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Sandeep's Reviews > On Balance
On Balance
by
by
** spoiler alert **
On Balance Leila Seth
Rating 3.75/5
I had this book on my 'To Be Read' list since some time. There were couple of reasons, most notably was that, I wanted to know more about Vikram Seth, his childhood days etc. Apart from this Ms Seth herself was a known personality with many achievements. I wished to know more about her too.
Since Ms Seth was from an era when I wasn't born, India not gotten independence or rather slowly on the way to gaining freedom, an insight into the country's economics and current affairs, I thought, would be very much on offer. (turned out to be from a judicial standpoint or a working man's standpoint if I have not misread or misjudged it, apologies if so).
My forte, to be honest, is reading simple English writing and this book excels at it. The language is simple, precise and to the point. After doing circles on thinking how to write a review for this book, I have come to a conclusion that, its better I categorize the contents of the book into sections or groups many of which are as below. (this I felt sets the expectation of reader in a more easy way).
1. Ms Seth's childhood, schooling and college.
2. Ms Seth's law practice across Calcutta, Patna, Delhi, Shimla.
3. Ms Seth's stay and about the houses, their gardens, flowers across Darjeeling, London, Batanagar, Patna, Calcutta, Delhi, Shimla, Noida.
4. Ms Seth's travel across India and across America, Europe (Italy, Swiss, England...)
5. Current state of affairs and economics of the country when Ms Seth was student/lawyer/judge/when she retired.
6. Judiciary, people involved - names of lawyers, judges who were practicing, various courts and their locations.
7. Beaureacracy - how it affected her personal life as well as professional life.
8. Personal lives of Mr and Ms Seth, kids growing up, their education, abroad stay and study of both Vikram and Shantum.
9. Decisions which Ms Seth took as a lawyer, judge or homemaker.
I enjoyed most parts of the book that dealt with personal lives or side of Seth's. But when it came to judiciary (on an approx 200 pages), I can safely say, I had to pass on through it pretty quickly without much contemplation. I find it difficult to remember name and places thing, and here you have names of lawyers, judges their locations of practice and few cases here and there. It was a bit tough for me, so I chose to read through it. Regarding current affairs of the country - there is mention of Emergency, 1984 riots, demolition drive of 1992, 2002 riots. I, again read these quickly as I wasn't interested in these.
Ms Seth has written about few incidents which needed a person to be super tough. CBI enquiry against Mr Seth, having another kid for her brother and sister in law. It just proves one thing Ms Seth was indeed a super woman, brave, composed and grounded.
As with every book, I did have some more things which I wanted to know about, just to get through with my curiosity, but didn't happen. I shall write about them too.
Ms Seth - has mentioned she loved English literature. But there isn't much mention of books which she read while studying or working. Only one which I remember was by Victor Hugo. One more thing which I was interested to know was the celebration of festivals. I remember reading about Holi and one more, but India being a land of festivals, I suppose, I was expecting a bit more elaborate information on other festivals too. Going by the name On Balance, I was expecting a few tips from Ms Seth on how to balance personal and professional life. I couldn't find them directly, may be I have to infer them through the writings. But then again, my mind just asks and expects random things out of every book.
Cheers,
Rating 3.75/5
I had this book on my 'To Be Read' list since some time. There were couple of reasons, most notably was that, I wanted to know more about Vikram Seth, his childhood days etc. Apart from this Ms Seth herself was a known personality with many achievements. I wished to know more about her too.
Since Ms Seth was from an era when I wasn't born, India not gotten independence or rather slowly on the way to gaining freedom, an insight into the country's economics and current affairs, I thought, would be very much on offer. (turned out to be from a judicial standpoint or a working man's standpoint if I have not misread or misjudged it, apologies if so).
My forte, to be honest, is reading simple English writing and this book excels at it. The language is simple, precise and to the point. After doing circles on thinking how to write a review for this book, I have come to a conclusion that, its better I categorize the contents of the book into sections or groups many of which are as below. (this I felt sets the expectation of reader in a more easy way).
1. Ms Seth's childhood, schooling and college.
2. Ms Seth's law practice across Calcutta, Patna, Delhi, Shimla.
3. Ms Seth's stay and about the houses, their gardens, flowers across Darjeeling, London, Batanagar, Patna, Calcutta, Delhi, Shimla, Noida.
4. Ms Seth's travel across India and across America, Europe (Italy, Swiss, England...)
5. Current state of affairs and economics of the country when Ms Seth was student/lawyer/judge/when she retired.
6. Judiciary, people involved - names of lawyers, judges who were practicing, various courts and their locations.
7. Beaureacracy - how it affected her personal life as well as professional life.
8. Personal lives of Mr and Ms Seth, kids growing up, their education, abroad stay and study of both Vikram and Shantum.
9. Decisions which Ms Seth took as a lawyer, judge or homemaker.
I enjoyed most parts of the book that dealt with personal lives or side of Seth's. But when it came to judiciary (on an approx 200 pages), I can safely say, I had to pass on through it pretty quickly without much contemplation. I find it difficult to remember name and places thing, and here you have names of lawyers, judges their locations of practice and few cases here and there. It was a bit tough for me, so I chose to read through it. Regarding current affairs of the country - there is mention of Emergency, 1984 riots, demolition drive of 1992, 2002 riots. I, again read these quickly as I wasn't interested in these.
Ms Seth has written about few incidents which needed a person to be super tough. CBI enquiry against Mr Seth, having another kid for her brother and sister in law. It just proves one thing Ms Seth was indeed a super woman, brave, composed and grounded.
As with every book, I did have some more things which I wanted to know about, just to get through with my curiosity, but didn't happen. I shall write about them too.
Ms Seth - has mentioned she loved English literature. But there isn't much mention of books which she read while studying or working. Only one which I remember was by Victor Hugo. One more thing which I was interested to know was the celebration of festivals. I remember reading about Holi and one more, but India being a land of festivals, I suppose, I was expecting a bit more elaborate information on other festivals too. Going by the name On Balance, I was expecting a few tips from Ms Seth on how to balance personal and professional life. I couldn't find them directly, may be I have to infer them through the writings. But then again, my mind just asks and expects random things out of every book.
Cheers,
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