2017 - List of books

So its that time of the year when I come back to my much neglected blog and put up my reading list of previous year. Something I have been doing throughout this decade along with my cousins who have a much bigger and super interesting  year end book lists put up on their blogs here & here.

Well back to the list, this year all my reading was done on Kindle ebooks which has been a conscious decision and over the last 2-3 years I migrated to mostly ebooks and this is the first year it has been exclusively ebooks. I don't think its the future ( it may well be), but I think this makes it much easier to read as I do read using my laptop and even Mobile phone. So makes it much easier and reading on phone is one of the reasons I have been able to progress with my reading this year.

Enough of analysis, without further ado here is the list and some thoughts on a few books

1.Open - Andre Agassi

Really enjoyed this one. Like several books in this list, this was a book I wanted to read for a long time having seen most of the matches/tournaments described in the books during my childhood days. I was a huge Sampras fan but towards the later stages of his career I did not mind Agassi winning. The book is like its title, really open and was an entertaining read. I hope to read the one from Sampras this year to see how things stack up the other end of the court. I don't think anyone can match the colorful narration from Agassi though!

2.Things Fall Apart: African Trilogy, Book 1 by Chinua Achebe

Recommended by my friend Ramki, this was an excellent read and is a classic I guess. Story of clash of traditional/animist culture with Colonialism & christianity

3.Ghachar Ghochar  by Vivek Shaunbag & Srinath Perur

4.NW: A Novel by Zadie Smith

5. Moonglow: A Novel by Michael Chabon

6.A Farewell to Walmart by Carly J Hallman

I decided to try something different from usual fare and picked some Kindle singles - which is books from new/upcoming authors and this being set in rural Texas not very far from where I live made me pick it up. Was about growing up in small town America and the impact of Walmart on the local economy and life of folks there.

7.Paper or Plastic? : The grocery store chronicles by Ricky Bylina

Kindle pitched this to be based on the one above - its diary account of a person who recently retired and decided to work an year as night shift checkout clerk at a local big brand grocery store

8.Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Had heard a lot about this one and it really was a page turner! Filmy yes but readable as well and glimpse into world of nouveau riche from Asia

9.Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike - by Phil Knight


10.Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier - by Edward Glaeser

11.River of Gods by Ian McDonald

Dystopian sci-fi set in future with AI out loose trying to escape humans and running amok, might seem standard stuff but what made this interesting for was this being set in India of 2047 ( a century after independence) which has split into several nations at war/conflict with each other over water. AI has progressed to attain consciousness and there is a squad to catch rogue AI called Krishna cops. The story is mainly set in Varanasi on the banks of river Ganga. He also introduces a new neutral gender ( nutes) and the story is a mismash of several characters and how their lives intersect which is standard potboiler stuff, but having this set in India  and incorporating some Indianness in the concept made it a really good read for me

12.A Walk in the woods - Bill Bryson

I read one book from Bill Bryson every year and this one was about his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail . Interesting and hilarious with loads and loads of trivia and information tossed in as usual was a good read for me.

13.Consider Phlebas: Culture Series, Book 1 - by Iain M. Banks

Among the best stuff in science fiction perhaps, really liked this intro to culture series which I heard several times earlier and finally decided to start this year. Enjoyed this one and hope to read more of this series in 2018. Excellent stuff!

14.Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations - by Thomas L. Friedman

15.Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment - by Michael D. Smith

16. The second machine age - by Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee

17. Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money - by  Nathaniel Popper

Good accessible primer on origins and history of the most discussed term of the year perhaps - Bitcoin. I thought it gave a good idea of how bitcoin originated and looked at its evolution and adoption through the people behind it from libertarians to cyberpunks and tech geeks to dark web pioneers to astute businessmen and silicon valley VCs who were able to see the future. The concept of bitcoin and 'blockchain' piqued my interest sometime in the middle of this year and I quickly realized learning about the fundamentals is more important that the price action and this was one the first books I read to learn more.

18. The Ivory Throne  by Manu S Pillai

Last year I read a book on Vijayanagar empire and decided to try and read at least one book every year related to South India. So it was Kerala this year and this book by Manu S Pillai on travancore royal family through last few centuries with focus on the ruling queen Sethu Lakshmi Bai. Very well researched and narrated and a good read for anyone interested in Kerala's history. Covers this mostly from ruler's perspective from 1500s onwards but also spends time covering the customs and practices as well especially the matrilineal system and how women had much better rights in the medieval society than modern one! Highly recommend this one

19. Fifty Inventions that shaped the modern economy by Tim Harford

Fascinating stuff, the only book from 2017 in this list. I had listened to Tim Harford on BBC podcasts talking about this and was sufficiently intrigued to pre-order this book. Was a good read

20. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything - by Chris Hadfield

I had attended some training session in office and a guy played some cool videos and this was one the books the guy in the cool video suggested.

21. Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan

Having lived for 6 months in Dubai and having interacted with folks there I have heard about the life there first hand. By now most folks know that life in desert paradise is not easy for the immigrant worker with minimum rights and how they get fleeced and are 'kept in their place' even though they do end up earning several times what they make back home in Indian subcontinent. This book covers all that and explores what these identity-less/powerless temporary migrants to gulf nations (who are in fact majority of the population in those nations) go through but is told with inventive prose with dash of magical realism thrown liberally. Just like gleaming immaculate cities in desert nations which look fantastic at surface but you really peer closer you see all the inequalities, injustice and stuff. The book I think is not everyone's cup of tea, there is not a single straight forward story, but most of them are metaphorical takes. I think through the surreal stories he conveys the rigid hierarchical and racist society and the precarious world of a lowly migrant worker and covers some instances when these worlds clash and disastrous consequences. Knowledge of Malayalam was a big plus while reading

So that's the list, 21 this time. 

Did I say 21 books, may not be much but 20 was the lofty target I had set for myself for 2017 and glad I actually crossed it. I covered a lot of ground middle of the year when I was working from home and had relatively light work load between projects. I wanted to read a little more fiction this year as I was moving towards reading non-fiction by default and wanted to break that habit. So this time it was 8 fiction and 13 non-fiction which seems to be good ratio, since I don't get time to sit down and read mostly and get disturbed often. Except for 4 books, all the rest were borrowed from library for free so big thanks to US library system and their Kindle integration which made it really easy for me to put 'holds' get notified via email and click a link and add it to my Kindle effortlessly.

I'm hoping to read more varied list of books in 2018, I'm positive I may not make it to 20 with all the learning targets I have set for myself. Last year I spent a lot of time trying to reequip myself with more skills to succeed careeer-wise and enrolled in a few programs in Coursera. I hope to spend lot more time on those things this year and so setting myself a target of 15 books and also hoping to use Goodreads at least this year. At least it will make putting this list up easy!

2016 - List of Books

This is the annual list of books post that I have been putting up for 5-6 years now. Someone did ask me earlier this year what was the point of counting books, thats a good question. I love reading but unlike in past there are several other things to occupy your time and sometimes setting targets is what helps us do even things we like.  Putting up this sort of list does motivate me to spend some more time reading rather than watching tv or some other activity and does give an opportunity to talk about it with others and hopefully get to know about some more good books.Was not hoping to read too many books this year with all that excitement in life and was pleasantly surprised that I did read 16 books. Not bad at all!

Massively helped by Kindle, I'm so happy I decided to switch to e-books a few years back that has certainly helped me read quite a bit. Now lunch time at office or waiting for car to be serviced etc has been transformed easily into reading time. Sure it is not like a holding a physical book, but a good book is a good book it makes you forget the quality of print or if it is electronic and just transports you into a different universe

Again another year with minimal fiction, just read 2 I think and all others have been non-fiction. That phase of life I guess :)  Also the list below does not cover several baby and parenting books I read

So without much ado the list for 2016 :

1.Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson

Bryson has become of my favorite authors for his style of narration and this was a delight as Bryson revisits Britain. Great combination of humor and interesting insight and trivia, read this book on and off and books like this are ideal for reading this way.

2.City of Victory: The Rise and Fall of Vijayanagara - Ratnakar Sadasyula

This is about Vijayanagara empire, how it rose to glory and how it faded away. This is written by someone I know, the author is an IT professional who I had interacted with on social media. He is an avid quizzer and trivia buff and it is wonderful to see someone successfully move from writing code to writing books as well!  This was a good read and also hoping to read more on other South Indian kingdoms

3.One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment - Mei Fong

Chinese growth and policies were always object of wonder for folks like me from a chaotic democracy where consensus evolves over time and radical decisions are very rare. As with any system there is always something that is wrong even if things look well. The book is solid reporting at ground level of the damage wrecked by one-child policy imposed by the rulers on China. Author believes this was the most damaging policy decisions taken ever in the world and explores various facets of this decision and the impact on the country. It is equally tragic and horrific, the tales that emerge of parents who have are forced into late term abortions or kids snatched away. Almost like the cultural revolution but this time accepted better by people who believed this was for the good of the nation. I was more looking for people stories and how a whole generation of kids without any siblings are coping, how a two single kid families support their parents and Fong does cover that but not in detail. The scope is pretty vast as she makes her case against this policy which the govt of China eventually relaxed recently

4.Playing It My Way: My Autobiography - Sachin Tendulkar

Written by Boria actually, it was truly bore ya!

I perked up when I read passages related to Multan test, when Dravid declared with Sachin at 194. Sachin was upset then and he still is at being denied a shot at double hundred, he truly believes the landmarks count as well and does not see this a purely individual thing! Mumbai thing I guess. Guru Greg is slammed as well with some stories of how bad he was and there is some personal anecdotes but otherwise was a snoozefest. It was readable for sure, but no one reads the autobiography of India's most popular cricketer and most famous sportsperson to get highlights reel with scorecard ( yes they actually had it in the book) of most of the matches. Instead of free spirited Sachin of 90s, it was a painful accumulator on view. Expected a bit more from my most favorite cricketer


5.The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts - Joshua Hamme

'Timbuktu' in the title caught my attention, this is an incredible true story of how some ordinary folks waged an extraordinary resistance against Islamic terror reign of Al Qaeda in Mali to save huge trove of precious centuries old manuscripts. Good story it was, thriller as the title seems to suggest it was not. Also led me to read up quite a bit on rise of Islamic terror in Africa and also covered Islamic world in Africa with its own culture of music and various traditions and laws before Wahhabi ideology spread


6.When to Rob a Bank: ... And 131 more Warped Suggestions and Well Intended Rants - Steven D Levitt

7. The World of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin

When season 6 of Game of thrones ended, after a few weeks I started missing the world of Westeros and then found this companion book in my library and borrowed it on my kindle. This was written by GRRM along with some other assistants to give fans something to read while he takes eternity to write the next book. This was lightweight stuff, history of Westeros and covered some good background to the whole story was a fun read. The book is not Martin or any author narrating events straight forward, rather interestingly this is shaped like a modern history book which pieces together events from various sources or narrators some of which even contradict each other and the book writer deduces what might have happened and presents it to us

8.The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories - Ken Liu

9.Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide (Kindle Single) (Pottermore Presents) -J.K. Rowling

10.Harry Potter and the Cursed Child* - John Tiffany, JK Rowling,

Having lived through the mass frenzy that accompanied a Potter book release since book 4, it was a chance to relive those days. I did wait a few days for reviews and it was poor as expected, was tempted to give it a miss but then saw this at Costco one day and just did an impulse just like several others I end up buying at that store! Thought my mom or sis will like to read it but they didn't seem all that impressed. HP series seemed to have a good run and a perfect ending which satisfied almost everyone which is hard task indeed. Having achieved that any such attempts at trying to revive the series is fraught with danger and Rowling wisely avoided that by setting this as a stage play and handled it over to someone else but is closely involved and is credited with story. Personally I thought it was a decent read and a return to familiar surroundings but it was just like Peter Jackson's Hobbit series. Not quite the real thing, maybe the stage play format made it more weird, but it did appear to be a half hearted attempt to revive the story carefully without altering anything significantly


11.Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built  - Duncan Clark

Story of Jack Ma the famous founder of Chinese internet giant Alibaba written by someone who is a good friend and a trusted advisor to the man himself. This is a bit of hagiographic portrait  as it glosses over or just avoids any mention of Ma's shortcomings and sort of presents his side of his growth story. But not to say that it makes it any less interesting read as Ma's story is a fascinating journey from being an English school teacher  in a far away province in China to building from scratch a Chinese internet company which went on to have the largest IPO ever in the world!


12.Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future - Ashlee Vance

Elon Musk was in news most of 2016 with most of his crazy bets paying off. This book was very different from the one mentioned above in the sense though author did get access to Musk for writing this book he claims to have maintained his independence and not shared any draft with Musk. It shows as he showcases the good and bad of the person well. Musk is an extremely interesting character and perhaps the most significant inventor ( if that's the word) of this era. If things go according to plan he would have the most impact on planet earth and surrounding planets as well in this century

13.Serendipity : Accidental Discoveries in Science* - Royston M Roberts

Was a library book I got for my mom and since it was lying around ended up reading it. Explored the role of sheer chance and luck in many big scientific discoveries. Was an interesting selection, but narration was not very interesting and I did struggle to finish it

14. Ready Player One* - Ernest Cline

Was a gift from my sis, this was a rare fiction book this year. It was pretty good and made me wonder why I did not read similar books. One of the few books that I literally raced through and finished. Worked very well for me as it was a delightful combination of Video game culture and 80s pop culture set in future

15. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

Was an excellent follow up to Guns, Germs and Steel I read last year. This book traces the journey of Homo Sapiens to identify what is is that made us the most dominant race and the factors and various ages we passed through and he identifies what is it that made us succeed ( if that is what we call this ;) )

16. Lab Girl - Hope Jahren

Ms.Jahren is a biologist in Hawaii, this memoir is both a story of her love for plants and what is takes to be a research scientist and the challenges faced in doing research especially for a woman in this field. Traces her journey from being a little kid in remote midwest town to how she became interested in science with alternate chapters covering the lifecyle of trees/plants and her own story


So that was the list, now target for 2017 is to do 20 books which again is a tall challenge with a very active baby girl and also hope to start using Goodreads more actively and engage with friends through that to find out what they learn and share book reccos as well as that was the main purpose behind putting up the book list blogs. Since I hardly ever blog, assume no one really reads these except for those who I ask to read by sending link this post. So if you come across this and want to suggest any book to me please drop a comment, likewise for any question of books I have read

Also hopefully as part of a tradition we established for a few years, my more well read cousins will be putting up their lists as well   - Here & here


All books read unless called out are Kindle e-books
* denotes this is a Dead Tree Edition ( aka paper book)

2015 - List of Books

This started a few years back and  year end list of books has become an annual tradition of sorts with my cousins - @Vaidya and @Indhu. For almost a month now Vaidya has been hounding me to put up this list and I have been doing a GRRM on him by giving and missing deadlines frequently! Its usually hard trying to remember what you read and to put some meaningful notes for some books you really liked or did not like at all . Considering most of these were read a while back it takes a lot of effort to put it all together

Since last year most of my reading moved to Kindle and this year it was almost entirely on Kindle.  I know its not like actual books etc, but for me it is more about convenience and being able to read the book I wanted to read whenever I wanted. I tried to squeeze some extra reading time by carrying the Kindle around whenever I had to go to any place where there might be some wait time involved and managed to get a little more reading than usual. Some meaningless meetings at work could also be salvaged by reading through Kindle online on my browser! Plus it was easy to make this list as well :)

I notice that of late I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, 4-5 years back I read only fiction and was reluctant to try anything else. Some things change with age I guess!  My target for the year just like previous years was to reach 15 books and if possible cross it and when I tallied it up I'm surprised that I have not only crossed it but crossed it comfortably and clocked 22 this time

So without much further ado the list

1. Dalai Lama's Cat  by David Miche

Pretty cute concept, covers some of the buddhist philosophies in a very light and easy to read way

2. If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai: A Conduted Tour of India  by Srinath Perur

Had read a few articles by this author earlier, so picked this up. The author goes on 10 conducted tours over an year covering really diverse places Indian tourists travel and what makes them travel.Covers such a wide variety of conducted tours available, ranging from the usual sightseeing, religious ones to really exotic ones. It was like he was sampling various different set of folks all of whom are called Indians but each travel group is totally unlike other ones.  More than the places visited, the writing focuses on the quirks of the groups he travels and people you encounter on the travel. Was a really interesting read!

3. Yatrik by Arnab Ray

Arnab is a very popular blogger who goes by the name GreatBong, had read another non-fiction book of his earlier which I didnt like but this one is fiction set in Kolkata and is pretty much a social commentary of Bengalis and the city and was a decent read

4. The Man in High Castle by Philip K Dick

5. Korma, Kheer & Kismet: Five Seasons in Old Delhi by Pamela Timms

Wonderful exploration of the foods and flavours of Old Delhi, the writing literally transports you and makes you appreciate the flavors. Quite a lot of interesting stories about various street food preparations across seasons and the people behind it.

6.The Sixth Extinction : An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

Picked this up from Vaidya's 2014 list. Scary, super scary stuff as you read about how we are slowly destroying the environment we will in and our impact on flora and fauna

7. Hot Tea Across India by Rishad Mehta

The premise was interesting but didn't quite live up. This is mostly a set of blogs about his travel across India and some anecdotes turned into a book

8. Ten Kings  by Ashok Banker

Battle of Thermopylae ( comic/film 300) type story based on an incident mentioned in Rig Veda
A battle of disproportionate numbers set in ancient India. Works if you keep your expectations accordingly!

9.The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

10.The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru

For most middle class Indians 2004 elections and its aftermath was totally unexpected. NDA unexpectedly lost power and out of nowhere congress pulled out a neat trick scored another huge moral victory by picking Mr.Singh the economist turned FM as the Prime Minister. Irrespective of our political preferences I think everyone was delighted to have Mr.Singh as PM. Brilliant economist or FM he might be but as a politician or as leader of the country he was a big disappointment and the book written by his Media advisor  during UPA-1 Sanjaya Baru covers what went on behind the scenes. There are no big reveals or nothing major which we dint know but with deep sympathies and utmost respect for the PM, the author through various events and how decision making happened and how various events unfolded in PMO in the early years of Mr.Singh's tenure. The quagmire in which the PM found himself was partly because of his demure personality and tendency to avoid conflict and tricky decisions but also because of compulsions of coalition politics and lack of power within the set-up to make decisions without checking with Madam. The book very quickly establishes how hard it was for the PM to do what he really wanted to but after a point it seem to labour on and on establishing the same point and at times it felt like the author was blowing his own trumpet a bit. Bit of laborious read after you get the general idea on what happens in the corridors of power as author tries his best to defend hapless Mr.Singh and blame the power brokers of ruling regime for derailing all the good things the PM wanted. Mr.Singh's 10 years as man running such a huge country with zero political base is certainly a unique one and should remain so and as he himself remarked history will certainly judge him more kindly. This book gives a good view of his days as PM from an insider's perspective

11.A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer

This was a recco from Book reads in Economist Magazine and for a change was affordable as well. Read the description of this one and immediately ordered it on Kindle! North Korea is a country that has fascinated most of us and this book is about  an extremely bizzare real life story  of a South Korean filmmaker and his ex-wife ( a top actress) kidnapped by N Korean dictator to ensure North Korea is also able to make high quality movies. Sometimes truth is really stranger than fiction, the book covering the life the duo led in North Korea initially getting educated/brain washed and then as filmmakers aiming to put N.Korea on the map in International Cinema also sheds some light on how the country is run and chilling account of  what people go through. It will be really hard for any fiction writer to top this for sure and this was by far the best thing I read this year!

12.A Life Of Spice: Stories of food, culture and life by Monica Bhide

13. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Amazon constantly recommends certain books based on past purchase ( Gone Girl), I usually ignore these as I try not to read similar stuff  too soon. For a change decided to try a recommendation. This was something exactly on the same lines as Gone Girl with unreliable narrator though was not as taut  but certainly a solid thriller

14. Out of the Blue by Aakash Chopra

The cricket book of the year, this about Rajastan's successful Ranji trophy campaign and its good to learn about the life of domestic cricketers way outside the limelight and the big money giving it all for the game

15. Ladies Coupe by Anita Nair

Was a book recommended by lot of folks, finally read it and totally understand why this was recommended

16. Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry

In 2000s the Blackberry was associated with 'Managers' and top folks in our offices and end of last decade it was a cool gadget thanks to the BBM. Even more spectacular than its rise was its fall, the book covers how a two young Canadian entrepreneurs ( a tech wizard and Sales/Marketing genius) managed to create a new product line and changed the industry within a short time with almost no backing. It was their ability to guess what business users want and prioritizing functionality and ensuring security and reliability which made them such a valuable brand. But the very same values made them obsolete within 4-5 years of their success, the same folks who could guess what the markets wanted got it so dead wrong within a few years leading to their spectacular fall. The book was a fascinating read to understand what made them succeed and how the very same traits led to their total downfall as well. During my MBA days I had read many such business stories but to read and rise and fall of something which happened so recently and something that had been part of our life made this a really good read

17. Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Wanted to read this for a long time as I had seen a documentary based on this earlier. Took this from Kindle Owner's library. I can safely say this should be a Must read on anyone's list

18. Tea time for Traditionally built : No:1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

The usual one, I read the series after a long time and perhaps the first book I read after watching the delightful HBO adaptation of the series which unfortunately had only covered the first 2-3 books. But the TV series changed my mental image of the characters and their surroundings. Also this was the only physical book I read this year!

19. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

This was a good follow-up to earlier book by Jared Diamond. It covered some of those same topics about how we evolved to where we are today but this book was more focused on our homes and various everyday common things which we take for granted. Bryson basically takes on a tour of a Victorian era home in England and each chapter is about various various rooms/kitchen/garden came to be. Bryson is a delightful raconteur and we dont always stay on topic and cover a lot of related things but its such an engrossing read. I'm huge trivia buff and this book was a big collection of interesting fats about everyday things in human life and covers how society changed over last 150 years. One of my favorite reads of the year!

20. The Hair Dresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu

About life of a single mother in Zimbabwe, the story aside getting to know how people carry on with their life in a country with hyper-inflation and high unemployment. I like reading books like this which give us a slice of life of someone in a society we have no idea about

21. 2014 The Election that Changed India by Rajdeep Sardesai

The 2014 elections was perhaps one of the most landmark events in the country or atleast that is what it appeared to be. After many years of relative inertia caused by fractured mandate the elections gave a decisive majority to a single party. The book takes us through last few years of UPA where the author contends they clearly lost the plot and pretty much gave up and it also covers how Mr.Modi's campaign was crafted and how efficiently it was run bringing BJP back to power riding on a 'Modi Wave'. The book is certainly a brisk read and chronicles all the events that happened to Modi campaign and Rahul campaign and compares and contrasts both the main candidates for the election. Of course there is that expected bias that you would expect but it is not hard to mute that out and read. To his credit the author has tried his best to tone down judgement to a great extent in the book but it creeps up every now and then though. This is more like a collection of various events that influenced the main event, written from the beginning with the eventual result in mind without doing any in-depth analysis

22. The Tusk that did the Damage by Tania James

A multiple person narrative covering events through eyes of a poacher, western researcher and the Elephant covering Ivory trade and human-animal conflict. This is such a complex issue and well written, it will take me some time to gather my thoughts on this one. Thanks for the gift @Vaidya!


I think I read much more than what I expected at start of the year and I certainly had a fair bit of time on hand at the start of the year and towards year with things totally slowing down at workplace. Target for this year is again 15 books and also hopefully cover all those pending books I have on my bookshelves which I have been putting off to read later for 3-4 years now!

My tryst with "Indian Summers"

Seems apt for the season, but this one is actually a book review of "Indian Summers" by John Wright. Before I get to the book, let me cover why I wanted to pick this one and how i picked this one up as that is also a good tale. I remember reading somewhere many years back that  during his coaching days John Wright was of the opinion that Anil Kumble would make a very good captain. Its another matter that Kumble eventually took over the reins and did pretty well and justified the observation of former coach who had watched him from close quarters. Also I heard from somewhere about this book which is basically made of stuff from a diary Wright kept during his coaching days so I was very intrigued to know what went on behind the scenes during a huge transformation period when India went from being an also ran team to a force to be reckoned with in turn leading to creation of a strong vibrant team, fan following and a huge cricket market that is there today.

But the search for this book turned out to be an arduous challenge in itself as most stores didn't seem to stock it, I had tried at small bookstore in Navi Mumbai ( where I was based then) where the owner was friendly and used to be give discounts, but no luck with this one. Tried  Crossword and Landmark bookstore, again no luck. I had started buying off flipkart by then and any book I wanted was there waiting with a generous discount but this one proved elusive. I wasn't daunted put a request to notify me when it becomes available and then forgot all about it. After a few months in a new city I happened to take part and win a quiz competition at my workplace and got Odeyssey bookstore voucher and the first thing I went and checked was this book. Again no luck, the guy was friendly and offered to write it down, he even recognized John Wright as our old coach and promised to talk to someone and get back to me. He never did, still I checked a couple of times but it was leading nowhere and after several futile online purchase searches I slowly forgot all about the book.

This IPL V season started and while discussing cricket with friends the usual who was the best captain ( the usual Dhoni Vs Ganguly) debate started and interesting this time during IPL there was a chance for face-off of several men who had led India and who wanted to lead India. While debating this I again wished if I had access to that book of Mr.John Wright where I hoped he would have shed some light on what really went on and how did Indian team team transform itself was it because of an aggressive skipper who managed to give it back to 'them' ( By backing his mates, giving more chances to people as some believe or by coming late for tosses, whirling shirt from Lord's balcony as some others believe). During one of those chats with Vaidya about cricket and captaincy a couple of weeks back I mentioned that I was looking for this elusive book for a long time. "Try flipkart" was the reply, I was pretty exasperated and wanted to start a lengthy drivel on my search for this book when tht was accompanied by a Flipkart link to the book which claimed it was indeed available. After quickly erasing all that i was typing I typed a quick thank you and promptly placed an order. But the order snagged somehow, towards the end the page went blank and order status was incomplete. Only then I noticed the book was priced at Rs.84 ... surely something was wrong, not again! But then I decided I will try again and ordered another book along with this and this time it went through. Vaidya did warn there must be some error somewhere as no one sells a hardcover for Rs.84 and they might ask for money during delivery. So called up my mom and explained this and told her to give me a call when book comes in case they ask for extra money. The book took some time to arrive and strangely nothing extra was charged. When I got home next weekend, this fantastic hardcover edition with a cover price of 18 Pounds was mine for just Rs.84. Surely there is some cricketing God somewhere!

Now onto the book, it was a pretty breezy read Mr.Wright sure has a good sense of humor and his whole India 'experience' thats what it actually is about is narrated pretty warmly. You cant help smiling when you read through many incidents which would bizarre/unbelievable for those unacquainted with India or Indian cricket. But Wright soaks it all up, learns how things move and slowly but surely changes the course towards something positive. He claims he was not all that soft as media believed and he did give players an earful and had picked up fights with high and mighty in the system but still its hard to shake off the image of the genial Kiwi quietly working behind the scenes and getting things done. However the book doesn't contain anything controversial and Wright is quite measured in his criticism. He is aware of the enormous responsibilities entrusted to him, the expectations from a nation of billion plus with very little sporting success. He is frustrated with the way things work and how an ineffective system is preventing a nation with so much talent from reaching its full potential.

Wright takes through all the major events during his term as coach and for an Indian cricket fan it is guided tour ( Like Directors commentary in Movie DVDs where lot of behind the scenes stuff is revealed) of  Team India's major campaigns which resulted in a lot of wins we are proud of. But Wright steers away from all controversial topics and takes care not to put up names or reveal who did what and instead subtly hints at lot of things. Some of things I liked was his narration of how he landed up in India to take up this job with no contract and not even an Indian visa! Lot of hilarious incidents like culture of players sitting in chairs and sipping tea during nets and munching sandwiches in gym while opposition players sweat it out! Concept of different team managers for every tour and getting people who had no clue as managers and how the concept of having selectors from a  Zonal system is turning the whole thing into a farce is well captured.
How he changed that culture with rudimentary support equipment and not much support from board is a story to read. There are lot of info that most people don't know like how Laxman was almost on verge of dropping out of the famous Kolkata test of 2001 because of a fitness issue and he also does cover the incident that became a 'hot potato' - Dravid declaring with Sachin batting on 194! The way he lost his cool and almost manhandled Sehwag ( just like every Indian fan would have) when he threw his wicket with a reckless shot, the book is replete with many such moments. But the relationship with Ganguly and other major players isn't covered in detail, Wright does point out quite a few things though. I thought he managed to strike a right balance between covering various issues while keeping lid on certain private behind the scenes stuff. Even though he doesn't give out much he leaves enough hints for a careful reader which is why I really liked this book.

Like my post - the book is also more on the overall experience and not just the cricket , the frustration and anguish and the talent and hope that is India for him. How it all comes together to make a great journey made a good reading experience as well. Highly recommended for fans of Indian cricket   

Movies I love : Mononoke Hime ( Princess Mononoke)

For a long time I have been wanting to write something about Hayao Miyazaki's wonderful Anime movies. But the fear of not being able to do justice to the material used to keep me from writing , but nevertheless here is an attempt - however lame it is, had to be done !

Mononoke Hime /Princess Mononoke (Japan 1997) , Dir : Hayao Miyazaki

This is a tale set in ancient Japan where forests still loomed large and was populated with large hordes of animals and birds. With forest spirits and animal Gods still dwelling there was a harmony between men and beasts. However industrial era was coming and with it men were getting stronger and bolder and were expanding like never before, destroying forests, setting up forges and factories and making metal. Thus setting up a conflict with forest and its dwellers.

The story begins with young prince Astaka of an eastern tribe who spots a strange foul creature moving through forest about to attack his village settlement . He bravely pursues the creature which turns out to be a demon-Boar God filled with wrath and hatred towards human race . He somehow manages to subdue the creature but his arm gets infected through contact with demon-God. He is told that to save himself from fully getting infected he has to travel west from where this demon God came and find out what drove the Boar God into becoming a demon filled with hatred and wrath and find a way to life the curse.

As Ashtaka travels across the kingdom on his steed ( a mountain elk ) he comes across wars and injustice / bandits and finds that his cursed arm can make him kill people effortlessly when they cross paths with him. As travels further he saves a few men from drowning , they are part a settlement on the verge of forest. This settlement is led by brave Lady Eboshi who has a troop of female warriors/bodygaurds , she has reclaimed some part of forest land had driven away lot of animals. She represents industrialization , equipped with ever improving technology her folk have set up a metal forge where they make weapons and tools but their biggest secret tool is gun. With help of lighter and more efficient guns , Lady Eboshi and her band of followers are now able to expand even further and claim more lands and achieve much more prosperity than they could ever dream of , but she has lot of rivals to contend with human and animal. Leading the attack on Eboshi and her men is Wolf Godess from across the river along with her two sons and an adopted daughter (a human girl) - San -who is Mononoke Hime to the villagers. San leads the wolves on multiple futile attacks on the human settlement as tensions keep mounting between humans and the animals.

But what sets Miyazaki's tale apart from all other representations of human-nature conflict is the way he sets up the confrontations by showing us the true nature of all participants , no one is entirely wrong/evil , they all have reasons for doing what they are doing. Lady Eboshi even though she is leading the drive against nature is not shown to be someone who is purely evil. She works for upliftment of women , to give them the status they deserve in society . In Lady Eboshi's township women work in the factory and have upper hand over men and they worship her and are willing to lay down their life for her. She also rehabilitates people cast away by society like lepers , by giving them shelter and work and helping them integrate and be part of the movement. This is what sets this story apart from similar stories in this genre like James Cameron's recent movie Avatar which had evil , greedy humans plundering a planet . Here all characters have sufficient motivations to do what they have to and no one is purely evil.

Ashtaka lands up in the middle of this conflict , but quickly realizes what is going on and tries in vain to stop the both parties. As Lady Eboshi and men from Emperor's army decide to team up to behead the Deer God , the ruler of the forest - a life giver - in order to completely end the era of forest Gods and start the era of men and machines , on the other side wild boars decide to fight the humans to death to prevent any further damage to forest . Now Ashtaka must team up with San (Mononoke Hime) and her wolf tribe to try and save the Deer God to maintain the delicate balance that exists between nature and its inhabitants.

Like most Miyazki movies the visuals (most of it hand-drawn) are enthralling , the colours , landscape and the sheer imagination take it to a whole new level . This is an epic movie , with sweeping landscapes , lush green forests with brilliantly imagined forest spirits , the battles between rampaging animals and humans is very well captured. This movie takes forward the constant pacifist theme in most Miyzaki movies along with message for living harmoniously with nature , this is truly one of the best efforts from the legendary animator.

Books I read - Nov/Dec

Just happened to read these two books which tread on the same territory - Afterlife . They almost validate Prof Dumbledore's line from Harry Potter-6 "To the well organised mind , death is but the next great adventure"

"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

Had heard a lot about this a while back and wanted to pick this up and read ... there was even a movie recently based on this book ... that reminded me to get this one . But the theme somehow put me off after buying the book and took a lot of effort to finally get started. However once I started it was a pretty neat read especially because of unique plot device - narration by a dead central character. This is story of Susie Salmon, a young girl who gets gruesomely raped and murdered in her neighborhood and her body is disposed off where no one can find her. The story is narrated by her spirit watching over her parents , school friends , neighbors and also her killer over a period of time . Susie Salmon watches her family/friends slowly come to grips with reality that their missing daughter/friend may never come back again . As Susie watches from above the once picture perfect family struggles to recover from the loss and move in different directions affecting each others lives and bonds of family get stretched. Its about relationships and coping with loss and its also about love and its power to heal wounds. Everyone affected by this loss deals with it in their own way , but in someway or other they heal and get back.

Young Susie is not sad or bitter but hopeful and optimistic and eager to know how people are doing and progressing in life and wishes they all move on , even though she herself will never be able to experience things people down below are experiencing. Inspite of a little surprising and a tad romantic ending this was a nice read. A significant departure from the kind of books I usually read , but this was worth it !

"Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger

I picked this one up as I had simply loved this author's previous book "The Time Traveller's Wife" which was a great read as was a about a character which took on the concept of time. Here once again Niffenegger is on similar territory as concept of life and death is re-examined/challenged this time.

Valentine and Julia Poole are 20 year old symmetric twins , they are identical and are in fact mirror images of each other .They suddenly inherit a big house in England overlooking Highland Cemetery from their recently deceased Aunt Elspeth who is buried in the same cemetery. But the condition for twins getting the house is that they should live for 1 year in the house and their mother (Aunt Elspeth's identical twin sister) and their father should not set foot in the house. As twins move from US to Britain , they enter a world of mysteries and dark secrets.They also meet a few eccentric neighbors including the enigmatic Robert who is working on his thesis on Highland cemetery and also happens to be their late Aunt's young lover. As one twin falls for Robert against the wishes of the other , cracks start appearing between the 'perfect' symmetric twins . In addition to all this Elspeth manages to return as ghost to her house and makes contact with her nieces . There is a delightful subplot involving another neighbor - Martin , who sets crossword puzzles for newspaper but whose life itself is a puzzle as he suffers from OCD and cannot leave his house and hence struggles to get in touch with world outside the house where the love of his life resides . Meanwhile Elspeth's ghost also goes through the same problem as she is bound to the house where the twins nows reside while she desires to move on and get close to Robert , who was the love of her life .Overall it seems a good place to lose one's mind and thats exactly what happens . What unravels is a shocking tale of love turning into obsession and degenerating into madness as the boundaries between life and death blur. The Highland Cemetery provides a great setting for this nice ghost story and it is described very well and almost feels like a character in the plot !

Books I read - Sep/Oct

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - by Paul Torday

This is a brilliant political satire about a ludicrous idea of a sheik from Middle East to introduce Salmon fishing as a sport in the wadis of his desert nation. When international politics , government departments , inept bureaucrats and even British prime minister's office get on board the insanity reaches epic proportions and a dazed fisheries scientist finds himself in the middle of this ! This delightful novel pokes fun at British society , TV/news , the spin-meisters and politicians superbly.

Book begins with this idea of a Middle east billionaire to introduce salmon fishing in his country and interestingly uses letters and office memos , diary entries , report from House of commons , interrogation tapes and hilariously even intercepted Al Qaeda mails being used to move the story forward. The idea which began through correspondence through letters (and internal memos) from a firm representing the Sheik and fisheries dept and this scientist moves forward quickly and reaches the highest office in the country and the ridiculous idea catches the fancy of a few and becomes an order from dept and project of huge national importance ! The Sheik and the scientist bond well and he starts admiring and respecting the sheik and his vision and the idea actually seems to take off and the entire team starts "believing" Sheik's vision until absurdities of life catch up in the end. This is a really wonderful read. Somewhere along the line there is a lesson for some real world nations who too believe in such improbable ideas !

Ps : There is a movie being made on this book

A Short History of tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

I picked up this book because of the title , the book is again a humorous account of how life changes for a middle aged Ukrainian immigrant in Britain when her mother dies and her extremely old father decides to marry a young Ukrainian woman who is clearly marrying only for her father's money and to get citizenship. The daughters plot and plan and fight to save the old man from clutches of "the evil painted Russian tart" and in process try to discover a family bond which never seemed to have existed. The story is narrated in a very light tone , but it does touch a lot of real serious stuff about relationships , loneliness , ageing , sibling rivalry , life in the communist nations , World war 2 , the hardships faced by these immigrants before and in UK. The title comes from the book this old father is writing about innovation in farm equipment and machinery in Ukraine , he notes how innovation which could have helped cultivate the world and create food got changed into wrong direction. Instead of tractors the focus moved to machines for war like tanks and instead of machines which tilled , machines which killed were created.

Enthiran - an experience !

Rajni movies have long ceased to be just a 'movie' .... its an event , almost like a festival in TN. This time whole national media seem to have woken up to it and have covered it in excruciating detail , so there is nothing more to be said on that front !

Context is everything , even in movies getting a perspective of where the movie is set and the reasons why it is made / who the movie is addressing helps in a little in appreciating the movie IMO. Rajni movies follow a certain story arc , contain a few staple items which make the day for die-hard fans , pack a little extra for normal viewers also and the sheer screen presence of the man takes care of the rest. There is always less logic and more magic . These movies are a showcase for the biggest star in the country and little else. So when he teamed with a good big-budget movie maker like Shankar last time , i felt we might get something more than a usual Rajni movie . We didnt , we did get a good value for money masala movie showcasing Rajni well , but this time they have made amends and how !

There are two kinds of science fiction in the world of cinema , really classy ones which are more concerned with the ideas and impact of these on the world and explore them and then there is the more commercial twin of sci-fi movies , the ones which use sci-fi as one the key plot devices but are basically entertainers , these are sci-fi movies made for masses. Enthiran is a very well made sci-fi mass movie . The movie is a story of a humanoid-android trying to fit in in to society , explored how emotions are the what distinguishes us from them and what could happen if that is changed unleashing sociological complications and unleashing of a Frankenstein like monster ! But this sci-fi drama has been embellished with enough masala content , situated in a good vs evil drama populated with some classic tamil movie characters in 'good' and 'noble' hearted hero and his lady love ( Aishwarya looking really awesome ) and with the brilliant as usual music by ARR unfurled on screen in usual Shankar fashion with most exotic locations and brilliant explosion of color

Shankar the director has delivered this time , setting up the canvas by staying true to sci-fi story and breaking technology down for masses. The Pros and Cons of Robots / Androids devoid of emotion are put across well and the special effects are the best ever for any Indian movie and is close to Hollywood standard !

Again the movie is what it is only because of one man , the superstar who appears in 3 roles in the movie. The good scientist who creates the robot intending it a machine which will save huma lives , the Robot Chitti played neatly Rajni which moves from machine to almost human ( neatly done ! ) and finally the best of the lot - the evil robot played brilliantly by Rajni. He seemed to have lapped up the chance to finally unleash some meanness and everything from the look to the famous 'walk' and the climatic showdown (aided hugely by brilliant conceived by Special effects ) make it a great performance. The movie is a great showcase for him and he is simply outstanding and shines in every frame he is in. Aishwarya looks great and does what is needed from heroine in Rajni movie !

The roles of villian (Danny) and comedians (Santhanam and Karunas) are wasted as Rajni did both with ease . Minor quibbles involve the length of the movie overall , could have been 15-20 minute shorter . I know im nit-picking but I wish they could remove a few songs as they seemed to be hampering the flow rather than adding any value. "Kilimanjaro" song was a good brilliantly shot but i felt it wasnt helping the story at all ! Also the fight sequences , though well executed seemed to drag a bit too long . Shankar seems to have done a bit of self reference with mention of a song in Jeans to describe Aishwarya Rai's beauty and reference to Mudhalvan slipped in ! But overall good stuff easily outweigh the bad and makes it a really good watch. I simply loved a few lines like 'nakkal - nickel ' and also that scene during a fight in first half when Robot-Rajni becomes magnetic and pulls all metal and becomes a God !

All in all a great entertainer , the Indian Avatar if you will ! 160 cr is a lot of money , I dont know how easy it will be to replicate such movies , but if this movie works ( it should ) then we can hope for more sci-fi movies and other high tech movies which will push the envelope and tell more entertaining and visually amazing stories. The economics of movie business has changed of late with new markets abroad and higher prices from multiplexes and release across the world - this movie is supposedly released at 2000 theaters world wide. Still the budget is really big for an Indian movie esp regional movie , very few stars have the power to pull off something like this and carry it through. Only way for such movies to work is to make it the way this one is made with something for classes and for the masses .This one was totally worth every rupee spent by the makers and more than worth the ticket price for audience . Can Ra.One and others do the same ? Lets hope it happens and we get more such entertainment spectacles.

Movie review : Summer Wars

Summer wars or Sama Wozu as it is called in Japanese is an animated Sci-fi movie which is essentially serves as a cautionary tale warning us not to lose touch with real world while exploring virtual (online ) world. Technology can be a boon or bane depending on its usage , the movie explores this theme. Made by the same guys who made the lovely "The Girl who leapt through time" , this one also has some neat animation and some impressive sequences of virtual world.

The story begins in Tokyo where two geeks are working as part-time support staff for Óz' the virtual world similar to Second life where users can create avatars and can live just like real world interacting with other users without barriers like language and with much more freedom and choices. In a scenario almost similar to where we are all headed in real world today with facebook and twitter replacing most of the real social interactions , people interact more and more through Óz' even for work. During the summer break , Kenji one of the geekish math wizards who is a little awkward socially is invited by most attractive girl in their school , Natsuki , to take up a summer job at her family house outside city . That summer is her grandmother's 90th birthday. Her grandmother is a powerful figure hailing from a rich and highly regarded dynasty , so a massive celebration is planned and a huge extended family arrive at the palatial house. Setting is similar to most Indian movies ! After arriving at the house Kenji is shocked when Natsuki announces that his job is to play her boy-friend for a week to make her Grandmother happy. The extended family features a lot of lovable and eccentric characters.

Then one fine day , Kenji gets a text message on his phone with what he thinks is a math puzzle . He works the whole night and manages to crack it and to his horror discovers later next day that the puzzle he solved helped someone crack the security code and hack into the virtual world 'Oz' . The person who hacked into Oz uses Kenji's id to carry out attacks and starts stealing many other ids and suddenly the brilliant online virtual world collapses . As the news spreads Kenji is painted as villain and is thrown out of the house and is taken to police station. En-route they realize that the whole city is in chaos as hacker has stolen ids of virtually everyone who matter , the traffic lights are not working , water hydrants go off , emergency services go haywire and almost all essential services are affected and life comes to stand-still in real world.

They return back to the house and Kenji tries to make amends using his math wizardry and almost wrests the control back but is rebuffed at the last minute by the all powerful hacking program. Then the entire family pitches in to support the attempt to strike back at the hacker and restore normalcy to the world. It is a the good old tale of family uniting to save the society , there are a few clichéd plot elements like most of the people who matter in the battle including the good and bad guys all being under the same roof , family disputes / love triangle.

However it was refreshing to see the same old story placed in a 'sci-fi' set-up , being an anime movie helps a lot as animation makes it possible to convey a lot of things which would taken really huge budgets to make in normal movies. In spite of being slightly predictable the movie has its heart in right place and its tough not to like it ! The romance between lead pair blossoms gradually and its also coming of age tale of the youngsters. More than anything it functions as a cautionary tale for todays generation who is getting lost in virtual world and is appeal to also pay attention to real world and family

Book Review : What is the What ?

Honestly , it was the title which prompted me to pick up this book from Crossword bookstore ... Never judge a book by a cover they say , but most of the books i pick are based on hunch that they could be good by looking at their cover and what they say at the back of the cover !

What is the What - is an awe-inspiring story of struggles faced by a young orphaned boy named Achak from Sudan , who had to wade through a civil war affected homeland , walk for several months through difficult terrain , living on next to nothing , move through refugee camps across three countries to find a life of peace only to have it shattered and begin the journey all over again !

What makes this boy/man's story so special is because it is full of struggles against forces which have consistently tried to knock him out , shatter his spirit. But every single time he falls down , he still manages to pick up the pieces and get back on his feet and continue his journey. The story begins with young Achak living in his peaceful village as tensions slowly rise between Arabs and Christians in his land. It covers the journey of group of boys called 'Lost boys' who walk flee from the slaughter in their homelands to refugee camp in Ethiopia and later to Kenya . Before finally managing to reach USA . As it is told from point of view of young boy there are no political overtones and this is purely the story of how hatred/communal violence affects common men.

This real-life story of Achak Deng is truly inspirational stuff and is well worth a read for the courage it gives to every reader to face the challenges of life bravely and do whatever you can to improve your life and that of people around you. I picked up this book when I was going through slightly rough phase in my life , but my troubles seemed very trivial compared to challenges this boy had faced and reading this book improved my spirits considerably and made me look at myself differently and acknowledge how privileged we are growing up in a relatively secure environment. This is a book which tells us how follies of a few have damaged the lives of millions irreparably , but also offers hope that despite all the challenges where there is a will to succeed there is always a way

Wolf Totem - Book review

Wolf - is an animal with which humans had a very long and old connection right from stone ages where men were supposed to scavenge from Wolf kills. Their strength,agility, teamwork - hunting packs with defined territories and communicating through howls makes them one of the best predators in any condition and hence most feared opponents for men ; precisely the reason they have been ruthlessly hunted and pushed to wilderness. But these qualities also make them an enemy men revere , right from Native Americans to Grasslanders in Mongolia , wolf is a much respected foe and part of their traditions. It is said that in Europe as men began settle down and clear forests for large scale farming wolf was a big scourge attacking livestock , this led to tales connecting Wolf with Satan , leading to massive hunts to wipe out wolf population. Our perception of wolf is likely to be influenced by the biased view of farmers who saw them as enemies and much of popular literature (tales of werewolves) and culture backs this view.

Jiang Rong's 'Wolf Totem' offers a radically different view of this animal , the book is set somewhere in 1960s in Inner Mongolia during Cultural revolution in China. This book is tale of a young Beijing student sent to live in harsh countryside as punishment . Book describes life of nomadic Mongolians , their traditions and rituals and paints a fascinating picture of wolf , which is feared , hunted yet highly respected by the local mongol grasslanders. For them Wolf is their biggest enemy , but they also understand the crucial role wolf plays in maintaining the balance of Eco-system by keeping the population of other inhabitants of grassland in control and ensuring that land remains green and natural balance is maintained. Those men understood their role in their tug of war with wolves which ensured that Mongols and their animals remained very tough and combative and they in turn by hunting wolves , without wiping them out maintained this balance. The book beautifully describes some fascinating battles between wolves and men , where lot of strategy is employed by both parties and paints wolves as a very sharp thinkers , who carefully assess the situation , plan and execute their attacks to perfection.

The protagonists (Chinese students) wholeheartedly adopt the customs and practices of traditional mongols , earning respect of locals and gaining acceptance. But their relations take a turn when the students adopt and try to raise wolf cub in captivity wanting to understand more about nature of wolves and understand the Wolf totem. The students form a great bond with the cub , but realize gradually that it can never be raised in confinement , the fate of the once wild wolf cub raised under chains in a way is a metaphor for how man has taken control of nature.

A beautiful and serene pastureland which sustains wide variety of flora and fauna has managed to maintain itself and to provide for people living there for ten thousand years. But ever increasing of population of China means farmers from plains have to look elsewhere for food leading to a battle of traditional nomadic herders with modern agrarian society seeking to get more out of the land . At the same time the clashes between man vs nature led by their finest guardians - the Wolves keep happening , the arrival of increasing numbers of men from plains of China along with arrival of modern weapons threatens to totally tilt this delicate balance and send things spiraling out of control. This book describes the cost nature has to bear to support the progress and advance of human race , through the lives of these herdsmen it proposes how we could have lived in harmony with nature. The consequences of human progress on the whole eco-system of Inner Mongolia is a great read and it is something people anywhere in the world should be able to relate to.

Avatar - An experience !

Managed to catch the most anticipated movie of the year , James Cameron's 'Avatar' yesterday at IMAX in Mumbai . Decided to wait for a day to let whatever i saw sink before i attempt to write something about it , this is not just the review of the movie ... this is about the experience of watching the whole thing unfold. Its taken a long time , but this one is worth all that time and effort invested Cameron has delivered a movie which will definitely be remembered for a long while , whatever be the merits or demerits ... this is one movie which should change the whole movie going experience and how movies are made forever. I had read lot of stuff about the new kind of cameras used , the technological advancements , 'performance capture' techniques etc .. and movie seems to achieve what the makers set out to create an awe inducing visual spectacle.
As i sat wearing those uncomfortable 3-D glasses , the movie moved in same expected arc but right when Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver were plugged to their respective Avatars and went out to explore forests of Pandora ... the way Cameron managed to capture the planet through 3-D images I felt like I was right there along with them leaving my body behind in the multiplex seat !

I Have not seen such brilliant usage of 3-D imagery before , in almost all 3-D movies till now .. the 3-D part was just a gimmick to keep audience enthralled with an occasional object thrown at audience or some such tricks .. but this was the real deal ! The visuals trump everything else and easily makes us overlook the somewhat weak story , friendly nature of proceedings aimed at generating a blockbuster movie . The moment Pandora's flora and fauna were showcased i was reminded of the shot from Jurassic park when i saw real looking Dinosaurs running along on lush green landscape ... that was a great cinematic moment , this one was similar. These kind of movies are milestones and remind us what the medium is capable of ! Hopefully the advancement in technology and brilliance with which the story has been executed on screen will ensure other filmmakers can dream more such brilliant projects and will have the technical ability to translate those visions onto screen effectively !

Storywise as many reviewers have said this was "Dances with Wolves" set in space ! That Kevin Costner western sure seems to have acted as an inspiration to this one , but in spirit this is close to another visual masterpiece Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" . Mononoke was about how nature and all beasts live in complete harmony with man getting more greedy and trying to take more than the fair share through deforestation and industrialization. Cameron delivers a similar message here with hints of mistreatment of native Americans (Naavi do seem to resemble them ! ) and also hints of American misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its still the same old good vs evil clash with clear demarcation of both to make things very simple ! While the earlier mentioned movies had subtle messages , this one makes it very clear with mean Military thugs with machine guns and missiles taking on primitive naavi armed with bows and arrows and large heart !!! The actors are pretty competent in their roles and 'performance capture' works well as avatars manage to convey a lot of emotions and are totally convincing.

The World of Pandora viewed through 3-D in Imax is as real as it can get on screen , Cameron has painstakingly created an entire planet , fascinating plants and animals , 10 foot tall Naavi with their blue skin - feline features , their language , culture and what not. This Tolkien like creation itself deserves repeated viewing to appreciate. Despite some minor misgivings I think this one is a ground breaking effort and no words can capture the experience of watching and getting transported to a strange new world !

PS : For Avatar 2 , i sure would like to see the coporate sleazebag played by Giovanni Ribisi coming back maybe even with an Avatar and introducing Na'vi people to credit card , cable tv and internet connection and then lets see how the game changes !!!

Rocket Singh - the pursuit of honesty !

Synopsis : A youngster finishes college (just scrapes through) decides Sales is the field for him and joins a Computer sales firm and gets exposed to the big bad world of sales , involving cut throat competition , hostile colleagues who suspect others of backstabbing them , People expecting bribes , companies over charging customers to make profit ( How dare they make so much money like this !) , lack of ethics etc .. u get the drift by now ... Young man , enters gets shocked and scarred and faces the challenges and tries to carve a niche for himself

When a story like this comes on Indian movie screens ... you expect them to be made by one Mr.Madhur Bhandarkar and you expect some standard judgments to passed on the big bad world of sales and unholy nexus between salesmen , politicians , mafia , MNCs , USA , CIA , Headley or whoever !

Also the movie would have been plainly called "Sales" !!!

But this one aint called sales! Its got a delightful name and a makes a real good sales pitch through a clever trailor and has Ranbir Kapoor in lead and is made by the most promising duo of Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni ... just like Rocket Sales corp in the movie , they represent good meaningful stuff without exploiting the target audience , this was my expectation when i went for this one

After the movie i can say for sure it was a refreshingly take on the subject , its leisurely paced and well acted and doesn't have any irritating commercial elements like needless songs /item numbers , sub plots to spice up or entertain/reach out to all sections of audience .. this is a very neat effort no doubt ... lot of positives .. lot of heart warming moments and smartness by the movie makers ... right from the time titles roll

It captures the struggle of a middle class boy to achieve his ambitions and to make a mark in something which he feels he should be good at ... it plays out almost like cross between "Pursuit of Happyness" and "Boiler room" ... elements of struggle to achieve your goal in a highly competitive environment and disillusions in discovering that the whole setup is one big con ... Like in Boiler room , HP Singh also faces moral dilemma and the route that he takes though is slightly different putting himself in a unfavorable position legally though . The movie is his fight against a bad system which consumes basic good in humans and converts them to mean things driven only by money .. typical pitfalls of young and ambitious who sacrifice a lot to gain success ! is it worth ? it is there a way out ? is what the film tries to explore

I was let down by the length of the movie and lack of cleverness in the script ... dont get me wrong it wasnt a bad movie .. but proceeding did get a bit monotonous after a while .. perhaps it was the weight of expectations from previous outings of the director , was always waiting for the tour de force towards the end , but all we got were a serious of long speeches ! Some plot elements were plain guessable and at times felt let down by the way things moved, as lot of people in the audience remarked (and i do concur ) this was almost like a TV serial !

Despite all that a satisfactory movie .. still feel it could have been much more given the talent of its makers and their sensibilities .. hoping this trend of making good movies continues and delivers even better fare in the coming year!