Two Lives

Two Lives

Just finished reading “Two lives” by Vikram Seth. As with all books that deal with that pain filled period in recent history – the Nazi regime and the holocaust- it has taken me two days to pull myself together and talk. No,the book is not all about the holocaust – well of course, with all the press publicity, even those who haven’t read it know what the book is about. It is part memoir and part biography dealing with the lives of Seth’s grand uncle Shanthi and his wife Henny, a German Jew who escaped to England but whose sister and mother died...

An act of kindness

An act of kindness

He stood near the bed and took the frail hand in his. She opened her eyes and on seeing him there was a glimmer of light in those dull eyes and her lips lengthened into a smile. She asked him to sit by her side and gently pressed his fingers while asking him if he was happy in the new job.Dear old Nani, always concerned about the happiness of others. His eyes brimmed with tears as he told her not to exert herself. The nurse came in to check the IV fluid.He sank into a chair near the bed and his thoughts went back to the times when Nani was young...

Lonely sunsets

Lonely sunsets

There is a beautiful poem from the sangam period in Tamil literature ( about 1 to 3rd century a.d) translated by A.K Ramanujam which goes like this:"What she said:dont they really havein the land where he has gonesuch thingsas house sparrowsdense feathered, the colour of fading lilies,pecking at grain drying on yardsplaying with the scatter of the fine dustof the street's manureand living with their nestlingsin the angles of the penthouseand miserable evenings,and loneliness?"The image is of a young girl perhaps in her late teens whose husband...