Forbidden Love

One more day passed, one more book finished. But unlike the last one, this book was way better. A story based on honor killings is definitely sensitive and shocking at the same time. Based in Jordon it depicts the real life of the author.

Two girls one Dalia, a Muslim, and other catholic (author) live in Jordon. They are neighbors and are like sisters to each other. Both of them have independent minds and loathe their hermit lives. They maneuver their father and brothers to open a salon and spend some time together in each others company. But then Dalia falls in love with one of her catholic customer. Their minds find one after another trick to fool their parents so that they can meet. But as the frequency of dates increased, so was the danger of getting caught. And finally Dalia is brutally murdered for her crime. Norma (author) is shocked at her friend sister death and is scared that Dalia’s lover Michael and her lives are also in severe danger. Somehow Michael arranges Norma’s exile to Athens.

Written in cyber café in order to tell the story of her dear friend to the world and to show what is going on in the name of honour killing this book is bound to make you think. Not just this, honour killing murderers are not punished by the law either. Some of the honour killings examples in the last pages are even more shocking. A 11 year old killed his sister because he suspected that she was talking to a man on the phone!!

Seeking the Taj

Sometimes you regret reading a book or wasting time on it even though you waste a lot of time daily on other ever pointless activities. Even though I like most of the book I read but unfortunately “Seeking the Taj” was not one of them. What was so bugging in it? The writing was good initially then what went wrong? Anyway let’s go through the story first; shall we…

An American girl with a disturbing past comes to India on a poetry grant to write on Mymtaz Mahal. In her journey she is traveling with her ghostly past, literally. Anyway she sees the Taj Mahal and meets a prince on her way and falls in love with him (The story is based in the year 1969 when we had lots of phony princes). So moving forward, the guy also falls in love with her and takes her to her aunt where they spend some evening and attend royal parties. Then the prince takes her to his state and they stay together in the palace for months. The story was moving slowly and then enters the villain and who is that? None other than the mother of the prince and she is strictly against prince marrying an American. As a Hindi movie story the guy fights with her mother and succeeds in marrying her. Happy ending!!

So coming to the basic point; what exactly is wrong with the story?? I like happy endings, the information in Taj is good. But the overly sweet taste of this book leaves you with a feeling of nausea. First, the book shows India as a land of magic where sadhus know how to cure people without medicines. If that is not enough then it proves the power of temples when an American with no power to conceive gets pregnant after only one visit to some stupid Fertility Temple. Second, the way author has connected sex with pleasure and nirvana is absolutely shocking. Okay we do have a book on it and some temples with such sculpture but that doesn’t mean we worship it. To find some lines in a sacred book and quote them to glorify a person who has done nothing else but indulge in this act was…I don’t know. No don’t stop there is more to it. Last and the most bugging part is the connection shown in their love story and that of ShahJahan and Mumtaz Mahal. And guess what the clues are?? The date of birth of the prince is same as the Shah Jahan and we know this because the prince himself shows it off to his American. The author miserable attempt to relate the incidents again by quoting book which narrate the lives of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

In the end; too sweet, too monotonous and too predictable. Skip it please……

In love with Mr. Darcy

Some books leave a lasting impression on your memory. One such book is the Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice”. The beauty of this book is that I hated reading it. So slow and monotonous; why are all classics so boring? But as soon as you finish you realize that what a beautiful book it is. A book with two dream characters: - Mr. Darcy and Ms Elizabeth Bennett. Both perfect in an imperfect way, deeply in love yet denying it.

The book was so well written that you find Mr. Darcy’s pride attractive. The roughness when he says “Every savage can dance” in a ball!! The mildness when he says "My mind was more agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow..". The proud Mr. Darcy had such a charisma that you want him to remain the way he is. Not just that, he becomes your dream man as soon as you finish reading the book. No it’s not just the transformation that attracts you, Mr. Darcy would have been equally irresistible is the change of course had not happened. You know that it has crossed the limit, when you say that the way he proposed Ms. Elizabeth was so romantic!! Read yourself:

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

Whatever it may be, the way she writes or her character portray or her typical English classy jokes. "For what do we live for but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?" -Mr. Bennett. This book has its class of its own and no other romantic book will ever be able to reach it. The last quote from the book is my favorite:

"Pride is a very common failing, I believe. [...] that human nature is very prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us"-Mary