E-Paper
HT Picks; New Reads
This week’s pick of reads includes stories on love and loss, a volume of character sketches on Punjab’s iconic cultural personalities, a genre-bending memoir
Stories that linger
The 13 stories on love, loss and kindness in this collection are set in places as far apart as Amsterdam, UAE and Kerala. Whispering of fragile emotions, they include a tale of a schoolboy’s kindness to a blind old man, a portrait of a middle-aged dreamer lost in a fantasy world, another about betrayal, and even one about a serpent’s wrath. The short story that stands out, though, is Houri that presents the precarity of the lives of migrant workers in the Gulf states through the experience of a driver in a home that observes strict purdah. The everyday characters in these evocative pieces don’t indulge in histrionics even when they are dying of cancer or buried under the rubble of a collapsed wall but their stories linger long after you’ve turned the page.
A deeply personal tribute
A collection of 17 character sketches, The Blue Potter: The Creative Genius of Punjab is a moving and deeply personal tribute to some of the region’s most iconic personalities; ones who have shaped India’s social, political, cultural, and literary soul. The Sahitya Akademi Award-winning author regales readers with unrecorded, unheard, and undisclosed stories of a range of creative legends from Amrita Pritam to Shiv Kumar Batalvi. From a glimpses into the inner world of Amrita Pritam to the simplicity of Khushwant Singh, the fakir-like humility of VP Singh, and the poetic brilliance of Shiv Kumar Batalvi, she presents them all. Her sketches also capture the calm and restraint of Kartar Singh Duggal, extol the overlooked contributions of Mohinder Singh Randhawa, showcase the regality of Krishna Sobti, eulogize the literary voice of Padma Sachdev, and hail Jagjit Singh’s mastery over ghazals.
The Blue Potter is special not just because of the personalities it features, but also for the affection, wit, and deep emotional insight with which Ajeet Cour tells their stories.*
An ode to friendship
Hundred Greatest Love Songs is a genre-bending memoir of a young artist and poet willing to risk his life for his craft. Told in a hundred short chapters and arranged like a playlist, the story is one of transformation — spiritual, sexual and intellectual — as the protagonist, a waiter, carves his path from a greasy diner in small-town Iowa to a prestigious arts college in upstate New York. Along the way, he makes many new friends: misfits and outcasts who become his chosen family, and renowned American poets and artists who show him that it is possible to lead a remarkable life, no matter the circumstances.
At its core, the book is an ode to friendship. It is as much about an artist trying to find his place in the world as it is about the people who help him do so. Ultimately, Hundred Greatest Love Songs serves as a testament to the healing power of poetry and proves that literature, art and music can save lives.*
*Copy from book flap.
