Minutes of the Book Club meet held on February 14, 2014

Book(s) Read: 

Deepali: Darbar / Tavleen Singh

• This book is about politics touching Gandhian Era. Talks about women taking active part in politics. Deepali found this book very interesting read and have highly recommended for reading. 

Sumeet :Dhandha: How Gujaratis Do Business / Shobha Bondre

• Sumeet summarized the book very beautifully. This book cites examples of 5 businessmen who started their own business and are now successful entrepreneurs. 

Pratibha: Dongri to Dubai / S. Hussain Zaidi and unposted letters / T.T. Rangarajan

• Dongri to Dubai is about Dawood Ibrahim; his life as a underworld don. It is difficult to deduce whether others are scared of him or he is scared of roaming in public sans bodyguards!!!It seems he could attend his own daughter's wedding for fear of getting killed.What is the use of such POWER!!!

Vignesh: Humble enquiry, To sell is human and the power to change

oops..we didn't realise that Vignesh couldn't get turn to discuss his reads.However, he managed to say few words on To sell his human. In today's era of marketing , it is no longer selling the product brands but trying to sell you as a brand!!...This actually works!! or else why would people buy stuff when they actually don't need or don't use. simply because the person marketed himself so well that he convinced to buy the product!!! 

Amitkumar Sharma: Jaya / Devdutt Patnaik; Asura / Anand Neelakantan; Mafia queens of Mumbai / S Hussain Zaidi; Poor little rich slum / Rashmi Bansal

Jaya is on Mahabharata. Author has written in a very simple language with sketches on every page of the book. Mafia queens would be an interesting read since the mafia queens mentioned in the book are hardly know to us. We know only one mafia queen, viz, Phoolan Devi!!..Poor little Rich Slum is on Dharavi. Have often realised, we little know about our own culture, heritage, etc. for example, how many of us actually know the various places in Mumbai forget India..I being a Mumbaite have never visited some of the places which are on the world map!!!...Dharavi is being one of them. I have always passed via Dharavi but have never bothered to know what lies inside Dharavi that had foreigners coming to visit this place and I being a proud Mumbaite have never been to this place except to buy leather purse!!!!Dharavi is synonymous with leather items, be it bags, belts, shoes, etc. Tours are organised to walk in and around Dharavi. It has many small scale industries and the items are sold to the wholesalers; from there they find a way to go abroad!!! 

Check this site: http://www.realitytoursandtravel.co.in/slum-tours.html

Guy, let us visit take a short tour to Dharavi!!

Karthik: Ajaya: roll of the dice / Anand Neelakantan

This book is about Kauravas and Pandavas.. Author has given his perspective on Kauravas and Pandavas. He has favoured Kauravas and has narrated instances where he says Kauravas were better than Pandavas. This book would be an interesting read. We have always heard from elders about Ramayan, Mahabharat, and epics.. However, we never challenged these epics!!!We always believed that Ram has to be worshipped, Ravan has to be condemned, and Pandavas were great warriors...But there are also stories of Ravan a great king, Karna known to be a Daanveer person and Ram listening to a washerman  asks Sita to prove her loyalty by walking on the pyre!!  

Vandana: One part woman / Perumal Murugan; Jars filled with gold / Ruby Malshe

One part woman is about a woman who is unable to conceive. She is the talk of the entire village. They curse her, don't allow to attend any functions, try to feed her all types of herbs and medicines in order to enable her to conceive. Her mother & her mother-in-law even manages to convince her husband to remarry. However her husband loves her a lot and tells her that it doesnt matter if we are childless. Atleast, we are together!!!...But the lady feels very sad that she cannot bear a child.   

Sponsor of the Meeting : Pratibha Shetty