There is a God, but…
Yes, there is a God, but… the creator of stories is man. So, while we have an entire universe of raw material thrown at us, it is only the human mind that twists it all into a million different shapes. Manu Bhattathiri is one such human who has done a neat job of twisting innocuous...
A Thrilling Dive into a Gathering of Tanka Verses
Words love other words and have that strange magical power to turn each of their get-togethers into duels, sermons, inquisitions, insights, decisions, barbs, directions or whatever else they are asked to do. Sometimes we just let them clump into complex shapes that defy any description and allow them to go on with their search. It...
The curse of Kuldhara – book review
There are suspense and thriller tales that hardly ever let the adrenalin rush subside, those where calculated risks abound and then yet others where the power of the narrative scores. ‘The curse of Kuldhara’ by Richa S Mukherjee has all of these in scattered evenly and, in addition, is also like a delectable mix of...
Happiness according to Naval Ravikant
Why do I wish to talk about happiness and not wealth or building judgement, or rational Buddhism, meaning of life, and any other aspect of values that are so vital for us? All these are painstakingly explained in ‘The Almanack of Naval Ravikant’ written by Eric Jorgenson, a book published by Harper Business. This is...
Battleworthy thoughts on National security
National security situations that have impacted Indian political thinking on war – both limited and otherwise – and even other security-related challenges need not just an unbiased retelling of what happened but must also be insightful and courageous enough to express reflections that are not obfuscated by mere political alliances. The book that I have...
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...
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...
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...
My echo, my shadow, and me…
The unexpected is one super reservoir of joy but it is equally true that the unanticipated sound or a visual that is like a detour from the usual will inevitably trigger fear in us. Like our own shadows that sometimes scare us. Or an echo that seems linked to the unnatural. It is not just...
The war that made R&AW – book-review
Back in the late sixties and early seventies, the way massive destruction caused by Cyclone Bhola, the trauma of a genocide, and the politically suicidal inactivity of Yahya Khan came together, the creation of Bangladesh should not have surprised anyone. Yes, the outright rejection of his six-point movement for East Pakistani autonomy and the declaration...
Pride, Prejudice, and Punditry – a review
Seventy-five previously published articles, stories, poems, columns, and excerpts from his books (both fiction and non-fiction) with most having ‘been expanded or updated, or both’ are powerful enough to be more than just snippets of history of things that matter to Indians. Maybe even everyone else around the world. I call these pieces more than...
