tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129799122026-10-13T16:28:32.881-04:00Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.comBlogger345125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-34145696066120226452019-04-27T08:28:00.000-04:002019-04-27T08:28:14.873-04:00

Nostalgia? A landscape of memories  sweet and sour. So close to heart  and yet so farMany a hot summers Of sheer joy and fun The pitter patter of  Tiny wet feet tiptoeing on a burning hot patioRushing into blue waterswith squeals of laughterFighting for floats n noodles, avoiding the pine needles.Dreading that first raindrop That'd bring all play to a stop Amid moans

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-57306445272105078882019-02-02T17:53:00.001-05:002019-04-26T11:28:40.712-04:00

It is the end of the road.Now paved and tarred.Yet, once it was not.Was but a precious clearingIn the clutter of lifewhen strangers metand walked untrodden groundsnot once, not twice, but several times,and a path was bornrandom and untold.Would it live?Youth fell prey and couldn't resist the romance of the forbidden.The path seemed a gatewayto promised pleasuresof a fairytale future;so it

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-205530192211693932017-11-27T19:44:00.001-05:002017-11-27T19:49:22.634-05:00

An American coming-of-age story simply told and yet if captures the audience like never before. Greta Gerwig's protagonist Lady Bird belongs to a middle class American family that is struggling to keep afloat financially.  While her parents are trying to make ends meet, Lady Bird is on a mission to find her individuality.  She does this in very bold ways even as she acknowledges and

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-54099126392285893632017-08-09T17:16:00.002-04:002017-08-09T17:16:32.315-04:00

What is it about romance that makes this world more palatable, even rosier! Helen Simonson's novel "The Last Stand of Major Pettigrew" does just that. It looks at racial tensions, gender disparity, old age, and a dysfunctional family unit with humor and empathy, and that is what makes the novel so enchanting.  The story revolves around an unlikely and disapproved liaison between a

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-71363293115878920412017-01-08T14:22:00.000-05:002017-01-08T14:37:22.476-05:00

I watched three very different movies in this last one month and surprisingly liked all three. The first one was in Marathi, the language spoken in the state of Maharashtra in Western India, the second one was a science fiction in English, and the third one was also in English, but the movie was set across two continents. Diverse and widespread the movie making world might be, yet how similar

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-32998911431915823932016-08-31T11:57:00.000-04:002016-08-31T11:57:17.228-04:00

Nature Shows 'How' in a Post-Brexit World Living in a post-Brexit world, I wonder at the 'Live Oak Genus' Resplendent in olive green attire with wildly flung out arms, never one to reach the skies, it's spread laterally afar. Often alone is this 'beech', in abandonment perhaps. Mirroring its populace its bearded visage. Not seeking friends nor wanting foes; it is a recluse of sorts. Indolently

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-7689087068715097912016-03-31T15:27:00.001-04:002016-03-31T15:27:54.898-04:00

"The Moors Account" by Moroccan American Laila Lalami is a captivating read. Written in the historical fiction genre, the novel is based on the voyage chronicles of  Panfilo de Narvaez in the 1520s. The narrator in this novel is Estebanico, a Moor and also the first black slave of the white world, who accompanied his Spanish masters on an exploratory mission during the era of colonial

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-62538529489201698062016-02-14T23:16:00.001-05:002016-02-14T23:16:57.863-05:00

Ever so embellished,and so decoratedwith hearts and red roses.It thrills andit thralls;at times hard gotten,and so oftenill begotten.Yet who can resist it?Not even the mighty Zeuscould manage to repulse it.Compelling to the pointthat it'd launch a thousand ships.History pays tribute to it,with Taj's, tombs, and minarets.Art stands in servitudewith a Picasso or a John Donne.Song and rhythm play to

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-48932349084027096552016-01-26T16:09:00.000-05:002016-01-26T16:09:58.950-05:00

I had seen this novel on my mother's bookshelf, decades ago, in another language, so when I came across a translation of Khandekar's "Yayati-A Classic Tale of Lust" on Amazon, I had to read it. Yayati is a 'Puranic' King from Hindu Mythology who lived for a thousand years in eternal youth after exchanging his old age with his son's youth. Married to the beautiful Devyani, daughter of the

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-76165379711623974282016-01-25T11:13:00.000-05:002016-01-25T11:13:09.434-05:00

Populus tremuloides - a role model of maturity. It feeds and shades both prey and predator. It reproduces in abundance. Yields when needed, all for the larger good. Shows up to deliver in the direst of straits. It quakes, it bends, but won't let go. Avalanches and glaciers- It'll brave both and reemerge to beckon others to grow. It's shiny leaves do its story tell. They shimmy and shiver quake

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-12097321208125742462015-09-07T21:30:00.002-04:002015-09-07T21:32:38.690-04:00

(Syrian refugees - www.humanrightshouse.org) The refugee crisis in Europe affects the entire world, and yet the world watches in a stand-by mode. Why?  Is it because we are ill informed about the crisis? Is the media playing a responsible role of keeping the world informed about what's happening on the ground in Syria and thereabouts, or is the tussle for supremacy between the social

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-58504146033205439902015-08-20T16:25:00.002-04:002015-08-20T16:25:31.987-04:00

Night Train to Lisbon is a movie I'd recommend for those who are in the fall of their lives. The movie is an introspective yet random journey undertaken by  Raimund Gregorius, a close-to-retirement Swiss Classics Professor who has immersed himself, totally, in a world of philosophy and books. He is divorced, childless, and friendless, perhaps for a reason. It is a reason

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-1166493987717756652015-08-18T16:03:00.001-04:002015-08-19T17:21:59.729-04:00

What a read!  I was completely captivated by the story line!  I couldn’t sleep until I knew whether Mark Watney made it home. Andy Weir’s 2011 novel The Martian is a Sci-Fi novel with a difference.  It’s not one of those dystopic sagas, nor does it present a future phobic vision of life with automated life forms.  Here is a story of a lone man's survival in the cold and

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-1356565572404409352015-07-16T14:28:00.001-04:002015-07-16T14:32:37.939-04:00

Kamila Shamsie's 'Burnt Shadows' is simply brilliant storytelling with some very rich and evocative language. "Do you know I've been here a dozen times, but I've never known anything about who built it or why. My history is your picnic ground," he said.. “How to explain to the earth that it was more functional as a vegetable patch than a flower garden, just as factories were more

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-74018509723508805472015-06-30T13:28:00.001-04:002015-06-30T13:46:16.871-04:00

A simple story that's simply told - Amulya Malladi's "Serving Crazy With Curry". A dear friend of mine brought me a few Indian Literary treats, as she called it, from her recent recent trip to India, and Malladi's novel was one of them. Having read a couple of her other novels, "Sound of Language" being the most recent, I was eager to read this one even though, to my disappointment, it was one of

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-57535607608849109132015-06-29T15:48:00.004-04:002015-06-29T15:57:12.298-04:00

Which one comes first to a writer, the theme or the story? I always imagine it's the story that is born first; the theme is embedded almost subconsciously by the storyteller.  However, is that always the case?  And when it isn't, does that impact the quality of the end product, be it a short story, a novel, or a drama?   Divakaruni's novel

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-6813639273665108362015-03-05T11:17:00.000-05:002015-04-24T16:07:38.459-04:00

What he is, is but a fast fading shadow of what he was and has been: A feisty forester. A father A stalwart sportsman. A survivor A botanist breadwinner. A bulwark An energetic life-lover. A yogi A powerhouse protector. A parent My rational, proud, and dependable Pappa; the stoic, an omniscient presence in my life. 

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-8268301939478743842015-02-17T16:03:00.000-05:002015-02-17T16:03:02.263-05:00

As winter storm "Octavia" blasted all across the North East and covered us in a blanket of snow and sleet, I couldn't think of a better thing to do than watch a Hugh Grant movie. I was pleasantly surprised to find a movie of his I hadn't seen! Given that I have watched all Hugh Grant movie numerous times over, finding a movie of his that I had not seen was like finding a treasure. Hugh

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-22299843984901658832014-11-23T18:34:00.002-05:002014-11-23T19:03:53.310-05:00

I read an excerpt from Akhil Sharma's new novel "Family Life" in the New Yorker a while ago, and right then I knew that I wanted to read more of his writings; it was so distinctly different. As a result, I added Akhil Sharma on my starred 'to read' list. Luckily for me, only a few months thereafter, someone presented me a signed copy of Akhil Sharma's  "Family Life"  bought at an

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-85615041600600583562014-11-07T22:11:00.001-05:002014-11-23T21:30:19.238-05:00

Suketu Mehta's Maximum City is a kaleidoscope on Mumbai at the turn of the century. This kaleidoscope, though vivid and engaging, appears to have a diaspora bias to it. Mr Mehta has very deliberately selected to explore and present the most salient and perhaps the most sale able facets of Mumbai, India's city of dreams. Mehta's novel is a collage of his experiences in Mumbai that capture

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-56828522263189576202014-08-19T11:11:00.000-04:002014-11-10T11:13:23.369-05:00

Delhi has been the capital of India for several hundred years. Even when India was ruled by the British and the Mughals, Delhi was the capital, though under different names. Clearly, Delhi has been a privileged city in the Indian subcontinent for at least two hundred years. However, for an outsider it is a challenge to figure out why Delhi continues to enjoy this privilege

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-57973981549406690332014-07-30T02:52:00.001-04:002014-07-30T08:41:22.978-04:00

An aggressive-malignant tumor,the cancer of dependency surreptitiously saps the shreds of human dignity.Stage one:decision making slowly impairedand problem solving undermined.Brooding over what could've beena sure symptom, but overlooked.Stage two:Your world has shrunkand the cancer's grown.With fewer friends and even fewer needs.A routine offood, sleep, defecation, andzero

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-56396115736334314862014-05-26T17:07:00.001-04:002014-05-26T17:07:38.573-04:00

It was a Thursday night, and I was at a viewing of Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town". No doubt, I would much rather have gone on a weekend, but I couldn't, since I bought the tickets at the last minute. I could have and should have bought them earlier because "Our Town" was a play I have always wanted to see, and this time it was being staged by a renowned director and right in my

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-13713489213559017792014-02-17T18:07:00.000-05:002014-03-07T17:30:39.539-05:00

Taiye Selasi’s novel “Ghana Must Go” tells an engrossing story, but one that is complexly told. The characters are delectable, and grow on the reader, even those that make some out of character choices.  The setting shifts from Accra to Lagos to Boston, and it is distracting at times, but each one is beautifully nuanced by the lyrical quality of Selasi’s writing. The plot is so

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12979912.post-37943221339058291502014-02-14T18:20:00.002-05:002014-02-14T18:20:03.245-05:00

Penning what he feels passionately for, or passionately penning what he feels. Carried on a whirlwind of words, his ideas may not always please.   As daggers in music painfully pleasing, or caveat colors daintily defying will myriad magical merengues churn on a Tintern Abbey or perhaps a Grecian urn.     'Beauty is truth, truth beauty” will art in posterity

Id it ishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10933156607975500727noreply@blogger.com0