Prakash Shenoy's Diary

From childhood I was quite curious to know more about the history of the Vijayanagara empire. Our high-school text-books on history barely touched upon the rise and the fall of this great empire that ruled over almost all of southern India for about three centuries beginning in the 14th century. We picked up Burton Stein's “The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara” mainly because at about 150 pages it looked like a more manageable read than the other such books. It was also far more recent than the other books and therefore had a much better chance of incorporating the findings from recent research into this aspect of Indian history. The book turned out to be a serious study of the history of the Vijayanagara empire as well as a commentary on the published literature on this topic. It seems therefore to be better suited for students of history than the general public and it does get dull at times. That does not mean that it does not have fascinating informat...

Pirate Latitudes is an action adventure novel written by Michael Crichton. The book was published posthumously by HarperCollins on November 24, 2009. It is an adventure story concerning piracy in Jamaica in the 17th century. The novel stars the fictional privateer Captain Charles Hunter who, together with the governor of Jamaica, plots to raid a Spanish galleon for its treasure. Johnathan Burnham's review states that it is "thoroughly researched...packed through with great detail about navigation and how pirates operated, and links between the New World and the Caribbean and Spain.” Michael Crichton's "Pirate Latitudes" is everything you're looking for in a pirate adventure. It doesn't necessarily do anything new with the genre, but it will satisfy those who found the popular "Pirates of the Caribbean" films too over-the-top and cartoony. This (relatively short) novel tells the story of pirate (he prefers "privateer") Ch...

Dheerubhai Ambani, the most popular name of modern Indian business, is still in the minds of Indians despite his physical demise. Hamish MC Donald has made a critical interpretation of Ambani’s transition of normal man into a Business Tycoon who allegedly influenced mainstream politicians for the commercial benefits of his business unethically. This book was written in 1998 and has been banned in India due to the heavy pressure from Ambanis.You can find this books at bombay streets for nominal cost which are smuggled. Maniratnam has been inspired by this book for making of “GURU” with Abishek Abhachan . Mani Ratnam also depicted numerous scenes from the source of this book. This book also highlighted the rivalry between Dheerubhai Ambani and Nusli Wadia(grandson of Mahamad Ali Khan Jinna) who were allegedly tried to assassinate each other. Their rivalry remained as a black spot of Indian corporate history. In the film Guru, Mithun Chakravarthy played Ramanth goenka role...

This is a children's Novel written by Thomas Allibone Janvier in 1898. Recently this book is re-issued by Kessinger Publishing. I came across this book while browsing the awsome collection of Project Gutenberg. Its mysterious name compelled me to read this century old book. Its digital format helped me to carry it wherever I went and allowed me to read it in spare time. Yet due to slow reading pace, it took me very long time to complete it. When I first saw its title "In the Sagasso Sea", I remembered my school days, when I had learned about the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. Also I am a great fan of the Bermuda Triangle mystery. Hence I decided to read this book. Its english is late nineteenth century type a little bit hard to grasp, yet I had no trouble understanding the book. The book was simple and straight forward. It was a little monotonous since once the main character gets lost in the tangle of Sargasso Sea his life becomes really monotonous with very littl...

१९७२ साली भारताने बांग्लादेशला स्वातंत्र्य मिळवून दिले. त्यावेळी हा देश आपले हे उपकार एवढ्या लवकर विसरेल असे वाटले नव्हते. स्वातंत्र्यानंतर काही वर्षांतच या देशाने इस्लामिकरण चालू केले, आणि देशातील इतर जमातींना या ना त्याप्रकारे देशाबाहेर हाकलून द्यायला सुरु केले. १९९२ चे बाबरी मशिद प्रकरण तेथिल हिंदू लोकांना बाहेर हाकलण्यास पुरेसे होते. तस्लिमा नसरीन यांनी लिहीलेले हे पुस्तक बाबरी मशिद उध्वस्त झाल्यानंतरच्या बांग्लादेशमधिल परीस्थितीचा आढावा घेते. त्यासाठी तिने सुरंजन नावाच्या काल्पनिक हिंदू पात्राचा आणि त्याच्या कुटूंबियांवर गुदरलेल्या प्रसंगाचा आधार घेतला आहे. बांग्लादेशाच्या स्वातंत्र्याच्या वेळी तेथे हिंदुंचे प्रमाण जवळ्जवळ २० टक्के होते ते आता ५ टक्के राहीले आहे. यावरुनच किती लोकांनी तिथून पलायन केले आहे हे लक्षात येते. या लोकांचे गंतव्यस्थान भारत असणार हे वेगळे सांगायला नको. आधिच प्रचंड लोकसंख्येच्या बोज्याखाली चिरडलेल्या भारताला आणखी किती निर्वासितांचा बोजा सोसावा लागणार आहे कोण जाणे. काही वर्षांपुर्वीच फिजीतून भारतीय लोकांना हाकलण्यात आले. आता मलेशियातील भारतीय लोकांवर अत्याच...

The usual suspects made the usual speeches on August 15, mouthing the usual pure cant. But the sad fact remains that 60 years after the grasping imperialists left, India has comprehensively under-achieved on all fronts; all that has changed is the skin-colour of the looters. Ten years ago, I was far more optimistic, and wrote about the coming Indian century; today, despite the obvious progress made on the economic front, I am overwhelmed by a sense of disappointment. I have been discouraged by what I have observed in the last 10 years. The loss of heritage. The disdain for indigenous civilisation. The perversion of the discourse in the country by Stalinist 'intellectuals'. The regular terrorist attacks that cheapen Indian lives. The total non-reaction by government to oppression of people of Indian origin abroad. And so I have come to realise that freedom is very different from mere independence. There is no freedom for the common man in India: not freedom from want, nor freedo...

विसाव शतक हे हिंसाचार, युध्द आणि रक्तरंजित राज्यक्रांत्या यांच शतक. सगळी युध्द संपवणार एक अखेरच युध्द अशी भाबड्यांची कल्पना झाली होती दुसऱ्या महायुध्दाबद्दल. अणुबॉंबच्या हाहाकाराने १९४५ साली माणूस मुळापासून हादरला होता. परंतु थोडाच काळ. पुन्हा तो सावरला. आणि हायड्रोजन बॉंब, क्षेपणास्त्रे, जैवीक आणि रासायनिक अस्त्र यांची निर्मिती, राष्ट्रवादाने पछाडल्यामुळे, करू लागला. "नो मोर हिरोशिमाज" ही हाक त्यात विरून गेली. माणसाच्या या विकृत मारणध्यासाची शोधकहाणी म्हणजेच हे पुस्तक बाराला दहा कमी. साध्या टी. एन. टी आणि नायट्रोग्लिसरीन अशा स्फोटकांपासून अणूबॉंबपर्यंत माणसाचा स्वत:लाच नष्ट करणाऱ्या अस्त्रांचा शोध मानवाने कसा लावला याचे विहंगम आणि प्रदीर्घ विवेचन पद्मजा बाईंनी या पुस्तकात केले आहे. एकीकडे जागतिक शांततेचा उदघोष करीत आणि दुसरीकडे स्वत:च एकापेक्षा एक भयानक अस्त्र निर्मिती करण्याची दुटप्पी भूमिका जागतीक महासत्तांनी घेतलेली दिसते. म्हणजे मुहमे राम और बगल मे छुरी असे म्हणतात ना त्याप्रमाणे. आजकाल अमेरीकेबरोबर अणुकरार करायची भारताची लगबग सुरू आहे, त्या पार्श्वभूमीवर...