Great Expectations

The novel by Charles Dickens is perhaps a masterpiece. I read this when I was in my high school and felt that there was a tone of melacholy and loneliness in the narration. It is the story of Pip (Philip), an orphan, but widely believed to be the semi-autobiography of the author.

Pip is a small boy who lives with his elder sister, and her husband. He works as an apprentice with them. Miss Havisham and Estella are two other major characters in the story who influence the life of Pip. Over the years, Pip grow up and he is sponsored by an unknown benefactor. Towards the end we see Pip as a civilized grown up man. Who the benefactor is, is revealed and also some mysteries surrounding the life of Miss Havisham are solved.

The narration adopted is the first person account in which Pip tells us his story. At times I found the story quite complex with a lot of sub-plots. But finally, it was a wonderful read.

Verukal - A Malayalam Novel

Verukal is a Malayalam novel by Malayattoor Ramakrishnan. We had to study this in class X as part of our second language. Initially I understood nothing much. It had tamil dialogues in it and I found the story also boring. But once I picked up the flow, I couldn't resist completing it at one stretch. And if you would believe, I had read this book more than 20 times out of sheer interest, academics apart.

The novel is considered a semi-autobiographical story of the author. We see the story in fragments. The protagonist is settled in Chennai who lives with his wife and children. His wife is a society lady, while the husband is a very nostalgic person whose every thought still yearns for his roots in Kerala. Each thought reminds him about an incident from his life in Kerala and family. And this is how we get to know the story. There are a lot of incidents in the story which might evoke nostalgia in us also. The thoughts and thinkings help us get to know the character well. The incidents he relates from his childhood and college days are wonderful. They are just trifle things, but the way he explains them is superb. A lot of characters are there in story - his sisters, their husbands, grandparents, friends, teachers, people in the village, and so on. So many simple and lively characters. He even gives the profile of certain characters.

The relationship he shared with his father and elder sister, his college days, first love, life with grandparents, small pranks and jokes, everything is wonderful. I haven't read much Malayalam works - but had I missed this one, it would have been an immense loss.

Jane Eyre

This was one of the first novels I read. I had received this book as a prize for a literary competition in my junior school. I was quite happy that I bagged the prize but was not quite happy with the prize received and never intended to read it. It had a lavendar cover with the image of Jane Eyre on it. In those days I had difficulty in pronouncing Charlotte Bronte.

Reading short stories were interesting to me, not big novels. But don't know why, one day I started reading the book. I don't remember the pace with which I read the book, but do remember that I was quite fascinated by the story. The language was extremely simple and does prompt a reader to read on.

In short, Jane Eyre is an orphan who gives an account of her story. She grows up with her cousins and aunt who dislikes her. Then she is sent to a boarding school where she finds friends. From there, Jane goes on to become a governess of a child. There she falls in love with her employer, Rochester, who is a divorced man. There are strange things happening in the mansion and all are attributed as an insane servant's deeds. Finally Rochester and Jane reveal their love for each other and plan to get married. But on her wedding day, she receives a shock as a group of people stops the marriage saying that Rochester's wife is still alive and with him only, which reveals that he is not divorced. Jane is heart-broken. Rochester explains to her how his wife had became insane, why she is locked up in the mansion, and that she is the person behind all the mysteries happening in the mansion.

Jane leaves the mansion and arrives at a missionary's place, who turns out to be her relative. He asks her to marry him. Jane is forced to do that when she hears Rochester calling out to her. But he was not there. She makes up her mind, refuses the marriage with the missionary, and sets out to the mansion to find Rochester. There she finds the mansion all in ruins and comes to know that his insane wife set the mansion on fire and she committed suicide. In the mishap, Rochester was crippled and lost one eye. He was now spending his life at another place. Jane rushes to the place and accepts her love for him and they live happily ever after.... :-)

I had liked Jane a lot. The author has described each character in detail, which helps us visualize the whole story. I was so inspired by Jane that whenever we played something, or wrote small stories, I always adopted the name.

Anthem of Humanity

Just a piece of writing I love, by Khalil Gibran

It was but yesterday
we met in a dream
you have sung to me in my aloneness,
and I of your longings
have built a tower in the sky

But now our sleep has fled
and our dream is over,
and it is no longer dawn.

The noontide is upon us
and our half waking
has turned to fuller day
and we must part

If in the twilight of memory
we should meet once more
we shall speak again together
and you shall sing to me
a deeper song

And if our hands should meet
in another dream
we shall build
another tower in the sky

I came across this poem when I was reading Jaishree Misra's 'Ancient Promises'. May be the theme went well with the novel's plot. But somehow, I like the piece of poetry very much. I jotted the lines in my book and kept them treasured for long also. Usually I never read poems, but somehow this one interests me a lot.