A new activity got added to this semester besides 8 courses, GRE classes and Wall Street Club – MATRIX Reading Club. The club is an attempt to bring together people who are passionate about reading. It seeks to broaden horizons and light sparks of interest. A meeting could be loosely structured around a few books, the talk could veer around to an interesting article in the newspaper or to the world of books and authors galore. I got the idea last sem but was too busy to implement. So, this sem delving into it.
Yesterday's meeting went as follows:
In the last meeting, we had decided to discuss Bourne series by Robert Ludlum, The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga and India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. We started with a talk between Ankit and Neha about the historian. When Ankit mentioned Jayprakash Narayan, Syam took over with an analysis of Indira Gandhi and her rule. That was followed by feudalism and communism in Kerala. I came to know Kerala has 140 Vidhan Sabha and 19 Lok Sabha seats. Somewhere in between there was Ayn Rand and not believing in her philosophy thrown in. Syam was talking about objectivism, the philosophy that she propagated. I've never read her and took it as objectivism i.e. sticking to truth. Talked about how every author, unless they are a historian writing in black and white, is unobjective. The authors views do seep in. Gave an example of Gone With The Wind, where Margaret Mitchell paints blacks as an integral part of the family in South America. That led to the etymology of the word lynching, traced to Willie Lynch's methods by Achal. There was another digression on objectivism as Achal tried to reason that unless reader believes in the work, it can't be objectified. These three meanings make me appreciate why people mug up word lists for GRE :D
Science fiction also found a way in with Neha talking about The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Foundation by Issac Asimov. While I was getting cold coffees, there was a discussion on Ghost In The Shell series. Benefit of organising meetings in night canteen, we get to talk over coffee and bournvita. We didn't much get to Arvind Adiga except that the book begins with a village in Gaya.
To participate in a stimulating discussion like this wasn't just nice, it was fun. Next week, we have on the table, Zahir by Paulo Coelho, Art of War by Sun Tzu and Bourne series again. A classic e.g. Wuthering Heights is also in queue.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=521372df-48de-4414-b5ce-f55bba465e6e)
Yesterday's meeting went as follows:
In the last meeting, we had decided to discuss Bourne series by Robert Ludlum, The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga and India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. We started with a talk between Ankit and Neha about the historian. When Ankit mentioned Jayprakash Narayan, Syam took over with an analysis of Indira Gandhi and her rule. That was followed by feudalism and communism in Kerala. I came to know Kerala has 140 Vidhan Sabha and 19 Lok Sabha seats. Somewhere in between there was Ayn Rand and not believing in her philosophy thrown in. Syam was talking about objectivism, the philosophy that she propagated. I've never read her and took it as objectivism i.e. sticking to truth. Talked about how every author, unless they are a historian writing in black and white, is unobjective. The authors views do seep in. Gave an example of Gone With The Wind, where Margaret Mitchell paints blacks as an integral part of the family in South America. That led to the etymology of the word lynching, traced to Willie Lynch's methods by Achal. There was another digression on objectivism as Achal tried to reason that unless reader believes in the work, it can't be objectified. These three meanings make me appreciate why people mug up word lists for GRE :D
Science fiction also found a way in with Neha talking about The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Foundation by Issac Asimov. While I was getting cold coffees, there was a discussion on Ghost In The Shell series. Benefit of organising meetings in night canteen, we get to talk over coffee and bournvita. We didn't much get to Arvind Adiga except that the book begins with a village in Gaya.
To participate in a stimulating discussion like this wasn't just nice, it was fun. Next week, we have on the table, Zahir by Paulo Coelho, Art of War by Sun Tzu and Bourne series again. A classic e.g. Wuthering Heights is also in queue.
Kudos for your efforts at record keeping! Btw, I now recall Guha mentioning in the introduction the fact that historians find it very difficult to remain objective when presenting facts, for the temptation to chip in with personal opinions is too strong even at the sub-conscious level. He takes pains to clarify that he's tried his best to be objective but that imperfections may remain. My point being : historians are rarely objective. As an example I would like to mention our NCERT history textbooks written by a coterie of pre-dominantly left-leaning historians like Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib.Their version of history has been questioned by many for a long time but the establishment is full of these kind of people who were brought in by left-leaning elements of the Congress and have maintained an iron grip over the institutions.Can have a detailed discussion on the same in the meeting...
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