Rebecca By- Daphne Du Maurier

I would never reveal the plot of any of the books and deprive anyone of the joy of reading. Atleast, not more than what has already been revealed on the back-cover of books.

Rebecca- This book is easily one of my favourites. I have read it three times and it keeps me hooked each time. There is something very captivating in this book which can only be experienced and not expressed in words. It has both romance and thrill- a very strange and different kind of romance and thrill that you do not really see in books of these genres most of the time.

What I love about the book is the strange sense of mystery that one experiences as soon as one of the main characters- Mr. De Winters makes his entry in to the story- the sense of mystery which the protagonist of the story cannot decode until the very end. The main character of the book Rebecca does not really exist per se. It is only memories of her that linger around. The first name of the protagonist is never revealed in the book. She is always addressed as Mrs. De Winters. All other lesser characters in the stories only add on to the mystery as and when the story progresses.

Right from the time I was a child, I have always been fascinated with palaces and castles and stories which have good amount of details and description of these. Though the location of the story is an estate (Manderley) with a huge mansion, the description of the entire estate is really wonderful and created an image of a castle in my mind and transported me to it. I felt like a silent spectator of the events that unfolded in the beautiful mansion. The surroundings of the mansion are one to die for- moors and the sea. Instant magnet for me.
Below is a picture that was depicted in the movie based on the book.

Another thing which I love to read in books of fiction is the description of food. I am just not satisfied with 'we had a quick lunch and ran for the bus'. I prefer- 'we had a quick lunch- a veggie soya chipotle sub with extra cheese, nicely toasted with some guacamole and ran for the bus'. I do not know what it is with me and food descriptors in books. Any book with well described food earn extra brownie points from me. Rebecca is one such book. It satiated my appetite for good descriptions and details of food in it and guess what- all meals were covered I think :-). Extra points from me :-)

The story is a romantic-mystery with the most unexpected twist in the tale at the end. It is not a '...and they lived happily ever after' end,but then it is.. The story is about a young girl marrying an older rich man who was previously married to Rebecca- beauty, grace, style, elegance and wealth personified who died before the story in the book could begin. She finds herself being constantly compared to her predecessor. The story unfolds in such a way that she comes face-to-face with Rebecca's reality. Any more revelation from me is a definite spoiler.

Alfred Hitchcock has made a movie based on this book which is also called Rebecca. With due respect to Hitchcock (I am a big fan of his), the book is much more captivating than the movie. Words can express so much and sometimes cinema, though an audio-visual medium, cannot capture the essence of words just as much. I am not saying it is a bad movie. It is quite good but falls a little short in comparison to the book.

If I had to rate the book, it is 5/5 stars and the movie 4/5 stars.

Through the Eyes of an Idle Mind

I would like to start with a warning. This blog is very true to its name- My Ramblings and can take its toll on you. If you survive at the end of it or can read it at one go, I acknowledge you as a person with tremendous patience and fortitude.

The 6th of August, in the year 2012 has a huge significance in my life. It is the day I entered wedlock with Rakshit Pai. Come to think of it this is possibly the only celebratory milestone in my personal life. Well, some might say there is another one- the day I was born, but I hardly consider it as a milestone in my life...Being born is not really a milestone in the life any individual...It might however be a milestone for the parents of the individual. It is, however, a celebratory event. There have, of course, been other milestones- like toothing, taking the first step as a baby, 1st day at school, graduation day, post-graduation day etc., but these are not really milestones which one celebrates year after year. These are more of memories than celebratory milestones. More on the wedding will follow later in a separate blog.

On 8th of August, I arrived with my new family at Hyderabad and was taxied to my new home in a car adorned with beautiful flowers and on arriving at my new home, was given a very warm welcome customary to new brides. On 16th of August, we left for Mauritius via Mumbai and returned to Hyderabad, early in the morning of 25th August- more on this trip will follow later in a separate blogpost (No, I am not putting it off for no reason. Continue reading this post and you will completely understand why I am saving these for later).

On 27th of August, life returned to normal for my new family with everyone returning to work. I, on the other hand, had taken 40 days off work to relax and fit-in to the new life. These days though uneventful  allowed me to reflect on and observe a lot of things. The 5 most striking things have been put down below.

1. Facebook- Man's new best friend

Yes, you read it right. I know most of them who read this will not agree and brush it off as nonsense..but really, most people I know mostly live for it. When pictures are taken when they go places, I have heard them say- '...and one for the FB profile picture' and many people put in each and every move of theirs as status update. Mobile phone apps have only made it easier for people to share their lives with each other via media such as Facebook constantly. Now, I definitely do not mean to say that there is anything wrong with it. It is just personal preference on how people want to chronicle their lives- some blog, some write journals, some update their Facebook timeline. During these days off from work, Facebook definitely came as my saviour from unimaginable boredom when my family was at work. It offers a lot of apps to play around with. Almost every magazine, every hobby, every TV show, movie or anything that you like has a page and one can find a lot of interesting stuff to read, play or do. It can fulfil a regular person's desire to farm with apps like Farmville. It keeps you updated on what your friends are up to and where they are, what they look like- basically a peek into their lives. So, why not make it your best friend because it gives you just what you want (almost!).

2. Hobby- Things we love to do at leisure

We all love our hobbies. We may have scores of them and different kinds- Reading, Writing, Baking, Painting, Gardening, Sports and a friend of mine had Bee-Keeping for a hobby. During these days off from work I realized the true meaning of HOBBY. It is something to do at LEISURE (now this is the keyword). Imagine- you are at work, fighting deadlines, managing your exponentially growing inbox, lot of work screaming 'urgent'  on the phone and the instant messaging system, not to forget the pile of work that gets replenished- as and when you finish something, you realise that there is that much more or sometimes twice as much to do, and then, you come home- relax by reading a good book or bake your blues away. You eagerly wait for the weekend and any other holidays that come by to catch up on that extra sleep and of course your hobbies as there is time at hand. They comes as much needed stress-busters and also help kill time and keeps boredom at bay. By the time, the weekend is over, you wish it were longer to have that extra-fun. Now that you've got the picture (I hope you do), let us see how the reverse theory would work. You have a whole month ahead of you and absolutely nothing to do- no schedules, meetings, no emails to contend with, no timelines etc. It is just you and time for you to kill. You think you will read all those books that you keep buying for fear that it might be hard to find later but cannot come to read all of them (not enough time) or cook that complicated recipe you came across or complete your half-finished painting. You get started and carry on for one or one and a half week with great enthusiasm and then when you come to the second week- you still want to carry on with those wonderful hobbies but you also realise that you do not want to wake up just to it day after day. You do not want to wake up to just read a book and bake and garden and paint. You want to do it addition to something else which will make you utilize that part of the brain that is not accustomed to 100% leisure. You will realise that you can enjoy your hobbies to the maximum only when you use that part of your brain.

3. Enlightenment- Good prevails over Evil

I realized that the proportion of good people against the bad ones is quite high. Most people in this world are good. Good is a relative term. Here, my usage is for people who do not mean harm to other people, who can feel the pain of others they do not even know, who subconsciously care about others- even their so called enemies. This dawned up on me while watching a 9/11 special on TV on 9/11. There were people on the plane and in those towers that were loved but also possibly hated. However, no matter how much they were hated and wished dead- people did not really mean it (I feel this strongly). Also, while watching Just For Laugh Gags- I realised that most people in the world have it in their blood to help those in need without always expecting benefits. It could be simple things- like holding a big box for you while you try and open the door of your car.
Every single day, we read about deaths, thefts, murders in the papers of those people we do not even know but we are so easily able to feel the pain, the loss that they and their families go through. It comes so easily to us. Yes, there are the bad ones too- no denying that but when it comes to proportion- good always prevails over evil (my very strong belief).

4. Bangalore- A Charming City

It is not uncommon for people to compare their place of permanent/ long-time residence to any other place they reside or visit. We love to tell how our city, country, district, birthplace is organized, how things work there etc. I cannot but help compare Hyderabad to Bangalore. These are two cities in the south of India, just 570km apart yet so different from each other. The prevalent language in both cities is different, the kind of food though similar are quite distinct. Bangalore- a much greener city, much laid back in comparison and climatically way cooler than Hyderabad. It is much more modern than Hyderabad in its ways. Hyderabad too has its positives but all said and done- Bangalore, is the most charming city to live in (atleast for me). Maybe if I move to Hyderabad and live here for a few years and get to know it better, I would find it to be the most lovely city to live in.

5. Roving- You can be your best companion

I love wandering about and taking a good look at places around and assimilate it. Though hubby dearest did show me around a lot, it was too much for me to digest all at once. It is only when I ventured out on my own, did I find all the places I ought to know as a woman- tailor shop, supermarket, stores that sell my favourite brand of clothing, shoes, cosmetics etc, the salon, vegetable vendors, eateries, repair shops for a zillion things, shops for photocopies, jewellery stores, electronics goods store....the list is just endless. Now men do not have the same level of enthusiasm or interest for most of the stuff I just mentioned and find it easy to conveniently forget to mention or just do not take notice. One would be doing herself a great favour by venturing out on her own and look about for places of interest. :)

I know what the reader must have gone through while reading this post with all my rambling (true to its name). I guess that is what months of not writing and a period of staying idle does to people. Though I thought my 40 day period off from work was initially exciting, then boring, and just when I was beginning to settle into this kind of nothingness and enjoy it...it is time for me to return to work and get back to the hectic schedule and lifestyle.