Luminous Infinitus

On a vacation at an ancient Manor house, a young man takes an experimental drug that transports him 600 years into the past , while leaving his body in the present. The result, you wouldn't know if you are not in it , is , to put it in simple words – an-outstanding-must-read book. This might be the best du Maurier I've read..

I spoke to K yesterday , that after a long long gap. He made up for it, for the lack of talk all these months, told me so many things that even if we’d been speaking everyday all this while, I wouldn’t ve had this much of info in my mind at this moment. K – my chennai pal - the one who ate, drank, slept, talked, walked in Kannada, one who cursed Chennai in every breath he took. Not a day passed without hearing him spewing out an expletive or two against poor citizens of the place whose fault it seemed to me was that they either loved their language too much or simply didn’t have the ability to pick up other languages quickly. ‘Language fanatics’ he said, ‘narrow minded’ he swore. Probably, being a chatterbox all his life, he wasn’t used to being a mute spectator amongst people who talked more than him, that too in a language completely alien to him. Probably he was jealous of them since he didn’t have the passion for his own language as they had. Probably Chennai made him learn that on...

Do you like flashback movies/stories ? The stories where past is slowly revealed to you, wherein during each small incident you are carried back in time to something that happened long ago , those stories where as you go on living in the present you catch glimpses of the past , where present floats along with past. I love them. The first such book that comes into my mind is “Wuthering Heights”. It is not the chief protagonist comes back to his home kind of story. Well ! you can say that about Heathcliff. But the seeker of past is Lockwood, a person who comes to stay for a short while in the Yorkshire moors, it is his curiosity to know more about his landlord that lets Nellie, his maidservant unleash the tempestuous past into his mind. It is the reason why I liked “God of small things” too. This is more dramatic. The present belongs to Estha and Rahel. But the way you get to walk along their , their mother’s , uncle’s, grand-parent’s past, would grip you into the novel. Here you are , i...

The wages of sin, is death. Paradise lost – satan and here I am, thinking of Dr.Faustus. This doctor was someone who went too close to the sun and burned himself (figuratively speaking of course. He did no flying towards the Yellow Star. In the legends it is Icarus. Well Icarus makes me think of Ludlum’s 'Icarus agenda'. that gives me a topic for another blabbering). He knew too much and he wanted too much. In the first scene of the play Faustus tells us why he considers medicine, philosophy, theology and other studies as worthless. He says the only worthy thing is necromancy – black magic. He sets out to learn that and how ! before long he has Mephistophilis, Satan’s messenger standing infront of him. Mephistophilis tells him that if he is ready to give his soul to Lucifer , he will give him all the knowledge and power. Faustus agrees. Says he will give his soul after 24 years. Faustus becomes great within days. His fame spreads far and wide. He meets Pope and becomes invisibl...

The week of September 12th to 17th is 'Agatha Christie Week'.I’d love to be there now. But what could/would I do/see/read if I were there? Well ! I just wish i was there, though !

"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes of his shoes." ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Paris – gosh ! it brings back a flurry of memories. Stephen wants to go to Paris, Clym(The Return of the native) returned from Paris, Philip(Of Human Bondage) went to Paris, Larry(The Razor’s Edge) went to Paris. What is it ? what is it about Paris that beckons men of art ? If there is a heaven on earth , is it Paris ? Isn’t heaven a place wherein music is played all day? I guess music throbs in every soul in Paris. I see the whole city gyrating in a heavenly tune. How I wish , how I wish to be there . Speaking about Paris , which are those books , those books which had Paris ? 1) The Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy 2) Of Human Bondage – Somerset Maugham 3) The Razor’s Edge – Somerset Maugham 4) A tale of two cities – Charles Dickens 5) A thing of beauty – A J Cronin 6) Agnes Grey – Anne Bronte (I don’t remember well, I think Agnes went to Paris) 7) Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy(Don’t Vronsky and Anna go to Paris when they run away. They do. And stiva does visit Paris often.) Is that...

Stephen has finished his education at Oxford and is back to his hometown Stillwater , to his dad , Bertram Desmond , the Rector of Stillwater , his mom , Julia Desmond , a self indulgent lady who is bothered about none but herself, his cute sister Caroline who adores him , his epileptic brother David and his love Clair . Everyone is very happy at his arrival . His dad is happy and proud and dreams of the coming future wherein his son would succeed him after his ordination. He rests all his hope on Stephen , in him he sees the efficient curate that he wanted to be , someone who is loved by all and someone who’d take good care of all. Things take a gloomier turn when Stephen tells his dad that he wants to go to Paris since he is interested in painting. His dad tells him of his epileptic brother ,almost invalid mother, himself old and ageing and tells him that paining is just a whim which he needs to leave away and continue with the good life there. Stephen assures him that he will give i...