Manu S Pillai - Comfortably Numb

Book review: False Allies by Manu S. Pillai

FALSE ALLIES India`s Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma by Manu Pillai (Juggernaut Books). The book is something of an eye- opener for those whose opinion of Indian princes of the past was less than favourable, who placed them all in one velvet-lined drawer of history, labelling them degenerates/despots/dissolute beings. So yes, some of…

Book review: The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin by Manu S Pillai

History in sixty takes An absorbing collation of historical tales from across India Manu S Pillai, our desi Dalrymple, gives us another round of Indian history, this time in a collection of essays touching upon one interesting character after another, some well-known, some not, one or two quite obscure. The book is a compilation of…

Book review: Rebel Sultans by Manu S Pillai

Rebel Sultans by Manu S Pillai. Juggernaut Books. Manu Pillai, where were you when I was swotting for my History finals in high school, confusing the Bahmani rulers with the Qutb Shahi kings, the Bijapur rulers with the Gulbarga ones?! If I`d had your Rebel Sultans to hand, I`d have aced my paper! Plaintive question…

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…