Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

All three works share a concern with moral ambiguity. Their characters are not heroes or villains, but flawed individuals navigating a world where ethical clarity is a luxury. Whether it is the grieving artist in The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay, the conflicted investigators in Affairs of Deception, or the scheming insiders of Party to a Crime, the protagonists are all bound by the consequences of choices they can neither fully justify nor entirely regret.

The novel is narrated by seventeen characters, with the notable exception of Burhan, the voiceless victim, with several narrating multiple chapters; over thirty-three unnumbered ones, being opened and closed by Nabeesumma and Reyhana in that order. Nabeesumma, who is a character as important as Reyhana,

The prose in White Lilies is tender and fluid: one paragraph cites statistics on India’s annual road accidents, the next slips into ghazal-tinged reverie. The alternation lends the narrative form a delicate balance. It unfolds in untitled vignette, field notes, lyric shards, infused by black and white images in between. These visual gaps in the narrative let the reader breathe, inhale shocks and ponder over loss.

The book is divided into eight sections with each section containing essays pertaining to a particular theme, by a galaxy of academics (35+) whose lives has been influenced by Professor Narang is some way or the other. The essays cover a wide range of subjects that have been close to Professor Narang’s heart including literature, culture, and translation.

Studies of Hindi cinema’s depiction of India-Pakistan conflicts often engage acts of selective remembering and forgetting, reinforcing the dominant ideological narratives that shape national identity, otherness, and historical memories through hegemonic cinematic frames and frameworks. What distinguishes Bharat’s book, however, is its resistance to reduce cinematic narratives to simplistic binaries of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. Instead, she frames the affective entanglements and shared cultural imaginary that persist despite political partition.

What have been the decisive influences on Dutt’s style of filmmaking? Although he had produced eight films and acted in sixteen, his main claim to critical and popular appreciation is his directorial talent exhibited in eight of them (Baazi, Jaal, Baaz, Aar-Paar, Mr & Mrs 55, Sailaab, Pyaasa, and Kaagaz Ke Phool) made during 1951-59. The book does not throw much light on this aspect. What role did Hollywood or the French masters play?

The poet delves into the facets of relationships and the many selves that surface at each turn on the journey of life. The book also serves as an ode to Delhi, where the architecture and roads transform into spaces Katyal makes his own. The city sheds its unfamiliarity, becoming a sounding board for the yearnings it evokes and the memories that quietly settle into places like these.

Applying reviewer privilege here which translates into the academic training that I inevitably bring to all my writing, and consequentially to bear upon this review as well, will not amount to an interpolation. What I craved for while imbibing this compilation was organizational finesse. Apart from the linguistic arrangement as per alphabetical order, none other exists.
While this may accord with the editor’s idea of not hampering through excessive signposting with readerly pleasure, classification as per timeframe would certainly have made the reading and imbibing process so much more of a cognitive experience. Adding to that was the gnawing absence of context (of course, the internet is always at hand) regarding the background of the authors.

Meanwhile, the fate of the secular perspective on women’s rights was sealed with Muslim leaders opposing a uniform code due to concerns about the survival of the Muslim community after a violent Partition. The reform of personal law for women thus, could not escape religious identity with the Muslims

Sinha marks this episode as the beginning of Sahi’s long-running guerrilla resistance, a struggle which sustained for over two decades, made possible in part by the enduring strength of a hereditary local magnate. The author traces Sahi’s lineage from Mayyur Bhutt, who is said to have lived either during the time of the Buddha or under the reign of Harshvardhana, down to ancestors (with a thousand-year gap) who were granted the titles of Raja, Maharaja Bahadur,

The book traces the personal histories of the Chattopadhyays in Calcutta, their home city and in Hyderabad, the city of their education and profession; Chatto’s turning towards revolutionary activities under the influence of radical Indian nationalists at the India House, London3; his initiative to create the Berlin Indian Committee with the help of Indian pan-Islamists and to obtain the support of the Ameer of Afghanistan.

Language, the author contends, does more than convey information. It reflects values, ideologies and social norms. Nuance is often lost in translation, and this becomes more problematic during periods of crisis when clarity is essential. In such moments, misinformation can spread rapidly and undermine communication. The saying, ‘truth is the first casualty of war’ serves as a stark reminder of the importance of precise translation in volatile situations.

Each chapter explores different dimensions of childhood and adolescence, tracing concepts and theoretical insights historically. ‘Understanding Development and Diversity: Key Concepts and Ideas’ by Ranganathan summarizes the principles of development and key classic cognitive development theories, foregrounding their relevance in the contexts of education and schooling. ‘Childhood or Childhoods?’ by Ravneet Kaur brings out the findings of a twelve-family contemporary study to present the nature of childhoods in different income-group families in the Indian context, highlighting the diverse and ‘non-monolithic Indian childhood’.

The modern subject is not just isolated, but curated; nudged toward desire and performance, rather than presence or reflection. The result is a public that appears connected and expressive, but is internally alienated, disoriented, and incapable of deep solidarity. This is the quiet violence of neoliberal modernity: the substitution of relationality with curated experience,

Navigating the various chapters, one gets a true sense of the wildlife crisis and the need for its management in a developing country. Rahmani is a scientist as well as a policy maker who has to deal with government agencies and explain to the powers that be the need for bringing in certain laws and banning some activities for broader welfare and conservation. But more often than not,

Arabinda Samanta’s essay ‘Imagining an Epidemic: Literary Representations of Plague in Colonial Bengal’ studies Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s novel, Srikanta, Rabindranath Tagore’s novel Chaturanga and Premangkur Atarthi’s Mahasthabir Jatak to make his arguments. One thing common in these novels is the deep distrust of the colonial state that they reveal. Second is the fact that the horrors of the plague bring out the worst and the best in people.

The investigation of WhatsApp’s characteristics by the authors reveals its significance in dismantling traditional professional hierarchies of top-down communication flow. The call structures outside the purview of the official work space bring in an element of a casual approach in comparison to official emails. However, in stringent professional sectors like administrative services and the army,

Two, Heart Lamp represents a high moment in the history of Indian Literatures in English Translation (ILET, a term coined by GN Devy), paving the way for many more translations from Indian literatures. This literary honour has the power to draw more talent to the field of ILET, which is far from being a culturally valued and remunerative line of work. So, with the Booker, what had always remained a cottage industry has now gone global, becoming a corporate enterprise.

What stand apart from these Ramayana- and Mahabharata-oriented versions are the Jain and Buddhist oriented Tamil epics, Silappadikaram and Manimekalai. The other distinct feature about these two works is that they portray ordinary folk as the main characters, and the ebb and flow of their fortunes. The tragedy of Silappadikaram is overwhelming in its pathos and fearsomeness.

It is no difficult task for the historian to trace the arc of colonial violence across the landscapes of the global South. The afterlives of Empire leave their marks everywhere: etched into soil, folded into language and embedded in law. The exploitation of clove trees in the Moluccas, the Indian state’s bureaucratic indifference to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the wake of natural disaster,