India Grows at Night: Book Review

India Grows At Night: A Liberal Case for A Strong State by Gurcharan Das
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After reading Gurucharan Das' last release 'The Difficulty of being Good', I picked up 'India grows at Night' with much expectations. Das seems to be stuck with his last book too, having made dharma the central theme of this book as well.

On the brighter side it is a book that can be read to get oneself updated about the current political and economic situation of India. Das has filled his book with data about India's political environment right from Independence with references to even Mahabharata. So, if you think you have pieces of the Indian political puzzle missing in your memory this will be a quick brush.

Such an extensive data has perhaps made this not such an interesting read because the author has gone all over the place and it is difficult to stitch the whole story together. Most of the solutions and analysis given in the book are rather obvious ones that even we naive readers have registered at different times in our minds.

It is nice to have books like these released in India given the current state of the nation, to serve as a reminder, that this is not a sleeping country. But, all in all I was expecting a better analysis and a more compact read from Gurcharan Das.

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Wise Enough to be Foolish: Book Review

Wise Enough to be Foolish by Gauri Jayaram
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A book that keeps you hooked with a story which in parts will make a lot of us identify with it, right till the end. Even though I am not into light reading and prefer non-fiction or fiction very close to reality this is one of those books that I truly enjoyed or rather couldn't put down till I reached the end. As you read Gauri's life story you keep wondering where does she get all the strength to make all the choices that she makes and still keep her head high. Ofcourse that makes me question if she has revealed all her dark times in life to the fullest extent. I assume no and imagine that being as open as she has been is probably a lot for being in India. The biggest proof of how she has lead her life is in being able to write this book without hiding that its her true story. Every man and woman in India probably needs to take a small little inspiration from her life and seed it in theirs. Leading life by the heart and not the brain which forces us to conform and compare, listening to your heart doesn't come easy and Gauri has definitely achieved, what is challenging.

A delight to read and a recommended read for any one who likes to follow their heart and everyone who want to but cannot gather enough courage to defy the society and follow their instincts.

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Book Review: From the Holy Mountain

From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East by William Dalrymple
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

William Dalrymple is a brilliant and sincere author, who puts in a lot of effort to research before he writes a book and that is very evident in From the Holy Mountain.

The book itself is a treasure with great insight into Middle East and Arab. Dalrymple makes his journey through what was known as the Byzantine empire. Some may think this book to be prejudiced towards religion but this serves as an excellent history and travel book as well.

The amount of knowledge that I have gained about the history of three predominant sections - Christains, Muslims and Jews through this book is immense. I knew about Jerusalem being the main center for both Christians and Jews but never knew that Christainity is actually a religion which took birth and developed there as well. Today when we talk about Christian nations we mostly think of US, Europe, who would have thought that it all originated in Arab nations which are viewed as Muslim nations.

It's a pity that most of the religions in the world are influenced by each other and have similarities between each other yet we are increasingly getting separated by religion even in this modern world. None of the religions are at peace with each other. There are constant wars to destroy each others' heritage rather than develop our own. The real victims are those whose lives got caught forever in such war. There are people in places like Beirut who have been seeing violence right from birth and are still witnessing them at an old age. What a life it is where you live constantly in the fear of death rather than living life itself.

Completely impressed by Dalrymple's writing and researching style I have now picked up another book of his "City of Djinns" as a near future read.

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Persepolis

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first serious graphic novel that I have read, Tintin, Asterix wouldn't fall in the category of serious, I am guessing. It's very engaging, far greater than probably a non-graphic novel essentially because the characters are already personified and you don't have to struggle about putting a face to the character.
The novel itself gives a true reflection of a common person's life in Iran, through the years of struggle that the entire country went through and the escape that most people with financial back-up would have made.The later part of the novel where Marjane feels lost between Iranian and European culture can be well understood and I wish I could know what happened to her after her return to Europe.

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