The Reading Challenge Again-I

I thoroughly enjoyed the reading challenge of the  year 2021. It not only opened my eyes to the vast array of absorbing books but also the purpose which I think books serve... to turn you into a thinking person. I found reading to be extremely comforting, it was as if I had found myself a friend, who would stay with me for life. I started spending more time in the world of books than anywhere else and she proved to be a true friend, always holding me. She would rouse passions in me of thoughts and feelings, and take me to places I yearned to visit and meet people I truly admired. 

During the intervening years, I was never away from my books but I read them more intermittently when not participating in the challenge. I decided to take it up again this year and find my self rewarded ! What a blessedness it is to inhabit other worlds while enriching your own! This year, I'm going to record my feelings elaborately, providing me succor and satisfaction of the kind which only my book friends can impart. 

This year I am determined to take up the 52 Book Club’s 2025 Reading Challenge. I have already matched the prompts with my books on my TBR list. I find my self reading all the time, some titles are so absorbing, simply unputdownable. 

Also this year, I plan to meticulously write a detailed review for my blog. Reading them once in a while, makes me really happy! Books have been my constant companions and they are one of a kind- friend, mentor, guide, beloved, all rolled into one! Once every month, I shall add a review each for the four books I finish reading. And so, we get started!

January 

1. Prompt: Set in Winter

Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway by Emma Fick. 

I have just finished reading the book, Border Crossings by Emma Fick. She writes about her journey, during the off season, namely the snow covered winter, on the Trans-Siberian railway which she boarded at Beijing. Her journey took her via Mongolia up to  Moscow in Russia. It was a very interesting personal account, turning the pages felt like reading from the pages of a hand written diary. She has painstakingly illustrated the book, it was colourful with the fonts differing from page to page. It was a delightful account encompassing all aspects of the journey including the description of the landscape outside, the railway carriage inside, the stops and halts, the train personnel and co- passengers and the various interesting places which she visited. It was a truly fascinating account. 

It also helped me understand the true passion of travellers. Emma Fick recounts in detail, what inspired her to undertake this journey, how she prepared for it, the obstacles and changes she had to accommodate and finally, the thrill of the journey itself. Above all, one needs courage, to expect the unexpected and to deal with unplanned uncertainties and challenges. And that comes with travelling often.

2. Prompt: Has short chapters

The Rupa Book of Great Animal Stories edited by Ruskin Bond.

This book consists of several short stories, of  real encounters with animals, some pets, others wild, some startling and some anticipated. Most of them are set in India, and tell of thrilling and exciting encounters from an age gone by. 

All are first person accounts, and are as exciting as any love story, the sense of connection and intimacy between man and animal is palpable. Some stories are very heartwarming but a few are heartbreaking and heart wrenching as well. The stories have been compiled and edited by Ruskin Bond and the book includes three of his published short stories. I was overwhelmed reading each and every story.

3. Prompt: Breaks the fourth wall

Only love is real by Dr. Brian Weiss.

This book lay on my TBR list for sometime. The paperback edition was a gift to my daughter from her friend and I picked it up after fifteen years. By then, my reading list also included books on Hindu Spirituality. I was reading a lot on Karma, Dharma and the afterlife, also the transmigration of the soul. It was in this backdrop, that I finally decided to include this book in my reading challenge.

The first book I read from this genre, Only Love is Real, deals with Past-life regression through therapeutic hypnosis by the expert in the field, Dr. Brian Weiss. Although the author has met with great success, I was not completely convinced that the narrations all belonged to a past life. Could it not have been the work of a fertile or an overactive imagination?? I'm afraid the book did not spur me on to read any more of that genre. Truly, I was unable to crack the glass ceiling. 

4. Prompt: In the public domain

Mrityunjaya - The Death Conquerer, by Shivaji Sawant. 

I have just read the book, Mrityunjaya - The Death Conquerer, The Story of  Karna by  Shivaji Sawant. Written originally in Marathi, it has been translated into English by Nandini Nopany and P Lal.

It is the gripping tale of Karna, one of the protagonists of the Mahabharata War. In the introduction, we learn that Karna comes closest to the idea of a tragic hero. The well known story is narrated in the first person, variously by Karna, his brother Shon, friend Duryodhan, Kunti Mata and finally, Lord Sri Krishna himself.   

It's the great story of a real hero, of how Karna, overcame all odds, from the accident of his birth to his false lineage and how through strength of character, he made his life blessed; the story is told endearingly and with empathy. If fate robbed him of his identity, it gave him a loving home, loving parents and a brother. 

His friendship with Duryodhana is legendary. But in my view, as presented in the book, his friendship with Ashwatthama was selfless . Both were devoted to one another till the very end. What an enviable friend was he!  An ideal family man, a peerless warrior,  an ardent devotee and a man of charity..in the end even Sri Krishna acknowledges the great warrior who fell in the battlefield defending his friend. 

The book is also a treatise on human psychology. It's filled with wise words and life lessons. I quote just three of the many you will find in this book. 

i. Life is nothing but Samskaras. Even the worm that hides in the flower's mouth gets placed at the feet of the idol simply because it happens to be in good company.

ii. Look at that drifting stick! All human life is like that. The real life is that which faces the buffeting waves.

iii. The waters of a lake do not know the fragrance of the pollen of full blown lotuses. It is the distant bee who knows it. (People close to us sometimes do not know us well.)

The book is also a store house of rare information. Karna goes on a conquering mission from the east to the west and north of India. He mentions kingdoms and kings! How rich and grand they appear! Geographically, they seem familiar. I wish we could map our country with ancient names, which are so beautiful. What is the source of all these names? Where do we find them ? I wish the author had stated the sources from where he has gleaned the details presented in the book.

Finally, a word about the publication. I downloaded the book from archives.com. Sadly, it has been uploaded very carelessly, the page numbers are not in order and one required immense patience to locate them and continue with the story. At two very important parts, a page is altogether missing and this filled me with grief. I do not know if a proper printed text exists. 

February 

5. Prompt: Includes a diary entry

Food on the Move by Sharon Hudgins. 

What  interesting topics to write about - food and trains! Food on the Move is wonderfully researched and chronicled on two topics dear to every train traveller - “the attraction of eating well-served food while gazing outside at the passing scenery.” The essays are accompanied by detailed photographs and included are, diary entries of travellers and menu cards and some authentic recipes provided by the Railways themselves. 

The book mentions the iconic luxury trains: The flying Scotsman, The Orient Express, The trans-Siberian railway, Santa Fe Super Chief, Canada's long distance railways, Australia's Ghan Railway, Japan's Bullet Train, The Darjeeling Himalayan Line and South African Luxury Trains.

Personally, another observation worthy of mention is the absence of vegetarian fare. Japan's Bullet trains did have a few Bento options until Western choices were introduced. They proved to be more sustainable as they were a convenient option. 

The book was very engaging and interesting. I enjoyed reading about Canada's long distance trains as it also mentions the landscape one traverses while enjoying the meals . But the one I wished to travel on was Australia's The Ghan. The essay provided a truly mesmerising account of both travel and food on the move! 

However, the purpose of train travel changed over the period of time , from luxury entertainment to travel commute for the common man. But as long as they ran their course, I'm sure the luxury trains provided several thrilling and enjoyable train journeys and interesting travel stories as well. 

6. Prompt: Author’s last name is also a first name

The Land of War Elephants: Travels beyond the Pale Afghanistan, Pakistan and India By Mathew Wilson

Part travelogue, part history, 'The Land of War Elephants' is an immensely absorbing account of the years Mathew Wilson, an officer of the British Army,  spent in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. 

As a traveller, he's a daredevil, telling stories of adventure. He describes landscapes and writes about the place and its people. He recounts his time as an unbiased and objective social / historical observer reporting on political events which shaped the Central Asian countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

One of the interesting experiences he narrates in detail is his visit to Jhansi, twenty one years later, to honour a promise made to a Hindu priest in Central India to seek, find and follow the fleeting shadow of the Rani of Jhansi, one of the heroines of India's 1857 revolt against British rule. 

He pays a tribute to the courageous queen when he writes at the end, " I have a feeling that if India, and the region, is to find a road into the twenty-second century, it will be a woman who will achieve it. Pray, for youth is the only hope for the future, that it will be a young woman." 

He observes and writes about the 'human kinship and its common historic links' of the  countries he writes about. He makes some very astute political observations. "The frontiers drawn were untenable," he writes of the India-Pakistan divide by the British. He is dismayed by the political unrest in the region and prays for the whole of Central Asia, for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the countries through which he drove on his route from Pakistan to England. The book ends with his fervent prayer, "Lakshmi, if ever the prayers consecrated by the myriad votive lights of Divali are to be answered, let a new age of peace dawn."

7) Features a magician: 

What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most  By Elizabeth Benedict (Editor)

What do women remember about their mother?  What is that one unforgettable gift  they received from their mother? The answers were a mixed bag, from objects to observations, and yet each memory was remarkable, each gift, thought provoking. Women express their feelings variously, about their mother's gift; there is love and joy, thankfulness and gratefulness, grief and sadness. There is sympathy and empathy, understanding and support. As I read story after story -a lump would form in my throat and I needed to pause again and again - I was overwhelmed, and many times moved to tears.

But I have also learnt more about myself as a mother and how my thoughts, words and actions have had a profound impact on my daughters. Some stories, reminded me of my quirky habits as a mother. In each and every story, I found a little of myself. But It's wonderful to note that all mothers are the same, yet every mother is different.  And this unique legacy of motherhood, no less than magic, continues to be the most powerful gift women inherit.

8. Prompt: A Pun in the Title

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russel

The book begins interestingly, in the sense, one really wants to know what 'Living Danishly' is all about as it is considered the world’s happiest nation! The author, Helen Russell, provides us a glimpse of life as lived in Denmark, linking her experiences to the twelve months in the year. 

It is definitely Interesting in parts, when it does not read like a research paper. There is no change of style or pace, hence it tends to get repetitive and monotonous in parts. The kind of self effacing humour each and every time surely does not contribute to readability.

I did expect a lot more and I was disappointed. However, at the end she lists ten points which makes Denmark the Happiness Capital of the world. I think those ten pointers are necessary for a happy life anywhere.

Top ten tips for living Danishly

OK, so I can’t drag everyone to Denmark and none of us have control over our chromosomal make-up (yet). But there are a few things Danes do differently that can be put into practice wherever you are.

i. Trust (more): This is the number one reason the Danes are so damned happy – so try it. You’ll feel better and save yourself unnecessary stress, and trusting the people around you can make them behave better, so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

ii. Get hygge: Remember the simple pleasures in life – light a candle, make yourself a cup of coffee, eat some pastries. See? You’re feeling better already.

iii. Use your body: Cycle, run, jump, dance, have sex. Shake whatever you’ve got. Using your body not only releases get-happy endorphins, it’ll also make you look hotter, Danish-style.

iv. Address the aesthetics: Make your environment as beautiful as you can. Danes do, and it engenders a respect for design, art and their everyday surroundings. Remember the broken window syndrome, where places that look uncared for just get worse? The reverse also applies.

v. Streamline your options: If living in Sticksville has taught me one thing, it’s that cutting down on choice can take some of the hassle out of modern life. Too many options for things to do, places to eat (ha!) or what to wear (hello London wardrobe) can feel like a burden rather than a benefit. Danes specialise in stress-free simplicity and freedom within boundaries.

vi. Be proud: Find something that you, or folk from your home town, are really good at and Own It. Celebrate success, from football to tiddlywinks (or crab racing). Wave flags and sing at every available opportunity.

vii. Value family: National holidays become bonding bootcamps in Denmark and family comes first in all aspects of Danish living. Reaching out to relatives and regular rituals can make you happier, so give both a go. Your family not much cop? Start your own with friends.

viii. Equal respect for equal work: Remember, there isn’t ‘women’s work’ and ‘men’s work’, there’s just ‘work’. Caregivers are just as crucial as breadwinners and neither could survive without the other. Both types of labour are hard, brilliant and important, all at the same time.

ix. Play: Danes love an activity for its own sake, and in the land of Lego, playing is considered a worthwhile occupation at any age. So get building. Create, bake, even draw your own Noel Edmonds caricature. Just do and make things as often as possible (the messier the better).

x. Share: Life’s easier this way, honest, and you’ll be happier too according to studies. Can’t influence government policy to wangle a Danish-style welfare state? Take some of your cake round to a neighbour’s, or invite someone over to share your hygge and let the warm, fuzzy feelings flow.

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