indian book reviews

Book review: Conditions Apply by Nishant Kaushik

The book is a simple tell tale of an Urban Couple thrown together in an arranged marriage, stresses of their life and how they strive together to meet their dreams. Along with this couple, there are few more people woven in the plot to make the book complete.

Spoiler alert: Next three paragraph contains partial spoilers on the story plot. Jump the paras, if you want no trace of the story before reading.

Mohit Sinha is a young marketing executive with one of the food companies who is settled in Mumbai suburbs, much to the dismay of his landlord who believes that the outsiders like Mohit Sinha have eaten into the space available in the city! His landlord’s son is his colleague who occasionally rides with him. Landlord’s large family lives peacefully in a pigeon hole and they are happy folks and they swear by all Indian productsJ.

Mohit accidentally meets his college classmate Cedric who adds some spice to his otherwise dull life by enrolling him to his dance academy. Cedric is a guy who believes in living life to his own terms and conditions and he is one hell of a guy who freaks out everyone through his dressing style and otherwise. He and his roommate, a lady journalist with not a very high class TV channel make a couple with a different league altogether. As the story progresses, Mohit gets married to Neha, a banker by profession and slowly their lives go topsy-turvy when Neha starts chasing her dream of becoming an actress and work starts keeping Mohit too busy.

Things go out of hand when Mohit loses his job and both of them start living separate lives under the same roof. He utilizes this time to visit his ailing mother and reflecting upon things that went wrong. Whether Mohit and Neha get together again is what readers’ need to find out.

The books makes an interesting read with lot of action on corporate front, the verbal repartees between boss and executives, little bit of drama thrown in through the reality TV show, impact of such shows on the lives of common man, altogether a subtle reflection of the lives of common people who are simply our next door neighbors.

 

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Revolution 2020 by Chetan Bhagat – review

Chetan Bhagat – the name inspires the readers (I thought so until this one). Many followed their writing dreams after reading him and he opened the Indian literary world to the masses. He was a revolution himself when he wrote Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center, The 3 Mistakes of My Life and 2 States!

The Revolution went haywire somehow midway with the Revolution 2020!

The story is set in one of the pious cities of India – Varanasi or Banaras. It is a story about 3 friends – Gopal, Raghav and Aarti.

It begins with Gopal crashing down after some pegs of drink and our writer friend is left with no other option but to take him hospital, because he won’t get up on his own (!!)  and thus begins the story as a flashback.

Gopal – he is the director of the Ganga Tech College, too young to be a director and only a graduate!!

Raghav – Gopal’s school friend

Aarti – Gopal’s school friend and love interest of both Gopal & Raghav

First chapter gives an impression the book would be a sweet story of 3 buddies. The first scene is set in the school when Gopal & Raghav are stealing lunch boxes during the assembly time and the first victim is our lady “Aarti” and thus begins the everlasting friendship of these 3. The book has been divided into various sections.

Gopal comes from a middle class family whose father is a teacher and the family doesn’t have much income as such. His mother had passed away when he was 4 years old. His father wants him to be an engineer. After all, engineers earn decent money. Whether Gopal manages to become engineer or not is another story altogether?

All 3 grow up together with their own dreams and share of problems.

Both Raghav and Gopal appear together for AIEEE & JEE for engineering and Raghav clears his exams whereas Gopal could not make to any of the engineering colleges. After mulling over all options, he decides to appear again for the exams and goes all the way to Kota for coaching classes leaving his ailing father alone and his love interest.

As it is suppose to happen, Gopal being away for a long time, these gives an opportunity to Raghav and Aarti being together and seal their relationship. When Gopal gets to know, he is devastated and again as it generally happens, his grades fall (well, typical Bollywood style) and then again he starts all over again from scratch. Coaching over, he is back in town; results fail him again. His father also passes away one fine day leaving him in debt from top to bottom. Lonely and devastated, he decides to attend a local college on the advice of one of the friends from coaching classes, and here he meets Sunil. This is the turning point of the story. Sunil takes him to local MLA – Shukla. Thus, begins the story of Gopal as the Director of Ganga Tech College in Varanasi. This portion if full of political drama, agricultural land being converted into college, bribery at all level and we name it, we have it. Along with this, we have Raghav, who is not interested in joining a MNC after completing his engineering but wants to be a journalist and wants to bring the revolution in India. He wants to change the scenario of the country. Then, there is Aarti who wants to be an air hostess but becomes a front desk officer at one of the reputed hotels in Varanasi.

Amidst all this, Raghav doesn’t have time for Aarti and fate again brings Gopal and Aarti together.  What happens next? Whom does Aarti finally marry? What happens to Raghav? Does he become a hot shot journalist? What happens to Gopal as a Director? What happens to his college? All these questions and many more; to find out the answers one needs to read the book.

However, this is not one of the best works of Chetan Bhagat. Period.  As a reader, I felt the story is boring, it is a typical stuff which each one of knows and I believe has seen many a times in our Bollywood movies or even T.V Serials. I guess that we have so much of overdose of corruption and bribery in our country that reading it in a novel does not excite anyone.  The story actually drags. There are no twists and turns, it is just so very predictable. After “2 States”, the expectation was more but some where the book fails to meet that expectation. I have read all the books of Chetan Bhagat, and I must admit for an otherwise quick reader, this one took me so much time to finish it and it was a sheer disappointment. I am still confused, as to why it is named as Revolution 2020? May be the newspaper columns he writes these days have influenced the writer in CB and he ended up loosing his original flavor.

I suggest, please read the book without any expectation, you may actually like it then.

My verdict – As a reader I expected a lot more! And as a writer, Mr.Bhagat could have done a better job or at least tried doing so.

 

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Love at First Sight and Other Stories by Deepak Karamungikar

Author:  Deepak Karamungikar

Format: papaerback 

Language: English

Pages: 136

Price: 100/-

Publishers: A S Arts

Deepak considers “”love at first sight & other stories” as a memorable selection of his very own choicest blog posts that have been a apart of his “Stochastic Chronology”. The blog that claimed the attention of several online blog readers ran from February 2009 and ended in July 2010. With applause streaming in from all corners, the man behind the show had to preserve some of the eye catches in the form of a book. It is a great initiative- to write a book for the sake of keeping art alive, so as to say.

Penning down poems is easy, for if you have the thought running inside you, if you have the power to assemble the prodigal words, scribbling in out becomes a piece of cake with a cherry as a topping- with assorted pouring out?- voila! That’s like a creamy punch! The same unfortunately cannot be said for novels, shorter- novellas- shorter- short stories (keeping aside 55 flash fiction –the newest Twenty-twenty member of the fiction world. Looking for mystery, illusion, intrigue, fun and conceit- Deepak assembles all of it in each of his masterpieces. You have characters turning into ghostly apparitions, gamble hub frequenters avenging each other. Elite socialites living starry existence and as readers, you can just marvel at it with awe.  Having said this, at one point of time, they end up revealing their murky façade. Foolery and champagne follow in abundance, until you reach the remote nooks of civilization, where New Yorkers end up throwing their life at stakes of belle apparitions, and serial killers throttle beauties in confusion.

“Love at first sight”- comprises of unique selections like “Love at first sight”, “The Gambler”, “The Prince of Vijaypur”, “The Third Life”, “Summer of 1999”, “The Painter”, “The Fling”, “The Disorder”, “The Rebel” and“Alighted Doves”.

I would say, it is a good pick, the cover will make you think, but the stories will keep you rooted off your mind. Please don’t expect vampires and mermaids peeping from the pages, it is simply about real folks living among us, it is not a growing up series of shorts- if you are trying to learn how to sum up a story line in a couple of pages- BookMark “Love at first Sight”- for your book shelves.

About The Author:

(This was taken directly from the author’s website, on the request of the author.)

“I’m Deepak Karamungikar. I was born and brought up in Hyderabad, India where I now live with my parents, wife Bhavana and daughter Akshata. I like Pink Floyd, The Doors and Led Zeppelin in that order. I’m an MBA by accident and a writer by choice. I like narrating stories and hope to capture the reader’s imagination with every sentence I write. Other passions include Al Pacino, Ram Gopal Varma, food, beverages, gossiping and humor.”

Further Details:

Website: www.karamungikar.com

Fb profile: Deepak Karamungikar-Ledfloyddoors

Email id: Deepak.harsha@gmail.com

Twitter: @deepak_narrates

Link to book: eBay- Love-First-Sight-OtherStories-Deepak-Karamungikar

my ratings: 3.75/5

 

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Antiquity in all its Grandeur

In the eighties, Kayar used to be telecast as a period drama series on Doordarshan. Having watched an episode or 2 then, I don’t remember to be impressed or understood anything being an adolescent. But recently, having read its English translation by N. Sreekantan Nair published through Sahitya Akademi, I can’t help but marvel at this masterwork of a book and its distinguished author.

Kayar (Coir) is a voluminous novel originally written in Malayalam by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It is the saga of Thakazhi village in Kerala, during the British Raj and early days of Independence. The canvas of this magnum opus stretches across 7 generations and a time span of 150 years vividly painting the culture, tradition and the social order of yesteryears’ Kerala and the gradual transition it went through to arrive at the current state of affairs. By means of myriad characters it recounts in finer details the social, political, economic reformations as well as the upheavals the society, families and individuals went through those times.

Pillai’s style of writing is plain and straightforward but heartwarming nevertheless. There are no concealed connotations, suggestive overtones or confusing philosophies of any sort. Yet in this simple narrative of numerous tales of different people belonging to different communities/ religion and their families, Pillai reveals his great insight into human nature and acute analysis of human character. He skillfully etches the ‘Change’ in times, values – cultural and moral, lifestyles, caste system, human emotions and relations – personal as well as between various religious communities. His recitals efficaciously depict the gradual switch from the matriarchal to patriarchal system, the tragic consequences of the high-handed British Laws and Acts, failure of land reforms and its disastrous effect because of the partitions of the matriarchal families, radical transformation in the education system – from caste based guru-kuls to ecumenical English schools, defeated feudalism and slow emergence of socialism, new found awakening of patriotism, influence of Gandhism, ensued situations of World War II, creeping in nepotism, preferred overseas immigrations, overall greed and a general loss in prominence for morals, God and the good in the society.

Story unwinds with advent of renewed land classifications, by the orders of the Royal family, and arrival of a Classifier and his greedy wife in the village. The social set up then consisted of some powerful feudal lords belonging to the rich ancestral families of higher caste Namboodaris and Nairs enjoying complete authority over the matters pertaining to the village and the temple. The temple of village deity Dharma Sasthavu was held in high reverence and formed an integral part of the god-fearing people irrespective of caste and creed. The labour class was of Ezhavas, Parayas, Pulayas and Christians. The only source of income was agriculture and all payments were made in kind, especially measurements of Paddy. Deep-rooted customs, rituals and traditional sentiments were the undercurrents holding this society together.

Typical family would have several generations living under the same roof with daughters of the house inheriting ancestral properties and the uncles being responsible for bringing forth the nephews and nieces. Adultery and infidelity, though not socially acceptable were still prevalent and as-a-matter-of-fact things. Free willed marriages, widow remarriage, taking in second husband etc. were all accepted norms. Intercaste marriages were very common, but the rigidity of caste system prevailed by not taking any food at spouse’s place.

Corrupt Classifier and his team reassesses lands accepting bribes and other favours. The normal system is disrupted by such irrational land assignments and an imbalance creeps into these families. To add on to it, newer land reform laws of British and introduction of courts for settling disputes create a tumultuous situation as they are highly misused by the knavish.

Slowly, this affects generations down the line, and the once affluent families now face penury while the labour class and Christians gain prominence by sheer hard work and European association. All these are recounted through stories of different members of Kodanthara, Mangalaserry, Cheeratta, Seelanthipillil and other such families, Outha Mapilla, Attukkadavil Anthony and their successors representing Christian community and Purakkalathil Abdul Rasak, Pareed etc., belonging to the Muslim families.

Stories of Kochu Nair and his son Manikantan disclose the total revamp of Education system and the mad rush for official ranks and government posts. Through Kunjan Nair, Surendran and Viswanathan author brings out the patriotic ardour that was gaining stance. Similarly, World War II, partition of India on religious lines, gaining of Independence, there upon following elections, Government and other changes in the society are subtly conveyed.

The Novel is very big and takes considerable time for reading. There are more than 100 main characters and innumerable side stories and to keep track of them is slightly weary. The consistent introduction of several characters in first few chapters is somewhat confusing. But as you continue, you realize that it is not really necessary to remember them, simply because it’s a flowing story and with ample back references. Anyway, the list of main characters is given in the beginning, which is helpful as you cruise along this marathon classic. The complicated long Malayalee names, which are sometimes repeated over several generations, are bedeviling. Also generous use of Malayalam to maintain its originality gives that authentic native touch but would have been difficult to comprehend without the glossary provided at the end.

The only other book of similar genre that I can recall is “Things fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, which portrayed the cataclysm of African society on account of European invasion. Kayar however brings forth true India in all its beautiful diversity and gives a joyous experience of reading.

A highly recommended read.

The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

As the name suggests, it is a story of a Mistress of Spices! Sounded interesting hence I chose this one to read. It is written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni who also wrote “Arranged Marriage”, a book which I honestly did not know until I read this title.

Mistress of Spices is a story of a girl who is born to poor parents and regarded as a one who will again put her parents in misery as they will have to pay dowry. Little did they know at the time of her birth that she is born with supernatural powers of foreseeing future. As her fame spread, pirates hear about her and abducts her one day! However, she was powerful enough to overthrow the chief and became the queen of pirates. She was not satisfied and when in search of peace, she comes to an island where she is to become the Mistress of Spices under the rigorous training of First Mother.

The First Mother teaches her along with other girls all about the Spices. These spices are later to be used to cure other peoples’ misery when given to them with the magical chants. Once she manages to learn all those Special Powers, she is to run a Spice Store in Oakland. She is given the name ‘Tilo’. Tilo should never leave the store, she should never use the powers for herself but for others to help and last but not the least she should not make any physical contact with any human being. As the story progresses, readers find smaller stories intertwined where Tilo uses her powers to help others. While helping others, she is so taken into it that one after another she starts breaking the forbidden rules laid for Mistresses. Not only she breaks rules but she also allows herself to fall in love with a lonely American. Once she does that, there is no looking back even though the Spices punish her, First Mother warns her of the outcomes……she overrules all, the adamant, obstinate TILO.

Does she succeed in finding her true love, what happens exactly when she breaks all rules, how do spices punish her, who is the lonely American, how does she help the miserable through her special powers? All this and more in the novel where each chapter is named after a Spice ….I wished and imagined also if actually one can use the spices available in the kitchen the way it is used in the Book . The book is a good read for all those who believe in Magic and also for those who don’t for you can always enjoy the other aspects. How does Tilo re-emerges as “Maya” in the end is for you to read. It is an interesting story of magical powers of a woman who uses her powers to help others and self and finally re-emerges as Maya. A story of a woman who dares to taste the forbidden! Whether she succeeds or not in her search & unknown desires is for the readers to find out.

Ginger Chai verdict – Read it in leisure and you may be compelled to complete it at the earliest.