Perpetually confused: Art bond

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Art bond

As Bharti started sketching the portrait of Majboor Saab for the condolence meet organized by Praznath I was glued to a chair next to her. Unfortunately all I could provide her as a point of reference was a picture downloaded on my phone which I had transferred to hers..thanks to blue tooth.. Line drawing was all I had asked her to do as there was hardly any time.I sat there studying her every move, my eyes were eagerly following her pencil which glided so easily and deftly on the paper. Ah how tempted I felt to pick up a pencil myself…Seeing an artist at work is one of the greatest pleasures .and seeing the end product right after two hours is nothing short of a miracle. I could see the simple line drawing gradually dev

eloping into familiar features of the dear departed poet scholar …The moment I could identify the portrait I was elated and could not thank her enough for such a beautiful experience. Soon she started playing with light and shade which automatically lend character to the well executed portrait. In between she would sit back and study the image on her paper and then cast a look at the small image flashed on the screen of her cell phone…I just sat there chatting with her quite casually but all the time I couldn’t help wondering how Majboor Saab would have reacted to this work of art executed in complete spirit of enthusiasm and dedication.

Bharti giving finishing touches...

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Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

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Hard Times by Charles Dickens

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The First Man by Albert Camus

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Letter to D by Andre Gorz

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My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Snow by Orhan Pamuk

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Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac

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The Outsider: by Albert Camus

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The Name of the Rose: by Umberto Eco

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The moon and six pence: by W. Somerset Maugham

Zorba the Greek By Nikos Kazantzakis, trans by Carl Wildman

Istanbul, Memories of a city by Orhan Pamuk, trans by Maureen Freely

Though I am not very fond of memoirs and autobiographical works which usually border on narcissism I just loved this work.Apart from being a personal memoir it paints the beautiful and sad city of Istanbul,torn between westernization and tradition in front of your eyes..thanks to the love and understanding of visual arts of the author. Rather than becoming a lamentation or nostalgic rambling it holds on its own by alluding constantly to history,arthistory, literature and current events. In short a beautiful read by an artistic story teller.

A Doll's house and Oher Plays by Henrik Ibsen trans by Peter Watts

These three plays talk about Ibsen’s(heralded as the father of modern drama) literary brilliance ,modern sensibilities and his ability to twist and turn the plots in the most ingenious manner. ‘A Doll's House’ the most famous of his works is about Nora, a sensitive woman caught in a role of a dumb and frivolous housewife to please her overbearing husband. ‘The Lady from the sea’ is about a woman who craves for freedom of choice to make her decisions. ‘The League of Youth’ talks about the absurdity of having high political ambitions sans enough cunning to identify the truth

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky trans by Constance Garnett

The picture of Dorain Gray by Oscar Wilde

Rereading ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ after a long period reminds me of fascination I felt on reading it for the first time..your character is reflected on your face and your face is the mirror reflecting your deeds…your sins are explicitly seen as they leave indelible marks on your face…but Dorian's face inspite of commiting heinous crimes remains pure and handsome and he keeps fooling people by his innocent looks and it is his picture painted in the prime of his youth which bears the brunt of his evil deeds and almost represents a monster..

The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ though published some years back continues to be read and pondered upon for its philosophical speculations on post World war II anxieties in Eastern Europe. The book though a work of fiction underlines the absurdities of life and gives us a clear cut glimpse in the life of the author himself. What is extremely fascinating about Kundera is his belief that a person can write only about himself, hence making all his books his different autobiographies
to read a short review log on to http://www.artconcerns.net/2007May/html/bookReview_milanKundera.htm

Dom Casmurro by J M Machado de Assis trans by John Gledson

I have never read anything as charming as this book. Written in such lighthearted vein yet so well articulated and presented. Though it’s a translation I read but the essential charm has been very well maintained and no where the actual idea or the thought is compromised.A simple work set in a town in Brazil with hardly any big words or big events. The author manages to floor the reader by simple and mundane events treated in a beautiful manner. The average chapter consists of just one page and the narrative style is so communicative that you almost feel the presence of the author..right there ..whispering the story in your ears…the sudden turn of events in the last part of the book though comes as a surprise adds to the entire charm…a must and refreshing read for those who are fed up of reading repeated stuff on identity crisis, religious politics and caste wars

The Enchantress of Florence

Recently read this wonderful book by The Story Teller of our time..Salman Rushdie. The book is about a part ficticious daring woman of the Moghul family who dares to defy her so called destiny for a totally unknown world. The parallel drawn between the Moghul court and the Florentine one is simply marverlous and speaks of the terrific understanding of history and intrigues of these courts. I for one enjoyed reading about Medicis and 'il machias'

His sense of humor is simply fabulous..here is one of my favorite sentences,

"We are the Emperor of India, Bhakti Ram Jain
but we can't write our own damn name"

Polo Khoresh: A collection of persian short stories by Hoshang Moradi Kermani

When i saw this book for the first time i thought its a cookery book as both the title and coverpage picture suggest. Hence didn't bother to give it a second look. I was surprised when the stall owner looking at the books i had selected picked this book and asked me to definitely buy it.
And he wasn't wrong. Stories narrated here are simple but yet so profound..many a times open ended too..leaving lot of scope for interpretation. The subtle sense of humour and sensitive handling of the emotions is refreshingly fresh. Though i love all the stories 'thokhm-e-morgh' tends to remain my favorite...will surely look for more stuff by the author

One Hundred Years of Solitude........last line

"....Before reaching the final line, however, he had already understood that he would never leave that room, for it was foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchmemts, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second oppurtunity on earth." IF THE TRANSLATION HAS SUCH AN IMPACT WONDER HOW IT WOULD FEEL TO READ THE ORIGINAL