Book Review #108: Grasta By Karanam Pavan Prasad

Title: Grasta

Author: Karanam Pavan Prasad

Publishers: Concave Media & Publishers

Genre: Metaphysics/Philosophy/General Fiction

Pages: 143 (Paperback)

Source: Personal Copy

Hindu philosophy also known as “Darshanikas” in Sanskrit reveals us a great deal of information on life, birth, death, love, sex, family, personalities, etc… and, there is Quantum Physics that explores the vast and bounds of universe with relevant experiments and theories. A book that combines the ideas of these two in a story is an attempt that requires a great study in those subjects. At least enough homework should be done before even attempting such a feat.  

Karanam Pavan Prasad, a promising and talented young writer bridges that gap by writing some marvelous stories that even the young generation are much in awe of his talents. Grasta, this is his 3^rd novel. He has surpassed his reader’s expectation by writing an extraordinary novel. This book combines the ideas of Metaphysics, Philosophy, Darshanikas, Quantum Physics, and Electricity etc… But, we definitely cannot term this as a science novel; neither can we term this as a philosophical novel too. This book stands in between. The thin line of separation from Science and Philosophy is what makes this book as a class apart.

The book is gripping from the very first page of the novel. The gamut of emotions expressed by each and every character is a treat to read from the book. The book takes us in a journey of two generations. The main protagonist of the novel is Avinash, an Electronic scholar, more than that a truth seeker. He is a common man by his birth, individual by his attitude and scholar in his own accord. He is engrossed in social, scientific, philosophical and personal aspects of his life. He is kind of a person who doesn’t get excited by the happiness and doesn’t feel a sense of remorse when something bad happens.

This book shows us the life in reality. Life, as in reality is not what we have seen in movies or read in some romantic novels. Life is full of struggles, yet we love the way we live and make the best out of our abilities. The protagonist in this novel expresses his concern, his ambitions, his future plan and how it became the otherwise. Avinash didn’t hail from an affluent family. His family background is one of the hearts wrenching stuff you read from this novel. Growing up in a family where death seems to be easier option that to survive. His parents didn’t had the best life because of the inter caste marriage.

As we read further into the book, we will get to read the tale of Avinash who rose from the ashes. He has built himself an identity by the help of good people that didn’t let him go astray. Now that he has a steady career but to enjoy his success, his parents are not alive. That’s kind of another struggle. Throughout the book we will realize, life is not what we aspired to be, instead life is what happens when you’re busy in making plans for it.

Rekha is another protagonist or I can say antagonist to some extent, enters the life of Avinash in the most unexpected way. This particular event makes Avinash question the life in many perspective, the reason being, should be read from the novel, and I am not going to include it in the review. Cheated by her boyfriend and her impotent husband drew Rekha towards Avinash. But her dubious plans remain intact till the end. Once we will realize what kind of woman is Rekha, we will sure feel pity for Avinash. He has done no fault, but still he agrees to the demand of Rekha and starts to live with her. Their relationship is one of a kind. He became her husband without marrying her. Became father to her child without even realizing. That’s where the novel hits like a storm. What is life? What are relationships? What are life goals? Is family is just a social agreement? Does every faults of a person become zero when living under a family? What is birth? What is death? What is the reason for man’s survival? These are the questions that haunts even after finishing the novel.

Though Avinash had a successful career as an Electronic Scholar, a PhD to his name, and big fat bank balance, he missed something deeply even any kind of relationship wouldn’t fulfill. He longed for the answers beyond the realm of life and death. He tried to find those things in his electronic experiments. He longed to build a system that provides electricity to the instruments without being wired. This is somewhat related to the Nikola Tesla’s futuristic ideas. But deep within, Avinash wasn’t satisfied with his life. He was cheated by his own people. The one person whom he respected throughout his life, at last, cheated him and brought him to a family circle which he legitimately didn’t belong to. All these events made Avinash become more and more introvert and in the end he just stopped looking for answers and took life as it came to him with open hands.

Overall, I feel these kinds of novel needs more traction from the audience. A serious readers like me, would definitely like to see such author reaching new heights. The author has every capability to make a mark in the literature world. His research and the stronghold on the subject have made this novel as an epic read. I would highly recommend this novel to be read by each and every one. The caption of the book put me in a thinking mode, “Birth is not important; the result of the birth is”.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #107: Brihat Karnataka: Bhaashika, Samskrutika By Dr. M. Chidananda Murthy

Title: Birhat Karnataka: Bhashika, Samskrutika (Greater Karnataka: Linguistic, Cultural)

Author: Dr. M. Chidananda Murty

Publishers: Sapna Book House

Genre: Linguistic Research/Non-Fiction

Pages: 344+ (Paperback)

Source: Personal Copy

This is the book that should be read by every Kannadiga out there. The book makes each Kannada speaking person proud of their culture, language and their history. The amount of research that went into this book is inexplicable. Dr. M. Chidananda Murthy, a great human being and a research scholar has painstakingly compiled this book after doing years of research and arranging it in a chronological order. I have always admired the author for his stands on the various issues apart from his writings. He is one of the highly respected personalities in Karnataka and in India.

Coming to the book, it is definitely not an easy read. Reading a research book requires great deal of patience and an open mind to accept the ideas put forth in the book. It is definitely not a fantasy tale. The book mainly captures the greater Karnataka that existed before the Independence of India and before the partition. As we go through the book, we will realize that what a great culture that we belong to. It is also imperative that none of the so called research scholars in present day have the zest to do this kind of research on their language and culture.

Greater Karnataka, as we speak of today, is not the Karnataka that we see in today’s map. It includes the whole part of Maharashtra, parts of Andhra Pradesh (including the Telangana) and parts of Tamil Nadu, Goa, and few parts from the Madhya Pradesh and to some extent Gujarat. Author has presented his research facts point by point. Thereby, giving us a clear picture of the boundaries of the greater Karnataka since 7^th Century CE. We will come across many examples ranging from the languages that we use in present day Karnataka and the language that became an influence for the Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Goa etc… during yester years.

Quoting several language examples and the common words that belongs to Kannada and how it became the inspiration for the other languages to adopt Kannada and developed their own dialect and language is a fascinating read. The main examples from the Telugu, Konkani, Tamil and Marathi languages and how their origin of the language is greatly dependent on Kannada is a must read from the book. Not only were the languages, even the cultural beliefs and practices adopted from the Kannada speaking people in other states is a true testimonial of how dominant was Kannada during those times. It is quite clear from the book that, the southern parts of the India were greatly influenced by Kannada language, cultural practices and beliefs.

The first part of the book mainly concentrates on the research that author has done on the Maharashtra and the languages like Marathi and Konkani and how these are originated. His research includes many myth shattering events that present day Maharashtra or Goa people will not be able to digest. The book also explores the caste influences on major communities like Mahar, Danagar, etc… also the chief deities of Maharashtra like Tulaja Bhavani, Khandoba, Kollapura Lakhsmi, Pandarapura Vithoba and how these gods have the roots originating in Karnataka. The greatest personalities like Gnaneshwar, Nannideva of Marathi origin have spoken extensively on the importance of Karnataka and Kannada in their writings. Author also mentions the present day tussles of Maharashtra and Karnataka on the border dispute. He also mentions about the Mahajan Report that studied and settled the border dispute and village sharing between Karnataka and Maharashtra. Currently, this was challenged by the government of Maharashtra in Supreme Court and the case is pending. These things can be read in greater details in the book.

The 2^nd part of the book speaks about the epitaphs (Veeragallu and Masthigallu) of the Karnataka and the excavations found in the depths of Maharashtra and other states. The story behind these stones engravings is a treat to read from the book. Veeragallu is a stone engraved in the memory of a male person that has sacrificed his life to his King in the battles, in averting robbery and protecting their village or town. The stones speak about the bravery of these persons. Whereas, Masthigallu stone engravings belongs to the brave women that has sacrificed their lives for their husbands or to their villages. Masthi is a condensed form of “Mahasathi” in Sanskrit. Those days, following the Sathi system was not a compulsion, rather it is a self declared practice. Women folks would enter the pit fire of their dead husbands and self immolate them in order to prove their loyalty, chastity and love towards their husbands.

The final part of the book is an important research work that describes the influence of Kannada and Karnataka outside India. The book speaks extensively on Nepal and how Nepal was ruled and preserved by the Kings that has their roots in Karnataka. Author gives us an example of the dynasties like “Jangam” and other such families that originated in Karnataka and ruled Nepal for several centuries. As a mark of this, Author has given us ample amount of stone engravings from different temples in Nepal that has Kannada inscriptions on them. The chief priest of the Pashupatinath Temple of Nepal is a southern Indian Brahmin that belongs to the Shankara math of Southern India. This practice of appointing the chief priest from Southern India has been running since the temple was built. The legend says that, a Brahman from South India who conducted the proceedings of worshiping the Shiva during one of the Kings tenure in Nepal and that’s the practice ever since.

Words are short to explain how important this book is. There are many such research records that prove the influence of Karnataka and Kannada pan India and outside India like Nepal. It is quite difficult to include everything in this review. I would highly recommend every Kannadiga to read this book at least once in their lifetime to feel proud of their language and culture. Author’s anguish is evident in few pages, where he expresses his concern regarding the non availability of the research scholars that can take up this work and give a logical end, since, Kannada influence is literally unlimited in India and rest of the world. I hope his wishes come true in future.

My Rating:

5/5 

Book Review #106: The Perfect Murder Collected and Compiled By Ruskin Bond

Title: The Perfect Murder

Collected & Authored by: Ruskin Bond

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Thriller/Murder Mystery

Pages: 132 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced review copy from the publishers

Ruskin Bond, the name is enough to go and grab the book. The stories that he chooses or writes are pleasant always. Since my childhood, I’ve always been a big fan of Ruskin Bond. Being a thriller fan, I adore each and every story told by Ruskin Bond. It is always a special feeling to read his books.

The Perfect Murder is a short story in the book also the title of the book. The book also contains several short stories from various acclaimed authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Edgar Allen Poe and WW Jacobs. There is also a story written by Ruskin Bond. The book consists of eight different stories.

The very first story is the Perfect Murder, where two brothers Paul and Henry would wait for an opportunity to kill their aunt, so that they can inherit the property left by their uncle, but only on the condition that, the property would reach these brothers only after their aunt has passed away. Given the financial condition of the Paul and Henry, they were not in a position to wait that longer. Henry, a married man with four children, wasn’t able to meet the demands of his family, and he often finds himself borrowing money from his brother and his close friends. Whereas, Paul, unmarried, and wasted himself by drinking and roaming around. One fine day, Paul decides to meet his aunt and pretends to fall sick in her home. A generous, well behaved aunt takes Paul in and provides him the necessary food and medicines time to time. This hasn’t gone well with Henry and he decides to meet his brother Paul and take matters in to his hand. Paul agrees to his brother’s demands and asks him to get fine grained glass powder so that he can poison his aged fragile aunt. Henry does the needful and waits anxiously for the following day. But what followed is a shell shock experience for Henry, as he learns that, instead of his aunt, his brother Paul was found dead in his aunt’s house by consuming the glass mixed food. This story will surely keep the readers hooked to the book till it gets completed.

The other story which I liked and enjoyed is the Red Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle. This particular story involves an investigation by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his doctor friend Watson. The story is epic in its own accord. The sharp observational skills of Sherlock Holmes and how he helped a distressed pawn broker who was cheated by his employer. The quick wit displayed by Holmes is a well known phenomenon of Arthur Conan Doyle. For sure, this is the story where you will be reading again and again to appreciate the intelligence of Sherlock Holmes.

One more story written by Ruskin Bond himself was about his uncle that murdered a person by poisoning. This story captures the ill motives of his uncle even after he got released from Jail. His uncle tried to poison Ruskin when he visited him. This story was repeated in Ruskin Bond’s other collected stories in other books. But, quite a good story to read.

This book is a nice collection of the light thriller genre stories. The book is an easy read and you can finish reading this in a few hours or a day to the most. You will certainly appreciate the taste of Ruskin Bond that made this collection of some of the interesting stories in this book. Though it is not a recommending read, but to re-live your childhood by reading some epic stories collected and penned by Ruskin Bond.

My Rating:

4/5

Note: I received this book from the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book Review #105: Himalayan Blunder - The Angry Truth about India’s Most Crushing Military Disaster By Brigadier John Parashuram Dalvi Translated By Ravi Belegere

Title: Himalayan Blunder: The Angry Truth about India’s Most Crushing Military Disaster

Author: Brigadier John Parashuram Dalvi

Translator: Ravi Belegere

Publishers: Bhavana Prakashana

Genre: Military History/War

Pages: 500+ (Original Version) – 198 (Translated Version - Paperback)

Source: Personal Copy

This is the most chilling and humiliating account of India’s war with China in the year 1962. Famously known as Indo-Sino war or Battle of Thagla. Author Brigadier John P. Dalvi was the person who led his 7 Infantry brigade in defending the lands of India and eventually became the war prisoner of China. This book documents the anguish of a war hero that was treated lesser than a human being by the political leadership of India during 1962-63.

As per Dalvi’s account we get to read the most disturbing aspects of the dire military conditions of the India during that time. A belligerent army like India, though totally unprepared, has been ordered to throw the Chinese army out of the borders which India claimed was within the Indian boundary. The Chinese launched a devastating strike against India and occupied most of the territories and pushed back the Indian army within no time. Dalvi was an upstanding officer in the Indian army was firmly believed that China does not have any right over Tibet and that the McMahon line ought to be India’s north east frontier.

It was October 20, 1959, when Havaldar Karam Singh and his 20 strong troops doing their routine border patrolling when all of a sudden nine men from the patrol team were buried under in a matter of seconds in a hailstorm of bullets. Karam singh was taken as a war prisoner. This was the beginning of the Chinese aggression for the very first time; post their war with the Korea. Though it needed time to prepare for the war with India to claim few land areas, it was pushing all its limits to wage a fully fledged war against India. Whereas Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India was preaching the peace to the world.

The then Army chief Genreal Thimmayya’s fear about China stood confirmed. When he confronted the political leadership of the India and demanded the modernization of the army, V.K. Menon, the then Defense Minister of India plainly denied the request and asserted the problem with his own accord. He defended himself by saying; Pakistan is the “Number One” enemy of India and not China. General Thimmayya was amused and disturbed at the defense minister’s remark. Being an upright officer, he said what was bothering him...

“I understand our defense minister’s perspective. I have high regards for his abilities. But, I am aggrieved by his foolishness. One doesn’t rank his enemies as first, second and third. Perhaps, it is done in the communist countries and politics; as an Army Chief, I do not rank my enemies”

I will not be including the blow by blow account of Dalvi in this review. People can read this book. But wait… this book was shamelessly banned in the year 1969. Though there may be copies available in few numbers, what I read is the translated version of this book, penned by Ravi Belegere, a Kannada journalist and author.

Certain section from the book was really interesting to read. Dalvi’s description of the Battle of Tseng Jong, which took place 10 days before the Chinese assault on the Thag La. General Brij Mohan Kaul or B.M. Kaul had ordered 2 Rajput to move up Tseng-Jong and occupy the Yamatso La peak, 16000 feet above the sea level in full Chinese view with no artillery support. Dalvi convinced Kaul to move a patrol of 9 Punjabi to find a suitable crossing place for the Rajputs and cover them from a position at Tseng-Jong.  

A patrol of 50 men led by Major Chaudhary advanced to Tseng Jong. On 10 October 1962, 600 Chinese troops attacked Major Chaudhry’s patrol. It was obvious that they could not hold on for long, though the second Chinese wave was also beaten back, mainly on account of enfilade fire on the assaulting Chinese from the Rajputs hurrying up to Yamatso La. Major Chaudhry asked Dalvi for mortar and machine gun fire as a cover so that they could extricate themselves. Dalvi refused to order the guns and mortars at Bridge 4 to open fire.

The reasons given by Dalvi for his decision are interesting, but I’ll not detail them here. Please read this historical treatise from the book and find out Dalvi’s reasons. Dalvi says that 

“I and I alone, and are responsible for the decision not to allow the mortars and machine guns to open up”. 

Quite unlike BM Kaul who, when things turned bad at Tseng Jong told Dalvi,

“Oh My God! You’re right. China has prepared itself for a full-scale war. It’s each man for him from now on. You’re in charge of your Brigade. This is not in my reach. Only a Brigadier can execute this kind of war. This is your battle.”

And he turned and left, leaving Dalvi to helplessly watch the massacre of the whole platoon. Dalvi records several such incidents where a grossly under prepared Indian army faced the Chinese who were superior to them in every aspect. A most telling instance is

“…. a soldier saluted me as I stepped into the bunker and said, “Sahib, look there! The enemy is on the opposite slope. They’re burning firewood to beat the cold.” I felt a slap of humiliation. This was one of the rare instances this happened in thousands of wars throughout history. Burning a fire at night is a sure invitation for the enemy to attack. But then, this enemy on the slopes of the Thagla Mountain was confident: both of his strength and our sorry state. He knew for certain that we would not attack: we could not.”

In his final journey, he pays homage to every person right from foot soldiers, majors, lance naiks, singnallers, doctors, brigadiers, commanders, his assistant staff, etc… who died defending the indefensible.

“The Chinese used the same war strategies in vogue for centuries but…. their guns were more modern, and their clothes were warmer than ours…. out there, away from the warm world, the October chill doesn’t descend from the skies; it climbs from the depths of the spinal cord. All our men had to wear were cotton clothes suited for summer, shoes which slide on snow… the only colour my men could see was the ash-white colour of death. A flash of sunlight was enough to blind them. This blindness caused several men to walk directly into the waiting arms of the enemy. My request for snow glasses was granted, all right, but when they arrived, the air-dropped bag dropped somewhere in the abyss-like crevices…and those snow glasses were broken into pieces which were not in a condition to wear. My soldiers were left to gaze those glassy snow with their bare eyes and went blind. During those times, without even realizing, my soldiers has walked into the enemy camps”

One must read this book to understand the shamelessness of the Nehru’s government, that failed to supply even the basic necessities like food, water, better clothing, shoes, goggles leave alone the artillery and ammunition. Towards the end, Dalvi and his remaining men went without food for more than 3 days. Without even having a map of route, they walked straight in to the camp that was wholly surrounded by the Chinese troops.

“We descended the Dhola Mountain after the Chinese disappeared from sight. We gave up the final hope of even sighting a small tukdi (regiment) of our men. I descended rapidly out of a sheer will to live. The slope ended in a forest…the path was even tougher to navigate. Meanwhile, I had lost four of the eleven men following me. I reached a clearing, which then led to a small mud road. It was all over.”

Finally John P. Dalvi was captured by the Chinese army on October 22 1962, at 9.22 AM. He remained as a prisoner of war from October 22 1962 till May 1963. The book doesn’t record the event of what happened during Dalvi’s stay at the prisoner camp during those days. I guess this was carefully censored before release of the book. Anyways, the book itself was banned in 1969.

“We landed in Dum Dum airport in Calcutta on May 4 1963. We were received cordially, appropriately. But the silence there was disquieting. I realized later. We had to prove we weren’t brainwashed by Chinese ideology. We had to prove we were still loyal to India. My own army maintained a suspicious distance. The irony cannot be harsher: this treatment from a country, which for more than a decade had brainwashed itself into holding the Chinese baton wherever it went.”

Himalayan Blunder has simply proven its contemporary relevance in the sense of history repeating itself: notice today’s Chinese cheerleaders who occupy disproportionate clout in the UPA government. By the way, the Battle of Thagla began on October 20, 1962 and lasted just over 3 hours, between 5 A.M and 8 A.M. An entire brigade was massacred. The history will never forgive Nehru and his coterie that paved the way for the most humiliating military disaster of Indian history.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #104: Uttarakanda By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Title: Uttarakanda

Author: Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Publishers: Sahitya Bhandara

Genre: Mythology/General Fiction

Pages: 350+ (Hardbound)

Source: Personal Copy

We all grew up by reading and listening to the stories of the Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. We have a sculpted belief that a certain character from certain epic will behave like this and there won’t be any misconduct or any character deviation from their original ones. At times, these beliefs can be shaken to the ground when you come across certain books. At the same time, certain books make you question the reality. This is the very essence of the book “Uttarakhanda” penned by my favorite author, philosopher and a great human being, Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa. He finished writing this book in just 3 months of duration, but took whole 8 months to re-draft each and every chapter before sending it for the publishers. That’s typical SL Bhyrappa’s flavor.

Coming to Uttarakanda, this is the retelling of the Ramayana. But what makes it different from other writers is the theme of the book. This Ramayana is entirely from the viewpoint of Sita. How she sees the entire Ramayana as an event? What was her thought process when she decides to accompany Rama to the exile for 14 years? What were her thoughts when Ravana abducted her from the forest? Etc… The entire narration belongs to Sita in this book. How she endured all those years along with Rama and his brother Lakshmana is pictured vividly, brilliantly. This is one of the hearts wrenching narration of the Ramayana I’ve come across in my entire life.

One thing I must mention in this review, there are no gods in this version of Ramayana. Each and every character is human. Rama is as much of a human as a normal court maid. There are no flying chariots, no 10 headed Ravana but one, no curses, no divine arrows, and Hanuman is a normal 50 year old person, who believes that he belongs to the clan of the Lord Hanuman. I must applaud the brilliance of the author here for keeping the Gods as gods and making this story that touches the nerve of his readers.

As the story progresses further, we get to read the normal tale of how Rama and Lakshmana accompanied sage Vishwamitra to kill couple of rakshasas and eventually reaching the Kingdom of King Janaka, the Mithila, and breaking the Shiva’s bow to win the bride Sita. But a little twist here from the author makes it even more human. The actual plot of breaking the bow, was a setup by the King Janaka who was under the impression that, if any prince would tie the bow string with their bare hands would win over Sita, so that, the actual birth details of Sita would be negligible, since she was won in a challenge!! It is just brilliant to have this thought. It makes us to ponder for a few minutes. The after events keep Rama in high regard. Dasharatha actually learns that Sita is not the biological daughter of Janaka and she was actually found in a land while tilling. He raises an objection to the marriage and decides to cancel the wedding. By the timely intervention of Rama, this was avoided and Rama marries Sita, so does his brothers and Sita’s younger sisters.

The plot carries further in a regular manner but with a humane touch. The promises that Dasharatha made to his 3^rd wife Kaikeyi has been written in an entirely different perspective which I am not going to include in this review. This must be savored from the book. One thing the readers must keep in mind that, Rama was a staunch follower of Dharma even in this version. He learns the ill motives of Kaikeyi and decides not to become Prince. As per Kaikeyi’s wishes, Rama prepares to leave Ayodhya to the exile for 14 years. The event after that takes an entirely different approach where the human nature of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita will begin to unfold.

Now the real story of how Sita tries to analyze Rama and Lakshmana and herself begins slowly. Soon she realizes that it is difficult to adjust to the forest life. Also, she learns that without Lakshmana’s assistance, she and Rama both wouldn’t have been survived in that forest. Rama was a recluse in the forest life. He was enjoying the nature with a least concern to check on his wife and her comforts.

The climax of the book will keep your mind occupied and haunts you like anything. Ravana will abduct Sita, but not by himself. He sends his troops across the sea border to bring Sita via boat. His men will do just that by tying Sita to a boat and rowing across the sea. Ravana abducts Sita for the sole intention of avenging his sister Surpanakhi who got insulted by Lakshmana. Surpanakhi instigates Ravana by narrating the events that took place when she confronted Rama and Lakshmana in the forest. She describes Sita as a beautiful lady and he should abduct her at any cost and rape her. Being a womanizer, Ravana was all prepared to get Sita to his city of Lanka. Once after the abduction, the scene was written in an entirely different fashion, where Sita confronts Ravana and asks him to win the battle over Rama. If he wins, then he can marry her. But Sita was all prepared to immolate herself if the unthinkable happens.

Once the battle was over, the real test for Sita begins when Rama doubted Sita’s chastity. He wasn’t sure whether Sita was raped by Rama or not (sic). Having spent more than a year in another man’s supervision, Rama doubted whether to take back Sita or not. This is an eye opener scene for the reader. When Sita questions the same thing to Rama about his chastity for spending more than a year away from her, Rama didn’t have any answers. Sita’s questions are a mirror test to the present society. Is chastity applicable only to women? Who made this rule? Won’t men also fall under this category? Why women are termed as spoiled when she was raped or abused? Why the same things do not apply to men? Are men not under the purview of rape? Won’t they get raped by women? All these questions of Sita hits the bulls eye to the present society that questions that chastity of a woman or term her as raped when it wasn’t her fault? Rama’s unwillingness to answer these questions denotes the situation of every man in the present society.

The final confrontation of Sita with her husband Rama was a true testimonial of how bad the decisions that Rama took against Sita. When she confronts Rama asking him about his conduct with sage Gautama, asking him to forgive his wife Ahalya when she committed adultery 25 years back, and why he can’t he do the same? When Rama can bow down before a low born woman Shabari and consider herself as his mother, why he went ahead and beheaded a low born man who was doing tapas and reciting Vedas? Rama’s reason was like low born persons shouldn’t do the tasks that belong to the higher born persons. What kind of Dharma he is following? For all these things, Rama was not able to answer anything.

Overall I believe that book showcases the patriarchal society of Rama’s era and why it hasn’t changed even a bit in the 21^st century today. Questioning a woman on her every move is still prevalent in the current society. Rama was no exception either. He just behaved the way he believed it was according to the Dharmic principles. He didn’t even shown the human side of him to the world. Though we revere and celebrate his life and keep him in high regard as the epitome of the justice, but how he wronged Sita will remain as a black mark on him till the earth survives. A must read book. You can go back to the earlier writing flavor of S.L. Bhyrappa. I would definitely rate this book beyond 5 stars and recommend it to every reader.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #102: Think With Me: Fundamentals for making our country ideal By "Saharasri" Subrata Roy Sahara

Title: Think With Me: Fundamentals for making our country ideal

Author: “Saharasri” Subrata Roy Sahara

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 150 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced review copy from Publishers

Subrata Roy Sahara is a self made billionaire. Whatever may be the adverse transactions or financial hiccups he might have faced that eventually landed him in jail. But, that didn’t deter him to pen down his thoughts about the country and the ways it can be made better for the future generations. This book is a sequel to his other books “Thoughts from Thihar” & “Life Mantras”.

In this book Roy has argued some of the pressing issues that India as a nation is facing in each and every day.  He has penned down his idea of how we can tackle those problems in a more mature way and including every stakeholders at present. Though some ideas seem out of the box and some may feel it is ridiculous, but one has to appreciate the thoughts that have been put forward in this book.

The book has many ideas pertaining to many current problems. Especially his ideas about the exploding Indian population that is a sure shot threat in the future. Quoting the example of China’s one child policy, Roy has asked the government to take up the stand and device only two children policy for Indians. He has also put forward his ideas of giving financial perks to those families that will stick to the two children policy. The idea may seem plausible if we look at the present problems we have due to over population. Still over 30% of India’s youth are unemployed. Quality of life is deteriorating day by day. Children are suffering from malnutrition. Equal opportunity seems distant possible because the system cannot accommodate each and every individual with a nice living and earning. As a personal opinion, honestly, I feel the idea should and must be implemented.

As we read through the book, Roy has suggested some improvements in the electoral process that we already have been practicing over 50 years. Author suggests that an MP (Member of Parliament) be selected outside the election purview and they should be able to monitor the works and progress of an elected MP. He has to report to the Prime Minister periodically with the stats and figures of n MP’s works. If the report seems to show that an MP has failed in delivering his promises to his people, then he can be sacked immediately. Though this idea seems to be a nice one, but implementing this will be an add-on task on the government exchequer. There are able government bodies and agencies that can keep track of an individual portfolio’s progress and recommend improvements.

At the last part of the book, Roy talks about the role of media, the fourth pillar of our constitution. These days’, the media’s role has been largely opinion oriented than the facts driven. Print and Visual media both are in a rat race to deliver fast new to their viewers and readers, that makes them to deliver news without checking the facts and relevance. As per the author’s suggestion, he recommends the government to curb the media and put forth a stringent guidelines and recommendations in terms of delivering the authentic news. There are lots of people who are persecuted due to the false propaganda of media. He suggests to setup fast track courts in dealing with the media’s propagandist nature. These courts should be able to deliver justice quickly and make the media to behave in a more responsible way. Through this even lawyers would get employment and many of other staff members. Given the context that author has come up with this idea, I see that he has been a personal victim of the false media propagation. Anyway, there are courts to decide whether Subrata Roy was indeed innocent and was actually framed by the media. I really liked this particular idea. It should be the need of the hour to control the mainstream media in a country like India. People are constantly fed with the false stories, propaganda news, malicious content, inappropriate allegations, and so on.

Overall, I feel this is a nice book. The ideas and thoughts mentioned by the author was really an eye opener. The very impressive idea that made me to think for over few minutes was to have a national religion for India. Does that really work? We have no idea. But, author’s urge to have a national religion for a diversified country like India seems too unconventional. Never in the wildest dreams of any Indians, would this become a reality. Even though majority of the country are wishing to see it happen in near future. This book is not a recommending material, but to read once is not a crime.

My Rating:

3/5

Note: This book was given to me by the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book Review #101: Crooked Minds - Creating an Innovative Society By Kiran Karnik

Title: Crooked Minds – Creating an Innovative Society

Author: Kiran Karnik

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Innovation Ideas/Society and Social Science

Pages: 220 (Hardbound)

Source: Advanced review copy from Publishers

What it takes to being innovative or inventive? What are the roles that an individual, society, organizations, governments, cities, states and countries play in building those sustainable models? What are the pros and cons of doing the same? What are the parameters that one should and must consider while innovating? How those markets can be capitalized? These are some of the questions that any entrepreneur will face in their lifetime while they’re trying to establish a new venture of their own.

This is a book that speaks about those challenges of setting up an innovative culture in any aspects and in any scale. Be it an individual contributor or a team, each one of them can gain a good insight from this book on how to take a step ahead. Innovation is something that requires out of the box thinking in each and everything that a person or an organization does. But, what are the pitfalls or lessons that one needs to incorporate in dealing with such aspirations? This book specifically deals with that ideas where the entrepreneurs can get a new perspective altogether.

The book has various sections covering wide range of topics which deals with the innovation. Author Kiran Karnik, a man of many credentials, has crafted a well researched and thought off book that could create an interest among individuals who can take up the role of entrepreneurs. The author emphasizes the fact that exploiting and capitalizing the Indian innovation market (popularly called as “Jugaad” market) and tap into those areas which is not yet been given full research and importance. He has given numerous examples of companies from Indian and international arena. 

One such example is the organization called “Zip Dial” a venture setup by a foreigner in Bangalore which purely exploited the Indian invention of “Missed Call” concept and started out a huge organization based on this very comical idea. Zip Dial has assigned a specific number to their clients where customers can give missed calls to it and immediately the customer would receive the required information regarding that product or services at no cost. This is purely a win-win situation for both customer and the company. This was proven a game changer for the company Zip Dial, and they went on to add nearly 500 clients as their customers in few years of starting it up. Zip Dial was acquired by Twitter recently.

Further reading into the book, we will also get to read stories of the startups, now big companies like Uber, Netflix, and Airbnb. These companies have had their basic idea of exploiting the untapped markets and created a niche out of it. Now, Uber has definitely changed the concept of how the customer will book a taxi service and how Airbnb has asked the users to become hosts for strangers in their country by sharing their accommodation for a nominal fees setup by the customer themselves.

The book also covers some of the important aspects regarding the logistics considerations while setting up the new company. From the Indian perspective, author has carefully probed and analyzed the major metro cities and the advantages and disadvantages that it provides to support a new venture. He has eloquently explained about cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata and so on. He also emphasized the 2^nd tier cities like Ahmadabad, Cochin, Surat, Pune, etc…

Author also expressed his concern regarding the government policies that are available in promoting the innovation and startup cultures in the country. Also, he has suggested the new entrepreneurs to reach out to specific government bodies to avail the facilities and funding for their startups. This includes from various fields and not only IT sector.

The author has made some good amount of research on the standings of India on a global startup scale. India’s ranking in the yearly patent filing category. How India is faring low compared to USA and China in filing and procuring the patent rights for their unique designs and concepts. He has explained the importance of obtaining the patents to inculcate the habits of safeguarding the intellectual property rights of an individual and organizations.

The book also stresses about the need of the high quality university requirements for our country. How a globally recognized institutes would result in fostering a startup culture and why India is basically lacking these kind of infrastructure. For sure, India is struggling with old syllabus in our technical universities and is not keeping up with the pace of the changing world. The book has a clear explanation of the importance of higher; advanced technical education. This is the need of the hour if we want our younger generation to compete with others globally to make a mark in the startup initiatives and making them a success.

Overall a must read book for all those aspiring entrepreneurs. This will give you a fair idea of how competitive this world has become in terms of setting up new ventures. I would definitely recommend the readers to buy this book.

My Rating:

5/5

Note: This book was given to me by the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book Review #100: Chanakya in Daily Life By Radhakrishnan Pillai

Title: Chanakya in Daily Life

Author: Radhakrishnan Pillai

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Life Lessons/Motivational/Non-Fiction

Pages: 272 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced Review Copy from Publishers

Life is all about doing the right things in the right way. As the old adage puts it out “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad”. There is a clear idea of what to learn and what not to learn from vast amount of sources. But, what if you find everything in a book that is combined as a one stop solution for all those life lessons? The book “Chanakya in Daily Life” by Radhakrishnan Pillai would fill that gap. This book is all about differentiating between what is right and how to tread that path.

The blurb at the back cover of the book says “Life is unpredictable and full of challenges. One wrong step and everything can come crashing down. In such a scenario, one often wishes for a roadmap of life, but how is that possible?”

This book is a clear roadmap for all your doubts and worries ranging from personal, professional and family life. Taking example of an Indian guru, Chanakya and his ever popular work Arthashastra, author has come up with a book that can be read every day and for lifetime too. The book is broadly and rightly classified in to three different sections. The first part deals with the individual life and lesson that can be learnt and adopted in one’s personal life. The second part of the book deals with the professional life that teaches what one must do in their professional life. The third and final part of the book teaches the importance of a family life. Each part holds its importance and is equally connected to the other two. One cannot have a sounding personal life, but lacking professional or family life satisfaction. It is interdependent on each other and this book explains the best way of handling all these things diligently and in a profound way.

In the first part of the book, the author discusses the personal life of an individual. The ideas ranges from waking up at a certain time every day, daily ritual, exercise for the body and the mind, relaxation, developing tastes in music, inculcating the habit of reading, having a hobby that could become a profession one day, sleep duration, breaking and planning the day into productive hours, imparting the knowledge of astrology and up to what extent one can believe in  astrology, practicing meditation, food habits, financial goals, creative hobby, finding a guru, having a personal philosophy, etc.. Each chapter holds a valid point and a direction in which one can master these habits. Each chapter is explained by keeping a reference of Chanakya’s Arthashastra.

In the second part of the book, author discusses the professional aspects of an individual. This part mainly focuses on how one should behave and adopt a disciplined professional life. Author has discussed topics ranging from going to the workplace, pondering over the day to day task, preparing for the day in advance, developing the interpersonal skills, handling the team member and co-workers that has different mindset and thinking capacity than yourself, training people, daily documentation of work, developing the contacts in a working place, how to give a recognition for your sub-ordinate, what one must follow while appointing a manager, what one should do in case of work related travel and how one can adopt these leisure hours to productivity, how to plan for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly review meetings, and finally how one should plan for their retirement in advance. These lessons for sure are relevant even today. As per Chanakya’s reference in Arthashastra, each and individual lesson explained in this chapter would make a king wise and assertive in the long run. So does a common man when he adapts a tiny bit from these sections in to his personal life.

The final part of the book deals with the family life and its importance for an individual and how it is connected to the personal and professional life. The author discusses various facets of one’s family life and how Chanakya has prophesied in this Arthashastra regarding a King’s family life and how it is still relevant in present world scenario. This chapter begins with the duties of the householder and what best one can offer to his family at his abilities. What is the purpose of marriage and how one should treat his spouse, what are the advantages and disadvantages of sex that can impact a family life of a person, how one should take care of his family and provide basic necessities for his dependents.  How to educate their children, what is the best way to bring up their children, the power of family prayer. What are the lessons one can learn for being a good parent, why imparting the concept of charity to children should be encouraged, and how to give personal individual space for each family members. This part ends on a chapter of how to feel gratitude for whatever things we have obtained in this life from their family.

Overall, this book is not a regular one time read it and forget it affair. This book can be read again and again. You can start in any chapter and it still makes profound sense. A book that can be considered as a package of life lessons in all three important aspects of a human life. I would encourage readers to buy this book. This is definitely a collectible stuff.

Few famous Chanakya’s quote that are used in this book:

-       Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.

-       There is some self interest in every friendship. There is no friendship without self interest. This is bitter truth.

-       As soon as the fear approaches, attack and destroy it.

-       Once you start working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.

-       Learn from the mistake of others, you can’t live long enough to make them all by yourselves.

My Rating:

5/5

Note: This book was given to me by the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book Review #98: The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History By Sanjeev Sanyal

Title: The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

Author: Sanjeev Sanyal

Publishers: Penguin India

Genre: Geo-political History/History/Maritime History

Pages: 374 (Paperback)

Source: Personal Copy

Being a regular reader of the history I was fascinated by this book by the author Sanjeev Sanyal. Having read his previous book "Land of the Seven Rivers" I was all eager to read this new book. In his previous book, he talked about the seven important rivers of India including the mighty Saraswati River. The Land of seven rivers was summed up in one line as “Seven Rivers (Sapth Sindhu), One Country, Five Millennia, Startling History”.

Asian histories have been rendered in a biased manner since time immemorial. As a famous saying that goes, until an animal has its own history, the history of the hunting will always glorify the hunter. If we take any history curriculum in Indian education system, we can read leaps and bounds of Mughul Empire, the British regime, the Sultanates and such similar accounts. 

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to read the histories of Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas in greater detail and their glories have been limited to few pages here and there. This book, one of a kind in its genre, breaks that stupor and gives us a riveting account of how the Indian Ocean has shaped the human history. Indian Ocean is itself a big mystery. It holds many unresolved or undiscovered history that is hidden deep into its core. Author Sanjeev Sanyal tried to uncover this in this vast researched and well articulated book and succeeded in satiating his readers.

The book opens up by a fascinating tale of how the Pallava dynasty has traced an heir to their Kingdom when the erstwhile King, Parameshwara Verman II died in 731 CE. A delegation of Brahmin scholars, which travelled across the Indian Ocean to the far ends of Cambodia, and got back an heir that traced his roots to the Pallava dynasty from five long generations ago!! Thus, the reign of Nandi Verman II has started.

Hundreds of questions pop up as we read further through the book. For example:

Why did Vasco Da Gama worship in a Hindu temple when he set in India for the first time?

Why there are fossil remain of marine animals have been found in the Himalayas?

How come the Parsi community of India embraced the Guajrati culture so effortlessly?

How did the Sinhalese come to Sri Lanka?

What was the connection of the Sri Vijaya Empire with the Chinese?

How did the world’s second Mosque (King Cheraman Perumal) have been built in Kerala, India? What was the motive behind it?

How did Portuguese and Dutch have taken advantage in conquering parts of India?

How come we see oriental faces of engravings by Pallavas?

And so on…

The Ocean of Churn begins its journey even before the formation of the Indian Ocean. It talks about the super continent called Gondwana (This name is derived from the Gond tribe of the central India) that existed more than 270 million years ago and the mighty Saraswati River and how it dried up due to the tectonic plate shifts, how the Himalaya has been formed, and how the races have been migrated from India to outside world. This book traces the history through the Ocean way. How people set up its civilizations, how their trade hub got established, what was their commercial aspects, how they dealt with various traders inside and outside their territory and so on.

Sanjeev Sanyal views this history as Complex Adaptive System. Given his background in Economics, where he considers multiple factors act upon a system to determine the direction it takes. From Harrappan times, Indians have been trading with the world in many ways. Maritime trading is the major aspect during those times when land routes were hardly discovered. The powerful Chola king, Rajendra Chola made a naval attack on the Sri Vijaya Kingdom of Sumatra by 1025 is one such example. Chola Empire was one of the powerful empires in the entire South Asia region during that time. There were a major geo-political-economic alliances or rivalries between Indians, Chinese and the Sri Vijaya Kingdom.

Kerala being the hub of the maritime trade have witnessed a vast amount of geo-political-economic tradeoffs. As a testimony to those, even today in Kerala, we have the world’s second Mosque and India’s first mosque (Cheraman Perumal Mosque) built by the king Cherman Perumal by the orders of Mohammed the prophet himself in 629 AD. We also get to see the memorial of St. Thomas (doubting Thomas fame), a disciple of Jesus, who visited Kerala via sea route.

Overall, this book is a well researched one. It starts right from the origin of India Ocean due to the tectonic plate shifts and ends right at the transformation of Bombay to Mumbai with the reclamation of land over the Ocean. This book is full of rich details of all Kingdoms that throve around the Indian Ocean, Indian coastline, and several islands of the Indian Ocean that also had cultural trade ties with India and its Kingdoms.

Author personally visited several of these places that he mentions in his book. It shows what kind of painstaking research that he has put in this book. It is extremely informative and knowledge enhancing. As the author himself remarks at the end of the book “A systematic bias I have found in the existing literature is the preference given to the writers and sources from outside the continents.” This is evidently true, as we are fed with the histories that are written by mentally enslaved minds. It is time to look through a new perspective and stop looking towards the west for our recognition. India was and is an ancient lands with many millions years of history. Authors like Sanjeev Sanyal should be encouraged by reading these kinds of books.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #97: White Clouds, Green Mountains By Ruskin Bond

Title: White Clouds, Green Mountains

Author: Ruskin Bond

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Short Memoir/Short Stories

Pages: 135 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced review copy from publishers

Ruskin Bond is a master story teller. When it comes to capturing the essence of nature and beautifying it exceptionally through writings, then, Ruskin Bond tops that list. He wrote an excellent collection of stories that describes the vast range of North Eastern region. This book mainly has the stories of nature, mountains, rivers, animals, birds, rains, snow capped mountains, etc… Author also dwells little into his personal details by writing two short stories on his adopted family and penned few pages describing his life along with them.

The book “White Clouds, Green Mountains” describes the stories of author’s sojourn in his hometown Mussoorie and his stay at various places surrounding this area. His encounters with the nature, the birds, and the animals are a treat to read from this book. The book has a collection of over 10 different stories that describes the nature, animals and birds.

A story that titled “Songs of the Whistling Thrush”, in which, the author speaks about a bird that has made its nest next to his bedroom window. He has seen this bird perched on his window and singing the sweetest whistles. As the days passed by, he sees the bird has formed its nest near the window and there are three eggs of that bird. Amused at the sight of it, author exclaims in jubilation saying, what if all these birds (young ones and old ones) started to sing in next few days, and for sure he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his writings.

Another story that titled “Travels with my Bank Manager”, in which, the author writes about his experiences with his Bank Manager Ohri, who takes the author on a surprise trips across the valley to see some rare birds and animals. Though the author always finds these trips as tiresome, but he seems to enjoy a lot. He hasn’t forgotten to mention an embarrassing event where they had to eat Dog biscuits in order to satiate their hunger, when they were out of town and stuck in the middle of the forest.

In one of the stories that titled “The Kipling Road”, author finds the traces of the route that was long used by another famous writer Rudyard Kipling that visited Mussoorie a few years back. He got the leads from his friends from abroad regarding the Kipling’s visit to his town.

Describing his personal family details, author has penned a story that titled “And Now We Are Twelve”. Author gives us a brief account of his adopted family and fair share of their names. He also mentions about his grandsons with whom the author had shared a special camaraderie.  He also mentions about the places they have lived along all these years and the houses they have shifted, the female members of the family, the male members, the kids and toddlers with whom he has lived all these years and grown old with them.

We will also get to read some other interesting stories from the book such as The School among the Pines, The Night the Roof Blew Off, The Last Truck Ride, In Search of the Sweet Peas, White Clouds, Green Mountains, etc… overall, a nice collection of short stories along with some personal details of the author. Not a recommending material, but worth the time pass.

My Rating:

3/5

Note: This book was given to me by the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review