Rushed by Brian Harmon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A book based on a recurring nightmare of a happily married English teacher, called Eric Fortrell, is led into a totally different peculiar world of abnormal creatures and traps, through a terrifying journey, that try to prevent him, from reaching his goal, the ultimate secret in the Cathedral.
Eric sets off to find the reason behind his nightmare which drags him into a journey through a fissure in Wisconsin of USA, which is said to be the junction of the two worlds. This fissure is filled with strange odd looking animals that try to kill anything when encountered. Eric passes through all the hurdles that he faces in a barn, cornfields, church, factory, salvage yard, lake and the canyon before reaching his ultimate goal, the Cathedral, where he is destined to unveil the secret behind his call for the journey in his nightmare. His adventurous terrifying journey through the fissure is aided by the ghosts of his predecessors who reached the cathedral earlier to him and were the preservers of the secret of the same and also constantly guided by his dream at every point of doubt while searching for the correct route, to reach the cathedral. Eric physically survives the attacks of many strange creatures and also foils all the attempts of his enemy and the various hurdles created by him through scary creatures (golems) and who tries to snatch the secret in cathedral even before him.
Finally Eric reaches the practically undiscoverable cathedral which is nothing but a huge stadium sized crater hole formed over billions of years, the center of which deep down is the point of convergence of the two physical real worlds in a singularity (a kind of science related to dimensional compression physics) that housed, in the bottom center of the crater hole (the single point in space), a kind of wooden staff that imparts great wisdom about God and almost everything on this Earth, to the deserving person. God chooses a person, one at a time, to carry this knowledge further to generations, this time being Eric’s brain injected and flooded with awesome, terrible and powerful things that changed his life, forever. This knowledge is chosen to be remembered by only one person in the world, one at a time, while all others are allowed to forget. When he dies, this secret wisdom of God is carried forward to the next chosen person, through the same staff in the cathedral, who must pass through all the tests of nature. Eric becomes a kind of caretaker of this valuable and powerful knowledge, until he dies, and the next person takes over.

The book takes the reader through a nightmare, an adventure, a thriller, a horror and finally a moral that speaks about how a man needs to pursue his dream with a strong positive attitude and finally strive to reach his goal, despite, whatever difficulties he comes across in his journey to achieve success.

My rating is 3.75/5


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ASURA: Tale Of The Vanquished by Anand Neelakantan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My hearty congratulations to the author, for boldly re-framing the greatest Indian epic “Ramayana” very successfully through the voice of the vanquished, King Ravana and his accomplice Bhadra..
This is one of the best books of epic fiction written off late and highly accepted by the masses for the author’s bold attempt to de-mystify the actual truth behind the great war between Lord Rama and King Ravana, for a woman called Sita.
The words that can describe the book are “mesmerizing, ingenious, brilliant, poignant, impressive, striking and highly emotional”
The world has been living with the Ramayana, which sanctions the God image to Sri Rama and his brother Lakshmana, ever since many centuries. The same Ramayana imposes, the Devil image to King Ravana from Lanka, who is said to have abducted the pious wife of Lord Rama, the lovely Sita. The epic ends with Sita being regained by Rama after terminating Ravana, the Rakshasa, in a great war with the help of the monkey warriors, the Vanaras.
But very few could think of reading a totally different story of the so-called Devil King, the Ravana. The book personifies Ravana’s other side, as a great human being, also called as ‘Dasamukha’ (the man with ten faces) who had conquered the ten base emotions of life, namely - Anger, Pride, Jealousy, Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Selfishness, Passion, Ambition and Intellect. He was well-known among the Asura dynasty as a mighty and learned King who cared for his people, built a caste-less society, built great cities with gold, ruled a vast prosperous empire spanning from Lanka to almost the Himalayas in North India and always treaded the path of righteousness (Dharma) with no scope for treachery. He was a handsome, masculine, well-known and proven scholar of art, literature and medicine, a great warrior, a self-centered ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, a highly ethical ruler, a passionate lover, a responsible father and husband, a loving brother and a man of principles.
A half Brahmin and half Asura, Ravana took the side of his maternal Asura clan, which was in doldrums, due to the ruthless invasions of the fearsome fair-skinned, Devas from the north, which destroyed almost the entire Asura clan.. He, along with his mother and three siblings were abandoned by his father (a Brahmin) at the time when he was young. This was the time when he developed a deadly attitude of conquering the Devas who treated them like dogs. He grew to learn all war tactics and strategic methodologies over a period of time and started plundering and conquering almost all the kingdoms of southern India and some of Northern India, thus declaring himself as the un-precedented emperor of the Asura kingdom with his luxurious capital at Trikota in Lanka.
The most astonishing fact of the story is that Ravana abducts Sita from Rama due to his love towards her not as a lover but as a father. Sita, daughter of Ravana, was abandoned, when she was a baby in a forest, for she is said to bring death to Ravana, when she grows up. He, later realizes his mistake and wants her to stay with him in his luxurious Asura capital as a princess along with her husband. This fact is kept as a secret from Sita, who mistakes Ravana for being a devil who separated her from her husband Rama. The anguish suffered by Ravana in this context is really heart trending. Meanwhile, Rama takes the help of the deadly Vanaras and Vibhishana (younger brother of Ravana), to attack the later in a fierce battle which left Ravana, almost victorious but lost in the last minute, due to few technical mistakes of their un-trained and tired army.
The Asuras, on the other hand, treat Rama as a not so handsome King, treacherous, cunning, morally weak, disloyal, caste-based, non-follower of Dharma, who always doubted the sanctity of his wife Sita ultimately being responsible for all her sufferings and death. The book ends with a sad note after Sita committing suicide, unhappy with Rama’s actions and Lakshmana put to death by Rama, for dis-obeying him. Rama himself ends his life after spending some time in solace for sacrificing his beloved love and wife. The last part also comes as a surprise, as it is depicted in a different way in the epic.
The book brings out so many hard –hitting facts about the greatness of Ravana and his reign as a great emperor of the Asura kingdom, but was unfortunately symbolized as the villain and Rakshasa who met his fate in the hands of Lord Rama, an incarnation of God. The reader is taken through a series of events which makes him a great fan of Ravana after reading this book and would love to read and quest more about this great king who is mistaken for a Rakshasa, also known as the protector (Raksha-sa) in Asuran parlance


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Serial by Jack Kilborn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A very short story by two authors who wrote about two different persons with sadistic murder fantasies. Definitely not for those who have nervous disorders, heart ailments, gastric problems and those who are very sensitive, since this short story reveals how some people get wild pleasure and horrific thrill in killing a person slowly and painfully using some of the most deadly methods and instruments to kill.
The basic underlying warning from the authors is about hitch-hiking (getting a free-drive on the highways and expressways, from un-known persons).
Two short stories, one with Donaldson (an elderly freelance courier man) and another Lucy (a young female guitarist). The first picks-up young boys and girls looking for a ride on the highway, ensures an isolated place and kills them most brutally after raping them. The murder is so horrendous that the victim is made to suffer the slow death by chopping off his/her vital organs one by one. Donaldson enjoys the screams and pain of the victim while doing so. Finally he burns the remains of the dead victim to keep the police clue-less. Similarly another young girl Lucy chooses cars on the highway for a lift/ride and uses a different strategy of injecting a slow poison in the drinks of her co-travelers. Later, she handcuffs the hands and ankles of her victims and ties them to their car with a rope. Then she enjoys the ride by brutally dragging them along the highway, first slowly and later at high speed, eroding them of their skin, flesh and bones one by one, until the point that only part of their skeletons are left.
Absolutely no idea why the authors chose to write these stories, but I feel that they are one angle, inciting fresh sadistic and cruel ideas into the minds of the readers through such works. Any sensitive person might get heart stroke or nauseating effect while reading those parts of the book where the hunters enjoy the brutal murder process through their innocent victim’s extreme sufferings. Hope such people like Donaldson and Lucy do not exist in this world.
Coming to the positive part of the short story, it is an indirect warning to road travelers on the following points from the authors.
1: Don’t go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy.
2: Don’t pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be certifiably crazy.

My rating is 2.5/5


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Always Know What To Say - Easy Ways To Approach And Talk To Anyone by Peter W. Murphy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A step by step approach and guide to start and proceed with a conversation with known and unknown people.
The author is quite successful in bringing about the basic ideas, strategies and approach towards starting a conversation and keeping it live till the end. The book is divided into two parts for convenience. The first part takes the reader through the basics of developing conversation skills and the negative habits which need to be addressed to start a good conversation. The Love and Connection Daily Practice suggested by the author towards the end of the first part is very resourceful and effective. I feel that anyone who practices this 4 point formula on a daily basis is sure to be having a great day, everyday. The second part of the book elicits the most useful tips and strategies to be used in conversation. This is found to be very useful and lively with each tip being very practical and applicable to almost every individual of this world.
It is found that the book is mainly focused on ‘Introverts” and those who feel shy, afraid, timid and reluctant to start a conversation with strangers. Every example is compared with extroverts and social beings. The point of being social is strongly emphasized without a mention of the fact that there are also great conversationalists in introverts and poor social beings in extroverts for that matter.
Overall, the practical aspects discussed in the book are quite substantial and carry enough weight to influence an introvert to change his attitude towards an extrovert.


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Like It Happened Yesterday by Ravinder Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ravinder Singh has once again brought in an honest book to book lovers of the world. A very impressive piece of work which very humbly unfolds the beautiful moments of childhood. Very few people live them day in day out and almost everyone of us yearn to get back to those wonderful days, if we have a chance to go back in time.
This book chapter wise brought out the childhood memories of Ravinder Singh, who hails from a poor Punjabi family, settled in Odisha state of India. His parents sacrifice all their comforts just to provide a good education to the author and his brother, so that, they need not live the same life like them, in poverty.
Right from the author’s personal experience of his first school, first friends, first doctor, first medical attention, first pen, first bicycle, first full pants, first sexual exposure, first ejaculation and first love and first heart-break was brought out exquisitely, in a manner, which every one of us would love to read, as it appears to be a re-collection of one’s own experiences in the above mentioned aspects of childhood.
Men might be definitely embarrassed to read the pages, wherein, the first ejaculation of the author is so well narrated. The same pages impress a female reader as they get to know the feeling of attainment of puberty of a male and his own feelings about it, as they do not find it to read in many books.
The author’s honest confession of his first crush on his English teacher is very poetic and graceful. His ultimate heart-break when she gets married is poignant to absorb. Must have happened to many of the boys in school times, after attaining puberty. It ends with a happy note of the author securing the first rank in his CBSE Board Exams and later proceeding to complete his engineering and getting a well paid job in Infosys, a prime software giant, of the country, thus fulfilling the wishes of his parents.

The book can be coined as a Diary of the author, printed and published in book form.

My rating – 3.75/5


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Simple Steps to Master Public Speaking by Jared Bauman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An honest self-help book on the do’s and don’t’s, for people who are really interested in mastering public speaking.
The book is divided into four parts 1. Overcoming Anxiety – a prime factor which prevents many potential speakers to come on to the stage and express what they want to. 2. Preparation – The most important chunk of the book which equips a public speaker with all the knowledge and steps to go forward in facing the audience in front of him. 3. Delivery – The means by which the speaker delivers what he has prepared for and the actual process in which he should do. This is where the lion’s share of the suggestions are incorporated. 4. Beyond the Presentation – Recommended guidelines and etiquette in the process.

Overall…a good book from a Photographer turned Public Speaking expert Jared Bauman. All possible tips and suggestions are covered. Necessarily, the book would have been much better if more number of examples and illustrations are used in between for an interesting page turning experience. For some reasons, it appeared a little boring at one point of time.


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“Elysium” the luxurious living environment created in Space for the very rich and famous. There is no entry to this eco-system for the rest of the people on Earth who are considered to be poor. It is controlled by a President, Patel and a power hungry Defense Secretary, Jessica. This eco-system has a clean environment devoid of any diseases and the capability to cure any kind of human disorder within seconds in a specialized medical bed call ‘Med Bay’ accessible only for the citizens of Elysium - the main reason why all the people on the devastated earth want an access to Elysium. Jessica prevents illegal entries into Elysium through her dangerous ally on Earth, Kruger.
Max de Costa, who works in a company called Armadyne, headed and owned by John Carlyle, which supplies arms and critical software to Elysium, once, accidentally gets exposed to radiation and is sacked, for he shall die in 5 days. Max wants to go to Elysium and get treated since he wants to live with his childhood girl friend Frey, but will be denied access. He approaches his old friend and arms smuggler Spider, who agrees to send Max to Elysium, provided, he gets the valuable software that controls the entire Elysium and Armadyne embedded in a chip stored in the brain of John Carlyle. Max agrees for the trade off, without knowing the underlying danger. At the same time, Jessica enters into a secret business deal with John, to create a software that could make her, the President of Elysium. John creates the same and stores it in his chip with an encryption that can be copied only to a similar chip but kills the person to whom it is downloaded in, for a reboot. Spider installs a similar chip into Max’s brain and downloads the software into Max’s, while John dies in the process. Knowing this, Jessica entrusts Kruger, to bring Max to Elysium and take control of the software, that could officially make her the President. Kruger, along with Max, Frey and her leukemia affected daughter, land in Elysium. Kruger suddenly turns against Jessica and kills her for an old time revenge and in the process tries to take control of Elysium, having coming to know of the deadly secret in Max’s brain.
Ultimately, Max overpowers Kruger physically, and allows Spider to reboot the entire software of Elysium, that grants its citizenship and access to Med Bay, to the entire population on Earth, sacrificing himself to the good cause. The movie comes to an emotional end when Max dies after the re-boot but saves the entire world.
A movie that creates a kind of fear and doubts who watches it, as to what the future has in store for them, if they do not have enough money to get access to the technology that can give them a decent living. Who said money cannot buy anything? At least, it might be required to keep our children alive.
An excellent story, production and direction by Neill Blomkamp with a great cinematography, visual treat of possible futuristic machines, great sets, supplemented with star performance by Matt Damon (Max), Alice Braga (Frey), Sherlto Copley (Kruger) and sexy Jodie Foster (Jessica). My rating – 4/5.

Can Love Happen Twice? by Ravinder Singh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For all those who wonder about the title of the book, the answer is a sure shot “YES”, after reading this book.
The prologue is one of the best I have come across by an Indian author,till date. Anyone who read this author’s first book “I Too Had a Love Story” would not want to read another love story for a long time, just to cherish the profound emotions laden in his first one.

Ravin, after being devastated with the sudden tragic end of his passionate love story, wherein his girl friend Kushi dies in a road accident, was just slowly coping up with his regular life after about a year and half. Just then, he takes up an software assignment in Belgium, to have a change in the environment and the people around. There in Belgium, he comes across a beautiful girl called Simar, a rich pampered Punjabi girl, pursuing her MBA, which slowly unfolds into friendship. The same blossoms into Love, which Ravin would not be able to believe in the beginning, as Kushi, was still fresh in his mind. The sheer beauty, behavior, mannerism and innocence of Simar stumps the love starved Ravin and both fall in fervent love with each other. Simar, though is aware of Ravin’s first love story, sees an ardent lover in him and both of them ultimately decide to marry after she completes her education in Belgium. The problem starts here…Simar, being a career oriented and pampered girl, wants an independent life with Ravin away from his family, which Ravin could not digest. Despite trying to convince her many times, she gets quite adamant about her decision and one fine day calls off her relationship with him. Ravin, once again is shell shocked with the turn of the events, gets into deep depression, loses his job and cuts off from the world mentally and physically. His friends Manpreet, Happy and Amardeep comes to know of this second tragedy in Ravin’s love life and get him admitted to a Rehabilitation Centre in Shimla, where is being treated for a Major Depressive Disorder.
All this story is written again by Ravin in a book form but could not publish it, as he meets with an accident in his depressed state, just before getting admitted at Shimla. This unfinished book is picked up by his friends and they read it, on a famous “live show” of a popular radio station of Chandigarh, on Valentine’s Day, which becomes a spectacular episode across the world, heard with utmost curiosity by millions of his fans.
Simar, was made to be one among the audience, cleverly, by one of his friends Happy.
Simar realizes her mistake after listening to Ravin’s story from his side and comes back to him, forever.
Though the story was with a happy ending, the emotional aspect of Ravin’s second love story could not carry the reader to the heights of his previous experience of his first book, probably because the attachment of Ravin with Kushi was perceived to be stronger than that with Simar. The author should have included better touching scenes for better results. Good one for true lovers and all the best to the author for his next love track.
BTW if one wants to know about “Butterfly Kiss”, find it inside this book

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BANKERUPT by Ravi Subramanian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Congratulations to the author for bringing in another spine chilling crime thriller in tune with expectations of his ever growing fan club across the world.
A perfect spine chilling narration of how businesses across the world can change the lives of people, in the thirst for power, prestige, money and ego and finally end up destroying so many lives of individuals and their families, forever.
Continuing the saga of the author’s banking background, Aditya Rajsinghania, the head of investment banking wing of an MNC bank Greater Boston Global Bank, along with his batchmate in college, Shivinder, enter into a dubious deal of funding a local shoe company, initially, by jacking up the profitability illegally and later facilitate a take over by an MNC shoe manufacturer, Snuggles at an astronomical price, with the help of Aditya’s father-in-law, based at Coimbatore, a shrewd businessman involved in Emu birds farming. These two guys take their own cuts for the deal.
Aditya’s wife Cirisha Narayanan, a research scholar in MIT, Boston in USA is a highly ethical and ambitious individual who mistook her husband’s motives in career before marriage but chooses to live her life through her own career in Social Psychology, with the help of her guide and mentor Michael Cardoza. In one of her research projects in India, she accidentally discovers a fact that child labor is rampant in one of the shoe manufacturing factories of Snuggles Inc, which she escalates to their Head Office in USA, that pulls of the trigger to unveil the entire money laundering activities of Aditya and his friend Shivender, as a result of which both of them lose their jobs and Aditya is forced to join her in USA, as a dependent.
Meanwhile, Michael Cardoza is in tussle with his counterpart James Deaehl, both senior academicians in MIT for the post of the Dean of the College and oppose each other in a State subject of Gun Availability and its Control in USA which is becoming a serious social problem in the country of late, backed and financed by many dangerous National agencies, MNC banks and Investment Funds. In this scuffle Cirisha, her co-research scholar Richard and Aditya get entangled, resulting Cirisha and Richard getting murdered brutally. And later Shivender. Finally, Aditya solves the murder mystery with the help of the local police with his intelligence only to escape life sentence for a highly punishable economic fraud case and lives on a sober and painful life after having lost his dear wife and a buzzing career in banking.

The author is once again successful in creating a great reading experience through logical linking of events in two far off countries with wide cultural and economic differences. However, the reader somewhere gets disconnected with the flow of events in India and suddenly pushed into a totally different social problem about Gun Control of USA.
The story finally ends with a fact depicting that even an advanced country like USA is no better than a Third World country like India when it comes to problems like crime, homicide, cheating, money laundering, black money, insecurity, Constitutional loopholes, political interference, economic frauds, scams, social injustice and discrimination across all strata of their society.


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I Too Had A Love Story.. by Ravinder Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A passionate love story of a young techie with a poignant tragic end.
A young software engineer Ravinder (Ravin) accidentally comes across a call centre executive Kushi, over a famous Indian matrimonial site. They come to know of each other deeply without even meeting each other, for a long time, until when they one day decide to meet up and have a feel of how they can face each other. Unlike many love stories in India, these guys inform their respective parents and take approval of their proposed marriage after both of them get close enough to each others’ families. Exactly at this point of time when they are just about to get engaged to each other over a grand function, Kushi meets with a fatal accident. Ravin is totally devastated, heart-broken and left alone in the world to move on, but, to live like a living corpse, thenceforth.
The pristine feelings about the birth and death of the emotion called LOVE has been beautifully framed by the author and one can feel those passionate waves inside when the pages are being turned. Some special moments of Ravin like the first meeting with Kushi, the first touch and the heavy painful emotions that erupted just at the time of death of Kushi is worth a mention and applause. One can witness a tear escaping their eyes during the end of the book.
Very few stories like this written with great involvement last long in the minds of the readers for quite a long time.


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My 7 Seconds in Hell by Dale Garrette

The Author’s very small self story of how he was a victim of a dangerous drug called Methamphetamine (popularly called as Crystal Meth), and how many times he was put into trouble by his addiction and how he got back into normal life track by discovering Jesus Christ. The title portrays the author getting caught in a major fire accident while he was trying to manufacture the drug once and was miraculously saved by an unknown hand and survives today with third degree burns. The narration is plain and not awe-inspiring for a reader or someone who really wants to get out of this kind of addiction. It’s a kind of simple appeal by the author to the public to get to know God. The final words of how the drug personifies itself and takes through its various possible ill-effects to the people who tries it use it, is impressive. My rating of this book is 2.75/5

Third Class in Indian Railways by Mahatma Gandhi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A classic collection of six published papers of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in 1916 and 1917, over a variety of subjects like 1) His personal experience during his travel in 3rd Class compartment of the then Indian Railways, 2)Importance of Vernacularism and mother tongue in medium of instruction with classic world examples of any country with a rich cultural heritage, 3) His own ideology of Swadeshi movement and its impact on self sustenance of local skill sets and its protection from foreign economic invasion, 4)Ahimsa, as mode of highly evolved mental state of courage and virtue wherein one learns to overcome the fear of death, 5) Co-Operation and its importance in creating a sustained growth model and wealth in the nation and its immunity from the venomous tentacles of the unscrupulous credit system nurtured by the upper echelons of the society which engulf the lower strata of the same to be bound to them forever, 6) National Dress which M K Gandhi is well-known for across the world, its importance and a soft warning to Mr Irwin who criticized his attire publicly in a national newspaper, the Pioneer.
These are some of the very important historical evidences of M K Gandhi’s famous and world renowned ideologies which every citizen of the world should be abreast with for a better life and which are also a part and parcel of his anti-British and Indian Independence movement during his times.

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Few Things Left Unsaid by Sudeep Nagarkar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A love story/hate story with open ending.
About two young engineering students who fall in love at first sight. Another story of a very beautiful and sexy girl (Riya) falling for an average guy (Aditya) for reasons unknown. A very passionate love story narrated by the boy but truly appears to be one-sided. The feelings of love are beautifully narrated from the boy’s side but the same passion did not appear as much, from the other side. There are a couple of ups and downs, twists and turns in the story which breaks-up and re-joins the infatuated couple but one day permanently separates them after Riya learns that Aditya is used to girls earlier in his life, and doesn’t care for her much over a period of time.
Finally, after an year or so, Riya comes back to Aditya after having been cheated and ‘used’ by his new boy-friend who happens to be a friend of Aditya and a boyfriend of Riya’s friend. But the relationship is not smooth even then as the trivial fights go on between them for their emotional bond is NOT based on Trust, the most essential part of love.
The reader gets a feeling that the mistake is from Riya’s side as she is depicted as a love-hungry bird who leans on any guy who she finds caring enough. Aditya, the narrator is shown as goodie types and a true lover, who accepts Riya even after coming to know that she slept with his friend turned enemy, as a revenge on Aditya. Tit for Tat.
A key observation is that there is absolutely no mention of active involvement of Riya’s parents in the entire story unlike Aditya’s. Never did she introduce Aditya to her parents or family in any circumstance, which should have been taken note by Aditya, who went all in all to make his relationship with Riya public within his circles.
Overall, the book seems to be a little one-sided, projecting the boy as the good one and the girl as the bad one. The Statement in the end “Love is Always Right, But The Girl Can Be Wrong” highlights this attitude.
The author seems to be a rising star in the New Indian Writer’s Club.

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Ten Interesting Things About Human Behavior by Suzanne L. Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A simple book of beautiful daily life illustrations with reference quotes of famous Psychology gurus of the world, (many of them need to be noted down somewhere by the reader) wherever required. The author seems to have gone through various live interactions with many before writing this book.
Though not elaborate, can be referred to by many who have simple doubts about some peculiar behaviors of human beings whom we come across in everyday. Restricted to just 10 Interesting things. More could have given the reader a better flow of knowledge quest in psychology..


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Little Green Men by Peter Cawdron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two men on some unknown planet try to collect some rare chemical samples of fluid and rock like material over there which could give the answer to the origin of life. While they were collecting the samples, one of them Johnson comes into contact with some alien creature and in the process loses one of his hand at a split second. The injured and severely bleeding man is brought back to the space shuttle by the other Michaels with the remote help of his superiors in the shuttle.
Meanwhile another set of astronauts (Jacobs and Hubbard) in the same planet, elsewhere, on the same mission, accidentally come across an abandoned space vehicle “Celeste” and one of them makes a futile attempt to explore the ship, during which he loses his life. While the entire crew in the base were in a shock due to Hubbard’s death, Jacobs struggles to get back to the Base ship leaving behind Hubbard’s body in Celeste. Just then, the crew along with Michaels, witness a shocking streaming video of a green alien trying to break open the helmet of Hubbard captured from the helmet camera of dead Hubbard inside Celeste. While everyone is paralyzed with this video, Hubbard suddenly appears in the Base Ship. This even more shocks the crew who later learn from Johnson that the little green aliens have come inside the Base Ship and are all around.
By now everyone in the Command believes that the duplicate Hubbard in the ship is some kind of alien creature. Michaels is given the task of breaking this mystery. Later, a series of events with the ‘green men’ makes the scientist Michaels research into the aftermaths of his encounter with these aliens and after applying different permutations and combinations of evolution and behavioral theories and principles, he concludes that the entire crew on the Ship are subject to imaginative virtual reality due to their own built-in fears about aliens and their individual little knowledge about them, which is actually a part of communication tool pertaining to extra-terrestrial intelligence.
Michaels finally summarizes that the whole planet on which they landed is a single mass of extra-terrestrial intelligence embedded with complex set of neurons and DNA which have developed a biological defense mechanism in the form of “little green men” to counter the invasion of foreign bodies (humans) on their body (the planet itself). The green men disappear once the fear of being attacked by some alien creatures and the intention to extract valuable minerals from the planet, disappear from the minds of the entire crew, through synchronized counseling by Michaels. Ultimately the Command decides to try and communicate with the planet as a whole considering it as an extra-terrestrial intelligence from the orbit using various satellites.
The book is a simple exhibition of extravagant scientific knowledge and ability to take the reader to the next level of learning about human life and its intrinsic capacity to evolve constantly for betterment in every second of its future.



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How to Work for Yourself: 100 Ways to Make the Time, Energy and Priorities to Start a Business, Book or Blog [Kindle Edition] by Bryan Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a simple book of more than one hundred tips to effectively manage one’s time, energy, finance and personality in order to become a successful entrepreneur and self starter.
Bryan Cohen brought out a clean book of how to cope up with one’s short term and long term goals with ease and tactical moves. The book is divided into 16 broad chapters under which all the one hundred tips have been enumerated in simple English with mention of all those great co-authors who have influenced him to a great extent in reaching his goals.
The collection of tips is quite useful for people of all ages. One can unleash the potential within if all the tips are judiciously followed. It is observed that some of the tips are quite common ones which many of us already follow but there are many which can be readily and easily adopted if one has the will to do it. The tips necessarily need not be taken only for starting a business but also can be imbibed into one’s daily routine of activities to stay fit and rolling in whatever they are doing right now, irrespective of their geographical location across the globe.
This book surely gives one a lot of motivation to read other books of the author in subjects of writing skills, comedy, blogging and self help


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The Secret Wish List by Preeti Shenoy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Preeti...Another good narration from you.

Proved once again that you have digested Indian culture quite well and elicited how scores of Indian women are brewing their long cherished want to get out of their forced arranged marriages, be what it takes, but cannot do so due to their binding towards society, children and family members.

Everyone is not lucky enough to live in a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore and think so 'modern'.

Not many can have friends like Tanu, Gaurav and Vibha who lived their own lives and have financial independence to take decisions of their own, with no-one to worry about back home, have physical and emotional relationships with whomever they want to BUT never cared to talk to Sandeep like true friends, about Diksha's wants and needs and instead chose to incite her to pursue her to choose her life and abandon her husband. Probably because they themselves have failed in their marriage lives and no one to question them.

Not many have successful and rich lovers like Ankit, who after sleeping with so many girls, now wants to settle for his teen-time lover, that too, who has been married for 15 yrs, with a kid. If he really loved her, he could have subdued Diksha's immature thoughts of breaking the sacred vows of a Hindu marriage. He could have found ways and means to make Sandeep u'stand what Diksha actually wants from him and retain their marriage rather than being responsible for its breakage...and then take on Diksha, if it still didn't work out.

Not many have m-i-l like Mrs Pandit, who can drive her d-i-l to ditch her son, just because her son spent more time on earning for the family, just because he trusted his wife to take care of the home while he was away, while slogging his butts off.

And not many are like Diksha who thought that being a part of a regular Indian family wherein a hard-earning husband is just not enough and wanted to be part of an extra-marital affair, since she didn't get the appreciations, expensive vacations, big cars, costly gadgets and couldn't enjoy sex with her husband.

What if Sandeep felt the same way and gone for an extra-marital affair?
What if he committed suicide, for what Diksha had done to him? Can Diksha live happily ever after, with Ankit? How would Abhay take his mother's behaviour in his future life?
How strong is Ankit-Diksha's marriage life, keeping Ankit's life-style in mind?
What if Ankit would have had a happy married life before finding married Diksha? Could he still feel the same love and sexual urge towards her? Wonder if love-starved Diksha could have taken on Gaurav if Tanu didn't re-appear and give Ankit's number.

All this gives a kind of pervert nature of Diksha right since her childhood and was brewing, subdued and waiting for explosion when favourable situation arrives. All this perhaps of her living environment and strapless nuclear family status.

However, it is well narrated but feel totally one-sided. It's all how Diksha felt and narrated. Not given a scope for Sandeep to explain. Abrupt ending.

I think it's time for husbands like Sandeep to realize the fact they should stop taking their faithful wives for granted and manage them with goodies and timely buttering just like the way they manage their bosses at office. Just to prevent their caterpillar like fantasies from becoming butterflies and walk away with them one fine day. After their departure these guys are like camels in deserts looking for nearest oasis to spend rest of their dilapidated lives.

Times might have changed now, but never to an extent how a trusted wife, daughter and mother can have sex with a childhood infactuation in the disguise of LOVE, behind her husband's back without slightest guilt of doing so. She still could have taken it through without having sex with Ankit and gone to bed with him only after talking to her hubby, parents and m-i-l and finally divorcing her husband, if it still didn't work out. Ditto rules apply to husbands.

Just to keep our strong Indian values, tradition and culture intact.

Overall...enjoyed reading. An eye-opener for many husbands like Sandeep.

Tag: Now afraid men who read "SWL" may perceive a Diksha in every woman who leads a boring and monotonous married life.


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Tea for two and a piece of cake by Preeti Shenoy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Its quite natural that women always tend towards security of their's and their childrens' lives compared to anything else in this world. This applies more to Indian culture. Elicited well that the pre-marital love and chemistry doesn't remain the same between a man and a woman, post marriage and kids. Though not spoken out, but most of the couples in India lead their marriage life out of compulsion rather than liking, unlike western countries. Probably that is one of the other reasons why Indian society is regarded as one of the best family system with strong emotional affinity that binds blood relationships for longer times.

It was very well brought out as to how a simple middle class lady who is not so beautiful ended up with a messy life after marrying a high flying businessman and later for being a good mother but not a good wife. It is lucky for her to find Akash, who loved her earlier, but not all women are so fortunate in today's world where men would like to befriend insecure women just for sex.

It's all well when the book ended with Nisha's wise decision of staying with Akash, away from her past memories without marrying him until the day she is convinced that she can.

Finally, what a way to title the chapters in sync with beautiful songs. Hats off to the author's imagination.



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34 Bubblegums and Candies by Preeti Shenoy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Its about 34BG and Candies.

A very simple written book about a woman who is a naughty kid, clever teenager, lovable wife, responsible mother, emotional daughter, and a pristine friend belonging to an orthodox conservative Indian family.

Very witty, emotional and interesting to read the daily happenings of almost every Indian home reflecting right in front in the form of dancing words.

I could not stop my tears when reading about your dad's sudden demise. It happened to me with my mom. And also when your son was questioning about death. I too have a son of 8 who asks similar questions, at times, during bed time. He is more attached to me than his mom. Vice versa with my daughter (6) who at times keeps saying "iam so unlucky to give birth to a mom like u" whenever she doesn't get her promised chocolates to have her milk.
Surely, all your 7 points in LLL chapter are worth following.

Hats off to the letter written by a woman to man and the reply given by Mr. Satish. Iam sure 90% of all women and men want the same.


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Life is What You Make It by Preeti Shenoy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First time saw the world around through a young girl's brain. Very nice.

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The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though the book started with finding a lost friend of Shiva, in the previous book, the Secret of the Nagas, most of the first few chapters was just about Somras - its importance versus its evil, which took the reading experience to a little near boring.
The story spun around too many real life characters and pristine imagination. Every chapter towards the middle of the book kindled interest to move on and the actual pace started only in the second half after Shiva's army enters Meluhan territory to attack and destroy Somras manufacturing facilities inside Meluhan capital, Devagiri.
It really became a page turner after Sati's ferocious fights and her brutal death which lead to an angry Shiva destroy an entire city with Pashupatiastra, the then atom bomb. Its really brain tickling to read on that Shiva who is worshipped as a God in HIndu culture got his name as a destroyer of evil through Somras and Devagiri. Its quite annoying to read that all the Gods which Hindus worship in reverence once upon a time walked this country with human flesh and blood. Even Lord Ganesh, Karthik (Lord Subramanyam or Ayyappa worshipped in South India) and Kali (as Goddess Kali) in Bengal were pulled into this.
It was a well laid out plot with a definite research methodology adopted unfolding into present day towns, cities and states, carrying the legacy of the past but forgotten principles and ethics on which these great men and women actually became Gods.
I would like to ask the author, if he could reveal any such authentic guides, books, records he might have referred to while writing the Shiva Trilogy, to unearth even some more possible truths and knowledge that might have been hidden in this vast ocean of Indian mythological heritage.



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Between The Headlines by Shweta Ganesh Kumar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another GoodRead from Shweta Ganesh Kumar.
The second book of the Trilogy of "Travails of a news reporter" has started off with Satyabhama Menon starting off in her new location as a news reporter in a completely different ambience compared to her previous office. Her travails continued here also as she was completely immersed in all those kinds of reportings which had no relevance to social responsibility but only to increase the TRPs of the channel. Again under the pressure of her superiors. Though the satisfaction of being in her dream job prevailed, the dissatisfaction of not doing what exactly is more upon her concious mind ultimately leading her to take a decision of quitting her dream job and joining an NGO which is more into dealing with societal problems and later finding solutions to those problems by liaisoning with appropriate authorities.
Beautiful reading experience taking through in and out of how difficult is to be a reporter in a news channel, otherwise thought to be a glamorous job when viewed from out of the newsroom.

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Coming up on the show... by Shweta Ganesh Kumar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a nice book by a young Indian author who was a correspondent in a renowned news channel in India. It depicts the woes of a young college graduate who gets a job in a famous news channel and aspires to become a reporter for that channel and pursue her dream of bringing the social problems of India on to live screen.
She like many other young aspirants will not be able to do so as she is always bogged down by her seniors and peers owing to her lack of experience in the field she wants to be. Her determination and zeal to pursue her dream has been put to litmus tests many times until one day she breaks down in front of her best friend. This was the turning point when he advises her to keep her bosses informed about all her reporting skills in direct mail. She does as advised but is still ignored by them and also gets insulted by her immediate superiors when she dares to confront them on lack of feedback from them.
Meanwhile she decides to quit, with a heavy heart and simultaneously gets a job offer from some other place close to her home state, as a reporter in print media. This was when the top boss intervenes and transfers her to the same place of her new job, as a reporter and saves her from being let down in her aspirations.
Very well written using simple English and beautiful annotations. A must read for all those young graduates and post graduates who get recruited in MNCs but soon realize that they are not doing what they actually want to do in life. An eye-opener for all those who get into comfort zones of their present jobs and do not venture out to risk it out for what they used to aspire to become in their lives.

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If God Was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an astonishing book of facts of how some of top executives of a Multi National Bank climb up the professional ladder by skipping the basic ethics and moral values of life.
A deadly mix of skills, passion, lust and hunger for power makes an IIM Graduate to resort to all sorts of unethical ways of climbing up the corporate ladder in a very short time and in the meanwhile uses his subordinates wives and business partner's secretaries, to satisfy his physical needs.
Simultaneously, another IIM graduate who belongs to a different pedigree believes in honest, ethical, faithful and smart way of work style which ultimately leads him to victory over the former, after a series of events that slowly unfold unknowingly, resulting in the former being sacked in a very unceremonious way.
It's really horrifying to learn how ruthless some top level executives can be when it comes to demonstrating their power in public, without any heed to thier subordinates' moral values and sentiments.
A clever turn of events and real page turner every moment.
A must read for all those who are part of a corporate world.

Congratulations Mr Ravi for giving such a wonderful reading experience.

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I Bought the Monk’s Ferrari by Ravi Subramanian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an exquisite book of learning and a perfect guide for many professionals who have a burning desire to excel in their professional lives. A book full of anecdotes and real life examples of famous personalities, who ASPIRED to become great, across the world, makes it even more wonderful to read.
The Ten Commandments and the meaning of FERRARI redefined towards the end is quite impressive. A must read for all be it young or old to shape themselves towards perfection and a life which gives them full satisfaction

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Devil In Pinstripes by Ravi Subramanian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First, I would like to congratulate Ravi for his approach towards educating the reader on banking industry, in India.

This book is a jumble of plots which is daily seen in corporate politics played by the so-called white collared top notch executives in their quest for protecting their current portfolios as well as climb up the corporate ladders by hook or crook. It is well depicted as to how two power centers (Amit Sharma and Gowri Shankar) in one company cannot go together, no matter even if they had to compromise their personal lives.

The plots and games played over each other in the corporate office by both these executives is a real fun and brought out well by the author. The mediator is Aditya, the boss of both these guys and who again is a master plotter for his own benefits. The entire story revolves around these three guys and brings out how people can make and break their lives in banking industry, some for the sake of monetary benefits and others for name and fame. One can view this book as battle between two honchos, one who has risen by way of experience and the other by way of his educational qualification. Ultimately, no one can be blamed as both seem to be right in their own perspectives in plotting against each other. Iam sure that almost every individual who works in a corporate environment is subject to such twists and turns in their professional lives either due their peers, superiors or subordinates, and in the process compromise their family lives too.

Though the book started with a bang, the ending seemed to be a little bland.
Finally, this book can also be viewed as an audit guide to get useful tips on how audit on various functions can be conducted and how various kinds of scams can be unearthed in certain functions of any company for that matter.


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The Incredible Banker by Ravi Subramanian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anyone who started the book after seeing the cover page would have the slightest indication as to what is in store for them inside. Congratulations first to the designer of the cover page.
Coming to the content, the author once again, as usual, proved to be an excellent story teller through this book.
The way in which professionalism in corporate arena is shown to be misled with an equal or more professionalism in extremist circles of the country, is awesome. The heart thumping events that start with somewhere in Naxal infected jungles of Eastern India slowly unfold into the concrete jungles of Mumbai and eventually annulate into a deadly turn of events totally unexpected towards the end. Its all about how an aggressive corporate banking expert (Deepak) who does anything to climb up the corporate ladder and who doesn’t mind evicting anyone in his way by hook or crook, gets into a clever and dangerous Naxal planned financial imbroglio through one of his female colleagues and her accomplice, unknowingly. He ultimately lands up in jail after one of his earlier victims in the corporate ball game unearths a highly sophisticated system of money laundering through Indian banking system and public distribution system of the country, by the Naxals to fund their motives, by placing some of their educated and prosperous sympathizers in the system, but ultimately get caught by the CBI and the Press.
Every character in the story is well justified towards the end except for the fact that there is no mention about the poor faithful wife of Deepak and her reaction after she comes to know about her husband’s physical and emotional affair with his widowed colleague.
Finally, the author should be appreciated for his intrinsic knowledge on the MNC banking operation insights and his ability to unfold and link extreme ends of diverse subjects.

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The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian

Another spine chilling thriller from Ravi Subramanian. The book has been a real page-turner right from the beginning when one starts wondering what a diamond business in African countries has got to do with the insiders of banking operations at GB2 bank in India. The title was apt for the story. It is quite evident from this book that large corporations either private or public are most prone to criminal activities through their own insiders which might sometimes go to the extent of huge financial losses to the whole country, as such, in unimaginable ways and means. It is well elicited in this book of how top executive sitting in corporate office of a multi national bank could resort to such financial crimes through a well organized network of criminals who were recruited into the bank very cleverly and later used to help international fraud agencies to fund agitations and protests against good government causes, thus slowing down the economic and social progress of the country in international arena. The reader will get to know various mind boggling technologies that could be used to assist such activities. All goes well until Karan Panjabi, the high profile journo from Times of India intervenes and investigates the death of his friend and ex-colleague along with two other mysterious deaths of employees who accidentally unveiled the scam and people behind the multi-million dollar racket. A very clever turn of events towards the end and a nail-biting climax brings the story to a happy ending when all the gangsters and banksters involved face their justified fate. The story once again brings out the weaknesses of large corporations in tracking the frauds master-minded by the insiders even though the best of the technologies, processes and filters are implemented at all levels. And in this game, it is observed that the author repeatedly highlights the point that most of the times, men use beautiful women, strategically, to keep away from the suspicious scanners (like in his previous books too). A great book to read and the author is undoubtedly the John Grisham of India. My rating is 3.75/5

A Dilli-Mumbai Story ...when Love Won Over Terror by Abhimanyu Jha
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another new author to India Writers Bandwagon from the IIT/IIM Club.

The story starts with the flashback of The Taj Mahal Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai and ends with the narration of the love story, in the same hotel. It’s all about two passionate lovers, who were well-educated with two different family backgrounds and cultures falling in love and getting married against the wishes of the boy’s family but end up in a tragic climax wherein the boy loses his life in order to save his wife from the terrorist attack.
Aparajita, a middle class IITian, from Goa is a Christian girl who falls in love, (undoubtedly, love at first sight), with Aniruddh, a rich flamboyant youngster studying Economics in Delhi University, who hails from a traditional Sindhi family. The story revolves around these two just like scores of mature love stories across the world and ultimately get married against the wishes of Aniruddh’s parents. Aniruddh separates himself from his family on this pretext and leads a humble life along with his wife who later becomes pregnant. All went well until one day Aniruddh gets into a small duel with Apu (Aparijita) which leads to her walking out of the house to her friend’s place in Mumbai which in turn, turns out to be her deadly day of running into terrorist attack she and her friend were outing at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Aniruddh realizes his mistake and makes a desperate attempt to save his beloved wife from death, but in the meanwhile, meets his own while Apu is rescued.
The love story though is not new is narrated in rather a different tone with lot of local jargon and not-so witty humour. Somehow the narration could not garner enough tempo for an active page turning experience, though the synchronization was alright. The feeling of love was not so ecstatic and passionate to be remembered for long after closing the book.
Congratulations to the author in bringing out this book successfully but wish him more success and fan-following in his forthcoming releases.


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