I spent the Eid weekend, revisiting the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Scott Anderson’s ‘King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah and the Revolution That Forged Modern Iran’ and Ryszard Kapuscinski’s ‘Shah of Shahs’ (which I’m revisting after 15 years) are good primers about the revolution. Over the last two years, seeing the protests of … Continue reading The 1979 Islamic Revolution
To him, Plath was ‘Laurentian’, not ‘women’s lib’ – that is, a disciple of D. H. Lawrence’s sexually liberated creative philosophy, not a campaigner for women’s rights. This line in Heather Clarke’s highly engrossing biography of Sylvia Plath, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, stumped me. I had no clue … Continue reading Laurentian Feminism
I’ve always been sceptical of the nostalgia and sentimentality associated with bygone eras and yesteryears. But despite this, each and every time I step into an Indian railway platform, a wave of memories washes over me. There were the childhood journeys from Bombay to Kozhikode in the pre-Konkan era, the Madras Mail to Salem, the … Continue reading A Paean to the Indian Railways
Julian Barnes was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, weeks before the world was preparing to lock down in 2020. The cancer was a manageable version and last year, Barnes wrote his last book, aptly titled ‘Departure(s)’. The book’s structure was experimental. Why wouldn’t it be when one is writing and trying to … Continue reading Barnes’ ‘Departure(s)’
The Wuthering Heights adaptation has been all over the news for various reasons. So I first read Bronte’s novel and then went to check what the fuss was all about. The Margot Robbie-Jacob Ellordi starrer wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible too. The childhood bond between Heathcliff and Catherine was tenderly captured. The interior design … Continue reading The ‘Wuthering Heights’ Rabbit Hole
Seven years ago, I tried to read this but abandoned it after a few pages as I knew next to nothing about the political context in which the book was set. This time, with some information about the Risorgimento, I tackled the book and can confirm it lives up to its tag of a ‘masterpiece’ … Continue reading Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’
When Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998 for crimes committed during his military dictatorship, there was no precedent for such an act anywhere in the world. No former head of state had ever been arrested in another country for an international crime. And it was this arrest that paved the way for the future … Continue reading Pinochet in London and a Nazi in Patagonia
Allesandro Manzoni’s ‘Betrothed’ is the ‘national novel’ of Italy. Every school child in Italy is familiar with the work and in the words of Bruce Penman whose translation I read: If Dickens had written only one novel, and there had been no Fielding or Thackeray; if his novel had foreshadowed the theme of a successful … Continue reading Allesandro Manzoni’s ‘Betrothed’
I embarrassingly realised that I knew next to nothing about the workings of the District judicial system in India until I picked up Prashant Reddy Thikkavarapu’s and Chitrakshi Jain's ‘Tareekh Pe Justice’ - Reforms for India's District Courts'. I came across their work when I saw it featured in the Ideas for India podcast. Article … Continue reading The Tragedy of the District Judiciary
All Seventy Episodes! Image Source
