Book Review - The Catcher in the Rye

“Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you." A well written book which focuses on two days in the life of a rebellious adolescent, Holden Caulfield.

Book Review - The Lowland

Lahiri, as always, writes with great restraint and poise. The story of Subhash Mitra, who grows up in Calcutta and ends up in Rhode Island offers the author a brilliant canvas to portray the ways of life. The descriptions of childhood in Calcutta trigger nostalgia while the melancholy is a reminder that we have grown up.

Book Review - The Brothers Karamazov

In The Brothers Karamazov, the author's last book before his death, he attempts to profile the nature of the human mind through the lives of the Karamazovs. The plot is set in one of the small towns of19th century Russia that is in the midst of an industrial and social revolution. Mitya, the eldest son, is shown to be a sensualist and a man of two extremes. Ivan, the second son is portrayed as an intellectual who seeks to alleviate suffering in the world. He is an atheist who believes that God was created by man and as an extension of this belief, claims that "anything is lawful". Alyosha, the third son, is shown as a young man with a pure heart and a spiritual bent of mind who fully believes in the power of God. Apart from the Karamazov brothers, the author also brings into the picture a multitude of other characters as he weaves his story around the murder of the father Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov. The depiction of the Russian society is exquisite as are the monologues and anecdotes used by some of the characters to express their ideas.

A Korean Sojourn

It is an icy cold evening in early 2014 and I have just arrived at the Incheon international airport in South Korea where I would be working on the KNOX 2.0 Security platform to be launched along with the Samsung Galaxy S5 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later in the year.

As I pick up my baggage and walk towards the bus station (they call them Airport Limousines), I can see bold signs proudly proclaiming that this airport has been rated as the best in the world for seven years in a row from 2005 - 2012 by the Airports Council International. I have to agree that it is one of the best in terms of efficiency, facilities and ease of travel. [Quick tip for people who transit through Incheon: The airport offers some free Transit tours which are an amazing way to experience the Korean culture].

I exchange my U.S Dollars for Korean Won and for the first time in life I see currency notes which read 50,000. Yes, the Korean Won's valuation vs the Dollar is very weak and 1 $ fetches you around 1000 Won. But in terms of the purchasing power, nothing changes much as the prices of most products are on par with US values. Cab fares are a notable exception though as they are metered at a rate which is much lower than US Cab rates.

Eager to look at the sights of this new country, I take a corner seat on the bus. It is already past sunset and the distant Seoul skyline is a maze of neon on skyscrapers of varying sizes. After a journey of about an hour, the bus has reached the Ramada Plaza Hotel at Suwon. I get my bags and check-in into what will be my home for the next two months.

The first week has been a very interesting experience. The Samsung Digital City at Suwon is the global headquarters of Samsung Electronics and has multiple skyscrapers housing the different divisions. After going through the check-in process and getting my Id Card, I am warmly welcomed by my Korean colleagues. I have met many of them when they had visited our office at Santa Clara and it felt great to meet them again.

I am assigned a cubicle on the 25th Floor along with the rest of my Korean team.

I notice a lot of interesting differences at work. A typical work day starts at 9:30. After a few hours of work, the lights dim indicating that its lunch time. Lunch from 12:00 - 12:30 is followed by a small siesta for half an hour. The lights come back on again by 1:00 and productive work goes on till 6:00. At 6:00, people file out for dinner and come back by 7. This is followed by about 2 hours of work and people usually leave for home around 9:30 pm.

On my first day at work, my colleagues take me to a Korean restaurant which is popular for its Tofu (since I'm vegetarian). I try Kimchi (spicy pickled vegetables) and Sundubu ( A vegetarian version of the popular stew in which Tofu is cooked in a pepper sauce). 

HWASEONG FORTRESS

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CITY

It has been a good if hectic first week at work. I get half a day off the first weekend and me and my colleague decide to go to the Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO World heritage site in Suwon. It is a huge wall surrounding central Suwon with multiple towers and gates built in the 18th Century. As we climb up the stone steps carved onto the hillock, we come across a small Buddha temple. We see a lot of lighted oil lamps and we light one as well. In Buddhist tradition, the lighting of the lamp represents "the light of wisdom illuminating the darkness of ignorance". Not very different from the Hindu tradition.

The Samsung cafeteria in the R5 building has a Asian food section which has Indian vegetarian food. I also explore the nearby area and find out that there are atleast three Indian restaurants on the road just outside the Samsung back gate. I become friends with the Madras-born owner of "Gandhi" Restaurant. But my favourite is the dhaba-style food at "Taste of India". There are also other Indian restaurants near Suwon Station and many others in Seoul and most of them are good. My Korean colleague takes me to a Buddhist speciality restaurant which caters exclusively to vegetarians. The buffet is a treat to the senses as most of the tastes here are uniquely Korean.

GYEONGBOKGUNG PALACE

The Seoul subway is very convenient. It connects most parts of the city and the price is very affordable. Me and my colleagues take the subway and go to the Gyeongbokgung Palace. This is the largest of all the palaces in Seoul and is situated right in the heart of Seoul. It is already past closing time when we reach. We take a walk around the palace, get some pictures and go to our next stop, the North Seoul Tower.

NORTH SEOUL TOWER

After moving our way up a winding queue, we get into the Namsan cable car. Each car can seat around 20 people and we can view Seoul below us as the Cable car makes its way up the slopes of Namsan towards the North Seoul Tower. The tower offers a 360 degree view of Seoul and is visible from many places in the city. We enjoy the view, get some Korean memorabilia and head back home.

VIVALDI SKI SLOPES

Being a country which sees no shortage of snow, Skiing is very popular in Korea. My colleague, a snowboarding enthusiast offers to take some of us to Vivaldi Park, a popular ski resort. We jump on the offer. The Ski Resort has buses which picks people up from different locations in and around the city and takes them to the resort. Once you get there, you get all the different gear and get onto the slopes. One thing to keep in mind is that the Skiing lessons are offered only in Korean. So, if you are trying Skiing the first time, it would be best to do it elsewhere.

One big surprise for me was getting to know that the written Korean script is actually very similar to Indian language scripts. There are vowels and consonants and they are placed together in blocks to create syllables. I was able to learn to read Korean in less than a day (but this will help only if English words are directly transcribed into the Korean script). For those of you interested, here is a link to Learn korean in 15 minutes. [As a sidenote, don't be surprised if you hear Tamil/Dravidian words like appa, amma, va, nan, onnu in Korea. The theory that there is any other close relationship between the languages has been largely dismissed by the scientific community though].

WAR MEMORIAL OF KOREA

The Gangnam style song has made me curious and I decide to head out to Gangnam district. The place is posh with swanky buildings and is often compared to Beverly Hills. Form Gangnam, I take the subway to Itaewon which is the centre for the Expat community in Korea. There are shops and restaurants from all over the world lined next to each other. The War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan is also close by. After visiting the War memorial, I go to the Namdaemun market which is the oldest and largest traditional market in Korea. 

CHEONGGYECHEON STREAM

As I walk to Seoul station to get back to Suwon, I see a large gathering near the Cheonggyecheon stream. It is a political rally and there is slogan shouting and speakers blaring all around the place. The stream itself is a must visit place. The stream flows below street level and there are steps which can be taken from the street to reach the stream. A walk along the stream is a wonderful experience!

The Winter Olympics is going on in Sochi, Russia and I can see that the entire Korean nation is in sorrow as its most famous star  Yuna Kim is robbed of her Gold Medal. Animation Films are hugely popular as well in Korea and I repeatedly kept hearing "Let it Go"  on Car Stereos. No wonder I was not surprised when, several weeks after I reached San Jose, I read an article  that Yuna Kim was figure skating for a version of "let it go" she recorded herself. Here is the link to the short figure skating video.

It has already been two months since I started from the US. Our team was highly successful in delivering all intended features without any major hiccup and now, it is time to cross the pacific and head back home to the United States. My colleagues in Korea have been very friendly and welcoming and I will miss them. Living in Korea was a unique experience and maybe I will visit again as a tourist sometime down the road.

In the Forest of Life

There was a glass which had a single drop of water in it.

The monkey, an 'optimist'[?], called the glass "partially filled" and when it was thirsty,  ended up having no water to drink.

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The hot sun was bearing down on the sands of Saharan Africa. The King of the forest had just had its full lunch and was having a leisurely stroll. It saw a deer stealthily making its way away from it. Their eyes met and the lion smiled. The lion and the deer went for a walk.

A week passed. The King had found it difficult to find a prey that week. As it started out from its den, it saw the same deer walking past. The deer came up to say a hello.

The lion was happy that evening. The past had affected current judgement, the prey had come that day without him having to work for it.

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An elephant and an ape lived in a forest. They became close friends and fell in love with each other. They decided to get married. The elephant wanted his marriage to take place in a beautiful rose garden which was located on the opposite bank of the river.

The elephant and the ape started crossing the river. The water flow in the river that season was very high and Midway through, the ape couldn't keep itself afloat and drowned and died. The Ape , though it knew its limitation that it was a poor swimmer didn't want to disappoint the elephant and was washed away with the current.

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There was a lush green forest on the banks of a river with delicious fruits hanging from its high branches. A tribe of monkeys were feasting themselves on the fruits. An elephant came along the way and looked longingly at the fruits. The monkeys were having a hearty laugh at the elephant's inability to reach the branches.

Suddenly, an earthquake occurred and the tree fell down trapping several monkeys under the branches. The elephant lifted the branches which had fallen on the monkeys and threw them away. And then, it went on its way.

The eyes of the monkeys were filled with tears.

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A kettle of hawks were living on a hilltop. A hunter came there everyday trying to capture them. He would spread his net in the morning and go away on his work. The greedy hawks went everyday to eat the prey and used to get caught. But, on the same hill, also lived a mouse which was fond of nibbling at nets. The mouse would tear the nets everyday and the hawks would fly away and the hunter, not knowing what happened , would get frustrated and repeat the same procedure the next day.

One fine day, one of the hawks, killed and ate the mouse. That day, following usual procedure the hawks got caught in the hunter's net. But there was no mouse to free them now. The happy hunter took them all away.

Vita

Naples, Italy, 1994

Alessio Bertucci was lying on his bed trying to make sense of why this was all happening to him.

His thoughts wandered to his childhood days. From the start, he had had a rough life. His father, Signor Bertucci,  then an upcoming businessman, had ditched his mother even before he was born, and thus he had entered this world as an unwanted bastard.

His mother did petty jobs to sustain both of them but it meant that he had to be content living in a dingy rented place for most of his childhood. He had loved school. Meeting new students and teachers had fascinated him. And he had been labelled exceptionally brilliant by his teachers at the local high school. Just as he thought that his life was heading somewhere, his mother had suffered a massive heart attack and passed away a few months later.

With no one left to take care of him, at the age of 12, he had entered the construction business, as a worker at an Asbestos factory nearby. Having neither kith nor kin turned out to be an advantage. While the rest of the workers would leave the factory by 5, he would work for long hours till his body could take it no more. It didn't go unnoticed. The engineer who was handling the site made him a regular and he soon moved to a much bigger factory near the Senese Clavey Hills.

For 20 years he had worked there , and though he gave his best, he hadn't saved much. He had a love for the Chianti red wine , homemade from the finest Sangiovese grape. Every Friday evening, he would leave early and settle down with his bottle of red wine and enter a world of his own.

After those 20 long years, a time came when the factory was no longer profitable. Asbestos was being banned throught the world and in Europe in particular, the laws had become very stringent. So the owner had decided to close the factory.

With no formal education and no experience in anything except the Asbestos industry, he was at a loss on what to do next. He took the first bus which came to the bus stop.

That was how, on a bright sunny morning, he found himself at Naples. He was charmed by what he saw. There were ancient churches, castles, palaces, piazzas and museums each with its own architecture and history which left him spellbound. He did not know that he was at the cradle of civilization where the Greek had merged with the Roman, the Normans had shared the throne with the Iberians and the Bourbons. It had been at the forefront of Renaissance as well as a stronghold of Mussolini. With its rich and diverse history, culture and its natural beauty, Naples enthralled him. He felt that the shut down of the factory had indeed been a blessing in disguise.

He now wanted to live. He wanted to make up for the years he had wasted. And as if, in  full fledged agreement of Coelho's words, when he wanted something, all the universe seemed to conspire in helping him achieve. He had run into the engineer who had given him a job 20 years ago and the engineer was happy to give him a job in one of his new construction projects.

Alessio had shown a keen interest in the various architectural styles and spent many an evening in deep conversation with the designers on how to implement the designs.

It was in the August of 1988 that he first saw her. He had come to attend an art festival at the Museo di Capodimonte, which contained one of the world's best collection of art pieces. The festival also featured an Art exhibit by amateur artists. One painting immediately drew his attention.

It was a finely crafted piece with the Senese Clavey Hills in the background, and a shirtless worker working in a factory on its foothills while sipping a bottle of red wine. He bought the piece. For three times its original price.

It was signed Gianna. He loved the name. The lady was thanking him profusely for being her first customer. He hardly heard anything. The radiant face, the soft brown eyes, the full bosom, the slender waist, the flowery skirt, the fruity perfume made her look almost divine. He went off, without speaking a word. Alessio & Gianna. Seemed like a match made in heaven.

He came back the next day. All her paintings were portrayals of reality which transformed the existing into the exalted. He bought more of them. He spoke to her that day. She had just graduated from Art School and was trying to make it big as an artist. He asked her out.

She encouraged him to take his interest in Architecture to the next level.  She listened to his stories about his childhood. She told him about the history of Naples. She bought a fashionable coat for him. She showed him the choicest of restaurants. She laughed like a child. She smiled like a woman.

To celebrate the 1000 year anniversary of the entry of Normans into Naples, the council had voted to construct a magnificent monument which would be opened during Maggio dei Monumenti. There was a contest to choose the design for the structure  and all the city's famous architects considered winning it as a matter of pride. She egged him to submit his design. He laughed it off. She prevailed over him. He wanted to design something which paid tribute to the legacy of the Normans while being in sync with the rest of the architecture in the city. He submitted his design through one of his friends, Signor Cavallo, who was an architect.

The results were announced. Alessio's design had won. He was surprised. Everyone was surprised. She was happy.

Signor Cavallo approached him saying that if Alessio would take care of designing in detail, he would take care of the other procedures required  for registering a company, hiring workers, managing the flow of funds. Alessio accepted. And they started the project.

He was on a holiday in Venice. With her. At the home of the world famous Venetian paintings, at the birthplace of symphony, at the city of waterways, in a gondola under a starlit sky, they exchanged rings.

The project was going along well. It was almost half a decade since he had met her. She told him that she was expecting a baby. He was thrilled.

Gianna had to go to Rome to attend a family function. He had his work and couldn't accompany her. He bid goodbye and continued watching as her bus disappeared into the distance.

The next morning he received communication from the Polizia di Stato saying that the bus in which his wife was travelling had met with a freak accident and had fallen off the mountainside into the valley.

He refused to meet anyone. He asked Signor Cavallo to take care of the project and shut himself in his room. He stayed there for days. Days became weeks, weeks became months.

It was 1994. Six months had passed since the accident and he went to his office to discuss the progress of the project as it was due in a couple of months. To his surprise, he saw that the signboard outside no more mentioned his name. It bore only the name of Signor Cavallo. He tried to go in but was stopped by the security guards who refused to let him in. He later got to know that Cavallo had transferred the ownership to himself with approval from the trustees.

He walked back home. He looked at his face in the mirror. He looked weary and sick. He coughed and spat out blood. The coughing went from bad to worse over the next few months.

Finally, he visited a doctor. He was diagnosed with a terminal case of lung cancer. 20 years of working with Asbestos had shown its effect. The doctor gave him only a few more months.

He got up and walked to the front gate. He saw a craggy unkempt man who looked very similar to him walking past. A dog was barking at him. The man was looking nervously at the dog. He started to run. The dog bounded after him. As the dog's teeth were almost on the man's flesh, there was a blood curdling scream.

Alessio woke up with perspiration all over his body. Gianna had also woken up. She was asking him what had happened. God, it had been an extremely scary dream. He hugged her tight and went back to sleep.

The next week Gianna went into labour. He took her to the hospital and waited anxiously. Leonardo had come into this world.

The time for the  Maggio dei Monumenti had come. The monument was ready to be unveiled. Alessio and Cavallo were sitting on the dias sharing the same stage with the most prominent architects of the era and with luminaries from all over the world.

The monument received rave reviews and Alessio & Cavallo were offered several prominent projects. Alessio decided that it was time to explore hitherto unseen lands. He accepted an offer from the royal family of Spain to design a monument which would pay tribute to the empire of Aragon.

Alessio took Gianna to her favourite restaurant in Naples one last time. The next day they would set sail to Barcelona on a cruise ship. It shall be a new beginning.

The craggy unkempt man regained consciousness as the dog's sharp teeth sunk into his flesh. He started running and fell face forward on the road. He dragged himself up, picked up a rock and continued running.

The next morning, the body was lying in a pool of blood.

Alessio and Gianna in a gondola at Venice

The Monk

On a solitary rock

At the point where the three great waters met

A strange man was seen

Clad in ochre robes

Eyes closed and legs crossed, there he was

In deep thought

About the past

And the future

The giant waves started

From the middle of the sea

And came dancing to the shore

They kept pounding on the rocks

Hour after hour

And have been doing so

Since time eternal

And shall keep going on

Long after this body is gone

The sun has risen

It gives its warmth

On its turn

Each drop of water

Shallrise to the sky

And becomes a part

Of the silver clouds

Only to come back as rain

To its origin

The Monk got up

And went on his way.

The Old Man and the Winter

I remember the time when August came along

Bringing with it bright sunshine and a cozy warmth

But as days went by, I saw clouds gathering in the sky

Fall started and my leaves turned a golden hue

People find it beautiful to see

But only I know how hard it can be

The children cheered when the snow arrived

But it pushes me into further gloom

I stand naked exposed to the icy cold life

Bearing it all alone

Staring at the vacant lifeless buildings

I can't wait for my Spring to start

And to blossom with cheer and joy

P.S: Penned long back during my first winter in the USA