Is it fair to compare a book with a movie? Especially a book with such a strong narrative voice? I was a little put-off by the idea of Nick talking to the doctor. But then, that was one way of getting the narrative voice loud and clear, I guess. It was exactly like the book […]
The Life of Pi
I like to get involved when I watch a movie. I like to feel with the character, hold my breath during moments of anticipation and cry during moments of sadness and joy. That did not happen with The Life of Pi. Not because of the movie itself but because of the cinema hall. First of […]
The First Year Away
I remember the time the house got flooded and I put my mattress up on the fridge. I shared a bed with my flatmate, and we watched dead cockroaches, plastic bags and coconut shells floating around us. I remember the time when a thief came to my window in the middle of the night. He […]
Faerie Heart
Incredible. As a child, I did not like novels that were not divided into chapters. I have no idea why. The only exception was Mary Poppins. I somehow think this one would have been an exception too. What a visual treat! The imagination just blew me over. A coverlet and a bed made of insects’ […]
Easter in France
The good thing about being a foreigner in a French family is that they do everything to give you the true French experience. My family could not control the weather – it was cold and there was hail that spring – but they did make Easter special! Traditionally, children are sent out into the garden […]
Désirée
Have you read Désirée by Anne-Marie Selinko? I read it when I was in school; I think it was the first really thick book I read.Yes, it came even before Gone with the Wind.I loved it so much that I read it again. And, I think, again.And then, I found an old, old copy of it […]
Manjri Adventure
The bus-driver looked at the traffic piled up on the road ahead. We had to get to school and we were late anyway. The traffic was impossible, so he suggested that we take a detour through Manjri village. That’s when our adventure began. We passed custard-apple orchards and a stud farm. We passed tiny nondescript […]
Counterblast to Tobacco
While researching the history of the Stuarts, I discovered some delightful pieces of information. Elizabeth I did not trust tobacco – it made her sick. But she was also intrigued by it. Once, she bet Raleigh that he would be unable to tell her the weight of the smoke. Raleigh was, always, a performer. He […]
Oranges in No Man’s Land
I find that so may writers seem to have a compulsion to write long, complex, layered work. So many new books are thick paperbacks, full of things happening on every page. Oranges in No Man’s Land is not like that. Not at all. Elizabeth Laird manages to write a beautiful, heart-warming story in the course of […]
Book-Reading at Crossword, Mulund!
Blue Shoes and Happiness
A colleague of mine saw me reading the book and commented on how it looked like a children’s book. Many people don’t know yet that I spend more time reading children’s books than anything else – and am not ashamed of it. This one was delightful, as Alexander McCall Smith usually is. It’s the kind […]
Travel Records
My sister and I looked around.Things seemed perfect. It was a beautiful morning. It was not raining. Shops were just opening; restaurant-workers were setting their chairs and umbrellas. In the middle of a square, we looked around for the perfect spot.We sat on our haunches and put our arms around each other. People on their […]
A Doll’s House
I cannot believe that Ibsen changed the end of the end of A Doll’s House for its production in Germany! What happened to [t]hat slammed door [that] reverberated across the roof of the world? Ibsen agreed to make Nora go back to her children? Shocking! Almost as bad as Shaw making Eliza go to Mr. […]
Unit Plans
There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, like teaching. You can be so joyously idealistic in everything you choose to teach! Planning my units on narrative and imaginative writing, and descriptive writing was almost as inspiring as writing itself. Well, not really, but you know… I made a whole plan on how to introduce the idea of story-writing. […]
Picnic!
I insist that the way I left school in the morning set my mood. People (read ‘teachers and students’) hate duty that takes them out of school into the hot sunshine. I exclaimed, “Picnic!” Other teachers laughed at me. I replied, “In the afternoon, I can complain; now at least, I’ll go happy!” But even […]
Board Exam
Ought I to be nervous? Concerned? Stressed? My students are writing their board exams. I wished them luck, gave them a pep talk and some last minute ‘tips’. One student asked me for a vocabulary list he can use. I wanted to tell him ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’. Instead, I told him not to use ‘hi-fi’ […]
Miss Julie
Outstanding. To create passion like this and alternate between expressed passion and subdued passion is incredible. Miss Julie – headstrong and confused – wavering between strength and weakness – is a work of art. You hate her and admire her. Above all, you pity her. Or maybe not above all. There’s no ‘above all’. It’s […]
Trams in Kolkata
The first time I went to Kolkata, I also went to Darjeeling. I was much younger then, and I was really just visiting my father’s city, the place he grew up. We went in a tram, of course, and in Darjeeling, we took a ride in a toy train. Everyone talks about how picturesque that […]
Vegetarian and Unadventurous
I’ve always tried to be adventurous with food, but to be honest, I am completely unadventurous. I try, I swallow, I sometimes even appreciate. But I also suffer from an overactive imagination. I remember the time a teacher of my sister’s took us for a French meal. She took us to a beautiful, typical, arty […]
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard
Why does ‘easy to read’ somehow strike me as a slightly negative comment in the context of this book? Yet, I would not say I disliked the book. The gentle humour made me chuckle time and time again. The paradox of unbelievable believable characters was wonderful. Each character was more than just a character. The […]