The writer's course material arrived some weeks back. I started working on them. It is now time to do the first assignment. I hope I shall do a decent job at it. I have been putting off working on the assignment as I have been depressed for some weeks now. However it has not been so bad in the last two weeks.
I got some reading done.
I liked best 'Venus In Furs' by Leopold von Masoch. I have been meaning to read it for quite some time. It is truly a masterpiece of its genre. I can't wait to read more of his works. It makes a simple and clinical catalog of one of the most misunderstood and deep rooted human desires. It is revolutionary even in today's standards, I cannot imaging what an impact it made in those days.
I started reading 'bhavishya purana' or the scripture of prophecies. I have read many quotes and references to Queen Victoria and Hitler exist in the scripture not to mention innumerable mentions of Indian men and kings. It is a large book and will take quite some time for me to finish.
'Anthem' by Ayn Rand was great. I cannot wait to read 'The Fountainhead' and 'Atlas Shrugged'. I gives you great pleasure to read it and in a strange way conveys the almost unimaginable cocktail of despair and hope that her characters go through. I have read one other book by her, I believe it was 'On the night of July the 16' or something sounding like that.
Yesterday, I just finished 'The Communist Manifesto' by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels. It was actually read. I think 'Das Capital' would also be interesting if I find a good translation.
Currently I am reading 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'. I am in the fourth chapter. I am giving special attention to D. H. Lawrence's techniques of indirect narration as I think it will help with my writing.
Next on the list is, The Odyssey, and two works by Hemingway.
I watched a bunch of movies too.
'Do Bhiga Zameen' was good. It is an out and out tragedy, which was an ideal subject for many movie makers for decades in India. It gives a human angle to the tragedy and plays it as a tradegy of men and minds rather that one of fate and destiny. It ends with a positive note, nevertheless.
'Adi Shankaracharya' which is the only feature film made entirely in Sanskrit till date, is a good movie. I was not particularly impressed with the supporting cast, but the lead roles did justice to their roles. The pace of the movie is irregular and leaves the viewer lost and confused at times. At places it changes the narration and inconsistencies creep in.
'Shri Madhwacharya' is much more simple and direct in its presentation. It is based on a single and authoritative biographical epic poem and gives a reasonable idea of his life. Understandably, a man's life that lasted 79 years cannot be put into a 3 hour movie without omissions, but it is a fairly good job.
'Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani' which is movie on Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis an Indian doctor who volunteered to fight the Japanese invaders in China during WW2. He was for long considered an icon of Indo-Chinese friendship. These sentiments sort of diluted after the Sino-India war, but it is still spoken of highly in China. The movie, in my opinion, lacked focus and spent more time concocting a love story than speaking of the war that engulfed most of the world around them. Perhaps that is how all the world sees life. As oasis of love and faith in the world that has little but tragedy and cruelty. I am not particularly convinced.
Done.
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