Malgudy school days, Davinci code

So those are the two books that I read during the last two weeks. The first one was simple and subtle description of a eleven year old boy's adventures. It is a slightly abridged version of R.K Narayan's much celebrated novel, Swami and friends. A nice read.

Da Vinci code happened to be the thriller that I am reading after a long time. (The last thriller that i read was protector by David Morrel.. or atleast i guess so)Had read it once as e - book. But, the crt monitor had made me apply some speed reading techniques that time.

A good one, by the standards of thriller fiction. It is quite wonderful how Dan Brown thought out the idea from original artworks.

I feel too lazy to write detailed reviews..

Trust me - Rajashree

I was hovering around in the second hand/pirated book shop two weeks ago, and in between, I noticed this book. i had not heard about the author, so was kinda skeptical about it. Right then, I noticed that there was an opinion by Chetan Bhagat on the cover. 'Impressive debut' - Didn't think much and picked it up.

'Trust me' turned out to be a funny, engaging, time pass read. As mentioned in the cover of the book, 'real Indian chick-lit romance'

The main protagonist is Parvathy, a 22 year old girl, who lives in Mumbai, along with her room mate, Shweta(Well, em not very sure about the name), whose heavy metal music is the only thing that Paro can't stand with.

Paro was from a very small town. She wanted to be an art director, and that's why she was there in Mumbai. First, she worked in an advertising company. There, she fell in love with a cameraman, named Karan. They made love once, and Paro got pregnant. As soon as Karan came to know this, he dumped her. It was an emotional catastrophe for poor Paro.

Her boss in the company tried to make use of her situation and invite her to bed. She quit her job and sought another one.

A friend helped her to find her a job, as an assistant director in a Hindi movie. That was a totally new experience for her. She got exasperated at certain occasions, especially when she came to know that the actresses had to sleep with directors, producers etc. in order to fetch roles.

In the film set, she met Rahul Kapoor, who was a new guy in the industry, an aspiring young actor. he fell in love with Paro, but she was too skeptical just because of her bitter experience with Karan.

Paro makes up her mind, not to fall in love with anyone, supported by the advices of her friends. But, she couldn't help herself. In the climax of the story, she realizes that Rahul is the one made for her, only her.

The story is woven in a very adroit and humorous way. Light, and subtle. I would wait for Rajashree's second novel, wondering what subject she would take up now.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

The book which won the man booker prize in 2002.

The book tells the story of an Indian boy, Piscine Moliter Patel, known as Pi patel. His parents owned a zoo at Pondicherry. So, from his childhood, he was pretty much familiar with wild animals.

Pi showed a very keen interest in religious matters. He loved god, and he felt a deep sort of intimacy with god. He learned the religious practices of Hindus, Muslims and Christians. His parents were upset about this and they tried to resolve the problem with the help of the local priests, but not without much success.

Pi never knew that it was a turning point in his life, when his dad decided to relocate the zoo to Canada. They set off to Canada on a Japanese cargo ship, with a not so comfortable cargo, the animals.

The ship sank in the middle of the Pacific ocean, and all except Pi were drowned. Pi found himself in a lifeboat with a hyena, a tiger, an orang utan and a zebra with a broken leg. The hyena killed the zebra and the monkey very soon. The tiger fed on the hyena and Pi was left alone with a tiger, on a lifeboat, in the middle of the ocean.

He made a raft and tied it to the boat to escape from falling prey to the tiger. He caught fish and fed the tiger with it. Pi was always vigilant, because death, in the form of a tiger, was right beside him.

He survived around 200 hundred days, and during the course, he ate raw fish, turtle meat and once, even the droppings of the tiger.

Towards the end of his adventure, he made a botanical discovery. He found a large group of algae, growing in the middle of ocean, and forming a small island. There were trees growing on it. He lived in the island for a few days, but left as soon as he found out that the trees were carnivorous.

At last, he reached the coast of Mexico, and as soon they hit the shore, the tiger ran away. People could hardly believe his story of survival.

An adventure novel, an interesting read. The happenings in the middle of the Pacific is not something that the author can experience. And hence, his imagination is appreciable.

The reluctant fundamentalist - Mohsin Hameed

This book, which found a place in the short list for Man Booker prize 2007, is a portrayal of how a Pakistani Muslim's life changes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The story begins as the author, guides An American tourist, along the streets of Lahore. The author describes his story to the tourist as they have food together from a road side restaurant.

The author did his graduation from Princeton University in New York and he acquired a high paid job there itself. He fell in love with an American girl, Erica, during his Princeton days. But, Erica was a girl who had lost her lover, who was also her childhood companion. Her love towards Chris, was so strong and true that she could not accept the truth that he was no more, even several years after his death took place.

Erica liked the author, but it was not possible for her give away the space in her heart that was once occupied by Chris. At one occasion, author and Erica tried to have sex with each other, but she failed to get aroused. She confessed that it has been always like that ever since Chris died.

Erica believed that Chris was not gone yet and her mind refused to accept the truth. She found more pleasure in living with Chris, in a virtual world created in her mind. Gradually, she withdrew from all social activities.

By that time, the 9/11 attacks had taken place. It totally changed the way Americans looked at Muslims. The author had a beard and it made people look at him suspiciously. He had to face abuses from people walking along the road. Some of them turned hostile at him. He was deeply upset by all these. As a consequence of the terrorist attacks, American army invaded Afghanisthan, a muslim dominated country. The author couldn't help questioning the righteousness of the Americans.

After a few months, terrorists attacked the Indian parliament. india turned belligerent on Pakistan and a war was on the cards. The author was very unhappy because India was threatening his homeland. (That's the only place where I had to disagree with the author. It's difficult for any country to watch it's parliament being attacked and do nothing.. isn't it?). He got distracted from his work because of all these, and also due to Erica's matter.

By that time, Erica had gone away to a distant place so that she could live alone with the thoughts about Chris. The author got fired from his company and he had to go back to Pakistan. He went to meet Erica for te last time, but she had gone missing.

Hearing the whole story, the American started to be a bit suspicious. But the author proudly declares that all pakistanis are not terrorists just like all Americans are not under cover assassins.

Brilliant, according to me. It got straight away into my favorite list.

The Inscrutable Americans - Anurag Mathur

The American way of living is totally different from ours. What if someone from a small Indian town visits US, and stays there for one year? How will he cope up with the Americans, who, according to him, seems to be highly mysterious in their way of behavior? That's what the author is trying to describe in this fun filled novel.

Gopal, whose family owns a hair oil factory, and who wants to be a part of the same business, is going to America for doing a diploma in Chemical engineering. His foolishness and disastrous English, made him run into a lot of trouble. He got an American friend, Randy, who was totally amazed by the fact that Gopal was still a virgin. Randy was so keen to destroy Gopal's virginity but it was not an easy task for him.

Gopal was tried to stick to the instructions given by his grand mother, and he searched for a restaurent where the cook was a brahmin. Obviously, he couldn't find one and later, he found himself eating beef, without knowing what it was. The American life and the friendship with Randy changed him so much that he started to drink beer and go to late night parties. Towards the end of his course, he was entirely transformed and he was desperate to lose his virginity. His best idea to impress a girl was to take his certificate along with him and to show her his grades. At last, he ended up fucking an Indian lady during his flight back to India.

The story is just about average, according to me. Even though there are a lot of humorous occasions through out the story, all of them lack a genuineness. Gopal's transformation seemed too quick and slightly unbelievable.

The white tiger - Aravind Adiga

The book needs no introduction. White tiger has won the booker prize and it had to face some serious allegations just the same way slumdog millionaire did.

The story begins as the author being a rich businessman in Bangalore. He descries his story to Mr. Jibao and that's how the dark incidents unfolds.

His name was Balram Halwai, and he belonged to a rural village near to Gaya. According to the author, feudalism still remains in those parts of the country. The lords live, torturing and exploiting the lower caste people. And the people who belong to the lower castes all are destined to be loyal servants, till their death. Their families in the village were used as a means to keep them under threat. The families of all those who showed disobedience got murdered. The lords had enough money to bribe police and politicians were all their friends.

Balram, somehow, manages to be a driver though people of his caste are usually sweet makers. He remains as a very loyal servant to his master, Ashok, who runs coal business. Ashok walks through corrupted ways to run his business and to get maximum profit out of it. Being his driver, balram was a witness to all of these.

One day, Balram gets tired of being a servant. He splits Ashok's head open with a liquor bottle and runs away with a whole lot of money. No one identified him even though police distributed a wanted poster with his face on it. Author tells that in India, such posters are printed with a photo which would be so vague that it could be any one of half the people in India.

Balram ran to Bangalore and started a cab service for bringing people to and from call centers. He used all the corrupt ways that he oberved and learned from his master. The story ends Balram being a highly successful entreprenuer in Banglore.

Adiga criticizes a lot of traditions and practices that we still have in country. In India, especially in the north, servants are treated very badly. Balram, once had to face a murder charge when his master's wife hit and killed a child while driving. Even though we brag about all the development, author reminds us that there are certain fundamental things to be changed. Our political system is to be entirely transformed. One of the reasons which holds our country back is our corrupt political system. The first step should be the development of rural areas and ensuring minimum standard of living even to the poor people. The educational system in India creates only half baked people, and they all become good for nothings.

I liked the book very much, especially the humor blended with the criticisms. What ever Aravind Adiga has written is true, according to me also. It is such a book which will inspire people to change the current situation of our country.

If god was a banker - Worth a read

It has been a while since I finished the book. But it's now only that I thought of writing about it.

In recent times, many of the corporate personnels have started writing books on their experiences, which seems to be a nice trend. I've read some very interesting books written by such people. 'If god was a banker' is the debut novel of Ravi Subramanian, an IIM B alumnus. The book is based on his experience of working in corporate banks.

The story begins with two young professionals joining New York National bank right after completing their MBA from IIM. Both are highly talented, it didn't take much time for them to make a mark there. One of them, Swami, is pretty straight forward and honest, while, the other, Sundeep, does anything to conquer new heights. The story progresses mainly around Sundeep's activities and finally he had to regret for all those that he did.

Ravi Subramanian's language is good and simple. But It turns out to be a bit nasty sometimes, especially when he describes Sundeep's sexual encounters.

Even though it's not a nail biter or a must read it provides us with an honest description of what all vicious things people do in a large corporate in order to acquire higher posts and make larger sum of money.