Citadel of Love by Pratibha Ray was first written in Odiya as Silapama and is the winner of Odisha Sahitya Academy Award. Translated into English by Monalisa Jena, if there is one word that can describe the experience of reading this book, it is – brilliant! For one the book doesn’t read like a translation and therein lies the biggest achievement for Jena. As
Read moreWhat we know of history is only what the archeologists have so far dug out and a story that historians have written. What is there is a story different from what the historians have written? Because the archeologists haven’t found something so far, does not mean it never existed! This is the thrill of historical fiction. A well researched and
Read moreThere has been a dearth of good readable Indian history books and The Ivory Throne helps fill that void. (Other eminently readable and lesser known Indian history books: 1857 by Vishnu Bhatt, Do and Die by Manini Chatterjee). Manu S. Pillai’s Ivory Throne is a fantastic book that chronicles the history of the kingdom of Travancore. To be frank, I only picked the book
Read moreWritten by renowned polemicist, Hitchens, The Missionary Position is a sort of sting operation conducted on the life of Mother Teresa. At 99 pages, it is also probably among the thinnest yet incredibly good books that I have read. Hitchens lays bare Teresa’ life like it should have been. After all, what’s wrong with a little bit of devil’s advocacy? And,
Read moreI have recently gotten hooked to Indian history again, after a few years. To be honest, except Guha’s “India after Gandhi”, I wasn’t aware of any good book on India’s history post Independence. And I have recently come across around five… I read Amritsar right after Kuldip Nayar’s fantastic ‘Emergency Retold‘ and loved it. Mark Tully and Satish Jacob take
Read moreSoorina Desai’s debut novel, Anamika, was first published in the year 2005 and republished in 2015. It is the story of Anamika and Rajbir. Written with an eye for detail, the story describes a time when India had newly gained its freedom. Romance in that era was very different from what we understand today. There’s a certain old school charm
Read moreI remember asking my mother if she remembered the Emergency in the 70’s and she told me, “Yes, a lot of people went to jail; but corruption went away. Trains, buses used to be on time.” That and the undeniable fact that Indira Gandhi had induced the Emergency to satiate her hunger for power, had been my narrow viewpoint on
Read moreWritten by a Brahmin mendicant (Vishnu Bhatt), who somehow fortuitously ended up being in parts of India where (and when) the revolt was breaking out, ‘1857‘ is a fantastic book chronicling the first great uprising of the Indian freedom struggle. Vishnu Bhatt wrote the book as a diary – which was published only after his death in the early 20th
Read moreI read this book after I came to know the movie version wasn’t really an accurate adaptation of the actual history of the Chittagong uprising. Being a history buff, I really wanted to know what actually happened in Chittagong. Chatterjee does justice to the subject and keeps you hooked even though you know the fate of the uprising already (from
Read moreAs a lover of books based on Indian mythology, I opened Jagmohan Bhanver’s The Curse of Brahma with a bit of apprehension. And, there was a certain reason behind that. Lately, a number of retelling of Indian mythologies had disappointed me. But, to my own surprise, this book captured my attention in the Prologue and then I could not stop
Read moreWhen I went through the book blurb for the first time I knew the story is going to be something that is totally unlike other thrillers. As the cover of the book hints, the sole theme of the story is based on the significance of the emblem printed on the cover of the book. The story, Borrowed Plumes, revolves around
Read moreHindu mythology has always attracted my attention and of them, the retellings of Mahabharata and its characters are my favorite. So when I was given an opportunity to read and review a book based on Bhishma, I knew I couldn’t miss it. The Winds of Hastinapur is a story told by Ganga, the first wife of Shantanu, one of the
Read moreThis is a FIRST on The Pensieve! A personalised goodie and a gift voucher worth Rs. 500/- to be won . Relive a trip to a World Heritage Site and these could be sitting pretty on your table and in your inbox. Write a post/ writeup about a visit to a World Heritage Site that left you feeling there is
Read morePart of 2013 Reading Challenge: First Reads Title: Return of a King Author: William Dalrymple Publisher: Bloomsburry Publishing Plc ISBN: 978-1-4088-1830-5 Pages: 487 Genre: Non-Fiction Rating: 4.5 of 5 Reviewed for: MySmartPrice The line between fiction and real blurs as one digs more into the real. History exploring is one such real digging and unbelievable are the treasures that pop
Read moreThis story is honored to be selected as the 2nd prize winner of Creative Writing Competition 2012 India on YourStoryClub. ‘Why didn’t we come in through here?’ I was fending off my best friend’s queries yet again. We are at my ancestral home for two days, for the annual ‘strangling’ ceremonies. It is a wasted weekend for Malavika and me.
Read moreTwo huge blue colored doors, possibly wooden, vedic flower designs splattered over them in a matrix pattern, bells hanging from each of those flowers, golden pegs, an ornate lead lock that brings them together with a single beam of light between them hinting at the other side and golden words underneath the huge lock proclaiming The Krishna Key. The cover
Read moreDid gods create mankind, or did mankind create gods? The back cover screams this question at the reader with the preamble concluding that this book by Ajay Kansal deals with establishing the fact that anthropologies and histories lead to one conclusion – mankind created gods! The writer starts off with a very arresting question in the preface – Why are
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