Me, Books, and an Audible Milestone

 I can confidently boast that I am more receptive to technology than most 50 year olds. Right from learning how to use the Internet, to writing blogs, to doing online banking, to meeting friends from social media, and to reading books from an e-reader I have done it all.

Reading books is a pursuit I took to seriously after undergoing depression in 2009. I started with buying PG Wodehouse books at bookstores. When I found that all of his books were not available offline, I started buying them online. The inability of my dwelling to accommodate a vast collection of books lead to buying books through Kindle.

Much before I purchased a Kindle, I came to know that most of the classics were originally told orally. Knowing my lack of ability to concentrate, I thanked my stars that there were printed books.

It was during covid I got allured to Audible. They were making a juicy free offer and I took it up in the firm belief that this tryst with technology will be a short lived one. 

The first book I read err. heard on Audible was Ikigai, the book that makes living upto hundred years look like a cult practice. The next one was "The Alchemist" just to prepare for an online meet of Audible. This book opened my brain to the magic of an audio book. How one could visually open up to a book listening to an audio version of it became obvious to me. I vowed to stick on to Audible.

There were a few more books in the interim. I had never read Harry Potter and didn't intend to read it either, despite several friends reasoning against such obdurate behavior. The second wave of Covid had just begun and I was infected with it. At the beginning of the year I had resolved to read Harry Potter in 2021. I got infected with covid when I was alone in Dehradun. It was a harrowing time for my family, friends, and yours truly. Though I got away without any damage, I developed anxiety symptoms. I could not read even a single page without feeling irritated.

My good friend Dr Akshay Singh, a psychiatrist by profession suggested me various methods. He was one of those who used to be annoyed when I used to put up statuses that I don't intend to read HP. I thought I will listen to a bit of fantasy just to overcome the inertia of reading. I listened to a sample of the first part read by Stephen Fry, and I got hooked on to the book just for his voice.

Soon I was transferred back to Bangalore, and listening to HP in the traffic became a meaningful indulgence. I did complete HP. Subsequently, I listened to Poniyin Selvan in Tamil. This is the only way I could have read a book in my mother tongue.

Audible assigns proficiency levels based on the hours one has heard, and today I attained the "Master" status. Listening to an audiobook is not as easy as it seems, especially for a vagabond concentration like mine. It was tough to start with and has not become an easy thing to do even today. There are many times I have to go back and listen. Thus, my 500 hours of listening are to be discounted by at least 30%. 

Don't be stuck with this idea that only reading a book held in the hand, is reading a book. Hearing a book in Audible can help you with your pronunciation, imbibe various accents, and most importantly save your senses from the cacophony of traffic.

So go ahead and hear that familiar sentence "That was an Audible presentation. There are many more to come". You would have read a book and possibly improved your concentration too. I am interested in knowing what you are listening to. 

My Covid Experiences - Part II - The age of innocence thrives, and rise of the WhatsApp University

 

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I landed in Dehradun on March 10th. It’s that time of the year when the bitterness of winter is giving way to the harshness of summer. Whoever said it, Paradise lay in the transition got it right. The nights are the most pleasant and people like me who were ensconced in their burrows during winters would begin to venture out for walks. 

The next day I reported for duty. My boss who had to go on tour abroad had to cancel his trip because of the seriousness of the pandemic in the west. WHO declared Covid 19 as a pandemic on March 1. However, life continued in India with gay abandon. 

The next day International Women’s Day was celebrated in my office and there was no trace of any protocol. Only biometric access had been disabled, and the freedom to come to the office at flexible hours was given. Some sensible people were wary of the virus, but not ones like me. The age of innocence was beginning to crack at its foundation.

In all this, the ubiquitous WhatsApp University was spreading the theories of its random renegade research(RRR). First among them was, Indians were more immune to the virus because they live in a country that has not yet become fully “Swatch Bharat”. Next up was, due to the Indian style of cooking Covid will perish in penury. Then was this theory, the Indian Summer will decimate Covid. There were some sensible messages on how to improve immunity, and they were worth a try to avoid being infected. Largely, the pandemic period was the beginning of the golden age for WhatsApp University. Read,  unsubstantiated claims credibility in the guise of “Don’t be skeptical, there is no wrong in believing “. Wonder whether such people would believe if someone would say you can sneeze out your brain, if you tried hard. Here is the link to a research on fake news in India through WhatsApp during covid 

Fake news through WhatsApp University

I was still celebrating my return to Dehradun. How uncouth was I! The storm was coming and it waited for an event. 

My Covid Experiences - Part I Covid Won't Affect Indians

 

 

 

I am writing down my experience during Covid. There is a lot of sarcasm, disbelief, vituperative language, and hidden messages in the length and breadth of this write-up.

I use hand sanitisers while on vacations in remote places. On one such occasion, a lady walked up to me and said. " It na bhi delicate hona nahin chaiye" (Read one should not be so delicate). I wonder, how did that lady get through the covid crisis without using a hand rub!!!

When I first heard about Corona Virus, I was in Hassan, having received a transfer order to Dehradun. I didn't even care to Google to know about the disease & It was my reckless assumption that the disease spreads because of the way the Chinese cook their food & the sumptuous diet of reptiles, insects, and other living beings they consume. 

 

Then happened the Trump visit to India. If the disease was as significant as it was made out to be, my belief in the Government told me that the visit would not have been allowed. So I went on with my life, merrily moving around crowded places. Protocol at that time was a requirement to be complied with during VIP visits.

 

 My mother had expired three months back, and after completing that ceremony, I departed for Dehradun. Novel Corona Virus had by then become Covid. The whispers about covid had become a chorus by then. To be safer, I purchased two surgical masks and one bottle of hand sanitiser. I was confident that one out of the two masks would remain unused.

 

 Nobody at the airport was bothered to check whether people were wearing masks or not. This was the case in Bangalore as well as at Delhi Airport.

 While boarding the Delhi aircraft, I noticed that a few French citizens were my co-passengers! On landing at Dehradun airport, I noticed no worry about Covid. The French group went ahead of me and their temperatures were scanned using a thermal gun. I thought it was mandatory for all passengers, and I presented myself in front of the scanning officer. I was promptly told that it was only for foreigners. I gave a sarcastic smile and winced about this selective screening.

 

 

 I did not know much about Covid except that it spreads through the air, and fever is one of the symptoms. The drive from the airport to my guest house conveyed that the Dehradun ki junta cared about Covid less than the Sumerian script.

 

 

 More in the next part...

 

 

 

Books of 2022

 Often, I end up reading books that only a few would fancy. This year has been no different, thanks to Amazon algorithms. I have named a few books I read this year: Great Reads, Interesting Reads, and This Was Behind Me/ Scrapy Read. The individual books are not classified in any particular order.

Great Reads.

Ashoka The Great Wytze Keuning

Like every other Indian kid, I read about Ashoka, The Great, while in school. One day I saw someone writing on the internet, `Ashoka The Not So Great’, which triggered me to read more about this historical figure. I made the cardinal mistake of trying to google, but nothing was different from what I already knew. Research led me to this Book, and what a book it is! Historical Fiction at its best.

This Book was written by Wytze Keuning in Dutch and translated into English by JE Steur. It consists of 3 books, but they are available in India as a single book. 

Book I – Ashoka The Wild Prince

Book II – Ashoka, The Wise Ruler

Book III – The World’s Greatest Teacher

Halfway through the first book, I could guess why a particular crowd prefers to refer to him as `Ashoka The Not So Great’. He was too radical for his time and was the anathema of the accepted norms of his lifetime.

The author had never been to India, but the Book is well-researched. This Book is an easy read as it is vividly descriptive. Though it runs into 1000 pages, you can finish it in a couple of months, even if you are a slow reader like me.

Alphabetical by Roy Phoenix

This book is the most intelligently written fiction I have read. If George Orwell’s `Animal Farm’ was an allegory on dystopia, this one written by Roy Phoenix is on Majoritarianism. Using Vowels and Consonants in the English Alphabet, the author has woven a wonderful tale to explain the importance of harmony in society. He also highlights the consequence of listening to a mad majoritarian leader who has no clue about what he is up to. This Book is full of serious issues put together humorously. That consonants are the majority and vowels are the minority in English Alphabet is a known fact. However, for language intricacies, only vowels get the article "an" before them. This privilege irks one consonant with a deep inferiority complex to provoke other consonants against vowels. This Book is an easy and light read. It can be completed in less than two days.

Money Men by Dan McCrum

Dan Mccrum, a Financial Times journalist, gets a whiff of scandal about a company whose worth runs into billions. This company is considered the jewel crown of its country. Dan McCrum believed there could not be one cockroach in the kitchen and started investigating Wirecard, the German Fintech giant, in 2014. The company was finally brought down in 2020. During this period, Mccrum faced a lot of accusations, lawsuits, and even sublime physical threats. He was accused of conspiring with short sellers and trying to bring down the share price of this iconic German company. Jan Marselek, the ex-COO of Wirecard was all that you can expect from a villain. The bubble of this company burst when it was valued at the peak of US$ 30 billion, leaving the shareholders with many losses. Is it possible for the German authorities not to know that this company’s dealings were hanky panky? A preposterous assumption, I would say. The company claimed it had US$ 2 billion in cash reserves, and an intense audit burst its bubble. This company was audited by one of the top four audit companies in the world and yet could pull off a scam of this magnitude. By the end of the Book, you would be convinced that monitoring standards in the financial sector is apalling worldwide.

I read this book through Audible and saw a documentary on the same issue on Netflix. The level of difficulty of reading this book is moderate to difficult. You have to repeatedly scroll through the Book to get hold of the fraud committed by Wirecard. Having said that, if you can strain your intellect and read this book, your critical thinking faculties will increase.

I wish every country has journalists like Dan Mccrum and media houses like Financial Times that investigate without fear and favour.

 Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom.

 

I knew about this book since it was published but never found it exciting enough to read. The Ghana Cough Syrup crisis drove me to read this book through Audible. This Book is an in-depth investigative research on how Ranbaxy malevolently managed the production of generic drugs meant for the US Market. It also indicts the laxity of the FDA in not calling out such companies for fear of diplomatic strain. It is shocking to note that defective processes were not rectified, but the results were fixed. Branded drugs were smuggled through company executives travelling from abroad to be used for testing instead of the generic equivalent that the company was contracted for.

 

The Book is a must-read to understand what unethical Pharma companies can do. Katherine Eban has written an objective book without being invective. However, I wonder who monitors the medicines that my family and I have. What is the scrutiny process? How stringent is it? Read the Book you too will get the same doubts.We must improve our respect for quality and ethical manufacturing practices to ensure that Make in India delivers on its objectives.

 Nothing To See Here By Kevin Wilson

This work by Kevin Wilson is not another fiction; it is a page from our lives. It is about dysfunctional families. It is about manipulative friends. It is about people who use their families as a pedestal for success. It is about Lillian, the loser, but you wish this world had more losers like. I felt like reading a Fredrick Backman book. 

 

Interesting Reads of the Year

 

A Nation of Idiots by Daksh Tyagi – A book that chronicles the idiosyncracies of our society in a humorous way.

 

Amazing Words by Phil Cousineau – It is a must read if you want to know how the English we speak, write, and understand evolved to the present stage.

 

How To Be An Alien by George Mikes – Trolls British society mercilessly.

Scrappy Read 

 

Catch Me If You Can by Frank W Abganale – This is supposed to be on an actual incident, but its contents seemed to me stranger than fiction

Happy Reading!!!

 

 

Away by Dhruv Bogra

Away by Dhruv Bogra is a must read book. It chronicles his soujorns on a bicycle in Himalayas, and parts of Alaska. Self help books are not the answer to be inspired , but such books that recount strife, guts, and glory should be read for propelling oneself 

Away is full of real life incidents  which the author had encountered hostile weather, refreshing sceneries, superior cyclists than him, grueling experiences, help from rank strangers, vivid details of tiny specks on the map, and the greatness of BRO. It has some scintillating pictures.

I love traveling in the mountains but prefer comfortable travel in a taxi. This book also is a guide on how to manage a career and passion. 

Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson

This is not another fiction, it is a different fiction. It is about dysfunctional families. It is about manipulative friends. It is about people who use their families as a pedestal for success. It is about Lillian, the loser, but you wish this world had more losers like. I felt like reading a Fredrick Backman book. 

My experience with Audible

I started using Audible after I got Corona and was facing attention deficit in reading a book. It was difficult to start with, but it was a new challenge. Trying to focus on what is being said was no mean problem. A lots of rewinding was required, and today I can listen to more than a few minutes without my attention diverted. I do rewind even now.

I usually listen to Audible at 0.75x speed. It helps me to listen more intently.

I have listened to books that I never imagined to read hitherto, notable being Harry Potter.

Narrator of a book matters. Just like Barrack Obama narrating his work, A Promised Land, or Stephen Fry narrating any book.

I have always been open to new technology, and that applies to books too. I have nothing against those who consider reading a book only in its physical form. Moving to Kindle saved me space at my home, and  listening, while in Bangalore traffic, to Harry Potter trying to defeat Voldermort, takes my mind off from the imposing concrete all the way to home. As of now I have listened to 312 hours on Audible, and 188 hours before I attain the final level of "Master" on Audible.

I am waiting for the next innovation in reading books. 

It Is Time That The Society Teaches Itself That It Is OK To

It is time that we teach ourselves that it is ok to

• marry a person without any barriers, including same sex.

• have a sexual orientation that an individual prefers.

• have a body of any shape, size, or height

• for an individual to remain unmarried

• Be a childless couple

• be a single parent

• marry immediately after a divorce

• eat the food we like, and not eat the food one’s customs or preference doesn’t permit.

• Wear the clothes an individual likes, at any age they want.

• go on a vacation without his/her spouse.

• read books and see movies we like.

• hate people who discriminate against others based on caste, creed, religion, region, language and race.

• for an individual to talk about the discriminations that one has faced in public without being labelled a cribber.

• Not have your house arranged 24x7 like a five star hotel lobby

• a person with birth disorders

• not believe in God or believe in many gods or believe in a god that  others may not like

• not speak, write, or understand a language.

There are many things that should be normal, but then there is a little need to explain them to a human being who can read and write.

The Mind Blowing Forest Research Institute , Dehradun

About Forest Research Institute, Dehradun 

Mediocre Pictures Of The Magnificient Kumaon

 

A Few Pictures of Sunrise and Sunset Over The Himalayas

 Sunrises and Sunsets are mythical, but the hope and calm they bring into our lives cannot be denied. Here are some pics that I did click reasonably well.

The Road To The Pinnacle Is Not Easy

The road to the pinnacle is never easy. The climb is steep. It has its own trappings of distractions in the form of charming scenarios which want you to cease the journey. In a moment of distraction, if you slip, the cascading fall will take you back to where you began with a lot of collateral damage. 

The Magnificient Birthi Falls, Munsiyari

Information About Birthi Falls, Munsiyari