Love across borders edited by Naheed Hassan & Sabahat Muhammad

"Love across borders" edited by Naheed Hassan & Sabahat Muhammad. This book is published by Indiareads at smashwords in 2013 and has 91 pages.

As you might have guessed, it is a collection of short stories of love across borders, mainly India and Pakistan.

'That 70s Babe' is story of one sided love of a Pakistani with a beautiful Indian girl. Who is she?

'Serendipity' is the story of an Indian girl who loves a Pakistani man. Will they be together?

'One stupid comment' is a story set in future, post war that ended the modern world.

'Anjum' is a Pakistani bride of an Indian man who becomes good friend of an Indian lady.

'Dressed to kill' is a simple but beautiful story that touches you. Probably the best in this book.

'Best friends forever' is the story of two girls, once best friends but separated, who meet on Facebook years later.

'Lost and found' is story of Dilip who tries to find his college friend Parvez in his old age through internet.

'Twelve months' is the story of a Pakistani widow of an Indian man and how she clings to his memories.

'An unlikely Romeo' is story of Romeo and Nafisa who meet in London.

In 'The long interval' a mysterious person contacts old Suresh through Facebook. Who is it?

In 'The old willow' a Pakistani and an Indian meet in a pub in USA. What will they discuss and how will it end?

'Tenements of a rainy day' is a brief encounter of a Pakistani leaving USA and an Indian couple who have recently arrived.

Love, in this book, is used in a broader sense. It is love between friends, a lovely gesture towards strangers, an amorous affair, a goodwill gesture or even an argument.

Concept of book is good. Writers are from both sides of the border and some who stay elsewhere. Message is of love and peace. Basically saying we are all the same.

A number of stories use the social media to reconnect with old acquaintances. Unfortunately all these stories are bunched together causing successive repetition of idea.

I liked 'That 70s Babe', 'Dressed to kill' & 'The old willow' most.

It's different. Read it for a change.

For complete review, please visit:
Mandar's Book reviews 
http://mandarbookreviews.blogspot.com/

The Avenger by Juggi Bhasin

"The Avenger" by Juggi Bhasin. This book is published by Penguin India in 2013 and has 508 pages. This is Book 2 of Suvir Suri series.

Sikandar Khan, a dreaded Pakistani terrorist, executes a horrific terrorist attack in Delhi and manages to escape. A group of grieving industrialists, fed up with the impotence of government, decide to take the situation in their hands and commission a mission to find and eliminate Sikandar. Person chosen for the task is Suvir Suri.

Why is Suvir hiding in forest with Kalpana? Will Suvir accept?  Who will help him? Will he succeed? Will he be released from pain?

This book takes Suvir to Pakistan. Not once, not twice, not thrice but four times. Start of the book is very interesting but after Suvir's entry the story drifts in the general direction of conclusion without a purpose or conviction. It stays that way till the mother of all terrorist attack against India is launched by Sikandar in Pakistan. Here onwards the story picks up pace and becomes interesting again.

The climax is thrilling, action packed and interesting. A thrilling movie can be made out of this book. Author has used the trick of 'revival of incapacitated' twice. It was avoidable.

There are a few incongruencies and deficiencies in the story. They raise certain unanswered questions. Why snipers were not deployed when NSG commandos attacked the plane? How can Suvir fall in love again? Why does the journalist Ipshita decides to help Suvir? Why Nazish, a low level surveillance officer, is allowed to talk to an Indian asset. How Sikandar musters support of armed forces and all the terrorist organizations?

The book might have become more interesting had it been a few pages shorter and had the middle portion been crispy. Even without it, it's a good thriller.

If you have read first book, read this. Third one is already released.

The Gurkha's daughter by Prajwal Parajuly

"The Gurkha's daughter" by Prajwal Parajuly. This book is published by Quercus in 2014 and has 304 pages.  It's a collection of eight stories.

'The cleft' is story of Kali, a black servant girl of 13 with a cleft lip & her master, a widow when they travel to Birtamod for a funeral.

'Let sleeping dogs lie' is the story of Munnu, a Bihari Musalmaan paanwala, in Kalimpong who is losing money due to a kleptomaniac daughter of a rich man. What can he do?

'A father's journey' takes us through the journey of a father and his daughter from age six to age thirty in Gangtok.

'Missed blessing' is a story of a young jobless engineer staying with his brother and grandmother in Darjeeling. It's a day in his life when western Christians purportedly try to convert him and unwanted relatives come for Tika ceremony and stay at his house stretching his resources.

'No land is her land' is story of Anamika, an ethnic Nepali Bhutanese from Phuntsholing who is a refugee staying in Khudunabari Nepal and who has a chance to migrate to America.

'The Gurkha's daughter' is a beautiful story set in Kathmandu. It's a story about two little girls who are best friends.What happens in their emotional worlds when transformations take place in their lives?

'Passing fancy' is the story of a recently retired mother's perceptions in Gangtok whose children are in America.

'The immigrants' is the story of a well to do Nepali Indian working in Manhattan and his Nepali maid who unknowingly becomes his good friend.

As the name suggests, all the stories are of Nepali people (Gurkha) living either in Nepal, Bhutan or India (BTW, the book was published in America). These are the stories of common Gurkha people, their poverty, plight, difficulties, issues, emotions, thinking, transitions and ups and downs in their lives.

All these stories are about feelings, emotions and perceptions, be it a small child, an army man, an immigrant, a retired lady, an unemployed youth or a common person. The steak of immigrant or displacement appears frequently.

An interesting aspect of the book is that, in each story the author has given a part map of the Gurkha area which includes India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh identifying the city where the story takes place. It helps in understanding the ambience.

Of all these stories, I liked 'The Gurkha's daughter', 'Let sleeping dogs lie' & 'The immigrants' most.

Read it for it's different perspective.

The third world war by Humphrey Hawksley

"The third world war" by  Humphrey Hawksley.

As the name of this book suggests, it's a fiction thriller. Book opens with an attack on Indian parliament on ground and by air. Pro US president of Pakistan is assassinated. There is Islamic uprising in South Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei. North Korean conventional missile strikes American airbase in Japan. An attempt is made on the life of Prime Minister of India. North Korea is in possession of nuclear warheads and biological weapons.

This book does not waste time in preamble. There is action from the word go. Characters are developed during the action and crisis. This is something new.

The author has demonstrated very good understanding of global politics, it's intricacies and fine balance required while making important decisions. He has predicted how each country and it's leadership will react in extreme situation. The book shows how world leaders think only about their country but still call themselves world leader. The speech of Russian President at the informal summit of important head of state is marvelous and sums up world politics precisely.

Some things however seem strange like president of Pakistan deciding to drop bomb on India in person or easy murder of America's national security advisor or character of Lazaro Campbell that acts as field operative and emissary of US president simultaneously or character of Hasan Muda who can breach the security of any country at will.

However the author seems to have lost the control some what after the nuclear war starts. The buildup to the nuclear war is excellent but the actual nuclear war is covered very quickly and author has given a miss to the opportunity to make it more interesting and dramatic. Readers wonder why the author chose to miss this opportunity and preferred to keep it vague, leaving so much to readers imagination.

Behavior of head of states during war sums up authors views on respective societies. American president comes out as unimaginative. Indian Prime Minister as most humane and nonaggressive. Chinese president as intelligent but who does not have absolute power. Russian president as wily. English prime minister as surprisingly firm. Japanese Prime Minister looking to regain pride. Pakistani and North Korean presidents demonstrate brinkmanship.

First  half of this 514 pages long book is unputdownable, second half is good but not unputdownable.  Recommend reading.