bookreview

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.

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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

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.]

#BookReview – Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows: A Novel

Balli Kaur Jaswal, a writer-in-residence at the University of East Anglia and Nanyang Technological University has third novel Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (Harper Collins/William Morrow) released internationally in March 2017.

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows: A Novel by [Jaswal, Balli Kaur]

With visions of emancipating the women of the Sikh community she left behind as a self-important teenager, Nikki is shocked to find her creative writing class is a group of barely literate women who have no interest in her ideals of liberation.

To her surprise, the white dupatta of the widow hides more than just their modesty. These are women who have spent their lives in the shadows of fathers, brothers and husbands; being dutiful, raising children and going to temple, but whose inner lives are as rich and fruitful as their untold stories.

East meets west and tradition clashes with modernism in a thought-provoking cross-cultural novel that might make you look again at the women in your life

Amazon review OUR EDITOR

The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer. While there is certainly some description of eroticism and sexual desire, Jaswal uses the theme of ‘Erotic stories’ as a catalyst for a glimpse into the imaginative minds hidden behind white dupattas of Southhall Sikh widows.

The novel begins with an introduction of the protagonist, Nikki, a law-school dropout who is trying to find her calling in life by bartending. Nikki tries to help with her sister’s matchmaking quest by making a trip to the Gurudwara in Southhall to post her matrimonial advert, and is amused to read other tacky adverts.

The author builds Nikki’s character with liberal doses of the clichéd desi issues: arranged marriage, gossip and conflicts that second-generation Non-Resident Indians face while trying to meet their parent’s expectations of life and career choices.

Those like me into this genera will find this an enjoyable East-West Mix.

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: 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

The Top 10 Best Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Novels of All Time

If you’re looking to switch up your reading habits a little, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic novels are a great choice. Here are the top ten books about the apocalypse.

Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut’s thrilling apocalyptic novel fully deserves its place as the first on this list, due to the extreme literary mastery it is written with. Cat’s Cradle is an incisive satirical dystopian narrative in which the moments leading up to the apocalypse build up, painting an intricate picture of human society and its many flaws.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream shows human life in the aftermath of a technologized apocalypse, living amongst garbage and ruins and hunting rebelled androids in order to restore some remnant of peace of Earth.

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood

Canadian author Margaret Atwood has made a name for herself in the dystopian narrative community with her witty and incisive portrayals of the apocalypse. Oryx and Crake is the first book in her MaddAddam trilogy, and it focuses on a biochemical apocalypse, presenting both the events leading up to it, as well as its grim aftermath.

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

The second book in Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy is equal to its predecessor, which is rare in the case of trilogies. The Year of the Flood presents the aftermath of the same apocalypse from different points of view. Unfortunately, the final book isn’t nearly as good as the first two.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece bends the conventions of the genre, achieving a unique perspective on the post-apocalyptic novel genre. The Road is the story of a nameless father and son who wander around a world destroyed by an unspecified catastrophe.

Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut’s second book on this list can also fit into the sci-fi genre due to its exploration of space travel and other related concepts. However, Sirens of Titan is par excellence an apocalyptic novel because it presents a dark military space apocalypse in the making.

Zone One, by Colson Whitehead

For readers out there that very much prefer their apocalypse to be zombified, Colson Whitehead’s novel is a clear winner.

Tenth of December, by George Saunders

Saunders’ book is perfect for fans of Black Mirror, because the style is very similar.

Children of Men, by P.D. James

This novel-turned-film explores themes such as infertility and exploitation of immigrants, all under the watchful eye of a deranged government. It’s a real page-turner, trust us.

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is clearly a winner on this list, seeing as this is her third book here. The Handmaid’s Tale explores a different kind of post-apocalyptic world, one that has been torn apart by political dictatorship. It’s a bold and incisive exploration of gender roles and norms that has been rightfully acclaimed as a feminist masterpiece.

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

Amazon review OUR EDITOR

Indian Tales Kindle Edition by Rudyard Kipling

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

This collection includes the following Kipling short-stories

Amish Tripathi’s Raavan (A Preview): Orphan of Aryavarta

Review by our Editor on Amazon: “Nice preview”

Maha-bharata The Epic of Ancient India Condensed into English Verse

Review by our Editor on Amazon “Nice, readable translation of a great epic”