Book Review: Soft Animal by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan

Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan

Priyadarshini reviews Soft Animal by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan (Published by Penguin India, 2023) How does a privileged urban Indian millennial woman navigate work, marriage, and relationships with families and friends? What happens when these must be navigated under the pressure cooker conditions of the 2020 COVID lockdown? Soft Animal by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan is my […]

Moneywise by Deepak Shenoy: Lessons on Investing

review of investment book by deepak shenoy

Priyadarshini reviews Moneywise: Timeless Lessons on Building Wealth by Deepak Shenoy (Published by Juggernaut Publications, 2023) Remember when in class 11, we all had to choose streams based on our intelligence, aptitude, and inclination? Science, Commerce, and the Humanities? I chose Science because I knew I wasn’t smart enough for Commerce. Even today, I believe […]

Dinesh Pathak’s Mrs. Simon is Waiting and Other Stories

Dinesh Pathak

Priyadarshini Gauri reviews Dinesh Pathak’s Mrs. Simon is Waiting and Other Stories, translated from Hindi by Sneha Pathak (Published by Antika Prakashan, 2023) If you, like me, grew up as a child of the 90s, limited by both parental restrictions and a lack of television options, you might recall the modest yet memorable era of […]

Conversations, Perspective, and a Fatalistic Outlook

Conversations

Priyadarshini Gauri reviews Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man by Kuzhali Manickavel (Published by Blaft Publications, 2022) A fatalistic outlook is the belief that things are out of our control, and our destinies are externally determined. It was perhaps this book’s destiny, that Kuzhali Manickavel read a Tamil Nadu State Board textbook in the […]

The Beginning of the Gameworld Trilogy: Fantasy or Fable?

review of the first book in the gameworld series, a science fiction trilogy by samit basu

Priyadarshini Gauri reviews The Simoquin Prophecies (Part I of Gameworld Trilogy) by Samit Basu On my second date with the guy who would be my husband, we went to the Landmark bookstore (May its soul rest in peace!) in the city that used to be called Gurgaon. The year was 2007. We were both still […]

Nanda Devi: The challenge, the journey and the despair

nanda devi book review

Priyadarshi Gauri reviews Nanda Devi by Sandeep Madadi which reads more like a long-form essay than a thorough textbook exploration of the topic but is an easy read. Move beyond casual statements like, “We Indians will worship anything, even a stone,” and you will find stories that lie at the intersection of folklore, geography, mythology, […]

Experience Shakti Chattopadhyay’s poetry in translation

feature image for shakti chattopadhyay's poetry

Priyadarshini reviews Very Close to Pleasure, There is a Sick Cat (Originally written in Bengali by Shakti Chattopadhyay and translated into English by Arunava Sinha) Shakti Chattopadhyay once declared, “Every poet’s verse is one long poem – it’s just that he writes it in fragments.” In Very Close to Pleasure, There is a Sick Cat, […]

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Independence is a song of quiet rebellion

review of independence - by chitra banerjee divakurni

Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni captures the message of sisterhood interspersed with bravery and rebellion focusing on strong women characters. “Jodi tor dak shune keu na aashe, Tobe ekla cholo re”  Until very recently, I was under a misapprehension about one of the most popular Bengali songs. I ignorantly believed that Tagore’s “ekla cholo re” […]

Masala Memsahib: A Culinary Delight on Paper

masala memsahib

Masala Memsahib is a food memoir, travelogue, and recipe book in equal parts. When Karen Anand arrived at the Oberoi Grand in Kolkata after a long day of travel, she requested the chef for room service – something Bengali with fresh fish. The chef whipped up Maachhher Jhol – a homestyle fish curry with piping […]

Set after the Bangladesh Liberation War, this powerful coming-of-age story shines

feature image for Shurjos Clan, set after the Bangladesh Liberation War

Shurjo’s Clan by Iffat Nawaz is a beautifully written narrative of how the Bangladesh Liberation War, and war in general, impacts the minds of a nation’s young, and how a young country navigates through the effects. There was a patriotic song that was played every night before the 10 p.m. news on Bangladesh Television in […]