The World As I See It

Portraying the world as he saw it during the Great Wars and the Holocaust in his various essays, addresses, correspondences and some that he received, the book is one of the greatest that I have the privilege to come across. Written by the man, to whom, the whole world attributes for the solution of some of the greatest mysteries of nature, the rationale of human behaviour, the irrationality of human cruelty inflicted on their fellow beings, the solution for a peaceful world, the ode to the artists who tries to make the world a beautiful place, the reverence to the sacrifices of humanity, all of them are composed with a frankness, that does not, for a single moment compromise the urge to shun the evils of the society that threaten all that is peaceful and conducive to evolution of harmonious living with understanding across various views of societies. Explaining a variety of subjects ranging from politics, economy, citizenship, education, religion, values, with the approach, more scientifically aligned yet lucidly philosophical, Einstein curves out his design for a better world. Insolent letters from the people, cornered by his ruthlessly appropriate logic and witty humility that he ushers to pacify the unsatisfied yet faulty complainant, both find places in this collection which is abridged to clamp the scientific correspondences out of this translated edition making it incomplete yet complete in a different perspective.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

A collection of political mysteries with a flavour that is slightly different from conventional mystery stories. Infact the sleuth is related to the PM, the FM and several other in the higher rungs which gives him ample chance to study the intricacies of regional along with private politics. So it is not surprising that each story unveils the crimes in private circles but the actual perpetrators are sometimes to be excused from bringing to justice just to avoid a greater political chaos. So Horne Fisher, the investigator with the self proclaimed omniscient knowledge of almost everything finds it hard to bear the burden of information that he is cursed with. His analytical mind gets easily to the truth but diplomacy prevents unmasking the villains publicly quite a few times. Fisher vents his solutions to Harold March, a political journalist who gets attached to Fisher in a case that is supposed to be the first for the duo. Besides this case and the final one, the others are not chronologically arranged. The stories are unique in the sense that philosophy plays a greater part than concrete evidence in unveiling the truth but the finale remains convincing always. The final case is a bit predictive that has seemed to influence Christie in one of her masterpieces where the master falls after preventing the calamity in the way that is tragic yet supremely heroic satisfying justice. The signature style of Chesterton can be felt in the subtle cues, the serenity of the ambience that makes the stories gripping yet calm. Written from the third person perspective, the contents are as follows

1. The Face in the Target
2. The Vanishing Prince
3. The Soul of the Schoolboy
4. The Bottomless Well
5. The Fad of the Fisherman
6. The Hole in the Wall
7. The Temple of Silence
8. The Vengeance of the Statue

Chanakya's Chant

Interspersing past with the present, Ashwin Sanghi takes the reader in his quest to understand the intricacies of Arthasastra as composed by Chanakya, the shrewd Brahmin who emerged as the most famous kingmaker in the history of India. Driven by vengeance, Chanakya’s tactics to overthrow Dhanananda, unite Bharat under a single ruler and shield the country against foreign dominance will no doubt amaze the ordinary. Drawing parallel to the historic character, Sanghi develops an equally shrewd yet unassuming Gangasagar Misra as he evolves on his way to place his protégé Chandini Gupta as the PM of India. To this effect he stops at nothing and emerges as ruthless opportunist with a political cunning surpassing all the peers of the country. Though fast paced in the first quarter, the storyline clearly becomes over dramatic in the rest where Chanakya’s part remains gripping but Gangasagar becomes ordinary characterwise. At the start I thought we now have a Mario Puzo in Sanghi but my premonition was obliterated as the story progressed. One of the most important fallacies of the fiction part was that Gangasagar’s character evolution was rapid that seemed to catapult his maturity in the most convenient time rather than what would have been correct. His mentor in diplomacy, Agrawalji seemed unjustifiably to lose his cunning as the same matured in Gangasagar. Also the dramatic dialogues, more interesting for a Bollywood endeavour, became a mere repetition of style that compromised the seriousness that the plot demanded. But the most glaring problem, which I don’t know how the writer missed, was that Gangasagar did not have a clearly justified goal in his otherwise clearly defined mission. Chanakya was motivated by revenge and then came his dream of unification of the country. Puzo’s dons aspired to rule the criminal syndicates for business and security for their family. But Gangasagar seemed all of a sudden bent to make a female PM deriving inspiration from an age old rock craving allegedly attributed to Vishnugupta. For this he never wavered to kill the innocent who seemed inconvenient obstacle and placed all the evil men in his side to rule the country (of innocent?). So though a smooth reading material but the story as a whole remains a bit ordinary.