Reading a book in one go is something that sounds exceptionally simple but in reality is an extremely informative process. It speak tonnes of human intelligence, psychology, language, moods, thoughts… in short, it could be an insight into the mind and its ways of working. To get someone to read a book in one go is therefore a process that requires aligning oneself to life in its totality.
This is what Suresh C. Pillai has done in Thanmathram . A nano scientist, and a sensitive one at that, he seems to have tuned himself to life around him and got at least an idea of the engineering that drives it. The engineering that has evolved out of a complex process but whose result, in all its innateness, is simple to comprehend and execute.
Pouring the essence of his findings into the book, he has made it something that can be finished in one easy sitting and whose taste will linger on in the mind of the reader long after it has been put down. An irksome factor, however, is the Facebook-like comments at the end of each essay that attempts at polluting the clarity of the read.
Tidbits of information and awareness that he has collected over the years, from his childhood to his term as an academic, a researcher and a scientist, has been packaged into the book in short essays. They deal with varied facets – as varied as the relation between spouses to use of language in all its simplicity to food that satisfies the soul with the memories of tastes rather than the richness with which it is made. There are exceedingly elemental topics covered too, like individual freedom, stages of growing up, need for aligning human life with nature, and to be proud of whatever we are.
A bit of the author’s life unravels before us as we read into the book, which makes us feel he does juggle many important and busy roles. A question that came up, quite naturally, was how did he manage all that time to stand and stare so deep into life around? Maybe for someone like him, who dabbles with the miniscule nature of particles that make up the universe around us, it is a trait.
Thanmathram
Dr. Suresh C. Pillai
Tamara
Rs.160
