Chitra and Krishna gifted this to me a couple of months ago. It is about Vijaya Nagara (Victory City stupids) and its tale told by a lady who lives for 280 plus years and who writes down all that happened during those years - how she created the city and how it went to seed, her many affairs with foreign men and Indian queens and her many sons and daughters.
I did not see the purpose of this book - at times it looks like he is making a joke (can't keep his sarcasm out), and at times it looks like he is making a point of knowing the details in history that we all should know. If I wanted to read about The Rise and Fall of Vijaya Nagara I would want to read a book that is more serious. If I wanted to read something entertaining I would have liked lively characters who have something to accomplish and who bring the human experience in all its glory. Instead I get a story that at times appears real and serious and at times looks like its a joke fabricated on the original. The characters including the ever youthful Pampa Kampana bored the hell out of me. One interesting thing I found was that the three sons of Pampa are named Gundappa, Erapalli and Bhagwat and I found that these three are also surnames of tree famous cricketers from Karnataka - Vishwanath, Prasanna and Chandrasekhar. Stuff like this I cannot understand. If its a joke I did not get it. If its a great story it did not move me.
Anyway my impression is that there are times when great works are taken up and they do not fall in place as one might have originally envisioned them. This to me would be one such.
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