Book Review: The Second Empress

My Verdict - 3.5/5

This book is good for people who are fascinated by history. Being one of them, I liked the book. Michelle Moran has presented last few years of Naoplean's reign from the perspectives of three protagonists - Marie Louise (Second Empress), Pauline (Napolean's Sister) and Paul (Pauline's lover). The book could not focus much on Marie Lousie as the title says but on Napolean's character and his fall. Pauline's character is scandalous and very well depicted. Paul seemed to be a silent spectator. Author could have given more details of the time when Marie Lousie was made Emperor of France for 4 years and how well she handled the regency. Its interesting to read the letters included in book which have been declared original by author in the epilogue. In spite of being narrated by three different characters, the story did not create any confusion, instead made the intentions clearer. It made me more curious about the Napoloean and his family's history.

This review can also be found on GoodReads over here.

Man of Steel - Review

My Verdict - 2/5
Unlike all other babies on a moribund planet "Krypton"- who are engineered by a codex, a superbaby 'Kal-El' is born as a natural birth after centuries. 'Kal-El' is packed and sent off to a distant planet 'Earth' with codex by his parents Jor-El and Lara to save his life and the Krypton race as well. Kal-El's parents are killed by General Zod - a rebel on Krypton for stealing codex and Zod banishes to phantom zone along with his followers.

Years after on earth, a young superboy - Kal-El who is very much like humans is raised as Clark Kent by farmer couple Jonathan and Martha Kent. Jonathan reveals his adopted son that he is an alien and he must hide his super powers as he would not be acceptable in society of Earth. Clark being aware of his super powers wonders about his origin and stuggles with the ultimate question - Why I am here? After his father's death, Clark lives a nomadian lifestyle, working at different places with false names. Clark finds out who he really is when he discovers an ancient Kryptonian scouting ship where he communicates with his original father's ghost through hologram and comes to know about Zod.

In search of codex, Zod and his followers come to earth and ask for 'Kal-El' to surrender and warns the people of earth for destruction in case of disobedience. To save earth, Kal-El surrenders and goes with the Kryptonians. As Zod reveals his plan of converting Earth into Krypton by destroying it completely, Superman morally chooses Earth over his own race and fights against Kryptonians. Initially being mistrusted as an alien, Our superhero eventually wins trust of humans and saves the entire earth from ill wills of Zod to become a "Symbol of Hope".

Its a whole new man of steel we see in the movie. Director Zack Snyder has introduced a sci-fi genre in the superman series while keeping humor and romance at minimum. Movie also tries to bond emotionally with its audience which had been missing in other fantasy movies. Actor Henry Cavill (Kal-El/Clark) is looking utterly handsome as SuperMan and even having less dialogs in movie, his actions does all the talking.  The first half of the movie slips back and forth between childhood memories and present of Clark which at times are confusing. Its almost an hour after we see our super boy as Superman and for a big change he is not wearing his underwear over his pants. Few scenes in movie are jaw dropping like when Kal-El tests his powers and when his father's ghost explains him about his native planet. Actions scenes lethargically follows the legacy of drastically falling buildings and explosions which after some time becomes soporific. The sheer amount of destruction that takes place in end is insane. Apart from Henry Cavill, movie is far from perfect. Sadly disappointing, Good in some parts, a total mess in others. We expect better from the Batman team.

Aashiqui 2 - Movie Review

Image Courtesy : www.indianexpress.com

My Verdict: 7/10
Aashiqui 2 is a Love Story which is inspired by a 1971's  Amitabh Bachchan starer Abhimaan. The protagonist, Rahul Jaykar, played by Aditya Roy Kapoor, is a popular singer & has a severe drinking problem. The movie starts as the protagonist is to perform on stage but he is busy consuming alcohol. He consumes some and climbs up the stage for singing one of his very popular songs. However his stage performance is disturbed by a bunch of goons but that night he meets a girl who changes his life. The beautiful Aarohi, played by Shraddha Kapoor, is an innocent girl who has come to Goa to earn a living but can't do much. So this Rahul Jaykar, who is quite a popular singer and a big shot in Music Industry accidentally meets this girl and falls in love with her voice and apparently with her. He is determined to make her a super-star as he finds the girl promising. So he does all he can to make her popular. In a significant amount of time, after putting in much hard work, she indeed becomes popular and a Super-star. She wins some amazing awards for singing and the two of them fall in love. This is when the problem between them starts as a jealousy factor creeps in. She becomes popular while he is losing his popularity. He misses his old popularity and his habit of drinking starts to eat him up. His minds gets filled up with all sorts of negativity. Our sweet Aarohi does everything she can to help him out. But all her efforts worsen the conditions and he keeps on drowning deep in the sea of alcohol only to die in the end.
                           The movie is simple, believable. Screen play is good and acting by most actors is plausible. Sound tracks and music is undoubtedly amazing.Songs are the best part of the movie. Shraddha's acting disappoints me but her beautiful looks more than compensated for the short-coming in her acting efforts. All in all the movie is a beautiful romantic drama. A must see for all love-birds out there.

Go Goa Gone

My Verdict: 7.5/10
Comments: Good

Courtesy:http://www.moviehdwallpapers.com/

'Go Goa Gone' is more than what   you might be thinking of it. It's a fairly good movie and people, specially boys, looking forward to some typical raunchy humour would be delighted.The dialogues are pretty well timed and delivered, which gives that extra punch to the dialogues.The humour is very natural on most of the occasions. It is unlike the poorly executed and artificial humour which is typical of the movies of Rohit Shetty.
The movie takes you to Goa where three friends, and luckily a girl as well, land into all sorts of trouble. They end up coming to a secluded island where possibly they are the only humans left - rest everyone being zombies!!!
When there is no way out left, the actor-producer Saif Ali Khan comes to their rescue.
Let it be a suspense as to how and why the zombies come to existence in the first place and eventually how does our group of youngsters manage to get rid of them.
Saif Ali Khan is an add-on in the movie only to boost the star cast. Kunal Khemu, especially, has stolen the show with his quick-witted dialogues and ribaldry.Expect expletives!!!
A pretty light movie to watch and a good way to spend time with friends.
The music is good but not very soothing to the ears.
Overall a good complete package of fun-filled evening.

Pseudonym : h!v

The World is Flat

Book Review : The world is Flat

The amazing 539-page novel on Globalization and its impact is an eye-opener. More precisely it is a book which made me look out of the box. The box here is the borders of countries. I realized, after reading it, that the borders between countries are indeed dissolving and the world is becoming a leveled playing field for everyone.
The book started in India and ended over in India itself. It has descriptions about how the dot com boom and bust impacted the world, how the world changed over the years and how the Third world countries are brought to more or less at the same level by the influence of technology. The book has descriptions about the change in markets and Global position(as nations) of India and China. It encapsulates all the changes brought about by the globalization which is termed as "Flattening of the World " by the author. The book not only lists the positive aspects of globalization but the negative as well and hence I'd say that authors view about globalization is not biased.
The book is full of anecdotes and has phrases and monologues by many entrepreneurs and billionaires which makes the book quite inspirational as well.
The worst part about the book is that it is addressed to the Americans. All the "we" and "us" and "our country" is for the Americans which irritates me because when you are writing a book on "Flattening of the world" then it should be addressed to everyone and not to a particular audience. So I as a reader felt neglected.
Since the book was written before the Sub-prime crisis and the arab world and euro zone crisis hence the reader might find that the present scenario is not the same as described in the book. Things have changed a lot since when the book was written.
Being an IT Professional in India I could connect to every word in the book & felt that the book was written about me(although it was addressed to the Americans only). I'd recommend this book to everyone as it has the potential to be a life-transforming book and you can not afford to not read it.
Rating : 8.5/10

The Black Swan

Book Review: The Black Swan

The Black Swan - Nassim Nocholas Taleb

The book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is about the occurances of rare yet high-impact events. He says that some events are rare and are least expected to happen at a particular juncture.One such event when occurs and have an high impact on the contemporary beliefs, to a level that it shatters all the beliefs and theories, is called a "Black Swan". Unexpected, High Impact event. He says that the frequency of such events is high in the present world scenario and further he says that although we could never predict the occurance of such events yet we offer a plausible description of the causes of occurance of event.

His views are biased at some points and pre-obsessed with the idea of randomness to an extent that he neglected even the primary and basic laws of nature. His views are strong and rigid. However, most of what he said, i agree to.

In the book the author challenges the most-well-established facts or theories and also teaches the reader to challenge any theory or belief one comes across. The thoughts presented here are raw and also not in an organized manner as the author has digressed abundently on many occations. But he has been able to keep me involved in the book throughout.

I found his views as conflicting with each-other at one point he said that a Black Swan event can't be positive or negative within itself; it depends on the perception of the discerner. However in the very next page he said that the positive Black swan happens (occurs) slowly while negative one happens fast. But here he failed to explain the exact definition of positive and negative black swan.

Apart from a few rare unworthy-of-mention mistakes I found the book full of beautiful insights into the dynamism of our world. The trail-blazing views were thought provoking and were a true delight for me. Flambouyant and confidently-aggresive narration. This book should be read by everyone irrespective of one's profession or interests.

I found this book very interesting, to say the least, and also it helped me shape my thoughts (if I may say).

Rating 8.5/10
Genre : Non-fiction

Kautilya's Arthashashtra

Book Review - Kautilya's Arthashashtra

Kautilya, popularly known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta was a master stretegist of the Second Century A.D. He is regarded as one of the greatest teacher of state-craft - wisdom in the management of public affairs. He is known for his genius and foresight and also for his knowledge of vedas and puranas.
Kautilya's Arthashashtra (by Penguin Publications) is the reconciliation of the original Arthashashtra which has been edited, rearranged and translated by L. N. Rangrajan.
The book has been divided into 10 chapters and deals with all the facets of leading a state from an emperor's point of view. Its gives a broad view of how a kingdom or state was lead by a King and his ministers. As i went through the book i attained a completely different view of our history as compared to the old school history books, which i consider to be completely irrelevant. The book has a compilation of different aspects of statecraft which includes - Responsibilities of  the King, his Behavior towards his subjects, Law and Order, Foreign policy, War and Defense, Taxation, Departments of Government. The views presented by Chanakya are strong and at times ambiguous. He has given exhaustive list of a possible scenarios for a number of cases. For an example he gave an exhaustive list for how a King can attack his enemy or how can an enemy be conciliated. I differ with Kautilya here because its not possible to give an exhaustive or complete list for such practical cases as every case is different in itself. However, i believe, the practical knowledge that he has imparted here in his work is of great use in present world. The author has also compared Kautilya's theories with other strategists here.  
After reading this book i realized how little we have changed since then. We have come so far yet the basics have remained just the same and will remain so. Some examples of similarities is the taxations syatem and governance, rules and regulations, trade and commerce and punishments etc.
All in all, the book is for those people who have interest in Indian statecraft and are looking for wisdom. It is surely not for those who are looking for a casual read.
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating : 7.5/10

Catcher in The Rye

Book Review - The Catcher in the rye

The Catcher in the rye - J. D. Salinger

Its the story of a boy who is in his late teens and has got an ax from his school as he has flunked the exams. The story is spread over two days that he spends after getting expelled from the school, how he ends up swearing at and detesting everyone he meets. Holden Caufield, the boy, is an eccentric fellow. He is a misanthrope and that too a very critical one. He can practically hate anyone for anything. He is deeply introspective and hates phonies and pompous bastards.
                           As such there is nothing special about the story as a whole. There is no story in the first place. But whatever petty incidents are written have indeed been described hilariously and at a very crazy angle. Each incident hasbeen explained in every glorious detail. Swear words have been used very generously in ths book and I bet you'll end up adding a lot of new slangs and swear words in your vocabulary after reading this one.

Its a good read for teenagers and introverts (i.e. if you can ever get to know you are one). Apart from it, I don't think many can enjoy this sort of book for too long. Th best part is that its just 192 pages long and you don't have to think about the end and all.

Rating: 6.8/10
Genre: Fiction

Movie Review : Paan Singh Tomar

Paan Singh Tomar is a movie dedicated to the unsung heroes of Indian Sports. Its based on the story of an International Champion athlete who turned into a rebel (or dacoit) due to the negligence of government.
Paan Singh was a youth from a typical rural area in Madhya Pradesh, Morena district on the bank of river Chambal. He joined the armed forces and had great appetite and dedication towards athletics. During his career in sports he won accolades and medals for the nation at various prestigious sports event all around the world. He was loves by everyone had a passion for running.  He married and produced two beautiful kids.
Everything looked in place for him until recently when he had a fight with his cousin brother over some hereditary land issues. His cousins tried to get him rid of the land he owned by crooked means and during this process also happened to kill Paan Singh's mother. This was too  much to bear for an ex-army man as Paan Singh and he pledges to retaliate. This is the climax of the movie. The second half of the movie shows how he enlarges his gang and becomes the hero and famous on the banks of river Chambal and how he retaliates.

Overall the story and presentation is flawless. No one could have done it better than Irfaan Khan in this movie. The typical Morena-Chambal accent he speaks in is unquestionable. However at one or two spots he looses the grip a little. In all the movie is very different from other contemporaries and a must-watch.
Rating : 4/5

First Day at Polaris Software Lab . Hyderabad

Today was my first day of the job at Polaris in Hydearabad. We(my friends of college and myself) are provided temporary residance in a company Guest -house for 15 days.
A cab has been arranged for us to pick us up from the guest house to the company location. In the morning at eight a cab (more precisely a Maruti Alto) picked us up for a small ten minutes drive to the office building. So we reached the company office building more called "The Capital". "The Capital" is a five storie tall and is spread over an area of about 20-25 thousand sq. feet. It is situated between a number of skyscrapers of companies like Microsoft, ICICI, Wipro etc. which makes it look small. But the architecture of our building is, i must admit, much better than any of those.
We were provided visitors' pass to enter the building as it was our first day and hence the enployee pass were not yet ready. The loddy of building was beautifully designed and also had a small indoor garden which accentuated its beauty.
After waiting for a few minutes in the lobby, we were led to a conference room for the commencement of the indduction program. The room was trepizoidal shaped and could accomodate about 30 people at a time. Here we were provided with a joining kit (which had a number of forms to be filled-up and signed), a diary and a heavy -duty book called the Polaris Language Book. So after filling-up the forms we headed for lunch at the cafeterium. Well, the building has in all 3 cafeteria which serve various types of veg-biryanis and few chinese dishes, but then again the rates were nominal.
After lunch it was time for the second half of the day. Two leading-banks' representatives had come to lure us into opening our salary accounts in their banks. The representatives of City Bank and HDFC gave a presentation each, and after pondering over it for a few moments I decided for HDFC. After filling-up the form and signing for 250th time in the day finally my account was opened. I was provided with a debut cum shopping card and a check book then and there itself (all thanks to the readymade account opening kits for fast service) . This was pretty much the end of the day for us at Polaris.

Book Review: The Godfather

The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Genre: Fiction
Pages: 446
The Godfather is my first Mario Puzo novel and perhaps his most popular one. I was particularly curious about this book because of its title and I knew it’s based on Mafia families and Mafia wars. The 446 page long novel is partitioned into 9 sub-parts or ‘books’ (as the author calls it) and further it has 32 chapters in all; each chapter dealing with a different era of life of the protagonist: Don Corleone. The story is dated on the days following II World War and location is NY City. Don Corloene is a just and a very clever character. He is revered and respected formidably by each and everyone around him and I dare not write a wrong word about him as it might upset his followers.
The story revolves around the life of Don however enough importance is given to all other characters as well. Other characters includes Don’s three sons, a daughter, his wife and many other people whom Don has done some favor during his life.
The story falls light on the hierarchical structure of an Italian Mafioso Family. Don heads the family tree followed by his councilor or consigliori and two captains called copregimes. It also tells about the code-of-conduct among the Families.
The story has been written in third person and hence each event, as it happens, is seen from a different person’s perspective and hence the story never seems monotonous. However the narration, as compared to other contemporaries is not up to the mark. Also there are too many names (of characters) stated in the story, so I had to turn back pages at times to recall the character. The author had, at times, digressed too much.
On the positive part, the author has done plausibly well to keep all the characters involved in main story. The language is simple and story is very interesting.
Rating: 7.6/10

Book Review: The Time Machine

The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
Genre: Science-fiction
Pages: 148
The story is about a time traveler who has travelled through the future and now he shares his experience about the journey. He has worked up a time machine which he uses to visit future – to the year eight hundred and two thousand seven hundred and one A.D. (I don’t quite understand which year the author is talking about).
The author has put forth his imagination of the world of future in a beautiful way. He talks about two different breeds of people who will survive in future : The Morlocks – Undergrounders and The Eloi – Upper-worlders.
The language is simple and comprehensible. But at points the narration is not picturesque. The starting and ending is very strong and impressive. Author has kept me interested and involved in the story. But I think the narration could have been better. The genre is Science-fiction but there is not much of it. You should read the book if the world of future fascinates you a bit.
Rating: 6.5/10

Book Reveiw: The Monk who sold his Ferarri

The Monk who sold his Ferrari – Robin S. Sharma
Genre: Fiction (Motivational)
Pages: 208
The monk who sold his Ferrari is a motivational fiction novel through which the author has tried to shed light on the secret of eternal happiness.
This was my first novel of its kind and also the first one by the author. Before reading this one, I had a prejudice that these kinds of books (motivational ones) are just a waste of time. I mean who doesn’t know what to do and what not to do. These are for people who are not clear with their aims and thoughts. But after going through it my opinion was changed. The book has an ocean of practical knowledge and I think everyone should read such books once in a while.
The book is on the story of two lawyers: Julian and his sub-ordinate cum friend John. Julian is a very successful lawyer and possesses everything one could ever dream of. John reveres Julian and wants to be like him. But Julian is not happy or rather satisfied with his life. He has a heart-attack which changes the course of his life. He decides to go to India in search of spiritual enlightenment and true happiness. It’s now that his life takes a u-turn and becomes more beautiful. The transition from a corporate stooge to a monk is what the story is all about.
Overall there is not much of a story line in the novel. It’s just the motivational part that is emphasized upon. So if you are looking for a good and light story it’s not quite the book for you. Language is always direct but at one point the author has shifted from narration in first person to third person and back to first person which is bizarre.
I’d like to recommend it to people willing to read their first motivational novel. (I haven’t read any other motivational novel and that is why I think so).
Rating: 7/10

Book Reveiw: The Kite Runner : Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hossieni
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 206
The novel is mostly about how the lives of the people of Afghanistan had changed during the latter half of twentieth century. The story revolves around the life of a boy Amir who narrates the story. He was born to an effluent Pastun(Sunni) family in Kabul. He had a love deprived childhood and had only one friend Hassan who was a Hazara(Shi’a). Communities in Afghanistan are divided along the lines of classes in which the Sunni’s are considered as masters and Shi’a as slaves.
As the story moves on, the condition in Afghanistan also changes, first due to the atrocities of the Russians and later due to the brutalities of Taliban and Mujaheedin. On the other hand life of Amir also takes turbulent turns. So I’d say it’s not just about Afghans and Talibs but there is a lot more in it. The story is full of emotional content.
The narration has been done very patiently and elaborately (which at times get boring). The story takes a few unpredictable twists which makes it all the more interesting. But I’d say that the ending was not up to the mark. The author has made abundant use of Farsi phrases followed by an explanation for each one of it. Overall the story is amazing but the language was slightly dull.
Rating: 7.2/10

Book Review - Joker in the pack

Joker in the pack
(Ritesh Sharma
Neeraj Pahlajani)
The two authors from IIM-B and IIM-L gave a deep and dramatic view of the life at the IIMs. They tell a story about a boy Shekhar, who was born in a middle-classed household and had high aims and aspirations just like any other boy. He had a childhood like any of us like playing gully cricket, ogling at girls etc. But at some point in time he realizes that he is not born to live a life like his parents in scarcity and this is when he starts to work hard to get to the IIMs.
The book gives, in all the glorious details, the full review of the life at the IIMs. If you are an IIM aspirant (like me) then this could be a very inspirational book.  Overall, the book is short, sweet and smooth.
Rating 6/10
Genre: Fiction
Publication: Orient Paprebacks
Price: 195/-
Pages: 195

Book Review - Sultry Days

Sultry Days 
(Shobha De')
Nisha, a college student, falls in love with Deb (or God as everyone calls him), who is crude, ragged and somewhat a cynic. She falls for exactly what others think detestable about him. He also quite likes her. But their love story is sporadic as it is interfered by a lot of unavoidable circumstances as their life progresses and finally comes to an end as one of the two dies.
Deb was born as a slumdog but as he grew up, he learned to live by himself. He struggled his way through the life by writing poems, working as a freelance reporter, working for a politician.
In this book Shobha has described a number of personality types living in Bombay which includes women who are rich, women who are very rich and women who are even richer, corporate bitches, whores etc. But at some points in the book I found that the author digressed from the theme which spoiled the fun of reading. In all, the book is full of masala.
Rating 7/10   

Book Review - Speedpost

Speedpost
(Shobha De')
Shobha De' apart from being one of the best Indian writer, is also the mother of 6 children. This book comprises of her letters written to her children as they grow up. The book is a compilation of 35 letters written by her to her kids on subjects like love, smoking, relationships, religion and a lot more. It contains plausible messages about morals, values and emotions. But none of these were of my interest. So I would say the book is either meant for kids in their early teens or their mothers. If you are into reading emotional stuff then may be you can try your hands on it.
Rating 6.2/10

Book Review 10- Not a penny more not a penny less

N

Not a penny more not a penny less
(Jeffery Archer)
Harvey Metcalfe is a shrewd person who wants to become rich at the expence of others. He has so far succeeded in his evil pursuits, but no longer will, this time, as he comes across four easy preys : An art dealer, A doctor, An oxford don and a heir to an earldom. Harvey manages to fleece off with their money. But these people won't part their money easily and are working their ass-off to get back their hard earned money back.
The 335 page novel is interesting but it did not stand up to my expectations. It lacked spice like the other works of Jeffery. It was far from the "larger-than-life" theories and description of his other works.
Rating: 6/10

Book Review 9 - The Prodigal Daughter

The Prodigal Daughter
(Jeffrey Archer)
The prodigal daughter is the story of a girl Florentyna Rosnovski, who is the daughter of a Polish immigrant Abel Rosnovski. The author has described the indefatigable will and enthusiasm of her to live to her ultimate dream i.e. to become the President of the United States. In the first half of the book the author has described the journey of the girl as she grows into a woman who is self-confident, self-assured and self-sufficient. This part is particularly interesting, but as soon as I read through the second half of the story I was deeply disappointed as I found out that it contains nothing but the political struggle of Florentyna to reach the highest office of the U.S., which is not what I would be interested in. The last 200 pages of the 464 paged novel contains detailed description of the U.S. political system which is not what I expected. The book is quite or more of an inspirational one and you could give it a try. The language is simple and comprehensible.
Rating: 7/10

Book Review 8- A romance with chaos

A romance with chaos
(Nishant Kaushik)
The naive writer has somewhat succeded in bringing out the same theme of romance and chaos in a slightly different way as this time its not a student but a professional who falls in love. A MBA Nakul is an employee at an leading IT company and is quite satisfied with his job unlike his accomplice Vishal who keeps sulking. But his frustration ends as he is offered to represent his company for a project at London. This leaves Nakul frustrated as he is not granted this opportunity and this is where the chaos starts. He starts to hate his boss all the more, thinks of quitting his job, looks for a new job, is screwed with a paradoxically orthodox roommate, loses his beautiful girlfriend because she thinks he is not rich enough, falls in love again and soon discovers she's a lesbian and is finally betrayed by his best friend Vishal.
However the chaos is settled as he gets his acts together.
The 291 page book has its own scintillating moments and is palatable if you are looking for some light reading stuff. Book is full of anti-climax and shocking moments as well.
Rating: 7/10