Recommend Books

Melancholy of Innocence by Raj Doctor

2012-01-10T16:16:00.000+05:30

Title: Melancholy of Innocence

Author: Raj Doctor

Publisher: Frog Books (Leadstart Publishing)

Pages: 342

Genre: Fiction / Romance / Philosophy

Rating: 7.5/10

Source: Review Copy (from Author / Publisher)

‘Melancholy of Innocence’ in author’s own words is ‘a philo-poetic fable of love set in the late 1920s in Istanbul, just after the political revolution leading to Turkish independence. It is an adolescent’s journey into self discovery about the true meaning of love’.

13 year old Umit has had a normal and happy childhood. His parents had a love marriage, and they are open and unorthodox in their upbringing. Umit is never forced to do anything. Umit gets deeply influenced by Zeheb, who is a distant relative, with spiritual and Sufi leanings. Umit considers him as his mentor and philosopher. Sufi influence is pretty evident in his thoughts and in the way Umit conducts himself.

Umit feels a Ruh connection with Masum, when he sees her for the first time on the streets of Istanbul. Umit is 13, while Masum is 21 at the time. For quite sometime, Umit resists calling it ‘love’. For him, this ‘connection’ and his ‘feelings’ for her, are much beyond the worldly definition of love.

The book traces Umit’s single-minded devotion and love for Masum, while doing which he does not even think about the society, family, future, differences between them and accepted norms of conduct. He just devotes himself in being close to Masum, and revels in the joy of those moments. This love story, as is evident towards the end and in the beginning, had three phases. This book dwells in the first phase when Umit falls in love with Masum.

The author has put the caveat that whatever Umit does is not his preachings for someone who worships another person, but just Umit’s way of expressing his unconditional love. He may not be right, unmindful of consequences, yet he does what he feels right. It is very easy to overlook that Umit is only thirteen.

After reading the book, I felt that the title as well as the cover page captures the essence of the story well. I also do not question the setting or the background chosen by the author because it is his prerogative. My experience has been that authors usually derive stories from their own personal experiences. I wouldn’t say that the setting or the background has deep influence on this story but a reader will certainly find several cultural and political references, and vivid description of Istanbul from 1920s.

The main characters of this book are Umit and Masum. We get a lot of insights into Umit’s character, mostly because the story is from his perspective.

The novel is full of philosophical anecdotes but at the heart, is a love story, may be a little obsessive. At every point, the narrator tries to explain behaviour, de-constructs human nature and philosophy behind everything.

I liked the references at the bottom of pages, which aid understanding; and the year mentioned at the end of each chapter is extremely useful. I don’t know if it happens with other people, when a novel goes back and forth in time, I sometimes get confused on the exact time when a thing happens.

The only issues I have are with narration and the pace. The narration is done by a third person in a simple story telling manner. Occasionally it also speaks on behalf of Umit. I felt that the narration was a bit unidimensional.

There are a few typographical errors in some pages, wherein there are no spaces between words. There are also unwarranted paragraph spaces in between continuing sentence.

This book will appeal greatly to those who love philosophy. I personally favour fast paced stories, so in a few places, I thought the story lost momentum whenever author digressed to dwell on philosophies related to different facets of life, but that I thought was intentional. Had it been just a love story, it would have more pace but often the narration spirals into understanding human psychology, actions and philosophies. But it would certainly appeal to the readers who love this genre.

I am happy that the author has not attempted to veil philosophy in the guise of love story, and he chooses to call it ‘philo-poetic’ fable of love; because the book is exactly that.

A story introduces you to places, characters and their lives. For a while you live their lives, go through the proceedings, and when you come out, that is when a book makes a difference; were you able to know the characters intimately, were you able to empathise, were you happy to be with them for some time of your lives, was it worthwhile! If you answer these questions honestly, you know you have got the answer of whether a book was good or not, for you.

Well, at the end, I was pretty engaged in Umit and Masum’s unusual love story, and wanted to know what happens in the end. I also tried to reason why Masum should love Umit, who is not her equal in age, looks, social status or education. But even beautiful people crave for adulation and love. Who wouldn’t want such single minded devotion!

Towards the end, the book says that Umit and Masum had 3 seasons of love, this story was just one of those. A sequel seems impending. Will I read if there is a sequel? I am not too sure because I don’t favour philosophies much, but then since I already know Umit and Masum to some extent, I just might!

Image source: http://melancholyofinnocence.blogspot.com/

Book Reading Challenges 2012

2012-01-08T00:30:00.000+05:30

I read far fewer books, in 2011, than I intended to. But considering that I had baby, 15 books is not a bad number, while when you consider that I did not have a job and nothing much to do at home for atleast half the year, 15 books sound less!
January is a good time to take up new challenges. I am taking up quite a few reading challenges, assuming that many of those would overlap.

1. South Asian Challenge 2012 : I intend to read 20 books by South Asian writers or about South Asia, this year.

2. Goodreads 2012 reading challenge: I find this widget extremely interesting. It helps you track your progress. I did not do too well last year, hope I will be on track this year. I intend to read more than 35 books.

3. Review Challenge 2012: This one has been initiated by Smita, and since it is in line with my own resolution, I have taken it up. I don't commit to 1 review per week but atleast to review every book that I read, so my goal is of 35 book reviews this year.

4. 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge: Hosted by 'the Book Vixen', this one encourages myself to read atleast more than 15 books this year, since I read 15 in 2011. I will gun for 'I'm on Fire' level :-) which means I will read 16 more books than last year (last year I read 15).

5. Off the Shelf 2012 Challenge:This challenge is hosted by Bookish Ardour. Looking at my 200 odd collection, of which 70% are unread, I think it is time I took this challenge. I will aim for 'Trying' level, so I would read more than 15 books off my shelves (and not the ones acquired during 2012).

6. Tea and Books Reading Challenge: This challenge is hosted by The Book Garden. Only books above 700 pages qualify for this. Hmm.. this is going to be fun. I have a few really fat books but I need to check if they really qualify. I am aiming to be 'Chamomile Lover', so I need to read just 2 such books.

I am really excited about all these challenges and hope to do complete justice to them.

Book List Oct-Dec 2011

2011-12-15T14:20:00.000+05:30

I wanted to put up the list of books which I recently acquired in last 3 months. I have been caught up in the new responsibilities of taking care of a baby but that did not deter me from attending the Book Sale by Goa-Based Broadway Book Centre and the Landmark Book Sale, while also buying several books from Flipkart and Indiaplaza.

Here is the list:

From the Broadway Book Sale: Each one bought for Rs 50. The price was a major deciding factor. I would not have bought even single one of these, if it had been for anything more. I felt this Book Sale was more suited for the college crowd. There was nothing from Indian Publishers and nothing in Non Fiction.

1. Nanny Returns by Nicole Karus and Emma Mclaughlin: I had earlier bought ‘The Nanny Diaries’ from a similar Sale at Rs 50 (the hardbound edition), so when I saw this one, I got it. I am not too fond of such books but they are fine for general time pass reading, you know, immediately after you have read some heavy-duty stuff.

I have read ‘Inconceivable’ by Ben Elton and it was quite funny, so I bought both the books listed below:

2. Dead Famous by Ben Elton

3. Past Mortem by Ben Elton

4. From Here to Maternity by Sinead Moriarty: Bought this one for the obvious reasons. I remember reading another book called ‘I don’t know how she does it’ and it was hilarious. Hope this one is on similar lines. Yet another general time pass stuff.

5. Monster by Allan Hall: I am sometimes drawn to real life crime stories. I have read ‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote and look forward to reading more on true crime.

6. The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam: I have heard a lot about “Maps for Lost Lovers” and have it too. I have not read it yet. This one is also from the same author.

From Landmark Book Sale: The discounts at Book stores are not really great. Great discounts would only be on a handful books but that’s about it. So I looked for getting something on the “3 for 2” offer. And this offer also works for you only if all the books are of similar price. I usually end up buying several magazines on my visits, I prefer buying books online. Nevertheless, after a lot of research, I got the following books. First three are on the offer, rest as indicated.

I read these 2 books long back, and I wanted them for my collection:

7. India

Unbound by Gurucharan Das

8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

9. The Pregnant King by Devdutt Pattnaik: It is related to Mahabharata and I had been thinking of getting this for quite sometime now.

10. Don’t go Away, We’ll be right back by Indu Balachandran (on a special price of Rs 99)

11. Byline by M.J.Akbar (at 10% discount on the cover price)

I was heartbroken to see ‘First Day First Show’ for Rs 99. I recently bought it for Rs 374! But that is something which you cannot plan.

I bought the following from Flipkart and Indiaplaza:

12. Dr Spocks Baby And Child Care by Robert Needlman, Benjamin Spock: Smita told me it is a good reference book on Child Care. So how could I not have it J

13. Sita's Ramayana by Samhita Arni, Moyna Chitrakar: After collecting several perspectives on Mahabharata, I have started expanding my ‘Ramayana’ collection. It also happens to be my first Graphic Novel.

14. The Best Of Quest by Laeeq Futehally, Achal Prabhala, Arshia Sattar: I first read about the book in Pune Mirror. I have bought books on Eunice De Souza’s recommendation earlier also, like ‘the Locust and the Bird’. Later on, I read a lot about 'the Best of Quest' in many articles and magazines.

15. Lucknow Boy by Vinod Mehta: Since I follow Outlook and the book is a memoir of its editor, I kept finding more and more about the book through his column on the last page. I found it fascinating enough. Memoirs are interesting only when they are honest and provide new revelations. There’s nothing exciting about sugar candy talk and reading something which is already a public knowledge. This issue of Outlook even featured excerpts from the book. The book sounds salacious!

Following 2 had been recommended by a friend who has studied psychology. I was discussing about reading on child psychology.

16. Developmental Psychology by Elizabeth Hurlock

17. Child Development 6ed by Elizabeth Hurlock

18. Half The Sky - How To Change The World by Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl Wudunn: I had my eyes on this one for a long time but only imported editions were available which were quite expensive. I recently bought it for a good price.

Some more additions for my ‘Ramayana’ collection. These have interesting perspectives on Sita and Ram, which reminds me of a superb animation film 'Sita Sings the Blues'.

19. In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology by NamitaGokhale, Malashri Lal

20. Lost Loves by Arshia Sattar

Following are supposed to be from Ravana’s perspective.

21. Ravanayan (Issue 1) by Vijayendra Mohanty, Vivek Goel

22. Ravanayan (Issue 2) by Vijayendra Mohanty, Vivek Goel

23. Ravanayan (Issue 3) by Vijayendra Mohanty, Vivek Goel

24. We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver: I discovered this book while reading an article on parenting. I found this highly recommended for all parents:

The above listed books have been bought only between October and December, and December is not over yet! One of these days, I would like to put up the list of my entire collection. I recently categorized and re-organized them.

Image Source: http://www.dailyclipart.net

Mafia Queens of Mumbai : Stories of Women from the Ganglands by S. Hussain Zaidi with Jane Borges

2011-12-09T22:51:00.001+05:30

Title: Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of Women from the Gangland

Author: S.Hussain Zaidi (with Jane Borges)
Publisher: Tranquebar
Pages: 290
Genre: Non Fiction / Crime
Rating: 10 /10
Source: Review Copy (from BlogAdda)

Vishal Bhardwaj begins his foreword with “Crime is juicier than spirituality”. And isn’t it so? I read an article somewhere recently (as Bharadwaj also laments) about the dearth of literature on crime in India, something on the lines of ‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote. Incidentally, I recently found a new book, which deals with the Neeraj Grover Murder case called ‘Death in Mumbai’ by Meenal Baghel.

To digress a little more from the book, I recently read an article here that says how unimaginative the word ‘Non Fiction’ is. It does total injustice to the talented lot of writers who do not dwell in fictitious stories and yet create nothing short of excellent pieces of literature. Why bunch them all together in a highly non-creative word called ‘Non Fiction’? It takes away from the whole effort.

Finally coming back to the book, it is an outstanding and fascinating book – in its unusual subject, extensive research, deft story-telling and engaging pace. The cover page is highly apt and sets the mood for the book. I finished it in 4.5 hours flat.

S. Hussain Zaidi (who has also written the exceptional ‘Black Friday’) alongwith Jane Borges, creates vivid imagery of 13 women who enjoyed a lot of clout in the Mumbai mafia.

Though little known to the general public, unlike their several infamous male counterparts, these women have been singled out for their close involvement with underworld or power enjoyed by them. From wives and girlfriends of Dons to a Bollywood starlet, from a much sought-after bar dancer to women fueled by their ambition – each story reads like a movie script. The fact that the stories of these women are not easy to piece together, since little has been known about them, it makes the authors’ efforts far more commendable.

Following are glimpses of 13 women featured in this book:

Jenabai –known for her closeness with the underworld dons Vardharajan, Karim Lala and Haji Mastan, and she was quite sought after for her advice.
Gangubai – a girl who ran away from her small village, goes on to become the much-respected matriarch of Kamathipura – the red light area of Mumbai
Ashraf or Sapna didi - a wife who did not have any knowledge about her husband’s underworld connection till he gets killed in an encounter, trains herself with single-minded determination to take on the people responsible for his death
Jyoti Amma and Mahalaxmi Papamani – Poverty and responsibility of taking care of family lead them into drug peddling, and over time they became powerful
Monica Bedi – Her closeness with a Dubai business, who was actually Abu Salem, got her into the wrong side of the law, and she paid the price heavily
Asha Gawli, Neeta Naik, , Sujata Nikhalje, Padma Poojary – Wives of Hindu Dons who went on to handle the place of their husbands while they were absconding
Mrs Paul, Rubina Siraj Sayyed – Girlfriends and associates of Chhota Shakeel
Tarannum Khan – the most (in)famous bar dancer who minted a lot of money in cricket betting
Archana Sharma – a Ram Leela artiste from Ujjain becomes a hardcore criminal, responsible for kidnapping, extortion and murder

It is definitely an interesting book, for who is not fascinated by the many stories of the underworld. Several movies have been scripted over the years, and it would continue to be portrayed on the celluloid with as much interest and drama.

It is definitely a must read for all book lovers, and I would go on to say that it would also appeal to people who like Fiction. After all, these are also stories, only real!

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Image Source: westlandbooks.in

The Muddy River by P.A.Krishnan

2011-12-07T12:31:00.001+05:30

Title: The Muddy River

Author: P.A. Krishnan
Publisher: Tranquebar
Pages: 248
Genre: Political fiction
Rating: 9 out of 10

Source: Review Copy (from BlogAdda)

In contrast to the unassuming cover page, the book was quite impressive.

‘The Muddy River’ almost seems to be a real story - multi-layered, multi-dimensional and complex (which also reminded me of Shashi Deshpande’s books).

Ramesh Chandran is a Delhi-based bureaucrat, who is transferred to Assam when he starts asking for Contract files of his Corporation (Power Transmission Corporation) and has a few uncomfortable run-ins with senior people in his organisation. It is meant to be a punishment posting. Sukanya is Ramesh’ wife, and they are both trying to come to terms with the untimely death of their only child Priya in a freak incident. They love each other but the incidence has developed a strain in their relationship. (To digress a little, I read somewhere that the death of a child leads to a lot of divorces because husband and wife have different ways of dealing with the loss and many times they are not able to understand the other).

Ramesh is an upright person and while he thinks he is a Marxist, he is also majorly influenced by Gandhi (who keeps coming into the narrative every now and then).

In Assam, Ramesh is chosen to negotiate the release of one of his company’s senior managers, who gets kidnapped by a militant outfit for a ransom. In his pursuit of this case, Ramesh meets Anupama (his subordinate who has strong views about Assam’s fight for independence from the rest of the India), Bhuyan (the Deputy Inspector General who comes to like the sincerity of Ramesh), Bura (a practical Marwari Contrator who is chosen as a contact between the militants and Ramesh), Rajbankshi (the Gandhian) and Mrs Ghosh (the kidnapped Mr Ghosh’s unthankful and untrusting wife). The story dwells on two main issues –the release of Mr Ghosh is certainly the main issue but it also deals with the levels of corruption in a government organisation and the resistance one faces when he tries to take it on. Ramesh goes out of his way, sometimes even putting his life in danger, meeting a number of people who can be of even a little help in ensuring Ghosh’s release. Ramesh’s pursuit of unravelling corruption within his organisation gets him into trouble and he also gets suspended but he never bucks to the pressure.

The language is illustrative. I admit, I had to look up quite a few words, but it is always a pleasure to read such books which enrich your language, while at the same time narrating the story well! English is a beautiful language.

The story moves forward in the form of a main narrative, and the manuscript written by Ramesh for his book, but it never confuses you between the real and the fictional (in terms of the book). Sukanya sends the chapters from Ramesh’s manuscript to their friends Subir and Herbert for their comments. The interaction between Sukanya, Subir and Herbert is interesting and clarifies a few doubts which one may have about the story, as to why the author had written an incident in a certain way.

I was hooked to the story from the beginning and did not lose interest till the end. The book has as much pace as a thriller. It dwells on the corruption and bureaucracy in government organisations, empathizes with the voice of people of

Assam

and while doing so keeps coming back to the relevance of what Gandhi has said!

It is a well-written book, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a good story. There are a few technicalities related to workings of Power companies but if you don’t understand them, you can move one, and it is only for a short while. It certainly cannot be a reason to put you off because I can assure that atleast this book is not difficult to read. It is lucid in its narrative.

I just hold back one point for a little rushed and dramatic ending, but it might appeal to many.

I am impressed by the writer’s story telling and I look forward to reading his first book as well. I also could not stop myself from reading about Mr Sanjoy Ghose, to whom this book is dedicated.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!
Image Source: westlandbooks.in

Interesting book on Censorship

2011-10-17T09:50:00.002+05:30

As my husband pointed out the other day, I hoard books, and don't read as much as I buy them (an argument he brought up when I was nagging him to take me to the Book Sale). Well, book collection is certainly a bigger passion than book reading. Anyways, I am always on the look out for interesting books and new subjects to read. Over the years, I have discovered that Non-Fiction is several times more interesting than Fiction. Quite by chance, I read about this book called 'You can't please everyone' by Kobita Sarkar. But I have not been able to find it on any book shopping sites so far. If anybody finds it on any of the sites, please put in a word here.

Image source: http://8ate.blogspot.com

Books on Pregnancy

2011-10-08T11:50:00.001+05:30

When I discovered that I was pregnant, I searched for best books to refer on Pregnancy. There are several books but after checking out reviews and getting references from people who had gone through this, I zeroed in on 3 books.

1. What to Expect When you're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
'What to Expect when you are expecting' is like a bible when you are expecting, and I think, even several non-readers have referred to it during pregnancy. I have found answers to every possible question that I had, in this book.
From before you conceive to what to expect month-after-month (also week by week), and from special cases to post-partum weeks; you will find answer to all your questions in this 600-page book, in an easy question-answer format.

2. Passport to a Healthy Pregnancy by Gita Arjun
I carried this one even when I was leaving for hospital, to read about post - delivery because, you see, I was 12 days early. I had not read everything.
Written by Dr. Gita Arjun - an eminent obstetrician and gynaecologist - this book is extremely reader friendly. It attempts to explain how pregnancy happens, foetal development, various tests in different stages of pregnancy, about the entire nine months and labour and delivery. I think the hindi / marathi version of this book is called "Garbha Sanskar".
It is an excellent book to refer in Indian context.

3. PREGNANCY: What The Indian Woman Always Wanted To Know But Was Afraid To Ask by Nutan Pandit
Nutan Pandit is not a doctor but she has immense knowledge and extensive experience related to child birth. You would say, why another book when the other two answers all the queries.
This book is a little different. It starts with dealing with a lot of myths around pregnancy. The book has several illustrations to facilitate understanding. Apart from usual discussions on conception, pregnancy, labour and delivery; the book takes a look at how labour has cme to be associated with 'pain', understanding the process of natural child birth, understanding and dealing with various problems or discomforts during pregnancy through home remedies, exercises, issues related to feeding, etc.
The language is lucid and illustrative, and everything has been discussed in an interesting way.

Right now, I refer “What to expect – the first year” and so far, I have found it extremely useful.

Why Men Can Only Do One Thing at a Time and Women Never Stop Talking

2011-06-21T14:44:00.002+05:30

Title: Why Men Can Only Do One Thing at a Time and Women Never Stop Talking

Author: Allan + Barbara Pease
Publisher: Manjul India
Pages: 120
Genre: Non Fiction / Self Help
Rating: 9 out of 10

I happened to read a review of this book here, and it came across as a fun book. Since I have been in between books for a while now (owing to my other preoccupations), I wanted to pick up a quick-read to make myself feel better.

I have never read any of those “Man-Woman” books, say, “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus”. But the tit-bits from the book were hilarious and I really wanted to give it a shot. Of course, such books tend to stereotype all men and women but broadly, even when you can relate to some parts of it, it is fun.

To begin with, I did not have a relationship issue to sort out or I did not, for that matter, needed a book to help me better understand my spouse. I have been in a relationship for too long now to figure that out myself. The experience of reading this book was akin to watching ‘Pyaar Ke Side Effects’ or the latest ‘Pyaar ka Punchnama’. The key to enjoying such books or movies is to be able to laugh out loud at the many gender oriented jokes or observations. Admit it, many are even true!

Apart from the fact that it is a very short book (I finished it in a couple of hours, in a single sitting), the best part of this book is that it is filled with interesting illustrations.

I have pulled out a few of my personal favourites from the book:

It reiterates the fact that women have a peripheral vision. In just one look they observe and note everything in the vicinity; while men have ‘tunnel vision’. That’s why they’re always so obvious when they look at other women. They have to turn their heads. See this ad and you would understand the point better.
The illustration of a woman’s brain and a man’s brain is simply hilarious. You have to see it yourself to appreciate it.
Women want to talk about issues in great detail, while men do not understand or appreciate this. No faults there, it is just how they are. I will relate from personal experience. If I talk to somebody on phone, I will be able to recount the entire conversation verbatim, while if I ask my husband to just tell me what conversation he had on phone (with whoever), he will be completely blank.
Then there is the perpetual argument about what women say and what they actually mean!
And my all time favourite about the depth of what women and men think. Here’s a joke to that effect, though not from the book, which I have often shared and it never fails to amuse:

***************************************************************

Her Diary

Today night, I thought he was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a cafe to have some coffee.

I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment. Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk, he agreed but he kept quiet and absent.

I asked him what was wrong - he said, "Nothing."

I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry.

On the way home I told him that I loved him, he simply smiled and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior; I don't know why he didn't say, "I love u, too."

When we got home I felt as if I had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there and watched TV.; he seemed distant and absent.

Finally I decided to go to bed. About 10 minutes later he came to bed.I decided that I could not take it anymore, so I decided to confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep. I started crying and cried until I too fell asleep.

I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else.My life is a disaster.

His Diary

Today India lost the cricket match against Bangladesh. Damn it!

***************************************************************

There are several such gems which I can go on and on about. So, without spilling anything further, I would recommend this book to every guy or girl who has been or is in a relationship. You would be able to relate to it better. But remember to have fun while you read it.

I have passed it on to my husband, who by the way has read about 2 books (non-academic) in life, and he is also enjoying it quite a lot.

(Image source: flipkart.com)

Amazon's Free Super Saver Delivery to India

2011-06-21T10:44:00.000+05:30

I was very excited to have chanced upon this. I have always wondered why Amazon is still not in India. In the last couple of years, the online sale of books has multiplied several times, and I am sure it is just a matter of time that India will be on Amazon's radar because I would love to be able to order from their wide range.

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

2011-04-28T17:14:00.002+05:30

Title: The Twentieth Wife

Author: Indu Sundaresan
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 388
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 9.5 out of 10

‘The Twentieth Wife’ is the first one from Indu Sundaresan’s Taj trilogy, though I read it after reading ‘The feast of roses’ which is the second one. There are three books in this series about Mughal empire but each can be read independently. But be rest assured, if you have read any one of them, you would invariably end up reading all of them. (By the way, the third one is called 'Shadow Princess')

I have always felt that writing a historical fiction can be very difficult, since you are dealing with historical characters and facts. You can fictionalize the interactions but you need to stick to the facts. The research required is also immense.

What drew me to this series is the love story of Jahangir and Nur Jahan. We have all heard enough about Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal, but little is known about Mumtaz’s more ambitious and powerful aunt Nur Jahan who defies convention and prevailing status of women in the society, to rule the empire alongside her husband Jahangir, of course, from behind the veil.

‘The Twentieth Wife’ begins at the time when Mehrunnisa was about to be born. Her parents and siblings were fleeing from Persia to India. She takes birth during the journey. From that moment, the penniless family’s fate turns and Mehrunnisa’s father Ghias Beg lands up with a job in Emperor Akbar’s court.

Mehrunnisa first encounters prince Salim (later known as Jahangir) when she is all of eight, when she accompanies her mother for the prince’s first marriage. Overawed by the glory of the palace, the freedom enjoyed by women of emperor’s harem, and captivated by the prince himself, Mehrunnisa decides that one day she too would marry prince Salim.

The book is about this unconventional and extraordinary woman, Mehrunnisa, but the book goes beyond her quest to become an empress. It offers glimpses of Mughal dynasty and conflicts around the throne. Encouraged by his cohorts, prince Salim revolts against his father Akbar to claim his rights on the throne. Ironically, he also finds his son Khusrau in contention for the throne.

Due to the turn of fate, Mehrunnisa is married to Ali Quli, a soldier, despite the fact that Salim wanted to marry her. The story has its cinematic twists, with Mehrunnisa and Jahangir separating for several years, and then reuniting after death of her first husband. On one hand, Jahangir is besotted with her; while on the other, Ali Quli though initially impressed by her beauty, never thinks much of her. Being a soldier, he is usually absent for several days.

It is also interesting to note that an emperor used to have hundreds of wives and thousands of concubines and slave girls in his harem. The marriages were usually for political and strategic reasons. Mughal emperors had also married Hindu princesses. The zanana harems were in itself a fascinating place of power play amongst the incumbents. The emperors would have several children and many times they would not even get to know or see their children for a long time. Their inter-personal relationships are quite apparent in the conflicts for the empire, where father-son would consider each other as rivals.

The book also has a passing reference of Salim and Anarkali affair. Anarkali was supposedly a slave girl.

In a society, and in times, when women were lost into ignominy in a male-dominated society, Mehrunnisa enters Jahangir’s harem at an age of 34 years as his 20^th and last wife. This ambitious lady grows in power and influences Jahangir’s rule significantly. Though in her determination to fulfill her dreams, she often comes across as haughty, manipulative and extremely ambitious.

Historical love stories are always alluring, and Indu Sundaresan’s deft handling of this little known love story makes it a very interesting read. The author succeeds in recreating the essence of Mughal era through her vivid description of prevailing culture, ambience, customs, food, etc.

The book is interesting and will appeal to anybody who loves a good historical fiction, or even just a good book!

(Image source: flipkart.com)

Braking News by Sunetra Choudhury

2011-04-18T11:31:00.002+05:30

Title: Braking News

Author: Sunetra Choudhury
Publisher: Hachette India
Pages: 310
Genre: Non Fiction / Politics / Travel
Rating: 10 out of 10

I first read a review of this book in Outlook. I had recently discovered the world of travel writing and was completely charmed by this genre. I wanted to explore books on India, and then I came across this book. The introduction was quite interesting – 1 Bus, 2 Girls, 15 Thousand Kilometres, 715 Million Votes!!!

‘Braking News’ is a first person account by NDTV’s Sunetra Choudhury of her experience while touring across States during General Elections in 2009 with fellow NDTV reporter Naghma Sahar, cameramen, drivers and an engineer. They were on the road for 2 months with a luxury bus called ‘NDTV Election Bus’ covering places like Dausa, Agra, Gwalior to Shivpuri in MP, Jhansi in UP, Udaipur, Nashik, Daman, Baramati, Goa, Jamshedpur, Bhubaneshwar, to name a few. Their task was to get the pulse of the voters before Elections and transmit a half an hour show live everyday.

First of all, I loved the cover. It sets the mood for the book, which itself is thoroughly entertaining but equally capable in throwing insights into the minds of the voters across regions. Writing is breezy, candid and witty. Though a work of non-fiction, the book is absolutely unputdownable. I finished it in one day.

I have always been in awe of reporters and I have always wondered about the unusual lives that they choose for themselves. In crisis situations, when everyone runs out, they have to go in and report for the benefit of the masses. Add to that the challenges of bringing news that is of importance and interest to common people, and add to that the task of looking at the news and issues in a way that they offer new perspectives to the readers / viewers.

Prior to this, I had read ‘Butter Chicken in Ludhiana’ by Pankaj Mishra. It was all about small towns in India, its people, their idiosyncrasies and their lives in general. When I read about ‘Braking News’, what piqued my interest was that here was a lady journalist on a bus for 2 months, expected to cover the interiors of India. We all know what kind of adventure or misadventure such a journey has the potential to become. Hats off to the journalists who make this happen.

Quite frankly, I have not enjoyed any book so much lately. Though the aim of the bus was to get the pulse of people in places which were going to Elections (in 2009) yet the book does not dwell too much into offering political insights or highlight grassroot issues. This book is more like a diary of a woman who takes on the challenge of planning such a journey, her experiences along the way (some good, some bad), how she raises to the occasion with her team and how they all make it happen. Of course, we get enough glimpses of the ground level issues of Indian voters.

What I really liked is that despite the fact that largely the issues across India remain common like electricity, water, better opportunities and development; yet Sunetra brings out unique observations and perspectives from all these locations and people who she meets. For e.g., we get to know about this dam which keeps getting inaugurated but hasn’t been completed in 34 years, there is a boy in Jharkhand who can speak in 6 Indian languages but what he really wants is to be able to speak in English, a village which has no electricity but they have found innovative ways of watching TV, 11 year old boy in a village who speaks English, a village which is just 10 kms from th city and yet several years away from development, and then there are queens, filmstars and politicians. Everything is woven beautifully and presented in a sharp yet entertaining way.

I will recommend it to everyone. Election, Voters, Politics are the buzz words here, but trust me, it is anything but a serious book. The author shares a charming account of her life-changing journey, more at a personal level, without marginalizing the issues that she highlights along the way.

(Image source: Flipkart.com)

Rich Like Us by Nayantara Sahgal

2011-04-16T14:33:00.000+05:30

Title: Rich Like Us

Author: Nayantara Sahgal
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 301
Genre: Political fiction
Rating: 7 out of 10

Set in New Delhi, ‘Rich Like Us’ by Nayantara Sahgal traces the story of 2 women – Sonali & Rose – against the backdrop of Emergency. The story also travels into past, briefly touching upon several issues like social injustice, after-effects of Partition, practice of Sati, plight of lower classes, etc.

Rose, a British national, finds herself in an affair with an Indian businessman Ram, who she later finds out, is married and had a toddler son. Nevertheless, she decides to follow him to India; and spend the rest of her life as his second wife sharing the household with his first wife Mona. Along the way, she gets close to Mona and also wins over Ram’s father Lalaji. Mona and Ram’s son is Dev. When Ram suffers a stroke and lies comatose on his bed, Rose realizes she does not have much right on his property in the absence of a Will. Dev siphons out money from Rose and Ram’s joint account by forging Ram’s signature. She turns to Sonali for help.

Dev, on the other hand, has been much spoilt by both his parents while growing up. He and his wife Nishi live in the same house as Rose and Ram. He is not interested in furthering his father’s business, and engages himself in finding favors from the Prime Minister’s son. Through him, the story dwells into corruption and nepotism that was so rampant during Emergency. We also get glimpses of how people were piled up inside jail for no apparent reason during that black period of Indian democracy.

Sonali is a highly educated civil servant, who faces sudden transfer and fall in ranks as a result of political upheaval. Sonali, a pride of her father, also a civil servant, falls in love with her childhood friend Ravi Kachru, when both were studying at Oxford. But due to differences in opinion and beliefs, they decide to go their separate ways. Both go on to become civil servants, but Sonali finds Ravi moving up the ladder by supporting the kind of autocracy, he so despised.

Politics is the central running theme in this novel. Though worked around an interesting premise, the story does not match upto its promise (atleast for me). The narrative jumps from one character to another, and from past to present in a manner, which is far from smooth.

This book touches upon many issues – the lives of upper class during British rule, the accumulation of wealth, injustice to the poor, the sufferings of lower class during Partition, the role of women over the years, political situation, Indian family values, patriarchal society, the injustice meted out to people during Emergency, and so many others.

I picked up this book anticipating a story woven around the period of Emergency, which our generation has only heard about. Well, it does; but in its attempt to accommodate much wider and complex issues, it keeps losing pace, and it becomes a struggle to establish connect in the proceeding storyline.

It is not a bad book but it lacks a pull in the story that draws readers into the storyline, which I think is expected from any good fiction. But one may explore this book to get a glimpse of that era and what issues enveloped the society during that time.

(Image source: Wikipedia)

Deaf Heaven by Pinki Virani

2011-04-07T16:36:00.002+05:30

Title: Deaf Heaven

Author: Pinki Virani
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 283
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 10

After reading such remarkable non-fiction work by Pinki Virani - ‘Aruna’s story’ and ‘Bitter Chocolate’, her first attempt at fiction looked promising. Usually a 280-page novel is not a big deal for me, but completing this book was particularly taxing.

‘Deaf Heaven’ is a typical roman a clef where in a novel describes real life and real life instances, behind the guise of fiction. The book acts like an unorganized and a poor compilation of numerous unrelated characters and myriad issues together.

Saraswati, a librarian with cleft lip, is the narrator of this bizarre story where completely unconnected characters are brought together through her. She is lying dead in a library and till the time her body is discovered, her spirit is free to move around and eavesdrop into the lives of people. I could not find any relevance of Saraswati’s character to the story. All the pages which go on to build this character seem as irrelevant as the rest of the book. There are too many characters, their conversations banal and their stories commonplace. The book is just an anthology of everyday facts, popular newspaper stories which we already know. There is no new wisdom.

I also had a problem with the language. It has too much of colloquialism, under the pretext of keeping the essence alive. This is exactly the reason why I steer clear of dime-a-dozen novels in the market written by just about anybody. It is beyond my comprehension why spoken language, even what I call sms language with short-forms like ‘princi’ for principal and ‘hols’ for holiday, has come to be accepted in mainstream writing and publishing. For me, a book is worth my time only if it makes a difference, to my thought process, to my vocabulary or atleast inspires introspection. Literature is worthwhile when it makes you fall in love with the language and its expression.

I struggled with the book throughout, failing to understand the objective of this book. It just keeps jumping from one issue to another without structure or relevance. So from bollywood’s scoop section to 26^th July Mumbai floods, from Bhopal gas tragedy to tribal conversions for political mileage, from ecological disturbances to Mumbai train blasts; it has every particular contemporary issue of today, juxtaposed to make no sense at all. Sometimes, the narration just runs into pages like a never-ending essay, and that too largely is opinion rather than any story-telling.

My words of caution: please do yourself a favour – avoid it.

(Image source: flipkart.com)

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

2011-04-01T12:14:00.001+05:30

Title: My Sister’s Keeper
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Hachette India
Pages: 407
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 8 out of 10

I saw the movie first. I loved it. And therefore, I decided that I had to read the book because a little surfing informed me that the book is slightly different from the movie, and the fact remains that a book is almost always better than the movie. A book is a written word, open to interpretations by the reader, while a movie is essentially an interpretation.

I had no trouble soaking in this 400-pages book, it was pretty unputdownable. I finished it in 3 days. The chapters have been segregated in the perspective of individual characters. The book is about a family of five – Brian (father), Sara (mother), Jesse (the eldest son), Kate (the daughter) and Anna (the youngest daughter). Brian is a fire-fighter and an amateur astronomer while his wife, Sara is a homemaker and an ex-lawyer. Jesse is the first born of the family but surprisingly the life of this family revolves around Kate, the middle one, who is diagnosed with leukemia when she is two (while Jesse is four). The youngest one, Anna was conceived with the help of a geneticist to be a perfect match as a donor for Kate.

My Sister’s Keeper is a sensitive story about

· Anna: Who always knew the reason why she was born and every now and then she finds herself wondering about how different her life had been if she had born into a normal family! Anna acts as a donor again and again for Kate, since the time she takes birth, like when Kate needs leukocytes or stem cells or bone marrow, till the time it is required for her to donate one of her kidneys to Kate. Anna finds herself in this neverending loop, which has clawed into her life so much that she does not see herself ever being able to disentangle and move on. Anna sues her parents for medical emancipation with the help of lawyer Campbell Alexander, for the rights to her own body. She does not want to live a half life, wherein she would have to give up hockey, may have pregnancy related complications and may never be able to leave Kate’s sides, in the wake of when the latter might need her for something.

· Sara: Who, you would almost feel, that along the way forgets being a mother to Anna and Jesse, as much as she is to Kate. You would sometimes find yourself accusing her for compromising the lives of her other 2 children in her quest to keep Kate alive, no matter what. As she explains towards the end of the book, her only motive has been to keep the family intact, because she was not looking at choosing one of her daughters to live but for both of them. Sara is completely convinced that Anna may not be able to appreciate it at present, but she would when she grows older.

· Brian: Who is not as assertive as his wife. He does not take sides – he understands where his wife is coming from and also respects Anna’s decision to assert her rights on her body.

· Jesse: Who is a lost case for the family. The saddest part is that though the parents are aware about him getting into trouble, they have completely given up on him. They don’t even seem to try to get him back. It sometimes feel weird that Sara is so sucked into her zest to save Kate that she completely forgets about her first born. Aren’t the first borns, a little more special, because one experiences the joys of parenthood for the first time? In this case, it does not seem to be the case. Jesse does not seem particularly close to either of his parents.

· Kate: Who fights for her life from leukemia since the tender age of two. She has never known a normal childhood, joking about her death every once in a while. Now at the age of sixteen, she again finds herself accosted by death, wherein even if Anna donates one kidney to her, it does not mean that she would live.

It is a captivating story. As you move along, you would tend to judge Sara and also Anna, but eventually, for the family who is in the crisis, there are no right answers. They just do what they find the best because nobody is wrong. I did find the ending a little surprising but even I don’t know what other ending I was expecting or would have been justified.

The language is mesmerizing and effortless. There are numerous moments which are truly heart-rendering, and ultimately, it is a fascinating story and very well-written.

(Image source: Flipkart.com)

South Asian Challenge 2011

2011-03-28T12:49:00.000+05:30

I have gone ahead and signed up for another Book reading Challenge called South Asian Challenge, hosted by Swapna Krishna at her blog.

I am a little late to join, since the challenge officially stared from January 2011 but it is fine. I still have time till December 2011. This one covers a little more geography. Of course, books on

India

or by Indians qualify, but I can also include books on and from other South Asian countries.

I am looking forward to the book-filled days and months :-)

Book Reading Challenge 2011

2011-03-28T11:29:00.004+05:30

I have been toying with the idea of signing up for one of the Book Reading Challenges for sometime now. The reason being it brings in a lot of discipline and I anyways want to read more books.

I just signed up for Book Reading Challenge 2011. The best part is that this book reading challenge is based on books on India or by Indians. The expectations are not quite high and I think I can do it.

I just have following objectives with this challenge:

I will read all the existing books on India or by Indians, which I have been hoarding since ages now
I will hunt more interesting books related to India, and since I read non-fiction, fiction, everything, it is not going to be too tough
The contest runs from 1st April to 31st May 2011, which I think I will be comfortable with
I wanted to bring in more discipline in reading and writing, so hopefully, I would review all the books which I read

Wish me Luck!

Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik

2011-03-15T11:46:00.001+05:30

Title: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Publisher: Penguin Books India

Pages: 372

Genre: Mythology

Given my penchant for hoarding books inspired by Mahabharata, I had this one too lying on my book-shelf for months now. After finishing Badrinath Chaturvedi’s ‘The Women of the Mahabharata’ (which by the way is another good book on the subject), I picked this up for reading.

I have read about 10 books on Mahabharata, and if I were to suggest one book that you should read on the subject, I would highly recommend this book. It amazingly captures everything I have read in those 10 books (in just 372 pages with illustrated drawings also for better understanding). The flow is smooth, the language is lucid and it goes much beyond than merely telling a unidimensional story. After every chapter, the author tries to explain the practical aspects behind the stories that we have heard, so that there is better clarity, for e.g., birth of 100 kauravas, birth of 5 pandavas, and several other things. It is perhaps the best thing that the author has done. Otherwise whenever we read such stories we are left wondering how this or that could actually happen, because there is way too much exaggeration.

It is for the first time, I came to know about the story of Shakuni, which I also found on Wikipedia later. The only things I found missing in this book, as also in any other book on Mahabharata that I have read, are a little more perspective on Duryodhan, and a little more about the ‘danveer’ aspect of Karna. Duryodhan has been known to be a good king, while Karna’s danveer nature has been known to all. Otherwise, I found this book perfect.

A few questions which I found myself pondering about, after reading this book were:

Mahabharata is said to be a war for ‘dharma’ but actually if you see, Pandavas (with help from Krishna) flouted more rules to kill their enemies than Kauravas. The only time Kauravas overlooked the rules was when Abhimanyu was killed in Chakravyuha, and when Ashmathhama lights a fire in Pandava’s camp and also kills Dhrishtadyumna and all five sons of Draupadi. On the other side, Pandavas killed Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Duryodhana and even Jayadratha by folly.
If you look at it, Pandavas might not have won, had it not been for Krishna
The irony of Mahabharata was that while the Kauravas were killed and went to heaven, Pandavas were left to rule a kingdom of corpses, widows and orphans.
Kauravas and Pandavas were fighting for the right to the throne, but the truth was that neither of them were from the true lineage of the Kuru dynasty
Yudhishthir, in all the books that I have read, comes across as a weak character. He loses everything in the game of dice, even his wife; and when Draupadi gets their freedom back from Dhritarashtra, he again loses his right on the kingdom and gets for Pandavas and their wife thirteen years of exile. What a man!
How can Yudhishthir be forgiven of the adharma of manipulating his mother’s words to marry his younger brother’s wife!
There are 2 things which I have never been able to comprehend. First, just because Kunti asked the brothers to share the alms, how can they share a wife! Secondly, why nobody objected to Draupadi’s humiliation in the court. Which dharma allows it?
Frankly, this so-called dharma elaborated in such detail in the epics have all been written by men and they have some really weird perspectives on what a woman should do.

Well, anyways, this book in undoubtedly fabulous. Go for it.

Check out a lucrative online deal below.

Image courtesy: http://devdutt.com

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

2010-10-08T12:43:00.003+05:30

Title: Mini Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Publisher: Bantam Press

Pages: 392

Genre: Chicklit / Comedy / Contemporary women literature

Though Sophie Kinsella’s 6^th book in the Shopaholic series, has nothing new to offer; yet it is enjoyable and quite a page-turner. To those who are new to this series, ‘Shopaholic’ series follows the antics of Becky Bloomwood (now Brandon), who is a highest degree of Shopaholic. She cannot resist the pull of the word ‘Sale’, branded clothes and ‘Discounts’, no matter how deep she is in credit, whether she has money or not, whether she ‘needs’ the stuff or not….she just has to shop. It is her therapy.

‘Mini Shopaholic’ is based on the premise that Becky’s two-year old daughter is also turning out to be a Shopaholic. However, when you read the book, the main storyline is still about how Becky has really not learnt anything from the several disastrous situations she has faced earlier because of her addiction to shopping. Now, with her daughter Minnie in picture, she has only increased her scope of shopping. In fact, at many instances, she goes completely berserk in shopping stuff for Minnie that are not even going to fit her for a long, long time. Despite at a mature age of 29 years and being a mother, Becky continues to behave like a teenager.

The reader also gets to know that Minnie, Becky and Luke’s daughter, has turned into a spoilt brat, while Becky lives in denial. The story is also about Becky’s surprise birthday party for Luke (her husband), and how things go completely haywire and yet slowly everything fall into place and at the end it is again ‘happily ever after’.

Luke has hardly anything to do in the story; neither does Suze, Becky’s best friend. Becky continues to shop like there is no tomorrow. The story really does not have anything off-beat, it follows the same graph. The success of Shopaholic series, despite its repetitiveness is that somewhere we all connect with Becky. She is our wildest dreams come alive on paper. We cheer for her, when she puts across weirdest logic to shop.

If you are a woman in your 20s & 30s, this book is totally for you. And if you are into chicklit, you cannot give it a miss. Even if you are not big on chicklit, you can try it as a stop-gap between books.

I will give it 8 out of 10, because I had a great time reading it, it was a super-quick read and I really felt relaxed and enjoyed it a lot.

Check out the best online deal below.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

2010-10-03T14:51:00.004+05:30

'The Time Traveler’s Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger is essentially a love story, albeit an unconventional one, of Henry and Clare. Henry is a Time Traveler who travels in and out of any of his chronological age, without any control on where and when he would travel; while Clare has a regular chronological life. This almost 600-page, extraordinary page-turner is a beautiful blend of science fiction and romance. It certainly holds its own amongst such timeless classic love stories like ‘Love Story’ and ‘The Notebook’.

Henry De Tamble is suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Chrono Displacement because of which he time travels. During one of his time travels, Henry meets his future wife, Clare, much before he is actually supposed to meet her, and from there starts an amazing and unique love story between them. Henry and Clare keep on meeting at different ages, and pick up the pieces of their love story from where they had left before. It is amazing how Clare falls in love with Henry; while knowing it very well that Henry can never promise her the single most important thing that love promises - ‘to be there for each other always’- and yet they try to create an amazing life together.

The book is actually written as a series of diary entries by Henry and Clare. It always starts with the age of Clare and Henry at that moment. One might find it a little confusing in the beginning but soon the pieces fit together, and it is easy to get lost in the world of Henry and Clare. Their love story is extremely ‘in the moment’ because they don’t know when, where and in what age they will meet next. But it is not all that rosy, because for Clare, it might mean loving a different person altogether - Henry at 28 and then Henry at 43; people become different when they grow up. For Henry, it is difficult too because when he time travels he is in the frame of mind from where he is coming. Amidst the disappearing acts, Henry manages to do a regular job as a librarian, enjoys a social life with friends Gomez and Charisse, deals with his problems with his dad and also tries to solve the puzzle of his life with geneticist Dr Kendrick. If this is not a roller-coaster life, then what is!

I would give it 4.5 out of 5 for its originality, momentum, grip and amazing characters. I take a 0.5 for a few minor things which I thought were unnecessary in the story. This book is something which one would want to recommend to everyone for a long, long time.

Get the best deal at Flipkart. Click the link below.

My latest collection

2010-08-30T22:15:00.000+05:30

I have no book reviews yet because since the time I have picked up ‘Tamas’ by Bhisham Sahani, I am stuck. I have reached halfway but the only thing which is keeping me going, at however slow pace, is just my policy of not leaving any book half-read!

Well, after my 10-books frenzy, a couple of days back; I have again bought some more books, some planned, some on the spur-of-the-moment. Here’s the list:

• Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal. Frankly, I had been avoiding this book for a long, long time because I have seen Rashmi Bansal on TV a couple of times and did not like her much…the way she keeps driving the point that she is from IIM and yet how she is not in the rat race, blah, blah, blah. But I wanted to know these inspiring stories of people who have taken the unconventional road and made it big.

• Temptations of the West by Pankaj Mishra. I have bought this book only because I have read Pankaj Mishra’s earlier book ‘Butter Chicken in Ludhiana’ and I wanted to pick something from ‘Travelogue’ section. Hope it is good.

• India: A Million Mutinies now by V.S.Naipaul. This is my first book by Naipaul. Whatever I have read of him online, I look forward to discovering his style of writing and hoping that I like it.

• I feel bad about my neck by Nora Ephron. It was available at steal price of Rs 50, and found the first few pages quite funny…so thought, why not!

• Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss. I have read the author’s ‘Eats Shoots and Leaves’ which was a witty book on Punctuation. Bought it only for Rs 50

• Mein Kampf ......finally! I think the whole world has read this book by now. But I was not ready so far. I got it at the Sale for Rs 100

• The Perfect Store by Adam Cohen. The book is about e-bay. I am fascinated by the potential of online media and really wanted to read this book….one of the first movers! By the way, also for Rs 50

I also bought, some books on Interiors:

• How to Decorate

• Healthy Home

Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

2010-08-18T00:45:00.002+05:30

I don’t know what led me to this book, but once I read this, I was certainly hooked to read it:

“In a small town in the heart of India, a young girl is found tied to a bed inside a townhouse where thirteen people lie dead. The girl is alive, but she has been beaten and abused. She is held in the local prison, awaiting interrogation for the murders she is believed by the local people to have committed. Visiting social worker Simran attempts to break through the girl’s mute trance to find out what happened that terrible night. As she uncovers more and more, Simran realises that she is caught in the middle of a terrifying reality, where the unwanted female offspring of families are routinely disposed of. Brilliantly atmospheric, hauntingly real, this is a major debut from an exciting new author.”

The book deals with an important issue of female infanticide in Punjab. Quite a coincidence, these days I have also been watching this serial called “Na Aana Is Des Meri Laado”, which also deals with the same issue. Apparently, the women in the interiors of such places believe that if there are few of them, then they will be valued more. Well, there’s this movie called “Matrubhoomi”, and it is one of the most horrifying movies I have ever seen. One thing is that it is badly made, but the main thing that disturbed me was the premise of the story. The movie is about this woman, “Kalki”, who is the only surviving woman with only men around her. You can imagine what would have become of her.

It is a well-known fact that Punjab-Haryana has the lowest sex ratio across India. Here’s an article on the alarming numbers and how education has not been able to curb this evil, and it stands out as prominently in urban Punjab, as much as it does in the rural areas.

Such strong inclination for a male child is not only for dowry because it is quite prevalent in affluent families as well. The issue is also deeply rooted into property and social status (read stigma).

Coming back to the book. The fact that the writer feels quite strongly about the issue stands out starkly through the book. There are definitely a few shortcomings, but we must give her credit to create such a page-turner, and yet drive home the point. The beginning is as much shocking as much it is intriguing, and sets the stage for the story to unfold. I finished this book in 3 ‘week’-days, with only a few hours of reading each day. It was almost unputdownable - sometimes you were absorbed in the flow, sometimes you rooted for Simran to keep up her spirit, sometimes you got all boggled on ‘who-did-it’! At some point, it also gets quite alarming to just think of what is happening to so many girls, may be our age, may be a few years younger, may be who never could take birth.

I would say it is a worthy book. Check out the best online deal below.

Lounge

2010-08-10T13:15:00.000+05:30

I did a post on which magazines I absolutely love and follow, and I have been thinking about adding another of my favourites, but never actually went on to do it. I hardly read any newspaper. Not enough time, is usually my excuse, although I do find time to finish off fat books and watch FRIENDS everyday…mmm well!

The Saturday edition of Mint called Lounge is my favourite, and I make it a point to get it every week. I don’t take it everyday because I’m definitely not interested in financial news, though occasionally I have read the editorials, but that’s that. I like it because it dwells more on Lifestyle, Culture, Food, Travel and well, books! If you can’t get the paper itself, log on to their website.

You can also go through their Archives and read several delightful articles and interesting posts. I first came to know about kitschy Indian-design based firms like PLAY CLAN, DESIGN TEMPLE, HAPPILY UNMARRIED, etc, in one of the articles covered in ‘Lounge’. Even their book reviews are quite nice.

Butter Chicken in Ludhiana by Pankaj Mishra

2010-08-03T18:20:00.003+05:30

I had received strong recommendations for Pankaj Mishra’s “Butter Chicken in Ludhiana — Travels in Small Town India”, and that is how I bought it long time back. For quite sometime, I would stop at the book and keep it back on my shelf because I was not too fascinated by a travelogue.

A couple of days back I picked it up for good. Though I took unusually long time to finish it, but I liked it. On certain occasions, I did find a general feeling of aimlessness and regular chatter in the book, somewhere in the middle; yet o be fair to the book, a couple of times I also felt the book was unputdownable. So, basically, it was an interesting read.
The book was written in 1993, with the objective of experiencing and narrating the changing diaspora of Indian society in the small towns, and when the writer chronicled his experiences, he never loses focus.

Being from a small town myself (not even town!); I already know the essence of small towns. The coming of age of people from little hamlets or the transformation of smaller towns is apparent through the lives of several people. Perhaps, the small-town people are more single-minded in achieving things in life. It is a dream that we are all living. Frankly speaking, I never even dreamt about this kind of life. Perhaps due credit should be given to education, more of our parents and less of our generation.
I liked the book, to the extent that I would recommend it to other people and also would like to re-read it in the future. It has also sparked my interest in travelogues. Now I am hunting for some good travelogues. Suggestions are welcome, preferably for good Indian travelogues.

‘Butter Chicken in Ludhiana is an endearing sociological study of small towns in India. Small-talks with different people, short conversations, functions that the writer attends; all of them give glimpses into the psyche of people there and their lives. It makes you nostalgic about your own journey from that small township to the big cities of the modern India. If somebody would have told me, ages ago, while I was still schooling at the tiny township in the interiors of Jharkhand, that I would be staying in almost all the metros of India, I would not have believed. I used to be overawed by city life and had that lack of confidence, which is inherent in almost all small town people. But now I feel proud to have belonged to a place so far off, and yet to be able to build a life here. Unlike, what Pankaj Mishra says, I do not want to shrug off my life there, but I am not hung up on that either. I have always liked ‘present’ than ‘past’.

Coming back to the book, it was easy to relate to the various conversations that the writer has with different people in different places in India. What stands out in a lot of his conversations and observations is that the apparent modernity which the small town people are so desperate to embrace, has actually not reached their thinking. I would say, it is not only with the small towns, yes, certainly more stark there, but one comes across the narrow-mindedness in a lot of city-dwellers also, and it surprises you even more because you are not expecting it.

Small towns are not just the idyllic, romantic, cozy places. Since I am from one, I have complete authority and clarity to comment on this. Small towns are full of their own idiosyncrasy. There is certainly an aspiration for the modernity, to get rid of the small town tag. I remember from my generation, English songs and bands were not part of my teenage. I read Archies only after growing up. But several people would like to associate themselves only with English channels, movies, bands, music, just to drive home the point that they are not into Hindi (read ‘lowly) films, channels, etc.
I am enamored by the books which Mr Mishra mentions in a lot of places. I am also jealous by the fact that he wrote such a book immediately after his education or during (not sure!). Obviously, he is well-read. When he mentions someone as the only person he has met who has read s0-and-so book, I am a little ashamed because despite all my claims about reading, I am still ignorant about a world of books, even classics. Mr Mishra, I am slowly getting there! Don’t judge me :-)

Well, in short, you will like it if you like non-fiction, or travelogues or small town stories, little conversations. It will make a difference if you are yourself from a small town or are inclined towards exploring them. Remember, non-fiction genre are not stories or page-turners, you really have to have a liking for this genre.
Read more about the book here. Catch a fabulous deal below:

Getting booked this week!

2010-07-15T13:33:00.002+05:30

Time really flies! No matter how much I try being regular on my blog, “time” just beats me! It smuggles away seconds and minutes, and even days. Anyways, that’s not the point. I don’t have a book to review right now, because I am still reading it. It will take atleast 2 more days. By the way, I am reading “Butter Chicken in Ludhiana by Pankaj Mishra”. Quite an interesting book, though a bit slow in few places but worth it. It is next on my review list.

This weekend, I had an overwhelming urge to buy atleast 10 books! First it took me hours to shortlist a few after reading lots and lots of reviews. So, I was not able to buy them during the weekend, but well, I have bought it yesterday! I just love the moment when I receive them through courrier. I cannot define the joy!

Here are the books that I bought:

1. Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
2. Deaf Heaven by Pinki Virani

3. Doordarshan Days by Bhaskar Ghose

4. Gandhi: Naked Ambition by Jad Adams

5. Harilal Gandhi: A Life by by Chandulal B. Dalal

6. If I am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus

7. Leela : A Patchwork Life by Leela Naidu & Jerry Pinto

8. Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

9. The Dancing Girls Of Lahore by Louise Brown

10. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I am majorly into Non-Fiction these days. I keep on hunting for different kinds of good non-fiction reads. Most of the above books are through Outlook reviews. I also like The Hindu Book reviews.

Superscribed!

2010-06-21T15:03:00.002+05:30

I have subscribed myself to 5 magazines!

Femina: I have been subscribed to Femina for 3 years now, and I totally love the magazine. It is amazing how many things they put into each issue. I especially love those special issues where they feature Femina through the years. Since Femina has been around so many years, it gives glimpse into the changing fashion, evolving social trends and most importantly, women. No other women's magazine even comes close to Femina! I got this for 50% on 3 years subscription, certainly a good deal, since I know I am going to read it forever! I would have gone for 5 years, if there were such a deal. (Image source: Pinkvilla)

BBC Good Homes: It is one of the best interior magazines around, featuring awesome knick-knacks for homes and superb ‘real’ homes. I have bought a lot of stuff after finding it in this magazine and found inspiration for my own home. I got this for 50% off on subscription for 1 year. I am certainly going to renew my subscription for 3 years atleast. (Image source: BBC Good Homes)

Living etc: Another fabulous interiors magazine, brought into India by Images group. Got the deal for 40% discount and also 4 free back issues. I think these kind of magazines should offer free back issues on their own, because these are not really news items or celeb dates which will go obsolete in a week. These are trends, which remain for a while! (Image source: Images Group)

Outlook: I have subscribed this quite recently, and my subscription hasn’t started yet but I got a great combo deal of Outlook and People for Rs 2999 for 3 years. I think it is fabulous and there are some subscription gifts as well. Outlook is really the best general magazine around right now. India Today has lost its shine long time back, while I do like some issues of “The Week” but “Outlook” is the best in the category. (Image source: Outlook)

People: I had read international editions of PEOPLE long back with Jennifer Aniston on the cover. I read the first Indian edition one year back and loved it. Since I am a big one on celebrity fashion and news, I lapped it up. What makes it stand out is, it is not about the scandals and trashy news-bites, it is about celeb lives, fashion, events, new movies and even books. I buy a lot of books, after findig it here. It is certainly not in the genre of Filmfare and the ilk. (Image source: People)

And well, I love each one of them……………….! I was just about to subscribe for Outlook Money, but who am I kidding, I am not into finance so much. But for those who are, it is a great personal finance magazine. I love the way it is able to connect to a common man.

Other than above, I sometimes also buy “Better Homes and Gardens”, “Good Housekeeping” and “Ideal Homes and Gardens”. All these interior magazines are increasingly becoming similar-looking but I love peeping into beautiful homes for inspiration. So, be it!