Book Review - THE RED PYRAMID - by Rick Riordan

     The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan is the first book in the Kane chronicles series. The language used in the book is quite similar to Franklin W. Dixon’s ‘Hardy Boys’ series and Jeff Kinney’s ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series. The two protagonists, Carter and Sadie Kane are shown to talk in an informal, friendly way with the reader. The book is basically a transcript of an audio recording made by the two. The books starts off with a bang. It starts with these words - “We only have a few hours, so listen carefully.” This urges the reader to read on.

 There were some really funny lines in the book, but halfway through it, the author used the same pattern, which wasn’t all that humorous. At the end of the book, I felt as if I were a close friend of Carter and Sadie. They did, in a way, talk to the reader. But once the book ended, I didn’t feel happy and satisfied, as I would have felt on completing any other novel. Instead I felt sad. Literally. At the end of the book, Carter and Sadie suddenly stopped talking after saying “This is Carter and Sadie Kane signing off. Come to Brooklyn. We’ll be waiting.” Even though they were imaginary, I was filled with sorrow.

One thing that makes this book stand out are adjectives. The descriptions of some things are really great. This makes it easier for us to imagine those things. But some descriptions were so abstract, vivid and unimaginable, it made imagining those things all the more difficult. The way of speech of Carter and Sadie is different and well executed. Carter is an African American boy who is a well behaved and obedient person, and his way of speech is the same, while Sadie has a kind of, well, what do you say, ‘cool’ attitude.

The book also shows family bondage and brother-sister relationship. Most of the book is on Egyptian mythology and magic, and I’m sure the author must have done a lot of research. This book has influenced me so much that even I have started doubting whether magic really doesn’t exist. The type of writing in this book can be used by young writers who have just started to write. They can start writing personal experiences the way the author has written (just the way I’ve written-scroll down). I would give 8 out 10 points to this book and congratulations to Rick Riordan on writing such a wonderful book.

-         Manas Trivedi

Review - SHIV SAGAR Restaurant, Aundh, Pune

           Shiv Sagar is a vegetarian restaurant located in Aundh, Pune in Maharashtra, India. It is one of the best restaurants for the middle class in Pune, where you can find dishes ranging from the traditional Dal Tadka to Paneer Butter Masala to Manchurian to Mexican Pasta Sizzlers. No other place having such a large cuisine.

          First, we will have a look at the details of the place. Then I will introduce you to some of the best and famous dishes of the restaurant.

          The restaurant has two storeys, the ground floor which is non A/C, and the first floor which is an A/C hall. The first floor has cloth covers on the tables and chairs, preferred by those dining in premium hotels, while the ground floor has normal chairs, tables and fans. The difference between the two is that the ground floor has a normal temperature, while the first floor has a cold temperature. It just means that food becomes cold within a few minutes in the A/C hall, while on the ground floor, it doesn’t. So, first recommendation, dining on the ground floor is better.
 

          Tables can be reserved on phone. Tables are available for two, four and six people, but for more people, the staff can join two or more tables, so that they can have a great party. The time taken to serve the food after placing the order varies from ten to fifteen minutes during normal hours and half an hour during peak hours. It also depends upon the type of dish you order.
 

          The cleanliness is fine. There is a wash basin, and after eating food, a finger bowl is provided. The tableware is neat. Till date only once in my 250+ visits have I encountered the problem of some material being present in my plate and glass.
 

          Now let’s have a look at the cuisine.
 

          The Pav Bhaji is breathtakingly incredible. It is probably the best Pav Bhaji you could ever have in this world. You have to try it before it’s too late. Though it is a bit expensive, it is a must-eat. I hereby declare it as the best dish of this place.
 

          Chole Bhature – the bhature part is fantastic (and oily), but the chole part, not so much. The chole are, well, I never was able to understand their flavour. I’d recommend Shiv Sagar to possibly make them a bit softer, so that it would be more enjoyable. The bhatura part is shockingly amazing. It is almost bewildering. Biting into one feels like walking through heaven, or more accurately, eating heaven. Believe me. You can order exclusively the bhatura part, without the chole.
 

          Manchurian and all the types of Paneer served here are satisfying. If you have the money, you can buy a nice sizzler. It will result in people coughing around you, due to the hot vapours coming out of it. But it has a taste of its own.
 

          Now for the South Indian part. The masala dosa is remarkable. There have to be better restaurants that make better dosas, but till date, of all dosas I've eaten, the Shiv Sagar dosa is the best. The original masala dosa with the red chatni is crisp and less oily, while the rava masala dosa is oily and crispier, and the one suggested by me.
 

           The Utthapam and Idli are okay. The Medu Vada is nice and crisp. Along with all these South Indian dishes, Sambhar and coconut chatni is served. Both are nice and add to the flavour.
 

          As for the dessert, if you visit Shiv Sagar in winter or spring, order Strawberry with Cream. Big pieces of real strawberry are topped with cream. Dig into one, and you’d never want it to end. I’d call it a khatta-meetha combination. But along with the brilliant taste comes a higher than normal price tag. You can also try the strawberry milkshake. It comes in a big glass, again with real strawberry pieces.
 

          This was all about the Shiv Sagar restaurant. On the whole, the place is excellent for moderate price high quality food. I would give the restaurant four and a half out of five stars and I wish all the best to Shiv Sagar to continue its future endeavours.
 

-         Manas Trivedi

 

Shiv Sagar Vegetarian Restaurant

Masala Dosa with Red Chatni - Shiv Sagar

Utthapam - Shiv Sagar

Strawberry With Cream - Shiv Sagar

Review - LENOVO IDEAPAD S210 TOUCH

          The Lenovo ideapad s210 is an 11.6" touchscreen notebook. It is economically priced at ₹ 32,500. It has a slim design, one key recovery and an accutype keyboard. Dolby advanced audio is present, and so speakers give a clear sound. It has the label of Energy Star and has an Intel core i3, using fourth generation processors.

          The accutype keyboard keys have an inward slope, for the best typing experience. Also, if the keyboard is removed, and if something is to be typed, there appears a touchscreen keyboard on the screen, as in tablets and smartphones.

          There is an HDMI output, for easy connections to television and other similar appliances. There are 2 USB connection ports and a card reader. The one key recovery button allows to recover from viruses. The notebook also has an HD webcam, for conferences and video chat.

          These are some of the positive things present. But while working on it, I faced some major difficulties.

          Even when the screen brightness is set to level 1, the 36Wh battery gets discharged within 2 to 3 hours. Notebooks are generally used throughout the day by professionals. So I would recommend Lenovo to increase the battery life to 6 to 8 hours in future models.

          Also, there is no CD driver in the notebook. Probably while Lenovo was developing the notebook, it excluded the driver from it, just to give a slim design. Work can be done by using USBs, but sometimes the only thing you need is a good CD driver. That must be present in all PCs.

          And last, but not the least, it doesn’t have any in-built microphone. I am a user of Skype. And I have the experience of working on laptops with microphone. In those kinds of laptops, you could simply turn on Skype and talk to the person on the other side, without any equipment like headphone.  But in the notebook, there is only a headphone portal. So, while on Skype, only one person, who is wearing the headphones with a mic, could be heard by the person whom he/she is talking to on Skype. Hence, family talks are impossible. Example, my family is talking to another. My brother is wearing the headphones. I yell “Hey! What’s up you guys?” Won’t be heard by the other family, you see? You can use a better, sensitive mic, but it is always better if there is an in-built microphone present in PCs.

         So, I have stated the positive and negative things about the notebook. I won’t recommend it to people using laptops while travelling, without the charger. If you are not travelling with the notebook, and keep it plugged in for most of the time, and don’t mind headphones, I’d say for you the notebook is great. I hope Lenovo increases the battery life and adds the in-built microphone and the CD driver, in future models of the notebook. I would give three out of five stars for it. And I hope better notebooks in the future.

­­­-  Manas Trivedi

Helicopter Havoc

         Helicopter! Incoming! Where? Where is it? I can’t see it! Oh yeah, there it is! Oh my god! This was a part of a short discussion which took place between my brother and I while going to a holy temple.

It was around 11 in the morning on 23 November 2014. My family and I set out for the Chatushrungi temple in Pune, in our car. I was riding shotgun, my father was driving, and my mother and brother were sitting behind us. It was a nice morning. The sun was shining lazily, the sky was utterly clear, and the cool breeze was blowing gently, or so it seemed, as in a car with closed windows, you can’t experience it. And most importantly, I was in a good mood, which wasn’t very often.

          While looking at the clear skies, I spotted a grey helicopter in the sky, not too far. Nothing too unusual. Still, I told my brother about it. Then the helicopter did start becoming unusual. It seemed that it was falling. I had to tape this! Unfortunately, because of my usual bad luck, it went behind the buildings. I gave this news of the helicopter crash to my family. My mother, being positive, said “I’m sure it didn’t crash. It must be landing on the helipad of a building. Perspective is the culprit.”

          I was pretty sure there wasn’t a single helipad in the area. I kept a lookout for any kind of fire or smoke, or the unfortunate copter. Within a few seconds, we came into an open area, free of buildings. The helicopter wasn’t visible at all. Even the fastest of helicopters couldn’t escape in such a short period of time. Where in the world did that copter go? I was going crazy. At least the copter would make some kind of sound while flying. I opened the window. I heard a really loud whop-whop-whop-whop-whop-whop-whop. The typical sound of a severely unbalanced washing machine. Yeah, what else but the identified-flying-helicopter.

I stuck my head out of the window. The copter was insanely close, just about ten metres above us. What was the pilot thinking, landing on us, or on the road? I blurted out a funny “Aaah!” You had to see the expression on my brother’s face. It was then that I said “Helicopter! Incoming!” The copter took a sharp turn to the left and became visible to all. And then my brother said “Where? Where is it? I can’t see it! Oh yeah, there it is! Oh my god!”

Immediately, everyone on the road stopped their cars to catch this sight. This thing isn’t seen every day. The copter was flying at a moderate speed along with our car. The thing was losing altitude quickly, and before it landed, or crashed, our car stopped due to the traffic jam.

People stepped down of their cars to see it. They literally parked their cars on the left lane of the road. I remember seeing two children sitting on the roof of their car, with their parents beside them, eating chips, as if they knew the event was going to happen. I’m not kidding, the place became a picnic spot.

The copter probably didn’t crash, as it didn’t make a crashing sound. It flew into an area fenced with brick walls and barbed wires, covered with trees. It was a military base. We made our way through the jam, and finally saw the helicopter resting on the ground. People were standing on their toes, and some were even sitting on the fence of the base, avoiding the barbed wires.

Actually, there were two of them. One of them absolutely motionless, and the other with rotating blades, perhaps the one which landed just then. We further proceeded down the road, until the helicopters were out of sight. There were almost no vehicles in the road. All were busy watching the copter behind.

Some distance ahead, I noticed a third copter in the sky. It too flew in the direction of the base. “Turn back! I want to see it!” my brother ordered, of which notice wasn’t taken. It was not flying as close as the first one, and was just as grey as it. I felt that something was on. Some great personality had just landed in the city. Then even I felt that we should have turned back. I would have got a glimpse of the Indian Prime Minister, or Lionel Messi, the great football player, or Baba Ramdev, the popular yoga teacher, who knows?

After a few days, I did learn who had come to town. There was a joint military exercise of India and China in the military station. The helicopters were a part of a joint tactical exercise which included insertion of troops from helicopters to destroy a dummy terrorist hideout.

Right. So it wasn’t a celebrity. Just some Chinese soldiers coming across the border for joint training with the Indians. Nothing much to see, and certainly not a great incident for people to create a traffic jam. Oh well, I learnt one thing from this incident: Helicopters create havoc.

       

 

-  Manas Trivedi

 

A newspaper clip, showing the army helicopter

 

Trekking in Himachal Mountains

          Some years ago, I had gone to a trekking trip. I was somewhere in the Himalayan mountains. I’m serious. I had no idea where I was. I was somewhere, on my own....

           In India, trekking is very popular in the state of Himachal Pradesh, usually during the months of October, November, December and January. It is one of the major factors enhancing tourism. It is an adventurous outdoor activity involving climbing of mountains and hills. Trekking camps are generally situated at the base of mountains, from where people begin their hike. Overall, trekking is a nice exercise and is fun when you are with your family.

One fine day I read a pamphlet of a trekking camp. I asked my parents if I could go to Dharamsala, situated in Himachal Pradesh to join the trekking camp. I convinced them that I was able to do things on my own. Finally, I got their permission, after a lot of persuasion. I left home with my camera and a backpack, filled with essential things. I travelled to New Delhi by air, and reached Dharamsala by bus. It was the first time I was travelling without my family.

          The bus dropped me off at the trekking camp. Tents were put up everywhere. I, after ten minutes, found my tent. It was yellow in colour, and was quite small. Inside the tent was a sleeping bag, a lamp, and some weird old books. That was all. So, I was here, finally. I went out of the tent, just for the pleasure of roaming around. I saw people around me, mostly families. All of them were chattering around, creating noise pollution. This part of the hills seemed to be the only civilisation around. The camp was situated in a valley, surrounded by hills. At a distance, I was able to see snow covered mountains.

I walked a bit towards the higher mountains, away from the crowd. The place was, well, peacefully amazing. Lush, green hills and dense, green jungles on them. The air here was fresh and clean. I hadn’t seen snow for a while now. So I was instinctively attracted to the mountains. I continued to walk, passing many trees and bushes on the way. Birds were singing melodious songs, and the cool wind was blowing gently. Amongst the trees, I saw a small stream. I’m sure its water was crystal pure, but I didn’t dare to drink it, as anything ruining my health would be disastrous. I strolled around the bank for a while. Here I was completely alone. I realized suddenly that I was completely lost. I didn’t realize I had been wandering for so long. I tried to go back the way I came from, but soon I was walking in circles.

          I saw myself in the next day's newspaper-‘Boy missing. Last seen in trekking camp.’ I frantically ran here and there, trying to find my way out, but instead I made my way deeper and deeper into the jungle, and probably farther and farther away from the trekking camp. The jungle was covered with huge pine trees. This was wilderness. This includes wild animals. I heard a squeak. Out jumped a mouse, from the undergrowth. I didn’t expect to see mice in the jungle. Then I sensed something wriggling in a bush. Whatever it was, it slithered slowly and steadily. Alright, I’ve given you too many hints. It was a snake. Though small, it was thin and black, and certainly didn’t look nice. It was following the mouse, but didn’t see me. I believe it was interested in eating the poor rodent. It was about to consume it when the little rat scampered off with astounding speed.

          I became a little wary of animals and carried on trudging up the hill. The forest became less dense and soon I found myself on the top of a big hill. It had an incredible view of the snowy mountains and the valley below. I remembered my camera and took some pics. It felt great, but at the same time that horrible thought came once again into my mind. I was helpless. There was no going back.

I looked at the huge, white mountains. I had to experience them. They were the reason I had come here. They formed a range in front of me, some big, and some small. I aimed for one of the smaller ones, just to get some snow on my hands, and also due to my lazy attitude. I hurried down the hill and started my trek.

There was no going back. The mountain was brown, with snow on the top. Climbing up the mountain was real hard. I had come to Dharamsala to learn trekking and mountain climbing. But I wasn’t able to do it. But I believed that I could achieve my goal of reaching the summit on my own, without any training. The mountain was at a 45 degree angle from the ground. Something told me that once humans were here. There was a sort of path dug up.  Small stones were arranged like stairs. If they weren’t there, the trek would’ve been impossible. I started climbing. Soon, I reached the snow line. I tried to make a snowball out of the snow, but the snow had turned into ice. Now the mountain became less steep. In fact, it had become flat. I was on the top of the mountain. It felt as if I was on Mt. Everest. From the top, nothing else but the top of trees were visible on both sides of the mountain range. I took a great deal of photos as a memory, and started my descent. I decided to go towards the side opposite to the way I had come from, for the sake of exploration.

          Down the mountain arose greenery. I saw some monkeys, chattering away like the people at the trekking camp. Along with the chattering came a loud noise, just like the sound of the ocean. Wait, an ocean? Yeah, how an ocean could arise in the mountains, you must be saying. I went in the direction of the sound. The sound got heavier, sort of, as if it was applying a force on me. I came into a clearing and to my surprise, there was a waterfall. It was gigantic. Enormous. Huge. What not. The water was coming down from the top of the biggest mountain of the range and crashed, or splashed into a river beneath. And I have to say, it was loud. I mean it. It probably was louder than the noise made by a crowd in Times Square shouting at the top of their voices. I’m sure the waterfall must be the biggest in the world, breaking the record of the Angel Falls.

I took a thousand photos of it to prove my point, if I was ever to return back. While clicking a photo, I noticed a big orange animal on the opposite side of the river. It was a tiger. Huh? You serious? To be precise, yes. It was drinking water from the river. Roar! No, it didn’t roar. I stared into its eyes and it stared into mine. I was sure that it would spring onto my side and eat me alive. But it just made an innocent cat face and resumed his work of drinking. I quietly made myself scarce and ran away as fast as my legs could carry me.

I was back again into a forest. Now I was seriously tired of dark forests. Too dark and spooky for me. I kept on running. And running. And running. And abruptly ran into a creature standing on its legs. Fortunately, it wasn’t a gorilla. It was a human. He asked me, “Hello sir, what are you running from in this part of the jungle?” “A tiger” I said and asked him to take me to the nearest civilization. He took me to a village. Finally, I wasn’t lost. I was back with the humans. Oh yeah. The people there were quite polite, and curious to know who I was. I told them about my adventurous trek, though half of them didn’t believe me.

I had some money in hand, and so took the first bus to Delhi. I narrated the whole incident to my parents on mobile phone. Man, weren’t they worried? They booked a flight ticket for me when I reached Delhi. Within a few hours, I was back home. I decided that till I really grow up, I might as well be with my family. It might seem adventurous to go on a trip all by yourself, but it is always better and enjoyable to go out with your family.

-         Manas Trivedi

Trekking alone in the Himalayas

 

 

Trekking camp