Books and Reviews

Arthi's back to pen her thoughts down and so is Train to Pakistan - one of my long-loved books. Here's an excerpt from her most recent article, review of Train to Pakistan.

"Train to Pakistan is a book based on the partition of India Pakistan right after India's independence. It takes us to the summer of 1947 to Mano Majra, a tiny village in Punjab. The partition means almost nothing to the local villagers and all is well between the Sikh farmers and muslim tenants of the village until the local money lender Ram Lal is murdered. Jugga and the England returned social activist become the prey of Punjab police. The heavy drama shifts drastically when an east-bound train makes an unplanned stop at Mano Majra, coaches full of corpses..."

Read full article at: Book Review - Train to Pakistan

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Like in Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘3 Deewarein’, three independent incidences took place with me in the recent past, which were meant to be linked by the end. That’s the only part in common with 3 Deewarein, the plot and the story in my case was completely different.

• I gifted one of my favorite books to a friend in the office, because I knew she loved reading and I also knew she wrote equally great. I just attempted to encourage her to start writing book reviews because she read a lot of books and she could write much better than what I attempt here on this blog. (Not mentioning my selfish intentions; they’re out of the scope of this article.)

• My cousins and brother-in-law-less-friend-more happened to visit Pune for a weekend, later some time. One of the most fun-filled weekend, I didn’t know there were so many hours in a day and there was always so much we could do. Anyway. We had fun. I realized both of my cousins were little too much into reading, however, just-like-how-I-used-to-be, my brother-in-law found it tough reading more than a couple of pages of any book. I recommended him one of the  most interesting books (Indian fiction) I’ve ever read, with very strong recommendation to give it a try. The last I know, he had read much more than  two pages in that book. No rush, but I really hope he completes the novel someday – it’s really interesting.

• Earlier this month, during one of the greatest vacations of my life, I was at home sitting with my father on an early monsoon morning, sipping some great tea. I happened to come across a title  (‘Vanche Gujarat’) in a Gujarati daily, and it turned out to be a much bigger deal then I thought.  My father explained to me how Government of Gujarat had taken up this ‘movement’ of motivating people to read more, and how there were different programs proposed to make people of Gujarat grow this habit of 'reading books'. Some of these included, buying, gifting and passing books to others!

Apparently, these silent incidences in my life happens to be a coincidental reflection of a full-fledged program by Government of Gujarat – Vanche Gujarat. Making it a part of ‘Swarnim Gujarat Mahotsav’ (Golden Jubilee Celebrations), Government has just not contributed, they’ve also been involved and interested. The mission (as the Chief Minister likes to call it) is to reach out to people, to educate them that the books are the ultimate way out from this unfortunate situation of robotic lifestyle. With ‘Information’ taking place of ‘Knowledge’, only knowledge can lead us to light!

Explore the Vanche Gujarat official website for more if you feel like – the message is simple: Read books. It’s a good thing.

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Just finished reading Two States and thought of sharing its review:

Two States is fourth in line from Chetan Bhagat after blockbusters Five point someone, One night at call centre and Three mistakes of my life. (What’s with the numbers here? Chetan Bhagat really seems to be a superstitious, as all his books start with numbers.)

Statutory Note: If you are thinking that this book is going to be different from his previous writings, then don’t buy it - instead, borrow it from a friend. ;-)

The story goes like this: There is a girl and a boy; they meet as classmates; become friends; fall in love and decide to get married. Here is where they hit a roadblock - the boy is a Punjabi and girl is a Tamilian and this is where the book gets its name from: Two States (of India?). What follows is a long drama of how the boy and girl struggle to convince each other’s family and the hard fact that an average Indian was, is and will always be (I hope not) against inter-caste marriages.

The story is quite interesting as it keeps one hooked till the end. Plus, it has pinches of humor put at right places making it more enjoyable and light on mind too.

Although an enjoyable book, I felt Chetan Bhagat has type casted himself to a certain style of writing which is very evident from the similarities one can find in all his books. To name a few,

• All his books deal with friendship, college life or Love affair (or all three?).
• All his books have at least two to three pages dedicated to spirituality or supernatural power (his second book was totally based on supernatural power).
• All his books give one common message: if one is passionate and determined enough, he or she can achieve any goal.

Although Two States falls under 'fiction' category, the book is supposed to be loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s real life and I didn’t find it realistic enough to justify this. I felt it was quite predictable and very filmy (it seems he writes keeping in mind, the book may be made into a Bollywood movie).

I liked the way Delhi families and Tamil families have been aptly described (I believe most of us North Indians and Tamilians can correlate to it). This part gives more humor to the book.

Well, to conclude I’ll say the book is good, enjoyable and light. Plus, get ready for another Chetan Bhagat – Bollywood association!

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This being the first article on this page, I wanted to write something really interesting (and inviting enough that a reader may feel like revisiting). However, for me to write a ‘review’ of this book, there’s a fundamental condition to be fulfilled. Read on, you’d come to know about it very soon.

 

This new book was the one I had borrowed from Ravi Kakadia during one of my trips to Pune – it’s a 2001 publication from Mr Gurcharan Das. India Unbound talks mainly about effects of globalization, and the in/direct changes that have reflected by opening up the economy. The most interesting part, he’s covered all the concerned interesting aspects of India and has explained them in separate-explicit chapters. I’m yet to complete reading it (being the reason, I can’t write a ‘review’). I’ll update the article once I’m done with it.

The better part is that I’ve come across Mr Das’s online-articles-page on Times of India site (Source: Mr. Kakadia, again): Gurcharan Das: Men & Ideas. Do check it out...

 

 

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