Truth is not always true

There is an old Indian story about Truth. It seems that in ancient times a brash young warrior sought the hand of a beautiful princess. The King, her father, thought the warrior was a bit too cocksure and callow; he told him he could only marry the princess once he had found the Truth. So, the young warrior set out on a quest for Truth. He went to temples and to monasteries, to mountaintops where sages meditated and to forests where ascetics scourged themselves, nut nowhere could he find Truth. Despairing one day and seeking refuge from a thunderstorm, he found himself in a dank, musty cave. There, in the darkness, was an old hag, with warts on her face and matted hair, her skin hanging in folds from her bony limbs, her teeth broken, her breath malodorous. She greeted him; she seemed to know what he was looking for. They talked all night, and with each word she spoke, the warrior realized he had come to the end of the quest. She was truth. In the morning, when the storm broke, the warrior prepared to return to claim his bride. ‘Now that I have found the Truth’ he said. ‘what shall I tell them at the palace about you?’

The wizened old crone smiled. ‘Tell them, ‘she said, ‘tell them that I am young and beautiful.’

So, Truth is not always true; but that doesn’t mean Truth does not exist.

This article is an excerpt from the book “Bookless in Baghdad” by Shashi Tharoor. You can check out this book here- https://goo.gl/ZKovv9
Know more about me @ www.shashiprakash.in 

Review: "The Secret of the Nagas" by Amish

Book: The Immortals of Meluha

Author:  Amish

Type: Fiction 

Pages- 371

Publishing house: Westland Press

This is the second book in the series and just like the previous one, doesn’t disappoint you a bit. The characters are more vivid but there are too many characters. Sometimes you may need to flip pages behind or check the “List of characters” page to recall the person being talked about. Though that’s not an issue at all. The fiction unravels skin by skin as every chapter is consumed by the reader. It keeps you off the edge and doesn’t make it boring. Though there are certain grey areas where you may find yourself willing to skip pages. The compelling writing style dozes off sometimes but in a whole, it is as good as the first one. As Anil Dharker had mentioned and I quote “Furious action jumps off every page”. It is true to the verbatim to the most of extent. The incidents are written with detailing and have been paid attention just like the first one. The mythological characters have been introduced and given spin-offs to accommodate them in the storyline. For instance, Parshuram has been introduced in the latter pages but his history of parents has been penned completely different. Though in the text, he is an adamant follower of Shiva; does carry battleaxe resembling much to that of Sixth Avatar of Vishnu, Parashurama; have parents named Jamadagni and Renuka and similar few more attributes. But the character in the text has been given a slightly different history to match with the story line up. The prose is like the previous one. Many other issues have also been dealt in this book and they have been handled beautifully. Sati and Shiva do have interesting chemistry though there comes a moment when they have rough patches too.

‘Shiva…’ pleaded Sati. ‘Please don’t go. Please…’

Verdict: The second part is also as good as the first one. The story line up has been knitted very finely. Perfect pinch of masalas has been added to the recipe throughout the book and overall what you get is a satisfying repast. Amish does let you wonder what may have happened next and you surely crave for the rest of the story written in the 3^rd part. So just go for this one too.

Will be completing the next part soon and will review it here itself.