Book Review - The Claim

‘The Claim’ is a crime thriller by Sanjay Bordia. Since I haven’t had read a crime thriller for quite a while, I picked the book up with a keen interest and with an expectation to read an intriguing crime mystery. The book starts off well and builds a nice suspense around the accidental death of a young entrepreneur Prabhat Mehra.

The story opens with these lines - “Car skids in gorge, young life lost” was the headline of a small news item on the fifth page of the newspaper.

Prabhat Mehra had taken out a life insurance policy for a hefty amount of Rupees 10 Crores from ‘3M Chandani Group’. K.P. Mehra, father of Prabhat Mehra and his twin brother Prakash Mehra, files the insurance claim but the accidental death of Prabhat Mehra only after a couple of months of taking out the insurance policy and the large sum of insurance claim raises a suspicion around the genuineness of the claim. The insurance company asks its internal auditor Mohan to investigate the case. Mohan along with his young, gorgeous and chirpy assistance Laila and another sharp and astute internal auditor Narsimha Rao aka Iceberg sets out on the investigation only to find that all papers and evidence are in order to prove the case genuine and yet giving him an eerie feeling that something isn’t right.

The story is gripping, characters of Mohan and Laila are well developed and especially Laila’s fondness for food and making parodies of Hindi movie songs using names of food items keeps readers amused. However, at the same time Mohan’s strange habit of quoting from Mahabharat every now and then feels irky after a couple of occasions. Also the story going back and forth making rounds of some subplots not bearing any direct relation to the central plot breaks the pace of the story. Though the story is intriguing, almost at the halfway through the story you can make an easy guess where the story is going to end.

Overall it’s an interesting read and you will like it if you are a crime fiction lover, but some minor flaws in the story narration and predictability of the end will also disappoint you at the same time. I would give the book 3 stars.

Book Review - Vasu and the Matsya Temple

 

‘Vasu and the Matsya Temple’ is a gripping story of a blessed boy Vasu, who destiny chooses to go on a fun-filled heroic journey  on the very day of his birth. A journey which in the end will free the world from the clutches of the vicious struggles of power and bring peace and harmony on the earth. The long lost sacred Ashtmangala symbols created by the Matsya Avataar of Lord Vishnu are key to these power struggles and Vasu is on an adventures journey to find them to bring an end to fierce battles and savage wars.

The story is the first part of a trilogy ‘Ashtamangala Adventures of Vasu’ by Rajiv Tanwar who is an orthopaedic surgeon by profession and a passionate story teller and a writer by choice.  The book is a fantasy fiction that narrates an incredible journey of the young boy Vasu which through various twists and turns keeps the readers spellbound.

Vasu son of an archaeologist Shridhar Gupta is kidnapped on the day of his birth by evil Samraat Viraat Shatru. The reason is that his father stumbles across a locket during a research in a jungle and puts it in the neck of the child. The mysterious locket has one of the eight Ashtmangala symbols on it. The king of the oceanic world Maharaja Siddhivarun ailing and trapped under the spells of his new wife Rani Roopmati, frees him with the help of Guru Nagarjuna the Raj Vaidya of the sea kingdom. Here on starts the adventurous journey of Vasu from the enchanted oceans to the mesmerizing jungles, from the depths of the seas to the planes of the earth, from Triveni Sangam in Allahabad to the enigmatic Matsya temple, which finally links to the devastating tsunami of 2004. There are other brave children in this gallant journey of Vasu which also include the young daughter of Maharaja Siddhivarun, Aishwarya. The courage and valor of the young children display a perfect example of self-belief and valiance that children should be inculcated with from a very young age. The characters are well-developed and the story is well-narrated. Though at places especially in the first five chapters I felt that the story needed to be carried forward more by the characters than told by the author himself.

However I found ‘Vasu and the Matsya Temple’ a very interesting read, a fantastic fantasy tale which every child should read or should be read to by the elders. But the book is not only for the children, it can mesmerise readers of any age. I congratulate Mr Rajiv Tanwar for this brilliant book and very much look forward to reading the other two parts of the trilogy.

The book can be bought from Amazon -
http://www.amazon.in/Vasu-Matsya-Temple-Rajeev-Tanwar/dp/9384180319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428263403&sr=8-1&keywords=vasu+and+the+matsya+temple

पुस्तक समीक्षा - छुटपन के दिन

बचपन में हम चन्दामामा पढ़ा करते थे। पंचतंत्र और हितोपदेश की कहानियां पढ़ा करते थे। वेताल पच्चीसी और सिंहासन बत्तीसी के किस्से पढ़ा करते थे। ये किस्से कहानियां हमें गुदगुदाते, हँसाते और थोड़ा रुलाते भी। मगर इसी हंसी और गुदगुदी में लिपटी होती कोई नसीहत। छुपा होता कोई सन्देश। इन किस्सों की खासियत यह होती के ये इतने दिलचस्प होते कि इन्हें सिर्फ बच्चे ही नहीं बड़े भी बड़े चाव से पढ़ते। और इनमें लिपटी नसीहतें भी इतनी रसीली होतीं कि झट उम्र के सारे फ़ासले पार कर बुज़ुर्गों से बच्चों तक पहुँच जातीं। बस ऐसा ही कि कुछ तुषार उप्रेती की पुस्तक 'द डेज़ ऑफ़ चाइल्डहुड ' (उनकी हिंदी किताब 'छुटपन के दिन' का अंग्रेजी अनुवाद) पढ़ते हुए लगा। लगा कि बचपन में पहुँच कर बालभारती या चन्दामामा हाथ में पकड़ ली हो। नंदन या पराग की महक लपेट ली हो। छोटे छोटे गागर जैसे किस्से और उनमें भरी किसी विशाल सागर जैसी रोचकता। किस्सों की भाषा सरल और पात्रों के नाम भी गज़ब, जैसे पड़ोस के गली-मुहल्लों में खेलने वाले बच्चे। टिल्लू, अप्पू, नम्मो, पप्पी और वैसे ही उन्हें खेल खेल में ज्ञान और नसीहत देने वाले ज्ञान चाचा या दीनू चाचा। एक बेहद देसी परिवेश मगर रोचकता, ज्ञान और नसीहतें जो दुनिया के हर हिस्से में काम आयें। तुषार उप्रेती का यह प्रयास बेहद उम्दा है। एक ऐसे समय में जब बच्चे पीएस 4 या एक्सबॉक्स का रिमोट कंट्रोल हाथों में थामे फौजी टैंकों या मिसाइलों के शोर में गुम हों यह किताब और इसके किस्से बच्चों को बचपन की दुनिया की आबोहवा में लाते हैं, जहाँ सहजता है, सरलता है, सुकून है। हालांकि अंग्रेजी अनुवाद पढ़ते हुए लगा कि आनंद का कुछ हिस्सा कहीं अनुवाद में गुम हो गया, मगर जो बचा वह भी कम न था। यदि आप वाकई कुछ समय के लिए वयस्कता के तनावों से दूर छुटपन के दिनों की सैर पर निकलना चाहते हैं तो यह किताब ज़रूर पढ़ें। और यदि अपने बच्चों को इलेक्ट्रॉनिक गेम्स के शोर से दूर सुकून की आबोहवा में ले जाना चाहते हैं तो उन्हें भी यह किताब ज़रूर पढ़ने को दें.।