A parable in smart prose, wrapped in enigmatic magic realism

The story barges through all barriers of time...

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 Khushwant Singh: A haloed visage with warts and all

He changed the face of journalism in India

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 Adoor Gopalakrishnan: Ambivalent, silent endings are his forte

He changed the language of cinema, nay, the cinematic paradigms...

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 Understanding Guru Dutt through Abrar Alvi's Eyes

When a cinematic genius teams up with a talented writer and ideator a series of masterpieces is created.

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 A review of Noam Chomsky's Hopes and Prospects

A trenchant critique of Uncle Sam’s duplicity

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 Time Riders: A thrilling ride across time

In Time Riders - first in new sc-fi thriller series - Scarrow has skillfully merged the concepts/imaginations related to modern as well as futuristic technologies with the conventional time travel narrative ideas - going back in past or visiting the future. This novel for young adults has a very exciting plot which is pegged on the notion that if one could change the past it would affect the present and future conditions.

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 A role model for wannabe winners

Bhawani Cheerath reviews a "Splendid Biography" which can inspire the eannabes and impress them with the author's remarkable candour.

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 Straddling Identities

Bhawani, a Trivandrum based freelance journalist and book critic, has provided an insightful and comprehensive review of Aatish Taseer's "A Stranger to History". Her conclusions are thought provoking.

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 Sanskrit love story: keeping the flavor intact

In fact, like most of the classic Sanskrit stories, Kadambari too is a multi-layered narrative with story-within-a-story format. Everything connects eventually even as you enjoy the surfeit of alankaras, i.e., ornate metaphors and similes peppered with hyperbolic descriptions of valour, beauty, wisdom and other qualities of various persons, places and things.

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 The absorbing parable on self-discovery

The narrative is absorbing. The gradual manner in which Diana sheds her ego ("kills" her "self") and rediscovers her true self impels one to read the book from first page to the last.

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 Fashioning the healthcare superstructure

India records the largest number of oral cancer patients and diabetics in the world. With 5.1 million HIV/AIDS cases (likely to increase threefold by 2015) it is second only to South Africa. With a world population share of 16.5% it contributes 20% of the diseases. It fares no better when compared to Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh. Against Sri Lanka's infant mortality rate of only 8 per thousand India's is 68! The under-5 mortality rate in India is 87 per thousand compared to Bangladesh's 69. The WHO attributes 60% of all deaths in India to chronic diseases.

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 Pacy, intriguing and thrilling

Dan Brown seems to have perfected the formula for writing bestsellers. Take ladleful of established facts, real institutions and persons, add dollops of myths and legends, cook it on the simmering heat of suspense, garnish it with action and serve the resultant dish as cathartic climax in a beautifully crafted narrative. This time it is an explosive mix of Noetic Science, Freemasonry, murder, mystery and action.

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 The Da Vinci Code

This is one of those books that can be read at several levels. You can read it as a whodunit to while away your time at the airport, railway station or while waiting for your turn at the dentist’s. You can treat it as a literary tour de force and marvel at the simplicity of the language, the sophistication of the plot - not to mention the cerebral contents - and the manner in which various characters come alive on its pages. It is also possible to consider it as a rather brilliant attempt at research involving multidisciplinary approach. Read it any which way you want to, this book is gonna linger in your memory for a long long time.

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 Of Media, violence and prejudice

Thukral has attempted to study the media’s role and impact on various issues that have had an enduring influence in the evolution of the global village with specific reference to India. He points out how Americans have used this powerful opinion making tool for demonizing its opponents in the international arena - be it Khrushchev or Saddam Hussein. In fact, media has also been used by Americans in manipulating public opinion on such issues as its war against Islamic terrorism even as it uses the same media to camouflage its geo-strategic and economic agendas for carrying out mindless violence against smaller nations. In India, too, the state has successfully used media to manipulate public opinion ...

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 The history of the evolution of Indian electronic media

Satellite television is one of the most obvious manifestations of globalization. Its technological capabilities have been adapted in unforeseen ways but debates on globalization, media and cultural impact have struggled to keep up with the pace of innovation.

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 Resurrecting the ‘geography of hope’

"Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed... For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope." This warning from conservationist Wallace Stegner is timely considering the fact that 78 million acres of forest land and 50,000 species of life forms are destroyed annually. Apart from countless species of flora, insects and microbes there are only 26,000 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians known to science. And what a precious wealth it is!

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 Developing political brands

India is a country of breathtaking complexities – ethnic, linguistic, cultural and geographical. Socio-economically too there are humongous disparities – the stages of development range from pre-historic to ultra-modern, with a significant size of population wallowing in medievalism. This creates a situation where political marketing becomes a problem

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 Examining the function of Indian Constitution

This book not only traces the history of modern India’s democratic functioning but also provides us with the details of the Constitution and its evolution over a period of time – elucidating the nature and functioning of its various institutions like the executive, the judiciary, the Planning Commission etc in text book format. It also briefly touches upon such topics as the Panchayati Raj, the evolution of Indian Administration etc and such burning issues like religion and politics, social justice, economic reforms, gender and environment.

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 Turning fables into sound practical advice

Norgaard has reinterpreted some of Andersen’s more famous fairy tales, using them as parables for modern day workplace

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 Understanding Hinduism and its complexities

This narrative is devoid of the usual USPs of a chronicle. No grand gestures of megalomaniac potentates, no spectacular achievements of conquerors, no spine chilling intrigues and other such ingredients that make a narrative so spicy. Yet this book keeps you absorbed for days together as you go through the making of Hindu civilization as it exists today.

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