I am nothing if not eclectic in my reading tastes. Well that's a euphemism. A less charitable person would call me "Jack of all and Master of none". In any case, here are some of the books that I am simultaneously trying to finish right now:
- The story of my experiments with truth by MK Gandhi
- Bhagwadgita by Sir Edwin Arnold
- Code Complete on software construction and programming
- Home buying for dummies
Of course this is over and above keeping a 50 hour work week and trying to watch as many episodes of the West Wing and PBS documentaries that I can watch. Imagine my surprise then when some people ask me, "How do you pass your free time?"
Today I was watching the PBS documentary on Benjamin Franklin. As far as I can remember, Mr. Franklin was one of the main characters in my science textbooks as published by NCERT, but I do not recall him ever making an appearance in either my civics or history text books. Imagine my surprise then when I learnt today that he was the "Sardar Patel" of the American Revolution! Or should I say that Sardar Patel was the Benjamin Franklin of India? In any case, it seems to me that there are a lot of similarities between Patel and Franklin in the roles that they played in formation of their respective nations. It is kind of fascinating. I've not yet read any book on Sardar Patel but my opinion is based on whatever little I know of him.
Isn't it ironic that I know much less about Patel than I know about Franklin? Is it my fault or is it the fault of historians in India who've never paid any attention to people who really helped shape India beyond the Nehru clan? Well here again is another similarity. The documentary that I saw today seemed to imply that Franklin was neglected by historians in favor of George Washington. Just like Patel was ignored in favor of Nehru.
Regardless, I feel that I would have been much better off if Indian education system had been better at introducing me to people like them and help me learn more about life from them rather than rote repetition.