The Letters of John F. Kennedy
There is scarcely a world leader whose life and times have been under such a global scanner than the assassinated US President, John F Kennedy. With the exception of, most probably, Adolf Hitler. A colourful man in every sense, JFK has evoked extreme feelings among the Americans. However, he was probably the only one among his peers who commanded some sort of respect in the opposition base as well. And that speaks a lot.
Me and My Plays
Reading a play can never be never quite as exciting as watching one. A dramatic work is after all essentially crafted for performance on the proscenium stage and, therefore, the characters do not spring out of the pages at you the way they would if actors were to impersonate them in flesh and blood.
The First Muslim
When Lesley Hazleton, an agnostic Jewish female and a journalist, decided to write down the biography of Prophet Muhammad, it did raise certain eyebrows....
Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography
Hundreds of biographies have been written on Mahatma Gandhi since his assassination in 1948. Leaders, writers and historians have poured millions of words.....
40 Retakes
Selecting only 40 Hindi films that are lost in the mist of time could not have been a cakewalk. But reading 40 Retakes – Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed – is a breeze. The list may be debatable but the intention of the exercise certainly isn’t.
On The Trail of Genghis Khan
Westerners lap-up Genghis Khan with almost same fervour as Easterners warm up to Alexander. And it is not too off the mark to say that both of them incite far lesser enthusiasm in their respective spheres of globe.
Jeeves And The Wedding Bells
PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Bertie Wooster are probably the most celebrated characters of 20th century English literature. In the six decades that they jointly entertained generations of readers, they did not show any sign of ageing.
Flora
Amongst the many things, Flora is, it is most pronouncedly an account of how your childhood changes shape when you are in it, and when you look back at it years later as an adult.
Grand Delusions
Few readers would be aware of the existence of a man named Kartick Chandra Paul. In his 70s today, the Class 8 dropout from Howrah continues to believe in a ‘discovery’ that he made way back in 1962 – ‘the sun goes around the Earth once in a year’.
Solo: A James Bond Novel
Accra-born novelist and screenwriter William Boyd knew James Bond inside out. But when commissioned by the Ian Fleming estate to write a new....
An Unglamorous Revolutionary
Without belittling the efforts of revolutionaries all over the world, one must admit that when it comes to giving it back to the US neo-imperialism....
MANY PUNJABS
In the year 2005, while Rajmohan Gandhi was in Pakistan interviewing people for his encyclopedic effort to chronicle Punjab and it’s long history, he received a message from a woman who insisted...
A 'TURF' LIFE: ON AND OFF THE FIELD
At the very beginning of this review, I need to give a disclosure. I am a member of Liverpool FC Fan Club for close to a decade now. A paid member at that. And thus, to review....
Barons of Banking
Since currency became medium of exchange for delivery of goods and services, banks have played a crucial role in shaping the life of individuals, communities, institutions, nations and their economies for a long time now.
The Hundred Names of Darkness
For readers that were mesmerized by the adventures of the stray cats of Nizamuddin in Nilanjana Roy’s debut novel (The Wildings), it can only be good news that the much anticipated sequel is out not all that long after they put down the first book. It has only been a year or thereabouts.
Issue Dated: Feb 5, 2017
