In previous years, we welcomed the family members from other countries and I told my sons to form a “Welcome committee” and try to arrange gifts, plan out places to visit, and get a sense of the extended family in an intentional way.
So in July of 2016-I had told my sons to arrange gifts for their uncle Bharat and family. I gathered books-momentoes from areas where we had stayed, Letters to his daughter-by Nehru, a plaque of the Temples of Cyrene-which was part of Greek Libya (modern day Shahat) and Symbols of the Knights of St.John of Malta, and views of Sultanahmet-(the historic Constantinople) from Bosphorus.
A year before that, in July 2015, when their aunt Appu had come from Mumbai-we had gone to Niagara falls and seen different facets, including the “Blue Moon”-a second full moon in a calendar month
Now –anticipating Appu’s visit again- I told the boys about the “Welcome Committee” and they started rolling up their eyes.
So, just posting some pictures of Yester-years-to make them a bit more motivated
MAID OF THE MIST-Boat-ride-Niagara-we drove back pretty late that day-as waited to see the sound and light show on the Occasion of Blue Moon- July 2015
Sep 2017- Naturalization zone near Candlestick-Bharat-Bhai-Priti going for walk together
The Naturalization zone near our house- is a nice place to Think-Discuss-Reflect
Hopefully –weather permitting- will explore some areas of Hamilton
Dundurn-Burlington Heights
And Re-visit Wilket Creek area-Central Don-Toronto
and Port Credit- Jack Darling, Rattray Marsh and surrounding areas
Maybe, will take advice of some of my well wishers- and just go for some walks
What are we supposed to get out of this (story, poem, play)?
While the formal reading group meets once a month, I read and discussed the same pieces of literature in different locations informally.
BURLINGTON PLAZA-BRANT STREET, ONTARIO- Mai-orignially from Taiwan-now living in Hamilton, runs this cafe with his wife. A lunch time Reading -Thinking place , we discuss and learn many things about life, work, community in that break
In the previous book club discussion-(February-2018) on Madeliene Thein’s- Do not say we have nothing- the members had varied responses.
One experienced reader said that he stopped at Page 127, the characters were too difficult to keep track of, and the historical context of the Cultural revolution was not clear. Another experienced reader said that she went through the whole book- to Honour the memory of the people whose struggle the book tells about
Another experienced reader said that she went through the whole book- to Honour the memory of the people whose struggle the book tells about
An Alternate Memory
The book ends on the note by the author- Not everyone who supported and strengthened this story can be named. To my beloved friends in Shanghai, Hangzhou,Beijing, and Danhuang, thank you for accompanying me through the book of records and an alternate memory of history. Remember what I say- Not everything will pass.
The book takes us inside two talented families musicians of China , lives of two entwined generations- Those who weathered Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and their children , who became the Tiananmen Square protestors.
What are we supposed to get?
In their introduction to the pocket anthology of literature, Gywnn and Campbell write that if you have really savoured the full experience that good literature offers, then the first thing you should get “out of” will be your own skin- when you do that you will answer your own question. For a few moments you lose your own identity and see through the eyes of an Elizabethian Englishman, a modern Nigerian, or a contemporary Canadian woman, and you may just find that in some significant way your own manner of looking at the world will never be quite the same again.
Some books which got us into different Skins – The Reading list
Robert Sawyer’s-Calculating God-made us discuss the meaning of ultimate reality. The book takes place in the present day and describes the arrival on Earth of sentient aliens. The bulk of the novel covers the many discussions and arguments on this topic, as well as about the nature of belief, religion, and science. Thomas Jericho, a paleontologist working at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, makes the first human-to-alien contact when a Forhilnor, a spider-like alien from the third planet of the Beta Hydri system arrives on Earth to investigate Earth’s evolutionary history. The alien, Hollus, has come to Earth to gain access to the museum’s large collection of fossils, and to study accumulated human knowledge in order to gather evidence of the existence of God. It seems that Earth and Hollus’ home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling with Hollus, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at roughly the same time. Hollus believes that the universe was created by a god, to provide a place where life could develop and evolve. Thomas Jericho is an atheist who provides a balance to the philosophical discussion regarding the existence of gods.(source-Wikipedia)
Robert Sawyer’s-Calculating God-made us discuss the meaning of ultimate reality. The book takes place in the present day and describes the arrival on Earth of sentient aliens. The bulk of the novel covers the many discussions and arguments on this topic, as well as about the nature of belief, religion, and science. Thomas Jericho, a paleontologist working at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, makes the first human-to-alien contact when a Forhilnor, a spider-like alien from the third planet of the Beta Hydri system arrives on Earth to investigate Earth’s evolutionary history. The alien, Hollus, has come to Earth to gain access to the museum’s large collection of fossils, and to study accumulated human knowledge in order to gather evidence of the existence of God. It seems that Earth and Hollus’ home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling with Hollus, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at roughly the same time. Hollus believes that the universe was created by a god, to provide a place where life could develop and evolve. Thomas Jericho is an atheist who provides a balance to the philosophical discussion regarding the existence of gods.(source-Wikipedia)
March 2018-Readings- Riverwood
Going to open places to read- gives an interesting twist to the reading experience.
This morning, went to Riverwood and read again- about the Inmate Shadow from Neil Gaiman’s –American Gods. Shadow is released early from prison as his wife Laura dies in a car crash. He meets Wednesday and goes into crime. The use of language by Gaiman helps expand, and going by the experience of “Getting Out of your Skin” the author gets the reader into the mind-frame of different characters.
Example-
Shadow remembers his carousel ride as a child in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco –on his first trip to the States and the sound of music makes him wish as though the last 36 hours had never happened (when he gets out of jail and goes to his wife’s funeral) , as if the last three years had not happened (his jail term).
Riverwood-3-3-18 –American Gods-Neil Gaimon
Perspective Note
Keeping a Reading Journal enhances the reading experience in many ways. Going to different-“thinking places” to read adds another twist. Different reading member groups bring different flavours to the reading experience. In this quarter we discussed-read three books-which bring out concepts of Faith, Community, life in different ways.
A home library consists of unique books- with related notes- and picture library, and journals-diaries which provide a great resource to gaining and building perspectives.
As it becomes a bit warmer, I did my first walk and reading of Riverwood- of this season.
RIVERWOOD-MISSISSAUGA-One of our Reading-Thinking places There are many facets to this beautiful zone. One of them is Nature. Then there is Visual Arts Mississauga where there are interesting art programs. I use this area as a Thinking-Reading place, where we have discussed many interesting books-ranging from Stories of Libyan writers to Essays of James Baldwin to Writings of Nehru, Amartya Sen to business-management books. A Reading Habit can have many interesting facets which add to one’s humanity.
HOME LIBRARY
In our family home library- we have many books collected from different locations- and have made jottings on where I first got that book from, or whom I read it with, or with whom we discussed it. Recently I went to a bookstore in a Village in Mountain locations in Hamilton- the Pickwick Books.
PICKWICK-BOOKS-Waterdown-Hamilton-Reminded me of many lovely evenings spent browsing through books in Aurobindo Place Market-Delhi
This reminded me of the many lovely evenings I spent in Delhi’s Midland book store- Aurobindo place market, with my mentor Dr.Sandeep Kawlra- and how we would eat chaat next to the Free Church of Greenpark. I got hold of a book-an anthology of literature- and quickly went out- as I would otherwise start buying more books.
The first story I started reading was “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri, which is featured as one of the great writings of the past hundred years. In the introduction, the editors write about Lahiri’s sense of exile created by being connected to but not to fully belonging to three different continents- a theme of much of her work.
NEHRU’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Gifted to me by my grandfather-Dr. Ganesh Prasad Uniyal- this is the first book from our collection in Mississauga. I have kept similar family library collections in Palam-Delhi region and Fornaaj-Tripoli region (which I will recover some day-when I return to Tripoli).
TEEN MURTI BHAWAN- DELHI-INDIA..The lawns make for a nice Reading place. There is a nice canteen which serves very reasonable good food.
While there is much talk about the recent visit of Canadian Prime Minister- Justin Trudeau – to India and the concept of Indian nationhood, we went through some pages of Nehru’s autobiography and also Ramachandra Guha’s –India after Gandhi- in which Guha has written about the Unnatural Nation –where the forces that divide are many, but there are also forces that have kept India together, that have helped transcend or contain the cleavages of class and culture, that- so far, at least- have nullified those many predictions that India would not stay united and not stay democratic.
KEY POINTS ABOUT READING PLACES-HOME LIBRARY
As this blog enters it’s tenth year, I looked at the different Readings-Travels-Discussions-meetings which have shaped our journeys.
Three things which make a Unique Home library
Books- in which there are jottings on where one acquired the book- or with whom did one discuss or where.
For example- the Autobiography of Nehru was acquired by us- as a gift from my Grandfather, when our family was staying in Pratap Chowk-Delhi Cantonment- in 1982.
I have kept this book with me in our home library of Mississauga- as the first book of the collection.
The book-India after Gandhi-by Ramachandra Guha- I acquired in Mumbai- and this book has been discussed read in Tripoli Reading Group, in post-revolutionary Libya, with several Libyans who are still trying to come to terms with their Nationhood after the overthrow of Gaddafi who ruled for 42 years.
A view from Corniche-Near Mahari-Tripoli-Libya…a beautiful place to read and feel the Mediterranean breeze
Diaries-Journals-
These build perspective as to how life is, who we are, and what we can become.
I have kept joint journals with different family members, and another unique section is –Letter to a Loved one who has passed away. In these collection of letters- I have written to different family members who have passed away, and this is a great way to build long term perspective.
As writer –psychologist-Dr.Phil McGraw says in his book-Real Life- that when a loved one passes away physically our relation with them does not end, but becomes a spiritual relation. This point has been written in different ways by Coach John Wooden and Viktor Frankl- (Man’s search for Meaning). These books form part of our Home Library collection.
Following the cues of these writers- I started writing a monthly letter to my parents-and for now three years running, I have found many interesting changes in family life and perspectives due to these writings. I also write a monthly letter-with a book summary to my grandfather-Dr.GP Uniyal- he was a teacher of Political science- and though I am a medical doctor this exercise of writing book summaries-made me think on what would be interesting or noteworthy to my grandfather. This made me look at books in a different way. Recently in Courtney Park-Book Club- we read and discussed Madeliene Thien’s -Do not say you have nothing- which tells about life in China during and after the Cultural revolution. Writing a letter to my grandfather-summarizing that book- was a great perspective building exercise.
Photographs
Each family has a unique collection of photographs, (and in today’s world-Videos) which add to the uniqueness of that Family. The blog is a great place to keep these in one place, to be able to look back and reflect and mine those experiences.
GOZO-XLENDI..It is very peaceful here, especially in off season winter time- to read and walk
END NOTE…
one can look at the same experience (Reading) with different “Thinking Hats”
As a diary entry– It was drizzling in Riverwood on the morning of February 25,2018, there were some sections of Ice, which made it slippery, but the experience of reading in a forest was unique
As a Reading Journal entry– As we went through the different books we have on Indian Nationhood-from Nehru’s Autobiography to India After Gandhi-by Ramachandra Guha, to India in Slow Motion by Mark Tully to The Argumentative Indian- by Amartya Sen, we had some lively and in-depth discussions on the different facets of identity.
As a Library Inventory note- We discussed the different sections of the home library, and how our sense of community grew out of the books we carried with us, through our journeys across Continents. We had a re-look at some collections of essays-and remembered how we had gone through essays on Identity like those of James Baldwin- Alas Poor Richard and Notes of a Native son- sitting in Malta.
Prashant Bhatt's notes 