Ruskin Bond’s Rusty Goes To London
Any Indian bibliophile, who has spent his or her childhood and youth in the company of, say, Oliver Twist being led by the artful Dodger to Fagin’s lair or been held in the thrall of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson on their trail to discover the truth hidden in the fog of yet another mystery, […]
Prisoner of Yakutsk by Shreyas Bhave
Everybody loves a good conspiracy theory; removed as they are from our mundane lives. They are our cheap thrills and guilty pleasures. Prisoner of Yakutsk by Shreyas Bhave is another such book that belongs to the genre of thriller/conspiracy theory texts. The subtitle of the book, “The Subhash Chandra Bose Mystery: Final Chapter” tells us […]
Pops: A children’s book by Balaji Venkataramanan
Balaji Venkataramanan’s Pops has the most unassuming cover which disguises the humorous portrayal of a very real and very common story today; divorce. When I first started reading the book, I found its narration to be tedious, having become habituated to reading books written for adults. But as I delved into it further, I was […]
Stories That Shaped a New Nation
Transcending linguistic borders, advocating social reforms and providing entertainment: here is what New India’s bookshelf looked like Among the many memories of childhood, the most cherished are perhaps the stories we hear and read; in picture books, at bedtime with your grandparents, under the blanket with a flashlight, hidden between school textbooks. Depending on […]
Going Places: Exploring India in Books
We love books (duh!). They take us to new places, or at least give us fresh eyes to view the places we have been to. For, let us us face it, though we all might love the idea of travel, travelling as much as we want to is not always possible because life, family, work. […]
Filmi Keeda: Chapter One
Purple Pencil Project, in collaboration with Red Sparrow kickstarted their events series, Filmi Keeda, that aims to bring the discussion around book and films, our two finest forms of storytelling, on one table. The first Chapter, held mid-March, saw a screening of Lootera, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, followed by a discussion on its adaptation from […]
The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk (Tr. to Tamil by G. Kuppuswamy)
We live on a planet of over 7 billion people, spread across geographies. We are all told this; somewhere out there, there are seven people who look exactly like you. This is a popular notion. In folklore, a doppelganger is considered as a paranormal entity, or a harbinger of misfortunes. Meeting one is considered an omen. […]
Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous by Manu Joseph
When I picked up Manu Joseph’s Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous, I had no idea that I was about to become an Alice hurtling down the rabbit hole. A scathing take on not just the ruling government but also the hypocrisy of the liberal left, Joseph spares no one in his thriller novel. Laced with […]
Shala by Milind Bokil
“Those were the best days of my life . . .” Whenever Bryan Adams strums his guitar to this song, chances are we think of those innocent times of our lives – our school days. And in particular, it is high school (roughly Grades 9 to 12) that holds a special place in our hearts, […]
Jasmine Days by Benyamin
I once had a conversation with my friend, of a different and politically opposing faith. When push came to shove, if the two of us were in a riot, what would we do? Would we find it easy to stand up for our values or cower in the face of violence, and join the respective […]
