Of Chanakya's Chant

Ashwin Sanghi has this knack of getting the best out of Chanakya's much acclaimed qualities. Chanakya was a shrewd, cunning, calculating, wily and sharp brahmin who had architect the rise of the Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta. He spins these qualities in two parallel threads in the novel. One thread runs in the present day and the second thread runs 2300 years back.There are quite a number of quotes in apt quantities which make the novel a wonderful food for thoughts. Definitely, a powerful read.

PS:- I won't be surprise if someday "Chanakya's Chant" is made into a movie. I was wondering whether the present day writers write novels thinking of movies in mind. Perhaps. Chanakya definitely would.

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Of Roald Dahl and the short stories

I had this wrong notion that Roald Dahl wrote only for the children until I picked " The Collected Short stories" from the Landmark few weeks ago. He is too good to be predictable. Thats the pecularity of his stories. Moreover, the stories are based on simple themes and human facets. Each story is written with finnesse that makes the reader think hours after reading it. Pinch of dark humour with the sharp endings makes Roald Dahl's stories addictive.

PS:-
I was wondering what made Shashi Tharoor to poke his nose in theIPL mud. A person with his qualifications and caliber could have proved much worthy if he would have concentrated on many issues that the nation is facing rather than supporting for an IPL team for Kerela. Anyway, I believe its a lesson for all the politicians to make their priorities right.

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The Catcher in the Rye

JD Salinger would have never liked the homage being paid to him after his death [link]. He would have simply called everyone a "Phony" in his own way. "The Catcher in the Rye", happened to be the first novel that I ever read and thus got acquainted to Holden Caulfield since then.

To the Holden Caulfield in each one of us.
Too Much Joy, from the album "Cereal Killers"

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Of the city that I knew so much

Picked the following books from the Landmark yesterday :-
2 States - Chetan Bhagat,Twilight - Stephenie Meyer and Pirates Latitudes - Michael Crichton.

Being a holiday, with nothing much to do, decided to finish the first one at a go. After reading "2 States", felt like the books sounds much nearer than I thought of. May be the reason being that a part of the book talks a lot about the life of an outsider trying to adjust himself to Chennai. Also it talks a lot about the language, the people, the auto-rickshaw drivers, what the Tamilians think of an outsider, their rich culture, their conservative nature, their thirst for knowledge. And I reckon, it has happened to me, isn't it? Moreover, it talks about the places I knew. The names of the restaurants, the Marina beach,Nungambakkam,Anna Salai, Mylapore etc.

All through these years I have been through all these. Now, I felt like I am part of this city.

PS:-
The mention of two things in the book made me nostalgic:-
1) about NITs catching up fast with the IITs (though sarcastically). Suddenly I recalled all those college friends.
2) The Sangeetha Residency, Mylapore. Yes, it was the very same place my company had arranged for my accommodation when I came to Chennai for the very first time. And that was 3 and a half years back.

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To kill a Mockingbird -A tribute

I have read the book twice and seen the movie multiple times. I just liked it. Although I felt the book is better(maybe because I read it first then saw the movie) but the depiction of the same in the movie is not bad either. Throughout the book, I made some pictures or rather my imaginations about the characters mainly Scout(Mary Bardhem), Jem(Philip Alford) and Atticus Finch(Gregory Peck). The way it has been written and so touching at times about the daughter-father relationship. Harper Lee explore this through the eyes of Scout, the little girl of six. The kind of relationship that Scout has with his brother Jem is also nicely depicted.
Although the book was published in 1960 and it deals with very sensitive issues of rape and racial inequality, the context still hold true even in the present world.

"shoot all the blue jays I wanted - if I could hit 'em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat people's gardens, don't nest in the corncrib, they don't do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us. "

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"There is a way to be good again."

"There is a way to be good again." This is a quote from the book "The Kite Runner"- Khaled Hosseini. I found the quote very interesting and meaningful. Well, it carries a wonderful message . In our life(I m not here to preach :-) ), we come across many situations wherein we could have done things differently which could have led to a different consequence. There are times when you have to choose among many things...and you end up choosing the one in your own interest. But, in a long run, we always get a chance to be good again. What we need is to grab the chance... there is always a way to be good again.

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Through the eyes of a Tiger

"A Tiger for Malgudi " -RK Narayan is a very well written simple story about a Tiger named Raja. The strenght of this novel lies in the writer's ability to narate the story through the eyes of the Tiger in a very simple way and is filled with interesting and good clean humour.
It all started with Raja being captured by Captain(A guy who runs a circus). Raja is made to change his lifestyle. He recall his days when he was once the king of the Jungle. He is made to do aweful things for the Circus. He is asked to changed his food habits. He is asked to drink milk and moreover to share it with a goat. Finally Raja could not tolerate Captain and managed to escape from the circus.
Then, he met his Master (a hermit) whose influence changed Raja. He is taught to understand emotions and truth. The Master explained him about the existence of God, the creation of this world. Then, Raja is asked to portray his understanding of God. Raja responded saying "God would be a huge Tiger as huge as all the worlds put together. Even his tail would be big enough to encompass all the forests on earth." Well, its fair enough to buid an image of God in a form you are. When we say God, we have our own notion how it would be. the same way a tiger has the right to build his own God. The story ends with Raja's enlightenment and then he is moved to a zoo since he was getting old. His Master believed that Raja would be safe in a Zoo and they will soon meet ..

I loved the way the writer had expressed his thoughts and above all the message to the mankind. The novel shows how man can go to any extent to satisfy his greed for money and essentials. We must not forget that every creature has a right to live in this world. They can also achieve enlightenment which man has lost in his quest for greed and worldly things.

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Am I the Catcher in the Rye??

Its more than a year I m working. Its more than a year leaving the college. But I feel like it was jst yesterday. Strange!! ... I have accustomed to this life. A very familiar one these days- a Software Engineer's life. When I was growing up,the very thought of working in a metro city -far from my home, being independent etc used to kill me!! today it is a sad reality. But I m not very surprised ..

There are lots of phonies around as Holden Caulfield(JD Salinger's "The Catcher in the rye") would have said. I have learn to "hate" many things as I m growing. Earlier I never knew how to hate people, how to hate bad foods, how to hate bad songs. Do I sound sarcastic?? not yet I suppose. Now with the time I m learning many of these arts of hating things. But then I ve learn many things. Now I never complain, I have stopped arguing. I knew my mom would be very happy that I have stopped arguing. I always dig into some heated aruments with one or another. I use to argue even for the drop of my pencil!.. Now I ve changed a lot. I have learn to adapt as some very long theory in Biology would have it - theory of Adaptation. A chameleon changing his skin w.r.t the background etc, etc. But the truth is I m enjoying being among the PHONIES...

Sometimes I really feel sorry for those guys who don't have a home to live in. They got wet in the rain and they got burnt from the heat. But I envied them a lot. They never care if it was yesterday or today. they never keep a track of what they ate or what they will. They don't have to show a smile everytime they meet someone. They are always themselves all through the year.Those things knocks me out.

But I ve the comfort and safety. I knew I ll never sleep hungry. Thanks to those days and nights of hardworks. Thanks a ton for my mother's prayers and blessings. Thanks to my father for everything I learnt. Thanks to everyone for all those wonderful moments.

Its always my dream and my way to be "the catcher in the Rye". to catch someone from falling down the edge of the Hill. I ll follow my heart. I ll be the Catcher in the Rye...

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