Not without my daughter - Betty Mahmoody

When west meets the east, there will be quite a few cultural differences that will come to the fore front. And, if this meeting happens in the worst possible situation, then the list of differences go a long way and in the most gruesome manner.  Dear Readers, let me introduce you all to one such terrible meeting in the form of the book “Not without my daughter”, written by BETTY MAHMOODY.

“Not without my daughter” tells you the real experiences of Betty Mahmoody (author) in Iran during 1980s after the Iranian Revolution. It gives you the shocking ordeals that Betty goes through in Iran and her desperate attempts to get out of Iran with her daughter. Betty is an American woman who visits Iran along with her American-settled Iranian husband and their American-born daughter for a 2 week vacation to meet her in-laws. Betty goes through the cultural shock with patience for 2 weeks only to know that she has been duped by her husband who has made plans of settling down completely in Iran with his wife and daughter. What follows from here on is the desperate struggle of Betty to get out of Iran with her daughter even at the risk of getting killed by her husband and the Iranian Government.

While the book gives away the main idea of the story in its preface itself, what gets you hooked on to the book is the experiences that Betty goes through every day of her life. Over a period of time, the reader starts routing for Betty and sympathizes with her in all her attempts to succeed, her failure, her agony, the torture which she goes through, her re-attempts and her culture-shock.  One reason for this could be that the reader would not be happy to know what the women are going through in Iran and how they are reduced to individuals without identities, if not for a man beside them. Though I feel that Betty has exaggerated some of her cultural shocks to the extent that you easily realize she is exaggerating, one still feels upset after reading what she has gone through in Iran. It also strikes a thought in the reader’s mind that if this is what just one woman has gone through, then how about the others? If foreigners are made to experience this disgusting face of life, then how about the Iranian women who have their life defined and restricted within the borders of Iran.

While Betty’s attempts to escape from Iran forms the back bone of this book, it also opens up a whole lot of information about

·         The culture shock  faced by an American ( woman specifically) in Iran

·         Absurd and in-human Iranian Laws

·         Anti-American movement in Iran

This book acts as an eye opener into the day-today life of common people in Iran, which is otherwise kept away from the rest of the world. It’s been over 20 years since this book was written and I hope that Iran has changed a lot from there onwards. Even though I like Iran on certain grounds, I would never support the Iranian laws that have been mentioned in this book. I do condemn them. On the other hand, I do not agree to all the outbursts of Betty against Iranian ways of life and Iranian policies (military / political). If one of the thousands of Iranians tortured in American prisons is made to write a book, then I am sure he/she might have an equally interesting tale to narrate, including the shocking American culture from the eyes of an Iranian.

This book has enough masala in it to be made into a movie and as expected it has been made into a Hollywood movie. With so much of masala in it, do you think Indian cinema would stay behind!!.. NeverJ. There are desi versions in Telugu (anthapuram) and Hindi as well (Shakti). But the desi versions are modified enough to make the hero as a nice guy, hero’s family as nice people and obviously an emotional change-of-heart for the villain at the end of the movie :-)

From the look of it, I feel that Betty is not a good writer. The strength in her content succeeds in diverting the reader’s attention away from her narrative flaws. In the middle of her thrilling experiences, she inserts some of her experiences which neither take the story forward, nor make a point in the narrative. Also, Betty’s intricate details of her cooking attempts make me wonder how she is able to remember such minute things of the kitchen amidst the day-today deathly experiences she had in Iran!!! It is also visible that she has taken help from professional writers after finishing her writing to arrange the book in an interesting format. There are flashbacks inserted at certain points which seemed to be forcibly added to make the narrative sound interesting.

Did Betty finally get out of Iran and reach America safely at the end? Well, if she is able to write a book which has so much against Iran and Iranians, then I am sure she did that after entering USA :-) . I suggest you all to read this book without fail. It not only gives you an insight into the life of a country which is shielded from the glare of the International media, but it highlights how important is freedom for an individual and to what extreme a person can push herself to achieve it in one of the worst possible circumstances that a person can be in. Go for it!!!

On a wilder thought, I always feel that a happy story has only one version while a sad story has as many versions as the number of people involved in it. Since this is a horribly sad story, I wonder if we need to sympathize with Betty without hearing her husband’s version of the story. Who knows, Betty might actually be the villain who cooked up an interesting story for us with the confidence that nobody would anyways get access to her husband in Iran :-) …..I wonder if I should make a trip to Iran just to meet her husband and write a book on his behalf titled ,”Not without my Daughter, but without my wife for sure”  :-) :-)

Jokumaaraswaami - Dr. Chandrashekar Kambara

When you are tired of reading modern day stories and looking for something different or interesting, folk tales can be a good option. If the folk tale turns out to be good, then it wont be surprising to see you pick up more folk tales for your next reading. "jOkumaaraswaami", written by Dr. Chandrashekar Kambara, is one such interesting folk tale.

This 70 page short play written in rural kannada language , is about infidelity, power, romance and rebellion in a male dominated society of rural karnataka. It talks about the numerous misadventures of a landlord across the village while the landlady goes on with a single jackpot adventure of her life :).. Even though most part of the story unfolds in a single day and there is hardly any scope to describe a character in the play, the dialogues are so well written that one gets a fair idea of each character in the play just by their conversation. If an author can make a reader picturize his characters just by the conversation in a play, then the author is successful in getting the reader involved into the story.

A special highlight of this play is that the conversations are a mix of dialogues and songs. The songs are well written and placed at some crucial moments where the reader can appreciate the situation better and take the play to much more imaginative level by interpreting the feel of the songs in his own way. Its a way of giving a poetic touch to a play and I feel that Mr.Kambar has done it aptly in this play.

In the latest edition of this book, Kambar gives details of when this play was first performed and which actor did what role. If you know these actors well, then you will surely visualize them while reading the book. For example, Girish Karnad performed the role of landlord in the play and few pages into this play, I could imagine Karnad performing the act in front of me. It is common that we unknowingly start giving a face to the characters of a book while reading depending on whom our mind would recollect while reading about the character. In this case, the author makes it easy for us by giving a face to his characters before the play begins.

Worth reading and you will like it as well.

Director's Special - GuruPrasad

Some people think different!! and they do it all the time. One such person is kannada writer/director Guruprasad. He is famous for his 2 kannada movies MATA and EDDELU MANJUNATHA. In his first book "Director's special", he comes up with a collection of short stories which are "different" from the routine stories which we get to read normally.

The book consists of 18 write-ups consisting of short stories, his reviews and his personal experiences in the film industry. As I would not want to comment on his individual opinions, I would like to keep this reviews strictly for his short stories. Each of the handful of stories in this book succeeds in keeping your interest till the end and make sure that you have a smile on your face by the end of the story. Though a couple of stories turn out to be sore thumbs, the rest of the stories easily make up for it.

Of all the interesting stories, 2 of them need a special mention. The stories dealing with (untold story in ramayaNa) and (husband's prayer to God) are innovative and shows the author's talent in thinking out of the box. The first thought that came to my mind after reading these stories was ," how can he come up with such a thought"...There are 2 kinds of writers who can bring freshness to story writing. One write a known/familiar story with a fresh presentation while another write a new story / situation altogether. Guruprasad belongs to the latter group .

One common point in all the stories is that the author does not try to give a message or force his thoughts on the readers in any of his stories. They are simple figments of the author's wild imaginations which will make the readers sit back and think about the story in his own way. I sincerely feel that a thinking person like Guruprasad should soon come up with a full fledged collection of short stories and feed us with some more innovative, but interesting stories.

Read it without a miss if you like short stories with a difference

Kiragoorina gayyaaLigaLu - K PoorNachandra Tejaswi

"Kiragoorina gayyaaLigalu", a collection of 4 short stories in Kannada by K.P. PoorNachandra Tejaswi, is a mixed bag. Of the 4 stories, 2 are good ( krishNegowDana aane, maayamruga), 1 is average ( kiragoorina gayyaaaLigaLu) and i dont know why he wrote the 4th story(vishwana prapancha)!!

A commonly observed point in Tejaswi's writings is that the back drop of a story is just a premise which he uses to reflect upon the various faces of our society, in his signature humorous style. KrishNegowDana aane is one such story which is based on the troubles faced by the residents of small town due to the elephant owned by krishNegowDa. With this back drop Tejaswi takes a dig at the the functioning of various government bodies ( electricity, telephone, corporation, hospital) and the rivalry between them,As always, Tejaswi boosts the story with loads of dialogues which are not only humorous , but also takes a sarcastic look at the deficiencies in the system that is around us in our every day life. This one surely is worth a read.

"Maayaamruga" is a very smart story of 2 people who decide to spend a night in a graveyard to prove that there is nothing called the GHOST. The story moves as a conversation between 2 friends and as a part of conversation, Tejaswi makes his wild statements which are not only funny , but will also make you think. He questions our preset notion about the existence and appearance of ghosts and gives a tacky reply to those questions as well. Though short in length, this one is interesting enough to have been selected as "one of the ten best short stories in India " at the time of its publication.

"Kiragoorina gayyaaLigalu" is a case of mismatch between the story and its title. Its like a much publicized Rajnikanth movie where Rajni comes only in beginning and the end, while the rest of the movie is about some other guy. This story is not about the nasty women in kiragooru, but is about the misadventures of the men in that village.The story is interesting whenever the women are in the scene. This is on story where i felt that Tejaswi could not bring in his magic touch to the writing. The story goes everywhere, but ends up nowhere. This one is sure to disappoint hard-core fans of Tejaswi. The non-fans won't be happy either :)

"vishwana prapancha" is a very short story which has nothing to take away from it. Once you read the story, you are clueless as to what the author is trying to say in this story and will be happy that the story was the shortest in the book.

Overall, this one has a couple of good stories, but it doesn't fit into the list of great books that we expect from Tejaswi. I feel that every good writes ends up writing some stories which are not upto his own standards. Its upto the writer to decide whether he keeps it to himself or publish it as well. Tejaswi seems to have done the latter!!

Jugaari Cross - K PoorNachandra Tejaswi

JUGAARI CROSS- a kannada novel written by K. PoorNachandra tejaswi, is yet another interesting book from the author which can surely be accepted as one of his best! This 225 page creation has everything it takes to be called a fantastic thriller and keeps you hooked on to it till the last page.

To begin with, Jugaari cross is a slow starter. The first 30 pages give you a glimpse of random people, places and incidents which one cannot comprehend easily. If you are not a patient reader, then there is a good possibility that you might think of stopping to read it. In case you think so while reading the book, I suggest you to manage with it as what you would read after that is an engaging thriller which would not let you leave the book till you finish it. Once you reach the end of the book, you will be able to relate to the first 30 pages in the book, hence appreciating the need for so much detailing in those pages. The genius of Tejaswi is seen in abundance once the story takes off with the principal characters coming into picture. Tejaswi gives you enough open points to ponder till the end and once he reaches the end, he makes sure that you are happy about the way it has ended though it is something not easy for us to guess.

The story is based on the smuggling mafia in the forests around jugaari cross. It is about a couple, who unknowingly get entangled in the dark world of smuggling without any idea of what is happening to them for most part of the story. Through the experiences faced by the main characters in this book over 24 hours, the author sketches the intricate details of the smuggling business and its effect on people from various sections of society. The best part of the book is that it makes the readers think at every stage of the story as to what will happen next. And, Tejaswi takes care to see that our guesses are mostly wrong by throwing in surprising twists to the proceedings and making it a riveting thriller. For the delight of the reader, the main protagonist SURESHA happens to be a thinking guy who tries to find a rationale behind all that he is going through. With every logical thought of SURESHA, the author makes sure that you are sucked into the world of jugaari cross by being a shadow of SURESHA in his thoughts.

As always, Tejaswi mirrors the apathy in our society in an excellent way through his characters and their situations. On keen observation, once can notice the intricate detailing of Tejaswi w.r.t places and automobiles. When it comes to automobiles / machines, Tejawi gives details till the last nut and bolt irrespective of whether it is required or not J

With so much of description above, I have made sure not to give even a little bit of information abou the actual story with the intention that you would read it for sure. In case you decide to read this, I assure you that you will be happy at the end about reading a very interesting thriller.

The Vegetarian - Han Kang

Set in a Korean backdrop, THE VEGETARIAN is a poetically written depressing story from Han Kang. Though it appears to be about a Korean house wife who wants to give up non-vegetarian food , it is basically about a person's fight with the family and society to do something which is default right as a human being.

The book is presented in 3 acts, each from a different person's point of view . The beauty of the book lies in the fact that it tells all about the protagonist from other's point of view without ever telling from her point of view. In a way, this also  symbolizes the main idea of the book that different people have different views about a person according to their sensibilities and never bother to understand that person's thoughts or actions. Turning vegetarian is a fashion among people in predominantly meat eating countries these days, but giving a peculiar reason to that decision and explaining the ordeals one has to go through physically and emotionally to keep up the decision is what sets this book apart from the others. The basic concept of the book is not new, the characters are what you see in daily life and the unfolding drama is not a surprise, but how it is beautifully presented to the reader makes it spacial.

This book is not for debutante readers. It is pretty slow in narration with lot of detailing about the thoughts  and less of drama . Nevertheless, every act / scene / page is like a beautifully crafted painting on the canvas of life's basic necessity - emotion. Once completed, this book will definitely leave you with numerous thoughts to ponder about and unsettles your mind . It makes a very good read and is very much worth the BOOKERS prize it has won.

AnjuMallige - Girish Karnad

I wonder why Girish Karnad always comes up with a crazy story / play which nobody could think of!! . The topics and the storylines which Karnad chooses tend to be way different from any of his contemporaries. I appreciated many of his plays and loved his play HAYAVADANA; nobody can even come up with such a crazy idea.

With all these admirations for him, I read his first play named ANJUMALLIGE. I somehow did not like it and could hardly appreciate anything in it. I feel that he tries to forcibly insert the topic of incest into the play which otherwise looks dull w.r.t to situations and characters. This inturn is giving me doubts if I really understood the play or mis-interpreted it altogether. So, if someone has read this book ( or knows someone who rea dthis book), pls let me know. I need to clarify some points :) :) . Only then I will be able to write a review of it!!

LOVE STORY - Erich Segal

When you flip thru this 100+ page short love story, 1000+ plus movies cross your mind by the time u finish reading the book. Finally I got hold of the book which is the source for so many romantic movies. The book is LOVE STORY by Erich Segal. It was written in 1970s!!

Since I am reading the book after watching those 1000+ movies, i could easily guess what could happen next. Also, as and when i read a scene / chapter, I could easily recollect numerous movies which had a scene resembling it. Even then, the book is interesting to read. You don’t get bored. Some of the chapters are written interestingly like the first conversation between the lead characters, final hospital scene and the conversation between protagonist and his dad. The best part about this book is that it gets over in 2 hours straight. Much faster than the movies which are based on it. Only thing is that this book does not have songs and villains !!

Unlike Mills and Boons, this novel doesn’t get mushy. It is mainly because the female lead character has a strong personality. There are no stereotype romantic conversations between the leads, but they are witty. Though there was enough space for the author to add another 30-40 pages to the book, he was sensible enough not to do that. I am happy that he had so much sense even 40 years back!!!

If we read today, there is nothing new in this book. But, as an appreciation of the guy who gave inspiration to innumerable Indian movies, one should read this book. Your 2 hours will not be wasted.

Oh Shit, Not Again - Mandar Kokate

OH SHIT! NOT AGAIN, written by Mandar Kokate, has "National BestSeller" printed on it. When I went through this national best seller, I felt that it is a desi extended version of AMERICAN PIE series. It looks like the author has listed down all his fantasies on paper and stitched them absurdly in the same of a 250 page book. Its a B grade masala film story which seems to be partly inspired from to many C grade movies.

Story is about Raj and his 4 friends. Its about what happens with Raj and all posisble girls/ladies around him by the time they plan and execute the ganesha festival in their colony. There is no mention of Ganesha what-so-ever in the book. Though the book tells that they all are students, they dont seem to go to college anyday in the book. It has romance, humour, murder, emotions, feelings and anger, but all in a very bad taste. The funda he gives at the end for choosing one out of the 2 available girls in hand is atrocious and makes u laugh for a very long time. But, it isnt worth to read 250 pages to reach that end :)

This book reminds me of few Kashinath movies where he loads the movie with lewd/vulgar scenes for 2 hours and preaches like a holy samaritan in the last 5 mins. This book is exactly the same!! . If you are a serious book reader, stay away from this. But if you are curious to read a very bad novel for fun, go for it.

On an interesting note, I would like you to read few comments about this book from other readers.

1. The link http://mandarkokate.blogspot.com/ is the author's homepage. Check out the comments on this page

2. The link http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6768836-oh-shit-not-again is a general book review site. Check out the comments on this page.

The reviews on the 2 pages written as though they are reviewing 2 different books :) :)

3 Mistake of my life - Chetan Bhagat

A superb mix of cricket, religion,love, facts and witty one-liners sets the book "The 3 mistakes of my life" apart from rest of the books by Chethan Bhagat. This item number is a sure shot hit and will stay in your mind for quite some time.

The story deals about the friendship between 3 guys in ahmedabad and what they go through over a period of 2 years. The best part of the story is that the progressions in the story are laid seamlessly with the backdrop of certain facts like earthquake in gujarat and the communal riots that took place in gujarat. The characters are interesting and like other books of chethan, this too is a film material :) :)..but, i think its hardly possibe due to the politics involved in it.

Coming to the characters, the best one of this book is Vidya. Every scene involving vidya is cleverly written and leaves a smile on your face. Through Vidya's character, the writer chalks out the complexities in understanding the different meanings of different terms like friends, just friends, good friends, more than good friends used by girls. Through the character of Govind, the writer describes the dilemna of a love struck boy in understanding these terms which all mean the same to him :) . The lengthy climax of the novel is written in a very filmy way, this happens to be the best part of the writing...u can easily visualize things happening in front of your eyes and if it were to be really happening on the screen, i am sure most of you would be whistling endlessly..

Having read all 4 novels of chethan, some of the common points seen are

1. The female protagonists are mentally stronger than their counterparts

2. The lead couple make love for first time in wierdest of situations

3. The villians are always the senior citizens :)

4. its always happy endings !! ( though it seems forced in 3 mistakes)

This one is worth a read

Nanna Thamma Shankara - Ananth Nag

Its common for a normal person to be curious to know more details about a person he/she admires/loves/hates . The curiosity is even more when that person happens to be a celebrity. I havent seen much of shankar Nag's work except for MalguDi days and also have no great fascination for his work. But, still the curiosity to know more about him made me read the book which I am reviewing today, "Nanna thamma shankara".

The book is written by Anath Nag, shankar's brother, who is a famous actor himself in Kannada industry. The book is written based on Ananth's interactions with Shankar and his observations about Shankar from right from his birth till his death. It won the "Kannada Saahithya parishath Award" in 2001.

IN short, the book is well written and makes a very good read. Since the characters are familiar to us, we can actually visualize the events while reading the book and that makes the book even more interesting to read.

The main strength of the book is that it is more conversational than just narration of events. The use of simple language makes the reader relate to it easily and as a writer, ananth does not put his opinion or point of view to the readers. He just presents the events in the form of conversations and leaves it to the reader to make his/her own opinion. Ananth also makes it a point to provide a good amount of information about the people , places and groups as and when they occur in the book. Ananth succeeds in letting the user know the character of Shankar Nag and also his thought process to a large extent. Rather than focussing on Shankar's film life and landmarks, this book shows light on what Shankar did and thought when he is not facing the camera. I would like to highlight that this book also reminds us of some of the beautiful words in kannada which are hardly used these days.

On the flip side,

1. there is no mention about Shankar's marriage / wife/kids. This could be due to some other personal reasons concerned to the author. But, it does leave the book incomplete!!

2. Along the narrative, Ananth puts forth his thoughts and ideologies about certain events and people, instead of concentrating on what Shankar thought about them

3. Since the book is more on anath's interactions with Shankar, there is hardly any details about Shankar's friends. Knowing that Shankar was very friendly with so many people in the theatre and film industry, it seems a little imcomplete without a mention about them.

Overall, a very good book, worth a read. After reading the book, it really made me feel that kannada industry in particular and the state in general lost an extra-ordinary talent as well as good human being at a very young age

Dollar Bahu - Sudha Murthy

When I sarted with the book, my reaction was like, "Aahh, this sounds so filmy". Half way through the book, I could guess exactly what is going to happen till the end. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what I felt about the book reviewed this time - DOLLAR BAHU by Sudha Murthy.

This is a book tailor made for a mega serial. Though this book was written a good 10 years back, i think there have been numerous movies on similar contexts even before this book was written. It is filled with cliché and every event/scene is easily guessable. None of the characters in this book have a happy story associated with them. Every character touches and twists your heart/brain/kidney/intestine with their sorrow.

This is the first book of Sudha Murthy which I have read. Before this, I had so much expectation from Mrs.Murthy going by all the fame surrounding her as a writer. It all crashed down at half way itself through the book. Any of u looking for something new to read, stay away from this book.

Content wise, the author keeps the narration simple. One can relate to events in the book as everyone would have come across at least one of the numerous situations in the book. Frequently, Sudha Murthy makes references to the different places / people and traditions of Karnataka which makes it interesting. The story is about the troubles faced by a poor daughter in law (DIL) from her Mother in LAW (MIL) due to frequent comparison with the other DIL who comes from Rich back ground. As all films show, MIL goes to stay with rich DIL and finally realizes that the poor DIL is a Goddess and the rich one is a devil. A little bit of romance, saas-bahu situations and loads of incidents to highlight that American life for Indians is bad and not worth it, is added to make the book interesting.

Though the background of USA, Dollars and dollar dreams might be a new thing 10 years back, it is just a back drop for the story which is age-old. Just like they say “old wine in new bottle”, Mrs.Murthy has taken the story often told in rupees, covered it with a dollar note and showcased it as a new story

Gently Falls The Bakula - Sudha Murthy

Even after the disastrous DOLLAR BAHU,i took up another book from Sudha Murthy named GENTLY FALLS THE BAKULA (english). The only reason for this is that i was getting late for my  bus and I couldn't get any other book in hand!!

One thing that strikes is that this book was written some 25 years back, but still holds good in today's time also. Its about a brilliant girl who sacrifices all her ambitions and wastes her talent in support for her succesful husband. Though this book is also filled with loads of cliche and makes up a good source for a mega serial, the ending makes up for all the boring proceedings thoughout the book. Also, Mrs.Murthy gives a lot of information about history , specially about King Asoka, which makes it interesting. The interactions between the lead characters are handled in a way which you can relate to and is never exaggerated.

I am not sure if Mrs, Sudha Murthy is fascinated by the following, but i couldnt miss to observe the following characters  / events which were seen in her other book (DOLLAR BAHU) also

1. Hero is a software engineer and is always the black sheep / villain of the story

2. Heroine is always soft spoken, talented , simple girl from a humble back ground

3. Mother in law is always bad

4. Hero's sister is a good for nothing dumb girl who always trouble's the heroine

5. North Karnataka has to be there in the story

6. heroine always hides her feelings / emotions no matter how bad she feels

7. Every character except the heroine and some friends are all bad

Read it if u have time.. can be finished in 2 hours and you wont be disappointed at the end. This is an eye opener for all the busy men to spend time with their wife. To add to it, it is also an eye opener for their wives to realize the ground situation ASAP and act accordingly than taking it till the end....If not, Sudha Murthy will write one more book on it :) :)

Griha Bhanga - SL Bhyrappa

"banchaat bhaaDkov bosuDi boLimagane...", if u can digest these kinda dialogues which appear million times in the book , then "GRUHABHANGA" makes a fantastic read. This is my first book of SL BHYRAPPA. I have heard a lot about Bhyrappa and his writings. Many of his books have gone for multiple re-prints , translated to different Indian languages and some have even made it to television and movies. So, here is what I felt after reading GRUHABHANGA.

Its take a while for a reader to get adjusted to the language, characters, period and societal norms presented in the book. But, once u get adjusted to it, it takes u to an altogether different world. The proceedings are so interesting and even more interestingly told, that u can visualize it happening around u. Every character is given an interesting shade and the situation / dialogues bring out these shades very effectively.

GRUHABHANGA though starts of with Gangamma( mother in law) and ends with Vishwa( grandson), it is mainly the story of Nanjavva (Daughter in law). It traces through the various situations faced by Nanjavva from her family as well as nature and how she handles each of them. As you go through the book, you start routing for nanjavva's pains and end up being happy when nanjavva overcomes her problems in a smart way. Through nanjavva's character, the author showcases that even though many mowen are subjected to social atrocities , a woman can still achieve in life is she has education and presence of mind. The author also succeeds in giving an apt ending to the story and I could not think of any other better ending to it as a reader.

Of the array of characters in the book, few characters which stay in mind are chennigaraaya ( good for nothing, tobacco chewing husband of nanjavva) and kanTijoyisa ( Rough and tough father of nanjavva) . W.r.t scenes, it would be difficult to pick the best ones as there are way too many of them.

The book is also a bank of so many beautiful kannada words which is not used in recent days. If you are looking out for a book that delivers a strong story in a rustic back drop which makes a worthy use of your time, read GRUHABHANGA. It has made me curious about other works of SL Bhyrappa and I am looking forward to read some of them soon!!

Raaja Rahasya - Dinakar / Ravi BeLegere

When Dr.Rajkumar was released after over 100 days of captivity by Veerappan, everybody was curious to know what exactly went behind the scenes in getting the matinee idol back to his normal life. Unofficially, everyone knew that a huge ransom was paid to get Dr.Raj out of the jungle, but there was an offcial detial of any ransom paid. For all those who were waiting to know what went behind the scenes of Rajkumar hostage crisis, the book "RAAJA RAHASYA" gives you all the info in a plain , straight-on-the-face way. Its written in English(Veerappan's PRIZED CATCH: RAJKUMAR) by Dinakar and translated to kannada by Ravi BeLegere

The book is written by CP Dinakar who was the Commissioner of Police for bangalore when the crisis happened. Who else can give you more authentic information about the proceeedings ??? This is the only book which Dinakar has written and it shows all over the book that he is not a good writer. But, when you wanna know just the facts, that too spicy controversial facts, you wont be too concerned about the writing skills of the author.

Dinakar has put the facts in black and white. He takes names directly and spares no-one irrespective of who it is.It is interesting to know who said what and did what behind the scenes and how the events followed based on decisions taken by so many people involved. Over the process, Dinakar goes personal and starts giving his opinion about the incidents and the people he comes accross. He ofcourse, depicts himself as good guy everywhere and over a period of time you start getting bored about his personal opinions and individual experiences unrelated to the incident ,as you are more keen on the facts of the hostage crisis. Many incidents end up like, "I told them to do it this way, they dint do it and thats why things went wrong" :) :) :) ...As an ameteur, Dinakar doesnt know to control his personal emotions while putting down the facts on paper for the public. I hope he takes care of that next time, if at all he writes another book. Also, there is no proper flow in the book. Sometimes, even the minutest details of an incident are given while sometimes the story moves ahead by 20 days without even a mention. But still, Thanks to Dinakar, one gets to know how a state is brought down to its knees and humiliated by a bandit when he has a perfect catch as a hostage  

With so much of details given in the book, both government, Rajkumar family and hardcore Rakumar fans were obviously not happy with the distribution of controversial information which were so far hidden among very few high level people involved in the hostage crisis. In a way, it also dents the image of Rajkumar where in some of the fans and general public will not be happy with what all was done to release him and what all Dr.Rajkumar said / requested / did during the hostage crisis. As the government did not endorse the details given in the book, it cannot be termed completely authentic also. Dinakar could have cooked up information inbetween base don his personal thinking. It's upto the reader to make a decision. Putting it in short - - after reading the book I felt that even though Dr.Raj is a God-like figure to millions of people, when crisis came to him personally and in a big way, God became a normal human being just like me and you, wanting to breathe freedom at the cost of hundreds of policemen who died trying to catch Veerappan.

As expected, this book was banned by Government , burnt by hard core fans and is no longer available in stores :) :). Lucky ones got hot of it before it was banned and i happened to know one of those lucky people!!!

--Raghu

*** The above opinion is strictly personal, based on the facts given in the book *** :) :) :)

2 States - Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat's novels are like item songs. They are instant hits, every one talks about it when it is released and everyone reads it .Two years down the line, people would not remember it as a classic novel, but do remember just as a good timepass book. The novel "2 STATES" is a super duper item number!!

Though chetan takes an often told and seen topic like inter-state / inter-cultural marriage for this book, what sets this book apart is the writing. There are loads of witty lines, humorous situations and clever comparisons that manage to keep a smile on your face all through the book. Chetan has a keen sense of observation of things happening around him and makes a good use of them at the right places all through the book. Though chetan puts a disclaimer at the beginning of the book that he is intentionally not making fun of any community in this book, he does make whole loads of fun at tamilians and punjabis. He goes over board w.r.t tamilians and this might not go well with tamilians unless he / she doesnt take such things seriouly considering the fact that it is just a book..To compensate for it, chethan does make fun of punjabis , but restricts it just to their craze for paneer and whiskey.

Though the characters are few, many of them are interesting by their actions / behaviour. Leading lady Ananya and Citibank-chennai's boss BALA stand out. Not sure if Chetan writes books keeping in mind that they will be made to films in future or the novels just turn out to be movies, but this novel is an ideal movie material. There are too many filmy scenes and most of them turn out to be entertaining. Some characters like the hero’s dad and the concert of heroine’s mother are very very filmy !!..

On the whole, this is a very smartly written book which sticks to reality. It has loads of humor and makes a good read for 4 hours. Once you read the book, u will surely have the characters and situations running in your head and making you smile for no reason. Like 5.someone, I am sure I won’t remember the characters / situations / lines of this book after two years, but for now i have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book

Annana Nenapu - KP PoorNachandra Tejaswi

There are few gifted writers who write in such a way/language that when you read their books, you feel as though they are talking to you directly over a cup of coffee. Kuppalli Puttappa PoorNachandra tejaswi (KP PoorNachandra Tejaswi) is one such gifted writer. This write up is about my thoughts after reading his book "aNNana nenapu".

aNNana nenapu is about those nostalgic moment's in tajeswi's life when he recollects about his father KUVEMPU. People know Kuvempu as a fantastic poet , but hardly few know him as a person. This book pictures him as a normal human being seen as a normal father by his eldest son. The book is a collection of many such remembrances, but in no particular order. The main intention of this book is to showcase what Kuvempu thought about various things / events in life and how Tejaswi was influenced by those thoughts. One interesting point in this book is that many of the incidents pointed out are not directly related to Kuvempu. Kuvempu just happens to be a witness to them and through that the author captures what Kuvempu thought about them as a normal human being.

Parallely, the book also showcases the character of Tejaswi as well. From what he has mentioned, he seems to be a funny character who is exactly opposite to his father. Though not spoilt, he can be called as the dumb son of a genius father :) ... But, after reading the first chapter of this book where he explains his funda about how he tried to understand those numerous things around his father, you will be in admiration for Tejaswi's brilliance.

The book also has its share of minor flaws. At certain instances, the book starts deviating away from Kuvempu and it deals more with Tejaswi and his friends. This can be felt when Tejaswi talks about his friend Shyamanna w.r.t learning music and bike riding. Though the narration is kept very simple from beginning, it becomes difficult to understand towards the last 4 chapters. Tejaswi brings in the concept of thathwashaastra and kuvempu's understanding of it. It just flew over my head leaving me wondering if it is the same book which i was reading :) :).

Other than Kuvempu's details, it is surprising to see the rivalry and jealousy amongst the literary stalwarts in those times. Though Tejaswi does not divulge much details, he does point out the rivalries between poets and writers based on their caste!!. It is also disheartening to see the situations Kuvempu had to face in his day today life which today nobody knows, probably because it is overshadowed by all the rosy details of Kuvempu in the available media. You would be surprised to know that

a. Kuvempu's house was rampaged by his students once

b. His contemporaries dint consider him to be a great poet and accused him of using a language which common man could not understand

c. Kuvempu loved hunting

In short, this book makes a very interesting read. Read it and I assure you that you will not be disappointed. I have already made up my mind to read some more of Tejaswi's works :)

Chidambara Rahasya - K P PoorNachandra Tejaswi

When an author narrates a good story in an interesting way , using characters which you can relate to in your daily life and in your own day-today slang language --- there is nothing that can stop you from liking the book. One such kannada book is "Chidambara Rahasya " by K P PoorNachandra Tejaswi.

This book deals with murder investigation, caste system, communal riots, blind beliefs, love story, elaichi plants, friendship, youth rebels, land lords, untouchables, politics-- all mixed together so harmoniously that you can't separate out one from another, but read them together as one complete story.  This curious-till-end story is laced with lot of humour and the author has taken care to showcase various issues in a lighter vein so that people get the message, but don’t get offended.

Tejaswi takes enough liberty to make serious comments on brahmins, gowdas, hindus and muslims all through the book. One needs to have an open mind in reading this book to actually enjoy its content. If you feel you can’t take any sort of comment on your caste or religion, then this book is not for you. Though the book mainly deals about the problems leading to the decline of elaichi business and its relation to the death of a senior scientist, the book unfolds a lot turbulent truths that exist in our society. Be it the caste system or inter-religious marriages or the communal riots or the negligence of government in research activities, the author nails down the point right on its head. But, what doesn’t make it boring is the humorous way in which he talks about these points. He also makes sure that he only points out the existing problems through it’s characters and doesn’t preach any solution to them. If the reader really feels that Tejaswi has said it right, then he will even realize what the solution is J

One of the various plus points about this book is the language used. It is same as the one used in the puTTaNNa kaNagaL classic naagarahaavu. The language comes out so naturally that over a period of time, you get carried away into the fictional world of this novel and be a spectator to all it’s proceedings. Though obsecene in certain places, it is not something that you wouldn’t have heard so far J

One more rare but interesting observation in this book is that it is not narrated from a protagonist’s perspective. It means that the author is not the character in this book. Hence, the author is able to capture different scenarios happening in parallel at different places at the same time. ( in other books, the narrator needs to be present in all the scenes of the book). This also gives the author a kind of poetic liberty to not restrict himself in creating situations to make sure that the protagonist is there in every frame. It is also see the author converges the parallel frames at one point to make it all meaningful individually as well as collectively.

Read it without fail.

Mookajjiya KanasugaLu - Dr.Shivarama Karanth

When I first looked at "mookajjiya kanasugaLu" written by Dr.Shivrama karanth, I was wondering how this 280 page small book written in simple kannada could have won the gnanapeeTa award!!. Somehow the simplicity of the book was making it hard for me to believe that it could be such a highly recognized book in kannada literature. Once the book was finished, i had not doubts about everything that I had heard about this book and felt that it truly deserved the recognition it had received at the highest level.

Mookajjiya kanasugaLu narrates the interactions of the narrator subbaraaya with his grandmother on various subjects and situations. Through the incidents happening in a remote village, the author makes subbaraaya ask queries about various societal norms, God, culture, belief, evolution etc. Through mookajji's responses, the author conveys his ideas about these topics to the readers in a simple and understandable way. The author's thoughts are very sensible, sounds logical and makes you think again about what you have believed so far about these topics.

This book speaks a lot of sense in an easily understandable language by a lay man. It gets you so engrossed in the conversations, that you eagerly wait for subraaya to speak to his ajji agian and again. Though the book has few more characters, it mainly deals with only subbaraaya and his ajji. Subbaraaya turns out to be a lazy guy who is educated, but satisfied to be looking after his land in the village. But his degree in histroy, keeps him looking out for some historical left outs in and around the village as he assumes that his village is 100s of years old. His thoughs, actions and reasons bring a smile on the reader's face and will make u recollect atleast one person u seen like him around you.

Mookajji is potrayed as a 80+ year old lady who is widowed at the age of 10 and henceforth stays in her brother's house. Subraaya is the grandson of her borther. The story happens at a time when Subraaya is already a father of 2 school going kids. Each and every thought put accross by ajji strikes a chord with your heart and makes sure you relate to what she says. Rather than just giving her opinion, ajji also gives a logical explanation for it. The best explanations are given for ajji's thoughts about God. Its a treat reading those lines :) :)

Going by the content and the simplicity with which it is presented, I suggest that each of us who is interested in reading kannada books should read this one. It has lot of food for thought and will make sure that the time you spend on the book would not go waste. GnanapeeTa award for this book proves that even complex thoughts can be told in a simple way, and still be recognized at the highest level.

Please make some time to read this book.

JAYA - Devdutt Pattanaik

JAYA is an interesting book which runs on a thin line that stands between vulgarity and stunning facts about the greatest epic of hindus. On which side the book tilts depends on the person reading it !!

JAYA , written by Devdutt pattanaik in english, might be yet another book on Mahabharata. But, what sets it apart is the simplicity in the language and the clarity in information which is provided in the book. It is easily understandable and narration is as simple as that of a high school text book. The book starts with many generations before panDavas/Kauravas and stops with many generations after the pandavas. To keep the readers on track, many flow charts are provided time to time, to make make the reader be in sync with the various relationships between characters and the hierarchy of people from different generations.

An interesting aspect of JAYA is that the book is broken into multiple smaller chapters and at the end of each chapter, the author provides

1. Anectodes about the incidents mentioned in the chapter

2. Different versions of those incidents mentioned in other books on mahabharata and some famous folk tales.

3. Authour's analysis of why such incidents took place or why a character behaved / acted in a particular way

4. Relevance/relation of any incident in today's times

The author not only tells WHAT happened in mahabharata, but also provides an insight into WHY it happened. Since, most of us hava a fair idea of various events in mahabharata and its characters, it would be an interesting read to know the actual details than what we assumed till now. Some of the revelations would be shocking to readers and some would be disappointed / susprised to know that the characters they admired was not actually worth the admiration!!.

JAYA does not highlight much about Kurukshetra war. It spends more time in explaining the sequence of events which lead to the existance of Pandavas/Kauravas and what resulted in triggering the war. And with the details on the war, the author tells the basic rules decided before the war and how each of them were broken down during the war ( most of them broken by pandavas). All through his narration , the author gives an insight about Dharma, good, bad, karma, heaven, hell, greed , birth, death , rebirth, God, love, desire, lust,loyalty , infidelity, lies, truth,revenge etc..At the end of it, you realize that a filmy mix of all these is out great epic mahabharata :) :)

Since this is the only book I have read on mahabharatha, I really cannot vouch if they are completely true. But if it is true, then I feel that we are much better than those whom we considered as heroes or heroines in this great epic :) . If mahabharatha is not a fact and is just an imaginative story, then the way people were born from Shantanu to PanDu/dritharaashTra is an ultra hilarious imagination of a crazy mind :) :)

This book is a good read. Since it is about the characters that we are aware of, you can relate to it as you read through it.