Roald Dahl
So, as part of my curriculum at IITM, i am supposed to finish 3 humanities courses, them being Indian Art, Computers & Society, and now Fiction. i'll get back to the other two sometime later but for now, i was supposed to make a presentation on a novel, fiction by any author. I was interested in Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, the Wheel of Time, LOTR or something on the fantasy lines, but i had a partner to do the presentation with, and she suggested Matilda, a children's book by Roald Dahl, pretty famous one which even came out as a movie. I remembered watching the movie some time looooooong back and as the book was jsut 200 pages i wokayed it. finished reading it and 2 days before the our due ppt date, we start working on the ppt. But we never met to write, instead we kept calling each other, mailing and messaging the changes, who will work on what part of the ppt etc etc . So, the ppt went well that day. but remember one thing, there will always be a twist in my stories, the twist here being that none of us had slept the previous day in fear that we wouldn't wake up in time for the ppt. I think that is the best reason to say if someone asks you why you're doing a night out ....
so, why matilda and why roald dahl. well, matilda is a childrens book, a fantastic kid, superpowers, bad parents, worse principal, good friends and awesome teacher. Together the good combine forces to defeat the bad and matilda stays back with the awesome teacher ms. honey. BTW this post isn't about the book, i am not trying to analyse the book or anything but it is to tell u about the author. while trying to read up on the author to make the ppt, i stumble upon the the author's biography.
This man, Roald Dahl i think has experienced all the possible extremes of life possible. his letters to his widowed mother from USA tell us of his love and care, a worker for the shell oil company in the africa tells us he is an adventurist, joining that RAF during WW2 tells us of his courage and want to help his country, his survival and eventually a book from a crash during WW2 tell us of his new found respect towards life and new found side of himself. his various affairs with millionaire wives and models in the USA tell us of something (i don't want to say what), moving back to a small town in england even after marrying a movie star and himself being a famous author tell us about his personality, his perception of money, helping his son get back to normal from brain hemorrhage, going on to be an integral part of a unique "Heart Pump", which he helped build, being used on many such cases, surviving the death of his eldest daughter, wondering if it was his fault not having given her antibiotics for pneumonia which developed to be fatal, helping his wife get back to the family, to her children and her career after an anneureism tell us of his determination, strength, love for his family.
I've just tried to tell you 40 years of his life in 10 lines, to some this might seem redundant, to some this might be enough. maybe they're thinking "well this is karma, he went around sleeping with married woman, drinking and gambling, this had to happen to him", some might be sorry for him but that is not what i want you to take from this. from what i see, all this just means that life is bitch, a very sadistic, drunk bitch. sometimes it treats you good, sometimes bad and maybe worse. some might think this is just fate, that everything in his life is preemptive or as some say as god wishes it , nothing can be changed once the boss writes off somebody's life. but like dahl,
I've lost faith in god, dahl for the reason that the same headmaster who used to beat up children for the most vauge reasons, maybe even took pleasure in it went on to be crowned by the queen as the arch bishop, me because it is just too hard to imagine these many gods (in the hindu religion) all coming to a common agreement on someone's life, a devotees life. maybe they have a better parliament but i donno. i mean believe in someone up there, maybe a kid playing around with us as if we were G I Joe toys or a drunk who doesn't know what he's doing, (as there's no other way i can get myself to believe all the poverty, pain and suffering in this world and no i don't believe that man brought it upon himself by eating the forbidden fruit or by waging wars). Believe this beautiful universe around you he/she (no discrimination on god's gender) built with such precision, detail, which follow the most beautiful of math and physics equations, believe in the life you have, the freedom you have, the energy you have. beleive me, theres only one life and one thing i understand from dahls life is anything can happen the next moment, so take care, enjoy.
so, why matilda and why roald dahl. well, matilda is a childrens book, a fantastic kid, superpowers, bad parents, worse principal, good friends and awesome teacher. Together the good combine forces to defeat the bad and matilda stays back with the awesome teacher ms. honey. BTW this post isn't about the book, i am not trying to analyse the book or anything but it is to tell u about the author. while trying to read up on the author to make the ppt, i stumble upon the the author's biography.
This man, Roald Dahl i think has experienced all the possible extremes of life possible. his letters to his widowed mother from USA tell us of his love and care, a worker for the shell oil company in the africa tells us he is an adventurist, joining that RAF during WW2 tells us of his courage and want to help his country, his survival and eventually a book from a crash during WW2 tell us of his new found respect towards life and new found side of himself. his various affairs with millionaire wives and models in the USA tell us of something (i don't want to say what), moving back to a small town in england even after marrying a movie star and himself being a famous author tell us about his personality, his perception of money, helping his son get back to normal from brain hemorrhage, going on to be an integral part of a unique "Heart Pump", which he helped build, being used on many such cases, surviving the death of his eldest daughter, wondering if it was his fault not having given her antibiotics for pneumonia which developed to be fatal, helping his wife get back to the family, to her children and her career after an anneureism tell us of his determination, strength, love for his family.
I've just tried to tell you 40 years of his life in 10 lines, to some this might seem redundant, to some this might be enough. maybe they're thinking "well this is karma, he went around sleeping with married woman, drinking and gambling, this had to happen to him", some might be sorry for him but that is not what i want you to take from this. from what i see, all this just means that life is bitch, a very sadistic, drunk bitch. sometimes it treats you good, sometimes bad and maybe worse. some might think this is just fate, that everything in his life is preemptive or as some say as god wishes it , nothing can be changed once the boss writes off somebody's life. but like dahl,
I've lost faith in god, dahl for the reason that the same headmaster who used to beat up children for the most vauge reasons, maybe even took pleasure in it went on to be crowned by the queen as the arch bishop, me because it is just too hard to imagine these many gods (in the hindu religion) all coming to a common agreement on someone's life, a devotees life. maybe they have a better parliament but i donno. i mean believe in someone up there, maybe a kid playing around with us as if we were G I Joe toys or a drunk who doesn't know what he's doing, (as there's no other way i can get myself to believe all the poverty, pain and suffering in this world and no i don't believe that man brought it upon himself by eating the forbidden fruit or by waging wars). Believe this beautiful universe around you he/she (no discrimination on god's gender) built with such precision, detail, which follow the most beautiful of math and physics equations, believe in the life you have, the freedom you have, the energy you have. beleive me, theres only one life and one thing i understand from dahls life is anything can happen the next moment, so take care, enjoy.