The song of an Innocent Bystander : Ian Bone

Ian Bone:

Born in Geelong, Australia (1956).
Graduate of Australian Film and TV School
Made children's TV programmes.

This book titled "The song of an innocent bystander" was shortlisted for 2002 children's Book Council of Australia Book of the year awards

This story is of those unfortunate bystanders who get mired in some misfortune. This whole story is about a man who takes twenty odd people as hostage while claiming himself to be a revolutionary. The story is about a girl of nineteen years who is still besieged by the traumatic events that created shudders in her life ten years back.That was the time when she was saved from the clutches of a revolutionary named John Wayne O' Grady at the cost of two lives- One of the self proclaimed revolutionary and the other one the manager of the restaurent - theo Constantine.

The typical style of author in which he keeps on shffling between the present and past of Freda opperman is quite captivating. Freda, at the age of nineteen is shown to be a troubled girl who is always thoughtful and disturbed. Finally it is revealed that Freda blamed herself for Theo's death. Her demeanor at the time of crisis was targeted to win Grady the criminal's favor.Freda always felt that this whole episode led to Thoe's death.Due to her behaviour, the self proclaimed revolutionary started considering Freda as his comrade. the author tried to show that though Freda did try to win Grady's favor but she never wanted to let the things turn out the way they did. The author also seems to put forward the innocence of Grady because even he dint want any casualities. Probably the author wants to say that innocence is quite a subjective matter and most of the times we don have control of what is going to happen.

Freda is shown to have become free from this notion of her being a culprit. A series of events led the catharisis of her emotions which were blocked inside her for ten long years.

some of the good lines:

A gap is a statement, a lack of something, a message that there is void

Hope belongs to those who havent seen whats round the corner.

I forget that every single waking moment is an opportunity for something bad to happen

We look before and after
and pine for what is not
our sincerest laughter
with some pain is fraught
our sweetest songs are those that tell of our saddest thought

Siddhartha : Hermann Hesse

The book is a mirror in which i could see events of my own life unfolding in front of me. The psyche that the boy Siddhartha holds seems too familiar to me. Siddhartha was a young boy and a brahmin's son. He learnt the rituals and way of sacrificing diligently. These all things could not satisfy him and he finally got bored of all these chores. He wanted to attain freedom from self. He got influenced by the life of Samanas, left home to follow them and lived the Samana way of life for three years. He learnt how he (what he said) deceive his self. After three years he attended the sermon of Gautam Buddha and got quite influenced by Him. But unlike other people he didn'e want to follow Him or rather he didn't want to follow any teacher. He wanted to learn the essence on his own like Buddha did.
By this time he had already got bored of the Samana way of life because even that life couldn't provide him the satisfaction he needed.That only seemed another way of deception and running away from truth. He decides to drink the beauty and versatility of life. He got involved with life, learnt the art of loving from a lady, got into business and got involved in all the vices consequently. This all continued for years together and suddenly a dream changed his pattern of thought. He wants to commit suicide because he felt he has wasted his life. As soon as he was going to drwon himself in the river, he heard a voice from inside of OM. This helped him to be in deep meditation after and for a long time.Then he goes back to the same boat rower who had previously told him that the river actually talked. The boat rower said that the river had answer to everything.
Both Siddhartha and the boat rower growed spiritually together and learnt to listen to river. Siddhartha is then struck with the love of his long lost child who was born of that lady with whom Siddhartha spent the days in city. The child in return didn't love his father, didn't obey him and finally ran away from him.
Siddhartha finally realizes that the world is as it is, it cannot be changed for better. When we see things relative to time then there is problem. Buddha is with in me right now. One cannot become Buddha, One is already a Buddha. He talked of love. He could see God and listen to each and every object. He could see the beauty of universe and live in it. He could love everybody. For him the time was dead as it was for the river.
Probably this is what enlightenment is...............................................................