The story narrates the happenings in the lives of three main characters – Gopal, Raghav and Aarti who are childhood friends. The names of the characters subtly indicate their mental make-up, outlook and what they want to achieve in life when they grow up.

The major part of the story happens in Varanasi, where people from all over the country come to cleanse themselves of the sins that they have committed in life. As the story progresses, the readers are left to wonder about the massive sins committed by people, for instance, politicians  of Varanasi, unmindful of where they will go to cleanse themselves of their sins committed in their frenzy to amass wealth.

While Gopal wants to use his intelligence to make money, Raghav wants to use his talents and intelligence to cleanse the corrupt system – lock stock and barrel!

Aarti likes both the boys, but she truly loves Raghav. Her passion is becoming an Air-hostess but she ends up landing a job in the hospitality industry.

Gopal in his eagerness to amass wealth, ends up being the front for a politician who siphons off his ill-gotten wealth to increase it further. For Gopal, the end justifies the means – fair or otherwise.

Raghav, academically brilliant, who could have landed a lucrative, well-paying job, chooses the role of a journalist, out to fight corruption, come what may.

Gopal realises that Aarti is not able to make up her mind to marry Raghav because of her friendship with Gopal. By a concocted drama, Gopal portrays himself as a man of loose morals, literally forcing her to choose Raghav without feeling guilty. This in a way is Gopal’s contribution to the revolution – as now Raghav decides to contest the elections – a much needed entry of honest men in public life. Aarti’s marriage provides solid support to Raghav’s journey in the right direction.

While getting immersed in the tale, we get the feeling of not just reading a book, but actually witnessing a thrilling drama unfolding right in front of our eyes.

The narrative style makes us realise once again the reason why Chetan Bhagat enjoys such immense popularity and occupies the exalted position that he does.

Yes, the author truly does have the happy knack of getting into the skin of each character.

A very good read indeed!

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My DD (darling daughter) is capable of springing up surprises. The recent one (rather one too many!) was through Amazon.

Yes ….. she had ordered a cover for my iPad about which I knew only when the delivery guy came knocking at our door.

Before I could recover from this, another guy came along! This time, it was even a bigger surprise. The parcel contained two books of my favourite author Sudha Murthy.

The books were:

(1) “Three Thousand Stitches” and

(2)”Here, There and Everywhere”

I simply sat with the books and devoured them at one go, non-stop!

It goes without saying that I was floating around the house murmuring Lata Mangeshkar’s song ‘Aaj kal paon zameen par nahi padthe mere’. (My feet do not touch the ground nowadays!)

I could hardly help sporting the look of ‘a cat that had helped itself to a lot of cream!’ 

Wait, that was not all. The next surprise was delivered personally by my DD.

Guess what? This was a surprise that I could not even guess!

She gave me a ‘Galaxy Wearable’.  This is a watch like thingy which displays, besides time, steps walked by the person wearing it, the pace of walk, calories burnt, distance covered etc.

Only thing is you have to remember to wear this contraption on your wrist when you start your walk. We are all used to keeping our mobiles at one place and wandering all over, without bothering where the device is!

This blessed thing even encourages one with remarks like “Healthy pace! ……. “Keep it up!” ……… “Good work out!” ……… and the like.

Just when I am all pleased with my activities, like the actor Parthiban harassing the comedian Vadivelu in Tamil cinema, the devices flashes a pop-out message: : “STOP! Target reached!”

The first time this happened I actually started looking around searching for my SON – who always teases me with the words “You are always over- doing things”.

Thank God for blessing me with a Loving daughter and a Concerned son, even if their attention and solicitude is a little disconcerting! 

Only one thing is beyond my grasping power – who set the target and how does this contraption know to flash this message, stopping me in my tracks?

Anyone out there – can you help? 🙂

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Reading about the manager Mr. Subash Bakshi in Chetan Bhagat’s book ‘One Night At The Call Center’ brought back my memories of one such boss that I had in the late 1960s. Nearly four decades of my service necessarily involved interacting with bosses who occupied either end of the spectrum ranging from too bad to too good!

Let me talk about someone who occupied the not too flattering end of the spectrum. He was, in fact, my senior colleague who was officiating for a short period since my regular boss had gone on two months leave. This person used to think very highly of himself. Everybody else had their own (unprintable) opinions !

Those days I was in Bengaluru, with my parents. Besides my wife and my 10 month old DD, my sister’s daughters aged 6 and 4 years were also with us. We used to have a wonderful time. My boss (the officiating one) had developed the peculiar habit of ringing me up around 10 p.m. on a regular basis every night and talking about some vague things.

The present day generation of youngsters would have no idea about the kind of telephone instruments we had then. They were mostly black in colour, resembling a baby elephant. There was no provision to control the volume of the ringing of the telephone bell.

It would sound so harsh that it would startle even grown-ups. As for its effect on kids and babies, the less said the better.

The whole house was getting agonised by the din. It was my responsibility, I felt, that this issue needed fixing and that too, pretty soon.

I didn’t want to hurt his ego, that of my Boss, I mean. I was waiting for a chance and pretty soon got one. My boss shared his chamber with another officer. On a day when the other officer was on casual leave and my boss was alone, I deliberately indulged in small talk with him.

I casually enquired about his family and asked who were all living with him. (I knew quite well that he lived alone with his wife and there was no one else with him.) As expected, he said that there was nobody with him other than his wife.

I just said “Now I understand!” and stopped. He wanted me to elaborate.

I said “Sir, leave it. Let us talk about something else.” As expected, he insisted and with reluctance, (feigned) I told him about the havoc his calls were causing at home.

He was silent for a short time and then I left his cabin….. (with a satisfied smile on my face).The offending calls stopped within a surprisingly short time!

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This fast paced book is about Formula One races; the high stakes involved and the role of a few unscrupulous but unsuspected men involved.

The speed of racing cars travelling at 260 kilometres per hour can be experienced at many places by the readers, due to the vivid description. It is not for nothing that the famous author Alistair Maclean’s 29 novels are world best sellers and many of them have been made into films.

A brief description about some of the important characters of this novel may come in handy in making the experience of reading this book a pleasant and worthwhile one.

Johnny Harlow: He is the world champion driver of Formula 1 races, golden boy and number one driver of Coronado Racing Team. He is the apparent cause of the latest accident, that is being investigated.  He is desperate to prove his innocence and gets involved in the investigation to find out the culprits.

Alexis Dunnet: He is a Senior officer of the special branch of New Scotland yard and a member of Interpol. He is the Coordinator in the investigation, but is masquerading as a journalist.

Isaac  Jethou: He is a brilliant Californian, driving his red Ferrari Formula One racing car which is involved in the tragic accident leading to the investigation. He gets burnt along with his car.

James Mac Alpine: He is the owner and manager of the Coronado Racing Team. This millionaire’s wife gets kidnapped and his beautiful 20 year old daughter Mary Mac Alpine gets her left ankle pulverized in the accident. She is madly in love with Johnny Harlow.

Rory Mac Alpine: He is the son and younger brother of Mary Mac Alpine.

Jacobson: He is the Chief Mechanic and a friend of James Mac Alpine. He is greedy, unscrupulous and mastermind of the conspiracy.

Nicole Tracchia: He is the Number Two driver of the Coronado Racing team. He is fractionally less good than Harlow. He is also the partner in crime and will do anything to get rich quickly.

Neubauer: He is the Number One Australian driver for Cagliari Team. He is the acknowledged Crown Prince of racing and Harlow’s eventual and inevitable successor.

Something foul was happening in the Grand Prix circuits for almost a year. Cars were losing that had seemed a certainty to win. Cars were winning that should not have had a chance! Cars had mysterious accidents. Engines overheated through a mysterious loss of oil or coolant or both. Drivers fell ill at the most mysterious and most inconvenient times.

This led to the car manufacturers and team owners approaching Scotland Yard who called Interpol.

Mr. Dunnet was the coordinator and Harlow the field man. Investigations reveal that the mastermind Jacobson has earned more money in a year which he could not have in several years. Five drivers and seven or eight mechanics were stashing away more money than they could have legitimately earned. Tracchia and Newbauer were part of the conspiracy and were found to be involved in selling the drug heroin.

Jacobson the mastermind of the fraud, gambled on the Grand Prix drivers to alter the odds in his favour by suborning no fewer than 5 drivers plus even more mechanics.

Jacobson had arranged for the kidnapping of his friend and partner James Mac Alpine’s wife and was milking regular ransom money to his Zurich account from the unsuspecting James Mac Alpine.

Johnny Harlow manages to get out of the limelight and opts to be the driver of the container transporting racing cars. He does a methodical investigation, collects solid evidence of the involvement of Jacobson and his cronies in the fraud and rescues Mrs. James Mac Alpine.

Dust is the European jargon for heroin. Death due to consumption of heroin can be termed as a ‘dusty death’.

Harlow succeeds in punishing Newbauer. Jacobson is shot and killed while trying to escape in a car driven by Tracchia which is pushed off a hairpin bend in the road by Harlow, sending him to a more than 600 feet deep ravine below.

Thus Justice is meted out to all the Evil doers.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I feel sure it will prove to be a fascinating read even for those who are not keen or familiar with the world of car racing.

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I had been reading Devdutt Pattanaik’s ‘7Secrets of Shiva’.

The book though very interesting, informative, and thought-provoking, leaves you somewhat drained because what you read, needs pondering over before assimilation!

You need something lighter to regain your normal faculties.

The best choice was before me – “Grandma’s bag of stories” by none other than Sudha Murthy.

The book was so interesting that I finished reading the entire book containing almost 21 short stories in less than 24 hours!

Almost all of the readers will concur with me that the present day young mothers and not so young grandmothers (No offence meant, normally Grandmothers cannot look as young as their daughters – though some of them do manage beautifully!) are very resourceful and can spin yarns. (I mean tell stories …..!)

On the few rare occasions, that you need help, this book will come in handy.

This is THE BOOK for you. Telling a story ‘Everyday’ can be a cake-walk.

Wonder why ‘every day’ is given prominence?

I will come clean. You will agree with me that wanting a good cup of strong coffee in the A/N is nothing abnormal. But the office canteens being what they are in Mumbai, you will need a genie to help you out in realising this simple wish of yours!

We all have heard it said so often that we generally firmly believe that nothing is impossible.

 While discussing the issue my friend remarked, “Every day, we discuss, but we do not have a solution.” That remark made me jump up with joy, since he had named the solution without realising it!

Three of us who were colleagues and also close friends rushed to the nearby shop, purchased a tin of ‘Everyday’ milk powder, ‘Sunrise’ instant coffee powder, sugar and an electric kettle and celebrated drinking  a nice coffee of our choice and liking.

The solutions to our problems may be staring at our faces, but we see them only when we apply our minds!

So happy story-telling young mothers …….. Sudhaji is always with you with enough stories in her “Grandma’s Bag of Stories!”

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Though this incident happened almost six decades ago, it is still fresh in my mind, as though it was only yesterday that it happened!

While at the Telecom Training Centre, Trivandrum, we had a subject ‘Transmission Theory’, a rather tough one to grasp, for almost all of us. This subject was handled by a very knowledgeable person who also happened to be our Principal!

The classes used to be immediately after LUNCH. We the trainees, who were all mostly in our twenties, used to gobble up any number of chapattis with huge quantities of vegetables, in addition to our staple food viz. rice. Buttermilk used to be thick and inviting and hence would be consumed liberally. The effect of all this food in the tummy would make us drowsy and struggle to keep our eyes open and remain awake.

Being a first bench student didn’t help either. The sonorous sound from the lecturer was sure acting as a catalyst and most of us were blissfully enjoying the A/N nap, of course making sure that the snoring was not too loud!

One afternoon, to our utter surprise, the lecturer announced that he had completed the portion. He asked us whether we had any questions. As it usually happens, there was pin- drop silence in the classroom.

Now, he dropped a bomb! He had a question for us. It was posed thus: “Can a psophometer be used for ‘ noise level’ measurement? If, yes, how? If not, why?”

All of a sudden the entire class had any number of Vadivelus …..![1]

Like him we were saying soundlessly, “Aaha! Endha pakkam ponaalum anai katturare!’ (Loosely translated from the original Tamil as ‘He is not leaving us any escape route.’)

Then God Almighty took over and saved us ….. yes, the blessed bell rang and the entire class vanished into thin air!

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[1] Vadivelu is a famous comedian of Tamil cinemas whose witty dialogues are on everybody’s lips.

• Picture courtesy: https://www.clipartmax.com/middle/m2i8i8b1A0d3i8A0_lecture-clipart-lecture-png/

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This is a very well written and interesting book leaving the reader engrossed, once started. Mrs. Michelle Obama and Mr. Barrack Obama are the 44^th First Family and the 11th family to spend two terms in the White House. They would always be the first Black one. The motto they tried to live by is ‘When they go low, we go high’ – a really difficult motto to adhere to!

Going through the book, one cannot miss noticing the sincerity and honesty of the Author. Michelle has no hesitation in revealing that she grew up with a disabled dad, in too small a house, with not much money. She firmly believes that one doesn’t need to live up to some established ideal or to feel inferior, simply because the skin is dark or the hips are wide.

It depends upon which way you want to tell the story. You may dare to tell it differently. Ever wondered why the book is titled ‘ Becoming’?

You get your answers as you go through the pages of the voluminous book. ‘Becoming’ is not about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim, it is evolving, a way to reach toward a better self. It requires equal parts of patience and rigour.

It is about never giving up on the idea that there is more growing up to be done.

She is not content with merely basking in the glory of her husband, the President of United States of America. She wants to prove to the world that she can and will as an individual, contribute to the betterment of fellow human beings.

In a nut shell, her firm belief in life is ‘ being President ‘ doesn’t change who you are ….. it in fact, reveals ……. who you are!

The book deserves not just one read, but several reads, to fully understand and appreciate what ‘The First Lady’ is and how noble her thoughts are!

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Immediately after joining as EST ( Engineering Supervisor Telegraphs) at Hubli, Karnataka, I had a Boss who wanted a report every morning at 8 a.m. about the interruptions in my Section. I used to collect information and convey it to him daily. It so happened one day that I could talk to him only at 08.05 hours. He answered the phone but disconnected immediately, saying, “You are late.”

I decided then and there that I would pay him back in his own coin. Exactly at 8:00 a.m. the next day, I rang him up, waited for exactly 6 rings (which I was aware was not enough to answer unless he were sitting by the side of the phone) and disconnected! I never bothered to make another attempt.

On reaching office, my Boss summoned me and demanded to know why I had not rung up.

I replied that I did ring up but got no answer. He said that I should have tried after 5 minutes. My reply was if he expected a call at 8 a.m., he should better be there to receive it! No wonder his rules were relaxed then onwards!

On another occasion we were going by my Jeep for inspection work in another town. My driver was an ex-serviceman. He was an excellent driver. He was in fact an instructor in the Indian Army who used to teach soldiers to drive. My boss used to tell him in which gear he should drive! Obviously, my driver didn’t appreciate the intervention. When he asked me privately I told him that this was not a problem at all. My driver could not make out what I was hinting at!

Then I explained to him and my idea worked! On our next trip, my boss as usual told the driver to slow down and use the first gear. The order was promptly obeyed. After sometime even people riding bicycles had started overtaking our Jeep! My boss was annoyed and asked my driver why he was driving so slowly. The reply was, “You have not asked me to change the gear, Sir!”

That was the last time the driver was instructed by my boss as to how he should do his job. The driver had politely announced, “ Hajam apna kaam samajhta hai, Saab!” It means ‘The barber knows his job!’ in Hindi.

On another occasion I really faced a nasty situation. The linemen usually used to go on foot patrol every fortnight, i.e. walk under the trunk line for about 8 kilometres, looking for faults that are likely to develop and avoid any interruption to the trunk lines. This was a sort of  preventive maintenance. One day, one of my Linemen who was a Tamilian in Karnataka, rang me up and informed me that there was a breakdown. He asked me whether he should proceed with his foot patrol or attend to the breakdown. Obviously I told him to attend to the breakdown and restore communication.

My Boss who had come to know about this, asked me the next day as to why my line man (LM) did not complete his foot patrol. I explained the situation to him. My Boss insisted that the foot patrol should have been completed. I announced that I should have been crazy to order continuation of foot patrol, ignoring the breakdown!

My boss said, “I am ordering you. Obey my orders.” I countered, “In this case oral orders will not do. If you issue written orders, I will obey.”

Of course no written orders were ever issued…..!

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After a perjury trial, Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to four years jail. He is to spend 22 days in HMP Belmarsh, a high security prison which houses some of Britain’s most violent criminals. The diary is meticulously written for the stay lasting for 22 days from 19th July 2001 to 9th August 2001.

This diary gives you quite a lot of information about how the prison is run, the problems faced by the officers managing the jail, the facilities like gym, Church, etc. available for the prisoners, how drugs are smuggled into the jail, how the network functions inside, etc.

You also come to know about what keeps the life convicts from committing more crime inside the prison, how there are listeners for helping convicts, the respect shown to the author by Jail officers, etc.

The book stands no comparison to the other books written by the Author.

We live in a period where someone posts something on FB and within an hour contacts his friends to check whether they have seen the post! He feels disappointed if a sizable number of them have not seen the post!

There was a time when our elders taught us that reading someone’s diary without his consent is bad manners. Even though this diary is published and is available for everyone to read, I think our elders were wise and I would suggest taking what was told to us seriously….!

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“Mahashweta” by Shrimati Sudha Murthy is an interesting novel about a girl – Anupama who is born in a small Karnataka village as the daughter of Shamanna, a school teacher to his first wife. She loses her mother when barely a year old child.

Her father marries another lady – Sabhakka, a loud mouthed, domineering woman. While Anupama is beautiful, well -mannered, talented and intelligent, her step sisters are just the opposite.

Anupama comes across a young handsome doctor Anand while selling tickets for raising funds for a drama by the great Sanskrit scholar Banabhatta. A part of Banabhatta’s great novel ‘Kadambari’ is dramatized and Anupama enacts the part of the heroine Mahashweta.

Dr. Anand is love struck and manages to convince his rich mother into accepting Anupama as her daughter-in-law. The mother who is status conscious, agrees reluctantly. After the marriage, Anand leaves for higher studies to England with the understanding that Anupama will join him after a couple of months after completing Lakshmi puja.

All of a sudden, a white patch appears on the skin of Anupama’s leg. Further events take the expected twists and turns, with the mother in law being only too happy to send Anupama packing to her parents’ home.

Letters to Dr. Anand meet with silence. On an invitation from her friend and roommate, Anupama shifts to Bombay. After working as a clerk for about a year, Anupama gets the job of a Sanskrit teacher in a college and slowly forgets her painful past. While recovering from a fractured leg in an accident, two doctors Vasant and Satya become her true friends.

Vasant proposes to Anupama but the proposal is rejected by her. Similarly she rejects all attempts by her husband Dr Anand to join him. She decides to continue her present life style with her students and keep directing dramas.

The novel clearly brings out the stigmas attached to leukoderma, a society that has blind beliefs, the arrogance of rich people, greed of men and women, eagerness of good doctors keen on helping the poor and needy and so on.

The author’s keen observation of life in Mumbai can be seen in the following lines – “In a place like Bombay even the mad rush has a human side to it.”

You cannot help appreciating Anupama’s response to a question from Dr. Vasant when he asks her “Who will look after you in your old age?” The stunning reply is “Do you really think we should marry and have children so that we have someone to look after us in our old age? That is not right. Others have their own lives to lead too.”

We feel Anupama is justified when she taunts her husband when he addresses her by her name as Anupama. “You are a well educated man from a good family, but there is one thing you have not learnt. You should never call a woman whom you do not know by her given name!” A fitting reply indeed to the so-called well educated doctor, who behaved as a coward.

 He did not have the guts, even though he was a doctor, to tell and convince his arrogant mother that leukoderma is not a hereditary disease nor is it contagious. The pigment deficiency can be cured by proper treatment.

 Dr. Anand deserted Anupama when she needed him the most. When she has faced all the odds in her life successfully, his begging her to come into his life once again deserves nothing but contempt.

I am glad I could get a chance to read this novel by Sudha Murty, yes, better late than never!