BRAToSPHERE

Tag: review

  • Arranged Love – Book Review

    After reading a lot of heavy books of late, “Arranged Love” by Parul Mittal caught my eye at the Mumbai airport. Browsing through it generated some interest and the price point just demanded an impulse purchase from me.

    Was it worth it? Read on.

    Arranged love is a very common concept in India where arranged marriages thrive and everything from the shaadi ka mandap, baraaat, khana, peena and rona dhona can be arranged, including love.

    The plot? Well, it is one more in the chic lit series without much of a plot and which more looks like an autobiographical account of the author.

    Actually, I think, the genesis of all such books is aspirational. Every individual has this dream version of his/ her own life and because that is not happening in the real world, a book is written on the same. Obviously the usual masala of sex, love and some rona dhona is added to make it saleable or rather publish worthy. Penguin ain’t picking you otherwise.

    Coming back to the book, it is about a female protagonist who is studying in the US and dating an American. She comes back to India due to the recession where the whole drama part starts. Her Dad wants to set her up and her mom wants her to settle down – both want her to get married to the IIT boy they have selected. Lot of happenings, office romance, Drunken stupors later we come to an end of the story. What happens in the end is anyone’s guess, but well I would not want to spoil the suspense.

    One thing that I loved about the book is the characterization of each of the characters which has been etched in detail that you feel that you start relating to them.

    Different frustu characters in the office and the male protagonist being shown as a superstud, the elderly sister who has complete clarity in life and the completely opposite cousin who wants to experiment with everything sex on it. At the end of the book you feel you have known them all for sometime now.

    The whole treatment of the plot with Hinglish slang again makes you feel completely at Home

    The video ad for the book : http://youtu.be/yyFv3ddiB1o

    Would I recommend this book? Well, if you fly frequently and hate sleeping during the flight, this book can make for good company.

    By the way is the next book called “Love Arranged!”. Would make for an interesting read.

  • Movie Review – Jan 2013

    January was on hectic fun month. I was out of Mumbai for nearly 16 days out of the total 31 days of the month. I have been travelling like crazy, across the country, from Delhi to Rajasthan to Hrishikesh/ Haridwar.

    Well, amidst all this I did manage to catch up with a couple of movies and TV series. Travel is the best time I tell you.

    • Matru ki bijlee ka Mandola

    Directed by Vishal Bharadwaj and Anushka as the lead actor, I just had to see this one. And I was not disappointed completely. A political satire on land grabbing and the nexus between the Rich ( very well played by Pankaj Kapur) and the politicians, it was outrightly humorous since the beginning. Completely watchable. Well, Imran Khan was passable.

    6.5/10

    • Inkaar

    The first time I saw the print ad of the film in Economic Times, it did raise my curiosity. A hindi film having a full page colour ad in a business newspaper is new. The film was a lot of hype and no substance. A delicate subject of harassment at Workplace could have been dealt in much detail, but it is rather turned into a romantic film by Sudhir Mishra. Can be missed, unless you want a sneak peak into the stereotypical advertising world.

    5/10

    • SVSC

    Though it is been near to six years that I have left Andhra, I have been pretty much updated with Tollywood (Thank you bro!). I have been a complete telugu movie buff and this one has Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu in one film. Do I say more? WATCH IT.

    9/10

    • SEINFELD SEASON 1

    Started watching a couple of episodes late night on Star World and realized it has been lying on my Campus Hard Disk from long. I immediately downloaded it upon my IPAD and now it has become my best companion during travel waiting. Outrightly funny. Should watch.

    9.5/10

    • Game of Thrones season 1 and 2

    I got hold of the high definition version of this series through a friend in Delhi. Though I am not much into fantasy, this one did manage to catch my attention after a couple of episodes. The author manages to create a completely imaginary world, filled with life like characters and everyone battling for the coveted throne. The photography is just mind-blowing, and the war scenes remind one of LOTR. Now, waiting for the Season 3 to start. You can also check out this site for additional information about Game of Thrones.

    8/10

  • Maaza Pongal – Ad Review

    I have been in Marketing for the last one and a half year, and in FMCG for the last three and a half years.

    During campus days I did a lot of ad reviews, but since then have consciously avoided the same worrying conflict of interest. But this one is just too likeable.

    For once, a multinational company has managed to strike a chord with the psyche of the traditional Indian consumer and is hugely successful in being a part of his culture.

    The latest Maaza pongal ad in south Indian languages.

    Maaza Pongal Ad

  • Delivering Happiness – Book Review

    About two months ago, browsing through my book shelf on the IPAD, I came across this wonderful cover – a big huge cardboard box being lifted by a person. This caught my interest and after realizing that this is the Zappos story, it just got me hooked.
    My passion of e-commerce and my preferred book categories – autobiographies, immediately took me to start reading the book.
    Tony Hsieh, candidly starts off from his childhood where, in his words, he admits that he was not what you would call a model student. He preferred reading a magazine rather than learning to play a musical instrument that his parents had him enrolled for.
    Right from a young age, the entrepreneurship bug had bitten him, and he details the earthworm venture that had failed before it had even started.
    His advertisement for a magic kit, generated only one order, but that did not loosened his spirit by a bit. In Harvard, he had figured out how to make money selling food on campus.
    His brief stint at oracle after campus is something that most of us would relate to. A normal job, being restless, finding it tedious and being drawn towards entrepreneurship – these are the things that I keep hearing from most people my age.
    Delivering HappinessLinkExchange, his first major business, which was a mix and match of a clever idea eventually got sold to Microsoft for 265 million dollars. This sale came with the caveat that he had to be a part of the company for a year.
    For a brief period of time, after the sale of Linkexchange to Microsoft, Tony dabbled with poker, investing and other things when Tony realized his real passion lies in building companies.
    In spite of the risk of losing the money, and trading a chill life, he again got back into business costing him 8 million dollars!
    This book is less about the e-commerce business company, and more about the great culture that he managed to imbibe into the organization. Today, without a doubt, everybody would agree that zappos is more known for its winning culture rather than the business of selling shoes.
    From day to day decisions that would be on the mind of any startup entrepreneur – whether to hold inventory or outsource it? To bigger life decisions like – sell off everything that he owned to put into the business, the book details it all out.
    From the beginning days of zappos itself, Tony was clear that the USP of the company had to be its “World’s best customer service”. The call centre reps had just one KRA : WOW the customers. And they did, in turn getting more orders and generating wide reaching word of mouth.
    Within a decade, Zappos hit a billion dollar in sales, and was the numero uno in online shoe selling. Eventually Amazon bought over the company for 1.2 bilion dollars and this particular chapter is detailed out with clear alacrity from the author. Reading this one, you actually feel a part of this whole happening and by then you start relating to the company as if you have been a part of it for a long time.
    The whole book is cleverly structured into three parts – Tony’s childhood till he starts looking after Zappos, The Zappos Story and finally Tony’s lessons in public speaking and public relations and the core that is within Zappos.
    The most important take out from the book is the chapter on the core values that make up the soul of zappos.
    Delivering happiness, as Tony Hsieh points out, is the single corporate mission for the company.

  • The Krishna Key – Book Review

    I was an avid book buyer till recently. Yes, a book buyer. At any point of time, there would be at least five unread books on my table. And none of my travel packing was complete without stuffing in two – three books at least. Even if it is a two day trip.

    This was about six months back. Then I got the IPAD and things never remained the same. A majority of books I have read this year are in the e format.

    But then, The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi had to be an exception. The e format book was not released alongside the main book, and I wanted to lay my hands upon it as soon as possible.

    I had read Ashwin’s previous book Chanakya’s Chant sometime last year, and had loved it. Ashwin has this unique style to blend history and draw parallelism with present day life in an efficient manner making it an entertaining read.

    The book is very well researched, and the footnotes at the end of the book just prove it. There is a lot of information, and every conspiracy theory ever heard of finds it way in the book.

    The Mahabharatha story has very nicely been integrated into the beginning of each chapter in a brief and concise manner.

    Anagrams, coders, decoders, word puzzle – are all plenty in this book and have been used very intelligently. (No Wonder Ashwin Sanghi chose to use the pseudonym Shawn Haggins for his first book!)

    In the initial parts of the book, it is very fast paced and prompts you to turn to the next chapter by building a good suspense every now and then. As the book progresses, the data becomes so tedious, and everything seems to be placed so conveniently that you lose track of the main story.

    The convoluted screenplay adds to the woes. Characters enter and leave without a purpose, and it all seems like a set play narration in front of you, with the belief factor decreasing with every chapter.

    I know it is a fiction story, and is not supposed to be focusing a lot on believability, but then random happenings and planned heists, cannot be passed off as coincidences so many a times.

    Ashwin has used all the conspiracy theories ever to have surfaced in this realm, and mixed them all into a story. He seems to have ensured that he uses all the mail forwards ever done.

    The story in a nutshell – a young man, is led to believe that he is the Kalki – the final avatar of Krishna (also known as Vishnu in Indian mythology) and is on a murderous rampage to seek the secret.  Professors get murdered, bike and car chases Ensue, deceitful dealings occur, and it all ends like any popular Hindi Movie ending.

    The high point of the book is the teachings by Lord Krishna to Arjuna during the war. The gist of the Bhagwad Gita is explained in a very succinct, to the point format.

    This has actually now provoked me to read the Bhagwad Gita from the beginning.

    Overall, the verdict is, if you have read Chankya’s Chant or the Rozabal line and liked it, there are chances you might like this book as it follows the same pattern of story telling.

    For those of you who have not read any of the author’s two earlier books, you should definitely give this book a try just for the way the story is treated.