Les Incompletes

Most people I know finish one book and only then pick up another. And this is so even if they do not like the book for one reason or the other. Till a few years ago I was like that too, labouring through books I did not like because of a self-imposed rule that the book in hand must be read cover to cover before any other book is taken up. 

But what with so many compulsions in our lives from which we cannot get away, where you must willy-nilly do the bidding of others, I felt that in this matter at least I will discard that rule. I will read a book only until it holds my interest, no later. My point is that if I feel like picking up a book from where I left it, I will do it anyway, naturally and without the stress of constraints I place on myself. This practice has resulted in a vast collection of incompletely read books (I took care not to say half-read). 

Mind you, these books I left unfinished are by no means badly written. In fact some of them are classics. It is just that my eyes lit up at the sight of better goodies. To name a few of these unfortunates in recent times - Dickens' David Copperfield,  Marion Zimmer-Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, and a few volumes of Ashis Nandy and Sudhir Kakar. 

But the point is, will I go back to them? Will I recommend them to a friend? Yes and yes. Maybe that's why I take them for granted.

Belief and Beyond

I have started 'Belief and Beyond', a new blog focussed on religion, mythology and philosophy. You can follow it here.

Chuck de (size 8 please)

I suppose it was just a matter of time before we had our very own thrower of heeled missles with a politician as the target of choice.


Earlier today, Jarnail Singh, a journalist with the Dainik Jagran, was angered by P. Chidambaram's answers to his questions on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) giving a clean chit to former Congress minister Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. So he chucked his shoe at PC who successfully took evasive action. Singh later said that perhaps his method of protest was wrong but it could not take away from what he protested against.


However, in this matter Singh is not king. That title must go to Muntazar al Zaidi, the 30 year old Iraqi journalist who lobbed both his shoes at President Bush during the latter's farewell visit to Iraq. Zaidi was defended by twenty five lawyers and was sentenced to three years imprisonment as against a maximum of fifteen years in the cooler that Iraqi law prescribes for an act of aggression against a foreign head of state on an official visit. Zaidi acquired something of an iconic status and even inspired games like this one.

But if we consider the consequences a shoe thrower may face for his action, it takes much more gumption to choose a Wen Jiabao or an Ahmedinejad as a target.

On Feb 2, 2009, a human rights activist hurled his s**e at Premier Wen as the Premier addressed a gathering at Cambridge, England. While Muntazar accompanied his hurl with shouts of 'dog', the Cambridge trainer-chucker called the Premier a dictator. Watch the video here. Skim through the comments and like me, you may be shocked by the kind of hatred that is out there.

In March, President Ahmedinejad of Iran was campaigning for presidential elections in the town of Urmia when a shoe was sent flying his way. Reportedly, the President's convoy harmed an elderly petitioner en route and riots broke out as a result. The shoe was chucked by an angry rioter.

By the way, our own Jarnail Singh, who PC famously said should be handled by the security personnel 'gently, gently', has been awarded Rs.2 lakhs by the Shiromani Akali Dal for his act of defiance. If only Jarnail had the presence of mind to throw the other shoe!