Eat, pray, love

A big fat book. I realized, among other things, that I have stopped reading fiction. I wonder why? Is it because I spend too much time in meditation, etc? Am I guarding my mind from bad company? ;)

Or is it because I wrote fiction and know how truly fiction is basically a non-extant entity: everything is true, at different levels. And truth is one big endless blog. One can write it, in parts, but who on earth can read a blog that just goes on and on?

Eat pray love is a novel written by Elizabeth Gilbert. The cover is a nice white texture, almost like Khadi. The word 'eat' is written with grated cheese, 'pray' is made of rudraksha beads, and 'love' is of course flowers.

I was told to read this book, about six months ago, by someone who read mine. 'It is very similar,' he said. A few months later, I caught an article which mentioned that Julia Roberts has come to India to star in a movie based on the same book.

So, it was my duty to buy and to read this. And now, it is also my duty to review it. Ok, let me get the jealous bit out. Nope, I am not jealous because this book is a big hit.

My jealousy goes into deeper waters. The seeker in the book is a far more intense character than me. She taps into a higher self while she is crying her heart out, traumatized by a failed marriage. In other words, she meets God the hard way. I have had it so easy. My tears are mostly made of the same stuff as bliss.

Two, she wakes up every morning in an ashram I frequented, at 3:30 am (!) to meditate and to pray. And I am still struggling with two alarms on my mobile that my husband snaps shut without my awareness.

Three, she does not grasshop. She stays put in one ashram in India for six complete months. Not only does she survive it, the reader doesn't get bored either. How this grasshopper wishes she could have been a turtle too.

And four, she has a contract, from a publisher, to seek, to eat, to pray, to love, to travel the world for two years and then to write a book about her travels!

Now that the green stuff is out, let me get to the review.

Eat is interesting, pray is beautiful, love is interesting.

She got to me, when she scrubbed the floors of a temple. A temple I recognized. A temple I prayed to, for devotion. I could kiss her hands for that.

How beautiful, that devotees meet each other in books, on temple floors and wipe each other's tears.