Jan 19 - Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Book of the Day

A famous painting and the fictions revelations of who the model might have been is a true thrill to read. Johannes Vermeer a Dutch artist and his masterpiece has the pivot role in this book.

An artist's interest in an object does not extend to after the master piece is created. Vermeer is a perfect artist who lives by the rule that he would draw for all classes alike be it a Butcher or an affluent villian in the book.

The pearl earring appears during the later chapters of the book and gets you moving on jet pace to read the circumstances when a peasant girl could pose with a pearl earring.

The story ends on the note that in the artists will he leaves to Griet the pair of pearl earrings.

Jan 13-14, 2013 - Keep Off The Grass

Book of the Day

A man's search for self lands him in deep grass! :-)

An investment banker quits his Wall Street job to join IIM for his MBA. A recital of his search and the trails and jubilation with culture shock etched in all happenings surrounding him is astounding.

Marijuana is the hero of the book and in pursuit of the Grass the hero goes from Pillar to Post and his friends add flavor to his otherwise unappealing grades and day to day happenings.

His daily run in the campus keeps happening till his last chapter where he runs in Bengal.

The chance meet with the White Agori is a scary episode. He ends up being happy to have got a bunch of executive salesmen a better salary and strategy to enhance sales.

Jan 10, 2013- Osho : From Sex to Superconsciousness

Book of the Day

Osho describes love on a spiritual, psychological and Physical levels.

Deploring the topic sex only has the mind dwell more on the the same. We have to transcend Sex to feel love.

Love for self would only bring love from others. Love thyself.

Many small nuances in the book bring a smile to your face and acknowledge the great man whom this world marked as a Sex Guru.

The name of the book raised many eyebrows when I had it with me the day I read it, but it was a book I needed to read to understand this great enigma. Now, I would start off with covering his other famous works too.

Ramesh, my college pal and dear friend during our college days owned a lot of cassettes and books of Osho and was derided by our other friends.... Life and its lessons from the right channel should be encompassed and experienced. I missed it then!

Jan 20 - Cordina's Crown Jewel by Nora Roberts

Book of the Day

A Princess who assists a injured man with his research on bones and lost civilizations is an intriguing plot.

What with the Researher ending up with a man with a title too and a bid for letting go of their egos.

It is more or less a book that keeps you reading non-stop!

Jan 11, 2013 - Dollar Bahu by Sudha Murthy

Book of the Day

The Dollar is priced higher and has a greater value to transform a happy and lucky mother-in-law to a money-minded complainant.

Vinuta the main character captures the readers heart and fills you with the sense of engulfing thoughts of her beautiful home at Dharward. The nightingale who slogs at her own house to be surrounded by kith and kin is deprived of love and affection due to the loss of her parents. Her only property is the house that she holds dear.

Chandru is lured by the American dream, a dream of greed for the green note. He as a Civil Engineer feels his destiny is in the Land of the Riches. On reaching there gets smitten and finds ways to remain in the foreign land to acquire the most-acquitted Green Card Status, stooping to low levels. His Green card gives him a ticket to marry a hot-shot Jamuna and there forms a plot for Gouramma to reveal her vices for wealth of the dollar world.

What emerges is a typical saas-bahu relationship, a gory dollar craze gets Gowramma to compare the simple and loving Vinuta to the superficial and rich Jamuna. Chandru and Dinesh have less to say and Dinesh is a typical Indian husband who says, "You know my mother, just let it pass".

Gowramma comes to her senses during her visit to the Dollarland and also gets to meet many people during her 1 year stay to nurse her grand child. However, there are no twists or turns but for the one where Dinesh gets lucky to marry Vinuta and Chandru misses the bus as he boarded his flight to the US.

The plot is a similar one as we all have come across stories and anecdotes that are similar here, the only one I have heard of but was not covered in the book was about the short-term marriages with the Visa's in mind.

A good read on the whole!

Jan 21-23 - The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Book of the Day

  

Pancreatic Cancer means the journey's end but for Randy Pausch who truly makes life a pleasure to live and relish small moments as we all succumb one fine day.

Being a member of a family that has endured the loss of a loved one to the same ailment, I was forcing myself to keep away from the book, lest it dug up bad memories that tend to haunt you and the invariable guilt that engulfs me to think that I could have done much better and saved him or had him live a little longer. Now, hearing it from another really clears my conscience that we did the best that we could given the circumstances.

His approach to life is a true eye-opener, he renders his real last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University against all those improvised lectures where people tend to live to see if they can achieve.

A true fighter who has achieved his dreams and various incidents cited show him as a true businessman too, his childhood incident where the gift for his parents is replaced by the staff at Disney's and the following goodwill that earns them a golly 1,05,000 over the years of family visits and he takes his bunch of students too.

A life journey that he is indeed proud to share and one we should carry in our hearts to realise too!

 

Jan 04, 2013 - The Householder

Book of the Day

Naresh - A government servant who rises from a small time clerk who toils to clear competitive exams dreams big and achieves a way lot in life too!

Arti his wife lives in her world that is her son Praveen, daughter Seema and Naresh of course. She deplores Naresh attitude towards hiding away the acquired wealth through corrupt means. She holds dear to her the first Kadai her husband buys her; an Indian sentiment that is hard to beat.

As all stories and families have a black sheep, here we have Praveen who turns out being a high society pimp who ends up remaining under cover for quite sometime. The irony is the impact that his absence creates and the murder he is connected to do not affect the family very much.

Naresh is suspended from work and waits for the enquiry and his period of staying home reveals that he indeed is no longer useful when he is not the HouseHolder.

Seema is a troubled daughter who is worried by her problem of infertility and her husband is an average Son-in-law who drives his wife away to her parents and visits her to facilitate conception. This is driven by his need to satisfy his mum and wife too as afterall Seema is the one with the medical issues and not him.

Pinky Kaur a widow who lives with her mum and son is chased fervently by her Brother-in-law who is much younger than her and she handles matters in a way that made me feel, "Dogs chase buses with no real intention of boarding them, stop over and they would walk away in the opposite direction". Obsession is not exactly love she reveals.

Naresh's soft corner and feelings for Pinky are those of a male who likes to feel flattered and cared for and be waited upon by mother first, sisters to follow, wife forever and the other woman if situation allows.

The enquiry and its delay leads our Naresh to a far off place and realises that he is not missed much at home and life goes on. On his return things seem to have settled with Praveen back, Seema in the family way and Naresh back at work.

A true tale of bureaucracy and corruption that outweighs other virtues in the corporate world.  

Jan 09, 2013 - Irish Rebel by Nora Roberts

Book of the Day 

Nora Roberts is fascinated by the Irish culture and this is succulent in this lovely story.

A wonderful family episode with the mother playing an understanding friend as she has been the heroine of Nora Roberts first book of this family.

The episode on horse racing and the skirmish with other racers is all encompassing.

With the story in mind, Nora Roberts sweetens your heart!

Jan 7 - The Five People You Meet in Heaven

 Book of the Day

Karma re-visited the fiction style.


What we do in our previous lives and current life have a deciding role to play in our future life.

People who are affected by our actions voluntary or involuntary need to wait for us in Heaven for their salvation as well as ours.

All claims need to be settled and all scores made even to call it the end of our life!

A true lesson to do more good to known and unknown alike and not be the reason for another human beings suffering.

An inspiration in print in the back drop of a Amusement Park.

Jan 24-25, 2013 - License To Live

Book of the Day

The wake up is a true bucket of cold water on your head from above and this book has been yet another such....

A true Life experience....

Priya Kumar has proved that motivation and leadership is all within us.

Her narration unleashes a fantasy of events and characters with mystic names and events that make you feel you are travelling and experiencing all that she is.

Seldom do we look within and realise the missing pieces and all we do is hold on to the unnecessary.

Kurt Rinck is pictured as a ruthless, nothing beyond me trainer but we all need someone that no-nonsense to bring out the sleeping and unleashed power within.

The Be-a-fish when under water and be-a-bird when in air are depictions that adapting to our circumstances and environment is all that is needed than the ramrod stiff attitude and ego that block our development altogether.

Bomo - Our Future is for us to make and there are so many courses that life can take based on the choices we make today. If we look forward to what we wish to have and be and believe in our wishes life would give us nothing but our very choice. Truly what we know but generally tend to forget all the time.

Louihi- A lady who grows older and ugly with each of our misdeeds. We have no options to miss out on her but can prefer to opt for Loha as given below.

Loha - She is a reflection of the good things and the good deeds we do and did. She is generally forgotten in our guilt and worry as a result of our misdeeds.

Jade- The Present, in her picture is her loneliness as she lives her life and the no-return trip to the forest is a live-or-die decision.
The day we take responsibility for our actions and doings and life and drop our past misgivings is the day we get released from the time trap.

A wonderful fast-paced book that fails in no way and is a pleasure of an experience as we all live life as if we own it and tend to get lost in our web of thoughts of the past or dreams of the future and not bringing out our truest potential for TODAY!

Jan 08, 2013 - The Ant and The Elephant by Vince Poscente

Book of the Day

The ant, Adir is a representation of the intentional part of our brains and the Elephant, Elgo is the subconscious mind. Their journey is a life-changing formula and experience guided by Brio, the wise owl.

The journey is hindered with deviations when the elephant dreams and loses its path and Brio teaches Adir ways to keep focussed and have a clear-cut vision. The times when Adir and Elgo move in different paths are the times when we tend to get overridden by our desires to deviate. The falling of the two in a straight line will be a true balance of live.

A great leadership lesson thought with some lovely and inspiring quotes all over the books like

Clarify your vision. Zero in on a goal that has a depth of meaning. The journey has to be worth taking!

Without conflict there is no growth, and the most challenging conflict is within ourselves.

The chain of negativity is a pattern!

 

Jan 06, 2013 - Less of a Stranger

Jan 05 2013 - Sitas Ramayana

Book of the Day

 

Valmeeki Ramayan and Kamba Ramayan are the two known versions of this epic that is a depiction of Indian culture and practices that are totally anti-women.

Even Sita the Goddess is not  spared the acid test by her husband Lord Ram, a hard fact driven home yet-again.

The cartoons or pictures I read were done earlier and the dialogues added later but in all this is a true graphic splendor that brings forth the scene where Ram kills Vaali from behind which is deceitful and hardly accepted when Lord Ram is holy incarnate.

With a few twists to the tale and lovely pictures to support, this is a wonderful reading experience.

 

Jan 3, 2013 - Asterix and the Cauldron

Book of the Day 

I never seem to tire reading these two heroes and their conquests.

A treat to an Asterix and Obelix lover this book.

Jan 2 2013 - The Time Keeper

Book of the Day

Oh! No more will I wish that time moved fast or slow.

A Tale of Father time has the right balance of mystery, adventure and invention.

If only time could wait.....

The dark hours in the cave when time stands still is a gift that Father Time received but never deciphered.

His mission with the hourglass is a depiction similar to the Time Traveller but scores so well with the ones who ask for more time and always measure time....

A true pleasure to get acquainted to Father time, Dor, his wife Allie and their beautiful companionship when children is noteworthy but his obsession to measure time sidelines his responsibilities as a husband. And just as all of us repent when it is too late, he also pleads If only time could wait....

Sarah Lemon is a true picture of a smitten teenager who excels in science and would be graded as a nerd, she experiences pain and suffering for loving a boy who feels otherwise.

Victor Delomonte is a businessman who wants to buy off death and Mitch Albom clearly points out that defying nature and its path would lead to dire consequences.

The shift between maybe a nag and trifle confusing but the depth of time importance has got me measure time by the number of breaths I take and not the minutes or hours that pass by...

Jan 01 2013- Tintin in Tibet

Book of the Day

A re-read so many times and yet the book has so much to offer.
Won't it be great if all of us were as gifted as Cheng to have a true friend like Tintin. As usual the Captain Rocks and brings a smile with his swearing!!&^%*^@#!%^&*