THE OTHER SIDE: banking

The King of Good Times

There is a Hindi song from the movie Heer -Ranjha 'Yeh Duniya Ye Mehfil Mere Kaam Ki Nahin' which means that 'I have nothing to do with this world and the people here' strangely this line gives different inspiration to different people in the same situation. The indebted farmers commits suicide leaving this world and all its miseries while the industrialists left the country to live luxurious life in another part of the world when unable to pay their debt mocking and laughing the pathetic system.

The 'King of Good Times' Vijay Kingfisher Mallya is the latest in the list who left India after unable to pay bank dues of around Rs 7800 crore. His airline company is also defaulter for not paying salary of its employees. These employees are feeling stranded in this situation while the chairman remains busy in IPL and calendar launch. When State Bank of India announced Vijay Mallya as willful defaulter and freeze the payment of around Rs 500 crores he received after selling his share in UB Group to a European country fled away fearing arrest after Enforcement Directorate's notice.

Vijay Mallya is not the only one who hasn't paid bank dues but there are many more like him. Shockingly public sector banks who send goons at your doorstep for non payment of loan amount has written off Rs 114000 crore of loans of industrialists in last ten years in different parts of the country. These same banks have pressurized farmers for loan payment which forced them to end their lives. One lakh fourteen thousand crore is not a small amount bank officials must have gulped millions to write off these loans.

The Supreme Court has recently ordered the center government to prepare the list of loan defaulters of Rs 500 crore and more. The court has also questioned how after such big losses these people running there businesses smoothly. This looks like a big bank scam to me and I wouldn't be surprise if there is a political backing in it. Banks should take stricter actions against all billionaire loan defaulters. ED, External Affair Ministry and Finance Ministry must ensure that these criminal offenders not leave the country without payment of dues. These King of Good Times are giving bad time to there employees and to the nation's economy. They must be harshly punished to set an example for others or else there would be more Modis and Mallyas living abroad happily laughing at weak legal system.

Book Review - God Is A Gamer

God Is A Gamer is written by Ravi Subramanian and is published by Penguin Books. I have received author signed copy of this book from BlogAdda as a part of book review program. Before going to the book I must admit that I haven't read previous fiction works of Ravi Subramanian namely If God Was A Banker, Devil In Pinstripes, The Incredible Banker, The Bankster and The Bankerupt and neither his non-fiction I Bought The Monk's Ferrari and after reading God Is A Gamer I regretted not being aware of his writing before. Ravi Subramanian is a banker by profession writing thrillers related to banks and bankers and this one is also one of them and promoted as world's first bitcoin related thriller.

Cover : The bitcoin symbol in the title hints at its involvement in the plot. The shape of man looking at white house and the tag line ' Is Revenge A Crime?' relates story to the USA and to the white house. The shape of the man is looking confident enough to take his revenge but with whom is the matter of reading. The cover reveals that a narrative of intrigue is waiting for you which happens with the prologue in which so many things were happening but how and why is unknown.

Plot: Gillian Tan a senator and close pal to the president of United States was killed in a car explosion. This case was handed over to Adrian Scott a special agent of FBI on urgent basis. The story revolves around Scott's investigation of this case ,its link to the ATM heist of millions in New York city and with the new virtual currency Bitcoin. His findings about Indian involvement in the heist and Tan's assassination. How he finds its connection with Malvika's suicide a banker in India in his search? What's the role of leading gaming company of India in all these things? The fast paced roller coaster narrative cross gamer,banker,politician and terrorist shocking and surprising the reader at each turn. How Scott solve each puzzle to reach the real culprit is heart pounding. A case which moves from US to India and from India to US via many twists,turns and encounters with technicians, corrupt bankers,CBI, drug peddlers and many more.

Thriller : The tight plot keep you hooked and you try to go through the complete story as soon as possible to know who was pulling strings. The narrative is as quick as the story, the things were coming rapidly leaving you awestruck and surprised. The climax was superb and wasn't in haste. The end is like a some Hollywood thriller movie but is justified looking at the situations. I also liked the detailing of some technical and financial terms. Quick switching of scenes from different places to different people in the end makes you restless and more curious which I think is a right approach to such thrillers.

Spoiler : Complex plot and introducing a new character in every chapter in the start may look bit confusing to some readers. Use of some financial and technological terminology distance it from common readers who are not into thriller genre. Also I think the Bollywood connection is missing in the plot,when so much money,traps,betrayal are happening actors involvement is a must.

Rating : Must read for thriller lovers and a must try for everyone. I will give 3.9/5 to this book.

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