Manish Tully: Book Review

  The Life of a Mogul Princess: Jahanara Begum; Andrea Butenschon My prized possession! [ At least I believe so ]. Its 1931 edition by George Routledge & Sons Limited, Broadway House, Carter Lane, E.C.. I purchased this book from an antique collector in Australia. The book is primarily written from the personal diary of Jahanara which accidentally fell into the hands of the writer (as claimed in the book), from behind a marble slab in the Jasmine tower of the fort in Agra. If this is true, this book is indeed a rare one existing now. The manuscript was in Persian and translated in English. Awesome Book. First hand account of life of Jahanara Begum. The book will take you back to year 1550-1600. Your mental clock re-winds and you will find yourself, interacting one-to-one with Jahanara Begum. Interesting fact about Jahanara: Her grave is quite a simple one and with following inscriptions: “Let no rich canopy over my grave: this grass is b

The Last Mughal: William Dalrymple I would like to rate this book first: 10/10. What an excellent account on Indian history by William Dalrymple. I think he gave tough competition to Indian historians with his research and thoroughness of day-to-day, month-on-month and year-to-year account of Mughal reign. The book also gives detailed account of enmity amongst renowned poets in Mughal Durbar like Mir, Mirza and Ghalib. An interesting statement by a one of the unknown poet about Ghalib: “ Kalaam-i-Mir samjhey aur zubaan-i-Mirja samjhey Magar inka kaha yeh khud hi samjhein ya khuda samjhey” --- we  follow poetry of Mir, and the language of Mira, But of him (Ghalib)- only he can follw his verses, or may be God alone can. I read this book on 22 nd November, 2009. One cannot ignore this book, if you are really interested in understanding The Mughal Durbar. Manish Tully

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Stieg Larsson Beautiful book on love, hate and revenge.  Pretty fast and keep you hooked. I am not writing much on this book as I am not interested in divulging any suspense, mystery and thrill. Read this book and believe me, this will give you goose bumps esp. when you reach biblical verses and their correlation with murders. One important stanza, I liked most: “ I had many enemies over the years. If there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s never engage in a fight you’re sure to lose. On the other hand, never let anyone who has insulted you get away with it. Bide your time and strike back when you’re in a position of strength- even if you no longer need to strike back”--- I PERSONALLY NOW RELYING ON THIS. I rate this book as 10/10. Cheers, Manish

In the Valley of Mist: Justine Hardy I read this book on 21 st July, 2012. This is not a novel. There is no sex, love and hate. This is just a firsthand account of Justine Hardy about Kashmir during her stay and work in Kashmir. This book is pretty slow; but if you want to understand what all Kashmiri people have gone through during Indo-Pak conflict, one must read this book. While I write this blog Kashmir is still recovering from its loss- loss of its people, culture and heritage. Hopefully, Kashmir will again be “Jannat”. Manish Tully

  Victoria and Abdul: Shrabani Basu This is a story of Abdul, Munshi to Queen Victoria- then Empress of India, story of rags to riches-rags. Abdul, started off his career with the Queen as her khidmatgar but scaled to the heights of being a Munshi to the Queen Victoria. Storyline revolves around howthe Queen Victoria pampered Abdul and then, how Abdul used love and affection of the Queen to his benefit and to the jealousy of his fellow countrymen in service of the Queen. Abdul was the only Indian who was ever permitted to open confidential letters of the Queen.  Queen Victoria, in her letter of her daughter-in-law , Louise, Duchess of Connaught, dated 3 November, 1888, acknowledged the fact the she was very fond of Abdul and he is good, gentle and understanding & real comfort to her. A great book about: “The Durbar of The Queen” and “The Hostility of Royal Family towards Abdul”. After the death of the Queen, Royal Family turned against Abdul and

Devil In Pinstripes: Ravi Subramanian An excellent Book! I read this book in flat two days. This novel unfolds dramatically to depict dirty games played in the playground of Corporate World. It highlights cheap tactics of people in power to attain success in their professional pursuits. The story-line is pretty fast and motivates its reader to keep flipping through the pages to know “What’s Next”. A good book by a banker. I rate it as 7/10. Manish Tully