Dollar Desam

I am reading a book - Dollar Desam (Tamil) by Pa. Raghavan (Kizhakku Pathippagam's). The story narrates the American History of the past 400 years. In a sense, the book is written in a antilogarithmic scale - only a first few pages are dedicated to the initial 200 years, around 120 pages to next 70 years, another 150 pages to next 40 years and so on. As the year becomes more recent the number of pages narrating the incidents also grows. It touches upon all major events and persons right from Independence, Abraham Lincoln, World Wars, Martin Luther King Jr., Watergate, Vietnam war, Korea War, Afghan War, Cold War between US and USSR, Gulf wars etc. Each President of US gets an introduction and character analysis. The achievements and blunders are elaborated.

But somehow I feel, the author compromised on the facts by trying to keep the book interesting. There are some very good masala sentences in the book trying to create interest for the readers to look for the next week (the book came as a series in Kumudham, I think).

The chapters about Osama Bin Laden are factually contradictory among themselves. Author says Osama's father expired in 1968 when Osama was already married and had just finished his degree in AbdulAzziz University and enrolled in another university. Taking Osama's birth year of 1957 into picture, the year 1968 does not fit. As per the book, the first meeting between Osama and Dr. Abdullah Azim happened in 81 or 82, but the next chapter says that Washington invited Osama and Dr. Azim to US in 1980 after the duo gained popularity. Further, after a few chapters, the author says Azim's first visit to US happened when Osama had already started his base in Pakistan (1986 as per the book). The author claims that Osama had murdered Dr. Azim because of differences in opinions - a fact which is not authenticated, yet.

Since, so many such contradictions happens in a span of few pages - I doubt the content in the other chapters too. Though, to get a broader picture the book may help - it is definitely lacking in the attention to details. One can read the book to get an overview of the important persons and events, but cannot vouch for anything in particular.

I hope the author and the publishers bring out better stuff next time.

Adade!

One specialty that I like about cartoons is the “brevity”. One need not write a lorry full of words to send the message across. Cartoons facilitate the reader to grasp the opinion that the author wants to convey much quickly. In that sense, cartoons are one of the greatest time-savers.

Adade-1 by Mathi is the first of the six volumes of cartoons compiled and published by the NHM. All the cartoons are based on the then current affairs in one of the following forms: conveying the news, mocking at them, offering opinions and reflecting public’s perceptions. The cartoons originally appeared in the first-page of “Dinamani”.

I would not say all the cartoons are excellent. There are some clichés like mocking the books-bag that children carry to school, jokes about robbery etc. Still, there are many other good cartoons which make me rate the book good in an overall level. It would have been an added value if the date on which the cartoon originally published in the newspapers is also given. The cartoons cover various topics including madras–eye, floods, midnight-arrest, coalition politics, Veerappan, drivers’ strike, elephant–camp, Kannagi issue, inflation and unemployment. In all of these, I liked the Kannagi series and the elephant series most.

I was not able to sync well with the cartoons as I had forgotten some of the news. What would have triggered a lot of laughter when read in the context would not do so if you are out of the context. That’s when, a small hint about the news and the date would help. Though the cartoons are arranged based on various categories, the system is not followed strictly as many cartoons are scattered randomly inside which belonged to no particular category. I feel those could have been put under a separate section. I am not sure how the volumes (total of 6) are categorized, but it would be great if it had been categorized based on the years, as it would offer the diversity of cartoons as well as be related to one another.

One disappointment is that out of the 150 cartoons, there are not many cricket-based ones which would be fun to read any day. If I am not wrong, there is only one which is also very old – about the book fixing controversy. More range of news could have been covered if they had gone for chronological arranging rather than the manual compilation based on different categories.

Another thing which does not go well is the “one-page-one-cartoon” concept in the book. It is definitely a huge space dedicated to a single cartoon. In fact, 4 cartoons a page would have been a very good proposition in many ways: get all the cartoons related to a theme within a few pages, less turning-around of pages and of course less pages (eco-friendly! :-)).

Final Word: Add to your library!

Book Link

The White Tiger

The book is written as a single long letter by a "self-made entrepreneur" in Bangalore to the Chinese President Wen Jiabao. The entrepreneur Balram Halwai, calls himself as "the white tiger". He takes through his life describing his notorious journey from the Darkness (that’s the name he gives to the Gangetic plain region) to the Light (the likes of Delhi and Bangalore).
The author, Aravind Adiga, portrays a picture of India in its true(!) colour. He touches upon many things: the pathetic condition of the poor people in the rural North, the cunningness and dominance of the rich and the land-lords, irresponsible behavior and actions of the government officials, the plight of the construction workers in big cities like Delhi, meanness of the masters and the unquestionable servility of the workers, corruption at different levels etc.
Balram starts his story from his village Laxmangarh. He then goes on about his experience in the school, how he was stopped schooling, his days at the tea shop, his experiences as a driver of Mr. Ashok in Delhi, his escape to Bangalore and his "entrepreneurship" in Bangalore. The sharp contrast in attitude of Balram from being a driver to being a master is vividly presented.
Author stands out with his sarcastic comedy throughout the book. Some of them are,
Oops! Thirty-six million and five-!
How does the enterprising driver earn a little extra cash?
Balram saying to the Toyota dealer, "I want to drive your cars".
Beating down the entire family of the unfaithful servant, asking the driver to go to prison for the accidental murder by the master, meanness to give driver some money on his marriage, doubting on the driver for a single rupee, comparison with rooster coop - These are some classic extracts from the book trying to bring view-points which may go unnoticed.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

The 3 mistakes of my life - Review

Chetan Bhagat has the knack of appealing to the spirits of the audience, especially youth. That's what the trend in his first two books, the first one about the life of 3 guys @ an IIT and the second book about the nocturnal BPO employed generation. Now comes the third one which combines cricket, love and religious fanatics.

The story takes off with a good momentum, especially supported by the author's (characteristic?) prologue. The story has the background in Gujarat in early 2000s. Immediately, when the protogonist encounters the unfortune in the wake of the earthquake disaster, you know what would come next. But, the author maintains the story interesting till the end. The inhuman incidents which followed the Godhra ruthlessness are captured alongside.

There are some logical glitches, though.
1. A student of 12th standard with a middle class background would not have had a mobile phone in the year 2000.
2. How many years Vidya has been preparing for her entrance exams? She finishes her XII by 2000 and goes on preparing till 2002. Quite possible, but there is no mention to support the fact.
3. Ish praises Hayden like one of the legends. Of course he is, but at least he was not one in the year 2000.
4. Ali's unique ability is his reflex and not his arm power. This logic not fit when he hits the ball inside the bank in the climax scene.

Shall we tell the President - Review

This novel written by Jeffrey Archer in 1970s is of suspense genre. On March 3rd, Mark Andrews, the special agent of FBI gets to know about a plot to assasinate the President. But except him, four others who know this plot are murdered the same night. Only thing he knows for sure is that a senator is involved, and the assasination is planned on March 10. The story is about how he and the Director of FBI, Tyson put together the pieces and solve the puzzle. Within the first twenty pages, the story gears up with the top speed which it maintains till the end. Especially as the D-day comes closer, Mark takes the story in the jet. I would recommend the readers to gather the facts as the story goes on and try finding out the culprit even before the author tells who it is.

Animal Farm - Review

Recently, I read this book by George Orwell. It was written in 1940's. But still the subject seems to be very relevant even today. Not only today, I think it will be as interesting as it was anytime. The story goes on like this. The animals in a farm feel they are extracted maximum work by the human beings and are fed too little. They conspire and successfully overthrow their Master and go on to manage their own business. Slowly, the intelligent animals (pigs, as the author writes) take over the reins and become masters. The not-so-intelligent animals are deceived and extracted to the most, again. Orwell brings out the cunningness of the crooked people through Napolean, a pig who eventually becomes the dictator of the Animal Farm. The character of Squealer was clearly portrayed as a middle man who spreads the dictator's message across in the most persuading way.