Before you go on... this review is not on the movie but the book
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There is beauty in everything…
There is beauty in darkness… if there was no darkness, would we appreciate light?
There is beauty in ugliness... if there was no ugliness, would we behold beauty?
There is beauty in black... if there was nothing like black, would the other colours make any sense?
There is beauty in tears... if there was no sorrow, would happiness make us happy?
There is beauty in inanity too… else would we value the sensible?
Life cannot be too serious always.
Sometimes you just need to laugh for gags; they call it the laughter therapy. I remember the time so well when my father had started laughing over something at the dinner table - probably something he remembered from his work. Soon enough, I joined him without even knowing why he was laughing. Then my brother and mother joined the laugh riot. By the end of it, all 4 of us were ROFLing without any apparent reason.
Coming back to the book, it caught my attention and something told me that it would give me that-kind-of-laugh. As usual, the title drew me to it. How can anyone miss the book or a movie which is screaming “bheja fry” at your face? Incidentally I bought and read this book much before I came to know about its namesake movie which has NOTHING to do with the book as such.
ABOUT THE TESTIMONIALS
Turning the book over, the back cover had some interesting testimonials to offer.
-“After I read this book, I felt a tingling sensation in my palms and I also noticed that my facial hair had vanished. This book has healing properties” – an extremely famous model
- “It’s a good book. I would have bought it if Time or Newsweek had recommended it, but since they haven’t, I decided to steal it instead” – an extremely voracious reader
I decided then and there that I am renting the book. Well, its a different story that now the book is for keeps and I keep turning to it just for laughs!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author, Mahesh Ramchandani, is a free-lance journalist who writes in Mid-day, TOI and The Metropolis. The googling did not help me much in digging up any more information about him. But who says that only famous writers write well? Wink wink His mail id is mash12000@yahoo.com incase any details are required. The book is published by English Edition Pvt Ltd, Ph 22618154 and the email address of the printing house is English_edition@hotmail.com
Incase you are wondering why I am giving you this piece of information, lets say just to fill up my review.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The book is a collection of 30 articles which would make as much sense as this review (hahaha)but then will give your jaws the much-required pain in the form of laughter and give your ribs the much required tickle. You will find a variety of topics on which the author has his views to offer. From extra-terrestrials to wrinkle-free pants, from flush tanks to off beat cinemas, from dentists to kids, you will find a completely new angle to the topics you have hitherto taken for granted. Time for retrospection and introspection.
I felt as if I was sitting under the Bodh-Gaya tree!
~ I was enlightened that it was Ivana Newton, wife of Isaac Newton who was sitting under the apple tree when that historic apple fell on her head. There was a message in the falling apple and after pondering for hrs she exclaimed “Apple Pie”. It was the find of the century. Its ofcourse another story that Isaac Newton then spent days and months on it to come up with his laws! Same goes for Martha Watt, the actual brain behind steam engine and Alberta Einstein, who discovered the theory of relatives.... sorry I mean relativity !
~ I was made to realise that all telephone lines are connected to toilet seats. Don’t believe it? Just try going to the loo and rest assured that your phone will ring! In case your scientific bend of mind is wondering "why", reliable sources have revealed that the phone lines have got crossed with the Waste and Sewage Disposal pipes and hence this effect.
~ I got to know that the author’s sister has 83 kids although if you were to ask her how many, she would say two. Aged 3 and 7 they are deeply interested in Particle Physics. They are convinced that any type of energy can be broken down into finer energies and also believe in the magical powers of "reverse manifestation" where in some utterly useless and hitherto lost, missing or stolen objects are made to appear from nowhere!
~ I understood that more than anything, the need of the hour is "an icecream that melts slowly". You may ask "how will this icecream change our lives?". The answer is "in many ways". For one, you may take the ice cream with you while going on vacation and it will last you the whole of your holidays. Secondly.. ahem...err.. you may jump with glee screaming "mine didnt melt mine didnt melt" while the chinese, austrian, american icecreams have shamed themselves by melting into a puddle on the floor. If you are not convinced, you will just have to email to the publishers and get that book!
~ I almost got convinced to go and join the author’s community of wrapper-abused consumers at https://thefingthingwillnotopenup.com where he would like to discuss about how to fix the wrappers after having a tough time unwrapping the wrapper from a mint and then again when he had to wrestle to separate a CD from its cellophane.
ABOUT MY RATINGS
All in all, a funtastic book for people like me...... isnt that a tricky one lol.
You may ask me why 4 stars for the book?
Why not 3 – because it gave me a good laugh and THAT was enough to raise its level above average. At places it reminded me of many of the laughter champions on MS!
Why not 5 – well.. maybe because it leaves me wanting to read more. And not exactly a classic humour but a winner for me :)