Theju's tryst with life

Books read in 2025

2025-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Made in America by Sam Walton
The Signal And The Noise by Nate Silver
Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs by Marc David
Stoic by Seneca
Drive by Daniel Pink
Thus Spake Zarathustra by Frederich Nietzsche
The Last Mughal by William Darlymple
Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
Do It Today by Darius Foroux
Baburnama by Babur
Win your inner battle by Darius Foroux
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Books read in 2024

2024-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas by Anirudh Kanisetti
Tiger: The Life of Tipu Sultan by Kate Brittlebank
Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
Start with the Why by Simon Sinek
The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data by David Spiegelhalter
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia

Books read in 2023

2023-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer
The Anarchy by William Darlymple
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Ramrao by Jaideep Hardikar
The ultimate Wodehouse collection by PG Wodehouse
The subtle art of not giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
The Art Of Saying NO: How To Stand Your Ground, Reclaim Your Time And Energy, And Refuse To Be Taken For Granted (Without Feeling Guilty!) by Damon Zahariades
How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie

The Anarchy

2023-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

The English East India Company (EIC) is known for its role in colonising India. But it also has other notorieties to its name, like being one of the first joint stock companies to have a monopoly; to be bailed out by a government; to lobby by buying access to MPs; to build its private militia.

William Darlymple, the author of this book ends it trying to draw parallels with contemporary corporations and how we should be wary of them even if they don't match up in power to the EIC.

This book is a brilliant biography of a greedy corporation that devoured a vibrant country and left it emaciated in a few decades.

As the Crow Flies

2023-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

"As the Crow Flies" is a fiction work of Jeffrey Archer. It is a biography of Charlie Trumper, an English retail magnate. It documents Charlie's life from his childhood until he retires from the huge retail empire he builds.

The Lust for Life

2022-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Vincent Van Gogh is extremely famous now but he was barely able to make ends meet and struggled with mental health issues while alive. His work became extremely famous posthumously. "The Lust for Life" is his biography written by Irving Stone.

The Motorcycle Diaries

2022-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

Ernesto Guevera, popularly known as Che Guevera, along with his friend Alberto wanted to go on an adventure. An adventure that would span the whole South American continent partly on their motorcycle and the rest hitch hiking. This journey would plant the inklings of revolution in Che and Alberto.

Algorithms to live by

2022-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

Our lives are heavily controlled by algorithms, far more than we concede. Our choice of entertainment, shopping, commute to work, appraisal at work etc are all driven by algorithms. Sometimes we feel that algorithms are better than humans because they are not arbitrary.

"Algorithms to live by" is a collection of case studies of how algorithms are shaping our daily life and how they can impact us in ways we have not yet fully comprehended. From low dimensionality of results, biased training data and opaqueness and lack of reasoning; this book covers all the major drawback that deployment of algorithms can bring.

The Rainmaker

2022-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

What are the odds that a person will consult their lawyer when denied a health insurance claim? If the odds are extremely small, the insurance company benefits immensely! Rudy Baylor, who has recently passed the bar has picked up a insurance bad faith case. It's a tough case to crack for a new lawyer especially when going against a large corporation who will deploy their large legal force to scuttle every bid.

Rudy Baylor will need more than luck to win a case and deliver a victory to a mother who has lost her son due to the inaction by the insurance company.

The Odessa File

2022-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

Peter Miller, a journalist, receives a diary from an old Jew who committed suicide. He begins to read the diary and learns that the old man was liberated from a concentration camp after the second World War and that he had spotted the in-charge of the camp recently. Peter turns in the diary to the prosecutor's office but realises they are reluctant to investigate. He then comes across a group of vigilantes who go after war criminals and deliver justice.

They help Peter infiltrate the ODESSA, a secret organization of former Nazis, who have slowly and quietly diffused back into every organization in Germany. Peter's aim to go face to face with "The Butcher of Riga" and deliver justice. If Peter succeeds in this quest forms the rest of the story authored by Frederic Forsyth.

The mystery of the Parsee Lawyer

2022-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Imagine you are incarcerated for a crime you haven't committed. The reason for targeting being your race and skin colour. But you have the world's best detective novel author untiringly championing your cause. Would you be exonerated?

"The mystery of the Parsee Lawyer" is the story of the curious case of George Edalji, a Christian Parsee who moved with his family to Britain in the late 1800s. In a few years, mysterious letters were being circulated and gory animal mutilations began. George Edalji got dragged into the investigation and imprisoned. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (ACD) of Sherlock Holmes fame learnt of Edalji's case and after an investigation strongly believed that Edalji was not responsible for any of the incidents. He made Edalji's release his personal battle and worked untiringly towards it. But would ACD be able to defeat the racial feelings of the local public and the police?

Norse Mythology

2022-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

Having grown up reading India mythology, it is uneasy to read about Gods who are petty, vengeful and flawed. Neil Gaiman's "Norse Mythology" is a collection of stories from the Nordic. While the stories are entertaining, it is a tad difficult to keep track of the various realms, characters and terminology.

Ego is the Enemy

2022-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

Ryan Holiday, the author of "Ego is the Enemy" got the book's title tattooed on his arm to be constantly reminded that one of the largest obstacles in life is 'internal'.

Through various case studies of famous personalities, he delivers the message that one should be humble and never let their ego take control.

Weapons of Math Destruction

2022-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

As automation sweeps the world, algorithms are beginning to decide almost every aspect of our life. This doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing as Cathy O'Neil explains in this book. From bad data, small sample sizes and biased training, algorithms could go rogue and deny people even the most basic human rights.

Twelve years a slave

2022-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Solomon Northup was a free black citizen from New York. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the fields of Georgia, where slavery had still not been abolished. "12 years a slave" is the autobiography of Solomon and a descriptive account of slavery in the South of USA.

God is not Great

2022-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

"God is not Great" by Christopher Hitchens is a book that pans "organized religion". Using the Abrahamic religions, he exposes the hypocrisy of organized religion.

King Leopold's Ghost

2022-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

King Leopold II of Belgium was the first European imperialist who colonised Africa. This book by Adam Hochschild documents the deceit, greed and exploitation of Congo. It's an extremely disturbing read and shakes one's conscience.

Gene Machine

2021-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

The gene machine is the story of the imaging of the ribosome authored by Venki Ramakrishnan. While the book is quite technical, it is also a thriller as multiple groups are shown to be racing towards the goal.

Sea of Poppies

2021-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

One of the exports from the British trading outposts in India was Poppy. The other and least discussed item was "indentured labour". This labour was shipped to their other colonies to act as the muscle.

The Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh is a collage of poignant stories that intersect on a ship that generally shipped poppy.

The Joy of Mathematics

2021-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Joy of Mathematics is a great introductory book to the various branches of Mathematics like geometry, calculus and numbers. It is extremely well-written and can be a great introduction even for people with no math background.

Queen's Gambit

2021-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Beth Harmon is a chess prodigy who has burst into the male-dominated game and is taking it by storm. But all is not well in her personal life. She has only goal of becoming the World No. 1 and if she achieves that forms the rest of the story.

The Guardians

2021-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

"The Guardians" are a group of small lawyers who help free innocent convicts. When they take up the case of Quincy Miller, they get more than they bargained for. This is an extremely well written thriller that keeps you glued until the last page.

The Little Prince

2021-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

The Little Prince is a short novel describing the conversation between a pilot who is stranded in the Sahara desert after his plane has crashed and a little kid from a far away planet.

Gone with the wind

2021-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

"Gone with the wind" is a novel and a history book rolled into one. It describes the evolution of Scarlett O'Hara, the hero of the story against the backdrop of the American Civil War.

Shoe Dog

2021-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

"Shoe Dog" is the autobiography of Nike founder, Phil Knight. I wasn't aware of the history of Nike and this came as an extremely refreshing and lively story, one which epitomises hustle and perseverance.

The Righteous Mind

2021-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

"The Left" and "The Right" are the same in one aspect according to Jonathan Haidt in his book "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion". The aspect being receptive to ideas across the aisle.

The book is divided into two parts, the first where he discusses the history of how institutions helped model people's beliefs and in the second of how people react to opposing beliefs.

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

2021-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Modern physics was born with Einstein's theory of special relativity. But common man has still been quite ignorant of it's after-effects. "Seven brief lessons on physics" by physicist Carlo Rovelli is an attempt to give an approachable introduction to relativity and quantum mechanics.

The Design of Everyday Things

2021-05-29T00:00:00+00:00

"Design is subjective" is something we have heard often but that is not the case says Dan Norman. It should clearly communicate with every user without any ambiguity.

The examples that he quotes to build the book are of a faucet and a door. Design issues that should have been fixed but still cause a lot of grief world over. We have all been there where we aren't sure if we should push or pull at a door or turn a faucet clockwise/anti-clockwise or lift it.

Through this book, Dan Norman explains some fundamental principles of design and how a designer should adhere to them to make it easy for the users.

Woof

2021-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

DISCLAIMER: I know the author personally and had read early drafts of the book.

Woof, by Aparna Karthikeyan, is the story of a pack of street dogs on some Mumbai beach for young adults. These dogs who have been on the beach all their lives find a new pup abandoned in their midst. They name her Shingmo and she is assigned a mentor to get her used to the life of a street dog.

The book sensitively handles the struggles of a street dog, loyalty and abandonment, and highlights the generosity of the people who feed and care for them.

Temporary People

2021-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

What is with Malayali people and the gulf? How do they lead their lives across the sea? Deepak Unnikrishnan's "Temporary People" is a collection of short stories of regular Malayali immigrants in the Middle East. The stories make use of fantasy and hyperbole to convey the 'concealed and relegated' status of the immigrants.

Factfulness

2021-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

Statistics can be tortured to convey whatever the captor wishes. And this is being done every day across the political spectrum and ideologies.

Hans Rosling feels that while statistics quoted daily all over may provide a negative picture, the world has improved a lot despite people (all over the world) being woefully ignorant. This is one of those books that gives you hope that not everything is screwed up in the world and we are making slow and steady progress.

Of Mice and Men

2021-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

The Great Depression of the 1930s devastated America and left a lot of people without livelihoods. George and Lennie are two farm hands on the lookout for work. They have been driven out of their previous work due to accusations of inappropriate behaviour by Lennie who is mentally disabled.

George is Lennie's protector as they have been together for a long time. He also knows that Lennie will keep getting him into trouble until they have some land of their own.

They find a job which they hope is their last job before they buy some land. But will it be their last job?

Akbar: The Great Mughal

2021-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Jalaluddin was 13 when his father Humayun passed away, a reign that was precarious. There were many claimants to the throne, from the Surs who were dethroned by Humayun, to brothers of Humayun and even the Adil Shahs from the south.

Until he came of age, Akbar was placed under the regency of Bairam Khan and the women of his household like Gulbadan Begum (sister of Humayun) and Maham Anga (foster mother of Akbar) acted like a counterbalance.

After he took over the reins, he began assimilating neighbouring provinces either through conquests or through alliances. Once he secured the borders, a period of relative peace began that lasted throughout his reign. This allowed Akbar to reform his administration and ruminate on theology.

The Shining

2021-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

"The Shining" by Stephen King was a difficult novel to read. Not because of the writing but from the disturbing recollections of events by Danny, a central character in the book who is gifted with clairvoyance, a trait referred to as "The Shining".

Jack, his wife Wendy and Danny their son are off to the Overlook hotel located in a remote part in the winter to look after it while it is shut down to guests from the heavy snow. Jack had thrown away his promising writing career due to alcoholism. He has one last chance to prove himself and he hopes that the secluded location and the idyllic environs will help him recover and provide inspiration to complete his writing.

But things don't go as per plan.

Plassey

2021-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

Mir Jaffer, a name that I kept hearing a lot during the West Bengal elections this year. It was a name connected to Bengal and Indian history but one that I had hardly heard of while at school. And serendipitously I would run into that name again through a book recommendation - "Plassey: The battle that changed the course of Indian history".

Sudeep Chakravarti through his book contends that Plassey was the beginning of the colonisation of India by the British. The British had pockets of presence in India through trading posts and as envoys in multiple courts for many decades until the 1700s but they never seemed to have a large ambition. Events transpiring in Europe (the 100 years war between France and England) and competing trading interests in India first put the two colonial powers onto a war path and sets the tone for the battle in 1757. A yearning for the crown makes Mir Jaffer switch loyalties. While he succeeds in capturing the throne (albeit for a short duration) with the assistance of the British, his name gets stained for ages to come; synonymous with a 'traitor'.

The book makes a lot of effort to provide context for the events that led to the war. It relies on a handful of sources, one which is extensively quoted before the war and the second being the English themselves post-war. Despite being fairly one-sided, the author has worked hard to provide an objective narrative.

Masala Lab

2021-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

I had heard of Nathan Myhrvold's "Modernist Cuisine", a book which merged science and cooking. So when I was gifted "Masala Lab: The science of Indian cooking", it piqued my interest. Krish Ashok does a good job of explaining some Indian cooking processes while providing tips on taking it to the next level.

The Calculus Story

2021-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"The Calculus Story: A Mathematical Adventure" by David Acheson is a gentle introduction to Calculus. It is light on formulae and mathematics as it's intended audience is supposed to be beginners who wish to get into calculus.

It starts with a brief history of the feud between Newton and Leibniz on who the inventor of calculus is and then gets into explaining the various concepts like differentiation, integration etc through some real world problems.

This is a small book, one that can be finished quickly and is pleasurable.

Unaccustomed Earth

2020-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. Most stories deal with Indian immigrants or their descendants in the US. The stories tug the whole gamut of emotions - from jealousy to disconnectedness; from sympathy to grief.

How Not to be Wrong

2020-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

Mathematics is everywhere! Jordan Ellenberg reminds us that it is behind every aspect of our life and it helps make our life better if we understand it.

This book is divided into 6 chapters and each chapter picks one real world scenario and teaches how mathematics influences it. This book is a brilliant read even for those people who don't like maths.

Punjab: From Aurangzeb to Mountbatten

2020-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

It's a well known fact in India that Punjab was the eastern-most province of India that had to be protected from external aggressions lie from the time of Alexander to Nadir Shah.

But very little is known of Punjab after the decay of the Mughal empire. This book by Rajmohan Gandhi is an effort to address this shortcoming. The book details the various principalities of Punjab and how they coalesced under the Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Treachery brought down this empire and the English swept in thereafter.

Well after the English took over most of the country, Punjab still remained on the forefront by gifting leaders like Lala Lajput Rai, Bhagath Singh and others to the freedom struggle.

The Man who knew Infinity

2020-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

A shipping clerk put India on the mathematical map in the early 1900s. His work is still being decoded to this day and his genius is still as mysterious.

Srinivasa Ramanujan had an ordinary life until his letter to the famous English mathematician, GH Hardy brought him to England to work on numbers and their series. Culturally neither could understand each other but their professional collaboration would be the matter of discussion for decades to come.

Robert Kanigel's biography of Ramanujan provides a window into his childhood while providing a context through the societal norms in colonial India. Just this makes it a worthwhile book.

The struggles of Ramanujan in England with the climate, the culture and the wartime rationing break your heart and wish that Ramanujan would have been better off if he had been born a few decades later.

Pachinko

2020-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

Pachinko is a multi-generational story written by Min Jin Lee. Sunja, the daughter of a Korean fisherman falls in love with a trader only to realise that he is already married. She refuses to be his paramour and by curious turn of fate gets married to a parish minister only for him to die soon. Single, she brings up her children under Japanese occupation braving a lot of hardships and stigma. Do her children appreciate her sacrifices?

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

2020-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

Walter Isaacson is a brilliant biographer. He brings out a balanced biography and doesn't get carried with the weight of the personality. Benjamin Franklin's biography is no different!

Known as one of the founding fathers of America, the biography covers all aspects of his life - a publisher, satirist, author, scientist and finally a diplomat!

A fine balance

2020-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Set during the dark time of Emergency, "A Fine Balance" traces the story of 4 characters from different backgrounds but who find themselves under one roof in the megacity of Mumbai.

Their lives are poignantly described through various facets like caste, community and ideology and yet they all have one thing in common - "hope". Hope that they can escape their circumstances and their lives will improve.

Right Ho, Jeeves

2020-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Any regular reader of the Jeeves series will tell you that there can only be one ending yet they love to read it. It's probably because of Wodehouse's writing style. It effortlessly transports you to aristocratic England where masters loved to frequent the club and hang out with buddies and their valets looked after their domestic needs. "Right Ho, Jeeves" doesn't disappoint on that count and Jeeves, Bertram Wooster's valet, saves the day for his master and his family.

Everybody Lies

2020-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

"Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data and What The Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are" is a mouthful. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz analyses the 'new' data sources that are now available to researchers, corporations and governments to sometimes expose the hypocrisy in the society. We claim to be more liberal and progressive but our search engine queries show a different picture. In some cases, corporations are using these sources to gleam information even before our near and dear are aware of it. Like Target sending coupons for baby products to expecting mothers just based on their purchase history. Or political parties targeting our latent biases based on our social media posts or our friends.

This is a book that is fascinating and scary at the same time.

The Power of Habit

2020-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Habits as some say can be made in 21 days. But does this stick? Is there any science behind these claims? Charles Duhigg explores the power of creating and modifying habits through some stories featured in the news media.

Leonardo

2020-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

Leonardo from Vinci aka Leonardo da Vinci is a name that needs no introduction. Most people recognize him from his paintings and scribblings from his note book.

But what was he as a person? How did he build such a powerful brand during the peak of the Italian renaissance amongst contemporaries like Michelanegelo, Raphael, Bramante etc.

Walter Isaacson again (see Einstein and Steve Jobs) delights with a well-researched book that deals with a famous person about whom people know sparsely beyond their masterpiece.

Surely you are joking Mr. Feynman

2020-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

"Surely you are joking, Mr. Feynman" is a memoir of Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman written by a close friend based on stories he heard from Richard Feynman during their time together.

This book has not much to do with science but showcases Richard Feynman's multiple interests like in samba music, languages, safe-cracking etc. It's a fairly light reading and gives you an idea of the kind of person he was outside his lab.

India's Struggle For Independence

2020-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

What were the societal conditions that triggered the 1857 revolt? How did the Congress movement come into existence? Why was a movement that was dominated by peasants tilt towards the middle-class? This book is divided by various time periods and analyses the various strategies of the different classes of society in achieving a common goal of freedom from colonial rule.

The Namesake

2020-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

What's in a name? For some, there is a long and emotional story. "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri is a beautiful story of a couple that immigrates to America and their American-born children.

Guns, Germs and Steel

2020-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Have you ever wondered why the American Indians (natives) didn't cross the Atlantic and colonize Europe or why the Aborigines in Australia could not successfully resist a European colonization?

Jared Diamond answers these questions and more on how and why society is today shaped through the events in history. A fascinating book on how a few environmental factors helped a few civilizations to leap frog technologically and societally.

Why we sleep?

2020-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

Why do we sleep? To rest the body and brain? Or does it have any other function? Matthew Walker, a sleep researcher has written this book to answer the question.

The author starts off with an explosive statement that sleep deprivation is the largest undiagnosed global epidemic. He then describes the various stages of sleep and their role in our well-being. And then citing studies, he suggests that one should maintain a good sleep hygiene.

Pride and Prejudice

2019-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen is a beautiful novel which one can read just for it's style. Mr. Bennet has 5 daughters of marriageable age. A rich and eligible bachelor moves into town. Mr. Bingley hosts a ball to acquaint himself with his new townsmen and here takes a liking for Miss Jane, the eldest of Bennet daughters. His friend, Mr. Darcy disappoints a lot of people with his display of arrogance and snobbishness. He hurts Elizabeth's (second daughter) pride by claiming he found her unattractive.

A lot more characters make their entry and the plot gets murkier until a letter from Elizabeth's aunt sets things in perspective.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts

2019-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

"Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking" is a a non-fiction book authored by Susan Cain. The purpose of the book is to correct the view that introverts are a bane to the society.

The author starts off with how we got to this stage where being an "extrovert" is considered an ideal. She describes the problem of seeking extroversion. Then she sets the record straight on what introversion is (being silent is not one), how to distinguish and nurture it.

The take-away from this book is that society needs diversity (of all kinds) and it should try to achieve a balance rather than move towards homogenization.

The Myth of Sisyphus

2019-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

Albert Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" can essentially be distilled into a single question - "Is suicide ethical?". This question has divided philosophers for centuries.

To answer the question, Camus builds upon the arguments of Kierkegaard and Nietzche and comes up with the philosophy of the "absurd". This philosophy states that all life is absurd because one hopes for a better tomorrow even though tomorrow brings us closer to death. It is this contradiction that provides direction to people's lives.

The last portion of the book explains the story of Sisyphus, who is punished by the Gods to eternally keep hauling a huge rock to the top of a mountain to only have it roll back down. Albert Camus wonders about the questions going through Sisyphus' head. Why is he up for a task knowing well that he can never complete it? Isn't it better for him to quit than to be part of this absurd?

The Martian

2019-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Imagine you were on an year-long space mission to Mars and you got stranded. And your next chance of being rescued is a few years away. How would you survive?

"The Martian" by Andy Weir is based on that premise. Mark Watney gets blown away in a Martian storm while trying to evacuate along with his team. They assume him dead and start their journey back to earth without him. But fate has something else in store for him. He survives but has no means of contacting earth. His only chance of returning back to earth is on a future expedition scheduled in a few years.

The book is a fascinating read on Mark's indomitable spirit, fluid adaptations and quick thinking.

Nine Rupees an Hour

2019-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Disclaimer: I know the author personally and have read early drafts.

Why does a livelihood practised over generations disappear? Can "Nine Rupees an Hour" be considered a fair wage for the exquisite skill of the Pattamadai Pai weavers? Would society be richer by the loss of such livelihoods?

Aparna Karthikeyan, a journalist from Tamil Nadu answers these questions while documenting ten rural-based traditional livelihoods that are on the verge of disappearing.

She uses simple story-telling to make it accessible to a large audience while not sounding preachy.

The Day of the Jackal

2019-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

Charles de Gaulle is the French President, loved by some but also hated by a few. The few feel he betrayed their cause and want him bumped off. They are hounded out of the country after a failed assassination attempt. Fearing a mole within their ranks, the rebels decide to hire a foreign assassin one who can't be tracked and one who won't be exposed by internal leaks. An English man code-named "The Jackal" is chosen for the job of putting a bullet into the heart of the French President.

The story documents this operation of "The Jackal". While Frederick Forsyth, the author gives it away at the beginning that the assassination was averted but the cat and mouse game between the French police and the assassin is gripping.

A Brief History of Time

2019-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

Science can be hard to write and harder to read. But once in a while a scientist comes along and explains science in an understandable manner. Stephen Hawking is one such scientist. A Brief History of Time is the biography of the universe. It starts with how our idea of the universe evolved from the times of early Greek philosophers to our current understanding. There is a clear explanation of black holes with answers to some common questions related to them.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

2019-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

This is the first book in my life for which I had to build and constantly keep referring to a family tree. With so many characters (most with the same name!), the book gets confusing and inter-breeding and incest only adds to the disgust.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's fictional history of a town in Colombia and it's first family - the Buendias. Spanning over multiple generations, the family's fortunes are linked with that of the town.

While the family boasts of many members during each generation, they are always lonely just like the town which is isolated from the rest of the country by it's location.

The book requires a lot of persistence to complete and I wouldn't blame you if you put it down well before the end.

Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

2019-09-18T00:00:00+00:00

"Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition" is Colin Campbell's book that advocates whole-foods and plant-based diet. A biochemist by profession, the author mostly quotes his own research to try to prove that any other diet has higher incidences of cancer.

There is a lot in the book that is agreeable like how research nowadays is mostly reductionist instead of holistic, pharma companies infiltrating academia to discredit opposing research and pushing their agenda, governments spending billions on symptomatic treatment instead of prevention, processed foods and factory farming are damaging not just the food but the ecosystem etc. But ad hominem attacks and discredited study methodologies (by author itself) dilute his message and raise doubts.

Adulting

2019-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

Adulting is supposed to mean "behaving like an adult" but in the book by Neharika Gupta, there doesn't appear to be anyone that matches this meaning. Ruhi, Aisha and Tejas are the only characters in the book and they behave like immature teenagers.

Ruhi is a workaholic who runs a fledgling publishing house and earning her mother's approval is one of the biggest dreams of her life. Tejas is a first-time author whose book is published by Ruhi's company. He is romantically involved with Ruhi and she goes all out to promote him. She hires Aisha, a social media influencer to promote the publishing house and Tejas. But Aisha has her own demons, she purges her stomach regularly to maintain her appearance on her social feeds. Tejas proposes to Aisha after a few weeks of working together (teenage mistake #2) and hurts Ruhi. Tejas loses his contract with the publishing house and Ruhi's hard work goes down the drain when her mom winds down the publishing house. A cold war ensues between Aisha and Ruhi and Aisha finds herself unemployed. The stress gets to Aisha and she breaks up with Tejas.

Will Tejas make amends and ask for forgiveness from Ruhi and Aisha and finally behave like a responsible adult?

The Diary of a Young Girl

2019-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

"The Diary of a Young Girl" is the diary of Anne Frank, a teen who was captured in 1944 along with her family by the Nazis as they were hiding in Amsterdam.

The diary starts a few weeks before her family's escape to a warehouse where they hide for 2 years. Aged 13 when she started penning her entries, the book leaves a moving and disturbing picture of human behaviour as the families in hiding fought hunger, unhygenic conditions, loneliness and each other.

Their only contact with the outside world was a radio that relayed news of the Allies. The progress of the Allies brought them hope but news of stiff resistance would bring gloom upon the inhabitants of the warehouse.

The Kite Runner

2019-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Generally, I don't pick up books after I have watched it's movie adaptation. I don't know what was going on in my head when I picked up "The Kite Runner". The movie moved me to tears and I wasn't sure if I was comfortable revisiting it.

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini is the story of Amir and his closest friend Hassan. Though they are friends, Hassan also happens to be the son of his servant. The sectarian nature of the then Afghani society complicates their relationship further.

Amir betrays his friend and lives with that guilt life long. The guilt follows him to America which has offered him asylum. Many years later he is given a chance at redeeming himself. Will he take up the chance to make amends with Hassan? Or will he let his new life in America come in the way?

Both the book and the movie are well done and equally powerful. Choose the medium that you prefer but do check it out.

The Old Man and the Sea

2019-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

This novella by Ernest Hemingway describes the story of an old fisherman and a marlin. Santiago has had months without a catch and he is written off as "The unlucky one". His young apprentice is also forbidden by parents from joining the old man. Though the boy cannot fish with him, he helps the old man haul his fishing gear to his home and prepares a meal.

Santiago never gives up and on his eighty fifth day, he manages to catch a fish but he can't get it onto the boat because it is large and keeps pulling the boat along. He gets into the long haul and lets the fish tire itself out before trying to haul it. In the two days before the fish gives up, Santiago's respect for the fish, his opponent increases. On the way back, the body of the marlin is attacked by sharks and hardly anything remains by the time he is ashore.

Bruised, tired and famished, Santiago gets home and falls asleep. But he wakes up next morning with a renewed enthusiasm and promises the boy to fish together once again like the old times.

Gone Girl

2019-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

"Gone Girl" is an amazing thriller of a wife who goes missing while planning for her fifth marriage anniversary. The husband finds himself implicated in her missing. He has to make use of the clues that his wife has left him in the anniversary treasure hunt to learn more about her and her disappearance.

With an interleaved (husband and wife's accounts) narration and gripping storyline, this book is a worthwhile read.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

2019-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

This book had been recommended by many as a good case-study of sociopathic personalities (people identified their bosses, teachers etc as the Nurse Ratched in their lives). "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" is set in a psychiatric facility with Nurse Ratched, an emotionally manipulative nurse, as the chief overseer. She shames her wards into submission to control them. She goes uncontested until McMurphy, a convict who fakes insanity to escape prison is admitted. McMurphy tries to instigate his wards to stand up for themselves and his efforts catch the eye of the nurse who devises some plans for him. When he learns of them, McMurphy becomes docile and tries to expedite his discharge from the hospital.

But one cannot keep a gambler subdued for too long and soon things escalate - changing everyone's life in the ward.

Homodeus

2019-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

"Homodeus: A brief history of tomorrow" is supposed to be the sequel to the wildly popular Homosapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. As the title suggests, it is a set of predictions by the author that will elevate the human race to the level of god (Deus is latin for "god").

There were hardly any predictions that I agreed with but nevertheless it was a breezy read.

Einstein: His Life and Universe

2019-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

"Einstein: His Life and Universe" is the biography of scientist Albert Einstein written by Walter Isaacson (who also authored Steve Jobs biography). Generally one would expect that a lot of focus would be on Einstein's scientific career but Isaacson devotes far more to Einstein's personal and political life.

I started this before before I embarked on a long travel and struggled to complete it during the travel but the journey (both the travel and the book) was worth it. Einstein's political beliefs highlighted in this book make you wish he was alive during these times.

The Handmaid's Tale

2019-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a dystopian novel along the lines of "1984" and "A Brave New World" with the distinction that it's narrated through the voice of a woman (one largely absent in the other two books). Offred (a name assigned) is a handmaid to a wife and her primary task is to procreate with the Commander - master of the house. The world is at war not between nation states but between religious sects and handmaidens are forced into this practise to arrest the low birth rates. She describes the society and how it's layered while comparing it with the one in the not so long past. In that past, she was married and had a daughter. She longs for her family and accepts this position because her other option was to be banished to the Colonies - polluted wastelands.

Her Commander is sterile and is unable to get her pregnant and she is racing against time as she could be labelled barren and shipped off to the Colonies. The wife then decides to setup a forbidden sexual liaison with Nick, a valet to the Commander so that she can have a baby and bask in the jealousy of the other wives. This relationship is discovered and the police come for Offred and the ending is open to our imagination.

The book riles up it's readers by describing a highly conservative society where all personal liberties are forbidden and how women bear most of it's brunt.

Life of Pi

2019-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

When life gives you no choices, would you still stick to your beliefs and values? Or let practicality dictate your decisions? "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel explores these questions through the life of Piscine Patel aka Pi. The Patel family is based out of Pondicherry and run the city zoo. When the emergency of the 1970s is declared, the family decides to emigrate to Canada along with a few animals from the zoo. Midway, the ship sinks mysteriously and Pi is marooned on a life boat with a handful of animals. One of them is a Royal Bengal Tiger. After a few days, only Pi and the tiger are left on board. Pi survives nearly an year on board with Richard Parker, the tiger. He is forced to make a lot of decisions that he previously would have found unpalatable and uncivilized. But it's a question of survival and a challenge keeping the tiger alive as long as possible even though it could kill him in an instant if he isn't cautious.

The Agony and The Ecstacy

2019-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

"The agony and the ecstacy" is a biographical novel written by Irving Stone on the master sculptor, Michelangelo Buonarroti. Irving Stone relies mostly on Michelangelo's correspondence and the Buonarroti chroniclers for earlier history.

Despite being a master marble sculptor, Michelangelo was forced to take commissions on material he hadn't worked with under pressure from popes and aristocrats. In most cases, the work was abandoned due to the benefactor dying, going bankrupt or just changing their mind. In some cases, he had to modify his work midway because the benefactors forced changes even after signing off on smaller scale wax replicas. The agony of being forced to take up uninspiring work for clueless benefactors ruined the ecstacy he experienced working on his ideas with marble.

Despite not having a huge body of work, the few that he could complete are masterpieces. Imagine if he was given a free hand!

While Michelangelo lived in medieval Italy, I could draw a lot of parallels with software development - where projects get shelved suddenly due to circumstances or requirements/goals are changed midway and the frustrated team is forced to change direction.

Florence: The biography of a city

2019-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

Another book by Christopher Hibbert and this is mostly a repetition of "The rise and fall of Medici" with a fast narration before and after the Medicis. The difference being a little more emphasis on the monuments of Florence. Possibly a good guide book if you are planning to visit …

The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall

2019-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Christopher Hibbert is a historian for the tl;dr (too long; didn't read) generation. He condenses a huge span of history making it a great starting point to the reader who otherwise would be lost over where to begin.

The Medici family was one of the most powerful families in Florence but their impact was felt well beyond - throughout Italy and sometimes in neighbouring France. The book starts in the late 1300s with the story of the founder of the Medici bank and chronicles the stories of all the Medicis that followed until Cosimo III in the early 18th century.

Apart from the history of the family, there is an emphasis on the villas, art work and cathedrals commissioned by the family. A lot of their commissions still stand to this day and this book may act like a mini-guide book.

The Gene: An intimate history

2019-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

Very few authors have the capability of successfully explaining science to the layperson. Siddhartha Mukherjee is one of them. His previous book, "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer", brought out cancer onto our coffee tables and this brings genetics. Like in his book on cancer, the author starts with a story, here it is familial - with uncles being affected by mental diseases that are later discovered to be genetic.

Then he traces the history of scientists and how they stumbled upon the gene and how it drives almost every aspect of our life. Phase by phase, milestone by milestone he documents the developments in genetics without getting into too many technical details. And he concludes the book with the moral conundrum if humans should get into editing genes (eugenics) to build a better self.

The Long March

2019-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Disclaimer: I know the author of this book personally and read an early draft.

When I first read the draft of "The Long March" in 2016, I remember informing Namita that the ending was too filmy. Boy, some words come back to haunt you! I am glad that she held her conviction and didn't change the ending.

"The Long March" is a fictional (with lots borrowed from real life and events) novel about rural distress in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Vikram Sonare, is devastated after his father - a heavily indebted farmer commits suicide. He harnesses the anger amongst the rural youth and the power of social media to start a revolution.

The book is primarily narrated through the character of Mallika Joshi, a social worker who works in the same region and is inspired by the efforts of Vikram Sonare. The revolution morphs into a political movement (for a book written between 2008 and 2014, it had lot of foresight!).

Will Vikram Sonare and Mallika Joshi be able to successfully achieve their goals and awake people from their indifference? You should read this book to find out the answer.

Atlas Shrugged

2019-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

1200 pages and 47 days! That's the longest it has taken me to complete a book yet. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a fictional story set in the United States of America where the government has been captured by crony capitalists who lobby to pass laws that restrict innovation and competition to safeguard their fiefs.

Hard working and conscientious businessmen who are hit by these regulations start vanishing; leaving their businesses imploding. Dagny Taggart, a scion of Taggart Transcontinental Rails and a ruthless businesswoman who loves competition and free enterprise is caught in the cross fires of these regulations. She is torn between protecting her life's ambition of running an efficient rail company and feeding the looters who have put regulatory restrictions in her tracks.

While Ayn Rand's writing style is beautiful; the book would've been better with crisper editing. The repetition and the length just dampen the premise of the book much like the regulations dull the spirit of the businessmen in the novel. The book reads like propaganda for Capitalism. Not sure how Ayn Rand would've reacted to the levels of inequality in society today caused by the crony capitalism globally.

Kahlil Gibran Selected Couplets

2019-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

I love Kahlil Gibran's poetry and have been collecting his couplets as I read his books. Here are a few that I loved:

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
He who does not seek advice is a fool. His folly blinds him to truth and makes him evil, stubborn and a danger to his fellow man.
The heart's affections are divided like branches of the cedar tree, if the tree loses one strong branch, it will suffer but it does not die. It will pour all of it's vitality into the next branch so that it will grow and fill the empty place.
Not everyone in chains is subdued. At times, a chain is greater than a necklace.
Oh Jesus, they have built these churches for the sake of their own glory, and embellished them with silk and melted gold. They left the bodies of the chosen poor wrapped in tattered raiment in the cold night. They filled the sky with the smoke of burning candles and incense and left the bodies of thy faithful worshippers empty of bread. They raised their voices with hymns of praise, but deafened themselves to the cry and moans of widows and orphans.
Come again, O Living Jesus, and drive the vendors of thy faith from thy sacred temple, for they have turned into a dark cave where vipers or hypocrisy and falsehood crawl and abound.
What is it to be a good citizen? It is to acknowledge the other person's rights before asserting your own, but always to be concious of your own. It is to create the useful and beautiful with your own hands and to admire what others have created in love and with faith. It is to produce by labour and only by labour and to spend less than you have produced that your children may not be dependent upon the state for support when you are no more.
The clergyman erects his temple upon the graves and bones of the devoted worshippers.
We who live amid the excitements of the city know nothing of the life of the mountain villagers. We are swept into the current of urban existence, until forget the peaceful rhythms of simple country life, reap in autumn, rest in winter, imitating nature in all her cycles. What we sow we reap not, they reap what they sow. We are slaves of gain, and they children of contenment. Our draught from the up of life is mixed with bitterness and despair, fear and weariness but they drink the pure vector of life's fulfilment.
For the criminal who is weak and poor the narrow cell of death awaits but honour and glory await the rich who conceal the crimes behind their gold and silver and inherited glory.
Man is like the foam of the sea, that floats upon the surface of the water. When the wind blows, it vanishes, as if it had never been. Thus are our lives blown away by death.
Death is an ending to the son of the earth, but to the soul it is the start, the triumph of life.
Remember, one just man causes the devil greater affliction than a million blind followers.
There is something in our life which is nobler and more supreme than fame, and this something is the great deed that invokes fame.
Are you a governor looking down on those you govern, never stirring abroad except to rifle their pockets or to exploit them for your own profit? If so, you are like tares upon the threshing floor of the nation. Are you a devoted servant who loves the people and is ever watchful over their welfare, and zealous for their success? If so, you are a blessing in the granaries of the land.
Say not, "There goes a learned man". Nor, "There a chieftain dignified". The best of men are in the herd and heed the shepherd as their guide.
Are you a husband who regards the wrongs he committed as lawful, but those of his wife unlawful? If so, you are like those extinct savages who lived in the caves and covered their nakedness with hides. Or are you a faithful companion, whose wife is ever at his side, sharing his every thought, rapture and victory? If so, you are as one who at dawn walks at the head of the nation toward the high moon of justice, reason and wisdom.
Are you a journalist who sells his principles in the market of slaves and who fattens on gossip, misfortune and crime? If so, you are like a ravenous vulture praying upon rotting carrion.
Are you a politician who says to himself: "I will use my country for my own benefit?". If so, you are naught but a parasite living on the flesh of others. Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers into the ear of his inner self: "I love to serve my country as a faithful servant". If so, you are an oasis in the desert, ready to quench the thirst of the wayfarer.
Progress is not merely improving the past; it is moving forward toward the future.
Great truth that transcends nature does not pass from one being to another by way of human speech. Truth chooses silence to convey her meaning to loving souls.
Whoever would be a teacher of men, let him begin his teaching himself before teaching others; and let him teach by example before teaching by word. For he who teaches himself and rectifies his own ways is more deserving of respect and reverence than he who would teach others and rectify their ways.
In the mouth of the society are many diseased teeth, decayed to the bones of the jaws. But society makes no efforts to have them extracted and be rid of the affliction. It contents itself with gold fillings. Many are the dentists who treat the decayed teeth of the society with glittering gold.

Getting Things Done

2018-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

Just looking at the title, I decided to take a dive into getting things done even before I started reading the book. So I started reading the book simultaneously with other books. And boy was I wrong! Not only does the book clearly discourage multi-tasking; it took me 3 months to get through the book even though it's fairly simple.

"Getting Things Done" is a collection of tips by David Allen on improving your productivity. They are quite simple to read, understand and implement:

1. Make a note of every task that pops into your head and file them. This reduces the cognitive load and you feel less stressed.

2. Keep going back to this pile of tasks that you keep filing and process them based on some rules. You could either trash the tasks, defer them to someone else or for some other time or immediately act upon it if it takes less than 2 minutes.

Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists

2018-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

Raghuram Rajan (former governor of RBI) and Liugi Zingales, a professor from Chicago's Booth School of Business have written this book to drive home the point that most capitalistic societies around the world are mostly crony capitalism; where the incumbents make use of a nascent market and capture it and then work their political connections to build a regulatory moat to protect their fief from upstarts.

The authors lay down the ideal form of capitalism and how financial markets need to be mature enough for it to succeed. As a part of the prerequisites for capitalism to succeed:

A government must play an active role in setting up the infrastructure.
A government must honour the right to property.
A government must allow open borders and exercise transparency in flow of information.
A government must invest in retraining and providing safety to the disincentivized (not corporations but workers).

The book might sound technical but isn't. They use a lot of historical events as case studies to explain and use jargon minimally.

Coromandel : A personal history of South India

2018-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

"Ashoka - the search for India's lost emperor" by Charles Allen was a mind-blowing book that showed how even history can be presented to it's readers like a thriller. To better such a book is a challenging task and thankfully Charles Allen sets the tone for the kind of book in his introduction. He puts forward the disclaimer that the book is not comprehensive but mostly covers aspects of his personal choice.

Starting from the prehistoric ages, Charles Allen discusses the significant events and stages of history to the south of the Narmada. Most of these aspects are generally ignored or considered auxiliary like the impact of Buddhism and Jainism on South India or the history of early Tamil and Malayalam nations.

Despite the disclaimer, the book is a good starting point for a lot of people who wish to learn more about South India. At the end, the author exhorts the reader to go beyond the mainstream interpretations and appreciate the multi-faceted aspect of Indian culture.

Steve Jobs

2018-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Henry Kissinger - all geniuses (possibly debatable). And then when you add Steve Jobs into the list, you know the author is out to prove a point. Walter Isaacson helms the only official biography of Steve Jobs, a mercurial genius.

It documents the journey of Steve Jobs from his childhood until his demise and claims to be as unbiased as possible. Isaacson taps a lot of sources from the various stages of Job's life to reduce the impact of his revisionist recollections. He has done a good job on this front but still feels like flattery in most portions of it. Almost every negative episode of Steve Jobs life is mentioned in the book but is combined with a contrast giving it an apologetic touch.

K.A Nilakanta Sastri - Writings in The Hindu

2018-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

K.A Nilakanta Sastri was an Indian historian who specialized in South Indian history and was an expert in Cholas. The Hindu compiled a list of his best contributions there and released them as a book.

Most of these essays are from the 1950s and some from the early 60s and discuss various aspects of the Tamil Sangam era, the Cholas - their contributions and conquests and the other significant rulers of South India.

This book has set up the pitch for me to read his other books especially the one on the Cholas.

The Godfather

2018-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Vito Corleone is the head of the Corleone Family in New York City, one of the most powerful Sicilian families that controls organized crime in the city. He is a friend to those who seek his help and in turn expects a reasonable favour in return when the time arrives. He is worshipped and feared by his men and foes alike.

An attempt is made on the life of the Don by a rival family and he is indisposed. A power struggle erupts in the city with the elder son of the Don taking over the family's businesses and enforcing his will ruthlessly. Other families start facing the heat and plot to eliminate him. The youngest son of the Don who isn't connected with the family business gets dragged into this bloody affair and has to flee the country. The elder son is assassinated during an operation and the Don has to step in to take back control. He gathers all the families and threshes out a peace plan to prevent more bloodshed. In the meantime, he makes arrangements to get his youngest son back and succeed in the family business.

Will Micheal Corleone, the youngest of the sons, stays true to his Sicilian blood and avenge his family or abide by his father's peace deal with the Mafiosa like an obedient Sicilian son?

Delivering Happiness

2018-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

I generally don't pick business books unless it is highly recommended. "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh was recommended by a manager at one of my previous workplaces. Tony Hsieh documents the story of Zappos, an online footwear retailer until it's acquisition by Amazon. The primary focus of this book is on the values that guide the company, how they were framed and their role in the company's success. The lode star of the company is "delivering great customer experience to wow the user" and Tony Hsieh quotes multiple anecdotes to showcase this.

Ranjit Singh: Maharaja of Punjab

2018-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

Khushwant Singh, a noted author pens the biography of Ranjit Singh, referred to as 'The Lion of Punjab' by the Sikhs. He was the first king to have unified the Punjab and built a huge empire. The book documents the events in Ranjit Singh's life chronologically with a lot of focus on the battles and his negotiations with the British. It doesn't cover details like administration, economy or elaborate on the king's character.

The Last Lecture

2018-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture" may not be as evocative and stylish as Paul Kalanithi's "When Breath Becomes Air" but is heart-breaking nevertheless. He was a professor at the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that later metastized into the liver. Randy delivered "The Last Lecture" not only as a way of helping students achieve their dreams but also communicating with his kids when they grow up. The lecture became a hit and was viewed by millions, prompting Randy to write a book offering more details that he couldn't accommodate in the lecture.

An Era of Darkness

2018-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

"An Era of Darkness" sprung out of a popular lecture by Shashi Tharoor in London. This speech was appreciated by a lot of Indians even across the political spectrum but caused some stir amongst the English. To address these, the author deemed it fit to write a book as it served a better medium. The main argument of the book is that the English need to own up to the misdeeds of their colonial past and make reparations to the Indians. He primarily addresses the points of the English historians and Anglophiles who claim that the English gave a lot to India and it is India that should be grateful to Her Majesty.

The Book Thief

2018-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Lisa is on the cusp of adolescence while she is put up for adoption by Nazi authorities and finds herself in the home of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. She is confused as to why she has to live with her foster parents when her mom is alive. After settling into her foster home, she takes a liking for her adopted parents. She makes new friends and when not playing with them, learns to read with her dad. She loves the exhilarating feeling that books give her and begins to lift them (books apart from Nazi propaganda were banned in Germany then) from the house of an influential Nazi politician who was probably exempt from the rule. The books help her maintain sanity during the trying war and assist in the blossoming of a special relationship with Max, a Jew being hidden from the Nazi authorities by Lisa's parents in their basement. Do the Nazi authorities capture Max and punish the Hubermann family?

Death has a special role as that of a narrator and sympathetic spectator.

Importing OpenStreetMap data into Postgresql

2018-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

I had the requirement of extracting hospitals from OpenStreetMap into Postgresql so that some data analysts could run some scripts off it.

I fired up an AWS EC2 server (t3.large) running Ubuntu and installed the awscli package and configured it using my AWS Key and Secret Key.

sudo apt-get install awscli
aws configure

Then I downloaded the PBF file from AWS S3 (you don't incur a charge if downloaded from S3 if you are using EC2)

aws s3 cp s3://osm-pds/2018/planet-180903.osm.pbf .

The file size was about 42GB and took 20 minutes to download. Next, I used Imposm3 instead of Osm2pgsql to read the PBF file and import into postgresql server.

imposm import -config config.json -appendcache -read planet-180903.osm.pbf -write

The config.json specified the database and mapping parameters.

{
     "cachedir": "/home/ubuntu/cache",
     "connection": "postgis://osm:osm@localhost:5432/osm",
     "mapping": "mapping.json",
     "srid": 4326
}

Since I was only interested in the location of hospitals and didn't require other tags or admin boundaries, relations etc, this is how my mapping.json looked.

{
     "tags": {"load_all": true},
     "tables": {
         "amenities": {
             "columns": [
                 {
                     "type": "id",
                     "name": "osm_id",
                     "key": null
                 },
                 {
                     "type": "geometry",
                     "name": "geometry",
                     "key": null
                 },
                 {
                     "type": "string",
                     "name": "name",
                     "key": "name"
                 },
                 {
                     "type": "mapping_value",
                     "name": "type",
                     "key": null
                 },
                 {
                     "type": "hstore_tags",
                     "name": "tags",
                     "key": "tags"
                 }
             ],
             "type": "polygon",
             "mapping": {
                 "amenity": [
                     "hospital"
                 ]
             }
         }
     }
 }

The imposm import command took nearly 19 hours to import the data into postgresql. You can push the data into the public schema using the -deploytoproduction flag or just use the import schema if you are comfortable with it.

Additionally, I exported the data from the osm_amenities table into a json file (a json line for every row in the table) using the following PSQL command:

COPY (SELECT row_to_json(t)
      FROM (SELECT id, osm_id, name, type,
                   hstore_to_json(tags) as tags,
                   ST_AsGeoJSON(geometry)::json as geometry
            FROM import.osm_amenities) t
     )
TO '/tmp/output.json';

My Muttrc

2018-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

I have been using Mutt, a text-based email client for ages for some self-hosted email that I use internally. Someone recently asked me to share my .muttrc and so here goes:

set editor = "emacs -nw"

set mbox_type=Maildir
set mbox="~/Mail/Inbox"
set spoolfile="~/Mail/Inbox"
set folder="~/Mail/"
set record="~/Mail/Sent/"
set postponed="~/Mail/Drafts"

unset record
set my_pass = "password"
set my_user = "username"
set my_host = "example.com"
set realname = "John Doe"

set pop_user = $my_user
set pop_pass = $my_pass
set pop_host = $my_host
set pop_host = pops://$pop_user:$pop_pass@$pop_host

set from = "username@example.com"
set use_from = yes
set envelope_from = yes

set smtp_url = smtp://$my_user:$my_pass@$my_host:25/
set ssl_starttls = yes
set ssl_force_tls = yes
set ssl_verify_host = no

A People's History of the United States

2018-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

"History is written by the victors" goes a famous quote. Every reading of history should be treated with some scepticism. "A People's History of the United States" written by Howard Zinn narrates history not through the government's propaganda but through common people's movements.

The book opens with Christopher Columbus' armada reaching the shores of the Americas. Official sources will claim this as a historical event that changed the world and honour this hero. But the same event through the view of the native Americans will reveal widespread genocide.

The English start settling and expanding from the north-eastern shores to the west while constantly displacing and destroying the natives. The settlers slowly become politically concious and rebel against the Queen to gain independence. The "founding fathers" (most of whom happened to be landed and slave owners) framed a constitution that safeguarded the elite's interests.

Even before the independence, ship loads of slaves from Africa were being brought in by the rich land owners to work on their farms. The southern states of the US' rebelled over a proposal to ban slavery and the American Civil war broke out.

Within a few decades, the country was pulled into the First World War and upon conclusion, it's economy was in dire straits and culminated in the Great Depression. They slowly crept out of it only to get dragged into the Second World War which ended with the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japan.

After that it regularly flirted with wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq etc.

The book dives deep into the class-aspect of history. How the poor and the working class were disenfranchised from the beginning. Their struggles to get their voice heard and how administration after administration failed to make any difference.

The author admits that this book is biased; tilted in favour of the oppressed and goes against the grain. But it gives a new perspective into how we understand history.

Port Forwarding with HAProxy

2018-08-11T00:00:00+00:00

I recently acquired a beefy bare-metal server and wanted to run a bunch of services within VMs based on KVM managed by libvirt. Only ports 80 and 443 for these VMs would be exposed and the rest of the ports (say SSH) visible only from the internal network.

Initially, I just thought of going with Nginx because I was familiar with it. But I had heard a lot about HAProxy and wanted to give it a shot.

I had libvirt assign a static IPv4 address for each VM and then used that to correctly forward the terminated TLS connection at HAProxy.

Here's the libvirt network configuration:

<network>
  <name>default</name>
  <uuid>{uuid}</uuid>
  <forward mode='nat'/>
  <bridge name='virbr0' stp='on' delay='0'/>
  <mac address='52:54:00:34:12:10'/>
  <ip address='192.168.122.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'>
    <dhcp>
      <range start='192.168.122.2' end='192.168.122.254'/>
      <host mac='52:54:00:a9:2c:0b' name='vm1' ip='192.168.122.2'/>
      <host mac='52:54:00:a9:2c:0c' name='vm2' ip='192.168.122.3'/>
      ...
    </dhcp>
  </ip>
</network>

I then created VMs with the above host mac addresses and the corresponding IP address got attached.

The HAProxy config was as below:

frontend http
     bind :::80 v4v6
     bind :::443 v4v6 ssl crt-list /home/fedora/ssl-list.txt
     mode http
     option forwardfor
     option http-server-close
     redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }

     use_backend vm1_example if { req.ssl_sni -i vm1.example.com }
     use_backend vm1_example if { hdr(Host) -i vm1.example.com }

     use_backend vm2_example if { req.ssl_sni -i vm2.example.com www.vm2.example.com }
     use_backend vm2_example if { hdr(Host) -i vm2.example.com www.vm2.example.com }

backend vm1_example
     server vm1 192.168.122.2:80 maxconn 32

backend vm2_example
     server vm2 192.168.122.3:80 maxconn 32

HAProxy forwards the HTTP connections either based on the SNI (if supported by your SSL certificate provider) or the HTTP Header.

The ssl-list.txt file held the location of the SSL certificates (thanks LetsEncrypt):

/etc/letsencrypt/live/vm1.example.com/full_cert.pem vm1.example.com
/etc/letsencrypt/live/vm2.example.com/full_cert.pem vm2.example.com www.vm2.example.com

Later on, I ran an SMTP server within it's own VM and port-forwarded to it as well. The HAProxy configuration file had the following lines appended to it:

frontend smtpd
  bind :::25 v4v6
  mode tcp
  no option http-server-close
  timeout client 1m
  log global
  option tcplog
  default_backend smtp

backend smtp
  mode tcp
  no option http-server-close
  log global
  option tcplog
  timeout server 1m
  timeout connect 5s
  server postfix 192.168.122.4:25 send-proxy

Shantaram

2018-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

Looks can be deceptive. Very deceptive. When some villagers name the protagonist "Shantaram" after his calm nature, little idea did they have of his fierce past. Shantaram tries hard to melt into his surroundings and maintain a low-key but keeps getting into trouble.

Gregory David Roberts, the author, embellishes his life events to build the story. He escapes prison in Australia and flies to India under an assumed name (Lin) to lay low for a while before escaping to Europe. He meets an unreserved tourist guide, Prabhakar who becomes a dear friend. After a robbery, Lin loses all his money and relocates to a slum in Mumbai. During the course of his stay, he gets acquainted with a lot of foreigners, an underworld don - Abdel Khader Khan, being one of them. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, he ends up in Arthur road prison where he faces abuse that almost leaves him dead before he is rescued by Khader Khan. Lin dedicates his life to the don and blindly follows him to Afghanistan to help the mujahideen liberate the country from the Soviets. This trip opens his eyes and he realises that he has become someone he loathes. He resolves to return and reset his life.

The novel is over 900 pages and protracted. There were many instances where I felt like dropping the book but carried on hoping for a satisfying experience at the end. While I didn't feel so after I was done, it wasn't lousy either.

When breath becomes air

2018-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

What would you do if you are informed that you are dying (no timeline provided)? Would you continue working towards your dream? Or give up and spend the rest of the time cursing your fate?

Paul Kalanithi is close to completing his neurosurgeon residency at Stanford. He has worked hard all his life to get here but is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. As a doctor he knows his chances are bleak but his doctors (who were colleagues until the diagnosis) try to motivate him. The diagnosis exacerbates his family life (already strained due to the long hours at the hospital). He pulls through with a lot of positivity and support from family and friends. When the first round of treatment appears to be working, he gets back to medical practise. But he realises he is a shade of his past and it's only a matter of time before the impending eventuality.

While the book discusses morbidity, Paul the writer is lively and his writing spirited.

Mahashweta

2018-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Dr.Anand falls in love with Anupama and it appears to be progressing like a fairy tale. After marriage, her husband leaves to England for higher studies and she is expected to follow him shortly. But she is diagnosed with Vitiligo and is shunted out of her in-laws and parents. She moves to Mumbai with the help of her friend and starts working as a lecturer. Does her husband (unaware of her condition) come back and reconcile? Or does she find her true life partner?

On the Origin of Species

2018-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

I have heard of the phrase "Survival of the fittest" since childhood in contexts unrelated to Charles Darwin's (this phrase was added in a later edition) usage. It always piqued my curiousity on how he (and some people before him) proposed this revolutionary idea. They didn't observe the evolution of any species. Nor could they run experiments in the lab.

It turns out that this influential and still controversial theory 'evolved' out of hundreds of anecdotal observations! This book describes the evidence Darwin and other naturalists collected over decades and the resulting facts and inferences. This is a multi-part book and finished after more than two months of arduous reading.

Pakistan; or the partition of India

2018-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

Every person in the Indian subcontinent is aware of the misery caused by the partition of India. A lot of people believe that the Indian Congress Party and the first Prime Minister of India were responsible. They insist that the partition could have been avoided and history would've been kinder.

Dr.Ambedkar analyses this question dispassionately through historical events (division of Greece), data (army recruitment numbers, tax revenues) and the legitimacy and feasibility of demands by the Muslim League and the Indian Congress.

I won't go into the solutions proposed by him but those would have earned him the 'anti-national' tag if he were alive today.

The Bourne Identity

2018-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

Countless number of times people have recommended this book but I pushed back by claiming that this book didn't fit my interests. Recently I realised that my reading has been wide-ranging and I don't have a favourite genre.

A man is found almost dead by fishermen in the middle of the sea. A doctor nurses him and realizes that his patient has amnesia and has no recollections. A negative film print embedded in him could be the only way to learn of his identity. How this clue helps him unravel his identity forms the pacy story of "The Bourne Identity".