Educating the Oppressed

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire My rating: 5 of 5 stars Pedagogy of the Oppressed begins with the process of humanization and dehumanization and in turn humanizes the left ideology fraught with not-so-occasional violent revolutions. Actually, it turns the epistemology of whole education/development/revolution discourse upside down and gives an insight which is more...

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Serious Stuff and Some Gossips

Durbar by Tavleen Singh My rating: 4 of 5 stars Tavleen Singh, the writer of Durbar, emerges as a brave journalist with high contacts and privileged access to high profile drawing rooms and she generously used these capabilities to make the book an interesting chronicle of the time when Indira and Rajeev ruled the country and strengthened the root of dynastic politics. Many...

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A Rebellious Heart

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid My rating: 4 of 5 stars “’The reluctant fundamentalist” is everything except about a fundamentalist. I have read first time a book written by a Pakistani about a Pakistani in America. Only reading few pages was sufficient to take it off from the shelf and get it issued on my name and it did keep its promises till the last page....

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Heart and Soul and Love

गुनाहों का देवता / Gunahon Ka Devta by Dharamvir Bharati (धर्मवीर भारती) My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was proved wrong; "Gunahon Ka Devta" is not a crime novel, on the contrary, it is about more tender feelings and kinder characters. It is the story of love and sacrifice, societal norms and self-imposed boundaries, generational gaps and bridging them. For how long, lovers will...

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Crossing the World of Mundane and Magical

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami My rating: 5 of 5 stars On the surface, Sputnik Sweetheart is a study of sexuality, one of different types and shades – lesbianism, asexuality, heterosexuality and maybe more which might have escaped my notice. Like other works of Haruki, this one is also situated in cosmopolitan Japanese landscape which occasionally crosses boundaries...

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More than Being a Media Adviser

The Accidental Prime Minister : The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru “The Accidental Primeminister “ is a light read and even engages those who are not very much fond of politics. Who would not like to know the gossips and manipulations in the well-lit power alleys of Lutyens' Delhi! But the book offers more than that. It goes beyond the projected image...

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The White Shirt

(A super-naturalized, fictionalized and tampered account of a night at a friend’s home) It was a strange night; it was not supposed to be but turned out to be one. It all started with a benign, in-the-heat-of-the-moment invitation by my close married friend to spend an evening together. I have gone there many times and had no reason to say no and so just...

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The Last E-mail

It is my last day at my present office where I have spent more than five years of my checkered life with people who have become more than family, family in the sense of spending so much time together, sharing laughter and tears, working on assignments- complicated and easy and monotonous. Coming every day and looking at same faces have never stopped mesmerizing me. They...

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The Politics of Love

I am dealing with three separate cases of my near and dear ones who are trying to cope up with the repercussions of their broken heart and home, reason being ostensibly love, pyar wala love, calf love, mature wala love as well. One of the most basic instincts, love, has triggered epoch-making events and turned the course of history. It is way beyond what biology textbooks...

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Mufflerman has Swept Delhi Clean with a New Improved Broom!

My chance encounter with an auto rickshaw driver, who took me to my meeting venue, had foretold me the Delhi election verdict in August, 2014 itself. He was all praises for then disgraced and seemingly hopeless arvind kejriwaal post Varanasi debacle and predicted with dead certainty that Kejriwalji will return to power. I listened to the Autowallah, maybe because I was stunned...

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So Vogue is “Magazine of the Year”!!

How many of us have heard of the Ellies awards (interestingly named after elephant shaped trophies) being given every year in America. Not many I guess in India. At least not as many who know about the Oscars and Emmy. So, when some random browsing on the internet landed me on the page of American Society of Magazine Editors (who sponsors this award), it was a pleasant surprise....

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What Adult Movies Have Taught Me !!

I always had this notion that geniuses don’t watch porn but this idea of mine shattered when I observed during my MBA days that many typical intelligent guys were also fond of watching porn while holding books of managerial economics! Equally shocking was the fact for me that well known personalities have depicted sex in all its grotesque form galore and still they are...

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Crimes against the Father of Man

Is our world turning into no-go zones for our little ones! If Stories around the world are to be believed, existence is getting tougher for the children. Crime against children is getting grislier with each passing day. Boko Haram has made a business out of kidnapping and forcing them to do all kinds of inconceivable acts. Pakistan hogged headlines for failing to...

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Sleazy Seven Star Lives

Getting a chance to stay in a five-star hotel is not one of my most memorable moments but comes handy while I try to make a feeble attempt at understanding life of people who checks in quite so frequently in a seven-star hotel. Here, everything is within your arm’s reach, just stretch your hand and get it or sometimes you don’t have to stretch even, just push a button...

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Chasing Charlie Hebdo Dream

Exploring god in small things is nothing new but it sounds ridiculous if one reverses it, that is, if we start noticing smaller details in a bigger, nastier and ghastly events. The atrocious attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine was one such event. When whole world was condemning the nonsensical bloodshed, I was taking pride in the fact that I could figure out what “je sui...

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Delusions of a Diseased Mind

Lying on a diseased bed  and thinking about time –past and present, an essay comes to mind. In that piece of writing, writer is also ill and wonders how everyone is enjoying the spring season except him. Illness has crippled many and economists have calculated how it hampers productivity. For an adult, single and employed individual who is staying away from his...

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