No one takes my brinjals! – Review of a thriller
One doesn’t often get to read a thriller written by an Indian author where intrigue, suspense, murder, kidnapping, and even a chase runs for a long distance with guffaws, smirks, laughter, and even satire to keep company. Now, if the title of this review intrigues you, let me just add that I’m not talking about...
This grandmother knows her kitchen well
‘Gunpowder for you,’ she said. I thanked her and wondered for a moment if it was the exploding sort. Harjeet Kaur possibly read my mind and laughed as she said, ‘Yes, quite explosive for the taste-buds.’ We were in Mahabalipuram then and soon got busy exploring the cultural history of the place. Harjeet Kaur, also...
When readers imagine what happened in a story
Review of ‘Shadow of the past’ by Mayank Manohar. Let me say at the start that Mayank, the author, has everything in place for him… a tale that relates to lot of people, experience of writing short and long pieces, and the courage to move a perfectly fine idea into a novel. He was probably...
Untangling the insanity of doing business
Untangling the insanity of doing business Review of Irrationally Passionate Well, yes, every once in a while someone who can infuse a new perspective to business decision-making and executions pops up like an Argonaut to set things right. The story of Jason Kothari and the way he turned from a rebel to an entrepreneur is...
Who says bankers are boring?
Who says bankers are boring? This book has the heart of a novel and the mind of an information treasure trove… Tamal Bandhyopadhyay ‘tells the exciting tale of how HDFC Bank has transformed itself, especially in the past few years with its digital journey,’ writes Nandan Nilekani in his forward to `HDFC Bank 2.0: From...
The distance between a problem and a solution
There is no problem without a solution lurking somewhere. It is just that we need to focus and discover it. However, between a problem and its solution is a completely wild world of desperation, stress, and feelings of incompatibility that can be exceedingly harmful. This distance between a problem and its solution has the power...
Ravana’s bloodline exists
The Vedas, mysticism, mythological references, and ambition to reach the pinnacle as a strategic weapons consultant form the core components of an intrigue that define this thriller. ‘Divyastra’ written by Nimish Tanna and published by Become Shakespeare isn’t the usual terror-and-gore thriller but digresses into quite a bit of interesting story-telling without compromising with pace....
Yet another failed attempt by Chetan Bhagat
Book review.
'The Girl in Room 105' written by Chetan Bhagat.
When you take a closer look at the pedestrian attempts of Keshav Rajpurohit and Saurabh at solving a murder mystery you sometimes feel as if the writer was a curious mix of a genre-challenged Enid Blyton (that she never was) and a pathetically jumbled-up Agatha Christie...
The adrenalin rush of chasing a killer
Let me begin by writing that I stay quite near Paharganj and have walked through its lanes and by-lanes many times. The place is densely packed, is reputed to have the birth place of crime in the capital just round the corner, is full of hotels for back-packers with quite a few of them known...
One shot. One kill.
There are Bibles and then there are handbooks for everyone interested from making bombs to creating political conflicts. These can be long-drawn and full of jargon that the lay reader may or may not fully understand. It is the same with the art of being a great sniper. The best way is always to get...
The pause after a poem is read
The mind reads a poem. And then the being grasps the meaning. This is what we perceive as a pause. And thus the relationship between life and poetry moves slowly from one pause to another. This is one sort of relationship where looking inwards also goes along with phases of looking at everything around you....
Twisted games of online predators
Twisted games of online predators Review of ‘The Wildcat’ by Taanya Sarma Imagine reading three books at the same time where between ‘Why I am a Hindu’ by Shashi Tharoor and ‘Woman to Woman’ by Madhulika Liddle happen to the one that I have decided to review first, that is, ‘The Wildcat’ by Taanya...
