Books Read in 2013

Literature demands something, not just from the reader but from society at large. It demands not just that we watch or cheer together, play or dance together, but that we take the time to understand one another. It demands that we create the institutions and the time to make this possible. It demands that we put in the effort. And it demands, most of all, that we agree that it is worthwhile to do so. - Hasan Altaf

History has shown us that leisured aristocracies tend to become bored, hedonistic, and eventually decadent. This proves that power is not enough. One must set goals to excel in them, even if done slowly. I had set such a goal and polished my mental agility through the habit of reading. Reading books is an exercise in self-knowledge and carries risk. These thought-provoking books estrange our familiar landscape of settled beliefs into a strange wonderland (maybe dystopia) through new viewpoints. Good books open windows through mysterious ways. I had already listed down books by different authors of various regions, languages, and backgrounds in a wish list.

There are two articles worth mentioning here. I read about the "Let them eat cake" phrase at the age of eight in a history book. It was supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread, and further events led to the French Revolution. That phrase always remained at the back of the mind since that day. The Necessity of Atheism was an astounding article that I read as a young engineering student. It blew my world apart with the power of the words. The religion and society never remained the same for me.

While the reading journey has been going on, it has been quite fulfilling till now. I grew old and wise with each book that I read. I enjoy rich, earthy humor, satire, and cultural essays. I even felt nostalgic about the deaths of Christopher Hitchens and Peter Roebuck. I miss their strong words, remarkable anecdotes, and deep analysis. And. I found new gems like Ian Chappel, Martin Crowe, and Pratap Bhanu Mehta.

Many giants of Hindi literature are still untouched by me.  I am living in the world created bMunshisi Premchand in his short stories. I have no clue about the progress made in literature over the last 30 years of Mandal, Kamandal & Dalit movements. I don't even know the names of Urdu books, and their transliterated versions are out of my reach. I want to start reading more of the fiction genre and real-life stories in the upcoming months. '26 Books in 52 Weeks' is a goal for next year. I'm a super slow reader, but I usually get through ten to twelve books a year, mostly non-fiction. I had an accelerated pace of reading to utilize the time. And, the result shows in the reading list. I mostly try good reads and rarely best sellers. As well said by Frank Zappa: “So many books, so little time.”

Books Read in 2013:

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich:- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - (Russian) English - 9/10 - A brilliant and mind-blowing description of just one day of a prisoner in the Gulag in Siberia

The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End:- Peter W. Galbraith - English - 8.5/10 - The name is sufficient to describe the good work of journalism.

Tuesday With Morrie:- Mitch Albom - English - 8/10 - A beautiful memoir or discussion of a teacher-student on life, love, and death.

Burden of Democracy:- Pratap Bhanu Mehta - English - 7.5/10 -: A very well written essay which discusses the reasons why the spirit of democracy is failing in India.

Lord of the Flies:- William Golding - English - 7/10 - A study of human behaviour through the backdrop of a group of British boys stuck on an uninhabited island.

Patriots and Partisans: From Nehru to Hindutva and Beyond:- Ramachandra Guha - English - 7.5/10 - An honest attempt at showing builders of the country across all ideologies in Independent India.

Bharat ka Bhavisya:- Osho - Hindi - 4/10 - A below-average book, even with Osho's standard, having a collection of speeches.

Karmath Mahilayein:- Reethu Menon - Hindi - 7.5/10 - A book on the path-breaking Indian women who defined their fields through their works.

Ek Gadhe ki Aatmkatha:- Krishna Chander - Hindi - 7/10 - Satire written during the era of the ehru still holds true to its core.

Uncle Tom's Cabin:- Harriet Beecher Stowe - English - 8/10 - An anti-slavery novel to be read for emotional reasons only.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft:- Stephen King - English - 8/10 - A simple story of life with great tips on writing coming in patches.

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson - English - 9/10 - man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success.

Joothan:- Omprakash Valmiki - Hindi - 10/10 - A personal account of a stalwart of Hindi literature describing the caste system in Hindu society.

The Immortals of Meluha:- Amish - English - 6/10 - A below par average first part of a trilogy with a Hindu mythology background.

The Secret of the Nagas:- Amish - English - 6.5/10 - Second part of the book series with little improvement.

The Oath of the Vayuputras - Amish - English - 7.5/10 - The Third and Last part of the series is more mature and enjoyable.

And Quiet Flows the Don:- Michail Sholokhov - (Russian) Hindi - 7.5/10 - It depicts the lives and struggles of Don Cossacks during the era of Soviet revolution.

Bitter chocolate: child sexual abuse in India:- Pinki Virani - English - 9.5/10 - Felt broken and depressed on reading about child abuse stories and awareness among our own Indian society.

Yuganta: The End Of An Epoch:- Irawati Karve - English - 9.5/10 - This study of the main characters of the Mahabharata treats them as historical figures and uses their attitudes and behavior to gain an understanding of the times in which they lived.

O Jerusalem !- Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins - English - 8.5/10 - A great book capturing the events and struggles surrounding the creation of the state of Israel.

My Days in Prison -Iftikhar Gilani - English - 8/10 - A shocking story of trial and triumph under the framework of the exploitative power of the state.

The Idea of India:- Sunil Khilnani - English - 7/10 - Comprehensive account of India's economic and political journey from independence to liberalization.

I Too Had a Dream:- Verghese Kurien - English - 8.5/10 - Dr. Kurien's life story is chronicled in his memoir and must be read by teenagers and youths.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist:- Mohsin Hamid - English - 8/10 - A political thriller set in Pakistan, but will appeal to the globe with a sharp focus on fundamentalist mentality.

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: R Fields - English - 6.5/10 - A simple book on managing daily business through examples from movies of WC Fields.

What I Did Not Learn At IIT: Transitioning from Campus to Workplace:- Rajeev Agarwal - English - 6/10 - A simple book, but useful for a fresh graduate on managing a fresh career ahead.

Quotes for the Year 2013 -:

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” - Carl Sagan.

Great stories agree with our worldview. The best stories don’t teach people anything new. Instead, the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and make the members of the audience feel smart and secure when reminded of how right they were in the first place. — Seth Godin (Author, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us)

You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story. — Anthony de Mello, from One Minute Wisdom

New face of Indian Cricket - 2

I read a lot on cricket still publish rarely an article on the cricket. New face of Indian Cricketwas written 5 years ago. This is the second part dedicated to our young team for having luck on the road ahead. 

Any game is often about not doing what your opponents want you to do. Test Cricket is no exception. I always consider One Day and T20 Matches as an exhibition while Test cricket is an examination. There will be 13 test matches(2 in SA, 2 in NZ, 5 IN ENG & 4 in AUS) in upcoming year. Great players will emerge in upcoming foreign tours through baptism by fire of fast bowling. Our young crop of batsman play aggressive brand of cricket what was termed as 'Australian Way'. Prudence is never the virtue of the new generation. Scoring at high run rate is essential for winning is good but not necessary applicable for all conditions. It is best to attack and play pretty when it suits; claw and fight like hell when it doesn't. Our batting and bowling line up has to display grit, temperament and determination . Test cricket have all sorts of ups and downs, collapses and fightbacks and some gritty and skilful performances.

The Gavaskar phenomena preceded the Tendulkar phenomena. Tendulkar has given same bantle to Sehwag as a spiritual successor. I am sure that baton has been passed from Dravid to Pujara and Sachin to Virat. And, Virat is proving to be new Richards as I am writing this on the close of 1st day of India South Africa test series. As batting collapses are not unknown in Indian cricket, still I am hoping for consistent performance. Our batting lineup seems strong with the rise of Dhawan, Rahane and Rohit. Natural talent is abundant here, but performance overseas depend on application and discipline.

India has no place for fast bowlers. We never groom fast bowlers for long duration and thus Zaheer Khan became an exception, not regular product of the system. Our battery of fast bowlers (Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami & Bhubaneswar Kumar) is slowly building. Lanky MP pacer Ishwar Pandey, Varun Aaron and old hand RP Singh are present in the scene. Even then, things always had looked bleak on the Indian yorker scene. Craig McDermott and Lillee are guiding Australians while Allan Donald is nurturing South African talent. India desperately need guidance of Zaheer and Venkatesh Prasad as Javagal Srinath is more involved in administrative work. Kapil's spiritual heirs are none. With Irfan Pathan a spent force, Stuart Binny and Rishi Dhawan can take his path in limited overs. Yes, we have good wicketkeepers in the domestic circuit but none of them touch bar set up by Caption Dhoni. Saha, Karthik and Parthiv are really good choices in case of back up.

The Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kumble, Dravid Laxman era is over now. Even Zaheer khan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are only remaining faces of the next phase of cricketers. Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Irfan, Gambhir and Sehwag are good cricketers but out of form currently. That has not happened with the stalwarts once they were well established in the team. When players are out of form and low on confidence, they can rely on technique only. Hence, there is even chance of return of Gambhir and Harbhajan. We are having good players like Vijay Zol, Manpreet Juneja, Jiwanjot Singh, Sanju Samson, Baba aparjit and Unmukt Chand in domestic tournaments. Selectors are not in panic state with the exit of seniors. They are choosing suitable candidates and even players of high calibers like Saurabh Tewari, Pragyan Ojha and Manoj Tewari are in waiting line.

Any team with ambitions to rule the world must vanquish challengers on all continents. Youngsters doing well in short formats is a good sign for Indian cricket. And if they do the same in test, then India will become a champion side.  In a great piece of refined writing, Martin Crowe expressed a great advice for everyone. "Wisdom is priceless. When you get on a learning path, it is the best time of your life. Every day means something, every lesson provides the clarity you clamour for. You move forward, evolve, grow, and become more fulfilled as the big picture, the dream even, emerges from the shadows and into the light." Hoping Indian team transform into great team one day.