Dork:The Incredible Adventures Of Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese - Review

Author: Sidin Vadukut

Story line: This book is the diary of the protagonist Robin, a mallu, who after MBA joins a consultancy. Story starts with the placement day scene of Robin and the rest is about the work life of Robin and how he messes up whatever he does. 

  
Right from the first page this book is hilarious. The characterization of Robin is really funny. Though the last 20 pages are tad boring, it did not matter as it came after 200 pages of entertainment. Though the story line is wafer thin…the character “Robin” will surely make you laugh out loud.  

Plus point: The hilarious characterization of Robin. The funny thing is not what he does but what he thinks about himself and his activities.
Minus point: Predictable story. Not-so-gripping ending.

This is the first one of the Dork trilogy as promised by author. Waiting for the next one in the series. 


About the Author: Sidin Vadukut is an IIM-A passout, who later turned into full time journalist by quitting his corporate job. To know more about the author or to read his articles visit  www.whatay.com. 

My Friend Sancho - Review

  

“My friend Sancho” is by Amit Varma, blogger at Indiauncut. 

Story line- Abir Ganguly was a crime reporter in The Afternoon Mail. A police called him one night to cover a routine arrest. There the cops fired an old guy and tells Abir that the dead man is working for a gangster. Abir reports the same in paper. The next day Abir’s boss, not knowing Abir was at the scene of the crime, asks him to make a story on that, as he came to know that the cop killed an innocent because of wrong information. To know more about the old guy, Abir meets his teenage daughter, Muneeza aka Sancho.                                        

During this course Abir falls in love with that Sancho. She wants the cop who killed her innocent father to get arrested. After talking to the cop about what actually happened, Abir confirms the cop cannot be blamed as it was not intentional and it was just fate. The rest of the story is about how he handles his relation with Sancho in this situation and how she reacts if she comes to know that Abir writes positively about the cop who killed her father.

The story started as a murder mystery but later turned out to be a love story. Though the book was initially gripping, with a not-a-great ending the overall book came down to just- average. Sometimes I felt the author tried hard to make the readers laugh…but it dint happen.

The writing style is good. The story line is tad interesting. you can easily finish this book in one evening.

I din’t understand why the author gave importance to the lizard on the cover page of the book, as it not much related to the story. I even felt the lizard was unnecessarily given space in the story.

Better to go for something else than this.

The White Tiger - Review

   The novel White Tiger is a dark story about India, written by Aravind Adiga, is about the letter written over a period of seven nights by Ashok alias Balaram, an entrepreneur in Bangalore to Wen Jiabao, premier of China, to tell him about the true India, while Wen Jiabao is planning to come to India and meet few successful entrepreneurs. 

      There are two types of India - India in Light and India in Darkness and this novel focuses on the later. The letter is about Balaram’s life, son of a rickshaw puller, born in Bodhgaya, drops out from school and works in a Tea stall. Balaram later finds a job as a driver cum servant in Ashok’s house in Dhanbad. Ashok is an NRI, returned to India along with his wife to look after his family business. In desperation to come out of his poverty and selfishness, Balaram kills his master and runs away with the money. He goes to Bangalore and starts his own business and becomes successful. So finally a murderer becomes entrepreneur.

     The writing style is excellent and except in one or two places this is gripping overall, can be finished in two days. The Author focuses on known-to-everyone problems in India like the slave mentality of Indians, the caste discrimination, the corruption, the lack of minimum facilities in villages, the political system, the difference between haves n haves not, etc… by describing Balaram’s living conditions, his village, how Ashok’s family treated him, etc. Except few exaggerations wh­­atever author said about India is quite true. Don’t read this book if you hate or get bored by the stuff the shows Indian poverty/problems. I dint understand why the protagonist wants to tell all this to someone in China and how this will benefit that guy.

       Title " the white tiger " here means a rare type. This novel is a winner of The Man Booker Prize 2008. 

The 3 Jaffas

ADITYA(Adi) , from Karnataka, the Lazy type, who once used to find more happiness in solving problems in physics than in having an orgasm. U find this kind of guy in every gang…having a high end mobile, bike n a fat wallet but still pretending to be someone belonging to below poverty line when it comes to spending for parties.

          He once liked a girl, when she changed her display pic in fb to Minnie he changed his pic to Mickey, when she changed to Olive oyl he changed to Popoye...but unfortunately she found someone else as her hero and Adi stopped changing his pics n even stopped using fb since then. After this disaster Adi read almost all the books available related to “how to make any girl fall in love with you”, now he thinks he knows how to impress a girl and loves to share that knowledge. When his friends come to him for tips, Adi derives the reasons for his friends to be still single and outlines the things they shud follow to attract opp sex.

JASHOBANTH (Jasho), from Orissa, the Pedophile…Yes he is !! U can easily find him in the pic with his psycho smile. He loves weed n hates women (but he is not a gay). This pedophile has a dream that one day a beauty proposes to him n he accepts her after few days( AFTER few days !!!) , if this happens I believe it’s a sure sign that the world is coming to an end. He says " every woman is bitch" once in every 10 mins!! ( don't know why) 

      

           He was a porn addict during his initial engineering days and came out of it by diverting himself by getting addicted to weed. He is a programming geek (at least he feels so). He is hungry all the time n eats anything n everything (I mean.. even from ur plates, sometimes even your plates). He takes bath once in three days n usually likes to wear unwashed inner wear….the lesser you know about him the better.

SRIKAR, from Andhra, the Dickhead or watever, who is good at -------er I don’t remember, he is a gud-for-nothing guy keeps blabbering all the time. Srikar falls in love at least thrice a day, so he has experienced maximum no. of heartbreaks in his city. There isn’t much to tell about him but let me try…he spends most of the time on book (read as Facebook).

    In college he dreamt to have a galfrd and now to become a writer (thanks to the inspiration by young Indian authors, who are torturing the readers with their not-so-interesting engineering love stories…as Srikar falls in love at least thrice a day there isn’t anything wrong in dreaming to print all his love stories.) Recently he started torturing people with his blog, most of his posts doesn’t make much sense, like the one you are reading now.

Common things among these 3 other than Stupidity are… 

• All 3 are single and are desperate to change the status. 
• Dreamt about getting into IIT for 2 years, sitting on d same bench.
• Adi cannot write in Hindi, Jasho cannot write in Telugu and Srikar cannot write in English (his frds correct the grammar errors in the love letters he write..!!)
• Adi hates facebook, Jasho hates washed inner wears and Srikar hates English.
• Adi likes to sleep, Jasho likes to eat and Srikar likes to talk most of the time.
• Adi thinks he is gud at onething ( about how to impress a woman) , Jasho thinks he is gud at something ( he isn't sure what it is) and Srikar thinks he is gud at everything !!.

Reality Bites - Review

Author: Anurag Anand

The story starts with the protagonist Atul’s first day of engineering. He is very happy to get admission in the same college where Swati joined, the DELHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING. He meets her on the first day and then the story goes to 2 years back when Atul joins as a hostler in the 11^th class where he meets Senti alias Santosh, Bengali alias Anirban  and Swati . 

      Atul gets into relation with his classmate Ayesha who later dumps him for Manav. This leads to fight between Atul and Manav, which settles in the end. Though Atul used to hate Swati during the initial days she likes him n used to care a lot about him, even saves him once when Manav plans an attack on him. 

      Slowly the relation between Atul n Swati develops. After 12^th class they both get admission in the same college. On the first day Swati says she likes Atul and he says “I love u too” - THE END.

      

     Neither the incidents that take place in hostel nor between Atul- Ayesha are interesting. Swati has a very little presence in the story, most of it is either Atul n his frds or Atul-Ayesha.

      But the way Anurag narrated the story is worth praising…you will definitely like it. I will surely read his first novel “The Quest For Nothing,” at least for the way he presents the story.

You can finish this buk at one stretch …so if u want to kill couple of hours you can buy this , but don’t expect much from the story. 

Horn Ok Please-Hopping to Conclusions-Review

Author: Karthik Iyengar

      

    The story line -the Chief Redbull, the author ,along with his friends Goose goldsmith and Derek Demonia in their SUV called Motormouth, travels across India and this book is the collection of what-happened in the journey. On one time they go to Kanya Kumari and another time they go to Leh , donate money for the education of the kids in the Tibetian school, they even go to meet Dalai Lama on their way and will have his blessings. With the wafer thin story line, author tried to describe whatever he sees, eats or anything that he faces during his journey in a humorous way...I liked his attitude to be humorous every time,which is quite different from other award-winning authors who present India as still-in-darkness in  a bitter way.


       This is the first book of the frivology author planned and has 2 noble purposes… one is to make you laugh and the other one - 50% of the profits from this book will be dedicated to Mahesh memorial trust, Chennai and the Tibetian SOS village in Leh ( Ladakh).  Though the author might have succeeded in the later I think he dint reach up to the mark in the former.

      Only the Hopping fans on facebook who are active from the beginning may like this book. It is very confusing in some situations where u don’t know whats happening / what author wants to say, even the oneliners which u may like are from google. Though authors way of narration is different it is attractive only in some parts.

I really appreciate this attempt to show true India in a funny way and the idea of charity. So buy it for the noble cause but not for a great read.

Shit Happens

Our adda….adhi ma frd Harishgadi illu…podhune vaalla parents officeki velipotharu, so inka evening varaku adhe ma Den. Roju madhyanam min. 15 cycles park chesuntay den bayata…enter ayithe pedha hall, akada tv play avuthoo untundhi but evadu undadu…. Left lo oka bed room, andhulo oka cornerlo carroms aaduthu kondharu  inko cornerlo pekata aduthu inkondharu ..ikada oka 10 members dhaka kanipistharu ,kondhari chethulo gold flake unde chances kuda unay. Inka inko bed roomlo computer untundhi, migilina gang antha akade untaru..computerlo em chusthuntaru ani matram adagadhu. Okasari ma Den ki pedha prob vachindhi..adhentante

Karthik : Entra ramani msg chesav but manavalu evaru leru ivala intlo ?? emaindhi intlo parents unara ivala ? dullga unatunav ..emaindhi ?  

Harish : Orey ******* nina nuvenaa **** cds thechindhi ??

Karthik : Yea nene but ikade marchipoyara sorry kompathisi me intlo emaina dhorikipoyava avi chusthu ?? !!

Harish : ala dhorikina bavundedhi ….nina evening pakinti aunty emaina movie cds unayemo ani ma intiki vachindhi.. ma nanna chethiki dhorikina cds evo ichesaru….aa cds lone nina nuvu marchipoyina cds kuda aunty chethiki velipoyay LL

Karthik : Shit !!!!!! kompathisi play chesara vaalla intlo avi ? nuvem chesthunavra apudu nuvaina chusukovachuga?

Harish: Play chesaaaaraa enti aa cd play chesinapudu vaalla family antha ..aunty,uncle, pilallu, kondharu relatives kuda unaranta LL !! movie start avagane prapancham  kanipinchindhi vaallaki…nenu intlo lenu aaa timelo, nenu vachesaariki scene antha ayipoindhi 

Karthik :  oooooooo !!! vachi mee intlo emaina chepara ?

Harish : ******@#$%%%^^   chepatam entiraa babu..oka rangelo godava aindhi vaallatho nina ma parentski….ee patiki surroundings antha paakesuntundhi ee news ..ma father chaala kopamga unaru na meedha 

Karthik : arey movie cd aithe dani meedha movie name untundhi kadhara chudakunda edhi padithe adhi ela ichesaru ??

Harish : chesindhantha chesi malli ma nannani antaventibey…apudu ma fatherye thagesi full highlo unaru so ala aipoindhi…vaallu vachi jaringindhi chepesariki motham dhigindhi !! idhantha nenu intiki vachelopu jarigindhi…inka nenu em cheyalo theliyaka podhuna frd okadu thechi marchipoyadu andhulo emundho nakuda theleedhu ananu, aina picha pichaga thitaru anuko. Andhuke safe sideki konni rojulu evaru ravadhu ma inti side ani chepanu andhariki !!

Karthik: thagatam valla enni ibandhulu vasthayo chusava …

:P:P

Sheela ki Jawani

Conversation between my Friend ( d only guy who understands Hindi better than me :D ) and some Northie guy

Northie: Abey "Sheela ki jawani" gaana sunaa ?

My Friend: Ha

Northie : U know what Jawani means ? 

My Friend:  Ofcourse !! Jawan boletho Soldier, so Jawani means Female Soldier...correct??

ROFL !!

Simply Fly - Review

Simply Fly- A Deccan Odyssey, is an inspiring autobiography of serial entrepreneur Capt. Gopinath, Father of low cost Indian airlines

       It is about a boy who grew up in a remote village of Karnataka’s Hassan district and went from riding a bullock cart to owning an airline.

       Gopinath studied at NDA and was commissioned as an officer in the Indian Army and served in the Bangladesh Liberation War. He resigned from army after 8 years of service and came back home with Rs 6000 as his settlement money from army.  

       With this money he then set about converting a piece of barren land, which was given as a compensation to his family by Govt., into farm for ecologically sustainable silkworm rearing and ended up winning the Rolex award for it. Then he turned into motor cycle dealer, an agriculture consultant, even entered into politics joining BJP. (though he isn’t successful in election, he developed a network which helped him a lot later).

      Tapping the 'helicopter service' business in India, along with some of his friends in army, started Deccan aviation, which turned out to be very successful. He takes up low cost airlines, Air Deccan, as his next venture, inspired by the story of Vietnamese orphan girl who takes to flying helicopters to help her country rebuild after the 1969-75 Vietnam War. This idea is a perfect example of 'fortune lies at the bottom of the pyramid'.

       The rest of the story is about how Capt. Gopinath develops Air Deccan into largest airline in India. Because of the difficulties in handling the growth of Air Deccan he joins with Vijay Mallya, who is already running Kingfisher airlines. Because of the attitude of Vijay Mallya towards the low cost model, Gopinath leaves Air Deccan and starts a logistics service, DECCAN360.

       Gopinath talks not only about his ventures but also about how his innovations touched the lives many. His story is also humorous in some parts.      

      Throughout the book his attitude “when you decide that you won’t give up till it happens, then it happens" is reflected. This book is not just an entrepreneur’s journey but also about changing India. His childhood,army life and the challenges he faced in Air Deccan in the end are really interesting,

My favorite lines from this book are

A lot of people come to me and say, ‘I have set up a business. My boss does not know. My company does not know. When the business succeeds, I will resign.’ My reply is, ‘That business will never succeed. Your business will succeed only when you can’t pay your rent, you can’t pay salaries, you can’t buy your wife a sari and you can’t pay your children’s school fees. Then you will learn to innovate. You will be forced to improve. Nothing breeds innovation like necessity. Necessity will ensure you do not become complacent. You will be unable to sleep because your business may go bankrupt. This is how your business succeeds. Any other way of setting up a venture is a recipe for disaster.’

A must read.

Books I have read

This is the list of some of the books I have read . Do message me if you want to recommend any good reads.