COMPOS MENTIS

January 6, 2012

2012

1.The Last Song: Nicholas Sparks
2.The Sense of an Ending: Julian Barnes
3.The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
4.Safe Haven: Nicholas Sparks
5.One Day: David Nicholls
6.Eight Cousins: Louisa May Alcott
7.Pollyanna: Eleanor H. Porter
8.Pollyanna Grows Up: Eleanor H. Porter
9.The Stranger's Child: Alan Hollinghurst 10. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: Helen Simonson 11. At First Sight: Nicholas Sparks 12. A Bend in the Road: Nicholas Sparks 13. Fifty Shades of Grey: E.L. James 14. The Lucky One: Nicholas Sparks 15. Dokhhiner Baranda: Mohonlal Gangopadhyay 16. Jibansmriti: Rabindranath Tagore 17. Jorasnakor Dharey: Rani Chanda 18. Rachel's Holiday: Marian Keyes 19. Mini Shopaholic: Sophie Kinsella 20. Twenties Girl: Sophie Kinsella 21. Alone in Berlin: Hans Fallada 22. Suite Francaise: Irene Nemirovsky 23. Bridget Jones' Diary: Helen Fielding 24.The Swallows of Kabul: Yasmina Khadra 25. A Year in Provence: Peter Mayle 26. The Reading Promise: Alice Ozma

January 5, 2011

2011

1.The Blue and Distant Hills: Judith Saxton
2.Eva's Story: Eva Schloss
3.Unaccustomed Earth: Jhumpa Lahiri
4.My KInd of Girl : Buddhadeva Bose
5.Three Women: Rabindranath Tagore
6.Durgeshnandini: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
7.Anatomy of a Disappearance: Hisham Matar
8.In the Country of Men: Hisham Matar
9.The Dogs and the Wolves: Irene Nemirovsky
10.The Folded Earth: Anuradha Roy
11.Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: Mario vargas LLosa
12.What Really Happened: Banaphool
13.The Vague Woman's Handbook: Devapriya Roy
14.An Atlas of Impossible Longing: Anuradha Roy
15.Notes on a Scandal: Zoe Heller
16.Room: Emma Donoghue
17.The Believers: Zoe Heller
18.On Beauty: Zadie Smith
19.The Comfort of Strangers: Ian McEwan
20.Under the Tuscan Sun: Frances Mayes
21.Annexed: Sharon Dogar
22.Shopaholic Takes Manhattan: Sophie Kinsella
23.Shopaholic Ties the Knot: Sophie Kinsella
24.Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married: Marian Keyes
25.This Charming Man: Marian Keyes

November 4, 2010

FIFTEEN FAVOURITE AUTHORS :)

I have been asked who my fifteen favourite authors are. The names have to come thick and fast. They will but in random order. Here's the list.

1) Charles Dickens: For me no one can spin a yarn as he does. Picking up a Dickens means that I don't have to worry about how to spend my free hours. It has been this way for years now, ever since I read 'David Copperfield' when I was fourteen. He tops my list. 'Great Expectations' is an all-time favourite.

2) Jane Austen: She improves my English almost instantly, like one of those wonder-make-up products that beauty gurus rave about. After reading an Austen, I speak 'propah' English for daaaays! I have enacted Elizabeth Bennet countless times in my head. Unfortunately, no Darcy has come my way for me to try out my acting skills :(

3) Enid Blyton: For the love of adventure, no matter how juvenile they seem now to the 34-year old in me, for the fun that cousins can have during holidays...something quite unknown to me, and for the love of food! Even as I type this I can smell farm-fresh butter melting on hot scones...ummm...pure bliss :)

4) L.M. Montgomery: She gave me a kindred spirit in Anne. I'll never feel friendless again. In my darkest days, 'Anne of Green Gables' is my go-to book. The innocence, tender human relationships, hope and optimism that Montgomery gives life to in the series are absent in the world I live in. Anne shines like a beacon.

5)Satyajit Ray: For his unputdownable 'Feluda' series. Such a hero! However, Jatayu remains my favourite.

6) Tagore: He could have written his short stories and stopped just there. I would have still been a happy reader.

7) David Lodge: For I am still a student at heart and there is no place more appropriate for human drama than a university. I love his campus novels and love Lodge even more for the 'chyangra' Englishman he hides behind his gentlemanly demeanour. He never fails to put a smile on my face.

8) Nick Hornby: Speaking of writers of comedy, how can I not include Hornby? He speaks the truth, no matter how ugly or unpalatable it may be. I think about life, my life...deeply and honestly when I read Hornby. And while I read him, he makes sure that I have an asisnine smile pasted on my face!

9) P.G. Wodehouse: The old boy is so much fun. I have a profound relationship with his books, probably because I firmly believe I was a decadent, Victorian aristocrat in my last life.

10) Neruda: His love poems...Ah, to be loved like that!

11) Amitav Ghosh: I can't believe I haven't mentioned him yet. Once again for his yarns and for the fact that he takes his job as a writer very seriously. That's bound to pay off, isn't it?

12) Harold Pinter: I had to include a playwright. His plays scare me. The absurdity spooks me. I have not quite recovered ever since I read 'The Room'.

13) Ian McEwan: I hope he is not finished as a writer. I am so fond of him. 'Saturday' and 'Atonement' remain my favourites. Reading about distorted thinking and twisted minds can be quite a pleasure.

14) Zoë Heller: I have only read her 'Notes on a Scandal' and have loved it. I told you, I love reading about twisted people. Here's a writer I am very excited about.

15) Mario Vargas Llosa: My new favourite. There couldn't be two more different books than 'Conversation in the Cathedral' and 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter' and yet, I've loved them both. Speaks volumes about the author, doesn't it?

February 18, 2010

2010

Back when we were grown ups: Anne Tyler
Dissolution: C.J.Sansom
Dreaming of Strangers: Matt Thorne
The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole: Sue Townsend
Toddler Hunting and Other Stories: Kono Taeko
The Bridesmaid: Ruth Rendell
Weekend in Paris: Robyn Sisman
Love Lives: Josie LLoyd and Emlyn Rees
A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khaled Hosseini
About a Boy: Nick Hornby
Juliet, Naked: Nick Hornby
The Brightest Star in the Sky: Marian Keyes
Home Truths: David Lodge
High Fidelity: Nick Hornby
Why Girls are Weird: Pamela Ribon
Last Chance Saloon: Marian Keyes
Sushi for Beginners: Marian Keyes
The Thin Man: Dashiel Hammett

January 4, 2010

Profile

Cities

Nandini is an explorer that:

occasionally strays off track

is happy with a roof and running water

likes a little risk

Travel cred: pretty good

I rank in the top...

0.1% most cities visited - Bhutan

0.8% most cities visited - Pakistan

1% most cities visited - India

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December 28, 2009

ALL SAINTS

Having for years listened to Gregorian chants, and not to forget my Irish Catholic schooling, it made a lot of sense to me that I was determined to be a serious observer of All Saints' Day as it is celebrated in Poland.
Wiki says, 'All Saints' Day (in the Catholic Church, officially the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows or Hallowmas), often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown.
In terms of Western Christian theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. In the Roman Catholic Church, the next day, All Souls' Day, specifically commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven. It is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries.'
In Poland the day is spent visiting the graves of deceased relatives, where prayers and flowers are offered, candles are lit and the graves themselves are cleaned, repaired and repainted. The American Halloween is gaining popularity among the young, but the firm upholders of tradition speak of it rather disparagingly.

The cemetery I visited was crowded on the Catholic side, spooky and near empty on the Protestant side and looked like death on the Russian Orthodox side. Here are some photographs from that evening.

November 29, 2009

BLAZE OF GLORY

Insignificant and commonplace that I am, it always amazes me when my wishes get fulfilled. For ever so long, I wanted to see a real fall and drown in its colours. My wish has been granted and I've not ceased to wonder how decay can look so colourful. The fall this year in Lodz has been truly beautiful. October did scare us a bit, what with an extremely freezing one week and two days of freak snow!!! However, it more than made up for it in the next few weeks. I'll let the photographs speak for themselves.