My review of poet Aruni Kashyap’s debut fiction ‘The House with a Thousand Stories’ in the The Asian Age.
‘Kashyap breaks a basic rule of plotting a book: giving away what happens next. It is a mark of his confidence as a writer; he knows his storytelling will keep the reader hooked. From time to time he rotates the plot on the pivots of the story: Boben’s death, Aaita the grandmother on deathbed, Oholya’s temper, Pablo’s encounter with Anamika, Mridul’s love for the Nepali wine seller’s daughter Manju, the jurun … for the wedding, the suicide and so on. This is what lays layer upon layer of the thousand stories.’
Please read more here.
Tags: Aruni Kashyap, Assam, North East, The House with a Thousand Stories
I have admired Kishalay Bhattacharjee for long for his reporting on NDTV from the North East states so reviewing his book Che In Paona Bazaar in The Book Review was a pleasure. Kishalay has now also become a friend. Please read review here …
Tags: Che in Paona Bazaar, Kishalay Bhattacharjee, North East, The Book Review
I had the opportunity to host a panel discussion on Conflict Literature: Under the Shadow of the Gun at the recently concluded Bangalore Literature Festival. The panellists were: Babar Ayaz, Jahnvi Baruah, Farooq Shaheen and Arindam Borkataki. Here is a report in The Hindu, see section two. Please read here …
Tags: Arindam Borkataki, Babar Ayaz, Bangalore Literature Festival, Conflict, Farooq Shaheen, Gun, Jahnvi Baruah
Rajmohan Gandhi’s Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten is the first book in 125 years to chronicle the undivided Punjab from Attock to Delhi. The region was seven times the size of the Punjab in India. Please read the full review here.
Tags: History, Punjab, Rajmohan Gandhi
My piece in Tehelka on how the path of ethics in Punjab is not merely some abstract but is directly linked to progress through inflow of capital. A policeman has confessed to having killed 83 people without trial. Will the government(s) have the will to pursue this and other accounts by policeman and victims and seek closure to the violence in Punjab? Please read here …
Tags: 1985 - 1995, Akali Dal, Canada, Decade of Disappearance, Khalistan, Khalra, murders, Police, Punjab, Sukhbir Badal
Friends, it is September 2013. Roll of Honour completes one year with us. In this year we collected over fifty reviews and interviews on Roll of Honour and some more on Sepia Leaves. Thank you so much for your love and support. I feel humbled and honoured. Please read all the pieces in the right panel under ‘Roll of Honour’.
This week Dr Charanjeet Kaur from the esteemed literary journal Muse India interviewed me on both my books and the writing life. Thank you Dr Kaur. Please read here …
Tags: 1984, Bluestar, Khalistan, military school, Mrs. Gandhi, Punjab, Roll of Honour, schizophrenia, Sepia Leaves
My interview with the young gifted writer of ‘Fort of Nine Towers’ Qais Akbar Omar for The Hindu Literary Review. Please read here …
Tags: Afghanistan, Fort of Nine Towers, Qais Akbar Omar, The Hindu
Recently, I had the opportunity to review this family memoir by Qais Akbar Omar set in Afghanistan during the times of infighting, militancy, Taliban and the excesses by other fundamentalist forces. It is an excellent book. Please read my review here …
Tags: Afghanistan, Fort of Nine Towers, Qais Akbar Omar, The Hindu
A collection of Joginder Paul’s Urdu short stories is noteworthy for the way the book is curated with translators’ notes, author interview and and self-obituary. Admire the collection by Harper Perennial. Please read my review here …
Tags: Joginder Paul, The Hindu, The Undying Sun, Urdu stories
My piece in Tehelka magazine on how in a free market, powers collude shut down independent views like the TV channel Day & Night News. Read here …