Chez Moi

Dee had written a post about JKR and Warner Bros’ action against the poor bloke who ran the Harry Potter Lexicon for years. It was irresistible and I started typing out my comment till it got so big, I decided to transfer it here.

My respect for J K Rowling as a writer was directly proportional to the quality of the work she churned out, which started on a slow downward swing post-Goblet of Fire. Undisputably, she created something mega with Potter and blew the whole children’s genre out of the water. But IMO, she peaked with GoF and every book after that was more like an exercise to make money than a creative output.  I mean, what’s with the Order of the Phoenix? ‘More verbose than Bible’ - so bloody what? So many words to explain so few things? Crime against Goddess Saraswati, I call it!

Declaring Dumbledore as gay was nothing but a publicity stunt, to generate a buzz amongst the fans - something to keep them talking till the movie is released. Pottermania has understandably ebbed after the release of the final book and they need something to create a buzz till they can start publicising the movie.

Now this…. she’s just proving that she isn’t different from anybody else.

Most things she’d said are a load of tripe - take the oft-repeated ‘oh I hate this merchandising palaver’ statement. She went to great lengths to assure one and all that she had to put her foot down else we would all have been saddled with a Moaning Myrtle toilet seat the Christmas after Chamber of Secrets. Now, had she been such a do-gooder, why the hell did she say ‘NO MERCHANDISING AND THAT IS IT’? If the thought of Potter dolls and Myrtle loo seats made her shudder so much, why the hell didn’t she say ‘let us do away with the whole thing’. Simple reason - moolah.

That’s what it all has come to. That’s what everything boils down to. Doesn’t matter if you are richer than the Queen. Let’s face it - there cannot be another Potter phenomenon. Even is she turns out another bestseller (who am I kidding?), chances of it reaching the heights of HP is slim. So, I suppose, it is a case of making hay while the sun shines.

Meanwhile, Steve Vander Ark, good luck to you, mate! And good look to all the owners of the other Harry Potter fan sites - keep your fingers crossed that she doesn’t turn her guns on you tomorrow!

Ok, I am soooo chuffed about this that I want to shout it out to the whole world. So here I am doing it!

Guess who replied to my comment? Here’s the clue:

Ashok Banker Says:
September 11th, 2007 at 9:05 pm

Hello DG,

Thank you! You’re clearly the kind of reader I write for–and am myself. Why can’t our stories and legends be cool too, right? Well, I gave it a shot, and am glad you (and a few lakh others) think it turned out okay.

I know how you feel and wish I could hurry the Mba, but I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s more important to do a good job–or a really great job, god willing–than rush it. As it is, we live in a world where everything’s instant and overnight. Let there be some things that take their own time and are worth the wait. Sabara ka phal meetha.

Regards
Ashok

Unbelievable! One of my favourite authors actually responded to my remarks. Wahey! Thanks be to you, Dee!

For those philistines who don’t know who Ashok Banker is, he is the author of Ramayana. That age old story by Valmiki has been jazzed up and served with a new twist, thanks to Mr Banker. Please buy a copy today and be a part of the magic. 

I just finished reading the latest and the last book of J K Rowling’s series. It is still too early to form any sensible opinion about the book but I can confess to feeling sort of anti-climatic. Not the way she has ended it though parts of it will not sink till I read it at a much slower pace next time. More about the fact that this is it - no more Harry, no more adventures, no more save the world capers.

Though I do not think I will need grievance counsellors like some kids around the world, like most of Muggle-dom, I do experience a sense of ‘whoa! It has ended!’ Am I surprised with the way the book ended? Not really. Am I shocked with some of the explanations? Hmmm, may be. Was I happy to part with 8.99 pounds? Hell yeah!

But am I the only one who feels that the title doesn’t really fit the bill?

We all know what an impossible soul dear ole Ams is. She never does anything by halves. So she’s gone and listed an impressive array of tomes in her Indian authors/books. I have as much chance as the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of coming up with one half so impressive. So I decided to go my way and make it short n’ sweet.

So here is my list of Indian authors / books I have read or would love to read:

1. Ashok Banker’s Seige of Mithila - Second book in his very impressive Ramayana series. Can’t wait to lay my hands on it. It was Dee who relentlessly badgered me into reading the first one and like Ams, I wasn’t really hooked onto it from the start. The twins calling one another ‘Shot’ and ‘Luck’ sounded more Hardy Boys-ish than anything. But once I passed those, it was pure heaven. A must-read.

2. Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan - I have read parts of it when it was serialised but for a long time now, have been meaning to read it in its entirety. Mean to get my mitts on my mum’s copy when I visit the folks later in this year. Ooh!

3. Vikram Seth’s An Equal Music - yeah yeah I own up to not having read this till now. I have borrowed it now from the library so should get cracking on it soon!

4. David Davidar’s House of Blue Mangoes - heard / read good things about this one. When I heard he is the Mad Momma’s uncle, I am determined to read it!!! (Call me shallow!)

5. Jawahara Saidulla’s Burden of Foreknowledge - Sujatha Bagal of Blogpourri has said such lovely things about this book that I am compelled to put it on my ‘must read’ list. Added to it, the fact that she is a Desicritic makes her work unmissable!

6. Saavi’s Washingtonil Thirumanam - absolutely hilarious! Made me long for the traditional Tambram weddings of yore. ‘Shhhiver bath’ is a phrase you would not forget!

Phew! Time to pass the baton to Apu, Dee, Suj, Premalatha, Dubukku and my fellow mummy bloggers MM, Tharini, Itchy and Boo.

Big thanks to the Mad Momma and Dubukku for responding to the tag. Their spectacular efforts have made me hang my head in shame to see such impressive lists of Indian authors / books.

We have a mini-library of sorts in my team, at work. Well, mini-library seems a rather grand way of describing what it is, a collection of books, but we take it very seriously - we even have a librarian to monitor the traffic! Most of the books in this collection are light, even frivolous read - none of the blood chilling or brain workout-y type of books I’d like to get my teeth into, so I generally
stay away from it.

But one day, a random thought struck me and I actually went through these books. Most of them were written by women and covered subjects such as shopping, clothes, dating, partying, drinking, sex… ‘chick lit’, as I describe it. Not that I have anything against such things, I even borrowed one such book when the library was shut. As I was reading all about three enterprising women and their ideas to nab themselves a dishy guy, I couldn’t help wondering how come we have no such books in the desi market.

How come us desis girls don’t muck about such light material? Lord knows we could tell the world a thing or two. How tough it is to walk past a crowd of roadside romeos without batting an eyelid; how to cross the road opposite Ethiraj College (in Chennai) without getting run over by blokes driving outsized bikes; how to go on a date without grandparents and assorted relatives spotting you around the countryside. There’s also the intriguing life of upstairs-wali Mallika and her shenanigans, the old boy next-door and what he gets upto when maami goes to the market, Flat Association President mama who makes sheep eyes at Lily aunty’s cleavage at the committee meetings… well, you get my drift?

Why is it that the desi literature scene so heavy? Is it because us desis cannot read chick lit or anything half so flimsy? Do we need meaty subjects all the time? Why? Why can’t we kick back with the tale of Meena and Seema as they try to plot their way around their workplace, trying to get past the letch Mohan or Ammu, as she tries to solve the mystery of who-put-the-salt-in-the-soup-and-ruined-her-dinner-party?

I say the desi lit world needs some input from the likes of us Desi Chicks. The Jhumpa Lahiris, Arundhathi Roys and Kiran Desais can have their hard core, heavy works but we need some fresh, new blood from some regular Janes too.

What say my gal pals?