E-Paper
HT Picks; New Reads
This week’s pick of interesting reads includes a fresh take on vegetarian and vegan cooking, a diplomat’s book on how India negotiates with the world, and a graphic novel about a gambling addict trying to wean himself off the game
Food as pursuit of pleasure
Comfort and Joy is a fresh take on vegetarian and vegan cooking; not geared towards health or denial but indulging all the senses with a decadent global larder. This is a cookbook of great bounty, promising fortifying curries and stews, the warm embrace of aromatic fried bhajis and rich, satisfying desserts. For Ravinder Bhogal, food should be made and shared with abundance in mind, and this sense of pleasure is conveyed on every page. From Mango and Golden Coin Curry, Shiro Miso Udon Mushroom and Kale Carbonara to Strawberry Falooda Milk Cake, this is food as pursuit of pleasure. Ravinder is one of the best food writers in Britain today, and interwoven throughout these recipes are stories of a life led by the feel-good, life-enhancing power of vegetarian food. Raw, modern and sensual, Comfort and Joy applies Ravinder’s creative ingenuity to approachable veg-centric recipes for home cooks. The vegetarian option will never again be relegated to second choice.*
Negotiating with the world
The idea of how India negotiates with the world is at the heart of this book. Career diplomat Mohan Kumar represented India at multiple international fora over a career spanning three-and-a-half decades. During this time, he would invariably be told that Indian negotiators were among the best in the business. And yet, several of his interlocutors would ask, in the same breath, why India was such a tough customer when it came to multilateral negotiations. Indeed, it was hard to escape the view, held even by India’s friends, that the country was somehow more of a naysayer than a partner in key international parleys.
This book, then, is a sincere attempt to set the record straight. At one level, India is not very different from other countries insomuch as it seeks to protect where necessary, and advance where possible, its national interest. There are several unique aspects about India and the way it approaches multilateral negotiations with the world. This book dwells on some of those fundamental factors and traces how India’s positions have evolved over time.
A central contention of this book is that India has moved, slowly but surely, from being an alleged naysayer to becoming a putative partner for the world in key multilateral negotiations. More broadly, this reflects India’s growing political, economic and strategic clout in the world today. It is only when this transformation is fuller and more substantial that India will be able to fulfil its manifest destiny of becoming a leading power, capable of shaping global rules.*
A surreal tale of addiction
At a secret spot on an abandoned island in rural Kerala, the village men gather at midnight and gamble, playing spot flip – the king of all card games. There we meet Babycha, a gambling addict trying to wean himself off the game after he gets married. We see him building a life with his beloved Paulikutty in the idyll of God’s own country. Until, inevitably, he succumbs to the lure of spot flip yet again and loses everything. Soon, his family is forced to take drastic measures to rein him in...
Brilliantly narrated and illustrated by Joshy Benedict, The Pig Flip – translated from the Malayalam by KK Muralidharan – is a surreal and narcotic tale of addiction and comeuppance that will linger hauntingly in the mind long after you’ve read it.*
*All copy from book flap.
