What are you reading these days?

[dallysingh101]

I thought I'd start a thread so we could share interesting books we are reading. They don't have to be Sikhi orientated.

 

I'm currently reading: Frances Kray: The Tragic Bride by Jacky Hyams

 

I grew up in the East End of London and the legend of the Kray twins is one that is part of the local folklore. I started reading narratives that went past the image they so successfully created for themselves with a book called Bringing Down The Krays: Finally the truth about Ronnie and Reggie by the man who took them down by Bobby Teale. 

The book about Frances is very interesting in many respects because it gives an account of the young wife of Reggie Kray and how she was drawn into the twins world which ultimately led to her premature demise. It also gives a fascinating account of East London during and immediately after WW2 going to the 60s (the author and her family grew up in that period), which is the period immediately preceding my own families (granddad's) arrival into the area. I recommend it for anyone who grew up in the area, and also for people to learn how the attraction of power and success can entice young innocent girls into a violent world they can't escape from. 

[dallysingh101]

^^^^ 

Can I just add: The book also details what life for a women may be like if she gets married to a closet homosexual (plot spoiler  - it doesn't end well). 

Just throw that in for anyone who may need it....

[dallysingh101]

Reading:

The selected Letters of Charles Dickens edited by Jenny Hartley.

Fascinating insight into the life of a literary genius and impressive social activist.  

[Ranjeet01]

Atomic Habits - James Clear

[MisterrSingh]

On 12/26/2021 at 8:42 PM, dallysingh101 said:

Reading:

The selected Letters of Charles Dickens edited by Jenny Hartley.

Fascinating insight into the life of a literary genius and impressive social activist.  

This f****r was cheering on Jalianwalah Bagh and s*****g Jewish c**k when his Semitic high society pals started intimating that he needed to stop writing Jewish characters who were money-grubbing, cold-hearted opportunists who exploited the poor. F**k Dickens.

Quote

However ignored in the celebrations will be the reality that Charles Dickens, like many of his English and British contemporaries, was a genocidal racist. Thus Charles Dickens in a letter to Emile de la Rue on 23 October 1857 about the so-called Indian Mutiny of 1857 :  “I wish I were Commander in Chief over there [ India ]! I would address that Oriental character which must be powerfully spoken to, in something like the following placard, which should be vigorously translated into all native dialects, “I, The Inimitable, holding this office of mine, and firmly believing that I hold it by the permission of Heaven and not by the appointment of Satan, have the honor to inform you Hindoo gentry that it is my intention, with all possible avoidance of unnecessary cruelty and with all merciful swiftness of execution, to exterminate the Race from the face of the earth, which disfigured the earth with the late abominable atrocities [2,000 British killed in the 1857 Indian War of Independence aka the 1857 Indian Mutiny] (see Grace Moore (2004), “Dickens and the Empire. Discourses of class, race, and colonialism in the works of Charles Dickens” (Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot , UK

He was a hack; a third-rate Tolstoy. The English fellate this frigger because he was the best they had. He was mediocre.

[dallysingh101]

6 hours ago, MisterrSingh said:

This f****r was cheering on Jalianwalah Bagh and s*****g Jewish c**k when his Semitic high society pals started intimating that he needed to stop writing Jewish characters who were money-grubbing, cold-hearted opportunists who exploited the poor. F**k Dickens.

He was a hack; a third-rate Tolstoy. The English fellate this frigger because he was the best they had. He was mediocre.

I hear you. But I think most goray would've cheered the slaughter on.

The letters book is very interesting for me because it gives a clear glimpse of a brutal victorian england (especially London!) that I can juxtaposition with what I know was happening in our own homeland at the time, as there are quite a few contemporary accounts of that too. It goes to show yet again, that insaniyatwise, our society was more advance than them at that pre-annexation time in Sikh raj.

Some of the really interesting letters concern a 'home' he and another very prominent women opened up to retrain and redeem randhees. The shenanigans that went on there were hilarious at times and gives an early insight into attempts at turning hoes into housewives.

Yes he was a racist c**t, and he was in all probability sh@gging about left, right and centre. But he did challenge his own society in terms of prisoner reform and humanising poor sections of his society like orphans. Which endured for a while - although it looks like england is going to go backwards in that respect now.   

 

[dallysingh101]

Quote

This f****r was cheering on Jalianwalah Bagh

This can't be true, he died in 1870, Jallianwala Bagh happened in 1919, nearly 50 years later.

[MisterrSingh]

2 hours ago, dallysingh101 said:

This can't be true, he died in 1870, Jallianwala Bagh happened in 1919, nearly 50 years later.

Sorry, I meant the Indian Mutiny. The words of the Sikh guy who tried to take out the Queen on Christmas Day got me all emotional and mixed up.

[Not2Cool2Argue]

On 12/28/2021 at 2:56 AM, MisterrSingh said:

 

He was a hack; a third-rate Tolstoy. The English fellate this frigger because he was the best they had. He was mediocre.

I think it was totally justifiable for him to hate the Indian mutiny. We Sikhs ourselves were pretty against it as no Sikhs joined in. 

Also it was the Indian military against civilians. That's pretty horrific.. I think the Hindus and Muslims soldiers killed a lot of women and children of Lucknow. That would make anyone angry. 

Yeah his letter is pretty genocidal. But I can see why he would write that. He probably thought military trained men targeting women and families pretty despicable  thing for a  people to do. 

Also, i think we as Sikhs have been taught the lesson of balance and truth multiple times. Even if someone is bad, their body of work shouldn't be discounted. Look at aurangzeb, guruji noticed his piety, skills in battle etc in zafarnama. 

[MisterrSingh]

18 minutes ago, Not2Cool2Argue said:

I think it was totally justifiable for him to hate the Indian mutiny. We Sikhs ourselves were pretty against it as no Sikhs joined in. 

Also it was the Indian military against civilians. That's pretty horrific.. I think the Hindus and Muslims soldiers killed a lot of women and children of Lucknow. That would make anyone angry. 

Yeah his letter is pretty genocidal. But I can see why he would write that. He probably thought military trained men targeting women and families pretty despicable  thing for a  people to do. 

Also, i think we as Sikhs have been taught the lesson of balance and truth multiple times. Even if someone is bad, their body of work shouldn't be discounted. Look at aurangzeb, guruji noticed his piety, skills in battle etc in zafarnama. 

I probably did go overboard yesterday.