Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

The Harry Potter-Boy Wizard Ged connection

A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA by Ursula K. le Guin. Puffin Books. A young boy with newly discovered wizarding powers. A prophecy about this boy becoming the greatest of wizards. The boy going to study at a school for wizards. The boy connected in some strange way to a Shadow that chases him. Their first confrontation…

Book review: Kim Jiyoun, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

KIM JIYOUNG, BORN 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo, ScribnerUK Books. 2018 release. We meet Jiyoung just as she turns 33 and starts to have the most startling behavioural aberrations, startling her caring husband and antoganising her in-laws. Apparently, Jiyoung is a Korean version of Jane Doe and this Jane Doe has been stifled under all the…

Guest column: Sin City Blues, Bangalore through Kerala`s eyes

Sin City Blues Bangalore is home for me, and for upwards of 10 lakh Malayalis. Now, I don`t know about the other Malayalis in the city but it took me a while to realise just what Bangalore stood for in my home state of Kerala. The multiple mentions the city receives in multiple Malayalam films …

Book review: 84, Charing Cross by Helene Hanff

84, Charing Cross by Helene Hanff. Virago Modern Classics Books. This reproduction of a most delightful correspondence between American writer Helene Hanff who has a pronounced predilection for ye olde English books, and the seemingly stiff and starchy `FPD` Frank P Deol, over at the antiquarian bookshop Marks and Co at 84, Charing Cross, London,…

Book review: Onam in a Nightie by Anjana Menon

A Malayali in lockdown Anjana Menon`s lockdown anecdotes make for a diverting read for Keralites and non-Keralites alike. The author, a media professional, just happens to be in the right place at the right time: Thrissur during a Covid lockdown. To begin with, she isn’t exactly thrilled about lockdown rules, the isolation, the attendant boredom….

Book review: Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh by Shrayana Bhattacharya

Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh by Shrayana Bhattacharya. HarperCollins Books. Whoever would have thought SRK would make an excellent — and effective — research vehicle to track the freedoms of women in middle class India? Shrayana Bhattacharya has pulled that experiment off wonderfully in this book. Putting the lives of six women with their stifling emotional…

Opinion: Is Age Just a Number? Well, Yes and No.

Is age just a number? Well, yes and no There`s age-shaming of women on Big Boss, there`s age-shaming in the workplace, there`s age- shaming on the runway, there`s age- shaming on the streets. And given that a report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation titled `Elderly in India 2021` has put the ageing…

Book review: Yesterday`s Train to Nowhere by Krishna Rau

Yesterday`s Train to Nowhere by Krishna Rau, Inkfeathers Books. The memoirs of this army doctor, a compilation of his adventures — for adventures they all are — while posted in one-dog towns of the northeast, makes for a most enjoyable read. Infused with just the right amount of droll wit and sarcasm, the locales as…

Book review: The Blue Book by Amitava Kumar

Looking within, looking without Amitava Kumar`s writings are usually ruminative, thought-provoking. This one, The Blue Book, is both, as also something of an indulgence. It is a non-linear collection of his thoughts, interspersed with some striking colour sketches drawn by the author. The result is an introspective look at the writer`s convictions, motivations, inspirations. Journaling…

Book review: The Braided River by Samrat Choudhury

THE BRAIDED RIVER by Samrat Choudhury. HarperCollins Books, 2021. The Brahmaputra, says Samrat Choudhury, is not a canal. It does not flow between two neat banks. Its untidy braids, channels of history and commerce, witness to the ebb and flow of empires, are verily the architects of the surrounding landscape of nature and of humans….