The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
Bombay Penned And Painted On An Epic Canvas Twenty years ago, I discovered, in my knee-high boyhood, that Bombay, as we had always known it by name, was going to be called Mumbai. It was a decision that I did not mind at the time; perhaps innocence and naïveté of that age do not allow for […]
Swami and Friends by RK Narayan
One of my most cherished memories of childhood is when we used to have our school exams. Everybody, I think, can relate to the nervously hurried and harried revisions that preceded them and the jumbled-up feeling of confusion and anxiety that we all felt as those fateful days came close. And I can also say […]
Indian historical fiction: Must-read novels
“Fiction is the lie which tells the truth” History has always held an inexplicable sway over the reader. The far off time and setting, the characters, the lifestyle, the language, the event in itself or a combination of these factors, and above everything, the persistent sense of mystery, it exerts a pull in so many […]
Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali
Bringing back a slice of the past Twilight in Delhi is the story of Delhi, of a particular moment in the long history of this city that has risen and fallen, only to rise again. This is a novel of the city as we have never known it, an ode to its ways and style […]
Adapted: Ruskin Bond’s Susanna’s Seven Husbands
To Vishal Bhardwaj’s 7 Khoon Maaf The Oxford Dictionary defines a femme fatale as a ‘very beautiful woman that men find sexually attractive but who brings them trouble or unhappiness’. Unfortunately, in 7 Khoon Maaf, Vishal Bhardwaj is not quite able to grasp that meaning as clearly as he should ideally. Instead of a femme […]
Mosquito and Other Stories by Premendra Mitra
A must-read classic of Bengali Literature The Context The one joy of curating a website that focuses on Indian literature is also the amazing literary gems, classics and otherwise, that one encounter in the process. To do this, I make sure to visit local bookstores wherever I am travelling, go to libraries and read syllabi […]
Booked: Literary Events for March 2019
Looking for book-ish events in March? We looked around, and there is a little of everything happening, from conferences, plays based on literary characters, Event Name: Rumi Aur Manto What’s it about: A satirical play where Rumi and Manto bump into each other at a lit fest in today’s times. Location: Atta Galatta, Bengaluru Dates: […]
Filmi Keeda: The new book and film club in Mumbai
It gives me extreme (and very nerdy) pleasure to announce a collaboration with The Red Sparrow, a content destination for Indian films. Starting March, Purple Pencil Project and The Red Sparrow will be conducting a series of events and meetups under ‘Fimi Keeda’, a monthly or bi-monthly gathering of book and film lovers. While what […]
The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor
Goodish Farce That Could Have Been Great Satire Mr Shashi Tharoor, where are you? Of course, I am aware that you still make headlines these days, albeit mostly on these bustling social networks, but most of the time, it’s nothing but some new elaborate, almost unpronounceable and quite devilishly incoherent word that you share with […]
The Durbar: Celebrating verse in Hyderabad
In December last year, we partnered with the Ethos Literary Festival, a two-day long celebration of the verse, which was presented by Hawakal Publishers, a poetry press that has for a decade, committed to bringing out the best of contemporary Indian poetry. This time tomorrow, the same passionate duo of Kiriti Sengupta (Chief Editor of […]
