Raiders from the North...

So one more weekend went on with the thing I usually do every weekend.. "Nothing". And finally I am going through that horrible feeling again this Sunday night as I just realized what tomorrow is.. 

Review

“God helps those who help themselves..”

Any ways finally I am writing about the book that I finished two weeks back. If I am not wrong, I wanted to read the series from last two years but on the other hand I was a bit worried about the historical fiction's cons. I had once tried to read Chava the historical biography of Sambhaji and I was truly disappointed from the book. But finally as the Fifty shades darker was not available I had to and thank god I finally started Babur's story, "Riders from the North".

When I picked up this book, I expected revamped history, I expected battles, I expected a fun read. Well, as much as those elements were all present, this book is first and foremost a stunning insight into human nature, into short-term escapism versus the vivid reality of everyday life. I truly am confident that this series is not going to disappoint me as I will go ahead.

The book starts with little Babur admiring Timur's ancestry and learning things from his father. The novel begins by introducing Babur, its progenitor who came from a humble kingdom called Ferghana in Central Asia. It describes Babur’s childhood and teenage years as he’s suddenly put into the spotlight after his father’s death due to a freak accident. This event starts a calamitous series of events which sees various factions within the court strive to put their chosen parties on the throne. Thus begins Babur’s education in to what lies ahead and the brutal realities of ruling a kingdom and keeping it. The book narrates many ups and downs in Babur's life which inspires a lot. 

Another particular note is the ease at which the book uses a straight forward approach to tackling Indian History. Those that are less familiar with the historical context will have no problem following the events that are describe within this novel. One more good thing was the notification of the fictitious  characters at the end of the book which will make us understand the reality of the events explained in the book.

So all in all the book is awesome. This is an inspiring tale of courage and resilience, framed by a beautiful and truly touching historical fiction. Go for it.

Freedom at midnight...

Review

“Freedom at Midnight is an excellent bitter-sweet recounting of India’s tryst with freedom and destiny..”

I still remember the day I started "Freedom at Midnight" for the very first time around six years back. Actually I got the idea of reading it when I was reading Gunvant Shah's Sardar Patel biography, which was having many references from "Freedom at midnight". I was searching for the book from around three months and finally got it from my college library. (Of course it was readily available at crossword in around 500INR which I was hesitating to spend at that time.) It was the first time that I was about to begin a book with more than 400 pages.

The moment I opened this book and read the first few pages, I felt that tingling sensation in the back of my neck that usually alerts me of something great about to happen, and I knew, just knew that I had come across something truly rare. And the more of it I read, the more I knew I was right—this was the most perfect piece of writing I had read , and quite possibly ever. By the end of it, I felt like my mind had been stretched so far, I needed a map to navigate back to the mundanities of regular life.

For anyone who wants to a peep into the history of India, with all its conspiracies and politics, "Freedom at Midnight" is the first book I would recommend, written by the dynamic duo authors Lapierre and Collins.

So far as I remember, the book initiates with a scene of big body of Winston Churchill going from the ten downing street. The book begins with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as the last viceroy of British India, and ends with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi. We may not know many things which are explained with too many confidential records. It characterizes the problems of the Maharajas and their eccentricities extremely well. The problem of the princely states, mainly Kashmir is written in great detail. The main portion of the book is of course, the partition and how India and Pakistan were created from the erstwhile British Empire. And if partitions are mentioned, how can one forget the horrendous riots? The book gives a full, often gruesome account of the Punjab riots, the religious fanaticism and tells us how Gandhi single-handedly ensured peace in Bengal. The riots and immigration of the Hindus and Muslims is explained in truly emotional way. I still remember my journey from Ahmedabad to Surat when I was reading the riots part of the book and was literally too much emotional reading it. What a narration.! The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi is explained in truly an amazing way. The book bravely explains the efficiency of Sardar Patel and failure of Jawaharlal Nehru at many points. If you really want to know the entire plan of the killing of Mr. Gandhi by the disciple of Vir Sawarkar, go for the book.

The duo writers have undertaken vast amounts of research. And this is reflected clearly in the book. They represent facts, quite biased at points, I must admit and in the process, strip down each legendary freedom leader that we have seen as gods to mere mortals. The accounts of Gandhi are completely different from anything you would have read in school and you see the Mahatma in new lights, some good, some bad. The book brings out the details behind every little event in India. Even you may feel at some point of time that India had diplomatically got Kashmir, which was still truly needed at that point of time.

All in all the book is a masterpiece which will propel you through the pages of history. Every part of this unique story is sheer genius, every facet of it truly unexpected and utterly mind-blowing. I would say just one thing.. Go For It.

Some of my favorite books...

I’ve been drafting my next blog post in my head for what seems like weeks now, (and of course after a year long time) so I’ll try to keep it short so that I don’t keep putting it off! Finally after a long I am writing about my favorite subject, the one I always make my friends bored of.. "My Darling books.."  

In true book junkie style, I have so many books that I have enjoyed very much and consider to be favorites of mine. Their stories have stayed with me, I have re-read them several times and will probably re-read them again at some point. I am including some of them here, in no particular order. 

I am going to link the above posters with views on them soon. I will keep you posted as soon as I am done with my linking part. Hopefully I may do it by this weekend only (so far as I am not indulged in some unwanted activities..) 

God Exists...

Review

Many of us think miracle never happens. Everything is up to us. Many of us are agnostic. It is a story dedicated to them. It’s the story of the Andes Survivors; popularized by the book “Alive” and the 1993 film of the same name.

 

“Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known as the Miracle in the Andes, was a chartered flight carrying 45 people, including a rugby team and their friends, family and associates that crashed in the Andes on October 13, 1972. The last of the 16 survivors were rescued on December 23, 1972On Friday the 13th of October, 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force twin turboprop Fairchild FH-227D was flying over the Andes carrying members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team from Montevideo, Uruguay, to play a match in Santiago, Chile.

 

Due to bad weather and limitations of the airplane, the flight could not fly over the Andes Mountains and instead had to proceed through one of the “passes” through the mountains, to reach Chile. The pilots misjudged their position and, thinking they were at the pass, flew instead into a mountain, leading to a controlled flight into terrain. But the plane did not smash head long into the mountain. In a last ditch effort to gain altitude and clear the top of the mountain, the pilots clipped the peak at 4,200 meters (13,800 ft), neatly severing the right wing, which was thrown back with such force that it cut off the tail, leaving a gaping hole in the rear of the fuselage. The plane then clipped a second peak, which severed the left wing and left the plane as just a fuselage flying through the air. The fuselage hit the ground and slid down a steep mountain slope before finally coming to rest in a snow bank.

 

Of the 45 people on the plane, 12 died in the crash or shortly thereafter; another five had died by the next morning, and one more succumbed to injuries on the eighth day. The remaining 27 faced severe difficulties in surviving high in the freezing mountains. The survivors had little food and no source of heat in the harsh conditions, at over 3,600 meters (11,800 ft) altitude. Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned, the survivors fed on the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow. Rescuers did not learn of the survivors until 72 days after the crash, when passengers Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 12-day trek across the Andes, found a Chilean huaso, who gave them food and then alerted authorities about the existence of the other survivors. Only sixteen would survive. Their survival in the high mountains of the Andes and final rescue just before Christmas 1972 would become known as The Miracle in the Andes.”

 

Who will Cry when you Die...

The day before yesterday, we enjoyed the engineer’s day. It was an amazing day. I was at cyber for receiving the printouts of the photos, I was negotiating with the cybercafé owner and all of a sudden I noticed a slogan “Satisfaction is the greatest happiness”. When he was printing the photos my brain was in the journey of this slogan. I was thinking about the fruitfulness of this slogan.

I actually wasn’t akin to this slogan. I used to think that when we get contented our growth comes to a halt. If I am satisfied with my completion of B.Tech and think that nothing is remaining in my life, I will stop budding. To be satisfied is the way to the failure. The people who don’t want to grow in their life will start telling that I am satisfied for what I have done. No one in the world will say that I don’t want to go ahead in life. If Dhirubhai Ambani had been contented from his first company, do you think Reliance would have been such a big empire..!!!

Just want to say that don’t be satisfied. Your hunger for excellence will make you success in your life not your contentment from something. Ya on the other way round, Be happy for what you have got after a great effort. Enjoy what you have got. Be happy for that. But don’t feel contented.

MOSSAD of ISRAEL...

Actually I didn’t know anything about the country Israel. After reading the book “Who will Cry when you Die”, I wanted to read books by Robin Sharma only, but I was not having books written by him, so I took a Guajarati book named “MOSAD”. You won’t believe but I paid just 10 rupee for this book. It’s a book by Nagendra Vijay – Editor of the magazine “Safari”.

The book starts with the foundation of Israel. It’s really an amazing preparatory. In 1900BC the Jews leader ‘Mozis’ led his Jew troop to Palestine as they were beleaguered by the other European countries. The Palestine was a desert type of area at that time. The Jews made that place worth living, but after some years the foreigners like Arabs seized that place from the Jews. Again the Jews were devoid of their native place. The Jews started living in different places all over the world (about in 148 countries), harassed everywhere except in India. In the starting of 1914 Palestine was ruled by the Turks, who were beaten by the British in the First World War. So after war Britain’s External Affair Minister ‘Arther Balfer’ told the Jews to breathe at their bona fide place. Why he told that is also given in this book. It’s a long story. But the Jews faced many problems for getting their nation. They had to struggle with Arabian countries for around 30 years and finally on 14^th may 1948 they got sovereignty.

Again after independence the problems for the Jews did not dwindle. It was obvious for the country surrounded by seven Arabian realms. For combating and existing in the midst of these sly Arabian countries they brought into being… three spy agencies

1) MOSSAD

2) SHIN BETT

3) A’MAAN

After this basic platform of foundation of Israel, Nagendra illustrates 5 operations which were successfully completed by MOSSAD which are :

1) Operation Thief

2) Operation Attila

3) The six day War

4) Operation Thunderbolt

5) Operation Opera

The fight against the terror of Black September is narrated in the last chapter. It’s truly incredible. MOSSAD successfully completed all of this missions. No words for these amazing works done by MOSSAD. If you find some material for any of the above missions or their may some movies made over that subject matter. You must read or watch that.