Has this ever happened to you?

If you are an ardent book reader, and there was this one book which left you with a great satisfaction, as if it answered all your queries, and despite that you are wondering, if there was a sequel ;  And all of a sudden, this book's authors informs you personally(comment in a blog post - ain't it personal message or have they developed bots for this too) that he/she has written a sequel....

HOW DOES IT FEEL?

So humbled, I am running out of words... I haven't read the sequel yet., compared Infibeam and Flipkart prices and ordered it...Keep guessing the book name until I read it...

On other note, few books I am done with:

• White Tiger by Aravind Adiga  (Good read..truth is always bitter)
• The Oath of Vayuputras by  Amish (Good ending...Hope he had written about few other things - as to why people started associating only Ganges from Lord Shiva's locks,  about the serpent around his neck, and about the crescent moon on his head, etc from the viewpoint of the story)

NurJahan's Daughter by Tanushree Podder

Off late, I have been into a frenzy of reading so many books [Star world channel not getting telecasted by the cable guy and hence missing "Castle" series could have atributed to this frenzy].

But it has been a long time since I got this satisfaction on reading a book.This book on Laadli(Nurjahan's daughter by Sher Afghan and hence a step daughter of Emperor Jehangir) is very engaging. I have always been fascinated by history. I thought it will be just another book but I could hardly keep the book aside once I started reading.The only other series of books I used to read this way was Harry Potter series. But after reading this book, those books seem so distant to me. This book gave me a feeling as if I was just hidden behind a curtain and was able to see all that is happening right in front of my own eyes. The author has really done a very commendable job. It is hard to believe the author is from our era and this is not book which was written by someone who worked in the court of Jehangir :-)

I don't want to get into the story here as I dont want anyone who reads this post to think they have got a gist of the story and hence might not bother to read the book.

So less said about the story the better. I wonder why books like these never become bestsellers and get ignored by the mass.

Just wanted to do my part in publicising it. And this also gave a good insight of what happened in palaces. Whenever I visited palaces, I have always wondered about the everyday chores of the royalty - like will there be really servants who will be fanning them all through the time they sleep, how will their restrooms look like, when they travel city to city - how does the tent work out, will the tents be a comfortable alternative to their royal beds, etc. Questions like these have always lingered my mind and I have wanted someone who has witnessed or been in those era to narrate them to me :-). While Tamil authors like Kalki and Sandilyan have satiated my curiosity a bit , they being male went on to describing things from a man's point of view. But here, I see Tanushree's view - what a striped golden zari will make a difference to a muslin cloth or shabnam and all the colors and hues which matter,...

Sorry - if you are getting a wrong picture. This isn't about clothes and grandeur..It is about what was getting noticed. For example, when the emperor shifts from Agra to Lahore or Kashmir, along with the royal entourage, nobles, merchants and beggars also move with them as there is where their livelihood is going to be...

Okay, let me stop my rantings here.... Dont miss this book - that's what all I have to say now.

Feel like visiting all the forts and palaces by Mughals after reading this book. Especially, want to look around the house where Laadli spent her last days with her daughter Arzani and mother Nurjahan, Anarkali's tomb, Meena Bazaar, emperor's palace in Agra, seven thrones of Shah jahan including Peacock throne, etc.

Is there any book on Aurangazeb? Especially about the time, when he was given as hostage to Jehangir in return of pardon to then Prince Khurram and Arjumand's lives(Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal) for Shahjahan's rebellion?

India Unbound by Gurcharan Das

I hardly read books on economics, politics, etc. So I thought, a few pages in to this, I will probably abandon the book.But the book didn't let me do that. After a couple of pages, I could not put down the book until I completed it. The book is like a orator who grabs the attention of a totally disinterested audience by his/her power of speech.

I remember reading about this liberalization, MRTP Act, etc. for my MBA. When I read them, it were mere acts, which had a set of laid down policies. I never understood the impact these acts and policies had on India Inc and the common man. I knew corruption exists in India but never knew the firm root cause ( I thought it was people's greed coupled with opportunity). I have seen private sector is efficient and public sector is not but never wondered why such a big umbrella should be present under public sector; I knew Japan's ecnomic/industrial growth rate is high but never did it strike to me that it was not less population and more hardwork alone that led to it - it was planning and the right policies. I have always considered India's population is detrimental to its growth but didn't realize we had "human capital" which could be our boon and not bane. I can go on and on regarding the clarifications I got about "India" itself from this book. My total outlook has changed.

I liked the way Gurcharan Das has brought about the point, where in India tried to embrace the goodness present in democracy, socialism and capitalism and ended up embracing the worse things in all.

Some of the key points in his book:
1. Giving services and things like power, rice free of cost will not end poverty. Bcoz it will just result in short-term relief and also empty government treasury.
2. Making people capable of earning by educating them and creating employment opportunities is the only way of eradicating poverty. By creating employment oppotunities, he doesn't mean creating a lot of government jobs and keep paying salaries. He means to encourage enterpreneurship by reducing the obstacles to the enterpreneurs and create jobs in a competitive environment, which will generate "quality" employment.
3. Unless a lot of bureaucratic controls cease to exist, the corruption is there to stay.
4. We cannot replicate any nation's economic policies, as every country is unique(We are unique). Its like there is no particular panacea for all diseases.
5. And a set of policies aren't suitable for a country always. We should keep changing them with requirements and place proper monitoring systems to check the results and modify them if they aren't helping in anyway.

In my humble and earnest opinion, the contents of this book should be prescribed to academic curriculum (I am not sure if it already has been included)!

A must read for every Indian if he/she has to know what our country has underwent after independence!

YavanaRaani and Julia

In the book YavanaRaani written by Sandilyan, an European queen (not sure if it is Greece or Rome) comes to India with Tiberius, and falls in love with Ilanchezhian(Karikaal cholan's Army Chief) .
And two months back,I saw the movie Imperium: Augustus in History Channel. In that Octavian(Augustus) narrates his life story. After correlating all that I read, I feel this Julia and the Yavana raani are same.

Does anyone know if they are the same or different?

P.S: The movie and the book says Tiberius and Julia didn't like each other. Julia was a princess and Tiberius, a loyal army chief to Julia's father.
At a later point of time(as in history), Augustus marries off Julia to Tiberius after making him divorce his current wife. And it also said, Julia had affairs with many other men and was sent to exile because of that.

Links:
More about the movie Imperium Augustus
About Yavanaraani by Sandilyan

Three more...Moongil Kottai, RaajaThilagam and Kadigai

Moongil Kottai by Sandilyan
This story is about how chera thalapathy's son Ilamaaran rescues Chera king who is kept under imprisonment in a Moongil kottai(bamboo fort) by Pandiyan Nedunchezhian. Ilamaaran and Pandiyan Nedunchezhian's sister Imayavalli fall in love with each other at the same time.

Raaja Thilagam by Sandilyan
This story is about Pallava king Paramesuvaran, his son Raaja Simman(also named as Narasimha pallavan who was one of the famous pallava king),a chinese Yang- chin,Maivaizhi selvi(a spy's daughter and love interest of Raaja simman), Rangapathaaga Devi(daughter of Ganga king Poovikraman and also another love interest of Raja simman), Aacharya Dandi, Vikramadityan(Chalukya King), his son Vinayaadithan and his grandson Vijayadithan, and Sri Raamapunyavallabar(Chalukya's war and peace minister, as he is called). Raaja simman is also a great sculptor and builds two famous temples - Aranga naadhar temple in Kanchi and Arangan temple in Kadal mallai(Mahabalipuram). Yang-chin is from China's Royal family who comes to Raja simman with a request to build a Buddha temple and becomes Raja Simman's good companion.

Vikramadithan comes to South to take revenge as his capital city Vaathapi was destroyed by Narasimma pallavan for the sake of his lover Sivakami who was taken away by Chalukya king(Read Sivagamiyin Sabadham by Kalki). But as he respects art, he doesn't destroy the city Kanchi but just wants to win the pallavas in war and take up their country.

In this story, there is reference to Acupuncture, which is introduced by the Chinese prince Yang- chin to pallavas to cure the battlewounds.

Kadigai by Baalakumaran
I didn't like this book much but this tells about how Pandiya's Aabathudhavi padai(which is mentioned in lot of historical books) were formed. This talks about Ravidhaasan,Baalagopan, Pandya King Veerapandiyan, Chola prince Aaditya Cholan(who killed Veerapandiyan. Aaditya Cholan was the son of Sundara Cholan and elder brother of Raja Raja Cholan alias Arunmozhi).

History is not just history...

January becomes a special month, not only for the reason that it is the first month of the year, but also or more for the reason that I was born in that month.Do u know, the world-renowned Scientist Stephen Hawking was born on my birth date i.e., 8th (Just the year was 1942). So I successfully completed one more year in this world. It was my 22nd birthday. Was at home for five days and made my mom cook all that I liked.

Now before I come to the books I read in one month, let me tell u about the difference I felt between the writing styles of Kalki, Sandilyan and Vikraman.
Kalki, when he tells about a particular plot or secret, he doesn't reveal it soon. Its not easy to predict when the secret will be revealed. So I have to speed up expecting it will come in some forthcoming chapter.I feel so restless until I get the answer, which I have no idea where it will come up.
But Sandilyan, if he brings up a question, he gives the answer, at the most, in the next chapter itself. Vikraman also writes similar to Sandilyan. But I feel Sandilyan uses a more descriptive language - he uses that in describing everything but there is an opinion among the readers that he is very descriptive when he comes to the "Thalaivi"(heroine) in the novel. But I think he is as descriptive on other characters or places also.
As all these books are based on the true history and have used up the inscriptions as their basis, no book is a stand alone. We have same characters coming in other books too. So its like getting to know different views, angles or sub stories of the main history that has taken place.

Now the books.I will have to prepare an excel sheet to store all these. But here's the gist...

Kalika
A tamil book translated from Malayalam. It was about something similar to black magic. Dint like it much.
Kadal Pura by Sandilyan
This is about Ilayapallavan (Rajendra Chola's padaithalaivan), Kaanchana Devi(Princess of gadaaram, Sri Vijayam. Sri Vijayam is today's Malaysia), Gunavarman(King of Gadaaaram), Manjazhagi(Akshaya munai's princess - actually daughter of Jeyavarman, brother of Gunavarman). This book is about the battles fought in sea. A nice, descriptive book - u will feel like joining the navy now, if its still the same. While I was reading this book, Malathi auntie who was one of my hostel roommates was from Malaysia(She was basically from India, whose ancestors, few generations back moved to Malaysia). Added to that, she has read Kadalpura and is a fan of Chandilyan. I got to know about the different races of people residing there and about the gold there(as it was also known as Swarna Bhoomi).
Kanni MAdam by Sandilyan
Main characters are Aparajithan(Veerapandian's senapathy), Kaarkuzhali (a small kingdom's princess), SingaLathu PaingiLi(Thats how she is called. forgot her name. Poonguzhali???). Its about how Aparaajithan plots and how he crushes the influence of Izha naadu(Now, Srilanka) in Tamilnadu with help from Cholas.
Mannan MagaL by Sandilyan
The main characters are Karikaalan, Niranjana Devi,Raja Raja Narendran(born by the a marriage between Vengy Naattu raja and Chola princess), Chalukya king Jayasimman, Araiyan Rajarajan (Padai thalaivan under Rajendra Cholan) . Its all about plots and I came to understand what COMMUNICATION and DIPLOMATIC TALK means.
Gangapuri Kavalan by Vikraman
Main characters are Rajendra Cholan(Son of Raja Raja Cholan), Veeramaadevi(young wife of Rajendra Cholan), Raja Raja Cholan, Poongodi(daughter of Raja Raja Cholan and my favourite Inbavalli). This describes about NAtya Kalai(dance), the jealousy and rivalry among the wifes of a King, and how the Gangai konda Cholapuram was designed.

In all these, I find that even Princes and Princesses cannot marry according to their wishes. Especially in Kanni MAdam, Kaarkuzhali's marriage becomes the deciding factor for a lot of makes and breaks among the kingdoms.

Kalki and Vikraman

Books
Last two weeks have been wonderful. What made it wonderful were Sivakamiyin sabadham, Parthiban Kanavu and Nandhipurathu Nayagi.

Ponniyin Selvan ,Sivakamiyin sabadham and Parthiban Kanavu are books by Kalki.

In Sivakamiyin Sabadham, he has dealt with Pallavas and in Parthiban Kanavu, it is a combination of Cholas and Pallavas, where in Parthiba Cholan's son Vikraman and Narasimha pallavan's daughter Kundavai lose their hearts to each other and get married in the end.
Raja Raja Cholan was born nearly 3 centuries after that.Ponniyin Selvan is about his period.
Nandhipurathu Nayagi by Vikraman is a continuation of Ponniyin Selvan, which answers many questions that were left unanswered in Ponniyin Selvan.

I have nearly fallen in love with these genre of books.Wud like to go back to those days and live among those people.

To read yet:
1.Gangapuri Kaavalan by Vikraman on Rajendra Cholan.
2. Kadalpura by Chandilyan.

Characters I love
Of all the characters I have read so far in these books, Inbavalli has captured my heart like no others.I can't exactly define why. For people who haven't read the book, she is a character(this is very humble description) in the story Nandhipurathu Nayagi written by Vikraman. The next character I love is Sivakami(but lost some liking after she refused to return with Narasimha Pallavan, when he came to bring her back to his country).

Why?
One striking thing in all these books is the kings(Mahendra Pallavan) or anybody else(Ilayapraatti Kundavai), etc don't let Sivakami or Inbavalli to get close with the Prince. I hate that attitude of theirs. Sivakami and Inbavalli are Bharathanatya dancers. Considering the status, Mahendra pallavan and Kundavai don't let them get close with their princes, though the two dancers are not court dancers or courtesans. They give a almost unacceptable reason that they are doing it to keep the art alive. Will write about this sometime later.

Few links
Kalki's works in Tamil font
Sivagamiyin Sabadham in English

Coming soon...
Will be writing a separate post on Inbavalli soon.

Ponniyin Selvan

Have been reading Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki this weekend. Went to sleep at 2 or 3 AM because of it. The way the author has described the beauty of ladies- Ilaiya Piraatti Kundavai, Pazhuvoor Ilaiyaraani Nandhini and the lady of beauty and strength Poonguzhali, deserves a "wow!"
For eg, let me tell abt one instance where the author compares the beauty of Nandhini and Kundavai : He says Nandhini has a face as round as a moon, while Kundavai has a beautiful oval shape as if shaped by a sculptor.
I sometimes have the habit of skipping the over-descriptive lines in a book. But here, it became impossible. How many different ways has he followed to describe each situation that I wonder what I wud have done if I ever wrote such a book :-)). I wud have copied the lines, pasted it many times, did subtle changes each time - one set of description for a city/place, one set for the description of beauty of a lady, one set for the courage and strength of a charismatic King/"Veeran" would have been sufficient for me to write the whole book.
But I wonder how the author is able to write a different yet interesting description abt each place.
Somehow I feel, its a kind of pride to say that I am in the elite society who has read this gem of a book.
A must read!!!

Books and me

I used to read only Perry Mason novels till my third year of college. I started reading other author books only after that. Better late than never :-)). I started a separate blog for books but found this blog more easy to handle and gets loaded up soon that atlast I decided, I will better write it here.
Before I start writing book reviews, these are some of the books I have read so far.
TAMIL
Author:Kalki
1. Ponniyin Selvan
2. Sivakamiyin sabadham
3. Parthiban Kanavu
Author:Vikraman
1. Nandhipurathu Nayagi
2. Gangapuri Kaavalan
Author:Sandilyan
1. Kadalpura
2. Vilairaani
3. Yavanaraani
4. Raaja Thilagam
5. Moongil Kottai
6. Jala deepam ( 3 parts)
7. Raaniyin Kanavu (Short Story collection)
8. Mogana Silai
9. Cheran Selvi
10. Mannan MagaL
11. Chittaranjani
12. Pallava Thilagam
13. Jalamogini
14. Raaja Perigai
Author:Balakumaran
1. Kadigai
Author:
Kalika

ENGLISH
Author : J.K. Rowling
1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: Spencer Johnson
1. Who moved my Cheese?
Author: Paul Coelho
1. The Alchemist (Translated by Alan R. Clarke. Harpercollins publishers, India)
2. By the riverside Piedra, I sat and wept.
Author:Harper Lee
1. To kill a mocking bird
Author: Sidney Shelton
1. Morning,Noon,Night
2. The other side of midnight
3. The best laid plans
4. Are you afraid of the dark?
5. Tell me your dreams
Author: Jeffrey Archer
1. The prodigal daughter
2. Shall we tell the president
3. As the Crow Flies
4. Honour Among Thieves
5. False Impression
6. Only time will tell
7. Paths of Glory
8. Sons of Fortune
9. A Prisoner of Birth
10. A matter of Honour
11. First among equals
12. The Sins of the Father
13. Best Kept Secret
14. Be Careful what you wish for
Author: Ken Follett
1. Eye of the needle
2. Code to Zero
Author: Ayn Rand
1. The Fountain Head
Author: Jackie Collins
1. Lucky
Author: Michael Crichton
1. Airframe
Author:Bill Gates
1. The Road Ahead
Author:Scott M. Peck
1. The Road Less Travelled
Author:Gary Athen
1. American Ways
Author:Sir Arthur Conan Dyle
1. Sherlock Homes
Author:Norman Vincent Peale
1. The Power of Positive Thinking
Author:Victoria Alexander
1. Love with the proper husband
Author:Dan Brown
1. Da Vinci Code
2. Angels and Demons
3. Digital Fortress
4. Deception Point
Author:Chetan Bhagat
1. Five point someone
2. One night @ the Call Center
3. The three mistakes of my life
Author:Jacky Trevane
1. Fatwa
Author:Brian Tracy
1. Eat that frog
Author:Jeff Keller
1. Attitude is Everything
Author: Stephen R. Covey
The 7 habits of highly Effective People
Author : Eric Segal
1. Love Story
Author : J.A. Lance
1. Improbable Cause
Author : Rupa Gulab
1. Girl Alone
Author : Taslima Nasrin
1. Lajja
Author : Catherine Spencer
1. Nanny Wanted - A Nanny in the Family
Author:Chris Kuzneski
1. Sign of the Cross
Author:Sam Bourne
1. The Last Testament
Author:Gurcharan Das
1. India Unbound
Author:Adolf Hitler
1. Mein Kempf
Author:Ernest Hemingway
1. The Old Man and the Sea
Author:Sir Walter Scott
1. Rob Roy
Author:Arthur Hailey
1. Airport
Author:Gregory David Roberts
1. Shantaram
Author:Khaled Hosseini

1. A Thousand Splendid sons
Author:Steig Larsson
1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2. The Girl who played with Fire
3. The Girl who kicked the Hornet's nest
Author: Amish Tripathi
1. The Immortals of Meluha
2. The Secret of Nagas
3. The oath of Vayuputras
Author: Robin Sharma
1. The monk who sold his ferrari
Author: Aravind Adiga
1. The white tiger



And 30 to 40 Erle Stanley Gardener's Perry Mason novels.