Transition of Thoughts

Weaving thoughts into words

Month: February 2012

Book Review – The Newsroom Mafia


“The Newsroom Mafia” is the debut novel of Oswald Pereira, a journalist with over thirty years of experience. Published by the Grey Oak – Westland combine, it was one of the most recently awaited novels off late. A racy crime thriller which promised to expose the unholy nexus between police, politicians, underworld and the press, the book garnered quite some interesting previews. Does it work?

The blurb goes like this –

When Supercop Donald Fernandez declares an all – out war against the invincible Don, Narayan Swamy, he fights back with a formidable Mafia – a private army of armed thugs and a motley gang of corrupt police officers, backed by powerful politicians. What follows is a battle of raw power, sleaze, wits and dirty tactics by both the law breakers and the law enforcers, blurring boundaries between good and evil. To save his skin, the Don fires his most lethal weapon, the Newsroom Mafia.

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Book Review – Scammed: Confessions of a Confused Accountant


“Scammed: Confessions of a Confused Accountant” is one among the latest releases from the Grey Oak – Westland stable. Interestingly the author has decided to go with the pen name “Anonymous” rather than his real identity. On seeing that, I presumed the book delved into something really explosive – frauds, scams etc. which may shake the country and may have had the potential to give the author enough sleepless nights. So did it live up to the expectations?

The blurb goes like this –

Life is miserable for Hitesh Shah despite his coveted job in a top accounting firm. Labeled a nerd by colleagues, ignored by women and rebuked by parents, Hitesh cannot resist when offered a lucrative job as the CEO of an offshoot of the failing automobile company, Supreme Motors. So what if the owner Venugopal Reddy, a sleazy businessman with political connections, actually wants Hitesh to fix the company to save his skin? Hitesh’s drive and quest for success helps turn the Company’s fortunes around; he is seen a rising corporate star, he begins dating a model and is pampered by parents.

Championed as the poster boy of emerging India, Hitesh’s fairytale ends quickly. As his cursed luck would have it, he is soon on the run from the law – allegedly as the perpetrator of a financial scam and accused of defrauding thousands of investors! With his back against the wall, and growing public and media opinion against him, will Hitesh come out of the mess he finds himself in?

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Guest post: Your life is YOUR life. Live it YOUR way!


Childhood is said to be the most important phase of your life. It is this phase which helps shape up your life; makes your life what it would be 10-20-30 years down the line. As children we always have this one dream which we want to persist with when we grow up. Writer, painter, entertainer, vocalist, musician et all! These dreams are important to us; there is a twinkle in our eyes when we go up to our parents, give them a hug and tell them what we want to become when we grow up.

Reality strikes us when our conscious mind starts developing and adjusting to the circumstances around us. Competition, the instinct for survival is naturally passed onto us. This instinct tells us that if we dare move out of the league which everyone followed, we’ll be thrown out somewhere. Our mind grows up, sees the world around us and concludes very early, that there is no place for losers here. Hence we give up all those dreams and study whatever would lead us to a decently approved pay package.

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Book Review – A Godly Blunder

“A Godly Blunder” is Parimal Kalikar, a hotel management graduate and a former credit card salesman’s first attempt at writing. Truthfully speaking, I hadn’t heard of this book even once before he contacted me to review it. I found it a bit different immediately after reading the synopsis and couldn’t say no. Even though I already had around 6-7 books in my ‘To-read’ list, I couldn’t resist picking up this one ahead of the others.

The blurb goes like this –

Oliver, a quality control manager in a premium car company in Germany dies in an accident and reaches heaven. He is enjoying the lavish lifestyle of a movie star..till God decides to send him on a short ‘assignment’ due to a technical snag in the Soul Management System (SMS) of Swarga. He wakes up in the body of an Indian middle class man Siddhesh. Thus starts his rollercoaster journey to India. He is baffled by the extent of corruption and dishonesty in the country as he is warmed by the affection that binds Indian families. To add to his woes, his two maverick escorts from Swarga keep disappearing without notice.

What happens at the end of the unusual assignment? And what happens when God tells you that you don’t need Him? A Godly Blunder is a hilarious ride to heaven and back to earth, which will keep the readers amused all the way.

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Movie Review – Ek Main Aur Ek Tu

Starring the unlikely pair of Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor and directed and produced by Shakun Batra and Dharma Productions respectively, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu (EMAET) is said to be inspired by “What happens in Vegas” (A Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher flick). With its witty trailers, sweet songs and a relatively fresh pair, the earliest indications of the movie seemed pretty good. Did it live up to the expectations?

Rahul Kapoor (Imran) has lived his entire life trying to please his parents (Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak Shah) in every possible way from chewing his food 32 times to adjusting his hair as perfectly as they wanted. But when he suddenly loses his job as an architect in Las Vegas, he doesn’t have the courage to tell them that he has failed. By a quirk of fate, he meets Riana Briganza (Kareena), a witty hairstylist and over the next 14 days his life changes forever.

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Valentines Week – The ‘commercial’ festival of love!

Wished your loved one? Gifted him / her something? Went out together on a date? Sent him / her, a card / rose / chocolate / teddy etc.? Oh my god! If you haven’t done even one out of this, then you are so not in love we are told. Haven’t heard of Valentines Week?

Feb 7: Rose day
Feb 8: Propose day
Feb 9: Chocolate day
Feb 10: Teddy Day
Feb 11: Promise Day
Feb 12: Hug Day
Feb 13: Kiss Day
Feb 14: Valentine Day

If you haven’t heard of even one of these days, then you are so outdated we are told. I am sure you would be having many questions swirling about in your head, “What is the prominence of this day? Why would I express my love only for a week? What’s so great about this day?”

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In conversation with Puneet Gupta: Author of The Suicide Banker


Puneet Gupta is a career banker with experience of over fifteen years in India. Presently working with one of the largest banks in the Middle East, he has retained his passion for writing, trekking and painting. ‘The Suicide Banker’ is his first novel.

1. What was your inspiration to write? When did you decide that you wanted to put your thoughts into words?

When I think of it, more than inspiration, it was my frustration that forced me to write. During one of my stints with a leading bank, I felt hopelessly frustrated with the way the business was being conducted and when nobody heeded to my voices, I took to pen.

Initially I had no plans of making it a commercial venture but when I read a leading Indian mass fiction writer, I suddenly realized that if he can become a successful writer, why can’t I?

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Guest Post : Are government jobs worth it?

With a population of 1.3 billion, India is the second most populated country on the planet after China. The population growth rate stands at about 19.3% every year. The path of transforming into a developed nation requires a pretty huge amount of resources. The huge manpower in India is a boon as well as a curse. Poverty is the result of inefficient use of manpower as well as its resources. The human resources available in India can be put to great use if directed properly.

The recruitment of valuable and young talents for the development of the country should be done with utmost care so as to ensure the smooth functioning of the various government units. The large scale corruption and the entry of lakhs of undeserving candidates into the system has resulted in ranking India, a lowly 134th in the GDP rating according to a recent study.

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Double Century of Blog Posts: 200 Not Out


1.22 lakh + hits

Indiblogger Rank – 81

Google PR – 3

Followers – 900+

Initially when I began blogging, everyone used to tell me that you need to ensure you have more followers, more commenters, more readers, more RTs on Twitter, more likes and what not. Even these days there are many who keep writing blog posts just to make some easy money and improve the above mentioned statistics without worrying about content and quality. But today, as I write my 200th blog post, I believe that all these things are secondary.

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