What's on my Mind

Tag: book

  • Furiously Happy – Book Review

    Does the cover of this book make you smile? (because I completely fell in love with it. so much so that I bought the kindle edition last month.) That scary-looking, overly delightful raccoon is very much real. (except that it’s dead and taxidermied by the author.)

    In her book “Furiously Happy” Jenny gives a peek into her insanely overworked mind. She talks about her cats, her therapist, a “normal” husband, and everything – hamster, Australia, Galileo, Parsley, and whatnot. Behind every weird conclusion she makes is a bulletproof theory that she invents with an overly creative mind. Jenny also talks about her experiences with depression and anxiety with candid honesty. She is very expressive about how she feels in her lowest days, how she handles the fear, the success and persisting condition of mental illness. Her courage to talk about these topics in such details is the soul of this book.

    Jenny’s writing style makes you connect with her instantly. Reading it felt like sitting inside her head.

    I saw Anne Frank trending on Twitter and I thought she’d died. Again. Turns out it was the person who found her diary that died. She’s fine. And by ‘fine’ I mean ‘still dead.’ Not that I think that it’s fine that she’s dead. I just think it’s fine that she’s not back from the dead. No one needs an Anne Frank zombie.
    ~ Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy

    I try not to get caught up in appearance issues though because my grandmother always used to say, “It’s what’s inside that counts.” And that’s probably true because with my luck my best feature would be hidden deep, deep inside my body. I suspect my best feature is my skeleton, which is a shame because it might be the most elegant and hauntingly graceful skeleton ever but I’ll never get complimented on it while I’m still fleshy enough to appreciate it. That’s why I’d like people to say “Nice skeleton” to me now. Just give me the benefit of doubt, you know? “
    ~ Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy

    It took me over a month to finish this book. Not that it’s lengthy, but because it’s a series of essays, each with a very distinct title. That’s why I found it a good bedtime read. There are some parts in this book where you think the author is rambling on, but I guess that is really how an anxious mind looks.

    I’ve learned from reading this book that it’s hard to dislike someone when they are so genuine. I, therefore, recommend this book for its original style. It would make you laugh while giving you a perspective on what it feels like to be anxious or depressed.

    Four stars for Jenny Lawson’s Furiously Happy!
    (She did make me happy)

    ★★★★

    © Copyright 2021. Megha Gupta. All rights reserved.

  • Finally I’ve finished this 1000 pages book

    In the beginning of March, when Covid 19 had not become a phenomenon yet, I bought this bestselling book on suggestion of my spouse. He read this book when he was young and it left an impression on his mind so deep, that he has been constantly nudging me to read it once.

    So when the lockdown began and I had ample time to stay at home, it was indeed a good thing that I bought this thick read. I sat in peace with coffee & kindle, slowly reading through 1000 pages of the book – “Shantaram”

    When I heard the name of this book, I thought it was written by an Indian author (coz its name sounded so Indian). But, I was mistaken as the writer is actually Australian. Gregory David (the author) was once a convict in an Australian prison. He escaped the prison and somehow ended up living in Mumbai, one of the largest cities in India. Here he took refuge in a slum as he had no money and no belongings.

    He starts a humble life in a slum but eventually joins a mafia gang and becomes a criminal. He makes some friends in this journey who love him, leave him and perhaps also manipulate him. You would gradually see his mental transformation as he lives through all of it. You would also notice how it changes him and makes him almost one of them.

    In this book, the author narrates what he saw, experienced and lived through in the streets of Mumbai. While most books end up boasting the cultural side of India, this book unravels difficult, brutal and sometimes repelling side of this country. The story is so eventful and gripping that it almost feels like a movie. I remember reading the first half of this book in just two weeks.

    Being an Indian, I thought I knew a lot about India, people and their livelihood in general. But I realize now that as a middle class citizen, I was probably too comfortable and ignorant to witness what the massive population of this country lives through on daily basis. I crawled through the last 400 pages of this book,trying to sink in each scene & its description. The details around black market, life in slum, mafia operation and the Afghan war look so realistic that it was hard to believe why the author puts this book in fiction category. I think it might be because he likes to disassociate himself from the doings he describes!

    Anyhow, in a nutshell, I will recommend this book to (at least) other Indians as I’m sure it would give a good perspective of the uglier side of India. A warning though – you need to be open minded to read and appreciate this book. While media, television and most Indian expats promote culture, yoga and Indian food, this book does a decent job describing how life really looks like for more than 60 million people in India.

    If you are an adventurer, planning a trip to India, you might as well like to give this book a try. Just don’t be scared and extrapolate these experiences to your travel plan.

    I’m glad to have finally finished reading this book yesterday! 🙂

    © Copyright 2020. Megha Gupta. All rights reserved.

  • I wouldn’t have known North Korea without this Book

    [Spoilers from the book included]

    Few years back, if you were to ask me about North Korea, I would tell you – it’s just some country in East Asia. I didn’t know then about the totalitarian regime in North Korea and how distinct it was from South Korea. Neither did I know, how life in North Korea differed from rest of the world.

    Last summer, when I read a book titled ” A river in darkness – One man’s escape from North Korea, I uncovered the mystery of life in North Korea. It painted a picture so deep in my memory, that I still find myself thinking about it some days.

    This book, is a story of its author – Masaji Ishikawa, who moved to North Korea when he was just thirteen years old. Before moving to North Korea, he lived in Japan with his parents, His father was originally from South Korea while his mother hailed from Japan. After their marriage, his parents moved to Japan, where his mother earned little wages from menial jobs and his father grappled with discrimination. The story is set in 1960s, just a few years after the Korean war.

    Somewhere around that time, the government of North Korea launched a propaganda to attract millions of Koreans from Japan. They desperately needed laborers to rebuild economy after the Korean war and luring back Korean immigrants seemed an easy option. North Korea was promoted as a land of opportunities with jobs, free education and food for all. Masaji’s father, who was brainwashed with these false promises, convinced his entire family to move to North Korea. He didn’t know then, the stark differences that exist between North and South Korea(where he hailed from).

    Masaji remembers the first meal he received after the long journey to North Korea. It was rubber like chewy & pungent smelling meat from remains of an animal. Hungry and tired, he quickly ate whatever was served to him but felt deeply disgusted once he learned it was a dog. He did not know then, that food was a privilege in North Korea and not everyone slept with their stomachs filled. Anything that was alive was deemed edible and people felt grateful to be able to just eat.

    Upon their arrival, Masaji and his family were taken to a small village and granted a small hut. All their personal luxuries were either stripped off or stolen soon. Anyone who dared to speak against the government officers, disappeared overnight. Equality existed in the neighborhood in sense that everyone was poor. And if anyone, managed to afford any luxury, the government made sure to rip that off and beat him to death.

    Masaji describes how his schooling tamed him in North Korea. He arrived there while he was young and learned to obey like all other children in his school. They learned to sing praises for Kim II sung – the ruler of North Korea. Their teachers made them regard Kim II sung as their holy father. It was natural to grow up as a blind devotee and loose any independent thinking.

    What I found moving in this book was the constant description of hunger. Masaji and his family starved for months on rations that were meant to last for few days. They were forced into hard labor and their combined earnings rarely sufficed to buy any food. They woke up every morning, thinking about food and slept on empty stomachs, dreaming about food. Most of his family members died of hunger year after year while Masaji somehow survived in North Korea. He had no money and no connections which made it difficult for him to escape the country. He ended up spending thirty years of his life in North Korea.

    And then one day, he finally managed to escape the country, alone. I thought his agony would come to an end after his escape from North Korea. But unfortunately, that was not true. Masaji never managed to bring back his family to Japan and lived the rest of his life worrying about his wife and kids, who were stuck in North Korea. He could also not make a decent living in Japan as he lacked education 7 skills that were deemed crucial for most jobs.

    After I finished reading this book, I felt restless. The emotional torment of Masaji’s survival was devastating. He escaped North Korea in 1990s. That does not seem far too behind in the history!

    I wonder how North Korea has changed since then. Very often, I hear strange pieces of information about North Korea – Threat of nuclear attacks, disruption of all communication with South Korea , military escalations and so on. I wonder what people living in North Korea experience ? Do they still suffer? Are there more Masajis, whom we must rescue? And if yes, who will own the responsibility to establish their rights and freedom?

    © Copyright 2020. Megha Gupta. All rights reserved.