You Have Arrived as a Previous Generation Person...

When you say, I really can't stand grammatical errors. I may be old fashioned/ of the previous generation....

and the other person agrees- No, no it is not just about generation gap, what is wrong is wrong!!!

Sold

"Simply to endure is to triumph" is the motto that 13 year old
Lakshmi's mother ingrained into her.
And this helps her survive the most difficult phases of her life.
This book is based on the story of a survivor of child trafficking.
The book aims to bring her devastating experience to the attention of
people so that this gruesome practice comes to an end.

Lakshmi lives with her family in a village in Nepal. She has simple
pleasures in life- her goat that follows her everywhere, watching the
boy who she has been promised in marriage, her patch of cucumbers and
her school.
The vagaries of nature like the long drought and the incessant rains
together with her step father's gambling lead them to extreme poverty.
Her step father decides that it is time that she takes up a job to
feed her family and on that pretext sells her to a stylish lady.
Lakshmi is taken to the big city and thereafter she is sent with an
"uncle" to a far away place and finally taken to the "Happiness House"
which is a brothel.

A cruel old woman called Mumtaz rules the brothel. The police are in
cahoots with her therefore there is no escape for those who once enter
this place.
Lakshmi is made to believe that once she pays off her family's debt to
Mumtaz, she would be free to leave.

The promise of freedom and the believe that her earnings are being
sent to her family keeps her going. Slowly she becomes friendly with
the other girls and even a boy who teaches her to speak in the local
language.

A day comes when she gets a chance to make a bid to freedom. Will she
dare to take it?

The book is written in tiny chapters like the pages of a diary.
I finished t his book in one engrossing sitting, the pages flying fast
because of the small size of the chapters.
Some chapters are just small rhymes whereas others are more detailed.
While what Lakshmi goes through his gruesome, the book spares us the
sordid details and what we are left in the end is a great sense of
positivity.
However, I do wish we get to know of what happens after the end of the book.

Title- Sold
Author- Peter McCormick
Publisher- Panmacmillan
Price- Rs 245

I am Feeling Lucky- The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

After Google, I find myself impatient with the way the world works.

Says Doug about problems that are solvable yet are not getting solved.

Douglas was the first Dough in Google- employee number 59 who joined this small start up as a big-company guy. When he left Google, he left a big company as a small-startup guy.

The story of Doug’s journey begins at his lively interview with the founders. Sergey was known to give a task to all those he interviewed- tell me something that I do not know yet. It was his way of getting a spark of an idea, or eliciting thoughts from people talking of subjects that he did not know of.

Doug’s first task was to get a thorough grounding in search technology including complicated terms like page rank, crawling and indexing.

In his first week, Doug asked for Google’s strategic plan. But much to his surprise- it all existed in the heads of Larry and Sergey who were never in a mood to discuss it.
The first important lesson that Doug learnt was on the day of his proposal presentation. He started off saying- our competitors are approaching Google’s level of quality, so we need to rely on branding to differentiate us from others.

Larry said quietly- if we can’t win on quality, we shouldn’t win at all.

That was the moment when unlearning for Dough perhaps began.

Sergey insisted against Doug’s arguments that Google logo could be dynamic and not a constant. So whether there was turkey logo for Thanksgiving or a bouncing heart applet for Valentine’s Day Google Doodles became a big hit. If Doug had his way, there would be no Google Doodles!

In this story written by an insider, Douglas takes us through the journey of Google from a start up in a garage to a formidable organization that floated IPO’s in a span of 6 short years.

He talks of everything including the seemingly minor clean up of the search page and not allowing pop ups to the very important hosting of news content in the wake of 9/11.

Reading an insider’s perspective does give a different feel to the story that I know already. To that extent, there was nothing new or different in the story. But like an epic that gets retold several times, this story also takes a different form each time it is narrated.

Title- I am Feeling Lucky

Author- Douglas Edwards

Price- Rs 550

Publisher- Penguin

Scarlett

Alexandra Ripley’s story Scarlett begins at the “Tomorrow” that Margaret Mitchell left the book “Gone with the Wind“ at.

Scarlett now newly in love with her husband, is determined to win him back by all means. She travels to her husband’s home and attempts to win him back by gaining his mother’s affection.

One day, Scarlett convinces Rhett to take her for sailing. The boat capsizes in a storm and they take refuge in a hollow of sand dunes.

While Rhett utters- Oh My darling, I thought I’d lost you, he retracts his words then eventually confesses that he does not want to “lose himself” over her again.

Scarlett leaves Rhett and his home yet again and goes to live with her paternal family. She is pregnant with Rhett’s child but hides the fact from him.

Scarlett receives a divorce notice from Rhett who eventually remarries.

Scarlett gives birth to Katie O’ Hara or “cat” because of her green eyes like Scarlett’s and she settles in Ballyhara and becomes the undisputed O’ Hara- the leader of the clan.

Scarlett announces her engagement to Lord Fenton. However, The English who came to arrest a group of Irish terrorists burn her house down. Rhett comes to her rescue and during the entire episode, Rhett learns of Cat- his daughter.

The family reunites in the most romantic fashion towards the very end of the book.

While Alexandra retains the original voice and spirit of Gone with the Wind, Scarlette is definitely a mellowed down version than the first book. The characters have grown and matured with age and have become less fiery and more matter of fact- sometimes managing to see humour in adverse settings.

The characters are less regal and more realistic more so because slavery has ended and the earlier masters have softened their stance in the entire equations.

There are more of melodrama and romantic notions and family politics that keep the star crossed lovers apart and one feels frustrated at some points when the lovers refuse to reconcile.

Title- Scarlett

Author- Alexandra Ripley

Publisher- Pan (celebrating 75 years)

Gone with the Wind

Tomorrow I will think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.

When Margaret Mitchell ended her book with these words, she intended them to become famous last words in the true sense. She intended to keep the readers guessing and tearing their hair out in trying to reconcile within themselves as to what became of the lovers after the hero left the scene.

This epic novel tells the tale of the coming of age of Scarlett O’ Hara the girl who was not beautiful but had an effect on men when she took notice of them.

The story is written in the backdrop of war in South America. On one hand there are soldiers enlisting to save their country, on the other hand we have speculators like Rhett making a fortune out other’s misfortune. Scarlett is the girl who despite all odds continues to fight her way to survive. From a little girl of sixteen when everything can become all right with a nice dress and some make up, she becomes a woman of purpose. She saves her family from death; she survives by fair means and foul and emerges the strongest of all. The story is long, vivid and poignant and a definite page-turner. This anniversary edition brought back memories of the first time when I read it many years ago, in a very vivid and nostalgic fashion.

Scarlett is fiery, she is annoying, she is foolish, she is an oddity and she is a girl after my own heart. Why me? Remove me from here and put yourself in this place and you will feel the same way.

She misses the obvious. She is in love with an idea or a habit and she doesn’t see what we readers can see. And the most foolish act of hers- she refuses to fall in love with the handsome, suave, dependable rouge- Rhett Butler- the stuff dreams are made of.

Scarlett believes she loves Ashley Wilkes and she continues to love him inspite of the fact that he loves Melanie, marries her and becomes a father and is very very boring as far as Scarlett is concerned.

Scarlett marries twice, becomes a widow twice and ultimately; Rhett who intended to have her one way or another marries her. They have a baby named Bonnie. Rhett dotes on Bonnie and spoils her silly.

Under unfortunate circumstances, baby Bonnie dies. A great rift form between Scarlett and Rhett that widens further following Melanie’s death. Rhett believes that Scarlett would no longer want him now that Ashley is available, leaves his home.

The book ends with Scarlett dreaming of love that eluded her for so long and promises to herself that she will find a way to get Rhett back tomorrow.

The ending left readers wondering what would happen to Scarlett and Rhett.

Title- Gone with the Wind

Author- Margaret Mitchell

Publisher- Pan (celebrating 75 years)

Myth Quest Series

The main characters in our myths are bigger and better than most of the modern superheroes! Hachette India aims to make a Mythmaster of the young readers through their wonderful myth quest series.

Garuda- Devourer of Serpents

Garuda the magnificent bird king with the head of an eagle and body of a man was the vahana of Lord Vishnu.

In a span of nine small chapters the young readers get to understand the entire story of Garuda starting from the story of his birth to Vinata who was cursed to a lifetime of slavery.

How did Garuda become the mount of Lord Vishnu? There are two tales that tell of the possibilities behind this.

The legendary battles between Garuda and the Nagas form exciting sections in the book.

Airavata- Elephant of the Clouds

This divine king of elephants was the mount of Lord Indra . Interestingly this elephant was hatched from the same broken set of eggshells from which Garuda was hatched.

The milky white Airavat had the unique ability of creating rain. Being the mount of Lord Indra, he had been part of many battles and through this book we learn of his splendid feats from carrying Indra back to safety from battlefield or leading the gods back to heaven after churning of the ocean which gave them back their immortality. While most of the stories do not touch upon the tale of Airavat, this book is unique as it tells of rare tales of this divine elephant.

Sheshanaga- The Endless Serpent

This is the story of the serpent king also known as Ananta-Shesha (endless snake) or Adi Shesha (first snake)

Sheshanaga is the powerful snake on whose heads the heavenly bodies rest including Vaikuntha- the abode of Lord Vishnu.

Being a devout follower of Vishnu, Shesha is a constant companion to Him even during his many avatars- the hotheaded Lakshman and Balrama.

Sheshanaga was the firstborn to Kadru the wife of Sage Kashyapa. In time left his abode, Nagalok to escape from his quarrelsome brothers and went to Vishnu’s abode.

The book describes in detail the story of Lakshmana and Balrama- the two important avatars of Sheshnaga.

A must read for children especially they love animal stories.

Book- Mythquest series- Garuda, Airavata, Sheshanaga

Author- Anu Lumar

Price- Rs 99 (special offer- Rs 75)

Publisher- Hachette

I is for Influence- The New Science of Persuasion

I is for Influence- The New Science of Persuasion

Benjamin Franklin rightly said- if you must persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.

In this book, Rob Yeung presents a toolkit to help readers understand the psychology of influence and persuasion. To be able to make requests that the others wouldn’t want to refuse. To use all facilities to our advantage including words, body language and even statistics.

Of course all of us practice these skills unconsciously but is there a proven theory behind these practices that corroborates our self-developed persuasion skills? The book definitely talks about experiments that have been carried on subjects and statistics that definitely points in the direction of cleverly used words and body language to help influence the other party.

The best chapter that I liked is the section on invoking the imagination and telling tales. Why are stories or ads powerful methods of selling or influencing children into doing what is right? Because one is able to vividly imagine or place oneself in that situation and imbibe those values or buy that particular product.

Of all, the chapter on Body Language came as a sort of surprise to me. The theory is that if one wants to influence one must try and imitate the other person subtly. At a higher level, the author talks of finding commonalities that instantly make the other party more receptive towards you- like a shared birthday or being alumni of the same school.

One of the things that parents constantly worry about is the negative influence of peers. Is it possible to stop that? Perhaps there is. The trick is to use cleverly worded sentences. Most of your classmates do not smoke. You are the only one in the class running around and disturbing the others. Everyone is reading this book. Have you?

The book explains how even a subtle change in the way the message is delivered could cause a different reaction from the listener. Either showing a picture that fires the imagination or giving reasoning that attaches validity to the statement.

I recommend this as a must read.

This book moves quickly, given enough stories for one to be interested in it and most importantly is not long, winding or repetitive like most self help books are.

Title- I is for Influence- The New Science of Persuasion

Author- Rob Yeung

Price- Rs 499

Publisher- Panmacmillan

Vivid Dreams

Overheard...
Tejas - I saw in my dream that the HCL game was not working
Ojas- May be in your dream battery was low

Hinglish

Me- why did that boy beat you
Tejas- beat naa uska kaam hai

Ojas - height of look who is talking- dont give my homework book to donut. Woh kharaab kar dega.

Height of limited generosity
Tejas takes a swig from Donut' s water bottle.
So does Ojas but it's over.
Donut gets more water filled in and offers to Ojas.
Tejas follows suit and Donut scolds him for taking a second swig and snatches it back.
Sent from my Nokia phone

Teen nonteen bandars

Taken for a ride
Sent from my Nokia phone