Books that I've been reading and other news

1.My Name is Red-unputdownable would be an understatement-We Indians would perhaps like to think that we know all of Islamic* folklore that there is to know like Leyla & Majnun,Alif Laila etc but these are just the tip of the iceberg.This book makes one realize that there are so many other beautiful tales from the Islamic world which we know nothing about, for me it is almost like the discovery of a rich new lode of stories to dive into.Ever heard of Husrev & Shirin ?
2.Where wisdom shall be found-Harold Bloom-discusses the Greeks-Plato,Homer,Socrates then goes on to compare Shakespeare & Cervantes then Montaigne & Bacon in the next chapter(Subsequent chapters deal with Emerson& Nietzsche and finally Freud and Proust)-I have not read any of these writers and will abandon it shortly.
3.The Buddha series-Osuma Tezuka-again rediscovering the Buddhist folk tradition or the Jataka tales-I still need to get used to the sparse black & white style of Tezuka and the in-jokes (Siddhartha the young prince is bored after a day spent watching fire eaters and dancers.So he requests for-"two bulls,a long hemp rope and a barrel of ink" and in the frame in which this happens, a retainer is shown saying-is he going to draw manga?)

Books lined up-Ramesh Menon's Mahabharata-A modern rendering and Roberto Bolano's 2666

PS-I'd be heading over to MDI,Gurgaon for the next two years for my MBA.It was a better end to an MBA season where I plummeted lower and lower as it progressed.The excitement is waning after the initial euphoria but the good part is that I still have another month to go before session starts.Gurgaon looks massive and quite far from Delhi when seen from Google Earth.I've been warned against it's food,air,water,malls,Jats and expats.Lets see what it has in store for me.

*for want of a better word for kingdoms ruled by Islamic monarchs from Asia minor to India in the medieval times

Into a limbo large and broad, since called The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown.
John Milton,
Paradise Lost
I was writing a post about leaving Bangalore,which got delayed and I had to abandon it.In Jampot now,and it's still not clear which B-school I'll be joining.It has been a week of indecision and inactivity and heat and sudden rains.It is a little weird to realize that office will keep going on as usual and somebody might already have taken up my desk.Have been reading Satanic Verses and Catch-22.There is nothing blasphemous about the controversial chapter concerning Prophet Mohammed in the book,I had assumed there would be some slight innuendo or some such derogatory reference but there is none or perhaps I have not encountered it yet.Catch-22 is a brilliant book with some very well thought out characters and some lines are way too beautiful to be ever forgotten-

"Do you know how long a year takes when it's going away?" Dunbar repeated to Clevinger. "This long." He snapped his fingers. "A second ago you were stepping into college with your lungs full of fresh air. Today you're an old man."

"Old?" asked Clevinger with surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Old."

"I'm not old."

"You're inches away from death every time you go on a mission. How much older can you be at your age? A half minute before that you were stepping into high school, and an unhooked brassiere was as close as you ever hoped to get to Paradise. Only a fifth of a second before that you were a small kid with a ten-week summer vacation that lasted a hundred thousand years and still ended too soon. Zip! They go rocketing by so fast. How the hell else are you ever going to slow down?" Dunbar was almost angry when he finished.

"Well, maybe it is true," Clevinger conceded unwillingly in a subdued tone. "Maybe a long life does have to be filled with many unpleasant conditions if it's to seem long. But in that event, who wants one?"

"I do," Dunbar told him.

"Why?" Clevinger asked.

"What else is there?"

PS-My garden is in bloom even in summer(Zinnia & Sun plant according to Mom),makes for great photographs-I can't have enough of photographing my garden from my room. and there is a Bulbul pair making a nest in my garden,photos will follow.