Views N Reviews

Palace of Illusions

2010-04-28T02:13:00.000-07:00

Palace of illusions or Draupadi's Mahabharat traces her entire life.. sort of like an autobiography.. Her love for Karna or a greater feeling for Krishna.. Her conflicts with Kunti.. Apart from all the miracles, this is a more realistic interpretation of the epic. I grew up watching 'Mahaaaaabharaaaat' (note the stress on 'a') on Doordarshan where every character was either white or black. None were normal and although the arrows flying across made it immensely enjoyable, there was always a disconnect. Given a chance, Roopa Ganguly can still carry off a real Draupadi any given day. But I digress.
So the book makes for a wonderful read.. so much that I stayed up till 3 in the morning to finish the book. It is very difficult to view the epic from a woman's point of view.. specially since most stories objectify them .. there is no value add from their characters and even if they do.. it is primarily as the reason behind huge wars. Never have they been portrayed as being intelligence or having distinct individuality.. Although this wasn't exactly what was missing in Chitra Lekha Bannerjee's book, Draupadi did come across as a mere tool in a bigger scheme of things.. things that she was 'destined' for and could never have changed. Not that I expected the entire story to be different, but atleast Draupadi could have at least shown to have made her decisions and not just left it to destiny... hmm..but that would have changed the course of story.. innit? ;)

Karl Aaj Aur Kal/The incredible adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Verghese

2010-04-28T01:59:00.000-07:00

So over the last one month I managed to read two books that probably would be listed under the humor section.
Exhibit 1 was Cyrus Brocha's Karl Aaj Aur Kal.. which came across more like a loving tribute to Kunal Vijaykar. Although it did start off well.. ahem..with some insights into Parsi culture (Please to note Mr.Mistry).. it turned into a drag and could have been 100 pages smaller.
Exhibit 2 was Sidin Vadukut's The incredible adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Verghese. Now this one, I had huge expections. I have been reading Sidin's blog since a long time and really liked his writing. However after I read the book, I realized why blogs are so much better.. There is just one post at a time... You read it.. enjoy it and move on. But with a book you have to read through hundreds of pages of something that never really leads to anything particular.
So I guess, the sales of these two books would primarily depend on the popularity of the writers rather than the actual content of the book.. pretty much like our so called block buster movies

The Pregnant King - Dr Devadutt Patanaik

2009-09-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

Today.. when section 377 causes so much of an uproar...where political parties feel threatened by gender equality, homosexuality and quota for women...where female infanticide is as much a reality as child marriage...its interesting to find something like the pregnant kind hardly being discussed in the media or otherwise.. not that the book is extraordinary..but considering the fact that "The white tiger" wins awards..this one atleast deserves a good mention.. Apart from Jai.. I have hardly come across any references ..

The story is set around the Mahabharata and its merges both the fiction and mythological parts...although too many references of gender confusion tends to make it a bit too forceful.

We tend to summarize the Mahabharata solely on the Kurukshetra and the war that these short stories build around it which probably are much more interesting and relevant are missed out..And these are exactly the kind of stories that reflect the hypocrisy of the society that we have landed ourself in...also evident from the fact that we have converted both the Ramayana and Mahabharata into a preachy textbook rather than just a documentation of the civilization that we lived in.

A case of exploding mangoes

2009-07-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

There is always something interesting when one reads books from across the border..a lot of revelations.. some misconceptions cleared..although one finds it strange that one had them to begin with ..considering the fact that one never actually gave it too much of a thought..probably just as a reference to Kargil (they were the proverbial villains) or when Benazir got assassinated..of course n the cricket ground ..they were the guys you had to always defeat..even if we lost all other matches..
But these books (well..alteast the three I have read so far...the earlier ones were partition based or from authors who have had to move from here to there..so at some levels they don't invoke the same feelings or rather thoughts).. they provide some sort of an insight.. not much is different from people out there as they are here... although Hamid's book more so as compared to Hanif's.. Hanif's is more black humor (if I understand the definition right)..and would make a brilliant movie.. with someone like Kundan shah or better still Vishal B at the helm..
The Zia in this and the caricature they created in Charlie Wilson's war are quite strangely similar and dissimilar at the same time..
Anyhoo..this is one brilliant book and is totally worth a read.

Moth Smoke...

2008-11-04T04:58:00.001-08:00

I have this thing about friends and secrets. Sometimes when I meet a person I like, I tell them a secret they don't know me well enough to be told. It lets me judge their potential as a friend"........

"But let me tell you what I think about secrets before you decide if you want me to tell you one. Secrets make life more interesting. You can be in a crowded room with someone and touch them without touching, just with a look, because they know a part of you no one else knows. And whenever you're with them, the two of you are alone, because the you they see no one else can see..."

White Man Falling - Mike Stocks

2007-05-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

LibraryThing has these fun stats where it displays books that you share with only one other person and thats how I stumbled on Mike Stocks. He and I are the only ones who own Kalki's selected short stories.
White man falling is a story of how sometimes 'suddenly out of the blue' or 'out of nowhere' incidents end up making such a drastic impact on our lives. Its a rather humorous take of how when a white man falls over one Retired Inspector Swami (who by the way is famous for having tried to commit suicide with just a cycle tube) leads to such bizarre events in life that he ends up as Guru Swamiji.
It based in a long forgotten town in Tamil Nadu and its hearting to see someone based in Edinburgh write such a nice little novel about something like this.

Blind Faith - Sagarika Ghosh

2007-05-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

Well... Why did I pick this book? Mainly because it was written by Sagarika Ghosh of the IBN fame and she does have some decent posts up her blog.
So... was I disappointed.. not entirely. It didn't start off well.. it jerked between a novel and a news report.. but it did pick itself up somewhere in between.. but then again the end was a bit of a damper.
Although the characters are pretty intruiging, there are a lot of unnecessary explanations given to certain events whereas certain interesting ones just breeze through. It comes out more like a first time novel.. although I think she has already published atleast one that I know of.
But I must add that the Indi is one of the best character sketches I have read so far.
A decent one...but could have been a lot better.

Home Products - Amitava Kumar

2007-04-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

So what did I like about the book...umm..
-The title
-The cover
-The minor details that show keen observation on part of the author...like the one about the relationship between Bua and Parshuram where he describes Parshuram wiping his glasses with Bua's saree pallu.

Although the book is pretty engrossing... its pretty ordinary in the sense that it does not have you thinking about it later. The narration is pretty smooth and make a for a leisure read.

Links for follow-up:
Jabberwock in conversation with Amitava
Reviews of the book
Amitava's Blog

Side note: A lot of recent writers have well-read blogs which kind of make them more real as compared to say a Naipaul or Rushdie..and it not helps in marketing the book to a certain extent but also brings in a lot of healthy discussion about the book which adds that little extra to the whole experience of the book.

Pic courtesy: Author's homepage

Two at a time

2007-03-26T02:42:00.000-07:00

The thirteenth tale - Diana Setterfield
This debut novel of the author is set against the dark past of the writer Vida Winter about whom anything and everything that is written about is just another story. But now when her life is about to end she wants to 'tell the truth' and the task is assigned to young Margaret Lea who not only has to fight against Ms Winter's ghosts from the past, but also her own even as she stumbles her way through a world of lies, mistaken identities and strange relationships...
Its a very well written book specially for a first-time author and one ends up almost re-living the entire story. Recommended.

Collected stories - 2 Shashi Deshpande
Again one of the better short stories collection, this one traces lives from the times of the Mahabharata to the this IT age. I specially liked the one with Duryodhana's introspection.. a really well written piece. I am looking forward to picking up the part one of this collection.

Beantown Boomtown

2007-02-19T08:32:00.000-08:00

After Mumbai and Delhi, Bangalore is the next in the series to have books being based on it. The red carpet, Pinging from Bangalore and finally Beantown Boomtown. This anthology tries to cover many facets of the city, but because it does not have the kind of vibrant history as the other two cities most of the extracts in the book just fleeting touch upon it.
R.K.Narayan talks about Bangalore in the late 70's where he mentions Basavangudi, Chickpet, Jayanagar among others.. a time when Indiranagar, Domlur, Electronic city were barren lands.
Irappa Kambali then talks about life around Majestic whose significance is strangely lost among the IT expanse of the city.
Most of them like Shashi deshpande talk nostalgically about the city gone by..
It even has extracts from Thomas Friedman to Winston Churchill.. from Uma MahadevanDasgupta to Deborah Moggach.. but the one I liked the best is Yusuf Arakkal recollecting his childhood in the city that gave him his identity.
A lot us who have had the opportunity of having experienced Bangalore before and after the IT boom would surely connect to the book.

Sidney Sheldon..

2007-01-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained
in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end
of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of
the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the
cliff at the end of the chapter."

I am sure most of the early novel-reading sessions would have included atleast one of his books. So Mr SS.. so long and thanks for all those stories!!!

Books of September

2006-10-03T02:53:00.000-07:00

The Five Dollar Smile - Shashi Tharoor
I hadn't been reading for almost 3 weeks and even the much acclaimed Guide by R.K.Narayan wasn't able to hold my attention. I picked up 'The five dollar smile' on an impulse mainly because it was a collection of short stories.. and what an impulse it turned out to be. The best part of the book is not only the range it covers, but the age at which Shashi was able to churn them out. Most of them have been written during his teens and display an high level of maturity and understanding. The small notes at the beginning of each story make them more interesting. One of the best collections and totally recommended.

Show Business - Shashi Tharoor
After 'The great indian novel' and 'The five dollar smile', ' Show business' is a major let-down. There is hardly anything that sounds original in the story. Its more of consolidating and mixing what one reads in the gossip columns and filmi magazines and does not have anything new to add to the whole thing. Disappointing

The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
I seriously don't know what to make out of it. The book basically traces the story of Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli who migrate to US in late 60's and how they are unable to let go of their traditional values whereas their son Gogol Ganguli wants just the opposite. The story as such has nothing new to say, but the flow is very smooth and language very simple. Makes a very leisure read...

Cat O'Nine Tales - Jeffrey Archer
After the disastrous False Impression, Jeffrey Archer is back with a collection of short stories that he picked up during his prison days. Just like his earlier ones (which, I happen to read somewhere were flicked from various unknown sources!!) are smart and have a witty end. I specially liked the one with Pat and the last one with the footballer. Superb and totally recommended.

The Witness - S L Bhyrappa

2006-08-14T03:10:00.000-07:00

The drawback of not being able to read or write in my mother tongue has resulted in losing out on the some of the best, Sahitya Academy winning works of our authors. I have always wanted to read Bhyrappa's books, specially after it being highly recommended by both my granny and U. So as soon as I spotted the translated version of Saakshi on the Crossword bookshelf, I picked it up immediately. (This reminds me that i need to pick translated version of Kuvempu's Kanooru Heggaditi).
Although translated works rarely do justice to the original, this one isn't that bad either. Eventhough the flavour of Kannada is missing, because of the fact that I was able to relate to the whole set up I was able to still enjoy the book.
It traces the story of person who has never lied in his entire life and the one time he does he is so ashamed and guilty that he commits suicide. But Yama-the god of death wants him to go back and witness the consequences of his suicide and the result of his lie. The book questions the philosphy of truth and how it interpreted by each individual.
The entire story moves in one smooth flow and makes a wonderful leisure read.

Contemporary Indian Fiction

2006-08-14T02:42:00.000-07:00

This collection of contemporary short stories has been edited by Khushwant Singh. Unlike most other short story collections that usually have a common theme through them, this one has a whole range of stories in one thin book. Ranging from folk tales to the futuristic sci-fi types. Not suprisingly, most of them are not even based in India nor are they based on Indians. I personally like both the sci-fi ones, although I hardly read that genre.
Like Mr Singh mentions in the introduction, we might not have produced great novelists or writers, but we sure have some really great short story writers.

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

2006-05-30T02:39:00.000-07:00

A very well narrated story of Cucumber/Snot nose, perennially sinus infected Saleem Sinai who having born on the stroke of midnight, 15th Aug 1947.. yes the same time as our nation is gifted with (questionable) powers of being able to enter other's thoughts. In the process of which he comes across hundreds of children who happen to have been born around the same time and have all been gifted with some big or small miraculous power depending on how far from midnight they entered this world. They all end up forming the Midnight's children community and as with all groups end up with conflicts about how they could possible take over this world... aka X men style and slowly the community disintegrates.
And one fine day Saleem loses it all... his powers, his family, his country..even his memory and ends up in Bangladesh fighting for Pakistan. And when he is finally rescued back to India with all his powers gone, but with an ultra sensitive nose.. he meets Parvati, another midnight child.. He then gets sucked into the chaos of Emergency and manages to reunite the members of M.C.C.

Its a first person account of the events as narrated by Saleem to Padma, his caretaker/servant/lover... The references and the linking of various events is very well done and at no point does the book take the reader for granted...
Recommended - After all its won the booker of bookers prize.

God's little soldier - Kiran Nagarkar

2006-04-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Most of the reviews that I had read before actually buying the book had actually quite dismissed the book, mainly because of the language and the crass comparisons presented in the book. Very few of them had managed to talk about the actually story.... which by the way I am not going to either ;)
Well, it is quite different from all the other books of Nagarkar; Not that you could typecast his writing in any way. But unlike his other books, this one gives an impression that somewhere along the line he was trying to "impress" the reader and write according to their whims.
Its a story of religious fanatic Zia-Lucens-Tejas who considers himself the God's little soldier out to bring discipline, peace and what not to the existing chaotic world and like most fanatics, everything is just black or white... Zia lives in a world of extremes. On the other hand is his brother, Amanat a strange combination of a writer, architect and an asthamatic... The book traces their world of love-hate relationship.
Its surely does not live upto the expectations of a Kiran Nagarkar book, but its not one that could be dismissed easily either!

Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

2006-04-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

This is one book whose title is as misleading as they can ever be. It traces a part of life of Dina Dalal, a widow, Omprakash and his nephew, tailors who work for Dina and Maneck, a student and a paying guest at Dina's place....all during the Emergency period. Each one of them have had a miserable life and are trying to find contentment in those spouts of happiness that they share with each other.
There is also a beggar without legs, his beg master and a strange guy who collects hair.
Going by the title, i had assumed that after having suffered so much in life they would be able to find some happiness thereby obtaining that fine balance.. but it just gets worst.
Omprakash loses his legs, his nephew gets castrated and Dina loses her livelihood... and finally Maneck commits suicide (Sorry abt the spoiler)....its a pretty sadistic story inspite of some memorable incidents.
Recommended - Don't know...can't say

February of books

2006-03-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

I read a lot of books this last month and could have written individual reviews for each of them but then i realized that all my reviews sound the same. So instead of different posts for each book, here are my two lines on each of them

1. Cuckold - Kiran Nagarkar
Warning-Book cover is a bit embarrassing to carry around, specially around parents, So make sure u carry a paper to cover it up as soon as u buy it :)
It’s the story of a prince of Rajasthan during the time of the earlier invasions of the mughals. Very beautiful written. This one won the Sahitya Academy award for Nagarkar. Not only a must read, it’s a must have too.

2. The Girl - Sonia Faleiro
A very different setup but very very depressing story

3. Pinging from Bangalore - K. R. Chandrashekar
Pre-requisites to enjoy the book
a. You must be software engineer
b. You got to be from bangalore.
The book is exactly how he calls it, a 'blog novel'. It does come across as a bit amateurish, especially in the language department. The language is simple and informative when he talks about general issues but when it comes to his life, the author; as Sumanth mentions seem to have thought in Kannada and translated it to english later. Still as a software engineer one tends to relate to a lot of things in the book. Recommended

4. Homespun - Nilita Vachani
Spanning across three generations starting around the earlier 1930s to 2000, its the story of the Mehta family as seen and heard through the eyes of Sweta. The humour is subtle and sequence of the story very engrossing, specially the way each character is introduced. Was an impulsive buy and absolutely no regrets

5. A million pieces - James Frey
A lot of controversy surrounding the book.... but didn't realize it until i had finished reading it. The cover page was what caught my attention. A lot of it apparently is all made up and the book no longer qualifies as non-fiction. But all said and done, its a story built with hope and human spirit and very inspiring.

6. Seven sixes are forty three - Kiran Nagarkar
Not qualified to comment on or review this book. Didn't understand much... had me totally mixed up.

7. Chapati or Chips - Nisha Minhas
TP kinds.. was a b'day gift. Can't say i appreciated it, nice for a breezy read

Clueless & Co - Pratik Basu

2006-01-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

A nice tongue in cheek book by the ex Disney Chief. The book switches between a first person account of a guy's life in a pipe company and the misadventures of a Rahul Banerjee who is out to join as a partner in a dubious marketing reseach organization.
Although a bit of marketing jargon in the book might put-off the reader, the book does grow on you and u actually appreciate it in the end and the best part is that the book is that its funny throughout unlike in bits and pieces whether its the 'piss project' of Tapas Pan (Rahul's second partner) or the Big Brother incident.
Like Chetan Bhagat mentions, 'contemporary indian literature is evolving...' there are a lot of books, specially fiction that are being published by first time authors.. most of them make a light read and are very much enjoyable...

Kalki Selected Stories

2006-01-18T00:10:00.000-08:00

In the past couple of months I have read some of the best short stories written by our authors and suprisingly (or maybe not) some of the best ones have been written during the freedom struggle, specially the early 1900s. I picked up Kalki's selected stories on an impulse and it was a revelation, specially the first story. Its the story of ladies school principal who would have lost the love of her life to illiteracy. The irony is the tail is simply marvelous.
Most of the stories have been picked from the immensely popular magazine started by Kalki and have been translated from Tamil by his grand-daughter. Simple language, very basic background but each with a charm of its own. Most of the plots in the later half of the book, you will realise have already been used in a lot of south indian movies and talk a lot of the authors inclination to the freedom struggle, more so of the non-violent types..
Although some parts of it might be little difficult to comprehend for non-tams like me, its still recommended....

False Impression - Jeffrey Archer

2006-01-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

"Not a penny more, not a penny less" was the first Jeffrey Archer that i read and till date none of his book has been able to reach its level. Kane & Abel was good and successful, but then he started repeating the same old "Two rich guys fighting it out" story in every other book of his, including the last one, Sons of fortune (which by the way was crass).. So i guess one day out of the blue, he decides i will try to be a bit 'hatke'! and maybe during that time he was reading the sidney sheldon series and so Mr. Archer in the process of being different now has a female protogonist, but then he didn't want to be blamed of plagarism (after having already spent time in prison for perjury!), he decides to have make the villian a female too..
Well the story uses 9/11 as the background although the plot is not even remotely related to the incident, with Anna being fired by Fenston Finances for helping out one of their clients and she being the protogonist (meaning an extremely lucky woman....coz she always manages to escape the FBI and the professional killer!!!) manages to alert the client and save the one thing that Mr. Fenston is actually after.. the self potrait of Van Gogh... and not suprisingly ends up falling in love with the FBI agent.
Might make a good thriller movie but as a book... totally avoidable

Tales from Firozsha Baag - Rohinton Mistry

2005-12-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

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

2005-12-21T03:38:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-23T00:22:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

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...

2005-10-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

... Read it here

link via indianwriting

Mistress - Anita Nair

2005-10-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

2005-09-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

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

2005-09-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

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..

2005-09-15T02:53:00.000-07:00

..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????

2005-04-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

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

2005-03-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

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

2005-02-06T23:59:00.000-08:00

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

2005-02-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

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

2005-02-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

Three important suggestions before we start

Never let anybody know u have read the book... (an exception as i am writing the review ;-D )
If it is borrowed from someone, never reveal the person's name..people generally tend to be very judgemental!!
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

2005-02-02T03:27:00.000-08:00

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

2005-02-02T03:25:00.000-08:00

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

2005-02-02T03:24:00.000-08:00

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

2005-02-02T03:22:00.000-08:00

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...

2005-02-02T01:07:00.000-08:00

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..

2005-02-02T01:06:00.000-08:00

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

2005-02-02T01:04:00.000-08:00

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?