The Litwit

The Secret of the Nagas by R. Subramaniyan, Final year, Mechanical Engineering

2013-08-05T23:35:00.001+05:30

The success of The Immortals of Meluha, a novel by first-time author Amish, took everyone by surprise last year. Few had imagined that a story in which Shiva is re imagined as a Tibetan stoner, told by an IIM graduate, had the makings of a bestseller. The book became popular within weeks, and fans have been eagerly anticipating the sequel. The Secret of the Nagas is the second part in Amish’s Shiva Trilogy.

The Shiva of The Secret of the Nagas is not the unsure and ambiguous nomad from the first book, but a happy, confident man. He has left behind his homeland and settled into the role of being the saviour quite comfortably. Sati and he are happily married. The weed in the plains is better. The one dark spot is Shiva’s need to avenge the murder of his friend, Brahaspati, who was killed by a mysterious Naga assassin in The Immortals of Meluha. Despite the snake on the cover, the Nagas have little serpentine about them. They are all humans with physical abnormalities who have been abandoned by their family because the law demands Nagas be exiled. The Nagas have their own kingdom and the exact location of their capital, Panchvati, is a carefully guarded secret. In the course of The Secret of the Nagas, Shiva learns that appearances can be misleading. The identity of the Naga assassin and Panchvati are discovered, and among the new additions to Shiva’s entourage are Kali, Ganesh, Kartik and Parashuram.

There are a number of reasons why The Secret of the Nagas is a disappointment, particularly to anyone who liked the first book of the trilogy. The Immortals of Meluha had two strengths: a reasonably solid plot and unambitious storytelling. The Secret of the Nagas has neither. Amish wrote using simple sentences. His characters were interesting and spoke in modern, everyday English, which actually gave them an air of easy credibility rather than sounding jarring. The Immortals of Meluha sought to tell a story that made you interested in finding out what happens next. In The Secret of the Nagas, there’s little suspense and by the end, one feels little curiosity about the finale.

It seems that while writing The Secret of the Nagas, much of Amish’s attention was upon language. There are obvious and woefully inept attempts at literary flair that make the novel a tiresome read. The book suffers from a rash of exclamation marks and unnecessary italics. Sentences have been sliced to create weak, dangling fragments (“Parashuram charged. Followed by his vicious horde. ”). Instead of simply talking, people bellow, scream, whisper and fall silent. They are flabbergasted, they pirouette in the middle of a fight, and use words like “exponentially”, “garagantuan” and “plethora” in their speech. The net result is text that is laboured, trite and awkward.

Amish’s retelling of myths in The Secret of the Nagas is not particularly fun or clever. Unlike in The Immortals of Meluha, getting Amished in The Secret of the Nagas leads to far less interesting versions of both Kali and Parashuram. Ganesh is perhaps the worst hit because so little of his story actually makes sense. The uncomfortable relationship between Shiva and Ganesh in Hindu myths gets beaten to flat simplicity. More subtly hit is the Bengali community. A substantial part of The Secret of the Nagas concerns Brangas, who are Amished Bengalis from an ancient era. The Brangas are clever and rich but are afflicted by a weird plague for which the natural antidote is peacock blood. So, in order to survive, Amished Bengalis have to kill the national bird and drink its blood. Plus, the prime minister of the Branga kingdom is a man festooned with gold jewellery, whose name is Bappiraj, thus bringing music director Bappi Lahiri into the Shiva Trilogy.

Review by,

R. Subramaniyan,

Final year,

Mechanical Engineering.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by S. Surendiran, Final Year, Civil Engineering

2013-08-05T23:30:00.000+05:30

The pro-prologue of this 2007 novel has several lines of appreciation from several media dorms and other famous people about the book, all praising its author in his expertise in storytelling, the book’s excellence etc. It does live up to the hype.

It is set over a period of about 40 years, starting by 1964 and ending by 2003. It revolves about two girls, Mariam and Laila, who arise in different time periods yet experience the same fate. It is based in the country of Afghanistan and at the time where the Taliban slowly rise to power. Subjugation of women by men and the tortures they were put into by the Taliban, their peculiar policies about women, the hardships they undergo are portrayed to the point by the author’s detailed descriptions.

The story starts off by teaching us a word in Afghan Language (I suppose. The book also introduces two different accents of the same), a highly detestable word. And that being said by a mother to a daughter is sure to tell you that this novel is of no fantasy or romance or thriller but of sour reality. Tragedy strikes in just a few pages from the start in this 400 page book. Betrayal, Child marriage followed by utter helplessness, creeps in. Now, if you are a person easily fed up and bored by melancholic literature, you would very well close this book, go to sleep and never bother to open it again. But if your curiosity drives you and you don’t want to leave anything unfinished, you would go on to read it. You would be happy to be introduced to an eye-candy after a short period where the omniscient genre of ‘child love’ enters. The second main character-Laila, surfaces. Laila is set in a lifestyle very different from Mariam, yet, they ultimately end up under the feet of a man through the legal polygamy. How this happens, you better read the book.

The remaining pages deal with interpersonal relationships and how two people love each other just because they intersect with a common hate. Sympathy is the one feeling the reader oozes throughout. The background also describes the rise and fall of many troops who try to gain power. The Taliban gets control of Kabul where the girls share a residence with their husband. How they struggle to educate Laila’s baby girl, Aziza, how Rasheed, their husband tortures them, how physically and emotionally they battle to get freed, how sacrifice gives peace is all explained in the later pages with master class.

At the end, you would feel compelled to know more about the struggles of normal people in Afghanistan who are most prone and most affected by militant groups. You would sympathize with them. You would also feel fortunate to be located elsewhere in this world. You would soon get to know about the thousands of Afghan Refugees who live in lifeless conditions. You would soon get to know about the Thousand Splendid suns behind her wall, the thousands of women in Afghanistan behind their black veils.

Review by,

S. Surendiran,

Final Year,

Civil Engineering.

Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake by Mrs. Anita Ponmalar, Asst. Professor, Dept of English

2013-08-05T23:22:00.000+05:30

This story would interest a casual reader who needs a book to read with a piece of cake and tea. It is the story of a young woman who consider herself ‘plain Jane’. The many circumstances that throw her and her boss together develop a relationship between them that ends up in a marriage. But did the marriage bring the best in her? We need to read the story through to find it. The story jumps back and forth just like memories often do. The style is simple and conveys the feelings of a woman honestly. But there are instances where one wonders if conscience can be silenced by a simple ‘shut up’? I would have wanted my heroine to say ‘no’ to causal relationships getting deeper even before one is proposed to.

Even though women in India have fallen behind may centuries now, the Tamilians/Indians come from a cultural background which has taught women to make wise choices fearlessly. I would want Indians/Tamilians women to claim what is their own culturally rather than following Western Feminist ideas blindly.

However, a happy ending life to the burdens off and leaves the reader with contentment.

Preethi Shenoy has two national best sellers to her credit and has multifarious interests. This may not be a book that compels you read again and again but can be read once with pleasure.

                                                                                                  Review by,
                                                                                                   Mrs. Anita Ponmalar,
                                                                                                       Asst. Professor,

Dept of English

Who Moved My Cheese by M.B. Rajvishnu, 2nd year, Mechanical Engineering

2013-08-05T23:15:00.004+05:30

The story reveals profound truths. It deals about four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese and nourish them to be happy.

The author explains how to:

i) anticipate change

ii) adapt change quickly

iii) enjoy the change

iv) eady to change quickly again and again

Even if we don’t find the right path and cannot attain our goal, We must try to find the path and must dream ourselves cherishing the goal. We must be like sniff and scurry who worked hard to find new cheese at cheese station N and when they noticed the reduction of cheese, they gathered in cheese station C.We must adapt to the change and try to lead our life from it and must not fear about the change that ‘change’ will make in our life.

Like Michael shared his experience that he enjoyed after he accepted his change, we must also accept our change and try to narrate our experience for this change to others.

It was an “Amazing Way to deal with Change in my Life and in my Work”.

Quotes:

“If you want to succeed in life, you must have two things, Ignorance and Confidence”.

Review by,

M.B. Rajvishnu

Second Year,

Mechanical Engineering.

The Alchemist by R.T.Arun kumar, Mechanical(Final Year)

2013-08-05T20:08:00.000+05:30

Author’s past life before he made his first script was far away from the soul of god. But, when he realized his presence in this world as he wrote this book about a boy and his destiny, which made to achieve his own destiny. He clearly uttered the four obstacles that a soul must pass ahead to feel the eternity and elixir of life. The author unlashes the quotes for life of the soul through an old man. In which a quote had a unique meaning to all, with only one destination. “Everything is written by some hand”. And also he portrayed the life of Arab during wartime in oasis. If any person mourns for his inability to succeed in life, must read this book to get hold of the path to achieve through his (or) her soul’s fulfillness.

Review by,

R.T.Arun Kumar,

Final Year,

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

The Kite Runner by R.T.Arun kumar, Mechanical(Final Year)

2013-07-07T23:52:00.002+05:30

No words to praise the author’s narration. He had pointed out nook and corner of all the surroundings and its characters where the scene bloomed. He jolted down all the possibilities to present the whole meaning of ‘hope’ and ‘love’. His way of narration will surely make the reader’s feels the scene’s nature without any burr. He perfectly presented how the Afghani’s suffered with that sorrowful life and how they planted the plant of hope for peace will all sunrise. His well versed knowledge on the language can be easily spotted from prologue to epilogue of his story.

Review by,

R.T.Arun Kumar,

Final Year,

Mechanical Engineering.

3 Lives – In Search Of Bliss by R.T.Arun Kumar Mechanical(Final year)

2013-07-07T23:48:00.000+05:30

“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence “. The author relates the quote with all the superstition matters according to a modern man. He took 3 lives in different edges of the world and with different ages to show the clear picture of soul’s conversation with god. And At last, he depicts the true meaning of love, life, happiness and also about patience with a priest in a village the writer sculptures the readers thoughts with his tool of pure language. He points out the life’s efficient and sufficient there words “Let it go” which has an everlasting fluorescent property saying “Nothing stays, everything passes away”.

Review by,

R.T.Arun Kumar,

Final Year,

Mechanical Engineering.

I Too Had a Love Story by R.T.Arun kumar, Mechanical(Final Year)

2013-07-07T23:43:00.002+05:30

A person without a spark of love is just like a stone (specifically) in a vast Sahara desert. It’s too hard to find it(him), but a question may arise ‘Did any human exist without love?’. In this book the author sketches the experience he had in his life with a lovely girl. And with that, he answers the previous question with a big no. He wrote the verses, which will just take you to the place where he was so joyful with his girl and also where he felt so lonely when he misses her. The author addresses the readers from his view about his feelings that he had, most probably we all would have come across in our life. The author throws the light on pure love which made his life pure, to showcase its glimpse for readers, romantically.

Review by,

R.T.Arun Kumar,

Final Year,

Mechanical Engineering.

Who Moved My Cheese? by A.Gnana Vignesh, Mechanical (Final Year)

2013-07-07T23:36:00.001+05:30

“Who loved my cheese?” by Spencer Johnson is a wonderful book which deals about changes and some adopts to it and some doesn’t .As soon as I finished reading this I thought this would help us deal with the relentless changes we face from being on changing terms to developing new markets. This book is a simple, understandable road map for us to use as we deal with our own individual circumstances around change. Dr. Johnson’s enticing images and languages gives a fundamentally sound and memorable way of managing change his unique insights and storytelling makes this a rare book that can be read and understood quickly by everyone who wants to do well in these changing times. This wonderful book is an asset to any person or group that applies its lessons. This book shows an amazing way to deal with change in our book and in our life I personally recommend this book to those who struggle to adapt changes in their life. Especially I liked the line “Adapt to change faster, for if you do not adapt in time you might as well not adapt at all “old beliefs do not lead you to cheese.

Review by,

A.Gnana Vignesh,

Final year,

Mechanical Engineering.

I Too Had a Love Story by Dr.S.K.Chitra Lakshmi, HOD, English Dept

2013-07-07T23:31:00.001+05:30

A love story of the kind that every young person goes through- except for the climax.

A story that inevitably takes Erich Segal’s ‘love story ‘This one does not touch the heart like Segal’s. However, every nuance of falling in love and the love interludes, are so much part of one’s first love. These are the technicalities that one agrees with totality in the process of ‘falling in love’

One read and no more unless one is right now experiencing the heart gripping, emotional ‘in love ‘ experience.

Review by,

Dr.S.K.CHITRA LAKSHMI,

HOD, ENGLISH DEPT,

GCE, SALEM-11.