Snow

Snow
A novel by Orhan Pamuk

Feb 7, 2010, 10:23 am. Finished this book after starting at about 3 months ago. Before i give my review, some statistics i want to document.

Places where i have read this book -
In my car drinking Phil's coffee, at Peet's coffee shop, on my flight to Seattle, in the morning hrs at Aman's apartment in Seattle (waiting for him to wake up), on my way to Los Angeles, while eating an Indian lunch buffet and finally today - at Starbucks next to my home (listening to Blues music).

Snow is the kind of book that needs to be savored. The reason it took me three months to finish this book even though this book is so beautiful is that i could not have read it anytime. I had to be in my fresh mind, with my undivided attention, while i can feel everything that is written, visualize, be there in the author's world, understand it, live it. Because after reading every page or two, i had to take a break, to dream about it, staring aimlessly in front of me, wondering what it would be etc etc. Trying to understand the mystical, the unwritten, the feeling. I think that's what Orhan wants us to derive from the book.

About the book -
Snow is a book at the intersection of poetry, religion and politics. I admit with guilt that any book written with these three points in mind is going to interest me. At the heart of this book is a poet named Ka visiting a place called Kars and the whole book tells his 3 day long stay there. And those 3 days are more than a lifetime for many including the protagonist. In Kars, girls are committing suicide, and there is a military coup going on. It does not make any sense to write a summary of the story because it does not matter. What matters is how it is told and for that i can not do any justice to it.

Today, after i have finished this book, i am so much reminded of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's children. As i look at my blog logs [:)], i find it difficult to believe that its been an entire year since i finished the book. Some time ago, i made a comment that there is a formula behind all oscar winners for foreign language movies. I also tried to explain the formula. I bring back the same argument here. I get the same feeling after Snow, as i got after reading The Road, after reading Midnight's children. But this time i will not make an attempt to explain this behavior mainly because i have not fully understood what it is. One thing that is indeed shared is the attention to "emotional detail" in all of them. Yes, "emotional detail" because IMHO, detail comes in various forms, factual details, physical details, environmental details etc but in these books, the emotional details is the one that takes the highest precedence.

Another thing that i love about Snow is the way Orhan, the author inserts himself into the story line. He is writing the story and he is in the story. As i mentioned in Midnight's children, the distinction between reality and fiction is quite blurred there. While Salman maintains reality by writing about factual events, Orhan shows reality by introducing himself in the book, as a friend of the protagonist and writes how he came to write this book. This all creates a thought in the mind that the entire story could be true and indeed there might have been a poet Ka!

And the last thing about the book is that we read a lot of description on Ka writing the poems, what the poem is about, what inspired those poems, how he wrote those poems, how it came to them and that the poems are very complex, deep and great. But the book in which he is writing those poems is lost and hence we do not have any idea about the contents of this poem leaving it entirely to our imagination. I think its the right way, had Orhan published the poems, it may (again MAY) have reduced their importance in the minds of readers. By keeping them mystical, Orhan plays iwth us nicely!


And even though i wrote "last thing" in the last para, the last thing infact is the title - Snow. So many lines have been pored to describe Snow, its significance, its symbolism, its composition, its structure .... Indeed one feels in awe of it.

I am not sure if i will read this book ever again, the same way i do not think i will ever read Midnight's children again. But i may read these authors again in their different works. I hope this post captures the effect of reading such a book :)

There is no why

I just finished watching the movie "Man on Wire". It is a documentary capturing Phillipe Petit's walk in between the twin towers on a wire. Phillipe Petit is a tight-rope walker or rather a tight-rope dancer who stunned the whole world by walking in between the twin towers on Aug 7, 1974.

As the wiki article says, the movie is made like a heist drama with Phillipe and his team as con men trying to pull off a big stunt. And indeed it is true. What a lovely movie!

On asked why he did it, Phillipe's answer was - "There is no why". He further adds that if you have to give meaning to an art, then you didn't get it.
James Marsh has directed this movie and it has the lovely score from the great Michael Nyman. If you have not heard Michael Nyman's compositions, please do so now.


One of the best documentaries i have ever seen. This movie is the reason why movies are such an interesting art form!

Goodby Jan2k10

Photo time

Life without a camera is awesome but for one thing. When it comes to document some key points, i have to depend on others. And not only them, then i have to depend on myself to take it from others and add it to my list. While dependency on others is extremely reliable, it is the dependency on myself is the tricky part.

But here i am, fulfilling lost promises. Still incomplete yet something.

To start with, here are San Diego photos. All thanks to Aseem for sharing them even though he did so on facebook.

san diego trip

The next one is all of my christmas trip compiled into one album. It includes, Napa valley, San francisco, dinner at Dosa, 17 mile drive, Disneyland, Universal studios, Kodak theatre/Hollywood, Japanese tea garden and the wonderful time around Christmas.

Christmas 2009

Kate and Anna McGarrigle

How do i find songs? Some people have asked me. My answer is very simple - I am always ready to try new songs. Through facebook/social networks, through freinds recommendation, radio, tv, movies and random surfing. But of all the above, i think movies stand out the most. Most of my fav songs are OSTs of some movies and i think everytime i hear them, it reminds me of the movie which gives me an extra layer of sub conscious association with the song.

In this case, i heard about Kate and Anna McGarrigle 3 days ago on NPR radio. And it was on NPR radio because Kate had died the day before. Sad but then they played one of their songs and i had to probe further. While i do not know which song they played, i think this youtube video/songs tells a lot about their genre.
The song is Hard Times Come Again no More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrfLnlrquo

Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh Hard times come again no more.
Chorus:

Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.
(Chorus)

There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.
(Chorus)

Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.
(Chorus)

Bob Dylan - Blowing in the wind

While sharing songs on this blog, i have generally refrained from sharing songs that are extremely good but they are in common - the idea there has been why share something that everyone knows about. Example of this is Rahman's Roja, it is cult but everyone knows about it.

While the above is true, on another hand is that it takes time for one to appreciate the greatness behind a song or an artist. First timers may feel something good but it is not until you have listened 100s of times, you can understand the so called "cultness". Bob Dylan is one such example. I have known that he is a genius for some time now but it was only recently, after i bought the CD - The Best of Bob Dylan and listened to it over and over again, i now realize that his songs are truely beautiful. I am copying one of his most popular songs - Blowing in the wind. The lyrics carry the Gulzaar-ish kind of style :), One of the features of Bob Dylan is that in many of his songs, he is able to make them lines rhyme with each other. Quite interesting how he does it.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, n how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, n how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before theyre forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, n how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, n how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before its washed to the sea?
Yes, n how many years can some people exist
Before theyre allowed to be free?
Yes, n how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesnt see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

Songs

It may give an impression that music is fading away from my life but it is totally not true. My less frequency in writing about songs is because imeem (my fav social music network) was acquired my myspace. And all my playlists are gone now, and so are my songs.

But youtube still exists with their masterpiece idea of embedding music videos. So with this post and following ones, let me share some songs that i had been listening.

The first one in this series is a Christmas song - Do you hear what i hear.
There are many renditions of this song - I am copying the one by Carie Underwood. This song was here on radio 24x7 when Christmas time was going on. It was quite interesting to see how everything you see, hear,eat changes when chistmas time comes here.

Said the night wind to the little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?

A star, a star,
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite,
With a tail as big as a kite.
Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?

Ringing through the sky shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song,
High above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea,
With a voice as big as the sea.

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm mighty king,
Do you know what I know?

A child, a child,
Shivers in cold
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Let us bring him silver and gold.
Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace people everywhere
Listen to what I say.


The child, the child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light...

Movie streak

I joined netflix starting this year. After 11 months of being in corporate world, i joined netflix something that i had promised myself to do first thing when i will work. Why did i waited so long ? Because i was able to :)
But then does that mean i joined because i was no longer able to? No. I joined because i wanted to explore it.

Anyways, why i am trying to psychoanalyze myself. Here are the movies that i saw.

1. Head On - Fathi Akin's Gegen Die wand. After browsing movies for a week, it was Fatih Akin with which i started my netflix account. I had already seen Head on before (in NSIT) and had loved it. Watching it again makes it grow more. What makes it so special? (a) definitely music and the timing of music in movie (b) The unexpected story - you never know what is going to happen (c) direction and acting. But again, music is the best!

2. Boondock saints - I got excited because it was rated quite high in the indie movie circles. It is a good masala movie - the kind of action flick that i can watch without questioning it :). I think the direction/editing was the done nicely and the best performance comes from Willem Dafoe.

3. Baader Meinhoff Komplex - This last year foreign lang oscar nominee is based on RAF groups in Germany. One generation after the Hitler's generation, these college kids fight to stop Germany again become fascist nation. It is a story of RAF group, how they attacked, their motives and methods etc. All is done quite nicely but i can see why it lost in oscar race. It didnt fit the bill of being a foreign lang oscar winner. But still a good movie to watch.