Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra

It all began one Saturday afternoon, when I sat starring outside my window, looking aimlessly at the green patch in front of my house and sulking about something. The phone rang.It was Nitin aka Godfather. He had called to tell me, that he has managed to get hold of a signed copy of Vikram Chandra`s much talked about book Sacred Games.I don’t know whether I was ignorant or indifferent,but I hadn’t really heard about the book or what it was actually about. But when I was told that its related to Mumbai and crime scene, for some strange I developed an instant urge to read that book, inspite of being warned of it being a 900 page hardcover(7kg in weight).


Sacred Games - A must read

This book is a crime thriller, not a dhishom -dhishom kind of thriller but more of a detective book. The main plot of the story is investigating the self-murder of a big crime lord of Mumbai aka Ganesh Gaitonde by Sartaj Singh an senior sub inspector. But amidst this main story are weaved even more interesting tales. It’s the story of the thousands of youngsters who float into city to make their Bollywood dreams, the story of their survival, the human side of gangsters and their team mates, their triumphs, their failures, betrayals, the story of partition affected families, a story of the Bangladeshi immigrants in Mumbai, to the story of infidelity in marriage. It’s a story of faith, belief and betrayal.

I love the way Chandra has weaved the characters in the story, with every character having an interesting tale to share and it is very real.

The novel is so gripping& entertaining, that you will not want to keep it aside until you finish reading it,no wonder over the last 3 weeks, even the crowded train compartments, full of chatty and loud women,or the tiresome bus journeys or the jerky Rickshaw ride has deterred me from closing my book (not to be forget the instances where I have been mocked by friends and collegeous for carrying such a huge book around)

That’s what I love about books; good books have the ability to help you dissolve your worries and troubles, getting you involved in the lives of its characters. Books are your best friends, and great company, never to betray you.

Very well written & gripping.An excellent book. I have enjoyed every minute of reading this brilliant book.Great job Vikram!

Beyond Classrooms! Lessons of Life

Teacher’s day brings back memories of celebrations at school, where we practiced for skits or song recitations days before the d-day, competed with each other to give the best gift to our favorite teachers, for some it was a chance to erase that bad picture they had painted for themselves, while for others just, an opportunity to simply acknowledge the presence of those who had really made a difference in their lives

Post my classroom days, every Teachers day, I like to reflect and think about all those non- classroom teachers who I have met throughout my life. These people have never thought of themselves as my teachers but they have shared with me some important learning’s, experience, knowledge which has helped me graduate year on year with flying colors, and that is what makes them my special teachers.

But I would like to tell you about the Biggest Teacher in my life, who saw me the second I entered this world.

He always had a smile on his face, energy in his eyes. He had an ability to mesmerize people with his talks. He could talk to you about anything under the sun, from the way a certain teacher troubled him, to how he and his school gang(golden gang) played pranks on students, to anecdotes about his interesting friends ranging from the 80 year old Dadima in the building, to the middle aged women of the navrati group, to the fathers of some of his friends, to those countless travelogues of trips that were planned on a spur of a moment to gather handicrafts, to tales about his young entrepreneur ventures, stories of his weird clientele, to his escapade from foreign countries, to his survival trip adventures, to theories on best crop yield, land , plantation, to the techniques on making some of the best dishes, to Indian Mythology and Hindu philosophy, to Psychology the list can go on.

What was unique about my teacher is that you would always take back something new at the end of a conversation with him. His style of teaching was not advisory, but mostly sharing oriented. I think he didn’t want to be a preacher, but someone who wanted to share what he had learnt.

On this day, let me share with you some important lessons that I learned from him

Never be attached to anybody or anything, because if your attached to something, you will have expectations from it, and if you are bound by it, it’s very difficult and hard to let go if it, if it’s gone tomorrow. Don’t be indifferent to what you are attached to, but develop the ability to live without it if it’s gone tomorrow.

Fight your own battle. This is something I have grown up with, my teacher never came in the middle to be a mediator to solve my quarrels, he wanted me to fight my own battles. He often told me. “Life is your own battle, do not expect others (including your parents & children) to come and support you, because they have their battle to fight, if you expect them to come and they don’t turn up you will be hurt.”

Give. A giver is what my teacher was. I often argued with my teacher, that we shouldn’t give to people who didn’t deserve, or do not acknowledge what we do for them. But I liked what he said, “God doesn’t grant everyone with the ability to give, you’re the chosen one, so give and there will never be less”

Trust. My teacher often said, “Don’t trust anybody in this world, not even your children or parents.” I had thought that maybe he was being very cynical, but having seen the outside world, I somehow am forced to believe it is true

Smile- The world is full of sorrow, share your joys not your sorrows. He had an uncanny ability of hiding all his sorrows under his smile and those cheerful talks.

I wonder how big this list would have been, if all had not ended on 29 December 2001, the day my biggest teacher closed his books from the world. But as they say a Great Teacher always lives in the knowledge and learning’s that he shares, just like Papa.