Indulgences

Its been a while since I blogged and unfortunately I can't blame it on shifting, setting up house or settling in. All that was done in a matter of 3 days. The Dad and I stayed up nights- with the kids in bed, our favourite music playing in the background, we worked at a rapid and continous pace and had the house looking like home very quickly. No, we are not masochists neither were we trying to set some kind of wierd record!! It just got to our nerves looking at boxes everywhere!

So, the reason for this ..well lets call it indolence, is that I could not tear myself away from what I'm currently reading. Its a story I've heard countless times. My grannies have narrated it to me a million times over, I've watched the movie and the series on television, I've read the abridged versions and yet I could not stop reading it this time. The Ramayana by Ashok Banker is a series of books covering this epic in his own trademark style.

I knew the story but not the details, I knew the characters but not their personalities, I knew it as a religious epic not as a literary delight. Banker is a narrator par excellence who etches the characters offering delicious minutiae and manages to keep the reader turning the pages inspite of the known plot.

The past few months, I have been drawn to Indian epics and life histories of Gods and Godesses re-narrated in English. Some such books that I relished:

The Palace of Illusions- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Its the Mahabharata through the eyes of Draupadi, Kunti and Gandhari. A completely and very different take to any version of the Mahabharat I've read/heard before

The Immortals of Meluha- this is a trilogy
The story of Shiva and what a story it is!!


I'm nearly done with Banker's series and have one last book to go. I'm savouring every word and drinking in all the particulars I never knew before. What a treat to be reacquainted with Rama and his troop and see them all in new light!

Spas, I love but not quite addicted to them, desserts I can happily do without, shopping, I've had enough of that these past few months to last me a lifetime! Uninterrupted ME time = A good book along with a good meal = top on my indulgence list.

What's yours?