Books I read recently

After a long gap of about 3 years I have resumed being regular with some of my favorite hobbies. My pass-time activities include reading, doing physical exercises and attending to calls for help from folks outside of my immediate circle of family and friends. In this weeks' note let me write about three good books I read recently.

As my wife likes to describe, I am a "serious aadmi"! No, not at all an "aam aadmi" in that sense! That is because I hardly watch TV or read books just for fun. I tend more to read thought provoking books. Also, when it comes to selecting books to read and movies to watch I am not an early adopter. Confessed! I always go by reviews and recommendations. Thus, when my friend (and ex-boss) Raghu Dwarakanath recommended "Game Indians Play" a book authored by another Raghu, Prof. Raghunathan, I picked it up from the Landmark store the next week and began reading. What a reading it was!

"Game Indians Play - why are we the way we are" is not a very fat book. It has about 200+ pages and the author's sense of humor makes it both an enjoyable as well as an enlightening book. Using the well researched theories such as the Game Theory and Behavioral Economics, Prof. Raghunathan analyses the unique social behaviors of us, Indians. I tend to completely agree with his analysis that the root of our social ills and failed systems is our (read Indians') defect-defect behavior driven by ultra short term selfish profit motives. I strongly recommend every lettered-Indian reads this book. I do not want to write more on the book itself lest I loot your pleasure of reading the book cover-to-cover. Go pick it up and the book will make your weekend a memorable one. Let me know once you have read it and we can have a discussion.

The next book I read last week is a Kannada book, "bichchida jOLige" (from an alms seeker's bag). This is an auto-biography by Dr. S.J. Nagalotimath (aka Sadashiv Jambaiah Nagalotimath or in short "SaJaNa"). Briefly, Dr. Sajana was born in a remote village in northern Karnataka to poor and uneducated parents. From such a humble start, Sadashiv raises to become a world renowned pathologist. His life story made me cry and grieve many times during the course of the book while it being highly inspiring all the while. Dr. Sajana was famous for many of his innovations as well as inventions. He was a born leader and always stood up for what was right. Never once did he compromise on what he truly believed as right. Upon reading the book I learnt how valuable the role of a pathologist is in the field of medicines. For instance, he pioneered techniques like "sedimentation cytology" to detect cancer in a couple of hours. He showed for the first time in the world that leprosy could be detected using blood samples. Then he built the first pathology museum in Belgaum, Karnataka. So on and so forth. Look here for a quick view of the list of papers and books written by this renowned pathologist. Those who can read Kannada must consider reading this highly inspiring book. Do not miss this book.

The third book I read is also a Kannada book. It is a book from a series of 13 books brought out by the government of Karnataka on the occasion of the birth centenary of Dr. D.V. Gundappa (aka DVG). The title of the book is "gyaapaka chitrashaale" (memory's art gallery). It is a collection of many articles DVG wrote to portrait some of the most famous personalities of his time. Many interesting personalities and their lives have been narrated by DVG in his inimitable style. You get to know about many dewan's of Mysore (chief secretary of the princely state), peasants from his village near Kolar in Karnataka, musicians, philosophers, philanthropists, businessmen, statesmen, politicians, writers, and others that Dr. DVG came in close contacts with during his 6 decade long public life. An absolutely amazing and highly enriching book. The entire series, titled "DVG kriti shreNi" (The complete works of DVG) itself is a collector's item, available from Government bookshops at a deeply discounted price. Go check them out!

Happy reading!