It’s the city of opportunities; the financial capital; the land of migrants. The phrases fall woefully short of describing the chaos that is Mumbai – forever jostling for space, claimed, reclaimed and stretched to the seams by inhabitants on the run, trying to leave an imprint on a square foot. Bombay, Meri Jaan tries toContinue reading “Bombay, meri jaan”
Category Archives: books
Nine Lives and a Summer Requiem
Nine Lives by William Dalrymple In a land where gods and goddesses abound as do their stories, Dalrymple’s search for the sacred in Modern India still throws up interesting threads. From tantric rituals in cremation grounds, houses lined with skulls to the frenetic energy of Sufi dancers, the author underlines how faith in chosen godsContinue reading “Nine Lives and a Summer Requiem”
Books and Berries
The sprawling villas on both sides don’t point to a village. I’m about to double-back when the signboard declares that I’m still a kilometre away. The signs are all over the place – a book and strawberry, over the red type declaring Bhilar as India’s first “books village”. Located between the popular hill towns of PanchganiContinue reading “Books and Berries”
Small joys
It’s always about the simpler things in life with the boy from the hills. Of brushing off one’s shoes, encounters with snakes and centipedes, and jam, loads of it! Only this time not as Rusty, but as Ruskin himself as he recounts the years spent with his father in Delhi. It’s of course a long longContinue reading “Small joys”
Becoming a child at Kahani Tree
“Aaaaaaaaccchhhooooooooooooooooooooooooo” Blork! Bluurf! I seem to have caught Gajapati Kulapati’s cold. Just wait till I catch hold of that elephant again! I feel a little biffsquiggled with this cold to be honest. But what I was saying was…when I walked in to Kahani Tree, an independent bookstore in Prabhadevi, I had but a few cats inContinue reading “Becoming a child at Kahani Tree”
A Thousand Mornings 