Books to Read and Movies to See

Indian Books and Movies

When I was on holiday this summer, I had my laptop with me and also had an internet connection, thanks to an Airtel “Dongel”. I was able to find out which are the best seller books and get information on various language movies, released in the past few years. Armed with this knowledge, my shopping for books and DVD’s was much focused. I recommend the following books for you to read and (please make the time) to relax. I know we are all busy but if we get our priorities right and treat ourselves, not a confused view of what is expected of us, we can make time to relax and enjoy these little pleasures.

1. Sadhguru – A biography about Jaggi Vasudev. Fascinating book to read. It is good to know that there are still such people around. The cover flap sold me. I always like to know more about such “off beat” people and also as to why so many young, smart, well educated people are his students and disciples. Here is the flap of the book.
“The thirst to be boundless is not created by you; it is just life longing for itself. This is the extraordinary story of Sadhguru a young agnostic who turned yogi, a wild motorcyclist who turned mystic, a skeptic who turned spiritual guide. The book seeks to re-create the life journey of a man who combines rationality with mysticism, irreverence with compassion, ancient wisdom with a provocatively contemporary outlook and a deep knowledge of the self with a contagious love of life. Sadhguru is equally at home in a satsangh in rural Tamil Nadu as at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In his early years, Jaggi Vasudev (or Sadhguru as he is now known) was a chronic truant, a boisterous prankster, and later a lover of motorbikes and fast cars. It is evident that the same urgency, passion and vitality echo in his spiritual pursuits to this day, from his creation of the historic Dhyanalinga the mission of three lifetimes to his approach as a guru. In Sadhguru’s view, faith and reason, spirituality and science, the sacred and the material, cannot be divided into easy binaries. He sees people as spiritual beings dabbling with the material rather than the reverse, and liberation as the fundamental longing in every form of life. Truth for him is a living experience instead of a destination, a conclusion, or a matter of metaphysical speculation. Drawing upon extended conversations with Sadhguru, interviews with Isha colleagues and fellow meditators, poet Arundhathi Subramaniam presents an evocative portrait of a contemporary mystic and guru a man who seems to pack the intensity and adventure of several lifetimes into a single one”.

2. Chanakya’s Chant: Fascinating book. The story goes back and forth from today’s political scene to 2300 years ago. Nothing has changed. Chanakya was a smart man. My friend Poornima Athreya recommended the book and I got it in Hyderabad. The flap says it all.

“The year is 340 BC. A hunted, haunted Brahmin youth vows revenge for the gruesome murder of his beloved father. Cold, cunning, calculating, cruel and armed with a complete absence of accepted morals, he becomes the most powerful political strategist in Bharat and succeeds in uniting a ragged country against the invasion of the army of that demigod, Alexander the Great.

Pitting the weak edges of both forces against each other, he pulls off a wicked and astonishing victory and succeeds in installing Chandragupta on the throne of the mighty Mauryan Empire. History knows him as the brilliant strategist Chanakya.

But history, which exults in repeating itself, revives Chanakya two and a half millennia later, in the avatar of Gangasagar Mishra, a Brahmin teacher in small-town India who becomes puppeteer to a host of ambitious individuals--including a certain slum child who grows up into a beautiful and powerful woman.

Modern India happens to be just as riven ( what is this ?) as ancient Bharat by class hatred, corruption and divisive politics and this landscape is Gangasagar's feasting ground. Can this wily pandit--who preys on greed, venality and sexual deviance--bring about another miracle of a united India?”

The Other Side of Belief – Interpreting U G Krishnamurthi. Great but very heavy reading. UGK was 27 years younger than the more famous Krishnamurthi, Jiddu that is. UGK was a disciple of JK but later questioned many of the more famous observations of JK. Lots of interesting exchanges between JK and UGK. If you are a student and admirer of JK, you may not like some of the things said in this book.

Movies: I saw some great movies on my laptop with my headphones on.

1. Welcome to Sajjanpur- Hindi – A movie by Shyam Benegal. One of the cutest movies I have seen in a long time. An absolutely must see movie.

2. Jab We Met – Hindi – At thirty two years of age, if I saw this movie, my first reaction would have been “do such people really exist in this world”. As a 62 year old, I have a different take – I have met such people. I know such people. Beautiful movie. See it.

3. Metro- Hindi – Sad, but true depiction of life in a big city.

4. Strangers – Hindi - Scary – good move.

5. Atma Katha - Malayalam – I cried so much- more so after I met Ajay Prakash Dhanak – see my blog about him. Great movie. In fact, Bengali and Malayalam movies are the best.

6. Chupke Chupke – Hindi – For old times’ sake I saw this nearly 40 year old movie with Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amithabh and Jaya Bahaduri. Good, clean comedy. If you have not seen it, just see it.