80 Not Out by Dickie Bird
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you read a book where Dickie Bird is praising Bob Paisley, saying how humble a man the Scouser was, you know you have something special in your hand.
This book is a running commentary on how to stay humble even when people know you, recognize you and clamour for your autograph.
It also acts as a guide for people looking for ways to stay humble, even after receiving truckload of honors, including a couple from Her Majesty.
It can also serve as a textbook for those looking to keep their feet firmly on the ground, after coming to know that they have been appointed the President of World famous county cricket club.
It should be regularly given to sport stars(the ones with super inflated ego, basically each one of them) so that they may remember how to lead a “normal” life.
It should also be given to budding writers, to realize that a great book can be written by using common words, phrases, sentences etc.

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Modi Mandate 2019: Dispatches from Ground Zero by Pradeep Bhandari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5/5

What worked for me:
1. The length of the book : Thankfully the author kept the book short and all the chapters were precise and too the point.
2. Academic : If you are looking for juicy tidbits on inner workings of any political party then you wont get it here. This is much more about constituencies, their caste combinations, the vote transfers etc.
3. Reach : If the author is to be believed, then he and his team had surely reached out to almost all the constituencies in the country, and ended up predicting the numbers quite accurately.

What didn't work for me:
1. Boring : This feels like an academic work, with no view into the inner mechanisms of the parties. We don't get to know about the strategies or the logistical challenges faced by them.
2. Weak writing style : The book feels repetitive. The phrases are repetitive, it feels that if you have read about one state you know all the other states.
3. Bengal : The author wants me to believe that everyone he managed to interview spoke Hindi in West Bengal. That's pretty unbelievable for me.

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My Adventures with Satyajit Ray: The Making of Shatranj Ke Khilari by Suresh Jindal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5/5

What worked for me:
1. The bag of information which is presented to us.
2. The book gives us a glimpse into the professional life of a film producer.
3. The letters add a personal touch to the whole book. Instead of using a narrative style, the letters almost makes the reader feel that he/she is privy to their conversation.
4. The photographs, their quality and their numbers.

What didn't work for me:
1. The letters do not shed any light as to the selection process of many of the artistes. As to why they were chosen, or some of them were rejected.
2. I guess, some of Mr. Jindal's letters are missing, as quite a few times we can feel that the letters of Ray did elicit an answer from the author, but there aren't any letter to support that view. Maybe he had used the telephone.

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The Universal Tone: My Life by Carlos Santana
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You know who was the original hippie? Jesus—the ultimate multidimensional, multicolor, nothing-but-love hippie. He never said, “It’s my way or the highway.”

How many people can claim that they were on first name basis with Miles Davis, Buddy Guy(though he used the surname of the author more often, Wayne Shorter and many such legends and yet be humble and down to earth. Even when he picks up a project of writing his autobiography. Very few can. Carlos Santana is one of them. He had proved this earlier with his words and music, and once again he proves that through THE UNIVERSAL TONE.

What is the best deal one can get from this book? The one which says that if you read this book, you will not only get to read about the life of Carlos, but also the reader will get a short and concise course on the life of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Graham. Carlos Santana almost speaks with a childlike joy when he starts on Miles and Coltrane. He gives away the vibe of an awestruck fan when he discusses their life, and their music. He speaks like a music addict high on his drug as he brings Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Bola Sete, Gabor Szabo in his pages. He creates a book which not only talks about his life, his spirituality his vision but also gives the readers about his idols, his favourite “cats” as he calls them.

His friend Andre Agassi spoke about his addiction in his book aptly named OPEN. Carlos speaks about once hitting a woman, speaks about the infamous Woodstock based “Electric Snake” incident without any shame. He speaks about shunning cocaine and accepting marijuana. On how he felt the cool vibes coming from Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Wilson Pickett. Or how he still considers Frank Zappa a wonderful musician, even after the latter almost parodied Carlos in one of his song. He is open about his admiration for Guru Sri Chinmoy, his friendship mixed admiration for Armando Peraza, the man who urged his to take control of his eponymous band Santana. He speaks about his divorce from Deborah Santana, his devotion for Cindy Blackman. His admiration and anger towards his mom and dad.

This book could have been a five star if not for some minor glitches. One, he speaks almost nothing about Raul Rekow, the ultimate conger in the Santana family, or Orestes Vilato, the timbalero who along with Raul and Armando created the best rhythm section. I did skip a few pages where he talks about Alice Coltrane. I never synced up to Turiya’s music, and never went through the pages with her in them. That took away a star. Even though this still will be a must have for a Santana fan.




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Brushing Up The Years: A Cartoonist's History Of India, 1947 2004 by R.K. Laxman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have always felt that the so called "INTELLECTUAL BRIGADE" of India chooses to see only those which doesnt hurt their eyes. In the process a certain political group, or a certain section, or a stray incident gets the big Headline bashing whereas points requiring close scrutiny goes scot free.
Recently, I bought a book called "Brushing Up the Years: A Cartoonist's History of India" which is a collection of the cartoons drawn by the legendary cartoonist R.K. Laxman. In this book he actually "PORTRAYS" what a Common man goes through in his bid for just living his life. His brush left no party, be it left or the centre, unscathed, no incident, which hurt the common man, go unnoticed. A true common man, he felt the need to portray every common man’s trouble without seeing the color or the creed, or the amount of vote the issue might fetch. No wonder his HERO(if we may call the dhoti clad old gentleman appearing in his slides as one) was called a Common Man.
I wish the media, or the intellectuals of this country stop being selective in their criticism, and for once actually come down to the pedestal of a common man to see how fast a 100 rupee earned gets spent leaving a man empty handed with a head full of worries.
My point : If you want to criticise, speak out against everything you see thats bad like Mr. Laxman did. If you want to be selective, better keep your mouth shut.


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A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bill Bryson is awesome, but his friend Stephen Katz is more awesome.

Published in 1998, Walk in The Woods, saw Bryson and his friend Stephen Katz team up once again(they travelled together in Europe, which is described in Neither Here Nor There) to hike the Appalachian Trail. The beginning of the book shows Bryson talking about the difficulties of the hike, as he tries to buy his hiking gear without embarrassing his son(who works in the store). Later as none of his friends responds to his call for becoming his hiking partner, he finds salvation in the form of his childhood friend Stephen Katz from his hometown of Des Moines. Thus they begin their journey from the state of Georgia, as Bryson realises that neither hiking is easy, nor Katz is fit for hiking.

The book is a trademark Bryson, where he mixes non-fiction with a great dose of humour. Though compared to his other books or travelogues the humour quotient of this book was much less. But, nonetheless, where he got the chance, he managed to bring out belly aching laughter from the reader through his descriptions and words. But, what made this book stand apart, or rather makes every Bill Bryson book stand apart is the simplification of the non-fiction part to an extent where not only does the facts and the figures lose any of their importance, but also never becomes boring to read. In a way they merge into the main stream of the travelogue without disturbing its flow.

But, clearly Bill Bryson is not the hero of the adventure, Stephen Katz is. Normally when Bryson travels, he becomes the undisputed King of Laughter. But, with passing pages I gradually realized, that with his dialogues, his guffaws and his penchant for throwing away things, Stephen Katz became the undisputed hero of the books. So much so, that the part where Bryson hikes the smaller parts of the trail without Katz, the book becomes much less interesting. Without Katz the trail loses its glamour!!!

P.S. Cant wait to see the movie with Robert Redford as Bill Bryson, and Nick Nolte as Stephen Katz.


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