"Protect & Defend" is another new thriller from Vice Flynn who is described as Tom Clancy on speed.

Another interesting book of his Term Limits was reviewed by me long back.

This one looks like as if you are reading the headlines today.

The story goes like this; Israel has quietly destroyed the secret Nuclear Reasearch facility of Iran so as to prevent them from develping Nukes . Thuis has triggered an international crisis. The crazy Iranian rulers have unleashed a war of vengeance on US & Israel and the Hezebollah has been enroled to unleash a rein of terror.

Irajn has created a war like situation and has put US in tight corner. President puts on job the counter terror specialist agent Mitch Rapp on the job who has to rescue the abducted CIA Director and also finish off the renegade Hizbolla terrorists.

Very racy and interesting reading that keeps one pinned to the book. I had to finish it in one continuous reading, I was stuck at Bombay airport one rain soaked evening and the fight was 3 hours delayed, this book helped me make the wait worth the while.

All this brohua on Nuke deal. Every body is raving and ranting on the subject without knowing any damn thing!

99% of the politicians , including the educated ones making Tv appearances and taking part in the debates & talk shows have not bothered to read the 123 agreement, Hyde Act or even the Safeguards agreement. All these documents have been available on the internet for so many months.

They keep on shouting their mouths without knowing any details and they dont even make any efforts to know!

God save this country from such ignorant, illiterate, and uneducated politicians who refuse to read anything other than the gossip columns!

Brands are much more than mere trade names. I remember many brands with lot of nostalgia and fond memories and wonder where did they go!

Tooth pastes: Macleans- Rajesh Khanna & benjamin Gilani used to endorse, Kolynos,Binaca with 4 variants was an iconic brand with its flagship radio programme named Binaca Geet Mala the first ever hit parade of Hindi film songs, Signal Flouride the disastrous failure of HLL,

Soaps: Moti the luxury soapwith 4 variants, Nahan the Lifebuoy equivalent,Lavender, Neko, Shikakai,

Sathe confectionary, Ravalgaon sweets, Himalaya Boquet powder, Cuticura Talc....Anju Mahendroo became the face to remember, Afghan Snow, Madhu Malati beauty fluid, Maratha Mandir agarbathis, Loma Hair dye...made famous by Loma Time at exact 8.00 AM on Radio Ceylon, Simpsons Shampoo, Zinda Tilismath..pain reliever, Afghan Snow, Dongre Balamruth, Bhimseni Kajal, Vimto, Gold Spot & Rim Zim soft drinks, JB Rose, Monkey Brand Tooth powder, Ashoka & Topaz Blades, Keventer's Ice cream, Delbis Bread, Duke's Mangola, Brilliantine Pomade


memories, memories.....Can anyone add to the list?

I used to be a smoker for many years. I smoked for over 30 years and have since given up over 7 years ago and have not touched a cigarette since then. I do not advise anyone to pick up this habit and I would urge the smokers to give up the habit asap.

I have very fond memories of my smoking years and the nostalgic memries make a history of brands....

Those good old days when I was a kid in primary school ( I did not smoke then, but had lot of fascination for it) , the brands then popular in small town Karnataka were Honeydew(Hathi Chhap), and Berkely. There used to a Passing Show with a fake tip which had no filter. I remeber the ads with a guy in a hat!. Charminar was for the hard core smokers....then came Panama in a soft pouch pack which became pop[ular because the pack was water proof!

School kids used to start with Kool a metholated cig with a white color filter, and North Pole another similar cig. They would then graduate to Four square.There was a scented oval shaped cig named Marcopolo , very popular amongst school boyz! All the cigs used to be small size only.Unfiltered Red&White, Capstan , Gold Flake, & Regent used to be premium brands.Gold flake & Capstan used to come in 50 stick Tin Cans.Then came Wills Navy cut with the "Made for each other" tag line which became the best seller.

Then came Plaza Kings...the first King size cig of India, it was a flop. Then came Foursquare Kings( Length & Strength) followed by Gold Flake & Wills Kings.Charms in a denim pack became an iconic brand and was very successful amongst the youth.

India Kings used to be a super deluxe brand.

Country side brands were Scissors ( very popular in army canteens), Cavendars ( The ash was used as an additive to beer in college hostels fore whatever the reason!), Lamp ( popular in Punjab).

Rich guys used to show around imported cigarettes like Dunhill, Benson& Hedges, 555,Lucky strike, More etc.

Then there was a brand which I am forgetting in a white pack of 20's which was endorsed by Sanjeev Kumar, can anyone help me remeber it? It was a good cig, but was not a commercial success and hence died out soon, so did Sanjeev Kumar! What a tragedy.

Ambani brothers feud hots up over MTN deal.....SP agrees to support UPA......Left withdraws support......Sensex goes up 400 points.........Left hands over letteer to president & SP hands over support letter again....Sensex goes upo 600 points.......Customs seize and release Mukesh Ambani's aircrafts( were they sleeping all these days?).....Amar Singh appeals for taxing windfall profoits of private oil players.....Mukesh denied permission for helipad over his roof top( Have you ever heard of Mukesh being denied anything?)..... Shiv sena dithering over support UPA over Nuke deal....Sarpotdar gets sentenced ( After umpteen years!)......RPL stock nosedives, Reliance energy gains 8.5%...Mayawati attacks Nuke deal....CBI decides to file charesheet in DA case( very recently did IT deptt. gave her clean chit over so called Gifted property!)............Do all these headlines make sense? Can you see the links?.... NDTV conduscts poll and devotes full half an hour on prime time TV!....Can you see the vested interests at work? Can you see how low our politicians can stoop?....God save this country!!!!

I just finished reading Ghost by Robert Harris, and it was a wonderful book. Its about a ghost writer who is asked to edit and give final shape to the Memoirs of an Ex-PM of UK whose aide who wriote the manuscript died in a mysterious accident. The new ghost writer discovers the murky past of the Ex PM and unravels a massive conspiracy.

Just before this I read, Three Mistakes of my Life by Chetan Bhagat. It was an interesting reading. It could have been done much better. Some of the things like taking the prodigal kid cricketer to Australia , kid refusing admission to the cricket academy, are too hard to believe.

I dont know why did Chetan had to hurry up so fast toward the last few pagaes, it is as if he had to fast forward the story to beat the publisher's deadline!