Book Review: City Of Nine Gates

City Of Nine Gates by Pankaj Rajput

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


"An atheistic millionaire is forced to find and help his long lost friend achieve self-realization in a mystical 'City of Nine Gates' known only to the Gods and the wisest sages of the Advait and the Sankhya."

These lines from the back-cover of the book intrigued me to start reading this book. I thought it to be a blend of mythology with a modern story line, just like the books written by the likes of Ashwin Sanghi. But what awaited for me was a pleasant surprise. This book deals with a totally different subject-matter.

We all encounter lot of hardships and difficulties in life, which force us to ask, "Why me?" In this book, the author has tried to answer that question which has troubled mankind since eternity. He has woven a tale through which he has tried to elucidate the spiritual, supreme truth. He has attempted to make it accessible to common readers who may lack any prior knowledge of Hindu spiritualism. Basically, it combines the teachings of the Bhagavad Geeta and other Hindu religious scriptures and tries to enlighten the readers with their teachings with the help of a story. I'd like to share some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"Happiness normally brings complacency and makes us think that the goal of life is achieved. That's a sweet trap. Celebrate happiness as much as you cried in a time of adversity. But never deviate from the path to Moksha. Treat happiness as a phase of preparation for liberation- just like dejection is but a phase."

"Pain is the alarm!..... This most abhorred of all emotions is the key to the path of Moksha. It is only pain that cuts-off one's attachment to happiness, sadness, liking, disliking and the rest of the dualities of this mortal material world."

"Everyone in this world is alone and hence needs to be with someone. But there are those rare ones who stay alone as they never feel lonely and hence never need the company of others. Such rare ones who prefer seclusion and are devoted to God are most dear to him."

There are some minor editing mistakes at some places. Considering this to be the first edition, such mistakes are inevitable. The language is simple. The story is not fast-paced. So if you are looking for a gripping story-line, this may not be the ideal book for you. This is the kind of book to savour slowly, allowing yourself time enough for the teachings to sink in. If you have a spiritual bent of mind, you'll surely like this book. I myself am a regular reader of the Bhagavad Gita. So I found the author's way of telling the deeper truths of life through a story quite fascinating. Go for it if you want to explore the deeper meaning and purpose of life.

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Movie Review: Mukherjee Dar Bou

Meet Shobharani and Aditi, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair. They live in the same flat and they both have one common identity: Mrs. Mukherjee. Like any typical MIL-DIL pair, both of them dislike each other. It may sound clichèd, like those typical soap-operas where MILs always conspire against their DILs and the DILs, in turn, hate their MILs. But the movie "Mukherjee Dar Bou" ("Wife of Mr. Mukherjee") offers a fresh perspective  on this clichèd topic. This movie is the debut film of Director Pritha Chakraborty. She has raised our expectation high in her debut film itself by making a movie  on a contemporary, relevant, relatable issue and make the audience think anew on the topic which has become clichèd.

The Plot

The plot revolves around the daily lives of Shobharani and Aditi, the MIL and the DIL.  Aditi is a typical housewife, whose life revolves around Saswata Mukherjee, her husband, and Ichchhe, her little daughter. After the death of her father-in-law, her mother-in-law grows increasingly hostile towards her. She starts finding faults in her every work, rummages her cupboard in her absence, starts throwing things in fit of rage and so on. Unable to tolerate any more, Aditi fixes an appointment with Dr. Aratrika Bhattacharya, a prominent Psychologist. The plot, which seemed clichèd till now, takes an interesting turn. Aratrika counsels both Aditi and her mother-in-law and helps them see the other person's point of view. We, the audience, also learn that just because a mother-in-law meted out injustice to her newly wed daughter-in-law, it's wrong to vilify her. She is a product of our patriarchal society- which has taught her to behave that way. It's always difficult for a woman to go ahead in her life, because in each step of climbing up, women are pitted against one another by this very society. That's why Aditi's mother-in-law hides carefully each of Aditi's job appointment letters which comes by post. Aratrika's counselling sessions improve their relationship significantly. The movie ends with Shabharani's Women's Day speech. Shobha, who always dreamt of performing on-stage since childhood but was never allowed, gave her debut speech on stage on the occasion of Women's Day. She said that her grandmother used to tell her that women are like pitchers. Any dent in that pitcher make it flawed. Now, what's a dent? A dent is her grandmother's wish to get educated or her childhood wish to catch tadpoles from pond like her brothers, wishes forbidden and frowned upon by a patriarchal society. The wishes never fructify. Instead, the women fill other women's lives with all the emptiness of their own lives. Like Shabha hid Aditi's job appointment letters. They have been granted only two things by society which they cling to: A house and an identity of being Mrs. X, Y or Z. On that special occasion of Women's Day, Shobha decided to give names to themselves: She, Shobharani and her daughter-in-law, Aditi. Not just Mrs. Mukherjee anymore. The audience gives them a standing ovation.

The Review

We are all accustomed to the popular saas-bahu soap operas, where the mother-in-law is the quintessential villain. The innocent daughter-in-law is always at the receiving end of all her evil plans. But this movie is a welcome relief from that familiar drama. Here Aditi, the educated, modern daughter-in-law, instead of suffering silently, tries to find a solution of this all-too-familiar problem. She consults a psychiatrist. And here the movie takes a turn. Alongwith Aditi, the audience also learns that the root-cause of the problem is not the evil mother-in-law herself, but the patriarchal society which makes the groom's mother behave rudely towards the bride. All women can relate to the characters of Aditi and her mother-in-law.

Both Koneenica Banerjee and Anashua Majumdar give stellar performances as the DIL-MIL duo. Biswanath Basu is the perfect Mr. Mukherjee- the middle-class, chauvinistic Bengali bhodrolok who is a product of a patriarchal upbringing. Rituparna Sengupta portrays the character of the psychiatrist convincingly. All the songs are appropriate. I specially liked the song "Khachar Pakhi", when Aditi advises the neighbourhood woman, played by Aparajita Auddy, to come out of an abusive marriage. It's strange how many women continue suffering in abusive marriages, because it's the easy way out. The song captures this irony very well.

'Boner pakhi bole, "Akash ghono nil, kono badha nahi tar.

Khachar pakhi bole, "Khachati poripati, kemone dhaka charidhar." '

(Free bird describes, " Deep blue is the sky, no hitch whatsoever."

Cage bird replies, "Look how clear is my enclosure.")

These lines resonated strongly with me.

Overall, this film is a must-watch, especially for the women audience.

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