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I’m not a fan of free-verse, whichever language it might be in. However, Deepti Naval’s poetry is captivating. Not for its technical prowess or command over meter, but for its powerful imagery. Deepti consistently manages to evoke the most intense, personal images with such simple words; she cannot fail to pull the strings to your … Continue reading
The premise is both interesting and valid. Hindu resistance to early Muslim invasions is not a subject that has received a lot of attention from our prominent historians. It is a fact that it took a few centuries for Islamic invaders to establish a permanent foothold, and eventually empire, in India and the subject deserves … Continue reading
Cards on the table, I know the author personally. I hope my known antipathy towards free verse would neutralize some of my bias in the reader’s mind though. 🙂 Raw. Naked. These words best describe most of the works in the book. Jyoti doesn’t hide behind the paper, nor does she wash the stains off … Continue reading
I bought this book for the purpose that Pran Neville wrote it; to get a flavour of a city that I probably wouldn’t get to visit, and an era that I surely cannot. My links to Lahore are through my grandfather and his father before him; students of medicine at King Edward Medical College (now … Continue reading
There are many, many ways in which history can be recounted. Over the last few decades, the trend in reporting history has taken a decidedly Marxist tone. From the rulers and their deeds the focus has shifted to the ruled and their lives. From the grand palaces we have moved to unearthing modest homes; and … Continue reading
It’s a rare book that I finish without having sketched out the outline of my review of it. Ashoka (the search for India’s Lost Emperor) by Charles Allen falls into this category. Starting with one of the greater tragedies to befall this oft-blighted subcontinent – the destruction of Nalanda university by Muslim invaders – Allen … Continue reading
William Dalrymple called this book a “love letter to India”. I fully agree. “A Strange Kind of Paradise” isn’t intended as a history text-book, nor a dry list of “facts” (*cough* Romila Thapar *cough*). What you have in your hands though, is an incomparable collection of selected writings from non-Indian writers about India as they experienced … Continue reading
It’s a small book, not a scholarly tome on the origins and development of India’s capital. That is not what Malvika’s book is about. What it does instead, is act as a time capsule. It brings to life a Delhi nestled between the powerless masses and the powerful classes. A genteel, upper middle class life … Continue reading
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