The Last Avatar (Age of Kalki 1)-Vishwas Mudagal

Book: The Last Avatar (Age of Kalki 1)

Author: Vishwas Mudagal

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India

Whenever the world has faced a serious threat, a hero has risen. We have read stories of the Avatars of Lord Vishnu and how he has always taken a human form to rid the world of impending doom.

The Last Avatar derives the concept of the plot from the mythical 10^th Avatar of Lord Vishnu, who as per the ancient texts, would come and end the current Yuga, the Kaliyuga. The story is set in the not-so-distant future where India has fallen and is on the brink of a war. An attack by the Invisible Hand, a terrorist organization, eliminates the entire cabinet of the country, along with the symbol of democracy. On a parallel storyline, we meet Neel Digvijay Kalki, a gifted human, who is working as a private defense contractor for India, developed some extraordinary gadgets and technologies to protect the nation. He is captured by the Chinese forces and is interrogated for days at length to extract information, but he does not yield. Working with a secret society The Rudras, and a Chinese superhuman spy Nushen, would Kalki prove to be a living Avatar? Read the book to find out.

The book is based on mythology but is written as a science fiction. We see the concepts such as robots, drones, AI etc. coming up. There is a lot of reference to current geo-political scenarios as well and the plot created is engaging and does not fall flat at any point. The plot points are sharp and will keep a reader hooked and entice him to turn over the page. The story has figments of imagination, yet it does not seem overly fictionalized and once can visualize the scenes vividly. Vishwas has provided details of all the incidents that are required. The back stories of each of the characters are beautifully crafted and introduced at the right time in the plot to keep it interesting.

Talking about the characters, the character of Kalki has been given a good backstory and that has created enough interest that the reader will become personally involved with him and try to connect with him. The character of Nushen is complex. It has been given a decent back story and the events highlight how she adapts to change, and it would be really interesting to see how she fares in the books to come. The other characters unfortunately appear in parts and thus we’ll have to wait for some more details in the upcoming books to see what fate has in store for them.

The series has had an interesting start and it would be interesting to see how Vishwas takes the story forward and what all we get to experience through the eyes of Kalki.

For me, The Last Avatar translates into a decent read and scores a 3.75/5.

You Beneath Your Skin-Damyanti Biswas

Book: You Beneath Your Skin

Author: Damyanti Biswas

Publisher: Simon & Schuster India

Can one moment change your entire life, or for that matter impact a lot of people around you?

You Beneath Your Skin is a story that covers a myriad of themes from murder to corruption to social vanity and what not. The book is set in New Delhi in the winter season, where we meet our first protagonist, Anjali Morgan who is a practicing psychiatrist and has to care for het autistic son while being a single mother. She has a clandestine affair with the Commissioner of Police, Jatin Bhatt and they are drawn to each other like a fly to honey, though they manage to keep it a secret. To add to it, Anjali rents the ancestral house of Jatin, which she shares with his sister, Maya. The plot thickens when a spate of crimes starts showing up on the radars of Delhi police, gruesome crime scenes with women brutally raped and then acid poured on their faces to erase their identity. Jatin takes up the case, though secretly and tries to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Anjali has her own demons that she faces everyday and comes face to face with one when something happens that changes the lives of all the people-Anjali, Jatin, Maya, Nikhil and Jatin’s family.

Writing a review about You Beneath Your Skin is a very difficult task because of the intricately woven plot lines make it really hard to contain the plot points yet give a gist. Damyanti has put together a murder mystery, a thriller and a book with a social message all in one. The plot is extremely well written with moments that will make you literally shiver and moments that will compel you to turn the page. Each incident in the story has been intricately carved and the way in which clues are dropped through out the story are really commendable. Covering topics such as acid attacks, social taboo about outer beauty, autism etc. this book makes you think about what we consider “normal”. With multiple plot lines converging in the end, the climax of the book is something that will stun you to the core and the execution of the climax will make you tear your hair off.

Talking about the characters, Damyanti has given each of the characters a wonderful quirk that gels in beautifully with the plot. Be it Anjali’s obsession with her looks and make up or with Maya preferring to wear long sleeved clothes to hide her secrets, the book puts each of them in a situation where they question the societal norms that we blindly tend to follow. Jatin’s character of the tough top cop and his conformance to the common practices and his guilt are another example of what Damyanti has done to create such amazing characters.

A special mention to the details in which the author has gone into to make us connect to the book. The vivid description of some incidents is bound to give you goosebumps.

Also, all proceeds of this book go to the non-profits, Chhanv Foundation and Project WHY. 

Go buy the book now.

Its almost end of October and You Beneath Your Skin is the best book in this genre that I have read and for this and for making me understand some deep concepts, it has gone beneath my ranking box and taken out a 5-star rating.

Time & Chance-V A Mohta

Book: Time & Chance

Author: V A Mohta

Publisher: Rupa Publications

“I can honestly say that I have never allowed any person or occurrence to tempt me to compromise my self-respect, regardless of importance of the person or the attractiveness of the temptation. Everything has a price in life but I do not regret the price that I have paid. Surprisingly, while chronicling the journey of my life, I find that I have gained much more for adamantly adhering to this value than I have lost”

-Vallabhdas A Mohta

Reproducing this quote from the back cover of the dust jacket of the autobiography of Justice V.A. Mohta, Time and Chance, because this is a theme that is recurring in the book. A chronicle of the life and times of Justice Mohta, we get to see a very different side of Indian Judiciary from his eyes. Coming from a very humble background, it was his sheer grit and persistence that rose him through the ranks of the Indian Judicial System, where from being a lawyer in a mofussil court, he retired as the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court.

Justice Mohta narrates some quirky incidents through the course of this life and his tenure that tested him, developed him and polished him to make him reach where he did. He brings forth his relationship with some of the most notable names of his time, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Ram Jethmalani, Justice Venkatachaliah and many more. He takes up the defining moments of his life and we can see a transition of a person happening as he passes through those events and those occurrences.

The book is written in a fairly simple manner and in an easy to understand English. At times, there are some legal terms that might cause a reader to look towards a dictionary, but that is one more reason to pick up this book. While reading, we also come through some landmark judgements of the Indian Judiciary from his perspective and that is a wonderful way to understand an alternate point of view.

An inspirational book, Justice Mohta’s message through this book is that of persistence and ethics. If you are true to your ethics and have a clear goal, you are bound to succeed. Another very important aspect that he highlights is that of relationships and your connection to people. In his memoir, there are many opportunities that happen to go his way because he had a personal connection with someone.

All in all, a definite recommendation. For me, I give it a 3.5/5.

Fluid-Ashish Jaiswal

Book: Fluid-The Approach Applied by Geniuses over Centuries

Author: Ashish Jaiswal

Publisher: Wisdom Tree

How many of us have ventured out of our comfort zones to look for something beyond that is taught to us? Have we become so narrow minded that thinking out of the box is a rare quality now?

Fluid by Ashish Jaiswal is a book that approaches a concept that is one of the basic foundations of a developing mind. It shatters the myth by arguing that great minds who have changed the fate of humankind are actually the ones who have failed, faltered or remained uncertain, yet never bothered to stay pasted to a rigid line, they were fluid. It is a book that takes everyday situations, historical events, prominent people and builds a narrative that will force the reader to question the very frame of mind that we have developed in this socially constructive education system that we have. The author questions the very premise of people dividing the world into Science & non-science streams, with people being looked down upon if they try mingling both of them. Ashish has taken up the examples of some very notable people like Charles Darwin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Dr. CV Raman, Steve Jobs and many more.

Coming to the structure, the book is divided into 5 major sections, each of them having a set of sub-sections. The sections are a natural progression where Ashish starts with the problem, provides a solution and then finally deliberates on the impact of being fluid. The writing style is very reader friendly and the examples are put up at the perfect places. He has taken up some very interesting nuances of the examples and then explained them in line with the concept of fluidity and how that was the USP of each of the people who are considered to be icons in their respective fields.

Fluid is a book that should be read by anyone who aspires to make it big in their chosen field. It is also a book that helps the reader being a person who can accept the fact that being an all-rounder is as important as being a specialist in your chosen field. It highlights the fact that what makes us different from a machine is our ability to adapt, to be fluid, to think and to apply.

A mind opening read, gripping to the core. 

It scores a 4.75/5 from me.

The Ramayana Secret-Anurag Chandra

Book: The Ramayana Secret

Author: Anurag Chandra

Publisher: Om Books International

Perspectives make a lot of difference on how we contemplate any event or a story. Often, what we see is just one side of the story, right?

The Ramayana Secret by Anurag Chandra is afresh retelling of the epic. In his story, Anurag has taken the concept that there exist 2 civilizations on the earth, one on the outer surface and another inside the Earth, called the Agartha. The civilization in Agartha is very well developed as compared to the one on the outer Earth by virtue of their longer existence. Originating from the same ancestors, Agartha uses emissaries to communicate with the outer Earth and provides them with knowledge so that society can progress. As the advanced civilization, they are the guardians of the knowledge of the Gods and many other advanced technologies that are revealed only to the people who have achieved the highest order of spiritual awakening to avoid them falling into the wrong hands. For years, the two civilizations had a peaceful co-existence until Ravana comes along and the divine scripts come into his custody by happenstance. Rama is then tasked with the mission to retrieve the scripts and bring it to the rightful owners. What happens next, forms the plot of the book. The Ramayana Secret is Rama’s story, not as we know it, but as it happened.

The plot of the book is very good, and it moves with a comfortable pace with emphasis on the points at the right places. Anurag has created an extremely detailed story with the details picked from the original epic but adding the right condiments into it to provide a feasible alternative plot line. He has aligned the presence of all the major events of the epic into this plotline with a plausible back story. Be it the story of Ahalya or the story of Shabari, each of them has been dealt with in proper accuracy. The description of the Inner Earth is fairly detailed and helps create a picture of how it might look had it existed. The story of the rise of Ravana, Rama’s swayamvara with Sita, the crossing of the ocean and the origins of Hanuman are some of the highlights that stood out for me.

Talking about the characters, the prominent characters have been given a proper backstory that fits in with the plot. There are no chinks that can be identified, and sufficient clues are provided to create a distinct persona of each of the characters. The thing that caught my attention, though, was the epiphany of Ravana towards the end of the plot and I would like to specially mention this as it shows how well the author has delved into the human psyche.

In the quest to retrieve the divine scripts, the author has convinced me to handover 4/5 scripts that I have.