Of the three R’s one was a bane and the other a boon to me since childhood. (A)Rithmatic was an instrument of torture used by my school and my father to bring me to tears. Reading was the escape route that I invariably resorted to. I think I started reading when I was around six or seven and this in a period when children’s books was very rarely available; unlike the flood of books available today. I consider these children so very fortunate. Even today reading is my favourite pastime (or timepass as Mumbaites would put it) and if I cannot get my hands on new books I read and re-read old favourites. In fact, of late I find myself less adventurous about reading new authors and I keep falling back on the much loved old books. Which set me to thinking as to what is the appeal of these books or in many cases the authors? This in turn led me to review these books, the plot, and the characters that walk and live and leave you amused or disgusted but never bored. So I decided to embark on a voyage of reviewing my favourite books or authors. A daunting task when the stature of the authors is taken into consideration. ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’ they say but then ‘nothing ventured nothing have’. And so I dared take up my pen to write about these writers. And that should take care of the third ‘R’ although my writing skills are pretty rusty. Perhaps these book reviews will strike a chord in somebody reading this and they in turn will get the same enjoyment out of these books as I did or bring back memories of their own favourites.

 Necessarily then this will have to be a write-up in many parts – don’t forget that my reading goes back to childhood. As I lay sleepless in bed the other day wondering which book should be the first to be reviewed I was assailed by so many of my favourites. It seemed something out of Alice – books swooping across the room and flapping their pages clamoring to be reviewed. Authors paraded before me with James Michener vying with Erich Segal, Daphne du Maurier competing with Wilbur Smith while Herman Wouk and Mary Stewart and Georgette Heyer laid their claims ahead of classic writers like Wilkie Collins, Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Defending myself against the assault I decided that before embarking on any of the big well known writers I would start my review with a new book and an author who has only one book to his credit as of now.  This book’s claim to be the first to be reviewed lies in a fact that should be dear to all bloggers and especially Sulekaites.  The book Patna Ponderings is a collection of blogs that were first posted in Geocities and the author Edwin Fernandes is now a blogger in Sulekha. His link is http://www.edwinfernandes.sulekha.com.

Patna Ponderings arose out of the author’s transfer from Bombay to Patna. Alone in a city not known for much in the outside world beyond being capital of the rough and tough Bihar, the author takes us by hand and acquaints us with the by lanes of Patna, the relics of a bygone British era, the banks of the Ganges and reminds us that Patna is the once famous Pataliputra, a place that was on the map of the ancient world. Patna comes to life with people as familiar as one’s neighbours. Edwin Fernandes writes with gentle humour very often self-deprecating and his barbs are so mild and gentle that it is very difficult for anyone to take umbrage. Whether it is people or animals that walk through his writings they leave us smiling at their antics. The author’s writing makes you wish that he would write about your city too and present it to the world and perhaps give you a glimpse of places and people that you have been taking for granted. Comparisons they say are odious but the authors’ writing does bring to mind R.K.Narayan. Not in terms of style or matter but Edwin Fernandes has the same gift as R.K.Narayan of bringing to life simple scenes of everyday life that is so familiar and heartwarming.

The only drawback in the book in my opinion is his tendency to mention and talk about characters from the office milieu without really introducing them to the readers. This works fine when his readers are from his workplace but it may leave others wondering. Perhaps future editions will take care of this lapse.

Till the next review then.