tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37168466393429215262024-03-14T13:33:56.199+05:30Nayan Basu Musings: Books, Cinema, Cricket Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-57225719372662260962020-05-04T19:59:00.004+05:302020-07-22T21:18:44.755+05:30Book Review | Based on Lies: Unhinged by Debarshi Kanjilal<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyxCwK8Szljsl1KmdUqAKajFDUjqgKpXMH1GEzpW4vHfsyZ9j7UgRKCQ2yTddu0R2yTu172XgkUdGyJF5RC329L9YdeDvP8vFTgCnHgFokn9baj4xBxCBgELXb8tpw4_NX4yhXk7E7U2a/s2048/Copy+of+Copy+of+BOL+Edition+2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Book Cover: Based on Lies" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1311" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyxCwK8Szljsl1KmdUqAKajFDUjqgKpXMH1GEzpW4vHfsyZ9j7UgRKCQ2yTddu0R2yTu172XgkUdGyJF5RC329L9YdeDvP8vFTgCnHgFokn9baj4xBxCBgELXb8tpw4_NX4yhXk7E7U2a/w410-h640/Copy+of+Copy+of+BOL+Edition+2.png" title="Based on Lied: Whole Story" width="410" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">Genre: Fiction, Thriller</span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">Format: Kindle</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: molengo; font-size: 14px;" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">Language: English</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">It’s been two
years since the Based on Lies: Crimes of Love had released. I remember writing
about it (the <a href="https://www.nayanbasu.com/2018/03/book-review-based-on-lies-it-begins-by.html#more">review</a> for which is available on this blog) within days of reading
the novella. The first installment of the Based on Lies saga ended on a
cliffhanger and left many its readers like me curious. The second part of the
book, which is now finally out, released in May 2020, doesn’t waste much time
in antiques and hits the ground running right from the start. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">The second part,
Based on Lies: Unhinged, which is basically the climax of the novella, starts
with conversations between Anurag and his therapist. And through these series conversations, the readers get a little sneak-peek into the backstories of the characters, which was one of the elements missing in the first part. How did Anurag and Aditi meet? The books answers it in a precise manner.<span></span></font></p><a name='more'></a><font face="inherit"><o:p></o:p></font><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><font face="inherit">“The first
time she met Anurag was on the roof of their college building. Aditi had come
up there to take a few drags of the joint she had rolled so carefully at home
before she left for college that day. She had prepared herself for a few
unwelcome encounters while sprinting up to the roof.” <o:p></o:p></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">In addition, we also learn a bit more about the main character, Anurag. Our </font>protagonist<font face="inherit"> isn't in the right mental shape. We did get a sense of it in the first part. Here, we learn he is seeking help from a therapist (his suicidal tendencies isn’t something new, he
has been living with it since his younger days), how and where his romance with
Aditi (now his wife) bloomed, his love and his insecurities (steaming from his
deep sense of possessive male psyche) surrounding her, and his experience with
sexual abuse as a child. In short, being Anurag Sanyal isn’t easy, and creating
a character like him is not a cakewalk either. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">The writer has
done a good job in creating a world which is messed up, disturbing, and cruel. Anurag
isn’t an ideal character, he stands for all that is bad and wrong in our
society, yet you will feel sad for him. You will empathize with Anurag. Somewhere,
you will feel the writer also wants us to feel that way. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">In the second
part of the book, nothing much happen in terms of plot; the story moves fast
and ends in a matter-of-fact manner which begs the question: Did this book need
a second part at all? One book would have served the purpose better is what this
humble writer thinks. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">The book would
be best enjoyed as a composite version, which has both the parts in one volume.
Thankfully, for the convenience of the readers, that is now available on <a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B087QGP46J" target="_blank">Amazon India</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087QGP46J" target="_blank">Amazon USA</a>.<span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="text-align: center;">Read: <a href="https://www.nayanbasu.com/2018/03/book-review-based-on-lies-it-begins-by.html#more" target="_blank">Review of Based on Lies: Crimes of Love</a>. </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></font><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></p></div>Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com1Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.363895000000014-8.5176286594589357 53.207645000000014 53.662920659458933 123.52014500000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-88673987202736913182020-04-15T12:56:00.017+05:302020-06-16T15:37:29.410+05:30Film Review | Maska : Sweet and Nostalgic <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDNVWT0HtzuB9HBbcDi1z4OnoQ9nVCicKpBVCKcMjAnNMYq6l7X_a1k5805SUynCBrAkpS_uTiCc1Nc09yGSPfnILw-57iol46JvC31b9K5KjgRQDpG-_7GYXYolz8WRoEeL1xOWBlKbY/s597/Maska.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poster of Maska" border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="426" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDNVWT0HtzuB9HBbcDi1z4OnoQ9nVCicKpBVCKcMjAnNMYq6l7X_a1k5805SUynCBrAkpS_uTiCc1Nc09yGSPfnILw-57iol46JvC31b9K5KjgRQDpG-_7GYXYolz8WRoEeL1xOWBlKbY/w456-h640/Maska.jpg" title="Maska Poster | Picture credit: IMDb" width="456" /></a></div><font face="inherit"><br /></font><div><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">I have a thing
for movies with happy endings. That is precisely the reason why, growing up, I
have always loved Bollywood films. Because I knew, no matter what happens during
the film, at the end the good will prevail over evil, sanity will win over
insanity, peace will triumph over disharmony, and everything will be all right.
<o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">While I have
developed a taste for various other genres, styles, and treatments in films,
the ones with happy endings still hold a special place in my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p><p class="MsoNormal">That pretty much answers why I loved Maska, despite the film not-so-encouraging reviews. Broadly speaking, I loved the film for its simplicity and innocence. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="inherit">Overview <o:p></o:p></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">The film, Maska, which is a Netflix original, opens
with Diana, played convincingly by cheerful and bubbly Manisha Koirala, who
runs an Irani Café named Café Rustom, wants her son, Rumi, played by <span style="background: white; color: #333333;">Prit Kamani,
to take over </span>the family
business after completing his college. However, Rumi has other career plans and
is not interested to take over the responsibly of the café and suggests selling
the café instead. The mother, of course, isn’t convinced and that is the
conflict on which the film rests on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a>As you could figure
out by now, the storyline for Maska is anything but groundbreaking—it has a
simple plot san any unnecessary and pretentious twists—but is filled with
innocence and honesty. The film also touches upon the rich legacy of the famous
Irani Cafés in Mumbai. These cafes, which were once iconic to the commercial
city, are now losing the race to the Starbucks and CCDs of the world.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="inherit">Narrative<o:p></o:p></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">The film uses
Café Rustom to delve deep into the nostalgia around the Irani Cafés of Mumbai.
Café Rustom, as with any other Irani Cafés in the city, is not just a place
which serves the iconic <i>Bun Maska</i> and <i>Irani Chai</i> but holds
numerous personal stories of people who frequent the iconic eatery. The café
holds a special place in the hearts and minds of customers, specially the
elderlies in the city, for everyone have memories that go back a long way in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="inherit">Performance <o:p></o:p></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">This philosophy
of memories and holding on to them close to one’s heart comes together
beautifully when Persis (played by Shirley Setia) tell Rumi (Prit Kamani):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><font face="inherit"><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><em><span style="color: #333333;">“The world isn’t made up of atoms, Rumi. It’s made up of
stories.” </span></em><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">This makes the
film for me. Such a powerful thing to say. She had me with this line. Hats off
to the dialogue writer. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">Even though
Persis has a short screen time, but her character has a significant role to
play in the film. Besides, she gets to mouth the best and arguably the meatiest
line of the film. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><font face="inherit">“Ah, books,
I tell you, can be quite inspiring at times.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">Prit Kamani, as
Rumi, is charming. His innocence will linger with you for long. And his
chemistry with Persis is spot on, and the latter is also the reason why Rumi
finally decides to take forward the rich family legacy and rejects his original idea
of selling the property at a whooping price. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">The film’s
anchor, however, is Manisha Koirala whose portrayal of the stoic and stubborn Parsi
lady holds the film together. Her character, typically an old-school widowed woman who is protective about her family and their rich heritage,
wants her son to follow the footsteps of his father and take over the reins of
Café Rustom. <o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">Some of the
sweetest moments of the film, as well as some of the unsavory exchanges, are
between the mother and the son. The other character that deserves special
mention is that of Jaaved Jaffrey, who plays the dead father. His portrayal of
a Parsi man is funny to say the least, which is augmented by quirky one-liners
like: </font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><i>“Gravity is a myth, the earth sucks”!</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b>Verdict</b></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="inherit">Neeraj Udhwani,
who is the director of the film, serves an old wine in a new bottle all right. But
there is hardly any room for complain when the wine is prepared and served with
utmost love and care. The film, despite its cliché plot, offers a degree of
freshness (thanks to the amazing cast) which is a big takeaway in addition to a sweet feeling of happiness at the end.</font></p></div>Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.363895000000014-8.509575467971576 53.207645000000014 53.65486746797157 123.52014500000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-7625957245211030692020-04-13T21:39:00.001+05:302020-06-16T19:48:26.956+05:30Book Review: Controversially Yours by Shoaib Akhtar <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover: Controversially Yours | Picture credit: Amazon</td></tr>
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The book, Controversially Yours, an autobiography of one of Pakistan’s legendary fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, co-written by Anshu Dogra, released in 2011 which instantly created a stir in the media because its controversial contents, is a fascinating read. </div>
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And if you have been a fan of the Rawalpindi Express ever since he started playing international cricket, this book will intrigue you even more.</div>
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I remember picking up this book one evening from a bookstore in Bangalore, in 2014, when I visited the garden city for work. I was due to travel to Kolkata in the next couple of days. I had booked a train ticket, which meant I had to be on the road for twenty-eight hours at least. So, like I always do, I decided to carry a book along with me. If not anything else, it could at least help kill the boredom of travelling alone in a train.</div>
<a name='more'></a>But the experience of reading the book was beyond fighting the dullness of a long train journey. For a kid who grew up watching a lot of cricket from the mid 90s and in the first decade of 2000s, this memoir was all about looking back fondly at the years gone by.<br />
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I have always been a fan of Shoaib Akhtar. Ever since I saw him knocking off the stumps of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in two consecutive balls in a Test Match at Eden Gardens, I was sold. Since then, every time I saw him play, I was in awe of the man. Like many others, as a kid, I too, out of sheer admiration for the man, tried to copy his long runup, his incredible follow through, and his intimidating gait, but could never match his charisma.</div>
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The memoir, Controversially Yours, successfully manages to match Shoaib Akhtar’s aggressive cricketing personality at many levels. The book starts with stories from his younger days in Morgah in Rawalpindi, which he describes as <i>“a ramshackle place, squalid and lacking any sort of infrastructure”</i>, and his initial years of struggle given he came from a moderate-income-family.</div>
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His initial years in Rawalpindi makes for a fascinating reading. Shoaib writes, as a kid, he was good student, and a natural prankster who frequently landed into trouble because of his mischief. This is one characteristic trait he carried well into his adulthood and even when he was representing his nation. He has been controversy’s favorite child.</div>
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His passion for the game of cricket began very early, and the decision to become a fast bowler came logically because he was a natural athlete and loved running.</div>
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<i>“If I hadn't been born a human being, I would have been an eagle”</i></div>
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His consistent hard work and dedication to achieve excellence earned him a place in the national team. He has had many successful moments in the cricket field over the course of his long career, and there were days when nothing worked for him. But his will power and hunger to succeed got him going.</div>
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His on-field contest with Sachin Tendulkar is most talked about affair in the subcontinent. In his book, Shoaib Akhtar makes no bones about taking a dig at either Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar.</div>
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<i>“Vivian Richards, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and the likes of them are great batsmen who dominated with the bat and were truly match-winners. Initially, when I bowled against Sachin, I found these qualities missing.”</i></div>
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He of course goes on to add that neither Sachin Tendulkar nor Rahul Dravid were match winners.</div>
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<i>“I think players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid weren’t exactly match-winners to start with, nor did they know the art of finishing the game.”</i></div>
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It is difficult to say if he is serious about what he wrote in the book, but it does make for interesting reading for sure. His jibes don’t end with Sachin or Rahul though, his former teammates get a taste of his lethal salvos as well. Shoaib takes a dig at Wasim Akram by saying the latter wanted to end his international career and accuses Shoaib Malik of being a PCB <i>‘stooge’</i>. </div>
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<i>“Shoaib Malik doesn’t deserve to be captain and was made captain because he was a stooge of the PCB Chief Naseem Ashraf” and “Wasim Akram threatened to walk out with half the team if I was included in the team.”</i></div>
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In the book, Shoaib Akhtar talks at length at ball tampering scandal and his two sanctions by the ICC for the offence. He admits to tempering with the ball and justifies the act and even cites various instances where he doctored the ball. He goes to the extent of saying that it should be legalized by the ICC as, according to him, most bowlers around the world does it. He says:</div>
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<i>“No team is innocent and virtually every fast bowler does it. That is the only way to survive because the wickets are so slow.”</i></div>
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The book has a lot of interesting stories about PCB and overall cricketing culture in Pakistan. Being a part of the system, Shoaib gives us what he faced during his tenure as a player. In the book, he talks about the rot in Pakistani cricket system and even points out the hypocrisy he experienced. </div>
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<i>"Our seniors set the example of going out, having a good time - girls were always coming and going out of their rooms ... But when one of the seniors became our coach, he preached what he never practised in his own time."</i></div>
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The book is full of many such stimulating revelations and anecdotes from the cricket during the 90s. I believe this book has a little for everyone, but for fans of Shoaib, this is a must read.</div>
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Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389500000001421.6350005 87.073001500000018 23.510291499999997 89.654788500000009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-13499596049737882352020-01-28T18:36:00.000+05:302020-03-25T20:04:39.063+05:30Film Review | Dwitiyo Purush by Srijit Mukherji<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dwitiyo Purush</i> poster | P.C. SVF</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; font-family: inherit , serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mounting a film like <i>Dwitiyo Purush</i>, a sequel of
one of the most successful movies in the previous decade, <i>Baishe Srabon</i>,
released in 2011, is never easy. While one must remain true to the cinematic
universe of the previous film and ensure you are careful with all minute
details regarding timelines and character sketches, it also comes with enormous
burden of audience expectation. Comparisons are bound to happen and as a writer
you must keep that in mind. </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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By now, we, the movie going audience in Bengal, can safely say that Srijit
Mukherji looks at home when he's making thrillers. I personally believe he
understands the genre better than most of writers/directors we currently have
in India today.</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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However, at the very outset, I must let the cat out of the bag: <i>Dwitiyo
Purush</i> is by no means a perfect piece of art. Though there was no
dearth of eventful moments in the film, given the number of murders that happen
during its run time, I got a feeling the plot was dragging itself towards the
all-important climax, and until that time, the characters simply existed and
went on with their lives. The last thirty minutes is when the film comes alive.
And, it feels almost deliberate from the part of the director to keep it that
way before the big reveal happens in the climax.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The film, set in Kolkata’s Chinatown, has quite a few chase
sequences which are pretty mediocre. The action scenes are not too convincing
either. There was nothing in those scenes which would make the audience go
crazy, simply put, the scenes were not new. That being said, the film
still worked for me. </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I must admit here that, broadly speaking, I liked <i>Dwitiyo
Purush</i>. Primarily because the film grows on you. It is not one of
those films where you can come out of the theaters and not think about what
happened in the film. You will feel the urge to go back and reconstruct the
scenes in your head to reach the climax. The truth be told, climax is the high
point of the film and that is where the entire film stands. And director
sacrifices a lot of time, energy and dead bodies, quite literally, to reach
there at the end. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">There are clues all over. All through the film, the director plays
with the minds of the audience. You might one get it while you’re watching it. But,
in retrospect, you will be forced to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together.
That is where it succeeds for me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Srijit Mukherji and Anupam Roy pair has given us lot of memorable
music in the past decade. And in this film too, the music is top notch. The songs
are catchy and were topping the charts long before the film released.
With <i>Dwitiyo Purush</i>, I think, I have seen the best of Anirban
Bhattacharjee and Parambrata Chatterjee, both fantastic performers. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Both are phenomenally good in their respective roles. Being
someone who has followed Parambrata’s career for the last fifteen years, I
think I can safely say this is his best work so far. The bathroom scene with
Raima Sen, just before the climax, is emotional, intense and scary, you could feel
the level of desperation and anger in his eyes. The scene, is one of my
favorites from the film, reveals the greatness of the actor and one of his in
his entire career. Watch the film to know what it is all about! </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">And then comes Anirban, he is getting better with every film he is
doing. The way in which he carried out his performance as a roadside gangster,
through his chilling stares, dialogue delivery, gait and mannerisms, who
doesn’t flinch before slitting the throats of his victims, tells a lot about
his dedication, hard work and his grasp over the craft.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Rest of the cast, including Gaurav Chakraborty, played their part
well in whatever screen time they got. The female characters, unfortunately,
didn’t get enough scenes, but whatever they got, they did well to leave a mark.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The film, mostly shot in Topsia, shows the underbelly of Kolkata's
Chinatown like it had never been shown before in any other film. The lanes and
bylanes of Kolkata Chinatown, which is popularly known for its delicious
Chinese food, adds to dark and gloomy imagery of the film.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "molengo" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-59973347053683988482019-02-07T18:31:00.000+05:302019-02-07T18:37:18.046+05:30Book Review | Democracy's XI: The Great Indian Cricket Story by Rajdeep Sardesai <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4La-dncnckrUUe8bmJXHsfNiEfCB3YkfiLcbB66iz4vqjS1UAq9IsSOvPLECoTFIOonYK6T1I4QvW68miaLz6EXwjcXvf9_PT6BomR4TmfCVbL9bIwB2Rgqk4kX6Lz44g90Q1B3bG4Aai/s1600/democracy%2527s+xi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="324" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4La-dncnckrUUe8bmJXHsfNiEfCB3YkfiLcbB66iz4vqjS1UAq9IsSOvPLECoTFIOonYK6T1I4QvW68miaLz6EXwjcXvf9_PT6BomR4TmfCVbL9bIwB2Rgqk4kX6Lz44g90Q1B3bG4Aai/s640/democracy%2527s+xi.jpg" width="415" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover : Democracy's XI</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Genre: Biography </div>
<div>
Hardcover: 371 pages</div>
<div>
Language: English </div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was one of the people who was present at the
Calcutta Club on November 2017 for the Kolkata-launch of the Democracy’s XI, The
Great Indian Cricketing History, written by Rajdeep Sardesai. Besides the
author, who is also a renowned journalist based out of Delhi, the other two
people present at the event were former India captain, Sourav Ganguly and the
famous cricket historian, Boria Majumder, who was also the moderator for the
evening. It was a memorable 2-hour in which a lot of cricket stories related to
various players including Sourav and his teammates were shared. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the things you can look to do at a book launch
event is to get your personal copy signed by the author. I, being no exception,
got my copy signed by Rajdeep Sardesai at the end of the event. However, I
didn’t read the book straightaway. It was there, lying around on the shelf for
some time before I could get to it finally after a few months. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book, as the cover pretty much gives away what it
is all about, is a collection of short biographies about eleven Indian
cricketers who, according to the writer, made a mark during their tenure as a
player and changed the course of cricketing history in India.</span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The players who find a place in Sardesai’s Democracy’s
XI are: Dilip Sardesai, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil
Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly,
Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fact that this team doesn’t have a proper bowling
attack suggest that the eleven individuals were picked keeping in mind their
contribution towards making the game and not with an intension to pick an all
time playing eleven for India.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cricket is probably the only thing in India which
unites people. And the Indian Cricket Team embodies the very idea of our nation,
which is inclusiveness. The Indian team comprises of players from different
parts of the country, different social strata, varied religion, caste and
creed. Yet, when they represent their country they are one team. One nation. It
is this very idea of oneness that cricket reflects is what the author tries to
capture in this book. Through the eleven players, who are the leading
characters in his narrative, he tries to bring out the social, political and
economic changes that India has gone through post-independence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The author, who had mostly penned political books
prior to writing this one, decided to choose cricket as the topic of his book so
that he could portray how cricket has stood out among other sports and
transformed over the years, symbolizing the change in societal structure in
India over the years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">“In
the 1970s, Gavaskar had given Indian cricket self-esteem, in the 1980s, Kapil
Dev gave it excitement, in the 1990s Sachin gave it stature; now the Kohli
millennium generation has added a new word to the lexicon: dominance.”</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;">
Sardesai very aptly puts at the end. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book unveils various facets of these eleven
players; however, most of the cricketing facts mentioned in the book are not
completely alien to an average cricket fan in India. All these cricketers have
dedicated memoirs or biographies to their names. However, where this book tries
to be different is in its narrative approach — the book has a high
concentration of anecdotes which he collected by interviewing various former
players and journalists and quoting from already published works. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My personal favorite are the chapters on Dilip
Sardesai and Mohammad Azharuddin. Nepotism notwithstanding, author’s take on
his father, Dilip Sardesai is filled with emotion and realism. And, it is also
very personal. Coming from Margao, Goa, which is not a traditionally a cricket playing
state, and representing India was never easy. Dilip Sardesai had to cross all
hurdles varying from financial, logistical and infrastructural. In this
chapter, the author successfully reveals the pulse of the country during the
1960s and how the people outside looked at cricket as a sport. Cricket at the
time was treated more in an “amateur” spirit with lack of money, as opposed to
what we see now when millions of rupees are spent on single cricketer. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The chapter on Mohammad Azharuddin is a thrilling read.
For a man who has had a career with ups and downs, in real sense of the terms, a
chapter on him can’t be anything less than interesting. The author, with
several anecdotes and often quoting from Azhar’s biography by Harsha Bhogle,
maintains a firm balance between his on-field laurels and off-field controversies.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book is a decent read overall and stands out in
documenting the progression of Indian cricket over the last five decades. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br /></div>
Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com11Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-41887129664835375562019-01-21T19:57:00.000+05:302019-01-21T20:01:19.935+05:30Short Story Review | The Red Thread by Debeshi Gooptu<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg710yeJZp4poEyuJ5-BvHdUGTXiqDHIQbTe9N9NSja-l5VV0HPZ1tPnXH0JftOAa3a_jOYo2VDKFSsOEdEbAO9NutvpRAGC8pdhgDMpk448vkLHeeuBdJGt1u7P6BSipX_UmfZVAdz1MDL/s1600/The+Red+Thread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Short Story Review | The Red Thread by Debeshi Gooptu" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg710yeJZp4poEyuJ5-BvHdUGTXiqDHIQbTe9N9NSja-l5VV0HPZ1tPnXH0JftOAa3a_jOYo2VDKFSsOEdEbAO9NutvpRAGC8pdhgDMpk448vkLHeeuBdJGt1u7P6BSipX_UmfZVAdz1MDL/s1600/The+Red+Thread.jpg" title="Short Story Review | The Red Thread by Debeshi Gooptu" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Cover | Short Story | The Red Thread by Debeshi Gooptu<br />PC - Amazon.in</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Title: The Red Thread</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Type: Short Story </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Genre: Romance</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Format: Kindle </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">I came across this book,</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> The Red Thread, on Twitter
when the author shared it on her timeline. I am fond of the writer a lot and
having read her previous work, </span><a href="https://www.nayanbasu.com/2018/08/book-review-gurgaon-diaries-life-work.html" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;" target="_blank">The Gurgaon Diaries</a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">, few months back, I didn’t
waste much time before going ahead and buying the Kindle version that is
available on Amazon. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a typical short story about a poor boy named,
Adnan, falling in love with a wealthy girl next-door named Rai. The romance was
just beginning to blossom when the one of them dies. And the story ends there. Often
in stories like these we know there can be two possible endings: either a happy
ending or a sad one. This story trends down the second path in a rather
matter-of-fact manner.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">For a short story, characters are often set in a
predefined milieu and they exist there (well, mostly!) for the entire length of
the story. There is not much scope for the characters to flourish or change their </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">behavior</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> patterns. Moreover, they
have must hit the ground running right from the start to keep the readers engaged. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Red Thread manages to create the milieu. It manages
to grab your attention. However, it gets over before the emotional
bond develops with the characters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I found climax of the story a little rushed. Maybe, I was
looking for the romance to blossom and take a certain shape before the catastrophe
could hit them? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I would not like to give away anything further and urge you to buy the book online. </span></span></div>
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</div>
Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-73523109087477311652019-01-08T20:53:00.000+05:302019-01-08T20:55:26.382+05:30Book Review | 281 And Beyond by VVS Laxman <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8aSBTlUA0SkNck-nlMFutXFKceOjBGqfyEakGUw8UywXnIUDgUEQMX_nm1GGFgo29b3Ij5Ay80P9-6eTlypv1aW-6UvbfZ0zd2iQ9FmjsRazSyQCobsk_OIi_PTnXmvcBAaHOQpnEhXf/s1600/VVS+Laxman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Front Cover : 281 And Beyond | Publisher: Westland Sport" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1041" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8aSBTlUA0SkNck-nlMFutXFKceOjBGqfyEakGUw8UywXnIUDgUEQMX_nm1GGFgo29b3Ij5Ay80P9-6eTlypv1aW-6UvbfZ0zd2iQ9FmjsRazSyQCobsk_OIi_PTnXmvcBAaHOQpnEhXf/s640/VVS+Laxman.jpg" title="Front Cover : 281 And Beyond | Publisher: Westland Sport" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover : 281 And Beyond | Publisher: Westland Sport</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="line-height: 14.98px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Genre: Autobiography</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="line-height: 14.98px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hardcover: 336 pages </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Language: English </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most followers of Indian cricket, if not all, would
remember the day Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman decided to retire from all formats for cricket. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">It was August
2012. He was picked for the home series against New Zealand, which included a
match in Hyderabad, his home town, where he could have had a grand farewell had
he decided to continue playing. But for a man who always played to contribute
to his team’s win, his goodbye from the game would be no different. He quit on
his own term, when he thought was the right time to move on and allow </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">younger players</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> to take over. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">In his book, 281 AND BEYOND, co-authored by</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">senior
cricket writer R. Kaushik, VVS Laxman opens up about his journey from a boy with middle-class values growing up in Hyderabad, to becoming one of the pillars of Indian middle-order
batting and carrying the responsibility until his last day as an international
player. The book is filled with amazing personal stories and inspiring
anecdotes: they are sincere, philosophical and insightful. The narrator, by virtue
of his humble and modest upbringing, uses the book to appreciate and thank
every soul who had contributed in making him a successful sportsman. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Though VVS Laxman made his debut for India in 1996,
his claim-to-fame moment came post the memorable 281 runs knock against
Australia at Eden Gardens. For a knock that made him a regular member of the
team and redefined Indian cricket in a manner which yielded great benefits in
the years that followed, it’s only fitting that the book opens with some words
about that great innings in the iconic venue. The writer didn’t disappoint.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Laxman writes about the brilliant 281 runs innings at
the Eden Garden with utmost fondness right in the first chapter of the book —
<i>The Knock That Changed My Life</i>. The chapter talks about what he was going
through before he went out to play the knock and how he maneuvered his way to
the record. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Venkatesh </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Prasad</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> and I had just returned to the pavilion, Australia having bowled us out
for 171 in under 60 overs ad asked us to follow-on. I was the last man dismissed
and had just sat down to remove my pads when a friendly hand came to rest
lightly on my shoulder.</span></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Don’t
take your pads off, Lax.’</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Oh!
Why, John?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘you
are going in at No.3’<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My
mind went blank. It took a few seconds for the message to sink in. that’s when
the smile surfaced.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">And what happened after that is known to every cricket
fanatic in India and around the world. However, what is not known to people on
the outside is the fact that VVS was all set to miss the test match because of
an injury. And he was in severe pain in the days prior to the match. He was almost in tears when he went to the then physio of the
team, Andre </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Leipus</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">, for help as he was desperate to play at Eden Gardens. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>“Tell
me you can fix this Andrew.’ There was a salty taste in my mouth. I didn’t even
realize I had started to cry. Perhaps it was the sight of a grown man weeping
that did the trick.” </i>he remembers.</span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The first five chapters of the book basically gives us
a hint of how VVS L</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">axman</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> is in his personal life. The initial chapters takes us
through his early years in the game and he doesn’t miss any opportunity in showing his gratitude to each and every person who had helped him or was beside
him during his initial struggle. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">His love and respect for his parents, who are both doctors, is well documented as they find multiple mentions in the book. Laxman thanks them to allow
him to follow his dream of playing for India. Beside his parents, if there was
another person whose contribution was immense in shaping Laxman’s cricket during the initial years, it
was his uncle, Baba Krishna Mohan, whom he calls </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Baba</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Uncle. Right
through the book, we come across their names almost in every chapter in which
he calls them out with utmost humility. This just shows the kind of upbringing he has
had and the value system he has inherited from his family. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Along with his orthodox upbringing, his religious mind
and his love for Gita comes to the fore in this book. By his own admission, he
often resorts to the holy preaching of Gita whenever he needs to inspire or motivate his mind. He quotes the holy book in his </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">memoir</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> , </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">“The Gita says — do your duty, but not with
an eye on the outcome. Effectively, it means the only thing that is in your
hands is the effort. That is what drove me.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Often referred to as a ‘sincere’ person who has an ‘ever-smiling’
face whenever he meets or greets someone, L</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">axman</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> reserves the best of praises
for, Mohammad Azharuddin, his childhood hero whom he idolized
growing up in Hyderabad and also watched him closely when he was a part of
Andhra Pradesh Cricket.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Azzu B</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">hai</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> was a massive influence for not just me, but Hyderabad cricket as a whole.
We were captivated by his wondrous stroke play, but more than that, we were
exposed to his work ethics, his emphasis on fitness, the attention he paid to
fielding and catching….” </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">When VVS L</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">axman</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> joined the Indian team, it was not
easy for him to find a place in the side. His selection into the playing eleven
was never a certainly because India already had skilled players in the middle-order who were hard to replace. His injuries, first his finger then his back,
didn’t help the cause either. Hence, he was often on and off the team. However,
things changed, for good, post the historic 2001 series against Australia; after which, he became a regular member of
the team and he, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and
Anil Kumble formed the much-loved and much-admired '</span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">Fab Five'</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> of Indian cricket. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">However, things changed in 2005 after Greg Chappel’s
appointment as the coach of the India team. And, L</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">axman</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">, rather unabashedly, writes about
those dark days in his book: </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">“He
(Chappell) was brusque and abrasive, highly opinionated and rigid in his
thinking. His man-management skills were non-existent. He quickly sowed further
seeds of discontent,” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book, being an autobiography of a sportsman, largely talks about his cricket; but, what also
comes out of it is the man VVS Laxman is in real life: a person who played the game
with utmost pride and honor and was loved by both his teammates and oppositions. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Throughout his cricketing years, which spanned for more than a decade, no opposition
ever sledged him, not even Australia (the team notorious for </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">on-field</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> banters). That shows, if not anything else, the respects
players of other teams had for his man. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">For me, however, reading this book was a personal journey into
my childhood. It was more a catching-up with one of my childhood superstars
whose cricketing journey coincided with my growing up days.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"><b>You can also read these reviews: </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="https://www.nayanbasu.com/2018/07/book-review-imperfect-by-sanjay.html" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;" target="_blank">Imperfect by Sanjay Manjreker</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nayanbasu.com/2018/03/not-review-century-is-not-enough.html" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;" target="_blank">A Century Is Not Enough by Sourav Ganguly</a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-80223033186547274862018-09-20T19:10:00.000+05:302019-01-14T13:22:13.075+05:30Book Review | Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Rg6tNVLXO-iZJaeXJWEinkucBS4vRwd5mf-N2ClaUpLwVix3ei6oFU13ybfyqSD9H8kOx5_FaUIuiUHFXggXNyG0-HJ8cnPRo_1GT51FdrHNWDCBJPawqqqE-xxvsRkOjzS6NtB55Xib/s1600/sea+prayer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini" border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="325" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Rg6tNVLXO-iZJaeXJWEinkucBS4vRwd5mf-N2ClaUpLwVix3ei6oFU13ybfyqSD9H8kOx5_FaUIuiUHFXggXNyG0-HJ8cnPRo_1GT51FdrHNWDCBJPawqqqE-xxvsRkOjzS6NtB55Xib/s640/sea+prayer.jpg" title="Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover - Sea Prayer | Bloomsbury Publication </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Genre: Fiction </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hardcover: 48 pages </span></span></div>
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Language: English </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first time I came across this book was on an </span>eCommerce<span style="font-family: inherit;"> site when it appeared on my search for pre-order. I ordered the book without a second thought. U</span>sually<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>before<span style="font-family: inherit;"> ordering a new book I read the blurb or the summary; however, I didn't do that either for this book b</span></span>ecause it was a Khaled Hosseini book I was buying, and his books have never disappointed me before. <span style="font-family: inherit;">So when I got my copy of the book, Sea Prayer, I was little surprised. The book is not like his previous books in terms of length and volume. However, it has all the emotions</span> of a Khaled Hosseini-school-of-storytelling. </div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Few years back, in 2015, an
image of a little boy, fully clothed, lying face-down on the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea made global headlines. That little boy, Aylan Kurdi, and his
family were Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe amid the European refugee
crisis. The little boy didn’t make it. The image of the boy become a representation
of the plight and sorrow of refugees around the world.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The incident affected Khaled
Hosseini so much, that, what came out of it is his latest book, Sea Prayer. In this
book, the author brings to the fore, in a subtle and restrained manner, the predicament
of parents in such a miserable and tumultuous world. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like all his previous
books — which are emotional narratives of people displaced from homes because
of war and riots — this book too cries out for the life and safety of refugees fleeing
from their own motherland in search of a new life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book is written in form of
a letter from a father to his son, Marwan, on the eve of their journey towards
a new hope, as they are set to embark on a new life leaving behind their homes
and everything they have called their own. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leaving home is never easy. And it’s
tough when you know you have a big sea in front of you which you will have to
cross to reach a safer place. However, staying back in your own country, which
is now turned into a battlefield, is not an option either. They must abandon it
for life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In his letter, the father
fondly reminisces the glorious days of his home at Homs, Syria, and how life
was in the country a few decades ago. He recalls how the summers were filled
with happiness and morning were full of life – there was so much joy all around
the city of Homs. There were peace and harmony and people of all religions
lived happily and they gathered every evening to share stories and food. Those were
happy times. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now it’s gone. He writes: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“But that life, that time,</span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seems like a dream now,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even to me,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like some long-dissolved rumour.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And father laments the fact
that Marwan might not remember the happy moments at Homs as he was too small
then. The only image of Homs his son will carry his entire life is that of war,
bombing, bloodshed and gore. Every child deserves a safe and healthy upbringing. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But what can a father do when his country, in the current situation, can only
promise burials, starvation, and bombings?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He can instill hope:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Hold my hand,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nothing bad will happen.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even though the future looks bleak
— unsure if they will ever be made to feel welcomed at the new place, unsure if
they will ever make it to the other end — the father can never lose hope because
he has with him the most <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“precious cargo”</i> (his son), and hopes they will make it to
the other end, and God will steer them to a safe place. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Because you, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">you are the most precious cargo, Marwan, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the most precious there ever was.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I pray the sea knows this. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inshallah. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How I pray the sea knows this …”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The powerful expressions and
phrases used in the book can leave a reader emotional at the end. And the
expressive illustrations by Dan Williams adds a more life and feel to words. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Highly recommended. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="freeText8805465709359312078" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Note: If you want to help the refugees like Kurdi's, who have been displaced from their homes because of war, buy a original copy of this book. The author will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> </span></span></div>
Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-80002170911008695032018-07-22T23:15:00.003+05:302018-07-23T12:45:12.993+05:30Book Review | Imperfect by Sanjay Manjrekar <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover - Imperfect by Sanjay Manjrekar</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Genre: Autobiography </span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Molengo;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Format: Kindle </span><br style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Molengo;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Language: English</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I started following Indian cricket since World Cup, 1996,
and as a result I don’t have many memories of Sanjay Manjrekar playing in India
colors. I have followed him more as a cricket commentator and writer than as a
player. However, one vivid memory I have of him as a player is from the 1996
World Cup semi-final match between India and Sri Lanka: I recall the catch
Sanjay took, fielding at third man boundary, to get rid of Romesh Kaluwitharana
from the bowling of Javagal Srinath. The Srinath has pitched the ball outside
the off-stump and the dangerous Kaluwitharana, sensing a scoring opportunity,
wacked the ball over the point region only to be caught by the fielder waiting
at the third-man region. A vibrant and enthusiastic celebration followed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Imperfect, a recently released memoir by Sanjay
Manjrekar, digs deep into both his personal and professional life like no other
biography of a public figure ever has in the past. Sanjay’s straight talk about
his father, his colleagues and his life in cricket though might come across as
brutal at times, but that’s the charm of honestly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In his book, Imperfect, Sanjay chronicles various
facets of his life rather vividly in his usual fluent style. It might come as a
surprise for many, but right in the first initial chapters he makes it very clear that cricket has never been his first love. In fact,
had it been on him, and with less pressure from things happening around him, he
would have chosen a different career path. </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">He writes, </span><i style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">“If my father had not been a former
cricketer, and if I had not grown up in Dadar, where the only sport people
played was cricket, I would not have become a cricketer.”</i></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Coming from Mumbai, and being the son of a famous
cricketer, Vijay Manjrekar, cricket came to his life almost seamlessly without much planning. And the fact that he had
a technique well suited for test cricket, helped him gain a spot in the Indian national side. </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px;">Though he had all the defensive shots to succeed in Test cricket, Sanjay’s career didn’t last long. His career never took off, with slings of failures under his belt, and he took an untimely retirement in 1998 at the age of 32.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I just enjoyed batting defensively. It didn’t bother me
much what my score was after an hour, as long as I was playing flawlessly. I
focused so much on playing correctly that I sometimes lost sight of what my
real purpose at the crease was: to get runs…I had to look good to all those who
were watching me. Tendulkar, to an extent, was the same, but because of his
prodigious talent he could not help but hit a good ball for a four every now
and then. Unlike me, who would be stuck on 20 for almost two hours. This was
the Mumbai School of Batting. How you got your runs and against whom you got it
mattered a lot. Just runs were not enough for Mumbai cricket.”</i> he writes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the best anecdotes from his cricketing life is
in the chapter named ‘Team-Mates’, in which he talks about various interesting
events involving former cricketers; however, his take on Azharuddin stands out
from the rest. At the outset, Sanjay makes it clear that Azhar was never a good
tactician and that he left most of his major captaincy decisions to the
Almighty. He followed a fixed pattern and was never comfortable with experimentation.
To explain this further, he writes: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“As a tactician, Azhar wasn’t great. The main feature
of his captaincy was to leave things to the Almighty. That’s why he wouldn’t
tamper too much with what was happening out there, and would do just the basic,
textbook stuff with regard to bowling changes and field placements… As captain,
when the opposition seemed to be getting away with the game, Azhar would
sometimes get all of us together during the drinks break, not to give us a pep
talk to lift us but to seek advice. Everybody would give their inputs, and
based on it Azhar would sum it up saying, ‘Okay, so I will bowl Raju for three
overs from this end, Mannu (Manoj Prabhakar) three overs from that end, and
Kapil Paaji and Sri after that.” </i>and then Sanjay adds,<i> “He would then go take
his fielding position, relieved that the next seventy-five minutes were sorted.
It meant he need not think about captaincy for a while. He could now
concentrate on what he enjoyed, his fielding.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Though he has been a reluctant cricketer during his
playing days, he did take on commentary like fish to water. His analysis on the
game both on and off air (through his columns) have earned him much love and accolades from his contemporaries. In the book he
mentions the names of a few fellow commentaries (including Harsha Bhogle and Naseer Hussain) who have inspired him over the
years to dig deeper into the game and seek for answers. The beauty of the book is that it never tries to play safe. He talks about his personal life, about his relationship with his father and how that impacted him as a child. He opens up about his playing days and his teammates during the time. And at last we speaks about his commentary stints and how that has changed his life. All chapters in the book, though talk about various phases of his life, describes the incidents in his life which touches one's emotional chords. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unlike his
batting, which was more conventional, the book indulges in fancy stroke play
and often runs on tricky wickets. This book will be appreciated by commoners as
well as connoisseurs of the game.</span></span></div>
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Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-14079912347678085662018-06-30T13:34:00.000+05:302018-08-20T13:37:44.177+05:30Book Review | Gurgaon Diaries (Life Work and Play in Drona's Village)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7YnUXN_m4qiObmk1YaQbVeAVxHL6kW_vORbr4egoKBP2GWISuTFqE7FR4nIuhfj0yvb4Y8D4b1TkrCm3GVKOqBCeqkIiJ5kPbF9avQvpl5WFmVcKyzJ7uaClXrv-vt89_HJcbEJuI9E9/s1600/Gurgaon+Diaries_27Nov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7YnUXN_m4qiObmk1YaQbVeAVxHL6kW_vORbr4egoKBP2GWISuTFqE7FR4nIuhfj0yvb4Y8D4b1TkrCm3GVKOqBCeqkIiJ5kPbF9avQvpl5WFmVcKyzJ7uaClXrv-vt89_HJcbEJuI9E9/s640/Gurgaon+Diaries_27Nov.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Debeshi Gooptu's novel, "Gurgaon Diaries". Illustration by Kavita Singh Kale and graphic design by Mugdha Sadhwani </td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Title: Gurgaon Diaries </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Format: Paperback </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Genre: Humor </span></div>
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I have had the good fortune of interacting with the author on Twitter on many occasions and have been following her blog, <a href="https://gurgaon-diaries.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Gurgaon Diaries</a>, for quite some time now, which lured me to
her book. Being a fan of her writing, and trusting her to
lighten up my mood, I picked up the book on an otherwise dull summer afternoon
in Kolkata. Much to my expectations, the book did not disappoint. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For a Bengali, growing up in Kolkata, and then moving to a new
place is never easy. The person must come to term with the language, culture,
food, and people of the new place. Something similar happened to the author, Debeshi
Gooptu, when she moved to Gurgaon, from Kolkata, almost two decades ago, in
1999. The move from Kolkata to Gurgaon can be quite a culture-shock; but not if
you are the author. She takes it in her stride and spins a chain of free-flowing,
hilarious essays in her book which is divided into three main topics — Life,
Work and Play— in which each chapter talk about plethora of events with women,
kids, food, festivals, etc. are some of the striking themes in the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a>The book chronicles her love for city and points out its faults as
well. Having lived in the city for over twenty years, the author, by her own
admission, has seen the city grow from a “quiet hamlet in Haryana” to “a
leading IT services and industrial hub with third highest per capita income in
India”.<br />
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In her book, the author, dedicates a lot of pages to people from
her home state, West Bengal. The overriding essence is summed up in one of the
chapters, <i>“The fishmonger, the rickshaw puller and even the man at the
stationery shop — they are all the same. With the same coy smile, there’s a big
reveal, ‘Big sister. I am a Bengali!’ Ugh!”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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In another chapter — The Ladies of Gurugram — she has a clear
verdict: <i>“Gurugram women. Struck somewhere between myth and reality. Much like
the Village they inhabit. Outward trappings of fancy yet unbelievably archaic
inside.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The book is full of such amusing tales and anecdotes, with a
pinch of humor and satire, about things around her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you can almost visualize Gurgaon, with all
its idiosyncrasies, and our author, somewhere in the middle of all the activities,
is frantically documenting them all. The book cover pretty much sums up what the book is all about and credit must go to </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: center;">Kavita Singh Kale and Mugdha Sadhwani for coming up with this amazing design. </span> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I loved reading the book because it is honest. There is no
pretense in her writing, and she tells as she sees it. The book may not be a
piece of heavy literature, but a fun and light read which will make you smile. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-9306242927267088182018-03-24T09:00:00.001+05:302020-07-22T21:20:32.206+05:30Book Review | Based on Lies: Crimes of Love by Debarshi Kanjilal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznEpuPAwPSWxtHSj3KIO3cQpl6odvBF084UvXg2b8sln6hBD6EgrxXsMWa6orM8Kil5Pi7dwqBD57ZCcJO8J5-voMKgW2BdjhqinqM9i482ObZcsj4peZBHp0oOnjV6NGl1NVbZQHOnBJ/s1600/Based+on+Lies.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Front Cover | Based on Lies: It Begins" border="0" data-original-height="1554" data-original-width="989" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznEpuPAwPSWxtHSj3KIO3cQpl6odvBF084UvXg2b8sln6hBD6EgrxXsMWa6orM8Kil5Pi7dwqBD57ZCcJO8J5-voMKgW2BdjhqinqM9i482ObZcsj4peZBHp0oOnjV6NGl1NVbZQHOnBJ/s640/Based+on+Lies.jpg" title="Front Cover | Based on Lies: It Begins" width="406" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover | Based on Lies: It Begins</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Genre: Fiction, Thriller</span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Format: Kindle, </span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Language: English</span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Based on Lies: Crimes of Love, a first of the 2-part novella, by Debarshi Kanjilal, is a psychological thriller in which the story unfolds through a series of journal entries by Anurag Sanyal. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">It’s through his journal entries—replete with love, sex, betrayal, lust and crime—that the story moves forward, unveiling the dark and twisted world around him. The narrative revolves around Anurag Sanyal, his wife, Aditi, his ex-girlfriend, Niharika and a local café owner, Sindhu Burah, and the author introduces them in the most matter-of-fact manner: </span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">"<i>They all have lives of their own, and they all have a life equation with one another. And they each hide secrets darker than the other. They have all been involved in several violent crimes where they are sometimes the victim, sometimes the criminal, and sometimes an accomplice. There are no innocent people.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Anurag Sanyal is the protagonist and an interesting one too. He’s married for five years (though at one place it’s mentioned six!), lives in Calcutta, and maintains a diary. The author doesn’t reveal much about what he does for a living. And, barring the fact that he lost his parents at a young age, we are not informed much about his past either. However, the author does go an extra mile to portray his protagonist as “some heinous super-villain” in the mind of the readers: Anurag is bald, sports a stubble, wears glasses, and has a “<i>vicious cut mark running from about three inches above the left cheek leaving the left eye stitched half shut half open whether sleeping o awake</i>” …and just as you thought it can’t get any scarier, the author adds, “<i>this eye sometimes bleeds</i>” too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">The characters in Debarshi’s novella are tied together by a common thread of lust and betrayal. However, he should be credited for etching out characters which are similar in mind and yet so distinct in their own way. Everyone is either a killer, or a liar, or both. They all have a twisted story, a dark past, and that make for an intriguing plot. In the world of Based on Lies, nobody is spared—even a kid knows how to use a weapon. And the fact that all these criminal minds operate out of Calcutta (the city of joy) is rather ironical. </span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">There are two things that worked for me the most: a) the pace of the narrative b) the use of elements. Staying true to the genre, psychological thriller, the author manages to keep the tempo of the narrative same in all chapters, throughout the book. While there is not a moment of flourish, there isn’t a dull patch either—the story moves at its own pace which is engaging enough to make you turn to the next page. In addition, the use of imagery is also worth mentioning. The descriptions of the menacing sound of ceiling fan, the dirt-smitten table clock, the mysterious kitchen at the Eastern Delight are so vivid that they add to the eeriness in the mind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">The ending of the book is open, as Anurag is all set to embark on a new journey. He decides to keep the diary for Aditi to read. What Aditi will do with the diary we don’t know. And what will happen next is left for the readers to imagine… until the second part, Based on Lies: Unhinged, clears the air of doubt. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, it’s a nice book, well written, and definitely worth a read. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review: <a href="https://www.nayanbasu.com/2020/05/book-review-based-on-lies-unhinged-by.html" target="_blank">Based on Lies: Unhinged</a></span></span></div>
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Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com5Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-32303229464401420912018-03-21T11:45:00.000+05:302018-03-23T20:40:33.860+05:30Book Review | The Insider - Decoding the Craft of Cricket by Aakash Chopra <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover: Decoding The Craft Of Cricket | Pub: Harper Sports</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Paperback: 256 pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher: HarperSport</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Language: English</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I bought this book (The Insider - Decoding the Craft of Cricket) soon after its release mainly because I have been a fan of Aakash Chopra’s columns; and, not to mention, of his commentary, too. Unfortunately, I could never start reading the book immediately, and all for a long time it was sitting pretty on my bookshelf. However, I have read it now and I am happy to share my experience of the book. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Aakash Chopra is a familiar face in the commentary box. And, for those like me who follow cricket writings, would know Aakash can be trusted with his words too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In his third book, The Insider, Aakash Chopra tries to capture the various nuances involved in the game of cricket: how players think, what goes into making great players, what makes a player successful, how a player fails. He has shed light on mind games that go on between players and teams. What factors determine a player’s form? How a player should prepare for Tests, ODIs, and T20s. How certain players are successful and how some players are not? Why most teams succumb under pressure? </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">These questions are very familiar and often discussed in cricket discussions and debates. However, there are no easy answers to these ones. Aakash has tried to answer all the questions with élan. While doing so, he has managed to keep the flow and the pace of the narrative smooth and unhindered. There is never a dull moment because the author, through his experience, has shared interesting anecdotes and trivia to make the chapters interesting. And has succeeded with flying colors. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this book, Aakash has discussed, at considerable lengths, the rise of popular cricketers in this generation: their strengths, their weakness, how their mind works, the work ethics these great players follow, how they approach a big game, what makes them great, and what can young and aspiring cricketers learn from these greats.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This book is well suited for cricket addicts, aspiring cricketers, and people who want to learn various intricacies of the game. This book covers all angles of cricket—from how opening batsmen mentally prepare themselves before going out to bat to how bowlers visualize knocking the stumps of batters. That is where this book is a winner. Aakash takes you to a comfortable spot from where you can develop a different perspective about the game. He takes you to a point, which is beyond what meets our eyes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Readers, as they complete reading the book, will have a lot of learning and may be look at the game from a different perspective and be little more sympathetic to players. Because they try hard, but there is only one winner in a game.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Given that Aakash Chopra is primarily a cricketer who switched to cricket commentary and writing after his retirement from the game, his writing is top-notch. We, at least in India, barring a certain Mr. Sunil Gavaskar, do not have precedents of a cricketer gaining success in writing after retirement. Sunil Gavaskar has authored four books until now; Aakash has three titles to his name. This is one record of Gavaskar’s, he would certainly like to break, and he has the time and merit on his side. </span><br />
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Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com2Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-45864759824987652242018-03-20T16:03:00.002+05:302018-03-24T15:04:32.390+05:30Book Review | A Century Is Not Enough by Sourav Ganguly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front Cover: A Century Is Not Enough. Pub: Juggernaut Books</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hardcover: 296 pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher: Juggernaut Books</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Language: English</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While reading the book, A Century Is Not Enough, co-authored by
Gautam Bhattacharya, it was about reliving the past. A sense of nostalgia. A
Déjà vu. As someone who has closely followed the man from his first Test at
Lord’s (1996) to his last one in Nagpur (2008), watched every match he played
for India, read and heard every possible interview of his, followed his
commentary over years, I thought I knew it all in terms of his cricketing
journey. That was what I believed until I read the book. The book takes you a
lot deeper, into his mind. The mind of a cricketer, a captain, a leader.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Among other things, the book has many instances where it reveals new things
about Indian cricket and about players that played with Ganguly during the time.
The book covers his captaincy period (2000-2005) in great details, highlighting
what went behind the scenes towards making of a solid team that could compete
against any opposition anywhere in the world. The stories of building ‘Team
India’ are inspiring and they give us a sneak peek into the head and mind of an
Indian captain who kept the interest of Indian cricket ahead of everything
else.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For fans and lovers of the game, however, it might not seem enough.
As a fan myself, I would have loved to get a detailed perspective of the 2001
Test match against Australia in Eden Gardens. That match, for me, will remain a
special one because post that, things changed for Indian cricket. The book
could have had more details about what went inside the dressing room—the
thinking within the team, the decisions taken and the mindset players were in
while the match was on—and Sourav Ganguly would have had the best view of the
whole situation. </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">India won many games under him, and some of them
have been close matches. A little more insights into those close encounters, specially the 2002 Champions Trophy game against South Africa, NatWest Final in 2002 at Lord's, the World Cup outing in 2003, would have helped fans understand what goes on inside the minds of a captain when he is leading his country. However, despite all that, I thoroughly
loved reading the book. It was nice to relive the past, look back at an era where some
great individuals came together to take Indian cricket forward. And the man leading
the herd was Sourav Ganguly. In the book he says, “The day I became captain I
told myself this age-old policy had to change. Enough of romance. We needed to
get real. I wanted to build a bank of fit and strong fast bowlers and create a
new template”.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
<br />
If you are a Dada fan and followed Indian cricket during his tenure as captain,
this book is for you. If you love Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble,
VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan or any member of the
side during the time, this book is for you too. Because like a true leader,
Sourav Ganguly credits every member of his team at various stages of the book
for their contribution to Indian cricket.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Note: </span><span style="color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is not a review; however, it is a fan writing down
his first thoughts after reading the book. </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Dada talking to Barkha Dutt. Video </span></span><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">credit:</span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> Mojo Story</span></span></i></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Dada talks about cricket. Video Credit: Scroll</i></span></o:p></div>
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Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-84932087693685596732017-07-14T19:11:00.000+05:302018-03-23T11:13:40.156+05:305 Epic India-Pakistan Matches in ICC Events<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Wills World Cup, 2nd Quarterfinal, 1996</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">
For any Indian cricket fan, the 1996 World Cup is remembered largely for the 2nd quarterfinal between India and Pakistan, played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Though I was a little boy then, I vividly remember the key moments from the match.
With high-voltage tension, sledging, and brilliant performances, the match was a complete blockbuster. Batting first, India posted 287 runs on the board, helped mainly by the solid batting from Navjot Singh Sidhu (93 runs) and some late-over flourish by Ajay Jadeja (45 runs in 25 balls).
Then came the moment of the match: the ugly verbal-spat between Aamer Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad. Aamer started playing aggressively and looked in hurry to finish the match early. After smashing Prasad for a boundary, brashly signaled the bowler to fetch the ball. However, the bowler had the last laugh. Off the very next ball, Prasad bowled Sohail and showed him the way to the dressing room and the Chinnaswamy Stadium erupted. After Sohail's exit, Pakistan lost their way and eventually lost the match.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>ICC World Cup, League Match, 2003</b></span></span><br />
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This was during a time when Team India was led by Sourav Ganguly. And team had some of the big names in the playing eleven, who are now legends of the game. A day before the match, Sourav, while addressing the media at SuperSport Park, Centurion, labeled the match as the "Mother of all Games".
While batting first, Pakistan posted a challenging total of 273, thanks to the solid start from the opener Saeed Anwar, who was playing his last World Cup. They had Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar in their bowling line up, yet could not prevent India from registering their third consecutive win in ICC World Cup and securing a place in the Super Six.
The match is fondly remembered for the moment when Sachin Tendulkar cut a short, rising delivery from Akhtar for a 6 over the third man fielder! Sachin scored a brilliant 98, unfortunately falling short of a well-deserved century. India won by 6 wickets.
<b>ICC World Twenty20, Group Match, 2007</b>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Until 2007, India had won all matches against Pakistan in World Cups. But to beat them 3-0 in cricket was something unique and unheard of. After being sent to bat, India, with able contribution from Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni, and Irfan Pathan put up a par-score of 141 in 20 overs. Pakistan, while chasing, never looked comfortable in their game until Misbah-ul-Haq anchored the innings with a gritty half-century.
The match went till the last ball and ended in a tie, which saw the two teams fight it out in a bowl-out for the first time in cricket history. India eventually won the ball-out and the game 3-0.
<b>
ICC World Twenty20 Final, 2007</b>
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Just days after the nail-biting match at the group stage of 2007 World T20, India and Pakistan met each other again in the final of the tournament. The match saw a thrilling contest between bat and ball, and at the end the better team won.
Yet again, for the second time in the tournament, a match between the two teams went to the final over. To bowl the last over, the ball was thrown to a rather inexperienced and unknown Joginder Sharma, who became an overnight hero in India for his calm and composed last over heroics, while Pakistan's Misbah-Ul-Haq became a villain in Pakistan for his attempted scoop which cost him his wicket and his country the inaugural T20 World Cup. India won the match by 5 runs to lift the trophy.
The World T20 win changed Indian cricket thereafter in three major ways:
1. A new leader, in the form of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was born.
2. Leveraging on the success of the win, BCCI founded the Indian Premier League.
3. Style of the game changed, giving way to fearless and aggressive brand of cricket. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">
<b>ICC Cricket World Cup, Semifinal, 2011</b></span></span><br />
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The arch-rivals met again in World Cup 2011; not in the final, but in the semifinal. A lot of hype was created ahead of the match because both the Ind-Pak had made it to the semifinal and the match was to be played at Mohali, a venue just few miles from the India-Pakistan border.
With diplomats, celebrities, politicians from both sides of the border filling up the spectator’s seats in Mohali, the match was no less than a war. Owing to a brilliant show by the Indian batters and some embarrassing fielding by Pakistan, the match went in India’s favour with the host winning the game by 29 runs. Sachin Tendulkar, who was playing his last Word Cup, was adjudged the Man of the Match. </span></span></div>
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Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3716846639342921526.post-13477062509525226212012-06-02T21:22:00.001+05:302020-06-16T19:49:19.606+05:30Movie Review | Ranjana : Precious and Everlasting Experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Paray dhukle thang khora kore debo </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Boleche parar dada ra </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Onno para diye jacchi tai.... </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Ranjana ami r asbo naaa ……….</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The creator of this ageless song has come a long way since its composition about two decades ago. Now of course he is a renowned film maker in the Bengali film-industry. And his latest film, Ranjana Ami R Asbona, is successfully running in Kolkata theaters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Talking about the film, one must say - this is the best work of Anjan Dutt till date. When he made Bong Connection in 2007, it was a path breaking moment in Bengali cinema. I feel it helped change the face of Bengali Film Industry and people started to think differently. And ever since Bong Connection, there has been a significant drift in the main stream Bengali cinema, and new directors are experimenting with new stories, and as a result fresh thoughts and concepts are coming to the fore.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In his latest film, <i>Ranjana Ami R Asbona</i>, he has surpassed all expectations and come up with an exceptional performance, both as director and actor. Not often do you laugh, sing, feel happy and cry with the narrative flow of the film; Ranjana Ami R Asbona makes you to do all that. The notion of a young film has been completely rewritten by Dutt as we see four men in their mid-fifties (Anjan Dutt, Nondon Bagchi, Lew Hilt and Amyt Datta) rock the stage as a Bangla Band, only reiterating that when you have love, passion and urge for music, age can never be a barrier. This group of lusty, amusing, mad, irreverent oldies are good lovable in their ugliness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The baldly Gaanwala Kabir Suman, who is there as a guest actor, is another leaf who is still green in his sixties, and left music in search of more meaningful things in life. Surprisingly, this group of old men represents and portrays, at least for me, the essence of youth rather uncannily. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ranjana is very much a Bengali Film. The treatment, even though it may seem otherwise apparent, is Bengali. The typical north Calcutta home, where Abani Sen lives, symbolizes the cosmopolitan Bengali, who drinks whisky and talks about Rabindranath Tagore. The emotion of Calcutta is very well captured and the lyrical quality of the songs add value to each reel that has been rolled.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Amar akash ami jotoi hazar onno rong’e aki..akash se to neel theke jai </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Amar sada kalo ei sohor se to sada kaloi theke… jodio nongin neon jalai..</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>koto hajar hajar sorir amay roj chuye jacche..tader gondho amar naake mukhe gaye</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Niye cholchi ami tader lojja amar du choke...amay niye cholche j sobai .........</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anjan Dutt’s act as Abani Sen is a path breaking performance, and with this Dutt has raised the bar to such a level where we can safely say he is one of the best actors in the country. May be Anjan Dutt himself is unaware of the fact. Never ever has an actor/director taken so much responsibility upon himself and delivered it convincingly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This film surely is a precious, delicate and everlasting experience.</span></div>
Nayan Basuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09735178246358466140noreply@blogger.com0Kolkata, West Bengal, India22.572646 88.36389499999995721.6350005 87.073001499999961 23.510291499999997 89.654788499999952