The Rebelle blog

Finally, after a long, long time I'm writing here. Last weekend, I attended and volunteered at a four  day brilliant pop up exhibition of second-hand books at Twice Told at Cowrks in Worli. I met friends, fellow readers, and avid readers. My excitement and energy were all over the place as I interacted and had long conversations with people who devoured books like I do. We exchanged ideas and philosophies that ranged from Rumi, Sufi saints, Architecture to cities and urban planning. It was a sheer pleasure to spend my waking hours in the company of people who read and ruminate. This was about last weekend.  This weekend, because of the terrifying rain scare, I spent it indoors at home. There wasn't any electricity for a good part of the day, but I ended up reading. Went through newspapers and the book recommendations, reviews, also rearranged my shelves, took a look at Goodreads after a very long time. Realized that I hadn't updated it with any of my reads from this...

Early in August this year, I went to a book exhibition with Shree and we spent a delightful four hours amidst all that treasure trove. That day, I had to let go off a few books including Ruskin Bond's The Writer on the Hill and I regretted it for a while.    Last Saturday, while strolling through the familiar lanes of Fort, I found myself walking towards Strand Book Stall and once inside, lost in its charm. To my delight, I saw a lone copy of Ruskin Bond's anthology of selected fiction and non-fiction nestled among Harry Potter's new shiny editions. Mr Bond shines from anywhere. Before anyone else came to claim it, I pounced on it and held it close. Many of the stories are from his books on Dehra and Mussoorie. I have read them all before, have them memorized since my growing years. His charm never fades away. December reads are always special.  This year is coming to an end. I can still recollect the first day of 2017 and how I spent it. Every single detail. Yet it...

I frequently lose myself over book reviews and introductions to old classics. These past few months, I have been holding cherished conversations with an avid reader who's a passionate linguist as well. When reading becomes a source of much greater joy than other things deemed important in this material world, we know we have struck treasure. Three different articles today gave me immense joy. They reminded me the reasons why I read and choose to spend on building a book collection over everything else. First, about a Dutch town of Bredevoort, where books present better photo-op moments than windmills and is a book town with 20 permanent bookshops in a population of 1500. The town's only English bookshop is run by an Englishman named Leonard Webb settled for the past 30 years in the Netherlands. He runs a handsome one person, exclusively English, independent enterprise. Their oldest book is a religious text published in Latin in 1773. I recall texting a friend in the morning a...

I have never till date felt so defenceless over a headache! In fact, I have never given power to my body to enslave me with sickness. I have always been healthy for years. My last bout of sickness was in 2005 when I was bedridden for a week apparently from the exhaustion of travelling to and fro from college. Architecture as academics was exhausting. Instead of expanding my health issues any further here, I would like to write about my recent disinterest in blogging.  On one hand, I have been reading excessively like a mad(wo)man, devouring a couple of hundred pages every day or so, and yet I find myself bereft of words to write here. I have also met some new people, readers who have turned their passion into a business, which is too cool, I think! The more I look at people who have developed this transgression from reading and owning books and then, selling them, the more subconscious I have become about my books at home. My Dad and I share a common giant wall bookshelf with...

I have always given book recommendations to friends and cousins, even strangers I've met at bookstores or during train journeys who have approached me after seeing books in my hands. So, it's still always amazing when I hear my newly-acquainted-with-reading-and-loving-it friend to thank me and share her book buys via text messages. It gives me immense pleasure to go back into my memories and relive the happiness of our shared book reads.  Having spoken to a number of readers, mostly women, I have come to a conclusion that women tend to read more classics and go by reading lists recommended by book sharing websites than men do. It is slightly oddball that there is a category called Women's Fiction but none that is called Men's Fiction. I wonder why? Also, the fact that women tend to keep a track of other books mentioned in novels or generally note down a list of books in fiction and memoirs gives a perspective on the reading patterns of men and women. A few years a...

काही व्यक्तिरेखा चिरतरुण असतात आणि त्या सदैव जिवंत राहतात. माझ्या मनात चिरंतर घर करून राहिलेल्या काहींविषयी मी आज इथे लिहिणार आहे. साधारण अकरा वर्षांची असताना मी पहिल्यांदा चार्ल्स डिकन्स लिखित 'ऑलिव्हर ट्विस्ट' हि कादंबरी वाचली. माझ्याच वयाच्या असणाऱ्या एका अनाथ मुलाची ती कथा वाचताना नुसतेच माझे डोळे भरून आले नव्हते तर मी ढसाढसा रडले होते. त्याचे करुण डोळे मला सारखे माझ्या नजरेसमोर दिसायचे. जगात आपल्यासोबत आपली काळजी घेणारं कुणी नसलं कि किती हाल होतात आणि त्यातल्यात्यात एका धोकादायक वास्तविक जगात आपण एकटे असतो हि नुसती कल्पनाच किती भीतीदायक आहे. त्यामुळे ऑलिव्हर बद्दल वाचताना मी खूप संवेदनशील आणि हळवी झाले होते. मी किती सुखासीन आणि सुरक्षित आयुष्य जगत होते याचं मला भान आलं. माझ्या कोवळ्या मनाला अतिशय छेदून काढणारा तो क्षण होता. त्याच दरम्यान व्हिक्टर ह्युगो लिखित आणि साने गुरुजी अनुवादित 'ल मिझराब' हि कादंबरी 'दुःखी' ह्या नावाने मराठीत मी वाचली. लहान असताना आपले भावविश्व किती स्तिमित असते. हि कादंबरी १८६२ मध्ये प्रकाशित झाली होती. साने गुरुजी यांनी लहान म...

It's AUGUST! I have been reading a lot of books lately. Read them even during my exams which is not a good thing to do i.e. deviating from coursework and spending time with literary characters. Now that exams are done, I look forward eagerly to more Kindle reads, library reads and my To-Read pile from April. I never thought how much I would enjoy reading on the kindle. Although, I still hold my paperbacks and Hardcovers dearly.  I recently gave away a large chunk of my Childhood favorites to an orphanage housing girls aged between 8-12 years. I was very clear about including books that would be academically useful to them so Atlases, Thesaurus and Dictionaries, Spelling & Grammar books from Webster's made the list. I was happy to part with the books although initially when I thought of the idea, I thought I wouldn't be able to. So I took a day off to bask in my memories with those books and then decided it was for the best. Someone else will be able to hold them d...

Last Saturday, Dad and me went to a Book Exhibition after a long time. As soon as we entered the exhibition hall, Dad turned one way and I turned to the other. We lost ourselves in the long rows of books and only met halfway through the hall after what seemed like hours of browsing. We looked up from our reverie and smiled widely after seeing each other's arms full of books. In the middle of doing all this, we also met a few familiar faces, some of Dad's friends who had come with their kids. I felt very nice to see them running through the book aisles and picking up books and shouting at the top of their lungs about them to their parents. A very gratifying feeling that there exist parents still who are nurturing book love in their children in this age of fast technology. Also, the organisers of the exhibition seemed to be very nice and kind people because they did not reprimand any of the kids for causing ruckus. Usually when I visit book stores, kids seem bored in a compact ...

I don't even know how to express this or say that I have just fallen in love with Umberto Eco. It's some late love blooming. He passed away last week. Rest in Peace, Signor Eco. It's some coincidence that I bought a book written by him yesterday and a newspaper's literary supplement had his literary genius covered in their Sunday issue. Everything just seems to be inter-connected. I have begun to have more faith and see more clearly, albeit with my glasses on, about connections of the mind and the meta physical. How else could I explain something as crazy as reading about Balzac and the little chinese seamstress the other day in a YA book and then seeing this Balzac book on a trip to a new book store in town? Sometimes I long for too many familiar details like characters from books that seem to exist in real life or my very placid self succumbing to haywire imaginary plots and situations. Perhaps, this is all a wide array of chaos meant to contain within our human...

This is what I intend to do on the leap year day, today. Start reading one of these many fine books. There is magic and religion and physics and quantum mechanics, not to forget sociology, feminist studies and the cosmos too. Now where is the conundrum? It is precisely in choosing ONE among these books. I am so crazy that I bought a big, beautiful edition of the collected works of Charlotte and Emily Bronte as a wedding gift for a dear friend. I hope Heathcliff and Catherine don't spook her but instead provide lessons in love and misery of the married life. (The last one is not what I wish for.) Currently, I am totally torn between reading for academic exams which have public administration and sociology among many subjects to study but also reviewing a history primer on Mumbai written in 1883. Isn't it nice? I am giving my grey cells extra running by dabbling in different languages. Just to up the enthusiasm, having my hands full of some good lip-smacking reading pie...

One thing that will always remain a constant in my life is BOOKS. One of the greatest joys in life is reading. It is singularly the biggest event in my life- the moment I learnt to read my letters and finished my first book. Today I take a vow, at the beginning of the year to donate books and help create libraries for underprivileged children. The thought crossed my mind a few months ago when during a casual outing with friends some street kids after noticing a pile of books in my hand wanted them. This encounter took me by surprise, and I kept thinking about creating a book bank specifically for kids who lack access to reading. Now that I have a substantial collection i.e. children's literature, I am reaching out to book lovers who might want to help with sustaining this idea and making this small effort reach kids who will benefit from this gesture. Write to me on sharayugangurde@gmail,com , if you wish to share ideas and means to distribute books to children. I hope this w...

Sleep eludes me at this hour. Although I feel strained physically, my brain seems super active. I would like to sleep, but lot of thoughts and ideas keep clashing in my mind. My Dad surprised me today with a giant Phaidon Press book on 20th century World Architecture. It's humongous, literally. I have always wanted to build up an architecture collection at my home library. A Phaidon Press book is like a dream come true. It seemed like a luxury to buy when I was in College. I hungrily devoured the index and happily got lost in the pages. Sometimes its overbearing to be capable of feeling so much joy! A school friend who is visiting after seven years has been pumping positive energy and lots of happy spirits into me. I realize, I was once an extremely happy person. Not that I am unhappy now. But that spark seems missing. Of course, my brain knows we all grow out of our likes and dislikes in life, and hence, I feel normal about this current state of mind. I shared the phai...

I am a crazy reader. Even while typing this sentence all that came to my mind were the book bags, book shelves and stacks perched on the sofa of the living room of my house. I am also a collector of antiquarian books. So I can't resist picking up two copies of the same book if they happen to be rare editions. Ever since I have known Ahalya, the librarian and bookstore owner of Trilogy I have been the happiest soul I was on the planet. This girl is exactly me. I saw myself in her. She is the mirror I must have been looking for. And, its no mean coincidence that our names take their form in an old Indian epic. That's particularly funny, even I think so. These days, Ahalya and me have started communicating through a messenger app and its such a boon. I continuously bombard Ahalya's phone with book cover jpegs and she enthusiastically responds over it. Initially I thought it would be an imposition on her. I lost that dreadful thought soon enough. Its an absolute bless...

It's difficult to get off a book from my head once I decide I like it too much. Case in point, my latest read from Gayle Forman. Yes, Young Adult literature. I might have mentioned this somewhere else, perhaps to a friend, but I missed out reading YA fiction during my teens. I was big on classics and all the serious reading. My companion was Daddy, of course. He and me scouted for books, read them, discussed them, impassioned with love for literature. Aah! There goes my train into the past again. So, I have an exam on coming sunday, in two days. I should be studying. But I keep going back to Shakespeare, Lulu, Willem and the beautiful Paris streets and cafe houses. Does it ever happen that we read about a place extensively and hence visit it, get familiar with it even without actually being there? I think it does with me. Especially happens with Dickens' London, and the Paris French quarters. It doesn't help much that owing to understanding urban planning and architec...

One night, Me and Shree got talking on books we have read and want to read over whatsapp. This is the most preferred communication medium these days and I remember not long ago, shree and me would end up texting each other at least 20 times before we would abandon it and eventually place a call. Our conversation steered towards books by Rohinton Mistry, Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri when she suddenly sent me an image of her copy of A Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh. The Ibis Trilogy came up as usual. My first Amitav Ghosh read was, 'A Calcutta Chromosome'. And, I was frightened to my bones after finishing it. Somehow the mystery haunted me in my dreams and I vowed then never again to recommend this book. Later, of course I saw 'River of Smoke' and bought it because it was in part about the opium trade between India and China. That is one fascinating subject to write a book on. Sea of Poppies captivated my attention with its beautiful cover art. Yet to read this Trilogy. ...

काल संध्याकाळी 'अक्षरसंध्या' नामक एका वाचक-लेखक यांच्यामधील संवादासाठी बदलापूरमध्ये सुरु झालेल्या नवीन उपक्रमास उपस्थित राहण्याची संधी मिळाली. रमेश अढांगळे ह्या ऐंशी वर्षीय उर्दू अभ्यासकाचे दहा खंडात लिहिलेल्या उर्दू गझलांचे लिप्यंकरण असलेल्या पुस्तकांचे प्रकाशन करण्यात आले. श्री. अढांगळे यांनी सुमारे सहा हजार गझलांचा संग्रह गेली चाळीस वर्ष अव्याहतपणे केला आहे. ग्रंथसखा वाचनालयाचे श्री. श्याम जोशी सर यांची मुलाखत ऐकण्याचा योग देखील आला. वाचन आणि पुस्तकप्रेम याला लागलेली घरघर हा सर्वसाधारणपणे संवादाचा भाग जरी असला तरी यानिमित्ताने तरुण आणि ज्येष्ठ वाचक यांची नाळ जोडण्याचा एक स्तुत्य उपक्रम याठिकाणी बघण्यास मिळाला. दर महिन्याच्या तिसऱ्या रविवारी एक वाचक-लेखक कट्टा 'काका गोळे फाउंडेशन' यांच्याकडे असलेल्या 'खुल्या मंचावर' घेण्यात येईल. येत्या १९ जुलै रोजी, 'नरहर अंबादास कुरुंदकर यांचे साहित्य आणि अभिव्यक्ती स्वातंत्र्य म्हणजे काय?' या विषयावर संध्याकाळी सहा वाजता हि चर्चा होणार आहे. बदलापूर मध्ये राहणाऱ्या सर्व वाचकांनी एकदा नक्की ह्या उपक्रमास हजेरी ल...

Lilting music, violin sounds and a mellow afternoon- my idea of perfect time for a refreshing cup of tea and a good book that's about to end. Having spent three years with such luxury I'm spoilt to the core and often long for these afternoons. I remember my professor's warm conversations during thesis, and lazy walks through Fort. I have spent every waking moment with Orhan Pamuk and his Istanbul. Then there were times spent listening to the great Usha Uthup- she's a delight. Everything is so fresh in my mind, Her feminist decoding of 'Bindiya Chamkegi' is original and important and should be heard by every young impressionable girl. We live in such fractured times. I came across this book of Greek mythology and a dictionary on the same while looking for some other books in my collection. While going through them casually, I came upon markings in my handwriting on comparisons with other book characters and my exasperated comments. I remembered my obsessed tri...

I have been reading a lot of Hindi Poetry lately. My interest sparked after reading a few poems in a book diary. Thereafter, I got hold of hindi magazines like Hans, Dnyanodaya, Pakshadhar, Bahuvachan, Vagarth, Pahal, Udbhawana, Kathadesh, Aahwaan and poetry books on Agyey, Raghuvir Sahay, Chandrakant Devtale. The other day, I was reading an article by Gulzar in a sunday supplement. Therein, he mentioned of what drives him to write poetry. I got influenced by his words and promptly took to penning down mine, Since, I've been reading a lot of poetry these days, my first two poems took shape quite easily. I'm posting a poem here that's essentially memories of my father and me from my childhood. This is my first attempt at hindi poetry. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- बचपन की यादें किताबों में खो जाना पाया विरासत में उनसे मैंने। खो कर ...

Before 2014 ends, and I actually say this to myself before every year comes to an end, that I should pen down a proper list of to-read books in a diary, so that, I won't trouble the booksellers trying to remember names of books/authors/publishers etc. when I buy them. This rarely happens though. Every time I am in bookstores, I usually have this printed Excel list of to-read books I've exported from Goodreads. It happened only once that I took some other bag on an outing and hence, forgot to transfer the contents including these printed pages that run over about 20 in number. I've since grown wiser. Now, I also have a quick list of essential books to buy in my wallet, so that I always have access to the list. Since the beginning of this year, in 2014, I've also been writing in a small diary about books that I've come across, essays to read, excerpts from Nobel Prize Acceptance speeches and poetry too. These days I am reading a very interesting diary of a voracious...