The Bottom Line by author Sonu V C

Life and its perennial question: Does this Life have a purpose or is it a flash in the pan- one time journey?

The West has always seen this life as an isolated incident and hence to be enjoyed to the hilt with all materialistic and sensual pleasures. The East has an almost inbred-into-blood culture of Karma-Rebirth-Soul theology.

Author Sonu V C tries to bridge the gap between these two philosophies in his book “The Bottom Line”  ( ISBN code:,978-93-82417-19-4)  and published by World Book Company Pvt Limited (www.worldbookcompany.com). The author writes from the perspective of a born Eastern and educated in the Western outlook. He clearly states that he is not a ‘Guru’ and so this book is not a know it all solution to your grief and angst.

Usually Self Help and Philosophy genre books come with a step by step guide on how to change your life pattern. Not so with this book. Here the author poses the questions, points to his experiences and encourages you to do your own introspection.

First Section: Why Birth?, The author starts the book with questioning the purpose of our births and the absence of a definitive answer to the same.  Along with the perennial question of purpose of life, the author also juxtaposes the futility of all the various frenzied activity a human being indulges in through a life time, without understanding the end goal.

Second section: Avatar or Angel, flounders around trying to amalgamate the philosophy of East with the practical approach of west. Needs more exploration.

Third section: Practical lines, tries to put the solutions towards resolution of the angst into a MBA type terminological approach.

Fourth section: Bottom Line, further divided into 4 subsections, tries to give you a practical approach life style analysis and rearrangement encouragement.

This book is a definite must read for the youngsters of today, especially our educated ones…. And if possible the message be spread via the practical approaches suggested in the book. This book seriously encourages you to introspect.

Author Sonu V C

Book: “The Bottom Line”

ISBN code:,978-93-82417-19-4

Publisher: World Book Company Pvt Limited (www.worldbookcompany.com).

The Immortals of Meluha by author Amish Tripathi

Book: The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva trilogy 1)

Author: Amish Tripathi  (www.shivatrilogy.com)

Publisher:  Westland Ltd

ISBN: 978-93-80658-74-2

The Shiva is a series written by author Amish Tripathi.
The Immortals of Meluha is an allegorical novel about Lord Shiva. The novel is set in prehistoric India and subtle hints to the hero being Shiva.

In a very nice allegorical story, Amish Tripathi, explains the origins, 'pre-fame' activities and the reasoning behind personality of Shiva. Very beautifully interwoven into a fictional action story.

Story depicts that start of the legend Shiva and his Naga tribe, the reason behind his blue throat, his odyssey from the Himalayas , his meeting Parvati interwoven with nice prehistorical India.

A very very interesting concept. Very nicely depicted by Tripathi. Absolute gem of a basis and a story.

My only grouse with Amish is that in some scenarios (with scientists or warfare) he goes into too much of explanatory mode, almost as if the author is not crediting his readers with any imaginative intelligence.
And also, the absolute fantastic and strong story line sometimes goes very weak and silly. 

But maybe i am being too harsh, because the story basis is so strong that it has been selected to be converted into a major Bollywood film. 

The cover of the paperback is so awesome that i would buy the book just for the cover.

I am glad that i did buy both the books of the series.  I eagerly await the third book.
I also await the film or hopefully films.

Keep on writing Amish Tripathi.

Ken Follet- Winter of the World

Book: Winter of the World.
Author: Ken Follet.
Publisher :MacMillan
ISBN 978-1-4472-1189-1


Ken Follet is a legendary writer of action novels.

He usually has a hero who is an anti hero with sterling qualities. Stories are usually set in and around the WWII, with few exceptions.

His excellent novels i would rate as - Eye of the Needle, On Wings of Eagles and Triple.

His command over actual geographic locations with the mood and mentality of the local people depicted is usually flawless. The action takes a long time to build up and the climax is nail biting.

Then this foray into a very complex novel about multiple families and personalities, their lives entwined and enmeshed in WWII scenario. The rise of the Reich.The consequently ensuing clash of multiple nations.

And amidst all this the depiction of teenagers growing up to harsh reality, their changing life circumstances, how fate deals them hands they never imagined.

A well researched and written book in his forte genre of WWII.

The only grouse i have with the latest presentation from the pen of Ken Follet is the presence of too many characters and plots and sub plots in the novel. This makes the reading very confusing at times and too much going back and forth in trying to place the characters.

Book A very good arrow from the quiver of Ken Follet.