Book Review: JOHNNY GONE DOWN - Racy Read, Quite Good

An extended weekend with Ugadi (New Year day celebrated in Karnataka) falling on a Friday fetched me some spare time to complete this book titled - Johnny Gone Down by Karan Bajaj. 

How I landed at this book? 

Casual browsing through books listed on www.flipkart.com - Books - Half price section yielded this find. The write up of the book and the reader reviews seemed promising. So summarily, I did not hunt for a Karan Bajaj book or have any expectations before beginning to read it. Published by Harper Collins and marked at Rs 99, I bought this one for Rs 50 last year. Good buy and good read for the money spent, I would state. 

The plot - its pros and cons 

The protagonist is Nikhil Arya, an ambitious graduate from MIT who is all set to begin a successful career at NASA, with dreams and abilities to make it really huge. But a completely unplanned vacation with friend Sameer to Cambodia post convocation starts the downfall for Nikhil. Caught in 1975 Khmer Rouge sponsored genocide just as their flight touches down at Phnom Penh, dramatic events unfold at a unbelievably fast pace. Nikhil makes decisions and acts in a way for reasons unknown and incomprehensible, even to him; lands himself in captivity, loses it all in two years, a seemingly eternal period of pain and anguish.  

There are different avatars he assumes, he turns a Buddhist monk from a genocide survivor in Thailand. For eight years, he meditates, tries to come to terms with his bitter past. But quite unsuccessful in accomplishing it, he travels across the globe to Rio, Brazil and renounces all tenets of Buddhism he slowly imbibed in one go. He turns a drug peddler, runs an empire, starts a family, hits everything right when the world turns topsy turvy again and lands him homeless in Minnesota. There, he works wonders as a software lord in one moment and in another, quite conveniently transforms into nothing but a deadly game fighter. The last leg of Nikhil's  roller coaster journey which is more of a steep, head straight plunge, ends in India. 

The pros of this book are - it is readable, fast paced and easy prose that requires undivided attention of only 6-8 hours for completion. The book offers quite a thrilling journey and authors' ideas are conveyed quite crisply without undue mess or confusion.  

Its cons are - though Nikhil's journey spans for 25 years of his life and is meant to be riveting, words used or style of writing employed does not convey that hard hitting, lasting effect. That's the primary reason why one can finish this book fast. In the end, the book appears a perfect material for a Bollywood flick. 

My Recommendations

This book is suitable for a train journey or say during an extended weekend stay at home. I would rate the book average and  okay. Karan Bajaj is definitely good in spanning great distances across the globe in about 300 pages and covering a myriad events that stand alone appear like unraveled threads but actually weave into a meaningful mosaic pattern in entirety towards the end. I am quite possessive about my books but I would not mind if some one borrowed this book from me and failed to return it. Pardon granted :) 

Mere Symbolism

Happy Holi to one and all reading this blog! 

I hit my blog space today after a break, thoughts run in my head but they are all quite muddled up, not sure if I actually need to put them down here because over years these have become trite following redundant and ineffectual expression. 

There's been some brouhaha in newspapers since Mar 1 about International Women's Day celebrated today - Mar 8, 2012. Exclusive columns are dedicated in newspapers for entries on women, their achievements, their daily hassles and probable solutions. Bigwigs like Nita Ambani, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chanda Kocchar and  Shahnaz Hussain wrote over the last week on what they sowed in their young days to reap the success share they witness today. 

Advertisements are tucked into today's newspaper stating offers in Big Bazaar Supermarket and like places. Online portals shower cash credits and marvelous discounts on ladies clothes, cosmetics, jewelry and all accessories that a woman requires.

Supplements along with newspapers have featured articles on all topics like - 10 healthy foods for women, 10 ways to stop ageing in women, 10 most essential nutrients for women, 10 ways to fight acne, 10 ways for a lady to look good. 

A circle with a + sign at its bottom has become too familiar over the last few days. 
All of it just constitutes mere symbolism. 

By now, one reading this post would have inferred I am sort of a feminist, may be concluded I am going to speak of social evils and atrocities inflicted on women from birth to death. Strong NO!! 

Our society has functioned in a certain way over many decades, elders over generations have fashioned thought process in a meticulous manner. All this conditioning cannot be reversed/changed by observing a single day or a week full of merry. We had/have a varna or caste system which assigns a certain occupation to a certain community, likewise we also have clearly assigned some daily chores, probable ambitions, best suited hobbies, best suited educational degrees for women. Even certain character attributes like cleanliness, organization and neatness at work, multi-tasking and parallel processing abilities, foolproof memory to remember what lies where in the house are expected in stronger doses from women. 

Expectations from women folk are different, there are many reasons to it - while there may be limitations her  own physique poses, bigger responsibilities beckon her due to her greater mental endurance, patience and tolerance that only grows exponentially with age. 

I am not urging the world to celebrate women's day when women too drive equal number of buses and airplanes as men do or when women too participate in combat and trench warfare. That is absolutely ridiculous. But in a country, where a half-half probability of a girl child being born to a couple is rashly dismissed by heinous methods, aggrandizing  womenfolk for only a week or a day seems too much of trash to take. Many say, times are changing and literacy helps in reconditioning opinions. But even from the most literate folks of our grand parents and parents generation or from the most urbanized class, I am sure many of you would have heard overt wishes or seen covert expressions that favor a male child over a female one. No generalizations that all literate folks think alike, all women suffer and men are spared. Generalizations don't help and don't work in any walk of life. But why this symbolism and empty celebrations when man still tries hard to interfere with natural probabilistic mechanisms lies beyond my comprehension. 

What's going to be your first song?

The link provided below leads to one of my favorite ads - that of Flipkart.com - an online shopping portal that has made and is still making online shopping a rage. Online shopping has become a healthy obsession, thanks to the site due to wild discounts, fast delivery, 30 day replacement guarantee and high quality delivery standards. 

Advertisement Link :(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLnJJ0CNBok

I wanted to possess a portable media player for a long time but never took that last step to make a purchase. Recently, I visited flipkart.com and found exciting discounts on MP3 players and purchased a ZEBRONICS STEM MP3 player. The player in its package comes along with a micro USB cable for charging and data transfer and a basic pair of earphones. This bundled along with a Transcend 4GB micro SD card is priced at Rs 650 on the Flipkart portal.  

Product Link: http://www.flipkart.com/mp3-players-ipods/zebronics/itmd6hdjadehwamw?pid=audd6hjvadteame6&_l=JazPKRgnU3I8JEoA0s6zpg--&_r=wg_LFMzh0BMD68aHOTyjKw--&ref=d625768b-e1e8-4903-8a39-84cb0d16421f 

In less than 24 hours of my placing the order, I received the player with the micro SD card in superb condition.  

Coming to some details of the mp3 player or more precisely portable media player - Zebronics STEM supports only MP3 and WMA file formats. It supports USB 2.0 interface. It does not have any built in memory and can take up to 16GB micro SD card in its slot. It has a built in lithium battery chargeable through USB interface. The player can also be used as a card reader and USB disk. 

I found the player worth every penny I spent. There is no elaborate instruction manual, the handy and small player does not require one anyways. The touch wheel on the player has keys to navigate to previous and next track, lower and increase the volume, play and pause the current track. The player comes with an on/off button and throws a red flash when out of battery power. The audio quality is very very good. There are no complaints. The ear phones are rudimentary but there is no crib if an additional set of better earphones is at disposal at home. 

The slot for the micro SD card has a powerful spring inside, so take care while giving a push to eject the card, you would not want the card to spring dive with a thud onto the floor. The player is basic in that there is no random/shuffle play option, the tracks loaded onto the card will play in order and we can use NEXT TRACK and PREVIOUS TRACK to skip or replay. Also, being really minuscule, there is no display that will show play lists and help you traverse from one folder to another. No such frills but despita that all,  Zebronics STEM portable media player provides an awesome experience and is superb value for money. 

Big thanks to Flipkart for providing such valuable products to its customers at a highly affordable price at an alarmingly super speed and with great care. 

Book Review: 7 Secrets of Shiva

7 Secrets of Shiva is another fantastic book by Devdutt Pattanaik, it reveals important tales of Shiva, Parvathy and their two children - Ganesha and Murugan. These tales, 7 in number, unravel many important details of Shiva, the destroyer - destroyer of fear of death - Yamantaka; destroyer of desire - Kamantaka and destroyer of the three worlds (me, mine, not mine) that every human creates, his own world of subjective reality (known as Brahmanda) - Tripurantaka.

To start with, there is Lingeshwara's secret that explains the symbol - Shiva Linga, then Bhairava's secret and then a chapter on Shankara's secret where we learn of how Kali - the wild and fiery goddess willingly turns into a demure householder - Gauri, hence transforms Shiva - the ascetic god, smeared with ash, clad in animal hide, both eyes closed to the external world in deep Tapa into an empathetic and compassionate Shankara whose eyes are open to engage with humanity. 

In Bholenath's secret, we learn of Shiva, the God,  innocent of worldly ways, rules of society and cultural framework. Having remained with his two eyes closed to the external world, he is completely oblivious of stringent rules that drive daily life of human beings. He defies these rules, feels these are unnecessary and only create hurdles in ultimate human realization of atma (the soul).

In Ganesha's secret, we learn of how Lord Ganesha came into existence, how his pot belly assures all devotees of material abundance and removes fear of scarcity that lurks in them.

In Murugan's secret, we learn how and why Murugan came into existence. There are many interesting tales of his birth and valor, practices involved in his worship that differ so widely from the North to South of India. As a 7 day old toddler, he wages war against demons like Taraka, Simhamukhan and Soorapadman, heralds victory and removes the fear of predator from minds of Devas and all his devotees as well. It is through Ganesha and Murugan that Shiva engages even more closely with humanity, works to help them realize infinite truth of life.

The final chapter is Nataraja's secret - explains why many in the west find it a conundrum when they observe Hindus not worshiping  Brahma - the creator but revering Shiva completely. Shiva, the destroyer is seen more as performing acts of deconstruction of evil rather than that of destroyal.

This book holds a very special place in my book shelf and I must admit that reading every chapter has shed light on many important aspects I have observed in Shiva temples. There are references in the chapter on Murugan to Skanda Purana and I now intend to read this book to get a more comprehensive view of Shiva folklore. 

A case of Over Display of Emotions

This Sunday gave a shocker to many watching the news for the first time it was reported Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh is suffering from a malignant form of cancer. Definitely, a real shocker, Yuvraj is a batsman of great caliber with great titles like Player of the Tournament in 2010 ICC World Cup, only one to hit 6 sixes in an over in a T20 format game, he has led the Indian side to victory in many crucial games, fields well despite odds of a huge beer guzzler tummy, bowls magical spells that leave all spellbound and hits like a rocket in steadfast attempts to damage the opponent. 

The Times of India newspaper on Monday Feb 6 quoted that in India his initial reports were stolen - now that is highly ridiculous. Not sure who wanted to auction these reports and earn money. Also, another hospital (unnamed) in India failed to detect the cancer last year. So in clinical diagnosis of the disease the nation has not been of any avail. But in arenas of displaying emotions and support - we stand second to none. Since Sunday evening, there have been scores of people coming on TV and talking about how Yuvraj is a great player and an even bigger fighter. These people encompass a group of cricket commentators, fellow players from IPL and other formats of the game, self declared cricket enthusiasts and some time pass souls who get a daily wage to appear in one of the windows of the news channel, whatever be the topic. Fans from all over the country are being questioned on news channels on questions like - when do you think Yuvi will return to cricket, do you think he can churn the same magic when he returns, how big a fan of Yuvi are you? 

The news channels are already on their way paying homage (Shraddanjali) to a person who is very much alive,  battling the disease which has been discovered at the earliest stages, thanks to medical expertise of a Russian doc. 

Today's news article in TOI describes the form of cancer that Yuvi is suffering from, its symptoms and treatment methods. The first line of this article reads - Yuvraj Singh is happy he is in Boston for his cancer treatment and not in India where unwarranted and sentimental attention could have dampened his mood. Very well said ! Full blown accolades to Yuvi for taking the decision of undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Boston away from homeland, may be this is the most crucial and well taken decision of his lifetime. If he had been treated in India, his parents would have had to spend more time giving interviews to news channels than be by the side of their ailing son. Journalists would shed their skin and shame to get a sneak peek into the room in which Yuvi is resting. They would not mind climbing skyscraper buildings for this purpose, even break their back in the process, just a picture of Yuvi drinking a glass of mosambi juice in his hospital ward would suffice news mongers for many days.  

Crowds would throng the hospital where Yuvi is admitted and create a huge law and order problem. If for a break, Yuvi tuned into a channel other than news channels, he would be feasted to his own advertisement which has been running in an infinite loop mode since Sunday - the ad on BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE - Jab thak balla chal raha hai thaat hai (which literally translates into - as long as batting and career is fine - everything is rosy - when the bat does not work its magic .. then FULL STOP). This completely unwarranted over display of emotions is an inseparable part of  fundamental rights of every Indian citizen - something like Sadda Haq, Aithe Rakh. This situation can never be mended, so wiser and wisest to run away from it. 

So here's wishing Yuvi a very speedy recovery and issuing strict warnings to stay away from motherland till he is fully fine and completely cured.