Review: Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

We all need a reminder, a refresher course on what the most important things in life are. And yes, you have heard it many times before, it's NOT money. And yes, it gets boring to hear the same thing over and over again, from every body who has some claim to wisdom. However, if it's coming from a person on his or her death bed, it's worthwhile to pay attention. I am not going to criticize the quality of writing or the saccharine content in the book - those are irrelevant. I think it was worth reading this book for two reasons:
1. The beautiful relationship between the author, Mitch Albom and his professor, Morrie
2. The life lessons - No matter how cliched they are, I think I need to hear them time and again.

My favorite bit from the book was on Marriage:

"There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike"

Eternal peace to the soul of Professor Morrie Schwartz.

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Review: Rendezvous with Rama

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Arthur C. Clarke is considered one the best writers of Science Fiction. After reading my first Clarke novel, book 1 of the Rama Series, I know why. It is the perfect blend of Science and Fiction and the writing is superb. The plot itself is thrilling and so suspenseful that you want to find out what happens next. Genuinely unputdownable.

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Review: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely worth a few ****s of mine

When I started reading this book, I was quite annoyed with the liberal dosage of the f word and the s word. I am the kind of person who drops in these words during normal conversation quite often, but reading it in a book seemed annoying for some reason. But I carried on. And soon, I realized that besides the hype over his using fuck and shit, the book has real substance and a refreshing honesty. It is a book for the generation that is hooked to technology, has abundance of opportunities and a general sense of purposeless-ness. What the author has to offer has been said many many times before in many different ages by scores of great men and women, but the way he says is quite unique and packs a punch. Perhaps, the f word is there to attract readers. It is a very competitive world and fortunes are made on the art of capturing user attention. Whatever be the reason, I am so glad I read this book and that it made a positive impression on me. As the author says, from your limited supply of ****s, spare a few for this book.

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Difficult Times

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Abba, why do we wear a skull cap while we pray,
And why do we need to turn that way?
Why is that creature haraam?

And why do we fast during Ramadaan?

Abba, you asked me to pray 5 times a day,
Never to eat pork, smoke, drink and go astray.
You taught me to live and let live.
And that the only jihad to fight, was the one within me.
Did I not hold my promise to you?
Then why does Allah test me so much for doing so?

And why don't they get it?
Why do they call me a terrorist? A fanatic?
They, with their crosses, stars and sacred marks on the forehead
They, with or without faith,
Why do they call me a traitor? A liberal? A coward?
They, with skull caps like mine and guns and grenades

Why don't they get it that I just want to live and let live?

I can't please all of them.
I just want to be who I am.
To just live out the life that the one God gave me. 

It is so frustrating to live with so many labels. 

So hard when your faith is tested everyday, 

Would you blame me, my dear Abba,

If I strapped a bomb around my neck, and blew myself away? 

Love is tyrant

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.” - Neil Gaiman

Love is terrible. I believe it is a juggernaut, hell bent on demolishing who you are. Love cannot create before it destroys. Love demands sacrifice. It needs blood. Your blood. Your old self must die at the altar of love. You cannot be you and be in love, truly and deeply. Your old self needs to perish and give rise to newer one. Love is humiliating. It wants your submission, your sense of self. It is a force that once you reckon with, will humble you. There is no sense of control but only surrender.

Consider the state of motherhood. You physically and mentally undergo a change. Painful change. The same goes for fathers and although the change is less obvious, it does occur. Parents change a lot for their kids. Most of them also love their offspring very much. The easy thing about it is that Mother Nature designed us for it. We have the blood connection to fall back on when the going gets tough.

However, when it comes to love between two individuals not related by blood, things get complicated. The old self refuses to die. The ego doesn't want to budge. Your sense of superiority or pride, take your pick, raises its ugly head. Change is hard, we already know that. Changing for love is even harder. Biology compels us to change for our offspring but Psychology meddles a bit too much when it comes to changing for your love. What if it doesn't work out? What if I have to change more than the other person?  Why should I give up being me? Isn't that unfair? But then, aren't you giving up me to be a, better “we”? If the very notion is revolting to you then what business is it of yours to even be in love? 

"To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best." - William Thackeray

It all boils down to the flexibility of your emotional self. How quickly can the two of adapt to each other to create a unified entity. I know it sounds so tacky. Haven't we heard this before? They became one in love. They are two bodies but one soul. Blah-blah-blah yada-yada-yada! You can only learn through your own experiences. No one can make you believe this.

What does religion says about love? Hindu philosophy states that becoming one with God involves letting go of your meagre, tiny, inconsequential existence, dissolving your ego and embracing the supreme consciousness. Can you imagine how difficult it must be? Can you imagine denying the perceivable reality of your flesh, bones, ego and self to acknowledge a greater and apparently invisible reality? How do even get there? I believe that is why we need to learn how to be in love. How else will you learn how to be one with the supreme if you can't be one with women and men?

Love is such a fucking tyrant! It has no sense of fairness or justice. It wants what it wants, and you are not getting anywhere without giving in to it. Damn all the sweet, sappy, cuddle filled notions of love! Love is beautiful. It gives meaning to life and a sense of purpose. But it definitely isn’t easy.

"Can there be a love which does not make demands on its object?" - Confucius