My list of great books

Uncle Tom's cabin -- Harriett Beecher Stowe

To kill a mocking bird -- Harper Lee

One flew over the cuckoo's nest -- Ken Kasey

Gone with the wind -- Margaret Mitchell

Wuthering Heights -- Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre -- Charlotte Bronte

Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen

Emma --Jane Austen

Roots -- Alex Haley

The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini

The Golden Gate -- Vikram Seth

The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerland

Catcher in the rye -- J D Salinger

Catch 22 -- Joseph Heller

Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy

Lord of the flies -- William Golding

Count of Monte Cristo -- Alexnader Dumas

The Lowland -- Jhumpa Lahiri

Interpreter of Maladies -- Jhumpa Lahiri

The Unaccustomed Earth -- Jhumpa Lahiri

And the mountains echoed -- Khaled Hosseini

The three musketeers -- Alexander Dumas

The imperfectionists -- Tom Rachman

The Fountainhead -- Ayn Rand

Comments

A letter to the "smart" students

To the students who think they're so smart that they can fool the instructor: Sorry to break this to you, but no, you're not fooling anybody! In fact, you are the fool if you think otherwise. So, let me tell you something that might shine a light on your otherwise dead brain. Learning is a two-way street. If you want to learn, I am willing to teach over and beyond what is expected of me. I will still teach even if you don't want to learn because that is my job. However, like they say, you can only bring the horse to the water, you cannot make it drink. When you leave the class, I notice. When you talk, I notice. When you don't bring a notebook or a pen and pretend to be attentive, I notice. So, to reiterate, you're really not fooling anybody. I frankly don't care. I am happier teaching a small class of students who are sincere and want to learn. In fact, that's better for me. As then, we are in sync and I don't have to worry about the distractor

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: A book review

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pachinko is a story spanning four generations of a Korean family living in Japan during the tumultuous 20th century that saw the annexation of Korea by Japan and the two world wars. The story of the family is pretty tragic. They deal with poverty, discrimination, suicide, forced imprisonment, all consequences of war and hatred from Japanese. What I liked about this book is that it tells you a lot about what happens when people are displaced and try to make a new place their home in the time of war and chaos. I admit my ignorance in that I had never heard of the term "Zainichi" which literally means foreigners living in Japan. The Zainichi even though born and raised in Japan are not considered Japanese citizens. They were made to choose between North and South Korea after the Korean war of the 1950s even though they have not known any country other than Japan. These people have faced a lot of discrimination and negativ

Tribute to Kankan Sir

Prof. Kankan Bhattacharyya was an eminent scientist and I'm sure his students will tell you about all the ways he trained them to become scientists. However, my interactions with him and memories of him are more of a personal nature. I first met him in February 2019 right after I joined IISER Bhopal to begin my independent research career. In the dining hall of the Visitors Hostel at IISER Bhopal, there was one person who was the loudest, constantly cracking jokes, teasing people and taking the conversation forward. I was introduced to him, i.e, Kankan Sir, by one of my colleagues there and he immediately involved me too in the ongoing conversation. He was that person who instantly made you feel at home. Every day following this first interaction was a joy as he was constantly the life of the dining hall. Everyone used to be clustered around him. He was such an enthusiastic person and so full of life that it was infectious. He also, in his own way, constantly tried to motivate us

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