Life

Pensiamento Fantastico: The Strange Library

 The novel The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami narrates the story of a boy on a visit to the library. He is a dutiful reader and library-user who returns his books on time. He wants to find out how taxes were collected in the Ottomon empire and because such a thought strikes his mind, he wants to find out more about it. On enquiring about it, he is directed to a special section of the library. 

 

He meets a strange old man who assists him by bringing him three thick tomes on the subject-The Ottoman Tax System, The Diary of an Ottoman Tax Collector, and Tax Revolts and Their Suppression in the Ottoman Turkish Empire- and lets him read them on the condition that he should sit in the library and read them. 

He tells the old man that his mother will get upset if he doesn’t return home on time just like the time when he was bitten by a big black dog. The old man is furious that the boy wants to go home in spite of the assistance that he has provided and reminiscences about the time when he was a boy. The buy promises to sit and read for thirty minutes and he is taken to a “Reading Room”, an enormous labyrinth in the basement of the library. 

He meets  a sheep man who makes good doughnuts and obeys all the orders of the Old man. He discovers that the Old man wants to eat his brains and when he asks the reason for that the sheep man replies because brains packed with knowledge are yummy and grainy at the same time. 

A girl comes in bringing him a sumptuous meal and he is struck by her beauty. She can only speak with her hands and she tells him that her vocal cords were destroyed when she was a child. He finds that the library has turned out be a prison and he is not able to get out. He finds that the sheep man and the beautiful girl belong to two different worlds and that at times their worlds collide and overlap with each other. 

He worries about his mother and his pet magpie. As if to make his fears true he is held a prisoner and his pet magpie is eaten by a dog before his very eyes.  What happens to the boy? 

A little Kafkaesque and absurd, the novel captures an atmosphere similar to The Trial and brings in a sense of terror to the act of  visiting a library. In spite of the  way in which it portrays absurdity, this illustrated novella can make you feel hungry with its pictures of delicacies! 

Images: 

www.goodreads.com
www.theguardian.com

Stargazing with you

Though there might not be many words and many hurdles to jump over, this heart still wants to watch the stars fade away all along with you.Often it dreams of flights across all its mazes just to find solace in the comfort of your presence and at times, it feels that the time has passed and the magic gone. Despite of constant mistakes while wandering, it seeks within itself an answer, to wait patiently for you to come back again into this weary life. 

May be this heart would hum a new song or dance a new dance, a never-seen wonder of rejoice when you come home to me as my  soul friend. Till that day, this wanderer searches on many faces a semblance of its dream, feels down when it finds nothing in common and ends every journey with heavy feet and grim thoughts. Yet, with a spring of delight it waits on every corner just to see your face in every dream and looks forward to the surprises that life holds in its sudden trips and turns, turning a deaf ear to the noises that are around it the whole time.

@couple goals

Love notes from far

This night may be dark and quite long, my dear,
But I am up waiting for you to come home to me;
In the meanwhile, I take up my journal and pen,
And write down a few thoughts that cross my mind.

How did we begin this history of you and me once?
How did I learn to send love notes to you so often?
For when the muse comes, some words make no sense,
They often cut an old vein or punch an old pain.

But when your heartache travels from distant lands,
When your heartbeats reach me at this hour of night,
I cannot lie down on my bed peacefully any longer,
I think of that day when you looked at me surprised.

For in one moment, a nameless feeling overruled all,
Now, I have many lone nights to lull myself to sleep.

To buy or not to buy: A shopper's story

Pic: Dreamtime

What I find is that for some years I have been buying things from the supermarket and enjoying the lack of a human element so much that I cannot tolerate when a very efficient looking (read polite, well made-up and dressed in stylish uniforms) comes and tries to interfere with the process of choosing a product. 

These shops do have cameras and motion sensors and I have often wondered "Do I look suspicious?" but the plain fact is that I have to check prices at closer levels than it is normal because of my eyesight as there are instances when I have quite overlooked digits before and after. 

After roaming around for hours, it is only natural that one knows many of these aisles by heart but at times, they do shift things around and I like to keep things in my mind and their availability for future purposes as well. 

But recently, I feel that I have been coaxed into buying things that I don't want to buy any day. Even a look in a particular aisle might end up in products that might be of no use. I was forced to buy two shades of blue nail polish instead of my usual shade of pink plainly out of courtesy. It's almost like they look into your eyes and shake your decisions. At times, I refuse very politely but I am rather piqued looking at my fingernails. 

When I shared this experience, I got a similar story, one from a friend and one from my mother. Many of these girls are overtly made up and say dialogues like "This toner is so good for your skin" and I always wonder have they really used it themselves!

But then I think I decided to play a different game because out of habit, I know their products by heart and can ask for a brand or a product they may not have! And, I think does work in most cases and sometimes I just name something that I really need and run as fast as possible as soon as I find it. 

But I guess it sure has spoiled the pleasure of shopping of finding where things are kept and then buying them. I do remember that during the early days of marriage, my husband would hold my hand tight so that I might not go missing in one of these aisles. 

Bottom line: I think my gripe against them is that they keep recommending cosmetics that I really don't want or may be because of some very lovely remedies for acne such as Himalaya Facewash or Age Miracle and so on. Part of this might be because of a very absent-minded childish naive expression on my face and I am working on a cure for this.

A smile

In your mind

Acorn and the oak tree

Purple Riot: debut book

  

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Knowledge

Choices

Butterfly

Spring

Celtic prayer

Nature

I wish you enough

Happiness

A book

You wanted a book dedicated to you, my dear. I could write many a story of you and me, words and silence, music and love, rain and summer.

You are a sacred space that I have never left; a home that keeps me grounded to the world of dreams, though some are lost and some found again. For I’m like the proverbial woman who lost a valuable coin and has found it again after thorough searching.

You have a bowl full of colours that fetch you happiness every day; while I keep mine clean and empty for an impulsive act of alms from you. Someday, you might give me a little from the lot you have, just to keep me from starving.

The clouds still heave and burst into tears, every now and then. Years have gone by; still you are special, by the way you brought back music to me; for I’d never forget that one day, when you made me understand that I had forgotten how to sing.

Every day, from dawn to dusk, your name is like a talisman that I keep safe from the world, till words form one by one and fill these blank pages.

Campus

It’s raining heavily this evening

But there alights a golden glow;

On the tall trees of the campus,

The fox’s wedding of the lore.

A sight enough to lift the chill,

We stand in the corridor amazed;

While a horde of boys cackle

To show who’s boss around here.

The rain looks drawn like lines,

Straight by a measured hand;

When the glow disappears sudden

We get back to work and chatter.

A cold long rainy evening it was

Made warm with our smiles.

Good Fortune

Good fortune

There was no good luck on my cards today

Not that I care much for being what I am

But my fortune was not so good enough

Without a smile to lighten my weary day.

Not that I am what you want me to be

Not that I do what you really want me to

I have always ran away yet lost miserably

For I am like a lion in a cage of the past.

A lion that the people watch and observe

Throwing bits and pieces on my tiring day

Fighting over my ownership and knowledge

With records of all my mistakes, past. 

Yet when I look at where you always sit

A stupid grin spreads across my sad face.