Comfortably Numb

Book review: The Greatest Enemy of Rain by Manu Bhattathiri

Flaunting their foibles Over the course of the three books he has written, this one being the fourth, Manu Bhattathiri has become the Small Town Adept. He creates interesting characters who invariably live in picturesque hamlets in Kerala, at the edge of which a river runs, meanders or flows sluggishly. Not all these characters are…

Guest column: In praise of gratitude

Gratitude comes with side benefits now Gratitude, thankfulness, an awareness of received grace. From time immemorial, this sentiment`s virtues have been extolled far and wide. On the ground though, we all know it is but a fleeting emotion, which sweeps over us at the time of the received grace but doesn’t stay too long afterwards….

Feature: NIFT Bangalore pays a wonderful tribute to India`s amazing textile heritage

When a piece of cloth is gateway to a magical world The Vignette: Viswakarma Textiles: Art & Artistry exhibition that was recently on at Bangalore`s National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), was a powerful emphasis of an immutable fact: that India`s textile heritage is one that benefits from repeated outings to fix itself in the…

Opinion: No catchers in the rye anymore

No catchers in the rye anymore Just the other day, a line in a news report caught my eye. The article was an update on the death, five years ago, of a courageous activist who had been dear to us here in Bangalore. The case was proceeding at a pace that would put most common…

Books: Learning to Talk by Hilary Mantel

LEARNING TO TALK, Henry Holt Books, is the just released US edition of a set of short stories Hilary Mantel wrote in 2003. There are just seven short stories in this slim volume but let me tell you something: it takes a long time to traverse the worlds in those stories, to digest the emotions…

Book review: Where My Feet Fall by Duncan Minshull

Paeans to the pleasures of walking This collection of walking stories quite lives up to the book`s irresistible title. All twenty contributors, including some names familiar to readers in the sub-continent like Pico Iyer, Kamila Shamsie and Keshava Guha, write crisp pieces on where their feet fall by routine/with deliberation/some getting over a reluctance to…

Book review: The Inner Light by Sumaa Tekur

THE INNER LIGHT by Sumaa Tekur. Hay House Books. This book is a neat hand-holder for those who wish to get in touch with their latent spirituality, those who wish to find their place of calm, those who are curious about the topic and wish to know more. As also for those who are seekers…

Book review: Valli by Sheela Tomy

The luckless land Sometimes, things come together in the most beautiful manner. A writer writes a powerful story in a regional language, part allegory, part homily, wholly eco-fiction. Then along comes a translator who reads the book in the original language and reaches out to the author, offering to translate it into English. And thus,…

Book review: Breaking Free by Vaasanthi

The secrets of their lives In our choices lie our fate. And so it is with Kasturi and Lakshmi, the two women protagonists in this book. Both women are born into a devadasi clan. Kasturi concentrates on her talent as a dancer and makes peace with being a devadasi. Lakshmi rebels against it, strives to…

Book review: Chrysalis by Neetha Raman

CHRYSALIS by Neetha Raman (Ukiyoto Press) is the sweet coming- of- age story of an LA-based trust fund heiress, a TamBrahm girl who is compelled by circumstances to return to Chennai for a year, take over her grandfather`s media empire, come to terms with the sense of loss she still feels about her parents` death,…