1984 – The Book

Hello Readers.

Not being on social media does not mean not having a life. It has been quite some time since I have been inactive on few of my social media accounts for various reasons I would not bore you with today. But often people mistakenly assume that I might be going through a tough phase or something bad must have definitely happened because of which I am shying away from sharing instances about my life. If at all it is of some consolation, I always love a good fight and shying away from the important things is one thing I consciously try to avoid as best as I can. But enough with the vent. What I actually wanted to tell you Readers is that a lot of things goes behind the touch screen and entirely different lives are lived beyond what we project on our social media accounts which is absolutely fine to not share with the world. It neither means that it is something unimportant that we are living with nor does it negatively convey about the aspects we are dealing with in life. Take a break and just chill. There’s no harm and certainly zero judgement!

Coming back to the title, I read 1984 by George Orwell and I would love to share my bits and pieces about the things I thought afterwards. Readers if any of you are looking forward to reading the book and would like to avert any spoilers, please do not read any further. Maybe you could come back and read this post after you have dealt with this brilliantly written book :)

It’s a heavy book. Not in the sense that it is bulky to read but in the sense that the concepts it presents itself with are heavy. Before I move ahead with the details of the book, I want to shine some light on how I like to read a book. Normally I have picked up motivational or generic themed books since at some point in life I had needed a lot of courage to just go on with my day to day life and it really seemed to help me. You can pick up such books from the corners of any cafe and just read it to instil back in yourself that faith you might be losing. There’s no specificity to these sort of books for me because no matter whatever kind of motivational book you pick up, I am sure it will boost your morale higher and give you a good sense to believe in yourself. So the one take away if I can give it you Readers is that, whatever self help book you are choosing to read, it does not matter who the author is. At the end, the desired result is to achieve a little bit of the trust and belief back in your life that you might be missing from yourself and with the few books that I have dealt with of this sort, I think it manages to do a good job every time irrespective of the author. Or you can just watch a TED talk if you are running short on time. But I would advice you to read since what you watch in 10 minutes you might lose it after 2 days from your memory if you don’t keep revisiting it but if you read a book of say 150 or 200 pages, it will surely stay with you for longer and will also instil in you the self belief when you repeatedly get told about it in different ways throughout those 200 odd pages.

I share too much of my thoughts that sometimes I lose track of what I ought to be speaking about. There’s a way everyone likes to read and when it comes to me it always has to be accompanied with a pencil in my hand. Yes a pencil and never a pen. You see Readers, a pen is an unnecessary tool when you are reading a book for pleasure. You do not want to smear the beautiful pages with ink of any kind. A pencil is always advisable. Subtle yet sophisticated. It is not about the act but what it represents to you. You might hold a pen and scribble away your thoughts on those pages as to your likes but this thought does not settle good with me and that is why I prefer to use a neatly cut pencil. The purpose of this is twofold. First to underline the words that I do not follow so that I can come back later and find out about its meanings since every time if I get up to use the Internet to find its meaning, I will lose the essence of what the author is trying to convey. Also it is very frustrating when your chain of thoughts get broken. The second and the more important reason of all is to underline the text that strikes a chord with my thoughts. There are few lines that seem to be speaking from within the text and directly to you in such a way that you both listen and understand it so profoundly that it seems to been a part of the truth in your life. To underline and mark such lines is important to me because the next time when I would pick up the book, I will realise what my train of thoughts would have been at that moment when I was reading it. In fact it is always a good idea to revisit the memories that bring back a sense of understanding and belonging with it. Also never fold the pages. It is such a rubbish act to do with a book. Since childhood I have been told to take care of a book with due diligence because it is important to preserve the source that holds the knowledge and not just the mere knowledge we take from it in our minds. Maybe this is a reason why not just me but also everyone in the family to this day perfectly have whatever copies of the books they once had except the usual decaying and colouring of the pages with age.

Coming back to the book itself, I do not feel it is right of me to be saying that this a book review of any sort because honestly I feel people who are extremely well read in all kinds of genre and are in a habit of reading are more well suited to give a verdict or pass judgements than me who occasionally picks up a book maybe say once in six months and reads for pleasure. Nevertheless as I had mentioned in my previous blog, I am not an intellectual asshole and so I will only share the bits and pieces that I find important to talk about.

Beginning with the outline, the last page will really break your heart. To be more precise, the last paragraph of the book. There are few instances before as well that will send a momentary pause of introspection but nothing compares to or even matches the tone that the last paragraph sets in your mind. The reason to like non fiction is because they have truth in it. They talk about facts and figures and project the reality in a way that you can relate to since you live in it. The reason to like fiction is to be able to curate all those imaginary scenarios in your head that you know are not real but since it gives you the sense of amusement while imagining it, that the act in itself gives birth to more enthusiasm to carry on reading about it. This book however lies in the intersection of both and hence carries with itself the best of both the worlds. It fires up your imagination since it is talking about a world that exists beyond reality but it always talks of things that are very much seen and felt in reality. It kicks of that adrenaline in just the right way.

What do you hold on to when most of the things in your life is in shambles and tomorrow seems unbearable in your mind? In times as such a little bleak of hope or a kind word goes a long way. The story that has been told in the book snatches away that freedom of even consolidating an independent thought of hope inside the mind of its people. What remains without hope? The truth in all its dilapidated nakedness. But when that truth is smeared and altered and taken away from you? What do you do then? What is left of you then? Your mortal remains. Just the mortal remains and nothing else. Even your memory does not exist to a large extent. Think of living in a world that provides you with food, clothing, a house to live in, a place to work at but in turn asks for the submission of your mind? Even the thoughts inside your head cannot be your own. And if you fail to do that you will either be tortured or shot to death. Or both. What would you choose?

Until next time, Readers❤️