Unposted Letter - Matria Ra (2009)

An anthology of short articles published in the author's magazine Frozen Thoughts. The articles are thought provoking and unlike most self help and philosophical books devoid of much of spiritual concepts. Thoughts that one can utilize in a day to day context. Each article is about 2-3 pages and a breeze read for a book of about 200 pages. But the harder part is to assimilate and utilize in a daily life. So, it's desirable to read about 3-4 articles at a time and contemplate upon it than try reading the whole book at a stretch.

Definitely a good read and more importantly to apply in ones own life.

The Accidental Prime Minister - Sanjaya Baru (2014)

Very little is known of the soft spoken and introvert prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Though, he has been in public image over three to four decades very little is truly known about him. Post reading the book the opinion does not change much either. I think the book exposes certain aspects of the Manmohan era in UPA-I. But there is a lot still not clear reading the book. There has been differences in Congress party president and PM, but nothing as explicit to be known to public. In some sense, the book only reaffirms a few of such thoughts that are generally known in the public arena. The author's intention on writing of the book is not clear. In many places it has appreciated the PMs achievements substantially while at places he has been quite critical. One cannot really form an opinion on a person merely from this book. The movie based on this book as claimed hasn't been very successful as well though there was a lot of hype around it. Rather conflicting interest of national administrative officers and their differences are far clearly outlined in the book. 

I will still suggest one reads this book to realize an author's viewpoint of the period. But as a person handling PMO media management, I am not sure how far the author was aware of all the nitty-gritty official details of the PMO. So, there will be some skepticism there. Moreover, Dr. Singh, never endorsed the book nor even acknowledged its existence, thus kind of left the reader hang in the middle with nothing ratified.  The coverage on the Nuclear deal is substantial and to some extent help one understand what was the scope of the deal. 

Still will consider a good read. 

An Introduction to Indian Philosophy - S. C. Chatterjee and D. Datta

This book is considered a seminal textbook on the subject. Almost everyone who has gone through a formal education in Indian Philosophy cannot ignore this book. Why is that I am reviewing such a standard book instead? The intent is to write a small note on Indian Philosophy. Indian Philosophy is conceptually vast and in some sense Hinduism is not a religion but a whole class of philosophies having common heritage. But, the concepts in Indian Philosophies are varied and sometimes even conflicting with one another. The book classifies 9 such concepts as overarching views on Indian Philosophy. They are:

1. Charvaka - Materialistic Atheist
2. Jaina - Spiritualistic Atheism
3. Bauddha - Spiritualistic, Mostly Theist
4. Nyaya - Perception, Arguments, somewhere a mix of theist and atheist
5. Vaisesika - Human and nature interactions, atheist
6. Sankhya - Causality, liberation, theist
7. Yoga - Paths to liberation, theist
8. Mimansa - Development of Knowledge, soul and energy, both theist as well as atheist
9. Vedanta - Monism, Dualist, Qualified Monism, theist

Indian Philosophy is equally influenced by logic, knowledge creation, and arguments as much as western philosophy. So it should not be considered any different there. However, there is a general belief that it's mostly a theist viewpoint and ritualistic techniques governed by religion. This book tends to clear those views and establishes that Indian Philosophy is as much theist as it's atheistic. So one should not qualify it in that respect. There is a gradual development of thoughts that slowly moved from completely materialistic views to a vedantic theist approach of monism also supported by dualism or even qualified monism at places. Indian Philosophy has also a notion of formal logic syllogism which is slightly different from the western counterpart but has a clear definition that may be utilized to prove validity of arguments. It's not that the logic principles are a system developed in the western world.

Overall if you want to understand the Indian Philosophy, this is a good starting point. However, there may not be as much relevance if you are thinking of applying any of the principles in life. Moreover, this is a serious book needing significant introspection and breaks to assimilate the concepts. Not entirely a breeze read. 

Legal Eagles - Indu Bhan (2015)

The book talks about the current generation lawyers. The legacy that has been created by the likes of Mr. Ram Jethmalani, Mr. Fali S. Nariman or Mr. Nani Palkhiwala etc. over decades have now being leveraged by the following seven eminent names. There are other eminent names as well but the book avoids controversy of getting too involved with active political faces. They are:

1. Mr. Harish Salve
2. Mr. Mukul Rohtagi
3. Mr. Abhishek Singhvi
4. Mr. Arvind Datar
5. Mr. Aryama Sundaram
6. Mr. Prashant Bhuashan
7. Mr. Rohington Nariman

Couple of points to be taken from lives of all the lawyers:

1. They have been hardworking
2. Have been highly meticulous in what they have pursued
3. Have struggled to rise to where they have reached
4. Most importantly, have kept a clarity of professional vs personal life when it comes to balancing life.
5. Avoided unnecessary confrontation with the judiciary or judge while advocating their clients views. 

Surprisingly, all of these have seen their parents pursuing equally important legal positions in their lives so has early exposure to some of the nuances of the legal system. But the struggle they have faced are still real. While the book talks about some of the landmark cases, these eminent men have been exponents of the details are quite weak. It only focuses on the judgments and final decision by the judges. When days of legal argument has preceded those judgments they must be given some clear explanation in the book. The book has been toned down too much to support non-legal audience. 

The Mughal High Noon - Ascent of Aurangjeb - Srinivas Rao Adige (2015)

Yet another fictionalization of a historical event. Mostly soporific. Did not actually create a distinct interest in the subject matter. From personality standpoint, needless to say Shuja and Murad were outright leading a life for entertainment and pleasure. Cruelty was coming out in all the Moghul siblings other than Dara. Aurangjeb is described as a sensible (within his domain of sensiblity), cannot be compared to morals of today's society. For example. Dara's multi-religious viewpoints are considered outside the moral realm of Aurangjeb. Some chapters have significant story telling while some are summarized with editorial notes level of details. The author kind of got bored how and where to end the story. For example, the story does not cover capture of Dara but just summarizes in the last chapter as after thoughts of Aurangjeb's death bed. But, Murad and Aurangjeb's association has been described in great details.

Only good thing about the story is it's short can be read within a few hours. Otherwise, it does not give much of an intellectual gain on the topic. A very average attempt.

Cracking the Code - Ayusmann Khurana and Tahira Kashyap (2015)

The book is short. It's a breeze reading. The codes were unnecessary. The storytelling is good. But deriving moral success factors is not entirely important. It would have been just fine if audience had to just derive their success factors themselves. I think the author just wanted to keep there story different. Overall a good book. Fairly non-controversial and easy read. You get to understand the level headed relaxed actor Ayusman Khuranna is.

Maverick Unchanged and Unrepentant - Ram Jethmalani (2013)

You may not agree to the views expressed by the author but you cannot ignore them. Starting from Nehruvian India to Narendra Modi , Ram Jethmalani expresses his views on various controversial topics in an incisive analysis which only an experienced lawyer of his stature can do. The book has its highs and lows. Not all the expressions are in alignment to the reader's mind. But, you will always feel the author has a strong justifiable opinion in his claims. A good read but not all chapters can keep your interest alive.