After a long hiatus from blogging, I am back promising myself that I will kick start my blogging journey from where I had left off years ago.
I was an avid reader and would consume books regularly in the past but over the years I have gotten so preoccupied that I could not devote time to reading. I am not giving excuses but simply articulating :) Surprisingly the people who never used to read a page have gotten past me in this beautiful hobby and helping me get back on track. It was very funny to see my brother Karthik talk about books  with me when I last visited him :).. but yes that's a good change.. I see the change coming through my husband (very shocking for a person like him who claimed he was allergic to books when I first met him)..I just hope it lasts for him as well.
To start off with, reading this book was a nice way to start off with my lost habits as it was a very light read and one could easily finish this book in a day or two.
As with any Sudha Murthy 's books it has a lot of familiar elements in terms of culture and outset of the characters in the book.The book is entirely set in Karnataka large parts of it in Bangalore and constant descriptions of Jayanagar,JP Nagar,Vijayanagar would make any true blue Bangalorean want to read more :). The story revolves around how the life of a girl from a village called Alladahalli goes through changes during the course of 25 years. The striking contrast of a simple set up of a village life versus the struggles of making a mark for yourself in a big city like Bangalore drives most of the people to make a change in their priorities and principle.How such changes in principles leads to cracks in relationships and how money is termed as a barometer to prosperity and happiness.
Its about Mridula who is a very simple village belly who enjoys her life in her village Aladhalli living with parents who are prominent and respected people of the village,tending to her old neighbors garden,enjoying the simple joys of life like a playing on the swing, talking to people of the village, building relationships.She is a very non judgmental person by nature and values relationships and feeling over wealth. She meets Sanjay a young student of medicine at a wedding, and this chanced encounter leads to friendship and ultimately marriage.Their struggle over the period of time as they settle down in Bangalore. She working as a government teacher supports him through all the difficult times while he is learning the moves of making it big in his profession. He is an honest government doctor, untouched by the worldly money making practices who devotes his work over consultation fees. Over the course of time he realizes how to market himself with the help of his best friend Alex and eventually they set up their private practice that blooms into the best gynecology clinic in Bangalore. And how over the course of time Sanjay changes drastically in his value system which leads to Mridula being hurt and cheated on many levels.
There is nothing sensationally new in the story of this book, but I felt the real hero of the book was Sudha Murthy. She has portrayed finer details of relationship, value system, principles so effortlessly, which is just a proof of the worldly wisdom she has. These are the elements that should not change whether you are in a village or a big city but how circumstances make people to think and act differently is what this book is all about.It talks about how you meet different people in the course of your life, but you could still retain all these elements in tact as long as you realize which relationship is more valuable to you and most importantly never sell your soul to anything in this world. Once you do that then everything is moving down the road.
Again its not a path breaking book but it has a lot of substance as with any of Sudha Murthy's books. Its definitely something that can be a good material for a TV production or a movie as it relates to the Indian masses on many levels.

Thanks dad for passing this book to me after reading it :)

Its not about the bike- Lance Armstrong

Taking a complete 360 degree turn from my last read is the first of the autobiographies of Lance Armstrong. It is the first autobiography that i have successfully been able to finish reading and it deserves credit for it :)

Its a very soulful description of how Lance Armstrong goes in and out of his battle with testicular cancer.Being a victim of something as deadly as cancer is harsh enough for a normal person, but the whole journey of this through the eyes of an international athlete for whom his/her body has to be perfect composure is even more painful.

It starts of with one of the very striking elements of the book.Lance's relationship with his mother.He shares a very kind and a highly understanding relationship with his single and struggling mother.The series of descriptions that Lance provides on his mother gives you an insight of where the root of Lance's strength comes from- his Mother. It talks about his journey from being a local hero to breaking international borders and venturing into the tougher cycling worlds of Europe and fighting through the vicious grips of cancer.

Its a great book to understand what passion is all about.

He talks purely about his passion and describes the art of being a cyclist in a very retrospectal way.Honestly i must admit that i am no sports fan and the only thing i knew about Lance Armstrong was that he was a 'stud' when it came to Tour de France...but what it takes to be there and win it...came to my understanding after reading the book.I thoroughly respect him for being the professional that he is and he truly deserves every victory that has come by his way professionally.The way he talks about his practice sessions..his struggle through the total understanding of the competitive world around him is quite an int resting read.He doesn care to hide the fact that he was/is an arrogant person but i think that's what made him what he is now.

The other aspect of the book is his fight through Cancer and how he is determined to fight it out because he wants to 'ride' again.The book is very well compartmentalised to describe the various stages of cancer he goes through and in each chapter he describes each element earnestly.He has one chapter on chemo...one on survivorship...all are worth reading through Lance's eyes.After surviving testicular cancer he goes on to be a father.This is such an important thing for him especially since he doesn have a strong fatherly figure himself and he badly wants to complete the void by being one for his own kid.

After reading the book the only complaint i have is the title of the book...I think 'Its not about the Bike' is a little hypocritical if i must say....i think the whole book was about the bike and about whether or not he would be able to ride it again.Lance always says in his book that amongst the 2 most important things (fighting cancer v/s being able to ride again) he would have chosen to fight cancer but honestly i think both of them were kind of symbiotic for him....he fought cancer as he was determined to ride a bike...and he wanted to get back to riding as he was determined to fight cancer off..

Another observation i would like to make after reading this book is that Lance is extremely lucky as an individual to have had the people he had around him.Be it his mother, his closest friends, his team mates, his manager Bill, his then wife Kik.I mean he wouldn have had even half as strength as he had without such a rock solid support system around him.

The book is also quite an eye opener on human nature...it gives us such a beautiful insight on how it its to be a struggling single mother who successfully provides all the necessities to his son, its about how it is to be a victim and survivor of cancer, its about how receptive people are to the world of cancer, how it is to be a supportive friend and guide (his manager Bill) to an athlete who just comes out of cancer desperate to meet his financial crisis and get back to riding in note-worthy competitions again when the cycling world has lost hopes on what Lance is all about, its about being a totally patient and thoroughly understanding wife who supports the athlete to do whatever it takes to get his dream back-even if it means leading a spineless nomadic life...

Its a book describing how hard it is to be Lance Armstrong -the cyclist, Lance Armstrong -the cancer victim(i hate to use the term cancer patient) and the Lance Armstrong-determined to punch the face of people who called his career an end after cancer.I think whats most commendable of his insights is that the book never begs for the reader's pity...Its just talking about Lance without giving you a chance to opine...as a reader you just want to know what happens next in Lance's life (and i think its a great factor in making this autobiography such a hit).Another element which makes this a good read is that you never feel very pained reading this as an autobiography...Its very realistic description of what Lance goes through and in all the cases it doesn hide the basic arrogant nature of Lance as a professional and also as an individual.

As always i have my favourites from the book.

There are 2 things i totally loved which Lance writes-

1) He says that people talk about living life like there is no tomorrow when you know your fighting a lethal disease.But he totally rubbishes this theory as something which is made for narrow minded people.He gives a very int resting description of how selfish life would be if you were to live each day as though its your last day.

2)One of the last few lines in his book totally appealed to me- He says that 'I did not beat cancer, the medicines did..the chemo did..the efforts of his doctors did...I just survived the cancer'..it takes a lot to think this way and pen it down too..

It a book on survivorship,on will power, on being hopeful that every dark cloud does have a silver lining after all.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - so juvenile...so fiction :)

These past few weeks have been glorious as a reader for me...Everything i laid my eyes on turned out to be gold and such joyous reads that am happy that my strike rate with reading has gotten back to being usual...the best part about being a reader is that you get to audience such wide range of ideas and mindsets which i can very definitely say cannot be explored in any other form of media.

The first of such glorious reads of mine was this outrageously funny animated journal of an insensitive and highly annoying kid called 'Greg' which is very aptly titled 'The Diary of a Wimpy Kid'. When i heard the name i thought that its probably one of those 'comic kiddish attempts' but when i took my first look at the cover of the book i knew its gonna be one hell of a laugh riot...and true to my pre-conceived notion it didn disappoint me one bit....or rather it made putting down the book such a daunting task that i can very proudly say i got 'hooked' on to it..

When you google the book down you would see that it falls into a very funny category called 'juvenile fiction' and trust me it very strictly adheres to it. Very fiction and strictly 'Juvenile'.Its a simple journal entry of a self-centered kid called Greg and his everyday portrayal of events as he sees them happen around.He is queer kid who for his age is highly selfish and far far away from being any kind of role model to any kid reading such a book, but the satire and timing in the emotion of this silly kid makes this book such an amazing read that you would like to over-look all his defaced behaviours.He is one of those kids who cares very little for the outcomes of his actions/thoughts and cares lesser for the world around him...all he really cares is about 'HIM'. He is one of those who doesnt care much about emotions that run out of actions.

The whole book is a thoroughly light read...you ca just finish it off in one go..and let me warn you...you will not put it down once you start reading it.I dont want to give out spoilers here but i just cant stop raving about the life Greg lives.There are some magically funny incidents of how hard it is to 'grow up' when you are just a kid :) Here its about how Greg goes through middle school with its share of challenges...to be cool,to be popular,to be noticeable..He has a side kick for a friend called 'Rowley' who is quite a normal kid but Greg doesn actually deserve anybody better for a friend.He doesn really care much for Rowley as long as he is occupied being around him...be it the Halloween party or the time when he doesn stand up for "Rowley's" mistaken identity which costs him his friendship with Rowley...There are some incidents which are a laugh riot like the comic strip competition where he and Rowley start of initially together but Greg is soo engrossed in his 'I am the coolest person and my idea's are the best' arrogance that he gives up on his idea -'Zoo wee mama' , which eventually becomes an instant hit in the school magazine...But my favourite journal entry is the one in which Greg secretly wishes for a Barbie dream house and he gets a Barbie doll from his equally queer uncle which gets his parents get into a nervous wreck....:)

Whats the single most commendable element of such a book is that it describes everyday affairs of a kid in such a humorous way with such brilliant illustrations that it leaves you wishing you had read it while you were growing up like Greg.There are some books which if you read while you are a kid instills the love for reading and am sure if i were a kid and read this i would have also felt the urge to continue reading from books.I distinctly remember my first concrete book that got me into the habit of reading...It was called 'The Kid who ran for the President' and after i completed the book i realised what a joy it is to just simply read. :)

So kudos to the author Jeff Kenney (who has been nominated as one of the 100 most influential people by TIME magazine) to be able to put together the juvenile thoughts in such a highly respectable cartoon format...Am just waiting when i can laymy hands on the next 3 books :)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

To keep the reviews going..heres the second one.And this is on the latest arrival on the book stands..Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Am sure this book needs no explicit description,this was one of the most awaited books of 2007. J.K.Rowlings 7th and the final baby in the family of the Harry Potter series.

If i were to describe this book in just one word...it would be very easy ,and i would pick the term 'Disappointing'.Well if you are a hardcore Harry Potter fan,one who is blinded by the deeds of this extra-ordinary boy ,one who just wants to know who dies Harry or Voldermoth ,then am sure you would disagree me,but if you are a prolific reader,who is looking for something beyond the packaging strategy used by J.K.Rowling,then am sure u'll readthis article along.

Now why i call it a disappointment is basically for the fact that it had nothing new in terms of contributing to the story .We all knew from the last book(a painstakingly long one i must admit) that Harry was given a mission by Dumbeldore i.e to kill all the remaining Horcruxes.The story just keeps getting dragged from the page one till where Harry reaches the task and also gets to find out one of the vital Horcruxes being he himself.

Another reason why i use the 'D' word for this book is that,there was just one new concept which was brought in the whole book which the reader was never exposed by Rowling(in her previous books),the whole idea of -'The Deathly Hallows',-The Invisibility Cloak,The Resurrection Stone and The Elder Wand ,the combination of all of which will enable one to overpower death.This was a novel twist (Horcruxes v/s Hallows) brought into this seemingly boring story but i felt that Rowling was confused all throught out whether to add this concept as the vital part of the story or leave it just as a myth.She introduces this in the later half of the book,stirs up some curioisity but the whole thing fades off from the reader because she couldnt maintain whether she wanted to add it to the story or not.

The third and the most vital reason why i call the book a let down,is that she takes a lot of liberty in the concept of magic and tries to overuse it,there were times in the book where i felt that she made the book melodramatic to a very great extent.The whole concept of accepting death by Harry which makes 'He-Who -should-not be -named' turn into a purer, rejuvinated soul-looks like a plot picked up straight from some Bollywood movie.Meeting the dead Dumbeldore in the third world and trying to gain answers to unknown questions were some of the liberties which the author took on the readers magical understanding.

Also what put me into serious thinking over Rowlings creativity were the names of Harrys kids...they are called Albus,James and Lily.Its nice that she wanted to hold a connection between the past and the future but i think it was a little over the roof..to use a more colloquial terms-'Bollywoodish ;)'

I would still stick to the fact that its a nice fictional journey created by Rowling which gripped the reading world all together but she should have made the end as good as the beginning itself.We have all lived the life of Harry while reading the book so its fair enough if we were asking for something better.

The Inscrutable Americans - Anurag Mathur

Dear Brother

“Anyway, I am learning many important things about Americans. Biggest thing is language. It is earlier making many problematics for me ,because like everyone I am thinking Americans are speaking English, but brother it is not English, it is American. I am facing so many embarassings on this reason
Once sitting with good friends, we are making good times. Saying jokes and laughing but when I am also saying good joke, they are saying “Get out of here”. I am going home and not sleeping that night, I am in so much fury. Now I am finding that it is also joke to say that. They are having many such sayings”

Your Brother,

Gopal

Well that’s Gopal(Guh-pal) for all of you…the protagonist of this book .A lad from a village called Jajau –which he calls the Paris of Madhya Pradesh ,comes to the U.S.A to do a diploma in chemical engineering. His life in India centers around his ancestral hair oil factory, as his father describes it-‘they have more hair oil in their veins than blood’. His English is comical to read at first but you cant take his absurd language after a point in the book. His first brush with America through a billboard having a scantly clad model endorsing a product is funny. And from there starts his journey to explore this new country yet strictly believing in his Motherlands strengths when questioned.

This book describes the image an average Indian holds about America through the character of Gopal. His image of America is through his little known knowledge of Archie n Jughead, Deep Throat and Saturday Night Fever, his craving to meet Brooke Sheilds and plans to lure her by sending a lifelong supply of his Jajau made hair oil leaves the reader laughing but it just stops there. His craving to live like an ordinary American guy with a girl to fulfill his carnal pleasures, his brush with racism there, his encounter with different American men and women grows this character from a young innocent lad into a man. He understands of the racial divide there, where the Blacks accept everyone of the darker color as their ally while whites ignoring other colored people. The fight of the natives for jobs which are being lost to foreigners-makes him realize that maybe its not really the land of opportunities afterall.

If you are looking for some really good literature-this book is a complete no no. I would pass it off as average read maybe something u want to pick up on a random day and finish off in a few hours. Honestly this book doesn’t show the readers anything new, it’s the same plot of Indians going to America to try their ways by bending their own.
Such a plot has been quite common for the past few years. Some things described by the author are good. I characters used especially Gopal and Randy to distinctly show the difference in Indian and American ways was done well. Be it in the broken lingo of Gopal or the carefree, typical Yank ways of Randy, these two characters give some hope to the repetitious plot of the book .The other thing I liked about this book apart form its title is how Gopal symbolizes America with 3 things

*Baskets in front of every American Home
*Vegetarian Cats-or Pussies
*And an old woman who has a weird idea about India.

So let me end this in Anurag Mathur’s style with what Gopal has to do with America

“Seeing the world and things like that, making me broader before settling down to do business”