Tara: A Play In Two Acts by Mahesh Dattani
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first thing that I absolutely loved about Tara is you simply can't keep it down! No, you open it, your eyes skim through the setting and before you know, it has grabbed you and thrown you into the beautiful, witty, twisted and painfully sad world of the conjoined twins, Chandan and Tara.


What starts as a play about two self sufficient siblings, in a famiky where the mother favours the daughter and the father favours the son, slowly evolves into a beautiful and horrifying tale of parental preference for the male, guilt, making amends, secrets and lies.


Tara is gorgeous! It's hauntingly gorgeous! I've read so many plays and yet I've never read anything like this before. Mahesh Dattani is clearly one of the best playwrights in India.

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A Little Book of Serenity by Ruskin Bond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's not something that you read and then put back into your shelf forever. It's something you open everyday, pick a quote and then chew at it as the world spins madly around you.

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Grain Of Sand: Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Let me begin this review with a simple truth:Binodini is a temptress. No, not just for the two men in the novel, but also for the Reader. If, like me, you, too started this book right before your exams, she's going to pull you in until you finish it, making you incapable of reading everything else.

Now, coming to the book: If you've not read Chokher Bali for whatever reason and do not know Tagore, trust me, you're on the losing end! This book is a true classic and there's beautiful poetry interspersed between scenes and dialogues, some really fluid description that's worth reading and some true philosophy and life lessons buried deep within.

For the archaeologist in me, this is a true treat because there's so much to take out from it than just the story. You can almost see the whole thing happening in front of you. You can feel every emotion even that which a minor character may be experiencing and there's this deep lingering scent of incense that seems to waft from the story towards you, at once intoxicating and purifying.

Seriously, no review can recreate what Chokher Bali brings to you when you read it. The vast range of perspicacity Tagore's storytelling possesses is enchanting, exhilarating. It lingers in the air like that incense I just spoke about. It's calming. It's profound. You shouldn't even be reading this review anymore. No, you should be searching for the book on Amazon as I go on rambling about it like a mad person.

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Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I met Ms Kapur a couple of years ago, I asked her whether she considered herself a feminist. She paused and looked dreamily at the horizon before replying, "I'd love to be described as one even if I don't come across as one on the face of it."


Reading Difficult Daughters made me realise how true that was. Though she doesn't really come across as a feminist in your face in the book, it is through charcters like Harish, Swarna Lata, Shakuntala and even Virmati herself, that Ms Kapur directly questions the rights of a woman and the way the society perceives a co-wife.

Why is it always so, that a second wife of an already married man is the seductress, the witch, the vamp? Is the man entirely free of blame? What if it is the man seducing the woman? Why is it that the man, his dignity, his position in life remains completely untarnished, while a woman is subjected to all kinds of insults, abuses and hostility?


These are the questions nobody seems to answer no matter how feminist they consider themselves and these are the questions that this book seems to subtly ask you as a reader.

For this alone, even if the fact that the writing is extremely powerful, that you can touch, smell and see things merely through words, I'd highly recommend this book to all those who are not averse to feminism and gender equality!

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Selected Poems by Gulzar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I write this review with a mingled feeling of pride and shame. Pride because India was the blessed country which bore a poet like Gulzar, who is a living tribute to the rich traditions of Urdu poetry of Bahadur Shah Zafar, Ghalib, Zauq, Faiz and the like.

Shame because I was no stranger to Gulzar.I have watched his movies, enjoyed his lyrics in many a Hindi movie Soundtracks and yet, it took me all this time to read his works.

A typical Gulzar anthology has the original verse in Hindi on the left and an English translation on the right. Normally, when I read such translated books, I generally pay more attention to the translation as I rely on them heavily. However, this is the first time, for the life of me that I have no idea how good or bad the translation is! I was completely enchanted and ensnared by the beauty of the original so much that it didn't make sense to read the translation. No matter how beautiful it would have been, it could never have matched in magic, lyrical quality or emotions, the original!


Must read for the poetry buffs! If you cannot read Hindi, I suggest you still buy it for the translations are right there but I cannot vouch for it, seeing I never read it!

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Measures of home: Poems by Leela Gandhi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a superb yet totally forgotten and supremely underrated anthology of poems!

If you've been someone, who has changed a lot of homes, if one of your homes was India and another was Oxford, especially Summertown, this is the best way to travel down the memory lane! There are poems, I felt, were especially written for me. There are poems, that sound like something I would have written, as if Leela Gandhi simply travelled back from my Pensieve ,came back with my memories in her head and a beautiful way to put them into verse.

Let's see if this is an anthology for you:
1. If you were born somewhere, studied somewhere else, and then went on to live somewhere entirely different: Yes.
2. If you've fallen in love with someone foreign and have had to leave them because life came along: yes.
3. If you have had a platonic soul mate: why yes!

If any of the reasons suit you, I suggest just get this book! It is not something you would want to miss!

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Mappings by Vikram Seth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dear Mr Seth,
How shall I review
This set of poems written by you?
While some of them talk of the ways,
You took (and so did I!) in the Oxford days,
There are others that talk of how you felt,
When you saw how people in Indian slums dwelt
With an empty stomach filled with empty hopes,
With their lives tied down by Poverty's ropes.
You talk of life in India after Inglistan
Of mangoes, marigolds, Panipat and paan,
Of experiences I eventually shared,
The feeling on staying away from all those who really cared!
And then there were some that talked of
Falling deeply, and irrevocably in love,
Sometimes with a person, at times with a place,
And at other times being caught somewhere between Straights and Gays,
Mr dear Mr Seth, please do allow me,
To tell you that it isn't your orientation but your poetry,
You words that carry such enormous weight
Truly define you as both Stray and Great!
Stray because your poems show how far you've travelled,
How many places you've been to, how many mysteries you've unravelled
Through the things you've seen, the people you've met.
You've written about the sights you have seen and things you have said.
Yes, these stray wanderings, unmapped or mapped,
Have created so many poems that have trapped
Me on and off and on again
While sunshine, thunder, wind and rain
Lit my windows and darkened them
While people around me muttered, "Ahem!
Don't you have work to do, missy?
Why does that little book keep you so busy,
When you're moving out and we need a hand
To safely transport your stuff across the land?"
And despite their chidings, I sat coiled like a cat
Oblivious to the bare walls of my empty new flat,
With your book in my hand, my dear Mr Seth,
Reading the words of a man who is truly Great!

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Zafarnama by Guru Gobind Singh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A multiplicity of factors make this book precious to me! yes, precious! The store-it-in-a-lock-and-key kind of precious! So let's start this review with why I will not lend you this book even if you are my soul mate:

-It's a first day first edition! I was the first person to buy it minutes after its release from a book store in Chandigarh.

-It's more than just a book, it's an important source of history and helps to understand in depth the aftermath of the Battle of Chamkaur and the History of Sikhs as we know it today.

-It was one of the last books my grandfather read before he died, and being well versed in as well as an avid reader of both Persian and English, he was in a true position to comment on it. I think that mentioning that he died a fan of Navtej Sarna is a testimonial in itself on how brilliantly successful Mr Sarna has been in his endeavour to translate this historic letter by Guru Gobind Singh to Aurangzeb.

-It's a signed copy! Yes! Signed by the man himself with the inscription:
For Shriya,
In the memory of your beloved grandfather.

However, even if this book hadn't been so priceless for me, even if Mr Sarna hadn't been one of my most favourite authors and a truly wonderful person at heart, and even if I hadn't been so blessed as to meet him by the most serendipitous twist of fate in a book shop, this book would still have been my, favourite.

Like I said with my other review in the morning, you cannot translate Persian poetry into English very easily. you have to make sure that your words capture the depth, the essence and the very soul of the poet to be able to do this.

I think I just have to thank my stars that Mr Sarna chose to translate this particular piece. One thing I can say without even thinking twice is Navtej Sarna has a natural flare for poetry. He's effortless with his words, his rhymes come out perfectly formed, and even in a translation, his knack for poetry is incomparable.

In the words of my grandfather, who left us last year, "If you can read and understand both Persian and English, you'll be able to see that in case of this particular translation, Navtej Sarna is not merely the translator but also a poet in his own regard."

Well, I couldn't test that theory because I know nothing about Persian but as a student of history, who had already read Zafarnama in a non poetic translation, I would say this is the best one ever!

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The Treasure of Kafur by Aroon Raman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am surprised I didn't post my review sooner considering I was long done with the book and I must say I was surprised! Yes, surprised is the word for it because I have never approached Historical thrillers without a certain level of doubt. Being a student of history has always, always made me skeptic about historical fiction but like I said, "Surprised, and pleasantly!" is the phrase I would use for The Treasure of Kafur .

Here's why?

1. Writing historical fiction, especially one which is closely linked with real people can be a daunting task.

2. If you're not very authentic with your facts, you end up misleading the readers.

3. The more you indulge in historical fiction, the more you risk criticism from one source or another.

Breaking News: India finally has an author who braves all these things and delivers an amazing thriller and is our own contemporary to Hilary Mantel and Ken Follett.

A perfect blend of fantasy and fiction, the story is like a fairytale, a historical tale and a thrilling plot all wrapped into one. As a reader, you're never this person who is watching the whole thing going on but a character inside the novel, burying treasures, witnessing murders, discovering secrets and involved in a cat and mouse chase between life and death.

What I found personally agreeable is how elements of fantasy in a historical fiction (which can be really unpalatable) fit in so effortlessly. In fact, I would have given it a higher rating had I not felt a certain something missing-like there's more to the story.

However, despite being a seemingly unfinished business towards the end, here's a book the likes of me have craved for from an Indian author. Definitely worth a read!



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A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fact : I never ever understood how postpartum depression works or why women suffer from it.

Yet another fact: Having finished A Suitable Boy arouses similar feelings in a reader as postpartum depression in a new Mum.

Why?

Well, by the you finish reading one of the longest English novels ever written and the longest English Novel written by an Indian and that Indian is Vikram Seth, you're kind of used to the story, the characters, the way their life goes on. So, when you turn the last page of something that has sprained your wrists for days, you certainly feel the sense of accomplishment which matches in effort if not in pain, to delivering a baby but at the same time you're depressed you'd NEVER be able to read this book again for the first time, that its time with you in that unique one to one bond, though cherished, will never be intimate in the same sense as before.

Having expressed my feelings, thus, I will now proceed to review one of my favourite author's biggest masterpiece.

To all those who wonder and have asked me, "Is there a dull moment or dry spells in the book? : NO! Not one! Not half a page and no, my blind love for Vikram Seth doesn't make me say so. In fact, as I said weeks ago about The Color Purple, it is as complete in every sense as a book could be.

I love how Vikram Seth seems to have a laugh at everyone including himself. I love how his mother's life was the theme for this story. And I love how if you're remotely interested in anything in the world, be it Schubert or Classical Indian Music, Post Independence History or Indian Politics, Religion or Riots, English Literature or poems by Urdu/Arabic/Persian poets like Mast, Daagh, Minai or Rumi, you will not fail to love this book!

Vikram Seth's characters are a class apart, supremely hilarious even in the gravest of situations, laughably filmy and over dramatic and yet as close to being real as characters could be. They don't claim to be perfect, they all have flaws, you will probably be angry at one or more of them during the course of the novel but you will not fail to love them despite all their faults!

Should you read it?

Certainly! I don't see why being daunted by the length of the novel, you should miss on something so exquisitely well written as this book.

Will you regret spending a thousand bucks/ a couple of pounds/ a few dollars?

Not at all if you claim to love literature for it is the finest piece of contemporary literature there is!

Any tip for how to go about it?

1.If you're Indian, try and think of Bollywood film stars for every character. That makes the book even more fun and more lucid than it already is but that's entirely optional!

2. Have someone else read it with you, a friend or someone from your book club. You need to keep discussing it and gushing about it with someone. It's like Harry Potter that way!

More than just a good read! Rather, a BRILLIANT read and already my novel of the year!

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Why I Am An Atheist: An Autobiographical Discourse by Bhagat Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being a History Majors student, I always assumed there was nothing more to know about Bhagat Singh, nothing that I already didn't know about. I knew he was an atheist,that somewhere inside, he was a Communist and that despite the fact he wasn't older than I am when he was hanged, he was quite learned.

What I discovered after reading this pamphlet, however, was exactly how much of a Communist,an atheist and how learned he was! Reading this was like having a tête-à-tête with Bhagat Singh, like hearing his voice, his views and his thoughts in person. I almost felt like I was sitting in front of him in his cramped little prison cell, listening to him, and not in front of my computer, merely reading words. It isn't like any essay I've ever read before.

I guess what left me slightly dissatisfied was the illusion of him talking to me was so strong throughout, I missed and almost grudged the possibility of putting forth some of my own views. There are things he could have explained better, arguments, that did seem like they were written down in a haste and certain points, I felt, he didn't really give much thought to. However, at the same time, Bhagat Singh grew on me as a person. Funny, until now, he had just been a Revolutionary Hero in my head!

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We Weren't Lovers Like That by Navtej Sarna
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

About time this book got a decent review, a review that it deserves:

'We Weren't Lovers Like That' was a book I discovered in my favourite book shop in Shimla and what drew me to this book was its diction, which I, being a sucker for poetry, immediately fell in love with. Much to my misfortune, I had no money to buy it that day and by the next day, the book was already sold.

Not less than three months later, my friend was reading a book which she claimed she read every winter (and she actually does!) For some strange and inexplicable reason, I didn't bother about the book or its title and when she read out the small quote in the beginning of novel, I failed miserably at appreciating its beauty. Little did I know that it was the very book I had been looking for, the very book that I had almost picked up and couldn't own! It was only a year later, while discussing Indian authors that I mentioned, in passing, to the same friend that 'We Weren't Lovers Like That' and how badly I wanted to read it but couldn't find it anywhere! Well, what can I say? So close and yet so far!

Anyway, about the book now: I won't go on writing about how amazingly poetic Navtej Sarna is. He is not poetic, he's just faithful to the genes he inherited from his parents!

And the book?
I loved the book. The language used, the scenes developed are so autobiographical that it comes across as someone's real story (a suggestion the author strongly denies).Anyone who has loved and lost will relate to the book in ways that cannot be explained. Anyone who hasn't lost loved ones yet, will experience the pain through this book. It is like the book talks to you almost like a living, breathing person.

Should you read it?
Why, of course, you should! This isn't a conventional love story like that, afterall!

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The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can never thank Mrs. Bindu Sharma (undoubtedly the best English teacher I've ever had) enough for recommending this to me.
Unlike others in my family, I grew up on Mahabharata but never before did I see it from the eyes of the most important female character. Using Draupadi as her mouth-piece, Divakaruni paints the beautiful and yet burning portrait of the lives of countless women who lived in the Epic Age. Being a student of History, with 'Position of Women in Ancient India' as a part of my syllabus, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and took notice of so many details that had skipped my observation earlier.
It is beautifully well-written with a careful blend of sense and sarcasm, remarkable wit and extensive knowledge. The author knew exactly what she was doing and what she wanted to do with the plot. Her recipe of mixing fact with fiction has not failed to bring about the desired effect. With the efficacy of a good baker, she has created a sumptuous cake of the story of Mahabharata, using her imagination and information as the key ingredients.
However, despite the well-presented and beautifully served story, Divakaruni makes one big blunder most restaurateurs make. She assumes that the reader, like her, has grown up on Mahabharata and the legends associated with it. For people who know it at the back of their hand, the novel is like a familiar dish in a new tray with a dash of some rare herbs. However, to people who are not so familiar with Mahabharata, it may be totally unpalatable and may cause some serious digestion problems! To read this book, the reader must have, if not the complete knowledge of the epic, the knowledge of the sequence of its events and the way in which they unfold.
Overall, it is a fast paced read that anyone who admires history with a little bit of wit and a pinch of salt, will admire.


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Life of Pi by Yann Martel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My adventure with Life of Pi started in the midst of an isolated farm in Sussex, close to nature and away from the busy life of England. Having borrowed it from a fellow friend, with practically everyone telling me it s a book I will relate to (being Indian) and will absolutely love, I just could not resist it. However, now that I am done with it, I am disappointed that it did not have the effect everyone thought it would have had on me! You want to know why? Here goes:

1. To start with, I hated how the book begins so scornfully! It describes India to be a place with people obsessed with talking to random stranger, with food and feeding people, and which, despite the fact that does not bring out the author as a racist in the strictest sense of the word, does however show him to be EXTREMELY STEREOTYPICAL! We DO NOT use words like bamboole and funny thing a Canadian should find the Indian accent funny! By that logic, the only not-so-funny-accent when it comes to English is the British acccent because for all others, English is an acquired language! Since most Indians learn English better than and before their native languages, English is as much MY native language as it is for the British, the Australians or the Americans. If the Indian accent is funny, well, so is yours! And do not even get me started on how funny YOUR pronunciation is. (Yes, I can be a racist, too, Mr Yann Martel!) Agreed you portrayed Pi Patel to be smart and imaginative, resourceful and brave but I do NOT buy your generalisation of India or Indians!
2. All the offence kept aside, let me come to the story now. It not like it is a bad book or a useless story on the whole. It is just that it is not the MOST incredibe story I have ever read! I have read better and I do know that in the hands of a better author it could have been well presented.
If I have to say anything about it at all, ths book is like a custard that could be improved upon by a chef but because a decent cook made it instead of an expert, it is good but not something that blew my mind!
I mean, One hundred Years of Solitude ....WHAM! Your mind is hit by a high powered missile in just one line!
Life of Pi ...yes, the ending is unexpected...but the element of shock...the real climax, it just does not blow your brains out the way it is supposed to or the way it could have. Also, there is part towards the middle of the book where it just drags on and on and on. there is nothing new, no philosophy that has not already been discussed, no new revelations! In short nothing happens in that part of the plot and I, for one, needed cups of coffee to keep me awake and going.
In conclusion:
Worth reading once? Yes,but definitely not something you HAVE TO read!
You CAN die and peacefully, without reading it!

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Tughlaq A Play In Thirteen Scenes by Girish Karnad
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am not surprised that Tughlaq is one of the best loved plays of Girish Karnad . Despite being a translation, it's well written and captures the details of politics and diplomacy with an ease no other author could have managed. Karnad shows the evolution of Tughlaq from an idealist to a tyrant lusty for power and fame, something anyone, any Indian for that matter can relate to easily especially people who are familiar with the Nehruvian Era of Indian politics.

Though according to most people, Tughlaq essentially is an allegory for Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as the Prime Minister, I personally feel, the play can be easily associated with Indira Gandhi whose idealism and eventual tyranny was in no way different from Muhammad Tughlaq's. The character of Aziz can be, more or less, associated with Jarnail Bhindranwale, who just like in the case of Indira Gandhi, was a result of Tughlaq's own ambitious schemes to retain power.

Reading Tughlaq was both enjoyable and enlightening for me as I could chalk out many similarities that the play resembles to the modern Indian politic scenario as well. The language was fluid, simple and yet powerful but something about it does not make it a very fast-paced and engrossing read at least upto the first thirty pages. Nevertheless, Tughlaq is one play which is sure to leave an imprint upon the Indian English Literature.

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Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A little Bit of Bragging: Since the book in question picks up a lot of stuff from Sir Rushdie's life, let me brag about the only thing that connects me to him. I live next to the house where he used to spend his summer vacation as a child! (Not that I saw him! That was way before we moved there.) But the fact that Salman Rushdie owns a house in my neighbourhood and might someday walk in while I am taking a walk by Anees Villa makes me want to mention it because, believe it or not, I have fallen in love with his writing!

Ah! I digress! So, coming back to the point... Midnight's Children was lent to me by a friend sometime last year but something I don't like thinking about, made me drop the book and return it to her. By that time, I had finished about 400 pages of this long but captivating novel and couldn't get it out of my head so, I borrowed it again from the same friend, read it (finally) and am now reviewing it.

There is no reason why you should not read Midnight's Children because it is as close as magical realism can get to real life while keeping its dark, seductive charm intact. It has all the good elements of a great political commentary, a vivid imagination and a cocky yet innocent kind of humour very unique to writers like Salman Rushdie . In fact, this is one of the rare novels which is as close as any book can get to Arabian Nights while being simultaneously close to the narration of Gabriel García Márquez . Read Midnight's Children if you like magical-realism or step into the genre with it, read it if you like fairy-tales which talk about politics or political novels which are written like fairy-tales. It will get slow, it will be hard to read and yes, you might reach the point where you'd just want it to end but it is a book which will continue to haunt you unless and until you don't finish it!

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Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is probably the most beautiful book I have read. For me, I couldn't have read this book at a better or more appropriate time because, before reading it, I was dealing with all these questions that disturb a 19 year old mind like does religion really make sense? What is life about, anyway?

To quite an extent, Siddhartha is a similar story. It starts with two boys of the same age and name who leave their worlds behind to seek 'The True purpose of life' and while severe penance and meditation makes one the Buddha (the Enlightened One), real life experiences, which include scholastic methods, human follies, carnal pleasures, the joy of parenthood, lead the other one to understanding.

In Siddhartha, Herman Hesse points out towards a very obvious path of learning the true purpose of life. It is by living life with all its experiences, good or bad, that you learn what its true purpose is and not by renouncing it. Of course, not everyone will interpret this book the way I did and to every reader, this book will mean something else. That's what makes it a MUST READ!

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The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I sometimes wonder why do I even read books by Carlos Ruiz Zafon? Because I like being terrified to death? Because I enjoy gory stories with twisted, vengeful spirits who want to kill innocent children and who are SO DAMN CONVINCING that even a skeptic like me starts believing in their presence and jumps as the slightest of creak, whoosh or thud and wakes up at unearthly hours sweaty and scared? The fact that his novels are like self-inflicted torture and that they are as good as being addicted to drugs is what annoys me the most! You hate it, you're scared to death to the point of never getting out of your quilt, you know it's doing something bad to your body and brain and still you can't let go of it! You just HAVE TO finish them no matter what.

Yes, I do realise that this sounds like a hate review but don't get me wrong, I loved it! Despite twisted alter-egos and revenge seeking, bloodthirsty spirits, I loved it! There's nothing that I have been able to do from the moment I picked it up! It haunts, torments and yet keeps you awake till the dawn paints your window in a bloody hue!

The fact that this novel was set in Calcutta but was written by a Spanish author, who, I doubt, ever visited Calcutta, at least not in the colonial days, and still convinced me that he knew the city at the back of his hand impressed me even more than anything else! Where he messed up was the names which, like its characters were not even remotely Indian and being an expert on Indian names purely by the virtue of being one, that's the only thing I can dock off a star for.

FAIR WARNING : If you're a teenager or have a teenager at home, DO NOT GIVE IT TO THEM! It's essentially a spine-chilling, nerve-racking, puts-me-at-the-edge-of-my-seat-more-out-of-fear-than-anything-else kind of a book. Don't believe me? Read it! Were unfazed by it? I SALUTE your courage. So not meant to be read at night or as a bedtime story and must be finished in a day but a good read nonetheless!

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Two Lives by Vikram Seth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Before I begin with the review, let me make it very clear : I hate biographies and 'Two Lives' came in my hands as a signed copy belonging to a friend who is a fan of the author. Since I've liked Vikram Seth, since the days of 'The Frog and the Nightingale', I didn't object to 'Two Lives' even though it belonged to the only genre I hate when it comes to books. And was I glad I didn't complain!

No other author, not even the best one there is, can make his granduncle sound interesting, even if the granduncle is Johnny Depp!
Vikram Seth is the only author, who, if he becomes a full-time biographer, will find an avid admirer in me. He focuses on the personal details and then magnifies his view to focus on the society.

A perfect amalgamation of personal views and feelings, history, facts and real life experiences,'Two Lives' is a book which can be read in patches, kept aside and resumed later. The plot becomes slightly drab in Parts Three and Four but seeing that the author didn't have any firsthand source of information their and generalises with the help of whatever little pieces of information he has,this book is given the benefit of doubt and therefore, a four on five rating!

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Riot by Shashi Tharoor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think the best part about this book, apart from the fact that it is written by Shashi Tharoor, is that it contains everything a good book should contain-love, hate, violence, endearing characters as well as a few losers and a tragedy that moves you deeply. A reader undergoes a huge transition of emotions when (s)he reads this book and when (s)he is finished, the reader finds that(s)he is a different person altogether, quite different from the one who had started reading this book.

The characters one comes across in this novel are so real! They are neither good nor bad-they are simply human! They have their own reactions to a particular situation, their own thoughts about morality, power and justice. You hate a few, you like a few and you're simply indifferent towards a few but in the end you have a soft corner and some sympathy for everyone of them.

True to the author's extreme consciousness towards the political situations of India, the book talks about incidents that really took place, incidents we ignore as mere tragedies of time caused by ignorance of people. However this little masterpiece makes us see the whole situation in a different light. The Babari Masjid incident is decades old now and just last year the much heated verdict of the judiciary threatened the outbreak of another riot in North India. People all over prayed either for the religions in question or their own safety but no one really thought why this conflict arose. When published in newspaper, it was ignored merely as a piece of news but no one ever thought about so many questions this particular conflict raises the answers to which may solve the problem altogether!

This book makes you think, makes you ponder over the issue. I think anyone who reads 'Riot' might be able to understand, forgive and then act accordingly. No, it is not a secularist's sermon and nor is it a love story as the cover claims it to be...it is an eye-opener on politics, religion and relationships.
Reading 'Riot' has helped me understand why Indira Gandhi is hated in Punjab even today, why Muslims in India feel the way they do and why certain relations, no matter how much against the social norms are the way they are!

However, one might question, when it comes to relationships, that if you find your true soul-mate, then is it necessary that you must have a carnal relationship with them? Can love, strong as it is supposed to be, survive if the relationship isn't physical? If not, then how do most friendships survive? Personally I disagree that only adultery in an extra-marital relationship can make the plot EXTREMELY powerful! In fact, adultery almost spoils the sense of love. Of course I don't mean to be a sermon of morality and I know that such situations do occur in day to day life but then doesn't the whole concept of concentrating entirely on the carnal aspect of love undermine the value of love as a feeling? This thought, more than anything else has made me rate 'Riot' a little less than I actually intended to but all the same, I must admit despite my criticism, that even I cannot have made 'Riot' as incredible as Mr. Tharoor!

So, if you're looking for a light read, 'Riot' isn't the book for you! No, it requires time and a thinking cap, some rationality and an open mind. You're required to forgive Priscilla for being exactly like her father, a person she hates for the same mistake that she is herself committing in the name of love. You're required to forgive Lakshman for being such a loser and at the same time grant him the credit for being a great father and you're required to love Gurinder for being so wonderful despite the fact that he needs to rinse his mouth with soap and water. And you're required to admire Shashi Tharoor for being such a wonderful writer and thank your stars that he lives and breathes under the same skies as you do!

The language is lucid, the expression is simple but powerful and the content is thought provoking! Your eyes simply slip through the text! Be forewarned! You might have to discontinue it for a while if you need to digest a few things because 'Riot' is first and foremost an accurate description of truth which is bitter and a little unpalatable but once you get into it, it's impossible to stop yourself from being carried away with the flow!

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