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Moore market – An adorable place for book lovers

Are you a chennaite? Do you proudly claim yourself a bookworm? Do you love to own books, but having hard time in spending money for books in expensive shops? Does the lack of libraries hinder your reading habit? Then certainly, Moore market is the place you need to hit. It is a commercial building complex situated near the Chennai suburban railway station in park town. I can safely bet that it is one of the perfect place in Chennai to buy books at the least price.

If you expect Moore market (MM) to be filled with cool and hippy bookstores like Landmarks, Crosswords, Higgins bothams then you will be disappointed. On the contrary, MM is a gloomy mall packed with several small stores, which primarily offers old/new/pirated books with endless list of collections ranging from classics, comics, fictions, non-fictions,(auto)biographies, magazines, school/college text books……..etc. There is no fixed price for any of these books. The price purely depends on the buyers bargaining skills.

Once at a store, while searching for one of the books, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a new copy of catch-22 available for a price lesser than 1/3 rd of what I had paid for the same book in Indian plaza (online shopping). Therefore, if you are lucky, you can get MK Gandhi’s -“My Experiments with truth” (old edition) for 20/rs. Some of the books can be bought at the same price that a lending library charges for its readers. Therefore, with MM, now you can own a book at the same price you spend for borrowing!. If you don’t want to keep the book, you can always return the books to the owners and get half of the money refunded.

The average size of each bookstore is very small; hardly two or three can stand inside the shop. Nevertheless, it does not matter as long I remain patience and get a good book with reasonable price. The shopkeepers are helpful. Though they don’t look erudite, they are certainly well experienced about the books, which helps the buyers to find their choice amidst the heap of books. One of the drawbacks with MM is that most of the new releases will be available only as pirated books. These pirated books will peep out in the book stores immediately with in a week of release date (I wonder how they could do it so quickly). Unable to cease my temptation sometimes I end up buying pirated copy.

I am an avid reader and I love to own the books I read. If not Moore market, my dream of owing a library in the future would be shattered at its budding stage due to the lack of budget. Any rational mind would refuse to believe the dream of collecting thousands of books, if a single Harry potter book sucks around 700/rs from the reader’s pocket. I don’t blame the publishers, but it is impossible for those with moderate family income to buy all the books they love to read. For them, MM could be a heaven!

Though the MM stores lacks the trendy appeal, certainly it has it’s own charm which keeps it’s murky stores still thronged with book lovers like me !!!. Besides the books stores, Moore market is also famous for its aquarium & fish shops, birdcages, antiques and odd electronic items.

Freedom or doom ???

Freedom at midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry collins

When I was suggested this book, I thought it would be another history epic, boasting the leaders who presented India her independence. Part of my presumption is true, but what enthralled me is the shocking revelation of the events happened behind the closed doors of power at the time of Indian's partition and the period followed it.

“Freedom at midnight” unfolds the real significance of the day which we proudly celebrate as" Independence Day" of India. The price paid for this celebration is the knife of partition engraved in the heart of India. Indeed it is a day to be mourned than celebrated. The book begins with unwilling Lord Mountbatten being appointed as Viceroy of India to undertake the transition of India from British dependency to sovereign state. What followed that was interesting disclosure of facts which I had failed to know earlier.

The book gives the complete and precise details of last year of British in India, India's response to Independence, Princely states reaction to Independence, most critical role played by Mountbatten, Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Jinnah (whose decisions later played on the fates of millions of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs), Partition of India and Pakistan (which is easily decided than done), Communal frenzy that followed the partition and engulfed millions of lives, the beginning of endless concern –The Kashmir. Above all the book reaching its pinnacle while describing the terrific role played by Gandhi at the time of India's adversity and the reward that Great Man yielded for his nonviolence – Gandhi's Assassination by Godse & his co. The book explores the roots of the many social issues which still shakes India since her Independence.

Hitherto, I was bound to make my own theories on India’s independence movement based on the very limited knowledge, I gained from my school text books & from hearsay (most of which are incorrect). This book astounded me of how ignorant and misunderstood, I am of my own country.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

After a week of prolonged reading, today I finished this book. I just want to write down about this book before the freshness of the story that lingers in my mind withers out. I was very keen to read this book, mainly because some of my earlier attempt to read Russian literature (books of Dostoevsky) turned to be more serious reading than I had imagined. In fact, it does some phenomenal things to my mind, which I had never experienced before and made me suppose that Russian novels are more profound and meaningful. “Anna Karenina” reinforced my hypothesis again.

Anna Karenina written by Leo Tolstoy is a novel about a most beautiful, sensual women “Anna” who falls in love with an enchanting, handsome Prince “Vronsky” after been married to “Karenin”. This infidelity of Anna causes series of emotional entanglement and inner conflicts between these three characters, which is the essence of the story. Besides that, there is another remarkable character in the book “Levin”, by whom Leo Tolstoy endeavored to enlighten his philosophical quest to the readers. The story revolves around these four major characters (Anna, Karenin, Vronsky, and Levin).

There are so many things to be appreciated about this book. Foremost is the characterization of Anna, Karenin, Vronsky and Levin. The human emotions between various relationships.(Husband and wife, Mother and a son, between brothers, between sisters etc…).The authors view on various issues on Russian society.
At last, the various complicated feelings like infedility, retribution, envy, pride, solitude, humiliation, fear of being disgraced are painfully written. Certainly Leo Tolstoy is a Genius!!!

In spite of all the interesting stuff in the book, one could not help feeling that book is slow paced. Some parts are impossibly dragged and quite insignificant to the story. Nevertheless, it is worth reading.

Orkut

Recently there are so many talks going on concerning Orkut. Some says it is very unsafe to expose one’s profile in orkut as if the rest of the sites in the internet are harmless & reliable and some says it is really playing key role in social networking. However, the increased growth of orkut in recent years proves only that these controversies does not dwindle the fame of Orkut.

I still do not understand the notion of the people who perceive threat in orkut. Every thing is unsafe and unreliable as far as internet is concerned .I have seen many terrible, shocking sites which might trap even an innocent adolescent to their net, if they have a glimpse of their site contents. One might not need to register in orkut, to get cheated. Even if they do not register in orkut, there is no guarantee that they won’t be a victim for these cyber crimes. Here the problem is not with orkut but the person itself for his lack of self control and being so ignorant to understand the world around. If something should be blamed for all the crimes that are happening, then the threat is not with orkut instead in the very foundation where orkut exists, which is nothing but Internet. In this modern era, it is impossible to restrict Internet and so does it is impractical to curb all these cyber crimes by the government. Hence, the sole responsibility lies in the Parents and the individuals themselves. We have to be more prudent.

There is no use in banning the sites. If orkut is banned then some other site else will take its place. So let’s learn to live and take care of ourselves instead of blaming!

The Painter of signs - RK Narayan

Through “Painter of signs”, RK Narayan tells us the poignant love story of a simple, down-to-earth bachelor Raman. The plot is very simple and nothing unusual – how a man falls in love with a women and how their love ends. However, it is a pure delight, to read it in RK Narayan’s style.

The story as usual takes place in the RK Narayan’s dreamland Malgudi. Raman, as one might have guessed from the title of the book is a Painter of signboards in Malgudi. Raman leads a peaceful and contented life with his Aunt. Life seems to be perfect and mundane to Raman until he meets Daisy, an arrogant, ambitious, attractive girl who comes to malgudi to embark her social activities. Raman falls in love with Daisy. Soon the love blossoms between them. Being in a conservative society Raman finds hardship in convincing his aunt about his love. Raman does not want to leave any stone unturned that curbs his marriage to Daisy. The emotional filled ending answers how fate plays its role and whether Raman married to Daisy.

The love and intimacy between Raman and Daisy has been portrayed vividly and with in bounds, which is typical Narayan’s style. The other remarkable aspect to be noticed is Raman’s inner voice. The witty remarks raised by his inner voice are hilarious to read. The brilliant blend of humor with tragedy makes this story an impressive reading.

The Bachelor of Arts – RK Narayan

The Bachelor of Arts is a fictional novel written by RK Narayan .A brilliant account of Indian bachelorhood of pre-independent India. No one can portray the liveliness of Indians better than he can. It is a treat to read his characters, his subtle descriptions of our customs, his gentle humor …above all his unpretentious writing style !

The backdrop of the story setup in the customary RK Naryan’s imaginary place, which is none other than “Malgudi” .The Novel begins with Chandran (The Protagonist), a college-going final year BA history graduate who reminds in every way a typical Indian youngster. After finishing college, in the midst of so many advises and suggestions, Chandran soon finds himself in the dilemma of what to do next. At last, he decides to pursue his studies in England. Before taking his leave from his native place, Chandran falls in love with a girl called Malathi and wants to get married to her. Being in a conservative society, where a mere talk to a girl raise lots of eyebrows ,Chandran face a hard time in convincing his parents about his affair. Though Chandran’s parents agreed to consider the girl, soon fate interrupts in the form of Horoscopes (which is still followed in India) and shatters Chandra’s dream of marrying Malathi. Unable to forget Malathi, Chandran eludes the normal life and start to wander like a “Sanyasi” for 8 months. However, his affectionate towards his parents made him to understand the reality and brought him back his senses. Soon Chandran begins a fresh life and engages himself to work towards his promising carrier. After much hesitancy, Chandran’s parents propose him to get married to a girl named Susila. The story ends up with Chandran engaged to Susila and falling in love with her…

One of the remarkable things to be noticed in this book is its stunning reality. There is nothing heroic in the character “Chandran”, yet he captures an indelible place in reader’s mind. One can easily relate to his character. There are also other noticeable characters like Chandran’s mother/father/brother (Brings in front the image of a prefect conservative family), professor Gajapathy (reminds me one of my college Prof.), Ganapathi Sastrigal (a typical Matchmaker), Chandran’s friends Ramu and Mohan. There is no fakeness in any character. Each and every instances in the book reminds something around us, which is the specialty of RK Narayan’s work.

This is just a story about a Man’s ups and downs over a phase of his life. If you prefer simple/Light reading, you can go for this book and you will surely relish this!