Ash Talks Books

I had bought ‘Born a crime’ on Flipkart during one of the sales. Instead of sending me the unabridged version I’d ordered, Flipkart sent me the ‘Adapted for Young Readers’ version. I didn’t want to get into the hassle of returning the book, so I kept it. I’ve seen Trevor Noah a bit as the host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central. Little did I know that he had such a tough childhood. The good thing about this book is that Trevor describes incidents from his past with a sense of humour. He seemed to have been a hyperactive child up to all sorts of mischief by his own admission. But when we find out that his very birth was a crime due to the Immorality Act of 1950, which prohibited romantic relationships between black and white people, it really makes you think. Trevor Noah describes his childhood and schooling and how race was something that was a constant determinant of life in Africa. We find out at the beginning of the book why his mom pushes him out of a moving c...

Debleena Majumdar's recent  # book  ‘A Marketplace for Murder’ by Vishwakarma Publications  is a short, taut read. It’s only 165 pages. In the story, Leena is a mother, wife, business reporter and friend. Two people in her life go missing: her cook Hiren and her friend, Abhimanyu. Both of them have one thing in common. Leena seems to be at the epicentre of a cyclone that’s going to sweep her carefully constructed life awash. What’s really going on at Loans 123? Is there more to the company than what meets the eye? What has Leena’s husband Mahesh, who is an archaeologist, stumbled upon? How do all these pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit in together? Play sleuth and try to figure it out on your own. The author is a storyteller par excellence who weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense and murder. Right from the first chilling page to the last, the reader is hooked. In her acknowledgements, Debleena Majumdar mentions the Queen of Crime Agatha Christie, ...

I first watched Sanjay Manaktala, stand-up comedian, performing in Urban Solace, Bangalore, in 2014. Since then, I’ve followed his videos and jokes on social media. I also attended his performance in 2018 in Chennai. He is the ‘IT guy’, the NRI ‘chooth’( as he put it, not me), ‘Senti Sanjay.’ He has donned several avatars over the years. Some time back, he wrote a book called ‘My beta does computer things.’ I recently wrote to him and requested a copy of his book and offered to share my review across social media. Thanks, Sanjay, for the personal note you left in the book for me. It made my day! In his introduction, he says “What I hope this book does, though, is guide you on how to have a successful and more enjoyable career in Information Technology, a career in which so many people tend to be depressed and bitter. I want to show you how to find real satisfaction and success in technology rather than just work for it or simply get certifications because you think y...