One Night @ the Call Center

I read this book a few months back. I was not sure whether I should write about the book which has already been read by most of my friends & fellow citizens a long time ago. :)

The story revolves around group of call center workers, The author in this novel has tried to explore delicate interpersonal relationship of call center workers & their harsh working conditions.

It is really difficult to wear an altogether different mask in terms of accent & behaviour while talking to your customers. All this for a job, which is reasonably well paid, but gives no creative satisfaction.

As usual Chetan’s writing style keeps your interest alive. Side by side the main story he has also highlighted how career of a sincere and hardworking employee can go haywire while working under a whimsical & selfish boss.

Unlike Five Point Someone the book has no nostalgic effect on me since I have never come across any call center guy in my life. Only they can tell how truly this story resembles with the real life situation. But as an outsider if some one wants to peep into the lives of this community one should read this book.

Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh

History has always fascinated me. I always love to read historical novels and this time during my visit back home I got the chance to read one such book. Stanley Wolpert’s
Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh is an excellent combination of historical facts interwoven with fiction.
The book starts with the early summer of 1919 when entire Punjab was actively protesting against Rowlett Act. In Amritsar too the protest rallies were organized under local leadership of Dr Satywan & Barrister Kitchloo, who were true Gandhian follower to the core. The huge response to the protest march scared the English so much that in panic they called the both leaders and without any prior warning put both of them under house arrest & took them to outside Punjab.

English thought that their arrest will stop any further protest but their decision backfired. Devoid of any able leadership, the peaceful protest transformed into mob fury. The protesters in angry mood marched towards Civil Lines to ask Collector to free their leaders. But before they could do so their march was halted at the bridge leading to Civil lines with bullets showered by English, in which around 30 protesters died. This resulted in complete mayhem and in retaliation 6 British nationals were killed including a lady on other side of the city.

Situation could have become normal had the English took the help of moderate leaders to difuse the situation but instead they called the Army. On 12th April local leaders called a meeting in Jallianwala Bagh on 13th to decide about the future course of action. English under the leadership of Brig Gen Dyer put the prohibitory orders against any kind of assembly in the morning. Incidentally that was day of Baisakhi and many farmers from nearby village came to Amritsar to watch the annual cattle fair without knowing the prevailing conditions of the city.

Col dyer came with his Gorkha troops at 5 in the evening and without any prior warning started indiscriminate firing. With only one entrance in the ground people have no way to go. More than 300 innocent persons as per English estimates and around 1000 as per Congress estimates died in the 10 min shootout.

Stanley Wolpert has beautifully captured the mind of Col Dyer who never felt any remorse doing what he thought was an absolute necessity for protection of British Empire even after the tragedy. However the whole incident ridiculed the hollowness of the Britishers claim that they are superior race with more humanly traits than coloured people. Starting from events from 10th April to 13th April & judicial enquiry in November 1919 , Wolpert has given unbiased & gripping account of the sordid saga.

A must read for anyone interested in national freedom movement of subcontinent.

Five Point Someone

It’s so difficult to put down this kind of book which u can so much relate to! And Five Point Someone is one such book.

The author Chetan Bhagat tells us story of 3 frens with different background coming together at the most coveted engg college of India after clearing one of the toughest entrance exam of its kind. But soon they get frustrated with pressures of assignments & unfair grading system which they think only promotes mugging rather than original thinking. But still these guys with their 5.0+ GPA sail together as frens with ups & downs of college life.

So why did this book appealed so much to me?
No , no I am not an IITian !
Nor I have been traumatized by our professors in a series of unending quizzes and assignments! :)
But then dissimilarity ends here!
Like the three heroes of the novel Ryan, Hari & Alok , I found my best friends in those 4 years of hostel life!
Like true mechanical engineers, we always have to rely on outside sources (read other deptt, campus) to look for a GF like the main protagonist Hari. The only cliché was that Hari went for his HOD’s daughter as her GF.....ha ha a thing which we could have never thought of even in our dreams.

There were so many other things which I fondly remember after reading the novel, whether it was ragging as freshers , or bunking our classes, or eating at roadside dhaba after hard days work or discussing about the nitty gritty of female mind :) :). The pictures of all these came vividly in mind as I flipped through the pages of novel.

Its 270 pages are not only a nostalgic journey of the time we spent at our alma mater but the way Chetan has written it, its just pure fun to go through! Chetan knows the art of story telling & it’s no surprise at all that it has become nation's bestseller.

Price (India): Hardcover Rs 295, Paperback Rs 95

Pages: 270
Publisher: Rupa & Co.
About the Cover:

The three gears represent Hari, Alok and Ryan, while the flower represents Neha. These engineering and human elements are shown to co-exist in harmony. Also, gears need to mesh together to work, representing Hari, Alok and Ryan's friendship.
The white colour of the cover represents simplicity, as seen in the writing style of the book. The definition of friendship spread all over reinforces the theme of the book.

The Da Vinci Code

History has always remained my favourite subject, though religion is not. Also paintings never attracted me in a big way compare to other art forms. But when I went thru this book related to Da Vinci’s work in the light of pre chirstian religious history , I was amazed to see the kind of research author has done to write this suspense novel. Infact the book’s speciality is that apart from keeping your interest alive right thru... it enlightens ur mind too.
Some of the observations of author were really quite interesting. Here I share some of them with u!

First Monalisa will not be same for me again :), I will always visualize her as Amon + Isis(Lisa), the combination of male & female fertility god of Egypt.

And have u heard of a magic no PHI? Mathematically PHI is equal to 1.618. So what’s so special about it? Human body is literally made of building blocks whose proportional ratios always equal to PHI. Not convinced :)! Take out the inch tape & calculate following ratios:
Tip of ur head to the floor/ belly button to the floor
Shoulder to fingertips/ elbow to fingertips
Hip to floor / knee to floor!
According to author all these ratios will be equal to PHI

Vinci’s famous work The Last Supper consists of 13 men including Jesus Christ right
no wrong
It consists of 12 men + 1 women ! Who was she?

There r other controversial observations which can be questioned! But it gives an interesting viewpoint abut Jesus , Christianity & Pre Christian religion of nature worshippers known as Pagans.

But religious history is just the backdrop of the novel, the real suspense is involved in solving some smart crypto graphical riddles ! So puzzle lovers will just love it. All in all a good novel to read..