Siddhartha

Author: Hermann Hesse

ISBN13: 9789380005607

Edition language: English

Literary awards: None

My Rating: 3/5

I would not deny the fact that this fiction has wisdom in it but seriously it could not grab my heart. In one line this book is about a boy named Siddhartha who ultimately finds nirvana (or what ever it is) at the end. Thus there is the hero, a Brahman boy, going after a courtesan in search of love, then falling into that kind of a life style and regretting after a long time. Learning from a ferryman about life.... blah blah... seriously speaking there is nothing new that any movie these days does not talk about.


This book was written long back, very long back and seriously back then I am sure this kind of a story might have inspired generations of people, but at this age and time all what is written in this book is totally cliche. I know that lot of people love this book. So please if anyone else has different opinions please enlighten me as I might have missed out something that you probably loved about this book. My opinion is just this: the story in this book has been told in numerous other ways in books/movies. Thus this book really did bore me.

THE DIFFICULTY OF BEING GOOD : on the subtle art of dharma

Author: Gurcharan Das

ISBN: 9780143418092

ISBN13: 9780143418092

Edition language: English

Literary awards: None

My Rating: 5/5

Why be good when being bad is considered to be cool?

Why does always bad things happen to good people?

In a society where people get away by doing bad things, why should people still believe in Non-Violence and Dharma?

Is a "bad person" never good? Does not the "good" sometimes become bad?

Ultimately what is good and bad?

The above questions might have passed through your mind at least once in your lifetime. Thus, what does being good mean? Why be good? It is at this juncture that this book tries to find meaning to the word Dharma by dissecting the characters in Mahabharata one by one and discussing their behaviour patterns. While reading the book, one might often wonder whether a person can be called inherently good or bad? Isn't there a Raavan hiding in each of the righteous Ramas of the world. Or, to put it in the modern version wasn't a part of Voldemort there in Harry Potter himself.

I have never found it so hard to write a review for a book that I absolutely loved. I fear that my review however times edited would not do justice to it. The theme of this book is so close to my heart that after reading the summary given at the back of this book, I just could not hide my happiness in finding a book that talks about some queries that I have had all along my life till now.

For an introvert like me who can easily be outsmarted by others and to have to smile at the same person (cursing myself for my lack of ability to express myself) the theme of this book is relevant in my day-to-day life. The question of "why be good?" has occurred to me many a times in life.

From my experiences in life so far, I have learnt that a person can never be categorized as good or bad. It is difficult to draw a straight line between good karma and bad karma. The matter is subtle: delicately complex. This has been beautifully discussed in this book through various chapters disseminating each character of The Mahabharatha and also including political/corporate figures from everyday news in some places.

Still my favorite chapter is The Krishna's Guile with the tagline "It is the way it is". All through the Gita, "The Krishna" preaches about being righteous but during the Kurukshetra War he makes the Pandavas win by trickery. Duryodhana questions this approach while dying and Krishna replies with a simple "somethings are the way it is". This is my favorite because it helps in finding peace with many situations in life when we fail to find logic in what has happened.

I loved this book and I am sure that this is going to be one of my bibles (books I love and would read, re-read, re-re-read..... and by heart and treasure in life). I would recommend this book to anyone anytime as its relevant in all ages.