Off to Coffeeway Galaxy

When I received  the book the Mahabharata code, the sci-fi look of the cover did seem interesting.

The book based on Mahabharata narrated in first person, by the protagonist NR  or rather Narayan Rao, an astronomer with NASA based originally from Bangalore. He and few other members are part of a NASA mission to  visit a mysterious planet from where they receive signals.  On reaching there instead of Jadoo like creäture they meet a man with long flowing beard called vyasa his vision is to recreate the Mahabharata over again, to gain the faith of the primitive civilization of the planet.

The recreation is verbatim, and NR  realizes his son Krishna was to be Lord Krishna.

The narrative stays true to the original, though intercepted with cricket and technology, with foot notes in italic to give an impression of hallucinations of a comatose man. there are some  intrusion allusions used like, NR’s wife is a computer engineer who channelized her skill to create technology to transform their son to Lord Krishna.

At a point there is a suggestion that Krishna is 2 people and not one. the episode of Yashoda seeing the universe in Krishna’s mouth was because Krishna had cholate in his mouth , Yashoda the mother from the primitive planet mistook it for mud. The winning of Draupadi happens  through biometric and of course the wonder of Karna clearing the biometrics arises. In the Kunti- Pandu story Pandu is given “Nirbaya Shots” to make him impotence, which is the way of the primitive planet to prevent rape,. The author does need to do research her.

The polyandry of Draupadi was planned by Vyasa. Somewhere there is a passage of being Hindu, which I have forgotten.   The Ganga-Shantanu episode is presented as a prenuptial agreement, I wonder why the Shantanu-Sathyavati prenuptial were not brought up.

Out of the blue the book shifts to modern India, Leh area, the protagonist falls sick, then the army steps in with medical care… at the end of the reading I am still confused and the loose ends are many.

By the way the mysterious planet is in the coffeeway galaxy…

Maybe I am old school and I prefer Krishna Udayashankara’s, Shashi Tharoor, Sharat Komarraju, and DevduttPattnaik’s rendering of the Mahabharat, in the exact order of the authors listed.

The book would be potent as an audio book with right vocal variety for many of the writings lends itself to subtext or the meta-story than the visible story line. Again this is a very personal take.

People who are into reading as they travel should pick this book up, it will give them enough to visualize, and ponder. This is not skim in an hour book.

pick your book here The Mahabharata code

Author: Karthik K.B.Rao

Publisher Notionpress.com

ISBN 98-93-5206-8883

 

Darkness and Light Within-

Book review.

The dark room

When my mother wanted to say that we did something foolish, or she felt foolish, she used a term, “upper storey to let” somehow the book took me through the journey

Finally the throne of my idol Dame Agatha Christie is threatened.

The Debut Novel of author Minnette Walters, The Dark Room had me absolutely hooked. Published by Pan Boooks, the ISBN number is 0330343742

The story of three unsolved murders spanned over 10 yrs opens with a prologue which feels totally irrelevant when the actual story moves on.  The relevance pops only towards the end.

It is so difficult to talk about this whodunit without placing the spoilers.

Set in contemporary England, the Story line is quite simple three unsolved murders, one attempted suicide the suicide victim is the suspect at the murder, so is her father,   the plot is very simple what makes the book unique is the treatment, Walters focuses on relationship, and the subaltern thought process. She does not bother to vindicate her characters behaviour moral or amoral.

Though the book is about relationship and one of the dead being sexually overtly liberal there are no sex scenes to distract, she actually rejects an obvious buzz issue child abuse to keep the focus.

Stories in Indian context even western contest are either plot driven or Prakarna as Sanskrit literature calls it, that is events dominate the narrative, while the other is Purana or the character dominated ones. each character is crafted quite convincingly that one does excuse couple of misses here and there.

The young man who comes up from the ranks the hard way, him marrying a woman from the elite society of England, him idolizing her and the daughter that is born to them. when she dies he marries someone from his own environment, the jealousy  the apparently dysfunctional family juxtaposition with apparently well knit traditional families the story pans out very interestingly. Though being a seasoned whodunit reader, I did het a whiff of who the murder might be  I realized the temptation to jump the plat was not there.

Hope I have not put a spoiler for anyone,

about the author http://minettewalters.co.uk/

 

Placid Romance.

YOU RAISE ME UP  Arjun Hemmady published by LeadStartcorp.com, Genre, Fiction. ISBN

the book blurb sounded quite interesting, when the book did arrive it  we burst out giggling at the cover page… no …offence meant but something about it triggered the “athi nahi ” spoof on Sanjay Kapoor.

The book is about relationships, I would not call it a romance. Somewhere I get the impression that the author has stood on the banks of a river, looked into the river bed and captured the illuminations it threw up.

When I started off reading, it was a bit jarring to read, about catching a plane, I belong the generation that either boards a plane or catches a flight. Planes are not caught unless they are made of paper and floated in the classrooms.

The story opens on a flight where a Aalok Sharma.. Who I presume is a Konkani or at least Konkani speaking lands with  a Priyanka Mehra as a co-passenger. If someone like Priyanka Mehra came into my space I would run, and if I even had a whiff that my either of my daughters behaved like her I would disown them, anyway Priyanka Mehra a verbose stranger crashes into Aalok’s house and life.

The book then goes into a flash back, where Aalok was involved with Tanvi Rao who marries. Tanvi Rao is the daughter of an alcoholic, and she takes to alcohol to deal with her issues, I cannot remember if she smoked too.

Aalok has a twin, fraternal, I am blank about her name too, she is married to doctor Sheetal.

The interesting part of this narrative the gender switch, women are aggressive, Isha a kick-box champion, and Priyanaka into wrestling. The parents are faded wallpapers, of the dysfunctional variety.

The girl Priyanka  goes full throttle without bothering to know if the male she is hunting is married, divorced or gay. The hero actually tells her that he might continue to love his estranged and later divorced wife Tanvi more, than he loves her and he wanted a divorce because he could deal with the alcoholism.

At point I thought the story would gain some depth or some flavour when Tanvi’s dad throws her affair with Aalok on her face.  But that was a sparkle that was snuffed out. It could have been a point to take the story to another level.

The toll of alcoholism takes on life is very very nascent it could have been explored a bit more.

The book also touches on work life taking a toll on personal life, that track is also killed before it could breathe. I really appreciated the economy of the characters presented. The timeline however is not very convincing. What I liked the most about the book was that the characters moved on in life without going into backlash of a broken relationship.

The book is refreshing in the sense there are no engineers or multinational companies, over all a placid read perfect for the Metro ride and a book crossing.

About the author:           Arjun Hemmady debuts with the novel. He is  charted account by training and works in a manufacturing company, he is the alumnus of St.Mary’s ICSE Mazgaon, and RA Poddar College of Commerce and Economics.

This review is a part of the biggest <a href=”http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews&#8221; target=”_blank”> Book Review Program </a> for <a href=”http://www.blogadda.com&#8221; target=”_blank”>Indian Bloggers.</a>

 

The Talwar story

Book review of Aarushi By Avirook Sen

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a non-fiction by Avirook Sen.  published by  Penguin Books India with 978-0-143-421421-4.

Mr.Sen tracks the sordid details of Aarushi’s murder. The book is laid out well,  opening with character list, followed by time lines.

The book is definitely not light reading, the 300 pages book packs in too much of information that one tends to get lost in the maze of the information.

Thankfully Mr.Sen does not go into too many theatricals nor is he inclined to romanticize things.

Avirook Sen

In space, the book tended to distract me, by references to other cases and judgements on one hand. On the other he brings out the peer presence of Delhi teenagers, the gawky attempts of teenagers to break the cocoon.

Though Mr.Sen walks the readers through the goof ups of the investigation bodies he is not able actually give us evidence or probable evidence of the guilt of Krishna and the other help.

The movie Rahasyam, starring Ashsih Vidyarthi ,Tisca Chopra  and Kay Kay Menon seem to be heavily inspired by the facts presented in this book.

the Invertis University Bareilly

The interesting part of the book was the presentation of Mr.K.K.Gautam who discovered the body of Hemaraj, altered testimony in 2010 from the one given in 2008 turned the entire tide.  the author succeeds in giving an impression that the institute run Mr.K.K.Gautam  the Invertis Institute at Bareilly owes itself to this changed testimony.

the apparently snobbish persona of Nupur Talwar and their journey from comfortable midclass respectable family to the impoverished prison life has been brought out very subtly.

The book is very well researched, and would work as a good source material for researchers.  An excellent book to fall back on if one wanted to write Whodunits. The legal procedures, the investigative procedures the blotch ups, are well documented. Despite the fact that the author deliver a judgement, he definitely  tells the Talwar story and one does feel that they have not received justice.

About the author: ttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4459183.Avirook_Sen

images courtesy Google Images.

The Deafening silence.

Buy The Silent Scream from Flipkart.com

The silent scream,

Deals with the real cases of child abuse. The names and locations have been changed to maintain the privacy of the survivors. But the stories are presented in a very matter fact way. I really appreciate the way the author has presented the cases without any dramatization or passing judgement on the predator. Neither does he gloss over the goriness of it all.

The book also shares the probable trigger, prevention, acknowledging and support that the victim needs to transcend from being a victim to a survivor. He also lists help centres. And inputs from psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors and other people working in the area.

The book is a must read for parents, teachers, counsellors, and law enforcers working children.  Since the language and presentation of the book is more in tune with kids over twelve it might be a good idea to have it published as graphic novels for kids younger.

The book particularly ensures that we acknowledge that child predators are present in all socio-economic sectors of the society and that it is more an issue of power and control.

All the same it would have been complete if the author could deal with finding closure after abuse. This is the biggest lacunae in a survivor’s psyche, particularly if the predator has moved out of the survivor’s space.

The authored by Siddhartha Garga who has debuted with the Novel In Love With Your Friendship focuses on friendship and its intricate, currently he is working on his third novel Maya dealing with the real life experience of a rape survivor. The Book is published by Rumour Book India 9788192953298

Tags: non-fiction, sociology, abuse,