One mind prodding another
Search for books on pandemic and Amazon has page after page listed. There are those that talk about the history of pandemics to those that list out lessons for a post-pandemic world, others go on and on about practical ways to get a healthy lifestyle during a pandemic and then those that have articles from...
The importance of being different
‘I don’t like kindle. It doesn’t smell like a book,’ tweeted a friend, and the words left me wondering if a kindle must really smell and feel like something that it is not. For instance, a book never adopts the smugness of a smartphone, and it doesn’t bother me. Our obsession with making everything seem...
Which way to go?
While on treks even I have often noticed, as did Oorja, the protagonist in ‘Mapping Love,’ the debut novel by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, that everyone is ‘in a hurry although everything around them is slow. They know that they have to make things happen before the sun sets…’ The narrative pace of this book, as...
Love sandwiched between drugs, fanaticism, politics, and patriarchy
I remember when I was posted in Bhatinda, a friendly chemist there near Birla Mill colony told me that he sells tons of Dulcolax. So many cases of severe constipation? I asked. Addicts actually, he replied, and so I realized that drug addiction was rampant in those parts of Malwa region in Punjab. This happened...
Khabar Pakki Hai!
Khabar pakki hai?Khabar pakki hai!Where is the point in spending even that oft talked about twenty minutes reading a daily newspaper or that hour or so gaping at the idiot-box if all one gets to read or listen or see is stuff that may or may not be right. Or meaningful. When I read that...
The secret life of aggressive loudspeakers
This post is a satire on the use of loudspeakers... and also loud speakers.
Interviewing a bulldozer
If you think it was easy to fix an interview with a bulldozer, think umpteen times. These massive machines have no time these days as a zillion sarkari farmaans (government notices) make a beeline to them even before they are fully awake. No coffee or fresh lime in tepid water for them. They must rush...
If only we weren’t ruled by such idiots
India and Pakistan may be two different countries now but have a lot in common…. And reading ‘City of Spies’ by Sorayya Khan made me sit back and smile. Yes, of course, like our friends in the neighbouring country, we too often think we are ruled by idiots, we too are constantly killing ourselves, we...
Like having a bisi-bele-baath in Paris
Off the beaten track. Not the way most murder mysteries travel in and out of violence. Well, as Arjun Iyer, the protagonist of this novel might have chosen to express, the book is like having a bisi-bele-baath in Paris. His deeply loyal but irascible, devil-may-care Inspector Munuswamy might pick up some other custom-made analogy or...
The humour files
I have recently taught a pigeon how to remain seduced by humour. He no longer finds comedy a threat to his convictions. I convinced him that humour isn’t scary. Not even if it happens inside the parliament or a place of worship. Or the office when facing a serious conflict. Or even at home when...
A birdwatcher reaching out to the soul of intrigue
A sense of great possibilities, a space to explore and discover, and a world that wins a place in a reader’s world can be transformative enough to not just give us a massive adrenaline rush but also add life to our life. This is how my mind perceives a thriller and this is way better...
Stray thoughts, stray comments, and stray dogs