The Immortals Of Meluah

I never though that I would end up buying this book. The most impressive feature which attracted me was the cover of the book and an unusal title 'The Immortals of Meluha'. The cover shows Shiva, with a muscular built, few war scars and a trishul, which I must say was impressive.
The author here is trying to produce an image of the Lord Shiva as a human with flesh and bones.

The story is about Shiva is a tribal leader from Tibet and is persuaded by the Suryavanshi's to join them to Meluha (Indus Valley as we know it today) to fight against the Chandravanshi's who were helped by the Naga's. Author has also tried to explain some of the features of Lord Shiva, like the blue throat, the Natraja pose and things.

The story is well paced but is sluggish when the author tried to used modern words at many places, he should kept it simple or should have used traditonal words instead. The fight scenes should have been more elaborated, he has cut kept it short and many of the characters seems to be pure fictional, specially when he was trynig to explain the Naga's.

The book is really good for a debutant and hope the other 2 books of the trilogy (yes it is a series of 3 books) is as catchy as this and elaborate the characters a bit more and make us understand more about them.

One thing I would ask every reader to notice that, the author is another in thel ist from IIT/IIM. Yes, Amish is from IIM, no wonder why all Indian authors need to come from IIT/IIM.

I would rate this book as 3 stars, worth a shot.

Johnny Gone Down

This is one short and sweet book, with fiction added at appropriate places. This is an exciting book if one is reading this kind of book for the first time. Karan Bajaj seems to have taken the inspiration to write this book from 'Shantaram by Gregory Roberts' only difference being Shantaram was more of an autobiography and his life in Mumbai (the city of dreams), whereas Johnny Gone Down is totally fictional and the author has taken the liberty to take the character around the world and narrate the story.

Coming back, this book is about Nikhil Arya and starts in the yerar 1975, an Indian guy who completed MIT and was on the verge of joining NASA. The story is about the decisions he made in his life span which ended in taking him to different places around the world.
First to Cambodia where he became the victim of Khemar Rouges coup and ended up loosing his arm. He also learnt the biggest lesson in his life, "We can just do the things and rest depend on our Karma and have to accept it".
Then his escape to Thailand, where he accepts Buddhism and becomes a monk.
Then to Rio de Janeiro, where he quits his monk life and becomes a part of the local mafia, doing all sort of wrong things.
Then his escape to Minnesota - USA where he creates a revolution over the internet.
Then back to India, where at an alumni meet he realizes his life has not been that bad and was special in one way. This is where the story come to an end.

The author has narrated the story really well, switching between the present and the past was showcased beautifully. At places he drags a bit too much and at places he has abruptly ended his journey, like his stay in USA. The author has also shown the character as the one who can do extraordinary things and at times this does not digest well.

Over all, this a good book to read and I would rate this 3.5 on 5.

Holding Tight

Generation of flowers holding each other tightly, which we humans don't do in our life.

Farewell Mail by Manoj

It's an emotional day today as one of our Gang member, Manoj, is leaving today.
Manoj, also referred as Mamachan aka Devil aka Over aka Mr Philosopher aka Mr Defence and list will go on. He has been one of the most prominent character of our GANG and will be missed deeply.

Below is the farewell mail sent out by him to all.

Subject : Last of my memorable days in HSBC

Hello Everyone,

Today is last of my memorable days in HSBC and like the old English proverb says -All good things must come to an end. It's been a pleasure meeting you all and I thank god for such an wonderful opportunity. For the past few days, I have been doing some retrospection to understand the gravity of my decision and which I would like to share with you all.

10 Reasons why I still don't want to go.

1 ) Magnanimous Managers : I know a simple thank you would never be suffice for nurturing and mentoring me into the person I am today. You inspired me to never give up and stood beside me whenever I committed blunders, while at the same time appreciating and celebrating with me my success. I got to learn a lot, especially how a good manager should be, and I am pretty sure that if destiny permits me a opportunity to work again for you, I don't have to think twice before accepting it. But alas I don't have anything to give back except my simple and humble Thank you.

2) Ingenious and amiable Colleagues : You guys have been simply awesome. In the past 3 years that I have been here, I know that if it were not for you guys I would not have accomplished so much. Every time when I have approached you with a knotty problem, you have put in all your effort to find a solution though sometimes you yourself would be neck deep in work. I appreciate the favors that you have bestowed upon me all through this period and I sincerely hope that in future I get colleagues at least 10% good as you guys.

3) Understanding Client : There is a general saying in IT consulting that it's impossible to get a good client and a good manager together, but I guess I was among the lucky few to get both. Thanks a lot for appreciating my work, for keeping realistic expectations and for the infinitude amount of help in my work. Also, I am sorry for any shortcomings in my work and for sending you bulky emails.

4) Courteous acquaintance's in GLT: Though most of the time we have interacted only with a hello and a smile or may be sometimes a small discussions at the tea stall or lift, but even these small interactions gave me immense pleasure. I hope I catch up with you again sometime in the journey called LIFE.

5) My Cubicle mates: I know I am a very noisy person and it can be quite disturbing sometimes, but you guys never complained and took it silently. Thanks a lot for putting up with me and for the "Good mornings" every morning, and I am pretty sure going to miss them.

6) Extra curricular activities : These events were certainly the mood boosters and I am proud to have been part of such initiatives whether it may be sports, in which we won the first RBS cricket tournament and conducted the inter team volley ball tournament, or the mega CSR event, in which we won the 1st and the 2nd prize for collecting lot's of money for CSR activities. Thanks a lot for including me and for the memorable moments.

7) Table Tennis Arena and Friends: Thanks a lot guys for the wonderful time and for advising me on my TT skills. It was a jolly good ride and the best place in HSBC GLT to relax after work and to meet new and interesting people.

8) Lavish Parties and trips : The first thing that comes to my mind when I recollect the memories of my past office parties and trips is "Wow was it real or fantasy". One more luck I have is that most of my team members are party freaks and so every one makes sure we have a hell of a time. So more than the food, the drinks and the DJ, I guess it was my team that made these events special.

9)My First Company: No one can forget anything that he gets for the first time in life, whether it may be his first bike, first girl friend or first job. And so I am pretty emotional about this , but you are already acquaint with that feeling right!

10) Immediate Friends : I know you guys are going to hit me hard for putting you at the bottom of the list, but irrespective of where I put you, you all are going to remain closest to my heart now and forever. During my tenure in HSBC, I have spent more time with you guys than with myself. I am going to treasure all the very moments I spent with you guys especially all the Friday night parties, team and dinner time discussions and ofcourse the jokes that we cracked on eachother.What more should I say, I guess Emily Dickinson's quote " Saying nothing...sometimes says the most." says it all.


Why am I going ?

Life has given me a small window of opportunity to realize my dream and, if I don't take it now may be someday I will turn 80 and will have to ask myself the question - What If ? .

I will be pursuing my Masters in Business administration at Great Lakes Institute of Management in Mahabalipuram (Chennai), India for the next 1 year.If possible, I would like to add you all to my Orkut or Facebook friends or acquintance list or alternatively you could use my personal email address - manojmakkatt@gmail.com.



Last but not the least......

Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night! - The Truman Show


À bientôt (See you soon),
Manoj MAMACHAN


P.S : I won't say goodbye my friend. For you and I shall meet again.

-Anup

Love, A Rather Bad Idea...All It Gives A Lousy Hangover

Yes, even I was wondering the same, have I read it correctly and is this the title of the book. Seemed different and that is how I ended up buying up this one. The book is written by Anirban Mukherjee, an IITian, who is narrating an incident, happened at the time when IITians do all NON-IITian things.
This is when he introduces our main character, Samar and his bunch of friends Pranav and Skimpy. Life was all time high for Samar, as he had a good looking girl, Jiya, by his side and he was also heading the race to become the head of the student body (General Secretary) in IIT.

The book tells the story is three parts, first with the introduction of the characters and the collage life, especially that time of the year which all ITians wait for.
Then followed by the part where Samar tries hard to win the G-Sec. The feeling of getting to the top makes him blind, self centered and selfish. This is when things start to fall at wrong places for him, and life takes a drastic turn where he ends up loosing all his close friends.
Final part, when he realizes what he has lost in the horse race and his efforts to patch up things with all his friends, but at a price.

This book is fun to read, a light hearted one with a bit of fiction added here and there. The only problem is I couldn't get why this name was chosen for the book. The book also comes with a tag line saying "He could've had everything. If only he had said 'Thank You'.". But I feel, "He could've had everything, if only he had said 'Sorry'.". The start of the book is a bit draggy, but then goes on till the end with a steady pace.

My verdict for this one will be 3 stars, worth reading especially when it comes at just 100 bucks.

-Anup

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

This is first time I am reading Mohsin Hamid, so really wasn't sure of what to expect.

The book is about an encounter between an American ('you') and a bearded Pakistani ('Changez') in a restaurant on the streets of Old Anarkali road in Lahore. This is a story of just one evening where Changez narrates his experience of America. He talks about his graduation, his first job, his high flying career and his love life and how things change since the attack on the World Trade Centre.

The book stands by his name 'Reluctant Fundamentalist'. Changez is an unwilling fellow, he has been hesitating to take decisions throughout, and if he takes any, he still has doubt about those. And post 9/11 shows his fundamentalist character. He leaves his high flying career and decides to settle in his hometown, Lahore.

The story telling in the book was really good, this is the first time I have seen such a story telling. The pace of the book is really slow and it never grips you because, while reading you are sure of what is in store next. If the author wanted to display the trauma of post 9/11, he could have it by taking some other real life characters, who have actually gone through the suffering. The character in the book haven't gone through anything, he is a person earning a healthy salary and just decides to quit America because of his religious thoughts.

I would say one can happily avoid it, if one wants to unless you love non-fictional a lot.
My Verdict would be just 2 stars. One for the story telling and other for the character which I liked the most, 'Erica'.

Oh Shit, Not Again!

The cover of this book said it's a National Best Seller, and the abstract written at the back of the book tempted me to buy this when I was just going through the racks of books at the Crossword. It also held the caution in the first page saying
'Beware before you read......
   you may die laughing......'

But sorry to say this was a complete disappointment. I have completed the book in one day not because I enjoyed or it gripped me, it was only because I didn't wanted to invest another day reading this stuff.

The author, Mandar Kokate, seems to have written this as if a deadline of couple of days was given of him to complete the book. The story revolves around 5 friends and the narrator being a character called Raj. Really don't know, what was expected from him, because in the entire book all he could think about was sex, a typical sex starved guy who could not control his manhood.

The story was far more than fiction, I will say the entire story was hypothetical. It didn't had any real life similarity.
Things like moving on to a new locality, then a porn movie being mistakenly played in front of a grandma, falling in love, again falling for other married woman, then again falling for his cousin, then seducing and kissing each one of them, then a dramatic murder, a divorce, an attempted killing, mixing vodka and sex pills in the soft drinks in a party and finally suicide. All this things happening in a matter of 10 days.
Is anybody so STUPID to believe all this.

Mandar, shows how desperately he is trying to become an author. My suggestion will be, write some realistic stuff, and please please please do not try to imitate anybody, because there will be only one Chetan Bhagat, only one Ravi Subramaniyam etc etc.

My Verdict 1 Star.

Please avoid reading this book

-Anup

2010...so far

Its been two weeks now since the calendar started showing 2010, and it has just flown by. At this pace it wont take much time for the calendar to show 2011, and this saddens me. I really wish something good to happen this year and make me remember this year life long.

As of now, the first two weeks passed on nicely. In the first week itself there were two parties one at Curve in KP and other at Invitation 365. Had loads of fun in the latter one, as it was Ronny's marriage party which eventually turned out to be more or like a TTMM :) one.

Then two of my very good friends celebrated their birthday last week. So wishing them a very happy birthday again, first to Amol (14th Jan) and to Ashish (16th Jan). Also one of my good friend Nambi have become an Uncle (his sister gave birth to a baby boy).

One thing I am most happy about the first two weeks is that, I have been following my resolution without fail. I have been going to swimming daily and am also continuing my work out in the evening. The only thing is, this makes me impossible to keep my eyes open after 11 at the night.

Apart from this nothing much have happened, so can't think of anything else.

So signing off (this word have been taken from RK) at the moment.

Anup

Lyrics - Dil Toh Bachha Hai

Lately I have been listening to this song a lot, and I am just loving it more and more.
This is from the movie ISHQIYA, where Vidya Balan looks mind blowing.
The song is Dil toh Bachha Hai and sung exceptionally well by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

So the lyrics goes like this

Aisi ulji nazar unse hatt ti nahi
Daant se reshmi dor katt ti nahi
Umar kab ki baras ke safaid ho gayi
Kaari badari jawani ki chatt ti nahi
Walla ye dhadkan bhadne lagi hai
Chehre ki rangat udne lagi hai
Darr lagta hai tanha sone mein ji
Dil to bachcha hai ji
Dil to bachcha hai ji
Thoda kaccha hai ji
Haan dil to baccha hai ji
Aisi ulji nazar unse hatt ti nahi
Daant se reshmi dor katt ti nahi
Umar kab ki baras ke safaid ho gayi
Kaari badari jawani ki chatt ti nahi
Ra ra ra ..

Kisko ptaa tha pehlu mein rakha
Dil aisa baaji bhi hoga
Hum to hamesha samajhte the koi
Hum jaisa haaji hi hoga
Hai zor karein, kitna shor karein
Bewaja baatein pe ainwe gaur karein
Dilsa koi kameena nahi
Koi to rokey, koi to tokey
Iss umar mein ab khaogey dhokhe
Darr lagta hai ishq karne mein ji
Dil to bachcha hai ji
Dil to bachcha hai ji
Thoda kaccha hai ji
Haan dil to baccha hai ji

Aisi udhaasi baithi hai dil pe
Hassne se ghabra rahe hain
Saari jawani katra ke kaati
Piri mein takra gaye hain
Dil dhadakta hai to aise lagta hai woh
Aa raha hai yahin dekhta hi na woh
Prem ki maarein kataar re
Taubah ye lamhe katt te nahi kyun
Aankhein se meri hatt te nahi kyun
Darr lagta hai mujhse kehne mein ji
Dil toh bachcha hai ji
Dil toh bachcha hai ji
Thoda kaccha hai ji
Haan dil toh baccha hai ji


I enjoyed this one, hope you all will like this song

What a Year !!!!!!!!

What.......a year it had been. It started of with me, B and AT enjoying the fireworks at the London eye on a chilled weather. The 14 minutes of spectacular fireworks. And for a fact not many might have noticed this, but the clock was put behind by 60 seconds at the midnight and we noticed that, at the Big Ben.
I went on to spend the first 4 months of the year in London and enjoyed the stay to the fullest, specially the Snow Fall. Playing all over the snow with  bare hands, making snow fall, also using the snow of the balcony as our natural freezer; it was simply amazing.

After coming back to Pune, I just had a gala time with colleagues and used to party ever now and then. There were many events, the birthdays, the promotions (yes, I was promoted in April) and all other for just no reason. Then came the Hyderabad trip, where we went to KD's place. This was the first time, I had gone out with my friends outside Pune.

Then, my Big B came here for his visa stampings during Diwali. I had my house warming at that time. But the stealer of his Pune visit was something else which I will be posting at some other time ;).

The year ended with me piercing my ear, it was a shocker for my mom. And on the last day, my collage friends made my day. It was just a perfect end for the year. I met with most them almost after 2 years.

Its been 1 year since I have started blogging and I am really happy with it, that I am still continuing it. I have also started reading after a gap of few years and I am really enjoying it. I have read many book this year and just finished with 'The Winner Stands Alone' yesterday (the review I would give in goodreads.com). I have also been listening to a lot of Malayalam and Tamil songs. I would definitely take this on to the next year as well. Also, I have came up with few resolutions and would hope to follow it.

All in all, this year had bought me a lot high in many ways but there were few downs as well, which I would like to forget it. But yeah, I have learned couple of things from those lows.
But I am really glad that I have managed to reconnect with few of my very very old friends and I am also happy that my bonding with many of my office friends have become more stronger. And it is my friends and my family which helps us to keep going.

So a Very Happy New Year to my Mom, dad and to my Big B. And the same to my friends B, RK, KD, MM, GTM, Sam, Mahi, Ronny, VM then to my School friends Raki, Sandy, Rip, Vic, Reems, Mallya and last but not the least to my engg gang Jay, Joshi, Yaddu, Pappu, Sammy, Karwa, Mickey and Amol.