Untitled - Fell short of Ideas!

1000 Times (Un)lucky – The Journey to 13,000 km in Running

2025-06-08T20:49:00.002+05:30

(First post on this blog after 10 years)

1000 Times Unlucky – The Journey to 13,000 km in Running

March 20, 2012 was when I started running to beat boredom (and loneliness) in Atlanta after I moved there. If someone had told me then that I’d become a reasonably decent runner—and more importantly, a mostly disciplined* runner—I’d not have believed them.

(*mostly disciplined because of the long break from running for most of 2024 and early 2025.)

I continued to run for over six months and got in 63 runs, recording each of them along with the list of songs I listened to during the run and writing a post on the thoughts that occurred during the run. Then, life happened.

Pre-2015:

I moved to India in March 2013, signed up for the TCS 10k that was happening in May for fun, and walked through most of the run. But that race ignited something in me. I’d go to the lake near home and run occasionally. This continued through 2014, including my second time running the TCS 10k.

This was also when my colleague-turned-friend-turned-coach-turned-pillar-of-support, Abhishek, started running too.

On May 1 that year, I discovered something called the Nike+ Running app (now Nike Run Club) and used it to track a run in the forests of Silchar, Assam (where I was on a work visit). I started tracking runs on that carrying my phone during my runs.

2015–2017:

In early 2015, I moved to a new role at work and relied on running to separate work from life. After a workday, I’d go to the local track and run random distances. No distance or pace targets—just running, tracked.

I graduated from the 10k to the half marathon distance in September 2015 with roughly 5-6 weeks of unstructured training. It was around this time my friend Nivie introduced me to the Garmin Forerunner series and got me a Forerunner 225. I used it in my very first half marathon (which ended up being 18 km due to a fallen tree on the Kukkrahalli Lake trail in Mysore). I loved the structured tracking including the kilometers splits. I did the half marathon distance in Kaveri Trail Marathon and the Bangalore Marathon in Sept/Oct 2015 and broke the 2:00 barrier for the half marathon distance at the Bangalore Marathon 2015.

I kept running on the track in one direction (anticlockwise), which eventually led to a stress fracture, accompanied by an ankle/tibia injury—both in early 2016. I sought orthopedic attention from Dr. Vinod and spent June–August 2016 with a physiotherapist, Sudin, who taught me how critical stretching is for runners.

After recovery, I continued running and completed more half marathons, including the National Marathon Circuit by NEB Sports during the 2016–17 cycle (running half marathons in Bangalore, Goa, Kolkata, and Delhi).

Mid-2015 was also when Tejas started running with me—laying the foundation for one of the few late-in-life friendships that has lasted. He became my training partner, race travel partner, and race-day companion. Around this time, my other friend Naga also started running.

2017:

A near-death experience from an appendix rupture and major incisional surgery forced me to take a five-month break (May–October 2017). This was my first major pause since starting to take running seriously in 2015.

To get back, I chose the Tata Mumbai Marathon (Jan 2018) as a target—no pace goals, just finishing, even if it meant walking. Abhishek became my coach and shared his training plan: all easy runs, 3–4 days a week, with focus on getting the distance in.

The first few weeks were tough—I wasn’t a morning runner—but I eventually adapted. Morning runs were a revelation. What a way to start the day! I also hit my first (and only) 100 km mileage week that December.

I also did the Bengaluru half marathon in October just to see my fitness level in less than 18 hours of notices. I was happy to finish it in a reasonably decent time (2:06) – muscle memory is a thing, perhaps!

All of this training was with Tejas by my side. We explored new routes like Pipeline Road and parts of Central Bangalore.

2018:

I did my first marathon at Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM) in Mumbai, finishing in 4:12—a big achievement just 8 months after major surgery. I also began running consistently during work travel within the country and outside.

Thanks to Devrath Vijay’s Ninjafit bootcamp at The Outfit Jayanagar, I began strength training involving kettlebells. I had never liked gyms before, but this made a difference. (More on that soon.) I start going to the gym 2-3 times a week whenever I was in Bangalore and not on business trips which were aplenty in 2018.

Post the TMM in Jan, I continued building my aerobic base with easy runs and cracked 1:50 for the half marathon in June 2018 in Cape Cod.

A race holiday in Ladakh, a strong 1:46 half marathon in Delhi, and other events made 2018 memorable.

Tejas and I trained for TMM 2019 with a similar plan to 2018, but with added strength training after long runs.

2019:

At TMM 2019, I improved my marathon time by 25 minutes. Yes, early gains—but I credit this to strength training and building a consistent aerobic base.

Tejas and I got into the Chicago Marathon 2019 via lottery. That’s when I decided to get a professional coach—Dharmendra (D)—a long-delayed decision I consider one of the best in my running life.

I first spoke to D in 2017, but surgery delayed things. I was also not confident about following a routine before training for TMM 2018. After two marathon cycles, I felt ready.

We started training in February for the October race. D’s style clicked with me. His words after a initial few weeks of training—“Save your legs for the race and don’t overdo training runs”—stuck with me.

Within 10 weeks of training with D, I broke 50 minutes in the 10k with a 47:50 at TCS 10k, just 20 seconds off D’s prediction. I then ran 1:43 at the Celebrate Mysore half marathon in September 2019 5-6 weeks prior to Chicago Marathon.

Structured training—intervals, tempo, easy long runs, strength, cross-training—plus sleep and nutrition made a huge difference. This structured approach seemed to penetrate into other aspects by my life including at work where I had to build a decently sized team from scratch. While I seemed clueless in 2017 and 2018 on the work front, 2019 was a revelation. A marathon training cycle changes you!

At Chicago Marathon 2019, I cramped at 32 km but finished in 3:36 (D predicted 3:35–3:40). Tejas got a solid 3:49. This showed both of us that a combination of structure training, strength training, consistency and discipline works wonders. Post-race, we indulged in the Chicago deep-dish pizza I’d been dreaming about!

Tata Steel 25k in Dec 2019 was our last race before the pandemic. On our return from Kolkata, I joked to Tejas that it might be our last race together—and it was, at least for a while.

2020:

Apart from six weeks of lockdown (March–May 2020), I kept running. I aimed for the Malnad Ultra 50k in November but due to the pandemic, the event was uncertain.

Still, I trained for an ultra anyway. Every weekend, long runs. Weekday easy runs (often during lunch breaks), and strength training. My running friends—Veena, Sridhar, Naga, Abhishek, Ambika, Tejas, and others—deserve special thanks for showing up at 5:15 am every weekend.

On Nov 7, I ran the 50k self-supported. Thanks to D’s advice, I planned the day meticulously with a planning document. I was also in awe of the race organisers then since that’s when I realized the amount of planning that goes into a race. The support group—Ajit, Ashwin (on a bike), Veena, Sridhar, Abhishek, Ambika (with her car as an “aid station”), and Tejas (with coconut water!)—made it a success.

I ended the year with a 22:30 5k, not knowing what lay ahead in 2021.

2021:

I trained for a half marathon time trial in April and did most of my runs on Agara lake trail. A false Covid-19 scare in March forced a week’s isolation, but I bounced back. I ran my time trial on April 2 and clocked 1:42.

Shortly after, I contracted Covid-19 (Delta wave), leading to 23 days of isolation. Running was never the same. I struggled even with easy runs. Was it the virus or lost fitness? I’ll never know.

A false cardiac diagnosis in October led to more months of inactivity.

2022:

Another inconsistent year. Things began reopening. I ran races in Coimbatore and Goa during extended stays—but the spark was missing.

2023:

I trained for TMM 2023, completed it in a not-so-great time—mostly due to lack of discipline and the hybrid work mode that had started in November 2022 alongside business travel. But I was proud to finish the marathon and board a US-bound flight for a business trip within 24 hours, reaching just 15 minutes before my meetings started! I continued to train and take part in running events. There was some form of discipline that came back during this time, at least with respect to getting the training runs in.

2024:

I trained for the TMM Half Marathon, but a bout of tonsillitis weeks before the race ruined key long runs and taper. That became my last race of the year.

What followed was a tough period mentally. Running, once my anchor, wasn’t available. I no-showed TCS 10k for the first time since 2016 and donated via four more registrations by not showing up to the races.

It was an awful year—personally and for running.

2025:

Things thankfully began improving in March. I registered for TCS 10k 2025, hoping to use it as a comeback. I managed only 4–5 runs before the event.

My three goals for the event: show up, not walk, and finish. And I did. The race atmosphere, post-run conversations with D’s mentees, and my own mental clarity made me realize how much I’d missed this. The event reminded me that running is a part of my identity.

Now, I’m slowly rebuilding a routine—with one realistic goal: easy runs a few days a week.

I don’t know where this journey will go. Maybe this is another false start like 2023 or 2024. But I’ll take it one day at a time. My body can still run, and I know my mind works better when it does.

The 13,000 km milestone came at just the right time—and gave me the boost I needed. Here’s hoping I reach 14,000 km by year-end!

Special thanks to friends who’ve been part of this journey (sorry if I forgot anyone):

Suchindra, Abhijit, Praveen, Syed, Suraj, Sindhu, Sandeep, Abhishek, Tejas, Nivedita, Naga, Ahmed, Arundhathi, Madhav, Ambika, Veena, Sridhar, Deepthi, Mamatha, Sudarshan, Ajit, Ashwin, Kritika, and more.

More special thanks to my strength training coaches from 2018:

Devrath Vijay, Ranjitha, Sankrit, Narsimhan, Sathish, Vishakh, Aravind Raj (my current coach), Marlon, Mariam, Sreenath, Tushar, Rohit, Tejashree, Harsha, Shravan, Mallikarjun, Micheal, Varun, Vaishnavi and some more.

Countries I’ve run in:

India, USA, Germany, England, Scotland, Peru, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan

List of Running events I have participated in:

The following are the running events I have taken part in from 2013 until 2025. I will put in the exact dates and timing for each event shortly.

Year	Events
2013	TCS 10k
2014	TCS 10k Ajmera Thump 10k
2015	TCS 10k Celebration Mysore Half Marathon Kaveri Trail Marathon (Half) Bengaluru Marathon (Half)
2016	TCS 10k Ealing Half Marathon (first overseas event) Bengaluru Marathon (Half) Kaveri Trail Marathon (Half) Goa River Marathon (Half)
2017	Dubai Marathon (10k) IDBI Kolkata Marathon (Half) IDBI New Delhi Marathon (Half) Bengaluru Marathon (Half) Kaveri Trail Marathon (Half)
2018	Tata Mumbai Marathon TCS 10k Beach and Back Half Marathon (Mashpee, MA) Hyderabad Marathon (Half) Ladakh Marathon (Half) Airtel Delhi Half Marathon Kaveri Trail Marathon (Half) Tata Steel Kolkata 25k
2019	Tata Mumbai Marathon Town of Celebration Half Marathon (Orlando FL) Surf City Marathon (half, Huntington Beach, CA) TCS 10k The North Face Endurance Challenge (half, Wachusett Mountain, Princeton MA) Celebrate Life Mysore Marathon (Half) Chicago Marathon Kaveri Trail Marathon (Half) Tata Steel Kolkata 25k
2020	N/A
2021	N/A
2022	Bengaluru Marathon April (half) Bengaluru Marathon October (half) Western Naval Command (WNC) Navy Half Marathon Kaveri Trail Marathon (Half)
2023	Tata Mumbai Marathon TCS 10k Cambridge Town and Gown 10k Kaveri Trail Marathon (Half)
2024	Tata Mumbai Marathon (half)
2025	TCS 10k

If you made it this far, thank you for reading and thank you for being a part of my running journey. Do write a comment here or a drop me a message if you liked reading this post.

Yennai Arindhaal [Movie Review]

2015-02-08T01:59:00.002+05:30

I have been a fan of Gautam Menon’s female leads. Mostly. Be it Maya in Khakha Khakha, Aradhana in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu or for that matter even Jessie in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, they all have a sense of contemporariness in them. Maya and Aradhana (both played by Jyothika) came alive in Yennai Arindhaal in the form of Hemanika. Wonderfully played by Trisha who looked stunning to say the least (and voiced ably by Krithika Nelson), this character had just enough screen time to make it a memorable appearance.

Arun Vijay, the son of ‘Nattamai’ Vijayakumar, has been an unlucky actor for quite while (I’d say close to 18-20 years). He seemed to have some decent movies on and off, but nothing that was a big break! Fortunately, Yennai Arindhaal has space for his performance and he doesn’t disappoint. Playing Victor, who again seems a mishmash of Khakha Khakha’s Pandian (played by Jeevan) and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu’s Amudhan (played by Daniel Balaji), Arun makes the best out of this outing. While Jeevan and Daniel Balaji did not seem to have many big releases following their respective movies with Gautham Menon, I sincerely hope this is the break that Arun Vijay was waiting for. And Gautam (un)subtly tries to portray him in either white or black. And yes, he’s become one more inspiration for me to get fitter! :P

Billa (2007) was my last favourite movie of Ajith Kumar. Having become that mass hero, Ajith rarely has had a fun outing in the recent past (you may say Mankatha, but no that wasn’t one for me!). Embracing his salt and pepper look (which suits him very well), Ajith takes a role of a character who is in his late thirties, and he mostly succeeds in it. While he lacks the grace of Surya’s Anbuselvan character, there is definitely an influence of Kamal’s Raghavan character in many a way. His pairing with Trisha is spot on and it is difficult to believe that the pair has grown so gracefully in ten years since Ji!

With these three actors and their characters and some more, Gautam Menon tries to come out with yet another chapter in a policeman’s life. With his intentions all in the right form, Gautam Menon tries to interpolate his storytelling from the first two movies assuming that it will have the required effect. But what comes out in the end is mainly nostalgia, thanks to Khakha Khakha and Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. It is not that Yennai Arindhaal does not have its moments, but every bit of it is either predictable or employed in another Gautam Menon movie. This includes the father sentiment with Nasser (in a wonderful performance) and wanderlust, both like in Vaaranam Aayiram. With yet another influenced soundtrack (with a couple of good songs) and uninspiring background score from a complacent Harris Jayaraj, Yennai Arindhaal could have been much more, especially considering that Gautam Menon had two able screenplay writers!

Dear Gautam Menon, I think you should take a break from these cop movies and love stories and make a movie with two or more female leads, like what Rajeev Menon did in Kandukonden Kandukonden (an adaptation of Sense and Sensibility).

Sincerely,
Your fan from Minnale days.

Kurukshetra - Aryavarta Chronicles #3 - [Book Review]

2015-01-18T17:16:00.002+05:30

Kurukshetra by Krishna Udayasankar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A few weeks back, I was in a discussion with author Krishna Udaysankar on BlogAdda’s chat on mythological fiction. In general, I am of the view that a lot of the happenings in our epics are left open to interpretation and it is always refreshing to see someone go down an untraveled path while exercising their creativity. The author, in the discussion, mentioned that a lot of details differ in editions including critical editions, and we just assume that the popular version is the ‘correct’ one. I could not have agreed with the author Ms. Krishna on this more, and this perhaps is where the Krishna Udaysankar’s trilogy ‘Aryavarta Chronicles’ stands out. A retelling of the Mahabharatha standing in a very stable way in a very new realm, including a (fictitious) plot point that mostly works, Aryavarta Chronicles is a wonderful journey from start to finish. The focus of this post will essentially be on the third book of the trilogy ‘Kurukshetra,’ but there will be references to the first two books ‘Govinda’ and ‘Kauravas’ in a few places in the post.

For the fact that Mahabharata got me back to reading, I am usually keen on reading any interpretation of the epic that shows up. Upon hearing about the Aryavarta Chronicles and the author (and her credentials, I must say) my interest was piqued. With BlogAdda having this third book for review, it was no brainer for me to apply and ensure that I had read the first two books before the third one. I was tempted to try this one as a standalone, but a friend mentioned that flow and the understanding of the characters would be better if I read the first two books. (More on this a little later in the post.) I got the first two books, and it formed an integral part of my mornings for six days when I read it on the bus (my first time with continued reading on the bus).

Among the retellings of the epic Mahabharatha, I was most fascinated by two books for two different reasons: the character analysis in Irawati Karwe’s Yuganta: The End of an Epoch and general theme of M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s Bhima: Lone Warrior (though I am tempted to add Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik to the list!). I can safely say that the Aryavarta Chronicles is going to feature in this list.

A portrayal of the lesser-known characters in a very new dimension, Kurukshetra starts at where Kauravas ended: a hint of the declaration of a war between the cousins. While many a version have written about the epic and the war in great depth, Krishna adds in a premise featuring a section of people called the Firewrights and a Secret Keeper. The reasons for many happenings in the epic are attributed to the Firewrights, and this includes the occurences of events including Dharma marrying Panchali and the empire expansion with the annexure of many a kingdom in Aryavarta (described in detail in Book 2).

Who are the Firewrights, what do they want, what is their ancestry and why is that the First borns are involved in the occurences along with the Firewrights? These are all the questions that Krishna tries to pose in the first two books and answer them (mostly satisfactorily) in the Kurukshetra. The fact that the Firewright theory stemmed from one of the first few people of the Kaurava family is indeed interesting and I quite liked how the author blended the happening in the last year of the exile of Dharma and his brothers to this.
There were many thing that had the book going great for me. Firstly, the writing. The author takes into account the intelligence of the reader and leaves quite a few things open for interpretation or for the reader to figure out himself. In an age, when story-telling can mean jotting down a screenplay lazily, Krishna makes a wonderful effort to introduce elements into the story which have meaning much later in the story, and it is up to the reader to connect those. Secondly, there was no God like stature to any of the characters, including Govinda. For example, the fact that the shaming of Panchali did not have a divine angle to it made you sympathize with the character a lot more. In addition, Govinda is shown as a selfish character for the most part (and there is a reason to it), and this I guess makes the character a lot more relatable. Thirdly, the main characters in this retelling included the characters that are mostly mentioned in the other versions to drive the story. With Dhristadymna, Shikhandin, Ashwattama, Sanjaya, Vyasa Dwaipayana, and Suka, forming a major chunk of the characters on who the story is focused on, it is refreshing to see the author not adopting the safe route for the epic. Even though a lot of the other characters including Pritha (Kunthi), Gandhaari, and Dhritarashtra, do not get enough screen time in the book, it doesn’t seem to affect the premise.

Two more things that I loved about the book were the innocent romance that Abhimanyu and Uttara had in the first part of the book including the days leading up to the war. I would definitely love to read a short piece by the author solely focusing on these two characters. One reason, she did not take Uttara’s love for Abhimanyu granted and two, Abhimanyu’s dignified (and perhaps awkward) behavior. The second thing was that in the book (and in the trilogy), a different side of Syoddhan is shown. One, he is not shown on the arrogant and angry cousin of Dharma. Two, his reason to declare a war of Dharma and his brothers is not for the kingdom as such. I would love to dwell on this for longer, but it would mean posting spoilers.

A couple of things that did not work for me in the third book was the identity of the secret keeper and in general, the (lack of) emphasis of the Firewrights. I was able to identify who the current secret keeper was in the first few pages of the book and perhaps that made me a little disappointed because I was waiting for the author to spring up a surprise and prove me wrong. Firewrights have been an intergral part of this trilogy with a major part of the second book focusing on the happenings involving them. Perhaps the author intended the third book to focus on the war more, and considering that the war was a result of the action of Firewrights, it is justified. A few minor typos, which do not matter in the larger scheme of things, could be corrected in the subsequent editions.

How does this book stand by itself and how is it as a part of the trilogy? I can safely say that for an enhanced reading experience and better background of the characters, especially considering the characters the author focuses on, the book is better read a trilogy. However, as a standalone too, the book is able to speak for itself, and the author provides sufficient background on a few of the key happenings the reader would need to know or remember from the first two book.

Overall, with some good writing which wonderfully compliments the reader’s intelligence, Kurukshetra (and overall the Aryavarta Chronicles) is a winner! I would love to see how Krishna Udaysankar’s next book turns out to be. And the TV show on this trilogy.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

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I (Tamil) [Movie Review]

2015-01-14T23:26:00.000+05:30

Tamil Cinema has seen a lot of successful and impactful collaborations off-screen. One such memorable collaboration is that of director Shankar and writer Sujatha. Having collaborated on many a movie including the very successful and entertaining Anniyan, Mudhalvan and Sivaji, the combination was sorely missed in parts of Endhiran (due to the death of Sujatha). Shankar did a quick and dirty project Nanban which didn’t need much creativity in the story or dialogues considering it was a scene-by-scene remake of 3 Idiots. With all these factors, Shankar had a pretty important litmus test on whether he would have a successful outing in I, without Sujatha. In a way to compensate for this, Shankar had roped in the actor Vikram, I guess. And he almost gets lucky.

A revenge-drama entered around Lingesan (Vikram), a local guy who shoots up to prominence, I definitely has Vikram in a very satisfying outing since Raavanan. Giving a 100% physically and perhaps mentally, Vikram definitely needs to be lauded for his performance throughout the movie, including the few scenes which showcase his acting prowess completely.

I is a story that could have been condensed to a fast-paced thriller of 100-120 minutes. With a total of five antagonists/villains, and a back-story for each of them with Vikram, the story definitely appeared stretched. To add to this, Shankar along with the writer Subha decides to insult the audience’s intelligence by replaying a few sequences which were quite obvious to ensure that the viewer places a piece of the jigsaw puzzle with just five pieces which already has four pieces in place. This tedious nature of the narrative does not help with the length either and makes it a dragging 189 minutes long movie.

One can always trust Shankar to work with A.R.Rahman well. And he sure has this time too. From the ’damaal-dumeel’ U-turn that I made (of not relishing the songs on the first listen, putting away the songs in a cold freezer and then getting called by the songs after a good two months to love them entirely), I was sure that the songs would be picturized in a way that would to justice to it. It is almost a blind faith that Shankar gets what he wants from Rahman, like Mani Ratnam (and perhaps Imtiaz Ali now). Starting the wonderful Ladio and Aila Aila, which turn out to be product commercials, to Mersalaiyten that shows even the not-so-enticing parts of Chennai as a wondrous spectacle, the songs are placed in the movie well and picturized well. The staple romantic duet in any Shankar movie is the Pookale Sattru Oyvendungal, which is shot in China and has the grandeur of nature showcased very well. I particularly want to mention ‘The’ song of the album and its picturization here. Ennodu Nee Irundhal is that song that perhaps a lot of us hated on the first listen only for us to go back and listen to it in a loop. With a Beauty and the Beast theme, even the video takes its time to grow on you. And how!

Amy Jackson, introduced by Vijay in Madrasapattinam, does what she supposed to do very well. She looks good. She dances well. She emotes well. And in one scene where she is supposed to talk in a local dialect, she throws in the attitude casually without much discomfort. A lot of this is to be credited to the voice Raveena. Upen Patel is the major antagonist here and will perhaps find chances in Tamil cinema to play the good-looking Hindi-speaking villain (who essentially speaks one two three baa baa black sheep and gets saved by the dubbing artist). There’s Suresh Gopi, Ramkumar (late actor Sivaji Ganesan’s son) Ojas M Rajini, and another actor who are up against Vikram. Santhanam is not a major annoyance in this movie, especially after the disastrous Lingaa, has some good one-liners and helps the storyline move, like how Vivek did in Anniyan. (Ojas M Rajini's character in the movie will definitely make a few of the activists for sexual equality gang up against the movie and the movie could have done without this character. )

Shankar, thanks for enabling Vikram win this one! Better luck to you next time!

PS: This was my first movie review in over 4 years with the last one being that of Shankar's Endhiran with Rajini! Time to get back to writing more I guess!

2014 - In a nutshell

2014-12-26T13:56:00.000+05:30

After 4 years of writing about ‘This Year in a Nutshell’ blogpost, I skipped 2013. 2013 was one big year for me with a big career and personal move. I’d moved back to India after 7 years and 7 months in the US. And that was for good, and life has been good!

So here’s 2014 in a nutshell:

- The year with most travel to date! Thanks to work-related travel primarily and professional travel. Personal trips to Srilanka, Costa Rica, Amritsar, and Pondicherry; work-related trips to Nagaland (yes, you read it right!), Assam (again right!), Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Delhi, Indore, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi. So much air travel that the flight seat has become of one of my favourite reading chairs!

- The year of reading books! Finished my Goodreads yearly challenge of 20 books by reading 56 books (and counting). I can lose myself in books completely anytime. @NameFieldMT was one big motivator for me on this front. Thanks A!

- The year that I became a book review blogger! Thanks to @blogadda and @vivekisms, by sending in many many books for reviewing. You made me both read and write! The book review blog (I do crosspost on this blog, at times!)

- The year where I successfully completed two 10k runs! TCS 10k and Ajmera Thump, with a personal best of 59:22! Thanks to Bengaluru Runners and GS for the motivation.

- The year the Siblingeshwari got married and also left home to head to Bombay for studies (both being independent events).

- The year with increased traveling on public transport! Boo to traffic woes and dust! :D

- The year I moved past TV shows (hopefully!)! Have a huge backlog of TV shows to watch and I continue to read books.

- The year with two recordings including this 90stalgia! Hope I get back to music more and get better! Thanks @sdhrshn for that 90stalgia and making me sing some of my favorite songs by my God! Thanks @amaravind and @_curses too!

Okay, I think I have had a great year! Let me stop here before I cast nazar on myself! ;-)

Rabda: My Sigh... My Sai [Book Review]

2014-12-25T22:09:00.000+05:30

Rabda: My Sigh . . . My Sai by Ruzbeh N Bharucha

It is not often that I go into an experimental phase with respect to reading, though I’d like to count a lot of the reads that I have done this year as experiments to see how my taste has evolved. When I got a chance to review ‘Rabda: My Sai… My Sigh,’ by Ruzbeh N. Bharuch I was not too sure if this book, given the spiritual read it was described to be, would be my cup of tea. I carefully navigated through the first few pages and had multiple false starts before I sat and completed the book in almost one go. While I am not too sure if I will go back to this type of reading, I must say that reading this was an experience in itself.

The premise of the book is a very simple one where a patient Rabda who is very very close to death gets to interact with Baba Sai. Baba Sai looking at this devotee of his from a previous lifetime begins to talk about his life, from the time he got to Shirdi, how he treated his devotees, what he thinks of life, and more. This interaction more or less turns out to be a discourse of sorts and there is definitely a lot of philosophy, spirituality and some common sense in it.

While the writing is pretty much to the point such that a reader is not bogged down by the vocabulary especially considering it is a spiritual read, the use of abusive words that are found in Baba’s speech is something that definitely leaves a bad taste in the reader. It is true that Baba was a man who had a colourful vocabulary and used words at his will especially given his temper. However, the same set of words and same provocations and reactions from Rabda were done to death after a while.

For me, the read was mostly material that I think I would listen to in a discourse/lecture. And the fact that the author Ruzbeh is able to put in a book is impressive. I am sure people who are into spiritual reads will enjoy this book.

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The Ripple Effect

2014-12-10T20:35:00.002+05:30

I was in Class 3. Due to some family constraints, I was put in a ‘local’ school close to home for two years, before I went on to one of the ‘bigger’ schools in the city from Class 5. Class 3 is where you more often than not associate a kid with a happy-go-lucky lifestyle without bothering as much. You still are in a nascent phase of your life and do not have a clue of what happens in life anyway. This school that I was in did have a lot of students from the lower economic background and a few of them did go hungry through the day filling their ever-growling tummies with the tap water during lunch and headed out to play. There were many such classmates of mine, and the fussy eater that I was would end up passing on parts of my lunch or at times in entirety to one of those classmates.

The reason I mention this is because I have seen at least a dozen of my classmates faint during the physical training (PT) classes which were usually held after lunch. The reason why that happened is not difficult to trace back to. This would in turn mean the student would miss the classes at least for the rest of the day, and at times for multiple days in a row. It is not rocket science that this definitely disrupts the learning of the student.

So hunger fuels bad health. Bad health in turn leads to the student missing his classes. This in turn leads to a less-than-perfect learning for the student. This may very well continue to haunt him for the rest of his life particularly considering the impact that education has on one’s career and life.

I’d rather be seen as a person of action than that of words. One way that I along with my family has acted on this is by shunning all forms of celebrations for birthdays, anniversaries, and success. We instead contribute to an orphanage closely which though managed well is quite short of funds. Rather than spending a good Rs. 2000 on getting a few pizzas, I’d use the same to feed the 20 kids in the institute three times a day for two days. This has been the case for close to 10 years and we will continue to do so in the years to come.

BlogAdda, as innovative as they are, are supporting the AkshayaPatra foundation and I am happy to be a part of this cause since the ripple effect that a mid-day meal scheme for children has is indeed amazing. Kudos to you, BlogAdda!

I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

The Magician who lost his Wallet [Book Review]

2014-11-25T13:17:00.000+05:30

(I received this book from the author Gautam Acharya as a part of Goodreads First-Reads giveaway program. Thank you Gautam!)

I have always been fascinated by the first book of an author, mainly because I am curious to see how the author pens down his thoughts and sustains his ‘first-book’ enthusiasm through the course of the book. Gautam Acharya, the author of ‘The Magician who lost his Wallet,’ had me intrigued with the title of the book itself and he moderately succeeds in having me glued to the book till the end.

At less than 190 pages, The Magician who lost his Wallet is an easy read with mostly simple and conversational language with a semi-compelling premise. The premise is that of a person who finds a wallet and tries to trace down the owner of the wallet, while there are others who are onto doing the same thing. In the process, we learn about a person who finds a way to work on what he thought was his true calling, his complex with his neighbor, his relationship with his brother-in-law and the like. The word ‘magician’ in the title is where all the mystery is shrouded in and Gautam handles this mystery in a pretty safe and tested manner.

As mentioned, the book has its premise in a lost-and-found setting while incorporating quite a few characters into the premise. While Gautam builds up a good background for most of the characters including Debu, Rana, Ritvik, Pandey and others, he could have perhaps emphasized a little more on the other three characters around which the novel is centered in the last few pages. As a result of this, the mystery is not an easy guess, especially considering the detailing that goes into most of the characters. This is where Gautam wins (and perhaps falters!). You seem as though you are led into believing something and then there’s a perfect foil to what you thought might be the ending. Of course, there are a few loose ends which do not seem to matter in the larger scheme of things.

Gautam Acharya in his first books seems to have treaded a safe line quite successfully without indulging in many a fancy writing. But it would be good to see how he gets out of this safe zone aka. comfort zone and voices his thoughts in the near future.

The Mahabharata Quest: Alexander’s Secret [Book Review]

2014-11-23T15:57:00.000+05:30

The market is definitely flooded with a lot of the mystery thrillers which borrow their themes from some form mythology and weave around a story with a search for something precious. Dan Brown, one of the authors who tasted great success with this type of premise, opened up this market to the mainstream readership. In India too, there have been authors like Ashwin Sanghi and Amish Tripathi who’ve experimented with genre and tasted commercial success. Christopher C Doyle, who debuted with The Mahabharata Secret last year, seems to have gotten the ingredients for this thriller right.

The premise has three to four equally important protagonists, among whom Vijay is seems like the main one, who are working against (and perhaps later, for) something called The Order. The Order has been working towards gathering some information which is rooted in the Macedonian mythology from the times of Alexander and his mother Olympias. The ‘secret’, if obtained, will work as a perfect cure for many a thing. What is this secret, how is it connected to Alexander, why does The Order have so much of significance, why do the Intelligence Bureau and characters like Vijay, Irfan, and many others matter to The Order is the premise of the story.

At 350+ pages, this book is an easy read and a page turner and manages to sustain the reader’s interest quite a bit. However, it has its slow moments when there is a lot of talk about the biotechnology aspect and also due to the repetitiveness with respect to the mythological aspect. The author tries to reach out to the average reader and hence over-explains a lot of things which could have been avoided. The language is definitely above average.

What really is to be appreciated about the book is the fact that the author, despite the convoluted premise, has researched quite a bit on the Macedonian history, the Mahabharata, and a little bit of the geography. At times, there is a mention of things from the previous book in a few places to help the author understand the rapport that a few of the characters share. But the book easily stands out as standalone book and the author has taken care to introduce mystery elements in the premise, which he says he will address in the subsequent books in the series. The book ends with some form of closure that the ‘good’ guys are still looking forward to something and the ‘bad’ guys have gotten the secret for now.

What the author could have worked on is on shortening the premise, as explained earlier. With some good editing, the book could have been a fast paced 250 page thriller. In addition, stretching a premise over multiple books sort of weakens the premise as such unless there is indeed a ‘WOW’ moment in each of the books. There are many such revealing moments in this book, but they all fall short of the WOW factor. Perhaps, the next few books can work towards that.

Overall, the Mahabharata Secret: Alexander’s Quest is a mostly decent thriller read with some interesting historical trivia and biotechnology lingo.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

The Innovators [Book Review]

2014-11-02T23:05:00.002+05:30

Title: The Innovators

Author: Walter Isaacson (Twitter)

It was 1994. My parents had brought home a Dolphin home computer, which had just a keyboard and possibly a small CPU in there which could run LOGO. Having been exposed to a computer just a year earlier, the 9-year old me was fascinated to see how that piece of keyboard connected to the television and the way I could draw on the monitor. I tried to form my own form of a treasure hunt (without even knowing what the term meant) and was half-successful in that. Reading The Innovators by Walter Isaacson, the author of the best-selling autobiography on Steve Jobs, I was reminiscent of those times in addition to being in awe of each of these ‘inventions’ or ‘innovations’ presented in the book.

The book follows a mostly linear perspective to show how Digital Revolution evolved from the early half of the 19^th century to the second decade of the 21^st century. The title caption says ‘How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution’ and indeed without a doubt one can say every one of these innovators was a genius in his own right. In addition to being a genius, the innovators fell into various categories including generous, eccentric, selfish, workaholics (for sure), childish, loners, and more. Above all, as Isaacson mentions in his book, they were all (mostly) wonderful collaborators. There are a couple of statements in the last chapter of the book that read: ‘People don’t invent things on the internet. They simply expand on an idea that already exists.’ The whole book is a wonderful piece of well-researched history on how the ideas from one time moved to another influencing innovations when people worked collaboratively.

From Lady Ada Lovelace to Charles Babbage to Shockley to Gordon Moore to Bill Gates to Steve Jobs to Larry Page to Evan Williams (I sure have missed many important names in between), the book gives a great insight into their background, what ticked them intellectually, their shortcomings, their contributions to the world the way it is today, and most importantly how each of them collaborated, despite their differences, with their peers and contemporaries.

The book also lists a variety of disputes including the ones on who took the credit for the invention of the transistor, the Apple and Microsoft issue on GUI based operating systems which was originally designed by Xerox, the patents for microchips, and many more. It is to be noted that despite a lot of the idea springing up at the same time, the population remembers the name of the person who was either most influential or the one that the media portrayed as its maker. It was news to me, an Electrical Engineer, that Shockley was not the only one to be responsible for the creation of a transistor.

As mentioned earlier, the book traverses a nice story-telling approach linearly with each of the key figures of the era that ushered in the digital revolution, and packs in a lot of detail. While the book on the whole is an easy read, there are a few short chapters in the middle on the video games and the initial discussion on internet which got a little too monotonous with too many inventors finding their name there. But the author quickly gets bad into the earlier mode and pens the most important chapter of them all: Software. This included a focus on Operating Systems and spoke about the two most important people in the history of Digital Revolution: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

The book culminates with two wonderful chapters on the web, one of which included the stories of Blogger, Google, Yahoo!, and Wikipedia, among others, and the other was aptly titled Ada Forever. This spoke about how computers despite all their power could not perform one function, exactly what Lady Ada Lovelace predicted two centuries earlier: using their own intelligence to make decisions.

Overall, The Innovators is a well–researched, well-detailed, and well-written piece of literature on the Digital Revolution. While the book does have its slow moments, it is a compelling piece of read in the overall of scheme of things. If you are an engineer or a computer scientist, you’ll be amazed to see how much you do not know about the inventors and their inventions. If you are not an engineer or a computer scientist, you will see how products that you use in your day-to-day life came about to be and perhaps you’ll stop equating engineering with information technology alone, and equate it to inventions too.

Not Just an Accountant - [Book Review]

2014-10-25T16:47:00.001+05:30

Title: Not Just an Accountant: The Diary of the Nation's Conscience Keeper
Author: Vinod Rai

Every person who has lived in India in the last 10 years has comes across the term 2G scam and the (questionable) Rs. 1.76 lakh crore that was embezzled by A. Raja. While much of this scam is still shrouded in darkness, with the ugly truth in all possibility never seeing the light of the day, one hopes that someone in authority at least points to what the major mis-happenings with the government was. Vinod Rai in 'Not Just an Accountant' just does that.

Vinod Rai, a well-known figure to those who watch the news channels religiously, pens down his experience of close to 40 years in which he serves the government in various capacities. He has most recently served as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India and was witness to a lot of the happenings in the government from mid 2000s till almost the end of the UPA regime in 2013.

Having seen CAG as just an abbreviation in a lot news articles ranging from the Commonwealth games 2010 scam to the coal block allocation case, this book gave a wonderful insight for me into what the office of the CAG actually does. By explaining the duties and tasks of the CAG in common man’s lingo, Mr. Rai sure makes the premise of the book easy to digest in terms of vocabulary. However, the same cannot be said about the premise. For an upper middle-class individual, the magnitude of the scams described in the book, is something that is indeed unpalatable.

In the first part of the book aptly titled ‘The Journey’, Mr. Rai starts off with his journey as an IAS officer of the 1972 batch from Nagaland to Kerala to Delhi and more with the shuttles between Kerala and Delhi being of a higher frequency. He throws in instances of what he was able to perform in each of the stints he had in the administration in various capacities. This is followed by a ‘explain to me like I am five’ lesson on ‘The Role of Audit,’ which forms a basis for the the rest of the book. Short descriptions on the ‘Role of Media’ and the CBI in the current state of affairs in India complete this first part.

The second part of the book ‘Follies’ (‘Follies of whom?’, I am tempted to ask) majorly deals with the 2G spectrum allocation scam, CWG 2010 scam, coal block allocation scam, Gas explorations and finally the way Air India has operated in the last few years. This, to me, is the most compelling part of the book. While a lot of the material in this regard is public knowledge, Mr. Rai provides an insider’s view at what is seen by the office whose responsibility is to audit the practices of the government. The dark secrets remain dark for the most part, since Mr. Rai refuses to take names in multiple contexts, but what comes tumbling out of the closet is the fact that what we see in newspapers in mostly the tip of the iceberg.

Despite his misdoings, particularly in the second UPA region, I remain a fan of Dr. Manmohan Singh, as does Mr. Rai. But the extent to which Mr. Rai goes on to prove that the PMO has sufficient information about each misdealing that have occurred in the last decade makes me empathise with Dr. Singh. A hand-tied puppet, who perhaps with all his foresight could have steered us in a direction of progress, remains tongue-tied too.

In the last part of the book ‘Course Correction,’ Mr. Rai quickly goes over what he sure sees in India as a potential superpower settling down for mediocrity. I recently read a book edited by Shashi Tharoor ‘India: the Future is Now,’ which had a collection of essays by the new generation MPs. While each of the essays read like what a high school kid would write, with some imagination all over the place, the book showed that there was still some promise. Mr. Rai, with his final words, just re-emphasises that.

A cleansing of the system is necessary. For that, a lot more people should be aware of what goes on in the government. And this book ‘Not Just An Accountant,’ where Mr. Vinod Rai manages to settle his accounts with the ‘barking dogs,’ is a good start.

7 Secrets of the Goddess [Book Review]

2014-10-24T00:17:00.001+05:30

Title: 7 Secrets of the Goddess
Author: Devdutt Pattanaik
Reach the author at
Website: http://devdutt.com/
Twitter: @devduttmyth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DevduttPattanaik

Buy this book from Flipkart here.

There is always a sense of fulfilment when you read a book by Devdutt Pattanaik. He delivers what is promised. Be it Jaya, The Pregnant King or Sita (for the most part), there is a lot of research that has gone into getting the material for the book and it is presented in a way that is easily consumed. While the author’s thoughts and comments on various social practices come as a part of what is presented, it is mostly logical and not forcibly fit into the premise.

Devdutt’s latest book ‘7 Secrets of the Goddess’ is no different either, from what I mention above. Part four of a series called the 7 Secrets, this book is the first one I read in the series.

The book, in typical Devdutt style, has a lot of illustrations. However, the illustrations are artwork and photographs from various sources including temple sculptures and calendar art, in lieu of a hand drawn sketches like in Jaya or Sita. Every page of text is accompanied by a page of artwork with sufficient captions. This artwork serves as a good precursor to what may be coming in text that follows it.

The book talks about the secrets of Gaia, Kali, Gauri, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, and Vitthai. It is interesting to see how Devdutt starts off with the Goddess Gaia from the Greek mythology and weaves in the tales of corresponding Indian counterparts into the chapter. In almost every chapter, particularly the first, there is a mention of the gender ‘inequality’ and the co-existence of male Gods and female Goddesses. This is exactly where Devdutt brings up a lot of the logical reasoning based arguments on certain practices.

The book has significant borrowings, in terms of characters, from his earlier works including Jaya, Sita, Shikhandi and other stories they don’t tell you and the Pregnant King. The mythological value addition in terms of stories/anecdotes is limited compared to these earlier works, since this is more of a book that describes the existence of various goddesses, the practices related to them and the way we perceive them has changed over the centuries.

Following the first chapter, the chapters on Kali, Gauri, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi were particularly very strong, while the last chapter on Vitthai did leave a lot to be desired. For some reason, it did seem forcefully fit into the scheme of things.

My favourite part of the book, all along the book, is how Devdutt visits every practice that were not favourable to women and mostly says it out aloud. One of my favourite lines from the book is on human ego and how it originated from ‘Aham’ and how we have modified to suit our requirements just to appear superior. Another noteworthy thing in the book is that Devdutt does talk about the misdoings of Brahmanas with respect to preserving the vedic wisdom and the superiority shown by that sect. And he does that without the cliched brahmin-bashing.

Overall, Devdutt Pattanaik’s 7 Secrets of the Goddess is a wonderfully educative read as his earlier books, but from a different perspective.

PS: One thing that bothered me initially about the book was the size of the book and the font sizing/spacing. It seemed like a workbook that we had in school, and a little difficult to hold. But once I saw how the artwork on the pages effectively added to the reading, I realised why the book was designed that way.

Love Lasts Forever… [Book Review]

2014-10-23T13:29:00.000+05:30

A mild curiosity crept in seeing the title of the book when BlogAdda first posted about this book being available for review. Having done some heavy reading including ‘A Fine Balance’, ‘The Glass Palace’ and ‘And The Mountains Echoed’ in the last few weeks, I was in mood for some light reading and requested for the book, assuming it was going to be one seeing the title.

The cheesiness in the title, unfortunately, does not stop there. Vikrant Khanna, the author of the book who is also in the merchant navy, has a mention on his website that, ‘the author has his finger strongly on the Indian youth's pulse.’ If this is what the pulse of the Indian youth is, I am beginning to worry. A little more.

The premise of the book is fairly simple. Two parallel stories with some love, rant-filled love one must say, the usual misunderstandings, a tragic moment, and some lighter moments (which in this book seem slightly gross); all of this coupled with a pirate drama in the background, you have your Love Lasts Forever. I could go on about how cliched a lot of the premise and the romance seems, but since this seems to be the flavour of the ‘youth’, I suppose Vikrant may have a winner in his hands.

While Vikrant seems to have a reasonable grasp over English, he doesn’t resort to using bombastic words and uses a colloquial lingo for most of the book. Perhaps, his way of catering to The pulse. Some more attention could have been paid towards the grammatical correctness since there are quite a few instances where the book could have used more proofreading. Additionally, what ticked me big time was the use of the word ‘marriage’ in almost every situation that demanded the usage of the word ‘wedding.’ Agreed that the two words have unfortunately become interchangeable (not just in India), but I guess someone has to point it out and I guess I will do that here. The book has a statement ‘We had a long last night and we reached our home way past midnight after our marriage.’ While the intent of the statement was something, but it definitely reads in a different way.

Coming back to the premise, I seem to have severe dislike on how the fairer sex is portrayed in the book. While the older character Shikha had her own reasons to act the way she had to, as a reader I felt bad for how poorly Aisha’s character was developed, in addition to it being shown in such poor light. I will not dwell too much on the gender-biasedness that the book has to offer, since many ‘contemporary’ Indian writers who cater to the same youth population tend to do so as well and the aspiring writers seem to draw inspiration from that.

Love Last Forever, overall, was a quick read on a lazy afternoon which did not involve too much of thinking while reading it. But it did serve as some food for thought on how we perceive love and relationships. The book succeeds on that front. If only the current generation which includes me saw love in a different way, the world would be a much better place to live in.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Under Delhi [Book Review]

2014-10-17T21:17:00.001+05:30

Buy Under Delhi by Sorabh Pant on Flipkart here.

Reach the author at:
Twitter: @hankypanty
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SorabhPant

Under Delhi. It is always interesting to see popular bloggers and stand-up comedians become authors. One, it shows if a good blogger than hold a reader's attention through an entire book as opposed to a blog post. Two, it shows if the stand-up comedian can work his way around a book the way he does with a show of his own. Sorabh Pant mainly succeeds in the second category by ensuring that is a enough hilarity in his narrative of a very average premise.

The premise is simple. The protagonist Tanya Bisht is a person who takes revenge of acts of rape by men and she is led by a Soniaji (no kidding!) Throw in a few characters including a rich land-grabber, a pervert for a boss, an attention-seeking colleague and a spineless boyfriend, you have your narrative there.

What works best to Sorabh's benefit is the fact that he uses a lot of material, which is stand-up comedy material, in the premise and those are genuinely laugh-worthy moments. I couldn't help myself from smiling or laughing when I read a few of those wordsplay, including the one on IIPM. This man is definitely someone I'd love to watch on stage sometime soon.

What also works for Sorabh is the fact that his language here is definitely appreciable and the writing doesn't read like a screenplay. There is some sincerity in the writing, and it shows. The characters, for the most part, are well-etched, except for a few of them that appear suddenly in the narrative.

What did not work for me in the book was a beaten-to-death premise. The concept of a woman who leads a dual life, over and under Delhi, trying to have her way with rapists is not completely novel. There is also an emphasis on her relationship, which seems cliched than ever. Why is it that most 'independent' women these days settle for spineless guys, at least in books? Secondly, the book seemed to lose its steam by the time it entered the third part and it definitely appeared as though the author did not do too much thinking to write the last part. It just drags on forever. With some editing, the book could have been come well under 200 pages with a crisper narrative.

With a generous seasoning of some witty one-liners and some decent writing, Under Delhi is a book that could have been much more.

God is a Gamer [Book Review]

2014-09-28T17:16:00.003+05:30

Buy this book on Flipkart at: http://www.flipkart.com/god-gamer-english/p/itmdy8bjkyuqrjfd?pid=9780143421399

When a book is advertised as the 'First Bitcoin Thriller' or the author of the book is referred to as 'India's No. 1 Thriller Writer,' there is definitely a sense of expectation arising from those claim. Whether Ravi Subramanian manages to satisfy those expectations in 'God is a Gamer' is subjective, but one must give it to the man for having been able to weave out a story with a mostly decent premise incorporating money, online gaming, bitcoins, 'love' and politics.

Having seen the author's books adorn the best-seller shelves in Crossword, Landmark and elsewhere, I was keen to know whether this author was one of those 'new-age Indian writers' capitalizing on the success of Chetan Bhagat. But my impression about this author has significantly changed post reading the book. This is mainly attributed to the fact that the author, as mentioned earlier, has a decent premise in hand and does a good job of executing it with words. The language, as with many of the books these days, is mostly simple and mostly conversational and is sure to draw the average Indian reader who may want to move away from C-Bag.

The book begins with narratives from multiple cities including Mumbai, New York, and Washington DC, with multiple characters and parallel stories running through almost two-thirds of the book. These are the book’s best pages, when you try to understand how all of these parallel story threads will fall into place in the premise. While there’s the story of Malvika, Aditya, Swami, Sundeep, Varun, and Tanya on one side, there’s Gillian, Nikki, Gloria, Adrian, Dan, and Mike on the another side with pieces of Josh, the finance minister and others thrown into the premise when required. In the large scheme of things, what was impressive was the fact that it is hard to lose track of the characters for the most part, mainly thanks to the short chapters (4-5 pages each at the maximum). That is, each character felt important to the premise and was never ignored or left out across multiple chapters.

Having said that, the main peeve I have with the book is with the same aspect of having the shorter chapters, which sort of doesn’t help in forging a long bond with the character in that chapter. However the biggest disappointment from this book is the fact that you can smell the ending from a long distance (almost at the 200^th page mark), though I must confess that I almost fell for the ‘almost-ending’ before the epilogue. Another fact that I did not completely relish was alienating women characters from most of the narrative using them mostly as props. Though there is Tanya and Malvika, who are presently through a major part of the narrative, they hardly seem to make an impact. The fact that the reason for the actions in the premise mainly stem out of the lust of two main characters makes for a pretty lame reasoning and seems rushed. Fortunately, this doesn’t affect the premise of the book for the most part, since it comes up at the very end.

Overall, God is a Gamer makes for a mostly decent lazy afternoon read (like the one I read it on), or as a read for person who would like to observe how Indian writing continues to evolve, for the better. Mostly.

Flipkart link to buy the book: http://www.flipkart.com/god-gamer-english/p/itmdy8bjkyuqrjfd?pid=9780143421399

Reach the author Ravi Subramanian at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Authorravisubramanian

Twitter: https://twitter.com/subramanianravi

www.MarryAGhost.com [Book Review]

2014-09-27T19:00:00.002+05:30

(A book review for BlogAdda)

If the first few pages of a book has quotes by Rumi, I am usually sold. Though it doesn’t take too much on the author’s creativity to reproduce the lines of Rumi, the selection of the quotes from hundreds of very relevant quotes is no easy task. Abhimanyu Jha, the author of www.MarryAGhost.com won my attention right there. Whether he managed to hold it on or not is a different story in itself, but still 10 points to the selection of the Rumi quote and 5 more points to each of the other quotes in the preface.

MarryAGhost – One would wonder what sort of a title that is. While the back cover the book has a synopsis of the book (with spoilers), it was both a cheesy title, and a title that piqued my interest, at the same time. Having never heard of this author before, I cautiously proceeded to read this book and man, I was drawn. Call it guilty indulgence or the craving for a break with a lighter book (having read A Fine Balance and This Divided Island prior to this – both heavy book), I must say I quite enjoyed reading most part of the book.

The likeability of the book comes mainly with respect to the fact that the language is free-flowing and one need not invest too much time in trying to understand what is happening. There is also an advantage in that regard that there are just 4 main characters, with a couple more showing up at times. This minimal character count is perhaps easy on the light reader, and also you are drawn towards the main two characters greatly. The conversations between Maahi and Veeru are mostly not forced, as simple and realistic as what a couple would have (except that they are not a couple). I am almost tempted to use the spontaneous with respect to the premise, except for the fact that this spontaneity comes with a price.

What could the book have done better or what could Mr. Jha do with the second part of the book? Oh yes! There is a ‘To be continued!’ on the last page, and it is indeed a pity that the book doesn’t have a mention of whether it is a multi-part series. Well, I am going to definitely want to read the next part, and I hope it is the only other part. Coming back to what the author could have done better, the first thing that any new author is guilty of is the repetitive nature of the conversations. It is indeed understandable that the two main characters have (sort of) fallen for each other and are insecure about the others’ feelings. But bringing this up every now and then can get a little annoying. Second, the book requires a total suspension of belief, which is to be understood seeing the title, but it would have helped if there was a logical flow to a few things like how the characters landed in Goa (there is a logic, but a flawed one!)Thirdly, the language is pretty light on the brain especially because is mostly conversational. But I fail to understand why the author uses the F-word with hyphens at a few places and uses it in entirety elsewhere. And why even use it in the first place?

While the story in this first book ends at a pretty interesting point, what happens to Maahi, Veeru and the others involved at the end of the 14 days is something that I can’t, but will need to wait to check.

This madly in love ghost could use some of your love with a suspension of belief.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

This Divided Island [Book Review]

2014-09-24T21:56:00.000+05:30

Buy 'This Divided Island: Stories from the Srilankan War' on Flipkart at: http://www.flipkart.com/divided-island-stories-sri-lankan-war-english/p/itmdxcc7wgcrurma

There is a line in This Divided Island that reads ‘In the new Sri Lanka, demolition was a vital tool of nation-building.’ The author Samanth Subramanian could not have summarized the country and his experiences in the country better.

I was in Sri Lanka in 2013 during the Christmas and New Year time. While I had a whale of a time relishing the way the monuments in Sigiriya and Kandy were protected, I really had an urge to see how the war-striven areas were doing. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance back then since I decided to stay back in Colombo and interact with the locals there to get a perspective of their life there. This book by Samanth Subramanian definitely helped fill the void that I had carried with me following the trip.

The division of the book into its four parts, called The Terror, The North, The Faith and Endgames, is a masterstroke in itself and one can witness the amount of research (and interviewing) that has gone into the writing of the book to ensure that it is a coherent read. What makes this book fascinating is the fact that Samanth has numerous first-hand accounts of the pre-war life (assuming there is something like that), the duration of the ‘prachanai’ (the problems/troubles), and the post-war ‘recuperation’. It is difficult to draw strict lines differentiating these three parts, considering one has a long lasting influence on the other, but Samanth ensures that there is good emphasis on the lives of each of the people featured in the book.

Be it Raghavan (a close aide of Prabhakaran) who was based out of London after a brief stint in the Tigers’ camp, or the fitness conscious doctor Thurairaja, or the Canada settled Ravi, who feature in the Terror part of the book, the perspective of the minds that operated for the Tamils was indeed fascinating to get into.

The North, which is perhaps the most engaging and also the important part of the book, features people working on automobile repairs, a very mysterious yet outgoing character M (one whose identity is cleverly hidden), and the Muslim community. The Muslim community are sort of neither favored by the Sinhalese nor the Tamil, but face damaging consequences in the conflict. This reminds me of the Parsi community that faced similar troubles during the India-Pakistan partition.

The Faith part could very well be the Sri Lankan counterpart of the William Dalrymple’s Nine Lives. Be it the Buddhist Monks who take up violence and turn against the Tamils, or the monks that get involved in politics, or the history of the Buddhist influence in Sri Lanka’s growth, this part gets into something that many authors may shy away from. The fact that the current president Mahinda Rajapakse is perhaps be placed on the same pedestal or even higher than that of the historical king Dutugemunu in Sri Lanka owing to his ‘illustrious’ victory and wiping out the ‘demelas’ is interesting.

The most moving part of the book for me was the one called the Endgames, which featured instances of the Tamil families who had at least one family member missing post the conflict. The missing here corresponds to them being ‘made to disappear’ by the army. The stories of the frequent relocation of the families, thanks to the war and its aftermath, is indeed heart-wrenching. In addition, this part presents a variety of discomforting truths including how the families had their kids recruited into the Tiger army and how there is no ‘youth’ in the current generation of the Tamil population. No one type of family is spared. Not a journalist. Nor a tea shop owner. The hope with which a lot of these families await the return of their (possibly dead) loved ones is beautifully presented.

To summarize, this book is a book about Sri Lankan people: people affected by the war; people who took part in the war; people who believed the Sinhala Buddhists were the only real Sri Lankans; people who just followed the Tiger leader blindly or otherwise, despite knowing that they were on the losing side; people who are leaders and refuse to acknowledge their inebriated state being drunk with power.

This Divided Island is completely worth undivided attention!

60 Minutes [Book Review]

2014-09-07T19:06:00.000+05:30

(A review for the Blogadda Book Reviews program)

At times while watching a (not-so-good) movie, we continue watching it, sometimes till the very end, to see if the plot gets better. 60 Minutes is one such book.

There are movies with plots that begin slowly, but pick up momentum and then leave a lasting impression on you. There are few other plots which start with a bang and end with the same bang maintaining the thrill throughout. While the book 60 Minutes is advertised as ‘A One-of-a-kind Corporate Drama Where All Action Will Unfold In Sixty Racing Minutes,’ the book fails to fall under either type of the movies/plots mentioned above.

A time-bound premise with a non-linear narrative traversing back into flashbacks every five minutes had such promise. When I first looked at the contents, I was both excited and skeptical at the same time. The former because I am huge fan of the TV series '24' and perhaps this was going to be a racy ride. The latter because I was not too sure how a non-linear narrative would fit into a premise that was time critical. My fears, unfortunately, came true.

Firstly, to focus the positives, I was quite impressed with the simplicity in the style of writing. It sure did not use bombastic words and it is very well evident that the author wanted to use a limited vocabulary. This is a plus because words could have distracted and I was in no mood to keep a dictionary by my side while I read this book. Next, the characters had enough depth, at times more detailed than necessary. There was sufficient background to each of the characters and this helped the characters appear slightly more human, especially with their gray shades. The characters Maithili and Sailesh, especially the latter, definitely seem to invoke some sympathy from the reader and come across as real ones.

While focusing on what could have been better in the book, the first thing that comes to mind is the business lingo especially with respect to the stock markets. While the premise of the character Agastya (the main protagonist) being hooked to stock markets is understandable, it got way too distracting and definitely got in the way of the ‘thriller’ that this could have been. Secondly, there were way too many characters, all not of importance, and the author could have easily done away with 4 to 6 of them. The background for those characters in the flashbacks did not prove to be beneficial either.

My main peeve with the book is the non-linear style of narration. While a well-crafted movie running in real time can do with those short flashbacks every now and then, a book surely needs to be able to hold the reader’s attention with a crisper narrative. This book definitely lacked that. What would have helped the book was just 12 chapters (for each of those 5 minutes in the 60 minutes), with narrations from the BCL side and the Stark side alternatively, with the details from the flashbacks woven into these chapters in a much briefer fashion. The author could have taken a cue from '24' for this.

To sum it up, 60 Minutes is a decent lazy weekend read which doesn’t fully realize the potential it had.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Private India [Book Review]

2014-08-23T18:53:00.000+05:30

I should begin this review with a disclaimer that this is the first book of Ashwin Sanghi that I have read and I was not aware (until this review opportunity happened) that James Patterson is one popular and widely published author. I do have Sanghi’s Chanakya’s Chant lying on my bookshelf for over a year, but did not get a chance to read it yet.

The Private series by James Patterson is now set in India and there is a string of murders occurring in the nation’s financial capital Mumbai. The task that the Private team comprising of Santosh, Nisha, Mubeen, and Hari have in hand is to see if the murders are linked and identify the killer(s) and the motive(s) behind the killing. Apart from this, a terrorism angle is thrown in and a few elements that were essential to a Bollywood potboiler of the 80s and 90s are incorporated as well.

With simple language, good characterization and most importantly, shorter chapter length (there are over hundred chapters ranging from 4 to 6 pages long), the authors ensure that the flow of the premise is pretty easy. For a first time (after long) mystery reader like me, this was a very very easy read and I did not have to spend a lot of time trying to remember characters’ names or what was happening in the book even if a character popped up in the narrative after 200 pages. In addition, there is a linear yet non-linear first person narrative occurring every few chapters which I felt was very well done. This brought me closer to that particular character without knowing who he/she was and that is something commendable.

One thing I definitely admire about the book is the way in which a few of the locales from Mumbai are presented, including the very important Parsi location. For a person like me who has not seen much of the city lately, an author basing the story in Mumbai and not taking the cliched depiction route was refreshing.

I do not want to dwell into the premise of the novel completely, since that would mean posting spoilers in this blogpost. But I need to mention a few things about the book and the narrative that did not quite work for me.

The way the mystery of the sequence of killings that occur is deciphered by Santosh leaves a lot to be desired. It appears as though the author did not want to spend too much space in the narrative to help him arrive at that conclusion.
A whodunit mystery always has a few unfortunate good souls who are suspected of the crime, and this book is no different either. That got bland a tad too quickly and perhaps lessens the impact.
In trying to explain the premise completely to, perhaps, an average reader, the book definitely goes deeper into the details of the resolution of the crimes. It would have worked better for me if a lot of the simple assumptions/conclusions were left to the reader to make, and also if a couple of the ‘twists’ were just introduced and left to the reader’s imagination to interpolate.

To conclude, Private India in no way is a terrible book, but it is definitely not the best book you will read this year either. It is an easy read that you can use while waiting for a flight at the airport. It may turn out to be a popular book and perhaps soon have a Bollywood adaptation. But Mr. Sanghi, I definitely expected a lot more from this book.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Game of Life - Round 1 [Book Review]

2014-08-11T22:41:00.002+05:30

This is probably the first time I am writing a review for a book, outside of Goodreads. And man, while I thought peer-reviewing research journal articles was hard, reviewing a 200+ page book definitely seems harder.

As a self-confessed fan of Mahabharatha, literally the great epic, I have always found the Ramayana a little too underwhelming in terms of character portrayal. The reason may be because of the epoch (yuga) that it is set in, where the characters are portrayed as either all white or all black, seldom with shades of gray as in the Mahabharatha. It could also be attributed to the type of books I have read previously on the Ramayana (the Rajagopalachari version, Sita by Devdutt Pattanaik and Asura by Anand Neelkantan). But, I was proven (mostly) wrong by the first book in the series, Ramayana - The Game of Life called The Rise of the Sun Prince.

The Game of Life. For a title, this is a pretty ambitious choice, I felt. After getting to somewhere around 50 pages in the book, I realized why the author named the book that way. A few obvious, a few not-so-obvious, a lot of not-at-all-obvious pearls of wisdom on life, correlating to the happenings in the epic are thrown at us. Most of these are in the form of footnotes which are plenty in number, and can get quite distracting too till you get used to them. (Jaya and Sita by Devdutt Pattanaik have similar treatment with respect to trivia, however all of them appear at once at the end of one chapter.)

The main protagonist of this Bala kaanda is actually Vishwamitra, the sage king who has a wonderful chapter on his transition from a king to brahmarishi. A lot of the trivia about the brothers and sister of Ravana, the 350 wives of Dasaratha, the story of the bow that Rama breaks at Janaka’s palace, the ancestors of Janaka are something that I was unaware of. The whole premise is something that is known to any Indian kid who has seen or heard of Ramayana stories in one form or another. But it is this trivia that makes a lot of these epic interpretations interesting and the book definitely delivered a lot more than I expected.

The language is pretty simple and perhaps aimed at multiple markets. One - as a story for someone reading the Ramayana for the first time. Two - as a book to correlate life’s happenings with what the Sun prince faced.

The beauty of the book lies in the overall feel where that it gives. Yes, the book can get philosophical, but it does manage to get so without getting too preachy. Another attribute is that the author is aware that he is dealing with material that has had multiple interpretations, but he still manages to not get influenced by the base material he has (Valmiki Ramayana and Kamba Ramayana) and manages to get his points across with little effort.

A few things that I look forward to in the forthcoming books in the series:

- hopefully better placed footnotes,
- a little deeper analysis into the psyche of the person called Rama, and not the Vishnu avathaar,
- a more conversational narrative than a biographical narrative, and
- no preview to the next book in the series. It is best to end the book at a particular point/juncture which is very significant.

As thanks to this blogadda book review program, I have been able to write a blogpost after really long. I hope this is just a start!

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

2013-08-05T22:49:00.001+05:30

Eight years. It has been that long since I first tool the flight to the US. This very day. A cautious, apprehensive, yet happy (& excited) me left to the US for graduate school. A great start to many greater things.

2013-07-24T06:40:00.002+05:30

Reading the Palace of Illusions, Jaya and the Great Indian Novel simultaneously (or rather back to back) has its own side effects. You may end of dreaming that you are Karna. And (probably) a twist, you being woken up by Kunti who decides to take you to a distant place to avert the Mahabharatha war. If only!

PS: Palace of Illusions is a book by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni on Mahabharatha from Draupadi’s perspective. Cheesy it sure can get, but it does portray a different picture of Karna. Jaya is an illustrated retelling of Mahabharatha by Devdutt Patnaik. The Great Indian Novel is by Shashi Tharoor and is a recast of Mahabharatha in the Indian political scenario.

2013-07-23T07:28:00.000+05:30

He wanted to hear the sound of their heart beats resonating.
All he got was the sound of her anklets walking away from him.

My 0k-10k – TCS run

2013-05-19T16:58:00.001+05:30

The rant:

Overcoming writer’s block is hard. Even if you have a million things to say, it is indeed hard to put them in sentences with more than 140 characters in it. That’s how Twitter has spoilt me. I indeed have had a lot of life-changing developments in the last few months, but we’ll visit that another day. (No, I haven’t gotten married yet!)

The pre-release trailer:

It was in March 2012 that I took up running a little seriously, thanks to the various forms of boredom that had set in during my stay in Atlanta. I did run on a regular basis for 6 months and then stopped running. After my move back to India, while I was still in the process of settling down and forming a routine for my activities, I chanced upon the TCS 10k run.

The registration:

Taking this as the right chance to get back to running, I signed up for the run on the last day of registration. And I pushed myself a little more by signing up for the open 10k, instead of the majaa run (5.7k). I had two weeks in hand to get back to running and ensure that I finish the run in an hour and 35 minutes.

The laziness:

Easy it might seem to get back into running 4-5 days a week, but my laziness took its first step. The plan of waking up at 5:45am to go for a run around Yediyur Lake daily was as successful as RCB’s bowling attack in recent times. Well, they at least tried. I stayed back in bed only to wake up a good 90 minutes later. And the weather changes ensured that I fell sick and didn’t run for another week.

The fear:

Two days before the run, I decided to test myself by running around the Yediyur Lake. Each lap around the lake is 1km. I hoped to run 5km that day and with great difficulty I finished 6km in 45 minutes. It was indeed an achievement. I decided I was going to run 6km and then walk the rest of the distance on Sunday.

The enthusiastic kozhandhai (EnthuKondhe):

The Saturday. The D-day-1 as a lot of them put it. Like a 4th standard school kid who is excited about his first day at school with new books, school uniform and the like, I indeed was excited about my first ever big run. By ensuring that I had placed all of the important things that I needed for the run (read music playlist, a fully charged iPod and my headphones), I tried to head to sleep by 9 so that I could wake up by 5. Well, as always the love of the city does different things to you. It makes you stay up until 1am to ensure that RCB beats CSK in a reduced over match that’s affected by the rain. With the victory-over-CSK-induced enthusiasm, I head to sleep at 1:30am.

The D-day:

The run was to start at 7:15. I was to be there by 6:45. A few delays here and there due to traffic snarls on a Sunday morning (due to a few roads being cleared for the run). I reach the venue fine.

The start:

Now my turn to do something. Started the run at 7:34am. Music has indeed played a huge role in my running. And in my life as well, but let’s keep that for the other blog. I had to play this song at the beginning, for it made me cry during the other day when I ran to it. Thank you A.R.Rahman for evoking every possible emotion in me, via your music.

The run:

The route was a pretty straightforward one and I kept timing myself using songs. Roughly 1-1.5 songs per km was my target. I did stop here and there for a bit, to hydrate myself and the pace was pretty steady and I’d have probably walked less than half a kilometer in the entire 10k distance.

The almost-there moment:

The last kilometer brought such an adrenaline rush to me. This was solely due to the fact that I had lasted fine until then. And this track surely helped get ahead faster than what I actually could.

The finish:

8:44am. Never did I imagine to finish the run in the time limit provided (1:35). I finished the 10k in 1 hr 12 minutes. I am totally short of words. And am high on the fact that I completed it. I completed (successfully) what I wanted to finish.

The credits:

The facilities were absolutely wonderful and a lot of volunteers ensured that each of us runners was comfortable, hydrated, and well taken care of. Kudos to the organizing team.

The inspirers:

The motivating factors behind this run are many. But I do need to mention two people here:

As cliched as it can get, the first person is A.R.Rahman. Thanks to you, I used to stay musically caffeinated on many days earlier. Now additionally, I stay musically motivated. Thank you for making a difference my life, yet again.

The second person is @blogeswari who with her Six-pack Sundari blog ensured that I get into running last year. In addition, she constantly motivated me, ensured that I get good contacts in Bangalore for my running routine, informed me of the TCS 10k and kept sharing a lot of good music for my runs. Thank you @blogeswari! This 10k is a good start to my running routine here again!

The Playlist:

Kun faya kun (Rockstar)
Olli Olli iduppe (Aadhi)
Dol dol (Aayitha Ezhutthu/Yuva)
Hey Goodbye nanba (Aayitha Ezhutthu)
Kama Kama (Enakku 20 Unakku 18)
Minsaaram en meedhu (Run)
Nenje nenje (Ratchagan)
Keda Kari (Raavanan)
Theepidikka (Arindhum Ariyaamalum)
Pani katre (Run)
Konjum nilavu (Thiruda Thiruda)
Sambo sambo (Pudhiya Mugham)
Neethaane en pon vasantham (title track)
Bombay madras Delhi (Ratchagan)
Varaha nadhi (Sangamam)

The End!

EnthuKondhe word Courtesy: @sdhrshn

2012 - In a Nutshell

2013-01-11T04:18:00.000+05:30

I usually end up having a lot of things to say about what happened during the year. I do have many things this time as well, but will limit it so that I don’t end up ranting.

Learnt that hardships in life do occur. They maybe prolonged, but you’ll find a way out of it somehow. It is all about hanging in there. And I think I still am hanging only. :P
No India trip, yet again. And this year (2013) I am making a trip, no matter what. And have pani puri daily. And also masale-dose.
Learnt it the hard way that people aren’t required to survive/keep myself occupied in a new city. It’s only ‘me’ that’s required. (Yes, I copy-pasted it from the 2011 post).
Contributed greatly to the increase in revenue of AMC theaters. This meant sitting through Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu as the only member in the audience for over 45 minutes. And watching movies like Players.
Attended concerts by Salim-Sulaiman, Sonu Nigam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, and realized that this town has a major Bollywood-crazy crowd. A pretty late realization, that. And I got to wish Salim Merchant on his birthday :-)

PS: 2012 was the laziest year for this blog. 3 posts?? Really? Well, I had this other ‘sicrit’ blog (that I need to revive too) that had over 60 posts. Hopefully this is a better year for this blog.

PPS: I was really hoping for the world to end on Dec 21, 2012. Well whatever that means. One of the reasons was that I did not want to write this post.