'd been long gone. Maybe because it talks about things that are inevitable.

• For this last book, all I'll say that if I would ever write a novel, it'd be of the same style as of Jonathan Tropper's:- 'This is where I Leave You'

A book I'd like to review.

David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas

Every now and then you come across a book that takes you for a thrill ride with the centre-stage characters performing extraordinary tasks and meanwhile exhibiting inhumane calmness. These books binds their stories together with sudden but exciting happenings which make the reader want to finish them in one go.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is no such book. You may not be able to finish it in a couple of days but you’ll definitely keep its memory in your mind for a long time. The story revolves around one character at a time living in different timelines ranging from the under-developed seventeen hundreds to the post- apocalyptic world. Although the message is simple: development of the human race and its needs may lead to considerable destruction of the world we live in and also the world as we see it yet this is not the story which one would want to materialize by bringing out the morale.  All characters in the novel are linked by a comet shaped scar on their shoulder blades and through one means or the other, are aware of their previous incarnation and their life stories.

David Mitchell has romanced with the copybook ideals of novel writing but only in his other books. In this one, he has not stuck to one emotion. The theme of the plot is different for each character and each one of them somehow manages to lead to another. I love the way he breaks the story chain of one character and eases on to the next. We’ve all seen movies like Bable and Crash in which various stories are inter-twined but this one flows like a waterfall from one part to the other and then at the middle reverses its flow.

This is a book that you’ve all glanced through in book shelves of random book stores but never given a consideration to. I dared to pick up this weirdly described, absurdly written novel and happened to love it. Cloud Atlas, I have to say is an astonishing, unconventional yet brave attempt on a revolutionary style of writing.

?

I'll start something. What? I'll name it later.


I'll go for a drive. With whom? I wonder.


I'll watch a great movie. Of what type? I'll think about it later.


I'll be selflessly infatuated. With whom? I wonder.


I'll write an article. About what? I'll think later.


I'll be noteworthy. How? I wonder.


I'll improve. In what way? I'll decide later.


I'll make someone happy. How? I wonder.


I'll laugh out loud. Why? I'll find a reason later.


I'll think about career. Why? I wonder.


I'll get back in contact with friends. Which ones? I'll decide later.


I'll be a better man. How? I wonder.


I'll start taking things lightly. Which things? I'll decide later.


I'll believe again. In what? I wonder.


I want to do something . What? I'll think later.


I want to say something. What? I wonder.


How can I expect to find the answers. To what? I cant remeber.

There's a long story I've always wanted to write.
Of Kings and Knights , brave steads black and white.

A lovely queen, her followers both fair and handsome,
A lonely farmer, his 3 cows sold for ransom.

Secretly admire the queen, did the farmer,
but knowing his stature , remained the calmer.

One fine day when the sun was bright,
rode the queen with her banner displaying her might.

A young prince crossed her path, and O ! did he admire,
the beauty of the queen and the propriety of her attire.

Bent down on one knee did he declare his love for the pretty queen,
The Queen- flattered by his guts but worried that he might be mean,
Asked for his identity and his purpose,
for wandering in her lands dressed like a bandmaster in the circus.

-------------------------------

I want to go on with this shit,
but the alcohol has given me a serious hit.

If I go on I might recite a legend, never heard or spoken of,
but if I don't hit the bed now , tomorrow in the office , I'll be the red -eyed Rudolf.

If I'm eight pegs down and I can still make it rhyme,
then I think I'm too drunk and sure no reader would give me a dime.

Ek Cutting !

Chai ! Hai Chai !
Chai na hoti toh,,

i wouldnt be able to bear a movie like dragon ball z,
i would never ever listen to ABBA,
i wouldnt dream of reading 'BLINK',
i wouldnt dare to listen to mindless banter,
i wouldnt care to see people foolishly quarreling,
i wouldnt log into facebook and read lame status messages,
i wouldnt sit and watch an episode of roadies 8.0,

Chai na hoti abhi, to i would never have thought about writing this shit !

p.s. everything mentioned has been done in a period of 6 minutes(jab tak chai thi)