Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Eligible: A Biased Review Eligible is American author Curtis Sittenfeld’s re-telling of that much loved classic Pride and Prejudice. To take on a work, any work of Jane Austen (even when commissioned to do so, as part of the Austen Project) is one brave thing to do, and inevitably, for every two people who liked Eligible, four…

Book review: The Ivory Throne by Manu S Pillai

Pride and prejudice Once upon a time in god`s own country, there lived two cousins. Plucked from their peaceful childhood home in their preteens, they were adopted by a royal house and soon enough became the senior and the junior maharanis. Eventually, they married and the race to produce the next ruler of the house…

Feature: Where has nuance gone?

Where has nuance gone? t`s a bad time to be a whiter shade of pale. Or lavender, mauve, mint, teal, chartreuse…. Actually, it`s a bad time to be subtle. To fall back on irony and expect the listener/viewer/observer to get just what you mean. This was brought home sharply vis-à-vis a recent post I shared on…

Book review: Mythbreaker, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech by Seema Singh

This well-written biography with its catchy title, gives readers a cogent answer to the question, who is Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, as well as its corollary, what is Biocon all about. Actually, it leans more towards tracking of the business rather than delving too deeply into the personality traits of its founder but then, the…

Book review: Chillies and Porridge, Writing Food, edited by Mita Kapur

Undercooked Fare Chillies and Porridge (Edited by Mita Kapur) has an interesting if rather crowded jacket picture. A line-up of accomplished writers. A winner of a topic for an anthology: food. Chillies and Porridge should have made for truly delicious reading. And some of it does, but only some. Janice Pariat`s reflective eulogy to a breakfast…

Travel: The places and pottery connect

As I pottered about A milk jug, a saucer, ordinary pieces of earthenware but each carrying the memory of a place visited, a friendship made….. Each piece of pottery is an interesting chip in the mosaic of my travel history. I’ve been at it for so many peripatetic years now it no longer…

Humour: Is my obsession with martial arts movies normal?

My Unladylike Obsession With Martial Arts Films I don`t know if I can call myself a man`s woman, but I can safely say I’m ladylike, for the most part. I mean, I’m quite typically feminine in my appearance; I love fripperies and fuchsia lipstick; I can giggle with the best of…

Book review: Upon An Old Wall, Dreaming by Ruskin Bond

A way of life long gone A set of hill stories from the prolific Bond that rues the passing of a gentler age. I will confess to it: late in life, I have become a full-fledged Bond girl. Oh, not the dashing 007, the other one, Ruskin. Therefore, reviewing this book was an activity filled…

Travel: The Lantau Buddha

When big really is beautiful Lantau Island A trip to gaze at the Lantau Buddha You glimpse him from a fair distance away. It`s a hazy day and on high in the cable car coming up from the Ngong Ping 360 cable car station, the first sighting of the seated figure, majestic in its very…

Book review: Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor

A wave of emotions An interesting debut from a promising new writer. Kanishk Tharoor`s intriguingly titled book is a slim volume consisting of a dozen short stories. These stories span continents, oceans, they go underwater at times, they swim among the stars at other times, and once, even descend into the hellish…