Miss Clueless

Time flies. May is done, well, almost.  Let's see what I read. 1. Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis You can guess from the name what the book's about.  "..the force of a new intelligence against the old ignorance. The struggle of an enlightened conscience against the whole brood of social miseries, born out of the stress and pain of a hated past." Talking about a miserable/hated past, one thing pops up: slavery is so bad that a mother chose to kill her own daughter so that she would never know what a woman suffered as a slave. I had heard of Margaret Garner before (I have read Beloved twice). I hate slavery.  Angela Davis is worth reading. 2. Legacy of Luna by Julia Butterfly Hill "I had no clue what I could do, but I knew I was meant to do something." And she did.  She lived in a tree named "Luna", a thousand-year-old redwood, to save her from clear-cutting.  I'm a fan. 3. The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert I haven't finis...

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Stoner by John Williams Demons (or The Possessed or The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Magus by John Fowles Crime and Punishment is one of my favourite books of all time. My fav by Dostoyevsky. It's my second time reading this book. It's got drama, psychology, philosophy, mystery, and even a love story. It's engaging throughout. Not a single sentence bored me.  Whether or not Raskolnikov will end up being a great man, doing great deeds, will depend on whom? There's an important character without whom he'll perish. Pretty sure. Remember, behind very successful man, there's a ... Stoner. American classic. This was a nice read. I can pick a good book, alright.  Demons. I didn't want to let go of Dostoyevsky after finishing Crime and Punishment. Among the four books considered his great works, this was the only one I hadn't read. So picked it up. Psychological drama. Tragedy. There's something very disturbing...

I don't have any source of income right now (except for a few hundred rupees per month). I don't monetise this blog either. Even if I do, can I sustain myself with that money? doubtful. I should have another source. I'll think of this later. What am I doing now? I am being there for my ageing parent. Helping with raising a child. Just being there for my family. Living a stress-free, peaceful life. At home, with pets. Things that matter more than money. But am I done with my career?  Definitely not.  I may not follow the conventional path, but I am on my own path. There will be more. I'm not willing to "wind up in obscurity". No. ---------- I still think of Ryan sometimes. ---------- Oh, hey, Manipur is on international news. For what? It's got to do with Israel. Embarrassing. I don't like it at all. People are stupid. ---------- Do you know? We are using up our planet almost twice as fast than it can regenerate.  I don't wanna be part of this.  Wha...

Ryan has been missing since yesterday. L got sick last night. Cold, blocked nose. Hardly any of us slept properly. Mom and I planned to go to this one cafe I've been telling her about. But a total shutdown is announced starting today ( 19th April 2026) . This is the thing. A normal, peaceful day is a rarity here. Anyway, I finished Stoner today. A novel by American author John Williams. Originally published in 1965. Genre: Campus novel.  Started reading it a few days ago. Took it slow.  This is probably the first time I've read this genre. It's unexpectedly good. Nothing special though. It's the simplicity I enjoyed.  An ordinary story about an ordinary, quiet man, born at the end of the 19th century, who became an English professor at Columbia University, Missouri. The book starts with his early life on a farm with his parents, his time at university, his married life, his life on campus as an English professor, his becoming a good teacher, and finding love, an...

Imagine the mother in the hospital. Her two children dead. Imagine her reaction when she found out. Can you? Think about it for a second. Before this, there was another news this month. About a seven-year-old girl. If you read about Manipur, you'll know what I'm talking about. Why must it be the children?  Why must it be anyone, for that matter? Why are we still killing each other? Do we really hate each other? The victims paying the price. Mostly ordinary citizens. Innocent children. Did they cause this? Did they deserve this? 

I'm back home after a month's holiday. Well, almost a month. Apparently, a single woman on vacation for a month, who is not a social media influencer, is a red flag with the immigration officer.😄 What did I read during my vacation? These: 1. Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women by Silvia Federici I was looking for Caliban and the Witch and found this instead. Gave it a go. It is on similar themes anyway. "..because 'globalization' is a process of political recolonization intended to give capital uncontested control over the world's natural wealth and human labor, and this cannot be achieved without attacking women, who are directly responsible for the reproduction of their communities. The book serves as a reminder that reconstructing the memory of the past is crucial to the struggles of the present. 2. When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy A semi-autobiographical novel. Involves domestic violence and sexual abuse. Ugh! I...

I started reading A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk. It was going fine until Rayiha was introduced. A 13-year-old girl.  Something is disturbing in that.  I remember Natasha in War and Peace. She was only 13 years old when she was first introduced in the book. In a short story I read, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, A Christmas Tree and a Wedding, a grown man approached and harassed a girl, literally a child, and eventually married her at 16. Not okay, not okay, not okay!!! I'm gonna have to pick another book.