eat pray love

its been 15 months in the US and i am on my first bout of free time.. you are going to see more of me in the next month guys..

i have been reading this book "eat pray love": thats right.. no punctuation marks.. if you know me, you already know this fact about me, if not i will tell you: I start a book with the last 2 pages.. even thrillers and the best suspense novels.. this is because firstly, I like to know that I am reading a good book, which can stand its ground despite the broken suspense, and secondly, I am far too curious to last a few hundred pages without knowing what its all about (again you should know me to believe this fact)..

anyways, this book is about an american woman who seems to have everything you would want in life, a husband, a home and a career.. but dumps it all, goes through a messy divorce and spends 4 months each in italy to eat, in india in an ashram to pray and to indonesia where she finds balance and love..

the last 4 pages was not very different from what i expected from what little i knew of american ideologies.. she finds a brazilian lover in indonesia and decides to spend the foreseeable future between america, brazil and indonesia.. the kind of life only a successful american author can afford to live.. i started with the first few chapters - there was a lot about meditation and hindu philosophies in the book, given that two thirds of the book happens on hindu soil - india and bali (the only hindu island of indonesia)

i decided it was crap and packed it.. and then i came to my in-laws' place armed with only this one unread book.. and now i had no choice but to read it.. (i know you will not sympathize with me if if you do not have in-laws yet) irrespective of its esteem in my mind.. and i started with, yes, you are right, the portion on "love": after all that praise of italian pasta and charm (which i think are both way too cheesy having been to italy myself) and talk about meditating in ashrams (which i have experienced first hand and didn't want to read about)

now bali sounds like a beautiful place and one thing that this book is thoroughly convincing about is the fact that you should visit bali at least once... anyway, this portion is a lot about philosophy of life and love and broken hearts.. (which i like, its always interesting to see how everyone reinvents the wheel for themselves, what a mockery this life is!) and she talks about marrying at 24 and making wrong decisions and all i feel is, my god this is scary.. armed with an independent will and the means to do what you want, where is the incentive to make the compromises necessary to live a life with anyone? and how does the kind of end she describes for herself resemble stability? how is this different from the marriage she had.. or is life about calling your past a stupid mistake of youth and starting anew as soon as mid-life crisis hits you?

the more i see the opposite ends of the spectrum - thanks to dividing my time between bihar and california.. the more i see the pattern.. of poverty breeding nothing but more poverty, hopelessness and frustration.. and the rich needing more and more to remain satisfied.. there is no bridging this gap.. no, not in "eat pray love".. but still i like this book, because it reminds me that i need to do something larger.. for this world, against poverty and pollution.. i sincerely hope that god gives me the energy and the tools necessary to make this positive change in this world.. like a mahatma gandhi or a mother teresa.. see even my name starts with an "m" ;-)

amen..

hi.. again..

i tried being anonymous.. i changed the blog name and tried writing anonymously.. in vain.. did not write a single post.. which knowing me, I should have guessed.. not because i yearn recognition (although a little of that doesn't hurt), but because i need to find meaning in what i do, and create impact (of some form) to people close to me.. and there is no way of doing that anonymously.. given the zillion blogs floating around the web, mine will probably be lost forever..

while i am going to start writing again in my old blog, i have decided to make one change.. and that is probably the impact of the country i am living in.. it will only have positive things.. well, my old friends, if this is not what you were looking for, I am sorry..

right now, I am planning a long trip to india.. while i so wish i was not cliched in my life, i so despicably am.. i have bought all sorts of gifts for so many people.. which is so unusual for me.. in my life i have seldom gotten gifts, blame it on my june birthday, or the fact that i lived far away from relatives or the tam culture.. so i never did cultivate the habit of giving gifts.. but here, i am forcing myself, because i know that my relatives are all so in awe of things from the US, that I should at least take something to satisfy their curiosity..

anyways, i am looking forward to the cultural homecoming aspect of going to india, its been exactl 15 months since i last set foot in india, and so many things seems to have happened in the meantime.. including a ton of my friends getting married.. its like, everyday spent in the US, I have missed one marriage.. including one of my best friends on dec 3rd and another on dec 4th.. :-(

all my dreams of wearing rich silk saris and matching jewelry has crashed.. but i look forward to setting foot on indian soil and smelling the polluted, sweat filled and none the less, oh-so-homelike air of india.. aahhhh... can't wait!!

india, i am coming home...