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From Dongri to Dubai by Hussain Zaidi

Book review

Non fiction with I am assuming some creative liabilities!

Rating 3.5/5

Disclaimer- This is a review of only the book and the opinions of the author! None of what follows is my personal view! I am a normal family man and I don’t have any opinion which I want to state here!

So if there was a definitive encyclopaedia about Mumbai underworld then this is it!

Every page of this spicy page turner and every chapter can be made into a movie and many have been done too!

So almost every Don from Haji Mastan to Vardarajan Mudaliar to Karim Lala to the Byculla company and finally the chota Rajan and Shakeel! But the lead Star is the one Don who is still reigning the top mantle; and that’s Dawood Ibrahim!

Every major incident has been dramatised to the last detail and thus every chapter brings more spice to the story!

Starting from Mastan and Mudaliar, Hussain stars and dissects the meteoritic rise of Dawood in spite of being the son of a religious and pious constable!

Every encounter including the first one by Afaaque Baagwan of the gangster Manya Surve which was shown in the movie Shootout at Wadala has been described with such fine detail!

In fact even the famous movie shootout at Lokhandwala has been described!

Not to mention the killing of big wigs by d company like shah and Gulshan

The extortion, killing, rape, smuggling and finally the communal bombing has been described to minute details!

In an almost idolizing manner Hussain describes the exploits of many Dons with the mammoth share reserved for Dawood!

The controversial bollywood and political connection is the icing on the cake!

In a manner of description this really feels like describing a company! Where previously only Muslims were members of the D Company, Khaled (Dawood’s right hand!) Opened the doors to Hindus! Very secular indeed!!
Then the culmination in Mumbai bombings (which has been described better in his book and subsequent movie Black Friday!). The chief reason why the whole bombing happened was because the rioters dared to gut the office of Tiger Memon!

The Pakistan connection, the ISI connection, the Dubai connections and the intelligence connections! Every aspect has been given adequate space!
Finally the turf war between Dawood’s deputies like chota Rajan and Chota Shakeel! Then Abu Saleem!
Then the beautiful but dumb actresses who fall for the bad guys!
Then you have the multiple Sholay connections which you must read to understand!
At the end of it all though it’s always the big fishes who escape while the smaller ones do all the work and get caught! It’s the same story everywhere!
Some attempt at humanizing Dawood is obvious but then it doesn’t really work!

Many famous movies have been made by using this and characters from this book ! Memorable ones include Deewar, D, Company, once upon a time in Mumbai, the shoot out series and black Friday to name a few!

So if you want to read the inspiration behind those movies and even sacred games (incidentally Vikram Chandra gives a foreward!); Then you must surely give this one a go!

There is so much information that it’s difficult to pen it in a short review! And many of the pages though real, they feel like fiction! As they say truth is stranger than fiction! The book will definitely prove that right!

Once again a disclaimer that this is only Hussain Zaidi’s opinion and not mine!

Enjoy!

Missionary position by Christopher Hitchens

Book review

Non fiction

Rating 4/5

No spoilers

Of the innumerable books on Mother Teresa there may be only a few which are against the tide and wave.

Since I want to sound politically and otherwise correct let me just start by a discalimer that the work is just a reproduction of the view of the author and not my own.

So it starts by dissection of Mother’s charity work then her Noble prize then her act of forgiveness! And the tongue in cheek humour of naming the book after a known sexual position hardly seems to be a coincidence!

It is a real change of the scenario where the whole narrative is one banter after another about demystifying every single feature of the Mother and her work.

Christopher has already worked on a documentary called Hell’s Angels and you can guess the tone of that one so his disdain to the Mother is not a secret!

Christopher even has lots to say about Mother and her forgiveness! How it’s actually something more!

Her association with the dirty money and people who have sinned has also been touched upon and how!

But at the end of it all since Christopher is a well known figure in the literary world it is evident that less words are enough to convey the required information! So it’s just around 100 pages!

At this juncture it is prudent to read another book by Dr Aroup Chatterji called Mother Teresa the untold story which is like the complete movie to the preview which is this book so you might want to check that out if you want to get the detailed analysis of each and every dissection so to speak!

All in all a different read and perspective!

Controversy bomb just exploded!

My India…. Ideas for the future by A P J Abdul Kalam

Book review

Non fiction so no spoilers

Rating 4/5 (not 5/5 since that would come out biased!)

Firstly I am a big fan of Dr Abdul Kalam and any review of his book or achievements will bound to be biased!

Not that it matters since he is one of the few universally loved and admired personality in the whole country and the world!

By choice I steer clear of non fiction and such self help books but when it’s Kalam you cannot control yourself!

Imagine that his whole life all he has done is work teach and inspire and even on the fateful day of his Demise he just delivered a lecture in Shillong, collapsed and passed away. No Huss no fuss! His simple life has been an inspiration to many!

So this is a collection of summaries of his speeches delivered at various places all over the country and world!

Some talk about great personality like Tata to Gandhi to Ramanujam while many others tell about common folks doing amazing work over coming hurdles on the way and finding success!

Every once in a while you have a poem or a snippet about this great personality and every speech summary ends with a positive note!

Some give a glimpse of his childhood while some his time at the Madras institute of technology (there is a story on how and who started it too!). Some of the summaries are of his time when he was instrumental in developing Agni missiles and nuclear testing!

All in all a book to pep you up and ignite your mental fire!
Here is one man whose only agenda is to work for the betterment of the country and the future! And just for that you can just give it a go!….

My first tryst with this word Jaggernaut was when a character was named thus and though he was the most powerful character in the X Men series; his only weakness was his mind!

Later on I got to know that this word in english which literally means a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force was based on the most famous temple of Jagannath or Krishna in the temple town of Puri!

One look at this mammoth temple standing so tall will make you realise why it’s named like this! The intricate and very typical step architecture of Oriya artisans is so beautiful to see!

First things first though…
We started from the city of Bhuvaneswar which itself is named after the temple of Lingaraj where the statue of hari hara came SwayamBHU….!
This temple is apparently more ancient and taller than even the Jagannath temple!
The old building and architecture is so divine and beautiful so say the least!

Then we moved on to the famous temple of Konark! It’s another Mammoth structure originally made like a temple with 24 wheels depicting the 24 hours of a day! It has 7 wheels and three statues of the Sun god in three different poses! Morning awake!, Noon with a covering and night bent face down!
Each idol depicts a story or some teaching! You even have a dragon made 800 years back!
The main temple inside is collapsed though and the guide did mention rather sadly as to how long the structure would bear the onslaught of time.

The drive between Puri and Konark is a traveller’s delight! Add to if you have pristine beaches and lots of places to have fun or pray depending on your mood or candour!

Though we were struck by the constant red coloured spit; the guide mentioned that the situation is much better now after the Swach Bharat initiative by Modi Dada! ( That’s what they call our PM!). Many initiatives like the no paper entry, strict ban on littering and spitting has made some difference according to the guide.

Then a quick visit to some more temples and it was off to Jagannath temple!
The biggest disappointment was that we had to walk a long way just to visit the entrance of the temple! This is real sad since it’s the old who really like to visit temples like this. We did see some free senior citizen drop vehicles later on though. Then again no vehicle can take you all the way to see the main deity! Here the biggest problem which are the Pandas trouble you as soon as you enter the temple! But since the crowd was so much we decided to take one anyway and it was a wise decision! He got us some short ways and we got the darshan in leisure! He charged only around 100 INR! Though later we understood that he would get his cut by the puja and the offering which is a big scheme going on in the temple!
With this amount of rush and popularity the temple management is highly insufficient and this is why you have so many greedy brokers.
Of course any of these hurdles are easily ignored once you get into the marvelous trance of the huge temple complex and the old idols!
Then the scam about the Prasad or bhog is better left unmentioned since it’s better to dwell on the positives!

We did try some of the local cuisines and were mighty impressed with gur or Jaggery Rosogulla and Chenna poda!

Odisha is a cultural rich place with very friendly pan spitting people! Of course there is scope of improvement and hopefully sometime in future we would not have to deal with a middle man to do anything!

Until next time then!!….

Pandemic by Robin Cook

Book review

Genre Medical Thriller

Rating 4/5

Mild spoilers without any major reveal which would upset the serious reader!!

This one is special because it’s the first novel I finished this year! And it’s just the second day of the year!

Last year I finished close to 50 fiction and non-fiction novels and this looks like a good start!

Just some months back I had read Charlatans by Robin Cook and here we are with another book all ready to roll! This itself deserves accolades since I have been struggling with writing a novel for three years now and Robin at his age is churning out novels like a paper mill churns out books!!

So in this one the famous Jack Stapleton returns which is needed because the chief protagonist of his last three novels had not met with a to be continued fate!(thats mild spoiler only for the previous novels like Nano or Charlatans!)

With his trademark style of getting into everyone’s nerves and skin, Jack is an irritating but apparently talented forensic pathologist and the protagonist of many of Robin Cook’s novels in the past. The story in most of these would usually by excessive killing and a surprise negative character which more often than not turns out to be a woman!

In the present time which is this book, there are lots of grey areas and it’s anyone’s guess what the ending is! ( No spoiler here also!)

This is the day and age of Murakami or Black mirror or even closer to home like the movie Andhadhun! The ambiguous nature of ending! You don’t get the answers raised in the book! You don’t get to know what happens in the end! Since there is no end! Apparently they have really taken Pink Floyd catch phrase to heart! Which one you say!?; The show must go on!!…..

CRISPR/CAS….. This is the catch phrase of this book though! You will get this very often in the book so get ready for it!

So what to expect in this one!…

The over-enthusiastic, sarcastic, brash forensic pathologist Jack who by a wierd coincidence gets some juicy cases for autopsy!! ( Read apparent index case of an apparent outbreak!).

The amount of free time this guy has to snoop around like a detective like the hardy boys! No one cares so much in this day and age buddy! Get a life!

The subtle references to autism and vaccine and the two viewpoints! (Minor spoiler!)

The fact that cycling is good! (Only chief point Robin and I agree on!!)

The final showdown which is eerily similar to many of Jack Stapleton’s showdowns in most of his novels!

Only difference is the ambiguous nature of the ending! Though the family finally stuck together!

All in all a great attempt by Robin Cook so much so that I could not rest until I completed this one!!

And yeah the book is about a pandemic! Didn’t you get that already!!!??

Skating away……

Variety is the spice of life and even while working out this is a good adage! I follow this in most things in my life and most importantly during work out! So one night I would run, the next day I would play badminton, weekends and summer is for swimming and the next day I would cycle! Many days though I do my favourite work out which is roller skates! Now if that widened your pupil then rest assured I will blog about that only since there are better players in the other work outs I mentioned above!

It all started with the fact that we (my brother and me) were young and restless! (could not resist adding that!). So one fine day when we were playing in the colony ground we saw our neighbour girl flying on the ground! Of course we later realized that it was just some wheels over shoes or skates!

At first look though we were hooked (on the skates people and not the girl!). So we started our annual campaign to pester dad to buy us a pair of Roller Skates and since it did not come cheap we reached a compromise that we would be sharing one pair!

It was very convenient that our birthdays were only one month apart (different years of course!); so this essentially meant to the delight of my parents that one gift for both will do!

So anyway we finally got our very own pair of skates and we were literally flying (before we strapped on the skates of course since after that we were just falling!). We took turns to hold one another but it was not as easy as we had seen the girl do earlier! Then the little brother of that girl who was incidentally my friend came on the ground with just one skate and we could see that he was able to skate quite well!

We followed suit and soon we were each strapped to one skate and doing things similar to skating! Very soon in days we were quite good in single skates and I was ready to move up to two! My brother very soon lost interest in skating altogether when one fine day he decided that this was for girls and that was that!

So to my delight I got myself a pair (of skates of course!) and soon after some practice I could ride well enough and how!

My love for skating continued even when dad got transferred to a place called Missamari (most Indians would not even know such a place exists!) and even though there was not many options of places to skate (since it was a small army cantonment); I used to make do with whatever tar road I could find! So much so that I used to ride in my bike to my school ten kilometres’ away so that we could skate in our school basketball court!

Then came 9th class and reality and life and my roller skates went into the dingy and dusty corner of the attic. Then came the academics and being the self proclaimed nerd I had no time at all for any sports let alone skates. But I guess that desire to skate was always there.

So after close to thirty years my daughter decided to learn skates and I was just excited to buy her a pair and this time she did not have to ask me more than once!

While in the shop selecting her colour I chanced upon skates for adults and the way I was looking at that set made my wife to cajole me into buying it for myself! She added that you both can learn together! There is no age to start following your passion right?!

The first problem was that I used to ride Quad Skates which are easier and you do not fall much from while the skates now are the Inline ones which are more difficult initially! The shop advisor urged me to go for this only since apparently it was the in thing (that of course from the guy who is basically selling footballs to teenagers!).

The first fitting and trial was of course done inside and within the corridor and of course it met with a disaster and I promptly fell on the ground which thankfully was carpeted!

Witnessing this my daughter promptly announced that she does not want to skate since she does not want to fall! I of course told her that it is the only way to learn! The more you fall, the more you learn and get better!

In any case I decided to practice when she was not witnessing my baby skate steps and in around a month I did get better and the childhood muscle memory helped of course!

Then when she saw me skate and enjoy she joined the bandwagon and now she skates regularly in her school while I do the same in my apartment in the night (do not want anyone to see me fall!)

The two most important things in skating is that you must know how to turn and other is how to stop (which essentially is an extension of sudden turn!). Once you master this then you can do decent skating and enjoy it!

I have had my fair share of falling down and thankfully they have been just superficial wounds though my pride had some deep cuts!

Since at my age it is better not to fall I have started taking some precautions and these may help anyone above thirty years who is interested in skating as a workout and not as a sport!

If you do listen to music then make sure your ear is open to receive ambient noise; you can either use the bone conduction earphones or the soundbar or no music is also a good choice! (you can check out my previous blog on Music gear for more details!)

The ground anatomy must be ingrained in your memory and you must watch out for brittle ground or small stones which are very dangerous especially when you are turning.

If you feel you are falling then you just bend forward and try to sit (this nifty suggestion is my daughter Kashika’s contribution!)

After some point in life just like skates you must understand that it is the length and not the speed which is important!! So initially I used to concentrate on riding fast while now I just maintain a good nominal speed and time my workout which is the final aim anyway!

Never skate in Rain or after rain since like Bon Jovi says, “It is slippery when wet!”

Finally you must get a trainer if you have not done skating before and wear adequate protection like the helmet and knee/elbow guards.

For now whenever I skate or put on my skate I always feel that it may be the last time I am putting on this pair and so I try to ride as it is my final ride! Slow and steady covering around 5 KM in under 30 minutes and maintaining that speed!

I am not implying that this is the way to skate but this is the way I enjoy and you can too! Since after all it’s not the destination but the journey which is pleasant many times!

So get your gear, strap your helmets and skate away!!

The lost Chef by Captian R G Bamboat

A thoroughly thrilling ride which you can think of as an amalgamation of Castaway, Papillon and Pirates of Caribbean! Throw in some good culinary skills and you have a sumptuous meal!

It is the author’s first novel which is nice since everything feels fresh!

The author himself claimed that the first pages may be boring but I felt that even those were easy to read and very fast paced!

The attention to detail (he has drawn two maps of Islands!!) was something to write home about!

The author brings his experiences and culinary skills in a first person adventure of epic proportions!

Pick it up and enjoy the tasty treat!!

The work out music gear!

The world of work out is a lonely place and it is every man or woman to himself and herself! In this loneliness the company of good music provides the comfort and zeal to get your work out of the day done!

Now this may vary from person to person and there may be many who would not listen to any kind of music for reasons personal to them so if you are one who would never listen to any music while working out then I guess you are very different!

So for everyone else who like to listen to something while workout a good gear is very pertinent so that it does give you the entertainment you deserve without creating a distraction.

Let start with Running

Most runners whom I know who listen to music while running either stream it through their phone or take a portable mp3 enabled headset. From the mobile or a music player it is my personal opinion that carrying a big bulky phone strapped to your wrist is a cumbersome preposition indeed! Now streaming through the wired earphones (except for the phone which does no longer have the headphone jack then their life is literally in dongles!); is good in that you get a clear sound but the wires hanging on your neck do not make a pretty sight and many times do get in the way of effortless work out! So many opt for the Bluetooth option but understand that even the best Bluetooth earphones like the one I have called the Samsung Level U can have distortion while running especially in windy areas and also chugging along your phone all the time is not an option for me! So I have stuck to TF card reader earphones like the Iball or Zebronics. These are pretty good and light weight and have a good battery back up but I have always felt them to be low in volume. So I and you can upgrade yourself to the Iball or Sony Walkman series which have better drivers and amazing sound effects! In fact the Sony Walkman is both Bluetooth enabled and it is an independent mp3 player with added advantage of being water proof! So you can even take it to swimming! Beat that! The only problem which remains is that if you are running in the outdoors then the outside noise is also cut off which can be dangerous. We will come to this below! For now if you run and you are a music lover then you can use the Mp3 enabled earphones or headphones or use the Bluetooth ones.

My other two work out muses are Inline skating and Cycling! I try to mix and match between Cycling, Running, Inline Skating, Swimming and Badminton so that work out has variety and that is certainly a spice of life!

So when I initially used the Bluetooth or MP3 headphones then while cycling or Skating there was always the risk that the high speed may cause problem when I would not be able to listen to an incoming vehicle or another cyclist! This is even when I usually just work out in our apartment in the designated area only!

Also while Skating I need to listen to the gravel and change in sound of the wheels to support myself since any major in my age is not an option (of any age for that matter). Even while cycling I need to hear the change of gears and that sound can be very faint but useful! So I initially just decided to leave listening to music completely and seeking ways to listen to the best of both worlds!

Then a sunglass released by a company called the Arkwist caught my attention! This works on the principal of bone conduction hearing and the best thing is that your ears are open to receive the ambient noise! This was good and I investigated further to see few other bone conduction hearing phones! These are theoretically sound good though they are still in the infant stage of development. So wait a little while before you jump ahead and buy them!

Then I finally found my answer albeit temporarily in a headset called the Soundgear! This light boomerang shaped contraption hangs on to your neck and gives you a focussed sound bit! It is also Bluetooth enabled and has a TF card reader! Now you can listen to the songs without disturbing others and still get the ambient noise! There are ones from Bose and Jabra and other cheaper versions readily available in online portals! This is from my one month of using this amazing Soundbar and frankly I am quite satisfied!

Of course the main aim should be a proper workout but it is the team which makes it happen! The perfect dress, the perfect shoes, the perfect watch ( You can read my earlier blog for this!) and now the perfect music palyer!

So work away and enjoy!!

PS: the snap above has the soundbar placed on my neck!!

My Search for the perfect Smartwatch for workout

It all started with the very limited work out which I used to do just to show of the highly inaccurate early smartwatches. Mind you, I am mentioning here only of watches less than 10k since the high end watches are for serious sportsmen and not for people like me who have recently got the fitness bug and just want to note their slow progress!

So after lots of basic smartwatches like the Platronics Yoga and some generic ones called the Capcha! (which incidently was mp3 and sim enabled!) I settled for a while with a company called Noise Loop. We will come to this later; lets see what was bugging me!

So most of these watches had pedometers and that was the only way workouts used to be recorded and monitored. Most of them also had an app which was a basic fitnesss app and this used to get synced to the data from the mobile and then you have the amount of work out you do. Now if the workout is time senstive then most of these watches were more or less accurate on the distance and calories burned. But when it comes to measurement of running, cycling or skating distances then these were grossly inccurate! I used to run or skate for more than 2-3 km and it would register only around 500-600 m!(you would say that maybe I did run only 600m! But then I did check with the mobile phone strapped on my arms with the GPS enalbled!

This and the fact that most of these watches look like robotic toy watches which we used to wear when we were young lead me to go for the Noise Loop which was a good round watch! So it looked like a normal watch and was smart! It had bluetooth sync and also remote camera options and was my companion for some time. But it had the same problems which palgued the earlier watch and the fact that it was off all the time made it a blank coin on my wrist which I had to activate everytime I need to see the time which I might as well do to my mobile!

Then I got watches like the Noise Ignite and the Arkwist round. Both these had the best advantage that they were always on like any other watch and that they had senstive pedometers! Throw in a long battery life in spite of the always on status and you had gold! Well almost; the same distance problem was plaguing both these watches and that was a big bummer!

So I of course started the old method of strapping my mobile to my arm and running with an accurate fitness app monitoring my every view! This was good in that I knew my progress accurately but the very act of taking you big mobile every time you work out which in fact should be your lone time was not something I looked forward to!

So I started for the best thing in a watch! A GPS chip enabled watch! And of course none of them were cheap! I did not mind shelling out few more bucks but then held back since I was not a professional athelete and this does not make a good sense to invest in a watch costlier than the mobile with more risks!

So finally these are the optimum features you would require in a smartwatch if you need a good recording companion for your workout:

1. It should have an accurate pedometer

2. It should be always on for the primary function of showing the time!

3. It should have an inbuilt GPS chip for accurately measuring the distance

4. It should be light weight and hassle free

5. A long battery life is an added bonus since you cannot be charging your watch every other day!

6. It should have a proper bluetooth function for data storage and sync

7. It should be supported by an app exclusively for it so that the whole process is more detailed and catered to the individual

Of course there are more features which you require but for now this was what I wanted from my smartwatch. And now what everyone has been waiting for! Whether I have found out the perfect watch of not! Well the answer is for now yes!

My search ended with the Amazefit watch by Huami amazfit bip! This marvellous piece of engineering I got in a sale in flipkart (the watch sale had around 200 numbers for sale and it got sold out in 5 minutes!). The watch is always on with an added bonus of more light when you touch! And unlike the non touch watches like the ignite and arkwrists, this one is touch screen which is activated when you tap on a button (what a remarkable way of keeping it water proof and save battery!). Also it has a very sensitive pedometer and heart rate sensor and it has an exclusive app for data analysis and sync!

There are sections for activity like outdoor cycling, running and treadmill and also accurate weather, alarm and a digital compass!

The most important is of course that it has a dedicated GPS chip which is highly accurate (I have tested this with my phone many times!).

And the feather in the already glorious cap is the fact that the battery lasts for long long time|! All my smartwatches I need to charge atleast once in a day or two (except the Noise Ignite but that was not touchscreen and Not GPS!); but this one I charge once a fortnight with adequate use and once a month with minimal use!

Also it is so light that you dont even feel and many times I take it to sleep (when it automatically senses your sleep and monitors it!)

So in conclusion I would recommend this device to anyone who is a workout enthusiast!

Everyone want to know the price I guess! Well I got for around 6k! Now beat that or go run or it!

Don’t tell the governor by Ravi Subramanian

Book review

Rating 3/5

Spoilers….it is a fiction based on very very real people and about demonetisation so no obvious spoilers!

Trust Ravi Subramanian to come up with a novel on demonetisation as the tag line though it is in fact the sequence of events leading to it!

So you have a Mallya inspired character who is named Mallya in the novel who loots and scoots!

Then you have a starlet who wins a reality show in UK and becomes everyone’s darling! Marries an already married guy (making him divorce first of course!) And finally gets involved in IPL! Reminds you of someone!? But the likeness stops there so relax!

Then you have a spokesman in TV who goes by the name of Swamy! And files PILs everywhere!

Then there is a RBI governor called Ranjan! How direct can you get! But it hits the target Ravi!

Then you have a collusion between PM and FM and finally revealed that all is not as simple as it seems!

Then you have a middle man or broker who reminds you of many real deal breakers in the real political scene!

Finally you have the star of the show! The utterly confused, the utterly screwed up Aditya!

Mix all this with IPL fixing! Gold marketing!, Panama papers! big area of bank NPAs! (Which is Ravi Subramanian’s area of expertise and it shows!) And you have an amalgamation of juicy titbits to bite with relish!

In his previous work called “In the name of God” he had very eerily predicted the scooting of a jewel baron which was revealing!

In this attempt though there may not be any prediction but the nitty gritty of the financial tug of war between RBI and government has been showcased in a very apt way!

Just remember though, Ravi is a master of twists and turns and the end is never what you predicted!

Releasing during the time of demonetisation this is a great work which any banker or financial wiz would love to read! For others it’s a nice racy thriller very close to home and so it scores lots of points there!

Read it since the simple language and flow will not test you and the entertainment value is an added bonus!