Caesarean Conspiracies

Ah conspiracies amazing they are.....they simply show you how varied people are really.Why did i get into this...hmmm i ve always been fascinated by themwhy because i grew up on a famous conspiracy.Being a ICSE Student(now anyone from others like CBSE/STATE Syllabus must forgive me coz im i feel its the curriculum thats pretty varied....cbse is quite balanced i guess but well forget it..the state syllabus in southis a preparation for future engineers with their advanced rigor in mathematics.ICSE in fact had one book of lovely poetry ,one play Julius caesar , one novel which is a sweet one village by the sea by anita desai and one book of short stories called the' treasury of short stories' which is a real treasure i still treasure.No wonder ive turned out a literary engineer.the geography we had was so vast i knew australian cities as well as indian also helped by the fact that there was a world cup there then.)
when in school we had Julius Ceaser which we studied for 2 yrs so i remember it (esp antony's speech)still though i do not instantly remember my office phone no or my last completed work at office.What is more memorable is the way we were encouraged to criticize and view it from different angles the whole of the play.the words that i love or think today are a byproduct of those days.the variety of people ...Cynical cinna...anthony the master orator.....cassius the lean mean hungry look guysoothsayers.oh i guess i was lucky we happened to have such a complex play instead of some frivolous comedies which though enjoyable would not have lent much to classroom analysis.One of first ways to recognize hypocrisy was shown by my english teacher when he pointed outwhile brutus the honorable fellow would not take money like bribes he asks money from cassius who surely gets them by bribes.Flattery and flatterers i discovered it there.you can see the power of oratory skill how a mob who has no identity they are swayed from extreme support of brutus to antony(reminds you of the importance of oratory skill so precious for politicians to sway the fools who form masses and mobs with no individual thoughts.)it seems so funny when u remember the way the guys reacted to the only line in the whole playthey could giggle at ..."Portia is brutus' wife not his harlot".there is so much drama and mental conflict in the whole play its lovely.the first of a whole collection of quotes from the play so fond that for all my dear friends autograph books i signed the same
"Forever, and forever, farewell,
If we do meet again, why, we will smile;
If not, it's true that this parting was well made."

but why i got into this.on a sunday evening when u are fed up and tired to even browse and TV is troubling you and suddenly you get on discovery and watch the last 20 mins of 'who killed julius ceaser'.It brings out a fascinating discovery to a conspiracy that we wringed out in class for two years.Could caesar have engineeredhis assasination to make himself immortal and establish the Roman empire.quite enjoyed it and relived an era of life in a few hours.

Roots and Shadows... a few thoughts

Family how rooted it is especially in the Indian context and yet there are so many wheels within wheels as they say.This is about 'Roots and Shadows' another of those excellent books by Shashi deshpande.The novel starts off with Indu coming back to her ancestral home and family after years and suddenly realising that she by a cunning stroke has been holding the strings to the future of all the entities in the family.The novel really exploits the view of all people within the so called family having deviant interests each may be valid from within their view.It shows the cunningness of the weak, how money is such a bonding factor.
It also brings out how women whatever they acheive but within the familial set up are cut out.

'you are too clever for me' the final rejoinder.It had always been thrown at me like accusation.'for a woman intelligence is always a burden Indu.We like our women not to think.''its always going to happen to you Indu.People are resentful of brains.Take it in your stride...pity them'.

One scene that really is so true to life may be because its the background story of every familyno wonder ekta kapoor exploits it so much was this when Indu the modern girl who does not wear much jewelry goes to open the ancestral safe to which she has the keys now.

" Mini sitting next to me....look Indu arent these pearls lovely!lets see how they look on you.You never wear anything'and she clasped them as i sat still letting her do it.'
Yes Indu never wears anything' Sunanda atya said with a smile for me.As if we were allies' what does she need such things for? her education is her real jewelry.Its only poor fools like us who need all that'.'
Fools!' Kaki's voice was loaded with sarcasm.
Icould no longer be silent.'I never had any jewelry May be thats why i never wore it.Now that i have such a lot of it ,perhaps i'll start wearing it'
There was shocked silence.In the dim light it was difficult to make out the faces but the air in the room was charged with consternation.Was i serious?Does she mean it? then what about my Mini, my Lata, my Geeta, my Shobha.Its not fair.Its not fair.

The book also goes into such diverse topics all from the same story that its amazing.

The whole world is made of interdependent parts so why not you?

Meera ...if there had been pschoanalysis then, wouldn't they have pschoanalysed her, cut out her obsession, rooted it out of her ?

Detachment...it was for the dead not the living.

Its amazing that a writer who writes with so much understanding and pathos about the general India, not the very poor or the filthy rich is not as well known but others who spin magical talesare much well known in indian writing in english.Its unfair ..... but whats great is she been at it for more than 2 decades.I do have to read her newer books these are actually her older books ive read and written in my previous posts.