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Published in 2021, Orienting with its qualifier sub-title An Indian in Japan is a book about just that - an Indian orienting herself to life in Japan. The author, Pallavi Aiyar is a journalist who has reported for The Hindu and Business Standard from China, Indonesia and parts of Europe. Writing books documenting her years in some of these countries is part of her repertoire, with several books to her name. Orienting opens with Aiyar and family touching down in Tokyo in the summer of 2016. Her husband, Julio is a diplomat with the European Union and that entails moving from one country to another every few years. Orienting is divided into ten chapters, each dealing with an element of the Japanese experience. For an average Nipponophile like myself (my fascination is mostly cultural), anecdotes about lost umbrellas and tiffin-boxes that are almost always located and returned, the intoxicating fervour of the sakura-viewing season and the technological marvel that the Japanese call a toilet fit right into my idea of what Japan, with its sushi-dispensing vending machines and kintsugi philosophy, is all about. And before you roll your eyes at my inordinate praise of Japanese toilets, read this, “Manufacturer Matsushita’s “smart toilet” took urine and stool analysis, and could check the user’s blood pressure, temperature and blood sugar while at it. One of its models was even equipped with electrodes… yielding a digital measurement of body-fat ratio.” Now that we’ve established that I don’t use the phrase ‘technological marvel’ loosely, let’s move on! One of my favourite chapters was about the concepts of kintsugi and wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi refers to seeing and accepting the beauty in impermanence and imperfection like cherishing an old and slightly wonky coffee mug. Kintsugi, I suppose, grows out of wabi-sabi. Literally, ‘kin’ means ‘gold’ while ‘tsugi’ refers to ‘join’. Hence, kintsugi is the art of joining broken things with gold, making broken artifacts more precious in the bargain. It’s the kind of minimalist metaphor that makes one fall in love with Japanese thought. And the author is quite effusive in her enthusiasm. Aiyar doesn’t shy away from highlighting her own failings especially in the area of her long and not-so-successful attempt at learning Japanese. The humour with which she talks about it is disarming and makes her struggle immediately relatable. She writes, “In Chinese, ‘thanks’ was ‘xie xie’, end of matter. In Japanese, there was ‘arigatou’ – informal, ‘arigatou gosaimasu’ – proper form, ‘domo arigatou gosaimasu’ seriously thankful, and ‘domo sumimasen arigatou gosaimasu’ – weak-in-the-knees-with-gratitude-thankful. Then I came across, ‘yoroshiku onegaishimasu’. ‘What does that mean?’ I asked my teacher. ‘It means, thank you,’ she replied. Basically, it was possible to learn Japanese for a whole month and only end up being able to say thank you.” Her frustration is relatable, hilarious and practically leaps off the page. I suppose fluency in Japanese requires shokunin (the relentless pursuit of perfection through the honing of a single craft). Reading about the Japanese idea of striving for perfection in Orienting reminded me of something I read in Arsene Wenger’s biography My Life in Red and White. Wenger wrote that in his time managing the Japanese team, Nagoya Grampus, he had to hide the balls to stop the players from practicising too much, so intense was their desire to improve. I would’ve been charmed by this book just for all the stuff I’ve mentioned but it is made all the more memorable for highlighting the foibles of Japanese culture including their oppressive working hours, political apathy and xenophobia. Whether the xenophobia stems from their reluctance or inability to speak English, their horror at foreigners not following the etiquette required in almost every aspect of life in Japan from separating garbage to eating at a restaurant to warm spring bathing, or just plain old racism is open to interpretation. Orienting also shows us that the fabled Japanese homogeneity is just that – a fable they tell themselves and the whole world. Communities like the Zainichi (of Korean origin) and the Burakumin are proof of that. Apart from this, Orienting - An Indian in Japan taught me that much of what I admired about Japan was originally Chinese from the practice of Zen to the Japanese writing system, ceramics, paper and literary influences. To their credit, the Japanese have added their own spin to it – either by elevating the rustic as in the case of wabi sabi or polishing it to a level of such sophistication that can exclude those not as well-versed in it. A case in point would be the famed Japanese tea ceremony. It has a whole plethora of rules that may seem incidental to the casual viewer. But here’s a tip. Nothing is incidental in chado – the way of the tea. From the manner of serving the tea, to holding the bowl properly, casual allusions to literary classics and season-appropriate poetry to having enough knowledge of ceramics to be able to comment with authority on the texture and quality of the utensils are all intrinsic to the ceremony. I suppose it goes without saying that it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. However, the great tea masters dismiss the idea that the ceremony is about anything more than drinking tea. Aiyar reflects on this with a quote by French art critic, Georges Duthuit’s observation on Zen-inspired painting: “Draw bamboos for ten years, become a bamboo and then forget all about bamboo when painting.” In the same way, I’m convinced that talk of tea simply being tea is just talk. But it charmed me, nevertheless. Aiyar writes with the clarity and specificity of a journalist and the whimsy and humour of a novelist making this part memoir, part travel literature and partly, a collection of essays immensely readable. In my opinion, someone who casts two cats as protagonists, as Aiyar did in her book, Chinese Whiskers: The Adventures of Soyabean and Tofu, is certainly a voice worth listening to. In conclusion, I would most certainly recommend Orienting: An Indian in Japan to anyone who wants to know more about Japan or simply wants an answer to how Japan is so clean without any trashcans in sight. As for me, I look forward to her next book about her time in her husband’s home country, Spain, where she and her family moved in mid-2020.

Women of Power is a book about the roles and contributions of the women of two civilizations – India and Greece. It speaks of women, the roles they've played and the achievements they've made despite many limitations over the centuries. They have sometimes been mentioned in recorded history but glossed over, most of the time. Divided into chapters each dealing with a different aspect of women’s lives in both countries, Women of Power attempts a holistic look at their contributions. The Women’s Movement and the fight for freedom, the archetypes of women in mythology, women warriors, spiritual leaders, women in business, and women in power and politics are a few spheres this book delves into. Given how ancient both the Greek and Indian civilizations are, a book that explores the common threads running through them is immediately an interesting idea, in my opinion. Though I was surprised by the lack of even a passing mention of the ancient links between Greece and India, be it Alexander’s campaign into the Indian sub-continent or Chandragupta Maurya’s alliance with Seleucus I. Perhaps, Prof Sucheta Priyabadini and Dr Lopamudra Priyadarshini, both scholars, wanted to keep the focus solely on women. I was especially interested in the chapters about Indian and Greek mythology given their similarities as ancient, polytheistic cultures with rich traditions of storytelling. Illustrating the parallels between Durga and Athena, the goddesses of courage and strategy, the authors weave in the tale of Goddess Durga’s victory over the unstoppable demon, Mahishasura who was fortified by a boon that he would never be vanquished by God or man. There is also a story about her Greek counterpart, Athena who taught an arrogant human weaver called Arachne, a lesson in humility before transforming her into a spider. I suppose, that how spiders got their scientific nomenclature, arachnids! The chapter about how the fight for women’s education and liberation in India was waged alongside the war for independence from British rule is sprinkled with names of women who were absolute trailblazers of their time, such as Kadambini Basu and Chandramukhi Basu from Calcutta University who were the first female graduates of the British empire in 1883. This, at a time, when the British empire spanned the globe. Most readers may not be aware (I certainly wasn’t) of Saraladevi Chaudhurani, a feminist, nationalist and social reformer who founded the Bharat Stree Mahamandal (Great Group of Indian Women) in 1910. She sounds like a remarkable woman who called a spade a spade in an era when women were mostly silent spectators even in matters that affected them directly. Also finding mention are the fierce battles waged by the fearless Indian queens Rani Channamma of Kittur and Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. On the Greek side, Laskarina Bouboulina, the fearless naval commander during the Greek War of Independence shares space with pioneers like Kalliroi Parren who founded the Ladies’ Journal to amplify women’s voices and the call for reforms. Even as I admit that Women of Power has widened greatly my knowledge of Greek women’s achievements in many spheres, past and present, I do wish the authors had chosen a narrower field and dug a bit deeper. And perhaps written two books instead of one. Additionally, there are a few chapters where the authors fall into the trap of history textbooks where many people are mentioned in quick succession, with a few paragraphs listing their achievements, without placing them within a context or making the stories relatable or memorable with the aid of anecdotes. That said, there is one part in Women of Power that deserves a special mention because it leaves the reader with a message about the importance of community, shared learning and hope for the future. The authors introduce us to the young women of today – Arushi, a Indian software engineer passionate about the power of education to transform lives; and Eleni, a Greek archaeologist who inspires modern women, to reclaim their voices and challenge society’s boundaries, through stories of Greek goddesses who defied norms. Arushi and Eleni met online during a global women’s summit and ended up creating a cross-cultural mentorship initiative, 'Daughters of Hera and Saraswati'. They seek to empower women from India and Greece and bridge their geographical distance with the ties of international sisterhood. “The program paired young women from India and Greece, fostering both personal and professional growth. Greek participants taught art forms like pottery and storytelling, while Indian participants shared their expertise in coding and entrepreneurship… The ripple effects were profound. A young Indian girl named Meera, who joined the mentorship program, learned storytelling techniques from her Greek counterpart, Sophia. Meera used her newfound skills to advocate for gender equality in her village, crafting narratives that resonated with her community. Sophia, on the other hand, was inspired by Meera’s coding lessons to develop an app highlighting local women artisans in Greece.” A famous Chinese proverb states that women hold up half the sky and yet many of them have remained anonymous for far too long. Books like Women in Power are a step in the direction of giving credit where it is long due.

You know it’s a rare day when you come across a page-turner about economics written by an economist-turned-politician. In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know that I enjoy books that get clubbed under the genre of economics made fun or pop economics whether it’s Freakonomics and its ‘super’ sibling, Malcolm Gladwell’s bestsellers like Blink and The Outliers or Thomas L Friedman’s more intensive The World is Flat and That used to be Us. Try not to hold this against me! I like what they set out to do – to answer questions about our world. Some of which are related to money while others are about power and access. But more than the answers, what fascinates me are the questions the writers ask and the varied paths they take to arrive at the answers. Yanis Varoufakis poses one such question – Why did the British invade Australia instead of the Aboriginals landing up in London? His answer takes us back 12,000 years to the ‘invention’ of agriculture. Could it be that the seeds of colonialism were strewn by humans starving in parts of Europe and Asia due to a scarcity of food? Many millennia later, the surplus of food that comes from the growing of grain created a ruling class, clergy and ships amongst other things. All of this and a compass made in China gave us global trade. Compare this to the Aboriginals Down Under. A relatively small population with exclusive access to the plentiful flora and fauna of an entire continent meant that they never ran short and so, didn’t need to grow their own food. As a result, they stuck to painting and music in their free time. Varoufakis uses this and many other examples from the long arc of human history to illustrate how necessity is the mother of invention and ultimately, an engine for growth. Originally written in Varoufakis’ native Greek in 2013, Talking to My Daughter About the Economy was translated into English in 2017. Writing as he does with his young daughter in mind, he sets out to explain how market economies or capitalism came to be, why there is so much financial inequality in the world, the inseverable links between debt and profit, how labour and money markets work in counter-intuitive ways and why bankers exist. All good questions, in my opinion. However, these are also questions that could have sleep-inducing answers. I wouldn’t blame you for imagining the horrors of a PowerPoint presentation but stay with me. This is different. Fortunately for me and anyone else who takes on this book, Varoufakis makes his points in simple language using real-life examples with not a bar graph or pie chart in sight. I especially revelled in his obvious fondness for story-telling ­­-- dipping into Greek mythology with tales of Icarus and Oedipus sprinkled in along with references to literary classics like Frankenstein and Doctor Faustus to illustrate the pitfalls of unbridled technology and to explain how usury went from being a sin to an integral part of everyday life. Cult classics like The Matrix, Blade Runner and Star Trek make a cameo too, reflecting the conscious and subliminal concerns of people like us, living in an age of increasing mechanization and commercialisation. Varoufakis delves into how the last few centuries witnessed the transformation of 'societies with markets' into market societies. And how, for the most part, exchange value has trumped experiential value in the race that is capitalism. When you think about it, this change touches all aspects of our lives - from what we choose to study, how much time we have to indulge in our hobbies to where we live. For all its positives, I do have one grouse. I’m afraid Talking to My Daughter about the Economy tends to be Euro-centric and some of its deductions too generalised to withstand the test of varied examples. For instance, if surplus is considered a fundamental sign of an economy, then I can understand why the natives of Australia and the indigenous communities in South America didn’t have the means to colonise other countries. What doesn’t sync, however, is why a country like India, with its flourishing trade-links and an economy that amounted to about a quarter of the world’s GDP in the 1700s, never ventured out to Europe, the Americas or Africa? Setting aside my minor quibbles about how a 200-page book doesn’t take into account all of world history, I would concede that it still does a good job of what I suppose, was its primary aim – to make economics interesting and more accessible. After all, here is an economist stating that economists are ‘almost always wrong’ and exhorting the rest of us to take the reins of these matters into our own hands and make better choices. All in all, if you’re someone who thinks that economics is too dull to bother with, replete with jargon and best left to those who care about these things, Talking to My Daughter about the Economy is the book for you. It feels like a boisterous and engaging class discussion with Varoufakis being the kind of teacher everyone wishes they had.

Have you ever broken into a sweat at the thought of attending a meeting or even going to work, reached for a bottle of water with trembling hands and experienced an acute feeling of isolation and loneliness? Or just been enveloped in a cloud of dread that sucks the joy out of any situation, infusing it with the drab colours of pessimism? You could be suffering from anxiety or the effects of exposure to long term stress. Anxiety changes you in ways that you didn’t imagine possible or logical. And everything feels tougher to deal with. But I’m not here to tell you how it feels or how to deal with it because frankly, I don’t have the requisite knowledge or expertise. I just want to talk about anxiety, why it exists and how it impacts us. THE PURPOSE OF ANXIETY What is the purpose of anxiety? To answer that, you’ll need to reach back into our evolution as creatures on this planet. Stress and anxiety were essential to our survival. Imagine an ancestor from long ago, when early humans still roamed the land in search of sustenance. Let’s say we’ve travelled back to thirteen thousand years ago when Homo Sapiens were still hunters and gatherers. Now imagine, the said ancestor falling asleep under the stars. It’s a cool evening with a gentle breeze sweeping across, the sound of distant crickets acts as a lullaby. A twig snaps and dry leaves rustle, rousing your ancestor. She spots some movement in the shadows. Here’s my guess, she ran away as fast as she could from the scene of danger, real or imagined. After all, you’re here, aren’t you? You wouldn’t be, if she hadn’t run. And not just once, but every time. Better to run from a moving shadow once too often than be eaten by a predator just the one time. The stakes, you see, couldn’t have been higher. Therefore, it is obvious that stress and its consequent fight or flight response have been a boon, evolutionarily. It’s kept us worried enough to stay alive. WE AREN’T ALONE Human beings aren’t the only animals that suffer bouts of stress. Most animals do, whether it’s the chimpanzees, sparrows, or zebras. Who knows, maybe even touch-me-nots are anxious little things! Why else do they shrink from contact? Setting aside my lame plant jokes, let’s return to zebras. Robert Sapolsky, a biologist at Stanford asked an important question - why do zebras not get ulcers? His book, in a coup of book titles, is called Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. After all, zebras have their share of stress. They need to look for food and water while trying to not get eaten by a lion also looking for food. Why then, do zebras not suffer from anxiety as we do? Sapolsky states, “Zebras and lions may see trouble coming in the next minute and mobilise a stress response in anticipation, but they can’t get stressed about events far into the future.” The point Robert Sapolsky makes is that zebras don’t get ulcers from the anxiety of getting eaten because they don’t anticipate stress like humans do. The anxiety caused by a stressful event in the present is bad enough, but the anticipation and trepidation of stressful situations in the future make it much worse. Zebras, unlike humans, don’t suffer from this. DIFFERENT STAKES, SAME RESPONSE Another complication is that the biological responses of human beings haven’t evolved that much in the last 12,000 years even though our circumstances have changed dramatically compared to, say, a zebra. We have many more things to stress over than we did in our hunter-gatherer days. Sadly, our biological and hormonal responses remain the same even if the stressor in question is now a foul-mouthed boss instead of a sabre-toothed tiger. And while jobs are important, most of them aren't exactly life-or-death, making our levels of anxiety disproportionate to the danger we face. Yet, the stress caused by impending mortgage payments, irregular daily routines, rush hour traffic, over-stimulation caused by information overload that is modern media and fretting over signifiers of social status still cause our brains to release adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones, in turn, increase heart rate, respiration and blood pressure putting more physical stress on our organs. Long-term stress can be a contributing factor in heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and other illnesses. Going back to the zebras, they probably deal with such stress once a day. Most human beings today, deal with mini-stressors hundreds of times a day. Top this with the additional misery of being an overthinker. The only perk for someone given to constant catastrophizing and overthinking is that they’re literally imagining more than half their problems. Most of them will never come to pass or even if they do, they won’t be nearly as terrible as imagined. It’s like Mark Twain said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.” THE FEAR OF ANXIETY AND VICE VERSA All this worry, even about stuff that will never happen will still give you ulcers. Perhaps Mr Twain had them too. If you think I’m being unnecessarily alarmist while I take a dig at overthinkers, I have two things to say to you. One, that I sympathise with overthinkers, being one myself. The second is an example of a study conducted on sparrows. As part of their experiment, Canadian researchers decided to block off with nets a whole area of a forest that was the sparrows’ habitat, shutting out their natural predators - racoons, owls and falcons. With this intervention, the sparrows were obviously safer. The researchers then hid loudspeakers in various parts of the forest. In one area of the woods, they played sounds made by predators while in the other region, unthreatening forest sounds. The sparrows exposed to ‘dangerous’ noises laid 40% fewer eggs. The eggs they did lay were smaller and fewer of them hatched. Many of the baby sparrows starved to death because their parents were too frightened to fly out in search of food. The chicks that survived were weaker. The experiment shows that it doesn’t take a real threat to mar the lives of sparrows and their young. Fear, and the anxiety caused by it, is enough. The same holds true for humans. We can, however, choose to reduce our exposure to our stressors in certain cases, and adopt healthy practices to act as antidotes to deal with those we can’t avoid. And most importantly, live in the present, like zebras do.

The other day I came across a reel on Instagram about 4-time world indoor rowing champion, Richard Morgan. Unsurprisingly, his body fat percentage was an impressive 15% with a muscle mass index of 80%. Pretty standard for an athlete, you would think. But did I mention Richard Morgan was 93 years old? And that he wasn’t a lifelong athlete, having taken up rowing only in his 70s. While his physical feats are exceptional, it is his mindset that interests me more. After all, the body follows the mind and most battles are lost between our ears. Many of us are discouraged from starting something new solely because we didn’t start earlier, viewing it as a lost opportunity. But is not starting today also a chance missed? After all, if twenty years ago was the best time to have begun something, surely today is the second-best time. In the words of the author, C.S. Lewis, "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." LIFE’S WINDING WAYS Life isn’t a straight path. Our interests, goals and requirements change over the years. Beginning early can be beneficial because it gives you more time to pursue your interest but that isn’t necessarily a guarantee for success or even sustained motivation. Ask any child prodigy who lost interest or got sidetracked. That brings me to Vera Wang. She spent her childhood from age 8 striving to be a figure-skater. When she didn’t make the US Olympic team, she was devastated. With that dream behind her, Wang went to college and earned a degree in art history. Hired by Vogue straight out of university, she worked as a fashion editor for 17 years before resigning her post in 1987 when she realised that she wasn’t in line to be promoted to the position of Editor. Wang decided to move to a fashion house, Ralph Lauren as accessories design director. Photo courtesy: Harper's Bazaar In 1989, as a bride-to-be, Vera was unable to find a wedding dress she liked. So, she designed her own dress. The next year, at 40 years of age, Vera Wang launched her independent bridal wear brand. Over the last three decades, Vera Wang has dressed the who’s who of the world. Her brand is valued at more than a billion dollars today. It is neither possible nor advisable (in my opinion) to plan every step of one’s life. The ebb and flow of one’s life is unpredictable. To say nothing of a world perpetually in flux. Adaptability is the name of the game and nothing helps it more than the ability to course-correct and take on a change in plans with an open mind. And sometimes, that’s all it takes to fulfil a lifelong desire. A STORY OF HIS OWN Photo courtesy: LA Times Frank McCourt immigrated to New York from Ireland at 19. For thirty years, he taught English to high school students in New York City's public schools. Meanwhile, memories of his impoverished childhood in Limerick, Ireland lurked in the backrooms of his mind. It was a story he wanted to tell. Writing it, however, meant dredge up the painful past. It also called for the sort of time McCourt didn’t have. The classroom consumed all his energy and time. Decades passed. Post retirement, McCourt finally sat down to write the story of his life. Angela's Ashes, his memoir of growing up poor in Ireland, written from the perspective of a child, was published in 1996. McCourt was finally a novelist at 66 years of age. Angela's Ashes went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and spent over two years on the bestseller list. Speaking of his late blooming, Frank McCourt said, "The world was shocked to learn that I wrote a best seller at sixty-six. No matter how long you live, you have stories to tell." I dare say McCourt's three decades as an English teacher taught him enough about storytelling and engaging an audience. And all the years he spent biding his time was probably for the best. Sometimes, the best thing a writer can do when writing about something deeply personal and emotional is to give it the benefit of time. The passage of time is a sort of sedimentation process that allows for disturbed sediments to settle, the water to clear, the most salient parts to become visible and for incisive clarity to replace choppy feelings and muddy emotions. IN CONCLUSION It’s never too late to be who or what you want to be. While it may be hard to match Richard Morgan’s awe-inspiring fitness or Frank McCourt’s literary success but that’s not really the point. The really important bit is to get started, unsure of success and even when doubtful of our own abilities. Accolades may or may not follow but sometimes a dream deserves to be brought to life by someone who wants it enough. For its own sake.

The Plot is a novel about Jacob Finch Bonner, a struggling writer who, frustrated with his dwindling status and its attending indignities, steals an absolutely riveting plot narrated to him by a student who dies before completing his novel based on the same plot. Jacob’s book ends up becoming a blockbuster and he, a celebrated author. Life is good as a best-selling author with cross-country promotional tours, talk of his novel being made into a movie and the promise of a hefty cheque for his next novel. There is, however, one tiny fly in the ointment - someone knows his secret and is threatening to reveal it to the world. Jean Hanff Korelitz paints a brilliant portrait of an unsympathetic protagonist with no major redeeming traits and a fair number of affectations – starting with the pretentiousness of his self-given middle name ‘Finch’ in a nod to Atticus Finch from Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird. With this little touch, Korelitz shows us not only his vanity but also places, in his very name, his antithesis. Atticus Finch has been deified in the pages of literature as the epitome of integrity and fortitude - traits Jacob sorely lacks. The feigned modesty of Jacob’s carefully curated but seemingly off-the-cuff “famous author is an oxymoron” quip and his lack of interest in anyone’s life apart from his own doesn’t do much to bolster his likeability. However, that is also what makes him believable because he is so painfully ordinary even at the heights that he has managed to scale. The Plot explores the theme of what defines originality in art which is as good as stated in its epigraph – “Good writers borrow, great writers steal.” The fact that even these six words are attributed to both TS Eliot and Oscar Wilde is apt and poetic. By eschewing the benefits of a sympathetic protagonist, The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is made stronger because its inquiry into the blurry line separating inspiration from plagiarism, is forced to stand on its own merit instead of being held up by an affable main character. Readers are often willing to forgive likeable or sympathetic characters some fairly heinous acts. Don’t believe me? Just ask Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Rodion Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. You’d probably get wry nods of agreement from them. Sadly for Jacob, he is not a character that inspires that sort of clemency. The only saving grace for Jacob is that his antagonist is much worse than him – a fact that is revealed slowly and becomes more horrifying as you turn the pages. The writing is engaging and the narrator’s turn of phrase and ironic tone elevates the story, injecting it with humour and insight while also allowing the reader to maintain a psychic distance from the protagonist. The exposition, in the initial chapters, of Richard Peng Hall and the history of Ripley College sets the tone for Jake’s dismal life post his shot at literary fame. Some readers might be put off by the lack of action in the protagonist’s decidedly downward spiral from a “new and noteworthy” author to a part-time professor at a third-rate college to the glorified administrator of a writer’s resort. To me, however, showing Jacob’s worsening circumstances is important to establish his reasons for doing what he does. It’s his ambition combined with his descent into that special hell of impecuniosity and professional irrelevance that forges his motivation to steal his former student’s story idea. The plot of the novel is somewhat predictable since I guessed the two main twists - the climactic revelation in Jacob’s book and the identity of his blackmailer. In the end, what stayed with me was the theme of the novel – what constitutes originality? After all, even Disney’s The Lion King is a rendition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet but surely, we wouldn’t call it an act of plagiarism. I am reminded of a quote I read many years ago, “Ideas are nobody’s property. They belong to whoever expresses them best.” Finally, as anyone who has studied the craft of writing fiction will tell you, there are only seven basic narrative plots in all of storytelling which operate as scaffoldings in the construction of all stories. However, the myriad details of setting, characterisation, motivations, conflicts and narrative style make them individual pieces of expression. So, is Jacob’s novel his own work or plagiarised in its entirety? Read The Plot and let me know what you think.

There are days when nothing seems to go right. Perhaps you had an argument with a co-worker or a loved one or missed out on something you were looking forward to. We all know that it happens to everyone and whatever has irked us probably won’t matter in the long run but that knowledge doesn’t always soothe. The irritation of jangled nerves still prickles. I have a few remedies I use almost every time I find myself stuck in a bad day like that. They have all been effective and none are to be considered better than the other. In fact, I’ve often used them in combination. The first among equals is listening to music that I enjoy, preferably perky with an up-tempo beat. First, just listening and eventually, singing along to familiar songs can brighten the gloomiest moods. Maybe songs just stir up memories of happier times. Taking a shower as soon as I get home is another tip. Especially on days when I would return from work in a dark mood and even a harmless comment from my brother could spark a full-fledged battle given my state of mind. Instead, going straight up to my room, dropping my bag and jumping into the shower was the best thing to do. There’s something therapeutic about letting cool or warm water (depending on the weather) wash away the day's weariness while the gentle fragrance of a shower gel being lathered with a loofah soothes fatigued muscles. Even more relaxing is the scalp massage that accompanies washing one’s hair. Just standing under the shower head with water flowing over you is calming. As is the sound of water. I can say with assurance that you’ll step out in a better mood than when you went in. The third remedy is to go for a walk. It helps burn off the agitated energy of an angsty day. Depending on where you live, stepping out for a walk may mean different things. In Delhi, it meant the paved lanes of a gated colony for me. Thankfully, it was quiet and there were quite a few trees and I would often meet the neighbourhood dogs. Here in Belgaum, it’s more scenic but harder on my feet. A rough mud track pitted with stones running alongside fields of corn, cabbage, sugarcane, chillies or rice, depending on the season. The rays of the setting sun over fields flush with vegetation while others lie fallow, resting in deep, brown furrows. And the breeze, cool and blowing unhindered. And of course, at least one or two of our dogs come along for company. Sometimes, I like to sit by the river that flows through the fields and watch shepherds grazing their sheep. No treadmill can match that feeling. Walking alongside paddy fields with Cindy Going for a walk is also an opportunity to commune with nature. Now, I’m not under the mistaken impression that most people are walking through some kind of mystical forest when they go for a walk. Sadly, it’s usually a tarmac road between rows of buildings. But if you have the chance, take a walk in a park or along a path that has some trees or plants. It’ll make all the difference. There’s something deeply healing about walking in nature. Perhaps, we pick up nature’s unhurried ways subliminally. I believe the Japanese have a word for it – shinrinyoku, which when translated, broadly means ‘forest bath’ or taking a walk in the forest for its restorative benefits. To see nature at work in the shrinking of a touch-me-not, the falling leaves of a tree or a squirrel saving up nuts for the winter is calming in its predictability but also in the endless hope that nature offers all its creations. Things pan out just fine. Even tiny plants with their minute flowers bloom even though they can’t compete with oak trees. A tree shorn of all its leaves isn’t worried about the future. The leaves will return, come spring. And the squirrel will live through the winter even if it drops a nut or two on its way home. And none of this need to be thought of, consciously. It just seeps in. A kind of osmosis. The last of my tried and tested remedies is to go to bed early. My reasoning being that if I’m having a bad day, why prolong it? Going to bed a little earlier than usual helps me grab some extra and much-needed shuteye with the additional benefit of no longer having to think unhappy thoughts of what ruined my day in the first place in addition to side-stepping the risk of making it worse. The next morning, things are invariably brighter, both literally and metaphorically.

Whether it is one’s life or the story of everything that has ever happened, to fully appreciate a portion of it, one needs to have, at least, a broad idea of the whole. Quite like the American astronomer, educator and creator of the television show Cosmos, Carl Sagan said, “To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” Origin Story by David Christian is a panoramic look at the unfolding of the Universe since its birth – the explosive expansion of space, the formation of stars and planets, the birth of the Earth’s atmosphere and continents, the first sparks of life which took billions of years to grow into dinosaurs, the evolution of our species, hunters and foragers turning to farming, the industrial revolution all the way to where science and innovation have brought us today. This book, as a sample of the field of study that is increasingly being referred to as Big History, shows us what a long way we’ve travelled and how, regardless of all our perceived differences as creatures that live on this pale blue dot, we have a common origin story. A tale with enough plot twists, catastrophes and serendipitous links to make one sit up in wonder at the unlikelihood of our very existence on this planet. How did it all come to be? And why did no other animal or being achieve what we, as Homo Sapiens, have? And which bends in the river led us to our current position atop the food chain and a dominating force in the biosphere? Reading this book evokes a sense of wonder at the ties we all share with our ancestors who may have sat around a bonfire and gazed at a different night sky thousands of years ago and pondered the eternal questions – Who are we? Where do we come from? To seek those answers is part of what it means to be human. It is the reason we made up our myths and legends, why all religions have some version of the creation story and why the picture of a Black Hole’s Event Horizon was a top trend on the internet. You could say we are hard-wired to wonder. Given the expanse of time that Origin Story sets out to explore, it is helpful that David Christian breaks up the timeline into blocks referred to as thresholds, depicting how some very complex and significant changes turned out to be key transition points. These thresholds give shape to the complicated and mammoth narrative of the modern origin story. Highlighting major turning points, when things that existed at the time were rearranged or otherwise altered to create something new helps us see the causal relationship between these thresholds or key events. This makes it easier to grasp the links between seemingly unrelated and chronologically distant events. Apart from a couple of chapters which I found crammed with too much detail about trilobites, for instance, Origin Story is an engaging read. It also places issues like climate change in perspective. As I understood it, our planet has seen much worse times and will survive and course-correct. What we need to think about is whether or not we, as a species, will survive? There are examples galore of species that didn’t survive ice ages and varying levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. That’s the thing about Nature. While we may allude to its mother-like qualities, it would be wise to remember that Nature is a very impartial mother with no special concern for us and that, in the grand scheme of things, our species’ survival is of little or no consequence to anyone other than ourselves. The way that we are different from any other species on Earth is that we can consciously choose to make a difference to our environment. If you’re curious about our place in the Universe and fascinated by stuff like how elements created in star nurseries billions of years ago ended up in our bones, Origin Story is right up your alley. I found it interesting and informative. You might too.

“This book is not going to be a revelation. It is meant to be a reminder. A reminder of how life happens to all of us, in a similar yet unequal fashion.” With these words, serial entrepreneur and content creator, Ankur Warikoo introduces his first book, Do Epic Shit. His tone is a relief given how out-of-touch and full of themselves social media celebrities and/or start-up founders can often be. So, the introduction is a win, in my book! Do Epic Shit is split up into 6 parts, each focussing on a different aspect of life. They are Success (and Failure), Habits, Awareness, Entrepreneurship, Money, and Relationships. It’s a compilation of stuff Warikoo has shared on social media over the years. It reads as such too—short, conversational, personal observations. This is all great but I would have liked to read more about the experiences that led to the distillation of his ideas. The few times Warikoo does give the reader a peek into his own life, it helps create a sense of connection. For instance, he mentions a time when his wife had to sell her gold bangles to scrape together the money to buy their son a bicycle for his birthday. This tied in so well with his tendency to invest in illiquid assets, thereby lacking cash when he needed it. Unfortunately, Warikoo doesn’t weave in anecdotes from his life nearly often enough. Consequently, parts of Do Epic Shit read like a presentation designed by a management trainee with zero life or work experience, who is under the perilous delusion of being a life coach! It's not like Warikoo’s ideas are wild or unrealistic. Quite the opposite. Many of them had me nodding along, but I doubt I’ll be quoting them to anyone next week. Mainly, because I won’t remember them. Quite a few of his statements are an excellent starting point. Sadly, they end before they can make a substantive point. Sample this. “Congratulating an entrepreneur on raising funds is like congratulating a chef on buying vegetables.” This is a great insight but Warikoo, as a founder and CEO who managed to pique investor interest and secure funding for his e-commerce start-up, Nearbuy before the venture folded up a few years later, surely has more to add on the subject. And yet, this is all we get. Even when it comes to books that read like the author sifted through their tweets, social media comments and short blogs and compiled them into a book, there are books that offer something a bit meatier. Rolf Dobelli does it well in his books, The Art of the Good Life and The Art of Thinking Clearly. Although, most topics are limited to 2-3 pages, Dobelli packs in references to research papers or anecdotes that help tether the idea in the real world. For instance, in a chapter about the benefits of radical inflexibility, he illustrated his point with a story of the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés who burnt his ships upon reaching Mexico and declaring it a Spanish colony, and himself, its governor. He did so to take away the option of retreat. There’s another anecdote about a CEO who refused dessert as a rule, without ever checking what was on offer. It saved him the rigours of decision fatigue and his iron-clad inflexibility has likely saved him many hours on the treadmill. Stories make ideas relatable and memorable. Stories that paint an evocative image are hard to forget. I bet if there’s one thing you take away from this review, it’ll be the gumption of Hernán Cortés. And it wasn’t even part of this book! On the other hand, Warikoo gives us, “The hiring principle I have always followed. Skills can be taught. Attitude is really hard to teach.” It would be one thing if Warikoo identified solely as an entrepreneur. Then, one could ignore the lack of storytelling. But Warikoo is a content creator, by his own admission. I can only hope that he went with these bite-sized nuggets to appeal to an audience that cut their teeth on social media and consider a one-minute video, extensive and detailed. Or maybe, Warikoo’s intention was always to write the kind of book one picks up in a café while waiting for a friend. It’s perfect for that. For browsing through in a café or playing book cricket with a friend, occasionally stopping to discuss the ideas on the page. In fact, Warikoo writes as much in his introduction. If that was his solitary intention, he’s smashed it out of the stadium! Lastly, perhaps Warikoo should have chosen a less ambitious title than Do Epic Shit because this book contains absolutely no roadmaps, pointers or even hints about how to go about achieving anything epic. Well-intentioned this book may be, epic it certainly isn’t.

A few days ago, a couple of friends were giving me a hard time for being a Manchester United supporter because they think it a somewhat hackneyed choice given the massive following the club commands. It seemed to them like I just decided to support the first jersey I spotted in the English Premier League. Come to think of it, even if that was the way it came to pass, I wouldn’t admit to it, would I? However, happily for me, that's not the reason for my continued loyalty to the Red Devils. As it happened, my regard for the club was forged in a moment of great disappointment for the football giant. Eleven years ago, I watched Manchester United lose out on the Premier League trophy by a whisker in one of the most thrilling title-chases in recent history. In case you weren't watching or had other fish to fry on the 13th of May, 2012, it would suffice to say that when the final whistle blew in the Manchester United match, they won and were champions of the league for a full thirty seconds! That's when their noisy neighbours, Manchester City, crashed the party with two blistering goals in extra time, amd marched off with the trophy. Now if that doesn't convince you of the exhilarating rollercoaster ride football can be, then not much else will. I, for one, was sucked right in. I was struck not just by the fickle ways of the Gods of Football but also by United's grace in defeat and the steadfastness of a club that didn't necessarily have the bountiful coffers (despite popular perception) to buy their way to the best team. Instead, they believed in tradition, discipline and investing in home-grown talent honed by a manager whose name is known even to people who wouldn't know when the last World Cup was held. So ultimately, I support MUFC not just because they're majestic in victory but because, even in the dying minutes of a game they're losing terribly, you can never count them out. After all, not for nothing was the phrase 'Fergie time' coined to reflect the scintillating energy that results in a tremendous number of late goals scored by Manchester United sides in the final moments of a game. To keep playing as if you could change a loss into a win even when the odds are stacked against you is the United way and they continue to do just that, often enough to inspire the legend and the dream. And isn't that what all sport is about? Forget sport, that's got life written all over it. And for that reason, Manchester United shall always have my support.

Confession – I’m a fairly regular watcher of morning and evening routine videos on YouTube regardless of the qualifier or adjective du jour. Common trends include ‘that girl’, ‘realistic’, ‘productive’ or ‘relaxed’. Despite the differentiators, it’s usually the same. Not just the aesthetic of rooms painted white with lots of natural light, a few houseplants, coffee from Keurig or Nespresso coffee machines, colour-coordinated gym wear and skin care that would give Cleopatra an inferiority complex! The routines themselves are fairly basic and yet, I like watching them because they can be inspiring even in their artifice. To be fair, one can pick up a few good ideas like making a to-do list for the day (helps with productivity) or making your bed within the first ten minutes of waking up (checks the temptation to crawl back in). In fact, I learnt the recipe for my favourite chocolate banana oats smoothie from a morning routine video. Night routines are even more movie-like and mellow since they are geared toward winding down for the night. It’s so cosy you can practically smell the cookies baking in the oven. There are, of course, cliches galore – candles, cleaning up spaces before going to bed, cooking a healthy but still Instagram-worthy dinner, luxurious bubble baths followed by, you guessed it, skin care! Somewhere in the mix is also some peppermint tea in a cutesy mug. You might wonder why I watch them if I find them so predictable. Well, because even what is formulaic can be enjoyable and relaxing. Just think of your favourite comfort food. Never fails to hit the spot, does it? While I do allow myself a chuckle or two at how all YouTubers seem to have the pretty much the same taste, I do enjoy seeing how most of the humdrum tasks that all of us perform during our days can be made more enjoyable. Also, I like the element of self-care that all these videos invariably serve up. Self-care can be anything from a walk in the park, to journaling or a sipping a drink sitting in your favourite chair. I’m not the kind of person who has an elaborate daily routine but I see the value in taking some time every day to take a break and doing something I enjoy. When I was working, I would take this break sometime in the middle of my office hours. Nothing beats a coffee in my book! Working in the television news business, my shifts could change almost daily. Fortunately, I would have an hour’s break after a few hours of working and in one of those breaks I would walk down to a coffee shop half a mile from my office. Sometimes, I'd go with a colleague or friend but most of the time, it was just me and a book. I would order my usual frappe and a sandwich if I was hungry, sink into a couch and read for about half an hour before I walked back to the office. This break, spent in the world of a fictional character, afforded me some quiet time away from the shrill of breaking news and the general sense of rushing about that permeates newsrooms. Stepping away from my work environment helped me recharge and come back refreshed. I understand that most people don’t have the luxury of such long breaks (with even a lunch break being considered a privilege) at their workplaces but the point I’m making is about how essential it is to step away from your desk or work station or even housework to indulge in an activity that relaxes and rejuvenates you, even if it is only for a few minutes. So if you can, take a walk while you listen to a song you like, read a few pages of a book, do the crossword or a sudoku, chat with a friend or just sit in a quiet corner and breathe. Life can be mundane yet hectic but a change of pace can make a difference.

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair is a cold case whodunnit delivered with literary flair. The plot takes you through many hairpin bends while the form and style of the writing make the ride pleasurable rather than merely efficient. Broadly, it is a book about two authors – Harry Quebert, a celebrated author arrested for murder, 33 years after a fifteen-year-old girl that he loved goes missing; and Marcus Goldman, his protégé who, struggling with writer’s block after his successful first novel, resolves to clear his mentor’s name. Setting aside the brief excerpt from a 911 call establishing the fifteen-year-old Nola’s disappearance, the book opens with a prologue depicting Marcus’ life post the best-selling success of his second book. It introduces us to Marcus as the protagonist and narrator. This opening also sets up the basic questions readers are likely to ask about the story that is yet to unfold, focussing majorly on the whodunnit aspect. A shift from the usual is the numbering of the chapters as a countdown starting from 31 down to 1, building anticipation and setting off a subtle ticking clock in the reader’s mind. Dicker also uses a little graphic of a rectangle at the beginning of each chapter that denotes how much of the story has been read. That didn't appear to be of any major significance to me apart from being a design element. The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair is structured into two timelines. The first is the year 2008 which follows the discovery of the dead body, the ensuing murder case and the writing of Marcus’ second novel. The second thread is from 1975 – and the events around the disappearance of the fifteen-year-old Nola. There is the added element of excerpts from the book that Marcus is writing. To his credit, Dicker is flawless when it comes to signposting the setting and period that the characters are in, within the first few lines of each section. Not once in this 615-page book is the reader left scratching their head wondering where they are in the timeline of events. That’s no mean feat given the complex structure of the novel. As a novel within a novel, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair casts a sidelong glance at the cut-throat business of publishing and the kind of machinations that go into creating a buzz around a bestseller. Dicker portrays these tips and tricks of the business as a prism of spin that can refract even a faux pas into appearing like the glimmer of genius. An exchange between Marcus, the young writer and his cynical publisher on the conflict between freedom and economics is thought-provoking. In contrast, the teacher-student relationship between Harry and Marcus is concentrated mainly on the craft of writing. Each chapter begins with an excerpt of the mentor talking to his protégé about writing, boxing or life. Joel Dicker weaves the political landscape of the United States in 2008 into the story giving it a sense of not unfolding in a vacuum. Since the political events that culminated in Obama’s historic victory are well-known to most readers, this device is effective without requiring too much space in exposition. The three main characters – Marcus, Harry and Nola are dynamic and develop throughout the length of the novel. Most of the secondary characters are not one-note characters either and more importantly, have their own motivations. This creates several mini-geysers of conflict which keep the plot bubbling. Dicker employs an array of mythological and literary allusions such as references to Icarus, fallen angels, ‘glory being a Gorgon that could turn you into stone’ and man’s Original Sin. Even Quebert’s celebrated book is called The Origin of Evil. Paradise Lost, anyone? The plot of The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair illustrates the ripples of wrongdoing in the individual lives of characters flowing into and merging with each other. It also shows how the past informs the present. Other literary touches include motifs like Harry’s residence (which comes to signify different things over the course of the story), symbolism, social commentary and satire that doesn’t shy away from looking inward at the narrator, the world of writers and the books they write. While reading this novel, I was struck by the pride of place given to seagulls in it. I have a hunch that Joel Dicker was inspired by the characters and themes in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. The play explores the ills of fame and how the pursuit of celebrity usually has disastrous effects. Chekhov’s characters view obscurity as an unbearable fate and grapple with the gulf between their dreams of success and the reality of their mediocrity. Harry, Marcus and a few other characters contend with the same issues. Imposter syndrome and the threat of being exposed as a pretender looms large in both the play and the novel. Art being a replacement for love is another recurring idea in the story. At least three characters in the book are artists and all of them fill a void in their lives with writing or painting. To know out how it works out for them, you’d have to read the book. There’s a piece of advice Quebert gives Marcus – "Never write a book without knowing its ending.” That’s excellent advice for writers, I’m sure. Readers of this page-turner, however, are not likely to drop this book without knowing its ending.