greek Tag

The beauty of a tree lies in the eyes of the beholder! 2020, the year which changed the life of every human being on our planet. My life too changed because I met the book that is going to be my favourite till I die! The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak. Not many in the readers world love this book but the story touched my soul. We are not here to talk about that book but yet another beautiful story was written by the same author. The story revolves around the lives of Kostas Kazantzakis and Defne who despite all odds (Kostas being Greek Christian; Defne being Turkish Muslim) get married! They were young lovers who get caught in the civil war in Cyprus in 1974 losing all near and dear. When they are uprooted to London, they not only get a beautiful daughter Ada but also a charming luscious Fig Tree. We see the suffering, the loneliness, the compassion, the love and the trauma of people who are caught in a war that tore a harmonious community into bloodthirsty hounds! The story is narrated by both the characters of the books as well as the Fig tree who was actually a part of another fig tree brought from Cyprus by Kostas! The story is fast-paced and I completed it in a day! I would highly recommend this one to those who love good fiction. In fact, I picked this up from my bookshelf because I was overwhelmed by my previous read! The only...

The tale of an individual Charles Masson (James Lewis) who has an extraordinary adventurer of finding the lost city of Alexandria in the mountains of Afghanistan, Bagram. We see the life and times of this soldier/explorer/spy who doesn't believe in quitting just for the whims and fancies of the English East India Company. This biography is from the late 19th century. This book is tremendously researched and a pure artwork of literature. I am highly impressed by the author and his ways of convincing the reader of the plight of this man who does everything in his power to survive. But he fails to make a mark in the way it should have been. For the achievement and the trauma that he went through, he is actually supposed to be received with fame and grandeur. Instead, he is ridiculed and loses all the finds that he had discovered in Bagram. The English East India company have truly been a cruel animal to him and I think the death of certain individuals in the hands of the Afghans in Kalat and Kabul during the stay of those gentlemen is right. I know what I am saying sounds ridiculous but it is true. These men could've not only saved Charles Masson but also could've lifted his name and his findings to the next level. When he reaches back to his country, the people are still mean and cruel to him. He died a broken man with nothing in his possession other than two...