Readings for the lonely..

Read 'inbakkeni' by Prabanjan. I like Prabanjan because his writings are natural and does tend to speak in a voice close to heart. Especially his 'Pudhuchery history' novels ('Vaanam Vasappadum', 'Manudam vellum', 'Kanneeral kathom') and this is another one in the series. This is about a 'Devar Adiyal' or devasai girl who built a pond in a water-scarce village in Pudhuchery when it was under Krishnadevaraya's rule. The historical fact lies in a 'kalvettu' and the pond is called by her name. And Prabanjan builds a beautiful story over this and what a story it is. A simple story of love, lust and greed but the treatment is unique and the story is like seeing your former lover's name coming up in a search suddenly. You know its true but you don’t know how to react. You are happy and sad. Aayi goes through her life with detachment and loves one but marries the God to be a prostitute for the village. Now, I was actually amazed to even figure that such a system existed in our cities and villages till recently. Looking with a 21st century perspective, it seems a gross injustice but I am intrigued by the mindsets of the wives of those days. The social system that demanded it sounds more like the ancient Greek temples of Aphrodite. And by demeaning the female body/soul, the male society was able to dominate more and more in the social sphere (sound like something straight out of 'From Volga to Ganges' by Rahul Sankrityayn). But that’s what I feel anyway.

Then watched all three parts of 'Godfather'. There is something about this movie that captivates the imagination every time you watch it. It may be the ultimate combination of Brando/Pacino/De niro or the dialogues or the fantastic music or the wonderful story. Probably the third is a let down compared to others but still good compared to other. But it’s a nice movie to watch if you are alone and don’t want to feel lonely.

Then it’s 'Straight from the gut' by Jack Welch. If you want to be a 'good' manager at any point of your career, a must read. Nothing more needs to be said.