Immortals of Meluha

Amish Tripathi takes the concept - what if Lord Shiva was not a God but a man like us who became a God - and develops it into one of the best Indian books to come out in a long time. This is the story of how a Tibetan tribal leader became the most revered, respected, feared, loved and admired legend and how Lord Shiva - Mahadev and destroyer of evil came into being. It deals beautifully with the myths surrounding the legend.

This book presents lord Shiva as a young tribal leader in Kailash Mansarovar, -a chilled out guy- whose favorite pastime is to smoke marijuana with his friend. The book follows his journey to a city called Meluha which is ruled by the descendants of Lord Ram.

The book presents a beautiful juxtaposition of the perceived good and evil; the “by the books” and “the free spirited”. The author does a remarkable job in narrating the story by treating the mythological characters with logic. For example the character Nandi is not actually a bull but a person from the bull caste.The story is fast paced and interesting. Amish manages to keep the reader completely engrossed. The best part of the book is that it makes almost all the God legends into possible human beings who achieved greatness and contributed so much to society that story tellers made them Gods.

'The Immortals of Meluha' explains how Lord Shiva got Nandi, a blue throat and the Trishul. I am eagerly waiting for Amish's next two books and his view on the rest. Keep an open mind and take Amish’s writing for face value.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP8Qzv2r3iI

Is it a matter of taste!!!???!!!!

I enjoy my share of the slap stick comedy and jhakaas action that is mainstream hindi cinema, but what is it this year I wonder, that the hindi movies are particularly crass and lack any sensibility whatsoever. I mean its just gone downhill from Housefull, Kites, Khatta-meetha to the recent much awaited Dabangg .
Dabangg is particualy bad, especially after Salman's last movie -Wanted- this new venture has no storyline, good actors wasted in nonsensical roles and an awful villian. The dialogues are so bad that I feel it takes a certain kind of talent to come up with such boorish language on screen. But what is most disturbing about this movie is that it appeals to a section of the educated audience. I cannot understand why people would spend hard earned money and precious time watching such trash, why would anyone for that matter applaud it. Well I guess in the end it comes down to a matter of taste or maybe it’s just Salman all the way.

Passage of Time

Didnt realise that its been 6 months in Ahmedabad -an interesting 6 months at that- seems like the time just flew by. I realised how much 6 months had accomplished when I met baby Krish today, he was the youngest one on campus when we had come in April. This little angel who would do little much but smile and sleep. I remember holding him for the first time. This little fellow has grown into this beautiful baby who smiles and loves to touch and feel things trying to get to know everything. Its like he is the best symbol of the passage of time here, a new life, a new being ready to learn and to explore.