So I read this book almost like 5 months back. When a friend of mine, Mega, an avid reader and a LoTR fan, told me that there was an Indian trilogy that was akin to his favorite book, I was pleasantly surprised and picked it up immediately.
The first book - The Immortals of Meluha, was an okay read. Although the plot was more predictable than Satish Kaushik's Hindi adaptions of south Indian films, it invoked questions on who "Shiva", the beloved deity my family named me after was and what he stood for. I enjoyed mulling on those questions and I read through the book in a couple of days and added it to my local library (a shelf with coffee stains, outdated electronics and termites) and forgot the heck about it.
The second book - The secret of the Nagas, unfortunately impressed the shit out of some people who "highly" recommended it to me. I couldn't hang to my male genitalia when I read some reviews about the book and gave Mega a quick call and asked him to send the book to me ASAP. We met for Thanksgiving and I started reading the book at the start of the Christmas vacation of 2011. I must say, those hours I put in reading this book, I will regret thoroughly. I even hate reminiscing the time I read this book and I am putting myself through this torture so that whoever thinks of reading it, should stop thinking and just move on to find a better book. Chicken soup for the soul is better than this book. Yes. It is that bad.
The book starts in the mediocrity of the periodic, fictional (read fake) environment it setup in its previous book. Shiva is a mere mortal with a blue throat, Veerabhadra is a pot-smoking, girl chasing sidekick and Daksha, is a sissy. (Hindu religious fanatics, forewarning, neither the words I just said nor the ones I am going to say in this post are my own and please do not burn effigies of my blog or assassinate my character. These are totally picked out from the book.) The book then spirals downward in its predictable plots and sub-plots. Here are some notes I put in my iPhone when I was reading this book the first time (and the last time):
- Uses the word 'sprinting' twice in two pages. Almost feels like the author thinks he invented the word.
- This is like a boring Bollywood movie. Although you don't quite enjoy the movie, you watch it anyway either because you are a fan of the protagonist or because you like the songs in the movie.
- Uses the word 'marijuana' when he should be really using the word ganja. Why am I bothered by that, you ask me? Because 'marijuana' is a western word. The word for cannabis in all of India is "Ganja", mainly because the word is of Sanskrit origin. Veerabhadra calling it Marijuana makes him sound like a white teenager from California. Problem?
- He is now talking about Bhaghiratha. Very predictable move by Shiva, saves Bhaghiratha's life. Writing this before I even read the full thing.
- As expected. A very predictable move saves Bhagiratha's life. Veerabhadra says, "Damn, that was too close" like a corporate high school going, hookah smoking, wannabe kid from Bangalore. There should be a 'dude' somewhere in it, and I would've closed it at that very moment.
- He thinks he invented the word 'frown' because that is how many times he uses it. IDK what the editor was doing.
- Suddenly he hears a noise, suddenly he leaps and blows with sword and suddenly he ignores a whole platoon! Wow, that's an incredible piece of storytelling right there!
- I am listening to Rangeela songs while reading this book. That's how bored I am.
- I got too bored. So I put the book down and heard the whole album instead. My playlist pleasantly surprised me by shifting to Bob Dylan's Forgetful Heart and took me away from the confusing world where Lord Shiva lands in Magadha and is a huge chic magnet and Veerabhadra is chillum wielding girl chaser. Again, not my words at all. Okay, my words but the author's meaning.
- 'Change is the only constant'. I wonder which Veda he picked that one up from. Perhaps from the same Veda where he read that Brihaspathi was blown into pieces by a suicide bomber or a terrorist.
- I am still reading this book hoping to find something interesting. I am not impressed. In fact, I am this close to calling it the Twilight of India.
Tripathi apparently told Mega that the Mahadev we all think assume to have been Shiva was just another tribal mortal and the actual Shiva was Lord Rudra who lived many eons before Shiva. Shiva is just a tribal who became a legend due to his actions. Another conspiracy theorist you heard from.
These authors with their fancy MBA degrees think they are writers when they are not just fooling a lot of naive Indian readers into thinking they are great writers but are also fooling themselves. Their writing is survey-based. Their target audience is the audience as suggested by surveys of a publisher or by their practical understanding of Indian readers of English fiction. I particularly despise the commercial interest, if any, behind this trilogy in invoking a religious genre of books while propagating unproven and sometimes nakedly false theories. If Tripathi hadn't called his lead character "Shiva" and based it on the actual deity, I would've enjoyed reading the misgivings of ancient Indians and the clumsiness of Veerabhadra. I even like the way he portrayed the classical caste system. Shiva is definitely a hero to look up to with his anti-caste remarks and actions. His war-turning skills and acts of valor. I would've still hated his excessive use of the word frown. Not to forget sprinting. And hated his slow paced predictable narrative style. Not to forget the weird obsession he has for making characters from Kashi, pot-smoking tribal people who couldn't protect their own asses in times of trouble.
It is obvious that a lot of research went into these two books as against a lot of creativity. I should curse Mega into getting me to read this book. Especially after saying it was better than Tolkien's LoTR. If the author likes researching so much, he should write non-fiction instead of wasting paper. It could be about how all these bull race loving Magadhans and about the great Ram Rajya. Of course, I wouldn't read it. So wouldn't you. It almost looks like he knew this all along which is why he made this Tomato soup of a story with rotten tomatoes.
I may come off a bit harsh in my critical review here but it's only an honest opinion. The book irks me to an extent of calling it the Twilight of India. Another Chetan Bhagat in the making I suppose. I hope his next book makes me eat my words mainly because I believe any one can write. It is and should be, irrespective of what others think. It is like dancing on your prom. You know you look funny but you still dance because you want to have a good time. You don't stop speaking because someone hates your voice, do you? Not that I am saying the author will stop writing because of this review. Look at my blog, people have called it a lot of things. Including highly narcisstic, boring, lengthy and bull shitty. I haven't stopped writing, have I?
Just wish I read something else though. Anything at all that won't make me drool while I sleep reading the boring general having a boner looking at that hot princess from Chandravansh.
You guys, if you are really into mythologies, then you should read Ramesh Menon's version of the Mahabharatha. Trust me on this, if those two volumes don't give you gooesbumps twice in every page, I will shave my head... and my unmentionables (if you are into that sort of thing). Do not waste time/money on this book. I repeate, DO NOT waste time/money ON THIS BOOK.
P.S: This is my second book review, I wouldn't take myself seriously. So relax on the comments.
The first book - The Immortals of Meluha, was an okay read. Although the plot was more predictable than Satish Kaushik's Hindi adaptions of south Indian films, it invoked questions on who "Shiva", the beloved deity my family named me after was and what he stood for. I enjoyed mulling on those questions and I read through the book in a couple of days and added it to my local library (a shelf with coffee stains, outdated electronics and termites) and forgot the heck about it.
The second book - The secret of the Nagas, unfortunately impressed the shit out of some people who "highly" recommended it to me. I couldn't hang to my male genitalia when I read some reviews about the book and gave Mega a quick call and asked him to send the book to me ASAP. We met for Thanksgiving and I started reading the book at the start of the Christmas vacation of 2011. I must say, those hours I put in reading this book, I will regret thoroughly. I even hate reminiscing the time I read this book and I am putting myself through this torture so that whoever thinks of reading it, should stop thinking and just move on to find a better book. Chicken soup for the soul is better than this book. Yes. It is that bad.
The book starts in the mediocrity of the periodic, fictional (read fake) environment it setup in its previous book. Shiva is a mere mortal with a blue throat, Veerabhadra is a pot-smoking, girl chasing sidekick and Daksha, is a sissy. (Hindu religious fanatics, forewarning, neither the words I just said nor the ones I am going to say in this post are my own and please do not burn effigies of my blog or assassinate my character. These are totally picked out from the book.) The book then spirals downward in its predictable plots and sub-plots. Here are some notes I put in my iPhone when I was reading this book the first time (and the last time):
- Uses the word 'sprinting' twice in two pages. Almost feels like the author thinks he invented the word.
- This is like a boring Bollywood movie. Although you don't quite enjoy the movie, you watch it anyway either because you are a fan of the protagonist or because you like the songs in the movie.
- Uses the word 'marijuana' when he should be really using the word ganja. Why am I bothered by that, you ask me? Because 'marijuana' is a western word. The word for cannabis in all of India is "Ganja", mainly because the word is of Sanskrit origin. Veerabhadra calling it Marijuana makes him sound like a white teenager from California. Problem?
- He is now talking about Bhaghiratha. Very predictable move by Shiva, saves Bhaghiratha's life. Writing this before I even read the full thing.
- As expected. A very predictable move saves Bhagiratha's life. Veerabhadra says, "Damn, that was too close" like a corporate high school going, hookah smoking, wannabe kid from Bangalore. There should be a 'dude' somewhere in it, and I would've closed it at that very moment.
- He thinks he invented the word 'frown' because that is how many times he uses it. IDK what the editor was doing.
- Suddenly he hears a noise, suddenly he leaps and blows with sword and suddenly he ignores a whole platoon! Wow, that's an incredible piece of storytelling right there!
- I am listening to Rangeela songs while reading this book. That's how bored I am.
- I got too bored. So I put the book down and heard the whole album instead. My playlist pleasantly surprised me by shifting to Bob Dylan's Forgetful Heart and took me away from the confusing world where Lord Shiva lands in Magadha and is a huge chic magnet and Veerabhadra is chillum wielding girl chaser. Again, not my words at all. Okay, my words but the author's meaning.
- 'Change is the only constant'. I wonder which Veda he picked that one up from. Perhaps from the same Veda where he read that Brihaspathi was blown into pieces by a suicide bomber or a terrorist.
- I am still reading this book hoping to find something interesting. I am not impressed. In fact, I am this close to calling it the Twilight of India.
Tripathi apparently told Mega that the Mahadev we all think assume to have been Shiva was just another tribal mortal and the actual Shiva was Lord Rudra who lived many eons before Shiva. Shiva is just a tribal who became a legend due to his actions. Another conspiracy theorist you heard from.
These authors with their fancy MBA degrees think they are writers when they are not just fooling a lot of naive Indian readers into thinking they are great writers but are also fooling themselves. Their writing is survey-based. Their target audience is the audience as suggested by surveys of a publisher or by their practical understanding of Indian readers of English fiction. I particularly despise the commercial interest, if any, behind this trilogy in invoking a religious genre of books while propagating unproven and sometimes nakedly false theories. If Tripathi hadn't called his lead character "Shiva" and based it on the actual deity, I would've enjoyed reading the misgivings of ancient Indians and the clumsiness of Veerabhadra. I even like the way he portrayed the classical caste system. Shiva is definitely a hero to look up to with his anti-caste remarks and actions. His war-turning skills and acts of valor. I would've still hated his excessive use of the word frown. Not to forget sprinting. And hated his slow paced predictable narrative style. Not to forget the weird obsession he has for making characters from Kashi, pot-smoking tribal people who couldn't protect their own asses in times of trouble.
It is obvious that a lot of research went into these two books as against a lot of creativity. I should curse Mega into getting me to read this book. Especially after saying it was better than Tolkien's LoTR. If the author likes researching so much, he should write non-fiction instead of wasting paper. It could be about how all these bull race loving Magadhans and about the great Ram Rajya. Of course, I wouldn't read it. So wouldn't you. It almost looks like he knew this all along which is why he made this Tomato soup of a story with rotten tomatoes.
I may come off a bit harsh in my critical review here but it's only an honest opinion. The book irks me to an extent of calling it the Twilight of India. Another Chetan Bhagat in the making I suppose. I hope his next book makes me eat my words mainly because I believe any one can write. It is and should be, irrespective of what others think. It is like dancing on your prom. You know you look funny but you still dance because you want to have a good time. You don't stop speaking because someone hates your voice, do you? Not that I am saying the author will stop writing because of this review. Look at my blog, people have called it a lot of things. Including highly narcisstic, boring, lengthy and bull shitty. I haven't stopped writing, have I?
Just wish I read something else though. Anything at all that won't make me drool while I sleep reading the boring general having a boner looking at that hot princess from Chandravansh.
You guys, if you are really into mythologies, then you should read Ramesh Menon's version of the Mahabharatha. Trust me on this, if those two volumes don't give you gooesbumps twice in every page, I will shave my head... and my unmentionables (if you are into that sort of thing). Do not waste time/money on this book. I repeate, DO NOT waste time/money ON THIS BOOK.
P.S: This is my second book review, I wouldn't take myself seriously. So relax on the comments.
