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TOS: Assignment - Book Review

TOS Assignment – Book Review

Invisible Cities…

The name of the book by Italo Calvino describes the depth of it. According to me, every city lives by one rule – it HAS to die one or the other day no matter what it has gone through. The book portrays a conversation between the emperor of the Tartars, Kublai Khan and the young Venetian Marco Polo about cities that may or may not have existed. It is a book solely based on imagination to help a person eliminate the odds and to create a perfect city.

This book makes a point not only to describe the city, the layout, but also the inhabitants, their habits, their way of living. The special part about it is, the book forced me to think out of the box and compare it with reality.

The conversations between Marco Polo and the Emperor Kublai Khan kept me engrossed in the story and also interestingly read and understand the descriptions of each and every city out of the fifty five cities. It acts as a strong link as to what the author tries to explain and what the reader understands.

The architecture of the built cities is well described by Italo Calvino, the author. For eg., the city of Zenobia where it is described the way the bamboo houses are made with stilt supports for the balconies at different levels. This also makes me think of aesthetical view of the city.

The cities described are just the game of imagination of the human mind. For example, Marco Polo gives a description of cities ranging from posh cities like Diomira, to hidden ones and cities with no walls, floors or ceilings. It goes as far as cities where only those people live who have already faced death. It clearly is the creative human mind which can make one think of such cities of imagination as well. The cities are built in a planned way or just constructed by chance.

This wonderful book does not only make you enjoy reading but also helps you exercise your imagination to the fullest. ’Invisible Cities’ also has the capability to make a person think of different kinds of architecture in different terrains to create a city of his own.

TOS ASSIGHNMENT-Memories of a place visited in the chilhood

Venice, the city of Romance. It’s the best description of the place in one word. I went on a trip to Europe in the year 2002 when I was just 12yrs. The liveliest, welcoming and HAPPENING place in the trip was Venice.

We had just one and a half days to see the whole city of Venice. Since we all were very tired the day we reached, we couldn’t see much, so almost everything was accumulated for the next day’s schedule.

We started our day by visiting some old churches in the city. In the late afternoon, we were taken to the Gondola rides near St. Mark’s square which was such an amazing experience. Me and my sister were playing with the water and splashing it on each other. There were times when we went under the tunnels and it turned so dark and scary. We couldn't see a thing. That was just another level of darkness.

Well then later in the evening we went to the St. Mark’s sq. This place was extremely filled with pigeons.  One side of the sq. was a big church with domes and arches, the two walls adjacent to the church were a colonnade structure and the fourth side was an open entrance with a beautiful statue of a warrior with a sword in his hand, sitting on a horse in the middle of the entrance.

There were venders selling corn seeds for us to feed                      the pigeons. When we put corn in our hands, all the pigeons came to us and ate it from our hands, some sitting on the arms and hands and some on the head. They were also supporting themselves on my dad’s collar and eating. It felt so nice to feed the birds.  A slight movement in you and they all fly away together. They ditch you and go to another person. And when it started raining, all the people and the pigeons go under the colonnade structure. We were around 14-20 kids in the trip. We were all enjoying our time with the pigeons when our guide gave us the bad news to go back to the ship as we had to see a few other places in the city too. My parents just went to take a photo with the statue and gave us instructions not to move anywhere. But unfortunately the group started moving towards the ship and so I also went along without realizing that my sister was still left behind as she didn’t see the group moving. After the photo my parents also joined the group and on the way they realized that my sister wasn’t in the group. That was one scary feeling I have ever had, he feeling of losing a family member. I was so freaked out and couldn’t believe in what was happening. My parents and the guide ran back to the sq.to find her. Fortunately she was with a family who were about to call the police when they found her. In the mean while my parents reached and got her back to the ship. And guess what…when she came back, all my sympathy for her had gone and I was so jealous of her because the guide had bought her a can of coke…..then we just happily went to see the other places in the city.

This was the best trip I have ever had…                                                                               words: 570

Submitted by

Garima mendiratta        A/2095/2008