Brief Overview of Books

Brief Overview of Books - July 2016

Hey all,

During the recent visit to the Central Library, MKBU… I issued two interesting books.

1.) Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction – Damien Keown

This is a wonderful book on the introduction of Buddhism. It gives us a glimpse of the teachings of Buddha and the integration of Buddhism in daily life. It also deals with how Buddhism is different than other religion. This book gives us as much possible information in all the chapters like on the Buddha rebirth, Buddhism in Asia…etc. but if you are craving for more deep knowledge then read other works on Buddhism. This is a very short introduction so you can’t find much in this.

After learning the theory of post colonialism, this book can be questioned. It is written from a “Western” perspective.

2.) The best Gujarati short stories of 2006

This book is a collection of short stories in Gujarati, which were quite popular during the year 2006. There are many interesting stories dealing with human relations, politics, burning issues of 2006, condition of women and many more. All the stories are worth reading.

One of the best stories which I liked was “Naukavihar” by Ashvini Bapat. It is a story of two friends. “Naukavihar” is used as symbol here. This word is the main aspect of this story. This word reflects the journey which has many ups and downs but at last it reaches to a nice destination. Of course it is not true always! The fun is in journey rather than in reaching to a particular spot.

Feeling reenergised after this combo from the buffet of books.

Looking forward to visit library again!!!!

Comments

"RIP"; Rest in Peace those who are Alive....

Hello Friends, After a long time I am writing here. Hope you all are fine. This time I have come up with a different interpretation of the phrase “RIP”. Mostly this phrase “RIP”; Rest in Peace is used for the people who are no more. We use this phrase to give sympathy towards the departed soul. The soul may get peace wherever it travels. No one exactly knows where the soul travels. Sometimes this phrase is used out of care and sometimes just for show off on social media. While sitting alone near a cemetery, a thought struck in my mind. Why do we use RIP only for dead people????? We can also use it for those who are alive. Many time people use RIP when a person is dead. The same people might have harassed the dead person when he is alive. So what’s the point of “RIP”? Suppose in the day time you behave very badly with someone. Is he/she going to get sound and peaceful sleep at night? The dead person will never come back so we just say “RIP”. Of course ever...

"Hayavadana" - Girish Karnad

After a long hectic schedule, this Sunday I spared some time in reading an interesting play “ Hayavadana ” by Girish Karnad . Girish Karnad’s plays have always fascinated me. Last year, got a wonderful chance to see Karnad’s “ Nagamandala ” performed by college students during Youth Festival 2015. Click here to read the review of the play. Girish Raghunath Karnad (born 19 May 1938) is an Indian actor, film director, writer, playwright and a Scholar, who predominantly works in South Indian cinema. He rise as a playwright in 1960s, marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi. For four decades Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues.(Wikipedia) Some of his well-known plays are “ Hayavadana”, “Tughlaq” , “Nagamandala ” and many more. The plot of Hayavadana comes from Kathasaritsagara, a...

" The Winged Word"- David Green

In my Graduation syllabus, I had a book named “ The Winged word”. This anthology is edited by David Green. It is anthology of poems compiled for the students of English literature in the B.A courses of Indian Universities. The chronological order, in which the poets are arranged in this book, helps the students to note the development of English poetry from one age to another. Referring to this book after a long time span, gives me a immense joy. There are many poems in this book. We were given some selected poems to study during three years of graduation. The poems which were in my syllabus are as follow:- 1.) I Find No Peace – Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) 2.) My Friend, the Things That Do Attain –Henry Howard (1517- 47) 3.) The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd –Sir Walter Ralegh (1552-1618) 4.) The Nightingale – Sir Philip Sidney (1554- 86) 5.) Since There’s No Help – Michael...

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