'Criti....que not Criti....cize'

Karna's Wife: The Outcast's Queen by Kavita Kané My rating: 4 of 5 stars After reading Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Draupadi's version of the Mahabharata, for the first time in life, my interest in Mahabharata had been evoked! I saw another dimension to the entire patriarchal setup where the supposedly 'good' side turned 'evil' in different ways. Thankfully, Ajaya by Anand Neelakantan came my way pretty soon and now this. It has enriched my experience of the great epic. It also helped in reliving the Sunday episodes of Mahabharata that used to be a family affair years ago.The characters played by the actors remains imprinted on my mind even after all these years and their images remain crystal clear in my mind even though television sets in those days didn't come with Crystal Clear Technology that they often boast about today. I was too young to understand the complexities of the plot then. But today, I appreciate the...

The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan My rating: 5 of 5 stars When I started reading this one, I really thought it was one of those books containing ramblings of an ad agency's poor lamb, ranting about the crazy ad world with a 'get-it-done-ASAP' boss. Little did I know that I would be forsaking all my other work to turn the pages of this one, so soon! The reason why I loved this book is because of its storytelling style peppered with enough humour to tickle your funny bone in the unlikeliest situation, in the most unexpected way. NZ= New Zealand. Poor Zoya! How was she supposed to know that it would mean something more than that? When I saw its cover, I freaked out wondering how I would make a head or tail out of this story because what I read was- 'All's fair in Love and Cricket'. Yes, Cricket. Well, I do belong to a country that breathes Cricket and the game's spirit couldn't have been described better than by the author of this book. K...

And We Remained by Asad Ali Junaid My rating: 4 of 5 stars And We Remained... - an apt title with a cover that summarizes the entire book, but not until you read all of it do you actually realize how each word is a snapshot taken strategically from the book and placed on the cover. The seamless transition from one phase to another is remarkable and I found it very innovative. Moreover, it keeps the reader asking for more. What I also liked was the effective infusion of 'gyaan' about the technological development that took place in the 1990s within the story. The progression from the email era to Facebook and LinkedIn was something that I could connect with. There were many instances where I could connect with the story. Even the songs mentioned in the book made me smile. What seems like another tale of college life and its reminiscence in the beginning turns out to be much more than it, mostly because of the way the author has brought everything together. The re...

The Hidden Letters... by Purba Chakraborty My rating: 3 of 5 stars Many shades of colours, a pair of eyes that try to speak so much and that thoughtful, longing gaze that seems to be looking at us and yet towards a distant past or an uncertain future... The paper that seems burnt at the edges resembling an old piece of paper with a face that speaks and yet says not a word! The cover of the book pulled me towards it from the moment I laid my eyes on it. The best thing about the book is the title which is also the suspense element of the story. The author has tried her level best to maintain the suspense for quite long until the reader is ready to know it, bit by bit. True love or first love? Peace or happiness? The reader would grapple with these questions at some point while reading the book. The amazing maturity with which the author has dealt with the characters of her story is worth appreciation. Some grammatical errors apart, this book is worth a read. The is...

Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat My rating: 2 of 5 stars A book that created waves Photo Courtesy:https://www.facebook.com/chetanbhagat.fanpage even before its release and a book that garnered eyeballs even from the non-readers for a line that was shocking to be read in print at a place and time when worse lines are uttered in almost every street by the roadside romeos at unsuspecting victims, Chetan Bhagat managed to strike a chord with that part of the society that tends to be ignored by many English language authors- the so-called less fluent English knowing readers. I have read all of his books except What Young India Wants and somehow I found this one shallow in its content and I guess this one was written with a Bollywood adaptation of the same in mind. I wonder if that was the reason for this comparative lack of depth in the tale. I felt that Madhav's mother's character could have been better described in the 'Chetan Bhagat way'. Was Amrit...

The City of Palaces by Sujata Massey My rating: 4 of 5 stars Bengal, 1930. For an Indian reader born in the 1990s, it became a throwback into an era that could only be imagined from the countless tales of the freedom struggle. This book is a moving account of a young girl who loses her family in a devastating flood and then goes on to explain the way she surged forward through many life-changing tides in her life and finally found her rightful place in a world where she was made to believe she had nothing worthwhile! Elucidating details of the freedom struggle is unlike the monotonous writings that usually form a part of our History textbooks. This book instead becomes a great way of exactly getting a feel of life in India for a young girl as she embarked upon the journey of life with her instincts and so-called kind looking people. The reader would be delighted to find how inspite of all her ordeals she somehow sails through the journey of life. What is worth noting is...

Resemblance - The Journey of a Doppelganger by Arti Honrao My rating: 2 of 5 stars The story kept hinting of having some connection with Mumbai, India. Even though there isn't a mention of it, some part of me was adamant that this had to do something with Mumbai. When I turned to the last page and read about the author, Arti Honrao, I said- 'Bingo!!'. So she is a Mumbaikar afterall. Maybe it was just intuition or plain co-incidence that a Mumbaikar recognized another by her written work but then the story itself manages to create a framework through things like- a 'connect' between a mother and child, a future prediction specialist, a grand plan, destiny and the like. The book traces the journey of Sneha from falling in love (at first sight), becoming her love interest's wife's doppelganger and ultimately freeing herself from that in a way she would never have imagined as possible.One usually tends to fall in love with the one reflected in th...