Working Guidelines - Values/Growth

 In 1951, Yoshida delivered the renowned "10 working guidelines" in Dentsu

1. Initiate projects on your own instead of waiting for work to be assigned
2. Take an active role in all your endeavours, not a passive role
3. Search for large and complex challenges
4. Welcome difficult assignments. Progress lies in accomplishing difficult work
5. Once you begin a task, complete it. Never give up. 
6. Lead and set an example for your fellow workers
7. Set goals for yourself to ensure a constant sense or purpose
8. Move with confidence, it gives your work force and substance
9. At all times, challenge yourself to think creatively and find new solutions
10. When confrontation is necessary, don't shy away from it. Confrontation is often necessary to achieve progress. 

Tag Values

1. Integrity: Be Fair
2. Innovation: Be Original
3. Sustainability: Go Green
4. Growth: Laser Focus
5. Accountability: Own it
6. Trust: Build it

I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf ~ Grant Snider

*I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf*

*By Grant Snider*

Courtesy: Nandakishore Sir

I have been a great fan of Grant Snider for a long time. I follow his quirky "Incidental Comics" on FB.

This book is a collection of his cartoons on reading and writing. As usual, it's full of his funny quips and cute drawings. The way he gives shape to literary metaphors through simple images is mind-blowing.

This book is recommended for reading - and re-reading - and re-re-re-re... reading (ad infinitum).

(I attach a few of his full page illustrations with this review.)

T.N. Manoharan ~ Spotlight

 

He was one in a million.

He taught taxation,  his clarity and grace on stage was admirable.

He co-authored Tech Phoenix—in just 75 days. His meticulousness was legendary. Every version, every discarded draft, every appendix—tracked with precision.

In a private conversation, he told that he would walk into the sunset at 70. So he did.

He was a scholar, statesman, and teacher. But above all, he was authentic.

Steering the Satyam Recovery

But then came Satyam in 2009. When India faced one of its worst corporate scandals, when trust in the profession was shaking, the government didn’t look for the loudest voice or the most connected player. They looked for the steadiest and Mano sir was called in. He calmly stabilised the company, reassured employees, and convinced banks with meticulous financial plans, orchestrating a historic rescue without seeking the spotlight.

 There is his  story we did on him for the book Flying High (also published in A Few Good Men). It captures the life and quiet legacy of an extraordinary CA. Also read the spotlight on him. 

Read the full story here:https://industrialeconomist.com/the-man-who-led-by-listening-remembering-t-n-manoharans-legacy/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kbEQxe3g6GySdQ4iXB8u_8i81w92vAz6/view?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR7ygQFn_bSbrUxWhWTlhp_g5EDGc9sro-t5Lss1ldSCQY_WttDY1-eNtooXsQ_aem_9Sps6qJh78HixgxoVQck9A

Salman Rushdie (Contemporary World Writers) ~ Andrew Teverson (39 of 2025)

 

Thanks to CBC and the topic of discussion being Salman Rushdie, got a copy of this book. 

The book Salman Rushdie (Contemporary World Writers) by Andrew Teverson offers a comprehensive and insightful critical study of Salman Rushdie's literary work and public persona 

Teverson explores the intellectual, biographical, literary, and cultural contexts that shape Rushdie’s fiction. The book is designed to help readers navigate the often complex and polarising debates surrounding Rushdie’s life and work. It positions Rushdie as:

• A politicised fiction writer whose narratives engage deeply with global politics.
• A controversialist, unafraid to provoke and challenge dominant ideologies.
• A novelist of extraordinary imaginative range, blending myth, history, and fantasy.
• A fearless commentator on contemporary issues, especially those concerning identity, migration, and postcolonialism.

The book includes detailed critical readings of all Rushdie’s novels up to Shalimar the Clown, including:

• Grimus
• Midnight’s Children
• The Satanic Verses
• The Moor’s Last Sigh
• The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Each chapter situates the novels within broader literary and political frameworks, offering interpretations that are both accessible and academically rigorous. This book is a guide particularly valuable for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Rushdie’s narrative strategies and ideological engagements.

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Not from book but otherwise:

Marriages and Romantic Life

Salman Rushdie has been married five times, with his first four marriages ending in divorce:

Clarissa Luard (1976–1987)

A literature officer at the Arts Council of England.

They had one son, Zafar Rushdie, born in 1979.

Though divorced, they remained close until her death in 1999.

Marianne Wiggins (1988–1993)

An American novelist.

Their marriage coincided with the publication of The Satanic Verses and the issuing of the fatwa.

Wiggins went into hiding with Rushdie, but the stress led to their separation.

Elizabeth West (1997–2004)

A British editor.

They had one son, Milan Rushdie, born in 1997.

Padma Lakshmi (2004–2007)

An Indian-American actress, model, and TV host.

Their marriage was highly publicised but ended in divorce after three years.

Rachel Eliza Griffiths (Married in 2021)

An American poet, novelist, photographer, and visual artist.

Born in 1978, she is known for her work Seeing the Body (2020), which blends poetry and photography.

Their relationship is described as a meeting of minds and muses, with Griffiths complementing Rushdie’s literary genius.

Rushdie has expressed deep affection for both sons and values his role as a father.

Salman Rushdie was in a romantic relationship with fellow Booker Prize-winning author Kiran Desai. Their relationship became public in the late 2000s and was widely covered in literary and media circles.

While the two never married, they were known to have shared a close and intellectually rich partnership. Desai, who is the daughter of acclaimed writer Anita Desai, has spoken admiringly of Rushdie’s influence on her work, and they were often seen together at literary events. Rushdie, in turn, praised Desai’s writing, including her Booker-winning novel The Inheritance of Loss.

Their relationship eventually ended, but both have continued to maintain prominent literary careers. Desai was recently in the spotlight again for her long-awaited novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, which has been longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize.

Salman Rushdie has written and published over 25 books, spanning novels, short stories, essays, memoirs, and plays. Here's a breakdown of his major works by category, based on the most up-to-date bibliographic sources .

 

Novels

Grimus (1975)

Midnight’s Children (1981)

Shame (1983)

The Satanic Verses (1988)

The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995)

The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999)

Fury (2001)

Shalimar the Clown (2005)

The Enchantress of Florence (2008)

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (2015)

The Golden House (2017)

Quichotte (2019)

Victory City (2023)

Short Stories / Novellas

The Prophet’s Hair (1981)

The Firebird’s Nest (1997)

Home (2017)

Children’s Books

Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990)

Luka and the Fire of Life (2010)

Non-Fiction

The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (1987)

Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991 (1991)

Step Across This Line: Collected Non-fiction 1992–2002 (2002)

Joseph Anton: A Memoir (2012)

Languages of Truth: Essays 2003–2020 (2021)

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder (2024)

Plays

Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (2009)

Salman Rushdie was born on 19 June 1947 in Bombay, which is now known as Mumbai, India. He was born into a Kashmiri Muslim family, the son of Anis Ahmed Rushdie, a Cambridge-educated lawyer-turned-businessman, and Negin Bhatt, a teacher

Salman Rushdie has lived in several countries over the course of his life, reflecting both his personal journey and the global themes of his writing:

India (1947–1964)

Born on 19 June 1947 in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India, into a Kashmiri Muslim family.

He attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in South Bombay 1.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom (1964–2000)

Moved to England in 1964 to attend Rugby School in Warwickshire.

Later studied at King’s College, University of Cambridge, where he earned a degree in history.

Lived in London for many years, where he began his writing career.

After the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988 and the subsequent fatwa, he spent nearly a decade in hiding under British government protection 1.

🇺🇸 United States (2000–Present)

Since 2000, Rushdie has lived primarily in the United States.

He has held academic positions at Emory University and New York University, where he was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute in 2015.

He became a U.S. citizen in 2016 .

Salman Rushdie has been at the centre of several major controversies, most notably surrounding his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.

Publication and Backlash: The Satanic Verses was published in 1988 and quickly drew criticism from many in the Muslim world for its perceived blasphemous references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad 1.

Fatwa Issued: In 1989, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death. This led to:

Violent protests and riots in several countries.

Bans on the book in multiple nations.

Attacks on translators and publishers, including the murder of Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi and the stabbing of Italian translator Ettore Capriolo 1.

Rushdie in Hiding: He lived under British police protection for nearly a decade, moving between safe houses and using aliases.

Ongoing Threats: Although Iran’s government distanced itself from the fatwa in 1998, it was never officially revoked. In 2019, Iran’s Supreme Leader reaffirmed the fatwa as “solid and irrevocable” 1.

2022 Attack: Rushdie was stabbed multiple times during a public lecture in New York. He survived but sustained serious injuries, including the loss of sight in one eye 2.

Other Literary and Political Controversies

Midnight’s Children (1981): Angered Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who sued Rushdie for defamation. The case was settled out of court, and a line was removed from later editions.

Shame (1983): A political allegory that criticised Pakistan’s military and political elite, particularly Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Zia-ul-Haq. It was banned in Pakistan.

Political Commentary: Rushdie has been outspoken on issues such as religious extremism, censorship, and freedom of speech. His critiques of both Western and Islamic governments have drawn both praise and condemnation 3.

No Criminal Allegations or Legal Charges

There are no known criminal allegations or legal charges against Salman Rushdie. The controversies surrounding him are primarily ideological, religious, and political, not legal or personal in nature.

On 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was brutally attacked while preparing to speak at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. The assailant, Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from New Jersey, rushed the stage and stabbed Rushdie multiple times, causing life-threatening injuries including the loss of his right eye and partial use of his left hand 

Hadi Matar was reportedly influenced by Islamic extremism and the 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, which called for Rushdie’s death following the publication of The Satanic Verses

Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and assault, but was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison in May 2025 

Rushdie’s 2024 memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, is a deeply personal and reflective account of the attack and its aftermath:

He recounts the 27-second assault and the surreal experience of lying in a pool of his own blood, believing he was dying.

The book explores his physical and emotional recovery, including the vital role played by his wife, Eliza Griffiths, whom he calls the “heroine” of his story.

Rushdie initially resisted writing about the incident but later saw the memoir as a way of “taking the power back” and reclaiming his narrative.

He describes Knife as both a literal and metaphorical weapon:

“It’s about a knife, but it also kind of is a knife... I don’t have any guns or knives, so this is the tool I use. And I thought I would use it to fight back.”

------------------

Philip Abraham Sir:

"Salman Rushdie,  about his creativity and playfulness with words, examples of which are 

"Salman Rushdie playfully reimagined Shakespearean titles in the style of Robert Ludlum, a popular thriller writer. He transformed Hamlet into The Elsinore Vacillation, Macbeth into The Dunsinane Reforestation, The Merchant of Venice into The Rialto Sanction, and Othello into The Kerchief Implication. These titles were noted for their Ludlum-esque formula of a definite article followed by a proper name and an abstract noun, suggesting a conspiracy or intrigue. 

Here's a more detailed breakdown: 

The Challenge:

The game involved taking classic Shakespeare plays and giving them Ludlum-style titles.

Rushdie's Responses:

Hamlet: The Elsinore Vacillation

Macbeth: The Dunsinane Reforestation

The Merchant of Venice: The Rialto Sanction

Othello: The Kerchief Implication

Ludlum's Style:

Ludlum's titles often feature a definite article ("The," "A"), a proper noun (place name, character name), and an abstract noun suggesting a plot or scheme.

Beyond the Game:

Rushdie's exercise demonstrates his familiarity with both Shakespeare and the thriller genre, highlighting his ability to play with language and literary styles.

 "Rushdie and Hitchens also played a game whereby you change one word of a famous book – rendering it more pedestrian than epic.  The examples they reeled off:

–         A Farewell to Weapons

–         Laugtherhouse Five

–         Toby Dick

–         Blueberry Finn

And so on 🙂

 He also spoke about two friends Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens.

Harish said:

"I remembered a particular article about the downfall of Indian-English writing brought by mediocre writers like Shobha De and Rushdie. But then a brilliant defense of the writer by Kundera in a book of his made me pick up Midnight's Children, which was my second favourite novel at that time. 

While migration is the most important of his topics, I talked about two other important and recurring themes in Rushdie's work- the importance of the narrator and the power of stories. In most of his fiction, it is important to seek whose narrating voice is speaking to us to understand the narrative. For example in Victory City, the hidden narrator may be one or more scholars who re-tell the old manuscript in  today's voice and sensibilities.

Also while Rushdie extensively uses recorded and documented narratives like history, religious texts, etc., he superimposes fictional narratives in them to challenge and mock their linearity. He questions the causality assigned to history by authoritative historians and demonstrates how a subjective, fragmented and non-linear history is nearer to reality. While we believe that an aural discourse could corrupt the narratives, he points out the reason why any narrative that's set in stone and not ready to modify itself with time has more chances to get corrupted."

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Victory City by Rushdie has been my favourite book in the last year...the epic style was superb and the setting in Vijayanagar..

For me it has always been Moors Lash Sigh

Dilbert

 Dilbert is an American comic strip and his one liners are famous. They are all classic!

*Here are few Dilbert's one liners:*

1. I say no to alcohol, it just doesn't listen. 

2. Marriage is one of the chief causes of divorce.

3. Work is fine if it doesn't take too much of your time. 

4. When everything comes your way you're in the wrong lane. 

5. The light at the end of the tunnel may be an incoming train..

6. Born free, taxed to death. 

7. Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

8. Life is unsure; always eat your dessert first. 

9. Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking. 

10. If you keep your feet firmly on the ground, you'll have trouble putting on your pants. 

11. It's not hard to meet expenses, they are everywhere.

12. I love being a writer... what I can't stand is the paperwork. 

13. A printer consists of 3 main parts: the case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light.

14. The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three was the genius.

15. The trouble with being punctual is that no one is there to appreciate it.

16. In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills? 

17. If you cannot change your mind, are you sure you have one? 

18. If you can't convince them, confuse them. 

19. It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end. 

20. I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder. 

21. Hot glass looks same as cold glass - Cunino's Law of Burnt Fingers

22. The cigarette does the smoking you are just the sucker. 

23. Someday is not a day of the week

24. Whenever I find the key to success, someone changes the lock.

25. To Err is human, to forgive is not a Company policy.

26. The road to success ....is always under construction. 

27. Alcohol doesn't solve any problems, but if you think again, neither does Tea, Coffee or Milk. 

28. In order to get a Loan, you first need to prove that you don't need it.

Daphne Du Maurier ~ Margaret Forster

 

A writer I am constantly fascinated with. I believe that she was much ahead of her time.

"The people I write about in books are more real to me than the people I meet and I try and make the people that I meet be as exciting as the people in books, but they never are, so one is always aware of a feeling of anti-climax."

# Daphne du Maurier
## by Margaret Forster

I think *The Birds* was the first story by Daphne du Maurier that I read during my schooldays (in one of those Hitchcock collections) - and I immediately became a fan. Then I encountered her here and there, in various anthologies. Her stories bordered on the weird without being outright horror - however, I had her pegged as a horror writer.

Then I read *Rebecca* in my twenties, followed by *Jamaica Inn*, *The King's General* etc. and realised that this author could not be pigeonholed. She wrote adventure, romance and gothic fiction with equal verve and competence. The only thing common to her stories was atmosphere: a brooding feeling of tragedy and menace. That, and an underlying current of dark sexuality, enticing and frightening at the same time.

This biography of the author by Margaret Forster captures the essence of the writer beautifully. Born into an upper class household in an England at the turn of the last century, Daphne enjoyed a pampered childhood exposed to the arts and literature. Her father, Gerald du Maurier was a famous actor, and her mother Muriel was also an actor before she gave it up on the birth of her third child. She was the apple of her father's eye (a bit of an Electra complex there), but she also suffered because of his fierce possessiveness. Daphne discovered at a very young age that she could write - or rather, she could not survive without writing. This unstoppable creativity coupled with her bisexual tendencies (she believed that there was a "boy-in-the-box" locked up in her psyche) were the main driving force behind her literary output.

Margaret Forster traces the character arc of both Daphne the novelist and Daphne the woman perfectly. She comes across as not very likeable: a bit pampered, patriarchal, snobbish, conservative to an extent, and unfaithful. (She cheats on her husband with the husband of one of her best friends, and she has affairs with two women, also without her husband's knowledge.) But Daphne is also scrupulously honest in analysing herself and her feelings, and that is how we come to know what made this complex woman tick. She put a bit of herself into her books, and that was her catharsis.

In letters to friends, relatives and her publishers, Daphne talked at length about herself and her writing. Ms. Forster has done extensive research on her letters, and reproduces them at length. It gives a fascinating insight into the mind of an iconic writer and her output. But beware - there are HUGE spoilers!

An engrossing read for any Daphne du Maurier fan!

- Daphne du Maurier

I have just begun this biography, but loving it so far. It does talk in depth about her writing.

"What if she had lost the ability to write at all? All she had was a provisional title, Rebecca, 15,000 words in the waste-paper basket, and her notes. These read: 'very roughly the book will be about the influence of a first wife on a second... she is dead before the book opens. Little by little I want to build up the character of the first in the mind of the second... until wife 2 is haunted day and night... a tragedy is looming very close and crash! bang! something happens... it's not a ghost story." But she could not at first think what the crash and bang would be, or even the 'something' that happened."

- from Margaret Forster's biography of Daphne du Maurier

Nandakishore Varma

Warning: Major Spoilers!

Rebecca

by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca is a classic of Gothic fiction: when one sets out to review a classic, it is always a bit dicey, as though some blasphemous act is being committed (even if the review is favourable). However, I feel that I must share my feelings about this magnificent work: so I plunge in, setting my apprehensions aside.

Rebecca is an exquisitely crafted novel: from one of the most famous opening lines in the world of fiction("Last night I dreamed we went to Manderley again")to the very end, there is hardly a word, sentence, paragraph or pause out of place. The characterisation is painstakingly done and superb. As the story moves towards its predestined semi-tragic ending, the reader is never allowed to relax or withdraw from the story even for a minute.

The Story

The novel opens on the French Riviera, where the unnamed narrator is companion to a rich American lady vacationing there. She meets and falls in love with the middle-aged widower Max de Winter there; and after a whirlwind courtship, marries him. She accompanies him to his country estate, the forbidding Manderley, where she is immediately onset by feelings of inadequacy; the whole mansion seems to be pervaded by the unseen presence of Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter. The forbidding housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, adds fuel to fire by continuously insinuating that Rebecca de Winter was a real lady and the new lady of the house is a simple social upstart who can never measure up to her.

Things come to head when Mrs. Danvers cleverly manipulates Mrs. de Winter into wearing a costume at a party, which Rebecca wore on a former similar occasion: Max simply explodes, and asks her to change immediately. Subsequent to this scene, the housekeeper almost persuades the young bride to commit suicide. However, distraction arrives in the form of a shipwreck on the shore, following which Max tells his young wife the truth about Rebecca.

Rebecca, contrary to the charming exterior she presented to the world, was a cruel and manipulative woman who tortured her husband continuously with the stories of her escapades with various men. Ultimately, she tells Max one day that she is pregnant with another man's child, and that he is powerless to denounce her: he would have to raise the child as his own. Goaded beyond limit, Max shoots and kills her, then sinks her body in the sea within his boat, letting it be known that Rebecca died in a boating accident.

The sunken boat is recovered following the shipwreck, however, and holes drilled at the bottom are seen. A verdict of suicide is brought at the inquest. But a crisis is precipitated by Jack Favell, Rebecca's disreputable cousin and her lover, who claims that Rebecca could not have committed suicide because she had visited a doctor before her death and had some momentous news to impart. He, along with Max and his wife, are sure that this information is proof of her pregnancy: however, rather than submit to Jack's blackmail, Max decides to face the music.

The novel's final bombshell explodes when the doctor reveals that Rebecca indeed had momentous information; and that suicide is entirely believable, because she was suffering from cancer and would have died within a few months. The reader, along with Max and Mrs. de Winter, understand that Rebecca's provocation of Max into killing her was her final act of revenge and escape from a lingering death. The story does not have a happy ending, however: a frustrated Mrs. Danvers finally goes over the edge and torches Manderley, herself perishing in the fire.

The Analysis

Rebecca is a novel which works on many levels. It can be read as a straightforward Gothic mystery, and is none too the less satisfying for it. The secrets are sufficiently sordid, the mood satisfactorily noir and the characters morbid in their preoccupations.

However, when we start to look in depth at many of the many-layered themes in the story, Ms. du Maurier's genius as a storyteller comes to light. The fact the protagonist is never named, and the novel goes under the name of her dead antagonist is extremely significant. The whole novel, in fact, is driven by three women characters. The dead Rebecca who is beautiful, cruel, miasmic, yet strangely attractive and desirable: the current Mrs. de Winter who is pretty, sweet and extremely likeable yet uninteresting (like Disney's Snow White): and Mrs. Danvers, dark, brooding and evil like a witch. It is almost a perfect maiden-nymph-crone triad of the pagan goddess (though I doubt whether the author intended anything like it). The protagonist's lack of identity, and Rebecca's all-pervasive one, is almost painfully stressed.

From the male viewpoint, Rebecca is the perfect dream-girl who once possessed becomes the antithesis of what she represented as an unattainable ideal. Max tries to exorcise her first by killing her, but proves unsuccessful. Like a fairytale prince, it is through unselfish love for a pure maiden that he is redeemed. When he faces up to his crime, he finds deliverance at the last minute. However, Max still has suffer the final punishment - the loss of Manderley - along with which the crone-figure also disappears, allowing him to finally make a new life with his princess.

Does the novel have any flaws? IMO, the only one I found was that the story was too manipulative: the author has laid out a road-map for the reader, and carefully guides him/her along it without allowing any diversions. The revelations are placed at the correct places with clock-work precision. This is not necessarily a flaw in a mystery novel, but it does take away from the spontaneity of the story a bit.

On the first reading, enjoy Rebecca as a mystery: go into the depth of the narrative structure and craft, and the psychological undercurrents, in subsequent ones. This novel warrants careful analysis, especially if one is an aspiring writer. It will give invaluable insights into craft.

Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock's first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.

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About the wreckers -

According to this essay, Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn perpetuated the image of wreckers as murderous criminals who deliberately lured ships on to the rocks and looted and killed the crew and passengers.

The author says this is a gross misrepresentation.

Read and decide !

https://review.gale.com/2023/06/06/exploring-the-representation-of-coastal-wreckers/

" Using a literary text, Jamaica Inn, also meant I could explore how the representation of wreckers – in both the film and the original novel – has been received. Was it different to the expected portrayal? Did people enjoy reading about history’s rebels in this way? In 2006, Nick Rennison’s Sunday Times article attributes Jamaica Inn with bringing wreckers into the popular culture, referring to du Maurier’s text as a ‘historical novel’. This highlights a problem with the historiography of wreckers prior to the analysis contributed by historians like Cathryn Pearce and Bella Bathurst; people treated the novel as historically accurate.2 Rennisson echoes the definition of wreckers as ‘hard-hearted’, ‘luring unwary vessels on the rocks and then plundering them.’ It is unsurprising then, that du Maurier’s portrayal of wreckers is murderous and violent, with quotes such as ‘dead men tell no tales’.

Are Marriages Made In Heaven ~ Meera 38 of 2025

 

Now she is my favorite author/writer.  So much covered just like a story. Lot of depth and clarity.

"Are Marriages Made in Heaven?" by Meera is a reflective and emotionally resonant novel that explores the complexities of relationships, choices, and societal expectations surrounding marriage.

Summary:

The story centers around a group of school friends whose lives diverge and reconnect over time. As they grow older, each character grapples with the question: Is marriage truly a divine destiny, or is it shaped by our choices and circumstances?

The narrative begins with a tragic incident in college, which brings people together as frijoyful and hopef, ul celebrations of marriage.

It then delves into deeper, more challenging themes such as domestic violence, personal agency, and the societal pressures that influence marital decisions.

Through the lens of these characters, Meera examines whether love and commitment are predestined or constructed through effort and understanding.

The book is both introspective and socially aware, offering a nuanced look at how relationships evolve and how individuals confront their past and present.

The writing is described as deeply human, weaving together moments of joy, pain, and reflection in a way that resonates with readers

Monkey Beach ~ Eden Robinson

 

*Monkey Beach*

*by Eden Robinson*

~ Nandakishore Varma 

They are called the "First Nations" in Canada and native Americans in the USA: the original inhabitants of the continent who have been reduced to a pitiful existence through violence, disease, and systemic oppression by the invading Europeans. They are the victims of a centuries-long, systematic and well-planned genocide. Deprived of their land, environment, livelihood and culture, they eke out a miserable existence on the fringes of the society: their youth getting mired in violence and drugs, with the women facing the threat of rape on a regular basis. They are the "inconvenient Indians" of Thomas King.

In our Post-Modern world, the voices of the marginalised are slowly being heard through their own tongues. This is not the privileged liberal leaning back in his chair and being sorry for the underdog. These are the narratives of the downtrodden people, loud and bold, clamouring to be heard.

Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach is a classic example of subaltern literature. At once a mystery and a coming-of-age story, it has got elements of fantasy and magic realism woven into the narrative. This is the tale of Lisamarie Michelle Hill of the Haisla tribe, tomboy and rebel, who has the gift of the second sight which many of her people are endowed with.

Lisamarie is a resident of Kitamaat, a small village in British Columbia. As the story opens, we are plunged into a disappearance: Lisa's kid brother Jimmy is presumably lost at sea.

> If you are pointing in the right place, you should have your finger on the western shore of Princess Royal Island. To get to Kitamaat, run your finger northeast, right up to the Douglas Channel, a 140-kilometre-long deep-sea channel, to its mouth. You should pass Gil Island, Princess Royal Island, Gribbell Island, Hawkesbury Island, Maitland Island and finally Costi Island. Near the head of the Douglas, you’ll find Kitamaat Village, with its seven hundred Haisla people tucked in between the mountains and the ocean. At the end of the village is our house. Our kitchen looks out onto the water. Somewhere in the seas between here and Namu—a six-hour boat ride south of Kitamaat—my brother is lost.

Jimmy is a professional swimmer - once he was an Olympic contender - and a person for whom the sea is a second home, so this seems impossible. Jimmy's mother and father fly down to Namu to join the search. Soon, Lisa starts off on her own in a speedboat, headed for Monkey Beach where a dream has told her that Jimmy is currently located.

Lisa's story is told in flashbacks along the ride. She starts out as a problem child, becomes a rebellious teenager, and ends up as a full-fledged social outcast. She is influenced by her Uncle Mick, who was a tireless warrior for the Indian cause; he celebrates Lisa's indiscipline as the true activist spirit.

> “She’s got to know about these things,” Mick would say to Dad, who was disturbed by a note from one of my teachers. She had forced us to read a book that said that the Indians on the northwest coast of British Columbia had killed and eaten people as religious sacrifices. My teacher had made us each read a paragraph out loud. When my turn came, I sat there shaking, absolutely furious.

> “Lisa?” she’d said. “Did you hear me? Please read the next paragraph.”

> “But it’s all lies,” I’d said.

> The teacher stared at me as if I were mutating into a hideous thing from outer space. The class, sensing tension, began to titter and whisper. She slowly turned red, and said I didn’t know what I was talking about.

> “Ma-ma-oo told me it was just pretend, the eating people, like drinking Christ’s blood at Communion.”

> In a clipped, tight voice, she told me to sit down.

> Since I was going to get into trouble anyway, I started singing “Fuck the Oppressors.” The class cheered, more because of the swearing than anything else, and I was promptly dragged, still singing, to the principal’s office.

> Mick went out and had the teacher’s note laminated and framed. He hammered a nail into his wall and hung the note in the centre of the living room. He put his arm around me, swallowed hard a few times and looked misty. “My little warrior.”

If Mick has gifted Lisa with his activism, she gets the gift of the second sight from ma-ma-oo, her paternal grandmother, who can talk to the dead and comport herself comfortably in a world where the unseen exists side-by-side with the seen.

> Ma-ma-oo brushed her hair back and opened the bottle of Johnnie Walker. She said some words in Haisla that I didn’t understand. She passed the bottle over the fire, which popped and sizzled.

> “This is for Sherman,” she said, placing it carefully near the centre of the flames. “You’d better appreciate that. Say hi to your ba-ba-oo, Lisa.”

> “But he’s not here,” I said.

> “Yes, he is,” she said. “You just can’t see him, because he’s dead.”

As the tale unfolds, it becomes a fascinating chronicle of Indian life, both old and new. It's the tale of a young girl growing slowly into adulthood, but at the same time, it's the tale of a people who lived in total sync with nature before they were cruelly sidelined by a race who went by the principle that nature was gifted to them by their god, for their pleasure. Mick is the present, and ma-ma-oo, the past.

Sasquatch alias Bigfoot (or "b'gwus" in Haisla), the giant monkey-man of North American and Canadian folklore, is central to the story as the symbol of a dangerous force existing just beyond the curtain that hides the invisible world from the visible. It's he who gives Monkey Beach its name.

> In a time distant and vague from the one we know now, she told me, flesh was less rigid. Animals and humans could switch shapes simply by putting on each other’s skins. Animals could talk, and often shared their knowledge with the newcomers that humans were then. When this age ended, flesh solidified. People were people, and animals lost their ability to speak in words. Except for medicine men, who could become animals, and sea otters and seals, who had medicine men too. They loved to play tricks on people. Once, a woman was walking along the shore and she met a handsome man. She fell in love and went walking with him every night. Eventually, they made love and she found out what he really was when she gave birth to an otter. The old stories, she explained, were less raunchy than they used to be. There was a beautiful woman who was having an affair with her husband’s brother. She and her husband were paddling back to the village after trading their oolichan grease for seaweed. Just off Monkey Beach, they stopped and he pissed over the side of the canoe. She lifted her paddle and clubbed him. While he was in the water, she used the paddle to hold his head under until he was still. Thinking he was dead, she paddled back to the village and told everyone he drowned. But the next day, when the wife and the husband’s brother went back to hide the body, they found large footprints in the sand. Worried he might be alive, they followed the trail into the woods. They discovered the man—transformed into a b’gwus—who then killed his adulterous wife and brother. But to really understand the old stories, she said, you had to speak Haisla.

In the end, the mystery of Jimmy's disappearance is solved. But is it really the end of the tale? Or only the beginning of another?

The reader is left to guess.

A really beautiful piece of literature.

Original Sin ~ Stanly Johny

 Original Sin: Israel, Palestine and the Revenge of Old West Asia – Stanly Johny

This short book by Stanly Johny is an attempt to cover the major conflict in West Asia in the light of the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas. Over eight chapters, Stanly discusses various aspects of the conflict- the historical context, the wars, attempts at peace, American stand, Iran and proxies, October 7 attack itself, the diplomatic stance of India over the years. The book also includes details of the various trips that Stanly took through the region over the year. So it does not entirely read like a history book, at times it takes the nature of a reporter’s journal. Some portions of the book will be familiar to those who follow Stanly’s work in The Hindu. The initial chapter that describes the ordeal he had to go through at multiple Israeli checkposts despite being part of the Indian President’s delegation gives a rough idea about the life of an average Palestinian trapped in this region. Book is factual, with enough references, crisp and to the point. Would recommend to anyone who follows geopolitics or interested in learning about the Palestinian struggle.

Ambapali ~ Tanushree Podder

 Book Review: Amba Pali by Tanushree Podder

Review by: Mary CBC

I never thought I would read a book like Amba Pali. It is not something I usually pick for myself. I got it in a book haul, almost by accident. But I am so glad I did. It is one of those books that flows so effortlessly, you do not feel like you are reading. You are simply absorbing a story that is quietly powerful.

There is something deeply comforting about the simplicity of this novel. You do not need to overthink or analyse. You just follow a woman’s journey, her internal tug of war between desire and duty, palace and peace, head and heart.

Amba Pali is a woman who had everything the world could offer, wealth, beauty, fame. But what she truly yearned for was so simple, a home, a kind husband, children, and a life wrapped in ordinary joy.

The book gently shows how women often suffer because of how the world misreads them, how they are torn between what they want and what they are expected to be.

Astray ~ Emma Donoghue

 

*Astray*

*by Emma Donoghue*

Review by Nandakishore Varma Sir

We live in a world of migrants.

This statement may seem to be hyperbolic at first glance, but I request you to think a little on it. Ever since homo sapiens evolved in Africa, humanity has been on the move. In the initial days, in the days of nomadic living, it was as migrants, or in some cases, encroachers. Later, after the beginning of agriculture and the formation of human settlements, it was as explorers - who later became conquerors, pillagers and ultimately, the new settlers. After the formation of the nation states, people moved to new countries in search of a better life as expatriates, or fleeing persecution as refugees.

In _Astray_ , Emma Donoghue looks at a bunch of such migrants across the centuries. In these short vignettes, she talks about all the categories mentioned above - plus a few who travelled across the borders of identities. All the stories except one are based on "historical" incidents - the quotes highlighting the fact that the veracity of that history may be open to debate. What the author has done here is to take any item she fancied from recorded sources - be it a proper biography, a bunch of letters, or even a news clipping - and create her story around it. The names in the records become thinking, living characters. It's fiction which grows around a kernel of truth, like a pearl inside an oyster.

Many of these shorts can be made into full-length novels. But that is not Ms. Donoghue's intention. By highlighting instances of people who go "astray", she invites us to think about our own migrant lives, shifting across countries, identities and beliefs: also of the author who is a permanent migrant in the world of letters.

A brilliant book.

Black line

 BlackLine is a cloud-based finance and accounting automation platform designed to streamline and modernize key financial operations. It’s widely used by finance teams to improve accuracy, efficiency, and compliance in processes that are traditionally manual and spreadsheet-driven.

What BlackLine Does

BlackLine helps organizations automate and manage:

Financial close and consolidation

Account reconciliations

Journal entries

Transaction matching

Variance analysis

Intercompany transactions

Compliance and audit readiness

Key Features

Automation: Reduces manual work by automating repetitive tasks like reconciliations and journal entries.

Real-time visibility: Dashboards and reports provide up-to-date insights into financial operations.

Audit trail: Maintains a clear record of approvals, changes, and supporting documentation.

AI-enabled tools: Enhances accuracy and speeds up processes like invoice-to-cash and anomaly detection 1.

Cloud-based: Accessible from anywhere, with minimal IT overhead2.

Who Uses It

Large enterprises and mid-sized companies across industries.

Finance and accounting teams looking to improve their record-to-report and invoice-to-cash cycles.

1

: https://www.blackline.com/

2

: https://sandpointc.com/blog/blackline-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-be-using-it/

Coldplay, Life, Corporate

 

I have something to say on the noise around the “cheating couple” that says more about us than about them. The world loves scandals. Two people caught on a screen one labeled “CEO,” the other “CHR Officer” and suddenly a stadium, then the internet, becomes the judge, jury, and executioner.

But I smile and ask: What is cheating? You call it betrayal of a partner, but often it is first a betrayal of the self. A person unfulfilled within cannot remain faithful—not because they are evil, but because their inner garden has run dry. In desperation, they go searching for rain elsewhere.

Love, he would remind us, is not a contract. It is a living energy. When it dies, you can keep pretending with rings, signatures, and photographs but deep down, your heart already knows the truth.

And to those outraged or entertained, I would whisper: Be careful of your excitement over others’ mistakes. It only reveals how deeply you long to escape your own shadows. The urge to gossip is often a subtle way of hiding your own fears.

At a Coldplay concert in mid-July, what began as a lighthearted moment on the kiss cam turned into a viral scandal that exposed deep personal failure and brought devastating consequences. 

The camera panned to Andy Byron, CEO of the tech company Astronomer, who was seen embracing and appearing intimate with Kristin Cabot, the company’s Chief People Officer—not his wife. Their awkward, panicked reaction on the big screen drew attention, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin jokingly remarked, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” The clip exploded online, sparking widespread speculation and ridicule. 

What was captured in a fleeting moment ended up shining a massive spotlight on a private sin that has now publicly unraveled Byron’s marriage, harmed his children, embarrassed his company, and shaken his leadership. His wife, Megan Kerrigan Byron, has reportedly removed his name from her online presence and received an outpouring of support urging her to walk away. 

While some statements of apology circulated online, the company later confirmed those were fake, adding to the confusion and turmoil. 

This entire situation serves as a sobering reminder of the truth found in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.” 

What may begin as a seemingly small compromise—an inappropriate flirtation or hidden attraction—can swiftly grow into a devastating fallout that affects every area of life. 

As believers, we must take heed. We are called to die to our flesh daily, to live Spirit-filled lives, and to consecrate ourselves unto the Lord so we can discern the subtle traps the enemy sets for our destruction. Though all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, sin always carries consequences. 

Let this story not just be a headline we scroll past but a warning that integrity matters, holiness protects, and secret sin will be shouted from the rooftops. 

Let us pray for Andy, his wife, their children, and all involved. May this crisis lead to true repentance, healing, and—if they are willing—a testimony of redemption. And may we all remember that the enemy seeks to devour, but Christ came that we might have life, and life abundantly (John 10:10).

But then why a morphed image? Why do people want to bring politics even here and that too heads of states?

Perhaps this so-called “cheating couple” is not a headline but a mirror reflecting the fragility of human connection and the courage it takes to be honest with oneself and others. So instead of pointing fingers, sit silently and ask: Where am I unfaithful to my own truth? Where am I still wearing masks?

Because in the end, scandals pass. But self-awareness - this is the real revolution. 

A Brief History of Time ~ Stephen Hawking (38 of 25)

 

Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time is a landmark book that explores profound questions about the universe in a way that’s accessible to non-scientists. It covers:

The Nature of the Universe: Hawking explores the origin, structure, and eventual fate of the universe, addressing questions like: Where did the universe come from? Does time have a beginning and an end?

Key Concepts in Physics: The book introduces complex scientific ideas such as:

• The Big Bang theory
• Black holes
• Quantum mechanics
• Relativity (both general and special)
• The concept of time and space-time

Unification of Physics: Hawking discusses the quest for a unified theory that combines general relativity (which explains gravity) and quantum mechanics (which explains the behavior of particles at the smallest scales).

The Role of God: While not a religious book, it touches on philosophical questions about the role of a creator and whether science can explain everything.

Written in layman's terms, the book avoids heavy mathematics, using analogies and illustrations to explain complex ideas. It is one of the most influential popular science books ever written.

Chapter 1: Our Picture of the Universe

Introduces fundamental questions about the universe’s origin, structure, and fate. Hawking uses a humorous anecdote about a turtle supporting the Earth to illustrate early cosmological ideas.

Chapter 2: Space and Time

Explores the evolution of thought from Aristotle to Newton and Einstein. Introduces the concepts of absolute vs. relative time and space.

Chapter 3: The Expanding Universe

Describes the discovery that the universe is expanding, based on observations by Edwin Hubble. Introduces the Big Bang theory.

Chapter 4: The Uncertainty Principle

Explains quantum mechanics and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, emphasizing the limits of what we can know about particles.

Chapter 5: Elementary Particles and the Forces of Nature

Outlines the four fundamental forces (gravity, electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear forces) and the particles that interact through them.

Chapter 6: Black Holes

Discusses the formation and properties of black holes, including escape velocity and event horizons.

Chapter 7: Black Holes Ain’t So Black

Introduces Hawking radiation—the idea that black holes can emit particles and eventually evaporate.

Chapter 8: The Origin and Fate of the Universe

Explores cosmological models, including the Big Bang and Big Crunch, and the role of entropy and time’s arrow.

Chapter 9: The Arrow of Time

Examines why time seems to move in one direction, linking thermodynamic, psychological, and cosmological arrows of time.

Chapter 10: Wormholes and Time Travel

Speculates on the theoretical possibility of time travel via wormholes and the implications for causality.

Chapter 11: The Unification of Physics

Discusses the search for a unified theory that combines general relativity and quantum mechanics—what we now call the Theory of Everything.

Chapter 12: Conclusion

Summarizes the key ideas and reflects on the philosophical implications of understanding the universe.

In the concluding chapters of A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking reflects on the evolution of scientific thought and the contributions of key figures like Albert Einstein Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton as below:

Albert Einstein

Einstein is portrayed as a revolutionary who transformed our understanding of space and time through his theories of special and general relativity.

Hawking highlights how Einstein’s work showed that space and time are dynamic and can be warped by gravity.

Despite his achievements, Einstein resisted the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics, famously saying, “God does not play dice.”

His vocal support of the zionist cause was duly recognized in 1952 when he was offered the presidency of Israel. He declined. His quote "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity".

Galileo Galilei

Hawking credits Galileo as the father of modern science.

He emphasizes Galileo’s role in challenging the geocentric model and supporting the heliocentric theory through observation.

Galileo’s use of the telescope and his insistence on empirical evidence marked a turning point in scientific methodology.

Isaac Newton

Newton is celebrated for formulating the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which dominated scientific thought for over two centuries.

Hawking acknowledges Newton’s brilliance in creating a predictive model of the universe, though he notes that Newton’s laws eventually proved insufficient at cosmic and quantum scales.

Newton’s deterministic universe laid the groundwork for classical physics.

In the final chapters, Hawking uses these figures to illustrate the progression of scientific understanding—from a static, Earth-centered universe to a dynamic, expanding cosmos governed by both relativity and quantum theory. He ends with a hopeful note about the pursuit of a unified theory that could explain everything, blending the legacies of these great minds.

[24/07, 00:00] Me Ra: In 2006, Hawking posed an open question on the Internet: "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?", later clarifying: "I don't know the answer. That is why I asked the question, to get people to think about it, and to be aware of the dangers we now face.

Hawking expressed concern that life on Earth is at risk from a sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, global warming, an asteroid collision, or other dangers humans have not yet thought of.

Hawking stated: "I regard it as almost inevitable that either a nuclear confrontation or environmental catastrophe will cripple the Earth at some point in the next 1,000 years".Such a planet-wide disaster need not result in human extinction if the human race were to be able to colonise additional planets before the disaster. Hawking viewed spaceflight and the colonisation of space as necessary for the future of humanity.

Hawking stated that, given the vastness of the universe, aliens likely exist, but that contact with them should be avoided.He warned that aliens might pillage Earth for resources. In 2010 he said, "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

Hawking warned that superintelligent artificial intelligence could be pivotal in steering humanity's fate, stating that "the potential benefits are huge... Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. It might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks."

He feared that "an extremely intelligent future AI will probably develop a drive to survive and acquire more resources as a step toward accomplishing whatever goal it has", and that "The real risk with AI isn't malice but competence. A super-intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren't aligned with ours, we're in trouble".

He also considered that the enormous wealth generated by machines needs to be redistributed to prevent exacerbated economic inequality.

Hawking was concerned about the future emergence of a race of "superhumans" that would be able to design their own evolution and, as well, argued that computer viruses in today's world should be considered a new form of life, stating that "maybe it says something about human nature, that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. Talk about creating life in our own image."

Hawking did not rule out the existence of a Creator, asking in A Brief History of Time "Is the unified theory so compelling that it brings about its own existence?"

We are each free to believe what we want and it is my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realisation. There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.

If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you would meet and put questions to. Law remain 💯

Can there be a unified theory or are we chasing a mirage? There seems to be three possibilities:

1) There really is a complete unified theory,  which we will someday discover if we are smart enough.

2) There is no ultimate theory of the universe,  j7st an invite sequence of theories that describe the universe more and more accurately. 

3) There is no theory of the universe,  events cannot be predicted beyond a certain extent  but occur in a random and arbitrary manner.