#rk narayan

[nerd-goes-blogging]

Reading goal- achieved ✅

Will be posting book reviews soon!!

[firdaus-ii]

rosie & her liberation through the snake dance

.

rosie is the wife of an influential man who has meticulously tied ropes and chains around her feet break the moment she sees the snake charmer and the dancing lady. the girl within her who was suppressed and tamed for the past years spills from her heart, erasing her previous identity. Rosie rises, intoxicated by the music from the drums and the sound of the ghunghroo that invite her again to claim the beat.

she accumulates the courage that she had been seeking in the mirror all those early mornings and late nights. somehow she stumbles upon the duality of her reality and steadily but slowly moves towards the one she wants to live; as she loses herself amidst the awestruck gaze of her admirers and the familiar sounds of claps and gasps.

although small, she doesn’t realise the ripple she creates by allowing herself to move freely. and how it will give birth to a wave that will crash into her marriage, her individuality & her actuality.

[waheedarehman-infinitelylovable]

“Shall I go away?” I asked in a whisper.

“Yes. Good Night,” she said feebly.

“May I not come in?” I asked, trying to look my saddest.

“No, no. Go away,” she said. But on an impulse I gently pushed her out of the way, and stepped in and locked the door on the world.

R.K. Narayan, “The Guide”

[missgreensgarden]

Reading Recommendation

Rudyard Kipling was an imperialist hack. If you want a good adventure story set in the colonial era, I’d recommend MJ Carter’s Blake and Avery Series. It is both a clever homage to and a hilarious satire of those “adventuring novels” that were so popular with a particular class of British boarding school types way back when.

Or even better, give R.K. Narayan a read.

[waheedarehman-infinitelylovable]

The English language version of “Guide” (1965)!

This was the first screen version of “Guide”, with a script by Pearl S. Buck and directed by Tad Danielewski.

Waheeda Rehman was chosen as Best Actress at the Chicago Film Festival  for her portrayal of Rosie (which seems so much closer to the book than in the Hindi film), but for some obscure reason, Dev Anand never told her, and she only learned about it by chance...

Also for obscure reasons, this film can’t be traced and watched! My personal theory is that Dev put the available copies in some trunk in his attic, to promote the Hindi version (with the heroic Raju, evil Marco and damsel-in-distress Rosie)  only  :P

I don’t know why bobbytalkscinema thinks this is a bad film. I would sell half my soul for a glimpse of Waheeda as the rather complex book Rosie!

Here’s the link to the scene-by-scene description:

https://www.bobbytalkscinema.com/recentpost/the-guide-english-1965-deta-1963

[waheedarehman-infinitelylovable]

" 'Rosie' is a silly name," I said as a first step after two days of hard thinking. "The trouble with you is that although your people are a traditional dance family, they didn't know how to call you. For our public purposes, your name must be changed. What about Meena Kumari?"

She shook her head. "It's no better. I see no reason to change my name."

R.K.Narayan, "The Guide", 1958

[sivavakkiyar]

to write: comparative analysis of Tom Sawyer and Swami & Friends

[sivavakkiyar]

epigraph from Ishmael Reed’s Conjugating Hindi