Backflap: Wonderland of Words

In his new book, Shashi Tharoor takes readers on a tour of the words, concepts and particularities that constitute the wonderland of the English language. He demystifies punctuation, guides through the arcane rules of spelling and grammar, and explains a wide array of essential components of the language. He delves into the history and evolution of English, delights in its quirks, embraces its geographical variants, provides hilarious examples of its misuse, is awed by the way in which the masters of literature use it, and revels in its beauty.

‘A Billion Dreams’ charts the story of college friends Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, who gave up their jobs and started marketing and selling books online. From receiving their first order in October 2007, to joining the unicorn club in 2012, Flipkart galloped into the decacorn stratosphere in 2014. The book documents the audacious imagination of the founders and the managers. It is replete with snippets and findings, making it an engaging read even as it remains heavy on numbers.

The book critiques the poetry and appraises the prose of Urdu poet Anand Narain Mulla. The overriding theme in his work is humanism. In quite a few of his poems, ghazals and essays, he openly scoffs at the divisive standards prescribed by almost all religions. A Kashmiri Pandit born in Lucknow, he was a student of both English and Urdu, but chose the latter when it came to expressing himself. The author says that his name and works are the best argument against the detractors who wish to confine Urdu only to the Muslim quarter.

Major Shatrujeet Kotwal died in a road accident in Pune in 2008. This is a book about grief, written by a sister lamenting the loss of her beloved brother and how his untimely demise affected not only his immediate family, including his wife and posthumously born son, but also his friends and colleagues. Drawing from old letters, childhood memories, and conversations with friends, colleagues and family members, she paints an inspiring portrait of her brother — the schoolboy, the son and sibling, the husband, the braveheart soldier.