Dilbert: Maybe I’m unlucky in love because I’m so knowledgeable about science that I intimidate people. Their intimidation becomes low self-esteem, then they reject me to protect their egos.
Dogbert: Occam’s Razor. Dilbert: What is “Occam’s Razor”? Dogbert: A guy named Occam had a rule about the world. Basically he said that when there are multiple explanations for something the simplest explanation is usually correct. The simplest explanation for your poor love life is that you’re immensely unattractive. Dilbert: Maybe Occam had another rule that specifically exempted this situation, but his house burned down with all his notes. Then he forgot. Dogbert: Occam’s Razor. Dilbert: I’m an idiot. Dogbert: I don’t think we can rule it out at this point.
I was up early as usual for cycle ride and saw one tweet from ‘Blogadda’ saying review “Chanakya’s chant – by Ashwin Sanghi”.
I was absolutely clueless about this program as well as who ‘Ashwin Sanghi’ is. But as usual the word ‘Free’ (Book) and the name “Chanakya’s Chant” was too tempting to go ahead and signup for ‘Review books for free‘ program by Blogadda.
And let me tell you this is one of the best books I’ve read on political fiction as well as giving glimpses of ‘Kautilya niti’ by Chanakya.
Throughout our childhood we have heard stories of Chanakya’s famous oath –
‘I will not tie my tuft of hair until I uproot the whole Nanda dynasty and establish dharma in magadha. Rulers like you have spoiled Bharat. The tuft of hair which you arrogantly pull now will be like a serpent which comes back to bite you.’I started reading this book on the same note and wanted to know more and more about how exactly Chanakya went on to fulfill his oath.
Parallely, the novel also tells the brilliant fictional tale of Gangasagar Mishra, a brahmin from Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), who decides to mentor Chandni Gupta, a little slum girl from kanpur and groom her to become prime minister of India.
The modern age plot talks about time has come for ‘Shakti’ to rule the Bharat and how Gangasagar Mishra goes ahead and carry out his plans in Chanakya style.
Essentially two parallel stories are interwoven talking about how ‘Kingmakers’; Chanakya in 340 BC and GangaSagar Mishra in today’s India went on to carry out their plans and got their prodigy at the highest position in our country.
The similarities between 360 BC and 21st century has been carefully and beautifully woven. The transition from Chanakya’s time to the current time is fluent at almost all the times.
First story where the great strategist Chanakya plots akhanda bharatvarsha under one single umbrella, some of the brilliant strategies have been revealed. We all have hailed ‘King Pauras’ as one man who lost the battle against ‘The great alexander’ but won Sikandar’s heart by saying ‘Treat me like a King treats Another.’ This book actually speaks about what was the ambition of Pauras and how his ambition/ego was nurtured in a very systematic way by Chanakya to ultimately sideline him and make ‘Chandragupta Mourya’ as the king of the Magadha.
The story gives glimpses of brilliance employed by Chanakya to handle various kingdoms and their ambitions and how he ensured that everyone agrees to make ‘Chandragupta’ as king of Magadha. He deployed ‘Saam, Daam, Danda and Bheda’ neeti to get the approval from all others.
Saam — Art of persuasion by reasoning
Daam – Monetary allurement (i.e. playing with greed of people)
Danda — The principal of punishment to get an agreement
Bheda – Art of division/creating disrupt in enemy’s camp
Similar strategy is deployed by Pundit Gangasagar Mishra to throne Chandni Gupta as the prime minister of India.
Both stories also tell us that people have to make lot of sacrifices to achieve what they really want to achieve in life.
Sometimes I really really admire the way ‘we love sacrifices and we hail those who have sacrificed something’. Our obsession with sacrifices ……
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has interest in history and political fiction. Brilliantly written. On another note, I liked his style of writing and I’ve ordered ‘The Rozabal Line‘ by Ashwin Sanghi.
The central mantra of the book, the Shakti mantra, has been set to music by a very talented composer Ameya Naik and recited by Kushal Gopalka.
The music track can be listened to or download FREE as an MP3 at http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/79857
Just downloaded and read first chapter of the book and let me assure you this is really looking a great trilogy.
Update: Finished reading ‘The secret of the Nagas’ and let me tell you it is much better and gripping than the first book ‘The immortals of meluha’.
In this book a great secret of the secret about ‘Nagas’ is revealed and in the process everywhere it is mentioned that ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ are nothing but two sides of the coin.
The secret is maintained in a very gripping manner and you cannot put down the book unless you finish it.
I was super tempted in between to directly read the last chapter as I could not hold my anxiety. Thankfully I avoided the temptation of directly reading the ending.
Go get your copies quickly here.
This book can be ordered from flipkart at 35% discount. (Rs. 192 against the original Rs. 295/- )
Order here –> (It is officially released now.)
This book introduces two new prominent characters like ‘Serpent queen’ and ‘The serpent with the Aum Symbol’. All mythological references are very beautifully interwoven and new logical meaning is provided. Awesome is the word from my side.
I would any day prefer reading about Shiva Trilogy than reading/watching any other series. (be it harry potter/indiana jones).
Couple of trailers for the secret of the nagas:
Sati :
Somras : My personal favourite trailer. (Somras: The Elixir of Immortality, The Drink of the Gods)
Much awaited Book 2 in Shiva Trilogy after the huge success of The Immortals of Meluha. (I think first time in indian fiction history someone is allowing pre-order option for books. I may be wrong on first time part.)
Today, He is a God.
4000 years ago, He was just a man.
The hunt is on. The sinister Naga warrior has killed his friend Brahaspati and now stalks his wife Sati. Shiva, the Tibetan immigrant who is the prophesied destroyer of evil, will not rest till he finds his demonic adversary. His vengeance and the path to evil will lead him to the door of the Nagas, the serpent people. Of that he is certain.
The evidence of the malevolent rise of evil is everywhere. A kingdom is dying as it is held to ransom for a miracle drug. A crown prince is murdered. The Vasudevs – Shiva’s philosopher guides – betray his unquestioning faith as they take the aid of the dark side. Even the perfect empire, Meluha is riddled with a terrible secret in Maika, the city of births. Unknown to Shiva, a master puppeteer is playing a grand game.
In a journey that will take him across the length and breadth of ancient India, Shiva searches for the truth in a land of deadly mysteries – only to find that nothing is what it seems.
Fierce battles will be fought. Surprising alliances will be forged. Unbelievable secrets will be revealed in this second book of the Shiva Trilogy, the sequel to the #1 national bestseller, The Immortals of Meluha.
Characters:
The Shiva Trilogy abounds with a wide variety of characters. You would have heard of many of them in the Indian myths. A few of them however, are completely imaginary. The key characters that drive the story are listed below.
Shiva: Shiva was the Chief of the Guna tribe at Mount Kailash, before he decided to emigrate from his Tibetan homeland. In ancient North India, the land of the Sapt Sindhu, Shiva was recognised as the prophesied destroyer of Evil due to his Neel Kanth, his blue throat.
Sati: Sati was the princess of Meluha and the daughter of Emperor Daksha. Despite being a princess, she was discriminated against as a Vikarma – a carrier of bad fate – which made her an untouchable. Undeterred by this, Shiva wooed and married her.
Daksha: The Emperor of Meluha. He was the prime mover of the project to find the Neelkanth.
Parvateshwar: The strict and law-abiding Meluhan General was an ideal Suryavanshi. He did not believe in the Neelkanth legend initially. However, he did come to believe in the personage of Shiva, becoming one his most ardent devotees.
The Naga with the serpent Aum symbol: Note from Amish: Sorry guys. I cannot say anything about him till after you have read The Secret of the Nagas. But he is one of the most interesting characters of the trilogy for me.
Nandi: A Captain in the Meluhan army. Nandi is the man who discovers the Guna tribal who becomes the Neelkanth, Shiva. Nandi remained amongst Shiva’s most loyal followers throughout his life.
Bhagirath: The Prince of Swadweep and the son of Emperor Dilipa. A pragmatic and brave man, we will get to know him much more in The Secret of the Nagas. He has an important role to play in the trilogy.
Anandmayi: The Princess of Swadweep and the daughter of Emperor Dilipa. Passionate, mercurial and intelligent, Anandmayi makes for the perfect Chandravanshi.
Bhadra: Brave and loyal, Bhadra was a member of the Guna tribe and Shiva’s childhood friend from Mount Kailash. He travelled with Shiva wherever he went.
Krittika: Krittika was the handmaiden of the Meluhan Princess, Sati. She eventually fell in love with and married Bhadra, Shiva’s childhood friend.
a) Encourage gifting of saplings on birthdays/auspicious occasions
b) Encourage your child to plant and take care of sapling
c) Gift yourself a sapling on 15′th august/26′th jan/1′st jan
d) Re-initiate lost/forgone relationship by sending saplings
e) Every year when you are renewing or buying your insurance (Life/Car), plant a sapling
f) Plant few saplings in memory of lost ones
We are looking for distributing and plating at-least 10000 Saplings in mumbai in 2010.
We went live with our first Sapling Project distribution drive today at Shivaji Park.
We shared around 120 saplings (Neem, Ashoka, Herbal Creepers) to friends who signed up, Housing Societies in Shivaji Park, General Public .
We also planted a few saplings at the Scouts Pavilion.
Would like to thank all the people both Online and Offline who Tweeted , RT’d , Blogged, Invited others on the Facebook & turned up for the cause and volunteered for The Sapling Project.
Thanks to Neeraj, Priyanka, Raxit, Priti Special thanks to Maithili & Shalaka.
A big thanks to all those who contributed in sponsoring the Saplings.
Amidst the current problems faced by tiger woods in his personal life, last thing he could have expected accenture to do is put some really funny photograph of his on their homepage.
I mean nothing is wrong with the photograph … the timing of putting it on website could be weird …
It could not be intentional .. However tag line is absolutely apt : Opportunity isn’t always obvious
