Brajesh's Review: Cutting Chai and Maska Pao

"Cutting Chai and Maska Pao" is a cute small book, which is sure to bring a smile to every reader. The quirky text-plus-picture take on Mumbai's vocabulary is the result of a college project of three young girls.

Even for a person familiar with Mumbai, I found a few nuances in pages dedicated to - Baida, Italian Barber, Mewad Kulfi and Zunka Bhakar. The book has arranged the Mumbai vocabulary alphabetically including typical Mumbaiyaa words like Aila, Tapri, Rapchik, Rokda, Dhinchaks, Jhakaas, Waat

Rating : 3 / 5

Brajesh's Review : The Kill List

Frederick Forsyth remains the master story-teller for sure. This page turner is to be picked up only if you have a free Sunday afternoon to finish it in one go. His timing is uncanny as always. This novel goes deep into the Somalian operations of Al-Shabaab. With Kenya's mall shoot-out not even a month old, a novel with the terrorist group (Al-Shabaab) responsible for same as the central plot was quite spooky. This is not the first time I felt the same. Even the release of his earlier novel "Afghan" and the killing of a few high profile Al-Quaeda officials were eerily close.

The Kill List - story also has an interesting sub-plot of Somalian ship highjacking, which coincided with me watching "Tom Hanks starrer Captain Phillips" yesterday. Overall a master thriller set in the current complexity of global terrorism is both well researched and well timed. Must read.

Rating : 4.5 / 5

My Philosophy when it comes to buying books :)

Brajesh's Review : Sita's Ramayana

Ordinary text with Extraordinary Art, is the best way to describe this graphic novel - Sita's Ramayana. The Patua Graphics are the only reason you should pick up this book. This Bengali folk art-form has been beautifully and artistically adopted for the graphic novel genre, but the text falls short on providing any surprises.

Maybe Samhita's "Missing Queen" had raised my expectations. The story begins at Vanvaas and ends at Sita's departure into Earth's belly. It is told from Sita's perspective but the only interesting perspective for me, was the passage describing the plight of war widows.

The 2.5 is all for the beautiful drawings in the book.

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Also Read : Kim's Review of Sita's Ramayana

Kim's Review : The White Queen

Philippa Gregory's - "The White Queen" begins where "The Lady of the Rivers" ends and runs parallel to the story line of "The Kingmakers Daughter". So while The Kingmakers Daughter" is about Anne Neville (and a little about Isabelle Neville - the daughters of the Earl of Warwick) and The Lady of the Rivers is about her mother Jaquetta of Luxemburg, later Lady Jaquetta Woodville/Rivers, The White Queen is about the widowed Lady Elizabeth Grey (nee Woodville) who rises to become Queen Consort to King Edward IV (of York)

"The White Queen" begins with the widowed Lady Elizabeth Grey (nee Woodville) waiting by the roadside with her 2 young sons for the newly crowned young King Edward IV (of York) to pass by, so she can petition him to win back her rightful lands and sons inheritance from her mother-in-law who has appropriated it all after the death of her son. However, Edward IV falls in love with her and she with him. So while some call it witchcraft and she calls it love, yet they get married in secret, while the Kingmaker is trying to arrange the Kings Wedding with a Princess from France.

So through her marriage, she automatically makes some very powerful enemies. To counter this, she and her mother raise their own relatives to high positions across the land and the church and arrange high ranking marriages for their extensive family which further angers and upsets both families of Royal blood and rank and the commoners.

The whole of the book deals with the multiple wars that are fought during this period of the War of the Cousins / War of the Roses and the machinations and plotting around these events. Jaquetta's Wheel of Fortune keeps turning for this young couple too, but ultimately ends with Edward IVs early death when his heir and son Edward V is still barely 12 years old.

Edward IV's brother Richard (Duke of Gloucester) kidnaps Edward V with the intention of becoming his Lord Protector, but ultimately ends up locking him in the tower and declaring himself king. The unfortunate Edward V and his younger brother Richard are the "2 Princes of the Tower" whose bodies were never found and whose disappearance is an unsolved mystery unto this day.

However, in this version of events, Philippa Gregory hints that having had her eldest son locked in the tower, Elizabeth actually secreted her second son Richard into hiding and substituted him with a simple page boy when forced to give up her second son into the keeping of their uncle Richard of York.

The White Queen ends with the death of Anne Neville, Elizabeth's eldest daughter (also named Elizabeth) betrothed to Henry Tudor (another cousin claimant to the crown) but in love with Richard of York and Richard of York being suspected by the people of poisoning his wife.

I would love to read an account of Elizabeth of York too and I hope Philippa Gregory has planned to write one, because she is another strong woman who was forced into marriage like a pawn with a man she did not care for. And in The White Queen, Gregory alludes to her having greater power than her mother in terms of magic.

{Added on 20 Oct 2013 : Yes, she has written a book on Elizabeth of York, released earlier this year called "The White Princess"}

Any woman who ever dreamed of being a queen or a princess would quickly grow to even hate the concept if she reads these books of Historical Fiction. Being used as a pawn by their fathers, brothers and husbands to further their own alliances, then married off to philandering husbands (no matter that they are Kings) and constantly worried for the life, health and safety of themselves, their families and their children.

As Elizabeth of York tells her mother when they are hiding in sanctuary - "It is a curse to be born Royal, I just want to be ordinary and marry a man of my choice and live in the country"

Yes, its another wonderful book by Philippa Gregory. What is truly amazing is how even a reader who completely empathises with Anne Neville in The Kingmakers Daughter and distrusts Elizabeth Woodville, can completely empathise with Elizabeth Woodville in "The White Queen" and that is the genius of Philippa Gregory as a writer of Historical Fiction.

Starting on "The Red Queen" next. will let you know how it goes :)


Rating : 4.5 / 5

Also Read Kim's Reviews of the other books in Philippa Gregory's - "Cousins War" Series:
The Lady of The Rivers

The Red Queen
The Kingmaker's Daughter
The White Princess

Kim's Review : The Lady of the Rivers

The "Lady of the Rivers" is chronologically the first book by Philippa Gregory around the War of the Roses / War of the Cousins. But since I had read The Kingmakers Daughter first, I was completely prepared to hate Jacquetta - the main Heroine in this book. It is a testament to Philippa Gregory's talent as a writer, that I fell in love with Jacquetta within the first few chapters of this book.

Historically, not much is known about Jacquetta. Born Jacquetta of Luxemburg (to the Count of St Pol, rulers of the Duchy of Luxemburg) she is married while still a child to the widowed Duke of Bedford - brother of King Henry V (House of Lancaster) and uncle to Henry VI who became King when just 7 years old. With the scandal attached to his widowed Mothers remarriage, Jacquetta became the foremost female of the English court with the wife of her husbands brother the Duke of Gloucester.

However Jacquetta's husband died early in her marriage and she fell in love with her husbands squire Richard Woodville and created an international scandal of sorts by marrying him secretly (she being of the Royal family and him being a Commoner) She was forced to pay a huge fine and live the life of a common land owner until the marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou - a French Princess.

Given Jacquetta's French roots, she was considered by the Court of England to be the best person to help the new Queen acclimatise to England and the ways of the Court and sent to bring Margaret from Anjou to England. Given their common background (French Ancestry - marriage to English Royalty, early marriage etc)) Jacquetta as chief Lady-in-Waiting to Margaret again became the 2nd most powerful woman in the English Court and her husband Richard Woodville is entitled Earl Rivers.

Over the years, Jacquetta and her 2nd husband - Richard Woodville - supported the Lancastrian claim to the throne and fought wars on their behalf, until her husband Richard, lost a battle to Edward of York and as terms of his release swore to never again take up arms against the Yorks.

With the York cousins in power, Jacquetta's family again fades from memory until her daughter Elizabeth Woodville - a widow with 2 sons - manages to enrapture King Edward of York who marries her secretly while his marriage is being negotiated with a Princess of France and takes her to London as his Queen.

While this causes a huge scandal again and breaks down the relationship between King Edward of York and his mentor the Earl of Warwick, as mother to the Queen, Jacquetta again rises to the position of 2nd most powerful woman in the realm, but this time in the service of the Yorks.

Her rise and fall from power and influence change with each war and she calls this the turn of the wheel of Fortune.

Jacquetta is a descendant of the mythic Goddess/mermaid Melusina and legend holds that the oldest girl of every generation of the House of Luxemborg, would have special wisdom and powers.

But this is also the mid 15th century and Joan of Arc is imprisoned in her uncles castle under the charges of treason, heresy, witchcraft and wearing mens clothes. While still a child, Jacquetta witnesses the burning of Joan of Arc by the Church and her Grand aunt cautions her to keep her "gifts' to herself.

However, her constant rise back to power, the number of children that she begets and her influence over key decision makers, has the Earl of Warwick declaring her a witch when he seizes power back from King Edward of York.

It is around these facts, that Philippa Gregory builds a tale of a powerful, independent woman in the mid 15th century. A woman who threw caution to the winds to follow her heart. Building on the recorded accusation of witchcraft against her, Philippa Gregory attributes many more magical powers to her heroine in this book and it makes for an extremely fast paced read.

It was really tough to put down this book at any point, because you just want to keep turning the pages. I absolutely loved it, as will any other reader of the Historical Fiction genre.

Rating : 4.5 / 5

Also Read Kim's Reviews of the other books in Philippa Gregory's - "Cousins War" Series:

The White Queen
The Red Queen
The Kingmaker's Daughter
The White Princess

Kim's Review : Sita's Ramayana

After reading the Missing Queen, I knew I had to go back and read Samhita Arni's first book - Sita's Ramayana, which had been lying unread on my book shelf for almost 2 years. (with my love of books, my book buying speed overtakes my book reading speed by about 40%)

If you expect another piece of brilliant speculative fiction like her 2nd book, then Sita's Ramayana is not for you. It is much more traditional in the sense that it retells the events as is accepted by most famous retellings, but it tells the story from Sita's perspective and hence the label of Speculative Fiction.

Sita's feelings and thoughts imbue this book and that is what made it feel so familiar to me. The same thoughts and questions that plague me when I read the "Ramcharitmanas" or other more popular versions are vocalised by Sita in this book by Samhita Arni & Moyna Chitrakar.

The futility of war and the loss of life worry Sita, The predicament faced by Tara (wife of Sugriva, remarried to his brother Vali and then handed back to Sugriva by Rama) upsets Sita, as it would any other woman who values her independence. This is the beauty of Sita's Ramayana. Samhita Arni has given Sita a voice and a voice that echoes with womanly sentiment, emotions, fears and reasoning.

Moyna Chitrakar is a Patua Artist from Bengal who has adapted the Patua scroll paintings style to a graphic novel with wonderful illustrations like these.

Moyna's paintings came first and Samhita Arni then added the text to the story by building on Chandrabati's Ramayana (a 16th century female re-teller of the epic from Bengal) which tells the tale of a brooding and sorrowful Sita who is abducted, rescued, doubted, tested, temporarily accepted, re-doubted and banished by her husband.

Its a beautiful book, that anybody interested in different versions of the epic would appreciate. But most women would resonate strongly with the Sita in this version which begins with the appearance of Surpanakha in the forest and ends with Sita returning to her earth mother.

Rating : 4/ 5

Also Read : Kim's Review of The Missing Queen






Note: The 2nd picture is an image that appeared in the DNA's Review of Sita's Ramayana

Brajesh's Review : The Enemy

My 8th Jack Reacher in under a year - Yes! my addiction is now totally confirmed. Lee Child's - "The Enemy" was spicy and wholesome. It uncovers a lot of Reacher's past, including his demotion to a Captain and his mother's death in Paris.

The story of the US army going nuts in expectation of a reduction in manpower, post the Berlin Wall collapse is a smart backdrop which weaves well into the murder mystery. Although the novel is loaded with army references, it didn't overwhelm someone like me with limited interest in army details.

I recommend that you read this after you are well and truly into the Jack Reacher franchise to enjoy the unraveling of his past, while you are aware of his present.

The book ends with Jack Reacher stating that he would do what others tell him, as he is in army. This gives a peek into his future rebellion and nomadic life, which is primarily driven by the need to be free of order and orders.

Rating : 4 / 5

Brajesh's Review : Amreekan Desi - Masters of America

Kim received Amreekan Desi for review from The Readers Cosmos along with Good Reads, so since it was at home, I picked it up, but with really low expectations (given the title and cover you can't blame me).

But once again Amreekan Desi, proved my "judgement by cover" erroneous. The story of a young Indian professional starting his life in US (Amreeka) is explored to death. But Atulya Mahajan brings a freshness and sincerity to his humour which I think is rooted in is his autobiographical experiences.

The characters are stereotypes but keep you engaged, situations are standard but keep you turning the pages and climax is cliched but brings a smile. A light read for anyone, but a MUST read for all engineers who are buried under Baron's guide to GRE.

Rating : 3 / 5

Also Read Kim's Review of Amreekan Desi - Masters of America

Brajesh's Review : Raj Yoga Mediation & Children's Father - Prajapita Brahma

I bought these when we visited the Brahmakumari's HQ ashram in Mount Abu.

I wanted to know the History behind the Brahmakumaris movement - hence the Amar Chitra Katha like book and the Philosophy - hence the Raj Yoga Booklet.

In both cases the thought is nice, simple and idealistic. But the books  are written so badly (language/grammar / sentence construction) that you are more likely to dismiss an interesting philosophy than be engaged further.

If you want to delve into the sect and it's philosophy I would recommend watching Astha Channel's discourses rather than read any of the official publications in English.

Rating : 2 / 5