Chandrahas Choudhury

Writer Anita Desai in her foreword to India: A Traveller’s Literary Companion declares the short-story collection to be ‘curious’, ‘original’ and, ‘audacious’. In the initial impression the book does seem curious. And, in a cynical moment, the collection even appears contrived. Something that may compel the reader…


Reviewed by: Moonis Ijlal
Sukrita

Poems Come Home is an uncommon piece of collaborative labour. Subtle in its nuances, sensitive in its portrayal, rhythmic in its power and stark in its simplicity, this bilingual book has poems originally written in English by the poet-critic Sukrita Paul Kumar, who uses the pen name ‘Sukrita’. These have been translated into Hindustani by the famous lyricist Gulzar…


Reviewed by: Girija Sharma
K.R. Malkani

The RSS was a natural child of the twenties. Like any organization, it reflec­ted the ambitions and aspirations of a section of Hindu society of that time and was set up to meet a specific historical need. Since then it has grown and the growth has brought many alterations in its original character.


Reviewed by: Mukesh Vatsyayana
Priya Vasudevan

The novel Middle Time by Priya Vasudevan is a fascinating work of fiction with a dreamlike quality. The plot has two distinct stories set apart by time, place, history, prevalent customs and traditions. The parallel narration of two tales, one set in Hampi and the other in modern-day Chennai and the chronological timeframe-one of 1535…


Reviewed by: Amla Gandhi
Rakhshanda Jalil

Rakhshanda Jalil’s debut collection of ten short stories strings together gentle, at times wistful, ruminations -on what it is to be human, to be (wo)man, to be ill, to survive, to be from certain times and (un)certain locations. Sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the third person, these skillfully wrought stories…


Reviewed by: Asma Rasheed