A monsoon from many moons ago...

The rains always remind me of the monsoon season back home in Bombay. After months of sticky, relentless heat, the rains bring blessed relief to all.

One particular monsoon afternoon stands out vividly in my memory. It was when my father, sister and I took a walk along Marine Drive. Dark rain clouds hung low in the sky, their swollen bellies almost touching the grey waters of the Arabian Sea.

Just as we had bought a couple of corn-on-the-cobs and the street vendor started to roast them for us, the skies opened up and pelted us with needle-sharp rain. We hurried to a nearby pile of concrete frames left over from some long forgotten construction project and crouched near them while the sea hissed and foamed behind us, filling the air, covering our faces and coating our lips with salty spray.

My father, completely drenched by now, brought us the steaming corn when they were ready. We gobbled them up, the corn warm against our lips, our soaked clothes cold against our skin. It was the best corn I ever had.


To this day, whenever I smell the delicious fragrance of a corn-on-the-cob roasting on an open flame and it happens to be raining, I can taste the spicy-tangy flavour of the chilli-lemon paste smeared on the sweet corn from that monsoon many moons ago.

A Question...from "The Book of Questions" by Gregory Stock

What do you value most in a relationship?


I value the freedom to be me; to not have to pretend to be someone or something I am not.


Anyone?

"What the Birds See" by Sonya Hartnett

I just finished reading this interesting and slightly challenging novel. This was my first foray into the Sonya's oeuvre and I had no idea what to expect. But the very first paragraph had me hooked. My favourite sentence in there is;

"That afternoon, so near to winter, the sky was very blue; the sun felt soft as a cat."


The protagonist Adrian is so very believable and all through the story I could feel the impending sense of doom that he's hurtling towards. Reading it in present tense was a bit unusual for me but the power of the narrative soon made me forget everything else.


I finished this book in one sitting and yet long after I put down the book, I could not stop thinking about him, his world, his feelings, what brought him to act the way he did. A perfect example of resonance.


A beautiful read and next on the list is "Thursday's Child."

Third Eye Facebook Event

Hi All,

Its been a long and interesting hiatus since my last post. But believe me , I have been busy. More about that in another post.

Here's some interesting news. An author event on Facebook from March 24th to March 28th. You can ask me anything you like (well, not anything...) and I'd be happy to answer your questions.

Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Third-Eye/19446419840)

Stay warm and hope to see all of you online!

And now I better get back to work.

Mahtab

A four star review from CM Magazine

CM . . . . Volume XIV Number 10 . . . . January 11, 2008
http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol14/no10/thethirdeye.html

The Third Eye.
Mahtab Narsimhan.Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, 2007.240 pp., pbk., $12.99.ISBN 978-1-55002-750-1.
Grades 5-8 / Ages 10-13.
Review by Ann Ketcheson.
**** /4

excerpt:
Oh no, not now. Not when we are so exposed, thought Tara in despair. She would have to get Suraj comfortable and bring his fever down. She headed for the nearest tree and sat Suraj down. She dug into her bundle and groped for matches. She knew the fire would attract animals, but she had to boil herbs for medicine to bring down Suraj's fever. Tara said a fervent prayer as she undid the bundle of dry twigs they had gathered earlier that morning and struck the match to give her some light. A distance away from the tree she put down a few twigs and threw the lit match on them. They caught fire immediately and within a few minutes she had a strong fire going.
"Suraj," she whispered. "Suraj, talk to me."He mumbled incoherently under his breath. Tara had him down on his warm bedding and covered him with a blanket. She propped his head up and poured some water into his mouth. He was unable to swallow and the water trickled out the side. With growing apprehension, Tara realized that he was very sick.
"Please Lord Ganesh, make him well again. I need him. I can't do this along. I just can't!"

Tara and her brother Suraj have led a terrible life since their mother and grandfather left their village a year ago. Their stepmother is cruel to them, their father ignores their plight, and the entire village seems upset and uneasy. The arrival of Zarku, a new healer, should alleviate Tara's worries and fears, but instead she senses only evil coming from him. In a final effort to save herself and Suraj, Tara decides they must escape the village and confront the terrors of the surrounding woods in order to find her mother and grandfather and thereby restore healing and happiness in both her family and in Morni, their village.
Narsimhan is a native of Mumbai and draws upon Indian mythology in this novel which combines elements of fairy tale, myth and action/adventure. The brave children, evil stepmother and monsters in the woods are elements of many well-known fairy tales. But Narsimhan's story takes place in India, and the Hindu gods come alive for Tara and play a major role in the story. Even the title is a reference to the Hindu god Shiva as well as being a description of Zarku, the embodiment of evil in the book. This is also a mythic tale in that the forces of good are pitted head to head against the forces of evil, and Tara, en route to her heroic goal of saving her family and her village, must complete a variety of difficult and dangerous tasks worthy of Hercules, himself.
On another level, this is a classic coming-of-age story. Tara is forced to care for her younger brother when her mother is no longer with them, and then she learns courage, wisdom, and many other life lessons as she fulfills her quest. As her mother remarks at the end of the novel, "Haven't you done enough, Tara? You have changed so much from the time I left you. I am very happy and extremely proud."
These main themes and mythological influences are beautifully woven into a story of action, adventure, and tension as readers follow Tara on her quest. Narsimhan's vivid descriptions place readers in India, complete with the sights, smells and sounds of that world. Readers feel Tara's anxiety and guilt throughout the novel and share her excitement and happiness as the story ends. Classroom teachers or teacher-librarians will find this novel could work well in a unit of study on mythology and heroes. As well, The Third Eye is an excellent introduction to elements of the Hindu religion and the culture of India and so would fit into work on world literature.
The Third Eye is certainly a 'page-turner' which will appeal to the young adult audience, but with a definite difference, and its publication seems to suggest a new direction for Canadian juvenile fiction. One can only hope Narsimhan's debut novel is the first of many to come!
Highly Recommended.
Ann Ketcheson, a retired teacher-librarian and teacher of high school English and French, now lives in Ottawa, ON, where she has turned her love of travel into a new career as a travel consultant.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published byThe Manitoba Library AssociationISSN 1201-9364
Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

Flamingnet Top Choice Award

And here's the little dragon that goes with the award...I'm naming him "Norbert."

For luck!

http://www.flamingnet.com/bookreviews/newreviews/newbookreview.cfm?title=The Third Eye

And another Excellent Review...

This one was posted by Our Gaggle of Girls.
http://ourgaggleofgirls.com/books/2007/12/17/the-third-eye-young-adult/

"The Third Eye, by Mahtab Narsimhan is a beautiful story that intertwines village life, religion, and magic in India. The young adult genre is filled with books that fit into specific niches, and I wasn’t quite sure where The Third Eye would fit - its description of Hindu Gods, fantasy, and rural Indian village life seemed very unusual.

Once I opened The Third Eye, I didn’t care what niche it fit, I just cared what happened next! There is really no way to do justice to such a unique, beautiful, intense, and mysterious novel except to strongly suggest that you read it. Mahtab Narsimhan has created a world of wonderful characters who leap off the pages. In her Acknowledgments, she thanks her son and his group of book-loving friends for reading her book - if it could pass muster with a group of adolescent boys, it has already passed the most impressive impressive test!

The Third Eye starts as a man from a village named Morni is trying to escape something that is chasing him in the forest outside the village. He doesn’t make it back to the village alive, and his body is deformed by whatever had hidden in the shadows.

In Morni, there is a lot of uncertainty - they lost their healer a year ago, along with his daughter, who left her two children. Tara and Suraj are left with their father, who is now a very different, quiet man who doesn’t say anything when his new wife Kali mistreats his children. Tara is an older sister very devoted to her family, and makes sure she takes care of the house, her step-mother, and spoiled step-sister so that she will be able to keep her brother from being beaten or losing a meal.

During the New Year celebration of Diwali, Tara and Suraj sit on the edges of the excitement, watching the villagers. A new healer arrives named Zarku, and while he seems to be able to know what is in the hearts and minds of the villagers, he makes Tara and Suraj very uncomfortable. Tara feels that Zarku’s black eyes are evil - all three of them. His third eye is what gives him his evil powers, and through those powers he can control more and more of the village. The number of signs that something is wrong in the village increase as time passes - men who disagree with the healer go missing, there are rumors of Vetalas (ghosts) wandering the forests, and life gets wore for Tara and Suraj.

Tara and Suraj leave the village on a quest to find their mother and grandfather, the powerful healer, so they can help the villagers. As they journey through the forests and around villages they have many challenges, several of which would make adults turn back. Tara does not give up, she prays to Ganesh, and finds help. She bargains with Yuma, the lord of death, as she faces one hurdle after another. Will Tara gain the courage and self-confidence to help herself?

I love novels with female lead characters, especially novels aimed at the young adult fantasy set. Like Max in Maximum Ride, Tara has put the burden of caring for others on her own shoulders, and she pulls on her own inner strengths to overcome challenges - even when she thinks the challenge is too great. The Third Eye shows women and girls in varying levels of power - heading a household, healing illnesses, helping others, and yet also shows the old custom of Sati, pushing a young widow toward her husband’s funeral pyre.

The Third Eye is a beautifully written look at rural life and mystical powers, and should appeal to most tween/young adult readers. There are several scenes which might be too intense and violent for younger tweens, however - I would suggest it for ages 12+ at least. I am going to hang on to my copy for a couple years so that my daughters can read such an inspiring story of a teenage girl’s courage as she tries to save her family and her village from evil.

I highly recommend The Third Eye for anyone with an eye for adventure. Add in mysticism, and magic, mix with the world of rural India, and you have a novel even adults can’t put down!"

And I say, thank you ladies!