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: #90: The Battle for Sanskrit: Is Sanskrit Political or Sacred, Oppressive or Liberating, Dead or Alive? By Rajiv Malhotra

Title: The Battle for Sanskrit: Is Sanskrit Political or Sacred, Oppressive or Liberating, Dead or Alive?

Author: Rajiv Malhotra

Publishers: Harper Collins India

Genre: Non-Fiction/Language & Linguistics

Pages: 488(Hardbound)

Source: Personal Copy

This is a must read book for every Indian who is a courtesan of Sanskrit. Rajiv Malhotra has established an authoritative argument in this book by enunciating the rejoinders and refutations in the most erudite way and confronted the western narrative of the language Sanskrit.

It has been proven time and again that, we Indians, have a propensity to consent the views of a western or white man whenever they come up with any works on India. We believe every word of their elucidation, as if, it is the most sought and well acknowledged work. It is a common trait, because, when a western mind has shown interest to study India or Indian culture, we believe that these people are appealed to our culture and practices. Well, the veracity is far-fetched.

This book “Battle of Sanskrit” discourses the very same dispute in a comprehensive manner. Apparently, this is a significant work for the many Indologist scholars that are doing their research on Sanskrit since several years. Atrocity literature is not a new phenomenon for our country. It has been an instrument for most of the westerners, politically leftists and communists to perpetrate the abhorrence towards some class of people. Here in this book, the author refers to those westerners that has worked relentlessly to tarnish the importance of Sanskrit and devalued the language as oppressive, politically incorrect, and dead.

The author exclusively engaged the works of Dr. Sheldon Pollock, a distinguished Indologist as he claims and did extensive research works on Sanskrit since many decades. The author has presented us to the terms called “Outsiders” vs “Insiders”. The readers must not take into consideration that an outsider means a non-Indian and insider means an Indian. The metaphor mentioned here is basically unpretentious, an insider is someone that believes Sanskrit as a language which is sacred, liberating and alive, and this person can be an Indian or a foreigner. Whereas, an outsider means someone that believes Sanskrit as political, oppressive and dead. Again, this outsider can be someone from India or a foreigner, plainly can be mentioned as Leftists, Communists.

As per the title of the book advocates, this book mainly debates on the prominence and germaneness of the language Sanskrit. Author has asked those questions in the title of the book itself.

Political or Sacred?

Oppressive or Liberating?

Dead or Alive?

As many western minds have premeditated the language Sanskrit and made a noteworthy contributions in their own way. Amongst them were Ingalls, William Jones, Sheldon Pollock and many such peoples. But what is most troublesome in their works is, their interpretation of the language as socially oppressive, barbaric and dead. Author Rajiv Malhotra has exclusively selected several works of Sheldon Pollock and tried to give a perfect counter narrative. As per Pollock, our Vedic scriptures, Puranas, Kavyas and Upanishads were mere works of common people and that too it all happened in the Buddhist era. He also argues that, the great Ramayana essentially illustrates the social oppression and encourages violence. Rajiv Malhotra has carefully analyzed these claims and provided a completely substantial retort on why Pollock is erroneous on so many levels.

The book gives us a rational perspective of seeing the things in a diverse way. It encourages the readers to adopt the Purva-paksha. It is a call by the author to reverse the gaze of the westerners and see the Sanskrit in a more Indian way than a western way. Author also emphasizes the point that, translating Sanskrit or regional text in to English is a risky affair. This is basically because, a western vulture would take up any significant work and hand picks the bits and pieces as it suits him and presents a version that is totally devoid of what the original critical Sanskrit edition was supposedly intended to achieve. Thus the ownership of the text passes from an Indian to a westerner just because it is in English and widely read!!

This book is not a rabble rousing of Grammar or literature. It is about the politicization of Sanskrit scholarship. It reveals and studies the production of knowledge and intellectual control mechanism in a globalized modern western world. It documents the vested interests of the American orientalists that are wielding control over the Sanskrit tradition from the helpless Indian pundits and thereby break the backbone of Hindu tradition. From the Pollock’s argument it seems clear enough that, Sanskrit is something Nazi. He argues that, Sanskrit in fact encouraged the Hitler of Germany to perform the Jew holocaust.

An additional frightening aspect that Malhotra expressed is that the funding that these authors are getting globally. Even the Indian billionaires that are well established globally is establishing the organizations that funds these western scholars to execute their works. One such example is the is wealthy Infosys industrialist Narayan Murthy’s gift of millions of dollars to Sheldon Pollock of Columbia University for overseeing the translation of 500 classics by US-based Sanskritists under the umbrella called “Murthy Classic Library”. If any learned Indian doesn’t educated these billionaires about their wrong doing, then it is imminent that, we will witness more atrocity literature in the coming days that would make any Indian self-loath.

Apart from donating millions to these western vultures, the spending of Hindu funds on non-Hindu interventions to do research work is unworthy and dangerous. Pollock’s approach to Sanskrit studies is what he calls “political philology”. His sole intention is to destabilize the foundation of the country that was built on. He sees Greek, Latin and Sanskrit under the same lens. He has consistently undervalued the spiritual dimension that Hindus associate with Sanskrit, and portrayed it as a language of oppression and barbaric. This is not out of malevolence, he deserves the benefit of the doubt regarding his motives (he has for instance deplored the decline of classical studies in India, leaving a void which he now steps in to fill).

Pollock’s political motive is clearly visible from his works. To add a cherry on the cake, Pollock actually expressed his dissent over Narendra Modi. He has signed various petitions asking several dignitaries, universities, associations for inviting Modi to certain events and inauguration functions questioning them to reconsider their decision citing the very same reason that many leftists and communists and pseudo-seculars in India have been doing since a decade and a half. His motive is clear from his behavior. Pollock not only wants any Indians to interfere in his so called claims of Sanskrit authority, but also, he doesn’t want any able India minds to challenge a counter narrative. Do we want that aversion for Hinduism to have control over the Sanskrit heritage?

Overall, a well-researched book. Rajiv Malhotra had given hope for the serious Indologist and Sanskritists to take a step back and observe what they are putting themselves into. He has taken a powerful stand on the self-respect of Hindu tradition. Every Hindu should and must join hands with him in facing these atrocity literature producers.

My Rating:
5/5

Book Review #79: Ramayana: The Game of Life – Book 1 – Rise of the Sun Prince

Title: Ramayana: The Game of Life – Book 1 – Rise of the Sun Prince

Author: Shubha Vilas

Publisher: Jaico Publishing House

Year: 2013

Genre: Hindu Scripture/Epics

Pages: 256 (Paperbound)

Source: Personal Copy

Ramayana is a story that has seeped into every soul of Hindustan. Ramayana is no longer a mere story to read and forget. There is so much to learn from these epics and can be easily adopted into our daily lives. Many books have come and gone, and each of those books adds a taste and personal viewpoint. As a reader, I feel fortunate enough to read many version of Ramayana.

Shubha Vilas has drawn inspiration from the original author of the Ramayana, Sage Valmiki and tried to present us a best possible version of the epic. The little anecdotes and footnotes explaining the real story and the interpretation of that particular event related to the modern day world is a good way of showing how Ramayana can be seen and adopted into our lives. Shubha Vilas has broken this epic in to a series of 5 books, of which, the first book which covers the birth of the protagonist of Ramayana, Lord Sri Rama.

This book mainly covers the Bala-Kanda of Ramayana i.e. the childhood days of Rama. But, the author puts it in a different way. As per this book, the Bala-Kanda refers to the days of sage Vishwamitra, the spiritual guru of Rama. The book entirely focuses on the birth origins of Rama and his brothers Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. Also, it covers how Vishwamitra became the celebrated Bramharshi after failing to seek revenge against his arch rival, the ever greatest sage, Bramharshi Vashishta.

The book has been written a lucid manner. Once you start reading it, you won’t feel like to stop it in midway. It keeps its readers hooked to the book. The book has been organized into main chapters and subchapters. Including the tale of Ramayana, the book also presents us with the many short stories that directly or indirectly linked to the Ramayana. One such stories is of Ahalya’s curse by her husband and Killing of the demons Maricha, Subhahu and Tadaka. The fascinating tale of how Vishwamitra became the revered Bramharshi by doing severe austerities and the sad story of Trishanku being held upside down for his lifetime in the heaven created by the sage Vishwamitra, etc… Each and every story happened outside the purview of Rama has been linked in one or the other way to Ramayana.

As the story keeps running further, we get the read the stories of how Rama and his brothers have grown up from being toddlers to infants to teenagers. As expected, we also read about Vishwamitra’s visit to Ayodhya to ask King Dasharatha to send his son Rama with him to achieve some predestined tasks.

The books ends on a happy note of the wedding proceedings of Rama with Sita. The stories of breaking the Bow by Rama and an encounter with his predecessor Parashurama will add a good factor to see Rama’s growth as a divine incarnation. Finally, the book ends when Dasharatha reeling from a nightmare decides to coronate Rama as his successor to the throne.

A nice start to this series. What’s more interesting from this book is the regular footnotes that you read at almost every page. The interpretation of the story or a particular event and how it can be juxtaposed to the modern day is a true testimonial of the author’s command over the Ramayana. If you are planning to read a condensed yet a riveting tale of the Ramayana, then you can begin with this book. I highly recommend this book.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #60: The Eye of Rudra By Thomas Sturm

Title: The Eye of Rudra

Author: Thomas Sturm

Publishers: Exocubic Media

ISBN: 9781483536446

Genre: Thriller Fiction

Pages: 190 odd pages

Source: e-Review Copy 

Many novels have been spun around Hindu mythology stories and it has been received really well by the readers. I am quite sure; this book "The Eye of Rudra" by the author Thomas Sturm is a nice attempt in this genre. This is an excellently written novel. It has suspense, thrilling moments, covert operations, modern weapons etc... I made the right choice when I was offered to review this book by the author. I had enjoyed reading this book.

The plot of the book is quite interesting. A businessman of Hindu origin Mr. Hashim Naidu is doing some illegal business in the oil world.  Interestingly his company was being called as "Nandi". On papers he was the provider of modern machinery to the oil drillers in Arab, Asia and few western countries. Inside he is doing some research project, which could potentially kill the oil businesses in entire world. This research project is based on "Rudraksha" or "Rosary Beads". These beads had some special bacteria in it which can be used adversely on oil. Hashim Naidu was pumping a great deal of money on this pet, but dangerous project.

This project information has somehow leaked in the western world and all international intelligence agencies were going gaga over it and wanted it to stop at any cost. At this stage, the protagonist of our novel Nick comes into the scene, he is an army official trained in this kind of operations. Along with Nick, there are few more spy agents from different countries, Ian a British, Raawan Najya a Saudi female spy, IQ man and others.

This team of highly capable spies sets out on an epic journey to find and nab this Hashim Naidu and his project. The rest of the novel takes us to too many countries including Iraq, Saudi, India, Nepal and Tibet. "Mount Kaliash" of Tibet is the climax point of the novel. The vivid description of the operation and close encounters, description of spy machineries is an excellent read. I stop at this point and recommended the readers to read the book. You'll enjoy as much as I enjoyed reading it.

I sincerely felt that the book could've been cut short by at least 20 to 30 pages. Wedding participation in the final few pages could've been avoided as it proves no connection to the story whatsoever.  Najya's role was limited and I am not sure why the author had not brought her inside the operation? And made her just a radio message sender!! I expected a lot out of Najya's role.

The entire story is captivating and it makes the readers not to put down the book. A must read thriller.

My Rating:
4.5/5

Book Review #40: Train to Pakistan By Khushwant Singh

There are many stories that were told by many authors about the India’s partition in 1947. But, this one particular book "Train to Pakistan" by Khushwant Singh stands a class apart. It doesn't portray the gory details or the massacres that happened during the partition; rather, it takes a completely different route by the story of a quiet, peaceful village Mano Majra (in Punjab).

Mano Majra a fictitious village between India and Pakistan border, that was popular for its harmonious living. The villagers were living with tranquility and always co-operative to each other whether he is a Muslim or a Hindu or a Sikh. They lived happily without worrying too much about the partition or they weren't aware of happenings in both sides of the country, until the day the moneylender of the village Ram Lala was murdered on the suspicion grounds.

Of all the main characters, Hukum Chand the village magistrate, Juggut Singh a local gangster who gets arrested frequently for petty crimes and was the prime suspect in Ram Lala's murder and Iqbal Singh an educated communist who visit Mano Majra in order to bring in reforms that he has planned, plays the pivotal role in this novel.

In spite of the partition rift all over the country, Mano Majra seems to be an exception for all of it. Everyone in the village Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs lived in harmony. Like all the good things must come to an end, Mano Majra lost is peacefulness on the day a train arrived from Pakistan containing dead corpses of Sikhs that were supposed to get migrated from Pakistan to India. Later events unfold a tragic story that makes the life of Mano Majra people difficult.

The book ironically portrays the much disturbance that India's partition created. In spite of winning the freedom from the white men, the whole country put at stake things that should have been clearly avoided on amicable means whose consequence is felt even today among both the countries living as arch rivals. Nobody is blamed in the book but it explores on how innocent people's lives were thrown apart without any reason. Keeping that in mind author Khushwant Singh made the magistrate to order the village Muslims to leave India is as a disturbing one that makes one think on how people of that time would have felt leaving their home and place like refugees for the fear of life one fine day. It is traumatizing for these people to leave their belongings such as their household items, their beloved pets, and their happy little homes. What I liked was Singh has tried to bring the local pulse during the partition. People were subjected to number of trauma for no fault of theirs blood massacre is all through in terms of rape, murder and loot. The haunting memories are brought alive with Singh's detailing. Juggat Singh’s dialogues make a mark most of the times, his way of assessing things and trying to learn English is a little comic touch in the book. Plot is played to derail the train that carries Muslim to Pakistan, Hukum Chand overhears it and let Juggut Singh and Iqbal to rescue the people but Juggat is passed out. Ultimately, the plan of attacking the passengers that were leaving from India to Pakistan was somehow made to fail. The end is quite dramatic and the name of the person who saves so many lives at the cost of his own is not revealed.

Religious conflicts, hatred, love and responsibility are the points that Khushwant Singh tried his best to bring in this novel. This book proves to be a mentally spurring that will make you think on those hard times of partition.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #14: Business Sutra: A Very Indian Approach to Management - Devdutt Pattanaik

Business Sutra is a unique and thought provoking book. Probably, this is the first of its kind to have such a book on management. This book is written by one of my favourite author Devdutt Pattanaik. He has given all of us an idea of what we can easily call as "Going Back To Roots". Indeed, we as a modern society dwellers do not have much time to think about all of our ancient scriptures leave alone analyzing and judging them.

As a Chief Belief Officer (CBO) for future group of companies, Author had the great responsibility to uplift the morale of their staff and explain things in such a delicate manner which led him to write this book. I must admit that, Chief Belief Officer is a very innovative designation; Nowhere in India, this kind of designation has been introduced at the corporate level.

Author has put forth before us a strong point by combining Indic thoughts by comparing with business thought process. Thereby providing an Indic thought to the business management.

This book is neatly arranged in a chronological order having an introduction alone for almost 35 pages. In intro, he talks about the differences between Indic religion and other monotheistic religions and how this has been interpreted over many centuries. He strongly argues about why we as Indians, are in need of such books. He tries to set the stage for the book and tells us how he connected Mythology with Management and how this works for someone and may not work for some other.

This is certainly a readable book. At some point you may feel as if the author is trying to preach us and trying to impose something on us. Nevertheless, you got to skim through the book and you will definitely find it quite appealing. I will only highlight what I liked about the book. You can start at any point and any page in the book, still it makes sense.

I loved the section of the intro and first few pages where his analogy of Drishti, Divya-Drishti and Darshan - which is objective truth, subjective truth and subject in that order. He nearly talks about more than 100 sutras in the book which defines only one thing: To change the approach to the management and at the same time talk about its connection to our roots. Thereby connecting the Myths and Legends.

The book also makes a point about personal growth - which is NARA as opposed to NARAYANA, which really should be a mantra of everybody in a job or business. Author have tactically uses gods as a metaphor for conveying practically everything in an organization. This is about organizations have to to be churned (Samudra Manthan) in order to realize Goals (Amrith).

He compares Aarti of a god to the praises showered on employees - which certainly empowers them. The strong fact, that we employees need organizations and organizations do not need us!!. This takes us to the point where self-development and actualization is the only thing that matters for us as a human growth. He constantly warns the readers that, his book is a not a traditional book on management. He takes it a step further with every turn of the page and you will realize only when you read the book. The illustration diagrams enhances the values of the words which will add more quality to the concept. For instance, in one of his sutra "Mental violence is also violence" with an apt diagram. This will surely sink deep into the reader's subconscious which will help them to get connected with the book.

Overall, Business Sutra takes a look at the business (Western Business) from an Indian perspective and reverses the "gaze" and tries to come up with the "Indic Management Principles". This is a great read and one should not finish this in one sitting, rather, read in a slow and steady manner and be savoured by the way it means to be.

At the very end of the book, he also has a section of "How to reject this book?", for the detractors.

My Rating: 5/5