book review

Profiling Anuradha Bhagwati: First south Asian woman US Marine Corps Officer

At 24, Anuradha Bhagwati, become the first south Asian woman officer in the history of the US Marine Corps. At the time, the Yale graduate, daughter of eminent economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai was proud to join the elite military force.

Image result for anuradha bhagwati marine

Bhagwati’s famous parents pushed her hard to be a good Indian girl and conform to the desi diaspora’s norms, but she rebelled.

Image result for anuradha bhagwati marine

Anuradha recounts in Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience,

Yet once training begins, Anuradha’s G.I. Jane fantasy is punctured. As a bisexual woman of color in the military, she faces underestimation at every stage, confronting misogyny, racism, and astonishing injustice perpetrated by those in power. Pushing herself beyond her limits, she also wrestles with what exactly drove her to pursue such punishment in the first place.

Once her service concludes in 2004, Anuradha courageously vows to take to task the very leaders and traditions that cast such a dark cloud over her time in the Marines. Her efforts result in historic change, including the lifting of the ban on women from pursuing combat roles in the military.

Bhagwati’s book has also received rave reviews from critics:

“While reading a book to review, it’s usually useful to fold over a page’s corner to make it easy to come back, to reflect on each noteworthy passage…But then you find yourself folding down the next page, and another, and another, until more than half the book is folded down, rendering the tactic useless as a reference but testimony to the story’s potency.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Bhagwati’s book stands out most as a chronicle of overcoming psychological trauma…The book is at its most powerful when she writes about who she became in response to the violence the military trained her to commit.”
—New York Times Book Review

Image credits and more about Bhagwati on the website

#BookReview: Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook

Here we present a review of new book ‘Transit Lounge’ by Myra Gupta .

Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook: Top 100 Indian Slow Cooker Recipes from Restaurant Classics to Innovative Modern Indian Recipes All Easily Made At Home in a Slow Cooker

Indian cuisine is widely acknowledged to be among the very best in the world. Now you can make all of the top Indian dishes at home in your own kitchen! From classic Indian dishes served in restaurants around the globe, to innovative fusion dishes that exemplify modern India on a plate, you are guaranteed to enjoy this curated collection of amazing Indian meals. This complete guide to cooking authentic Indian food at home empowers you to become a true master of Indian cuisine, even if you’ve never stepped food in South Asia.

You’ll learn what spices work best for bringing out the natural flavors of popular Indian ingredients, as well as the techniques employed by the most discerning Indian cooks, from international superstar Indian chefs, to the most experienced home-cooks in Mumbai.

The best part is that these recipes are easy to prepare at home in your slow cooker. The slow cooker is one of the healthiest appliances you can use to cook at home, and its “low and slow” style of one pot cooking lends itself perfectly to the demands of top-notch Indian cuisine. With 100 recipes there is something for everyone, from quick and spicy lunch dishes for one, to elaborate Indian feasts for the whole family, you’ll be equipped with everything you need to produce truly world class Indian meals at home every night of the week. The Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook is your all-in-one resource for enjoying the very best of South Asia wherever you are in the world!
This Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook contains:

100 Easy to Follow Recipes using ingredients that are easily found at your local grocery store and that are ideal for cooking in your slow cooker – each with complete nutritional information
Healthy and Delicious Indian Food For Every Occasion organized into chapters including Lentils, Beans, Peas, Vegetables, and Meat dishes
A Complete Overview of Indian cuisine detailing the essential information you need to know to master the very best dishes India has to offer
Handy Charts and Indexes so all the information you need is at your fingertips

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Review by our Editor on Amazon: “Yet another cookbook for DIY on Indian Cuisine”

I happened to come across the book while reviewing recent Kindle publications and was intrigued: was this yet another cookbook on Indian cuisine?

The title of the book is a mouthful though it describes what it is all about “Top 100 Indian Slow Cooker Recipes from Restaurant Classics to Innovative Modern Indian Recipes All Easily Made At Home in a Slow Cooker.” The sections of book are well written and follow a predictable format:
– Time to cook
– Basic ingredient list
– Recipe
– and ends with informative tips on calories, fat, Carbs, Sugar, Protein and Cholesterol

A+ for painstaking collation of information. Perhaps a few pictures of the dishes would be a nice addition.

#BookReview – The Bounce!: A Story of Love, Loss and the Life of a Global Indian #Free

The book, The Bounce!: A Story of Love, Loss and the Life of a Global Indian is available for #Free download from #Amazon (from Feb 1 – 5 2018)

The Semi-Autobiographical fictionalized story in the eBook is loosely based on a real incident – Infant Aditya Mohan died on Jet Airways Flight 229 ( Brussels – Delhi ), 17th June 2008 (link)

From the book blurb

The Bounce! is a human-interest story that chronicles the life and adventures of a computer programmer, Raj, as he migrates across four countries spanning three continents. The first half of this engaging story is about Raj’s experience seeking love by moving back from America to India, eventually migrating to Canada with his new bride. During their journey, the couple experiences a tragic loss onboard an international flight.

The second half of the book chronicles the protagonist and his wife bouncing back. It is a story of love, loss and the life of an Indian American who happens to be an accidental beneficiary of globalization and offshoring.

The author’s delicate narrative is, in essence a tragedy to triumph story that should appeal to everyone seeking their inner-hero.

The Bounce! gives an insight into the world of our educated, but globally transient workforce: how immigrants fit into American culture and communities, build their own away-from-home communities, and how they struggle with the age-old immigrant’s dilemma: balancing the adopted worlds’ needs against traditional values and cultures.

The book has 39 reviews on Amazon.com , and the top reviewer posts :

Absolutely Beautiful!

It is hard to find words to describe a story like the one that is shared in this book. Based on a true story and written in the first person, it is easy to feel deeply what the protagonist feels as he journeys (literally) through life. As one reads it is easy to feel the young Raj’s initial lightness as he works towards acquiring a green card and pursuing a successful career in the IT world while looking for love. His reserved joy at receiving his green card and the contrast made to the Indian youngsters seen in Bollywood movies, where dancing and singing are commonly observed, had me smiling as I read.

Raj’s initial humor and joy/hope for the future is heavily contrasted with the unthinkable tragedy he later experiences, yet themes of hope are strong throughout the book. The theme, “live in the present,” is subtly woven throughout Raj’s road to healing and hope after heartache. The reader is allowed to experience the whole spectrum of human emotion — humor, joy, love, hope, sorrow, shock, anger and ultimately revelation. These emotions are interwoven with fascinating revelations about various parts of the world, such as Switzerland, Canada, India, and parts of the United States.

This book is perfect for anyone who has experienced love, loss or both. It is especially powerful for those who may have lost a loved one well before it was thought possible. The ending is a poignant testimony to the God-given ability to not only survive a terrible loss, but to thrive as well. This short story was simply put – beautiful. I absolutely loved it and would not wish for any portion to be omitted. I would have loved a few more minutes with Ajay at the end, though!

Book Review: Bollywood Kitchen

Bollywood and Indian food are perennial topics of conversation among desis in pardes. The Indian diaspora in the North America, Europe especially in the US and UK has done a great job of ‘importing’ wholesome doses of both.

Indian entrepreneurs regularly take over movie theaters across US and Canadian cities to screen latest bollywood hits. This continues to be popular despite the pervasiveness of Youtube, digital streaming and to some extent torrents and (illegal) movie file sharing. Watching a movie on the big screen and enjoying a nice dinner at a local Indian restaurant is a common pastime.

A recent program ‘Getting to know Bollywood, one meal at a time’ in the popular NPR program, Marketplace, features the new book “Bollywood Kitchen: Home-Cooked Indian Meals Paired with Unforgettable Bollywood Films.” In the interesting interview, the host Kai Ryssdal interviews the author Sri Rao. The Indian-American author talks about working between two film industries, being part of the first generation of American-born Indian-Americans and what his mom said when he told her he was writing a cookbook.

Rao describes his background and the reason for bringing Bollywood and Food together in the book

Yeah, so I’m from a small town in central Pennsylvania, and I was one of very few nonwhite kids in my community growing up. Every day after dinner, my parents would pop a tape into VCR and we would watch these fantastic Bollywood movies, and that’s how I learned the language. That’s how I learned about the music and the culture and so many of the traditions of where my parents came from.

The Indian food in America is now its own thing. And as people like me are starting to come of age now — you know, I’m one of the oldest American-born Indians in the country. Immigration from India was only legalized in 1965. At that time in 1965 when immigration was opened up from India, there were only 10,000 Indians in the entire country, my dad being one of them. And now there are over 4 million I believe, something like that. And so you’re starting to see us as a group come up and sort of find our voice in various fields. So people like, you know, Mindy Kaling and Aziz Ansari in entertainment or Kamala Harris and Nikki Haley in politics. And then in the world of food, this is one of the first or one of a few cookbooks that have been written by someone born in America who is of Indian descent.

Check out the book, Bollywood Kitchen: Home-Cooked Indian Meals Paired with Unforgettable Bollywood Films, on Amazon:

The reviews thus far have been quite flattering

publishersweekly.com

Readers expecting wildly complex preparations and nothing but showy musicals will be pleasantly surprised on both fronts, as Rao offers a refreshingly diverse set of movies as well as recipes that are easily sourced without sacrificing flavor or requiring too much time to prepare.

Houston Chronicle

In “Bollywood Kitchen,” Rao gives new meaning to “dinner and a movie” by creating menus inspired by classic Indian films. Example: Keema (ground beef curry), rajma (kidney bean stew) and naan crisps that are evocative of the lavish melodrama “Devdas.” Masala-crusted salmon, rice and lentils, grilled asparagus and mustard seeds, and mint/cilantro chutney drawn from the Oscar-nominated “Lagaan.” Pan-seared cod with curry leaves and lemon rice with lentils, peanuts and chile for “Guru,” the rags-to-riches story of a self-made billionaire and the woman he loves.

Our editor, Mohan, posts on Amazon Just what a desi mom ordered!

Sri’s new book touches on the heart of two things that keep desis in pardes going: Bollywood and desi food. For those like me of Indian origin, who grew up on a steady diet of desi movies and food, the book is a walk down the memory lane.

The illustrated book has brief movie reviews and recipes interspersed with glossy photographs from bollywood movies. If you are looking for an Informative and entertaining primer on Bollywood and some Indian-American recipes, this is the book for you.

Book Review: Transit Lounge

Here we present a review of new book ‘Transit Lounge’ by Sunil Mishra.

Transit Lounge is a contemporary book consisting of short incidents, observations and reflections while travelling to 30 countries across six different continents during the last 15 years.

The book is a personal account of travels to places in Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Mauritius), South America (Venezuela and Argentina), Asia (China, Iran, Kuwait, UAE, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka,Malaysia and Thailand), Europe (UK, France, Italy,Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Georgia,Turkey, Croatia and Romania), USA, Australia and New Zealand.

It was interesting to observe all these different cultures and people from an Indian perspective. The book is a compilation of small incidents and events during such travels; it includes losing an air ticket, dealing with difficult custom officials or getting mugged in a prime location in a foreign country.”

Review by our Editor on Amazon: “An entertaining and readable travelogue”

An adage – join the navy and see the world – applies in equal measure to this generation of Indian IT professionals who have gone global. Sunil Mishra has leveraged such an opportunity to capture the essence of his travels in the newly published book in which he collates his observations of cultures and people from a distinctly Indian perspective.

The fast-paced narrative is sprinkled with anecdotes and humor that seamlessly ties together his views into a readable book. He shrugs at incidents where he had to bribe customs officials and security guards, turning to humor; perhaps reflecting on his Indian background where such incidents are par for the course. In his narrative, the author also attempts to review the geopolitical and economic aspects of the countries he visited.

Sunil makes a point of ‘cookie cutter’ customer service he experiences at hotels and airlines, a fact that intrigues the frequent traveler in me. With all the choices of airlines, he continues to patronize Indian national carrier, Air India, more than a few times while observing its ‘declining ranking.’ Equally intriguing is the fact that Sunil, the frequent-traveler didn’t get to an ‘elite’ status with his preferred airline or hotel, which would have afforded him the “personal touch” he yearns for. (Perhaps add those tips to the next edition of the book?)

Bottomline: Transit Lounge is a nice, entertaining and readable travelogue.

[Review from a complimentary copy of the book received from the publisher.]

Book Review: Read Rudyard Kipling’s classics for Free (Kindle eBooks)

Indian Tales Kindle Edition by Rudyard Kipling

The Kindle edition of this book is now available for Free download (as of October 2017)

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907. His children’s books are classics of children’s literature and his books include The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories. Kipling’s classics have been required reading for generations of Indian students.

This eBook was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web.

Review by our Editor on Amazon: “Read Kipling’s classics for Free!”

This is a great read, especially since it is available for Free download!”

This collection includes the following Kipling short-stories

The finest story in the World
With the Main Guard
Wee Willie Winkie
The Rout of the White Hussars
At Twenty-Two
The courting of Dinah Shadd
The story of Muhammad Din
In Flood time
My own true ghost story
The Big drunk Draf’
By Word of Mouth
The Drums of the Fore and Aft
The sending of Dana Da
On the City Wall
The broken-link handicap
On Greenhow Hill
To be filled for reference
The man who would be king
The Gate of Hundred Sorrows
The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney
His Majesty the King
The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes
In the House of Suddhoo
Black Jack
The taking of Lungtungpen
The Phantom Rickshaw
On the strength of a Likeness
Private Learoyd’s Story
Wesssley of the Foreign office
The solid Muldoon
The Three Musketeers
Beyond the Pale
The god from the Machine
The daughter of the Regiment
The madness of private Ortheris
L’envoi

Book Review: ‘Hit Refresh’ by Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella

This is not yet another CEO’s ghost written tome

It is almost customary of tech CEO’s to write a book to to clarify their viewpoints, and also to solidify their personal legacies. The new book by Indian born CEO of tech giant Microsoft, Satya Nadella, does just this.

Indians, Indian-Americans and NRIs have been closely watching the ascend of Indian born technologists like Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai to top of multinational tech companies. There are several nuggets of wisdom that readers are sure to glean from Satya Nadella’s new book.

Amazon book review by our editor, Mohan

It is a time-honed tradition among tech CEO’s and executives to pen down a biography. The intent is generally multifold – to use it as a vehicle to clarify their viewpoints, and also to solidify their personal legacies. Nadella’s book follows the pattern of his mentor Bill Gates’ bestseller “Business @ the Speed of Thought” that tried to make sense of the seismic changes during the earlier dot.com era. This book takes us through Microsoft’s transformation through the digital-cloud era.

Hit Refresh, as the title suggests, is Nadella’s attempt to take us through his company’s ongoing transformation to ‘refresh’ the strategy, and his quest to “Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul.” A soul that essentially encompasses everything from the culture to competitive landscape and industry partnerships. Of course, corporate watchers and researchers are bound to wonder if a company really has a “soul.”

As a blogger who continually pursues South Asian ‘success stories,’ I have been following Nadella’s journey and his ascend to the top of American multinational is an inspiration to a generation of Indian Americans. In the book, Nadella takes us through the journey in his own words: from his childhood in India to the CEO of a Tech giant, that makes for an interesting read.

The book concludes with Nadella’s vision for the coming wave of digitization and explores its potential impact on society. Techies and students of business strategy are sure to find nuggets of insights in the book.

Bottomline: Nadella gives writer Greg Shaw full credit as a co-author – and the tone and themes in the chapters certainly reflect that of Microsoft’s leader.

According to the blurb, this is an attempt by Microsoft’s CEO to take us through

“the inside story of the company’s continuing transformation, tracing his own personal journey from a childhood in India to leading some of the most significant technological changes in the digital era. As much a humanist as engineer and executive, Nadella concludes with his vision for the coming wave of intelligent technologies and a distinct call to action for leaders everywhere. Hit Refresh is about individual change, about the transformation happening inside of Microsoft and the technology that will soon impact all of our lives–the arrival of the most exciting and disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced: artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing.It’s about how people, organizations, and societies can and must transform “hit refresh” in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. At its core, it’s about us humans and how our one unique quality–empathy–will become ever more valuable in a world where technological advancement will disrupt the status quo as never before. Satya Nadella explores a fascinating childhood before immigrating to the US and how he learned to lead along the way.”

Book Review “I Do What I Do” – Does a green card make you less Indian?

Does a green card make you less Indian?

Names like Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Pangariya et al. are role models for the global Indian diaspora. They also happen to be globalized intellectuals with impeccable credentials, stellar education backed by real world experience.

Former Governor of the Indian Reserve bank, Raghuram Rajan (wikipedia) has decided to speak out his legacy of 3 years in India with the launch of his recent book “I Do What I Do.” One aspect that continues to resurface in the media is the question of his “Indianness,” which is attributable to the fact that he has spent much of his working life abroad.

Questions on his “Indianness,” sometimes puts the an otherwise articulate intellectual, Mr. Rajan on the defensive. This continues to be a part of the rhetoric despite his impeccable educational credentials that include a bachelors degree from the prestigious IIT Delhi and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Having a global background like these also means they are unencumbered by trivialities like visas and immigration restriction that may apply to rest of the junta.

The book has received a lot of media hype in India though the global Amazon.com website has a couple of reviews. Extract of the Amazon Review from our editor:

Former Governor of the Indian Reserve bank, Raghuram Rajan has decided to speak out about his legacy of 3 years in India with the launch of his recent book “I Do What I Do.”

After browsing through the book, I am left wondering about the media hype the book launch received in India. The book is a compilation of his public speeches with a preface and notes added to clarify and explain his thinking during the period. Mr. Ranaj received a superstar welcome on his recent homecoming for the book-launch and has received sufficient media airtime that he has leveraged craftily.

You should consider buying a copy of the book only if you need a handy reference to Mr Rajan’s speeches; else you are better off referencing these speeches from the public domain on the web.

Other book reviews and media references:

I am Raghuram Rajan…I do what I do: RBI Governor after rate cut – Indian Express
My name is Raghuram Rajan, I do what I do: Top quotes by RBI guv – Hindustan Times
Reading Raghuram Rajan: ‘I Do What I Do’ – Times of India
I Do What I Do: Raghuram Rajan endorses an idea that is spoken in hushed tones – India Today
Raghuram Rajan is back with I Do What I Do – Rediff
How and why do top intellectuals go back to teaching jobs? – Blog post on Raghuram Rajan going back to academia

Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See

“A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II

Marie-Laure has been blind since the age of six. Her father builds a perfect miniature of their Paris neighbourhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. But when the Nazis invade, father and daughter flee with a dangerous secret.

Werner is a German orphan, destined to labour in the same mine that claimed his father’s life, until he discovers a knack for engineering. His talent wins him a place at a brutal military academy, but his way out of obscurity is built on suffering.

At the same time, far away in a walled city by the sea, an old man discovers new worlds without ever setting foot outside his home. But all around him, impending danger closes in.

Doerr’s combination of soaring imagination and meticulous observation is electric. As Europe is engulfed by war and lives collide unpredictably, ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ is a captivating and devastating elegy for innocence.

– Amazon’s blurb of “All the Light We Cannot See”

Review from our editor, Mohan, on Amazon

I chanced on a copy of Anthony Doerr’s bestseller with a bit of trepidation: was this yet another novel about WWII? One would think that all, if not most of the stories of the great war have been reviewed and written. But no, this came across as a surprisingly refreshing epic saga.

The focus of the story, set in the five years of the world war (between 1939 and 1944) is on the lives and travails of two main characters – Marie Laure and Werner. Marie Laure is a blind 14-year-old French girl who flees from Paris to the countryside with her father who is a locksmith for a renowned museum. Werner is a radio-and-gadget-obsessed German orphan picked from his orphanage to attend an elite military school.

The strong characters will leave you reflecting on the story much after you have finished the novel. The fast paced twists and turns in the plot with engaging characters keep readers hooked through the saga.

It is not for nothing that the book received several acclaimed literary awards, including The 2015 Pulitzer Prize and The Carnegie Medal for Fiction, ending as a New York Times Bestseller

About the author: Anthony Doerr has won numerous prizes for his fiction, including the 2015 Pulitzer Prize. His most recent novel, All the Light We Cannot See, was named a best book of 2014 by a number of publications, and was a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Visit him at http://www.anthonydoerr.com.

You may also be interested in other recent book review (link) | You may also be interested in the Books section of GaramChai

Book Review: Stories from Tagore

This kindle edition of stories by Rabindranath Tagore was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. Rabindranath Tagore (1861 1941), is to the Indian subcontinent what Shakespeare is to the English-speaking world. A poet, playwright, painter, and educator, Tagore was also a mystic of great complexity and depth. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

Review from our editor, Sujatha, on Amazon

I happened to chance on Tagore’s classic listed for Kindle’s and decided to check it out, especially since I had read some of his stories years ago. This edition of “Stories from Tagore” is a collection of classics from the master.

Novel laurate Rabindranath Tagore’s writing has shaped and transformed Indian literature, and has been an inspiration for generations. The stories in this collection cover a broad spectrum of themes and includes classics like the Cabuliwallah and Subha. These tales from generations ago which continue to enlighten contemporary readers.

About the author: Rabindranath Tagore was a Nobel Laureate for Literature (1913) as well as one of India’s greatest poets and the composer of independent India’s national anthem, as well as that of Bangladesh. He wrote successfully in all literary genres, but was first and foremost a poet, publishing more than 50 volumes of poetry. He was a Bengali writer who was born in Calcutta and later traveled around the world. He was knighted in 1915, but gave up his knighthood after the massacre of demonstrators in India in 1919.

You may also be interested in other recent book review (link) | You may also be interested in the Books section of GaramChai