Confession Time

(Day 77 of 112)

I have a confession to make. As stupid and moronic as I think the Gujarat government has been in banning Jaswant Singh’s book, right now I can’t help but wish the Himachal government had also banned it. At least that way I wouldn’t have been able to buy it and my brain wouldn’t have been put through the entire trauma.

And trauma it is. I’ve read only the introduction and a couple of chapters but already I want to use this 669 page book as a weapon, preferably on Jaswant Singh’s head. I mean, it’s such a cumbersome and heavy read. The sentences are super-complex and it seems like Singh has only recently discovered the semi-colon. There is no other explanation for the liberal use of the annoying punctuation mark. In a first, I’m finding myself reading each sentence several times over just to get some connection between the different parts. And while a lot of ideas are definitely interesting and insightful, they’re lost in punctuation, making it a tad bit difficult to appreciate wholeheartedly.

Of course I believe that the editor has to take some of the blame here. I mean so it’s a book on a figure prominent in the history of India and Pakistan. But why the book has to read like a history tome is beyond me. So far the book is as dry, drab and depressing as most history texts, the kinds that make students hate this otherwise fascinating subject.

And so I have a confession to make. I don’t want to read further. I know I should. Maybe it gets better. Maybe the beginning is like an acid test to see if you’re really worthy of reading the book. Maybe I’ll have a different opinion once I struggle through to the end. But right now, I don’t want to read further.

PS: Knowing myself, I probably will continue reading. And I will continue handing out opinionated gyan whenever I can. But at least it will be informed opinionated gyan right?