Review - Immortals of Meluha

I have read many books but never have actually written a review of any book, don’t ask me why I chose this book to write my first review but here it is.
I would like to warn readers here if they haven't already read the book “The Immortals of Meluha” that this review contains plot details and may spoil the fun/mystery of the book if you are planning to read it later.




The “Immortals of Meluha” is the first novel of the ‘Shiva trilogy’ series by Amish Tripathi. The series is based on the premise that “Gods were once human beings; it was their deeds in the human life that made them famous as Gods”. A thought which the analytical part of me really accepts. My Analytical/Scientific part of my brain really has bit difficulty in the concept of Gods/Superior beings. It’s easier for me to believe in Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection. (That doesn’t stop me from calling out God's name when I faced with a difficulty, Hypocrite amn’t I?). Any Indian will love this book, the books Bollywood style story telling will really interest Indian’s


The story takes place in the imaginary land of Meluha. -  A near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. The once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. 

They also face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis (reminded of present day India-Pak) who appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracised and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills. The only hope for the Suryavanshis is an ancient legend – ‘when evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumphed, a hero will emerge’ (Sounds like a typical Hollywood film tag-line right??).


The story begins with Shiva’s tribe moving into this country on the invitation of the present King Daksha who has been inviting tribes to join his Kingdom in the hope that this hero will be found. When Shiva’s tribe reach the city of Srinagar they are received there by Ayurvati, the Chief of Medicine of the Meluhans. On their first night of stay at Srinagar the tribe is given Somras after which the Gunas woke up with a deep fever and sweating. All except Shiva but his throat had turned blue. The Meluhans announce Shiva as the Neelkanth, their fabled saviour and take Shiva to Devagiri their capital city.


En-route we meet our hero’s heroine Princess Sati, the daughter of Daksha and is a vikarma, an untouchable in this life due to sins of their past births. (I have never understood the concept of caste / untouchability but this is a discussion for another time). She rejects our hero’s advances but ultimately Shiva wins her heart and they decide to get married, even though the “vikarma” rule prohibits them from doing so. Enraged by the so called obsolete law, Shiva declares himself as the Neelkanth and swears to dissolve the vikarma law. Daksha allows Sati to get married to Shiva, amidst much joy and happiness. (Note here how a King allowed the change to a law for his/his daughters benefit, he agreed to change the law standing behind the Neelkanth Shiva, reminds me of the corrupt Indian politicians who know some laws are wrong but still don’t change them till they them self are benefited or they have someone else to take the responsibility for them).


The turning point in the movie (Oops! Book) come when Mount Mandar where the legendary somras is made is attacked and scientist there are killed. Shiva declares war on Chandravanshis. Using his tactical brilliance Chandravanshis are defeated and The Chandravanshi king is captured and brought in front of Daksha. He becomes enraged seeing the Neelkanth and is taken away. It is the Chandravanshi princess, Anandmayi, who tells them that they had a similar legend that the Neelkanth will come forward to save their land by launching an assault against the evil Suryavanshis. Hearing this, Shiva is dumbfounded and is utterly distressed. With Sati he visits the famous Ram temple of Ayodhya, the capital of Swadweep. There he meets the priest from whom he comes to know about the karma, his fate, and his choices in life, which will guide him. After talking to him as Shiva comes out of the temple, he hears a scream. Running to the location he sees in horror as a group of Nagas kidnap Sati and run with them. (Thriller end which makes you panting for the sequel).


I liked this book for the way the story is told a Bollywood potboiler: fast-paced action, flashbacks and, definitely not the least, romance between Shiva and the princess of Meluha, Sati. (The movie based on the book will be coming soon). Also how in many ways a book set in 1900BC reminds me of the modern world. I would really recommend this book to everyone.

End of the world

End of the world, Judgement day, Apocalypse etc are fimilar words to every one. Countless movies, books and to that matter even songs have been written about the 'End of the World'. The word has been roaming about in the news lately as May 21st was supposed to be judgement day (Predicted by some American guy), but the world is still ticking guys. Ever wondered why humans are so worried about the end, how every body would be judged etc? Is it just an quintessence of man kinds nature of always looking into the future and never leaving in the present?

Lets examine it, Isn't it a basic nature of humans to worry about the future? Havn't we all worried whats going to happen 1, 2 , 5 or may be even 10 years into the future?  'Have to invest in this so that I can live comfortably after I retire' isn't this a common thought in our head? Or 'Forget the movie, I need to study to ace the exam and get a good job'. I know I might be over simplifying. But seriously all of us are worried about the future.

OK. So might be worrying about the future is basically a human nature, but why is it End of the world scenarios always so scary? Why is it always people dieing, earth getting flooded, or fire or stuff like that? Why can't Apocalypse be a happy day? Why can't it be like 1 fine morning everything in the world is good, there is food for everyone, no one ever dies etc etc. Why is Apocalypse always depicted as a real hard time?

Why is it that the bad always need to be punished for their crime? Why can't on this glorious new day of Judgement all criminals, terrorists, rapist etc see the light of their way and repent and redeem them-self? Why is Judgement day required? Why is it required to punish people and put them in eternal fires? Look at this scenario 'The father of a little girl is a robber, the child loves her father a lot, but on judgement day the father is condemned to the eternal fire while the child is sent to heaven, would that heaven actually be a heaven for her without her father?'

To any one reading the above lines and thinking its 'end of the world' is a western concept I would like to point that End of the world and judgement of man kind is there in each and every culture. Hindu culture says right now we are in Kali Yuga The last of the 4 ages (Yugs). If we look about each and every civilization talks about the end of the world. Why is it man cannot live without the fear?

So do I think end of world will never happen? Well I don't think there will be a judgement day or something like that. But I feel end of the world as we know can happen in many ways.

1) Nuclear War (World war 3): Terrorist get the nuclear bomb and blast it in Israel, Israel blames Pakistan, USA (and other European countries) support Israel and H-Bomb Pakistan, China rises to defend Pakistan and bombs the western world. Pakistan nukes India, Russia joins the party and behold we have our own human judgement day.
2) Asteroid hitting earth :  Well an Asteroid had taken down the mighty Tyrannosaurus and family, might be another one is waiting to say goodbye Homo-sapiens.
3) Nature : well in this category there are plenty of ways nature can bring judgement day. A super bug (virus or Bactria) resistant to all medicines get released onto man.  A major volcano blowing up covering the sky's for years with ash blocking sunlight. Global Warming changing worlds weather pattern causing crop loss and large scale starvation and death.

Now is this going to happen on 24th October 2011 (the new date predicted for end of the world) or 21 Dec 2012 (the end of Mayan Calender) I don't know. But I know if we live worrying about when we are going to die we are not living at all. (Point to wonder, You can die at this every moment reading this, but you didn't did you?)

Visit to a IPL match in a Cricket Stadium

For those who keep reading my blog, know that I am not a big fan of cricket, my friends had literally cursed me for my views about the worldcup. But I have to say the freaking excitement people got after India won the semi-final and finals I was really left wondering whats the big deal about cricket. Its such a boring game.

But then I am not know to be a very patient fellow, so the 20-20 format of cricket might be made for people like me who don't like wasting a entire day for a silly game, watched a few matches on TV but still I didn't understand whats so great about cricket.

People used to talk about the atmosphere in the stadium, So when a friend of mine from office said he is going for a IPL match, I said even I am coming, forget the 740 Bucks for the ticket (there are even more costly tickets, we took the cheapest one). I wanted to know what this atmosphere was.

So on 4th of May I was going to watch Mumbai Indians Vs Pune Warriors (A thought: Are IPL teams dividing India on the basics of city and state at the time when we need more unity in India?)

The first question my dear friend asked me when he saw me in the morning was "Why are you supporting Pune?" I was like "what do you mean? I am coming to watch the match, and not really supporting either team." He said, "You are wearing Black, Black is Pune teams color, don't you know? You should have worn Blue, Mumbai Indians color". So that was my introduction to the match.

Anyway we left office early, another colleague of mine had brought his car, so the trip to the stadium was comfortable, only thing was the traffic and finding a parking spot over there. I have to say the D.Y Patil stadium people & Policemen there really tried there level to keep traffic moving, but the crowd was so great that it was a failed effort from there part. But one real bad part was converting of E-Tickets (printed from the Internet) to the actual tickets, It was not at all organized properly. The ticket converting place was at one end of the stadium while entrances was at the other end so had a real big walk, also the managing of giving the tickets was also bad.

Anyway after collecting the tickets we entered the stadium, we are not allowed to take in anything to the stadium, not even water. Luckily everyone of us had left our stuff in the vehicle itself. But I can understand the security aspect of not allowing to take anything inside. But what irritated me was the lootofying of people inside by the D.Y Patil stadium people cause of it. 20Rs for a small glass of water, For 2 small samsosa Rs. 60, For a glass of pepsi (half filled with ice) Rs. 60 again. Plain robbery. I am not even talking about the cost of other foods. You guys are not allowing us to carry water inside, then coolers should have been kept for the public. Already the ticket costs are so high on top of that you are keeping this extravagant cost also.

By the time we reached our seats (P-stand, 4th level, at the very top of the stadium) the toss was over and the match was about to start, Need to point out even though D.Y Patil stadium is Pune warriors home ground majority of supporters were of Mumbai. (To be expected, as stadium is at Mumbai). First batting was of Mumbai Indians, Opening pair of  Blizzard & Sachin, the feeling was like the entire stadium had come just to see Sachin not the match.

Seeing the players on the ground my friends who had come with me were able to differentiate between different cricketers from such a distance, but for me all looked the same, I was reminded of a old Cricket game on my PC in which you get the ground view, and the ball racing towards the boundary ;). Even the cheer leaders were very far from our seats for me to enjoy their show also :(

No commendatory in the stadium, I was missing the irritating voice of the commentators which we are so used to while watching match on television to keep us in the know whats happening on the field.

I have to agree the first Innings was fun, with Mumbai Indians cheerleaders dancing at every four-sixes on any song the DJ was playing, and there were plenty of fours & sixes. It was fun, but I have to say the second innings was boring, DJ & music stopped at 10 P.M due to the noise rules, Pune lost their first wicket on first ball itself and the second innings was real boring. I was bored.

Am sure interested people have already watched the match on TV, or read the newspaper for details so I am not going into match details (I am sure I won't do justice to it also). But some points of the match was real fun, Like listening to the crowd cheering for Sachin, really people consider him God (I don't), the ball from Malinga to Yuvraj in which he got out, Yuvraj feel down, (the crowds reaction), apart from that the masti my office-mates were doing. Had a nice time. My friend mentioned about hearing the sweet sound of ball hitting the bat, I heard the sound, but sorry my friend, I don't know what you found sweet in that. (It was after the DJ was turned off, and the crowd was quite, I preferred the music and the noisy crowd buddy)

So is the atmosphere inside the stadium different, Nope Its still oxygen-nitrogen mix, Am I more interested in cricket after the visit to the stadium-Nope, was it worth 740 Bucks - Nope, Match will be more fun to watch on a big screen with your friends. Will I go to a stadium again to watch - not if I am paying 740 bucks, anyone else takes me I will be glad to go.

But I want to say thanks to that friend of mine, who took the inisative for going to the match, Thanks Rashesh for the Cricket Stadium experience

2011 Easter Holidays to Kerla : Part 2

Continued from 2011 Easter Holidays to Kerla : Part 1

So here I was home, eating the lovely food made by my Mom, playing with my sweet Niece, what more could I ask for? Meeting my little Nephew ofcourse, So whats my 1st job on GoodFriday? Na, not going to church but to go to my sisters place and bring my sister and nephew home.
(Anyone driven on empty public road on broad daylight? Thats how Kerala roads were on GoodFriday, you will go long distances before you see another vehicle on the road, was real fun to drive).

Next two days were real fun, playing with both my niece and nephew, Easter was tho absolute fun, my cousins descended on the house, fulto time-pass. absolutely enjoyed it. One of the best Easter celebrations in a long long long time, Only sad part was that my sister and nephew left on easter evening to go back. I met them again on Tuesday when I went to help them climb onto train back to Bangalore and brought back my Bro-In-Law's vehicle back.

The rest of the vacation was not much to write about, was really just at home doing time-pass, visiting relatives.
The common thing everyone of them seemed to mention is that staying alone agrees with me, everyone apart from my mom was unanimous in saying that I have put on weight (of-course, how ever my mom sees me she sees me thin only, have never heard from her that I have become fat)
another saying that was common was that now since I have learned to cook, my wife is going to be a very lucky girl, and I just need to open my mouth once and they will get a girl for me to marry, and I had to tell them all, that I am still a kid to get married (seriously, doesn't Indian adults have nothing but to think about marriage?)

Sad thing is I wasn't able to enjoy the last 2 days of my vacation, I had stomach upset and had to get a injection too. Missed 2 days of my moms lovely cooking too :(

Was in no mood to come back only, But what to do, work is work, only when you work can you take vacations like this (seriously, guys from my office reading this, I know you guys work hard, but to enjoy that work you guys need to go on vacations, and not get jealous at people who do go)

Return trip was again boring, no gals in my compartment, seriously starting to believe that Indian Railways has some system of keeping boys & girls separate. I had got book Bram Stoker: Dracula to keep me company, real nice book to read.

Anyway now am back in Mumbai, Back to the daily grid of office, waiting for my next vacation ;)

2011 Easter Holidays to Kerla : Part 1

"Yipee!! I will be able to eat food cooked by my mothers loving hands for 2 weeks" & "Hurray!! No of office for 2 weeks" these were the thoughts running in my head on 19th April 2011, The day I started my 2 weeks trip to Kerala, to home. I just couldn't wait for the day to get over and catch my train.

Left office early for, and coincidence when I was thinking I am FREE for 2 weeks the first song I hear on the radio was "I Want to Break Free" (watch the song, the video is funny). Perfectly apt :)

Rushed home, took my bags and left for the station, I guess anyone who has taken train from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Kurla knows that Auto Drivers flees you, take Rs. 20 per person for a 5 minute trip, I usually walk to avoid them, but had to take a rick this time and pay those J***A** 20 bucks, but my mood wasn't spoiled cause I was going home.

Reached station and noticed there were quite a few good looking birds on the platform, but when the train arrived none climbed into my compartment, I am being to believe that Indian Railyway has some system in place to keep Boys and Gals in different compartments, :( Anyway boarded the train and the company I got was pretty boring. As soon as train left the station everybody just went to sleep.

Duronto Express connecting Mumbai to Ernakulam is a great train for anyone coming to Ernakulam, only stop after Mumbai is Ernakulam, the Ticket cost includes food, tea etc, once I climbed the train I didn't even spend 1Rs. As soon as I got in they gave us water, Asked us if we want veg or Non-Veg fare for breakfast and lunch. (I took Non-Veg ofcourse!) Tea/Coffee was given whenever you asked for it. Toilets were spic and span. In short top class service, something which I am still surprised that Indian Railway could give me.

Another thing which surprised me on the trip was I had network coverage almost entire trip, for time pass on the trip I was chatting from my Phone, really great, and a charging point in the compartment meant I didn't have to worry about my phone going dead also. :)

So on 20th 6:30 P.M I reached Ernakulam, My parents were waiting for me there, the surprise was my niece Niya was also there. (She had come down from Bangalore for her Summer Vacation and is going to spend the entire week with me, Yipee!!). The 2 hour drive to home was also fun (Met my Car after 4 months). Mom had made plenty of food for me. (Wow the taste! Mom you are my favorite cook).

Got to run now, will update the remaining later :)

If I had 3 wishes

Its been some time since I have written anything, so was just wondering what to write about and suddenly the story of a magic lamp and 3 wishes popped into my head, so am thinking while I am typing what would I do if I had 3 wishes


1st Wish :

Before any of my wishes are fulfilled, I will be asked twice if what I wish is exactly I want, and will be explained any loopholes in the wishes.

Confused? well how many times we have read stories of how the genie or whoever is giving the wish finds some loophole in the statement of the wish and the wish is fulfilled in such a way that the person who took the wish wasn't happy at all. Best E.g Bedazzled . I don't want to lose my life or a wish just cause of a silly worded sentence


2nd Wish :

I and my loved ones health will always be great and none of us will be affected by any disease.

Well!! Health is Wealth remember. What use being a rich guy lying on the bed with tubes running through his body? and also health to my loved ones, cause I don't want to see them suffer.


3rd Wish : 

I want 9 Billion more wishes, and the second last wish (1 before the 9th Billion wish) will automatically be used to for adding another 9 Billion more wishes (which also will renew it self just before the last wish and so on).

Well I am a greedy bastard, why should I be happy with just 3 wishes? If the genie is promising me anything, then the condition of asking another 9 Billion wish is justified right???



3a Wish
If the genie is not agreeing to it, then I will ask for 45% of shares of top 100 companies to be in my name, and it to be done in completely legal way. In this way I have a unlimited supply of money I want (come on 45% of the top 100 companies, I will be able to satisfy majority of my desires just from the devident I will get from them, and why 45%? I don't want to sit in office controlling the companies, I would prefer the current hard working people do it them-self and keep earing me money to spend).



I know this post has been pretty boring, but really amn't getting anything to post about. So in the comments I want 3 things from you,

1. Your feedback (as usual)
2. What would you do if you had 3 wishes??
3. Suggest me topics to blog upon

Promises are meant to be Broken

"Papa!Papa! You promised you would buy me the cycle", "Mummy you promised me you would bake that chocolate cake for me", "Dude, You promised me I would get the first chance to copy your assignment"
How many times we have had promises made to us broken, broken our trust in people, Hurt us real bad! How many times?? Its a part of living in this civilized society, Making promises and making them are kind of in build in us I kind of say.

Even we make promises everyday, promises to ourself like "I won't touch another drink ever" broken the very next weekend, Or the promises to our dear one "Darling, I promise you that I will buy that necklace for you",  Or to our Boss "Sure Sir! This project will get over in 2 days, don't you worry". Normal part and parcel of our daily lives..

Isn't it? Getting our trust broken by the people we care most about, one of the hardest things to face in life. A bruised knee, a cut in the elbow all can get healed, but a break in trust really takes a hell lot of effort to heal and sometimes never ever heals completely..

But say what may, Promises are broken by each and everyone of us, Guess thats why its become a saying in this modern world

Promises are meant to be Broken

Again like in my last story I want to say thanks to all those who have encoraged me. Gourav Salanke, Kavitha Nair, Jovina, Lovina, Nitu to name a few. I want to tell thanks to all others who after reading my first story have really encouraged me to write more. Thank you!! I hope you guys enjoy reading this also, and like always I will be waiting for your feedback and comments.

Read from
http://www.booksie.com/non-fiction/short_story/savio/promises-are-meant-to-be-broken