Deep Ties

A girl muses over her own reflection on a highly polished table, an image which stays with you while you read her story. After the book is read, you continue to see the image, even as its poignancy hits you. For Onaatah – of the earth, portrayed through the sensitive pen of Paulami DuttaGupta is a narrative dedicated to the daughters of the earth, many of whom go through the throes of suffering, and emerge, phoenix-like, stronger than ever. The process is difficult, the path thorny, but often, their own strength, and the strength of those around, aid them to regain their faith in humanity. So it is with Onaatah, an overworked nurse, with a non-existent social life, who remarks that good old Shillong “is the most peaceful city I could think of”.  She has everything to look forward to... a satisfying career, Peter, her  fiancé , who appears to dote on her and a hazy idea of overturning the tradition of having her husband live in her house after marriage. They decide to live i

CANTILEVERED TALES  (From the Readomania stable) When Jayant Kripalani agreed to answer a few questions of mine, I was elated for two main reasons. In our salad days, my friends and I would watch him avidly in TV serials like Khandaan and Mr ya Mrs, and swoon over his clipped accent and charm. We even enjoyed his ‘gale mein kich kich’ Vicks advertisement! J Secondly, I was quite sure that his responses to my questions would be far from run-of-the-mill, and I was not disappointed. He still retains the witty humour he was so well known for. If you feel that I have a smile on my face when I say this, do go ahead and enjoy his tongue-in-cheek answers. A certain TV host might not smile, though! J And so, off we go... 1. Theatre, advertisements, films, books, corporate training... you have done it all! Which one of these did you enjoy the most ? Hard to tell! One got so completely involved in whatever one was doing;  some uncertainty creeps in at the thought of

My daughter would dub me Captain Obvious! ISRO has done it again! Their latest satellite has gone up with appropriate fanfare, well deserved, as it travels along its pre-determined path with precision. This satellite will boost the capability of the Indian Armed Forces to keep a hawk’s eye on hostile territory. It will also give a fillip to vital areas of urban management and planning, crop maintenance, and provide high-resolution images of a world that persists in growing smaller, if not friendlier! This is ISRO’s sixth eye, as our scientists grow more professional and precise with every launch, creating moments of immense pride and honour for every Indian. So, my daughter would dub me ‘Captain Obvious’. Why do I wax eloquent on a topic that is so in the public eye, one that needs no introduction? Of course, we puff out our chests and laud ourselves for the diligence and the dedication of our scientists. Unfortunately, we tend to puff up our chests and vent our emotio

“You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star”.                                                                                 Friedrich Nietzsche Maliny Mohan has chosen to make chaos the hero of her maiden anthology titled ‘The Inimitable Chaos of Life’. Her fourteen stories bring to life most of the emotions known to mankind, each one exploring the depths of the very fountainhead of life.  The love that a brother and sister share in the tender ‘Sara’ sets the tone for the tales that follow, as the reader settles down, all set to be shaken and stirred. ‘Metamorphosis’ talks about how even a hardened criminal can experience a change of heart in a world that is responsible for having made him what he is. Anita and Abhay come alive in ‘Through the Kaleidoscope’, both caught in a web of misunderstanding. Anita felt that people influenced her in different ways. “Some made her smile, some made her cry” and some others reduced “her soul to grey

“Life sucks when you don’t look like everybody else.” Pamela is half Bengali, half American, born of parents who clashed over a plate of spicy chicken tikka. The clash led to a storybook romance, and life could not have been rosier. However, the reality lies elsewhere. Pamela is the quintessential fat girl, who goes through a large part of her life hating her appearance and just living with her repulsive fat self. Endowed with hazel eyes, long eyelashes and a slim but cute nose, she finds that all her attributes get swallowed up in the reality of her extra-large size. She has mastered the art of living the fat girl life, as she puts it. “Life was more about hiding the hugeness.” Her mean sister, Mona, does little to boost her self-confidence, often siding with her detractors to poke fun at her. To add insult to injury, Mona is small and slim, having inherited “good genes from (our) parents and ancestors.” To combat her loneliness, Pamela creates her own family a

Bliss was it in the dawn to be alive... Santosh Bakaya’s latest offering, ‘Flights from my Terrace’, is replete with good humour, bonhomie and joie de vivre. Her book is divided into three sections, each of which can be seen as a treasure trove of memories that brighten our lives and irradiate our mundane existence. Ms. Bakaya’s favourite spot in her home is her terrace, where she sits, completely at peace, as the birds warble around her. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, a winged chariot arrives to transport her into the depths of her memory. Even as she pens an elegy on the passing of a bygone era, she never fails to doff her hat to the invisible magician and the invisible painter waving their magic wand and wielding their paintbrushes to create breathtaking hues in the sky. This talented writer obviously gets her wit and her passion for the written word from her father who “had a terrific sense of humour and a rapier wit.” She also talks with pride about her

A Tale Like Summer Rain When a writer with such a beautiful name as Summer(ita) Rhayne sets out to write a romance, she cannot but put her whole heart into it. So this little saga drizzles down on the readers’ sensibilities like summer rain, as gently and as softly. There is a hint of mischief right at the start, when the slender, pixie-featured Myra,  sets out to help her dear friend, Chef Tonya, to purloin the Revengers Miniature Hologram game for her son, Toby, from no less than Santa himself. It is at that moment that a figure from her past materializes. Jay Tolliver, the once gangly lad, and the smartest boy in their set, has returned to help his brother, Dan, to revive his toy store and restore the spirit of Christmas. His experiences have obviously made him older and wiser. What is the baggage that the beleaguered Jay carries deep within his soul? What is the connection between him, the late Pete and the beautiful Myra? When he meets her after four years, why d

This saga could have been about any one of Kerala’s matrilineal families, so closely aligned are their histories, their daily lives, their customs, the festivals and the like. Author Tara Neelanjana traces the history of the big house, Puthanveedu, through the lives of its inhabitants, especially Sridevi, its last and ninth matriarch. The house, (a Nalukettu), built by Raman Unni Nair, a soldier of fortune, was situated along the banks of the overflowing river, Nila, which also played a vital role in the lives of its inhabitants. Ramunni was granted this vast property on its banks, a purse filled with gold coins, a silver sword and a silk crimson shawl. He would later bequeath it to his little sister, Unnimaya, who would be the matriarch. The story is eloquently told, of Ramunni, the lenient and generous Karnavan (Patriarch), followed by his formidable and bad-tempered nephew, Raghavan, who commited a heinous crime. When the latter suffered a stroke, he was tended by his