Note To Sixth Grade Self

Heard this piece titled "Note to Sixth-grade Self" on our local NPR today, in a program called Re:sound.

While driving to a store, I flipped on the radio, and heard an audio rendition of Julie Orringer's "Note To Sixth Grade Self." I was mesmerized by the story of the social outcast, and her everyday struggles with her mean classmates. Even after reaching the store, I waited in the car in the parking lot until the reading ended.

Upon searching the Web, I learned that it had been published in The Paris Review. I liked the piece so much that I am now thinking of getting her book "How To Breathe Underwater."

If this link works, you can hear it in MP3.

Cinderella Man

This is not a documentary in the truest sense. This movie is a biography based on the life story of boxer Jim Braddock. This common-man-turned-hero movie is definitely worth watching, esp. on DVD. I was surprised to note that it is currently ranked #207 in IMDB's all-time Top 250 movies list.

Possible Spoiler Alert (Don't read further if like to watch movies knowing as little about them as possible.)

I saw this movie a few months ago, but two scenes stick out in my memory. The first is the one where Russell Crowe pretends to his little daughter that he had a dream about having a full meal, and uses that ruse to give his breakfast to her and leaves for physical work hungry.

The other scene is the one where he goes back to the club and holds out his hat and asks for a hand-out while his erswhile boxing patrons (who made a lot of money on him) are eating and drinking.

If this movie passed you by, seek out the DVD.

Boxing Russell Crowe Cinderella Man

Po Bronson - Live at Chicago

Continuing from my previous post on the same experience. (First post)

Po's message was that things are overall quite okay. He pointed out that we have gotten into this habit of "aggrandization of the Present."

He referred to the 4 existential fears of Kafka that might be paralyzing us. The Fear of dying, the Fear of choosing, the Fear that we will end lonely and finally, the Fear That life is ultimately meaningless.

To hear Po quote Kafka, in that hushed voice of his was quite a memorable experience in itself.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

He would leaven all this seriousness by bringing in humor. He read aloud a review that showed up in Amazon, where the reviewer even claimed that Pierce Brosnan was Po's "superior brother."

Po spent a few minutes stressing that family life around the world has actually improved. He quoted lots of stats comparing contemporary numbers with past decades/centuries. Those who are interested should surely check out the factbook that he has compiled.

When Po read from his book, he had the entire audience captivated, hanging on to his every word. The interesting thing for me is that I had read the book before, knew the twists and surprises in every story, and still. To hear Po narrate the stories was a uniquely moving experience. There were lots of misty eyes in the audience, and these included the men listening.

During the Q&A session, I asked him what his next project was. His reply was that he honestly didn't know what it was going to be.

Whatever it turns out to be, I am just happy to wait and be surprised.

Po Bronson - Book Signing Experience

In person, Po looks exactly like the photo in his book. Around 50 people had showed up that evening for the book signing in Chicago's Transitions Bookplace. He appeared a tad bit diffident hanging around before it was time for him to go on stage.

[Spoiler Alert: If any of you are planning on or think you'll have a chance to go to a live book signing for "Why Do I Love These People?" I recommend that you skip reading what follows and enjoy the whole experience afresh as it unfolds.]

Po had with him an assortment of "artefacts" -- maps and photos and a 3-ring binder that he'd brought along with him. He started out by reading aloud his "Promises to a Newborn Son." The letter was actually his clever way of informing us a little about Po's own childhood, the things that had been done to him (or had been left undone) -- a litany of parenting lapses that he experienced growing up. The list was hilarious to hear for the audience, but it couldn't have been fun for Po as he was growing up.

He showed a color-photo of Nicole Kidman reading his "What Should I Do" book in the movie "Bewitched" and he pointed out the irony of someone going to Hollywood to learn what real life is like (which is in the movie's plotline). Po also mentioned that he'd not been consulted or aware that his book was being used as a prop in the movie. (He then shared a couple of stories about his experience of being a writer in Hollywood.)

Next, he unfolded a large white map of the United States, with all the states outlined. In that map, Po had marked all the cities wherein he'd spent days and weeks interviewing 100s of people and had marked all the routes for the trips he had taken criss-crossing the country. One look at his map and it becomes readily evident that any author attempting a such book of inteviews and stories has to spend tons of time and effort.

As the stories kept coming, Po grew more and more comfortable and got deeper into his subject. What I had mistaken for diffidence was probably just his nature. Clearly, he was in his element. connecting with the audience in the bookstore at many levels, keeping them laughing while also making them think about the more serious subject at hand -- the one of family relatioships.

He made one very key point, which I had not thought about until that moment. He pointed out the distinction between his two recent book. "Getting what you love is the subject of 'What should I do', whereas loving what you get is what this new book, 'Why do I love these people' is about," he said.

For this post, I think I will stop here, and continue in my next.

Categories: Po Bronson Author Book Signing

Po Bronson Live

Listening to Po Bronson talk about his Book
Transitions BookPlace, Chicago IL

First, a very brief introduction. In case you are not very familiar with this author, Po Bronson, it was his 3rd book "Nudist on the Late shift" a great collection of pieces in the height of the dot-com days that really brought him to the attention of the internet literati. (It was also the first Po Bronson book that I read.) His website is well worth checking out.

His next book, What Should I Do With My Life was a departure of sorts from his earlier style. In that book, he delves into the question of the book's title with a disarming frankness. The tone is very different from that of the Silicon-valley-dot-com-craze-fanning "Nudist" book. I got the "What Should I Do" book because I had loved Po's literary style in Nudist, (plus the title What Should I Do is rather compelling) but I read the book because of the power of the stories in them.

He's followed up this book with his latest book, Why Do I Love These People?, similar in vein to the What Should I Do book. I read "Why Do I Love" in the Fall of 2005, and was lucky enough to learn that Po would be reading and presenting live in Chicago in January of 2006. I will post about the experience of listening to Po share his stories in my next posts.

Po Bronson, Why Do I love these people, True Stories

Jaideep's List: Most Enjoyed In 2005

This is a guest entry. For many years now, an ex-colleague of mine, Jaideep, has been sharing his Most Enjoyed lists with me. I especially look forward to his musical recommendations, mainly because he is musically inclined. Here is his list for 2005, published with his permission.

Hi Ram,
Here's my most enjoyed list for 2005 (order has no meaning).

Music
Sao Vicente de Longe - Cesaria Evora
You have stolen my heart (Churalia) Music of RD Burman - Asha Bhosle and the Kronos Quartet
Moffou - Salif Keita

Music DVDs
Live in London - Youssou N'dour
Live in Paris - Cesaria Evora
Sade Live
Live 8

Concerts
Festival of India - Ravi and Anoushka Shankar
Habib Koite and Bamada

Books - Fiction
Transplanted Man - Sanjay Nigam
Hero's Walk - Anita Rau Badami
Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh
Motherland - Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
Goddess for Hire - Sonia Singh
The Guru of Love - Samrat Upadhyay
Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Books - Non Fiction
World is Flat - Thomas Friedman

Movies
The Tracker
Murder on a Sunday Morning
Star Wars III




Trips
Montreal and Quebec City
Florida Keys

Restaurants
Indian Grill - Lincoln Park, Chicago
Paris Bordeaux (Crepes) - Lakeview, Chicago
Chu Chai (Vegetarian Thai) - Montreal

Ciao
Jaideep

Travel Story: The Iraqi Sheik and the Taxi Driver

I have thought about this story a few times since I heard it, and decided to share it here even though it is almost certainly apocryphal.

Due to last minute travel plan changes, we ended up in Amman airport in Jordan this past Christmas eve. (Well, it was past midnight, so it was technically Christmas Day.) We hopped on to the airport bus at 2am and got dropped at Abdali bus station close to 3am.

The pouring rain practically forced us to get on a taxi, and the driver wanted to take us to a hotel where he could get a few Jordanian Dinars (JDs) as commission for his effort. This is the story that the taxi-driver told us, speaking English with a middle-eastern accent, while driving us to our hotel.

Our taxi driver had a friend who was also a taxi driver. Two months earlier, this other taxi driver had picked up an Iraqi sheik with a huge suitcase as a customer. (Ever since the fall of Saddam's regime, several Iraqis have been crossing the border into Jordan, a country that is relatively peaceful in this tumultuous region.) This Sheik directed the taxi driver to take him to any really good hotel, the price didn't matter. Before the sheik got off, he asked for the taxi driver's cellphone number.

The next day the sheik called the taxi driver, and directed him to take him to a different hotel where he could check in. Then, the same thing happened the following day -- the sheik with his big suitcase moved to yet another hotel. This went of for 5 days, the sheik switched hotels every single day.

Finally, it was time for the sheik to leave Amman. He summoned the taxi driver to pick him up from his hotel. "Do you know what's in my suitcase?" the sheik asked the cab-driver just as he was getting off the cab. The driver, of course, didn't. The sheik then told him that he had over 2 million U.S. dollars cash in it and left, hefting the mammoth suitcase.

That's the story our cab driver told us, while taking us to a hotel. Amman is a neighboring city to Iraq, and it's possible that some people in Iraq might have access to money that probably wasn't theirs. It was very late at night, I was jet-lagged and so it was easy to believe that there was some truth to the story. May be the sheik had an urge to show off to the taxi-driver, or may be the taxi driver just made the whole story up.