Anandamath - Bankim Chandra Chatterji

I had no idea how I came to know about this book. When I chose this book to read and kept on thinking about the source of this book's introduction to me. I did not find any. That itself made me to read this book in a stretch.About the author, as most Indian students I too knew Bankim Chatterji through  "Vande Mataram" song.

Anandamath is a historical fiction with some strong patriotic message and sentiment. The difference between the other Indian historical fiction and this one is that the protagonists are monks(sanyasi). This is the story of sanyasi revolution against British during 1700's. I should admit that I did not know anything about Sanyasi revolution before. The story starts with people struggling and dying without food due to famine (Bengal famine of 1770). In this book the author portrays the country (India) as a mother. The rich merchant Mahendra with his wife Kalyani and son decided to migrate to Calcutta for better living, but they were separated during the journey. Both of them were rescued by monks at different places. The monks took care of them.

The motherland is our only mother. Our motherland is higher than heaven. Mother India is our only mother we have no mother. We have no father, no brother, no sister, no wife, no children, no home, no….all we have is the mother.

A monk simply called Mahatma , he was the leader of rebelling sanyasis. He brings all together irrespective of their caste. Mahendra joins the ranks of Sanyasis after his oath to denounce family life. The sanyasis never told him about his wife and son.  Mahendra works diligently and support the monks in all possible manners. Meanwhile Kalyani works under another monk. The son is with sister of one of monk.

We are not afraid. A man never dies more than once in his life. And what death would it be if it occurs in the service for our Mother. Something worth dying for.”

There is another beautiful story of Jiban and Shanti. Jiban left Shanti and joined other monks to fight for freedom. Shanti knew that Jiban is alive and later joined the movement. One can definitely feel that nationalistic tone of the stories as it progress. By the time the revolt starts i.e actual battle starts you are with the monks fighting against the Captain Thomas's troops.  The climax is so dramatic, one can end up crying and angry. The main characters  Mahendra, Jiban, Bhavan ,Shanti etc have different layers of personalities.

I have never read any of Bankim Chatterji's works but I think I started with a good one. This book is definitely a must read . A historical fiction with high amount of patriotism.

Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy - Ed Hawkins

I always had suspicion on matches between India and Pakistan specially played in Indian subcontinent, nevertheless like everyone I watched those matches. After IPL the suspicion on the players grew in me. I was never a fan of IPL. Never supported any team. Never watched full match. And I was happy when the authorities found irregularities in player conducts , spot fixing etc . But I don't know how these fixes and betting works. So for me all those fixing news are just news. But this book gave me clear view of what is going on in Indian betting market.

I started this book just before quarter finals of the World Cup 2015, fascinated from beginning to end and I finished the book just before first semi-finals.  The author is a specialist journalist in sports betting and knew the mathematics involved in it. Unlike other writers , he travelled all the way to India to get first hand experience with those involved in it. The result is this wonderful book.The book explains clearly myriad working of the illegal betting (the types of bets), syndicates , punters etc.

The book is divided into three parts each explaining the authors takes on different issues on the problem of match fixing and happenings in betting in world cricket, specially Indian market. The author befriends the Vinay and Parthiv  , the bookies, through twitter. These two explains him how Indian betting market works. During World Cup 2011 semi-final match between India and pakistan he received 'script' of the match from Parthiv. A script of things to happen in the match. To his surprise and shock , the match is played out almost the same as in the script. This made him to travel and search more about betting and fixing in India.

For me too , the 'script'  - "Bookie update... India will bat first and score over 260, 3 wickets fall within the first 15 overs, pak will cruise to 100, then lose 2 quick wickets, at 150 they will be 5 down and crumble and lose by a margin of 20 runs" - was real shock. I watched the match again after reading this ,oops to my shock its almost the same . What to say!!

The author asks anyone he meets in India about that particular match but to his dismay no one gave him any detail , even the Pakistan spy too, who promised him about more details. Though in later chapters the author dismantle each part of the script with the match and trying to find the probability of fixing , he could not conclude anything but one can not eliminate the fixing suspicion.

Though betting is illegal in India , the way it operates makes one wonder what the authorities and BCCI doing. This book clearly says that the Indian betting market is well organized and structured. The syndicates runs the whole show with small players on the ground. These syndicates creates fear among the bookies,players and other participants to make these illegal activities discreet. The way these bookies operates on the match day - wow- non stop running commentary of the odds

In Indian industry , a punter can bet on four - (Lambi , Brackets ,Lagna and Khana) bet on runs in a innings, bet on runs scored in a given time (for .eg 10 over period), bet on team to win and bet on team to lose. The author also found that in India spot fixing like the 'no ball' episode( sting operation by News of the World) during Pakistan England match does not exist.The analysis of spot fixing scandal by the author is very well researched and written and the experience in India helped him a lot in it.

The author thinks legalizing betting and gambling will reduce the problems but cricketers and administrators needs to accept the problem and take effort to sort it out. The author also stereotypes iIndians as money obsessed. His interview with various Indian authorities gives reader another dimension of this illegal activities. But the most fascinating interview of all is the one with Lalit Modi. The outspoken former IPL chairman was as straight as possible, though  he did not admit anything was wrong with first couple of seasons of IPL.

This book is a must read for all the cricket lovers specially Indian cricket fans. As the book says most of the cricketers are clean and we believe that ICC and other boards make concrete efforts to root out this evil from the gentlemen's game.
 
More about Pakistan Spot fixing case
CBI report on match fixing -2000
Qayyum Report - 2000
King Commission Report 
Justice Cook's sentencing 

Anti Corruption of Code for Participants
ACSU
How does ACSU work
ECB Anti Corruption documents

ஆங்கிலேயர்கள் இல்லாத இந்தியா - பியர் லோட்டி (Pierre Loti)

I never heard about this book. Just before boarding the flight back to Singapore I bought this book in chennai airport.  I had only 200 rupees in my hand, did not know what to with that. I just told the shopkeeper give me a book for 200 rupees or less. The shopkeeper gave me this book and gave me the remaining amount. I asked him about the book. He told me that he did not read it yet.

I started reading while waiting for boarding, hardly 15 minutes, I randomly chose the page and read. It was page number 82 "ரத ஊர்வலத்திற்கு தயாராகுதல்" in that page the author explains the festivities in Srirangam. A foreigners view on our festival, interesting ! After reaching home I started to read from the first.

The author started his journey from Srilanka (Anurathapuram) and he was in a state of wonder about the beauty of the ruined city. His first stop in India was Tirnelveli from there he went to Trivancore. He was a guest of the Trivancore king. The author writes highly of the kingdom. He also visited Jew settlement in Mattancheri. The author beautifully explains the 'situation' in Hyderabad when people were waiting for the Nizam Prince's visit.In Madurai he met the great dancer Balamani and was intrigued by the respect the dancer got from the public.

The author was appalled by the contradiction of the great celebration and the poor people begging for food outside the fort. He visits Golconda fort and was amazed by the nearby caves.He was really sad to know the bad conditions of these historic places.

The Great Famine:

 The author vividly describes the condition of the people of the areas affected by famine. Throughout his journey towards Udaipur he saw malnourished children begging for food in different stations.

இந்தப் பகுதியில் காடுகளும் இறந்து விட்டுள்ளன ; எங்கும்  வறட்சியும் வறுமையும் தாண்டவமாடுகிறது .

ஐரோப்பிய இனத்தின் தாய் மற்றும் தொட்டிலகக் கருதப்படும் இந்தியா இப்போது அழிவுகள் நிறைந்த பூமியாக உள்ளது .

 The author was disappointed with two Brahman brothers whom he thought would help him to understand the Hindu spirituality and philosophy but they were following just what they were taught not knowing anything deeply.He met three fakirs and was fascinated by their way of living.

The last stop of his Indian journey was Benares where he learnt his life lesson.He asked what Benaras great souls thinks of Christianity and he was satisfied by their answers.

"நீங்கள் ஒரு கிறிஸ்துவராக இருப்பின் அதனை முழுமையாகப் பின்பற்றுங்கள் ."

 He believed that Vedic scriptures have answers for everything and it will give happiness and peace. And they were not made by one man but by whole ethnic group and no one can take ownership of it.Throughout the journey the author was fascinated by the Hindu practices and architecture. And writes highly of those things. But as his journey proceeds towards north India the plight of famine was too much , everywhere people lining up for food and he was saddened . On the other hand the richness of kings and princes made him to wonder about the vast inequality.

Definitely worth a read!

All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

This is the story of Marie -Laure ,a French blind girl and Werner , a German young boy prodigy set during World War- II . Marie lives with her father near Museum of Natural History where his father works as Master of locks. She is bit shy but courageous and she learned to navigate through her streets.His father was given one of the  museum's most famous item 'Sea of Flames' stone to take into safety when German's attacked France.  When the invasion started , they moved to Saint-Malo to be with her uncle. One can easily feel as blind when reading Marie's own words.

“A real diamond is never perfect.” 

Werner ,an orphan boy, grows up with his sister , Jutta , in  German. He was very interested in Radio and learnt to build and arrange radio. This talent wins him a place at a military school and he becomes a best tracker. He travels with youth army along Russia and other places before reaching Saint-Malo. His school life specially his friendship with Fredericks and horrible ways Nazi regiment treated these kids were told beautifully.

“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?” 

The story switches between these two main characters cutting back and forth in time creates great suspense, a master stroke by the author. Each chapter ends with something to ponder.One is beloved and fortunate and another is Orphan and less fortunate.One loves science and another loves books. Marie and Werner met in a dramatic setting ( From the beginning I waited for this meeting!!). Both protects themselves to the core. Werner helped her to escape from Von Rumpel to safety but he was captured by Allied force and killed in mine blast. The hours they spent together remains with Marie even after her marriage.

“Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.” 

Marie 's father is another wonderful character , he builds tiny models of the places she would go. And make sure that she knows the intricate details of those buildings. His heartfelt letters to Marie during his time in prison speaks volume about his character.

“What do we call visible light? We call it color. But the electromagnetic spectrum runs to zero in one direction and infinity in the other, so really, children, mathematically, all of light is invisible.” 

Another interesting character is Von Rumpel, the Nazi officer in charge of collecting precious stones and arts for Hilter's future museum . His relentless search for the "Sea of Flames" is something I will remember for a long time because in spite of his poor health and family situation he was stead fast in finding it and more importantly his belief in that stone.

“Every outcome has its cause, and every predicament has its solution.”

 “Radio: it ties a million ears to a single mouth.” 

Each character is unique and memorable. (Madame Manec and Etienne) Many characters show great courage and selflessness throughout the story.The book is enthralling , written beautifully and emotionally charged, it will bring tears.  The realistic portrayal of the war environment makes this book more engaging and interesting.

There is no question this author is a master storyteller , his attention to detail is amazing. Ambitious and heartfelt book. Awesome book . A must read.