Suno Draupadi!

सुनो द्राैपदी ! शस्त्र उठालो अब गोविंद ना आएंगे... 

   - पुष्यमित्र उपाध्याय

 

सुनो द्राैपदी ! शस्त्र उठालो अब गोविंद ना आएंगे...
छोड़ो मेहंदी खड्ग संभालो
खुद ही अपना चीर बचा लो
द्यूत बिछाए बैठे शकुनि,
...मस्तक सब बिक जाएंगे
सुनो द्राैपदी ! शस्त्र उठालो अब गोविंद ना आएंगे...

कब तक आस लगाओगी तुम, बिक़े हुए अखबारों से
कैसी रक्षा मांग रही हो दुःशासन दरबारों से
स्वयं जो लज्जाहीन पड़े हैं
वे क्या लाज बचाएंगे
सुनो द्राैपदी ! शस्त्र उठालो अब गोविंद ना आएंगे... 

कल तक केवल अंधा राजा, अब गूंगा-बहरा भी है

होंठ सिल दिए हैं जनता के, कानों पर पहरा भी है
तुम ही कहो ये अंश्रु तुम्हारे,
किसको क्या समझाएंगे?
सुनो द्राैपदी ! शस्त्र उठालो अब गोविंद ना आएंगे...

Kya Bhooloo.n, Kya Yaad Rakhoo.n - 2

 In the third week of December, my engineering batch had its Silver Jubilee reunion at our alma mater. The weeks preceding the event were spent in an ever-increasing sense of euphoria, culminating in an awesome 2 days at the college, and it continues to be followed by ripples of bonhomie and irreverent banter.

Anyhow, during the build-up for the event, I shared a poem I had written long time ago, a prominent thought behind which was the cheer I found in those four years, and the loss I felt at leaving behind that carefree life and dear friends. The original poem is here:

Kya Bhooloo.n, Kya Yaad Rakhoo.n

I just wrote a post-reunion version of the poem, owing to the bittersweet feelings experienced at the reunion. (And taqdeer vs tadbeer was a thread of discussion going on the reunion group recently).

आज मिले हैं हम तक़दीर से, या मिले तदबीर से

मुद्दतों बाद हुई मुलाक़ातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ

हसरतें लिए बस मिले अभी, अलविदा कह मुड़ चले अभी

रह गयीं कितनी अनकही बातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ

बिछड़ने का हाँ ग़म है, साथ गुज़ारे लम्हों का मरहम है

उमड़ते जज़्बों की बरसातें, क्या भूलूँ क्या याद रखूँ

दरों में फासले सही मगर दिलों में फासले नहीं

मिली निस्बतों की सौगातें, ना भूलूँ, मैं याद रखूँ

Jyotipath

 ज्योतिपथ 

      - Divya 

दीप है वनवास में औ'
बाती बिरहन सी खड़ी
अँधियारे के द्वार पर
रोशनी रेहन पड़ी

दीप आए जब तलक
न यामिनी को मैं छलूँगा
मोल हो निज प्राण चाहे
दीप बन कर मैं जलूँगा

मैं जला तो संग मेरे
सूर्य को जलना पड़ेगा
मेरे पीछे ज्योतिपथ पर
विश्व को चलना पड़ेगा

व्यर्थ है दीपावली जो
एक लौ भी डगमगाए
व्यर्थ झिलमिल दीप की
गर हर नयन न जगमगाए

डबडबाते हर नयन
उल्लास बन कर मैं चलूँगा
दीपावली की रात का
आभास बन कर मैं चलूँगा

मैं चला तो संग मेरे
ज्योति को चलना पड़ेगा
मेरे पीछे ज्योतिपथ पर
विश्व को चलना पड़ेगा

Mini Reviews - XXIX (Susan Carroll)

Brighton Road

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite the common basic theme - the reticent, brooding hero meets plain, irrepressible heroine - it turned out to be a truly hilarious, entertaining book. The heroine is an imaginative, day-dreaming author of gothic novels, and the hero is a stiff and upright baron (so correct that he has been nicknamed "Sobersides"). And therefore, they inevitably make an incongruous pair that ends up in one scrape after another. There are no mean relatives, no repulsive villains, but a cast of quirky and endearing characters, from hero's elderly valet to heroine's eccentric family and her mischievous dog.

The sequence of events, the way heroine manages to annoy the hero (intentionally and unintentionally), as well as the writing, was full of humor and left me laughing out at several points. This was my first book by this author, and I definitely look forward to reading more.

The Wooing of Miss Masters

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very enjoyable book, with several amusing moments, some of which actually had me laughing out loud. I liked that the characters are a little different from usual. The hero is not quite handsome with charming manners, but a little awkward, gruff giant. The heroine is a financially independent woman, a bookish introvert. Their first encounter is described in an entertaining manner, and their verbal and not-verbal dueling is hilarious. The way their relationship grows through their sparring is fun.

I have two quibbles about the story - The heroine behaves like a doormat, pandering to the whims of her younger sister, who is utterly selfish until the end when she does stand up for her. The responsibility is well in its place, but I don't like heroines whose kindness of nature manifests in bending over backwards for insensitive family. The character of uncle Matthew is brought in only for one purpose - to escort them to the ball, with no explanation of the previous history (why the quarrel with the aunt) and no conclusion to the arc (what happens with him afterwards).

The Bishop's Daughter

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was tedious ... Can't believe its written by the same author whose two books I read earlier were a laugh riot. Didn't enjoy the writing style - lengthy inner monologues and descriptions were boring. The heroine is so stiff, going on an on about bishop's daughter and duty. I cannot stand such stupidity - she chooses to suppress her own feelings and ignore the hero's kindness - just because papa would have disapproved. The hero was really wonderful, charming and witty, and his amusing puns and dialogs made this bearable.

The Sugar Rose

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book had its moments - the banter between the MC in the beginning, and some quips (sparsely scattered though) by the heroine throughout were really amusing. However, on the whole, it was predictable and problematic, and the underlying theme is more like a modern movie than a RR.

The first problem is The Ugly Duckling transformation - in the regency era, it is unbelievable that a man who is not a relative takes charge of the lady's transformation - diet (which in itself was an unhealthy extreme), clothes and appearance. The trouble here is the emphasis that one needs to be thin and very well groomed to be appreciated/loved.

The other problem is the heroine's attitude towards his original fiance, Justin, who is terribly selfish and insensitive. But the heroine never seems to realize this - despite the fact that he fails to turn up for his own engagement party, abandons her for months, does not even recognize her upon her Transformation, and only takes pride in showing her off once her appearance becomes dazzling. She should have ditched him with or without Everard, in no uncertain terms. She should have trusted her godmother rather than believing the evil scheming Suzy. But no, heroines have to be beautiful fools.

Mini Reviews - XXVIII (Mary Balogh)

The Temporary Wife

- Mary Balogh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a typical MoC tale, full of common tropes of the genre, and yet I enjoyed it. The heroine is one of the stock characters of the genre - impoverished gentlewoman burdened with the care of her siblings, loving and generous. She not only more than overcomes the bias her husband's family has against her, but also mends his own relationship with each of them. Such a perfect heroine usually annoys me, but not here. The hero is also a typical character - a serious man with a troubled history, bearing the burden of suppressed feelings for a very long time. In a way, his emotional growth is the primary theme of the book.

I found the story heart-warming and even somewhat amusing. It is a story about emotions, family, perceptions and misunderstandings that can damage lives and relationships. And also about warmth and redemption. I liked it for some interesting complexities of human relationships it explores.
I understand that this short a book does not have the luxury to dwell too much on one particular aspect, but the issues between the hero and each one of his family members were resolved very quickly - essentially, years of resentment was addressed by just thrown them together once to talk. One thing that annoys me about these stories is the extremely foolish way the supposedly intelligent heroines behave towards the end - why else, after all is said and done, would the heroine just leave without speaking to the hero. It is, as if the authors are compelled to throw in a little misunderstanding, however unnecessary, to make it worthwhile for the readers to see them united at the end. It's my view that instead of that lost-and-found scene at the end, the page count would have been better used to repair the feelings between the family (which was somewhat rushed).

Lord Carew's Bride

  - Mary Balogh

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It started off well, with the heroine mistaking the identity of the hero, and liking him for himself. There is a wonderful warmth in the gradual development of their relationship, each of them finding an enjoyable companionship with the other. I liked the heroine's family and friends, and the relationship they have.

What I really didn't like was the portrayal of the villain of the piece. This is the second of Mary Balogh's novels with this same theme - where an utterly detestable man rejects the heroine, and years later, when she is in a happy relationship, starts stalking her. The heroine, on her part, becomes ambiguous about her feelings about this man, who she knows to be evil. Apart from the repetition, what troubles me is this "hate masks love" thread.

I am not fond of the "big misunderstanding" trope, but the way the lead pair allow the villain to mess up their lives is stupid to the core. They both know that he is mean and evil, yet they believe his lies, particularly the hero, forgetting that he is completely untrustworthy. A most troublesome aspect of this genre is the typical portrayal of masculine strength - here, the hero, who was shown as a kind and understanding man, suddenly turns rigidly authoritative and asserts his power to hurt his wife. He eventually realizes his mistakes and avenges her, but IMHO, he does not make a sufficient apology to her. Instead, she is the one who apologizes and makes the first approach towards reconciliation.

Mary Balogh's writing style involves long inner monologues of the MC, but I tend to find them boring after a point. Further, in this book (or I didn't notice it earlier), the author has inclined to too much repetition - by projecting the same events through two perspectives, or adding several phrases with repeating words for emphasis. There is also an excess of interjected qualifying phrases. More than the story, her style has put me off and I would not read more of her works any time soon.

Mini Reviews - XXVI (Joan Smith)

 Winter Wedding

  - Joan Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book had a nice premise. I liked Clara for her spunk and humor, and that even in the situation where she was left dependent on others, she managed to carve out a life of some independence. She visits only those of her friends and relatives who need her help, and never for long - it deprived her from settling roots, but also prevented her from becoming an unwelcome burden to anyone. I liked Ben for his obvious charm and even more for his feeling towards Clara, but his actions regarding his ward Nel left much to be desired. In the times when direct means of communication were not available to them, it was sad to see their drawn out longing for each other, but the efforts made by Ben were heartwarming.

It is a gentle, sweet story but marred by the antics of Nel - she is a truly selfish and spoiled girl. Her recent tragedy is not sufficient excuse for her behavior, particularly the disruption of someone else's wedding as an uninvited guest. Ben's indulgence of her rudeness is even less acceptable (not to mention his blaming others for inconveniencing her rather than reprimanding her). I understand that cast in the role of OW she provides a required tension in the story, but the space devoted to her over-the-top tantrums is too much to be enjoyable and becomes rather jarring.

Valerie

  - Joan Smith
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It is difficult to believe this is written by the author of 'Imprudent Lady' or 'Talk of the Town'. Although the publication date of Valerie is later than these (and some other ones I really enjoyed), it felt like a very early attempt by the author. There were moments of wit, but they were sparse and few. The writing style was very immature - very short, trivial sentences, that were somehow made worse by first person narrative. The modern terms and sensibilities peeped out time to time, jarring with the time period it is set in.

Of the characters, the hero was quite good, even though something of a cardboard cut out of a RR ideal. The heroine, on the other hand, was quite foolish (She kept on wavering from one suspect to other and back, and spilling the beans to whoever she trusted at the moment. In a real mystery novel, that cuts one's life shorter immediately). I skipped a lot in the second half, just to see it end and confirm my suspicions.

Mini Reviews - XXVII (Mary Balogh)

Lady with a Black Umbrella

  - Mary Balogh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The premise of the book is not new - two sisters come from countryside to London intending to make a 'brilliant match' for one (and sometimes both) of them. In fact, I have recently read two others with the exact same theme. But they usually end up with a number of comedic situations, and therefore provide good entertainment.

It starts off quite well - the initial scene, with the eponymous umbrella, is hilarious. The heroine, with her indomitable spirit, keeps landing into scrapes and bringing the hero in with her. However, I felt her outpouring became progressively shrill, and her actions more stupid than naive. Her repeated assertions regarding the undesirability of her spinster status (by men, particularly the hero) became annoying. The hero was also more irritating than the kind soul or misunderstood gentleman that usually feature in these stories. So, given the theme and what I heard about the author, I expected it to be much better than in turned out to be.

A Certain Magic

  - Mary Balogh
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book started off well, with a lifelong friendship between the MC and their banter. Their banter continues intermittently through the rest of the book and I enjoyed it. But I didn't like the rest of the plot. No spoilers, as its quite outlined in the blurb - they have been in love with each other forever. I find that less palatable than if they had grown to love each other, because it gives a tinge of unfaithfulness even if they believed and behaved with loyalty while their spouses were alive. Their restraint in confessing their feelings to each other is foolish but pardonable, but the hero is a big idiot for falling into a trap that he himself senses and everyone else knows, and even more so for continuing the farce after certain truths are brought home to him. Moreover, he comes across as a weakling, failing to stand up for anything he believes in.

Though I have been enjoying the genre, especially the ones with subtle, charming novel and witty banter, certain patterns of deep prejudice that keep recurring (with different authors), troubles me. One of the most prominent of these is the portrayal of the non-titled people - they are referred to as 'not gentleman', 'not genteel', or most degradingly, 'cit', and they are most often characterized as vulgar, scheming, dishonorable or immoral.

Mini Reviews - XXV (Joan smith)

Talk of the Town

  -  Joan Smith
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The first half of the book is wonderful - one of the best repartee and a thoroughly entertaining battle of wits between the MC. I enjoyed that the hero kept ending up meeting the heroine and bested by her, despite his determination not to do so.

The heroine's character is a bit inconsistent - a young, inexperienced, country lady, moving with so much poise and confidence in the London society does not make sense. It would have been better of the author could had defined her personality in a manner that made her interactions with the top elite more believable (fun as they were!).

The second half lets the book down. The characterization of the aunt, Effie - she is supposed to be smart, but her actions contradict this - she lets people take advantage of her so much that she falls from affluence into abject poverty, she refuses to see that her "friends" are self-serving parasites, and also gets back with her unfaithful ex who continues to be a jerk. In the latter part of the book, the heroine starts behaving in an increasingly annoying manner, and the hero makes stupid mistakes, leading to a totally unnecessary misunderstanding (my least-liked trope).

In all, the premise was entertaining, but the characterization was lacking.

Lady Hathaway's House Party

  - Joan Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was not as amusing as I expected it to be - I was looking for more banter between the MC, even if it was to be a trading of insults. But it rather turned out to be domestic fights, more or less one-sided (justified as it was - I sympathized with the heroine). It was redeemed by the efforts of the hero, who made genuine attempts to understand and rectify his mistakes. There was humor in the writing though, which I enjoyed.

However, a lot of entertainment was derived from the antics of two completely inappropriate characters, which didn't work for me. I especially wonder at the characters like Lady Dempster - whose inclination to gossip goes so far as to almost manufacture it, regardless of the cost to the people involved, and who don't even shy away from barging into personal and private conversations. I suppose its a caricature, but still wonder whether the etiquette in that society went so far as to not even insult such people.

Mini Reviews - XXIV (Joan Smith)

Aunt Sophie's Diamonds

- Joan Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun romp, an entertaining farce of a plot and a good deal of humor. It has a likeable MC and a secondary pair, and a wide array of other characters. I really liked the characterization of the heroine, who showed wit and intelligence not expected by others. Aunt Sophie of the title comes across as delightfully eccentric. The standard "mean relative" is played by the heroine's mother, and her selfish and stupid behavior was one of the deterrents to the enjoyment of the book - despite knowing that this is an over-the-top farce, such behavior manages to annoy me. This was my first book by the author, and encouraged me to look out for more of her work.

Imprudent Lady

  - Joan Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has one of the wittiest banters I have read, and I have read quite a few RR books that involve witty exchanges between the MC. Moreover, the banter in this book is neither a battle of wits nor a trading of insults, just a delightful conversation between two like minds. It had me laughing out quite a bit, so that the family asked me a few times to share the funny things!

The hero and the heroine are so very likeable from the start (and well suited to each other, as we readers know ;-)), and I was really amused by his subtle flirtation. It does not even have any real villains, only the heroine's uncle who is somewhat oblivious to everything except his own purpose but is kind enough to her.

The unnecessary, avoidable misunderstanding before the HEA can be achieved, is a plot device that I don't care for, even though it is a fairly standard trope in the genre. That part of the book prevented it from being an almost 5-star read to me. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot, and encouraged to explore more works by this author.

Escapade

  - Joan Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The heroine is an anonymous columnist of society, and depends on the help of her mother and aunt to 'cover all the bases'. I am not interested in celebrity gossip myself, but I don't dislike this as a premise of the novel. However, the big disconnect is the unerringly stupid way she acts, for all her intelligence we are told about - first she takes it upon himself to pull down the hero without any real insight into his character, and then she prints an unverified gossip from an unreliable source without a single thought. Her seeming to thrive upon gossip undermines both her intelligence and her likeability.

Another negative was the characterization of the potential matches for the hero - all three of them are single-dimensional stereotypes of society ladies the heroes of the genre despise. Typically, the books will have one of these in the role of the ow, but all these in the same party with the single objective of forcing the hero's hand is quite over-the-top. Which brings me to another grouse with the genre - why don't these heroes simply make their stand clear instead of being cornered into situations they despise.

Despite these drawbacks, it was fairly entertaining, with some witty dialogs and amusing incidents - which is what saved this book. And the hero is quite a honorable and sensitive gentleman, with a wonderful sense of humor making the readers root for him.

The Tenacious Miss Tamerlane

The Tenacious Miss Tamerlane

- Kasey Michaels

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It could have been entertaining, but the uppermost impression it created was that it tried too hard. The author picked some of the common plot elements of the genre, specially from Heyer, included ALL of them, and attempted to do it one better. So, the result is a book that comes across as labored on all fronts.

The prose is purported to be witty but often felt tedious, with many qualifying phrases and parenthesized clarifications (seriously, who thinks in brackets? ;-)) The banter between the MC is amusing in general, but there were quite a few points where I didn't see a reason for their "breaking out into laughter". The regency ladies are not expected to use slang (or "cant") in their speech, so the spunky ones throw a word here, a phrase there. In what looks like one-upmanship, the author has Tansy deliver two whole paragraphs of dialog exclusively in cant.

I love spunky, sassy RR heroines (I read the genre for the humor rather than romance), but Tansy started looking shrill and ill-mannered as the story progressed. Not considering that she is currently the duke's dependent, even as a guest her attitude towards her host isn't commendable - battle of wits with Ashley had her insulting him frequently (generally without reason) and calling names to his sister (with just cause). The hero was nice but not interesting, and the romance seems artificial. There are several quirky characters, but even they stopped being amusing after several repeat performances.

It appears as if the author created a checklist of the amusing elements of RR novels, and proceeded to include an instance of each and make it better than it has been done before.
- Heroine needed: impoverished, sharp-witted, unladylike - can't dance or sew, can ride and shoot, will speak in stable or boxing cant
- needs to shatter hero's ordered routine - fire the housekeeper within a couple of days upon arrival
- rescue a stray in an outrageous manner - don't stop or merely jump from carriage, manage to rip your dress and then wade through the lake, in full public view
- save her reputation - fool the public with help from no less persona than Beau Brummell
- Hero needed: clueless, prone to fall in love with argumentative cousin - will "kiss ruthlessly" every now and then, blow hot and cold, make an idiotic proposal without professing love, will tolerate impudence from everyone
- a beautiful 'airhead' - Emily, sister of duke, will not understand any jokes, will elope not once but twice
- quirky characters - superstitious valet, quote-speaking aunt, managing grandmother, unpredictable dog, irrational villain. Self-centered relative is missing, but we do have the thoughtless sister.