Evening with Sir Jeffrey Archer

We blocked the evening of 18th of May 2009 of our calendar to get a glimpse of one of the finest story teller of our generation… Sir Jeffrey Archer.

As the day arrived we did keep our standard time of arriving 2quarters past the scheduled time of 7… rain was at the mercy of our blame along with the usual Bangalore traffic… some times wonder if the traffic really improves in our city …. We would have to find an as effective alternate reason for our lack of integrity… hmm….

Anyways Jeff seems to be with ease at the 500 odd crowd straining themselves to get a view of him. at the Landmark bookstall in the citymall.. …. Probably the visits to other Indian cities and the previous one to Bangalore has made him get used to our very exclusive desi crowd-pschology. The next one hour was an insight to his latest work ‘Path of Glory’.... Must say his sense of humor was laudable while talking of his books and dodging questions of the audience. He made quite a few references to the grt RK Narayan and the members of our cricket team (cricket being his fav sport)…. What probably saddened us was his astonishment that RkN's home town dint have a statue of the great man… hmmm…. how true never thought of it….. (trivia for those who r from Bangalore : RKN’s fictitious place “Malgudi” was supposed to be inspired from ‘Mal’leswaram and basavana‘gudi)’

What followed was a 3 hour loooooooong Q for his autographed bestsellers....thats like 500ppl multiplied by at least 2to3 books each along with the pics which he smilingly obliged...... admired the enthusiasm n patience the man seem to have at 70.... We got 4 of his works signed by him ... and a couple of pics :)

The day turned out to be gud.... its not that i am a celeb worshiper that i had to hop around....but jus that we had to spend the evening and this was worthwhile a task.... it gave us an experience how it wud be to meet the author of ur childhood classics .... (childhood??? he is one of those i read even now)... well bought back memories of the first book of his i read..."shall we tell the President".... probably my first after the likes of Hardyboys, Enid Blyton, Famous Five, Agatha Christe, not to forget the hours spent on the likes of Tintin, Astrix and the Archies and the Jugheads…and ofcourse tinkle…all thanks to my cousin ignited the reading (n thinking) habit in me.....
…. phew those were the days!!!!

Spent the night pondering over the various books ‘ve read along with the reflection of the those early years of reading …

Wonder what kids of this generation call their first book as ……(Harry potter???)

Malgudi Days...

A visit to ‘Crossword’ coincided with the Centenary Birth celebrations of the legendary R K Narayan, with some of his great works drowning the display ........ on an occasion like this and adding to the fact that its been ages since his works have crossed my mind ........ resisting the temptation of invading the centenary editions of his prized collections ........ the "Malgudi days" and "Swami and Friends", wouldn’t have been inevitable .............

Well back home, lying on an easy chair,...... with the company of the trees screening the Sunday forenoon’s chilled rays above along with a mug of hot choc n the bound pages of the mentioned marvels, would certainly vouch for a wonderful weekend afternoon.

As I glance the title “Malgudi Days” a smile erupts followed by my palate lingering with the taste of nostalgia ....... the long wait for the day and the hour of the week, when this piece of art was made to flow on the canvas by director Shankar Nag, added to it the genius of R K Laxman’s mesmerizing cartoons and the gratifying music by donnowho, which goes like .......... TA NA NA ….TANA……….. Ahh....

“Malgudi Days”, the simple, 'meaningless', gratifying epic ................. bringing back to life the Albert Mission School, The Sweet Shop vendor, Malgudi Railway station, the Statue of Sir Frederick Leawley, the Road Roller, The M.C.C. (Malgudi Cricket Club), the amazing Swami with his doti -topi and his always look of distress, along with his friends, the fragrance of a pre-independence rural Indian setup………n the touchy climax of swami n his friend departing.

As the pages flow from one tale to another…. The mastery descriptions of the author, (more imposing than a 70mm), adds a lot of flavors of emotions n expressions to the soul of each plot, that its visual format wouldn’t be able to justify…………… now how can the “emotions” in a line like “A donkey was standing near the gutter, patiently watching its own sharp shadow” …......... be expressed in a visual format…..

The magnanimity of nostalgic contempt which each of these simple, short, innocent, insignificant arrays of events brought to life are made worthy enough to take notice off the occurrence of almost exact incidents, at some point of its readers lives- defying the times, generations, cultures, geographies… each one of us belongs to….

As the afternoon ends with the tale, the last few pages had to say, the evening passed on with a sense of serenity as the pieces of nostalgia still ooze their taste. The errand list is added with a request to dish out a Malgudi Days dvd (if available) before the next Crossworld visit, to lighten the bookshelves of RKN’s other masterpieces.

Got Kissed.....Got Wild....Got Killed

Before we could get a glimpse of the work of India’s latest offering to the world, she gets tarnished and the work destroyed. It would be interesting to check out what’s going on in Kaaya’s mind …. like Cinderella, where life splashed her with all goodies of the world for a night, only to strip her to the minimal next morning. Perfect rags--riches-–rags story added with a great emotional turmoil, which can’t be gauged. She could be left poorer than the poorest soul emotionally unless she manages herself well…… Guess she can actually start writing her comeback second book about her own self, which surely is a great script. :)

If you get an eye on the phrases that are supposedly “lifted” from other authors, you will start wondering about all the fuss that’s created, those phrases seem so harmless, they could occur to anyone, like a phrase “I LOVE YOU” does not have a owner, these could have occurred to most of us at some point of time. I feel they are more of a inspirational writing for better expression of thought than copying the thought itself….. at least, the book’s not a copier machine output and those forty copied phrases they talk about is actually spread across the book for anyone to actually take notice of them.

Well we all have grown up reading/being influenced by a lot of great stuff and obviously our own thoughts are more or less a collective mixture of them added with a dash of spice which our own individuality and experience oozes. I think every act we do is a copy from something, from brushing teeth to driving to what ever.... the fact that we buy a book is because its got something new which the authors own imagination gives and I guess Kaavya should be given at least the credit that she wouldn’t flick a Shakespeare’s classic, changed names here n there and put her name on it ….. right

Wonder how the usage of those phrases alone could be a determining factor of sales or popularity if any. The ugly head of capitalism pops up in publishing, where the driving force of a book release is more a money matter that even dictates the number of pages, and the permissible content of a book than the thoughts that they convey. Well its not that I have read Kaavya’s book and impressed by its “thought provoking” material nor the fact that I have been captivated by her beauty and the Harvard status is in anyway influencing me in taking a stand for her sake. Its jus that the role that money plays in the whole set up pisses me off…….. Jus like Meg Ryan’s sweet little book place was eaten away by Tom Hanks corporate swindler.And for all the publishers and fellow authors who think they are offended by such “copies” they have the law to sanction it.

Capitalism ……….. something is wrong somewhere …. Jus like anything else…

If such inspired writing amount to “stealing” or the other royalty issue, then Ford should have been the only car manufacturer in the world and every cell phone sold should increase the pockets of Alexander Grambell’s great grand children in the name of royalty. Or every love story that’s written amounts to plagiarism of Romeo Juliet. And the British Queen should get a dime for every English word uttered.

Hey if anyone of you is fortunate to lay hands on opel …. Please pass her on ……

to get KISSED ……… and get WILD……