I remember setting my eyes on ‘Shantaram’ in the hands of one of my colleagues at Daly College, Indore and yearning to look at it closely. In fact, I feel an irresistible urge to ask ‘What are you reading?’ to every person who seems to be hugging a book!

Somehow, I lost track or I didn’t get any encouraging reply and being not one to buy a book, I left it at that.

Years later, it was at Just Books outlet at Kammanahalli in Bangalore that I actually got my hand to the book. https://justbooks.in/

I devoured the book eager to reach the end and unable to stop the urgency to know what happens to the protagonist. I like the book immensely and it stayed in some corner of my mind and I caught myself wistfully thinking about the book. By the way, why is there no film on this book?Or is it there?

Got to find that out. However at the university library I again run into Shantaram sitting pretty among a handful fiction and non-fiction for the not so technically inclined like me.

In fact, I never miss a chance to give my own list of 100 -200 books for the library to purchase happily adding poetry, philosophy, memoirs, biographies and everything and anything that is not even remotely technical.

I seriously think it is misuse of any library to simply stock up merely science and math without any regard to literature. Did they never hear that ‘art precedes science?’

So, there it is Shantaram, what a delightful reading it makes? The funny appellation ‘Linbaba’, the betel chewing, ever raucous Prabhakar and the green eyed Karla.

As I read I wonder at many places, did I notice this before? Oh! wow! what a beautiful narration, this is amazing and am also cracking up at jokes which I have forgotten so long after my first reading.

Re-reading a book is like navigating a known place and yet coming across something new and wondering how did it escape your attention before. A sense of wonderment fills you and there is always the comfort of familiarity.

Now, that reminds me there is a lot more to read again…like all of Charles Dickens, most of MT Vasudevan Nair, Benyamin, Tagore. Well as for Shakespeare and Kalidas my knowledge is mostly limited to the Paico Classics I read as a kid..hmmm. where is the time though? Where is the time?

There is much to read and much more to know

in the vast sea of knowledge

yet, caught between chores and EMIs

I know not where to go!

As for now…I back to the second chapter in Shantaram.. Will Linbaba get close to Karla? Will he be able to retain his freedom?

So, I got to get back to reading!

Which book are you reading again btw?

I read Pandeymonium at one sitting, well, almost!. That was because of the way it was written also may be because of my own fascination for the magical world of  Indian advertising. I was always intrigued by the child-like exuberance of Piyush Pandey and the stories of his success.

Piyush Pandey attributes the name of the book to the whatsapp group of his family which is called the same-pandeymonium and  his success to the infinite possibilities of his personal google, his immediate and extended family, his friends ,colleauges and relatives.

Pandeymonium is a testimony to the Indian ethos of large families, the many get togethers, celebrations, cricket and travel. The story of Piyush Pandey is a story of the many events and eventualities of his times, our times, the evolution of cricket to the status of more than a national game, the power of simplicity, the talent of keen observation and above all an undying interest in the commonest of the common Indian, whose life and living with his blessed sense of jugaad is nothing short of a miracle.

As one reads through the book one is made to realise again and again the value of family, of building enduring relationships, of friendships which last more than a life time, the power of simplicitic thinking, the love affair with a land of eccentricities and its even more eccentric people.

Piyush Pandey comes across as a large hearted, genuinely jovial and fun loving person, who is rooted in who he was to become what he became. He is not afraid to give compliments or give credit where it is is due and most importantly does not take himself too seriously, perhaps,that explains the child-like charm of his personality.

The book certainly lives up to his own maxim that it is simplicity that connects the best and is worth more than a read.