by

P.M.Nair

In this book,the author describes his experience with ‘Kalam Sir’ that he had during his time. He describes the humbleness and great qualities of A.P.J.Abdul Kalam that he recognised while working for him.
A.P.J.Abdul Kalam was known as the "people’s president", and the
correct reason behind this has been penned down in the book.He was the man who worshipped and believed in God a lot. He had such a strong  belief in n god that,I think, he could communicate with him.
For, once, there was a programme in the Rashtrapati Bhawan,that was to be  visited by  a great mass of people,approximately,2000-3000. That  day,the rain started pouring in the morning. The author i.e; the secretary started to panic for how the programme would be held. He talked to Kalam , but he, in response, teasing him, told not to  worry. If it is raining out,we can keep the programme inside. P.M.Nair  went hysterical and told that the Bhawan could hold only 700-800  people. To this, the reply came from the President in a rather cool and calm  way. He smiled and pointed towards the sky through  the window and said "I  have spoken there. Do not worry" And believe it or not, at 5 o’clock the  programme was to be started and the rain had stopped at 4:30 pm!!!  And, as if it was not amply surprising to digest,the rain had started  after the programme.

Well, this is only one of the incidents written in the book.This book
tells a great lot deal about him.I loved this book and would like to
recommend it to all.

Reviewed by

Himabindu Bhardwaj, VIII C

By

Dan Brown

The story revolves around an international decoding organization named NSA (National Security Agency). Their cryptophers prided the organization not only because the NSA was the most secretive and intelligent organization in the world, but also for the $2million   TRANSLTR (the best decoding machine) that they possessed. In the final years of the World War II, when USA dropped the atom bomb in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a boy named Tankado mysteriously survives the war with three fingers in each hand and a layer of skin highly exposed to radiation. He later overcomes all his disabilities and proves his talent in mathematical reasoning and decoding. IN no time he joins the NSA and designed the model of the TRANSLTR along with commander Strathmore. After building the TRANSLTR, commander Strathmore lied to the world that the TRANSLTR was a complete failure that the NSA were devising plans to make it work, while in reality the TRANSLTR was intercepting coded E – mails from terrorists and drug lords, and warned detective agencies like the CIA. But Tankado was against hiding the existence of the TRANSLTR and so he was fired. IN the hope of taking revenge he warned the NSA that he would one day build a coding machine that will confuse even the TRANSLTR. No one paid any heed to him because they knew that according to the Bergofsky principle every code is breakable. What they didn’t know was that one day they would have to take it all back.

Coming to the present, Susan Fletcher wakes up one morning with a call from Strathmore asking her to come over to the NSA in the light of an emergency situation. Strathmore also tells her that he has sent David to Spain to get the belongings of the late Tankado.  Later she finds out that Tankado succeeded in developing not an unbreakable code as they initially suspected but a super powerful worm that was supposed to infiltrate the databanks of the country that destroyed Japan in the final years of the deadliest war ever. As Susan Fletcher tries unsuccessfully to deactivate the worm by inserting possible combinations of the kill code, David obtains Tankado’s ring on which is engraved a puzzle that ultimately leads them to the kill code – 3 (the number of fingers on Tankado’s hand). It has a thrilling climax.

I really liked this science novel. The ideas expressed are profound and exciting. There are many twists and turns in the story which present humorous thoughts and ideas. It is quite ironical to know that such a secretive agency actually exists. Digital Fortress is closer to truth than any of us dare imagine. 

Reviewed by

Firoz Baker, IX A

by

Shashi Warrier

This is a book I have read recently. The story basically revolves around the moral conflicts as well as the material losses experienced by the people in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Line of Control region. The political side of the story is extremely sensitive as one may defy the arguments put forth by the author in many occasions. And its personal side is quite disturbing. The central character of the story is Javed Sharif, a businessman, based on Bangalore who retires from the family business and decides to settle in his home state Kashmir. As the events unfurl , his homecoming which was expected to be a peaceful one turns out to be a tragic one as his younger son was arrested and alleged to be part of the terrorist activities and elder one betrayed him and left him bankrupted for the rest of his life.

The story beautifully presents the feelings of 3 generations in a family of which one was associated with the freedom movement. It also shows how a family bound by the bond of love disintegrates under changing political and social circumstances . The bleak picture of the indifferent attitude of the authorities to the layman is also well presented . Intertwined with the main theme is the vivid description of the scenic beauty of Kashmir. The author often draws comparison between the scenic beauty and the political unrest prevalent there. In the story the drastic turn of events start in a very auspicious occasion. This story does not end in an optimistic note. Although bloodshed is mentioned in a few places the story has very less elements of violence. This book helps us to judge the so called ‘single reality’ from different perspectives as it is said that there could be more than a single reality.It is a book worth reading as it takes us to a different world from which we would not return till we finish reading it.

I would like to conclude by quoting these lines from the book–’ I WONDER HOW THE FABRIC OF MY LIFE CAME APART SO QUICKLY . IT WAS A RICH FABRIC, SOMETHING I HAD TAKEN GREAT PAINS AND OVER 3 DECADES TO WEAVE. WE MIGHT EACH RECOVER INDIVIDUALLY , BUT THE RICHNESS OF THE FABRIC IS GONE.’ 

Reviewed by

Arya S., XII A

by

Anita Desai

I consider Anita Desai’s “Clear Light of Day” as a poetic novel as it considerably deals with symbols and suggestions. Her use of “the house” imagery is at the center which signifies dust, dullness and decay.

As the novel begins, you’ll notice that the house of the Das family does not change except decays. Like Anita Desai’s other novels, the setting is Old Delhi. The interesting thing you’ll notice is she skillfully synthesizes the image of house with the lives of the Das family. The house is associated with sickness, dust, and disorder. And for that reason, the “grey” color is described again and again.

So, the house reflects the mentality and sickness of the entire Das family. In other words, nobody in the Das household enjoys life, all merely exists! The sickness and disorder pervade in the mind of the family members. This house is exactly in contrast with the house of Haider Ali and that is why Raja gets attracted towards it.

For this house of Das family, the symbol of “web” is described which is apt from every point of view. As I say the house does not change but decays, it is fair to remark that because of such sickness and dusty atmosphere of the house everybody feels “suffocated” and that is why they try to find escape in one thing or another. For that reason, Raja is attracted towards Haider Ali’s house. Tara often goes to Mira Mansi and finally, she succeeds in escaping completely by marrying off Bakul. Baba seeks escape in music and plays his gramophone all the time. Bimla becomes the professor of history. In this way, the house plays a vital role behind the escapist nature of the Das household.

Anita Desai beautifully describes the state of the Delhi city. Sometimes, the whole city seems to be dead and the houses are referred to in the novel as the “tombs”. The house of the Das family seems to be deserted and therefore, Bimla does not prevent Baba playing his gramophone loudly because she thinks that the silence of the house is more dreadful. For her, the noise produced by Baba’s gramophone gives peace to her. Even when Mr. Das and his wife were alive, they were just like the outsiders as Mr. Das was known for his entrance. The mother was either engrossed in the cards or confined to the bed. That is why Tara sometimes feels that even the ghost of her father could create the noise of papers and nothing else!

The decaying aspect of the house is felt on the Das family and this why the whole family gets scattered and only Bim remains with Baba in the “dead house”. This is how, the house has symbolic significance, which plays a major role in the actions and deeds of the Das household and becomes the central episode in the novel.

Reviewed by

Aajma Manoj

IX A (Shit-I)

by

Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul kalam was born on October 15,1931and has the unique honour of being the recipient of the country’s top civilian awards : the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1991 and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam became he eleventh president of India in July 2002.

The book Indomitable Spirit is an awesome book written by Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam.It is the experience from his own life’s journey from the shores of Rameswaram to the hallowed portals of  Rashtrapati Bhawan. In this book Dr.Kalam has showed great respect towards women and says that "womanhood is a beautiful creation of God" and this is explained in chapter-9 (Empowered women) which particularly depicts examples of women who have defied society norms and have done well to rise beyond their expectations. According to him, "there is no other profession in the world that is more important to society than that of a teacher" which is explained in chapter-2 (My Teachers).  And this is what is liked the most as I aim to become a teacher. It gave me more interest towards that profession. He has great hopes towards the youth of the nation.  Indomitable spirit has two components. The first component is that there must  be a vision leading to higher goals of achievement.The second component is the ability to overcome all hurdles coming in the way of mission accomplishment.

In this book he tells the young men and women, "success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task in front of you". Since I conclude that the youngsters should read this book as it is very inspiring, and by reading this book one becomes self – confident courageous and determined.

Reviwed by

Anuja S.S. (XI A)

By

Tapti Roy

This book of Tapti Roy deals with the life of a warrior queen from history – Rani Lakshmibai , who was a figure in the gallery of heroes of the ‘First war of Independence’. Apart from the descriptive events of the freedom struggle,the book also presents the life of common man during the time of British rule in India.It is more than a fiction,realistic more than being dramatic in language.This book deals with the different phases of Rani Lakshmibai’s life – transition from Manikarnika (daughter of Moropant Tambe) to Rani Lakshmibai,queen of Lhansi is depicted very clearly.The life of energetic,vivacious and brave child, brilliant and expert queen is being presented with different versions of same story. As the information is collected from reliable sources, it is a good source of reference too.It salutes the valour of the nation’s heroes who sacrificed their lives to provide the freedom we enjoy today.It presents the chain of historic events which ultimately led to the freedom.We feel the patriotism while reading each and every line of this book and it honours this brave woman who found out her place in history.

Reviewed by

Arya S

XI A

By

Barbara Delinsky

A white couple just bears a baby akin to an African American in appearance! This undoubtedly raises many eyebrows and some awkward questions too. Yes, this is how the novel The Family Tree authored by Barbara Delinsky starts, throwing in a piece of news for the reader to chew on. As the name suggests, this novel is predominantly about a quest for the roots of a family, following a peculiar development in the lives of the key characters.

This intriguing story reveals a world of blue-blooded, refined class of people placed in distinguishable positions, where the main character Hugh Clarke belongs. But on the other hand, his wife Dana had lost her mother at a very young age and found her peace of mind at The Stitchery owned by her grandmother. As soon as her African-American-resembling girl child is born, her world turns upside down with a variety of responses coming from her acquaintances, some comforting yet some too bitter. And there starts a tale of pursuit to dig up the details of her ancestors who might have been African-Americans or in other words, to bring out her family tree which was way too obscure to get hold of.

Barbara Delinsky has done a good job in weaving a tale of suspense with an incredible climax. She has tried to convey her thoughts on the racial prejudice existing even today in America. Some of the whites who feign to cling on to ideals against racism have been vehemently ridiculed by the author. Be sure to check out The Family Tree to get to know more about people who clasp faith even in the hardest of testing times.

Reviewed by

Salini Johnson, XI A

by

R. K .Narayan

It is rated as one of R.K Naryan’s best works. Starting with Mr Sampath, we are told of collaborative efforts of Srinivas,the editor, and Mr Sampath,the printer,who work together on a local weekly. We next meet Margayya,in"The financial expert",who sits under a banyan tree and gives advice on methods of extracting loans from the local cooperative bank.In "Painter of Signs" ,we encounter the unlikely love story of Raman,the local signboard painter,and daisy,a bith control propagandist who is on a visit to Malgudi.Finally, in a "A Tiger For Malgudi",a venerable tiger looks back over his life,from his early days roaming around in the wild in the jungle to his unhappy years in captivity.

Reviwed by

Mathew Abraham, VI A

by

Rohinton Mistry

Perhaps the first thing that catches your eye about A Fine Balance penned by the veteran author Rohinton Mistry, recipient of many accolades and whose books have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize many a time, would be the chunkiness of the book, what with the story spreading out to more than six hundred pages. A Fine Balance is undoubtedly a meticulously written novel, rich in superfluous detail, which is set mainly in the 1975 India. It has a certain charm and rawness entwined to it that would make sure that the reader sticks on to its pages which are overflowing with the naiveté of the proletariat.

The novel literally maintains a fine balance between the stories of the four protagonists who meet at one point of the book, during and after which their lives are altered beyond imaginable ways but mostly ending up at heartbreaking crossroads. At first comes Dina Shroff, a girl based in the then Bombay in a well-to-do Parsi family. Her narrative revolves mainly around her family who was shattered by the passing away of her father which culminates in her mean brother, with his hypocritical ideals, taking the control of the house. This finally leads to an abrupt end to Dina’s education. Later, she meets Rustom Dalal and turns into Mrs. Dina Dalal as she is known throughout the rest of the story. Her husband, who is too good to be real, dies in a freak hit-and-run accident at the night of their third wedding anniversary, which leaves a traumatized Dina behind. She was determined enough for a young widow to say an outright no to a second marriage and to refuse a place under her brother’s roof, probably ending up as an unpaid servant for life! But instead she strived to fend for herself with help from one of her childhood friends.

Parting with Dina’s narrative for now, the pages take us to “In a village by a river” where we are introduced to Ishvar, Narayan, later Om and the story of their ancestors. This area of the book is ostensibly nothing but a tale of woe sometimes taking on a harsher version reducing us to tears. It deals with the caste system and the outrageous brutality of the loathsome landlords who deserve to be ripped apart. The effectual and overpowering account rendered by Rohinton Mistry in his fluid flow of language enrages the reader to act against the despicable acts of the so-called upper caste men upon the destitute.

Then again as life moves on, we move on to Maneck Kohlah, a boy leading quite a carefree life up in the mountains inhaling lungful of fresh, pure air each morning, absolutely oblivious to the lives down in the cities. In this part of the novel, we are treated to the frivolities of the families in the mountains, co-existing in complete harmony and wrapped up in their personal worlds of blithe. Ishvar and Om as tailors and Maneck as a paying guest find themselves at Dina’s house. Gradually they steer clear of their prejudices and make quite a company! But nothing too good stays for long. And so the merciless hands of fate unclenched apart their bonds of intimacy and friendship and strewed them across for their own destinies to devour them.

A Fine Balance does a lot of talk on the Internal Emergency declared in India during the setting of the novel. It does compel the reader to put your thinking cap on and frown. The author is visibly taking a harsh and cut-and –dried stand against the then Prime Minister, even making a complete mockery of her at one instance of the plot. But, all the same, the opinion whether biased or not all depends on the mindset of the reader. But one thing we can never deny is the fact that Rohinton Mistry has once again proved his sinuous style of unfolding the chronicles of the hoi polloi with such passion, rawness, simplicity and candor that it is next to impossible not to keep the pages turning and finally reach 614^th page!

Reviwed by

Salini Johnson

Class: XI-A (Shift-I)

by

Anne Frank

This diary written by Anne Frank helps us to understand the views and thoughts of the teenager. Anne Frank opens her heart in this diary and writes down her emotions . In this she writes about the political situation and sufferings that the Jews had to undertake during Hitler’s regime. Anne Frank first wrote  the diary on a Sunday, 14^th June, 1942. Then she and her family went hiding on Thursday, 9^th of July 1942. In hiding also she continued to write about their hiding place, Van Daan family with whom they were sharing the hiding place, little quarrels between her and her mother etc. She also wrote about her longings for the outside world. She faced her problems with a smile and humour. Anne Frank last wrote the diary on Tuesday, 1 august, 1944. And then she was captured by the Gestopos on 3^rdAugest . This diary was her best and loyal friend.

I like this book very much. This is very interesting to read as this is written by a teenager in simple language. This reveals us the situation of Jews under Hitler’s rule.

Reviewed by

Rubsana N Beegum

11-A