It was the year of 2008. I took up Gandhiji’s much hyped autobiography “My Experiments with Truth“. I started reading it. There was a tear drop on the side of my face. No, no, I was not touched or emotional. I was yawning away so much that my eyes were watering. I kept down the book and snored. Everytime I took the book, I could not read beyond a few pages. The book was “boring”.
I am huge fan of Mahatma Gandhi. But with all due respects to the man, his autobiography was boring.
I returned the book to the library and never dared to take it up again.
Then I took up Agatha Christie’s autobiography. I read upto 150 pages. It was interesting. Yet the book bored me in many ways. I don’t know if it is the fault with me or the autobiography.
I returned even this book to the library. Dint have the courage to take up any other autobiography.
Then I chanced upon a book “Memoirs of a Mediocre Man” by S.Y.Krishnaswamy today. I let out a “wow” when I read the first page. He summarizes what exactly I feel about autobiographies:
“Autobiographies make dull reading, as a rule. The incidents which appear to be of importance to the autobiographer are of scant interest to the general reader. They represent the details of daily life, which are no different for the great from those of ordinary persons. But to the writer, they are of absorbing personal interest. Autobiographies are mostly written in old age. By then, the past becomes pleasant in recollection. The mind distils the events in such a way that trivial incidents assume a falsely romantic hue, and the tendency to eschew the distressing and exaggerate the delightful unconsciously assets itself.”
This led me to think sometimes our blogs or our very own writings are like autobiographies. We sometimes give a romantic hue and exaggeration to the little details of life.
Well, human nature is full of moments of such interest to me.
(Any good autobiography recommendations are welcome at the recommender’s own risk 
)
6 Comments
September 17, 2009 at 1:14 pm
You MUST read R.K.Laxman’s autobiography “The Tunnel of Time”. One of the best autobiographies I have ever read.
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Surprisingly though R.K.Narayan’s autobiography is quite boring. Laxman’s is beautiful and pretty much like RKN’s writings
September 17, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Ayyo, you should pick up some controversial biographies/autobiographies. Have you tried Katherine Frank’s bio on Indira Gandhi ? Nice peek into her private life
And TJS George on MS. MS had a love life, you know
Autobiographies are rarely good.
September 21, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Hi !!
Funny title(the ‘yawn ‘ part ..) and good narration. Btw i also happen to like many blogs from ur archive!
September 22, 2009 at 10:13 am
@Revs:
Thanks for the suggestion. Will try to look for the book next time I go buying books. R.K.Narayan’s autobiography and boring..ayyo
@whencat:
Wow, sounds very interesting. especially the MS part
Do you have the books you have suggested? Can I borrow them?
@Vikram:
Thanks a lot for dropping by to comment. Glad you like my blog. Keep reading!!
September 23, 2009 at 10:20 am
well I find a lot of bloggers writing as if they are writing their biographies..and try to make a mundane chore sound so exotic !!
September 23, 2009 at 7:01 pm
You always seem to hit me with coincidence and like-minded thoughts. Check out my latest post “Pit Stop” on my blog. Though the content of the post is significant to my life, one of the comments from a friend on that post proves your take on biography right.