By Abhishek Dubey with Mahavir Rawat

As far as the Indian Paralympics is concerned, the story of country’s glorious sons and daughters resembles the socio-economic milieu of the country. The book provides a vivid description of the social background of the athletes, their rationale for choosing para sports, the physical and the emotional struggles they underwent during the course of their career. More than physical strength, it was the willpower of the para-athletes which makes their story enthralling.


Reviewed by: Avipshu Halder
By Nirmala Lakshman

Justice and fairness are ideals that are core to the life and generational memory of the Tamil people. Powerful historical incidents of rulers who have strongly dispensed justice, or even those who have failed to do so, are ingrained in the minds of Tamil people. There is King Manuneedhi Konda Cholan (250 BCE), who punishes his son upon realizing that his chariot wheel had killed a calf.


Reviewed by: Nirmala Sitharaman
By N Govindarajan. Translated and edited by CT. Indra and Prema Jagannathan

Nathaniel Edward Kindersley (1763-1831), employed by the East Indian Company’s civil service at Madras, promoted to be the collector of South Arcot later, made a small but significant contribution to Tamil studies by translating certain sections of Thirukkural, presenting it as secular literature, and the story of Nalan with explanatory notes;


Reviewed by: S Sridevi
Selected and compiled by R. Prema

In their Foreword, Thamizhacchi Thangapandian states there is no fullness in the writings by men because they don’t have subtlety in showing the pain, agony and mental stress of women while Jayanthi Shankar calls for a similar record in all languages to show how feminism has evolved as a philosophy.


Reviewed by: Lakshmi Kannan
Translated from the original Tamil by Prabha Sridevan

Another important aspect weaved into the novel is of the skewed gender relations between the mother and father. Gender stereotypes are highlighted as the narrator’s father talks sharply with the mother, makes fun of her family and has a sense of entitlement when it comes to her brother. Amma too would scream at him and is suspicious of his generous attitude especially with respect to women—‘He never told her anything about the rice mill, to whom he had given a loan, from whom he had borrowed—nothing…Just as he never told her what he was doing, he did not ask her what she was doing.’


Reviewed by: Payal Nagpal
By Manoj Kuroor. Tanslated from the original Malayalam by J Devika

The poor, itinerant lives of the bards are a literal metaphor for the intimacy and alienation that characterizes human lives, of especially those who are dependent on others for their own survival. For Kolumban’s family, the conflict between sharing a life of poverty with loved ones and leading a lonely life of relative comfort in a foreign land is partially resolved by their passing intimacies with other communities they encounter on their journey.


Reviewed by: Kiran Keshavamurthy