When Arya Fell Through The Fault - Reenita Malhotra Hora

" As long as Man continues to walk upon Earth, the story of Rama shall be chanted..."

This statement hold true as there has been various interpretations of the great epic like Amish Tripathi's Scion of Ishvaku and Devdutt Pattanaik's Sita. Reenita Malhotra Hora follows the same path and retells Ramayana is a new perspective through When Arya Fell Through Fault. The story is about an Indian family settled in San Francisco.  The protagonist is Arya, a 12 year old buy who is subjected to bullies by his peers for his ethnicity. Through the beautiful relationship between Arya and his Ma, Ramayana is introduced as the bed time story narrated to Arya by his mom. Arya's Ma, a true devotee and follower of Indian traditions believes in upholding our moral and cultural values without forgetting our roots. The story takes a turn when one of Arya's mischievous act pushes his Ma to a state of coma. with no hopes let for her recovery, Arya is left devastated and an earthquake in San Francisco results in Arya falling in a fault where he has to relive the epic Ramayana once again, as Rama. While Lord Rama had to fight the demon king Ravana for Sita with the help of Hanuman and the vanarasena or ape army, Arya fights the demon king for the copy of Ramayana which Ravana steals to destroy and wipe off the epic forever. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

This book starts off as a normal one and takes a drastic turn once the protagonist falls through the fault. A new fantasy world is introduced to us where Arya takes up the super hero role, the chosen one (too filmy, as it reminded of many Tamil and Telugu super hero films) to fight the demon king for safeguarding the vanaras. The fight turns personal after a stage where Ravana steals his Ramayana to destroy it once and forever. This battle guided by Guruji and aided by the vanaras turnout to be a self realisation process for Arya - a life changer indeed.

The end was not as I expected it to be and I am glad for that. This is a light bed time read which can be finished in one go.

Love, Loss And What We Ate - Padma Lakshmi

A beautifully designed cover and a write up on The Hindu - I couldn't find any other reason to read this particular book. I was not aware of the Padma Lakshmi in any way - be it as a super model or a celebrity or Salman Rushdie's wife. 

Social media today allows us to stalk and peep into anyone's life even without without their consent and make judgments, which often makes no sense. So when some one pens down certain events in his/her life and publishes it, we are given an opportunity to see the world through their eyes. A memoir or an auto biography, for me provides glimpses to those moments which someone hold close to their heart and cherish through out their life, in a legitimate way. 

I wouldn't say this is a great book, it's not bad either. There were moments when i felt bored, especially in the second half where she is caught in dilemma with her relationships with two men and her daughter. What makes it different from other memoirs which I had read in the recent past is her brilliant interweaving of food recipes relating to/ or having significance at that particular moment in her life, described in the respective chapter. Be it Motorcycle Diaries or When Breath Becomes Air, the photographs attached with the writing made it special whereas Padma Lakshmi had replaced them with food recipes making the book, one of its kind.

The author has also devoted a significant portion of this book to raise awareness about endometriosis, a chronic illness in women, through her own personal experiences and I feel this needs a special mention.

The Gospel of Yudas - K.R.Meera

This is an extra ordinary tale of love set against the backdrop of Emergency and Naxal period in the state of Kerala. The protagonist Das, a survivor of the notorious Kakkayam camp during the Emergency, lives or rather exists with a remorse of being a traitor to his fellow comrades. The narrator Prema, daughter of one of the policemen at the same camp, owing to the atrocities of her father, develops an attraction towards Das and his Naxalite philosophy and sees him as a key to her own independence, happiness and life. Das, on the other hand, unable to overcome the guilt, takes up the job of dredging corpses from water bodies and finds solace in ganja and alcohol.

The author, though takes great effort in describing the horror and brutality faced by the Naxalites in detail, does not take sides as she, through the voice of Vasudevan, one of the police chiefs at the camp, justifies the policemen as just tools in the hands of those who held the power and if not them, someone else would have done the task for the state.

The brilliance of K R Meera, the author can be seen in naming the protagonist as J.U.Das which is later transformed to Judas, the Biblical character to which he assumes similarity, naming the narrator Prema who falls in love with Das and the intense description of the period of Emergency through characters like Vasudevan, Ittiachan and Sunanda.

"Power is a magician's hat. Humans who wear it inevitably transform"

Also, the cover design and illustrations are simply awesome.

Eulogy For A Housefly

Since the day Kevadiya received its first rain of monsoon, I was being pestered by this housefly, who leaving all other employees at office, choose me, an intern who was supposed to be there for just 45 days. He started making daily visits, just like the managers, an hour or so after I had made it to the office. I wondered at how it managed it's way to a closed air conditioned space and yelled at the office boy whenever I saw any door or window open. I knew I was harsh at him, but I couldn't stand this fly. He made his exit just like his entrance, leaving no clue but made sure to show up the every following day. He would first fly in and sit on my laptop screen, then to my keyboard and then to the sheets of paper on my desk, with a catch me if you can attitude. All my attempts to get rid of this nasty creature went in vain and every time I could see him victorious, looking at me with his brown compound eyes and transparent wings which kept vibrating all the time. The buzzing sound of its wings and the rubbing of his hands on every surface it sat made me sick. I made the office boy clean my cubicle twice a day, called my mom for solution toget rid of him and even Googled. Whatever I did was just not enough to get rid of him. I was even skeptical about my personal hygiene and doubled up the use of hand wash and sanitizer just to get rid of this pest. Many at times, I have been subjected to bizarre stares from my colleagues for the way I get annoyed in it's presence. They made fun of me and even called me mad.  This continued for around two weeks and I am sure he has read almost every single word of my internship report. 

Today, it's the last day of my internship. With my report ready and manager on leave, I had nothing to do but waste time surfing Internet. I felt so bored and asked the office boy for a cup of coffee, making sure my friend is nowhere near me. The office boy was surprised to hear this as I always made it to the pantry room, whenever I wanted to have coffee, thanks to my friend. He brought me a cup and to my surprise, along the boy came my friend, as usual with the buzzing sound of it's vibrating transparent wings. The very sight of him took away my interest in that cup of coffee. I left it on the desk and returned my glance back to the laptop screen. A few minutes later, I was not hearing that buzzing sound anymore and as I looked into the cup, I could see him laying there, dead.

Seeing him dead in the cup of coffee, I was happy. I got rid of him forever. I was overjoyed by the fact that I need not feel any  guilt as I had no hand in it. He did it himself. I clicked the pic and looked at his as an achievement of finally putting an end to a 15 day old rivalry. But then, what did this little fly do to me to make me hate it? It was not different from any other housefly. I am not sure even if it was the same one who came in everyday. What is right from my part to click a pic of it's dead, motionless body in a cup of coffee and post it on a social platform?  What is happening to me? Why am I writing all this crap when I can make use of this free time and read a book or do something productive?  

Maybe he wanted to tell me something, to build a friendship with me, give me company or something else maybe.. 

When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi

There are some books which are destined to be read. For me this is one. It was there in my TBR list for quite a while. And then I met two new book lovers, they invited me to their home, showed me their books and offered me a book of my choice from their collection. There were three Murakamis and one Paul Kalanithi. I don't know what made me pick Paul over Murakami. But I don't regret it now. 

Nothing can turn breath to air but death. What happens when you come face to face with the inevitable death? Everyone of us will die. There is no running away from the ultimate truth, death. But we can do something or the other, an act of goodness, a helping hand, which will keep us alive in the memory of others, for a very long time even after we are gone. And I guess that's the only way to immortality.

Reading Paul's transition from a successful neurosurgeon to a cancer patient,  I felt all he wanted to do by writing this book was to give us, the readers, a glimpse at what it is like to face mortality. and tell us the best way to do that is to embrace it with integrity. Not many people can do that. He did. 

I have never felt so touched and moved after reading a book, like I felt while reading When Breath Becomes Air. Maybe this is one such moment for me which make you look back and introspect and live a meaning life, at least from now. After all, it's the way we lived that matters and not the days.

I hope and request everyone who sees this post to read this book. Its not depressing, its inspirational, its about a brave man who lived and died with integrity. 

Paul, you still live in our hearts..

The Science Redemption - Santhosh R

This is one such book which deceives you by it’s cover. Yes, I haven’t seen anything worser than this book’s cover and I am sure had not it been a review copy, I wouldn't have dared to pick this book as my weekend read. Now, that’s something completely within the author’s control, so lets get into the book.

The Science Redemption, as the name suggests is a thriller where the age old science vs God plot is worked on, in a refreshing way. The book has two parts — The Destiny Drive and Redemption : The Chosen One. Both these happens to be part of a book written by the protagonist of the latter one — Dipti.

The Destiny Drive is an extended introduction for the actual story which is narrated in a fast paced and convincing manner in the second part. The characters are introduced and developed in a slow pace and the time frame spans from the time of their births and even earlier in a couple of cases, to the stage where they settle in life with a respectable profession and loving family. A lot of characters come and go in between while the six characters namely Aditya, Pallavi, Sidharth, Sneha, Vivek, Priyanka grow from infants to adolescents, then teenagers and finally matured individuals. There might not be a better reason than the author himself being in medical profession, for him taking this complex plot as the subject for his debut novel. It’s complicated and demands the readers patience while getting into the details of genetics and Big Bang Theory.

The second part, Redemption : The Chosen One sets up the pace and much of the story unveils here. A simple tale of love and friendship narrated in the first part becomes as complicated as it can with our myths, a religious cult, NASA and what not getting involved within a time frame of less than two days shifting from University of Hyderabad to Dwarka and then to Dhanushkodi and ending up at Hyderabad again. Anything more written beyond this would be nothing but a spoiler.

The existence of God has been a matter of debate ever since the concept of scientific thinking came into existence. Man had tried and succeeded in finding the science and logic behind everything that happens around him except on God and the formation of this universe. Many theories have been put forward from time to time, with the Big Bang Theory being the widely popular and accepted one. At the same time, any theory that questioned the hand of God in creating this universe has been subjected to criticism from religious organizations world wide. The book, in a way, reiterates Shakespeare’s famous quote “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;” with a small addition of the script written by none other than God. Many of the protagonists born and brought up as God fearing ones, turns atheists, thanks to the mis happenings in their lives and author with an unexpected and not so convincing climax, makes them believe in God once again.

The author without doubt needs accolades for taking up this complex subject as the plot for his debut novel and the extensive research done in this field. The plot and its complexity draws parallel with the likes of Dan Brown which is really great. This is indeed a promising start and he is definitely a guy to watch out for in the coming days.

Every work has its own flaws and this book is no exception. The biggest let down as mentioned above is the cover design. The book has loads of information on astrophysics and genetics which makes it difficult to digest for young readers. I definitely cannot recommend this one to my teenage cousins who without doubt will demand an explanation for the scientific facts presented in the book, which I myself am mostly unaware of. The plot demands complexity, however the scientific terms and explanations could have been done in a simpler, easy to understand way, which I am sure is easy to say than to actually get it done. The length of the book, especially the first part, could have been trimmed down a little, which I feel wouldn't have done any damage to the overall plot. 

Thanks to my hectic academic schedule, I couldn’t finish the book in a single stretch and often required to re read a few chapters if not from the beginning. The reading without doubt was a hectic process with required me to scribble down facts and later seek Google’s help in getting a better picture. Overall, this is a decent attempt, well beyond my expectations, thanks to the cover design. I would recommend this not to all as it’s strictly not a time pass read but to serious readers who admire writers like Dan Brown. Go for it guys, you won’t be disappointed.

Buy this book online from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.in/Science-Redemption-R-Santosh/dp/9352015533/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458465288&sr=1

The Thirteenth Day - Aditya Iyengar

The first time I came across the name Aditya Iyengar was while reading Mumbai Avengers where Mr. Hussain Zaidi mentioned Mr. Aditya for his creative contribution in the work. Within a week, this book reached me by courier and now, I am writing its review.

The epic Mahabharata, the rivalry of Pandavas and Kauravas and the great Kurukshetra war do not need an introduction for any of us. The story of well known and is quite a good example where the good finally wins over the bad. The Thirteenth Day narrates three days of the Kurukshetra War and the thought processes that went through the minds of the three warriors – Yudhishthira, Karna and Abhimanyu. What make this work stand out with a well known story is that the characters are represented as warriors of 1000 BC dressed in dhotis, wearing metallic armours and fighting with metal and stone weapons.

Yudhishthira, the eldest of Pandavas is well known for his honesty and sincerity rather than his skills at war front. The author presents him almost the same way and most of the time, he finds himself unfit to lead the Pandavas and even attempt to surrender to his enemies so as to put an end to the war and bloodshed. Radheya or Karna, my personal favourite, is one of those characters who earn the readers respect even though he is an ally of the chief antagonist. Born as a Pandava, Radheya was made the king of Anga by Suyodhana owing to which he took side of the Kauravas during the war. Last but not the least, Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna is the real hero of this work of fiction. He is presented as someone who fought so bravely and matched his father for his skills and was killed by the Kauravas in such a way that brought disgrace to the entire family.

The author’s emphasis on these characters, leaving behind Suyodhana, Arjuna, Bhima and Krishna need a special mention here. Many books have been written retelling the same old tale from the perspective of different characters from the epic. The author has picked just three days which decided the fate of the Kuru clan, detailed it from the perspective of three warriors with entirely three different intentions and brought up this book which is highly recommended for those who enjoy mythological works and would like to experience this new take on the great epic.

My rating : 4/5 

Asoka Trilogy 1 - The Prince of Pataliputra

It’s been quite a while since I received this book as a review copy, but my academic commitments delayed the write up. Sincere apologies to all concerned before I start my review.

The rise and fall of Mauryan dynasty and its greatest leader, Emperor Asoka were a part of the history classes of my high school days. The course material was more concerned about the War of Kalinga and Asoka’s subsequent transformation which made him a follower of Buddhism. Asoka is considered as one of the greatest emperors of India and often termed as Asoka the Great.

Founded by Chandragupta Maurya with the primary objective of preserving the Aryan bloodline and safeguarding it against foreign invasions, the empire reached its peak during the reign of his grandson Asoka. The biggest irony of the era is Asoka himself, taking up Buddhism, the spread of which was one of the founding reasons of the empire. However, very little is known about the transcend of power from Chandragupta Maurya to his son Bindusar and then to Asoka. This book gives us a sneak peek into those unknown facts in an intriguing way that the moment you finish reading the final words of the book, you are hit with an urge to pick up The Scourge from Taxila, the second part of this trilogy, which is currently being written.

This book takes us to the days where Chandragupta Maurya was Chanakya’s disciple and the different situations which ultimately take him to the throne as the King of Taxila. The story often shifts between past and present, narrating the story of Chandragupta and Asoka and drawing a lot of similarities between the two. While for Chandragupta there was one Chanakya to guide him, for Asoka there is Radhagupta who masterminds Asoka’s transition from an army general to a contender for the throne of Bharatvarsha. Chandragupta vows to be the people’s leader and fights against the Nandas’ tyrannical rule and the invasion of Alexander the Great. For Asoka, it’s more personal, as he fights against his own half brother after he uncovers the plot by his brother to assassinate him. The work also throws light on the caste system prevalent on the society then, much of which hasn’t changed much today.

This historical fiction has all the necessary elements to make it a thriller worth a read – it has suspense, betrayal, patriotism and beautifully written, yet subtle romance between Asoka and Devi. It beautifully depicts the extent to which the addiction to power and pride would take a man, even if that demands killing his half brother. Though the main protagonist is Asoka, my pick among the characters is Chanakya and to an extent Radhagupta, who himself his Chanakya version 2.0. Chanakya once again proves that wars are not necessarily won on battlefields and takes a calculated step every time, without deviating from the ultimate objective just like a game of chess. With an advisor like him, any Raja can be a Maharaja or Samrat in no time.

Another striking feature of this book is it’s author and I have to admit that he is someone to lookout for, given he has come up with such a well written debut work at the age of 21. I had to go through a few historical references and the 2001 bollywood flick Asoka to get to know more about the scenario, and I have to admit that this is indeed well written if not better than the screenplay of the film. Hats off to you Mr. Shreyas Bhave!!!

Like the other side of the coin, the book has its own flaws. I wish it was well edited and trimmed a bit, thereby making it a racy thriller. To wind up, there is no particular genre lovers for whom I would recommend this book. It’s for all. Go for it and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

My rating : 4/5

A Wild Sheep Chase : Haruki Murakami

I just finished this book. I really don’t know if I understood this fully. Before I read the reviews and get myself influenced by the thoughts and views of others, I decided to pen down what I feel as I change the status of this book from currently reading to read on Goodreads.

Haruki Murakami was a stranger to me till the last week of December 2015. I had seen posts of his books tagged #Murakami on Instagram before but never thought of giving it a try until a couple of my friends (if I could call them so, at least) on the same platform announced a reading marathon scheduled for the third and fourth weeks of January 2016, titled #MurakamiMadness and invited their followers to join them. Me being one of their followers, took up this opportunity to know who Murakami is and expressed my interest to join them. Logging into Amazon.co.in, searching Murakami, browsing through his books and picking A Wild Sheep Chase, though I don’t find any particular reason for that, everything happened in the blink of an eye, but not literally. Everything takes it’s own time. The book was finally delivered to me by the first week of January, making it my first buy of 2016.

There goes the flashback. Coming back to the present, let me write something about the book now. The very first I noticed as I picked up the book was it’s cover. It took some time for me to interpret the red black and white coloured theme and interpret the white half face and black horn of a sheep against a red circular background. The cover is well designed and it is catchy.

It will definitely sound boring if I start now with the usual the story begins with thing. I have no intentions to write about the story or the what ifs or the author’s style. Other than the cover design, the characters are uniquely shaped up as none of them possess an identity called name. The narrator is nameless, so is his ex wife, girlfriend, partner and every single character other than the narrator’s friend, The Rat. The book is even listed as the last part of Murakami’s Rat Trilogy and i definitely have to read the other two works to figure out what exactly this Rat series is all about. Given my tight academic schedule and the long list of books already in my to be read list, it’s indeed going to take a pretty long time, I guess. The Sheep Professor and Sheep Man are two other significant characters in the book.

The book started off as a murder mystery, introduced us to the characters and took a slow pace in establishing the storyline and often left me confused how the story would end. No clues were left to pick up his true intention as we move from the narrator’s failed marriage to his alcoholic business partner and then to the girlfriend. The way the author thinks of his wife, reasons for them falling apart and her new partner could be easily related to the way I think of the persons who are very much alive, but not in my life anymore.

As the name suggests, the book is about a sheep chase. How an advertising executive with an aimless life gets caught in with the sheep myth and leads the chase forms the crux of the story. For me, the sheep was symbolic of life itself. There are characters in the story who had failed after leaving behind everything they had in search of a better life and their experiences influence the narrator in a way he could never even dream of. People who had read this book, if they happen to read this will have views which may or may not disagree with this concept. Even I am pretty sure that it is too early to draw conclusions as I have to cut down the gap between me and Murakami with multiple readings of this book.

If this book happened to be published in India in recent times, I am sure it would be made mandatory to fix the warning “Smoking Kills” on the cover design as almost every single character of the story smokes, many of them, including the narrator himself being a chain smoker. I often felt that cigarette was one of the basic necessity of the characters along with beer, brandy and whiskey and what not.

As I mentioned earlier, the book definitely calls for, if not multiple readings, at least a second reading for sure. I hope I can come up with something better than this then. Till then, this is it.