South Asian Challenge 2011

I have gone ahead and signed up for another Book reading Challenge called South Asian Challenge, hosted by Swapna Krishna at her blog.

I am a little late to join, since the challenge officially stared from January 2011 but it is fine. I still have time till December 2011. This one covers a little more geography. Of course, books on India or by Indians qualify, but I can also include books on and from other South Asian countries.

I am looking forward to the book-filled days and months :-)

Book Reading Challenge 2011

I have been toying with the idea of signing up for one of the Book Reading Challenges for sometime now. The reason being it brings in a lot of discipline and I anyways want to read more books.

I just signed up for Book Reading Challenge 2011. The best part is that this book reading challenge is based on books on India or by Indians. The expectations are not quite high and I think I can do it. 


I just have following objectives with this challenge:

• I will read all the existing books on India or by Indians, which I have been hoarding since ages now
• I will hunt more interesting books related to India, and since I read non-fiction, fiction, everything, it is not going to be too tough
• The contest runs from 1st April to 31st May 2011, which I think I will be comfortable with
• I wanted to bring in more discipline in reading and writing, so hopefully, I would review all the books which I read

Wish me Luck!

Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik

Title: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Publisher: Penguin Books India

Pages: 372

Genre: Mythology

Given my penchant for hoarding books inspired by Mahabharata, I had this one too lying on my book-shelf for months now. After finishing Badrinath Chaturvedi’s ‘The Women of the Mahabharata’ (which by the way is another good book on the subject), I picked this up for reading.

I have read about 10 books on Mahabharata, and if I were to suggest one book that you should read on the subject, I would highly recommend this book. It amazingly captures everything I have read in those 10 books (in just 372 pages with illustrated drawings also for better understanding). The flow is smooth, the language is lucid and it goes much beyond than merely telling a unidimensional story. After every chapter, the author tries to explain the practical aspects behind the stories that we have heard, so that there is better clarity, for e.g., birth of 100 kauravas, birth of 5 pandavas, and several other things. It is perhaps the best thing that the author has done. Otherwise whenever we read such stories we are left wondering how this or that could actually happen, because there is way too much exaggeration.

It is for the first time, I came to know about the story of Shakuni, which I also found on Wikipedia later. The only things I found missing in this book, as also in any other book on Mahabharata that I have read, are a little more perspective on Duryodhan, and a little more about the ‘danveer’ aspect of Karna. Duryodhan has been known to be a good king, while Karna’s danveer nature has been known to all. Otherwise, I found this book perfect.

A few questions which I found myself pondering about, after reading this book were:

• Mahabharata is said to be a war for ‘dharma’ but actually if you see, Pandavas (with help from Krishna) flouted more rules to kill their enemies than Kauravas. The only time Kauravas overlooked the rules was when Abhimanyu was killed in Chakravyuha, and when Ashmathhama lights a fire in Pandava’s camp and also kills Dhrishtadyumna and all five sons of Draupadi. On the other side, Pandavas killed Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Duryodhana and even Jayadratha by folly.
• If you look at it, Pandavas might not have won, had it not been for Krishna
• The irony of Mahabharata was that while the Kauravas were killed and went to heaven, Pandavas were left to rule a kingdom of corpses, widows and orphans.
• Kauravas and Pandavas were fighting for the right to the throne, but the truth was that neither of them were from the true lineage of the Kuru dynasty
• Yudhishthir, in all the books that I have read, comes across as a weak character. He loses everything in the game of dice, even his wife; and when Draupadi gets their freedom back from Dhritarashtra, he again loses his right on the kingdom and gets for Pandavas and their wife thirteen years of exile. What a man!
• How can Yudhishthir be forgiven of the adharma of manipulating his mother’s words to marry his younger brother’s wife!
• There are 2 things which I have never been able to comprehend. First, just because Kunti asked the brothers to share the alms, how can they share a wife! Secondly, why nobody objected to Draupadi’s humiliation in the court. Which dharma allows it?
• Frankly, this so-called dharma elaborated in such detail in the epics have all been written by men and they have some really weird perspectives on what a woman should do.

Well, anyways, this book in undoubtedly fabulous. Go for it. 

Check out my compilation of Books on Mahabharata here.    

Image courtesy: http://devdutt.com

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Title: Mini Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Publisher: Bantam Press

Pages: 392

Genre: Chicklit / Comedy / Contemporary women literature

Though Sophie Kinsella’s 6^th book in the Shopaholic series, has nothing new to offer; yet it is enjoyable and quite a page-turner. To those who are new to this series, ‘Shopaholic’ series follows the antics of Becky Bloomwood (now Brandon), who is a highest degree of Shopaholic. She cannot resist the pull of the word ‘Sale’, branded clothes and ‘Discounts’, no matter how deep she is in credit, whether she has money or not, whether she ‘needs’ the stuff or not….she just has to shop. It is her therapy.

‘Mini Shopaholic’ is based on the premise that Becky’s two-year old daughter is also turning out to be a Shopaholic. However, when you read the book, the main storyline is still about how Becky has really not learnt anything from the several disastrous situations she has faced earlier because of her addiction to shopping. Now, with her daughter Minnie in picture, she has only increased her scope of shopping. In fact, at many instances, she goes completely berserk in shopping stuff for Minnie that are not even going to fit her for a long, long time. Despite at a mature age of 29 years and being a mother, Becky continues to behave like a teenager.

The reader also gets to know that Minnie, Becky and Luke’s daughter, has turned into a spoilt brat, while Becky lives in denial. The story is also about Becky’s surprise birthday party for Luke (her husband), and how things go completely haywire and yet slowly everything fall into place and at the end it is again ‘happily ever after’.

Luke has hardly anything to do in the story; neither does Suze, Becky’s best friend. Becky continues to shop like there is no tomorrow. The story really does not have anything off-beat, it follows the same graph. The success of Shopaholic series, despite its repetitiveness is that somewhere we all connect with Becky. She is our wildest dreams come alive on paper. We cheer for her, when she puts across weirdest logic to shop.

If you are a woman in your 20s & 30s, this book is totally for you. And if you are into chicklit, you cannot give it a miss. Even if you are not big on chicklit, you can try it as a stop-gap between books.

I will give it 8 out of 10, because I had a great time reading it, it was a super-quick read and I really felt relaxed and enjoyed it a lot. 

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

'The Time Traveler’s Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger is essentially a love story, albeit an unconventional one, of Henry and Clare. Henry is a Time Traveler who travels in and out of any of his chronological age, without any control on where and when he would travel; while Clare has a regular chronological life. This almost 600-page, extraordinary page-turner is a beautiful blend of science fiction and romance. It certainly holds its own amongst such timeless classic love stories like ‘Love Story’ and ‘The Notebook’.

Henry De Tamble is suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Chrono Displacement because of which he time travels. During one of his time travels, Henry meets his future wife, Clare, much before he is actually supposed to meet her, and from there starts an amazing and unique love story between them. Henry and Clare keep on meeting at different ages, and pick up the pieces of their love story from where they had left before. It is amazing how Clare falls in love with Henry; while knowing it very well that Henry can never promise her the single most important thing that love promises - ‘to be there for each other always’- and yet they try to create an amazing life together.    

The book is actually written as a series of diary entries by Henry and Clare. It always starts with the age of Clare and Henry at that moment. One might find it a little confusing in the beginning but soon the pieces fit together, and it is easy to get lost in the world of Henry and Clare. Their love story is extremely ‘in the moment’ because they don’t know when, where and in what age they will meet next. But it is not all that rosy, because for Clare, it might mean loving a different person altogether - Henry at 28 and then Henry at 43; people become different when they grow up. For Henry, it is difficult too because when he time travels he is in the frame of mind from where he is coming. Amidst the disappearing acts, Henry manages to do a regular job as a librarian, enjoys a social life with friends Gomez and Charisse, deals with his problems with his dad and also tries to solve the puzzle of his life with geneticist Dr Kendrick. If this is not a roller-coaster life, then what is!

I would give it 4.5 out of 5 for its originality, momentum, grip and amazing characters. I take a 0.5 for a few minor things which I thought were unnecessary in the story. This book is something which one would want to recommend to everyone for a long, long time. 

My latest collection

I have no book reviews yet because since the time I have picked up ‘Tamas’ by Bhisham Sahani, I am stuck. I have reached halfway but the only thing which is keeping me going, at however slow pace, is just my policy of not leaving any book half-read!



Well, after my 10-books frenzy, a couple of days back; I have again bought some more books, some planned, some on the spur-of-the-moment. Here’s the list:


• Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal. Frankly, I had been avoiding this book for a long, long time because I have seen Rashmi Bansal on TV a couple of times and did not like her much…the way she keeps driving the point that she is from IIM and yet how she is not in the rat race, blah, blah, blah. But I wanted to know these inspiring stories of people who have taken the unconventional road and made it big.


• Temptations of the West by Pankaj Mishra. I have bought this book only because I have read Pankaj Mishra’s earlier book ‘Butter Chicken in Ludhiana’ and I wanted to pick something from ‘Travelogue’ section. Hope it is good.


• India: A Million Mutinies now by V.S.Naipaul. This is my first book by Naipaul. Whatever I have read of him online, I look forward to discovering his style of writing and hoping that I like it.


• I feel bad about my neck by Nora Ephron. It was available at steal price of Rs 50, and found the first few pages quite funny…so thought, why not!


• Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss. I have read the author’s ‘Eats Shoots and Leaves’ which was a witty book on Punctuation. Bought it only for Rs 50


• Mein Kampf ......finally! I think the whole world has read this book by now. But I was not ready so far. I got it at the Sale for Rs 100


• The Perfect Store by Adam Cohen. The book is about e-bay. I am fascinated by the potential of online media and really wanted to read this book….one of the first movers! By the way, also for Rs 50


I also bought, some books on Interiors:


• How to Decorate


• Healthy Home

Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

I don’t know what led me to this book, but once I read this, I was certainly hooked to read it:



“In a small town in the heart of India, a young girl is found tied to a bed inside a townhouse where thirteen people lie dead. The girl is alive, but she has been beaten and abused. She is held in the local prison, awaiting interrogation for the murders she is believed by the local people to have committed. Visiting social worker Simran attempts to break through the girl’s mute trance to find out what happened that terrible night. As she uncovers more and more, Simran realises that she is caught in the middle of a terrifying reality, where the unwanted female offspring of families are routinely disposed of. Brilliantly atmospheric, hauntingly real, this is a major debut from an exciting new author.”


The book deals with an important issue of female infanticide in Punjab. Quite a coincidence, these days I have also been watching this serial called “Na Aana Is Des Meri Laado”, which also deals with the same issue. Apparently, the women in the interiors of such places believe that if there are few of them, then they will be valued more. Well, there’s this movie called “Matrubhoomi”, and it is one of the most horrifying movies I have ever seen. One thing is that it is badly made, but the main thing that disturbed me was the premise of the story. The movie is about this woman, “Kalki”, who is the only surviving woman with only men around her. You can imagine what would have become of her.


It is a well-known fact that Punjab-Haryana has the lowest sex ratio across India. Here’s an article on the alarming numbers and how education has not been able to curb this evil, and it stands out as prominently in urban Punjab, as much as it does in the rural areas.


Such strong inclination for a male child is not only for dowry because it is quite prevalent in affluent families as well. The issue is also deeply rooted into property and social status (read stigma).


Coming back to the book. The fact that the writer feels quite strongly about the issue stands out starkly through the book. There are definitely a few shortcomings, but we must give her credit to create such a page-turner, and yet drive home the point. The beginning is as much shocking as much it is intriguing, and sets the stage for the story to unfold. I finished this book in 3 ‘week’-days, with only a few hours of reading each day. It was almost unputdownable - sometimes you were absorbed in the flow, sometimes you rooted for Simran to keep up her spirit, sometimes you got all boggled on ‘who-did-it’! At some point, it also gets quite alarming to just think of what is happening to so many girls, may be our age, may be a few years younger, may be who never could take birth.


I would say it is a worthy book. 

Lounge

I did a post on which magazines I absolutely love and follow, and I have been thinking about adding another of my favourites, but never actually went on to do it. I hardly read any newspaper. Not enough time, is usually my excuse, although I do find time to finish off fat books and watch FRIENDS everyday…mmm well!



The Saturday edition of Mint called Lounge is my favourite, and I make it a point to get it every week. I don’t take it everyday because I’m definitely not interested in financial news, though occasionally I have read the editorials, but that’s that. I like it because it dwells more on Lifestyle, Culture, Food, Travel and well, books! If you can’t get the paper itself, log on to their website.

You can also go through their Archives and read several delightful articles and interesting posts. I first came to know about kitschy Indian-design based firms like PLAY CLAN, DESIGN TEMPLE, HAPPILY UNMARRIED, etc, in one of the articles covered in ‘Lounge’. Even their book reviews are quite nice.

Butter Chicken in Ludhiana by Pankaj Mishra

I had received strong recommendations for Pankaj Mishra’s “Butter Chicken in Ludhiana — Travels in Small Town India”, and that is how I bought it long time back. For quite sometime, I would stop at the book and keep it back on my shelf because I was not too fascinated by a travelogue.


A couple of days back I picked it up for good. Though I took unusually long time to finish it, but I liked it. On certain occasions, I did find a general feeling of aimlessness and regular chatter in the book, somewhere in the middle; yet o be fair to the book, a couple of times I also felt the book was unputdownable. So, basically, it was an interesting read.
The book was written in 1993, with the objective of experiencing and narrating the changing diaspora of Indian society in the small towns, and when the writer chronicled his experiences, he never loses focus.

Being from a small town myself (not even town!); I already know the essence of small towns. The coming of age of people from little hamlets or the transformation of smaller towns is apparent through the lives of several people. Perhaps, the small-town people are more single-minded in achieving things in life. It is a dream that we are all living. Frankly speaking, I never even dreamt about this kind of life. Perhaps due credit should be given to education, more of our parents and less of our generation.
I liked the book, to the extent that I would recommend it to other people and also would like to re-read it in the future. It has also sparked my interest in travelogues. Now I am hunting for some good travelogues. Suggestions are welcome, preferably for good Indian travelogues.

‘Butter Chicken in Ludhiana is an endearing sociological study of small towns in India. Small-talks with different people, short conversations, functions that the writer attends; all of them give glimpses into the psyche of people there and their lives. It makes you nostalgic about your own journey from that small township to the big cities of the modern India. If somebody would have told me, ages ago, while I was still schooling at the tiny township in the interiors of Jharkhand, that I would be staying in almost all the metros of India, I would not have believed. I used to be overawed by city life and had that lack of confidence, which is inherent in almost all small town people. But now I feel proud to have belonged to a place so far off, and yet to be able to build a life here. Unlike, what Pankaj Mishra says, I do not want to shrug off my life there, but I am not hung up on that either. I have always liked ‘present’ than ‘past’.

Coming back to the book, it was easy to relate to the various conversations that the writer has with different people in different places in India. What stands out in a lot of his conversations and observations is that the apparent modernity which the small town people are so desperate to embrace, has actually not reached their thinking. I would say, it is not only with the small towns, yes, certainly more stark there, but one comes across the narrow-mindedness in a lot of city-dwellers also, and it surprises you even more because you are not expecting it.

Small towns are not just the idyllic, romantic, cozy places. Since I am from one, I have complete authority and clarity to comment on this. Small towns are full of their own idiosyncrasy. There is certainly an aspiration for the modernity, to get rid of the small town tag. I remember from my generation, English songs and bands were not part of my teenage. I read Archies only after growing up. But several people would like to associate themselves only with English channels, movies, bands, music, just to drive home the point that they are not into Hindi (read ‘lowly) films, channels, etc.
I am enamored by the books which Mr Mishra mentions in a lot of places. I am also jealous by the fact that he wrote such a book immediately after his education or during (not sure!). Obviously, he is well-read. When he mentions someone as the only person he has met who has read s0-and-so book, I am a little ashamed because despite all my claims about reading, I am still ignorant about a world of books, even classics. Mr Mishra, I am slowly getting there! Don’t judge me :-)

Well, in short, you will like it if you like non-fiction, or travelogues or small town stories, little conversations. It will make a difference if you are yourself from a small town or are inclined towards exploring them. Remember, non-fiction genre are not stories or page-turners, you really have to have a liking for this genre. 

Read more about the book here. 

Getting booked this week!

Time really flies! No matter how much I try being regular on my blog, “time” just beats me! It smuggles away seconds and minutes, and even days. Anyways, that’s not the point. I don’t have a book to review right now, because I am still reading it. It will take atleast 2 more days. By the way, I am reading “Butter Chicken in Ludhiana by Pankaj Mishra”. Quite an interesting book, though a bit slow in few places but worth it. It is next on my review list.

This weekend, I had an overwhelming urge to buy atleast 10 books! First it took me hours to shortlist a few after reading lots and lots of reviews. So, I was not able to buy them during the weekend, but well, I have bought it yesterday! I just love the moment when I receive them through courrier. I cannot define the joy!

Here are the books that I bought:

1. Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
 2. Deaf Heaven by Pinki Virani


3. Doordarshan Days by Bhaskar Ghose


4. Gandhi: Naked Ambition by Jad Adams


5. Harilal Gandhi: A Life by by Chandulal B. Dalal


6. If I am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus

7. Leela : A Patchwork Life by Leela Naidu & Jerry Pinto


8. Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi


9. The Dancing Girls Of Lahore by Louise Brown

10. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger


I am majorly into Non-Fiction these days. I keep on hunting for different kinds of good non-fiction reads. Most of the above books are through Outlook reviews. I also like The Hindu Book reviews.