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HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
PUBLISHED ON JUL 23, 2021 06:14 PM IST
A community that’s dwindling in numbers but not in influence, one of the fieriest women in Indian mythology, and a mystery set on a liner out at sea -- all that on this week’s list of interesting reads
Interview: Hemant Divate, co-founder, Poetrywala
By Suhit Kelkar
UPDATED ON JUL 23, 2021 06:14 PM IST
Through their publishing imprint Poetrywala, Hemant and Smruti Divate have brought out over 130 collections of poetry in many languages and from different countries since 2003. The Divates with other Indian writers have recently formed the Poetrywala Foundation, a public charitable trust, to enrich poetry and encourage its translation, archiving and research. Hemant Divate talks to Suhit Kelkar about the initiative.
Review: Tiananmen Square; The Making of a Protest by Vijay Gokhale
By Suyash Desai
PUBLISHED ON JUL 23, 2021 06:12 PM IST
By describing the political landscape leading up to the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, Vijay Gokhale details the nuances of the decision making process of China’s party-state system
Review: This Life At Play; Memoirs by Girish Karnad
By Kunal Ray
UPDATED ON JUL 23, 2021 07:14 PM IST
Girish Karnad’s memoirs touch on his childhood in Sirsi, his early exposure to Yakshagana, how mathematics influenced his playwriting, and his work in film
Review: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; A Novel by Quentin Tarantino
By Prahlad Srihari
UPDATED ON JUL 22, 2021 02:00 PM IST
The storytelling in Tarantino’s debut novel is non-linear, the writing is punchy, and it comes as no surprise that it reads like a motion picture
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
UPDATED ON JUL 16, 2021 05:37 PM IST
This week’s reading list includes an Indian’s perspective of Japan’s culinary, sanitary and floral idiosyncrasies, a compilation of eight rules for daily life culled from Sikhism, and an unsparing account of the legacy of Sri Lanka’s thirty year civil war
Interview: Tahmima Anam, Author, The Startup Wife
By KX Ronnie
UPDATED ON JUL 16, 2021 05:47 PM IST
Tahmima Anam’s new novel is about Asha Ray, a brilliant coder whose platform rivals the world’s biggest social media companies. Here, the author talks about her writing, about working in technology, and about Bangladesh, her spiritual home
Review: The Lost Fragrance of Infinity by Moin Mir
By Rana Safvi
PUBLISHED ON JUL 16, 2021 05:33 PM IST
Using symbolism and metaphors, Moin Mir traces his protagonist’s inward journey from the destruction of his ego to self-analysis and the eventual realisation that the journey is about bettering one’s life through deeds of kindness
Review: Equations by Shivani Sibal
By Ashwin Sanghi
PUBLISHED ON JUL 16, 2021 05:30 PM IST
A memorable portrayal of social dynamics, Shivani Sibal’s novel is unsentimental, thoughtful and compassionate
Review: The Whispers by Heidi Perks
By Ananya Borogohain
UPDATED ON JUL 15, 2021 05:01 PM IST
The best selling author exploits the complex dichotomy in female kinship in her latest psychological thriller. The Whispers is a warped tale revolving around the toxic dynamics shared by five women
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
PUBLISHED ON JUL 09, 2021 05:58 PM IST
This week’s reading list includes a translation of Mannu Bhandari’s stories that turn an unflinching gaze at the hypocrisy of a society that balks at giving women the keys to their shackles, a collection of historian Eric Hobsbawm’s writing on nationalism, and a spectacular volume on the 100 objects that are representative of the multicultural medley that is contemporary India
Interview: Anjali Joseph, Author, Keeping in Touch
By Saaz Aggarwal
UPDATED ON JUL 09, 2021 05:57 PM IST
Review: Phanigiri - Interpreting an Ancient Buddhist Site in Telangana
By Sunita Dwivedi
UPDATED ON JUL 09, 2021 05:55 PM IST
A new book of scholarly essays brings to the fore the artistic and commercial dialogue between the Krishna and the Kabul valleys
Review: The Light of Asia; The Poem That Defined Buddha
By Ashutosh Bhardwaj
UPDATED ON JUL 09, 2021 05:52 PM IST
Jairam Ramesh’s new book, which charts the journey of Edwin Arnold’s poem, is a significant addition to the study of the revival of Buddhism in the twentieth century
Essay: Uttam Bandu Tupe - Writing the Dalit oppression
By Farzana Versey
UPDATED ON JUL 08, 2021 04:58 PM IST
Uttam Bandu Tupe died last year; it was an unsung death. When his play Zulwa was staged by Marathi stalwart Chetan Datar in the early 1990s, the audience lauded the experimental work for breaking new ground. But few were even aware of where the writer of the play lived or what he did to put food on the table
Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu: A match made in heaven
By Trinetra Bajpai and Anshula Bajpai, New Delhi
UPDATED ON JUL 07, 2021 06:36 PM IST
An excerpt from the book, Dilip Kumar: Peerless Icon Inspiring Generations, which talks about the late actor’s early years and family, his evolution as an artist, his relationship with contemporaries, his romances, and his eventual marriage to Saira Banu that stood the test of time.
Review: The Last Gathering by Munshi Faizuddin, translated by Ather Farouqui
By Mahmood Farooqui
PUBLISHED ON JUL 02, 2021 07:37 PM IST
Within a few decades of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s death a virtual industry began to take shape. Paintings, books, albums, souvenirs of his times made their way to the Indian and the British market. After Delhi was restored as the Imperial Capital in 1911, there was a veritable horde of publications celebrating his persona, his court and the Lal Qila of his times. Rashid ul Khairi, Nasir Nazeer Firaq, Hasan Nizami, Arsh Taimuri, Farhatullah Beig and several others followed with bestselling memoirs and chronicles. But Munshi Faizuddin’s Bazm-i Aakhir, published within two decades of Bahadur Shah’s death, wonderfully translated here as The Last Gathering was the one which set the trend
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
PUBLISHED ON JUL 02, 2021 07:16 PM IST
A collection of essays on the rise of Indian Americans, a book on the rich aesthetic and cultural legacy of Mughal India, and a first-of-its-kind volume that focusses on the lives and writing practices of women screenwriters in Bollywood - all that on this week’s list of interesting reads
Interview: Mira Sethi, author of Are You Enjoying?
By Nawaid Anjum
PUBLISHED ON JUL 02, 2021 07:15 PM IST
Sethi’s characters struggle to navigate the challenges of a conservative society, sometimes at great personal cost. Here, the Pakistani author talks about her roles as journalist, writer, and actor
Review: Colaba; The Diamond at the Tip of Mumbai by Shabnam Minwalla
By Saaz Aggarwal
PUBLISHED ON JUL 02, 2021 07:14 PM IST
Documenting the nooks, structures, and energy of the streets of Mumbai’s southernmost tip through interviews, facts and administrative data from gazetteers, iffy maps and exaggerations from travellers’ accounts, colourful descriptions from novels and even gravestone epitaphs
Essay: On having a passion for fountain pens
By Suhit Kelkar
PUBLISHED ON JUN 30, 2021 06:31 PM IST
With a fountain pen gliding on paper made for fountain pens, writing is even more pleasurable. It’s a sensuous experience in which the colour of the ink, the tactile sensations of the grip of the pen, the feedback of the nib, and the contents of your mind all work in concert on the amphitheatre of the page.
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
PUBLISHED ON JUN 25, 2021 09:54 PM IST
The path-breaking advances made by India’s scientists in original research and what they mean to the nation’s progress, the breathtaking story of how Everest was found, and an insightful journey through the ever-changing landscape of Calcutta’s food and cultural milieu -- all that on this week’s list of great reads
Interview: Raven Leilani, author, Luster
By Arunima Mazumdar
UPDATED ON JUN 25, 2021 09:48 PM IST
American author Raven Leilani’s award-winning debut novel is a bold dive into the politics of sex and race, surrounded by unpredictable human behaviours
Review: Luster by Raven Leilani
By Arunima Mazumdar
UPDATED ON JUN 25, 2021 09:50 PM IST
The American author’s award-winning debut novel dives into the politics of sex and race surrounded by unpredictable human behaviours
Review: The ‘Other’ Shangri-La by Shivaji Das
By Sonali Mujumdar
PUBLISHED ON JUN 25, 2021 07:06 PM IST
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Review: Whereabouts: A Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri
By Nawaid Anjum
PUBLISHED ON JUN 25, 2021 07:01 PM IST
Told in pared-down prose, Jhumpa Lahiri’s new novel is a portrait of the modern epidemic of urban loneliness
Review: Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife by Kareem Khubchandani
By Chintan Girish Modi
UPDATED ON JUN 24, 2021 06:16 PM IST
The author, a performance studies scholar, a drag queen, and a transnational desi, documents the pleasures and perils of being ‘out’ at night in Bangalore and Chicago
The Ishtyle playlist
By Kareem Khubchandani
UPDATED ON JUN 24, 2021 06:11 PM IST
Sing along and dance away your heartache to the playlist to Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife by Kareem Khubchandani
Ikigai revisited in the Covid era, through a teenager’s eyes
By Tara Bhattacharya, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON JUN 20, 2021 05:44 PM IST
The Japanese concept of Ikigai teaches one to cherish each fleeting moment, reminding us that it’s futile to waste our precious time worrying about what has passed and what is to come.