The Magic of Thinking Big

I’m into reading management books right now. Not because any of them are the gospel truth on how you should manage yourself or others. But, I do believe that when you are leading people, it’s important to always expose yourself to different ideas on leadership.
Here are some of the ideas that interested me from The [...]

When Spiderman is for Adults

Most Indians of my generation who think in English would have vivid memories of the wonder years when we first discovered Super heroes in comics. Remember your first brush with Phantom, Spiderman and Superman? I am not completely sure why, but I do remember that Spiderman was my favourite. It could have something to do [...]

Thoughts on The Namesake

I’ve been curious about The Namesake ever since I heard that Mira Nair was working on the film. I’ve always watched out for her films since the days she got my attention with Salaam Bombay and Mississippi Masala. She disappointed me with Kamasutra and Vanity Fair was okay… But, she more than made up for [...]

My favourite books

I am part of the Bangalore Book Club on Orkut, where one of the members asked a very difficult question. What are your ten favourite books?
Here’s what I said…
1. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
2. The Outsider – Albert Camus
3. The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
4. Things Fall Apart – Chinhua Achebe
5. Sherlock Holmes (I [...]

About The Da Vinci Code

I watched the big row over the screening of The Da Vinci Code unfold with much amusement. Ban. No ban. Ban. No ban. So, the Indian government dithered.
How did a second rate book get to be so important? Okay, okay, I am probably being a little harsh. The Da Vinci Code does have its share [...]

So… I read Kaavya Viswanathan

Okay… So I did it… I read Kaavya Viswanathan… And before you say “Et tu Brutus”… I feel a desperate need to explain how it happened…
My mum and I had gone to Crosswords to do some book browsing, and my mum asked them whether they had any copies of Kaavya’s book. It turned out that [...]

Why Mistress of Spices is a Disaster

When I first heard of Mistress of Spices, I was intrigued. And the promos looked good too. But, when my Mum and I caught the film at Rex, I was really disappointed. It would be heard to recommend the film on any counts.
So how did the Paul Mayeda Berges-Gurinder Chada team who came [...]

Five Point Someone – What Not to do at IIT

I first heard of this book when the Training team was trying to organize a book sale within our company. One of our staff called up to recommend that we include this title among the books on sale. Till then, I had never heard about Chetan Bhagat or the particular book in question, and that [...]

Rethinking Beckett

I first experienced Beckett around the time I turned a teenager. The play was Waiting for Godot. At that time, I did not know much about Beckett, but I was looking forward to watching Naseeruddin Shah perform.
Well, as it happens, we left the theatre even before the play was over. Naseeruddin Shah was disappointing on [...]

Memoirs of a Geisha – the Book

Well, so I finally got down to reading Memoirs of a Geisha a week ago. But, I wasn’t in the mood to talk about too many things at that time. So, I am finally getting down to blogging about it.
I’ve got to admit that those who say that the book is better are right. This [...]