MGR, the Man and the Myth

Author: K. Mohandas

Genre: Politics, History

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: A good summary of MGR's political life and the then state of TN politics

I got this book during my recent trip to Chennai. I have always been fascinated by MGR and Jayalalitha's administration and their role in shaping TN politics. My mother is a big fan of both MGR and Jayalalitha and all my knowledge about them is through her. She has shared many stories about their political and personal life during many of our conversations. Naturally I got curious about this topic and picked up this book to read further. 

The book provides an excellent insight into MGR's political personality and how he handled multiple issues during his tenure as chief minister of Tamilnadu. Written by who was considered as the right hand of MGR, the author talks about how MGR was a man with so much power and freedom but how he kept to himself for the most part. I also liked the author's unbiased recount of certain incidents where he felt the right decisions were not made and MGR's lack of trust on certain occasions. I felt MGR was full of charisma, intuition and clever minded when it came to appealing to the public and decision making during challenging times. Although I am not familiar with many of the key events in TN politics, this book was a good peek into all those incidents.

A good book which makes you wanting to know more about the man! 

The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

 Author: Serhii Plokhy

Genre:History, Politics

Rating: 3/5

Verdict: An insightful book into the history of Soviet Union, but a bit dense for newbies in this area. 

A well researched book on the collapse of Soviet Union. For a newbie to this area like me, it can get a bit dry and boring at times, so it is definitely a slow read. I liked reading about the key men involved and their characters - Yeltsin, Bush and Gorbachev. It was interesting to understand and see each man's perspectives and particularly Bush's role in the whole thing. 

For anyone who is more interested in history and has more knowledge on the Crimean war and the US/Russia relationship, this would make for a delightful read.

Amma: Jayalalithaa's Journey from Movie Star to Political Queen

Author: Vaasanthi

Genre: NonFiction, Politics, Biography 

Rating: 3/5

Verdict: No surprises, offers nothing new for someone already familiar with Tamilnadu politics. A very quick read.  

I've been wanting to read this one for a while now. It is a very swift read and a quick run through of Amma's life from her childhood to her political life. For someone already quite familiar with Indian politics, lived in India and followed the news, this book offers nothing new.  It just felt like a collage of a lot of newspaper articles/wiki pages put together. The author has deliberately and carefully stayed away from writing in detail about the controversial topics that surrounded Jayalalithaa's life and only touched upon those events in each chapter which is quite alright. I enjoyed reading about Amma's childhood and her relationship with her mother. This part of her life was something I hadn't read or known about before so it was quite interesting.  Many of the incidents described in each chapter although known to everyone brought back memories of my childhood when I watched those with keen attention with my family in the news channels and newspapers. 

To me, personally this book gives an insight into how sexist Indian politics was/is and how one woman fought through all the turbulence in an entirely male dominated political world and emerged victorious. I would've liked to see more pictures from Jayalalithaa's childhood and adolescence and I also felt that the author did not do a good job of documenting in detail about all the welfare schemes created by Jayalalithaa which had heaped a lot of praises. The crisp language makes it a good read despite its over simplification of the content presented.