Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan It’s strange to begin an anecdote in 2020 which revolves around masks, but there is absolutely no other way to talk about this book. Years ago, I read a fact disguised as an inspirational quote – “The person you’ll spend the most time with is yourself”. In that light, it …
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan Narcism has always largely been considered a supremely individualistic trait. We tend to assign this trait to rather smaller units, that too mostly individual humans. To that extent, it is often an exercise worth indulging to be examining the human race from this perspective. We’ve always placed ourselves at the …
Raya by Srinivas Reddy
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan Political leadership has perhaps been the most controversial of ships to sail in. The very shroud of mystery that encapsulates them, also deprives them of the link that allows human connections. Couple this with the vagaries of history, and you have a potent combination of either superhuman or inhuman personalities, …
Blood by Sunil Gangopadhyay, (Translated by Dr. Debali Mookerjea-Leonard)
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan Navigating your owner static identities is a tricky job. As much as one might fight it, one’s inherited socio-political, and to a large extent, geo-cultural identity is difficult to escape from. Despite living in a hyper-globalised world, the very idea of which is being ironically challenged today, walking away from …
Amnesty by Arvind Adiga
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan The centrality of moral conflict in human life is such a given, that describing it seems a cliche. Yet, it seems to be a reasonable exercise to test one’s compass hypothetically once in a while, especially if self-discovery is something you hold dear.It is absolutely fascinating how human beings react …
The Body Myth by Rheea Mukherjee
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan Discomfort, by definition is something that we are trained to avoid, or walk away from. Yet somehow, it is the unifying factor of human life, forcing us to confront the banal truth of life – chaos is not the exception, but the rule. Order is not real, but simply an …
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. Actions have consequences. Perhaps no other adage can sum up the history of well….everything. Sometimes, the tiniest of steps result in the largest of leaps, and the deepest of jumps are in retrospect nothing but a swim in the shallow end. This …
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan I’ve always found it rather odd that the “success” of human beings has historically always been associated with positive extremes. The example of Musk sleeping on the floor of his company has become the global standard of the required extremities for entrepreneurial success. But it’s only on rare occasions that …
Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan The spirit of innovation is what drives the human spirit. The humdrum repetitive action of doing the exact same thing again and again might sound perfect from an automated robotic efficiency utopia’s perspective, but the fact is that being mindless drones is a thought that repulses humans at some point …
Low by Jeet Thayil
Originally posted on Kitabi Karwan Orderly chaos. This oxymoron has always stood out for me as a perfect metaphor of the world around us. Most of us love to pretend that there is a semblance of structure, clear cut emotions and reality. But what we don’t want to acknowledge is that we’re wrong. That the …