Truth is not always true

There is an old Indian story about Truth. It seems that in ancient times a brash young warrior sought the hand of a beautiful princess. The King, her father, thought the warrior was a bit too cocksure and callow; he told him he could only marry the princess once he had found the Truth. So, the young warrior set out on a quest for Truth. He went to temples and to monasteries, to mountaintops where sages meditated and to forests where ascetics scourged themselves, nut nowhere could he find Truth. Despairing one day and seeking refuge from a thunderstorm, he found himself in a dank, musty cave. There, in the darkness, was an old hag, with warts on her face and matted hair, her skin hanging in folds from her bony limbs, her teeth broken, her breath malodorous. She greeted him; she seemed to know what he was looking for. They talked all night, and with each word she spoke, the warrior realized he had come to the end of the quest. She was truth. In the morning, when the storm broke, the warrior prepared to return to claim his bride. ‘Now that I have found the Truth’ he said. ‘what shall I tell them at the palace about you?’

The wizened old crone smiled. ‘Tell them, ‘she said, ‘tell them that I am young and beautiful.’

So, Truth is not always true; but that doesn’t mean Truth does not exist.

This article is an excerpt from the book “Bookless in Baghdad” by Shashi Tharoor. You can check out this book here- https://goo.gl/ZKovv9
Know more about me @ www.shashiprakash.in 

Review: "The Secret of the Nagas" by Amish

Book: The Immortals of Meluha

Author:  Amish

Type: Fiction 

Pages- 371

Publishing house: Westland Press

This is the second book in the series and just like the previous one, doesn’t disappoint you a bit. The characters are more vivid but there are too many characters. Sometimes you may need to flip pages behind or check the “List of characters” page to recall the person being talked about. Though that’s not an issue at all. The fiction unravels skin by skin as every chapter is consumed by the reader. It keeps you off the edge and doesn’t make it boring. Though there are certain grey areas where you may find yourself willing to skip pages. The compelling writing style dozes off sometimes but in a whole, it is as good as the first one. As Anil Dharker had mentioned and I quote “Furious action jumps off every page”. It is true to the verbatim to the most of extent. The incidents are written with detailing and have been paid attention just like the first one. The mythological characters have been introduced and given spin-offs to accommodate them in the storyline. For instance, Parshuram has been introduced in the latter pages but his history of parents has been penned completely different. Though in the text, he is an adamant follower of Shiva; does carry battleaxe resembling much to that of Sixth Avatar of Vishnu, Parashurama; have parents named Jamadagni and Renuka and similar few more attributes. But the character in the text has been given a slightly different history to match with the story line up. The prose is like the previous one. Many other issues have also been dealt in this book and they have been handled beautifully. Sati and Shiva do have interesting chemistry though there comes a moment when they have rough patches too.

‘Shiva…’ pleaded Sati. ‘Please don’t go. Please…’

Verdict: The second part is also as good as the first one. The story line up has been knitted very finely. Perfect pinch of masalas has been added to the recipe throughout the book and overall what you get is a satisfying repast. Amish does let you wonder what may have happened next and you surely crave for the rest of the story written in the 3^rd part. So just go for this one too.

Will be completing the next part soon and will review it here itself. 

Review: "The Immortals of Meluha" by Amish

Book: The Immortals of Meluha

Author:  Amish

Type: Fiction 

Pages- 417

Publishing house: Westland Press

I wish I could tell you and convince you about how wonderful this book is!!!!!!!! 
In short, It is just beautiful. The words are easy to comprehend. Prose is quite easy to understand and doesn’t challenge the literary knowledge of an individual.

The story revolves around Shiva who is a Tibetan immigrant to Meluha. 

I will try to make it as simple as possible. Human civilization was not as great as it could have been. People were more selfish, and Lord Ram who was a Suryavanshi, tried to establish truth and justice. He even succeeded to some extent. Though Chandravanshi had evil intentions and they were trying to disturb the balance and harmony of the society. Lord Ram, being mortal, did as much as he could in his lifetime but couldn’t establish his ideals throughout and across the country. Though, the legend said that Neelkanth will carry on the unfinished task of Lord Ram. Neelkanth will transform all of India in line with the ideals of Meluha- a land of truth, duty and honour. His leadership can help suryavanshi end the Chandravanshi crisis once and for all. All the agonies will be over, and the unfinished task of Lord Rama would be completed by the chosen one. But how they will identify Neelkanth? According to Meluhan Legend, Neelkanth will be a foreigner. He cannot be Meluhan or from the Sapt-Sindhu. And that his throat will turn blue when he drinks the somras. Somras is a magical drink that allows human to live for centuries and more. Shiva drinks the somras under certain circumstances and the Meluhans come to know their Messiah.

The story also revolves around Sati, the daughter of the emperor of Meluha. Shiva or Neelkanth does fall in love with the lady. Their chemistry has been handled very well by the author. There is just the adequate amount of attention that the duo should receive and prevents the work from being called a book about love.

The book is not only about mythology but also addresses many other issues like untouchability, women empowerment, love, caste system and much more. Overall this book is a treat and repast for all the book readers and they are really going to enjoy this one. The initial pages may be bumpy, but the rest of the plot is as smooth as butter. It has got a compelling narrative style. Though the prose part is a bit less literature oriented but the story telling is much more commendable and that may compensate for the literature part.

The battle scenes have been written with detailing and attention. The warfare mechanism does remind of movie like Bahubali. Though the book was released earlier than the blockbuster. :D The next 2 books in the series were also well received, though I will try to let you all know my thoughts about those in recent weeks. 

Verdict: Meanwhile, I may just advise that “Immortals of Meluha” is definitely a book that every shelf in the world deserves a place to be kept as of now.