White Clouds, Green Mountains by Ruskin Bond

Book Review of White Clouds, Green Mountains by Ruskin Bond

White Clouds, Green Mountains is one of the finest books written by Ruskin Bond. It is a memoir on his days in Doon valley. Readers who read books by Mr. Bond know that nature is an essential ingredient of his novel. But this particular book surpasses all that you've ever read on Dehra. White Clouds, Green Mountains by Ruskin Bond, is a compilation of some of his sweetest memories  of a heaven that was Dehra and also about the wonderful people he met there. The intimate emotional relationship between the nature and its children returns time and again in these pages.

No matter how hard they try, humans cannot actually get rid of the mountains. That's what I like about them; they are here to stay.

Living in harmony with nature teaches one life's greatest lessons. Most importantly it teaches one patience and a very pleasant sense of humour. 

I must confess, I did lose patience with  a bamboo beetle who blundered in the other night and fell into the water jug. I rescued him and pushed him out of the window. A few seconds later he came whirring in again, and with unerring accuracy landed with a plop in the same jug. I fished him out once more and offered him the freedom of the night. But attracted no doubt by the light and warmth of my small sitting-room, he came buzzing back, circling the room like a helicopter looking for a place to land. Quickly I covered the water jug. He landed in a bowl of wild dahlias, and I allowed him to remain there, comfortably curled up in the hollow of a flower.

While studying nature One often comes across sparks of wisdom. But one needs to be a keen observer to learn from its elements. 

The milkman's son does not pass his exams, but as long as he can climb trees, he'll be a success in life. All of us need just one good accomplishment in order to get by. Obviously he can't spend  the rest of his life climbing trees, but it's the agility and enterprise involved in the act that will make him a survivor.

Every tiny detail is important. Observe with humility and passion and one can always find poetry in it. That's nature.

You stride through the wasteland of my desk,
Pressing on over books and papers,
Down the wall and  across the floor -
Small red ant, now crossing a sea of raindrops
At my open door.
Your destiny, your task to carry home
That heavy sunflower seed,
Waving it like a banner
Of victory!
Nothing is insignificant; nothing is without consequence in the intricate web of life.

When the bank borrows his German typewriter by mistake, everything turns into a mess. The incident gets recorded in its pages. It's difficult to suppress a giggle reading the story.

On German typewriters the letter 'Z' occurs where there is normally a 'Y' on an English machine, and if you are not used to it, and are typing fast, you are apt to produce a certain amount of gibberish. If you want to say 'You might pick up yellow fever in Zanzibar', it could come out 'Zou might pick up yellow fever in Yanyibar'! The auditors and my friends at the bank got into many a tangle: zeros become yeros and even euros, Japanese yens became zens. Chinese yuans became zuans. The foreign exchange section was in a fine mess.
It was after this that the bank was hurriedly computerised.

The true meaning of human 'Progress' comes out in a private conversation with a shepherd girl.

'I have never filled a form. I have never seen one.'
'And I hope you never will. It is a piece of paper covered with useless information. It is all a part of human progress.'
'Progress?'
'Yes. Are you unhappy?'
'No.'
'Do you go hungry?'
'No.'
'Then you don't need progress. Wild billberries are better.'

Then two lovers are separated and the heart shattering lament echoes over moonlit night.

Binya ... I take your name again and again as though by taking it, I can make you hear me, come to me, walking over the moonlit mountain ...

What nature gives you, nature takes away. But its the same nature that consoles and heals.

But at the same time, the whistling thrush seemed to mock at me, calling tantalisingly from the shadows of the ravine; 'It isn't time that's passing by, it is you and I, it is you and I ..'

Reading this book feels like relaxing in a hammock in a forest on a mountain. The incessant music of a stream flowing nearby, whistling of wild birds looking for mates - one can actually hear them played as live music tracks. Such is the charm of Ruskin bond.

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Killers The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Time

Book Review of Killers: The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Time by Nigel Cawthrone

Killers The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Times by Nigel Cawthrone is not about ordinary homicide that one comes across every other day in daily newspapers. The murderers mentioned in this book are not political assassins killing public figures due to some political rivalry. They are no commonplace robbers who obstinately kill a cop while escaping.

In Killers The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Times, Nigel Cawthrone gives detailed accounts of the crimes committed by infamous serial killers such as Starkweather, Ted Bundy, Boston Strangler etc. They are killers who kill just for the sake of killing. They are brutal - driven mostly by their indomitable urge to kill. These are the stories about men hunting men, then slaughtering them as if they are nothing more than pigs. They are nightmares who lived among us.

Here are some excerpts from Killers The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Times,

Charles Starkweather (Victim Count: 11, MO: Shooting and stabbing, Execution: 25/06/1959)

This book not only describes the life and crime of these criminals but also tries to bring some insight into a psychopath in making. Violence seems to be very fundamental human trait that often remains suppressed. A moment of impulse, rage and vengeance - especially vengeance - can bring out the killer in the most amicable looking men.

His main motive was to take 'general revenge upon the world and its human race'.

Charles Starkweather confessed. In his childhood he was often ruthlessly mocked at for his speech impediments. He was hurt badly, repeatedly. He had never forgiven those who were involved. Regarding this he formed a very strong generalisation.

'The people I murdered had murdered me,' he said. 'They murdered me slow, like. I was better to them. I killed them in a hurry.'

Poverty is also one of the reasons. It gave him an intense feeling of being deprived. The treatment he received in his childhood continued even after adulthood. The intensity increased. Insults became more overt and nonsensical. He reacted,

 'They had me numbered for the bottom,' he said. He blamed the world and was sure that other people hated him 'because I was poor and had to live in a goddamned shack'. But there was a way out of this class trap - 'all dead people are on the same level,' he said.

Boston Strangler aka Albert DeSalvo (Victim Count: 13, MO: Strangulation, He was never caught or formally identified)

Behind every serial sex offender there is almost always a disturbed childhood. 

DeSalvo was the son of a vicious drunk. When he was 11, DeSalvo watched his father knock his mother's teeth out then bend her fingers back until they snapped. This was nothing unusual in the DeSalvo household.

... and not to mention the unhealthy exposure to sex at a very early age.

His father would also bring prostitutes back to the apartment and make the children watch while he had sex with them.

The first murder of a serial killer is the most important incident in his life. Before it the criminal activities remain limited. The very first murder is the line that defines their sanity. When that happens all possible avenues of return close down. The aim of his life becomes steady.

...(DeSalvo) added murder to his repertoire, killing 55 year old Anna Slesers in her apartment on 14 June 1962. DeSalvo had left her body in an obscene pose, with the cord he had used to strangle her tied in a bow around her neck. This was to become his trademark.

They have no qualms. That they mutilate or murder a living human being - doesn't alarm them anymore. It becomes their obsession. The primal impulse to subjugate, to assert one's power overpowers their conscience. They often do it merely out of compulsion and later forgets everything about it.

DeSalvo admitted later that he did not know why he had killed Joan Gaff. 'I wasn't even excited,' he said. After he left her apartment, he went home, played with his kids and watched the report of Joan Gaff's murder on TV. Then he sat down and had dinner, without thinking of her again.

Ted Bundy ( Victim Count: 20, MO: Rape and Strangulation, Execution: 1989)

In the dark world of serial killers very few are as notorious as Ted Bundy who killed no less than 20 women. His libido was so strong and overpowering that he often lost the touch of reality. He was also a necrophiliac. 

Ted Bundy had the power to charm women. Many of them paid with their lives. He claimed his sexual impulses were so strong that there was no way he could control them.

Extraordinary crime gets extraordinary attention. But what shocked me here was these lines, 

On death row... He also received sacks full of post from young women whose letters dwelt on cruel and painful ways to make love. Even on death row he had not lost his charm.

It is said that when Ted Bundy went to chair (Electrocution) there was an enigmatic smile on his face.

There are many more cases discussed in Killers The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Time. But if one's heart is weak, one should avoid such books. Reading about the lives of these killers may actually make you lose all your hopes in humanity.

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Book Review: 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth

Book Review of 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth by Sunil Dalal and Ashwin Sanghi

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13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth by Sunil Dalal and Ashwin Sanghi, is your definitive guide to making money. Now let me first tell you what this book cant do. This book will not make you rich overnight. Wealth is accumulated over time. There are strategies just to make sure that 'time' doesn't become your 'lifetime'. This book will not promote any particular financial product. What it will do is that it will discuss various products and investment options and compare them. Thirdly, and most importantly, 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth doesn't claim to be the best book on the subject. Instead it encourages you to develop a critical approach towards anything and everything you read.

Marketing executives are eager to sell their stuffs to you. Don't believe everything they say. Their intentions aren't always bad. But their training often makes them parrot words that are superficial and are just enough to sell the product. What they often omit is the risk involved in the investment. To get the full picture you need to dig deeper. 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth by Ashwin Sanghi and Sunil Dalal tells you how to do that.

Don't just purchase stuffs. Create assets that will earn for you. Especially when you are taking loan for it, it's all the more necessary to pay attention to the kind of asset you're acquiring. A vehicle you purchase to rent it to a local transport may be a good idea whereas borrowing for the sole purpose of consumption isn't. 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth also explains why an increase in income alone can't ensure wealth.

Probably the only two negative things about 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth are, first, it is written in Indian context which limits its scope in international market. Secondly, this book is for beginners. Experienced investors may not find this book as engrossing as a layman would. I'd like to recommend this book who just started investing and is considering making some serious money in completely legit ways. 13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth by Sunil Dalal and Ashwin Sanghi will tell you how to create profitable assets over a reasonable period of time. It  discusses various aspects of investment in Mutual Funds, Share Markets, Real Estate etc.

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