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Nonika Singh Partition through the lens of cinema… undeniably, John W Hood’s book is a deeply understood and felt account of the tumultuous and tragic period of Indian history. On the face of it, the incredibly well-researched work may appear...

Malvika Kaul Theatre actor-director and film personality Maharaj Krishna Raina (popular as MK Raina) has a long and vivid memory, and one is grateful for it. For, his record of experiences, ‘Before I Forget — A Memoir’, captures some significant...

Manu Moudgil Can one live without pursuit, without curiosity and the desire to reach somewhere? That’s how most of our ancestors lived before modern civilisation made human beings think of ourselves as special and carrying a purpose. Many continue to...

M Rajivlochan This costly book unearths a lot of excellent information on the sociology of knowledge associated with Ayurveda in the early 20th century. Then, it annotates the information with disjointed, decontextualised tropes connected with caste, religion and gender even...

Manisha Gangahar Writings on India’s Partition often bear stark human brutality and trauma, but Soumitra Banerji’s ‘Liminal Tides’ takes a step back and then a leap forward to tell the tale of the times leading to the ‘midnight fury’ and...

Salil Misra India’s transition to modern times was laced with nuances of its own political and social structure. The book on the rulers of Loharu, by Rakhshanda Jalil, highlights two important features of this transition, as it tells the story...

Scaling Upby Zai Whitaker.Juggernaut. Pages 333. Rs 599 Zafar Futehally’s daughter and Salim Ali’s niece, Zai Whitaker was born into the perfect backdrop to become a conservationist. Along with her ex-husband Romulus Whitaker, they made great strides in the field...

Debashish Mukerji December 5, 1943, was a Sunday, but my grandfather, with some pending work to complete, was all set to leave for his office in Calcutta’s Dalhousie Square (today, Kolkata’s BBD Bagh). Just then, however, his son —...

Dinesh C Sharma In recent months, new technological applications like ChatGPT and chatbots like Gemini and Bing have made Artificial Intelligence (AI) almost a household name. The AI technology now comes integrated with mobile phone cameras, browsers and other...

Harjinder Singh Death is sure to prevail one day/ Why am I then unable to sleep all night.— Mirza Ghalib Kaala, I’m your rival: You never fail/ I dwell undefeated in you/ Thus I immerse in your soul.— Shamsher Bahadur...

Manu Moudgil Earth remains an ever-evolving entity, sculpted by the forces of nature over millennia. Among these forces, seismic activity stands out as a natural phenomenon we know the least about. The mysterious nature of earthquakes makes them the most...

Neera Chandhoke This is a charming and readable memoir of the remarkable Brinda Karat, who successfully made the transition from an upper-class, English-speaking, charismatic young woman to a full-time activist of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In working class...

River Prince: Ponniyin Selvan-3by Kalki. Translated by Nandini Krishnan.Westland. Pages 328. Rs 399 Why is Arulmozhi Varman, the dazzling prince of the Chozha dynasty, called ‘Ponniyin Selvan’? Can he unravel the web of conspiracies and betrayals within his own family...

Publishing house Aleph’s latest bouquet of books for the young ones has four very different offerings. One is the classic tale of ‘Kabuliwala’ by Rabindranath Tagore, the other is ‘The Hoopoe on the Lawn’ by children’s favourite author Ruskin Bond....

Rajnish Wattas It’s mostly the rebel who transforms the established canons of art in any era. He challenges the existing norms to pursue his own inner calling, notwithstanding the opposition and suffering that come along with the new unsettling...

Maninder Sidhu Anjali Deshpande’s translation of her Hindi novella, ‘Hatya’ (2019), evocatively titled ‘Nobody Lights a Candle’, is a pacy ‘touchable tale’ of deep-rooted structural prejudices in Indian society. It is a crime story that boldly delves into biases...

Salil Misra INdian people’s struggle against the British was truly multi-faceted. Indians fought through non-cooperation, open defiance, underground violence and by courting imprisonment. There are also some notable examples where people fought the British by challenging their might in...

Rakesh Kochhar Dr Soumya Swaminathan, a respected figure in the field of medical research in the country, had headed the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for over two years before she became a household name as the chief...

Aradhika Sharma IF the Indian village perishes, India will too.” These words by Mahatma Gandhi hold great significance. As per the 2011 census, India has 6,49,481 villages, with 70 per cent of the country’s population residing in them. Villages are...