Few books

Being in vacation and doing nothing much whole day I am left with lots

of free time to read. It is great way to pass quality time with rain and

heat where nothing interests me outdoor. I already finished few books in

last 3 weeks.

Starting with, Dan Brown’s trash ‘Angel & Demon’ and ‘**Digital

Fortress**’. Well these are same old horrible as writing and story line

is similar to “Da Vinci Code”. Well if you have read and liked it

then I am sorry to hurt your feelings ?. Reading those 3 books it seems

Mr. Brown wanted to cash quickly the old “James Bond” style. In each of

his book there is a very glamorous sexy female character in his book.

The less I write about this female character I do justice to them.

A hollow story set in Europe which is a very far away country for his

native readers. Yes! To most Americans, Europe is so different - people

speak different languages as you cross few hundred miles and every

things change from food to culture and above all human features also

changes. It is not same as that of America where you cross 3 different

time zones and still have the same treatments. This way, when he puts

his characters and plots in twisted alleys of old cities of Europe every

one takes them for real.

He really does not know nor do research for his subject matter and end

up using

“VLSI” and

“PGP” in same breath in Digital

Fortress. Can someone please explain him what is super computer or

parallel computing is ;) or rather how computer works has he been to any

Data-centers I have so many basic questions for him. I am sure the

similar can be said about others related topic like when he drives car

through [Tuileries

Garden](http://www.santm.com/gallery3/var/albums/paris/parks/garden-tuileries.jpg)

from

Louvre in

a [smart

car](http://www.santm.com/gallery3/index.php/paris/mixed3/smartcar) in

Da Vinci Code which is set in Paris,

Well enough of Dan Brown I am sure his book will loose their places in

book stores as readers figure out about them. It is possible in today’s

literary world to make some thing best seller in the same way Hollywood

makes “Charlie’s Angels” a hit with 17 screen writers and it is called –

“Marketing”.

Then I read two wonderful books one is ‘The Glass Palace’ by

Amitav Ghosh about Indian subcontinent in early last century. This

is a superb book and all the characters and the settings are excellent.

The time spans three generations in the vast continent from Ratnagiri in

western coast of India to Malay. I found it very touchy; may be as my

ancestors were from a part of land which missed by mere 6 kilometers to

be included by in India by map-drawers.

Now, since I know few occidental people who do not understand why an

Indian Maharaja ordered ‘Cartier’ for a diamond necklace. The person

asking the question was surely thinking these Indian feudal lords were

just sucking breads and butters of poor. For them this book might be an

eye opener as it portray Indian sub-continent as a land of opportunities

and wealth. Though I am not a supporter of any Maharaja but I strongly

believe the westerners did more worst things to whole world for their

own profits. And even today they think and believe single mindedly

Western World is best but they miss the fine point that there was

nothing before industrial revolutions in Europe.

The next book is “Wings of Fire” by “**Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul

Kalam**”. This book should not need any introductions but for those it

sounds unknown- it is an Autobiography of India’s current President,

father of Indian rockets and missiles. I loved this book and felt dry

throats and wet eye as he along with others hundreds of Indian worked

hard to give us the technologies and result which makes common Indians

to be proud of their success. And best of all it is indigenous :D

There are so many parts of this book which I wish gets carried each day

by common Indian like me and others to make INDIA proud. If religious

and social harmony as we find in this book would have existed in today’s

India we might have prospered more. As an engineer I do understand the

book is written by another person of same trade as it lacks wit and

sharpness of successful memoir. There is mention of lots of

abbreviations like PERT charts but for common people it does not make

any sense. Similarly, there are some abbreviations which does not even

bring any bell to me.

If this memoir is rewritten by a professional with all those beautiful

poems and wonderful events from APJA.Kalam’s own diary it can be Geeta

for modern India.

Well other than these four books I read 2 more books by Chetan Bhagat;

one about campus life in India’s most prestigious Engineering Institute

IIT and other one on the life of young Indians as they work in nights

for the booming BPO or most commonly known as Call-Centers. Well both

the books are OK. I can not say them they are bad as they kept me glued

till last but failed to mark their place in my mind in long run when I

was finished with them. It is written in a modern way like Mira Nair

unfolds the story of Monsoon Wedding with hope that people other than

Indian origin will also find it interesting.