Tushar Mangl

List books as I like to call them are gaining quite popularity these days. Like a collection of short stories, these chronicle lives of people based on a common theme. Author Rashmi Bansal specializes in them with all of her bestseller books based on this model. My Life My Rules comes from the same publishing stable as later of Rashmi’s books have been delivered.  Author Sonia Golani has picked up a peculiar theme, people who have had unconventional careers. She has compiled stories of 18 such individuals who according to her have led a life on the offbeat path rather than going to regular jobs. But what defines an unconventional career? To me, an engineer who takes up a job at a bank selling insurances is an unconventional career. A doctor going on to clear IAS and becoming an administrator of cities and villages instead of taking care of sick is unconventional. Yet we see so many such people in our daily lives. Individuals, who never really prepared for what was going to...

I have been planning this post for a long time. But my laziness to write and Mulayam Singh Yadav's laziness to pull the rug from under the government has caused continuous delay. You see, every time I decide to write on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, I think that the govt will soon fall, every regional party leader is saying so, then why not wait for the announcement before writing all about it. Anyway, so most probably elections will happen in the later part of 2013 or early 2014. If left to Dr. Manmohan Singh, whose lust for power (or comfort of his chair) is well known, he will delay the outcome to the last minute. But people on the opposite side are already getting restless. Even if the BJP is not saying openly, their candidate is most probably going to one Mr. Narendra Modi, currently the Chief Minister of Gujarat, a prosperous state in the western part of India. From the Indian National Congress would come a trusted scycophant who shou...

Tantra by Adi For years vampire stuff has been a successful ingredient for many bestsellers in the developed world. Many authors have achieved fame and recognition on this genre. But all that has been in the Americas and the European countries. Tantra by Adi, is a great effort in using the fascination with vampires in an Indian landscape. Not a simple task, but Adi has done a great job with it. The chief protagonist of this story is Anu Aggarwal, who battles vampires for a living. Her personal reasons (mysterious death of a closed one) makes Anu leave New York for New Delhi.  In Delhi reside answers to her questions about her boyfriend’s death. India is by no means easy for Anu to adapt in.  She likes to wear leather which is impossible to wear in the New Delhi heat. Used to slaying deadly vampires in States, here she finds a comfortable relationship between the Guardians and the Vampires. This is the point where the story takes an unexpected turn. For India is home to mo...

On Children by Kahlil Gibran Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Mukul Deva is being hailed in the literary circles as the next big thing in the Indian thriller writing world. Perhaps truly so, as one after one his books hit the bestseller mark with ease. During my recent travels I read his recent book R.I.P – The Resurgent Indian Patriots. The book is about vigilante activism in the center of which is retired Colonel Krishna Athawale and his K-Team. Sounds like Liam Neeson’s A- Team, doesn’t it? Yes, the story seems to coming directly from the good old English movies watching which we all grew up. But the plot is definitely Indian. Fed up with the corruption in the Indian political class, Krishna an ex- para military commando along with his team, decides to take action. But the politicians are politicians after all. So they send CBI after his team and secretively they also send another team led by Raghav Bhagat to hunt and kill the RIP team. Now Raghav is both corrupt and also an ex- para military commando. So, the story chugs along almost on p...

Presenting, Hope Library's Annual Essay Writing Competition, 2013  College Students aged 18 years and above can apply  Participants can submit their online (info@rentbooksonline.in) or post us your entries at C/o Sigma Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. ‘Sigma House’, B-23, Focal Point, Metro Road, Ludhiana  Theme for the essay is a famous quote attributed to Victoria Billings: Rape is a culturally fostered means of suppressing women. Legally we say we condemn it, but mythically we romanticize and perpetuate it, and privately we excuse and overlook it.   Ideal word Limit – 2100 - 3700 words  The essays should be in English language only  Winners shall be awarded exciting gifts and prizes  Any attempts at plagiarism will lead to rejection of the entry.  Last date for submitting your entries –  Monday 18th February, 2013 Note: All submitted entries will become property of the Hope Library and it will have the prerogative to publish the best entries on its blog/websit...

I have this queer habit to clean up my files and wardrobes on the onset of every  new  year. As I flip through some old letters and my own handwritten notes, I am forced to recall old times which I would so love to forget but never will have the resolve too. So here I am writing the year end post while tearing old papers and drinking hot soup (Of course the music is also on at full volume and Atif Aslam is singing Doorie). Mankind has passed through yet another year. Its time to get new calendars and to form a new habit of writing 13 in the date column instead of 12. Seriously, I almost confuse the years while writing dates at least the first two months of any new year. Sitting atop dead bodies of my own over realistic ambitions and dreams, I look back at this year as a really eventful year. 2012 marked new lows and downfalls in career, relations and life. How I wish time could be like a whiteboard where we can write with all our colors and erase everything ugly spick and span...