...shoOOonya...

Book: Ajaya – Epic of the Kaurava Clan - Book 1 – Roll of the Dice Author: Anand Neelakantan No. of Pages: 456 Genre: Mythological Fiction Publisher: Leadstart India I had purchased 'Asura' and reviewed it earlier this year in Feb. I did not like it and the review was pretty negative. I got in communication with Leadstart Publishers for review of some other books and then when Ajaya was to be released, the communication started once again and I even did the Author Interview of Anand Neelakantan. The review copy arrived this month post the book's release straight from the Publisher. I started off with very low expectations but as I progressed through the book, I found the book not just interesting but ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT !!! The book started off in an absolutely interesting and engaging manner (almost hollywoodish) but then it veered off portraying Bheem/Bhima as a villainous character who is a bully...

  A Mahabharata where the characters are mere humans and not sons-of-gods, where the ideologies of various characters are different from what we have read (in school and in books) and seen (B R Chopra's Mega TV serial), where the story is not about 5 brothers fighting for their 'right' but about a country ravaged by caste system, where the story takes different turns (from what we have known) and the cause-effect relationship are different. This is definitely a very different Mahabharata.   Anand Neelakantan's 'Ajaya' is a different Mahabharata to read and absorb … and I am finding it pretty refreshing. I have read through only 40% of book and I am already impressed. Anyone thinking about reading it … leave the impressions of the existing Mahabharata in your head aside and read this book unprejudiced and with a neutral mind.

Book: The World's Stupidest Instructions Author: Crowd-sourced content No. of Pages: 120 Genre: Non-Fiction (and that makes it more hilarious) Publisher: Michael O'Mara Humour Shraddha, my best friend and book recommendation engine; once again gave me this book to read in spite of me not showing any real interest in it. I read this in less than an hour and enjoyed every minute of it. This book is Positively HILARIOUS. I was so tempted to put the ROTFL and LOL all over the book after each instruction. But scribbling, writing and spoiling books in general is almost criminal ... and this book does not even belong to me and I do not wish to be murdered or abandoned by my best friend. Coming to the stupid Instructions: Some were wierd, others hilariously foolish ... some were mere translation errors (so not really fun) but there were others which simply made me stop reading and wonder where humanity was heading to !! How...

I read this on facebook and liked it ... posting it on my blog for future reading :) --------------------------------------- Management Lessons from a Bank Robbery During a robbery in Guangzhou, China, the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank: "Don't move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to   you." Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. This is called " Mind Changing Concept " or " Paradigm Shift ". Changing the conventional way of thinking. When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: "Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!" This is called " Being Professional ". Focus only on what you are trained to do! When the bank robbers returned home, the younger robber (MBA-trained) told the older robber (who has only completed Year 6 in primary school): "Big brother, let's count how much we got." The old...

      Book: The Other Side Author: Faraaz Kaazi & Vivek Banerjee No. of Pages: 320 Genre: Horror Short Stories Publisher: Mahaveer Publishers    This is the first time I am participating in a Book Tour so the book comes directly from the Author via the Book Tour run by the Readdicts duo (Janhvi and Sarika). Last month I reviewed a collection of short stories which I liked and this month this one came up and it has been an equally delightful read. One thing before I move on, you will read about this book and they will tell you that it is collection of 13 short stories … they almost lie. There is actually more. The foreword is an essay on Fear while the prelude chapter has a couple of horror stories dropped in simply as a warm up exercise before you begin the workout with the 13 horror stories. The book is a mix of ordinary and extra-ordinary, spooky as well as entertaini...

Lovely photos which make you emotional ...  Go straight to this link and have a looksie ...  The 45 Most Powerful Photos Of 2013

  Book: Bankerupt Author: Ravi Subramanian No. of Pages: 320 Genre: Fiction, thriller Publisher: Penguin Books India The source of the copy of this book was again different. The marketing agency got in touch with me for a review and sent me the copy. I had read Bankster and had liked it so when the offer to review Bankerupt came up, I grabbed it. Bankerupt has all the elements of a movie and it would be interesting to see someone like Bhandarkar attempt it … it would be on the lines of his movie Corporate which depicted corporate espionage. Bankerupt has that and a lot more with a twist as the battle moves from the corporate to the academia. It has the glamour of swanky investment banking corporate lifestyle and at the same time the seriousness of academic research and life and not to forget the gun-manufacturers adding the 'danger' side to the story. So let's take a look at the different threads the stor...

  Book: Aisle Be Damned Author: Rishi Piparaiya No. of Pages: 216 Genre: Non-fiction, Humour, satire Publisher: Jaico Publishing House This time around, the source of the copy of this book was unexpected. I won the copy in a GoodReads.com giveaway!! The book came straight from the author and I was intrigued, both, by the author profile as well as the subject of the book. The author has been a very very frequent traveler and I could identify with him to some extent having taken around 50 international flights from 2005 to 2011 … and then within a year, taking 50 domestic flights within India from July 2012 to June 2013. I knew I was in for a fun-ride but it turned out to be more. And incidentally, I read the whole book on a Delhi-Mumbai flight spanning 2 hours where I could closely relate each and every thing written in the book and often slipping into memory lanes, remembering my own experiences from past 8 years about airports, flights, bo...

Book: The Himalayan Revelation Author: Pankaj Misra No. of Pages: 346 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Power Publishers   My new and second source of books for review – The Tales Pensieve – came up with Himalayan Revelation for book review and the book blurb sounded interesting. Bringing together the majestic Himalayas, the Hampi heritage site, the mighty Vijayanagar Empire and the political tension of Indo-China war – Pankaj has created a novel which grips the reader and doesn't let go. Pankaj has done a good job of fusing these seemingly unconnected unrelated factors in a story. The plot twists surprise you 'slowly' as the author shifts your focus from one thing to another. This is an interesting aspect of the book - the way the subject of focus constantly shifts as the story moves along. There are times when you think you are reading about the most important aspect of the story while there are...

Last month, I started up Asimov's collection of 17 short stories titled "Earth is Room Enough" and ended up reading half of them. This month, the remaining half got completed. It has been a delight to read.   The month was otherwise a very busy month and I was not keeping well either so that is again reflected in the lowest reading score of this year (and probably lowest in past couple of years). I managed to read only 2 novels and 9 short stories clocking in a score of 11 for this month.   1         Novel: The Mayan Codex by Mario Reading 2         Asimov Shorts: Satisfaction Guaranteed by Isaac Asimov 3         Asimov Shorts: Hell-Fire by Isaac Asimov 4         Asimov Shorts: The Last Trump by Isaac Asimov 5         Asimov Shorts:...