tuesdays with Morrie

Genre         : Non-fiction/Self help

Author        :  Mitch Albom

The true story of Mitch Albom's meetings with his mentor Morrie Schwartzs on Tuesdays . 'Tuesday people', they call themselves! 

My first thought when I finished this book was that, if you stretched it, it would run into huge volumes. I am not sure if the messages  are better conveyed directly as in this book, or wrapped up in nice little stories like Paulo Coelho does. Drive them home the best way possible!

Morrie who taught sociology, was Mitch's favorite teacher back in 1979 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachussets. Brandeis University was then a melting pot of  cultures and ethnicities in the backdrop of the Vietnam war.  

In August1994 Morrie was diagnosed with amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal illness that melt your nerves like wax working its way from legs upward. 

Mitch finds that his mentor is dying through Ted Koppel's ABC-TV's show Nightline.  Koppel went ahead and did two more shows with how Morrie dealt with death. 

Mitch who had by then abandoned his dreams to be a musician and is now a successful sports writer, flies to meet Morrie for the first time in sixteen years, and continues to visit him each Tuesday to sit by him and talk. Morrie who is withering away day by day and fast, gives him lessons on a list of topics concerning death that completes life:

Death

Fear

Aging

Greed

Marriage

Family

Society

Forgiveness

A meaningful life

By the potency of the questions Mitch asks, it is obvious that his teacher had done his mentoring well back in the seventies. 

Morrie by then had gathered the courage to look death in the eye, and was preparing to leave the world with dignity.

"Do what Buddhists do", he says, "Every day have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, 'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?"

As the weeks progress the disease consumes two-thirds of  Morrie, who learns to accept and even enjoy the dependency. Accepting is about knowing that you deserve. 'To give as an adult and take as a child!'

His very interesting perspective on youth is that 'there is misery in being young', that one should embrace ageing. 

Stephen Hawking who suffered from ALS lived with a hole in his throat, spoke through a computer synthesizer, typed using eyes as a sensor. Morrie did not want such a life. For Morrie living means that he can be responsive to the other person. He wanted to emote, feel an talk.

His mantra, "Love each other or die."

You don't have to dive deep to find pearls of wisdom in this book. It is there in every page!

Mitch Albom is an American author, screenwriter, dramatist, journalist radio and television broadcaster, and musician. He is a columnist for the Detroit Free Press. His best sellers include Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Have a Little Faith, For One More Day.

This is an article Mitch Albom wrote for the Detroit Free Press shortly after Morrie’s death in 1995.

Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer (Nightmares Trilogy Book 1)

Genre:  Suspense thriller
Author: Demelza Carlton

Nathan is shot as he tries to save a brutally raped and tortured seventeen year old Caitlin. He promises to protect her and becomes her shadow. Six months before the dead body of his twin Alanna was found on the same beach where Nathan finds Caitlin. Nathan is far more tangled in Caitlin’s tragedy than it meets the eye. He was on a mission to avenge his sister’s killers, but now he is himself a suspect. He needs to win Caitlin’s trust both to protect her and find his sister's killers. Time is running out, and pressure is mounting!

Consisting of some 300 odd pages, the novel is fast paced and well written. Style is crisp.

“Sleep felt like a dream I barely remembered, while this was a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.”

Chapters end with Caitlin’s ‘nightmare monologue’. It seemed a fitting way to flash the torch into a girl’s mind who spends most of the time in sedation, pain and disturbed wakefulness.

Nathan however evades our grasp, in spite of being the narrator. 

“If there were a wine with my name on it, what sort would it be? I didn't know enough about wine to imagine it. One with a high alcohol content that came with a hangover in the morning, that's for sure”,  is how Nathan describes himself.Assuming that adversity matures you fast, both Nathan and Caitlin behave like seasoned adults. However they appear stagnant and do not grow through adversities. It is not easy to portray a girl as damaged as Caitlin, but the novelist does a commendable job. 

Nathan’s narration of the hospital stay sometimes gets repetitious. To mention a few other minor glitches; 

• Caitlin is practically an orphan. Her life is in constant danger, but no kith and kin appear. Nathan’s parents are merely mentioned. Where are all the adults?

• Many a times perhaps due to the rapid pace at which the story progresses, we miss out on information. The book would have been far more enjoyable if it had been filled up properly on details.

• The ending is rushed and vague. Being the first book of a trilogy, anticipation for the sequel is justly created, but instead of providing a closure the ending trails off.

• We do not get to know the villains at all. Nathan and Caitlin though believable are not endearing.

This realistic page-turner will keep you hooked till the end. 

Other books of the trilogy: #2, 'Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller' and #3 'Afterlife of Alanna Miller'. 

Demelza Carlton lives in Perth, Australia.Find more of her books here.

Rabia (Malayalam Novel)

Rabia is Saheera Thangal’s first novel. Saheera is a poetess and Rabia would have benefited by a touch of poetry. With the ‘Emerging Writer’s Award’ from the Kovalam Literary Festival, in her kitty, one would expect more. Writer Sethu who wrote the foreword for her book, himself accepts that her narration is not perfect. The book is readable. Saheera thoughtfully addresses the problems of Muslim women in Kerala. 

She carefully tiptoes around the barb-wired issues, and while portraying the troubled lives of a handful of women in Malabar, conveniently puts the blame on the handful of men in their lives for all the troubles. 

Saheera cannot afford to be another Taslima or Rushdie and therefore diplomatically upholds the principles of Islam after addressing each issue. Sadly the writer does not even offer a perspective, leave alone suggestions to make the lives of muslim women in Kerala better in any way. 

TV Chandran’s Malayalam Movie ‘Padham Onnu Oru Vilapam’ (Lesson One, A 

Lament)  was a truly enjoyable artistic endeavor. The weapon he used was sarcasm. Perhaps Saheera is too weak to wield a weapon. 

People have an inherent tendency to take advantage of loopholes.  Polygamy- a totally dated advice to the tribal Arabs by the Prophet is such a loophole. As for human beings, they are not lovebirds or wolves, they are polygamous by nature. So who are we kidding! At the end of the book you wonder if she is actually glorifying polygamy, by bringing in the wives of the Prophet in dream sequence. The characters are merely types, and not human. 

When the subject is something as broad-spectrum as polygamy, the obvious emotions like love, guilt and grief should be more than touch and go stuff.  

If you are unaware of the existence of a wretched set of humans known as 'Malayali Muslim Women'  Rabia  is a must read. 

You can believe each word of it, because each word is true.

Novelist at Kovalam Literary Festival Oct'2010

'Lesson One A Lament' Poster

Bhrasht (Cast Out)

Swami Vivekananda in his"The Future of India" sums up 19th Century Kerala for us. 

"Was there ever a sillier thing before in the world than what I saw in Malabar country? The poor Pariah is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he changes his name to a hodge-podge English name, it is all right; or to a Mohammedan name, it is all right. What inference would you draw except that these Malabaris are all lunatics, their homes so many lunatic asylums"

Madampu Kunjukuttan's Bhrasht is based on the real story of the trial for adultery  of the ravishing Brahmin woman called Kuriyedath Thathri.

The trial conducted by the  Namboodiris (as Brahmins are known in Kerala) for the Namboodiri women  is called "Smarthavicharam". Smarthan being a Brahmin who is learnt in Shankara Smriti. 

What is Smarthavicharam? 

It means the contemplation of the case, or simply trial conducted by Smarthan.

If a  woman was suspected of adultery, the master of the  house brings her teachers and relations to his residence to witness the whole process, followed by Daasivicharam or questioning the servant women (Daasi) who are the conscience keepers of their mistresses . If the servants reveal anything confirming the suspicion, the suspect is immediately removed from the household and made to stay in separate quarters called Ancham Pura (5th abode). From there on she is referred to as 'object'.

At this stage the king is informed. The king appoints a Smarthan, 4 analysts and a palace representative for the trial. Until the 'object' confesses of her crime all communication is made through Daasi. When she reveals the name/names of her accomplice/accomplices the next stage of the trial begins.

Swaroopam Chollal  is the reading out of verdict and names of the accomplices. Names of the men are read out  by Kuttypattar standing on a small stool.  Pattar is a Brahmin caste in Tamil Nadu and Namboodiris from Kerala have always  considered themselves superior to Pattars (root of which lies in Racism). Kutty is generally the disciple of Smarthan.

Those named are excommunicated either partially or totally. Though the earthly ties are severed they are entitled to religious rites and rituals in connection with death of self, close relative and ancestors. 

Udakavichedam or total ex-communication. This ritual is held on the steps leading down to a pond. The husband, children etc. are made to stand facing south and holy items used in pooja like Basil, paste of Sandal, sesame etc. are dropped onto their palms without touching them and water is poured on to it. These items are further offered to the water in the pond and floated. Smarthan claps his hand thrice and completes the procedure. The adulterers after this have to leave the community, society and even the region permanently. A feast is conducted for the others, and harmony prevails. 

Smarthavicharam was just a tip of the iceberg of the lunatic asylum named Kerala. 

Pam of BABYLON

Pam, Sandra, Marie, Bernice etc., are the women in Jack Smith's life in various capacities. Jack's death opens the Pandora's Box for Pam, his guileless wife, and the ball of events is set rolling.

It is a 300 page, lightly treated, picnic read. The reaction of the women to the death of Jack, their lives after the tragedy almost on a daily basis have been painstakingly recorded. The language flows smoothly on. Style is good. 

The reason why it took me almost a month to read are more than one. The writer does not get under the skin of Pam or the other women, and thus you cannot warm up to them. The characters have been portrayed with an objectivity that does not allow you to go any deeper than their clothes and makeup. Their faces and their inner self are unreadable from the descriptions. Their reaction to the death of the man in their life amazed me. His wife, girlfriend, mother were all paying undue attention to their clothes, make-up, decor and food as though it was not about Jack's death at all. The fact is that, the book is only about Jack's death. Perhaps the author was trying to take out some of the grimness of the subject by indulging the senses every now and then, but it only does the plot harm.

Almost three-fourth of the book had nothing going on, and suddenly the denouement tumbles down you. There was no suspense offered and so the climax brings no relief. The thread we are holding keeps breaking for the reason that the author is not sure where she is taking us. Too many blind alleys.

Pam of Babylon is the first of the series by Suzanne Jenkins, followed by Don't You Forget About Me, Dream Lover, Prayers for the Dying and Family Dynamics.