Book Review - Not without my daughter

This book is similar to some of the books that i have read in the past like "The Princess", "Iran Awakening", "Kite Runner" etc

Similarity is in the oppressive nature of the cultures that the stories are based on. But i liked this book for the simple fact that it has a happy ending. In short, it is a true story of an American lady who along with her daughter is taken hostage in Iran by her Iranian husband and how she struggles to get out of the country with her daughter.

Rest are details about their ways of life in Iran and what she goes through there amidst her husband's relatives. The fact that she could have fled the country leaving her daughter behind offers no consolation to her. So she decides to stick on until she finds a way to flee with her daughter. After repeated attempts and amidst huge uncertainity she becomes successful.

It is her courage and perseverance that makes this book an inspiring read. I think the happy ending makes it worthwhile. I havent seen the movie, but generally feel it is better to read than to see the movie version of subjects like these. But then if you are looking to get the essence in a couple of hours then the movie (by the same title) is definitely an option!

Once upon a time in Soviet Union - Book Review

I badly want to travel to Russia, mainly to see what the headquarter of communism is like. Now i certainly cannot time travel to see what it was like to be there during the cold war but i can read others experience of the times. I still want to visit Russia someday and hope that this is a practical desire.

Dominique Lapierre and Jean Pierre(with their wives) from 'paris Match' fortunately get permission from Krushchev to travel from one side of Soviet union to the other. Ofcourse there were many conditions that they had to comply with for this to happen. Least of which was to have a Russian journalist accompany them all the time and an itinerary approved by the government to be followed.

What all they go through during this remarkable journey and related incidents thereafter is what the book comprises of. Tales of Russian hospitality, the way the whole nation was shielded from any foriegn ideas or influences makes this book an extremely interesting read. This book is not an authority on the communist regime in Soviet Union but gives a good insight into the lives of the ordinary citizens and their living conditions. This one is a definite recommendation from my side. The fact that the book is extremely small can only help you zero in on this one as your next read!!

Aphrodite - Book Review

If you are below 18 years of age then please do not bother to read this blog.

Well now that i have caught your attention ;-) let me go into details on 'Aphrodite' by Isabel Allende real quick. Brought to notice by a friend of mine, i have been reading about/listening to Isabel for sometime now. So my first pick among her works was 'Aphrodite' named after the Greek goddess of Love. Well the fact that this was the only copy that was available in the library i am member of helped the selection. Nevertheless, the title is quite interesting and set me thinking on what really can be written on this subject that can result in a book of decent size!!
In this book, Isabel teams up with few friends of hers to present wisdom on aphrodisiacs from various parts of the world. Very honestly i could sustain till the end because of her sense of humour and the weirdness of some of the facts!!. May be there is no real need for an aphrodisiac in my life as of now!! Lets assume that there are lots of them who are dying to be enlightened on this subject. For them she also has come up with a collection of aprodisiacal recipes besides general gyan on the subject. Well in short, this book is about what to do, what to wear, what to eat, what to drink and how to smell if you are on an enticing spree!!
I dont feel like putting it in my recommendation list but then if you tend to be the curious variety like me - Enjoy the book!!!

A thousand Suns - book review

One of my favourite authors, Dominique Lapierre in "A thousand suns" shows why he is such a popular writer. An eye for detail, a heart for the poor and tales he learnt from his adventures - he has enough stories to write about. In this book he travels from one part of the world to the other with so much ease. He takes us along and shows us how fortunate we are and yet how less responsible we are to the suffering around us. It is a different fact that we probably dont hear the cries of the needy. We are ourselves sufferers of our own insecurites - though the need for it is highly debatale!!

What impresses me the most about his works is that there is joy in every struggle he sees because he finds them all heroic. He salutes the spirit of the poor and underprivileged who still manage to put up a smile despite adversities. He introduces us to many interesting and passionate men and women who bravely march ahead for the fulfilment of a herculean yet noble cause. Through his eyes we revel in the joy of having discovered things that are obvious and yet unnoticed.

The context just shifts from Bull fighting in Spain to the lepers in India to the Jewish sturggle in Jerusalem in a very beautiful manner. It seems that challenges are universal - we cannot thrive without them and we will not be able to improve without them. All it takes is a commitment to surpass the hurdles - to overlook the bad roads and proceed glefully towards the destination. To remember along the way the spirits of those brave men and women who have laid their lives for a cause. I was hooked on to this book and as usual felt humbled at the power of humanity!! There is so much we can do - There is so much that is being done already by someone!!

The shadow of the wind - Book review

With a lot of incidents happening in my personal life, my reading has taken a hitting. But then i still manage to do one now and then. The latest one is 'The shadow of the wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I got this book as a gift and as a recommendation from a good friend of mine. Although i picked this up with a neutral mind, the story, narration and the plot kept me hooked till the end.

The story starts with the character Daniel getting introduced to a book of a not so well known author Julian. When he encounters someone who tries to get all the remaining copies of it and burn them, he starts on a journey to find out more about the author and what happened to him. I liked the plot and the way it develops into a nice mystery solver. Even though towards the end you start smelling the conclusion, it still is racy and interesting anough to keep you hooked on to the book.

I liked the plot, the way the mystery unfolds and the narration by the author. A definite recommendation from me if you are looking for a book for a casual read. Enjoyyyyy..

Easiest way to buy and sell in US

There is no dearth of online marketplaces. Information super highway is one of the best routes to both sell and buy. The convenience it offers for anyone with just a credit card is truely incredible. For a capitalistic economy like US, it is important that people buy and sell and there is constant money rotation. Craigslist is one of them, though you cannot pay over the internet, but then checkout pictures/details and then contact the seller, visit him/her and buy it.

I came to know of the site through my friends and have now started taking it seriously. The amount of buying or selling that happens over this site is tremendous. Although there has been incidents involving wrong usage of the website. For example, prostitution, mugging after posting to sell a Porsche and things like that have happened in the past.

But what is fascinating is that you will find almost everything sold and bought over this website. If you want to have a good laugh then you must visit the 'free' section of the site. Last time i visited this section intially i was surprised how many things are given away as free stuff. Ofcourse lot of those are good enough to be trashed. Some of the funny ones that i saw are some one offering to give away an extra pack of milk he has bought, free hair cuts etc.,

But for that you will find good deals on used cars, rented houses, furniture etc. But the most important thing needed to make a good deal is the ability to understand good stuff and commit on it instantly. All good stuff including cars gets picked in a matter of hours!!! So if you are in the US(dont know elsewhere) and want to buy something quick and economical for short term needs hit off to craigslist - All the Best!!

Azim Premji in flesh and blood

Guess who visited our office - the one and only Mr.Premji. It is kind of a pattern now - considering the fact that i am either writing on books i read or people visiting my office. But then you know what, even birth and death is a pattern. So let me just go ahead with my notes for the day ;)

Jokes apart - i could not resist not attending the session where someone as experienced and accomplished as Premji would share his wisdom.

Everything said and done the start was not very impressive as he came a good half hour late. Dunno if he can blame it on the traffic here!! After that when he started talking, i must accept that i got completely hooked on to the session. He started of with some lessons to carry home and then continued into a Q&A session. Infact the lessons were nothing earth shaking - but to hear it from someone who has a big list of achievements against his name was impressive. Some of the work that his foundation does were quoted with some anecdotes which were pretty good. What swept the audience off the feet was his experience and dignity that he displayed. Well about dealing with business in India, he felt that there has to be a certain insensitivity that needs to be developed for the overall good.

Anything that he would like to change from his past - yes, to have spent more time with the family. Well you dont get everything in life and when the wisdom arrives it is always late for you to react!!

Dabbawallahs

What do dabbawallahs do? Where do they do what they do? Why do they do whatever they do? What is it that shot them to fame? Why do management gurus, kings, leaders alike took notice of these quiet men of honor?

We had Dabbawallahs themselves answering these questions during the sessions they conducted inhouse. I went over with my friend to get a first hand feel of what they do and why they are considered with such regard. Leave alone the six sigma statistics thay they have bettered. What captured my attention was the confidence and the pride with which he spoke and the humbleness that he displayed, a rare combination. They take home food to the offices and then bring it back to the houses after the lunch for a meagre amount. Like the business itself the process is extremely simple and is not replicable as such - it caters to the Mumbai city's needs and depends entirely on the electric train. And more than this on the passion and commitment of the Dabbawallahs who are stakeholders in the business. To a large extent this hinges on their desperation for earning a livelihood and their belief that distributing food is a divine task.

What is also noteworthy is the time management and the fact that the process is kept as simple as possible to keep the costs low. Despite that it needs to be seen how many more decades they will sustain. May be their younger generation will reconsider how much more money they can make with so many opportunities around!!

Maximum City - My opinions

He just captivated me with his words, dragged me into the details, humbled me with the heroics of the under privileged and teased me with the tale of the mislead. Suketu Mehta's brilliant work on 'Mumbai' truely kept me hooked on to the book for the entire length. A definite recommendation from my side, 'Maximum City' deserves accolades for the neutral view of the city.

I am a big fan of leading a peaceful life in a country like setting. I dream of having a quiet home far away from the hussle and bussle of the big cities. And i hate the fact that in India we do not preserve our rivers or even take enough pain to control growth in cities. We grow inorganically and reach a point where our infrastructure breaks. All our rivers are mere dumpyards and we fail to look beyond the confines of our homes.

The author comes across as a global citizen who can see the whole world without the burden of his context. He skilfully describes every character and event they were part of. I loved the non-partisan view on even his friends, for example on how he describes Vidhu Vinod Chopra as someone who is confused between the western movie styles and the Indian public's likes. There are places in the book where the author reflects in a philosophical manner of why people go through what they do. There is no right or wrong, there is no one way of living life and the one who most enjoys life is certainly the one who can open mindedly take in every opinion and change himself to accomodate what appeals to him.

Iran Awakening - Book Review

I admire the strength and honesty of Shirin Ebadi whose book i read last. Similar i felt a long time ago when i read "Lajja" by Taslima Nasreen. But to be fair it is no way a comparison of two personalities but just a tribute to courage these women have shown under similar circumstances.

What i liked the most about this book is that it conveys quite lucidly what a woman went through under such tremendously trying conditions. She speaks to you as a mother, daughter and a wife. But above all, she speaks to you as a patriot who loves her country but despises only the fundamentalists - which is very noble. I dont find me even mustering half as much courage if i were to imagine myelf under similar conditions. All the attrocities commited in the name of religion was really unbelievable in the beginning. Time and again i kept telling "No... this cant be true!!". Such is the madness that the regime has unleashed on helpless people. What is striking is total lack of respect for women that shows how weak and insecured the men in power would have been.

Not only do i salute these brave women but also wish them all the luck in succeeding in their big fight for equality. Let men understand that by eliminating women from circle of decision making they simply lose out half their intellectual strength!! Let some sense prevail.

Sudha Murthy - Through her books!!

I am quite aware that i have not read all her books but still this benevolent lady has left such a strong impression on me that i cant help but write this blog!!
I recently read two of her books "Wise and Otherwise" and "The Old man and his God". I found them to be extremely simple yet honest account of her day to day experiences. To me she stood out from just being Mr.Narayan Murthy's wife. I felt a certain strength of character through the words she had for what we dismiss as everyday incidents.

There is a clear difference between how a poet sees a flower from how we see it and it is bringing in this fresh perspective that he/she gets applauded for. I felt the same awe reading Ms.Murthy's explanations on the events during her very meaningful work with the Infosys Foundation. I find also some passages where she has responded back to her critics - which i think is absolutely unnecessary. There are always people to criticise - only if they could help others with half that enthusiasm!!

Sensational overdose

If you ever have difficulty in explaining to your young son on what the word "sensational" means just allow him to watch news in any television news channels for 10 minutes!!! I cant believe that the media can stoop to such lower levels. I see a very disturbing trend in the media where quality is going down day-by-day for the sake of high TRPs or readership.

Not only is the content repeated infinite times, it is also overly sensationalised and hyped to suit the mass' apetite for emotional content. A Sunita Williams who probably recalls that she is of Indian origin is remembered by every household in India. Thanks to Kalpana Chawla and the high attention that media is providing for her!! I definitely dont mind this news being covered but i hate the fact that we dont care about the rest of the crew who are not originally from India.

Why are we always short of good news? Why is it not simple for folks in the media to understand that they have a much larger responsibility than cover the opening of the movie "Sivaji" in such a grandeur manner? I have been a big fan of the daily 'The Hindu' for the fact that they do a great job in playing down unwanted hype.

Freedom of expression is misunderstood as lack of responsibility. There are either skewed interpretations from the political mouthpieces or just attractive sizzle for the eyes and ears. The best one can do is to limit the viewing and take a nap or enjoy an activity with the family!

"The reluctant fundamentalist" - Book Review

This book is no amazing piece of literature, but then it has a slice of

author's soul and that is what i liked about it. This is an easy book to read - keep it for a sunday afternoon or a travel.

I recently read an article about the confusion that the muslim youth nowadays go through. Categorically listing the religion as anti-modern and illiberal faith it condemned the 9/11 attacks where only a fraction of lives were lost compared to Iraq or Kashmir. Does it require genius of Einstein to understand that no amount of security measure can save your lives after instigating violence for selfish reasons. Knowing this i can understand the amount of insecurity that has crept in. I am no advocate of violence in the west, but i am also no fan of considering that lives in the west are more valuable than the poorer nations. Newton's third law catches up - "Every action has a equal and opposite reaction". And remember like it is said that "life begets life", so does violence.

I was interested in knowing what a learned Pakistani feels like upon treated the way he is like he is in the airports of America. From the book though there is a commonness in the culture and the food and the description of streets in Pakistan and India. Also a feeling on either sides that the other one is hawkish. Thus i identify myself with my brother living in Pakistan. This book is just a narration of how the author searches for his identity and achieves it finally in Lahore. I dont think the book is loud and clear as far the exact sentiments go. Nevertheless it conveys how even a Princeton and Harvard educated Pakistani sitting in the safe confines of a well paid job can feel for his nation. Like Sashi Tharoor said, "There is no place under the sun like your own country that a man can feel comfortable standing". I cant agree enough.

High Performance Entrepreneur - Book Review

This book is a gold mine waiting to be discovered. This is a very honest narration of what Subroto Bagichi has gone through in setting up Mindtree. Right from expectation setting to various tips to increase sales this books gives a lot of information. Whats also impressive is that it focuses on sustaining business and not just on how to get started.

If you have questions on what all a business plan should contain or even if there has to be a business plan at all in frist place then read through the pages where the author tries to convince you on his opinions. Very honest and confident, he easily takes you along his journey of memoirs.

As can be expected there are a lot of behaviourial aspects discussed as well which insists how deeply he is involved with the subject of leadership. Only regret that i had was that he did not write much about his experiences having failed in sustaining starting up a company earlier in his career. An account of these learnings would have been extremely valuable. On the whole, a definite recommendation for anybody who is interested in becoming an entrepreneur or even an intrapreneur.

O Jerusalem - Book Review

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy."

These lines from the psalms, the Jewish Bible more or less summarises the passion and the sacrifice that the jews had shown during their "war of independence" for creating a new "Jewish nation". This i quote before the inclusion of the other group in war - the Arabs, as i was deeply moved by the resolve with which the Jews fought. Though this book does not take away anything from the Arabs and portrays both warring factions in fair light, what does not come out very clearly is the reason why the British government acted the way it has. There are definite mentions of biases and betrayals by the British - and this further proves my conviction that the British in all their colonies has sown seeds of hatred. They had for one crafted the divide between the hindus and the muslims in India where they have been co-existing.

Coming from one of my favourite authors Dominique Lapierre (co-authored with Larry Collins) whose books i have always enjoyed reading, this book turned to be a easy choice. But still there are a many instances where i could really predict that some body will end up being a victim of the war a few pages down because of the slight overusage of the melodrama. Nevertheless, as the book promises it gives an account of how the Jewish nation was formed and a very good portrayal of various difficulties that both sides had to endure during this period of war.

If you are looking to know on why and how Israel became a reality - this is the book that i would recommend you to read!!

"Kiss"aster

This is no sleaze. But plain rib tickling stuff.

1. Richard Gere (a veteran actor from a liberal culture) kisses Ms. Shilpa Shetty ("Big Brother" fame flop actress - almost western) to show that there is no harm in kissing an AIDS patient (supposedly funny way to convey an important issue)
2. Two Bollywood stars Hrithik 'the' Roshan and Aishwarya 'now' Bachan kissing uncomfrotably in Hollywood type movie Dhoom2.
3. Media having a feast at these - are the editors sleeping?!!!

Result: Our own vigilant moral police waking up to the cultural violation these acts have caused. I agree that we need to preserve our culture wherever essential (this is for sure not one) - but not with a hawkish dispose!!

I just find these hilarious!!

Cruise missile - A great inspiration!!

Time for some true inspiration - lock your seat belt, raise the windows and cruise through this road of BrahMos highway.
BrahMos (= Brahmaputra + Moskova) is a success story out of the Indo-Russian tie up on building a cruise missile. Slated to be the world's fastest cruise missile(as of today!!), is a highly sophiscated addition to our defence capabilities.
what we see in the image is a Tatra truck with the BrahMos missiles. It is launched at an angle and then the missile turns horizontal moves up in the air and travels the considerable part of the journey at this height(so that the fuel efficiency is high). As the target comes nearer the missiles climbs down so that the enemies' radar finds it diffcult to trace or atleast by the time they do it are left with not enough time to react. Same is the logic with the fighter planes - they also travel at a lesser altitude to avoid radar detection. But with the sleeker design of the missiles, detection by radar becomes a little more difficult when compared to the fighter planes.
A test was conducted just a week back at Chandipur-on-sea range and what was exciting about this was that the army had sought a complicated manoeuvoring at the end. The test was successful much to the delight of the people who put in their weight behind this effort. Some truely interesting facts:
Missile range: 290km
Payload: 200 to 300kg warhead
Speed: 3 mach (3 times speed of sound!!)
Notable among the team is Dr Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD of the venture and his team who have spared no effort in making this a success ( including offering prayers to their favourite deities before the launch!!) And if you by some chance wonder who named the missile i can only give you a hint - he is the supreme commander!!
Catch up on more in this article:

Then we set his hair on fire - Book Review

Advertising for many of us would be an industry where wierd eccentrics in dirty jeans come up with very creative spots - well its totally not quite so!!
Hear this and much more from Phil Dusenberry, former chairman at BBDO. Beyond the glamour and excitement of coming up with creative snippets that compels consumers to procure these products lies a thorough and hardworking team.
What i liked about the book is that it concentrates mostly on the meticulous work that a campaign pitch warrants and takes us through the planning part rather than on execution part. It talks a lot about the research that the team goes through before they arrive at that successful "insight" as the author puts it. "We bring good things to life" and "The Best a man can get" are some of these theme lines which were created during his time which has remained in consumers minds even today after decades of its induction.
There are also some exciting incidents on how it was to work with Michael Jackson and Billy Crystal. On the whole a totally different experience considering the fact that all celebrity advertisements have to be effected by working with some super-egos!!. I havent put my two cents into this - as everything i read here was an eye-opener. This is a definite recommendation from my side for an easy read. Just before i quit - may be it is worthwhile to know whose hair they set on fire... well read the book to figure it out!! ;)

Games Indians Play...A book review

With some days under my belt for good friday i decided to browse the book shops for an attractive title befitting my current apetite. I stumbled upon the title "Games Indians Play" by V.Raghunathan. What made me buy this book ofcourse was the foreword by Narayanamurthy who i have great respect for.

It turned out to be a un-put-downable book and led me into very fascinating aspects of how Indians think. It could not have come at a more appropriate time as not too many days ago i was debating within me as to what makes us litter and jump traffic signals without any guilt? Why is it that we always end up getting the wrong influences from the west? Not only did this book introduce me to game theory but also compelled me to take notice of the scientific way used to analyse behaviours. I must agree that not all experiments are very detailed but still gives a fair idea of the Indian mentality - not to diagree that it bought reminisces from my past where i have displayed lack of self-regulation and apathy towards collectivism.

On the whole i thoroughly enjoyed reading a very small but honest and mince-no-words book about Indians by an Indian. I do not know for sure how this will translate into my day-to-day life yet but then to start off i will recommend this to anyone who asks me for a suggestion on books to read!!

If the author were to read this blog by some coincidence then i offer my gratitude and best wishes for lot more titles like this to come.

No more sleepless nights!!

"Eleven fools playing and eleven thousand fools watching" is a classic quote from George Bernanrd Shaw regarding the game of cricket. What would be surprising for him is that the fact that the number of fools watching have reached millions and a advertisers delight!! And i being one of those fools almost had a heart attack watching Indian team playing a total lack lusture One Day International and ultimately saving me of many sleepless nights i had prepared myself for.
So i decided to come up with my own conspiracy theory ;) and here goes my theory: Some Indian players after learning about the Bob Woolmer murder is now worried that some of them who are heavily involved in the betting racket would ultimately get exposed at the end of the murder investigation. And so they decided to lose the match soon and come back to the safe confines of their homes. Well after formaulating this conspiracy theory i could sleep better and also feel happy about the fact that i could now sleep happily at nights and watch the highlights in the mornings without having to worry about who wins and who loses!!