Books: शरत चंद्र चटोपाध्याय की 'परिणीता'

'परिणीता' शरत चंद्र चटोपाध्याय द्वारा लिखित एक उपन्यास है जो मूल रूप में सं १९१४ में बांग्ला भाषा में लिखा गया था। मैंने इसका मनोज पब्लिकेशंस द्वारा प्रकाशित हिंदी अनुवाद पढ़ा।

परिणीता की कहानी एक मंत्रमुग्ध करने वाली प्रेम कथा है। शेखर और ललिता के लड़कपन के प्यार से शुरू होकर जब कहानी पेचीदे मोड़ पर पहुँच जाती है तो पाठक परेशान हो जाता है कि कहीं कुछ गलत न हो जाए। गिरीन्द्र थोड़ा सा 'दाल भात में मूसल चंद' जैसा लगता है, तो कभी थोड़ा हिंदी फिल्मों के 'विलेन' जैसा। पर कई मोड़ों के बाद कहानी 'सुखान्त' के साथ खत्म होती है। तब पाठक को ऐसा लगता है जैसे शेखर और ललिता के साथ हो जाने से उसे भी कोई व्यक्तिगत खुशी मिली हो। उपन्यास के पात्र पाठकों के साथ इतना अपनापन बनाने में पूरी तरह सफल होते हैं।

'परिणीता' पर एक फिल्म भी बनी थी। पर वास्तविक उपन्यास की कहानी उस से कई गुना अधिक पवित्र और सुन्दर है। आप भी जरूर पढ़िए।

- राहुल तिवारी

History: The Christian Crusades

In the history of Christianity, the ‘Crusades’ were a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Church in the medieval period. Several of such crusades or military campaigns aimed at recovering the lost land from the Muslim occupiers. 

In below video, Stefan Molyneux, a Canadian podcaster and philosopher explains about some of the misconceptions about the Crusades. He also has a background in studying history and hence he has brought in many historical facts. 

After going through this video we would have better understanding about the ‘justification’ and background of the Crusades. 

I have always been interested in history and think that proper understanding of history is needed in order to avoid repeating it. Hope you would also find the above video enlightening.

- Rahul Tiwary

Thoughts: A Child’s World

Due to rains and some health issues, I was not going out of my house much for several days. That explains why I was looking at the neighborhood with slightly curious eyes today. And I particularly noticed some scenes. 

From a rubber hose for watering the lawn, suddenly water had started spraying out in the open. A small boy had come to watch it. There was a look in his eyes seeing the water sprays.

A little girl was walking in the park along with her father. She was walking in a certain way. At times if she found something interesting in the grass, she would bend and check it out. There was a curiosity in her. 

Three small kids were playing near a shop. They just walked in a straight line one after the other in one direction, then changed course and walked in the other direction. They were happy doing this. 

And a group of young kids were involved in a Ganesh Puja pandal and were sitting on the stage, doing various things. There was their chatter. There was their enthusiasm which would occupy them for several hours there. 

When we go old, we tend to get bored soon. But when we are kids, we seldom get bored as the world looks interesting to us. The difference is in understanding. If we understand things, we no longer wonder about those things. But because of this, as we grow older and wiser and begin to understand most things, it is natural to lose interest and sense of wonder in most of the things. It’s a challenge is to keep this world interesting enough as we progress in life. I felt this after seeing those wonderful kids. 

- Rahul

Festivals: Ganesh Puja Pictures from Pune - 2019

Pictures taken with Nokia Phone (Made in India) by Rahul Tiwary 

History: World's Biggest Dictators

Inspired by National Geography documentaries, I watched some YouTube videos on world’s biggest dictators. Here are a few: 

Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus:

Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechen Republic:

Muammar Gaddafi of Libya:

Muammar Gaddafi shot dead: 

These videos help us understand important part of these countries’ history as well as world history. If we see something happening now, many times their explanation lies in the history. I am a big fan of history and reading more and more about it fascinates me.

- Rahul Tiwary