God is a Gamer - Ravi Subramanian

Ravi Subramanian has an innate ability to stitch a wonderful plot using the current happenings in the financial sector. Though i have read only a few books of his, I am quite surprised by the speed at which he releases the books. 

While I was reading the book, I remembered the screenplay of the popular (still!) sitcom- FRIENDS. There always would be two stories running parallel to each other in the same show, that keeps the audience engaging. The same thought process was employed by the author when he took us through the events in Washington and Mumbai. The chapters are divided into small pieces and the flow is also quite smooth. 

The author failed to engage me in the second part of the book where the plot seemed hazy. Where the author largely fails is the portrayal of side characters. The death of a popular character, which found space in all the books i have read, was given a shabby treatment. 

The climax of the book, which is revealed inside a CBI office was more akin to a cross over of melodramatic movie of yesteryears against the backdrop of CID. A decent read if you are looking to pass time for 2-3 hours, otherwise it is a let down.

Ford Vs GM - Contrasting Fortunes

The news feeds coming out of Detroit - an aging and soon to be erstwhile capital of Automobiles, encapsulate the extremes. The top two auto companies, General Motors and Ford Motor Company are hogging the bandwidth of automobile news for different reasons. Ford, which will soon undergo a leadership change, is making all the right noises for nearly half a decade now. General Motors, in contrast, is being embroiled in one controversy to another.

It was during the Great Depression, that General Motors took the number uno position from Ford. It is ironic that, it took another depression-like state of the economy for reversal of fortunes. Though GM still holds an upper hand in terms of volume as compared to Ford; as we roll into the twilight of this decade, that landscape is poised for a change.  

Nearly a decade ago, both the companies, and largely the whole of auto industry, were at cross roads. The economy, at that time, was booming; but one could feel the stress it was put into. Everyone knew that the bubble was about to explode, but everyone was having too much fun to care! 

What got Ford into the drivers seat, was the decision they got in 2006 when they appointed an "outsider" in Alan Mulally. Mulally drove home a simple plan of "One Ford", unifying Ford's global market under the Blue Oval. A wise man once said - " For success, you need to spend 5% percent of time in strategizing  and 95% of time in execution". Mulally, it seems, was communicating the same. From the decision to forgo the Federal money and to sell off or minimize the holdings in non-Ford brands, Mulally's plan began fructifying since early part of the decade The bourse in New York, goes on a cheer when the ticker reads symbol "F". With a market cap of now $161B and $7B in profits, Ford has regained its glory days.With a more streamline and globalized vehicle production, Ford is poised to leap further. Dubbed as the savior of the "American Icon", Mulally's name will be whispered in the same breath of that of Steve Jobs. 

In contrast, GM has faced steady headwinds for quite some time now. May be they were slow to recognize the impending and looming crisis, both inside and outside the company. For the past decade, it has seen four leadership change as compared to one at Ford. One leadership change, the ouster of Rick Wagoner was explicitly asked by the Govt of United States which was pumping money at that time to keep the behemoth from a wipe out. The final bill stood at close to USD 12 Billion. Situation was desperate at that time for GM, that  it explored the possibility of merging with the other two of the Big three-on different occasions. Going into the new decade, fortunes hasn't turned around to that level of Ford's. It returned to profits in the early part of the decade; but the expenditure of $12B on GM will be remembered as a dark spot which will take some time to rub off. 

The current trips, outside of Detroit, of the two firms CEO's has parallels to the current state of the firm. Alan Mulally will bid good bye to Ford, is glob trotting for farewells and earning the appreciation and good will of its employees. In contrast, Mary Bara is trotting to Washington to appear before sub-committees and earning their ire over the mishaps of faulty ignition switch. Barra, a lifer herself at GM, has promised to change the "deep underlying cultural problems" at GM - the same that Bill Ford recognized a decade ago at his firm. May be she will take a leaf out of Mually's book or seek his advise. Now that Mulally has time from July 1st, but he will be "slow" to oblige if GM comes calling! 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

This book is an endearing story of Harold Fry who goes on for a "walk" of several thousand miles to Berwick-upon-Tweed. The purpose of the walk was to say one final goodbye for a certain Qunnie Hennessy,who is the final stages of cancer. His flimsy will takes a concrete form during a talk with a garage girl, who spoke about one of the dying feelings in all of us - faith.

The author effectively sketches the characters that Harold Fry meet on the road during his course of the journey -ear lending landlords, concerned travelers and friendly bartenders. Most of them lasts not more than two-three pages, but each of them leave a distinct feeling of benignity. Throughout the journey he keeps updating his progress by sending postcards to Qunnie (though she cannot read) and buying small gifts for her, the girl in the garage and his wife - Maureen.

The pilgrimage serves another purpose -some serious introspection by Maureen. Her marriage with Harold had reached a cul-de-sac. The sudden departure of Harold rekindles the warmth in their marriage and the reader knows that there is at least one happy ending.

During the journey, Harold had the company of other "pilgrims" who join him for this noble cause.Here, it seems, the author borrows heavily from Tom Hanks movie "Forrest Gump". Though this adds variety to otherwise a unidimensional story line, the author sticks to it for too long. The story drags in the end when his pilgrimage comes to an end; but the takeaway is how the journey stays in your mind.

As Ernest Hemingway rightly puts it - It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.  

Flash Boys - Michael Lewis

The book generated a lot of interest in the media circles about High Frequency Trading- a partial reason that made me read this one; and the other reason being that I am consuming books with a sign of Wall Street in it.Let us assume that the lion has just killed the deer and is about to relish the the first bite, before which the vulture swoops in to take the rest of the carcass. HFT are those vultures who are powered by high speed connections (we are talking about microseconds here) and better algorithms.

Flash Boys is well structured and begins with how the characters first notice their inability to trade the shares available in the market and not able to trade at the price that the ticker shows on their screens; how they dig deep and uncover the mask of HFT and then their efforts to build an extremely complex man-made ecosystem -Stock exchange, to defeat it. Throughout the book the author,a  critic of HFT, shows us ways on how HFT were beating the system without losing the interest of the reader with all the jargon involved in it.

The author makes a great effort to bring simple parallels that makes easier for the reader to understand without getting lost in the quagmire. An odd spoke in the wheel is the story of Sergey Aleynikov - a former GS programmer who was wrongly convicted, shows up in the end for no discernable reason.

Going by the news, it didn't have any major upheaval on Wall Street. HFT are exploiting the loopholes in the system, not committing any felony which makes me wonder why the author is such a vocal critic for them. All in all, a decent one time read. The author though fails to bring out the drama and urgency that is usually in the menu of any Wall St related writings.

The Fault In Our Stars - John Green

I had heard about this book for some time; and had seen it stacked up in the book store I frequently visit. The synopsis of the book entails the funny, thrilling and the tragic business of being in love and death  where the protagonist is a cancer inflicted teenager -seemed to me a run of mill book. Some wise guy, (I don’t know who, so for now let it be me) said – the book will always find you. I have read some amazing books of late, but more often than not I would know what the book will offer. I was pretty sure that “The Fault of Our Stars” will fall in that category – I was wrong.

The center-piece  of the story is the innocuous friendship turning into love story of two terminally ill teenagers – Hazel and Augustus , where they first meet in a support group through a common friend, Issac who has his eyes cut out because of cancer in the middle of the story. My sudden interjection of Issac’s condition may seem insensitive but that’s where the beauty of the narration lies, through the voice of Hazel Grace. The staccato mixture of dark humor and raw emotions makes the reader wanting for more. The narration of the book is so lucid and yet so sudden in some places; the reader will hardly feel the jolts as John Green takes the turns the story in gentle twists and turns.

Sample this:

Augustus and Hazel were travelling in plane to Amsterdam and just after the plane takes off,  Gus dug into his pocket and flipped open his pack of smokes

About 9sec later, a blond stewardess rushes over and said – “ Sir you cannot smoke on this plane. Or for that matter any other plane”

Hazel explains: “ The cigarette is a metaphor. He puts the killing thing in his mouth but doesn’t give it the power to kill him”

Flummoxed, the steward  says “ Well, that metaphor is prohibited on today’s fight”

You don’t know whether to laugh or sit there dumbstruck.  It is just one of the instance where the reader does not know which way to lean. But there are many more samples  of Hazel and Gus story, where the reader will laugh, and be dumbstruck at different places.  The book did not make me cry, but it definitely made me to think.

Augustus stepped towards him and looked down “ Feel better?” he asked

“No” Issac mumbled, his chest heaving

“That thing about pain is” Augustus said, and glanced back and me

“It demands to be felt”

The book demands to be felt.

Taking Selfie to be Declared as a National Sport

In  what can be seen as a bid to woo young voters, a leading pro-Nationalist, pro Secularist, pro Mo..err  party added Selfie to be the National Sport in their manifesto. Anvit Shah, the campaign president, spoke to yours truly while on his way to meet the alliance partners to float this idea. 

" We need to look forward. Building parks and grounds are now ideas of yesteryear. The current government included Sachin Tendulkar to boost sports in India. Kuch hua? India loses all away tours, and to divert the attention, BCCI includes IPL in the agenda with a promise that an Indian Team will take the Cup. I know it has come true in the past 6 years, but India deserves change!"

" But Sir, how will construct Selfie as a National Sport? On what basis winners will be judged?" 

" See, here we will take help of Social Media like Twitter. The one with maximum number of retweets will be one of the dimension to consider. Selfies of ladies who don't pout will get a place in Dilli's National Museum as they are now to be considered an endangered specie." 

"Thank You so much Sir for taking some time off to talk to see. I don't know whether this will be enough to woo 40,000+ young  and first time voters (no, it does not RaGa or Shah Rukh Kahn). May be if you can add the removal of Last Seen at feature from poor man's BBM- Whatsapp to the manifesto, it will catch some eyeballs." 

American Icon

“You love reading book, how come you have never read this?  I advise you to read it soon. I will a copy to you if you want it!” – words or rather strong advise from my manager when he found that I haven’t gone through his gospel! 

Though I was intrigued to know how the company weathered the financial crisis which had swallowed behemoths ,  the author’s disclaimer that he was given full access to what transpired in the 12^th floor of the Glass House got my alarm bells ringing.  Chances were high that Ford would have vetted the final draft, exclude the bad part and paint Allan Mulally and his team as the saviours of American Icon. This was not the case to be. The book has a no-hold barred approach towards a compelling narrative of how Bill Ford plucked Alan Mulally to save the company of his forefathers.  Each rumour, substantiated or unsubstantiated, was recounted in the book.  I was surprised to read the overtures that Bill Ford made to the  “rockstar”  Charles Ghosn; or the whipping that Congress gave to CEO’s of Big 3, which was recounted in an unabashedly manner.  

The narrative starts with a discourse on the history of Ford and its journey of being a smooth operation company to an unmanageable behemoth. The author keeps the narrative succinct in this part and dives right in to the plague that Ford suffered in the early part of the previous decade.   The dogged approach of Bill Ford  and Joe Laymon to get Mulally to join the team is a compelling part of the book.  The misgiving of the management to see a “new” guy at the helm and how Mulally’s style of functioning compelled them to tailor their activities to the CEO’s needs; and eventually synergize to the CEO’s vision. The author and the company, to their credit, did mention the shortfalls of some of the senior guys in the company but  in that process painted Mulally as a superhero who could do no wrong.  That was a bit hard to digest.

The book tells all the chess moves that Mulally makes to not only weather the crisis but also to change the culture of the company. The gazelle like approach to have more liquidity at hand even before the bubble burst was one of the key ingredient of the foresight that make a good manager to a remarkable one. The book though loses steam at the second part of the story and falls flat when the crisis is weathered.

Mulally efforts remind me that of Steve Jobs’ who also turned around the company with his own signature management style. Though Steve was more of an insider at Apple as compared to Mullay at Ford; historwill salute Alan Mulally to save not only Ford Motor Company, but in many ways the whole of Auto Industry.

Sycamore Row

In a trademark Grisham style,the book directly jumps into the story without beating too much around the bush. Seth Hubbard, a multi-millionaire decides to commit suicide and leaves a "handwritten" will which bestows 90% of the booty to his housekeeper. The protagonist, Jake Brigance, is chosen by Seth to execute his wishes. Of course,the family of Seth contests the will. 

The book, not a sequel of "A Time to Kill" as the book claims, reprises some familiar  characters in Sheriff Ozzie, attorneys Harry Rex and Lucien, Jake's family et al. A Time to Kill was definitely one of the better books by Grisham and if you think you are sitting down with Sycamore Row with a similar anticipation,i have two words for you - mindless drivel. 





Grisham, in his latest installment, has definitely lost the plot and sorry to say but also the art of storytelling. Every nook and corner of The Black vs The White story line has been used to the point of abuse as a story line and this book is a testimony of that. Loud characters like Booker Siriruk and Harry Rex offers a glimmer of hope, but it quickly fades away.   

The climax is very flimsy and very unrealistic. Grisham true power lies in letting the story go through natural course; this time it seemed he forcefully changed its course. 

As an ardent fan, i am not in pain in saying - Mr Grisham, you disappoint. However it does give me pain in saying - Mr Grisham, you disappoint, again.  

The Cuckoo's Calling

It does take some special skill to write something anew – for an author to reinvent herself and bring something different off her shelf. JK Rowling tried it unsuccessfully with “The Causal Vacancy” but comes roaring back with the latest from her pot – The Cuckoo’s Calling. 

For me, the book is a reminiscent of Harry Potter series, not because there is any trace of the wizard, but because she again transports the reader to the streets of London and makes you believe that the reader is the protagonist.When it comes to reviewing a criminal fiction, I tend to be cautious for letting in too much information which might result in Spoiler Alert! Therefore I just skim the surface for this post. 

 The characters are well defined, and thankfully few – something that was amiss in her second book. The story meanders in the middle but it all fits in the climax – something that manages to hit you in the face. Welcome back to the arena Mrs Rowling – this time in the form of the disfigured war veteran Cormoron Strike. 

National Items :)

National Wildlife - Mosquitoes

National Food - Maggi

National Employer - TCS

National Dress - Lungi

National Footwear - Crocs

National Couple - Chaai and Sutta

National Endangered Specie - Corrupt Free Official