Tides of Thoughts

The Idol Thief by S. Vijay Kumar My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is an eye opener about the scale of art being smuggled from India. The book is about one of the notorious smugglers of Indian art who went rampant looting the Indian heritage and selling it to the western museums and art collectors until he was chased down by a group of art enthusiasts and a stringent law enforcer. As the author noted at the end, many of us are well aware of the financial fraudsters. But the heritage being looted and the money involved in the smuggling of rich and exquisite Indian art is no less than a money laundering racket. View all my reviews

The King Within by Nandini Sengupta My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the first book of "The Gupta Empire Trilogy". It is about a king and his friend's journey through the twists and turns of the destiny. The story goes through three generations, their emotions and aspirations. Though the plot is open and future story is revealed at many points in the book, the gripping narration of the scenes hold us till the end. This gives a fresh perspective as the author focuses not just on the lavish lifestyle of the royal families, but also on the hardships behind the royal alliances and actions. There are a few errors by the editor at places where the names of the characters are changed (for ex, there is a character Vishnu Vardhan which was spelt as Vishnu Varman in few places) and spelling mistakes. Overall, the book gives a good opening for a trilogy that can make readers go for the next parts. View all my reviews

Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex von Tunzelmann My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very intriguing book. It touches many corners of the last phase of the British Raj in India and the early 3-4 decades of Independent India. It will be a shock for many who look at Nehru or Jinnah from only one perspective. The author though mainly relied on the British Royal Archives for many references didn't miss the keynotes from other sources like the letters between Jinnah, Churchill, Atlee, Mountbatten, Nehru, Edwina, and others, and tried to stay neutral in narration to a larger extent. I feel this is one interesting history book that can be helpful in giving deep insights into where the partition of India went wrong, how the political differences between individuals can result in catastrophic communal clashes, and how leaders are perceived in a revolution. How the perceptions of mobs override the ideological standards of the leaders in a revolution making the leader