…Of Books

Amongst the various books that I have read during this current period of my recovery, two books stand out about which I wish to talk in detail.

Dopamine Detox by Thibaut Meurisse

It’s a short guide on how in today’s times we are high on over stimulation losing in the process the ability to think long term and work towards our main goals. In short, we procrastinate.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which stimulates our brains to anticipate rewards. For example, craving for food. Eating is a self gratifying activity , especially, fast food or food with sugar content which makes us salivate for more. However, each time we eat our craving increases because now we are not satisfied with the amount that we have had last. We want a bigger scoop.

Similarly, the time we spend on social networking – checking on the number of likes, comments, views, news feeds, notifications, emails etc. – grows till we become addictive. These are modes of immediate gratification which keep us hooked and over stimulated. This, the author defines as dopamine hijacking – we are overtaken by the external stimuli and require a constant increase in its number in order to remain stimulated or the same amount of dopamine to be released with ever growing number of stimuli. We want to remain on a high.

In order to come back to our natural state of mind, the author recommends the process of under stimulation i.e. to be away from such external stimuli which keeps the dopamine flowing in our bodies and captivating our minds. This is the process of dopamine detox.

This detoxification is necessary because without being calm, mindful, focussed and consistent we reduce the opportunity of channelising our energy into completing our key tasks which may be more challenging or time consuming but have greater impact and fulfillment in our lives.

The author suggests many practical action guides to avoid distractions, sharpen concentration and productivity and detract from a natural relapse into dopamine toxification after an interval.

Recently, the suicide of a promising Instagrammer, Misha Agrawal (on account of fall in the number of her subscribers), is a burning example of how important it is to reclaim a deaddictive and self reflective life than get caught  in the destructive, attention gobbling entrapment of phone, internet, facebook, instagram etc. It is relevant to mention that Misha was not only a digital star but also pursuing a degree course in Integrated Law. To lose a few subscribers would not have been the end of the world for her. She had other career options too.

I recommend this handy self help book to all who wish to adopt an improved and empowered lifestyle.

The Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami

A rain splattered night. A girl, working as a waitress in a vintage Italian restaurant in the upmarket locality of Tokyo,  has to work a double shift on the most important day of her life – her twentieth birthday. Although she doesn’t have much of a plan, yet,  working late into the night is also not her idea of spending the day.

As fated, the night manager  suddenly takes ill on the same night and has to rush to the hospital. It’s the manager’s nightly duty to  serve dinner as room service to the reclusive owner of the restaurant who puts up on the sixth floor of the same building. Being a rainy night the clientele is scarce. Before his hasty departure the manager entrusts the girl to deliver the dinner in his place.

Years later, the girl who is now settled in life, recounts to her friend the experience of meeting the restaurateur on that night whom no other employee has ever seen.

She tells her friend that the old man, on coming to know that it’s her twentieth birthday,  asks her to name a wish which he will fulfill since she , instead of celebrating, is spending such an important day discharging her duty.

The friend asks her if the wish has been fulfilled. It is here that Murakami leaves the question unanswered.

This is my first Murakami. I chose a short story. A story that left me baffled …. zapped at first. And then…it dawned slowly…

The build up of the story is electric, intense, gripping, atmospheric and yet it leaves a white space for the readers’ immersive intrusion. What must the girl have wished for which the old man after a moment’s thought agrees to grant? Does it change her life ? Undoubtedly, it makes her twentieth birthday memorable!

Every author has his or her own style of writing. Japanese authors, I have figured out, have this art of leaving gaps in the narrative for the reader to intersperse with their thoughts and interpretations (even biases and prejudices …?). It takes  some time to gather that the protagonist is actually sharing her experience to her friend after many years. There is a jumpiness in the storytelling which puzzles the reader.

But why am I talking about this book? Because it reminds me of another widely acclaimed Bengali classic – Mrinal Sen’s Ek Din Proti Din (1979). A girl, the sole breadwinner of a lower middle class family, fails to return from work on usual time. Her family is worried not about her but whether she will at all return home or not. When the girl finally comes home a wave of relief sweeps over the family. But nobody wants to know why she is late. Whether she is safe and not fallen prey to anything untoward. Even if she tries to tell them she is cut short.

When Director Sen was asked by one of his demanding viewers why he in the film did not clarify the reason for the girl’s delay in reaching home, his cryptic reply was “Why? Would you have been able to judge her better after knowing the reason?”

A Few Quick Reads

In school we had a Moral Science class. Yes, you heard me right. It was generally the last period wherein we listened to the teacher reading out stories with moral lessons in a soporific state. But I believe some remnants of what she narrated must have got embedded somewhere that powered my value system throughout life.

I still love kid stories.

108 Panchatantra Stories is a collection of simple stories with lessons to remember attractively  illustrated.

Into The Dark is a haunted house story by C J Loughty. I like his stories but this one was too  yucky and a bit of a drag for me.

While The Light Lasts – a collection of nine short stories of various hues – paranormal, romantic, love triangle, revenge, murder mystery – by none other than the Dame herself, Agatha Christie. Some of them are writings of her early life which never got the chance of getting republished (60 to 70 years old). The style, therefore, is a bit different but nonetheless, enjoyable.

Sound Of Anklets – a collection of slow burn intimate haiku and senryu by two of my favourite poets Sanjukta Asopa and Kashinath Sarkar. I intend to dedicate a separate post on this one.

Till then…

Au Revoir