I read this book over this weekend, probably about 2-3 years later than most people would have read it. I owned the illustrated edition for almost 2 years now, but for some reason could never pick it up from the shelf and read it. Mat be because I had read ‘Angels and Demons’ and from all the conversations about it, I could make out that the story may not be very different. Anyway I read it almost in one go [...]
This is not a typical biography that traces the life and time of Ghalib, but a more poetic anthology, a few defining scenes of his life that give a jest of what Ghalib was. It has 17 chapters or 17 scenes. Book describes a bit of his childhood and his marriage to Umrao Jaan, who remained his only wife all his life, His relationship with her and the faith that she had put in him. They never agreed on their [...]
I picked up this book last year after reading ‘The Argumentative Indian’ by Dr Sen, which was a very enjoyable book. This one is a small book in comparison, less than 200 pages, mainly drawing out of various lectures that Dr Sen would have given at various places. If the book has to be summarized, it would be ‘ There are multiple identities that each of us have, which come from our birth, religion, region, social class, culture, profession, language, [...]
This book is a result of one of the most recent and big business success story in India, and may be the biggest in the upcoming retail segment. The book has been written in an autobiographical format by Kishore Biyani, the person behind Pantaloon and the Furture group. Written in first person, it is interspersed by what others have to say about Kishore. Broadly it talks about the journey of Kishore from a middle class business family living in South [...]
This is the first Milan Kundera book that I have read, and when I sit to write the review, I feel a bit lost. The book follows a very unconventional format where it talks about multiple stories, some sound fictional, some autobiographical and at times suddenly the author takes the first person and starts narrating an incident, or becomes a character in the story. Everything keeps changing with chapters except ‘Prague’, which remains a constant backdrop for all that is [...]