By: Aradhna Wal

It’s been placed by British librarians ahead of the Bible as one book “every adult should read before they die”. A classic of modern American literature, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird completes 50 years of being one of the most loved novels of the 20^th century. It was first published on July 11^th 1960.

An instant success, it is probably the most widely read novel on the problem of race and discrimination in America.

On its 50^th anniversary readers take a look at what exactly makes this book so popular. It is a hugely significant study of race, class, sexuality and coming of age. However, the appeal goes deeper than that. The warmth, humour and the life like characters have touched a chord in many readers’ hearts. Scout remains one of the most lovable tomboys in modern literature, and the protagonist Atticus Finch, a symbol of a lone crusader for justice. Lee’s skill in characterization shows as she earned reader sympathy for a fallible Finch, rather than making him a didactic cardboard paragon of morality.

Along with her multi-layered characters Lee’s narrative too has earned many praises. One of the best came from another literary great, her childhood friend Truman Capote, on whom she based the character Dill. He called her a “writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic sense of humor.” Perhaps that is the key to the novels widespread appeal; the human story as seen through the eyes of a six year old girl. Scout witnesses the drama of a persecuted black man in her own little town; something that brought out the best and the worst in the townsfolk for all to see. And through her the readers get to watch human nature in all its multifaceted complexity unfold.

Over the years the book has faced many controversies. It has been criticized for its stereotypical portrayal of the black community and racial slurs. However, frequent challenges to the book only add to its literary significance. It shows that a story told 50 years ago still has as strong an impact on the mind.

The novel is far from going old.  The startling narrative combination of a child’s voice and adult understanding, the portrayal of America’s struggle with race and justice, and the coming of age experience of a loss of innocence still appeal to readers new and old. After all that is the charm of a story well told.

By: Arun Kapoor

Decades of life is a long period  of  time ,

how true  when you look back at the

various trials and tribulations  that

have gone into these many years….

bringing  joy and sorrow  in  tandem !

weigh them separately  to realise  their

impact on  the past gone by.

joy brings nostalgia whereas

sorrow  a darker shade of  the forgettable past…

time has passed by  adding to the  age.

what remains impregnated in the mind

is the  impact of the darker shade.

as the brighter  shade is taken in stride

to  move on in life  by covering the sorrow  !

but somewhere inside the  sadness remains.

realisation  dawns when the  four seasons

pass by  leaving you where you were before ,

making you wonder

which of the two shades is next in store .

oscillation between joy and sorrow

is  uncertain   as long as life is  there ,

but what is certain  is the four seasons !!

For people who love romance Right Fit Wrong Shoe by Varsha Dixit, is the perfect book to catch on. A breezy read, it is the story of life and love of protagonist Nandhini. Set in small-town in India, it follows her life through the troubled present interwoven with snippets of the past.

Nandhini is a simple girl working with an advertising agency in Kanpur. The story begins with the impending arrival of Aditya Sarin, the youngest scion of a wealthy business family who wishes to exact revenge on Nandhini. A typical Bollywood fan, Nandhini’s life is flooded with love,passion and jealously. Her break up with the most eligible bachelor in town, is the reason for her present situation and the changes which take place not only in her but also in Sarin’s life. The story is incomplete without the villains who are none other then the sleazy co-worker of Nandhini known as ‘Roach’ and the other girl in Aditya’s life ‘Gayathri’. Throughout the book, the only support system Nandhini has, is her friend Sneha who not only advices her but in the end solves her entire problem.

Varsha has been successful in penning a romantic story, of  two highly different people, who squabble all the time, yet fall for each other. With a little help from Bollywood, the book begins at a point where all love stories end. Dripping with Humour and romance, it encases a young women`s thoughts on the society she survives in.

The language used by Dixit is simple, and the only flaw with the book is that, a person who doesn’t know Hindi or watch Hindi movies would have to keep flipping to the back for the extensive glossary. Overall, the book maybe a light read on a lazy afternoon but is most definitely a romantic story.

By: Sneha Manasa Vedula

By: Arun Kapoor

The child oblivious of the surroundings

nurtures an impossible dream

of possessing  a  beautiful  toy

which once caught the fancy of his  eyes.

His life revolved around this passion

one day his  dream finally comes  true!

which changes his attitude in totality

becomes conscientious and focussed in his work

He never  takes his  eyes away  from the  dream toy

he  feels  he  has achieved  a great  victory

but  a dark  day  in his  innocent   life  comes

when he  is  told  that the toy actually  is not his

but belongs to someone else and was for a while only !!

Suddenly a numb feeling creeps inside him

as he  realizes  that his obsession  is  no more

broken from within  he feels shattered

betrayal is the last thing that he expected.

He thought his  emotions were never kept in mind

and why  this joke was  played  on him for  no fault of his

just because  he was a helpless and an innocent child.

He wept in solitude with no external consolation

life seemed to have suddenly  halted for him

excitement vanished  away  from  his  cherubic persona

he wanted  to share  his sorrow  but none came forward

thinking all the while that this bad phase will pass away !!

No one could sense the trauma of the little child

as   he  went on with his life  after taking a vow to

own the same  toy  again by going to any unethical length

be as it may!!

I am die hard fan of fast paced action thriller fiction novels. My favorite past time is reading books and it’s something which I peruse passionately. I simply love political action thrillers as it always captures my attention. Books related to political turmoil, internal turmoil, wars, intelligence, special operations, propaganda, conspiracies, assassinations, etc. I have read many books of prominent authors like Tom Clancy, Fredrick Forsyth, Colin Forbes and Noam Chomsky.

The book which forever captured my memory was by Noam Chomsky and the book is called ‘Media Control’. The book throws important revelation as how the media is controlled and manipulated by each and every country. The book also talks about the use of public relations to mislead the general public. Media is often consider as the ‘fourth pillar of democracy’ but if the very media is used to mislead the general public in such a subtle way that we people failed to understand what exactly is going on.

The book throws some interesting examples also. The Tienanmen Square massacre in china is an attempt to re write the history. It is a punishable offense in China to mention about the massacre and so far 120 journalists have been prosecuted. The media is constantly under scrutiny in China.

United States government started a very effective PR campaign during the 70s Vietnam War. The campaign ‘support our troops’ was aimed to gather mass support in the favor of the war as the people of the states was left disillusioned. Recent case of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and fight for the democracy was another effort of the US to justify its action against Iraq which has now left Iraq completely shattered to pieces.

The book mentioned that the 90% of the media industry is located in United States as a result the US government is constantly using the media to its own interest. US always called themselves as the fighter of basic human rights and democracy. The same country is throwing democratic governments of its surrounding countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador on the pretext of fighting narcotics dealers.

The book also talks about how the media is used and manipulated in different ways in various countries and these theories are supported by examples also. This book enlighten your thoughts and is a must read. The book is available in all major libraries in the country. The author of the book, Noam Chomsky is highly renowned.

By: Saurabh Das

I recently read a book by VC Andrews called ‘Flowers in the Attic’ which is a horrific tale of cruelty and forbidden love. After reading this particular book, I didn’t touch another for a week.

It’s a story about a brother and a sister locked in the attic of their grandmother’s mansion along with their two younger siblings (twins) for over three years. With no contact with the outside world except for their coldly beautiful mother and evil grandmother, the elder siblings, as they start maturing, begin developing feelings for each other.

The older siblings take on the role of parents for the younger two and are a strong support system for each other. To make the attic less scary for the twins, they decorate it with paper flowers and constantly find new ways of entertaining them.

Together they deal with the whip lashings dealt by their grandmother; going hungry so that the twins have enough to eat and their mother’s disinterest and eventual abandonment.

The events of the three years slowly change the relationship between the elder brother and sister from a platonic to a physical one.

The ending though, is far from happy. Andrews wrote 3 sequels following ‘flowers in the attic’ which continues the story of the siblings and their quest for a better happier life.

Though many might find it offensive, I liked the book because of the range of emotions the author has so explicitly described and never knew that an impulse buy would lead to such a whirlwind reading experience.
By: Maasoom D.