Ash Talks Books

Sriram was my colleague at Cognizant way back in 2005 and 2006. It gives me immense pleasure to learn about his second graphic novel, Grit. Read on. ‘Grit’, a graphic novel by Sriram et al., was launched on 21 July 2019 in Bangalore, and it’s already into the second print run. It got 55 reviews, 52 of which are 5-stars and three are 4-stars.  Sriram’s first graphic novel, Mai, was released in April 2018. The book is about two heroes, Malvika Iyer and her mother. Grit: The Major Story is the true account of a man who rose from humble beginnings to become a hero. It is about the inspiring story of Major DP Singh, a Kargil war veteran and India's first blade runner. Faced with the tragic loss of a limb while serving on the frontlines during the Kargil War, Major Singh's indomitable spirit came to the fore. With the support of his family, friends and dedicated healthcare professionals, and aided by the training he received in the army, he set a fresh course fo...

‘The Reluctant Debutante’ by Vibha Batra is a peek into the world of glamourous social events, but with a twist. Its USP is that it transports the reader to the days of yore when noblewomen were introduced to polite society as debutantes while being set against a completely modern backdrop. The story is about identical twins who share similar looks but whose personalities are starkly different. The so-called troublemaker twin of the two impersonates her rather saintly counterpart in a “social event”(read: beauty contest) held in France, at the goody-goody sister’s behest. What ensues is an enjoyable account of this rather ungainly sister navigating the competition while trying to rein in her true nature. The other contestants and her “Cavalier” of the opposite sex are described well and add colour to the story. The “Cavalier” came across as a kind of modern-day Darcy for Young Adults! By making her protagonist almost anti-beauty pageants, Vibha appeals to that ...

I  read the next book on my TBR, Mr Vasudev Murthy’s ‘The Ramgarh Literary Festival.’ And what a ‘pick me up’ it turned out to be! Absolutely delightful! Slightly Wodehouseian and totally of interest to me ‘coz I love stories about the publishing world, and I’ve always loved Wodehouse. I loved when Mr Murthy referred to ‘Pupa’ publishers early in the book and made a remark about Sheelaa Dey in another part of the book. Sample a few dialogues from the book, which almost caused me incontinence at age 42: ‘Ticket to Ramgarh,’ I said arrogantly to the man behind the ticket counter, handing over the reservation form duly filled. ‘I am a key speaker at the Ramgarh Literary Festival.’ ‘You must be crazy, you old fool,’ said the rude person. In another place, this: “Dinner?” I inquired. He took off the lid off a large dish and I peeped in. Within was a small infant chappati. I asked about anything that might be sampled with the chapatti. He pointe...

# BookReview   # DontStartUp   # KarthikKumar   # Evam  I picked up Karthik Kumar’s ‘Don’t startup’ after seeing several promos on Linkedin. I wasn’t really interested in being an entrepreneur. I’m not good with numbers at all, so I figured there was no need for me to read this book. My TBR is long enough as it is. But one day, I saw his Instagram post, which advertised his book with his autograph. I still am not sure what made me reach out to him to get the coupon code for the book. It arrived soon enough and I delved into it. A little backgrounder: I had a colleague in Aptech who was involved with Evam( way back when I worked with the company).I also met a couple of guys on a trek to Munnar who were involved with Evam. I have watched ‘The odd couple’ by Evam since I like plays. I have some old classmates( who I’m not in touch with) from my school who are friends with Karthik. I interned in RK Swamy with Suchitra Ramadurai( who I’m not in touch with) way before ...

# Review   of   # KnotForKeeps   The first few stories, 'Apportionments of love' by Sharanya Manivannan, 'Conjugular' by Chitra Viraraghavan and 'Heaven Forbid' by Krishna Shastri Devulapalli, almost made me want to abandon the book. In 'Conjugular', the author uses the phrase "if you take my meaning" multiple times. I'm not sure if she meant it as a stylistic device, but it really started grating on my nerves and detracted from the story. In 'Heaven Forbid', the author fat-shames   his friend's 90+ kg wife and also writes a dialogue shaming people with mental illnesses, "Why can't she get a mean, nasty sex offender or schizophrenic who charges less, da?" ( Referring to a person with schizophrenia as a schizophrenic is not the worst crime he has committed here. Putting that person in the class of mean, nasty sex-offenders is just atrocious.) Since I don't read Hindi poems, I skipped the...

Anuja Chandramouli’s ‘Ganga’ begins with a prelude— Pralaya or the great deluge. “Sleep continued to elude her as she watched over those who slept. It did not bother her in the least. Why rest when you can flow forever and ever?” Anuja tells the story of the daughters of Himavan and Mena— that of Ganga and Parvati. As a reader, I found the character sketch of Ganga endearing.   Parvati is described as a “quiet child who is perfectly content to be alone with her thoughts,” while Ganga’s “natural ebullience” makes her “spirited and headstrong.” The roles of the sisters in Lord Shiva’s life are etched out, and while Parvati is devout and serious, Ganga is playful and defiant in the way she relates to Him. Anuja tells the story of how Parvati becomes His consort while Ganga delivers the child born of Parvati’s and Lord Shiva’s union. Ganga finds a place in His tresses and is the “other mother” to Kartikeya and Ganesha. When Ganga tells Ganesha that she was the one who told Pa...