Arvind Adiga - The White Tiger - Quick Take

Well, what a controversial book it is! And for good reason.

Before I jump to conclusions and declare if I liked the book or loathed it, let me try and pen down some observations about this one:

Things I liked in the book:

1. Truthful depiction of rural India
2. Highlighting the mockery of elections
3. Corruption in the Police
4. The too-familiar family pressure
5. Social hierarchy in the "Servants" class
6. Apt description of the multi-tasking a driver is supposed to do

Try as I may, this list ends here.

What I Don’t like in the book are:

1. Negativity: This book just oozes out with negativity. It appears to be a deliberate attempt by the author to paint a dark picture about India, but the other half of the story is hidden from the readers. The truth is badly manipulated.

2. Blasphemy
3. Poor writing
4. Illogical idea
5. Melodramatic
6. Trying hard to please
7. Crass
8. Depressing


I am beginning to wonder, why did this win the Man Booker again?

Exhilarating Bicycle Ride!!

Well I am at Pune right now for attending a week long training on PMP – Project Management Professional. Pune is a place that I’m in love with. But this place just got better – thanks to the go-green initiative by Tata Comm.

I reached the excellent “Renaissance” campus last evening. I was really looking forward to this offsite training because this place is so scenic. With more than 300 acres of lush green property, this place reminds of the Textile Mills that Dad used to work in, exception remains that there are no fat-bellied “Guards” springing to attention every 10 meters, when they see Daddy Dearest!

So after quickly unpacking, I opened my “White Tiger” and had a blissful evening reading almost two chapters and even managed to have a half an hour nap. Imagine! On a nice cosy siesta on a Monday evening… man this place is surely heaven!! 

When I went down to the mess, as expected, all eyes (there were quite few of them really) glued to the Telly busy watching the stupid IPL CSK vs Pune Warriors. I mean how boring could people get? Isnt this what they do every single night? Why waste such a wonderful opportunity and watch the idiot box? Beats me every time…

And to top it , there was a nice open Badminton court and a lonely looking “TT” table, but as expected, no takers. My trip during my induction training last year was better. People did get out of their rooms and play like crazy, late into the night. And what was better was that it was a good opportunity to meet some future colleagues. But NO, not when the country is gripped in the IPL fever.

I almost dashed out of the depressing mess hall into the landscaped gardens and was immediately transformed into the lovely world of nature. I could smell the intoxicating scent of earth, the lawn must have been watered in the evening. The crickets were busy gossiping the night away, there was a light breeze. There were giant tress which were gracefully swinging… what a treat for my greenery starved eyes from the maddening Mumbai! 

And with due earnest, I had left my Ipod in the room, my phone was in the deepest part of my pockets, I was not going to waste such a treat. Just when I finished one round of the Renaissance building, I noticed some bikes (cycles) parked. There were so many of them. I just loitered around them and was thinking how long it had been since I had ridden one. Well I used to go to school on a cycle till 9^th standard, so easily, it must have been 12 years! Imagine! Just then I noticed that these cycles had no locks… wow… by heart started racing, I yanked the one nearest to me and surely, they all had “TCL <Number>” written on them. Whoa… I checked the tyres for air pressure (didn’t want to get blamed for flattening out the poor bikes with my weight) and picked a blue one.

Without thinking too much I just started pedalling, first five / six rotations were so tough, because as I later realized I had forgotten to take a push from the ground… but with a wobbly but confident start I went around the renaissance building once more. It was only when I was coming back to the stand that I realized that something was grazing the ground, incidentally the stand was broken… didn’t even realize that.

Changed the bike to a maroon beauty with a functional stand and left for the round of th e”Dighi” campus. And what a ride! I felt like I was on a vacation, taking bicycle rides just for the heck of it. As I went around the campus I saw    cycle stands at various places – ATM, Guest house, Go-down, NOC etc. So you are supposed to leave your cycle at the stand and pick out the one which is available on your way back! 

WOW… what an initiative, it was surely missing the last time around… and it has made commuting within the campus so much easier, otherwise the walk from the main gate to the NOC is easily 3 km! 

I loved the ride in the night, it was so serene and pretty, I am surely going to do more of that today, this cycle thing has really made this trip special. Never mind if the cycles are medium sized, impossible for me to stand and pedal over slopes. And ofcourse, Tata Comm rocks for being sensitive to the needs of the employees, and over exceeding expectations, every single time.

I’m loving this!

-         - Priya

P.S: I just remembered that I had cycled across the scenic Tioman Island in Malaysia… but that was a different country, different timezone, doesn’t count right? 12 years without riding a bike it is then!!

RL Stevenson - Treasure Island - quick take

Oh what a book... SUPERB!!! I remembered having read this while at school but this time around it seemed so much better... absolutely unputdownable... I strongly suspect the books at school might have been the infamous "Abridged" versions.

This is the 3rd E-book that I finished reading on my I-pod and believe me, the journeys from Vashi to Kurla and back couldnt have been nicer... I love the constant twists and turns in the book. The main protagonist is a young boy but of a haughty constitution. To see the world through his eyes, to be a part of his fears and despair is fascinating.

Excellent character sketch in the book, the pirate "John Silver", the "Doctor", the "Squire" , the "Captain" and the dreaded "Captain Flint" have been very well done. I have a feeling I might know what they might be upto next, were I to meet them.

What I love about the book is the realism, inspite of the numerous twists in the tale..... All the happenings are totally believable and that makes me believe that RL Stevenson observed too many people around him to come up with such a vivid description.

The story revolves around a kid who's dad has just expired and he helps his mom in running an INN which is by the sea side. A pushy guest makes it his home, dies and leaves behind a map of "Treasure Island". Then the adventure of putting a team for the journey begins, but unknowingly (though not hard to guess) they employ the very pirates that were behind it themselves and put together a ghastly crew much against the wishes of the good captain.

Little Jim then overhears plans for mutiny and conveys it to the "Good Men" on the boat. On landing at the Treasure Island, he slips into one of the pirates boats without informing (like a typical child) due to which the others come looking for him and have to dessert the ship. A battle ensues with the pirates with loads of twists and turns. The boy is so fed up with seeing so many dead men that he impulsively takes off, in the process setting the ship free and ultimately capturing it.

As fate would have it, he successfully has it stationed at a safe spot and walks into the enemy's lair, not knowin that their hiding place had been traded with the pirates. He then accompanies the pirates who have also obtained the map of the treasure (not hard to guess that the treasure must have gone) and find out that they have been duped. The good party with the help of the indespensable pirate "Ben Gunn" who had been desserted by the pirates 3 years ago and left to die drive the 3 surviving pirates, where as the leader of the pack "John Silver" sides with the "good guys". They then pack off the treasure and leave the island marooning the 3 pirates because they cant risk another mutiny.

As expected Silver takes off before they can return to England and all's well.

Excellent book, I would love to read it again. It really does transform you to another age and place in time where men's word of honour was important. People held their word above their life. Totally impossible to imagine those times. Great, enchanting read!!!!

One of my All-Time Favourites!!!

The "Bai" Saga

I wonder if the next big thing after the Saas - Bahu genre is going to be the "Bai Times". Its crazy but we are so utterly dependent on our domestic help around here. And no matter how good you are to them, how much you pay, how many goodies you give away trouble always brews up.

So I employ a mother - daughter duo who take turns and come. Sometimes if they get late, both of them turn up together. But if someone thinks that having two instead of one is a respite, well think again! The peaceful saturday morning started with me jolting out of sleep to realize that the "Bais" aren't here. They are supposed to touch base at 8.30 am every morning, including weekends. Whats more, the two had bunked work yesterday.

So Ram ka naam lene ke pehle, I had to call up these domestic helps to please come over. That's how life is for the modern, independent women, I guess. I have read quite a few articles on the kind of impact these guys have on our lives. And  Shobha De was probably correct when she mentioned that these domestic maids are the new angels, we just cant compromise on the help that we get.

So while I gave them a pep talk on why it was important to
a) Inform  us before taking leaves,
b) To turn up on time on the next day of an unannounced leave,
the mother kept working and the daughter kept throwing dirty glances at me. Somehow they could not appreciate the cold facts being delivered to them in a calm tone. I wasn't irate, i wasn't yelling or complaining but still, they could not appreciate the efforts i was taking to get my concerns across.

I mean even if they understood that their Indian - Stretchable - Time entries and exit made life difficult for us, their regular excuse of "hum toh aaye the - par taala laga tha" or their taken for granted attitude of "baju wali bhabhi ke paas chabi hai na, hum log kaam karke chale jayenge" was unfair, would they admit it?

My efforts in the past of passing my phone number in papers and visiting cards of various sizes, number written clearly in large fonts did not seem to work. My initiative of feeding my phone number into their mobile also didnt seem to work. So after the episode today, I took their phone number, fed my phone number, assigned a speed dial and taught them how to operate. I hope technology comes to rescue this time around.

The fact being that in Mumbai, maids are hugely in demand and the ones who come in before the office timing are prized and highly sought after has not escaped my mind. I know that fussing over the irregularities may cause them to go underground for like a week claiming "ill - health", much to my roomy's horror. But I refuse my life to be controlled by these rather indispensable characters of the household. I would have some discipline and regularity or go without them totally. I mean do I need to start every morning by pulling out dirty dishes and washing the utensils even for the all - important First Cup of Tea of the day. Well I dont think so.

Lets see how things work out now...

The World Cup Fever

Well all of my friends would agree that though I enjoy sports, I am not die-hard into anything. Cricket being a household sport in India is no exception. My brother was selected for the VCA team, he played for the Shivajinagar's Police Team while at Pune, my Dad had played Ranji for Pondicherry once.

And thats where my connection to Cricket ends. I have never held the bat (except when lifting my brother's kit), never bowled or batted. Yet, this World Cup has gotten me into the groove. So who ever is responsible for the marketing of the whole "Cup that Counts" campaign must be doing a very good job.

I have quite keenly followed this entire season. Especially since Cricinfo was not blocked at office and live streaming was at its best (we are a communication company, remember?) things were at our finger tips literally. Plus, the fact of being the only lady member in a team of 5 puts that pressure of keeping yourself updated or act like a limbo during the lunch and snack sessions.

I sincerely tuned into the channels whenever our matches were held over weekend. Its a different story that I would be busy in the kitchen or surfing the net and look up with keen intrest only if someone shouted for an appeal / four / fall of wicket. But I stuck to the first and last ten overs. ODIs can be a drag in the middle overs.

Indo - Pak match has been like a favourite thing to watch since I can remember, I promptly took a half-day, which my boss generously waived off on the account of us having won the match :).... My friends cant imagine how I could fall asleep between overs 12 - 35 in such an intresting match. They fail to appreiciate the fact that I did watch more than the customary quota of 20 overs and didnt miss a ball of the second innings. I did miss out the 4 lifelines that were gifted to Sachin - will probably have to check it up on You Tube!

Today may be the most important day for Indian Cricket in the last 26 years and I am supporting it completely. This world cup tour has converted the non-descript on-lookers like me into ardent fans. And I am sure we will lift the trophy this year because more than anything else we owe to our Little Master. So Jai Ho!
Waiting for the action to start!!!



India India!!! India India!!!

George Orwell - Animal Farm - quick take

Well this surely turned out to be one of the shortest books I have ever read. Liked it. The style is quite similar to 1984 - and I had really loved that one.

Animal Farm is sarcastic account of how the events turned out in Russia and the delusions of a communist state. It mocks at the poor comman man for believing in the values and misinterpreting dictatorship as a communist governance.

It quite closely follows Stalin's contorl of Russia after Karl Marx's death and the ouster of Leon Trotsky on false charges.

Like the book for the potrayal of all types of charachters that are found in almost every domestic / professional set up. I think it makes a good read and I would highly recommend it.

Its funny when you think of it, but this still happens in the world. Everytime something goes wrong, doesnt our ruling party say " Iss mein virodhi paksh ka haath hai". In Pakistan, people are made to believe that all the poverty, starvationa and suffering is being inflicted by India. Its youth, with no memory of the past grow up believing the lies that is systematically taught to them.

One more thing that I could relate to is the foolish amnesia that the masses seem to have. Sallu has hired a new PR and suddenly, all the blackbucks and the aam aadmi who died on the footpath are forgotten. Same story with Sanjay Dutt... I can bet that if we were to host Olympics Kalmadi would be called in again.due to his obvious experience in holding large scale projects!

Looking forward to reading more of "Serious Fiction".