Why i love fiction

I love good plots, well thought-out and well sketched-out characters, good story-telling, well-strewn conversations- and, above all, the wonderful insight that only a fiction author who knows and can see through her characters really well can provide us on the psychology or the motives that drive the characters- thus infusing in them the life and the meaning they deserved the very moment they were conceived.

I have always harbored the utmost regard, and a curious fascination-and-awe for all the genius imagination and the originality of thought that goes into building up a good work of fiction. While i have had my own share of Paulo Coelho/Shiv Khera/Robin Sharma kind of reading- having practically tried out many times over any author who becomes a best-seller in the market- reading anything from inspirational/leadership/self-improvement/spirituality/psychology books- and while they undeniably have their share of wisdom or insights to offer; at times compiling some invaluable lessons from sources as ancient and relevant as the Panchatantras- fiction still remains what i always keep falling back to and ending up feeling truly rewarded for making the choice. Only fiction gives me a sense of reading for pure pleasure and escape- reading a book not to draw any professional/business-value/worldly-wisdom out of it, but just for the pure joy of it- nevertheless, i end up drawing a lot of real value from them in the process!

The last novel i finished a couple of weeks back was "The Rose & the Yew Tree"- a non-crime novel by Agatha Christie (under the pen name of Mary Westmacott), and this was a truly refreshing change from the kind of "inspirational" books that i have been reading lately. At times, it's exhausting even to think of just how many people around us are preaching us on the cliches of how to become a positive thinker, an effective individual, a successful leader/manager or, how to grow spiritually, or even just how to become a dreamer by listening to and following your own heart! Once you are done reading one book on the topic, the second one leaves you with a very strong sense of deja vu. This is where the novelty and originality of a work of fiction comes to your rescue like a breather- thankfully, no two works of fiction tell the same story, and no two fiction authors try to explicitly preach the same words of wisdom. Happy fiction reading to all! So long!

A rediscovery!

Yet another day off! As usual about all my weekends/holidays, I slept all of last night and this morning like i hadn't known sleep for ages. Reality being that i am not at all that sleep-deprived. While there's no way i can deny waking wide-eyed like a night-owl over odd hours, and then sleeping through odd hours more often than not, i have never really compromised on my hours/quality of sleep or, even the continuity of it. It's just that my hours have become a little skewed towards an altogether different timezone- nothing worse than that. :) But if i start writing down about my sleeping-excesses and erraticities here, i would end up making this post very different from what i actually intended to write about today. I had generally intended this blog-site to be my personal space where i could occasionally put on print some of the little pleasures that we draw from simple things and that make life BIG and worth it! Had one such pure little joy again today, and this time i don't want to let go of the opportunity to scribble down my feelings about it. The pleasure this time, like many a times before, was that of discovering a good song. Though in this case, it was rather a re-discovery- I had listened to this song (in snatches perhaps) only once some time back, but had somehow lost it in my mind- and that probably made it all the more precious today! Today, as i had the luck of re-discovering it back, i allowed myself to get completely intoxicated, and to surrender fully to it's spell. The song is "Bawra mann...", and i just can't stop playing it now. The effect produced by the extreme overuse and the constant repetition of the word "bawra" (mad) throughout the song, and in every context, is to further take you to the next level of intoxication, instead of diluting it. The only time that the word "sayaani" (wise) finds a mention is in the context of the "bheed" (crowd) around him. He sees/seeks pure madness in everything intangible around him- ranging from the mind, the heart- it's beats, the words, the thoughts, the movements, the vision, the world around, nature, the togetherness, the music, the lyrics, the rhythm, the tune, the silence, and the darkness. The last time i can recall a similar experience was when i had discovered the amazing Pakistani song "Mora saiyaan mose bole na..." (thanks to the Saregamapa show)- i could not but keep it playing on "play continuous"-mode for the whole evening the very day i had managed to get my hold of it. :) Shall similarly savour this song fully till the spell works for me, and before i somewhat start taking it at it's face-value. So long!