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...
Baahubalis everywhere – left, right, and centre
Baahubalis create stories, act in them, power them all, and sometimes live the stories in their story. This breed, so firmly entrenched in Indian politics for decades now, has completely over-hauled the way democracy interacts with the way social activism behaves, the directions that justice for those in need must adopt, and even the art...
Stories from Uttarakhand
Stories are good when they connect with readers and thus to say that some are only for children can sometimes lead us to miss out those that have been written well. ‘Tales from the Himalayas’ is a collection of 17 stories by Priyanka Pradhan that many may miss if they assume the volume is for...
Radio is the theatre of the mind
If any of you thought radio was only for driving on packed highways or it was just a lot of words without the boxing gloves of statistics or that only preaching happened there, you are probably the sort who has never listened to ‘Mann ki baat’ by Narendra Modi, the PM of India. Ira Glass...
Battle for survival. Review of ‘Bestseller’ by Ahmed Faiyaz
Battle for survivalReview of ‘Bestseller’ by Ahmed Faiyaz No, this review isn’t about battles fought on the borders of a country but an interesting, fictional and a somewhat factually cursory glance of ways in which authors, publishers, editors, celebrities, journalists, and those in PR are invariably pulled together to define success. Publishing isn’t just another...
A world beyond words
A world beyond words Review of 31 Miles written by Vinita Bakshi Is it a mere coincidence that I have begun writing the review of this book with the help of proofreaders sydney on the 6th of February which isn’t too far from the National Mathematics Day? Let me first explain the connection. This book...
Let’s settle this right here
Let’s settle this right here Review of ‘Bringing the Rainbow – the Hindware Story’ I love fiction. But I have a deep respect for non-fiction and the reason is that every snippet, every little story here is backed by a conviction that only reality has. So when I began reading ‘Bringing the Rainbow...
Does Tihar transform one into a writer?
Does Tihar transform one into a writer? Review of ‘Life Mantras’ by Subrata Roy Sahara Just imagine sitting inside a cell in Tihar jail and writing two hundred and seventy-four pages filled with ideas and thought processes that you might have followed during the years you were a free man. What would they be like?...
Pull away from ignorance and know the constitution
Pull away from ignorance and know the constitution. Review of ‘The Constitution and the Parliament of India’ written by Derek O’Brien With so much happening all around, it is necessary to understand it all through competence and knowledge… and not through a kaleidoscope of ignorance. I remember talking to a few bloggers and was...
Writing of rights: Review of ‘Talking of Justice’
Now here is an author who doesn’t flinch as she admits that she is short and that there are things that she doesn’t know about. Leila Seth writes in her book ‘Talking of Justice’: As the discussion began, I remember feeling acutely uncomfortable on stage. I am short and, seated on the chair that I...
Haramzadon bhaago! Review of ‘The Race of my Life’
One of the factors that has probably given India a Milkha Singh is the way his instructors made him run. In this book that has text by the man himself as told to Sonia Sanwalka, Milkha Singh says: Gurdev was a taciturn, no-nonsense kind of man, whose tough exterior hid his softer, gentler side. He...
Gangiri Bhadra was the solution. Review of ‘Shoes of the dead’
‘Death Districts of the DP Government’, he suggested for the headline. There are no doors in Ichalganj, Nazar began his story. Once, that was because no one wanted anything more. Now, it is because no one has anything left. I began reading the book slowly, deliberately because I thought death never likes to be hurried...
