Sunday, January 2, 2011

JohnnY Gone Down by Karan Bajaj


Summary

Nikhil Arya falls into destiny's trap . Is he prepared ? Well he will have to find out that for himself . Nikil an MIT student goes on a trip to Cambodia , the trip does'nt go good unless you call being amputated "good" or living in a basement surrounded by your excrement and the smell of a dead-friend's corpse as "good" . He somehow escapes and founds himself in a Buddhist Monastery . And so his life turns and twist from one tale to another .
On and on , it takes Nikhil aka Buddha aka Nick aka Donos aka Sahib to Cambodia-Brazil-Silicon Valley and finally India . 
Review
I have been wanting to read the book since the first time is saw it on the  "Crossword" shelves , also it was suggested to me by a Dial-a-book service employee .Moving on 
The book is a light read despite the exotic locations , and dangerous circumstances in play .It is pretty entertaining specially  for all those Indians who have always wanted to see an Indian version of a guy who does not loose his nerve in a problematic situation . I would have said the Indian James Bond , but since all of you readers are past cliche's I wouldn't want to use one ,specially when its all wrong .Nikhil is not some special agent , he is a simple guy who touches people's lives in a way which is not what you call usual or temporary .
All throughout he is setting the perfect example of a man who never gives up 
I love everything about the book other than this one thing , Nikhil is just too intelligent , too physically perfect (other than that left arm ) , emotionally stable and creative . Call me jealous , but other than  Sidney Sheldon characters there are few who master such "perfection" cause even those characters can never attain modesty that he possesses .
The book is more of an NRI clan , there is little Indian about him  other than his background .
That however is not a flaw , since the author has proved the point, that, you dont have to add unnecessary decorations to make the protagonist more Indian .The entire book is about how everyone , everywhere has similar capabilities and  qualities .A foreigner of a friend willing to give his life for you is better than the school buddy whose name you don't remember at the school re-union . 
I found few similarities between me and the protagonist , me and the author and  the protagonist and the author.
I wonder which pusa road school he has studied at , because if its the same as mine , another similarity will be added to the list :p
Mr Karan Bajaj
The author seems very modest ,and can even be contacted on his email email@karanbajaj.com 
Well I am not that bad myself , so if you need me just comment and I will be all ears for you . 




3 comments:

bermudaonion said...

This does sound interesting, but I do know what you mean about characters who are too perfect.

Kanupriya said...

Thanks for dropping by my blog, and glad to come to your link. Its all about books, hope to find some good reviews here :)
And your paintings are just too good. Did you do all of them?

Karan Leo Vohra said...

I did find your blog very refreshing . Thanks for visiting my blog , I hope some book interests you . YUp I did do all of those paintings . Thanks so much . .tc
and a very happy new year