LIVING AND LEARNING
The process of decluttering is
painful . I undertook a marathon
decluttering session which lasted over a couple of days. It is heartbreaking to
discard personal possessions, many of which are just keep sakes, mementos and reminders
of people and places. They are of immense emotional value. Some papers and
files find a place to stay, for you
might just need them on a rainy day. Clothes you hope to get into, jars that
you might re-use, documents which remind you of things you once possessed and
so on and so forth. Over the months I had saved so many things, not really out of necessity. I have also realized that
clearing out cupboards and shelves, once in a while, helps you remember the
things you have and the places in which they have been safely kept.
On one of the shelves I found a
small slim book of short stories and as soon as I held it in my hand, it
started to give way. It was not very old, I have books from a much earlier
period, may be this one was to be used as a text book and printed on paper to
be used for a short period of time. From
the first page I learnt that it was a birthday gift, titled, Once Upon a time, presented two decades ago,
to my daughter, by her friend Moushumi, . It was a collection of eleven short stories,
edited by Soubhagya Kumar Misra, Reader in English, Berhampur University. He
had provided adequate notes, 'to not only
acquaint the reader with the art of story-telling but also to deepen the
understanding and enjoyment of life!' I’d say the editor succeeded in his
mission, this book provided me the energy to keep going. My daughter has
introduced me to a new way of working, a technique called Pomodore, wherein you work for 25 minutes and then take a short break of 3-5 minutes, till the task
is done. Every once in a while I would take a break and go back to the book to
relish a story.
I am sure I have read this
anthology earlier, yet I enjoyed the stories again. I remembered one instantly,
another after I had read a few lines and most I did not seem to recall. They
were short short stories and they appealed to me very much. I personalized each
one of the. Each one appeared to convey something invaluable to me and I wanted
to preserve my thoughts for a later day. On going through the editors note, I realised how the story could
convey different things to different
people and that was the magic of these master story tellers.
I read the stories from start to
finish in the order in which they appeared. Generally I would have read these
stories in any random order which appealed to me. It was because the first
story, Princess September by Somerset Maugham was truly appealing. It is the story of nine sisters, princesses,
named after the months January to September.
In life, there is this overwhelming need to conform, to do what our
mothers have done, to keep doing what everyone has always been
doing. There is so much opposition when
one wants to do things differently. In order not to acquiesce, one needs to be strong
and sure. Woman today, including educated and financially independent, are grappling with issues in the changing
society and I wish I get that strength
which Princess September got.
The story I remembered instantly
was After 20 years by O Henry, a story of two friends. Although I have enjoyed
it every time I read it, what struck me this time was the arrogance of wealth,
and especially ill gotten wealth. The story which touched me deeply was Where love is, God is by Leo Tolstoy.
The protagonist, a poor cobbler, goes about his chores with a sense of duty and
discipline, two values I hold dear. To me, it answered the question, Why do simple common folk like us need
religion? Not the religious customs and rituals and the commandments of
speaking the truth and not cheating.
This story made me rethink about duty and discipline in the context of
religion.
The story Resignation by Premchand ,
set during the days of the British Raj tells how one man fights oppression. To me it was really all
about the love and faith of the spouse which empowered the clerk with self respect and dignity. Mystery
of the missing cap by Manoj Das is so true of today's political leaders who
are so full of themselves and are unable to see through false praise and
sycophancy. There were stories from masters all over the world and by the time
I finished reading the other stories, the pages sadly had come apart, many of
them into bits and I had to discard what was left of it. But this valuable book
lives on in my blog- The
Open Window by Saki, Ha'penny by Alan Paton,
An Ideal Family by Katherine
Mansfield, The Fugitive Gold by Rabindranath Tagore, The Missing Mail by RK
Narayan, Only a Dog by Kalindi Charan Panigrahi. It feels great to know that I am learning and
growing even now, a journey which began in my hometown, which I am so fortunate
to visit again, very soon.
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