Once upon the tracks of Mumbai - [Book review]

Reading books and writing reviews is becoming my daily routine now :) How good it will be, if my job is only to read books and review them :p (of course i should get paid for it :))

Book details:
Title : Once upon the tracks of Mumbai
Author : Rishi Vohra
Publisher : Jaico
Source: Review copy from author

I have been reading many books in recent times and this particular one is like a fresh sea breeze :) Have been reading lot of fiction and thrillers. But, this is a casual story with mumbai backdrop. Babloo is autistic and so, has difficulty in understanding few things, he is slow in learning things, but very good at heart. Because of his autistic characterstic, his family (father, a clerk in railway office, mother, a house wife and brother Raghu, working in a stock broker office) always ignore him and never make him feel like a family member. Babloo has a split personality too, the other person always encourage and give confidence to Babloo in all matters. Babloo loves Vandana, who also stays in railway colony and doesn't treat babloo like a retarded person, but talks to him like a normal friend. There comes a twist in the story when Babloo decides to do something to save people in need of help in the form of 'Railman'. Rail man is like an another split personality of Babloo whose purpose is only to provide justice by fighting with bad people. What happens to Babloo at the end? Will the Railman be acquitted from court ? Will he marry Vandana? All these questions will be answered in the climax.
Pretty simple story, isn't it? Characterization is good, especially typical middle class bride groom mentality shown through Raghu, cunning Sikander who takes advantage of women, Responsible father Sekhar gupta, typical gossipy house wife Sudha etc., Writing style is simple and it is as if someone is telling story sitting before you.. I didn't feel bored anywhere while reading this book. As i don't know much about Mumbai, this book gave me a real point of view on Mumbai as if i went there and saw with my eyes.

What is not good?
At some places, descriptions about surroundings are lengthy and boring. Climax is not very convincing and realistic. I feel, connection points are missing at few places like how Babloo changed to Railman very quick and how a smart girl like Vandana fell for Sikander even after he lost her trust once. 

My stars :)
It is simple easy going novel, good for reading during journeys. If you like Mumbai and know it very well, you may love this book. My rating is 3/5.
Refer the below site for more info on book and the author
http://rishivohra.com/

Until next time,

Salvation of a Saint - [Book Review]

Book Details:
Title: Salvation of a Saint
Author: Keigo Higashino
Source: Blogadda book review program

This book is a kind of crime thriller, from a Japanese author. You might have heard about best seller novel 'Devotion of suspect X'. This is from the same author. I haven't read the other book, but i think, now iam interested to read that too. :)

Story starts with the death of a rich married person Mr. Mashiba. His wife Ayena Mashiba goes to her mother's place just 2 days before the murder, posing a strong alibi. Mr. Mashiba is found dead by Hiromi who is a student in the patchwork class conducted by Ayena. It will be found by homicide department that death was caused by poisoned coffee, but no one knows how someone entered into the house which is locked from inside and escaped. Detectives Kusangi, Utsumi and professor Yukawa play a main role in investigating the perfectly planned murder of Mr Mashiba. There is not much suspense about the killer as all investigations and interrogations point to Ayena as killer, but only thing that police wait is for a clue to prove that she is the murderer.

Detectives find poison 'arsenic acid' residuals in water filter system attached to tap. Another interesting find is that this poison is added through filter one year ago and it was never used. Who can plan a murder that advance and wait for such a long time to execute? Even if they do, how can they take care that no one else use this tap water and die instead of Mr.Mashiba? This makes the crime a perfectly planned one without leaving any traces. This plot and timing seems un-believable. 

I don't want to reveal much about the story line as it may spoil the interest of new readers. Overall, this is a page turner and i couldn't leave this book in the middle. I don't feel it is a perfect crime thriller, as the way murder is planned is un-believable without leaving any clue/ trace.

Characterization is very good and writing style is simple and excellent. Mrs. Ayena Mashiba is shown as a brave and confident individual, she never shows her regret or fear about the murder during investigation until last minute. Character of Mr.Mashiba is also very peculiar. Professor Yukawa is excellent with his power of reasoning and driving the other detectives to the point. We love Kusangi's character by the end of the book as he continues his investigation in different angles and provides important evidence, even though he has a soft corner on Ayena. Utsumi is another such interesting character who is very sharp in observing the feelings of the person they are investigating. She brings out women thinking perspective for the investigation, which helps Kusangi a lot. Book is interesting throughout. Logical reasoning of the detectives and their investigation is very good. Since it's on Japanese background, remembering character names is quite difficult. One negative point is that i didn't feel title is very apt for the book, even though they gave some explanation, it is not very convincing. I would surely recommend this book for crime thriller lovers.

My rating: 3/5

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Until next time,

Tantra - [Book Review]

Book Details:
Title: Tantra
Author : Adi
Publisher: Apeejay STYA
Source: blogadda.com book review program

Guys.. This is review time again! It's a supernatural thriller this time. Never read books on Vampires, though watched many movies :)

Story:
This book starts of with protagonist 'Anu Agarwal', a guardian who fights against vampires in New york coming to Delhi to take revenge on the person/ Vampire who killed her boy friend 'Brian'. Seems very unrealistic na.. While searching for his boy friend's murderer, she comes across a person 'Senaka' who claims to be a spiritual guru and does all evil practices like killing children for some ceremonies using black magic 'tantra'. So, she has to use her abilities to learn satvik 'astras' through concentration(saadhana) to fight against 'Tantra' and stop him from killing many innocent children. Will she be able to leave her search for Brian's murderer and fight against Senaka? Will she be able to get away from her attraction towards 'Gaurav' and concentrate on 'astra'? This forms the remaining story.

My thoughts:
First few chapters are not very interesting as no story takes place other than introduction of characters. Story seems to make sense when author introduces us to 'Tantra' (Black magic). In India, we cannot believe of any story involving vampires, but stories about black magic are common here. Author talks about meditation concepts, satvik, yoga etc.,A parallel thread, Anu agarwal's arranged marriage proposals and formal meeting ceremony with to be bride groom makes us laugh and correlate ourselves to Indian arranged marriage system :)

There are few things which i didn't understand properly like concept of shift, how guardians are trained and chosen etc., as book doesn't elaborate much about them other than using the terms directly. Book explains mediation and satvik concepts well. Author is able to make us understand the struggle that Anu goes through to keep her family safe and away from Vampires and Senaka's followers, her attraction towards Gaurav, her determination to learn and use astras in less time to win over evil.

What i liked -
Characterization of Anu, her zeal to learn astra, her concentration and her positive attitude overall. 

What i didn't like -
Felt story is not gripping enough to be a thriller. We cannot say it is an on-the-edge thriller. Seeing the cover, i expected it to be a horrific haunting story, but it disappointed me completely. At some places, i felt descriptions are very boring that i was unsure if i could complete the book. I couldn't pinpoint what was missing in the book, but just it couldn't meet my expectation of a super natural thriller.

Author's writing style -
Writing style is smooth and easy to follow. In some places, it gets boring.  Characterization, analysis on tantra etc., show author's research work and knowledge about the concepts.

Overall -
Not an on-the-edge, gripping thriller. But, good for one time read to avoid boredom. 
Rating - 2/5

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Table 21

                              Ragging is not a joke, it is a CRIME

This is the message from the movie 'Table 21',loud and clear. Don't know how many watched this movie, but some sites have written that this movie is critically acclaimed and worth watching after 'Special 26' of Akshay kumar.
Even though i don't feel Table 21 is a great movie, i liked the message. 

Spoiler alert.. please don't read ahead if you are planning to watch the movie :)

Movie is about a couple going to Fiji on a holiday package from a lottery win/ some prize. They participate in an online live game show, which comes to their life/ death question. Game has only 2 rules - All questions to be answered with 'Yes' or 'No' and those who lie will die. Prize money is 21 fiji dollars. After each question the couple is assigned a task related to the question. They have to complete 8 such questions and tasks to get the prize money. 

So far, movie seems interesting, even though it is very slow paced, we will be thinking of the objective or motive of the game till the last question. We will be thinking, what Paresh Rawal wants actually from the game. At-last, from last question and task, the couple will remember their college times, how they ragged their junior mercilessly which made him mentally retarded. By the way, Paresh rawal is the father of that victim(junior).

Iam fortunate, as i never faced ragging in our college and there were strict rules to avoid ragging. Ragging is more prevalent in hostels than colleges. Asking names, assigning silly tasks, making fun looks good in ragging. But, if it goes beyond some point, where   physical/ sexual / verbal abuse takes place, it is not at all good. Ragging affects in many ways - death, suicide, injury, mental health etc., When some student goes to his dream college by working hard in entrance exams or paying huge sums as fee, he doesnt want to leave the college or stop going in fear of ragging. But, when it becomes too much to handle, tension arises and it effects him badly.

By the way, this movie title is based on 'Article 21' which is Right to Live. The game played in the movie snatches that right from them. Hope this movie makes some impact on this generation students to avoid ragging.

Until next time,

Women and Gold

Most of the women love jewellery, especially Gold jewellery, right? When we think of jewellery, we used to refer to only Gold or silver earlier, now, we have platinum, diamond and imitation jewellery. However, Gold has a special place in our society, that too these days, where its price is sky rocketing. Earlier, as women doesn't have equal rights on father's property, they used to get gold from mother, whereas, sons used to get property from parents. Now, things changed. Still, the tradition of passing on Gold to generations didn't change.

Got this chart from Internet, interesting right, how Gold price changed so fast?

Because of this trend, people are thinking of Gold as an investment. But, it is a very risky investment, we cannot predict the rise/ fall of gold price for the next 4 to 5 years. Good thing, is to buy small chunks of Gold and save. Almost all jewellery shops/brands introduced different gold saving schemes. Some schemes allow online transfer, some allow saving fixed amount every month and some allow variable amount. Some give a bonus on total amount while closing the scheme and some give a complete off on making charges. 


We love Gold so much that we cannot think of it as an investment. There is some emotional attachment to jewellery that we buy - it might have been bought for marriage or for any festival, or brought by husband or parents or boy friend for any specific occasion that we wish to cherish for life time. In this case, thinking of Gold as an object and selling it off for profit, doesn't seem well. Selling off Gold for any medical emergency is fine, but how can someone sell jewellery which has many wonderful moments associated to it? What do you think?

Until next time,

Image courtesy: indiatvnews.com, apnaplan.com

Collection of some random snaps

Place: Ramappa lake in the evening, Warangal

Ramappa lake seems excellent at the time of sunset. This photo was taken when we were on boat ride.

Place: Mainland China, Hyderabad 

Liked this decoration in the restaurant. See.. how beautiful this flower is made only with vegetables :)

Place: Princeton, USA. Next day after snow storm

Watching snowfall and playing with snow is great, but the next day after snowfall is also wonderful. See.. how bright sun is competing with snow to brighten the place :)

Place: Niagara, USA

Watching Niagara falls is the most un-forgettable experience. Watching water this much nearer from the park will make you crazy. 

Place: Gandipet Lake in the evening, Hyderabad

Gandipet lake is a peaceful place to go, especially if you are interested in long drives on wonderful evenings to the outskirts of the city 

Hope you liked these random clicks :)

Until next time,

Another trip to Shirdi

Hey! All set for another trip to shirdi :)
I hope, everything goes by plan.

This has been my 5th or 6th trip to Shirdi, i didn't remember exactly. Iam fortunate enough to visit Shirdi around early 2000's. It was not at all like this earlier. Not much crowd,  no good provisions for stay and no Andhra hotels. But, darshan used to be very peaceful and pleasant experience. It was like a normal temple, only crowded during aarti times 4 times a day. No queue at all except for aarti times. There used to be only one train per week from Hyderabad to Shirdi. So, we used to go through Hyderabad whenever we travel to Shirdi. Roaming in Hyderabad till evening, to pass time before catching the train was a very good memory. Visiting Birla mandir was always on the list! 

We used to get down in Manmad through Manmad express and go by bus to Shirdi from there. Later, we found that Nagarsol is the nearest station and from next trip onwards, we used to go through Nagarsol. Bhakta Nivas is the complex with all amenities like food and stay provided by Shirdi sai sansthan at minimal rates. Now, they have built few more complexes for devotees like 'Dwarawati'.

There are may interesting tourist places around Shirdi, So, spending a good 4 day holiday will be wonderful there. Shani singanapur, Ajanta, Ellora caves, Nasik, Triambakeshwar, Bhimashankar etc., are some of the places good for one day trips. I have been to all places and it was wonderful family time always :)

Shirdi sai sansthan has a website now to book accommodation, darshan and aarti. Isn't it easy now to plan a trip? Here are the website details: https://www.shrisaibabasansthan.org/INDEX.HTML

Ok then, see you all after the trip.. 
Until next time,