Six books in two weeks

I just finished Ashok Banker's six part series on the 21st century's retelling of Ramayana, the great epic composition of India.

The story of Rama is split into six parts which detail his life from when he is sixteen to when he becomes thirty. It encompasses his triumphs at a lot of places, most notedly against Ravana, the evil lord of Lanka. The story starts with "Prince of Ayodhya", moves to "Siege of Mithila" where he finds his lady love, Sita, then to "Demons of Chitrakut" which has Rama going into exile with his wife and brother, on to "Armies of Hanuman" which is the movement towards Lanka, "Bridge of Rama" which talks about the building of the bride to cross to Lanka and then finally "King of Ayodhya" telling about his exploits and his victorious return to Ayodhaya.

It is an interesting series of books in the fact that they actually make Rama out to be a human with extraordinary discipline rather than a god reincarnate. That makes him a lot more endearing and his achievements more staggering.

It is a good series to read.

PS: Personally I was pleasantly surprised to note that I had read six books in two weeks, that too without devoting a lot of time to them. All the reading happened either on the bus or in the loo or late in the evening for a short while. And I was amazed that I read so fast.