The Review Post

The Krishna Key was my first book review and although I enjoy the genre, I was not very kind in my assessment of the book. You can read it right here , if you haven't already. Maybe the plot wasn't up to the mark and the theory didn't appeal to my logic, but there is one thing the book did give me, and that's  immense knowledge . Today I quote stories of Lord Krishna and have a better understanding of his existence in Indian mythology. There are so many things he said that are applicable to life even today, it's astonishing. There is so much to learn about Indian culture and heritage - and books like these capture them beautifully. I may not have given The Krishna Key rave reviews (and no I'm not changing that), but I do wish to acknowledge the wealth of information I have acquired because of it. :)

You know it's been a while since I read this one. But unlike the other books, I didn't feel like writing about The Great Gatsby as soon as I was finished.  My thought: it's a marvelous read. No wonder people rave about it so much. I've joined the club. There's so much truth in what F. Scott Fitzgerald writes. The plot may be set in post-war America, but the sentiments and emotions are so real and true to even this day and age. I'll confess, I've never been forced into retrospection by a book before. The Great Gatsby left me in an emotional limbo.  And I'm still in it.  The novel is witty, intense and has great character. You feel Jay Gatby's love, Nick Carraway's helplessness and Daisy Buchanan's ordeal. It left me with "and life goes on..." kind of feeling.  You think, you can comment on the lives of these characters, but you can't. And that's where I think the beauty of this book lies. There is some of them i...

To say she had me at hello would be a lie. It took me a while to get into the flow of things but it'll be fair to say that two weeks after reading the book, it's all I can think about. Given a busy schedule (that we all have), I had stopped reading. At all. Nothing. I was a writer by profession and I didn't read any more (How does that work? Don't ask.) It was sad, I had forgotten how a book can make you feel. Where it can take you, the other world you step into for a brief period. How time lapses, you can't tell. Well, after reading this brilliant piece of work, in addition to all of this, I felt good about myself. I felt enriched. I bow down to thee Anne Fadiman for making me think, learn and laugh, all at the same time. Twelve essays, each distinctly different from the other, but the one thing that tied them all together, was the author. The style of writing is exceptional and each essay has the backing of some extensive (read laborious) research. She we...

And it is to learn this secret, that you begin your quest with Ashwin Sanghi. Picture courtesy: Wikipedia I was instantly kicked, couldn't wait to begin. I thought it was going to be a Johnny Quest-esq adventure where there's murder, mystery, crooks, killers and a climax that brings it all together. The book starts out well. With a narrative in the voice of Lord Krishna and a story that begins with a gruesome murder, you think this plot is headed somewhere. Enter Taarak Vakil, the ultimate evil being, but that's until the author introduces Mataji - what a mastermind!  So now, we're deep into the historic Krishna era, and Kalyug is at it's worst with over three murders already been committed and the cops chasing the wrong target. And you're thinking, so is he (the killer) really the Kalki (tenth) avatar of Vishnu?  Protagonist Ravi Mohan Saini, a smart, knowledgeable history professor enlightens the reader many a time during the course of the...