…Do not be afraid. A little fear can make one cautious. Too much fear can rob you of initiative. Respect fear, but use it for an incentive, do not let it bind you or tie you down. – The Lonesone Gods by Louis L’Amour

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury discusses the importance of reading, explaining what sets books apart from more passive forms of expression.

A book, he says, can be put down. In between the pages of the book, the reader can pause to insert his or her own thoughts and ideas, or grapple with those posed by the author. Walking is much the same, allowing for pause and consideration of the landscape, rather than inscrutably rapid motion over it.

Tisn’t life that matters! ‘Tis the courage you bring to it

- From Fortitude by Hugh Walpole, a chapter of which appears in Ruskin Bond’s My Book of Favourite Books.

Reading Ruskin Bond after a long time on the train journey to Bangalore from Delhi.

Jamuns were one of the nicer things about Delhi

Generally I find few things nice about Delhi. The weather is bad, pollution on the roads is horrible and traffic worse even after so much infrastructure work. Yet this time, I found another nice thing. Real and usable footpaths. You can walk on them, pause and look around  and even take pictures. The people of Delhi have developed the knack of walking past you without trying to push you out of the way.

Something that’s so much better than Bangalore where either footpath’s do not exist or you can hardly stand for a minute without getting pushed around. In fact, on the newer roads, the government has given up on providing any footpaths. Courageous souls walk on the center divider which is a foot wide block of concrete.

Unlike Spaghetti Westerns (and similar books) these are extraordinary stories of ordinary people. Most authors are people who have lived in the west. If you have read Western fiction and want a different insight on lives of people there, you should read this one.

The story I liked most is Carrion Spring from Wolf Willow by Wallace Stegner.

I read slowly and can invest only a little time everyday to reading. Under these conditions I generally progress no more than 2-3 pages a day. Yet reading is immensely pleasurable activity. Reading slowly adds another dimension to the activity. It gives me more time to ponder over those couple of pages read in the last sitting. Sometimes thoughts turn to the writer. Sometimes to the story. I can’t really say whether that leads to a better understanding of the book or to more confusion.

My next book is Lincoln. Given the character of the man, I look forward to an interesting read. And there is some travel time coming up in the next few weeks. Ample time to read at leisure.

Beru Pakho bara masah, kafo pakho Chaita meri chela

In these lines are contained a lexicon of social habit. Translated, it is the observation of a village woman on the seasonal fruits of the jungle. The wild fig (beru) ripens all the year while the tree-raspberry (kaphal) fruits in the summer month of Chaitra. The milky fig grows to a modest size and if the latex is patiently boiled out, does make a kind of poor man’s substitute for a vegetable. What is important for Uttarakhand is the symbolism of this ubiquitous tree. The most sought-after shrine in Hinduism derives its name from this humble fig. Badri, the seniormost temple of the scared char dham apparently gets its name from the “beru” of the folksong. (Lord Vishnu while performing penancein the bleak Mana valley was forced to live off this unappetising fruit)

We name ourselves and our futures through narrative

From the introduction to The Portable Western Reader

The book is one of the best biographies I have read. Despite being the biography of a political leader, this is an extremely readable book.

What impresses me about Churchill is the amount of energy he had even in his golden years. Truly impressive.

The Library of Congress has a brief exhibit – Churchill And The Great Republic – which makes for an excellent quick read. In addition to numerous artifacts, there are six sound recordings including the “Finest Hour” speech.

Before I listened to the above mentioned speech, I did not comprehend that his voice would have this kind of depth and intensity. I wonder if written text, in any way, could have given an indication of that.

But this entry is not about that. Its about a quote from one of the stories, The Innocent

I walked up the hill. The first houses were all new. I resented them. They hid such things as fields and gates I might have remembered. It was like a map which had got wet in the pocket and pieces had stuck together; when you opened it there were whole patches hidden.

I really like how perfectly he has conveyed the feeling. Often when we go to places we hadn’t been to since a long time, new construction or other changes hide old landmarks we remember from old days. These hidden landmarks are like whole patches hidden.