Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
Print pick
Some Musical Memories
Amar Mishra
Rupa, Rs. 295
This slim book is quite interesting. I read it through in one go; it's that kind of a book.
Amar Mishra, closely associated with ITC's Sangeet Research Academy and the ITC Sangeet Sammelan, writes, in an easily read, conversational, anecdotal style, about the several musicians he met and listened to over a long period of time.
As the blurb says, this book is indeed for both the aficionado as well as the uninitiated because Mishra is not erudite — though he knows his ragas — nor is he fluffy, but does a nice mix of entertaining, informing and educating.
And he's so clued in on things — the legendary rivalry between Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan camps and inside gossip which many of us may have missed simply because we were not around those days — that it keeps one absorbed throughout. A really pleasant read, a book that's worth keeping.
Q and A
Vikas Swarup
Doubleday, Rs. 395
Vikas Swaroop's tale of how Ram Mohammed Thomas wins the Who Will Win a Million? show and is arrested for winning — by the logic that he could not have won coming from his background unless he had cheated — is a bit contrived in places.
Ram takes the reader on a tour of his life, and the chapters often read like separate stories and many of these are quite interesting, though sometimes a bit over the top; he shows the reader how he did win, and this journey, which goes all the way from life amongst dustbins to victory sometimes takes a surprising turn.
Though the writing sometimes gets a little sluggish and one wishes that it had been a little shorter, it isn't an uninteresting read.
Bookless in Baghdad
Shashi Tharoor
Penguin, Rs. 325
The front flap of Bookless in Baghdad tells us that Shashi Tharoor began reading Enid Blyton when he was three, which sounds just as bad as someone boasting that their toddler can name every country on the map or the capitals of all those countries.
That kind of thing never lets go its hold, and often manifests afterwards as certain coldness around that particular activity. And Tharoor's writing, even when it is most involved and fiery, as in maybe Riot, does have that rather cold, almost stilted, almost preachy sound to it. And more so in Bookless... , where he sounds as if he is presenting a paper. Of course, it isn't unreadable and maybe you could find it appealing, you only need to have a taste for it. Just that I don't.
New Indian Fiction
Edited by Khushwant Singh
HarperCollins, Rs. 295
A really wacky collection of new stories, edited by Khushwant Singh. Great reading these stories, and thankfully, not all by the usual anthology names. It's exciting to read new writing not only because it sounds different but also because it is outside the boundaries that the previous generation draws up and so it's much like going to a totally new place or something.
The 13 stories in this collection are often funny, wacked out, and science fictiony. I found myself quite unable to put the book down, and found also that at the end of it I was giggling to myself and feeling quite nice and happy.
One kind of gets tired of books with baggage; here is one with no baggage at all. Enjoy, buy a copy. You'll get your money's worth and much more, this is the kind of book that will stand by you if ever you are tempted to get angsty, or the like.
KALA KRISHNAN RAMESH
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
|
