Lost Wisdom of the Swatika - Turiya Tales by Ajay Chaturvedi - It is all about Experiential wisdom !!!

One of the things that I have grappled with over the years is about the trap of the materialistic pursuits which in some ways is quite a bit of a vicious cycle. There is definitely a sense of awareness that these pursuits, whether it is glory, money, power, social standing etc., plunge the human into this rather devious cycle of perpetual craving. Well, some would call the competition or survival of the fittest (or smartest). And while these pursuits definitely give those eclectic highs, it could never be construed as true happiness. But what it definitely has created is a chaotic world replete with hatred, jealousy, pride, greed etc., It is a Gordon Geckoian world where "Greed is Good". In addition, it is a constant struggle to understand the rationale for these mindless pursuits which anyways don't give you the true happiness. Even one of my friends once asked me as to what the hell is this game that Cosmos (or God) is playing out there?

The Indian culture is replete with several idiosyncrasies. We have been caught between the limited understanding of our heritage (which has been significantly eroded in the 2 centuries of colonial rule) and the western capitalist based fast paced drivel which has been peddled as progress. Several of the customs/traditions/rituals have been lost/misinterpreted amidst the adoption of the "supposedly" western rationalized way of life. The recent deluge of information overload in the name of knowledge has just made this even more convoluted. So we have a significant amount of knowledge out there (either hearsay or acquired through reading) but very few of this translates to anything concrete. 

And this is exactly where this book fits in. Deftly weaved in as a work of fiction by Ajay Chaturvedi (Chats to those of us who knew him in BITS Pilani), but is in reality a chronicle of the experiential wisdom of the author as he went about his journey of searching for the ultimate truth - Why/what exactly is the game all about. It answers several questions but most important, re-stresses the need for experiential wisdom. In fact one of the chapters is appropriately titled as "Knowledge is Wisdom's Worst Enemy". Very true and quite profound. 

As somebody who has embarked on a journey of experiential wisdom for the last few years and have seen the miracles unfold, it was a refreshing re-enforcement that I am on the right track. It answered several of the questions that had cropped up during my self journey. In fact at one point, as Zian vents his frustration at the arduous journey of self realization, i could totally identify with him. This is definitely a must-read for those who are willing to "learn" with an open mind. For instance, the comparison between the well known "Maslow's hierarchy of needs" to the Chakra system throws a very refreshing point of view into what is commonly accepted as "Self Actualization". 

As Maharaji says in the book,

"Natural law is in being and experiencing. Not in defining and forcefully naming something". So simple and so profound and so not followed in today's world. 

Thanks Chats. All the best for your continued journey and hopefully some of us will get there someday

Second Lives by Anish Sarkar - Enjoy the ride of this fast paced thriller

There is a book by Jeffrey Archer called "As the Crow Flies". This book had a rather unique way of story telling. Most books have the author as the main story-teller in a third person narrative who takes you through the chapters as the plot unfolds. In this book, however Archer used a combination of the usual manner of story-telling plus having the characters of the story spell out their points of view as the plot unfolds. So you will have a chapter which is written in the usual way. This would be followed by a narrative by a character, say "Charlie Trumper" who then provides a view on how he looks at the world. This would be followed by the usual narrative of the story-teller or it would be another character and so on. 

Second Lives is quite unique in the sense that the entire plot unfolds through the eyes of the different characters. Every chapter is the point of view of one of the characters. And the fast paced plot unfolds through this novel writing technique. In addition, it switches between the past and present of each of the characters in a rather seamless way which is very important for such a fast paced whodunit plot. 

Anish manages to retain the interest all throughout and delivers a winner. This is quite different from his earlier book Benaami which had a more complex plot and which straddled across different centuries and had elements of rebirth, the 1857 Indian mutiny interspersed with life in the 21st century (including mis-use of nuclear technology). Second Lives is much more simpler and has a very intelligent plot which moves at a rather scorching pace and does throw a chill down your spine at frequent intervals. This book offers a staple plot for a Bollywood thriller though the screenplay would require a slightly different way of storytelling.


There are a couple of minor things that could have been fleshed out better. The experience of Roy post his revival from the river (Chapter 68) doesn't have a follow-through. Secondly the climax seems a little too hurried and predictable. Would have actually preferred something that left things quite hazy, thereby leading to potential sequel. However these are relatively minor and don't take away the sheen of the thriller

At INR 49 (for the Kindle version), this book is a steal and is perfect for the bibliophile who likes to get tucked away in a nice thriller plot for the weekend. 

Benaami by Anish Sarkar - Dan Brown meets Frederick Forsyth in an Indian milieu

Anish Sarkar, a vice president with information major with Cap Gemini and an IIT-IIM alumnus is the latest to join the bandwagon of high ranking professionals with enviable academic pedigree to storm the literary world. I also happen to know Anish personally as an ex-colleague. In his debut novel, Anish has attempted to create a Da-Vinci code kind of feel against the background of the Great Indian mutiny of 1857 which was probably the closest that India came towards upheaving the colonial rule of the British until Mahatma Gandhi came up the more subtle mantra of non-violence.

The book follows the adventures of an Indian software engineer, Arjun Chaterjee who has been struggling with certain dreams since his childhood and has been trying to make some sense of them. He meets the attractive history professor Dr. Guha who is an expert on the Great Indian mutiny and before they realize, they are sucked into a major terrorist conspiracy by a crazy business tycoon whose inspiration also lies in the mutiny.

The book shifts between the past and the present (with the past being printed in italics) keeping the reader glued to the inevitable point where the two have to converge. And when it does, it is indeed quite a revelation. There are numerous threads intertwined within the plot, some of which include

• A view of the thoughts, challenges and deeds of the Indians of the mid 19th century.
• A secret unknown society which was the brains behind the mutiny and whose presence has been lost in the annals of history.
• Romance between an indian man and a British woman who eventually becomes a key member of the secret society.
• Widow remarriage
• The inevitable romance between arjun and guha
• Nuclear technology and a view of what happens when this falls into the wrong hands (even if the ulterior motive could be one of extreme patriotism)

Anish keeps sprinkling the plot with a number of sub-plots and then subsequently ties all of them up towards the climax. The best part is that pretty much all the threads get neatly tied up leading to an action packed climax. In my opinion, the plot offers significant potential to be made into a movie. Overall, the book has a Dan Brown feel with the climax drawing similarities to Frederick Forsyth's book 'The Fourth Protocol'

A couple of things that could have been better include the following

• The plot of the tycoon seems a little rushed towards the climax
• One thread which remains open is how did the tycoon figure out what finally happened to the benaami bcos all of them are shown to have perished while unleashing the 'brahmastra'?
• The book could have had a different title. It is an apt title once u have read the book but it probably distracts the audience because 'benaami' in modern india stands for illegal hoarding of wealth using an alias. This is one place where Chetan Bhagat and Ravi Subramaniam seem to have got it just right.

Overall, the book made for fascinating reading and I hope that Anish continues to churn out such interesting plots in the days to come.

Chetan Bhagat's latest offering confirms his status as a mass story teller

Chetan Bhagat's writing represents a curious combination of unique things. He is definitley someboy with a high IQ (IIT-IIM, Goldman Sachs background), has a rather simple style of writing (no complex plots, characters that represents the comman man, takes a light & humorous stab at some of our indian idiosyncrasies and while the end is quite predictable, there are sufficient twists and turns in getting there), there is always reference to some sexual escapades of the protagonists and the books are priced quite attractively His intellectual reputation further promises a nice opening at the book stores for his books. His latest book "2-States:- the story of my marriage" (costs Rs 95) is almost an autobiography of his unique marriage (his wife Anusha (or Ananya as portrayed in the book) is a classmate from the prestigious IIM and is a Tam-Bram while Bhagat is a punjabi. For those of you who dont understand what these terms mean, read the book :)) The challenges faced by this intellectual duo as they decide to get married with the blessings of their parents is bought out in a rather uniquely humourous way through this fast paced novel (I bought the book and finished reading the entire story in 2 hours flat). The clumsy Hari of 5 point someone becomes the dorky Krish Malhotra here (including the references to strained relations with his father, a tough college professor, disciplinary issues at IIT and of course, a college sweetheart). At some level, Bhagat must be ruing the fact that he did not cast Hari as a punjabi. If he had, this would have been a logical sequel. Bhagat uses the opportunity to throw some potshots at some of the ridiculous customs, both sides of the Vindhyas without either getting preachy or banal.

The concept is hardly novel and there have been some interesting movies in the recent past (Abhiyum Naanum is one that comes to mind first) around a similar concept and this book also presents an ample opportunity for a nice and humorous family movie. (1 of Bhagat's books has already been made into a movie and one more is in the offing). The book is particularly pleasing sheerly because it does not aspire to be a masterpiece. It is completley unpretentious, humorous and would resonate with the the common man who has a simple view of life, does not take it too seriously and would not mind reading a light book to trigger his imagination. So for those of you who like such books, Bhagat's latest offering is a nice and simple story for you to enjoy a peaceful evening of book reading. And to those parents who frown down on cross-community marriages, here is some intelligent and humorous food for thought.

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ - A book review

I recently completed this masterpiece by Daniel Goleman and it made for some absolutely fascinating rumination. The concepts mentioned in this are quite profound and extremely relevant in today's world. Though this book is more than a decade old, it is all the more startling as to how much importance is still placed on IQ in today's world. Possibly because there are no consistent ways to measure EI, IQ still retains its importance.

Couple of things that are currently at the top of my mind long after i have finished the book are the following

• The absolute need to prevent the hijacking of the mind and the brain during sudden surges of emotion mostly on the temper side. A single such hijacking can potentially alter one's life for the worse and that too in a matter of seconds. Temper or Anger as a controlled emotion can be a very effective tool in bringing about change but the same, if unchecked, especially during a sudden surge is akin to a power fluctuation that blow out the fuse of the entire neighbourhood
• The need to start ingraining in our younger generation, the abilities to handle failure/anger/loss at an early age as these are likely to help them much more than the information overload that is likely to litter their brains in the name of IQ.
• To absolutely refrain from curbing one's creative senses based on some silly IQ measurement and to channelise their energies in their chosen interests is likely to help them be more succesfully and also be more emotionally balanced.

This book is definitely a must read to help us get a reasonable perspective into the behaviourial patterns that we see all around us. For after all, any better world needs to be far more emotionally balanced.

The White Tiger - A book review

I have always held a perception that the books that win literary awards are probably the boring ones which are only understood by a select pretentious few who like to portray themselves as guardians of literature. It is with the same skepticism that i began to read Aravind Adiga's book, The White Tiger which recently won the Man Booker prize for fiction and to my pleasant surprise, discovered a masterpiece. It is indeed a hard-hitting work sketched on a canvas filled with a liberal dosage of dark humour and sattire. The narration is rather unique as a series of letters to a fictional chinese premier. The darkness that the protagonist battles in his quest to break the shackles of a complex India - which is a seeming potboiler of contradictions and imbalances, has been narrated in a rather humourous and novel way. The Rooster coop - is arguably the most creative way to describe the average Indian mentality - one of the biggest contradictions of the 21st century - a land where the people laugh at the west for lack of culture but find it extremely difficult to maintain even basic cleanliness; a culture where collective good is conveniently sacrificed at the altar of individual prosperity; a nation struggling to bridge the widening gap between the haves and have nots; The transformation of Balram Halwai from a munna(caught in the shackles of a low-trodden north indian family) to an enterprising entrepreneur is to a large extent, a reasonable depiction of India's struggles to come to grips with these contradictions amidst the significant economic developments of the last couple of decades. I have not read any other books which have won a booker but if any of them have characters like Balram, they are definitely going to occupy front places on my book shelf. The White Tiger is worth a read and its stripes are definitely endearing. Of course, i will definitely be keeping an eye on my chauffeur

If God was a Banker - Book Review

The latest book that i devoured was the fast paced book by Ravi Subramanian, a leading Indian Banker and who went to the same business school that i did (though i was almost a decade behind him). The book is highly entertaining and gives a very interesting perspective of how Consumer Banking in India developed over the last couple of decades. It tracks the career of 2 diverse individuals, Swami and Sundeep, both of whom graduate from leading Indian business schools at the same time and who embrace the changes of a modern India. Each of them follow their own recipes to success, with Swami being the more mature, good-old ethical way while Sundeep pursues life on the fast track using every possible trick in the game to achieve his objectives. The book takes a potshot at some of the corrupt practices prevalent in the banking industry including the rampant misuse of the fine print in banking products, illegal liasons with business partners and the sales tactics used to thrust products upon the unsuspecting public by the relationship managers. It has also tried to portray a realistic view of how corporate politics operates and engulfs unsuspecting individuals in its tight grasp. The build up to the climax where Sundeep's sins catch up with him is a fitting tribute to the old management whim 'The opportunity cost of sin, when it catches up with you in the future has an compounded interest variant to it". Overall, an interesting fast paced novel which should pave the way for an interesting movie in the near future for the multiplex goers. Mr. Madhur bhandarkar, Are you listening?