Tushar Mangl

List books as I like to call them are gaining quite popularity these days. Like a collection of short stories, these chronicle lives of people based on a common theme. Author Rashmi Bansal specializes in them with all of her bestseller books based on this model. My Life My Rules comes from the same publishing stable as later of Rashmi’s books have been delivered.  Author Sonia Golani has picked up a peculiar theme, people who have had unconventional careers. She has compiled stories of 18 such individuals who according to her have led a life on the offbeat path rather than going to regular jobs. But what defines an unconventional career? To me, an engineer who takes up a job at a bank selling insurances is an unconventional career. A doctor going on to clear IAS and becoming an administrator of cities and villages instead of taking care of sick is unconventional. Yet we see so many such people in our daily lives. Individuals, who never really prepared for what was going to...

I have been planning this post for a long time. But my laziness to write and Mulayam Singh Yadav's laziness to pull the rug from under the government has caused continuous delay. You see, every time I decide to write on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, I think that the govt will soon fall, every regional party leader is saying so, then why not wait for the announcement before writing all about it. Anyway, so most probably elections will happen in the later part of 2013 or early 2014. If left to Dr. Manmohan Singh, whose lust for power (or comfort of his chair) is well known, he will delay the outcome to the last minute. But people on the opposite side are already getting restless. Even if the BJP is not saying openly, their candidate is most probably going to one Mr. Narendra Modi, currently the Chief Minister of Gujarat, a prosperous state in the western part of India. From the Indian National Congress would come a trusted scycophant who shou...

Tantra by Adi For years vampire stuff has been a successful ingredient for many bestsellers in the developed world. Many authors have achieved fame and recognition on this genre. But all that has been in the Americas and the European countries. Tantra by Adi, is a great effort in using the fascination with vampires in an Indian landscape. Not a simple task, but Adi has done a great job with it. The chief protagonist of this story is Anu Aggarwal, who battles vampires for a living. Her personal reasons (mysterious death of a closed one) makes Anu leave New York for New Delhi.  In Delhi reside answers to her questions about her boyfriend’s death. India is by no means easy for Anu to adapt in.  She likes to wear leather which is impossible to wear in the New Delhi heat. Used to slaying deadly vampires in States, here she finds a comfortable relationship between the Guardians and the Vampires. This is the point where the story takes an unexpected turn. For India is home to mo...