BookMarks #121: Train To Pakistan

Title: Train To Pakistan

Author: Khushwant Singh

Genre: Fiction, Historical

Published: 1956

BookMarks

Muslims said the Hindus had planned and started the killing. According to the Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both sides killed. Both shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped

Train To Pakistan is set in India at the time of Partition. It’s a story of how a political act changes the lives of the villagers living near the border. How people who have lived together for generations in harmony are suddenly changed. One fine day, people do not find themselves safe in the their home lands and are forced to move to another. And there are those who loot and pillage, other seek revenge and the cycle of horror continues. The officials are nearly as helpless.

It is a harrowing tale. One wonders for the people uprooted by Partition, what was the price paid for the Independence. As a villager wryly remarks "Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians—or the Pakistanis."

The book is a difficult read delving into the tragedy at what should have been the happiest moment of the nation, its Independence. And yet, even 75 years later, one wonders what kind of madness had gripped the common people that they unleashed such horrors on each other!

Reading the book also makes me wonder – the tragedy of the Partition is hardly depicted in popular culture and it is being forgotten. There are efforts like the Partition Museum at Amritsar, but slowly it is vanishing from the conversations.

Something which should not be forgotten. 

Previously on BookMarks: Journey to the Center of the Earth

BookMarks #120: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Author: Jules Verne

Genre: Science Fiction

Published: 1867 (French), 1871 (English)

BookMarks

"as long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life"

A professor encounters a book in runic. After decoding it finds it to be the story of a pathway to the center of the earth. He, alongwith his unconvinced nephew (the narrator) and an Icelandic guide go onto the path suggested, entering from a dormant volcano, encountering subterranean seas, prehistoric creatures, electromagnetic storms and finally being ejected out though a volcanic eruption in Italy!

The tale is fantastic, the narrator himself is cynical throwing accepted scientific beliefs but encountering something else underneath!

There are a few elements which stood out in this implausible tale

• A tendency to claim territory even below the earth by assigning it their own names!
• Hans getting paid at a fixed hour every Saturday, even though there was no actual use of that money where they were!
• The nephew who starts cynical but becomes more convinced as he proceeds which ultimately leads to the end of the journey.
• Never could figure out the logistics of the travel and how did they come out of a volcanic eruption unscathed!
• I could appreciate the geological aspects much more now than when I had read the story first time in school.

Previously on BookMarks: A Thousand Splendid Suns 

Road To LA: Episode 1

After a “well done but could have been better” campaign at the Olympics and a great one at the Paralympics, it is time to hit the road for Los Angeles 2028. It is never too early to start the preparations. After all the games are less than 4 years away!

Team India News

The medal winners have been on a felicitations tour (and well deserved). Except a certain Neeraj Chopra who is back on the circuit recording another season’s best throw at the Diamond League and qualified for the Diamon League Finals. The man is built different!

Sreeja Akula has reached a career high ranking of 22, which is the highest ever for an Indian Table Tennis player. Recent results and the Ultimate Table Tennis League do show that this is one sport which is about to jump into the limelight.

Retirements

• PR Sreejesh has retired from hockey and moving into a coaching role. Good to see Hockey India giving him a proper farewell and also retiring his No. 16 shirt.
• Vinesh Phogat has announced her retirement and now entering the political arena and fighting different battles. Let’s see what the future holds for the two-time world championship medalist.
• Archana Kamath has retired from Table Tennis at the age of 24 to pursue higher education. Throwing into light some of the harsh reality of the life of the sportspersons.

Others

For the sports followers of the Olympics sports – It is time to follow the other sports a bit more. Learning a bit more about the qualification process and the rules will help in tempering expectations and more importantly control the spread of misinformation. e.g., the videos circulating of men’s relay team qualifying for the Finals when the event itself had not started or the number of rumors and slanders being thrown when Vinesh was disqualified. And will definitely help in appreciating the simple fact that qualifying and competing against the world’s best is in itself a phenomenal achievement.

With social media and a number of streaming services, following the sports is not that difficult. I guess when one is expecting medals from the athletes, this tiny effort to support can be put in easily!

Personally, planning to be a bit more regular in this blog.

Till next time!

Links

• An Independence Day Letter for sports Fans - ESPN
• Archana Kamath retires: Hindustan Times

BookMarks #119: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Genre: Historical Fiction

Published: 2007

BookMarks

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs

Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls

A story set in Afghanistan, narrating the intertwined lives of two women as they live through the ever-worsening situation in their country. It is a harrowing tale, as the country slowly degenerates from a seemingly happy life to a war-torn nation, with progressively worse regimes taking over. The women who are the protagonists suffer disproportionality. Yet, they continue the struggle of living. Till one day, new hope emerges with the removal of the Taliban.

The book ends with hope. But as real-life events have shown, that hope is being snuffed out again. The Taliban whose exit leads to a newfound freedom are back in power, and slowly putting the same restrictions back in place although the global protests seem muted.

Wondering what a sequel in the present would have in store for Laila and her family. 

Previously on BookMarks: Don Quixote 

India @ 77

Its the eve of Independence Day, and as has been a fairly long-standing tradition, time for an all things India blogpost (2023 edition)

The 77th year in modern India’s life was an interesting one. Political events in the immediate neighborhood have reaffirmed that for all the flaws, things could have been far worse, if not for the vision of our founding fathers!

The Chandrayaan landed on the Moon. Truly a monumental achievement!

There was the biggest Indian festival – the general elections. The results of the long-drawn campaign were a bit chaotic - those who won seem unhappy, while those who continue to be in the Opposition seem the happier lot. After 10 years, there is a Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The slightly unexpected outcome has also resulted in even the media becoming less of a cheerleader and a bit more unbiased!

Meanwhile, the nuance from any public debate still continues to be completely missing. There are two sides on any issue. Either it is a slugfest or it will be one outraging, other completely silent. And almost always split on the same political line. The echo chambers are becoming deafening. Only characteristic common is the hypocrisy. 

Also, we are becoming more and more immune. An illegal hoarding collapse, train accidents, manmade "natural" disasters, horrific crimes - we pause and we move on.

There was also a random narrative of  the official name of the country being changed to a name which is also the official name! A true case of much ado about nothing.

The economy continues to give mixed signals – the stock markets continue to rise and rise, while the on-ground picture doesn’t look that rosy.

The biggest nuisance – the phone call scammers. Electricity bill scam, fake couriers, customs, number disconnection threats, video callers, kyc… the list seems to be just going on and on. It just seems to be turning into a case of when you will fall in the trap of the cyber thugs! Keep navigating this minefield and pray that you do not randomly click a malicious link.

Climate change is becoming more and more real. The actions to combat it are simply not enough. The same monsoom season has seen both excess in many parts and a dry spell in the other. Flash floods, landslides, shifting seasons are becoming the new normal.

On the sporting front – the Men’s cricket team finally broke their trophy drought with a T20 World Cup victory, while a home ODI World Cup just slipped away. 

The Olympics are done, lots of folks bemoaning the low rankings (it’s a quadrennial rant) while never even bothering to find out what happens in the interim. The fact that the second highest medals tally seems an underperformance shows that the so called sleeping global sports giant has slowly started to stir (it will still take some more time to be fully awake). 

One sport which has grown leaps and bounds has been Chess – Gukesh becoming a Challenger and Praggnandha finishing runners-up show that finally Indian chess is moving out of the mighty Vishwanathan Anand era.

On that optimistic note, closing out this post. 

Jai Hind!

The Paris Pointers

The Indian campaign at Paris officially ended with USA’s Kennedy Blades defeating Krygyzstan’s Medet Kyzy in the semi-finals of Women’s 76 KG Freestyle dashing Reetika Hooda’s hopes of a place in the repechage rounds. Reetika had lost in Quarters despite the scores being tied 1-1 as Medet had got the last point (yes, wrestling also has a boundary count equivalent to break ties). Somehow summing up India’s campaign – a good show by most athletes, yet most of them finishing up on the wrong side of that fine line!

First a bit of a boast – my predictions were 5-12 medals for India. Well, we ended up with 6 medals and six 4th place finishes. Two more close calls in Boxing and the small matter of Vinesh’s medal that just slipped away! Given this context, it should be called India’s best Games ever, yet somehow it never felt like that!

So before starting the Road to LA28, a lookback at how India’s Games went

1. Neeraj Chopra added to his claim of being India’s greatest individual sportsperson ever, and not just for his on-field exploits. So high has he set the bar that an Olympics silver medal seems a disappointment. After all he finished second with just two legal throws across Qualifying & Finals! And one of the rare Indian athletes who actually speaks up on issues that matter and not in a scripted manner either.
2. The Shooting Redemption – 21 qualifiers, entries in all 15 events, 7 finalists, 3 medals and 3 4th place finishes. The shooting contingent did a good job in recovering from the washouts at Rio & Tokyo. Great show by Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh and Swapnil Kusale in getting 3 medals – the most ever by any discipline at a single edition of the Games for India.
3. Aman Sehrawat ensured that India returns with a medal from Wrestling for the 5th Games in a row. A rich legacy which even the fracas of the Wrestling Federation couldn’t stop.
4. India are no longer the most successful Hockey team in Olympics history. With Golds in both Men’s & Women’s categories, Netherlands now have those bragging rights, although we still have the most Men’s hockey medals. Overall, quite a decent show put up by the team in retaining the Bronze from Tokyo.
5. The 4th Place – For many years, Milkha Singh finishing 4th was India’s most celebrated Olympics moment while KD Jadhav’s bronze was barely a footnote. Hence not surprising that we have a special affinity with the 4th place! Arjun Babuta, Manu Bhaker, Lakshya Sen, Dhiraj-Ankita, Maheswari-Anantjeet and Mirabai Chanu have all added to this rich legacy. (Also, there was India – the Dutch B-girl in the Breaking, who finished 4th!)
6. Six – 1 Silver & 5 Bronze medals, equaling their second-best performance. Not a bad one in the overall context but certainly made a case of what could have been.

If Only – Now what’s an Olympics without a lot of What Ifs

• What if that last shot against Germany in the hockey semi-finals had gone in?
• 100gm – That was the difference between what could have been the ultimate sporting story and a disqualification. Vinesh Phogat fought hard, beat the best, reached the Finals and yet missed out on a medal. The medal may have been gone but the reactions to the loss from certain sections revealed a telling picture! Personally, this was one of the lowest moments in all my sports following days.
• 2.4 cm – Over a distance of 70m in the tie-break shot. Dhiraj Bommadevara hit a 10 pointer yet lost out because of being slightly further from the centre.
• 1 KG - margin from Bronze for Mirabai Chanu. But just not to be!
• 0.32s – the margin by which the Men’s 4x400m relay team missed a Finals berth!
• Nishant Dev – any of the judges could have scored that Quarter-final in the other direction and my namesake would have earned a medal. But it was not to be. Boxing scoring is not easy to understand. No wonder there is a good probability of it being removed from the LA roster.
• Manu Bhaker had a 3rd medal just slip away in a shoot-off.
• Nisha Dahiya – an unfortunate injury while leading 8-1 with under a minute to go. She gave everything yet couldn’t hold on. It was simply painful to even view. Hope she recovers fast.
• Reetika Hooda – losing on countback because her opponent was last to score!

What lies ahead?

Lots of felicitations for the medalists, with all and sundry staking their claim to the athlete’s success. Kudos to Manu’s team for initiating legal action against those using her image. Hopefully some introspection a la NRAI, especially from the likes of

• Athletics: why do Indian athletes mostly peak in qualifying and not at the main event?
• Archery: why do the archers keep flattering to deceive every single Games? They come in as World Champions, even have good ranking rounds and yet keep coming up short in the knockouts?
• Wrestling: the medals and excellent results should not hide the shenanigans of the Wrestling Federation and a real cleanup is the order of the day. Will it happen though?
• Badminton – they are doing mostly alright. While the men’s side has some depth, the question of who after Sindhu is now growing louder?

Let’s see if things change!

The Games beyond India

• Mondo Duplantis vaulting higher that anyone ever has
• Simone Biles doing a triple flip
• Katie Ledecky winning again (what a surprise)
• South Korean archers – who give you a glimmer of hope and then fire in those inner 10s to snuff it out!
• The 100m Men’s Finals where everyone went under 10s
• Isabell Werth – the first person to win a Gold at SEVEN different Games
• Yusuf Dikec – the Turkish shooter, who proved that even silver medallists become famous!
• That Surfing Photo

All these and more showing how far the limits can be pushed by the human body. Just how far ahead they are from “normal” folks. Well, here is a video of when Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce participating in the parents’ race at her kid’s school!

Also, for the online trolls – Remember these are elite athletes. Even when someone finishes 4th at the Games, they are the 4th BEST in the whole world at what they do, unlike most others! Not that the trolls would care!

Some thoughts on the Games

• There was no marchpast and no Chariots of Fire theme playing in the Opening Ceremony. How does that even feel like the start then?
• Also, rooms with no AC in peak summer; cases of arson; sabotage of railways; robbery incidents; a polluted Seine hosting swimming events! And yet the Games went on. Remember the abuse for much less at Rio Olympics or even the Delhi Commonwealth Games or? Why the dual standards?

Finally, as the Paris Games went on, those existential questions also kept cropping up? Why do we follow sports and link our happiness and mental well-being with something we have no control on? At times, was seriously jealous of those who have no interest in sports!

But anyways, we the followers move on! To LA28.

Road To Paris : Episode 12 - Predictions Time

“There is a very tiny margin between fame and anonymity”

Nowhere is the comparison more apt than at the great Quadrennial celebrations of human endeavor – the Olympics.

It is all about the finest margins - a fraction of an inch, reaction times deferring by 1000th of seconds, a shot taken just too late or too early, weather behaving differently on that particular moment - an extra gust of wind, overhead clouds, slippery underfoot conditions, a judgment call which could have gone either way, a referee temporarily blind-sighted, a rule open to interpretation, an unfortunate injury, the luck of the draw, the coin toss etc. So many variables which could have gone the other way!

What do the athletes have to do to get the right result? Simply, it is just a matter of getting the physics right. For all who have prepared for entrance exams, this is where all the Irodov’s problems come alive in real. Except here, the athlete has to assume almost every single variable while simultaneously hoping that they have arrived at a better solution faster than their opponent(s). And do it again and again without fail!

This was just a bit of preamble before entering the predictions mode. After all foreseeing sporting outcomes is not the easiest of asks, which is what makes it fun!

So here goes a sport-by-sport rundown of what to expect from the Indian contingent.

1. Archery: Events 5, Entries 9

A discipline in which India have been perennial underachievers. This time we have a full representation. Can they get medals? Definitely! Will they? that is another question. After all they have beaten South Korea recently. So on the day, all 5 categories can give medals. But, we have a long history of not even coming close to winning!

2. Athletics: Events 17, Entries 22

Neeraj Chopra has dominated his field like no Indian athlete ever. He goes in as the reigning Olympic, World and Asian Champion. Since Tokyo, he has mostly come first and at others second. Anything less than a Gold would be disappointing given his track record.

Avinash Sable broke the Kenyan hegemony in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games. Expect a National Record and a Finals place at the least.

At Tokyo, the Men's 4*400 m relay team broke the Asian Record and yet could not qualify for the Finals. And at the last World Championships gave a mighty scare to USA and Jamaica. A finals place should be expected.

Expecting a National Record performance from Jyothi Yarraji (100m Hurdles) and Parul Chaudhary (steeplechase) as well.

The Men's racewalkers are a group which have made significant progress over the years with 7 breaching the Qualification mark. Just need that one big performance on the global stage to push the discipline into the limelight.

For the rest of the squad, some National Records and Finals appearances are par for the course.

3. Badminton: Events 4, Entries 5

Satwik-Chirag can win a medal. But men's doubles has some crazy competition within the Top 10 currently. Lakshya and Prannoy are unfortunately drawn against each other after they cross their qualifying groups! 

Can Sindhu do a 3-peat? Recent form and injuries say No, but in the past decade there has been no other player who just keeps pulling off the medals at the biggest stage so consistently. Ashwini-Tanisha while not the favorites should win a game in the group stage

4. Boxing: Events 6, Entries 6

2 time defending World Champion Nikhat Zareen is a medal favourite, while Tokyo medalist Lovlina Borgohain landed up with a tough draw. On the men's side, Nishant Dev winning a medal will not be a surprise.

Special mention - Jasmine Lamboriya who went into the final qualification as a reserve. Then with a previous Quota winner getting suspended resulted in India surrendering the Quota. Jasmine drops down a weight category and earned back the place!

5. Hockey: Event 1, Entry 1

Since the Tokyo bronze, things haven't gone great for the Indian team. An early exit in the Home World Cup was followed by middling performances in the Hockey World League. While they remain sentimental favourites, recent performances don’t really give the confidence. They should cross the group stage, after which it becomes a bit of a lottery.

6. Shooting: Events 15, Entries 27

After 2 consecutive blanks at the Rio & Tokyo, the expectations from the Shooting squad are a bit tempered down. On the other hand, this is India's biggest ever Shooting contingent and the first time that India will have representation in all 15 disciplines. The squad has been revamped and quite a few Quota winners missed out in the Final Qualification series. Will this do the trick and end the medal drought?

Medal Favorites - Sift Kaur Samra (50m Rifle 3 Positions), Manu Bhaker, and the mixed teams.

Fun fact - There is sitting Bihar MLA in the squad - Shreyasi Singh.

7. Weightlifting: Event 1, Entry 1

Mirabai Chanu's silver at Tokyo had a sense of inevitability about it. However, injuries have made a repeat medal a tad more difficult. A fully fit Mirabai should get another medal.

8. Wrestling: Events 6, Entries 6

Both the Tokyo medalists failed to qualify. Between the Games the wrestlers had to spend more time battling their own federation than on the mat. And the results have showed. Just a single male wrestler in the fray. On the other hand, 5 female wrestlers have qualified! Antim and Aman are serious medal contenders. 

Special mention - Vinesh, who was at the forefront of the agitation, saw Antim earn a Quota in her weight category, then opted for a lower weight category and qualified in that!

9. Table Tennis: Events 4, Entries 6

Recent results have been impressive with multiple victories over the top ranked Chinese players. But a medal still seems distant. The team is getting closer though.

10. Tennis: Events 2, Entries 2

At 44, Rohan Bopanna is the oldest Indian athlete at the Games, also a recent Grand Slam champion and World No. 1 but his partnership with Sriram Balaji in Men's Doubles is largely untested. On the other hand, Sumit Nagal is fast rising up the ranks but still far away from the top echelons of Men's singles. Neither expected to make much inroads in the draw though.

11. Golf: Events 2, Entries 4

At Tokyo, Aditi Ashok was within a shot of a medal. This is another extremely difficult to predict sport. 

Special mention  - Diksha Dagar, one of the rare sportspersons who appear in both the Deaflympics as well as the Olympics.

12. Rowing: Event 1, Entry 1

Anything above a semifinals finish would be a good result for Balraj Panwar, India's sole Rowing entry

13. Swimming: Events 2, Entries 2

No medal hopes, but could be a good exposure to 14-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu - the youngest Indian sportsperson at the Games.

14. Equestrian: Event 1, Entry 1 - Anush Agarwalla & Sir Camillo have qualified for Individual Dressage – another difficult to judge sport.

15. Judo: Event 1, Entry 1 - Tulika Maan will be sole Indian judoka

16. Sailing: Events 2, Entries 2 - Nethra Kumanan and Vishnu Sarvanan are both in their 2nd Olympics.

So, as always, Team India might go on to have their best medal tally ever or they might end up having no medals at all. The favorites maybe knocked out early and a medal may come from somewhere unexpected.

Let the Games Begin! Citius Altius Fortius

Links:

• Complete list – Wikipedia
• Road To Paris Episode 11
• Predictions for Tokyo: Link

Road To Paris – Episode 11

The Games are nearing and the Qualifications are nearing to a close. We are almost there with just the final few quotas remaining to be awarded and some team announcements to be done. Here is a brief recap of the goings on since Episode 10. A lot has happened since then!

Qualifiers

Archery: Bhajan Kaur added an Individual Quota, which ensured India’s participation in the Mixed event given Dhiraj Bommadevara had secured a Quota in the Men’s side earlier. This was followed by both the Men’s & Women’s Teams getting a place via Rankings. Thus, ensuring that India is fully represented in all 5 Archery disciplines. Tarundeep Rai & Pravin Jadhav join Dhiraj, while Dipika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat join Bhajan to complete the Indian line-up.

Athletics: India Men & Women 4x400m relay teams have qualified for the Games. India has also earned a quota place in the Mixed Marathon Racewalking event. Unfortunately Murali Sreeshankar’s injury means he will not be able to participate despite having breached the Long Jump qualification mark.

Boxing: Amit Panghal (Flyweight) & Nishant Dev (Light Welterweight) qualified in the Final qualification tournament. Meanwhile, Praveen Hooda’s quota place (Featherweight) was returned due to her ban. Instead, Jasmine Lamboriya stepped in as a reserve after cutting down her weight category and regained the Quota place! So 6 Indians will now be in fray at Paris.

Golf: India will have 4 representatives - Gaganjeet Bhullar and Shubhankar Sharma in Men and Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar in Women.

Judo: Tulika Maan (78 KG Women’s) will be the sole Indian judoka

Rowing: Balraj Panwar (Men’s singles sculls) qualified for the Paris Games.

Sailing: Nethra Kumanan (Women’s ILCA 7) earned the 2nd Sailing quota place for India.

Tennis: Rohan Bopanna & Sriram Balaji will represent in Doubles while Sumit Nagal will take part in Singles.

Wrestling: A bit of letdown for India with Aman Sehrawat (57 KG freestyle) as the sole male qualifier. However, India now has its largest women’s wrestling contingent with Vinesh Phogat (50 KG), Anshu Malik (57 KG), Nisha Dahiya (68 KG) and Reetika Hooda (76 KG) securing quota places and joining Antim Panghal.

Squad Announcements

Shooting: Post the qualification trials, quite a few Quota place earners lost out and were replaced. The squad is as follows

Men: Sandeep Singh, Arjun Babuta (10 m air rifle); Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Singh Cheema (10 m air pistol); Swapnil Kusale, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (50 m rifle 3 positions); Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu (25 m rapid fire pistol); Prithviraj Todainman (Trap); Anantjeet Singh Naruka (Skeet)

Women: Elavenil Valarivan, Ramita Jindal (10 m air rifle); Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker (10 m air pistol); Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh (25 m pistol); Sift Kaur Samra, Anjum Moudgil (50 m rifle 3 positions); Rajeshwari Kumari, Shreyasi Singh (Trap); Maheshwari Chauhan, Raiza Dhillon (Skeet)

Mixed Teams:

• 10 m air pistol: Sarabjot Singh & Manu Bhaker, Arjun Singh Cheema & Rhythm Sangwan
• 10 m air rifle: Sandeep Singh & Elavenil Valarivan, Arjun Babuta & Ramita Jindal
• Skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka & Maheshwari Chauhan

Hockey: The following 16 players will aim to defend/improve their bronze medal from Tokyo.

PR Sreejesh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Sanjay, Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh , Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh

Qualification Summary for Team India: Sports: 15, Events 59, Entries:83. Athletes: 100

Links: Episode 10  

Coming Up Next: A final round-up of the qualifiers followed by the predictions!

BookMarks #118: Don Quixote

Title: Don Quixote

Author: Miguel de Cervantes

Genre: Fiction, Biographical, Adventures

Published: 1605 (Part I), 1615 (Part II)

Original Language: Spanish

BookMarks

Widely considered as the first modern novel, which also set the template for the classic literature.

This is the story of a man who has become infatuated with the idea of knight-errantry and chivalry after reading many books on the subject. So much so that he considers himself a knight, takes on a squire, falls in love with a lady of his imagination and goes on myriad adventures.

This is the tale of a mind which can simultaneously be considered a brilliant one and a totally crazed one. When he speaks about any other subject, he is rational, more than most but when he takes a whim of being a knight, everything becomes thoroughly disillusioned to an extent, where even the disillusionment is the logical thing in the world to him.

The rational side appears best in the advise given by Don Quixote to his squire Sancho Panza. Yet, over the course of the narrative, Sancho moves to the disillusioned side, while Don Quixote becomes more realistic.

Overall, it is a long, meandering story, which self-references mentioning the adventures in a book and even has another novel written within itself!

Another thing to be noted is that parts of the book have not aged well. What could be considered normal at the time of writing would now be outrightly racist! Just an example to show that cultural understanding evolves.

One line which stood out – “it is always more praiseworthy to do good than to do evil”. Simple yet profound. 

Previously on BookMarks: Same As Ever 

Road To Paris – Episode 10

We are getting closer and closer to the D-Day and more and more qualifying spots are getting sealed up. Here is a quick summary of the updates since Episode 9

Qualifiers

Table Tennis: Men’s & Women’s Teams have qualified via rankings for the first time ever. This also means that there will be 2 Indian players in both Singles events as well.

Weightlifting: Defending Silver medalist Mirabai Chanu qualifies for the 49 KG event as the sole Indian weightlifter at the Games.

Badminton: India will have representation in 4 events through Rankings missing out in Mixed Doubles. Men’s Singles - HS Prannoy & Lakshya Sen, Women’s Singles -PV Sindhu; Men’s Doubles – Satwik Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty duo; Women’s Doubles – Ashwini Ponappa-Tanisha Crasto duo.

Updates

Sharath Kamal will be the flagbearer at the Games.

Athletics: Now 7 Men have breached the Qualification mark in the Men’s 20km Walk. Only 3 can qualify!

Boxing: None of the Indians could earn a Quota place during the 1st Qualifying event and now have to wait for the next set of qualifiers.

Qualification Summary for Team India

Sports: 11, Events 39, Entries:55. Athletes: 66 

Links: Episode 9