Thank you for showing support for so long. I have decided to move ahead and am up with my very own site. You may click here  to visit it or copy and paste the following url to a browser of your choice:

 http://palakmathur.in

From now onwards, I will be posting my stuff there.

In the beginning there was a command line. Inspired from this, the current interface is a command-line adaptation in Javascript. So, you will see a text-field mimicking a command-line and lots of commands beneath it including Searches, Shortcuts and Site Navigation Commands. So, if you wish to navigate the site, then your options are:

Commands are in bold and their description is given on the right. Just select the task you want to do, type the command related to it in the textfield and press/hit enter.

If you are not comfortable with this and wish to visit the normal interface, then just type “ph” (without quotes) and press enter. You will be taken to the comforts of a normal site.

I would request you all to visit the site and send me your comments/mails as usual. Also, please let me know if you find any broken links. Till then thank you once again. Take care.

Banquet on the Dead is fantastically thought and written thriller which will keep you engrossed in the story all the time. It was certainly a joy to read the book. Hamid Pasha, the lead detective, in the novel will give you the rusty feeling. The one that I had experienced earlier. I kept thinking about this experience that I had previously and was having while reading the novel when my mind left for the past days. If you know there was one detective series from Doordarshan days – Byomkesh Bakshi – the famous Bengali character created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyaya. Those were the days! Coming back to Banquet on the Dead now, this rusty feeling made the story more enjoyable. The characters were carefully sketched which though “bear no resemblance to any person living or dead” but still you will be able to relate to all of them. The characters actually exist in the real world.

Plot is fantastic and shows the confidence shown by Sharath Komarraju in his writing. Here I would like to mention that this is his second novel (I have not read the first one though). Till the end you keep guessing who can be the killer and until and unless Hamid Pasha discloses it at the end, there is no way that you can guess the correct answer (Yes! I know you can by skimming through the pages from the back. But isn’t it cheating?).

There were places where I felt that the book could have been better proof-read but like Ashwin Sanghi’s The Krishna Key, these can be ignored.

I have just one last thing to say: “Grab the book and keep guessing.”

My rating: 4/5.

P.S.: I received this book from the author/publisher in return of a review.

The FB comment posted by Shaheen Dhada, one of the girl arrested for “hurting religious sentiments” just mentions that there was no need for the bandh because one leader of a political party has died. And just asked why can’t anyone remember the great martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Azad, Sukhdev or any of the likes because of whom we are living in a free India. But are we really living in a free India? Or we are living on the whims and mercy of the political mafias and gundas?

And the police seems to lost it totally. There is a saying in Hindi,

पढ़े पर गुड़ें नहीं

Read but neither understood nor imbibed. (rough translation)

The policemen (barring few) are just doing jobs because they couldn’t clear any other exam. Or it was the last resort for them. How do you expect such people without passion for their job do the rightful thing?

And what Shiv Sainiks are talking about. They can say anything they wish and want. They can go on blabbering hatred comments and no one will take action against them. But a common Indian doesn’t even have the right to say something on something as trivial as Facebook.

What a Shame?

Related articles

• Why I can’t pay tribute to Thackeray (justicekatju.blogspot.com)
• Outrage Erupts After Two Women Arrested In India Over Facebook Post (huffingtonpost.com)
• ‘Mumbai shuts down due to fear, not respect’ (thehindu.com)
• Mumbai girls held for Facebook post against Thackeray (thehimalayantimes.com)
• Two girls held for FB post over Thackeray funeral (thehindu.com)
• Arrest for Facebook ‘Like’: Friends accused of breaking speech laws (examiner.com)
• Right to speech under threat? Mumbai girls’ Facebook post on Bal Thackeray landed them in jail for ‘hurting religious sentiments’ (dailymail.co.uk)
• Outrage at India Facebook arrests (oddonion.com)
• Drop Charges Against Indian Women Arrested for Facebook Status (forcechange.com)
• Indian Woman Arrested over Facebook ‘Like’ (newsfeed.time.com)
• Shaheen Dhada, Renu Srinivasan, Indian Women arrested for hitting ‘like’ on Facebook (americanlivewire.com)
• Outrage at India Facebook arrests (bbc.co.uk)

Read the review on my Technical Blog, TechJaunt by clicking here or using the following URL:

http://techjaunt.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/book-review-oracle-certified-associate-java-se-7-programmer-study-guide-by-richard-m-reese/