The Devil wears Prada

..by Lauren Weisberger

Amazing novel. Really enjoyed reading it. Its a story of a young graduate Andrea who wants to be a writer in "The New Yorker" but to start with her career, joins as an assistant to the editor in chief of a fashion magazine "The Runway". As was impressed upon her one year as assistant to Miranda could lead her to any promotion within the same magazine or any other magazine as Miranda was quite influential. So she starts with quite a zeal with her new job but soon realizes its gonna be a tough year ahead cuz Miranda is an extremely tough boss to work with.

So the story goes on with how trivial her boss's demands would be at times & how difficult it would get for Andrea to manage. And eventually the job takes up so much of Andrea's time that she is unable to meet her parents regularly or make up with any other personal commitments. Her boyfriend seems quite understanding initially but then he too starts loosing his patience with her. So she keeps feeling guilty at times but then she feels its just a matter of one year & after a year, all will fall into place.

In Spite of the Gods..

..The Strange rise of Modern India...by Edward Luce.


I read this book during my travel to Udhampur this vacation. I haven't read many books on India & this is one of the very few I have read. It seemed interesting to me, but it affected my mood as well. And considering the events that coincided with my reading this book, Jammu (including Udhampur) was experiencing bandh & disturbances due to fight over religion again. I don’t want to delve into whom I think was right or wrong in this case of Amarnath Shrine board Land issue.

The book touches most of the aspects of India, its government, politics, bureaucracy, culture, people, problems, progress, militancy, riots etcetera. I really boiled over the stupidity & greed of people. How can the nation progress when its people are so stupid to understand the futility of fighting & killing over trivial issues, when its people are so greedy & corrupt. Why can’t people live & let live. I mean I can’t even imagine the kind of hatred required for a human being to torture another fellow human being who hasn’t even done any harm to him!

Salt And Sawdust

Short stories & Table talk ..by R K Narayan

This is a short book with a couple of short stories...n few even more shorter stories..termed as table talk. The table talk is mostly narrated in first person, at times are satire on the political system & some are nice incidents of some good people & good deeds. Overall light read, not very interesting for me even though there is wit & humor in it.

Some efficiency...!

The other day I was watching Beijing's preparation for Olympics in NatGeo. Four years back after winning the competition to host next Olympics, they started a huge architectural development. They developed the stadiums [Bird nest, Water cube]. They also built the biggest airport terminal in the world called The Dragon [along with the railway network connecting the airport to rest of Beijing]. All this they built using latest technologies & considering all factors from security from natural forces to convenience etc. What really impressed me is the efficiency with which they took up such a huge development & finished it on time. I couldn't help comparing it with the rate with which development is going on in Pune where I stay, they haven't been able to finish renovating a single road since last one year!!