“Phase II began with Edition 11, a lot of new readers, we were excited! New roles created… Congratulations Raxil, Sandeep! It is rules, books, tea and some more books.”
POCKET DIARY BOOK CLUB
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
‘Phase II began with Edition 11, a lot of new readers, we were excited! But, with new members,
there were new roles created, places that old members who became a part of the team, are now
filling in.
Congratulations Raxil, Sandeep! It is rules, books, tea and some more books.’
– Nirali & Priya
Year 2023
Edition – 12
06/05/2023
4:55 PM
I watched the readers settle in, unknown faces, some shy, some excited, looking for an opening
to form friendship, exchange their notes on the book they are reading, or simply, like every reader
on planet Earth, looking to discover hidden paper bound gems.
My co-moderator Sandeep is a synonym of the word theatre. He once did not remember going
home for a week in his college days, his father had to bring him clothes and tell him, ‘Eat food.’
Expect that man to come through , recalling his teacher in his distant memories and more ,
because he met his student, who he had taught, sitting here today as a reader, carrying a book
with him, I peeked at the cover, it said ‘Theatre Kala Sanskar Yatra’.
One of our rituals here is that we begin on time. The clock completed its hourly round to 5, and I
began giving formal instructions, our second ritual.
The onus of formal instruction was one of my many duties as a moderator today, to discharge. I
was nervous.
Rajesh calls them, ‘the 40 rules of Priya’, I’ll share a few:
✓ Phone on silent.
✓ Listening to the reader.
✓ Agree to disagree.
✓ Deliberately Offensive, Propaganda, hurting religious or political sentiments,
disrespectful to women (any gender rather) books to be kept away, hidden in the bag,
and let the lesser-known authors be brought in, like Ishq Tilism, by Pooja Upadhyay.
and 36 more!
Sorely missed today: old readers.
Welcoming and excited: new members.
The first reader, Abhishek (he is semi-new), read The Bet by Anton Chekhov. Written in 1889, a
short story by Anton Chekhov about a banker and a young lawyer who make a bet with each
other following a conversation about whether the death penalty is better or worse
than life in prison.
Abhishek: ‘If I was in his position, I would have taken the bet.’
Priya: ‘depends on the prison you get.’
“…The majority of the guests, among whom were many journalists and intellectual men,
disapproved of the death penalty…”
All the intellectuals discussing which is better. None of them is a victim.
Raped, burned by acid, or watched his child thrown down a building while he is held captive.
In India, all of these crimes , on their own, do not constitute for death penalty. They are so
common we see them on T.V. crime/thriller shows. It must be something really shocking, it must
be a ‘rarest of the rare case’, it should shake up the entire nation’s conscience to be deserving of
death penalty. I wonder, what more can surprise us?
“… ‘I bet you two million you wouldn’t stick in a cell even for five years.’
‘If you mean it seriously,’ replied the lawyer, ‘then I bet I’ll stay not five but fifteen.’
‘Agreed. You stake two million, my freedom,’ said the lawyer. He is allowed books, food, wine and
music, but no human interaction.’ …”
In a regular average Joe prison, in solitary confinement, is wine, heck even music, ‘legally’
allowed? Having alcohol for support vs nothing for mental survival?
https://blog.ipleaders.in/landmark-cases-on-death-penalty-in-
india/#Background_of_death_sentence
After Vinay Singh v. Union of India , where a rod was inserted in a vagina, multiple such cases
came on TV channels, an increase in frequency, a trend, but the shock was over, how many were
awarded death penalty?
An aggravating circumstance (why death penalty should be awarded) is planned murder of a
public servant. Article 14 (gist) is life of all human beings hold equal importance. But a p ublic
servant is given higher protection, there is a fear of death if you plan to murder a public servant.
So plan accordingly.
Now I do not vouch for this article’s accuracy, I just found it interesting:
https://aeon.co/essays/this-is-what-solitary-confinement-does-to-the-brain (Shaurya will (shall)
like this).
This story is a flowing river of clever words and writer’s unique thinking. But romanticizing fiction,
reading any story/book and taking it at its literal word, without adding questions of reflection
and assuming that the bet winner is a hero, consider variables:
What is the tax burden system of the country? Imposing solitary cost philosophy on a
hardworking tax payer? Victimology? Having a small bed near toilet in whatever condition? No
windows, filth ( no maid, sorry)? Books not available on beck and call? Mental & Physical
constitution of the prisoner?
My friend, if you take that bet, do let me know.
“…For fifteen years I have been intently studying earthly life. It is true I have not seen the earth
nor men, but in your books I have drunk fragrant wine, I have sung songs, I have hunted stags and
wild boars in the forests, have loved women … Beauties as ethereal as clouds, created by the
magic of your poets and geniuses, have visited me at night, and have whispered in my ears
wonderful tales that have set my brain in a whirl. In your books I have climbed to the peaks of
Elburz and Mont Blanc, and from there I have seen the sun rise and have watched it at evening
flood the sky, the ocean, and the mountain-tops with gold and crimson…”
“…And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless,
fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will
wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the
floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze toge ther with
the earthly globe…”
…
Anton Chekov wrote The Bet. Then, Nimesh, the student reads from Theatre Kala Sanskar Yatra
as Sandeep, the teacher, listens. I searched for this book on internet but it s absence frustrated
me, it is not available and google does not know what this book is. It is a book on theatre in
Gujarati talking about Anton, Stanislavski.
After he finished reading:
‘Literature and Theatre go hand in hand. The plant of theatre has literature as oxygen, reading is
the act of photosynthesis’ said Sandeep.
In this photograph Anton Chekhov (seated, center) is reading The Seagull to the original members
of the Moscow Art Theatre Group . Seated to the left of Chekhov is Konstantin Stanislavski,
founder of the Moscow Art Theatre Group and director of The Seagull.1
Titbits on Theatre: Sandeep treated us to anecdotes of Chekhov and Stanislavski , the
contemporaries. ‘Later Chekhov concluded that Stanislavsky’s method unnecessary. And in his
later life Stanislavski also abandoned his methods. These methods were emotional memory
methods still being used by actors.’
1 https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/photograph-of-chekhov-stanislavski-and-the-moscow-art-theatre-group-
1900#:~:text=Seated%20to%20the%20left%20of,1901%20she%20became%20Chekov’s%20wife.
Summary of the book: This book recounts the events in the life of an Indian artist who was touring
Russia at th e time and attended numerous plays and performances by legendary actors of the
era.
A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Everyone has met a man like Ove , called him abusive words (in their hearts (maybe). This story
takes you in Ove’s life. Who is he? Why is he the way he is? Will someday, we be Ove? If nothing,
this book is humbling for me, for people of my age or confident in the immortality of youth and
its energetic view of the world.
We came to know of A man called Ove by a new reader. He will bring Champak in his next
edition. Can’t wait for the days to go by before the next edition!
From the book: “Even men at train station ticket desks have been in love.”
https://offtheshelf.com/2016/11/13-books-to-read-after-a-man-called-ove/
From this link, Nirali & Priya’s personal recommendation: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry . Priya
wishes to be him, a reluctant loner running his bookstore on an island housed in a purple
Victorian cottage, hating everyone and anyone who talks to him, until he finds a child and doesn’t
know how, but is running a few bo ok clubs in his store, one run by the local sheriff for the
policemen and women reading crime and detective novels.
“… ‘Now you listen to me,’ says Ove calmly while he carefully closes the door. ‘You’ve given birth
to two children and quite soon will be sq ueezing out a third. You’ve come here from a land far
away and most likely you fled war and persecution and all sorts of other nonsense. You’ve learned
a new language and got yourself an education and you’re holding together a family of obvious
incompetents. And I’ll be damned if I’ve seen you afraid of a single bloody thing in this world
before now…. I am not asking for brain surgery. I’m asking you to drive a car. It’s got an
accelerator, a brake and a clutch. Some of the greatest twits in world history have sorted out how
it works. And you will as well.’ And then he utters seven words, which Parvaneh will always
remember as the loveliest compliment he’ll ever give her. ‘Because you are not a complete twit.’
…”
The reader had expected a different ending. He had read the book before Covid.2
…
2 It’s weird how we refer to a period of our life like a landmark, before Hitler, before Christ, before World War I, before Independence, before
memory…
Nirali is sitting as a reader, her shoulders free of the burden, carry a smiling face and her excited,
eager eyes twinkle with expectation and a buzzing, happy bee energy.
As a moderator, another dut y is to jot down notes, for the readers who read minutes of the
meeting. I am writing from memory and feeling. And what I recall may be fact, or a trick of my
mind on me. Forgive, entertain my thoughts and read on, dear, gentle reader3.
“What would you do if a few rats entered this room?”
Alisha read I am the mind book by Deep Trivedi.
I read Goodreads on every self-help book I come across that is not a research paper. I hope there
is a similar website for papers as well, a one umbrella for all, out there. Need that info.
Some said I will leave the room. Others predicted that I would shoo the rats out of the room.
Sandeep laughed. I was preoccupied with checking the reader’s list and managing the timer to
ring the bell. Nirali and Priya were sitting in corners, holding forte in their conversations. They
were also excited, to be readers where they used to be on duty, to sit and just read.
I announced the fourth reader, Navshin Kapadia. She read Kite runner by Khalid Hosseini.
“There is only one sin. an d that is theft… when you tell a lie, you steal someone ’s right to the
truth.”
Life seems to dance along like the brilliant kites the boys flew in his hometown of Kabul before
the Soviet invasion, before the Taliban, and before the boy at the heart of the story loses his
homeland, much like Khaled Hosseini had himself.
https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3986138&page=1
From the artic le above about the film made on the novel: “ Those who reside in Hosseini’s
hometown will not be able to see the film. The government of Afghanistan has banned it from
theaters and will not allow the DVD to be sold.”
Summary: “1970s Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite -fighting
tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee
what would happen to Hassan that afternoon…”
When I found these lines on Goodreads, I scrolled down and wow, what names appeared. It said,
3 I am no Lady Whistledown.
“Readers also enjoyed: The Help, To Kill a Mockingbird, Life of Pi, The Book Thief…”
Tolerating injustice is a crime.4
Let us go to Russia and join the animals declare: “All animals are equal.”5
Isn’t man a social animal? Shouldn’t other animals be equal to a man? Why does the word man
include a woman? Aren’t they separate varieties of the same specie? stopping my rambling pen,
I (imagined) got up, entered the gates of The Animal Farm and helped restore (not avenge, I am
not an avenger) Article 14.
“…Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had
happened to the faces of the pigs . The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man
to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
November 1943-February 1944
The End.”
Credit: Disha
She reminded us , like a pledge we must heart and remember, the seven commandments . This
book is a regular visitor. Titbits6
…
Shashwat read Theek Tumhare Peechhe by Manav Kaul. It was his first time in Pocket Diary Book
Club and he told us he had never read a Hindi book before. He used to read only Gujarati books,
books of Chandrakant Bakshi and Kanaiya M. Munshi, etc.
(Chirag’s goal: to promote inclusivity and other languages. Found this audiobook of Paralysis by
Chandrakant Bakshi:
4 Priya’s diary.
5 The 14 commandments.
6 Nirali: G. Orwell was born in India. A new member asked Priya what he should read instead of mass commercialized self-help books. And
someone suggested 1984 by George Orwell.
https://www.storytel.com/in/en/books/paralysis-1347569?appRedirect=true )
This was the first time he read in front of others and that too in Hindi. Nirali said he should
definitely bring classic Gujarati literature provided he bring a translation along with it. Another
rule: bring all languages but with a Hindi or English translation of what you are reading so as to
enable listeners to enjoy the story.
As we sat listening to Shashwat, w e missed Rajesh , the reader who introduced us to Tumhare
Baare Mein.
…
How to be miserable by Randy J. Paterson was read by Pruthvi. And the chapter’s title is “Avoid
the exercise”.
The author outlines 40 specific behaviors and habits, which —if followed—are sure to lead to a
lifetime of unhappiness. On the other hand, if you do the opposite, you may yet join the ranks of
happy people everywhere! Well, not everywhere, in Finland perhaps.
The chapter’s lesson, Avoid the Exercise, was to move as little as possible.
What is the takeaway of the book? The group queried. Priya summarized it as focusing on your
health, save money, and make better use of your time. The reader affirmed. We all came to the
conclusion that since we, the present members, were of an age, where having experienced a fair
share of the struggles of adultho od and living in the 5g internet era, we know what is good and
bad for ourselves, self-help books simply explain alternative approaches or attempt to persuade
us to act in a certain way.
Hmm…, If only our mothers knew what we were reading instead of listening to them.