Archive for the ‘Non Fiction’ Category

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Decision Points

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Decision PointsDecision Points by George W. Bush is easy to read and to the point. I love the way the book is structured around key decisions during his presidency. I enjoyed it thoroughly and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in finding out how and why George W. Bush made the key decisions during his presidency.

He came across as a patriotic President to me. Also, I learnt the complexity of making decisions that affects the world as the President of America. It’s not black and white as we, the commoners, perceive because there are so many details and facts that only the top administration is aware of. I think it will take at least a decade or more to figure out if his decisions were right or wrong. One thing is for sure and that is: he became President at one of the most unfortunate time in history. If I understand it right, even Abraham Lincoln was a very unpopular President during his term and was often ridiculed. It is only now that we know that he was one of the greatest Presidents. So, let the time judge the presidency of George W. Bush.

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Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

Spoken from the HeartI enjoyed reading ‘Spoken from the Heart’ by Laura Bush. I have always admired her as the First Lady and so, I was really interested in her book. I found her very elegant, poised, composed and matured. This book confirmed my opinion about Mrs. Bush. It’s just amazing how much America does for the needful all over the world. It might be that other countries are as charitable but I am just impressed with generosity and charitable nature of Americans overall.

I share Mrs. Bush’s love for the books. I am convinced that first and foremost it is prayers and devotion to God and then it is education that enables us to overcome our adverse situations and makes us better-off. So, I commend her efforts towards spreading literacy and improving education wherever possible. I was born and brought up in Calcutta and we had a book fair every January. I used to look forward to that book fair so much. It was my opportunity to look at so many different kinds of books. So, I am so happy to read about Mrs. Bush’s effort to start the tradition of book fair in America. I wish we had a book fair in Tupelo. If any of the Tupeleons reading this article has the stamina, time, contacts and feels inspired to start a book fair, I’ll be honored to help. Annual book fairs are a huge step towards promoting the love for books.

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Cane River

Monday, April 25th, 2011

Cane RiverCane River by Lalita Tademy is an indepth look into slavery and Creole culture in Louisiana. The author chronicles four generations and enlightens the readers of the lives of slave women pre, during and post civil war. All these women were so strong, brave and above all, practical! This is also a story of mixing of races and its repercussions. Next time, I go to Louisiana these stories will come to my mind when I see the faces of locals over there. Thank you Mr. Abraham Lincoln for the “The Emancipation Proclamation”!

The prevalent human thinking of fairer skin is better than a dark one seems to be inherent in most cultures. This is a shame! I wish we could learn by now that dark is beautiful as is night. I wish we can learn that dark skin doesn’t make you inferior in any respect whatsoever. It makes me feel so happy and proud that our President is an African American! We have indeed come a long way! We don’t have slaves in India but the way some servants, untouchables and poor people were treated was no better. It’s a shame that Indians, who are mostly brown skinned, when it comes to choosing a wife, the fairer skin is always more beautiful to us. It is with a shame that I share that when my family visited America for the first time in late 1980s, I noticed that if an African American would pass us, we would clutch the handbags tightly as if the person has higher probability of being a thief just because he/she is dark skinned. I kept thinking about all these while reading this book.

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Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and IndonesiaEat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert really motivated me to meditate more. I had a strong desire to go to a meditation camp where all I’ll do is cleanse myself and meditate. Then I will be ready to come back recharged to enjoy this beautiful world more thoroughly. In fact, we used to do that when Shri Mataji used to arrange a week of meditation seminar in Ganapatipule in India. I surely do miss that.

It was fascinating for me to read the “Pray” part of the book as Elizabeth Gilbert has iterated most of the knowledge of Sahaja Yoga. She did a great job explaining what Yoga is and also, she did an amazing job at dispelling the myth about Yoga. Anybody who is inquisitive about meditation must read this book.

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Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories of a Prodigal Daughter

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Things I've Been Silent AboutFor the first time, I understand the history of Iran because of the book, Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories of a Prodigal Daughter by Azar Nafisi. She has explained the history of Iran very well by narrating her own life history. Iran’s culture is so rich and deep but it’s so sad that the fanatics have been trying to erase her heritage. They don’t realize that they can only put a veil on the rich literature of Iran for a time being. It is impossible to erase it completely.

Azar’s mother was an interesting person. It seems to me that all she needed was lots and lots of love, praise and encouragement. To me, it seems like Azar’s mother was stuck in a vicious circle of self-pity and low self-esteem. Her mother was a very intelligent person but she went through her share of tragedies. Probably that’s why she seemed like a very hard person to live with. I kind of agree with her mother’s observation that sometimes children find the parent who indulge more charming than the parent who discipline. One lesson that I hope I never forget is when Azar tell us that parents usually protect kids from strangers but not adult relatives and friends. It is usually the relative and friend we trust who harm our children.

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