The Man who Never was

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga My rating: 3 of 5 stars News outlets keep telling us how, despite the great leaps made by science and technology, despite globalization and relative global peace, in our current world, wealth disparity is at its worst. Where, on one end we see billionaires (and unreported oil trillionaires) whose total assets exceed the GDP of small and some medium sized nations. Ones who can afford to purchase ludicrously exorbitant eccentricities, have entire private nation states under their command, can control the economies of the world and remake it according to their (often naive) whims. And when the end of civilization becomes apparent, the only ones will be fully stocked and furnished bunkers and lifeboats, all ready to create a new dystopian post-apocalyptic new world order. Think 2012, but with less CGI and a lot more suffering. On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who work 3 or more jobs, jumping through hoop...

ചിദംബര സ്മരണ | Chidambara Smarana by Balachandran Chullikkad My rating: 4 of 5 stars Balachandran Chullikkad is someone who is intimately familiar to Keralites; at least those who were born in the 90s and 2000s. Well known for being a gifted poet, whose verses are capable of creating embers in your mind, he was also a mainstay on the film scene, often doing small supporting characters in motion pictures. This was something for which he was ridiculed and judged, both by the general public as well as some of his intelligentsia cohorts. Balan, of course, in his typical irreverent and piercing nature, didn’t bow down or apologize, for consorting with the capitalist machinery, a group viewed as the ideological rivals of the intellectuals. While growing up, I too had some amount of reservation, as to why a respected, erudite literary agent would stoop low and star in soaps and commercial ventures like this. As an adult, the reasons are clear enough; very...

The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega My rating: 3 of 5 stars Going blind into the book, I had no idea or expectations towards 'The Middle Ages' by Eleanor Janega. For the first third of the book, we got a clear, concise, easy to understand, cliff notes version of the medieval world, following the split of the Roman Empire into West & East. I call it a cliff notes version, because a lot of events are summarized, and we get synopsis breezing through some key events which characterized the times. Most of the book deals with what is essentially the histories of Europe, as well as some supplementary stuff that happened when they interacted with Asia & Africa. Despite not being of said cultural background, having had some exposure to the subject, through similar academic works, many of the things described in the works were familiar to me (Although, full disclosure, the only reasons I even know the distinction between various cultu...

The World's Worst Assistant by Sona Movsesian My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews Going into this, one might wonder, why does this Indian looking guy, sounding guy care about a book, written by the assistant of a semi-retired talk show host, who is, by the viewership at least, not even at the top of the list. That’s because the host is Conan O’Brien, and the assistant is his wing man/ work sibling Sona Movsesian (Sorry Andy).  Now, like most viewers of my pedigree, I came to know of Conan’s particular brand of entertainment through…YouTube, ding, ding. Even back then, what set him apart from his contemporaries was how earnest and organic entertainer, especially when it comes to off the cuff bits and his engaging interaction with fans and strangers. And let’s face it, no one can work a crowd with little or no prep time like Conan, the guy has just that much charisma. And despite being known as having a somewhat risqué ...

ഓട്ടോറിക്ഷക്കാരൻ്റെ ഭാര്യ | Autorikshawkkarante Bharya by M. Mukundan My rating: 3 of 5 stars In a series of short stories, M. Mukundan, the eminent writer of Mayyazhi, paints for us the day to day, slice of life fictionalized tales of the people in everyday lives. The tales he composed range from OK, to good, to head scratching, to thought inducing, a full cornucopia. But sad to say, there isn’t much meat to these stories, a collected anthology from the stories he’d penned in various news publications. Mukundan himself seems the most soulful and engaging, when delving into the semi fictional tales that he crafts about his beloved Mayyazhi; with its colorful history and ever more colorful coterie of characters. Out of all the collections of stories which are printed here, the one which connected with me the most, is the one titled ‘Malayali Daivangal’ (Malayali Gods). The tale is about a French tourist couple that come to visit Mayyazhi and Kerala ...

Daivathinte Charanmar - You Could Be One by Joseph Annamkutty Jose My rating: 3 of 5 stars Rating 3 out of 5| Grade C; Simple things, Not so complex, Some enlightening, mostly mundane The Good: The Book is filled with snippets & anecdotes from the life of the author, which he presents to the audience in forms of parables & observations. Some of his stories & viewpoints does give you new perspective on things which you'd taken for granted in life. The Bad: Perhaps it is because of his rooted religious background, or because he was for a time enrolled in a Seminary Jose's words can at times come across as preachy, and dare I say patronizing. In some topics, such as racism, Sex education, Assault, Addictions and religion, he makes some observations which, in all honesty might've been quite enlightening in his own life. But in Recounting them to the audience, he comes across in the same way as that one youtuber, who 'saw...