Krishnadevaraya is a familiar name. I remember some of the battles he fought from history class in school. I’ve marvelled at the lofty gopurams he built in Hampi. But who was Krishnadevaraya, the man? Ra.Ki. Rangarajan tells us in “I, Krishnadevaraya”, a novel written in the first-person. I had never come across such a narrative...
I got back to reading plays a couple of years ago with Girish Karnad’s “Crossing to Talikota”. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to read more of Karnad’s plays and explore other Indian playwrights, as well. My first pick was “Kamala” by Vijay Tendulkar (the English translation). The play follows Sarita’s life, which...
“You may see no rivers on the ground but we keep the rivers inside us. That is why all good things and all good people are called rain. Sometimes we see the rain clouds gather even though not a cloud appears in the sky. It is all in our heart.” I challenged myself to ‘Read...
Coffee was an essential part of my childhood. My earliest memories include waking up to the rich aroma of filter coffee in the mornings. Being given black coffee in a mini steel tumbler whenever I came down with a fever. My grandmother firmly believed that drinking a shot of black coffee with a pinch of...
Costanza Casati’s Babylonia transports us to the 9th century BC, to the kingdom of Assyria where we meet the legendary figure of Semiramis. The story opens in the village of Mari, where Semiramis, abandoned as a child, grows up under the harsh guardianship of Simmas, a shepherd. Subjected to cruelty and derision from her adoptive...
My earliest exposure to Telugu films was when watching Doordarshan in the 1980s-90s. The images of Chiranjeevi in purple pants and purple shirts singing in meadows with equally colourful heroines are etched in my mind. At the time, the mere mention of Telugu movies would bring forth laughter from everyone around me. I cringe. I...
Sarah Manguso’s Liars is a haunting novel that dissects a marriage doomed by its own foundations. The novel begins with Jane, an aspiring writer, meeting John, a charismatic filmmaker. Both share lofty dreams of love and artistic success and they waste no time in getting married. Yet, cracks in their shared vision quickly appear. John’s...
Years ago, my colleagues and I were taking a short walk during our lunch hour along the quiet lanes of Rest House Road in Bangalore. Suddenly, we were accosted from behind by 3 or 4 transgenders. They didn’t do anything to us. They were simply asking for money. But their actions, appearance, behaviour were all...
I first came upon the story of Muziris and its disappearance in Sethu’s novel ‘The Saga of Muziris’. Since then, this once-magnificent port town that sank without a trace has captivated me. So when I noticed Hamish Morjaria’s ‘The Curse of Muziris’ I wasted no time in reading it. Spread a little over 400 pages,...
I hadn’t heard of Lover until today evening. I have a habit of reading The Hindu’s movie review section every Friday. Today, it featured an article called “Breakout talents of Tamil cinema in 2024.” I was intrigued. I hadn’t heard of any of the actors’ names, except one, but I had watched many of the...
“We arrive in the blizzard of 1993, coming from rice paddies, mango trees, and the sun to February in the Empire State.” That’s how Ly Tran’s transportative and heartbreaking memoir “House of Sticks” starts off. Tran traces her childhood from the age of 3 when she comes to the US as part of a resettlement...
Have you heard of ‘lavender marriages’? It’s a marriage of convenience to hide the true sexual orientation of the two people involved for society’s sake. In S.J. Sindhu’s Marriage of a Thousand Lies it’s Lucky (short for Lakshmi) and Krishna who enter a lavender marriage. The story begins with Lucky temporarily moving to her mother’s...
