Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Travel: Sirince, Turkey

SIRINCE On top of the world Sheila Kumar happens upon Sirince atop a modest-sized mountain in Turkey, and comes away charmed This place was not on my list. I mean the list I drew up before embarking on a trip to Turkey. There was glorious Istanbul, a boat ride on the mesmeric Bosporus, a day…

Feature: The new reader, the new writer

Indian English literature It’s all about the money, stupid. Or is it? Sheila Kumar| Change being a constant, we have been — ad nauseam — told for some time now that this is the post-CB age, the age of the new writer and the new reader. Commercial fiction has won the day, we are told….

Book review: The Laughing Sutra by Mark Salzman

In his second book, a work of fiction this time, Mark Salzman does not quite pull off the Iron and Silk magic once again but no matter, The Laughing Sutra (1991) is an eminently enjoyable read, a smart blend of fantasy, adventure and Chinese history. It’s a neat tweak of the old Middle Kingdom fable…

Book review: Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman

Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman: This book sure has a lot of qi! This week I went back to a much-loved book, the memoir of a young English teacher`s two-year stint in Changsha, in the Hunan province of China. It was written in the late 80s and went on to become a…

Book review: To the Ends of the Earth by Ranulph Fiennes

Ranulph Fiennes and his amazingly intrepid team became, in 1982, the first to navigate the globe in circumpolar fashion, passing through both ends of the polar axis over land. The book is a fascinating account of this labour of seven years. Funnily enough, the best passage I found was not written by Fiennes himself. It…

Book review: Empire of the Moghul : Traitors in the Shadows by Alex Rutherford

Aurangzeb: zealot or strategist? This is the sixth in the Empire of the Moghul series by Alex Rutherford (the pen name of Diana and Michael Preston) , and for a reviewer newly come to the series, that could have been a disadvantage. However, it is not, simply because Traitors in the Shadows stands alone…

Book review: All That Could Have Been by Mahesh Bhatt with Suhrita Sengupta

The fact that this story is the base for the soon to be released film Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani casts its own shadow, as does the fact that this is supposed to be the love story of Mahesh Bhatt`s parents. Come to think of it, the fact that one part of the duo which has authored…

Book review: Chinese Whiskers by Pallavi Aiyar

This is more a brief take than review. Chinese Whiskers (Harper Collins) is not a new book. Dated 2010, it follows Smoke and Mirrors, author Pallavi Aiyar`s excellent dispatches from China. Chinese Whiskers is a charming tale of two Beijing cats, the gorgeous Soyabean and his slightly scruffy companion Tofu, who go to live with…

Books: The Hindu`s Lit for Life Fest, 2014: Sidelights

The Hindu’s three-day Lit for Life Fest, 11-13 January 2014. I will confess: I went for Colin Thubron. The takeaways from Day One of the Lit for Life fest for me was Pablo Bartholomew’s deeply disturbing Bhopal Disaster slideshow offset by his ponderous, dispassionate commentary. Barkha Dutt talked of women in India getting pawed every day and…

Book excerpt: Smoke and Mirrors, an Experience of China by Pallavi Aiyar

The author is walking around the Potala with an interpreter from the Chinese ministry. A Danish journalist starts to ask the latter questions about Tibet. The woman is upset. The author tells her that in India, people often disagree with each other on a topic and that’s okay.“But in China, it’s different,“ says the…