Richa Reads

I was excited to pick up Indu Sundaresan’s The Taj mahal Trilogy, as the Mughal Era has always been captivating for me, historically and architecturally. One of my uncle’s stayed in Agra, so I got to see Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and Fatehpur Sikri very early on in life.   The author introduces us to many main characters that have been obscure in their mention in most of the fictional and non-fictional accounts of this era. It’s a very well researched series and the overriding theme across the three books is the substantial role that the women of the Zenana (women’s wing) played in ruling Hindustan.   The first two books, trace the story of Mehrunissa, born to a Persian nobleman, growing up in the times of Akbar ruling India. She falls in love with Salim (later emperor Jehangir) at the age of 8 and finally marries him at the age of 34 to become his  “Twentieth Wife”.  The next book  “Feast of Roses”  follows the journey of Mehrunissa, rena...

I picked up this book with great enthusiasm. I made a silent prayer that hope it isn’t a political play on economics and to my joy it isn’t.   I truly enjoyed the starting chapters, that detailed the author's early years. It set me up well to read the book. I too agree with Aung San Suu Kyi, that Mr. Ahluwalia made an excellent choice in Mrs. Isher Ahluwalia being his wife.   The book covers Indian economy from 1980 to 2014. The entire journey saw lots of leadership and economic changes. These changes have been captured beautifully, by providing the relevant political context in which the economic changes were being made.   My personal favorite is when the author was reviewing a speech that Rajiv Gandhi was to deliver. The speech talked about non-violence being deeply rooted in our value system. To this, the author observes that the statement is exaggerated, as the history of India is full of violence. After thinking about it for some time, Rajiv Gandhi r...

This is a powerful and raw story about a subject matter that is important, and I didn’t really know a whole lot about it. This book makes you uncomfortable, that’s the agenda. So pls, avoid the book if you are looking for an easy read. Alice Walker's forthright, honest portrayal of unpleasant truths that are often conveniently shoved under the carpet, is the pull of this book. One thing that I came out of this book, which surprised me is that it is more about women, women’s rights, and female relationships than it is about race. Don’t get me wrong, the race is an important element, but the way the men view, and treat women and the way, the women look at, and treat themselves is the crux of this story.   I adored Celie, the main character of the book. It really amazed me how a woman who was abused so much (sexually, physically, verbally) could still have so much love in her heart, and not be bitter. For me, she stood out as proof of the resilience of the human spirit. I als...

My trigger point for picking up this book was a conversation I had with a fellow mate during a Robotics competition in Delhi. The conversation went as follows: Mate: Hey, do you think our kids are getting a good but a narrow exposure by choosing to do Olympiad’s at this age? Me: Hmmm, yes, the exposure is good but I wonder how can it possibly harm them? Any thoughts? Mate: Specialisation too early has its pitfalls, as we may be molding their minds to think in a defined way. Me: Hmm… So, the question to be answered was:  Going towards a narrow specialization at a young age, is it the right thing to do?   Now I am armored with Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World in my kindle. The book starts by pointing out how Tiger Woods took up golf at an early age. This example is picked by many as an example of how mastery of a subject needs to be done. Epstein compares this to Roger Federer who played many sports before focusing on tennis. Epstein states, with ...

I came across this book on Bill Gates summer reading list. I know, I know, what you are thinking, I thought the same and that’s precisely the reason I picked up the book, with a ready smirk that I am going to speed read and then rip the book apart (at least in my mind). Another negative thing going for the book was, that I was picking it up right after Becoming by Michelle Obama and I had already loved her story. Question: So, how did it stack up against all these negative prejudices?   Answer: Brilliantly How? Read on…. The basic idea of the book is very simple yet very profound, lift up the women and you will solve problems that you didn’t even know existed. Topics like Children’s nutrition, immunization, health is obviously related to women of the house. But then, Melinda talk’s about how Productivity in agriculture and even containing the AIDS epidemics are dependent on women empowerment. Melinda talks about her journey with the foundation in great detail, where her ...

Let me start by saying that I am a sucker for biographies, whether its books or movies. An autobiography is then on a higher pedestal. So that’s the reason why I picked up this book, and I expected it to make for a good read and it did.   The book turned out to be a page-turner for me, esp. the part before Barack Obama became the President. The whole process of going through Michelle’s life is a story of highs. An African American girl from a blue collared family, making it to best public school, Princeton and then to Harvard. It’s the stuff of dreams. From Michelle’s childhood, my favorite character was her mom. I felt both Michelle and her elder brother, drew a lot from her sense of grounding, calm and a clear sense of priority. That could be one of the biggest reasons why she wanted her mother to be there, in the white house with them. It would have definitely helped with providing the same sense of grounding for her kids, Malia and Saasha. At Princeton, she talk...

I was hesitant to read this book, as I feared, that it will make me painfully aware of my lack of understanding of my own culture and religion. And it did. However, the author has taken care of people like us, the first chapter is called “Foreigners in their own land”. The essence of it is captured in this phrase: Nehru had written of “Spiritual loneliness”, he puts it down to having become “a queer mix of the East and the West, out of place everywhere. At home, nowhere. “For a long time,” Aatish Taseer writes, “I had a recurring dream of the ancient Indian city of Benares, superimposed onto the geography of New York”. That's how the book begins, with a sense of duality. During the course of the book, the author (Who is gay and has a Pakistani father : wondering why I mentioned this? I too was wondering why was it necessary to cover this in the book in a longish way) travels to Benares to learn Sanskrit, observes the city as a first timer and has conversations. Most of these co...