The Veteran

"The Veteran" by Frederick Forsyth was next on my reading list. Actually I was getting rather tired of reading one whole book. I also knew that I won't get time to read such a book so I chose this book which has 5 different stories.

The first story is "The Veteran". An old man is found mugged on a pavement in a seedy area of town and succumbs to his injuries later in a hospital. There is an eye-witness - a Mr. Vijay Patel (Why do so many Indian characters in novels have last name of Patel? Guess it's a matter of numbers really!) - who identifies the 2 thugs responsible for the murder. Just when the cops in charge of the investigation are assuring themselves that they will be able to "put away" the murderers this time, in walks Mr. Bright Barrister who "turns justice on its head" by making sure that they get scot-free. And the end of the story reminds you of Jeffrey Archer's "A twist in the tale".

"The Art of the Matter" tells the story of another of those faceless, nameless "extras" who had come to the movie industry in search of name and fame but didn't get anything except for raw deal. Trumpington Gore is barely able to make both ends meet when he remembers an old painting his aunt had bequeathed on him. This brings him to the famous House of Darcy for valuation. He is swindled out of his fortune and a staff member who could have been a "potential witness" is sacked as the sacrificial lamb by one of the high-flying guys at Darcy's who is out to make money for himself. The rest is a delightful story of how these two team up to hand the guy his come-uppance. The story becomes complicated at some points - especially for those of us who are not familiar with Renaissance and stuff J but it's hugely satisfying as the bad guy is punished for his evil deeds :-)

The next story "The Miracle" is about an American couple who has come to see some kind of religious celebration in Siena. The wife twists her ankle on the cobbled streets of the ancient city and the German guy who treats her tells them a story of Caterina of Mercy - a ghostly nun who moved about the injured soldiers in the city during WW2 and didn't let even one of them die despite poor medical help. Though I found the description of the religious celebration rather complicated, I liked the story and could guess the ending before turning the last page. :-)

The 4th story "The Citizen" happens aboard a flight returning to UK from Thailand. One of the passengers is a witness to a midnight rendezvous between a hippie in an economy class and a well-dressed gentleman in 1st class. A conscious citizen that he is, he sends a note to the pilot. The authorities in London smell cocaine and turn up in full force to nab the smugglers with their cache as the touchdown happens at Heathrow. There's a twist in the tale again which I am happy to report I figured out in advance :-)

I think the last story is "Whispering Wind" though I could be wrong because the name's kind of stuck in my brain. I read through the first 4 pages of this story and thought of going to the library to return the book - honest to God! Was this supposed to be a lesson on Native American tribes? What's with the Sioux and Cheyenne and all that? I was hopelessly lost. It was sheer laziness and reluctance to return any book without fully reading it that made me read it to its conclusion :-(

And in the end I felt sorry for myself for wasting so much of time and sorry for Whispering Wind for what the Craig character does to her life. :-(

Many lives, Many masters

I picked up "Many lives, many masters" by Brian Weiss after reading "The Eight". Being a Hindu, there is nothing new in the concept of reincarnation for me. But I wanted to know how a westerner and a psychologist at that had dealt with it. This is not make-belief fiction, if the back-cover of the book is anything to go by. This is what has actually happened with Dr. Weiss and he has apparently risked his professional reputation in publishing this book. So what is it all about?

Dr. Weiss was treating a young woman called Catherine for many of her phobias and fears which had become so severe that they had started affecting her day-to-day life. When conventional therapy failed to bring about any results, Dr. Weiss decided to try Hypnosis. He wasn't however prepared for what it brought forth.

In a sort of past-life regression, Catherine, under hypnosis, was able to recall her past lives on this earth through many centuries and in different countries. She could pinpoint how experiences and traumas in these lives were the root causes of many of her anxieties and fears in this life. But she could do more - in the in-between-lives state, when her spirit was out of one life and waiting to get in another, she was able to listen to the messages from highly evolved spirits called "Masters" and bring these messages to Dr. Weiss.

Dr. Weiss would have dismissed these things but for the fact that Catherine who didn't know much about his family told him many things about his father and his firstborn son - both dead - while in one of the in-between-lives state. Add to it the fact that Catherine got cured of her phobias and fears. That's what prompted the doc to write about this and that's how we get to hear about the masters and the different planes that the spirits occupy based on their progression through countless lives.

It was an interesting read. It confirmed many of the beliefs of my religion e.g. that the soul is immortal and keeps changing bodies, that your next birth depends on your "Karma" in this life and so on. I also think it is possible for some people to remember some things from their past lives - especially if their impact was strong. But I found it hard to believe that there are such things as these masters or that Catherine could ferry messages from them. However, it's rather like ghost sightings. I mean, the one who has seen them believes and others simply think that he/she is nuts!

Some other questions:

1. Catherine can recognize some people from her past lives as the same ones from her present life. E.g. her niece in her present life was her daughter in one of her past lives. I wonder if these people were born with the face and that's how she recognized them or did she recognize the soul - not the face? I, for one, am not very thrilled about being born with the same face in every life. Again, this won't hold much water if you are born as a man in one life and as a woman in next. Dr. Weiss doesn't explain this.

2. The masters say that souls choose their next lives based on what they want to learn. But then as so many people would doubtless confirm, many of us don't have a clue as to what we are doing here J so how can a soul ensure that he/she fulfills his/her life's mission when he/she forgets about it the minute he/she is born?

3. Why did the "masters" send these messages to Dr. Weiss? If all of us are supposed to find this out on our own, what was the need to channel these messages through Catherine?

4. The last question was brought forth by a friend of mine as I told him about this book over tea. According to Hinduism, a soul is born as a human after going through countless other forms of life e.g. birds, insects and animals. And based on his/her karma, a human in his/her next life can be one of these life-forms as well instead of being a human again. Catherine however recalls only human lives. Does that mean that we are born only as humans? Then who is born as birds, insects and animals? Conversely, if what Hinduism teaches is right and Catherine couldn't recall any such life then is there any learning from such lives? If yes, is it lost forever?

Questions, questions everywhere, not an answer in sight :-(

I received these 2 gems last week as SMSs:

Attitude is what life is all about:
Soldier - sir, we are surrounded by enemies on all sides
Major - excellent! We can attack in any direction

Silence and smile are two powerful tools.
Smile is the way to solve many problems and silence is the way to avoid many problems.