Here are reviews of Shamim Padamsee's books 'Rebels in Rajasthan' and 'Poachers in Paradise' by an eight-year-old, Arunima Kaul, the books are published by Penguin India. Book: Rebels in Rajasthan; Author: Shamim Padamsee This story is about a flying magic jharokha, invented by Uncle Jadoo who disappeared. He had been kidnapped by an evil djinn. The jharokha can take you anywhere you want. Vayu and Deeya have to find seven...
04:56 PM, Feb 08, 2012
Imagine this: 1656 Delhi. Muzaffar Jang - an aristocrat with friends in low places. He has just finished solving a case that involved two Englishmen and the Imperial Exchequer. All he wants to do is take it easy and here come more cases waiting for him to be solved. Muzaffar Jang also happens to be a detective - a part-time one but a detective nonetheless. The series of mysteries in...
12:53 PM, Feb 01, 2012
Network18 organised a blog writing competition to mark the Republic Day on the topic "63rd Republic Day India in 1950 vs 2012". The bloggers had to describe how India has evolved since being declared a Republic in just 500 words. Some of the best have been featured here. The third winner of The Network18 Blog Writing Competition: Sharmila Bhowmick FLASH BACK: January 26, 1950. A landmark year in Indian histoy....
05:57 PM, Jan 31, 2012
Network18 organised a blog writing competition to mark the Republic Day on the topic "63rd Republic Day India in 1950 vs 2012". The bloggers had to describe how India has evolved since being declared a Republic in just 500 words. Some of the best have been featured here. The second winner of The Network18 Blog Writing Competition: Jaimon Joseph This December, Jeremy Clarkson of the BBC, flashed an India special...
05:42 PM, Jan 31, 2012
It isn't easy to write by mixing almost two genres together. It takes not only gumption but also some good writing skill. When I first started reading, 'The Reluctant Detective' I did not think much of it. I mean come to think of it, here is an almost bored housewife (well not really bored) and she has the habit of poking her nose in other people's affairs (but obviously -...
03:37 PM, Jan 31, 2012
'The Wednesday Soul' is nothing like you have read before. It is funny, sarcastic, doesn't try too hard, simply written, and a whole lot of afterlife. Yes! You heard that right. The book is about the afterlife, or as the tag line goes, "the afterlife, with sunglasses". The protagonist, Nyra Dubey, dies in the first chapter and thats where the story takes off. Nyra " the infamous vigilante, the Delhiite...
02:54 PM, Jan 31, 2012
The Speech upon Inaugurating the First Kolkata Literary Meet, 26 January 2012 Thank you very much for inviting me this Republic Day to inaugurate the first Kolkata Literary Meet - or KLM - or (most aptly of all) 'Kolom'. By the word 'kolom' I imagine we mean not only the pen but also the typewriter and the computer - in other words, any means of writing. The 'kolom' represents them...
12:23 PM, Jan 30, 2012
'The Artist' is a 2011 French film directed by Michel Hazanavicius, starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo. The story takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining male film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema grows out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies. ...
12:37 PM, Jan 21, 2012
Writing about relationships is not an easy task. The writing has to come from a personal place, known and sometimes unknown to the writer. While reading 'Overwinter', I had mixed feelings - sometimes of joy but mostly of sadness and Ratika Kapur, intelligently has managed to evoke these emotions in her readers. 'Overwinter' is not an easy book to forget. It has been two days since I have finished it...
02:30 PM, Jan 12, 2012
Actor Abhishek Bachchan talks on his latest film and more. Brought to you exclusively by IBNLive in association with Square Elephant Productions. ...
03:56 PM, Jan 09, 2012
I love reading novels centered primarily on women. I need no more than that to engage me while I am reading. So I was surprised when I received a galley from Harper a couple of months ago, titled,'The World We Found' by Thrity Umrigar and I was sucked in to the story from the word, Go. Let me also add here that the book is solely about four friends who...
06:09 PM, Jan 05, 2012
Panaji: From between the mountainous heaps of illegally mined ore and humungous moral craters of political corruption, a nervous Goa peers out in worry as March 3 approaches. A chief minister (Digambar Kamat) and several cabinet ministers have been linked to a multi-crore illegal mining scam. A home minister and his son (Ravi Naik and his son Roy) have been accused of links to the drug mafia by a foreigner...
03:16 PM, Jan 04, 2012
A travelogue according to me is the most difficult to write. How can one capture images, beauty, and memories in a book? How much would it take to conjure every detail on the trips that you have made and the people you have met? I always marvel at the skill of writers who accomplish writing a travelogue to the smallest details. I started reading, 'Hot Tea Across India' on a...
07:09 PM, Jan 03, 2012
'Jerusalem: The Biography' is one of the great reads of the year for me and you should not miss out on reading this one. I have always loved reading anything by Simon Sebag Montefiore. He writes with honesty and passion that is hard to miss. Whether it is about Stalin as a boy and adolescent to Monsters and Heroes, Montefiore does a remarkable job of it. Jerusalem is a true...
06:30 PM, Jan 03, 2012
'Death in Mumbai' by Meenal Baghel is a gripping account of the infamous killing of Neeraj Grover by an aspiring actress Maria Susairaj and her naval boyfriend Emile Jerome. Everyone knows the story and how the killing took place. Everyone knows what happened. Why the need then to chronicle this in a book? That is because no one is aware of how it started and also because one must not...
01:26 PM, Dec 28, 2011
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