Around the World in Eighty Days

Round the World in Eighty Days is an travel adventure novel written by French writer Julis Verne. Published in 1873, this creation is one of the most acclaimed work of Mr. Verne. 

I had wanted to read this novel since a long period of time. But it is just recent that I finished reading this book and would like to give a brief review of it.

Background of the Novel

Phileas Fogg is a well-to-do Londoner, who lives a lonely life. Nothing is known about him beside a fact that he is a member of prestigious Reform Club. Mr. Fogg is less communicative, with restricted social contacts, making him a more of enigmatic character. Though Mr Fogg is rich, of which source is not known to anyone, he is not lavish, nor a miser and prefers to use his resources for noble and benevolent purposes.  In the story, Fogg gets involved in a discussion with his friends from the Reform Club based on a article in The Telegraph which mentions that the circumnavigation across the world is possible in 80 days because of extended Railway tracks in Indian subcontinent. Fogg believes that the journey was possible within the stipulated time frame which his friends deny. Thus more for prestige than for rewards, Fogg enters into a £20,000 wager with his friends in Reform Club to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The day of wager was October 2, 1872 and Fogg was supposed to be back by December 21, 1872, 8:45 pm. 

Following characters, circumstances make the novel really interesting that you just want to finish it within one sitting.

Mr. Fogg a man of Enigmatic Personage

Mr, Fogg is a man of extreme mathematical precision, such that he dismissed his servant, James Forster, for serving him water at 84 °F rather that 86 °F. Then after he appoints a Frenchmen named Jean Passepartout, who accompanies him to the journey across the world. His mathematical precision becomes instrumental for him to complete his journey in time. Throughout the journey his personality traits like: calmness, cleverness, benevolences, etc makes him a man of great mystery, making the readers believe that he is  the accused robber. 

The itinerary of the journey is as follows:

Source: Wikipedia

Fix: The Detective

They reach Suez canal in time from where they embark journey to Bombay. While leaving Egypt, they are marked by a detective from England, name Fix, who mistakes Fogg for a bank robber in  England who was in large after robbery of £50,000, for the latter had same description like that of the bank robber. Because of failure to attain warrant, Fix keeps following Fogg and boards the same streamer to Bombay and from Bombay to Calcutta and infact the whole world, to realize at the end that Fogg was not a bank robber.

Aouda: A young Indian Women

The only ladies described in the novel, Fogg and Passepartout, along with their guide meet her while travelling a section of Bombay to Calcutta in an elephant. During the journey, they come across a procession whereby a Aouda, who is a sutte(sati- a widow), is to be sacrificed by burning in a pyre of wood along with her husband. Passepartout wit-fully pretends to be the dead husband and scaring off the priests, rescues her away. She now becomes the added member of the tour.

Circumstances makes Aouda to remain in the Journey

Aouda was supposed to be left to her affluent relative in Hongkong. But Fogg learns that her relative have already left Hongkong and currently resides in Holland. As such Fogg takes Aouda along with him to London.

Fix the desperate detective creates obstruction

Failing to get warrant, Mr. Fix tries to hold Fogg in Hongkong (last British soil in the journey). To do so, he gets Passepartout drunk in an opium den. By this Fix becomes partly successful in stopping Passepartout to not to tell his master about the premature departure of the ship.

Undeterred Fogg

Throughout the journey Fogg remains undeterred and only thinks of best possible way to win the wager. The wager was a matter of pride to him and he was very careful of not making any mistakes along the journey. On way from Suez to Bombay, he paid good reward to streamer engineer to advance their journey by two days. In India he purchased an Elephant at a heavy sum of money and in the end gifted it to his guide who remained faithful in performing his job with utmost sincerity.  In Hongkong, having missed the journey, Fogg hires a boat to escort him and Aouda to Sanghai for a hefty sum of money. The plan was to catch a streamer to Yokohama from Sanghai Similarly to travel from Hudson, US to Liverpool-UK in time he purchases a whole ship for a hefty sum of $60,000 and similar stories continues. Upon reaching to London, he would put himself in a position whereby he would already have had spent as equal to the amount of wager. 

Passepartout: A faithful servant 

Passepartout remains very obedient to this master Mr, Fogg. He risks his life to rescue Aouda from a sacred procession, amidst a risky situation. In another circumstances, though Fix tells him that his master is a bank robber, Passepartout doesn't believe on him. He feels very sorry for his master when he knows that because of him his master missed the ship in Hongkong.

Fogg gets arrested, gets clean chit but losses the Wager

It was not necessary for Fogg to delay his journey by saving life of a unknown Indian women (Aouda). But he risks his wager and his life to save her. Similarly when Passepartout was captured by Indian in America, he takes help of American soldiers to rescue him alive. What can be learnt of Fogg is that he was morally correct and kind  person. Upon arrival to Ireland, Fix arrests Fogg in charge of Bank robbery, later to realize that the original bank robber had already been caught. Disappointed Fogg reaches London just five minutes late thinking he lost the bet.

Passepartout makes Fogg win the lost Wager

Fogg was disappointed as he thought that he had lost the wager and apologized Aouda for having brought her to London in a situation where circumstances had made him poor. Then Aouda confesses her love to Fogg and asks him to marry her. Fogg ask Passepartout to take appointment from Minister. While Passepartout goes to take appointment the next day, he realizes that the date was December 21 and not December 22. The fact was that they gained one day travelling eastward. Passepartout hurries to inform Fogg who comes in the last moment to claim that he has won the wager.

The story ends whereby Fogg wins the wager and gains  £20, 0000. But to the end of his journey he spend about  £19,000 on the way. He divided the remaining amount between Passepartout and detective Fix.

Though Fogg didn't really earn any amount from the wager, he was happy and content that he held his pride high. Most importantly the biggest gain to him from the journey was to get beautiful Aouda as his wife.

Conclusion
Overall these characters and plots make the whole novel very interesting and worth reading. As the story flows, writer also describes the plot in a wonderful way. The writer has really done a good research and made the whole sequence of the story very lively and moving.  At times I felt that I was also travelling with Mr. Fogg across the globe. This book would be a nice read and would like to rate it 8/10. To get book for free flip through "free books section" of Kindle books  download it. If you are lazy enough to read the book, there is a movie based on same story.

Half Girlfriend : A book review

I generally read Chetan Bhagat(C.B) when I have nothing to do and just to keep pace with what most of the youths love doing: reading romance filled yet dramatic story.

Released late this year, Half Girlfriend is a love story about couples who come from different part of the India, and more specifically a tribute to a guy from rural India who is haunted by his inability to speak english fluently.

Plot of the Story:
Madhav Jha comes in contact with Chetan Bhagat in Patna and leaves his some notes of his girlfriend, who, he assumes to have passed away. Inspite of Chetan unwillingness to read the notes of a poor bihari guy's deceased girlfriend, he can't get past the feeling and finally reads the whole diary overnight. The real story line in the novel starts when the author calls the boy in the early morning to talk about the details of the love relationship of the boy.

Madhav Jha, a boy from rural part of Bihar in India, comes from a former Royal family which garners him the respect from his villagers as  a Prince (though he never enjoys being called  so). Having played basketball as a state-level player, he applies to one of the premier educational institution of the country- St. Stephan College, via the sports quota. During the trail match for examination, Madhav comes across Riya Somani, a beautiful girl with pretty good english and  from an elite delhi family. Just like how most of the love story starts, here Madhav easily falls in love with Riya. He befriends Riya by giving some tips on how to score. Later on both of them get selected in St. Stephen and their friendship blossoms based on common interest of basketball.

Time and often Madhav expresses his desire to make Riya his girlfriend which, most of the time is rejected. Finally they strike upon a deal when Riya proposes Madhav to become his Half Girlfriend (friends with benefits?? ;). In between the plot, the story also portrays the lifestyle that elites share: lavish parties, show-off's, stressed relationship, obsession to wealth, etc. Being obsessed to make Riya his own, Madhav demands that Riya have sex with him, which puts the relationship in stake and they finally part away.

The story gets a twist when after a year Riya marries her childhood friend Rohan who has a good business in London. Riya settles in London with her husband. Here Madhav Jha, not being able to overcome the guilt of inferior behavior with Riya leaves Delhi and relocates himself in the service of his village in Bihar, with his mother. He comes in contact with local MLA and requests him to help the school, but in vain. Later he confronts with an opportunity to approach to The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for donation to his school via local MLA. As things roll on, Madhav becomes successful for being selected for Bill Gates visit to his school. Madhav now is supposed to make a impressive speech in a good english, so as to impress on Mr. Gates.

The story presents another twist when Madhav comes across Riya Somani (a divorcee now) while taking english classes in Patna. Riya who has moved to Patna as part of her job, helps Madhav to make an appealing speech. The couple become successful in getting a humongous grant from the foundation. Though the couple become close to each-other in this period, Riya leaves Madhav surprisingly after the function of Gates foundation. Madhav gets a letter of Riya that she had lung cancer and is left with three months to live. Madhav tries to find the whereabouts of Riya but fails. It is only after 3 complete years that Riya journal reveal of her being alive.

Just remembering the eternal wish of Riya to sing in bar of New York and live a peaceful life, Madhav speculates that she might be in New York and thus prepares to travel to New York. He manages to visit New York in an internship arrangement with the Gates Foundation and stays there with his college friend of Stephen. Finally, desperately searching for Riya for about 3 months, he finds her in a bar, just two days prior of him returning to India. They get married and justify their relationship and love. The story ends when the author visits Madhav and his family(with a son), 3 and half years later in their successfully running school of Bihar.

Review:
It took me 3 complete hours to read the book in which I felt like a movie play running in a single plot.  More than a literature type, the book resembles to a script of a bollywood movies. You can see parts of life of Bihar, Delhi and New York. Special appearance of Bill Gates, and dramatic plots of union and separation of the couple, etc.

Similarly,the story moves along the line of negative stereotyping of Bihar as a backward and most reviled state in India and of Biharis as bumpkin, not so good with English, obsessed with sex,etc., while of Delhiites girls as fair,  beautiful, and intelligent.

Earlier book of Bhagat sounded more realistic and read-worthy basically because that he had personal experience with the storyline of previous novel and he could relate himself with them. This recent one is more dramatic. He also fails to explain why a girl from Delhi elite falls for a pathetically portrayed rural guy from Bihar who had no talents beside basketball.

However just like Bhagat's previous novel, Half Girlfriend is less boring to read. Though the novel is devoid of any moral lessons, it goes in line to the objective of Chetan Bhagat "to make India read like never before". This novel is going to be another success as it contains dramatic love-life of stereotyped Delhi girl and Bihari boy and on top of that it contains all species that  Bollywood movie has: dramatic, romance and sex. Thus the book is suggested only for hard-core fan of Chetan Bhagat and the people who are new to english novel reading.

Why Nations Fails ?

This article is a short review of book "Why Nations Fail", in relation to Nepalese context.

Meaning of Nation:

Conventional definition of nations identifies it as: A large group of people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic makeup.

For other:  It  refers to a shared cultural experience, such as Hinduism or Communism, or at one time even Christianity- an organization with no physical borders yet sharing a common bond because of shared beliefs of ethnicity.

Meaning of Failed Nations:

While there is no any consensus about the meaning of the failed nations, Wikipedia defines it as: A state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government. Some of those failed basic conditions and responsibilities might be:  Loss of control of its territory, erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions, inability to provide public services, inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community etc. Such failed states are peculiarly characterized by the presence of: massive level of corruption, central government being too weak to take control of its territory, massive criminality, prolonged economic decline etc.

Though the concept of failed nations is popular these days when we talk about a particular country (in light of the development situation or its political/economic stability), there has been no consensus among thinkers about the what failed nations really means.  We can set the parameters to mark a nation as a failed or not failed. But is it really a justified thought? Can a nation can fail just like an individual person? Nation may get overtaken or subsumed or recede, but rarely do they disappear. However when they pass through prolonged period or crisis resulting from loss of sovereignty because of massive poverty, corruption, political instability, rampant economic disruptions, we may term a nation as a failed one.

Reason behind failing of the nations:

"Why Nations Fall: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson" is one of its kind that makes an in-depth analysis of the facts and figures responsible for the failure of the nations. The book is eloquent, profoundly researched and a masterpiece of scholastic analysis of these repeated failures.

The book begins with story of place called Nogales which is cut into half by a fence. On the northern side is Nogales, Arizona-United States. While on the Southern side is Nogales, Mexico. The northern side is characterized by high income, good literacy rate, healthy population, higher life expectancy, a rule of law and democratically sound practices. But in contrast to the northern Nogales, the southern part has low literacy rates, poor health conditions, lower life expectancy, poor public amenities, and a fragile democracy. Both part of Nogales have no differences in geography, climatic conditions, types of diseases prevalent, food habits, cultural background and also they have same ancestors.  So typically none of the above mentioned reasons can be attributed for the cause of difference in prosperity of the two part of the Nogales. However, the writers identify the presence of inclusive political institutions (as a result of democratic economic institutions) the main cause for the prosperous and sound Northern Nogales situated in the United States.

Inclusive political institutions guide the inclusive economic institutions of the country. Inclusive institutions bring together all facets of society in economic generation activities; providing incentives via institutions. These set of institutions encourage technological innovations, flourish education system, enhance knowledge and skills enhancement, etc. They provide people with freedom to pursue the vocations in life that best suits their talents which ultimately ensures the greater welfare of people living in a society. In contrast, extractive economic institutions, which are the byproduct of extractive political institutions (like that of North Korea), are designed to extract wealth from one sector of society to the other subset of society. Such extractive institutions enable the elites controlling the political power to choose economic institutions with few constraints/opposing forces.  They also enable the elites to structure future political institutions as per their convenience. And this cycle goes on.

Where does Nepal stand?

In most of the failed nations, states are structured around extractive political institutions where the institutions serve to satisfy the needs and aspirations of the elites alone. While we see this issue in reference to that of Nepal, we find the evidence of the same and data suggests the same.  Institutions of Nepal are extractive and are basically family dominated. 

In case of Nepal, we can also relate the condition to extractive political situation prevailing here since long period of time.

When we study the political history of Nepal, we can find that the country’s political situation has been turbulent over time.  Though Nepalese have been successful to overthrow one corrupt political system for the other, but still the new system couldn't be installed properly for the broader welfare of its citizens. The paradigm of changes that emerged after such point of time have been contrasting with regard to that in developed countries like United Kingdom and other developed nations. For eg: While if we see the case of United Kingdom, favored by inclusive political and economic institutions, the introduction of Bills of Right of 1689 following the overthrow of King James II developed a breakthrough change which harvested the benefits for the next 250 year and more.

Even after the end of 104 years of extractive political system favoring Rana family, the political system developed thereafter couldn't establish and thus flourish properly. The country has gone through rapid political changes during the last two decades. As such no any democratic system could hold a firm control of the state affairs that would favor their citizens.  And over this period the political conditions revolved same group of elites. Any political and economic systems that were established between these periods couldn't be of significant help to its citizens, in terms of resource mobilization, economic empowerment, employment generation etc.  All the mode of governance was centralized and the state couldn't have firm control over its state affairs. As such the country was heading towards the juncture of failed nations.

 However with the establishment of 2006 April revolution, Nepal has embarked into a journey which has been able to instill a new rays of hope to the country and its citizens. The political system has been set-up in a democratic and inclusive system wherein anyone can fight to hold any significant position in the form of governance. With people from all walks of life being involved in constitution drafting process, we can hope that a well inclusive constitution will provide a way forward for the development of the nation.


(This article has been drafted based on the book "Why Nations Fall: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson". The writer has used his own perspective regarding the Nepalese context. Any suggestions and feedbacks are welcomed) 

Review of "Subarna Shamsher: A Politics of Ethics"

Among six photographs printed in a banner of Nepali Congress, I had difficulty in recognizing one face ! However I could figure it out later with a help of my friend that I had hit the nail in the head ! A correct guess. He was none other than Subarna Shamsher-one of the founding leader of Nepali Congress.

Suwarna Shumsher is one of the founder of Nepali Congress-oldest political party of country. Though much is known about his contemporaries, B.P Koirala, Ganeshman Singh, Krishna Prasad, on contrary, very few has been explored about Subarna Shamsher. As I was longing to know more about this very person, I was lucky enough to grab a book recently published featuring the contribution of Suwarna Shumsher to Nepali democratic movements.

Subarna Shamsher was born in in the tyrant ruling Rana family that ruled Nepal for continuous 104 years.The power politics and struggle for power was so massive that it ended with endless conspiracy and massive conflicts within the family. Rana clans had to live their entire life with terror and suspicion at all the time. Adding insult to injury was when the family of Suwarna Shumsher was kept in exile from Kathmandu valley by categorizing them as "C" class Rana family who would not have a say in the role based leadership in Rana family.  Later Subarna Shamsher family left to Kolkata ( India) and settled there for business. Educated and down-to-earth Subarna Shamsher established an business empire in Kolkata by venturing successful ownership of British property at cheaper rates.

Though Subarna Shamsher was excelling in his business ventures, he could not pacify himself as he was forced to live his country and that his country was ailing. And thus the waves for changes began to start. Suwarna Shumsher vowed to overthrow the Rana rule and to bring democracy in the country. Later he came in contact with BP and collaborated with them to form a single political party which main objective would be to out-throw the Rana regime and bring about peace  and democracy in the country. Initially it was said that Suwarna Shumsher offered the then Rs 1 crore to B.P to carry-out pro-democratic movement in Nepal. With astounding support of Nepali people and financial support from Suwarna Shumsher, the revolution was successful.

Describing all about the political stories of life-time of Subarna Shamsher would be too time consuming. However, I would like to summarize of Suwarna Shumsher of as a far-sighted, morally balanced and ethically correct figure of Nepali political fraternity upon whom the current citizen can look upon. Following points proves of his greatness.

1) Sole financial supporter of pro-democratic movement of 2007 BS.
2) Supported party cadres, party and party leaders in exile continuously from 2007 BS- 2015 BS.
3) Didn't misuse power for personal benefits.
4) An intellectual figure of Nepali politics, he penned a far-sighted budget , though it was the first budget of the country (even first PM of India Jawaharlal Nehru is said to have praised him for his economic insights)
5) Didn't use state-coffer for political cadres and his own party: A man with strict financial discipline.
6) Always valued ethics, friendship more than power ( though he was offered for PM by then King Mahendra many times, he refused and proposed BP Koirala for the same and kept the part unity intact)

" 2 States: The Story of My Marriage" a Book Review

Marriage might be a private affair in western countries where people are more individualistic in nature. However in a eastern country like India, for a couple to get married, it takes to soothe the both side of the couple at the first place. It's very rare that the "to be married couple" have very nominal or not at all role in the course which would influence their life for forever. All this has been portrayed by Chetan Bhagat(C.B)  in his yet-another best selling novel "2 States".

Chetan Bhagat has been " the biggest selling English novelist in India's history" by the New York Times. Besides his previous best-selling like 3 mistakes of my life, One night at the call center, C.B has also inspired some of Bollywood movies like "3 Idiots", " Hello" and also an upcoming " 2 states".

Written in an autobiographical note, an IIT and IIM graduate C.B plots it very cleverly about the love affair between a Punjabi boy: Krish and a Tamil girl: Ananya who represent two different states of India: Haryana and Tamil Nadu respectively. C.B draws a perfect plot to the novel by beginning from the early friendship of the two fresher of IIMA who firstly get to know each other in college canteen. The relationship that begins with only friends leads ultimately to love relationship where the couple with the passage of time decide to take seven rounds in of fire ( to get married). And usual to C.B novel, the story flow gets more interesting as C.B describes the couple getting involved themselves in the pre-marital sex affairs in each-other dorm rooms ( I really wonder if all these happens in IIMA !! ;) )

The couple serious enough in their love relationship vow to marry and stat a really tedious task of taking their parents in to agreement for the marriage. After series of workouts full of discomforts and tensions(like Krish moving out to Chennai to befriend Ananya family, helping his "to be" brother in law with tuition classes etc) , they become to soothe both of their family for the marriage. Around this part, the novel is very much about the family affairs in India and how important it is to get families approval in-order to get married. Also the novel depicts it beautifully the contrasting views of the older generation with the new generations in terms of love-life relationships.

Beside the stuffs of love, relationship and ambitions, the novel attempts to convey a beautiful message about how India should be. The idea is depicted more clearly when Ananya gives birth to a twin and C.B mentions by saying that the babies belong to a state called "India"; ending inequality.  So as to develop a better version of India, its citizen ( esp. Youths) should rise above and beyond the narrow domestic fragments of caste, creed and state ( India first ! )

2States: Movie 

Apart of the usual moral lesson, I read this novel in order to know about the life in IIMA. (which the book reveals really less and out of what it reveals, I believe most of it is exaggerated and flawed :D ) However I like this book of C.B more than 4 previous book of him. And Yes, Can't wait for the movie revision of the same releasing this weekend( April 11, 2014).




Well this is just kind of light read. And don't expect to dig out some great lessons or morals from this novel. If You really love Bollywood romantic movies then this book might be a right pick.