Book Review #89: Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar By Kochery. C. Shibu

Title: Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar

Author: Kochery C. Shibu

Publishers: Niyogi Books

Genre: General Fiction

Pages: 287 (Paperbound)

Source: Review copy sent by the author

This is an interesting book from a debut author. The narration and the characters developed and the background for the story imagined is quite satisfying. As a first time author, I would say that, the attempt is very nice. The mystery in the novel remains intact till the end and the story is quite gripping. There are numerous characters from the novel and each of the characters holds its importance to a particular scene or the plotline in the novel. The plot of book seems quite unusual.

We have protagonists from different parts of the cities. An engineer and a Kalari (famous martial art form in Kerala) practitioner, Nanda, whose family was constantly marred with the factions in his home town. His family had a long unsettled feud with another local gang in Kerala, which resulted in several deaths in his family including his father, his uncles, and finally his own brother. He finally marries his deceased brother’s wife Nandinikutty.  Events led to one another and Nanda finds himself a part of this murderous rage and avenges his brother’s killers in a mob fight. From then on, he is on a run and changes various places and cities and finally settles as a site engineer in a Dam construction project in Dhauladhar.

We also have other two protagonists, Rekha a doctor cum dancer and Khusro a Kashmiri youth, who was recruited by Pakistani terrorist group to conduct a terror operation inside Kashmir. The background stories of these two protagonists was overdone and there was no necessary to write so many pages describing life and pasts of these two when they add no add value to the ongoing plotline.

Anyway, fortunate events brings Rekha and Khusro close together and there will be a kind of weird love story between them. I didn’t expected that a highly educated girl, who travelled throughout the world, gave hundreds of dance performances will fall for a guy who is a terrorist in the making. Sure, Love is blind after all. Author made it possible in this fictitious work. The readers have to accept that without a shred of doubt. Whereas Khusro, the aspiring mujahiddeen, has a sense of morals left in him and he turns out to be sane when his fellow terrorists (whom he helped in crossing the border into Kashmir) tries to rape women and he couldn’t stand it and kills them. Thanks to the charm of Rekha.

The story is quite heavy for a reader who has no background or even an iota of information in the dam construction terminologies. It was overly done throughout the novel. The story deviates at many places and you feel at times that you’re reading a dam construction manual. Author could’ve avoided many technical details of the dam construction and rather should’ve given importance on how would the terrorists are plotting to blow up the dam.

The novel keeps its interesting point in each and every chapter. Readers will be constantly guessing what might happen next. That’s the best part of the novel. Nanda’s role was made bare minimum. He should’ve made some contributions in the actual story other than sitting with constant fear of police and not talking to anybody. The climax part of the novel was made too quickly I suppose. There should’ve been some action moments in the final few pages, as I personally felt, the climax part was the only shortcoming in the book. Otherwise, the story is interesting from beginning till the end.

The author keeps adding numerous new characters in each and every chapter. That’s one more shortcomings in the novel. I guess after second half, the author should’ve stopped adding more characters and instead should’ve developed the story with more intense and vigor. Overall, a new attempt and good narration.

My Rating:

4/5

(Note: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review #88: Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Life, Their Fraud By Arun Shourie

Title: Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Life, Their Fraud
Author: Arun Shourie
Publishers:HarperCollins Publishers India
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 270 (eBook edition)
Source: Personal Copy

Does the modern liberals hate Hindus and demean our scriptures right from the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Upanishads and Hindu philosophy ? Then, who is to blame? Does all these secular changes were new to India? Does belittling Hinduism is the new phenomenon? From where does these set of people even come from? Those very answers lies in this exceptionally written book.

Arun Shourie the author turned politician has penned this epic rebuttal to those intellectual terrorists and demagogues and ripped apart their lies that they peddled for nearly 4 decades. Communism is not new in India, in fact, the communists supporters are prospering in India since its inception till today. But they do it openly. But, how about those so called intellectuals and historians who subvert the very history of India to please their masters and doing more damage to the national prosperity? Arun Shourie has addressed the very same issue in this book titled Eminent Historians.

The first few pages of the book doesn't seems quite interesting as there only figures of the money that these eminent historians took to complete their writing projects at the expense of tax payers. Shourie has tabulated all those details of each individual who are making a moolah by doing nothing. The scores of these historians are in the likes of Irfan habib, R.S Sharma, Bipan Chandra, Lal, Panikkar, Romila Thapar, Anand, and so on. These people were adorning the highest chairs of Universities in this country and are helping to nurture their proteges by imbibing the same communist ideologies in their pupils. These historians have took all the advantage of government to write something real, but all they did was to subvert the very basic foundations of this country.

As the book progresses further, we get to see from the example of West Bengal government's action plan of editing the history text books for school children. As per accounts exposed by Shourie, all those crimes and robberies committed by the Islamic invaders was deleted from the books at the orders of their existing government at that time. Instead, kids were taught how intolerant that the Hindus and Hindu religion is. There is not an iota of doubt that, the communist champions were the brain behind these.

This is just an example from the book. You get to read many such cringe worthy details of these communist authors that went ahead and tried to paint a bad image of Hindustan. Shourie emphasizes the fact that, even Russian authors are fair enough in their writings than these communist eminent historians of India. These communist historians are peddling lies after lies and worshiping the likes of Mao, Stalin, Engels, etc.. These are gods and flag bearers of social justice.

Shourie further exposes the lies of those authors who claims that the Hinduism is a new 19th century British created movement and there was no real Hindu religion at all. These authors goes a step ahead to celebrate Jainism and Buddhism. They also mention that, Hinduism has targeted the Buddhists and Jains in India that resulted in the decline of these religion in India. But, they forgot to mention the attacks perpetrated by the Islamic invaders who pillaged the country and ransacked their monasteries. Author has exhumed the truth by giving the right references for each of their lies and exposed them brilliantly. 

I guess, more Indians should read this book to understand why there is liberal movement in today's India? Why there is an uproar of modern secularism? Why the universities like JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) is breeding anti-nationals in their campuses? Why there are no real historians remained in this country that could teach the real Indian history to its people? And, finally, why this new generation of students who remain closed to the arguments and research, but, believe in the books offered by our governments as curriculum?

The book overall exhumes the truth in the subtle way. There are few section of people who argue that, Arun Shourie has written this book to settle personal scores and animosities with these authors. But, it is not. Try being rational and open up to the arguments presented by the author. It is really an important book for everyone. A collectors gem. Highly recommended.

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 #86: Tinderbox: The past and future of Pakistan By M.J. Akbar

Title: Tinderbox: The past and future of Pakistan

Author: M.J. Akbar

Publishers: Harper Collins

Pages: 330+ (Paperbound)

Genre: Non-Fiction/History/Politics

Source: Personal Copy

As a history aficionado, I am always fascinated by the history. Especially interested to learn more about India and Pakistan. The Tinderbox by renowned journalist, columnist and writer M.J. Akbar provides us a fascinating and a riveting account of how the formation of Pakistan happened and what were the reasons behind it. The book is well researched and documented.

The narration of the book is in chronological order starting with the Islamic invaders into India right from the Sultanates, Ottomans, Turks, Moghuls, etc… Each invader has a specific purpose in their minds, that is, conversion and pillaging the country to the maximum. Author has narrated a brilliant picture of all these things in the most simplistic manner. The book never seems to be a hard read, rather, one can enjoy each chapter and reminisce the historical aspects.

Pakistan as a country, which was created out of religious demands by the handful of influential people who worked mainly to satiate their ego. Starting with Maudadi in the post Mogul era and with the advent of Mohammed Ali Jinnah during the British era had just one agenda and propagated the same. Indian Muslims are not safe in the Hindu India. They have purposefully spread this message time and again and lured the masses into believing that Islam is in danger in India.

The book mainly divided into three different levels. First, the Muslims of India during the time of Islamic invaders time in the likes of Turks, Afghans, Moguls, and Sultanates etc... Secondly, the Muslims of India during the British tenure and finally the Muslims as what we see today, in Pakistan. The creation of Pakistan on the basis of religion itself is a major setback for Pakistan. The Qaid-e-azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah has envisaged something before the partition and aspired to turn Pakistan into something similar to Turkey (a modern secular Islamic country) was failed at large. From the book, we can make sure that, the intervention posed by the mullahs and other religion fundamentalists in the administration of Pakistan government resulted in not achieving what Jinnah aspired off.

The Indian Muslims before the partition was constantly brainwashed by the leaders like Jinnah and Maudadi with their constant public stunts of Muslims are not safe in India. Jinnah even went a step ahead and used Gandhi’s metaphor of “Rama Rajya” into something unbelievable. Jinnah has said to his followers that, Gandhi wants India to be Hindu rajya and not a secular state. All these things led to the partition of India into India & Pakistan. While India has come out the grim situation of partition, whereas Pakistan is still under turmoil by keeping one leg in Islamic ideologies and other in democracy.

M.J. Akbar goes on to explain the political angle of Pakistan post partition. Just after 2 months into Independence, Pakistan has started to eye on Kashmir. With the input of religious fundamentalists, Pakistan started to train their Mujaheddin a.k.a terrorists to wage a proxy war against India. India on the other hand, had brilliantly tackled all the attacks of Pakistan in every war and defeated Pakistan. Pakistan’s humiliation went hundred degrees up when its eastern piece has fought with them to create what is now called as Bangladesh. India had helped Bangladesh to gain its independence. The more humiliation for Pakistan when more than 90 thousand Pakistan military persons surrendered before India as prisoners of war.

The book further explains the Pakistan’s stand on terrorism on a global scale. It’s no more a secret that, Pakistan’s ISI (Inter Service Intelligence) agency was the father of breeding terrorists in their backyard. It has proved time and again that, several terror groups like Laskhar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohmmad, Hizbul Muzahiddeen, etc… was the brainchild of Pakistan to wage an alternate kind of war against India to clinch Kashmir. The book provides an ample amount of evidence from various references that how Pakistan is nurturing terrorism in their own country. It was proved on global level when Osama bin Laden was found in the safe harbor of Pakistan, in a city called Abbottabad.

With all these dreadful attempt by Pakistan with the sole purpose of gaining Kashmir has proved nothing in favor of them. Instead they should concentrate on their country by uplifting poor who are joining terrorist organizations because they don’t have enough money to support their families. The advent of Madrasas in thousands of numbers has proved again that, the religion indoctrination has seeped into every vein of a Pakistani. As the book suggests, there is no turning back for Pakistan to see what has happened, instead, they should focus of building their future for the coming generation of Pakistan.

The book covers some more fascinating facts and figures which I have not included in my review. The book has been brilliantly written, profoundly researched and documented. A collectors gems. Written in the simplistic style with good anecdotes makes this book more readable. A recommending stuff.

My Rating:

4.5/5