The Parsifal Mosaic - Robert Ludlum

Oh! This book is a bundle of surprises. 
The story is so well spun, that it surprises you at each and every page. 

One man by name Michael Havelock is an intelligence officer at the state department of US. He witnesses his partner and love interest Jenna Karas being executed at Costa Brava because she is believed to be a KGB double agent. He meets a man by name Pyotr Rostav who confirms that Jenna was not a KGB agent. Michael later sees Jenna alive in a train station in Rome. She flees upon seeing him and Michael pursues her. 

He meets Colonel Baylor a former source at the US consulate and begins a search for Jenna throughout Europe. In the mean time, Michael is proved to be schizophrenic and terminated. 

One Anton Matthias, Secretary of State acknowledged by the entire world as a genius and trusted with powers far beyond those his office allow him, has gone completely insane. Before anybody realized that he was insane, he negotiated treaties with parties he believed to be representing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People's Republic of China, each agreeing to a nuclear strike against the third party, but in fact with a man who identified himself as Parsifal. Parsifal demands a huge ransom to keep the documents from being released, thereby triggering a nuclear war. Once the ransom is paid, however, he does not touch it, having confirmed how desperate Washington is. Havelock, who as a child had been one of the few survivors of the massacre at Lidice, has a special bond with Matthias, a fellow Czech who had advised him in graduate school. Somehow Matthias's insanity is linked to the order to terminate Jenna Karas.

For her part, Karas has been told that Michael is a Russian spy and that he is trying to kill her. Consequently, she is not especially eager to meet him.

When Michael finally traces Jenna to an isolated farm in Pennsylvania, they realize that they were both deceived and that each had been told that the other was an enemy. They then work together with the President of the United States, Charles Berquist, and several trusted advisory to find Parsifal and stop him.

They are opposed by Arthur Pierce, a brilliant and murderous Soviet mole highly placed in the State Department. Pierce has ordered the murders of the strategists of Consular Operations ( two of them are crushed by a bulldozer in their car and driven off a cliff and another is shot), and then a string of successive killings - all in his own quest to gain evidence of Matthias's insanity. Pierce is working not for the regular KGB, but the VKR (Voennaya Kontra Razvedka), a fanatical branch of Russian intelligence identified as an offshoot of the OGPU. He is also, for that matter, a paminyatchik - an agent under deep cover, who has lived in the United States since infancy. For much of the novel, Pierce's true loyalties lie undiscovered. One of Havelock's allies, Undersecretary of State Emory Bradford, realizes that Pierce works for the VKR, but he is murdered by the ever-alert Pierce before he can warn anyone else. Pierce also solicits the murder of Rostov, who loathes the VKR and has tried to help Havelock.

When Michael finally finds Parsifal, a friend of Anton and a Paminyatchik who is less fanatical than Arthur Pierce, he finds out that the documents were not produced to provoke nuclear war, but rather to demonstrate that no one man could be trusted with vast amounts of power. Pierce, however, has had his operatives murder Michael's bodyguards and breaks into Parsifal's house just as he agree's to burn the documents. However hearing that Rostov has been murdered, Parsifal decides to sacrifice himself by using his body to block Pierce's gun allowing Michael and Jenna time to get out. Michael and Jenna then kill Pierce's operatives by stabbing them and Michael then flanks Pierce and guns him down. They conclude that the documentary evidence of Matthias's insanity is best destroyed. Havelock tells Berquist of this; he is informed, in turn, that Matthias has just died. Finally safe, he and Jenna move to New England, where Havelock accepts an academic position.

Great read as it gives insights on the Cold War. Robert Ludlum as always amaze me with his elegant style and theme. 

ಕಾಡು ಮತ್ತು ಕ್ರೌರ್ಯ : ಪೂರ್ಣ ಚಂದ್ರ ತೇಜಸ್ವಿ

ಇದು ಪೂರ್ಣ ಚಂದ್ರ ತೇಜಸ್ವಿಯವರ ಮೊಟ್ಟ ಮೊದಲನೆಯ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ. 

ತೇಜಸ್ವಿಯವರ ಮೊದಲ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯಾದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಅವರ ಬೇರೆ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ ಅಷ್ಟು maturity ಇಲ್ಲ. ತೇಜಸ್ವಿ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದಿ ಪಳಗಿದವರಿಗೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಅರ್ಥಪುರ್ನವಾಗಿದೆ. 

ಮೂರು ಜನ protagonists ಇಲ್ಲಿ. ಒಂದು ಸೋಮು - ಈಗತಾನೆ ಕಾಲೇಜ್ ಮುಗಿಸಿ ಪುಡಿ ಮೀಸೆ ಹೊತ್ತ ಕಮುನಿಸಮ್ ಪ್ರವಾದಿ. ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ನಳಿನಿ - ಹಳ್ಳಿ ವಾತಾವರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಳೆದ ಹರೇ ವಯಸ್ಸಿನ ಬಾಲೆ, ಮತೊಂದು ಸುಬದ್ರ - ಸೋಮುವಿನ ಕ್ಲಾಸ್ ಮೇಟ್. 

ಇವರ ಮೂವರಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯುವ ಲೋಕೋಪ ವ್ಯವಹಾರಗಳು ಹಾಗು ಆಂತರಿಕ ಹುಚ್ಚು ಕನಸುಗಳು ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಮುಕ್ಯ ವಸ್ತು. ಮದ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ವೆಂಕು, ಮತ್ತು ನಳಿನಿಯ ತಂದೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದು ಹೋಗುವ ಪಾತ್ರಗಲು. 

"ಅಬ್ಬಾ ಆ ಹಕ್ಕಿಗಳ ಬಯಕೆ ಎಂಥದು. ಸಪ್ತ ಸಮುದ್ರಗಳನ್ನೇ, ದೆಶಾಂಥರಗಳನ್ನೇ ದಾಟಿ ಸಾಗುತ್ತವಲ್ಲ. ಬಯಕೆ ಪ್ರೇಮದ ಆರಂಭ! ತೃಪ್ತಿ ಪ್ರೇಮದ ಅಂತ್ಯವೇ? ಪ್ರೆಮಿಸೊದು ಅಂದರೆ ಚಲಿಸುವುದು. ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲೋ,  ದೇಶದಲ್ಲೊ, ಕಾಲದೇಶಗಳಿಗೆ ಮೀರಿದ ಅತೀತದಲ್ಲೊ ಚಲಿಸುವುದು. ಒಂದರಿಂದ ಇನ್ನೊಂದಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗುವುದು. ಪ್ರೇಮವೆಂದರೆ ಯಾವುದರಿಂದಲೋ ನಿರ್ಗಮಿಸುವ ನಿತ್ಯದುರಂತ. ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೋ ಆಕರ್ಷಿತರಾದೆವೆಂದೆರೆ ಇನ್ನೆಲ್ಲಿಂದಲೋ ವಿಕರ್ಷಿತರಾದೆವೆಂತಲೇ? ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ಸರ್ವ ಸಾಫಲ್ಯತೆ ಬಹುಶಃ ಈ ದೇಹದೊಂದಿರೋವರೆಗೆ ಅಸಾದ್ಯ."

ಹೀಗೆ ಸೋಮುವಿನ ಯೊಚನೆಗಲು. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನಳಿನಿ ತಂದೆ ತೀರಿಕೊಂಡ ನೋವಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಲಲುತಿದ್ದರೆ, ಸೋಮನಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಣಯದಾಸೆ. ಅದರ ಮೇಲೆ ಗಿಲ್ಟಿ ಫೀಲಿಂಗ್ ಬೇರೆ.

ಟೈಮ್ ಪಾಸು ಪುಸ್ತಕವಾದರೂ ಆಗೀಗೋಮ್ಮೆ ಮನಸನ್ನು ಕಲಸುಮೇಲೋಗರ ಮಾಡುವ ಚಿಂತನಾತ್ಮಕ ಡೈಲಾಗ್ಸ್ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಕಾಣ ಸಿಕ್ತಾವೆ. 

"1" Nenokkadine

This is one movie that gives the "sitting on the edge of the seat and nail biting" experience. Directed by Sukumar, movie stars Mahesh Babu as Gautham - a pop singer in the same image as Ashique2 hero. He is suffering from a psychological disorder that fails him on his memory of his parents.

The plot begins with a boy(young Mahesh Babu) running for help after witnessing his parents murders. That boy is brought up in orphanage. Through his childhood, he visualizes three men killing his parents and also looking out for him to be killed. He wants to avenge them at any cost.

The movie is full of twists and twirls and makes you think every moment. There are no clues dropped in the story line. The team has made the best use of technology and editing is the next best thing.

I fans for Sukumar from the times of Arya2 and Arya and he's lived up the expectation. Mahesh Babu as always suits best for extra human roles and this one is a delight to a viewer. Débutante Sanoon has done a pretty role.

One thing in the movie is - there is no comedy and there are no comedians(Bramhanandam). That mostly is the reason why it is received with apprehensions. But for those fans of Mahesh Babu, this is a great watch.

Trade Winds to Meluhha - Vasant Davé

The plot begins with a murder of the merchant from Meluhha. A stable boy named Samasin is entitled a fish hook from the merchant. The boy is held guilty of the murder and imprisoned. He escapes the punishment and travels to Meluhha in search of the owner of the fish hook. The owner's name is Siwa Saqra which he learns from the dying merchant.

On his escape from Sumer he is helped by his master Nergal's wife Ela. He sets voyage on a ship to Meluha and meets Paravar, the ship captain. They develop a cool friendship and he introduces the boy to Velli - a very beautiful woman. They buy a foal from Paravar and boy accompanies them.

The boy continues journey, meets new people, come across hostile experiences, fights with bandits and treasure hunts. The book is a good read for days and keeps reminding you about the people of Meluhha in your routine even when you are not reading it.

Author has done elaborate research on the Babylonian and Mesopotamian civilizations and correlated the  events. He has developed an amazing piece of fiction with almost accurate references to the historical incidents.

The book keeps you reading and halts you down when you feel, you need to google and find out what the author is talking about. By reading this and googling simultaneously, I was able to acquire a big bank of knowledge.

I would simply say, the book is awesome with a few compromises on the typos and "Find Synonyms for this word" tool. The author has captured a remote and exciting concept of fiction which upon few improvisations would become a world wide hit like those of Dan Brown's.

About the author:


Vasant Davé was born in Kenya to immigrant parents from India. He was schooled there under teachers coming from all the races living in East Africa during British rule. He passed Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Bombay and served for 24 years in companies manufacturing electrical and electronic capital goods. For another 8 years, he took up industrial market research contracts from consultants based in Singapore and Hong Kong. He conducted face-to-face and telephonic surveys in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for multinational end-users such as Siemens, BASF, Henkel, Dow Chemical, AkzoNobel and Linde. His work in Industrial Market Research often took him to remote parts of the country where he could visit nearby archaeological sites too.

His interest in the ancient past of the sub-continent led him to write a historical novel after retirement in 2008. His technical background helped him to understand and apply historical, geographical, environmental and cultural nuances bearing upon the life during 3rd millennium BC, the period in which Trade winds to Meluhha is set.

Bhag Milka Bhag - Review

This movie was watched last Saturday. Didn't get time to critic it.

Movie stars Farhan Aktar as Milka Singh. Before I write about the movie, here is the brief on Milka Singh.

Milka Singh was born in Pakistan and migrated to India during the India - Pakistan partition. His family including his father, mother, brothers and sisters were killed on this trip to India. When he came to India, he settled in Delhi and went on to become a soldier in Indian Army. He underwent training and participated in 1956 Olympics. He represented India in Asian games and won medals and broke records in common wealth games. He again took part 1960 Olympics and came 4th. He was then summoned to Pakistan to play against Pakistani counter part Abdul Khaliq. He was given the honor as "Flying Sikh" by Pakistanis. He won and brought India pride. He donated all his medals to national museums.

The movie almost portrays the above story but with a lot of unwanted love affairs of the protagonist. I was expecting to see a movie like Chak de India with the preoccupations of trailers which were shown in cinema halls. But the movie turned out to be neither a love story nor a story of an athlete.

The part that captures you are the scenes of Milka's life in Pakistan. He is asked by his father to run for his life - Bhag Milka Bhag. Milka runs and saves himself but he returns. He finds a pool of blood and a pile of dead bodies - which belonged to his father, mother and other family members. He then run back and catches a train to India. He rebels in the refugee camps and involves in stealing, cheating and becomes a thug. He falls in love - twice. Trains himself in the army camps. He goes to Australia, Rome etc to take part in world class athletics. This is all the movie about. A good watch I must say if you are not prejudiced. Dont have any expectation and you'll enjoy every bit of the movie. Farhan Akthar has done a very good job and Om Prakash Mehra has created yet another magic like that of Rang De Basanti. 

ಎದೆಗಾರಿಕೆ - ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ (Edegaarike by Agni Shridhar)

ಇಂದಿರಾ ನಗರದಿಂದ ದೂರದ ಅಂಕಿತ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಪ್ರಕಾಶನ - ಬಸವನಗುಡಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಸಂಜೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಪ್ರಯಾಣ ಶುರುವಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಅದು ಮುಗಿದದ್ದು ಸಕಲೇಶಪುರದ ಒಂದು ಫಾರಂ ಹೌಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ - ಮುತ್ತಪ್ಪ ರೈ, ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರರ ಮತ್ತು ಆಗಸ್ಟೇ  ಕೊಲೆಯಾದ ಒಬ್ಬ ಸುಪಾರಿ ಕಿಲ್ಲರ್ ಜೊತೆ.

ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಹೆಸರು "ಎದೆಗಾರಿಕೆ".  ಇದು ಯಾರ ಎದೆಗಾರಿಕೆ? ಯಾರು ಯಾರು ಪಾತ್ರಧಾರರು? ಯಾರು ಯಾರನ್ನು ಹೊಡೆದು ಮುಗಿಸುವವರು ಎಂದು ಎಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ವಿವರಣೆ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಓದುಗ ಎಷ್ಟು relate ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾನೋ ಅಸ್ಟು ರೋಮಾಂಚನಕಾರಿಯಾಗಿ ಮಜಾ ಬರುತ್ತೆ.

ಮುಂಬೈಯಾ ಡಾನ್ ಅಂತೋನಿ ಕಾಲಿಯಾ ತನ್ನ ಕೈ ಕೆಳಗಿರುವ 'ಓರ್ವ'ನನ್ನ ಮುಗಿಸಲು ಬೆಂಗಳುರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಪಾರಿ ಕೊಡುವ ಒಂದು ಘಟನೆ. ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಬರೆದಿರುವ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಹೆಸರು "ಎದೆಗಾರಿಕೆ". ನಾವು ಹೀಗೆ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಮಳಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡ್ಡಾ ಡುತಿರುವಾಗ ಕೈಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು. ಮನೆಗೆ ಬಂದು ನಮ್ಮ ಪತಿದೇವರು inauguration ಮಾಡಿದ್ರು. ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಚಿಕ್ಕದಾದ್ರಿಂದ ಅರ್ದ ಘಂಟೆಯೆಲ್ಲಿ ಮುಗಿಯುತು. ಇನ್ನು ಸರಧಿ ನನ್ನದು.  ಹಿಡಿದರೆ ಬಿಡಲಿಕ್ಕೆ ಅಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಓದಿ ಮುಗಿಸುವ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಮದ್ಯೆ ರಾತ್ರಿ. ಆಗ ನಂಗೆ ಸಣ್ಣ ನಡುಕ. ಮೈ ಬೆವೆರಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ಅನುಭವ. ಕೊನೆಗೆ  ಒಂದು ಕೊಲೆ. ಮುಗಿಯಿತು ಕಥೆ.

ಮುತ್ತಪ ರೈ  ಒಂದು ಕೊಲೆಯ ಸುಪಾರಿ ತಗೊಂಡು ಬಾಂಬೆ ಇಂದ ಒಂದು ಹುಡುಗನನ್ನು ಕರಿಸ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವರ ಜೊತೆ ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಮತ್ತು ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲವರು ಸಕಲೇಶಪುರಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊರಡುತಾರೆ. ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಗೆ ಮೊದಲು ಕೊಲೆಯಾಗುವವರು ಯಾರು ಎಂದು ತಿಲಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಬಾಂಬೆ ಇಂದ ಬಂದ ಹುಡುಗನಾನ್ನು ಕೊಲೆ ಮಾಡುವುದು ಅಂತ ತಿಳಿದ ಮೇಲೆ, ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಗೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡುವುದು ಎಂದು ತಿಲಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಗ್ನಿ ಆ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗಾಗಲೇ ಹುಡುಗನ ಸಂಗ ಬೆಳೆಸಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವನ ಜೊತೆ ಜೀವನ ಪಾಠಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತುಕಥೆಯಾಡಿರುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವನನ್ನು ಕೊಲೆ ಮಾಡುವುದೆಂದರೆ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗದ ವಿಷಯವೆಂದು ತಿಳಿದು ಮುತ್ತಪ ರೈ ಬಳಿ ಮಾತಾಡಲು ಮುನ್ದಗುತ್ತಾರೆ.ಈ ಮದ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಮುತ್ತಪಣ್ಣ ನ ಮೇಲೆ attack ಅಗುತ್ತದೆ.

ಕೊಲೆ ಮಾಡುವ ದಿನ ಬಂದೆ ಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ಮತ್ತುಪ ರೈ, ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಅನ್ನು ಆ ಹುಡುಗನ ಜೊತೆ ಕಳಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮುಗಿಸಲು. ಕೆಲವು ಹುಡುಗರು ಹಿಂಬಾಲಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ ಹೆಣ ಹೊತ್ತು ತರಲು. ಗೊತ್ತು ಮಾಡಿದ ಸ್ಥಳ ಬಂದಾಗ ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಕೊಲೆ ಮಾಡಲು ತನ್ನ gun ಹಿಡಿದಾಗ ಹುಡುಗ ತನ್ನಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ತಾನೇ ಸತ್ತು ಬೀಲುತ್ತಾನೆ.

ಈಗ ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಗೆ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕೆಲಸ ಅಂದರೆ ಅ ಹುಡುಗನ ಪ್ರೇಯಸಿಗೆ ವಿಷಯ ತಿಳಿಸುವುದು. ಅವಳಿಗೆ ಫೋನ್ ಮಾಡಿ ಮೂರು ದಿನದ ಹಿಂದೆ ಆಕ್ಸಿಡೆಂಟ್ ಆಗಿದೆ ಹಾಗು ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಡುಗ ಸತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುವಾಗ ಅಗ್ನಿ ಶ್ರೀಧರ್ ಮೈಯೆಲ್ಲಾ ನಡುಗುತ್ತಗೆ.

The book is an awesome depiction of courage, valor, guilt and love. This is one of the books eligible to go the list of books that must be read at least once before dying. The book is made in to movie in 2013 with the same title. It stars Atul Kulkarni and Aaditya. Atul plays Agni Shreedhar and he amazing in the role. It has become almost like - when you hear Agni Shreedhar, you imagine Atul Kulkarni.

The movie is also equally good as the book. A very good piece of work in sandalwood and Agni Shreedhar is as usual awesome with the book. 

Ghanchakkar - Review

The movie has Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan in lead. The pair manages to amuse you with the light heart comedy. No laugh riot but the comedy sinks in you for a long and you find it hard to digest.

The plot is about Emraan being the habitual bank robber and he is contacted by Pandit and Ibris for a bank robbery contract. Sanjay(Emraan) and Neetu(Vidya) decides to take this up as the final assignment and settle for life with the bank looted money. The robbery takes place well with three men (Ibris, Pandit and Sanju) each covering faces with the masks of Amithab Bachan, Vinod Khanna and one other. They put the money in a suitcase and disperse on the agreement that they meet after 3 months to settle shares of money.
Sanju meets with an accident on the way home carrying the suitcase. He is diagnosed with partial memory loss and after 3 months when Pandit and Ibris contact him, he is in no clue of the money he carried. Neither Neetu knows where the money is kept. So Pandit and Ibris kidnap Neetu, come stay with them - do every possible thing to remind Sanju of the money but in vein. Sanju seeks 1 week time to get the money but on the 7th day, when Sanju still clueless, Pnadit and Ibris take Neetu and go to subway train. Sanju meets them there only to find that he has forgotten who Neetu is. They are met with Chota Chetan who is pressing for the money from Pandit and Ibris. When he finds they have failed to get money from Sanju, he kills both Ibris and Pandit. Chota Chetan  also shoots at Neetu and sanju and leaves the train. At that moment Sanju's mother calls him and tells about the suitcase that he left with her 3 months ago. Neetu listens to this and is happy that she's found money and Sanju is alive. She also realises that Chota Chetan is dead due to a fork and banana which Sanju carried from his home to kill the gangsters.

The movie overall fares well on the dining scenes of the Sanju's house and except that there isn't much to watch out for. 

Singam -2 Review

I happened to watch this movie last weekend and it turned out to be the best mass movie I have watched ever. Surya is the MAN. He is the hero and he is all you get to see in the movie.

The plot is continuation of Singham -1 where a petty police inspector from a village make it big in the city sacking a state minister. In this movie, he is directly and secretly appointed as the SI of Tuticorn, a city of Tamil Nadu. He is to deal with arms mafia and drug mafia cultured by local goons. He gets hold of the goons and also a international wanted drug dealer danny.

The movie never makes you think of the money or the time you have spent on. It is a joy to see Surya's charm. One of the interesting things is that Surya never even touches the heroin. Anushka Shetty manages to do her job ok ok style. Hansika Motwani looks too old for a school uniform. Great watch for a weekned

And the Mountains Echoed - By Khaleed Hosseini

This one more book by Khaleed Hosseini is as beautiful as the previous two books. The plot does not have one protagonist but more than five. Some are related and some irrelevant. Some are your own reflections.

The book as usual deals with Afghanistan and human bonding. This time its between a sister and brother. They live in a small village and the father trades off the girl child saying "A hand must be cut off to save the hand". The brother - Abdullah remember's his sister - Pari all his life, but the pari does not event know a brother existed.

She is adopted by a rich family in Kabul where the adoptive father falls ill and mother abandons him and takes pari to France - Her motherland. This woman - Mrs.Wahdati, the adoptive Mother of Pari is like the most beautiful woman and a talented poet. She writes on love and lust at an young age and becomes the antagonistic child of Kabul bringing dishonor to her parents.

There is a cook cum driver at the Wahdati's called Nabi who is the maternal uncle of Pari. Nabi and Pari's father disconnect from each other after Pari's adoption by the Wahdatis. When Mr. Wahdati falls sick and Mrs. Wahdati desert him, Nabi is the one who looks after Wahdati. Mr.Wahdati falls in love with Nabi. He also wills his property to Nabi. In the mean time, Nabi would have found a diary in the Wahdati's cupboard written by Mrs. Wahdati. It says "Its all about you Nabi".

Nabi is shocked by this revelation as he was secretly in love with Neelima Wahdati. He always wished Neelima would know it. Nabi, after reading this, decides to find an appropriate substitute in the house to cook and drive and go join Neelima in Paris. But he fins no one and continue to walk Wahdati in the open fields of Kabul.

On a summer morning, Mr.Wahdati is dead and Nabi is left no where. At that time, the war is intensified in kabul and a lot of foreign help and NGOs are in Kabul to help the injured and the needy. One Markos - a plastic surgeon by profession lands at-Once Wahdati's and  now Nabi's big gate. Nabi offers to rent the house for free. Markos along with a nurse - Arma live with other volunteers in the house and Nabi lives in the small outhouse in the compound.

Nabi leaves a letter to Markos to be delivered to Pari. Markos finds Neelima Wahdati - the small time poet on the web and finds her daughter Pari. Pari now is a big grown up girl dating the man her mother once dated. When Neelima dies, Pari receives a letter from a news paper which interviewed Neelima and published her story. Pari understands that "she was a pain in the ass" for Neelima. Pari's mother was never happy for Pari.

Pari marries a honest and dedicated drama teacher from a local school. She will have three children. Pari goes on to study Phd in mathematics. Her children grow up and get married and have children. In all this time, Pari is not aware that she is missing her brother.

One day Markos contacts Pari on facebook and tells about the letter that Nabi has left. Pari arranges Markos to meet her half brother Iqbal at Shadbagh. She learns that there is an elder brother - Abdullah in America who is sending iqbal money every month.

Pari contacts Abdullah's daughter - her name too Pari and meets Abdullah. But Abdullah is unable to recall his childhood. He is suffering from some kind of cancer. Junior Pari, when she was young, used to hear bed time stories from her father Abdullah. He would tell her the story of his sister Pari and at the end, he would say that he is going to take away the bad dreams and put all the good dreams to Pari's sleep. Now Abdullah is sick and he is unable to recognize the real Pari.

The younger Pari finds friendship in older Pari and is set to meet pari's family in France. In the hotel room, both of them are sleeping and younger Pari wakes up and tells a fairy tale to the older Pari that she and her brother were young again, they are lying on the grass on the mountains in the mid afternoon underneath the cool shelter of a tree - that she can see her brother's face, but not the whole of it as she is too near to the face.

Thats the end of the book. In between there are irrelevant descriptions of Markos mother, supposedly sister,  Pari's natural mother's childhood, her twin sister, some two young boys interested in property in Kabul, etc.

The book is a fine story teller. At times, one would feel frustrated - because of a lot of abandoning women, deserting, cheating etc. It surely makes you feel depressed and pensive.

Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi - review

Two stories almost 2300 years apart depicted side by side.

The book is about the father of Economics Chanakya who existed in India around 300 BC and a modern man - GangaSagar Mishra in the not so known Kanpur town of India. 

Chanakya  vows revenge for the gruesome murder of his beloved father. Cold, calculating, cruel and armed with complete absence of accepted morals, he becomes the most powerful political strategist in Bharat and succeeds in uniting a ragged country against the invasion of the army of that demigod, Alexander the great. Pitting the weak edges of both forces against each other, he pulls off a wicked and astonishing victory and succeeds in installing Chandragupta on the throne of the mighty Mauryan empire. History knows him as the brilliant strategist Chanakya. Satisfied-and a little bored-by his success as a kingmaker through the simple summoning of his gifted mind, he recedes into the shadows to write Arthashastra, the science of wealth.

Gangasagar Mishra on the other hand takes up the challenge of making the slum dog a corporator. He manages to get the daughter of his guru to be brought up by this slum dog so that some time in future this will prove to be a political advantage. He grooms her to be the most powerful woman of the modern India. 

The book is too much of a description and almost predictable. But it is a little bit educative too. So read this at your own risk.