Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: A Faceless Evening by Gangadhar Gadgil

Of the human condition… Fourteen evocative short stories by the Marathi master. Gangadhar Gadgil carved a niche for himself in Marathi literature decades ago, and is a known name to those who read translations but alas, not to scores of other readers. Now, Ratna Books and translator Keerti Ramachandra have rectified that omission with this…

Book review: Hush A Bye Baby by Deepanjana Pal

When the cradle falls Deepanjana Pal`s Hush A Bye Baby (Juggernaut Publishers) is a police procedural where the action shifts focus continually amongst a small group of participants, rather like an Agatha Christie mystery. Mumbai socialite and gynaecologist Dr Nandita Rai (we get a cracker of an intro to her) stands accused of female…

Book excerpts: The Lake District, An Anthology compiled by Norman Nicholson

The Lake District An anthology compiled by Norman Nicholson. Penguin Books. 1977. This delightful composition of prose, poetry and essays, some of them in the Cumbrian dialect, contains such nuggets as the ones reproduced below. Gentleman in a hurry It was customary, I am told, to dash by them (i.e. the Lakes) with an…

Travel: Looking for that clear day

On a clear day….. It is the nature of the footloose traveller to muse, to ponder, to introspect. As one of the tribe, I find myself thinking deeply about one set of four one-syllable words that hold in them much hope, despair and patience. On a clear day. This was the leitmotif of my travelling…

Book review: The Story of a Long Distance Marriage by Siddesh Inamdar

A marriage of inconvenience Rohan and Ira are an “unjinxable couple” (Rohan’s words, not mine) and that, of course, tempts fate. Ira goes off to NYC to study, Rohan stays behind at his newspaper desk job, and a series of jinxes proceeds to hit them. A gulf begins to yawn between them, their…

Book review: Jasoda by Kiran Nagarkar

Jasoda by Kiran Nagarkar. HarperCollins. We meet Jasoda the eponymous hero/heroine/protagonist of Kiran Nagarkar`s novel as she takes a quick break from working the family`s barren field to deliver a child. The moment she sees it’s a girl, she quickly puts it between her thighs and squeezes till the little girl is still. Because Jasoda…

Book review: The Brahmin by Ravi Shankar Etteth

The killing game A fast-paced thoroughly entertaining read that mixes up some history, some espionage and some gory stuff. Ravi Shankar Etteth is back with his fifth book and this one The Brahmin (Westland Books) is a spy thriller. Not your routine spy thriller, though; this story is set in the times of Ashoka ruler…

Feature: Too bad, Aziz Ansari

Too Bad, Aziz Ansari A quick recap of the whole distasteful affair first. A few weeks ago, Babe, a feminist website targeted mainly at youngsters, ran a graphic account of an anonymous woman’s sexual encounter with Ansari. Grace, the pseudonym used in the article, described the encounter as sexual assault. The two had gone…

Travel: Chamba, Himachal Pradesh

Riverine rhapsody Chamba sits pretty besides a rushing Ravi and is quite one of Himachal`s prettiest spots. It is the river that captures one`s attention, arrests one`s eye, holds one totally in thrall. A swathe of icy blue touched with silver, it rushes with an audible roar past Chamba on its way to…

Book excerpt from Two by Gulzar

And somewhere in Gulzar`s re-visitation of the trauma of Partition, a novella titled Two, is this throwaway line: Before Pakistan took shape on the map, it started taking shape in the minds of the people. This was true of both Hindus and Muslims. The untouchables had been similarly alienated centuries ago. In one masterstroke the…