A cover that will make your heart melt. A story that will touch Ayou to the core. A philosophy that will set you free. That is the book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, for you. By Milan Kundera. The narrative is about a hopeless womanizer and his wife and how he is torn between the two. On the parallel plane the story also revolves around a woman and her quest to betray. Tereza is a hard working girl who is unhappy with her mother. Her life affords her no privacy and the mother, a hopeless alcoholic, does everything to make, Tereza's life miserable. One day she meets Tomas in the pub where she is working as a waitress. She falls in love with him and later marries him. The parallel story is about a woman called Sabina and her lover. She is a painter and is yet to find her roots. Her problem is her compulsive desire to betray the people in her life till she is left alone. The story has a rhythm and flows smoothly. There are many references to Fredrick Nietzsche, the very famous German philosopher. The narrative draws inspiration from every day events and you will find many similarities with how the characters think and behave like our own self. The book is not for light reading. If you are looking for food for thought and if your taste in reading surpasses the ever intolerable Mills and Boons then you may want to go for this book. It will make you think, question and challenge some of your beliefs. The one quality that I look for in any piece of literature. For a seasoned reader it is a masterpiece. And for the uninitiated, well there are many bookshops that will have a supply of Sweet Valley High. Pulkit Singh BA (Journo, Psy and Eng RK Narayan is a writer who needs no introduction. Being very Indian in his writings and Rselection of characters, he is often called 'the writer of the common people'. His writings always dealt with the day to day life of common people. His characters are simple, but with a strong background. He is the man who fascinated us with his 'Malgudi Days', Malgudi being an imaginary place. The reality in the description is such that even today, there are people who believe that Malgudi really exists. RK's voluminous output include fourteen novels, five stories, fours essays, three retold legends, two travelogues and a memoir. I am lucky to have got hold of one of these. It is 'The Guide'. This book was first published in Great Britain by Methuen and Company Limited and in the US by Vikings. In the same year, the first Indian edition also came out. This story also occurs in Malgudi. The Guide, as the title suggests, is the story of a tourist guide, Raju who underwent various transformations in life. The shrewd and corrupt Raju falls in love with a dancer, Rosie. He had to leave his family and becomes her manager. Later, he goes to jail after being charged with forgery and finally ends as one of the great holy men. The book describes a saint who is neither born nor made but simply happened. It could also describe the Indian life with all its depth beneath. It has all the excitement of a suspense story. The specialty in its narration is that the story is told in past and present. The sudden shift to the present and past lives of the protagonist is really amazing. It is to be mentioned that the author could really handle it without giving space for disagreement. The aptness of the title is another thing to be mentioned. Raju started his life as a shopkeeper and was called Railway Raju. Later, he became a tourist guide and came to be known as Guide Raju. Later, he was jailed and becomes a Swami who gave spiritual guidance to the villagers after his release. Also he became his own guide. Moreover, it is the Indian ness of the novel which attracted me. Instances such as snake-charming, Rosie's dance, she being described as a snake woman, her return to the husband, Raju being worshipped as a holy man, his fasting to bring down rain, all suggest this 'homely' feeling. The existences of caste and devadasi system also find mention. Another specialty of the book is that it has an open ending. Raju, by the time is a completely transformed man. The novel ends with these words- “Velan, it is raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet but up my legs.” He sagged down on his feetwe don't know what really happened to him. Was rain just a fascination or was it a reality? Anyway, the fate of Raju is left in the hands of the readers. All the characters of the story, Raju, Marco, Rosie, Raju's mother, Velan, have their own identity. Marco's interest in the caves and his reluctance towards Rosie, Rosie's love for dance, the very Indian village mindedness of Raju's mother and the simplicity of Velan- are all stamped in our memory with just a single reading of the book. Ritu Raveendran MS (Communication)