Book Review: The Ruby Iyer Diaries by Laxmi Hariharan

Introduction

ASIN: B00NB3CP9C
Genre: Fiction / YA
Publishers: Amazon
Price: Rs. 59/- ( I got the book from Books are Magic for a review)

This novelette is a companion book to The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer. A peek into the soul of an angry, young girl, who will come of age in a city on the verge of total annihilation. Ruby kept a diary from the age of ten till she ran away from home at sixteen. It is from here that I picked out a few diary entries for The Ruby Iyer Diaries. This short series of vignettes from Ruby's life, tells you more a little more about Ruby Iyer's origins.

Behind The book

Source: Goodreads

About the author

A near life experience told Laxmi Hariharan to write...She never stopped. Laxmi is the creator of Ruby Iyer and the Bombay Chronicles (The Destiny of Shaitan). London is where she writes. Bombay is what fuels her imagination.

Me thinks

I have read The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer and loved it. So when I was approached to read this novella there was no way I was saying no. Ruby was someone I have enjoyed and I continue to do so in this book as well.

This book is a prequel to the book I have read and is kind of the story behind what made Ruby the Ruby we saw in that book. I like how she takes us back into time and tries sharing snippets about the character Ruby along with those incidents which make her what she is today.

Complete accolades to the author for doing full justice to it. She manages to make the reader connect with the character so well that for a moment it all feels surreal. The book is very short, some 49 pages and is a perfect weekend read with a nice cup of coffee to pep up your senses pushing you to pick up these series and read them all together.

I bet you will be left asking for more!

Foodie Verdict

This book is like cinnamon ice cream- unique with a lingering taste.

Source: www.deliaonline.com

Movie Review: If by Tathagata Ghosh – A Tender Portrait of Love, Loss, and Possibility

If , a 26-minute short film by acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Tathagata Ghosh, is a sensitive, evocative piece of storytelling that lingers long after the credits roll. Set against the everyday rhythm of life in Kolkata, the film delicately unpacks the story of a lesbian couple torn apart by the weight of societal expectations and dares to imagine a different future, one where a mother's love might just change everything. What struck me first was the film’s raw, grounded realism. The characters feel like people we know, middle-class families navigating a complex world with quiet resilience. The world of If is filled with silences, glances, and stills, rather than heavy dialogue. Ghosh masterfully uses these moments to speak volumes, allowing viewers to sit with discomfort, interpret the unspoken, and feel deeply.

Book Review: The Story of Eve: Selected Poems by Zehra Nigah

Few voices in Urdu poetry have carried the weight of history, resistance, and deep personal introspection quite like Zehra Nigah. One of the first women to break into the traditionally male-dominated world of Urdu poetry, Nigah’s work stands as a testament to the power of words to illuminate, question, and challenge. The Story of Eve: Selected Poems, translated by Rakshanda Jalil, brings together some of her most powerful nazms and ghazals, showcasing both her literary elegance and her unflinching gaze at the human condition, particularly through the lens of gender, social injustice, and political turmoil.

The Urban Gaze : Reimagining the Village in Contemporary Indian Cinema

Indian cinema has long been fascinated with the village. From the earthy, socialist realism of Do Bigha Zamin (1953) to the melodramatic lament of Mother India (1957), the village once stood as both heartland and hinterland — a space of moral clarity, rustic struggle, and often unyielding fate. But as the urban middle class began to dominate cinematic production and consumption, the depiction of the village increasingly came to reflect an urban gaze, that is, a perspective shaped by distance, nostalgia, condescension, or even outright fantasy. In recent years, this urban gaze has taken on new shades, evident in the way mainstream and indie filmmakers alike have re-engaged with rural India. While some have tried to explore the village as a site of resistance, authenticity, or even horror, others continue to reproduce sanitized or exaggerated versions of village life that serve urban sensibilities more than rural realities.

Reviews & Musings

Search This Blog