Book Review- The Cuckoo's Calling

Book lovers out there (and probably well informed non book lovers too) probably need no introduction to "The Cuckoo's Calling." The book that overnight was catapulted into the Amazon #1 spot was done so by J K Rowling's admission to writing and publishing it under a pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. To know more about that, here's an article you may find interesting.

After reading some of the hype around this book I knew this was going to be my next read. I absolutely loved the Harry Potter series and intend to reread the entire series back to back someday, and had even picked up Rowling's next book, The Casual Vacancy but hadn't bothered reading it as I read reviews of the book before starting on it. The Cuckoo's Calling however seemed to be getting rave reviews with one Amazon reviewer even suspecting (before Rowling's big announce) that the book was so well written that the author's name was probably a pseudonym used by a famous author. The book also falls under the crime fiction genre which I also do quite occasionally enjoy, so this one seemed to be a safe bet all around

The story is about a private detective, Cormoran Strike, who has been hired by the brother of a dead supermodel, convinced his sister did not commit suicide as largely suspected, but had instead been killed. Rowling's writing is fantastic and the way she spins the story is nothing less than beautiful. Her words are a joy to read as are her descriptions. I found myself being fascinated by the way she spins sentences and highlighted a few as an example-
"The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them."
 or
"Suicides, in his experience, were perfectly capable of feigning an interest in  a future they had no intention of inhabiting." 
Perhaps those who love to read literature will appreciate the writing style and I personally think this has to be the most poetically worded piece of crime fiction I've ever read. 

But then comes the plot and the story. I feel like the novel would make a great movie- the kind that moves very slowly with a bunch of strange, suspicious characters appearing in it, all coming together and making sense in the last 10 minutes when the shocking truth is revealed. Although, reading it is sadly not nearly as much fun. The novel builds a fantastic story but I sort of guessed, simply because of the "you'll never guess who the end" rule, what the end was. The characters did come to life through the story, but a fast paced thrilled this is not... it moves very, very slowly. I often find my mind drifting and forgetting which character was being referred to, and mind you I finished the book in 3 days. It's not that the characters were confusing but I just kept getting restless waiting for something to happen and for a quicker pace to kick in. I didn't come away thinking the ending made too much sense either, but I won't get into that for fear of giving away the story. If you do however read the book, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the end and whether it was satisfactory to you. I felt overall that the book was quite an average one- not unreadable, but definitely not an "unputdownable" one like Inferno, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  or even Six Suspects if you're into Indian fiction.

Overall, I guess I'd give it a 3 out of 5. Read it for the hype and language but don't expect too much going in and then you may just be pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, I'd had my expectations sky high so was slightly disappointed. 
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Book Review- Fall of Giants

After reading (and loving) Dan Brown's Inferno and then following it up with the disappointing Proof of Heaven  I was looking to read another totally absorbing book and didn't even mind turning to a trashy beach read as long as it was entertaining and I got my literary fix! A friend of mine, whom I actually met through exchanging notes about my blog, sent me this recommendation and promised it would be in equal parts absorbing and educational. At 1000 pages the book was definitely not going to be a quick read but I figured I'd give it a shot, and I'm so glad I did!
Trashy beach read this is not, but then again those who have read Ken Follett before would know that. I hadn't, so I didn't, and if my friend hadn't pointed out the educational aspects of this novel, I'd be in for quite a shock. Along with characters that span from Russia to America, German to British, Welsh, Austrian, Scottish and a few others thrown in, we also get to meet Winston Churchill, Lloyd George, Lenin, Trotsky, Woodrow Wilson and a few other historical figures. Yes they appear occasionally as characters in the book and the book is that well researched that statements they make or views expressed either historically actually did happen or as the author explains at the end of the book, could have happened. The novel follows the characters through the First World War explaining the why's, the how's and also the behind the scene actions and make you feel like you were really there. History buffs will LOVE this book and non history buffs who are clueless about sequence of events may have to turn to Wikipedia or even better, pull up a few videos about the First World War on Khan Academy like I did, and maybe get a side explanation on what happened and how. Follett takes basic knowledge of history as a given and unfortunately I found myself a bit lost at a few parts. However a little bit of reading will bring you up to speed and absorbed in the happenings. There were a few parts however that I found to slightly drag on, but as I said my knowledge of history is limited and so is my interest level on the same. The novel ends setting the stage for the Second World War which is what the story of the second book revolves around. Sorry I didn't mention earlier that this novel is Book 1 of a trilogy, the next book being Winter of the World which is out already and the third due for release at the end of 2014.
There are too many story lines in this novel for me to tell you what it's all about but as I said World War I is the most important plot, along with women's rights and the class system coming up as side issues weaved into the story. If you're not interested in history at all I'd probably tell you to give this one a miss. However if you're interested in learning about history in an interesting and absorbing way in the form of fiction, Fall of Giants does just that. It may make you ignore friends and family for a few days or weeks (I finished it in a week) but you'll emerge happier and wiser for it. How many books can promise you that?
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Book Review- Proof of Heaven

 

For a while now I have read books about the afterlife, and I think I had first read books about this subject even before my Father passed away 11 years ago. I remember reading books about an NDE (Near Death Experience) even as far back as boarding school in 1994. Since then I've read books on past life regression (Many Lives Many Masters and pretty much all of Brian Weiss's stuff), studied to be a certified Clinical Hypnotherapist myself and undergone many, many past and in between life regressions (the stuff I get up to in my spare time I tell ya!), read books on Auto writing (Sounds of Silence, Laws of the Spirit World ), Spiritual fluffy stuff on the subject (Journey of Souls by Michael Newton) and quite a few other books in the same vein that don't immediately come to mind right now. To say I am curious about the afterlife would be putting it mildly. But then again, isn't everyone? When Proof of Life started showing up on best seller lists I wondered if I needed to read yet another book on the same subject. If there's one thing I had learned from all my own reading and research, was that everyone seemed to have their own theory and their own "experience" as to what happened after. Whether it was Jesus they saw, Meher Baba, Sai Baba, dead relative, their description of the afterlife, angels.. there was absolutely no consistency and while I really wanted to believe in their experiences and my own, I have remained skeptical. I found the varying degrees of each one's descriptions very convenient to their beliefs and I find it amusing that the inconsistency goes so deep they are unable to even agree on an answer to a simple question- does hell exist or not? The spiritualites will have you believe the soul hates being separated from the Creator so Earth IS hell, whereas the religious describe vividly a fiery pit where all the sinners go. Anyhow, when my friend mentioned Proof of Heaven a few weeks ago, I dismissed it saying I really didn't want to give it a go till I later went home and read about the book a bit. The words "Neurosurgeon" and "Harvard University" started to lure me in and I thought, maybe, just maybe this book will be different. It'll be the one that'll tell me what REALLY is going on. After all the author doesn't call it "thoughts" of heaven... he's a neurosurgeon giving me actual proof dammit! 

After finishing Inferno earlier today, I started on Proof of Heaven as I knew it would be a quick read as these kind of books usually are. While it took me only a few hours to get through it, the Author could have spared me a lot of time and just written an article on  his experience as that's really what his experience could be described in- a couple of thousand words, if not a few hundred. Most of the book he talks about his childhood and his family and his wife and then what his family members were going through while he was in a coma and how his disease was miraculous and one of a kind, how his NDE was very different (as it allowed him to go "deeper" than anyone else- although we don't know what that means) and how his recovery was also miraculous. There is some scientific jargon thrown in there with some stuff about his being adopted, his almost drinking problem, blah blah yada yada. The juicy bit? He wakes up (although it's not really him so there is no waking and he doesn't remember his life as a human) in some sort of dark gooey jelly like place, then hears music and flies with a woman on the wings of a butterfly, then goes and meets "God" that he refers to as Om (this should make the Hindus and the spiritualites very happy) and then.. he goes back to his body. All the while he had no recollection of who he was in the physical plane or any knowledge of people praying for him but says clearly that it was those prayers that saved him and brought him back, although its unclear how. He did gets lots of learning though about that world and other Universes and lots of things were taught to him, especially the idea that its all about Love. The rest of the learnings he tells us he has full recollection of, but couldn't really put into words as they was so magical, but am sure he won't have any issues doing so a year and another book deal from now.

I feel kind of cheated as I do when I read some non fiction books about like diet, or some major business theories, which could in essence be put into a paragraph but is stretched on for 200 pages. And after I was done with the predictable and cheesy end of the book, I googled the guy a bit. Scientists have slammed the book and the authors claim that he was completely brain dead and hence the images could not have been his hallucinations. Another reviewer on Amazon did some digging and found some malpractice suits the good ol' Doc had tried to cover up so there are those questions about his character. Yet, I'd love to be a believer if there was anything of absolute substance in this book but unfortunately, since his whole experience was barely described, there is really nothing TO believe. So magical heaven or just a dead end? I guess only time will tell. In the meantime I'd suggest you save your precious moments here on earth and not spend them reading this book.

Book Review- Inferno

Inferno is a novel by Dan Brown, the author who is most famous for his book The Da Vinci Code and 3 others in the Robert Langdon series. While I absolutely loved his most famous work and was the first book of his I'd read, I was quite disappointed by the ones that followed. However, Inferno sounded promising, had good reviews on Amazon and I was desperately in need of a good, sort-of-trashy, summer fiction read that would keep me absorbed for a few days. While my book club reads were all incredible books, I find that I usually get more absorbed into works of fiction and books like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that are fast paced and well written are usually my favourite kinds. I hoped Inferno would help hit that spot... and boy, did it ever!
Dan Brown is a writer for the masses so anyone looking to read serious literature should turn to Dante's Inferno and not Dan Brown's, although the book is all about Dante and his effect on art and literature. Does the basic premise of the book make a lot of sense? Well, if I was a madman looking to cause widespread global damage, I wouldn't send someone on a scavenger hunt to try and stop me, so in that sense no. In essence, the book is one huge scavenger hunt that starts of in Venice and then sort of takes you on a trip through other historic sites revealing the history behind various pieces of art and sculpture. Am trying to be as vague as possible so as to not give away too much of the story line but I'll just say this- this book will make you want to take an art history class. No joke. I was reading the Kindle edition of the book on my iPad which was great as it gave me direct links to wikipedia articles and other research for a lot of the places and works mentioned through the book. While I've been to all of the cities and places he talks about, the novel actually made me want to revisit each one and pay attention to the detail. If a book can make me want to sight see rather than wanting to hit the nearest shopping center, it must be doing something right.
I got halfway through the book and thought that while the trivia in the book was interesting, the plot had just become boring and predictable. Just then, BAM! The book exploded in twists and turns and became the page turner I was hoping it would be. It takes a while to really suck you in, so am just warning you in case you start to get a little bored a little bit in. Inferno is a great summer read if you're looking for something quick that will really keep you hooked. It was my favourite novel from Dan Brown after The Da Vinci Code and I'd highly recommend it to fans of that novel, especially those who were disappointed in his other works.
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Last Kiss Goodnight...

I don't really remember when I started my good night ritual. Perhaps it was on my permanent return home from college that started it, or perhaps I did it in my younger years and just don't quite remember. Right before I head off into my room at night, I'd lean over to each parent and make them kiss me good night. "Enforced chummi" (kiss) my late Father used to call it. "What if I don't feel like kissing you tonight?"he'd ask. "Tough,"I'd say and as I always did with him, would get my way. Sometimes my cheek was met with affection, sometimes with a quick kiss and moved aside if my head blocked a particularly interesting movie or TV show on the telly, and sometimes my cheek was just left unkissed and ignored. This was/is usually done by my Mother and is the ultimate show of anger. "I'm too angry with you to kiss you good night," that signals. "I'm too pissed off with you right now and know how much this will bother you but I really want to signal my anger across anyway," is what it really means. And on the really, really rare occasion, I won't lean in and motion for a kiss at all. "I don't care if you kiss me good night," is what it signals. "You know how much this action means to me and yet I won't even ask for it, so you can only imagine how upset with you I am," it says. Yes, a tiny little gesture can communicate so very much.
"What if I don't wake up tomorrow?"was given by way of explanation, "Or what if you don't," I'd tell my Mother at the rare instance she'd refuse to partake in my nightly ritual. "Do you really want either one of us to not remember our last interaction with each other?"My mother would then roll her eyes at what she viewed as the over dramatization of crazy thoughts that ran through my mind. The last kiss goodnight to me meant that no matter how bad we fought that day, we'd by a small action proverbially raise a white flag and make peace- at least for the night. It meant that no matter what, I was loved. It meant that no matter how badly I may have, or you think I may have behaved, I'm sorry. Mind you I have no qualms slamming a door shut having had a fight, or going off for a drive in a huff or parting a variety of fights in a variety of different circumstances at various times of the day without worrying about parting words. Yet there was always this thought that consumed me- If either one doesn't survive this night, we'd always have parted having shown we loved each other, and most importantly, having made peace.
Then one day in April in 2002, I woke up to the day I'd never see my Father alive again. My father was supposed to be sent out of the ICU that day in fact, but early that morning decided to instead leave us forever. I don't remember the night before clearly, but I remember it being late at night and me asking my Mother if it was too late for me to sneak into the ICU and see my dad. She had probably said to try anyway, and I remember distinctly walking towards his room. My last conversation with him is completely lost in my memory (which is strange as I remember his last words to me that afternoon as if it was yesterday- "The show must go on") as is any interaction with him that evening. I only remember that he was sleeping and I woke him up only to, you guessed it, have him give me one last kiss goodnight.

Over the years I've had spats with friends and loved ones and while it completely makes sense that sometimes their normal reaction is to "want space"or to "give it some time" or "take a break" my request is always to sort the issue out then and there. To hell with going to sleep sad, mad or upset I say... stay up and fight!! I recently had a conversation with a friend who explained they thought it was better to not fight and say hurtful things in the moment that couldn't be taken back, but rather let both people involved cool down and then come to the table. "What? So you'd rather leave things unsaid and let people stay upset in the time being?" I asked, clearly horrified. "Just smooth things out then and there," I say having visions of me not being able to sleep at night.  At least whichever way things go you'll end the day knowing where you stand is my thought process. I hate going to sleep with a weight on my chest, and I think the more the person matters, the more it matters to me to "make things ok." Making things ok doesn't mean giving in, it means coming to a solution sooner rather than later as I hate letting hurt or angry feelings linger. Each time a friend, lover or parent has walked out on an argument I've always felt... well... abandoned for lack of a better word. I think most of us would like to "go" peacefully in our sleep if we could, so why not end the day having made peace with all around us? Even if making peace means letting go.
Weird, perhaps. But that's just me, and you know what? For the most part, it allows me to sleep like a baby.


L

Hotel Review- Mandarin Oriental Paris

Image taken from Mandarin Oriental website

My friend Nadia and I were heading to Paris for a few days and after doing much research, decided to book a stay at the Mandarin Oriental. Two years ago I'd head to Paris at the same time and had then stayed at the Hotel Crillon where I usually stay and love. Last year when I headed to Paris for the Paris Fashion Week I decided to stay at the Ritz as that's where my sister was staying and I figured it was more convenient for us both to be at the same hotel. Unfortunately both the hotels were shut for renovation and as Nadia hadn't been to Paris before, I was left to pick the hotel. The Mandarin Oriental had the largest rooms and was conveniently located, and despite me having walked into the lobby of the hotel during my last visit and not thinking much of it, I figured it's a Mandarin Oriental.. How bad can it get??

We arrived late into Paris and by the time we reached the hotel Nadia and I were pretty tired and ready to get a good nights rest. I'd warned her about the garish lobby already (the above pic is from their website and as website pictures go, not exactly an accurate representation of what it looks like) and she understood what I'd meant when she walked in. There is no sign of Parisian understated elegance and instead was a hotel that as I put it the first time around, looked like a hotel in Abu Dhabi- and not in a good way. Anyhow we headed up to our room and were a little taken aback by what we were greeted there. The twin beds we requested weren't there and instead we were given a double bed with an extra bed thrown in- that was the first surprise. The second surprise was the decor of the room itself and the quality of furniture and fittings. The room now looked to us like a 3 or 4 star hotel in Abu Dhabi. To add fuel to the fire we realized our bed, the main one not the extra bed we'd been given, had a broken spring of some sort. Needless to say we called and complained. We asked for plugs to charge our phones- the plugs didn't work. We called and complained. They had very sweetly left out a bottle of champagne and a cake for my birthday before we got there. Only problem? The cake had attracted many, many mosquitoes. Needless to say, we called and complained. The Manager that evening went out of her way to make our stay better and tried giving us like a triple upgrade to a duplex suite to make it up to us. While in the room checking it out though, I noticed that the handle on a cupboard door had fallen out and Nadia and I couldn't stop laughing at what seemed to be a year old hotel falling apart. Needless to say we didn't stay in the room and asked for another one. Really, when you're paying a 1000 Euros a night, you expect for your room to be immaculate, your hotel perfect and things to function flawlessly. The room we finally got was apparently worth 1800 Euros a night, offered to us at the same rate and Nadia and I both thought that it just made sense for us to stay put. That's when we realized after a sweaty night that the AC didn't function properly and the breakfast was bad (who has even heard of bad croissants in France?!) and when Nadia saw a door that seemed to be held together by scotch tape (no joke) we decided that even our quadruple upgrade couldn't make us stay put. We ate breakfast, went over to the George V and practically begged them to find us a room.

So here's the deal with the Mandarin Oriental in Paris- the service, despite what I just wrote, is amazing. They tried their best to accommodate us and it reached a stage where we were almost apologetic to leave. I'd forgotten to inform the Emirates Limo my change of address when it came time to take us back to the airport- When he announced himself at the Mandarin they actually told him to head over the George V and that I'd moved a few days earlier. The Manager who took care of us the night we arrived really was amazing, so much so that I left her the bottle of champagne they'd kept for me. After we left I had the Manager of the Hotel email me and profusely apologize and offer me a free night at the hotel the next time I come into Paris. Nadia and I both realized in a day or 2 that as good as the George V was, the service didn't quite match up to the Mandarin Oriental's.

Would I go back and stay there? No. Great service is one thing, but the hotel decor was just way too tacky for my taste. It was done, we were told, in the style matching the 1930's which I found hilarious as I think it to be the most boring and uneventful decade style-wise in the 20th century, but what do I know? Maybe others would love the hotel but personally I wouldn't want to stay there again.

While perfectly acceptable, I didn't think much of the room decor.. especially for the price

Thought the velvet mural on the wall in the room was scary and tacky

The corridors were in 1930's style. Again, not befitting of a Mandarin Oriental!

The wallpaper!!!!

My thoughts on the India's rape problem-

Image taken from Slate.com

 On a blog that mostly deals with gadgets, fashion or other frivolity I'm going to try sticking my neck out and write about something that's been playing on my mind over the last few days- my thoughts on the rapes taking place in India.
I sent a message to a friend a few days ago after watching the news of the 5 year old girl brutally raped in Delhi and asked her who in their right mind would want to bring a child into this world when humanity has reached levels of such depravity. Reading the statistics of related cases in India brought a chill to my spine- rate complaints increased 25% between 2006 and 2011 and it's really impossible to know whether even these statistics are accurate as I'm sure most of the cases still go unreported. Having lived in India for only 6 years between the ages of 10 to 16 it is still mind boggling for me to think back to the number of incidents I remember being told of of what I now know to be sexual harassment and assault. It was common for young girls to be propositioned by elderly "uncles" in the elevator, to have a leery watchman or driver in the building,  or in some particularly sad cases, be molested by brothers or fathers of friends, or more often than not, by their own relatives. It was something we spoke of amongst each other when we were younger but it is horrifying for me to think that while we knew something was wrong, at no point did any of us think to approach anyone older to talk about it. While I was very fortunate to not be at the receiving end of anything more grave than what I deem sadly to be "regular" harassment for India standards, it still took me 6 years after that of being away to boarding school and college to realize the change of attitude, to sense something was different. Don't get me wrong- rape and anything associated with it was always a threat even in the US. What was different however was that any form of sexual predatorship was looked upon as the abnormality, not the norm. The men had not been sexually repressed so male-female interactions on a day to day basis were more relaxed and less guarded. Female students (as were male ones in fact) were encouraged to, after dark, use a service on campus where you had someone walk you back to your dorm or mode of transport. And more importantly, the conversation between the students and the faculty was more open and educative- if you're alone in a parking lot make sure you have your key out to use as a weapon if someone attacks you! Only get into marked taxis and ones that you've phoned for! Always call a friend from a cab and give them the license plate of the one you're in!  I was prepared for the world out there and had a safe environment in which to communicate if something was even slightly off.
A few years ago, after returning from University and living in Dubai, I was uncomfortable at the behavior of my Gardner at home and his what I deemed to be leery ways. I conveyed the same to my Mother and requested her to let go of him. Even then I wondered if I was overreacting as he'd merely just stop his work every time I'd walk by and stare at me.. Or would find any excuse to come talk to me or generally give me very uncomfortable vibes. But then I thought to myself, a walk to my car every morning shouldn't make me be wary of my surroundings, or in fact, downright uncomfortable and figured women's intuition is the best radar I've been blessed with so it's better to be safe than sorry. Luckily for me my Mother respected my wishes despite thinking them ridiculous,  had him replaced. Strangely enough a close friend now is being harassed by her gardener who is stalking her and is convinced he loves her and she him and that they are meant to be married. She's had to change her phone number because of him and can't be alone in or around her house at any time and the gardener himself has gone in and out of jail a few times because of this. We joke and tease her about it but really, it is no laughing matter.
My advice to all parents out there- TALK TO YOUR KIDS. If they (your male and female offspring) are in the least bit bothered or uncomfortable by the presence of anyone NO MATTER HOW INCONVENIENT IT IS TO YOU, do something about it! Let them know it's not ok for ANYONE including the staff at home, older kids on the school bus or even friends or relatives to violate their personal space! And most importantly- APPLY THE SAME RULES TO YOURSELF! I've heard of many cases where well educated female friends even till date do not speak out about harassment they face for fear of embarrassment, shame or just not wanting to draw unwanted attention to themselves.

This brings me to the second point of my post. I've been watching the news and salute the women who are leaving their homes, taking to the streets, braving the wrath of cops and protesting about the state of women in India- Delhi in particular. Yet, it would be over simplifying the problem if we merely point to mens' appendages and pronounce them to be weapons of mass destruction and look upon each male as a threat. The problem sadly, also stems from parenting of said Indian male, of whom sadly, the one primarily responsible is the mother- yes, a woman. Even in well educated Indian homes the mother dotes on her son as being her Raja beta who can do no wrong. In more affluent of Indian homes the parents may allow their daughter a bit more freedom and may agree to send her away from home to boarding school or college, but their expectations of what the girl will do with the degree is very skewed. I know Indian women who have gone to schools like Harvard and UPenn but whose parents still look upon their "settling down" (ie: getting married) as the most important "accomplishment" of their daughter. I can narrate stories of female friends' mothers who have encouraged them to dress more provocatively or given them tips on how they should have their one particular (usually wealthy and from the same community) male friend look at them as "more than a friend." In fact, I cannot think of a single female friend who after college did not receive pressure from their parents, usually their mother, to get married. I don't know of too many male friends who faced the same problem.
I remember back to the days in college when my girl friends would complain about not being allowed to go out late at night while their brothers were able to come home whenever they wanted. Mind you, it was not a question of safety- it was just a question of different standards being applied to the raising of the different sexes. Is it surprising that a nation that has a ban on sex determination during pregnancy has a rape problem?? Forget about female infanticide, I do not know of any Indian marriages, including those of close friends, where some sort of "dowry" did not exchange hands. Whether it's a Patek watch for the boy, or Sabyasachi saris for the to-be Mother in Law and other female relatives, a "give and take" is natural, normal and what's "done." I live in Dubai and have heard of many a story of what husbands of society darlings' get up to after hours. The question has always remained- do the wives know? For most, I don't have the answer, but for some I do and I wonder what their motivation to stay in the marriage is. The kids? The money? I know of one recently divorced Indian woman in Dubai who decided to throw a party one evening. Yes, evening and not afternoon, and yes her "friends" and their husbands were invited. I don't know the woman in question personally, but she was the talk of the town (or a at least parts of town, namely Emirates Hills) merely because she dared to invite men. "She got divorced, now she must be after our husbands," was the general thought process going around, and when I commented on how ridiculous that idea was, I got a, "but you don't know what she's like!" Hopefully, if you're reading this and are of rational thought, you will see the problem with this argument.
Maybe because I was raised in an all women household for the most part (I do not have a brother and my Father was traveling the world through most of my childhood) I do not face a lot of gender differentiation staring me in the face daily on the home front. I joined my family business immediately after college and that probably explains why I didn't face any discrimination for being a female at work either. Also being financially independent also puts me in a very fortunate position of not having to rely on a husband to provide for me or "take care" of me in the future. I realize all of this. I also realize that I'm very blessed to be the 3rd child (hence the most liberally raised) to a Mother who stressed on the importance of education and a work ethic over finding a husband, and a Father who was convinced I was meant to be a boy and looked upon me as the son he never had. I grew up a tomboy sharing my Father's watches and oftentimes, much to his joy and amusement, his clothes and was never made to feel I couldn't do anything because I was a girl, unless of course it was my direct safety they were concerned about- like coming home alone late at night. In fact when my Father passed away in 2002 I insisted on performing the final rites (an act reserved for a boy) which I was allowed to also ironically because I wasn't married. Not that I'm saying my upbringing was perfect- I'm merely stating though that because of multiple factors in my life I'm possibly more affected and able to see the absurdity in the way most Indian households handle the dynamics between their men and women. Or maybe I am maybe more affected by it than I realize as my parents had me after a 6 year gap after my second sister (and 8 years after the eldest) as they probably hoped for a son.. in fact they'd picked out a name for him- Kiran. My Father was away in fact at a temple in India while my Mother gave birth to me and when he returned to Bombay he was greeted by his brother who gave him the news of my birth and then said to him, "bad news... it's another girl." Maybe subconsciously I feel so strongly against gender discrimination as although I can't remember facing it outright, my very existence seems to be defined by it.
I don't mean to offend anyone by this article.. quite the opposite. I am not a bra-burning feminist- if you know me, you'll know I'm quite the opposite and am a hopeless romantic if there ever was one! I however do hope you pause for a few moments after reading this, especially if you're a woman, especially if I know you personally, and think about the issue we as a culture are facing. I don't think India merely has a rape problem, but it has a serious gender problem that has permeated our being at all different levels of society, however well educated or however affluent. It is sad to see it happen, but it is sadder yet to see people mindlessly put up posts on Facebook about the shock and horror they feel hearing about the rapes taking place in India. While they may not have a solution, and I'm not even saying there is one!.. I just wish they'd pause for a moment and think that maybe, just maybe, they may be a teeny tiny part of the problem.
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Gift or not to gift? That is the question...

At dinner with 3 close friends the other day, I said to them I knew exactly what I wanted for my birthday. "What?" they asked. "Nothing!" I said. My nothing does not stem from a, "I'm so blessed I need nothing in my life," sort of nothing. One of the worst excuses particularly stingy friends throw at me for historically showing up empty handed is, "I didn't know what to get you.. What do you buy the girl who has everything?" I don't have everything. I really don't. I'm actually quite an easy person to shop for considering I love to shop. I love gadgets- heck, I love gadgets so much I actually spend time writing about them. Forget about the fact that that's my business- that happened by coincidence by my Father before I was born, but the experimenting with new phones and iPods and headsets and all the rest of it? Is all me. Can't think of what gadget to get me considering I probably have everything I'd want being sold in my stores? My friends would know of my sick obsession with make up. Buy me a simple set of eye shadows- anything from Rimmel being sold in the supermarket to Tom Ford will do, and you'll have me giddy like a girl with vertigo on the top of the Burj Khalifa. Absolutely LOVE the stuff. Don't have the budget but want to get me something I'll really treasure? Anyone who has seen my eyes light outside a bookstore (or for that matter has tried borrowing a book from me) will know how much pride I take in my collection and how much they mean to me. I call the Kinokuniya store in Dubai Mall "my happy place" if that tells you anything! Books are always a safe bet!
But back to my conversation with my 3 slightly confused friends at my birthday gift request. "I'll explain," I added, "I not only don't want anything, I want to be exempt from getting you anything too. You and your families," I quickly added. Let me explain. As a single girl about to turn 35, chances are most of my friends are married, which they are or are about to be. Some of my older friends have college going kids too, but it's the ones that  who have, in recent past, and continue to procreate are the ones where my problem lies. Buying my friends birthday gifts I can handle. I have found a simple scarf from Hermes with a gift receipt in case they don't like my taste, garners a positive response from most women. Do I find it painful to have to dash to the mall at the nth hour before going for a friends birthday dinner as I would have inevitably left buying said scarf it to the last minute? Yes, I do. But nothing I can't handle. What I don't want to put up with anymore is buying the husband's birthday gifts, and worse yet, the kids. And for God's sake please let me be in oblivion about when your anniversary is, and do NOT have a dinner or party to celebrate it.
Mind you, I'm not cheap and it's not the monetary aspect I have a problem with. Most of the times I adore my friends husband's and possibly have an independent friendship with them and I'm very fortunate to have friends who are married to great guys. But would I have stressed about buying them something had I really been independently friends with them and they not been the spouse of my girl friend? Probably not. No offense my lovelies if any of you are reading this, but as a single girl I really don't want to have to pick out ties for your hubby... I don't have a brother and never bought ties for my Father and with the exception of my closest male friend who has a standard tie request for his birthday, I don't want to go tie shopping at all. Ever.
Recently, while heading for a friends kids birthday party who decided to celebrate all 3 kids birthday in one shot, I messaged another friend while hurrying out the door what I should bring. "Lego," she responded, adding the ages of the kids and indicating a price range so I wouldn't blatantly embarrass myself showing up with something too cheap, that was possibly for teenage girls (my friend has 3 boys.) To my delight I discovered that my local WH Smith sold Lego and I made a mental note for future birthday parties I may attend. What was I doing at a kids birthday party in the first place, you ask? My friend had given me an optional invite, and my other friends convinced to come late so we could hang out once the party was winding down- and we did and it was fun and I'm glad I went. And really nothing in the world can beat kiddie birthday party food. I don't know why we stopped serving chicken nuggets and mini pizzas at our birthdays... but I digress. Later I thought to myself, I have no kids.. do I really WANT to know where Lego is available? Should I opt out of going to birthday parties so I don't shamefacedly turn up empty handed? My mother would argue I have questionable social etiquette anyway and her constant complaint is that I don't go anywhere ( I opt out of most large social bashes) so should I really be making myself that much of a weirdo in social situations with close friends too?
My friends sat round the table in silence and stared at me like I had 2 heads, partly I think offended that I felt like buying gifts for their dear ones was an obligation in the first place and that I shouldn't have bothered, etc. But it's what's "done" and I did for the most part except for places I did show up empty handed (like I said, questionable social etiquette did pop up every now and then). But for all of ONE time in the year you may feel obligated to go buy me something, please understand there are possibly multiple reasons in the year I may have to go out shopping for you, and REALLY... who likes to go shopping for birthday gifts for others anyway?? Nobody! "So again," I repeated, "don't get me anything and I won't get you.. or your families.. anything either."
Am I ridiculous for not wanting to feel pressured multiple times a year to halfheartedly go pick out things for people's special occasions? Wouldn't my friends just rather I go pick out something nice for them randomly in the middle of the year if I think they'd like it?- and I do! And if I'm invited to a not-so-close friend's home for the first time or an acquaintance's something-or-the-ther, I'll happily grab a bottle of wine or champagne to take along with me so I at least have the basic common courtesies down pat. But is it really that horrible to tell a few close friends I want out of this whole gift exchanging business? The way I see it, it's not something I'm trying to enforce a week after my birthday... I'm starting at a fair platform and requesting to not be bought anything either! Is it really that bizarre?! 
"Say something," I prompted as they ate their food in silence. "Listen," said the one I'm closest to who incidentally will be the one I'm spending my birthday with in Paris. "We think you're being ridiculous and the best you'll get is for us to respect your wishes... so just be happy with that." And you know what? I am.
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Book Review- One Hundred Years of Solitude

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." This is the start of the widely acclaimed book, One Hundred Years of Solitude. It should have perhaps been an indication to me then what the rest of the book would be like, as many many chapters go by before we are again even introduced to Cololenel Auerliano Buenido, or to the specific incident of him discovering ice. But in typical Marquez style, I too shall digress.
If you have been following my book reviews for a while now, maybe you're slightly bored by my rave reviews and "must read" recommendations. But when we're doing classics and highly recommended ones that too, it's sort of hard to come across a book that we really didn't like right? My friend and I had both heard a lot about One Hundred Years.. and another friend had even gifted me my still unread copy of Love in the Time of Cholera (also by Marquez) promising me it would be one of the best I'd ever read and so I figured this be a sure shot must-read.
It started off as you can possibly see above, on an intriguing, if not gripping, note. The story proceeds to take you into the life of the village of Maconda and the lives of the Buenido family. The description is colourful and vivid and with the promise of stories with gypsies and secrets it starts of as a page turner. Then there is the sudden introduction of a ghost (and a lot of major events in the book happen in a sudden manner in the middle of a mundane sentence) and then somebody is born with the tale of a pig, and events and characters become even more fantastical and frankly, ridiculous, that you're unsure of whether you're supposed to read into things, find a metaphorical aspect to them or take them at face value for what they are- bizarre occurrences.  At the start of the book you see a family tree drawn out for you on one page, and unless you glance through the names, you'll be unsure of why one is needed in the first place. All the names of the characters are pretty much the same, and with the amount of Arcadio's and Aureliano's in the book, your head starts to spin and you wonder whether you care what happens to them at all. The book has plenty of sex, incest, hatred, jealousy.. all the makings of a bad movie, up to and including ZERO plot.
I like books that have a story line which is why I prefer fiction to non fiction. I also like books that grip you and make you unable to put it down. And my favourite type of books are the ones that have characters you can relate to and that when over, make you feel like a part of your world has gone with it forever. I realize that a great plot isn't always what makes a book a classic , and in fact most classics are hardly ever page turners. I however found the dark humour too dark and thought characters were born and died before you could even begin to care for them. I though the book tied up nicely at the end but I don't know if I feel that way because I was so happy it was finally over! Seriously with about 50 pages left I messaged my friend and told her it was taking everything I had to even finish it!!
I know a lot of people think that it's an amazing book and its reviews on Amazon are almost overwhelmingly positive, so do go ahead and give it a shot. I knew while reading it my book club companion Piyali would love it, as she overwhelmingly prefers mostly non-fiction and I knew she'd quite enjoy the dark humour in the book. It certainly was not for me but I didn't want to omit doing a review on it because I didn't like it, neither did I not want to be honest about what I thought because its a classic and all that jazz. But yes, One Hundred Years.. Possibly one of the most painful books I've read!
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Book Review- Boomerang

If you've been following my blog for the past 2 months, you'll know that my friend Piyali and I have been doing a sort of "book club" of sorts where the both of us get together and read a book a week. Piyali's husband, Brij Singh, is extremely well known in the finance field in the UAE having been CEO and MD of Julius Baer Middle East, only to leave to leave to be founder and CEO of Baer Capital Partners ltd... and in fact is also the author of the next book on our reading list. On my flight back from my Harvard course last year I'd bumped into Brij as he was returning from the same program (albeit in the week after me) and we had talked pretty much non stop about various subjects, especially my inability to understand anything finance related. We'd discussed a lot of books too when we realized we both loved reading, and he had advised me to read Boomerang by Michael Lewis, which he had said was one of his most favourite books, by one of his most favourite authors. He promised it would, in very simple uncomplicated English with no finance jargon, explain to me the global financial crisis that we were experiencing and the why and how of it all. He'd praised the book so much that I'd gone out and bought it a few days later with full intent of reading it immediately.
As I'd dug into the book my brain had started to spin and my eyes got a bit fuzzy as they're wont to do when faced with numbers or finance related big-wordery. Credit swaps whaaa?? Hmm ok, I thought to myself, clearly Brij must have misunderstood when I said NO CLUE ABOUT FINANCE and I put the book away only to collect dust in a corner of my shelf. Recently one evening I was out to dinner with the couple and we were discussing what books we should do next when advised us to go through Boomerang, again promising a great and very educational read. We agreed but when we finally got to the time we were supposed to start on the book, I took ill and refused to touch it. It was only when Piyali finished the entire book and promised it was very easy to grasp once to get past the first few pages, is when I actually decided to get into it. "Read the first three chapters and if you don't like it you can quit then," she advised. What she never told me was that the book was only 5 chapters, but by the time the first 3 were done I was hooked and that was that.
Yes you could watch CNBC or read some complicated book or the Economist to try to understand about the global crisis, or really you could read Boomerang to not only give you a very accurate and detailed view about what went wrong, but also make you laugh out loud every few pages while doing so. Lewis takes a chapter each to talk about the meltdowns that took place in Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany and then the current state of the US. To give you a summation of what went wrong? "Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish." What on earth does that mean? Read Boomerang and find out.  The book is uncomplicated, very well researched, and gives you a sense of the people and culture in each of these countries, and then a detailed idea as to what went wrong and where it stands now. Being a very famous author I guess also has its perks and Lewis was about to in his travels to these places, meet the people who matter to get a real behind the scenes look into the disaster zones- in fact the part where he interviews Schwarzenegger while biking around LA was in equal parts insightful and hilarious.
Piyali too was also so impressed with not only the material of the book but also his style of writing, that she googled some of his interviews and had posted this on her Facebook wall. This is him speaking at Princeton (his alma mater) in 2012 and I was pleasantly surprised to hear how well spoken he was. Again, his sense of humor shines through brilliantly even here-

Incidentally, when reading other reviews on Amazon I realized that Boomerang is actually a collection of essays Lewis had written for the magazine Vanity Fair. You may be hence actually able to find the chapters on the Vanity Fair website although I haven't tried doing that myself as I already had the book. Could I suggest that you read the first 3 chapters and see whether you like it? I think you'll be surprised at how much you enjoy it. I know I was!
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Book Review- Indian Summer

"In the beginning there were two nations. One was a vast, mighty and magnificent empire, brilliantly organized and culturally unified, which dominated a massive swath of the earth. The other was an undeveloped semi-feudal realm, riven by religious factionalism and barely able to feed its illiterate, diseased and stinking masses. The first nation was India. The second was England."

Hooked yet? Those are the opening lines of the book, Indian Summer, and the lines my friend Piyali (and my book club partner) read out to me to entice me into reading it. If you've read my review of Rebecca you'll have realized my friend clearly pays a lot of attention to opening lines of books and considering both have been remarkable reads, maybe I should in the future as well. But I digress...

Yes, Indian Summer is indeed a remarkable book about the partition of India and the people who made it happen. If it's history you're looking for, you've got it here with a thoroughly researched book that has almost every third line citing it's origin. Indian Summer is so much more than just a historic tale being dispassionately put down on paper. The authour, Alex Von Tunzelman's writing absolutely delights and flows from one page to another. I recently tweeted a line from the book that made me laugh out loud where Tunzelman wrote about an Indian Prince- "It was unfortunate for 'half mad' underestimated his insanity by around 50 percent." Her part about Edwina Mountbatten's death also made me cry. For an authour to so brilliantly inject her voice into a non-fiction piece really shows off her prowess and brilliance as a writer, and she coins her phrases with equal parts ease and intrigue- enough for it to become a page turner.

While those interested in history may be interested in this book, those who are Indian must definitely pick this up- it's a must read! As an Indian I knew of partition from whatever little I'd learned in history lessons at school, knew of Gandhi from what I saw in the movie and knew to dislike Pakistanis when an India-Pakistan cricket match rolled around, despite knowing little about the game. Reading this book, especially reading about Gandhi, was an eye opener especially on some of his views and ideologies. Did you know Gandhi a) didn't think a woman should resist rape, but instead "defeat" their assailant while being passive and silent? b) thought the Jews should have committed some sort of mass suicide rather than be killed at the hands of the Germans? c) had naked girls, many under the age of 18, sleep in bed next to him so as to "test" his vow of celibacy? Yup.. all cited with proof and backed with research that I went off and did a bit of digging into myself. Just as with Maus when I read about the death and destruction caused by Hitler and naively wondered how one man could have changed the world, I was struck again by how the fates of India and Pakistan were governed mostly by 3 men- Nehru, Mountbatten and Jinnah. Did Mountbatten favour Nehru simply because the two got along better and shared a common interest? And did Jinnah really even WANT a separate Pakistan or did that idea just sprout as a bargaining tool with the British? Tunzelman answers all of these questions, and many more that you never even thought to question in the first place.

And in the midst of the madness comes about a most beautiful love story- that of Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru. I've seen done a bit of digging on that front and the jury is still out on whether their relationship was was a physical one or one that was purely platonic. Tunzelman handles this by leaving it  up to the reader's imagination, never clarifying one way or the other, but citing letters where it is described as an almost spiritual bond. She also cites letters between Edwina and her husband, as well as Lord Mountbatten and Nehru which suggest that he not only knew about a relationship of some sort, but also gave it his blessing.

All in all Indian Summer is an eye opener, highly educational and absolutely fantastic read and one that I can't stop raving about. Highly, highly recommended!!
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BlackBerry 10 launches in Dubai!! Here's my initial hands on review-

Sometime last month I got an invitation to check out a sneak peak of the BlackBerry 10 Operating System. I don't usually go for product launches but I knew this one would be one to not miss, especially if the NDA they made us sign was anything to go by. There was already enough of a preview of the features of the BB10 online so I was wondering what on earth they would show us that required such secrecy- turns out a few of the features weren't yet official, one of the biggies being video chat over BBM.
So the 30th January rolls around and I get another invite for the official launch of the phone, and again I was too curious to see what exactly would happen as I was promised for it to be quite a show. Only on reaching the venue did I realize that the phone was being launched live in NYC with a giant screen that spread the room showing us the goings on- and we were joined with such a launch taking place in a few other cities including New Delhi, Paris, Toronto and Johannesburg. I won't get into too much about the event, although it was very well organized, and instead I'll focus straight on the phone. Every one in attendance got to take home the new BlackBerry Z10 (the flagship device with the onscreen keyboard) so I've had around 24 hours to play with it and put it through its paces.

The BlackBerry 10 launch in Dubai

2 phones announced- the flagship Z10 and the Q10 with physical keyboard (availability date TBA)

Apologies for the blurry image! This is what the Z10 looks like held

So about the device- It looks very similar to the iPhone 5 being just a tad bit longer and wider but feels approximately to be the same weight. I actually like the feel of the Z10 a bit better as it has a rubberized back which gives it a better "grip" while you're holding and typing on the device. The device runs smoothly and feels as fast as an iPhone or top of the line Android device. The keyboard is great and works very well, much better than the stock Android keyboard but perhaps not as good as SwiftKey, my favourite app on my Samsung Note 2 which allows me to customize the keyboard. All in all, I liked it better than an iPhone keyboard too so that's saying a lot. Also, if you are multilingual you will probably love the phones ability to switch between two languages without any particular "switching" to take place. You can now go between English to French with ease!
BlackBerry (the company, formerly known as RIM) has also made sure to go out there and secure some big names for their App store. Right now I was able to download the Facebook and Twitter app which integrates very well into the phone, but others will soon be available including WhatsApp and Skype, although the latter may not be available in Dubai.

Let me highlight a few of the changes that makes the BB10 different from the other iPhone and Android devices out there-
- BBM is now much more useful as it integrates voice calling AND video chat. I've heard that video chat via BBM is available in the UAE for now (although I haven't tested it out as I don't know anyone else who has the new device yet) neither have I been able to try out voice chat as I don't know how to operate it yet. Will post further comments as and when I have more info on that front.
- Since BlackBerry has always been all about security, BBM has another great feature that the working folk may appreciate. Users of the BB10 have a way of sharing their screen with the person they are chatting to via BBM to show them pictures, documents and whatever else they have on their phone without actually sending them the device. That works brilliantly as you can imagine, when sharing information with someone without actually having to share it.
- To do this and not have people be able to glance into your crazy weekend photographs and Angry Bird game downloads, the phone allows you to have 2 modes- a work mode and a play one. I haven't played around with this too much, but I do know from the demos that this is possible.
- Another cool app is something called "Remember" which allows you to create a folder where you can put it all sorts of information that you may need to, well, remember later. The example they gave was quite useful- lets say you planning a holiday. It allows you to store contact details of the person you need to speak to regarding the holiday, any photographs you may have saved, website info, Evernote notes on the subject, all to be jointly kept in one place for future reference. Earth shattering app? No. Bloody useful? For sure.
- Ever tried to use the browser on an old BlackBerry device? You'll know how painfully slow the damn thing can be. One of the first things they made us do in the preview session is to clock the speeds of our current devices to showcase it in comparison to the new BB. Even on the test device, websites were blazing fast and I'm happy to report that the same is true of the final device. Big phew!
- The Camera is an 8 megapixel shooter that is actually quite sharp although I'm yet to review it in dim lighting conditions. The cool thing about the camera is the "Time Shift" function which when activated takes a burst of a few pictures in one shot. As the phone detects faces, what this means is if there are a bunch of people taking pictures together, the camera allows you to literally pick the best shot of the face of each person involved. If you have your eyes closed in the perfect shot of someone else? Easy, just swap it out to the second right before where your eyes are open. Very cool, and very useful.

Image taken from Rogers.com website

- Since we're talking about the camera, a very cool app that comes built in is the "Story Maker" app which is very similar to "iMovie" on the iPhone (although this is free)- It quickly takes snippets of video, still pictures and music and turns it into a funky video clip/slideshow. Again, I just saw this on the demo and am yet to play around with it. Video review to follow!
- The BlackBerry guys talk about the "Blackberry Hub" a lot- which is just a place where all the msgs- be they from twitter, facebook, BBM, SMS or email all show up together, so you can access all your info from one place. I found this to be slightly more confusing than simple, and hopefully I'll just get used to that soon. Clearly there is a slight learning curve there.

Overall, despite mixed reviews published by tech blogs, I'm personally a huge fan of the BlackBerry 10. I have always been a fan of BBM and despite the bells and whistles of other smartphones, I've still kept my BlackBerry, albeit as a second phone, to do what it does best- Communicate.. that too securely.
BBM has always just worked for me. I'm able to keep in touch with the ppl in my life that matter, and while yes, WhatsApp and iMessage are available on other platforms, they just haven't been as easy, or moreover RELIABLE to use as BBM. I've never had a message not get delivered despite the phone showing it has, or other confusions I've faced on the other options.
The second biggest reason I love my BlackBerry is my ability to travel with it outside the UAE. No matter where in the world I am, I can always count on my BB to keep me in touch with my work, family and friends. That has more to do with the carriers offering special packages for the BB, and I'm hoping Etisalat and Du will have the good sense to offer reasonable rates for the BB10 as well. I'm also excited that the frustration I used to experience with ridiculously slow browsing speeds while traveling may also be a thing of the past. Add voice and (hopefully!!!) video chat to this and BAM- you've got a dream device!!

For all those writing the BlackBerry's obituary after the launch, I'd like to point out that the same could have been said about Android only a few years earlier. The difference between the two is that the BB still already has a loyal fan base in the UAE and all they need to do is make sure the phone is able to continue to cheaply and securely provide data to their customers. The device itself is a gorgeous one and I think BlackBerry has gotten more right than they have wrong. With a rapidly growing app store and promise of many more popular Apps, I think a lot of people will love their new device and not feel like they are carrying a dinosaur anymore. I dare say we might see people shift back to the BB as their sole device as well. For those who think I'm paying lip service to the brand as I sell them in my stores, there have been a slew of products I've tested out recently and not bothered doing a review as, well, I just didn't want to lie about wanting to own them myself (ahem, BB Porsche design or Surface anyone?) As of now, am loving my BlackBerry Z10 and I can't wait to see the next generation of phones the company comes out with. As they stressed repeatedly in their launch, I too think this is just the beginning for them. 

This is just my initial review after 24 hours of use and in a few days hopefully I'll be back with a video review and a few more tips and tricks about the device and operating system. Stay tuned!
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The BlackBerry 10 is out everywhere in the UAE on February 10th. Due to the high demand of the product, I'd advise you to go into any of the Jumbo Stores to pre-order the device to ensure you get it on the day itself!
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Book Review- Rebecca

 

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again," quoted my friend holding up her copy of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. "Err what now?" was my response. "Don't tell me you've never read Rebecca," exclaimed my very astonished friend, "it's a classic!" Ashamed, I had to respond that I had actually never even heard of the book, never mind quoting what I later realized was the book's famous opening line. A quick poll amongst other friends who like to read proved that I was one of the very few who hadn't heard of the book, even if most hadn't read it themselves. 

After finishing Age of Innocence , a book that I absolutely loved, I was looking forward to launching straight into Rebecca especially since Piyali, the quoter of said book's opening line and my book club partner had hated AOI, decided to quit reading it midway and zipped through Rebecca, loving it yet again. I was intrigued by the first few chapters and I carried on reading... and reading.. and reading. "Does anything actually HAPPEN in this damn book?" I texted my friend. She asked me what page number I was on and asked me to keep reading. "Am halfway through," I messaged her a few days later, "still nothing." "Keep at it," came the not very encouraging response. I kept reading and thought ok NOW it's going to turn into a ghost story! Murder mystery maybe? Philosophical tale? All a dream? I met a friend for dinner and mentioned to him that I was reading Rebecca and there was absolutely no plot and that the story wasn't going anywhere. "I'd wait till I get to the last 100 pages of the book," he said smiling. He hadn't read the book he added, but instead watched the movie. Movie? I didn't know there was a movie. Apparently there is- An Alfred Hitchcock one that too, and I believe his first movie ever. I found that out after completing the book and in hindsight realize that the novel is right up Hitchcock's alley. 

So, I finally reached the fabled last hundred pages and bam! Suddenly my dull boring tale became a page turner and I was absolutely hooked. Is there a point to almost half of the book being painfully tedious? Well, yes, it definitely adds to the intrigue and ties it all in together. Could it have been conveyed in fewer words with a lot less description? Well yes, but like a Hitchcock movie it definitely adds to the story and builds it up to the crescendo. Would I recommend it? Definitely. If you have patience that is.

So, here's a glimpse into the story- the woman who acts as our narrator (whose name we never find out) reminisces about, as the first line would suggest, her time at Manderlay. The reader is then transported to the narrator's time as a young girl in Monte Carlo where she acts as a companion to a wealthy woman when meets the rich widower Maxim de Winter, who after a brief courtship offers to marry her and whisk her off to his palatial home that is Manderlay. The new Mrs de Winter goes to Manderlay but something is not quite right. With the sense of the late Rebecca de Winter still looming in the air and the downright spooky Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper and apparent lover of all things Rebecca hanging around things start getting downright strange for our poor narrator. Things go on and get stranger still till... 

Aah but you're going to have to read the book to find that out. Go on, I promise in the end it'll be worth your while. 

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Book Review- Age of Innocence

 Aah! The Age of Innocence! We decided to read this book in my 2 person book club when my friend's daughter was visiting town, joined us as an honorary member and came book shopping with us to help our future picks. I wanted to pick either The Great Gatsby or Age of Innocence but since she too wanted to read this we picked up AOI despite getting much resistance from her Mother. Since the TV show (and one of my ex guilty pleasures) Gossip Girl had referred to this book a few times, I knew it was about New York society, but I didn't really know too much else about it and hadn't seen the movie.
When I started reading the book I found it a bit difficult to get into as I hadn't read a classic for a while (it was written in 1920 but is set in the 1870's) and I found the language a bit difficult to get into. Once I realized to not get bogged into the descriptive element of the book and get the gist of the story line and narrative instead, I found the language to be incredibly beautiful and one of the main reasons why I loved the book so much. As I mentioned already, the book is set in New York City in an era that is governed by convention and appearances. In the first chapter itself I was thoroughly amused by these descriptions and figured the book could very easily be based in Modern Dubai! For example Wharton describes a woman who is at the opera in the setting scene, whose presence is even more noted as she is hosting a ball at her house later that evening, so wants to make a statement as to how well trained her staff are and how often they entertain that her presence is not even required at home. Now make that opera be set at the Madinat and the lady's home at the Emirates Hills and we've got a modern day fairytale! But, I digress...
The book is about a young man, Newland Archer, who is engaged to be married to the young May Welland when her cousin, Countess Olenska comes to town after leaving her husband and causes a stir in the conservative society of New York. Of course, Newland is completely besotted with May are men were expected to be, and May in turn seems to be at first glance the perfect "wife material"and a bit of a mindless bimbo to be honest, but that soon changes. Wharton has a wickedly delicious sense of humour that doesn't always come through at first, but soon you realize she's laughing at the nuances of the society along with you. Her language though shines halfway through the book when it comes to the romance between the characters and the sheer brilliance of her use of words kept me absolutely hooked on to the book. My most favourite line was when Newland Archer tells the Countess about the effect she has on him every time they meet- “Each time you happen to me all over again. ” And another one I absolutely loved- “I shan't be lonely now. I was lonely; I was afraid. But the emptiness and the darkness are gone; when I turn back into myself now I'm like a child going at night into a room where there's always a light.”
 The romance in the novel is beautiful, breathtaking and heart breaking at the same time. And if you think it's a typical romance novel with a predictable end, think again. And as I said earlier, especially if you live in Dubai you may find yourself drawing quite a few parallels... “It was the old New York way...the way people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes", except those who gave rise to them."
I absolutely loved the book and found myself savouring it towards the end as I enjoyed the writing so much. And of course if that's not reason enough, the fact that it won a Pulitzer in 1921 may be enough to tempt you?
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Book Review- Maus

This review refers to "The Complete Maus" which is a publication that contains book 1 and 2, which are also available separately. Maus is not a widely known book despite it having won a Pulitzer prize, and the only reason I'd heard of it and read it around 15 years ago, is because it caught my eye at my College bookstore in the US. After all, it isn't common for a comic book to be featured in any course's reading list, not to mention win a Pulitzer, and that made me want to pick it up and check it out. In my last post, I'd mentioned my book-a-week book club I'd started with a friend, and after Palace of Illusions and Animal Farm I suggested Maus to her and set about rereading the book again.

In case the illustration on the cover isn't a dead giveaway, I'll spell it out- Maus is about the holocaust and is a true story by Art Spiegelman who sets out to do a comic book depicting his Father's nightmarish journey, and ultimate survival, through the same. Through the book, the Jews have been depicted as mice, the Poles as Pigs and Germans as Cats. Ironically, the last book we'd read as part of the book club was Animal Farm which depicts events taking place right before WWII and of course, also uses animals to depict it's story. Having not read too much about the holocaust since I generally favour fiction to non-fiction, the subject matter was new to me as I'd even skipped out on watching movies on it such as Schindler's List. There is one thing knowing exactly what happened during the holocaust, but it's another to read through a painful narration of a man who went hungry for days and in some instances eats snow to be alive, for whom a small piece of bread is the difference between life and death, and whose family was almost all completely wiped out in the Holocaust.

When discussing the book with my friend during our book club meet, she and her daughter both gave me feedback that they hadn't really enjoyed the book and wondered how it had won a Pulitzer. My friend even said that she felt the story being told in comic form almost trivialized the occurrences. In hindsight, I feel Maus is about so much more than just the holocaust, it is a beautiful depiction of human suffering, the desire to survive in face of torment and the aftermath of that struggle. Spiegelman portrays his tense relationship with his father whom he shows being extremely stingy to the point of embarrassing his son on multiple occasions. At the end of the book he also portrays the Father's unpleasant reaction to an African American, which makes you think about racism and hate breeding hate. The most shocking is that Spiegelman's Mother survives all the torture of the holocaust only to commit suicide years later, without even leaving a note.

All in all I personally very much enjoyed Maus and would highly recommend it to anyone, especially for someone who, like me, may not have read too much about the holocaust.
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Book Review- Animal Farm

So to explain what exactly prompted me to pick up a classic, especially one as non traditional as Animal Farm I'm going to have to give you a back story and also explain why you may be seeing a multitude of book reviews on my blog. My friend and I were chatting one evening about the books we'd read and despite my being a voracious reader, I was blown away by the types of books she'd read, and the speed at which she read them. She mentioned then that to encourage her teenage daughter to read more classics and more literature (rather than the 50-types-of-trash that seem to be so popular these days) she started a book club with her for 5 weeks (the daughter was soon off to boarding school) where they picked a book to finish each week after which they'd had a discussion on their literary consumption. What a fantastic idea, I thought aloud, and asked if she'd want to have the same set up with me. I love to read but recently I'd just gotten downright lazy at it. Watching mindless TV shows just seemed to take up way too much of my time and even when I was reading, I seemed to veer towards the "Best Sellers" section at the bookstore rather than picking up anything substantial and worthwhile. Since she hated most fiction unless it fit in the classics genre, I knew I'd be exploring books outside my comfort zone, yet the types I'd always wanted to explore, and hence our 2 person "book club" was born.

So.. Animal Farm. Definitely outside my literary comfort zone! Most of you would have heard of the book, and a lot of you read it at school or college. I'd heard a lot about it and knew that it was a simple story, steeped in imagery and was about, as the name suggests, an Animal Farm! The book is only 90 something pages so is a very quick read, and can almost be a mindless children's book if you read it as is without trying to really read between the lines. It tells the story of a bunch of animals that drive out the owner of the farm they are housed in and decide to run things themselves and take matters into their own hands if you will. The short simple tale has many subtexts to it, which touches on communism vs socialism, on politicians vs the masses, and at it's very core, human social interactions and what happens when equality is assumed amongst a group of people who, given their abilities, socioeconomic status, education and upbringing, are clearly not equal.

But to really read the book and not go into it's history and the story it was meant to originally portray (despite your own interpretation of it and how it relates to the modern world) is to do it grave injustice. Honestly, I didn't really research the book and the history, despite knowing that the story was meant to portray the Russian Revolution. Luckily my friend is sort of Google Queen and had gone deep into the history of Russia and researched the book to correlate it to events and I was pretty impressed as to how Orwell had through a simple story, depicted the rumblings and undercurrents between the masses that took place during and after the revolution. They are many writings on the same, but if you've read the book already or intend to, you can check out this link that lays it out quite simply- http://www.slideshare.net/middletons1/russian-revolution-animal-farm 

All in all I'm glad I didn't read the book in isolation and had someone who did the research and explained a lot of things to me. All in all, I wouldn't say this was a great read like Palace of Illusions which I couldn't put down, but it was more of an educational read and I'm glad I took the time out to go through it.
If by any chance you'd like to virtually be part of our book club and share your thoughts with us, do let me know and I can post the names of the book as we're about to start on them, or give you a short list on what we're planning on reading next. Also if you guys have any recommendations, do let me know and I'll be sure to check them out!
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Book Review- The Palace of Illusions

A few years ago a Pakistani friend of mine suggested I read "The Palace of Illusions." I mention my friend's Nationality as said book is based on the Mahabharata and is written from Draupadi, the female protagonists point of view. I was extremely intrigued and had come home and downloaded it on my Kindle and then promptly ignored it, while I had probably gotten submerged by other books and useless TV shows. Then last week I was over at another friend's home who is Indian, an atheist, extremely intelligent and one of the most well read people I know. "You have to read this book," she prodded, sometime after she quoted quantum physicists and some mumbo jumbo about protons and ions and lots of research she had read before she decided to convert to atheism. So a Muslim and an atheist both prodded me to read a book based on the a story of a war which is the setting for the most religious of Hindu scriptures- the Bhagwad Gita. I was extremely intrigued and started on the book the next day itself.
If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you will know I worship Vikram Seth and that "A Suitable Boy" is my most favourite book of all time, a book I reread for the third time over the summer. All I can say is "The Palace of Illusions" either shares that top spot with ASB or could possibly have dethroned it altogether. If you're reading this and you're a Hindu, the story this book is based on is possibly quite known to you. Draupadi is married to five brothers, the Pandavs, and they go to war against their cousins, the Kauravas. If however, you haven't a clue about the story of the Mahabharata, that one line is quite possibly all you need to know before you read the book. How then, can one of the best books I've ever read be based on a story I already knew? Therein lies the brilliance of the book. Divakaruni, while writing this book, takes creative liberty in taking you through the detailed story and emotions of the protagonist, exploring a love story within the Mahabharata that isn't often spoken about or commonly known, and gives you a vivid picture of the occurrences as they happen. And her writing... aah her writing! The writing is pure poetry and is especially heightened almost reaching a dramatic crescendo at the end. My friend reread the book with me and in a quick swapping of notes yesterday, we realized we both cried at it's end, more because the words moved us so rather than because of the story line- one we both were quite familiar with. When "A Suitable Boy" ended, each of the three times I read it, I had been left with a feeling of emptiness as I felt a world that I had been built for me and suddenly vanished and I had been left alone without it; Most people would know that feeling which could come at the end of a great book or great movie. At the end of "A Palace of Illusions" however, I finished it on a complete high, feeling completely satiated and satisfied and almost privilidged to be allowed to witness glimpses into such personal moments of another's life. Strangely, both my friend and I had the same reaction to the end. Something about it makes you want to sit in thoughtful silence after turning the last page.
In my book reviews I really don't like giving spoilers or giving too many details away about the storyline as I feel one doesn't enjoy the book remotely as much if you know what's going to happen next. If that is what is holding you back, I suggest you put your misconception aside and still give it a shot. Had someone given me that advice, I'd possibly have read the book years ago when its first rave review had made me download it. Now, as you can guess, I can't recommend "A Palace of Illusions" enough! Very rarely does a book come into your life and make you feel like nothing will ever be the same again. I dare you to read it and not feel the same.
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