Book Review - "The Battle of Belonging" by Shashi Tharoor (Winner of Sahitya Akademi Award).

Rarely you read a book that started with a wow and ends as such. The title of the book says " The Battle of Belonging" - on nationalism, patriotism, and what it means to be Indian. This is what Tharoor explains like a text book in order for readers to understand the deep rooted meaning of these words.

The book begins with " I grew up in an India in which one took a few things for granted: nationalism was a 'Good Thing', the nationalist movement was heroic, the nationalist struggle against British had been led by great figures of extraordinary qualities - Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the rest - and the historic legacy of Indian Nationalism was one of which every Indian should be proud." He gradually moves on to explain in great details and defines nationalism the difference in various different forms of nationalism especially ethnonationalism and civic nationalism. He defines patriotism and the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Suggesting that nationalism suggests that my country and countrymen and everything about it is GREAT, whereas patriotism says my country is what it is and I love it with all its flaws. He goes on to explain the Idea of India as understood and explained by its founding fathers Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar, and the idea behind putting together a document called Constitution, that would guide the growth, development of the county both in materially and socially. In contrast to what people who never raised their voices against the occupier British and had a vision of a Hindu Rashtra  that had no place for any other religion. For them...Golvalkar, Savarkar, Deendayal Upadhyay and their likes "Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan" was the idea of India and they never accepted the pluralistic and secular India as their country that the constitution defined. That idea or the grudge was carried through over the years and when their time came they are hell bent upon converting it into the same i.e. rewriting of constitution on lines of Manu-Smriti . However, the hindutva has now become moditva leaving behind the decencies of the original formula. 

In the process of thrusting the two language formula as part of Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan strategy (we have seen over the decades their reluctance of compulsory Hindi in curriculum especially in the late sixties) of and punishing the smarter states like Kerala, TN, Karnataka and Andhra-Telangana for their advancement on education, health and other parameters by using Finance Commission and reducing their federal allocation as proportionate to their population (that they so effectively controlled over the last 4 decades).

Tharoor goes on to explain how the Babri Masjid - Ram Mandir became a conflict and a movement that led the party to capture the power. Having seized the opportunity how every constitutional institution was diluted of autonomy and made toothless be it EC, RBI, CVC, CIC ,judiciary, universities besides the standard IT, CBI or ED who are regular in the armour of governments for playing vendetta.

However, Tharoor puts his faith behind the democratic process and a democratic India giving examples of emergency of 1975-77. But is cautious that that was Indira Gandhi who realised her mistake and declared elections and even gone behind the bars as atonement but now it is different. Examples of Kashmir isolation, sudden demonization, sudden Covid lockdown and numerous such failures and cult worship (one nation, one leader) have been given that each one of us remember so clearly since they are so recent and we all have suffered through those decisions.

Every paragraph of the book is so well written that it couldn't have been written otherwise.. a simple master stroke. The bibliography is so impressive, one can only dream to read so much in a lifetime that he has read and quoted in this 410 page textbook that should be taught as current/modern Indian history. 170 books, 40 journals and nearly 200 newspaper articles have been referred and their authors have been given due credits.

In despite of all this transformation within the last 6 years, Tharoor has not given up hope " if India is to reclaim it's soul, the urgent national challenge is to restore, empower, and renew the very institutions of civic nationalism that the BJP has commandeered and weakened. These are the institutions that can best protect the minorities and the marginalised, that protect free speech and the expression of unfashionable opinions, that elevate principles and values above the interest of politicians in power, that offer shelter and aid to 

the vulnerable, and so create the habits and conventions that make democracy the safest of political systems for ordinary people to live under." He adds.

He ends this book with the epilogue " a democratic, pluralist India, reflecting the diversity, exists and deserves the protection of every patriot, especially the one who takes the patriotic duty of being a nuisance (in asking questions) very seriously. Such an India can not only survive but thrive, if we re-assert and re-build the civic nationalism in which our Constitution embeds it. We must remain faithful to our founding values of the twentieth century if we are to conquer the looming challenges of the twenty-first."

This is my first of the twenty books Shashi Tharoor has written. I was immensely impressed with his oratory and now this vast storehouse of knowledge comes in another form.. no wonder there is only one such Ideologue, politics for him may be just a way to serve people, he has many other as well.

Remembering Rajiv Gandhi.

I regret to say that I hardly saw him remembered today 30 years after sacrificing his life, that may have been wasted for a cause that was absolutely undesirable and unwanted. Sending IPKF to Sri Lanka just to show the big brother attitude was uncalled for and after getting no credit and killing our own ethnic brethren was the stupidest diplomacy as anyone pre facto and post facto could tell. 

Still remember looking out of the same window where I am writing this note 30 years back and watching the smoke from the Veer Bhoomi near Rajghat, that was the his departure from this material world, with tears in my eyes. In those days there were no installations between the window and Rajghat and one could watch it clearly.. smoke still coming out of neighboring Nigam Bodh Ghat, especially since past one month clearly establishing failure to contain Corona (whether natural or otherwise) who is having a whale of a time making this country it's killing fields.

Barring this fatal mistake, he has been a charming, youngest of the PMs of India, one who was pushed into politics under circumstance and had a disastrous start when this country became a killing field aiming for our own, who are so integrated that they could hardly be called " other minorities".  

Everyone in his right senses make mistakes when holding a leadership position whether in a corporate or in the country, some innocently some with EVIL INTENTIONS. Rajiv Gandhi became PM without any political or administrative experience and that innocence was an asset for this country when he tried to bring the best of the brains from DOON or other backgrounds, who he though would infuse fresh blood and ideas to build this country, whose growth was hampered (even if that was in the hands of his own ancestry) and not at par with the modern era. In his five years as PM he took the country from behind and put it at par on science and technology (especially IT & Telecom) with the rest of the world by putting Dr Prabhakar Deodhar (electronics) and SAM Pitroda (ICT) in charge of development and by giving them the autonomy that was unheard of then. Sam may have been a bit eccentric but that's how scientists are. Had this not been the case our country could have been struggling in both IT and Telecom the areas that we can claim to be best in the world. IT is the engine of our economy today and so is the telecom, the revolution that we have achieved thanks to Raji Gandhi's dream. Had that not been the case even opening up economy by Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh would not have achieved where we are today.

However, much today's leadership, politicians and their stooges criticise this visionary, the facts remain what they are and when the current dispensation ends (nothing is permanent), historians will give a due and desired seat to Rajiv Gandhi in the modern Indian History for accelerating the growth of the country.

RIP Rajiv Gandhi ( 20.August.1944 - 21.May 1991), I may be one of the few to remember you and pay homage to you, but remember I am not alone.

Moong Daal Kachori.

My first food blog.

May 15th, 2021 when I planned to enter kitchen with the intention of making moong daal (green gram/lentil) Kachori it was my fourth attempt at kachoris. I was quite encouraged with the previous three performances so there was no doubt in my mind this time around and no fear of failure ( होता भी तो किसने देखना था).

Actually the plan to make Kachori was made a day before when Abha went to enquire with our only neighbor on the floor, a ninety year old Dr Dinesh Singh, who lives on his own, not now but ever since he shifted in the neighborhood in 2003. He has been living alone since a long time before that too, he has been a widower now for over 40 years and it has been an empty nest for a long time. One must give all the credit to him .. he is a symbol of स्वावलंबी DIY kind of a person.. well-read, a life time teacher, it has been an interesting and in a way fulfilling, enriching living with him as a neighbor. But Corona has changed our daily interactions and we try to keep distance as much as possible, only physical not otherwise, our main reason is that he has been more exposed than us with maids coming in and out. Well, with god's grace he has managed well and remained active so much so that not only only he gets up and walks in the alley but also uses stepper that even I find hard at times. 

So, during a casual health enquiry when he mentioned " प्रदीपजी कचौरियां बड़ी अच्छी बनाते हैं" " Pradeepji makes good Kachoris (remembering from the last attempt) I heard him and decided to go for it after a gap of almost 5 months.

Moong Daal Kachori obviously need moong daal, so using mix of instructions from three different recipes  on YouTube : cooking shooking, nishamadhulika and one punjabi bebe, I set out for the show. Half a cup of moong Daal was soaked in drinking water for two hours after washing thoroughly. Then I went back to some other tasks like reading a few pages of "the battle of belonging" by Shashi Tharoor and with the phone in hand listening to Jagjit Singh's shabad and Ghazals to remember my singer friend who succumbed to the monster Covid earlier that morning. When Daal was in water for nearly one and a half hour I went back to kitchen and started the preparation. I find it convenient when all the ingredients are in front of my eyes instead of taking them from the store/ bottles when needed, you often miss out some when they are needed in the pan that is on the gas stove. So the following were collected and kept in small bowls. I also watch/listen to instructions end to end at least twice so that I don't miss keeping ingredients when required.

To prepare the filling we will first crush fennel seeds, cumin seeds and coriander seeds on a stone (sil batta), also crush ginger and green chilies and then take a pan and heat it on the stove at low flame. Add 2 tbsp oil, I used olive oil but you could take any cooking oil that you like vegetable, mustard, coconut depending on your taste. Olive oil doesn't leave any taste of its own so you don't get it's smell. When the oil heats up a little, add the crushed mixture of coriander, cumin and fennel seeds (धनिया, जीरा और सौंफ) cook it for about a minute on low flame and add the crushed green chili and ginger paste run for another minute and add other spices pepper powder, red chili, Kasuri methi (special type of dried fenugreek leaves), black salt, garam masala (mixed spices), amchoor (raw mango) powder, a tea spoon of normal salt, be careful with salt as you have already put the black/rock salt. Cook this mixture for another 3-4 minutes till you start appreciating the aroma. Now add about half cup besan (chickpea flour) and keep cooking the mixture for another 4 to 5 minutes till you see besan changing its colour and the filling mixture looks homogeneous. Now add the soaked moong daal with the water ( ensure water level is just little over the daal and not more). If you want you may run in for 15 sec in a blender but since it is soaked well you may avoid that, depending on what texture you like). Cook the whole mixture for another 4-5 minutes and turn off the flame.

 

Let the mixture cool and till then we turn to the dough. Take 2 cups of refined flour/maida in a large bowl, add a tsp of salt mix well and add about 4 tbsp of pure ghee, don't use oil as that will make the covering soft, now mix well with hand and when you feel that the flour, salt and ghee is mixed well add very small quantities of warm water, don't add large quantities, we don't need a running dough. Keep mixing till you get a nice and soft stretchy dough. Keep it covered with a damp cloth for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes take it out knead it for a minute or two and  divide it in equal parts and make round balls of the dough, I got 12 balls from the 2 cup maida. By now our filling mixture must have cooled down. Make small size balls of this filling, from the quantity that is described, I could make 12 balls, it will be good if the dough balls are of equal size too and try doing the same for the mixture filled balls.

 Now flatten the dough ball in your palm and place the filling on it and cover it, make sure it's another round ball and is sealed properly. 

Now take oil in a kadhai (frying pan) large enough to take at least four kachoris if not six. I filled it with about 400 ml olive oil. Heat it on high flame and when oil is hot put the flattenned circular filled dough, you can either flatten it by hand or over a flat surface. Press it gently so that filling doesn't come out. It should neither be too thin ( else you will get poories) not too thick ( that will taste like matthi). After about 5 minutes reduce the flame to medium and fry for another 8-10 minutes, you will notice kachoris will start puffing and become bigger and changing its colour to little brownish.

Take out the fried Kachoris and let the oil cool for about 10 minutes. Repeat the process and serve hot kachoris with some green mint-coriander chutney and sweet and sour imli (tamarind) chutney. A hot cup of tea with this would make the tea time or even breakfast time complete and fulfilling.

My Kitchen and me.

I have been dabbling in the kitchen ever since I remember growing up, but only at the time when I found a kitchen of my own that the cooking activity started in some sense, that happened when I got married. But few months, may be a year, before that I had obtained a gas connection, that was at a premium in those days and would take a couple of years waiting before you are allotted the same. Registration would need a ration card that was your identity in that era like what Aadhaar Card is now, if you didn't have one you don't exist. I had moved to Bombay (as it was called then, I prefer to call it that to this day) about 5-6 years back and was living in a dormitory where most fellow residents were engineers who had just arrived in the city with a secure job, like me, and stayed there till either they moved to US for higher education or for married and moved out. It was fun, almost like a hostel life that I never lived when it was time for that for the most (being a day scholar as it was called, meaning someone who stayed outside the college hostel either by renting a room in the city or living with parents, mine was later.) There were 8 rooms for 22 of us, a common entrance and a common house manager Ramappa, who would be half naked all the time with a green gamchha on his shoulders to cope with Bombay's searing heat who would often be found lying on a small green sofa in the passage and would spent night somewhere else I think at Suresh Bhai Asher's veranda. Suresh Bhai was a middle aged landlord who lived close by in Rajawadi in the Post Office complex, a building that he owned. He didn't do much besides collecting rent from people for several properties that he owned in the area. Post Office was also his tenant. Actually, he may not have been much older than me but his frugal life style and single point focus on money and lack of physical activity gave him a huge paunch and then he would walk slow and with slight hunch that made him look a lot older. Suresh Bhai would promptly show up every First Sunday of the month with a register in his hand and sit on the sofa that was Ramappa's "property", who would be quite reluctant to give that place to his "maalik". Ramappa would then start knocking from room number 1 to 8 in that order. Being Sunday, even by noon most people would be sleeping and will shout and abuse Ramappa for waking them up, but when they realised it was the first Sunday, they will promptly cover themselves to some decency and queue up one by one to pay rent, all in cash. If someone was away, his roommate/s would be asked to pay on his behalf and if that fails, he would have to pay a visit to Suresh Bhai's house when he returned to the room or give rent money to Ramappa, even when that fails Suresh Bhai would come following Sunday, fuming and warning the fellow and if they still fail there will be an eviction notice but that was a rare occasion.

Ramappa was a 24*7 employee of Suresh Bhai who prima facie looked a cruel employer but gradually when you got to know him, you found him a helpful, concerned and a person with heart. He sounded tough when it came to money but if you have no issues on that front and paid your rent timely, he would open his heart out and talked to you asking you to sit next to him on his precious possession, that green coloured torn rexine two seater sofa that had some springs coming out so when you sit you had to watch for the space that could fit your bums avoiding the springs. 

Ramappa would start his day early and often times spend him nights on that green sofa. He would fetch milk for us from the Aarey Milk scheme milk booth in the neighborhood. In those days you couldn't get milk just as a walk in customer. You need to have coupons bought in advance. There were three types of coupons depending upon which milk you want, a blue striped aluminum foil cap that would be full cream milk then a red striped which is standard and the cheapest one would be with the green striped, that was toned. You would have to pay a deposit of Rs 5.00 for the bottle that could take 500 ml of milk. Ramappa would get instructions before he slept and if you had a late night you would put a note on the sofa with the token and leave bottle/s for him to collect milk. Many of us had nothing to do with the milk as they hardly could fetch water for themselves leave aside making tea, so they would either depend on someone offering them tea when they woke up and roomy is making tea or they would simply walk to to the the nearest Udipi, one of which was Shetty's restaurant who had diversified his menu and included some tandoori dishes. Other Udipis only served "south Indian". In our neighborhood there were two Udipis on either side of the lane, one was called simply Udipi that was on the MG Road and other side was Shetty's Udipi on the Tilak Road. Shetty himself was quite a character, he was a jovial person and would often sit with you when there are not many customers and sometime when you arrive or leaving the place you would spent a long time chatting with him at the counter. He must have been in his late thirties and solidly build and looked a Shetty every inch.. if you have not lived in Bombay it is difficult for you to imagine how a typical Shetty looked.. remember the famous Shetty, the fighting villain of the movies of sixties and seventies.. like him. In those days cinema industry in Bombay didn't end with a name "wood".. Bollywood, Tollywood etc.. it was simply Film industry. The only Wood, we got to know and popular was Woodstock, the newly built fancy restaurant on the MG Road between the Rajawadi Post office and Ratan, the apartment block where we stayed, that offered continental and mughlai cuisine. It was fancy and they were the first occupants of the newly built seven storied Savani Apartments that had a lift. But since I didn't know anyone living there, I never went to see how the apartments looked or whether the lift was the new design automatic door shutting type of the regular grill door type.

I have been fond of drinking tea even from my college days, don't remember if during school time we were offered tea at home or at someone's house... I clearly remember at least not till we were in Betma, except when Damu offered sometimes at his brother's Murali Tea Stall at the bus stand when his brothers were not there and he didn't ask me to pay for it. During the college days in the second year of engineering when I used to make tea on the wick-stoves in the room that I had rented closer to home and shared by Narsing and my brother Praveen. It was fun and some times frustrating as I won't realise that the kerosene is over and the wicks will start burning and the whole room will be filled with the carbon residues of the wicks before you put the fire off. Sometimes we would have a pumped kerosene stove, that would give better flame due to air pressure but the problem with that was that its rubber gasket, where you pump, would often crack and you will never be able to build desired pressure for kerosene to evaporate and burn.

Anyway, at Ratan, we used electric sigri (stove) that had a thick filament that would provide desired heat that was discouraged or rather strictly not allowed by Suresh Bhai as each one of those would consume upwards of 1 kilowatt of power. So we used to hide that sigri under the bed or inside the trunk whenever Suresh Bhai was around. The problem with that sigri was that regularly its coil became hard with the use and used to break and needed a change that would cost Rs 2 or 3, an expensive proposition those days, we would often remove the coil from the groove, stretch it and rejoin it so that it would get fused/welded when current passed through it .. this way we would extend its life by several months without replacing.

Gradually, I started making daal-chaval over the my stove/sigri, whenever I got bored eating out at Shetty's or other restaurants. In those days Udipi Thaalis used to cost Rs 3.00 that was a sumptuous set meal but Shetty had a la carte menu and if you order one veg and a daal with a couple of tandoori rotis it would exceed Rs 3.50 or Rs 4.00. Sometimes when add doodhi halwa (a bottle gourd sweet) you had to shell out even Rs 5.00 or even more. So daily visit To Shetty's was not in practice.

But when I decided it's time for me to get married although no match was in sight, I planned to have a gas connection as that was more essential than even having a bed in the bedroom. If I was lucky to rent a house that had a bedroom, as in Bombay no one rented a house to you lest you (mis)use the rent laws and never leave the expensive property for which the landlord has invested his life's savings. So what I was expecting was either just a Hall (10'*10' or even 10'*8') and a small kitchen or if I was lucky to have a bedroom in addition to this hall and kitchen.. in Bombay terms, that has now become common everywhere, it was called 1BHK house. I then, tried to get a ration card without which it was impossible to proceed. So, when I was in Indore where I had my name in the family ration card, I went to the revenue authorities and applied for removal of my name. Several trips over several months, I managed to get that certificate that I submitted to ration card department in Ghatkopar area, several trips later and with great convincing and  cajoling with Suresh Bhai, assuring him that I will never use the ration card to out possess him from the apartment, he gave me a written document confirming I reside in  the building as his paying guest, I managed to get the ration card. It could have been earlier had I greased palms of the clerk by Rs 100 or so.. but I preferred to wait and used my charm of being a native Marathi.. my name always made people believe so and after staying in Bombay and Pune for several years I had learned and developed native skills. As in other places in Bombay too there is a feeling of brotherhood when you speak the local language and that had its own advantages. Once I was going on a scooter that belonged to my company Photophone's purchase department that I was allowed to use for official visits to vendors. When I shifted to Bombay in 1978 I was barely 20 and was not eligible for a driver's license but visiting vendors and ancillaries on scooter would save money and time (for the company) so I used to take Scooter, an API Lambretta,  whenever there was an urgency to get some component that ran short on the assembly line. One day during one such visit I didn't see a No-Entry lane sign and entered.. soon there was a whistle and I had to stop, the cop asked लेसन (license)?  I replied अहो साहेब चूक झाली, मी बोर्ड नाही पहायला (sorry sir, I didn't see the sign), he then asked what was my name and when I said प्रदीप जोशी, he said नंतर लक्ष्य ध्यावे जोशी साहेब( in future, be careful, Joshi saheb). I am sure, if my name was not Joshi and if I didn't speak Marathi I would have been down by at least Rs 10. 

So I got my Ration Card and that was like a celebration time as now I was officially a Bombay resident. Well, I soon applied for a gas connection and after a year or so got one from Bharat Gas... and that is when I set up my small kitchen in the room that was barely 10*8 occupied by Me and Ashwin. This must have been 1984. I was still a few years away from finalising a bride for myself, but now "equipped" to have one.

I had started writing this post to describe how I made Daal Kachori yesterday but as always happens while writing you often go tangent.. well I will soon be writing the Kachori making process.. standby.

Book Review - Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote.

 Truman Capote didn't appear the same in "Breakfast at the Tiffany's" as he was in "in cold blood". They both appeared different writers. One who wrote a murder investigation supported by hard core research so much so that a movie was made based on the research done for writing the book, posthumously. 

Just finished reading the novella that was like a long story of 100 pages and simultaneously also watched the movie based on this novella starring the all attractive slim beauty Audrey Hepburn, who had put the globe on fire in the sixties, oh! They don't make such women now. I didn't realise that such a short novel could be stretched into a full feature 2 hour plus movie. Not a dull moment thanks to Audrey and her equally impressive and handsome co-star George Peppard. 

It's a story a different story that has glamour, love and crazy budding movie star who has come to life from being an orphan and child bride who run away to make a glamorous world around her and ends up in a world quite different. 

Well written story that engages you in the life of such starlets of the sixties in a metro city like New York. Should be considered for a light reading. I picked it for two reasons, one after reading Capote's first novel I was curious if his writing ( that didn't keep quite to that level) and second wanted to read something light and fictional while reading a lite serious book on nationalism, patriotisms and being Indian by one of the finest orator and story teller Dr Shashi Tharoor.

Book also contains three short stories about 20 pages each and they were like a bonus given for free. Interesting, light hearted and not tragic, reminded me of short stories by Guy de Maupassant.

Book Review - SWITCH by Chip and Dan Heath.

 Read Mar 2020.

Just finished reading this wonderful book "SWITCH" that I had purchased four years back on the recommendation of Bill Gates who had listed it as one of his favourite books that he read in 2015. As usual, I picked it up for reading in Feb 2020 and finished reading just a while back.

It's not a story book and hence the concentration span is not like reading works of James Harriot or John Steinbeck.. however, it was not boring at all..

The crux of the book is that when you are out there to solve any problem be it social, political, business or whatever, don't analyse failures but pick a bright spot that has succeeded and find out why he/that succeeded and replicate that across.. he has given dozens of examples, that read almost like short stories, to get the point home. 

They, Chip and Dan Heath, well know management gurus, have split the analysis of any issue into three steps an elephant, a rider and the path and emphasises synchronization of all three for success.

This "theory of change" covered in the SWITCH is identical to a theory called Positive Deviance or PD that was developed by Jerry and Monique Sternin in the seventies and propagated by Professor Arvind Singhal of UT, El Paso. Heaths give credit to Sternin and many others on whose work the book illustrates. Dr Singhal lectures around the globe and conducts workshops to put the theory in a very convincing way and I was fortunate to attend some of his workshops that has imbibed the PD and Liberating structure work in me. The theory can be used to solve/resolve any issue.. it was demonstrated in lifting the iron curtain, solving lack of education/attending primary schools, solving malnutrition in Vietnam, improving healthcare and HIV prevention etc etc. 

This could also be used to solve and lessen the harsh impact of Corona virus Covid-19, provided governments of the world give an ear to PD and understand.

Book Review - The ride of a lifetime - Robert Iger

 Autobiographies of business leaders are a bit different from the autobiographies of political leaders or scientists or economists in the sense that business leaders often narrate their experiences and give you a formulae and nuances of business that led to their success for business leaders in waiting, such is usually not the case otherwise. It is also observed that there is eagerness in such successful leaders to see a new crop of leaders that doesn't make the same mistakes as they did..although the formulae for success may not get repeated they can refrain from making "silly" mistakes that had blocked the road for them.

I often found business autobiographies interesting not sure how much I learnt from them because just reading and understanding them didn't turn me into a globally recognised business leader. Some of the interesting ones in the past were " My years with General Motors" by Alfred Sloan, "Iacocca, an autobiography" by Lee Iacocca, "Odyssey: From Pepsi to Apple" by John Sculley etc. 

In late October I was listening to a CNN interview of Robert Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney Company in which he was talking about his forthcoming book " The Ride of a Lifetime". The interview, his persona and the subject was so interesting that soon after the interview I decided to pre-order the book that was yet to be launched and couldn't lay my eyes off from start to finish when the book arrived a couple of weeks later. This was perhaps the first autobiography that I was in a rush to read that was not recommended by a friend, and I was not disappointed. 

Bob Iger who comes from a humble background kept getting opportunities initially by chance and later by his hardwork, sincerity, guts to take risky decisions and defended them and put his life at risk to make them succeed. It's rare that an officer of a company that gets acquired gets a chance to run the merged entity and it's even rare that this phenomenon gets repeated. 

Often successful leaders don't talk much about their mentors who have not been successful themselves but Bob Iger keeps describing and giving credits for his success to his mentors, who not necessarily were at a higher position than himself, throughout his working life ( by the way he is still the CEO of Walt Disney and has some more steam to demonstrate)

This book is quite an inspiration for not just corporate executives but also anyone who wants to understand the meaning of success in any walks of life. He describes the lessons to be learned that are gems of his life, as follows:

a) to tell great stories, you need great talent.

b) innovate or die. There can be no innovation if you operate out of fear of the new.

c) the relentless pursuit of perfection.

d) take responsibility when you screw up.

e) be decent to people.

f) excellence and fairness don't have to be exclusive.

g) true integrity is a kind of secret leadership weapon.

h) value ability more than experience.

i) ask the questions you need to ask, admit without apology what you don't understand.

j) managing creativity is an art, not a science.

k) don't start negatively.

l) don't be in the busines of " playing it safe".

m) don't let ambition get ahead of opportunity.

n) micromanaging is underrated, sweat for the details.

o) pessimism leads to paranoia, which leads to defensiveness, which leads to risk aversion.

p) if something doesn't feel right to you, it won't be right for you.

q) in any negotiation, be clear about where you stand from the beginning.

r) projecting your anxiety onto your team is counterproductive.

s) if you are in business of making something, be in the business of making something great.

You will get to learn more such pearl's of success when you read the book.

Book Review - Encounters with animals. by Gerald Durrell.

 Next in the just finished Gerald Durrell's stories is the one titled " Encounters with animals". Wondering why this title as all his books which number in over two dozens or more, are supposedly on encounters with animals. Well, the stories continue in this collection of stories and unlike the " Bafut Beagles" that had one long story of encounters in Bafut in Cameroon, this one is a collection of stories and encounters at various places mostly in South America.

Durrell has a style that is gripping and doesn't let you put down the book. But since this one as a collection of various encounters that are unconnected, one could afford to breathe in between these stories.

In one story he talks about a creature Marmosets, about which I heard for the first time but after reading ( and looking at images)  you feel like keeping a marmoset as a pet like Durrell did.

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"At first sight Pavlo ( his pet marmoset's name) resembled a curious kind of squirrel, until you noticed his very human face and his bright, shrewd brown eyes. His fur was soft, and presented a brindled appearance because the individual hairs were banded with orange, black and grey, in that order,his tail, however, was ringed with black and white. The fur on his head and neck was chocolate brown, and hung round his shoulders and chest in tattered fringe. His large warswere hidden by long ear-tufts of the same chocolate colour. Across his forehead, above his eyes and the aristocratic bridge of his tiny nose, was a broad white patch."

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Book Review - "This shouldn't happen to a vet" by James Harriot & "The Bafut Beagles" by Gerald Durrell

Read in Oct 2019

Last six weeks reading drenched me with animal stories. This time there was a bit of diversion from James Harriot stories. After finishing his fourth book in continuation " It shouldn't happen to a vet", I picked up much recommended and accomplished animal story-teller Gerald Durrell's "the Bafut Beagles".

Both British, both animal lovers, both master story teller who kept you engaged/ glued with the subject and stories, however, there is a distinct difference, whereas Harriot detailed the anatomy of animals within his stories, Durrell's pen takes you the nature that most of us may not have been exposed to, but would master the geography of Cameroon's dense jungles after reading the description.

James talks about his failures and embarrassment where some of his clients respond with utter rudeness and some extremely polite.

Durrell describes some lovely characters who helped him get animals he was looking for and made friends with all those people and mixed with locals is deep interiors of civilisation and earned their respect by intermingling. Knowledge of rare animals and courage/ boldness fall short to describe him.

My journey exploring the animal kingdom stories by both will continue for a while as they both have been vociferous writers and there is so much more to read.

Book Review - What I talk about when I talk about running by Haruki Murakami.

 Read in March 2019.

Just finished reading this exciting and inspiring autobiographical work of Haruki Murakami called " What I Talk About When I Talk About Running".

I specially enjoyed this as I see some minuscule signs of his personality in me - running, that's what the book is all about. This acknowledged Japanese origin Japanese and English author and literary person who has dozens of novels, short stories and several dozens of translations, based on which some popular movies have been made and has another side of his personality that comes out so strongly only in this fascinating true story of his life.

The grit of a competitive athlete is usually or should I say always absent in people who have literary orientation and have devoted their lives to literature. But Murakami tells us that not only both could coexist but he goes on to prove that both are complimentary skills and both impact each other for better shine respectively.

It's hard to understand what makes people run when they run until you experience the same. People run for different reasons and most of long distance running is rarely for competitive sports. It's more for fun and to push yourself and test your limits. When you run you explore your limits and push them further and further by constantly moving the goal post. 

Murakami explains how this works for him and he never asks you to follow him. This is the best way to encourage people to enjoy what he did and experience as to why pushing and exploiting your own body and subjecting yourself to "cruelty" is fun.

I truly hold him as a hero who demonstrates what it takes to enjoy your life by subjecting it to such gruelling schedules and how important it is to follow proper trainings for succeeding in whatever task you do, it doesn't have to be just road running or triathlon but any work you do.

He said he was a late starter to take up running as a sport at 33 and has run at least one marathon a year for 25 consecutive years till publishing of this book 12 years back. I hope he still runs and I wish I could imitate him with at least two half-marathon in a year for the next 25 years, although I started running only at a young age of 61 and have completed my quota of wish list for the first year with five months to spare.

I recommend this book to everyone who wants to explore his/ her limits and keep it pushing further and further.

Book Review - Jinnah often came to our house - by Kiran Doshi.

 Read in May 2019

"he said that he was planning to retire in Bombay after finishing with his present job. He had no idea when that would be. So much needed to be done and everything had to be done by him. He could trust nobody." As narrated by a character in the book who is a top barrister of the time and colleague, friend and a fellow Muslim of Jinnah whose wife was much ahead of her time, secular, educationist and an ardent fan of gandhiji ( a fictional character with some resemblance to real people of that time)

"He said that he was looking for a tenant for his Malabar hill house. There was no point in keeping it vacant while he was busy in Karachi. He had sent a message to Jawaharlal Nehru, asking him to find him a suitable tenant."

This was the understanding Quaid-e-Azam about the partition that he so bitterly fought and got as a prize from British who always supported divide and rule.

" You are free to go to your temples, mosques or to any other place of worship in Pakistan. We are starting with this fundamental principle: that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State..Everyone of you no matter what community he belongs...is first, second and last citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges and obligations."

This is what Jinnah said while inaugurating the constituent assembly of Pakistan in Karachi soon after British agreed for the division and a week before the final independence on the intervening night of August 14th and 15th.

From a young barrister in Bombay soon after returning from London he hated British occupation and had said Hindus and Muslims are two eyes of this nation and you can't do without either, to a time when he got " corrupted" and blinded for power and told Hindus and Muslims are different and can not live in one nation. It's remarkable that he led the hard core Islamists for his selfish ambition since he was never a practicing Islamist whose grand father was a Hindu converted to take Islam and also a Shi'a ( a forward thinking and supposedly with modern outlook) who don't have acceptance from majority Muslims anywhere in the world except perhaps Iran, as we all know he never prayed and never had an evening without his whisky. But when he achieved his ambition of getting Pakistan he again turned to his own inner-self and talked about Hindu- Muslim amity.

"Jinnah often came to our house" by a retired diplomat Kiran Doshi is a wonderful gripping story that has woven facts and fiction so beautifully that you won't like to leave the book unfinished when you start. This is also a discription of India's freedom struggle history from the turn of the 20th century untill independence. A wonderful way to brush up that since that part of the book has real facts, for sure.

Book Review - Norwegian Wood - Murakami

 

Read in June 2019

Haruki Murakami was introduced to me when I was gifted his autobiographical work "what I talk about when I talk about running". I had never heard of him before neither as writer nor as runner ( not that I know many other famous and not so famous writers) but reading the book I found Murakami's style of story telling a bit different that keeps some kind of a bond with you and keeps your interest alive till you finish the book with some kind of satisfaction.

Then I searched and found his most famous book is " Norwegian Wood". Long before the book that came into being some 32 years back, the title had become famous by an album with the same name by Beatles, lyrics of which go as:

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I once had a girl

Or should I say she once had me

She showed me her room

Isn't it good Norwegian wood?

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The title of the book is quite appropriate as the opening of the song actually sums up the story described in 386 pages.

I am a bit confused whether or not Murakami is a great author because although story is gripping you can't compare him with the likes of Steinbeck or Ayn Rand who may have had lots of influence in his story writing. Not many will agree with that, but I find that the protagonist in Norwegian Wood, Watanabe is a character much younger, confused as well as sorted out, iconoclastic university going teenager whom the author has tried to portray like Howard Roark of the Fountainhead.

The story keeps a pace and has great description of teenagers life in Japan in the sixties. Their love affairs, sexual desires, philosophical thinking towards life etc etc. Somehow I feel that the teenage sex in such details has taken a prominent place in the story, may be it occupies major part of your life at that age or may be the society in Japan and other advanced countries always talked about it in such peer groups in the manner, even in the sixties.

Coming from a small city where I spent my entire teen years, sex did occupy your thoughts but since it was a taboo and the social interactions with " unknown" girls was frowned upon ( and the known ones were always labeled as sisters), you were forced to refrain from any such relationships (except with yourself). Hence I find the description that occupies a major portion of the book unnecessary if not obscene. The description is also not as subtle as that of DH Lawrence in the " Lady Chatterley's Lover" that look quite appropriate and classy.

Nevertheless it's a good reading especially giving details of the beautiful world of university going teens of the sixties and some lovely description of the beauty of Japan.

Book Review - The short reign of Pippin IV. by John Steinbeck.

 "One of the great burdens on the king was his lack of privacy. He was followed, dawned on, protected, stared at. He had considered the use of disguises in the manner of Haroun-al- Raschid. At times he locked himself in his room simply to get away from the eyes and voices of the people who surrounded him."

" "I did not ask to be king", he said" but I am king and find this dear, rich, productive France torn by selfish factions, fleeced by greedy promoters, deceived by parties. I find there are six hundred ways of avoiding taxes...everyone robs everyone until a level is reached where there is nothing left to steal..."

Some passages from the recently finished book by the Nobel laureate John Steinbeck. Set in 1950s and first published in 1957, I find this political satire on France's life a complete diversion from his writing. A great masterpiece as though he has lived his life in France and know more about the society then the residents themselves. His knowledge of France, language, phrases used just can not let you believe he hasn't spent a lifetime or two on France.

One thing however remain contact with Steinbeck and that is the tragedy that Strick's his protagonists..

A must read classic, although I wish I had learnt the language and had a flare for reading English novels five decades back.. nevertheless, it's not late.. still surviving and making best of the current times.

Book Review - In Cold Blood by Trumen Capote

Read April 2021.

"The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed is the name of the Lord", the chaplain intoned, as the noose was fitted. Just past midnight on 14 April 1965. This was the result of a judgement by the court on Monday April 04, 1960 in the murder trial of Clutter family that took place in the night of 15 November 1959 in which to the response to the judge's call " gentlemen of the jury, have you reached your verdicts?" said " we the jury, find defendants, guilty in the murder of first degree, and the punishment is death.

Capital punishment has to date confused me. You take a life of someone legally, who has taken someone's life illegally? Or when a soldier kills someone it's a bravery and he is awarded but when someone else kills someone he goes to gallows. Besides there are innumerable cases when someone orders killings of hundreds and thousands of innocents and law fails to pronounce them guilty and on the contrary they become heroes of the society.

"IN COLD BLOOD" by Truman Capote, is a fictionalised story of the real life murder of four members family  in Halcomb, Kansas. Real life characters, real places, real events all merged with the novelist's imaginations and woven so perfectly well that you feel he was there at every place, every event, every meeting that took place between hundreds of characters who had witnessed or had a role in the entire drama. Author takes you around not just the small village but all over the country and beyond wherever the characters travel in order to stay away from the hands of law. The details of every principal character, their upbringing, their thought process and the reasoning behind that, is so fascinating that you can do nothing but applaud for the novelist. During the course, the crime investigation process and courtroom dramas and the life of convicts who wait this day to go to gallows, was essential part of the story and has been told in a manner only a master story teller can describe.

Truman Capote (1924-1984) was a post war American writer of international critical acclaim. I came to know of him while looking at someone's Facebook cover picture where he had pasted the title and my curiosity got me to order this book. It was a perfect deviation from the Indian history reading that had occupied me over the past several months. So much so that I am inclined to read all that has been written by him.. let's see what future has in store.

a short encounter.

I first met him on February 29th 1992. I remember the date distinctly as this was a leap year and there are not many I witnessed. It was also the first birthday party of freshly entered in her teens Dr Vasudha Dhagamwar, her 13th that she could celebrate although she turned 52 that day. I had struck a chord with this young lady a couple of years bedore when we shifted to Delhi in 1989 and soon after our arrival here Abha started working with MARG a socio-legal organisation founded by Vasudha. MARG was a family that I was a frequent visitor to.. it was full of young ladies..lawyers and some social development experts who could be termed activists although none of them like that term. The family bonding still existed, often times when you went there just to drop or pick up or just like that when you are passing through the area you would end up spending couple of hours with laughter all around.. since besides Ranjan, a promising development researcher, and couple of other administrative guys there were not many male members, often times I used to feel a bit shy. I had special bonding with Vasudha since I was the only one there who conversed with her in Marathi that I had become fluent in, after I spent nearly 11 years in Bombay-Poona circuit a year before we shifted to Delhi. Our friendship gradually grew to the extent that we started going to see Marathi plays together in Mandi House. I immensely enjoyed her company, she was a legal luminary and one of the few who had a doctorate degree in law from Oxford university, where she often went back as visiting professor or for doing some research activities. She also had a huge influence over the overall legal circuit in UK and India where she commanded great respect. But that didn't stand between our friendship.. age, status were brushed aside in our relationship.. I had become her favourite son-in-law as everyone used to say since all female MARG colleagues she treated like her daughters. Like in any family, everyone didn't like her all the time as head of the organisation she had also been a demanding boss and it's not always an easy relationship. But with me there was no such hindrances. 

Gradually, I also started visiting her home. The relationship continued till she lived in Delhi. She was a fighter, a cancer survivor and managed her household and office responsibilities single handedly but then the health took its toll and gradually it was becoming difficult for her to manage day to day affairs, I think it was 2004 or so that she finally decided to leave her child MARG and moved to Pune where she had her niece as well as the city where she lived a long many years. She handed over the organisation's operations to Abha who had left MARG some 9 years back after spending 6 years there and developing a great network, literature, audio-video training material and pedagogy for legal literacy. 

With her shifting to Pune created some vaccum for me although in later years I hardly been visiting her but that move kind of cut the cord of our meetings and "outside the work"  conversations. She left for heaven abode 18 days short of her 74th birthday on Feb 10, 2014. Leaving just the memories of our association to cherish.

Returning to the excitement of her 13th birthday (she was born on Feb 29th, 1940) on Feb 29th, 1992, entire MARG family was there in her 2nd floor house in Hauz Khas just behind the grand building of National Cooperatice Development Corporation erected in 1978, an architectural marvel designed by Kuldip Singh whose work could be easily identified by another similar looking building of NDMC at Palika Kendra that came up in 1983. There were a few of her other friends Maja Daruwala (Sam's daughter), some bureaucrats, some academicians, some lawyers as well as some others like me. Party had just began when an elderly "young" looking gentleman stepped in with a big smile on his face, I was right at the door and attended him soon after he entered and before he could go further I asked if I could have his long jacket, he looked at me surprisingly and with great affection, the smile I remember to this day. After he handed over his jacket and I deposited that in a rack in one of the bedrooms when I returned to the room, I saw him quenching his curiosity about me with Vasudha who was deeply engaged in explaining who (a nobody) I was. 

Many years later both our sons would also touch upon organisation that his well known daughter, a famous lawyer) has created, a law firm of repute AZB Partners, Arnav as an intern in 2008 and Divij as an associate lawyer in 2016-17.

Yesterday I was sobbing without shading tears when I heard the news that the great jurist of India, former attorney general and the charming and pleasing gentleman I met on Feb 29th,1992 Padmbhushan Soli Jehangir Sorabjee is no more. Died at 91 years of age (March 09th he celebrated his 91st birthday) leaving behind so much that no ordinary person can achieve. He wil surely be missed by many and I will always remember that short encounter with him.

RIP Soli.