Holding so much talked about book which turned a best-seller and commercially successful within days of launching, I cannot help but buy to quench my curiosity to know what exactly makes it the talk of the town, and why is it sold like hot cakes. By far, I have read quite a good number of reviews of the book, and those write-ups have added-in more inquisitiveness and hope about the much-talked -about interesting elements that I may come across while reading this best-seller. Although I am not sure about what I would be writing about after reading the book, there is one thing that I’ve noticed while reading the reviews. The book is based on a totally distasteful and probably offensive interpretation of one of the much worshiped Hindu gods. Hampering the religious sentiments of people has become a predominant trend among the new-age writers, and sadly many of them are rated as the best-sellers of the decade. A good number of them received roaring economic successes despite the fact that they dealt out some very subjective and mostly unacceptable interpretations of deities of some predominantly followed religions in the country. This is where I strongly and vehemently disagree with what the so called authors boast about as the writers’ freedom to write and interpret anything and everything under the sun without thinking twice about the impact it would create among a readers. Religious sentiments, as all know, are not something that majority of the people would compromise on, and using ones literary freedom to make a mockery of gods and religion is disrespectful, absolutely cheap, and a completely unacceptable shortcut to hog the limelight.
I am not against writing facts about religions or gods. I do believe in the freedom of speech and writing that my country offers, but strongly disagree with some of the wildest imaginations of new-age writers, whose thoughts simply go so unjustifiable and downright freakish enough to sell their works based on controversies alone, and particularly those which resolutely swirl around gods and religious sentiments, through ludicrous writings that sell their wild and hallucinated imaginations. Here they fervently interpret religions and gods in accordance with their own whims and fantasies, and mould spiced-up and offensive stories on deities and beliefs of various religions of the world. All these desperate efforts are ‘to make’ a book by hook or crook and hit the market with a big impact, to generate sales with the help of a range of well-cooked up stories and controversies.
With their unquenchable thirst for name and fame, such selfish and profit loving writers leave no stones unturned to churn out as many controversial elements as possible, and craft them perfectly in to their book, so that they never fail to generate a huge amount of negative publicity, controversies, and heated debates, which will ultimately do what these self-proclaimed authors want, which is money and overnight fame. Any remark is good publicity, says such overlooked and overrated writers, and the controversies and heated arguments turn out to be the easiest ways to cash their much acclaimed writings, which are mostly the undiluted and unpardonable mockery of some deity or religious belief.
This is nothing but a sheer exploitation of our very own flaw to get curious about every bit of hullabaloo that arises from nowhere and abruptly takes the world by storm, for absolutely no reason. We fail to see the real reason that makes such hubbubs, and get carried away by the momentary heat and storm that such hypes cause. By the time we open our eyes and see what exactly happened, the people who made the hype-and-hoopla will amass profit out of nowhere and become overnight heroes or celebrities, by mocking at something or someone who has been revered since ages. I cannot help but feel sorry for such overvalued writers who believe that they are the epitome and personification of classy literature and exemplary writing. Such books, mostly, never stand the test of time and die out untimely, asserting the value of classy writing, but yet, when one dies, hundreds come out and take the place, making sheer mockery of literature and writing.
Some facts about New Year resolutions
A day ahead of another year and the question is back again! Everyone around me is keen to know the New Year resolution of others, and I cannot but laugh over this little strange and rather amusing curiosity that people tend to have during New Year eve. For me, a resolution or a promise to oneself, no matter whether it's big or small, has to be kept without compromise, under both worst and best circumstances, and by far, I have hardly met anyone who adheres to the promises or resolutions made before New Year. If this is what the next year too has to witness, I find it ludicrous to see the growing hullaballoo on New Year resolutions.
To be frank, a change for better or a promise to change oneself, I think, needn’t wait till the beginning of another year, and if one genuinely wants to get it done, any day and any moment can help trigger a fresh start. But I believe that many people who boast of New Year resolutions hardly want to keep-up their promises, and are rather keener on creating snooty showiness in a group, thus forcefully demanding praise and appreciation from people around, thus unknowingly making themselves a fool of others. This is not a generalization or a prejudiced inference, and I completely agree with the fact that there can be a few people around, who are very much genuine in their resolutions and decisions, but, a major share of people who brag about their New Year resolutions hardly do justice to them.
So what exactly is a perfect or possible New Year resolution? If you ask me, I would say that it has hardly anything to do with the abrupt changes that you would want in your life or personality, Believe it or not, neither our body nor our mind can take-in any abrupt changes, no matter whether it’s for good or bad. Therefore there is no rational reason to brag about or be persistent on implementing a hard to practice promise, when we ourselves are well aware of the extent to which the so called promise can be kept. In short, instead of taking a sudden and drastic deviation one has to take slower and steadier turns that are practically possible, and thus reach the set goal. Whatever the set New Year resolutions or promises are, possibilities of leaving it half the way are many, and for that reason, one can only take slower routes to get close to the goal, and achieve it hands down. Say for example, if a man who has been a chain-smoker or a drunkard decides to abruptly leave his smoking or drinking habit from the first of January, the chances of making it happen are almost equal to nil, as we all know that vices never leave us one fine day, and will continue to cling on until and unless our body and mind are firmly determined to drive them away. I’ve heard many such bragging and have laughed my lungs off as I very well knew that those blown up resolutions would hardly live till the end of first quarter of the year. As I said before, there would be a handful of people who do have such rock-solid determination, and may perhaps achieve what they have planned for, but there is this vast majority who lacks the willpower to stick-on to what they have decided, thus pathetically going back to their earlier state within a month or two, thus ‘strangling’ their own resolution to death without any embarrassment.
So why exactly are people boasting about New Year resolutions is something that I’ve never figured out yet. If it’s a short-term promise that they would soon fail to keep, New Year resolutions are nothing but eyewash that people intentionally swank shamelessly, only to seek attention of their peers. As I am completely against such snooty and foolish gimmicks to hog the limelight, as always, I continue to stay away from such meaningless conversations, and always end up being the butt of ridicule, for not having any eye-popping resolution to boast about. As they, be it my friends or colleagues, move-on with their intense discussions on New Year resolutions, I walk away and laugh in the heart of hearts, as know very well than hardly any of those promises will remain kept at least until the mid of the year.
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