An Equal Music - Vikram Seth

When something is difficult or impossible , it is always better to try out something else which has something in common with the first difficult something. Like if watching Abhishek's 'Om Jai Jagdish' is an unearthly (unheavenly too , if you are doubtful) task , then it is better to watch 'Bluffmaster' - afterall , both have Abhishek , but the second was obviously much better :D . But let me cut this self-made philosophical crap and come directly to the point. I dumped Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy after the 900th page , which made an unsuitable read anyway and picked up An Equal Music which is like only 400 pages long. And i am glad i did , it made a better read than the first.

Talking about An Equal Music , i do not understand why people prefer A Suitable Boy to this , which is close to a classic. If it is because it being the longest novel in the world , to hell with Seth! Now after have read AEM , I can safely declare that ASB is not even a patch on the former , yes , yes AEM is much much better!

Now I do not think that Seth is made of Nobel Prize-worthy stuff (No ladies and gentlemen , that is NOT my suggestion (that he has the potential to be a Nobel Laureate) incase you feel like hitting me with an iron rod for suggesting disastrous situations , but of The Illustrated Weekly Of India's ;)) , but An Equal Music does make a good read. It is not one of those books which leave a 'lasting impression' after you read it , but it does , yes it does , entertain you and keep you engaged throughout.

And so , all you out there , who have shelled out a 500 bucks for A Suitable Boy , my humble suggestion would be either to get a refund or otherwise , sell it to the raddiwala and get a copy of An Equal Music instead. No , if you do want to read ASB , do go ahead , but i am not responsible for any brain damages or anything of that sort...











And read this interview for some starters :)










PS - If you think that this post is cranky , then think again. If you still think so , then i have only one thing to say - i fully agree with you :)

Vikram Seth - A suitable boy

At present , something which is keeping me engrossed , and has successfully managed to banish away all thoughts of Abhishek Bachchan from my mind(although , i did see Bluffmaster and Yuva for a second time some days back) is Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy.


Okay , not only Abhishek thoughts...but that shall do for now :0)

This 1375 paged novel is Vikram Seth's 'magnum opus' novel , which simply means it has surpassed all other novels of his in fame and suppressed the recent 'Two Lives' in terms of popularity.

Do correct me if i am wrong , though.

I have been reading this novel for something like ages (two to three weeks to be a leetle more precise!) , and am still in the 704'th page or something. 12'th chapter , i think.

A point which needs to be stressed upon is that this book is large , voluminous , gigantic...i think i could read both the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha (unabridged versions , mind you) faster , that me crossing the 1000th page of this Seth novel. While that is a very stupid example , the truth is finishing this book without skipping any pages is a Herculean task :)

Anyway , this is a family story , which means that it involves a lot of drama , emotions , poetry and everything required to make a family story a family story. The core story is about a mother's search of a 'good' husband for her daughter (which involves some lectures too , i forgot to add that) , but ofcourse , interwined with plots and subplots , most of them boring , which i hear is a typical Vikram Seth style. Not the boring parts , that was my own opinion , but the plots and sub-plots.

At first (by first i mean the first 200-300 pages) , it is altogether very interesting , but later(400-600 pages) , it becomes dull and lifeless.

Anyway , i am said to be of an extremely biased nature , so i will give this book a chance and read it till the end , yes till the end :-) , and then deliver my verdict!


Until then!







Some Abhishek pics from my Orkut album ;)