Digi's Blog

  I have not been a hardcore fan of non-fiction or self help books, except for a few extraordinary ones like "The Secret" or the Monk series by Robin Sharma. It isn't that I don't like this genre. Infact few books have the capability to change your life. However there is so much more to read in the fiction genre that I always end up preferring that genre. Sanjay Desai's book titled "Jasmine Builds on Shifting Sands" is a unique book which combines fiction and non-fiction. But it doesn’t end here – he even makes us experience a totally novel concept – that of E-microlearning. How did I find the book? Let us find out! PLOT AND WRITING STYLE This is essentially a self-help book, however to cater to a wider audience and to make it more interesting and relatable, Sanjay adopts a combination of fictional as well as non-fictional elements. And that works really well. So we have a real story – that of Ma Krishnanandgiri whom Sanjay met in the Himalayas. ...

“I am sharing a Half relationship story at  BlogAdda  in association with  #HalfGirlfriend ” There was this woman. I call her a “WOMAN” and not a girl, though she is still only 23 years old. This post is for her – that one single woman who I believe is someone who will be etched in my heart for years to come. For the world, she was a random person, a typical girl, loaded with the usual tantrums, habits, styles and fusses usually associated with a girl of 18 years freshly arrived in college. For me she was different. She wasn’t at all a random person. I loved her typicalities, experienced her tantrums, marveled at her styles, and got angry at times and smiled at times at her fusses. The first time I had met her, I had actually shook my head in disgust as she was unstoppingly and unhaltingly speaking – something a woman totally loves to do. Let us leave the words “love”, “girlfriend”, “relationship”, etc aside. She was a friend. A friend who taught me h...

I call him the John Grisham of India, and the Madhur Bhandarkar of the banking world. Like Madhur, Ravi Subramanian exposed the blatant truth of the banking world, the corruption & the bureaucracy. But there is a BIG difference between Ravi and Madhur. Madhur kept on repeating the same subject in his films, leading to all of his recent ones being disasters. On the other hand, Ravi changed genres. Not that I disliked his repetitive subjects. I mean, he could easily manage to pull off 4-5 thrillers on the banking industry due to so much of diversity. But still, he shifted genres. And THAT was a lovely idea. PLOT So we have the novel starting with an IIM alumnus who turned an author later, giving a lecture at the same place he studied. Soon we get an idea about how publishing a novel isn’t the only thing to do. That is only half the battle won. What really escalates a novel from being a mediocre one to being a BESTSELLER is the marketing and promotional a...

He was a teacher whom everyone loved. He taught us chemistry during our 12 th standard. It was a small personalized tuition class which he conducted at his home in his dining room where 12 of us would sit around a circular table along with him, and he would teach us chemistry on pages. There were no blackboards, no powerpoint presentations, no projectors. He would write every single word and teach us. He was an ideal teacher, something about which we have read only in books. In my 11 th standard, I performed a bit poorly in chemistry. It was a major setback to me since I usually used to top in my class. Since that day, I was determined to excel in chemistry in my 12 th boards, since that was the year which would determine my future career. To be honest, chemistry bewildered me at times. I just couldn’t get the concepts right at times and thus the less score in my 11 th standard exams. But things changed as soon as my 12 th standard began and I started going to sir’s classe...

It was a day every Gujarati will remember for the rest of his life. On 26 th January, 2001, when people were still asleep relishing their holiday, when students were at their respective schools saluting the tricolor, the earth shook like never before. Within a matter of few minutes, mother nature unleashed her fury on Gujarat. Belonging to the city of Vadodara, I was 13 years old when this happened. I still recall the events as if it happened just yesterday. Our class of 7 th standard had gone on a trip to Kutch. A five day trip, we had resided in tents on the outskirts of the city of Bhuj in a small village called Madhapur. That morning of 26th january was a queer one. The entire night, the incessant barking of dogs around our campsite had troubled our sleep. We woke up early to go to a place called "Kalo Dungar" situated on the outskirts of Bhuj. At 8.25 am, we were in the bus passing through the city outskirts when suddenly the atmosphere became cyclonic...

If you think about it, for a doctor and surgeon like me, banking related novels are part of a way different genre. But there has always been something about Ravi Subramanian which has made me love all his novels. I started my association with Blogadda by reviewing Ravi’s novel. So this time when they offered a copy of “God is a Gamer” for review, I HAD to get it. And despite the heavy schedule, I easily finished the novel in 3 days. PLOT Like all his previous novels, this one too revolves around the NYIB New York International Bank. To describe the whole plot would be almost impossible. To tell you in short, there are multiple subplots, all well connected with each other. As always, this novel revolves in and around the New York international Bank (NYIB) and brings out the glaring reality of the banking world. There is the well known character Aditya who has been an old character in Ravi’s novels. There are also Sundeep, swami and Kalpana. This time we are introduced to ...

James Patterson is a big name amongst the popular novelists of today. I hadn’t read any of his novels till now. But I have read Ashwini Sanghi’s two books – “Krishna key” and “Chanakya’s chant”. When I heard that these two authors were collaborating for a novel, I was indeed excited. Here’s what I thought of the book. PLOT The plot is totally Indian. Obviously. Even though James Patterson is involved, the two authors justify the title of the book, weaving an intriguing and lovely plot which is filled with Indian elements. It is a clever mix of Patterson and Sanghi’s imagination as they combine Indian religion with fiction and suspense to create a gripping novel. The plot is something like this – PRIVATE INDIA is an Indian investigative organization headed by Santosh. Along with few other members, they take upon the case of a serial killer who is in no mood to relent. One by one, the killings take place, the killer always leaving peculiar mementos at the murder site. ...

There is this new trend of merging mythology with fiction lately which seems to be working quite well. “Baramulla bomber” too follows the same path to some extent. Written by Suraj “Clarke” Prasad, this book is a combination of politics, cricket and some deep and well done research. PLOT – A lot of things are crammed in this first part of the trilogy. There is a deep insight to the political tension between India and China. Then there is some very thorough description of the mythological being the key. To be honest, I felt a bit too much stuffed in a single book. The initial few pages are a difficult read – ranging from boring to quite disjointed. But soon, the author picks up pace and we are on a racy ride involving espionage, religion, friendship and ofcourse, cricket. There are a lot of twists and turns and unexpected events which manage to hold your interest till the end. WRITING – Clarke Prasad’s writing is quite lovely. I liked his unique style of writing ...

The latest book which Blogadda delivered at my door step was a book called “MY STROKE OF LUCK” written by Vijay Santhanam. And believe me, I am indeed lucky to have read this book. Firstly, I myself am a doctor. So that changes my entire perspective towards the book. I have seen people suffering from all kinds of strokes and brain abnormalities, ranging from mild to severely debilitating. But Vijay Santhanam’s book moved me, deeply. STORY – One can’t really call it a story. It is a true and heart wrenching write up of the odds faced by a single man, how he dealt with it, how he came out of it and what he is capable of achieving even after facing so much in his life. Vijay Santhanam, at a young age of 41, was afflicted with a cerebro vascular stroke, resulting in paralysis of the right side of his body. His speech was lost. A stroke at such a young age is distressing, both to the patient and the people around him. But then, as I have learnt in medicine, disorders of the brain can a...

It was indeed a pleasure to find a hard bound book delivered to me by Blogadda; that too a book which dealt with a topic which needs to be given more attention than it is currently getting. “SHOES OF THE DEAD” is penned by Kota Neelima and describes the situation of farmer debt related suicides. The book describes multiple stories all ultimately related to the same problem. And so we have one plot depicting young Keyur Kashinath, a novice and son of the democratic party’s general secretary. He is new to the political scenario and faces the problem of an increasing number of debt related farmer suicides in his constituency Mityala. How he deals with his own arrogance, ego and gets a dose of the real problem in the constituency is shown in the book. On the other hand, we have a top class honest and bold journalist named Nazar who is frequently aided by a woman also associated with the concerned constituency. And finally we have the main plot of Gangiri Bhadra. Ga...

Suspense thrillers are always dicey. One has to make sure that the reader is kept engaged till the end. The pace should not slacken or bore the reader. And most importantly the finale should be jolting and awesome. Keigo Higashino’s “SALVATION OF A SAINT” easily fulfils all the above criteria, and ends up delivering a lot more than the usual suspense thrillers. A Japanese bestseller, this book is translated by Alexander Smith. PLOT – Yoshitaka Mashiba and Ayane Mashiba are married since one year. Things are not at all rosy between the couple. And so when Yoshitaka ends up being murdered by poisoning, naturally his wife is the first suspect. But the wife wasn’t even near Yoshitaka when he was poisoned. Infact, she was a hundred miles away at her parents’ place. So then who murdered Yoshitaka? And most importantly, HOW? CHARACTERS AND WRITING – There are only a handful of characters – making us ponder even more as to who the killer is. Keigo Higashino’s writing style i...

“TANTRA” is written by ADI. That’s it. That’s his name. When I checked this book on the blogadda site, I found the premise rather interesting – a female guarding a city against vampires. And so let us see how dear adi capitalizes on this concept. PLOT – Anu Aggarwal is a professional guardian who works for an organization which kills vampires and protects New york city against vampires. However when Anu’s boyfriend Brian gets murdered, she is hell bent upon taking revenge. With only a grainy picture as a lead, she soon discovers that the murderers have a connection with New Delhi . And so she applies for a job transfer and comes to Delhi . However Anu realizes that things are much more complex than she had imagined. There are vampires who are friends rather than foes with her organization, and the real enemy is someone else – who is upto something ghastly. And so Anu gets herself involved in the Indian religious customs of Sattvic and Tantric knowledge. While all this...

Remember those lectures of social studies back in the 8 th standard where we studied civics and economics? Well, Pavan K Varma’s latest book is a nostalgic reminder of those dull lectures. How I only wish this book would have replaced my textbook at that time! PLOT : We all are fully   aware of whatever is going on in our country at present. Widespread (And I emphasize on the word WIDESPREAD ) corruption has infiltrated every corner of our country. And hence we witness a rather frustration demonstration on television and in newspapers about how criminals instead of being in prison are roaming around free – some whose trials are going on since ages in the court, while some who have given the law a slip and are free, while some are sitting in the parliament RULING OUR COUNTRY! Frustrating, isn’t it? And while we may raise our voice in protest and voice our opinion on how our country has been downgraded, simply commenting will not help. We need to do something, and that ...

While he has already written many novels prior to this, Mukul Deva’s latest novel “RIP” was his first book I read. The synopsis promised a highly engaging plot and an equally engaging read. Let us see whether the novel delivers as promised or falls flat. In a present day India marred by rampant corruption and scams, we are introduced to a group called the K – TEAM. This team is headed by retired Colonel Krishna Athawale and consists of Retired Major Kevin David, Karan, Kashif, Kamlesh, Kulwant. Angered and fed up of the corrupt politicians, these vigilantes decide to put a stop by killing them. And so the team divides into groups and expertly kills three people – who were close relatives of three politicians involved in few corrupt scams. Calling themselves the “Resurgent Indian Patriots” or RIP, they take up the responsibility of the three murders and publically declare that unless the prime minister takes immediate action against the corrupt ministers, three more mu...