Tales from Firozsha Baag - Rohinton Mistry

Since the time i watched Pestonjee, i have been fascinated by the Parsi community. My father was of the opinion that there are only two kinds on Parsis, either they are phenominally brillant or they are totally dumb. And the only parsi i knew in my life.. the late Dr. Bharucha (my uncle's friend) , one of the most interesting person i have met in my life belonged the former catergory.
So it was this desire to know more about them that made me pick up Tales of Firozsha baag. The book contains about 10 short stories all revolving around the three apartment blocks of Firozsha baag and each with a reference to the other.
All the stories revolve around human emotions, be it lost love or someone trying to adjust to life in Canada. Each character is unique, be it Najamai or Rustomji or Nariman, but Kersi and Jehangir are the two that are most interesting.
Recommended........

Best Indian Short Stories - Vol I and II

Each one picked by Khuswant Singh, most of which he received during his stint with Illustrated weekly.
As he mentions in the introduction, that the art of short stories is thankfully still intact in India, whereas in most other places, they try to squeeze a novel into a couple of pages and pass it off as a short story.
The ones listed in these two books range from supernatural to mystic, from subjects dealing with human emotions to natural disasters etc. Notable among these are the ones by Qurratulain Hyder, P.L. Desphande, R.K. Laxman and Khuswant Singh. I specially liked Honour by Q.Hyder and the KS game from Khuswant Singh..
Most of these are translated from Urdu, punjabi and hindi and I guess they would have sounded better reading them in the language in which they were written coz somewhere along the line, the translated story loses its flavour..But a must have nonetheless..

English August - Upamanyu Chatterjee

The 80's cult book.. It captures the uncertainties and obscureness in the life of Agastya Sen, an IAS fresh recruite posted in the dead-town of Madna and how he finally decides that IAS is so not for him. Its cynical, sarcastic and of course funny.. specially in places where Agastya or August explains the history and the significance of his name.
Like Gulzar mentions in BnB... its all about "Khali bore dupehron se" and how the almost always high on mariajuana August manages to survive it all.
Well it must have all stemed from Upamanyu's personal experience in the services.
The book certainly makes a good read but being too cynical in places.. you wouldn't want to go back it again.
Now that it is made into a movie (as the cover page mentions in big bold letters)... hoping to catch sometime in the near future.

Kardamom Kisses - Shinie Antony

Super... after a long time! The last equally good one that i read was Ravan n Eddie. It is realistic as most Indian novels tend to be but the narration and the way it is presented is interesting. The initial part of the narration is through Drupa, the second daughter of Mangala, a keralite and Kedar, a punjabi singer. The cultural and intellectual differences have lead to their separation and the kids are initially living with their mom in a small town in Kerala and the second half is begins with Kedar taking the children off to Delhi. The humor is very good, specially when the author describes both the cultures, the attitude of the people around etc although i feel she has been a bit partial to the Keralite part of drupa's family :).
Here is what she has she say about her book (as quoted in a newspaper):

(it is)actually a plethora of numbers - single mothers, two sisters, triplet
aunts and a person with four breasts. This novel is more mathematical than
familial

Whats noteworthy is that both Chetan and Shinie thank each other in their respective novels, but both the novels are so diametrically different from one another!!!

Recommended....

One night @ the call centre - Chetan Bhagat

A let down after the hugely popular 'Five point someone', this book isn't as engrossing as the first one. It starts off well, but seems dragged a bit in between and gets very predictable at the end. One very visible difference between the two books being that while FPS was very much autobiographical, One night... seems to be a researched book and the effort becomes very evident.
The story revolves around Shyam, Priyanka, Vroom, Esha, Radhika and Military uncle and their one frustrating night at the call centre. The male bonding (the USP of the first book) works again and the humour between Shyam and Vroom is enjoyable, but the girls could have been presented better. Military uncle in hardly in the picture...
Could have been better....

Time Mag's All time top 100 English Novels...

... Read it here

link via indianwriting

Mistress - Anita Nair

Well, its typical Anita Nair book and i have just read ladies coupe apart from this, but still i feel most of her books would be like this. Its a good book, very true to life... So true that it can be very depressing. Its the story of Radha, Shyam, Chris and Koman. Its set in the backdrop of kerala and uses Kathakali as its basis. Each chapter begins with a beautiful explanation of one of the navrasaas and she provides an analogy from nature for each of the nine expressions. The story in itself is very depressing (not cynical, just depressing!) and whatever hope emerges is when she writes about Kathakali. Like when she explains about 'Bhayaanakam' or Fear, she says all the other eight feelings can be pretended, but when it comes to fear, it always gives the person away.

Now that i have read quite a few indian authors, i must say that they tend to generally write very depressing stuff... not all but majority of them. In such cases these IIM, IIT ones bring in those light moments and i guess thats why they sell more that others :)

An Equal Music - Vikram Seth

For some strange reason, this book keeps reminding me of Before Sunset. Maybe because of the references to Vienna and Venice or that the protagonist girl friend is called Julia. At certain places, i could even visualize Ethan Hawke and Julia Delpy!
An Equal Music is about Michael, a violinist who plays with a string quatert name Maggiore and the love of his life, Julia a piano player. The story flows like a calm river and you are just content with sitting on its shores and letting it take its course. Its spans 10 years of Michael life, 10 years in which he regrets having to leave Julia, is elated when they meet again only to realize that she is deaf and will never be able to play music with him again and his subsequent breakdown.
The book is filled with references to classical music and a person with certain basic knowledge might be able to appreciate it better.
Its not exactly a light read, neither is it philosophically like Shantaram. Its not even a feel-good kind of book, but surely worth a read.

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Truth they say is stranger than fiction and this book is a true testimony to that. The escape from prison in Australia, the arrival in Bombay, the clinic in the slum, the stint with bollywood, the fight along with the Mujaheddins in Afghanistan and just the presence of this book is so extraordinary that it’s hard to believe the truth behind it all.

Shantaram is the true story of Gregory David Roberts, a convict who escapes from a prison in Australia and ends up in Bombay where he spends 8 long years before his re-capture in Germany and the extradition back to his home country.

The book is very interesting and one on the very few ones which I have truly cherished each and every word. Just the way he has put across things is so interesting and different that it makes you think and want to re-read the whole thing again and again. And there are these pieces of wisdom in the book that I have been using on my friends, like the one that says “News is what people do and gossip is how much they enjoyed doing it” or the one where Karla says “Luck is what happens to you when fate gets tired of waiting” and every single person I have mentioned it to have nodded their head in agreement.

A fascinating book and every bit worth reading.

Rage

An apt title to the novel by Balaji Venkateswaran. It chronicles the life of Lakshmi, a beautiful danseuse and her journey to fame and the dizzy world of politics and how she loses each and every one of her loved ones to the demonic rage within her.. her mom, her grandmother, her best friend, her daughter and finally her ownself.
The story is narrated through Vasuki, her childhood friend and her prospective groom at one time.She is projected as a self-centric, manipulative and stubborn person who has always led her life on her terms. She is a totally enigma to people around here, a little like Jayalalitha. And i did read somewhere that this was based on her life.
The book does get a tad bit boring sometime in between, but among those "life at IIT, IIM" kind of books, this truely is etched out better and worth a read.

Mediocre, But Arrogant..

..in short MBA. Its a new book by Abhijit Bhaduri. Its on the same lines as Chetan Bhagat's Five point someone. Its based in Management Institute of Jamshedpur or MI-Jampot as Abbey, the protogonist calls it. Just like Five point, the protogonist in this one too is the average but likeable guy, someone who can't decide which among the three girls he actually loves and inspite of such huge complications in life has to somehow clear his exams and stay afloat :).
The humor though is much better compared to Five point, specially the oxymorons that Rascal Rusty, Abbey's friend, mentor, saviour etc has a hobby of collecting. Some examples being: civil-engineers, learning on the job, military intelligence, strategic planning etc.. The references to "Alps and her healthy lungs" etc etc brings out the the common indian 'male' student's lingo very well.

A total time pass paisa vasool kind of book.

Book collector or book lover????

Interesting article, but not one that I fully agree with.. But it got me thinking.. am I a book collector or am I a book lover or is it neither?!!!
Book lover!!.. um, I don't think so, a book lover should be able to read books across different subjects and genres... me, I just read fiction, so I can't be called a book lover...
Going by the definition provided by the author of the article, I cannot surely be classified as a book collector... I am not very particular about the shape and size of the book, although I like the rusty-dusty smell that old books possess and I generally don't have qualms about buying books from a road-seller.. So....

Maximum City - Suketu Mehta

A book about good ol' Bombay(just like Suketu it will always be bombay to me). A fitting title, after all bombay is a city of extremeties. But what stands out in the book is that the whole narration is non-judgemental, allowing the readers to draw their own conclusions. The author has done a lot of research, meeting with the shooters, the dadas, the politicians and would have tended to form his own opinion but he never forces this on the reader.

The book brings Bombay alive, a dark bombay with all its crime, its bhais and the chamiya in the dance bar, a dazzling bombay with larger than life stars and a confused blur bombay where these two meet. The book emphasizes more on the people the author has meet, the people who make bombay for what it is, a place always desirable to the *outsiders*.

But many people who have read the book feel that the book depicts Bombay only in two colours black and white... why isn't he written about normal people, the grey or the off-white ones? But then these people are found in any other city too..what makes Bombay unique is that it is able to to present a vibrant techni-colour picture inspite of its start contrasts. I mean where else will you find a dirty *jhopadpati* next to a million buck bungalow.

The only drawback of this book is that it isn't available in paperback, so beg, borrow or steal but read the book...

Interpreter Of Maladies

It’s a collection of nine short stories and as the cover mentions “from Boston, Bengal and beyond”. The stories are short simple and very human. But all of them have a strong Bengali base; maybe coz Jhumpa has a Bengali parentage.

The book starts with a story of a couple who have lost their child and with it their marriage too and ends with a story of man who has spent his life in three different continents finally settling in America. Each story is very different from the other but all have an “Indianess” to them. But the best of all is the Interpreter of maladies. It’s got good movie material, and Om puri would make a fine Mr Kapasi.

But what surprised me was although all the stories were plesant none of them was what you call brilliant given that the book had won The Pulitzer’s prize. Looking forward to reading “The Namesake”…

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

A good combination of humor and sci-fi. Humour I can take, Sci-Fi, not my genre. I have always felt that you need a much more intellectual and imaginative mind to appreciate sci-fi. I had read a couple of “Doctor Who” series during my college days and wasn’t able to appreciate it even a wee-bit. “But hitchhikers..” was a different thing altogether. Maybe the humor was what got me thru.

Its basically a story of how Arthur, an earthman is saved by his friend Ford Prefect, an out-of-work actor from Betelgeuse, just seconds before earth is completely destroyed..

I did not understand the initial part of the book, but the ideas presented later on are really good. Consider this, there is a long lost planet called Margartha, and the main occupation of the citizens was to create custom made planets and Earth was one of them, custom made for the mice. The humans have always assumed that they were the ones experimenting on the mice, but actually it was the other way round ;-P!! Earth was basically created in an attempt to find the ultimate Q to the ultimate answer (answer: forty two !!!!!?????), but unfortunately it was just destroyed by the Vogons couple of seconds before the calculations were complete.
Arthur then meet Zaphod, Ford’ cousin who has stolen the “Heart of Gold” which is a space ship that runs on improbability, the greater the improbability, more the power!! And so on…


The book ends pretty abruptly making way for a sequel and I am told there four more books in the series. Although I personally did not enjoy the book I would recommend it for people who enjoy sci-fi… others can give it a try!!

Delhi - A Novel

Three important suggestions before we start

1. Never let anybody know u have read the book... (an exception as i am writing the review ;-D )
2. If it is borrowed from someone, never reveal the person's name..people generally tend to be very judgemental!!
3. Do not judge the book on your first read... analyze it a little longer.

Okay here we go...

Delhi, um hm by Khushwanth Singh. Its a book that chronicles the *glorious* past of Delhi, since the time it was invaded by the mughals to the time Indira Gandhi was assasinated.. The protogonist is a sardar currently having a passionate affair with..aahh.. a hijda. Each phase of delhi is put across as a autobio of the ruler of that time and after each phase the story returns to the present and back to Bhagmati(u know who)...

There is a common thread to each story, Each of which talks about a ruler who basically wanted to conquer delhi, spread Islam to the whole world(u know how ;-D ), and consider himself the best around... Nothing great ha?? But what's different from your normal history text book is that it talks a lot about each rulers sexual preferences and has a lot of dirty stuff involved in it.. Its really suprising to know that such things actually had a lot of impact (no pun intended) on what happened then and how it affected Delhi..

The book basically leaves a disgusting feeling once u read through it( I am sure some might not even want to complete the book after a couple of chapters), but the proper history part is really interesting. I mean common history in school was never put across in such an interesting manner, was it? I studied about shivaji and his great achievement all through my school life, but only when i visited daulatabad in 12th did i realize that the guy had nine wives!!! Nothing great though, but wouldn't it have added a bit of spice to history in school ;-).

Recommended ... ya maybe

The Great Indian Novel –by Shashi Tharoor

A book that truly and totally lives up to its name. One of the best books of fiction I have read. As the review says, “It’s a book that reinvents India with a dazzling marriage of Hindu myth and modern history”. The threads of the greatest Hindu myth “The Mahabharata” are so well woven into the Indian freedom struggle, just like a beautiful Kashmiri carpet!!Check this; the great Bhisma (Gangaji in the book) is equated to Gandhi and Indira Gandhi is Priya Duryodhani, the only daughter of Dhritirashtra equivalent to 100 sons!!! It’s an amazing book, with just the right amount of humor. As the financial times review mentions it “A real tour de force only an Indian could write”. A must read…

Piece of Cake – Swati Kaushal

It’s a story of a 29 year old MBA graduate working for International Foods. It would make an ideal theme for ‘Star Bestsellers’. It’s more like somebody’s blog. The beginning is really good, but it becomes a little predictable towards the end. A decent effort for a first timer.
First book that I finished in one sitting. Recommended for people who prefer something light…

Holy Cow - An Indian experience

Interesting title and even more interesting cover page!! It's supposed to be a travel book (or rather I found it in the travel section in landmark!!) but it just recounts Sarah's experiences of India, a country that she hated and vowed never to return too. But return she does and slowly starts to love it for it's all its extremities, its diversity and much more. Leaving behind her own budding career, she spends her sabbatical traveling around the country: attending a Vipassana meditation course, seeking out a Sikh Ayurvedic "miracle healer", bathing in the Ganges during Kumbh Mela, studying Buddhism in Dharamsala, dabbling in Judaism with Israeli tourists, experiencing horror at Parsi practices of vultures feeding on the dead, visiting Sai Baba and Mata Amritananda, attending a Christian festival in Velankani and singing with Sufis. Most of which i have never done inspite of living here for 23 long years!!

Its more like an atheistic's spiritual journey! A song that fits the essence of the book very well is Rabbi's "Bulla Ki Jaana Mai Kaun"

Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh

Its different from all the books i have read till date. It very Indian and makes a very smooth read. It tells the story of Piyali and Kanai and their journey through the tide country of sunderbans, of Nirmal and nilima and their idealisms, of Fokir, Moyna, Kusum and Horen and their struggle for existence, of the myth of BonBibi, ShahJongli, DakhshinRai and Dukkhey and much more.
Its about each of them finding their place in the world. The history of the place, mainly Sir Hamilton's dream, the stories of the local deities, cetological details, the back stories for each character makes the book more interesting page after page.
Recommended, special when one is on a vacation or when one has lot of time to actually relish(for loss of any other word) the book!!

Five point someone...

Was intrigued by this book after reading Chaitra's blog....This is a book by an indian author..and so the identification-with-the-characters is a defenite reality unlike most of the books that claim to be... This was one of the books where the characters have this coming-to-age experience... I for one was completely enamoured by this book..It basically dealt with how things can go wrong, when you are " not thinking straight"... Hari, Alok and Ryan have got into IIT, and things take a nose-dive after their initial jubiliation at making it into one of the premier Educational institutes in India.. They are frustrated at the onus on assignments, tests and basically being burdened with work...they yearn to be free, but are scared to go against the system..Until Ryan comes up with his ideas, and this is where they let him take over their lives and begin to enjoy their life..They have a lot of good times and their friendship goes through many hardships...They have a whale of a time and are content mostly because they have lost the drive to get good grades...The book has a lot of emotions, ranging from comic drunk scenes, to ones of love blossoming and bearing fruits...and veering off towards tragedy and guilt ridden nights... This book must be a Bollywood producer's dream...and it is no wonder that the 70mm version is going to be out pretty soon..I am not sure if i am going to watch this on the big screen..for I already have a vision of this book, and have been able to identify with a lot of the parts here.. The movie is going to be a projection of the director's view and I do not want to be imposed upon by that view...On the othr hand it might be a good idea to watch it..if only for the sole reason as to see how much this book could impact people...I am sure that there are going to be alot of mixed reactions based on their own college experiences... I can identify with these guys..because I was never ine to be buried in books..I was always doing these last-minute thingies..and somehow managed to do well... i did not want to lose out on some of the best years of my life..Luckily I knew where to draw the line..and was careful not to go overboard... That is actually what I guess the author wants to put across..that fine line between veering off into oblivion or having the best of both worlds.. The boundaries for each of us lies completely in our hands and we ourselves are solely reponsible for what we do...This book has actually inspired me to start off on my writing once again...Hopefully I get to do some soon..as I expect to have a lot of free time on my hands..

Ladies Coupe..

Karthik told me about this book and i was all gung-ho about reading it..The urge to read this was heightened after Chaitra said that the story was scary..not in the spooky kind..but scared her a bit about life..The book is a very depressing book if not scary..it speaks of the anguish that women go through in their lives..there were hardly any silver linings and if they were there it was over-shadowed by all whole brooding way the novel went on... But if it had been written any other way, i don't think the message ccould have been put across.. The whole book was all about taking charge of your own life and leading it in a way that you deserve to...This was brought about with Akhila who is 45 years old and has never done anything for herself as she has been working her butt off to support her father-less family.. She has been so busy that she had no time to even contemplate marriage.. When finally she does like a guy, she finds him too young for her..Her life takes a turn when she decides to take a break..alone..and finds herself travelling in this Ladies Coupe..All the experiences of her travel mates changes the way she thinks and she sheds her old self and transforms into a new confident person..The main premise seemed to be the fact that a woman needs company..but not with all the strings attached..which is perfectly alright..she needs her freedom too.. It talks about all the things we normally consider as taboo but actually they already exist in Society..though wrapped under layers of tradition.. that's when we get to see the Hypocrisy of society..Most of the incidents in the book are ones we have come across.. but here it is more of in-your-face stuff and you cannot escape the details..which makes you more sensitive to the subject..It is very well written in this aspect..The ending i am sure will bring about a different reaction from every reader..there are bound to be differences of opinion here..As far as I am concerned.Akhila got what she deserved.. She has taken charge of her life and gets what she has been missing out..it shows you that in life it is never too late for taking charge of things.. So maybe here is the silver lining after all..

Ravan & Eddie

This was one awesome book by "Kiran Nagarkar".. Man was this book funny or was this funny.. the book had me in splits upto the last page..Nagarkar has his way with words..he has an acute sense of humour and writes with such ease and detailing that you can actually picture what he is writing..many times I had to actually keep the book aside, finish my laughter and then get back to the book, just to break into laughter again.. this book would have been perfect for a 70 mm version if not for the erotic parts interspersed with all the fun bits.. the Indian Censor board would definitely blow their top and then some...The story is about Ravan, a hindu, and Eddie, a catholic, who are growing up in the CWD chawl in Mumbai. It begins with Ravan( who was Ram at birth) "murdering" Eddie's dad. The first few pages introduce you to Nagrakar's style in no mean words. It is one heady experience, and you just can't getting hooked on to it. We all go through Ravan and Eddies's turmoils as the grow up. The premise of the story is basically that they both sem to be leading parallel lives and the ways they discover life in their own way. The scenes where the Father Angello is trying to mend Eddie's way are just priceless. Ravan's realisation of power is also note-worthy, once he discovers his role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi( yes you read that right!).Saying anything more about the book would be injustice, as I would be imposing my thoughts. It is something that is something for the reader to savour and enjoy the after taste for a long time.One piece of advice though. Questions of your sanity would definitely arise if you happen to be reading this around some people who have not read this. So, if your sanity is already under question, do read this when you are alone. No point in confirming other's doubts..whattsay?