Reflections

The Tenth Avatar is yet another book in the series of books by various authors on the topic of our ancient literature and history. Good part is that each book based on these themes is different, and is not a copy or inspired or similar to the others. That speaks volumes for the imagination of the authors; credit where credit is due. This book is also, like the others, unlike any other, and is a superb piece of imaginative and interesting writing worth a one-time read. Rated 3, maybe 3.5 stars. THE RAMAYAN PART OF THE BOOK The book tells two stories – one, the story in the modern day; the other is a retelling of the Ramayan. This retelling is an interpretation of the author; there is a lot of re-interpretation of the classical tale in a form that is, well, post-modern, trying to give a scientifically palatable or acceptable interpretation of the events that took place. This part I have not rated; Ramayan is too old, too ancient and too important a historical event to be e...

Rare is the book that causes a sea-change in opinion or perspective; this book – Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth, by Audrey Truschke, is one in that category. A book that quite successfully challenges, at least in my case, a strongly held opinion, and overturns it through sheer dint of a strong, logical, data-and-fact backed series of arguments that is also intuitively accurate when put into the larger picture of the era under question. The inconsistencies that are contained in the modern impression of the man Aurangzeb, that should have been apparent to me, came to the fore in the hitherto-understood picture of the man Aurangzeb. THE BOOK I would rather you read this for yourself; no description in one or two paragraphs can do justice to this masterpiece of a historical paper. In a nutshell, this is a factual, no-holds-barred examination of Aurangzeb, the historical figure. His life has been examined in a scholarly paper based on hard period evidence, and the popular im...

जगायच्या उठापटक मध्ये आपण सर्वस्व विसरतो ... हे मी आधी सुद्धा अपल्या लेखन मध्ये जाहीर केलेलं आहे . अपल्या मेल्या नंतर सगळं इथेच राहतं हे तर नक्कीच , ह्यात काहीच वाद नाही . तरी पण अपण आपलं सर्व जीवन अश्या मृगतृष्णा माघे पळत राहतो , हे पण अपण माझ्या लेखनात वाचलं . शक्य आहे कि इतर कुणाच्या लेखात सुद्धा तुम्ही वाचलं असेल . मी काही जगा वेगळा नाही . दुःखाची गोष्ट अशी कि हे माहित असल्या नंतरही अपण त्याच मृगतृष्णा माघे पळत पळत जीवन व्यर्थ करतो - विना काहींविचार करता .   आपापले कर्म काय आहे , चांगले के वाईट ह्याचा विचारही नाही येत आपल्या मनात किंव्हा डोक्यात . विचार जरी आला तरीपण त्या विचारांकडे दुर्लक्ष   करणं तर आपलं उत्कृष्ट स्किल आहेच . पैश्या पायी अपण काय काय कर्म करतो - ह्याची जाणीव सगळ्यांना आहेच . तुमच्याहून चूक नसेल झाली , पण इतर लोकं काय प्रपंच करतात पैश्या च्या होड मध्ये ह्याबद्दल मला सविस्तर सान्गायची गरज खरतर नाही . हे सर्वविधीत आहे , उघ...