2025

January

City as Memory ***** by Sadaf Wani

Independence * by Chitra Banerjee Divakurni

2024

March

Today is 2nd March, there are six books by my side

February

February is the month of spring in north-India and its also the month when we have the New Delhi World Book Fair. Visiting Book Fair is a ritual, a pilgrimage being performed for nearly four decades. Last year at my book “Yaar Mera Haj Kara De” was released at the Fair. Published by Setu Prakashan, Noida, the book was appreciated and liked by one and all for its content and style. Book Fair is a time not only to catch with the “Mood of Being with the Books” but also catching up with friends who visit Delhi from far off places only to spend time at the Fair. This is also the time of check up on new publishers, new titles and also to horde books. That reminds me that I finished reading ‘The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World’ just three days back, as also “Balraj Sahni”. A few other books picked up from the Fair were read during February.

January

I have six books by my bedside since early December. Work and travel have kept me away from regular reading. What I am loving the most is ‘The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World’ by Marie Favereau. I am also reading an interesting biographical sketch of Balraj Sahni penned by his son Parikshat Sahni – ‘The Non-Conformist’. Also at hand is ‘UnEqual: Why India Lags Behind its Neighbours’ by Swati Narayan – avery lucid study of Caste Class and Gender disparities in India in relation to its neighbours like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Other than this are two Hindi titles – ‘Ayodhya ka Chashmdeed’ by Hemant Sharma (an account of all that led to the demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya, and ‘Aprajita’ by Shivani a very fine piece of fiction by the master writer.

2023

Have read a lot but completely forgot about this page. Will update sometime.

2022

Since 22 March 2020 while confined at home, the major activity has been reading, reading and more reading. Fortunately I had a good number of unread books piled up and didn’t have to worry about shops being closed. So here is my list of books read during the last six weeks (as of 1 May 2020). Lal Salaam.

2021

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay – Elena Ferrante (Intersting fiction)

2020

The India Trilogy – VS Naipul (a large volume of his trilogy on India, comprising – India: A Million Mutinies; India: A Wounded Civilization, and An Area of Darkness)

A very difficult year but actually not as difficult as 2017.

2019

2018

12 July: Spoke to the renowned poet Yuyutsu Sharma last evening (through Mrs Kiran Choudhary). It had been on mind to meet or talk to him for long. Hopefully he will be in Delhi later this month. Have ordered five of his poetry books today.

The kisses you 
refused were the best
like the poems 
on the Lake I did not write.
–Yuyutsu Sharma

12 July: Talamai is the female protagonist of the short story ‘November Is the Month of Migrations’ from this amazing compilation by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar titled The Adivasi Will Not Dance. A Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar Winner for 2015.

10 July: A casual read, Ashok Sahni’s Dinosaurs of India, to research for a children’s book on the same subject.

5 July: Reading ‘Disgrace’ by JM Coetzee. One of the finest author I have read. Simply awesome.