Category: Sonya’s book reviews

There's a story, in Barack Obama's 'Dreams from my Father' of the day Obama joined school in Hawaii. After the introduction from a teacher who talked kindly about Kenya, he says, "I spent the rest of the day in a daze. A red headed girl asked to touch my hair and seemed hurt when I [...]

Independence Day weekend, and we're off. To the gorgeous Verandah in the Forest, in Matheran. Where no cars are allowed . So we will be walking, many kilometers, in our raincoats , along the red mud of the railway track, to get to this atmospheric Parsi bungalow. With our rucksacks full of books. And games. [...]

Imagine being whacked on the head, and force fed opium. Made to cultivate it (instead of food) and made to take it . And by what an all-powerful drug dealer - a giant cartel, like in the movies, of trading and shipping companies, supported by the government of Great Britian. Yes - all this really [...]

Princess Paanchali's Story Is having 5 husbands a great thing ? What more could any woman want, you might say. Specially if the 5 husbands, between them, bring to the table, a sons-of-gods combo. Of righteousness, strength, bravery and beauty. Certainly the lot of Draupadi, husband to the 5 Pandava brothers, doesn't seem bad ( [...]

It is unfashionable, I know, to be so swayed by the hype of western literary prizes. (Haven't we been colonial captives long enough ? And we still let a crusty committee in the UK , dictate to us, their system of aesthetics?). Still, how can one resist the lure of a good Lit shortlist ? [...]

You might look upon him as an underdog ( never mind that he's the world's fourth richest man) Or you might (as much of the European establishment did) see him as the noveau riche, pesky Indian, getting above his station in life . With a peskier son by his side . But whichever way you [...]

Talking Books One woman's inspiration is another man's toilet paper. Nowhere is this truer than in the world of books. In my family, there are emotional arguments. The man I married, is disappointed in me. I never , never, he complains, get around to reading the wonderful non fiction volumes he dips into- Danziggers Travels, [...]