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 .