In some of my earlier posts, I have mentioned that I buy a lot of books. I buy whatever catches my fancy and then several books on adjacent topics or genre. But I read based on either a project I have set for myself – a specific theme, a special genre, a collection or…
I am a long time fan of Jack Reacher and I wait for the latest Jack Reacher book every year. The books, the movies (ahem) and the series, I love them all. Even when I like someone more than Reacher himself in the story. As it happened in Reacher Season 2. This year was…
Starting in the early 2003, Shrilal Shukla wrote a column in the Hindi India Today magazine for a period of two years. These columns were a look at the contemporary news and a rumination on them. The book Khabron ki Jugali by Shrilal Shukla collects those columns. My previous post was also on a…
Satire: a way of criticizing people or ideas in a humorous way, especially in order to make a political point, or a piece of writing that uses this style Harishankar Parsai is considered to be one of the greatest satirists in the Hindi language. My previous post on Pagdandiyon ka Zamana was a celebration…
What happens when the normal legal route to get a task done is made difficult and inefficient? Harishankar Parsai Jee answers this question in his essay Pagdandiyon ka Zamana. People start taking the routes which are not normal and not legal, because the task must be done. And what happens when this practice is…
Earlier this year, around the time of new year resolutions, I decided that I want to spend this year reading Hindi literature. I have read a lot of books over the past three decades of my life but a concerted effort on Hindi has not been the case. This year, I want to correct…
Seth Godin has a podcast called Akimbo. The episodes are in two parts – in the first part Seth talks about what he wants to talk about. The second part is where he answers questions from his listeners. In one of the episodes, a listener asked a very interesting question – “how do you…
In my last post I spoke about reading for the pleasure of reading. Interestingly, my randomizer picked up a children’s book for me. It is the story of the puppet whose nose grows longer whenever he lies. The book Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi adds so much to the well known tale of the sentient…