Ignited Minds (Book) - APJ Abdul Kalam

Ignited minds is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read - a book written by scientist-patriot Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, who was the President of India and the best part is that he wrote this before becoming the President. I guess a whole book can be written or dedicated to the man’s achievement and ideas – the way he has lined them up here in the book is simply mind blowing. I wonder why this book isn’t publicized or marketed the way it should be – I read it almost after a decade and a couple of years more after its publication and feel like it should be made “Mandatory” for all the schools to add it as a part of extracurricular activity if not like a proper subject to study. If the young generation as Dr. Kalam claims is made aware of his thought process, ideas, theories backed by superb examples – we would have seen a different developed India in almost two decades (by 2020). It is indeed no surprise to me or to anyone what our country achieved under his superb guidance when it comes to Defense, Technology, Science, Agriculture etc and what more we could have achieved if all of his ideas were to put to use in real life would have been insane growth. Almost each chapter of the book works like an eye opener and made me wonder how in the world others couldn’t think of those simple ideas what he mentioned in the book. It’s a brilliant book from all standards and a breeze to read – I almost finished it (200 pages) in two sittings – highly recommended to all.

Love, Films And Rock N Roll (Book) - Swayam Ganguly

I have now finally finished it and it turns out to be one of those rare unputdownable (if that word exists) book that connected so well with me. It was tuff to put it down but I must tell you this that – it is indeed a fantastic read – totally hooking right from the very start and with the mere mention of Satyajit Ray (One of my favorite Directors / Writers) had got me glued to it. Oh my god! I had no idea what it was based on other than what the title suggested of course and as I have a habit of not reading reviews of books or movies especially the ones I plan to read or see respectively. But as the title suggests – if you’ve got anything to do with Music (As a hobby) especially Rock n Roll or with Movies – you are bound to love this one. Even the references and explanations are simply superb. I cannot claim that the writer is a friend but yes I can certainly brag that he is indeed a Facebook friend at least and I’d been fortunate to have couple of interactions with him on Facebook especially on our Bookaholics group. The way the characters talk, discuss and throw off the “Rock / Song Lines” from so many of my favorite rock stars is amazing – if you know what I mean? It’s totally out of this world experience and one more thing I should mention before I miss out – it became another of those rare books which didn’t send me fetching the dictionary as the author uses so many of those words we speak in our daily life – two of them deserve a special mention as I use them a million times a day – One is “Unfuckingbelievable” and second is “Kickass”. If you’ve read the book – I am sure it’s going to put a smile on your face and if you haven’t – time to pick up a copy and read it. Do not miss it at any cost. Highly recommended to Movie freak friends, especially the ones who love music too and have been in and out of love too at one point or another.

The Book: Story of three strangers Dipsy, Sunil and Sam who meet in a train journey to Kolkata and hit it off so well that they become friends for life. They all have their own separate stories to tell too and on top of that the set of friends that they have or family members itself makes up for quite an engrossing, hilarious, interesting, emotional, dramatic and thrilling ride too. Dipsy gets thrown out of IIT for possessing drugs which unfortunately doesn’t belong to him, inside he is a hardcore rockstar (Musician) who wants to make his own band and go national or may be international in due course of time – how his journey (And love story plus tragic family background) turns out is the rest of the story. Sunil is a FTII pass out who wants to make it big in meaningful cinema that too in Kolkata, how he goes through his topsy turvy ride makes up for another fantastic story (I totally loved this one as it had so many movie references from all over). Sam is an NRI working in the silicon valley in US of A – who comes to India as his family wants him to settle down (read get married), how his love marriage gets arranged is another fantastic story. There are so many superb characters in the story that I wish I could name them all here and even share what all they do but I guess that will be a little too much to disclose. It’s a commendable job by author to call it a first book – he has written it in such a wonderful way that the whole narrative was actually running like a superb visual on the back of my mind all the time. Especially that movie making part with Sunil at the helm of the things with a Superstar in lead and the way Dipsy’s band finally gets made and they start recording their songs etc – I could actually very easily visualize the whole thing as it was happening right in front of me.

The book also gives us quite an insight in the daily life of Kolkata – unfortunately I’ve never been there but wasn’t that tuff to imagine. I guess Swayam Ganguly (The Author) has fantastic knowledge of music as well as the way he has covered the whole “Baul Music” thing is totally commendable, I had no idea before I read his book about the same but now I know. I will call it a brave attempt to mention the famous casting couch of our film industry in his very first book and the references are solid – I wonder how they real people will react when they are told of this story. Although it’s a work of fiction but I am sure even the author won’t deny the people he has pointed out as its too obvious who he is talking about (but it does makes the story more interesting and keeps the reader smiling ear to ear). Also he is a big big Rock fan and so I am – almost all of the names and songs that he has mentioned in the books are a permanent part of my rock collection hence it made more sense to me, some of the lines that he has quoted – I literally sanged along aloud to which my wifey called me “crazy to have found a perfect book” with lyrics. I can go on and on and on about this one but will end it here with a note that you’ve got to read it big time. I am going to share it with couple of my friends who have those things in common with me and am sure that they are going to love it too – just the way I did. Also, I will look forward to his next whenever that may come out.