Arms and the Man

                           ARM AND THE MAN

                                - George Bernard Shaw

The play is framed during the serbo-bulgarian war and it begins in the bedroom of Raina Petkoff in a Bulgarian town in 1885.One of the Shaw's aims in this play is to present the realistic account of war and to remove all the myths and un realistic glorification. It is a satire on all other war plays which created a non - viable platform. 

Shaw introduces Raina in this manner : 

            "On the balcony a young lady, intensely conscious of the romantic beauty of the night, and of the fact that her own youth and beauty are part of it, is gazing at the snowy Balkans."

This introduction suggests Raina's youth, beauty, and dreamy, romantic nature.

Raina Petkoff and her mother Catherine have received news that Raina’s fiancé Sergius led a victorious cavalry charge against Serbian forces.  While she was heading to her bed to sleep suddenly a serbian soldier trespassed inside her room and she hides him from the Bulgarian soldiers who were in search of him, then soldier comes out from hiding and explains he’s a Swiss mercenary for the Serbian army. He admits to Raina that he doesn’t carry cartridges for his gun, only chocolates, as these are more practical for a starving soldier. Thinking him childish, Raina offers the soldier some chocolate creams, which he devours hungrily. He explains that the cavalry charge led by Raina’s fiancé Sergius was only successful as a result of dumb luck.

                  City of djinns

                                                  -William Dalrymple    

This book is a kind of a memoir recording the response of a single, gentle and learned travel instinct to the presence of an ancient city. William peels back the layers of Delhi’s history, in a travelogue that goes back in time, from the 1984 riots, to Indraprastha, the mythical city of the Pandavas. Each chapter deals with a period in Delhi’s history, in tandem with a season of Delhi’s weather. One pattern however that the author follows is to try and find survivors in the present Delhi of every historical chapter he talks about. 

For me, the book has been an eye-opener. It brings forth myriad details of the history of my country and my capital city that were unknown to me all these years. I’m sure there are millions of Indians who are still in absolute ignorance of the charm of their capital city and how it has been a central force in history and shaping the future. The wonder at learning things new, the honest observations, the discoveries tinged with familiarity and the gradual foundation of a long-standing relationship between the author and the subject are what make this book so much more colorful to read.             

BOY

                 BOY - Roald dahl

                               

Boy is a collection of stories , Roald has to tell about his infanthood and school days. 

He depicts his interesting life experience like a movie scene. Especially the mouse plot narrated in this story is most favorite of mine. His comical touch make our belly pain....