Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Sita, Warrior of Mithila by Amish

The sacred feminine Amish`s Sita is canny, aware, intelligent and interesting, too. I have to say this, right at the start: Amish has found his mojo again. After a terrific trilogy on Shiva (Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, The Oath of the Vayuputras), his Ram katha, Scion of Ikshvaku had…

Photo Feature: Himachal Heights

All photos by Sheila Kumar. All images are subject to copyright. Blue skies, crowded hill towns….. A glimpse of Solan between trees. The Shimla Hills, shrouded in gauzy blues. The original cottage in Jutogh cantonment near Shimla where Bishop Cotton started his school. St…

Feature: Tribute to Delilah

My, my, my Delilah… It was an Ambassador car, a stodgy vehicle, caramel in colour. It was of 1963 make and quite the pride and delight of my armyman father. I can`t quite remember when and why the Amby went in for a makeover. But makeover it was, because when she returned from…

Book review: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. Penguin Books. This take, rather than a full-fledged review, is in three parts. I Just started on the book a few days ago and find my lips quirking into small smiles every few paragraphs. Smiles of recognition of people, places, situations. Smiles of amusement at the weirdly…

Book review: The Small-town Sea by Anees Salim

This boy’s life An account of a young life lived on a cliff overlooking an ever-changeable sea. Anees Salim remarked in an interview that the success of each book was making it harder for him to write the next book. Well, it is also getting harder for the reviewer assigned to critique his…

Humour: My life as a romance writer

My Long and Winding Road to Writing a Mills & Boon-Style Romance The romance bug bit me when I was in class eight and it bit hard. I became addicted to Mills and Boons. Back then only M&Bs qualified as true-blue romances. Oh, there was Barbara Cartland, but no self-respecting girl would admit to…

Feature: Andaleeb Wajid and Kite Strings

There is nothing overly sentimental about this girl’s life. This is the young writer Andaleeb Wajid’s first novel and after you read it, your predominant feeling is that Kite Strings deserves a better editor. Mistakes mark the book, ranging from small typos to glaring grammatical errors but here’s the thing: they…

Book review: Loyal Stalkers by Chhimi Tenduf-La

Observing the undertow These stories zoom in on what lurks just beneath; sometimes it`s sweet, sometimes it`s seedy. Chhimi Tenduf-La follows his well-received books, The Amazing Racist and Panther, with this collection of short stories that strap you into the carousel seat, then takes you on a rapid-paced ride through the suburbs of…

Book review: Granta 138/Journeys

Granta`s offering for the yet-to-arrive winter of 2017, Journeys, juxtaposes a fine set of travel writings with brief succint takes on whether travel writing is dead, by the likes of Ian Jack, Colin Thubron, Pico Iyer, Samanth Subramanian, Geoff Dyer, Mohsin Hamid and co. The writings run the gamut of stories, essays, observations, photographs, the…

Book review: White Magic by Arjun Nath

This is more a brief take than review. White Magic by Arjun Nath. A HarperCollins publication. This book works on many levels. It`s an account of a druggie in rehab, his third or fourth stint. It`s the story of a boy trying to subdue the ever-present rage boiling inside him, a boy who grows up…