Book Review: Railonama, Unforgettable Train Stories

Railways are the lifeline of India. Millions of Indians depend on it for their transport requirements due to its access and cost effectiveness. For anybody to see India and experience its diversity, a long trip through rail is mandatory. Even the emergence of low cost aviation or of posh buses has not made a dent in the loyal costumer base of railways. Any movie or book by an outsider about India compulsorily includes the involvement of trains. Take Slumdog Millionaire or The Myth for example. Every journey through rail is a soulful experience. When I was given a chance to review this anthology of 'train stories' based in India- Railonama, the first thing that I did was recollecting all the good, bad and the ugly trips that I took in trains. So many experiences I had, so diverse people I met, so different places I saw, I felt I could fill a book with all that details. And I am pretty sure, so would be the case of many others. 

Railonama, as I told in the last paragraph, is a collection of Indian train stories contributed by people throughout the world. The person who created this book is Anupama Sharma, who has also contributed an inspiring story- A Slice of Apple, about the joy of sharing. The book contains forty five stories, (some among them are poems), contributed by writers from different strata and different generations, focusing on multiple aspects of railway travel in India. Though all the pieces are worthy of reading, I would just mention a few that were appealing to me. The book opens with the story Courage is Everything, in which Dr K C Jindal recounts how he treated an unconscious boy in train when he was a medical student- his first patient. Ken Haigh from Canada had to suffer an overbearing stranger on his journey from Bhutan to Kolkatta in the immensely funny account My Boon Companion. Dr Roshan, whose blog Goodyears I follow regularly has contributed a cute story about two kids who causes their families to acquaint with each other by bartering sweets in train. 

Kshitij Bisen encounters a life changing moment on his train journey when he discovers that being homosexual is a normal way of living. Esprit de Corps is the story by Ajay Mankotia in which he recounts his experience of his mother missing the train when she got down on platform to buy food. Life on the Edge by Ganesh is about the thrill that a train journey gives when travelling at the door of a speeding train. The Castaway by Vibha Batra is shocking and hard hitting on its last sentence. Elsewhere by Anindita Deo is about an intuitive person whom the writer meets on a journey. This story builds a great atmosphere by its narration. Sumedha Sengupta's story A Very Special Passanger happens in pre-independent  Indian when the author, then four, saw Mahatma Gandhi riding a train. Sheela Jaywant tries to make us wise about the perils of transporting canines in trains in a very entertaining way and succeeds. Travelling through Kerala is a wonderful poem by the German Frank Joussen in which he claims though Kerala's nature is beautiful, the true beauty manifests in its people. 

The range that these stories present is vast, and that I feel makes Railonama a must read. It covers the good, the bad and the ugly of Indian Railways making it a roller coaster ride of emotions. After reading Railonama, I am sure my journeys by train will never be the same again. 

This review is a part of the biggest http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program for http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Book Review: 7 Secrets Of Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik

Some time back I had got a chance to review Business Sutra by mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik. It was about conducting business using ancient Indian principles of yagna. The book had a great concept and was mind blowing. So when Blogadda offered a chance to review his latest book, 7 Secrets of Goddesses, I was eager. This book is part of Pattanaik's 7 Secrets series and is the forth entry of it. The book tries to find out the gender definition in Indian mythology by analysing the important role that the Goddesses play in it. It deals with prominent goddesses recurring in mythology, what functions they perform in the bigger context and how history has constantly played a role in changing these aspects according to the social norms.

The book is divided into seven chapters, each one detailing the mythology of one Goddess. The first chapter Gaia's Secret, is about Greek earth mother who, though respected, slowly gets marginalized. This is explained by the lose of freedom that women experienced due to a shift to patriarchal system. Several other myths from other parts of the world tells a similar story. Also important to note is the decline in the sexual choice of women due to the concept of ownership of women by men. Kali's Secret portrays Kali as the raw nature that is indifferent to the man's attempt to conquer it. Third chapter Gauri's Secret is about culture that happen due to human interference in raw nature.

Durga stand in between nature and culture, ensuring the balance. Durga's Secret is about this ferocious but kind Goddess who create fear  in man so as to prevent exploitation of nature and at the same time protect men from the punishment of nature. Lakshmi's Secret is about the Goddess of wealth who is essential to liberate men from perils of poverty. Saraswati's Secret is about the Goddess of knowledge and language. She is mostly shown aloof, calm and composed. She is responsible for the expansion of human imagination. The last chapter Vitthai's Secret is about a form of Krishna that is feminine. In this chapter author tries to analyse several instances in Indian mythology were the boundaries of gender is obliterated. It asserts that worship of God without Goddess is impossible, but Goddess can be worshipped alone.

7 Secrets of Goddess is an important book that brings to forefront the role of Goddess in otherwise male dominated mythology. The book grab eyeballs due to a wealth of picures- calendar arts, paintings, photographs of sculptures and idols, which help the reader to comprehend a explanation rich narrative. What is fantastic is that instead of literally or metaphorically assessing Indian mythology, like Islamic invaders or British colonists or several recent Indologists (who by the way cannot think an inch beyond sex when confronted with a phallus symbol or a naked goddess), Pattanaik goes for a deeper psychological approach. To his credit, he comes out with a convincing portrayal of a culture that had no inhibition in acknowledging the presence of suffering in the world, a culture that could accomodate light and darkness, pleasure and suffering, good and bad, equally.

This review is a part of the biggest <a href="http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program </a> for <a href="http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers.</a> Participate now to get free books!

Book Review: God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian

While reviewing his novel The Bankster some time back, I had written that the distance between Indian and international thrillers is rapidly getting reduced and Ravi Subramanian has had an integral role in it. Even his next novel The Bankerupt (will post on it some other time) confirmed my belief. So when BlogAdda offered a chance to review his latest novel, God is a Gamer, I gladly jumped in. Another factor that piqued my interest about the book was the fact that it is the first thriller about bitcoins- an online form of money that is untraceable and so has a huge risk of getting misused.

The novel starts by giving us certain basic information on the rise of bitcoins when major services like MasterCard and Visa blocked payments to WikiLeaks. Within months bitcoins were accepted as a means to donate for the whistle blower site and attained immense popularity. Bitcoins, the value of which was determined totally by demand for it, can be transferred digitally between individuals without the need of any intervention of banks or governments. It gave the additional benefit that the users cannot be tracked in any way. This anonymity caused the usage of bitcoins in several shady deals including purchase of illegal substances and services.

An influential US senator, a close aid of President is killed in Washington DC. In Mumbai Aditya, founder of Indiscape Gaming Corporation, meet his estranged son Varun after decades and takes him in his folds. Aditya's financial firm eTIOS is facing a dire situation as it is facing security charges from its prime customer NYIB, a new generation bank based in US because millions were siphoned off from many ATMs using an ingenious fraud. Meanwhile Varun, with his gaming skills helps Indiscape scale new heights. He has an affair with Tanya, daughter of Malavika, Indian head of NYIB. When Malavika is mysteriously killed, implicating the hand of none other than the Finance Minister, all hell break loose. Two FBI agents investigating senator's murder find out about a new fraud involving bitcoins, gaming, bankers, politicians and terrorists. How the dots are connected forms the rest of the story...

First, let me thank Ravi Subramanian for sending the autographed copy. I have received signed copies before but along with the personal message, I loved what he did with the book title.

With God is a Gamer, the author has managed to cover the gap that I was mentioning in first para- the one

between Indian and international thrillers. Its the best thriller written by an Indian that I have read. The writing is faultless. The story is very elaborate and cover a lot of ground. The concept behind bitcoin is explained really well. Also how online gaming is packaged through social media to get maximum visibility is explained. Commendable research is evidently done on these. And I never felt bogged down by explanations because Ravi has embedded them with his main plot masterfully.

The narration happens in bits and pieces. Within first fifty pages the reader acquaints with many characters and several subplots that are seemingly unrelated. Yet by the end, like a complex jig saw puzzle, every bit is fitted in its place with a neat climatic twist to top it off. The pace of the narrative can be described in one word- frantic. I loved the fact that instead of wounding the story around a single heroic character, as is the norms, Ravi chose his book to be a plot driven one. We get lots of great characters in different shades, major or minor, each of them integral to the big picture. There are a couple of typos and minor grammatical errors, which I am mentioning because, with Penguin as publisher, even these are unacceptable.

This review is a part of the biggest http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program

for http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Quikr Free Shopping Fiesta aka How I Bought My First Digital Camera

"I've reached here, in front of the shop that you told."

"Oh! You are early, we agreed for 4pm."

"Yeah, traffic was much less than what I expected."

"I'll be there right away."

Thus I waited there, on that hot Sunday afternoon, in front of a huge closed furniture shop after riding around 15km. And what I told about traffic was a lie, it was a horrible maze of assorted two- three- four and more wheelers that I had to dodge to reach there with heavily pot-holed road being little help.

When I was selected for Quikr Free Shopping Fiesta by BlogAdda.com, a few days back, I had my apprehensions. Unlike other shopping sites, Quikr is a site for classified ads. It means you have to search for the stuff you want, find the seller, contact him, actually meet him, inspect the item and pay if you really like it. That sounded hard work. In fact I took up the challenge after the insistence of the guys from BlogAdda.

I had discussions with my wife and we started searching the site for something to buy. We checked out many items that were catalogued under different categories and after several deliberations decided on a camera. Both of us have mobile phones with inbuilt camera and during our many trips and holidays we are used to taking photographs. But an idea to own a proper digital camera, though we used to toy with it briefly, never realized. I used to own a film roll camera, a gift from my father, long back when I was a kid. I had tried lot of things with it then. But on a class tour I wasted an entire roll of film clicking, which the studio people told me will make an extremely bad mark on the art called photography if developed. I was disheartened and may be that is why I never considered owning a camera till now.

Once I finalized the product, it was a cake walk. After logging in quikr.com, I searched for digital cameras for sale in my town. The options available were overwhelming. I got more than twenty listings that came within my price range that were posted in last one month which was way more than my expectations. I compared the specs, makes and age of the cameras and zeroed in on three. The contact numbers of sellers were available. I called them up and discussed about their offers. I enquired about the camera, the pricing, the location of the owners and if they used cameras commercially. I even asked them why really they are selling the cameras.

The first person I called had a model that was around 8 years old. The specs were nowhere near the other two. The pricing also I felt was on higher side. Then I called a guy who was residing very near to my home. He had a 14MP camera with 5x zoom. It was a Casio make bought from Middle East, which was just less than one year old. It felt like a bargain, but again I didn't wanted to go for a model just because of price. The model was not available in home market, so any service requirement was going to be a definite head ache. Another turn off for me was his claim that he seldom used it as he had a phone camera and that's the reason for him to sell it. I wanted something thats got to be better than phone camera which, by the way I have two, counting my wife's phone.

My final decision was to approach the guy selling his Nikon Coolpix L110. His listing was detailed, his response was genuine and his price looked just right- not too more or not less for the make of it. Just to be on safer side, I called up a trusted friend and forwarded the links of the listings. After his affirmation, I called up the seller and fixed an appointment to see the equipment.

And that was how I ended up waiting for Biju on that hot Sunday afternoon. A bike approached me soon and this gentleman waved his hand towards me. I reached for his extended hands and enjoyed a firm, but friendly hand shake. After the usual initial pleasantries, he opened his bag and took out this cool looking box from it. The care with which he presented the camera was enough for me to decide.

I took the camera and inspected it. It was a 12.1 Megapixels camera with 15X zoom. It can shoot HD movies. The box had manual, battery charger, installation CD and necessary data cables. I tried taking photographs. They came out pretty well, considering my inexperience in photographing with anything other than a basic point and shoot model. Zoom was also amazing. I conveyed to Biju my decision to buy it. I just  asked him once if there is any scope of bargain. He agreed to reduce the price by Rs 500. I admitted my weakness in bargaining and told him that we will close the deal. He was happy and conveyed his pleasure in meeting someone who actually wanted to buy instead of simply haggling. I handed over the money and the Nikon Coolpix L110 was all mine.

Guess who is happily shooting...!?

There are many reasons why I loved my shopping from Quikr. For a classified ad site, the choice that you get on Quikr is extraordinary. Compared to online shopping, Quikr gave me a wholesome experience. I did some research. I got up from my comfy chair and called up some real people, who were not just trained and polished selling machines. I managed to weigh in different factors and found out the perfect ch

oice. I met with a wonderful person. All in all I had a little adventure shopping with Quikr. Now I agree that there is a risk in buying a used good from a stranger, but with this purchase, I am really convinced its really possible to reduce that risk by doing a bit of research and some proactive care. And there is good saving too..!

Some pictures from Nikon L110

Category Page: http://kochi.quikr.com/Cameras-Digicams/w841

This post is written after being selected for Quikr Free Shopping Fiesta by BlogAdda. The above post is an honest recounting of the shopping that I did and my views are not in any way influenced by the promise of Rs 5000 refund by the organisers.

Product Review:: mint-O Ultramintz

Last Friday I received two packs of mint-O Ultramintz, the new premium brand of mint from ITC mint-O, for reviewing. This is the first time I am reviewing something other than books. In case of books, when I read it from cover to cover I get a clear idea about what to write. For reviewing mint-O Ultramintz, from last four days, I am roaming around with one box of it in my pocket, having one mint every hour that I am awake. I just wanted to be sure that when I write about this product it has to be as accurate as possible because best judgement comes from experience. It was only today that I am able to clearly structure my thoughts around Ultramintz and write this review.

The major reasons for using mint flavored lozenges are for the refreshment to mouth and throat due to its chillness and for freshness of breath. There are many brands of mint available in the market as lozenges and gum, but what separates Ultramintz is its branding as a premium product. Compared to regular mints, this one is attractively packaged and quality wise much superior (strong) due to the usage of better ingredients. It is also marketed as a healthy alternative as it is totally sugar free. It is a bit expensive price wise, costing INR50 per box, rather limiting its customer base. I hope this gives an overall picture of the product.

It was a delightful scene when the courier cover was removed. There were two packs, each containing a small tin box of 60 mint pellets each (50gms). As you can see in the photo, the gift packaging was quite unique and sure to make anyone proud to receive it. The tin boxes that contain mint pellets are attractive to say the least, with some great eyeball grabbing graphics on it. The boxes resemble snuff boxes a bit. To take out the mint from the box, there is an opening and contrary to what I felt initially, it was very easy to pop out small mint pellets, one each, from the box. Now one thing that I felt bad initially was the size of the mint. One pellet is not even one forth of the size of a regular mint, that usually has a life saver shape. I found out the reason for the minute size of Ultramintz is when I popped one into my mouth!

The mint has a strong taste. After a few moments, the chillness starts to spread throughout the mouth and throat. The taste is not very sweet like other mint brands, but a bit bitter, in a good way. It really is a strong mint but finishes very fast. But the effect it leaves back is much more than any other mint. If you use two pellets at a time, the experience is too good. Once after using a whole box, I feel the pricing is also not an issue because one box will come for a long time, as the effect does not wear out too soon. Secondly, the tin packaging makes it comfortable to carry around and the nice graphics on the box is sure to get you some attention. My only regret is that, they chose this rainy season to send it to me for review. I would rather loved to have this one around with me last hot summer time.

For those who have a habit of using mint, I would recommend trying out mint-O Ultramintz. It is strong, trendy, sugar free and come in a great package that is comfortable to carry around.

"I am reviewing&nbsp;mint-o Ultramintz&nbsp;as a part of the&nbsp;Product Reviews Program&nbsp;at BlogAdda"

The above review is done for BlogAdda after using the sample of the product send by them for giving a factual review. Reviewer has not taken any remuneration for posting it. As a tocken of appreciation, they have promised a gift voucher worth INR2000&nbsp;from Wills Lifestyle once the review&nbsp;is posted.

Book Review: Shoes of the Dead

Stories of one man single-handedly fighting the system against all odds are abundant in literature and movies worldwide. May be the reason is its mass appeal. People generally love to see a hero standing tall for everything that is right. One limitation that can be observed in the execution of this theme by various media is that ultimately the wrong doer is limited to an object- a single man or a group of people up for mischief. This objectifying of evil causes two negative results generally- one is the dilution of the case the writer is trying to put forward and the other is the protagonists resolving the issue using extreme acts that glorifies socially unacceptable practices. These were my thoughts while I took up Kota Neelima’s political novel Shoes of the Dead for reading. The biggest virtue of this book is that it does not tread the convenient path of objectifying that I was mentioning before.

Shoes of the Dead tell the story of suicide by farmers due to debt. The story starts in Delhi, in the residence of Keyur Kashinath, new MP and son of a political bigwig, deep in trouble due to the growing cases of farmer suicides occurring in his constituency Mityala. He is trying to manipulate the cases and prove majority suicides are not due to debt with the help of moneylenders and real estate grabbers who are one of the major reason for the trouble. Nazar is one journalist who finds out about his plan and tries to do something about it through his fearless reports.

The story then shifts to Mityala, were Gangiri Bhadra former teacher turned farmer breaches into the corrupt suicide committee that certifies even genuine cases of debt suicides as ineligible for compensation. He is the brother of a farmer who committed suicide due to debt, but the committee denies compensation by painting him as an alcoholic. He intelligently networks inside the committee and turns the table on Keyur by making more and more applications for compensation eligible. From then the narrative shifts between Delhi and Mityala. Keyur decides to eliminate Gangiri, but things change when Nazar enters the scene. From then the story turns into a game of political one-upmanship between one person’s ego and arrogance and another’s belief in bringing a positive change in society.

As I told earlier, the story does not overtly blame or vilify a single person for all the bad things happening to people. It is basically about rising above the levels of mere existences, which is displayed by Keyur and other negative characters, and show the courage to stand for what is right and deliver it at any cost. Gangiri faces so much adversity in many levels- political, social, emotional and economical, but stands for justice to the family of diseased farmers even when his own existence is fatally threatened. The narrative is rather slow, building up the characters and making the reader comfortable with the nuances of the story, but never slows down to make it even a bit boring. The characterization and plot is very realistic and readers will be empathized with it. One subplot about an industrial concern in Mityala is mentioned but not touched upon with any detail.

All in all considering the social relevance and urgency of the subject and the overall readability of the book, which I would opine is nothing short of excellent, I will recommend this book to all readers.  

Publisher: Rupa Publications

Book Source: Blogadda.com

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

Business Sutra: Book Review

Business Sutra is a book about doing business using the principles found in old Hindu, Jain and Buddhist stories. It is written by Devdutt Pattanaik, a physician who pursued his interest in myths and is now an authority on the using principles in Indian mythology for achieving success in business. In this book he attacks the modern Western notion, which he feels is deep rooted in the Greek and Biblical philosophies, that business management is all about setting objective goals and strategizing to achieve them. The book, in detail describe the ancient Indian way of doing business with a subjective vision and how it is effective even in today’s chaotic, unpredictable and intricate web like scenario. It details mostly every aspect of modern business, from finance to production to man management and tries to find solutions that are quite simple, but effective. 

In the first chapter the author emphasize the importance of belief in a successful business. It also gives a background about the book, how it got written and what to expect from it. Second chapter tells us how the Western way of Business Management is evolved by feeding on the principles of ancient Greek and Biblical culture. It also gives a bird’s eye view on Chinese (and even Japanese) way of doing Business- based on principles of Tao, Confucius and Bodhisatva. Then it describes how these systems are totally different from the Indian way and why the propagators of these systems are bound to find the Indian method puzzling. After that in five sections Business Sutra is revealed to the reader. 

The first section- Kama’s vision statement is about desire that is the root of all transactions and innovations. This is basically an introduction where the terminology and ground level concepts are revealed. Business is equated to a Yagna done in olden times. Yajamana who performs the yagna, gives his offering to a devata as Svaha. Devata, in-turn receives it and gives back his blessing as Thathastu. Svaha is the input that the business owner, Yajamana, invests and return to the investment is Thathastu. Devata is the customer or the person who receives the offering from Yajamana. The importance of goals is minimized and more emphasis is given to gaze. The next three sections describe the three levels of gaze that increases the chances of success progressively- Drishti, Divya Drishti and Darshan. Drishti is the way of Vasudev, who is the man of action and sought Lakshmi or wealth. Divya Drishti is the way of Chakrvarthi, who walks the path for Durga or power. Darshan is the path of Thirthankara who attains Saraswathi or knowledge. 

The book is filled with interesting and uplifting stories from mythology. There also are highlighted examples from modern corporate environment that is relevant to the myths and principles described. But the major attraction is the pictures that are hand drawn which doubtlessly establishes the point author wants to emphasize. Business Sutra is a long book that needs a certain amount of time and effort invested to fully realize and utilize its potential. To be of good use, this book needs to be studied rather than just read. It may put off certain readers in its initial pages as the terminology can be confusing for starters.But once the ground work is over and the stories and myths starts, it becomes more and more engaging and interesting. I will definitely recommend all to read this book at least once as many of the principles can be useful in your life even if you are not associated with any kind of business. 

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

Tantra: Book Review

Tantra is a magical fantasy novel written by Adi, about whom not many details are given in the "About Author" section of the book. The only personal detail in it is about his passion for reading novels late night and that this habit has to be given the credit for this debut novel. Also the title of the book, Tantra was a of turn off as I myself come from an ancient Malayalee Brahmin (Nambudiri) family of Thantris and has heard lot of ancient magical stories about magicians, imps and evil rituals performed for gaining unlimited power from grandmothers and grandfathers while growing up. Tantric stories are also a main part of Malayalee popular culture spawning several novels like Kalika, Surya Kalady and movies like Anandabhadram and Adharvam. So Tantra had a lot of expectations to fill and the back cover synopsis that told the background of the lady protagonist as a vampire slayer did not help either.

But Tantra exceeded my expectations thanks to the very good characterization of the protagonist, Anu Aggarwal and the breakneck speed it adopted after the first 100 pages. Tantra tells the story of Anu, who is a trained vampire killer in New York working for an organisation known as Centre. Her boyfriend Brian is killed and the only clue points to someone from Delhi. She gets herself transferred to Delhi without informing her superiors that vengeance is her agenda. But once in Delhi, soon she gets herself dragged into a whirlpool of much bigger events for which her training and experience in New York is not sufficient. Kids get kidnapped and murdered, her own colleagues have made pacts with the vampires, someone is accumulating a massive amount of power in the city threatening the lives of innocents, she has to master an ancient weapon in days to prevent it from happening and above all her nosy aunt is desperately trying to get her married.

Actually the first hundred pages were a bit baffling. I had a tough time deciding what exactly was happening. Here was something that started like a teenager fantasy about vampires, progressing as a subtle allegory about cultural differences between east and west and culminating as a thriller mystery involving exotic Tantric rituals with some standard elements of chick-lit thrown in here and there. (And I had an issue initially with the name of Indian vampires- it’s tough to think a blood sucking creature with the name Mishra..) But as the story progress, the focus becomes clearer. Still what I felt as the initial hiccup has served the purpose of the etching the character of Anu deep into the story thus helping the reader to identify with her actions and motives at a later stage.

Like many of the thrillers that I read recently Tantra suffers a bit from lousy characterization of sub characters. There are many characters inhabiting the pages, but barring Amit, Anu’s colleague and Nina, her aunt, I feel are mostly cut-outs. This was unsatisfying because there were many important people who could have been made more interesting like Dr Sharma or Chandra. Also one of the major mysteries that I was waiting to find out was never revealed in the end. Hopefully Adi is working on a sequel which will unravel that.  

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

Book Review: The Bankster

As the title indicates, Ravi Subramanian’s latest novel The Bankster deals with the intricate world of international banking and the crimes associated with it. I have never read any of his previous books- The Incredible Banker or The Devil in Pinstripes. But I feel like reading them after reading this one. That I think in itself is a great achievement for a writer. These days many Indian writers are pushing their limits and are trying to achieve the heights scaled by several popular fiction writers of the West, in terms of content, genre, plot and quality (the tag John Grisham of Banking on the book cover of The Bankster is an evidence). Though the quality of writing in many cases is debatable, I feel the effort itself deserves a pat on the back. And with writers like Ravi Subramanian, the distance to be covered in this regards is getting shorter.

Bankster is a word coined from the words Banker and Gangster. The novel is about such a group of Banksters (bankers who uses their profession as a cover to perpetrate crime), their victims and people out to stop them at any cost. Narrative crisscrosses many national borders. The first act is in Angola where a rogue CIA agent buys blood diamond. Then we are told about a father in Kerala who lost his beloved son to the nuclear accident in Chernobyl and is hell bent on preventing any such atrocity happening again. After that action shifts to Mumbai, to Great Boston Global Bank, an international bank where everything seems compliant and efficient on surface, but deep inside something sinister and nasty is cooking. A chain of cold blooded serial murders disturb the peace and steps in Karan Panjabi, a journalist and former employee to uncover the truth. 

Spanning 358 pages, The Bankster is a fast paced thriller and in every page something happens that keep the reader engaged and thinking. The setting is chillingly realistic and gives a feel that such heinous crimes are possible inside the seemingly spot free and sophisticated banks. The best quality of the book is that even a novice like me does not feel bogged down by the narration that uses practices, procedures and terminology used in banking sector to move the story forward. The climax is good, considering that the suspense that build up from starting gets culminated logically and believably. No loopholes are left opened. 

Speaking about the negatives, the characterization is a bit shallow. You will find characters spanning a wide spectrum. Like the idealist Krishna Menon, to characters with grey shades like Nikhil and outright evil personified (I cannot take their names as it will be a spoiler). The writing never makes us feel about any of these characters. We are never made to enter their universe and see things from their perspective. Ultimately they end up just being pawns of the game that the author is describing and nothing more. Ifwe observe masters of this genre- John Grisham, John le Carre or Jeffrey Archer, we can see that they never rush with their plot. They take their own sweet time to develop their characters and plot, thereby making the reader care about them. But inspite of it, I would say The Bankster is a must read for people who like good thrillers. 

 > > This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com . Participate now to getfree books!

Book Review: The Krishna Key

The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi falls in the category of conspiracy theory fiction. The fact that it has to compete with such giants like Faucault’s Pendulum or Da Vinci Code makes the task of the writer difficult. But Sanghi has already proven his mettle in story telling with already a best seller Chanakya’s Chant in his credit. Thus the expectation from this novel is sky high. As the name indicates, the novel is an adrenalin ride based on the life of Krishna, the most enigmatic character in Indian mythology. It reads in between the lines of Mahabharatha, Bhagavatha and many other ancient scriptures and tries to tell a story of treasure hunters whose fate lies on solving the clues provided in them.  

The biggest issue with Indian history is its ambiguity. Our ancient history is never recorded in a factorial manner like Greek or Roman history. There are only loose versions of events and personalities spread over many epics, scriptures and folklores. Many incidents are exaggerated, many are subdued and most are allegorized thus leaving many black holes in the narrative. Half baked and prejudiced historic studies in Colonial times also worsened the ambiguity. This gives ample scope for writers to reinterpret the events and form conspiracy theories. Sanghi uses this to his advantage by using up almost all the conspiracy theories related to Indian mythology in his narrative.

A man claiming to be Kalki Avataar, the last of ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, is on a killing spree. A Professor with expertise in Ancient Indian History is framed for the crimes. His only chance of survival now lies in solving a mystery from past. Along with him or against him in the rat race are some curious personalities with motives of their own- greed, love, loyalty, revenge and piety. An underworld don with a curious lineage, a stubborn lady police officer, a corrupt CBI officer who will do anything for money, a criminal lawyer and so on… Lead by Saini gathering clues from Indian mythology and History, they are on a dangerous journey to uncover a secret from past that can render every modern technology obsolete.

The Krishna Key uses every conspiracy theory and controversial historical theories perpetrated in the subcontinent to prove its point. In Umberto Eco’s novel Faucault’s Pendulum there is a very interesting observation about conspiracy theories. It is very easy to make a connection between too seemingly unconnected events if one has a superficial but wide knowledge and good imagination. In that novel some men starts making a new conspiracy theory for fun and it goes out of their hands, finally they themselves believing the lies. Here too this complex is evident. Every bit of historical information, however farfetched it may seem, is made to bear a connection to Krishna. I am not making this point to demean the work of its immense readability, because in this genre, this quality is a must to make the novel interesting.

The Krishna Key as I have told is very readable thanks to the fast pace, clever plot twists and diverse information thrown at the reader in regular intervals bewildering them. One negative point about the narration is its lack of good characterization. One does not feel a bit for Saini or any other character however deep distress they are in. But this deficiency is mostly covered up by the ambiance that Krishna Key creates in reader’s mind. It takes us into several mystery- laden and exotic places in the subcontinent. I would definitely suggest this novel to people who loves page turners.  

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Book review: The devotion of suspect x

The devotion of suspect X is a Japanese mystery novel written by Keigo Higashino. It is part of a series of novels about Manabu Yukawa also known to friends as Detective Galileo, a physics professor helping police to solve crimes in his free time. In this novel he meets his match in his old college friend Ishigami, who inspite of his superior intelligence, chose to live a life of solitude as a Maths teacher away from all the fame and glory associated with Academics.

This book is actually the only book that I read in last three months. And I feel it was a reasonably good book for a comeback to reading habit. As I mentioned before, this is a mystery novel and what makes it different from other mystery novels is that in first pages itself the crime and culprits are revealed with all details. So it won’t be a spoiler if I mention that Yasuka Hanakoa, a single mother living with her daughter, Misato, kills her ex husband Shinji Togashi, when he stalk her and get violent. Misato assists her in the crime. Ishigami, who lives next door offers to help her in removing the dark stains of murder from her and her daughter. Detective Kusanagi comes to a dead end with the investigation when he seeks the help of Yukawa in solving the puzzle. Yukawa turns out to be an old friend of Ishigami and tries to rekindle the friendship. And then starts a battle of wits, a cat and mouse game using the grey cells in the brain.

The crime in itself is quite simple and straight forward. What make the novel interesting are the characterization and the twist ending. It is like watching Manoj N Shyamalan’s movie The Sixth Sense. You feel while watching the movie that it is just a very ordinary film but the ending changes your whole perception. Then you watch the movie again or the clues you missed in first viewing. Devotion of Suspect X is also a similar attempt. The writing style is very subtle and calm on outside, just like the mind of its protagonists. But the slow building up of tension keeps up the interest of the reader. As I have told before the characterization of the two main characters is what takes an otherwise ordinary story to a different level. Ishigami and Yukawa are etched in the minds of readers firmly even after keeping the book down.

On the flip side, other characters, even the most important ones, are not well developed. We never feel much about the single mom or her daughter, even when they are in deep trouble. The character of Detective Kusanagi is another disappointment about the book. There are some times when we feel that there is something more about this guy than what we read about him in the novel. But nothing is explored in that direction. (May be these are the problems of translation. Unfortunately I will never know.)   

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Book Review: Teens Talk Growing Up

I had read the first book that started it all, Chicken Soup for the Soul, many years back. The book was an inspiring and entertaining collection of small stories, memoirs, poems and extracts from books. After that came a deluge of Chicken Soup titles that catered to any particular section of readers, like men, women, expecting moms, teens, Indians… When Blogadda suggested this book, Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul: Teens Talk Growing Up for review, I was more interested to find out how the format has evolved through years. 

Authored by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor and Aarti Katoch Pathak, this book as the name suggests, caters to Indian Teens. Teen age is an intermediate period. Teen agers are part child, part adult. They do not have the emotional maturity of adults, nor are their mind free of worry like kids. They start feeling the burden of responsibilities, they does not want parental discipline, they are anxious of getting judged by friends on beauty, brains and riches. And they are always with a point to prove to the world, their peers, teachers and parents which makes at least some them termed rebellious. There is a story in the book were the metamorphosis of an ugly caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly is compared to the blooming of adolescence to youth through teens. I think that metaphor sums it up aptly.

This book is a collection of 101 stories, each about the experiences of teen life, about the angst and troubles faced while growing up, penned by people from all the walks of life. Among the contributors there are movie actors (Sushmita Sen, Amrita Rao), sport stars (Geet Sethi, Sushil Kumar), Fashion designers (Neeta Lulla), movie directors (Tarun Mansukhani), writers (Harsh Snehanshu), Army men, home makers and many teen agers themselves writing about their bitter-sweet experiences of teen age. All the stories are exceptionally well written in a language easily appealing to youngsters, even to preteens who want to have a preview of what lays ahead.

The book is divided into 7 parts. The first part, Facing the Challenges, deals with the many challenges thrown at the teens by the world. Success in exams and sports and challenges in choosing a suitable career path is highlighted in these stories. Second segment Family Ties is about the value of the support system provided by parents and relatives while tackling the teen life. Many lives are turned for better when a father or mother or both stood for what is right for their kids and saw that they achieved it. In the third segment named Going Beyond Prejudice, the stories deal with several prejudices teenagers faces from their peers and even teachers, like that of color, race and economic situation. The fourth segment, In a Lighter Vein has stories that are humorous in content. 

Life is a Teacher is the segment that deals with the bitter lessons that life teaches in the cross roads of life and how it can be turned to the advantage. The penultimate segment called On Dreams and Passions, points out the value of having dreams, making these dreams our goals and achieving them by working towards it. The final segment called Teens today has stories that come straight from the hearts of teenagers. 

All 101 stories, as I had told before, are motivating reads. But on the flip side, one thing that this book lacks is variety. Most of the stories targets on effective usage of teen age to build a good career, academic or in sports. Topping the chart and winning the competition is seen as the most important goal in teen age. But I feel that though it is important to be topper, equal emphasis should be made in other areas of life. For example, it is in teenage that may important developments of sexual changes in body and mind happens, which does not find much scope in this book. Another point is that almost all the stories belong to upper middle class kids residing in urban areas. What about lower middle class and poor ones, and those living in villages? No attempt is made to represent them here.  Even with these shortcomings, I feel this serving of Chicken Soup is quite good for consumption. 

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