‘I wish this book had never needed to be written. I wish that the circumstances that led me to write this story had never occurred.’ I close my eyes at the end of The Bone Sparrow, and I echo Zana Fraillon’s words. I wish she had never needed to write the book. What do we […]
When She Went Away
I was a little sceptical about reading a book called When She Went Away. A book with a name like that could well be a melodramatic romance novel, which really is not my type. I typically don’t even finish reading stories that are too melodramatic for me; enjoying them is a long way away. And I […]
The Not-a-Pig
I’m still chuckling over Mango and Bambang #1 – The Not-a-Pig. It was just such a crazy, sweet book! Another story about an unlikely friendship, The Not-a-Pig is about a girl called Mango and a tapir! And I don’t know about you, but I’ve never read a book about a tapir before. There is a huge traffic […]
The A-Z Djinn Detective Agency
Ashwin Kamath is determined to earn enough money to sponsor his own school trip. Unfortunately, his determination translates into one disastrous idea after another. On the surface, each idea seems perfectly harmless. When the idea turns into action, the madness begins. Things take a delightful turn when Ashwin finds a book on summoning a djinni. […]
Daddy Come Lately
Priya knows that her father is dead. She is a ‘post-humorous’ child, as she calls herself until her mother gently corrects her, saying that it is ‘posthumous’, not post-humorous – and that she isn’t posthumous anyway. Her father is alive, and has just found out that he has a daughter. Worse, he wants not only […]
A Wonderful Month
Every so often, I think about doing a monthly round-up of workshops I’ve conducted and books I’ve read. And then I think, maybe next month. But the month that went by was just so full of wonderful things that I want very much to share everything that happened and everything that’s coming up! Last month, I […]
Dear Mrs. Naidu
Dear Mrs. Naidu has been on my list of books to read for a long time now. I finally read it today, and it came at the perfect time. Sure, the book is important. It is an eye-opener. But to talk about just those things to the exclusion of all else is to take away […]
The Elephant Thief
The Elephant Thief was one of those books that I would have loved to read as a child, and thoroughly enjoyed as an adult. At the back of the book, there are three words that describe it – animal, adventure and thrilling. I think the first two sum up the book perfectly. I wouldn’t go as […]
Just Henry
Have you read Goodnight Mister Tom? If you haven’t, you must. I can’t quite believe that I never wrote about the book. It’s a classic, one that touched something deep inside me, the way only classics can. I remember the first time I read the book – I borrowed it from the library, and read and read […]
Meet the Monsters!
The huge, purple monster is on the loose! It has 12 arms, 12 legs, one eye, one horn, two mouths and 43 teeth, and it’s going to take over the town. It eats 12 people every day: it ate my neighbour and my children; it even destroyed a nearby building! It stinks to high heavens, […]
How Not to Disappear
Wow. What a wonderful book. It kept me reading and reading and reading. I had to wipe away tears more than once, and I kept shaking my head at the power the story had over me. For me, How Not to Disappear is not a Young Adult book, and I cannot understand how it is classified […]
The Lie Tree
The Lie Tree looked fascinating, but I wondered if it was my kind of book. Everyone who was quoted on the cover said it was ‘dark’ and compelling, and I cannot say that I am a fan of dark literature. I get scared too easily, and I don’t enjoy getting scared. I decided to borrow it […]
And then, there was Goa
I have never been a huge fan of Goa, especially as I’m not particularly fond of beaches. In addition, we went on a banana boat ride at Baga once, and I was disgusted by the amount of dirty seawater I ended up swallowing. Plus, New Year’s eve at Calangute eight years ago was a nightmare. […]
Au revoir, Bali!
There’s so much I could write about Bali, but pictures would work better to convey much of what we saw. Statues towered over junctions, gateways reached up to the sky. Art hid in little corners surrounded by every shade of green. We had only two proper days to explore Bali, so there was so much […]
A Balinese Home
It was only after the visit to the coffee plantation that our cycling tour actually began. There was supposed to be a quick stop at Kintamani to see the volcano, but our guide Nyoman learned that there was too much traffic en route, so we skipped that and went straight to the place where we […]
Indonesian Coffee Plantation
Have you heard of Luwak coffee? I had heard of it before visiting Bali, but hadn’t yet made the connection between two. Luwak coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world and is euphemistically described as ‘part-digested’. Honey is pre-digested too, isn’t it, so why should coffee be so different? I won’t get into […]
Cycling Tour
I was nervous about doing a cycling tour. Everyone we spoke to, from hotel receptionists to travel agents, said that it would be ‘mostly downhill’. To me, that was a euphemistic way of saying there would be some rough uphill stretches. I don’t cycle regularly. Riding 25 km all of a sudden? I wasn’t sure […]
Books that I must write about!
I couldn’t wait any longer. I just had to write about at least some of the books I’ve been reading. Last night, I sat and reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s not my favourite, but then, it’s Harry Potter, probably the only series of books I’ve ever stayed up reading. I even took part […]
Shopping in Bali
Sure, shopping is fun in Bali. When we spoke about our top experiences there, shopping featured in the top three of many. Here’s a sample of how it works. “It’s a good sarong – 3 metres, Batik print on both sides.” “How much?” “Very good print, it–” “How much?” “400,000.” (Quick calculations. How much is […]
Monkey Forest, Ubud
I’m an Indian tourist. Monkeys aren’t new to me. We see them along railway lines, on walls, trying to get into houses … I’ve written about Matheran too, where a monkey came into the room, picked up a packet of milk powder, and then calmly looked around, trying to figure out what else to take. […]