BOOK REVIEW: WE THE PEOPLE OF THE STATES OF BHARAT [ Sanjeev Chopra. Harper Collins. 2022. ] ( This review was originally published in the TRIBUNE) AMALGAMATING HISTORY WITH GEOGRAPHY The book is essentially a work of history, but from a different perspective. Historical accounts are usually narrated from either the victor’s angle, or the […]
BOOK REVIEW – MAPPING A COUNTRY’S HISTORY Read More »
Plants do not dream because they do not sleep, but birds dream: they dream about being eaten by larger birds, about being caged by humans, about flying so high they knock their heads against the base of heaven. Then they fly higher and turn into angels. They dream all that and when they wake up they think about worms and sometimes
From The Dream Book in Dangerous Pursuits (Zubaan, Penguin Randon House India: 2022) Read More »
Included on this website by the Editor’s permission. Though the story was long-drawn, Vinayak-rao listened attentively and did not interrupt the lady. But he naturally wanted to understand how she ended up in her present state. It wasn’t too clear as yet, who she was visiting every night. So, he asked her point blank: “Where
Chapter 8 from Yamuna’s Journey, edited by Deepra Dandekar Read More »
Book review: No Land’s People indicts India’s NRC process Indian journalist Abhishek Saha documents how the citizenship determination process in Assam state was marred by ‘bias and arbitrariness’. India’s northeastern state of Assam drew the attention of international media in August 2019, when a citizens’ register excluded nearly two million residents, effectively rendering them stateless. The National
Fate and family dynamics The People We Know by Farrokh Suntook Published in 2021 by Copper Coin Publishing Pvt Ltd, L5/903 Gulmohur Garden, Raj Nagar Extension, Ghaziabad 201017; website: coppercoin.co.in. Pp: 341. Price: Rs 599. “Yes, oh dear yes, the novel tells a story,” says E. M. Forster. And yes, oh dear yes, Farrokh Suntook’s
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In his latest book, The Rise and Fall of Muslim Civilization: Hope for the Future, Dr. Basheer Ahmed offers fresh insight as well as a fresh perspective on eight centuries Muslim history, focusing on innovative Muslim contributions to science, technology, and mathematics (STEM). In the early years of Islam, Muslims were inspired by Quranic verses
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I’ve been a liberal arts type all my life, both by education and aptitude, and avoid numbers like Queen Camilla avoids Meghan Markel, except when the numbers come in a sequence like 36-20-34. But one has to admit that at times they make sense, in a fascinating way, and so this week I’ve decided to
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It is relatively rare for retired civil servants to join political parties ( though the trend does seem to be increasing of late), and rarer still for those who do to retain the objectivity and value systems that they had been taught in the Academy at Mussoorie. We have only to look at the worthies
A TIME TO SPEAK OUT, A TIME TO LISTEN Read More »
It would be difficult to estimate the number of plates of Hakka noodles consumed in India, but it would be safe to assume that the number would be large. This in sharp contrast to the number of Indians of Chinese origin who remain in India. The majority of them belong to the Hakka community from
Intimate Strangers| Books Read More »
