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Showing posts from November, 2013

Get INKED

Hip, cool, vivacious and a li'l confused. It's difficult to slot the youngsters in one particular category; and so Penguin Books India's INKED, an imprint focusing on Young Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction, hopes to connect with youngsters by giving them a chance to pick up books from a wide variety of genres. The three inaugural titles, to be available in bookstores later this month, include Eliza Crewe’s Cracked — the first book of the Soul Eater trilogy — is a tale of the war between good and evil. Karma by Cathy Ostlere, is the story of how a young girl facing the demands of two cultures endures personal tragedy, and yet learns to forgive, accept and love. Vibha Batra’s Seventeen and Done (You Bet!), sequel to Sweet Sixteen, is set in high school and taps into emotions like romance, fashion, friendship and longing. Talking about crafting content for youngsters, Ameya Nagarajan, says, “The dominant theme of the introductory titles, and those in offing, is that of the liv

A chat with S Husain Zaidi

A few pages into S Hussain Zaidi's Dongri to Dubai – Six Decades of Mumbai Mafia – and you know this isn't a frothy work, like several Bollywood potboilers trying to decode the gang war for the viewers. This depiction of the mafia in mainstream cinema becomes our talking point with the senior crime journalist who was in the city for an event. Zaidi's pithy style of writing also dictated his choice of words, “Bollywood is the PR machinery of the underworld. It tries to glorify and gives their protagonists a heroic touch. I disagree with that.” What separates the serious from the froth is the research. Explaining the way he goes about gathering material for his non-fiction books, Zaidi says, “I dig into old police records, I cull the details from there. I also chat up old timers and try to get an entire picture. I don't go by rumours or hear-say. I back up the information with facts.” His no-nonsense credentials are known. But what does he have to say to about his tri

From the other side

This is a book review of "A Restless Wind." Name: A Restless Wind By: Shahrukh Husain Pages: 350 Published by: Picador India Price: Rs 499 My first thoughts while reading this book was that it's very topical. Communal tensions are on a simmer and we read about the 'victim' stories ever so often. You will find all this in the 'A restless wind'. The only difference is that it's being narrated by a Pakistani woman – who was raised in India and the country of her birth. Husain's protagonist, Zara Hamilton, was born in Karachi, but raised in Qila, a fortress in Trivikram, in Gujarat. Zara's aunt (mother's sister) is a part of the Ramzi order, pirs, who are the Gurus of Hindu king of Trivikram. The royal lineage is the direct ascendant of Vamana (Lord Vishnu's avatar) and their association with the Ramzis is a symbol of communal harmony. When she is urgently summoned by Aunt Hana to Qila, Zara decides to give her floundering mar

The Translated Work

I had attended a session on translated works at Sudarshan Rangmanch. This is the report. ---- Every language has its own nuances shaped by the community speaking it. There are those little jokes, imagery and references to socio-political and economic context used with a flourish by those speaking it. The moot question before a translator is if these cultural references resonate within a speaker of a different tongue. Kalasakta Pune and Kelyane Bhashantar had recently organised a festival of translated literature which saw the reading session of 'Rabindranathanchya Sahwasat'. It was translated from the Bengali original - Mangputeche Rabindranath – by Vilas Gitay. Excerpts from Milind Champanerkar's, 'Lokshahivadi Ammi's, ek dirgha patra', translated from Saeed Mirza's, 'Ammi: Letter to a Democratic Mother', was also read out at the three day festival. While chaste Marathi can sound a little harsh on ears, Gitay succeeded in retaining the original