Confessions: Of favoritism and nepotism

As a reviewer I come across many instances when I am asked, “Please recommend a good read.” Though it does sound very flattering for me this question in itself is a bit unnerving. For me reading is a very personal thing to an extent that I am very possessive about my books. When someone asks me this my first reaction is that of surprise and then my mind starts analyzing. What do I recommend now, does she seem to be someone who would like romance? What if I recommend something and she finds it too dumb for her taste, will it make her judge me based on that and worse will she judge my reviews as well?

Source: Google Images

*Gulp* that is scary! I try to ask politely, “Any specific genre that you really enjoy reading!” I want to tread on a safe path and not overturn the whole basket of choicest expletives on me and my books. “Ah! I read everything. You just give me some names and I will get them.” To be honest such readers are risky because they don’t know what they like they read everything and anything. They are someone who go by the most read books and best sellers list to decide their buy-of-the-month. And here there is me, who loves to go through book shops painstakingly for hours together. Sometimes crunching on my knees to catch sight of that little brown book on the last shelf just because its title looks alluring.

For me finding a good book is like unearthing a treasure while this person here is right now treating a book like a commodity on the shelves of a super market store which can be picked in a random moment without much thought behind it. Such people do scare me. As a reviewer I do have the privilege of getting some amazing books to read but I do have my personal choices when it comes to my personal library. When I am reading them it is like having a conversation with an old friend, they trigger my senses and awaken the sleeping muse in my tiny brain. Like I always say the perks of being a voracious reader and a writer is you are never alone. In your mind you are always having a party with your fictitious character. And here we have this lovely lady who wants to read a book because, “Everyone is talking about it at my work place and I so don’t want to sound dumb or out of place in the conversation. I want to add my own opinion there and nod in agreement. “

Somehow to me talking about books comes naturally and I have no qualms in accepting that I don’t enjoy reading a particular author who otherwise is very famous. It’s a personal choice and it no way defines me as a person. Yes I love reading and talking about books but I don’t enjoy talking about them for the sake of it all. They are my first love. When you talk about your love you do get starry eyed and cannot stand someone talk anything against it right? So, for the next time we meet can we just skip this topic of favoritism and nepotism…. please?

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.

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