First Impressions Are Overrated. Period.

First impression is the last impression. This statement has been done to death over and over. I have come to desist this after I had different experiences opposing the said statement. First few times I thought them to be exceptions to the rule. Because let’s face it, this phrase has been drilled into our minds since childhood. But when I had a repetition of many a first impressions changing from good to bad and bad to good, I had to re wire my brain to accept the new rule. Thou shall not judge anyone based on the overtly overrated first impression. Taking about first impressions takes me back to this very dreaded memory. The time I screwed up my first ever job interview with my first ever manager on my very first day in the big bad corporate world. Yes, that’s a lot of firsts in one sentence but you get the point no? It was a very important day in my life, in a way the first day of the rest of my life and I left a very bad first impression. So bad that it had the power to jeopardize my future.

It began like this. We (Myself and few other new joiners) were shown around the campus and introduced with what would be our new team. Fresh out from college, first time out of my hometown, so many ethnically diverse people, the hot humid heat of Mumbai, early morning traverse from Borivali to thane, unwelcoming dry hellos from people, strange screens on everyone’s computers, the strange cacophony of keyboard thumps, a new language (Marathi) detected, a group of girls looking like The Mean Girl gang. It was too much too soon. I craved the familiarity of my old life. Missed my folks and friends. I wanted to hop into the next plane home. I could feel tears brimming in my eyes. But before I had the chance to steady my emotions, I was called for a one on one with my would-be manager. Hmmm. Very bad timing. I had a very bad feeling about this meeting and bad it went.

Image Courtesy - girlzone.com

 It started with the usual introduction and blah blah. Mr Manger was a South Indian gentleman and I had a very hard time understanding his accent. He pronounced M as Yem and N as Yen. I had never been so confused in my life. There was just so much going on in the day, in my mind and everywhere else. Somewhere in between all this Mr Manger asked me my engineering subjects of last semester. And surprise surprise I went totally blank. Like Zero. Zilch. Nada. I tried my best, forced my brain to think but the only thing I could muster was a lot of sweat. Even my palms and soles started to sweat. The room started moving and my world was turning upside down. Taking pity on my condition I was offered some water and in a pretext to buy some time into thinking I took big gulps. After the drinks break I did manage to blurt out few subject names but Mr Manager had already lost interest. I came back very disheartened and with “First impression is the last impression” echoing in my head. I spent the next few days learning and revising all my engineering subjects from 1st semester to the 8th. A useless effort no doubt but I wanted to take no chances.

Few months went by and I prayed for a miracle. I wanted another one on one. Every night before I went to bed, I practiced my newly learned technical lingo and plotted on how I would impress the hell out of Mr Manager. And just like that one day my prayers got answered. My mentor (the one who took all credit for my hard work) fell sick. There were some important meetings and work lined up and in her absence the entire responsibility of this fell on me. I gave it my best and like they say – the rest is history. The clients were happy, the feedback was good and I was again called inside the cabin. However I did not get a chance to show off my skills because it was Mr Manager doing all the talking, while I was brimming with pride and happiness! And that’s how after months of being in agony I changed my impression from silly to smart. Also taught myself how important it is to give people another chance. We all have bad days and just cannot be perfect 24*7. It is very important to understand that you cannot judge people based on a single mistake or slip-up.

But even I forget this rule many a times. When I was little we used to get a subscription of India Today magazine in our home. My activity only involved looking at pictures and reading only if the picture was filmy. One fine day I spotted a very pornographic cartoon accompanied by a very erotic story. The name of the author was Khushwant Singh. Being in 5th or 6th standard I was disgusted by the story. In my mind Khushwant Singh = Tharki (Lascivious). While growing up whenever I heard his name, that story popped up in my head and I snorted with disgust. Just a few months back I was discussing about books with an online friend of mine. He is an avid reader and a beautiful writer. So when he suggested I read Khushwant Singh I decided to give it a go. So I bought the two books suggested by him – Train to Pakistan and Delhi. I started with Train to Pakistan and My-Oh-My, I was spellbound. The book was so beautifully written and totally my kind of book. I like the books wherein each work, each line created a picture in my brain. I imagine the entire sequence and setting of the story. It is only possible when the author gives attention to details. Explaining small little things, which even though might seem inconsequential but are very important in forming a picturesque story.

The book had this very charming details right down to things like black dirt inside finger nails! Mr Khushwant had intertwined these little details so beautifully that I found myself right inside the little village of Mano Majra. I quickly hopped onto the other book, Delhi. Another masterpiece. It’s an ode to the city that has seen and been a witness to so many important historical events. The city is described like someone would write about his mehbooba (beloved). It also provides a quick lesson in history as it details everything from accession by Nadir Shah, Taimur, Mughals to beautiful poetry nights by Amir Khusro, the lives Britishers led in India with their memsahibs, the building of Lutyens Delhi, assassination of Gandhi (Both MK and Indira) and many more events. The book made me fall in love with Delhi and its rich heritage. So, now I am a huge fan of Mr Singh’s writings and curse myself for delaying to read these extraordinary books because of my prejudices.

And while we are not the topic of books, I had another experience proving the theory of first impressions wrong. Once upon a time when I was in 12th standard, I happened to read this book called “The Rendezvous” from my school library. This book really left a positive impression on me. It was a love story in the backdrop of holocaust and I sweared by it for years altogether. So much so that when I decided to create a blog I named it Rendezvous. The book was a very old publication and not easily available in market. I had wanted to re-read it for many years and my joy knew no bounds when I found its second hand copy on Amazon. I was really excited to read the book I had admired and put good words about to anyone who’d listen.

But this time around I wasn’t that impressed. The book was a clichéd write-up of everything that clichés are made of. You name it and the book had it. The hero was Tall dark handsome, heroine was beautiful and sexy in a virginal way, the heroine had not really experienced true love before meeting the guy, after being with guy she understood the true love, when the heroine said NO hero assumed it to be yes, because shy girls never say yes. After reading a chapter or two, I had to stop and ask myself… Really? This is your favorite book? But then back then I was clueless about everything. Hence another point to prove, how dangerous (and false!) first impressions can be.

So my point of writing this post is a very small attempt on my part to remove the first meeting impressions and assumptions. Please refrain from forming an opinion based on limited facts.

Let’s live and let live and give second chances :)

Love:
Sepo

10 Reasons Why

I am very big on repetitions. Be it food, restaurants, books or movies. I love the comfort of familiarity that comes with the things that are known. Although I am always up for new adventures, a part of me craves tried-and-tested. When it comes to books, I just cannot not reread a book especially if I own it. Some people find it very weird but I just cannot imagine not re-reading a book I loved. Not only does it refresh your memory, at every stage you also tend to analyses the characters and the situations in the book differently, sometimes in the first read we tend to miss a lot of facts or not understand them at that particular instance. But when you read it again and this time already know how it ends you somehow understand the underlying emotions, little details and empathize with the characters a bit more. I read the book Jane Eyre when I was in 5th standard. Now obviously that time I could not understand the entire thing. When I re-read it 9th standard it was like I was reading a completely new story. Another reading fest in 12th standard made me notice parts which I had totally missed or thought to be inconsequential in my earlier reads.

Another book which I re-read at least once a year is Gone With The Wind. Now at some 1000 odd pages this is a brave task to intake. But I eagerly look forward to this task every year. I first read this book in 2008 back when I was in college and since I could not afford to buy the book I did the next best thing. Read the PDF version on my laptop, twisting and turning it at awkward angles in a quest to accomplishing something akin to “cuddling with the book”. I still remember when I finished reading the book. I felt like I just could not go on living normally, like nothing would ever be the same, like OMG. Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, Melanie, Mammy, Auntie PittyPat all of them just kept revolving in head and dreams for days altogether. I knew that I had to re-read this book again. And I continued to do so on my laptop reading the same PDF. However this year husband has taken pity on my eyes and decided to buy me the real thing. Flesh and blood. So 2018 will be all about cuddling with my beloved Gone with the Wind.

The book reading is also followed by watching the movie, which is easily the best book-inspired-movie ever made. In a duration of 4 hours they have tried their level best to fit in as many important milestones as possible. This ritual of mine (of reading the book followed by the movie) makes me somehow ready for the year. Ready to face on new challenges and various ideas to execute them. There is just so much to learn from this book – perseverance, the love for home, starting up from scratch, the pain of hunger, the ruthlessness of wars, the damn Yankees, pretense of helplessness, beautiful flowy dresses and bonnets, tiny waists, mammy and the dreamy Rhett Butler. But none of this matches the love I have for the Ultimate Queen of Sass – Miss Scarlett O’ Hara. The scandalous, un-heroine, manipulative belle with zero fcuks to give. Whenever I read the book, I find Scarlett’s character like a breath of fresh air amid the overtly proper and sacrificing ladies. Published first in 1936, it is undoubtedly the most progressive and remarkable character ever written. Played with equal aplomb by Vivienne Leigh. Out of so many things to love about Scarlett, let’s go through some that make her so adorable and different from the crop of Miss-Goodie-Two-Shoes protagonists we are so used to.

Making the first move:

Now this is something which is still very touché. Should a girl make the first move or not? Well Scarlett did not give a damn and made her feelings very clear and demanded a reciprocation. She was snubbed and humiliated no doubt but at least she had the guts to try and find the truth rather than believe the floating rumors.

The super loser Ashley! How I hate him

Dance Dance baby:

Women are always taught to behave in a proper manner and never be overly enthusiastic about anything in public. Scarlett pretty much did not care about this rule when she danced away with Rhett Butler at the benefit to organize funds for the war. The fact that she is a recent widow did not cross her mind but she left others at Atlanta pretty shell shocked with her stunt, especially poor Auntie Pittypat who had to be revived with smelling salts.

She is wearing black because she is in mourning for her first husband.

The love for Tara:

The Irish blood from her father gave Scarlett a very strong love for her land. She did whatever possible to retain Tara with the O’Hara family. Also made sure to feed hungry mouths by taking charge of working in the cotton fields herself. She had to let go of vanity by exposing herself to sun and blisters. She even went to the extent of stealing her sisters’ beau so that she could extract money to pay off taxes for Tara. When I first read the book I found this action wretched but now I understand she did it only to save her homeland.

Running to meet her Pa, with the Tarleton twins behind

Curtains Down:

The idea to make a dress out of deep green velvet curtains was questionable but the result was very good. No two ways, there is just no one on this planet who would look as gorgeous as Scarlett in the iconic dress.

The epic dress, don't miss the smart use of curtain-tie

Strength:

Clearly a definition of women of substance. Scarlett O’ Hara was not just about ball gowns and bonnets. She showed immense steak of strength when she acted as a nurse to those wounded in war. When she delivered Melanie’s baby without any help. When she took charge of Tara household after her mother died. When she started a business on her own. And I almost forgot, she also killed a Yankee. Well, Melanie pulled the trigger but she got the power from Scarlett.

The resolve to never go hungry again!

Kindness:

Before you all go Whaaaat?!!? Behind the shrewd, manipulative and mean persona there is a very tiny brink of Kindness. She always treats the darkies well. She even gifted her father’s gold pocket watch to Pork. Trusted Mammy more than her own sisters. She did hit Prissy a few times but then Prissy herself was up to no good.

Some chit chat with Mammy and Mel

Back to business:

In her resolve to never go hungry again, Scarlett rather than sit around waiting for her husband to get money got to her feet. Since after the war construction was at its peak, she decided to start a lumber business and made sure it flourished. Her going about alone to the workshop, negotiation deals with strange men and hiring ex-convicts as her employers made her the talk of town (not in a good way). But as long as her business was successful she never looked back. Too bad her husband number 2 has to die taking revenge for the attempted molestation on her. But then he gave way to husband number 3 – everyone’s favorite Rhett Butler so yeah!

The business woman in fabulous checks and collar

Got it, flaunt it:

When she married Rhett and had all the riches of the world, she did not hide her glee. She made it a point to build a big house, decorate it lavishly and most importantly rub it in people’s faces. She made it very clear when she told Rhett – “I want everybody who's been mean to me to be pea-green with envy.”

Honeymooners

If looks could kill:

When Ashley and Scarlett were caught canoodling by India, it was sure that India (who already hated Scarlett for stealing her beau) would leave no stone unturned in making sure everybody in town heard of it, including Ashley’s wife. And as fate would have it Scarlett was supposed to attend Ashley’s Party on the same day. Although she did not want to go, Rhett forced her and made sure she looked her part of the other woman.
That smoldering glare though! And that dress!

Burn!

The one liners:

Scarlett’s strength and wisdom came from setting her priorities correct. She never worries about trivial things and worries about big ones when she can handle them. She always addresses the elephant in the room and never minces her words. She has perfect words for each situation in her life. Some of the popular ones are – Oh fiddle-de-de, Tomorrow’s another day! Another famous line from the book is the one spoken by Rhett towards the heart breaking end of the story - “Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Indeed!

Well that's all for now! Maybe I will add few more reasons after this year's read. Till then - tomorrow's another day and the South WILL rise!

Love
Sepo

Readers' Block

All of us well familiar with the writer’s block. It is a condition by which a writer is unable to pen his/her thoughts into words. Nothing comes to the mind or even if it does the pen refuses to oblige. It is a very serious condition especially if your livelihood depends on writing. The topic is discussion today, however is about something totally opposite to that of a writers block. It is what I am calling the Readers’ block.

I am an avid reader. My idea of a good time is curling on my bed with a good book. I am open to reading via different mediums, you name it- hard copies, soft copies, pdfs, kindle. I have experimented with almost every medium, with hard-copy being my favourite, closely followed by the kindle. Although I mostly like to read friction I am not opposed to other genres out there. Saying all this to make you understand the fact that how much I like to read. I also had this condition wherein I just had to finish reading a book however boring it maybe. Leaving it half-read made me restless and unable to start and concentrate on any other book. I was happy with this condition as it let me enhance my list of read-books. Life was good. Until....

Picture Courtesy - www.stuff.co.nz

 Chase to now and things are so different. I have a new restlessness which does not let me finish any book I lay my hands on. I have forgotten the count of books I tried to read since the last 3 months. Out of 7 or 8 books I have only managed to finish 1. Only 1. That too a short book of some 300 pages by an Indian Author (big font). I am so devastated with this analysis. But however hard I try, I just can’t manage to finish. And i am picking up good books showcasing rich cultural heritages from different types of the world. I left "The Teahouse fire" by Ellis Avery which highlights the Japanese culture of teahouses (frequented by Geisha's). I had also picked up “The handmaiden's Tale” by Margaret Atwood which is fiction set in future about Christian theocracy which has overthrown the United States government.

Somewhere down the line I though maybe I have had enough of the heavy duty stuff, so I picked up some light books by Indian Authors. But sadly even that failed to do the trick. The condition persists. I don't know what is causing this sudden change into my otherwise loyal attitude towards book reading. Since the time I remember, I have always fallen asleep while reading a book. Sadly I don't know what caused this habit to be broken. And perhaps that's the reason I do not get peaceful sleep these days. Lots of dreams and frequent breaks to see the time.

Maybe it is the addiction to TV series? FYI, I am currently binge watching the desperate housewives and I face no trouble in completion of the episodes.
I guess what I need is a good book which I find hard to put down, captive and enchanting.
This is a help call. Any suggestions are welcome.

LOVE
SEPO

The Modern fairy tale

Since time immemorial fairy tales have always invoked a great sense of wonder and marvel. The magic of Cinderella’s shoes, snow white’s jungle adventures and Rapunzel’s long Goldie locks. We wanted it all while growing up. As adults too many a times we aspire for things fairy-like. A beautiful Cinderella like dress, snow whites’ charm and of course the prince charming riding a horse. What we read as kids stays with us till a long time after.

My fascination with fairy tales and Barbie dolls is inexplicable. Having an elder sister and many cousin sisters, I neither had to buy any fairy tales books nor force my parents to buy me dolls. I had abundant passed on dolls and books from sisters. Also some utterly fascinating bedtime stories and folk tales that I read and re-read every night. It would not be wrong to say that childhood fables leave a lasting impact in our minds. As adults we may seem to outgrow them and at times even see some glaring flaws in them. But there will always be a part of us that will smile fondly at the all the memories they invoke.Being a book-nerd I always push people around me to read. I try to narrate excerpts from my favorite books to interest them. At times highlight the advantages of reading, argue that books are way better than the monstrous movies they turn them into. So it was not much of a surprise when I bought a big book of all-time favorite fairy tales for my 4 year old niece. Since it was out of question was her to read it herself. I, very willingly made myself her self-appointed fantasy tutor. I thought it would be a great way for me to re-enter the childhood world of magic.

disneyprincesses.wikia.com

While reading and explaining the intricacies of having mouse’s as friends, evil stepmoms and fairy godmothers, I was somehow not convinced this time. Wisdom imparted through years made me skeptical on the whole helplessness portrayed by Cinderella and other fairy tale protagonists. Ok so the step sisters and mother treat her bad. Why does she not stand up for herself? Why does she behave like Tulsi from Ekta Kapoor’s Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi? Why does she have to rely on magic? Why is the fairy godmothers magic so conditional, 12’O clock, carriage to pumpkin and those shoes pretty and all but glass? It was not easy explaining to my niece that glass shoes are not only unavailable and also impractical. The final straw was on how everything falls into place right after prince walks in. Whether to sweep Cinderella off her feet or kiss Snow White to life. It was then I realized that this book is full of damsels in distress, waiting to be rescued by the prince charming rather than taking an effort to do it themselves.

leopold-and-loeb.blogspot.com

I definitely did not want my niece to grow up reading this stuff. Thinking that having men in her life is the solution of all the problems. Don’t get me wrong, men are great. Getting into relationships is great but designing your own life around their existence is not! This is not how the 21st century women are or should be. I have witnessed smart independent women transform to shadows of their better half soon after getting hitched. Maybe they take their cues from the stories they grew up reading. Their man is the only topic they can talk about. The clothes they buy will be of his choice and not theirs’. They will stop doing stuff he doesn’t approve of. Some even stop eating because their man does not want them to get fat (ouch). While many of you would say that this is a perfectly fine thing to do in love. But I say why love have to be about compromise and adjustment why not acceptance. If you love me at size 4 you should love me at size 8 and even size 16. Encourage and challenge me to lose or maintain not taunt or threat. Companion ship should be about the freedom to do the thing you love and at the same time taking time to cherish the thing you both like. Acceptance of YOU as YOU are and not as someone they have mentally pictured. And if the pictures don’t match then, well then Just Keep Searching.

I want my niece to grow up reading a story of a princess who is awesome. One who eats green vegetables with delight and sips green tea. Occasionally indulging in pizzas and pastries (this would help her to understand the secret behind her slender waist from a young age). She eats a balanced diet rather than going on fad diets. So she will not grow up to have eating disorders. A bright student, she believes in wisdom from knowledge. She has fun hobbies like playing congas. She lands a fabulous job doing what she loves. She is kind but does not let people take her for a ride. She knows karate and can like literally kick some ass. She buys sexy shoes (not made of glass, duh). And if she does meet that special someone who loves her for who she is, she takes out that blue gown and her tiara :)

sarahbetty,co.uk

That’s more like the stuff to read and replay, let me know what you think in the comments section!

Love

Sepo

Decrypting the Digital Fortress.

Mystery of any sort is enticing in nature, whether in real or reel life. Who is going out with who always forms a great means of guess game for people. The secrets and anonymity always provides an interesting opportunity to ponder and gossip. History has been a witness to the success of various movies and books associated with mystery and thrill. Personally I prefer my mystery served in a book. I cannot imagine any other way in which it can be thoroughly enjoyed. With a book you can actually experience the experience while being mentally transported into the story. Over the years I have enjoyed reading thrillers by Agatha Christie and Sydney Sheldon. My personal favorites are The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankill and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

Dan Brown’s books have substantial amount of controversies associated with them. But with every book of his, you are sure to learn a thing or two. Apart from being handsome, the guy is really smart and that is reflected in the topics he chooses for his books. The books are interesting no doubt but other than that they actually make you sit and Google in detail about stuff – whatever it maybe. Da Vinci code had us googling about the last supper, the Holy Grail, the blue bloodline, Mary Magdalene and the supposed marriage between her and Jesus Christ. Angels and demons had us looking deeply into Rome and Vatican City. I recently laid my hands on The Digital Fortress and once again Google has started to get a lot of hits from my IP.

Digital fortress was published in the year 1998, the year I was promoted in 5^th standard and introduced to Enid Blaydon who would soon become my best friend. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that in a parallel world miles apart from my secret sevens and famous fives there was a buzzing of codes and encryption. The book is based on the art of cryptography (art of hiding a secret message in a seemingly inconsequential piece of data) and the means and mechanism involved in decrypting the secret message. My world was still untouched by the advent of internet and what would become a very popular means of communication in those times – the email. Not proud to admit this, but I was familiarized with the concept of cryptography another 11 years later while preparing for my engineering third year seminar, the topic of which I had chosen as Stenography.

 Stenography can be called as the sister of cryptography. It refers to the concealment of messages inside an image, sound file or any other digital media type. Another interesting branch of stenography is network stenography which utilizes the communication protocols and are apparently harder to detect. Whatever maybe the mechanism the methodology of hiding messaging is definitely a boon, especially for the unlawful transactions and elements like warlords, drug dealers and terrorists. It is a common knowledge that the 9/11 attack was planned and executed by hiding the messages in images via Stenography. To counteract this menace our intelligence agencies have to be at least one step ahead. There are various programs and dedicated computers specifically designed to break codes. And these codes are not just any random haphazardly arranged jumbled words. There are specific mathematical algorithms designed to create encoded messages. And these may take a cryptographer or a computer time ranging from few seconds to years to break them. Programs are making use of parallel processing and complex circuitry to come up with something so powerful that will break codes with seconds. On the other hand hackers and other smarties are coming up with codes that are unbreakable. A very interesting chain of actions.

US National Security Agency (NSA) is responsible for snooping stuff of internet and cracking objectionable and suspicious messages. Many a terror attacks and drug deals have been avoided after the NSA alerted the administration and authority. However all the snooping across sensitive data's has been gaining a lot of negative feedback from technology giants. Recently according to reports NSA broke into Google and Yahoo's data centers across the world.After this Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, AOL and Facebook have supported a legislation to clip NSA's wings. It seems the aggressive eavesdropping activity is causing a botheration. What fascinates me is that Mr. Brown has already described in the book published in 1998 is actually happening now!

Though still halfway through the book, the codes, keys and programming description in the book is very fascinating. By the time I am done reading the book, I will have done a more detailed and comprehensive research and analysis on the subject. Any queries or interesting piece of insight related to the topic are welcome.

NOTE: All details related to NSA, the legislation details and the pictures have been taken from various sites on internet and TOI.

Love:

Sepo

P.S While re-reading the post I just realized that the last two paragraphs sound more like a technical paper write-up than a blogpost! Anyhow a little change and something new doesn’t hurt anyone, right?

Book Review – And the Mountains Echoed.

I was looking forward to read this third book of my favorite author since a long time. I was still reading The Maximum City by Suketu Mehta (which by the way is a must read) when I bought And the mountains echoed... I was desperately trying hard to complete Suketu's book as fast as possible so that I could lay my hands on the new acquisition. After Kite Runner and The Thousand Splendid Suns, my expectations with the new book were naturally quite high. I was anticipating high emotional heart wrenching tale set in the backdrop of beautiful mountains of Afghanistan. So I braced myself with a big box of tissues for the beautiful journey ahead.

Photo Courtesy - patheos.com

The story started with a folklore. A story of how easily you can give up something you absolutely love and how far you can go to get it back. The book slowly progresses around the story of Pari and Abdullah, brother and sister closely tied together with the bond of love. How close their relation is, how each cannot live without the other and how finally destiny forces them to go apart into their separate sets of lives. Pari is four when she separated from her brother and quickly adjusts with her new family. The story rapidly moves from Kabul to Paris and America to Greece. Separated in childhood, do they remember each other and most importantly will they ever meet in their adult life is what the book is all about. 

The story telling is very beautiful as usual, the characters are very thoughtfully built. There are however too many parallel tracks of stories, it is the readers’ task to try and built a common link from all of them. The book is emotional but not overtly. I mean you will have that heart-sinking feeling at some places but there will be no tears. I found some portions of the story to be deliberate and unnecessary. And also disliked the idea of a mother and daughter dating the same guy.

When I was reading Thousand Splendid Suns, I was in a dilemma. On one hand I quickly wanted to keep reading the book to get to the end and on the other hand I somehow wanted to slow the process so that I could spend a little more time with Mariam and Laila. After reading the book Mariam and Laila have been constant companions in my life. I have forced, bullied and blackmailed people into reading this book and narrated the story myself to others who would not read. If you are a regular on this blog, you would know that I have also blabbered about the book on numerous occasions here, here and god knows where else. Naturally I had a lot to expect from the latest book of the author I love so much. But sadly I was hugely disappointed. Not that I did not like it, but then I have read better stuff.

Here’s hoping for a mind-blowing fourth book from Mr Hosseini.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book. 

“Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and right doing,
there is a field.
I’ll meet you there."

- These lines are written by Rumi, famous Persian poet. These lines were also included in Hindi movie Rockstar

“They say, Find a purpose in your life and live it. But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind.” 

“You say you felt a presence, but I only sensed an absence. A vague pain without a source. I was like a patient who cannot tell the doctor where it hurts, only that it does.” 

“I have a theory about marriage, Monsieur Boustouler. And it's that nearly always you will know within two weeks if it's going to work. It's astonishing how many people remain shackled for years, decades even, in a protracted and mutual state of self-delusion and false hope when in fact they had their answer in those first two weeks.” 

Love:

Sepo!