Truth is stranger than fiction

When you know where you come from You back down for no one Just be true to yourself, it's your life.        These are the lyrics of a ballad by rock band Scorpions, featured in their latest album titled Rock Believer.    This band holds a special place in my heart as I was introduced to rock music through their numbers. I was probably eight or nine years old when I accidentally stumbled upon their audio tape in my parents’ music collection. As a latchkey child, I was mostly accustomed to an empty house. Occasionally the sound of rustling leaves would reverberate inside the apartment. While I enjoyed silence and solitude, I craved a little noise, and often played music in the background while doing my homework. The music ranged from English pop or Indian film music. Back in the 80s numbers from Abba, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Boney M were regular on my playlist.  When I was bored of listening to the same numbers, I’d rummage thro...

Book Review   Title: The Sky is Everywhere Author: Jandy Nelson Genre: Fiction/Young Adult    The Sky is Everywhere follows the story of Lennie Walker who is trying to cope up with the sudden demise of her sister. Her grief manifests itself into poems, and little notes that she plants in different places. While Lennie is grappling with her loss, and trying to find her footing, she gets into a relationship with her late sister’s fiancée. At the same time, there is Joe who helps Lennie find solace in music. As the story progresses, Lennie discovers aspects of her sister that she never knew and feels distant from her. The book goes on to reveal Lennie handling complex dynamics, and her palatable grief.    Narrated in first person from the point of view of Lennie, readers are treated to the interiority of her torrid emotions. The writing is lucid and poetic, giving it a certain rhythm and cadence. This rhythm is found in the dialogues which is the strongest point in...

  Book Review Title: The Lost Daughter Author: Elena Ferrante Genre: Fiction/Translation (Italian)   The Lost Daughter traces the story of Leda, a divorced woman, long separated from her grown up daughters who takes up a summer rental at a beach. On the beach, she observes a family that catches her fancy. There is Nina, her daughter Elena, and a doll they both play with. When Elena goes missing, Leda helps in finding her but later steals her doll. This triggers a series of questions about Leda’s reasons for doing something so inexplicable. Was it her way of clinging on to memories, or an unresolved childhood problem?   Written in first person from the point of view of Leda, the readers are taken deep into her interiority. Through her eyes, we observe intricate details about people and the place around her. What makes it interesting is the several layers in her characterization and plot. As we delve deeper, we hear about Leda’s confession to a group of strangers about her ...

Summary of movies    Due to my training and semester on in full swing, I haven’t been able to catch up on too many movies as much as I’d have liked to. Nevertheless, managed to watch a few that stood out to me.    My father’s violin : It chronicles the relationship between a father and daughter who are ardent music lovers. When the father discovers one day about his numbered days, he entrusts his daughter to his estranged brother who is a famous music composer. The story goes on to trace how the little girl attempts to win her uncle’s heart through music. While the movie was in Turkish, there were several aspects that struck a chord. The overall rhythm of the movie lent well to music which is a silent character. Even dialogues between people can be emulated in a tune, as the father tells the daughter. He attempts to play a tune after listening to two people in conversation. Since I’m studying both poetry and dialogue this semester, it’s interesting how such movies he...

This semester, I'm enrolled in a seminar that focuses on speech and dialogue. It’s interesting how reading some information from the material assigned, triggered a memory This excerpt is from a novel titled You which is also a series. It’s about a narrator stalking a woman who visits his store. The term ‘you’ elicits a creepy feeling in the reader, giving them the feeling of being the person stalked. However, there are certain lines and passages that makes the reader feel the narrator is stating nothing but the truth.    In the above passage, the narrator talks about the absence of DVD stores and the reduced communication levels between humans. Having grown up in an era where I’ve rented DVDs, this statement struck a chord.  Back then, I’d have some wonderful conversations with the DVD rental shop owner, who later became a very dear friend. There were times I’d be confused on what movie to watch next, and he’d come up with several recommendations and reviews. I remem...

  Summary of January reads. It’s been a good reading month with a toss-up of fiction, poetry, and a play.    The Midnight library   The Midnight library deals with an interesting premise of the infinite possibilities of lives we could have led. What resonated with me was the protagonist's feelings of regret and going back to live a life she wanted to. The author showcases that no life is devoid of imperfections and that even the most seemingly life comes with its share of shortcomings and misery. The character driven plot is compelling and engaging.    The Seas This is a perfect example of an unreliable narrator. It tells the story of a girl who believes she’s a mermaid. While she awaits her father, she falls in love with an older man who goes off to serve in the Iraq war. The story is set in a town infused with gossip, deceit, and alcoholism. What stood out to me was the voice of the narrator, her raw honesty, and unabashed feelings towards Jude. The chapt...

Book review Title: A Children's Bible Author: Lydia Millet Genre: Fiction/Climate A Children's Bible tells the story of a group of children and how they are left to fend for themselves in a storm.  Evie and the rest of the children spend their vacation in a summer home with their parents. While the parents have their own ways of amusing themselves through alcohol and other frivolous activities, the children explore the area on their own. When a storm hits, the kids find refuge in a farm while the parents abscond. The rest of the narrative takes us through some interesting adventures, issues the author is trying to tackle and the parallels that are drawn.  The entire story navigates through the eyes of our adolescent narrator Evie who uses first person plural. This seems to indicate the collective voice of adolescence. It's interesting to note how Lydia switches between the disdain voice of a young teenager to a mature person who is responsible for her ...

Last night, I dreamed I was in Mumbai.  On the promenade that they call Marine drive, where the waves crash against the breakers, where we see a small boat in yonder, where we see the buildings on the other side, and where we've seen many sunsets. Marine drive-where we've run many times, early in the mornings, watching the sun peep from the clouds, hear the shrill call of birds, wave to other fellow runners, and familiar faces. Marine drive which stretches for 2.5 miles along the ocean, where cars zoom past, where my running community would organize their monthly runs. Marine drive, which would look mystical in the rains, where I'd sit for hours gazing at the ocean post a run, where we'd gather with runner friends for a photo shoot. A place where we'd get lost in the sound of waves or the cacophony of human chatter, or the traffic. Its strange how there would be noise and yet we would enjoy some solitude.  Last night I dreamed I was running on Marine drive, smiling ...

  It was still dark outside when I got into my Uber. Cold, but not as cold as I expected it to be, strangely since it was the month of January. I reached San Francisco state parking lot and got inside the shuttle that was supposed to take us inside Golden Gate Park. I sat in my seat, listening to the conversation between two runner women seated behind me. I normally feel bad about eavesdropping but I decided to treat this as an exercise for my dialogue writing. One of the books I read recently emphasized on this exercise to improve the art of dialogue writing.  We reached Golden Gate park which was swarming with runners, volunteers and race organizers. Long lines, excited chatter, corals at the start line. I waited there, observing the crowd as I usually did. It was beginning to get brighter as the darkness dissipated. I met a runner aquaintance before the 15 km run began. I met him at another event in December and remained in touch since then. The best part about running was ...

  Book review Title: Gordo Author: Jaime Cortez Genre: Fiction/ Short story collection  Gordon is a collection of eleven short stories tracing the life of a young boy named Gordo. Gordo is grappling with his identity, mockery, body shaming and forced to comply to his father’s expectations of being masculine. As Gordo grows up, he begins to learn about the ways of the world, the people in his community, poverty, abuse, violence and undocumented immigrants.  One of the key strengths in this collection is the voice of the narrator. Most of the stories are told in first person from the point of view of Gordo. There is a certain rawness and honesty in the tone that strikes a chord.  This invites the readers to empathize and travel with Gordo on his journey from childhood to an adult. Through his eyes, we see the social setting and community around him and how they treat those who do not comply with certain expected norms.   The author tackles some powerful theme...

Ever watched a movie that leaes you feeeling as though someone has placed a rock in your chest? Thats precisely how I felt after watching the Andrew Garfield movie-Tick, Tick... Boom.  The movie moved up places in my to see list, the minute I saw that the lead actor bagged an award at the Golden Globes. And what a brilliant performnce.  Tick,Tick... Boom tis based on Jonathan Larson, a playwright who lived in New York city, trying to make ends meet, composing and navigating between pressures of a relationship and friendships around him. After several trials and tribulations, Larson goes on to create the hit musical Rent ad sadly doesnt live to see the first preview performance at Broadway.  I was intrigued by how the movie resonated with me on so many levels. One was the dialogue exchange betwen Garfield and the manager after his first performance at the workshop. She says how a writers life comprises of having to keep writing the next one until something clicks. This is ...

  I first heard about the Jack London State Historic Park from my professor with whom I was taking workshop with last semester. It was something during the month of November when I was feeling an all time low. Nothing was goiing right. I missed running the Golden gate Half marathon because of fatigue, my strength dropped, my pace dropped, I received a few rejections, and I was feeling home sick. I wasnt sure where my writing was heading and whether I was even in the right field.  It was during that time when my professor mentioned about his visit to Jack London museum, about thirty minutes from Napa. He talked about having seen a pile of rejections faced by the author before he tasted success. I listened intently, making my mind to visit this place sometime.  During winter break, while browsing for things to do/see near Bodega Bay, I stumbled upon Jack London state Historic park. It was an hour away. I took this as some sort of sign and decided to drive up there with fami...

Book review Title: The Seas Author: Samantha Hunt Genre: Nautical Fiction 'The Seas' tells an interesting tale of an adolescent girl in a coastal village who is convinced she is a mermaid. The word mermaid is bound to trigger ideas about the possibility of this book containing elements of magical realism which isnt exactly the case.  Our protagonist is an unnamed 19 year old girl who lives in a town infused with gossip, deceit and alcoholism. The narrator's father has disappeared into the ocean. While waiting for him, she stumbles upon a much older man named Jude who walks out of the sea. She falls in love with him while he goes off to serve in the Iraq war. The distance doesn deter her love for him and she adopts several measures to ease her pain on land which eventually lands her in prison.  One of the strengths of the book is the powerful voice of the narrator. While there are times she sounds younger than her age, she is bold and unpreten...

Book review  Title: The Midnight library  Author: Matt Haig Genre: Speculative Fiction Often we are bogged down by regrets and tend to wonder how our life would have turned out if we had chosen an alternative route. The Midnight library is one such interesting read and explores this premises of choosing different possibilities and variations on life.  Our protagonist Nora Seed leads an uninteresting life. She feels despair about her lack of accomplishments and views herself as a failure. Out of frustration, she decides to end her life. However, Nora doesn’t embrace death yet. She reached this place called The Midnight library which lies between life and death. On the shelves of this library are books which comprise of parallel lives Nora might have led. She is given a chance to redeem her regrets and live multiple lives. We see her as a rockstar, Olympic swimmer, a glaciologist and several more lives. Even the seemingly perfect life comes with its share of imperfections. ...

 Over the past two months, I've managed to watch some interesting films. Writing a small passage of my thoughts about each of them.  The Matrix Ressuructions: Watched this on New years eve on HBO. It was an interesting conceot of two realities. Neo has to find out is his reality actually exists or is just an extension of his mental make up. As he tumbles down the rabbit hole, we encounter other characters and at one point the matrix appears to be stronger and a lot more dangerous. Watching this film felt like spiraling down a dark hole,. It almost felt like watching Inception. At times reality feels like an illusion while the illusionary world begins to feel so real that it becomes hard to distinguish between the two. While its classified as Science Fiction, I personally feel its partly Psychological fiction. the dialogues were engaging and I was hooked to the story. A 5.8 rating on imdb in my opinion is a little harsh. I felt it deserved at least 6.8/10. It was good to see K...

 Being an ardent Cricket and Sports buff, I couldn't miss one.  83 takes you back to the time when the Indian Cricket Team won their maiden world cup against the mighty West Indies, under the leadership of Kapil Dev. With players like Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd and Michael Holding, West Indies were the clear favourites of the tournament.  The film showcases the trials and tribulations of the Indian Cricket Team, their journey as underdogs and a team that never wins. Even their initial victories are considered as luck by chance. Right from the commentators, to sports critics and even the spectators. In the form of smirks, snide remarks, sarcastic digs or even a little boy's innocent remark stating how his father refuses to spend money on tickets as the team never wins. The viewers are immediately acquainted with the impression that the Indian team is easily dismissed and not taken seriously.  The film immerses you into the world of cricket-the camarderie between the...