Grapes of Wrath - A Must Read

I finished reading grapes of wrath few days ago and I am just not able to stop myself from writing about it. I am sure, most of you would have heard about or read the book. When I asked Kim (my bookclub mate) to lend me the book, I didn’t know exactly what was I going to read. While browsing through fiction at a book store I had stumbled on the book and something about its synopsis made me wanna read it. So I thought before buying, I will ask my book club mates whether any of them had a copy. Thankfully Kim did.

Wherever you search about it, it is called a masterpiece of John Steinback. Well, it is. It is one of the best books that I have ever come across. It has won Nobel Prize for Literature as well as Pulitzer.

A heart wrenching story, set in the great depression of the 30s, about a family called The Joads who are tractored off their land in Oklahoma and travel all the way to California in search of job like thousands of others. I should say in search of food and shelter actually. They have to sell literally everything they had so that they could put few dollars together to get a used truck and also save some saved for their travel.

The character of Ma Joad is one of the strongest female characters that I have ever come across. The way she holds the family together during all the tough times is fascinating and awe inspiring. I hope, as a mother and a wife, I am half as courageous as her in life! I loved the relationship between Ma Joad and her son Tom Joad. It tugs your heart and makes you cry.

I don’t prefer descriptive style of writing much. But here, I loved reading every bit of it. I loved the detailed paras, the way in which the author describes all the characters including children! There are chapters in between which keeps the readers posted about what is happening outside the Joads family.

Oh and the final scene! Its something you would never expect. I don’t know what to say about it. I wanted to cry but I couldn’t. It made me feel so heavy at heart,,, I can’t describe it.

Its amazing that the story written in 30s still holds true. Even today we can see how the rich manipulate and exploit the hunger of the poor. Even today, we can see the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer,,,,,,

Rating - 5/5

Sorry Baba Masakali.....

I have been wanting to share this incident the day it happened. But I have been too lazy to sit down and write.

In my previous post I had written about using a private parking lot for my weekly running. It wasn't just me who used the empty space. There was this old Arab guy of African origin who came there every morning when I was walking/running. What he does is, he brings a packet of rice and throws it on the ground and waits. In matter of minutes, hoards of pigeon come sweeping down and start pecking on them. I was really amazed! There were at least a hundred of them. It was as though they appeared out of thin air. While walking/running I kept looking at those pigeons and in a matter of minutes (again) they finished each and every grain! The flew away with a very heavy breakfast indeed.

This episode continued for a few days and as always I marvelled at the old man's effort who, by then, I had named Baba Masakali. I even thought of taking a picture using my cell and sending an article to a local newspaper. Well, I didn't know that his attitude towards me was about to change.

One morning, as usual I was walking, while waiting for the pigeons, baba masakali came to me and said something in Arabic. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but from his actions I felt that he was asking me NOT TO WALK there as I was scaring the pigeons away. I didn't say anything to him thinking maybe I was wrong and he was telling me something else. In a minute pigeons came by and I felt at peace seeing them having their breakfast without any fuss. However, when I reached near them, to my dismay, they flew away!!! All of them! And I heard baba screaming something in Arabic. I didn't turn back and look. I just kept walking.

I wondered why were the pigeons reacting differently this time when I have been using that parking lot since few days and they didn't seem to have a problem in the beginning. Then I saw baba speaking to one of the Indian passerby and pointing at me. I felt so embarrassed, but I still kept doing what I had to do (run/walk). I think baba was asking the Indian guy to tell me in Hindi so that I understood. But the Indian guy just shrugged and left without saying anything.

Thanks to me, the pigeons didn't come back again and most of the grains were left uneaten and wasted. But, am sorry baba masakali, I can't do anything about it. I am struggling with my running and its not something I am ready to do in front of people, not yet at least. Until then I will have to use the parking lot for my exercise regime and that too at the same time.

According to my workout schedule, I was supposed to walk the next day. So I just took a peak at the parking lot to see whether he and his pigeons were there. He was there waiting for them. I didn't disturb them this time and I walked a different route.

But am sorry, I have to go back there tomorrow morning. I will try to wake up earlier so that I am done by the time your pigeons are out ......

I started running.... and then....

This week is the third week of my 21weeks' training programme. I am supposed to start running this week - R 1min, W 2mins 10 times. It took me a lot of courage to start running. I wanted to start off on Sunday and so I woke up as usual, had some cereals to tame my growling tummy and put on my sneakers. I went to the empty parking lot where I usually walk.

I walked for five minutes as a part of warming up. But then five minutes' warming up became ten.... I just couldn't muster the courage to start running. You may wonder why. I have no problems in walking in front of people. I hardly care when they are staring at me. But when it comes to running, I start caring. I dont want to, but ....

I went back home all disappointed and sad. I walked for 40 minutes alright, but didnt do any running. Once back home, I did a bit of googling to see whether there were people like me who found it difficult to start running. To my surprise, there are… infact a lot of them... There were different forums where distraught people like me were in search of some motivation to start running. Some of the replies were really encouraging and motivational. I read that we were running (or working out) for our own self, our own health and not for anyone else’s sake. Why do we have to be bothered about what others thought when we know that we are doing the right thing. So I decided I am going to do it the next day.

The next morning I went to the parking lot again and after five minutes of warming up, I mustered all my courage and ran. Oh what a feeling it was! With each minute of running I felt better and better. Within no time I had finished running ten times and I was panting and completely out of breath. I was exhausted and ecstatic all at the same time.

Since its early morning, there aren’t many people on the streets. Few were coming and going but I realized that they were too busy caught up in their own world that they hardly noticed me. I promised myself I would come back again after a day’s rest.

After a day’s rest, I went back to the parking lot again this morning. I couldn’t carry my mp3 player as I had to carry a stopwatch to time my running and walking intervals. As usual, after five minutes’ of warming up I started running. After five rounds I noticed that two guys were standing on their balcony and waving and shouting something at me. I had seen one of them few days earlier. I remembered him yelling at the top of his voice (I could hear him over my loud mp3!!). Only today did I realize that those were aimed at me. Ugghhh!! The moment I saw them, I got self conscious again. I just couldn’t think of running again in front of them. So I took a detour and walked for ten more minutes and came back home.

I don’t know why I let them get to me. Why do they have to make fun of someone who is simply trying to get some exercise! If you want to watch, watch man. Just don’t yell and shout that the whole neigbourhood wakes up! God!!! Sometimes, I really find it hard to understand certain human beings!

I always make sure that I never walk the same route everyday. I had noticed that when I took rounds of the parking lot, men would actually stop and standby till I finished. So I started taking different routes to avoid such psychos. But since I am so self conscious about running, I chose to do it on the parking lot itself as in the early morning there are very few people around.

Anyways, I am not going to let those two idiots get to me again. I usually go for my walks at 5:30 in the morning. Today I was a bit late. I will make sure I go early again so that I can finish my running and be back home before those morons woke up!