Book Review #92: The Laughing Skull By Ruskin Bond

Title: The Laughing Skull

Author: Ruskin Bond

Publishers: Rupa Publications

Genre: Short Stories/Children’s stories

Pages: 112 (Paperbound)

Source: Review copy sent by Publisher

Ruskin Bond is a well acclaimed author and most loved children’s writer in India. Most of our childhood days have been filled with the stories of Ruskin Bond. His short stories with little added horror and humor have always been a fascinating experience for any children then and now. One would always wonder how Ruskin Bond manages to write such simple, joyous tales all the time. Each and every story that he has written is refreshing. Stories that are mild horror and filled with fragrant smell of nature makes anyone wants to read again and again.

This book is one of those books where you can just sit on a lazy day in your cozy chair and start rummaging through the pages and go nostalgic all over again. Frankly, I stopped reading children books a long time ago. But still, when I was approached by the publishers to review this book on my blog along with three other titles from Ruskin Bond (Which will be reviewed shortly), I couldn’t say no to it. This is Ruskin Bond. My whole childhood was filled with the tales I’ve heard, read from his books. I just enjoyed this book like I always enjoy any books from Ruskin Bond collection.

The Laughing Skull, though it is the title of the book, it is the first story. There are nearly over 30 such short stories. Some are little horror and some humor. Additionally, other stories which are of funny ghosts, stupid ghosts, scary ghosts and what not.

The Laughing Skull is a funny story of a Skull that the author received from his doctor nephew. He put that skull on a mantelpiece at his home. Slowly, he felt that he was being watched by this skull. Feeling little strange, author decided to put that skull in a cupboard. After few moments, the cupboard started shaking violently, and the skull just popped out of cupboard and started bouncing up and down. Feeling little scared, the author wraps this skull in a box and tries to send it back to his nephew and goes to post office to deliver it. Within minutes of dropping this box at the post office, the skull started chasing the author straight out of the box. Author then decides to put that skull inside a football and gave it to a school. Felt relieved for few days, author started to miss this skull. It was an odd feeling. So, he decides to search this skull and get it back to his home. In his quest, he goes to a fortune teller and was surprised to find his skull lying with him. With enough persuasions and monetary compensation, author was able to successfully retrieve his skull from that fortune teller and kept that skull on the same mantelpiece in his home and felt an odd relaxation that he has never felt before.

There are few other stories which we might have already heard off. Susanna’s Seven Husbands for example. This little tale of a vicious woman, who supposedly married seven times and directly or indirectly killed all of her seven husbands one by one. This was an interesting tale that was narrated by a servant to the author. This story was made as a Bollywood film under the title “7 Khoon Maaf”.

We also get to read stories that are paranormal. One such story is the story of two sisters and a single brother. Usha is the eldest among her siblings Binya and Suresh. This is a story when one day Usha decides to visit town nearby. She had to cross the deep forest from her home to get to the town on the other side for the essential purchases. But there was a strong rumor among the village that, the forest is haunted during the night. One day Usha went across the town to make purchases and while returning there was heavy downpour in the forest and she couldn’t able to cross the forest before dusk. She decides to take shelter in the abandoned house in the forest. During night, she hears strange voices as if someone is calling her. She found out that, it was her brother and sister who came finding her all the way from village. So, all three of them decides to stay till morning. During their stay they were hearing many haunted voices, people calling their names etc… Once it was dawn, they started to village. Usha hears a voice saying goodbye. She thinks it was her brother or sister. But both of them walked silently. Then all three of them again hears the same voice shouting goodbye, goodbye.

The book is full of such suspense filled stories. We also get to read few stories like two brothers story that is full of morale. Story about an idiot husband, vicious wife and a helpful ghost. Story about a haunted swimming pool. Story of a paranormal pillow, etc… It is quite fascinating to go back in the days when such simple stories were filled with enough horror, suspense and thrill. I had similar experience even now while reading this collection.

Overall, a definite guide to go back to those childhood days. Reminisce all those beautiful days where you just want to read Ruskin Bond all day under your blanket. I would highly recommend it for everyone. Live you childhood once again.

Note: A review copy of the book was given to me by the publishers in return for an honest review.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #87: One Indian Girl By Chetan Bhagat

Title: One Indian Girl
Author: Chetan Bhagat
Publishers: Rupa Publications
Genre: General Fiction/Bollywood script
Pages: 280 (Paperback)
Source: Personal Copy

Having read his previous works of Chetan Bhagat, I was somewhat skeptical about his new novel. Because, the haunting experience of Half Girlfriend is still afresh in my mind. After all, I had thought of giving a benefit of doubt to the author and took this book. Once again, I was wrong. This man cannot write properly. He has done more damage in this novel in the name of feminism.

Yet again, Chetan Bhagat has completely lost. The book has promised at the beginning, it might be a better offer than his predecessor Half Girlfriend. But, its completely opposite after first few pages. How in the world does the author claims this book is about feminism? The book failed to even touch a base point in that aspect. Its basically a sorry tale of a successful working woman that portrayed as too naive, vulnerable and pretentious. Before any one pull their trigger it as too prejudice to judge the characters and paint a fiction out of it, let me remind you that, the author has a huge fan base of mostly teenagers. He has set up a bad example of feminism by giving the most ridiculous ideas ever.

The plot seems more similar to his earlier novels. The author may be having this gut feel that, the more he writes a triangular love stories, the better the cash flow. But, he went a step ahead and wrote this garbage, where the character lacks the basic conscience and morale. The story mainly revolves around this woman Radhika, that has no thoughts in her mind other than sex or whom do I go to cuddle up. I am really sorry Mr. author, this is not the feminism that India needs.

The main character Radhika, who once was a studios girl, now wants attention of every men that she ogles. Oh, what's up with the Brazilian waxing stuff Mr. Author? Does going down again and again makes the character feel more fabulous than anything else? The author makes the character Radhika as someone who is suffering from AIDS (Attention Immune Deficiency Syndrome). This is not a true example of feminism. The author has abused this feminism and women empowerment in the most obnoxious way.

Does having sex with the boss on a business trip is an alternate to erase the past? I have no idea that this could work. The author feels that, the more he paints a bitch out of his heroine, the more empowered she is. Come on, get a life. The character Radhika feels that, the more praises (about work, about her looks, about her achievements, etc) she gets from her man, the more love that exists. Really? How in the world does that justify? There are certain sections that is ridiculously written. For example: When her mom confronts about her drinking whisky before the dance, the daughter is all worked up and says, "Mom, you need a drink I guess". What more can you expect from this outrageous line? Does smoking up, binge drinking, having sex with boss out of trivial reasons all count up to how empowered our woman in this book is?

When all such things crop in your mind while reading, and there you go, the discussion at 5AM in the morning by inviting her exes to face each other and giving a long lecture about how they are expecting a wrong person in her? Why don't she do it at the first place? Hasn't she done all that already?

There's more to write but I don't think it is quite important. You all can watch this outrageous feminism movie at the big screen down in few months. It seems Chetan Bhagat is setting a wrong example to his female fans. He is secretly championing them that it is completely okay to sleep here and there, since you're more empowered to take control of it. If this is the definition of feminism that author has portrayed, then he is wrong on many levels. This novel is stupid, callous and misleading. Not a recommending stuff.

My Rating:
1/5

Book Review #83: Bettada Jeeva By K. Shivaram Karanth

Title: Bettada Jeeva

Author: K. Shivaram Karantha

Publishers: Sapna Book House

Genre: General Fiction

Pages: 150

There are few book which haunts you for some time though you’ve finished reading it. Bettada Jeeva is one such book where it is almost impossible to forget the characters or the story as such. Set up in a remote mountain village of South Karnataka, the book captures the scenic beauty of the entire village and mountain as well as the subtle tragic events of a family. This book is short with just 150 pages. The story that the author had written is brilliant in many aspects leave alone the main plot of the novel.

The book has a prominent plot which carries the story till the end with its elusive narration. There are multiple protagonists in this novel and the main characters are the old couple Gopala Bhat and his wife Shankari and a visitor guest to their house Shivarama. The story appears as simple as it sounds in the first few pages of the book, but, as you read through it, it has something else to offer. The tragic and secluded life of the elderly couple will remain a focal point in this novel.

The story begins when Shivarama, another protagonist in the novel loses his way towards his hometown Puttur. While roaming in the forest pathway to decide which way to go, two strangers appears who were heading to a different village and offers their help to get Shivarama to a nearby village. As it was already night and there was no way that Shivarama could get any bullock cart to find his way, agrees to go along with those men and finally lands in the house of the elderly couple.

Shivarama received a warm welcome from the oldies and they treat him as one of their own relative. They offer him the best food and shelter and knows his whereabouts. As they begin their conversations, Shivarama was awestruck by the liveliness of these old couple and tries to get along with them. He speaks about their life in that secluded village and in that single house. Shivarama learns that, the old couple had two children, a boy and a girl. While the girl married at any early age and due to the complications in her pregnancy, the girl loses her life. While the younger son was the only solace for these couple, but he turns out to be a bigger disappointment in their life.

To get higher education, the son leaves their hometown and heads to Mumbai. Months and years passed and there was no sign of him. The couple became old and vulnerable waiting for their son’s arrival. 12 years have passed since then, and there was not even a single letter from their son. Dejected by their son’s behavior, the old couple comes to term with the situation and continues to live their lives by accommodating any new guests in their villages and treating them as if their own kith and kin has arrived. This was a turning moment for Shivarama and he decides to stay in the house for few more days to hear the couple narrate their entire story.

As the story drifts further, there are other short tales of how the elder couple adopted an orphan person Narayana and raised them as their own son. They got him married and provided him the land to till and build his own life. Now, this orphan person has two kids, which the elder couple feels them as their own grandchildren. There are also few short stories of visiting the deep forests, hunting down a tiger in the traditional village way and roaming around the water falls deep within the forests and so on.

As the days progressed for Shivarama, he approaches the elder couple and asks them few question regarding their lost son and promises them to find him in his next journey. As soon as he sees the photograph of their son, he remembers the face is quite known to him. He immediately says to the couple that he has met this person somewhere in Pune and promises them to find him out. The old couple lives with a renewed hope.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #81: Stolen Hope: Ramayana Series: Book #3: By Shubha Vilas

Title: The Stolen Hope (Book 3: Ramayana Series)

Author: Shubha Vilas

Publisher: Jaico Publishing

Genre: Mythology

Pages: 300+ (Paper bound)

Source: Review copy by the author

After receiving this book from the author for the review, I’ve thought for a while and purchased the first two books in the series (The Rise of the Sun Prince, and The Shattered Dreams) to get along with the plot and the subplots. Though as an Indian, I’ve known the entire story of the Ramayana and how it had happened by reading numerous books, this book series seems to be very specials regarding its authentic style of narration and the anecdotes, life lessons explained in every page of the book.

The book 1 explains about the birth and growth of the Rama as a toddler to a responsible scion. The book 2 explains the details about the decision of the King Dasharath to coronate Rama as the next king of Ayodhya, and the later events of Kaikeyi asking her two boons from the King Dasharatha resulting in the banishment of Rama to the exile for 14 years and Bharata to be made as a King of the Ayodhya, hence the dreams of the Dasharatha has shattered.

The book 3 begins from the story of the Dandakaranya where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana planned to spend their exile of 14 years. The journey of all three in the forest, their encounters with several rakshasas, and meeting several learned rishis like Agastya, and also the intervention of the Surpanakha and a small fun incident with her that turned out to be a major breakthrough in the story has been captured brilliantly by the author. The killing of Surpanakha’s cousins Khara and Dushana in an epic battle, and a beautiful narration of Rama meeting Shabari has been explained elegantly.

With a brief history of Ravana the story moves on stealthily and Rama is urged to go after the golden deer who is actually Maricha. Then Sita urges Lakshman to go after Rama despite of his unwillingness after hearing her husband's cry.

Ravana comes in form of sinister sage and he praises Ravana and belittle Rama, but Sita praises Rama instead which infuriates Ravana and he takes away Sita. Sita could only inform Jatayu about her abduction. Rama is informed about the abduction by dying Jatayu. Rama meets Shabri who tells them that only Vali can help him find Sita.

There is a short part of story from Lakshman's point of view too.

In-between the relay of the events, the author discusses and analyses certain acts of characters. For instance, at one place, Sita boldly reveals her mind to Rama about choosing the ascetic life instead of his bow and arrow, and immediately the next moment, she could not hold his gaze and begins to stare at her palms. That is, she feels guilty to have counselled Rama. Here the author discusses Sita's act of giving feedback as follows:

Does one have the right authority to give the feedback?

Even if one has the right authority, does one have the right motive to give a feedback?

Even if one has the right authority and motive, is it the right time, place and circumstance to give the feedback?

Although this story is written in parts, it doesn’t feel like it is limited to any particular storyline dividing the epic. The addition of little less important stories all along the way across the entire book has added much value as it would be very useful for the first time readers to obtain sufficient knowledge about the epic. The book is written in a gripping way that it is hard to keep it down, but it seems to be little bit lengthy as we tend to study each and every footnote at the bottom. But to a normal reader the footnotes would provide a Maslin of thoughts which will be forgivable for the length of the reading time.

This book is a must for the readers those who want to know about the Ramayana. Also the author has made this one to be a useful notes by sharing his wisdom and thoughts in every page. Further the summary of the books at the inception of the book makes it clear for the new readers that it’s not a must to read the other two initial books to get a clear view about this particular book.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #80: Shattered Dreams: Ramayana Series: Book #2: By Shubha Vilas

Title: The Shattered Dreams

Author: Shubha Vilas

Publisher: Jaico Publishing

Genre: Mythology

Pages: 250+ (Paper bound)

Source: Personal Copy

The first book in the series (The Rise of the Sun Prince) will end on a happy note of 12 years of successful marriage of Rama to Sita. They enjoy each and every day like never before. They were the true testimonial of how a married couple should behave towards each other. The book also explores further into the growing up Rama where he takes his responsibilities seriously and serves his elders with utmost respect. All days were passed without any deviations. People of Ayodhya were able to lead a peaceful and prosperous life until the King Dasharatha decides to coronate his son Rama as the next heir apparent of the Ayodhya.

The Shattered Dreams narrates the entire story of how the unblemished Rama was unfortunately awarded the exile of 14 years. How the deceitful Manthara was successfully able to brainwash Queen Kaikeyi by asking her to remember her two boons from Dasharatha that he had promised her long back.

The story in this book showcases the sacrifices made by many people including Rama who happily agreed to go to the forests for 14 years without even asking a single reason. He had respected his father Dasharatha’s words by every bit of it. Sacrifices made by Sita who readily asked Rama to take her to the forests along with her. Though she was never accustomed to the life of forests, she lived up to her name following the Dharma as a loyal wife of Rama. Apart from these, there is a radiant Lakshmana who accompanied Rama and Sita despite the strong protests from both. And lastly, we should never forget the sacrifice made by the wife of Laskmana’s wife Urmila. She readily agreed to stay back and look after her aged and widowed mother-in-law’s and wished all the success to her husband Lakshmana.

All said and done, the conduct of Bharata is worth to mention here. He readily disagrees with his mother Kaikeyi and repents for not being around in Ayodhya when all these things has happened without his knowledge. He ridicules his mother and tries all his might to get his beloved brother Rama back to Ayodhya. When Rama declined to the requests of Bharata, Bharata made sure that he also never steps in to Ayodhya. He constructed a small hut outside Ayodhya and placed Rama’s footwear on the throne and was ruling the kingdom on behalf of Rama.

Though we have grown up hearing this epic from various sources and watching many television series covering the same but after reading this book, one would definitely understands the real meaning of the tale and how it can be adopted to real life scenarios.

The footnotes and anecdotes in every page is the biggest plus point in this book. It adds a great value to the story. The notes are very educative, knowledgeable and a great source of quotes for those who are quote collectors. There are also great leadership and management lessons given under various circumstances. Two particular incidents worth to be mentioned on this aspects are the questions that Bharata asks himself whether he is eligible to rule the kingdom and the other scenario where Lakshmana asks himself whether he is allowed to advice Sita or Rama.

Overall, I have experienced a very new tale of Ramayana. Leaving its main plot as a known phenomenon, I have also had the fortune of reading many sub-plots and intricate details of the Ramayana. This book series is a must read to get a new perspective of how to look at things from a more broader perspective and definitely an eye opener towards myriad duties and responsibilities which we forget to value at times.

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 #78: Black Friday: The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts By S. Hussain Zaidi

Title: Black Friday: The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts

Author: S. Hussain Zaidi

Publishing Year: 2002

Publishers: Penguin Group

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 252 (Digital Edition)

Source: Personal Copy

A gory event that ruptured the heart of India. An event that is truly unforgettable, unpardonable. It was the day, the terrorists rejoiced at seeing their revenge has given the fruit. The revenge that was plotted meticulously and executed at near perfection, which resulted in the death of several hundred people and the injury of several thousands, and, making the damages cost worth hundreds of crore rupees. It was the Bombay 1993 serial blasts on March 12^th, The Friday. As the author puts it, The Black Friday.

As a crime journalist, Author S. Hussain Zaidi has put in so much effort to give us a satisfying account on the Bombay blasts. He has nearly spent four years into research on this subject, interviewing several hundreds of police officials, lawyers, judges, eye witnesses, the accused people, the offenders, and journalists on that day who covered those events. He also referred hundreds of newspaper articles, press release notes, and judgment copies, charge sheets filed by the local Bombay Police and charge sheets filed by the CBI department etc… The level of the research that author had put into shaping up this book must be immensely respected.

As far as the content of the book goes, it has every detail including what led those terrorists to take such a route to become traitors and cause havoc in their own country. It is true that, the religious motives was the prime factor here. The 1992 Babri Masjid demolition was the root cause of all this, has to be the trigger point for all of these. This has followed by the communal riots in Bombay that led to the loss of hundreds of lives within no time and causing great damage to their lives personally. However, few people that had faith in the country’s police and judicial laws were waiting patiently to seek justice. But, few people took the other route to avenge their attackers. Hence, this infamous 1993 Bombay blasts on 12^th March, Friday, have happened.

The Memon family were believed to have suffered a considerable damage as per the book. So, the Memons took it their hearts and few infamous people in their family started to plot a revenge. Among them includes, the prime offender, the master mind of serial blasts Tiger Memon, which was financially managed carefully by his younger brother, the CA grad, Yakub Memon, who was recently hanged for this activity in July 2015.  The entire attack was presided and observed at the hands of another most wanted criminal for India, the Dawood Ibrahim.

The book explains categorically the way Tiger Memon planned the attacks and how he recruited his mujahideen’s a.k.a fighters to go with him to avenge their Muslim brothers. This group of people that Tiger has recruited for his mission had received arms training in Pakistan. This was carefully planned out by Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon. All these young people, probably in their early 20’s had no idea for what they are subjecting themselves into. All they thought was, they are fighting against the infidels and so must they be fighting a holy war or jihad. Tiger had planned carefully to send all these people to Pakistan secretly via Dubai, at which, he succeeded. After their training on handling AK 56, hand grenades, fixing timer bombs, handling pencil grenades, using rocket launchers, setting up RDX, Gelatin, etc… these youth returned to Bombay to carry out the operation, which the world will remember as one of the ghastly incidents of blasts that have happened.

As the book progresses further, we get to see the details of how these terrorists have chalked out their plans and the various places that they decided to plant the Bombs etc… They have chosen some of the busiest places in Bombay such as BSE office, Zaveri bazar, Shiv Sena’s office, and Air India office, several five star hotels, busy streets (for planting the Bombs in Bikes), etc…. So in each of these places they have set the timer bombs, so that, the explosions keep happening every 15 minutes or so. This has continued for almost two to three hours at seven to nine places.

As in case of every crime scene, the perpetrators leaves behind a heavy amount of clues. So is the case of Bombay blasts. The eminent police officers of Bombay led by Samra, CP Singh, Rakesh Maria, Nadagouda and likes of people who laid out a perfect plan for the investigation came out victoriously by nabbing their first link within the 48 hours of blasts. What followed later is an absolutely riveting account from the book that should be read with absolute admiration. Catching a suspect and catching the actual offender is not an easy task pertaining to the communal tensions that was slowly rising up in the city. In this event, the Bombay police has made some tremendous progress which has to be appreciated by everyone who reads the book.

Many years have passed since this incident, and several years of trial have been conducted and punishments has been announced. Hundreds of accused were arrested, released and prosecuted under the law. The most prized catch was the Bollywood movie producer’s duo and star actor Sanjay Dutt in illegal arms possession has sent ripples across the movie industry during 90’s. The younger brother of Tiger Memon, Yakub Memon’s arrest and his only interview, his approval and denial of his family involvement, his trial, the capital punishment and execution is all part of the history now.

The only thing that still rings in every reader's mind as they read through the book is, the Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim. They are still alive and living in Pakistan or Dubai. Several Indian governments had come and passed, but, none of them had tried their best to put pressure on these countries to repatriate these criminals to India. We can just hope that, at least one strong government would be able to succeed in this case.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #77: The Power of Habit: Why we do, What we do in Life and Business By Charles Duhigg

Title: The Power of Habit – Why we do, what we do in Life and Business

Author: Charles Duhigg

Publishers: Random House

Year: 2012

Genre: Non-Fiction/Human Psychology

Source: Personal Copy

The book which explores the human habits and why it is called a habit after all. The author Charles Duhigg explains with various anecdotes from the scientific background, behavioral aspects and psychological aspects. The human habit is not something which will occur accidently, rather, it is a practiced phenomenon. This book explores this very idea of how the humans forms their habits, and the reason behind it and the inference of those habits.

This is an exceptionally written and researched book. It breaks those age old practices or the beliefs of "You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks”. Habits can be formed at any age and in any time, given, there is an enough room for acquiring the taste for it. This is really an important book and it can be used as a curriculum if you ask me. It has various examples from various cases studied for many years.

This book is mainly organized in to three different sections of habits. The habits of an individual person, the habits of an organization or a company and finally, the habits that propagates in a society that impacts the people on a larger scale. The case studies explained in every case is a testimonial of how the habits can truly become a game changer if we observe it closely. Thanks to the author. He has cleverly observed and recorded some events and cases where people can view a different angle of what the habits, why the habits and how the habits will occur and how to really change it!!

In the individual habits section, author had written an example of a person that was suffering from acute memory loss. This person went on to become famous as per those medical institutes that studied him over many years. This man was subjected to various experiments, practices and tests and recorded the results. A memory loss patient who cannot remember anything more than a minute or so, can truly practice some things repeatedly so that it can become his habits. A more of his case can be studied in the book.

In the organization example, Author had explained the cases of the famous toothpaste company Pepsodent and how this company went on to create a huge market for itself across the world, just by observing some habitual practices of people and changing the way it was marketed. People, who were not so confident about this product, has changed their minds and created a habit of brushing their teeth with Pepsodent. A more about this can be read in the book.

Finally, habits that changes the society. Author had used some of the famous examples from the American history to describe this section of the habits. The case of Montgomery bus boycott event has created a mass appeal among the people and it went on to create an important event in the history of America, drawing political personalities and other popular figures like Martin Luther King Jr. into the scenario. This case was explained brilliantly in the book and makes people to think about the habitual practice a society endorses. More about this can be read in the book.

All three section of habits draws a simple conclusion. The habits are formed in just a three step procedure. The “Cue”, the “Routine” and the “Reward”. Be it any habits like Smoking, Alcohol, Gambling, Marketing, Health care, etc... Etc… is formed in this three cycle of cue, routine and reward. For you to change any habits of yours and finding it difficult to break that cycle, Author had simply put in this amazing three sections to observe and change accordingly. Author has asked people or organization to not to change the Cue or the Reward. But, just change your Routines to achieve the same Reward. This is explained brilliantly in the following diagram.

A must read book for all those science enthusiasts. In fact, this book can be read by anyone who are in a dire need of changing their habits. It actually helps them to look deeply into their habitual routine and offers them to change a bit or two, so that, they can overcome those usual routines and achieve the same reward.

Few quotes from the book which I really liked:

“It is facile to imply that smoking, alcoholism, overeating, or other ingrained patters can be upended without real effort. Genuine change requires work and self-understanding of the cravings driving behaviors.”

“The Golden Rule of Habit Change: You can’t extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it.”

“…hiding what you know is sometimes as important as knowing it…”

“Rather, to change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.”

“This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be.”

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #73: Scion of Ikshvaku - Ramachandra Series Book 1

Title: Scion of Ikshvaku

Author: Amish Tripathi

Published Year: 2015

Publishers – Westland Publishers

Genre – Mythological Fiction

Pages – 350+ (Paperbound)

Source – Personal Copy

There are many version of Ramayana being told over the many centuries past and present, yet, whenever any new version of the tale is being foretold; it gives us altogether a new meaning and a new way of looking at our epic. This book by the well acclaimed author Amish Tripathi (The Shiva Trilogy famed) does scores some good points. This is a new, refreshing and brilliantly imagined novel. This is the first novel in this series and may be a couple more to follow. The humane version of the characters is a new thought. May be the author might have inspired from the other existing novels where these attempts have been made.

This is a fast paced book. The characters description is made well and each character were given its due space and credits. The protagonist Ram and the story behind his birth and background are imagined quite brilliantly. Whoever thinks that, the beloved Son of Dasharatha is actually hated by Dasharatha himself? (Spoilers alert). Well, to be able to digest these kind of new thinking requires a mind where we are not ought to juxtapose this novel with the actual epic where Ram and Dasharath has shared an unique camaraderie. The other stories regarding Rama’s brothers such as Lakshmana, Bharat, and Shatrughan are quite the same, except for the fact that, all their upbringing and childhood days are new thoughts and experimenting.

The plot setup in this novel is not the existing epic story. It is quite opposite to what we are so far believed as truly happened. The role of Guru Vashista in educating our protagonist and his brothers are quite an interesting section to read. It is believed that, the princes of any kingdom are not to reveal their true identity at their Gurukul. Hence, Ram and his brothers were learning in incognito and with different names than their actual given names.

As the book progresses further, we get to see the mastery of Amish in blending the current society problems with that of the Vedic period. Who can possibly imagine that, the gory incident of Delhi gang rape will find a place in this book? It is just brilliant and I was impressed at the sheer magnitude of Author’s brilliant work here.

Depicting Rishi Vishwamitra as a descendent of Naga clan and thereby connecting the story to his Shiva Trilogy is just awesome. The killing of the Rakshasas such as Subhahu, Tadaka and the way Ramchandra deals it in his own way is something unexpected. Kudos to the author!!

Sita Swayamvar is another section in the novel where the story takes it major twist and turns. The story behind the bow Pinaka (The Shiva-Dhanussu) is an interesting section to read. The Bees tower kind of city being imagined at the capital of Mithila city is truly an interesting point. Sita being the chief of Police in the Mithila Kingdom is another new aspect in the story. The humiliation faced by Ravana in the Swayamvar and the way it was dealt is pictured brilliantly. The Daivi-Astras from the Shiva Trilogy finds a place in this novel where Ram had to use it on the troops of Ravana though it is prohibited to use. Thereby, Ram imposes himself a punishment which I am not revealing it in this review as it contains spoilers!! (This is the stage where the next whole section of the story takes it turn).

There are few things which could be well avoided. For example, the story is being set in 3400 BCE and the metric system the author uses to measure distances in Kilometers!! Also, he often uses the country name as India where many characters discusses. I believe India is relatively a new term and he could’ve used either Bharat or Hindustan. Other than this, the novel is exceptionally good.

The rest of the novel can be read with ease and there are quite a bit of incidents where it is the pure imagination of the author’s work. One must read the book to understand it completely. I liked the book as it gives us a new, refreshing and, riveting story. I am sure, Amish lives up to the expectations that he had created in this first book from the series. I can't wait to read the sequel of this.

My Rating:

4.5/5

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 #51: Gruhabhanga By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

A book that is full of tragic events. A book that is full of emotions. A book that is full of family problems. A book that is full of foul language. Yet, this is a book that speaks about a woman. This is a book that speaks about the hurdles overcome by a strong woman. This is a book that speaks about what it takes to live life. Finally, this is a book that speaks about strong will.

Gruhabhanga is a stirring, emotional and tragic novel from my favorite author Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa. The title “Gruhabhanga” can be fairly translated to English as “Destruction of a house”. Well, this is a literal translation. The real meaning or the crux of the novel speaks about a household. It speaks about various people from this household and their little stories. This is one of the epitomes of Indian Novels. This novel has been made into a daily serial or popularly called as sitcoms. It was such a huge hit at that time and even today this book marks as the only few books that got translated into all Indian official languages. This novel was originally published in Kannada language.

The entire story of the novel takes place in somewhere between 1920’s till 1950’s spanning close to 30 to 35 years. Due to the backdrop of village in this story, this novel strikes a chord with its readers. The main theme of the novel can be considered as a mere family story. But, the stirring images of each and every character are what make it as a class apart.

The main protagonist of the novel is a woman called Nanjavva.  She was fairly educated girl and her father Kanthijoyeesa is a well learned Brahman. In one of the unfortunate events, Nanjavva will get married to a person called Chennigaraya. Chennigaraya had a mother Gangavva (A widow) and a younger brother Appannayya. Chennigaraya was a village revenue collector. His job was to collect the revenue from the farmers, counting the number of acres that each farmer is cultivating, and type of the crop they are cultivating and amount of the crops that they grow each year. He has to sum up all these calculations from across 40 other villages and should submit these records to a nearby government office. He will be given commission based on this records collection.

During Nanjavva’s initial marriage days, everything was going smooth and happy. In just few months, her mother-in-law Gangavva, a bad mouthed woman will unnecessarily interfere with the affairs of Nanajvva and Chennigaraya. This intrusion has become worse day by day as such, one day, Chennigaraya who is a momma’s boy, will start beating Nanjavva and he even stopped going to revenue collection. This was the turning point in this novel.

Having learnt all these things, Nanjavva decides to take care of her family. Now she is a mother of 3 children. She begins herself to go for revenue collection and she starts to write all the records and only she would get the signature from her husband. Few learned members from the village will be aiding Nanjavva in her quest towards raising her children. During all these years, Gangavva, the mother-in-law of Nanjavva will be badmouthing her and often tries to link up illicit relationship with other men in the village. These events made Chennigaraya to abandon Nanjavva forever.

Later part of the novel is simply mind blowing. Author SLB has made this Nanjavva a role model for all the working women out there. Nanajvva slowly build her identity in the village. She often begged for few days in order to feed her children. She stayed in racks of an old abandoned house and making leaf plates to make the meets end. By this time, her elder son Ramanna was about to finish his school and his elder daughter is the age of marriage. Due to the help of few kind hearted villagers, Nanjavva was able to conduct her daughter’s marriage in a simple ceremony to a school teacher Surya Narayana. Surya Narayana, who is a school teacher in a neighbor village, will inform Nanjavva that, he will find a house and then he will take his wife there. Till that time, Nanjavva’s elder daughter will stay at her mother’s house.

Here, the fate plays an unfortunate incident in Nanjavva’s life thorough the author’s imagination. The entire village was attacked by plague epidemic starting with her house. Unfortunately, both her elder son and elder daughter passed away on the same day in a span of 3 hours who was suffering from plague. This incident made Nanjavva to lose faith in god. Fearing the same death for her younger son, she sends him off to her brother’s house and starts to live alone.

Nanjavva had always dreamt of her own house in the village. She works very hard to save the required amount of money and buys an old house and she starts to reconstruct the house. But fate was planning something else for her. As soon as she finished the construction of her house, there was another tragedy that struck in this household through the death of Nanjavva herself. She was attacked by the same plague epidemic and now the entire novel takes it turn towards climax.

In all these events, Chennigaraya the good for nothing husband of Nanjavva was seen with no emotions at all. Brainwashed by his mom, he expresses no grief over the death of his wife or children. He didn’t even bother to check on his younger son who is staying at Nanjavva’s borther’s house. He ended up visiting prostitutes on a daily basis.

What happened to Nanjavva’s younger son? Was he living peacefully in his uncle’s house? To know the answer, one must read the book. I think there was no better climax given to this book than this.

The above synopsis seems very simple. But, the vivid story described in this book will make anyone weep while reading this novel. The choice of words seems very daring. Since, no other novelist was dared enough to write such foul language in any novel. These words include Bastard, Son of a Bitch, Fuck You; Fuck your mom, Slut, etc... Etc… as I said, this is a village backdrop story, hence, the foul words is an apt choice of expressing one’s anger or resentment.

Overall, I feel this novel will stand tall as one of the greatest novel ever written in the history of Indian literature. At the same time, this novel will make the readers understand about the cultural practices, traditions, caste systems of a 1930’s India. I recommend this book to be read by everyone. It’s like a once in a lifetime.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #47: Bhitti - An Autobiography by Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

I was not at all ready to write up a review for this book. This book, Bhitti is the autobiography of Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa, the ace novelist, the philosopher and a great human being. Bhitti is a Kannada language word. It can be translated to English as a WALL or a PORTRAIT, where one can post their picture. Evidently, this is an apt title for this book. He has written his life story as a picture on the wall. It is so thrilling and one will feel profound whilst reading this book. I am quite inspired by this book, at the same time; I was saddened by reading his life journey. For sure, Bhitti is a masterpiece narration and it stands as a lesson for those who are writing their autobiographies.

What made it more special about this book? It was the sheer brilliance of SLB sir and the way he narrated his account of life in this book. He has not crossed the limits of boundaries while describing events and not derided anyone who directly or indirectly was the cause of sabotaging his earlier childhood and his teen years.

He started his book by describing his childhood when he was aged 4. He went on describing the social status, surroundings, events, the neighbors, his family members, his relatives and most importantly his mother who played a crucial role in bringing up him in the righteous way. He also writes about his father who was good for nothing and describes him as an aloof. His father was directly responsible for all his miseries that he went through as a child. His mother was the sole responsible person in his family who was taking care of the daily needs of all the family members. He has grown up in a situation where there were not even proper meals to eat. His family often slept without eating anything except for his father who happened to be the revenue collector from the farmers around the village and he used to spend most of his earnings for his amusements like eating in hotels, travelling for days, etc…

He has written in detail about his early childhood, his teen years and his college days and till his retirement age that spanning over 70 years. He tells us a riveting story.  His great shock came in when his elder brother and sister who died on the same day in a span of 3 hours due to plague epidemic. This was literally a shock to young SLB. After this incident, his mother sent him to his brother’s house so that he can get a proper education. SLB describes his stay at his uncle’s house as one of the devastating years of his life. He literally became a slave for his uncle doing cattle work, temple cleaning during the day with little or no food till noon. Even here, life was cruel to him, he received a message from one of his villagers that, his mother too died of plague. He was barely 11 years old at that time.

He has given an account of his childhood and his young teen years in 2 of his novels “Grihabhanga” and “Anveshana”. The stirring images and characters from both of these novels is a true incident happened in the life of SLB. He had faced some of the brutal tortures by his uncle, his aunt and importantly from his father. So, he decides to run away from home and goes to a different town where he literally begged every day for food. In those times there was a concept called “VAARANNA” that means “WEEKLY FOOD”. This concept is not existed in recent times. But, this is a concept where a student that begs in each house will come to an agreement with them that, he will be given a day’s food. Like this, he arranged in 7 different houses that agreed him to provide food.

He was not agreeing with himself for begging during his teen years. So he does odd jobs during his school breaks to make the ends meet. He works in a small hotel as a cleaner and waiter, he sells incense sticks during evening, he even worked as a gatekeeper for a cinema hall, and he went to every village as a story teller and amuses the villagers by his story and accepts whatever the gifts the villagers will offer. By all this means he manages to complete his schooling. While describing these events, SLB never forgets to remember all those kind hearted teachers that helped him a lot in his education.

SLB has struggled in every walk of his life by managing to keep him alive and educated. With a “vagabond” father, his life should’ve been finished long ago. But, some divine force was keeping him alive all these years so that he can win the hearts of millions of people that he has won today.

Despite undergoing such hardships in his life, his quench for reading never stopped. He was reading almost anything. By the time he reached his 20’s, he might have read at least 200 odd books. That’s what made him a good story teller. With all the blessings from every good person that he met in his life, he went on to complete his M.A (Honors) in Philosophy and managed to stand out as a gold medalist in his final years. He has written his first novel Bheemakaaya when was just 18 years old!!

Very early in life he realizes the correctness of defeating an opposing view by logical and knowledgeable argument rather that brow beating it by raising the voice. This comes through in his books which are very well researched. We see his views on religion and rituals evolving, his philosophy of life taking root and the awakening and evolution of his creative genius. Tips for new writers are strewn throughout the book.

SLB has seen life from very close quarters and is very well travelled. He has travelled all across the globe (may be 3 times overall) not to mention large swathes of India. SLB writes as he preaches with a detached air but is forthright. He never hesitates in calling a spade a spade; we see this in him even as a young boy.  He has always stood up for truth and justice and is a fighter and a survivor. A survivor because all the bitterness, the pain and betrayal he has seen  would have broken the spirit of an ordinary human being but it has not made SLB cynical. He has internalized it all to reach great heights. The success and heights that SLB has attained is testimony to the triumph of the human spirit. The autobiography is written in a linear chronological manner. The language is succinct and the book gripping and not able to put it back.

What I feel is the childhood and his student days of SLB sir’s autobiography must be made mandatory for all the new generation kids for reading. They will realize the importance of education. They will get a new perspective in life and will develop a respect for their life, their education.

I feel very underage to judge the autobiography of a great human being. At the same time, I made a point clear in my mind that, whatever happens in life, I will fight it till the end. The silver lining is a birth right of every human being on this planet. I recommend this book to be read by everyone. I prostrate my head at the feet of SLB sir for giving me a lifetime treasure of books. What one can only imagine in their life is a fact from SLB sir’s books.  

My Rating:

5/5

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KANNADA VERSION LINK

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Book Review #46: Playing It My Way: My Autobiography By Sachin Tendulkar

Writing review to the well known facts is a bit overdoing the task!! But, let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Paaji’s autobiography. With help of Boria Majumdar, Sachin has written excellently and given us a walkthrough of his life from the age of 11 till his retirement at the age of 41.

I don’t go over describing the events that unfolded in his life as a cricketer. We all know it better over the years by watching him play. What might be the takeaway from the book? Well, his determination. That’s all I can say. Having succumbed to hell lot of injuries, Sachin managed to play an illustrious career of 24 years. Started as a novice, ended as a Bharat Ratna!! Not an easy task to become the favorite of most of the Indians that loves cricket. Having born in the 80’s, he was my hero in my childhood and surprisingly my first bat that I was gifted by my dad had MRF sticker on it!!!

If we speak about the book, it speaks less about his childhood and more about his statistics. It has to be, doesn’t it? Started to play cricket at the age of 11 and within 5 years ended up in the national team is not an easy achievement. He never looked back from then on. He carried on with the same zeal in his entire career. Of course, there are some ups and downs, hiccups, disappointment, resentment, etc…but, nothing has stopped him going on.

He did mentioned some of the gray patches of his career and expressed his disappointments over few events that happened in his career as a player and as a member of team India. Particularly Greg Chapel being appointed as the coach of team India that made our team looks weaker than Bangladesh or even Kenya. He had openly criticized in his book about Greg and his cunning motives. On one occasion, where Greg meets Sachin in his house and asks him to take over the captainship from Rahul and even goes on telling him that, they both can rule the Indian team in the coming years. Having sensed all this, Sachin declined it out rightly and asked Greg to not bring this topic anymore. We will come to know many such stories of Greg and his “Hatke…” style of coaching India that resulted in damaging the team’s morale and spirit.

Sachin also mentions about few events where he wished things could’ve been little better. One such thing was Kapil Dev being appointed as the team’s coach that made no sense to him!! In one of the particular test match where he was not out on 194 short of 6 runs to his double hundred, that’s when Rahul had declared our innings!! This decision of Rahul had made Sachin furious for few days and even he stopped talking to Rahul for few days!! When Rahul tried to explain to him that, “It’s in the interest of team” Sachin was reluctant to listen to him and instead he made his point clear that “You could’ve have waited for 6 more runs”!!

He goes on explaining each and every tour he had made in his carrier and expressed his wish of becoming the world champion. Remember, Sachin has played in 5 world cup events since 1992 and couldn’t able to be on the triumphant side. He had to wait for his 6^th world cup to witness this moment. Anyways, he had written in great care about all these events.

He carefully dodged few things regarding his captaincy, match fixing scandals, IPL spot fixing. He managed to brush few lines on these events. That’s expected according to me. He even avoided why his friendship with Vinod Kambli had taken turns in the years down the lane. He just managed to write few lines about his and signed it off saying; he is still friends with him.

He has written that he was super agitated when it came to his 100^th international 100. This one particular hundred took almost a year and half to come into the fore. As a fan, I was disappointed that it came against Bangladesh!! :)

Enough said about his autobiography. It is certainly a must read book. Even though you are not a fan of Sachin (Duh!!), you will certainly witness few funny, sad, heated epic moments from his life as a Sachin – A Good Student of Cricket, Sachin - The Cricketer, Sachin – The Foodie, Sachin – The Shy Guy, Sachin – The Patriot, Sachin – The Proud Father, Sachin – A Responsible Son, Sachin – The Friendly Guy, Sachin – The Well Behaved Gentleman, Sachin – A Philanthropist and finally Sachin – The Epitome of Indian Cricket.

Overall a fantastic journey I must say. I was so engrossed while reading it; I finished reading it in flat 2 days :). There are nice photographs from his childhood, his trips, his marriage, etc… At the end of the book, you can see his complete career statistics, his runs, his hundreds, against which team, home and away runs etc…

Towards the end of the book, you can read his last speech that he gave at wankhede stadium thanking every single person that played a crucial role in building up his career, starting with his family members, his wife Anjali, importantly his childhood coach Ramakant Achrekar, his best friends, his significant others in the team like Sourav, Rahul, Laxman etc...He finished his book in style thanking his fans for all the support that they have given him in his career and mentioned that he will never forget the “SACHIN… SACHIN…” chant of his fans till his last breath!

My Rating:

5/5

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Book Review #45: Anveshana By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This book is a sequel to SL Bhyrappa’s highly acclaimed novel Grihabhanga. The story starts from the point where Grihabhanga has been left off. It is such a nice attempt of SLB sir in this novel that, we can easily remember all the stories, characters from the novel Grihabhanga.

For those who haven’t read Grihabhanga, let me tell you the crux of this novel. So that, readers can actually relate to this novel Anveshana. A small fictitious village in Tumkur and a poor farmer family was living in that village. Nanjamma the main protagonist in the novel Grihabhanga was married to a loaf called Chennigaraya. She faces many hurdles and difficulties in her life throughout the novel. She loses two of her children who were suffering from plague. Her husband is a good for nothing man, who wanders day and night around the village doing nothing and spends the money eating in hotels and other illegal activities. So, it was Nanjamma who takes care of her family and starts earning money so that she can build a home of her own. The only surviving child of her, Vishwanatha, who grew up with a monk leaves the village once his mother dies. Vishwanatha has a maternal grandfather called Kanthi Joyisa who stays in the outskirts of the village doing black magic and other stuffs.

In Anveshana, the story picks up from the phase where the grandfather Kanthi Joyisa who became terminally ill, wanted to see his grandson Vishwanatha for one last time. He wanted to leave his belongings, money and other stuff to his grandson. So he sets out on a journey in search of his grandson. This epic journey is called as Anveshana.

Kanthi Joyisa wanders many neighbor villages, town and other cities to know the whereabouts of his grandson. He meets many acquaintances of Vishwanatha and follows the route information that he gets from them. On his final voyage he meets a childhood friend of Vishwanatha. He is a tailor in a small village. He informs Kanthi Joyisa that, the last time he saw Vishwanatha was near a movie theatre, where Vishwanatha was working as a ticket collector. And the journey of Kanthi Joyisa continues.

Here author introduces the character Vishwanatha and his life journey in subsequent chapters. Vishwanatha who leaves his village settles down in a town and works as a hotel waiter for some time. Later, he moves to the house of a lawyer and works as a cook for some time. He leaves that place and travels to Mumbai and works as a Tonga Walla for some more time. And he continues his journey leaving no trace of him for his friends or relatives.

The magic of the novel is in its immense detailed explanation of Vishwanatha and his way of living life. Author introduces us to a phase where Kanthi Joyisa, the grandfather of Vishwanatha loses all his hopes of finding his grandson. He informs the tailor friend of Vishwanatha and goes back to his village and dies in isolation. This scene closes the curtain to the character Kanthi Joyisa.

Author introduces us to various traits of Vishwanatha throughout the novel. His love interests, his marriage, his college life etc… the vivid description of Vishwanatha’s love life, married life and college life and renunciation is a treat to read from the book. From this novel, we will come to know that, Vishwanatha has a habit of writing diary. As he leaves his final destination to the renunciation life, the school teacher of Vishwanatha discovers this diary and starts to read it and tries to understand the character Vishwanatha in a better way. This marks the end of the novel.

The striking gesture in this novel is the character Vishwanatha never appears in this novel as a first character person. He was often remembered, described, referenced but never in any way appears as the main protagonist of the novel, yet, he is the hero of this novel. All credits to the magical writer SLB sir. He has marveled in each of his novels. I have no words to explain more about this novel.

My Rating:

5/5