Reviews & Musings

Introduction ISBN:  978-8129145604 Genre:  Poetry / Urdu Publishers:  Rupa Publishing Price:  Rs. 299/-  ( I got the book for review from the  publisher ) Poetry is not merely a play of words but a serious spiritual exercise whose very being is pledged to the comprehension of the self and the universe. Good poetry is not possible in the absence of the flame of love because it is this light that tears apart the mist of obscurity surrounding the secrets of the universe. Shorn of the mist, the details become vibrant and the poet becomes aware of the enigma of reality. Tishnagi: The Thirst, Minu’s first book, garnered her unstinting praise from connoisseurs of Urdu poetry and hardened critics as well.Mauj-e-Saraab (Waves of Illusion), her second book of Urdu ghazals, is a manifestation of the various hues of the pageant of love and passion. It is the figurative expression of the tableaux of worldly spectacles that according to her is nothing but wav...

Introduction ISBN:  9789386228314 Genre:  Crime, Thriller & Mystery Publishers:  Juggernaut Price:  Rs. 499/-  ( I got the book for review from the  publisher ) "Kumar evokes [Mumbai] with lyrical prose." -- Publishers Weekly Included in Publishers Weekly's Crime Fiction feature on police corruption and brutality. "A melancholy cop's obsessions are just the tip of the iceberg as he leads a two-fisted team determined to clean up Mumbai's mean streets...Kumar's style, blunt but often by turns poetic and droll, is arresting...As unusual as it is compelling, this entry lays the groundwork for an entertaining series." -- Kirkus Reviews "[A] gripping thriller...Kumar has created some thoroughly intriguing characters...but the most fascinating of Kumar’s characters is Mumbai itself--enormous, crowded, hyperactive, roiling, stunningly rich and grindingly poor, and teeming with almost unfathomable energy. International-crime fans shou...

Introduction ISBN: 978-9386021007 Genre: Fiction  Publishers: Aleph Book Company Price: Rs. 599/-  ( I got the book for review from the publisher ) The Lovers is about a man in search of a love story. This man, our narrator, is Kailash—a new immigrant, eager to shine. His friends teasingly call him Kalashnikov and sometimes AK-47, even AK. In his account of his years at a university in New York, AK takes us through the bittersweet arc of youth and love. There is discovery and disappointment. There are the brilliant women, Jennifer and Nina and Cai Yan. There is the political texture of campus life and the charismatic professor overseeing these young men and women, Ehsaan Ali (modelled on the real-life Eqbal Ahmad) manifest in AK’s first years and first loves is the wild enthusiasm of youth, its idealism, chaotic desires and confusions. A decidedly modern novel that melds story and reportage, anecdote and annotation, picture and text, fragment and essay, The Lover...