So, when I decided to dabble with 55-fiction, I expected it be cakewalk. It wasn’t. It’s very difficult to contain thoughts in as little as 55-words, while maintaining a plot, characters, conflict, resolution and the shock element. I had storylines but after I jotted them out, I spent a lot of time editing and redoing the sentences to reach the magic number. I finally have five stories in place that I am sharing here.
Books by bloggers are becoming a cultural phenomenon and a trend, and so is populist writing. Any blogger with a blog that will entertain and amuse the public has a chance to get a book deal. The appeal of a blogger’s personality and the passion for a subject becomes an attractive force for publishing houses looking for long-term commitments and sustained zeal. Aspiring authors are even coming out with e-books that can be downloaded from their websites and blogs. (I am reminded of Paulo Coelho’s web-based marketing wherein he releases some chapters of his forthcoming publications on his website, and regularly contributes small pieces of writing on the online newsletter – Warrior of the Light.) Today, such marketing concepts are being well-utilized by the tech-savvy, young and ambitious Indian writers!
Selective breeding has also been a well-practiced science in both zoological and botanical worlds. We get to know of genetically engineered better, bigger, stronger species of animals and plants. In fact, when we think of it, Hitler’s call for a predominantly Aryan society and the genealogical extermination that followed was close to the Spartan concept of society. Charles Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest” is an assertion of the fact that the genetically “better, bigger and stronger” will ultimately rule the Earth, or for that matter the Galaxies.
The planning, collaborating and analyzing responsibilities provide on-the-job training for a documentation manager’s role. It opens one’s perspective to challenges of good documentation, the need and pressure of working with various stakeholders within specified deadlines, collating and analyzing data to generate appropriate metrics, and most importantly, accountability for the quality of a deliverable.
Our senses are being assaulted with so much distressing news that we have slowly becoming accustomed to listening, watching, discussing and then walking away from taking any responsibility. The fact is that we have undergone the psychological process of desensitization, which states that continued exposure to media violence undermines feelings of concern, empathy, or sympathy that viewers might have toward victims of actual violence.
While a discrete reader may find more comparisons between the two works, what is more evident is that the books are two extreme ends of a futuristic world. The reality presented in dystopian literature is a backlash against some modern trends and contemporary tendencies in politics. George Orwell portrays the dangers of totalitarian regimes which show no respect for people’s individuality and freedom. Aldous Huxley satirizes consumerism and presents concerns about overuse of scientific research.
The “schools of thought” expanded and diversified, and we were enmeshed by more ideas and professed more ways of life than we could actually live! Minimalism gave way to lofty ideals and higher ambitions. More and better was demanded and at grandiose scales. The intellectual was churning out ideas for execution, and the social, political, economic, and industrial setup was working overtime to crystallize these ideas. While the human mind was at work, life was improving at a fast pace, but at what cost!
For those interesting in reading and particularly in short stories, you can order your copy from the Publisher’s website: http://www.saikiranpublications.com/orderform.htm. But before that please send me a message to share my author code with you.
The book begins on the premise of constant fear and a nagging desire to rebel against a political system based largely on absolute power, control, and falsehood. The protagonist Winston Smith, is shown to live in the year 1984 where a political party, Ingsoc, lead by a figure called Big Brother, is controlling the lives, actions and even thoughts of the masses. Basic human faculties of free thought, debate, discussion, self-improvement, professional growth, and social upliftment is suppressed through mental conditioning by a political power that demands unconditional “love” and allegiance to Big Brother.
The book, which is a cult-fiction of sorts is not only prophetic but also invokes deep feelings of fear. 1984 is a novel in three parts, and my interpretation of these three parts can be summarized as follows:
Part I: Rebellion in thought against a prevailing system
Part II: Rebellion in action
Part III: Subjugation of the rebellion displaying the vulnerabilities of man in the face of a larger than life system of control and brainwash
I may have read too many thrillers and sci-fi novels but my fears surrounding a “red-herring” attack are not totally dumbfounded. What if the Mumbai attack was a cover-up, a preamble, a diversion of forces and national energies, while at some other edge of this big country, a bigger conspiracy is taking shape? What about the sudden firing across LOC, or the mobilization of forces at the borders, or even the political and diplomatic impact of all that has transpired in the few days?
The American frog, lay in a tub of water, and was slowly burnt alive, because the temperature steadily increased over a period of time. The Indian frog, apparently, had the fright of a lifetime by being ducked into a tub of steaming water, but could jump out just in time to save its skin.
I accept with a gourmet’s delight the weird menu that is served day in and day out in my office cafetaria, even if it means chewing on the little stone in my rice, or having the lentil salad that reeks, or the custard that is yellow colored water.
Young Indians are also craving for change, and the partisan party politics of India doesn’t hold any charm! Yes, as Americans welcome change, even in India, as we usher in another season of Parliamentary elections, it will soon be time to change!
Indeed, one gets the impression that thousands of people lie suffering in hospitals, living from crisis to crisis, not because the law is against alternatives but because their world view provides no space for non-physical co-existence and a meaningful evolution of the individual soul through the accumulation of experience in many lives.
I have been tagged by Snigs to share five quotes from the books that I have read, and though I confess that I can fill pages and pages with “food for thought” from books, but I restrain myself to five (okay, six!)