The Book Lovers

Review: Rumi: A New Translation

2012-01-19T20:50:00.000+05:30

Maybe I am not the right person to review this book, simply because I haven’t extensively read the works of Rumi, a great spiritual master and poet from the 11th century. But yet I found this book an excellent resource of his works. The book is translated by Farrukh Dhondy. He calls it a new translation because he felt most of the translated works of Rumi do not do justice to his poetry and are more or less literal translations of what he has written in Urdu. And his contention being the meaning behind the verse and poetry are lost in translation. As per the author he has tried his best to give Rumi’s verses and poem a contemporary translation by trying to combine the intent of the original with an attempt at lyrical felicity.

Like I said earlier I haven’t extensively read Rumi but this book has managed to entice me to read more of his work. Yes I am absolutely embarrassed to admit that I haven’t read Rumi. So as per me if the book has managed to get me to read up more on Rumi and get me hooked to poetry means the translations have not been distorted much from the original and justice has been done to his works.

Do read this book if you are a fan of Sufi poetry and yes of Rumi.

Would just like to end it with one of the translated verses Today ‘Tomorrow is a hope- the dreamer’s way, the Sufi lives the moment, rejoices in today!’

Review: Death in Mumbai

2012-01-19T20:43:00.001+05:30

Neeraj Grover has been one murder story which I have followed diligently all these years. The shock, the gruesomeness of the murder, the absolute calmness with which the murderers Maria Susairaj and her boyfriend Emile Jerome conducted themselves shocked me no end. Seeing Neeraj’s parents break down on every news channel broke my heart. When they managed to get bail it upset me and I tweeted about it continuously, but as if, that would help.

Now Neeraj Grover was one such guy you encounter everyday in Mumbai, almost like one of our own, struggling with Mumbai’s life, small town boy from Kanpur trying to make it big in this city despite his parents not wanting him to go anywhere beyond Kanpur. His is a story you encounter every day, the fact that he worked close to where I work, got murdered just two suburbs away from where I stay and ended up dying such a horrific death was and still is very hard to digest.

But anyway this post is not about what I feel about the murder but a review of Meenal Baghel’s excellent and well researched book ‘Death in Mumbai’. Since this book was about the murder which I still track I started reading it instantly and was hooked. This book was not just about Neeraj’s death but it tried to show how aspirations, the pressures of the city can lead young professionals to a crime so heinous in proportion.

Who were the main characters in this entire episode? What made them do what they did? She tries to take us into their lives and you realize that they are perfectly normal people like you and me. What drove Emile Jerome an extremely bright student coming from a well off family and employed in the Naval services to commit a crime of such tragic proportions. Maria hailing from a wealthy background out to make it big in Bollywood, supposedly very shy and meek person manage to help cover up the murder? And did Neeraj Grover a man obsessed with making it big in the industry misuse his position to lure Maria into a relationship with him?

Lots of questions remain unanswered, lots of permutations and combinations derived to try and answer why the murderers did what they did. Did Neeraj deserve a death so gruesome? Meenal tactfully judges none but draws a riveting picture of a death whose mystery has not faded even though the killers may have been found.

Though at times and at places I found the book increasingly repetitive but it was a minor hiccup in trying to present all angles to the case.

A book I highly recommend all to read.

Review: Two Fates: The Story of my Divorce

2012-01-19T20:30:00.000+05:30

I recently read a book called Two Fates, and if the titlesounds similar to Chetan Bhagat’s Two Fates, let it be known it is intentional.Yes the book takes off from where probably Chetan Bhagat’s book ended , inwhich the North Indian boy marries his college sweetheart the South Indiangirl. In all honesty I found 2 States a genuine fun book even though I am not aChetan Bhagat fan.

So if Chetan Bhagat's book was two states: The Story of my Marriage we have Judy Balan's 2 Fates: The Story of my Divorce tries to present a story ofhow after 4 years of a similar Punjabi boy married to a Tamil girl scenario thetwo decide to divorce.But here’s the proverbial twist in the tail, getting adivorce is almost near impossible because by now the two families are very muchin love with each other. If you thought that reading this would be fun, I amsorry to burst your bubble it is so not funny. I just find the entire deal of basingyour book as a flipside to another already published book downright weird.

Moreover the story does nothing to convince you that the twohave any valid reason to divorce, more like flirting with the idea. And basingan entire book on this idea is absolutely unconvincing and well not so hilariousas the author might have intended. Then making the characters forcibly soundcool and awesome is also a big turn off while reading the book.

Okay also a declaration- no I am not a Punjabi nor am I a Tamilian.No, just in case you were wondering.

It is a book you can easily skip.

Guest Review: Dracula & Starwarped

2012-01-09T20:15:00.001+05:30

Reviewed by : Priyanka Dalal

If you are in Mumbai and love books, one good place to find interesting, dirt cheap books are the second hand book stalls next to Cafe Mysore, Matunga. So after an Udipi breakfast of idlis, dosas and south indian kaafi I found two quite exciting books in the lot. Dracula by Bram Stoker and Starwarped!

Dracula - Bram Stoker
Being an avid fan of vampires from before the Twilight mania I felt I had to read the original 'Dracula' written way back in the 1800s. This is the beginning of all the vampire literature is what I thought and plunged into the book! The story starts off with an English gentleman Jonathan travelling to meet Count Dracula for work reasons. As he nears the castle his journey gets increasingly eerie. The villagers warn him to stay back but being the 'good guy' he favored his diligence and professional instincts and arrived at the assigned hour. At the castle, over many days he faces many horrors including having to live a nocturnal life, getting his blood sucked by vampire women and being locked up! The story also narrates the life of two women in England. One of them is Jonathans fiance. These chapters start out in a very 'emily bronte' fashion with dances, beaus and proposals! Later however events take a sinister turn.

The story follows Dracula's attempt to establish a base in England. A lot of myths about vampires are uncovered in the book, apart from the usual stories of garlic repulsion, bats, coffins, wooden stakes, this book uncovers other facts like vampires can't cross water unaided, they can't change shape during the day and more. The book has detailed out what a vampire is and how Dracula came to be, it tends to drag a bit since we are more used to vampire romance than drudegerous explanation of his habits but all in all its an interesting read!

Star Warped

This book is a real rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-my-ass-off book for all Star Wars fans out there. It is a written spoof on the entire movie. So it starts of with the A long time ago... text which is ofcourse changed into something quite funny, it then follows the entire movie only changing it to point out the gaffs and give it some really hilarious twists. Luke Skywalker's Tatooine nudist colony, yes you heard me right... Luke's colony happens to be well a colony people who prefer to stay naked. Obi Wan Kenobi is Old Ben Knobbli - a person who suffers from some disease which makes him bend double due to his knobbly, wobbly knees! Its quite amusing to read about Darth Vaders attempts to show his funny side, where he writes stand up comedy scripts around his habit of crushing the wind pipe of people who anger him! After a while though as all spoofs go it gets a bit much and I find I can keep the book down. It was definitely a very interesting and very different read from my usual stuff.

(Priyanka Dalal is a social media marketeer from Mumbai. You can follow her work insights @ priyankawriting.com and find her on Twitter @priyankawriting.)

Review: House of Silk

2012-01-05T21:50:00.000+05:30

Reviewed by:Ananth

221BBaker Street.Dr Watson. Sherlock Holmes.

Itis unquestionable that the above would bring to life a most vivid imagery forit is almost unimaginable for anyone to have not come across the Holmes'ian phenomena.Be it a text that has been forcibly thrust upon one during school or the sheerhunger that drives the avid detective fiction reader to devour every wordwritten about Holmes, it is a given that each of us would have their ownconcoction of the Holmes image in our heads - for me though, throughout theHouse of Silk it was Robert Downey Jr who was invading my head!!

Amidsta plethora of stage and screen adaptations, there also exists quite a canon ofderivative 'Holmes' in text - Laurie R King's Mary Russell series which I canquite recommend and Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Dr Watson in Without a Clueimmediately spring to mind (a more extensive search is bound to produce a lotmany results). January 2011 saw Anthony Horowitz being commissioned by theConan Doyle estate to write a new novel featuring the genius and upon readingit I can safely say that it had been entrusted in the safest of hands. Wellknow for his Alex Rider novels and some acclaimed television work (Foyle'swar), Horowitz has managed to produce a work that does complete justice to theoriginal work while still being explorative enough to rein in the interest ofthe modern reader.

TheHouse of Silk unfolds as one of the many unpublished case memoirs of Dr Watsonthat were safely stowed away in a safe-deposit box at Cox and Co. in CharringCross Road (much like lost vault tapes, I suppose!). The specific eventssurrounding this account, as per explicit instructions, were to remain sealedfor 100 years as Dr Watson believed that its full knowledge "would tearapart the very fabric of society" (as it existed circa 1890). The openingsees a rather dandified art dealer seeking Holmes' help sensing danger from arather mysterious stalker wearing a flat cap. He relates to Holmes a fairly violentflashback set in America involving a train robbery and Irish gangsters,convinced that revenge was the motive of the stalker. Thus the ball is set inmotion for an excellent mystery which takes on gigantic proportions as oneploughs through the pages - I would not be doing justice if I were to spell outevents in their order as that is something to be experienced - how Horowitzmanages to mesh these snowballing events expertly into a shuddering climax isthe very hallmark of the House of Silk.

Horowitzmanages to recreate the Victorian London and has remained true to the Doylestyle in terms of the conversations that take place, Dr Watson's voice andother trifles as Holmes would say. However in between all this he manages toweave in the odd element here and there that would appeal to a wider and modernaudience. Take for example the sentiments that Holmes expresses towards theBaker Street Irregulars - it manages to shade Holmes in a much warmer tone,something that is totally opposite to what Doyle used to portray him as - thesingle-minded harsh investigator whose sole aim rests with the resolution of amystery. As often echoed by Dr Watson inthe book, there also seems to be a progressive and broader outlook towardssocietal scruples that is definitely new to a Holmes mystery and thiseventually becomes critical to the untangling of events. The devout Holmes fanmay not appreciate these detours (as with a couple of other minor items - youcan solve the inconsistencies with the dates!!) but Horowitz manages to straywithin limits. All the tropes associated with a Holmes'ian mystery areprevalent - Holmes pulling inferences out of thin air with subsequentexplanations to Dr Watson, Homes retreating into a shell when challenged, andthe inimitable Lestrade - the spirit of Doyle is alive and kicking without adoubt. I particularly enjoyed one interaction between Mycroft and Sherlock - itis probable a lesson on how great minds communicate whilst apparently sayingvery little (maybe akin to what might have ensued if Newton & Einstein wereto have a dialogue!!).

I think it isneedless to add here that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While being true tothe original canon, Horowitz has opened the doors for a modern rendition. Pacedextremely well with a well constructed mystery (in fact three mysteries resolvethemselves by the time we are done with this book!), the House of Silk is aHolmes'ian mystery that would either leave you wanting for more from Horowitzor will make you go back and re-devour the original canon of 56 short storiesand 4 novels - either way it is a treat and indeed, the game's afoot

(Ananth is a software engineer from Chennai who loves reading but loves even more the dissecting that follows the read.)

Review: A Tangled Web- Jammu and Kashmir

2011-12-08T19:46:00.001+05:30

In India everyone and their neighbor claim to be an experton Jammu & Kashmir. No Indian state is as debated as this state. And yesfor obvious reasons. It is a state that has been in conflict since Independence.A state that while trying to create its own identity by moving on from the pastis also finding it difficult to shake off its past. And it is definitely aconundrum hard to get out of. What gets worse is the judgment people havealready passed on it. There is no middle ground. Due to which J&K continuesbeing a tinderbox waiting to explode at any slight provocation. Sad but true.

A Tangled Web is an excellent resource for people who wouldwant to read myriad perspectives about the state. It is not just that but thearticles and pieces gives the reader an excellent insight into the conflictingviews on the history of the state, its problems and examines the variouspolitical, social, cultural and economic issues at play there.

The book tries to bring in as many voices as it possiblycan. All these collected essays fromeminent writers as well as voices of people who have suffered the brunt ofviolence in the state. So one can read well written articles by ParvaizBukhari, Suhasini Haidar, Jagmohan, Meghnad Desai, Nitasha Kaul, Sonia Jabbarand more…

It is indeed sad that the place which is probably one of themost beautiful places in the world and the most strategically located too is ina perpetual state of conflict. But yet this year has been good for the stateand let’s hopes ensuing years follow the same pattern too. Karan Singh writesthe foreword for the book and starts off the book with the right note andtenor. Ira Pande has edited the book.

Thisbook is an important contribution to the various literature available on Jammuand Kashmir, do read it if history and current events interest you

Review: Noon

2011-12-08T19:35:00.001+05:30

I recently read Aatish Taseer’s latest book called Noon. Letme be upfront and honest here and say that I haven’t read his previous works (yesI know you just went hawww!).

After having heard a lot of good things about hisbooks I was sure this would be a great read too. Well it just barely made it tomy list of good books to read. That’s the review in a nutshell.

So Noon started off rather well but just mid way through thebook I was left wondering what was it that the book set out to say in the firstplace? But then in the end it got better, but just slight. The book thoughwritten in the fiction genre is inspired heavily from some incidents fromauthor’s own life.

The book is stark at some places and at places it issaddening too. The protagonist of the bookRehan Tabassum is brought up by singlehandedly by his lawyer mum and his grandmother. As he grows up with questionsin his mind about his father he discovers that his dad is a big man across theborder. He goes to spend some time with his father and his extended family.

Rehan comes across as an extremely astute and sensitivehuman being. But then Rehan’s story is very disjointed, jumping from one placeto another and you can see Rehan is a very confused person who is oddly lookingat everything from an outsider’s perspective, totally disconnected.

That is exactly my problem with the book. If Rehan wastrying to make a point about his life, or the changes around him in India or Pakistan, I as a reader definitely missed thepoint.

So all in all if someone gifts this book to you do read it, if not you canskip.

Review : The Lovers

2011-12-06T14:07:00.001+05:30

Reviewed by: Ananth

JohnConnolly is an exemplary writer and I am a fan boy. Period. There is no one whowrites with a blend of the supernatural intertwined into regular sleuthingcrime fiction and what ends up as the sum of all the parts is a tour de force -an utterly intriguing and outlandish tale that is at once believable andstrangely charming. Charming, some might say, is far from the right adjectiveto use for the eeriness that inhabits John's world but rest assured there issomething irresistible about the Bird that always leaves you wanting more - forme, that in itself is more than enough credentials to establish something ascharming.

Loversis the seventh in the Charlie Parker series where Charlie 'Bird' Parker, for achange, is servicing himself rather than one of his clients. Following Unquietwhich left Charlie being stripped of his PI license, the Lovers see Charliedelve deep to unravel the mysterious circumstances under which his fatherkilled two teenagers before taking his own life. Sparked by the Collector's(one of my favourite staple feature of this series) comments, Charlie digs deepto make sense of these events that have haunted him his entire life. Amidstthis personal turmoil a series of murders are waiting to be linked to hisinvestigations and it is not before long that all events blend into onepromising a chilling finale.

Theunderlying bleakness that seems to pervade Charlie's life is more than presenthere with Charlie confronting the horrific truths of his parentage. As thepieces fall together and facts fall into place it is almost as if Charlie isthe only kind of person who can deal with the kind of curve balls that life hasto throw. He seems to have this phenomenal appetite for catastrophes and destructivenesswhich he seems to handle in an All-In-A-Days-Work style. With an array ofcharacters each in their own way furthering Charlie's quest, the Lovers is abook that is a sad yet poignant and fulfilling read. (Not to mention the factthat it might make you go double check that the doors have indeed been locked!)

Whathas always pleased me and still does is the way John's characters play on yourmind - they are so well etched and fit so snugly into the plot, it is almostunbelievable. You are left journeying with Charlie and it is a horrific journeyindeed yet there seems to be the driving hand of destiny that seems to propelhim further. John's research is top notch and this complements the supernatural theme very well making for a very credible account (the Costa Ricanparasitoid wasp whose host is the spider Plesiometa argyra forms an actualbasis for introducing the bizarre). Charlie seems to inhabit a parallel worldwhere anything is possible and he is forced to confront the strangest ofadversaries - in this world the dead still manage to make their presence feltand shadows that lurk have their own agendas.

Whilepeople starting out with John would do well to get to read the series in order,Lovers is still a stand alone piece of work though the prime movers that impelCharlie are buried in his past. Though open to interpretation, the para normalaspects of John's work take stronger root here - I would think that asexcellent timing given that we have had six novels where this world was beingdabbled with. Though disquieting and full of despair, John always manages totriumphantly weave hope and beauty into the otherwise starkly dark world ofCharlie - that is what keeps me coming back for more since I just cannotresist knowing what is new with Charlie and his world.

(Ananth is a software engineer from Chennai who loves reading but loves even more the dissecting that follows the read.)

Review: 7 Secrets of Vishnu

2011-11-28T16:38:00.003+05:30

Reviewed by: Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

When you are asked to review a book by one of your favourite authors, and that too, on a subject that you have been passionate about ever since you have been a little kid, then the task at hand can only be a pleasant one. Well, that is exactly what reviewing Devdutt Pattanaik’s “7 Secrets of Vishnu” was for me. I have been an avid mythology buff ever since I can remember and the passion has only intensified with time.

I have been reading Devdutt Pattanaik’s work for quite a while now. Not just me, in fact, but my eight-year-old son as well, who is a fan of Pattanaik’s “Adventures in Devlok” series.

The Hindu trinity, as we all know, comprises of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer. The symbols and rituals connected to Each One are markedly different. And why not? It stands to reason as They represent different levels of consciousness. They do not look like Each Other, nor do They behave similarly and They perform different duties. Pattanaik’s “7 Secrets of Vishnu” attempts to help the reader decipher the symbology and unlock the secrets behind the stories and rituals associated with Lord Vishnu.

Through the stories of Vishnu, complex Hindu ideologies and philosophies have been communicated in an easy to read manner. Issues that we have always wondered about have been addressed beautifully by the author. Like, for example, why are the Devas and Asuras, both the offspring of Brahma, always at war? The saga of the never-ending battles between the Devas and the Asuras bring to light the emotional turmoil faced by both; the Devas also represent insecurity while the Asuras embody ambition and thus the constant state of unrest.

The book takes us through the various avatars assumed by Him on Earth. Divided into seven chapters, each one helps us in understanding key concepts and in delving into the mysteries of the Divine. I learnt so many new things from each of these chapters, which is always very exciting. For example, I learnt about Alakshmi, the Sister of Lakshmi who accompanies her Sister wherever She goes and She represents strife. The entire passage about how Lakshmi arose from amrit and Alakshmi from halahala – brilliant! Also the gem about how Shukracharya, guru to the Asuras, lost an eye when Vishnu descended to Earth as Vamana, the Brahmin dwarf, was a new story for me to imbibe and marvel over. The absolute crowning jewel for me was how Pattanaik beautifully explained that Luv-Kush’s victory over their father showed that dharma rests with Sita and not Ayodhya! Brilliant! As one who has always been furious over the treatment meted out to Sita in the epic, this one statement was a fist-pumping hurrah! moment. Yes, it has been explained time and again that Ram put his kingly duties above his personal needs, but that only serves to make him the Perfect King, not the Perfect Man.

The photographs of ancient artwork and temple sculptures help bring the book alive, especially with their little bubbles of explanation. Colour photography would have been greatly appreciated, of course, but that’s nitpicking. An index would also have been of great use, and I strongly suggest the publishers think of adding one in the next edition.

All in all, a great read and one I would urge all mythology buffs to immediately indulge in!

(This book is reviewed by Baisali Chatterjee Dutt. Baisali blogs at http://mammamiameamamma@blogspot.com )

Review: The Best of Quest

2011-11-16T22:11:00.004+05:30

Quest was born in 1954, a magazine that was published out of Bombay (now Mumbai) with Nissim Ezekiel at its helm. After successfully publishing it for two decades the magazine collapsed during the Emergency period.

An intellectual magazine for the discerning reader with articles contributed by the best names that light up newspapers, magazines, academic journals and even television screens today. The common link between them? They all made their mark with a piece in Quest.

The Best of Quest brings to the reader the best of stories, essays and poems published in the magazine. Hence making the book a treasure trove of well written, well argued articles. It gives the reader insights into the political and social history of independent India.

Some of the articles in the book, in all honesty, were difficult for me to fathom or read through. But some were exceptionally brilliant. The book is edited by Lafeq Futehally, who worked as the Literary Editor with the Quest for over twenty years. Achal Prabhala who is a writer and researcher in Bangalore. Arshia Sattar who works with classical Indian Literature and teaches at various institutions across the country.

So you have eminent writers such as Nirad Chaudhuri, P.Lal. Jyotirmoy Datta, Khushwant Singh, Dilip Chitre, Ashis Nandy and others who have contributed towards the magazine. Poetry contributed by Dom Moraes, Kamala Das, Nissim Ezekiel. Mukul Sharma makes this section extremely interesting.

The pieces are well selected and show the kind of enrichment in terms of knowledge and thoughts the magazine brought to its readers. You know when you read through the book the editors have worked with a passion to make this book worth a collectible for every reader.

Do pick this book up to get a better understanding of the country we live in by the writers who are the very best in the industry today. The book is a fitting tribute to a man who headed the magazine.

Magazine Review: BBC Knowledge India

2011-11-16T20:26:00.004+05:30

This particular review of BBC Knowledge’s long overdue. I should have reviewed it much sooner, in fact as soon as I read it. I am not much of a magazine person except for the weekly news magazines but whatever issues I read I found the magazine an enjoyable read.

So here goes. I had got two magazines for review one was the May/June issue which covered– Does god exist?And the other was Jan/Feb issue with “So you want to be a spy “as the cover story. The cover stories were good and interesting to read. The picture and print quality of the magazine was at par with other international magazines.

This bi-monthly magazine encompasses 3 main topics - science, history and nature. Besides these topics the magazine is also divided into sections like updates, round-ups, comment & analysis, insights, world news in context, Q&A, reviews, etc.

I personally found the content in-depth, well researched and written in simple and easy to read language.

It is worth a read or rather a long term subscription! Go ahead-enjoy!

Thinkfest: The hits and the misses

2011-11-07T20:05:00.002+05:30

We were following up on all the news creators at the recently concluded Thinkfest in Goa. As expected Siddhartha Mukherjee, VS Naipaul, Mohammed Hanif, Thomas Friedman, Hari Kunzru sessions have come in for much praise. Here are a few links that will give you a better insight into who said what:

http://www.firstpost.com/living/siddharth-mukherjee-on-steve-jobs-his-death-was-a-failure-of-imagination-2-123433.html

http://www.firstpost.com/living/what-writing-can-do-that-nothing-else-can-124116.html

http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/living-blogs/what-ails-america-tom-friedmans-diagnosis-of-a-superpower-in-crisis-124139.html

Also making news at Thinkfest were Arvind Kejriwal, Shashi Tharoor ,Omar Abdullah and Shehrbano Taseer. From Bollywood we had Abhay Deol and Aamir Khan who were the news makers at the event.

Here's the FB page that will give you all the information you were looking for!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Think-Fest/232058883502002

Until next year then....

Thinkfest: Explaining India: The Most Persistent Mistakes we Make

2011-10-19T16:48:00.001+05:30

The one session we at The Book Lovers are looking forward to at the Think Festival event? It has got to be Explaining India: The Most Persistent Mistakes we Make with Pavan Varma, William Dalrymple and Ashish Nandy.

William Dalrymple after spending many years in India and travelling through length and breadth of this country would definitely enrich the session with his insights and knowledge. Ashis Nandy needs no introduction he is an Indian political psychologist and a contemporary cultural and political critic. He is, without a doubt, India's most formidable and controversial intellectual, its most arresting thinker, and a cultural and political critic without perhaps any equal in South Asia. And joining the two would be Pavan Varma , he is a senior bureaucrat of the Indian Government and a seasoned diplomat. The author of a dozen books on equally diverse areas such as biography, poetry, social sciences, civic affairs, and history. His book The Great Indian Middle Class (1998) tends to be the first one that people read when they try to decipher the rise of the middle class in India. Being Indian (2004) is a masterpiece that even Indians should read to understand who they are and why they are. The subtitle says “The truth about why the twenty first century will be India’s.”

So with three stalwarts as a part of the panel the session without a doubt will be truly engaging and interesting. How do I think the session will progress and the topic that would definitely be deliberated and discussed upon as per me would be the unity in diversity of this country- is it over rated? Are the various states at war amongst themselves and the nation as a whole? Are we hurtling into the development zone without an actual plan in place? Is there an order in the madness that we see today? Am sure William Dalrymple would be able to give us keen insights into this.

The most persistent mistake would be the politics that our politicians have been playing since time immemorial that of religion and caste. Can India afford to move ahead if it continues with the games our politicians play. Is coalition politics a boon or a bane for this nation? I would really like to hear Ashis Nandy on this.

Can India move to the next level without good relations with our immediate neighbours? What about the great Indian middle class which has been the driver in this growth story of India. Where are we headed as a nation. What are the past mistakes that we absolutely have to learn from and the persistent problem that people face in this great Indian nation?

This session is something we excitedly look forward to on day 2 of the festival. Let’s see if it shapes up as we imagine it to be!

Think Fest: Siddhartha Mukherjee

2011-10-17T18:49:00.004+05:30

As we mentioned there are toomany speakers we are excited to hear from at this year’s Think fest but one speakerwe are eagerly looking forward to hear would be Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Siddhartha is the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. The bookgives the reader a detailed account of the history of this deadly disease andhow the war is being fought against it by doctors across the world. The India-born doctor teaches medicine and is a cancerphysician at Columbia University Medical Centre.

His book was published in the U.S. by Scribner and inIndia by HarperCollins Publishers India, the book was inspired by a personalevent. One day a patient with stomach cancer asked Dr. Mukherjee a simplequestion about her prognosis: “Where are we going?” That led the author tothink the larger scope of the question in terms of cancer research. The bookbefore going on to win the Pulitzer has already received critical appreciationfrom many quarters.

Detailing the long history of the disease and thebattles being fought to conquer it through case studies, the book also providesa glimpse into the future of cancer treatments.

"From the PersianQueen Atossa, whose Greek slave cut off her malignant breast, to the19th-century recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy to Mukherjee'sown leukaemia patient, Carla, The Emperor of All Maladies is about the peoplewho have soldiered through fiercely demanding regimens in order to survive andto increase our understanding of this iconic disease," according toinformation about the book on the Pulitzer website. The book, the site says, isa "magnificent, profoundly humane biography of cancer".

So after a brief profile about his book and him what wewould really like to hear from him at the conclave would obviously be how andwhere India lacks in terms of research, treatment in tackling this growing disease.What are the steps and measures could be implemented. More than research thereis also a lack of understanding of this disease in India, cancer is still stigmatized.Lack of counseling, lack of understanding of the disease and most importantlylack of support groups can make the person suffering from the problem a lotmore miserable than the disease itself.

As his topic of discussion is ‘How tragedy can Inspire’would really like to know his thoughts on how families, friends of suchaffected people can continue to encourage and enthuse the person battling thedisease. At a personal level I had seen a family member suffer depressivebehaviour due to physical changes in appearance, the after-effects ofchemotherapy, losing appetite etc.. What can one do to keep the motivationlevels high? How can we create a network or solace group for patients.

Besides this would love to know the latest research happeningon cancer front, honestly look forward to a day when cancer treatment would notbe as grueling as it is now. It would be interesting to hear his thoughts atthe summit and considering he has lived in India what are his thoughts on Indiabattling and finding solutions for the big C?

Think Fest Think Blogger!

2011-10-14T16:39:00.004+05:30

The Book Lovers blog is proud to be associated with one of the most looked forward to event this year, The Thinkfest, it is going to be held in Goa from 4th November to 6th November. With a stellar list of speakers our excitement to be a part of this event knows no bounds.

So who are the speakers we at The Book Lovers are absolutely looking forward to hear? Here is our list: William Dalrymple, Mohammed Hanif, Pulitzer prize winner for his book The Emperor of all Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee, Naipaul *yippee* and Sudhir Kakar. Ashish Nandy and Pavan Verma also form a part of this interesting list of speakers!

So while we eagerly look forward to the event we would be sharing what we would want to hear these speakers speak about and the topics they could touch on before the event. Of course they will not necessarily but hey why not think about the possible discussions? That's the whole fun part!

Until then you'll could get more details on their site http://goathinkfest.com Go on have a look and if possible join us at the fest!

Review: Desperate in Dubai

2011-10-13T13:31:00.000+05:30

Desperate inDubai was one book which I had to read after reading a lot of heavy non-fictionbooks! And the book didn’t disappoint. The book is set in Dubai and it revolvesaround the lives of 4 women. The bookhas its glamour, luxury cars, hotels all that you would think of when you thinkDubai! If you pick up the book thinking it is a regular flippant chick-lit, let me tell you that this book ain't.

Leila who hasbeen in search of a wealthy husband for over a decade, while running her ownsuccessful business, we then have Nadia who has moved to Dubai for her husband’scareer only to realize that this move could result in her unhappiness. Sugarhas moved to Dubai after living in London all her life to escape her past andlast is Lady Luxe, the rebellious and gorgeous Emirati heiress who wants tolive her life by her rules at the same time trying to maintain a balance withher family’s expectations.

All four seemingly from different backgrounds but their stories all come together and you realize thatall are running for the elusive thing called happiness. So while Lady Luxe ismaintaining her double life to keep herself and her family happy, she is alsohiding a big secret from her friend Leila. While Leila in her desperation toget hooked to a rich Emirati ends up getting influenced by Nadia, leading to unhappycircumstances all around. Nadia also does not have it easy when she realizes herhusband is in a relationship with another woman, and Sugar is grappling withher past, trying to move on in a new city.

Extremely wellwritten, will keep you hooked and engrossed in the lives of these 4 women. Thebook is well paced and language is lucid which makes this book a page turner. Itis hard to believe that this happens to be the author’s first book. Honestly Ihave nothing to say that could be reworked in this book to make it a better read.It is a lovely read just the way it is.

My recommendation:girls absolutely go for this book, you sure will enjoy it!

Review: Does he know a mother's heart?

2011-10-13T13:20:00.001+05:30

One book thatmade me cry while reading it? It would definitely be Arun Shourie’s ‘Does heknow a mother’s heart? How suffering refutes religion’. The book actually mademe question my belief in god. Yes the book is so well written with convincingarguments and proofs as to why he says what he does.

Aditya, ArunShouries’s 35 year old son was declared as suffering from an injury to brain,Cerebral Palsy at birth, that prompted his wife and him to move back to Indiafrom US so that Adit could be brought up surrounded by the love of hisgrandparents, cousins and family. It deals with all the trials and tribulationsthey as a family have gone through in bringing up Adit. Their struggle to finda good school for Adit, their love for him taking them to various gurujis andashrams to help him. It narrates many incidents that will tug any person’s heart.Every episode narrated is a lesson on love and patience that one can have as aparent. I have many a times as a mother been frustrated at the situation I findmyself in and go into the feel sorry for myself mode, but this book turned outto be an eye opener and made me believe no struggle is big enough to handle andhandle with love and tolerance.

What is clear isthe father’s immense love for his child. The book written straight from theheart makes him question god’s ways. Why does god choose to give suffering tosome? Why does he subject children to sufferings? What makes god make someoneperfect while some grapple with imperfections? Aren’t we all equal in his eyesas is universally known? Isn’t his love for all the same? Then why are somediscriminated…

Some seriousquestions the book throws up and with equally valid proven explanations. Thebook takes the reader through the holy texts of various religions to prove hispoint.

It is a bookwhich I would highly recommend all to read. If philosophy and religion issomething you like reading then this is a book worth picking up.

Hats off to ArunShourie for coming up with a book which is straight from the heart. A book thathas no qualms in refuting some well known religious texts. Well researched andwell argued.

Review: 24 Akbar Road

2011-09-26T15:09:00.004+05:30

Another interesting book that I recently read was on India’s oldest political party, the Indian National Congress. Written by Rasheed Kidwai this book takes you through the fall and rise of the grand old party. A short history of the people behind it. Very well written,full of anecdotes, some stories heard, some unheard.

The author manages to keep the book engaging enough for people to keep reading and to understand what makes the party tick, despite numerous challenges; the party has always managed to come back stronger than ever. Its ability to keep re-inventing itself, mould itself as per the wishes of the people is has managed to keep its tenuous hold at the Centre. The book provides an observer’s glance at affairs within the Congress.

The party has been considered elitist by many. There is a certain aloofness about it which many a times is misread by the people. More in these times than ever.

The book takes you through Indira Gandhi’s times and how she managed to wipe out the parent Congress and made Congress(I) the true national party, looks at her relationship with her two sons and their wives. The part I liked best was how events and circumstances drove the Gandhi and Bachchan family apart.

What followed after Rajiv Gandhi’s death makes for an interesting read, how the party went through tumultuous times, the era of Narasimha Rao, Sitaram Kesri, the exit of Sharad Pawar, the re-entry of Gandhis, Rahul Gandhi’s vision for Youth Congress. It touches on all aspects of the party. The good, the bad and the ugly it has it all.

I would consider this book a must read, you can of course ignore some sugar coating that the writer has done at some places. But over all a good, insightful read.

Review: A Free Man

2011-09-26T13:18:00.002+05:30

So the blog is back with reviews of books read! Have read some six to eight books, just didn’t get the time to jot my thoughts down and post a review. Lots of interesting books have been read I will start with the review of Aman Sethi’s A Free Man.

When I read the synopsis of the book I got a feeling that maybe the book will run us down as Indians who have failed to address the needs of migrant labourers and how these daily wage laborers are short changed by everyone. But it also made me want to read the book as it was a topic I had not read on earlier and honestly was curious to know how they live, about their family lives, their work conditions etc.

The book turned out to be a great readand gives the reader insights into their living conditions. It at no point was critical of the system, their lives, the unfairness of it all; just a matter of fact look at the life of Ashraf who though studied till college ends up in Sadar Bazaar in Delhi. His journey takes him to Mumbai, Calcutta, Surat, Hyderabad and Patna. Ashraf takes time to open up to the author and tell him his story, his journey. His story comes out in bit and pieces but the exchange does manage to give us an insight to his life, his work friends Lallo, Rehaan., his family- who he left behind and has totally lost touch with, Kaka –the tea stall vendor and their banker, Kalyani the super smart business woman of Sadar Bazaar, who makes a living selling alcohol to the labourers, more importantly a roof to drink.

The book ends just the way it begins, leaves you saddened with the way life turns out for Ashraf and his friends. If you read Ashraf’s timeline which the author brings together in the end, leaves you terribly disheartened.

An honest confession while I never bothered to think about these migrant labourers when I saw them at work, now after reading Aman’s book makes me wonder about their story, takes me back to Ashraf. This is just how much the book moved me. These are the invisible men who silently work to make their living and struggle through their own lives.

The book makes for an excellent read. It is the story of a man you will not forget in a hurry. After reading the book it is hard to believe that it is the author’s debut book. Look forward to reading many more books from Aman Sethi.

DSC South Asian Literature Festival

2011-09-08T16:14:00.001+05:30

2nd ANNUAL DSC South Asian Literature Festival

7 – 24 October 2011

Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Amit Chaudhuri and Romesh Gunesekera line up alongside some of the most exciting voices of South Asian literature – Mohammed Hanif, SoumikDatta, MirzaWaheed, GautamMalkani, HM Naqvi and Sonia Faleiro– as the second annual DSC South Asian Literature Festival is announced

DSC Limited to continue support as title sponsor for the festival. Festival to open with packed weekend of events in Shoreditch New production to celebrate the Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore

With events at leading cultural venues in London, including the Free Word Centre, British Library, the Nehru Centre, and an opening weekend at Rich Mix in Shoreditch, the DSC South Asian Literature Festival [SALF] returns to deliver a full programme of events in October,bringing together the written word with rich imagery, film, music, performance and art.

Renowned authors, actors, poets and musicians - home-grown, international and from the subcontinent - and leading voices from the worlds of politics, academia and broadcasting, assemble in London and across the UK in this unique cross-disciplinary festival.

In its second year SALF is set to host top names such as Sri-Lankan-Canadian adventurer SirChristopher Ondaatje, discussing his works and travels in a new collection of writings with Booker-Prize shortlisted author RomeshGunesekera; celebrated Kashmiri writer Mirza Waheed pays tribute to renowned Kashmiri poet Aga Shahid Ali; Mohammed Hanif launches his hugely anticipated follow-up to the Commonwealth prize-winning A Case of Exploding Mangoes, appearing at the festival in his only major London event; a bevvy of Britain’s critically acclaimed new writers including NikeshShukla, NivenGovinden, KavitaBhanot, SuhaylSaadi and GautamMalkani gather to launch the defiant anthology ‘Too Asian, Not Asian Enough’; a gala-dinner to announce the shortlist of the second DSC Prize for South Asian Literature with last year’s winner H M Naqvi appearing at an exclusive event in the UK for the first time since taking home the $50,000 prize; award-winning Indian reporter and author Sonia Faleiro launches Beautiful Thing, her eye-opening account of Bombay’s dance bar underworld; a revealing look for the first time at the story behind the making of Granta magazine’s latest issue commemorating 9/11, Ten Years Later; Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlisted-translator Arunava Sinha arrives from India to take part in events and a workshop emphasising the importance of translating literature; and a performance by Seema Anand on the stories from the 'Hamzanama' - a collection of Persian tales dated from more than a millennia ago.

Organisers are in discussion with more than 80 authors and artists, with the final programmeto be announced early September.

The eclectic mix of events, programmed in association with a range of notable partners including the British Centre for Literary Translation, Writer’s Centre Norwich, Vayu Naidu Company, Baithak Records, The Literary Consultancy and the Reading Agency, will also welcome Chelsea Theatre and The Women’s Library as new venue partners, as well as bookshops and libraries across the capital. The festival will travel to key cities including Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Leicester and Norwich during the series of events in London.

The festival is also thrilled to announce a pilot programme for a South Asian Reading Campaign, due to take place during the first week of the festival [10-14 October]. The campaign is a book industry-wide initiative with events and promotions in schools, libraries and bookshops, and puts reading and education right at the heart of SALF’s vision for South

Asian literature in the UK. Full details will be announced early September.The DSC South Asian Literature Festival was founded by publishing colleagues Jon Slack and Bhavit Mehta, who have set up the not-for-profit organisation Amphora Arts to produce the Festival. It is sponsored by DSC Limited, one of India’s leading infrastructure companies, with a global reputation and presence across four continents. As principal sponsors of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival and creators of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, SALF is a natural alliance for the company’s interests in literature and the arts.

Festival directors Bhavit Mehta and Jon Slack:

“We’re very pleased to bring back the festival for its second year, particularly within such a challenging climate for the arts. Many of our partners are back with us and it’s terrific to have the renewed commitment from DSC Ltd, and for the festival to be continuing its association with the DSC Prize. Programming the festival is what we relish the most and we’re incredibly excited at what is being lined up. There’s more emphasis on translation, a strand of the festival we intend to develop into a major component. And we’re thrilled to be commissioning an original production for the festival with the talented SoumikDatta, easily one of the most exciting performers in Britain today.”

ManhadNarula, Director, DSC Limited:

“We came on board as the title sponsor of the festival last year and are happy with the impact the DSC South Asian Literature Festival made in its inaugural year. It was well received in literary circles because of its specific focus on South Asian literature and we are confident it will be able to reach out to wider audiences this year and engage with new issues and themes. As a company we are committed to supporting South Asian literature which is why we created the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2010 and whose first winner we announced in January this year. The DSC South Asian Literature Festival is a very valuable and important part of this vision, and we look forward to being the title sponsor for many years to come.”

Review: Slither

2011-08-19T20:11:00.003+05:30

This is going to be a really short post but wanted to review this book simply because it is a 'hatke' book on a topic which we Indians talk about only in a hush hush, conspiratorial way. This is a book of short stories that are erotic in nature with the undercurrent of carnality.

The author in her acknowledgement says that this book was the result of a challenge from her editor friend and goes on to candidly admits that the book was uncomfortable to write but at the same time also empowering and liberating.

Fair enough. So I started to read but some stories down I could figure why writing stories like this is a tough ask. Stories were great but after a point I struggled to finish the book, not because of the writing let me be clear, but the subject. There is only so much one can read about slithering bodies, sex et al..you get the drift?

Maybe I am in minority where my reasons are concerned, but kudos to the author for taking up this challenge and doing full justice to it.

So if this genre interests you do pick up the book!

Review: Priya In Incredible Indyaa

2011-08-19T19:42:00.004+05:30

Priya In Incredible Indyaa is a book I had read sometime back and absolutely loved. In this book author Namita Gokhale brings back some unforgettable characters from her 1984 cult bestseller Paro. So here’s a brief background of her book Paro - The book is in Priya’s voice, her narrative. Priya starts with an adolescent crush for her boss, the great B.R. He is also attracted to her leading to a brief fling, but within a month, B.R. marries Paro who is a from Delhi and for Priya someone who is larger than life. Priya herself gets married to a small time lawyer from Delhi, Suresh.The two of them try to network with ‘important’ people and make themselves known in ‘VIP circles’ for that Suresh is willing to bend himself backwards for any VIP. Soon enough Paro hits Delhi and Suresh get close since one of his friend Avinendra, or Lenin as he is known to friends, is besotted by her. At the same time Priya on a holiday to Bombay ends up having a fling with BR again leading to lots of fights between the couples. This must have been an explosive book in the 80s for sure!

So Priya returns in the second book, 25 years hence Paro is dead and Priya has grown into a middle-aged woman, her husband, Suresh, has bagged a minister of state portfolio. We see Priya struggling with Delhi's high society, her approaching menopause and finding a suitable wife each for her twins. She is still very much in touch with BR and whenever she is in Bombay makes it a point to meet him for a rendezvous. At the same time she is also struggling with all the pretenses that come along with being a wife of a public figure. She keeps remembering her humble beginnings in Bombay in a 1BHK and where she is now. At times she finds herself an outsider trying to fit in to the chic social set. Out of all the roles she plays she is the happiest being a mother to her two sons Luv and Kush.

Suresh’s friend, Lenin is around and still a Marxist while his wife Geeta is also a powerhouse in the Indian government. They have a daughter Paromita who falls in love with Priya’s son Luv. Also in the picture is the extremely loud spoken, ambitious, pushy Poonam who absolutely has no compunctions in hooking up with anyone in power to climb up the social ladder.

All in all gives the reader a glimpse into the high society life in Delhi-the hypocrisy of it all, the fake laughter, the shallow friendships, selfish alliances, double speak. The book is extremely well paced, funny, sarcastic, and witty at the same time. A satirical look at how the country has progressed not just economically but socially too.

A must read book.

Review: Fault Lines: Shortlisted for English Non-Fiction

2011-08-19T16:12:00.008+05:30

We had reviewed the book and put it in our must read list. Happy to note that it makes it in the Vodafone Crossword shortlist for English Non-Fiction. Here's our review:

'Fault Lines-How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy is a must read book for any citizen of the world today to understand the Macro Economics governing the world financial markets and the politics behind it.

Raghuram Rajan was one of the few economists who warned of the global financial crisis before it hit. Now, as the world struggles to recover, it's tempting to blame what happened on just a few greedy bankers who took irrational risks and left the rest of us to foot the bill. In Fault Lines, Rajan argues that serious flaws in the economy are also to blame, and warns that a potentially more devastating crisis awaits us if they aren't fixed.

The book, by Raghuram G. Rajan, is very well researched and the author comes across as an authority on the subject. In the book he presents his case and arguments clearly and succinctly. Even an average lay person will be able to easily grasp the complex world of finance and Economics. Raghuram’s book explores what were the various fault lines in the economy which developed into a full blown economic crisis of 2007-09.

The book goes back into history to draw parallels with various economic crisis of the past and how it culminated into the current economic situation.

Raghuram was the Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund from September 2003 until January 2007.He is an economic advisor to the Prime Minister of India. In Fault Lines, he presents his possible solutions to avoid the economic pitfalls facing the world today. Some of the solutions do seem a bit too farfetched and overly simplistic. The other downside is that the book is too US centric, that is, it presents the American viewpoint of the economic conditions.

Fault Lines is the book to read for anyone who would want to know what economic forces are shaping the world around us.

Recommended read and deserves to be!'

Review: The Crimson Throne: Shortlisted for English Fiction

2011-08-12T13:08:00.000+05:30

This is our review of Sudhir Kakar's 'The Crimson Throne' The book has been shortlisted in the English Fiction category for Vodafone Crossword Awards 2010.

'The Crimson Throne is a book which you look at, and think that ,it is yet another attempt, to understand the dynamics of Mughal era but then you read the story synopsis which begins with these lines ‘Emperor Shah Jahan’s pleasures of the flesh to divert himself from the travails of old age…’ and you are instantly interested in knowing more! This book definitely does not disappoint. An excellent account of the life and times of the period.

Shah Jahan’s reign was called the golden age of the Mughals and he was also considered one of the greatest Mughal emperors but at the same time stories abound about his various sexual exploits. This book is a brilliant mix of the two- the succession battle for the throne and harem tales of the empire. Seldom has any era of Indian history evoked such strong interest as much as the Mughal age especially Aurangzeb’s reign. Aurangzeb’s battle for succession and his long and orthodox rule after Shah Jahan was the turning point in Indian History.

The book is set in the period when Shah Jahan’s reign is almost ending and the battle to succeed him has already begun between his sons Dara Shukoh, Sultan Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh. They all believe that they deserve to be the next emperor to rule the country. During the Mughal period inheritance of power and wealth in the empire was not determined through primogeniture, but by princely sons competing to achieve military successes and consolidating their power at court. This often led to rebellions and wars of succession. As a result, a complex political climate surrounded the Mughal court at all times. The bloody battle for power makes this book a truly fascinating read.

The Crimson Throne is an account of two European travellers -Niccolao Manucci and Francois Bernier who arrive in 17^th century India and find their way into the inner circles of the Mughal court.

Niccolao Manucci leaves Venice to travel to India in the hope that the golden land will lead him to riches. He is a rookie who on landing in Goa learns about medicines from Luigi while Vaidraj helps him by teaching him all about Hindu medicines and cures. While working as an orderly in a hospital he befriends Dona Christina Braganza who helps him to get a contact in Delhi, her sister Maria .Maria is an important person in Dara Shukoh's harem. On reaching Delhi he is taken by Dara Shukoh in his service. He soon starts gaining a name in the harem and his business starts flourishing. He establishes his reputation as a miracle healer and gains further confidence and access to the harems. So Niccolao recounts his various harem visits, the harem gossip, the insecurities of the women who are a part of the harem, their loneliness. Through Niccolao’s tales, the author manages to give the reader a brilliant insight into the lives of the women who were part of the seraglio.

Francois Bernier after graduating ad licentiate in Medicine sets sail for Surat from France. After spending a few days in Surat he is summoned to Delhi by Danishmand Khan who advises the emperor on foreign affairs. He soon gains Danishmand’s trust and Francois recounts his cerebral and philosophical exchanges with the minister. Through Francois’ recollection we get an account of the politics, the intrigue, the plotting and planning behind the succession. The ever changing equations between the brothers, the father and the sons, and even Shah Jahan’s daughters Jahan Ara & Roshan Ara play an important role in the entire event.

So both the Europeans end up on different sides of the camp, end up giving us an interesting and insightful account of that period. It is a well-researched effort by the author. Elegant and well-written, manages to keep the reader hooked till the very end.

Highly recommended reading for any reader interested in Mughal history.'

Review: Saraswati Park:Shortlisted for English Fiction

2011-08-08T19:37:00.000+05:30

We had reviewed Anjali Joseph's debut book Saraswati Park, re-posting it again as the book is on Vodafone Crossword's shortlist for English Fiction. Many congratulations Anjali! Hope to read many more books authored by you.

"Anjali Joseph’s debut novel Saraswati Park is a fascinating story about a family residing in Bombay. The book is a vivid and detailed description of Bombay and manages to capture the essence of the city brilliantly. The book is almost an ode to the city. Saraswati Park, the colony where the protagonists reside will transport you to the lanes and by lanes of quiet areas of Matunga, Dadar or rather any old colony of Bombay. It is totally nostalgic at times right from its old colonies to the almost dying profession of letter writing which the protagonist Mohan does for a living.

This book is Mohan’s story. Mohan Karekar is by profession a letter writer who sits outside the post office in Bombay, he has helped put other people’s thoughts and feelings into words day on day. He is also a closet writer who also loves to read. Residing in a quiet suburban colony with his wife at Saraswati Park his life is pretty ordinary and mundane. Though on the surface all looks well between the two but underneath it all their marriage is thawing. Mohan’s lack of engagement and his contemplative attitude is pushing him further and further apart from his wife, Lakshmi. This again he does not notice or realize.

Soon they are joined by Ashish,a diffident, sexually uncertain 19-year-old nephew who is studying English literature. The book then takes us on a journey of these three different individuals who are deeply unsettled with their existence and are constantly striving to better it but are unable to do so.

So we have Mohan who would much rather read his books or attempt to write ignoring the tensions in his own marriage, his wife struggling to salvage the marriage and their relationship and Ashish who is coming to terms with his own problems. Though they are all battling their personal demons they intentionally or unintentionally end up being a support system for each other.

When Lakshmi loses her only brother she decides to leave Bombay under the pretext of helping an ailing relative, to mourn not only the death of a sibling but also the vital force of her marriage. Mohan finally realizes the cracks in his marriage which he had been ignoring all along when there is no sign of Lakshmi returning; he finally manages to take a few decisive steps to salvage it. Meanwhile Ashish jumps from one failed relationship with his school friend into another with his English tutor who ends up breaking Ashish’s heart yet again but it also helps him find his peace. Mohan‘s dreams of turning into a writer also soon start taking shape.

The writer manages to breathe life into each character with her detailed description. Though every character is well thought of and characterized it is Ashish’s story which is the most interesting.

The book which is initially very slow paced ends up being very vague and hurried at the end. The book meandering at times and is agonizingly slow paced in places, even if you skip a few pages you don’t really end up missing anything.

But all in all an interesting and promising debut."

Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2010

2011-08-05T17:06:00.002+05:30

Hurrah it is that time of the year again where we celebrate our Indian writers and their work. So the shortlisted books for the Vodafone Crossword Awards have been announced. Lots of interesting books were published in 2010 and it must have indeed been a difficult task for the jury to shortlist the books for this year's awards!
We are happy to announce that our blog would be carrying updates, reviews , interviews of authors who have made it in the Vodafone Crossword's shortlist.
We are certain you would all be familiar with these awards that take place every year to recognize our very own desi writers? Here's a small brief about what the awards are all about

Exclusively Indian, inclusive in every other sense, the Vodafone Crossword Book Award brings together the entire literary community – readers, authors, booksellers & publishers – like no other awards.

These are your awards - join us in celebrating Indian writing.

The Vodafone Crossword Book Award is one of the most prestigious and popular literary prizes in India that not only recognizes and rewards the best of Indian writing but also actively promotes the authors and their books.

The Vodafone Crossword Book Awards are given out in the following categories:

1. Vodafone Crossword Fiction Award.

2. Vodafone Crossword Non-Fiction Award.

3. Vodafone Crossword Translation Award.

4. Vodafone Crossword Children’s Award.

5. Vodafone Crossword Popular Award.

Honestly there were some titles we were looking forward to see in the shortlist but were surprised not to find them in the final list. But now that the list is out here's wishing all the shortlisted books all the very best. May the best book win!

So which are the books that made it this year? Here's an entire list of the shortlisted books.
http://www.crossword.in/vodafone-books-award-html/vcba_shortlist_2010

Femina Blogger Bee for Books all this month!

2011-08-03T18:30:00.001+05:30

We take great pride in announcing that our blog has been selected by Femina as Blogger Bee for Books. An honour really. Here is the Blogger bee link http://www.facebook.com/feminawoman?sk=app_238672482832803

Do you know how it feels when something/someone you have loved and looked up to ends up acknowledging you for your efforts? That is exactly how I felt when I saw my name up there on the Femina FB page. A very happy feeling also very humbled.

Femina has been a part of my life for years now. My style guide, health guide, relationship guide all rolled into one.

When I started this blog the idea was to share my thoughts on books ,to talk about whatever I had read and give my review as any average reader would want to read a review..

It is amazing how the blog has grown thanks to the encouraging comments and feedback we have received from our readers. Thank you so much to all our readers, the blog is what it is today because of your unstinting support.

Femina, thank you, for selecting the blog as part of your 'For all the Women you are' campaign

And last but not the least - proud to be a Femina Woman :)

Priyanka

And here is more about Femina's new campaign

With "For all the women you are" Femina's new brand campaign, we have chosen to put the spotlight on the modern Indian woman's expanding roles & changing equations at her Home, Workplace, Social space, Personal life & the Online space.

She is the Princess of all things -Shoes, She is Nobody's fool, She is the Wizard of Odds, She is the FeminaWoman!

Here's a video shot by Anurag Basu, featuring Kalki Koechlin celebrating the relaunch campaign.
http://www.facebook.com/feminawoman?sk=app_238877759476704

Review: Battleground Telangana: Chronicle of an Agitation

2011-08-01T22:01:00.000+05:30

The other book non-fiction book that I read was on the Telangana movement. The book looks at the Telangana movement; the people there are battling for a separate state ever since the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956.

Telangana that was ruled by the Nizams before Independence never wanted to be a part of Andhra Pradesh, fearing that their people would be displaced by the more enterprising and better educated migrants from the Andhra region.The seeds of dissent were for all to see, but just that, it was largely ignored by the central government.

The book goes on to argue how first betrayed, in terms of development, by the Nizams and then by each successive CM, on how fund marked and raised for the Telangana region were instead pumped into AP. Differences cropped up not just in development of the area but Telengana employees also felt they were overlooked via a vis Andhraites where promotions were concerned.

The students of Osmania University in 1968 called for a separate Telanagan state and slowly this agitation started to spread which led to massive agitations in 1969, this left 400 people dead, but soon the movement petered out.The movement gained momentum again with the creation of new states like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Uttranchal in 2000. Since then Telangana has come to occupy centre stage in the state’s politics, with elections won and lost over the issue. In 2009, the central government committed to carve out a separate state but then soon after has been dilly dallying over it. They fear the backlash of its Andhra voters. Yes that is the sad politics behind it, every successive government has failed the people of Telangana hence their unhappiness and frustration.

What is more is at the heart of this agitation lies the claim for the city of Hyderabad. The capital of AP lies bang in the middle of Telangana so they demand that it should rightfully belong to them, whereas for very obvious reasons Andhraites are reluctant to concede to this demand. While both sides fight over it the end sufferers here are the residents of Hyderabad for whom the uncertainty has become a way of life.

So where is the agitation heading, will the Centre be able to find a middle ground and make both parts happy. The book explores the complex issues and underlying causes behind the demand for a new state.

The book makes for an insightful read and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who would want to know and learn the history behind the Telangana movement.

About the Author:

Kingshuk Nag is the resident editor of The Times Of India’s Hyderabad edition. A recipient of the Prem Bhatia award for his political analysis and reporting of the Gujarat riots of 2002, this is Nag’s second book. His first book, The Double Life of Ramalinga Raju: The Story of India’s Biggest Corporate Fraud, was a critically acclaimed bestseller.

Review: Hello Bastar

2011-08-01T18:22:00.001+05:30

My recent reads in the past have somehow tilted towards non-fiction. I would say that is so because there have been some interesting titles in context to various Indian states that have been published. I started my non-fiction reading spree with the much talked about book on the Maoist movement and who better than Rahul Pandita writing about it. Rahul has been studying the Maoist movement at ground level for more than a decade, travelling through the remoter jungles of Central India for weeks and spending time with the tribal people says Patrick French, in his book India: A Portrait.

How did the Maoist movement begin, how did it grow, what caused it to find support in other states, why do the tribals trust them more than the government itself. Rahul very candidly tries to answer all these questions and gives the reader an insight in this movement which is becoming difficult by the day for the government to bring under control. Unbiased reportage by the writer, gains more credence since he has been intimately following their lives.

With direct access to the top Maoist leadership, Rahul Pandita provides an authoritative account of how a handful of men and women, who believed in the idea of revolution, entered Bastar in Central India in 1980 and created a powerful movement that New Delhi now terms as India’s biggest internal security threat. It traces the circumstances due to which the Maoist movement entrenched itself in about 10 states of India, carrying out deadly attacks against the Indian establishment in the name of the poor and the marginalised. It offers rare insight into the lives of Maoist guerillas and also of the Adivasi tribals living in the Red zone. Based on extensive on-ground reportage and exhaustive interviews with Maoist leaders including their supreme commander Ganapathi, Kobad Ghandy and others who are jailed or have been killed in police encounters, this book is a combination of firsthand storytelling and intrepid analysis.

The book speaks extensively about Ghandys- Kobad and Anuradha, their belief in the movement, the reasons why they became a part of it. There is absolutely no denying that some sections in India have been long ignored and the government just kept pushing the problem under the carpet till the time the Maoist movement came to haunt them and grow into a movement which is now difficult to curb.

Though at times I did feel that at some places the writer tries to justify the movement, with a ‘we deserve it’ kind of writing but all in all a book which gives an insight into the movement like no other.

This book should definitely be in your must read list if you would want to know more about the history of the movement.

Read more about the author here : http://www.rahulpandita.com/

Review: Adultery and Other Stories

2011-07-26T18:26:00.000+05:30

Farrukh Dhondy’s book caught my instant attention as soon as I read the title, which is Adultery and Other stories. I was keen to know what the book held in store for readers. So with this thought I delved right into the book.

So did the book live up to its title? Sadly, no. But the book did have some very interesting short stories which made me continue reading to know what comes next from the writer. The book was not more about adultery but about relationships and what makes people behave the way they do in trying situations. Each story was interesting though Bollox, Emailwallahs and Jig Jigolo seemed to follow a pattern of mail exchanges between two parties but contexts were different but leading to almost the same conclusion. I enjoyed reading the first story Boogoo which had a very interesting twist in the tale, also liked Short Stem Judas. Say Cheese, was yet another story of deceit and cheating. Adultery is a good read too.

All in all a good read. Every story will keep you hooked to move on to the next. And like I had tweeted he didn’t really need a title like that to sell his books, the book is good with or without the title. Go for it!

More about the author here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrukh_Dhondy

Review: Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World

2011-07-26T17:20:00.000+05:30

Alex Rutherford’s third book was eagerly awaited as it was, after all, going to be about none other than one of the most revered king in history, Akbar. The last book on Humayun was a bit of a disappointment but honestly felt that it could be because of a very uninspiring leadership and reign. But this book on Akbar was also a huge let down. Personally I felt that there is just so much more to write about Akbar to make it a very gripping and interesting read, sadly the book failed to deliver, in terms of content and quality of writing.

Only two Indian kings in history have been conferred the title of ‘the great’, Emperor Ashok and Emperor Akbar. Akbar though did not get a chance to study ,since at a young age he was crowned as the king after his father’s untimely death but despite that he managed to bring in lots of changes in the way things were governed and was a far sighted king who did not give importance to religion. In fact he is credited with starting a new religious order Din-E-Ilahi which was borrowed heavily from various religions and which made him the head of the order. He was the first Muslim king who tried to bring harmony between the two religions Hindus and Muslims. The book instead of elaborating on these points speaks about his troubled relationship with his eldest son Salim as well as his immense faith in Abu Fazl. The book also fails to touch on the other great luminaries in his court, so there is absolutely nothing on Tansen, Birbal, Todarmal.

Salim his eldest son grows to manhood full of mistrust. He also makes the fatal mistake of falling for Akbar’s most voluptuous concubine, leading a rebellion, and realizing soon enough that Akbar neither forgets nor forgives easily. Salim finds himself in an unhappy and increasingly frustrating situation when Akbar shows his fondness for Salim’s son Khurram and making his intentions clear as to who he would rather see as the king after him.

The book though does justice by showing a side which is not spoken or written about much, of that, of his role as a father. Akbar may have been a great king but he had his flaws too, this book manages to bring that out effectively.

So all in all of you are looking to read a book about Akbar as a great warrior or administrator this is definitely not the book you should pick up. Though book is fictional drawing inspiration from history yet the book fails to deliver. The book does seem inspired a lot by bollywood movies on the life and times of Akbar.

The book as a continuity to first two books is a good read but as a standalone book it is a letdown.

PS: The book cover -as impressive as ever!

Review: Murder in the Ashram

2011-07-08T16:45:00.000+05:30

Murder in the Ashram is Kathleen McCaul’s debut book , a murder mystery revolving around a yoga ashram in Delhi. The book’s synopsis had me hooked. Well anything to do with murder, mystery based in a yoga ashram sounds like fun read. But sadly I was quite disappointed with the book. The book started out as fun but just lost the plot mid way. I felt the book tried to hook in many reasons to show why Yoga ashrams will continue to be enigmatic, intriguing and mysterious forever.

The story goes thus. Ruby Jones moves to Delhi to pursue a career as an international journalist. When her closest friend and flat mate Stephen Newby’s body is pulled out from the Yamuna river she uses her investigative instincts to get to the bottom of who was responsible for her friend’s death. Was it a suicide or a murder? And ,if it was a murder who were the people responsible for it? All these questions keep leading her to Swami Shiva’s ashram where Stephen was a regular. What brings an intriguing angle to the murder is that just a day before his death Stephen writes to Ruby about having found the identity of his yet unknown to the world father.

As she explores deeper her questions take her deep into the world of Indian policing and into the heart of Swami Shiva’s yoga ashram. She realizes that everything is not as calm and peaceful in the ashram as it seems.

What I found was that the author followed a typical pattern of how to handle a book based on an ashram. Let me tell you that I am absolutely no fan of ashrams and yogis but it is a feeling I got while reading the book. To write a book checklist followed is this a) murder b) drugs c) sex D) money e) ashram at the crux of it all. Hence the predictability.

Review:Don't go Away. We will be right back: The Oops and Downs of Advertising

2011-07-08T16:40:00.000+05:30

Don’t go Away. We’ll be right back. The Oops and Downs of Advertising is a book which everyone who has worked in advertising must read, also for those who aspire to be apart, and yes even those who want to know what makes the ad industry tick. A hilarious, fun and catty look at the world of Advertising.

The book takes you through the good and the bad of advertising. So we all know who a copywriter is but do you know what he dreads the most, the word ‘typo’. Like this one that crept into a hotel’s hoarding design: ‘Our restaurant has a bra attached’. You like? There are many such insights that the reader gets while reading this book.Then in her own fun way she goes on to describe Creative heads, account managers, about clients, awards…you name it the book has it.

The book will keep you laughing from beginning to the end. The illustrations in the book are also immensely good. It is a book that you are bound to read in one go.

Go for it. Yeh dil maange more from the author!

PS After reading books from advertising professional like Anuja Chauhan and now Indu I am convinced that the best writers come from this field too! Simply written books with loads of humour to keep the reader hooked!

Buy Donâ��t Go Away. Weâ��ll Be Right Back: The Oops And Downs Of Advertising from Flipkart.com

Review: Chocolate Guitar Momos

2011-07-08T16:35:00.000+05:30

I picked this book to read because I found the title of the book very interesting and the name of the author more so. The book is called Chocolate, Guitar Momos by Kenny Deori Basumatary. The book is a light, fun and breezy read.

The protagonist of the book is a young aspiring musician Joseph. The tragedy with Joseph is that he has been unsuccessful in relationships. After he is ditched by his third girlfriend he decided to track down a girl he believes might have been his soulmate- a girl who had smiled at himfrom a bus stop across the street 8 years ago. The only problem being in the search- he knows nothing of her what is worse is he doesn’t even recollect how she looks! Yet he believes she is the one for him since he clearly remembers what she was wearing! So he and his friends set out on a social experiment across internet to find her.

Does he end up finding the chosen one? This entire search for his soulmate leads to some funny awkward moments for Joseph but he is determined to get to her. What follows is a bittersweet story.

The book is light and frothy read with some fun moments. At places it does go a bit off track but keeps the reader interested till the end. It is a typical book for college going kids who will be able to relate with Joseph’s life. Not the best of book but a good read.

Review: Chowringhee

2011-07-07T12:49:00.001+05:30

Reviewed by: Rituparna Ghosh

I’ve always been fascinated by prisons. What happens inside? One can imagine the kind of people who live behind the high prison walls…but what intrigues me the most is how their past affect their present. Does it really change them?

Mani Sankar Mukherjee’s epical Chowringhee does exactly that. Except that the setting is not that of a prison, but of a sprawling hotel. A hotel that is majestic, regal and oppulent in every description…Shahjahan as it is aptly named is like an unattainable luxury, an exotic haven, a citadel that intrigues every man who stands outside its facade. The descriptions of the carpets, the rooms, the banquet hall, the lounge and even the bar throw up images of a world that are unseen to many. Even though he wrote it in the 60′s, Sankar chose the 50′s as a period to set his novel in. A decision that I think worked the magic like no other. The fifties was historically close to many events that affected the novel and its characters. The hangover of the British regime, the memory of the English life and an innate desire and repulsion of their lifestyle is what makes much of the plot. The characters can be easily divided between the two categories…one that have aped the English to the hilt, and the others who are carrying the burden of the inherited past with no taste but sheer sake of duty and habit. The location of this hotel and the name of the novel is inspirational in itself. The jewel of the crown literally, Chowringhee is where every Calcuttan wishes to be. One of the poshest and unreachable destinations in the city. Even today, Chowringhee has retained its charm.

When I was taught to read prose and understand the nuances of a well defined character, I was told that a character is well-etched if there is a defined graph of its personality in the work of fiction. Each character in Chowringhee (and there are a host of colourful ones) charts a course of its own, a journey that makes the reader assume a certain notion about him/her and one that changes at the end of the novel. Some shock you, some don’t! Take Sankar for instance. As the author and the narrator of the novel he begins his life and narrative seeped in penury. Almost at the verge of starvation he holds on to the meager thread of hope that Byron (the private detective) gives him. Byron uses his own connections and gets Sankar a job at the Shahjahan. Sankar begins his life at the hotel like any other outsider. Full of awe and humility he knows this is a new beginning. His curiosity and naivete as he goes about his initial days at the hotel are heart warming. Perhaps that’s what makes Sata Bose take him on an as an apprentice! The characters in the novel crisscross Sankar’s life at Shahjahan and by and by as events and lives unfold before him he moves out of his naivete self. He changes in a very sublime way that seems most natural and obvious to the reader. And it is the same with almost every character in the novel. Take Byron for instance, the passionate private sleuth who is instrumental in Sankar reaching Shahjahan has a story of his own. His friendship with the hotel manager Marco Polo has a story of its own. In fact Marco Polo himself has skeletons in the closet. As each character is introduced, his story is told in parts. Marco, a Greek orphan reared by Italian priests, studied in hotel management finds his place in Calcutta. It is here he falls in love with the enchanting Susan Munroe who has her own ambition in place. Marco Polo and his troubled marriage to Susan is what haunts him. To find her he needs a friend, a place that Byron takes effortlessly. The manager’s secretary Rosie, an African-American slave whose lot has toiled hard to find its own roots in Calcutta has a story of her own. Her feisty exterior is like a kernel…hard and impervious! By the end of the novel, as she is left alone you melt at her fate. Nityahari, the high-class Brahmin who plays the ‘lenin’ (linen) man in Shahjahan believes that he is reduced to a launderer only because he has sinned. His fetish for cleanliness, not of the hotel and his laundry, but of himself is obsessive. As a reader it almost put me off…but the story of his past let me forgive him.

Sata Bose, the enigmatic receptionist at the Shahjahan is a character that I found myself attracted to the most. It’s another thing that Uttam Kumar played the character in the film based on the novel. Almost like a father figure to Sankar, Sata knows the hotel and its mechanics better than anyone else. He is the one everyone trusts…the manager Marco Polo, offish guests like Phokla Chatterjee, the scandalous Mrs Pakrashi and the lovable air hostess Sujata Mitra. When I started the novel and was a few pages down, my mother asked me if Sata Bose had arrived. I didn’t understand what she meant then. But as I devoured the pages of Chowinghee I realised why. I couldn’t imagine Shahjahan without Satyasundar Bose! He was like the sprawling gateway through which countless guests walked into the hotel, the mirror that they checked themselves in, the hospitality that they savoured and the hearty feeling that they went back with! Sankar’s Bose-da knew no other existence than the one he lived inside the walls of Shahjahan…that of the receptionist. Sata Bose never said so, but if I had met him I would have asked if he ever felt like the furniture in the hotel? I somehow believe he would have answered in the affirmative. Sata’s life is nothing less than the tragic hero. A man who lives for his post and the ship that he mans, is reduced to a pitiful state when he walks out of the hotel.

The guests have remarkable stories to tell as well. The affluent business class that walks into Shahjahan as it is their own have their personal suites. Karabi Guha is hostess to Suite No 2, witness to several business meetings, a facilitator and it doesn’t take too long for the reader to know that she is indeed used as a ploy to ensure that the meetings bend in her employer’s way. A sophisticated, educated Bengali woman who meets her employer’s and his guests’ expectations to the hilt makes one mistake…she falls in love with the son of another rich businessman! Karabi’s story did not surprise me…in fact I expected it to end the way it did. But that didn’t take away the pain I felt for her. The Agarwallas, the Pakrashis, Phokla Chatterjee…all end of being characters that twirl the lives of the principle cast on their fingers. The privileged lot, the people for who Shahjahan is run…patrons to have to be pleased at any cost! I didn’t feel an iota of emotion for any of them. Written with a stereotypical hand these characters run amok in hotels like Shahjahan. With their faces painted in civility they hide the beasts inside. Let’s say, they are the pretty villains in Chowinghee who create the drama and action! On the other hand is a Sutherland…the WHO doctor who is in Shahjahan for another reason. The story that he trails…the story of a barmaid in the hotel took me to another lifetime. By the time it came back to the present I had my hair ruffled! Connie the woman, the cabaret girl who Sankar befriends has another sparkling story to tell…her midget brother and her tussle with her own fate left me thinking! Sujata Mitra came into the story like a breath of fresh air. The one woman character who seemed a lot like me and gave me hope for Sata Bose. And like a typical matriarch hoped that Sankar too would find a match for himself…Karabi had given me a glimmer of hope, but her life was headed elsewhere!

The characters in Chowinghee will haunt me for a while…it is not everyday that I finish a book that I am sad it came to an end.

(Rituparna works with a media company and she blogs at (http://rituparnaghosh.wordpress.com/ )

Remembering Tagore Contest Winners!

2011-06-30T21:26:00.004+05:30

Dhantanaaa! We have our ten winners! Here's the list:

Rituparna Ghosh
Vimal Patel
Anuja Agarwal
Anuradha Shankar
Kavya Shankare Gowda
Krishna Bhaskar
Partha Sarthi Chakraborty
Ayushi Dalmia
Amit Das
The Crooked Bookshelf

Congratulations winners! A big thank you to Penguin India for their participation in making this contest possible.

Thank you all for participating. Do keep following the blog for many such exciting contests. Happy reading!

Remembering Tagore: Erotica and The Poet

2011-06-29T21:37:00.002+05:30

Chitrangada and Chandalika – Sexual Awakenings of Two of Tagore’s Most Popular Heroines

~By, Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

For Language Day celebrations in our school in Bangalore, my Bengali-speaking friends and I, decided to present highlights from Tagore’s celebrated dance drama, “Chitrangada.” One of the girls in the group, who studied Bangla as a Second Language and was therefore, much more at ease with the literary lilt of the language, clicked her tongue while interpreting one of the songs and remarked what a sexually-aware man Tagore was. At home, while poring over the text, I asked my mother to explain a few lines from another section of the dramatic movement, and I remember clearly how my normally vocal and never-at-a-loss-for-words matriarch blushed and haltingly explained the song in as innocent and simple a manner as possible, stripping the piece of most of its raw, sexual content. The essence of the meaning was not lost, however.

It’s been close to twenty years since that fledgling, albeit exhilarating performance in school, and since then, not only have my language skills greatly improved, not only has my love for Tagore’s oeuvre grown in leaps and bounds, but my two little sons have also taken fledgling steps into the bright and beautiful world of Tagorean performance.

Being a Bengali, there is just no escaping the mammoth influence of this man. An entire industry thrives thanks to the Bard of Bengal. Had there been no Tagore, the Bengali would have been a much poorer version of his present self...culturally, musically, artistically, academically and yes, in the literal sense of the word, financially.

More than a hundred years later, we are still obsessed with the man, his work and his life. This year being the sesquicentennial year of India’s first Nobel Laureate, there is a frenzy of Tagore-related activities the world over. We create and recreate his works; we discuss, dissect, analyse and philosophise. We study his words in a contemporary context and research his vast oeuvre to find new meanings, to see things with a new eye, to listen through another’s ears and to feel from our own experiences, all the while wondering if there’s any aspect that remains untouched or glossed over.

Well, one such aspect is the erotic aspect of the literary giant’s work. A theme not openly discussed, and I wonder why, since it is agreed that Tagore understood the psyche of women so well; that so many of his heroines are strong and ready to claim their sexuality; that so many of his novels were considered ‘bold’ and ‘daring’.

It’s quite a travesty to the man and his work, to keep this facet of his literary compositions under wraps, considering so many of his love songs and dance dramas were ripe with the themes of desire, longing and the union of not only two souls, but two bodies. What makes Tagore so great is that he did it classily, poetically, taking help from Mother Nature’s bounty and splendour, thus not having to resort to innuendos and titillation. It was always done artistically, using music and metaphor, to create those sensations of urgent longing, naked desire and bodily fulfilment.

This discussion is an attempt to highlight some of the erotic elements of two of Tagore’s sexually-charged masterpieces where we are introduced to two of his most well-known heroines from his celebrated Nrityo Nattyos, or dance dramas, Chitrangada and Chandalika.

Chitrangada

Tagore’s work is a take-off on an incident from the “Mahabharata”, where the third Pandav brother, the illustrious warrior prince, Arjuna, meets the warrior princess Chitrangada, during his wanderings while on a 13 year self-imposed exile, while practicing, again self-imposed, celibacy.

We are introduced to Kurupa Chitrangada, or Chitrangada the Unattractive, in the first scene of the musical, where she and her friends have gone hunting in the forest. It is here that she literally stumbles upon a saffron-robed Arjuna, her idol, her hero, who mistakes her and her group of companions to be a band of young boys. Kurupa calls out after him, challenging him to a fight so that she may die a brave and noble death at the hands of the legend she has worshipped for so long.

Losing all interest in the hunt, her friend, perplexed, asks her how it is possible for her to lose her sense of identity in the space of just one glance. And thus, Kurupa, for the first time in her life, feels the stirrings of a strange new emotion – passion. Passion for a man, passion for a warrior, passion for her idol. Passion for the soul-mate for whom she has waited since eternity. She acknowledges these hitherto unknown and unfelt emotions in the beautiful song, “Bodhu Kon Aalo Laaglo Chokhe.”

Instinctively knowing that she will never get Arjun to give her a second glance dressed as a warrior, she entreats her friends to make her presentable. She then goes in search of Arjun and offers herself to him, but he spurns her saying he is on a vow of celibacy.

Humiliated at this rejection she laments all those years spent in perfecting her archery and building her strength. She sends out a heartfelt plea to Lord Madan, aka Kamadev, the God of love and sex, begging to be morphed into a stunning beauty with seductive charms. That she wants to captivate Arjun with Apsara-like physical charms is no secret as she prays,

“Shudhu ek borosher jonne

Pushpolabonne

Mor deho paak tobo shorgero mullyo

Morte atulyo.”

Hearing her prayers, Madan agrees to change her from her warrior-princess self, to a woman of breath-taking beauty. One who inspires instant lust in a man; one, who even Arjun of the self-imposed celibacy vow, will be helplessly attracted to. Our new heroine, Surupa Chitrangada, or Chitrangada the Beautiful, upon catching a glimpse of herself, is taken aback by her newly acquired beauty. In a moving soliloquy, she realises the transitory nature of her newly-acquired loveliness. She laments that while as Kurupa, she had a history, a background, a lineage, as Surupa, she is nothing more than an exotic flower, whose fragrance once exhausted, will be languishing in the dust. However, she also acknowledges the stirrings of a desire so deep and it finds expression in Tagore’s magnificently worded, “Aamaar Onge Onge Ke.”

Arjuna sees the stunningly beautiful Surupa and forgetting all vows of celibacy, promptly proposes “dushahoshi prem”, in other words, a passionate love affair. Before accepting, Surupa tells him that the affair will be ephemeral, like a dew-drop.

The affair is indeed passionate, explosive even, yet, as Surupa always knew, it is transient. After all, lust does fade. For by this time, Arjuna has heard tales of the brave warrior-princess – “Sneho boley tini maataa, bahu boley tini raajaa” (Her compassion makes her a mother; her strength, a king). She decides to test him and tells Arjuna of Chitragaga’s manly appearance and lack of feminine charms, but that does not douse his resolve to meet this fascinating hero. The shallow nature of their relationship is revealed.

Finally realising the opportunity she has to meet her idol as an equal, Chitrangada once again entreats Madan to change her form...this time from the beautiful, nymph-like Surupa to the plain, almost manly Kurupa. When she meets him in her true form, she breaks into the incredibly moving and thought-provoking aria, “Aami Chitrangada.” In this paean, she tells Arjuna that she is neither goddess, nor ordinary woman. She asks only that he treat her as an equal, to keep her by his side even when danger lurks near-by. She asks only that he treat her as Chitrangada, daughter of a king. This particular song, has long been regarded as an ode to feminism; here, in this one incredible song, Chitrangada rejects the notion that she is the weaker sex and thus an object of pity, rather, she is on the same footing as him, an equal partner at every level.

“Aami Chitrangada, aami rajendronandini,

Nohi debi, nohi shamanyo naari.

Pujo kori morey raakhibey urdhhey shey nohi, nohi,

Helaa kori morey raakhibey peechhey shey nohi nohi...

Aaj shudhu kori nibedon –

Aami Chitrangada, raajendronandini.”

The triumph of intellect over body is indeed a joyful celebration.

This sums up, the bare bones of Tagore’s masterpiece. However, it is interesting to note that in the original Bengali, the Surupa-Arjuna passion play, while tremendously evident, is couched in metaphorical poetics, yet his own English trans-creation, which reads beautifully, seems more sexually charged and explicit. However, Kobiguru never resorts to improper language and yet he leaves nothing to the imagination. Take, for example, the following passage where Surupa recounts to Madana, her passionate tryst with Arjuna:

“The southern breeze caressed me to sleep. From the flowering Malati bower overhead silent kisses dropped over my body. On my hair, my breast, my feet, each flower chose a bed to die on. I slept. And, suddenly in the depth of my sleep, I felt as if some intense eager look, like tapering fingers of flame, touched my slumbering body. I started up and saw the Hermit standing before me... It seemed to me that I had, on opening my eyes, died to all realities of life and undergone a dream birth into a shadow land. Shame slipped to my feet like loosened clothes. I heard his call-"Beloved, my most beloved!" And all my forgotten lives united as one and responded to it. I said, "Take me, take all I am!" And I stretched out my arms to him. The moon set behind the trees. One curtain of darkness covered all. Heaven and earth, time and space, pleasure and pain, death and life merged together in an unbearable ecstasy...”

As in-your-face as sexual desire can probably get without resorting to coarse language and four-letter words. Perhaps, because the original is set to music, Tagore did not need to resort to more explicit language and imagery. After all, the Bengali nritya-natya is an auditory and visual delight, with much of its beauty coming from the music compositions and dance performances. With the English work, “Chitra”, one is left with the sensation that it is better left read than performed.

Chandalika

Gurudev’s “Chandalika” is about a low-caste girl, a ‘chandalin’ named Prokriti, and her desire for a Buddhist monk named Anondo.

Spurned, shunned and humiliated by the entire village because of her low birth, Prokriti is found by her mother sitting near a well, cursing her birth and her life. Her mother, Maya, tells her to snap out of it and to get back to work, but Prokriti, still hurting from the taunts and jibes, is still too depressed and angry. Her mother leaves her there to wallow in her self-pity. It is at this moment that Anondo, a Buddhist monk approaches Prokriti and asks for water to quench his thirst. She recoils in shame and horror and brokenly informs him that she is a chandalini and therefore not ‘fit’ to give him water, more so as the water from her well is tainted. Anondo kindly informs her that they are all the same, human beings.

For a girl who has never been treated well or spoken kindly to in her entire life, it is easy to see why she would mistake kindness for attraction, why she would see her own feelings of gratitude as love.

What could have been an innocent infatuation turns into a morbid obsession where Prokriti exclaims that Anondo chose her well over all others because of her. She starts to fantasise that maybe there was an attraction that drew him to her. That the obsession is one of a sheer, physical need can be felt in Prokriti’s intense, longing-filled ballad, “Chokkhe Aamaar Trishna, Ogo Trishna Aamaar Bokhho Jure.” In the song, she likens herself to a “brishtibihin boiskakhi din” – a rainless day in a monsoon month. How beautifully Tagore once again explains a young girl’s budding sexual desire and yearning, while once again taking recourse to imagery from nature.

Another interesting, startling even, observation to be made, is Maya’s willingness to help her daughter reach sexual fulfilment. In a country where the mere mention of the words ‘sex’, ‘lust’ and ‘boyfriend’ are taboo in the living room; where daughters still look at their toes when they confess that they’re in love and want to get married (and thus have ‘legal’ sex), it is definitely a bold overture for a young girl to cry out to her mother that she wants someone, that she really, REALLY wants someone in every which way, and with an intensity and desire so strong, she is willing to drag him, herself and her mother down to whatever level it takes.

Prokriti’s longing soon turns to desperation and like a man-mad virago, she exhorts her mother who is well-versed in sorcery and witchcraft, to bring Anondo to her, wherever he may be. She wants to leave her imprint on him so deeply, so that she will be the face that he sees, the one that he thinks about, wherever he goes and she is willing to resort to depravity if need be as she pushes her mother to use her most powerful, her most cruel incantations.

“Por tui shob cheye nishtur montro –

Paake paake daag diye joraaje dhoruk or monke.

Jekhaanei jaak, kokhono eraate aamaake

Paarbe na, paarbe naa.”

Of course, we are initially shown how a spiritually pure soul can easily rise above the base temptations of the flesh. But, as the incantations become more powerful, Anondo is dragged through fire to meet Prokriti’s mating call. Maya, by now exhausted and spent begins to feel sorry for the monk as she senses his spiritual suffering and turmoil and entreats Prokriti to stop. Prokriti, however, is now drunk with power and on a sexual-high, so she refuses and only pressurises Maya to keep going and to use every spell in the book. Her wild urging is almost climactic in its intensity.

“Oi dekh, oi elo jhor, elo jhor,

Taar agomonir oi jhor –

Prithibi kaanpchhey thorothoro thorothoro,

Guruguru kory mor bokho.”

It is only when Prokriti sees the effects of the spell on Anondo that she finally understands the sheer torture that he is facing and the gravity of her sin; gone is the peaceful countenance that radiated purity that she fell in love with. Instead, his face is a mask of grave pain and self-loathing and so she begs her mother to break the spell, but by then it is too late. Anondo, as if dragged in by chains, stands face to face with her and Prokriti falls at his feet, begging for mercy.

And Anondo, in the true spirit of a monk who has risen above all worldly emotions and passions, readily does so.

I had an enlightening chat with well-known Odissi danseuse and social worker, Alokananda Roy, about the fascinating aspects of these two female protagonists and she asked me to think about their social backgrounds and upbringing. Chitrangada is a royal and thus her desire, no matter how deep, is restrained, refined and couched in flowery language and poetic innuendo. Prokriti hails from the lower echelons of society; her background is that of a tribal girl with no education or sense of refinement and that is why her passion is raw, primal and very in-your-face. While Kobiguru doesn’t use base, improper, ‘unflowery’ language to express Prokriti’s desire, he composes her songs and sets them to a fantastic tempo, almost wild in its growing intensity, just like her increasing passion.

Tagore’s heroines, like their creator, are passionate people. Their desire so real, you can touch it, feel it, almost breathe it. And yet, the beauty of the master’s word play leaves you as in awe with their musical and prosaic enchantments, as do the strength and power of the protagonists’ emotions and ‘realness’.

(Baisali Chatterjee Dutt is a writer, loves music, movies, poetry and bright colours. Baisali blogs at http://mammamiameamamma@blogspot.com)

Winners of the Remembering Tagore contest to be announced shortly!

2011-06-27T12:58:00.000+05:30

Yet again an overwhelming response to the contest! Thank you all for participating in such large numbers, we are in the process of shortlisting the winning entries, so wait a while please for the name of winners.

Until then do share with us what you are currently reading or any book you have enjoyed reading recently.

The books I have read and enjoyed recently-

Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World - Alex Rutherford
Don't Go Away. We'll be right back: The Oops and Downs of Advertising - Indu Balachandran

Currently reading Amitav Ghosh's River of Smoke and eagerly waiting to read Arvind Adiga's Last Man in the Tower.

Some short and sweet reviews

2011-06-21T23:23:00.000+05:30

Brief reviews of some interesting titles:

Summer and the City: A Carrie Diaries Novel

The Carrie Diaries series are the prequel to the runaway bestsellers Sex and the City. So SATC fans rejoice! In this book Candace Bushnell reveals the irresistible story of how Carrie met Samantha and Miranda, and what turned a small town girl into one of NYC’s most unforgettable icons, Carrie Bradshaw. This book is second after The Carries Diaries.

A fun quick read. If you are an SATC fan then you must!

Unbroken:

This book comes from the author of Seabiscuit, which won the William Hill sports Book of the Year and inspired the Academy Award nominated film. Unbroken is a story of one man’s journey into extremity, the book is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body and spirit. Louis Zamperini, though an athlete who participated in the Berlin Olympics, becomes an airman when war calls. This embarks him on a journey that led to a doomed flight, a tiny raft and thousands of miles of open ocean.

Laura Hillenbrand’s writing is vivid and descriptive. The book manages to hold a reader’s attention till the very end.

Scandalous

Tilly Bagshawe’s book Scandalous is about how two women who unite against a man to get even with him for all the damage he single handedly has managed to cause to both. Sasha Miller has to leave Cambridge University in a scandal after losing her heart to sexy professor Theo Dexter. He goes on to become a television heartthrob but while he is famous his wife Theresa is an unhappy woman. She realizes that trust and fidelity are two words her husband doesn’t understand. Years later Theresa and Sasha join hands in a daring scheme to bring down a man who almost destroyed them both.

Quick and easy read. I of course haven’t forgiven Bagshawe for trying to fill into Sidney Sheldon’s shoes.

Never Look Away

Linwood Barclay is the bestselling author of No Time for Goodbye and from her comes another interesting read Never Look Away. It starts with a trip to a local amusement park. David Harwood is hoping a carefree day with their young son will help dispel his wife Jan’s recent depression. But Jan disappears and no one can find her. David surfaces as the biggest suspect and to prove his innocence David must confront a terrifying possibility: that someone is prepared to destroy him and his family in order to keep a dreadful secret.

The book could have had a better build up but it is a well paced thriller novel. Interesting read!

Review: Carte Blanche

2011-06-21T20:09:00.003+05:30

Jeffrey Deaver is well known for his bestselling thriller novels and I had recently enjoyed reading his book The Burning Wire. So when I heard that Jeffrey Deaver is writing the next Bond novel I was super excited since both made for an exciting combination. But sadly I was to be disappointed.The 21^st century Bond is a pale shadow of 20^th century Bond that Ian Fleming created. The portrayal of Bond does not inspire the same aura and mystique that the earlier one did.

The story goes thus 007after returning from Afghanistan has been recruited to a new agency. The aim of the agency is to protect the Realm, by any means necessary. And to fulfill this mission Bond has been given Carte Blanche to do whatever it takes to succeed.

The story is flat and does not rise above being an average thriller. There is no real build up to a climax leaving us with an empty feeling. Even the villains in the book are neither menacing nor ruthless. You really can’t associate a garbage collector as a Bond villain. As a standalone Bond book, without going into comparisons of Ian Fleming’s Bond, it turns out to be a decent weekend read, that is only if you have nothing better planned. If you are really looking at reading a bond novel might I suggest that you stick to Fleming’s Bond. At the hand of a good scriptwriter the book might turn out to be a good movie but as a book not worth the money spent.

About the Author:

A former journalist, folksinger and attorney, Jeffery Deaver is an international number-one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including The New York Times, The Times of London, Italy's Corriere della Serra, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Los Angeles Times. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. The author of twenty-seven novels, two collections of short stories and a nonfiction law book, he's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world. His The Bodies Left Behind was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller The Broken Window was also nominated for that prize. He has been awarded the Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association and the Nero Wolfe Award, and he is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year and a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award. The Cold Moon was recently named the Book of the Year by the Mystery Writers Association of Japan, as well as by Kono Mystery Wa Sugoi magazine. In addition, the Japanese Adventure Fiction Association awarded the book their annual Grand Prix award.
Deaver has been nominated for six Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, an Anthony Award and a Gumshoe Award. He was recently shortlisted for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Best International Author.

Remembering Tagore: The Broken Nest- Charulata

2011-06-20T12:51:00.000+05:30

Charulata

- Kiran Manral

My introduction to Tagore came about rather late, when Doordarshan showed a nightly retrospective of movies based on Rabindranath Tagore’s work. And one night, I settled down to watch Charulata (adapted from Nashtanirh). The story of a woman caught between a husband who is steeped in his work, older than her, and seemingly uncaring and her sudden incandescent fascination with a young man in her house, her husband’s cousin was delicately depicted and sensitively handled by the director. At that point I marveled at the insight into the workings of a woman’s mind that had led the Poet Laureate to write this character, and the situation she finds herself in, when to all outward appearances she has a perfectly comfortable life. And there was Madhabi Mukherjee playing Charulata, the upper crust lady, blessed with a perfectly expressive face that hovered between the woman of the world and the ingénue, she was every bored housewife, wanting to spark up her life, thirsting for appreciation.

The original title given by Tagore in Bengali, meaning The Broken Nest, is much more evocative than the simple name Ray chose to title his film. The nest, the home, in this case, metaphorically speaking, isn’t a nest at all, because Charulata doesn’t have children to occupy her. She lives with her husband, an intellectual at the height of the Bengal cultural renaissance in the late nineteenth century, who is older, more mature and has a newspaper to run, and therefore little time to give his young wife. The opening sequence of Charulata sets the tone of the movie, a woman, running from window to window of her huge mansion like house, watching the world pass outside her courtyard with opera glasses, evocative of both her boredom and her restlessness. We get a sense of her feeling trapped in her domestic situation. Her husband passes her, and walks past her without even noticing her, so engrossed is he in a book. And as he passes by, she looks at him with the same opera glasses she was looking at the outside world with. At that moment, with that gesture, the viewer knows that there is an estrangement and a distance between the husband and wife, which is leading to a restlessness yet to be fulfilled.

While she does have a huge house to run, it is efficiently staffed leaving her with effectively nothing to do. Enter her husband’s cousin, Amal, younger, more towards Charulata’s age, interested in poetry, indulgent towards her literary pretensions and ambitions, and the inevitable happens. Charulata falls for him. Amal is reluctant to encourage this, naturally, given the circumstances he is in, and Charulata experiences a minor triumph when a short story she has written gets published in a local publication. The movie shows Amal going away abruptly to end Charulata’s infatuation with him, and her husband’s realization of her feelings for his young cousin. The film ends with Bhupathi returning home after wandering around aimlessly, hurt and bewildered and Charulata’s tentative reaching out to him, but the hands donot meet, implicit in the message that the nest has been irretrievably broken. In the movie, Ray discards Tagore’s original ending which had Bhupathi saying he was going out of town, and Charulata asking him to take her with him. And then sensing his hesitation, she tells him to let it be. Their relationship is, to all purposes, now over.

Charulata was the film of which Ray said that had he to make it again, he wouldn’t change a single thing. And indeed, it had the kind of perfection when all elements in the film, every little detail, come together harmoniously.

I am shamed to say, I still have to read the book though it has been on my to read list ever since I saw this movie. Maybe, this year, I should rectify that.

(Kiran Manral is a writer, blogger, social activist. She is also the Creative Head at Karma Communications, Mumbai)

Remembering Tagore Contest!

2011-06-15T17:25:00.001+05:30

The Book Lovers in association with The Penguin Tagore Bookshelf is proud to present a brand new contest for all our readers and Tagore fans. The winners of this contest stand a chance to win exciting titles from Penguin's Tagore Bookshelf. How to go about it? Here's the deal -We will be asking three questions related to Tagore. If you know the answers email to us at bookwelove(at)gmail(dot)com. If your answers are correct and you are shortlisted we will get in touch with you shortly after the contest ends.

So, are you ready?

Our questions:

A) Who wrote the introduction to, and actively promoted, the English translation of Tagore’s Gitanjali?

B) Two of Tagore’s songs are now the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. What is Bangladesh’s national anthem?

C) Which University awarded Tagore with Doctorate of Literature and in which year?

Simple enough? The rules are simple too! Here goes:

- We have only ten copies to giveaway so rush your entries soon!

- The answers should be emailed to us at bookwelove@gmail

- The contest closes on 21st June, 2011.

- The decision of the judges will be final.

Remembering Tagore: Teen Kanya

2011-06-15T12:05:00.005+05:30

Tagore's short story "The Postmaster" is ostensibly a simple story - that of a young man Nandalal, whose comfortable life in the lap of his family in Calcutta is disrupted by a transfer to a village post office. As expected, nothing measures up to his expectations - the job, the immediate environment and most important the people . He fails to appreciate the beauty of rural Bengal, he pines for home and family . Having nothing in common with the villagers, the only ray of weak sunshine is the general factotum of his one man household - the orphan child Ratan , who cooks ,cleans and nurses him through a bout of malaria . He teaches the girl to teach , chats with her about his family and in the process livens up his life and offers a ray of hope to Ratan who , bereft of any love dreams of becoming a part of his family .Ratan's little tryst with hope and happiness is shattered when Nandalal gets a transfer back to the city and as compensation to Ratan, without an inkling of the fantastic dreams she has conjured up , offers her a generous tip which she is too proud to accept . A simple story , no doubt, ordinary even but lifted to a level of excellence in characterisation and situational narratives that could only come from Tagore .

The film by Satyajit Ray stars Anil Chatterjee as the whining, complaining postmaster Nandalal who cannot reconcile himself to his new environment and Chandana Banerjee as the orphan girl Ratan. The camera almost caresses the serene beauty of rural Bengal . Ray who had a magic touch with child actors (think Apu-Durga in Pather Panchali,Apu's son in Apur Sansar and the little boys in the Feluda films ) extracts a stellar performance from Ratan who conveys more with her expressive eyes than through dialogue . When the postmaster, ecstatic with joy at his transfer forgets all promises made to the child during their long evenings together , there is a proud and quiet dignity in her moment of epiphany when she realises that people do not mean what they promise on impulse and so she withdraws into herself , treating the tip he gives her with the scorn his action deserves -that money is not the alternative to what she craves - a sense of belongingness , security and a family to call her own .

Ray's treatment of Manihara is pure Gothic. The film opens with the village schoolmaster crossing the ruins and gardens of a house to the ghat on the river which lies beyond , carrying with him his opium pipe and a manuscript . On the steps of the ghat he meets a man draped in a shawl sitting on a lower step, strikes a conversation with him and narrates the story of the people who had lived in the house beyond. The young man is played by Kali Banerjee and his wife by Kanika Majumdar.

We meet Manimala's feet first, shod in elegant velvet slippers and then we see her almost ethereally beautiful face and the exquiste muslin sari she wears. Phanibhushan is besotted with her beauty and would like to claim her entire being but she eludes him. Besotted by her lust for jewels and terrified that her husband would use them to save himself from financial ruin, she plans to go to her paternal house and recruits her rascally distant relative and ex lover, played in a brilliant cameo by the young Kumar Roy , to take her there . For a moment she hesitates because her husband has promised her jewels on his return, if he is successful but the survival of her jewels is uppermost and flinging her keys on the bed she departs .She never returns - except as a wraith, trying twice to enter and failing and finally succeeding on a full moon light , drawn by the promise of the jewellery .

Besides being a ghost story , it deals on different levels with power , pride, possessions, lust , craving and dissatisfaction and a deep sorrow .A sense of impermanence pervades the film , the river a metaphor for change and havoc in the lives of the couple .

The subtle play of light and shadows and the strains of the song “Baajey Karuno shurey “ interspersed with the haunting cry of the curlews creates an evocative atmosphere and brings out the gothic component very forcefully .

Kanika Majumdar’s Manimala is distant -her eyes are constantly searching , her head cocked to one side as if she is listening to a distant song . She is brittle and delicate. Her eyes glitter with a febrile intensity as she becomes temporarily insane, runs her hands through her jewels and adorns herself with them before preparing to run away . The jewels her husband plies her with and which she guards fiercely are a substitute for a deeper craving.

In the short space of about an hour we are caught up by brilliant performances and tremendous cinematography - almost a distillation of a larger canvas done in miniature.

In a sense Samapti or The Ending is the lightest in texture and mood and peppered with a great deal of humour . The story of a girl’s transition from unmarried bliss to marriage – a story of coming of age – the confusions, the ensuing hilarity, perception of mockery of the institution of marriage are played out consummately by Soumtira Chatterji and a very young Aparna Sen who transcends the boundaries of a tall gangling teenager to a woman who realizes what marriage, affinity and love could mean. Ray’s superb touches are there in the scene where Mrinmoyee discards her wedding bed , social norms and shackles to run away and play on her swing in the moonlight , each upward propelling motion reflecting itself in the sheer joy of living that only freedom can gift , the puzzled expressions on the girl’s face when she cannot decipher what she is required to do as a married woman – a set of rules , customs and bindings which have no meaning and the moment of realization when she perceives that she loves the man she is married to .

Tagore’s sensitivity and his exploration of the feminine mystique were far beyond his times. Ray has captured each nuance of his sensitivity and translated them on to celluloid with such consummate mastery that even if one were one not to read Tagore in the original, it would be a stepping stone to understand this Renaissance man.

(Mallika Ganguly works in an Oil PSU, her life revolves around her family and friends. She is also an amateur photographer besides being a blogger and a farmville addict! She blogs at eveslungs.blogspot.com . )

Review: I For India

2011-06-14T17:32:00.004+05:30

I For India, is 26 year old Karan Khanna’s debut book. Karan writes a story weaved around the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and how the protagonist of the book also named Karan reacts to it.

The story is pretty simple, easy to read. Karan Sehgal is an Indian living in Australia and has everything going for him in life. His father owns a huge construction empire and there is nothing that is missing in their life. Except for the pull of motherland! This is what brings Karan to Mumbai, India and as is likely to happen with any NRI who has never stepped on the soil of his motherland and witnessed firsthand the issues facing the country, he finds himself utterly disillusioned and unhappy seeing the state the city is in. The rampant corruption, the class divide, the close to nothing development. So he is not too happy with the state of affairs but life goes on, till he finds a girl who he falls in love with hook line and sinker! The day he proposes marriage to her is 26/11 and they happen to be at the Taj. He manages to escape but sadly his fiancée cannot. Utterly miserable he returns back to Australia, but the call of motherland brings him back, this time with the aim to improve the life of the others. Till this point the book was all good but after this the book goes into a total I, me, myself mode. Where he only talks about his success, reaching new heights in social entrepreneurship but that too is cut short when he has a bitter encounter with the UP cops. He once again decides to chuck it all and chooses to become a politician, since he realizes, that that’s the only way he can make effective changes in the country, if you please! And then again it goes into a monologue of how successful he is at that. Also successful enough to be shot at and acknowledged by no less than the PM and asked to share the platform with him.

Yes the book does get unreal at times and leaves you with unbelievable optimism. Also in parts you feel the author is far suspended from reality and at places too filmy! But the thought behind the book is commendable. 26/11 managed to change a lot of perspectives in the youth of our country, else why would, a businessman turn to writing a book on his ideas of changing the country’s scenario and more youth involvement.

Here’s wishing Karan Khanna a long and happy innings as a writer from The Book Lovers!

Review: Ibne Safi series

2011-06-14T15:56:00.005+05:30

One of the quirkiest and most prolific Urdu writers of the 20^th century, Ibne Safi migrated to Pakistan shortly after the publication of the first Jasusi Dunya novel. His novels had a cult fan following not just in Pakistan but also in India.

Jasusi Dunya is an intricately demented world of larger than life villains, beautiful femme fatales and mad genius detectives. The series spans 125 novels published between 1952 and 1979 and continue being bestselling books in Urdu till date.

Tranquebar along with Blaft publications has published some of the translated works of Jasusi Dunya by Ibne Safi. First of all it is commendable that publication houses are making an effort to translate such works for a bigger reading audience.

I did read Poisoned Arrow which I found was very predictable. The two detectives, Colonel Faridi and Captain Hameed are immensely likeable but the detective story is nothing extraordinary. The other titles in the series are yet to be read.

But yes considering that they form a part of a cult following you might want to pick up a few titles in the series.

Remembering Tagore: 'Tagore Stories on Film'

2011-06-09T15:30:00.000+05:30

May 7, 2011 marked the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore and to commemorate this Nobel laureate, the Government of India released a special collection of six DVDs titled ‘Tagore Stories on Film’. Apart from five films based on the writer’s stories, the collection also includes two documentaries, one by Satyajit Ray and the other by Tagore himself.

The culture and information and broadcasting ministries commissioned the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) to bring this DVD of all his cinema-related work. It’s been a fantastic journey bringing this collection together and we’re specifically launching this so that the cinema goer of today and the audience that is newly cultivating a taste for cinema gets to sample some of Tagore’s finest work.

Tagore was arguably the greatest writer in modern Indian literature and to see his work come alive is a privilege. I write to you to seek your help to spread the word about this extremely special DVD set and would request your support to educate your readers about this special project.

This set is moderately priced at Rs. 399. The NFDC would love for all Indians to get a piece of Gurudev. If you’d like to buy the set, you can buy it at any premium music/ video store like Planet M, Landmark, and Rhythm House etc.

We’re trying to build an entire movement around the set and you can see it here: http://www.facebook.com/nfdcindia

The five films in the set are:

Khudito Pashan
Teen Kanya
Kabuliwala
Ghare Baire
Char Adhyay

Bonus Features:
Natir Puja & Rabindranath Tagore made by Satyajit Ray

A treat for all Tagore fans!

Remembering Tagore: Celebrating Tagore in Bangladesh

2011-06-06T13:46:00.000+05:30

- Haroon Habib

(This piece titled ‘Celebrating Tagore's Legacy’ appeared in The Hindu: Literary Review. We would like to thank Haroon Habib for allowing us to reproduce the piece here for our readers)

The simultaneous celebration of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary in India and Bangladesh marked an exceptional move to honour the poet-philosopher. It also symbolised the deep admiration that exists in both countries for the man who enriched literature as much as he did humanity as a whole.

The versatile genius, who was much ahead of his time, wrote in his mother tongue of Bangla. But he did not limit his message to the people who lived around him. His creative works introduced a powerful dose of love and internationalism. This Indian rose to international heights: he was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1913.

Tagore was poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, educationist, spiritualist, painter, lyricist, composer and singer – a rare set of distinctions, an unbelievable conjunction of talents. His creative works, which still influence billions of people globally, are a matter of pride for the people of India and Bangladesh. He was born, grew up, worked and died here.

At critical moments he has been an inspiration for the people of what is now Bangladesh. Protagonists of the two-nation theory wanted to wipe out his influence. Pakistan's first military ruler, Ayub Khan, banned his songs. But the poet only became more relevant then before. A strong sense of linguistic nationalism grew around him. Finally, the people launched a strong cultural and political movement that culminated in the formation of Bangladesh.

Tagore made the Bengali middle class feel that he was an essential part of their national ethos. The emerging middle class, including students and intellectuals, regarded him as one of them. In no way could they think that Tagore was alien to them because of his religion.

Strangely, as in Pakistan's case, the successive military regimes in Bangladesh showed little interest in upholding his legacy. Tagore's songs and poems inspired Bengalis in their fight against Pakistan in the 1971 war of liberation. His songs and poetry inspired them culturally and politically. Never before had a poet left such an imprint and wielded so deep an influence on the psyche of the vast majority of the people. While India chose his Jana gana mana as the national anthem in 1947, Bangladesh has had one of his songs as the national anthem since its birth.

Sri Lanka's national anthem was also penned by Tagore: Apa Sri Lanka, Nama Nama Nama Nama Mata, Sundar Sri Boroni was originally Nama Nama Sri Lanka Mata in Bangla, written and set to its tune by Tagore. He did it at the request of his favourite Sri Lankan student at Santiniketan, Ananda Samarkun, in 1938. In 1940, Ananda returned to his native land and translated the song into Sinhalese and recorded it in Tagore's tune.

Indeed, Rabindranath is not only the pre-eminent literary genius of Bengal but all of South Asia, perhaps the whole of Asia.

The joint celebration of Tagore's birth anniversary began in Dhaka on May 6: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated it. In India, it was opened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi on May 7. With this joint celebration, the great poet, who represents much of the common heritage and philosophy of the two countries, brought the two closer still.

The changed political circumstances in the two countries made the joint celebration possible. Tagore's philosophy, vision and outlook must bring the two closer. He is a monumental treasure that can bless us with love, humanity and justice.

Remembering a personality whose ardent belief in humanism and universalism was striking, India has instituted a Rs. 1 crore award in Tagore's name. Bangladesh has decided to set up a Rabindra University at Shilaidaha in Kushtia, where the poet spent a considerable part of his creative life while supervising the family estate. Bangladesh will also preserve the poet's intimate memories in ‘Patisar' and ‘Shahzadpur.' Dhaka has also expressed its willingness to construct a Bangladesh Bhaban at Santiniketan. India will run a special train, Sonar Tori, between Dhaka and Kolkata.

Speaking at the inaugural, Dr. Manmohan Singh said Tagore's ideas of universal humanism resonate in the contemporary world. His belief in the spiritual unity of the East and the West was a powerful message of redemption for a society beset by greed, callousness and irreverence. The joint celebration, he felt, was of “unique significance” — it was the first cultural exchange of its kind between the neighbours.

India cherishes the Tagore legacy fondly, just as Bangladesh does. Together the two must endeavour to enrich that legacy for people's welfare. Tagore is a lighthouse, a strong voice of humanity. He should guide the social consciousness of the two countries. Vice President Hamid Ansari, who attended the celebrations in Dhaka, rightly termed the celebration a momentous occasion.

Rabindranath remains a pre-eminent man of letters on both sides of the border. He is still the most influential writer in his language. He is South Asia's voice of love in a wider global perspective, a bridge of friendship. His songs should be sung forever; his works should be read for centuries to come.

Tagore's enduring influence on history comes through the many layers of his thoughts. He modernised Bangla art by refusing to follow rigid classical forms.

As a story-teller, he is second to none. His lucid, lyrical prose and grasp of the human psychology are unique. He is the foremost lyricist of his language and the most celebrated composer. He wrote more than 2,000 songs, and these are widely considered to be his best creation. His songs are an integral part of the Bengali culture and collective psyche. His novels are also some of the best in Bangla. He wrote lovely plays. He was a painter of note.

Tagore was a committed anti-colonialist. He had a deep understanding of the world at large. He visited more than 30 countries and had personal ties with scientists and literary giants of his time. He was not a revolutionary in a political sense, but he inflamed his people by renouncing his knighthood after the colonial army indiscriminately killed Indians in Jallianwala Bagh in 1919.

Tagore is a precious guide. He held that promoting one's own culture and approving the cultures of others could be one and the same attitude. “I believe,” he wrote, “the unity of human civilization can be better maintained by linking up in fellowship and cooperation of the different civilizations of the world.” The humanist added: “Let the mind be universal. The individual should not be sacrificed.”

He was a member of the elite, but Tagore did not have elitist views on education. He wrote: “I believe that all human problems find their fundamental solution in education… Poverty, pestilence, communal fights and industrial backwardness make our path narrow and perilous owing to the meagreness of education…”

Reflecting on the plight of his country under foreign rule, Tagore understood, just as Gandhi did, that violence cannot serve the ultimate purpose of humanity. He was deeply aware that India needed more than a change of political regime. Therefore, he opted for a self-reliant village economy. In the region that is now Bangladesh, he initiated projects of local initiative, local leadership and local self-government, developing cooperative systems. Besides being a poet and philosopher, Tagore started innovative research in agriculture and rural development in Patisar, Shahzadpur and Shilaidah. This spoke of his vision and commitment to the people around him. In a world dominated by technology and science, his thoughts are still relevant as he wrote: “Science has given man immense power. The golden age will return when it is used in the service of humanity.”

Tagore stood against exploitation and injustice in order to rise above geopolitical, economic and ideological divides. His messages can serve as a vital source of inspiration for cultural tolerance and lasting peace. As the two countries commemorate Tagore's birth anniversary, they should pledge to keep at bay the scourge of deadly birds of prey. A truly secular and democratic India and Bangladesh can keep alive the spirit of the great poet.

Tagore was born on May 7, 1861, in Calcutta, and died on August 7, 1941, at 80 years of age. Even a century and a half after his birth, his place in the collective life of India and Bangladesh is only getting stronger. The birth anniversary celebration is testimony to a new realisation and awakening. Invoking

Tagore's timeless message of universal brotherhood, his thoughts and messages should be translated into reality.

Tagore belongs to India, and Bangladesh too. But in the truest sense, he belongs to the world. Even after 150 years of his birth, you feel his presence.

(Haroon Habib, based in Dhaka, is a Bangladesh litterateur and journalist. E-mail: hh1971@gmail.com.)

Remembering Tagore: The Path to Walk On

2011-06-04T12:28:00.004+05:30

Translated by: Bhaswati Ghosh

This, indeed, is the path to walk on.

It has wound its way through the woods to the fields, through the fields to the riverbank, next to the banyan tree; then it courses its way through the villages. As it moves further, beside the lush fields, amid the shadows of the mango orchards, by the bank of the Padma River, I cannot tell in which village it would wind up.

So many people have passed by me on this path, some joining my company, others seen from afar; some with a veil over their heads, others without any; some walking to fetch water, others returning with water.

The day has retreated and darkness descends.

Once this path had seemed personal, intimately mine; now I see I carried a summon to walk on it just once, no more.

Past the lime trees, the pond, the riverbank, the cowsheds, the paddy mounds, the familiar glances, the known words, the acquainted circles, there won't be any returning to say "Hey there!"

This is the path to walk on, not one to return from.

This hazy evening, I turned back once and found the path to be an ode to many a forgotten footstep, all entwined in the notes of Bhairavi.

This path has summarized all the stories of all its travelers in a single dirt trail; the one track that traverses between sunrise and sunset, from one golden gate to another.

III

"Dear walking path, don't keep all the stories you have accumulated through the ages tied quietly into your dust strand. I am pressing my ears against your dust, whisper them to me."

The path remains silent, pointing its index finger toward the dark curtain of night.

"Dear walking path, where have the worries and desires of all the travelers gone?"

The mute path doesn't talk. It just lays down signals between sunrise and sunset.

"Dear walking path, the feet that embraced your bosom like a shower of wildflowers, are they nowhere today?"

Does the path know its end—where forgotten flowers and silent songs reach, where starlight illumines a Diwali of resplendent pain.

(Bhaswati Ghosh writes and translates fiction and non-fiction. Her stories have appeared in Letters to My Mother and My Teacher is My Hero– anthologies of true stories published by Adams Media. Her first work of translation from Bengali into English–In Conversation with Ramkinkar–will be published by Delhi-based Niyogi Books in 2011. This work also won her the Charles Wallace (India) Trust Fellowship for translation in 2009. Bhaswati has contributed to several websites (including Parabaas, Asia Writes, Notun Desh, Chowk) and print magazines (Teenage Buzz, ByLine, Cause and Effect). She blogs at: http://bhaswatighosh.com/ )

Remembering Tagore: Noukadubi (Kashmakash) Movie Review

2011-06-03T16:10:00.006+05:30

-Kartik Ramaswamy

I am thoroughly convinced that Rabindranath Tagore was awarded his Nobel prize for Literature not just because of his quality of writing but because of his immense capability to think about situations that mere mortals like us cannot. He then makes us feel even closer to being just “mere” by weaving a story that is a myriad of complicated emotions way beyond our comprehension. And what probably makes us feel so regular is that we understand what he writes and are able to relate to it in a manner that no one else can probably get us to. Noukadubi is one of Gurudev’s 8 novels and if the movie is remotely close to the novel (I have made a mental note to try and pick this up) then I am certain it will be an excellent read. But then again, who are we but mere mortals to shower praise on the likes of THE Thakur. A pity I have only seen his works translated into movies and not read his works – maybe it would be beyond my understanding.

In the same breath as I am elated to have come across a story like Noukadubi, I was also extremely disappointed to realize that Kashmakash is a version dubbed in Hindi. As of now, I am as convinced about Gurudev’s greatness as I am about Subhash Ghai’s senility. Dear Mr. Ghai – you have tried to entertain us for nearly 5 decades now. It is time that you take a break. You seriously need that. How else would you explain the crappy dubbing of a movie that can be seen at worst case with sub titles? The finer nuances of Bengali can never be emulated by any other language. Now I am a Tam Bram Iyer boy born and bought up in Mumbai city but who genuinely believes that he should have been Bong. Mind you I can only understand the language and have never made an effort to speak it (regrettably) and yet, I felt the job was extremely shoddy. Much as I am a Gulzar fan, I thought the lyrics were just not in place to substitute to Tagore’s melody and sweetness. Please to be watching subtitled Bengali version not dubbed Hindi version.

Raima Sen as always has landed a plum role with that of Hem-Nalini and is as composed and calm as she always is. I would guess this is the 2nd movie that the sisters are acting together and I still believe that Riya Sen has miles to go before she sleeps. Some of the reviews call out her performance as commendable, but I was not too impressed. If speaking under your breath through your teeth as if you would hurt someone if you spoke louder is a great performance then maybe yes. Then again, I haven’t read the book so I guess I would not be in a position to interpret how the vastly over rated Rituparno Ghosh has. I have no clue to what's the big deal about him. He makes movies that are so slow that one could snooze in between 2 dialogues or even 2 frames and probably nothing would have moved anywhere. In this one, even the way everyone walks is like life in slow motion. A bit over the top I say. Jisshu Sengupta as Ramesh Babu and Prosenjit Chatterjee as Nalinaksha Chattopadhyay both provide solid performances. But then again, Noukadubi is not about acting or direction. It is the capability of the Thakur to weave a story around the complex emotions that 5 human beings go through in their day to day lives through marriage, friendship, love, parenthood and so on. 7 on 10 purely because of Rabindranath Tagore’s brilliant story writing capabilities. Thank you so very much Gurudev… and yes…belated 150th birthday!

(Kartik is extremely passionate about movies and sport and he blogs movie reviews at http://www.kartikr.blogspot.com/)

Remembering Tagore: His letters to two women

2011-06-02T14:39:00.005+05:30

-Malashri Lal

(This piece titled ‘Epistolary Moments’ appeared in The Hindu: Literary Review. We would like to thank Prof. Malashri Lal for allowing us to reproduce the piece here for our readers)

Rabindranath's story “Streer Patra” (Wife's Letter) is a perennial favourite among readers for exposing the patriarchal baggage of landowning, upper crust families in Bengal. Tagore was artistically using the subterfuge of the epistolary form to enter the mind, voice and experience of Mrinal, who places her critical comments at the ‘lotus feet' of a blissfully unaware husband. Pouring anger against a system that allows women to be neglected, abused and abandoned, Mrinal decides that she will not return to a home that denies her dignity or intellectual space.

In his own life, Rabindranath Tagore wrote hundreds of letters, in Bengali as well as in English, not quite expecting that they may cohere into aesthetic patterns or reveal personal details after his death. Letters are perhaps the most intimate tools of self expression. Famous people write them without considering that they may turn into public documents. As India celebrates the 150th birth year of Tagore, these letters become as much a part of his literary legacy as any consciously crafted fiction, poetry or prose.

Here I offer glimpses into letters Rabindranath wrote to two women, his Argentinean host Victoria Ocampo and his wife Mrinalini Devi with the intention of highlighting his deep engagement with issues concerning the place of women in society. He was deeply attached to both women though the closeness was vastly separated in time and different in quality. With Victoria, it was almost a romantic interlude; with Mrinalini, it was a steady companionship.

Victoria, the bideshini (foreigner/ stranger), came unexpectedly into his life. In 1924, Rabindranath Tagore fell ill during a voyage in South America and had to unexpectedly break journey in Argentina. He spent two months as the guest of Victoria Ocampo, a wealthy and ardent reader of Tagore, who arranged a villa for his rest and recuperation. It was a most unusual relationship, part romance, part adulation. Tagore was 63 years old at the time, a widower of long duration. Victoria Ocampo was 34. He was a celebrated poet, she an aspiring litterateur. Victoria was married to Bernando de Estrada but had left him, without a formal divorce, for a lover, Julián Martínez. Tagore's accompanying secretary was the suave Englishman, Leonard Elmhirst, himself engaged to be married in a few months. The stage was set for a fascinating play of cultural contrasts and aroused emotions.

Rabindranath and Victoria wrote numerous letters to each other, beginning in 1924 when they are in the same city of Buenos Aires, sometimes in the same estate, and their letters continued sporadically till Tagore passed away in 1941. Their early friendship offers glimpses of mutual attraction, diffidence, friendly banter, and a strong longing for emotional fulfilment. Rabindranath renames Victoria, ‘Vijaya' (Bengali for Victorious), and teaches her the one Bengali word that is important — ‘ Bhalobasha' or ‘love'. In his Indian-English, and in her French and Spanish inflected English, they carry on expressing their need for each other — except that they cannot give this relationship a label or a name. ‘Vijaya' speaks often of the night, and actually writes one letter at 3.00 a.m. and another at 6.30 a.m. Rabindranath confesses to the ‘enormous burden of loneliness' he carries within himself . He is puzzled about gender issues in the East and West and discusses what may happen when ‘modern feminists want to compete with men in an open field of work.' She is occasionally peeved because he doesn't acknowledge the ‘intellectual' woman.

Here are a few samples drawn from Ketaki Kushari Dyson's book, In your Blossoming Flower-Garden:

Victoria: “Can you forget your Indian sky, even if you had no chances of seeing it again”…. “…let me drink your pain. I have nothing to offer. I can only long for the shelter of your ‘poorness' in the partaking of your pain” (20/21 November 1924) .

Victoria: “Gurudev, I have gone through such joy and such sufferings all these days! Joy because I felt near you; suffering because you ignored my nearness”. November/December 1924)

And what were Rabindranath's feelings?

In his first letter to Ocampo he writes with amazing candour, “It is difficult for you to realise what an enormous burden of loneliness I carry about me...My market value has risen high and my personal value has been obscured. This value I seek to realise with an aching desire…This can be had only from a woman's love and I have been hoping for a long time that I deserve it.” (14 November 1924)

Rabindranath Tagore shares his theories of gender psychology with Victoria. “The modern human females are never tired of accusing us of violence and tyranny, they do not know that it is a perverse expression of our inherent contemplative placidness repressed and tortured through the compelling necessity for us to be the useful members of society.” (5 January, 1925).

On leaving Argentina, Tagore yearned to explain himself to Vijaya; to remain in contact with her, yet pursue his own dreams in Shantiniketan. He wove ‘Vijaya' into his poetry sequence titled Purabi, explaining that it was about ‘the East in its Feminine gender.'

Could Tagore share the same kind of companionate relationship with his wife Mrinalini Debi whom he fondly addressed in letters as ‘Bahi Chuti', or ‘Bhai Choto Bou'? Was the wife and mother in an Indian home to be treated differently than the ‘ Western woman' even in the epistolary mode? Theories apart, it could not have been easy to be the wife to Rabindranath. He was married when 22 years old, to 10-year-old Bhabatarini, the daughter of an employee in the Tagore estates (1883). The family went about renaming her Mrinalini, appointing tutors to rid her of her Jessore accent in Bengali, and teaching her the civilities and manners of a premier household. She was also sent to Loreto School to learn English. In this makeover, Mrinalini developed her own unique personality as the mother of five children, a caregiver to all those who came asking for help, including a Punjabi darwan who needed a constant supply of wheat for his chapattis. She was known for her culinary skills, improvising the exotic recipes that Rabindranath brought to her. (It is believed that he helped her cook, at times). She assisted in the elaborate dressing up of women in the Tagore household but neglected her own appearance. One evening when she was persuaded to wear showy earrings, she quickly covered up her ears when Tagore appeared on the scene!

Rabindranath wrote several letters to Mrinalini from 1890 to 1902, the year of her untimely death. But what did he speak about? Mostly about functional household matters: how were the children Beli and Khoka; was the estate doing well; had money been paid to so and so; what happened to 15 seers of ghee that had been purchased? If there is any personal note, it is to ask Mrinalini if she is taking regular walks or is she indulgently reading novels. Occasionally there is a peeve, that she does not answer his letters fast enough. He misses home, he occasionally dreams of his family…but love towards his wife is lumped with the love towards his children and the larger context of the household. There is only one letter in which Tagore yields to tender emotion when he reports a dream, “ I caressed you a little and said I left my body and came to see you…” (29 August 1890). Mrinalini's letters to her husband have probably not been preserved, but we know of her devotion to his ideal of the Shantiniketan school and her extending a maternal care to the young brahmacharis who came to live in the ashram. She gave away all her jewels to meet the financial needs of the school, Rathi Tagore reporting that “ma” was left with only a few gold bangles on her wrist.

Mrinalini passed way in 1902, a devoted wife, mother and partner in Tagore's struggles. But she was never his Muse. In his last letter to her, Rabindranath writes, “It is my hope that we will discipline all our uncontrolled desires and surrender ourselves to god's supreme wish.” He saw duty towards his children, and a commitment to social causes as the greatest contribution that he could make as a householder, scholar and institution builder.

Rabindranath stayed faithful to her memory and never married again, but did he continue to see the Western woman as the emancipatory ideal for women in India to aspire towards? Such thoughts were expressed in essays such as “Woman and Home” and “The Indian Ideal of Marriage”. Yet the fact remains that “ Streer Patra” is his published story about protest, but the husband's letters remained in the realm of the private.

Malashri Lal is professor in the Department of English at the University of Delhi.

Review: In Custody Women in Tihar

2011-06-01T20:13:00.000+05:30

A book similar in theme to Mafia Queens of Mumbai, that I recently read would be In Custody: Women in Tihar. The book is about the women inmates of Tihar Jail, Delhi. Tihar is one of the largest prisons in South East Asia. The prison has been in the news for all the reforms that have taken place under Kiran Bedi’s stint as Director General of Prisons.

The text in the book is accompanied by candid photographs of the inmates. It shows how these women, despite the wretchedness of their existence, manage to effectively spend their time in the prison. Lots of vocational courses such as weaving, stitching, agarbatti making, crèche management and beauty treatment are offered to the inmates so that they are prepared to live an independent, crime free life once they are out of the prison. Stories of friendship, peaceful co-existence despite different backgrounds that these women come from, make the book a very heartwarming read.

The children here are brought up in a crèche inside the prison till they turn five after which they are sent to hostels. These crèches are run by Kiran Bedi’s NGO Navjyoti in the afternoons and in the mornings by other NGOs. Again the pictures that accompany the text will tug everyone’s heartstrings.

Though this does not take away the pain and desolation of a life in confinement that these women lead still the reforms that have been brought in make their lives a lot more worthwhile than what they were living. The book holds a mirror to the lives of these women without offering an opinion on how things have changed for them, yet, it makes for an immensely positive read.

It was a good and insightful read.

The women behind this book:

Text by: Amba Batra Bakshi.

She was born in New Delhi in 1980 and did her schooling from Modern School and The Lawrence School, Sanawar.

She graduated in Journalism from Lady Shriram College, and went on to do her Masters at City University, UK and, in 2007 pursued Advance Non-Fiction writing at Harvard. She has been a news reporter since 2000 and has worked with the Indian Express, The Asian Age and The Guardian.In 2004, she recieved an award from the Press Institute of India for a series of stories on the lack of night sheltersin the winter, for homeless women in capital. She currently lives in New Delhi with her husband and eight-month-old son.

Photographs by: Renuka Puri

She was born in 1969 in a remote village in Himachal Pradesh. After studying in the village school, she completed high school from Haryana and then joined the Arts College, Chandigarh to pursue Graphic Design. She worked in an ad agency before taking to photography, a better medium, she feels, for expressing herself and a more satisfying career. After freelancing for a few magazines and the U.P Tourism department, she joined The Indian Express in 1997. Having captured a number of interesting subjects from fashion shows to political developments, she was choosen by Fuzi films, in 2005, as one of the super six women photographers, and her work was displayed around the country.

Review: Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of Women from the Ganglands

2011-06-01T19:26:00.001+05:30

Mumbai is a city full of stories of gang wars, mafia, land mafia, drug mafia, nefarious activities, smuggling dens and names such as Dawood, Chotta Shakeel, Abu Salem, Arun Gawli are well known. But have you heard of names like Jenabai, Gangubai, Ashraf alias Sapna? Well not many would have since these women were not as spoken about in the mafia world as much as the men. But these are few of the women covered in S.Hussain Zaidi’s (with Jane Borges)book Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of Women from the Gangland.

With a foreword by Vishal Bharadwaj and a promise by him to make a movie on one of these women, the stories in this book are all Bollywood worthy stories. Did you know that Haji Mastan the dreaded gangster of Mumbai depended on Jenabai’s insights to take important decisions or that Gangubai, the matriarch of Kamathipura, is still revered as a goddess by many in the red light area? Gangubai is also said to have convinced and impressed Nehru with her wit and clarity of thought. I personally liked Ashraf’s story. Ashraf whose husband was shot dead in a fake encounter on the request of Dawood sets herself a goal of eliminating the man. She is almost close to doing that but ultimately fails. The story I found most unconvincing is that of Abu Salem’s actress girfriend Monica Bedi. Arun Gawli’s wife comes across as a huge support system for the dreaded gangster turned politician, the ambitious Neeta Naik and many more such women.

The book makes for an insightful read. It shows how powerful some women have been in the world hugely dominated by men. While some have been a support to their men by constantly guiding them and helping them some managed to make it on their own.

Interesting read. If the world of Mumbai Mafia intrigues you this book should be in your ‘to read’ list.

About the Authors:

S.Hussain Zaidi is considered one of the leading crime journalists in the country. He is the author of the bestselling Black Friday: The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts and is currently resident editor of the Asian Age, Mumbai.

Jane Borges is a journalist with the Asian Age, Mumbai.

Review: A Discovery of Witches

2011-06-01T19:13:00.000+05:30

Reviewed by : Shivani Singh

Set in a world where witches, vampires and daemons exist along with humans, A Discovery Of Witches revolves around Diana Bishop, who is the last witch in a legacy consisting of powerful ancestors. But Diana is different from the rest, much to the dismay of the others of her species. Ever since the horrific death of her parents when she was seven, Diana refused to use magic since she held it to blame for her being orphaned, despite the fact that her lineage had ensured that she had powers and abilities that other witches could only dream of. As a historian at Oxford, she pours herself into research surrounding alchemy for a conference. This not only causes a drastic change in her world, but stirs the interest of other creatures too.

In the Bodleian Library, Diana calls in a manuscript named Ashmole 728. As she examines and reads it, she can feel magic exuding from the book. But she resists using magic to decipher what was hidden in the manuscript. From then on, Diana finds herself surrounded by various creatures both hostile and helpful. One of these is Matthew Clairmont, a 1500 year old vampire who develops an interest in her. He explains to her the story of the manuscript, which went missing in 1859. Since then, there had been a search for it because of its coveted contents. Witches, vampires and daemons all wanted the manuscript in their possession, as it contained secrets of tremendous significance about them. As a result, all kinds of creatures set out to seek the manuscript from her.

In spite of Diana's blood appealing strongly to Matthew, he takes up the role of her protector amidst the dangers her life is suddenly fraught with. As they spend more time together, Diana falls for him without realizing the consequences of a relationship with a creature from another species. Its's not just external forces that force their bond on tethers, though. As Diana gets to know Matthew better, she unravels secrets kept from her by him.

But with time, Diana realizes that Matthew is not the only one who has been keeping secrets. She gets to know more about her parents that leaves her heart-broken. Eventually, Diana is caught in a battle between who she is and who she has been made to believe she is. Will she use the magic that has been building up in her for so long to the extent that it's not even within her control? And will Matthew succeed in protecting her from the multiple threats on her life? Can she manage to be true to her namesake, Diana who was the Goddess of the Hunt and track down the manuscript before it falls into wrong hands?

A Discovery of Witches is a highly compelling read, even though its vast length makes it an endurance test. Deborah Harkness has combined history, science and her splendid imagination to spin a unique tale. It is high on intellect and historical references considering the protagonist's profession, thus making it a challenging read at times. But it keeps your mind reeling - and is definitely a challenge worth taking.

(Shivani Singh, who has just appeared for her 10th grade exams, is an avid reader and a writer in the making.)

Remembering Tagore: Mind Without Fear

2011-06-01T11:36:00.002+05:30

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action---
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

Remembering Tagore: Get discounts on all Tagore titles

2011-05-27T20:06:00.002+05:30

Before we kick off our ‘Remembering Tagore’ month on the blog, we thought why not get our readers to warm up to the idea?

The Book Lovers is happy to announce that we have tied up with Dial-a-book for this month to make your book buying a lot easier, your favourite books are now just a phone call away! What’s more your Tagore books will be delivered right at your doorstep and at 20% discount…This offer is for all the readers and followers of our blog!

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