The Vault of Vishnu - book review

The Vault of Vishnu
by Ashwin Sanghi
Genre : Fiction

"One cannot avoid death unless one is already dead.Even then one cannot avoid the endless cycles that follows." 

The above quote from the novel is so apt and comforting in these Covid-19 time.

The novel starts brilliantly in Doklam and with a lot of promise. But Sanghi doesn't meet the reader's expectation as the pace just doesn't slowdown but almost stops before it picks up for a while before it is again brought down to a painful trot. The author kills you slowly as he strays away from the main story to narrate  Xuanzang's travels to India which lasted for over 19 years. This completely breaks the pace of narration as it keeps to start,long stop, start, long stop formula.  Sanghi could have easily used a single sentence or at the maximum a paragraph or even a page to reveal why Xuanzang's  travel was important just as he did it for Faxian's travel to India or Bodhidharma's travels to China.

I had hoped this novel would beat his Chanakya's Chant but it is worse than his Krishna Key where at least the pace was good with extremely well formed characters. Also, the author doesn't understand the difference between AI and genetic mutation which he seems to confuse while writing the book. I laughed out loud when I came across his explanation of the name Ikoalikum, the head of the mysterious tribe. Sanghi must have used Google translate to translate I Akankaramazhikum would have made more sense but I had to remind myself Sanghi probably doesn't know Tamizh or have Tamizh friends. Also he has hurriedly tried to cover everything just because of Doklam conflict and Xi's visit to Mahabalipuram.

The only good thing about the book is Hanuman. Strange I should be writing this on Hanuman Jayanti. The ending is almost satisfactory but getting through the book was a challenge. If you like challenges and since we are in a lock down, you might try reading the book.

Don't Tell The Governor - book review

Don't Tell The Governor                                                                                                                     by                                                                                                                                                                          Ravi Subramanian

Genre: Fiction

If you are wondering why the Indian economy is tottering, this would be the book to read. It explains how the autonomous Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came under the thumb of the current Indian Govt. by establishing the Monetary Policy Committee that removed the RBI Governor’s veto power, the printing of currency notes by a British company, the IPL fixing scandal, terrorism funding and how all these are connected.

The author tries to explain a whole lot of current events in simple English instead of banking language and this includes demonetization. This makes the thriller interesting but the protagonist is caught in a honey trap while the crooks get away making the ending bland. The pace is fast and if you like puzzles, you can try decoding the names of the people who the author is referring to in his book. I love puzzles, so I was stunned by what I found. For India watchers, the events described would be familiar but for others who are not familiar with political and economic events, this might be just a thriller.

The writing is simple and clear. The author explains how banks work, what are NPAs, etc. in a way that even ordinary people can understand. While Indian media did not give the kind of attention they should have to Panama Paper leaks, the author does and explains money laundering, why diamond jewellers seem to be fleeing the country including a jeweller who was a former IPL team owner and also a gold Ponzi scheme runner, etc.

Is the system being cleaned? The answer appears to be no as India appears to have replaced the system with an even worse system.

If you wish to buy the book click  HERE