End of 2012

2012 has been a tumultuous year for me and sometimes i felt that my end is near and i have corroded myself to the core. The failure to make into the final list of successful Civil Services aspirants has been a crushing shock to me and i am still recuperating from it. I always wanted to be a Civil Service Officer but often struggled to manage the finances of the family. Professional life is in utter chaos although i am surviving with the help of my superiors and peers but still it is too far from the normal. Reading books has been a solace to me and its the only refuge for me after my little family. Looking holistically at 2012, i can only say that it taught me a lot especially about human relationship and mental forces and based on my experience i have come to the conclusion that "Although intelligence and hardwork matter a lot but in the end the mental peace is the deciding factor in man's quest for its destiny". My son is now 14 months old and his lovely face gives me heaven like experience and enough nitroboost. I wish 2013 will be a better year for me, my family and the world. Amen.

Book Review [49] : Not Without My Daughter

I am a great fan of Persian history and culture, and was looking for an "authentic" book on contemporary Iran and thus i found this book. Its a true story based on the personal experience of 'Betty Mahmoody". Its a story of an American woman 'Betty' who marries an Iranian doctor practicing in America. Iranian doctor took her (in 1984 i.e. after the overthrow of Shah regime in 1979) and her daughter 'Mahtab' to Iran on a false promise of returning to US after 2 weeks. In Iran he keeps his family under strict surveillance and confiscates all their legal documents. He scolds and beats his wife and daughter even at the slightest pretext. Under these immense odds, Betty plans her escapes. She receives help from many Iranians and the Swiss embassy in Iran. Finally she was able to escape by cab ride from Tehran to Tabriz and then from Tabriz to the border of Turkey and from there to US embassy in Ankara. She never keeps her daughter away from her and after facing innumerable odds she reaches US after 2 years in 1986. This books also shows how middle class Iranian lives and how official machinery brain wash them and how the cult of Martyrdom is enhanced and sought of. Must read for anyone who is interested in Middle East culture, highly recommended (9/10). Other books that i have read on middle east are: 'From the holy mountain' by William Dalrymple, Among the believers by V S Naipaul etc.

P.S. The Delhi gang-rape victim died today morning in Singapore after fighting for 13 long days and as Indians and as human beings we failed her. Dear sister, i am very sorry.
Highly recommended (8/10)

Book Review [48] : Beyond The Last Blue Mountain

'Beyond the last Blue Mountain' is an amazing biography of one of the greatest Indians of 20th Century J.R.D. Tata (1904-1993), written by R. M. Lala. I have a great fascination for biographies and to my satisfaction i have read a significant number of biographies viz Steve Jobs (iCon), Akio Morita (Made in Japan), Jack Welch (Straight from the gut), Verghese Kurien (I too had a dream), Martin Luther King Junior, Barack Obama (Dreams from my Father), L. K. Advani (My country, my Life), Ghengis Khan, Slobodan Milosevic (A serpent in the bosom), M. K. Gandhi (My Experiments with Truth), Lance Armstrong (Its not about Bike), Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf) etc. This book stands out amid all these biographies in its intense research and anecdotes. 
J.R.D. Tata was the son of the cousin of Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata (Father of Industrial Revolution of India and a great Philanthropist). He was born in Paris to a French mother in 1904 and he became the Chairman of the prestigious Tata Group at the age of 34 in 1938 but before that he had founded Tata Airlines in 1932 and became the first licensed pilot of India. He consolidated and increased the holdings of Tata Group in the utterly socialist era i.e. pre 1980s. He played a key role in Bombay Plan drafted by a group of eminent Industrialists and economists in 1940s. He made Tata Airlines (it was nationalized by Indian govt in 1953) a world brand in those years.
He remained chairman of Air India (Tata Airlines rechristened) until 1977-78 (he was unceremoniously dropped by Prime Minister Morarji Desai) and made Air India one of the best international airlines. He commemorated the inaugural flight of Tata Airline by flying aircraft from Karachi to Bombay in 1982 (at the age of 78). He also played a key role in the establishment of TISS, TIFR etc. Must read biography and i bet this is a better read compared to 'Made in Japan' or 'Straight from the Gut'.
Highly recommended (9/10)

Shame on every human

The brutal rape of 23 year old girl in a moving bus has shaken the very foundation of our society. Rape is one thing and inserting iron rod in one's private part is completely different, nothing can be more brutal than this. Police, political system and the society are to be blamed equally for this shame. The society which is highly unequal, the religion which is highly patriarchal, where women are not allowed to burn the holy pyre, where most of the rituals are to be done by males, where female foeticide is a norm, where sex ratio is deeply screwed, where honour killing is a norm and where women are treated as sex symbols to be violated at will and to be killed at will, rape becomes the logical conclusion. 

Strong laws act as deterrent but the real change comes from within and this change can only be brought by giving respect to women, empowering them and by not treating Sex as a taboo subject. There are numerous films, features etc that  spread immorality, a random scanning of any newsportal will prove this point but it is also said that films etc are the reflection of the current trends of the society although i dont agree completely to it but there is indeed some truth in it. Immorality should be condemned, it should not be encouraged.  A country that worships Goddesses does not feel shame in violating the very sex represented by these Goddesses, this needs to change. 

Last weekend saw the highly successful anti-rape protests of youngsters at Raisana Hills, India Gate etc. I was deeply inspired by these protests and watching this on Times Now, i was cursing my geographical location. The words of  William Wordsworth about French revolution is equally true here "Bliss was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven". But the way this protest was violently crushed by Delhi Police is utterly shameful and a stigma on our democratic credential. Democracy  becomes a non-democracy when the ruling elite stops talking to the people and instead of heeding to their legitimate demands, starts calling them hooligans or gundas. When the youth of the country awakes from the long night sleep, the country is destined to rise higher and higher and this energy should not go astray. This is our right as well as responsibility.

May Santa bring life and happiness to that 23 year old girl battling for her life in Delhi hospital and May God give peace to the soul of Policeman Tomar who has succumbed to the injury caused by the violence. Amen.

Book Review [47] : I too had a dream

'I too had a dream' is a great autobiography of a great man, Dr. Verghese Kurien. He lived an incredible life and along with Dr. M S Swaminathan made India a country with food and milk surplus. The country that used to import milk powder became the largest producer of milk in the world and this was made possible by the Milkman of India, Dr. Kurien. This great man was born in 1921 in Kerala in Syrian Christian Family and was nephew of John Mathai (He was the first Finance Minister of India), he had a brilliant academic record (that can shame perhaps all the IITians) but still he devoted his superb talent in the service of dairy farmers of Anand and India. He built an ultra modern dairy in Anand in 1957 that could make milk powder from buffalo milk (at that time almost all dairy experts said that its impossible). He made AMUL as the world finest edible product brand and later fathered White Revolution (1965 onwards). He had to fight politicians, bureaucrats, MNCs but he succeeded in all these and established world class and fully democratic Dairy Industry in India. He even brought mighty NESTLE to its knees when it said in 1950s that Indians are worthless and they can not run dairy industry. He was one of the very few lucky people who had worked with the likes of Sardar Patel, Nehru, Indira, Moraraji Desai etc. Maniben Patel (daughter of Sardar Patel) and Tribhuvandas Patel also played a great role in Dairy co-operatives of Gujarat. A must read and every Indian should read and ponder. "Be the change you want to see" -Mahatma Gandhi. 
Highly Recommended (9/10)

Book Review [46] : Nefertiti

Nefertiti is an amazingly intriguing historic fiction based on the life of Nefertiti of ancient Egypt, much before the era of Ramses and Moses. Its a brilliantly researched work and its very close to the the reality of Bronze age Egypt. This books details the story of the rise of Nefertiti as the Queen of Egypt and her adventures and misadventures, her beauty and her lust for power, her cruelty that even devoured the first son of her dear sister in her womb. The religious revolution that she and her husband (Amunhotep) started ultimately consumed these co-regents clearing the path to the crown open to the son (Tutankhamen) of her arch-rival queen. Its a must read to anyone who is interested in ancient Egypt and who think that Cleopatra is not the end of Egypt. 
Highly Recommended (8/10)

Sometimes i think i am very lucky to live in this era where you can get a book by click of a button at your doorstep, i always dream to see myself busy in the stack of books and that wish is coming to reality in many ways. I have also made a sort of commitment that i will not watch any political news on TV, utter waste of precious minutes, May be i should boycott all the news channel.