R.K. Laxman, cartoonist par excellence, is also one of the country’s most entertaining writers. The Distorted Mirror brings together some of his best short stories, essays and travelogues. The collection begins with ‘An Accident’, a most unusual mystery story where the murder weapon is a newspaper. In other stories, we are introduced to Gopal, a schoolboy in an ordinary small town that is transformed one day when the Viceroy visits; Shantha, a little girl who makes an interesting discovery in the midst of a wedding; and Bhasker, a writer who is suddenly confronted by his past. Each story is marked by Laxman’s ability to delineate a character or a moment with a few deft strokes and imbued with his trademark wit. No less fascinating are the travelogues-about the United States, Australia, the Andamans, Darjeeling, Mauritius and Kathmandu-which are brought to life by Laxman’s vivid descriptions and his inimitable way of looking at the world around him. The collection is rounded off with a few rare and delightful anecdotes about Laxman’s cartooning career, a subject on which he is usually reticent. Accompanied by Laxman’s illustrations, the pieces in The Distorted Mirror will amuse and entertain every fan of R.K. Laxman’s.
Archives: Books
Sari Shop
A gem of a novel about the stuff life’s made of It is another working day in Amritsar, and Ramchand is late again. He runs through the narrow streets to Sevak Sari House, buried in the heart of one of the city’s main bazaars. There, amongst the Bangladesh cottons and Benaras silks, Ramchand and his fellow shop assistants sit all day, patiently rolling and unrolling yards of coloured fabric. Then, one afternoon, Ramchand is sent to a new part of the city with a bundle of saris carefully selected for a trousseau. His trip to Kapoor House jolts him out of the rhythm of his daily routine and his glimpse into this different world charges him with an urgent sense of possibility. And so, armed with a second-hand English grammar book and a battered Oxford Dictionary, a fresh pair of socks and a bar of Lifebuoy soap, Ramchand attempts to realize the dream that his childhood had promised. But soon these efforts turn his life upside down, bringing him face to face with the cruel reality of his very existence. The Sari Shop heralds the arrival of a writer who combines a profound sensitivity with humour and unflinching honesty. Rupa Bajwa’s story is both heartbreaking and very real, and depicts a modern world in which hope and violence are permanently entwined.
Corridor
The story of Corridor revolves around an enlightened dispenser of tea, Jehangir Rangoonwalla, who has a shop in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi, Connaught Place. He also sells second-hand books and dispenses wisdom to his customers. All of the main characters of the novel have this shop as their common local haunt and Mr Rangoonwalla interacts with these residents of Delhi when they visit his shop and at times gives them his words of wisdom. They come to him for tea, books, conversation and advice.
The story is about a plethora of characters, each from a different strata of society and different background. These customers are Brighu, passionate for obscure collectibles and a real love life, Shintu, the newly married on a quest of the ultimate aphrodisiac, and Digital Dutta, a person mostly torn between an H-1B visa and Karl Marx. Dutta is portrayed as a man who lives in his head.
Each of these characters has a story of his own and the author ties them together in a brilliant manner for his book. While narrating their stories, Banerjee subtly touches the greyer shades of their lives and presents them vividly to the reader. The entire novel has been captured in the corridors of contemporary Connaught Place in Delhi and Calcutta. Various pictures and objects have been shown in the background frame and the author ensures to refer them, thereby touching upon the different cultural references.
Sarnath Banerjee presents a different flavour to the art of storytelling by mixing various other art forms such as sketches, illustrations, and photographs. These heighten the impact on the reader in a beautiful way. The author uses an imaginative alchemy of words and images, of a script and artwork, to present the alienation and fragmented reality of the Indian urban life. Thus, the novel presents a delightful tale with interesting twists and turns.
The Caterpillar Who Went On A Diet And Other Stories
A hilarious glimpse of the complex lives of insects These fourteen scintillating stories are marked by Ranjit Lal’s usual combination of meticulous research, rollicking storytelling and fascinating characters. Nimbu, the caterpillar, resolves to go on a diet inspired by the stick insect. Cheeni Chor, the ant, discovers a refrigerator stuffed with goodies and is driven to rebellion. Ladoo Gulabjamun, one of the resident cockroaches of the famous Golden Thali Restaurant, decides to take on the management to impress his ladylove. You will also meet the body-building cricket, the dung beetles who like to party and a host of other insects who reveal their inner lives as never before and are true to both the insect and human world. Lal’s mastery of the world of birds and beasts, as captured in Crow Chronicles and The Life and Times of Altu Faltu, also extends to the world of insects, and this is perhaps his most enchanting and comical book to date. Rahul Dutta’s unusual and striking illustrations capture the magic of worlds Lal reveals.
Department Of Denials
The best selling author of The Inscrutable Americans and Making the Minister Smile returns with another entertaining story in The Department of Denials. In this latest venture, Babar Thakur” Babs to his friends” a youth fresh out of college in search of an identity and direction in life, sets off on a trip to fulfil his dream of becoming the prime minister of India one day.In the best traditions of all heroic odysseys, he starts out on his quest alone. Soon, he is on a roller coaster ride through the corridors of power, witness to the shenanigans of netas and babus. Chief among them is the minister Balak Kumar, who, repeatedly at the receiving end of various allegations from the Opposition, finally decides to centralize all denials under one authority, namely, the Department of Denials. And he asks Babs’s father, Bahadur Prasad Thakur, to head the newly created department. The stage is thus set for an unending run of situations, alternately bizarre and funny.
Diabetic’s Cookbook
Being a diabetic does not mean you have to eat boring or insipid food, and here are some interesting and unusual recipes to prove it. Not only are these recipes simple to follow, they also use ingredients readily available in a regular kitchen. The end result is healthy food that is so delicious that non-diabetic members of the family will also enjoy it, thus doing away with the need to prepare `special’ food for a diabetic person. And to help monitor calorie intake, a crucial aspect of diabetic care, every recipe is supplemented with a list of the protein, fat and carbohydrate content as well as the total calories per serving. The introduction, by a dietician specialized in diabetics, clears many myths and fears concerning the disease. It explains lucidly how and why diabetes occurs, what its side effects are and what causes them, and how to control diabetes. So, if you are a diabetic or know one in search of a healthy yet adventurous diet plan, this is the perfect book for you.
Indian Economy
The Indian Economy: Problems and Prospects, first published in 1992, looks at the country’s economy and the resolved fiscal crisis from a historical perspective. Edited and updated with a new Introduction by Bimal Jalan, the book retains the thirteen essays written by eminent economic thinkers in 1991 and 1992 in their original form as they provide a comprehensive overview of India’s economic development since Independence and answer questions on key economic issues that are as relevant today as they were at that time. Bipan Chandra conducts a historical survey of fiscal developments during the colonial period, the late V.M. Dandekar evaluates India’s economic performance from 1950 to 1990, and Rakesh Mohan traces the history of industrial controls from the pre-independence era. Also included are essays by C.H. Hanumantha Rao, C. Rangarajan and Narendra Jadhav, Raja Chelliah, Sudipto Mundle and M. Govinda Rao, Jyoti and Kirit Parikh, Pravin Visaria, T.S. Papola, Pranab Bardhan and Kaushik Basu. In his revised Introduction, Bimal Jalan assesses the country’s economic progress since 1991, examines crucial events and their relative significance. Exploring diverse aspects of the Indian economy as well as the political, institutional and legal implications of economic reforms, these insightful and revelatory essays will be of enormous interest to experts and the general reader alike.
The Complete Book Of Muslim & Parsi Names
`On the day of Qayamat you will be called by your names and the names of your fathers. Therefore keep good names.’—The Prophet The Complete Book of Muslim and Parsi Names is a practical guide for choosing the perfect name for your child. The result of several years of research; it is an erudite and thorough compilation of approximately 30;000 names taken from ten languages. With the actual and the construed meanings and the history or mythology associated with the name given against each entry; this is a precise and invaluable sourcebook for scholars and lay readers alike.
Mulk Raj Anand Omnibus
the Mulk raj anand Omnibus is a tribute to one of the founding fathers of the Indian novel in English. Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004) is best known for the impassioned social critique contained in his writings. This special commemorative edition published on the eve of his 100th birth anniversary brings together three of Anand’s finest novels which capture the ambivalence of a nation caught between tradition and modernity: Untouchable (1935), coolie (1936) and private Life of an Indian prince (1953)c
Sultry Days
On a sultry, rainy Bombay day, Nisha, an impressionable teenager, meets God in the college canteen and falls in love with his ragged, bearded looks and crude, streetwise manners. God patronizingly accepts her in his ‘group’ and it is in this way that their long and passionate romance begins. God’s driving ambition leads him into the unreal world of pseudo poetry, art for hire and compromised journalism while Nisha lands a job in advertising. Sychophants, court jesters, whores, dirty old men, fixers, pretty boys and party girls drift in and out of their lives as their careers take off with dizzying speed. And then, abruptly and harrowingly, everything about their lives goes wrong.