Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Masala Lab by Krish Ashok

My Wednesday review needs a disclaimer: at times, it might read like I`m plugging the book wholeheartedly and sans subtlety. Well, I don’t know the author from Adam and have no desire to swell his coffers because of an undue fondness for said individual. However, this book is one you need to buy, make untidy…

Book review: Jungle Nama by Amitav Ghosh

The legend of Bon Bibi in rhyme Amitav Ghosh`s slim new book takes the popular folk tale of Bon Bibi, the guardian spirit of the Sundarban forests, sets it in the dwipodipoyar verse form, and gives readers an hour or two of much reading pleasure. The eroding ecosystem of the Sunderban has long been a…

Books: Tribute to PG Wodehouse

THREE CHARACTERS AT BLANDINGS CASTLE I ABSOLUTELY LOVE: • Lord Emsworth. The barmy old ninth Earl is a veritable delight. • Angus McAllister. The castle`s Head Gardner, with his radical views on hollyhocks and yews, has some side-splitting face-offs with Lord Emsworth. • Rupert Baxter. Can one love Baxter? Well, you definitely love that he…

Book review: One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake

ONE MORE CROISSANT FOR THE ROAD by Felicity Cloake. HarperCollinsUK. 2019 release. As if the title wasn’t one big pull in itself, this witty travelogue features one famous and popular French recipe at the close of every chapter. The omelette soufflé, ratatouille, clafoutis, quiche Lorraine, madeleines, they are all in here. Which led to my…

Book review: Jakarta Tails by Pallavi Aiyar

Feline fables Soyabean and Tofu, the feline fascinators we last met in Beijing, have relocated to Jakarta now It`s no use me telling you about Soyabean and Tofu`s adventures in Jakarta without filling you a bit on their origin story. The two felines, Soyabean who rejoices in a deep orange colour and Tofu who is…

Book review: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

My Wednesday Review this week is of an old favourite which has attained cult status amongst certain sections of the reading populace. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. First the backstory. John Kennedy Toole wrote this uproariously funny story in the early Sixties, met with rejection after rejection from publishers everywhere, and eventually committed suicide…

Guest column: Nostalgia, with a Side of Wistfulness

So, I`m no Luddite but neither am I a Stevie Jobs, with a cutting edge understanding of tech change. However, all those Whatsapp forwarded- many-times clips singing a nostalgic tune about Flit spray cans, bicycle bells and Dalda tins bring forth the merest of smiles, nothing more, in me. Because nostalgia notwithstanding, some things wrought…

Book review: The Anger of Saintly Men by Anubha Yadav

THE ANGER OF SAINTLY MEN by Anubha Yadav, Bee Books. These boys` lives. Anubha Yadav`s first work of fiction is a raw coming- of- age tale of three brothers, Saurabh (Sonu), Anurag (Anu) and Vikram (Vicky) Singh. It contains all the pleasures and the not inconsiderable pain of adolescence, leavened with a vein of…

Book review: Cages by Aabid Surti

The story is a straight one. A heroine who is unafraid to express her sexual desires; the patriarchal straitjacket of male control; the strength of sisterhood. These then are the central themes in Aabid Surti’s book which was published almost fifty years ago, and has been re-released now…which makes Surti a ‘woke’ author long before…

Feature: Still in Seoul

Happily drowning in the hallyu Where I fess up about coming late in the day to Kdramas but becoming an addicted consumer soon enough. Maybe I need to check myself into a de-addiction clinic, like now. A Kdrama de-addiction clinic. The hallyu wave crept up on me so slowly, so stealthily, I didn’t realise I’d…