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.

When Our Worlds Collide - Aniesha Brahma

I just finished reading this book. Long back, I had signed up for Writer's Melon and I have been receiving mails from them frequently. To be frank, I never paid them much attention. Two days ago, I was at home, enjoying my forty five days long winter vacation at home with books and movies. I received a mail from Writer's Melon which was about an Xmas gift - Kindle copy of When Our Worlds Collide by Aniesha Brahma. I immediately replied and in no time, I had a copy of the book in my Kindle. The title and cover gave me an impression that the book might be a chick flick. Left with no other option, I cursed myself for the impulse and went ahead with the book. Looking back, I have no regrets reading the book. Rather I am impressed by the author and indeed looking forward to read her other works. 

When Our Worlds Collide narrates the story of Akriti. She is presented as an introvert twenty three year old girl who lives in a world confined to herself and the cafe owned by her mom to some extend. There are no friends for her except Ayoub, who works part time at her cafe. She justifies the loneliness in her life by stating that she could not be hurt by anyone. The novella is about Akriti meeting Zayn, her friend Nimmi's boyfriend and rediscovering herself, her life and even though the way it ends is unconventional, I would like to call it a happy ending.

I don't want to add any spoilers here and I am not going to write anything revealing more about the story. The story did connect to me as all those characters were well described and could be related to people around me. The story is not an outstanding one. Yet, its something that could happen in any of our lives. The events that unfold as we progress through the chapters are nothing strange. I have to mention the conversations between Akriti and her dad which is the best part of this book for me. Even though we may feel bad for her Dad for making Akriti's life miserable, the author makes sure that he had his reasons too and he was right in his perspective.

While approaching the last pages of the book, I didn't want this book to end in the same old fashion as most of our young adult fiction ends - And they lived happily ever after. Its not something that happens in our lives and when I finished the book, I was glad and hence I started writing this book.

Akriti, her friends Ayoub and Zayn and her cafe will not be easily forgotten.

Thank you Writer's Melon and Aniesha. 

Those Were The Days - N.S. Ravi

There are some books which deliver completely out of the box, unexpected stuff once you finish reading the pages. Those were the Days by N.S. Ravi is one such book where the author attempts to address the present generation about the transitions in lifestyle that took place through the days as seen through his eyes.

The thirty chapters in the book address almost each and every aspect of life, from pencils and pens to bosses and financial institutions. These chapters are written in the form of letters to the author's kids. The way he presents his views and co relate it with the present generation needs appreciation. Many of us, the present generation may find the facts presented through the chapters odd and unbelievable. Yet, it's true. We have to accept those facts. It may sound strange, but we had those days where having a fountain pen or a land line telephone connection at home was a luxury.

The author had worked in India as well as overseas, both in public and private sector and hence the experience he has is huge. The facts presented in the book prove the same. One needs a great observation skill, memorizing power and a good command over the language so that he can sum up those observations, organize and present them in a way that keeps the readers hooked. Mr. Ravi has succeeded in this aspect and it would be unfair for him if the efforts go unappreciated.

Like any other creative piece of work, this book also has its own pros and cons. The only minus point which I felt while reading was the way the chapters were presented. Though it was in the format of letters addressing his kids, it lacked those emotional aspects which would be there in any dad-kid conversations. The book would have been the same even if the address to his son and daughter was not there. This opinion is personal and I am sure many of the readers may find this style interesting.

Hope someone from our generation also brings up such a book years later so that we can also sit back, cherish those moments and say THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!

P.S. Highly recommended for those who like to get immersed in that feeling of nostalgia and pride of those days as you progress through the pages.

My Rating : 3.5/5

Stuck In Love - A Movie I Watched and Fell In Love with

Stuck In Love - A movie I watched and Fell in Love with

What am I doing? I am supposed to be preparing for my quiz now. Unfortunately i spent my evening watching this lovely film Stuck In Love which drove me to write about it. Till today morning, I literally had no idea there was a movie by this name or it was this damn good. I was busy with room cleaning where I went through an article written by Parshathy Jayanath who happened to be my senior at high school. She is now working for The Hindu and she had written about this movie. I read the article. Not once but thrice. I got hooked on to something. I don't know if it is because of the theme love and relationships or the story was about writers. She even wrote about buying a book that was mentioned in the movie. By the time I finish reading the article for the third time, I had made up my mind. I am going to watch this one.

It was evening seven when I was done with my work. The movie was short - just ninety six minutes long. I don't want to talk about the director's vision or the performance of the lead artists. I have not seen anyone of them before and all I can say is I just loved the Bill, Erica, Samantha and Rusty on screen. The story and screenplay just swiped me off my feet. It is about love, its complexities and human relationships. The way we people in India see relationships is far different from those in the West, but the inner feelings remain the same. At least I believe so. We have a beautiful father-son and father daughter relationship, a separated husband-wife relationship, the usual boyfriend girlfriend stuff and hook ups and one night stands.

Love in any form is the most beautiful emotion experienced by anyone of us. It's the driving force or motivation for each and everything that is taking place on this world. You can fall in love with anyone anytime and anywhere. The way you take it forward is what matters the most. With the passing of the initial excitement, egos, doubts and misunderstandings take over the mutual feelings. It's then where you are left with no other choice other to hold on or let go. None of us can go back in time and relive those moments or correct those mistakes. They were not even mistakes at that point of time. All we can do is give our loved ones a second chance. As Goutham  Vasudev Menon said in Neethane En Ponvasantham, "Sometimes a second chance is the best gift you can give to someone you love and if you love someone, a second chance is the best gift you can give yourself."

Anyways, the Borgens family is not going to leave me in the near future. I just loved this movie and to highly recommend this movie to everyone. To end this without the beautiful quote from What We Talk About When We Talk About Love would be a sin.

"I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making. Not one of us moving. Not even when the room was dark."

Love In The Time Of Dengue

I am greatly indebted to Gabriel Garcia Marquez for the title of this blog. I haven't ready the classic Love In The Time of Cholera though I do own a copy of that. This blog is about a very short phone conversation I had with my kootukari yesterday.

We, me and my kootukari parted ways against my wish long back in mid 2014 and since then it was a life in solitude for me. To be precise, it's my four hundred and  twelfth day of solitude today. I took pretty long time for me to realize the facts and accept my faults. By then, everything had fallen apart beyond any chance. I never gave up and never will. I hope life will give me second chance, sooner or later.

Days and weeks and months went by. My feelings for her still remain the same. I am still optimistic. Currently, a post graduate student at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Madras,  I have everything to be happy and cheerful as my well wishers say. To their dismay,  on my second week at Campus, I was admitted at the institute hospital for fever, vomiting and severe headache and later diagnosed with dengue.

This was a real test for me. I have never been subjected to this kind of torture by my own body. My head was giving me a feeling of bursting every now and then. I still don't know how I managed to attend lectures. I was throwing up every single drop that went inside my mouth. The only fuel that ran my body machine was the saline drip given to me daily from the institute hospital. The doctors at the hospital were on shift. However they were informed about my case and did everything needed. So were the staff nurses there. My admire and respect for the medical profession grew manifold this time too.

It's when you go through tough times, you miss your loved ones the most. I miss her every second I live. Since my platelet count was declining day by day, I was feeling weak and sleepless. It was the four hundred and tenth day of my solitude. I Whatsapped her about my condition. She might have thought it as a n act to get attention or sympathy. Nevertheless I badly needed to talk to her. The conversation was short, limited to my sickness. The conversation ended with she asking me to take care of my health. It was quite formal. Still I felt good. At night, she WhatsApped me to ask about my condition. Its not very common to get a text from her as there used t be no conversation between the two of us, unless until I started one.

Next day. My four hundred and eleventh day of solitude. I was greeted by a " Good Morning. Hope you are feeling better now" text from that special person. It was the first time in ages she was sending me a good morning text. All the time her reply to my good morning text was just a morning. I saw my phone's notification light blinking as I came to room after having breakfast. I thought it was my Dad's missed call. Upon looking on the screen, I had three missed calls, two from my Dad as expected and the third from the totally unexpected person - my kootukari. I cannot remember the last time she called me. A couple of months ago. maybe.

I called her back. She didn't pick up. She called me back. I don't know how I felt or rather how to write how I felt then. This conversation was also about the infection - treatment, medicines and all. I lasted for about 10 minutes. It was me who did almost all the talking. She was more of a listener, with a few occasional questions about food and travel to class and mess. It was not romantic. It was not even a friendlier one. Very short and formal. Still,   I felt good. If this condition of mine made her call me, i never want to get cured of this dengue. I believe if love is lost, life is lost. My beloved dengue, please stay with me, for me to be with her the way I used to, for the remaining days of my life.

Rahul Mohan

Letter to GOD

Dear God,

I am not an atheist. At the same time, I don't encourage the practice of worshipping at temples, churches or mosques. Think good, do good - for me as well as for others. That's my principle of life. I believe in one supreme power, creator of this universe but am against the concept of the screenplay of our lives already written by that Supreme Power. My life is made by my thoughts, deeds, words and actions. As long as none of them hurt or cause trouble to others, I don't find a reason for pain and sorrow.

Today, 28th December is my birthday. 23rd to be exact. I know I am too young to introspect and lack experiences that can help me understand life in a better perspective. Still, I am going ahead only because this pain and loneliness that I am going through now is too much to withstand. I need an answer before things fall apart beyond my control.

As a single child, I have been blessed with a Dad and Mom who have lived their lives for me. Every wish of mine, regardless of whether I deserve it or not, were fulfilled by them. All I gave them back was pain and tears. I could never be son my parents wanted me to. Not that their expectations or standards were too high, beyond my reach. But I couldn't. I am trying my best to be a good son, a son my parents can be proud of. Can you tell me why?

The girl of my life, my love, my dear koottukari is not with me anymore. She is there somewhere regretting of the relationship she had with me. I couldn't give anything to her expect tears and pain. She tolerated my possessiveness to a level which I think no other girl can do. I respect her for that. I can never love her enough to let her go. I want her with me, by my side. Now I know I can never have her in my life. With all my pain and loneliness, I was living a life without dreams hoping she was happy. But the truth is something else. I wish I could be with her, as a silent listener at least so that she could have someone to open up. But I am denied of even that. Whatever I do are irritating and stressing her up which is the last thing I want to do. It is clear now, I have to walk out of her life. As soon as possible. Can you tell me why.?

My mom is a strong believer of you and she believes everything happened for good. If so, can you tell me what good has happened to my dad,mom and her because of me? Why did u create me? To hurt everyone and be the reason my dear ones' tears? How long should I go through this shit? And what for? I have never hurt anyone intentionally. Never. If anyone was hurt, don't I deserve a chance to correct myself? Why can't I be trusted?

Today, I don't have any dreams,aims or hopes. Everyday I go to sleep with the hope of not waking up ever after.  Death,the biggest reality of life is what I wish for. If I am wrong and you exist and you decide our lives, please God, take me to hell and save these people. I love them so much, and I desire to be loved and forgiven.

God, if you are reading this, kindly help me out. I want to be a good son to my parents and a good friend to my kootukari. I have no one else to beg for.

Rahul.

God Is A Gamer - Ravi Subramanian

GOD IS A GAMER – RAVI SUBRAMANIAN

Okay..here we go…God Is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian. So..I finally finished this bitcoin thriller from the master author of financial thrillers. This is the first book I preordered on Flipkart and still I don’t know why I did so. May be because I had read The Bankster by the same author and liked it.

God Is A Gamer, again is set against the backdrop of an international bank. The story is spread across India and US. A thriller by the tagline itself, the author introduces us against all those characters who can be the ultimate culprit. A murder followed by its investigation, series of other events linked to the murder taking place in India and US simultaneously, FBI and CBI agents and the unavoidable factor, the bank – New York International Bank.

The suspense of the story is good, well packed, not leaving any clues for the readers till the final chapter. The author has to appreciated for his knowledge and research he had done in bitcoins – the virtual currency which can be the future. I feel the story cannot be called a bitcoin thriller just for the fact that its mentioned somewhere along the storyline. The story would be the same more or less even if the bitcoins were replaced by normal currency.

To sum up, Ravi Subramanian’s latest outing with bitcoins, God Is A Gamer falls short of my expectations. Its not a bad book either. A book that falls in th same genre of all those previous books by the author, its indeed a ravi Subramanian thriller. I sincerely wish Mr. Ravi Subramanian leaves his comfort zone and start exploring other backgrounds other than banks to come up with great thrillers.

My rating : 2.5/5

HER - A Spike Jonze Love Story

Well, this is the first time I am writing about something other than a book. This film was there in my harddisk for the last couple of months but I managed to watch it last week only. Now, by the time I am writing this, I had already watched it twice and can watch it n number of times without getting bored.

Her, the film written and directed by Spike Jonze had Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson in lead and was released in the year 2013. It went on to win critical acclaim and Spike Jonze won the Best Original Screenplay award at the 86th Academy Awards.

As I don't want to be an IMDb or Wikipedia, I am not going to elaborate on the story or its technical side. I just watched the film without even pausing for a single moment and had a feeling of watching a good movie after it was done. As far as I am concerned, a film is good if the viewer can carry something from the movie in his heart at least for a couple of days – be it the story, a character or even a scene or dialogue. So Her is so good as Theodore and Samantha are still there in my mind, not willing to leave my thought process at least for now.

Theodore and Samantha are the lovers of the future. This tech savvy world without doubt will turn out into a place where we humans don’t feel for other humans; instead we depend on technology to be our partners – in work, love and life. As we are going through an era where we smile more at our smartphone screens than at any of our fellow beings, falling in love with someone who don’t actually exist or rather exist in a virtual world created by ourselves is not going to surprise anyone.

Whether you fall in love with a real person or an OS, once you are in love, the feelings are the same. We feel the magic in our hearts when we spend time together, we miss each other when we are apart, we care for each other, we dream together and work together to make that dreams come true, we share everything – our secrets, fears, likes, dislikes we argue, fight and say sorry and to some extend we even feel jealous and insecure when the person we love spends time with someone else, maybe a friend or colleague. Human feelings remain the same no matter how much advancements we make in the fields of science and technology.

To be personal, Theodore reminded me of myself which is one of the reasons why I can write any number of pages about this movie and the character himself. Samantha is so caring and loving that any guy will love to have a girl like her by his side. But her heart as she said is not a box to be filled with love, it expands the more you love. By letting a third person walk into your life and become a close friend, a person can still have the same feelings for his/her lover. At the same time, being committed in a relationship, we have to make choices – either we are theirs or not. The scene where Samantha confesses her conversation with eight thousand three hundred and sixteen others while talking to Theodore and her relationship with six hundred forty one of them is really heart touching. I guess I got the numbers right. Even if it’s wrong, it’s ok.

To sum up, Her is a fantastic love story of the future which is a must see film for everyone who love romantic tales. The film was released last year and the critics and viewers had already given their verdict. If u have missed this wonderful film, make sure you watch it soon.

I Too Had A Love Story & Can Love Happen Twice? - Ravinder Singh

My thoughts on I TOO HAD A LOVE STORY & CAN LOVE HAPPEN TWICE? by RAVINDER SINGH

It has been almost two weeks since I finished reading Ravinder Singh’s two bestsellers – I Too Had A Love Story and Can Love Happen Twice. First of all, I would like to apologize all my friends who suggested me reading these books which I neglected calling them chick flicks and below standard during my college days.

Before I share my thoughts on the two, I would like to thank my dear koottukari ( a female friend in English) for mentioning the first book in one of our last WhatsApp chats. Reading that book made her miss me so badly that she texted me. This made me rethink and finally give the book a try.

I TOO HAD A LOVE STORY - A book with a not-so-great story. A love story with a sad ending. We had read such stories in the past. We have seen them on the celluloid. Still..we start loving the book and the characters once we start reading it. It is our story. A love story which we can relate to our personal life. Most probably it may remind many of us of our First Love. As we go on reading, Ravin & Khushi become the reader and his love. Keep apart the backgrounds of the characters and their life. The emotions they underwent are the same as many of us had undergone in the past. Many of us going through the emotions now and many are yet to fall in love. The way they met, they interacted, the texting, late night calls – everything is the same. It is not something new. This novel never told anything new. But I believe it touched the heart of every reader at least for once during the course of reading.

This book is Ravinder Singh’s tribute for his love. Not everyone can transform their emotions into words and finally into a heart touching novel. But all those readers who remembered their lost love after reading this book, the drops of tears that came out from their heart, that is their tribute. The signature of destiny can take away dear ones from our life forever. The memories but stays forever. Like I read somewhere today, don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

CAN LOVE HAPPEN TWICE?  I never asked this question ever in my life as I never thought a life with some other person. But for those who had either lost their love or broken up and moved on, this question is relevant. Our emotions are so complex in nature that we can never be sure of what is going to happen in the very next second. To meet a person, to like each other, to be friends, to get close and know each other- both pros and cons, to fall in love and finally reveal it – It may or may not happen. But in the story, Ravin meets Simar and finally falls in love. Relationships are the best things that can happen to anyone in their lifetime. Be it a romantic relationship, friendship or a parent child relationship. This story is also tragic. But compared to the first, its more heartbreaking as it’s a break up that ends the relationship in this story. BREAK UP – a word that I hate the most. Death and birth are inevitable. When a person dies..it is beyond our control. It’s beyond our limits. We cannot do anything but live the rest of our lives in the memories of the past. But a break up is an entirely different thing. People may advocate a break up saying it’s for the good or no one commits to break up in future or if two persons cannot find a way together, it’s better to part ways and stay happy. They may be right. But I would like to find a reason to hold on in spite of a million reasons to part ways. Call it my selfishness..but I cannot let anyone be her best friend and love and her kid’s dad. Move On. The new mantra for all heartbroken friends out there. It’s not easy. As happened to Ravin, depression is the other option. We may not wish for it..but moving on might seem a bit difficult. The author gives a hope at the end by saying Simar packs her bag to meet Ravin and what happens next is known only to the author. Since life do not have happy endings always, let us hope for a happy ending for Ravin and Simar’s love story. After all, it’s the happiness for which we live, we work, we fall in love and even we BREAK UP.

I was even tempted to write down my story once I finished reading this book. But I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore. I recommend these two books to all those who had been in a relationship, who are in a relationship and all those who might be in relationship sooner or later. Leave aside the novelty, the freshness of the story or any other stupid reason critics may find. I am sure it will touch your hearts and if it does, it is the success of the author.

I would like to thank my koottukari once again for mentioning this book and for all those beautiful moments you gave me. Hope you are safe, healthy and happy. I can assure you both the first two but I am not sure whether you are gonna be happy with me. That is the only reason what is holding me back. Thank you.

“The longings for someone who is not gonna come back are heartbreaking. They are nothing but tears”

                                                                         Rahul Mohan

The Bankster - Ravi Subramanian

Finally I am done with Ravi Subramanian’s The Bankster. Its been a while since I read a thriller and that was the main reason why I ordered this book on Flipkart after reading the reviews. Now let me share my thoughts (as I would like to call it rather than review) on the book.

The story as mentioned is a financial crime based thriller that progresses through two main subplots – one through a series of events that take place at Greater Boston Global Bank (GB2) and the other one in Kerala where protests are being carried out against the commissioning of a nuclear plant.

Be it Krishna Menon, an elderly man with some clear intentions fighting against the commissioning of a nuclear plant which may threaten the life of thousands or Jayakumar who joins Krishna Menon on his mission or Vikram, Head of Retail Banking at GB2 or Tanuja, HR at GB2, all the main characters have been described clearly not leaving any clue about the suspense. Most characters have a shade of grey leaving the reader suspecting them to be antagonist. Only disappointment was the mentioning of Karan Panjabi as the protagonist on the rear side of the book who actually appears in the story almost halfway only. This left me waiting for his appearance all the way killing the thrill a bit.

Starting at Angola, the story then shifts to GB2 in Mumbai and then to Kerala. From then on, the story progresses with alternate chapters which take place in Mumbai and Kerala. Being a suspense thriller, I think its unfair to discuss the story in detail.

The story had n number of characters which I found difficult to remember as I was not reading the book in a single stretch, reasons owing to my profession. Not a single character appears for just the sake of it which makes it a neat thriller. The story takes a big turn with the series of murders of GB2 employees who came close of revealing a financial fraud which leads to the introduction of the chief protagonist, Karan Panjabi, an ex GB2 employee and how he solves the mystery in the next few days forms the rest of the story.

The author is successful in telling the story through the subplots which are well connected without deviating much from the main storyline. However, like most thrillers, most of the clues through which the mystery was solved lacked solid backup. I felt it was left for Karan Panjabi to just check it rather than discovering it. It was an easy task for him. All the clues and evidences left in front of him, he had no serious role other than summing them up and unravelling the mystery.

On the whole, The Bankster is a good thriller which was more than what I expected when I bought this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read books belonging the thriller genre. Looking forward to othe books from Ravi Subramanian.

My rating – 3/5