Atha Kāljnānaprakaranam: The Knowledge of Death Related to Time (Edited by Pandit Shoe Shankar Mishra and C N Burchett)

Review by Shwetha H S

Whatever were the intentions of the editors when they began working on publishing the shlokas compilation and its translation, they have failed in it. Atha Kāljnānanprakaranam is based in the collection of ancient shlokas made by Shri Banwarilal. Maybe the shlokas actually teach us something good, but we never know because they are in Sanskrit and not everybody understands that ancient and mother of all languages. Hey! They have provided translation too in Hindi and English. But the translations are so miserable that they will make you cringe out of frustration because you aren’t learning anything from this book and it doesn’t even justify at least its title. The editors must have given the background of the book, neat translations and explanations about why such shlokas were made in the first place. This book is a complete laughing stock, that too in a pathetic way. Please don’t bother reading this unless you have some money as well as time to waste.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Review by Shwetha H S

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dreams.” This is a great quote from the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and is the theme as well. This book, having inspired many people to enjoy their lives and go with the flow, has been interpreted in many ways. This was originally written in Portuguese and later translated into many languages from across the world.

A story of a boy from a well-to-do family becoming a shepherd to travel and see places instead of becoming a priest, and learning the truth about nature, The Alchemist is a soul-searching journey and a treasure hunt. The boy travels to the Pyramids from Spain in search of treasure based on his recurrent dreams. What happens next is what his journey constitutes of. Through the descriptions about reading the omens, the author encourages the readers to start trusting their gut instincts instead of others. The author talks about the principle of favourability, the Universe and beginner’s luck. The author also talks about how help arrives when required and not all the time. That is how he teaches “Ask and you shall receive.” As per the author, there is always a reward for going by your instincts and enjoying life as it comes. Apart from the reward, you get to be one with the nature.

The Alchemist is a story, which touches your heart, told in a simple way; way too simple that nobody misses understanding what Paulo Coelho wants to tell you. The descriptions are not excruciating and are just enough to give you an idea if you are good with imagination. Absolutely no nonsense. This book will be your go-to book sooner or later.

Celebrating the Best of Urdu Poetry by Khushwant Singh and Kamna Prasad

Review by Ashutosh Singh

It was not long ago that I stumbled upon an interview of Munnar Rana (one of the living legends of Urdu poetry). The most fascinating thing he stated was that ‘Urdu’ is purely a language originated in India. Also, the Urdu dictionary contains just 110 odd words of its own, the other 70% words are from Hindi and other languages. These facts kindled an urge to read more of it. The books currently present for starters are not much, most of the poetry books present right now are written in either Arabic or Devanagari scripts with no explanations to the poetry. “Celebrating the Best of Urdu Poetry” crosses these barriers and is perfect for anyone who needs an introduction to Urdu poetry. It was published in 2007. The poetry and ghazals are selected by Khushwant Singh and Kamna Prasad. Khushwant Singh was and still is one of the best Indian writer and columnist, recipient of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awards. The poems are printed in Hindi (Devanagari) as well as in English phonetics; the same is then artistically translated and explained in English by Mr. Singh. Most of the translations are ingenious and ends up being poems in themselves with soothing rhymes. The book covers the excerpts of the masterpieces of the Urdu poetry and ghazals from 17th to the 20th century. It starts with an introduction from Mr. Singh, which talks about the rise, decline and beauty of Urdu language. The book is compartmentalized chronologically, with a brief history of the poet and then his verses. Few lines from the introduction part “Maangey Allah se bas itni dua hai Rashid main jo Urdu mein vaseeyat likhoon beta parh ley (All Rashid asks of Allah is just one small gift; if i write my will in Urdu, may my son be able to read it.)” The book is a bottle of wine, not to be gulped at once but to be savoured sip by sip. Somewhere you will definitely find verses with which one can closely relate to. Books like such may create few more followers of the intricate but amazingly soothing language, which is on the verge of its demise.

ಬಾನಯಾನ, ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಅನುವಾದಿಸಿದವರು ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ್ವರ್ ಭಟ್ (A Kannada translation of Simply Fly by Captain Gopinath)

For English translation of the review of this book, please scroll down.

ವಿಮರ್ಶೆ ಬರೆದವರು ಸತೀಶ್ ಎ ಜಿ

ಬಾನಯಾನ – ಕ್ಯಾಪ್ಟನ್ ಗೋಪಿನಾಥ್ ಅವರ ಜೀವನಾನುಭವದ ಸಾಹಸಗಾಥೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡಾನುವಾದ. ಇದನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ತಂದವರು ಈಗಿನ ಕನ್ನಡಪ್ರಭ ದಿನಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯ ಮತ್ತು ಸುವರ್ಣ ಸುದ್ದಿವಾಹಿನಿಯ ಪ್ರಧಾನ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಾದ ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ್ವರ್ ಭಟ್ ಅವರು.

ಕ್ಯಾಪ್ಟನ್ ಗೋಪಿನಾಥ್-ರವರು ಅಪ್ರತಿಮ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಲ್ಲೊಬ್ಬರು, ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ಯುವಕನಿಗೆ ಆದರ್ಶಪ್ರಾಯರು. ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ನಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದ ಯಾವುದೋ ಒಂದು ಹಂತದಲ್ಲಿ – ನಾನು ಒಬ್ಬ ಯೋಧನಾಗಬೇಕು ಎಂದೋ, ಒಬ್ಬ ಕೃಷಿಕನಾಗಬೇಕು ಎಂದೋ, ಒಬ್ಬ ಉದ್ಯಮಪತಿಯಾಗಬೇಕು ಎಂದೋ, ಒಬ್ಬ ರಾಜಕಾರಣಿಯಾಗಬೇಕು ಎಂದೋ ಕನಸು ಕಂಡಿರುತ್ತೇವೆ. ಆ ಕನಸುಗಳೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಒಂದೇ ಜನ್ಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಧಿಸಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದರಲ್ಲದೇ, ಅದೆಲ್ಲದರಲ್ಲೂ ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದು ಗೋಪಿನಾಥರ ಹಿರಿಮೆ. ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರು ತಾವು ಈ ಕನಸಗಳನ್ನು ಕಂಡದ್ದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಆ ಸವಾಲುಗಳಿಗೆ ಎದೆಯೊಡ್ಡಿದ್ದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಛಲ-ಹಟಗಳಿಂದ ಕಷ್ಟಗಳನ್ನು ಎದುರಿಸಿದ್ದರ ಕುರಿತು ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿ ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಇದು ಕೇವಲ ಅವರ ವೈಯಕ್ತಿಕ ಬದುಕಿನ ಕಥನವಲ್ಲ ಅಥವಾ ಆತ್ಮರತಿಯ ಅನಾವರಣವೂ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಅವರ ಸಾಧನೆಯ ದಾಖಲೆ ಎಂಬುದು ನಿಜವಾದರೂ, ಅದು ಕೇವಲ ನೆಪ ಮಾತ್ರ. ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದುತ್ತಾ – ಸಾಧಕ ನಿಮಿತ್ತ ಮಾತ್ರ, ಸಾಧನೆಯೇ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಎಂಬ ಅಂಶ ನಮಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ. ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನಾದರೂ ಸಾಧಿಸಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ಬಯಸುವವರಿಗೆ ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆಯ ಗಣಿ; ಬಾಳಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಜಿಗುಪ್ಸೆಗೊಂಡು ನಿರಾಸೆಗೊಂಡವರಿಗೆ ರಾಮಬಾಣ. ಇನ್ಫೋಸಿಸ್-ನ ನಾರಾಯಣಮೂರ್ತಿಯವರು ಹೇಳುವ ಹಾಗೆ – “ಸಾಹಸ ಹಾಗೂ ಉದ್ಯಮಶೀಲತೆಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಣಾಮಕಾರಿಯಾಗಿ ಹೇಳುವ ಈ ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬ ಯುವಕ ಓದಲೇಬೇಕು”.

ಆರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಗೊರೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಬಾಲ್ಯದ ದಿನಗಳ ಕುರಿತು ತಿಳಿಸುತ್ತಾ “ಬೆಳೆಯುವ ಸಿರಿ ಮೊಳಕೆಯಲ್ಲೇ” ಎಂಬ ನಾಣ್ಣುಡಿಯ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಿಯ ಸಾಬೀತು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ನಂತರ ಸೇನೆಗೆ ಸೇರಿ, “ಬಾಂಗ್ಲಾ ವಿಮೋಚನೆ” ಯುದ್ಧದ ಭಾಗವಾಗಿ ಸಮರಾಂಗಣದ ಅನುಭವಗಳನ್ನು ಓದುಗರ ಮುಂದೆ ತೆರೆದಿಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇದಾದಮೇಲೆ ವಿಶ್ವವನ್ನು ಸುತ್ತಾಡಿದ ಚಿತ್ರಣವನ್ನು ಮೂಡಿಸಿ, ತಾವು ತಮ್ಮ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯ ಜಮೀನಿಗೆ ಹಿಂದಿರುಗಿ ಬಂದಿದ್ದನ್ನು ವಿವರಿಸುವಾಗ, ನಮಗೆ “ನಮ್ಮೂರೇ ನಮಗೆ ಮೇಲು” ಎಂದು ಹಿರಿಯರು ಯಾಕೆ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು ಎಂದು ಅರ್ಥವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.

ನಂತರದ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಜಮೀನಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೃಷಿಕನಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಗೃಹಸ್ಥಾಶ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಲಿರಿಸಿದ್ದು, ರೇಷ್ಮೆಕೃಷಿ – ಹೈನುಗಾರಿಕೆ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು, ಏನ್ ಫೀಲ್ಡ್ ಮೋಟಾರ್ ಸೈಕಲ್ನ ಡೀಲರ್ ಶಿಪ್ ಪಡೆದದ್ದು ಮತ್ತು ಇನ್ನೂ ಹಲವಾರು ಸಾಹಸಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವಿವರಗಳನ್ನು ಓದುವಾಗ ನಮಗೆ ರೋಮಾಂಚನವುಂಟಾಗದೇ ಇರದು. ಆದರೆ ಕಥೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿಗೇ ಮುಗಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ, ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ರೋಚಕ ಹಂತ ತಲುಪುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದೇ ಭಾರತದ ಪ್ರಥಮ ಅಗ್ಗದ ವಿಮಾನಯಾನ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ “ಏರ್ ಡೆಕ್ಕನ್” ಸ್ಥಾಪಿಸಿದ ಕುರಿತಾದ ಜ್ವಲಂತ ಕಥನ . ಯಾವುದೇ ಕುಂದುಕೊರತೆಗಳನ್ನು, ತಪ್ಪುಗಳನ್ನು ಮರೆಮಾಚದೆ ಇದನ್ನು ಚಿತ್ರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತಮ್ಮ ಕನಸುಗಳನ್ನು ಸಾಕಾರಗೊಳಿಸಲು ಹೆಣಗಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ಹಲವರಿಗೆ ಈ ಭಾಗ ನೀಡುವ ಹುಮಸ್ಸು ಅವರ್ಣನೀಯ.

ಬಂಗಾರದ ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಡಾ|| ರಾಜ್ ಹಾಡಿರುವ ಹಾಗೆ “ಕೈಲಾಗದು ಎಂದು ಕೈಕಟ್ಟಿ ಕುಳಿತರೆ ಸಾಗದು ಕೆಲಸವು ಮುಂದೆ”, ಕ್ಯಾಪ್ಟನ್ ಗೋಪಿನಾಥ್ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಿಗೆ, ಯುವಕರಿಗೆ ಹೊಸ ಸವಾಲನ್ನು ಧೈರ್ಯದಿಂದ ಎದುರಿಸಲು ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಮೂಲಕ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ್ವರ್ ಭಟ್ ಹೇಳುವಂತೆ  “ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಮುಗಿದಾಗಲೇ ಗೋಪಿನಾಥ್ ಪ್ರತ್ಯಕ್ಷರಾಗುತ್ತಾರೆ, ಓದುಗರ ಕಣ್ಣಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಜವಾದ ಕ್ಯಾಪ್ಟನ್-ನಂತೆ ಗೋಚರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.” ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಬಂದಾಗ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ಚಿಂತನೆಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ, ಆತ್ಮವಿಶ್ವಾಸ ಮತ್ತು ಪರಿಶ್ರಮವಿದ್ದರೆ ಸವಾಲುಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಗೆ ಮೆಟ್ಟಿ ನಿಲ್ಲಬಹುದು ಮತ್ತು ಎಲ್ಲಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಮಿಗಿಲಾಗಿ ಜೀವನದ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಸಂತೋಷಗಳನ್ನು ಮನಸಾರೆ ಆನಂದಿಸುವುದು ಎಂದರೆ ಇದು ಎಂಬ ಉತ್ತಮ ಚಿತ್ರಣ ಮೂಡುತ್ತದೆ.

English translation of the review given above in Kannada:

Review by Satish A G

Baanayaana is the Kannada translation of Captain Gopinath’s autobiography Simply Fly. It is brought to Kannada by Bangalore Suvarna News and Kannada newspaper Kannada Prabha’s Chief Editor Vishweshwar Bhatt.

Captain Gopinath is one of the matchless Kannadigas, an inspiration to the youth. All of us at some point in our lives would have dreamt about becoming a warrior or farmer or an entrepreneur or a politician. Not only did Captain Gopinath become all that in a single life, but also proved to be successful. In this book, he has richly talked about his dreams, the hurdles he faced and the determination he had. It is neither just his autobiography nor a narcissistic, egoistic story to make himself look God-like. Though book is a true record of his achievements, it is only a pretext. While reading this book, you will understand that the person is only means to the success and success is important, not the person. This book is a goldmine of inspiration for people who want to achieve greatness in life; an elixir to the depressed souls. Like Infosys’ Mr.Narayanamurthy says “Youth should read this book which explains adventure and entrepreneurship effectively.”
Captain Gopinath spent his early days of childhood in Gorur. Then he joined the army, “Bangladesh Liberation War” and he enthusiastically talks upfront with the readers about it. Then he beautifully paints a picture on the canvas of your imagination about his travel around the world only to tell us how he came back to his village, back to his roots.
Later he talks about how he became a farmer in his land, his married life, his experiences with sericulture and apiary, about his dealership of Enfield and other ventures which are exciting. Instead of story ending there, it reaches an interesting stage. It is the founding stage of India’s low fare airlines “Air Deccan”. While talking about it, he does not hide any drawbacks and explains undisguised mistakes. For many who are struggling to make their dreams come true, the encouragement given by this part of the book is inexplicable.

As sung by Dr. Rajkumar in a Kannada movie Bangarada Manushya which means “If you think you are unable to do any work and do nothing about it, your work cannot progress”, Captain Gopinath inspires students and youth to face new challenges boldly. Vishweshwar Bhatt says, “Gopinath appears in front of you as you finish this book, as the true Captain to the readers.” At the end of the book, we get a real good picture about what independent thinking, self-confidence, hard work being better than all other solutions and above all, a mindset to appreciate the joy of small things in life.