When Darkness Falls and Other Short Stories

A compilation that once again invites curiosity about the Ruskin Bond way of life.’ Ruskin Bond displays all the qualities of a master storyteller: a deceptively effortless style, an eye for the extraordinary in seemingly humdrum lives, and a deep empathy with his characters. Humorous, sad… More and nostalgic, …a treat for all Ruskin Bond fans.’There is an overwhelming simplicity in all his stories.
A deceptively effortless style, an eye for the extraordinary in seemingly humdrum lives, and a deep empathy with his characters. We make the acquaintance of Markham, a war veteran condemned to a lifetime of loneliness by a tragic accident: Susanna, the merry widow who loved each of her seven husbands to death; the sad wife who returns after her death only to find that her husband has moved on, to another life and another love; a simpleton who outwits a crafty ghost; and Kundan Lal, the reckless rake whom women find irresistible. We also go down memory lane with the author; to Dehra Dun of the 1940s and 50s, when life was simpler and there was space for the small errors of young and eccentric lives. All in all a decent read which can be finished within 2 hours....

Indian Memsahib

Its the untold story of a bureaucrat's wife is an unconventional look into the world of Indian bureaucracy and its fascinating order. The book is an subtle attempt by the author Dr. Suchita Malik at showing how bureaucracy works in certain ways and brings out the conflict between popularity and credibility.
Indian memsahib traces the protagonist - Sunaina's journey from being an ambitious girl who wants to live life on her own terms to an outside bahu - daughter in law in a traditional family set up fighting her love battle to the trials and tribulations of becoming the wife of Raghu , an upright and honest IAS officer.
Naive and inexperienced at the outset of her life and career.Sunaiana looks at life with her own rose tinted glares and harbours great notions of living life on her own terms.Little does she know that destiny is all set to take her through the corridors of power and places where her modern outlook,ideas and fantasies are soon to be juxtaposed with conservative value systems and cold rationality.
The books makes you live through excitement,struggles,challenges,apprehensions and all the ups and downs that define the nuts and bolts of babudom and the life of a bureaucrats life in India.

2 States – Story of my Marriage

Recently on my business trip to India I borrowed the latest Chetan Bhagat book – 2 States from my sister.Chetan Bhagat has had a meteoric rise to stardom and fame over the past decade and truly so a well deserved one.
The fact that he is a star product of the run of the mill social framework of India were completing an MBA from IIM’s post a degree from IIT truly guarantees success in profession and personal life , strikes a chord with wide diaspora of Indians.
The timing of the launch of this book couldn’t have been more opportune as it coincided perfectly with the pre-release of the movie 3 idiots which reignited the reader’s interest with 5 point someone and also this new book.
2 States is a funny book has all the elements of best seller as the story revolves around interstate / intercaste marriage and a lot of married couples can empathise with it. The author touches the throbbing nerve of a typical Indian marriage and how the situation gets murkier in out of caste / state marriages specifically the expectation which the opposing side parents have from each other.
The book also brings out the underlying feelings/ perceptions which North and South Indians have for each other. This myth and perceptions give a lot instances in the book wherein you would smile while reading it.
I have now noticed a trend in Bhagat’s books; all his novels till date have a number in the title i.e –
> 5 Point Someone
> 1 Night @ Call centre
> the 3 mistakes of my life
> 2 States – Story of my marriage

I wonder what is the title of his next book going to be …how about 4 play ….if Bhagat wants to write books in the genre of Shobha De’.Maybe Bhagat just believes in the power of PRIME numbers..I don’t know but for sure his easy to understand play of words and story lines ensure an enjoyable reading always…

2 States is a good buy / borrow…

The Palace of Illusions

Just completed reading "The Palace of Illusions" Chitra Banerjee Devakurni a book I bought out of the sheer act of getting rid of my last New Zealand dollars at Christchurch airport before flying back to Sydney. The book took me down the memory lane way back into the late 80's when the epic Mahabharata was telecast ed on national television in India. Reading the book I was still imagining the same characters who actually played the roles in the tele-serial.

Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The book takes us back to the time of the Indian epic The Mahabharat—a time that is half-history, half-myth, and wholly magical. Through her narrator Panchaali, the wife of the legendary five Pandavas brothers, Divakaruni gives us a rare feminist interpretation of an epic story.
The novel traces Panchaali’s life, beginning with her magical birth in fire as the daughter of a king before following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at the brothers’ sides through years of exile and a terrible civil war. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her stratagems to take over control of her household from her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husband’s most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female voice in a world of warriors, gods, and ever-manipulating hands of fate.The strength of this novel, is the profound thinking that is woven into the main story.

Moreover it is a good refresher on the values the epic is trying propagate and the view which Draupadi has throughout her existence on the various key events.It provides a totally new dimension to ascertain what was good and evil during the epic and how things that are destined to happen..happen with a rationale behind it.

Can't say whether it is a must buy or not for your respective collection but for my friends in Sydney feel free to borrow it from me.

The Lost Symbol

I just completed reading "The Lost Symbol" by the best selling author Dan Brown.

If you are a die hard Dan Brown and cryptic novel fan , then you would enjoy reading the latest creation by Brown with the Masonic culture as a launching point for the thriller.There is no doubt that Brown conducts a thorough study before writing a novel and this book exemplifies none the less.
The book is a long read and not as exciting as its famous predecessors - Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.Moreover the end is anti - climax with the whole issue around the threat to national security being a farce.However , the book is a treat for those intuitive minds who revel in the power of thoughts and Noetic Science , the author clearly outlines that ancient civilizations had achieved a lot in discovery and science and the present day modern science is in just a process of rediscovering the ancient mysteries.
The book builds up a suspense tantamount to Da Vinci however does fail to deliver in the end and reader is left wondering what was the chase all about.The main protagonist - the great symbologist Robert Langdon is again the central character and sometimes his explanation around everything becomes dull and overwhelming.Langdon's rants about religion and truth, when not directly tied to the mystery, are tedious and even a little preachy. In fact, the last 40 pages of the book try a little too hard to be enlightening.
Review in the Financial Times panned the book as "a novel that asks nothing of the reader, and gives the reader nothing back", adding that it "is filled with cliché, bombast, undigested research and pseudo-intellectual codswallop".The digested read by John Crace in The Guardianends with Robert Langdon begging Dan Brown "Please don't wheel me out again."

The book is a one time read for sure and definitely more interesting if you are planning a trip to Washington D.C soon , morever it compelled me to look at the US dollar note more carefully ...I will stop here :)

The White Masai

Just finished reading "The White Masai" a true life story of Corinne Hoffman , a Swiss national who fell in love with a Masai from Kenya.Its truly an extraordinary love story which surpassed the racial and cultural barriers.
What is even more amazing , is that Corinne herself was handicapped in communicating in English whilst she travelled first to Kenya with her boyfriend.Its a story of love at first sight and how two individuals in spite of coming from two different backgrounds stayed together and communicated with each other using sign language and broken English.
The novel unfolds into the daily struggle faced by the Masai people and how daily existence is a struggle , makes one feel privileged to have what we have in our respective lives.It also makes the reader think whether people can fall in love at the first sight and how does one find out who / what is the best possible situation for us to be in ....all though I had my one set of questions in terms of how could the protagonist - Corrine fall in love in a second and also than was able to justify her decision to stay and settle in Kenya...leaving behind a very luxurious lifestyle in Biel,Switzerland.
The novel has been made into a movie and was a hit in the foreign language film category.Its a must read for those who believe in hope , the power of love and want to make the world a better place.
Anyways the novel does have a twist at the end ...and makes up for a nice read overall...

Lookout for more reviews coming up...