book review -Invisible Cities

 'Invisible Cities' by Italo Calvino is a very strange but creative book.It deals with the major crises of contemporary cities. The book is framed as a conversation between Marco Polo, a Venetian traveler and Kublai Khan,the oriental emperor.Initially Polo tells Kublai Khan the tales of cities he visited and towards the end of the book, it goes the other way round.The only thing that kept Khan interested during the whole trip were the stories of Polo.The two spend hours fascinated over Kublai Khan's atlas. Eventually, the conversation boils down to whether or not a person can be separated from the city in which he lives. 


The strange thing is that Polo and Kublai Khan did not speak the same language but each character understands the other through their own interpretation of what they are saying. The book consists of fifty-five extremely short city descriptions,and each city is still so complex so imaginary that it will leave you thinking.All these cities are rarely built of bland bricks and mortar. They are full of aluminium springs, silver domes, crystal, bronze, seashells, high bastions, curved arcades, nets, banisters, awnings, dirigibles, globes, pagodas, gratings, garrets, pilings, verandahs, parapets and porphyry steps. The cities are seldom peopled with characters.And all these cities are named after women - Raissa, Irene, Phyillis, Chloe..one example in Chloe, a great city, the people who move through the street are all strangers. At each encounter they imagine a thousand things about one another; but no-one greets anyone.


The book can actually be confusing as after each story you have to stop; to think about it and make an image of what the city would be like. Many a story hits a nerve.i had to turn back to the pages again and again as it got really confusing for me to read on.

my first visit to Agra

I remember the first time i went to Agra to see Taj Mahal was when i was around 13 years old.We all the cousins went togher with our grand parents and one of my uncle.i had read so much about it but never expected it to be so perfect.
Seeing the Taj for the first time was amazing. There was this long walkway from the entrance to the actual structure where me and my cousins clicked a lot of pictures.We got a guide there only and then we went towards the main structure.Taj was magnificent Everything was so symmetrical and so perfectly made.All in white...I felt as if i went into a fairytale land.

Then we went inside,where we saw the marble tombs of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan. All of us where so excited to see it.Our guide told us that these are fake tombs, and the real ones are underneath. The inside of the Taj was a bit dark though. But the walls inside were also beautifully carved, and intricate detailed. The inside of the Taj is actually smaller than I had thought, the building looked much more bigger from outside. 

It was a wonderful experience.I loved it.

comparing the 2 states(Delhi & Chennai) of Chetan Bhagat

This book- 2 states by Chetan Bhagat is one of the cutest love stories i have ever read. As its written on the book itself :
Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.

So it all began in IIM Ahmadabad, two different people from two different states falling in love and then convincing their parents to approve of the marriage.
The reason why i chose this book is because in the book i can compare between the 2 states and also because i love it.So the two states are - Delhi and Chennai.The girl is from Chennai, a beautiful south indian with modern views, while the guy lives in Delhi but is basically a punjabi.

They meet in IIM Ahmadad, in the mess where shes fighting for a rasgulla.In the book its written that they used to usually go out of campus to eat in near by dhabas.To make fone calls they had to go outside the campus where they had a small telephone booth with a large que.
 In one part of the book the guy tells her not to wear shorts outside campus as the people stare which actually shows the mentality of the people there. In the book its written then when they got committed they used to almost live together,in the campus only,so there where no strict hostel rules.

Comming to the two states now, what the author writes about Chennai is that it had some usual elements of any other indian city-autos,packed buses,tiny shops along the road but all the board signs where in Tamil.the roadside had lots of posters of south indian films.Tamil women used to war flowers while as all the men wore onl;y lungis.
In the houses of Chennai people had little furniture but every thing was really clean.They sat on the floor and ate on bananna leave and they would take off their shoes before entering their homes.While in punjabi families it is totally different; lot of furniture,decorative items, crocry et.It is much more lively.


Even though both the cultures have a huge variation but despite all the differences they got together and married.