Skip to main content

Kafka - on the shore

For once I have something to blog about. Not just whining and blaming others. Or posting some silly quotes which only I found hilarious, and reposting it.

Ok. The day I saw about Arundhati Roy's book "the ministry of utmost happiness" I read more about her and read part of her article in Caravan. I realized we share some common enemies. Isn't that how friendships are formed - based on whom you hate or dislike? OK, why don't I buy her book.

Amazon order was prepared. Luckily they had some offer on hardcover book. So that went into shopping cart. Because I did not want to pay 50 rupee delivary charges, I browsed through suggestion Amazon provided and selected "Kafka on the shore" by Murukami - a Japanese writer.

Now both books have arrived and I haven't yet removed the plastic cover of Roy's book. Instead I am reading Kafka...

And interestingly enough, I am proceeding quite well. Though two other book which I was trying to read few pages a day at least, are peeping from time to time and asking "what about us".

The reason I am able to read is because I paid for it is because the book is having some events, not just thoughts. And it is not saddening. So next time, I should google for a book which is NOT SAD before I start reading it.

The other book I was trying to read was "Bhagavad gita". I have borrowed my sister's book which has Sanskrit shlokas, meanings of each word and then the complete meaning. So I will read aloud the shloka, some times multiple times, disjoin the sandhis, then try to understand the meaning. Some how, this is better for me than just reading essays on each shloka of this most profound philosophical work.

And last Gita shloka I remember reading says something like " you are your own friend and you are your own enemy." Don't we all know it? But still act more as enemies - always trying to self-sabotage?

OK. Back to Kafka on the shore. There are two stories running in parallel. There is a teenage boy who will run away from home and keep a pseudo name of Kafka. And there is a strange event of 16 children falling unconscious in a school picnic. So far they do not seem to be related. They are not even from the same time period. This accident happens some time during world war II, but the boy's story is current.

So let us see how these two will be linked. And what Kafkaesque events will unfold - because I read that the author's style is supposed to be of magic realism. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Someshwara shataka

ಚರಿಪಾರಣ್ಯದ ಪಕ್ಷಿಗೊಂದು ತರು ಗೊಡ್ಢಾಗಲ್ ಫಲಂ ಈವಿದಾ ಮರಗಳ್ ಪುಟ್ಟವೆ ಪುಷ್ಪವೊಂದು ಬಳಲಲ್  ಭ್ರಂಗಕ್ಕೆ ಪೂವಿಲ್ಲವೆ ನಿರತಂ ಸತ್ಕವಿಗೋರ್ವ ಗರ್ವಿದಂ ನೃಪ ತಾಂ ಲೋಭಿಯಾಗಲ್ ನಿಜಂ ಧರೆಯೊಳ್ ದಾತರು ಪುಟ್ಟರೆ ಹರ ಹರಾ ಶ್ರೀ ಚೆನ್ನ ಸೋಮೇಶ್ವರ Will a bird in the wild go hungry just because one fruit tree dries up? If one flower withers, will not the bee get any flowers? If one haughty king is miserly, will there be no patrons (of poetry) on this earth? ಕೆಲವಂ ಬಲ್ಲವರಿಂದ ಕಲ್ತು ಕೆಲವಂ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರಂಗಳೋದುತಂ ಕೆಲವಂ ಮಾಳ್ಪವರಿಂದ ಕಂಡು ಕೆಲವಂ ಸುಜ್ಙಾನದಿಂ  ನೋಡುತಂ ಕೆಲವಂ ಸಜ್ಜನಸಂಗದಿಂದಲರಿಯಲ್ ಸರ್ವಜ್ಞನಪ್ಪಂ ನರಂ ಪಲವಂ ಪಳ್ಳ ಸಮುದ್ರವೈ ಹಾರ ಹರಾ ಶ್ರೀ ಚೆನ್ನ ಸೋಮೇಶ್ವರ Learning from wise men, reading from good books, observing others  work and learning from good company, these are the ways a man becomes omni-scient (sarvajna - one who knows everything). Just like many streams join together to make an ocean. P.S. 1) If you find some of my wordings in this shataka is wrong, please let me know. It is a 40 year old memory. 2) There are also many tripadis(poem

AA

This must really go to facebook page. But since I am currently not in facebook, I am putting it here. If you feel any of your close ones or your friends and relatives are addicts or on the way of being addicts, introduce them to Alcoholic anonymous. They have meetings all over the Bangalore and in other towns in India also.  I have taken this list from AA India site . The site also contains lot of information about alcoholics including a questionnaire to find out if a a person is an alcoholic or not.   BELGAUM ADDRESSES TIMINGS New Life Group.    St, Anthony Kannada High School,    Opp. Fish Market Khanapur Road, Camp Belgaum-590006 Anand – 099026 87947 Sat 6.00 p.m. Back Top BENGALURU ADDRESSES TIMINGS

ಒಗಟು

ಇದು ಕನ್ನಡದ ಒಂದು ಒಗಟು. ಅಮ್ಮ ಹೇಳಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು. ನೋಡಿ ಬಿಡಿಸಲು ಆಗುವುದೋ ಎಂದು. ಉತ್ತರೆಯ ತಾಯ ತಮ್ಮನ ಕತ್ತಲೆಯಲಿ ಒತ್ತಿ ಕೊಂದವನ ಅಗ್ರಜನ ಪಿತನ ವಾಹನದನ್ತಿರ್ಪವನೆ !!! Hint : you must know your Mahabharatha well. One more. ಹರನ ಹಾರನ ಆಹಾರನ ಸುತನ ದೇವನ ಮಡದಿಯಂ ಕದ್ದೊಯ್ದವನ ಅನುಜನ ಮಡದಿಯೆನಗೊಲಿದಿರ್ಪಳ್ P.S. : If you find the solution, you can mention it in the comment :) Since no one came up with solutions, let me mention them. Uttara's mother's younger brother is Keechaka. The one who killed him in darkness is Bheema. His agraja - elder brother - is Dharmaraya. whose pita - father is Yama. Yama's vahana is buffalo. So the ogatu, is to call some one a buffalo. Second one is Hara's garland - haara is snake, Snake's food is Vaayu - air. Vaayu's son is Hanuman. His god is Rama. The person who kidnapped Rama's madadi - wife - is Ravana. Ravana's anuja is Kumbhakarna. His wife is Nidra - sleep. So all this just to say I am sleepy.