Book Review: The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger

Recently I completed The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and without a doubt this is the most powerful book I have ever read. I had heard that the book is surrounded by controversies, and that it has been banned too. I never knew why there was a controversy, and did not bother to check any details even after I bought the book – I just started reading…

Books to me are a form of escapism. I flee from this world with a book in hand. I live the life of the protagonist, feel the pain and joy of the characters, and lose myself in the pages. With this book I started to live the life of Holden Caulfield and life turned hell. The guy depressed me immensely. I had been in a happy frame of mind when I started reading the book, as the book progressed, my mood deteriorated to the extent that I had to stop reading the book. I gave the book a wide berth for few days, picked it up again and just finished it off without involving myself in the book. It is just a story of a teenager on his own in New York for few days. He meets a myriad of people there and feels that everyone is a phony. His negativity makes the reader focus on only the negatives of any character.

I enjoy reading because I get involved in what is happening, this time the plan backfired spectacularly. I was in a happy mood and got depressed on reading this book; if a depressed guy picks up the book, I’d really pity him. It surely is a commanding book with brilliant writing skills on display.

Technorati: Review, Book Review, The Catcher in the Rye, Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger

The Silver Lining

It does not matter where you are; the clouds and the sky always provide wonderful photographic opportunities. These two photographs have been shot from the moving car while returning from Kuntala Falls.

I wanted the text on road sign to be readable, but the view behind took the focus away…

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Reminds me of the movie Twister
Technorati: Kuntala Falls, Photographs, Clouds

And I came back defeated

As is usual last week again found me at a bookstore. Although I tend to haunt Odyssey, this time I ventured to Crossword, just because I was in the City Center Mall. I have earlier had a laughable experience there regarding the categorization of books they have, but this time the experience was anything but laughable.

A group of girls was huddled in the front of the ‘Romance’ section, which unluckily was just a shelf away from ‘Indian Authors’ section that I was browsing. And then the cell phone of one of them rings. She lets the entire store know that they have been waiting for the past half an hour for the person on other end to come, and are just doing ‘time-pass at the bookshop’ (her exact words). And then their talks began in earnest. That one shelf of books was no match for the rising crescendo, and the incessant and the loud chatter emanating from the ‘Romance’ section battered my ears.

I came away with just one book – a rarity for me.

Advice to booklovers: Never visit Crossword Bookstore at City Center Mall, Hyderabad unless you know exactly the book you want to buy. The bored crowd of the Mall congregates there and makes simple book-browsing a very un-enjoyable task.

Technorati: Crossword, Hyderabad, Odyssey

Nature == Artist

The vivid colours of the sky had left me in no doubt that nature is an amazing painter… A recent trip to Kuntala Falls adds credence to the claim that nature is indeed an accomplished artist. Not only is nature a great sculptor,

but also a good add-on artist

Technorati: Kuntala Falls, Photographs, Natural Art

Night Duty

Ganpat had already put in his 12 hours of duty and was about to leave for home, when his officer called out to him and other constables and informed them of the gang-war going on in the city. The result – a curfew is enforced, and he had to put in more hours, all the constables would be stationed at major points through the city for the night. To say he was indignant would be an understatement. And the mosquitoes and insects had timed their arrivals with the rains to add to the misery of being the sole awake soul in the whole area. Only one emotion made it to the surface, “Damn!”

The Ford Fiesta was scorching the road, granted it was 4 a.m. and the road was deserted, but still it was a deserted road in the middle of a metro – not a sane and safe place for fast driving. The revving engine breaks Ganpat’s reverie, and dutifully he flags down the car. The engine is killed, lights switched off and the car idles to a stop near him.

With a hand on his rifle, Ganpat saunters over to the driver’s side and gestures the driver to come out. There is no reaction – no window is rolled down and nobody emerges from the car. Ganpat again asks the driver to come out, and he is greeted with the same response – nothing. He heaves the rifle to his shoulder, takes aim at the window and repeats himself. This time the passenger door clicks and a burly man in a suit steps out. Ganpat, “First of all you are out in a curfew, and you are speeding, and you came out only when I threatened to shoot. I think I have enough reasons to believe you are involved in the gang wars. Now put up your hands, ask your driver to step out and open the boot for a search”.

Before Ganpat could realize what is happening, there is a bright flash, and the guy who had stepped out from the passenger side starts talking at a feverish pitch, “Hi, I am Aman from the AM News Services. We are doing a report on the gang-wars that are going on, and how the cops are tackling the issue. Unluckily all the cops seem to have disappeared, you are the only cop in miles who is awake, and at duty. I would like an interview with you and photographs from some more angles too. I would like to know your full name, your designation, the station you are posted at, and all details about you. Tomorrow morning your photograph would adorn the front page of all newspapers, as the only earnest cop in the city”. Many more flashes as a flustered Ganpat tries to come to terms with the fast paced one-sided conversation the burly man keeps up, and stammers his responses while the man keeps tapping the stylus on his cell phone screen noting all his responses. Two more minutes, some more stylus tapping, and many more flashes later the burly man sidles into the car, thanks Ganpat profusely for his valuable time and takes off.

“Well the day was not all bad”, Ganpat reflects.

*

In the car, the driver – “That was some fast thinking”. The burly man retorts, “We were lucky he did not insist on searching the boot. That spontaneous charade I put up overwhelmed him. Had he found the corpse in the boot, right now we would be on our way to jail. Now keep to the back-alleys”.