A Chase Of Thoughts

O Shit! He had to run. There was no other option. The strange looking stranger had just picked up his laptop bag and was making a dash for the platform exit. Or so he thought in that split second. For he didn't know where the platform exit was. He managed to glide the almost filled plastic tea cup straight into the dust-bin, as he craftily picked up his stylish blue backpack on the way, and sprinted with all his wind tearing power, towards the moving figure threatening to merge into the crowd. While he was ducking and darting like a bullet on auto pilot, a million thoughts ran through his mind. What would he do if the bag was stolen? It contained most of his critical documents, his cellphone hands-free, the borrowed Dostoyevsky book, the chosen 10 movies from his Woody Allen collection, and of course his e-ticket. He had once lost his bag which contained his LIC policy, Driving Licence, Passport, Chaos Theory & two other books he had just purchased from Blossom, and 4 new movie DVDs. He had gone through hell to get all the documents back but on hindsight it seemed easy.
Suddenly he didn't feel as scared just in case the bag was stolen. Another thought that ran parallel to this was, that she was going to call him soon. And he wondered what if she called him just now while he was running.
The strange stranger was quick but the distance between him, and the fluttering white kurta which was feeling left behind in the midnight chase, was decreasing. He was glad he had been running thrice a week lately, and it showed. He finally decided to go for the flying dive. It was a big risk. Even if he managed to grab the ankle he was sure he would pin him down. But what if he fell short?
And as he felt his grey jeans preparing to soak in some action, he dived. Almost in slow motion, he was holding the cell phone in his left kurta pocket to keep it from hitting the ground, his backpack nicely hung by his shoulders and flying with him, and his right hand outstretched as far as his 6 foot 1 inch frame would allow it to go. He blazed towards the stranger's foot and his fingers just about got hold of the bottom edge of the cloth around the ankle. That was good enough. His strong grip brought the stranger to ground, as they landed on the hard floor with a thud, and slid to a stumbling halt.

And the phone rang.

"Hey! had your tea?"
"Uhm... Not really."
"Why?"
"I was lost in some thoughts baby, and by the time I could realise it, you called."
"What thoughts sweety?"
"You know, as I was looking for a tea stall nearby, I realised I might need to leave my laptop and backpack at the mercy of this strange looking stranger sitting next to me. So I started wondering. What if the moment I begin to have my tea this guy picked my laptop bag and made a dash for the exit? What would I do? How would I chase? And then... while I was thinking about all that could happen, you called!"
"I don't believe you boy! You better get back to writing."
"I guess I'll go and have my tea first."

--
An old draft, which I somehow didn't publish.

Miss you mousse!

He spent a short time with us, but gave us way more happiness than we ever dreamed a little rabbit could be capable of giving. Whatever may be bogging Hitesha down, one look at mousse and it would all become fine.

And of course, the mandatory "talk to the paw" - the act of waving mousse's little paw in my face, whenever I said something that needed to be unceremoniously disregarded!

From 'oh he is so small' to 'why isn't he growing big' to 'oh he is eating everyone else's food' to 'how amazingly adventurous he is', our bauna khargosh will always be missed!

She is alive

She is alive.

She has a universe of her own. Universes, I guess.

She throbs and pulsates with such imagination that worlds get created by a mere glimpse of her thoughts.

She makes a wanderer feel the contentment of being found. And still keep wandering.
She and innocence giggle together. She talks to wonders. She plays games with little shiny things that smile with the sun, dance with the rain, and huddle together with happiness when storms claim to dance.

She lives like no one else ever lived.
Ever will.

She is so alive.

Horseshoe Garage - The Dreamer's Cult Is Born

Disclaimer: This is NOT a review. I have read 3-4 drafts of Horseshoe Garage, have proofed the final version multiple times and am a huge fan of Hitesha's writing. This is sufficient to raise doubts about the impartiality of what I have to say. And then I love Hitesha to bits. That really makes me incapable of genuinely reviewing her books in an unbiased way.

We all dream. Some dream small, some dream big, some let go of their dreams, and some don't even feel the 'letting go' because they seem to know that the dream will always be just that, a dream. We all put efforts in our own ways to achieve, or not achieve, these dreams. And then there are some who dream crazy. So crazy that the dream itself is the reality for them. There is nothing like 'what if the dream doesn't come true?', because the dream is the truth!

Horseshoe Garage is a gripping tale about all of these people, especially about one crazy dreamer of a woman, told in the context of a car racing dream. I have been reading reviews (across flipkart, crossword and landmark) about how the book has solid detailed descriptions, how the characters are relatable, how 'unputdownable' the book is, how it qualifies across all criteria of a good book; story, drama, real characters, romance and so on. And then it has cars, racing, hot chicks (one of them a mechanic, and the pivot of the story) and exciting techy stuff to boot. I have also read that some of the parts towards the end seem stretched or slightly over-dramatised.


While I broadly agree with it, I feel there is one more critical element in the book which makes it truly great. The book has a heart. It has a thought and a philosophy that will connect with everyone who has ever dreamed of doing something insanely great. And if you have not, then it will make you want to dream crazy. This philosophy of the book cuts across situations, people and places and has the potential to tug at every heart.

Horseshoe Garage, in my mind, is about chasing down a dream with all the firepower, perseverance, friends and passion that you have, and giving it a shot like there is no tomorrow. If you have ever dreamed, the book will make you crave to pursue it. It will make the dreamer in you stronger and crazier. And if you have not, then, go ahead... read it!


I say, Horseshoe Garage is a Dreamer's Cult!

CF Revived (Oh My God! - About Infinity, Probability & A Hidden Paradox)

What follows is a set of spontaneous thoughts that were allowed to flow out as words.

Semiotics is the science of meaning. How does God get meaning? This is an attempt to understand the meaning of God by decoding how our mind is hardwired to react and perceive the world. No layer of editing or structure has been applied. Whatever little structure exists is intrinsic. The way it got created.

7 Thoughts in Mind

1.      Infinity is being fed into the mind regularly. All the senses, sensing all the time. Information, knowledge, debates and arguments. Blankness too

2.      Mind can't comprehend everything that is fed into it

3.      Mind makes sense by organizing this complex data/information feed, on the basis of likely assumptions made through past experiences

4.      Mind tends to believe the sense it makes, and thus believes itself

5.      Mind also tends to question itself

6.      Belief and questioning help the mind to sharpen its assumptions
&

7.      Mind is "amazed" at all that which goes 'against' its assumptions.

***Amazement, Awe, Wonder, Distress, Bewilderment***

Amazement is an expression of a mistake that does not hurt
Distress is an expression of a mistake that hurts

Mistake is what went against the mind's assumption
Hurt is a driving force that makes the mind change its assumptions

Belief*Questioning*Mistakes*Amazement*Hurt

Poetic Conclusion:
"The idea of not binding the mind with an assumption and keeping it open to imbibe change without getting hurt is GOD."

Non Poetic Version:
"God = Incomprehensible Data"

But how?

7        More Thoughts

1.      The Mind assumes an event as being less likely or more likely to happen, basis the assumptions made from the limited amount of data that it has been able to comprehend and structure sensibly

2.      When a 'mistake' happens, the mind either reacts in amazement or with distress

3.      Both the situations seem beyond its control

4.      Mind needs a support system to get back to its process of "perception/reception ---> comprehension ---> belief/questioning ---> Assumption". Reboot.

5.      God is that Support system. A notion that lets mind forgive itself for the mistakes it made

6.      God thus is nothing but some 'incomprehensible data' that helps the mind to go back to the state of believing & questioning. Because Infinity/Incomprehensible data is where it all started
&

7.      Probability is one such incomprehensible set of notions.

God elicits awe and wonder. It’s a Universal Set of all that we believe to be beyond our control. Probability is beyond our control by definition.

Event A: Very likely to happen. Happens everyday. We are amazed when it doesn't happen. (Eg. A politician refusing to take bribe)
Event B: Very likely to happen. But we know there are times when it may not happen. (Eg. Continuous success. Sachin hitting a century in every game)
Event C: Less likely to happen, but we know it happens. At times we can’t even believe when it happens. (Eg. You winning a game of Poker, Tambola, Scratch card or state lottery. Earthquake on Tv vs Earthquake in our city)
Event D: Unlikely to happen. Most of us think that they know it can’t happen (Eg. Extra terrestrial life, Someone waking up after dying)

All the sources of our awe, amazement, wonder, distress and hurt come from some such improbable event that went against our mind's assumptions.

The vastness of probabilities can never be comprehended by the mind. And if an event, that has lesser probability of occurrence, actually occurs, the mind is amazed and needs to define such an occurrence. We end up calling this 'mistake' as God.

Thus God, by definition, needs to be incomprehensible. It implies miracles, which are nothing but realization of a rare probability. Thus one brings the notion of faith into picture. Belief in God (The Incomprehensible) implies having faith, and faith has no reason.

Just because something is rare does not mean its occurrence is inexplicable. And just because something is inexplicable does not mean it is guiding or controlling us. This is a stone age thought.

Those rare events, that are interpreted as God's signals, become noticeable by the virtue of their unlikeliness of occurrence. A guiding force is a notion, that a certain set of probabilities will dominate over all other possible outcomes, because of the presence of an external factor. There is no way to find out if that external factor ACTUALLY affected the outcome or not, because one can’t go back in time and repeat the event sans the external factor.

Thus, the intrinsic value of the Stone Age God (That Incomprehensible Power Guiding My Life) is null. That God is only as valuable as the value WE associate with/allocate to it, in order to support rebooting of our system when the mind's assumptions are proven wrong.

'Less Likely' is NOT equal to 'Unlikely/Will Never Happen'.

When Event A is more likely than B, it’s the occurrence of B that will amaze you.

Probability does not rule out the occurrence of B and thus, leaves that door of Hope open, which makes you want to ensure that B happens instead of A. And when it happens, out of sheer probability, you tend to correlate the steps you took and the strategies you applied, and suggest that if the entire 'process' is repeated, you can make B occur over A, again and again! Thats how Knowledge is generated. And we tend to spread this knowledge at times without realizing the complete nature of the context.

If you didn't do anything, neither A nor B might occur (A third Probability C may). So doing (Karma), which is in your control, takes precedence over occurring, which is beyond your control. So you must keep doing what you think you are supposed to do.

And this cycle goes on and on. And it’s a fight you can never win inspite of having won, because you can never be sure of it. But thats OK.

This is where, I think, the poetic idea of God begins to make sense.

"The idea of not binding the mind with an assumption, and keeping it open to imbibing change without getting hurt is GOD."

How content...

I have written stories. I have read stories.

Some stories, such as these, leave me in a state of turmoil. A part of me finds them lovable, and another part of me wonders if I relate to them at all. So instead of smiling a half truth smile, I smile exactly the way I should.

Sometimes I feel like I am playing games with my soul, touching more than I can reach out to. I can play act well that way. And at other times, I wonder how calmly aimless my life is. I am still lost, not wanting to be found, drifting peacefully, content with my aimlessness.

And thats when these stories come up from nowhere. Hitting me with these waves, splashes, bursts of excitement and daring me to not be swept away. But you know what, I am as happy and content being swept away, as I am not.

A very thin line there between dead and content, isn't it?

So heres one -

Can a content man die?

The chase had ended and the drama was over. Each breath that they now took was drenched in this stunning silence. They loved watching movies together before going to bed, and this was yet another satisfying one. This time, a thriller.

As he slipped into his dream with the ease of his hand slipping into hers', warmly tucked under the blue blanket, she moved for the umpteenth time getting her sleeping posture just right. They had hardly begun to wander off into that blissful dream state, when he suddenly felt her soft but cold hand on his cheek. His eyes smiled and he knew it was morning. And she had again woken up, walked around the house, enjoyed the chill in the air, and now back to relish the warmth of a winter morning bed with her love in it. Yet another beautiful morning next to his girl, the girl with the prettiest smile in the whole world.

As she moved closer, he opened his eyes as much as he could, kissed the inside of her palm and pulled her into his arms, hugging her with every inch of his existence.

She felt soft and nice, and he felt content. A broad smile brushed his sleepy face and he slipped back into the dream. The dream of having your dream in your arms.

He was content, and dead to the world.

at 31... i am feeling good

i just changed the look of my blog! yay! (i think its the woman inside me who is feeling good about it. not sure if that's a good thing, but then ...they say you get wiser with age!). so, after some umpteen attempts at restarting crimson feet, it just feels like it might finally happen. these things you can't explain... you just know it! isn't it? (tsk! not me.. its that woman again)

so i had a little jog down my blog. last most active phase of CF revolved primarily around this character i had created, called "Ramprasad Rasiya!". Apart from RR, there were a fair amount of posts revolving around the idea of god, will power, relationships, morality etc.

a lot has happened since then. i fell in love and got married. (and the rest is thanks to my wife). i ran a marathon. I have 2 dogs now. got my wife's debut novel published (and psst psst... her second novel might soon be out). i traveled way more in the last 3 years than i did in the previous 27. i am planning to buy my second car. i have finally started running and exercising again. i know a little more about a few more things, and worry lot less about many more.

i am wondering what might this phase of cf be all about. motivated by Roger Penrose's "Shadows Of The Mind" and a workshop on semiotics by Santosh Desai, these days i am exploring the idea of reality (sensory vs unassailable truth), perception, and meaning of things. i am also grappling with some deep and disturbing moral questions like "is it fair to say that more the number of fools it takes to screw up your day, better the human being you are?", or something less complicated and more frustrating like, "why does zoozoo drool so much?".

i wonder..

but one thing i know... at 31, i am feeling good! :)

pouring out ...slowly

Supernatural Venting

O+ : halkat!
O-> : aha! you are in the mood

O+ : the puss which oozes out of the fungus on stale bread!!
O-> : right. precisely

O+ : the doggy poo which stinks... the fly with AIDS... the mosquito who is infertile
O-> : okkk. baby... feelin better :)

O+ : a lil
O-> : good... u can say more... like a rotten anal wart from a dead pig's colon!

O+ : yuck!!! bleh! gives me goose bumps
O-> : ok ok. then smthng less disgusting.. like... a fly without wings?

O+ : ok
O-> : ...and a crawling cockroach with no antennae?

O+ : yuck... like a swatted cockroach with broken legs and diahrohhea! ...like the poo of a honey bee when its got dysentry
O-> : lol. that sure was a good one

O+ : he is the rotten stink of a dead rat. puke!
O-> : come on now. u cant puke on this. u said it urself! :)

O+ : so what? the thought makes me puke..
O-> : lol. ok baby. we are tryin to get some peace into ur system here.. so cool

O+ : he is the dehydrated semen of a nymphomaniac
O-> : Awwwsssoommemeeeeee. THAT was the BEST! ...seriously.
he is the sperm flushed away after masturbation in a pakistani refugee camp...

O+ : dont have fun at my expense
O-> : ahem! that WAS a good one

O+ : I dont really hate pakistanis that much
O-> : oh. ok

O+ : not ALL of them are bad you know
O-> : then .. well ... we can make it... a donkey's sperm flushed away after masturbation?

O+ : lol!! yeah... and ...he is the rash inside the butt crack of a farting hedgehog
O-> : HAHAHAHHA... how coool. u are really getting a good hang of this

O+ : ya rrrright!!!!
O-> : :) really baby...u are doing very well. u excel at everything u do

O+ : yuck!... I just got s disgusting thought
O-> : tell me tell me :)

O+ : he is the herpes inside the vagina of a menstruating woman
bleh!!
yuck!!
puke!!
urgh!
O-> : HAWWWWW... yuckkk. really yuckkk. but then, i think this is when u hit the peak. venting out is good

O+ : he is the condom on a dildo without batteries
O-> : he is the lube used when making animal porn

O+ : he is the bacteria in the tooth cavity of a stinking mouth
O-> : ... the bell shape curve requiremnt is being fulfilled... ur behaviour in the last half an hour has been certified as totally natural

O+ : he is horrid and mean and selfish and a virgin and I will hex him so that he remains a virgin for the rest of his life. His heart will want all the action but his body wont RISE to any occasion and he will get the job as a bartender at a strip bar with boobilicious women!
O-> : okkkk then!!... u ARE defying nature

O+ : how come?
O-> : u picked up tempo after going down on the bell curve!!

O+ : huh?
O-> : u ARE, my girl, supernatural

O+ : yeah yeah yeah!

After a long time... i say

A man's weakness probably lies in his conscious struggle to evolve, or in his inability to enjoy the rigour of evolution! However, when it comes to happiness, we can comfortably ignore evolution.

i have no clue what happened to Ramprasad Rasiya... and given that I am not Jimmy, possibly i cudn't have had much clue ever. but i sense that he walked away. he had legs u see... and one who has legs is supposed to do things that people with legs do... things like.. walking away. he had legs... he did what he was supposed to do... he walked away. OK! point made. what next?

while ramprasad rasiya did what he was supposed to do... even jimmy did what he thought he was supposed to do... one of them, out of a multitude of things, was to ...well.. ahem...think... yes.. thats what he thought he was supposed to do... so he did that

...in all this "doing what one is supposed to do" it suddenly struck me that there need not be just ONE "supposed to do thing" in a man's life... for eg . apart from having legs, ram prasad rasiya also had a mouth and tongue. so while he was justified in being "supposed to walk" he was also "supposed to talk"... and hence he should have ideally talked away while he walked away.
But Ramprasad Rasiya never did that... he walked away silently.

Jimmy on the other hand, doesn't know, or will never know all and every possible thing that he is supposed to do.
(i for one just don't want to repeat that phrase again)

Amidst all this riff raff, which may not matter to many, what must really matter is this...

...the intensity and passion with which one focuses on a faceless but positive future, while a tangible and rather questionably exciting present stands in their face, is the only thing that decides what exactly it is that one is... supposed to do!

And so on... The Fall

Brownie Prichette was not sure how exactly she reached here. She couldn’t see a thing or move an inch. The thick silence around her was veiling some distant sounds of traffic, and her shoulders were throbbing. Her entire body felt tired.

The last memory she had was of being lost in the lanes of Colaba Causeway trying to evade the drug peddler whom she owed either some money or five fresh customers. Was she forced or did she fall by accident? She was trying hard to remember… anything... anything at all… oh! …Yes…she remembers that she had turned around one last time to check if she had managed to lose him yet, and there he was right at her heals, as if materialized from thin air, his crude bloodshot eyes staring coldly at her, with an almost inconspicuous glint. And before she could blink an eye, she had felt a sharp needle poke the outside of her left thigh. It hadn't hurt much.

Now, against her own wishes, she was finding this peace silently satisfying, except for the hunger pangs just about beginning in her tummy. Given that her life could be in danger, hunger should have been the last thing on her mind. She had, knowingly or unknowingly, reached a point that she always wanted to reach. A point from where her life would change and she could start looking up. Now, from where she was, things could only look up.

She was stuck right at the bottom of a 10 ft deep vertical pit.

The Change & The Difference

There was never a dull moment with him around. A lot of people were in awe of him, many more envied him, and almost all of them dreamed of being him.
“I love women!” he said with a glint in his eyes. It sounded like ‘I love McDonalds!’ or ‘I love Gaajar Ka Halwa!’ something to be consumed at leisure, and at times in friends’ company. Only he could have put something as profoundly deep as it was witty, in such an understated manner. Everyone around appreciated the humor.
“I love the fact that they are, and I love the fact that they do.” More of the applause ensued!
“I am endlessly besotted by the idea that a woman comes with so many avenues of pleasure. Unlike the earlier times, we have been able to filter out the not so pleasing woman experiences, and retain just the pleasantly, and intensely satisfying ones. We shall continue to strive to further the cause of male pleasure seeking behavior with increased gusto, and a day will come, when all that will be left in the world, would be pleasure and peace.” Loud cheers and thunderous roars followed this profound statement.
He was the star of the future. A staunch Masculinist, and the leader of The World Hedonistic Forum.
The world seemed to have changed.

~~~~~*~~~~~

She hadn’t touched a soul ever, but she had claimed lives. She intensely despised even a small possibility of injustice. She was one woman with purpose and was obviously on a mission. The mission of making this world a better place for her fellow women-beings. A less obvious mission that she also seemed to be on was to be on a mission itself, always.
“We must keep moving, keep progressing and keep caring, for each other. We must ensure more venues that aid constructive flow of creative energies!”
Life had changed for the regular man. Literally. Women didn’t have to live in hide-outs, scurrying away from the ever prowling and blood thirsty ‘Femme Guard Forces’. The rapid evolution of the womanhood into this self sufficient entity (politically, administratively and physically) with huge creative freedom, and progressively degenerating motherly instincts, had made the man redundant. And now that they didn’t need them, they wanted to eradicate them. This was borne more out of a need to optimize resources rather than any feeling of hatred. Although, hate groups still existed and were treated more like a break from the routine.
“We must make sure that we only do as much is needed to be done. And that we don’t overburden the world with that which is not needed anymore.”
She was the icon. Epitome of the power of femininity, the leader of The New Perfect World Order.
The world seemed to have changed.

The Beauty and The Stories

She thought she possibly had some vague idea of a half cooked story probably taking a cloudy little shape in her head.

Knowing her, that was enough.

This would comfortably make for a fascinating fifteen minutes over tea. As I relaxed deeper in my cane chair relishing the cool evening breeze after a not so hard days work, she began.

"Imagine..."


For the next fifteen minutes, that was about all I did as she painted images with words while her eyes danced around like little children, having come late for the puppet show, scampering around to get a better view.

And I imagined.

I imagined how life changes, in a matter of moments, from a bland endless desert to a red, blue, yellow, green, and many more colored underwater coral reef.

I imagined how easy it is to just put your leg up and relish heaven, as you look into the eyes that change colors from happy to chirpy to silent to ecstatic with each line of an imagined story.

I imagined how wonderful it is to imagine, when she tells you, "Imagine...".

Blogger Friends Review "Knots and No Crosses"

Guys.. reviews have started pouring in for 'Knots And No Crosses - Heartbreak after heartbreak, he still dreams of a perfect wedding...' and needless to say the reaction has been good. Well, what the heck, its actually been overwhelming! I just hope the publisher is able to make it available across enough bookstores for the the book to pick momentum by word of mouth.

The overall review, in short, has been that everyone liked it. Almost no one who picked it up, put it down before finishing it, and everyone thinks its a fantastic first attempt. Some have rated it a notch above 'Five Point Someone' in terms of the entertainment quotient, and more than a few notches in terms of quality of writing!

Am sharing the reviews of some of our blogger friends. For the complete set of reviews check 'The Readers' section of the book website here.

Reviews

"It (Knots And No Crosses) makes for a compulsive reading. It was after maybe three odd years that I read a book in one complete sitting, oblivious of the coffee getting cold on the tableside.

But getting back to the point, one of the best points about the book was the way past and present were not only alternated but linked too, so as to maintain a continuity.. and there would be no guy walking the earth who would not empathise with Akkie at one point or the other in the entire novel...

...all in all, a wonderful read... amazingly well done, because to sustain the tempo is easy for a short story, but to maintain it over the course of a novel takes some doing, and Hitesha is one person who could have, and indeed has, successfully carried it off... *bows in salute* "

- Words from the wise sage Marvin the Paranoid Android, also known as Flight Lieutenant Rishi Verma, 48 Squadron, Indian Air Force

"Oh Boy! What a book... That’s exactly what I said when I was done reading it. I have read Hitesha’s blog so ideally it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did... She has clearly outdone herself.

I simply love the way she takes us through Akki's journey. I know it’s a guy’s story but I could just totally relate to it. I felt like I am "IN" the story, living every moment with Akki... taking me through so many emotions. I smiled, I laughed, I almost cried, things tugged on my heart and I almost suffered heartbreak every time Akki was going through one.

Its fiction, and it still felt so close to life... the uncertainty of life, the achy-breaky heart full of optimism, and not just that, how everything we plan almost never happens and how it can take a totally different direction sometimes. I just simply love the way Akki's story progresses from one relationship to another and how Hitesha takes us through his wedding-to-be.

And guess in which section of my library this book goes to - "Once you pop you can’t stop" ... Really! If you ask me to say something about the book in just two words, I'd say - fresh and frothy (considering that I am a coffee lover J)

Best of Luck Hitesha; hope to see many more books written by you, and hopefully a real romantic story too, soon!"

- Expressed loudly by The Silent Beauty Divkiran Kathuria, Delhi based, Sr Consultant at PwC.

"Gosh! I never knew the plight of a marriageable young man who, like so many women of his age, still believes in falling in love and dream weddings. Hitesha brings a fresh perspective by a mere twist in gender.

This book stands as a lone voice calling attention to the miseries of thirty something unmarried Indian men still optimistic about finding a soul-mate and braving the emotional onslaught from family, friends and the world in general.

It is hilarious, well researched, fresh in concept and immensely contemporary."

- Writer of The Red Bathrobe and Other Stories Prapti Banerjee, Calcutta based, Manager at Aanand Bazaar Patrika

"...really nice.. reminds me of myself he he.. it really (is) a marvellous piece of writing. really like the way (the author) instinctively varies sentence lengths for variety, and use(s) flash back to keep the ball rolling right till the end.. considering young men get dumped all the time, (one) can expect a huge response (to this book)..."

- One of the Three Perfectly Normal Guys Flight Lieutenant Shantanu, 48 Squadron, Indian Air Force

Knots and No Crosses - A Review

This is a review of the book in the context of the recent "successful debutant Indian author" phenomena.

Debutant Indian Authors
Debutante Indian authors have been making quite some waves recently. The seeds may have been sown with Anurag Mathur's 'The Inscrutable Americans', but there was a hint of a lull thereafter. The current scenario, however, has changed. Right from Chetan Bhagat becoming the reflection of the young Indian voice, to Arvind Adiga picking the Booker on debut, a section of modern Indian fiction seems to be coming of age. This shift is also characterised by changes in language, flow and appeal of the content. The urban woman oriented themes, clubbed as 'chick lit', are becoming more rampant and gaining popularity. Books like 'Almost Single' by Advait Kala, that has sold around 2000 copies by now, or the lesser known 'Pink or Black' by Tishaa, both debut novels, reflect this trend.
To add to this, is the trend of blogging that is proving to be a wonderful platform for a number of aspiring authors to test and hone their craft before attempting anything mainstream. So we have the likes of Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, trying her pen via the blog 'The Complusive Confessor' and then landing a contract with a major publication for her debut novel 'You Are Here'.

Knots and No Crosses - The Book
Hitesha Deshpande, making her debut with the book "Knots and No Crosses", falls in a similar league. Having had a strong following on her blog 'Wild Imagination' (just one of over 5-6 well read fiction blogs that she has created over last few years), she has now come up with her debut novel. The brevity of her narration and her tact of connecting multiple threads of a story, and literally forcing the reader to remain glued to the book is most notable. The way the author connects one chapter to the other and how the story moves back and forth in time in a smooth and exciting manner displays her instinctive craftsmanship at story telling. Amusingly titled as 'Knots and No Crosses', roller coasters could learn a thing or two from this one hell of a reading ride.
The story is about a young small town lad called Akkie and his multiple relationships in life, culminating into the holy grail of an intended perfect wedding. A wedding that nightmarishly turns out to be almost everything except, perfect. The book captures multiple emotions and thought processes of the characters in a hilarious and crisp manner. Right from the comical description of the parental pressure of marital expectations and the ways to avoid them, to the almost insane behavior of a bride getting cold feet right before the day of the wedding, the book pulls you into its plot page by page. Weaved in between the wedding drama, is the past of this small town boy with big dreams, his multiple relationships and how he grows through them. Each relationship teaching him something about life, each relationship giving him something except what he wanted, but all of them ripping his emotions apart with equal mercilessness. The tagline of the book wonderfully captures the thought - 'Heartbreak after heartbreak, he still dreams of a perfect wedding...'.

The story is imaginatively rich with anecdotal details and displays good understanding of the subtleties of human behaviour on the author's part. For eg. this scene at the dinner table where young Akki has decided to boldly express to his father (and uncles) his intent of moving out of Jodhpur, to go to Pune to study Commerce and Germen, while the "women hovered around pretending to serve, but not wanting to miss out on even a bit of this exchange. It would make excellent gossip as they dried mangoes for their pickles on the terrace, the next afternoon."
The book also grips you with an interesting unexpected twist that makes it all the more worthwhile a read. Without revealing much more of the plot, let me just say that this book is a great fun read, where each chapter makes you crave for the next and you can't stop until you are done with it all! If you are the type looking for a light humorous gripping read, and don't care that time flies by while you are at it, then this is just the right thing to pick. Once you pick it up, you just can't put it down!

Book Site - http://knotsandnocrosses.com/


PS.
I am sure all of you will enjoy "Knots and No Crosses". You are welcome to share your reviews of the book. The same shall be published on the book website.

Knots and No Crosses now on Rediff Books :)

Knots and No Crosses is now available on rediff books with free shipping all across India! :)


PS.

And I am quite impressed with the rediff guys. There was some mistake in the blurb of the book on the rediff website, as given to them by the publisher. We sent a mail to them and they have responded promptly!

:) - The website is up!

The update is that we have worked a little to get the book site going...

(For all ameteurs let me tell you that 110mb.com is a wonderful FREE wesite creation and hosting service...)

anyway.. back to the point... Check: http://knotsandnocrosses.com/ for all the details of the book and how to order it...

The story moves ahead...

Yeah… long time haan!

No Ramprasad Rasiya… no Jimmy… no chilling stories either. I missed you guys a lot… However, now is the time to let you know why…. just watch it!



And while the video downloads, let me tell you that apart from a few not so important things, I was busy getting "Beauty and The Beast" published... her first book was out from the printer last saturday ( 4th april 2009) and should hit the market within 10-15 days!

The details...

What's the book called?
Knots and No Crosses – Heartbreak after heartbreak, he still dreams of a perfect wedding...


What's the book about? Authorspeak
The wave of ‘feminism’ has swept over the world and empowered women to shout out from rooftops. They are forever harnessing attention by drawing the mind towards a range of problems starting with PMS, labour pains and now the marital market. The marital market is unfair on the women of today!
Every single time I have read a book about a thirty something single woman warring with the pressures of an Indian prejudiced marital mind set, I have wanted to scream, “STOP!” The marital expectations of an Indian society do not limit themselves to the gender. A thirty four year old male.could also be labeled a ‘thirty something single man’ vexed with his family for goading him into marrying.
So I decided to write about it. I decided to write about, how when it comes to relationships and weddings, life really isn’t all that simple for anybody, male or female. I decided to start with writing about a wedding.

Sneak Peek
"The woman he had no intentions of loving, but who he did love, hopelessly. The woman he had no intentions of dating, but had ended up committing himself to. The woman who had always been four years elder to him, but realized it only when she was about to hit London for a PG course.
The woman who had gotten into the car, without looking back once as he stood there on the empty streets outside the institute, nursing a broken heart."

Akkie’s relationships have followed a trial and error pattern. He finally meets the one woman who completes him. They both plan their ‘dream wedding’, only, the wedding turns out to be anything but a dream! As Akkie, tries to placate his agitated bride three days before their wedding, his past catches up with him, spelling disaster after disaster. The crunching blow, comes when the son of his first ever girlfriend calls Akkie ‘Papa’ in front of a room filled to capacity with the Bride’s family. The wedding gets called off. But Akkie knows, there is no one else for him, but her…

Indian Political League – The Other side

Agreed that the Indian cricket fan is a fanatic, and although there is but a fine line between fanaticism and foolishness, I would like to believe that the Indian cricket fan errs on the side of the lesser evil.

One of the most significant statements of year 2009 would be the one made by our home minister Mr. P Chidambaram. “IPL is a shrewd combination of sports and business. No need to add politics to it.” I am a cricket fan. And if I were to be a fanatic, I’d rephrase it and say, “Mr Lalit Modi is a shrewd combination of sports, business and politics. There’s a need to exterminate pests like him who are harming the spirit of the game.” I am sure there is another set of fanatical cricket fans, who might say, “Oh wait! I love to watch cricket and IPL is a treat. Let it go on.” I don’t know who is right.

Fortunately for Mr Modi, I am not a fanatic and that probably puts me on the side of the fools. Fools, who are too blind to notice the blatant financial and political aspirations of many hinged around their unconditional love for the game. A cricket fan wants to watch cricket. But even the most dedicated of them would realize the unnecessary jingoism Mr. Lalit Modi is attaching to conducting IPL this year. Given the quantum of cricket already happening, one needs an insensitive brattish brain like Mr. Modi’s in order to subject the cricketer’s to harsher schedules. I am sure Dhoni’s men would welcome the break if IPL was to be cancelled this year.

Even more appalling than the ‘small’ headedness of Lalit Modi (Trivia – Lalit means ‘small’), is the sly anti-national sentiments of some of our political leaders. How dumb does one need to be to question the security during the commonwealth games, given that the entire security apparatus will be free of the general elections load at that point of time? And to think of it, there was a time when one thought BJP was a party of the intellectuals, like our well versed and educated Mr. Jaitely. These political stalwarts forget that their statements will be picked upon by media and will contribute to tarnishing India’s image internationally. A small domestic private tournament, which is primarily a money circus, being shifted out of India is not a national shame. I don’t need to say further when Mr. Chidambaram has already given a befitting reply. It’s probably a sensible move. Even more sensible a would gave probably been scrapping it altogether. The team does need rest.

I wish there was some single voice that represented the Indian Cricket Fans. Let us assume that there was one. So what might this voice say at this point of time?

1. I think the IPL is over-rated. But just because everyone in the media is saying it’s a huge success, maybe it is. I don't know. I am still waiting for the T-20 world cup, the Champions League and the 2011 world cup with much more eagerness.

2. I love to watch cricket, but not so much of it that it loses its charm. Rare ODI's used to be so much fun. And these days, we are also getting more results in Test matches. Tactics and strategies are more aggressive. It fun to watch a test match slowly unveil itself like a gripping novel.

3. OK fine, IPL may be fun, but then wasn't there an ICL that started before it? What happened to that? I am sure if the BCCI had not stopped the mainstream players from playing in ICL, by banning ICL, it would have been a success. Who is BCCI to ban them anyway? Is it a registered entity? I don’t know? What the heck, how do I care? Hey wait, but how come BCCI is also banning cricketers associated with ICL from doing commentary in international matches! Whoa, something sure is wrong there.

4. The terrorists are all around us. General elections are deciding the future of the country. If some messy thing ereto happen during this time, it isn’t good for anyone. Why doesn't BCCI simply postpone the tournament? What will they lose? A chance to earn more money?

The only reason why the BCCI is so cash rich, and Lalit Modi so impudent, is due to the huge base of Indian Cricket Fans. I wonder if we have a voice! And I wonder if we want to put forward a point and make sure that our love for the game is not misused for political and financial ends.

And so on...

|
He knew exactly how to express his thoughts.

Its a big thing you know. To be able to make someone else think exactly what you are thinking! But the usual ways were not for him to follow. A storyteller at heart, and sometimes even at other copiously blood drenched parts of his body, he always expressed with a glint in his eyes. Like this one instance where just before gagging one of his victims to death, his eyes glinted the word "murder". And that's precisely what the victim began to think.
Boy! did he know how to express his thoughts.

As all of you huddle together around him, absorbing the warmth of the imaginary fireplace in this mildly chilling night, only as cold as melting ice-cream, he reserves a few glints for what is yet to happen. He shall speak some, and hide some more. These pieces of stories, like the one about that murderer with glinting eyes, and so on...