2 States–Chetan Bhagat

I had read this book when it was published. Read it again after seeing the movie last week. Needless to say liked the book more than the movie…after all we are always HOOKED ON BOOKS.

Love marriages are very common nowadays, and anyone who reads this book will identify with it at some point or another. Inter caste marriages come with culture matching instead of horoscope matching. This book has everything, the cultural differences while the affair is going on, the cultural difference when the parents meet, the cultural differences when the marriage takes place, there is something which every person who has gone thru inter caste marriage will identify with. The only point missing in the book is the cultural difference after the marriage… but then that is another story altogether.

Till then .. read the book and enjoy .

Chanakya's Chant - Ashwin Sanghi - A Review

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Chanakya's Chant by Indian author Ashwin Sanghi gives its readers a look into two parallel worlds that are tied together by the intelligence of the main protagonists.

Chanakya's Chant is a racy and gripping account on Chanakya, one of the greatest political strategists India has every know, seen or heard of. The story changes track as it narrates the tale of Gangasagar Mishra, the reincarnation of Chanakya, in parallel. Will he be the next kingmaker? 

Modern times, welcome, Gangasagar Mishra, a denizen of a quaint old Indian town, is no ordinary man. Society sees him as a Brahmin teacher who can barely make ends meet, but is he the reincarnation of the man who brought the fragmented subcontinent together under a single empire? Chanakya. . 

The first story is set in 340 BC, when a young Brahmin man, fueled by the death of his father, vows revenge against the king and overthrows his rule by bringing in Chandragupta Maurya, the first emperor of the Maurya Dynasty. The goal not only to bring about a new king to avenge an insult, but also at the same time, unifying a divided country against the impending invasion by Alexander, the Great

The scene then shifts to modern day India, where Gangasagar Mishra leads his life as a nonentity until he decides to groom an ambitious girl from Kanpur into India's prime minister by manipulating her life and directing it the way he wants it to go. Shades of political brilliance, manipulation to achieve one's own goals, a vision, unify a divided India under a single unified rule, or simply to show what can be done if done the right (?) way.

Strategy, politics at its best, Ashwin Sanghi takes readers on a joyride through Chanakya's and Gangasagar Mishra's cold and calculating moves, showing what can(not) be done if done the right (?) way.

A Must read.

Review by Sheetal Bhatia (Shirley Gajria)