Book stack

November, 2018 archive

Book review: Of Aakash and Aarti by Dr Govind Sharma 0

Many people lead a very sheltered life , where they only read about drug addicts in newspapers and magazines, they have no interaction with them at all. However in places like goa, tourists from all over india are flocking to the state to experiment with different drugs, and the media reports the death of tourists due to drug overdose periodically. These drug addicts and their associates are responsible for a lot of crime in goa, and are allegedly involved in the repeated robberies and burglaries of many homes, including that of the domain investor in panaji, goa.

In their desperation for money, the drug addicts of panaji, are stealing everything including low value items costing Rs 300 or less from homes in panaji, goa and the police in goa refuse to take any action against them. So the book “Of Aakash and Aarti” is a rather unusual story , since the narrator of the story Aakash is a drug addict who is hopelessly addicted to different kinds of drugs. The author has provided a very comprehensive insight into the life of drug addicts, who do anything to get money to pay for the drugs which they consume, and are often deeply in debt. The book provides a glimpse of the life of the addict, how they get addicted and lack the willpower to kick their habit.

The drug addicts are involved in robbery to get money, and it is relevant in places where drug use levels are high, because of these addicts increase in crime rates stealing whatever they can, and people feel very unsafe. For example in panaji in 2018, it is difficult to keep anything valuable. in panaji areas/homes where cctv cameras are not installed , because the addicts are using masterkeys to steal everything. In a similar manner, Aakash in a desperate bid to pay his drug supplier, steals money which is offered in the temple by devotees since he is the grandson of the temple priest, who is highly respected in the area.

The book has described the network of the drug peddlers very well, how they use drug addicts to increase the number of drug users, using them to introduce their classmates to the drug peddler. The drug peddlers are experts in human psychology, they know how to manipulate young people and make them addicted to drugs. The linkage of the drug peddlers and the cricket betting mafia is also exposed. To repay his debt, Aakash is persuaded by his drug peddler to place bets on cricket matches. However he loses the bet, doubling his debt to the peddler, who then torture him, to repay the amount.

The book also provides insight into the life of rich men, how beautiful young women like Aarti can seduce them and make them do whatever they wish. Basant Somani is the richest industrialist in Rajapur, where most of this novel is set, and though he is married to the very good looking Rajeshwari Devi, a Miss Kolkatta, he is always enjoying himself with beautiful women who know how to seduce him.Taking advantage of his weakness for women who seduce him, the young Aarti who comes from a poor family, seduces him and becomes very wealthy in a short period of time. This is particular relevant in the indian internet sector, where top ntro, raw, cbi employees are seduced by call girls and good looking women like school dropout gujju housewife naina,sunaina, siddhi, riddhi, veena get them raw/cbi jobs falsely claiming that these women who do not spend any money online, own domain names, including this one.

It is one of the first books on notebandi or demonetization, describes how rich people converted their black money into white. It appears that jewellers were the preferred option for converting black money into white. Also a large number of unemployed youth were used by drug peddlers to convert their money. Out of jealousy, Rajeshwari Devi, gets Aarti arrested after her expensive ring is stolen, yet Basant Somani gets her freed indicating that powerful and wealthy men are willing to do anything for the young women who seduce them. The book has a rather unexpected ending.

Like all the earlier books of Dr Govind Sharma, this well written book is very readable and realistic, so it is highly recommended for those who have not interacted with addicts anytime in their life, yet live in areas like panaji, goa where the crime rate is high due to drug use.

Of Aakash and Aarti
Author: Dr Govind Sharma, IAS, Retd
Publisher: Notion Press, 2018
Pages : 194
Author review copy

Review: The Surrogate Lies by Shantanu Munshi 0

The book Surrogate Lies is unusual since it is the story of trip to a wildlife sanctuary. The story is narrated by a writer paul who is originally from a small town Khargone in Madhya Pradesh and leading a fairly boring life in Mumbai, barely making enough to cover his expenses. While traveling by train in the Mumbai, he meets Hazare, a consultant. They immediately get along well, and Hazare invites Paul to accompany him on a trip to the Gir Forest in Gujarat, which his client Mr Merchant has been inviting him top for some time. Like Paul, Hazare is also single and is looking for company.

Along with Hazare, Paul sets off for the Gir forest on the trip and they are accompanied by a person Raj who is the owner of the sports utility vehicle. The book has a fairly interesting account of the road trip in India, where the person traveling are always monitoring the distance covered, to find out how much longer they will take to reach their destination. Raj drives the vehicle at a high speed and the vehicle breaks down in between. While having the vehicle repaired, they meet a foreigner whose two wheeler also has broken down. They offer to help the foreigner by offering him a lift, and they together reach Gir. He has also described the preparation for the trip and the food available at roadside dhabas well.

At Gir, they meet the forest department staff, and they realize that Ben is a wildlife expert who is closely working with the forest department to catch a gang of poachers. Their host at Gir, Mr Merchant is extremely rich and has a reputation for eccentricity. Though he is not present at Gir, when his guests reach it, he makes suitable provisions and arrangements so that his guests get a warm welcome at the tree house. Mr Merchant is a good judge of character and has hired a very efficient lady Padma to look after the tree house, and the hospitality of the guests. The adventures of this group in the Gir Forests are described in the rest of the book.

The book is interesting since it describes the life of single self employed people with no romantic interests fairly accurately. The adventure in Gir Forests is also described in great detail, so most nature lovers will enjoy the book.
“I got the book as a part of the review program in Outset

The Surrogate Lies
Author: Shantanu Munshi
Publisher: Half Baked Beans Literature, 2017
Pages: 227

Kindly note that google, tata supplied goan call girl sunaina chodan, siddhi mandrekar, fraud housewife riddhi nayak, gujju school dropout housewife naina, nayanshree hathwar,veena, asmita patel and other fraud raw/cbi employees, their associates are not associated with the website in anyway, though the fraud ntro employees led by mhow cheater puneet, j srinivasan, parmar, patel, vijay are making fake claims so that their lazy greedy girfriends can get a monthly indian government salary without doing any work, without investing any money online, at the expense of the real domain investor, who is working like a slave since 2010, in a clear case of modern slavery of the indian government
This disclaimer is posted only to prevent further fraud