Kalki - Gore Vidal

Narrator: Teddy Ottinger, a bisexual aviatrix

Plot: An American guy based in Katmandu proclaims himself to be Kalki, the final avatar of Lord Vishnu. He claims and announces that he will end the human race on April 3rd that year. He recruits Teddy Ottinger for his mission. How does he plan to do it? Will he succeed?

Verdict: A definite page turner with an unexpected ending. Well, actually 2 unexpected endings ;-)

The 3 Mistakes of my life - Chetan Bhagat

India has seen quite a few English writers in the past, from R. K. Narayan known for his simple, yet lively writing to Shashi Tharoor whose breadth and variety has captured people's imagination. Though I wouldn't place Chetan Bhagat in the same league, he has managed to capture a pretty big audience, the youth of India, between 15 and 30 years of age, by targeting his writing to their needs and basing his works on their lifestyle. After a hugely popular "Five Point Someone" and a popular "One Night at the call center", Chetan Bhagat presents his 3rd book, "The 3 mistakes of my life". Having read "One night at the call center", I wasn't very impressed with his writing style nor his "God speak" theme in the book. But I must give credit to his simple writing style, use of appropriate lingo and realistic description of details. I chanced upon this book, it has been a while since I read a book, so I thought this 250-pager story could be breezed through and would also provide me the required warm-up to bootstrap my reading habit again.

This book is a story that delves deep into the life, emotions and aspirations of a young Gujarati businessman. The story is set in the early part of this millenium and covers many news events like the earthquake at Bhuj, the Godhra train incident, India's spectacular series triumph against Australia and the Gujarat communal violence. Chethan Bhagat narrates the Gujarati lifestyle in good detail with emphasis on the psyche of the Gujarati youth. The story is pretty gripping in the second half of the book. Though Brett Lee becomes Fred Li and Modiji is Parekhji, the essence comes through pretty well in the book. On the flip side, the book reminds me of a typical bollywood movie, love story to fight scenes and all the melodrama in between. I wouldn't put this book in the must read category, but do read it if you want a peek into the society one of the most enigmatic states in India, a state flanked with phenomenal progress on one side and communal bias on the other.

Overall, a light read that can be raced through, if you have nothing else to do.

The broker

Although this is a fairly old book of Grisham's, I got around to reading it only now. The broker is the story of a cunning Washington lawyer and lobbyist, who amasses money and power by hook and crook. One of his crooked deals gets him between a rock and a hard place. With multiple foreign secret services after his life, he cuts a deal, pleads guilty and gets into federal prison.

The twists begin when the CIA lets him loose with a presidential pardon, so that he can be bait. The CIA wants to know who will come after / kill him. They throw him in Italy in a totally foreign environment and leak his presence.

The real fun begins when the FBI and the CBI get into loggerheads, trying to one-up each other. Backman's cunningness comes to the fore, when he escapes multiple assassins, comes back to Washington and plays the political establishment to clean his life.

An engrossing read, left me on a high. I found it funny though, how Grisham calls it 'hacking', when a user uses an internet cafe to send email. The other references to technology like the smart phones, encrypted email etc all sound quite realistic though.

Would recommend this.

The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini

There is only one way that I like a book or movie to end - with a 'feel good' effect on me. For this reason, I had long dismissed Kite Runner from my hope-to-read-some-day list, despite its long held best seller status. I had heard it was a very emotionally heavy story and I imagined reading the book would be lugging myself through pages of anguish, concluding with a grand melancholic finale. Now that I have read it, I know I was not entirely wrong in my assumptions, but I am more than gratified about not having missed reading it.

It is the story of Amir, an Afghan boy, written in first person. It revolves around his friendship with Hassan, the son of his father's servant. The first part of the story is set in Kabul, during its last few years of monarchy, where Amir's childhood days are spent living and playing with Hassan, going to school, and trying to bond with his well-to-do, socially respected father. Amir and his dad move to Pakistan and then to the United States to escape the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Fifteen years later, Amir returns to a Taliban infested, blood-drenched, scary Afghanistan in hopes of redeeming his lost friendship with Hassan and to "find a way to be good".

The Kite Runner is a great book for many reasons. But most of all, it is a great book for the one reason tales continue to be told and fiction writing thrives - its entertainment value. I saw the book at a friend's place. I flipped to read a couple pages just to confirm my suspicions about the nature of the book. About 3 pages later, I was hooked and it remained to be a page-turner till the very end. The second half of the book has loads of twists and turns (and it occurred to me more than once that our hindi movies would do well to use a few of these ;-) ). [And the finale was not melancholic, though emotions do reach an all-time high :).]

It is also a great book for my most favourite reason: the eloquent writing style. The narration is very simple, yet remarkably effective and passionate. So passionate, it was hard for me to believe it isnt the author's own life story.

While it is obvious that I very highly recommend the book, I would like to sneak in the one minor personal quibble I had - the narration seemed like the author did not want to give allowance for happiness. Amir's life has its highs and lows, happy and sad times. The lows are given just the right treatment - narrated in a manner to evoke empathy in the reader without making it unduly dramatic. The highs, though, are either written in a matter-of-factly style or immediately followed up with hints of impending woe - statements on the lines of "It made me happy, lest did I know it wouldnt last long". But all said, I should add that this is mostly overshadowded by everything else that the book became a best seller for.

Now, also adapted into a movie.

The Street Lawyer

Long ago, Sandeep and I, in one of our myriad discussions, had talked about book reviews on Facebook. He had mentioned crack a book, and I had eagerly asked to be added in. After all these days, here is a review. Finally.

I have read most of John Grisham's books a while ago. However, a recent random TV program featured him, and on a whim, I decided to read some of his books again. It is convenient to see all his books in one place; the library's policy of unlimited borrowings makes it even more tempting to just take them all ! But I desisted, and came back with just The street lawyer. It is a fantastic story, quite fitting my current situation in life. Instead of documenting the story itself, let me write about what went through my mind so far....

It is just past midnight now, and I am halfway through the book with no signs of sleep. It brings back the familiar yet strange excitement of reading a good novel through the night. Long ago, on sundays, the brother and I would read late into the night. The father would arrive home close to midnight from his weekly games of cards, scold us for being up so late, shut off the lights and go to sleep. A few minutes later, we would be back at it! It has been several years now since such interest has been by a book!

This one is the story of a rich and successful lawyer. Rich in the pocket, poor in the soul. Circumstances bring him face to face with the reality of homelessness, and he delves into volunteering, then to practicing public interest law for a fraction of the salary he previously earned. In the process, he feels alive, inspired and fulfilled.

A few years ago, it would have just been another novel. But now, the references to Pennsylvania avenue, homelessness near the Capitol and the Potomac river all conjure up real images in my mind, from my recent trip to DC.

And in another thread, the futility and unfairness of money beyond need in the pockets of the few (read self), strikes some chords. My recent surge of (relative) wealth had gotten me thinking somewhat, and Grisham's character articulates these thoughts extremely well.

Half the book still remains, and it is already 1: 51 AM. I am looking forward to the rest of the morning, and to finishing this one on a high. Something tells me I will be thinking about this long after.

I am reminded of Dorothy Boyd's statement to Jerry, when she quits the high paying agency blindly reposing faith in him - Most of all, I just want to be inspired, Jerry.

And, I want to be inspired. Something tells me I will be tonight.

ps: Blogger spell check actually corrected 'practised' to 'practiced'. How strange ! I still remember my English teacher, Mrs Geeta:
Practice with a c, if used as a noun. Practise with an s, if used as a verb.

Shantaram -- Gregory David Roberts

The storyline: The novel is a part-fictionalized account of the author's (Gregory David Roberts) life. The prelude is told in just a couple paragraphs: Roberts is a robber and heroine addict-cum-smuggler, who escapes from a maximum security prison in Australia, flies away to New Zealand and then finally comes to Bombay. From then on, the book is the knock-out story of his life in Bombay.

His fascination with 'the Indian experience', his friendship with the funny-broken-english-speaking Prabhakar (whose mother gives Roberts the name Shantaram), his experiences in the Bombay mafia as the righthand-man and mentee to crime lord Kader Bhai, lots of crime, violence AND a love story :) is what the novel is about.

[The interesting thing about this Roberts guy is that not only is he a most-wanted criminal, he is a poet, a philosopher, a philanthropist and also a kind-of-doctor (yes, even in real-life)]

The narration: I was totally won over by the brilliant but uncomplicated writing ("... as I walked along the umbilical corridor that connected the plane to the airport"). Roberts is cleverly articulate and he weaves (as opposed to writes) scenes. Downside - if you are interested in just the plot, then you might find the wordiness a little overboard.

Roberts is totally fascinated by India and sees (and makes us see) beauty in all things Indian - things that are so innate to everyday life in India that we would typically brush it off as mundane.

My recommendation: Do try it.

[Warning: The book is a 950+ page tome :) and not always fast paced.]

Tidbits:

• Roberts plans to write a prequel (his pre-Bombay life) and a sequel to the book.
• Mira Nair takes the director's seat for the screenplay adaptation of the book. The movie will star Johnny Depp as Shantaram and Amitabh Bachchan as a Kader Bhai.

Five Point Someone -- Chetan Bhagat

Have you ever bunked your classes to hang out in college canteen for a cup of tea and greasy samosas? Ever burned both ends of midnight candle mugging MEPA? Combined studies anyone????? 4 years of blissful ignorance, raging harmones, proxy attendance, ragging, GRE, Toefl, Uncertain future, suicidal tendencies and special hang-out spots - unless you are a caveman, i surely know ya'll miss these moments ( my case, substitute suicidal with psycho ). Well relish all these fav moments in this Laugh-Out-Lout riot involving 3 super loser IITians and their ridiculous attempts to scrape through 4 grueling years to score a five pointer. Written by Chetan Bhagat ( who himself was an IIT /IIM alumni ), this one will literally make you roll on the floor LOL. Buy it from amazon or you can borrow it from me for a cookie :)